The U.S. needs to reverse the policies of the Obama and Biden administrations and treat Iran as “an evil enemy that cannot be placated,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. Two days after three American troops were killed, and dozens more injured in an overnight drone strike in northeast Jordan, Cotton said Iran and its terrorist proxies are exploiting a “weak” and “cowardly” president.
“[President] Joe Biden is weak and pathetic and cowardly,” Cotton said on Hugh Hewitt’s podcast. “You don’t deter people like the ayatollahs who govern Iran by going on TV and saying, Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t. You do it by holding at risk and ultimately destroying or killing the things and the people they hold most dear, like the Revolutionary Guard shock troops.
“Iran is laughing at us and high-fiving because they’ve had a decadelong strategy of using proxies throughout the Middle East to attack us so they can deny that it was them. And what do we do when we only attack Iranian proxies? We validate their proxy strategy.”
Cotton cited the America-First leadership of former President Donald Trump, under whom Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani was killed, and former President Ronald Reagan, under whom half of Iran’s navy was sunk or severely damaged.
“Unfortunately, this is the result of eight years of failed policy of Barack Obama and his understudy, Joe Biden. Or, I’m sorry, 11 years,” Cotton told Hewitt. “Eight years under Barack Obama, and three years under Joe Biden.
“They have viewed Iran as a normal nation that has legitimate grievances against America, and if we would simply conciliate with them and appease them and grant them one-sided concessions, Iran would pull in its horns and begin behaving like a normal nation, and everything would be wonderful again in the Middle East.
“It’s not the case. Iran has been an unappeasable enemy of the United States for 45 years.”
Cotton said the only way to respond to Sunday’s attack is with “massive and devastating military retaliation against Iran’s terrorist forces throughout the region and in Iran itself. Only then will Iran realize that killing an American is an absolute red line that they can never cross again.
“We have to totally reverse the failed Obama-Biden policy of 11 years and view Iran for what it is, an evil enemy that cannot be placated, that can only, in the long run, be defeated. That should be the policy of the United States.”
Cotton, an Army veteran, said there was “no shortage of targets that we could take out that would send a message to the Ayatollah.”
“We certainly should target all IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] camps and boats or ships and bases,” he said. “But there’s also other targets that would put immense pressure on Iran.
“For instance, their refineries, because that is a massive bottleneck in the Iranian economy, one also that is controlled in so small part by the people that run the IRGC, who are also getting rich off the killing of Americans.”
Ask people why they’re leaving blue states like California, and they’ll give you a lot of answers: more freedom, a lower cost of living, a more family-friendly quality of life. But a lot of them are just tired. Tired of the lockdowns, tired of the crime, tired of the preening politicians who won’t do anything to address the real issues they’re facing.
As governor of Arkansas, I’ve had my chance to ask that question a lot of times. That’s because our state has received a steady influx of new residents for years. Today, there are thousands of California refugees – and thousands more from other states – in our state.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Getty Images)
This year alone, about 32,000 new people moved to Arkansas, about 10% of them from California. Arkansas is now one of the top five states for inbound migration. And the flow isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
That’s because my administration is focused on the reforms that will make Arkansas the best state in the country to live, work and raise a family.
Just in my first few months in office, we passed the boldest education reforms in the country, including universal school choice, cut taxes not once, but twice, and are making historic investments in outdoor recreation. We’re cracking down on crime, getting woke nonsense out of our schools, and keeping kids safe online.
I think these changes will be the icing on the cake for those who are already looking at how good we have it in Arkansas. Take our cost of living, for example. It’s nearly 40% cheaper to live in Little Rock than in Los Angeles. Housing is about 60% less expensive; health care is 15% cheaper. Imagine a family struggling to eke it out in California. For $500,000 – no small sum – they could afford a tiny fixer-upper in East LA. With that money in Little Rock, you could get a modern, 4,000-square-foot, custom-built home in one of our best neighborhoods.
