A Very Bad Weekend for RFK Jr.; the FCC and Trump Again Threaten Broadcasters They Don’t Like–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: March 16, 2026

Indy Digest: March 16, 2026

If I had to pick the worst member of the Trump administration, it would be a tough decision—but Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would be near or at the top of the list.

As I have mentioned before in this space: While RFK Jr. is often the butt of jokes due to his personal history (including, yes, the brain worm) and his appearance, he should not be underestimated. He’s a powerful person who is responsible for myriad terrible things—including a lot of dead human beings.

Fortunately, there are a couple of pieces of encouraging news to report. First: The New York Times reported this breaking news today (gift link):

In a severe blow to the Trump administration’s health agenda, a federal judge in Massachusetts on Monday blocked the government from implementing a series of decisions on vaccines made over the last year by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The ruling also reversed, at least for the time being, all decisions made by the panelists that Mr. Kennedy appointed to the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, which makes recommendations on which vaccines Americans should take. The court decision will prevent the committee from meeting later this week, as it was scheduled to do.

The judge’s ruling brought an abrupt halt to the major changes that Mr. Kennedy, who has long been skeptical of vaccines, had set in motion, upending national vaccine policy and making sweeping revisions to the recommendations for what shots are given and when. Those included cutting down the number of diseases covered by routine immunization, and restricting access to Covid vaccines, two pillars of Mr. Kennedy’s vaccine agenda.

In his decision, Judge Brian Murphy, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, noted that the vaccine committee has historically made decisions through careful review of scientific evidence, “a method scientific in nature and codified into law through procedural requirements.” But, he added “unfortunately, the government has disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions.”

Of course, the Trump administration will almost certainly appeal the decision.

Second: The Wall Street Journal (gift link) reported over the weekend that even though “Kennedy continues to be in good standing with the president himself,” others in the Trump administration are displeased with the bad press Kennedy and co. have been receiving:

The White House is more tightly controlling the messaging and policies—including around vaccines—coming from the Department of Health and Human Services ahead of the midterm elections, according to people familiar with the matter.

Aides close to President Trump decided to take a more active role in managing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s department in the face of polling that shows his vaccine moves are unpopular, the people said. Although Trump brought Kennedy into his administration with the promise that the vaccine skeptic and ultraprocessed-food critic could “go wild on health,” administration officials grew increasingly frustrated with what they viewed as foul-ups inside Kennedy’s department, according to people familiar with the matter. Aides close to Trump grew worried that perceived disorganization and a focus on vaccines could damage the president’s party in November, those people said.

Some people close to both Kennedy and the White House said the secretary’s standing among some staff is at a new low following a series of setbacks for his Make America Healthy Again agenda. 

At least one more notable thing happened regarding RFK Jr. over the weekend: Saturday Night Live aired a hilarious fake trailer for a new medical drama in the vein of The Pitt … but produced by RFK Jr. If you haven’t seen the MAHAspital sketch yet, it’s recommended viewing—and, as of this writing, more than 2 million people have watched it on YouTube alone.

The Kristi Noem saga proved that if Trump thinks a member of his administration is too toxic or embarrassing, he’ll get rid of them. Here’s hoping that RFK Jr. is on his way toward the same fate as Noem.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• The head of the Federal Communications Commission outright threatened broadcasters who do reporting that the Trump administration dislikes—and that threat was then echoed and enhanced by the president. The Washington Post reports: “President Donald Trump on Sunday endorsed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s threat to revoke broadcast licenses over news coverage of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, calling media organizations ‘Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic’ in a Truth Social post. ‘They get Billions of Dollars of FREE American Airwaves, and use it to perpetuate LIES, both in News and almost all of their Shows, including the Late Night Morons, who get gigantic Salaries for horrible Ratings,’ Trump wrote. ‘As I used to say in The Apprentice, ‘FIRED,’’ he added. Carr, in his Saturday post on X, warned he would deny or revoke government-issued licenses if broadcasters run what the agency deems ‘fake news.’ The warning was the latest salvo from the official who since becoming FCC chairman at the outset of Trump’s second term has relished the role of media enforcer. ‘Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions—also known as the fake news—have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,’ Carr wrote on X. ‘The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.’”

