ACTUAL FACTS ABOUT CAMPUS DUE PROCESS: Amidst alarmism over the proposed changes to Title IX regulations that would finally bring some basic due process protections to those tried in campus courts, FIRE’s new due process report exposes what became of campus “justice” under the previous “guidance” regime. Of the nation’s top 53 national universities:

• 3 in 4 don’t bother to guarantee the presumption of innocence
• 9 in 10 do not guarantee meaningful cross-examination in cases of alleged sexual misconduct
• Only 1 out of 53 allows students to have an attorney participate without significant limitations

While there’s lots more to be upset about, I think the failure to explicitly guarantee that the accused are to be presumed innocent until proven guilty is the real “tell” about what schools are doing. There’s just no way an American with even a “watched Law & Order one time” level of awareness leaves that out by accident.

TOO MUCH FREE TIME? We Broke Into A Bunch Of Android Phones With A 3D-Printed Head.

NO COMPANY IS, BUT GOOGLE DEFINITELY ISN’T: Google isn’t the company that we should have handed the Web over to.

NEW SOCIALIST “IT GIRL” CONTINUES TO PAY DIVIDENDS: Ocasio-Cortez weighs a new primary target: Hakeem Jeffries.

Jeffries [D-NY] has sparked the ire of Justice Democrats for several reasons. The group feels Jeffries takes too much money from corporate interests, a key litmus test, and is overly friendly with banking and pro-charter school interests. But Ocasio-Cortez is also unhappy that a campaign donation to her from Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) was allegedly used in a whisper campaign against Lee before her narrow loss to Jeffries in the recent race for Democratic caucus chair — a charge those allegedly involved have called a complete falsehood.

“It’s personal for Ocasio,” said the person who spoke with Ocasio-Cortez and her staff. “And she’s going to go all out to take him out.”

“Target?” “It’s personal?” “Going all out to take him out?” With all that eliminationist rhetoric flying around AOC, I sure hope her clip art has been approved by Paul Krugman.

UPDATE: What Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Challenge To Hakeem Jeffries Could Mean For 2020.

PRICES, HOW DO THEY WORK? Venezuela’s 15-Cent Phone Bills Come Complete With No Service. “Investments dry up as rates are cheapest in the world.”

The price of Movistar’s top mobile internet plan is about 100 bolivars, or some $0.15 at the black market rate, compared to a $17 price tag for a similar plan offered by the firm in neighboring Colombia — leaves them with no money to invest or improve technology.

“By charging 3 to 4 dollars a month we could start to recover the systems,” Jose Luis Rodriguez Zarco, president of Telefonica in Venezuela, told journalists on Friday, adding that Venezuelan fares are the cheapest in the world. “We are not on the verge of a collapse, but each time we are going to compromise more quality.”

Rodriguez said that the company has no plans to leave Venezuela, but is in constant need of help from its parent in Spain to continue operating. Consumption has increased 73 percent in one year while a third of his staff has left the country, he said.

Bad luck.

CHANGE: The Lincoln Continental Is Bringing Back Suicide Doors.

ELI LAKE: Michael Flynn Is Owed an Apology. “One year after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, there is still no evidence that he is a traitor.”

DEATH WISH, STARRING HOWARD WOLOWITZ: Former NASA engineer designs glitter bomb trap to avenge Amazon delivery theft victims.

“Revenge is a dish best served fabulously,” he tweets.

SENTENCING: “A federal judge tore into former national security adviser Michael Flynn during his sentencing hearing on Tuesday by saying he sold out the U.S. while he briefly held his position.”

I’d like to see the DOJ go after all the unregistered foreign agents in DC now. That won’t happen.

UPDATE: Thin gruel:

There have been enough leaks in this case all through the process to prepare us for these sorts of details, but it doesn’t make it any easier to digest. Running down the list, it appears that there are no charges stating that Flynn actually broke the law during his time on the job. In fact, most of what’s detailed in this memo sounds like a case of Flynn doing precisely the sort of things you’d expect a national security adviser to do. (Does it really sound shocking to anyone that Flynn would be talking to the Russian ambassador?)

