On World AIDS Day, the Trump Administration DGAF; How a Republican Could Become Governor of California–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Dec. 1, 2025

Indy Digest: Dec. 1, 2025

After 10 1/2 months of the second Trump presidency, one word keeps coming to mind regarding its actions: Cruel.

OK, a LOT of words come to mind, but cruel often seems to best fit. Today, on World AIDS Day, we saw yet another instance of cruelty come out of the Trump administration. NPR reports:

The State Department issued a terse statement last week saying, “an awareness day is not a strategy.” The result is that on December 1, the United States is not commemorating World AIDS Day. It’s the first time the U.S. has not participated since the World Health Organization created this day in 1988 to remember the millions of people who have died of AIDS-related illnesses and recommit to fighting the epidemic that still claims the lives of more than half a million people each year.

By contrast, last year former President Joe Biden held a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House with the AIDS Memorial Quilt — with coffin-shaped patches each honoring someone who had died of AIDS-related causes — spread out on the grass. And this year, despite the Trump administration’s change of heart, countries around the world are marking the day with proclamations, public health campaigns and commemorative ceremonies. …

President Trump has nothing planned for this year and the State Department has instructed employees not to mark the day.

Tommy Pigott, a spokesperson for the State Department, confirmed the decision not to commemorate the day, writing in a statement that the country is “modernizing our approach to countering infectious diseases” and that “under the leadership of President Trump, the State Department is working directly with foreign governments to save lives and increase their responsibility and burden sharing.”

Out of those four paragraphs of awfulness, one partial sentence stands out to me: “The State Department has instructed employees not to mark the day.”

A message is being sent here—and it’s one tinged with cruelty.

That NPR piece goes on to say:

The U.S. has consistently been the top financial supporter of the global fight against HIV/AIDS, primarily through President George W. Bush’s President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, which has invested more than $110 billion into the global effort since it launched in 2003.

However, since the start of President Trump’s second term, almost a year ago, his administration has made major cuts to global health spending and programing as it champions an America First approach and emphasizes countries being weaned off aid. This has disrupted HIV/AIDS care in many parts of the world—including making it challenging for some HIV-positive individuals to get their medication in places such as Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Kenya, according to UNAIDS.

“Is this a symbolic act? Yes, it is and it symbolizes something that is actually devastating and chaotic,” (said Mitchell Warren, the executive director of AVAC, a global HIV prevention organization based in the U.S.)

The U.S. is not alone in reducing international aid, as other countries—including France, Germany and the United Kingdom—have scaled back on foreign assistance as they shift priorities. The UNAIDS report for World AIDS Day this year warned of “ruinous consequences.”

On a related and much more positive note, the city of Palm Springs and various partners today celebrated the groundbreaking ceremony for the Palm Springs AIDS Memorial, at the Downtown Park. I was unable to attend the ceremony, but Bob Bogard of O’Bayley Communications was kind enough to send a few photographs and the text of the remarks by Dan Spencer, a Palm Springs AIDS Memorial Task Force’s founder.

“During the ’80s. I created a file labeled ‘grief’ with obituaries, photos (and) mementos,” Spencer said “… That file has traveled with me since those early years of the pandemic when my personal and professional mentor, Jim, moved to California to die. The file includes a graduate school friend and his partner, who I visited on my first trip to Palm Springs in the ’80s, after they moved here from Guerneville. At some point, the ‘grief’ file was not big enough. We filled the National Mall with the AIDS Memorial Quilt and started the process of building memorials … so we would not forget, and not let our history, and our friends, be erased.”

According to the World Health Organization, 40.8 million people worldwide were living with HIV in 2024. Some 630,000 people died from HIV-related illnesses last year, bringing the total to an estimated 44.1 million people since the pandemic began.

In the eyes of the Trump administration, these people aren’t worth a day of recognition—and, in fact, it is forbidden for State Department employees to recognize them today.

Cruel.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• We have a general policy against posting news about GoFundMe efforts, for all sorts of reasons, but occasionally, we make exceptions … and I am making one today, because of the amazing amount of good the subjects of the fundraiser have done in the Coachella Valley. From the GoFundMe page “Support Douglas & Marshall (Les Dames) in Their Time of Need“: “Over the past several decades, Douglas and Marshall, aka Les Dames du Soleil, have contributed to our community in innumerable ways, including fundraising over $2 million and community building for HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ causes. This year, Greater Palm Springs Pride declared them ‘Palm Springs Royalty for Life.’ Sadly, on the eve of their 50th anniversary, Douglas has been diagnosed and is undergoing treatment for stage 4 cancer. As such, they now find themselves in need of our support as medical bills and reduced work hours for Marshall are taking a toll on their limited financial resources.” Click here to support two men who have done SO much to support this community.

• Remember when mass shootings were BIG news, especially when kids are involved? Here’s the latest on a horrific shooting in Stockton on Saturday, from The Associated Press, via PBS: “Authorities in California urged witnesses of a deadly shooting at a child’s birthday party to come forward as the search for a suspect stretched into another day. Three children ages 8, 9 and 14 and a 21-year-old were killed Saturday when gunfire broke out at a banquet hall in Stockton where at least 100 people were gathered, San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow said. Detectives believe the gunfire continued outside and there may have been multiple shooters. Eleven people were also wounded, with at least one in critical condition, he said. No one was in custody by Sunday evening, and the sheriff urged anyone with information to contact his office with tips, cellphone video or witness accounts. ‘This is a time for our community to show that we will not put up with this type of behavior, when people will just walk in and kill children,’ Withrow said.”

