Red-state capital city sparks conservative fire over Somali flag-raising at city hall: ‘Excuse me?’
Red-state capital city sparks conservative fire over Somali flag-raising at city hall: ‘Excuse me?’
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller questioned the flag raising ahead of America's 250th birthday
By
Andrew Mark Miller Fox News
Published
July 1, 2026 2:01pm EDT close 
Video Whistleblower exposes massive fraud in Ohio on heels of Minnesota scandal
Attorney and political commentator Mehek Cooke is blowing the whistle on what she is calling a massive Medicaid fraud scheme involving the Somali community in Ohio.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!The city of Columbus, Ohio, home to one of the largest Somali populations in the United States, is facing backlash on social media over a post celebrating the raising of the Somali flag.
"Happy Somali Independence Day!" The Columbus Rec & Parks department posted on X on Wednesday. "As we celebrate the unification of the Trust Territory of Somaliland and the State of Somaliland into the Somali Republic in 1960, City Hall will be raising the flag of Somalia. "
The post was quickly picked up by conservatives on social media, with many wondering why the city of Columbus would celebrate Somali independence so strongly, particularly given the proximity to the 250th anniversary of American independence.
"Columbus, Ohio raising the flag of Somalia for America 250," White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller posted on X.
BILL MAHER TELLS LIBERALS TO STOP 'PARTISAN SULKING' AND JOIN AMERICA 250 PARTY
The city of Columbus, Ohio sparked controversy on Wednesday when it announced it would raise the Somali flag at City Hall to celebrate Somalia's independence. (Maddie McGarvey/For The Washington Post via Getty Images; iStock)
"No American government building should ever be raising another country's flag," journalist Mark Hemingway posted on X. "Ugh."
"City Hall is not a foreign embassy," attorney and political commentator Mehek Cooke posted on X. "As an Ohioan, I am repulsed by the anti-Americanism here. Our leaders treat foreign nationalism as sacred while treating American patriotism as controversial. America’s public buildings should honor America."
JACOB FREY PRAISES SOMALI COMMUNITY AS MINNESOTA FACES RENEWED SCRUTINY OVER FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS
Video"This is AMERICA, not Little Somalia," ACT for America founder Brigitte Gabriel posted on X. "Flying the Somali flag at City Hall isn’t ‘celebration.’ It’s cultural surrender. Other nations aren’t parallel cultures here to dominate ours. Remove that flag. Remove the officials who demand it."
"Excuse me?" Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak, who has reported extensively on emerging fraud concerns within the Somali community in Columbus, posted on X.
"Why the f--- is Columbus, Ohio celebrating ‘the unification of the Trust Territory of Somaliland…’ when America turns 250 this week?" Federalist reporter Brianna Lyman posted on X. "They all need to go back. They love their third world country so much, send them back. Denaturalize and deport."
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Skyline view of Columbus, Ohio (Matt Kazmierski via Getty Images)
"One more way in which we encourage the refusal to assimilate." Ohio Republican State Rep. Brian Stewart posted on X.
Fox News Digital reached out to the city of Columbus for comment.
Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to [email protected].
Meet Melat Kiros, the Ethiopian-born anti-Israel socialist crusader who is DSA’s rising star after stunning upset in Colorado
Meet Melat Kiros, the Ethiopian-born anti-Israel socialist crusader who is DSA's rising star after stunning upset in Colorado- US News
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Politics
Meet Melat Kiros, the Ethiopian-born anti-Israel socialist crusader who is DSA’s rising star after stunning upset in Colorado
By Ryan King Published July 1, 2026, 2:06 p.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on GoogleWASHINGTON — Democratic socialism is spreading West.
Political newcomer Melat Kiros, 29, who took down 15-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Col.) in a stunning primary upset Tuesday, is riding a wave of anti-Israel and anti-ICE sentiment sweeping her party.
The Ethiopian-born PhD student has pushed to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), suggested that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks were “inevitable,” downplayed suggestions that a firebombing of a Jewish rally was an act of antisemitism, and more.
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Once in the House of Representatives, which is considered likely because she’s in a safe blue district, Kiros has vowed to push Democrats as far left as possible and to oppose Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) becoming speaker.
Political awakening
Kiros refined many of her far-left views in law school at Notre Dame in the early 2020s, a period she describes as her political awakening, as the country was roiled by the COVID-19 pandemic and peak wokeness.
“I literally watched the Federalist Society handpicking some of my classmates onto the judge track in their decades-long bid to pack the courts,” she complained, according to Vox. “…I just lost faith in the system; I think a lot of young people did.”
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After law school in 2022, she joined the law firm Sidley Austin in New York, where she worked as a regulatory and enforcement associate. The following year, she was fired for writing a viral open letter lambasting law firms for pushing to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses.
“By chilling future lawyers’ employment prospects for criticism of the Israeli government’s actions and its legitimacy, you are complicit in Israel’s weaponization of anti-Semitism against legitimate concerns for the right of self-determination and the livelihood of the Palestinian people,” she wrote in the missive.
Sidley Austin demanded she take the letter down, but Kiros claims she refused and was fired as a result.
“I didn’t flinch because I stood by every word and I always will,” she boasted during her victory speech Tuesday.
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That move drew headlines and boosted her name recognition in lefty circles.
After losing her law gig, Kiros moved back to Colorado, where her family had immigrated while she was just 11-months-old. Her father had been picked in America’s Diversity Visa Lottery, per her campaign website.
Back home, she enrolled in a PhD program in public policy and worked as a barista.
Then, in the middle of last year, she decided to launch a seemingly long-shot primary challenge against DeGette, who is widely considered to be a very progressive lawmaker and has served in Congress longer than Kiros has been alive.
DeGette had the backing of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
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But Kiros’ candidacy caught fire with the DSA and other lefty groups that were hunting for candidates to take on incumbent Democrats and push the party further leftwards.
One of the major differences between the two was Kiros’ tougher stance against Israel. DeGette faced grassroots pushback for supporting defensive aid to Israel.
Kiros, however, made tough talk against the Jewish state a feature of her campaign.
For example, she told notorious lefty streamer Hasan Piker that the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack was an “inevitable consequence of apartheid,” though she later clarified she wasn’t trying to say it was justified.
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Piker is a very controversial streamer, having declared that “America deserved 9/11″ and praised the “brave mujahideen” who injured Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas).
In a similar vein, she told 9News journalist Kyle Clark that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were an “inevitable consequence” of US foreign policy.
Kiros has stirred local controversy for downplaying the role of antisemitism in the June 1, 2025, firebombing attack at a weekly Jewish gathering aimed at bringing attention to the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas. One person was killed and a dozen were injured in that attack.
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The attacker, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, screamed “Free Palestine” before later stating that he “wanted to kill all Zionist people,” according to the FBI.
Kiros repeatedly declined to call it antisemitism and told NOTUS that it wasn’t “entirely obvious that it was just motivated by antisemitism.”
Many of her positions are similar to those of other DSA members, including support for Medicare for All, a modified Green New Deal, and mass amnesty. Kiros also wants a 10% slash in Pentagon spending.
“People are seeing that capitalism is responsible for a lot of the degradation that we’re seeing in our economy, that we’re seeing in our democracy, that we’re certainly seeing in our climate as well,” she claimed in a recent interview.
“They’re demanding a new way to organize our economy.”
Should she win in November, she will be the first Gen. Z woman to serve in Congress and the second Zoomer overall, after Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.)
She is riding a socialist revolt within the Democratic Party, as far-left candidates have won primaries across New York, Maine, Illinois, and elsewhere heading into the midterms.
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