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As a neurologist, I care for some of society’s most vulnerable individuals — children with severe disabilities who are often mocked, dismissed or misunderstood. My career is rooted in supporting people with physical and cognitive differences, educating about empathy and respect for human diversity, and applying the principles of science and medicine to improve the lives of those facing challenges of one kind or another.

From that perspective, President Donald Trump’s public admonition of a female reporter in November — “Quiet, piggy” — was gut-wrenching and continues to resonate weeks later. To some, it was an offhand, albeit misogynistic, fat-shaming insult. To me, the remark instantly evoked Piggy, the vulnerable and marginalized character in William Golding’s novel “Lord of the Flies” and revealed something far more troubling: a display of dominance, denigration and the subjugation of those deemed less worthy.

The rapid spread of the phrase across media platforms underscored a deeper danger — one that has only grown more unsettling as public displays of intimidation and condemnation increase. It is not just the cruelty of the words but the authority of the speaker, and the delight of many in his audience, that makes them so corrosive.

“Quiet, piggy” is not a joke. It is an illustration of how normalized bullying has become, and an affront to the people I care for and the values that guide my work.

Others have drawn parallels between “Lord of the Flies” and our political moment. In 2020, The New York Times published Jennifer Finney Boylan’s essay “President of the Flies,” in which she described feeling cast onto “some cruel and hostile strand ... where people with disabilities were mocked, immigrants ... were reviled, and grabbing women by their private parts was ... A-OK.”

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Senate Republicans are rushing to defend Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell from a Department of Justice (DOJ) criminal investigation that Powell says is politically motivated and aimed at undercutting the Fed’s independence.

GOP lawmakers are challenging the Trump administration’s investigation of Powell a week after five Republican senators voted to advance a war powers resolution to bar Trump from taking military action against Venezuela without congressional authorization.

The loudest warning shot against the White House came from Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, who accused Trump’s advisers of deliberately trying to undercut the Fed’s independence and threatened to block the president’s nominees to the Fed until the investigation is “fully resolved.”

He said the criminal probe into Powell’s testimony before Congress last year over the $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed’s headquarters in Washington raises questions about the “independence and credibility of the Department of Justice.”

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Former late-night comic David Letterman blasted his old network over a shift in its news coverage during the first year of President Trump’s second term.

“By the way, what about those idiots at CBS?” Letterman said as part of a video posted to his YouTube channel, a medium he has used to comment on current events in recent months since leaving network

“CBS News is a wreck,” he continued. “CBS News for decades … go back to World War II … Ed Murrow would be broadcasting the blitz of London from the rooftops of buildings in London. … That integrity of CBS News has been trampled on, pissed on and eviscerated by these idiots that have taken it over.”

Letterman said the recent changes at CBS are “hurting my feelings” and that he is “sick and tired” of progressives saying, “wait until those midterms,” countering “we’re far downstream of those midterms having an effect on this.”

The host’s comments were first highlighted by Mediaite.

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Minnesota and Illinois, two states targeted by the Trump administration for immigration enforcement, sued Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday, aiming to curb the agency’s crackdown after a woman was shot and killed by a federal agent last week.

Officials in Minnesota are seeking to stop Homeland Security agents from deploying to the state over the objections of Gov. Tim Walz and the mayors of the Twin Cities. Illinois attorneys are asking the court to bar federal agents from using the controversial tactics employed in their crackdown on the Chicago area.

The court filings come comes as hundreds more federal agents are being sent to Minnesota, the Trump administration said, as furor grows over the fatal shooting of 37-year-old woman by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the deployments amounted to a "federal invasion."

"People are being racially profiled, harassed, terrorized, and assaulted. Schools have gone into lockdown. Businesses have been forced to close. Minnesota police are spending countless hours dealing with the chaos ICE is causing," Ellison said in a statement. "This federal invasion of the Twin Cities has to stop, so today I am suing DHS to bring it to an end."

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The largest nurses strike in New York City history hasbegun after negotiators for five major hospitals and the state nurses union failed to agree to a new contract by Monday's deadline. 

