Asher Elbein

@asherelbein.bsky.social

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Freelance writing about the wild, old and dead. (Plus comics.) Bylines in The New York Times, SciAm, Undark, Texas Monthly, and lots of other places. Repped by @desir.ee at Looking Glass Literary.

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Finally, as we climbed out of the creek canyon and set off back down through the dripping forest, I offhandedly said “this looks like a nice night for a caecilian.” And not three minutes later!!! Two different worm-shaped, tentacle-mouthed amphibians appeared in a trail-side seep

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Asher Elbein

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Asher Elbein

Plenty of lizards last night as well, including bow-fingered geckos in the creek canyon (5) forest dragons sleeping in the brush (4) and one incandescently (and understandably) angry Tokay gecko

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Asher Elbein

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Asher Elbein

Other notable snakes we found included sunbeam snakes (2) asian vine snakes (3) keeled slug snakes (2) and white-lipped vipers (2)

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Our most exciting find: dragon snakes! Ular naga in Bahasa, they’re a handsome, secretive species of water snake that hunts frogs and has rows of strange armor-like bumps. It’s apparently pretty rare to see even one: we found five, including a juvenile(!!!)

I genuinely cannot wait to be back on wifi so I can upload pictures of the incredible night of herping we just had in Bogor, Indonesia. We got at least 17 different species of reptiles and amphibians, including some quite rare ones!

Sulzberger and the New York Times political desk are engaged in an interesting experiment, to wit: whether it’s possible for a newspaper to direct the outcome of a campaign and election through sheer, relentless posting

Speaking as a lifelong “independent journalist,” it’s remarkable to watch staff writers leave publications and go full fash the second they have to actually begin hustling for a living

Ken Klip going full Glenn “the far right are my friends” Greenwald

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Emissary Of Night | ليلى

Americans use the Middle East to project their fantasies about their metropole to their extreme endpoints, in both left and right wing directions.

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Asher Elbein

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Don Zeko

one of the most dishonest things people in my profession do is pretend as if “the story” and “the narrative” isn’t something they have direct control over

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My latest! Researchers found an extremely weird relative of land vertebrates that was a.) 20 million years later than expected b.) three times the size of the rest of its family and c.) the ecological equivalent of discovering a crocodile species in Manatoba 🧪🐸🎁🦖

This Bigheaded Fossil Turned Up in a Place No One Expected to Find Itwww.nytimes.com An ancient aquatic predator resembling a giant salamander turned up in an African fossil deposit, suggesting unwritten chapters of how animals moved onto land.

The good news: I successfully saw water monitors in the wild for the first time! The bad news: they were far away and I didn’t bring my binoculars. Might as well have been looking at sea serpents 😭

Hello from Jakarta, and to the first lizard of the Indonesian trip! It’s a baby cecak, aka the Asian house gecko — an incredibly common species found all over the region, even in seemingly inhospitable apartment blocks. Their names in both Bahasa and English come from the sound of their chirps!

Speaking as someone who’s super anxious: I’m going to do my level best just to post Indonesia stuff for a few weeks, and ignore American politics to the extent of my ability. The situation is clear, I recognize it, and it will (alas) still be here when I get back. No reason to cook my brain in it

I just hit this point, too. Things are at a dangerous point, but I think we are all making each other insane

Without commenting on any of the underlying issues at all, and with full knowledge I am one of the people being described: Receiving a steady stream of opinions from people suffering from debilitating depression and/or anxiety is bad even at the best of times.

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Asher Elbein

This man is making his evil intentions as crystal-clear as they possibly could be, and everyone who cares about humanity should be blasting that message out in every possible venue.

Heritage Foundation president celebrates Supreme Court presidential immunity ruling: "We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be" www.mediamatters.org/project-2025...

Heritage Foundation president celebrates Supreme Court immunity decision: "We are in the process of the second American Revolution"www.mediamatters.org

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Asher Elbein

these people do not intend to ever lose power again

Heritage Foundation president celebrates Supreme Court immunity decision: "We are in the process of the second American Revolution"www.mediamatters.org

The Singaporean airport really is a remarkable pleasant space to be in — spacious, lots of huge windows, nice architecture, and plants literally everywhere

The giant jungle garden attached to the Singapore Airport? Folks…It’s good

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Asher Elbein

Journalists should not be stenographers, but a single ounce of social and political awareness really is not too much to ask

If this iteration of the Republic does indeed fall, there will be a fair amount of blame to go around. But I, personally, will never forget or forgive the feckless and destructive news companies and journalists who helped it to happen

“What makes you so confident you should be president?” is an actual question a reporter shouted at the incumbent who just warned about a reckless court decision that imperils democracy

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Asher Elbein

very much reflective of the lack of any real survival instinct among journalists that they think the big story today is whether biden will step down

“What makes you so confident you should be president?” is an actual question a reporter shouted at the incumbent who just warned about a reckless court decision that imperils democracy

I’m about to get on a flight to Indonesia — a whole corner of the world I’ve never gotten to visit! — where I will be meeting my partner’s family, visiting ecosystems I’ve only read about, and seeing totally foreign species of lizards. (It is, however, a 15 hour flight. Prayers up, please)

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There are two elements to the immunity decision that are particularly extreme in a way that many will miss: (1) motive is irrelevant and (2) immune acts are not just excluded from prosecution, they’re excluded from evidence. /1

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The paraphrase in #2 here is both why I wouldn't have them say it and why you all need to calm the fuck down; Biden's deputy campaign manager didn't say that, that's a whole 'nother sentence

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“No kings in America” is a great slogan

On the other hand: this is usefully clarifying. No more fucking around. I will be voting for Biden in November to block Trump from re-ascending to power. No kings in America.

This raises an interesting question for performers, to wit: would you create art that you yourself cannot consume?

It would probably be really fun to be in a horror movie, but I am such a wimp that I would probably never watch said movie in its entirety

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Asher Elbein

frankly, the first defeat that we can hand them, in November, is the easiest possible one we are going to be offered, and we'd be fools not to make it happen.

a thing to remember, in all of this horror, is that these are not the actions of a political party that is confident it represents the will of the people, and who is currently out of power and enslaved to a deeply flawed avatar. the struggle is not over and they have not won

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Asher Elbein

Always telling on which subjects you are allowed to use editorializing opinion language like "debacle" on the news side!

President Biden’s top campaign official is scheduled to hold a crucial conference call with donors on Monday to try to convince them that Biden can still beat Donald Trump despite last week’s debate debacle.

Biden Campaign Will Try to Reassure Big Donorswww.nytimes.com President Biden’s top campaign official is scheduled to hold a crucial call on Monday to convince donors that the president can beat former President Donald J. Trump.