(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Man who vandalized Ilhan Omar's office also set fires at two mosques [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-05-03 Little made his first court appearance on Monday, where he did not make a plea and was held without bail. The federal complaint against Little indicates that in addition to vandalizing a local office for Rep. Omar, he harassed her through email. Court documents indicate that Omar received multiple messages from Little, one of which included an image showing “a Quran in a toilet being urinated on by a male.” Omar also received messages containing the number “500.” That number was also painted on the door of Omar’s regional office during Little’s vandalism there. On Monday, Rep. Omar issued a statement following Little’s arrest. “Mr. Little is not only responsible for multiple arson attacks against mosques in my district and the vandalism of a Somali officer’s police vehicle, but also targeted my own office with vandalism on at least one occasion. “We are witnessing an epidemic of hate against the Muslim community and other religious minorities in Minnesota and globally right now. This campaign of terror is designed to keep us fearful and divided. As Muslim-Americans and as Minnesotans, we will not be terrorized. We will continue to stand united against bigotry because love is stronger than hate.” The FBI continues to report increasing numbers of hate crimes. Just under 10% of those reported hate crimes are directed at Muslim Americans, though the reported numbers are suspected to be low, as members of the Muslim community are often afraid to file complaints. A 2020 study suggested that hate crimes against Muslims were both underreported and did not receive as much public attention as other forms of hate crimes. Little’s mother indicated that he had previously “extensively harassed” a Muslim woman, which seems to be someone other than Omar. His mother also stated that she suspected her son had been involved in several other cases of arson. x This is Jackie Little's most recent mug shot after he was arrested over the weekend. If federal prosecutors seek detention for him and the judge grants it, no one would be able to bail him out as he awaits trial. pic.twitter.com/sYx8lnLOoU — Lou Raguse (@LouRaguse) May 1, 2023 Multiple studies have indicated that arsonists have the highest rate of reoffending among all violent criminals. “The base rates of reoffending from this meta-analysis indicated that between 57% and 66% of untreated firesetters engage in general reoffending … odds of firesetting during the follow-up period were five times greater for known firesetters in comparison with other offenders.” Can we have fairer, more representative elections in the U.S.? Absolutely, says Deb Otis on this week's episode of "The Downballot." Otis, the director of research at FairVote, tells us about her organization's efforts to advocate for two major reforms—ranked-choice voting and proportional representation—and the prospects for both. RCV, which is growing in popularity, not only helps ensure candidates win with majorities but can lower the temperature by encouraging cross-endorsements. PR, meanwhile, would give voters a stronger voice, especially when they're a minority in a dark red or dark blue area. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/3/2167161/-Man-who-vandalized-Ilhan-Omar-s-office-also-set-fires-at-two-mosques Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/