The President Checks Out the Junior Senator From Ohio’s Assets; 1.6 Million Pounds of Meat Is Recalled–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Oct. 19, 2026

Indy Digest: Oct. 19, 2026

I often joke about this crappy, bizarre Trump-era timeline in which we find ourselves. This is, of course, a reference to various sci-fi franchises in which there are alternate versions of our universe (an idea actually rooted in a particular quantum mechanics theory).

This joke, alas, is usually not funny, because much of what’s happening in the news today is the opposite of funny.

This brings me to a story over the weekend in The New York Times. I mention it for two reasons: 1) It illustrates perfectly how completely unbelievably whacko this timeline of ours is, and 2) it is actually a little funny.

The headline, which is really real: “In Campaign’s Final Stretch, Trump Can’t Stop Praising Men’s Bodies.”

Yep: It turns out that at various rallies as of late, the president, for whatever reason—Attempted humor? Worsening dementia? Confused horniness?—has been making frequent remarks about checking out men. (He’s also criticized the appearance of some male politicians—especially Texas Attorney General/U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton. If you’ve ever seen a video of Paxton, well, you understand.)

The New York Times spotlighted five (!) different instances in which Trump “hailed or assailed men for the way they look in recent months.” Here’s a gift link to the piece. An excerpt:

As Mr. Trump held a rally in Highland Heights, Ky., on Saturday, he quickly recalled meeting the local Republican nominee for the House, Ed Gallrein, and said he looked like he had come from “central casting.”

Mr. Gallrein defeated a Republican critic of Mr. Trump, Representative Thomas Massie, in a primary in May. Mr. Trump had long targeted Mr. Massie for defeat.

“I needed somebody good, and this guy walks through the door,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Gallrein. “I said, look at this beautiful guy.”

Then Mr. Trump turned his focus to a Republican in a neighboring state, Senator Jon Husted of Ohio. Mr. Trump said he recently learned that Mr. Husted played college football. He recalled looking carefully at the physique of the senator, whom he campaigned with on Monday.

“I never did that with a man before,” Mr. Trump said. “I examined his ass, and then I looked at his shoulders. I looked at his feet. I looked at his hand. I looked at his jawline. Studied him. He’s got a jawline.”

Yep: Not only are we living in the timeline where hate and divisiveness and inhumanity are being promoted by the highest levels of our federal government; in this same timeline, our extremely conservative president is talking about a male senator and “examining his ass.”

I have nothing else to say here. All I can do is shake my head.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• One other word can describe this timeline: stupid. The president remains hell-bent about renaming things after “America,” per The Washington Post: “President Donald Trump on Monday said that New Mexico ‘should immediately change its name to New America,” repeating his controversial and far-fetched idea. ‘We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America! The name would add great value and prestige to the State!’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. While Trump can use executive authority to rename bodies of water and other geographic features, he lacks authority to rename New Mexico or other states. That would probably require action by the state and Congress. The president could instruct government agencies to refer to New Mexico under a new name.” So DUMB!

• From the “If the President Were a Russian Asset, Isn’t This Exactly How He’d Act?” file comes this news, from The Wall Street Journal (gift link): “President Trump is halting implementation of most of the sanctions that were to be imposed on Russia under a bipartisan bill he signed last month, drawing criticism from lawmakers including some of his allies. The announcement came in an executive order on Friday night, and was part of a broader pivot by Trump toward courting Moscow as he seeks to end the war in Ukraine and keep energy prices under control ahead of the midterm elections. The law, which was championed by and named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), targets certain Russian officials and institutions and allows for tariffs of up to 100% on countries that import Russian oil. … The decision follows Trump’s surprise announcement to buy Russian diesel fuel after striking a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin and comes as he continues to pressure Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to end the war that started when Russia invaded.“

