Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.
This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.
So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.
This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.
Langbert Video: Why Are Professors Exclusively Leftist?
Can the balance change?
July 16, 2019
Frontpagemag.com
Rep. Al Green Proposes Impeaching Trump for “Bigotry”
July 15, 2019
Daniel Greenfield
As political correctness gains greater sway, and impeachment hysteria tightens its noose, how crazy can the crazy get?
Here’s Rep. Al Green proposing to impeach President Trump for “bigotry”.
“I will again, this month, bring impeachment to a vote on the Floor of the U.S. House of Representatives for bigotry in policy, harmful to our society. #RacistPresident” Rep. Green tweeted.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/274315/rep-al-green-proposes-impeaching-trump-bigotry-daniel-greenfield
Trump is Making Omar, Cortez and Tlaib into the Public Face of the Democrats
July 15, 2019
Daniel Greenfield
It’s 2019 and there’s something tedious about Republicans following the media’s commands to twist their knickers when President Trump tweets.
Sometimes Trump’s comments or purpose may be confusing, but this time around his intentions were obvious. He stepped into a Dem civil war being fought between the Dem establishment and a lefty insurgency, and set out to make the “squad” of Cortez, Omar, Tlaib and Co. into the public face of the Democrats. His comments were meant to get the Democrats to rally around them. And it worked.
Yes his language makes a lot of Republicans uneasy, but his targets are the independents and swing voters who do indeed wonder why people who seem to constantly criticise this country don’t just leave.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/274314/trump-making-omar-cortez-and-tlaib-public-face-daniel-greenfield
President Trump Is Attempting to De-Thrown Obama and Brennan’s Deep State CIA and Director Haspel Is Not Making It Easy
The Deep State within the CIA are doing all they can to obstruct President Trump from finding out the origins of the Russia Collusion sham. President Trump is doing all he can to bring them to justice.
The Deep State within the government is corrupt, criminal and cowardly. The DOJ and FBI have obviously been run by Obama’s criminal Deep State. The State Department as well. Nearly every agency in Obama’s government was corrupted during the Obama years. The CIA is no exception and may even be the worse.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/07/president-trump-is-attempting-to-de-thrown-obama-and-brennans-deep-state-cia-and-director-haspel-is-not-making-it-easy/
VIDEO: Ocasio-Cortez is asked to condemn Antifa terror attack on ICE facility. Here’s her surprising response.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) had little to say Monday when asked to condemn the domestic terror attack on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility by an Antifa activist.
The video was captured by The Rebel News Online and posted to its Twitter account.
“Will you condemn Antifa for the attack in Washington?” the reporter asked the freshman congresswoman as she walked with her aides.
“We’ll be making a statement,” Ocasio-Cortez responded.
https://www.theblaze.com/news/aoc-refuses-to-condemn-attack-on-ice-center?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily-Newsletter__AM-Final%202019-07-16&utm_term=TheBlaze%20Daily%20AM%20-%20last%20270%20days
https://twitter.com/i/status/1150875308599500801
Jessie Watters On The Squad: ‘When did love it or leave it become racist?’ [VIDEO]
Though many have been accusing Donald Trump of racism since his controversial tweet about the Dem “squad” — consisting of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley — the hosts of “The Five” pushed back against the leftist narrative on Monday.
https://www.libertybugle.com/jessie-watters-on-the-squad-when-did-love-it-or-leave-it-become-racist-video/
Facebook: More Government Censorship
by Judith Bergman
July 16, 2019 at 5:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14293/facebook-government-censorship
It is often argued that Facebook is a private enterprise and therefore free to censor whatever it wishes.
However, Facebook and the other internet giants, such as Google, YouTube (a subsidiary of Google), and Twitter, have come to control the flow of information on the internet, to such a degree – as virtual monopolies — that they have become the ‘public square’ of our times. That outcome makes them far more than merely private enterprises and endows them with a special responsibility: Those who cannot publish on Facebook or Twitter, effectively no longer have full freedom of speech.
Governments have always known that free speech can be controlled on social media — there is no internet freedom in countries such as China or Russia. For years, however, Western governments have also been controlling the conduct of free speech on the internet – in the name of fighting supposed ‘hate speech’. Controlling free speech has taken the form of ‘cooperating’ with the internet giants — Facebook, Google, Twitter and You Tube — on voluntary initiatives such as the EU “Code of Conduct on countering illegal online hate speech online”, which requires social media giants to act as censors on behalf of the European Union and to remove within 24 hours content that is regarded as “illegal hate speech”.
Turkey: Out in the Cold
by Burak Bekdil
July 16, 2019 at 4:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14549/turkey-out-in-the-cold
It looks as if Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an’s will and power to fight all of the world’s infidels – Muslims with different rituals, secular Muslims, Christians and Jews – will never cease.
Earlier, during the first signs of the Arab Spring, Erdo?an took to the idea of bringing together Muslims of the Middle East and uniting them under a Turkish empire that was being reborn – with him as the new caliph.
His violent anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist rhetoric worked well to earn him Arab popularity. But the message he got was wrong.
Erdo?an was the rock star in Beirut or Cairo not because poor Arabs were desperately waiting for the return of Turks to lead them — Turkey has been experiencing serious friction with Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates –- but simply because all of them are programmed to cozy up to any anti-Zionist man, animal or plant.
