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An incredibly rare baseball signed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky just sold at auction ... and a portion of the proceeds are going to a relief fund for the country.

The winning bid for the autographed baseball came in at $50,103 ... according to Boston-based RR Auction, which will be donating their cut of more than $15k to relief efforts in Zelensky's war-torn country.

The sale price is higher than expected ... remember, the ball was projected to go for $15k, and now that's the figure that's being donated.

Zelensky signed his last name on the baseball in two different languages ... Ukrainian cursive and English print ... with his signature underneath an MLB logo.

The ball comes with a letter signed by Volodymyr Yelchenko, Ukraine's Ambassador to the United Nations in September 2019, when Zelensky left his John Hancock during a visit to New York.

Randy L. Kaplan, a government affairs specialist in the Big Apple, got the ball as a gift from Yelchenko ... and he's been collecting signed Major League baseballs from world leaders and heads of state dating all the way back to 1996 with Bill Clinton.

We're told there were 35 bids entered and the buyer wishes to remain anonymous.

When it comes to the fight over abortion, imagery is all-important, and protesters took that to heart Wednesday night when they wore 'Handmaid's Tale' costumes and took it to the home of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

A small group of pro-choice demonstrators made their way to Falls Church, Virginia to make their feelings known about the SCOTUS draft opinion that would squarely overturn Roe v. Wade.

One of the protesters made a point of distinguishing ACB's choice to give birth to 5 kids from other women, claiming her devout Catholicism skewed the way she looks at the law, saying, "Not everybody wants to have 5 kids, or 4 kids or 1 kid."

There have been other protests at the homes of justices. Demonstrators showed up earlier this week at the homes of Justices Kavanaugh and Alito, as well as Chief Justice Roberts.

It's unclear if the draft opinion -- which has the sign-on of 5 justices -- will be the one that becomes the decision of record, but there's evidence it indeed will be. There has not been a subsequent draft circulated among the justices since the February draft -- this according to Politico -- and that is a strong indication the February draft may be close to the final version.

Sarah Silverman has a fascinating take on whether Trump should be allowed back on Twitter -- and it all has to do with what George Washington and co. could or couldn't predict.

We ran into the comedian Wednesday in NYC and asked what she made of Elon Musk essentially saying he's going to bring the ex-Prez back onto the bird app -- once his mega $44-billion deal closes, that is -- and she had a very nuanced answer that's worth hearing.

Check it out ... she says her feelings on this have evolved -- first, it was relief that DT got the boot after Jan. 6 ... but then she started thinking about what free speech is supposed to mean philosophically -- namely, tolerating abhorrent speech you don't agree with.

Sarah seems to have thought maybe Trump should've actually been allowed to stay in light of that -- but upon further reflection ... she suggests banning him might've been best.

Her argument boils down to what our founding fathers envisioned when they were writing the Constitution, and she uses the Second Amendment as a good example of an arguably outdated fundamental right we have that didn't have AR-15s in the minds of the framers when it was drafted.

That same logic, Sarah says, could be applied to social media ... the OGs certainly didn't foresee Twitter or the far-reaching impact it has on the masses.

Paris Hilton is on Day 2 at our nation's capital as she continues to lobby for institutional child abuse reforms -- an undertaking for which she says both sides of the aisle are needed.

We got the hotel heiress Wednesday on Capitol Hill, where PH was hand-in-hand with her hubby, Carter Reum ... and where she told us exactly why she thinks this issue was worth taking a trip over -- as she puts it, countless youth are dying "in the name of treatment."

Paris touched down in D.C. Tuesday and paid a visit to the White House, meeting with officials to discuss a bill working its way through Congress -- Federal Accountability for Congregate Care Act -- that she's fully behind ... and which will afford kids federal protection.

As you may know, Paris has been championing this cause for a while -- this after publicly claiming she herself was abused at Utah boarding school Provo Canyon in her teens.

Now, she's doing her advocacy work on a national level ... and while she's clearly got high hopes, the rancor of our red and blue politics is NOT lost on her at all.

We asked if she thought Republicans would back this Dem-drafted bill -- and she's optimistic, highlighting the importance of bipartisanship. No word on how she might try and nudge the GOP in the right direction -- but hey, it's Paris ... and she's already done some work in speaking with Republican Senator Chuck Grassley.

