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BUCKNACKT'S SORDID TAWDRY BLOG We should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive & well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate, bier or wein in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WHOO-HOO, WHAT A RIDE!!!!!!"
07 January 2026
VERSE AND VOICE FROM SOJOURNERS 7JAN26
01 January 2026
VERSE AND VOICE FROM SOJOURNERS 1JAN26
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28 December 2025
DHS Bars Norma Pimentel’s Charity From Federal Funding 19DEZ25
ONE of the most hypocritical Christmas greetings from the "christian" nationalist, neo-nazi, fascist, corrupt, greedy drumpf / trump-vance administration was posted by kkkristi noem's DHS, Dept of Homeland Security , " One of the most extensive Christmas messages was posted by the Homeland Security Department on Christmas Eve. It read, “We are blessed to share a nation and a Savior,” and included a video that featured images including the American flag, Christmas trees, Santa Claus, President Trump and a Nativity scene, along with the words “Remember the miracle of Christ’s birth.” and there are plenty of post on this blog about DHS, just search for Dept of Homeland Security. This from Sojourners...
DHS Bars Norma Pimentel’s Charity From Federal Funding
The Department of Homeland Security’s move to suspend funding for Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley—and to seek an unusually long ban on future federal grants—is prompting concern among Catholic leaders and immigration advocates who see the action as part of a broader effort to curtail faith-based humanitarian work at the U.S.-Mexico border.
CCRGV, a South Texas nonprofit led by Sister Norma Pimentel, has been given 30 days to respond to DHS’s proposed debarment, which would shut the organization out of most federal funding streams for six years.
The suspension, which applies only to the South Texas organization, not to Catholic Charities USA or other diocesan agencies nationwide, would be a major blow to CCRGV. The charity, which operates the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas, has been a major recipient of DHS funds through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Food and Shelter-Humanitarian program and its newer Shelter Services Program.
According to DHS, such allocations are meant to “provide funding to non-federal entities that serve noncitizen migrants recently released from DHS custody” so that they can temporarily provide shelter, food, transportation, acute medical care, personal hygiene supplies, and staff assistance.
According to federal filings, CCRGV received around 78% of its revenue from federal and state grants in Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024.
Although federal agencies routinely audit grant recipients, the scope and severity of the DHS’s proposed punishment stand out. Federal debarments typically last three years. But DHS is seeking twice that length, citing what it describes as “pervasive” problems in CCRGV’s internal controls, irregular intake procedures, and missing documentation.
Via a formal Notice of Suspension and Proposed Debarment, DHS alleges that migrant intake data submitted by CCRGV is so inconsistent that officials could not verify whether some individuals served had appeared in federal databases. Investigators also claim the nonprofit billed the government for services provided outside the 45-day window allowed under FEMA rules.
DHS first made accusations in November 2025, when the department initiated proceedings to cut off CCRGV from federal funds. Now, DHS has sought a rare six-year ban, a severe penalty that, if finalized, would place CCRGV on a government-wide exclusion list, effectively warning other agencies and grant partners to not work with the organization.
CCRGV has countered these claims and characterizations. In a statement, the organization said all DHS funds were used exclusively to assist migrants who had already been processed and released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Those funds supported food supply, shelter, transportation, hygiene assistance, and short-term care for people legally permitted to travel to their destinations while awaiting immigration proceedings.
“Those on the front lines of our humanitarian outreach know the work we do truly helps to restore human dignity,” Pimentel said in the statement, adding that she takes “very seriously every single dollar entrusted to us.”
A moral argument from the state
Beyond questions of compliance, advocates say the case is notable for the language DHS has used to undergird its action. In letters reported on by Fox News, DHS officials invoked terms drawn from Catholic social teaching—including “human dignity” and “subsidiarity”—to defend the administration’s immigration policies.
The letters argue that “illegal mass migration” undermines human dignity and social order, echoing rhetoric used by Vice President JD Vance and other administration officials who have appealed to concepts such as ordo amoris, or an ordered hierarchy of moral concern. The late Pope Francis explicitly rejected that framing, warning against using Catholic teaching to justify exclusion or indifference to migrants.
READ MORE: Wait. What Does Vance Think Augustine Said About Love?
In November 2025, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a "Special Message on Immigration" opposing mass deportations, calling for humane treatment of migrants, and advocating for justice—a statement publicly praised by Pope Leo XIV.
For some Catholic leaders, the use of theological language by federal agencies and government officials represents a striking attempt to challenge the church’s migration ministry on moral grounds, not merely legal ones.