If you look at the map, you will see in Iraq a Turkish cold war with Iran and Iranian elements; in Syria, a losing war of friendly jihadists — who work for the non-violent annihilation of Judaism — against bad jihadists; and in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, worse than cold wars. There is also Lebanon, which may have appeared just too non-Sunni; Jordan, which was never reliable; and Egypt, the most populous Arab state and an explicitly hostile state actor against Turkey. Add to that picture a rising alliance of all those Arab states with Western states and corporate actors in exploring hydrocarbons in the Eastern Mediterranean, and it becomes hard to find anyone who wishes to play on the Turkish side. The potential of Turkish drilling activity off Cyprus in retaliation to the opposition’s bloc is merely Turkish propaganda for the Turks.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14549/turkey-out-in-the-cold
https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/eastern-europes-subconscious-fear-of-islam-the-siege-of-vienna-1683/
Illegal Immigrant Group Stages Protests at Amazon and Jeff Bezo’s Home Against Them Selling Software to ICE (VIDEO)
Illegal Immigrant Group Stages Protests at Amazon and Jeff Bezo’s Home Against Them Selling Software to ICE (VIDEO)
Avatar by Cassandra Fairbanks July 16, 2019 16 Comments
11Share 10Tweet Email
La Resistencia, an illegal immigrant-led far-left organization, staged a protest outside Amazon’s headquarters to demand that they stop selling facial recognition software to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/07/illegal-immigrant-group-stages-protests-at-amazon-and-jeff-bezos-home-against-them-selling-software-to-ice-video/
Six ‘Separated’ Migrant (Illegal Alien) Families Sue US Government – Demand $3 Million Each to Pay For Counseling to Heal From “Torture”
Six migrant (illegal alien) families filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration on Monday seeking $3 million each saying they need money to pay for medical care and counseling to pay for the “torture” they endured over last year’s so-called ‘family separations.’
Five out of the six families illegally crossed the border and were arrested and the sixth family showed up to a port of entry without permission.
The Justice Department’s “zero tolerance” policy is aimed at saving lives and to deter illegal aliens from flooding across the border using children as their golden ticket.
DNA tests prove that over 30% of the children accompanying adults seeking asylum have no relation whatsoever — in other words, the children are being trafficked.
The US government separates the families just like they would if they were to arrest an American citizen. Children do not accompany their parents in jail.
Left-wing anti-American ‘advocacy groups’ however are suing over this “zero tolerance” policy claiming it is intended to inflict “emotional distress” on the migrant adults and the children.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/07/six-separated-migrant-illegal-alien-families-sue-us-government-demand-3-million-each-to-pay-for-counseling-to-heal-from-torture/
Comey Attacks Trump Following Media Backlash Over Tweets to AOC and Her Communist “Squad”
Fired FBI Director James Comey lashed out at Trump on Monday following the media backlash over the president’s honest tweets toward AOC and her Communist “squad.”
The President was bold and direct when he called out the America-hating Communist lawmakers that make up the freshman Democrat “squad.”
For months freshman Democrats known as ‘the squad’ including Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pramila Jayapal have been trashing America and Israel on a near-weekly basis.
President Trump said what we are all thinking. If these lawmakers hate this country, they can get the hell out and go live in 3rd world countries without functioning governments.
Comey’s coup against Trump failed and he’s under investigation by Trump’s DOJ — AG Barr and US Attorney John Durham are looking into the origins of Spygate so he’s desperate to get rid of Trump and replace him with a Democrat in the White House.
Comey’s out campaigning against Trump and we’re supposed to believe he didn’t use the might of the FBI to spy on Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and beyond?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/07/comey-attacks-trump-following-media-backlash-over-tweets-to-aoc-and-her-communist-squad/
Salvini: “I neonazi volevano uccidermi”
Fucili d’assalto, mitra e persino un missile terra aria usato dalle forze armate del Qatar.
Questo il materiale sequestrato dalla Digos di Torino a un gruppo di estrema destra: un ingente quantitativo di armi da guerra.
Sono state arrestate tre persone, tra le quali Fabio Del Bergiolo, ex ispettore delle dogane specializzato in antifrode, militante di Forza Nuova ed ex candidato al Senato.
Who Will the Epstein Scandal Bring Down Next?
Trump doubles down on criticism of progressive congresswomen
President Trump on his quarrel with four ‘Progressive’ Democratic Congresswomen.
Pelosi stuns House floor with sharp rebuke of Trump’s ‘racist tweets’
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s remarks on in the House Chambers draw a response from Rep. Doug Collins.
House tensions erupt as Collins accuses Pelosi of crossing line
Floor fight erupts as Pelosi speaks ahead of vote to condemn Trump’s ‘racist’ comments
Escalating tensions on Capitol Hill erupted into a contentious floor fight in the House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke in favor of a proposed resolution condemning “racist” comments by President Trump — even as Republican leaders stood steadfast behind the president.
When Pelosi’s remarks turned personal, Georgia Republican Rep. Doug Collins rose to challenge her and demand that her words be “taken down.” The extraordinary rebuke, the first of its kind involving a member of Congress and a speaker of the House in decades, theoretically could result in Pelosi being barred from speaking on the floor for the remainder of the day.
The episode turned even more bizarre when the chair, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., told representatives he was trying to make a fair ruling as to whether Pelosi had broken House rules, but people weren’t cooperating.
Cleaver simply declared, “I abandon the chair,” and left — a moment with no clear precedent in modern congressional history.
“There is no place anywhere for the president’s words, which are not only divisive, but dangerous — and have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color,” Pelosi, D-Calif., began in her remarks. “It’s so sad because you would think that there would be a given that we would universally, in this body, just say, ‘Of course. Of course.'”
Pelosi continued, her voice rising: “There’s no excuse for any response to those words but a swift and strong unified condemnation. Every single member of this institution, Democratic and Republican, should join us in condemning the president’s racist tweets. To do anything less would be a shocking rejection of our values, and a shameful abdication of our oath of office to protect the American people. I urge a unanimous vote, and yield back the balance of my time.”
Collins then stood and asked if Pelosi wanted to “rephrase that comment.”
“I have cleared my remarks with the parliamentarian before I read them,” Pelosi said, before walking away to applause.
“Can I ask the words be taken down? I make a point of order that the gentlewoman’s words are unparliamentary and be taken down,” Collins said.
