Friday, October 30, 2026
The Bible and the French Revolution
Chapter 15—The Bible and the French Revolution
In the sixteenth century the Reformation, presenting an open Bible to the people, had sought admission to all the countries of Europe. Some nations welcomed it with gladness, as a messenger of Heaven. In other lands the papacy succeeded to a great extent in preventing its entrance; and the light of Bible knowledge, with its elevating influences, was almost wholly excluded. In one country, though the light found entrance, it was not comprehended by the darkness. For centuries, truth and error struggled for the mastery. At last the evil triumphed, and the truth of Heaven was thrust out. “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.” John 3:19. The nation was left to reap the results of the course which she had chosen. The restraint of God’s Spirit was removed from a people that had despised the gift of His grace. Evil was permitted to come to maturity. And all the world saw the fruit of willful rejection of the light.
The war against the Bible, carried forward for so many centuries in France, culminated in the scenes of the Revolution. That terrible outbreaking was but the legitimate result of Rome’s suppression of the Scriptures. (See Appendix.) It presented the most striking illustration which the world has ever witnessed of the working out of the papal policy—an illustration of the results to which for more than a thousand years the teaching of the Roman Church had been tending.
The suppression of the Scriptures during the period of papal supremacy was foretold by the prophets; and the Revelator points also to the terrible results that were to accrue especially to France from the domination of the “man of sin.”
Said the angel of the Lord: “The holy city shall they tread underfoot forty and two months. And I will give power unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.... And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.... And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.” Revelation 11:2-11.
The periods here mentioned—“forty and two months,” and “a thousand two hundred and threescore days”—are the same, alike representing the time in which the church of Christ was to suffer oppression from Rome. The 1260 years of papal supremacy began in A.D. 538, and would therefore terminate in 1798. (See Appendix note for page 54.) At that time a French army entered Rome and made the pope a prisoner, and he died in exile. Though a new pope was soon afterward elected, the papal hierarchy has never since been able to wield the power which it before possessed.
The persecution of the church did not continue throughout the entire period of the 1260 years. God in mercy to His people cut short the time of their fiery trial. In foretelling the “great tribulation” to befall the church, the Saviour said: “Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” Matthew 24:22. Through the influence of the Reformation the persecution was brought to an end prior to 1798.
The war against the Bible, carried forward for so many centuries in France, culminated in the scenes of the Revolution. That terrible outbreaking was but the legitimate result of Rome’s suppression of the Scriptures. (See Appendix.) It presented the most striking illustration which the world has ever witnessed of the working out of the papal policy—an illustration of the results to which for more than a thousand years the teaching of the Roman Church had been tending.
The suppression of the Scriptures during the period of papal supremacy was foretold by the prophets; and the Revelator points also to the terrible results that were to accrue especially to France from the domination of the “man of sin.”
Said the angel of the Lord: “The holy city shall they tread underfoot forty and two months. And I will give power unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.... And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.... And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.” Revelation 11:2-11.
The periods here mentioned—“forty and two months,” and “a thousand two hundred and threescore days”—are the same, alike representing the time in which the church of Christ was to suffer oppression from Rome. The 1260 years of papal supremacy began in A.D. 538, and would therefore terminate in 1798. (See Appendix note for page 54.) At that time a French army entered Rome and made the pope a prisoner, and he died in exile. Though a new pope was soon afterward elected, the papal hierarchy has never since been able to wield the power which it before possessed.
The persecution of the church did not continue throughout the entire period of the 1260 years. God in mercy to His people cut short the time of their fiery trial. In foretelling the “great tribulation” to befall the church, the Saviour said: “Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” Matthew 24:22. Through the influence of the Reformation the persecution was brought to an end prior to 1798.
Zineb Riboua: The West is facing rising third-worldism
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute
Oct 29, 2026 Inside Policy Talks
“A good chunk of the population” in France is opposed to what the French culture and way of life represents, and “that’s a huge, huge problem,” says an international security expert.
Zineb Riboua, a research fellow with the Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, said this is “a fundamental weakness” at a time when Europe faces not only great internal strife, but also external geopolitical threats, like an aggressive Russia.
“The majority are not willing to die for what the French Republic represents,” she said.
Riboua joined Inside Policy Talks to offer her reflections in the wake of destructive riots in France that saw symbols of French civilization burned to the ground.
On the podcast, Riboua and Casey Babb, director of The Promised Land at MLI, talked about this latest flashpoint for surging extremism in the West. They discussed the presence of Palestinian flags and related symbols like the keffiyeh at many of the riots, and whether this violence could soon spread to Canada.
Something DARK Is Happening This HALLOWEEN… The BIBLE Warned Us
Something DARK Is Happening This HALLOWEEN… The BIBLE Warned Us
AI
Scriptures Illustrator
Oct 18, 2026 Bible Stories
Before you hand out candy this Halloween, know what the night really carries. October 31, 2026 falls on a Saturday, and on that one square of the calendar sit a Celtic night of the dead, the door Martin Luther chose in 1517, and the Sabbath God blessed at creation.
Every custom carries a belief inside it, the way a seed carries a tree. This video follows Halloween from Samhain and the medieval soul cake, a sweet handed out for a prayer for the dead, to Wittenberg on the eve of All Saints, where Luther's ninety-five theses struck an economy built on the dead. Then it opens the Bible on the one belief that holds the whole night together, that the dead are awake and near, and shows where that belief is leading today: prayers for the dead, AI apps that speak in a dead parent's voice, and a sharp rise in exorcisms. It ends with what to do this October, and with the hope Martha held at her brother's tomb.
