Daily News Brief for Tuesday, December 19th, 2023

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, December 19th, 2023. 
 
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https://www.foxnews.com/media/navy-vet-defends-beheading-iowa-capitols-satanic-baphomet-statue-christian-civil-disobedience
 
Navy vet defends beheading Iowa capitol's satanic Baphomet statue: 'Christian civil disobedience'
 
A Mississippi Navy reserve pilot instructor who admitted to beheading a statue of the satanic half-man, half-goat Baphomet inside the Iowa State Capitol told Fox News he was simply engaging in "Christian civil disobedience."
 
Michael Cassidy said he decided "spur of the moment" to travel north to Des Moines and take action against the statue, which had been permitted to be erected not far from the rotunda's Nativity display for Christmas.
 
He told "Jesse Watters Primetime" he wrecked the statue then went straight to Capitol security to tell them what he did.
 
"I wasn't running away or anything like that. I told them what I did," he said, thanking law enforcement for their professionalism following the incident. 
 
He was cited for criminal mischief in the fourth degree and released.
 
"I saw that this was going on, I was surprised that the legislature allowed it up and that they didn't do anything to take it down," Cassidy added.
 
He said he wasn't sure what to expect when he came upon the Capitol, citing a prior incident in Springfield, Ill., where groups were chanting after a 2021 erection of a satanic statue in the Illinois State House.
 
In a Tuesday statement, Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds said she found the statue "absolutely objectionable," but that the best response to objectionable speech is more speech and prayer.
 
After he was charged, several conservative figures rallied to Cassidy's defense, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and conservative commentator Matt Walsh.
 
DeSantis promised to "chip in" for Cassidy's legal fees, writing on X, formerly Twitter, that "Satan has no place in our society and should not be recognized as a ‘religion’ by the federal government." Walsh similarly tweeted he will contribute to Cassidy's defense.
 
Host Jesse Watters noted the contrast between reaction to Cassidy's act and the dozens of protests in recent years that featured left-wing activists tearing down statues of Confederate officers, former U.S. presidents and historical figures like Christopher Columbus.
 
He pointed to then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., dismissal of the crowd in her home neighborhood of Little Italy, Baltimore, who leveled the Columbus statue and tossed it in the Patapsco River.
 
"People will do what they do," Pelosi said at a July 2020 press conference.
 
The city of Richmond, Va., in recent years removed an entire street's worth of statuary dedicated to Confederate Gens. A. P. Hill, "Stonewall" Jackson and J. E. B. Stuart, all of which lined the former Confederate capital's "Monument Avenue" for decades.
 
Left-wing protesters notably failed to topple the statue of Andrew Jackson, the first Democratic president, near the White House in 2020 after being rebuffed by law enforcement.
 
In that respect, Watters said there appears to be a dichotomy between what statuary destruction causes mainstream or left-wing outrage.
 
Cassidy's attorney, Davis Younts, said his client's case is a question of good versus evil, and that he and those who have come to his defense will continue to stand by him to make sure he gets equal protection under law.
 
He also said there has not yet been a First Amendment suit in case law that has found Satanism to be considered a religion under the Constitution, and that anti-blasphemy laws still exist in the United States.
 
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/12/17/church-of-england-blesses-same-sex-couples-for-the-first-time/
 
Church of England Blesses Same-Sex Couples For the First Time
 
Church of England priests offered officially sanctioned blessings of same-sex partnerships for the first time on Sunday, though a ban on church weddings for gay couples remains in place amid deep divisions within global Anglicanism over marriage and sexuality.
 
In one of the first ceremonies, the Rev. Catherine Bond and the Rev. Jane Pearce had their union blessed at St John the Baptist church, in Felixstowe, eastern England, where both are associate priests.
 
The couple knelt in front of Canon Andrew Dotchin, who held their heads as he gave “thanks for Catherine and Jane, to the love and friendship they share, and their commitment to one another as they come before you on this day.”
 
The church´s national assembly voted in February to allow clergy to bless the unions of same-sex couples who have had civil weddings or partnerships. The words used for the blessings, known as prayers of love and faith, were approved by the church´s House of Bishops on Tuesday and used for the first time on Sunday.
 
The compromise was struck following five years of discussions about the church´s position on sexuality. Church leaders offered an apology for the church´s failure to welcome LGBTQ people, but also endorsed the doctrine that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Clergy won´t be required to perform same-sex blessings if they disagree with them.
 
The blessings can be used in regular church services. The church´s governing body has also drawn up a plan for separate “services of prayer and dedication” for same-sex couples that would resemble weddings, but it has not yet been formally approved.
 
Public opinion surveys consistently show that a majority of people in England support same-sex marriage, which has been legal since 2013. The church didn´t alter its teaching on marriage when the law changed.
 
