Matzav5 hours agoA newly highlighted marriage document from 2009 shows Rep. Ilhan Omar’s surname being changed twice on an official Minnesota application, raising additional questions as federal investigators examine allegations involving the Democratic congresswoman’s identity, immigration history and past marriage to British citizen Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.
A certified copy obtained from Hennepin County records shows that Omar’s last name was originally entered as Omar, then crossed out and replaced with Elmi, before being changed back to Omar. The alterations have attracted renewed attention because investigators are reportedly examining whether the Minnesota lawmaker used inaccurate personal information in connection with her family’s immigration and citizenship proceedings.
The application, dated February 12, 2009, concerns Omar’s marriage to Elmi, whom critics have long alleged is her brother. Omar has repeatedly rejected that allegation, which has not been established in court.
Federal authorities are reportedly investigating whether Omar participated in an immigration fraud scheme involving the marriage and whether incorrect names or birthdates were supplied on government paperwork. The Justice Department recently identified the congresswoman in a court filing as “Congresswoman Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, a/k/a Ilhan Abdullahi Omar.”
According to an individual familiar with the investigation, federal officials suspect that Elmi may have been Omar’s original family name. That assertion remains disputed, and the marriage application alone does not establish which surname was legally correct.
The 2009 paperwork contains another detail attracting investigators’ attention. In response to a question asking whether the prospective spouses were related through blood or adoption, the box marked “no” was selected.
It remains unknown who completed the document. The handwriting appears consistent throughout the application, although no determination has been made about who entered or corrected the information. One of the revisions identifies the bride as “Ilhan Omar Elmi,” rather than the longer name subsequently used in the Justice Department filing.
Images of the document have circulated for years, with Minnesota-based Alpha News publishing the application in August 2016. The newly obtained certified version has brought the corrections back into focus during the current federal investigation.
Scott W. Johnson, a retired Minneapolis attorney who has examined allegations involving Omar for approximately a decade, questioned the changes.
“Questions should be asked. She’s never answered them,” Johnson said.
“The whole thing was a joke. The marriage was a fraudulent marriage, brazenly fraudulent,” he added. “They didn’t take it seriously. It was entered into for a fraudulent purpose.”
AJ Kern, a former congressional candidate in Minnesota who has researched discrepancies in Omar’s immigration records, likewise argued that the available information warrants further investigation.
“I think it’s pretty clear she married her brother and committed immigration fraud,” Kern said.
Kern also questioned whether Omar properly obtained American citizenship, suggesting that any evidence of an invalid naturalization would raise serious constitutional concerns about her eligibility to serve in Congress.
“If the evidence seems to be pointing to the fact that she never obtained citizenship, Congress is failing to do their job. If we’ve had a foreign nationalist occupying a seat in Congress, that’s a problem,” Kern said.
Omar has characterized the allegations as politically motivated attacks and rejected claims that her marriage was fraudulent. During an interview with MS NOW host Chris Hayes last week, she was asked whether she had married her brother and replied, “Not to my knowledge.”
President Donald Trump has also publicly questioned the congresswoman’s identity. Speaking in the Oval Office on Friday, he asserted that Omar “is not her real name.” He has previously described her as a “complainer” because of her repeated criticism of American policies.
The controversy intensified after federal agents searched Omar’s Washington residence on October 12 as part of an investigation involving alleged immigration irregularities.
Questions surrounding her marriage to Elmi were previously examined by federal authorities beginning in 2016, during the Obama administration. That investigation ended in 2021, after officials reportedly concluded that potential criminal charges related to the original marriage would be barred by the applicable five-year statute of limitations. Investigators were also unable to question Elmi, who had returned to Britain.
Omar’s marital history has drawn scrutiny because of overlapping relationships. She participated in an Islamic marriage ceremony with Ahmed Hirsi in 2002, and the couple had two children. She legally married Elmi in 2009, although their marriage ended in divorce in 2017. During that period, she had a third child with Hirsi in 2012. Omar subsequently married Hirsi legally in 2018, divorced him the following year and married political consultant Tim Mynett in 2020.
Investigators are also reportedly reviewing discrepancies concerning Omar’s date of birth. Some documents identify October 4, 1981, while others list October 4, 1982. The difference could be significant because Omar has said she obtained American citizenship at age 17 through her father’s naturalization.
If the earlier birth year is accurate, questions could arise about whether she qualified for derivative citizenship as a minor. Authorities are also reportedly examining the circumstances under which her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, became a citizen.
