Welcome back to the Morning Brief——brought to you by one of America’s largest independent newspapers—The Epoch Times.
It’s Friday November 13th, and I’m Keegan Billings.
Let’s jump right in.
Good morning! It’s Friday. Here are today’s top stories:
• President Donald Trump said he aims to free Cuba from communist rule before his term ends and would consider a military campaign if necessary.
• The federal immigration enforcement agency set an all-time record for arrests and deportations in fiscal year 2026.
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has resigned following intense scrutiny after admitting to an extramarital affair with an alleged Chinese spy.
• President Donald Trump threatened to double tariffs on Mexico unless it stops U.S.-bound migrant caravans, after about 1,500 people began marching north.
• 🍵 Health: Knee osteoarthritis is a leading cause of pain and loss of function, but mild symptoms can often be managed with lifestyle changes.
NOW, BACK TO OUR TOP STORY:
Trump Wants to Free Cuba From Communism Before Leaving Office
President Donald Trump said in a radio interview on Nov. 12 that he aims to free Cuba from communist rule before his term ends in January 2029 and would consider a military campaign if necessary.
Trump told radio and talk show host Hugh Hewitt on the Salem News Channel.
“I want to get Cuba done before I leave,”
Trump said.
“We’re watching it very closely. It’s doing very poorly. It’s essentially a failed, you know, place, nation, whatever you want to call it. It’s failed, and we’re watching it,” Trump said.
Asked whether he’d be OK with using a little military force, perhaps a week-long campaign, on Cuba, Trump said, “I would certainly consider that, yes.”
He also praised his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, calling him a “talented guy.”
Trump said. “His parents are from Cuba, as you probably know, and he would love to do that,”
Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has brought back the “maximum pressure” campaign against Cuba, leading to a breakdown in formal relations between the two countries.
Following a U.S. military operation in Venezuela that resulted in the capture and removal of regime leader Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3, Washington restricted oil shipments to Cuba. By cutting off subsidized Venezuelan oil, the Trump administration removed Cuba’s most critical economic lifeline. As a result, Cuba has entered a severe economic and energy crisis.
In recent months, Trump has intensified the U.S. pressure campaign by expanding sanctions on state-owned businesses, government agencies, and senior officials.
One of the most significant escalations since the Cold War occurred on May 20, when Raúl Castro was indicted on murder charges in the United States.
On Nov. 5, the Trump administration announced new sanctions targeting eight entities and two individuals connected to the Cuban regime’s foreign military support and illegal revenue networks.
The U.S. State Department said that the sanctions aim to end the regime’s malign activities in Cuba and the Western Hemisphere. The measures target entities and individuals linked to Cuba’s shipping networks, China-based suppliers for Cuba’s military, state-owned import and technical support organizations, and Cuban elites. (More)
“The United States will not tolerate subversive communist networks in our hemisphere,” Rubio said in an X post on Nov. 5.
“The Marxist Cuban regime relies on a web of state-owned enterprises, joint ventures, and offshore intermediaries to keep its systems running, and its foreign backers supply the military equipment that helps sustain the regime’s military forces and enables persistent threats to the American homeland.”
The State Department designated two China-based companies, China National Electronic Import and Export Co. and Beijing H&C Technologies, for allegedly exporting military equipment to the Cuban regime in 2026.
In its latest sanctions announcement, the State Department referenced its July 20 report, “Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” which states that China and Russia have supplied the Cuban regime with military hardware, surveillance technology, and other security capabilities.
NOW, OVER TO POLITICS:
• The federal immigration enforcement agency set an all-time record for arrests and deportations in fiscal year 2026.
More than 491,000 immigration-related arrests and more than 483,000 deportations were carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the 2026 fiscal year, which ran through the end of September, surpassing the previous record set in fiscal year 2025 when more than 442,000 deportations were tallied, said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a statement.
For fiscal 2026, nearly 475,000 administrative arrests were recorded by the agency, which is by far the highest figure recorded in the immigration agency’s history, DHS said. Fiscal year 2026 ran from Oct. 1, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2026.