The thief on the cross, the rich man and Lazarus, and the night at Endor, walked through verse by verse 👉 • The One Verse That Destroys the Immortal S...
📖 IN THIS EPISODE
• Why trick-or-treat began as a knock at the door for the dead
• Samhain, All Hallows and the medieval soul cake
• Wittenberg, October 31, 1517: relics, indulgences and the 95 theses
• Why the Reformation was born on Halloween
• What Luther and Tyndale saw in the grave
• What the Bible says happens when we die (Genesis 2:7, Ecclesiastes 9:5)
• The two errors the Reformation left unfinished
• Halloween 2026 falls on the Sabbath: why that matters
• AI "grief" apps and the voice of the dead
• Isaiah 8:20: to the law and to the testimony
• What your family can do this October, and the hope of the resurrection
Evangelization in the City
by Paul Gillam, SJ | Aug 31, 2026
In August Pope Leo XIV asked the Church to pray for evangelization in the city, that in large cities, often marked by anonymity and loneliness, we find new ways to proclaim the Gospel, discovering creative paths to build community.
“For Christ plays in ten thousand places,” writes 19th-century Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his/To the Father through the feature of men’s faces.”
Had Hopkins heard Pope Leo’s August prayer intention, I imagine he would have brought to prayer this rich line from As Kingfishers Catch Fire. The recognition of Christ’s expansive, incarnate presence, particularly in human persons, provides a lens that transforms the city, appearing initially insane, frenzied, and unrelenting, into fertile ground for evangelization. Not evangelization of the city but evangelization in it. In his wisdom, the Holy Father invites us not to crusade against the city but to open our hearts to it, so that evangelization both to me and through me might take place.
Evangelized by Christ in the City
I grew up in the suburbs of St. Louis – used to grassy fenced backyards; private driveway hoops; and generally unobtrusive neighbors – so the Concrete Jungle, the City that Never Sleeps, is not my ideal habitat. New York City can be a terrifying place for a small-city boy.
Once I waved “thanks” to a man who stopped for me at a crosswalk. He yelled at me: “Do you think you’re God or something?!” I don’t wave much anymore. Just last week, another racially charged argument between women at my apostolic site. I want to disengage myself. What’s the point if reconciliation never happens? And just today I again apathetically pass a person asking for my help. I fail to even pause to dignify him. He doesn’t exist to me. What has happened to my heart?
New York Adventists Train for Active-Shooter Emergencies at First Church Safety Summit
Stanton Witherspoon|October 29, 2026
The New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists held its first Church Safety Summit at Split Rock Seventh-day Adventist Church in Syracuse, New York. In a Facebook post, the conference said the event focused on helping church leaders and members prepare for emergencies and understand their role in protecting congregations.
The summit included active-shooter response training. Participants practiced how to respond during an armed attack and how to help protect people inside the church. The training reflects a wider emphasis on church safety across the North American Division, which directs congregations to Adventist Risk Management resources on active-shooter preparation and emergency response. Adventist Risk Management also recommends emergency response teams, coordination with local law enforcement, evacuation plans, and the “Run, Hide, Fight” approach.
The Syracuse summit comes as Adventist organizations in North America continue to expand formal safety programs. Adventist Risk Management made active-shooter drills the focus of its 2024 Safety Sabbath and launched a new training series in 2026 for church and school safety officers. The issue has received added attention since the December 2024 shooting at Feather River Adventist School in California, which injured two young students.
Image: Participants practice active-shooter response during the New York Conference’s first Church Safety Summit at Split Rock Seventh-day Adventist Church in Syracuse, New York. Photo: New York Conference.
– New York Conference
The Riots in France Show Up the Dangerous Fiction That Public Spending and ‘Integration’ Create a Peaceful Society
The riots in France have shown up the Leftist claim that enough public spending and 'integration' will produce a happy, peaceful society as a dangerous fiction. But is anyone paying attention, asks Matt Roberts.
By Matt Roberts
By Matt Roberts
27 October 2026 7:35 PM
The violence, looting and burning in France over the weekend of October 24th-25th was somewhat less intense and widespread than it had been on the previous weekend, but it was still significant. A demonstration comprising an estimated 400,000 people took place on the Saturday in Paris, confined to the south-eastern edge of the city, and this was followed by violent clashes with police near Porte de Vincennes, about a 45-minute walk from the Place de la Bastille. Water cannon and tear gas were used. Around 500 rioters were estimated to have broken off from the main protest. There were more clashes, as well as bin fires and looting in Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille, Toulouse, Nantes, Grenoble, Rennes and several other parts of France. There were around 1,000 arrests nationwide (1,300 by some reports), with 70,000 police having been deployed to the streets, which was a substantial increase on the previous weekend’s deployment. Activists have called for further action on October 31st, and it’s clear that the sentiment behind the unrest hasn’t gone away. The weather on the 31st is forecast to be mild and dry, more similar to that of the 17th than the wetter, colder 24th, so it remains to be seen how much the tensions have been defused, and to what extent the less dedicated were put off by the weather.
There are two competing narratives in the media (mainstream and alternative) about the motivations for the unrest, and indeed the nature of the unrest. On the one hand, this is a ‘mostly peaceful’ expression of the French people’s frustration with public services. It started with teachers and students protesting against the underfunding of schools, and has widened to express a broader discontent with austerity measures and the economy in general. On the other hand, this is a violent ethno-religious-communist uprising trying to bring down the French state and overturn French society.
