Austin Lawrence, PhD

The number of academics in the Epstein Files is staggering (and disappointing, to say the least), but not all that surprising. Some of these are one-off meetings or brief email exchanges. Some are years of continual activity, communication, and visits. Truly gross.

Email from Leslie Groff to Jeffrey Epstein Subject: Jack Horner to Ranch "Jack Horner says to please tell you he would love to see your ranch and he would be abailable to come any day after July 25th."

Email from Lesley Groff to Jeffrey Epsetin Should I check in with Jack Horner? He believes hens to leave for the ranch on July 26 (2 weeks from today). Do I need to tell him plans are in a holding pattern? Jeffery Epstein responds: delay him one day Lesley Groff responds: Another tid bit! JE is asking me to delay jack horner one day! So this would be an arrival of July 27 depart 29... I have emailed Jack to aske if this would work with his schedule.... :)

Email from John Horner to Jeffrey Epstein 6/29/2012 Hi [redacted] Since i don't really know how long it would take to get from Albuquerque to the ranch and visa versa [sic], and don't know how I'm to get there (would someone be picking me up or should I rent a car) it would probably be best if you just booked the flight for me. Delta Airlines connecting through Salt Lake is the most convenient for me. My official name and frequent number [sic] is: John Robert Horner Delta # [REDACTED] The geology maps are perfect. Jack

email from Lesley Groff to Jeffrey Epstein "Reminder: John Horner and student to visit ranch today... [redacted] =ill [sic] be taking care of them...

Jack Horner being in the Epstein files is not something I had on my bingo card for 2026.... Horner seemingly visited Epstein's ranch multiple times, including apparently with a student.

Two more students from Liam Ramos' school are now in ICE detention, joining their mother who was detained first.

The school principal "said the boys cried when he told them what was happening and were frightened and asked to hold a school nurse’s hand when they walked into the Whipple Building."

Thread breaking down footage of federal agents disarming, beating, and THEN shooting a man multiple times. He had already been disarmed and then was shot multiple times. Even after he was still on the ground, agents shot at least five more times.

This is murder. Again.

(And I realize you didn’t ask for all this, so apologies. But it is nice to think and write even in such short form about interesting work questions given *gestures at world*.)

Even if there is more than one taxon in the Homo erectus hypodigm, which is quite possible, I am not convinced that using the H. ergaster label actually clarifies what belongs in what species. So, at least for the time being, I consider it all to belong to the H. erectus OTU.

For instance, I retain both Australopithecus anamensis and A. afarensis as distinct OTUs because they have some diagnostic differences because the labels provide clarity, even though they appear to represent early and late segments of a single lineage (though not necessarily an anagenetic lineage).

If there is a set of fossils that share a set of morphological characteristics distinct from others and the use of a species label helps us refer to that set in shared language, then I tend to use that label.

I tend to approach species in the fossil record using some combination of the morphological and phylogenetic species concepts and use species labels as operational taxonomic units.

I’m sure many people will disagree with me, but this is my approach to the issue.

*taxon (autocorrect got me)

There may well be more than one tax on represented in the Homo erectus hypodigm, but unless or until we can clearly identify it, adding the ‘ergaster’ name and its associated holotype does not actually clarify anything.

This is also definitely complicated by the fact that the holotype is only a partial mandible, so it’s difficult to make clear morphological comparisons.

I use H. erectus for these African fossils. There are certainly temporal trends in morphology, but wherever (and whenever) you look, the range of morphological variation is huge and it’s not clear to me that it can be delineated into different species groups on morphological grounds.

7 democrats made this bill pass.

If they all voted “no” it would’ve failed 213-214.

Reminder that “Say her name” was developed specifically to call attention to murders of Black women

So Bari Weiss’s first real editorial intervention at CBS is to repress coverage of American concentration camps.

All NSF SBE DDRIG solicitations have been archived and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Grants currently submitted will be processed, but as always, chances of funding remain very low. This means anyone aiming for the upcoming deadline will not be able to submit. 1/3

Collections Study Grants Collections study grants provide financial assistance for graduate students and post-doctoral researchers to study the collections of the University of Washington Burke Museum (UWBM).

New Collection Study Grants for students and postdocs to come visit the @burkemuseum.bsky.social! Applications due 12/15/25. www.burkemuseum.org/collections-...

Queer and trans immigrants allege forced labor and sexual assault in Ice facility: ‘I was treated worse than an animal’ At the South Louisiana Ice Processing Center in Basile, detainees say they were forced into hard labor – and sexually assaulted and stalked by an assistant warden

This article is a reminder that "abolish ICE" isn't just about the agents now in our streets, but is about a sprawling carceral system that must be dismantled completely. There must be consequences for politicians who try to spend a single dollar more on this.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Poster that says Ohlone Land Bay Area ICE rapid response community networks San Francisco 415-200-1548 San Mateo 203-666-4472 Santa Clara 408-290-1144 Santa Cruz 831-239-4289 Contra Costa 925-900-5151 Alameda 510-241-4011

Please see below the ICE rapid response community network phone numbers for the Bay Area. Share widely.

Dismantling the Institutional Review Board (IRB), that oversees all human subjects research, is bad. Really bad.

Black and white dog lying on floor, looking at camera while holding a chicken-shaped fluffy squeaky toy.

Everything is awful, but at least there are dogs.

Only a couple more months for humans to invent the massive kaiju-fighting robots of Pacific Rim, which takes place in 2025. My optimism is waning.

Awesome!! Looking forward to reading this!

I have also been wrestling with this since I heard the news. Calling this “political violence” while advancing white supremacist policies and advocating for violence against and the removal of whole classes of people is the height of hypocrisy. And yet, here we are.

Getting sick of the term “political violence” when a public figure closely aligned w/one ideology or other is a victim. ICE is also political violence. Armies are also political violence. Not sure of my point - just wish for a term that doesn’t immediately wall an act like this off from all the rest

Congratulations!! I have been eagerly awaiting this since I talked to Terry about it last spring. This is a fantastic paper with some really fascinating results.

Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal

THIS IS A F'ING 5 ALARM FIRE.

#SaveUSScience

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

No money for emergency rescues but hundreds of millions for concentration camps…