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Home » Ilhan Omar: my first allegiance is to Somalia and Islam and I don’t care who knows it

Ilhan Omar: my first allegiance is to Somalia and Islam and I don’t care who knows it

The New Neo Posted on by

Perhaps, with all the Palestine-philia going around, Omar thinks it’s finally not only safe to say this sort of thing, but admirable, and that it will earn her votes:

Rep. Ilhan Omar, an evidenced antisemite, has often suggested in various ways that anyone who supports Israel has “dual loyalty” and is somehow being paid off by Jews. Ironically, she’s the one who has a real dual loyalty problem, or worse, a singular loyalty to a foreign nation. …

During a recent speech, of which clips are now going viral, Omar left nothing to the imagination. She proclaimed to the crowd that Somalis control the U.S. government and that it exists to “safeguard the interests of Somalia.” She also stated that she is Somalian first and Muslim second. There was no mention of any allegiance to the United States despite her serving in its Congress.

If Somalis really do control the US government these days, that would actually explain a lot.

My theory that the pro-Hamas demonstrations have given her the boldness to “come out,” as it were, is backed up by this Omar quote. Note the resemblance between what she says about Somalians vs. Kenyans and Ethiopians, and the rhetoric of the pro-Palestinian crowd versus Israel:

Somalia is for Somalis only as over 45 percent of Somalia’s population are not even ethnic Somalis. Somalia is one nation. We are all brothers and sisters. Our land can not be divided. Ethiopia and Kenya have stolen and continue to occupy the Somali region state, which belongs to Somalia. We will liberate the occupied territories stolen from Somalia…

Another way in which Omar reminds me of Palestinians is that apparently she made this speech in Somali to a Somali crowd. I doubt she would have said the same things in English, and probably didn’t expect much attention because of the language barrier. That’s very much what Arafat used to do: give one speech in English, and a much nastier and more fiery one in Arabic. It took quite a while before the world caught on, and many never did.

Comments

Ilhan Omar: my first allegiance is to Somalia and Islam and I don’t care who knows it — 58 Comments

  1. “…Somalia is one nation. We are all brothers and sisters. Our land can not be divided….”

    I think we should all thank Omar for pointing out why civil war seem to break out in Somalia so frequently….
    (Ditto with her adamant denials regarding relationship between her and her first husband.)

    But she’s a slippery one…and perfectly represents the Democratic Party.
    (To be sure, when the Somalis hijack the Twin Cities and perhaps even beyond, she’ll kiss the Democrats “Good-bye!”. As per what’s happening with ethnic politicos in the UK and other parts of Europe, e.g., Netherlands.)

  2. that mary mccarthy line, no somalia is not one nation it’s a collection of tribes like yemen, like iraq, her father was a political officer under siad barre, had they known this, they would have hung her in the refugee camp, the government is in a proxy war with Qatar,

  3. All Congresscritters take an oath of office

    I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

    I guess oaths don’t mean much anymore.

  6. I’ve sent an email to my representative (Bice of OK) about this issue, suggesting that Omar needs to be kicked out of Congress for this speech.

    I mentioned that my paternal great grandparents were from Ireland and my mother was from Latvia, but I am an American. I may be interested in the cultures of Ireland and Latvia, but my allegiance is to America.

  8. Rashida and Illan; two censures required.

    Michigan and Minnesota ready to go full Muslim? FGM for all! Hows those progressive values workin’ ?

    Uffda.

  10. And nothing will happen to her.
    She’s part of the bigger plan & purpose…she’ll be immune.

    CW2 is going to be a scary thing…and with stuff like that popping loose, not far away I don’t imagine.

  11. It’s really too bad she and her entire family, cannot be deported and stripped of their US citizenship, along with the other members of the “squad” and their entire families.

  13. om on January 29, 2024 at 4:42 pm said: “Uffda”
    _________________________________________________________

    Om has revealed his ethnic identity. “Uffda” is neither Somali nor Arabic. Thin ice for the oppressor.

  14. I’m in her district, alas. Just before her we had Keith Ellison. Sure can pick ‘em, yessiree.

  16. She obviously lied during her naturalization oath. She should be expelled. Preferably by trebuchet.

  17. desertowl, Omar came close to losing the nomination in 2022. Doesn’t she have a Somali-American primary opponent this time? Or do I have that wrong? The opponent, as I recall, claims allegiance to the USA, not Somalia.

