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The NewsWorthy
Act of War?, Chief of Staff Tell-All & Instagram on TV - Wednesday, December 17, 2025
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Today is Wednesday, December 17th. We'll tell you about the latest escalation from the US that could be a step toward war with Venezuela. Also, the most powerful aide in the White House is sharing her blunt views on President Trump's first year. Plus, what Americans are being told to watch out for this flu season, why workers in their 40s are going back to school, and how more social media is moving from smartphones to TVs. Those stories and even more news to know coming up. Welcome to the Newsworthy. All the day's news in less than 15 minutes. I'm Erica. Mandy. Thanks so much for being here. Let's do this. President Trump has now ordered a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going in and out of Venezuela. Blockades are considered an act of war under some international treaties. And some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say this qualifies. Remember, the US Already seized one oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week and it sanctioned six more ships. Trump accuses the Venezuelan government of using stolen oil to finance drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder, and kidnapping. But Venezuela just accuses the US of trying to steal its resources. Venezuela is home to some of the world's largest proven oil reserves. Now, to be clear, there's one exception to the blockade that we know of. Chevron says it can keep operating in Venezuela and exporting oil since it has an exemption from sanctions. But already shipping data shows other vessels making U turns rather than risk getting close to Venezuela. And Venezuela accuses the US of being behind a cyber attack against the country's state run oil exporter. The US Is also still continuing its controversial bombing campaign of suspected drug smuggling boats in the region. And it's now surrounded by U.S. warships, planes and thousands of troops. Trump says the U.S. military presence will keep growing and that, quote, the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before. Already the action has drawn some bipartisan pushback, with lawmakers saying the president is acting beyond the limits of his authority. And now some of them are trying to force a vote to block further action against Venezuela. To be continued, celebrated director Rob Reiner's son has now officially been charged with murder for killing his parents. The charges come with a maximum sentence of the death penalty or life in prison. But prosecutors haven't decided which they'll pursue. Nick Reiner is now being represented by a high profile lawyer who has taken on other famous clients, including Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein. So far, the lawyer has not said much about his client, just that he hasn't been medically cleared to make an appearance in court. He didn't get specific about what medical issue might be holding things up, just that it was procedural. Nick Reiner has a history of battling addiction to hard drugs and had resisted treatment. After at least 18 stints in and out of rehab centers, the investigation is still ongoing. Meanwhile, Rob and Michelle Reiner's close friends, including stars like Billy Crystal, Martin Short and Larry David, released a statement last night about their deaths. In it, they said the Reiners had, quote, devoted a great deal of their lives for the betterment of our fellow citizens and that they'll miss them forever. President Trump's chief of staff seems to be stepping out from behind the scenes with some pretty candid admissions about the administration. Vanity Fair did a series of 11 interviews with Susie Wiles, who rarely speaks on the record. But this time she offered some blunt descriptions of the president and his top aides, including their motivations, successes and shortcomings. For example, Wiles said the president operates with an alcoholic's personality even though he doesn't drink, and that there is an element of retribution behind some of his decisions. She called Elon Musk an avowed drug user with an impulsive and strange work style. She said Vice President J.D. vance has been a conspiracy theorist for a decade, and that's just to list a few of the highlights. Now that Vanity Fair has published, Wiles is calling it a hit piece written to make the Trump administration look bad. She says significant context was left out as well as many of the good things she said about the Trump administration. Top White House officials stand by her and did not seem to take offense to her comments. In fact, Trump said she was right that he does have an alcoholics personality that can be possessive. And Vance said he is a conspiracy theorist, though he also said he only believes in conspiracy theories that are true. Overall, the White House says it has full confidence in Wiles. One of President Trump's more controversial policies is now being expanded. We're talking about the complete travel ban that already impacted citizens from more than a dozen countries. Now another five are also facing a full ban. That's Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria, as well as the Palestinian Authority. It means almost no one from those places is allowed to travel or immigrate to the US for work, pleasure or education, unless they already have a visa. Plus, people from 15 other countries are facing new partial travel limits, the Trump administration explains by saying many of the countries are corrupt and have unreliable documents and criminal records, making it tough for the US to vet their citizens more generally, it cited immigration enforcement, foreign policy and national security concerns. But critics say banning people fleeing dangerous countries punishes the wrong people and destabilizes global security. The expanded ban goes into effect at the start of the new year. There are some exemptions, though, for people like diplomats or athletes competing at the upcoming World cup or Olympic Games. There is no such exemption for traveling sports fans. FIFA is responding to global backlash over World cup ticket prices by offering some cost cuts. Now some of the team's most loyal Fans will get $60 seats for each of the 104 games, and that includes the final, where fans have been asked to pay upwards of 4,000 to $8,000. As for exactly who gets the $60 tickets, that depends. FIFA is giving hundreds of them to the national federations whose teams are playing, and those federations will decide how to distribute them, though FIFA did request that the tickets go to loyal fans who are closely connected to their national teams. To be clear, it's still a limited number of tickets selling for $60, like 1.6% of each stadium's capacity. Millions of other people still have to pay full price. FIFA is expected to earn at least $10 billion in revenue from this World Cup. The tournament begins in June. More news is still coming up, but first, a quick break for our sponsor. If you've ever taken fish oil, you probably know about the aftertaste, but you might not know that there's another option. Fatty 15 is a clean, vegan and science backed alternative that supports longevity at the cellular level. It's powered by C15, the first essential fatty acid discovered in more than 90 years, and it's changing what's known about healthy aging. Clinical research has linked C15 to stronger cellular membranes and better metabolic function. It works by strengthening your cells from the inside out, supporting heart, liver and brain function while helping you feel more energized, rested