Catholic lawyer and moral theologian Kenneth Craycraft said the DHS letters’ appeal to Catholic social teaching reflects a distorted reading of the tradition. While terms like “human dignity” and “subsidiarity” are foundational to Catholic ethics, Craycraft said they cannot be separated from solidarity or reduced to a defense of exclusion.
“Subsidiarity is not Catholic libertarianism,” he said in a phone interview with Sojourners. “It’s a limiting principle, not a justification for abandoning people at the margins.” Applied to immigration, he said, subsidiarity often requires large and coordinated responses, not withdrawal. “You cannot have a robust vision of subsidiarity without an equally robust vision of solidarity,” Craycraft added, warning that invoking church teaching to defend nationalist immigration policies amounts to “bad theology” that ignores the gospel mandate to welcome the stranger.
Part of a broader pattern
The CCRGV case also comes amid a wider federal pullback from funding religious and nonprofit groups. In recent months, DHS has suspended or rescinded millions of dollars in grants to Muslim organizations under FEMA’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program, as well as cuts to other initiatives related to hate-crime prevention and refugee support.
Civil rights groups, like the Brennan Center for Justice, Human Rights Watch, and numerous religious denominations and groups, have accused the agency of disproportionately targeting organizations serving politically vulnerable populations.
Earlier this year, DHS sent letters to local governments and nonprofits receiving migrant-related grants, warning they “may be guilty” of encouraging unlawful immigration and demanding detailed records of those served, a move critics described as intimidating and legally dubious. One of those organizations was the Episcopal Diocese of Rio Grande, whose Bishop Michael Hunn said the letter amounted to a not-so-subtle accusation that the diocese was engaged in human trafficking.
Meanwhile, Texas Governor Greg Abbot’s attorney general’s office has targeted religious groups that work with migrants across the state, including Annunciation House in El Paso and Pimentel’s CCRGV.
Catholic Charities across the region, which rely heavily on government partnerships to deliver large-scale humanitarian services, now find themselves navigating an increasingly threatening landscape for its work.
Craycraft said the DHS action should be understood within long-running tensions between the Trump administration and Catholic institutions engaged in immigration work. While he cautioned against reflexively framing the move as retaliatory, Craycraft said the case exposes real strain points between church leadership, government funding, and political activism.
“The Church is an important depository of funds to do good among migrant populations in the U.S.,” Craycraft said, adding that bishops might now consider exercising greater prudence in how they support nongovernmental organizations, particularly when federal money is involved.
Still, he rejected any suggestion that migrants who have already entered the country should be treated differently based on legal status. “We need to be document-blind in the way we treat immigrants who are here,” he said. “How they came does not change their dignity.”
‘Without funding, we cannot save people’s lives.’
In South Texas, reactions to the suspension reflect deep divisions over immigration policy.
Alma Ruth, founder and director of Practice Mercy Foundation, which works with women and children on the Mexican side of the border, told Sojourners the debarment is appalling for everyone working on the frontlines of immigrant care in South Texas.
“Sadly, the Rio Grand Valley is one of the most underrepresented by the faith community along our borders,” she said. “There is no coalition or strong advocacy group except Catholic Charities. Sister Norma is our most respected leader in this area.”
In a community where it is common to worship alongside Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents or eat tacos at a table next to Border Patrol officers, Ruth said anxieties are high and the fear of government crackdowns on ministries potent.
“We are tired, underfunded, understaffed, and under fire,” she said. “We have been at this since the first Trump administration and are more afraid than ever.
“If the government is going after Catholic Charities, none of us is safe,” Ruth added. “And without funding, we cannot save people’s lives.”
CCRGV continues operating while contesting DHS’s findings. Whether the proposed six-year ban moves forward may determine not only the organization’s future, but also the extent to which faith-based groups can continue providing humanitarian care at the border without becoming political targets.
Even as the federal funding fight unfolds, CCRGV is turning to the public for help. In a Facebook postshared Monday, the organization asked supporters to contribute basic items—including bread, diapers, prenatal vitamins, and hygiene supplies—through its online wish list.
“Because of your generosity, we are able to serve our community with care and respect,” the post reads.
For now, CCRGV’s shelves, and mission, remain stocked, even if millions of dollars in federal support hang in the balance.
Ken Chitwood (@kchitwood) is a religion scholar and newswriter based between Germany and Arizona.