Barack and Michelle Obama's daughters are 2 peas in a pod now that they're both in Hollywood -- and we got a first-hand look at how close they are during an airport pickup.

We got both Malia and Sasha Obama at LAX, where little sis was picking up big sis. You can tell they were happy to see each other based on the reunion dance they busted out Wednesday afternoon as they came face-to-face.

It's a pretty sweet/surreal moment we captured -- Sasha even loaded up Malia's luggage in the hatchback she was driving.

We don't know how long it's been since they last saw each other -- they're very excited -- but, best we can tell, Malia's been gone just over a week. She flew out of LAX, in the same 'fit on May 2.

Of course, we tried firing off a few questions to the former First Kids -- including whether they like Cali life more than D.C., but, apparently, that's still classified info.

As you might have heard, Malia is a screenwriter for Donald Glover's new Amazon series -- and her boss himself was singing her praises to us not too long ago -- so she definitely seems to be putting down roots in La La Land.

Ditto for Sasha, who's reportedly attending USC now, and is frequently spotted around town.

BTW, Angelenos know fighting LAX traffic to pick up someone is a sign of true love -- so, don't ever question this sisterhood.

Sharon Osbourne is an anti-censorship purist ... because she doesn't want anyone banned from Twitter, and that includes Donald Trump and the Taliban.

We caught up with Sharon Tuesday in Bev Hills outside Neiman Marcus, and she was all about Elon Musk, declaring her love for the rocketman, and amplifying his position that Twitter should be open to all, even if the messaging is abhorrent. The point ... that vibrant discourse is a better way of getting at the truth than censorship.

Sharon's position regarding the Taliban is interesting ... most folks who support free and open Twitter still want to carve out exceptions for calls to violence. The Taliban seems to fall in that category, and there's certainly a good argument that can be made ... Donald Trump may not explicitly call for violence, but the subtext in some of his messages certainly seems to invite it.

Donald Trump might be back in the Twittersphere soon enough -- that is, if Elon Musk's mega deal to buy Twitter closes ... 'cause the guys says 45's ban was BS.

The Tesla chief -- and soon-to-be new Twitter owner -- signaled DT might be back on the bird app during a virtual chat at a car summit ... saying he would reverse the permanent ban if the decision was up to him, and it very well could be in a matter of weeks.

EM called the move a "morally bad decision" in the first place, going on to say he saw it as "foolish in the extreme."

His rationale is interesting ... Elon essentially argued that Trump should be allowed to exist in the de facto town square, rather than allowing him and/or his loyal followers to foment/fester elsewhere -- which is a bit of a different POV than his free speech one.

Elon says, "I think that was a mistake because it alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice. So I think this may end up being frankly worse than having a single forum where everyone can debate."

You'll recall ... Twitter gave Trump the boot for good in January 2021, right after the Capitol insurrection, because they claimed his tweets had the potential to incite further violence.

Elon Musk thinks the Russian government is out to get him -- maybe kill him -- and he's exposing the threat he received that supports his theory.

Elon just tweeted, "If I die under mysterious circumstances, it's been nice knowin ya."

As for what prompted the tweet, a guy named Dmitry Rogozin, Chief of Russia's Space Agency, sent a statement to Russian media accusing Elon of assisting Ukraine in Russia's brutal war against the country.

Rogozin accused Elon of being "involved in supplying the fascist forces in Ukraine with military communication equipment."

And then, the ominous warning ... “And for this, Elon, you will be held accountable like an adult – no matter how much you’ll play the fool.”

As for linking Rogozin's statement to Elon's tweet, it's pretty obvious ... Elon tweeted 6 minutes after Rogozin released his statement.

Elon's SpaceX Starlink terminals are now being used by Ukrainian forces to keep the Internet and therefore communications strong as Russia tries to disable it. It's a critical link in fighting the war.

Rogozin went on ... “From the testimony of the captured commander of the 35th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Dmitry Kormyankov, it turns out that the internet terminals of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite company were delivered to the militants of the Nazi Azov Battalion and the Ukrainian Marines in Mariupol by military helicopters.”

Musk's mom, Maye, was shaken by Elon's tweet, responding, "That's not funny."

