FIND Food Bank Deals With Sudden, Unexplained Federal Cuts; DAP Health Fears HIV-Prevention Cuts–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: March 31, 2025

Indy Digest: March 31, 2025

The complete disaster that is “Government Efficiency” continues to take actions that are hurting a whole lot of locals. One of more cold-hearted decisions came about a week ago, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture decided, with no real warning, to halt $500 million in deliveries to food banks across the nation.

Last week, our local major food bank, FIND Food Bank, issued a statement confirming the cuts and explaining the impact:

Debbie Espinosa, President & CEO of FIND Food Bank, said while one of its federal programs worth $1.5 million was reinstated last week, others were rescinded.

“What did just get cut is another source of food from the federal government that would have resulted in 8 truckloads of food or about 350,000 meals,” Espinosa said.

She said the organization remains stable for now but is working to secure long-term support.

“FIND Food Bank’s supply of food that it receives from the federal government is about 35% of our 20 million pounds that we do annually,” Espinosa said. “A little over 5 million pounds is what we receive from the federal government and that food is secure so far, we are hoping that that does not get cut.”

Wow. The statement went on to say that FIND Food Bank has not yet had to pause any community food distributions, and that Reps. Raul Ruiz and Ken Calvert “are working to address the issue.”

Let’s be clear about what’s happening here: It’s pure evil.

Back in December, the Daily Mail reported:

The president-elect who vowed during the campaign “make America wealthy again” is stocking his administration with billionaires and officials who know what it’s like to be comfortable.

It’s estimated that the over one dozen billionaires tapped for Trump’s incoming Cabinet have a combined net worth of nearly $500 billion.

That’s a staggering number compared to the net worth of Joe Biden’s current administration leads, which combined are estimated at just over $100 million.

Donald Trump’s most prominent bromance has been with the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, although Musk’s role co-running a ‘Department of Governmental Efficiency’ sits outside government and has no formal rule.

But he is just one of the astonishingly wealthy people joining Trump during his second term.

Trump, whose own net worth estimated at around $5 billion has ballooned through share value in his media company, has plucked advisors from business, real estate and finance.

An administration full of billionaires is cutting resources to the poorest Americans—including stopping shipments to food banks. How can anyone think this is OK?

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• In a related and equally horrifying vein, DAP Health and other health-care organizations around the nation are concerned about proposed cuts to HIV-prevention programs. The Los Angeles Times reports: “Statements from the Trump administration that officials are considering cuts to key programs for the prevention of HIV and AIDS are generating outrage among two of the largest LGBTQ+ service organizations in Southern California. Leaders of the LGBT Center in Los Angeles and DAP Health in the Coachella Valley said that a sharp cut in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of HIV Prevention could endanger many lives and potentially drive up the long-term cost to taxpayers, if incidence of the virus that causes AIDS increases. When the Wall Street Journal first broke news of the potential cut in mid-March, a spokesman said no ‘final decision’ had been made ‘on streamlining CDC’s HIV Prevention Division.’ … ‘This “cost-saving” strategy of decimating the CDC’s HIV prevention program will only increase costs, both human and financial,’ David Brinkman, the CEO of DAP Health, said in a statement.”

• Meanwhile, the president says a bunch of new tariffs will go into effect on April 2. The Associated Press explains what this all means: “Trump has repeatedly called April 2 ‘Liberation Day,’ with promises to roll out a set of tariffs, or taxes on imports from other countries, that he says will free the U.S. from a reliance on foreign goods. To do this, Trump has said he’ll impose ‘reciprocal’ tariffs to match the duties that other countries charge on U.S. products. But a lot remains unknown about how these levies will actually be implemented. … Reciprocal tariffs could take the form of product-by-product duties, for example, or broader ‘averages’ imposed across all goods from each country — or perhaps something else entirely. The rates could reflect what other countries charge as well as their value added taxes and subsidies to domestic companies. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told ‘Fox News Sunday’ that the tariffs could raise $600 billion annually, which would imply an average rate of 20%. Trump has talked about taxing the European Union, South Korea, Brazil and India, among other countries, through these levies.”

