Democrats and local media (but I repeat myself) are in denial about the scale of fraud in Minnesota. The Minneapolis Star Tribune puts on a master class today in political propaganda.
The paper is trying to counter this article from the City Journal headlined,
“The Largest Funder of Al-Shabaab Is the Minnesota Taxpayer”
How some of the state’s welfare funds ended up in the hands of a terror group.
City Journal (C-J) reports on how some of the money stolen by fraudsters in Minnesota found their way into the hands of overseas terrorists, via international funds transfers. C-J does not argue that the billion-dollar frauds were committed with the intent of funding terrorists. The terrorists were enriched as a byproduct of fraud, not a direct pipeline from taxpayers. Greed was the primary, if not the exclusive, motivation for the fraud.
Published at 5:00 this morning, story #1,
Minnesota Somali community grapples with fraud cases while pushing back against stereotypes.
It’s the logical error (fallacy) of division. Most Somalis living in Minnesota are good people, so that the multi-billion frauds could not have occurred. It’s akin to “the riots were mostly peaceful” dodge.
Published at 5:08 this morning, story #2,
Are Minnesota fraudsters funneling money to terrorists? Explosive claim has little evidence.
It’s the classic strawman fallacy. You deliberately misstate the claim being made, then “refute” the claim not made, then call the original claim “debunked.”
The Star Tribune writes early in story #2,
How true is all of this?
While it’s accurate that fraudsters have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from Minnesota government programs in recent years, and that many of the perpetrators have been of Somali descent.
First of all, the amount of money stolen has already been proven to be in the billions of dollars category. The Star Tribune knows this, having reported on the frauds for years.
Not “many” have been Somali, but most, more than 50 percent, well over half. The Star Tribune begins by denying the scope and the basic facts underlying the frauds.
In paragraph five of story #1, the Star Tribune admits,
Most of the dozens of people charged, convicted and sentenced in those schemes are of East African descent.
Farther down in story #1,
Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Minnesota Somalis are the victims of a campaign to demonize them.
So, the fraud never occurred? Left unmentioned by the Star Tribune is the action in Texas last week, where CAIR itself has been designated as “a foreign terrorist organization.”
The Star Tribune notes,
Sen. Zaynab Mohamed pushed back against the notion that fraud is rampant in the Somali community.
Mohamed, DFL-Minneapolis, credited the state Senate for passing a bill last session to create an independent office of inspector general to provide more oversight of state programs.
“Somali legislators have helped get that done,” she said. The bill failed in the House.
What the Star Tribune fails to note is that the state House of Representatives is locked in a 67-67 tie between Democrats and Republicans. There are several state Representatives of Somali ethnicity. Every single member of the House who is of Somali background voted against the bill and it failed on a tie vote. So, no, Somali legislators prevented it from getting done.
The Star Tribune quotes a University of Minnesota professor, Abdi Samatar,
Samatar wishes the Somali community had mobilized against fraud, but said criminality isn’t specific to certain races or religions.
All true. Buy you know what? It’s not too late! The community could still mobilize against fraud, nothing is stopping them.
