Tag: Minneapolis

‘S’ word (Somali) missing from reports on gym brawl in Minnesota

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We first had this story last week (again thanks to ‘pungentpeppers’) and although we knew those arrested were Somalis (by their names) it was one of those ho-hum here-we-go-again stories and posted it at the facebook page ‘Diversity’s Dark Side‘ and didn’t bother to post it here.

Now after seeing it on Drudge yesterday and in the British press (with photos) the news becomes how many stories can be written about it without saying the word Somali so that the average reader, not attuned to names like Ali Yusuf Barre, Abdirashid Yasin Duad, and Mohamed Awil Suleiman, might actually have the full picture of what is happening in the suburbs surrounding the Twin Cities.

Even the UK Mail can’t say the ‘S’ word as one commenter to the story noted.

In the “riot” weights and barbells were thrown after an exchange of profanities.
Somalis on right, victim (could he be Hispanic?) on left.

From the UK Mail:

A basketball game on a court at an LA Fitness gym descended into a mass brawl involving 10-15 people which included weight plates and barbells being thrown around.

Police were called to the incident at the gym in Roseville, Minnesota, last Sunday and arrested three adults and three juveniles.

Officers arrived and tried to gain control over two agitated groups of males who were shouting profanities at each other, according to criminal complaints.

Four males were fighting with one person on the basketball court and chased him into the fitness area, the complaints said.

‘People were actually throwing two and a half, five, 10 pound weights within the building,’ Police Lt. Lorne Rosand told WCCO.

Customers and gym staff tried to intervene and separate the groups, and the LA Fitness manager tried to defuse the situation by directing the man being chased to stay by the front desk and juice bar, the complaints said.

But the suspects began to throw weight plates, barbells and a trash can lid toward the juice bar and the male target, according to the complaints.

As you read down the story, and all of the other stories, this is the only piece of information you have about who the perps are:

The three adults, Ali Yusuf Barre, 18, of Minneapolis; Abdirashid Yasin Duad, 18, of Minneapolis; and Mohamed Awil Suleiman, 20, of Burnsville, have been charged with disorderly conduct and participation in a riot.

I did see some mugshots at the very end of a TV report, but again no mention that these are Somali “refugees” we “welcomed” to America.

The news accounts, including this one, all remark about the large number of times police are called to the Roseville LA Fitness, but managers there have declined to take any action to more rigorously protect their business, now why do you think that is?

The gym has been plagued with crime in recent years. Roseville police responded to 147 incidents there in 2013 and have already gone to 24 incidents this year.

Police are frustrated with that LA Fitness as their requests to put in security cameras or have guards on site have all been denied.

‘They don’t want to take any proactive measures to prevent theft in the parking lot or inside,’ Rosand said. ‘I just hope they step up like any business in the community.’

Why so many Somalis in Minneapolis?  Thank the US State Department and its resettlement contractors: Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities and World Relief.  Diversity is so beautiful, isn’t it!  Wyoming are you listening?

Somalis want to govern Minneapolis, but is this how to gain the confidence of the electorate?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Political “consultant” in the Twin Cities and in Somalia, Ilhan Omar, was hospitalized after caucus brawl shut down by police.
http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/profiles/ilhanomar

Allegations of threats, bullying, and paid agitators in the wake of Minneapolis Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party caucus earlier this month (see our original post on the blow-out here).

I warned you this was Somali day at RRW (see here, here, and here)!

From the MinnPost (hat tip: Michael). Emphasis below is mine:

The DFL caucus that ended in a brawl and sent a woman to the hospital earlier this month is at the center of allegations that threats and bullying were used to disrupt the political process and that some people were paid to attend the caucus.

Further, Minneapolis City Council Member Abdi Warsame’s involvement in a contentious state House race that prompted the caucus fight has swept up City Hall and fractured the East African political community.

