LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: NorK summit cut short and much, much more. “President Trump and Kim Jung Un were unable to reach an agreement and the president has left Vietnam early. The media and pundit class were concerned that Trump would lower our standards for denuclearizing and make a deal because he’s a big dummy who wants to yap about his negotiation skills. Not so much.”

What will be fun is watching the backflips of people who yesterday said Trump shouldn’t have been at that summit in the first place, and who today will criticize him for cutting it short.

THIS IS CNN? Cohen Lied When He Told Congress He Never Wanted White House Job.

When you’ve lost Dana Bash, Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer…

WE REALLY SHOULDN’T HAVE TO TEACH WOMEN NOT TO DO THIS: Teacher Brittany Zamora had sex with boy in classroom while other student watched.

FINALLY: This kit will solve gender inequality in breastfeeding by making men lactate.

Marie-Claire Springham explained on Good Morning Britain. . . .

“So, basically the way I designed it is new couples when they find out they’re expecting sign up to basically a pre-natal course,” she explained.

“And they receive a kit in which it contains a nine months of a drug called progestin,” she added, “which we know as the non-estrogen based birth control pill.”

That drug is meant to “stimulate the production of milk-producing glands” in the males who take it. Another drug regimen would then result in lactation.

First problem: Men’s nipples aren’t built for suckling. Second problem: What the hell else is taking progestin going to do to a man? Third problem: Good luck getting men to even want to “solve” this “problem.”

ENDGAME: Venezuela soldiers who choose defection hope more join their ranks.

NOAH ROTHMAN: Michael Cohen’s Morality Play. “Michael Cohen is emotionally manipulating the Resistance in the most transparent fashion, and they’re falling for it.”

Cohen has been throwing himself upon the mercy of The Resistance ever since it became clear that he would face criminal charges related to his personal misconduct. To avoid an excessive sentence, Cohen had to share with federal prosecutors all he knew about the president. But in turning on his former employer and the party he leads, Cohen sacrificed his relationships on the right. He needed a new set of friends, to say nothing of donors to his legal defense fund. And so Trump’s attorney has embarked on a nakedly cynical campaign of emotional manipulation stimulating all the anti-Trump left’s pleasure centers.

Taken at face value, Cohen emerged from his plea agreement with federal prosecutors born again. With the convert’s zeal, he immediately began to preach not just against the sins of his former employer but in support of all things Democratic.

Much, much more at the link.

VIDEO: Tom Steyer Weaponizes Cohen Testimony for Trump Impeachment. “Confirming Jim Jordan’s suspicions.”

YA THINK?

When she’s right, she’s right.

VIDEO: Michael Cohen Rebuts Trump Dossier: ‘I Have Never Been to Prague’ or Czech Republic. “After turning on Trump, he has no reason to lie about this.”

ROGER KIMBALL: Democrats Are Interminably ‘Waiting for Mueller’, Just as in Samuel Beckett’s Absurdity.

ARCHEOLOGY: Geologists have finally found exactly where some Stonehenge rocks came from, debunking old research.

A team of 12 geologists and archaeologists from across the United Kingdom unveiled research this month that traces some of the prehistoric monument’s smaller stones to two quarries in western Wales.

The team also found evidence of prehistoric tools, stone wedges and digging activity in those quarries, tracing them to around 3000 BC, the era when Stonehenge’s first stage was constructed.

It’s rock-solid evidence that humans were involved in moving these “bluestones” to where they sit today, a full 150 miles away, the researchers say.

“It finally puts to rest long-standing arguments over whether the bluestones were moved by human agency or by glacial action,” University of Southampton Archeology Professor Joshua Pollard said in an email.

That still leaves the mesmerizing question of how.

NEW SOCIALIST “IT” GIRL CONTINUES TO PAY DIVIDENDS: PAYMENTS TO OCASIO-CORTEZ BOYFRIEND SPUR FEC COMPLAINT.

“It’s not illegal for [Ocasio-Cortez] to pay her boyfriend, but it appears that they created some sort of scheme to avoid claiming the money [as a campaign expense],” Dan Backer, a D.C.-based attorney who filed the complaint on behalf of the foundation, told Fox News. “What exactly did he do for that money?”

It was first reported last week that the Brand New Congress PAC paid Roberts during the early days of the Ocasio-Cortez campaign. According to FEC records, the PAC made two payments to Roberts – one in August 2017 and one in September 2017 – both for $3,000.

What’s a little lawbreaking when there’s a planet to save?

SUMMIT: A Quick Word on the North Korea Summit. “It’s an attempt to actually establish a foreign policy where there hadn’t been one before.”

WOW: Rare WWII color photos bring history to life.

AT LEAST ONE MORE THAN 4G: How Much 5G Could Cost Users. “Wireless carriers are still grappling with how much to charge consumers and businesses for this faster, next-generation service.”

Business are likely to begin paying for 5G networks as part of their capital expenditures, probably opting to build faster, private networks to power factories and stores, he says. The prices consumers pay for mobile-phone plans are less likely to change dramatically, he says, though some carriers may only offer 5G to clients in the higher tiers of their unlimited data plans.

“I pay $160; I don’t think tomorrow you can double that to $320” for a monthly mobile family plan, even if speeds are significantly faster, says Anthony Goonetilleke, who helps telecom companies with their network buildout and pricing models as chief technology officer of Amdocs , a provider of software and services to communications and media companies.

The cost of mobile wireless service has plummeted in recent years, with consumers growing accustomed to lower bills and unlimited data usage. U.S. mobile data cost roughly $3.33 a gigabyte at the end of 2017, according to consulting firm Recon Analytics, down from $11.12 a gigabyte three years earlier.

