Paul Manafort Sold Out Donald Trump and His Anonymous Leakers Are Lying about It Publicly

https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/02/09/paul-manafort-sold-out-donald-trump-and-his-anonymous-leakers-are-lying-about-it-publicly/

https://twitter.com/DawsonSField/status/1094364627700457472

https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1094317516376150017

https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1094883472794095616

Body camera video shows man tased 11 times by Glendale officers, once in the testicles

On July 27, 2017, Johnny Wheatcroft was a passenger in a silver Ford Taurus when a pair of Glendale police officers pulled in front them in a Motel 6 parking lot.

The stop was for an alleged turn signal violation.

Minutes later, Wheatcroft was handcuffed lying face down on the hot asphalt on a 108-degree day. He'd already been tased 10 times, with one officer kneeling on his back as another, Officer Matt Schneider, kicked him in the groin and pulled down his athletic shorts to tase him a final time in his testicles, according to a federal lawsuit and body camera footage obtained by ABC15.

The scene was witnessed by his 11- and 6-year-old sons.

Multiple independent law enforcement experts, who agreed to review the incident, said the officers’ conduct was unlawful, potentially criminal, and one of the most cruel and troubling cases of police misconduct they’ve ever seen.

https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/investigations/abuse-of-force-body-camera-video-shows-man-tased-11-times-by-glendale-officers

Jussie Smollett’s neighbors cast doubt on his attack story

Nearly two weeks after “Empire” star Jussie Smollett claimed he was the victim of a racist, homophobic attack, cops have yet to identify any suspects — and some people in his tony Chicago neighborhood are growing skeptical.

“I don’t believe it happened the way he said it did,” said Agin Muhammad, who lives in the same swank high-rise near the Navy Pier as Smollett.

“I’ve been in this neighborhood five years. I don’t believe it, not around here … Half the people are gay and the other half are black.”

A patron at Lizzie McNeill’s Irish Pub, about a block from the scene of the alleged Jan. 29 incident, said Smollett’s story “doesn’t really make sense.”

“It’s a lie, because Chicago is the most liberal city around,” said the man, who wouldn’t give his name. “They have cameras everywhere … Why can’t they find the attack?”

https://nypost.com/2019/02/11/jussie-smolletts-neighbors-cast-doubt-on-his-attack-story/

Russian Satellite Registers Unknown Physical Phenomena in Earth's Atmosphere

An ultraviolet telescope installed on the Russian satellite Lomonosov has registered light "explosions" in the planet's atmosphere, whose physical nature has not been explained so far, the director of the Research Institute of Nuclear Physics at the Russian State University said in an interview with Sputnik.

"With the help of the telescope, we have obtained even more important results than we expected. It looks like we have encountered new physical phenomena… We do not yet know their physical nature… For example, during Lomonosov's flight at an altitude of several dozen kilometres, we have registered several times a very powerful 'explosion' of light. But everything was clear underneath it, no storms, no clouds," Mikhail Panasyuk said.

https://sputniknews.com/science/201902111072298631-russia-satellite-unknown-physical-phenomena-earth-atmosphere/

Plummeting insect numbers 'threaten collapse of nature'

The world’s insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, according to the first global scientific review.

More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, the analysis found. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. The total mass of insects is falling by a precipitous 2.5% a year, according to the best data available, suggesting they could vanish within a century.

The planet is at the start of a sixth mass extinction in its history, with huge losses already reported in larger animals that are easier to study. But insects are by far the most varied and abundant animals, outweighing humanity by 17 times. They are “essential” for the proper functioning of all ecosystems, the researchers say, as food for other creatures, pollinators and recyclers of nutrients.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/10/plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature

Why Did WaPo Let Ocasio-Cortez Skate By In Its Green New Deal Fact-Check?

Because they are Fake News

https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/11/wapo-fact-check-ocasio-cortez/

https://theresurgent.com/2019/02/11/ill-be-voting-for-president-trump-and-vice-president-pence-in-2020/

South Korea, US sign cost-sharing deal for American troops

South Korea and the United States struck a new deal Sunday that increases Seoul’s contribution for the cost of the American military presence on its soil, overcoming previous failed negotiations that caused worries about their decades-long alliance.

The development comes as President Donald Trump is set to hold his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam in late February.

South Korea last year provided about $830 million, covering roughly 40 percent of the cost of the deployment of 28,500 U.S. troops whose presence is meant to deter aggression from North Korea. Trump has pushed for South Korea to pay more.

On Sunday, chief negotiators from the two countries signed a new cost-sharing plan, which requires South Korea to pay about 1.04 trillion won ($924 million) in 2019, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/02/10/south-korea-us-sign-cost-sharing-deal-for-american-troops/

Michigan says it doesn't have enough money to pay judgments to wrongfully convicted.

The state of Michigan owes Nathaniel Hatchett $500,000 — but he can't eat the two-page court document ordering compensation for his wrongful rape conviction, and it won't pay his rent.

Hatchett was arrested at age 17 and charged with a sexual assault in Sterling Heights, and spent 10 years in prison before DNA evidence exonerated him. Prosecutors dropped the charges in 2008 and he was released from the St. Louis Correctional Facility in Gratiot County, Michigan.

Hatchett is eligible under the 2016 Michigan Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act for $50,000 for each year he spent in prison. In December, he won his petition, and Michigan Court of Claims Judge Colleen O'Brien ordered the state to pay Hatchett the full $500,000 by Jan. 16.

But state officials say there's not enough money in the fund to pay exonerated ex-prisoners. So Hatchett, who is unemployed, and others who were wrongfully convicted are still waiting for their money.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/02/11/not-enough-money-wrongfully-convicted-compensation-fund/2788073002/

Strict ID Laws Don't Stop Voters: Evidence from a U.S. Nationwide Panel, 2008-2016

U.S. states increasingly require identification to vote – an ostensive attempt to deter fraud that prompts complaints of selective disenfranchisement. Using a difference-in-differences design on a 1.3-billion-observations panel, we find the laws have no negative effect on registration or turnout, overall or for any group defined by race, gender, age, or party affiliation. These results hold through a large number of specifications and cannot be attributed to mobilization against the laws, measured by campaign contributions and self-reported political engagement. ID requirements have no effect on fraud either – actual or perceived. Overall, our results suggest that efforts to reform voter ID laws may not have much impact on elections.

https://www.nber.org/papers/w25522#fromrss

https://twitter.com/MattGrossmann/status/1094953480576487424

“For what they see as anti-Semitic tweets.”

WaPo is running interference for democrat bigots in the House. No one is surprised.

https://twitter.com/kristinegWP/status/1094970721242177536

The Indecent Inquisitors

To satisfy the bloodlust of the party’s rank-and-file, still bitter about losing the 2016 presidential election and gobsmacked that Trump somehow remains in office, congressional leaders are seeking vengeance in the hearing rooms of Capitol Hill. Since taking the helm of powerful House committees last month, Democratic chairmen are wasting no time in probing every crevice of Trump World; no one, including the president’s family members, will be spared.

https://www.amgreatness.com/2019/02/10/the-indecent-inquisitors/