The circles are due to the pinhole camera effect I believe - during a partial eclipse of the sun by the moon the circles will have a disc cut out of them, similar to a hole in a sheet of paper. I've noticed this effect myself during a partial eclipse.

I’m afraid, sir or madam, this reference went way over my head

It is contemptible to denigrate another American citizen for the ethnic-sounding origin of their last name. It's an astounding irony that you would invoke the name of Fermi to do that: Fermi was a citizen of Benito Mussolini's Italy, a dissident who immigrated to the United States during the second world war.

"How to tell if someone is a racist? You don't need to, they would tell you themselves"

Highly likely, russian spies ))