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Al’s Afternoon Tea: Biden’s Campaign Backfire and Taking on B of A’s Christian Debanking Bias – The Stream

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Welcome back for Al’s Afternoon Tea — our time to stop, sip, and savor some of the latest news.

Backfire?

The plan was this: Keep Donald Trump pinned down in a courtroom while Joe Biden campaigns across the country.

That plan is going about as well as the Biden administration’s exit strategy from Afghanistan. They may have been better off letting him get indicted, stuck in court, and stifled by a gag order.

Biden was in Tampa yesterday, and scored a trifecta: First, he repeated his whopper about having driven an 18-wheeler. (He may have sung along to C.W. McCall’s hit “Convoy” back in the day, but that’s about it.)

Then, during a rant against rival Donald Trump, he declared, clearly and forcefully, “How many times does he have to prove we can’t be trusted?” (Apparently, new shoes don’t stop Freudian slips.)

And finally, when Biden was done with his speech, he again shook hands with a ghost. (Admittedly, it’s always a good idea for a candidate to reach out to his voters.)

Late Breaking News: On Wednesday, Biden once again read script instructions off the teleprompter, actually adding the word “Pause” after a sentence.

Again, this is not to make fun of the president of the United States — other countries are doing plenty of that as it is — but to highlight how the election is already being manipulated, and again call out those from the White House to Attorney General Merrick Garland to celebrities like John Legend and Michael Douglas, who insist Biden is still as sharp as a tack.

At this point, it’s like insisting FDR was never in a wheelchair.

Still, Biden wasn’t done. More disturbingly, watch what he did Tuesday during a pro-abortion event, making the sign of the cross.

Newsom’s Abortion Insanity vs. Biden’s Abortion Reality

Regardless, whatever Biden said yesterday is not as off-the-charts kooky as a new ad California Gov. Gavin Newsom is using to promote the Golden State as an abortion sanctuary. The spot tries to convince women that Donald Trump wants to have them arrested if they try to leave Alabama to get an abortion, and that hick cops will pull them over and force them to take pregnancy tests.

We should be thankful to live in a country where women gullible enough to fall for this are still allowed to drive. Sadly, many are gullible enough to believe the lie that a child would ruin, rather than enrich their lives — that the child is just a bunch of cells.

But wait, Gavin. Why is it that only pregnant women being pulled over in  the ad? Are you saying “men” who are pregnant won’t be stopped? That seems very cis-focused, governor. Also: How do the redneck cops know the woman behind the wheel is pregnant? Are they mindreaders? Or are you trying to claim Trump wants police to harass every female in a car nearing the Alabama state line, just to find out if they’re pregnant and what their purpose is for traveling?

Here’s the dangerous twist to the story. Newsom wants you to believe Republicans want to jail girls who want to have an abortion. Meanwhile, the Biden administration just approved a rule that would put doctors in prison for helping police investigate crimes involving abortion, such as statutory rape  … even if police have a legitimate warrant to see the records. What’s the saying? Whatever they accuse you of … ?

The government has already proven it is not on the side of girls. But the girls have scored a victory anyway.

DOJ Announces a $139 Million Settlement to Victims of Larry Nassar

Larry Nassar, the team doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, sexually abused girls for decades. His victims numbered in the hundreds, and the girls who reported issues with him were ignored.

The FBI became aware of the growing allegations against Nassar in 2015, but James Comey’s FBI did nothing about them. They sat on the case like it was Hunter Biden’s laptop, allowing the sexual abuse of the girls and young women to continue until state charges were filed against Nassar in 2016.  

The truth and justice did ultimately win out. Nassar was sentenced to a prison term lasting from 40 to 175 years, and a 2021 Inspector General report detailed just how terribly the FBI failed Nassar’s victims.  

This week, the DOJ announced it has agreed to pay a $139 million settlement with survivors of Nassar’s abuse.

“These allegations should have been taken seriously from the outset,” Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer said in a statement. “While these settlements won’t undo the harm Nassar inflicted, our hope is that they will help give the victims of his crimes some of the critical support they need to continue healing.” 

As FBI Director Christopher Wray admitted in 2021, the bureau had “their own chance to stop this monster in 2015, but failed.”

Gymnast Rachael Denhollander, who was the first to go public with allegations against Nassar, said she was “deeply grateful” to finally see the DOJ taking responsibility.  “The unfortunate reality is that what we are seeing today is something that most survivors never see,” Denhollander told the Associated Press. “Most survivors never see accountability. Most survivors never see justice. Most survivors never get restitution.”

A tip of the cup to Rachael and the other brave women who stepped forward and stood up when the feds stood down.

Michigan State had reached a $500 million settlement with Nassar’s victims there in 2018, while USA Gymnastics and U.S. Olympics settled their cases for $380 million in 2021.

Fighting Back Against Big Banking Bigotry

Fifteen financial officials from 13 states have sent a letter to Bank of America, blasting it for its pattern of “debanking” Christians. Among the ministries that B of A has terminated business with are Indigenous Advance Ministries, the Timothy Two Project, and Christian author and speaker Lance Wallnau.  The banking giant would only give “vague reasons” for the cancelations, citing “risk tolerance” and/or a desire to stop working with that “business type.”

“This pattern of religious debanking strongly suggests that systemic drivers of religious and political bias may be at work within Bank of America,” the state officials wrote. “One objective indicator of such a problem is the bank’s egregiously low score on the Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index, the premier benchmark for measuring corporate respect for free speech and religious freedom. Bank of America scored a meager 8 percent out of a possible 100 percent.”

How is B of A getting away with that? Its vague terms of service allow the bank can refuse service to clients who “promote intolerance … or hate.” And these days, “intolerance” and “hate” mean saying a drag queen performing lewd acts in front of a five year-old is bad, and a hate group is anyone the corrupt Southern Poverty Law Center doesn’t like.

The state officials asked Bank of America to take five “good faith” steps. The main three, summarized in brief:

  1. Eliminate viewpoint-discriminatory terms such as “hate” and “intolerance” from governing relationships with customers and employees.
  2. Include a “commitment to not discriminate against customers based on religious or political views.
  3. Conduct a survey designed to help the bank assess the impact of its policies on customers’ civil liberties.

The officials demanded a reply no later than May 17, 2024. They did not state an “or else.”

It’s not just Christian ministries B of A is targeting, though. Constitutional lawyer John Eastman said last week he was debanked around the time he was serving as a Trump lawyer in his battle to challenge the 2020 election.  

On the Menu for Tomorrow’s Stream

Stream contributor Jules Gomes gets melodic with “The Gospel of Blessed Assurance According to J.S. Bach.”

Tomorrow afternoon, we’re expecting Jason Jones to write about what’s happening in Maui eight months after the wildfires that destroyed the tourist town of Lahaina — a tragic story that went strangely quiet. 

By the way, if you like Al’s Afternoon Tea, please invite your friends to download The Stream app so they can check out all our content. We do not have limited seating!

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