Mom, wife and @NewsHour correspondent. Author, Beat Breast Cancer Like A Boss. BRCA1 mutant. Links & RT’s aren't endorsements. Opinions my own. She/her.
Feb 22 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Here’s a bit of my IVF story, just in the service of helping folks understand all the many reasons why people freeze more embryos than they might ever use.
This is just my personal experience which I recognize is that of an enormously privileged person:
I have the BRCA1 mutation which increases my risk of breast and ovarian cancer. I didn’t want to pass that on to my child if I could help it, so we did IVF and were able to do genetic testing on all resulting, chromosomally-normal (euploid) embryos, to avoid transferring the ones
May 25, 2022 • 14 tweets • 6 min read
#BabyFormulaShortage 🧵 We're about to hear from @US_FDA commissioner Califf at @EnergyCommerce oversight subcommittee. And leaders from the 3 biggest formula companies testify on the second panel. I'll tweet notable statements/exchanges here.
And you can watch @NewsHour's live streaming coverage of the hearing here:
Feb 11, 2022 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
Here’s a little 🧵on what today’s #Afghanistan announcement today really means, based on a call that senior administration officials (SAOs) held with reporters this morning.
First, this announcement doesn’t actually guarantee that any money goes anywhere. It leaves it up to New York courts to decide (Tbh, I’m not yet sure which courts/judges. Is it all of them that are hearing 9/11 cases?)
I've spent the last few hours talking to experts in volcanos and tsunamis for #tongatsunami coverage - here are some humble conclusions. First, and most scarily, we know very little about volcanic tsunamis. Early warning systems aren't focused on them but rather earthquake ones.
Second, and of course most importantly, is that we don't yet know the full extent of how much damage has been done to Tonga itself. Experts who have viewed satellite imagery say it looks like it's been badly hit by both the tsunami and the ash fall. Praying for Tonga.
Sep 14, 2021 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Q from @MittRomney: "has the Taliban abandoned their sympathy for al Qaeda, Haqqani network - or has that relationship been severed?"
@SecBlinken: the relationship has not been severed and it’s a very open question as to whether their views and the relationship has changed...
... in any kind of definitive way. I think it’s fair to say two things: one, whatever the Taliban’s views on al Qaeda, they do know that the last time they harbored al-Qaeda and engaged in an outwardly-directed attack on our homeland, certain things followed...
Sep 13, 2021 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
The @HouseForeign hearing on Afghanistan, featuring @SecBlinken, is getting under way a few minutes late. Blinken joining virtually. I'll be trying to tweet notable moments/statements periodically, in this thread.
.@RepGregoryMeeks says that in the discourse over the Afghanistan withdrawal, "we are seeing domestic politics injected into foreign policy." But then issues a full-throated endorsement of the withdrawal, rather than laying out what issues the hearing seeks to examine.
Oct 29, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
National Counterintelligence and Security Center director Bill Evanina tells @nickschifrin that recent Russian + Iranian cyberattacks on U.S. critical infrastructure may have only accessed voter information accidentally, but of course, it still has the same end result: discord.
Evanina says his concern is not that foreign actors will be able to manipulate votes. But "the concern we have is a potential ransomware attack where systems are shut down and we're unable to process votes in a timely fashion."
Oct 27, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
New head of the US Agency for Global Media (which heads VOA, RFE/RL and others) removes the editorial protection which one former VOA director calls "the one thing that makes VOA distinct from broadcasters of repressive regimes." npr.org/2020/10/27/928…
At Pack's confirmation in September '19, @SenatorMenendez specifically asked how he would protect the firewall between VOA journalists and its government board. Pack: "Well, I'm not sure about all the journalistic practices and techniques inside the agency now to do that...
Aug 14, 2020 • 20 tweets • 4 min read
THREAD: I wanted to talk/tweet about the use of “fighting” imagery when we talk about cancer, and using the term “beat” to indicate success. It’s a topic I’ve been thinking a lot about because my upcoming book employs it, right in the title: “Beat Breast Cancer Like A Boss.”
Also, I heard an excellent @BBCRadio4 piece that explores this topic in such a nuanced, thoughtful way. If this is something you’re interested in, I highly recommend you listen. bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…
Jun 30, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
During today's briefing, Kayleigh McEnany said that the president only gets briefed on intelligence "when there is a strategic decision to be made," and that he was not briefed "because there was no consensus." Former gov't briefers say that's not the bar for what's in the PDB.
Former CIA briefer @DavidPriess: “Many intelligence judgments in history have not had the consensus of every analyst who worked on it." nytimes.com/2020/06/29/us/…
Mar 11, 2020 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
At #SFRC hearing, @omarAlshogre, who suffered unspeakable horror at the hands of the Assad regime, says he remembers getting more food from prison guards on the day when Caesar's photos were released, shocking the world. "That’s why we have to speak," @omarAlshogre says.
.@omarAlshogre talks about the psychological torture he underwent. One guard would ask him once a day, "how do you want me to kill you? Be creative." Omar adds, "what's awaiting people in #Idlib is the same thing, if we don't help them."
Feb 20, 2020 • 8 tweets • 8 min read
This is an extremely powerful press conference. @sahloul just named two children under 2 years old who died in #Idlib after freezing to death
@sahloul Dr. Zaki Lababidi, president of @sa_council says his message for Vladimir Putin is that he must stop lying that he is killing terrorists, not innocent civilians: Mr. Putin, the US killed bin Ladin, killed Soleimani, killed al-Baghdadi... can you name one terrorist you've killed?
@serdarkilic9: I think we agreed it is a pause. It is not a ceasefire.
Oct 9, 2019 • 16 tweets • 12 min read
TUNE IN: @JudyWoodruff's interview with @SecPompeo recorded earlier today. It airs in full.
@JudyWoodruff@SecPompeo .@JudyWoodruff: Does the US take responsibility for whatever the outcome is, because the US has given Turkey a green light?
@SecPompeo: Yeah, well that's just false. The United States didn't give Turkey a green light.
(He was given time to expand on that... he did not.)
Jul 19, 2019 • 13 tweets • 8 min read
WATCH NOW: @JudyWoodruff's interview with Iranian FM @JZarif, shot earlier today in New York.
.@JudyWoodruff asks about the US shooting down of an Iranian drone yesterday.
@JZarif: We didn't lose any drones yesterday. So it doesn't look like they shot down one of our drones. Maybe they shot one of their drones.
Jun 5, 2019 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
Good morning! If you're just waking up in the US, here's what President Trump said overnight about why he wouldn't have wanted to serve in Vietnam: "Well, I was never a fan of that war. I’ll be honest with you. I thought it was a terrible war, I thought it was very far away..."
"Nobody ever, you know, you’re talking about Vietnam and at the time, nobody ever heard of the country... What are we doing? So many people are dying. What is happening over there? So I was never a fan. This wasn’t like, I’m fighting against Nazi Germany."
Dec 26, 2018 • 19 tweets • 4 min read
I'm listening now to the audio of Trump speaking to troops in Iraq. He told them of his meeting with military leaders: "We had an incredible meeting that lasted for about an hour. And you have no idea what we’ve come up with. You’re gonna be so happy."
More: "we had a meeting with [Commanding Gen. LaCamera] and some of your great representatives and we have some ideas that are more than ideas that are going to be just… We like to win. Do we like to win? We’re gonna win."
