FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The Department of Education is slashing federal regulations that could hinder states from improving their schools, the administration’s latest move in its dismantling of the agency and its effort to return education policy to the states. The Education Department has approved Education Flexibility applications for the states of Florida and Illinois, meaning they now can waive statutory or regulatory requirements for school districts without first having to submit those waivers to the federal government for review and approval. A total of 18 states have now opted into the program that seeks to give state and local education departments more authority over efforts to reform schools. The department also sent guidance to all chief state school officers that grants them freedom to move federal funds between programs, to better meet state and local needs. Small, rural schools will also gain more flexibility to use funds how they see fit. The letter builds on guidance that the department sent to states in July encouraging chief state school officers to implement existing statutory flexibilities and seek waivers from burdensome statutory and regulatory provisions.   Kirsten Baesler, assistant secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, called this a “bold step forward in strengthening states’ ability to fully harness the flexibilities already at their fingertips in support of better serving students, families, educators, and communities.” “With a record 18 states now taking advantage of Ed-Flex authority, we urge state leaders to build on this momentum by adopting forward‑leaning strategies that move decision-making closer to the classroom and elevate the power of local leadership,” she said.

Associated Press science writer Seth Borenstein traveled over to the fact-checking section on Monday to condemn President Trump for taking a victory lap on behalf of all people who do not subscribe to theories of apocalyptic climate change after the United Nations’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ruled a 2011 study’s “worst case scenario — called RCP8.5 — was implausible.” The problem for Borenstein was that in 2026, he said Trump was ignoring other, more likely scenarios, but in 2011, he willingly went along with the worst-case scenario. Trump posted on social media, “GOOD RIDDANCE! After 15 years of Dumocrats promising that ‘Climate change’ is going to destroy the Planet, the United Nations TOP Climate Committee just admitted that its own projections (RCP8.5) were WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!”” Borenstein began his reply, “Trump was referring to a set of projections from 2011 from a group of scientists associated with the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that were updated in a study published in a scientific journal this spring. The update found that the old worst case scenario — called RCP8.5 — was implausible.” He also wrote, “Even when it was created 15 years ago, that worst case scenario was unlikely — there were other scenarios that were considered more likely. But the most extreme scenario was still possible if the world went on a fossil fuel heavy binge, in particular continuing to use coal, the most dirty fossil fuel, in a big way. It projected an end of the century warming of about 8 degrees Fahrenheit (4.5 degrees Celsius) compared to the mid 1800s.” However, 15 years ago, Borenstein wrote, “The report does say scientists are ‘virtually certain’ — 99 percent — that the world will have more extreme spells of heat and fewer of cold. Heat waves could peak as much as 5 degrees hotter by mid-century and even 9 degrees hotter by the end of the century.” Sure, Borenstein said temperatures “could” rise nine degrees by 2100, but the words “implausible,” “unlikely,” and “worst-case scenario” do not appear anywhere in his 2011 article. Borenstein wants to condemn Trump for what he himself did. American Enterprise Institute climate policy researcher Roger Pielke Jr. summarized the problem: Tens of thousands of research papers have been — and continue to be — published using these scenarios, a similar number of media headlines have amplified their findings, and governments and international organization have built these implausible scenarios into policy and regulation. We now know that all of this is built on a foundation of sand. Pielke also disagrees with Borenstein’s characterization as a worst-case scenario. Instead, he argued it was “characterized as ‘business as usual.’” Pielke also notes that SSP3-7.0 has also been retired, which predicted a roughly six-degree Fahrenheit increase. The problem for Borenstein is that even if he is right and Pielke and Trump are wrong about RCP8.5’s demise, there is still the fact that, according to alarmists, New York City was supposed to be overwhelmed with floods in 2015, milk was supposed to be $12.99 per carton (it was $3.39), and gas was supposed to be over $9 a gallon (it was $2.75). Perhaps Borenstein should look back at those predictions instead.

