THE NEWS

The first two nights of the second round of the NBA playoffs will feature significant overlap between matchups.On Monday, NBC and Peacock will carry Game 1 of the 76ers vs. Knicks at 8 p.m. ET. Peacock will stream Timberwolves vs. Spurs at 9:30 p.m.On Tuesday, NBC and Peacock will air Lakers vs. Thunder at 9:30 p.m.. Peacock will stream Cavaliers vs. Pistons at 7 p.m.SKIP BAYLESS TO REUNITE WITH STEPHEN A. SMITH ON ESPN AS FIRST TAKE’S RATINGS SLIPNBA fans are not pleased with the scheduling quirk. For years, doubleheaders on ESPN and TNT were staggered so the second game started when the first ended, or close to it.But overlap was the risk the NBA ran when it partnered with NBC this season. Since opening night, NBC has avoided airing games before 8 p.m. ET on weeknights. It also does not want Central Time teams like the Spurs and Thunder tipping off as late as 9:30 pm local time.Further, fans will not be pleased to learn they still need two streaming services — Peacock and Amazon — in addition to NBC, ESPN and ABC to watch the second round.It just keeps getting harder, more confusing and more expensive to consume live sports at home. That will eventually cause viewers to tune out.Perhaps it already has.ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!Despite the NBA touting a 33-year high for the first round, OutKick explained last week why that is a spin. In fact, playoff viewership is more likely down than up. You can read that column here.It also does not help that at least two of the second-round series are not expected to be competitive. According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Thunder are -1600 to beat the Lakers. The Spurs are -425 to advance past the Timberwolves. The Spurs were even larger favorites earlier Monday before Anthony Edwards was cleared to play.DraftKings lists the Knicks winning in five games over the 76ers at +320, the most likely outcome for that series. Pistons vs. Cavaliers, likely the least appealing matchup, is projected to be the longest series.None of this is ideal.It’s worth noting that YouTube TV users may not mind the overlap, at least not as much as the fans with other providers.Last week, the service introduced a customizable multiview feature that lets users choose which channels appear on screen. The feature allows users to watch two NBA games at once in a split screen, or expand to a four-box view to include NHL playoff games.Note: All NBA games streaming on Peacock are available on YouTube TV via the NBC Sports channel.Alas, just let us watch the games.

A passenger aboard a cruise ship where three people have died is speaking out, describing fear and uncertainty as the vessel remains off the coast of Cape Verde and the cause of a suspected hantavirus outbreak remains under investigation.”I am currently on board the m/v Hondius, and what’s happening right now is very real for all of us here,” the passenger said. “We’re not just a story, we’re not just headlines — we’re people with families, with lives, with people waiting for us at home.””There’s a lot of uncertainty, and that’s the hardest part. All we want right now is to feel safe, to have clarity and to get home,” he added. “So if you’re seeing coverage about this, just remember that there are real people behind it and that this isn’t something happening somewhere far away. It’s happening to us right now.”The World Health Organization (WHO) said Sunday that one case of hantavirus infection has been laboratory confirmed, while five additional suspected cases are pending. Of the six people affected, three have died and one is currently in intensive care in South Africa.HANTAVIRUS DEATHS ON CRUISE SHIP HIGHLIGHT DANGERS OF RODENT-BORNE DISEASEThe vessel, m/v Hondius, remains off the coast of Cape Verde as authorities work to determine whether the cases are connected and when those requiring medical care will be allowed to disembark.Oceanwide Expeditions, which operates the ship, released a timeline of the incident on Monday, showing the situation has unfolded over several weeks.According to the company, a Dutch passenger died on April 11, though the cause of death could not be determined at the time. That individual was later disembarked on St. Helena on April 24.CRUISE SHIP OUTBREAK LEAVES 3 DEAD AS OFFICIALS DELAY MEDICAL EVACUATIONS AND PROBE HANTAVIRUS THREATOn April 27, the cruise line said the passenger’s wife, also Dutch, became ill during her return journey and later died. It has not been confirmed whether those deaths are connected to the current situation.Also on April 27, another passenger became seriously ill and was medically evacuated to South Africa, where the individual remains in intensive care. A variant of hantavirus has been identified in that patient, who is of British nationality, the cruise line said.A third passenger, who was German, died on May 2, though the cause has not yet been established.CDC INVESTIGATES NEW CRUISE SHIP OUTBREAK AFTER DOZENS REPORT GASTROINTESTINAL ILLNESSTwo crew members on board — one British and one Dutch — are also experiencing acute respiratory symptoms and require urgent medical care, the company said.At this time, hantavirus has not been confirmed in the two individuals still on board who need treatment, and officials have not established a link between the virus and the three deaths.The ship remains at sea with 149 people on board, representing more than 20 nationalities, as medical evacuations and disembarkation require approval from local health authorities.The company said it is working with local and international authorities, including the WHO, as it prepares for possible medical repatriation and next steps. Officials are also considering sailing the vessel to Las Palmas or Tenerife, where disembarkation and further medical screening could take place.”Strict precautionary measures are in process on board, including isolation measures, hygiene protocols and medical monitoring,” the company said. “All passengers have been informed and are being supported.””We are in close contact with those directly involved and their families, and are providing support where possible,” the company added.