The violence, looting and burning in France over the weekend of October 24th-25th was somewhat less intense and widespread than it had been on the previous weekend, but it was still significant. A demonstration comprising an estimated 400,000 people took place on the Saturday in Paris, confined to the south-eastern edge of the city, and this was followed by violent clashes with police near Porte de Vincennes, about a 45-minute walk from the Place de la Bastille. Water cannon and tear gas were used. Around 500 rioters were estimated to have broken off from the main protest. There were more clashes, as well as bin fires and looting in Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille, Toulouse, Nantes, Grenoble, Rennes and several other parts of France. There were around 1,000 arrests nationwide (1,300 by some reports), with 70,000 police having been deployed to the streets, which was a substantial increase on the previous weekend’s deployment. Activists have called for further action on October 31st, and it’s clear that the sentiment behind the unrest hasn’t gone away. The weather on the 31st is forecast to be mild and dry, more similar to that of the 17th than the wetter, colder 24th, so it remains to be seen how much the tensions have been defused, and to what extent the less dedicated were put off by the weather.
There are two competing narratives in the media (mainstream and alternative) about the motivations for the unrest, and indeed the nature of the unrest. On the one hand, this is a ‘mostly peaceful’ expression of the French people’s frustration with public services. It started with teachers and students protesting against the underfunding of schools, and has widened to express a broader discontent with austerity measures and the economy in general. On the other hand, this is a violent ethno-religious-communist uprising trying to bring down the French state and overturn French society.
“Fear as a Blueprint for Global Control”: COVID Conference in Brussels
“Fear as a Blueprint for Global Control”: COVID Conference in Brussels
The Financial Express
Oct 28, 2026
Hosted by MEPs Christine Anderson and Gerolf Annemans in Brussels, the conference “Pandemic Politics: Fear as a Blueprint for Global Control” features physician Dr Wolfgang Wodarg and pharmacist and microbiologist Freija Van den Driessche discussing their criticisms of the COVID-19 pandemic response. The speakers argue that fear was used to encourage public compliance, question the handling of vaccine safety and informed consent, and raise concerns about pharmaceutical interests and political accountability. They also warn that pandemic-era policies could provide a model for expanded digital identification, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and mass surveillance. The event calls for greater transparency, open scientific debate and scrutiny of government power. These claims and interpretations reflect the speakers’ positions at the conference and should be distinguished from established scientific findings and independently verified evidence.
Obama attacks Trump over Omar probe but there’s a big twist
GREGG JARRETT: Obama attacks Trump over Omar probe but there’s a big twist
Obama's DHS and FBI found evidence of a sham marriage in 2016 but dropped the probe over statute of limitations concerns
Published October 29, 2026 4:10pm EDT Updated October 29, 2026 4:14pm EDT
Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports on a past federal investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar involving possible marriage fraud, as questions persist about her immigration history and eligibility to serve in Congress.
We have come to expect sanctimony mixed with hypocrisy from Barack Obama. But his latest endeavor turns out to be a doozy.
Preaching his usual moral superiority, the former president recently took to social media to inveigh against the current president for targeting Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota with a criminal investigation. He called it "appalling."
Obama should have sat this one out at his luxurious spread on Martha’s Vineyard.
Lo and behold, he did the same thing when he was president. And Omar was the target. But, of course, the probe was kept under wraps. Until now.
Reporting by The New York Times reveals that Obama’s Department of Homeland Security and the FBI did a deep dive in the summer of 2016 into whether Omar entered into a sham marriage with her alleged brother, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, to enable him to secure a green card.
Brace yourself for the result. That investigation "found some evidence that it was fraudulent," according to the Times.
Video
Accusations of marriage fraud have long dogged Omar, who has consistently dismissed them as politically driven and a right-wing conspiracy. So much for that argument.
The latest investigation that culminated in a judicially ordered search of Omar’s home on October 12, 2026, reportedly encompasses not only the suspect marriage but troubling questions over whether she ran afoul of the law by using a fake name and false birth date to obtain citizenship. A separate investigation is examining her financial transactions.
Accusations of marriage fraud have long dogged Omar, who has consistently dismissed them as politically driven and a right-wing conspiracy. So much for that argument.
The latest investigation that culminated in a judicially ordered search of Omar’s home on October 12, 2026, reportedly encompasses not only the suspect marriage but troubling questions over whether she ran afoul of the law by using a fake name and false birth date to obtain citizenship. A separate investigation is examining her financial transactions.
Ilhan Omar’s Muslim husband ‘disgusted’ by ‘dirty dandy brother’ she allegedly wed...
Ilhan Omar’s Muslim husband ‘disgusted’ by ‘dirty dandy brother’ she allegedly wed coming to live with them: source
3 clues Ilhan Omar had sham marriage to brother — from marriage certificate to living with ‘dirty dandy’
Ilhan Omar’s first husband was “embarrassed” when her effeminate “brother” — who she is accused of marrying — came to live with them in Minnesota, a family friend told The Post.
The congresswoman (D-Minn.) had two young children with Ahmed Hirsi, when she suddenly split from him in 2009. She then quickly married an “extremely feminine Somali guy from London,” Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, fond of wearing short shorts with cowboy boots.
She was able to do this as she had only been wed to Ahmed in a 2002 Islamic ceremony which was not recognized by the state.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. at a Congressional hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 22.
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
One of Hirsi’s close friends claimed Omar and her first husband were actually still together, and Elmi suddenly moving in caused strain on their relationship. The legal marriage was reportedly so he could get “papers” to start a new life in the US, as The Post has previously reported.
