Free Republic

SNIPPET: "The third article, titled "Al-Shabaab Recruiting in the West," takes a comprehensive look at what we know about the group's efforts to recruit fighters in the United States, and in other Western countries. The final article concerns the efficacy of the Somali president's recent diplomatic efforts in Minneapolis, Columbus, OH, and Chicago."

Minneapolis police are looking for a group of teenagers who attacked at least three men. The attacks happened just minutes apart in south Minneapolis early Thursday morning. One man trying to break up a fight became a victim himself, right in front of his young son. It was about 6:30 Thursday morning when Dr. Mani Mokalla was walking his 6-year-old son to the bus stop. He stumbled on a man being beaten up right on the sidewalk. "I basically inquired, 'What's going on, what are you guys doing?' And they said for me to mind my own business, and I...

What's different about voting in Minneapolis this year? You get to rank three candidates in each election contest. That's ranked-choice voting, the system the city is launching for municipal races. So in the 11-person mayor's race, you may rank one candidate as your first choice, another as your second, and a third as your final choice. "It's a lot less confusing than it sounds once somebody explains it," Nancy Harrington, who rarely misses an election, said at an informational workshop at Webber Neighborhood Center last week. But there are some pitfalls to avoid. Think of the grid of candidates and...

St. Paul, Minn. — Members of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Minneapolis decided to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America after a 96 percent vote by members on Sunday. The decision to leave came after the ELCA Church-wide Assembly vote on Aug. 21 in Minneapolis, that allowed gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy. Before the ECLA's decision, gay clergy were allowed to be ministers only if they were celibate. Some church members object to the new policy, saying it goes against Scripture. The St. Paul's congregation's council set a policy in October 1990 that...

One of few dissidents in the crowd, Fightin Words's Walter Hudson attended President Obama's September 12th rally for health care reform at the Minneapolis Target Center. Impressions from the event and a breakdown of the president's arguments in this week's podcast.

It occurred to me, as I waited longer inside the venue to get a seat than I had waited outside to get in, this entire experience stood as a perfect metaphor representing the very health care system Obama was there to promote. Here was an event open to the public, free of charge, which attracted enormous demand and provided seemingly inexplicable barriers to access which did not serve the interest of those attending. Presumably, during any other event, patrons of the Target Center would be free to roam the arena and corridors as they saw fit, take their seats at...

My home state of Minnesota has lots of lakes, bitter cold, and Lutherans. Over 150 years ago, Scandinavians targeted this state and its climate, perhaps because it resembled their homeland. Ironically, the fathers and grandfathers of today's Lutherans left Sweden back then because they saw corruption and bad doctrine within Lutheranism in Scandinavia. But these Lutheran immigrants built Bible-believing churches for future generations. No doubt they would be crushed at such a culmination of apostasy in recent years. Wednesday, August 19, was an average day. It was cool with not enough humidity to stir up a storm. No unusual weather...

ABBA-MAZING VIDEO! ... Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: It shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. (Jeremiah 23:19)

ome things are not up for a vote. Some things we as creatures do not have the right to even think we can change. We as creatures have forgotten our place. Instead of prostrating ourselves face down on the ground before God, Our Father and Our Creator, in humble obedience and prayer, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America—as a shrinking “sideline” denomination—decided to continue its in-your-face unfaithful and disrespectful conduct toward God, Our Maker, ignoring all interventions, warnings and signs. The ELCA put God’s Word and all of its teachings on the natural order, marriage and family up for a...

A Gentle But Firm WarningSalt and Light (Hat tip to Christopher Schwinger for this commentary) John Piper has a most interesting post at his blog. It is on the tornado that unexpectedly hit downtown Minneapolis last Wednesday. It hit the convention center and the church across the street. It hit at 2pm. That was the exact time the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ECLA) was going to dicuss “Consideration: Proposed Social Statement on Human Sexuality.” So what you say? They were going to tackle the issue of “whether practicing homosexuality is a behavior that should disqualify a person from the...

Much of the damage may be gone but there's a lot of blame left behind after a tornado touchdown in downtown Minneapolis. The storm struck the cross at Central Lutheran Church. Crews spent Thursday removing it from the steeple. Some bloggers say what happened to the church is a reaction from God to what's going on across the street. John Piper the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, wrote in a blog: "the tornado in Minneapolis was a gentle but firm warning to the ELCA and all of us: Turn from the approval of sin." Nearly 2,000 Lutherans from...