Margaret Atwood -- who penned 'The Handmaid's Tale,' inspiring the TV show -- just let everyone know how she feels about banning abortion ... calling it literal enslavement.

The renowned author and poet wrote a brief but powerful op-ed in The Guardian this weekend -- and it's all about the prospect of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade, which was made public last week after a draft opinion leaked to the press.

Her title says it all ... "Enforced childbirth is slavery" -- and she lays out her argument pretty well in the following graphs, likening the would-be decision to what she outlines in her cautionary tale of a novel ... where women who are fertile become prisoners of the state.

Here's just a snippet of Atwood's words ... "Women who cannot make their own decisions about whether or not to have babies are enslaved because the state claims ownership of their bodies and the right to dictate the use to which their bodies must be put."

She goes on to compare the slavery she speaks of to conscription for men -- but notes that even there, guys have a better deal ... as they're afforded free resources for the "service."

MA then asks this ... "If the state is mandating enforced childbirth, why should it not pay for prenatal care, for the birth itself, for postnatal care, and -- for babies who are not sold off to richer families – for the cost of bringing up the child?" Essentially, pay women for having babies, especially if you're going to give them no other option but to do exactly that.

Margaret answers her own question, writing ... "Instead, it just wants to reinforce the usual cheap trick: force women to have babies, and then make them pay. And pay. And pay. As I said, slavery." She goes on to say that having a baby is a gift -- but ceases to be a gift if it's not freely given or received ... which is what would happen by default if abortion is banned.

Here's a sign that the tide might be turning in Ukraine -- Bono, First Lady Jill Biden and even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid a visit this weekend ... a very pleasant surprise.

The trio don't appear to have traveled together, but they were all on hand Saturday and Sunday in different parts of the war-torn country to lift spirits for Mother's Day ... albeit through different means.

The U2 frontman, for example, did an impromptu performance down in a Kyiv subway station alongside The Edge -- singing to a relatively small crowd that had gathered ... but blowing their minds, nonetheless. He even did a duet with Ukrainian singer Taras Topolia!

As cool as that was ... it was Dr. Biden's visit that might've been the most meaningful. She met with President Zelensky's wife, Olena Zelenska, at a school in Uzhhorod ... marking the first time the Ukrainian FL has been in public since February. She's been in hiding.

The visit was unannounced, which made this all the more special. She'd been meeting with refugees earlier in the week in different parts of Europe -- but nobody expected her to drop into the actual country itself ... and yet, here she was giving flowers to Mrs. Zelenska.

Finally, there was Canada's Commander in Chief himself ... PM Trudeau was in Irpin and Kyiv taking in the destruction and devastation -- and even met with Zelensky himself.

Like we said ... the fact these world leaders are there on the ground signals that things might be finally settling down. There's no way they'd send Trudeau or Biden if their respective countries' intelligence thought there was any chance they'd be in danger -- so a good sign.

Bill Maher delivered a scorching attack on the movement in the U.S. to censor what we say ... and gotta say, it may be his best commentary in a long time.

The "Real Time" host declared his position from the jump -- "Sorting out lies from truth is your job," adding it's ridiculous we treat everyone like "helpless dumb blondes ready to believe everything ... like Donald Trump!"

He makes the point ... people living today aren't special -- as he says, every age is the misinformation age. He harkens back to 1858, when the New York Times worried Americans couldn't handle the transatlantic telegraph because it was "superficial and too fast for the truth."

Go back even further, Bill says, to 1487, when the Pope cautioned against the misuse of the printing press, saying it was the source of pernicious writing -- hmmm, sounds like fake news.

And, then there's radio ... in 1938, some listeners freaked out listening to Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds," believing the Martians invaded New Jersey.

As Bill says, lies are everywhere ... like germs. He says you can't germproof the world, so develop a better bull*** meter.

And, then he makes a brilliant point ... "Sometimes misinformation is history's first draft" -- like the stories that circulated about COVID -- that 50% of those who are unvaccinated become hospitalized when it's less than 1%.

To drive home the point, he notes lots of folks believe in "an imaginary best friend in the sky who they can talk to to help them with their problems." Bill asks if there should be a warning label on that.

He's all for banning things like child porn, calls for insurrection, personal threats, etc, but people should be able to express their opinions even if they are repugnant. And, deciding whether something is true, half-true, a quarter true or false ... well that's our job, not the job of some publisher.

