Welcome back in for Al’s Afternoon Tea.

We are mere hours away now from Hurricane Milton making landfall. Current projections have the storm slamming into Florida late tonight or early tomorrow as a ferocious Category 4.

“The track of Hurricane Milton continues to be a worst-case scenario for the Tampa Bay region southward to Charlotte (County),” the National Weather Service said in a briefing Wednesday morning.

Tampa residents are facing storm surges and winds not seen in their area in over a century.

While we wait and pray for those in Milton’s path, we thought it would be a nice change to share some upbeat and inspirational stories emerging from the Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.

Let’s start with romance.

Pair of First Responders Say “I Do” After They Do for Their Neighbor

When most couples stand at the altar and vow to weather life’s storms together, typically, they mean it metaphorically. Then there’s Eric Barnwell and Rhonda Chislaghi. The couple was supposed to fly out of North Carolina on September 29 for their wedding in Montana’s Glacier National Park. Instead, they stayed home to work as first responders when Helene came crashing through.

According to WLOS, Chislaghi volunteers for the Henderson County Rescue Squad and Barnwell is a retired division chief for the Skyland Fire Department. Both have more than 30 years’ experience as first responders. When Helene struck, they knew they had to help rather than get hitched.

“We had too many family and friends, and then the work that was going on with our departments – we knew we weren’t going to be able to make that trip happen,” Chislaghi told WLOS. “It was heartbreaking, but it’s all in the plan; we will reschedule, and we will get there.”

Still, when the day of their actual wedding came, October 2, the couple were determined to become husband and wife.

“Today was our wedding day, and we were not going to spend it apart,” Barnwell posted on Facebook. “We knew if we could do a vow and ring exchange today, we would and, thanks to some special folks, it happened.”

Chislaghi met up with Barnwell at the Buncombe County fire station, where he was helping with relief supplies. A man who works for Buncombe County Emergency Management happens to be a chaplain — and with the station sign as a backdrop rather than the mountains of Glacier National Park, Chislaghi and Barnwell were married.

Congratulations to the couple, and God bless them for their service.

Resourcefulness: Making Bridges Out of Fallen Logs

When one sees the ingenuity and spirit coming to play in the Helene recovery efforts, one cannot help but marvel, whether it be at high-tech drones or old-school donkeys delivering medicine to flood victims.

Take this video of workers using heavy equipment to turn fallen trees into temporary bridges, making washed-away roads passable.

Happening RIGHT NOW

This isn’t Kamala Harris’ FEMA

Tonight these regular everyday Americans are working through the night to make bridges for Hurricane Helene victims out of downed telephone poles and trees. This is work by real American you won’t see reported by the media pic.twitter.com/JvlnVhmaq3

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) October 8, 2024

Meanwhile, residents of Elk Ridge, North Carolina used flatbed trailers to create a bridge allowing relief supplies to reach the town of Butler.  

Teamwork: The Redneck Air Force

The Cajun Army has company. The desperate effort to fly in supplies and other assistance to cut-off communities has led to the creation of what’s called the Salvage Operation Center. The people building it were quickly dubbed the “Redneck Air Force.”

Operating out of a Harley-Davidson dealership in Asheville, and stocked with predominantly special ops veterans, the Redneck Air Force runs a fleet of 35 helicopters. According to the New York Post, the Redneck Air Force has already used this fleet and 150 volunteers to conduct hundreds of rescues and reconnaissance sorties. As of Monday, they’d already delivered more than half a million pounds of supplies. 

Leading the Redneck Air Force is retired Green Beret Adam Smith, who’d flown in from Texas to find some of his family members. When asked about FEMA’s response thus far, Smith barked, “Who’s FEMA?”  

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Meanwhile, a shout-out goes to Harley-Davidson. After discovering a local dealership in Hughesville, Maryland, is collecting and delivering supplies to their brethren in Asheville, I’ve discovered other Harley dealerships revving up as well, including The Harley-Davidson Shop at the Beach in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.    