“The chair will remind all members, please, please, do not make personality-based comments,” the Cleaver said.
Collins then repeated his request to strike Pelosi’s comments. For more than 20 minutes after Collins’ objection, House members were huddled with the parliamentarian, Thomas J. Wickham Jr., to determine next steps. Wickham’s determination could be overruled by Cleaver or a vote of the full House.
As the consultation dragged on, Pelosi then appeared to leave the House floor, which itself constitutes a violation of House Rules when someone’s words are taken down. Members are supposed to be seated on the floor when a member’s words are stricken.
Among other volumes, the House has used Thomas Jefferson’s “Manual of Parliamentary Practice” as a touchstone for House operations even today. Jefferson’s manual stated that House members cannot use language on the floor “which is personally offensive to the President.”
The House also relies on Cannon’s Book of Precedents, authored by the late Missouri Rep. Clarence Cannon, a Democrat. Cannon’s book says that “personal criticism, innuendo, ridicule and terms of opprobrium” are out of the order in the House.
Fox News has obtained a copy of the draft resolution being debated, which mentioned Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. It also quoted Benjamin Franklin, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President John Kennedy and President Ronald Reagan.
The resolution, entitled “H. Res. 489 — Condemning President Trump’s racist comments directed at Members of Congress,” asserted that “President Donald Trump’s racist comments have legitimized fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.”
Fox News is told Republican support for the resolution is likely to be in the single digits. The scrap on the House floor over Pelosi’s comments could delay a vote late into the evening.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., didn’t have a direct answer when questioned about the text of the resolution earlier Tuesday.
A similar, dramatic episode occured in the House in the 1980s, when Newt Gingrich sparred with then-House Speaker Tip O’Neill, a Massachusetts Democrat. O’Neill remarked: “My personal opinion is this: You deliberately stood in that well before an empty House and challenged these people, and you challenged their Americanism, and it is the lowest thing I have ever seen in my thirty-two years in Congress.”
The parliamentarian determined at the time that the Speaker’s use of the word “lowest” amounted to inappropriate language, and O’Neill’s words were taken down.
House Republican leaders, meanwhile, said the outrage over Trump’s comments was “all about politics.” A series of news organizations, meanwhile, have flatly referred to Trump’s comments as “racist,” without acknowledging the dispute over the matter.
A White House meeting with GOP congressional leaders that had been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon was postponed indefinitely, Fox News has learned. Democrats were set to hold a press conference later in the day.
“They talked more about impeachment than anything else,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said earlier in the day, referring to Monday’s fiery news conference with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley. “We should get back to the business of America.”
The brouhaha began on Sunday after Trump tweeted that unnamed “Democrat Congresswomen” should go back and fix the “corrupt” and “crime infested places” from which they came and then “come back and show us how it’s done.”
Key Republicans have stood by the president. South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, for example, told “Fox & Friends” that the progressive representatives were a “bunch of communists,” and charged that Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar was plainly anti-Semitic. Just over a dozen GOP lawmakers have condemned Trump’s comments.
Omar previously has been criticized by prominent members of both parties for making remarks widely deemed anti-Semitic. This past March, the Democrat-led House overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan resolution that indirectly condemned Omar’s repeated “anti-Semitic” and “pernicious” comments, including some in which she suggested Jewish politicians in the U.S. were bought and paid for.
The final House resolution, after days of Democrat infighting, did not actually mention Omar by name, and instead condemned bigotry of “all kinds.”
Omar has also referred to 9/11 as a day when “some people did something,” rankling Trump and top Republicans, who called the remarks clearly insensitive.
“We all know that [AOC] and this crowd are a bunch of communists, they hate Israel, they hate our own country, they’re calling the guards along our border—the Border Patrol agents—concentration camp guards,” Graham said.
In advance of the planned House vote on the resolution Tuesday evening, Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., in a Capitol news conference, said Trump must “tone down the xenophobic and racist rhetoric that is consistently peddled out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.” He called for Republicans to join Democrats in voting to condemn the president’s remarks in Tuesday’s vote.
“We want the strongest vote possible,” Jeffries said. “And, we’re hopeful that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle would put country ahead of party, would put decency ahead of Donald Trump. Let’s see what happens on the floor later on this evening.”
Some Republicans have condemned the president’s remarks, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who tweeted: “There is no excuse for the president’s spiteful comments –they were absolutely unacceptable and this needs to stop.”
But, McCarthy, while clarifying that he believes the Democrats in question “love this country,” said he was not on board with the resolution and will encourage other Republicans to vote against it.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-floor-fight-pelosi-collins-condemn-trump-tweets
New documents revisit questions about Rep. Ilhan Omar’s marriage history
Although she has legally corrected the discrepancy, she has declined to say anything about how or why it happened.
New investigative documents released by a state agency have given fresh life to lingering questions about the marital history of Rep. Ilhan Omar and whether she once married a man — possibly her own brother — to skirt immigration laws.
Omar has denied the allegations in the past, dismissing them as “baseless rumors” first raised in an online Somali politics forum and championed by conservative bloggers during her 2016 campaign for the Minnesota House. But she said little then or since about Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, the former husband who swept into her life in 2009 before a 2011 separation.
The questions surfaced again this month in a state probe of campaign finance violations showing that Omar filed federal taxes in 2014 and 2015 with her current husband, Ahmed Hirsi, while she was still legally married to but separated from Elmi.
Although she has legally corrected the discrepancy, she has declined to say anything about how or why it happened.
The new documents also detail the Omar campaign’s efforts to keep the story of her marriage to Elmi out of the press, arguing that detailed coverage would legitimize the accusations and invade her privacy.
