Rampant fraud on Walz’s watch. The buck stops there. End of story. I voted for the guy 2x and think he’s a decent man who has simply been caught up in his 15 minutes of fame. Shifting further left and not taking responsibility under his watch has cost him my vote. There are no excuses. Own your shit and take accountability. If he worked for me or any private enterprise he would be fired on the spot. Of If I budget 2 million dollars for something and my checking balance is overdrawn by a 100 million I expect someone to notify me. There are a lot of people responsible besides the governor. Unless they said something they have all got to go. End of story.
We keep giving the Republicans gift after gift. By allowing extremists such as Omar to have the pulpit, Republicans have no problem whatsoever finding soundbites to use against us.
I hope to hear far less deflection in the Somali community. When people say “It wasn’t our fault, it was the system,” it’s the type of denial that just hands freebies to Republicans. Yes, it is wrong to blame everyone in the Somali community for the fraud. A couple hundred out of 100,000 is indeed a small number. At the same time, the high percentage of these fraudsters who are Somali is not some sort of random statistical anomaly. Look in the mirror and help us figure out what went wrong with these people’s moral compass.
It's beyond ironic that the fraudster-in-chief is smearing all Somalis as fraudsters. I'd say we should lump all people who look like Trump into the same category, but there really aren't that many lard-assed orange golfers with a spun-sugar pouf of hair out there.
It's also ironic, or irritating, that the virtue-signaling lefties (And I'm a left-leaning Dem, just without virtue) were quick to blame the entire police force for the actions of Chauvin et al. And when I'd say, "Well, not all cops . . . " they'd say, "the MPD has a culture of racist violence". Probably true, and kudos to Chief O'Hara's efforts at reform, for which he gets no credit from the defunding left.
But if I say that Somalia has consistently been ranked the most corrupt country in the world (just recently edged out by Sudan), thus perhaps a culture of corruption, the fur flies. I'm an Islamophobic, racist, MAGA elitist who should move to Edina if I have no compassion. (Whoa, some of my best friends live . . . not really.)
But I agree that the DFL's seeming lack of awareness of how badly this will play for them is a huge concern. At a recent meeting with DFL leadership some of us raised the Somali/fraud question and the response was a quick rebuke of Trump calling all Somalis trash. We replied that there is the perception if not the reality that Dems avoided dealing with the fraud because they didn't want to appear Islamophobic. Not sure that response landed.
This may be the genius of Trump. His vulgar attack on Ilhan and Somalis makes us rise to defend them rather than condemn them.
Susan Lenfestey - Not to take this too far afield, but I had a brief "Oh....!" moment reading your comment. By which I mean the opposite of an "Aha!" moment. I have been re-engaging in DFL politics since having to step back somewhat due to medical issues, and then Covid, 2018-2022. But I was very active in DFL, simultaneously in Mpls where I live, and in the East Metro where I worked before retiring. Call it 2000-2018, but even before that, too.
I went "Oh...!" when you said "...a recent meeting with DFL leadership..." and I realized that unlike when I first moved to MN (in '84) to about the mid-teens, eras for which I can still conjure names and faces of people I knew personally who were "DFL leadership", I have no idea today who you'd have been meeting with. I'm not asking you to name names - I'm sure you had your reasons not to.
But for me, a HUGE part of the DFL problem today is the DFL is largely leaderless. We have many office-holders, and I've still been in a room with, and talked to, almost all of them, but none are what I would regard as leaders of the Party (as opposed to being a leader of some FACTION of the party, which some of them are good at).
I don't know "where to go" with this insight, but where the phrase "meeting with DFL leadership" would once have conjured for me an image of a room populated, depending on era, by a Mondale (father or son...) or Vento or Sabo or Wellstone or Franken or Margaret or Ken or Dayton or Roger Moe or Bakk (and I'm leaving out literally dozens) ...today the room it conjures up - at least "instantly" - is empty.
