Eric Columbus
@ericcolumbus.bsky.social
Senior Editor @lawfaremedia.org. Previously: Obama appointee at DOJ/DHS. Litigator for Speaker Pelosi and Jan. 6 Committee. Yankee Stadium 🌭 vendor. NYC born and bred. Wannabe historian. Dad joker.
And when a nuclear-armed country in Europe is overwhelmed with destructive moral ideas, Vance says he’s cool if they invade their neighbor.
JD VANCE THINKS BRITAIN & FRANCE ARE AMERICAS LIKELY ENEMIES.
The world is getting bizarrely screwed with this kind of bull being spewed out.
The world is getting bizarrely screwed with this kind of bull being spewed out.
December 26, 2025 at 9:51 PM
And when a nuclear-armed country in Europe is overwhelmed with destructive moral ideas, Vance says he’s cool if they invade their neighbor.
All else aside who the fuck wants a marble armrest? (Other than Lincoln, who sits not far from the Kennedy Center.)
December 26, 2025 at 8:56 PM
All else aside who the fuck wants a marble armrest? (Other than Lincoln, who sits not far from the Kennedy Center.)
To maximize length of languor, it’s best for Xmas and New Year’s Day to fall on a Thursday, right? No one expects anything on Xmas Eve, and who does anything on January 2 when it falls on a Friday? That’s eight weekdays turned into vapor.
My forever take: The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is the best week of the year - no expectations, structure it however you want.
December 26, 2025 at 4:00 PM
To maximize length of languor, it’s best for Xmas and New Year’s Day to fall on a Thursday, right? No one expects anything on Xmas Eve, and who does anything on January 2 when it falls on a Friday? That’s eight weekdays turned into vapor.
Reposted by Eric Columbus
Two stories side by side in WashPost
December 26, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Two stories side by side in WashPost
Reposted by Eric Columbus
I did not understand this: one of the five Europeans the US has barred from traveling to the United States...is a permanent resident who lives with his family in the US.
Now he is worried about being arrested and deported for the crime of monitoring online hate.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
Now he is worried about being arrested and deported for the crime of monitoring online hate.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
Judge Blocks Detention of British Researcher Who Scrutinizes Online Hate
www.nytimes.com
December 26, 2025 at 3:55 AM
I did not understand this: one of the five Europeans the US has barred from traveling to the United States...is a permanent resident who lives with his family in the US.
Now he is worried about being arrested and deported for the crime of monitoring online hate.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
Now he is worried about being arrested and deported for the crime of monitoring online hate.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
Reposted by Eric Columbus
LINDSEY GRAHAM: I just asked you where you were at on Christmas.
ELENA KAGAN: You know, like all Jews I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.
www.c-span.org/clip/no-cate...
ELENA KAGAN: You know, like all Jews I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.
www.c-span.org/clip/no-cate...
User Clip: Kagan: "Like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant" on Christmas
Kagan: "Like all Jews I was probably at a Chinese restaurant" on Christmas
www.c-span.org
December 25, 2025 at 3:59 PM
LINDSEY GRAHAM: I just asked you where you were at on Christmas.
ELENA KAGAN: You know, like all Jews I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.
www.c-span.org/clip/no-cate...
ELENA KAGAN: You know, like all Jews I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.
www.c-span.org/clip/no-cate...
If you read only one 2025 retrospective, it probably shouldn’t be this one
What did we get stuck in our rectums last year? defector.com/what-did-we-...
What Did We Get Stuck In Our Rectums Last Year? | Defector
This is the time of year to be grateful for not having things stuck in our asses, and to think of those less fortunate than us. So spare a thought for those Americans who misjudged the capacity of the...
defector.com
December 25, 2025 at 10:05 PM
If you read only one 2025 retrospective, it probably shouldn’t be this one
Reposted by Eric Columbus
As a Jew, it’s fun watching the administration post Christian nationalist messages while also saying they are doing everything they can to curb antisemitism.
Here’s the U.S. government being officially religious in a country with no official religion.
December 25, 2025 at 3:37 PM
As a Jew, it’s fun watching the administration post Christian nationalist messages while also saying they are doing everything they can to curb antisemitism.