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said he won´t personally bless any same-sex couples because it´s his job to unify the world’s 85 million Anglicans. Welby is the spiritual leader of both the Church of England and the global Anglican Communion of which it is a member.
 
Several Anglican bishops from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific said after the February decision that they no longer recognize Welby as their leader.
 
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/12/18/poll-54-of-democrat-voters-want-to-replace-joe-biden-as-2024-nominee/
 
Poll: 54% of Democrat Voters Want to Replace Joe Biden as 2024 Nominee
 
Democrat party voters are unhappy President Joe Biden, 81, is the presumptive Democrat nominee to likely challenge former President Donald Trump, Fox News polling revealed Sunday.
 
The poll highlights the disconnect and discord inflicting the Democrat party after Biden refused to step aside and allow a different Democrat to lead the party.
The survey showed:
 
54 percent of Democrat primary voters prefer an alternative to Biden.
Just 43 percent of Democrat primary voters want to keep Biden.
 
The polling showed a slight uptick in negative sentiment against the president:
 
October: 53 percent prefer an alternative, while 45 want to keep Biden
March: 52 percent prefer an alternative, while 44 want to keep Biden
 
Biden previously told reporters in December he must run for reelection after prominent Democrats implored him to reconsider a second bid against Trump. “Would you be running if Trump wasn’t running?” a reporter asked Biden.
 
“I expect so,” Biden replied. “But he is running, and — I just — I have to run.”
 
Biden’s comment came on the same day he told donors he probably would not run if Trump was not running. “If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running,” Biden said, adding that Democrats “cannot let him [Trump] win.”
 
National and battleground state polling shows Biden losing to Trump:
 
Morning Consult: Trump leads Biden in six of seven crucial swing states.
NBC News: Trump leads Biden by two points.
Fox News: Trump trounces Biden by four points.
 
The poll surveyed 1,0007 registered voters from December 10-13 with a 4.5 point margin of error.
 
https://thepostmillennial.com/eric-adams-admits-biden-admin-will-not-help-nyc-with-illegal-immigrant-crisis?utm_campaign=64487
 
Eric Adams admits Biden admin will not help NYC with illegal immigrant crisis
 
On Sunday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that Democrats "underestimated" the impact that illegal immigration would have on their cities, and warned New Yorkers to brace for "extremely painful" budget cuts to pay back the debt created by it. 
 
In an interview with WPIX-TV, Adams said, that a low for the city in 2023 was "150,000 migrants and asylum seekers that put a real bump in the road of our recovery effort in the city."
 
https://twitter.com/i/status/1736507664308277364 - Play Video 
 
https://twitter.com/i/status/1736512831963430927 - Play Video Combine these videos
After a meeting with the congressional leaders of the Biden administration earlier this month, Adams said he was not optimistic about getting help from the federal government to deal with the illegal immigrant crisis plaguing New York City.
 
Adams was forced to cut the budget for the New York City Police Department last month, taking the department below 30,000 personnel.
 
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/aaron-rodgers-likely-cleared-return-ruptured-achilles-next-week-report
 
Aaron Rodgers likely to be cleared for return from ruptured Achilles next week
 
Aaron Rodgers' bold prediction is apparently about to play out.
 
The four-time MVP ruptured his Achilles Sept. 11 on just his fourth snap as a New York Jet.
 
Four days later, he shocked the world when he said, "Give me your doubts,then watch what I do."
 
At that time, Rodgers did not rule out a return this season, saying that "anything is possible." Most doubted, but it may actually become a reality.
 
According to ESPN, the 40-year-old is likely to be medically cleared to return next week.
 
Rodgers returned to practice Nov. 29, roughly seven weeks since his injury. It was an unprecedented time frame to practice after such an injury.
 
However, Rodgers said he underwent "innovative" surgery in his best effort to get back on the field this season.
 
Rodgers has said he wanted a return on Christmas Eve. The Jets have until Wednesday to decide whether to activate Rodgers from injured reserve. Otherwise, he would miss the rest of the season.
 
Rodgers has wowed just about everyone in the organization with how quickly he has progressed. Earlier this week, he even lined up as a linebacker for the scout team and made a one-handed interception.
 
However, being cleared isn't exactly a guarantee Rodgers would play. 
 
The quarterback and the Jets have said the team's playoff chances will play a role in whether he returns. He likely would not return if they are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, which could happen this weekend.
 
Rodgers recently said there are hardly any risks in taking the field this season.
 
"My thing is, what’s the worst that can happen?" he told reporters shortly after returning to practice. "Something unfortunate again, and then you just slow the rehab down. I think by my own timetable that if you take the rehab slower and a little more deliberate — five months, six months max — is probably the length to get back to 100% if you really take it slow. So, in my opinion, there's not like a downside to coming back and reinjuring it."
 
The Jets face the Washington Commanders on Christmas Eve.