Welcome back in for Al’s Afternoon Tea, our chance to sample some of the latest news.

We are four weeks and one day from the election, and Kamala Harris has suddenly decided she wants to do a media blitz.

But first, remembering 10/7.

O God, be not silent; be not speechless;

be not still, O God.

See how Your enemies rage,

how Your foes have reared their heads.

With cunning they scheme against Your people

and conspire against those You cherish,

saying, “Come, let us erase them as a nation;

may the name of Israel be remembered no more.” (Psalm 83:1-4)

Remembering the Slain and Those Still Held Hostage

Today’s first anniversary of the October 7 massacre brought back the indelible images of the horrors inflicted on innocent Israelis. The Hamas terrorists paragliding into a peaceful music festival, slaughtering all in their path. Children and babies executed. Women raped and tortured.

The celebrations in the streets of Gaza.

Still today, four Americans are believed to be among the 97 hostages who remain captives of the Hamas terrorists:

Edan Alexander, 20

Omer Neutra, 22

Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35

Keith Siegel, 64

We pray for their safe and speedy return.

Celebrating the Massacre As Nearly 40% of American Muslims Deny It Even Happened

While vigils are being held across the country to mark the tragedy, the day has also brought out those antisemitic protesters who see the 10/7 barbarism as a victory and gathered to commemorate, including on the campus of the University of Maryland. To its credit, the school tried to block the protest. However, a federal judge ruled last week the anti-Israeli protest must be allowed.

The protest is part of “Week of Rage” organized by the pro-genocidal National Students for Justice in Palestine.

“Let’s make things clear: waving Palestinian/Hamas/Hezbollah flags and holding demonstrations on October 7 is like waving Nazi flags on Holocaust Remembrance Day,” Combat Antisemitism Movement CEO Roytman posted on X. “This date marks the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, committed by Palestinian terrorists. This isn’t advocacy — it’s a betrayal of human decency.”

Stunningly, according to a survey commissioned by the Heritage Foundation, 39% of American Muslims say Hamas did not commit rape and murder on October 7. Another 30% said they did not know. So nearly 70% of Muslims in the United States deny or refuse to acknowledge Hamas terrorists raped and murdered Israelis last October 7.

Houston, we have a problem.

The Menacing Hurricane Milton Now a CAT 5

Have mercy. Milton has become a monster with winds clocking at 175 MPH, making it the fourth strongest hurricane recorded in the Atlantic. The hurricane blew up from a Category 2 to a Category 5 in the time it took me to prepare today’s serving of Tea.

Hurricane Milton is now a 175 MPH Category 5 storm and tied as the 4th strongest Atlantic hurricane in history. pic.twitter.com/8us53F1OFJ

— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) October 7, 2024

The only good news is Milton should weaken some before slamming into the Florida’s western coast Wednesday. Gov. Ron DeSantis has told residents to expect a “flurry” of evacuation notices. In fact, Milton could cause the biggest evacuation in Florida since Hurricane Irma in 2017. Some six million people may be displaced. “You have an opportunity today to do what you need to do to execute this plan,” DeSantis said. “But time is going to start running out very, very soon.”

The current track puts Milton’s landfall somewhere between Cedar Key to the north and Naples to the south, before cutting across the Florida peninsula to the Atlantic. But the storm’s course could change.

We pray for those in Milton’s path and for weary first responders as they prepare for this second major hurricane to hit Florida in a matter of weeks.

FEMA Whines While Americans Suffer

Meanwhile, we learned more about what’s on FEMA’s mind when it comes to emergency management.

FEMA Disaster Preparedness Meeting:

"We should focus our efforts on LGBTQIA people… they struggled before the storm"

"FEMA relief is no longer about getting the greatest good for the greatest amount of people…. It's about disaster equity." pic.twitter.com/IqXeKI8OTT

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) October 7, 2024

Yet, even when stating equity is the prime goal of her agency, even with first-person accounts pouring in of FEMA’s lack of help and presence in areas ravaged by Hurricane Helene, FEMA Director Deanne Criswell went on This Week with George Stephanopoulos Sunday to whine about the criticism being directed at her agency, calling it “misinformation” and  “a truly dangerous narrative.”

Sadly, every minute Criswell spends complaining is another minute she  isn’t doing her job to alleviate the suffering of American people. This isn’t about politics; being without food, water, shelter, and electricity is what’s truly dangerous. Tearful and/or furious first-person accounts about that aren’t “misinformation.” To say they are adds insult to injury.

Here’s the thing: People in a disaster zone know who’s helping them and who is not. Back in 2017, the Gulf Coast town of Rockport, Texas, was nuked by Hurricane Harvey. To those of us who were helping out with clean-up efforts, it was obvious who had their sleeves rolled up: Samaritan’s Purse. Operation Blessing. Members of a local church that itself had been wrecked were busting their tails all over town. Fellow Texans who had arrived from all over the state. And yes, FEMA. A local parking lot had so many FEMA trailers on site it looked like a massive tailgate party. And I heard from a family member, who was in the region assessing boat damage, that FEMA was set up in communities all along the impacted coast.

We knew FEMA was there. We felt their presence. That is not the experience of those in the disaster zone today. So rather than cry about criticism on the welcoming shoulder of George Stephanopoulos, perhaps Criswell should examine why her agency has fallen apart in just a few short years.

