Welcome back in for Al’s Afternoon Tea, our chance to slow down for a sec and catch up on some of the latest news and headlines.

The Arrogance of Men in Women’s Sports

I have great sympathy for the gender-confused kid who just wants to be on the team. There is no glee in telling the earnest, biologically male young athlete that being on that girls’ team creates an unfair and sometimes dangerous competitive advantage. That by joining it, you’d be playing with a corked bat. You’d be cheating.

However, what we are seeing among many notable biological adult males currently competing in women’s events is an arrogance, a sense of entitlement — and dare I say, misogyny?

Take golfer Hailey Davidson, who nearly made the LGPA tour last year and is gearing up to try again. On Monday, Davidson took a swing at the women who are upset about having to compete against a male — who in this case, is a large physical specimen. In an Instagram post, Davidson said:

“I will never understand athletes who blame a transgender competitor on their own athletic failures. If you don’t take accountability for your failures then you will never actually be good enough to make it.”

Why not just say, “Stop whining like a little girl”?

Take Olympic boxer Imane Khelif, who was disqualified from the world championships last year after failing a gender test and whose own coach admitted the boxer had issues with testosterone and chromosomes. Khelif just took Olympic gold in the women’s 66kg division after pounding his way through several female competitors — the first of whom, Italian Angela Carini, quit a mere 46 seconds into the fight after being staggered by a series of powerful blows.

You’d think Khelif would take the medal and leave well enough alone.

But no. Khelif is now suing both Elon Musk and J.K. Rowling, among others, for “aggravated cyber harassment.” The boxer filed the complaint in France on Friday.

After Khelif pounded Carini, Rowling tweeted:

“The idea that those objecting to a male punching a female in the name of sport are objecting because they believe Khelif to be ‘trans’ is a joke. We object because we saw a male punching a female.”

The idea that those objecting to a male punching a female in the name of sport are objecting because they believe Khelif to be ‘trans’ is a joke. We object because we saw a male punching a female. https://t.co/KSAM5RCl1S

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 2, 2024

Musk had agreed to a post from Riley Gaines that said, “Men don’t belong in women’s sports. #IStandWithAngelaCarini.”

In 1995, Nike released a classic commercial advocating for girls and women in sport, affirming the dignity of female athletes and their right to compete.

Our friends at the Heritage Foundation have updated the ad as part of a campaign to #ProtectWomensSports, demonstrating to devastating effect what men in women’s sports is doing to athletics, the spirit of fair competition … to women. Powerful.

From youth sports to collegiate athletics to the Olympics, female athletes in every sport and at every level deserve a safe and fair playing field.#ProtectWomensSports pic.twitter.com/ExdAc9Czs0

— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) July 27, 2024

Walz Finally Addresses “Stolen Valor” Controversy … By Playing the Victim

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz finally addressed the growing controversy over accusations that he abandoned his National Guard unit two decades ago before they deployed, then claiming he’d been in combat. Did he man up, admit that what he did was wrong? No. He played the victim, claiming he was being attacked for his service.

Let me be clear: I am damn proud of my service to this country. pic.twitter.com/9a9rJSQurQ

— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) August 13, 2024

He said no one should ever denigrate another’s service record. Of course, nobody’s denigrating the service he actually served — just the fact that he didn’t serve all of it. In other words, he is dodging the problem — just like he dodged the war in Iraq.

Despite Denials, Walz Chummy With Hitler-Loving, October 7-Applauding Imam

Here’s one of those wretched ironies of the political world. The Harris-Walz campaign keeps spreading the hoax that former President Donald Trump called neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia, “very fine people” while Walz himself has loved on a Hitler-loving imam who applauds the massacre of Oct. 7.

The Harris-Walz campaign at first denied Walz had a “personal relationship” with the radical Asad Zaman when the Washington Examiner reported Zaman and Walz had appeared together several times.

However, the Examiner’s Gabe Kaminsky then released footage of Walz fawning over Zaman as a “master teacher,” sharing that they’d spent time together.

EXCLUSIVE: Tim Walz—in footage unearthed by @dcexaminer—called Hitler-promoting imam Asad Zaman a “master teacher” who offered Walz lessons over the time they “spent together"

The footage further contradicts the Harris campaign’s claim Walz has no personal relationship w/ Zaman pic.twitter.com/F1lKcJyzI1

— Gabe Kaminsky (@gekaminsky) August 13, 2024

Once again, the Harris campaign is caught fibbing.

This “master teacher” of Walz’s promoted a pro-Hitler film called The Greatest Story Never Told, and on the day Hamas massacred 1,200 innocent Israelis less than a year ago, declared he “stands in solidarity with Palestinians against Israeli attacks.” As the Examiner reported, Zaman has long supported terrorism against Israel.

Walz didn’t just support Zaman with words, either. According to the Examiner, while Walz has been in the governor’s mansion, the state of Minnesota has given Zaman’s MAS Minnesota organization $100,000.

Anti-Israel Protesters Get Ready to Rumble at DNC

Meanwhile, a coalition of nearly 100 anti-Israel organizations plans on protesting at next week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago. This includes the ANSWER Coalition, the group responsible for the violent riot in Washington, D.C. a few weeks back that saw the American flag burned and the Palestinian flag raised in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol.

According to a report by NGO Monitor, the network of organizations is “the same NGO network that orchestrated and funded the mobs chanting ‘intifada now’ on university campuses and in major cities.” And now they’ll be “harassing and intimidating DNC delegates and participants.”

Whose side will Walz be on? Kamala Harris, too, for that matter. Just last month, she boycotted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, an event over which she should have presided as vice president, and she’s been telling Muslim groups she’s open to an arms boycott of the Jewish State — even as Iran is on the verge of a massive attack, and missiles are already raining down from the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah. 

We have to ask: Who’d be more welcome inside the DNC? Someone with an intifada scarf or someone in a MAGA hat?

Judge Rules UCLA Cannot Allow Pro-Hamas Protesters to Block Jewish Students on Campus

The new academic year is expected to bring a return of the pro-Palestinian, antisemitic protests to college campuses nationwide. But there is some good news: A federal judge ruled Tuesday that UCLA, home to some of the most violent antisemitic activity we saw this spring, cannot allow the pro-Hamas hordes to again block Jewish students from freely moving around campus. The Associated Press reports the preliminary injunction marks the first time a court has ruled against a university over the matter that rocked American universities for weeks on end during the last term.

It occurs to me the laptop-based students of today are at a huge disadvantage. The physics textbook I had in college could easily fend off bottles, rocks, perhaps even surface-to-surface missiles from Hamas. I just looked it up. Physics by Paul Allen Tipler. It has 1,024 pages and weighs 4.55 pounds.  

Don’t remember much of what was in it, but I do appreciate the workout it lugging it and my other textbooks to class always gave me. 

 On the Stream Menu

Nancy Flory has a new Ripple Effects column out: “State-Level Abortion Bans Shown to be Saving Thousands of Babies.”

Stream contributor William Kilpatrick has Part 2 of “Pope Francis Wants to Humanize the Church, Instead of Helping Sinners Repent.”

 

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.