• Even if the “mass deportations” pledged by the administration have not yet happened, the mere threats are causing chaos in parts of California. Our partners at Calmatters report: “New Valley Watch volunteers (in the Central Valley) learn to watch for white trucks and vans as part of their training. Those volunteers said the effect lingers: When they’re driving to the grocery store or parking at the movie theater, they can’t help but notice them. And for a moment, they’re afraid. This is the stated intention of the Trump administration’s plan to deal with illegal immigration, part of what the president promises will be the largest deportation program in American history. ‘If you are here illegally, we will find you and deport you,’ said Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem earlier this month. ‘You will never return. But if you leave now, you may have an opportunity to return and enjoy our freedom and live the American Dream.’ While immigration enforcement agents continue to detain individual people outside of their homes or at the entrance to a Walmart, the deportation program’s larger hope is to encourage people here illegally to self-deport by creating enough fear and mistrust among immigrant communities in places like the Central Valley. It remains to be seen whether the self-deportation plan is working. As to whether it’s creating fear—that part is working just fine.”

• And the administration’s attacks on universities continue. The Associated Press says: “Harvard University has become the latest target in the Trump administration’s approach to fight campus antisemitism, with the announcement of a new ‘comprehensive review’ that could jeopardize billions of dollars for the Ivy League college. A federal antisemitism task force is reviewing more than $255 million in contracts between Harvard and the federal government to make sure the school is following civil rights laws, the administration announced Monday. The government also will examine $8.7 billion in grant commitments to Harvard and its affiliates. The same task force cut $400 million from Columbia University and threatened to slash billions more if it refused a list of demands from President Donald Trump’s administration. Columbia agreed to many of the changes this month, drawing praise from some Jewish groups and condemnation from free speech groups, who see it as a stunning intrusion by the federal government.”

• Today’s recall news involves … liquid eggs! ABC News explains: “On March 28, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced that Cargill Kitchen Solutions was recalling approximately 212,268 pounds of liquid egg products as they may contain sodium hypochlorite, the main ingredient in bleach. According to the FSIS, the liquid egg products were produced between March 12 and 13 and had ‘use by’ dates of Aug. 9 and Aug. 10, 2025, and March 7, 2026. Recalled products include Egg Beaters branded Original Liquid Egg Substitute, Cage-Free Original Liquid Egg Substitute and Cage-Free Original Frozen Egg Substitute, as well as Bob Evans branded Better’n Eggs Made with Real Egg Whites Liquid Egg Substitute in 32-ounce cartons. … They were shipped to distributors in Ohio and Texas ‘for foodservice use in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Iowa,’ but may have been distributed nationwide, the agency said.”

• And finally … Wired magazine took a look at the complaints people filed with the Federal Communications Commission. What was the complainants’ big beef? “As the most-watched halftime show of all time—one that exclusively featured Black performers—Kendrick Lamar’s historic performance during Super Bowl LIX was bound to draw some complaints. But according to a Federal Communications Commission response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from WIRED, the single biggest source of anger was not about the performance itself. It was that there were not enough white people on stage. ‘I think that it’s racist that there aren’t any white people in this event,’ one complainant wrote. Another from Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, added: ‘There’s something wrong when you can’t even put white people on with talent.’ In response to WIRED’s FOIA request, the FCC published 125 complaints sent to the agency from some of the more than 133 million people watching. Some complained about the ‘vulgar’ and ‘obscene’ language uses, others focused on their inability to understand ‘this rap crap,’ and some asked why Madonna or Eminem weren’t performing. … But dozens of complainants were open in their beliefs that featuring the all-Black ensemble at halftime was racist against white people, in a bizarre twist on the wider culture war over diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI).”

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