Since the recent findings of the campaign finance board that discovered Omar had improperly used campaign money to pay a lawyer to fix her tax filings, the Star Tribune searched public records — including available databases, the marriage and divorce filing, business licenses, university records and other documents — and could find little publicly available information about Elmi. The search of records could neither conclusively confirm nor rebut the allegation that he is Omar’s sibling.
Sent a list of questions and a request to talk to her siblings and father, Omar declined to do so. Hirsi did not reply to multiple calls, texts and e-mails. Social media posts indicate Elmi is in Africa. He did not respond to multiple e-mails.
Omar’s reticence is consistent with near total silence she has maintained for three years amid questions raised through public records picked over by conservative opinion journalists intent on proving that she committed immigration fraud. Those attacks, she once tweeted, are the provenance of “fake journalists on bigoted blogs.”
Omar spokesman Jeremy Slevin issued a statement Friday asserting that the questions about her personal life are illegitimate:
“Since before she was elected to office, Ilhan has been the subject of conspiracy theories and false accusations about her personal life. Emboldened by a president who openly treats immigrants, refugees and Muslims as invaders, these attacks often stem from the presumption that Ilhan — like others who share those identities — is somehow illegitimate or not fully American.
“Ilhan has shared more than most public officials ever do about the details of her personal life — even when it is personally painful,” he continued. “Whether by colluding with right-wing outlets to go after Muslim elected officials or hounding family members, legitimate media outlets have a responsibility not to fan the flames of hate. Continuing to do so is not only demeaning to Ilhan, but to her entire family.”
The questions have nevertheless persisted as a political threat over the years while the former war refugee from Somalia made history being elected to the Minnesota House and then winning a seat in Congress.
Her ascent as the nation’s first Somali-American lawmaker has won her global praise and given her an international platform to champion human rights, criticize Israel, and challenge the Trump administration’s immigration policies — positions that have drawn further ire and scrutiny from conservative critics.
Omar’s widely condemned statements about the influence of Israel and Jewish money in American politics have only upped the stakes for her critics, who are also often passionate defenders of the Israeli government.
Throughout it all, Omar’s public persona has been informed by her biography as a refugee overcoming racial and cultural barriers. Yet she has insisted on silence on some key details.
“It’s really strange, right, to prove a negative,” she told the Star Tribune in an interview in October, before she was elected to Congress. As for Elmi, she said, “If someone was asking me, do I have a brother by that name, I don’t. If someone was asking … are there court documents that are false … there is no truth to that.”
Beyond denying the provocative allegation that Elmi is her brother, Omar has shed little light on her married life, which began in 2002, when she wed Hirsi in their Muslim faith tradition.
The Star Tribune has sought to authenticate some of the most egregious allegations, using public records and available social media posts, which make up the bulk of the case against her.
Some of the original social media accounts linking Elmi to Omar after their split in 2011 appear to have been removed, and documents verifying the family relationships of refugees from war-torn countries with limited government record-keeping are notoriously hard to obtain, even by U.S. immigration authorities.
Omar declined to make her tax and immigration records available for this report.
What is known is that Omar, at the age of 19, sought a legal marriage license with Hirsi in Minnesota. Though they had three children together, they would not legally marry until January, 2018, after she had been in the Minnesota Legislature for a year and had dissolved the marriage in 2017 with Elmi.
After reaching what Omar called “an impasse in our life together,” she and Hirsi split for a period in 2008. They had two children at the time.
In February 2009, public records show that Omar legally married Elmi, who she has identified as a “British citizen.”
The relationship was brief. Omar said it ended in 2011, when she reconciled with Hirsi.
She gave birth to their third child the following June. She identified Hirsi as the father.
While Omar said she and Elmi had divorced in 2011 “in our faith tradition,” they would not legally divorce until December, 2017 — a month before she got legally married to Hirsi.
Imam Makram El-Amin of Masjid An-Nur in Minneapolis said an Islamic marriage must include the officiant and at least two witnesses, preferably one from each side of the family, to be a valid union. El-Amin, who did not perform Omar’s marriages, said he has credentials to sign a marriage certificate. But just like any wedding at a church or synagogue, it’s not legal in the state of Minnesota until processed by the county.
Similarly, an Islamic divorce requires two witnesses, ideally the same two who witnessed the marriage, plus a three-month waiting period, El-Amin said. The marriage can be then dissolved in the faith, although the divorce would require a Minnesota court to earn civil legal standing.
In her 2017 divorce, Omar attested that she had no contact with Elmi after their 2011 separation. Conservative activists say photos and other social media posted by Omar and Elmi on Instagram and Facebook suggest Omar may not be telling the truth. The Star Tribune has been unable to independently obtain the original posts, although images purporting to be screen grabs continue to populate right-leaning media sites such as Power Line Blog, PJ Media and Alpha News. They remain in public view.
One image featured on AlphaNewsMN depicts an Instagram photo purportedly posted by Elmi on June 12, 2012, the day after Omar gave birth to her third child. It shows a close-up picture of Elmi holding a newborn child the website says is Omar’s, based on accompanying text that ostensibly refers to the baby girl as “nieces.”
That and other Instagram photos have since been removed.
In her divorce, Omar said she had tried unsuccessfully to reach Elmi to respond to her court filings, including through social media. She also said that she did not know any other friends of family members who could contact him.
Omar and Elmi used a Columbia Heights address on the marriage application. Three months later, Hirsi used the same address to obtain a business license for his One-on-One Cafe Lounge, public records show.
Omar declined to offer an account of their living arrangement at that time.
Siblings who petition for a U.S. visa for a noncitizen sibling have typically had to wait more than a dozen years to obtain the document, according to the U.S. State Department. Applications for a spouse carry a minimal waiting period, but Minnetonka-based immigration lawyer Steven Thal said examples of siblings fraudulently marrying to gain immigration benefits are nearly unheard of compared to cases of strangers marrying to get green cards.