“The whole community was gossiping about [Elmi] when he first arrived,” the source, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Post.
“He was walking around in tight female clothing, which is heavily frowned upon in the Somali community, so I went to ask Ahmed about it.
“He told me that it was his wife’s brother from London and that Ilhan had ‘embarrassed all of us by bringing him here’. Ahmed used very strong words and said it was ‘disgusting.’”
One of Hirsi’s close friends claimed Omar and her first husband were actually still together, and Elmi suddenly moving in caused strain on their relationship. The legal marriage was reportedly so he could get “papers” to start a new life in the US, as The Post has previously reported.
“The whole community was gossiping about [Elmi] when he first arrived,” the source, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Post.
“He was walking around in tight female clothing, which is heavily frowned upon in the Somali community, so I went to ask Ahmed about it.
“He told me that it was his wife’s brother from London and that Ilhan had ‘embarrassed all of us by bringing him here’. Ahmed used very strong words and said it was ‘disgusting.’”
British citizen Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, brother of Rep. Ilhan Omar, has a flamboyant dress sense.
Hirsi is said to have been at the heart of Minnesota’s Somali community and was hugely popular after settling there with his family.
“He was very sociable and had his finger on the pulse of everything that was happening,” the source told The Post.
“Ahmed was known by his nickname, South Side. He is a good man and has friends all over town.”
Hirsi is said to have been at the heart of Minnesota’s Somali community and was hugely popular after settling there with his family.
“He was very sociable and had his finger on the pulse of everything that was happening,” the source told The Post.
“Ahmed was known by his nickname, South Side. He is a good man and has friends all over town.”
Ilhan Omar Investigation Involves New Scrutiny of Long-Disputed Marriage
Several current and former law enforcement officials said an Obama-era investigation found some evidence that Ms. Omar had entered into a sham marriage with a man suspected of being her brother.
Representative Ilhan Omar at the Capitol in Washington earlier this year.Credit...Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
Oct. 29, 2026Updated 8:30 a.m. ET
The federal investigation of Representative Ilhan Omar is focused in part on whether she entered into a sham marriage in 2009 to help a man suspected of being her brother obtain a green card, according to current and former officials familiar with the matter.
The F.B.I. and Department of Homeland Security investigated the marriage in summer 2016, during the Obama administration, and found some evidence that it was fraudulent, current and former officials said.
Speculation that Ms. Omar committed marriage fraud with a brother has shadowed the Minnesota Democrat’s political career for more than a decade and President Trump repeated the accusation last week. She has long called it a right-wing conspiracy theory that federal officials debunked during her first race for elected office in 2016.
But that case stalled chiefly because prosecutors concluded that the potential crime, a felony, fell outside a five-year statute of limitations, according to the current and former officials, most of whose law enforcement careers spanned several presidential administrations.
Now the Trump administration, whose top leaders have long reviled Ms. Omar, has revived the scrutiny as one element of a sprawling investigation into the Omar family’s journey to the United States as refugees from war-torn Somalia. At issue is her marriage in 2009, when she was already a U.S. citizen, to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, a British citizen whom she divorced in 2017.
The reporting for this article is based on interviews with three current and former officials familiar with the present-day investigation and six current and former officials with knowledge of the 2016 investigation.
It is unclear what evidence prosecutors, then or now, have showing that the person Ms. Omar married was her brother. Marrying anyone for the sole purpose of securing a green card is illegal under federal law. Marrying a sibling is illegal under state law, but it is not clear whether state authorities ever investigated the matter.
It is also unclear whether federal prosecutors could find a path to charging Ms. Omar that skirts the statute of limitations that applies to marriage-based immigration fraud, a crime that would not threaten her citizenship.
Regardless, they could cite the marriage in an indictment or civil action that describes a family immigration fraud conspiracy — a broader case that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said could lead to Ms. Omar’s deportation.
The extraordinary investigation burst into public view when agents searched Ms. Omar’s Washington home on Oct. 12. Democrats have loudly condemned it as a political persecution and said it violates a Justice Department policy to avoid overt measures that could be seen as affecting the vote in the weeks before Election Day. Ms. Omar is seeking her fifth term in next week’s midterms.
First Rumblings
Murmurs that Ms. Omar married a brother first surfaced publicly in 2016, when she was on the brink of making history as the first Somali American elected to a state legislature. A first-time candidate, she had just defeated a 44-year incumbent in the Democratic primary to represent a Minneapolis district when Somali community message boards and conservative outlets claimed that she had once married a sibling.
Federal agents in Minnesota opened an investigation, according to several people familiar with the matter. They found evidence suggesting that Mr. Elmi and Ms. Omar were siblings, according to the six former and current officials familiar with the case. But, because prosecutors did not pursue the matter, the agents had limited investigative tools, the officials said.
Mr. Elmi had obtained a provisional two-year green card based on the marriage, two former officials said. But when he sought to make that status permanent, immigration officials requested additional evidence about the validity of the marriage. Instead of responding, Mr. Elmi left the United States and abandoned his green card petition, the officials said.
The officials who investigated the matter in its early phase included an F.B.I. agent who specializes in public corruption and civil rights cases, and two agents at Homeland Security Investigations, a division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Two of the investigators remain employed at their agencies in Minnesota.
The F.B.I. and the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota declined to comment. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to an inquiry.
In August 2016, a local news station reported that the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota had opened an investigation into Ms. Omar.
That prompted the campaign to form a “crisis management committee,” Carla Kjellberg, a lawyer who represented Ms. Omar, said in a 2018 deposition related to a state campaign finance inquiry. Ms. Kjellberg added that the campaign worried that the story, which was being covered by right-wing publications, could gain traction in mainstream outlets.
