TL/DR-whoever made the call to send in these 2 POs really messed up, resulting in police injuries. (I did see later down the street one PO had a super red eye that looked like it was going to worsen.) & Honesty the snowball fight probably would have fizzled out sooner than later w/o this bad call
who get paid to like, monitor safety is beyond me. Someone should ask decision-makers *why* they directed POs to go in. Also the thing probably would have ended sooner than later anyway had officers not been sent in, obviating the need for risky intervention.
To be clear, I'm not a crowd control expert, but someone on the ground there should not have told the 2 POs I saw getting snow ball-hit not to go in, and especially told to avoid area near park bathroom where one could easily get stuck in a crush of people. How this was missed by people...
If someone from the dept had this info, and shared it w colleagues, then you wouldn't have a situation where a few beat cops were deployed into the middle of potentially volatile situation. Like, someone from the 6th pct should have had known not to do this. A bad call put POs in danger.
This is where the NYPD intelligence failure comes in. If anyone from the dept was near the fountain early on, it would have been as apparent to them as me: You're going to have a big crowd and some people in said crowd might take things too far as per what's already starting to happen. So...
3/ Sometimes these balls of ice were lobbed at the back of non-participants' heads. It was a decent amount of adult guys with strong throws. I bounced after getting hit a few times in the head bc I was not getting paid to do anything journalistic there. So bye. Anyway.
2/ Right in the beginning, when there were maybe a few dozen people in the #WashingtonSquarePark fountain, it was whimsical for a few minutes but some participants started getting way too into it. People who were not participating but just like taking pics were getting pelted by HARD balls of ice
1/? Some context on the #snowball fight that is now nat'l news. I was out there a few times to snap photos(they're all terrible), and saw the first stage, fanciful winter fun, at 2:45, and then chaos stage just about 4:00. IMHO, there was an NYPD failure here putting POs at risk. Let me explain...
Earlier in #WashingtonSquarePark ...SNOWBALL FIGHT IN THE FOUNTAIN!
As reporters we need to do more of this!
Ramon Vargas @us.theguardian.com tried to get comment from #ShiaLaBeouf and then this happened
www.theguardian.com/film/2026/fe...
"Barely" invited
should I start a weekly thread where everyone shares how the aca tax credit fugazi is impacting their lives?
and where do i get my tariff refund on the aca tax credit? jk jk every self insured person is still SOL!
also where do i get my tariff refund on all the shit that got more expensive here bc tariffs were passed onto consumers
where do i get my tariff refund on this purse i bought in october
Also important piece of context: We revealed that the ranch was apparently never searched. By anyone.
Hey! If anyone wants some context on the news that New Mexico is opening a #JeffreyEpstein investigation, check out the story from @annabetts.bsky.social and me from almost 2 weeks ago about how there was literally nothing going on investigation wise for years.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
How #JeffreyEpstein plotted with a top lawyer to get a woman deported--or charged with a crime via @us.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Red Bamboo is closing :(
What happened in New Mexico on #JeffreyEpstein's ranch--and was it ever searched? @annabetts.bsky.social and looked into his sprawling property and whether it was investigated. Via @us.theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
New via @us.theguardian.com - #JeffreyEpstein's lawyers and prosecutors discussed in general terms his possible cooperation 2 wks before death
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Tagged snow & pigeon anarchy... NYC baby!
I never thought there was a world in which I'd be tired of golumpki but my goodness, I'm looking at another two or three gowumpki days ahead of me. That's a lot of gowumpki.
If you make golumpki, you make golumpki. One cabbage head yields a metric fuckton. I am entering day four of eating gowumpki for lunch and dinner. Half remain. I know that cooking was an expression of love for my grandma but...she was also trying to unload golumpki.
Thread: growing up, my polish grandmother would routinely serve golumpki and then send me home with containers and containers of it. I assumed this was an expression of pure love. Anyway, I made some vegetarian golumpki earlier this week, and realized...
I wrote about why the prospect or a special master might have helped facilitate the files' release e a rlier this week via @us.theguardian.com . Take a look for context on decision
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
NEW: Judge Engelmayer rejects #Epstein files law co-sponsors' request to enter Maxwell docs case--which means they won't be able to go fwd w this sdny request for a monitor. At least for time being.
Everyone must read @edpilkington.bsky.social @us.theguardian.com's heartbreaking story about how maga cuts have ground pediatric cancer research to a halt. Remind your representatives of what's at stake and share this story with them. Tell everyone you know. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
Drew Dixon on the outcome:
