I've disagreed with David Frum on many things in recent years, but this piece on immigration is great because it's packed with facts:
- Minnesota is home to America's largest Somali community, 33,000 people. The unemployment rate for Somali Minnesotans in 2015 was triple the state average, 21 percent. As of 2014, about 5,950 of the state's Somali population received cash assistance; 17,000 receive food assistance as of 2014.
- A close study of Somali refugees by the government of Maine (home to the nation's second-largest Somali community) found that fewer than half of the working-age population had worked at any time in the five years from 2001 through 2006.
- The U.S. unemployment rate of 20+ percent still represents a huge improvement over rates in Europe. Only about 40 percent of working-age Somali men in Norway are employed. In the Swedish city of Malmo, home to one of the largest Somali communities in Europe, only 20 percent work.
Yeah, I kinda noticed that back in Malmö in September. Swedes are industrious people: During the day there aren't a lot of them to be seen in the city's residential neighborhoods, and in the downtown they're perambulating purposefully. Until you get to Rosengård, where on every corner bearded, working-age men are just hanging out, with all the time in the world.
Hence Trump. Stop Muslim immigration? According to Paul Ryan, "That's not who we are." But increasing numbers of western citizens are less worried about "who we are" than who we will be if this keeps up.
What could those 80 per cent of unemployed Somalis do? David Frum again:
Somalis have so much difficulty finding work in the developed world because their skills badly mismatch local labor needs. Only about 18 percent of boys and 15 percent of girls attend even primary school in Somalia. UNICEF has given up trying to measure literacy rates.
So enlightened progressive liberals believe, on the one hand, in an America where everyone should go to college and encumber themselves with six-figure debt to the point where the local KwikkiKrap is reluctant to hire a night clerk without a bachelor's degree. And, on the other hand, they believe in importing immigrant groups in which some 84 per cent of the adult population has never set foot in Grade One.
Which in turn leads to headlines like:
Judge orders Twin Cities man suspected of supporting ISIL held pending detention hearing
That sounds an odd thing for a "Twin Cities man" to be up to. What sort of "Twin Cities man" would do such a thing? Answer: a "Twin Cities man" who's unemployable in what's still (just about) a First World economy and has plenty of time on his hands -
According to the complaint against Warsame, he was part of a group of men who played basketball and watched propaganda videos at a local mosque. The men aspired to travel to Syria and fight with ISIL.
Being not just a "Twin Cities man" but an "American", Mr Warsame applied to the State Department for an expedited passport on the grounds that he urgently needed to visit family in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, when he was at the passport office, he said he urgently needed to visit family in Australia, and an alert official noted the inconsistency.
So, given that we're denying them rewarding job opportunities in Syria and Iraq, what can we do to provide "Twin Cities men" with gainful employment closer to home? Genius Swede academic Benny Carlsson has been looking into that 80 per cent unemployment rate:
"Somalis are falling into a black hole in Malmö because they can't get jobs," report author Benny Carlsson of the Lund School of Economics and Management at Lund University told The Local. "(They don't get) opportunities to practice Swedish and meet Swedes, and are forced to live in crowded flats."
So what's the solution?
"It's a common view among Somalis that Swedes are polite and friendly, but they are hard to get to know," he said. "If you have Somali neighbours, invite them to dinner."
In Maine, which boasts America's second largest Somali population, Freddy Akoa did just that. It was the last thing he ever did.
~Over at Powerline, "Twin Cities man" John Hinderaker reports that they're making a film about Chappaquiddick. From The Hollywood Reporter:
Sam Taylor-Johnson, who directed Fifty Shades of Grey, is in talks to direct Apex Entertainment's feature Chappaquiddick.
Mark Ciardi is producing the project, with its script just named to the 2015 Blacklist. Campbell McInnes of Apex Entertainment and Chris Cowles of DMG Entertainment are also producing.
"I've done a lot of true life stories, many sports stories, but this one had a deep impact on this country," said Ciardi. "Everyone has an idea of what happened on Chappaquiddick...
Actually, the facts are clear. "Everyone has an idea" only because the truth has mostly been suppressed by the liberal press.
Hollywood:
...and this strings together the events in a compelling and emotional way.
Hinderaker:
Not, you will note, in a true way. Instead, in a "compelling and emotional way."
Hollywood:
"You'll see what he had to go through."
Hinderaker:
What he had to go through? Are these people crazy?
Hollywood:
Written by Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan, Chappaquiddick is political thriller that unveils the true story of what is described as the seven most dramatic days of Senator Ted Kennedy's life.
Hinderaker:
True story? We'll see. I don't doubt that these were the seven most dramatic days of Ted's life–only political corruption spared him from a jail term–but more significantly, it was the last day of Mary Jo Kopechne's life.
It's not possible to read even a little about Chappaquiddick without emerging with a profound contempt for Ted Kennedy and a disgust for the corrupt power structure that protected him from the consequences of his actions ...and for the political class and pliable Massachusetts electorate that chose to reward him for it. How will the Hollywood version play it? This sentence tells you all you need to know:
On the eve of the moon landing, Senator Kennedy becomes entangled in a tragic car accident that results in the death of former Robert Kennedy campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne.
He didn't "become entangled in a tragic car accident". He caused it. He drove the car into the pond. And then he left her down there while he swam free. And even then she would have survived had he gone to the nearest house and asked for help. Instead, he played it the Kennedy way, prioritized damage control, and walked back to his hotel room to begin building his alibi and ordering up his prop neck brace. They found Mary Jo pressed up in the corner of the car in a shrinking air pocket where she'd waited for hours for the rescue that never came. Because, while she knew that Kennedys booze it up, drive fast, screw around, it never occurred to her that they also leave women to die.
How many lies can a culture tell itself? If Hollywood can get away with a film in which "Senator Kennedy becomes entangled in a tragic car accident", the abyss below is truly bottomless.
~On a happier note, thank you for the kind words about my cat album, Feline Groovy, featuring me and Marvin on the cover. I liked this review from Little Jerry:
Both Clever and Deep
Musically complex. Words are delightful and have levels of meaning... A cd that you will want to play many times to discern all the layers.
I was flattered by this, and then worried that in fact it was an error and Little Jerry had accidentally posted his review of Bartok or Stravinsky to the Feline Groovy page. I had no idea my cat album was so complex and multi-layered, and am now wondering whether that's a good thing or not. Fortunately, it also offers simpler pleasures - like taunting the missus. Malcolm Kirke writes from northern Queensland:
This morning you made my day .. I received "Feline Groovy" and it is great. Very well put together, excellent backing, and I had much fun playing track 13 to my wife Gwen.
I hope Gwen enjoyed it. Feline Groovy: Songs for Swingin' Cats is available from Amazon via CD and download, and also from iTunes and CD Baby. And for great gifts for the non-cat lover in your family, please see our SteynOnline Christmas specials.
~It's Debate Night yet again, and on Wednesday morning I'll be joining the great Bill Bennett for a little post-debate analysis, coast to coast at 8am Eastern/5am Pacific. Immediately after I'll be keeping my regular date with Toronto's Number One morning man John Oakley, live on AM640 at 8.30am Eastern.