Minnesota Reformer has done some but I think not enough coverage of Ilhan's husband's businesses and his partner Will Hailer. I knew Will in high school and followed his career with interest as he rose from DFL volunteer to Keith Ellison's campaign manager to executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, a top aid when Keith was at the DNC, then Ilhan's campaign manager and finally her husband's business partner. There are at least three business scandals tied directly to Will with the implication that there is more shady overseas business that hasn't yet come to light. To me he is the thread that ties Keith, Ilhan, and lax corruption oversight together. I have not voted for Keith or Ilhan for years because I think it's very likely they are involved in joint corruption and have even voted for their Republican challenges despite being a lifelong Democrat. Cleaning house is necessary and if the DFL primary electorate won't do it the general electorate must.
A Will Hailer story would make for an interesting investigation, but anything connected to Ilhan Omar carries the near-automatic risk of being labeled a right-wing racist simply for raising questions. This dynamic has become a genuine problem on the left: offering an honest assessment of Democratic leaders—especially Omar—often invites accusations of bad faith. The context is complicated by the relentless and frequently racist attacks she receives from the right. That combination leaves little room for thoughtful, nuanced reporting.
Thank you for this important and timely piece. I almost died when I saw that Osman was one of those taking center stage on this issue, as a spokesperson?! All the info is out there on CM Osman, and some in AG, Keith Ellison's own words.*
I have family roots going back many years in Ward 6, so I am deeply disappointed in ALL in that ward for NOT putting forth a suitable/winnable candidate for City Council, one with a demonstrated history of personal ethics in their dealings with that ward, the City, and the State.
What Osman and others like him did, was hurt the Somali community, and everyone in the city. We are being dirtied up by having a crime-adjacent representation on our City Council, one that we PAY to help make decisions about how tax payer money is to be spent?!
The DFL is messing up big time on all this, and we REALLY cannot afford it. If MN continues to list even further purple, well, we deserve what is coming.
Osman's Wiki page under " personal history".
Connection to the Feeding Our Future controversy
edit
On February 17, 2025, federal prosecutors presented evidence connecting Osman's former nonprofit, Stigma-Free International, to the large-scale fraud case centering Feeding Our Future.[16] Prosecutors alleged that Osman, his wife Ilo Amba, and two others, founded the nonprofit as a shell company before transferring it to others who were able to commit fraud under the nonprofit's name. Amba operated a Feeding Our Future food site, which received more than $450,000 in reimbursements from the program.[17][18][19] Neither Osman nor Amba has been charged with any crime.[20]
About a month after turning Stigma-Free over to new directors, Amba incorporated another nonprofit, Urban Advantage Center. Urban Advantage Center was shut down for civil violations in a settlement with state attorney general Keith Ellison, who alleged that Amba created a “sham” charity to enrich herself.[21]
The attorney general is not responsible for, or even able to, prosecute this. It would be the county in which it occurred, which is likely Hennepin or the federal government. The attorney general's office has very limited possecutorial authority. It seems like the feds are only going after the major big players who stole millions of dollars or more. Perhaps the local counties need to charge these lesser amounts of fraud.
"Osman was first elected to the City Council in a 2020 special election to fill the vacant Ward 6 seat, and was re-elected last year. Ellison endorsed his re-election, even though about a month later his office filed a lawsuit against Amba’s nonprofit. Ellison and Osman are both Democrats."
Unfortunately too many have bought into "we are good because we say we are good" and "you should not have to pay, only the rich should have to pay". At some point people will recognize that the actions are just not there. Has anyone noticed that the Republicans are placing all Democrats in the same pot, extreme or not. The worst scenario for us would be to lose the few sane and reasonable representatives we have without losing more of the DSA. How come no one is talking about how fast Ilhan Ohan's wealth has increased on just a few investments?