MinnPost has learned that the day before the Cedar-Riverside caucus, Warsame told another council member, Andrew Johnson, that he should warn his aide to stay away from the caucus or there could be trouble for her.

Warsame is supporting longtime incumbent DFL Rep. Phyllis Kahn; Johnson’s aide, Somali activist Ilhan Omar, is widely believed to be supporting the challenger, fellow Somali Mohamud Noor, though she says she’s neutral in the race.

Omar did attend the caucus, and ended up in the hospital with a concussion.

Two caucuses were marred by violence!

The simmering divisions were on open display at two DFL precinct caucus meetings in Somali neighborhoods of Minneapolis. Both caucuses erupted in chaos and violence.

One caucus, in the Seward neighborhood, was able to finish its work. But the other caucus, in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, abruptly ended after Omar, Johnson’s aide who was allegedly warned not to attend, was injured during a fight and Minneapolis police shut down the scene.

No truer words could have been said!

“That’s not a good reason you should be beaten up … just [for] supporting somebody,” Abdi Mohamed, a Noor supporter who worked at the event, later said during an interview. “That’s un-American. That’s not why we came here. If we wanted violence, we could have stayed in Somalia. There’s plenty of violence every day.”

Officials in the city of Minneapolis human resources department are investigating possible workplace misconduct over actions that occurred in City Hall during the runup to the caucus. A city spokesman confirmed there is an open complaint against Warsame, but couldn’t provide additional details including whether the complaint and investigation are related.

The article goes on and on and on, read it all here.

For new readers:  This 2011 post—Why so many Somalis in Minneapolis—is almost every day one of our top most-read posts.  Thank the US State Department and its contractors—Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities and World Relief MN—and the generous welfare supplied by Minnesota taxpayers!

More on that mysterious fire in Minneapolis Somali neighborhood

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

If yesterday was Hmong day at RRW, it looks like today is shaping up to be Somali day!

Authorities destroyed evidence immediately following the blast and fire.

Bloggers and researchers at Gates of Vienna have produced further documentation that the government has not fully investigated the New Years Day explosion and fire in a Somali apartment building that took several lives.  For new readers, our previous posts are here.

Below is blogger Baron Bodissey introducing the latest portion of their investigation which leads to a connection between the building and the Somali terror group al-Shabaab.

The day after last month’s explosion and fire at 514 Cedar Avenue South in Minneapolis, an FBI agent named Greg Boosalis reassured Minnesotans that there was no evidence of terrorist activity in connection with the devastating explosion.

I wondered at the time — and still wonder — how the FBI could be so certain less than forty-eight hours after the blast that no terrorism was involved. The immediate neighborhood of the demolished building is a known hotbed of terrorist activity, and is especially notorious for the recruitment of mujahideen and funds for the jihad being waged by al-Shabaab in Somalia.

As it turns out, the FBI was absolutely derelict in ruling out a terrorist connection with 514 Cedar Avenue South. Our Minnesota correspondent Henrietta has examined property and business license records for the city of Minneapolis, and found a clear trail leading from the Dar al-Hijrah Mosque to the destroyed building, and from there to a pair of convicted money-launderers for al-Shabaab.

Go to GOV for the paper trail which demonstrates the kind of work that investigative reporters used to do, but now is being done by diligent citizens!

Also for new readers, this 2011 post—Why so many Somalis in Minneapolis—is almost every day one of our top most-read posts.  Thank the US State Department and its contractors—Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities and World Relief MN—and the generous welfare supplied by Minnesota taxpayers!

Now they have moved on to bringing the same to St. Cloud—next!

Minneapolis: Fight breaks out at Somali-dominated political caucus, police called

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Bringing their cultural ways to America?

Minneapolis City Council Member Abdi Wasame with supporter Rep. Keith Ellison

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune (hat tip: Steve). Emphasis mine:

A day after political tensions in Minneapolis’ Somali community erupted into caucus-night chaos, leaders grappled with how to repair their image and simultaneously channel its massive political ambitions in a more peaceful manner.