Taxes are another way we beat our coastal competition. Already this year, we cut the top individual income tax rate twice and built the groundwork to phase out the state income tax entirely. Our tax rate is about a third of that in California and going down.
We’re able to slash taxes so heavily because our economy is booming, creating billion-dollar surpluses. As taxes continue to fall, our economy will continue to rise – the opposite of the Left Coast’s downward spiral.
But moving to Arkansas isn’t just a pocketbook decision – it’s about quality of life as well. As 48 million people discovered for themselves in 2022, Arkansas is, for good reason, the Natural State. From world-class duck hunting to fly-fishing, there are outdoor adventures for everyone – many of which are located just minutes from our urban centers.
Arkansas’ 52 state parks are free to residents and visitors alike and offer a host of outdoor opportunities right at your doorstep. Four of Arkansas’ state parks – Mount Nebo State Park, Hobbs State Park, Pinnacle Mountain State Park, and Devil’s Den State Park – host a collection of world-class mountain biking trails known as the Monument Trails that Outside Magazine just named the best in America.
Arkansas is God’s country. I firmly believe that you haven’t lived until you float the clear, free-flowing waters of the Buffalo River through the Ozark Mountains or watch a sunrise on a duck hunt in flooded timber.
Arkansas is also the land of opportunity, where Sam Walton grew a little five-and-dime store into the most successful business on the face of the earth.
Arkansas is the home of legends like Al Green and Johnny Cash who pioneered a new American sound. It’s where Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine struck a blow against racism and blazed a trail for civil rights.
Arkansas is my home, and we’d love to welcome you here too, as a tourist, as an investor, and even as our newest neighbor. Come and see what we have to offer. I promise you won’t regret it.
U.S. District Judge Jay Moody struck down a law passed in Arkansas to ban transgender surgeries and other treatments for minors. The law was passed by the Arkansas legislature in April 2021 after the state Senate overturned a veto by then-Governor Asa Hutchinson, a Republican. It was the first of such laws passed in several states. Moody said that the law was contrary to the due process clause and equal protection rights of transgender people. He also ruled that a provision in the law forbidding medical professionals from referring patients for treatment elsewhere was in violation of free speech rights.
“Rather than protecting children or safeguarding medical ethics, the evidence showed that the prohibited medical care improves the mental health and well-being of patients and that, by prohibiting it, the State undermined the interests it claims to be advancing,” wrote Moody in the ruling.
The law would have banned puberty blockers and surgery for children.
Transgender activists were closely watching the legal battle over the law in Arkansas as a bellwether for other efforts to ban child transgender treatments in conservative leaning states. Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin said the state would be appealing the ruling to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“I am disappointed in the decision that prevents our state from protecting our children against dangerous medical experimentation under the moniker of ‘gender transition,’” said Griffin in a statement.
“Unfortunately, Judge Moody misses what is widely understood across the United States and in the United Kingdom and European countries: There is no scientific evidence that any child will benefit from these procedures, while the consequences are harmful and often permanent,” he added. “I will continue fighting as long as it takes to stop providers from sterilizing children.”
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders also criticized the ruling.
“Only in the far-Left’s woke vision of America is it not appropriate to protect children,” she tweeted. “We will fight this and the Attorney General plans to appeal Judge Moody’s decision to the Eighth Circuit.”
The issue is likely to grow in prominence as the 2024 election approaches. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has issued statements unapologetically in support of transgender rights while most Republicans support legal restrictions on transgender operations and treatments for children.
Here’s more about the judgement against the law:
Arkansas judge overturns ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors www.youtube.com
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Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R.) / Getty Images
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Less than one month into her first term as Arkansas governor, Sarah Sanders was tapped to deliver the Republican response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union, a speaking slot typically granted to rising stars in the party with the intent to elevate them onto the national stage. But stepping onto the national stage doesn’t appear to be Sanders’s goal—at least for now.
