From a column in the Minneapolis Star Tribune,
Rash: Celebrating Minnesota’s rich heritage, 200 years after Norwegians first docked in the U.S.
The occasion for John Rash’s column was a visit to Minnesota by Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon. Rush writes,
The crown prince’s itinerary included several other stops, including Norway House in Minneapolis, where he cut a ribbon at the new Saga Center, which touts “an interactive exhibit utilizing cutting-edge technology for families of all ages to explore connections to Norway.”
Such connections are “foundational to who we are as Minnesotans,” said [Gov. Tim] Walz. “We are incredibly proud of that heritage.”
Are we? This column would not have been the least bit remarkable had it been published 25 years ago. Through the lens of 2025, it reads quite differently.
I intend no disrespect to Rash, the Crown Prince or anyone else. However, at the risk of being rude, the column may represent a species of hate crime in today’s world.
200 years ago, Minnesota wasn’t even a state, yet. Rash writes of the 1925 centennial celebration,
Many celebrating the centennial were immigrants or first-generation Americans, since Norwegian immigration peaked in 1882.
What a difference another century makes. In 1925, the top three nations of origin for the state’s foreign born population included Sweden, Norway, and Germany.
Today, there are believed to be around 500,000 foreign-born residents among the total Minnesota population of about 5.8 million. Of those, around 100,000 are thought to be illegal aliens.
The top three nations of origin include Mexico (59,000), Somalia (43,000). and India (31,000). Of the original three, only Germany (6,800) still features in the top 20. Russia (8,100) is the only other European nation appearing on the top-20 list.
Data on the countries of origin can be found here.
The new reality is reflected in state government. The Dept. of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) operates an Office of New Americans. The Office publishes a “Welcome Guide for Newcomers,” available in six languages. Norwegian is not among the six.
It’s not clear from DEED’s official org chart, but the Office appears to be headed by an Assistant Commissioner for Immigrant & Refugee Affairs, Abdiwahab Mohamed. According to Comm. Mohamed’s LinkedIn profile, he earned his degrees at the University of Nairobi.
Scott has a piece up this morning on Minnesota’s original fraud scandal, involving subsidies for childcare centers. Scott reprints a column he wrote back in 2018. Quoting Scott,
A high-trust, traditionally homogenous community with a deep civil society marked by thrift, industriousness, and openness, Minnesota seemed like the ideal place to locate an indigent Somali population now estimated at 100,000.
That 100,000 figure would include both first- and second-generation newcomers and is no doubt higher today.
In a famous anecdote involving the late Nobel-prize-winning economist Milton Friedman,
A Scandinavian economist once said to Milton Friedman, ‘In Scandinavia, we have no poverty’. Milton Friedman replied, ‘That’s interesting, because in America, among Scandinavians, we have no poverty, either’.
The point being, it is much easier to operate a Scandinavian-style, cradle-to-grave social welfare state in a high-trust, relatively homogenous society.
I don’t typically use the phrase “high-trust.” Rather, I’ve taken to describing Minnesota government as operating on the honor system. State bureaucrats trust, but do not verify.
A case-in-point came to us late last week courtesy of the St. Cloud Times. They report,
State revokes St. Cloud health care license after manager charged with fraud
Details,
The Minnesota Department of Human Services has temporarily revoked the license for a St. Cloud company that provides at-home care.
A DHS order revoked 24hrs Home Care LLC’s license effective Oct. 10. The DHS wrote in the order that the company’s license is temporarily revoked because its manager, Anwar Adow, is charged with fraud. His case is still in progress.
Here we have an individual, Adow, who was charged by the Feds on September 18 with allegedly defrauding a housing program operated by DHS. Twenty-two (22) days later, DHS finally gets around to stopping his participation in a separate DHS program providing at-home care.
A week after filing the case against Adow and seven other defendants, the Feds filed yet another fraud case. They reported,
Hassan Defrauded Autism Program of $14M, Carried Out Feeding Our Future Fraud, Bought Real Estate in Kenya with Taxpayer Money.
In this case the defendant was one Asha Farhan Hassan, age 28. But wait, that’s not all!
Hassan was also charged with participating in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, for which she received $465,000.
So, she was known to have stolen almost a half-million dollars from one state agency, the Department of Education, back in 2020-21. So a second state agency, DHS, allowed her to continue stealing millions more (allegedly) from another welfare program, right up until December 2024?
That’s not “high trust,” that’s something else, entirely.