A means to quash it came on Aug. 22, 2016, when the campaign released a letter it had requested from Andrew M. Luger, then the U.S. attorney in Minnesota. In the three-sentence letter, Mr. Luger wrote that “my office is not investigating, nor have we requested an investigation into Ms. Omar.”
Trump’s Target
In 2018, two years into the first Trump administration, Ms. Omar made history again, becoming the first African refugee and the first hijab-wearing woman elected to Congress.
She and Mr. Trump began trading insults soon after she arrived in Washington.
Social Service Scandal
Mr. Trump returned to the White House last year after promising the biggest deportation push in history. Last fall, he and top aides became engrossed by a social services fraud scandal in Minnesota in which scores of Somali Americans were charged with stealing hundreds of millions of dollars.
Around then, the Justice Department began prioritizing a new inquiry into Ms. Omar’s immigration issues, several officials familiar with the inquiry said.
In March, as Mr. Trump announced an anti-fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance, the president called Ms. Omar “one of the ringleaders.” Days later, Mr. Vance told a conservative commentator that the administration had conclusively established that Ms. Omar committed immigration fraud and was exploring ways to hold her accountable.
In September, Mr. Mullin, the homeland security secretary, disclosed that the inquiry had broadened from questions about the 2009 marriage to determine whether the lawmaker and her relatives committed fraud after they were admitted to the country as refugees.
“If we can prove that you shouldn’t have been here in the first place,” he said, “we’ll deport you.”
Kirsten Noyes contributed research and Alan Feuer and Megan Specia contributed reporting.
Ernesto Londoño is a Times reporter based in Minnesota, covering news in the Midwest and drug use and counternarcotics policy. He welcomes tips and can be reached at elondono.81 on Signal.
Oct. 29, 2026Updated 8:30 a.m. ET
The federal investigation of Representative Ilhan Omar is focused in part on whether she entered into a sham marriage in 2009 to help a man suspected of being her brother obtain a green card, according to current and former officials familiar with the matter.
The F.B.I. and Department of Homeland Security investigated the marriage in summer 2016, during the Obama administration, and found some evidence that it was fraudulent, current and former officials said.
Speculation that Ms. Omar committed marriage fraud with a brother has shadowed the Minnesota Democrat’s political career for more than a decade and President Trump repeated the accusation last week. She has long called it a right-wing conspiracy theory that federal officials debunked during her first race for elected office in 2016.
But that case stalled chiefly because prosecutors concluded that the potential crime, a felony, fell outside a five-year statute of limitations, according to the current and former officials, most of whose law enforcement careers spanned several presidential administrations.
Now the Trump administration, whose top leaders have long reviled Ms. Omar, has revived the scrutiny as one element of a sprawling investigation into the Omar family’s journey to the United States as refugees from war-torn Somalia. At issue is her marriage in 2009, when she was already a U.S. citizen, to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, a British citizen whom she divorced in 2017.
The reporting for this article is based on interviews with three current and former officials familiar with the present-day investigation and six current and former officials with knowledge of the 2016 investigation.
It is unclear what evidence prosecutors, then or now, have showing that the person Ms. Omar married was her brother. Marrying anyone for the sole purpose of securing a green card is illegal under federal law. Marrying a sibling is illegal under state law, but it is not clear whether state authorities ever investigated the matter.
It is also unclear whether federal prosecutors could find a path to charging Ms. Omar that skirts the statute of limitations that applies to marriage-based immigration fraud, a crime that would not threaten her citizenship.
Regardless, they could cite the marriage in an indictment or civil action that describes a family immigration fraud conspiracy — a broader case that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said could lead to Ms. Omar’s deportation.
The extraordinary investigation burst into public view when agents searched Ms. Omar’s Washington home on Oct. 12. Democrats have loudly condemned it as a political persecution and said it violates a Justice Department policy to avoid overt measures that could be seen as affecting the vote in the weeks before Election Day. Ms. Omar is seeking her fifth term in next week’s midterms.
Homeland Security officers outside Ms. Omar’s Washington residence.Credit...J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press
Up to now, officials have said investigators are examining whether Ms. Omar’s late father lied or omitted information in immigration forms before becoming an American citizen. Another subject of inquiry is whether Ms. Omar, who was a child when she immigrated to the United States, was too old to have qualified for citizenship through her father in 2000, The New York Times reported last week.
Last week, the Justice Department referred to the congresswoman as Ilhan Nur Said Elmi in a court filing and suggested that the name she has long used is an alias. In a statement Thursday, Mr. Trump drew attention to the similarity of the name to that of the man she had married in 2009. He suggested that the two might be siblings.
Ms. Omar, an ardent critic of the president, strongly rejected the claim through a spokeswoman.
“Rep. Omar has repeatedly and unequivocally denied this baseless, disgusting conspiracy theory,” Jackie Rogers, the spokeswoman, said in a statement. “This is a desperate political smear designed to distract from Trump’s failed presidency and two years of Republican failure in Congress.”
Mr. Elmi, who is listed on the University of Bristol’s website as a doctoral student writing a thesis about Kenya’s L.G.B.T. community, did not respond to several requests for comment by email, LinkedIn and through a friend.
Up to now, officials have said investigators are examining whether Ms. Omar’s late father lied or omitted information in immigration forms before becoming an American citizen. Another subject of inquiry is whether Ms. Omar, who was a child when she immigrated to the United States, was too old to have qualified for citizenship through her father in 2000, The New York Times reported last week.