Some things are not up for a vote. Some things we as creatures do not have the right to even think we can change. We as creatures have forgotten our place. Instead of prostrating ourselves face down on the ground before God, Our Father and Our Creator, in humble obedience and prayer, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America—as a shrinking “sideline” denomination—decided to continue its in-your-face unfaithful and disrespectful conduct toward God, Our Maker, ignoring all interventions, warnings and signs. The ELCA put God’s Word and all of its teachings on the natural order, marriage and family up for a...

Here’s the church… Where’s the steeple?The inverted Cross atop Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis dangled from the steeple on Wednesday following a rare downtown twister as the ELCA Churchwide Assembly was in legislative session across the street at the Minneapolis Convention Center.Things that make you go, hmmm…Countless spiritual souls over the ages have commented on seeing God in all things. So, how about manifestations of physical evils found within nature, or, as the American justice system calls them: Acts of God… Perhaps a lesson from the fig tree — re-reading Mark 13: 5-6, 28-29 — occured Wednesday on 3rd...

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ― The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning for the counties that include Minneapolis and St. Paul, and says it has received a report of a tornado just north of downtown. The weather services say it received reports of the tornado at 2:11 p.m. Wednesday. Radar shows the storm is moving north at about 20 mph. It reportedly damaged a downtown church. The tornado warning covers central Anoka County, northeastern Hennepin County and western Ramsey County. It remains in effect until 2:45 p.m. Electric Fetus reported on their Twitter page that their building sustained damage and...

By its sixth hour sitting on a deserted tarmac, Continental Express Flight 2816 had taken on the smell of diapers and an overwhelmed lone toilet. What should have been a 2 1/2-hour trip from Houston to Minneapolis had moved into its ninth hour, and the 47 passengers on board had burned through the free pretzels and drinks handed out early in their Friday night flight from Houston. It took 12 hours and a new flight crew for Flight 2816 to complete its journey. Passengers on another flight that had been diverted to the airport in Rochester, Minn., because of storms...

MINNEAPOLIS — Ahmednur Ali's family fled the chaos and violence of their East African homeland Somalia in the 1990s, eventually making their way to Minnesota like thousands of their compatriots. While many of the estimated 32,000 Somalis who settled in the state have struggled to adapt, Ali flourished. By age 20, he had blazed a path to Minneapolis' Augsburg College, where he played soccer, studied political science and aspired to a political career modeled on President Barack Obama's. He was shot and killed last September outside a busy community center where he worked part-time as a youth counselor, and prosecutors...

A lawyer for Adbifatah Yusuf Isse, of one of the Somali men indicted on terrorism charges, says that Isse was persuaded to join the fight by someone at a local mosque. While some say that Salah Osman Ahmed and Abdifatah Yusuf Isse attended the Abubakar Islamic Center in Minneapolis, leaders there say it is not true. For the first time, Imam Sheik Abdirahman spoke out about allegations surrounding the Mosque. "We are hearing a lot of rumors," said Sheik Abdirahman. He has been the Imam at the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center for more than 10 years. He says that he...

He was so small and thin that his black slacks bagged in the seat and bunched up on his Puma tennis shoes. The black security uniform shirt sagged on his frame like a throw blanket, leaving the U.S. flag sewed to the shoulder at half-mast on his biceps. Magistrate Judge Susan Richard Nelson asked Salah Osman Ahmed if he understood the charges, that he was being indicted for aiding terrorists and plotting to "kill, kidnap, maim or injure" people in foreign countries. Ahmed's voice was barely a whisper: "Yes," he said, stroking a faint beard. In the second row of...

Pajamas Media | Friday, December 12, 2008 The funeral for Shirwa Ahmed last week in Burnsville, Minnesota, punctuated a growing national security threat metastasizing inside the U.S. — one Homeland Security and law enforcement authorities have quickly taken note of. Ahmed, who killed himself in a suicide bombing attack in Somalia in October, is just one of up to 40 men from the Twin Cities area who have disappeared and are feared to have returned to their homeland for training with the al-Shabaab terrorist group to wage jihad. The FBI is investigating similar disappearances in other major Somali communities in...

A federal grand jury has indicted a Brooklyn Park man of Somali descent on charges of conspiracy to aid a terrorist organization and conspiracy to "kill, kidnap, maim or injure." Salah Osman Amed made his first appearance in federal court in Minneapolis this afternoon before Magistrate Judge Susan Richard Nelson. While the indictment against Amed was unsealed, it was not immediately available after the hearing to provide details. SNIP After the hearing federal officials would not comment whether Amed's case was connected to the investigation into the disappearance of up to 20 local men of Somali descent. It is believed...

