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The NewsWorthy
'Punishable by DEATH', CDC's Vaccine Reversal & Thanksgiving Grandma's Tradition- Friday, November 21, 2025
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Today is Friday, November 21st. We're talking about another American city preparing for an immigration crackdown. Also, why President Trump says some Democrats should face the death penalty. And how the CDC has decided to change its stance on vaccines and autism after years of controversy. Plus, we'll explain the latest offshore drilling plan that's getting some bipartisan pushback. The new government campaign to make traveling more civil. And we're checking in on the so called Thanksgiving grandma and her tradition that's going viral for the 10th year in a row. Those stories and even more news to know coming up. Welcome. Welcome to the Newsworthy. All the day's news in around 10 minutes. Fast, fair, fun and on the go. I'm Erica. Mandy, thanks so much for being here. You ready? Let's do this. The Trump administration is apparently ready to start what it's calling Operation Swamp Sweep. Border Patrol agents have reportedly left Charlotte, North Carolina, Swift. So now New Orleans, Louisiana is expecting hundreds of federal authorities to arrive as soon as today and more in about a week. This effort will be led by Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, who has already been in charge of the aggressive campaigns in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte. Meanwhile, Border Patrol is reportedly monitoring millions of American drivers around the country. As the AP reports, it's part of a secretive program to find and detain people whose travel patterns are considered suspicious, depending on where they came from, where they're going, and which route they're taking. Federal agents are getting help from license plate readers run by the dea, private companies and local law enforcement programs that are funded through federal grants. Cameras have already been located near Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and San Antonio, as well as the southern border. And now Customs and Border Protection is set to get another $2.7 billion to build out more surveillance systems. To be continued. President Trump is now accusing half a dozen Democratic lawmakers of sed that's, quote, punishable by death. He was responding to a video the Dems put out earlier this week in which they said no member of the military should act illegally or in violation of the Constitution. All the lawmakers in the video come from military backgrounds and they repeated many times, quote, you must refuse illegal orders. Well, besides his own post calling for a death penalty, Trump also shared comments from other users on Truth Social, including some that said Democrats should be hanged. So Democratic lawmakers responded to Trump's response, saying, quote, every American must unite and condemn the president's calls for our murder and political violence. House Democratic leadership also say they've been in contact with police to make sure the lawmakers are safe. Now. The White House press secretary says the president doesn't actually want to see members of Congress executed. But she also condemned the Democrats, saying they should be held accountable for telling service members to defy the chain of command, calling that a threat to national security. As of this morning, the Democrats video and President Trump's posts are still up. The CDC has now changed its website to align with the views of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Specifically, it now says vaccines may cause autism. This comes despite decades of science showing vaccines to be safe. And after an upheaval at the CDC in which thousands of CDC scientists have been fired or have resigned this year, many have been replaced by vaccine skeptics. Also, you may remember Back in February, RFK Jr. Promised senators, if they confirmed him as the nation's health secretary, that the CDC would not remove statements on the website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism. Well, now the revised website specifically says, quote, the claim vaccines do not cause autism is not an evidence based claim because studies haven't ruled out the possibility. Public health experts, doctors and scientists sharply criticized the update, saying it's the type of misinformation that gets in the way of life saving vaccines. And one professor from Stanford Medical School explained it's just not logically possible to prove vaccines have never caused autism, that it's only possible to rule it out, which has been done by several large scale peer reviewed studies. Still, the Health Department defends the change as reflecting only gold standard evidence based science. The White House has another highly anticipated meeting scheduled today. This one is between President Trump and the New York City Mayor elect Zoran Mamdani. Trump and Mamdani are pretty much polar opposites politically and they've been sharply criticizing each other for months. During his campaign, Mamdani framed Trump as a symbol of the kind of economic inequality and elite power structure he wants to change. For his part, the president threatened to deport Mamdani, who was born in Uganda but became a naturalized American citizen in 2018. He also threatened to withhold federal funding to New York City if the Democratic socialist won the mayoral election. Then he did well. Now Mamdani says he wants to talk to Trump about how they can work together to make New York more affordable. Trump says he took the meeting because the mayor elect requested it and that, quote, we want to see everything work out well. Mamdani will take office as mayor next year. More news still coming up. But first, a break for our sponsor. As a parent, there's so much to keep up with and try to get right but let's be real with a four year old that can feel like a moving target when it comes to nutrition. Some days he eats great, other days it seems like he's surviving on crackers and bread. And many kids vitamins seem to basically be sugar gummies. But Haya is different. My son takes both the daily vitamin and the probiotic every day and the best part is he's actually excited about it. He loves the taste, he loves adding stickers to the bottle and I love knowing it's made with zero sugar, zero gummy junk and all the essentials that kids often miss. Plus every batch is third party tested for heavy metals and microbials in a qualified GMP compliant lab. And by the way, Haya now also has the Kids Daily Greens plus Superfoods, a chocolate flavored greens powder specifically for kids, packed with over 55 whole food ingredients you scoop, shake and sip with milk or a non dairy alternative for a nutritious boost your kids will actually enjoy. We've worked out a special deal with Hiya for their best selling children's vitamin receive 50% off your first order to claim this deal you must go to Hiyahealth.com newsworthy this deal is not available on their regular website. You can go to H I Y-A H-E-A-L-T-.com newsworthy and get your kids the full body nourishment they need to grow into healthy adults. Now back to the news. The U.S. transportation Department is hoping to crack down on bad behavior from travelers this holiday season. It launched a new campaign this week called the Golden Age of Travel Starts with you. In announcing the campaign, the DOT cited worrisome trends that have been happening for the last few years. For example, a 