By the way, maybe Stephanopoulos should have asked Criswell this question: “Why was the Federal Emergency Management Agency helping illegal immigrants while at the same time insisting there wasn’t an emergency at the border?”

Harris Appears on Semi-Pornographic Podcast

What was Kamala Harris doing while North Carolinians were crying out for help? Recording an appearance on the sexually graphic “Call Her Daddy” podcast. During the episode that aired Sunday, Harris challenged voters to “look at my career to know what I care about.” 

HOST: "Why should we trust you?"

KAMALA: "Look at my career to know what I care about."

(By that metric, Kamala cares about illegal aliens, 70-80% tax rates, sex changes for prison inmates, banning gas-powered vehicles, ending fracking, and shipping jobs overseas) pic.twitter.com/7yBTOSVWSe

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 6, 2024

And that’s the problem. She cares about Lebanon more than Appalachia. She cares out protecting her friends at Planned Parenthood and their baby organ-selling enterprise more than delivering justice, and she cares about punishing her enemies, like the journalist who exposed that enterprise. She cares about yellow school buses, but not the porn and propaganda being pumped into our kids when they get to school. She cared about protecting abortion enough to help falsely slander Judge Brett Kavanaugh when he was nominated for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. She cared about self-preservation enough to spend four years lying about Joe Biden’s mental condition. She cares about rioters, but not the people whose lives and livelihoods they destroy.

What can one conclude about a major party candidate who will go on a podcast that promotes sexual activity to teen girls while floodwaters still rage over an entire region of the nation? What does that tell us about what she cares about?

But here’s the funny thing. According to Collin Rugg, Harris’ appearance didn’t go over too well.

NEW: Kamala Harris’ appearance on ‘Call Her Daddy’ turns into massive flop as the YouTube segment barely received 100k views in the first 16 hours with mostly negative reactions.

At the time of this post, the segment on YouTube has 4.9k likes and 11k dislikes, meaning it has a… pic.twitter.com/XyEbTCZJ45

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 7, 2024

Harris will be all over the place the next 36 hours, though, of course, only on friendly grounds. There will be a 60 Minutes special tonight and The View tomorrow, along with appearances on Howard Stern’s show and Late Night With Stephen Colbert.

The old Howard Stern would have grilled Harris for her hurricane response, to say nothing of the allegations that her husband physically abused an ex-girlfriend. Will the Howard Stern of 2024 have the guts to do that?

In her 60 Minutes interview last night, Harris refused to refer to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an American “ally” — and had these wise words about the Middle East:

KAMALA on ISRAEL: Well, Bill … the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by or a result of many things including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region.

WHAT? 😳 pic.twitter.com/7PWQ0JcLAr

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 6, 2024

I have no idea what she means there. And we thought Joe Biden needed a translator.

In case you missed it, Harris also appeared on Saturday Night Live.  No, wait … that was Maya Rudolph. It’s interesting for SNL to mock Harris’s fondness for wine.

That moment when you lose SNL. They bodied Kamala and Walz😂pic.twitter.com/74fraaxKPX

— Spitfire (@DogRightGirl) October 6, 2024

Biden Kneecaps Harris

If you think that was funny, you missed what Joe Biden did to Harris on Friday. (Don’t tell me The Big Guy isn’t upset about the role Harris played in dumping him from the Democratic presidential ticket.)

For the first time in his presidency, Biden entered the press room at precisely the time Harris was set to give a speech that CNN was going to air. Not only did Biden steal her airtime, he proceeded to destroy any attempts on Harris’s part to separate herself from his failed administration. Biden said, “We’re singing from the same song sheet. She helped pass all the laws. She’s a mayor player in everything we’ve done.” 

Biden on Kamala:

"We're singing from the same song sheet. She helped pass all the laws [that resulted in record high inflation]. She's a major player in everything we've done." pic.twitter.com/6qcgU6Mk0E

— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) October 5, 2024

Springsteen Endorses Harris, Forgets His Own Words and Song After Katrina

Are we surprised that rock legend Bruce Springsteen has endorsed Kamala Harris? No. He’s been loudly supporting Democratic candidates since John Kerry in 2004, and ripping Republican presidents since Reagan. He also vacations and does podcasts with Barack Obama, so expecting the rock great to not endorse Obama’s heir would be a stretch.

What is sad is Springsteen’s lack of political integrity and consistency. For example, he sings Edwin Starr’s “War … What Is It Good For?” and yet endorses Kamala Harris the same day she parties onstage with Liz Cheney.

More pivotal to the moment: In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, The Boss performed with his Sessions Band at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. There he debuted a rewrite of a tune composed near the beginning of the Great Depression to shred President George W. Bush, whom he called “President Bystander. “The criminal incompetence makes you furious,” he said before launching into “How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?”

Listen to his intro and the song, then consider all the stories you are hearing coming out of North Carolina. Why is Springsteen helping Harris and not the people of Appalachia?

On the Stream Menu

Dr. Michael Brown looks back on the atrocities Hamas committed in Israel one year ago today in “One Year Later, Israel Still in Agony.”

Stream contributor Raymond Ibrahim offers a history lesson: “When Oct. 7 Was a Day of Victory Against Islamic Terror.”

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.