Free Republic

The Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Justine Damond was put on an accelerated police cadet program that required only seven months of training, a nontraditional route that aims to help those who have a college degree enter law enforcement. Mohamed Noor, 31, shot Damond, 40, after she called 911 to report a sexual assault behind her home. When she approached the driver’s side of the squad car, Noor fired from the passenger side, across his partner, killing Damond. The Minnesota Police Department has been under fire since the July 15 shooting. Many have questioned Noor’s experience and training after...

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Some in the Twin Cities Somali community are boycotting the Mall of America for their end of Ramadan celebration this week because of charges against Black Lives Matter protesters in connection to a rally held on one of the busiest shopping days of last year. In a press release from Black Lives Matter, it says hundreds in the Somali community will boycott the mall for the Eid celebration, which comes at the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting in Islamic tradition.

Surveillance video, obtained by Channel 9 shows more than a dozen people stealing weapons from a gun show at the Central Florida Fairgrounds in Orange County over the Fourth of July weekend. According to Orlando police, nearly 20 guns were taken from one of the gun show booths after the show closed for the day on July 6. Police said the weapons include handguns and rifles, and those guns are still on the streets. Channel 9's Kathi Belich learned the group of burglars got into the building through a door on the east end of the main building by smashing...

There are plenty of good reasons for making Barack Obama a one-term president, among them his adding of $5 trillion to the national deficit and presiding over the slowest recovery since World War II. But reason goes out the window along with common sense for dozens of Twitter followers who have posted threats to riot if Romney wins. Twitchy offers up an assortment of tweets that center on this theme. The majority of them are in black “eye dialect. Here is a sampling: I Heard Mitt Romney , Tryna Take Away Food Stamps , If He Do ."IMA START A...

Nearly one in three people with Somali ancestry in the United States live in Minnesota, although some activists claim there are more. The 1 in 3 estimate comes from new survey data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The bureau's American Community Survey says there are about 25,000 people with Somali ancestry in Minnesota and about 85,700 in the United States. The other states with large Somali populations are Ohio, Washington and California, but their communities are much smaller than Minnesota's.

Racial tension has been building at Owatonna High School this week after a fight broke out Monday between white and Somali students, prompting heightened police presence, backpack searches and widespread parental worries. Owatonna Police Chief Shaun LaDue said between six and 15 officers have been assigned this week to the school, which usually uses one liaison officer. Principal Don Johnson said the problems began when two white students wrote papers in recent weeks that were "inflammatory and very disrespectful." One student handed out copies of his paper to friends, while the other posted his on a class blog. Both were...

About an hour ago, the Associated Press reported that the crew of the US-flagged merchant vessel Maersk Alabama repelled a pirate attack off the coast of Somalia.  This is the same ship that was boarded by pirates last April.  At that time, the captain of the ship was taken hostage and was held by pirates in a lifeboat for five days.  The incident ended when US Navy SEAL snipers simultaneously killed all three pirates aboard the lifeboat in a nighttime action.  This time, the pirates never got aboard the ship. What was the difference?  Guns.As the AP report makes abundantly clear,...

When she was 16, Crystal Renn signed a $250,000 modeling contract and moved to the city. But after starving herself for years to stay at 95 pounds, she gave it all up to become a plus-size model -- and finally, at size 12, achieved major success. With her memoir, "Hungry," due out Sept. 8, Renn tells her story to The Post. Nine years ago, when I was 14 years old, a modeling scout spotted me at an etiquette class in my hometown of Clinton, Miss., and pulled me aside to show me a photo of supermodel Gisele in a clingy...

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...

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. -- Some workers at a local plant will no longer to be able to take their Labor Day holiday because of religious reasons. Workers at the Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day but will instead be granted the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr. According to a news release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a new five-year contract at the plant included the change to accommodate Muslim workers at the plant. Tyson's director of media relations Gary Mickelson said the contract includes eight paid holidays...

Food riots and anti-US protests in Somalia are compounding the chaos in the long-suffering war zone in the Horn of Africa. Meanwhile, an Amnesty International Report released Tuesday alleged that Islamist militants, as well as US-backed Ethiopian and Somali government troops, are committing widespread atrocities against civilians in the capital, Mogadishu. And a recent US strike against what it says was an Al Qaeda leader in Somalia has sparked further protests. The Associated Press reports that Tuesday saw a second day of protests over rising food prices, with hundreds of youths burning tires, throwing stones, and blocking roads. Somalia is...

A Somali arrives in Minneapolis as a new immigrant to the United States. He stops the first person he sees walking down the street and says, "Thank you Mr. American for letting me in this country, giving me housing, food stamps, free medical care, and free education!" The passerby says, "You are mistaken, I am Mexican." The man goes on and encounters another passerby. "Thank you for having such a beautiful country here in America!" The person says, "I not American, I Vietnamese." The new arrival walks further, and the next person he sees, he stops, shakes his hand and...

MAHE, Seychelles - Pirates who attacked a cruise ship off the coast of Somalia grinned as they aimed grenade-launchers and machine guns at the deck and staterooms, some passengers said Monday, recounting the ordeal after safely docking in this Indian Ocean archipelago. The ship escaped by shifting to high speed and changing course, and the cruise line said Monday the crew also used a sonic weapon, which blasts earsplitting noise in a directed beam, as it tried to ward off the attack. "I tell you, it was a very frightening experience," Charles Supple, of Fiddletown, Calif., said by phone. The...