A friend emailed Bluestem Prairie to let us know that state senator David Osmek, R-Mound, and several Minnesota conservative talk radio hosts are attending the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) Hold Their Feet to the Fire Radio Row event Wednesday and Thursday.
Producer Sam Sansevere tweeted Wednesday morning:
LIVE from D.C., @DavidJOsmek is currently chatting with @JonJustice @AndrewLeeTCNT on #tcnt! 103.5fm, AM1130, iHeart Radio #TCNTGoesToDC pic.twitter.com/POawCxMv8a
— Sam Sansevere (@samsansevere) June 28, 2017
Pennsylvania Congressman Lou Barletta tweeted the same day:
Talking about the need to stop sanctuary cities w @danoxochsner - 1st bill I introduced in '11 cut all funding to sanctuary cities #FTF2017 pic.twitter.com/ANe0Kf6plN
— Rep. Lou Barletta (@RepLouBarletta) June 28, 2017
The Southern Poverty Law Center described the annual event in Emboldened FAIR to Flood the Talk Radio Airwaves at Annual Hold Their Feet to the Fire Event:
The anti-immigrant hate group Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) will be taking over the Phoenix Park Hotel, a stone's throw from its DC offices, to host its annual “Hold Their Feet to the Fire” event.
The 11th annual gathering brings together conservative radio hosts, anti-immigrant activists and nativist politicians, who will take to the airwaves broadcasting anti-immigrant rhetoric from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on June 28 and 29.
FAIR claims that over 60 radio hosts will be in Washington, calling this year's event its “largest ever." This fits into the narrative FAIR and other anti-immigrant groups have pushed since the election, namely widescale celebrations of the Trump victory, the executive orders he has signed and the steady flow of people leaving anti-immigrant groups for positions at DHS and other government agencies.
In a recent interview, Dan Stein, FAIR’s longtime president, stated, “Getting out of bed these days is a lot more fun than it used to be. I’m having the time of my life.”
FAIR normally releases very little information about the event and its attendees, and that certainly is the case again this year, but there’s plenty to go on from previous years. The event in the past has attracted some of the anti-immigrant movement’s closest allies in Congress, namely Iowa Rep. Steve King and former Senator Jeff Sessions, who is now U.S. Attorney General.
Also on hand will be right-wing radio hosts like Lars Larson out of Portland. In a piece about Hold Their Feet to the Fire posted on his website in 2016, Larson wrote, “Illegals commit murder, rape, robbery and the like. It has to stop.” We are sure to hear similar rhetoric on the airwaves on the 28th and 29th.
FAIR has a long history of racism, dating back to its founder, white nationalist John Tanton, a man who once wrote, "I've come to the point of view that for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that."
The group also has welcomed white nationalists at its flagship event. In 2011, Roan Garcia-Quintana, a board member of the white nationalist Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) was photographed at HTFTTF with nativist former Rep. Tom Tancredo.
Garcia-Quintana has spoken out against interracial marriage, and the CCC were the group that Charleston terrorist Dylann Roof cited in his manifesto as his gateway into white nationalism.
In 2008, English white nationalist Peter Brimelow, who runs the website VDARE, a hub for white nationalists and anti-Semites attended FAIR’s event. Pat Buchanan, the racist former presidential candidate, is a regular attendee.
The nativist climate in the U.S. is at a fever pitch following an 18-month presidential campaign and six months of nativist polices being enacted by executive decree. FAIR’s victory lap later this week will only add to the cacophony.
Back in February, the Pioneer Press's David Montgomery reported about Osmek's potential gubernatorial bid in West-metro Republican considering run for MN governor, while Don Davis of the Forum news chain included him in a list of potential candidates around the same time.
Osmek's views on immigration fit neatly with positions taken by FAIR. Earlier, the Star Tribune's J. Patrick Coolican reported in State's GOP legislators take aim at 'sanctuary city' policies:
President-elect Donald Trump swept to the White House promising to clamp down on illegal immigration and so-called "sanctuary cities" like Minneapolis and St. Paul whose leaders vow not to act as local immigration enforcers.
Republicans around the country — including the newly empowered GOP majorities in the Minnesota Legislature — have followed suit, threatening to withhold government aid from cities that decline to work with federal immigration authorities and represent themselves as safe havens against deportation.
"Cities don't get to choose a cafeteria-style selection of laws that they will enforce and they won't enforce," said Sen. David Osmek, R-Mound, who sits on the Local Government Committee.
"If they don't want to follow the laws, then I don't think they should get the taxpayers' money," he said. . . .
The article and Osmek's statements prompted one reader to write the editors:
As journalists and readers alike scramble to define and elevate fact-based reporting over “fake news,” I urge the Star Tribune to revisit its front-page reporting on “ ‘Sanctuary cities’ under fire,” (Jan. 16). State Sen. David Osmek, R-Mound, was quoted as saying, “Cities don’t get to choose a cafeteria-style selection of laws they will enforce and they won’t enforce. If they don’t want to follow the laws, then I don’t think they should get the taxpayers’ money.” Conspicuously absent from the report was any reference to a particular law or provision that is allegedly being violated, or any specific accusation against a particular public official. Likewise, when state Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, accuses local officials of “breaking or ignoring federal law,” without mention of what law and by what action or inaction the illegality occurs, it is impossible for the reader to determine the merit of the accusation. Worse than that, by describing local officials as “wedged between increasingly diverse, liberal-leaning constituents” and “hard-line … Republicans,” the issue is cast as a matter of political opinion. In fact,
it can be objectively reported where federal jurisdiction begins and ends, and the statutory obligations that follow. Those are the facts that should be front and center in this report. What, in fact, does federal law require? Further, unsubstantiated accusations, if included at all, should be identified as such.
Laura Lassor, Minneapolis
The writer is an attorney.
In January, Coolican also reported in MN Sen. David Osmek uses colorful language in email to describe Southwest light rail:
State Sen. David Osmek used crude language in a message from his government e-mail account to a Twin Cities resident who urged him to support Southwest light rail transit, calling the project “your liberal wet dream.”
Osmek, a Republican from Mound, misspelled the word “dream” in his e-mail to a St. Louis Park resident.
Asked about the exchange after a Senate floor session on Wednesday, Osmek said: “I think light rail is a liberal wet dream. It’s trying to pack people into a rail corridor, creating density. It is a liberal dream.” . . .
Screengrab: The tweet illustrating Osmek being interviewed in Washington DC. Bonus for Twin Cities political intrigue: According to her twitter profile, Sam Sansevere also produces the Wrong About Everything Podcast, which is co-hosted by immigration reform champion and labor leader Javier Morillo-Alicea, damned by nameless operatives in the DFL as pushing the party way far left. If this nexis isn't proof that free speech thrives in Minnesota, Bluestem doesn't know what is.
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