# Ilhan Omar - A thread about her marriage and immigration history. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 20, 2019, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347 "2019-07-20T12:32:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/422 "2019-09-06T17:23:10Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I’m not your fucking student. > [@Monty](#): > > And Sage Rat certainly is no fucking teacher. Well if you’ve got free time to learn from someone else, go learn Somali, time yourselves, and report back when you’re fluent how long it took you. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/423 "2019-09-06T17:31:36Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Well if you’ve got free time to learn from someone else, go learn Somali, time yourselves, and report back when you’re fluent how long it took you. I must be pretty dumb because this made no sense to me at all. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/424 "2019-09-06T17:33:31Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > You either did not read the article, or are willfully misrepresenting it. > > ETA: That was in response to Kimstu, who initially expressed deep skepticism of my memory of the article I had read in print and is now moving the goalposts as usual. But it doesn’t _not_ apply to Steve. Well, I guess you DO blow goats, since you have not denied it, and have not given any evidence to support your innocence. Oh, and fuck that article, whatever it says or doesn’t say. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/425 "2019-09-06T17:38:10Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Well if you’ve got free time to learn from someone else, go learn Somali, time yourselves, and report back when you’re fluent how long it took you. You got anything other than [fallacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_probability)? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/426 "2019-09-06T17:46:46Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I must be pretty dumb because this made no sense to me at all. As I’ve said, my issue is with denialism. Whether the evidence against Omar is good or even meaningful aside, a great number of people have simply said that it’s all fake and manufactured, when we’re talking about screenshots of people writing in Somali and a bunch of other stuff that you can independently verify like that Omar’s dad goes by two different names. That is stupid, flat out. The right-wing idiots who produced this video did not learn Somali and learn to create Deep Fake images beyond my ability to detect: I do not stand by any assertion that Omar is guilty. There is a very large and open realm for her to be completely innocent on all levels. But, again, if your assertion is that the other side has no evidence and that all their screenshots are faked, and **you refuse to prove that assertion** then you need some schooling. And, as also said, there are specific steps which **anyone here could take** to try and prove or disprove that assertion. It may well be that the right-wing nuts learned Somali or found a crazy right-wing Somali to help them doctor up some images. It may well be that they know some expert graphic artist and photoshopper who, for whatever reason, they’ve declined to use in any other role to make their website look similarly professional and quality; they only want to use that person to falsify materials. It is perhaps at the very edge of being within the bounds of reality that the materials could be faked. But, if someone wants to make that assertion, they need to prove it. It’s a large assertion. **Too large to make without proof.** It is far more likely, particularly given that the evidence they provide is not conclusive of anything, that those are just screenshots of things they actually saw. And as said, I have already independently verified that at least some of it is in fact true. I was unable to discover anything which they said that did not check out and I am not the only person here with a mouse and a keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/427 "2019-09-06T17:52:31Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Well if you’ve got free time to learn from someone else, go learn Somali, time yourselves, and report back when you’re fluent how long it took you. Yet again you’re asking me to do your work for you. I’m not going to do your work for you because I’m not your research assistant, student, or lackey. If you think there is value to someone learning Somali to read critically important facebook posts, or something, then have at it. I hear Rosetta Stone is really good. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/428 "2019-09-06T18:01:06Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Yet again you’re asking me to do your work for you. > > I’m not going to do your work for you because I’m not your research assistant, student, or lackey. If you think there is value to someone learning Somali to read critically important facebook posts, or something, then have at it. I hear Rosetta Stone is really good. I did the work. I didn’t care what the result turned out to be. Do you not want to do the same because it’s not your job or because you feel safer having chosen to deny anything that could be used against Omar Ilhan could possibly be real? Do you even know what exists or any of it would actually mean pro or con of Omar? Do you know that you’re not denying the existence of materials that could well exonerate Omar, simply because you’re assuming that a bunch of right-wing nutballs would only be smart enough to post something if it conclusively fit their narrative? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/429 "2019-09-06T18:11:08Z")
It’s not my job to defend Omar. I, like 99% of Americans, didn’t know who this lady was 12 months ago, and I don’t care who she married, or divorced or whatever. She’s not my representative, and I didn’t vote for her. If she did something wrong, it’s up to the people who claim she did something wrong to prove she did something wrong. That’s how these things work. I don’t see why it should be any different because some assholes made a video. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/430 "2019-09-06T18:18:04Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > It’s not my job to defend Omar. I, like 99% of Americans, didn’t know who this lady was 12 months ago, and I don’t care who she married, or divorced or whatever. She’s not my representative, and I didn’t vote for her. > > If she did something wrong, it’s up to the people who claim she did something wrong to prove she did something wrong. That’s how these things work. I don’t see why it should be any different because some assholes made a video. You did a great job of summing up my opinion as well. I am not out to get her, nor do I want to defend her, she’s a politician doing politician stuff. I don’t care what rumors there are about her, or how (or if) she responds to those rumors. If someone proves she did something scandalous I’ll care but until then, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/431 "2019-09-06T18:22:02Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I did the work. I didn’t care what the result turned out to be. > > Do you not want to do the same because it’s not your job or because you feel safer having chosen to deny anything that could be used against Omar Ilhan could possibly be real? Do you even know what exists or any of it would actually mean pro or con of Omar? Do you know that you’re not denying the existence of materials that could well exonerate Omar, simply because you’re assuming that a bunch of right-wing nutballs would only be smart enough to post something if it conclusively fit their narrative? I have the same curiosity about this as I do about claims of ancient pictograms about space travel. Sure, it’d be interesting if the Egyptians met aliens. But I’m not going to spend any significant effort on this until there’s actually real evidence that the Egyptians met space aliens. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/432 "2019-09-06T18:23:18Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > {…} create Deep Fake images beyond my ability to detect: {…} Umm, when was it established that you had any ability to detect ‘fake images’, let alone sufficient expertise to decide that these images are or are not faked? CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/433 "2019-09-06T18:24:38Z")