In her address, she used Arkansas as the example of what Republicans are doing across the country. “Here in Arkansas and across America, Republicans are working to end the policy of trapping kids in failing schools and sentencing them to a lifetime of poverty,” Sanders said. ”We will educate, not indoctrinate our kids, and put students on a path to success.”
In an hour-long interview, the former White House press secretary dodged questions about the 2024 election, diverting the conversation back to what she’s doing in Arkansas.
She already has substantive accomplishments to point to. This past Tuesday, exactly one month after her State of the Union response, the state legislature passed Sanders’s signature legislation, an ambitious overhaul of Arkansas schools, and she has already signed it into law. Corey DeAngelis, a leading advocate for school choice, said Arkansas is now the “gold standard for educational freedom.”
The bill is a kitchen-sink approach to education reform—in addition to establishing universal school choice, it yanks obscene sexual materials and critical race theory from classrooms, sets stringent new learning standards, and raises the base teacher salary from $36,000 to $50,000.
“This is what bold conservative education legislation looks like,” Sanders said from the governor’s office, where she monitored the debate on the bill taking place on the other side of the Capitol.
And Sanders says Arkansas as a whole can be the “blueprint” for what conservative states could do.
Sanders joins a crowd of superstar Republican governors making headway by focusing on schools, and armed with a legislature of staunch conservatives, she’s charging ahead of other states. Florida’s Ron DeSantis is still fighting to get the sorts of reforms passed by Arkansas in Sanders’s first few weeks over hurdles in his legislature—his universal school choice bill, for example, faces even some Republican opposition. Sanders came out of her long campaign in Arkansas eager to establish herself as the “Education Governor” and thus far is doing just that.
Sanders’s growing profile has also made her a target of Democratic activists and politicians. Washington Post columnists are writing hit pieces questioning why anyone would move to Arkansas: “Good luck recruiting Californians for Arkansas, Sarah Sanders,” wrote Philip Bump. Shortly after Sanders’s national address, California Democratic governor Gavin Newsom took aim at Arkansas’s crime rate and last week was taking shots on Twitter about local Arkansas pieces of legislation.
Sanders acknowledges that she’s drawing more scrutiny to her state, but she doesn’t think that’s a bad thing. “We outkick our coverage, frankly, in a lot of places,” she said.
“When it comes to politicians on the national stage for a small state, we have some pretty big names out there,” the governor said. “I’m sure you’ll find people that will disagree, but my opinion is that it’s a good thing for our state, and I plan on using that platform to better us.”
Sanders says the critics are unavoidable. “I try to tune it out and stay focused on the objectives in front of us. There are people who wouldn’t care what’s in the bill, they’re gonna hate it simply because I’m associated with it. They don’t want to see me be successful. Certainly, that’s disappointing, but not surprising, and it’s not gonna slow us down from doing things that we feel like are the right thing to do.”
Sanders sharpened her ability to drown out the critics as White House press secretary. Not only was Sanders the longest-serving Trump administration press secretary—she was the only person to hold the job for more than a year—she was also the most successful, taking over as the daily briefing became a media feeding frenzy and adding a semblance of order to the chaos. She remains beloved by staff, some of whom followed her to Arkansas, and her former boss, to whom she still talks regularly.
Though Sanders is taking advantage of lessons learned at the White House, former colleagues say she’s also developed the ability to talk fluently about policy.
“We used to tell her, you need to get more detail,” said a former White House colleague. “Now the opposite is the case. She’s gone from somebody who was laser-focused on communications with a thin understanding of the policy to somebody who is a policy expert. It’s impressive to me.”
It’s not the first transformation of her career, Sanders says. When she first joined the Donald Trump campaign, she never foresaw that she’d become the lead spokeswoman for Trump’s administration.
“I was much more on the strategy and political operation side, and really didn’t see myself as a front person or the public-facing individual,” she explained.
Sanders joined the Trump campaign in 2016 to do coalition-building in the South, but after a few TV appearances, Trump called her to say he wanted to see her on television every day. And at the White House, after Sanders filled in for then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer while serving as his deputy, Trump tapped her to fill the job.
