FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A California mom’s lawsuit against the school district that helped her daughter identify as a boy without her knowledge could block the enforcement of a new California law that mandates schools hide students’ so-called gender identities from parents.   The Center for American Liberty first filed a lawsuit against Chico Unified School District in January 2023 on behalf of Aurora Regino, whose 11-year-old daughter “socially transitioned” at school and started identifying as male. The district has what the lawsuit calls a “Parental Secrecy Policy,” requiring Chico schools to socially transition students upon their request, regardless of parental support and without consent. The district court dismissed the case, and The Center for American Liberty, a free speech nonprofit, appealed the case to the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, where it is currently pending. In mid-July, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed Assembly Bill 1955, which barred school districts from requiring that parents be informed of their child’s gender identity. The law overrides any local school board policies that require transparency with parents about their child’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The center filed a letter in the 9th Circuit on Aug. 15, explaining how Assembly Bill 1955 would affect the case. Filed Supplemental Letter Brief – ReginoDownload According to the organization, AB 1955 has no impact on Regino’s case, because the mother seeks a court declaration that the district’s Parental Secrecy Policy violates the Constitution as well as an injunction against the Chico policy’s continued application of the policy. “The Parental Secrecy Policy is not a mandatory parental disclosure policy of the type targeted by AB 1955,” the letter shared with The Daily Signal reads. “Instead, the Parental Secrecy Policy provides the opposite—it requires schools to socially transition students upon their request, and it generally requires school personnel to conceal the social transition from the student’s parents.” Even if AB 1955 were inconsistent with Regino’s argument, AB 1955 would be unconstitutional just as the Parental Secrecy Policy is also unconstitutional, the letter says. “Again, a public school’s failure to (at least) notify parents before socially transitioning their children violates parents’ federal constitutional rights,” according to the letter. During a time of intense stress in which Aurora Regino’s father had died and she was battling breast cancer, her elementary school-age daughter sought help from a school “mental wellness” counselor, Regino said at an April 5 school board meeting. Regino said that her daughter told the counselor that she wanted to tell her mother about the counseling sessions and her struggles with her sexual identity—but the counselor ignored her. Because Chico Unified kept her daughter’s struggles and mental health crisis from her, her daughter was left to face bullying and other trauma alone, Regino said. Parents should be responsible for decisions affecting their children, not schools, according to Eric Sell, associate counsel at The Center for American Liberty. “The California politicians who supported AB 1955 might think it’s OK for schools to transition children to a different gender behind their parents’ backs, but the experts who understand the science behind social transitioning disagree,” Sell told The Daily Signal. “If the 9th Circuit sides with our client Aurora, AB 1955 will effectively be unenforceable against parents.” “We are hopeful the court will do so given the extensive scientific evidence available that shows how dangerous it is for a school to facilitate a child’s transition to a different gender identity in secret,” Sell continued. Chico Unified School District did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment. This report will be edited if the district responds. Tony Kinnett contributed to this report. The post EXCLUSIVE: Case Could Make Unenforceable a Law That Prohibits Schools From Disclosing Gender Transitions to Parents appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Gladiatorial games were hugely popular in ancient Rome, and gladiators could be widely admired and achieve great wealth. Though there are few literary descriptions of gladiatorial combat, gladiators are referenced in celebratory graffiti, inscriptions and artistic relics. Gladiatorial combat dominates the popular perception of ancient Roman entertainment, a position scaffolded by films like Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960) and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000), as well as older works like Jean-Léon Gérôme’s 1872 painting Pollice Verso. These depictions have entrenched the rebellious Spartacus and emperor Commodus as legends of the arena, but there were other gladiators who achieved renown in their own day. Here are 10 famous Roman gladiators. 