I ask this question realizing ISU has a pretty good chance at winning the Big 12 and making the playoffs.

Would you rather be part of a power conference like the BIG10 or SEC and make a lot of money but know you’ll have to have a great team to make the playoffs.
Or be part of the Big12 or ACC and not make as much money but realize you can be a mediocre team and have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs every year?
Personally as a fan, I’d rather have a shot at the playoffs every year. Money doesn’t do anything for fans.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will consider for the first time whether states can ban certain gender transition medical treatments for young people — a closely watched case brought by three transgender teens, their parents and a doctor, all seeking to ensure health care access they say is critical.


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At issue is a Tennessee law barring transgender minors from using puberty blockers and hormones, treatments the state characterizes as risky and unproven. Lawmakers said the state should instead encourage adolescents to “appreciate their sex, particularly as they undergo puberty.”
The court’s ruling might have implications for the more than 100,000 transgender adolescents living in Tennessee or one of the 23 other states that has banned using the drugs to treat minors with gender dysphoria. The question of whether and how to medically treat young people whose gender identity is different than their sex assigned at birth has become a polarizing issue, one President-elect Donald Trump seized on in advertisements targeting transgender people during his campaign.



Anti-trans bills have doubled since 2022. Our map shows where states stand.

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The Supreme Court in 2020 extended employment protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers, but it has yet to rule on the constitutionality of lower court decisions involving bathroom access, athletes and medical treatment for transgender minors like 16-year-old L.W., one of the Tennessee teens behind the case at the high court. Her parents, Brian and Samantha Williams, now drive her five hours to receive care in North Carolina.
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The teen started gender care treatments when she was 12 and said they have allowed her to “get to be myself a little bit more.”
“It took a huge stressor off my back,” L.W. said in an interview. “I have more friends now because I’m more confident, and I’m more able to socialize.”

The Biden administration and the American Civil Liberties Union are representing the parents and teens, who are referred to in court filings by their initials or a pseudonym to protect their identity. The families say the Tennessee law amounts to unconstitutional sex discrimination and a broad restriction on treatments that nearly every major medical association says are appropriate and effective for minors. ACLU attorney Chase Strangio, who is arguing on behalf of the families, will be the first openly transgender lawyer to present a case before the Supreme Court.


Tennessee’s attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti (R) says in court filings that states have long had the power to regulate medicine and that there is nothing unconstitutional about restricting the use of a drug for certain purposes, even when it can be used for treating other conditions, or imposing age limits for health treatments when the risks and rewards are too uncertain.
One potential wild card in the resolution of the case is the incoming Trump administration and the possibility that the next solicitor general will flip the federal government’s position to align with Tennessee’s view. If that were to happen, the court could allow the ACLU to continue challenging the law on its own, which would keep the justices on track to issue a ruling by the end of June.
Trump transition officials did not immediately respond to questions about the case before the court, but his team has said Trump intends to fulfill his campaign promises, which included a crackdown on gender transition care for minors.

Patients and lawmakers clash​

L.W. said she began to suspect she was trans in 2019, when she was 11. She’d long felt as if she were “drowning,” but she didn’t understand why. She wore baggy clothes to obscure her body, and she panicked the first time she saw a few facial hairs above her lip. She was so uncomfortable in boys bathrooms, she avoided ever using one at school. Eventually, she developed urinary tract infections.



After a cousin came out as trans, L.W. began researching on YouTube and Google. But she was scared, so she didn’t tell her parents she thought she was trans until just after Thanksgiving in 2020, more than a year after she’d first put a name to her feelings.
Brian and Samantha Williams both had gay friends, and they told L.W. they supported her, but neither felt comfortable immediately taking her to a doctor. L.W. was 12, and Brian worried the distress she felt might be normal puberty angst.
“It’s not like we took this thing lightly and just did it,” Brian said.
The family went to a progressive church, and the church had a therapist on staff who specialized in trans youth, so Samantha and Brian signed L.W. up for counseling. After roughly six months, the therapist diagnosed L.W. with gender dysphoria and recommended a team of doctors at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.