Her rise to the Arkansas governorship is a different story. Sanders announced her run in January 2021 and, as the prohibitive favorite from the outset, had two years to prepare for the job. It’s during that time that she decided she wanted to be the “Education Governor”—she not only became an expert on the issue but also gained confidence that she had to make it her trademark legislation.
“I went to all 75 counties,” Sanders said. “Everywhere I went as I traveled on the campaign for two years, every community wants their kids to do better. If we don’t have a good education system in place, then we are not setting our kids up for success.”
On the ground in Arkansas, Republicans say Sanders has brought a “new energy” to the legislature. “The whole atmosphere and mood of everything is different,” said Bart Hester, who leads the state’s upper chamber. “It’s such a fun energy, an exciting and new energy. It’s fun to come in everyday.”
Hester says the onslaught of opposition from teachers’ unions against the education bill was no match for Sanders.
“We have a governor now where members are more scared of her than they are their superintendents or the teacher union—we’ve never experienced that,” Hester said. “They don’t want to disappoint her—they know that she’s super popular, they don’t want to be the guy that was against their number-one priority.”
Sanders scoffs at suggestions that her education plan was a “copycat” of legislation championed by DeSantis, another high-profile Republican governor. “Hard to copy when ours is much bigger and goes much further,” Sanders said. But she has nothing negative to say about her Republican counterpart in Florida, and says there’s a “great sense of camaraderie and willingness to share best practices” between her and DeSantis, who has emerged as Trump’s chief competition in the Republican Party.
Sanders is yet to weigh in on who the Republican presidential nominee should be in 2024—her “focus is solely on Arkansas,” she says, in the same way every ambitious and upwardly mobile politician does. And Trump, her former boss, reportedly called Sanders in recent weeks to ask for her endorsement, which still hasn’t come.
But she also said she “maintains a great relationship” with Trump, and left the door open for an endorsement in the future.
“When the time comes, maybe, but right now, I don’t want to do anything that takes away from the huge agenda list that we have to get done here in Arkansas,” Sanders said. “I don’t intend on slowing down on that front at any point soon. And so I don’t want to do anything that takes away, not just my attention, but also the attention of what we’re accomplishing.”
A former White House colleague who remains close to Sanders doesn’t expect her 2024 neutrality to change any time soon. “Trump’s not her boss anymore,” the former colleague said. “Her boss is the people of Arkansas, and that’s where I assume her priorities will lie.”
Republicans in the state appreciate her focus on Arkansas and recognize she’s putting the work they’re doing in the Capitol first. “Everyone wants a minute with her—she can be Sarah the national celebrity, or Sarah the governor, and she only has so many minutes in a day,” Hester said. “She is spending those minutes as Sarah the governor.”
Republican state senator Matt McKee says Sanders has the whole legislature bullish on Arkansas.
“I know Florida’s been at the forefront, Texas has done things, but Arkansas can be the place,” McKee said.
Sanders says her appreciation for Arkansas has grown since moving her family back to her home state. After traveling to each county for her campaign, she has enhanced her ability to sell the state to visitors. The governor boasts that she can point to the best place to eat in any Arkansas town—this reporter was sent to CJ’s Butcher Boy Burgers in Russellville.
When it comes to dining, things are going more smoothly for Sanders in Arkansas. Thus far, she says she hasn’t been denied service, as she was in 2019 at the Red Hen restaurant in Virginia.
“You know, knock on wood, I have not been asked to leave any restaurant so far,” Sanders said. “It’s amazing to be home.”
Sarah Huckabee Sanders | MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former White House spokesperson for President Donald Trump and the daughter of Mike Huckabee, a former governor, has become the first woman elected governor of Arkansas. With 93% of the vote in by Wednesday morning, Sanders defeated her Democrat opponent Chris Jones, getting 63.1% of the vote, while Jones received 35.1% and Libertarian candidate Ricky Harrington 1.8%.
