Trump trial: This is the fourth day for David Pecker, former owner of the National Enquirer tabloid, to be on the witness stand for a fourth day in the hush money trial of Donald Trump. Trump’s attorneys were challenging his claims that Trump not only knew about but was involved in crafting the scheme by which the silence of porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal would be bought to prevent stories about their sexual relationships with Trump from getting out before the 2016 election.
Space flight: NASA and Boeing have made a decision to go ahead with the planned May 6 launch of the Starliner spacecraft built by Boeing. A number of technical problems cropped up during unmanned test flights. This will be the first Starliner flight with astronauts on board. The May 6 flight is intended to carry two astronauts to the International Space Station. Starliner was designed to be reusable and make round trips between the Earth and the space station.
Israel-Hamas: A member of the political bureau of Hamas, Basem Naim, says that Hamas would lay down its arms if a separate Palestine state is established with its capital in Jerusalem. He said the Palestine state would have to encompass the land that currently is the nation of Israel. This represents a change in position for Hamas, which previously has said it does not want a two-state solution to the Palestine crisis. The change in position is being discounted as a public relations move by Hamas.
Internet protections: The Federal Communications Commission has voted to restore its internet neutrality rules to where they were under the Obama Administration. The FCC action restores a national standard to ensure the internet is fast, open, and fair. It reclassifies broadband service as a Title II telecommunications service allowing the FCC to ensure that broadband internet service is treated as an essential service. The three to two vote by the FCC commissioners was along party lines, with Democrats voting to restore protections and Republicans voting against.
Tesla recall: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today raised questions as to whether the recall of 2 million vehicles by Tesla actually is fixing problems with the vehicles’ autopilot driving systems. The federal agency says there have been accidents involving vehicles on which the automatic driving systems supposedly had been fixed. Tesla has reported 20 accidents after software for the autopilot systems was updated to provide better warnings for drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel.
Supreme Court: The Supreme Court’s conservative justices, especially Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch who were appointed by Donald Trump, seemed to be siding with Trump’s Attorney John Sauer during oral arguments yesterday that Trump is immune from prosecution for anything he did while in office. Under questioning, Sauer claimed that a president has immunity for anything from ordering someone to be murdered to ordering the military to stage a coup in order to remain in power after a term has expired. The Supreme Court is reviewing a ruling by a federal appeals court that Donald Trump is not immune from prosecution for criminal acts committed while he was in the White House.
