"Puberty blockers and hormone therapy, the two treatments primarily given to minors, are most effective around the ages of 8 to 14, as they can prevent the need for future surgeries in adulthood..."

"... for example, a transgender boy who took puberty blockers might not need a mastectomy later. There are risks to the drug therapies, including slowed bone growth and fertility loss, but evidence suggests that denying the care to adolescents who need it raises the risk of depression and suicide. The push to outlaw such care altogether gained momentum last year as Republicans across the country adopted the issue.... A week before the [Arkansas] law was to go into effect, however, it was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in response to the A.C.L.U.’s legal challenge. The trial is set for July. Transgender adolescents and their families are now living with uncertainty. 'It’s pretty excruciating as a parent to be told by the state that it will become illegal to give your child what she needs to exist,' Jasmine Banks said. Zara added, 'It’s not, like, other people’s decision who I am and what I’m not.'" 

 From "In Arkansas, Trans Teens Await an Uncertain Future/Even as the medical community grapples with how best to provide care to transgender adolescents, some states seek to ban it outright" (NYT).

 

ADDED: Here's a London Times article from 2020: "Giving puberty blocker to ‘trans’ children is a leap into the unknown/A landmark legal review will examine claims that confused young people are being subjected to a giant medical experiment, says Janice Turner." 

"I think if they want to start trouble they should do it in their own town. We didn't ask for 'em, we ain't never done nothing to them. And I don't really see what the reason is for them being here."

Said Zinc resident Kenny Devore, quoted in "BLM protesters troop through 'America's most racist town': Demonstrators march to entrance of KKK national director Thomas Robb's private Arkansas compound as armed local residents watch them file past" (Daily Mail).

Sunday's protest was organized by Bridge the Gap NWA and also promoted by Ozarks Hate Watch.... Once in Zinc, the group posted pictures of armed men - some in military-style fatigues - standing in front of cars blocking a dirt road to Robb's compound....

There were no reports of any violence during the protest.... On Sunday night, after the protesters left Zinc 'All safe and secure,' Ozark Hate Watch member said that the protest had taken two months to plan amongst different activist groups.

They said that despite claims, 'our plan did not involve setting one foot on Lead Hill Road or making advances toward Tom Robb's property. We kept it close to the chest to give ourselves a tactical advantage for sake of security.'

'What happened in zinc today was history,' Aaron Clarke said in a Facebook Live video. He added that the group was not run out of town 'with their tails tucked between their legs. We went down there and nobody's been down there, nobody's ever protested in that community. ... We literally went and threw a barbecue in the KKK's backyard. We came down there to bridge the gap...what we did was we went into the community that has basically operated by the Ku Klux Klan and we extended our hand. We came down there with food for anybody who wanted food, they were able to get food,' Clarke said.

So did they "bridge the gap"? Are they declaring victory because they were not  "run out of town 'with their tails tucked between their legs'"? Isn't that a victory for the locals, who neither hid from the outsiders who marched into their town nor resorted to anything like violence or hostility? But the protesters are boasting about their 2 months of planning and their "tactical advantage" after walking into a town where nothing happened.

Is Zinc, Arkansas "the KKK's backyard"? I don't know, but I wanted to get a Google maps "street view" of the place, and it was not available. I could see that the place is very small. Here's the Wikipedia article for the town. Population 103. 37 households. Median household income: $20,036.

The last store closed in Zinc in the late 1960s and the post office closed in 1975. Zinc, in the 21st century, became the headquarters of a chapter of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).... The "Christian Revival Center" near Zinc belongs to a preacher who is also the leader of the Knights of the KKK. The center hosts events connected with the KKK, including in 2013 a "Klan Kamp" called the "Soldiers of the Cross Training Institute" to instill "the tools to become actively involved" in the "struggle for our racial redemption."

There are 2 National Historic sites in Zinc: the Zinc Swinging Bridge and the Elliott and Anna Barham House:


CC Auntiepookie91

The man who lived to tell the tale of his 10 minute fight with a mountain lion.

It's Travis Kauffman. The lion had his right wrist locked in its jaw the whole time:



IN THE COMMENTS: Freeman Hunt writes:

This guy rules. American legend.