HMS Iron Duke – Wiki Commons
‘Rule, Britannia, Britannia rule the Seas’ – not anymore.
The olden days when ‘the Sun never set’ over the British Empire are long gone, and now the last remnant of their imperial power is collapsing before our eyes.
The British Royal Navy reportedly has another ‘crippled’ vessel withdrawn, leaving just five active frigates to defend Britain.

Latest news commentary:
Another warship quietly withdrawn – Royal Navy now down to just 5 frigateshttps://t.co/qSFt8BbTlP pic.twitter.com/OQBDUlxrWW
— Navy Lookout (@NavyLookout) May 4, 2026

The Telegram reported:
“HMS Iron Duke has reportedly been stripped of its weapons and sensors, and has not been to sea since October.
It follows an almost five-year refit for the Type 23 frigate that cost the taxpayer £103m. That was completed in 2023 and was expected to allow the Iron Duke to return to service for at least another five years.
However, according to Navy Lookout, the frigate has been effectively withdrawn from active service.”

HMS Dragon seen from a Wildcat as the Type 45 destroyer conducts high-speed manoeuvres in the eastern Mediterranean, maintaining air defence readiness on operations. LPhot Helayna Birkett, Royal Navy pic.twitter.com/lUrggvUZ1W
— UK Defence Journal (@UKDefJournal) May 4, 2026

HMS Iron Duke in action – Wiki Commons
In the past few months, Russian submarines have entered British waters, while warships escort Moscow’s sanctioned ships through the Channel, as you can read in POWDER KEG EUROPE: Russian Warship Escorts Sanctioned Tankers Across the English Channel, In Complete Defiance of Starmer’s Threats and the Royal Navy.

HMS Iron Duke has been stripped of equipment and is unlikely to return to sea.
Royal Navy potentially down to just five frigates, with HMS Kent expected to return to sea this year after refit.
(Src: https://t.co/0COpNK4k0g) pic.twitter.com/GL9M5u8SfE
— UK Forces Tracker (@UKForcesTracker) May 4, 2026

“HMS Iron Duke’s withdrawal leaves the Navy’s resources to counter Russian activity in the Channel even more stretched, and means it is unable to assign more than a single frigate to the Carrier Strike Group, half the minimum number it would previously have included.”
Read more:
New Zealand’s Lesbian Navy Captain Loses $100M Naval Ship in Peacetime Disaster – Ship Runs Aground, Catches Fire, and Sinks, Unleashing Oil Spill off Samoa Coast

The post British Royal Navy Crisis Worsens as HMS Iron Duke Is Retired, Leaving Just Five Frigates To Defend the Island appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

As we approach the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, I want to make sure that we don’t forget the God factor – which is vital in telling the true story of America.
Here are 10 things I think we should all know about America’s founding:

God is found in our nation’s early charters and original documents. My good friend Bill Federer even wrote a whole book on this, “The Original 13.” Here is one example of those original charters, Virginia: “Every plantation which our heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out” (1606, a year before they sailed).
“The Biblical concept of covenant gave rise to the American idea of constitution,” noted Dr. Os Guinness. The Pilgrims started the process, when they wrote up the Mayflower Compact, an agreement under God to create “a civil body politic.” They said they came “for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.”
The first great leader of the Puritans, who led hundreds of Bible-based settlers, was John Winthrop. They founded Boston in 1630, and he famously declared, “For we must consider that we should be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people shall be upon us.”
The first fully developed constitution on American soil was produced by the founders of Connecticut in 1639, based on a sermon by Rev. Thomas Hooker the year before. It was called the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. It mentions that the goal of the colony was “the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.” This document was an ancestor of the U.S. Constitution, and that’s why to this day, Connecticut uses the moniker “The Constitution State.”
Education in the first two centuries in America was Bible-based. As one example: “The New England Primer” taught the ABC’s using biblical teaching, such as “A-In Adam’s fall, we sinned all. B-Thy life to mend, the Bible tend. C-Christ crucified, for sinners died.” All the original colleges were Bible-based – most of them were established to train ministers of the Gospel. This includes Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton and so on.
The separation of the institutions of the state and the church were created by Christians for the sake of freedom of conscience. On a small scale, Rev. Roger Williams created a refuge for conscience sake in Rhode Island in the early 1600s. Rev. William Penn did the same in a larger territory in Pennsylvania, which he called “a holy experiment.” Penn said the Golden Rule of Jesus (i.e., Matthew 7:12) was to govern the colony.
Most of the key patriots of the founding era were committed Christians or were informed by the Bible in their political views:

Samuel Adams, the lightning rod of the American Revolution, observed, when he signed the Declaration of Independence (the creation of which had a lot to do with him): “We have this day restored the Sovereign, to whom men ought to be obedient. … He reigns in heaven. From the rising to the setting sun, may His kingdom come.”
Patrick Henry, the great orator of the Revolution, wrote in his Last Will and Testament, after listing specific gifts: “This is all the Inheritance I can give to my dear family, The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed.”
George Washington advised the Indians who asked him to train their sons: “You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ.”
Consider that even the lesser orthodox Ben Franklin called for prayer at the Constitutional Convention, and Thomas Jefferson said that state-established religion departs from Jesus, whom he called, “the holy author of our religion.” In effect, he argues that Jesus gives us religious freedom.

The Continental Congress had prayers for God’s help as our nation faced the strongest military on earth at that time. Congress issued multiple prayer proclamations during the American War for Independence, many of which referenced Jesus.
Our national birth certificate – the Declaration of Independence mentions God four times, most notably as the source of our rights. They declared independence from Great Britain and, at the same time, dependence upon Almighty God.
Our Constitution was signed “in the Year of our Lord” (1787). It contains a thoroughly biblical view of man as a sinner. Hence, power is divided in multiple ways.

No wonder President Eisenhower once said that America is not America without the Lord: “Without God, there could be no American form of Government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first – the most basic – expression of Americanism. Thus the Founding Fathers saw it, and thus, with God’s help, it will continue to be.”

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is breathing on his own and recovering from pneumonia in Florida after he was hospitalized over the weekend.