https://www.washingtonpost.com/reli...itid=mc_magnet-transkids_inline_collection_19

At Vanderbilt, L.W. underwent tests, then, in the summer of 2021, her doctors prescribed the drug Lupron to stop her body from going through male puberty. The medication, which has been used for at least 30 years on patients who start puberty too early, is largely reversible, but it can affect a young person’s bone density if taken long term without hormone therapy.
The teen said she felt instantly relieved. To her, the benefits “strongly outweighed” any side effects.
At the time, no state had banned trans adolescents from receiving the kind of care Vanderbilt’s team offered. Doctors nationwide had been treating a few thousand young people a year with hormones and puberty blockers, according to data compiled for Reuters — a tiny fraction of America’s adolescent population. They faced little pushback. Multiple peer-reviewed studies have found that a majority of trans adolescents experience “satisfaction,” “confidence” and “improvements in psychosocial functioning” after such treatment.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/12/03/supreme-court-trans-minors-health-care/

Had a feeling this might happen.

Iowa's 2024 quarterback who was flipped to receiver, James Resar will enter the portal.

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Thread title says it all. What do you think have been the hot topics?

Judge Kevin Mullins, who served Letcher County in southeastern Kentucky, was shot and killed in his chambers today. Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines was arrested after surrendering to police.

If only the bruins had played like they did against the hawks all season

A schoolteacher in central California died of rabies after being bitten by a bat found in her classroom, officials and her friend said, prompting public health warnings about interacting with “wild or unfamiliar animals.”

The woman died at a hospital in late November, about a month after being bitten by a “presumably rabid bat,” the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) said, without naming her.

The school district and the teacher’s friend, Laura Splotch, identified her as Leah Seneng, 60. Splotch said Seneng had been working at a school in Dos Palos when she was bitten, which local media identified as Bryant Middle School.
Seneng was “a dedicated and compassionate educator,” the Dos Palos Oro Loma Joint Unified School District said in a statement cited by the Associated Press. “We were shocked to learn that Leah’s passing was related to contracting rabies, most likely from being bitten by a bat,” it added, noting that it was supporting the investigation of county health officials.



“We live and work in a community known to have bats and other wildlife around school grounds,” it said, adding that it would “continue to help educate our community” about their dangers.
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Splotch told WWNY 7 News that Seneng, who she said was an art teacher and a “lover of life,” had tried not to harm the bat when it was found in her classroom.
“I don’t know if she thought it was dead or what because it was laying around in her classroom and she was trying to scoop it up and take it outside,” Splotch said.
Seneng was admitted to a hospital weeks later and died on Nov. 22, Splotch added. “It was devastating to see her in that state, with all the machines hooked up and everything — it was pretty upsetting.”

Rabies is “a fatal but preventable viral disease,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It mainly affects the central nervous system, leading to “severe brain disease and death if medical care is not received before symptoms start.” Symptoms can be flu-like and include weakness or discomfort, fever, headaches and brain dysfunction, such as confusion and hallucinations.


Deaths from rabies are rare in the United States, with fewer than 10 cases identified each year, the CDPH said, adding that the disease is primarily spread to humans and pets through bites. In the United States, rabies is mostly found in wild animals like bats, raccoons, skunks and foxes, according to the CDC. The most common source of human rabies in the United States is from bats, the CDPH said.
Rabid bats are found in all states except for Hawaii, according to the CDC. Some unusual behaviors could indicate that a bat has rabies, such as being active during the daytime, being found in an unusual place such as inside a home or on the ground, or being unable to fly and easily approachable.

The CDC urged the public to avoid touching bats and, if scratched or bitten, to “wash the wound with soap and water and get medical help right away.” Similarly, the CDPH, in its statement about Seneng’s death, urged residents to be “cautious around wild or unfamiliar animals.”


Rabies vaccines are available in the United States. Thousands of people receive preventive treatment for rabies in the country each year following a bite or other direct contact with an animal, the CDPH said.
“Bites from bats can be incredibly small and difficult to see or to detect,” CDPH Director Tomás J. Aragón said in a statement. “It is always safest to leave wild animals alone. Do not approach, touch or try to feed any animals that you don’t know.”

please be specific

! - Is it legit?
2- How much
3-What do I do?
4-When?