The fiscal year 2026 deportation total is nearly the same number as three full combined fiscal years recorded under the Biden administration in the years 2022, 2023, and 2024, it said. In those years, 486,000 deportations were carried out.
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has resigned following intense scrutiny after admitting to an extramarital affair with an alleged Chinese spy.
The company’s chief financial officer, Colette Kress, will serve as interim CEO.
Nvidia share prices extended their losses following Huang’s resignation, declining by more than 12 percent by 9:19 a.m. ET.
Kress has served as the company’s CFO since 2013, overseeing its finances during a period of rapid growth. Before joining Nvidia, she spent nearly 25 years in finance leadership roles at major technology companies, including Cisco and Microsoft.
While Jensen Huang’s leadership will be missed, “Nvidia is going to survive and do well,” said Bob Lang, founder and chief options analyst at Explosive Options.
“What we’ve been seeing in Nvidia’s stock price is people trying to figure out what the company is really worth without Jensen Huang, and what sort of value he adds to the company,” Lang told The Epoch Times in an emailed note.
Nancy Tengler, CEO and chief investment officer at Laffer Tengler Investments, likened the situation to Apple after Steve Jobs’s departure.
AND MORE ON POLITICS:
• President Donald Trump threatened to double tariffs on Mexico unless it stops U.S.-bound migrant caravans, after about 1,500 people began marching north.
The president linked the caravans to Republican setbacks in the midterm elections, in which Democrats won control of Congress.
A migrant caravan estimated by Mexican authorities to number about 1,500 people was walking northward on Nov. 11 through southern Mexico. The group set off on Nov. 10 from the city of Tapachula near Mexico’s border with Guatemala.
Some caravan participants said the Democratic election wins renewed their hopes of entering the United States and settling there permanently.
“There might be a light at the end of the tunnel, a way for us to get in,” said Cesar Sandoval, a 47-year-old Nicaraguan who was deported from the United States several months ago.
“We believe the Democrats will help us … with God’s help,” he said before the caravan, dubbed “God With Us,” departed.
Caravan participants initially aim to reach Mexico City to seek federal assistance and protection from detention while traveling north.
Trump said that the caravan will not be allowed to enter the United States illegally.
“They will not be accepted!” Trump wrote, adding that Mexico, Texas officials, U.S. Border Patrol, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been informed of his position.
he added. “There will be no leniency!” he added.
• The president said he asked Vice President JD Vance to focus on alleged corruption and crime in Democrat-run states and cities, while saying that he is no longer seeking a deal with Iran to end the war.
States with Democratic leadership “are all poorly run, corrupt disasters,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Billions of Dollars is being stolen each and every month,” he said. “Our Budget could be quickly BALANCED with the correction of this large scale criminal activity.”
Earlier this year, Vance was tapped to head a White House anti-fraud task force that has sought to root out what the administration has deemed “widespread fraud, waste, and abuse.” The vice president provided an update on his efforts last month, including actions taken against major companies that use H-1B visas to hire immigrant workers.
In August, Vance said that the government had identified about $230 billion in fraud and prevented $56 billion in fraudulent payments from being sent out, calling on Congress to codify anti-fraud efforts spearheaded by his office into law.
“We don’t need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!” he wrote, without providing more details.
• Some Democrats have apologized for not being present for a procedural vote on an impeachment effort against War Secretary Pete Hegseth. Eleven Democrats missed the vote. The measure would have been approved had they been present and voted with their party.
“I am so sorry,” Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) said in a video outside the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 11, one day after missing the vote. “There is no one who is more disappointed in myself than me that I was not here.”
Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) said that he took responsibility for not being present.
“The accountability I demand of others applies to me, too,” he said on the House of Representatives floor in Washington.
The House voted 211–204 to refer the resolution to impeach Hegseth, which had been filed by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), to a House committee, effectively blocking it. Massie, who accused Hegseth of committing “high crimes and misdemeanors,” was the only Republican to vote against referral to the House Judiciary Committee.
Eleven Democrats missed the vote. A majority vote would have prevented the resolution from being referred.
Horsford blamed an unspecified personal emergency. Stansbury and several other Democrats who weren’t there said they were rushing to the Capitol but were caught in traffic.
They and others blamed House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for not keeping the vote open for longer.