Few sane people would argue that Los Angeles is in better shape now than it was several years ago. LA was decimated by COVID, enacting extreme mask mandates, curfews, business restrictions and capacity limits. They kept schools closed for years, setting an already woeful school district back even further. Many residents, fleeing lockdowns, the ever-expanding homelessness crisis and high cost of living, fled for other parts of the country. That exodus grew to such an extent that Los Angeles County lost more residents than any other county in the country from 2020-2025. GAVIN NEWSOM HUMILIATED AGAIN, AS NEW DATA SHOWS MILLIONS LEAVING CALIFORNIA FOR OTHER STATESThen, arguably the most beautiful part of the city, Pacific Palisades, was destroyed by fire. The Palisades Fire, which proved to be an extension of a fire allegedly started by an arsonist, was a near-perfect example of the failures of Los Angeles governance. A local reservoir was empty due to scheduled maintenance that, of course, was delayed. Fire department resources weren’t staged ahead of a predicted extreme wind event after a dry wall. There were 13 scheduled, high priority fire flow and water storage projects in the Palisades, and 12 were not finished before January 2025. 20% of hydrants in the area failed during firefighting efforts. Oh, and the mayor of LA, Karen Bass, was out of the country in Ghana as an entire neighborhood was decimated. You’ll never guess who just endorsed that mayor for reelection.SPENCER PRATT VOWS TO WORK WITH FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ON ICE ENFORCEMENT AS LA MAYOR CANDIDATEBass, who came under fire for allegedly “watering down” the after-action report on the Palisades fire, has been an unmitigated and predictable disaster as mayor. So it comes as no surprise that another unmitigated and predictable disaster, former Vice President Kamala Harris, just endorsed her in the race for LA mayor over Spencer Pratt and extreme far-left candidate Nithya Raman.ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!”Mayor Karen Bass is the leader Los Angeles needs right now. She has done what so many said couldn’t be done — the first-ever two-year decline in homelessness, reducing crime to levels this city hasn’t seen since the 1960s, and refusing to back down when the federal government came after our neighbors,” she said in a statement. As anyone who’s been in Los Angeles recently can tell you, there is no meaningful decline in homelessness. Some statistics may claim that, but take a drive through downtown LA, Venice, or Hollywood, and those statistics become quickly debunked. Yes, crime has declined, but LA also does an atrocious job reporting it and collecting data. Crime has also declined in most major cities, potentially due in part to stronger actions on part of the federal government. Particularly immigration enforcement.Speaking of that immigration enforcement, Bass, as Harris says, fought it. Because making the city safe is not her priority, retaining the support of the far left is. No surprise then, that Harris, whose administration essentially opened the southern border, creating unimaginable chaos, supports her. There are plenty of ways to tell how bad Bass has been at her job, but the most obvious and direct is to look at the number of people leaving the city. From 2020-2025, nearly 100,000 people fled the city of Los Angeles alone. A whopping 2.4% of the city left in just five years. That’s an entire city in and of itself moving away in part because Bass has done such a horrendous job. But then again, so did Harris, which makes this endorsement the ideal exemplification of the current state of the Democratic Party.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., didn’t use the free government tax-filing system she had spent years promoting when it became available in her state, records show.As far back as 2016, Warren pushed for a free IRS online tax preparation and filing service, a precursor to what became Direct File. The senator touted it as a way for taxpayers to save time and money. When Direct File launched a pilot program serving Massachusetts for the 2024 tax-filing season, however, Warren’s publicly released tax return indicated that she opted to use a private accountant instead.Warren was ineligible to use Direct File during the 2024 tax-filing season because she chose not to take the standard deduction that year. The standard deduction under the program is a restriction critics say illustrates why the program was too limited to serve many taxpayers.”The Direct File pilot program has been a huge win for taxpayers,” Warren said in April 2024. “This year, thousands of taxpayers saved hours of their time and the $150 typically spent on TurboTax and other junk filing fees — money that could be spent on groceries or rent … I’m excited to continue to work with the IRS and the Treasury Department to permanently extend and expand this free and easy tax filing solution for Americans.”HAWLEY, WARREN TEAM UP TO BACK TRUMP, CRACK DOWN ON DEFENSE CONTRACTOR PAYOUTSWarren has characterized herself as one of the top legislative architects of the Direct File system.”For years, Senator Warren has been the Direct File program’s biggest champion — yet her own tax returns show she hired a private accountant,” David Williams, president of the Taxpayer Protection Alliance (TPA), a right-of-center fiscal advocacy group, told Fox News Digital. “Direct File was ill-equipped to handle investment, property and interest income — limiting the tax credits and deductions Americans deserve. At its core, the government would not have any incentive — as the tax preparer, collector, and auditor — to maximize those deductions,” he added. The Trump administration moved to suspend Direct File in 2025, and the IRS later told states the program would not be available for the 2026 filing season.Even after her own return showed she used a private accountant and not Direct File for the 2024 tax-filing season, Warren continued to push for the system. On April 15, Tax Day 2026, Warren took a recently-introduced bill to the Senate floor seeking to revive the program. “Filing your taxes should be easy and free … Let’s save people time and money, and show the American people that government can work for them,” Warren said.SEN WARREN UNLOADS ON TRUMP’S FED NOMINEE KEVIN WARSH IN EXPLOSIVE HEARING SHOWDOWNUsage of the Direct File was low during the 2024 tax-filing season, with only 161,042 of the estimated 19 million eligible Americans submitting returns through it, according to an IRS report.Among those who did use the service, however, 90% rated their experience as “excellent” or “above average,” according to the IRS. Large majorities of respondents reported that Direct File was easy to use and had high quality customer service support.The TPA, however, says that 25% of Direct File users rated their experiences negatively, citing its analysis of user responses obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request.THE SIMPLE TAX HABIT THAT COULD SAVE YOU THOUSANDS OVER YOUR LIFETIMECritics of Direct File, such as conservative economist Stephen Moore, have argued that allowing the IRS, which has an incentive to maximize tax revenue, to prepare taxes for Americans creates a conflict of interest and that the program isn’t truly free, given its administrative costs. Proponents like the left-of-center advocacy group Public Citizen, meanwhile, argue that eliminating filing costs could save taxpayers billions of dollars per year at a relatively minor public expense.Firms such as Intuit and H&R Block lobbied aggressively to kill Direct File, which many believed would cut into their profits.Warren’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment sent Monday.