Many have pointed out Ilhan’s suddenly increased wealth and have posted the financial disclosure she herself filed, but her supporters continue to claim that is a lie and that she is not a multimillionaire. smh
Yet I have not seen it covered on the local news, is it even possible to be that lucky with a couple of single investments? There is probable impropriety here and it should be local news until it us properly investigated.
"In another program, aimed to provide therapy for autistic children, prosecutors said providers recruited children in Minneapolis’s Somali community, falsely certifying them as qualifying for autism treatment and paying their parents kickbacks for their cooperation."
if you had told me in the mid 90s that by 2025 I would be sick of my party and basically no longer identify as a Democrat I never would have believed you. not in a million years. but here we are. thanks Minneapolis, thanks Minnesota <sarcasm>
I hear you, Paul. I had always been so happy to be a Minneapolitan and a DFLer, but now I feel alienated from many fellow residents who seem to have been taken in by a cult. I feel like I experience the city at a distance now and don’t feel part of it. After decades of being extremely engaged and invested in the community, I’m heartbroken.
I'll toss into the conversation one tiny, POSSIBLE, "Silver Lining": I have an old friend who I communicate with constantly. We worked together in R&D at 3M from when I started in '84, to when he left in '88. I ended up one of those "3M Lifers", retiring in '21. He job-hopped all around the country and ended up in San Diego, where he has now been for many years, retiring recently.
He is about as non-political as it gets... if I had to guess at his politics, I'd guess he is the sort who voted for the likes of Arne Carlson back in the day, followed him and others out of the GOP about "three iterations of crazy" ago, and doesn't know WHAT to think of the parties - here, in California, or nationally - any more.
While we were chatting via text about NFL football this week, he asked me "out of the blue" to explain to him "all this Minnesota Somali fraud stuff that's in the news". In San Diego.
So, despite the best efforts of all concerned (yes, I am being sarcastic here...), this story has finally "escaped containment" in a real way.
I see this as a positive (though not, I suppose, for the state Tourism Board...!). If, as the Washington Post proclaims, "Democracy Dies in Darkness", so, too, does "Good Government"...
I don't think the DFL messaging is bad per se, Trump and Pam Bondi are being opportunistically super racist. But I think it's incomplete and the DFL are missing the accountability piece.
For example, I still don't really understand if the issue was legislative, in how these programs were crafted by lawmakers, or operational, how they were delivered be state agencies. I think Walz usually does a good job taking responsibility, but here the DFL seems to me to be running scared that if they give ground it'll jeopardize the enterprise of social welfare.
Whereas now me, a typically Democratic voter, is a bit wary of state level DFL because I don't know if they're going to do a good job.
Well stated. The MN frauds are not new stories. The DFL had almost successfully escaped the news cycle on the frauds when City Journal revived it, prompting Trump to go on his racist rant. The DFL spin on the revived story was to focus on the racism of Trump. So, over two news cycles on the frauds, the strategy has been “shit happens” when you are trying to help people (cycle one) and “Trump sucks” (cycle two). Not winning strategies. Bonus for GOP: an excellent distraction for Don’s national grift (and it helps normalize it).
Good point about normalization and one I had not considered. Trump is the ultimate grifter-in-chief. The more stories of fraud and corruption out in the ideas marketplace make it seem as though he isn't singularly horrible.
Once again, you are the voice of wisdom in the political wilderness. As an Independent, I have issues with both sides, and focus on policies when voting. I believe there are serious government systemic system failures that make it easy for fraudsters to steal taxpayer dollars. It is very disturbing that DFL leadership seems much more interested in virtue signaling than taking accountability for their failed policies. I am glad the Feds are investigating, since it doesn’t look the republicans are getting much help from democrats…who consistently deflect and remind us of Trump racism. The Star tribune has not commented on MN fraud despite the widespread national coverage of the last week,which suggests they are covering for Walz failures, since it’s hard for me to believe federal investigation of MN fraud isn’t big news. Same crickets from the mainstream media, who instead fan the flames of deportation protests.