His remains lie a few hundred yards from a bustling highway, in a section of the Burnsville cemetery reserved for Muslims called the Garden of Eden. There is no marker. Only dirt and small rocks cover the final resting place of Shirwa Ahmed, who lived most of his life almost as anonymously. But the manner of the 26-year-old Minneapolis man's death has put him at the center of one of the most far-reaching U.S. counterterrorism investigations since 9/11. Nobody knows for sure why Ahmed left Minnesota in late 2007, or how he wound up obliterated in a bomb crater in...

The mother of a 20-year-old Somali man who went missing from Minneapolis says her son has been killed in Somalia. Abayte Ahmed (ah-BYE'-tee ah-med) says through an interpreter that she and her husband have identified their son, Jamal Bana (BAH'-nuh), in a photo showing a dead body in Somalia. Bana's father saw the photo Saturday morning during his daily checks of news reports on the fighting in Somalia. The family has been looking for signs of their son since he disappeared last November. After seeing the photo, Ahmed says she and her husband spoke by phone to someone in Somalia...

For the second time in two days, a Somali man from Minneapolis has been reported killed in his war-torn homeland, a relative confirmed Sunday. Zakaria Maruf, 30, who is believed to have been among the first wave of young Somali men to leave Minnesota for Somalia over the past two years, was killed Saturday in Mogadishu, the relative said. Maruf is the fourth Somali man from the Twin Cities to have died in Somalia since October. The relative said she did not know how Maruf was killed, adding that she learned of his death in a phone conversation with his...

he mother of a 20-year-old Somali man missing from Minneapolis says her son has been killed in Somalia. Abayte Ahmed (ah-BYE'-tee ah-med) said Sunday through an interpreter that she and her husband identified their son, Jamal Bana (BAH'-nuh), in a photo showing a dead body in Somalia. Bana's father saw the photo Saturday while viewing online news. Somali activists believe more than a dozen young men have gone missing from the Minneapolis area during the last couple years—recruited, they say, by radical elements in Somalia. Bana disappeared in November. Ahmed says after seeing the photo, she and her husband spoke...

A third Minneapolis Somali man has been killed in his homeland, community leaders said Saturday, his family having learned his fate by stumbling onto a website that contained photos of his bloody corpse. While the body was identified only as that of a "foreign jihadist" or "fighter," a closeup of the face left Jamal Bana's mother with no doubt. The young man had been shot through the temple. FBI officials said Saturday they could not confirm the news. Abdirizak Bihi, a community activist who visited with Bana's mother at her south Minneapolis home Saturday, said that Bana's family learned of...

SNIPPET: "A federal grand jury has indicted a group of Somali-Americans on terror-related charges after more than 20 young men from the Minneapolis area were recruited to join an Al Qaeda-linked group in Somalia, according to two law enforcement sources. The indictments have yet to be unsealed, but an announcement is expected in the next few weeks. One law enforcement source told FOX News the grand jury already has handed up indictments against at least three people. Among those charged is a man from Minneapolis who went to war-torn Somalia and then, about four months ago, relocated to Seattle, according...

A St. Louis Park man says he was taunted and pelted with rocks after he left the Twin Cities Gay Pride Parade, and the attack was caught on camera. The video has already received 1,800 views after it was posted Monday on YouTube. The clip shows boys and teenagers trailing 37-year-old Adam Schreifels and taunting him after learning he's gay. "We hate fags, disgusting. Just very inappropriate things to be saying," Schreifels said. He says while he was shocked by the comments, he wasn’t scared. "Some of them threw rocks. At first, I got defensive. Then I thought okay, they...

On May 6, 1945, Edward Kennedy, chief of the Associated Press western front staff dispatched the scoop of a lifetime. At General Dwight Eisenhower's headquarters at Reims, France, General Gustaf Jodl, German army chief of staff, signed the terms of surrender at 7:41 p.m. central war time. The European Theater of World War II was officially over. Less than 12 hours later, at 8:35 a.m. central war time on May 7, Kennedy's dispatch was released by the New York desk of the Associated Press, and the world went wild with joy. The Minneapolis Morning Tribune ran the headline, "Announcement Due...

He was a slight and sickly teen, nearsighted and, reportedly, confined to a room away from the fighting that raged throughout the city. But the reported death last week of Burhan Hassan, the second Minneapolis man of Somali descent believed to have died in Somalia, has jolted his family and the Twin Cities Somali community. Hassan, who should have graduated from Minneapolis Roosevelt High School last weekend, was reportedly killed in Mogadishu, Somalia's largely lawless capital. He is one of up to 20 local men and boys of Somali descent to have disappeared over the past two years. Their disappearance...

