12/08/25
Good morning! It’s Monday, December 8th.
National Brownie Day
Not like Girl Scouts Brownies, but like the dessert treat.
You know who makes great brownies? This is very like, if you know you know but… the Warner Bros commissary. I don’t even really love brownies, or chocolate in general, but I was grab one of those brownies every single time they’re on the table.
I don’t know what they do to they, but it’s working, that’s for sure.
And now, the news.
Somali Americans
-via CNN, Minnesota Historical Society, CBS News, Reuters, and NY Times
Okay, first of all – thank you for your patience last week. I really do try to be consistent with these episodes but between work, some personal stuff, and the holiday, last week just was a little out of the ordinary.
This week won’t be like that (she said, knowing there won’t be an episode on Thursday…)
No episode Thursday, then we’re back into a regular flow next week, just in time for the winter hiatus.
I really know how to build a show right, ya know?
But let’s get into it. This is what I mentioned wanting to talk about last week, but didn’t want to just casually mention so I didn’t want to do it until right now.
Let’s talk about what’s going on in Minnesota with the Trump administration and Somali Americans and Somali immigrants.
Let’s start at the start – why are there so many Somalis in Minnesota? I mean, in America at large, there are about 260,000 Somalis, and between 80,000 and 100,000 are in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. How did this come to be?
Somalia is a country in the easternmost area Africa, known as the Horn of Africa. If you picture the continent in your head, there’s the Red Sea, and then a pointy little point – that’s Somalia. Here are some fun facts about Somalia –
It has one of the largest camel herds in the world and is one of the largest producers of frankincense.
Kind of cool.
It’s also, yes, a very poor country that is currently in an ongoing civil war that started in 2009 and, because of that, as well as other conflicts and the climate crisis, is also in a humanitarian crisis. Many countries, including our own, don’t advise travel to Somalia due to its high levels of violent crime, kidnapping, and piracy.
Does that mean every single person in, or from, Somalia is violent or dangerous? No. That’s obviously impossible.
And the way we know that’s not true is because you can ask yourself this one simple question: do you want to be judged by the rest of what’s happening in this country right now?
But you could see why people might want to immigrate to other countries to provide new possibilities for their families, if they have the means.
In the early 90s, President Bush, the first one, oversaw something first called Operation Provide Relief and then called Operation Restore Hope (neither of which was creatively named), both in response to a famine and civil war that had broken out in Somalia.
By mid-1993, US forces were on the ground. After two US Black Hawk helicopters were shot down, and 18 US soldiers and hundreds of Somalis were killed, the US withdrew in 1994, and the UN followed in 1995.
It’s unclear how much our involvement actually helped, in the end.
But because of our involvement, the US began issuing visas to Somali refugees. Why Minnesota? Classic midwestern manners - Agencies like the International Institute of Minnesota and World Relief Minnesota, as well as Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Charities, Somali Family Services, and the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota, all stepped in to help facilitate the migration of the refugees.
So that’s a very broad, (very, very broad) summary of Somalis in Minnesota.
And starting at the start(ish) with Trump – in his first presidency, his day one travel ban included Somalia. It continued to do so in every single version.
We also happen to have House Representative Ilhan Omar, famously a member of the squad: four liberal women who have the audacity to speak up and out against this administration. And I, for one… how dare, they, frankly. Women? Running their mouths? What’s next? Having bodily autonomy?? No no, I’m kidding… that’s obviously too far.
House Rep Omar was born in Somalia and moved to America when she was 12. Moving to, you guessed in… Minnesota.
Alright, so we have all of our players – now let’s get to what’s going on.
Following the shooting of the National Guard troops in D.C., but an Afghan national, Trump promised to increase his anti-immigration policy. (I’m sure it was so hard to convince him…)
He specifically noted, in a Truth Social post, that he was terminating all of the temporary deportation statuses for Somalis living in Minnesota because of whatever he says are gangs.
He also increased his vile racist rhetoric, including in a Thanksgiving post, where he said hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees are taking over Minnesota (calling it a once great state), called House Rep the worst Congresswoman/woman in the country (really? Of all of them? Out of every single one of them, she’s the worst?), once again recycled the lie that she to America by marrying her brother (too racist to explain but no – House Rep. Ilhan Omar did not marry her brother), and… forgive me – called Governor Walz the r-slur.
Again, this is the President of the United States.
But in addition to saying that he’s ending the deportation statuses because of this violence he’s invented (that’s not opinion, it’s a fact that crime is dropping in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area), the reason for this sudden focus on Somali immigrants in Minneapolis is… financial fraud?
That’s right.
Because if anyone’s allowed to do financial crimes… it’s him alone!
So back in 2022, under the Biden administration, federal prosecutors in Minnesota filed charges for what they called the “largest pandemic fraud in the United States.” It centered around a welfare program that partnered with the Minnesota Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to distribute meals to children.
And now the Treasury Department is going to make sure none of that money made it to al Qaeda, while House Republicans on the Oversight Committee have launched an investigation into how Gov. Walz handled the fraud cases.
On Sunday, Rep. Omar went on Face the Nation to say she was confident the money was never sent back to al-Qaeda, but if it did, it should definitely be researched. She noted that prosecutions in the case have already taken place.
Meanwhile, ICE is expected to increase operations in the area this week. Last week they arrested twelve whole people.
But it’s not about that. I mean, it is, the arresting is very very bad too. But it’s the terrorizing, as well.
And maybe there is some massive financial scheme being run in Minnesota that needs to be investigated. If so, okay great. Let’s get to the bottom of it.
But when Trump made that Thanksgiving post, saying all those terrible things, Governor Walz responded, “release the MRI.” In her Face the Nation interview Rep. Omar said she hopes the president gets the help he so clearly needs.
All true.
But last Tuesday, in the cabinet meeting where he fell asleep, he also said this about people from Somalia: "I don't want them in our country. I'll be honest with you. Their country's no good for a reason. Their country stinks."
From the ankles to the brain, ain’t nothing working on that man.
But he’s had it out for Somalia since day one of his first presidency.
Because under all of it, Trump’s just a run-of-the-mill racist who, unfortunately, has a whole lot of power.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Well, no, that’s what’s happening with Somalis in Minnesota.
Come back tomorrow for more. For example… Trump was gifted a participation trophy and it’s very funny.
I’m proud of brownies. The Girl Scout kind. How they find time to make all those cookies and still go to kindergarten, I’ll never know.
I say again - How they find time to make all those cookies and still go to kindergarten, I’ll never know.
These are the jokes!
But more than my jokes, if you can even believe it, because you too are perfection and cannot be improved upon, and genuinely hilarious and witty… I’m proud of you.