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman is being courted by Republicans ahead of the midterm elections in a pursuit that could determine control of the U.S. Senate.
Accoridng to Politico, Republican operatives are working to try and lure Fetterman across the aisle and bolster their Senate majority ahead of the midterms.
Their report states:

Trump has made the sell, offering his patented total and complete endorsement plus a financial windfall to the Pennsylvanian. A handful of Senate Republicans are also gently feeling out Fetterman and responding to his concerns over the prospect of defecting from the Democratic Party, multiple high-level GOP officials tell me.
If Fetterman does flip, according to officials who were given anonymity to talk about sensitive matters, it will be thanks in large part to his deepening friendship with a pair of senators and their high-profile spouses: Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), and his wife Dina, and Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), and her husband, Wesley.
…
Trump, who knows a thing or two about party switching, has also gotten in on the action. He’s told one GOP senator he prefers Fetterman making the full conversion to Republican, according to a source familiar with the conversation.
And Trump has said, if Fetterman does, he’d reciprocate. In his typical unsubtle fashion, the president conveyed as much to Sean Hannity in March and asked Hannity to play intermediary.

Fetterman has so far played down the idea and maintained he would be a “shitty Republican.”
“I’m not changing,” Fetterman said. “I’m a Democrat, and I’m staying one. “
“I’d be a shitty Republican,” he later added.
However, the report notes that Fetterman has refused to consider joining the GOP; he is not pushing back against suggestions that he may serve as an independent.
The 56-year-old was first elected to his seat in 2022 after defeating a Republican and now serves as Trump’s Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Since his election, he has taken a number of positions that have infuriated the Democratic grassroots.
These have included wholesale support for Israel, allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to carry out their duties and pushing back against the far-left.
Last month, several leading Democrats publicly called for his ouster after he voted to confirm Markwayne Mullin, who was Trump’s choice for Secretary of Homeland Security.
He has since maintained that his vote was “rooted in a strong, committed, constructive working relationship with Senator Mullin for our nation’s security.”
Democrats Demand Ouster of Sen. John Fetterman After He Votes to Advance Markwayne Mullin as DHS Secretary