I am left to wonder just of how much of our ever increasing taxes are paying for the fraud drain? I’ve heard the expression:.“vote blue, no matter who”. Not sure how true that is, but it goes a long way to explain support for Walz, who reportedly turned away DHS whistleblowers. He actually said MN is well run, and attracts criminals. We cannot have this level of fraud and be well run! I’ll be cheering on the republicans, who are our best hope for exposing the system failures and the fraudsters.
Walz running for a 3rd term could give us the same result as when the DNC pushed an incapacitated Biden for a second term, realized its mistake too late, and handed the presidency on a silver platter to Trump. Both men's egos and quest for continued power overruled what is good for the country and state.
If I were a member of the DFL party I would have pushed another candidate, to avoid the smears that Walz invites from the racist right. Sadly, I saw the republican gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth interviewed on PBS Newshour a few days ago, and when the interviewer asked her about Trump's disgusting rant, calling Somalis "garbage" she deflected, she would not condemn that language! He even asked again, and she deflected again, attacking Walz for fraud instead. That was horrifying to me, her staying silent like this and not pointing out that the majority of Somalis here are hardworking, productive citizens.
I hesitate to make Walz or Omar responsible for the fraud. The media has not reported it adequately. The Somali community has not addressed its penchant for fraudulent behavior. I often think it projects an aura of entitlement. Can't we expect a larger willingness to "plunge" into American culture, learn its language, adapt to its social norms and laws? I've been told that Somali men in Minnesota are allowed to have 4 wives. I don't know if this is true, but heavens! This must end if it is! Trump doesn't help by calling them "garbage" and we here in Minnesota are not hateful people. The optics allow Republicans to paint the DFL as soft on crime or worse. It's probably a political win win in outstate Minnesota, where the most conservative of Conservatives are running for Governor. "Fraud" is such a loaded term and makes for great stump speeches. Let's also not forget that they were the majority for many legislative sessions and did not address fraud, either. The investigation of fraud by law enforcement is extremely complex, and I hope the Attorney General's office has ongoing criminal filings. I think Terry has brought up some important points, and I don't think the DFL is responsible for the fraud. But I do think it needs to be a high priority for the party going into the 2026 elections. Good solid messaging and in-depth reporting will be important. Voters need to be educated with facts rather than fiction.
I don't mean to attack you, but I'm hesitant to pull cultural practices like marriage into civic responsibility. I have no idea what's current culture among Somalis, or Somali-Americans. But I lived for quite a while in West Africa where certain kinds of polygamy were still relatively common. It didn't have a bearing on the character of anyone involved. I get that American life is different and culture adjust. Just kind of raised my eyebrow. Not an attack, just conversation.
US law does not allow polygamy in any state. People with multiple spouses overseas are also only allowed to count the first spouse for immigration purposes. If you have heard that from anybody in particular, you can confidently tell them that it is not true.
Rampant fraud on Walz’s watch. The buck stops there. End of story. I voted for the guy 2x and think he’s a decent man who has simply been caught up in his 15 minutes of fame. Shifting further left and not taking responsibility under his watch has cost him my vote. There are no excuses. Own your shit and take accountability. If he worked for me or any private enterprise he would be fired on the spot. Of If I budget 2 million dollars for something and my checking balance is overdrawn by a 100 million I expect someone to notify me. There are a lot of people responsible besides the governor. Unless they said something they have all got to go. End of story.
We keep giving the Republicans gift after gift. By allowing extremists such as Omar to have the pulpit, Republicans have no problem whatsoever finding soundbites to use against us.
I hope to hear far less deflection in the Somali community. When people say “It wasn’t our fault, it was the system,” it’s the type of denial that just hands freebies to Republicans. Yes, it is wrong to blame everyone in the Somali community for the fraud. A couple hundred out of 100,000 is indeed a small number. At the same time, the high percentage of these fraudsters who are Somali is not some sort of random statistical anomaly. Look in the mirror and help us figure out what went wrong with these people’s moral compass.