Legal experts have suggested that prosecutors could potentially pursue allegations involving more recent false statements or an ongoing conspiracy even if older conduct falls outside the criminal statute of limitations. Civil proceedings to revoke citizenship obtained unlawfully are generally not subject to the same time restrictions.
Omar has denied wrongdoing, and no court has determined that she committed immigration fraud or obtained citizenship improperly.
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TLS - The Lakewood ScoopOpinion: Angry Is Easy, Governing Is Hard
I have been watching the local races closely this season. There are tight races in towns all across our area, but it is Lakewood and Jackson I have been following most of all.
And the more I have watched, the more I keep coming back to one thought that every voter in our two towns should carry into the voting booth: experience is not a dirty word. For Lakewood and Jackson, it is the whole ballgame.
Every election cycle we hear the same slogan. “Fresh blood.” It sounds exciting. It sounds like change. But let us be honest with ourselves about what fresh blood actually means when it comes to running Lakewood, a township of nearly 150,000 people, or Jackson, one of the fastest-growing towns in Ocean County. It means people who have never sat across the table from the decision-makers in Trenton or Washington. It means people with no relationships, no track record, and no one who answers when they call.
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https://thelakewoodscoop.com/news/opinion-angry-is-easy-governing-is-hard/
Matzav6 hours agoDrinking coffee every day may provide benefits beyond a morning energy boost, with new research suggesting that both regular and decaffeinated coffee could influence emotional well-being, memory and the bacteria living in the digestive system.
Researchers at University College Cork in Ireland examined how coffee consumption affects the relationship between the gut and the brain, finding that participants who resumed drinking coffee reported improvements in several measures of mood, including reduced stress, depression and impulsivity.
The study also identified differences between caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee, suggesting that some potential benefits may come from compounds other than caffeine.
“Coffee is more than just caffeine. It’s a complex dietary factor that interacts with our gut microbes, our metabolism and even our emotional wellbeing,” said John Cryan, the study’s corresponding author.
Cryan explained that the two varieties of coffee may affect the body “in distinct but complementary ways.”
The research involved 62 healthy adults, divided equally between habitual coffee drinkers and individuals who generally avoided the beverage. Those accustomed to drinking coffee, typically consuming three to five cups daily, were instructed to abstain for two weeks before beginning a three-week period of drinking either caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee.
Throughout the experiment, researchers assessed participants’ emotional states and performance on cognitive examinations. They also collected urine and stool samples to investigate metabolic activity and changes in intestinal bacteria.
Following the return of coffee to their routines, participants in both coffee groups reported lower levels of stress, depressive symptoms and impulsive behavior compared with their earlier assessments.
Those consuming caffeinated coffee experienced an additional decline in reported anxiety and performed better on a test measuring attention. Participants assigned decaffeinated coffee, meanwhile, demonstrated improvement in episodic memory, the ability to remember events and previously encountered information.
Researchers also observed changes in the composition of gut bacteria following coffee consumption. However, the findings did not establish that the microbial changes were responsible for the improvements recorded in mood or mental performance.
“Public interest in gut health has risen hugely,” Cryan said. “The relationship between digestive and mental health is also increasingly being better understood, but the mechanisms behind coffee’s effects on this gut-brain axis have remained unclear.”
The findings add to growing scientific interest in the gut-brain connection, which examines how microorganisms in the digestive tract may interact with the nervous system and influence psychological and cognitive functioning.
Nevertheless, outside specialists warned that the relatively small number of participants makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions about coffee’s long-term health effects.
Rebecca Steele, a New York-based clinical psychologist who was not involved in the research, said improvements observed during laboratory testing do not necessarily mean individuals will experience comparable benefits in everyday activities.
“How I perform with a paper-and-pen test might not be the same way that I perform when I’m out in the real world,” she said.
Steele also noted that researchers must account for other factors that could influence the results, including changes in sleep patterns, exercise habits and participants becoming more familiar with cognitive tests after completing them repeatedly.
Although caffeine has long been associated with temporary improvements in alertness and concentration, evidence concerning its lasting effects on memory and broader cognitive health remains uncertain.
The psychologist also cautioned against interpreting lower depression scores as proof that coffee can prevent or treat psychiatric conditions.
“Changes in self-reported stress and depression scores should not be confused with evidence that coffee treats clinical depression,” she said.
The researchers said larger and longer studies will be necessary to determine whether the observed changes persist over time and to establish which ingredients in coffee may be responsible for its possible effects on mood, memory and intestinal health.
