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Al’s Afternoon Tea: Columbia Continues the Chaos While a Dead Doggy Dooms Noem’s VP Bid – The Stream

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Thanks for coming in for another serving of Al’s Afternoon Tea.

Columbia Protesters Ignore Campus Officials, Take Over Administrative Building

After indulging the anti-Israeli protesters/squatters with warm and fuzzy words about “negotiations,” Columbia University finally issued a warning to students (and suspected infiltrators) saying they had to disperse by 2 p.m. Monday or face suspension and expulsion. The NYPD gathered. The deadline came and went.

And while Columbia did start suspending students, hundreds of protesters took over an administration building, Hamilton Hall, overnight. They smashed their way in, erected metal gates to barricade the doors, and chanted the genocidal war cry, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

(Hmm. If the media knew enough to be waiting inside for the break-in, where were the campus police?)

In addition to wanting Jews to be extinguished, the protesters are demanding the university divest from Israel … oh, and they want amnesty for all students who have taken part in the protests that have shut down the school, destroyed campus property, and terrorized Jewish students. 

We’re all about solutions on The Stream, and this guy had a great one:

I’m sure Homeland Security can arrange the flights. After all, if the feds can fly illegal immigrants into the country, they can certainly fly wannabe terrorists out.

Three thousand miles away, counterprotesters at UCLA did something that hopefully will open eyes: They set up a massive screen and loudspeakers to show in vivid color the atrocities of October 7. While many of the pro-Hamas protesters would call it the feel-good video of the year, among the protesters are brainwashed students who have no real idea what happened on October 7, and have just been buying what they’ve been told by professors and radicalized peers.

Let them see the truth. At that point, they cannot deny it. If they continue to protest, then the consequences, both in this world and the next, will be on them.

In another bit of good news, law enforcement officers swept through the campus of Cal Poly Humboldt in northern California in the wee hours this morning, arresting 25 people without incident or injury. According to a university statement, the officers were part of Unified Command — a group that comprises personnel from all over California under the direction of Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal and University Police Department Chief Peter Cress. The protestors, who had taken over two buildings and their surrounding areas on campus, now face a range of charges including unlawful assembly, vandalism, conspiracy, assault of police officers, and others. Students and faculty members who took part may face specific disciplinary action from the university as well.

“The law enforcement action at Cal Poly Humboldt was essential to restoring order on campus,” Honsal told reporters.

“When someone commits a crime and infringes on the rights of others, it become necessary for law enforcement to step in. I understand the widespread frustration caused by the campus closure, threatening behavior, and lawlessness we’ve witnessed over the past week. By restoring order, we’ve sent a clear message that the criminal and dangerous activities we experienced were not peaceful protests , but outright criminal behavior, which is unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, an anti-Israeli encampment has been set up on H Street in the District of Columbia. (It’s almost as big as the anti-Israeli encampment inside the DNC.)

Judge Fines Trump $9,000 for Nine Violations of Gag Order

As expected, the judge in Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial has fined the former president $1000 for each of nine violations of his gag order — which only applies to the defendant, not his accusers. 

Judge Juan Merchan warned Trump he could be jailed if he continues to speak about the case. 

The Dogfight for Trump’s VP

The sweepstakes for Trump’s vice presidential nomination has taken an interesting turn the past couple days. Three people thought to be in the running are in the news, for good and bad.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a “secret” meeting Sunday morning with Donald Trump for several hours in Miami. Sources told NBC News’ Dasha Burns that DeSantis reached out to Trump to “bury the hatchet” after the primary campaign and to discuss fundraising. The Trump folks want to tap into DeSantis’s impressive fundraising network, and DeSantis reportedly agreed. After shredding DeSantis all last year, how long will it take for Trump to refer to DeSantis as “my governor, the greatest governor in all of America”?

The real question: Did they also talk about adding DeSantis to the ticket? It sounds good on paper, but as we’ve mentioned here before, DeSantis would be miserable as Trump’s VP, even if he did a bang-up job. The two would grate on each other within weeks. On the other hand, if DeSantis wants to be president in 2028, being Trump’s #2 would practically guarantee him the gig.

