Minnesota
July 25, 2016 — Scott Johnson
As the Minnesota’s Fifth District representative in Congress, Keith Ellison has a good gig. He’s a hustler who is accustomed to exploiting the ignorance of voters in a one-party district in a town with a one-party newspaper. Ellison has exploited the ignorance of his constituents in lying repeatedly about his personal history, as I tried to show in “Louis Farrakhan’s first congressman.” Seeking to make himself a player on the
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July 5, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Last week’s Star Tribune reports that Two Minneapolis men convicted on ISIL charges seek ‘deradicalization’ review.” Those “Minneapolis men”? They are Guled Omar and Abdirahman Daud, found guilty of terrorism charges by the jury in Minneapolis on June 3. What is a “‘deradicalization’ review”? That is a tricker question. On March 2, Judge Davis ordered the federal probation office tasked with the standard presentence investigation to contract with Daniel Koehler,
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July 2, 2016 — Scott Johnson
This has become a familiar story out of Europe, but it is something new under the sun in Minneapolis. Although it is big news, I can’t find any evidence of the story in the Star Tribune (please let me know if I missed it) — another element that gives the story a European dimension. Brett Hoffland warily reports for (KSTP TV) 5 Eyewitness News: Minneapolis police are investigating a series
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June 29, 2016 — Scott Johnson
I found attending the trial of the three ISIS wannabes of the ten charged last year to be an incredibly rich experience. I’m still chewing it over. I take another look at the trial and at the national media’s pitiful coverage of it at City Journal in “ISIS in the Twin Cities.” I also touch on the related immigration issue implicit in the case. In light of the massacre in
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June 15, 2016 — Scott Johnson
I abbreviated my observations and comments on the terrorism case against the Somali Minnesotans that was tried before Judge Michael Davis in Minneapolis to column-length for the Star Tribune. The column appears in today’s paper under the headline “What I saw at the trial.” The Opinion pieces featured on the Star Tribune home page today omit any mention of my column. You have to go looking for it to find
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June 14, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Attending the Somali terrorism trial before Judge Michael Davis in Minneapolis was an incredibly rich experience. I am still trying to process what I saw at the trial. Like the Orlando massacre, the case lies at the intersection of Islam, immigration and terrorism. The group of Somali Minnesotans charged in the case or gone to ISIS in Syria without being charged numbers 12 or 13 or 14. It’s not a
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June 13, 2016 — Scott Johnson
I wrote about Jesse Ventura’s defamation/unjust enrichment lawsuit against the estate of Chris Kyle in “American Sniper on trial” and in “American Sniper on trial: The verdict” and in American Sniper on trial: The appeal.” The case arises from a couple of pages now excised from the book about Kyle’s close encounter with Ventura at a bar in southern California. Ventura alleged that the story Kyle recounted was false and
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June 10, 2016 — Scott Johnson
This past Friday afternoon the jury returned with guilty verdicts in the trial of the three “Minnesota men” charged with seeking to join ISIS in Syria. Having attended the trial and filed daily reports on Power Line, I spent the weekend working on a short article summarizing what I saw at the trial. The article is published as “‘Minnesota men’ on trial” in the new issue of the Weekly Standard
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June 6, 2016 — Scott Johnson
The New York Times pioneered the form of the story portraying the suffering of favored groups (i.e., groups they favor). Comedian Mort Sahl has been credited with the satirical headline that captures the form with his version of the New York Times’s take on the apocalypse: “World ends, women & minorities hardest hit.” In “Terrorist wannabes guilty, Somalis hardest hit,” I linked to stories published by the Star Tribune and
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June 5, 2016 — Scott Johnson
We are all painfully familiar with the journalistic genre portraying the suffering of favored groups. That would be groups favored by the journalists. The satirical headline that captures the genre gives us the New York Times’s take on the apocalypse: “World ends, women & minorities hardest hit.” Credit is due to someone for the shaft of light cast by that parody headline. NewsBusters credits comedian Mort Sahl, still going strong
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June 3, 2016 — Scott Johnson
At 1:30 this afternoon the jury delivered its verdict in the case of the three “Minnesota men” charged with conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS and conspiracy to commit murder overseas. The jury found the three men guilty on all counts with the exception of one perjury charge against Abdirahman Daud. (Daud gave a Clintonian response to an inartfully asked question before the grand jury. The Clintonian approach earned
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June 2, 2016 — Scott Johnson
The prosecution and defense made their closing arguments to the jury on Tuesday and Wednesday. Judge Davis instructed the jury and submitted the case to them with separate verdict forms for each of the three defendants. The charges include a total of ten counts. I would guess the jury will until the middle of next week. The Star Tribune’s Stephen Montemayor gives relatively straightforward accounts of the closings here (May
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May 28, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Both the prosecution and defense rested their cases yesterday following the testimony of defendant Guled Omar. Omar was the only one of the three defendants who elected to testify on his own behalf. I infer that defendants were advised by their capable lawyers to exercise their right to remain silent and put the government to meeting its burden of proof against them, but that Omar chose to reject that advice.
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May 27, 2016 — Scott Johnson
The end approacheth. The prosecution called its final witnesses and rested yesterday. The last two government witnesses testified to the undercover sting operation leading to the arrest of two of the three defendants (Abdirahman Daud and Mohamed Farah) in San Diego, where they thought they were procuring fake passports facilitating their travel to join ISIS in Syria. The FBI used an undercover officer detailed from the San Diego police department
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May 26, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Minnesota’s Anti-War Committee — “Organizing Against US Wars Since 1998” — has opened up a front at the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis. They stage weekly protests in support of the defendants in the ongoing trial of the “Minnesota men” charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and other related offenses. Six of the defendants among the current group have pleaded guilty; one is believed
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May 26, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Well, I went to the trial yesterday and a fight broke out. Waiting in the hallway to enter the courtroom at the appointed hour, the hallway was thick with those of us wanting to take a seat inside. I stood directly behind a young Somali lady wearing a hijab. As she started pushing and shoving, she repeatedly dropped the F-bomb at maximum volume within shouting distance of the jury. One
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May 25, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Judge Davis’s concerns about maintaining order in the courthouse were well founded, to say the least. He knows what he is doing, or trying to do. While we were waiting to be admitted to Judge Davis’s courtroom this morning a few mintues ago, a rumble broke out between Somali factions in the hallway. A young Somali woman started yelling that she would not be instructed where to sit by another
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