LINDSEY GRAHAM: I just asked you where you were at on Christmas.
ELENA KAGAN: You know, like all Jews I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.
www.c-span.org/clip/no-cate...
ELENA KAGAN: You know, like all Jews I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.
www.c-span.org/clip/no-cate...
User Clip: Kagan: "Like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant" on Christmas
Kagan: "Like all Jews I was probably at a Chinese restaurant" on Christmas
www.c-span.org
December 25, 2025 at 3:59 PM
LINDSEY GRAHAM: I just asked you where you were at on Christmas.
ELENA KAGAN: You know, like all Jews I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.
www.c-span.org/clip/no-cate...
ELENA KAGAN: You know, like all Jews I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.
www.c-span.org/clip/no-cate...
Reposted by Eric Columbus
The FBI was supposed to deliver all the Epstein files to @AGPamBondi's desk by 8 AM on Feb. 28, 2025. That's almost ten months ago. This seems like something @JusticeOIG would need to dig into www.justice.gov/ag/media/139...
December 24, 2025 at 8:57 PM
The FBI was supposed to deliver all the Epstein files to @AGPamBondi's desk by 8 AM on Feb. 28, 2025. That's almost ten months ago. This seems like something @JusticeOIG would need to dig into www.justice.gov/ag/media/139...
BRAIN:
Don’t say it
Don’t say it
Don’t say it
FINGERS:
God made Christmas Eve, not Christmas Steve.
Don’t say it
Don’t say it
Don’t say it
FINGERS:
God made Christmas Eve, not Christmas Steve.
I’m on vacation this week, but will have much more about this ruling and what it means in next Monday’s “One First”:
stevevladeck.substack.com
stevevladeck.substack.com
stevevladeck.substack.com
December 24, 2025 at 9:58 PM
BRAIN:
Don’t say it
Don’t say it
Don’t say it
FINGERS:
God made Christmas Eve, not Christmas Steve.
Don’t say it
Don’t say it
Don’t say it
FINGERS:
God made Christmas Eve, not Christmas Steve.
Our first lamé duck president
"About a third of the walls are now covered in gold — appliqués, frames or other decorations, a Times analysis showed."
A 3-D Look Inside Trump’s Revamped Oval Office (Gift Article)
Take a 3-D tour of the president’s office, where he covered more than a third of wall space with gold.
www.nytimes.com
December 24, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Our first lamé duck president
Reposted by Eric Columbus
Again going to shout out the good work that WaPo reporters and editors are doing despite a bad owner and his lackeys.
The Washington Post obtained thousands of private chat messages from the ICE public affairs team tasked by the White House with creating viral raid videos for social media.
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i... via @drewharwell.com
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i... via @drewharwell.com
‘It’s a war’: Inside ICE’s media machine
Thousands of internal ICE messages show how its public affairs team has coordinated with the White House to satisfy Trump administration demands for viral arrest videos
www.washingtonpost.com
December 24, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Again going to shout out the good work that WaPo reporters and editors are doing despite a bad owner and his lackeys.
As Eric Adams departs the scene, fans of colorful NYC politicos can hope assemblymember Eddie Gibbs fills the quote vacuum.
gothamist.com/news/harlem-...
gothamist.com/news/harlem-...
December 24, 2025 at 4:02 PM
As Eric Adams departs the scene, fans of colorful NYC politicos can hope assemblymember Eddie Gibbs fills the quote vacuum.
gothamist.com/news/harlem-...
gothamist.com/news/harlem-...
Reposted by Eric Columbus
On behalf of everyone who wants SCOTUS to uphold birthright citizenship, I beg Stephen Miller to keep tweeting.
December 24, 2025 at 4:22 AM
On behalf of everyone who wants SCOTUS to uphold birthright citizenship, I beg Stephen Miller to keep tweeting.
Reposted by Eric Columbus
And yet, they’re offended when we call them fascists.
December 24, 2025 at 2:47 AM
And yet, they’re offended when we call them fascists.
