Category: Africa

“Group” says Lewiston Mayor should step down

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Why?  Because five people standing on a sidewalk said so….  They don’t like what he said!  They want to shut him (and by extension you) up.

Don’t you just love it, they make up a fancy-sounding name—African Diaspora Institute of Maine—and then attempt to get their way by bullying.

For all of their talk about being Americans and being assimilated, I guess these Maine Somali-Americans don’t understand our system of government yet.  We have elections in America—you don’t like your mayor, you replace him next time.

And, last I checked, we still have free speech in America (even Mayors have free speech!)—so far anyway!

Here is the latest news on the Mayor of Lewiston, see our previous post here:

LEWISTON, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — A Somali advocacy group is asking Mayor Robert Macdonald to step down, after some controversial remarks he has made recently.

The African Diaspora Institute of Maine held a news conference Monday in front of Lewiston City Hall to respond to Mayor Macdonald’s comments to the BBC that immigrants should leave their culture at the door.

The group was joined by Lewiston High School students, who say they support the city’s Somali population.

“A lot of people, they grow up kind of sheltered to be honest, and when they go out into the world they’re not sure how to handle it” [Huh?—ed] Lewiston High School student Nicholas Burpee said. “A lot of people fear it [fear what?–ed] and that’s where we are today with a lot of these situations like with the mayor.”  [These are the students we are raising in our public school system—get your kids out now!—ed]

Watch the news clip here.   See five guys on a curb demanding that the Mayor resign.

Grand Island, NE

This story reminds me of the attempt by Somalis to pressure the Mayor of Grand Island, NE to resign back in 2008, here, when they didn’t like what she said either.  Could this bullying of Mayors be a cultural trait from the homeland that the Somalis want to hold on to?

Somali terror funding trial opens in Minneapolis tomorrow

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update October 2nd:  Here is an AP report published in the Washington Post today on the opening of the terror funding/jihadist recruitment trial of Mahamud Said Omar.  Here is the same story in the Miami Herald if the WaPo won’t let you open it.   I just noticed that the article never uses the word “refugee.”  I am sure the average reader is wondering how all the Somalis got here in the first place.

This trial isn’t for the two Somali women, they’ve already been convicted and are awaiting sentencing.  Tomorrow’s trial is for the former refugee who sees ghosts.  We told you about him here last week.

US Attorney:  This is the government’s only opportunity, to date, to tell the public what is going on in the Somali community.

From AP at Fox News (the story is breaking into the national news for a change):

MINNEAPOLIS –  A Minnesota man accused of helping to recruit and finance U.S. fighters for an overseas terror group heads to trial Monday in a case that’s expected to show how some young Somali expatriates in Minneapolis were persuaded to risk their lives for insurgents back home.

Mahamud Said Omar, 46, faces five terror-related counts as part of a much broader investigation into recruiting by al-Shabab, a U.S.-designated terror group at the center of much of the violence in Somalia.

Since 2007, more than 20 young men are believed to have left Minnesota for the East African nation, presumably to take up arms with al-Shabab. The departures shook the Somali community in Minnesota — the largest in the United States.

While prosecutors don’t consider Omar a mastermind in the Minneapolis pipeline, they allege that he was far more than a bit player: They say he encouraged young men to fight, helped some get tickets for travel to Somalia and helped pay for weapons.

“We believe it’s a very important case because it will be the government’s only opportunity, to date, to explain to the public what has been going on in the Somali community, and how these recruiters have been going after these young men,” said U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Jeanne Cooney. “I think it will go a long way in explaining how these cases tie together.”

There is a lot more!  Read it all.

We have posted dozens of times on the story, use our search function for the words ‘Somali missing youths’ for our complete archive.

Minnesota Somali on trial for terror funding wants spiritual healer

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….he says he is seeing ghosts.

I wonder a couple of things, do Minnesota judges get tired of demanding Somali Muslims on trial there?  Just a couple of days ago we heard about the Somali women from Rochester, MN convicted of sending money to Al-Shabaab in Africa (one of them refused to stand for the judge) and now we learn that this guy, on trial for supplying the money for some of the twenty plus refugee youths who returned to Somalia to get Jihad training, wants out so he can see a special faith healer.  [LOL! Watch for CAIR to ride to his rescue!]

