FAKE SCANDALS, LAWFARE, AND POLITICAL DIRTY TRICKS: Matt Taibbi: FOIA Files: Did Special Counsel Robert Mueller Rely on Clinton Campaign Operatives to Point to Russia?

YEP: Maybe Homeschooling is Easier Than You Think: It’s one way to resist toxic campus environments. “My wife and I homeschool our nine-year-old son, and we’ve found that it helps foster independent thought and counteracts consumerism, social media obsession, and other forms of anxiety-producing groupthink. From time to time, I write about homeschooling, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the level of interest the practice generates. I’ve also noticed plenty of unwarranted trepidation.”

Plus, an upside: “Dropping off kids at school can be almost as irritating as navigating a Trader Joe’s parking lot, but homeschoolers get to avoid all that early-morning angst. And much of the rest of the day might also be easier than you expected.”

When our daughter switched to Kaplan online high school, I felt like I got out of jail. No more 7:30 am dropoffs, no more long waits in pickup lines, no more scheduling our vacations around the school schedule.

AMERICA’S LEFTIST INSTITUTIONS ARE CESSPITS OF ANTISEMITISM: Inside the Campaign to Blacklist ‘Zionist’ Therapists.

WHILE BRITAIN AND EUROPE COMMIT SEPPUKU IN ATONEMENT FOR THE ALLEGED EVILS OF COLONIALISM: Nigeria Reverts to Its Old Colonial Anthem: The song represents the patriotism present at its independence.

Nigeria ditched its indigenous national anthem in May and restored the old colonial one. The decision by the country’s National Assembly to revive a song written and composed by two white British women has caused predictable meltdowns in polite society. But it is the latest evidence that the shine is off decolonization.

The British assumed colonial rule over the first part of the territory that is now Nigeria in 1861. As the peaceful and carefully planned shift to Nigerian independence in 1960 approached, contests were held to decide the lyrics and music of the national anthem. The winners were a British social worker temporarily living in Nigeria and a piano teacher from London. Both women were white, but nobody seemed to care. As a Nigerian commentator wrote in 2009, “our national anthem ‘Nigeria we hail thee . . .’ opened me and I believe millions of Nigerians up with pride and the feeling of patriotism.”

After a few years, Nigeria collapsed into a vicious civil war. Three decades of dictatorship followed. In 1978 the military government decided to swap out the “colonialist” anthem for a new one. Five poets and one police-band musician delivered a clunky, unmemorable tune called “Arise, O Compatriots,” with no refrain and Soviet-sounding lyrics like “The labor of our heroes past shall never be in vain.”

As corruption and misgovernance continued to plague Nigeria even with a return to democracy in 1999, the original anthem became a reminder of how far short the country had fallen from the feelings of nationhood and unity present at the country’s independence. By reinstating it, legislators hoped to move Nigeria closer to those ideals. “This anthem, with its familiar lyrics and stirring melody, evokes a sense of nostalgia and patriotism,” said Philip Agbese, deputy spokesman for the Nigerian government. Senate leader Opeyemi Bamidele similarly said that the original anthem “played quite a significant and crucial role in shaping Nigeria’s national identity” and “was symbolic of Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage.”

Decolonization was pushed too soon by proto-woke Westerners, Soviet and American geopolitics, and the ambitions of local politicos. The consequences in many places were much worse than a more measured approach would have produced. Unsurprising that we’re seeing a bit of nostalgia for the past.

Of course, now places like Nigeria are sending missionaries to Europe, Britain, and even the United States, so. . . .

OPEN THREAD: Happy Tuesday.

ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD:

Hindus in Bangladesh are enduring ethnic cleansing and genocide at the hands of Muslim Brotherhood-backed mobs. Where’s the UN? Why is the ICC silent? Has the Security Council even noticed? Why is the world fixated on Gaza while Hindu women are raped and temples are destroyed?…

— Amjad Taha أمجد طه (@amjadt25) August 11, 2024

Backstory here.

DON’T BE DRAGGING YOUR FEET, FAA: FAA postpones hearings on Starship environmental review.

ALL THE BEST PEOPLE TOLD ME THIS NEVER HAPPENS:

BREAKING: A Democrat Election Worker in Harris County, Texas named Darryl Blackburn has just been charged with six felonies for his part in rigging the 2022 midterm election against Republican candidates

"Mr. Blackburn's crime DID impact the election [results]." – DA Kim Ogg… pic.twitter.com/JZNiCx55bQ

— George (@BehizyTweets) August 13, 2024

FATHERHOOD AT FIFTY: A Growing Trend.

STANDING UP TO BIGOTRY: Court Issues Preliminary Injunction Against UCLA, Stemming from Risk of Repetition of Exclusion of Jewish or Pro-Israel Students from Parts of Campus.