• There’s a very real possibility that the Independent may no longer post on Meta-owned platforms as of Oct. 30. Other businesses would be wise to also consider bailing, barring any changes. Nieman Lab explains why: “Meta can use web scrapers to crawl and collect content from websites ‘associated with’ business accounts on its platforms, according to its new commercial terms of use. The update, set to go into effect on October 30, will include news publishers with business accounts. These accounts allow companies or public figures to manage Facebook pages, Messenger accounts, Instagram profiles, or WhatsApp channels from one place. While journalism isn’t the only industry that will be affected by this update, virtually every news organization has at least one Meta business account, including Nieman Lab. … As written, the new terms could be used to argue that Meta can scrape content from news sites and use that content to train the company’s AI products, according to three legal experts who reviewed the terms at Nieman Lab’s request. ‘This is a remarkable provision to bury in [the] terms of service, given that this would give Meta access to material that would likely cost many millions of dollars in a licensing market,’ said Matt Topic, a media and intellectual property attorney at Loevy & Loevy. ‘It’s not clear whether a court would enforce this, but publishers should assume that it would be enforceable.’”

• A longtime ESPN producer has resigned from the company because of its embrace of sports betting platforms. Columbia Journalism Review says: “It came as a shock to many people, including Nicole Noren, a longtime ESPN producer, when ESPN licensed its name to a gambling app in 2023. By then, ESPN, like so many sports outlets, was promoting betting at virtually every opportunity; now it would encourage fans to use ESPN Bet. The app, which stood to generate a billion and a half dollars for the network over 10 years, proved to be an embarrassing flop. But it was promptly replaced by a partnership with DraftKings, the sports gambling giant. These days, DraftKings ads blanket ESPN coverage, and this past March the companies enabled customers to link their ESPN and DraftKings accounts. It’s a partnership, a press release explained, ‘that goes beyond a traditional marketing arrangement, redefining how fans engage with sports.’ For Noren, ESPN Bet was the last straw. ‘I was out,’ she told me. ‘I’m not going to work for a gambling company and have blood on my hands.’ … With the NFL back in full swing—and ESPN preparing to carry its first-ever Super Bowl, in February—Noren spoke publicly for the first time about her own family’s experience with compulsive gambling. ‘Addiction dictated every part of our life,’ she said. ‘It’s very, very personal to me.’”

• Our partners at CalMatters just published the latest in its “License to Kill,” series, “an investigative series on how California lets dangerous drivers stay on the road.” This one shows how the state continues to give commercial driver’s licenses to dangerous, crime-committing drivers. The lede: “Loren Chow looked in the rearview mirror and had a terrifying realization. We’re going to get hit. There’s nothing I can do to get out of this. Traffic outside Fresno had slowed. A semitruck loaded with fertilizer from Missouri, cruising at 65 miles per hour, hadn’t. By the time the driver, Baljit Singh, hit the brakes, it was too late. A fully loaded big rig traveling at that speed takes the length of nearly two football fields to stop. Chow, his wife and their 17-year-old son were headed home from a college visit in June 2022. Singh’s red Freightliner smashed into the back of their SUV and flipped it. Jenny Chow died. Law enforcement said Singh caused the crash by driving too fast. … Court filings, police reports and driving records lead to a simple conclusion: If the California Department of Motor Vehicles had done its job, Jenny Chow would still be alive. That’s because in July 2021—11 months before he killed Chow—Singh let his semitruck drift over the median on Merle Haggard Drive in Kern County on his way to an Amazon distribution center, killing a 26-year-old man on a motorcycle.”

• And finally … today’s recall news involves … meat! And a lot of it. Such a waste! ABC News says: “A Massachusetts company is voluntarily recalling nearly 1.6 million pounds of ready-to-eat cooked meat and poultry products because of a storage temperate issue. Kayem Foods, Inc. and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the recall last week and said the recall was initiated after ‘a cooling system malfunction at one of [Kayem’s] warehouses that resulted in storage temperature deviations.’  … Recalled meats include a wide variety of products, from bacon, bologna, bratwurst and brisket to chicken sausage, corned beef, frankfurters, hot dogs and kielbasa. A full list of recalled products may be viewed on the USDA’s website.”

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