1. Spartacus According to Livy, the earliest large-scale public entertainments in Rome were held in 264 BC at the Forum Boarium. By the 1st century BC, they had become established as an important way for politicians to gain public recognition and prestige. Spartacus, the most famous of Roman gladiators, trained in a gladiator school during this period. Spartacus’s fame is owed to his leadership of a rebellion in 73 BC with an army of escaped slaves. According to Appian’s Civil Wars (1.118), the gladiator army resisted the legions of the Roman Republic for several years until Licinius Crassus assumed the praetorship. They were regarded as a source of terror. When his rebellion was foiled, 6,000 of the freed slaves were crucified along the Appian Way. 2. Crixus One of Spartacus’s subordinate officers was a man named Crixus. Crixus and Spartacus are attributed by Livy with leading the revolt of gladiators from their gladiator school in Capua. When Crixus was killed in 72 BC, slain by Quintus Arrius alongside 20,000 of his men, Spartacus ordered 300 Roman soldiers slaughtered in his honour. Pollice Verso, Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1872Image Credit: Public Domain 3. Commodus Roman sports, called the ludi, existed for the spectators. Audiences took games seriously, valuing athleticism and technique, but they were not participants. For its perceived effeminacy and contemptible Greekness, disgrace would attend any Roman citizen who either was or married a sportsman or performer. This did not stop emperor Commodus. Nero might have forced his senators and their wives to fight as gladiators, but Commodus, who ruled between 176 and 192 AD, himself donned a gladiator’s garb and entered the arena. According to Cassius Dio, Commodus fought gladiators who usually wielded wooden swords while he thrust with his lethal, steel one. Commodus was assassinated by senators wary of being humiliated by the emperor. The day before he was due to accept their honours while dressed as a gladiator, senators bribed the wrestler Narcissus to strangle Commodus while he was taking a bath. 4. Flamma Flamma was a Syrian gladiator who fought in the arena during the reign of Hadrian, in the early 2nd century AD. Flamma’s gravestone in Sicily records that he died at the age of 30. He fought 34 times in the arena, a much greater number than most other gladiators, and he won 21 matches. Most notably, he won his freedom four times but refused it. Gladiator mosaic from Kourion, Cyprus.Image Credit: imageBROKER / Alamy Stock Photo 5. Spiculus Emperor Nero made a favourite of Spiculus. He received wealth and land from Nero, including “properties and residences equal to those of men who had celebrated triumphs,” according to Suetonius in his Life of Nero. Additionally, Suetonius reports that prior to his death by suicide, Nero called upon Spiculus to slay him, “and when no one appeared, he cried ‘have I then neither friend nor foe?’” 6. Priscus and Verus Only one contemporary account of a gladiatorial match survives, part of a series of epigrams by Martial written for the opening of the Colosseum in 79 AD. Martial describes an epic confrontation between the rivals Priscus and Verus, the main entertainment of the opening day games. After hours of wearying fighting, the pair laid down their weapons. They let the emperor Titus decide their fate, who awarded them their freedom. 7. Marcus Attilius Marcus Attilus, whose name is recorded on graffiti in Pompeii, may have entered the arena in order to pay off his debts. He earned celebrity after defeating a man who had won 12 of 14 previous fights, and then defeated another opponent with an impressive record. Usually, the longer somebody was a gladiator, the less likely was their death in the arena. As Alison Futrell writes in The Roman Games: Historical Sources in Translation, “Because of the audience’s preference for equal matches, a veteran of twenty of thirty bouts had fewer opponents at his level; he was also more costly for an editor to acquire. The frequency of matches for him was thus lower.” 8. Tetraites Graffiti in Pompeii describes Tetraites as a bare-chested gladiator who appears to have been popular across the Roman empire. Glass vessels, including one found in southeast France in 1855, record Tetraites’ battle against the gladiator Prudes. 9. Amazon and Achilla Two female gladiators named Amazon and Achilla are depicted on a marble relief from Halicarnassus in Turkey. In the intensely gendered realm of Roman games, it was generally a scandalous transgression for women to perform. When female gladiators are described by Roman writers, it’s usually to condemn the practice as vulgar. According to the Greek inscription, Amazon and Achilla were both granted a reprieve before the end of their combat. The relief shows the women heavily armed with greaves, blades and shields. 10. Marcus Antonius Exochus Marcus Antonius Exochus was a gladiator born in Alexandria, Egypt, who came to Rome in order to fight in games celebrating Trajan’s posthumous triumph in 117 AD. On his fragmentary tomb, it records that: “On the second day, as a novice, he fought with Caesar’s slave Araxis and received missio.” This was a privilege, where combat is stopped before either fighter is slain. He was probably not especially acclaimed, but he was able to retire as a Roman citizen.