and focused. What I love is how simple it is. One small, sustainably made capsule each day in a beautiful glass jar with refills arriving right to your door. It's become one of those effortless habits that I really don't mind because I know it's doing something meaningful for my health long term. And unlike fish oil, it actually tastes like nothing. Fatty 15 is on a mission to optimize your C15 levels to help you live healthier longer. You can get an additional 15% off their 90 day subscription starter kit by going to fatty15.comnewsworthy and using the code newsworthy at checkout. Now Back to the news 6 season is heating up in the US just as people start traveling for the winter holidays. The CDC says flu cases have actually been going up since Thanksgiving, mostly in the Northeast. More people are getting sick as compared to this time last year, and more people are ending up in the hospital. And the most common variant is not included in this year's flu shot since it was identified too late. Granted, the flu shots do include related strains, so they can still work against this one, at least to keep people from getting severely sick. Separately, health agencies are seeing an increase in cases of norovirus, AKA the stomach bug. It's highly contagious, and the CDC says there could be 50% more infections this year than in years past. It's been detected in wastewater systems all around the country. Doctors say the best way to stay healthy is frequent hand washing. And even though hand sanitizer works to fend off other sicknesses, it unfortunately does not work for norovirus. If you own a Hyundai or a Kia, you could soon be due for a repair. As part of a new settlement announced this week, the automakers have to offer free fixes to millions of models. This is in response to a wave of thefts we've told you about before. The cars don't have the same auto theft prevention technology included in most other vehicles. A couple of years ago, the automakers came out with a free software patch to try to fix the problem, but as many owners reported, thieves could still bypass that update with pretty simple tools. So this settlement goes a step further and mandates hardware fixes for more than 4 million cars. The eligible vehicles date back as far as 2011 and as recently as 2022. Kia and Hyundai also agreed to pay up to $9 million, half of which will go to owners whose cars were damaged or stolen. The other half will go to states that sued. Notices are set to go out early next year. It seems these days, there's not as much cultural diversity on streaming TV as there used to be. A new study from UCLA looked at the top 250 streaming series of last year, and it found four out of five leads in the most watched streaming comedies and dramas were white actors and white men account for nearly 80% of all show creators. This seems to be a reversal from just five years ago, when streamers, broadcast and cable networks started developing more projects showcasing women and people of color. Studios and networks also promised to establish initiatives and programs designed to increase diversity. Those initiatives have since been largely abandoned, as the Trump administration has criticized diversity, equity and inclusion programs as being unfair, saying opportunities should be solely merit based but the authors of the report say shutting the door on diversity means shutting opportunities for more perspectives, collaboration, exploration and growth. The report says stories that centered around non white cultures as well as LGBTQ disabled groups and women were actually more popular than the shows that weren't. Social Media Platforms Are Expanding into TV this week, Instagram was the latest to announce a TV app to watch its short form videos called Reels. On the app, the videos are sorted into channels like for your popular with friends, new music and sports highlights, and just like on your phone. People can choose to like or comment on Reels but on tv. For now, though, the app is only available on Amazon Fire TV devices in the US of course, this comes after YouTube has already been leaning into TV, including for its own short form videos called Shorts. Separately, Spotify and iHeartMedia are partnering with Netflix to bring some video podcasts to the platform that could then be watched on TV. That said, other platforms are backing off. For example, TikTok discontinued their TV apps in June. X also released a new TV app last year, but it doesn't seem to be functional anymore. Still, connected TV ad spending is growing fast, representing a big new ad market for social media companies. That's it for the main news today. So now it's time for Work Wednesday when we break down one interesting career or work related news story every Wednesday. But first, this episode is sponsored by Skims. I might not be able to control when my kiddo gets up too early in the morning, but the one thing I can control is how comfortable and cozy I feel when I get into bed and the quality of sleep I get. And for me that includes wearing Skims pajamas. They're the best. I really feel like I sleep better when I feel good in the fabrics that I'm wearing. Plus, with the cute holiday patterns available right now, I feel more intentional and put together walking downstairs in my cute holiday PJs to our decorations already filling the living room and this latest set from Skims I got. The Skims Sleep set is the softest pair of pajamas I have ever owned. It's such a good feeling to be in my new Skims Sleep set around the house, cuddled up with a cup of hot tea or even hot cocoa in the evenings. And it'll be so fun to have these as we wake up for the holidays later this month. You'll find me in these PJs all season long. Shop my favorite pajamas@skiMs.com and after you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you select podcast in the survey, and be sure to select our show in the dropdown menu that follows, click and if you're looking for the perfect gifts for everyone on your list, the Skims Holiday Shop is now open@skims.com now back to work Wednesday America's jobless rate is now the highest it's been since 2021, when the economy was still emerging from the pandemic. The latest jobs report shows the unemployment rate is up to 4.6%. Analysts say it's part of a gradual labor market slowdown that's been happening for months, not an abrupt shift. Still, this job market is inspiring some workers to make abrupt shifts in their own lives. For example, more workers are choosing to go back to college or trade schools at a time when they're typically considered to be in their peak earning years. The national center for Education Statistics says more than a million people in their 40s are now enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs. Many are looking to make more money and stand out from their peers in the white collar world. Others are looking to change their career path into something that's in high demand, like artificial intelligence or healthcare. Skilled trade and apprenticeship programs are also seeing an influx, reports say. That's likely because those jobs are seen as more secure and less vulnerable to automation and artificial intelligence. Whatever the reason, this could temporarily impact unemployment data and cause an experience gap in the workplace long term. There are also risks like student debt could get worse. But if this trend pans out, the labor force could become more productive and jobs could become more stable. Thank you so much for listening today and for sharing the show if you found it helpful. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest news to know. Until then, have a great day.