CONSPIRACY THEORY: The man arrested after the Saturday night shooting at the White House Correspondents Association dinner appeared in court yesterday to face a variety of charges, including attempting to kil the President. A federal magistrate judge told Cole Tomas Allen, 31, a teacher from Torrance, California that he faces up to life in prison if he is convicted.

  Investigators found a 1,000-word email in which Allen had written that, “Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.”

  The note was also critical of security at the Washington Hilton where Cole had registered as a guest. “I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat,” he wrote. “Like, this level of incompetence is insane, and I very sincerely hope it’s corrected by the time this country gets actually competent leadership again.

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt blamed Democrats and some members of the news media for the country’s worsening political violence, describing a “left-wing cult of hatred against the president and all of those who support him and work for him.”

  The echo of gunshots had barely faded Saturday night before the internet was flooded with conspiracy theories. Many posters claimed the shooting was staged to distract the public and press from the Iran war and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Commenters pointed out that Trump was so cool under fire because he knew he wasn’t going to be killed.

  One post going under the name “Power to the People” said, “There is some really weird stuff going on with this staged shooting.”

  Professional conspiracy monger Alex Jones wrote, “The Internet Just Exploded After It Was Discovered That Trump’s Would Be DC Assassin, Cole Allen, Worked For NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab – This Comes In The Wake Of Dozens Of UAP / Gravity Control Scientists Disappearing and Being Murdered.”

  One sensible Facebook poster wrote: “The real tragedy isn’t just the gunfire, the chaos, or the spectacle, it’s the fact that millions of us, myself included, are now conditioned to question the authenticity of reality itself. That’s not paranoia. That’s pattern recognition born from years of watching a man like Donald Trump bend truth into whatever shape best serves him in the moment.”

INFINITE SCROLL:

— First Lady Melania Trump is calling for ABC comedian Jimmy Kimmel to be fired over a routine he did before the White House Correspondents dinner.

  Kimmel said on Thursday night that the dinner would not feature a comedian because Donald Trump is too thin-skinned to take a roasting. Kimmel offered an “alternative” roasting in which he said Melania has the glow of “an expectant widow.”

  The First Lady posted that “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.” This from the wife of a man who routinely calls his political opponents “lunatics” and “low IQ” and celebrated the death of former FBI Director Robert Mueller.

  Addressing Melania in his monologue last night, Kimmel said, “I agree hateful and violent is something we should reject. I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”

— President Trump posted the following on his Truth Social account:

“America’s Elections are Rigged, Stolen, and a Laughingstock all over the World. We are either going to fix them, or we won’t have a Country any longer. I am asking all Republicans to fight for the following:
 
SAVE AMERICA ACT!

1. ALL VOTERS MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. (IDENTIFICATION!).

2. ALL VOTERS MUST SHOW PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP IN ORDER TO VOTE.

3. NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS (EXCEPT FOR ILLNESS, DISABILITY, MILITARY, OR TRAVEL!).”

— Britain’s King Charles is in Washington for a four-day visit. He’s scheduled to address a joint session of Congress today.

  Yesterday the President gave the king a replica copy of the Declaration of Independence with his huge Donald Trump signature obliterating the names of the original signers.

THE OBIT PAGE: Nedra Talley Ross, the last surviving member of the Ronettes, the trio that delivered the 1960s hits “Be My Baby” and “Baby, I Love You,” died on Sunday at her home in Chesapeake, Virginia. She was 80.

  Talley was only 14 when she began singing with her cousins Veronica Bennett, later known as Ronnie Spector, and Estelle Bennett. With their heavy eyeliner and beehive hairdos they brought a combination of street tough and sexy to the stage. They were one of the groups through which producer Phil Spector , who married Ronnie, introduced his “wall of sound,” a blaring assault of drums, horns and vocals.

THE SPIN RACK: A second body has been discovered in the water near the Tampa Bay bridge where Bangladeshi doctoral student Zamil Limon was found last week. Limon, 27, and his girlfriend Nahida Bristy, also 27, disappeared from the University of South Florida campus on April 16^th.  Limon’s roommate has already been charged with murder. — Pop star Taylor Swift filed to trademark her likeness and voice to protect herself from artificial intelligence duplicates. — The line of customers is going down the block outside the newly-opened Two Pitchers Brewing Company in San Francisco where 21 beers are on tap, you can get a draft for $3, and their smashburger is under $15.

BELOW THE FOLD:  From President Trump to Vice President JD Vance and Speaker Mike Johnson, the top people in the line of succession were present Saturday night at the Correspondents dinner and would have been killed if the attacker had arrived strapped with a tactical nuke.

  Also present were the defense secretary, 12 other members of the cabinet, and the acting attorney general.

  But America would have been safe if the worst had befallen because there was a designated survivor who stayed at home in Iowa to take the reins of power if necessary, President Pro Tempore of the Senate Chuck Grassley …. age 92.

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