Democratic shining star-turned independent “America First” patriot Tulsi Gabbard tells Dave Rubin she’d be honored to be Trump’s pick. (Full disclosure: I still believe Gabbard best fits what Trump needs. Together, as I wrote in February, they’d be TNT.)

What would part of Gabbard’s job be as a VP candidate? To draw over moderate Democrats, particularly women, who want no part of the progressive and woke madness.

Sure enough, she’s already hard at work doing that. Just today, Gabbard published a new book called For the Love of Country, Leave the Democratic Party Behind. An excerpt was posted on Fox News this morning. Tell me who else this sounds like:

I could no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party, which is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers fueled by cowardly wokeness who divide us by racializing every issue and stoke anti-White racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms enshrined in our Constitution, are hostile to people of faith and spirituality, demonize the police and protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, allow our borders to remain open while claiming they are “secure,” weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and, above all, drag us closer to nuclear war with each passing day.

What else would Gabbard do as Trump’s VP? Balance the Queens bull-in-a-china-shop construction guy with some Hawaiian surfer mellow. Sure enough, she urges America to embrace the “spirit of Aloha.”

The word alo means to share, and ha refers to the eternal life force within each of us. Aloha recognizes that we are all connected in a spiritual sense, as children of God. Knowing this truth inspires how we should relate to each other and how we can come together to defend our God-given freedoms enshrined in the Constitution against those who seek to take them away. 

Gabbard is making a strong case to be Trump’s pick. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem? Not so much.

Noem shot her chances in the foot when she revealed in her new book that she once shot her own 14-month-old dog, Cricket, because his “aggressive personality” made him “untrainable” to be a hunting dog.

Noem tried to defend herself over the weekend against the outcry — a lot of it from people who don’t mind doctors vivisecting babies in the womb. She argued such seemingly cold brutality is one of the realities of running a ranch. True or not, most voters Noem would be hoping to draw Trump’s way want no part of dogs being blasted with shotguns. Dogs are family, not farm workers. Indeed,  sources close to the Trump campaign told the New York Post that Noem now has “no shot” at getting picked  because of the fury over over doggy dispatch.

Whoever is chosen to be Trump’s V.P. will have to square off against the incumbent, Kamala Harris. Just don’t make fun of her cackle!

CNN: Mocking Kamala’s Laugh Is “Playing Into Sexism”

One of the great American pastimes since our founding has been poking fun at those in power. Yet for some reason, the media thinks DEI hires are immune to this time-honored tradition. CNN reported that  Kamala Harris supporters claim that mocking her for her cackling is “playing into sexism.” Harris herself even suggested such a thing.

Actually, it’s sexist to suggest a female vice president can’t be teased. Dick Cheney accidentally shot a friend while hunting in 2006 and you’re still hearing jokes about it. Al Gore? If we had a dime for every “Al Gore is stiff” joke, we’d have almost as much money as he’s made off the Green Energy scam. Think Mike Pence will ever escape the fly-on-the-hair saga? Somewhere poor Dan Quayle is thinking, “I wish people would have made fun of my laugh.”

Protecting Harris from being teased diminishes her more than any jokes can. 

Since we like to think positively during our Afternoon Tea, here’s a curious thought: What if Harris did become president? Might it actually work to America’s advantage to have a president who cackles manically at inappropriate times? Say she’s in some summit with Xi or Putin, and out comes the cackle. They’d have to be thinking, “What’s so funny? What does she know that I don’t know? Is she crazy? High? What’s this about Venn diagrams?! Better not invade, she might run us over with a yellow school bus.”

Having our enemies think our leader is half mad can have its uses. One reason Trump was able to keep the bad guys in check is because they were never quite sure what he’d do or how far he’d go. So perhaps the cackle would become an asset?

A little zesty food for thought on a Tuesday afternoon. 

On The Stream Menu

What’s on the menu for tomorrow? New ones from Tom Gilson and Jules Gomes, plus Michael Brown throws down with “I Don’t Believe American Students Suddenly Care About the Palestinians.” 

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.

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