They and others blamed House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for not keeping the vote open for longer.
Seven Republicans also did not vote on the resolution.
• Secretary of War Pete Hegseth awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal to the U.S. service member who reprimanded him and his staff at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
A War Department official told The Epoch Times on Nov. 12 that Hegseth welcomed the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as the Old Guard, to the Pentagon on Nov. 12 and “proudly” awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal to Spc. Thomas Iglesias the honor for “the execution of his duties at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on November 11, 2026,” the official said.
Iglesias reminded Hegseth and a group of his staff members to maintain decorum at the solemn memorial on Nov. 11 after a loud laugh was heard from the group. The incident took place after President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in honor of Veterans Day.
The Joint Service Commendation Medal is awarded to U.S. military members who distinguish themselves by “meritorious achievement or service” while assigned to a joint activity. The award is not typically given to junior enlisted service members in the U.S. military like Iglesias.
In a social media post on Nov. 12, Hegseth shared photos of him meeting with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment and awarding the honor to Iglesias.
“We love soldiers. We love standards. Well done, Specialist. Carry on Patriots,” he wrote.
A video circulated on social media showed Hegseth taking pictures with his wife, Jennifer, chief of staff Ricky Buria, deputy chief of staff Patrick Weaver, and senior adviser Tami Radabaugh on the steps in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier after the wreath-laying ceremony on Nov. 11.
After laughter was heard from someone in the group, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier sentinel shouted, “All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times.”
–
In addition to taking back the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate by large margins, Democrats won big at the state level during the 2026 midterms. For the first time in more than a decade, Democrats took control of the majority of state legislative chambers.
For the first time in more than a decade, Democrats took control of the majority of state legislative chambers. This will allow them to enact certain policies such as tax increases, gun control, and pro-abortion measures.
They will also be able to redistrict electorates in a way that could favor their own party ahead of 2028.
Democrats also won six trifectas with victories in gubernatorial and state legislative races. A trifecta is when a party controls the governor’s office and both state legislative chambers.
Following the midterms, Democrats will run the state legislatures in 24 states, compared with Republicans, who will control 21.
Nebraska has a unicameral legislature that is officially nonpartisan and has a GOP majority. North Carolina, Texas, Alaska, and Georgia will have split legislatures.
In Arizona, Democrats recaptured the state House and state Senate from the GOP. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs won reelection, so Democrats have a trifecta.
This would allow Democrats to change laws, such as those related to voting.
Democrats successfully created a trifecta in Wisconsin, not only winning the gubernatorial race, but also flipping the state Assembly and the state Senate. This is the first time since 2010 that Democrats will have full control of the state government.
In Michigan, Democrats took back the state House and expanded their majority in the Senate in addition to winning the gubernatorial contest.
Democrats also flipped the state House in Minnesota and kept their majority in the state Senate.
In Pennsylvania, the Democratic Party recaptured the Senate and maintained the House and the governor’s seat, creating the first trifecta since 1993.
With the trifecta, Democrats could pass legislation surrounding election reform, marijuana, data centers, and affordability.
Although the GOP won the gubernatorial race in New Hampshire, Democrats flipped both houses of the state legislature.
Additionally, Democrats recaptured the state House in Texas, North Carolina, and Georgia.
In Texas, a traditionally red state, in addition to winning the state House, Democrats won the gubernatorial spot and other statewide races.
Even in states where they did not win, Democrats broke GOP supermajorities in legislative chambers in Florida, Iowa, and Ohio.
• Democrats’ midterm victories are encouraging for activists promoting climate-related actions at this year’s international conference in Antalya, Turkey.
Speaking as part of an unofficial U.S. delegation to COP31, former U.S. climate envoy John Kerry called the midterms “a transition that the world wants” and said that “in the United States, people made climate change and its exigencies a voting issue.”
According to the United Nations, the Conference of the Parties (COP) is “the supreme decision-making body” of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in which nations have met each year since 1995, the exception being 2020, to negotiate agreements on limiting greenhouse gas emissions, making payments from rich countries to poor countries, and other environmental issues. This year’s conference runs from Nov. 9 to Nov. 20.