It's beyond ironic that the fraudster-in-chief is smearing all Somalis as fraudsters. I'd say we should lump all people who look like Trump into the same category, but there really aren't that many lard-assed orange golfers with a spun-sugar pouf of hair out there.
It's also ironic, or irritating, that the virtue-signaling lefties (And I'm a left-leaning Dem, just without virtue) were quick to blame the entire police force for the actions of Chauvin et al. And when I'd say, "Well, not all cops . . . " they'd say, "the MPD has a culture of racist violence". Probably true, and kudos to Chief O'Hara's efforts at reform, for which he gets no credit from the defunding left.
But if I say that Somalia has consistently been ranked the most corrupt country in the world (just recently edged out by Sudan), thus perhaps a culture of corruption, the fur flies. I'm an Islamophobic, racist, MAGA elitist who should move to Edina if I have no compassion. (Whoa, some of my best friends live . . . not really.)
But I agree that the DFL's seeming lack of awareness of how badly this will play for them is a huge concern. At a recent meeting with DFL leadership some of us raised the Somali/fraud question and the response was a quick rebuke of Trump calling all Somalis trash. We replied that there is the perception if not the reality that Dems avoided dealing with the fraud because they didn't want to appear Islamophobic. Not sure that response landed.
This may be the genius of Trump. His vulgar attack on Ilhan and Somalis makes us rise to defend them rather than condemn them.
Thank you for your comments, Susan. There are definitely multiple layers of scandal and finger-pointing.
Susan Lenfestey - Not to take this too far afield, but I had a brief "Oh....!" moment reading your comment. By which I mean the opposite of an "Aha!" moment. I have been re-engaging in DFL politics since having to step back somewhat due to medical issues, and then Covid, 2018-2022. But I was very active in DFL, simultaneously in Mpls where I live, and in the East Metro where I worked before retiring. Call it 2000-2018, but even before that, too.
I went "Oh...!" when you said "...a recent meeting with DFL leadership..." and I realized that unlike when I first moved to MN (in '84) to about the mid-teens, eras for which I can still conjure names and faces of people I knew personally who were "DFL leadership", I have no idea today who you'd have been meeting with. I'm not asking you to name names - I'm sure you had your reasons not to.
But for me, a HUGE part of the DFL problem today is the DFL is largely leaderless. We have many office-holders, and I've still been in a room with, and talked to, almost all of them, but none are what I would regard as leaders of the Party (as opposed to being a leader of some FACTION of the party, which some of them are good at).
I don't know "where to go" with this insight, but where the phrase "meeting with DFL leadership" would once have conjured for me an image of a room populated, depending on era, by a Mondale (father or son...) or Vento or Sabo or Wellstone or Franken or Margaret or Ken or Dayton or Roger Moe or Bakk (and I'm leaving out literally dozens) ...today the room it conjures up - at least "instantly" - is empty.
Kinda sad.
Minnesota Reformer has done some but I think not enough coverage of Ilhan's husband's businesses and his partner Will Hailer. I knew Will in high school and followed his career with interest as he rose from DFL volunteer to Keith Ellison's campaign manager to executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, a top aid when Keith was at the DNC, then Ilhan's campaign manager and finally her husband's business partner. There are at least three business scandals tied directly to Will with the implication that there is more shady overseas business that hasn't yet come to light. To me he is the thread that ties Keith, Ilhan, and lax corruption oversight together. I have not voted for Keith or Ilhan for years because I think it's very likely they are involved in joint corruption and have even voted for their Republican challenges despite being a lifelong Democrat. Cleaning house is necessary and if the DFL primary electorate won't do it the general electorate must.