Prince William may have just extended an olive branch to Prince Harry and Meghan, but the Queen has just done the opposite ... snubbing her grandson, his wife and one of her sons.

The Palace just released a statement ... "After careful consideration, the Queen has decided this year's traditional trooping the colour balcony appearance on Thursday, 2 June, will be limited to Her Majesty, and those members of the royal family who are currently undertaking official public duties on behalf of the Queen."

The statement goes on to list those royals who are permitted to watch the festivities from the balcony ... Prince Charles and Camilla, William, Kate and their kids, and a few dukes and duchesses.

Notably missing, Prince Harry, Meghan, their kids, and Prince Andrew, who just settled a Jeffrey Epstein-related case.

The snub is loud ... remember, Harry visited his grandma last month and it seems any ice that existed between them had thawed.

What's especially interesting ... the Palace made an exception for Princess Ann's husband because of a new rule that only working family members can sit on the balcony, the exception could also have applied to Harry, but the Palace didn't bite.

A simple birthday wish has royal implications, because Prince William has reached out across the pond to wish the son of his estranged brother a happy birthday.

Meghan and Harry's son, Archie, turns 3 Friday, and William and Kate marked the occasion with a photo of the royal fam -- which includes Archie -- with the caption, "Wishing Archie a very happy 3rd Birthday today."

It's hugely significant ... as we reported, Harry flew back to England last month and met with the Queen and Charles, but not William. The 2 have been estranged for several years now, and the Oprah interview seemed to cement their estrangement.

Archie's 7th in line to the thrown. He hasn't been in the U.K. since Fall, 2019, when Meghan and Harry took him to Canada and shortly thereafter settled in Montecito, near Santa Barbara.

Harry said recently he considers Montecito his home, not England.

No one's on the fence over abortion, so maybe that's why SCOTUS put a massive one around the third branch of government.

It's certainly a sign of the times ... a construction crew began erecting a fence Wednesday night around the perimeter of the Supreme Court building. As you certainly know by now, the area around the court has been flooded with protesters on both sides, this after a draft opinion leaked, signaling the end of Roe v. Wade.

There hasn't been any violence of note, but clearly, that's on the minds of people inside that building, especially in the wake of January 6th.

Some of the justices reportedly have begun canceling public appearances -- speaking engagements and the like -- because of safety concerns. There are also reports people who are protesting the impending decision are planning protests at the home of the justices who signed on to the majority draft opinion. There's a group that has posted the addresses of some of the justices.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is up in arms over the Supreme Court's apparent vote to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in a draft opinion -- she says an end to abortion is bad for all women -- but particularly the most vulnerable.

We got SEW on Capitol Hill and asked her about SCOTUS striking down Roe, and what it means for women all over the country ... including minorities.

Liz, who appeared to be enraged, predicts the court's reversal would have dire consequences ... telling us overturning Roe is going to fall hardest on the most vulnerable women in our nation.

As we reported ...  Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion, signed by 4 other Republican-appointed justices, back in February ... and if the majority ruling sticks, Roe would be repealed immediately and states could immediately ban abortion or impose severe restrictions.

Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner both looked spectacular Monday night at the Met Gala ... but the imagery re-creates one of the toughest moments in the real Jackie Kennedy's life.

Kim's dress was the actual garment worn by Marilyn Monroe when she sang a super-sexy Happy Birthday to JFK May 19, 1962 at Madison Square Garden.

It was a secret to the public but not so much in the Beltway ... JFK was banging Marilyn (as was RFK) ... and everything about Marilyn that night undeniably oozed sexuality. Lots of folks in that circle say Jackie Kennedy was less than pleased ... that's an understatement.

In fact, JFK was also taken aback and shortly thereafter both he and RFK cut off their relationship with Marilyn. The actress was livid and felt used, and even started calling the White House with her grievances.

The new Netflix documentary, "The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes," gets into the birthday song in-depth and how it affected all the relationships. According to the doc -- and there was compelling evidence this is true -- Bobby Kennedy flew to L.A. on August 4, 1962, the day she died, and went to talk to Marilyn. Eyewitnesses say they got in a huge argument, Robert left and scurried out of L.A., and Marilyn then OD'd on prescription drugs.