He can tell by some of the pixels and from having seen quite a few Deep Fakes in his time. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/434 "2019-09-06T18:35:23Z")
Hey everybody, how’s things? I’m new to this conspiracy, or alleged crime, or whatever it is. Can anyone point me to a sane, credible source where I can review the allegations and evidence for them? That’d be great, I appreciate it! (Concisely laid out would be a real plus!) ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/435 "2019-09-06T18:39:29Z")
Yeah, I’ve never seen a picture on the internet that wasn’t CGI. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/436 "2019-09-06T18:41:14Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > It’s not my job to defend Omar. I, like 99% of Americans, didn’t know who this lady was 12 months ago, and I don’t care who she married, or divorced or whatever. She’s not my representative, and I didn’t vote for her. I don’t care either except that people kept hassling me in other threads because I actually bothered to double-check what the right-wingers had written and perform an independent review of it. I’m here because it keeps them from polluting the other threads. If you don’t care and people aren’t hassling you, and yet you’re posting in the topic and following the topic, you might want to review the statement that you don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/437 "2019-09-06T18:44:38Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Hey everybody, how’s things? I’m new to this conspiracy, or alleged crime, or whatever it is. Can anyone point me to a sane, credible source where I can review the allegations and evidence for them? That’d be great, I appreciate it! > (Concisely laid out would be a real plus!) Do you want the evidence and narrative of “the crime” or do you just want to know what all evidence exists, free of narrative, so you can decide what meaning there is liable to be from it before hearing what the accusation is? (For the record, I recommend the latter.) ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/438 "2019-09-06T18:49:25Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I have the same curiosity about this as I do about claims of ancient pictograms about space travel. Sure, it’d be interesting if the Egyptians met aliens. But I’m not going to spend any significant effort on this until there’s actually real evidence that the Egyptians met space aliens. It’s due to this kind of lack of curiosity that we’ll never discover Atlantis. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/439 "2019-09-06T18:55:16Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Umm, when was it established that you had any ability to detect ‘fake images’, let alone sufficient expertise to decide that these images are or are not faked? > > CMC fnord! I’m a software developer who has done UI development working with professional graphic artists and redlines. I have spent time playing around with lighting and shading in 3D rendering applications to see what it takes to try and create something photorealistic. I also have a professional interest in AI and evidentiary security. I’m also a trained artist with a hobby of making short films. As a kid, I took apart and hand-made steroscopic images out of interest in perspective. As an artist, I can draw figures in 3-point perspective freehand without guides - not as well as some but much better than most artists since they tend to not be particularly technical. That all said, I accept that I have neither taken nor passed any test of having any specific ability to detect composite images. I will gladly take one for you, if you are able to find one. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/440 "2019-09-06T19:10:51Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > you might want to review the statement that you don’t care. I don’t care about her personal life. I do care that our society allows unfounded accusations to be repeated ad nauseum, by supposedly legitimate media outlets, without demanding that the people making the accusation pony up proof. I had to suffer through watching a man be hounded by ridiculous claims that even my mother wound up saying “I dunno, maybe there’s something there…” years after he not only produced legal proof of his birth, but had the director of a State’s vital records department publicly certify that the proof was legitimate. All because the media outlet she preferred kept talking about as though there existed a shred of proof that it was correct. There was never a shred of proof that the claim was right, and the fuckers repeated the claim for the better part of a decade. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347/441 "2019-09-06T19:21:57Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I’m a software developer who has done UI development working with professional graphic artists and redlines. I have spent time playing around with lighting and shading in 3D rendering applications to see what it takes to try and create something photorealistic. I also have a professional interest in AI and evidentiary security. I’m also a trained artist with a hobby of making short films. As a kid, I took apart and hand-made steroscopic images out of interest in perspective. As an artist, I can draw figures in 3-point perspective freehand without guides - not as well as some but much better than most artists since they tend to not be particularly technical. > > That all said, I accept that I have neither taken nor passed any test of having any specific ability to detect composite images. I will gladly take one for you, if you are able to find one. About the imaging and 3d, how nice, so do I. But there is not even a need to look at the images until we do get the originals at full resolution. As I have seen the reports of the origin of this nonsense, it is cleat that the source of the original images depends on the anonymous source that posted that in [del]anti[/del] media. So where are the sources? The strong implication here is a simple one: what is that guy trying to hide? Perhaps what he was known all along to be. > **[How the Ilhan Omar Marriage Smear Went From Fever Swamp to Trump](https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-ilhan-omar-marriage-smear-went-from-an-anonymous-post-on-an-obscure-forum-to-being-embraced-by-trump)** > > The curious journey of the unproven rumor that Omar married her brother to get him citizenship—from an obscure Somali diaspora forum to the president. > [@](#): > > In the thread, which has since been deleted from Somali Spot but remains online elsewhere, AbdiJohnson claimed that Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, from whom Omar was then separated, was secretly her brother. Omar had married Elmi, the anonymous poster claimed, in an attempt to make it easier for him to enter the United States. > > “What’s even more shocking is that Ahmed Nur Said Elmi is actually her brother,” wrote the user, whose account on Somali Spot has since gone inactive. > > AbdiJohnson never provided any evidence for his claim, and searches of Somali Spot posts show that the user was notorious on the site as a troll known for making up claims to rile up the site’s other members. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ilhan-omar-a-thread-about-her-marriage-and-immigration-history/837347.md?page=23)