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Satanic Temple, Christian state senator mount dueling displays outside Michigan Capitol

LANSING, Mich. –  Christians and Satanists put up competing displays Sunday on the Michigan Capitol grounds as Christmas week got underway.
The Detroit chapter of the Satanic Temple set up its "Snaketivity Scene" featuring a snake offering a book called "Revolt of the Angels" as a gift. The snake is wrapped around the Satanic cross on the 3-feet-by-3-feet display. Capitol rules require that displays have to be taken down each night.
In a videotaped interview with the Lansing State Journal, Satanic Temple spokeswoman Jex Blackmore said her group doesn't worship Satan but does promote individuality, compassion and views that differ from Christian and conservative beliefs.
Blackmore said that the "holiday season is a time of year that is celebrated in many different ways."
"Having our government endorse one singular viewpoint or method of celebrating the season is problematic when we have a diverse community of people in Michigan," she said.
Word of the Satanic Temple's plans led state Sen. Rick Jones, a Grand Ledge Republican, to erect a Nativity scene on Friday featuring baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary. He put it back up Sunday morning.
Jones said he was happy to "represent the light and not the darkness."
"They could have put theirs up in July or April or sometime. They didn't need to put it up in the Christmas season," Jones said. "That's OK. We're going to ignore them. I'm not afraid of the snake people. I'm sure that Jesus Christ is not afraid."
Blackmore told MLive.com her group is "really pleased to be part of what is perhaps a new holiday tradition at the Capitol."
Martin Diller, a 28-year-old who served two tours in Iraq with the Michigan National Guard and one in Afghanistan, visited the Capitol grounds after attending Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in East Lansing. He said he wanted to see how the constitutional rights issue played itself out.
"A few of my friends in the military, we like to see the First Amendment in use," Diller said. "We all went overseas, we fought for it, it's kind of interesting to see it in action."

In 2016, Republicans will be fighting to hold Senate majority

Senate majority in hand, ascendant Republicans are set to challenge President Obama and the Democrats on Capitol Hill come January. But a much tougher election map two years from now could force the GOP right back into the minority.
In November 2016, Republicans will defend 24 seats, Democrats 10. Seven of the GOP seats are in states that President Barack Obama won with 50 percent or more of the vote in 2012.
It's a stark reversal from this past November, when Democrats were the ones contending with a brutal map, including candidates running in seven states Obama had lost. Democrats were crushed on Election Day, losing nine seats and their Senate majority.
It will be a tough climb for Democrats to make up those losses, and there's no guarantee they will. But coming off November's trouncing, Democrats sound eager about their chances in states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Illinois, while Republicans are preparing more to defend past victories than try to score new ones.
"There's no doubt about it, it's going to be a bigger challenge than 2014," said Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, among the Republicans at the top of the Democrats' pickoff list. "But I think we have a really good opportunity here in the next couple years. We will reach out to the other side. I think Americans, Wisconsonites, will find out that we're not the party of `no.' "
Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, one of the Democrats likely to be safely re-elected in 2016, said his party already is eyeing a path to retake control of the Senate. Democrats would have to gain a net of four seats if there's a Democrat in the White House -- because the vice president can cast tie-breaking votes in the Senate -- or five if the GOP wins the presidency.
"Picking up four or five seats is no small task, but we are certainly in a position to do so," Schatz said. "The electorate is going to be different and I think Democratic elected officials and candidates and most importantly voters are going to be excited for a presidential race, and we're excited to play offense."
Democrats faced strong headwinds on numerous fronts in November: Obama's low approval ratings, a scandal involving Department of Veterans Affairs' hospitals, the Ebola outbreak, the rise of Islamic State extremists. Compounding everything was the painfully slow economic recovery.
It's too soon to say what new issues may arise in the next two years or how strong the economy will be. But presidential elections can favor Democratic congressional candidates by increasing turnout of young and minority voters, and Democrats will not have to spend time distancing themselves from an unpopular incumbent.
Operatives in both parties are looking at many of the states Obama won in 2012, plus a few others, as the most contested places in 2016 where Democrats could try to defeat Republicans. In addition to Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Illinois, the list includes New Hampshire, Ohio, North Carolina and Florida.
Democrats are concerned mainly about defending seats in Colorado and Nevada, where Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid faces what could be a bruising re-election fight if he seeks a sixth term.
Some analysts and Republican strategists say that as tough as the map looks for the GOP, there are some factors in the GOP's favor. Republicans have strong incumbents in Democrat-friendly states, such as Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire, Rob Portman in Ohio, and Marco Rubio in Florida, if he runs for re-election rather than the presidency.
The GOP's strong showing in November gave them breathing room with a 54-seat majority, making it that much harder for Democrats to make up the difference. States such as New Hampshire or Illinois may be easier for Republicans to defend than strongly GOP-leaning Arkansas, Louisiana and others were for the Democrats this year.
"In the face of what can seem to be a very steep climb for the Republicans you really have to look at each individual race and ask yourself about the vulnerability of each of those candidates," said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University. "These Republicans are pretty skillful politicians. I don't see Kelly Ayotte as a particularly easy mark for the Democrats."
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who will lead the National Republican Senatorial Committee through 2016, acknowledged a "difficult map." But, he added, "You take them one by one and I feel very, very good about it."
"The main thing that helps our candidates is, state by state, the fact that they've tended to business, they've been diligent legislators and taken care of the home folks," Wicker said.
Republicans' fortunes may depend in part on how the newly GOP-controlled Senate functions and whether incoming Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky can advance legislation or gets hamstrung by the tea party faction in his caucus led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, another potential White House candidate.
"The key question is will the Republicans want to work with us or will the tea party pull them too far over," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Yankees foundation reportedly will pay for education of murdered NYPD cop's kids