The post REPORT: Republicans Working to Flip Sen. John Fetterman — Could Receive Trump Endorsement and Financial Backing appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The Left is all about freedom of choice unless you make a choice they don’t like. Then they bring the full power of government down on you.
Try being parents in a progressive state who don’t want their son Johnny turned into Susie behind your backs. You just might lose custody, as has happened in some places.
Nearly half the states – those governed by Democratic quacks like Minnesota’s Tim Walz – have criminalized counseling aimed at helping minors overcome unwanted LGBTQ feelings.
On March 31, the U.S. Supreme Court restored some sanity, striking down Colorado’s “conversion therapy” ban as violating a Christian counselor’s First Amendment rights.
In California, the progressive state government ordered crisis pregnancy centers to place ads directing clients to abortion clinics. The Supreme Court stopped this assault in its Becerra ruling in 2022.
Another case in point is New Jersey’s attempt to bully a crisis pregnancy chain by forcing it to reveal its donors. Thankfully, the U.S. Supreme Court put the kibosh on the plan, ruling 9-0 on Wednesday that First Choice Women’s Resource Centers has a First Amendment right to sue the state.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, a progressive Democrat, had ordered First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, a chain of five crisis pregnancy centers, to turn over its donor list. He demanded names, phone numbers and addresses of the people who had given money to the facilities, which provide ultrasounds, diapers and other baby needs, along with counseling.
First Choice refused the demand, for good reason. When Democrats obtain lists, they use them to target and punish donors.
After California voters approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman in 2008, contributors to the Prop. 8 campaign were harassed after their names, addresses and donation amounts were posted on Google Maps.
Some people were vilely harangued and others lost their jobs. Brendan Eich, founder of the internet browser Mozilla Firefox, was ousted by his own progressive board in 2014 after they learned that he had donated six years before to the Proposition 8 campaign.
This kind of retaliation is why the Supreme Court later ruled in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta in 2021 that charities and nonprofits have a First Amendment right to not disclose their donors to the government.
Even earlier, in 1958, the Supreme Court ruled in NAACP v. Alabama that people have the right to anonymously support and associate with organizations. Otherwise, the Democrat-spawned Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups could harass them.
The progressive urge to override individual rights in the name of centralized progress came into vogue in the early 20th century, along with the eugenics movement.
Anchored by atheism, progressivism is utterly incompatible with the Declaration of Independence, as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas explained in a clear-as-crystal essay recently in The Wall Street Journal.
The Declaration says that “unalienable rights” come from God, not flawed men. Progressivism is a steady march toward a Godless, collectivist future, wrapped in good intentions.
By rejecting God and relying instead on government as the source of all rights, progressivism paved the way for “the most awful century the world has ever seen,” Thomas wrote. “Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, and Mao all were intertwined with the rise of progressivism, and all were opposed to the natural rights on which our Declaration was based.”
In the 1910s, progressivism was embraced by Woodrow Wilson’s Democratic Party, which re-segregated the military, drafted Jim Crow laws and glorified the Klan.
After Republicans voted in higher percentages than Democrats to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Democrats under President Lyndon Johnson concocted the “Great Society.”
This grand, progressive welfare scheme almost immediately reversed all the considerable gains made by black Americans. Marriage-based families gave way to single-parent households dependent on the welfare state. Once-stable communities fell into urban decay, drug dealers and gangs.
But progressives were fat and happy. They had hooked enough people in their free stuff army to guarantee generational voting success.
Today’s progressives are still at it, encouraging dependency and faith in government, not God. This includes wolves in sheep’s clothing like Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talerico and Kentucky’s Gov. Andy Beshear.
Like former President Barack Obama, the two Democrats twist the Bible to justify abortion, LGBTQ activism and redistribution of income.
Getting back to the New Jersey case, it exemplifies the cultural chasm in our country. One side sees life and marriage as sacred; the other, based on moral relativism, thinks it’s all negotiable.
Like other crisis pregnancy charities, New Jersey’s First Choice chain is an alternative to abortion. Mr. Platkin, a “rising star” in the Democratic Party according to NewJersey.com, implausibly insists that he just wants to make sure that women aren’t misled into believing that the centers also provide abortions. A gentleman, riding to the rescue.
Mr. Platkin hasn’t demanded donor lists from Planned Parenthood and other abortionists. But then, why should he? He worked with them to target First Choice. And, they’re making millions doing the devil’s work of killing unborn babies, donating some of it back to Democrats.
It’s the angels at First Choice whom Mr. Platkin was hoping to put out of business. Trying to save babies’ lives and help women avoid possible injuries and lifelong regret is their passion.
As Adam West in the old TV version of “Batman” would say, “What criminals!”
This column was first published at the Washington Times.