BUMMER: Astonishing Evidence of Life Discovered on Mars by NASA’s Perseverance Rover.

Flashback: Why I Hope There’s No Life on Mars.

JOSH TREVINO: This Sceptred Isle. Reflections on the revolution in England. “The British Museum apparatus of commerce also, it so happens, has two sections purveying for purchase materials helpful in ushering the purchaser into the occult. As for the single most-important influence on all British history, which is to say Christianity, it has nothing in particular. This too is a regime choice. . . . Among the American misapprehensions of Britain is that it is becoming Islamic. That is in fact happening — it is notable that a mosque is the only religious structure seen on the train from London to Oxford — but it is consequence rather than cause. Islam did not eradicate Christian England: that was the work of the English themselves.”

WELL, GOOD: Pre-surgical antibody treatment might prevent heart transplant rejection.

AND THE PRESS HAS DONE ITS BEST TO MAKE YOU FORGET THAT IT HAPPENED:

One month ago today, Donald Trump took a bullet to the ear in a failed assassination attempt.

Throwback to CNN and MSNBC's initial response, where they refused to say "possible gunshots" and instead reported there were "LoUd NoIsEs!" pic.twitter.com/piuGbaWUBg

— Media Research Center (@theMRC) August 13, 2024

DISAPPOINTING: Is the New Jeep Wagoneer a “Real Jeep” Off-Road? We Find Out. “Realistically capable of no more than a basic forest road or national park trail, it lacks the tools, the clearance, and the spunk that’s made Jeep the American icon it is today.”

To be fair, very few of these SUVs ever get used off-road much. But if you want one that can go there, this isn’t the one for you. The Lexus LX and GX would be the closest competitors that can really go off-road, or their corresponding Toyota vehicles, the new Land Cruiser and the Forerunner. And the Chevy Tahoe Z71 gets a good review.

I WAS EXPECTING AN EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM, BUT “FUSION TIPPED?” DAMN. First Look: Federal Fusion Tipped Ammunition.

SPACE: SpaceX announces first human mission to ever fly over the planet’s poles: The highest inclination flight by a human spacecraft to date is 65.1 degrees.

DO TELL: Long COVID continues to evade diagnosis through lab tests.

Flashback: Long COVID ‘indistinguishable’ from other post-viral syndromes a year after infection, researchers find.. “The term ‘long Covid’ should be dropped from use, because Covid has no more aftereffects than the flu or other mild respiratory illnesses, according to a major new study from Australia released yesterday. The study showed that only 3 percent of people who had Covid had ‘moderate-to-severe’ aftereffects a year later – numerically fewer than those infected with influenza or other mild respiratory diseases.”

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CLUE, GUYS? NASA watchdog finds quality control problems with Boeing SLS work.

WELL, YES: Boeing Has Become The Poster Child for Ruling-Class Incompetence. “It isn’t only the gimpy thrusters. The Starliner is blocking one of the ISS’s two docking ports. The geniuses who designed the capsule’s flight software set things up so that it cannot be undocked remotely, meaning that the only way to free up the docking port for now is for at least one astronaut to strap in and ride the deathtrap down. What makes this especially baffling is that during its uncrewed test flight, the Starliner was perfectly capable of autonomous docking. . . . So far Boeing has extracted about $4B from NASA for its faulty Starlemon, which is well behind schedule. SpaceX, meanwhile, has charged half that for the Dragon, which has made 20 successful flights to the ISS since its first crewed launch in 2020.”

“THAT’S SUPPOSED TO BE A LAUGH LINE?” Well, these days yes, even to a Colbert audience.

Stephen Colbert: “I know you guys are objective over there (at CNN) that you just report the news as it is”

Kaitlan Collins: “That supposed to be a laugh line?”

Colbert: “It wasn’t supposed to be” pic.twitter.com/ZsqPinvMz3

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 13, 2024

AND VOIDS QUALIFIED IMMUNITY, WHICH IS HUGE: 2nd Circuit Rules Lawful Gun Ownership Doesn’t Justify a Warrantless Search. “No one will ever mistake the Second Circuit Court of Appeals for a gun-friendly bunch of jurists. So that should be a good indicator of just how egregious the violation of one man’s rights was that they have slapped down a cop for conducting a warrantless search of his car simply because he had a concealed carry permit and a gun. A three-judge panel also ruled that the cop in question isn’t entitled to qualified immunity because he so egregiously chose to violate the civil rights of someone without any discernible probable cause.”

VICTORY: Equality activists defeat attempt to reinstall affirmative action in California.

LOSERS ON PARADE: Meet the University of Wisconsin-Madison students, faculty, and alumni arrested at anti-Israel encampment.

DON SURBER: The Great Walz of China.