• The Palm Springs Art Museum is pushing back against Los Angeles Times coverage which said the organization is in the midst of a leadership/board crisis related, in part, to financial problems. ARTnews reports: “The museum takes issue with the Times’ reporting, saying, ‘We respect the role of an independent press. At the same time, the column is based on selective internal correspondence and does not fully reflect the work we have done with our auditors and outside advisors over the last several years. Some of its characterizations of the museum’s financial condition and board oversight are not consistent with the facts as understood by our board, management, auditors, and independent consultants.’ Board chair Craig Hartzman says in a statement to ARTnews that ‘Our financial reviews over the past several years have been thorough and deliberate, supported by independent experts who helped us evaluate and refine our practices. The matters identified in 2021 provided a clear path for improvement, and we have followed that path with focus and consistency.’ … As for the trustee departures, says the museum’s statement, ‘As is typical for a nonprofit board of this size, trustees leave for a range of reasons, including the end of their term prescribed in our bylaws (three years), personal and professional commitments, relocation, and, in some cases, differences of view on governance. And sometimes they simply develop personal grievances based on differences of opinion and other factors.’”

• Can a Republican be elected governor in the state of California? Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton breaks down one plausible scenario: “It’s not at all likely. But contrary to common wisdom, it’s within the realm of possibility—if too many ambitious Democrats leap into the race and keep running. Then they could splinter the vote. There’d be too many Democratic candidates dividing up the party pie and ending up with small slices in the primary election. Just two Republicans could split the GOP vote. In that scenario, the Republican pair could both finish ahead of any Democrat. Remember, in California’s open primary system, the top two vote-getters advance to the November general election regardless of their party affiliation. No other candidate is allowed on the ballot. And write-in candidacies aren’t permitted. So it’s remotely possible for two Republicans to exclusively compete for the California governorship next November—with no way to elect a Democrat. ‘Given that there are so many Democrats running without name ID and no front-runner, it‘s becoming more plausible, if still unlikely,’ says Republican consultant Rob Stutzman. Tony Quinn, a Republican political analyst, says that ‘Democrats are taking a real chance with too many people running.’”

• Anti-vaxxers suck. This is the lesson I took away from this headline from the University of Sydney in Australia (of all places): “Australia on track to eliminating cervical cancer. But HPV vaccination and screening rates are falling.” Details: “Australia is on track to eliminating cervical cancer, but future gains could be undermined by falling HPV vaccination and cervical screening rates, according to the latest annual report by the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Cervical Cancer Control (C4), which tracks key cervical cancer metrics across Australia. The 2025 Cervical Cancer Elimination Progress Report was authored by researchers at the University of Sydney, the University of Melbourne, the Kirby Institute at UNSW, The Australian National University and the Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer (ACPCC). It found there was not a single documented case of cervical cancer among women under 25 across Australia in 2021—the latest available data—demonstrating the efficacy of Australia’s HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination program which commenced in 2007. ‘This reflects the effectiveness of human papillomavirus immunisation, which was introduced in 2007,’ said co-author Associate Professor Megan Smith from the University of Sydney’s Cancer Elimination Collaboration. ‘While this is a great result, the key to reducing cervical cancer burden in unvaccinated populations is screening and improved targeting of services to disadvantaged groups, such as First Nations people, who experience far higher incidence and mortality rates than the general population.’”

• Related, and depressingly so, comes this closer-to-home piece from The Washington Post: “The nation’s top vaccine regulator on Friday laid out a stricter approach for federal vaccine approvals, citing his team’s conclusion, without detailing the evidence, that coronavirus vaccines had contributed to the deaths of at least 10 children, according to an internal Food and Drug Administration email obtained by The Washington Post. Vinay Prasad, an FDA official whose approach to vaccine policy has been championed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., told agency officials that the FDA will rethink its framework for annual flu shots, examine whether Americans should be receiving multiple vaccines at the same time and require vaccine makers to show far more data to prove the safety and value of their products. For instance, Prasad said that pneumonia vaccine makers must demonstrate that their products reduce pneumonia, at least after they become available in the market, rather than just generate antibodies to fight infections.” Without detailing the evidence.

• And finally … this holiday shopping season, be aware of the possibility of surprise tariff charges. The New York Times reports: “Kim Batten, a physical therapist from Oakland, Calif., bought a trench coat earlier this year from a Dutch retailer for $456, a price that was a little above her budget. But after the coat was shipped, UPS told Ms. Batten in an email that she would have to pay over $250 in customs duties to receive it. With shipping, the whole transaction came to well over $700. ‘It ended up being the second most expensive article of clothing I’ve ever bought, other than my wedding gown,’ she said. For decades, no customs duties were imposed on items like Ms. Batten’s coat. But this year, President Trump closed a loophole that had allowed goods worth $800 or less to enter the United States tariff free. The loophole, known as the de minimis exemption, ended for items from China in May and for the rest of the world in August. Shoppers must now pay duties for the first time, often in amounts far higher than they expected.”

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