Allen Gathman
@agathman.bsky.social
Retired genetics professor. I spend my time birding, reading, growing native plants, cooking, singing in a community chorus, playing mountain dulcimer, biking, kayaking. My wife and I are blue dots in very red SE Missouri. He/him.
Gosh, the reflecting pool wasn’t vandalized? It was just a sloppy rush job by a Trump buddy with a no-bid contract? Who could have guessed?
August 1, 2026
In a classic Friday night news dump, the Department of Justice last night moved to dismiss the criminal charges against David Hearn, the U.S.
open.substack.com
“Trump isn’t unethical. He’s non-ethical. He isn’t immoral. He’s amoral.”
Seriously, Where Does Trump's Power Come From?
Not from where you may think
open.substack.com
The Presidential Cage Match We Needed Is the One We Never Got www.nytimes.com/2026/07/05/o...
Opinion | The Presidential Cage Match We Needed Is the One We Never Got
nytimes.com
Trump’s humiliating Iran surrender in one chart: Obama: 98% uranium cut, enrichment capped, sanctions in place, 0 American lives lost. Trump: $25 BILLION unfrozen, sanctions lifted, Hormuz tolls for Iran, 15 dead + 543 injured Americans, $2.2 TRILLION cost. Pure weakness. #TrumpSurrendered
We’re heading for what may be a record El Niño. Better quit collecting data!
Dismay as Trump officials to dismantle key ocean monitoring system
Ocean Observatories Initiative, $368m network that has provided crucial climate data, latest victim of Trump cuts
theguardian.com
🚨 BREAKING: A federal appeals court has ruled, in a 2-1 decision, that the Trump-Hegseth transgender military ban is likely unconstitutional, finding that the policy appears to be driven by a “bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group” and is “both arbitrary and based upon animus.” 1/3
Robin had to shush me in the theater when I saw that centrifuge!
The hill I will die on: If Hollywood blockbusters must dabble in science, can’t they get the small stuff right? | Helen Pilcher
Project Hail Mary, Jurassic Park: from dino-mosquitoes to a spaceship’s roar, pointless mistakes on the scientific details make me wince, says science writer Helen Pilcher
theguardian.com
Fame Flower (Phemeranthus calycinus) in a “rock garden” pot. On a picnic table in my SE Missouri yard. #nativeplants
Defining Victory in the Summer of 1864 (and what it reveals about a president who can't say what winning looks like) #CivilWarMemory open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...
Defining Victory in the Summer of 1864
Brooks Simpson on the Civil War's darkest summer and what it reveals about a president who can't say what winning looks like.
open.substack.com
NASA just dropped the closest image ever taken of Jupiter...
Apple Creek, boundary between Cape Girardeau and Perry Counties, Missouri.
Trump’s proposed 1.5 Trillion dollar military budget is $4385 from every person in the US, including babies. Do you really want to spend that much on his “excursions?”
