Good morning and congratulations to Kenyan runner Ruth Chepngetich! She shattered the women’s marathon record by nearly two minutes yesterday in Chicago with a time of 2:09:56. Yes, there are actually people out there running a mile in less than five minutes… twenty-six times in a row. For the rest of us, Chick-fil-A has a bangin’ seasonal Banana Pudding Milkshake.

HISTORY

⛵️ The secret origins of Columbus Day

"In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." Yadda, yadda, yadda, it's a busy day out there. Many people are celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day. Our Canadian friends are celebrating Thanksgiving. And federal employees are off work for Columbus Day.

Cities like San Francisco had thrown Columbus Day parades since 1869 to celebrate the day (October 12) Columbus landed in North America (in the Bahamas). But modern(ish) celebrations of Columbus Day at the national level date to an 1892 presidential proclamation timed to recognize the 400th anniversary of his voyage.

• On the darker side, however, anti-Italian bigotry was a growing problem. Eleven Italian immigrants had been lynched in New Orleans the previous year and Columbus, though he sailed for Spain, was Italian.

• Celebrating his contributions to history was seen as a way to fight that bigotry while recognizing the growing Italian American community.

The federal celebration didn't take off for another 40 years, though. After a big push from Congress, President Franklin Roosevelt signed a proclamation in 1937 recognizing Columbus Day. Later presidents followed suit. But a proclamation is just an official "yay!" from the White House. The official federal holiday didn't roll around until 1971.

• President Biden issued proclamations on Friday recognizing Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day (along with another for Blind Americans Equality Day).

Columbus Day has historically been celebrated all over the world, from Italy and Spain to the Caribbean and Latin America (looking at you, Colombia). Many such celebrations have since been renamed as history takes a fresher look at ole Christopher's record of extreme brutality in his undying quest for gold.

• Argentina now celebrates it as a Day of Respect of Cultural Diversity. Peru calls it Indigenous Peoples and Intercultural Dialogue Day.

• Sixteen U.S. states still celebrate Columbus Day, while four celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day or another native-aligned holiday. Three combine the two ideas. And Virginia, being Virginia, tosses in a Revolutionary War reference for good measure.

• Many large U.S. cities, including Columbus, Ohio, have also bailed on Columbus.

Now scientists believe Christopher Columbus may not have been the Italian Catholic we all thought he was. A 22-year investigation into his background culminated with a DNA test on bones beneath Spain's Seville Cathedral long believed to belong to Columbus. The big reveal on Saturday? Christopher Columbus was a Jew from the Spain-Portugal area.

GOVERNMENT

📺️ Republican Senate candidates are getting destroyed by Democrats in the fundraising game. The national party is flush with cash. But complex campaign finance rules enforced by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) prevent the party from spending that money effectively on behalf of its candidates. Republicans, however, seem to have found a workaround. Run basic "vote for Jim" ads with a little "this-is-totally-a-fundraising-plea-and-definitely-isn't-an-ad-for-Jim" clip slapped on the end. The FEC's not thrilled with this plan, but its six commissioners tied 3-3 in a vote last week to stop it.

🚀 The U.S. military will deploy a missile defense system to Israel along with troops to operate it. The move, which highlights Israel's reliance on American support, will boost the country's defenses ahead of a possible missile attack from Iran. The THAAD system is a project of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency. This will be its first operational deployment.

⚡️ President Biden surveyed hurricane damage in Florida yesterday for the second time this month. During his visit, Biden announced $612 million in Department of Energy (DOE) cash to improve electric grids prone to hurricane damage. Vice President Harris, meanwhile, spent some time Saturday packing aid boxes for storm victims in North Carolina.

POLITICS

🏛️ Police make arrest outside Trump event

"The Apprentice," a new Bucky Sebastian Stan-led biopic on Donald Trump's rise in New York real estate in the 1970s and 1980s, came out on Friday. The director claims it's a nuanced movie "about a human being." But Hollywood and Washington are both keeping their distance. Its D.C. premiere was star-, sponsor-, and booze-free. ABC and CBS refused to air ads for the movie during recent debates, and, in a 2024 rarity, it still has no streaming deal.

Donald Trump: The third time was thankfully not the charm. A Nevada man was arrested outside Donald Trump's rally in Coachella, California on Saturday. He claimed to be a journalist with a VIP rally ticket. But his car had a homemade license plate and contained several firearms along with multiple fake passports.

Kamala Harris is in "excellent health" according to Dr. Joshua Simmons, an Army colonel serving as the VP's official physician. He said Harris has, from a health perspective, everything it takes to "successfully execute the duties of the Presidency." The Harris camp hopes releasing her medical report will draw some attention to Donald Trump's advanced age.

• Harris launched her "Souls to the Polls" effort yesterday — a pre-election tradition for Democrats meant to juice support among Black churchgoers. The VP spoke to a packed church yesterday in Greenville, North Carolina, where she said "faith is a verb" that must be shown "in action and in service."

📱 Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had to apologize for a viral video showing influencer Liz Plank on her knees in front of Whitmer being suggestively fed a Dorito by the governor. The stunt was meant to promote science funding from the 2022 CHIPS Act. Instead, it outraged Catholic groups who saw it as mocking the Communion sacrament.

♟️ A right-wing independent candidate for a competitive House seat in Minnesota has dropped out. Thomas Bowman, initially backed by the Democrat-funded Patriots Run Project, said he realized he was being used as a pawn to split the conservative vote.

TRIVIA

Christopher Columbus is known to history as the first European to “discover” the Americas. While his voyages certainly set off a chain reaction of exploration that changed the world, he was not the first European to set foot in the Americas. That honor belongs to, of course, the Vikings. In what year is Erik the Red believed to have set foot in North America?

Hint: It’s over 500 years before Columbus.

BRIEFS

• SpaceX's 400-foot-tall Starship rocket completed its fifth test flight yesterday. The reusable ship took off before shedding its booster, which automatically returned to the launchpad.

• Hordes of 20-foot-long drones hovered in restricted airspace 4,000 feet above a U.S. military base for 17 days. Officials have no clue who sent them.

• Russia is building a new statue of Soviet-era dictator Joseph Stalin, who was responsible for the deaths of millions of people.

• Dozens of people were injured in a drone attack on an Israeli military base. Hezbollah militants said it was a response to an Israeli attack in Lebanon which killed 22 and wounded 117.

QUOTES

ANSWER

Erik the Red explored Greenland and set up a permanent settlement around the year 982. If you've ever wondered why Iceland is so lush while Greenland is frozen solid, you can blame Erik. He specifically named Greenland to be more appealing than Iceland to attract settlers to his new colony.