The Democratic Party's best chance to unseat longtime Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is in the midst of yet another scandal tied to his old social media posts.Graham Platner, the Marine veteran who is all but guaranteed to win the Democrat Senate primary in Maine on June 9 now that Gov. Janet Mills has bowed out, made other posts on Reddit that have raised eyebrows.Platner 'is someone whose instincts appear crude, reckless, and deeply unserious.'Under the now-deleted username "P-Hustle" — which, according to Fox News, he has previously acknowledged as his — Platner strangely sexualized porta-john visits and graffiti. These posts are not unearthed, offhand comments from decades ago. Some are as recent as March 2021, when Platner was 36 years old.In a thread entitled "GWOT D*ck Art," Platner recalled a "Hot Rod C*ck" he saw graffitied on the inside of a portable restroom while he was in Manas, an Afghanistan War-era U.S. military transit hub in Kyrgyzstan."It was beautiful. Engorged and veiny, it rode towards its penetrative glory upon two smoking hot rod wheels, smoke and fire enshrouding its tumescence, winged like Nike as it pushed ever forward towards its conquests," Platner wrote on March 11, 2021, according to the archives provided by the Maine Monitor."I sat there in sheer awe, my feelings of happiness to be going home washed aside by the soul filling joy to be allowed to witness such glory."Four years earlier almost to the day, in a thread in which a military vet discusses "aromatherapy," Platner confessed to regularly masturbating in a porta-john on account of the "blue water smell" there. "I still have to jerk off every time I sit in a portas**tter....that blue water smell conditioned me," he posted on March 8, 2017.RELATED: Susan Collins reveals health condition ahead of likely matchup against Democrat enmeshed in Nazi scandal Kent NISHIMURA/AFP/Getty ImagesPlatner has already spent months playing defense about other bizarre posts from the "P-Hustle" Reddit account. In September 2020, Platner wrote that white people "actually are" as racist and stupid "as Trump Thinks."In September 2012, Platner characterized himself as "crudely atheist" and joked that Jesus was a "zombie" and the Virgin Mary a "skank."For years, Platner also apparently had tattooed on his chest an image that highly resembled a Nazi SS guard "totenkopf" skull. He denied being a "secret Nazi" and recently had the tattoo covered over.GOP strategist Mehek Cooke noted that these latest revelations from the "P-Hustle" account demonstrate that Platner has left a "years-long trail of vulgar, sexually degrading, and slur-filled commentary.""Platner is not a truth-teller," Cooke said, according to Fox News. "He is someone whose instincts appear crude, reckless, and deeply unserious."Cooke also noted: "If they were really 'jokes,' why delete the posts? That sounds less like humor and more like a CYA cleanup operation."Graham's campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

What began as a carefree Eastern European vacation ended in a family’s worst nightmare and a mystery that endures to this day. Lars Mittank, a 28-year-old from Berlin, Germany, joined his friends on a holiday to Bulgaria in 2014 but never made it back home. Years later, he was dubbed “the most famous missing person on YouTube,” as an airport security video of his last known sighting spread across the internet. He has never been found, despite millions of people viewing the Lars Mittank video online. Lars Mittank disappeared in Bulgaria at age 28. Moments before boarding his flight back home, Mittank fled a busy airport in Varna. Suffering from a head injury he had sustained during a fight a few days back, he disappeared into the forest surrounding the airport, never to be seen again. Lars Mittank has been missing for more than six years, and despite some compelling leads and his mother publicly pleading for information, the case appears no closer to being solved than it did the day he vanished. Lars Mittank’s Trip Darkened By A Bar Fight Lars Joachim Mittank was born on February 9, 1986, in Berlin. At age 28, he joined a handful of his school friends on a trip to Varna, Bulgaria. There, the group stayed at the Golden Sands resort on the Black Sea coast. At one point during the trip, Lars Mittank found himself involved in a bar fight with four men about which soccer club was better: SV Werder Bremen or Bayern Munich. Mittank was a Werder supporter, while the other four supported Bayern. Mittank left the bar before his friends did, and they allegedly didn’t see him again until the next morning. Svilen Enev/Wikimedia CommonsLars Mittank was staying at the Golden Sands resort in Varna, Bulgaria, before he disappeared. When Mittank finally turned up at the Golden Sands resort, he informed his friends