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- Losing My Perspicacity, December 30, 2025
Losing My Perspicacity, December 30, 2025
Nonprofits that help the unhoused get a win over Trump and HUD
Julie DiCaro
December 30, 2025
Good morning and Happy Tuesday! Thanks for being here during this week between, when most of us (or at least I) feel like this:
Credit: iFunny
Before we get into the news, I wanted to point out another win for the good guys, this time in federal court against the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This order actually came down on December 23, but it’s languished in my inbox under a pile of unread emails ever since.
The case was brought by a consortium of nonprofits and municipalities seeking an injunction to prevent HUD from withdrawing its current guidelines for the FY2025-26 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) and implementing new ones. To do this legally, HUD would have had to implement new provisions for NOFO 2025-26 by June 15, 2025. Instead, they tried to do so on November 13, 2025.
But that’s not the biggest problem with the new provisions, which make all manner of changes to who is eligible for HUD funding to help the homeless get into stable housing. I bet you already know where this is going.
Among the restrictions HUD sought to impose on fundees are the following:
Fundees can’t operate safe injection sites, as Trump’s Executive Order on homelessness claims such places exist “only to facilitate drug abuse and its attendant harm.” (If you’re curious as to why such sites are important, there’s some good data here.)
The new NOFO rewards the involuntary commitment of the homeless population to mental facilities.
The new NOFO prioritizes federal funding to grantees based on the policies of the municipalities in which they are located. For example, a city in a red state with a red mayor is likely to get more than a city in a blue state with a blue mayor, because a red state/city is more likely to criminalize its unhoused population, as Trump’s Executive Order encouraged them to do.
The new NOFO attempts to strong-arm cities and organizations into adopting the Trump administration’s stance that a person can not have a gender ideology that differs from the one they were assigned at birth.
Fundees must certify that they “will not use Federal funding to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) mandates, policies, programs, or activities that violate any applicable Federal antidiscrimination laws.”
HUD grants will now prioritize fund recipients that exclude undocumented immigrants from their services.
The new NOFO provisions include mandatory certifications, retroactive reservations, and a risk review catchall that allows HUD to exclude applicants whose current or past activities do not align with the Administration’s agenda.
Fundees who work with local law enforcement receive prioritization over those who do not.
There are a lot more problems with the new NOFO provisions, but you get the idea. This is how the Trump administration attempts to strong-arm groups that do essential work with vulnerable groups into adopting their warped worldview, in which every person who lacks means deserves it, and trans and undocumented people deserve it most of all. Given how the Trump administration has treat, we can only imagine how bad they’d like things to be for the unhoused population.
Luckily, Judge Mary S. McElroy of the federal District of Rhode Island was on the case. She granted a preliminary injunction maintaining the status quo and prohibiting HUD from implementing the new NOFO. Judge McElroy was initially nominated to the federal bench by President Barack Obama, but her nomination lapsed thanks to GOP shenanigans in the Senate in 2017. Trump renominated her in 2019 (which is wild, considering she had been a Public Defender for over 25 years, and PDs don’t tend to lean right). Her nomination was opposed in committee by Josh Hawley (R-MO), Mike Lee (R-UT), and John Kennedy (R-LA). Hilarious.
The District of Rhode Island has some banger judges. This is the same district where Judge John McConnell presides, and he lit up the FDA when the administration was attempting to cut off SNAP back in November. I’m grateful every time we get a ruling that protects those who need government assistance the most.
In other news: Some bad news is washing up on the shores of Colombia; Trey Parker and Matt Stone let me down; Imagining financial equality; and The High Note.
Let’s do it.
US boat strike victims are washing ashore
There’s an old saying that the sea never gives up its dead, but that’s exactly what’s happening on the remote sandy shores of Colombia, where wreckage and victims of US boat strikes are beginning to reveal themselves.
Watching from the shore on Nov. 6, Erika Palacio Fernández whipped out her phone, she said, unwittingly recording the only verified and independent video known to date of the aftermath of an airstrike in the Trump administration’s campaign against what it calls “narco-terrorists.”