21 November 2025
Warning signs appear on Mexican beach declaring area restricted by U.S. as Mexico rejects Trump offer to strike cartels 19NOV25
CBS 4 News Rio Grande Valley's Post
Questions are rising after a group of unidentified men crossed the Rio Grande and placed “Restricted Area” signs at Playa Bagdad in Matamoros, Mexico, on Sunday. The Mexican military quickly removed the signs after confirming they were on Mexican soil.
NOT MY pres drumpf / trump continues his neo-nazi administration's aggression against our friends and neighbors, this time threatening Mexico by accidently trying to claim some Mexican territory as American and also by threatening to authorize military strikes against Mexican drug cartels. He is threatening countries in the Western Hemisphere with military action and tariffs if they will not do what he tells them to do. He is guilty of illegal military strikes on boats in international waters from Venezuela and possibly Colombia claiming they are drug runners but has not provided any proof of these charges, and even with proof he does not have the authority to authorize the strikes that have been committed. drumpf / trump is using the same propaganda, misinformation and deception techniques hitler used to launch his war in Europe. Not excusing or approving hitler's genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity at least he did serve in the German Army in WW I. drumpf / trump is a 5 time draft dodger avoiding the draft for the Vietnam war, continuing a tradition of draft dodging in his family going back to when Bavaria was an independent kingdom. This from CBS...
Warning signs appear on Mexican beach declaring area restricted by U.S. as Mexico rejects Trump offer to strike cartels
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday ruled out allowing U.S. strikes against cartels on Mexican soil, a day after President Trump said he was willing to do whatever it takes to stop drugs entering the U.S. Meanwhile, Mexican and American diplomats were trying to sort out what may have been an actual U.S. incursion.
On Monday, men arrived in a boat at a beach in northeast Mexico and installed some signs signaling land that the U.S. Department of Defense considered restricted.
Mexico's Foreign Affairs Ministry said late Monday that the country's navy had removed the signs, which appeared to be on Mexican territory. "The origin of the signs and their placement on national territory were unclear," the ministry said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Sheinbaum said the International Boundary and Water Commission, a binational agency that determines the border between the two countries, was getting involved.
The signs, driven into the sand near where the Rio Grande empties into the Gulf of Mexico, caused a stir when witnesses said men in a boat arrived at the local beach known as Playa Bagdad and erected them.
The signs read in English and Spanish, "Warning: Restricted Area," and went on to explain that it was Department of Defense property and had been declared restricted by "the commander." It said there could be no unauthorized access, photography or drawings of the area.
CBS 4 News Rio Grande Valley posted an image of one of the signs on social media.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico shared a comment from the Pentagon Tuesday about the incident, confirming that contractors putting up signs to mark the "National Defense Area III" had placed signs at the mouth of the Rio Grande.
"Changes in water depth and topography altered the perception of the international boundary's location," the statement said. "Government of Mexico personnel removed 6 signs based on their perception of the international boundary's location."
The Pentagon said the contractors would "coordinate with appropriate agencies to avoid confusion in the future."
Mexico had contacted its consulate in Brownsville, Texas, and then the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. Eventually, it was determined that contractors working for some U.S. government entity had placed the signs, Sheinbaum said.
"But the river changes its course, it breaks loose and according to the treaty you have to clearly demarcate the national border," Sheinbaum said during her daily press briefing Tuesday.
The area is close to SpaceX Starbase, which sits adjacent to Boca Chica Beach on the Texas side of the Rio Grande.
The facility and launch site for the SpaceX rocket program is under contract with the Department of Defense and NASA, which hopes to send astronauts back to the moon and someday to Mars.
In June, Sheinbaum said the government was looking into contamination from the SpaceX facility after pieces of metal, plastic and rocket pieces were reportedly found on the Mexican side of the border following the explosion of a rocket during a test.
The area also carries the added sensitivity of Mr. Trump's order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, which Mexico has also rejected.
Meanwhile, Sheinbaum on Tuesday again rejected Mr. Trump's offer of military intervention against cartels.
"It's not going to happen," Sheinbaum said.
"He (Trump) has suggested it on various occasions or he has said, 'we offer you a United States military intervention in Mexico, whatever you need to fight the criminal groups,'" she said. "But I have told him on every occasion that we can collaborate, that they can help us with information they have, but that we operate in our territory, that we do not accept any intervention by a foreign government."
Sheinbaum said she had said this to Mr. Trump and to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on previous occasions and that they have understood.
"Would I want strikes in Mexico to stop drugs? OK with me, whatever we have to do to stop drugs," Mr. Trump said Monday, adding that he's "not happy with Mexico."