A foundation founded by late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner reportedly will cover the education costs for the sons of one of the two NYPD officers murdered in a daylight ambush Saturday afternoon.
The New York Daily News reported that the Yankee Silver Shield Foundation will pay for the education of Officer Rafael Ramos' 13-year-old son Jaden and another son who is in college. 
Ramos, 40, and his partner, Officer Wenjian Liu, were killed as they sat in their squad car in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. The gunman, 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, killed himself a short time later in a Brooklyn subway station.
Later Saturday, Jaden Ramos paid tribute to him in a Facebook post.
"Today I had to say bye to my father. He was their [sic] for me everyday of my life," the post read. "He was the best father I could ask for. It's horrible that someone gets shot dead just for being a police officer. Everyone says they hate cops but they are the people that they call for help. I will always love you and I will never forget you. RIP Dad."
Ramos' aunt, Lucy Ramos, told reporters Sunday afternoon that, "I hope and pray that we can reflect on this tragic loss of lives that has occurred so that we can move forward and find an amicable patch to a peaceful coexistence."
The officer's cousin, Ronnie Gonzalez, told The Wall Street Journal that Ramos was "a God-loving man" who was devoted to his wife and sons. 
"I wish I could be half the man my cousin was," Gonzalez said. "He was sweet. He didn’t deserve ... to die."
Steinbrenner, who died in 2010, started the Silver Shield foundation in 1982 after seeing TV news coverage of the funeral of an NYPD officer killed in the line of duty. The officer was survived by his wife and four young children. 
"George could not forget the image of the children." foundation co-founder James E. Fuchs said in a statement on the organization's website. He was concerned about their education and who would help with the cost."
The foundation provides for the education of children of New York City firefighters and police officers, as well as New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut state troopers and Port Authority employees who die in the line of duty. It has also helped 700 children who lost a parent in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

North Korea issues new threat against US over hacking claims as Obama weighs action

North Korea issued a new threat against the United States late Sunday and accused President Barack Obama of "recklessly" spreading rumors that Pyongyang is behind last month's devastating cyberattack on Sony Pictures.
The long statement from the powerful National Defense Commission warned of strikes against the White House, Pentagon and "the whole U.S. mainland, that cesspool of terrorism."
Such rhetoric is routine from North Korea's massive propaganda machine during times of high tension with Washington. But the statement also underscores Pyongyang's sensitivity at a movie whose plot focuses on the assassination of its leader Kim Jong Un, who is the beneficiary of a decades-long cult of personality built around his family dynasty.
The North Korean statement offered no details of a possible response, but warned that the country's 1.2 million-member army is ready to use all types of warfare against the U.S.
"Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole U.S. mainland ... by far surpassing the 'symmetric counteraction' declared by Obama," said the commission's Policy Department in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The latest threat came hours after President Obama confirmed that he was considering returning North Korea to the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism. Obama, who previously promised in his year-end press conference on Friday to respond "proportionately" to the attack, has termed the breach as an act of "cybervandalism that was very costly, very expensive" as opposed to an act of war.
"We're going to review those through a process that's already in place," Obama told CNN's "State of the Union" in an interview broadcast Sunday. "I'll wait to review what the findings are." 
North Korea spent two decades on the list until the Bush administration removed it in 2008 during nuclear negotiations. Only Iran, Sudan, Syria and Cuba remain on the list, which triggers sanctions that limit U.S. aid, defense exports and certain financial transactions.
But adding North Korea back could be difficult. To meet the criteria, the State Department must determine that a country has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, a definition that traditionally has referred to violent, physical attacks rather than hacking.
Obama's other options, which include sanctions targeting high-level North Korean officials and retaliatory cyberattacks, are limited. The U.S. already has trade penalties in place and there is no appetite for military action.
Also Sunday, Sony lawyer David Boies told NBC's "Meet The Press" that the studio would distribute "The Interview," a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco as bumbling journalists tapped by the CIA to assassinate Kim Jong Un. Sony scrapped a planned Christmas Day release of the film after receiving terror threats targeting movie theaters from the hackers, who refer to themselves as the Guardians of Peace. 
"What Sony has been trying to do is to get the picture out to the public," while protecting the rights of company employers and moviegoers, Boies said. He added that theaters "quite understandably" decided not to show the film as scheduled because of the threats. "You can't release a movie unless you have a distribution channel," he said.
In the CNN interview, Obama renewed his criticism of Sony's decision to shelve "The Interview," despite the company's insistence that its hand was forced by the theaters' refusal to show it.
Obama suggested he might have been able to help address the problem if given the chance. "You know, had they talked to me directly about this decision, I might have called the movie theater chains and distributors and asked them what that story was," he said.
Sony's CEO has disputed that the company never reached out, saying he spoke to a senior White House adviser about the situation before Sony announced the decision. White House officials said Sony did discuss cybersecurity with the federal government, but that the White House was never consulted on the decision not to distribute the film.
"I think we've got to recognize that this is not a Sony security problem," Boies said. "This is a national security problem."