And, incidentally Mahamud Said Omar whose trial begins next week, was a ‘homeless’ man from Rochester.  We nabbed him in the Netherlands back in 2009.   He was subsequently extradited to the US.

The other thing I wonder about is how come the national mainstream media NEVER talks about these Somalis on trial in the US.  Have any of you ever seen a story about these terror-funding cases on CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN or even Fox News?  Hmmm!

Here is the AP story (reporter Amy Forliti) posted this time at The Republic in Indiana:

MINNEAPOLIS — A Somali man accused of helping finance fighters for the terror group al-Shabab in Somalia asked a judge on Monday to let him out of jail while he awaits trial, saying he has a “sickness of the devil” in which he sees ghosts and needs a spiritual healer.

Mahamud Said Omar, 46, made the statements during a routine hearing in advance of his trial on terror charges, which starts next week. Omar, who collapsed during a hearing last year, said he is also in pain.

Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis acknowledged that he is aware Omar has a history of seeing ghosts and other problems. But he denied Omar’s request, saying the court is making sure he gets the best medical care possible while in custody. He added that Omar’s attorneys may submit information on cultural or spiritual healers, and Davis would view their credentials and decide whether they may visit Omar.

Omar has been in custody since 2009, charged as part of the U.S. government’s investigation into the recruitment of at least 21 men who authorities believe left Minnesota to join al-Shabab in Somalia, which the U.S. says has ties to al-Qaida. He faces five counts, including providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

There is more, read it all.

Who resettles refugees in Rochester?

It looks like it is Catholic Charities, so some of these Somalis on trial now likely came through the door of Catholic Charities Diocese of Winona.   In fact, looking back in our archives I see I wrote about problems Catholic Charities was having in Rochester where some of its citizens were not so happy to see the huge influx of refugees there.

Indeed if Mr. Omar, who is having visions of ghosts while incarcerated, was in fact homeless in Rochester, what does that say about Catholic Charities work in that city?

Come to think of it, I saw somewhere that those two Somali women who face 30 years in prison have between them 11 kids, is Catholic Charities going to take care of the kids?  They should. They won’t.  The taxpayer will.

Shariah law creeps into Somali terror-funding trial in Minnesota

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Readers, this is the third and most important story on Somalis this morning.

I bet you’ve never heard (through the mainstream media) about the trial of two Somali women in Minnesota who were convicted of conspiracy and other charges for sending money to Al-Shabaab, a designated terrorist group, in Somalia.   We first told you about the case here when one of the women told the court that all the “infidels would go to hell.”

By the way, for interested readers the other two stories in my Saturday Somali trifecta are here and here.

From Twin Cities Pioneer Press:

Due to her “religious” beliefs, one defendant (“go to hell infidels”) refused to stand when the Judge entered the court room.

If a Muslim woman wasn’t punished for refusing to stand when a federal judge entered his Minneapolis courtroom, others would have been emboldened to show disrespect for the court, the judge has ruled.

Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis wrote that defendant Amina Farah Ali’s silent gesture — which she said was rooted in religious principle — could have led to chaos during her trial on terrorism-related charges last year.

“If Ali were allowed to sit while court is called, it may have been possible that her many sympathizers would have begun to emulate her in a show of support,” Davis wrote in an opinion and order.

“The court was also concerned that allowing Ali to show disrespect for the court by failing to rise would encourage additional signs of disrespect, leading to a loss of control in the courtroom.”

Ali, 36, is one of two Rochester women awaiting sentencing for raising money for al-Shabaab, a group fighting the government of her native Somalia.

In a pretrial hearing and during the first two days of her trial last October, Ali refused to stand when Davis entered or left the courtroom. The “standing requirement,” as it is known, is intended as a show of respect for the legal system in general and not the judge in particular.

[….]

Ali and co-defendant Hawo Mohamed Hassan, 65 (who did stand), were convicted of conspiracy and other counts and are awaiting sentencing; each could get 30 years in prison.

So far, so good!  Right!  Now get this!

Ali’s lawyer appealed and the Appeals Court sided with Ali and threw out most of the trial judge’s contempt charges.

