Ed "Abolish ICE” Costanza

"celebrating every stupid idea that crosses our minds" says the guy who wrote an op-ed complaining about people ordering coffee.

The Waste, Fraud and Abuse is coming from inside the (White) House

It was obvious in Trump's first term that he made decisions based on whatever sycophant he last spoke to told him was a good idea.Hard to believe that people are still attributing some kind of long-range plan to Trump's decision-making process.

"not just a blogger" For fuck's sake. what is this, 2003? We have to do this shit all over gain?

My name is Marisa Kabas, and I'm an independent journalist who publishes The Handbasket. I'm reaching out about a matter that involves your team and that continues to trouble me. In June of last year, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and I filed a FOIA lawsuit against the DC Metropolitan Police Department to compel them to release body camera footage from the March 17, 2025 DOGE raid on the US Institute of Peace. What followed was months of back and forth with their lawyers, arguing why it was in the public interest to release the un-redacted footage in its entirety. Though tiny segments were handed over, that wasn't enough: We wanted all of it.  On February 18, 2026, a DC judge ruled in our favor, and your reporter Mark Segraves sent a kind note of congratulations that day. Then on Monday, March 2nd, the footage was handed over to me and excitedly announced I'd received it and would be reviewing it in the coming days and sharing what I learned. When Segraves emailed me this past Thursday asking for my phone number, I didn't think much of it. But when he called me just before 2pm on Friday to let me know NBC4 Washington would be airing a segment at 5pm, I grew concerned.  Segraves said he'd obtained some of the footage via a FOIA request that week after he heard the footage had been released to me. He said he'd credit the work of RCFP and me, but it was little comfort. I asked if he'd known the day before when he emailed me for my number, why didn't he tell me then? He didn't have a good answer for that. He acknowledged all the hard work I'd done getting this footage released. I asked him if he could hold the story until Monday, to which he replied that he's "not just a blogger" (implying that that's all I am, presumably) and that he'd have to check with his editor. I said fine. Nearly an hour later he called back to say his editor refused to hold the story, but that they were happy to interview me via Zoom to add to the package, and I said I would.

What followed was two hours of furiously writing and posting clips of the footage to Youtube so I could get something published before the 5pm broadcast, and in the midst of that, recording a quick Zoom interview with a person who was about to take credit for my work. At 4:59pm ET, The Handbasket published a piece titled "Police body cam footage shows DOGE knew Institute of Peace was private property during raid." Then I tuned into NBC4 Washington via your website to catch the broadcast, and my instinct to rush to get something out first was proven right.  "It's a story you're seeing first on News4," your newscast began. "For the first time we're getting an inside look at what happened the day the Trump administration took over the US Institute of Peace. News4 obtained more than four hours of police body camera video from that day." What followed was more than six minutes of clips and commentary from Segraves, but it's not until six minutes and 21 seconds into the piece that he mentions my name (mispronounced though he asked for the correct pronunciation on Zoom), "The Handbasket blog," and the RCFP's foundational role in bringing this footage to light. I was angry, but didn't feel there was much I could do. Then I saw the version NBC4 posted to Instagram and TikTok—the video itself made ZERO mention of the RCFP or my work, only briefly acknowledging it in the written caption on Instagram, and not even bothering to do that on TikTok. An average viewer with no background on the case is lead to believe that this footage was released because of your efforts. When I saw that, I decided I couldn't let this go. It's difficult to explain what it's like to spend nearly a year working on a story only to have another reporter and outlet surreptitiously take credit for it; months of work and personal risk only to have another reporter lying in wait to swoop in. What NBC4 did was immoral, unethical, and to be frank, just truly sucked.

I just sent this email to the news director at NBC4 Washington about the unprofessional and disrespectful way they handled publishing the body camera footage of the DOGE raid on the US Institute of Peace that was obtained via my FOIA lawsuit:

Remember the Main Oblast!

Better than defending Nazis. Oh, sorry, *former* Nazis who just happened to turn over a new leaf when they were serving drinks to Ryan Grim in a DC bar and decided to run for Senate.

Jacobin alt account

DElLIO

Pete Docter needs to heal himself

Put a(n olive) ring on it

Oh fuck, Jacobin is on the case. The normie libs are in trouble now.

Can't read the article (not giving them my email address) so I don't know for sure, but this seems like clickbait.

Sorry, that ship sailed the day she was put in charge. I don't believe that anyone still at CBS harbors any illusions about Bari.

That stupid little gesture with her hands is permanently burned into my brain.

Oh, so not circus swings, then.

holy shit

Shouldn't the beds be closer together?

Easy question for me to answer, if I was in her place: "Harris, of ocurse. Did you think I voted for that Trump motherfucker?"

Once again, China leads the way

Seconded. A great movie, and a real mental health restorative.

It's the HAMAS license plate that made me think it was fake.

License plate that says HAMAS? Something about this smells funny.

Hegseth looks like a tweaker in that shot.

Look, I'm not saying do it, but if you're into wine...

Um, she actually said Trump was keeping all options on the table, meaning ground troops were still an option. I have a feeling he'll walk it back, but then again, he may double down, knowing him.

The way Leavitt says words like "Threat-un-ning" really bugs me. I know (I think?) it's some kind of regional dialect, but I really hate it.

THREAD: I got laid off from NYMag/Vulture after 14 years. The family lost 75% of income + medical. Now mzs.press bookstore, once a side project. is do-or-die for Judith & I. I feel weird telling you this because others are doing much worse. But if you could like or share this, we'd be so grateful!