A Will Hailer story would make for an interesting investigation, but anything connected to Ilhan Omar carries the near-automatic risk of being labeled a right-wing racist simply for raising questions. This dynamic has become a genuine problem on the left: offering an honest assessment of Democratic leaders—especially Omar—often invites accusations of bad faith. The context is complicated by the relentless and frequently racist attacks she receives from the right. That combination leaves little room for thoughtful, nuanced reporting.
Well, one advantage of a Will Hailer story is he has two degrees of CYA separation. He's her husband's business partner.
Thank you for this important and timely piece. I almost died when I saw that Osman was one of those taking center stage on this issue, as a spokesperson?! All the info is out there on CM Osman, and some in AG, Keith Ellison's own words.*
I have family roots going back many years in Ward 6, so I am deeply disappointed in ALL in that ward for NOT putting forth a suitable/winnable candidate for City Council, one with a demonstrated history of personal ethics in their dealings with that ward, the City, and the State.
What Osman and others like him did, was hurt the Somali community, and everyone in the city. We are being dirtied up by having a crime-adjacent representation on our City Council, one that we PAY to help make decisions about how tax payer money is to be spent?!
The DFL is messing up big time on all this, and we REALLY cannot afford it. If MN continues to list even further purple, well, we deserve what is coming.
Osman's Wiki page under " personal history".
Connection to the Feeding Our Future controversy
edit
On February 17, 2025, federal prosecutors presented evidence connecting Osman's former nonprofit, Stigma-Free International, to the large-scale fraud case centering Feeding Our Future.[16] Prosecutors alleged that Osman, his wife Ilo Amba, and two others, founded the nonprofit as a shell company before transferring it to others who were able to commit fraud under the nonprofit's name. Amba operated a Feeding Our Future food site, which received more than $450,000 in reimbursements from the program.[17][18][19] Neither Osman nor Amba has been charged with any crime.[20]
About a month after turning Stigma-Free over to new directors, Amba incorporated another nonprofit, Urban Advantage Center. Urban Advantage Center was shut down for civil violations in a settlement with state attorney general Keith Ellison, who alleged that Amba created a “sham” charity to enrich herself.[21]
If the AG says something is a sham, why no prosecution? A genuine head-scratcher. Seems he is complicit in this.
It's definitely a head-scratcher, and it doesn't paint Minneapolis politics in a good light.
The attorney general is not responsible for, or even able to, prosecute this. It would be the county in which it occurred, which is likely Hennepin or the federal government. The attorney general's office has very limited possecutorial authority. It seems like the feds are only going after the major big players who stole millions of dollars or more. Perhaps the local counties need to charge these lesser amounts of fraud.
https://www.startribune.com/keith-ellison-shuts-down-nonprofit-run-by-minneapolis-council-member-jamal-osman-wife-ilo-amba-feeding-our-future-related/601179078
And it gets even worse..
Excerpt...
"Osman was first elected to the City Council in a 2020 special election to fill the vacant Ward 6 seat, and was re-elected last year. Ellison endorsed his re-election, even though about a month later his office filed a lawsuit against Amba’s nonprofit. Ellison and Osman are both Democrats."
https://minneapolistimes.com/video-shows-council-member-jamal-osman-saying-he-used-the-power-of-his-office-for-the-feeding-our-futures-fraud/
Unfortunately too many have bought into "we are good because we say we are good" and "you should not have to pay, only the rich should have to pay". At some point people will recognize that the actions are just not there. Has anyone noticed that the Republicans are placing all Democrats in the same pot, extreme or not. The worst scenario for us would be to lose the few sane and reasonable representatives we have without losing more of the DSA. How come no one is talking about how fast Ilhan Ohan's wealth has increased on just a few investments?
Many have pointed out Ilhan’s suddenly increased wealth and have posted the financial disclosure she herself filed, but her supporters continue to claim that is a lie and that she is not a multimillionaire. smh
Yet I have not seen it covered on the local news, is it even possible to be that lucky with a couple of single investments? There is probable impropriety here and it should be local news until it us properly investigated.