Ali’s attorney, Daniel Scott, appealed the contempt citations to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Scott argued that Ali’s actions weren’t disruptive and that because they were sincerely held religious beliefs, Davis was obliged under federal law to find the “least restrictive” way to maintain order in the court.

The appeals court agreed. But the three-judge panel also said judges have discretion in how they run their courtrooms.

The appeals court threw out all but the first contempt citation and sent the matter back to Davis to reconsider. At a hearing Tuesday, Sept. 18, (at which Ali stood when the judge entered) Davis reinstated the contempt citations but then “purged” them, saying he would explain his rulings later in a written order.

Incidentally, we reported last December that Minnesota Hard Left advocacy groups rallied around the cause of these two women, here.

For new readers:   More than 100,000 Somalis have been admitted to the US through the Refugee Resettlement Program of the US State Department, here, and there is no sign of the feds letting up.  Minnesota is one of the top destination states for Somalis.  This post about why so many Somalis are in Minneapolis is one of our most-read posts here (at RRW) almost daily.  In fact, today as I write this, it is our top post.

Are more Somali refugee “kids” leaving Minnesota for jihad training?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Looks like that may be the case.  Not enough taxpayer-funded “programs” to keep them on the right path in America?

Although you did pay for their educations, housing, food and medical care so that they are now big healthy Islamist fighters.

Here is the latest from Minneapolis otherwise known as Little Mogadishu!

From the Associated Press at USA Today (interesting that a more nationally distributed publication is posting the story):

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man recently traveled to Somalia to join al-Shabab, a spokesman for his family said, renewing fears that the terror group is continuing to recruit Somalis living in the U.S. to return to their homeland to fight.

The investigation into al-Shabab’s recruitment of young men has been going on for years, and authorities have never ruled out that more men could be traveling from Minnesota — home to the largest Somali population in the U.S. — to join the terror group. Still, there have been no public reports of travelers from Minnesota since 2009, and the investigation has been largely out of public view for more than a year.

But in recent weeks, some Somalis here have been visited by the FBI and subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury –possible signs that the investigation has picked up. The reasons for the subpoenas were not immediately clear. Authorities would not confirm that additional men have recently traveled to join al-Shabab, and they would not say whether any increased FBI activity is connected to reports of recent departures or to the overall investigation.

But according to a spokesman for his family, 21-year-old Omar Farah left Minneapolis several weeks ago and called his aunt after his departure to say he was in the Somali town of Merca — and that he was with al-Shabab.

We have extensively covered the story of the ‘Somali missing youths‘ since 2008.  If you type those words into our search function you can learn more than you ever wanted to know about the budding Jihadists.  A short history has been provided by AP:

Since 2008, Minneapolis has been the center of a federal investigation into travels and recruiting of people from the U.S. to train or fight with al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaeda and is considered a terror group by the U.S.

Authorities have previously confirmed that more than 20 young men left Minnesota starting as early as 2007. Some of those men have returned to Minnesota and been charged. Four have been confirmed dead by family members or authorities.

E.K. Wilson, the supervisory special agent overseeing the FBI’s investigation in Minneapolis, said he could not confirm whether there have been any recent departures or whether the FBI is currently investigating those reports.

“The whole investigation into recruiting and the departures of Somali kids from the Twin Cities in 2007, 2008 and 2009 is definitely ongoing,” Wilson said. “We’re continuing to look hard at the possibility of continued recruitment and radicalization.”

Just like that Canada story I just posted, the fault is never extremist Islamic teaching in some mosques or the fact that in these huge Somali families headed by single mothers there is no supervision of the kids, instead we are expected to believe it’s a lack of “programs” for the “kids” that is to blame!

He said this week that he believes recruiters are preying upon vulnerabilities of young Somali men who are often without a father figure and looking for a sense of belonging.

“I believe that the root causes of this problem, are a lack of programs for young people,” Bihi said.

Abdirizak Bihi is a good guy. He even had the nerve to testify in Congress, but he can’t possibly believe this!

For new readers:   More than 100,000 Somalis have been admitted to the US through the Refugee Resettlement Program of the US State Department, here, and there is no sign of the feds letting up.  Minnesota is one of the top destination states for Somalis.  This post about why so many Somalis are in Minneapolis is one of our most-read posts here almost daily.  In fact, today as I write this, it is our top post.