As Gas Prices Hit a Record High, the President Considers Re-Naming the Strait of Hormuz After Himself–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Sept. 3, 2026

Indy Digest: Sept. 3, 2026

I’d like to address those of you out there who are Trump supporters (if there are any of you left reading news publications like the Independent). I have a question to ask—and it’s a question that I know a lot of Americans have:

Don’t you find the president’s desire to put his name and face on all sorts of things, and his compulsion to build monuments to himself, to be a little, well, weird? Concerning? Wasteful? Dictatorial, even?

Time magazine reported yesterday:

President Donald Trump has suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz the “Trump Strait” amid renewed hostilities with Iran following a brief period of respite.

“Now that we have it under U.S.A. control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to Trump Strait? Like America itself, it would be ‘hotter’ than ever before!” the President said Wednesday.

Trump floated the idea a day after the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) launched a new wave of strikes against Iranian military targets.

Then there’s his proposed $100 million-plus arch in Washington, D.C.

The Associated Press today reported:

The Trump administration said Thursday that excavation work will start over the next two weeks on the site where it plans to build a towering, gilded arch, a project that is facing a lawsuit and that critics say will disrupt historic sightlines in Washington, D.C.

The proposed arch is one of several projects the Republican president is pursuing to leave his lasting imprint on Washington, including renaming and renovating the Kennedy Center, building a huge new White House ballroom, refurbishing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and rebuilding a golf course in East Potomac Park that could significantly reduce the public’s access to running and biking paths.

“This will be one of the Great Pieces of American Architecture,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum wrote on X, “befitting the most powerful Capital in the World.”

Along with the announcement on X, Burgum posted artistic mockups of the planned 250-foot-tall (76-meter) memorial arch, which will stand between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. …

A National Park Service report released Friday backed the project, though it said there would be adverse effects to the sightlines between a host of iconic landmarks, disrupting the historical significance of dozens of nearby sites.

The Associated Press mentioned the Kennedy Center thing; there’s also the Palm Beach airport mess, the questionably legal $1 Trump coins, the “commemorative” passport thing … I could go on, but I think you get the point.

One other question … don’t you find the fact that the president is putting so much emphasis on renaming things and building monuments to be a bit troubling, seeing as there are very, very serious problems in the U.S. right now?

Here’s just one example from the news today. CBS News reports:

Gasoline prices are surging ahead of Labor Day, with AAA predicting travelers will face the highest pump prices on record for the holiday weekend amid ongoing conflict in the Strait of Hormuz. 

The national average for regular gasoline reached $4.14 a gallon Thursday, up 4 cents from a week earlier, according to AAA data. Diesel averaged $5.78 a gallon, just below its record of $5.81 set in June 2022.

Gas prices have never eclipsed $4 per gallon on Labor Day, the motor club noted.

Don’t you find this all … bad? I sure do.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• A whistleblower from the U.S. Postal Service is warning of potential mail-ballot chaos in November. NBC News says: “President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March that directed his administration to create federal lists of citizens and asked the Postal Service to transmit mail ballots to only those people. A federal judge has blocked the order from going into effect amid ongoing litigation over its constitutionality; the whistleblower complaint highlights potential issues that could arise if the courts ultimately declare it lawful. The USPS typically is responsible only for transporting mail ballots between election officials and voters, and the federal government has never kept a central list of all American citizens. Trump ordered the agency to take on an unprecedented and complex role in the process this year amid a broader attempt to exert greater control over the country’s elections and his continued unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud. The technical system the USPS assembled to vet voters was developed in a ‘rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed process,’ according to a whistleblower complaint sent to the office of Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Blumenthal sent the complaint to Postmaster General David Steiner on Monday, asking for more information. ‘This administration seems hell-bent on changing the framework of casting ballots in this country, clearly for political reasons,’ Blumenthal said on a call with reporters Monday.”