Last week, the Justice Department referred to the congresswoman as Ilhan Nur Said Elmi in a court filing and suggested that the name she has long used is an alias. In a statement Thursday, Mr. Trump drew attention to the similarity of the name to that of the man she had married in 2009. He suggested that the two might be siblings.
Ms. Omar, an ardent critic of the president, strongly rejected the claim through a spokeswoman.
“Rep. Omar has repeatedly and unequivocally denied this baseless, disgusting conspiracy theory,” Jackie Rogers, the spokeswoman, said in a statement. “This is a desperate political smear designed to distract from Trump’s failed presidency and two years of Republican failure in Congress.”
Mr. Elmi, who is listed on the University of Bristol’s website as a doctoral student writing a thesis about Kenya’s L.G.B.T. community, did not respond to several requests for comment by email, LinkedIn and through a friend.
First Rumblings
Murmurs that Ms. Omar married a brother first surfaced publicly in 2016, when she was on the brink of making history as the first Somali American elected to a state legislature. A first-time candidate, she had just defeated a 44-year incumbent in the Democratic primary to represent a Minneapolis district when Somali community message boards and conservative outlets claimed that she had once married a sibling.
Federal agents in Minnesota opened an investigation, according to several people familiar with the matter. They found evidence suggesting that Mr. Elmi and Ms. Omar were siblings, according to the six former and current officials familiar with the case. But, because prosecutors did not pursue the matter, the agents had limited investigative tools, the officials said.
Mr. Elmi had obtained a provisional two-year green card based on the marriage, two former officials said. But when he sought to make that status permanent, immigration officials requested additional evidence about the validity of the marriage. Instead of responding, Mr. Elmi left the United States and abandoned his green card petition, the officials said.
The officials who investigated the matter in its early phase included an F.B.I. agent who specializes in public corruption and civil rights cases, and two agents at Homeland Security Investigations, a division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Two of the investigators remain employed at their agencies in Minnesota.
The F.B.I. and the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota declined to comment. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to an inquiry.
In August 2016, a local news station reported that the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota had opened an investigation into Ms. Omar.
That prompted the campaign to form a “crisis management committee,” Carla Kjellberg, a lawyer who represented Ms. Omar, said in a 2018 deposition related to a state campaign finance inquiry. Ms. Kjellberg added that the campaign worried that the story, which was being covered by right-wing publications, could gain traction in mainstream outlets.
A means to quash it came on Aug. 22, 2016, when the campaign released a letter it had requested from Andrew M. Luger, then the U.S. attorney in Minnesota. In the three-sentence letter, Mr. Luger wrote that “my office is not investigating, nor have we requested an investigation into Ms. Omar.”
Ms. Omar in Faribault, Minn., in October 2016, when she was a nominee for the Minnesota State House of Representatives.Credit...Angela Jimenez for The New York Times
Ms. Omar at the time characterized the letter as an exoneration that put to rest “flat-out falsehoods.” Ms. Kjellberg said in the deposition that the credibility of the claim “fell drastically once Andy Luger said that’s false.”
But in an interview last week, Mr. Luger said that the letter “was never meant to say anything about the substance of the claims.” Instead, he said, it was narrowly written to rebut the news station’s report that Mr. Luger had asked ICE to investigate Ms. Omar, which he called erroneous.
Federal agents may have been pursuing the matter without his knowledge, Mr. Luger said. He added that he had never shielded Ms. Omar from scrutiny, and that he later backed primary candidates who ran against her.
After Mr. Luger’s letter became public, local news coverage of the marriage controversy waned. Ms. Omar won her first race in a blowout, and she quickly became a rising star on the left.
Ms. Omar at the time characterized the letter as an exoneration that put to rest “flat-out falsehoods.” Ms. Kjellberg said in the deposition that the credibility of the claim “fell drastically once Andy Luger said that’s false.”
But in an interview last week, Mr. Luger said that the letter “was never meant to say anything about the substance of the claims.” Instead, he said, it was narrowly written to rebut the news station’s report that Mr. Luger had asked ICE to investigate Ms. Omar, which he called erroneous.
Federal agents may have been pursuing the matter without his knowledge, Mr. Luger said. He added that he had never shielded Ms. Omar from scrutiny, and that he later backed primary candidates who ran against her.
After Mr. Luger’s letter became public, local news coverage of the marriage controversy waned. Ms. Omar won her first race in a blowout, and she quickly became a rising star on the left.
In 2018, two years into the first Trump administration, Ms. Omar made history again, becoming the first African refugee and the first hijab-wearing woman elected to Congress.
She and Mr. Trump began trading insults soon after she arrived in Washington.
Ms. Omar on Capitol Hill in Washington after taking a group photo with fellow incoming members of congress in 2018.Credit...Erin Schaff for The New York Times
As Mr. Trump sought to limit immigration, including from several Muslim countries, Ms. Omar became a visible foil, calling her own presence in the U.S. Capitol a “nightmare” for the president.
In summer 2019, Mr. Trump told reporters that there was “a lot of talk about the fact that she was married to her brother.”
Those remarks turbocharged interest in Ms. Omar’s marital history, which conservative journalists and operatives have spent years scrutinizing.
According to her own accounts, Ms. Omar has been married three times. In her 2020 memoir, “This is What America Looks Like,” Ms. Omar wrote that she first wed a fellow Somali immigrant, Ahmed Hirsi, in an Islamic ceremony in 2001, when she was 18. The two did not file paperwork to make the union legal at that time, she wrote.
