Flotsam and Jetsam - So President Trump Went to the White House Correspondents Dinner...

And a man, later identified as Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, reportedly armed with a shotgun and a pistol, charged a magnetometer security station outside the ballroom where the dinner was taking place. He was engaged by Secret Service and police, and reportedly exchanged fire. One Secret Service agent was struck by a bullet, and saved from serious harm by his protective vest. The "suspect" was taken alive, apparently without being shot. Early reports had the assailant killed, or had two, but as the evening sorted out, there appears to be only one person overtly involved and he is in custody generally undamaged. As usual, the 48 hour rule applies. Stacy McCain says Yet Another Democrat Has Failed to Assassinate President Donald Trump.  From Insty, SO MUCH POLITICAL VIOLENCE FROM THE LEFT: "Shots Fired at Correspondents Dinner, Shooter Neutralized, Trump Evacuated. “The shooter who fired off multiple rounds at the White House correspondents’ dinner Saturday evening is reportedly dead, and Secret Service agents successfully took President Donald Trump off the stage to safety." Driscoll at Insty, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER LIVE UPDATES: Shots fired at White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Trump evacuated as Secret Service yells ‘he’s down!’ after gunman taken out. Dave Strom, SHOOTER AT WHCD Alive? Trump: Let the Show Go On; SECRET SERVICE: Not on Our Watch. At LI, Ben Smith Trump Evacuated to a Holding Room After Shots Fired at White House Correspondents Association Dinner "“Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job. They acted quickly and bravely. The shooter has been apprehended,” and Update: Gunman Stopped Before Reaching WHCA Dinner Named, "The shooter has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, two law enforcement officials told the AP." NRO, Secret Service Agent Shot at White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Suspect Apprehended in Chaotic Scene. Bob Hoge at RedState, The Show Will Not Go On: WH Correspondents' Dinner to Be Rescheduled After Chaotic Night at the Gala. Trump seriously wanted it to continue. The SS told him no way. Ace, Another Democrat Inspired Assassin Attempts to Kill Trump; Trump And All Innocents Appear Safe and Unharmed, and the Left-Wing Assassin Apprehended "ANOTHER LEFT WING ASSASSIN ATTEMPTS TO KILL TRUMP." Didn't even get red font, let alone the trademark flaming skull. I guess it's become so common. 

Dave Strom What We Know About WHCD Shooting So Far; Shooter Identified? UPDATE: Video of His Charge. Registered as a No Party Preference voter in L.A. County, CalTech grad, donated 25 bucks to ActBlue, which doesn't mean much since ActBlue has been credibly accused of hiding donations under the names of people who didn't actually donate. At Althouse "We see them every day and we just say hi and they’re very nice. They’re peaceful people, they don’t make any noise and when they see you they say hi.", "Said a neighbor of Cole Tomas Allen, quoted in "Who is Cole Tomas Allen? White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting suspect in custody/The suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting was identified as California man Cole Tomas Allen" (Independent). What's with the awkward "they" pronouns? "They’re peaceful people," etc. Maybe that's just the way they talk in California."

Blake Neff @BlakeSNeff "Friend at WHCD sent me a photo as she walked out of demonstrators waving signs that say “Death to tyrants” and “Death to all of them,” just in case you’re wondering if an actual attempted shooting would make them feel any shame." Dustin Grage @GrageDustin, "This brewery in Wisconsin is gushing over the assassination attempt. These people want us dead." Dustin Grage @GrageDustin, "The owner of this brewery is running for office as a Democrat." Insty, THE LEFT’S ASSASSINATION CULTURE HAS MAINSTREAM ENABLERS WHO SHOULD BE HELD STRICTLY ACCOUNTABLE: Northern Barbarian @xnoesbueno, "OK, how many assassination attempts now? He must hold the record, or is getting close to it. And by Monday, this story will be over. Just like all the other ones. They'll have found some new faux outrage to posture about." Quote Election Wizard @ElectionWiz, "Most of the people in that Washington Hilton ballroom tonight are morally responsible for what just happened. For over 10 years they’ve pushed the most hateful, vile conspiracies: Trump is a threat to democracy, a dictator, literally Hitler 2.0. They demonized him nonstop, normalized violence in their rhetoric, then acted shocked when the inevitable keeps occurring." Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol, "They don't kill you because you're a Nazi. They call you a Nazi so they can kill you." Twitchy, Self-Proclaimed Boss Babes Blame Trump for Their Meltdown: 'It's Not Me, It's the Orange Man'.

Althouse hosts Trump's public statement after the events, "This was an event dedicated to freedom of speech that was supposed to bring together members of both parties with members of the press. And in a certain way it did..." ""I saw a room that was totally unified. It was in one way very beautiful — a very beautiful thing to see." Said President Trump, in an impromptu press conference at the White House, 2 hours after the incident at the Correspondents' Dinner." United? They were all under the same tables. Capt. Ed in Saturday's Final Word finds Western Lensman @WesternLensman, "Paul Begala goes on rant about Trump censoring journalists and attacking the First Amendment. @ScottJenningsKY issued a simple challenge to which Begala had no answer: “Name a single journalist who right now is incapable of speaking negatively about Donald Trump.""

