Welcome back in for Al’s Afternoon Tea, our chance to stop and sample some of the latest news and headlines from around the country.

Was There a Chemical Attack at Trump’s Tucson Rally?

We hope it was just some klutz who accidentally spilled some cleaning chemicals near the risers, but in light of the two assassination attempts and continued  rhetoric from the White House, Kamala Harris and their allies about Donald Trump being a “threat to democracy,” we have to be suspicious about what happened at one of his recent campaign events.

As many as 20 people who attended Donald Trump’s rally last Thursday in Tucson experienced “blurred vision,” terrible “burning” in the eyes, and facial swelling afterward, with many ending up in the emergency room. Some of those people are still feeling the effects, says Arizona Globe reporter Christy Kelly. Those impacted – mostly members of “Latinos for Trump” — had been seated together on the left side of the stage behind the former president.

Trump on Gutfeld!

Donald Trump used to be a staple of late-night television, showing up as often as Don Rickles once did on The Tonight Show back when Johnny Carson was hosting it. Then he ran for president as a Republican. When new Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon had him on as a guest during the 2016 campaign, he was nearly run out of show business. None of the network late-night hosts – or for that matter, daytime hosts — had the guts to bring Trump back on, while Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert spent Trump’s entire presidency doing nothing but anti-Trump shtick. (I’d say “jokes” but that would imply something resembling humor.)

Well, last night, Donald Trump joined the new King of Late Night, Fox News’s Greg Gutfeld, on his show. (No, he was not there to hire Tyrus as a bodyguard.)

Trump joked about being nearly shot on the golf course, and in a more serious turn said the attempt on his life have caused him to be more reflective. “I do think more about God.”

Trump following his attempted assassinations: "I do think more about God" pic.twitter.com/quchQ9ywwF

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) September 19, 2024

Here’s the whole first segment — or as they like to say in the biz, the A Block.

Later, he would share the humorous story of his one personal interaction with Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.

WATCH: Trump tells Gutfeld an amusing story about how Tim Walz called him at the White House in a scared state during the 2020 riots as protesters with flags surrounded his house:

“He said ‘I think they’re going to attack me.’ He said ‘could you put out a word that I’m your… pic.twitter.com/oLZJBhbphT

— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) September 19, 2024

FBI: Iranian Hackers Stole Private Info from Trump Campaign, Sent It to Biden’s Camp

“Iran, Iran, Iran.” In 2016, when Trump merely joked about Russia getting Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails, he was subjected to three years of “Russia, Russia, Russia.” Will Kamala Harris get the same treatment?

According to the FBI, sometime in the weeks before Joe Biden dropped out of the current presidential election, Iranian hackers snatched “nonpublic” info from the Trump campaign and sent it to people associated with the Biden-Harris campaign.

According to The Associated Press, it is unclear if Biden’s campaign staff did anything with this information, though this morning Harris’s  condemned “in the strongest terms any efforts by foreign actors to interfere in the U.S. elections.”

Iran has targeted Trump’s campaign with an intense hack-and-leak effort, giving confidential information to at least three news organizations, which thus far have refused to air the material. Iran also is accused of plotting to kill the former president.

Guess Harris should not feel so bad about not getting the endorsement from the Teamsters yesterday. Seems she’s got the hearty thumb’s up from the ayatollahs and their followers — or at least those who haven’t had their thumbs blown off by those booby-trapped pagers.

While we’re over in the Middle East …

Queers for Palestine Offered $1 Million to Hold a Pride Parade in Gaza

One of the most perplexing things about the pro-Palestinian protest is the way a group called “Queers for Palestine” has fully embraced Hamas’s cause. The fate of LGBTQ people in radical Islamic areas like Gaza is not pretty. Now, New Tolerance Campaign President Gregory T. Angelo (formerly the president of the Log Cabin Republicans) has stepped up to see if these protesters want to put their feet where their mouth is. He’s offered $1 million to any pro-LGBTQ group that’ll hold a Pride Parade in Gaza or the West Bank.

Angelo, a conservative gay activist, says the offer is genuine.

“This campaign emerged to call out these purported advocates of LGBT equality and put our money where their mouths are,” he told Fox News Digital. “I think that this is a real opportunity for these groups to legitimately step up and host an event that would either highlight the fact that the Palestinian territories are not indeed a good place for LGBTQ individuals to be living, or it could be a breakthrough moment for pluralism and peace in the Middle East.”

Trans Mariah Carey Impersonator Who Married Himself Gets Divorced

The trans influencer and Mariah Carey impersonator who married himself last year in a “sologamy” ceremony is getting a “divorce.” The influencer, who goes by the name Suellen Carey, apparently had issues with loneliness and commitment. Carey even went to 10 sessions of couples therapy to save the “marriage” … but alas.

“I realized that self-analysis and reflection is essential,” Carey said. “It’s crucial to know when to end a cycle. Even commitment to oneself can have its challenges, such as dealing with the expectation of being perfect for yourself all the time.”

I know what you’re thinking. Who gets the Mariah Carey CD collection?

Seriously, what a mockery of marriage. And I don’t only mean Carey. Attention-seekers with issues will do whatever they can do for attention. But someone else had to officiate the “marriage,” someone else had to host the couples counseling sessions, and many media outlets treated Carey’s “marriage” as straightforwardly as if it were Ben-and-Jen.

19-Year-Old Trans Who ID’s as Male Was Arrested After Threatening to Shoot Up Elementary School

Is anybody noticing a pattern lately? A 19-year-old named Margaret Anderson, who identifies as a male, has been arrested after threatening to commit a mass shooting at Oviatt Elementary School in Norwalk, Iowa.

According to the Daily Wire, Anderson confessed to her therapist she wanted to take a gun and open fire in the school’s cafeteria. She has now been charged with making a “threat of terrorism.”

A “Fare Thee Well” to Long-Time Streamer Nancy Flory

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. (1 Peter 4:10)

Elementary school children with special needs in Fort Worth will soon be getting to work with one of The Stream‘s own. Today was the last day at our office for longtime colleague Nancy Flory, who started out as a proofreader nearly nine years ago. While readers have been uplifted by her articles and personal inspiration stories, we have been witness to her efforts behind the scenes to do whatever needed to be done to help keep the Stream flowing. And she did all through a harrowing series of personal and physical challenges while maintaining her sweet nature.

Nancy’s been a wonderful colleague through the years, through the rough times and good, and while we’ll  miss her, we share Dr. Flory’s excitement over the opportunity to put her teaching gifts to work helping young children. We pray this new season for her is fruitful and joyful.

And we march on …

On the Stream Menu

Just out and piping hot: Stream publisher James Robison shares what he’s been hearing in prayer about the nation, the Church, and God’s people — message that needs to be heeded. “When Praying, Listen.”

Meanwhile, Eric Metaxas has done a dramatic reading of John Zmirak’s ode to Dr. Seuss, “I Will Not Eat Grilled Haitian Cat.”

As promised, Timothy Furnish has reviewed a very interesting book for us: “From Building Contractor to Abortive Assassin: Ryan Routh’s Book Spells It Out.”

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.