The email, if legit, say I will get it this week. Anyone else?

It has a Scrubs vibe to it, and the cast is quite good.

What ya got?
I have a mini tomato plant banging out fruit in my aerogarden and am looking for some recipes to make use of the product.
I know this is a dangerous topic on an Iowa board after seeing how you like your pizza, but there are lots of sane people here too.

1-0 baby. All alone at the top of the B10! I’m going to just sit here and bask in the glory for a bit. It’s been awhile.

Possibly

Quad Cities has to be the clear leader in the country. So many! /csb

Went to the Dermatologist today and the result is a NEW AV just for y’all!
Another head shot….didn’t want to see a plastic surgeon this time, so “a partial close” was performed and a longer recoup period is guaranteed..
But nothing is too good for you…my people!

My low tire sensor came on last night. I called AAA and they came out and said my tire pressure was normal and it's likely a faulty sensor.

I'm going to take my car to my mechanic tomorrow afternoon/evening. In the meantime, I have to drive about 50 miles.

I'll pray my car tires don't pop in the meantime. I have a nubby spare donut tire in my trunk.

Anyone have car tire problems in cold weather?

First Underwood, now they are in line to flip 5* OT Ty Haywood, and picked up another 4* flip from Auburn.

On Dec. 5, 1994, Ukraine had signed a set of political agreements that would guarantee the country's sovereignty and independence in return for accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Signed in Budapest, the memorandum would lay grounds for Ukraine to dispose of its nuclear arsenal in return for the U.S., the U.K. and Russia to guarantee to not use economic and military means to attack the country.

Twenty years after signing the agreement, Russia launched a war against Ukraine, occupying Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine. Thirty years in, Russia is actively conducting a full-scale offensive against Ukraine, burning the cities and killing the people it once promised to protect.

The shadow of the events of 1994 haunts Ukraine today.

Despite the agreements, Ukraine did not receive the main benefit of giving up the world's third-largest nuclear potential — security. Many in Kyiv believe the country was pressured into an unequal agreement by the parties that had no intention to abide by what they had signed.

"Today, the Budapest Memorandum is a monument to short-sightedness in strategic security decision-making," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry's statement read ahead of the 30th anniversary of the agreement.

"It should serve as a reminder to the current leaders of the Euro-Atlantic community that building a European security architecture at the expense of Ukraine's interests, rather than taking them into consideration, is destined to failure."

How Ukraine lost everything​

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was left with 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles, including 130 liquid-fueled SS-19 Stiletto and 46 solid-fueled SS-24 Scalpel, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). Ukraine also had between 1,514 and 2,156 strategic nuclear warheads and 2,800 to 4,200 tactical nuclear warheads in its arsenal.

Yet, Ukraine was not destined to keep its nuclear arsenal.

The provision on non-nuclear status was enshrined in the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine, adopted by the Ukrainian parliament on July 16, 1990. The provisions on the future nuclear status were also confirmed when Ukraine gained independence in 1991.

Within less than a year, Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of independent Ukraine, approved the Lisbon Protocol. The protocol supplemented the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) signed between the Soviet Union and the U.S. in 1984. The U.S., Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan also became signatories to the protocol.

According to the Lisbon Protocol, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan pledged to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), thereby renouncing their nuclear status.

On Dec. 5, 1994, Ukraine signed the Budapest Memorandum. According to the document, the signatory countries — the U.K., Russia, and the U.S. — pledged to be guarantors of Ukraine's independence, as well as sovereignty, and refrained from using weapons or economic pressure against Ukraine. In exchange, Ukraine renounced its nuclear status.

Anton Liagusha, the academic director of the master's program in Memory Studies and Public History at the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), says that Ukraine agreed to a non-nuclear status under enormous pressure.