Burhan Hassan's family says he was gunned down in Somalia. Hassan was one of about 20 young men who vanished from the streets of Minneapolis in November, only to reappear as warriors in Somalia. Abubakar Assadique is the mosque Hassan attended. Yesterday, there were prayers there for Hassan, but there are also allegations from Hassan's family: they say the mosque was responsible for the 17-year-old's decision to go to Somalia. They also say that his death may be connected to his decision to return to Minnesota. The mosque denies any involvement in any of the young men's decision to go...

A Somali teenager who vanished from the Twin Cities last fall has met his death in his homeland. The family of Burhan Hassan learned on Friday that the teen died in Somalia. Hassan disappeared from the Twin Cities last November. He's just one of dozens who have vanished, feared recruited by radical elements in Somali. According to Hassan's uncle, Abdirizak Bihi, the family does not know exactly how he died but they think the terrorist group Al Shabab had something to do with it.

Another one of the Somali youths who vanished from the Twin Cities last fall has apparently met his death in his homeland. Burhan Hassan, a studious teenager from Minneapolis, died in Mogadishu and was buried there, an uncle said Saturday evening. "We received a call from those people in Mogadishu. They confirmed the unfortunate news that our son was killed," said Abdirizak Bihi, whose sister is Hassan's mother. FBI officials could not confirm the news Saturday night. Bihi said his sister received a call Friday morning informing her that Hassan had been killed and that he did not die in...

Individuals wearing rainbow-colored sashes at the Cathedral of St. Paul on Pentecost Sunday May 31 will not be allowed to receive Communion, according to a statement released by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Statement from the archdiocese The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has released the following statement. The archdiocese has received word that a group dissenting from the church’s teaching on sexuality will be wearing signs of protest (rainbow sashes) at the Cathedral of St. Paul on Pentecost Sunday during the noon Mass. Those wearing such sashes will not be allowed to receive Holy Communion, since...

Note: The following text is a quote: Minneapolis Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Al-Qaeda Mohammed Abdullah Warsame, a 35-year-old resident of Minneapolis, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support and resources to al-Qaeda Warsame, a naturalized Canadian citizen of Somali descent, entered his plea of guilty this afternoon before U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim in federal court in Minneapolis. At sentencing, which was set for 1:30 pm on July 9, 2009, Warsame faces a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. He has agreed to...

Flanked by two prominent activist attorneys and backed by a throng of supporters, Minneapolis resident Rosemary Williams spent her 60th birthday in court Wednesday, resisting a lender's attempt to evict her from her foreclosed house. She and supporters vowed that if she loses in court, they will use non-violent civil disobedience to try to block authorities from removing her from the south Minneapolis house where she's lived for 23 years.

“Somalis, FBI in other U.S. cities on alert for terrorist recruiting” “While Minneapolis is the core of an investigation, leaders elsewhere want to keep youth from being drawn to violence.” COLUMBUS, OHIO - SNIPPET: “”No one has disappeared,” said Ahmed Hosh, who works with Somali youths in Columbus. “But if those who did the recruiting were individuals talking to someone alone, the scary thing is it could happen here.” The Twin Cities area has been at the center of the federal investigation ever since a 27-year-old from Minneapolis blew himself up in a suicide attack in Somalia last fall. But...

April 04, 2009 Somali immigrants remake Minneapolis By David Paulin In case you missed it, the New York Times has been running an in-depth series examining the impact on the country of massive levels of immigration, which is unprecedented both in numbers and fact that many of the newcomers are from the Third World, not from Europe as in the past. "Remade in America," as the series is called, implies that America is remaking the immigrants. But if you read between the lines in the Times series, just the opposite seems to be the case. The immigrants are remaking America!...

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. FBI spokesman E.K. Wilson confirmed the searches but wouldn't elaborate on the reason.

MINNEAPOLIS - One by one, 18 months ago, they began disappearing: Young boys, academic overachievers, the caretakers in large families, responsible and conscientious all. A few months later, three or four, from St. Paul, Minn., like the others, simultaneously went missing. Then, last Nov. 4, seven or eight young men - whose families assumed they were out in the streets, celebrating the election of Barack Obama - vaporized. MORE: AMERICAN STARS IN TERRORIST RECRUITMENT VIDEO One of them was 17-year-old Burhan Hassan. "My sister calls me," says Burhan's uncle, Abdirizak Bihi. "I ask, 'Did you vote?' " Most Somali-Americans do...

In case you missed it, the New York Times has been running an in-depth series examining the impact on the country of massive levels of immigration, which is unprecedented both in numbers and fact that many of the newcomers are from the Third World, not from Europe as in the past. "Remade in America," as the series is called, implies that America is remaking the immigrants. But if you read between the lines in the Times series, just the opposite seems to be the case. The immigrants are remaking America! Consider what has happened in Minnesota, a place the Times...