In the book, she described a second marriage in 2009 to a British man as an impulsive elopement during a low point in her life. That was a reference to Mr. Elmi, though Ms. Omar did not use his name.
Several aspects of the marriage to Mr. Elmi have long been murky. For instance, although Ms. Omar is an observant Muslim, the couple’s marriage certificate was signed by a Christian pastor rather than an imam.
In 2014 and 2015, when she was still legally married to Mr. Elmi, Ms. Omar filed joint federal tax returns with Mr. Hirsi, the campaign finance inquiry found.
Ms. Omar later said that she amended the tax filings but declined to explain what led to the error. Her marriage to Mr. Elmi was dissolved in court in 2017, and Ms. Omar said in a divorce filing at that time that they had been separated and had no contact for years.
Ms. Omar had said she and Mr. Hirsi — the father of her children — reconciled after her relationship with Mr. Elmi ended. She and Mr. Hirsi got legally married in early 2018 and divorced in late 2019, marriage and court records show. Mr. Hirsi did not respond to several messages requesting comment by phone, text and Facebook.
In March 2020, Ms. Omar announced her marriage to a third spouse, Tim Mynett, a political consultant her campaign had employed.
As Mr. Trump sought to limit immigration, including from several Muslim countries, Ms. Omar became a visible foil, calling her own presence in the U.S. Capitol a “nightmare” for the president.
In summer 2019, Mr. Trump told reporters that there was “a lot of talk about the fact that she was married to her brother.”
Those remarks turbocharged interest in Ms. Omar’s marital history, which conservative journalists and operatives have spent years scrutinizing.
According to her own accounts, Ms. Omar has been married three times. In her 2020 memoir, “This is What America Looks Like,” Ms. Omar wrote that she first wed a fellow Somali immigrant, Ahmed Hirsi, in an Islamic ceremony in 2001, when she was 18. The two did not file paperwork to make the union legal at that time, she wrote.
In the book, she described a second marriage in 2009 to a British man as an impulsive elopement during a low point in her life. That was a reference to Mr. Elmi, though Ms. Omar did not use his name.
Several aspects of the marriage to Mr. Elmi have long been murky. For instance, although Ms. Omar is an observant Muslim, the couple’s marriage certificate was signed by a Christian pastor rather than an imam.
In 2014 and 2015, when she was still legally married to Mr. Elmi, Ms. Omar filed joint federal tax returns with Mr. Hirsi, the campaign finance inquiry found.
Ms. Omar later said that she amended the tax filings but declined to explain what led to the error. Her marriage to Mr. Elmi was dissolved in court in 2017, and Ms. Omar said in a divorce filing at that time that they had been separated and had no contact for years.
Ms. Omar had said she and Mr. Hirsi — the father of her children — reconciled after her relationship with Mr. Elmi ended. She and Mr. Hirsi got legally married in early 2018 and divorced in late 2019, marriage and court records show. Mr. Hirsi did not respond to several messages requesting comment by phone, text and Facebook.
In March 2020, Ms. Omar announced her marriage to a third spouse, Tim Mynett, a political consultant her campaign had employed.
Social Service Scandal
Mr. Trump returned to the White House last year after promising the biggest deportation push in history. Last fall, he and top aides became engrossed by a social services fraud scandal in Minnesota in which scores of Somali Americans were charged with stealing hundreds of millions of dollars.
Around then, the Justice Department began prioritizing a new inquiry into Ms. Omar’s immigration issues, several officials familiar with the inquiry said.
In March, as Mr. Trump announced an anti-fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance, the president called Ms. Omar “one of the ringleaders.” Days later, Mr. Vance told a conservative commentator that the administration had conclusively established that Ms. Omar committed immigration fraud and was exploring ways to hold her accountable.
In September, Mr. Mullin, the homeland security secretary, disclosed that the inquiry had broadened from questions about the 2009 marriage to determine whether the lawmaker and her relatives committed fraud after they were admitted to the country as refugees.
“If we can prove that you shouldn’t have been here in the first place,” he said, “we’ll deport you.”
Kirsten Noyes contributed research and Alan Feuer and Megan Specia contributed reporting.
Ernesto Londoño is a Times reporter based in Minnesota, covering news in the Midwest and drug use and counternarcotics policy. He welcomes tips and can be reached at elondono.81 on Signal.
Thursday, October 29, 2026
Multiple Minnesota sites raided by federal and local law enforcement
Multiple Minnesota sites raided by federal and local law enforcement
KSTP 5 Eyewitness News
Oct 29, 2026
Federal agents are searching multiple businesses across the state on Thursday, including in St. Louis Park, Edina and Rochester. Attorney General Keith Ellison's office confirmed the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is involved in the St. Louis Park search.
Story: https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/m...
Clashes ERUPT in Spain After High-Speed Train Crash Kills 69 People
Clashes ERUPT in Spain After High-Speed Train Crash Kills 69 People
Oct 29, 2026
Violent clashes erupted in Madrid as furious protesters took to the streets demanding accountability over a horrific train crash that killed at least 69 people.
Riot police could be seen deploying tear gas and firing rubber bullets at enraged demonstrators who threw bottles and flares outside the Transportation Ministry - blaming government officials for failures that led to the country’s second deadly train crash this year.
Violent clashes erupted in Madrid as furious protesters took to the streets demanding accountability over a horrific train crash that killed at least 69 people.
Riot police could be seen deploying tear gas and firing rubber bullets at enraged demonstrators who threw bottles and flares outside the Transportation Ministry - blaming government officials for failures that led to the country’s second deadly train crash this year.
