THE WAR ROOM: President Trump announced that he’s giving a prime time address tonight about the war on Iran.

  Trump told a British newspaper that he’s considering pulling the US out of the NATO alliance because European countries will not help with keeping the Strait of Hormuz open for shipping.

  Sitting in the Oval Office he said, “What happens in the strait, we’re not going to have anything to do with.”

  The US has begun to use Cold War B-52 bombers in its campaign, Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine announced to the Pentagon press. The B-52 is mostly associated with carpet bombing in the Vietnam war.

  While extolling the excellence of the war effort, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took a couple of digs at allies who have not joined the fight, mentioning the “big, bad Royal Navy” and that  “the world ought pay attention to be prepared to stand up.” 

  Hegseth opened the press conference talking about his visit to American forces overseas, lacing his speech  with such terms as, “ingenuity,” “lethality,” “warriors,” and  “a brotherhood of men and women.”

  Before throwing it to Gen. Caine he uttered a prayer for the troops … “in the name of Jesus Christ and Amen.”

NO DANCING:  A federal judge ordered a stop to work on President Trump’s White House ballroom. Judge Richard Leon ruled that Trump does not have the authority to make major changes to the White House without congressional approval.

  The lawsuit to stop construction was brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Trump hopped onto social media with a rant, calling the members of the Trust “a Radical Left Group of Lunatics.”

  The President told reporters, “Congressional approval is not needed to build a ballroom.”

  Trump had the East Wing of the White House demolished in October and quickly set about building his dream ballroom. Government lawyers have argued that the ballroom falls within the president’s personal authority to modernize or improve the White House grounds, like putting in a swimming pool or basketball court.

  Trump whined on his Truth Social that, “The National Trust for Historic Preservation sues me for a Ballroom that is under budget, ahead of schedule, being built at no cost to the Taxpayer, and will be the finest Building of its kind anywhere in the World.”

  He told reporters yesterday that the ballroom project was also about the “safety and security” of The White House grounds with bomb shelters and a drone proof roof.

  The President claims to have  raised more than $350 million for the ballroom, much of it  from around two dozen tech, cryptocurrency, and defense companies. The group Public Citizen found that two-thirds of the publicly identified corporate donors have signed government contracts, collectively valued at more than $275 billion. 

REGISTRY OF NAMES: In a win for the Trump administration, a federal judge ruled that the government is within its rights to demand that the University of Pennsylvania turn over names and information about Jews on campus as part of a federal investigation into discrimination at the school.

  The administration and Jewish students were united in opposition to the demand, with some comparing it to Nazi Germany’s identification and labelling of Jews before the Holocaust. 

  But Judge Gerald Pappert in Philadelphia ruled that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s subpoena was typical for discrimination investigations to seek potential victims and witnesses. He gave the university a May 1 deadline although the university had said it does not include religion in employee information.

IN TRANSITION: The Supreme Court by a vote of 8-1 overturned Colorado’s ban on gender transition treatment for minors, saying that applying the law to talk therapy was an “egregious assault” on free speech and the First Amendment.

  “Colorado may regard its policy as essential to public health and safety,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority, “But the First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”

  Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown was the only dissent, writing that, “The Constitution does not pose a barrier to reasonable regulation of harmful medical treatments just because substandard care comes via speech instead of scalpel.”

  The suit against the law was not brought by anyone fighting in favor of transition care. It was brought by an evangelical Christian who argued that it prevented her from working with young patients who want to live a life “consistent with their faith.”

INFINITE SCROLL:

— President Trump signed an executive order yesterday designed to create a national list of eligible voters and seize control of voting, including vote by mail. The president has no constitutional control of voting.

  “I believe it’s foolproof,” Trump said about the order before signing it in the Oval Office. “And maybe it’ll be tested. Maybe it won’t.”

  The order directs the Department of Homeland Security to create a “state citizenship list” derived from citizenship and naturalization records, Social Security records, and other federal databases. The lists would then be sent to state election officials.

— Secretary of defense Pete Hegseth reinstated Army helicopter pilots suspended for performing an unauthorized flyby at the home of MAGA rocker Kid Rock. Hegseth posted, “No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, Patriots.” 

THE SPIN RACK: The tabloid outlet TMZ released a photo of Byron Noem, husband of former DHS secretary Kristo Noem, dressed as a slutty woman with enormous breasts on an internet chat. “The family was blindsided by this, and they ask for privacy and prayers at the time,” Noem’s representatives said. — NASA’s Artemis II moon shot is still on schedule to launch at 6:24 EST. — Golfing great Tiger Woods was found to have had two  hydrocodone painkiller pills in his pocket the day he rolled over his SUV last week and was arrested for DUI. 

BELOW THE FOLD: Late night host Stephen Colbert said last night that gasoline prices have gone up because ABC cancelled “The Bachelorette” and consequently President Trump attacked Iran. 

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