• Columbus Day, not Indigenous Peoples’ Day: On Thursday, Donald Trump signed a proclamation to make Columbus Day great again. “Today our Nation honors the legendary Christopher Columbus — the original American hero, a giant of Western civilization, and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth,” the proclamation states. “Outrageously, in recent years, Christopher Columbus has been a prime target of a vicious and merciless campaign to erase our history, slander our heroes, and attack our heritage.” After declaring that under his leadership, the leftist radicals’ smear campaign against Columbus is over, the proclamation concludes, “Our Nation will now abide by a simple truth: Christopher Columbus was a true American hero, and every citizen is eternally indebted to his relentless determination.” This marks a notable difference from Joe Biden, who became the first-ever president to proclaim Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

• Shutdown enters second week: Senate Democrats blocked the clean CR for the seventh time yesterday, ensuring the Schumer Shutdown will reach the two-week mark this coming Tuesday. While the military, the border patrol, and air traffic controllers aren’t getting paid, Chuck Schumer callously declared, “Every day gets better for us.” As the shutdown drags on, more and more government services will cease operating, flights will continue to be affected, and it could even harm the economy. Also on Thursday, the Senate did pass the National Defense Authorization Act, which funds the U.S. military for fiscal year 2026. The Hill expounds, “The bill’s passage allows the House and Senate armed services committees to begin the sometimes arduous conference process, during which lawmakers hammer out a compromise between each chamber’s version of the legislation.” While this is good, it’s still not going to help everyday Americans.

• Spanberger maintains endorsement of Jones: In their Virginia gubernatorial debate on Thursday, Republican candidate Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears pressed Democrat candidate Abigail Spanberger over her continued endorsement of Democrat state attorney general candidate Jay Jones despite the scandal surrounding his vile text messages. When the debate moderator asked if Spanberger still endorsed Jones, she responded, “I had knowledge of the text messages the day they came out, and I denounced them the second I learned of them.” Pressed again, Spanberger deflected, “It is up to every person to make their own decision.” Earle-Sears observed, “I’m wondering why my opponent … won’t say it is not okay and that he must leave the race because Jay Jones advocated for … the murder of a man, a former speaker, as well as his children, who were two and five years old. You have little girls. What would it take, him pulling the trigger?”

• NJ GOP gubernatorial candidate sues Dem opponent: During the New Jersey gubernatorial debate on Wednesday, Democrat candidate Mikie Sherrill accused Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli of “trying to divert from the fact you killed tens of thousands of people by printing your misinformation, your propaganda.” It was a reference to a medical publishing company Ciattarelli previously owned, which published medical materials, including some for pharmaceutical companies. Ciattarelli retorted, “Shame on you.” Now, his campaign has announced it is raising a defamation lawsuit against Sherrill, with Ciattarelli’s campaign strategist, Chris Russell, pointedly noting, “In a time where political violence and violent rhetoric are becoming all too prevalent, Mikie Sherrill baselessly and recklessly accusing a political opponent of mass murder in a televised debate crosses the line.” The latest polling shows the NJ gubernatorial race is in a dead heat.

• Hegseth touts reenlistment record: During the Biden administration, the U.S. military repeatedly struggled to meet recruitment goals. Excuses for this ranged from too many young Americans being too fat to serve to a supposed lack of cultural diversity in the military to make it appealing. Apparently, both of those excuses were incorrect. On Thursday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth explained, “We saw record recruitment in 2025, Mr. President. The first two weeks of [Fiscal Year] 2026 … already blows it out of the water.” He then noted, “In fact, reenlistment has already reached its year-long goal in the Marine Corps in 2026. There’s no other way to create that kind of love and enthusiasm than with your leadership, sir.” The solution has been getting woke nonsense out and restoring the warrior ethos within the military. And this has been thanks to Hegseth, who has prioritized making America’s military personnel a lethal fighting force.

• TPUSA’s alternate halftime show: True to its ideal of turning the tide in America, TPUSA announced that it will host “The All-American Halftime Show” to compete with the NFL’s horrible show featuring cross-dressing, America-hating Bad Bunny. Unsurprisingly, many Americans who love the American game of football aren’t fans of someone who hates our country and doesn’t even perform in English. There have been calls to boycott the NFL. Bad Bunny retaliated to the backlash in typical fashion on “Saturday Night Live” by doing part of his monologue in Spanish and then advising viewers, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn.” TPUSA has yet to announce details, but we can be confident that its choices will be a vast improvement over the NFL, whose shows have been questionable and unappealing in the past.

• State Dept. fires diplomat who hid romance with Chinese national: “I defied my government, for love,” Daniel Choi said. While Choi was a foreign service officer working for the State Department, he was having a romantic relationship with a Chinese citizen. During a hidden camera encounter with an O'Keefe Media Group reporter, he admitted that she could have been a spy: “Her dad was either a provincial or a federal minister of education. So he’s, like, straight-up Communist Party.” He also acknowledged that he was supposed to report information about her but didn’t. As a result, on Wednesday, the White House approved Choi’s termination after Secretary of State Marco Rubio initiated the process. It’s encouraging to see that we have a government that takes our national security seriously and is not afraid to fire those who willingly defy it.

• Blue city “justice”: In yet another sad demonstration of how Democrat policies affect the lives of everyday Americans, a 69-year-old Indiana man was stabbed at a gas station — by a man with 99 prior arrests. This attack could have been prevented if 41-year-old Courtney Boose had not been let off the hook almost 100 times. Despite his extensive record, marked by numerous convictions and dismissals, he served no time in state prison. For more than two decades of mostly low-level felonies and misdemeanors, he served at most two months in county jail. Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police President Rick Snyder complained that repeat offenders are “being turned back onto the streets faster than officers can arrest them.” As we’ve seen over and over again, people get seriously hurt or killed as a result of soft-on-crime policies.

Headlines

• UT Chattanooga overrules student government, approves TPUSA chapter after rejection fight (Fox News)

• Republicans vote down bid to block Trump’s strikes on drug boats (Newsweek)

• Trump signs $6.1 billion Finland deal as Russia’s massive Arctic fleet threatens U.S. (Fox News)

• Sanders plans “robot tax” legislation to save jobs from AI (Washington Examiner)

• EIA adjusts forecast for U.S. oil production as producers set a record in July (EIA)

• BLM activist pleads guilty in case involving misuse of taxpayer dollars (National Review)

• Humor: Greta Thunberg awarded Nobel Peace Prize for ending the war in Gaza (Babylon Bee)

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