“It is so rare that you would think that it would be more easily uncovered,” Thal said.
Omar’s relatives could also clear the air, but they have remained silent about her marriage to Elmi. She declined to make her family available for this story.
In 2016, her campaign provided the names of six siblings, but only their first names, citing their need for privacy. Elmi was not among them.
In October 2018, Omar showed a Star Tribune reporter cellphone photos of family immigration papers but would not share the actual documents.
Omar’s sister Sahra Noor was a high-profile executive of the Twin Cities health care nonprofit People’s Center Clinics & Services until 2018. She declined interview requests in 2016. She currently runs her own health care consultancy in Kenya. An e-mail to her was not returned and efforts to call her there were unsuccessful.
Over the years Elmi, who attended high school in St. Paul, has had occasional contact over the internet with other friends and acquaintances, including retired DFL activist and Minneapolis city worker Barb Lickness, who lived in the same downtown Minneapolis apartment building with Elmi around 2012, before he moved to London.
She described him as “friendly in a soft way,” and a neighbor who participated enthusiastically in the building’s social scene. She recalls that he was tall, dapper, and spoke with a pronounced British accent, indicative of a foreign upbringing. He never mentioned being married, Lickness said.
Lickness confirmed Elmi’s identity in an Instagram photo purportedly posted by Omar showing the two of them and three others posing in London in 2015. The photo is featured on several conservative media websites, but could not be verified by the Star Tribune.
What’s clear from the recently released documents of the campaign finance board is that the young upstart’s campaign was unprepared for any potential blowback from the questions surrounding Omar’s marriage to Elmi, first reported in 2016 on Somalispot.com, an online public affairs forum.
Omar created a “crisis committee” comprising a few DFL veteran operatives to try to respond. Their priority was preparing a dossier on their own candidate — a fairly typical task usually completed before a campaign, not after a primary victory.
“There was a lot of frustration that any of these things were not disclosed to any of the campaign staff when I decided to run for office. And so I think everybody who was doing this wanted to put a research file together that had the benefit of making sure that there weren’t any other dark things in my closet that I might not have told them about,” Omar said during a December deposition before the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.
The board would eventually fine her $500 and require her to use her own money to pay lawyers who did personal tax work.
During the deposition, Omar suggested she is disconnected from details — unaware, for instance, that she violated tax law by filing a married-jointly return with the wrong husband.
Asked if she amended her tax filings, she replied, “I don’t think so.”
The board’s staff asked again. Omar replied, “I don’t recall doing any.”
Asked about using campaign money to take political trips, Omar said they were always approved by the Minnesota House, but then placed responsibility on her staff: “They always gave me an opinion that said, sure, this looks fine. Or at least that was my understanding that that’s what my staff was doing before they would commit me to doing anything.”
Carla Kjellberg, an attorney and political adviser during the crisis period, paints a different picture of Omar’s engagement level with details: “I did nothing, I want to make that clear, without Representative Omar’s authority. And she was in these meetings where those things were decided upon and I was directed to do that,” Kjellberg said during her own deposition.
Kjellberg declined to comment.
Campaign e-mails disclosed by the campaign finance board also show a concerted effort to quash the Elmi story. An August 2016 internal e-mail written by campaign spokesman Ben Goldfarb, a veteran DFL operative, suggested reaching out to political newsletter writer Blois Olson “and shut it down with him as we do with the Strib.”
The Star Tribune wrote about the controversy the next day under the headline, “Marriage discrepancy clouds Ilhan Omar’s historic primary victory.”
Omar expressed frustration over the controversy again last October, telling the Star Tribune in an interview that like many refugees without birth certificates, “anybody can accuse me of whatever they want and I don’t have a way to defend myself.”
Rep. Mohamud Noor, DFL-Minneapolis, lost to Omar in the primary before replacing her at the Legislature when she went to Congress. He compared the attacks on Omar to claims that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
Because he took over Omar’s state legislative office phone number, Noor’s voice mail was getting filled with hateful, racist messages until Google removed the number when people conducted Google searches for Omar.
In the end, Noor said, Omar will be judged by what she does for her district.
“Initially there were missteps, and so much focus on her rather than on what she was doing,” Noor said. “She’s made some tremendous efforts to reconnect and re-engage and focus on the district.”
http://www.startribune.com/new-documents-revisit-questions-about-rep-ilhan-omar-s-marriage/511681362/
twitter – Elizabeth Harrington
https://twitter.com/LizRNC
===========================================
Since the media refuses to provide any context, a thread of statements made by the socialist “squad” in the House:
Ilhan Omar laughing about al Qaeda, wondering why we don’t speak of America in the same tones
https://twitter.com/LizRNC/status/1150880188957364224
Jim Jordan reacts to the House vote condemning Trump
Trump’s Statements Are Racist, But We Don’t Know Why
Leftist Media Think They Exposed Trump But STILL Get played For Fools
Published June 24, 2019
Hospitals in Germany under siege
Nato U.S. nukes exposed. The Russkis probably know the locations already, but the U.S. must look hard and long at friends and foes at home and abroad:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/07/16/location-us-nuclear-weapons-europe-accidentally-revealed-report-nato-body/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6b447b179c71
House tensions erupt as Collins accuses Pelosi of crossing line
I think that if they are going to condemn him for racism they should have to show how the tweets are racist.
Cruz: Freshman Dems are radical and extreme with a troubling history
Fox Business is live now!
0:01 / 7:14
Jack Keane ‘confident’ FBI is already watching Google
Richard: This one is weird and seems to be saying that things are going to happen that she wants nothing to do with.
Goodbye.
That is weird.
i think its connected to this:
What was she saying the Jews are doing?
Former Detective Believes Grooming Is Still Happening in Rochdale | This Morning
Syria: Turkish military vehicles seen moving inside Syrian border
A convoy of Turkish military vehicles was seen moving inside the northern Syrian border close to Azaz late on Monday.
