3 Missing Denver Girls Headed To Turkey Detained In Germany

Three teens from Denver, Colorado, two of Somali descent, the third from Sudan who disappeared from home were found and deported from Frankfurt, Germany.

Relatives and other sources told VOA’s Somali Service the girls left Denver and flew to Frankfurt via Chicago. Family members alerted Denver authorities who contacted their German counterparts.

Two of the girls are sisters of ethnic Somali origin and are 15 and 16 years old. The third girl is from Sudan - her age is not yet known. It is not yet clear where they ultimately were heading, but one of the young girls reportedly told German authorities, “We are going to Turkey to study.”

The girls have since spoken to their relatives and are due to arrive back home later Sunday.

The girls, of Somali Muslim descent, just disappear one day without their parents' consent, headed for Turkey, and no-one thinks they might just be headed to join the Islamic State as jihadi brides.  Right.

I'm sure the girls will receive a slap on the hands and that's it.

Somali Women From Minneapolis Join ISIS

Young men from the Somali community in Minneapolis/St Paul have made the trek to Somalia to join the terrorist group al-Shabaab, and now women are running off to Syria to join the some 15-20 men fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

At least three Somali families in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have female relatives who have gone missing in the past six weeks and may have tried to join ISIS, said community leader Abdirizak Bihi. He said that while the reasons for their disappearance were unclear, he had told the families to contact police.

In a separate case, a 19-year-old American Somali woman from St. Paul snuck away from her parents on Aug. 25 saying she was going to a bridal shower. Instead, she flew to Turkey and joined IS in Syria.

And according to the FBI, there could be more recruits.

Greg Boosalis, FBI division counsel in Minneapolis, said law enforcement was investigating the possible recruitment in the area by Islamist extremists of other females, as well as males, but refused to comment on specific cases.

“We are looking into the possibility of additional men and women travelers,” he said.

Somali leaders and sources close to police worry that the reports of female would-be jihadis from the region could mark a new trend.

The St. Paul woman is highly likely to have been recruited by ISIS through Islamist sympathizers in the United States, rather than joining the group on her own, they said. At least one other woman is suspected of helping her leave the United States.

And it's not just from the Twin Cities Somali community. They're being recruited from all over the U.S. John McAuthor McCain, who was killed a few months back in Syria, was a Muslim convert from San Diego. And then this young woman from Colorado.

Another U.S. teenager, nurse's aide Shannon Conley, 19, from Colorado, pleaded guilty this week to trying to travel to the Middle East to enroll in ISIS. She was arrested at Denver International Airport in April with a one-way ticket and had been recruited online by a male militant in Syria.

And that's just the ones we actually hear about. How many more have just slipped away without being detected.

If they're not killed over there, which one could only hope for, they better not be allowed back into this country.

More here.

St. Paul Minnesota YMCA Swimming Pools Going Shariah Compliant

Apparently, the St Paul, Minnesota YMCA (with the help of the St. Paul police department) is accommodating the large Somali Muslim population, and making the swimming pools Shariah compliant.  According to the Star Tribune the YMCA has created a swim group for Somali girls from 5-17:

According to the report, during the hourlong swim practice, all other swimmers are cleared out of the pool. The men’s locker room is locked and female life guards are brought in. “I think this is just a great opportunity for them to learn basic skills that we take for granted,” said Sgt. Jennifer O’Donnell, who has worked with the Somali community regularly during her time with the department.

The mother of Rayan Dhamuke (12) believes they "have to have privacy, and the poor little thing had to swim at 5 a.m. during the summer because, God forbid, any male should see her swimming.

Allen West puts it succinctly:

You can only imagine the outcry from the ACLU and atheist organizations if a Christian group were advocating for “private” swim time. I thought our country struck down the concept of “separate but equal?”

Why would Somalis come to America if they wanted to maintain their discriminatory cultural and religious beliefs? 

