U.S. and world news for May 4

Atlanta shooting: Delon Patterson, the man arrested in yesterday’s mass shooting at the Northdale Medical building in Atlanta, has been charged with murder. One woman died and four others were injured. Police say Patterson used a handgun in the shootings. It’s reported that he was a patient of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs seeking medical treatment.

The Clarence Thomas gifts: ProPublica reports that Texas billionaire Harlan Crow, in addition to paying for lavish trips and vacations for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, along iwth buying Thomas’ mother’s house and then fixing it up for her to live in rent free, also paid the private school tuition for Thomas’ grand nephew. Thomas was the legal custodian of the child according to the ProPublica report. Thomas failed to disclose any of the gifts and money he and his wife received from Crow.

Kremlin attack claim: Russia today continued pressing its claim that there was a drone attack on the Kremlin aimed at assassinating Russian President Vladimir Putin, as suspicions continued to be raised that the Russians staged an explosion to simulate a drone attack. Yesterday Russia alleged that Ukraine launched the alleged attack. Today, Russia claims it is the U.S. that made the decision to go ahead with the alleged attack. The Russians did not explain why any country would attack the Kremlin at night when Putin wasn’t there if it wanted to kill him. It also did not explain reports of a video showing two men walking on a section of the Kremlin’s roof just before an explosion was seen.

Shell financials: Shell Oil this morning reported first quarter 2023 revenues of $86.9 billion, compared with $101.3 billion for the fourth quarter of last year. Income was $8.7 billion for the first quarter of this year compared with $10.4 billion in the fourth quarter of last year.

Paramount loss: Paramount Global, which owns Paramount Pictures, CBS, MTV and a host of other entertainment entities, today reports a first quarter 2023 loss of $1.2 billion on sales of $7.2 billion. In last year’s first quarter, Paramount had a profit of $775 million on sales of $7.3 billion. President and CEO Bob Bakish said CBS would be the number one television network again this year, for the 15th straight year.

Trump case: Donald Trump did not appear in person and take the stand in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday but portions of a recorded deposition was played in which he denied raping writer E. Jean Carroll in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman. About a half hour of excerpts from the deposition were played by Carroll’s attorneys. Trump’s lawyers said they would not call any witnesses to defend Trump. The case is expected to go to the jury next week.