Sanders’ father previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1996-2007, with Sanders joking in her acceptance speech that while she always considered him “the best governor Arkansas has ever had,” she hoped “to take that title away from him pretty soon.”
“More than 10,000 miles, 75 counties, here we are,” said Sanders. “It has been an absolutely amazing journey every step of the way.”
Sanders also told those gathered to celebrate her win that “at the end of the day, this campaign was never about me. It was about each of you.”
“This election is about taking Arkansas to the top,” she continued. “I know that Arkansas can be first, and I’m committed to being the leader that takes us there.”
For his part, Huckabee took to Twitter to celebrate his daughter’s election win, calling it a “pretty special night.” He also lauded the election of Republican Leslie Rutledge as Arkansas’ next lieutenant governor.
Throughout the gubernatorial race, Sanders had a strong edge both with name recognition and financial support, including having fundraised millions of dollars more than her two opponents.
In September, Sanders was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and underwent surgery to treat it, announcing after her operation that “by the grace of God, I am now cancer-free.” John R. Sims, Sanders’ surgeon, said in a statement at the time that he believed the “surgery went extremely well” and accurately predicted that she would recover quickly.
“This is a stage 1 papillary thyroid carcinoma which is the most common type of thyroid cancer and has an excellent prognosis. While she will need adjuvant treatment with radioactive iodine, as well as continued long-term follow-up, I think it’s fair to say she’s now cancer free, and I don’t anticipate any of this slowing her down,” Sims said.
IT Support Technician Michael Hakopian (R) distributes computer devices to students at Hollywood High School on August 13, 2020, in Hollywood, California. With over 734,000 enrolled students, the Los Angeles Unified School District is the largest public school system in California and the 2nd largest public school district in the United States. | Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images
At least 26 state school board associations have distanced themselves from the National School Board Association after it urged the Biden administration to use federal law enforcement agencies against parents who oppose the teaching of controversial curriculum in public schools by labeling them as potential “domestic terrorists.”
The national grassroots organization Parents Defending Education says the states that have distanced themselves from the NSBA’s letter include: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Out of these, 12 states — Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin — have taken further action to withdraw membership, participation or dues from the NSBA.
PDE wrote to NSBA member states for their comment on the Sept. 29 letter sent to them by NSBA Interim Executive Director Chip Slaven, which critics believe likened activism of concerned parents to “domestic terrorism.”
The letter said the NSBA had asked the U.S. Department of Justice to mobilize law enforcement agencies to respond to “threats and acts of violence against public schoolchildren, public school board members, and other public school district officials and educators” as actions of “domestic terrorism.”
While some school board members across the nation have publicly shared incidents of threats they’ve purportedly received from angry residents, critics believe the request to get federal law enforcement involved is unwarranted and an attempt to silence parents. Specific examples of concerning actions included the disruption of school board meetings “because of local directives for mask coverings to protect students and educators from COVID-19,” the incitement of “chaos” at school board meetings by “anti-mask proponents,” and the confrontation of school boards by “angry mobs” that have led boards to “end meetings abruptly.”
John Halkias, the director of the NSBA’s Central Region, wrote to Slaven the same day, on Sept. 29, sharing his belief that “the Board of Directors should have been consulted before a letter like this was sent out publicly, and no less to the President of the United States and the National Press.”
“I also agree that the letter took a stance that went beyond what many of us would consider to be reasonable and used terms that were extreme, and asked for action by the Federal Government that many of us would not request,” he added. “In fact in a recent press conference, the White House Press Secretary stated that when these incidents occur, it is a matter for local law enforcement and local authorities, and NOT the federal government.”
In an Oct. 2 email, NSBA President Viola Garcia told the organization’s board of directors that “NSBA has been engaged with the White House and the Department of Education on these and other issues related to the pandemic for several weeks now.”
Five days later, the Department of Justice published a memorandum directing “the Federal Bureau of Investigations, working with each United States Attorney, to convene meetings with federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial leaders within 30 days” to “facilitate the discussion of strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers and staff.”
