It’s Columbus Day (or, in some places, Indigenous Peoples Day). Donald Trump’s presidential proclamation for the day is a lot different than Barack Obama’s. Here’s what you need to to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door. (You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.)
1. DACA deal
Hopes for a DACA deal diminished dramatically after the White House put out an aggressive list of demands. The Trump administration wants tougher immigration and border security measures, crackdowns on sanctuary cities, green card restrictions and money for the President’s border wall. Those are all non-starters for Democrats, whose votes will be needed to OK a deal that would let the so-called Dreamers — undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children — stay. President Trump said he would end DACA but gave Congress a six-month window to come up with a fix.
2. Politics
Well, you knew it was coming. Outgoing Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker publicly criticized President Trump a few days ago. Trump struck back over the weekend via — what else? — his Twitter feed. The President claimed Corker begged him for an endorsement (something Corker’s team denies) and said he didn’t “have the guts” to run again.
Corker was having none of that, tweeting out that the White House is “an adult day care center” and someone had missed their shift. Wow. But Corker wasn’t done. Later he told The New York Times the President was putting the world on a path to World War III.
Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence left an NFL game in Indianapolis after players for the San Francisco 49ers kneeled during the national anthem. But some folks are calling what he did a pre-planned stunt. And an expensive one too, for taxpayers, since his trip to Indy cost $100,000. At any rate, he missed a great game, as the Colts prevailed in overtime over the winless 49ers.
3. Harvey Weinstein
Just three days. That’s how quickly Harvey Weinstein was fired from the film company he co-founded after an investigation by The New York Times detailed numerous sex harassment allegations against the media mogul. The board of directors at The Weinstein Company said the decision was made because of the new information on Weinstein’s alleged misconduct. Since the Times story broke, it also became clear the company would lose some clients if Weinstein remained.
There’s political fallout from the story too, with Republicans putting pressure on Democrats to return campaign contributions from Weinstein, who has donated to Democratic candidates and liberal causes for years. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy says Dems ought to give the money back.
4. Spain
A week of extreme political uncertainty begins. After last week’s referendum, the president of Catalonia vows to declare independence for the self-governing region any day now. But Spain’s Prime Minister promises to use every tool within the law to stop that, including threatening to invoke a never-before-used clause in the Spanish constitution to suspend Catalonia’s autonomy. The standoff has plunged Spain into its most serious political crisis in four decades, since the country transitioned to democracy.
5. Weather
As the former Hurricane Nate drags across the US as a tropical depression, another storm system is swirling in the eastern Atlantic. And it looks likely it’ll be a tropical storm — named Ophelia — by the end of the day. There have been 14 named storms, nine of them hurricanes, already this year. That makes 2017 the most active hurricane season since 2005. And there’s still eight weeks to go before the season ends.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We hurt for you and we hurt with you, but you can be sure that we’re gonna walk through these tough times together every step of the way.”
Country star Jason Aldean, who opened “Saturday Night Live” by playing Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down”
BREAKFAST BROWSE
People are talking about these. Read up. Join in.
More happy (or unhappy) faces
When Apple’s iOS is updated this week, you’ll be able to start using hundreds of new emojis, because we just don’t have enough smiley faces in our lives.
White wash?
Dove apologized over the weekend for a social media post, a looping image of a black woman removing a dark brown T-shirt to reveal a white woman.
The robots are coming, Part 1
In the UK there’s a farm where, for the first time in history, a crop was successfully planted and harvested by only machines.
The robots are coming, Part 2
With Boeing working on pilotless planes and GM set to unveil a self-driving military truck, humanity’s starting to look over its shoulder a little bit.
RIP, AIM
AOL Instant Messenger will be putting up a permanent away message when the iconic messaging program shuts down for good on December 15.
NUMBER OF THE DAY
$31.5 million
That’s the box office haul for “Blade Runner 2049.” It was good enough for a No. 1 opening but still much less than expected.
AND FINALLY …
We know the feeling
This cute little beagle struggling to wake up from his nap is all of us trying to kick it in gear this Monday morning. (Click to view)
