Solwd

‘We cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct’: Bragg addresses media after Trump arraignment

Former President Donald Trump repeatedly made false statements on business records in New York in an effort to cover up other crimes, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at a press conference held shortly after Trump’s arraignment Tuesday afternoon. The former president pleaded not guilty to the 34 felony charges.

“These are felony crimes in New York state, no matter who you are. We cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct,” Bragg told reporters.

Bragg said that Trump, executives at the publishing company American Media Incorporated, Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen, and others agreed to a “catch and kill” scheme in 2015, planning to “buy and suppress negative information to help Mr. Trump’s chances of winning the election.”

As part of that scheme, Bragg said, Trump and others made three different payments to people who claimed to have negative information about the former president that Trump and his allies worried would hurt his chances at winning the 2016 presidential election. One of those three people was Stormy Daniels, Bragg said, the porn star who claimed she had an affair with Trump — and whom Cohen has admitted to making a $130,000 hush money payment to, claiming he did so at Trump’s behest.

“Why did Donald Trump repeatedly make these false statements? The evidence will show that he did so to cover up crimes relating to the 2016 election,” Bragg said.

In a statement released just after Trump’s arraignment earlier Tuesday, Bragg said that “Manhattan is home to the country’s most significant business market. We cannot allow New York businesses to manipulate their records to cover up criminal conduct. As the Statement of Facts describes, the trail of money and lies exposes a pattern that, the People allege, violates one of New York’s basic and fundamental business laws. As this office has done time and time again, we today uphold our solemn responsibility to ensure that everyone stands equal before the law.”

The former president repeatedly attacked Bragg in posts on Truth Social in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s arraignment, calling him “racist,” an “animal.” Trump was criticized for a post — which has since been deleted — that showed a photo of him holding a baseball bat next to a photo of Bragg, with a warning that his indictment could cause “potential death & destruction” around the country. Trump later denied knowingly posting the photo.

The press conference was one of the first times Bragg spoke publicly about the case, though his office had previously addressed it in a letter to some House Republicans after they demanded Bragg release information related to the indictment.

“Like any other defendant, Mr. Trump is entitled to challenge these charges in court and avail himself of all processes and protections that New York State’s robust criminal procedure affords. What neither Mr. Trump nor Congress may do is interfere with the ordinary course of proceedings in New York State,” Bragg’s office wrote in a letter to Judiciary, Oversight and Administration Chairs Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), James Comer (R-Ky.) and Bryan Steil (R-Wis.).

“We urge you to refrain from these inflammatory accusations, withdraw your demand for information, and let the criminal justice process proceed without unlawful political interference,” the letter said.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/04/bragg-addresses-media-trump-arraignment-00090463

Hype grows for SpaceX’s Starship orbital flight test, but barriers remain

More and more hype is building for the first orbital flight test of Starship, SpaceX’s ultra-heavy launch system. That hype has started to reach a crescendo this week as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released an air traffic advisory identifying April 10 as a primary launch date. Adding gasoline to the fire, earlier today SpaceX CEO Elon Musk liked a tweet that simply reads “April 10” with a GIF of a rocket launching.

While April 10 is shaping up to be the closest we’ve come to an even semi-solid launch date, the FAA has yet to issue the all-important launch license to SpaceX. This final regulatory green-light is a nonnegotiable step before the company can conduct the test. As of yet, there’s been no indication that that license is imminently forthcoming.

Further, as Ars Technica science editor Eric Berger pointed out on Twitter, there is also a very real possibility of a civil suit being filed over environmental issues immediately following the issuance of the launch license. In this case, a judge would have the power to issue a temporary injunction blocking the flight test until that civil suit is resolved.

It would not be the first time SpaceX and environmentalists have clashed over the company’s activities at Starbase, the Starship development facility in Boca Chica, Texas. Immediately surrounding Starbase are wildlife refuges and a state park, both home to what environmentalists say are fragile ecosystems that could be existentially threatened by ongoing orbital operations. The FAA published its final environmental assessment of Starbase and the Starship flight program last summer, finding that SpaceX’s plans would not result in significant impacts to the environment and requiring the company to complete a number of mitigation measures before flight testing begins.

