Welcome to Thursday’s Afternoon Tea, offering you a break to sip on some of the latest stories.

Biden Tells Univision He’s “Examining” Whether He Has Power to Close the Border

Does Joe Biden have the power to close the U.S. border? He told Univision Tuesday night he is “examining” that question.

When the border has over five, five thousand people a day trying to cross the border because you can’t manage it, slow it up. There’s no, there’s no guarantee that I have that power all by myself without legislation. And some have suggested I should just go ahead and try it. And if I get shut down by the court, I get shut down by the court. But we’re trying to work that, work through that right now.

How about following the laws already on the books? What about using the executive orders that were working during the Trump administration? What about finishing the wall? How about not suing every state that tries to stem the flow of illegal immigrants? How about no longer flying hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants from other countries into Texas and Florida on the taxpayers’ dime? Those things are all on you, Big Guy.

One has to ask: Why is Biden thinking about closing the border now? Is it because of the flood of illegal immigrants is overwhelming our country in obvious ways? The horrific crime wave that’s resulted from it? Or is it that all the Hispanic voters whose families came to this country legally are now abandoning the Democratic ticket in droves?

We think he’ll figure that out as soon as he figures out what year it is. “Elect me,” he said Wednesday. “I’m in the twentieth century.”

BIDEN: "Elect me. I'm in the 20th Century." 😳 pic.twitter.com/I0vr7KiYUB

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 10, 2024

Meanwhile, for the first time, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admitted to Congress that the border is in “crisis.”

Is Schumer Set to Bury the Mayorkas Impeachment?

Mayorkas has now been formally impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives, and the articles of impeachment are expected to be delivered to the Senate next Wednesday. In the meantime, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) tried getting cute by planning an hours-long “trial” for Thursday afternoon, when senators were itching to leave town.

But House Republicans didn’t play along.

Still, Schumer is expected to take the unprecedented step of trying to bury the Mayorkas impeachment without a full trial, either by making a motion to table the articles or dismissing them outright.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) is livid over that: “I fully expect Senator Schumer to try to muddy up the water, to try to make it look deep, but this is really very simple,” he said. “We’re either going to follow Senate custom, Senate rules, and Senate history, or we are not.”

Why would Schumer want to throw away more than 200 years of precedent? It’s not just that a full trial would expose  how deliberately and cynically Mayorkas and his boss have allowed 10 million illegal aliens into our country; it also would force vulnerable Democrats to go on record in an election year about whether they support that practice not.  Illegal immigration a top issue, and Schumer is desperate to avoid that … even if it means blowing up Senate tradition and American history.

But blowing up American history seems to be something leftists are bent on doing, doesn’t it? 

Activists Want to Rename Francis Scott Key Bridge

The bodies haven’t even all be recovered from the Patapsco River, yet race baiters are already beginning to circle over the site of the tragedy.

A group of civil rights activists this week called for Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge to be renamed because Key — who penned “The Star-Spangled Banner” — had been a slave owner and was … wait for it … “racist.”  Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who is black, told reporters he has more important things on his mind than that right now. “I think any other conversations along those lines, there will be time for that,” he said this week, “but now’s not the time.” 

Moore told WTOP he is “laser focused on providing closure to the families, clearing the channel, and rebuilding the bridge.”

Incidentally, while Key did own slaves, he also freed slaves and represented some black Marylanders who sued for their freedom.

Speaking of bridges, why aren’t those activists trying to change the name of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge on the Capital Beltway? Wilson was a confirmed racist who used his office to segregate black and white people. Could their lack of attention to it stem from the fact that Wilson was a progressive hero and a Democrat?

Thank You, Japan. Japan Gives Washington 250 New Cherry Trees

This summer, construction crews will be forced to take out hundreds of the famous cherry trees that ring Washington’s Tidal Basin, as they set about repairing the crumbling seawall there.

However, during his official visit to the White House Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that his nation is donating 250 new trees to help replace the ones being removed. Joe Biden says the 250 trees are to mark America’s 250^th birthday celebration in 2026, noting that, “Like our friendship, these trees are timeless, inspiring and thriving.”

Japan first gave cherry trees to the U.S. in 1912, though the story of how cherry trees came to be in Washington, D.C. goes back to a woman named Eliza Ruhama Scidmore, who fought for decades to get the government to approve her idea of planting cherry trees along the Potomac. She finally found an ally in First Lady Helen Herron Taft, who had lived in Japan and knew well the beauty of cherry blossoms. The Stream told the inspiring and circuitous tale of Eliza’s perseverance in “A Pause to Enjoy the Cherry Blossoms.” 

Biden and Trump Chow Down

Last night, the Biden family hosted a rare State Dinner for Prime Minister Kishada and wife, Yuko. Pop great Paul Simon performed for the 200 guests, who dined on dry-aged ribeye steak, blistered shishito pepper butter, fava bean fricassee, morel mushrooms, and cipollini and sesame oil sabayon.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump was eating at Chick-fil-A and whooping it up with students from historically black colleges and universities.

How frightening must it be to the Harris-Biden campaign to see young black college students beaming at Trump like he’s Beyonce? Does the lovely young lady in the clip above seem like someone who will stay quiet on campus between now and the election?

As Simon famously sang, “These are days of miracle and wonder.”

 

Thanks for joining me for another week of Al’s Afternoon Tea, currently running Monday through Thursday afternoons.

 

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