Source: Allen West

Somali Muslim Gangs In Minneapolis Randomly Attack Joggers

Somali Muslim gangs in Fridley (a suburb of Minneapolis, MN Twin Cities area) have randomly attacked two joggers in a popular park during the day.

Motivation?

None.

Video news report here.

More Potential Voter Fraud In Ohio

And we have even more potential voter fraud in another must-win state- Ohio. Of course, this is not at all surprising. Democrats are desperate at this point because Barack Obama isn't miles ahead of Mitt Romney at this juncture, and they were convinced he would be.

According to Human Events, van and bus loads of non-English speaking Somali people are being transported to polling stations in Ohio, for early voting, and are being told who to vote for by Democratic get-out-the-vote volunteer interpreters.

An anonymous poll worker at the Morse Road voting station told Human Events that the Somali "voters" are being given a voter "slate card" and told by the Democrats to “vote Brown all the way down.” Sherrod Brown is running for re-election there, so it's assumed they are referring to her. And though there were plenty of Democratic interpreters, there was not one Republican in sight.

I had no idea, but Ohio has one of the largest Somali populations in the U.S., outside of Minnesota. Around 45,000 live in Ohio, so that could mean some nice votes for Obama. Problem is, who knows how many of them are even citizens. Human Events checked on the Somali Community Association of Ohio's website and:

Only 40 percent have become citizens of the United States, and only 25 percent speak English well enough to get a job.

Apparently, though people who do not speak English are allowed the use of an interpreter, those interpreters are not allowed to tell them who to vote for. Another anonymous volunteer poll worker told Human Events she also saw Democratic interpreters telling the Somali voters how and who to vote for. And it looks like they aren't doing much to ensure that the voters are actually citizens. Sara Marie Brenner of Human Events writes:

The voter is not required to show the driver’s license or social security card, but must merely write it on the absentee ballot request form. While the individual would be required to show a utility bill, bank statement or other printed document if he or she chooses that option, this is in lieu of writing the driver’s license or social security number. Therefore, the information cannot be checked against the Bureau of Motor Vehicles or other state databases. Essentially, a person is asked to check a box stating that they are a citizen, and the poll worker is to trust that they are the person who is listed on the item being shown or the information being written. In other words, someone can be an illegal resident of the state of Ohio and the United States, get an apartment, turn on the heat, bring in the Columbia Gas bill, register to vote by the deadline, and vote by showing that same bill. There is then no verification that this individual is a citizen of the United States.

Matt McClellan, the press secretary for Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, explained, “There is a process to challenge a voter’s eligibility. The point in time for a challenge to be brought ended mid October. A poll worker could challenge a voter if they had questions as to whether or not a voter was registered or eligible to vote.” However, if the poll worker does not raise the issue at the time the voting occurs, that person’s vote will otherwise be counted on election day along with everyone else’s vote. McClellan was not aware of any reports of irregularities at the Morse Road voting place in Franklin County.

Two phone calls and a text message to the Public Information Office at the Franklin County Board of Elections were not returned.

And that's not all, there has also been voter intimidation at the same voting station, according to one of the anonymous poll workers.

 A Mitt Romney bus stopped near the voting center, approximately 30 Democrats who were outside handing out the slate cards rushed over to the bus. They yelled at the bus, and swarmed around its door when anyone attempted to exit the bus.

Of course, voter intimidation isn't anything new. Remember, the Black Panthers in Philadelphia in 2008?

Not that there hasn't been voter fraud problems perpetrated by Republicans, it's just that when it's conservatives doing something inappropriate, their actions get prime time exposure, the Democrats don't.

Maine Mayor Tells Somali Muslims To Assimilate

I was recently in Portland, Maine and was quite surprised to discover that all the housekeeping staff in my motel were Somali Muslims. Though bedecked in their hijabs, most did show some arm skin from the elbow down; I suppose when you're cleaning toilets keeping long sleeves clean would be a chore. I saw a few more scattered throughout the city, so I googled Somalis in Maine and discovered that Lewiston, Maine has a sizable Somali population. They started arriving there about 11 or so years ago, and now number around  6,000. Lewiston's total population is a little under 37,000. That's a little over 15%.  I knew Minnesota had a very large Somali community, but was surprised to find so many in Maine.