While the bloodshed on film and TV adaptations might persuade us otherwise, leading speaker on gladiatorial life and historical consultant Alexander Mariotti insists that death in the ancient Roman arena was “an absolute rarity”. Joining Tristan Hughes on The Ancients, the consultant on Ridley Scott’s Gladiator and Amazon Prime’s Those About to Die (in which he even has a cameo) explains that deaths, when they happened, more often followed later from injuries. “Combat sports were very violent,” says Mariotti. “And gladiatorial combat is part of that pantheon of sports.” However the use of weapons made it particularly dangerous. “One of the reasons they don’t wear tunics is because the linen or the wool getting stuck in a wound would kill you [from] an infection.” Those About to DieImage Credit: Those About to Die / NBCU “But what we do find from modern forensics on gladiatorial skeletons is that these guys, majoritively, have medical care, so they have wounds that are then healed. So you’ve not only got a doctor that’s healing you, but you’re also paying for the time that the injured can recover. Because we see from the bones that they actually physically recover even from medical amputations.” “There are certainly moments where gladiators were expected to, to fight to the death. But I think they’re an absolute rarity.” Mariotti emphasises that in the arena it took skill not to kill an opponent. “There were set rules, the training was important because combat, especially with weaponry, instigates ‘fight or flight’.” “You’ve got the adrenaline pumping, you’ve got the noise, you’re wearing a helmet and this noise is reverberating, the discomfort. And yet they had the ability to stop at the right moment and not kill their opponents, because most of the time they didn’t kill their opponents.” Mariotti wastes no time debunking other gladiator myths. (Did gladiators fight animals? No, but beast hunts did happen, just as the preserve of hunting specialists.) Find out more when you stream this filmed episode of The Ancients on History Hit. Sign up to stream now

A cat chirped with renewed hope to her kittens when someone took them out of the shelter, promising them a good life. Nova and her kittensAsaNova, an orange and white cat, found herself in an animal shelter, going into active labor. A rescue group, Tails High, contacted the shelter to ensure a better life for the feline family.Asa, a volunteer for Tails High, was running errands when she received a text from the rescue. "I cut my errands short and headed out to make my 3-hour roundtrip drive to pick them up, at which point she was done giving birth to her beautiful babies," Asa shared with Love Meow.At just a few hours old, the kittens left the shelter with their mom en route to their new life in a foster home. Asa"Nova was having a bit of a hard time at the beginning. The shelter said she wasn't cleaning the babies when they were born."Overwhelmed by stress and the shelter environment, Nova withdrew into herself and relied on the kindness of the staff and volunteers to tend to her babies. That quickly changed when she stepped into her foster home. AsaWith a quiet room, a comfy bed, a constantly replenished food station, and a loving human, Nova relaxed. The wariness in her eyes melted away, and her maternal instinct took over. She gently put her arms around her babies as they nursed away on her belly.After a long feeding session, she stepped out for a well-deserved break, chatting up a storm with her foster mom and rewarding herself with a big stretch. AsaDespite their best efforts to save all the kittens, one of them, Ash, sadly lost her fight. The rest of the litter, Alexandria, Arly, and Vienna, continued to gain weight and strength. At two weeks old, they officially entered the wobble phase.For a while, Nova enjoyed some me-time between feedings, but that changed when the kittens started using their legs. Curious about their surroundings, they ventured out of the nest to explore. AsaWhile they honed their balance and gait, they followed their mom everywhere, always trailing close behind.Nova lay on the floor and stretched out her paws to wrangle the wobbly kittens into her embrace. Her adorable chirps and trills filled the room as she called out to them. AsaOver the next two weeks, the kittens became steadier on their feet. As their curiosity