The Star Tribune has posted a $1.8 million operating loss in its first six weeks in bankruptcy, according to court documents filed Friday. The paper grossed $24.2 million from Jan. 15 to March 1, and spent $26 million. Management also racked up a hefty $2.2 million in reorganization costs, which are not reflected in the operating loss. Until now, Strib has managed a profit even as its business deteriorated and it stopped paying off $480 million in debt. In 2008, for example, the operating profit was $31 million. The danger for a bankrupt business is that no one will lend...

After detailed maps of local military operations and anti-government slogans were found in a south Minneapolis apartment, federal authorities are now involved in the investigation. The three tenants were evicted from the property this weekend, but what they left behind has caught the interest of the FBI and Homeland Security. A cleaning crew made the discovery shortly before 12 p.m. on Tuesday. One of the workers told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS they noticed maps on the walls with government chains and commands. Inside a closet, they found numerous rolls of maps. Authorities said the details are disturbing. "We ran into a...

MINNEAPOLIS - SNIPPET: "According to the Minneapolis Police Department, more than 100 loud booms have been heard since last summer, always at night, and often on a Wednesday or a Friday. The most recent reports are all coming from a stretch along the Mississippi River, between Lake Street and the Ford bridge. About half the reports turn out to be either electrical transformers or fireworks -- but the other half are unidentified exploding objects."

SNIPPET: "Dozens of Somali children have left the United States in secret to join the Islamist fight against the foreign forces in Somalia. The largest group comes from Somali families in Minneapolis and Minnesota.[...]" SNIPPET: "Abdinur Hussein, a Somali national who lives in Minnesota, the state with the largest Somali community in the U.S., believes that more than 500 youths might have gone to Somalia to fight alongside Islamist rebels."

Today was the 16th day of the Minnesota court proceedings to determine which of the ballots from the senate campaign will be counted resulting in a definitive answer whether Norm Coleman or Al Franken will be representing the state in the US Senate. Coleman has been a daily attendee at the trial, participating in the case to determine his political future and making himself available to the press. Franken on the other hand, has behaved more like a Borscht Belt Comedian doing his Florida Circuit for a few weeks. In this critical time for his nascent political career, he has...

Back in March 2007 I first wrote about the Minnesota school that that was run by terrorist-connected Imams and funded by public dollars. I started the post with: I wonder where the ACLU is on this this one? There is a charter school in Minneapolis that is run by Imams, has a central carpeted prayer space where there are regular prayer services, and serves halal (kind of Muslim Kosher) food in its cafeteria. Well except during Ramadan, when the student body is encouraged to fast from sunrise to sunset. This is not a religious school according to the school's leaders...

Reporting from Minneapolis -- Tall and lean, with a wispy mustache and shy smile, 17-year-old Burhan Hassan chalked up A's last fall as a senior at Roosevelt High School, vowing to become a doctor or lawyer. After school and on weekends, he studied Islam at the nearby Abubakar As-Saddique mosque. He joined its youth group. "He wanted to go to Harvard," said his uncle Osman Ahmed. "That was his dream." Instead Hassan has gone to Somalia, the anarchic East African nation that his family fled when he was a toddler. On election day, Hassan and five other youths slipped away...

Somalis in U.S. draw FBI attention War at home seen as lure The FBI is expanding contacts with Somali immigrant communities in the U.S., especially in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, fearing that terrorists are recruiting young men for suicide missions in their homeland. FBI Special Agent E.K. Wilson, spokesman for the Twin Cities FBI field office, described the effort as community outreach. Many members of the Somali community are concerned over disappearances, he said.

CHICAGO (AFP) – The FBI is reaching out to the Somali-American community amid reports that young men are being recruited to be trained as suicide bombers in Somalia, officials said Thursday. "There are reports of kids missing from different parts of the country," said FBI special agent E.K. Wilson. Citing Department of Justice policy, Wilson said he could not confirm whether the FBI was actively investigating whether a terrorist recruiting cell was operating in the Somali-American community. About 20-40 Somali youth are reported to have disappeared in Minneapolis where about half of the estimated 200,000 Somali-Americans reside. Wilson said the...

The Somali community in the Metro has become fearful after reports that one of their own was a suicidal bomber. Federal sources say Shirwa Ahmed blew himself up in a suicide bombing in northern Somali last month. They also believe he was a recruiter in the Twin Cities for a terrorist network. Government sources believe that as many as 40 young men who knew Ahmed, recently left Minnesota without telling their families. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS talked to Ahmed's family. They said they have not heard from him in weeks. The report was the talk of this busy Somali market on...