Ironically, the day I arrived home I found the following video in my YouTube subscription channel. Lewiston Mayor Bob MacDonald is in the news again for calling upon the Somalis to assimilate.

"If you want to come in here and you want to celebrate your holidays, I don't care, I don't care. Just don't try to insert your culture, which obviously isn't working, into ours, which does."

And he's absolutely right. When we move to countries like Saudi Arabia women are forced to assimilate immediately by being required to wear head scarves and abayas. Their women should be required to do the same thing in the West. No-one is asking them to totally give up their culture, but Lewiston is not in Somalia, and they should at least try to integrate.

Even though the women at the motel weren't very friendly, I still left them a nice tip.

Muslim Cabbies Refuse Passengers With Dogs- In Canada and U.S.

Looks like Canada is having Muslim cabbie troubles now. Back in 2007, Minneapolis-St Paul Airport had a major problem with Somali (mostly) Muslim cab drivers refusing service to passengers with alcohol or dogs.  Even someone with a seeing-eye dog could be stranded for a long period of time. That's because of the 900 or so licensed cabbies at the airport, a good three-quarters of them are Muslim. And Muslims don't like dogs. They're haram (forbidden) per Islam, because their saliva is considered unclean. And transporting alcohol is a major sin, forget about actually imbibing.

This article was written at the beginning of 2007, and for the five years prior to that at least 5,400 travelers were refused service for either having a pet or guide dog, or were carrying alcohol. So airport commissioners were contemplating punishing those cab drivers who discriminate against people for those reasons. They, of course, claimed that they were the ones being discriminated against.

"It is against our faith and the airport is discriminating against Muslim drivers," says a cab driver who would only give his first name, Hashim.

According to Patrick Hogan of the Metropolitan Airports Commission:

"There are times where cab after cab will refuse service, and passengers can be waiting for 20 minutes. We've had complaints of people being asked if they had any alcoholic beverages in their luggage. We were seeing an average of 77 refusals a month," he says, "Now we're seeing between 8 and 20."

That's because, thanks to 9/11, we can't travel with anything larger than 2 or 3 ounces on board anymore.

Licensed cab drivers aren't supposed to discriminate, unless they feel threatened in some way, and surprisingly the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) agreed :

"This is a public access issue," says Chuck Samuelson, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, "Bottom line is we are a secular society, and that's the way it is."

After the commission refused attempts at compromise, CAIR finally stepped in and resolved the issue.

After CAIR-MN facilitated dialogue between the two groups and cleared the misunderstanding, the Muslim taxi drivers offered free rides to attendees of the American Council of the Blind Convention in downtown Minneapolis. Abdinoor Ahmed Dolal, owner of Twin Cities Airport Taxi, said “Islam forbids us to turn away a blind passenger, whether they have a guide dog or not. Their rights come first.”

Apparently, dogs aren't such a major issue for Muslims after all:

An Iman from the local Az-Zahraa Islamic Centre, Javed Jaffri, researched the dog topic and served as an expert witness for a blind man refused passage by a Muslim taxi driver. Jaffri spent long hours on this, and provided an unbiased interpretation of the Koran that indicated “there is nothing saying that one must refuse service to another person because of the fear of contamination by a dog.”

He also said that “there can be exceptions to blanket refusals to deal with dogs, especially if it means helping someone in need. All that would be required in most circumstances would be for a Muslim person to wash their hands before eating if they have been in contact with a dog. That’s not a terrible task to go through,” he said.

But there are still problems in Canada, according to a post on Blazing Catfur.

Toronto Sun columnist Sue-Ann Levy discusses her trouble hailing a cab at Pearson Airport because of her dachsie Kishka. At 1:30 a.m. On her third try she finally found a cabbie who would take her and Kishka home.