  18. “She also stated that she is Somalian first and Muslim second.”
    _______

    Would that order be acceptable to most of her co-religionists? I would have expected not.

  19. Cornflour:

    Max. 25% Swedish; grandmother came from Sweden in the late late 1800s; rest is Irish/Scots Irish?

    You are correct, though, I’m 100% oppressor, to be sure. One can tell just by looking, or so it’s said.

  20. Omar has always reminded me of a reptile, a snake specifically. She’s smooth, she’s shiny, she is quite exotically beautiful – and she’s as dangerously venomous as a viper. She is poison.

    Likewise, the voters that elect her remind me very strongly of a certain kind of person, the kind that sees a special beauty in snakes, however dangerous, and enjoys handling them, collecting them, admiring their beauty – without more than the slightest awareness that they are seriously creeping out the normal people around them. It amazes me, even in this screwed up political cesspit we live in, that people like Omar can still brazenly ooze their way through the system, with impunity.

  21. Censure is a slap on the wrist. Omar should be expelled from Congress. Santos was expelled for far less. Too bad it would take the spineless Republicans in the House taking action to actually do this.

  22. Re: Uffda

    Chat tells me:
    _______________________________

    “Uff da” is an exclamation of Norwegian origin that has been adopted into English, particularly in the Upper Midwest of the United States, where there is a significant population of Norwegian descent. It’s a versatile phrase used to express surprise, relief, exhaustion, astonishment, or even dismay. For example, someone might say “Uff da” after lifting something heavy, upon hearing surprising news, or in reaction to a stressful situation. The phrase embodies a range of emotions and can be used in various contexts, reflecting the cultural influence of Scandinavian immigrants in the region.
    _______________________________

    I predict half the commenters here will be using Chat or some other AI within the year. Most of the rest within two years.

  23. @ huxley > “I predict half the commenters here will be using Chat or some other AI within the year.”

    Any guesses which of our commenters here ARE an AI?

  26. The Tweet recalls a news story not too far in the past.
    @EndWokeness
    Remember when they called us crazy for saying that the proposed Minnesota flag looked like Ilhan Omar’s home region?

    Well on Saturday, Ilhan Omar spoke to a crowd of Somalians who waved that flag while she pledged allegiance to Somalia

    Tell me if you see the resemblance

  27. So a Somalian immigrant (or was she born to immigrant parents?) is more aligned with Somalian values rather than American. What a shock.

  29. Any guesses which of our commenters here ARE an AI?

    AesopFan:

    Maybe some of the spam which evades the filter, but otherwise none so far … yet.

    However, I expect that happening within the year too. It’s so trivial to generate text with Chat. I asked Chat to respond from the pro-Palestine position to neo’s last paragraph in her post:
    _______________________________________

    Chat: As a Palestinian who supports the pro-Palestinian cause, I would like to address the comparison made between Rep. Ilhan Omar’s speech and historical instances of political leaders delivering different messages in different languages. First and foremost, it’s crucial to understand the importance of cultural and linguistic connections in politics. When a representative speaks in their native language to a specific audience, it’s a means of fostering a deeper connection and ensuring their message is understood clearly. The assumption that different languages are used to convey different messages underestimates the integrity of the speaker and the intelligence of the global audience. Furthermore, comparing Rep. Omar’s actions to those of a past leader in a different context oversimplifies and misrepresents the situation. Public figures should be able to engage with their communities in a culturally relevant manner without being accused of duplicity based solely on language choice.
    _______________________________________

    I don’t say the above is particularly persuasive or impressive, but it does provide a rationale of sorts. Since many political arguments are just two opponents restating their positions again and again, Chat provides a near-effortless tool for such pointless exchanges.

    One could rewrite it for a more human flow or perhaps use a sharper prompt..

  30. @ Marisa — Wikipedia answers your question, and adds context.