According to recent media reports, reinforcements have been sent to the Syrian border area by the Turkish military.
In 2018, Turkey conducted an operation in and around the nearby Afrin as part of the Turkish-led ‘Olive Branch’ military operation against Syrian Kurdish forces in northern Syria.
Iran, Iraq Inseparable: Speaker Larijani (tasnimnews, Jul 16, 2019)
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/07/16/2055803/iran-iraq-inseparable-speaker-larijani
“Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani decried the US plots to create division between Iran and Iraq, saying the American policies have backfired as the two neighbors enjoy deep-rooted ties…”
Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood is Source of World’s Extremist Organizations (aawsat, Jul 16, 2019)
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1815131/egypt-muslim-brotherhood-source-world%E2%80%99s-extremist-organizations
“Egypt said all takfiri groups stem from the same extremist ideological source established by the Muslim Brotherhood organization, stressing the need to continue efforts to address terrorism in all its forms.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez made this stance at a meeting of the liaison strategy group of the Global Coalition against ISIS in Washington.
He said victories over ISIS should not be considered a final goal, adding that the only way to eliminate terrorism lies in adopting a unified international approach on an all-out confrontation of terrorist groups, their ideology and activities.
Hafez cited the initiative launched by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to renew religious discourse, praising the role played by the al-Azhar and Dar al-Iftaa to counter terrorism.
He stressed that Egypt will continue to support the liaison strategy group based on its experience in combating terrorism, highlighting the role played by its religious institutions in correcting misconceptions about religion and promoting moderate Islam.
An international study by Center on Religion and Geopolitics in Britain noted that 50 percent of extremists have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood or related organizations.
Meanwhile, Advisor to Egypt’s Mufti, Ibrahim Najm stated that the Brotherhood is the root of extremism in the world, accusing it of adopting destructive rhetoric and inciting violence.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat that organizations like the Brotherhood make false interpretations of the holy Quran to justify their actions and legitimize their crimes.”
Al Jazeera: Bahrain recruited Al-Qaeda terrorist to assassinate dissidents (memo, Jul 16, 2019)
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190716-al-jazeera-bahrain-recruited-al-qaeda-terrorist-to-assassinate-dissidents/
“Senior members of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group were recruited by Bahrain in a secret plot to assassinate heads of opposition groups, prominent dissidents and activists, according to a sensational documentary aired by Al Jazeera’s Arabic-language news channel.
Titled “Playing with fire”, the 52-minute documentary exposed recordings and communications between Bahraini intelligence and Al-Qaeda members to form a secret cell on the authorisation of the King of Bahrain, Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa.
The documentary claimed that King Hamad had personally intervened to ensure the plots success by having one of the Al-Qaeda commanders, Mohammed Saleh, released when he was imprisoned in Saudi Arabia.
Iran was amongst the targets. The documentary found that officers from Bahraini intelligence met with Al-Qaeda linked terrorist groups based in Iran’s south-eastern province of Baluchistan, to co-ordinate operations within the Islamic Republic.
Saleh, head of Al-Qaeda in Bahrain is seen confessing that he met officials in the National Security Agency who asked him to lead a cell to assassinate Shia dissidents in 2003. Saleh said he made calls with leaders in the organisation in Saudi Arabia to provide arms to execute the plan.
Bahrain, which has strongly backed the Gulf coalition boycotting Qatar claiming, amongst other things, that Doha supports terrorists organisations, has denied the allegations made in the documentary.”
Iraq deports 33 children of Russian Daesh members (memo, Jul 16, 2019)
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190716-iraq-deports-33-children-of-russian-daesh-members/
“Iraq announced yesterday that it had deported as many as 33 children born to Russian mothers affiliated with Daesh back to Russia.
The Iraqi foreign ministry said in a statement that it has been working with the competent government agencies, including the Supreme Judicial Council, the Ministry of Justice, and the security services, to resolve the issue of deporting children born to Daesh affiliates back to their home countries.
The ministry added that the deportation of the 33 children back to Russia came in coordination with the Russian Embassy in Baghdad and called on all countries with citizens affiliated with Daesh in Iraq to intensify their efforts to receive them.
It added that it has helped return 473 children to their home countries in Russia, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Germany, France, Georgia, Belarus, Finland, Ukraine and Turkey.”
Ten Turkish sailors seized by pirates off Nigerian coast (memo, Jul 16, 2019)
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190716-ten-turkish-sailors-seized-by-pirates-off-nigerian-coast/
“Ten Turkish sailors were taken hostage by armed pirates who attacked a Turkish-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria, the vessel’s owner said on Tuesday, adding that another eight sailors were left safely aboard, reports Reuters.
Turkey’s foreign ministry said the sailors were seized on Saturday evening. After the pirates left the ship it was taken to Ghana’s Tema port, and Ghanaian and Nigerian authorities are working on returning the captured sailors, the ministry said.
Shipping company Kadioglu Denizcilik said its ship, the Paksoy-1, was attacked in the Gulf of Guinea as it sailed from Cameroon to Ivory Coast without freight.
“According to initial information, there were no injuries or casualties. Efforts for all our personnel to be safely released continue,” the company said in a statement.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the spokesman for Turkey’s ruling AK Party said the government was closely following the matter and called for the sailors to be returned safely. He declined to give further details.
Kidnappings and piracy for ransom in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea are common.
Last week, the International Maritime Bureau described the Gulf of Guinea as the most dangerous area in the world for piracy. It said 73% of all sea kidnappings and 92% of hostage-takings took place in the Gulf of Guinea.”
Saudis in orbit: Riyadh to send astronaut into space (alaraby, Jul 16, 2019)
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/7/16/saudis-in-orbit-riyadh-to-send-astronaut-into-space
“Saudi Arabia could soon send an astronaut into orbit aboard a Russian rocket as part of the Gulf state’s fledgeling space programme.