that he had been beaten up. Different friends offered different accounts, which in turn featured different details. Some told authorities that Mittank was beaten by the same group of men he clashed with inside the bar, while others claimed that the men had hired a local to do the job for them. Regardless, Mittank walked away from the incident with an injured jaw and a ruptured eardrum. He eventually went to see a local doctor, who prescribed him 500 milligrams of the antibiotic Cefprozil to prevent his wounds from becoming infected. He was also told to stay behind while his friends headed home because of his injury. ‘I Don’t Want To Die Here’ YouTube still/Missing People CCTV FootageCCTV footage from the Bulgarian airport where Lars Mittank disappeared in 2014. Mittank’s friends offered to delay their return until he healed up, but he urged them not to and scheduled a later flight. He then checked into a hotel near the airport, where he began exhibiting strange, erratic behavior. Hotel cameras captured Lars Mittank on video, hiding inside the elevator and leaving the building at midnight only to return hours later. He called his mother and whispered that people were trying to rob or kill him. He also texted her, asking about his medication and to block his credit cards. On July 8, 2014, Mittank entered Varna Airport. He met with the airport physician to check up on his injuries. The doctor told Mittank he could fly, but Mittank remained anything but at ease. According to the physician, Mittank looked nervous and asked him questions about the medication he was taking. The airport was undergoing refurbishment, and during Mittank’s consultation, a construction worker entered the office, Mel Magazine reported. Mittank was overheard saying, “I don’t want to die here. I have to get out of here,” before getting up to leave. After dropping his belongings on the floor, he ran down the hall. Outside the airport, he climbed over a fence, and once on the other side, he disappeared into a nearby forest and was never seen again. Why Mittank’s Fate Remains A Puzzle With Many Missing Pieces Facebook/Findet Lars MittankA flier seeking information on Lars Mittank’s disappearance still circulates on social media. According to Dr. Todd Grande, a certified mental health counselor who covered Lars Mittank’s disappearance on his YouTube channel, Mittank had no history of mental illness. A popular theory is that Mittank was looking for an excuse to run away and start a new life. Dr. Grande’s speculation on first break psychosis. Grande doubts this, however, because Mittank was on good terms with his loved ones. His friends offered to reschedule their flight so he didn’t have to fly back alone, and he texted his mother throughout the trip. Mittank also didn’t take anything with him when he fled, leaving his passport, phone and wallet at the airport. Another theory holds that Mittank was involved with some kind of criminal enterprise that neither his loved ones nor authorities knew about — drug trafficking, perhaps. While this theory would explain why Mittank was never found, there’s little evidence to support it. Yet another possibility is that Mittank really was killed. While staying behind in Bulgaria, he told his mother that he was being followed. Many online sleuths suspect that the men he fought with at the bar were still after him. If they were in pursuit, it could explain why Mittank ran away. It also could explain why no one ever found his body. Were The Pursuers All In His Head, As The Lars Mittank Video Suggests? A fourth theory holds that Mittank could have been under the influence of drugs around the time of his disappearance. A lot of people believe the Cefprozil, the antibiotic which Mittank had been prescribed to treat his ruptured eardrum, possibly combined with another substance, might have led to him suffering a psychotic episode. Strange as it sounds, it’s not impossible. Dizziness, restlessness and hyperactivity are listed as common side effects of the drug. On top of that, studies suggest that acute psychosis could be a “potential adverse effect” of some antibiotics. This could explain how the behavior of someone with no history of mental illness could’ve changed so suddenly. If Mittank was suffering from psychosis, the Cefprozil he was taking may have not even been its direct cause. In his video, Dr. Grande proposes Mittank may have experienced “first break psychosis” or the “onset of something like schizophrenia.” This, he argues, would explain his paranoia, delusions, and anxiety. It could also explain the bizarre behavior displayed in the Lars Mittank video on YouTube. While Dr. Grande thinks that the psychosis theory is the most convincing of the bunch, he stresses that it does not explain why Mittank ran away or why his body was never found. The Odds Are