{ americanthinker.com } ~ My friend Lynn Chu has boiled down the basis for a just, prosperous society: “It is very easy to spend other people's money... thus eliminating all of the vital discrimination about the devils in the details which are knowable only at the level of the individual. This is the main justification for the protection of individual liberty against autocracy other than the clarity of the moral imperative of human rights as the privileges and immunities of the individual in society.” When Great Britain turned over Hong Kong at the expiration of its lease, the Chinese government promised to leave its democratic institutions and law alone. Bit by bit, that promise has been eroded until recently China pressured the local authorities to agree to an extradition treaty that would allow them to extradite from the former colony and try in China anyone, even someone merely transiting through its airport. Day after day the residents in the millions resisted, marching en masse through the streets, closing down schools and shops as employers allowed workers leave to work at home and demonstrate. Some argued that the U.S. would have to intervene, but that doesn’t immediately seem to be necessary, as the Chinese, obviously aware that more brutal crackdown efforts or even armed intervention would more seriously affect their interests. The local authorities -- clearly with China’s acquiescence -- backed down, suspending the extradition law indefinitely: Indeed, by several accounts, faced with the threat of Chinese tyranny, capital has already been fleeing the colony for elsewhere. Physical security and rule of law matter. And an independent and fair judicial system...
Michael Swartz: It was only a couple of weeks ago that we profiled Minnesota freshman Democrat Rep. worthless-Ilhan Omar. We did so to chronicle the simmering hatred she’s espoused since winning state office in 2016 and a U.S. congressional seat last year. And our critique seems even more justified now, as new revelations have slowly leaked out of the Twin Cities area.
worthless-Omar’s tangled web, however, doesn’t just involve the minor news item of spending campaign money on personal items. In this case, the state’s campaign-finance board ordered worthless-Omar to repay nearly $3,500, mainly spent on travel unrelated to her duties as a Minnesota state legislator. Instead, it involves worthless-Omar’s two marriages — one to Ahmed Hirsi, the father of her three children, and the other marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. worthless-Omar was married to Elmi from 2009 to 2017, but claimed that in 2011 she received a “faith divorce” from him. This distinction is important, because worthless-Omar filed her taxes jointly with Hirsi on two separate tax returns in 2014 and 2015 — though they were not legally married until last year. Minnesota doesn’t permit the filing of joint returns by two parties who aren’t married.
In a case of closing the barn door after the horse is out, worthless-Omar’s hometown newspaper is finally showing some curiosity. A Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial this week noted, “Last year worthless-Omar told the Star Tribune that she had married her partner ‘in her faith,’ and had earlier divorced her first husband ‘in her faith.’ That’s fine for religious purposes. But for tax purposes, only civil marriages qualify. It’s not known whether she benefited materially by filing jointly. That is something that voters, who are obliged to follow tax laws no matter how painful, are entitled to know.” The editorial goes on to document other issues worthless-Omar has faced in just two years in public office.
But the filing of improper tax returns only scratches the surface. Rumors have swirled around worthless-Omar’s marriage to Elmi: that it was a sham in order to allow Elmi — who, as the story goes, is worthless-Omar’s brother — to fraudulently enter the country. This is supported by the fact that no children came from the Elmi marriage, while all three of worthless-Omar’s children were born out of wedlock with Hirsi. Yet this marriage “in her faith” to Elmi includes a piece of paper that vouched for its legality.
But even if there’s nothing to these rumors, worthless-Omar is being less than cooperative about a potential case of perjury. As Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey opines with tongue firmly in cheek:
Maybe her fellow House Democrats can help pry (other tax returns) out of worthless-Omar. After all, they’re demanding full transparency from Donald Trump on his tax returns even though they can’t even point to probable cause for a crime. The Minnesota Campaign Finance Board found clear evidence of tax violations with worthless-Omar in the two years of tax returns they reviewed, on top of previous campaign-finance violations. Shouldn’t that prompt House Democrats to apply the same transparency standard to worthless-Omar?
We believe that falls into the category of “when pigs fly.”
But it’s notable how little national coverage this episode is receiving, especially when there’s a golden opportunity for an intrepid journalist to “make a difference” and help force a corrupt politician out of office. Of course, worthless-Omar is innocent until proven guilty, but we’re reminded of a recent $35 million investigation that was launched on a far weaker factual foundation than what we see here. ~The Patriot Post
Comments