grew, their playful, mischievous side emerged. "Nova's really got her hands full with these kids."At four weeks old, the kittens turned into roly-polies with rotund bellies, and their personalities started to shine. Asa"I'd describe Alexandria as the most independent - she wanders around the room by herself and likes hanging out under the cabinet.""I often see Arly and Vienna together, slo-mo pawing at each other's faces (learning how to play)." AsaNova teaches her kittens feline etiquette and shows them how to eat from a plate, play with toys, use the litter box, and climb cat trees.Following in her paw steps, the kittens are on their way to mastering many essential feline skills, including the zoomies. "Arly is starting to get the hang of the bunny kick thing. She learned from the best." AsaAfter a play session, the kittens nestle against their mom and drift off to sleep to the sound of purrs."Nova has become quite the nurturing mother. She's very chirpy and trills a lot. She's also started to play with her little ones now that they're a bit older." AsaOnce her kittens are old enough to spread their wings and fly, Nova will happily retire from motherhood and focus on the things she adores. AsaShare this story with your friends. More on Nova, her kittens, and Asa's fosters on Instagram and Tails High on Instagram.Related story: Cat Leads Kind Person to a Tub of Kittens She's Looked After, She's So Happy to Finally Have Help

Is Kamala Scared to Debate Trump on Fox?

Wind farms pumped out more electricity than coal-fired power stations in the US across March and April 2024, signifying a clear milestone in the declining fortunes of fossil fuels and the rise of renewables. Data from the US Energy Information Administration (IEA) shows that March and April were the first two consecutive months in which US wind-powered electricity generation outpaced coal. Although wind electricity generation briefly exceeded coal-fired generation for the first time in April 2023, it did not do so again for another 11 months.In March 2024, around 45.9 terawatthours (TWh) of electricity was produced by wind turbines in the US, compared with 38.4 TWh from coal-fired power plants. In April 2024, coal-fired generation fell to 37.2 TWh, while wind generation increased to a record 47.7 TWhBack in January, the EIA forecasted that renewable energy sources – wind, solar, hydro, biomass, and geothermal – will outpace the American production of energy from coal in 2024. It also predicted that renewables would outcompete nuclear energy.Renewable generation surpassed coal in the US electric power sector for the first time in 2022, although there have been odd months since where this has not been the case. This year, however, renewables appear to have totally outpaced coal and are on track to continue doing so in the years ahead. A graph from January 2024 shows the EIA's forecast of electricity generation sources in the US from 2018 until 2025.Image Credit: EIAAs per E&E News, solar and wind energy alone – not including hydropower, biomass, and geothermal – has generated more power than coal through the first seven months of 2024, in yet another first for renewable resources. Solar and wind are also reportedly on track to exceed coal generation for an entire calendar year in 2024.It’s a positive trend, but it’s worth remembering that the leading source of electricity in the US is still a carbon-emitting fossil fuel, natural gas, which accounts for 1,700 billion kWh of annual electricity generation in 2024 and 2025, similar to last year. The broader push away from coal is being driven by a few different factors. At least 24 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have enacted legislation to transition to clean energy in the decades ahead. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration's Inflation Reduction Act has incentivized the move to carbon-free energy sources using federal tax credits and deductions.The shift is being underpinned by massive infrastructure across parts of the US, especially its most sunny and windy corners. Earlier this year, the Edwards & Sanborn Solar and Energy Storage facility became fully operational. Consisting of almost 2 million solar panels in California’s Mojave Desert, it’s the largest single solar and battery energy storage project on the entire planet (at least for now).

