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Reposted by Eric Columbus

slangsonsports.bsky.social @slangsonsports.bsky.social · 2h

This is the second winner-take-all game in postseason history to go at least 13 innings, joining:

2018 NLWCG Rockies over Cubs, 13 innings

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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 4h

When Russell Vought pushes something into the news on Friday night of a long weekend, is that a sign of strength — of a battle for public opinion he thinks he can win?

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 4h

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 3h

@nicholasbednar.bsky.social Thoughts on this, i.e. legal relevance of Trump saying RIFs will be partisan?

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 3h

All the editors of the MMWR or just some?

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gelbach @gelbach.bsky.social · 4h

Tylenol is next

Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 5h

The Trump administration has been spreading anti-vaccine propaganda for months. Tonight, Trump's physician announced he just received a flu shot and a COVID booster.

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 3h

Aggrieved? How so?

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 4h

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 5h

My first thought was “wow I hope this guy didn’t give out his name because he could absolutely be charged” and yup, he is correct to stay anonymous.

This man’s account is shocking. His neighbors’ situation is shocking. The entire Chicago raid is shocking.

On the other side was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for his help.
"I wasn't planning on letting her stay, but I didn't know what the hell was going on," the man said of his Venezuelan migrant neighbors. But he quickly relented. The little girl was inconsolable and hid under his bed.
"I didn't want them to take her," said the man, who didn't want to be named because he fears he'll be targeted by federal authorities for his actions.
"I gave her my bedroom, and I just told her,
'Just stay there. Don't open, don't, shh, just stay quiet," he recalled telling the mom and daughter as he choked back tears.

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 4h

I agree but also I don't get what's going on at the beginning. What's the "object that goes flying in the air"? How and why do they grab her?

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Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · 5h

Reminder: the President may be allowing his secretary to undermine access to vaccines for others and promote anti vaccine misinformation, but he himself is fully vaccinated, including this year’s flu and Covid vaccine.

In this, do as the president does, not as his secretary ‘s ACIP minions say.

Letter saying President Trump got his annual flu and Covid vaccine.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 5h

Can you think of a single movie in which there is a video from the government denouncing its political opponents playing on a loop in public spaces in which that government was the good guy?

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 5h

A new Noem video is being played at airports trashing Democrats.

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 5h

For those who need their memory refreshed 👇👇

Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 7h

pixelated boat
@pixelatedboat
Wow, this extract from Wolff's book is a shocking insight into Trump's mind:

On his first night in the White House, President Trump complained that the TV in his bedroom was broken, because it didn't have "the gorilla channel.” Trump seemed to be under the
impression that a TV channel existed that screened nothing but
gorilla-based content, 24 hours a day.
To appease Trump, White House staff compiled a number of gorilla documentaries into a makeshift gorilla channel, broadcast into Trump's bedroom from a hastily-constructed transmission tower on the South Lawn. However, Trump was unhappy with the channel they had created, moaning that it was "boring"
because "the gorillas aren't fighting".
Staff edited out all the parts of the documentaries where gorillas weren't hitting each other, and at last the president was satisfied. "On some days he'll watch the gorilla channel for 17 hours straight," an insider told me. "He kneels in front of the TV, with his face about four inches from the screen, and says encouraging things to the gorillas, like 'the way you hit that other gorilla was good'. I think he thinks the gorillas can hear him."
1/4/18, 9:07 PM

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 7h

The other possibility, of course, is that he's just lying.

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 7h

*Newsmax not Media Matters

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Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 7h

All nonsense, of course, but if the point were to “give[] the minority a say” then the logic would require them to negotiate with Dems, not shut down the government and force them to swallow GOP priorities whole.

ringwiss @ringwiss.bsky.social · 10h

“And that’s why we nuked it twice in the past month.”

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 7h

The Vice President follows that account

onion person @junlper.beer · 9h

setting aside the fact that they just don’t know what jokes are, this gives a big insight into the mind of white nationalists. they are deeply paranoid about the idea of being percieved as anything other than Epic Stoics

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 7h

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Lawfare @lawfaremedia.org · 11h

HAPPENING IN JUST UNDER AN HOUR at 4pm ET

Trials of the Trump Administration live with @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org, Loren Voss, @annabower.bsky.social, @rparloff.bsky.social, @ericcolumbus.bsky.social and @mollyroberts.bsky.social on domestic deployments, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and more ⬇️

Lawfare @lawfaremedia.org · 1d

Tomorrow at 4pm ET, @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org, Loren Voss, @annabower.bsky.social, @rparloff.bsky.social, and @ericcolumbus.bsky.social will discuss the legal challenges to the National Guard deployments in Portland and Chicago, the effort to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and more.

