FBI raided money transfer businesses in Minneapolis* today

Yes, yes, it involves Somalia again.   So what else is new.  On a day when Somali pirates are making the news by taking an American freighter, the FBI is raiding another source of funds for the chaotic Horn of Africa nation.  From an AP story in the Star Tribune:

Federal agents searched three money-transfer businesses in Minneapolis on Wednesday, carrying away boxes of documents and copying computer hard drives in a quest for details of financial transactions between the U.S. and several African nations.

Agents searched Mustaqbal Express, also known as North American Money Transfer Inc.; Quran Express; and Aaran Financial.

[….]

A copy of a search warrant executed at Mustaqbal Express and obtained by The Associated Press said authorities were looking for documents, books, records, ledgers and other materials “relating to the transfer of money, currency or funds” to Somalia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti and the United Arab Emirates from January 2007 to the present. It also sought documents on ownership and management of the business and lists of clients, calendars, bank checks, safe deposit box keys, and other materials.

I wonder if any of the food stamp fraud money we have written about so frequently is making it to Somalia (or other Muslim countries) in this way.

Omar said the office handles about $1 million to $1.5 million per month, and ships the money overseas — mostly to Somalia. Local immigrants also use the Minneapolis office to send money back home.

For new readers, the US State Department has admitted over 80,000 Somali refugees to the US in the last 25 years and then last year had to suspend family reunification because widespread immigration fraud was revealed through DNA testing.

* Minneapolis has been such a welcoming city for Somalis, just think about all the excitement you less-than-welcoming cities are missing.

Non-profit groups paying excessive salaries to be scrutinized by the IRS

Your tax dollars:

Good!  And, all I can say is it’s about time!   Here is a story, thanks to Blulitespecial, from the Wall Street Journal that warmed my heart, because it’s a story I’ve done some research on over the years.  

WASHINGTON — An Internal Revenue Service official warned nonprofits to be mindful of executive-compensation practices amid public ire over large bonuses at insurer American International Group Inc. and other Wall Street firms that have received federal aid.

Lois Lerner, the IRS’s director of tax-exempt organizations, told a gathering of lawyers representing charities Monday that scrutiny of nonprofits’ pay practices is likely to increase. Nonprofit leaders should be sure to practice due diligence in making sure their executive pay can be justified through data on comparable practices at similar organizations, she said.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the Obama Administration’s plans to regulate private enterprise and tell companies what to pay its people is an abomination, but  non-profits which are by definition tax-exempt and getting federal grants from tax payers should be regulated.   These so-called non-profits crying ‘oh poor me, send money’ are guilt-tripping little old ladies into sending twenty-five bucks and then turning around and paying a CEO hundreds of thousands of dollars.  It is shameful!

I have firsthand knowledge, through research I did years ago, about many environmental groups doing just that.   Sen. Grassley investigated and forced changes at the multi-billion dollar Nature Conservancy.

Nonprofit pay packages pale in comparison to some of those doled out to Wall Street executives. But a series of charity scandals in the past few years has focused attention on executive pay. Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, has questioned some nonprofit executive pay practices. Others have said charities’ tax-exempt status – essentially a large taxpayer subsidy – could give rise to more scrutiny in the current political climate.

It’s time now to scrutinize the pay structure of some of the Open Borders Immigration groups, but I won’t be holding my breath.

Going to a Tea Party?

Your tax dollars

A week from today there will be a Tax Day Tea Party near where you live, so if you are sick of the Obama Administration spending us into oblivion, check out these sites for a location near you and make your voices heard!    Tax Day Tea Party website here.    And, for a contact list of local organizers go here.

At this time, there are 1,874 cities with tax day protests scheduled!

Shortage of women at party, pull out gun and shoot

Yes, that is how three Somali men (former refugees*) reacted to their disappointment at finding not enough women at a party in a Minneapolis suburb a couple of weeks ago.   We first told you about the story here, but now more details on the charges are coming to light.  The question is does this story go in our Somali category and cross-referenced in our mentally deranged immigrant category?  Well, actually we have neither category, but am sorry we don’t the way things are going.

They arrived to party but didn’t see enough girls, so they demanded their money back.  [Edit:  I’m not hip to parties, but this strikes me as strange, charging for a party, what kind of party was this?]

Then, the gunfire started.

An Eden Prairie teen has been charged in a shooting at a Lakeville trailer home Sunday that injured four partygoers, and two men have been charged with helping him conceal a semiautomatic pistol as they drove him away.

The shooting allegedly took place after the gunman and his friends were refused a refund on their entry fee at a house party, which they had left because of the lack of women.

The Dakota County attorney’s office Wednesday charged Mohamed Yusef Hussein, 16, with four counts of second-degree assault. County Attorney James Backstrom said he filed a court motion to have Hussein certified to stand trial as an adult because of the seriousness of the crime.

Jibril Farah Mohamed, 18, of Burnsville, and Mohamud Ahmed Hassan, 19, of Minneapolis, were both charged with aiding an offender, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Read the rest of the story and check out the photos of those charged, charming huh?  There are lots of details and turns out one of these guys may be implicated in shootings in the Somali neighborhood of Cedar-Riverside, the same neighborhood where the youths have disappeared from and returned to Somalia to become jihadists.

Hassan is wanted in Hennepin County in connection with the shooting of two men Aug. 14 in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis. The victims survived and were able to identify Hassan and three other suspects from a photo lineup, according to charges in that case.

* For new readers, the US State Department has admitted over 80,000 Somali refugees to the US in the last 25 years and then last year had to suspend family reunification because widespread immigration fraud was revealed through DNA testing.

Canadian Somali arrested in Somalia, believed to be member of al-Shabaab

Every day I can count on checking the news and finding a new story about the Somali missing youths and terrorism.   This morning it is being reported by the Calgary Herald that one of Canada’s missing former refugees has been arrested in Somalia.  It was only ten days ago we reported that a mosque leader in Canada was denying any Canadian Somalis had returned to Africa for terrorist training.  Guess he was wrong.

TORONTO — A Canadian has been arrested in Somalia for allegedly planning to bomb leaders of a moderate political faction, according to local media reports that identified him as a member of the militant group Al-Shabab.

Abdifatah Mohamad Ibrahim appeared in court in the central Galgudud region, where authorities showed his Canadian passport to spectators, according to Radio Garowe and the Somali-language news site allpuntland.com.

As I read this, I wonder what it costs Canada (and us) to raise a young African refugee with food, health care and education just for him to grow up and go to Africa to become a jihadist.

Consular assistance to Canadians in distress!

And, golly gee, Canadian officials are wondering how they might provide “consular assistance” to their citizen.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was not aware of any recent arrests of Canadian citizens in Somalia but Ottawa has no diplomatic presence in the country. Consular officials in Nairobi were seeking further information on the matter.

“Due to the highly volatile and unpredictable nature of the security situation in Somalia, the government of Canada’s ability to provide consular assistance to Canadians in distress is severely restricted,” said Daniel Barbarie, a Foreign Affairs spokesman.

But, Canada, don’t worry it’s only a handful of extremists.

Canada is home to about 150,000 ethnic Somalis, according to a report by Canada’s Integrated Threat Assessment Centre. Most are moderates but the report says that, “Some Somali-Canadians have fought as Islamist extremists in Somalia.”