"Russia used the Budapest Memorandum very cunningly. To be more precise, it encouraged and coerced the West to pressure Ukraine to sign the memorandum. At the same time, Russia positioned it as 'a noble act of global geopolitics,'" Liagusha said.
"Russia promoted the narrative that Ukraine is a failed state, a non-existent state, and non-existent means uncontrolled. And in a non-existent uncontrolled state, nuclear weapons are the worst possible option. Unfortunately, this cunning and sneaky diplomacy and propaganda reached their goals."

"Russia promoted the narrative that Ukraine is a failed state, a non-existent state, and non-existent means uncontrolled."

Ukraine entirely fulfilled its agreements in 1996: all nuclear warheads were transferred to Russia for destruction, and classified strategic bases were converted to non-military use. The guarantors, on the other hand, did not fulfill their obligations.

The historian described this step as a mistake because he firmly believes that today, nuclear weapons are still a guarantee of non-aggression and a certain guarantee of protecting one's sovereignty.


"At the time of signing the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine was not able to ensure its sovereignty in the event of direct military aggression by Russia or some other states," Liagusha told the Kyiv Independent.

"This means that giving up nuclear weapons is a ridiculous story. And I am sure the politicians who signed this memorandum understood this."

Other experts interviewed by the Kyiv Independent noted that disarmament had some positive aspects.

Ukraine did not have access to the launch codes, but Russia did. Therefore, Ukraine could only store the weapons and not use them, but the storage also required a lot of resources.

"You need to keep constant security personnel at the sites, make sure that the warheads and missiles remain stable, and that there are no issues with them," Fabian Hoffmann, a defense expert and doctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo, told the Kyiv Independent.


"Ukraine would have paid substantial amounts for something it cannot use. So, it would not have been very smart (to keep the weapons)."

According to Hoffman, Ukraine also risked becoming an international pariah like Iran or North Korea if it kept its nuclear warheads. Liviu Horovitz, a nuclear deterrence specialist at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, shared the same opinion.

"Everybody wanted Ukraine to give up those nuclear weapons, including the U.S. and all Western European powers. And hence, Ukraine basically would have had to take this decision against everybody else's will," Horovitz told the Kyiv Independent.

In exchange for giving up nuclear weapons, Ukraine also received economic benefits in the form of fuel for nuclear power plants. In the early 1990s, Ukraine was experiencing a financial crisis, and rolling blackouts were occurring nationwide. Thus, by giving up strategic bombers, Ukraine partially paid off its gas debts.


However, Horovitz agreed with Liagusha, saying that in the event of a full-scale invasion, nuclear weapons could help Ukraine in its defense against Russia.

"It is not like you acquire one lonely nuclear weapon, and suddenly, all foreign threats vanish. But historically, nuclear powers have better deterred their adversaries. Given Ukraine's conflict with the Russian Federation, probably it would not have been a bad idea, from a Ukrainian perspective, to own a nuclear arsenal," Horovitz said.

However, both Horovitz and Hoffman said that they do not see any short-term solutions for Ukraine, adding that the Ukrainian nuclear arsenal is the story of the past with no prospects in the future.

Stay warm with Ukrainian traditions this winter. Shop our seasonal merch collection.

I'll update these weekly during the season:

rankings: WIN / Intermat / Flo / AWN
125: --/#31/#32/-- Kale Petersen
133: 9/9/7/6 Drake Ayala
141: --/32/--/-- Ryder Block
149: 4/4/4/3 Kyle Parco
157: 1/1/1/1 Jacori Teemer
165: 2/2/2/2 Michael Caliendo
174: 7/10/8/9 Nelson Brands
184: 7/8/6/8 Gabe Arnold
197: 1/2/1/1 Stephen Buchanan
285: 16/12/12/16 Ben Kueter

Team Tournament Rankings

Intermat: 2
WIN: 2
Flo: 2

Penn State is #1, unsurprisingly.

Team Dual Rankings

Intermat: 2

Penn State is also #1 here.

How???

LOL

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The 2025 recruiting class is in the books for Iowa and the secondary is set to feature a trio of new faces. Iowa added three players in this year's class who currently project to the secondary, providing new options for Phil Parker to utilize in the Hawkeyes' last line of defense.

We'll look at how each player can make an impact for Iowa, their respective best fits in the secondary, which players have the most upside, and more.

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