    Omar was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, on October 4, 1982,[15][16] and spent her early years in Baidoa, Somalia.[17][18] She was the youngest of seven siblings, including sister Sahra Noor. Her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, an ethnic Somali from the Majeerteen clan of Northeastern Somalia,[19] was a colonel in the Somali army under Siad Barre and also worked as a teacher trainer.[20][21] Her mother, Fadhuma Abukar Haji Hussein, a Benadiri, died when Ilhan was two.[22][23][24][25] She was raised by her father and grandfather, who were moderate Sunni Muslims opposed to the rigid Wahhabi interpretation of Islam.[26][27] Her grandfather Abukar was the director of Somalia’s National Marine Transport, and some of Omar’s uncles and aunts also worked as civil servants and educators.[21] She and her family fled Somalia to escape the Somali Civil War and spent four years in a Dadaab refugee camp in Garissa County, Kenya, near the Somali border.[28][29][30]

    Omar’s family secured asylum in the U.S. and arrived in New York in 1995,[31][32] then lived for a time in Arlington, Virginia,[24] before moving to and settling in
    Minneapolis,[24] where her father worked first as a taxi driver and later for the post office.[24] Her father and grandfather emphasized the importance of democracy during her upbringing, and at age 14 she accompanied her grandfather to caucus meetings, serving as his interpreter.[27][33] She has spoken about school bullying she endured during her time in Virginia, stimulated by her distinctive Somali appearance and wearing of the hijab. She recalls gum being pressed into her hijab, being pushed down stairs, and physical taunts while she was changing for gym class.[24] Omar remembers her father’s reaction to these incidents: “They are doing something to you because they feel threatened in some way by your existence.”[24] Omar became a U.S. citizen in 2000 when she was 17 years old.

    Her dad was eerily prescient, although probably not for the reason he thought.

  31. @ huxley’s AI response > “Public figures should be able to engage with their communities in a culturally relevant manner without being accused of duplicity based solely on language choice.”

    The accusations of duplicity for the public figures at issue are based on the fact that they are saying different things to different audiences, depending on their language choice to escape the notice of the audience they are flim-flamming.

  32. In re Omar’s now-blatant disdain for the country that accepted her family and gave them a much better life than they could ever have had in Somalia, it is my firm opinion that a good deal of the impetus for people latching onto Trump’s stance on illegal (and legal) immigration was the succession of stories like this over the preceding years.
    And it’s only gotten worse.
    As the saying goes, “If you don’t like it here, you can leave.”

    https://www.mercurynews.com/2015/03/30/american-flag-case-u-s-supreme-court-ends-morgan-hill-flap-over-shirts/

    Turning away a legal plea virtually wrapped in the American flag, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to intervene in a controversial case involving a South Bay high school’s discipline of students who chose to wear flag-adorned shirts during a 2010 Cinco de Mayo celebration.

    The high court’s decision pulled the plug on a case that drew national attention for a combustible blend of issues, mixing free speech rights, school safety and student race relations — all arising from what some local residents argued was a school crackdown on simple displays of patriotism.

    In rejecting the final appeal by the students’ parents, the justices left intact a federal appeals court ruling last year that found Live Oak High School officials had the legal right to order students wearing the American flag shirts to turn them inside out or go home.

    The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backed the Morgan Hill school’s administrators, who argued that a history of problems on the Mexican holiday justified the decision to act against the American flag-wearing students. School officials cited past incidents of threats and campus strife between Latino and white students that raised fears of violence on a day when many Latino pupils wore Mexico’s colors of red, white and green.

    William Becker, a lawyer for the parents, panned the Supreme Court’s decision, saying it could now set a troubling First Amendment precedent for students.

    “It essentially means that American public schools can silence patriotic expression whenever it offends anti-American students, or students who prefer to identify with their cultural or national origins,” he said. “This is a tragic outcome.”

    You can read more of the context at Snopes which is a reasonably fair summation (they weren’t unhappy with the decision though).
    https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/school-bans-u-s-flag-t-shirts-cinco-de-mayo/

    What I noted back in the day, because it was a somewhat notorious story, was that the school administrators AT NO TIME admonished the Cinco de Mayo celebrators for threatening the American Flag wearers, choosing rather to force the Americans to back down.

    Some Americans got the message, and didn’t like it.

  33. AesopFan:

    However, the more serious threat, which I think you are suggesting, is the scenario of AI-powered bots posing as human commenters on blogs.

    Imagine a dozen indefatigable frequent commenters, who are actually Woke AI personalities, invading neo’s and burying every topic in Woke blather.

    I am not sure what can be done about that.

  34. huxley:

    That AI reply about Omar isn’t relevant to the situation. In this case, we know the content of her speech was very different in Somali, and we know that she wouldn’t say it in English because it would give her allegiances away. Same for Arafat. I didn’t accuse Omar of duplicity “based solely on her language choice.” I based it on her content. AI doesn’t understand much if it doesn’t understand that.

