In a shock to absolutely no one, Minnesota continues to be a national embarrassment.
While the feds have done their diligence and charged 39 of the activists who stormed Cities Church in St. Paul back in January, including Don Lemon who did us all a favor and recorded his crimes, the City of St. Paul has declined to do anything to the rioters.
They won't even call them rioters.
Here's KARE 11:
The St. Paul City Attorney's Office reviewed the incident after dozens of people were arrested for entering Cities Church on Jan. 18 to protest against Pastor David Easterwood, saying he held a local leadership position with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Among the people arrested were journalists Georgia Fort and Don Lemon, as well as attorney and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong.
'Our office has a legal and ethical obligation to file charges only when the available evidence establishes probable cause and supports a reasonable likelihood of conviction beyond a reasonable doubt,' the St. Paul City Attorney's Office said in a statement Tuesday. 'Following a careful evaluation of the video footage, investigative reports, and other available materials, prosecutors determined that the current evidence is insufficient to meet that standard for criminal charges under Minnesota state statutes.'
In hours of footage from Don Lemon showing premeditation, threats against parishioners, and Pastor Jonathan Parnell explicitly informing Lemon and the other protesters that they were trespassing and needed to leave, the St. Paul city attorney just can't find anything to charge them on.
They even called it a "peaceful protest" even though it was nothing of the kind.
The statement goes on to say that the 'right to peacefully protest is protected, as is the right to exercise one's religious beliefs. Balancing these equally important rights is paramount to our decision today.'
This is so backwards, it's insane. The City of St. Paul thinks that you have just as much right to crash a church service, take it over, scream at families, and tell children their parents are going to hell, as you do to attend a church service.
These two "rights" โ to desecrate a church and worship in a church โ are equal in the eyes of St. Paul (the city, not the actual Saint).
Jonathan Parnell, the lead pastor of Cities Church, has some stern words for the city and Mayor Kaohly Her:
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Mayor Her, on April 20, in your address on the state of St. Paul, you said that you are committed to listening and to acting and to lifting St. Paul higher to its full potential. But I wonder, do you include Evangelical Christians in the commitment? Or do you only care about those you agree with? You have left us to wonder this.
More from Pastor Parnell:
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Let's go ahead and insert the meme:
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I'll leave this here as a reminder of the "protest":
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