A former Mississippi political candidate is facing criminal charges after a bedazzled statue of Baphomet, a figure associated with the Satanic Temple, was discovered decapitated at the Iowa State Capitol.

Michael Cassidy, 35, a former U.S. Navy pilot, told Fox News that he saw the controversy surrounding the display, which was heavily criticized by Republican politicians like Ron DeSantis, and drove to the Iowa Capitol to see it for himself. He said it hit a “nerve” and went on to destroy it.

According to an archived version of his campaign website, Cassidy pushed for a 10-year prison sentence for anyone who destroys a statue in his own state.

  • @[email protected]
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    1411 months ago

    but the rest of the state is rednecks and meth heads.

    feels true about every state these days…

    • @grue
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      811 months ago

      That’s 'cause it is. There is no such thing as “red states” and “blue states;” there are only states that are a slightly higher percentage rural or slightly higher percentage urban.

      • @Frigid
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        211 months ago

        Haven’t looked it up, but I’d be shocked if there is a single state where rural outnumbered urban.

        • @grue
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          411 months ago

          I didn’t mean to suggest “outnumbered;” I meant to say that the urban/rural percentages are slightly different between states and that that’s what makes the difference in ideology.

          More concretely, it isn’t that Southerners are worse than anybody else; it’s that rural folks everywhere are equally terrible. Urban southerners are just as cosmopolitan as northern ones and rural folks from (for example) Oregon are just as backwards and racist as rural folks from Georgia. The only thing that makes Oregon a “blue state” and Georgia a “red state” is that metropolitan Portland etc. make up a slightly higher percentage of Oregon’s total population than metropolitan Atlanta etc. make up of Georgia’s.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 months ago

          Off the top of my head, I bet Montana fits the bill. Maybe one or both of the Dakotas too