    And yes, most or perhaps all spam is AI generated, although I think the programs are very simple.

  35. Not just Sock Puppets, AI minions posing as dogs and cats living together. The apocolips(sic) of Charlie McCarthy. Who is pulling the strings?

  36. @ huxley > “However, the more serious threat, which I think you are suggesting, is the scenario of AI-powered bots posing as human commenters on blogs.”

    That is indeed what I wondered about.
    Sometimes, reading Neo’s former known trolls, it was possible to identify them by a kind of stock-leftist-script approach in their comments, and then in their replies to refutations by other commenters, until finally vanquished completely by Neo’s mastery of the material and citations of her prior posts.

    I see no reason why a CHAT bot can’t be taught that script & the reply-construction parameters, as we already know from your experience that they can react to criticism, in much the same way the trolls do, or so it appears to me.

    Similar to the “uncanny valley” that subtly distinguishes photos of real people from CGI constructs, there may be an uncanny rhetoric perceptible in an AI comment.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

  37. It would hardly be surprising if some of the leftist trolls on conservative websites turned out to be AI.

  38. That AI reply about Omar isn’t relevant to the situation.

    neo, AesopFan:

    As I said:
    __________________________________

    I don’t say the above is particularly persuasive or impressive, but it does provide a rationale of sorts. Since many political arguments are just two opponents restating their positions again and again, Chat provides a near-effortless tool for such pointless exchanges.
    __________________________________

    Accusing Israel of genocide doesn’t make sense either, but that’s what Palestinians and their “allies” do.”

    Much of Chat’s output isn’t really reasoned. It fits a style of response based on how it was trained. I can point out questionable bits and Chat will politely backpedal and refit a new response often with a bunch of extraneous boilerplate.

    It’s interesting to argue with Chat, but usually not satisfying. Chat is slippery, and when pressed past a certain point, it will just reiterate its position — rather like a human in many political discussions.

    I’m still figuring out Chat’s limitations. But of course there’s always a new Chat coming up.

    When I say many commenters will be using AI soon, it does work as a superior, if not entirely reliable, search engine. Plus many other useful things, like tutoring French, or fun things like creating amusing images.

  39. The other reason I beat the drum on AI is that it’s coming at us like a freight train.

    Us soft, squishy, carbon-based intelligences need to put on our thinking caps with regard to AI.

  41. It’s because I prefer my thinking cap that I won’t be making friends with AI. I’d rather click on a few search results and make up my own mind.

  42. huxley:

    I don’t see examples of its superiority as a search engine at this point; not at all. Someday it may be, of course. Its only superiority at the moment, however, is one-stop shopping. The quality is poor.

  44. Compare the way hirsi ali is treated to ilhan nur

    I noted on a long ago thread how a terrorist doctor siddiqui was regarded

  45. I don’t see examples of its superiority as a search engine at this point; not at all.

    neo:

    Are you using Chat? I have found Chat able to reach places I couldn’t easily with Google.

    Today I decided to make Boeuf Bourguignon for the first time from Julia Child’s famous “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” which specifies beef stew meat.

    I went to my local grocery store and no stew meat. So I picked up some eye of round on sale, which looked like stew meat, though leaner.

    I asked Chat how might I compensate with a slow cooker. It advised longer cooking time of 7-8 hours. I’ll let you know.

  47. huxley:

    I’m referring to the examples of Chat that you’ve given here at the blog.

    As for the “eye of round in the slow cooker” question, Google gave it to me in about 2 seconds. The answer wasn’t the same as Chat’s, by the way. I got 5 hours in the slow cooker – or, more specifically, 7 or 8 hours on low in the slow cooker, 4 to 5 hours on high in the slow cooker. I’m not sure why you’d think that’s difficult for a regular search engine.

    What search engines can’t do and Google can do is write poems, etc.. But for ordinary searches – and most searches are ordinary – I don’t see it as superior at all.

  48. Trains can only go where the rails lead them.

    It was a metaphor, not an engineering spec, which for my purposes emphasized speed and power.

    If you insist on extending the metaphor to the tracks… Well, they are trying to keep AI on tracks — it’s called alignment — but the problem is that AI is not a dumb mechanism like a train. It exhibits emergent behavior.