Didn't know he was from Arkansas, but of course he is....

Some people might be interested to know that the way he talks is fairly typical for people from here.

Downtown Arkansas.

That's my selection from Google Street View, just around the corner from the Power Ultra Lounge in Little Rock, where 25 people were shot last night in what was said to be "a continuation of disputes from some of our local groups." The NYT tweeted: "Dozens of people were wounded by gunfire at a nightclub early Saturday morning in downtown Arkansas."

"Downtown Arkansas" is a new meme.

"A man yelled 'Freedom!' as he crashed his vehicle into Arkansas' new Ten Commandments monument early Wednesday..."

"... nearly three years after he was arrested in the destruction of Oklahoma's monument at its state Capitol, authorities said."

In the video [on Michael Reed's Facebook page], the sky is dark and the Arkansas Capitol's dome is visible. Music is heard followed by a female voice, likely on the radio, saying, "Where do you go when you're faced with adversity and trials and challenges?" The driver is then heard growling, "Oh my goodness. Freedom!" before accelerating into the monument. The vehicle's speedometer is last shown at 21 mph (33 kph) and then a collision can be heard. Arkansas' monument fell from its plinth and broke into multiple pieces as it hit the ground. The debris had been cleaned up by midmorning Wednesday....

Arkansas' granite monument weighed 6,000 pounds (2,721 kilograms). It was installed Tuesday morning on the southwest lawn of the Capitol with little fanfare and no advance notice. A 2015 law required the state to allow the display near the Capitol, and a state panel last month gave final approval to its design and location.

By the way, in the Biblical story, Moses breaks the 10 Commandments tablets. Did you ever understand why? There are many explanations. Here are 4 explanations. 

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson sent the RFRA bill back to the legislature to be amended to look just like the longstanding federal RFRA.

"This is a bill that in ordinary times would not be controversial. But these are not ordinary times," he said. He wants Arkansas to be known as "a place of tolerance."

“What is important from an Arkansas standpoint is one, we get the right balance,” he said, “and secondly, we make sure that we communicate we’re not going to be a state that fails to recognize the diversity of our workplace, our economy and our future.”...

Several businesses and tech companies, including the state’s largest employer, Walmart, as well as the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, the Arkansas Municipal League and other civic groups have spoken out against the legislation.

Meanwhile, in Indiana, under time pressure from — of all things — basketball, the state legislature is working on amending the language in its RFRA.

The Arkansas Supreme Court orders a new hearing in the case depicted in the documentary "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills."

"While there is a significant dispute in this case as to the legal effects of the DNA test results, it is undisputed that the results conclusively excluded Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley as the source of the DNA evidence tested," wrote the court.

Here's the trailer for the (excellent) film:

"Some of those states in the middle."

Mickey Kaus latches onto that Obama phrase. Scroll up from here to find the passage I'm talking about. (Why is it so hard to link to Kaus? What are you supposed to do if he doesn't have the word "link" at the bottom of the post you want to talk about. No wonder Glenn links to him by saying stuff like: "MICKEY KAUS has been blogging up a storm. Just keep scrolling." Why isn't the timestamp at the end of a post clickable? I know Mickey has to put a lot of time into worrying about Mexico taking over the Southwest, but doesn't he want to be linked? Come on!)

Today's Obama Gaffe to Ignore: No point covering this, Mr. Halperin, sir. Move right along. Obama's our nominee. We're stuck with him. Here he explains his impending loss in Kentucky:

"What it says is that I'm not very well known in that part of the country," Obama said. "Sen. Clinton, I think, is much better known, coming from a nearby state of Arkansas. So it's not surprising that she would have an advantage in some of those states in the middle." [E.A.]

Cling Alert! ... As emailer "S" notes: 1) "Last time I checked, Illinois was more 'nearby' Kentucky than Arkansas. Heck, they even touch." 2) "[I]sn't there something a tad condescending in his reference to "some of those states in the middle"? ...

Is this too hard on Obama? Maybe so, but he needs to avoid saying things that resonate with his disastrous "bitter Americans" comment.