Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
Latif Nasser Profile picture
@latifnasser
Feb 18, 2020 • 10 tweets • 7 min read • Read on X
Just released ep3 about my gitmo namesake, #TheOtherLatif! It covers the first time he allegedly met Osama Bin Laden. (Acc to a US govt informant, he later became a top OBL advisor.) Instead of spoiling the ep, I'm just gonna tweet random facts about OBL: wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radio…
OBL was obsessed with sunflowers. He experimented to try to grow the biggest and best 🌻 in the world. And he thought the ones he did grow deserved to be in the Guinness Book of World Records. (source: @lawrence_wright and @cathyscottclark)
@lawrence_wright @cathyscottclark As a teenager, OBL was in an a cappella group. (source: @lawrence_wright)
@lawrence_wright @cathyscottclark While in Sudan, OBL owned a candy company. (source: Jamal al Fadl testimony)
@lawrence_wright @cathyscottclark OBL once wrote an open letter to Barack Obama urging him to take climate change more seriously.
reuters.com/article/us-usa…
@lawrence_wright @cathyscottclark The only files gathered from the Abbottabad raid that are still classified is OBL’s porn stash. A blogger tried to FOIA it back in 2015 but CIA denied.

washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost…
@lawrence_wright @cathyscottclark Something that did come out from one of the Abottabad data dumps? That someone (OBL?) used his computer to watch “Charlie Bit My Finger” and crochet tutorials, and even play the video game Counter Strike.

vanityfair.com/style/2017/11/…
@lawrence_wright @cathyscottclark While he lived in Sudan, OBL loved to go to horseraces, but thought the instrumental music that played on the speakers was sacrilegious so plugged his ears whenever it played. (source: @lawrence_wright)
@lawrence_wright @cathyscottclark Also. And this one is kind of eerie. The morning of 9/11/2001, hours before the first plane hit the Twin Towers, Bill Clinton talked on tape about how he had a chance to kill Bin Laden but didn't because it would also have killed 300 women and children. abcnews.go.com/US/bill-clinto…
@lawrence_wright @cathyscottclark That's enough for now. Listen to the latest ep of #TheOtherLatif! You'll hear way more surprises in there. It's available now in the @Radiolab podcast feed ... wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radio…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Latif Nasser

Latif Nasser Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @latifnasser

Latif Nasser Profile picture
Jan 26
Last January, I noticed something peculiar in my 2yo’s bedroom that - after a year of obsessive reporting - led me to a profound cosmic revelation about what’s even possible in our universe. A 🧵. The moon with a rocket landed in its eye. The most iconic shot of 1902 sci-fi film Le Voyage Dans La Lune.
So about a year ago, I was putting my little guy to bed in his crib and I noticed a strange detail on the solar system poster up on his wall … A solar system poster. The Sun in the middle as an orange ball. All the planets orbiting with their respective moons. At the bottom the planets arranged in order of distance from the sun. And the title of the poster THE SOLAR SYSTEM in all caps.
Venus had a moon called Zoozve. Huh, I thought. Never heard of that. Close up of the poster. You see a bit of the sun on the right. Mercury going around the sun. Venus going around the sun behind it. Next to Venus a dot with a label: ZOOZVE.
Read 34 tweets
Latif Nasser Profile picture
Apr 15, 2023
Last year, a coworker randomly asked me to hand-deliver an antique violin across the country. I said yes, because why not. I had no idea what I was getting into, and now I need your help. A 🧵
Last May, I went to a work retreat in upstate NY and a sound designer on our show @Jeremy_s_Bloom pulled me aside and asked me to do him a favor. Bearded, red-hatted sound d...Latif and Jeremy standing, ...
@Jeremy_s_Bloom He had heard through a friend (@DerekBeckvold) about an Afghan violinist who had just escaped from Kabul and settled in LA (where I live). Problem was the guy had to leave his violin behind.

Jeremy had a beautiful 110-year-old violin in his closet he used to play. A beautiful old violin in a...
Read 24 tweets
Latif Nasser Profile picture
Jan 11, 2022
2022 is off to a rocky start. Will it be worse than 2021? And was that one worse than 2020? If you, like me, are sick of comparing and complaining about the last few years, here’s a fun exercise: name the worst year ever. As in, THE worst year to be a human on earth. A 🧵.
Some obvious contenders: 1347 (Black Death). 1918 (Spanish Flu). 1929 (Great Depression). But the one that convinced me was a year I had NEVER EVEN HEARD OF BEFORE.
The year? 536 AD. The catastrophe that took place then goes by many names: The Mystery Cloud. The Dust Veil. Or my personal favorite: The Fimbulwinter. (I’ll explain that last one, I promise.)
Read 37 tweets
Latif Nasser Profile picture
Jan 11, 2022
Today is 20 years since the first prisoners landed at Guantanamo Bay. The US government chose the site bc they thought neither American nor international law applied. They built it quickly and in a rudimentary way because it was meant to be temporary. /1
On the flight to Guantanamo from Kandahar Airport, the prisoners wore shackles, blindfolds, ear muffs, many were even tranquilized, because military folks were afraid they would get loose and "chew through a hydraulics cable" and take the plane down. /2
Turns out the vast majority of the 780 people who were ultimately held there were "innocent of any substantial wrongdoing," and that the "US leadership became aware of this ... very early on." (That's not me saying that, that's the former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell.) /3
Read 5 tweets
Latif Nasser Profile picture
May 4, 2021
A tiny story about how tragedy ripples thru culture and history. /1
#OTD: May 4, 1970. Ohio National Guard fires on unarmed Kent State student protestors, killing four.  Among the crowd: art student Jerry Casale. He knew two of the students who got killed. /2
Over the next few months, the campus is locked down. Casale and fellow student protester Bob Lewis channel their anguish into a weird new style of art. The central idea: everything is going to hell. People and society seem to be getting worse, to be devolving. /3
Read 6 tweets
Latif Nasser Profile picture
Apr 9, 2021
A thread of three terrific podcasts that are peepholes into how American students and school administrators are responding to COVID in real time. (I’m sure I’m missing more, so add to the thread.)
PRIMARY/MIDDLE SCHOOL - My good friend @Christophere heads up Turquoise Trail Charter Schools in NM. Last year, he started sending me voice memos about stuff he was most nervous about. Then he turned those voice memos into a podcast. Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the…
HIGH SCHOOL - Ace reporter @nniebrown + her colleagues @nytimes basically made a new season of #FridayNightLights, focusing on when COVID comes to Odessa (aka East Dillon) High in TX. New appreciation for school bands (and gummy worms, weirdly): nytimes.com/2021/02/26/pod…
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(