Perhaps there’s more in the redacted portions which we may never learn of. But if not, this was a case of Flynn not being convicted of doing anything wrong, but of either lying or at least misleading investigators when he was asked about it. He was convicted of “downplaying his interactions” with Kislyak. He apparently testified that he’d only spoken to foreign officials to ask them “where they stood” on a particular UN vote, not to attempt to influence them. (If you think we don’t try to leverage our relationships with other nations to get them to vote our way in the UN, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.)

These are questions being asked by people such as Alan Dershowitz.

Related: Crime Follies: Overcriminalization, Independent Prosecutors, and the Rule of Law.

AGGRESSIVENESS MUST RUN IN THE FAMILY: Nathan Bedford Forrest’s descendants file suit against Memphis.

H. Edward Phillips and attorneys representing descendants of Confederate General Nathan B. Forrest filed suit today in a Memphis Court seeking the return of the Charles Niehaus statue removed December 2017 from Health Sciences Park in the city. They are also wanting all historical signs, including the one removed commemorating U.S. Army Air Corps General N.B. Forrest III killed in World War II, the monument base, copper caskets, earthly remains under it, and the expenses to move the monument to a location of their choosing.

It’s believed to be the first time living descendants of a national historical figure have filed such a suit to protect their ancestor’s grave site and remains.

Attorneys are also seeking compensatory damages alleging in the filing they have a paper trail showing the city knowingly violated its own charter, conspired to violate state law; desecrated a grave, trespassed to a grave, desecrated a venerated object, and conspired to violate the Civil Rights of the Forrest Family, when they removed the monument December 20, 2017.

Two of the actions were reportedly in violation of Tennessee statutes 39-17-311 and 46-1-313 making it a Class E felony to deface or disturb grave sites. District Attorney General for Shelby County Amy Weirich’s office has, to date, not brought charges against any of those reportedly responsible for the actions.

According to the suit filed in 30th District Chancery Court, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and the city council illegally sold and transferred Health Sciences and Memphis Park on December 15, 2017 – five days before changing the city’s charter that permitted them to legally do so. Health Science and Memphis Park were sold to Memphis GreenSpace, Inc. – statues and all – for the sum of $2,000. The properties were valued at around $1 million each.

Stay tuned. This should be some exciting litigation, unless — as I expect — it’s settled.

BUT OF COURSE: Patreon allows armed Antifa group to raise money for “revolution.”

BIG BOURGEOIS THEORY. Jonah Goldberg is asking the important questions:

[T]he writers of Friends at least had their characters struggle to make ends meet in a plausible fashion. The cast of [The Big Bang Theory] did everything right. Except for Penny, in high school they would have been considered losers by pretty much everyone on Friends (except maybe Ross and Rachel). The BBTers worked hard, got the best grades at the best schools and have, in fact, landed perhaps not the most lucrative jobs for their fields certainly among the most prestigious. They should be doing all right.

Why aren’t they?

Read the whole thing. Of course, part of the problem is the premise of the show — I doubt its creators thought that we’d be watching 12 seasons of the stuff. At this point, locking the gang into the same apartments, campus, and comic book store sets for this long feels a bit like the permanence of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital camp’s location and sets during the 11 seasons of M*A*S*H.

SORE LOSERS ARE STILL LOSERS: Hillary Clinton Writes Self-Serving Sympathy Letter to Third-Grade Girl Who Lost Class Election to a Boy. “It’s not easy when you stand up and put yourself in contention for a role that’s only been sought by boys.”

YUGE: In Court, Steele Claimed His Dossier Was Meant to Help Hillary Challenge 2016 Election Results.

RELATED: Michael Isikoff, Reporter Who Met With Christopher Steele, Now Doubts The Infamous Dossier.

PLAYBOY MODEL ARRESTED FOR BLASPHEMOUS NAKED CRUCIFIXION PHOTO SHOOT IN FRONT OF VATICAN.