Where 5G really gets interesting isn’t increased download speeds on your smartphone, but rather the threat it will eventually create to traditional ISP’s “last mile” near-monopoly on consumers’ home access.

SUNSHINE IS THE BEST DISINFECTANT: California keeps a secret list of criminal cops, but says you can’t have it.

Their crimes ranged from shoplifting to embezzlement to murder. Some of them molested kids and downloaded child pornography. Others beat their wives, girlfriends or children.

The one thing they had in common: a badge.

Thousands of California law enforcement officers have been convicted of a crime in the past decade, according to records released by a public agency that sets standards for officers in the Golden State.

The revelations are alarming, but the state’s top cop says Californians don’t have a right to see them. In fact, Attorney General Xavier Becerra warned two Berkeley-based reporters that simply possessing this never-before-publicly-released list of convicted cops is a violation of the law.

The State looks after its own.

ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Americans Vote on Which 2020 Candidate Would Make the Best 2020 Oscars Host.

ROBERT SPENCER: Sludge Magazine Tries to Shut Down Opposition to Jihad Terror. “Crushing dissent is all the rage on the Left these days.”

These days?

UPDATE: Had the wrong link. Fixed now — sorry!

ADAM MILL: How Forcing Michael Cohen To Divulge Attorney-Client Communications Damages The Rule Of Law.

Let’s start at the beginning with a British judge serving under Queen Elizabeth, who wrote, “Thomas Hawtry, gentleman, was served with a subpoena to testify his knowledge touching the cause in variance; and made oath that he hath been, and yet is a solicitor in this suit, and hath received several fees of the defendant: which being informed to the Master of the Rolls, it is ordered that said Thomas Hawtry shall not be compelled to be deposed” (Berd v. Lovelace Anno 19 Eliz. 1576-77).

Cut to 2018 when the left sacrificed this sacred principle of Western civilization in the name of getting Trump. The New York Times titillated Trump-haters with the public airing of a recording of a discussion between Donald Trump and Cohen concerning the payment of two women who were essentially blackmailing then-candidate Trump. The FBI seized the recording during a raid of Cohen’s office. The New York Times did not say where it obtained the recording.

Subsequent to the release of the recording, the president chose not to assert attorney-client privilege. Those familiar with attorney-client confidentiality understand that the public release deprived him of any meaningful opportunity to make that choice. Nobody can un-hear the recordings.

It’s bad that an attorney maintained secret audio tapes of conversations with his client. Such information has a way of ending up in the wrong hands, and secretly making these tapes impairs the spirit of the attorney-client relationship. But it’s really bad that the American Civil Liberties Union posted an article cheerleading the raid. The government doesn’t need a cheerleader, and certainly not from the ACLU.

Sadly, this kind of partisanship is exactly what we’ve come to expect from the ACLU.

TAKING IT TO THEIR HOME TURF: 9th Circuit gets another Trump-picked judge, after White House bypasses consultation with Dems.

RUN, DON’T WALK AWAY: Student’s MAGA Apparel Allegedly Gets Ripped Off At School: ‘Take That Sh*t Off N*****.’

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Prison-bound Cohen to testify in public and much, much more. “Prison-bound Cohen lied to Congress and others, one of the reasons he is in legal trouble. Is he now telling the truth? Who knows, but Cohen is not really a credible witness. Cohen took Trump’s money with no ethical qualms about the things he is now alleging. Did he make a deal to get shorter prison time?”

OH: How electric cars could make America’s crumbling roads even worse.

Every time you go to the pump, each gallon of fuel you purchase puts money into a variety of pockets.

About half goes to the drillers that extract oil from the earth. Just under a quarter pays the refineries to turn crude into gasoline. And around 6 percent goes to distributors.

The rest, or typically about 20 percent of every gallon of gas, goes to various governments to maintain and enhance the U.S. transportation’s infrastructure.

Currently, the federal government charges 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline, which provides 85 percent to 90 percent of the Highway Trust Fund that finances most federal spending on highways and mass transit.

State and local government charge their own taxes that vary widely.

Combined with the national levy, fuel taxes range from over 70 cents per gallon in high-tax states like California and Pennsylvania to just over 30 cents in states like Alaska and Arizona. The difference is a key reason the price of gasoline changes so dramatically when you cross state lines.
While people often complain when their fuel prices go up, the real burden of gasoline taxes has been falling for decades. The federal government’s 18.4 cent tax, for example, was set way back in 1993. The tax would have to be 73 percent higher, or 32 cents, to have the same purchasing power.
On top of that, today’s vehicles get better mileage, which means fewer gallons of gas and less money collected in taxes.

And electric vehicles, of course, don’t need gasoline, so their drivers don’t pay a dime in fuel taxes.

I’m not sure what to do about this. One solution would be for the states and Congress could get serious about funding necessary infrastructure out of general funds, and cutting less necessary (but more popular) spending. That seems unlikely. Another is a mileage-based tax, prorated by vehicle weight (heavy vehicles cause more wear and tear), but that involves serious privacy concerns. The third is just to privatize it all, but that’s just not going to happen.

THE HUNT BROTHERS COULD NOT BE REACHED FOR COMMENT: China Rushes to Dominate Global Supply of Lithium.

(Classical reference in the headline.)

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Boots Riley Props Up Venezuelan Dictator on Twitter. “The auteur behind the anti-capitalism comedy ‘Sorry to Bother You’ is defending a regime bringing mass starvation, suffering to its people.”

Well, to be fair, anti-capitalism is mass starvation and suffering, eventually.