Thank Goodness for The Onion in These Crazy Times; Details on Gov. Newsom’s Redistricting Gambit–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Aug. 18, 2025

Indy Digest: Aug. 18, 2025

The last few years have been really, really awful as far as the news media is concerned. Between the layoffs, the closures, the capitulations and the idiotic rebrands, it’s been one mess after another.

But there’s been at least one positive development, one which has brightened my mood countless times in recent months: the return of The Onion to relevance.

If you want a recap of everything The Onion has been through over the last decade, The New York Times has a nice recap here. The short version: It changed ownership a bunch of times, endured shifting business strategies—but almost a year ago, under encouraging new ownership, it returned to print.

For $99 a year, you can receive the monthly print edition via snail mail, or for less, you can get “access to member-exclusive emails and other periodic benefits.” If you’re cheap and don’t want to pay, I say phooey on you, but you can still get much of their content at theonion.com.

And in this era—when satire is so hard to do, because previously unthinkable things keep happening—The Onion is killing it.

This is, as of this writing, the lead story on The Onion’s website:

The Onion has, first and foremost, always been about the headlines. In fact, some stories are merely a headline and an image, with no other text. (Here’s one of those that literally made me laugh out loud. If you don’t get it, Google it.). But when there are stories accompanying the headlines, there are gems to be found:

For example, here are some tidbits from a piece headlined “All The Demands Trump Is Making Of The Smithsonian“:

• Melania added as newest of the 274 lifelike specimens in the Hall of Mammals

• Blindfolds handed out at the entrance to the National Museum of African American History

• The Wright brothers will be referred to as the Flight brothers because it just makes more sense

There are also videos, such as one headlined “White House Evacuated After Trans Alarm Goes Off.” It’s worth a watch.

While the Trump administration is the subject of a lot of The Onion’s recent content, no topic is safe from parody. (From the Entertainment section: “George R.R. Martin Finally Finishes Writing Sequel To ‘Erin Brockovich’.”)

There are a lot of things happening in this country that are serious and terrifying. But it helps to laugh—and The Onion has been making me laugh regularly as of late.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• If you want to better understand the congressional redistricting gambit that Gov. Gavin Newsom and his fellow Democrats are currently undertaking—which, if it goes haywire, could lead to Rep. Darrell Issa representing parts of the western Coachella Valley—here’s a great primer from our partners at Calmatters. An excerpt: “A Politico poll found that nearly two-thirds of California voters prefer retaining the state’s independent redistricting commission over returning authority to the Legislature to draw congressional lines. That is not exactly what Newsom’s plan would do, however. His messaging has emphasized that the commission would only be sidelined temporarily, because of what he calls a Trump-induced political emergency. It’s reflected in the name of the measure: the Election Rigging Response Act. Internal polling shared with lawmakers put support, when framed along those lines, at 52%. While that’s enough to win in November, it may not be enough to withstand an intense campaign this fall that is expected to draw hundreds of millions of dollars in spending. Charles Munger, Jr., the longtime Republican donor who poured more than $12 million into the campaign to pass independent redistricting, has said he will open up his wallet again to defend it.”

• Up above, I mentioned that satire is difficult these days, because of the bonkers things that keep happening. Well, here’s a Los Angeles Times headline that seems insane, but it’s real and truthful: “On Putin’s advice, Trump launches assault on mail-in ballots and voting machines.” The story says: “President Trump said Monday he would renew his assault on mail-in voting after Russia’s autocratic leader, Vladimir Putin, told him to do so at their meeting in Alaska last week. The president provided few details, but wrote on social media that he would ‘lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we’re at it, Highly “Inaccurate,” Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES.’ Already in March, Trump had issued an executive order directing the Justice Department to ‘take all necessary action’ to prevent mail-in ballots received after election day from being counted. The order also attempted to impose a proof of citizenship requirement for voter registration. … The U.S. Constitution states that the timing, place and manner of elections ‘shall be prescribed in each state’ by local legislatures, and that Congress has the ability to pass laws altering state election regulations. The president is given no authority to prescribe or govern election procedures. Nevertheless, Trump wrote Monday that states ‘are merely an “agent” for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes.’”

• PBS will survive the the Trump-mandated end in federal funding—but the organization will endure severe and painful cuts. Deadline explains: “PBS plans to cut its budget by 21% as public media faces the loss of $1.1 billion in federal funding over the next two fiscal years. Paula Kerger, president and CEO of PBS, informed station general managers Wednesday of the planned cuts. The overall pool of station dues will be reduced by $35 million, she said. Local outlets are grappling with their own budget holes given the loss of federal support. As Congress considered legislation to rescind the $1.1 billion in funding already allocated to stations, NPR and PBS, Kerger warned of severe cuts. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, set up by Congress in the 1960s to distribute federal funding grants, announced that it would be shutting down by the end of the year.”

• Some Californians can now give themselves the influenza vaccine at home—via a nasal spray. CBS News says—but if you’re 50 or older, you won’t have the option: “Those looking to protect themselves against the flu this season now have an at-home option. FluMist, the only nasal spray flu vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration, is now available for purchase for self-administration. AstraZeneca’s FluMist was approved in 2003 to be given by health care providers. Last year, the FDA broadened the approval of the nasal spray to make it the first self-administered option. An at-home delivery service, called FluMist Home, will be available in 34 states this flu season. Through FluMist Home, customers can get the same FluMist nasal spray—shipped to their homes—that patients can receive at a doctor’s office or pharmacy. … According to the online ordering platform, FluMist is free under most commercial insurance. There is, however, a fee of $8.99 for shipping and processing. … FluMist is approved for at-home use for those ages 2 to 49, but a caregiver should administer FluMist to individuals 2 through 17, according to the website.”

• This headline from The Conversation illuminates a big problem with the current federal government: “Data that taxpayers have paid for and rely on is disappearing—here’s how it’s happening and what you can do about it.” Details: “On Jan. 31, 2025, websites and datasets from across the federal government began to disappear. As that happened, archivists and researchers from around the world sprang into action, grabbing what they could before it was gone. Trust in the federal statistical system took another hit when Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer was fired on the heels of a dismal Aug. 1, 2025, employment report. And reduced data collection at the bureau was already causing concern before her dismissal. The bureau has ceased collection of critical inputs to the Consumer Price Index, likely reducing that inflation indicator’s accuracy, especially at the level of specific locations and products. As researchers of economics and epidemiology at the University of Michigan, we have spent years working with data, often from the federal government. When data and information began to disappear, we were spurred into action to preserve these important public goods. … Unfortunately, government data is now at risk of becoming less available or disappearing. But there are steps that researchers—and the public—can take to reduce that risk.”

• And finally … the Los Angeles Times offers more details on the COVID-19 surge hitting the state: “COVID-19 (test positivity) rates in the Southwestern United States reached 12.5%—the highest in the nation—according to new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released this week. Meanwhile, Los Angeles County recorded the highest COVID levels in its wastewater since February. The spike, thanks to the new highly contagious ‘Stratus’ variant, comes as students across California return to the classroom, now without a CDC recommendation that they receive updated COVID shots. That change in policy, pushed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been criticized by many public health experts. … The Stratus variant, first detected in Asia in January, reached the U.S. in March and became the predominant strain by the end of June. It now accounts for two-thirds of virus variants detected in wastewater in the U.S., according to the CDC. The nationwide COVID positivity rate hit 9% in early August, surpassing the January post-holiday surge, but still below last August’s spike to 18%. Weekly deaths, a metric that lags behind positivity rates, has so far remained low.”

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