Northern Barbarian @xnoesbueno, "It's really tempting to applaud that. I'd rather have 84,000 US troops already forward deployed in Europistan, for when we need them there. Because sooner or later, we will. I'd say make nice with Europe. Don't even charge them, keep going. Just harden up the bases. Make sure every soldier, every base commander, understands they are already behind enemy lines. What was that Nicholson line? "I eat breakfast three hundred yards away from four thousand Mohammedans who are trained to kill me." OK, that's not exactly what he said. Works though." Quote Shipwreckedcrew @shipwreckedcrew, "GREAT NEWS. We are all for it. Should have been done 3 decades ago with the collapse of the Soviet Union." SaltyGoat @SaltyGoat17, "Everyone cool with us pulling ALL of our troops from Europe and NEVER sending them another dime?"

Jon Gabriel @exjon, "This "clown" entered the Navy enlisted and earned a commission as a Special Operations Officer from Annapolis. As EOD Officer, he led threat missions for Special Warfare & Special Forces in Iraq, Afghanistan & Somalia. He retired from active duty as Captain in 2021. He then was VP at CACI Intl., fielding EW packages, counter-drone tech, optical comm, & photonics. Hung Cao is a decorated combat veteran, a qualified Navy Special Operations, EOD & Diving Officer, Naval Parachutist, and Surface Warfare Officer. He has a bachelor’s in Ocean Engineering, a master’s in Applied Physics, & was a Fellow with MIT Seminar XXI & Harvard's Kennedy School." Quote Democrats @TheDemocrats, "Trump dragged our country to war and now this clown is in charge." FactPost @factpostnews, "Trump has fired Navy Secretary John Phelan, replacing him with failed VA Senate candidate Hung Cao who: — Asked for a KKK hood with "slits" as eye holes instead of circles so he could see better — Falsely claimed to have been injured in combat — Warned that a wave of "witchcraft" was taking over America — Argued he is African American because he once lived in Africa." Safing Sector @Gplavallee72, "Bitch please..."

From NYPo, Trump cancels US delegation’s Pakistan trip as Iran peace talks stall: ‘They can call us anytime they want’. Capt. Ed, So Much For Islamabad II: Taqiyya Boogaloo? UPDATE: Trump Cancels Witkoff, Kushner Trip. At Am Great the Great Victor Davis Hanson expounds on How Iran Committed Suicide, "Iran’s decades-long bluff—built on terror proxies, nuclear brinkmanship, and Western appeasement—collapsed the moment it faced direct force and a changed geopolitical landscape." Beege Welborn reports Reza Pahlavi Went to Berlin. "Operation Epic Fury had distinct parameters for the security of the world and the United States, and not one of them was returning a Pahlavi to the throne. The last thing Trump would need, especially in the middle of all this nutzoid Democratic squawking about losing, is being accused of installing a king. Nope, nope, nope." At 1945, American History Teaches That Operation Epic Fury Is Not Another ‘Forever War’.

At AMAC, Democrats’ Virginia Gerrymander is GOP’s Sign to Play Hardball. Shipwreckedcrew explains Why Washington State's "Climate Commitment Act" Should Worry the Rest of the Country. "The state's budget is so bad that state parks will can't open due to an inability to pay needed maintenance -- but if you want to grow food in a Seattle roof-top garden, NGOs have millions to help."

Althouse finds "There’s one thing that’s stealing when you are a teenager and you want the adrenaline rush. And part of it is about testing the rules..." ""... and getting away with something. But what I’m seeing on TikTok and social media is people saying that they’re stealing from Whole Foods not just for the thrill of it, but out of a feeling of anger and moral justification. Because the rich don’t play by the rules, so why should I? And Jeff Bezos has too much money — he’s a billionaire — so why should I have to pay for organic avocados? My friends and I have started calling this microlooting, because it has a slight political valence to theft, as opposed to just the thrill of getting away with something. Have you noticed this around you online? Have you noticed more people talking about stealing in this way?" Says NYT writer Nadja Spiegelman on an episode of the NYT "Opinions" podcast, "'The Rich Don’t Play by the Rules. So Why Should I?'Why petty theft might be the new political protest."" Northern Barbarian @xnoesbueno, "In fairness, Piker self-weaponized. The right noticed. Promoting political assassination, car theft, shoplifting. Hardly benign speech. I suppose, given the SPLC indictment, we now have to consider the possibility that Piker is a conservative op. But I doubt it. He's just stating outright what the others have been broadly hinting at." Quote Charlie Sykes @SykesCharlie, "Not surprisingly, Piker has turned out to be a massive gift to the GOP, which is weaponizing Piker’s commentary. You may not have seen them, but his latest comments have gone viral on right-wing media. Tens of millions of dollars of GOP ads are being written as we speak." Walter Curt at TownHall notes They Can’t Even Flip Burgers. Bonchie @bonchieredstate, "You can literally smoke crack, get caught in an FBI sting, go to prison, commit tax fraud, be a stalker, make racist remarks, and turn your city into a crime-infested hellhole, and Democrats *will still* build a statue of you." Quote Katie Pavlich @KatiePavlich "LOL of course there’s a Marion Barry statute outside of the DC Mayor’s office." Tom Knighton at TAW notices Reality is what the left wants to believe it is.

