Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem announced that President Donald Trump's administration is awarding tens of millions of dollars to hundreds of religious organizations to beef up their security, following the horrific Minnesota shooting at Annunciation Catholic School.
In a lengthy post on X on Friday, Noem wrote that, "DHS is awarding $110 million to more than 600 faith-based organizations and nonprofits across the US. In the face of violent criminals and radical organizations intent on hurting American communities, the Trump Administration is helping houses of worship, schools, and community centers to harden their defenses against attacks and protect themselves."
New: Alleged Minnesota Gunman ID'd, With Disturbing Videos Linked to Him
"This money, administered through FEMA's Nonprofit Security Grant Program, may be used on security enhancements, like cameras, warning and alert systems, gates and lighting, access control systems, and training programs for staff," the post added.
"Instead of using grant money to fund climate change initiatives and political pet projects, we are using this money to protect American communities— especially places where people gather in prayer," Noem continued.
The announcement followed the horrific headlines on Wednesday that a transgender killer went to a Minnesota church armed with several weapons and opened fire on children and adults while they were inside the church on the school grounds attending Mass, as RedState reported.
Two children were killed, 17 other people were injured, 14 of them children.
The 23-year-old perpetrator of the mass shooting was later identified as Robert Westman, who legally changed his name to the more feminine "Robin" at the request of his mother when he was still a minor, RedState reported.
In light of the tragedy, my RedState colleague Teri Christoph reported that for years, Catholic leaders in Minnesota had pleaded with the state's Democratic Governor Tim Walz to help them secure their schools, but their pleas were ignored.
Christoph wrote:
We're now learning that the Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC), a policy group made up of the state's six Catholic dioceses, requested in both 2022 and 2023 that state officials allocate funds so that non-public schools could beef up their security and train their staff in emergency response measures. These requests were prompted by the 2022 shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and the 2023 shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.
"We need to ensure that all our schools have the resources to respond to and prevent these attacks from happening to our schools," Jason Adkins, MCC's executive director, in an April 14, 2023, wrote in a letter to Walz and Democrat Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.
She went on:
The MCC's request for security funding was backed up by a letter written by the leader of the Catholic Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Archbishop Bernard Hebda. Hebda, who was the recipient Wednesday of a condolence telegram sent by Pope Leo XIV, wrote of the effort to get the funding:
The funding would have come from the passage of the Safe Schools initiative, which was set to establish "an ongoing funding source" for schools to improve safety and do the exact things that the DHS grant has now done, allowing faith-based organizations to do things like "increase security staff, enhance building security, and strengthen violence prevention programs."
Her report went on:
Through the Safe Schools initiative, Catholic leaders were asking Walz and state officials to broaden the scope of existing school safety funding to include private schools; they were requesting around $44 per student. Those funding allocations never happened, and Catholic and other non-public schools in Minnesota were left to fend for themselves despite the state having a nearly $18 billion surplus in 2023.
And as if that wasn't bad enough, as my RedState colleague Sister Toldjah reported, while all this was happening, Walz signed legislation allowing minors to seek "gender-affirming healthcare" in his state, establishing a "trans care refuge state."
So much loss and tragedy that possibly could've been prevented, if Democrats like Walz weren't so focused on winning virtue signaling points from the wacko left.
Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.
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