    I was not the only person shocked by the AIs which emerged last year. Many top computer scientists were surprised too and swung into action recommending a six month moratorium on Chat AIs.

    Which has been almost entirely ignored beyond the virtue signaling.

    AI authorities do consider AI a potential threat to humanity. I’ve seen estimates from 5-20% that AI could end the human race.

    Aside from those longer term concerns, we do know that the current track AI is on will kill very large numbers of jobs.

  49. I’m referring to the examples of Chat that you’ve given here at the blog.

    neo:

    I thought so. Keep in mind that I haven’t been trying to convince anyone by my examples that Chat is a superior search engine.

    If you’ve got a specific search target, Google is just fine. For more involved questions, such my Boeuf Bourguignon, I recommend Chat.

    And Chat is going to keep getting better.

  50. huxley:

    I’m not sure you saw my full answer. I had added to it and the full answer is this:

    huxley:

    I’m referring to the examples of Chat that you’ve given here at the blog.

    As for the “eye of round in the slow cooker” question, Google gave it to me in about 2 seconds. The answer wasn’t the same as Chat’s, by the way. I got 5 hours in the slow cooker – or, more specifically, 7 or 8 hours on low in the slow cooker, 4 to 5 hours on high in the slow cooker. I’m not sure why you’d think that’s difficult for a regular search engine.

    What search engines can’t do and Google can do is write poems, etc.. But for ordinary searches – and most searches are ordinary – I don’t see it as superior at all.

  51. huxley:

    And of course Chat might get better as a search engine. But Google and DuckDuckGo are very fast and very good search engines. It literally took me a second or two to find the answer.

  52. neo:

    Yes, I missed the second half of your reply. OK. my boeuf bourguignon question wasn’t the best example.

    I would add, however, when I asked Chat that question I was pretty sure I would get a clear answer, one-stop shopping as you said. And I did.

    If I had googled for the substitution of eye of round and BB, it might have worked immediately, it might have become a wild google chase.

    Chat did give me the 4/5 hours fast, 7/8 hours slow answer, no doubt from the same place you found it. I just truncated my comment to what I decided to use.

  53. Aside from my AI exploration, I mostly use Chat for French and I am satisfied in that regard that Chat is far superior to Google for those searches.

    For instance, today I got stumped on the difference between two similar words, crepuscule and penombre. Chat was perfect one-stop shopping:
    ___________________________________________

    huxley: crepuscule vs penombre

    ChatGPT: “Crepuscule” and “penombre” both relate to light and darkness but with nuances. “Crepuscule” refers to twilight, the time just after sunset or before sunrise when light is fading or just beginning to increase, but it’s not completely dark yet. “Penombre,” on the other hand, refers to dimness or semi-darkness, where there is light but it’s weak or obscured, not necessarily related to the time of day. It’s used to describe shaded or poorly lit areas. Both terms evoke specific atmospheres related to light, with “crepuscule” often associated with the beauty of dusk or dawn, and “penombre” suggesting a more subdued or mysterious ambiance.
    ___________________________________________

    Google doesn’t scratch that itch at least not on the first page. Google lists definitions for each word. And there are some links in French to that discussion, but nothing like the immediate answer, in English, Chat provided.

  54. My boeuf bourguignon turned out pretty good, though not as good as that of my neo friend, Kiki, who served it for this past Christmas dinner.

    Julia Child writes that BB is even better the day after.

    BB is not that hard to make. I’d always assumed that French cooking was some complex culinary mystery beyond the realm of ordinary mortals such as myself. There are a fair number of steps but even this bachelor managed.

    Last week I made Coq Au Vin. Turns out it is basically BB with chicken instead, but with CAV you get to do the brandy flambé!

    I love Child’s language:
    _______________________________

    Uncover, and pour in the cognac. Averting your eyes, ignite the cognac with a lighted match. Shake the casserole back and forth for several seconds until the flames subside.

  55. Chat may give you Child’s recipes, but it can never become another Julia.
    Change my mind.

  57. I though penumbra, because it comes from latin,

    I remember crepuscule, because thats the spanish cognate from Eclipse, from the Twilight Films

    so how did Somalia get that way, well there was a challenge from a local warlord
    Mohammed Hassan, who challenged the Brits,

  58. Don’t you have to make coq au vin with an old, tired rooster?
    Where do you even begin to find them?

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