Lawfare Live: Trials of the Trump Administration, Oct. 10

YouTube video by Lawfare

youtube.com

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 11h

UPDATE: Plaintiffs seek an immediate TRO blocking any RIFs
s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

At 9:27 am today, October 10, 2025, OMB Director Russell Vought posted on social media: “The RIFs have begun.” This corroborates credible information Plaintiffs began receiving earlier this morning from multiple sources that OMB has directed federal agencies government-wide to begin issuing RIF notices today. See Huddleston Declaration, filed herewith. For all the reasons explained in Plaintiffs’ Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (ECF 17), these RIFS violate the Antideficiency Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, including by requiring agency employees to unlawfully work during the shutdown, unlawfully laying off employees during the shutdown, and improperly using the shutdown as the basis for the layoffs. Plaintiffs therefore request an immediate TRO halting OMB from ordering agencies to implement RIFs, and halting the issuance of any RIF notices by any Defendant pending the Court’s already scheduled October 16, 2025 hearing on Plaintiffs’ motion. Plaintiffs are available at any time for an earlier hearing. Plaintiffs provided notice to counsel for Defendants this morning of these developments and requested confirmation that RIFs are not being issued today. At 9:56 am, counsel for Defendants confirmed: “Our understanding is that RIFs are taking place at certain agencies, and we are gathering the details to put in today’s filing as the court ordered.”

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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 12h

I can only hope that one day I, too, will be notable enough to be described by Roger Stone as a “leaping bounding, screaming asshole.”

Congrats @kyledcheney.bsky.social!!

bsky.app/profile/anna...

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 12h

“Anna is a nobody” — Roger Stone

Roger Stone @RogerJStoneJr
X.com
Kyle Cheney is a congenital liar and a propagandist and Anna is a nobody. Multiple attorneys who have examined this case describe it as air tight. By the way, Cheney is also a leaping bounding, screaming asshole.
2:16 AM • 10/10/25 • 188 Views

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Nick Bednar @nicholasbednar.bsky.social · 12h

A brief summary of everything I have written on RIFs to date. RIFs are insanely complex and procedurally difficult to implement. Most RIFs are challenged on procedural grounds. 1/7

www.lawfaremedia.org/article/a-pr...

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 13h

I swear that dawned on me!

Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 13h

(I should clarify that Nick and Sam aren't necessarily saying different things; just different emphases.)

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 13h

(I should clarify that Nick and Sam aren't necessarily saying different things; just different emphases.)

Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 13h

But see @nicholasbednar.bsky.social
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/redu...
Nick and Sam podcasted about this last week but I have yet to listen:
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/lawf...

Some commentators have argued that recent amendments to the Antideficiency Act effectively prohibit federal agencies from using RIFs during a lapse in appropriations. The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act amended the Antideficiency Act to provide “[e]ach employee of the United States Government or of a District of Columbia public employer furloughed as a result of a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for the period of the lapse in appropriations.” Prior to the passage of this amendment, Congress was required to authorize back pay following each shutdown; the act makes back pay guaranteed and automatic. Some have argued that the automatic provision of back pay demonstrates Congress’s intent to limit the effects of shutdowns on federal workers and, therefore, the use of RIFs during a shutdown violates the spirit of those amendments.

The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act does not explicitly prohibit an agency from involuntarily separating employees during a lapse in appropriations. The statutory text is silent on this issue. The statute merely requires back pay for furloughed employees and does not address any other personnel matters related to those employees. OPM has provided guidance for how agencies can comply with the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act if they choose to initiate RIFs during the shutdown. Employees who are involuntarily separated will receive back pay through their date of separation. Although I agree with the commentators about the purpose of the amendments, I disagree that the amendments themselves prohibit RIFs.

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 13h

Is the statute in question 40 USC 1315 or something else?

Mazzara began his memo by acknowledging there were some “concerns” about a specific statute and whether or not it prevents officers from taking actions off of federal property as a means to protect property and personnel. “Such concerns are misplaced,” he wrote, adding “the limits to FPS's authority off federal property are the edges of the constitution on one side and necessity on the other.”

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