• The content of this New York Times headline is just so awful that I can’t stand it: “U.S. Considers Withholding H.I.V. Aid Unless Zambia Expands Minerals Access.” The lede: “The State Department is considering withholding lifesaving assistance to people with H.I.V. in Zambia as a negotiating tactic to force the government of the southern African country to sign a deal giving the United States more access to its critical minerals. ‘We will only secure our priorities by demonstrating willingness to publicly take support away from Zambia on a massive scale,’ a draft of a memo prepared for Secretary of State Marco Rubio by the department’s Africa Bureau staff says. A copy of the memo was obtained by The New York Times. Some 1.3 million people in Zambia rely on daily H.I.V. treatment that is provided through the decades-old U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (known as PEPFAR) and on tuberculosis and malaria medications that save tens of thousands of Zambian lives each year. The Trump administration is considering whether to ‘significantly cut assistance’ as soon as May, to increase pressure on Zambia, the memo says.“

• Several years ago, the state OK’d a new law to protect drivers when gas prices spike … which, you may have noticed, is happening now. Well, that law has never been used, and it may never be used. Our partners at Calmatters explain why: “Three years ago, California built a first-in-the-nation system aimed at protecting drivers when oil markets turn calamitous. The Legislature passed it. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it. He proclaimed ‘California took on Big Oil and won.’ … But the law—which gave regulators the power to cap refinery profits and penalize oil companies for price gouging—has never been used. Instead, last year, the California Energy Commission voted to delay the rules for five years. … The Iran war has sent global oil prices soaring—but the war is only part of the story. California has a structural problem: fewer refineries, a captive market and no easy outside supply options. When prices rise nationally, they can rise even more here. Proponents say this is precisely the moment the 2023 law was designed for. The commissioners last year left the door open to rescind the delay—and move forward with the rule before the five years—if they change their minds. ‘These are the moments we need them, because when the price of a commodity goes through the roof—be it crude oil or refined gasoline—that’s when companies make outrageous profits,’ said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog. But those who backed the delay argue it was a necessary concession —that penalizing refiners risked driving them out of the state entirely.”

• Related: The Trump administration has ordered the resumption of oil drilling along the California coast. The Los Angeles Times says: “On Friday, Trump signed an executive order giving the Department of Energy the ability to use a Cold War-era law known as the Defense Production Act to accelerate oil and gas development. Energy Secretary Chris Wright quickly responded with an order directing Sable Offshore Corp. to restore operations of the Santa Ynez Unit, which includes offshore oil rigs in federal waters and a network of pipelines that run along the Santa Barbara County coast and inland. ‘Today’s order will strengthen America’s oil supply and restore a pipeline system vital to our national security and defense, ensuring that West Coast military installations have the reliable energy critical to military readiness,’ Wright said in a statement. Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted the action as ‘an attempt to illegally restart a pipeline whose operators are facing criminal charges and prohibited by multiple court orders from restarting.’ Newsom said Trump started a war knowing it would increase gas prices nationwide, and is now using the conflict as a pretext to ‘open California’s coast for his oil industry friends so they can poison our beaches.’”

• The weather is nuts right now in most of in the U.S. Climate change, anyone? NPR reports: “Chaotic weather, from surprising heat in California to the threat of storms rolling into the East Coast, put over half the U.S. population in the path of extreme conditions Monday. Storms across the nation’s eastern half forced airlines to cancel roughly 4,000 flights nationwide Monday, and many schools closed early in the mid-Atlantic states, where high winds were in the forecast. Blizzards buried parts of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota while torrential rains flooded homes and washed out roads in Hawaii. … Airport delays and cancellations piled up Monday in some of the nation’s largest airports — including those in New York, Chicago and Atlanta. The private weather service AccuWeather calculated that more than 200 million people were under threat Monday of some kind of dangerous weather. Those range from extreme heat and wildfire advisories to flood and freeze watches from the National Weather Service. … California is starting to feel like summer too. The San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento will see temperatures pushing toward 90 F (32 C) by midweek.”

• And finally … today’s recall news involves … Costco meatloaf! Fox Business says: “Costco issued a recall notice over the weekend for its popular ready-to-eat meatloaf meal kit, impacting warehouse locations in at least 26 states (including California). The ‘Meatloaf with Mashed Yukon Potatoes and Glaze’ was flagged for potential salmonella contamination after an ingredient supplier raised concerns. ‘An ingredient supplier, Griffith Foods Inc., has announced the recall of an ingredient used in the Meatloaf because the ingredient has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella,’ the recall notice said. … The meal, product #30783, was sold between March 2 and March 13, just days before the Salmonella concern emerged. The items had sell-by dates from March 5 through March 16.”

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