Against Mittank Being Found At This Point Twitter/Magazine79 Lars Mittank’s mother continues to seek leads on her son’s disappearance to this day. Despite years of investigation from the BKA, Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office, Mittank remains missing to this day. Every now and again, an internet troll, amateur sleuth, or concerned citizen who watched the Lars Mittank video claims to have seen him somewhere in the world. Every year, around 10,000 people go missing in Germany alone, and although 50 percent of all missing persons cases are resolved within less than a week, less than 3 percent are actually found within a year. Lars Mittank has been missing for more than six. In 2016, police in Porto Velho, Brazil, picked up a man with no identification and, apparently, no idea who he was. Once an image of the man recovering in a hospital circulated on social media, online sleuths noted that he had similar features to Mittank. The man was later identified as Anton Pilipa, of Toronto. He had been missing for five years. In 2019, a truck driver claimed to have given Mittank a ride out of Dresden. The driver picked up a hitchhiker as he was leaving for the City of Brandenburg. On the way, he could not help but notice the passenger’s resemblance to Lars Mittank. The lead went nowhere. His mother has appeared on countless television and radio shows over the years as well, desperately trying to solve the mystery of Lars Mittank’s disappearance. Her pleas to find her son have been aired on both German and Bulgarian channels, but never produced any results. Undaunted, she continues to post messages on social media. A Facebook group 41,000 people strong called Find Lars Mittank also regularly posts and, apparently, design and post fliers in locations around Europe, all in an effort to find the world’s “most famous” missing tourist. After reading about the puzzling disappearance of Lars Mittank, learn about 12-year-old Johnny Gosch’s mysterious 1982 disappearance. Then, explore the bizarre, continuing mystery of the Dyatlov Pass incident, in which nine Russian hikers died mysteriously. The post What Happened To Lars Mittank, The German Tourist Who Vanished Near A Bulgarian Airport? appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Public DomainHarry Alonzo Longabaugh, a.k.a. the Sundance Kid, in 1900. In the late 19th century, Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch terrorized the Old West, carrying out the longest string of bank and train robberies in American history. Aside from Cassidy himself, perhaps none of the outlaws was as infamous as the Sundance Kid. His real name was Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, and he’d worked as a wrangler and ranch hand before turning to a life of crime. He earned his nickname after he was convicted of stealing a horse in Sundance, Wyoming, in 1887. It was the first and only time he was ever arrested. In 1901, with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency on their heels, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid fled to Argentina. They tried to start a profitable ranch there, but they soon resorted to their criminal ways. It’s widely believed that the two outlaws were killed in a shootout with Bolivian authorities in 1908, but no physical evidence has ever officially linked the men to the scene. In fact, there are rumors that the Sundance Kid eventually returned to Utah, where he spent the rest of his life as a law-abiding citizen. This is the true story of the notorious Sundance Kid. How Harry Alonzo Longabaugh Became Known As The Sundance Kid Harry Alonzo Longabaugh was born in Pennsylvania in 1867, but he traveled west at age 15 to help his cousin establish a homestead in Colorado. As a teen, Longabaugh worked as a wrangler, learning valuable lessons about horses, guns, and life on the frontier that would aid his later criminal career. Longabaugh seemingly had no intention of becoming one of history’s most infamous outlaws. He tried to make an honest life for himself in his 20s, drifting from ranch to ranch across Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota. But in late 1886, a hard winter struck the region, and Longabaugh was laid off. Crook County MuseumSundance, Wyoming, circa the late 19th century. The following year, he stole a gun, horse, and saddle from a cowboy near Sundance, Wyoming. Longabaugh was soon captured, and he spent the next 18 months in jail, where he earned the nickname “Sundance Kid.” After his release, the Sundance Kid once again found work as a ranch hand, but by then he learned that there was a more lucrative life out there — even if it wasn’t strictly legal. Butch Cassidy And The Wild Bunch At some point in the 1880s, the Sundance Kid met Butch Cassidy and joined his gang of outlaws. In addition to Cassidy and