Free Republic

A Minneapolis City Council candidate held a June fundraiser featuring the scion of a Somali political family whose patriarch was known as a ruthless warlord whose clan-based militias intercepted food shipments and attacked U.N. peacekeepers. The late Mohamed Farrah Aidid was a key player in a 1990 coup, after which Somalia’s government collapsed in 1992 amid famine. His son, Hussein Farrah Aidid, spoke at a fundraiser for Nasri Warsame, a DFL candidate running against Council Member Aisha Chughtai. Warsame’s law-and-order campaign was hampered by a fracas that broke out during the Ward 10 DFL endorsing convention after Warsame supporters took...

A wild brawl broke out at a Democratic endorsing convention in Minnesota on Saturday when dozens of supporters of rival candidates clashed on stage. The convention for the Minneapolis Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) Party's Ward 10 ended with at least one person hospitalized, another needing medical attention at the scene and no endorsement. 'This is embarrassing,' shouted convention chair Sam Doten as the ugly scenes escalated. 'We are shutting this down - this is no longer safe.' The confrontation erupted as backers of Minneapolis City Council member Aisha Chughtai took to the stage sending supporters of her challenger, Nasri Warsame,...