• Related: The Department of Homeland Security is planning a surge in voter-fraud investigations in nine states, including California. CNN says: “Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has accelerated efforts to make the department a central force in President Donald Trump’s hunt for purported widespread election fraud. DHS has pushed states to share their voter rolls for audit and has vowed to withhold grant funding from those that refuse to adopt a broader set of election reforms. The department has leaned for investigative work on one of its agencies—Homeland Security Investigations—an arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement that typically tackles major crimes like human trafficking, drug smuggling and child exploitation. The agency has already surged an unprecedented number of agents to work on cases, including chasing down voter histories of people believed to be noncitizens who may have illegally voted or registered to vote. Experts say there is no evidence that widespread voter fraud has occurred in recent elections. … Offices in nine states are expected to take investigative action from early September to mid-October, according to the guidance. Those states include Washington, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia, California, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York and Connecticut.”

• A judge has called out RFK Jr.’s Health and Human Services Department for citing made-up studies while cutting teen pregnancy-prevention grants. The Washington Post (gift link) reports: “A judge criticized the Department of Health and Human Services for citing nonexistent scientific evidence or potentially AI-generated citations to support sweeping changes to federal teen pregnancy prevention programs. The Trump administration had said money Congress appropriated for such programs should avoid encouraging teen sexual activity and be used only for programs that promote abstinence and ‘body literacy.’ The administration’s changes were challenged after HHS cut tens of millions in grants. In his opinion granting a preliminary injunction as the lawsuit continues, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper called the changes ‘likely arbitrary and capricious’ and said the government had failed to provide sufficient evidence for its policy. He wrote that grant solicitations for the program ‘(remarkably) reference public health studies that appear either not to exist or not to support the propositions for which they are cited—a hallmark of AI-generated citations.’ In seven cited articles, two appeared to be entirely made up and three others did not exist in the journals they were attributed to, according to Cooper.”

• The state Assembly leader has killed a bill that would have strengthened regulations on the use of Flock cameras. Our partners at Calmatters say: “A bill in the Legislature would have strengthened privacy protections on how license plate data is collected and shared. It also would have guarded against misuse of automated license plate readers by law enforcement officers. But after clearing the state senate the bill was stopped in the Assembly by majority leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry on Monday, the final day the Legislature meets this year, before it could be introduced for a floor vote. … All the bills California lawmakers have proposed since 2022 to reform or update regulations on license plate tracking by law enforcement agencies have failed to pass or become law. A similar bill passed last year but was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. … Lawmakers pushing for more regulation of the readers point to police misuse of the data they collect, including illegally using it to help federal immigration enforcers and stalking people. But law enforcement agencies say many of the proposed regulations would cripple a tool they say has helped solve a wide range of crimes. ‘We were concerned that this bill was going to limit the utility of ALPR data to solve crimes, find missing persons, exonerate innocent individuals, and so the fact that it did not pass, we’re glad for that,’ California State Sheriff’s Association legislative director Cory Salzillo told CalMatters.”

• And finally … today’s recall news involves … chocolate milk! USA Today reports: “Colorado-based milk manufacturer Horizon Organic Dairy has recalled over 53,000 cases of chocolate milk because the milk may spoil prematurely. Horizon Organic Dairy initiated the voluntary recall in early August for 53,760 cases of 1% low-fat chocolate milk boxes because of a seal issue that could lead to early expiration, the company told USA TODAY on Monday, Aug. 31. The milk was sold in 8-fluid-ounce cartons in both 12- and 18-count boxes. ‘This (seal) issue may cause the product packaging to appear bloated or be prone to leakage, and the contents may be subject to premature spoilage,’ Horizon Organic Dairy’s head of quality and food safety Kendra Harrison said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY. Harrison added that the recall has nothing to do with an allergen, microorganism or pathogen contamination.”

• And Target baby wipes! NBC News explains: “Target voluntarily recalled Up&Up Fragrance Free and Up&Up Fresh Cucumber Scented Baby Wipes after customers raised concerns about discoloration in the wipes. Following this, FDA testing identified the presence of two contaminants, Burkholderia cepacia complex and Burkholderia gladioli in samples of the wipes. … According to the FDA, using products contaminated with Burkholderia cepacia complex and Burkholderia gladioli can have severe and potentially life-threatening effects. The bacteria can cause skin infections even in healthy people, says Nachman, and the risk to babies is even greater.” Eek

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