{"id":60039,"date":"2016-08-22T11:30:54","date_gmt":"2016-08-22T16:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=60039"},"modified":"2019-05-07T07:27:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T12:27:00","slug":"from-thin-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=60039","title":{"rendered":"From Thin Air"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCENE: \u00a0Mitch BERG is ordering a cup of coffee and a bagel.<\/em><\/p>\n

Brian\u00a0FURIOUS, liberal opionblogger for “”MinnesotaLIberalAlliance.blogspot.com”, walks into the coffee shop.<\/em><\/p>\n

FURIOUS: \u00a0Merg!<\/p>\n

BERG: \u00a0Oh, hey, Brian…<\/p>\n

FURIOUS: \u00a0I am Brian Furious, defender of fact, crusader of truth!<\/p>\n

BERG: \u00a0Right. \u00a0Or…hey, Brian.<\/p>\n

FURIOUS: \u00a0Don’t you deny it! \u00a0You’ve been writing about Ilhan Omar!<\/p>\n

BERG: \u00a0Well, mostly I’ve been doing a combination of writing about people writing about Ilhan Omar<\/a>, and writing about people writing about people writing<\/a> about Ilhan Omar. \u00a0There’s a bit of a difference.<\/p>\n

FURIOUS: \u00a0What you did was\u00a0engage in race-baiting, saying that if someone comes to the US they should learn our laws and abide by them,<\/span><\/p>\n

BERG: \u00a0We’ll come back to the “race-baiting” red herring in a bit. \u00a0But as re the other bit – you mean<\/a>, like “learn and abide by our laws” like everyone who comes to\u00a0the US – or, for that matter, goes to other countries – is supposed to do?<\/p>\n

FURIOUS: \u00a0That’s not news!<\/span><\/p>\n

BERG: \u00a0Not sure what you mean. \u00a0It’s not news that immigrants, like citizens, are supposed to follow the law?<\/p>\n

Or do you mean the Ilhan Omar story? \u00a0 Because it seems like there just might be some news there<\/a>. \u00a0Even the mainstream liberal media seems to think so<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FURIOUS: \u00a0But you\u00a0admitted you\u00a0probably wouldn’t adhere to laws requiring a marriage license!<\/span><\/p>\n

BERG: \u00a0Well, yeah – like Ms. Omar, I believe that marriages in one’s faith tradition that ignore state licensing are perfectly legitimate<\/a>. \u00a0 And, by the way, it’s not “illegal” to eschew the state license.<\/p>\n

Anyway, let me repeat the important part; I\u00a0defended Ilhan Omar’s “marriage in her faith tradition<\/em>“, while noting that her explanation still left some questions.<\/p>\n

You seem to have trouble recognizing that fact. \u00a0Perhaps you’re racist?<\/p>\n

FURIOUS: \u00a0You’re just\u00a0saying it’s about being “foreign” is just taking a change to stoke anti-immigrant fears and is, yes, race-baiting! \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>You’re\u00a0demeaning her, and with her other Somalis for whom she’s an emblem because of her ethnicity. \u00a0You’re claiming it’s her “foreign-ness” which is the problem.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BERG: \u00a0Er, yeah – I’d heard you wrote that. \u00a0The thing is, \u00a0I’ve never mentioned Ilhan’s “foreign-ness”, never alluded to it in anything I’ve ever written or said, never even hinted about it. \u00a0It’s a fabrication.<\/p>\n

FURIOUS: \u00a0No, it’s not!<\/p>\n

BERG: \u00a0Well,\u00a0given that I’m supporting Abimalik Askar – a Somali immigrant – in the race for the seat<\/a>, let’s just say it’s kinda weird.\u00a0 \u00a0So – if Ms. Omar’s “foreign-ness” is a problem, wouldn’t that of Mr. Askar – who is from the exact same place – also be a problem?<\/p>\n

FURIOUS: \u00a0Clearly,\u00a0Askar is not Somali!<\/p>\n

BERG: \u00a0He was born in Somalia, and immigrated to the US in 1993.<\/p>\n

FURIOUS: \u00a0Then it stands to reason you hate him too!<\/p>\n

BERG: \u00a0Er, no – I’ve interviewed him on my show, and I’ll do it again. \u00a0He’s a very sharp guy and is quite clearly the best candidate for the job of any ethnic origin.<\/p>\n

FURIOUS: \u00a0But he’s a ReTHUGliican! \u00a0Clearly he must hate Somalis!<\/p>\n

BERG: \u00a0Huh. \u00a0Hey – look! \u00a0A shiny object!<\/p>\n

[BERG slips quietly away as FURIOUS furiously whips his head around]<\/em><\/p>\n

[And SCENE]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCENE: \u00a0Mitch BERG is ordering a cup of coffee and a bagel. Brian\u00a0FURIOUS, liberal opionblogger for “”MinnesotaLIberalAlliance.blogspot.com”, walks into the coffee shop. FURIOUS: \u00a0Merg! BERG: \u00a0Oh, hey, Brian… FURIOUS: \u00a0I am Brian Furious, defender of fact, crusader of truth! BERG: \u00a0Right. \u00a0Or…hey, Brian. FURIOUS: \u00a0Don’t you deny it! \u00a0You’ve been writing about Ilhan Omar! BERG: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,79],"tags":[236,403],"class_list":["post-60039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-war","category-slander-files","tag-dramatization","tag-ilhan-omar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60039"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60055,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60039\/revisions\/60055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}