The Cedar-Riverside precinct hadn’t even elected officers Tuesday night when a brief melee broke out between activists on opposing sides of a legislative race between DFLers Mohamud Noor and longtime Rep. Phyllis Kahn, highly unusual for the normally staid events.

Facilities staff decided to end the event, at the Brian Coyle Community Center, prompting a handful of police officers to begin loudly dispersing hundreds of confused attendees.

“It became a farce,” said Minneapolis City Council Member Abdi Warsame, a Kahn supporter who became the country’s most prominent Somali-American politician last fall.

“And now the community looks bad. Now the Somalis look horrible … All the negative assumptions people have of our community [are] going to come to the fore because three or four individuals couldn’t behave themselves.”

Warsame, who was not at the Coyle Center, has received about 50 calls from concerned community members.

He worries that people will stop participating if the process isn’t improved. “People might start saying, ‘If I go to these places, people will start fighting each other.’ ”

The Somali community has grown into a major political force in Minneapolis, able to assemble massive numbers of voters at political events. Some well-attended yet similarly chaotic caucuses in April helped propel Warsame to win the DFL endorsement over incumbent Robert Lilligren, who complained that the events were tainted by irregularities.

But many attendees who speak little or no English are also not well-informed about the process, raising fears among opposing activists that voters will be manipulated.

Read it all—just a “few bad apples?”

Judge reschedules sentencing date for Somali woman who sent funds to terror group, lied about it

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a story from last week, so you may have seen it elsewhere, but even late it is worth posting because it contains a few bits of useful information.  (My apologies to the reader who sent this—I’ve lost track of who it was!)

Judge Davis wants to know if she would be deported after completing her sentence.
http://www.mnd.uscourts.gov/MDL-Baycol/judge-michael-davis.shtml

Before he sentences her for perjury, which carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in the slammer, Chief District Judge Michael Davis wants to know if she would likely be deported upon her release from prison.

We do deport to Somalia now.

We first told you about this case, here in August 2013.

From the Pioneer Press:

A woman who admitted she lied for the terrorist group al-Shabaab will have to wait until April to learn her punishment.

Saynab Abdirashid Hussein, a former Minneapolis woman studying nursing in Tennessee, was to be sentenced Tuesday in federal court on a count of perjury. But midway through the hearing, Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis put off handing down a sentence.

The reason: He wants her lawyers and prosecutors to provide legal briefs explaining whether they think the conviction and sentence will result in her deportation.

Her new sentencing date is April 29.

Prosecutors are seeking a minimum sentence of two years, anything over one year could get her deported says expert:

Hussein was born in Somalia and was a year old when her parents fled the country. They spent nine years in a Kenyan refugee camp before they were allowed entry into the U.S.

After the hearing, prosecutors didn’t say what their position would be regarding deportation, and defense attorneys declined comment. Neither would comment on what her immigration status is, but court documents suggest she is a lawful permanent resident.

Ruslan Bocancea, a Minneapolis lawyer specializing in immigration law, said that because Hussein pleaded guilty to an aggravated felony involving honesty — in which prosecutors are seeking a sentence of at least two years — the woman could be deported.

“When there’s an element of fraud involved, like lying, Immigration is not forgiving at all,” Bocancea said, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Once your sentence is one year or higher, the government can deport you, assuming you are a permanent resident.”

One way to keep from being deported is to marry a US citizen!

A permanent resident facing deportation can ask to stay, and among the reasons they can cite is that they are married to a U.S. citizen, Bocancea said. Hussein got married this month, but neither side said whether the groom, who was in court, is a citizen.

[….]

Hussein was the 19th person, and only female, charged in “Operation Rhino,” the FBI’s investigation into al-Shabaab’s alleged recruitment of fighters from the Twin Cities, home to this country’s largest Somali population.

There is more, read it all.

For new readers, we began following the story of the Somali missing “youths” here in 2008.