In thinking about Cole Tomas Allen, the man charged with attempting to assassinate the president at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, I keep coming back to historian Hannah Arendt’s phrase “the banality of evil.”
Arendt, who covered the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, expected the chief architect of the Holocaust to be a monster with blood dripping from his fangs. That he was a monster is undeniable, but in many ways, he was rather ordinary, even bland.
Some are surprised by Mr. Allen’s vanilla ice cream plainness. The man who described himself as the “Friendly Federal Assassin” is well-educated, with degrees in mechanical engineering and computer science. He has no documented history of mental illness.
Those who knew him professionally said he seemed like a nice guy.
Evil and education have no connection. In Germany, the less educated, such as farm workers, were the least likely to join the Nazi Party, while the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile killing units that preceded the death camps, were often composed of professionals, including lawyers, accountants and teachers.
Mr. Cole’s manifesto is extreme, but no more so than the rhetoric of many in the Democratic Party’s leadership and mainstream media. He referred to President Trump as a “pedophile, rapist and traitor,” which, come to think of it, sounds like many of the “undocumented” aliens his predecessor allowed to enter the country illegally.
Was Mr. Cole brainwashed? If he was, then he brainwashed himself.
The Friendly Federal Assassin chose to believe certain things: that Mr. Trump and members of his Cabinet had the blood of innocents on their hands, such as “fishermen” (in reality, Venezuelan drug smugglers), and were plotting to destroy democracy.
In every generation, political killers have chosen to believe certain things that allowed them to rationalize their evil. The Jacobins, who presided over the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, believed aristocrats were conspiring with foreign monarchs to overthrow the republic, so the guillotine was an instrument of national survival.
The Bolsheviks justified their liquidation of the kulaks (relatively prosperous peasant farmers) as counterrevolutionaries. The Nazis claimed that Jews were plotting to destroy Germany and rule the world and that mass murder was the only way to stop them.
Mao Zedong believed that for communism to succeed in China, certain classes had to be eliminated, including intellectuals during the Cultural Revolution.
Once upon a time, society believed in sin – that the human heart could be corrupted in ways that led to acts of depravity. Sometime in the 20th century, psychology replaced theology.
It didn’t work.
Humanity hasn’t gotten better in the era of psychoanalysis, group therapy and “I’m OK – You’re OK.” Even with all the bloodshed of past religious wars, the 20th century showed mass murder motivated by ideology unparalleled in the course of history.
Rather than improving the human condition, by leaving God out of the equation, the modern era has shown a proliferation of evil: genocide, gulags and supersonic jihad. As we have moved away from biblical morality, we have gotten ever closer to the abyss.
Western religion teaches humility. Cole Allen’s manifesto and conduct reek of monumental arrogance. Because he believed the president and the president’s Cabinet to be guilty of certain crimes, he took it upon himself to be judge, jury and executioner.
Christianity says the sword of justice is in the hand of the state, not your hand. The attack on the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner reflects a nihilism increasingly in vogue.
For the left, political violence is increasingly the option of first resort. If you believe George Floyd’s death was the result of police brutality, then burn down a city. If you think the Palestinians are oppressed, then attack Jews on college campuses or drive your car into a synagogue. If you are opposed to the enforcement of our immigration laws, then assault federal agents.
The choice is simple: You can obey the laws of God or act as if you are God.
Cole Allen is symptomatic of a condition. He is part of an army of moral anarchists that includes the killers of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, the attempted assassin who shot President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, and killed Corey Comperatore, and the millions who applaud their foul deeds.
Call it what it is. It isn’t political activism or mental illness. It’s evil, pure and simple – a sickness of the soul.
This column was first published at the Washington Times.