Over 6,000 sheep are planned to be unleashed onto eight solar plants in Texas, acting as wooly gardeners by nibbling away at vegetation over more than 10,100 acres (4,087 hectares) of land. This will be the largest solar grazing agreement in the US to date, says renewable energy operator Enel North America, who are partnering with Texas Solar Sheep LLC to carry out the “record-breaking” plan, with some sheep already being deployed.The sheep can enjoy lounging in the shade of the solar panels on hot days. In return, they reduce the need for herbicides and fossil fuel-powered mowers to control vegetation, their manure fertilizes the soil, and they can carry wildflower seeds in their wool that grow in their hoofprints. They also improve soil health – Enel has already tried out solar grazing in Minnesota, and reports that some of their sites had improvements in organic matter of over 200 percent."By prioritizing sheep grazing for land management, we demonstrate how solar and agriculture can coexist while ensuring optimal performance of our solar facilities. Additionally, our sheep grazing commitment supports ecosystem services and the local economy," said Marcus Krembs, head of external relations and sustainability at Enel North America, in a statement.Agrivoltaics is the practice of using land for both solar energy and agriculture at the same time. “Solar grazing is at the forefront of a booming agrivoltaics industry, and we are seeing more and more leaders in the solar industry investing in long-lasting partnerships with farmers and creating new opportunities for American agriculture," added Kevin Richardson, Outreach Director at the American Solar Grazing Association.   IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.This approach to land use has several benefits. For one, letting sheep snack on vegetation is cheaper and less likely to damage the solar panels than mowing (and they won’t chew on the wires, unlike mischievous goats): “This saves us money. It’s an efficient way to do this. It’s great for the environment, but it also helps our bottom line. And so it’s a win-win for us,” Jesse Puckett, director of sustainability projects and community affairs at Enel, told Fast Company.“I think we recognize the fact that, as an industry, we have this amazing opportunity to do things a little bit different,” Puckett added to Canary Media.As for the family-owned and operated Texas Solar Sheep, some of their herd are sold for meat. “We really operate just like a regular ranch,” JR Howard, co-owner of the company, told Fast Company. “The only difference is that we have solar panels.”Enel explained that solar grazing can provide a new revenue stream for sheep herders. The booming demand for solar grazing is “the greatest opportunity for the sheep industry in my lifetime,” Howard told Canary Media.

Hurricane Ernesto battered homes and businesses across North Carolina, Bermuda, and the Bahamas as strong winds and swells caused damage along the islands and east coast of the USA. In Rodanthe in Dare County, North Carolina, one beach home was even swept completely out to sea.On Friday, August 16, a house at 23214 Corbina Drive was filmed being washed out to sea by bystanders in the area. The debris from the house was also found around 17 kilometers (11 miles) north of the area where the house had collapsed. The National Parks Service warns anyone trying to reach that area that many roads are closed due to safety concerns. They also warn people not to go to the beaches or enter the water because of dangerous debris that is still present, especially around Cape Hatteras National Seashore.    In the video, the house can be seen floating freely in the surf. Fortunately, the house itself, a beach vacation rental property, was unoccupied at the time, but marks the seventh house to collapse into the sea in four years in the area.The X account for the National Weather Service, Newport/Morehead City wrote: “large and powerful swells from Ernesto will produce strong rip currents, as well as several coastal threats over the next few days due to the higher than normal tides.”Chicamacomico Banks Fire & Rescue posted a video on their Facebook page showing the house floating into the surf from a different angle, as well as photos of the aftermath.     A bipartisan bill was proposed earlier this year that would help homeowners with houses at risk of collapsing by giving them up to $250,000 to either safely demolish or relocate these beachfront houses, reports Spectrum Local News. 