After posting on Facebook, she found out she wasn't alone.

What I realized is that this occurs quite often not only at the airport but in Toronto proper and is happening due to religious reasons — that is, because dogs are considered unclean in certain religions.

In fact, Gail Beck-Souter, general manager of Beck Taxi that operates about 900 cars in Toronto, confirms that if certain Muslims take a dog in their vehicle, they are required to go home and shower afterwards (before they pray).

It would seem that the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) which licenses limos that pick up at Pearson airport and the companies that operate out of the airport have bent over backwards to accommodate the religious demands of their drivers — who clearly have strength in numbers.

McIntosh Limousine manager Anne Ruddy claimed the driver who turned me down, a gentleman from India, did so because he “doesn’t have to” take dogs.

But the driver would have to take Kishka if he was a service dog — that’s the “law,” she said.

She denied Muslim drivers in their fleet would ever turn down dogs for religious reasons contending it has more to do with “them being scared” of dogs.

Asked how she felt about a woman being denied a ride at 1:30 a.m., Ruddy said she “hates the idea” but they have to “abide by the GTAA rules” — they “don’t have a choice.”

I had to laugh when I read the description of their drivers on the McIntosh website, most particularly this gem: “Our drivers have taken sensitivity training...”

Guess that sensitivity training didn’t include the part about not leaving a woman stranded at 1:30 a.m.

Read her whole ordeal here. 

Someone needs to start educating these people that if it's just the saliva they're worried about, carry a nice big bottle of Purell, and keep it in the car. Ironically, they are probably handling things that are far dirtier and unclean than a dog's saliva, which is pretty filthy.

Burqa Ban At Factory In Minnesota Prompts Somalis To Walk Off Job

Where I live you don't see burqas, hijabs occasionally but not often. And usually the women who don the head scarves are, laughably, wearing those skin tight, trendy jeans. So much for the whole modesty issue.

But Minnesota, apparently, has quite a few burqa-clad women in the Somali community over there, and a bunch of them just walked off their job at Dianne's Fine Desserts in Le Center because of a new burqa ban instituted by new management. And it's not even a total ban, all they want is for the women to wear leggings or pants for safety measures.

Apparently, a week after Mike Knowles bought Dianne's, a Somali worker's long flowing burqa got caught in a boot washer. Nothing happened to the woman, but in order to prevent any future mishaps they decided to make some changes to the dress code: no "unconstrained cloth below the knees." Shouldn't be a big deal for the Somali women. After all, wearing pants doesn't show skin, and the pants needn't be skin tight. But no deal. They want to be able to wear their burqas, not pants or leggings under company issued skirts.

Shamso Ali is a female Somali Muslim who works at Dianne's factory. She told the Faribault Daily News that as she prepared to begin her shift Monday morning while wearing a burqa, a manager approached her and told her to go change.

"I could not believe it was happening," Ali said. "They asked, 'Will you go change your skirt?' I said, 'No, I cannot.' 'Well, then you need to leave,' they said."

Ali eventually joined 10 other Somali women and about 20 Somali men in walking off the job.

Asher Ali, leader of the Somali Community Center in Faribault, characterized the company-issued skirts as "extremely high, they are way up there... It's like something a model would wear."

Dianne's is complying with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's dictates regarding accommodating the religious beliefs and practices of employees by allowing them to continue to wear the veil. All they are asking is for the women to not wear skirts below the knee, for the safety of all involved. And the company has every right to save itself from potential law suits if a worker gets into an accident.

Knowles, referring to the burqa-caught-in-boot washer incident, said, "when there's a safety incident like that you can't just ignore it... We addressed the safety issue by saying no skirts below the knee but that workers could wear slacks or pants and tuck them into their boots."

Regarding the 30 or so who walked off, Knowles said:

"People can't just walk off the job."

Which means they might not get to keep those jobs. Let's hope he doesn't cave, because I smell a CAIR lawsuit.

NOTE: They are actually referring to a niqab, not a burqa, since you can actually see their eyes.