"In another program, aimed to provide therapy for autistic children, prosecutors said providers recruited children in Minneapolis’s Somali community, falsely certifying them as qualifying for autism treatment and paying their parents kickbacks for their cooperation."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/us/fraud-minnesota-somali.html
I'm wondering if anyone knows more about the numbers and scope of this particular fraud. How many families were involved?
As with many of these schemes, there are only so many prosecutors and only so many reporters able to investigate. A lot of stories go untold.
The parents who took these kickbacks should be prosecuted. If it is too small for the feds to do, the county should charge every single one of them.
if you had told me in the mid 90s that by 2025 I would be sick of my party and basically no longer identify as a Democrat I never would have believed you. not in a million years. but here we are. thanks Minneapolis, thanks Minnesota <sarcasm>
I hear you, Paul. I had always been so happy to be a Minneapolitan and a DFLer, but now I feel alienated from many fellow residents who seem to have been taken in by a cult. I feel like I experience the city at a distance now and don’t feel part of it. After decades of being extremely engaged and invested in the community, I’m heartbroken.
I'll toss into the conversation one tiny, POSSIBLE, "Silver Lining": I have an old friend who I communicate with constantly. We worked together in R&D at 3M from when I started in '84, to when he left in '88. I ended up one of those "3M Lifers", retiring in '21. He job-hopped all around the country and ended up in San Diego, where he has now been for many years, retiring recently.
He is about as non-political as it gets... if I had to guess at his politics, I'd guess he is the sort who voted for the likes of Arne Carlson back in the day, followed him and others out of the GOP about "three iterations of crazy" ago, and doesn't know WHAT to think of the parties - here, in California, or nationally - any more.
While we were chatting via text about NFL football this week, he asked me "out of the blue" to explain to him "all this Minnesota Somali fraud stuff that's in the news". In San Diego.
So, despite the best efforts of all concerned (yes, I am being sarcastic here...), this story has finally "escaped containment" in a real way.
I see this as a positive (though not, I suppose, for the state Tourism Board...!). If, as the Washington Post proclaims, "Democracy Dies in Darkness", so, too, does "Good Government"...
I don't think the DFL messaging is bad per se, Trump and Pam Bondi are being opportunistically super racist. But I think it's incomplete and the DFL are missing the accountability piece.
For example, I still don't really understand if the issue was legislative, in how these programs were crafted by lawmakers, or operational, how they were delivered be state agencies. I think Walz usually does a good job taking responsibility, but here the DFL seems to me to be running scared that if they give ground it'll jeopardize the enterprise of social welfare.
Whereas now me, a typically Democratic voter, is a bit wary of state level DFL because I don't know if they're going to do a good job.
omar needs to out front and center driving fraud inquiries and prosecutions.
the sad reality is she will lose her voters if she does. so in her world just keep deflecting.
so does she work for "all" of us? simple answer is a big no.
Well stated. The MN frauds are not new stories. The DFL had almost successfully escaped the news cycle on the frauds when City Journal revived it, prompting Trump to go on his racist rant. The DFL spin on the revived story was to focus on the racism of Trump. So, over two news cycles on the frauds, the strategy has been “shit happens” when you are trying to help people (cycle one) and “Trump sucks” (cycle two). Not winning strategies. Bonus for GOP: an excellent distraction for Don’s national grift (and it helps normalize it).
Good point about normalization and one I had not considered. Trump is the ultimate grifter-in-chief. The more stories of fraud and corruption out in the ideas marketplace make it seem as though he isn't singularly horrible.
Per StarTribune today https://www.startribune.com/trump-claims-minnesota-lost-billions-to-fraud-the-evidence-to-date-isnt-close/601538955
It's not billions, merely millions. Whew. I thought we had a scandal 😉.
I tend to believe U. S. Attorney Joe Thompson over the Star Tribune.
Even if it is mere hundreds of millions vs billions, it is still awful.