The Week in Pictures:
Frauds All the Way Down - Power Line

Jonathan Turley considers the question about The SPLC Indictment: Can Public Interest Groups Run Alleged Black-Bag Jobs and Confidential Informants? "The government has a tough case, with the alleged fraud used to produce evidence submitted to state and federal prosecutors. In addition, if this case extends into a new administration, a Democratic Justice Department could scuttle the case as did the Biden Administration. Once again, it is remarkable to read the extent to which the Center acted like a mini-FBI in running its own confidential informants and allegedly conducting a “black bag job.” The unfolding prosecution is likely to shine a light on the tactics used by the Center. It could also further define the constitutional protections for such organizations in using such novel and controversial means." A video at Hat Hair, BUSTED: "Anti-Hate" Group Gets Caught Funding Hate. Shipwreckedcrew @shipwreckedcrew, "If the SPLC's payments of millions of dollars to individuals involved with racist hate groups wasn't controversial, why did the SPLC take active steps to conceal what it was doing? If donors would have been fine with what they were doing, why the need for bank accounts in the name of fictitious companies?" T. Becket Adams @BecketAdams, "So ... the SPLC revived a dead neo-Nazi group?" Quote Sarah Bedford @sarahcbedford, "New: The SPLC paid more than $1 million to a neo-Nazi gorup that it had declared effectively dead years earlier. At the same time, the neo-Nazi group was fighting in court for $160k it said was vital to its survival." Dr. Interracial @billysandytodd, "Makes me wonder if the SPLC fire bombed their own office in 1983." Quote Tyler O'Neil @Tyler2ONeil, Replying to @Tyler2ONeil, "While the KKK firebombed the SPLC’s offices in 1983, the indictment covers 2014-2023. During that time, SPLC exaggerated hate by putting mainstream conservatives and Christians on a “hate map” with Klan chapters." Elon Musk @elonmusk, "SPLC got better returns than Nancy Pelosi and inverse Cramer combined!" Quote David Sacks @DavidSacks, "SPLC invested $270k in Charlottesville and got $81 million in additional donations. Extraordinary returns." Rothmus @Rothmus, "I know Elon isn’t a Nazi because he wasn’t funded by the SPLC." Quote Joe Rogan Podcast News @joeroganhq, "Joe Rogan to Elon Musk: "What is it like to buy a company for $44B and then people call you a Nazi on that same thing that you bought?"

AJ Christopher at PJM looks at The United States of America v. John Roberts.

Matt Vespa at TownHall celebrates how January 6 Star Witness Cassidy Hutchinson Is in the DOJ's Crosshairs.

At Da Wire, America’s Most Conservative State Just Gave Property Owners The Right To Shoot Invaders, Tennessee.

Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol, "The fact that ICE found HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of migrant children in 2025, many of whom were in forced labor on a farms, is somehow NOT the biggest story in America... ...tells you everything you need to know about the media It's totally insane." Shipwreckedcrew @shipwreckedcrew, "Success!" Quote The Calvin Coolidge Project @TheCalvinCooli1 "Report: The desire to move to the U.S. has dropped to an all-time low Via: The Hill"

From the Free Bacon, New York Times Puts Elise Stefanik Third on Best Sellers List Despite Sales Data Showing She Had Top-Selling Title, "The Times has not reviewed or covered Stefanik's book, 'Poisoned Ivies,' as New York Republican accuses outlet of refusing to 'acknowledge the crisis of antisemitism'" Bonchie @bonchieredstate, "He's accusing others of anti-free speech...while threatening to destroy companies with government power for saying things he doesn't like. Perfect. Just perfect." Quote Chris Murphy @ChrisMurphyCT, "Ellison and the information oligarchs should enjoy it while they can because when Democrats win power we are going to break these anti-consumer, anti-free speech media conglomerates into pieces."

NYPo reports Trans substitute teacher, 19, allegedly plotted chilling ‘murder spree’ at a Virginia school. "Dollery worked as a “non-licensed” substitute teacher for the 2025-26 school year but was later scrubbed from the district’s list after being thrown behind bars, the outlet reported. The long-haired suspect, seen grinning in their mugshot, was charged with threats of bodily harm and is now being held without bond at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center, cops said.The deranged teen — who identifies as a trans woman — was booked as a male and is reportedly being housed alone, WJLA reported."

Campus Reform, Harvard students call grading reform ‘racist’ in petition.

Varad Mehta @varadmehta, ""I will not thank Rufo for anything as long as his rhetoric salts the earth for rebuilding trust with the left." IMO this is backwards. It is the left that needs to rebuild trust with us. The onus is on it, at least as far as academia is concerned. Rufo is not the problem there." Quote Kevin Vallier @kvallier, "I want to clearly state where I think @christopherrufo has been harmful for American civic life. He has certainly done some good. My concern is that his tactics are a kind of civic poison. They salt the social earth, making trust hard to rebuild and polarization hard to reduce. x.com/christopherruf…"