For the past two years, the Trump administration has declined to send a delegation to COP and has cut subsidies for wind and solar power and electric vehicles, while pushing for deregulation of the oil, gas, and coal industries.
After the recent U.S. election in which Democrats retook Congress, Democrats substantially increased their delegation to the event.
“They initially were just sending 19 Congressmen, but now they have over 120 different mayors, the governor of New Mexico, and others who are showing up here to say the U.S. is back in on the climate negotiations.”
Also among the state and local attendees are California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Palo Alto Mayor Vicki Veenker, Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell, and many other municipal members of organizations like the U.S. Climate Alliance, Climate Mayors, and America Is All In.
• Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) has formally launched a bid to challenge incumbent Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for Senate majority leader in the upcoming Congress.
Van Hollen “To deliver, we need new leadership. This isn’t about any one person—it’s about answering that call. That’s why I’m running for Senate Majority Leader.”
Schumer, meanwhile, has expressed confidence that he’ll have the required votes when the conference meets for a closed-door, secret ballot vote later in December.
Several incoming Democratic senators—including Sens.-elect Annie Andrews (D-S.C.), Abdul El-Sayed (D-Mich.), and Adam Hamilton (D-Kansas)—have said they won’t support Schumer.
• Democratic lawmakers have begun new probes into Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including whether he lied to Congress.
One investigation looks into Kennedy’s testimony during confirmation hearings in 2025 when he told senators that a trip he took to Samoa had “nothing to do with vaccines.”
Lawmakers cited recent media reports that showed Kennedy writing in 2019, the year of the trip, to the prime minister of Samoa, saying that deaths associated with the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine may have stemmed from the shot and proposing that his team conduct a “detailed health informatics assessment in Samoa of what happened with your MMR vaccines.”
While in Samoa, Kennedy met with activists who have spoken out against immunizations, according to the reports.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, wrote
“Evidence thus suggests that Kennedy’s 2019 trip to Samoa was focused, in whole or in part, on vaccines,”
The other investigation concerns gifts given to Kennedy by Gavin de Becker, a former donor to Kennedy’s presidential campaign, including flights and a stay at a property owned by de Becker.
Wyden and Alsobrooks told Kennedy in a missive dated Nov. 10. “Prohibited sources include anyone who ‘conducts activities regulated by the employee’s agency, and that Mr. de Becker is a prohibited source and that you are not permitted to accept gifts from him while you serve as Secretary.”
De Becker has promoted ketamine, a therapy being reviewed by Kennedy’s agency, and published a book in 2025 that promotes many of the same theories about vaccines that Kennedy has, the senators said.
They asked for details of Kennedy’s relationship with de Becker, how long Kennedy stayed at de Becker’s home, the purpose of trips he reportedly took with de Becker, and whether the men had ever discussed vaccines or ketamine.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who is expected to become speaker in January, has also made a stock trading ban part of the new majority’s plans.
• House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) laid out what Democrats plan to do once they take control of the House in January. The list included raising the federal minimum wage and taking steps toward what he called the party’s commitment to universal healthcare.
Asked how high Democrats would raise the minimum wage, Jeffries did not give a number. He said House and Senate Democrats are still working that out, and that the Raise the Wage Act, which has been introduced in previous congresses, has “substantial support” in the House Democratic Caucus.
The current version, introduced in April 2025 by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) with 178 cosponsors, would raise the federal minimum wage to $9.50 per hour, then increase it in steps to $17 per hour over five years. After that, it would rise each year with the median hourly wage. The bill would also raise the lower minimum wage for tipped workers in steps to $17 per hour over six years, then do away with it.
He also said Democrats need to “take substantial steps toward bringing about our commitment to universal healthcare, so that every single American in this country can afford to go see a doctor when they need one.”
The rest of his list included reversing cuts to Medicaid and food assistance, extending Affordable Care Act tax credits, ending the war in Iran, stopping President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), has also made a stock trading ban part of the new majority’s plans.
The Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cuts he wants reversed were part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed in July 2025. The enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025.
