Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) has always made one wonder how a person could flee oppression in Somalia, find freedom in the U.S., and somehow end up viewing America as the villain in global affairs. Could it be that in Somalia her father was among those doing the oppressing? It’s been a difficult question to answer. In 2025 the website Snopes reported: There are no definitive sources detailing Nur Omar Mohamed’s activities between 1978 and 1991. As such, there’s no evidence proving or disproving that he participated in war crimes or genocidal acts.

Devlin Barrett, Hamed Aleazi, Ernesto Londoño and Alan Feuer report for the New York Times: In recent months, federal investigators opened an investigation into Ms. Omar’s immigration history, focusing in part on whether her late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, lied or omitted information as he sought legal status in the United States before becoming a U.S. citizen.

Among the questions investigators have looked at is whether Ms. Omar derived citizenship from a father who may have been ineligible to obtain naturalized status, according to a person familiar with the case.

If there is conclusive evidence that Ms. Omar derived citizenship improperly, the Justice Department could pursue a criminal or civil denaturalization case against her. In cases in which prosecutors prevail and persuade a federal judge to order someone denaturalized, the immigrant may be placed in deportation proceedings.

Rep. Omar deserves the presumption of innocence just like everyone else. In a joint fundraising pitch for her congressional campaign and the Democratic National Committee, Ms. Omar writes today in an Trump’s DHS agents just carried out a raid and search of my home.

This is a drastic escalation of the ludicrous, partisan investigation that they launched into my immigration status.

Trump has weaponized the DOJ and DHS against his opponents for the last two years, and now that fascism has come to my literal front door.

As for Rep. Omar’s late father, his biography remains something of a mystery. At his passing in 2020 a remembrance in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune described him as a “former civil servant in Somalia.”The story noted that he spoke Russian, among other languages, and that his “nicknames” included “Superdad” and “Colonel.”

Everyone appreciates a supportive father. It’s the other “nickname” that is cause for concern. Anthony Blair, Steven Nelson and Josh Christenson report in the New York Post: Mohamed served as an officer in the Somali National Army before dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled, prompting him to depart with his family for the US. Earlier this year in the Journal, Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi wrote from the capital city of Hargeisa and provided some useful background on the Barre regime:

Israel made history on Dec. 26 by recognizing my country, the Republic of Somaliland. This recognition didn’t arise from diplomatic calculation alone; it is rooted in a bond forged during Somaliland’s darkest chapter. In the late 1980s, the people of Somaliland endured a systematic campaign of extermination.

The Somali dictator, Siad Barre, gave orders that spread through the ranks in the now notorious words “kill all but the crows.”More than 200,000 civilians were killed, and 90% of Hargeisa was destroyed, earning it the name “the Dresden of Africa.”Starting in 1988, some 800,000 people fled into Ethiopia.

While much of the world remained silent, Israel raised the alarm at the United Nations in May 1990, drawing attention to the systematic persecution and killing of Somaliland’s population, later referred to as the “Hargeisa Holocaust.”Israel had been among the first of 35 countries to recognize Somaliland in 1960, when Somaliland gained independence from Britain, before its voluntary, failed union with southern Somalia. Israel and Somaliland share a deep understanding of the struggle for self-determination and international legitimacy. Somalilanders have long regarded Israel as reflecting our own journey, and the hope of advancing shared interests has never waned.

While making his own journey to the U.S., what did Nur Omar Mohamed share with immigration officials about his history in Somalia?

In Other News Oh, the Places Your Kids Don’t Want You to Go! Nicole Fox writes at the Tax Foundation: In addition to the federal estate tax, which has a top marginal rate of 40 percent, 12 states and the District of Columbia impose estate taxes, while five states levy inheritance taxes. Maryland is the only state that imposes both an estate and an inheritance tax.

Estate taxes are paid by a decedent’s estate before assets are distributed to heirs and are thus imposed on the overall value of the estate. They typically fall on the estates of residents who die while domiciled in the taxing state, as well as nonresident decedents who owned taxable property in the state. Inheritance taxes are remitted by the recipient(s) of a bequest and are thus based on the amount distributed to each beneficiary.

They are paid to the state in which the decedent was domiciled or owned taxable property, regardless of the location of the heir…Hawaii and Washington have the highest estate tax top marginal rates in the nation at 20 percent… Kentucky and New Jersey have the highest top marginal inheritance tax rates, each at 16 percent…Bye-ku for Kimberly Guilfoyle“The Honorable”

F-bombs like an OG. Bye,“100KG.”

—Anonymous James Freeman is the co-author of “The Cost: Trump, China and American Revival” and also the co-author of “Borrowed Time: Two Centuries of Booms, Busts and Bailouts at Citi.”Follow James Freeman on to the Best of the Web To suggest items, please email best@wsj.com.