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Somalia and the High Cost of Low Trust
RealClear Politics ^ | 19 Jan, 2026 | Mitzi Perdue

Posted on 01/19/2026 9:19:40 AM PST by MtnClimber

When news broke of the massive child nutrition fraud in Minnesota, many Americans reacted with disbelief. During the pandemic, roughly $250 million intended to feed hungry children was siphoned off, prosecutors say, and spent on luxury cars, real estate, and other indulgences. To most people, it appeared to be a shocking betrayal of public trust.

To me, it felt unsettlingly familiar.

Decades ago, long before Minnesota became synonymous with one of the largest fraud cases in U.S. history, I had an experience in Somalia that permanently altered my perspective on aid, trust, and good intentions. It is why I read the indictments differently, not with surprise so much as recognition.

What struck me most about the Minnesota case was not only the scale of the theft but the silence surrounding it. The fraud appears to have operated in plain sight within tightly knit circles, yet few people spoke out.

More than 40 years ago, when I was a rice farmer in California, American rice growers learned of famine conditions in Somalia. Competitors set aside their rivalry and donated an entire shipload of rice for humanitarian relief. I later traveled to Somalia, expecting to see that food had reached people on the brink of starvation.

It had not.

A powerful clan had taken control of the shipment. Once its own members’ needs were met, the remaining rice did not go to feed other Somalis. Instead, it was used to feed animals, while those outside the clan continued to go hungry.

At the time, I tried to explain what I had seen by blaming corruption, weak oversight, or a few bad actors. None of those explanations captured the deeper pattern. The behavior made sense only when I began to understand how differently trust and obligation were organized.

(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: leftism

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1 posted on 01/19/2026 9:19:40 AM PST by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

Import the third world and become the third world.


2 posted on 01/19/2026 9:19:51 AM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

The article contains the obligatory “ we all know many, many, Somalis are hard working people” excuse.

I guess thats why 90% are on weldare.


3 posted on 01/19/2026 9:31:07 AM PST by shotgun
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To: MtnClimber
During the pandemic, roughly $250 million intended to feed hungry children

The fraud is built on a constant lie

32% of urban children are considered "obese." Another 20% are "overweight." There are zero "hungry children" because of economics in the USA

"Hungry children" exist because of broken homes and bad/irresponsible parents. All the money in the world won't fix that. In fact, the welfare state makes it much worse.

4 posted on 01/19/2026 9:32:58 AM PST by PGR88
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To: MtnClimber

Mitzi concludes with——

“””Whenever loyalty to the group eclipses loyalty to shared rules, corruption flourishes. The Minnesota scandal was not an aberration so much as a warning: When institutions assume trust without enforcing it, low-trust behavior fills the vacuum. Somalia shows what happens when that low-trust approach is entrenched.””””


The Somalis are not the only ones who are ‘loyal to the group’.

We can include illegal aliens in general who are loyal to their home country and not the USA.

Or we could include Antifa who is loyal to their destructive organization and not the USA.

ete, etc, etc


5 posted on 01/19/2026 9:38:53 AM PST by Presbyterian Reporter
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To: Presbyterian Reporter
The Somalis are not the only ones who are ‘loyal to the group’.

The same can be said of politicians.

Explains why many quickly become millionaires on salaries that won’t pay the rent in many DC suburbs

6 posted on 01/19/2026 9:54:24 AM PST by sjmjax
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To: shotgun
The article contains the obligatory “ we all know many, many, Somalis are hard working people” excuse.

But they are not. They are the shittiest, laziest, thievingest people on the planet.

80% are still on welfare after 10 years, and when they do get jobs, like at that Minneapolis airport, they use those jobs to rob, steal, and corrupt anything they touch.

They are horrible people, and we need to get them all out of our country.

7 posted on 01/19/2026 10:01:56 AM PST by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: MtnClimber

What struck me most about the Minnesota case was not only the scale of the theft but the silence surrounding it. The fraud appears to have operated in plain sight within tightly knit circles, yet few people spoke out.


the nugget in the article


8 posted on 01/19/2026 10:28:50 AM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued, but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere)
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