Thread: President Trump explained his tariffs in part by pointing to the carnage caused by #fentanyl. That's my area of expertise so here's my fact-check of the White House fact sheet released today. 1/ whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/20… Fatal overdoses, from fentanyl and all other street drugs, have dropped nationally by more than 21% since June 2023, according to the latest CDC data, falling below 90,000 deaths in a 12-month period for the first time in roughly half a decade. 2/
cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr…

Thread for young #journalism pros. Life is long. I hope your career will be long. I had zero career until my mid30s. I stepped away from work repeatedly. I drifted, I vanished, I got paid garbage, I got "soft" fired. I was still sort of figuring it all out well into my 40s 1/ Our industry is even harder now, so please be patient with yourselves. Look for joy. Don't be linear. Time away from #journalism will feed you. Getting laid off is part of the business. Whenever you can, use those openings to think, explore, drift. 2/

Thread: Want to think out loud about what I've seen and experienced since joining NPR a few years ago. I was hired during NPR's "North Star" era when diversity was established as a priority. I'm an aging rural white man (58 years old). Never graduated college. Didn't see NYC...1/ ...or visit Boston until I was in my 30s. I was hired and am supervised by bosses who are women, people of color or both. Almost all much younger than me. I've felt welcome, supported, heard and respected by my colleagues. I hate to be boring, but it's just not weird or scary. 2/

Thread: NYC Sunday ✨️ ☀️🏃‍♂️❤️ 1/ NYC Sunday - at the Whitney /2❤️

Our reporting at @NPR has found no substantial link between #fentanyl smuggling and immigration. Overwhelming majority of smuggling from Mexico comes through legal ports of entry and does not involve undocumented migrants. Republican politicians continue making this false claim.

https://twitter.com/ChuckGrassley/status/1586439687933394945

Here are some receipts on #Fentanyl disinformation, some linked to partisan Republican messaging. npr.org/2022/10/26/113…

Thread: Seventy years ago, Tolkien imagined a world defined largely by the racial ideas of his time. White is broadly speaking good. Dark or black is broadly speaking bad. It's not 'woke' for us to reimagine his world. It's the very definition of art. 1/ cnn.com/2022/09/03/ent… Tolkien knew this. His own stories were in many ways reimaginings of other stories, other myths, including Christian tales but also incorporating a broad range of other influences. His own beliefs about the meaning of his stories changed over time. 2/

I'm really enjoying Rings of Power. That's it. That's the tweet. 🧙‍♂️ Okay this is going to be a thread. Sorry. Non-nerds look away. First happy observation. Rings gets dwarves right. Durin is a charming character, his relationship with Elrond lovely and fragile. Khazad Dum is fun...and poignant because doomed...second happy observation...

Thread: I believe there's room in objective factual journalism for more and better reporting on the 1/6 insurrection that focuses on why people should care. We all get it. This stuff (the integrity of elections, the institutions that underlie democracy) feels abstract. 1/ When we talk to voters it often comes down to a reflexive idea that Americans are going to support their political team regardless of what that team has done. It's also common for people to say that more immediate issues (gas prices, inflation, covid policy) take precedent. 2/

Thread: At 2pm eastern the White House @ONDCP will answer lawmakers' questions about a plan the @JoeBiden team says will cut drug overdose deaths by 13% by 2025. Goals are ambitious. Some Senators and drug policy experts are skeptical 1/ @npr @ONDCP @JoeBiden @NPR I'll live tweet as much of today's Senate hearing as I can and I'll have a report on the White House drug control strategy later today on @npr and tomorrow on @MorningEdition. More soon 2/

Thread: this morning on @NPRWeekend Sunday my story from the battle zone in southern #Ukraine, where elderly villagers are slammed daily by Russian artillery @npr 1/ During our @NPR team's reporting trips we were forced to take shelter in a bombed school when Russian forces targeted the village with rockets 2/ #Ukraine

Thread: our @NPR crew has spent recent days in the war zone in southern #Ukraine where Russian and Ukrainian troops are engaged in an artillery battle. 1/ We visited three villages just a few miles from the Russian lines where #Ukrainian people face daily artillery strikes. Svetlana told us a neighbor had been killed while her father began repairs on their shell damaged house. 2/ @NPR