400% increase in in flight outbursts since 2019. The video that came out yesterday as part of the campaign first features an old timey voice, old timey music, and old timey footage to talk about the dignity of air travel, before shifting to more recent footage of people fighting, breaking things and putting their bare feet on seats. Then you see Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy asking a few questions. For example, if you see someone elderly or pregnant, are you helping them with their bags? Are you dressing with respect? Are you keeping your children under control and are you saying please and thank you? The department says the overall goal of the campaign is just to improve the overall travel experience and keep everyone safe. For the first time in decades, the US Is planning new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts. The oil industry has been trying to get access to those areas as a way to boost American energy security and jobs. But the government has not allowed drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf since 1995 because of concerns about oil spills. And off the coast of California, there are some offshore oil rigs running, but no new leasing in federal water since the mid-1980s. Well, now the Trump administration wants to start it back up again as part of a new five year plan. The White House is already facing criticism from both Florida and California, where fishing, tourism and access to clean beaches are key parts of the economy. Democratic lawmakers have also said opening the coastlines to new offshore drilling would put millions of Americans health and safety at risk. So they could end up challenging the new White House plan, which also calls for more lease sales off the coast of Alaska, including an area that's so far been untouched by drilling since opponents say it's environmentally fragile. For now, the whole plan is up for public comment before it's finalized. Either way, this is just the latest way this administration is changing course on former President Biden's climate change focus to go after President Trump's goal of energy dominance. Just this week, the Energy Department announced it was cutting two of its biggest offices that channeled billions of dollars into clean energy projects, and those projects are being canceled, Energy Secretary Chris Wright explained by saying it's about meeting the energy needs of the American people and bringing back what he called common sense to energy policy. The September jobs report that's been delayed because of the government shutdown has finally come out, but it still doesn't offer a whole lot of clarity over how the labor market is going to partly because now the report is out of date. But also there are some mixed signals. For example, hiring actually grew much more than expected, with the US adding 119,000 jobs, which is a big turnaround since the US lost thousands of positions just one month earlier. But the unemployment rate in September also rose to 4.4%, which is the highest it's been in nearly four years, suggesting more people are looking for work and not finding it. Also, the economic picture really depends on industry. There was more hiring in health care as well as restaurants and bars. But there were job losses in other parts of the economy, especially white collar work, reflecting a recent burst of layoffs. Those layoffs are continuing this month, too. Yesterday, Verizon announced the largest round of layoffs in company history. It's cutting more than 13,000 jobs, impacting employees at every level and in all parts of the business. Verizon is also set to convert about 200 stores to franchises, many moving those employees off its payroll, too. Verizon is under pressure since new customers are getting tougher to come by. Competitors like AT&T and T Mobile are lowering prices, and even some cable providers are eating into their business. So Verizon's new CEO has already said he plans to make aggressive changes to be a, quote, simpler, leaner and scrappier business an iconic artist is once again making history more than seven decades after her death. A self portrait of famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, painted in 1940, sold yesterday for $54.7 million at auction. That made it the top selling work by a woman artist or any Latin American artist in history. So far. The buyer has not been named, but many art historians are hoping whoever it is decides to keep it in the public view. The painting shows Kahlo sleeping as an oversized skeleton lays above her. It's already been requested for upcoming exhibitions in cities like New York, London and Brussels. That's it for the main news so now it's time for Feel Good Friday, when we bring you one extra feel good or positive news story before the weekend. But first, this episode is sponsored by Better Help. For some people, the holiday season can be a time for gathering. For others, it can be a time of stress or loneliness. Or maybe it's a little bit of both. So check in on friends, reconnect with loved ones, and remind people in your life that you're there whether or not you agree on everything. I always feel better after sending that text to someone I'm thinking about, or bringing that coffee to a friend who could use a pick me up. Or even telling someone when I'm extra stressed out. And just like those things can take a little extra effort and courage, so can reaching out for therapy. But I've found it's worth it. We're all healthier when we have Support. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is one of the world's largest online therapy platforms. BetterHelp therapists work according to a strict code of conduct, and if you aren't happy with your match, you can switch to a different therapist at any time from their tailored recommendations. This month, don't wait to reach out. Whether you're checking in on a friend or reaching out to a therapist yourself, BetterHelp makes it easier to take that first step. Our listeners get 10% off their first month@betterhelp.com newsworthy. That's betterhelp.com newsworthy. Now back to Feel Good Friday. It's now been 10 years since an Arizona grandmother accidentally invited the wrong person to Thanksgiving dinner, and now they're still celebrating together. You may have heard about this story 10 years ago when Wanda Dench first sent out Thanksgiving invitations to her six grandchildren, or so she thought. One of them was a wrong number. So the invitation went to Jamal Hinton, who at the time was 16. Hinton quickly realized the text was a mistake, but he still jokingly asked if he could stop by for a plate. Well, Dench responded, of course you can. So Hinton took her up on the offer. And in the decades since, they've become closer than ever. They call each other family in good times and bad, all year round. And this Thanksgiving, for their 10th anniversary, Dench and Hinton are partnering with the company Green Giant, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Green Giant is providing the whole spread, from the turkey to mashed potatoes to green bean casserole. And as always, Hinton and Dench are hoping to inspire others to step out of their comfort zones and try something new. Thank you so much for listening today. We'll be back tomorrow with our special edition Saturday episode with some real world strategies for how to navigate those tough political conversations at the Thanksgiving table this year. Then we'll have all the news you need to start the week on Monday. For now, have a great weekend.