"AI Mass Dementia Has Started" — Yuval Noah Harari’s Shocking Interview
NeuralHegemony
Oct 26, 2026
Interview: Hyde Park Civilizace, Czech Television (CT24), October 2026.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Collective Dementia
1:11 Who Is Harari?
2:35 Trust Moves to Machines
4:20 Who Carries the Risk?
7:03 We Are the Cows of the Future
8:55 Musk and the End of Money
11:31 Not Destiny. Lobbying.
13:49 The Hugging Face Break-In
15:21 Who Holds the Button?
17:21 Voice Scams and Your Family
19:39 Outrage and Algorithms
21:28 AI Companions for Children
24:01 My Verdict
Historian Yuval Noah Harari warns that trust is moving from people to machines, and that the real danger isn't killer robots, it's collective dementia. We play his interview and check it: the money riding on AI and who carries the risk, the claims systems already deciding about your money, what Elon Musk really said about the end of money, the lobbying behind "it's inevitable", the 700 AI agents that broke into Hugging Face's systems, the day one update crashed 8.5 million computers, the voice scams aimed at grandparents and the one-word fix, the algorithms that feed outrage, and the chatbots talking to children.
Interview quoted for commentary and criticism (fair use): Hyde Park Civilizace, Czech Television (CT24). Additional footage from news and archive sources.
Hegseth fires the Pentagon’s top military planner even as Trump considers new Iran strikes
This photo provided by the U.S. Army shows Maj. Gen. Brett Sylvia, at a 101st Airborne Division change of command ceremony at Fort Campbell, Ky., May 30, 2025. (Sgt. Timothy Jackson/U.S Army via AP).
By Konstantin Toropin
Associated Press
Updated: 10:51 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired the Pentagon’s top military planner, a defense official said Wednesday, the latest in a series of generals to be ousted and one that comes even as President Donald Trump is weighing renewed strikes on Iran in the eight-month-long war.
Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia was removed as head of strategy, plans and policy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is the second general to be ousted from the post, known in military circles as the “J5,” under Hegseth. His predecessor, Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee, was forced to retire last October.
The defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters, said there is no immediate replacement for Sylvia and no reason has been given for the firing. The move was reported earlier by The Atlantic.
Typically, the J5 director and their staff are responsible for generating and coordinating military plans with both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the president. Sylvia’s firing comes as Trump has repeatedly floated starting new military operations against Iran.
Trump has vowed to “finish the job” in Iran after launching the war with Israel eight months ago and said new strikes are an option after the midterm elections next week.
U.S. officials have told several Middle East countries and regional allies to be prepared for potential renewed military action after Tuesday’s elections as well as for the possibility that Iran will attempt to retaliate against them, two diplomats briefed on the matter said. They say Trump has not made a final decision on new strikes.
A third U.S. aircraft carrier and thousands of additional troops are making their way to the region.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired the Pentagon’s top military planner, a defense official said Wednesday, the latest in a series of generals to be ousted and one that comes even as President Donald Trump is weighing renewed strikes on Iran in the eight-month-long war.
Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia was removed as head of strategy, plans and policy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is the second general to be ousted from the post, known in military circles as the “J5,” under Hegseth. His predecessor, Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee, was forced to retire last October.
The defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters, said there is no immediate replacement for Sylvia and no reason has been given for the firing. The move was reported earlier by The Atlantic.
Typically, the J5 director and their staff are responsible for generating and coordinating military plans with both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the president. Sylvia’s firing comes as Trump has repeatedly floated starting new military operations against Iran.
Trump has vowed to “finish the job” in Iran after launching the war with Israel eight months ago and said new strikes are an option after the midterm elections next week.
U.S. officials have told several Middle East countries and regional allies to be prepared for potential renewed military action after Tuesday’s elections as well as for the possibility that Iran will attempt to retaliate against them, two diplomats briefed on the matter said. They say Trump has not made a final decision on new strikes.
A third U.S. aircraft carrier and thousands of additional troops are making their way to the region.
Why Are Governments Suddenly Telling Everyone to Prepare?
Why Are Governments Suddenly Telling Everyone to Prepare?
reallygraceful
Oct 28, 2026
Suddenly, governments around the world are warning citizens to prepare for emergencies, power outages, and disruptions to essential services. It seems like each day brings a new doom. So, I figured we needed to take a closer look.
From America's FORTRESS initiative and military power-grid independence plans to Britain's 72-hour emergency "BE READY" campaign to Dutch preparedness booklets to Japan's disaster warnings (not to mention the EU's latest crisis simulation), governments across the world seem to be preparing for the worst.
Today, I'm following the money behind emergency preparedness, examining billions in very recent potential defense contracts, the plans for military microgrids, counter-drone systems, fuel logistics, and the growing industry built around preparing for catastrophe.
We also have to factor in something else of importance: political dissatisfaction, ongoing riots, and contentious elections unfolding around the world while governments are "preparing" for scenarios involving cyberattacks, infrastructure failures, blackouts, and international conflict.
History has shown us how "emergencies" can reshape government authority, surveillance, and take away our freedoms.
So here's the question: *Does a disaster actually have to happen for everything to change?*
In this video, we investigate:
- The Pentagon's FORTRESS America preparedness initiative
- Billions in potential U.S. military contracts and infrastructure investments
- Emergency preparedness campaigns in Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Japan
- The EU Integrated Resolve 2026 crisis simulation
- The business of emergency preparedness
- How national emergencies can affect government power and individual freedoms
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