Reposted by Eric Columbus
When even Bari Weiss spurns “Trump Kennedy Center”
CBS News’s standards dept. last week instructed staffers to maintain the original Kennedy Center name: "If the president or other administration officials use the new name in a soundbite that is their prerogative.” www.washingtonpost.com/style/2025/1...
On CBS, it was still the Kennedy Center Honors
The network kept the Kennedy Center’s original name in its broadcast, and CBS News instructed staff to do the same, an email shows.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 24, 2025 at 4:51 AM
When even Bari Weiss spurns “Trump Kennedy Center”
When even Bari Weiss spurns “Trump Kennedy Center”
CBS News’s standards dept. last week instructed staffers to maintain the original Kennedy Center name: "If the president or other administration officials use the new name in a soundbite that is their prerogative.” www.washingtonpost.com/style/2025/1...
On CBS, it was still the Kennedy Center Honors
The network kept the Kennedy Center’s original name in its broadcast, and CBS News instructed staff to do the same, an email shows.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 24, 2025 at 4:51 AM
When even Bari Weiss spurns “Trump Kennedy Center”
On behalf of everyone who wants SCOTUS to uphold birthright citizenship, I beg Stephen Miller to keep tweeting.
December 24, 2025 at 4:22 AM
On behalf of everyone who wants SCOTUS to uphold birthright citizenship, I beg Stephen Miller to keep tweeting.
Reposted by Eric Columbus
fascinating new birthright citizenship research from Amanda Frost and Emily Eason — in a reconstruction period rife with eligibility challenges, nobody challenged 12 members of Congress who would fail Trump’s citizenship clause test
Paper here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Paper here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
December 24, 2025 at 3:02 AM
fascinating new birthright citizenship research from Amanda Frost and Emily Eason — in a reconstruction period rife with eligibility challenges, nobody challenged 12 members of Congress who would fail Trump’s citizenship clause test
Paper here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Paper here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the AG may not withhold these memos unless it "would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution"—which is extraordinarily unlikely. Nor can she withhold the emailer's name (who might be Maurene Comey).
www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...
www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...
THIS is among the most important list of documents the public needs to see.
www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
December 24, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the AG may not withhold these memos unless it "would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution"—which is extraordinarily unlikely. Nor can she withhold the emailer's name (who might be Maurene Comey).
www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...
www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...
Marty Lederman to eat for free in Chicago for the rest of his life
December 23, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Marty Lederman to eat for free in Chicago for the rest of his life
The president says NYT is a serious national security threat and must be stopped and we’re all just like yeah, it’s Tuesday.
December 23, 2025 at 7:57 PM
The president says NYT is a serious national security threat and must be stopped and we’re all just like yeah, it’s Tuesday.
Reposted by Eric Columbus
this is insane to me. the doj had forever to look into this. now they're like liveblogging on x like they have no more information than a random person on social media
December 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
this is insane to me. the doj had forever to look into this. now they're like liveblogging on x like they have no more information than a random person on social media
Reposted by Eric Columbus
About the card Jeffrey Epstein purportedly sent to Larry Nassar:
* The postmark is from Virginia, not New York where Epstein was jailed
* The return address is incorrect and doesn't include his register number
* FBI sought a handwriting analysis. Don't know outcome.
www.reuters.com/world/us/jus...
* The postmark is from Virginia, not New York where Epstein was jailed
* The return address is incorrect and doesn't include his register number
* FBI sought a handwriting analysis. Don't know outcome.
www.reuters.com/world/us/jus...
Justice Department releases card mentioning Trump, purportedly sent from Epstein to Nassar
The U.S. Justice Department released an image on Tuesday of a card that makes a crude reference to President Donald Trump, purportedly written by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Nassar...
www.reuters.com
December 23, 2025 at 5:00 PM
About the card Jeffrey Epstein purportedly sent to Larry Nassar:
* The postmark is from Virginia, not New York where Epstein was jailed
* The return address is incorrect and doesn't include his register number
* FBI sought a handwriting analysis. Don't know outcome.
www.reuters.com/world/us/jus...
* The postmark is from Virginia, not New York where Epstein was jailed
* The return address is incorrect and doesn't include his register number
* FBI sought a handwriting analysis. Don't know outcome.
www.reuters.com/world/us/jus...