It’s a challenging task but we here at NewsBusters are going to try to sift through all the crazy, angry and ridiculous observations made by leftist journalists every night of the Democratic National Convention coverage and pick one for Worst of the Night. So without further ado, the Worst Media Outburst for Monday night goes to ABC World News Tonight Sunday anchor and upcoming presidential debate moderator Linsey Davis for linking Donald Trump to the KKK.  In an interview with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Davis claimed — without evidence — that Trump had a “connection” to a month-old KKK rally in Howell, Michigan because he was going to hold an event in the same town.     Anchor Linsey Davis: “Former President Donald Trump is expected to go campaign in Howell, Michigan tomorrow. Many people are aware that a month ago, in Howell, KKK protesters marched in the streets with the white robes on and suggested that they support Donald Trump. I’m curious if you make anything about that connection and him going in particularly to Howell tomorrow.”Governor Gretchen Whitmer: “Well, you know, anyone who’s doing a little bit of research might have said ‘that’s really a bad idea, look at the optics.’ You’re showing up where the KKK was just at the same time you’re in Michigan. I mean, this is a— I think — a troubling strategy that we see from the other side to divide us and to scare us and to stoke fear and anger.  — ABC’s Your Voice/Your Vote: Democratic National Convention, August 19.    Please return to this space for the rest of the week to find out who had the most obnoxious take of the night.

A group of 13 Republican congressmen recently sent a letter to the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia questioning the Biden-Harris administration's decision to release two Jordanian nationals who were accused of attempting to breach a military base in early May.The Monday letter, led by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), called the men's release "egregious" and accused the administration of valuing the "desires of illegal aliens — including those who intend to commit acts of terror — over the safety of American citizens."'Is it possible that the two men were testing out the security of the base to plan for a future terrorist attack ...?'On May 3, two Jordanian nationals apparently attempted to enter Quantico Marine Corps Base near Triangle, Virginia, by posing as Amazon delivery drivers. When guards stopped their box truck at the base's main entrance, the two illegal aliens failed to produce access credentials. The guards directed the men to a holding area to await a secondary inspection. However, instead of abiding by the directive, the men reportedly attempted to proceed forward but were quickly stopped by the deployment of vehicle denial barriers. One of the men reportedly crossed the southern border unlawfully a month before the incident, and the other allegedly overstayed a student visa. As a result of the men's illegal immigration status, they were turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.The men's immigration status and their identities were initially concealed by the Biden-Harris administration. However, a July report from the Center for Immigration Studies revealed through court records the names of the Jordanian nationals: Hasan Yousef Hamdan, 32, and Mohammad Khair Dabous, 28.Hamdan and Dabous were charged with Class B misdemeanors for the attempted breach. According to CIS, the men were released from custody.The New York Post reported that ICE released the men from federal custody, and a magistrate judge with the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Virginia ordered their release on July 22 on the misdemeanor trespassing charges. The two men reportedly posted bail, with Hamdan's bail set at $15,000 and Dabous' set at $10,000.The lawmakers' letter stated, "The pair were released despite not only their statuses as illegal aliens who are subject to removal but also their having trespassed on a U.S. military installation, an act which is potentially connected to current or future terrorist activity.""Furthermore, their release was conditioned on a promise to appear in court at a future date despite the fact that a large number of illegal aliens released with similar agreements never attend their future court proceedings," the congressmen wrote. The men were released on the condition that they attend their future immigration proceedings and stay away from military bases."Not only does this administration allow suspected terrorists to cross the southwest border and parole them into the country, but even when those same individuals engage in potential terrorist activity this administration continues to release them into the country based simply on promises to reappear at court hearings," GOP lawmakers stated. "The American people are tired of the recklessness of this administration's border and immigration policies and demand that illegal aliens who commit crimes be detained and held accountable," they added.The congressmen sent a list of 10 questions, which included inquiries regarding whether the U.S. attorney believes the two illegal aliens "pose any threat to American citizens" and whether there was communication within various federal government agencies about the men's potential motive. They also asked how the office reacted to reports that one of the men was suspected of being on the terrorist watch list."Is it possible that the two men were testing out the security of the base to plan for a future terrorist attack, similar to how the 9/11 hijackers flew multiple flights with box cutters to test airport security before planning their act of terror?" the lawmakers questioned.A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office did not respond to a request for comment from the Post. — (@) Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!