Republican members of Congress also criticized the memo.
“As someone who was born in the Soviet Union, I am … disturbed, very disturbed, by the use of the Department of Justice as a political tool, and its power as the police state to suppress lawful public discourse,” Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., said in a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing. “The FBI is starting to resemble old KGB with secret warrantless … surveillance, wiretapping and intimidation of citizens.”
Arkansas flag flying high beside the Arkansas state Capitol, front exterior, in Little Rock, Arkansas. | Getty Images
A federal judge has temporarily blocked an Arkansas law banning the use of experimental drugs and gender-transition surgeries on minors, which was set to take effect next week in the state. The law, called the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, was adopted earlier this year in the southern state after lawmakers overrode Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto of the bill. Hutchinson, a Republican, said in April that the measure was “extreme” and “overbroad” and that it could not be defended on limited government grounds. The law was scheduled to be enacted on July 28.
Led by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, he and Republican attorneys general of 17 states — Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas — filed an amicus brief in federal court last Tuesday in support of the Arkansas law.
Wednesday’s judicial injunction against the law comes as four trans-identifying young people, two doctors, and the American Civil Liberties Union came together to file a lawsuit against the state, arguing that the statute violates their constitutional rights. The judge said that their motions could indeed be successful at trial.
“CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS”?????????? What constitutional rights? Where did the Founding Father’s write down that it is the right of adults to have children be mutilated by agenda other driven adults?
“To pull this care midstream from these patients, or minors, would cause irreparable harm,” U.S. District Judge Jay Moody, who issued the ruling, said in a statement.
Praising the decision, Holly Dickson, the executive director of the Arkansas chapter of the ACLU, said the ruling sends a message to other states that her organization will not allow the medicalized gender transitioning of children to be taken away from youth.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, a Republican, intends to appeal the ruling, promising to defend the law.
“I will not sit idly by while radical groups such as the ACLU use our children as pawns for their own social agenda,” she said.
Likewise, family advocates in favor of the law said they believe the truth about the nature of these contested medical practices and procedures will eventually win out.
“We are disappointed but not surprised that a judge has placed a temporary hold on the Arkansas law that protects children from unscientific, experimental, and destructive gender transition procedures. However, we are confident that ultimately state lawmakers will remain free to protect the health and safety of children,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Washington-based Family Research Council, in a statement emailed to The Christian Post.
“The legal challenge to this law is being mounted by a political movement that advocates for using off-label drugs and experimental procedures on minors. Yet a growing number of individuals are coming forward to share their stories of being permanently disfigured and/or sterilized from procedures such as puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, and irreversible surgeries. The truth about the dangers of these life-altering procedures cannot be ignored,” he said.
The intensifying legal disputes in the United States regarding the medicalization of gender, especially as it pertains to minors, comes as European nations are moving away from the experimental practices.
Late last year, the High Court of Justice in the United Kingdom ruled in a judicial review that children younger than 16 are unlikely to be mature enough to consent to taking irreversible chemical puberty-blocking drugs given the significant risks and repercussions to their health. The ruling is presently being appealed, and a subsequent decision in March held that parents could give consent on behalf of their minor children.
Earlier this year in Sweden, the prominent Karolinska Hospital said that as of April 1, puberty blockers would no longer be given to youth younger than 16, and their statement referenced the U.K. ruling as part of their rationale.
In June of last year, health authorities in Finland revised their professional guidelines by prioritizing psychological help and support over experimental medicine, especially for young people whose gender dysphoria came about after puberty.
An unnamed “good guy with a gun” put a stop to what could have been a horrific mass killing over the weekend by using his own weapon to gun down a massacre suspect, KFSM-TV reported. Authorities said an armed 26-year-old Zachary Arnold, a resident at the Fort Smith, Arkansas, apartment complex where the event occurred, was outside his building Saturday morning when he began screaming for residents to come outside.