The New York State Nurses Association said nearly 15,000 nurses are now walking off their jobs at five privately-run hospitals, including Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai West and NewYork-Presbyterian in Manhattan, and Montefiore Einstein in the Bronx.

Montefiore Senior Vice President Joe Solmonese said, "NYSNA's leaders continue to double down on their $3.6 billion in reckless demands, including nearly 40% wage increases, and their troubling proposals like demanding that a nurse not be terminated if found to be compromised by drugs or alcohol while on the job. We remain resolute in our commitment to providing safe and seamless care, regardless of how long the strike may last."

A Mount Sinai spokesperson said, "Unfortunately, NYSNA decided to move forward with its strike while refusing to move on from its extreme economic demands, which we cannot agree to, but we are ready with 1,400 qualified and specialized nurses – and prepared to continue to provide safe patient care for as long as this strike lasts."

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It might be Trump time in Venezuela.

Just days after jokingly endorsing his secretary of state to serve as president of Cuba, President Donald Trump indicated on Jan. 11 that he might be interested in a similar role in another nation in the Western Hemisphere.

Trump shared a doctored Wikipedia page calling himself the "Acting President of Venezuela" in a Truth Social post, less than 10 days after U.S. forces captured the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores on Jan. 3.

Delcy Rodríguez, the country’s vice president under Maduro who was sworn in as Venezuela's new interim president last week, has said she wants to collaborate with the U.S. administration.

"We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence," she said in an Instagram post on Jan. 4.

Maduro and his wife have been arraigned in a Manhattan federal court on charges including drug trafficking and have pleaded not guilty. They are in U.S. custody in Brooklyn.

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Israeli occupation forces carried out multiple invasions, home break‑ins, abductions, and movement restrictions across the occupied West Bank on Saturday, targeting communities in the northern Jordan Valley, Bethlehem, Hebron in the southern West Bank, Salfit in the central West Bank, Jenin in the northern West Bank, Qalqilia in the northwestern West Bank, Ramallah in the central West Bank, and occupied Jerusalem.

In the northern Jordan Valley, three young men were abducted while working on their agricultural land in Khirbet al‑Hadidiya.

Human rights activist Aref Daraghma identified them as Ahmad and his brother Mohammad Abdullah Bani Odah, along with Aref Omar Bisharat.

Israeli forces also invaded several areas east of Bethlehem, including al‑Ubeidiya, al‑Shawawra, Dar Salah, and Za’atara, with no reported abductions.

In Hebron in the southern West Bank, soldiers abducted two men after invading the Jabal Johar area, stopping and searching civilian vehicles. The abducted men were identified as Wasim Monther Gheith and Omar Nadi Abu Hamdiya.

Soldiers also invaded Dura and ar‑Rihiya, breaking into homes belonging to the Sharha and al‑Tubassi families and ransacking their contents.

Later in the evening, Israeli soldiers shot and injured fifty‑year‑old Shaker Falah al‑Ja’bari in his car, in the Khallet Hadour area east of Hebron, then prevented ambulances and residents from reaching him before taking him into custody.

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Deep strike units of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) destroyed three Lukoil drilling rigs in the Caspian Sea during the evening of Jan. 11, according the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU)

Apart from the three Lukoil drilling platforms in the Caspian Sea, a Russian Buk-M3 anti-aircraft missile system in the occupied Luhansk region, and a Russian army warehouse in the Kherson region were hit.

Ukrainian Defense Forces struck three Lukoil drilling rigs in the Caspian Sea, namely the V. Filanovsky, Yuri Korchagin, and Valery Graifer rigs. These facilities are used to support the Russian occupation army,” the General Staff reported on its Facebook page.

The strikes have been confirmed and damage assessment is underway.

The Buk-M3 anti-aircraft missile system launcher destroyed in the vicinity of the village of Baranycheve in the occupied f Luhansk region. According to the General Staff, this medium-range air defense system is designed to combat aerodynamic targets.

Also, “in order to reduce the enemy’s logistical and combat capabilities,” the statement read, “a strike was carried out on a warehouse of the materiel and technical unit of the 49th Army of the occupiers in the area of the village of Novotroitsk (Kherson region).”

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