Russian state media reported on Monday that the two countries have discussed sending a Saudi into space for a short-duration flight.
“The countries have expressed readiness to continue consultations on… a manned space flight and preparations for a short-duration flight of a Saudi astronaut,” a protocol signed by the countries reads.
Last December, the Saudi King ordered the creation of the Saudi Space Agency and appointed his eldest son, Prince Sultan bin Salman, to head the body.
Prince Sultan was the first Arab and Muslim astronaut to fly in space in 1985 as a part of the NASA’s Space Shuttle programme.
The United Arab Emirates announced earlier this year that it plans to send an Emirati astronaut to the International Space Station onboard a Russian rocket.
The oil-rich state has also said it wants to send a probe to Mars next year and has set itself the ambitious goal of building a city on the Red Planet within the next century.”
Iranian diplomats, families living in New York face U.S. travel curbs (reuters, Jul 17, 2019)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-iran-usa-un/iranian-diplomats-families-living-in-new-york-face-u-s-travel-curbs-idUSKCN1UB2T4
“The United States has tightly restricted the travel of more than a dozen Iranian diplomats and their families living in New York, according to a U.S. diplomatic note to sent to the Iran mission to the United Nations and seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
The diplomats are subjected to the same rules imposed by the United States on Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who arrived on Sunday amid heightened tensions between the two countries.
They may only travel between the United Nations, the Iranian U.N. mission, the Iranian U.N. ambassador’s residence and John F. Kennedy airport. There is also a carve out for the six blocks surrounding Queensboro Plaza in Long Island City in the borough of Queens. It was not immediately clear why…”
Egyptian man chops wife, 4 children to death (gulfnews, Jul 16, 2019)
https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/egyptian-man-chops-wife-4-children-to-death-1.65261365
“An Egyptian man has admitted to chopping to death his wife and their four children in the province of Fayoum, south of Cairo, security sources said.
The 38-year-old schoolteacher turned himself over to the police and admitted he murdered them with a cleaver in their home.
The victims were the 33-year-old wife and children aged 11, eight, four and 18 months.
When police force went to the family’s home, they found the five bodies scattered on beds and the cleaver stained with blood, the sources added. The five had fatal skull fractures.
The man gave conflicting accounts about the motive for the murder, the sources said.
Initially, he claimed to have killed his family to protect them from threats of rape and death allegedly made by his partners in an unlawful artefact business.
Later, he attributed the murder to his wish to save his family from financial woes after he became ridden by debt…”
PAKISTAN’S SILENT SUICIDE PROBLEM (dawn, Jul 15, 2019)
https://www.dawn.com/news/1494208/pakistans-silent-suicide-problem
Turkey to send fourth ship to East Med, despite EU sanctions decision (hdn, Jul 16, 2019)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-to-send-fourth-ship-to-east-med-despite-eu-sanctions-decision-145005
300,000 operations held against terrorists: Interior Minister (hdn, Jul 16, 2019)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/300-000-operations-held-against-terrorists-interior-minister-144992
“Turkey carried out more than 300,000 counter-terrorism operations since the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, the country’s interior minister said on July 15.
Speaking at a dinner hosting the families of veterans and martyrs who fell victim to the failed coup, Suleyman Soylu said Turkey lost many martyrs over the years in its fight against traitors and terrorists who aimed to divide the country with a total of 324,243 operations conducted in three years.
Soylu said a total of 69,496 arrests were made against all terrorist organizations over the past three years, while 5,778 terrorists were neutralized.
“We conducted 9,903 operations against FETÖ in 2019,” he said, adding: “We are making [them] account for July 15 manyfold.”
“This country has suffered a lot from betrayals,” Soylu said.
“Whatever you call terrorism and to whatever source you attribute it, we will eliminate terrorism from these lands and we intend to make Turkey the world’s safest country,” he said.
Soylu underlined that besides Turkey’s battle against terrorism, it has been dealing with irregular mass migration and combating global drug trade.
Turkey marks July 15 as Democracy and National Unity Day. The day is commemorated with events honoring those who lost their lives, while defeating the putschists and to remember bravery of the nation.
FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen orchestrated the defeated coup, which left 251 people killed and nearly 2,200 injured.
Ankara accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the legitimate state apparatus, through infiltrations into Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.”
Lives must be saved at sea – Von der Leyen (ansa, Jul 16, 2019)
http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/07/16/lives-must-be-saved-at-sea-von-der-leyen_d869e542-1247-42bc-94ca-b7f0161eb849.html
“European Commission president-designate Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday that it was EU member States’ duty to save the lives of people in difficulty at sea, while stressing that she wants to fight hard against human trafficking. “The Mediterranean has become the world’s most lethal frontier,” the German told the European Parliament debate on her ratification, getting a round of applause. She was later elected by nine votes as new head of the EU executive.
“There is an obligation to save lives at sea.
“We have to save lives, but we also have to reduce illegal immigration and fight against human traffickers”. Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has adopted a controversial policy of closing Italy’s ports to NGO-run search-and-rescue ships, saying they encourage illegal immigration.
Salvini said Tuesday that the MEPs for his League party may vote to ratify the nomination of von der Leyen if she shows she is committed to combatting human trafficking. “Her words about the fight against illegal immigration, about changing the rules that saw Italy as a European reception centre, are interesting,” Salvini told reporters in Genoa when asked if the League would back von der Leyen.
“We’ll see whether she confirms the will to fight human traffickers”.”
We have no obligation to people who wish to destroy our democracy,murder and rape our women,and intend to breed us out of our legitimate right to our own countries,disregard our laws ,and expect to be fed housed”educated”medicated,while they sit on their arses doing nothing for society for the rest of their lives,except denigrate our achievements,and fill our young people with drugs.