Two days later, on that same shore, a scorched 30-foot-long boat itself would wash up. Then, two mangled bodies. Then charred jerrycans, life jackets and dozens of packets that were observed by The New York Times and were similar to others that have been found after anti-narcotics operations in the region. Most packets were empty, though traces of a substance that looked and smelled like marijuana were found in the lining of a few.
Not only is it gross, but it’s also devastatingly sad. All told, the US has blown up over 30 vessels and killed more than 100 people in “boat strikes” across the Caribbean. Not only are we committing extra-judicial murder daily, but we are also fundamentally changing the way of life of the people who depend on the sea.
Most people in La Guajira, however, are not tied to the drug trade, but instead fish and herd livestock for a living. Mexi Misael Rincón, a fisherman, uses a boat nearly identical to the vessel struck on Nov. 6 that was anchored just a few yards from where the wreckage lay on the beach. Since the attack, he has dared to venture only into shallow waters, where he traps lobster.
Mr. Rincón’s mother, Carmelena González, 76, said that since the boat strike four of her other sons, who also fish, had left Guajira for distant urban centers to find other ways to make money. That’s in part because fish essential to making a living are farther out.
There’s a lot in that piece that’s hard to read, including descriptions of the bodies that washed ashore. I've included a gift link above if you want to read it for yourself.
What are we doing, boys?
My relationship with South Park has always been uneasy. I remember the delight of discovering the show for the first time, the first Xmas special, and, of course, the iconic Terrance and Phillip episode “Not Without My Anus.” But there’s also always been a weird undertone of white dude libertarianism that never quite sat right with me. So while I’ve loved their weekly takedowns of Trump and all his cronies, I’ve never really trusted creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone beyond mocking the powerful.
That was probably a good call by me, because Parker and Stone are being accused of unfair labor practices by their employees at the infamous Casa Bonita.
In late October, the performers (at Casa Bonita), including the famed cliff divers, went on a three-day strike, citing unsafe working conditions and stalled negotiations over their first contract. The performers voted unanimously to unionize with Actors’ Equity Assn. a year ago.
The strike ended when the restaurant’s management agreed to bring in a mediator to assist in the negotiations.
But the standoff has continued, prompting Actors’ Equity to take out an ad in the Denver Post this week that depicts a “South Park” cartoon-like Parker and Stone awash in hundreddollar bills while their staff, including a gorilla and a person clad in a swimsuit, shivers outside in the Colorado cold.
The union said its goal is to prod the star producers to resolve the labor tensions by giving about 60 Casa Bonita performers, including magicians and puppeteers, a pay increase and other benefits along with their first contract.
According to Forbes, both Parker and Stone are now billionaires. Having been in a union that had to negotiate for a living wage with a very, very rich person, I have little sympathy for the South Park Bros, especially as they’ve now decided to eliminate some union jobs from Case Bonita altogether, in what certainly seems like unlawful retaliation against the union.
“Matt and Trey have become fabulously wealthy by pointing out the hypocrisy of rich and powerful people,” said David Levy, communications director for Actors’ Equity. “And now they are behaving exactly like the people they like to take down.”
Stop it, you jerks. Pay people a living wage and then go home and count your piles of money like Scrooge McDuck.
Speaking of counting your money…
I came across this interesting piece that answers this question: If all the money in the United States were distributed equally, how much would each person get?
As of summer 2025, American households had $160.35 trillion in combined wealth, per the Federal Reserve; that is, the value of every person’s assets minus their liabilities. Meanwhile, based on Google’s Data Commons project, the U.S. population is estimated to be 340.11 million people. Then, it is just down to dividing these numbers to see how much each person would get.
So, $160.35 trillion distributed evenly between 340.11 million people would result in each person getting about $471,465. And this includes the entire population, even babies and children. This means that a couple would get $942,930, a family of four would have $1.89 million combined, and an intergenerational household with a pair of grandparents in the mix would have nearly $3 million.
I have no expectations of ever becoming a millionaire, but I would like never to have to think about money again. Imagine how life-changing that amount would be for millions of Americans. Maybe someday our children’s children’s children will get to this point.
The High Note
Each Day, I do my best to leave you with a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and the will to fight another day.
Please take a moment to enjoy this fabulous debut between Chris Cornell (RIP) and Yusuf/Cat Stevens.
Hey, survive and advance out there today, kids. Don’t let the bastards get you down.
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