The Starship launch system is composed of a Super Heavy booster and an upper stage that’s also named Starship. The rocket has become critical to the future of the space economy, with multiple startups banking on it coming online for their business plans, as well as to NASA, which has made it a centerpiece of its Artemis program to return humans to the moon — not to mention its centrality to Musk’s own vision of expanding humanity to Mars.

Hype grows for SpaceX’s Starship orbital flight test, but barriers remain by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/04/hype-grows-for-spacexs-starship-orbital-flight-test-but-barriers-remain/

WTI Extends Gains After API Reports Large Draws Across The Board

Oil eked out a gain (holding yesterday’s surge) after a report showed that US job openings in February fell to the lowest since 2021, reigniting concerns over a global economic slowdown.

“In this macro environment, ahead of payrolls this Friday, the signal of employers not looking for workers is not helping,” said Jonathan Wagner, global head of crude options at Marex North America

Additionally, the market largely ignored the potential resumption of oil exports from Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region on Tuesday.

API

Crude -4.346mm (-7.5mm exp)
Cushing -1.035mm
Gasoline -3.97mm (-1.3mm exp)
Distillates -3.693mm (-140k exp) – biggest draw since Oct

After last week’s large crude draw, expectations were for another big reduction in stocks and API reported draws across the board…

Source: Bloomberg

WTI hovered near $80.50 ahead of the print and extended gains after…

For now, the oil market remains “flush” with inventories, said Manish Raj, managing director at Velandera Energy Partners. However, the announced output cuts will “turn the market to a deficit in the second half.”

Tyler Durden
Tue, 04/04/2023 – 16:41

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/wti-extends-gains-after-api-reports-large-draws-across-board

Bill Belichick is ‘really pissed off’ and shopping Mac Jones in a trade

Bill Belichick is reportedly shopping around quarterback Mac Jones, who he’s still “really pissed off” with for seeking help outside the team last season.

https://nypost.com/2023/04/04/bill-belichick-is-really-pissed-off-and-shopping-mac-jones-in-a-trade/

Russia Blames Ukrainian Intelligence For Bombing That Killed Russian Journalist

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

Russian authorities on Monday blamed Ukrainian intelligence for the cafe bombing that killed Russian military blogger and war correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky in St. Petersburg.

Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee claimed the attack was “plotted by Ukrainian special services” and also involved members of a foundation started by Alexey Navalny, a jailed Russian opposition figure.

According to The Associated Press, Ukrainian officials have not responded directly to the accusation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday brushed questions about the bombing, saying he didn’t think about what happens inside Russia.

“I don’t think about what is happening in St. Petersburg or Moscow. Russia should think about this. I am thinking about our country,” Zelensky said.

Russian officials say Tatarsky was killed by an explosive that was placed inside a figurine that was handed to him by Darya Trepov, a 26-year-old Russian woman who has been detained on suspicion of being involved in the murder.

Via RT News: the above social media image is said to be of Darya Trepov.

According to Russian media, Trepov admitted to handing Tatarsky the figurine but said she didn’t know it was explosive, and she hasn’t said who gave her the figure.

Tatarsky’s killing was the second high-profile assassination inside Russia since the invasion was launched last year. In August 2022, Darya Dugina, the daughter of the prominent Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, was killed in a car bombing outside Moscow.

Detailed footage of the bombing attack that killed milblogger Maksim Fomin (Vladlen Tatarsky). It shows Fomin asking the alleged perpetrator, Darya Trepova, to sit down near him. She obliges, remaining a few metres away from the epicentre of explosion. pic.twitter.com/wBJJqglhFF

— Leonid ХВ Ragozin (@leonidragozin) April 4, 2023

The New York Times later reported that the US believes the Ukrainian government was behind Dugina’s killing, although Kyiv officially denies involvement.

Meanwhile, Glenn Greenwald points out mainstream media hypocrisy and their predictable reaction…

Oh, in case you’re feeling bad that this happened, here’s George Washington University Political Science Professor @Joyce_Karam offering the justification for this classic act of terrorism, just with a dozen collateral damages or so. We’re the Good Guys!https://t.co/HDk7r2NvcX

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 2, 2023