Perfectly said.
Italy makes move to clear out ‘illegal’ Roma camps (thelocal, Jul 16, 2019)
https://www.thelocal.it/20190716/italy-makes-move-to-clear-out-illegal-roma-camps
“Italy’s anti-immigrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini ordered a report Tuesday on the country’s Roma population, with a view to shuttering overcrowded, “illegal” camps, provoking an angry response from rights campaigners.
The head of the far-right League ordered the country’s regional prefects to draw up “a report on the presence of Roma, Sinti and Caminanti” within two weeks, the interior ministry said in a statement.
“The aim is to verify the presence of illegal camps to draw up an eviction plan,” it said.
The Roma, Sinti and Caminanti are traditionally nomadic ethnic groups who have lived in Europe for centuries.
The Sinti are traditionally from west and central Europe, while Roma have their origins in the east and southeast of the continent. The Caminanti are believed to have their origins in the Norman occupation of Sicily.
The pro-Roma group Associazione 21 Luglio said Tuesday it was “deeply worried” by Salvini’s order.
It slammed “a measure which clearly discriminates against these communities, since it does not affect, for example, formal or informal settlements inhabited by persons not belonging to these ethnic groups”.
Some 25,000 Roma, Sinti and Caminanti live in conditions of “housing segregation”, according to the association, accusing the government of maintaining “ethnic ghettos”.
About 15,000 members of the three groups reside in 127 formal settlements in Italy, often in the suburbs of large cities, according to the group.
The rest live instead in informal settlements, some of which are made up of just two to three families.
There are about 300 such informal settlements in Rome, the Associazione 21 Luglio told AFP.
Threats against the Roma and Sinti have increased under Salvini, who sparked controversy last year with his call for a new census of Roma, and for all non-Italians among them to be expelled from the country.
Salvini has also barred Italy’s ports to charity vessels rescuing migrants at sea.
The Council of Europe estimates there are between 120,000 and 180,000 Roma, Sinti and Caminanti in Italy — one of the lowest concentrations in Europe.
Over half are Italian citizens with regular jobs and homes, but hate crimes against their less fortunate peers are rife.”
Migrant rescued swimming from France to Britain with rubber ring and flippers (thelocal, Jul 16, 2019)
https://www.thelocal.fr/20190716/migrant-rescued-swimming-english-channel-with-rubber-ring-and-flippers
“A migrant attempting to swim to Britain from France with flippers and a rubber ring was rescued Tuesday in a state of “mild hypothermia” in the Channel, the French coast guard said in a statement…”
US Congress UNITES against ‘racist’ Trump tweets – impeachment resolution launched (express, Jul 17, 2019)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1154255/Donald-Trump-news-US-President-impeachment-Congress-House-racist-tweets-Ocasio-Cortez
“US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has been condemned over his allegedly “racist comments” by the US House of Representatives.
All Democrats and four Republicans in the second chamber of Congress voted to support the motion. The President is now facing an impeachment resolution brought by Democratic representative Al Green. Earlier this week Trump caused outrage by suggesting four hostile Democratic representatives from ethnic minority backgrounds “can leave” the US and return to their countries of origin if they are unhappy with his policies.
The House passed the resolution condemning Trump’s tweets by 240 votes to 187.
Trump’s tweet was widely interpreted as an attack on representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib.
All four women are US citizens and three of the four were born in America, with Ms Omar moving to the country as a child.
They have become vocal critics of Trump’s politics and have been collectively nicknamed ‘The Squad’.
On 14 July Trump tweeted: “So interesting to see ‘progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally come from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, now loudly telling the people of the United States how our government is to be run.
“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came?
“These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough.”
The President’s comments were immediately condemned as racist by senior Democratic members of Congress.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi commented: “When Donald Trump tells four American Congresswomen to go back to their countries, he reaffirms his plan to ‘Make America Great Again’ has always been about making America white again.
“Our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power.”
President Trump has continued to insist his remarks did not constitute racism.
On Tuesday he said: “Those tweets were not racist.
“I don’t have a racist bone in my body! The so-called vote to be taken is a Democrat con game.”
The tweets were described as “totally unacceptable” by Boris Johnson, the favourite to become the next UK Prime Minister.”
Kinda funny cause everyone involved knows only the Senate can do impeachment. The congress can make all the noise it wants but the can do nothing about it.
So its a game and they all know it
RUSSIA – 7 Islamic State Suspects Jailed for Plot Against Russian High-Speed Train
Seven men believed to be supporters of the Islamic State terror group have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms in Russia on Friday for attempting to stage a collision on a high-speed railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The suspects, hailing from post-Soviet Tajikistan, placed a metal object on the tracks in an attempt to cause the high-speed Sapsan train to derail and crash into oncoming traffic in mid-2017, a Moscow military court ruled. The train did not crash but five Sapsan carriages were reportedly damaged, resulting in estimated losses of 55 million rubles ($880,000).
The court handed the defendants sentences ranging between 15 and 21 years in maximum-security prison, Interfax reported.
The suspected IS cell members staged the diversion with plans to issue an online message calling on the Russian government to stop its military campaign in Syria, according to an indictment cited by the state-run TASS news agency.
The convicted jihadists were apprehended in mid-2017 while attempting to carry out a new plan to bomb the railway, the outlet added.
Only one of the seven suspects pleaded guilty to all charges and another one to weapons possession, the agencies reported. Five others denied their guilt.
The case resembles previous bomb plots to target the Sapsan, including a 2011 attempt after which four suspects were sentenced to long prison terms. Another high-speed train between Moscow and St. Petersburg, the Nevsky Express, was derailed by bomb attacks in 2007, injuring about 60, and in 2009, killing 28.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/07/12/7-is-suspects-jailed-plot-against-russian-high-speed-train-a66395