It will certainly be billions when all is said and done, and as you mentioned, many will escape meaningful prosecution.
Once again, you are the voice of wisdom in the political wilderness. As an Independent, I have issues with both sides, and focus on policies when voting. I believe there are serious government systemic system failures that make it easy for fraudsters to steal taxpayer dollars. It is very disturbing that DFL leadership seems much more interested in virtue signaling than taking accountability for their failed policies. I am glad the Feds are investigating, since it doesn’t look the republicans are getting much help from democrats…who consistently deflect and remind us of Trump racism. The Star tribune has not commented on MN fraud despite the widespread national coverage of the last week,which suggests they are covering for Walz failures, since it’s hard for me to believe federal investigation of MN fraud isn’t big news. Same crickets from the mainstream media, who instead fan the flames of deportation protests.
I am left to wonder just of how much of our ever increasing taxes are paying for the fraud drain? I’ve heard the expression:.“vote blue, no matter who”. Not sure how true that is, but it goes a long way to explain support for Walz, who reportedly turned away DHS whistleblowers. He actually said MN is well run, and attracts criminals. We cannot have this level of fraud and be well run! I’ll be cheering on the republicans, who are our best hope for exposing the system failures and the fraudsters.
Walz running for a 3rd term could give us the same result as when the DNC pushed an incapacitated Biden for a second term, realized its mistake too late, and handed the presidency on a silver platter to Trump. Both men's egos and quest for continued power overruled what is good for the country and state.
If I were a member of the DFL party I would have pushed another candidate, to avoid the smears that Walz invites from the racist right. Sadly, I saw the republican gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth interviewed on PBS Newshour a few days ago, and when the interviewer asked her about Trump's disgusting rant, calling Somalis "garbage" she deflected, she would not condemn that language! He even asked again, and she deflected again, attacking Walz for fraud instead. That was horrifying to me, her staying silent like this and not pointing out that the majority of Somalis here are hardworking, productive citizens.
It’s too bad that Demuth is going to toe the Trumpy line.
Sad but true.
I hesitate to make Walz or Omar responsible for the fraud. The media has not reported it adequately. The Somali community has not addressed its penchant for fraudulent behavior. I often think it projects an aura of entitlement. Can't we expect a larger willingness to "plunge" into American culture, learn its language, adapt to its social norms and laws? I've been told that Somali men in Minnesota are allowed to have 4 wives. I don't know if this is true, but heavens! This must end if it is! Trump doesn't help by calling them "garbage" and we here in Minnesota are not hateful people. The optics allow Republicans to paint the DFL as soft on crime or worse. It's probably a political win win in outstate Minnesota, where the most conservative of Conservatives are running for Governor. "Fraud" is such a loaded term and makes for great stump speeches. Let's also not forget that they were the majority for many legislative sessions and did not address fraud, either. The investigation of fraud by law enforcement is extremely complex, and I hope the Attorney General's office has ongoing criminal filings. I think Terry has brought up some important points, and I don't think the DFL is responsible for the fraud. But I do think it needs to be a high priority for the party going into the 2026 elections. Good solid messaging and in-depth reporting will be important. Voters need to be educated with facts rather than fiction.
I don't mean to attack you, but I'm hesitant to pull cultural practices like marriage into civic responsibility. I have no idea what's current culture among Somalis, or Somali-Americans. But I lived for quite a while in West Africa where certain kinds of polygamy were still relatively common. It didn't have a bearing on the character of anyone involved. I get that American life is different and culture adjust. Just kind of raised my eyebrow. Not an attack, just conversation.
it's good to have conversation...American law and culture require marriages of 2 people, not 5.
This is not a real thing. Bigamy is illegal in Minnesota: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609.355
US law does not allow polygamy in any state. People with multiple spouses overseas are also only allowed to count the first spouse for immigration purposes. If you have heard that from anybody in particular, you can confidently tell them that it is not true.
this is good to know. I'll let my friend know.