On Iran, Jeffries said four-way negotiations on government funding are underway ahead of the Dec. 11 deadline. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, is leading them for Democrats. Jeffries did not say whether Democrats would risk a shutdown to cut off war funding, but said that House Democrats have “uniformly opposed” any more money for the war.
Jeffries also said Democrats would pursue investigations of the Trump administration alongside the affordability agenda.
• Mayor Zohran Mamdani said city officials are investigating the sudden collapse of an apartment building in the borough of Brooklyn on Nov. 11 that killed eight and left 18 injured, as well as an adjacent active construction site, to determine the cause of the tragedy.
James Williams, 60, who works at the Chelsea Deli Grocery across the street and knew some of the building residents, said the adjacent construction site was often active from the early morning hours late into the night.
On Nov. 11, Williams said he came to work at 6:30 a.m. and heard what sounded like construction workers hitting the foundation of the structure. Then came a big bang as loud as a gunshot and the smell of burning metal, he said. He said he later saw a few bricks fall from the building but never imagined the situation was so dangerous that the entire building could collapse.
At about 4 p.m., Williams said he heard and saw the building crumble, and that a woman on the interior staircase of the neighboring structure also slid into the construction site.
“The lady that I saw trying to climb up that staircase, I don’t know if she got out alive or not,” Williams said. “It was devastating. Who wants to see a building collapse that people live in?”
Mamdani said five entities were involved in the work at the construction site, and those five are connected to 100 construction sites across the city. The Department of Buildings is conducting sweeps of all sites to make sure they are safe.
–
MAIN
Knee Osteoarthritis: The Most Common Form Of Osteoarthritis—Here Are the Causes
Hi it’s Helen Billings, back with our Friday health section, and for today I’ll be talking about knee osteoarthritis.
Also called degenerative joint disease, It’s the most common form of osteoarthritis, and a leading cause of pain and loss of function. Up to 17 percent of adults aged 45 and older have symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.
So it develops through four overlapping changes: gradual breakdown of the joint’s cartilage, changes in the bone beneath it, inflammation of the joint lining, and the growth of extra bone, known as bone spurs.
Symptoms tend to come and go, with flare-ups and quieter periods, while the underlying condition may worsen gradually over time.
. (More)
Now age is the most significant risk factor for osteoarthritis. As we age, the body’s ability to repair cartilage declines. Risk rises especially after age 45, and prevalence reaches as high as 40 percent in people over 70. Primary knee osteoarthritis was once dismissed as normal wear and tear. However, researchers now understand that osteoarthritis develops through the interaction of several factors, including genetics, biological processes within the body, and the mechanical stresses placed on the joints. Some of these factors you cannot change; many you can.
Although osteoarthritis cannot be completely prevented, certain lifestyle changes may help reduce the risk of developing it. These include avoiding joint injuries and overuse, seeking proper rehabilitation after injuries, and performing weight-bearing and strengthening exercises to support joint health. Regular physical activity, such as brisk walking or cycling for at least 150 minutes per week, along with strength exercises on two or more days per week, can help maintain overall health. Additionally, practicing good posture, avoiding prolonged periods in the same position, and taking regular movement breaks may also help support joint health.
Also a 2025 review found that a Mediterranean diet, rich in omega-3 fatty acids from fish, monounsaturated fats from olive oil, fiber from plant foods, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E, and selenium, may help reduce the risk of osteoarthritis by lowering inflammation, supporting gut health, and protecting cartilage from oxidative stress.
A physical therapist can help you find exercises that can manage symptoms and maintain function. Physical therapy aims to strengthen the quadriceps and hamstring muscles and improve flexibility and range of motion.
Now there are some other ways I would like to mention that may help as well.
There’s Hydrotherapy. It involves exercising or moving in water, and there’s Aromatherapy,
And one more is acupuncture. Acupuncture may help relieve pain and improve joint function by promoting blood flow, reducing inflammation, and stimulating the release of endorphins, the body’s natural pain-relieving chemicals.
There are many more options that can be helpful, these are just a few that I would try along with Homeopathy. Well folks hope you have a lovely weekend.
And before we leave, here are some words of wisdom to start the day…Today’s quote is by Dale Carnegie,
He said,
“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”
—Dale Carnegie
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