Sundance, the Wild Bunch mostly consisted of Elzy Lay, the “Tall Texan” Ben Kilpatrick, William “News” Carver, “Deaf Charley” Hanks, George Sutherland “Flat-Nose” Curry, and Harvey Logan, better known as Kid Curry. Public DomainFive members of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch in 1900. Left to right: the Sundance Kid, “News” Carver, the Tall Texan, Kid Curry, and Butch Cassidy. Together, these bandits robbed countless banks and trains across South Dakota, New Mexico, Nevada, and Wyoming. When they weren’t carrying out heists, the Wild West outlaws hid at the remote Hole-in-the-Wall Pass in Johnson County, Wyoming. The men became notorious in the press for their bold and successful hold-ups. The Sundance Kid gained a reputation as the best shot and fastest gunslinger of the group. But strangely enough, there’s no evidence that he ever killed anyone during the Wild Bunch’s reign. Still, the outlaws’ heists were so successful that the Union Pacific Railroad hired the Pinkerton National Detective Agency to track them down. With the authorities on their heels, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid decided to leave the country. They were joined by Etta Place, a rumored sex worker who had become Sundance’s lover. Public DomainA 1901 portrait of Harry Alonzo Longabaugh and Etta Place. The three of them fled to Argentina, where they purchased a 15,000-acre ranch and attempted to make a lawful living. But it wasn’t long before they were back to their old ways. The Death Of The Sundance Kid By 1905, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were back at it. That year, two English-speaking robbers — widely believed to be the former Wild Bunch members — held up a bank in Río Gallegos, Argentina. A few months later, the men struck another bank in the town of Villa Mercedes, making off with 12,000 pesos before fleeing across the Andes and into Chile. Etta Place soon grew tired of life as a fugitive, and the Sundance Kid took her back to the United States in 1906. While he was gone, Butch Cassidy found work in a Bolivian mine, and Sundance joined him when he returned. Public DomainAn 1894 mugshot of Butch Cassidy, taken at Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie. It seemed as if the men may have finally settled into an honest life, but yet again, it wouldn’t last. In November 1908, two American bandits attacked a man carrying the payroll for another mine. They were tracked to a boarding house in San Vicente, Bolivia, and several soldiers and law enforcement officials soon surrounded the residence. A shootout ensued. As the story goes, after hours of fighting, a scream was heard from inside, followed by two shots. When the police entered the house, they found two men with multiple bullet wounds. Each of them had been shot in the head. They were thought to be Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It seemed as if Cassidy had shot Sundance to put him out of his misery after he was lethally wounded and then turned the gun on himself. Bolivian authorities buried their bodies in a nearby cemetery, but at the time, there was no real way to officially identify them. Indeed, a rumor emerged that the Sundance Kid was still alive and well, living in Utah under the name William Henry Long. “Long” died in November 1936, and in 2008, his remains were exhumed and tested against known descendants of the Longabaugh family. There was no match. After the release of the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, a man came forward claiming to be the son of Harry Alonzo Longabaugh and Etta Place. His name was Bob Longabaugh, and he insisted that his father had actually died in 1957. “I know this for a fact,” Bob told The Montana Standard in 1971, “because I was there. I was a pallbearer.” 20th Century FoxPaul Newman (left) and Robert Redford (right) in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. However, no evidence to support Bob Longabaugh’s assertions was ever uncovered. So, if the Sundance Kid didn’t die in Utah, was he actually killed in Bolivia after all? That’s not clear, either. Scientists searched the cemetery in San Vicente in 1991 in an effort to locate the graves of the men who died during the 1908 shootout. However, they were unable to find any DNA that could be linked to the relatives of Cassidy and Sundance. As such, the true fate of the Sundance Kid remains a mystery to this day — but his legacy as one of history’s most notorious outlaws lives on. After reading about the true story of the Sundance Kid, look through these photos that reveal what life was like on the American frontier. Then, go inside the story Black Bart, the Wild West’s “gentleman bandit.” The post The True Story Of The Sundance Kid, The Fastest Gunslinger In Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Steven