Arnold, who was armed with a rifle, was first met by an elderly neighbor, 87-year-old Lois Hicks. One neighbor told the station that Hicks and another elderly woman came out to “console” Arnold when he opened fire.
“There were two older women, both had come out,” the neighbor explained. “One of them had ran back in, and the other one ran back in, but she didn’t close her door, then he walked in and did what he did.”
After fatally shooting Hicks, authorities said, Arnold continued to fire rounds from his rifle and tried to persuade other residents to come out of their homes. Another neighbor told the station, “He was yelling and screaming, ‘You guys get out here, come out here, everyone get out of this building right now!'”
One neighbor, who remains unnamed at the time of this reporting, grabbed his own rifle and bravely exited his apartment to put a stop to the mayhem. The male neighbor fatally shot Arnold, immediately ending the would-be mass killing.
A resident told the station, “If he didn’t do that, who knows how much worse it could have gotten.”
It currently remains unknown what prompted Arnold to storm his own apartment complex, and the incident remains under investigation. It is unclear whether the unnamed good Samaritan will face charges in connection with the shooting. No other residents were injured, and KARK-TV reported that the Fort Smith Police Department said they will submit a completed case file to the Sebastian County prosecuting attorney’s office for review.
Dixie Property Management issued a statement on the killing and said, “We are terribly saddened by the incident which happened this morning. We are working diligently with the police in any way we can. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families today.”
FSPD public information officer Aric Mitchell told KNWA-TV that the department is grieving with the rest of the community.
“Our hearts and prayers are with everyone affected by today’s events,” Mitchell told the station. “We will release additional information when appropriate and at the conclusion of our investigation.”
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a state has the right to defund Planned Parenthood. The 2-1 ruling specifically provided that while plaintiff Medicaid recipients who brought the suit are entitled to care, they cannot dictate that care includes Planned Parenthood facilities.
“The plaintiffs are asserting a right — the absolute right to a particular provider of their choosing — that (the law) does not grant them,”Judge Steven Colloton wrote in the majority opinion.
Several states, including Arkansas, the defendant in the suit, voted to defund Planned Parenthood after the release of a series of undercover videos that allegedly showed executives from the top abortion provider in the country discussing the sale of aborted babies’ body parts.
In April, Congress voted and President Donald Trump signed into law legislation guaranteeing states the right to defund Planned Parenthood, overriding an Obama administration Department of Health and Human Services regulation that had gone into effect two days before Trump took office. The regulation mandated that “states and localities could not withhold money from a provider for any reason other than an inability to provide family planning services,”The New York Times reported.
In a statement, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson described the 8th Circuit Court’s ruling as “a substantial legal victory for the right of the state to determine whether Medicaid providers are acting in accordance with best practices, and affirms the prerogative of the state to make reasoned judgments on the Medicaid program.”
The 8th Circuit’s jurisdiction includes Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota.
Planned Parenthood noted that it had won federal suits against other states that sought to defund the organization.
“To date, seven other states (Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas) have sought to bar Planned Parenthood from Medicaid, and all have been blocked by federal courts,”Planned Parenthood said in a statement.
Louisiana has asked the 5th Circuit to rehear the case en banc, meaning all of the justices (rather than just three) would preside. The differing rulings between the eighth and other circuit courts make it more likely the Supreme Court will take up the matter.
“This is not over,”said Planned Parenthood Federation of America chief medical officer Raegan McDonald-Mosley. “We will do everything in our power to protect our patients’ access to birth control, cancer screenings and other lifesaving care. Extreme politicians are trying to defund and shut down Planned Parenthood — and this is not what Americans want.”
Jerry Cox, the executive director of the Family Council, an Arkansas-based conservative group, told public radio station KUAR, “The videos aside, the question is should the state of Arkansas do business with an organization that aborts babies, when they don’t need to.”
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American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
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American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
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The Bible Gateway is a tool for reading and researching scripture online — all in the language or translation of your choice! It provides advanced searching capabilities, which allow readers to find and compare particular passages in scripture based on
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