Yawn. Get back to me when you pose in Mecca. Or heck, simply Egypt.

UPDATE (From Ed): What can I say? It was a clickbait headline, and I failed to read to the very end of the article:

This is the second time the Playmate’s been arrested for posing naked in public, the first being at the Karnak Temple Complex in Egypt.

Written in haste, repent at leisure; we regret the error.

CHANGE: Martha McSally will be appointed to John McCain’s Senate seat.

LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: Venezuela creditors demand payment on defaulted $1.5 billion bond.

President Nicolas Maduro’s government and state-owned companies owe nearly $8 billion in unpaid interest and principal following this year’s default on bonds amid a hyperinflationary collapse of the country’s once-wealthy socialist economy.

Five investment funds have demanded that Venezuela pay the principal and outstanding interest on its 2034 bond VE018389347=, said Mark Stancil of Washington-based law firm Robbins Russell, who represents the group. It is the first step in a potential legal campaign by creditors to recover their investments.

The decision could trigger similar efforts by investors holding $60 billion in outstanding bonds issued by Venezuela and state oil company PDVSA. That could pave the way for a creditor dispute similar to the one that roiled Argentina for a decade.

You don’t want to be the last creditor in that line.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, KANGAROO COURT EDITION: Harvard Zealots Abuse Title IX to Nail the Accused.

SEA STORY: There Is Only 1 Thing Stopping Japan from Building Real Aircraft Carriers. “Politics.”

Something like the sixty-five-thousand-ton Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier is not at all beyond Japanese shipbuilding capabilities. With the F-35B, such a ship would immediately be competitive with, and indeed likely superior to, China’s Liaoning-class aircraft carriers. However, the dependence on the F-35B would limit Japan’s options down the road. Unless Japan decided to develop its F-3 stealth fighter as a STOVL aircraft, the F-35B would be the only plausible shipborne fighter for the operational lifespan of Shokaku and Zuikaku. However, these ships could still operate an array of advanced unmanned aircraft, as well as any F-35B replacements developed by the United States. Experience gained by operating the F-35B with the Izumos would feed directly into a “Queen Elizabeth” style ship. Pilots and crew will develop invaluable experience with landings, takeoffs, and shipboard maintenance that Japan has lacked since 1945.

But unlike China, Japan enjoys the benefit of extensive military and industrial relationships with countries that currently operate aircraft carriers, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Thus, Japan does not necessarily need to take the kind of slow, methodical approach to carrier development that China has taken.

To repeat: the only serious obstacles to Japan’s construction of fleet carriers are political. But political obstacles are still obstacles, and the appearance of “Shokaku” and “Zuikaku” would have significant repercussions at home and abroad.

Japan’s smaller Isuzmo-class “helicopter carriers” are already being made ready to fly F-35Bs, and for now at least the idea of them building bigger and more capable carriers is pure conjecture — but one possibly causing some sleepless nights in Beijing. And if Beijing doesn’t like Japan’s ongoing (and quite real) naval rearmament, well, they have no one to blame but themselves.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Clemson Philosopher In NYT: Maybe We Should All Kill Ourselves, Or At Least Abort All Future Children To Save The Planet.

AT AMAZON, Fresh Deals on Top Rated Products.

Plus, Shop Top Gift Ideas.

And, Shop Amazon – Best Selling Products – Updated Every Hour.

Also, browse the Kindle Deals of the Day.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: James Comey, Tucker Carlson, criminal justice reform… and we’re just getting started. “After a closed-door meeting with Republicans and Democrats in Congress focused on the Clinton investigation and the Russia investigation, former FBI Director James Comey launched into the GOP, clearly attempting to distract from the gravity of something he admitted behind closed doors.”

Tyler O’Neil is filling in for Liz today.

TIMOTHY HARKER DISAGREES WITH MY HAM SANDWICH NATION AND CRIME FOLLIES PIECES, and has published this in the Tennessee Law Review: Faithful Execution: The Persistent Myth of Widespread Prosecutorial Misconduct.