EmslieMany of the 5,000-year-old penguins in were remarkably well preserved. Rapidly melting polar ice caps have revealed that thousands of years ago, there was a thriving penguin community in the Antarctic that has since been reduced to a “graveyard” of frozen mummies. According to Live Science, an Adélie penguin colony was discovered frozen in the ice at Cape Irizar, which is located south of the Drygalski Ice Tongue on the Scott Coast of Antarctica in 2016. Prior to this discovery, researchers did not think that penguins inhabited this stretch of land in the Antarctic. Because the penguins died and were then frozen in ice, they were found in remarkable condition. Some of the dead chicks still had intact feathers on them. What was most surprising, however, was that some of the carcasses that were found toward the surface of the excavation site appeared to be “fresh.” There was also an abundance of penguin chick bones and excrement stains, which implied that the site was being used as a breeding ground fairly recently. But that couldn’t be possible, lead researcher of the subsequent study Steven Emslie asserted. According to his study, which was published in the journal Geology, there are no records of penguin colonies living in this area since the early 20th century. “In all the years I have been doing this research in Antarctica, I’ve never seen a site quite like this,” he said. Steven EmslieThe fossilized bones of Adélie penguins. The graveyard encompasses at least three separate breeding sites that are marked by old pebble mounds, which is a typical find in penguin mating areas. The team used radiocarbon dating to determine the age of the mummified penguins, which appear to date back at least 5,000 years. An analysis of the bones, feathers, eggshells, and other soft tissue also suggested that penguins occupied the site for breeding purposes at least three different times over the millennia. The last breeding period likely ended sometime around 800 years ago at the beginning of the Little Ice Age, possibly due to either increasing snow levels at the location or other factors. Emslie and his team remained puzzled over why some of the ancient penguin corpses were in better condition than others. Emslie has supposed that this was likely caused by the conditions of the cape’s environment, which may have gone through different periods of climate change over the last thousand years. “This recent snowmelt revealing long-preserved remains that were frozen and buried until now is the best explanation for the jumble of penguin remains of different ages that we found there,” he said. Steven EmslieAdélie penguins are believed to exist only on the Antarctic coast. The Ross Sea territory of Antarctica is one of the most productive marine ecosystems in the Southern Ocean. The region, which encompasses Cape Irizar, supports nearly one million breeding pairs of Adélie penguins every year. However, there have been increasing reports about the region’s rapid snowmelt due to global warming. According to data compiled by NASA, Antarctica’s ice mass has been steadily declining since 2002. Based on the Arctic Sea ice minimum, which reaches its lowest every September, Arctic ice is declining at a rate of 12.85 percent per decade. It’s important to note that what’s happening in the Arctic significantly impacts the rest of the world, which is why climate scientists have kept a watchful eye on the conditions there. For one thing, the drastic imbalance between rising temperatures in the Arctic and the middle latitudes of Earth may trigger unexpected conditions in the upcoming colder months in North America. PixabayAntarctica’s melting ice caps are affecting weather conditions around the world. “We would expect to see a big atmospheric effect this coming fall and winter due to all that extra heat which has gone into the Arctic Ocean because the sea ice is reduced,” said Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center in Massachusetts. She added that “we should see weather conditions become more persistent, more long-lived — whether it’s dry, wet, hot, or cold.” Next, read about how penguins are pooping out so much laughing gas that it’s wreaking havoc on the environment. Then, take a look at the earliest observations of penguins from a century-old Antarctic journal that rocked the science world. The post ‘Graveyard’ Of 5,000-Year-Old Mummified Penguins Found In Antarctica Baffles Scientists appeared first on All That's Interesting.

These women are ideologues masquerading as journalists.

What the role most requires is luminous beauty, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with casting actors in roles that don’t match their ethnicity.

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Trump's Texas Bombshell: Endorses Paxton Over Cornyn; Senate RINOs Melt Down