From Flood to Faith: Baptized in Western NC

With so many lives lost in the waters of western North Carolina, our hearts can leap knowing that hundreds have been eternally saved in the wake of the storm.

Hundreds of people gather to get baptized and give their lives to Christ after #helene in Rutherford County, Western North Carolina pic.twitter.com/6DaaZD7K17

— Frank Fighting For Freedom 🇺🇸 (@thinktankfranks) October 5, 2024

According to Not the Bee, the woman who posted the TikTok video above, Taylor Grace, says the baptism took place on a private lake in Rutherford County. Grace also wanted to assure viewers the lake was not in a flooded area, and thus free of dangerous debris or contamination.

But let’s talk about grit. It turned out this baptism had been scheduled since August. Rutherford County is among the areas hit the hardest by Helene. Not even an apocalyptic flood can stop a move of God.

In Other News …

Meanwhile, while hard-working Americans are moving heaven and earth to help those hurting from Helene, the vice president of the United States is popping brewskies on late-night television.

Media Blitzed: On Colbert, Kamala Harris Cracked Open a Miller High Life in Effort to Be Relatable

During her appearance last night on Late Night With Stephen Colbert, Kamala Harris took the fawning host up on his offer to have a beer with him. Colbert said Harris had chosen Miller High Life — meaning that she had agreed in advance to the stunt.

Kamala Harris pulls an Elizabeth Warren and attempts to relate to the ordinary American people by drinking beer

pic.twitter.com/B7sPe4IxZD

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 9, 2024

Just a few quick points:

Why did Harris agree to a stunt that failed so miserably for Elizabeth Warren?

Why did Harris engage in such frivolity when so many are suffering from Hurricane Helene and now Milton? Unless she were to turn around and say she’d arranged for Miller to send a dozen truckloads of beer to first responders, this is useless.

Why engage in something so cheap and silly when analysts say male voters don’t take her seriously anyway?

And most of all, why would anyone think it’s a good idea to highlight alcohol when Saturday Night Live is already doing sketches suggesting that person is a lush?

Walz Calls for Eliminating the Electoral College

That SNL sketch mentioned above showed Harris, played by Maya Rudolph, hitting the bottle hard while watching Tim Walz’s debate performance on TV. Perhaps it’s no wonder the real Harris grabbed a beer yesterday with Colbert. While at a ritzy fundraiser hosted by California Gov. Gavin Newsom yesterday, Walz reportedly declared, “I think we all know the Electoral College has to go.”

Nothing like having your running mate say, “Hey, let’s do away with another crucial chunk of the Constitution! Look how radical we are!” when you’re trying to sell the idea that you’ve transformed into a moderate overnight. 

Harris’s people were quick to announce that she does not support eliminating the Electoral College, “but the week is young, and you know how she likes to flip flop.” (Yes, we made that up. But you were thinking it.)  

Afghan Let Into U.S. on Biden-Harris Special Visa Busted for Plotting Election Day Terror Attack

When asked Tuesday what decisions she would have made differently than Joe Biden over the last four years, Harris said, “Nothing comes to mind.” Not even the disastrous U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan? How about the decision to give 77,000 special immigrant visas to Afghans without fully and properly vetting them first?

That one has already come close to proving deadly. Yesterday, the Department of Justice announced the arrest of Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, a 27-year-old Afghan who’d been flown into the U.S. by the Biden-Harris administration mere days after the botched military withdrawal. Tawhedi is charged with plotting an Election Day terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS.

On the Stream Menu

Stream publisher James Robison delivers a timely message in “A Nation Deceived.”

Meanwhile, contributor Keith Guinta offers some wise words in “Dismantling the After Party Curriculum.” Love this line of his: “Next time you hear someone making the case that Christians should not be political, pause and listen closely to who is cheering in agreement.”

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.