A thread: if there's a throughline in my reporting over the last 5 years it's leaders putting abstract ideas above the safety lives well-being of children...and people still following those leaders and organizations. Putin clearly believes his ideas about Russian identity... 1/

https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1520118364613619712

...matter more than the kids who are dying and being harmed in #Ukraine. And so far Russian people/soldiers are going along with that. It's baffling to stand in a church where a funeral for a young child has been held and contemplate that moral math 2/

Thread: Addiction is complex. It's deadlier than ever. But there's hope. “We just had a newborn daughter,” Travis Rasco told me. “We're trying to buy a house right now. Something I never thought I deserved for the longest time.” @npr 1/ npr.org/2022/01/13/107… My story for @MorningEdition @npr explores data showing the majority of people who experience substance use disorder survive & often thrive. “This is really good news I think and something to share and be hopeful about,” said Dr. John Kelly at the Recovery Research Institute. 2/

Here are my views. People deserve accurate clear factual information. It's newsworthy that a former President continues to lie about his defeat in a national election. It's newsworthy officials (including Republicans) say publicly Trump's lie contributed to violence on 1/6 1/

https://twitter.com/Tahawus506/status/1481221140576145408

It's also newsworthy that some Republicans have chosen to embrace and amplify Trump's lie, embellishing it with their own conspiracy theories. Factually @EliseStefanik @RepStefanik is one of those officials. Here's excellent context from @npr. 2/ npr.org/2022/01/12/107…

Thread: a lot of talk these days about EVs in cold weather. So I'm going to tweet blog about a long day of work driving in the #Adirondacks #ny21 North Country on a frigid day in my #teslamodel3. First thing I'll say: having a garage helps when it's -7f. /1 This means I start with my standard range of 284 miles without spending a bunch of battery power warming the #teslamodel3. The first part of the drive is uneventful with no noticeable loss of range. 2/❄️🚗

Thread: The @zdhirsch @davidncpr @ncpr treatment of @EliseStefanik @RepStefanik's role trying to block the peaceful transfer of power amid the 1/6 insurrection is a must-listen. I want to highlight one part of their reporting. 1/ #ny21 northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/451… What makes @EliseStefanik @RepStefanik's role worthy of deep reporting is that she has a long history at Harvard, at the Foreign Policy Institute and at the National Endowment for Democracy working with organizations that defend democratic and civic institutions. 2/

My small thread on the painful departure of talented @npr hosts and staff: It sucks. But everyone's expressing opinions about why this is happening. I think this pulls agency and from the people who are departing. We need more questions and reporting, not more hot takes. 1/ So here's what I hope to see in the days ahead: I hope someone outside NPR will interview all these amazing people and see if there's a pattern here. Are they leaving because they're getting ridiculously good $$ offers from someone else that @npr can't match? 2/

Noteworthy: @EliseStefanik @RepStefanik has now gone beyond choosing not to advocate for vaccine acceptance in her #ny21 district. She is now arguing private companies should allow anti-vaxxers to use their platforms to spread and amplify false information about the vaccines. 1/

https://twitter.com/EliseStefanik/status/1478059224835969025

Specifically, @EliseStefanik @RepStefanik is saying it is "censorship" for twitter to block Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from repeatedly spreading lies that vaccines cause "extremely high" numbers of deaths. 2/ nytimes.com/2022/01/02/tec…

Thread: For 20 years I covered the political & cultural life of a small region of rural America in northern NY, the #adirondacks and the #ny21 congressional district. If you had told me this story would have been possible, I wouldn't believe it. @ncpr 1/ northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/449… I covered hurricanes, fires, wars, tragic event after tragic event. In every instance there was a palpable coming together, a tone that was broadly apolitical and a deep sense that small towns must, in the final equation, work together to survive. 2/

Thread: NoCo Rep. @EliseStefanik @RepStefanik today called out Democrats for silence on a local politician involved in alleged drug use. Meanwhile her social media feeds were completely silent on the death and healthcare 'gridlock' being caused by #covid19. #ny21 1/

https://twitter.com/EliseStefanik/status/1468242756736802830

Here's a sampling of what local media outlets looked like on this day when the Congresswoman made no mention of the pandemic. This from @poststar 2/ poststar.com/news/local/war…

Thread: For six+ years I covered @EliseStefanik @RepStefanik as closely as any journalist, following her through rural Upstate #adirondack towns in #ny21, watching her build political strength, visiting her in Washington DC. Here are my takeaways. 1/ In 2014 she presented herself as a moderate and her past career suggested as much - including her writings at Harvard and her work with Democrats like @SenatorShaheen northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/249…