President Joe Biden’s former director of the National Institutes of Health said that the institutes never funded “transgender” mice experiments despite a litany of NIH projects detailing just such experiments. Ex-NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli made the claim at a March 28 Senate roundtable. “I can assure you that NIH has never funded transgender mice,” Bertagnolli said. White […]

'I have not seen an egg fall one cent'

'The jail has been hormonally detransitioning me'

Minnesota is the most recent state to refuse to eliminate DEI from K-12 schools.

Movies & TV The Handmaid’s Tale The Handmaid’s Tale Final Season Premiere: All Roads Lead Back to Gilead Gilead’s former Wives and Handmaids can’t help but be drawn back to the motherland, as the stage is set for The Testaments’ next generation. By Natalie Zutter | Published on April 9, 2025 Credit: Hulu Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Hulu Eight years ago, Hulu delivered The Handmaid’s Tale to a post-election TV audience who sorely needed this furious adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel, with its iconic visuals, bitchy needle drops, and wrenching narrative expansions beyond the source material. We got to watch a lowly Handmaid become so much more. We gained (some) sympathy for Wives and cheered for Mayday. The series became so familiar and self-aware as to get grating, as once-shocking plot twists began to repeat themselves. (So, too, in real life.) But now, with an over-two-year gap between the previous season and this one, we’re finally in the home stretch, as the final season premiered this week. At first, season 6 seems to suffer from some of the same issues as its predecessors, moving characters back and forth across Canada—or across No Man’s Land into Gilead’s borders—like chess pieces. The first three episodes are packed with fascinating emotional moments, especially between June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) and Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski), but despite some quick time jumps we’re still pretty far from any real resolution between the eponymous Handmaid and Gilead. Spoilers for the first three episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale season 6. At least this time it makes sense, since Hulu has officially greenlit The Testaments, the sequel series set in Gilead four years after the end of The Handmaid’s Tale TV series. So we know going into the final season that Gilead will not fall, though it seems likely it will be transformed by the series finale, because of the people changing each other in minute but crucial ways. “Mommies Always Come Back” Credit: Disney/Steve Wilkie The first episode delivered on the delicious visual that the series left us with in 2022: June and Nichole stuck on a train with a bunch of other Americans heading west from Toronto, the only familiar face Serena Joy and baby Noah. Their ensuing road trip is as thorny and fraught as you would expect, with the rare moments of tenderness (usually directed at the children) that are quickly trampled based on their traumatic shared history.  Serena is either so willfully ignorant, or (more likely) determined to be obtuse, that she romanticizes them going on the run and tries to ingratiate herself with all the other pregnant women and mothers. Now that she finally has the child she so desperately wanted, she also wants the label of mama. She wants to be part of the pack, commiserating about wake windows and breastfeeding and not being able to put your baby down for a moment but also not getting enough of their smell. But when she tries to let June sleep, by watching Nichole for her, the other woman is understandably terrified that they’ve slipped back into their Gileadean roles: the Wife stealing the Handmaid’s child. What’s more, June begrudgingly revealing how her arm was broken and why she’s traveling alone makes it clear that they will never be besties or even casual mom friends. June delivering Serena’s baby will never make up for Serena holding her down while Fred raped her. Yet even June is reluctant to out Serena in front of all of the women. Interestingly, it’s the men who do; first the doctor, who recognizes the deceased Commander Waterford’s wife from a fertility clinic, and then the policeman who won’t save her by escorting her off the train. The women begin muttering and circling as if they’re about to kick off a Particicution for old times’ sake, but it’s the men who throw the metaphorical meat to this starving pack. There’s no other solution but for June to kick Serena and Noah off the train, branding herself a traitor but saving her and Nichole from getting caught up in the violence. I wasn’t entirely sure why she didn’t jump off with her, but I guess that makes it clear that June will never willingly choose to align herself with Serena, no matter what little shred of empathy she possesses for her. Instead, June takes the train to the end of the line, i.e., Alaska, where she gets the wonderful surprise of reuniting with her mother (Cherry Jones) at a refugee camp. Though she was relegated to the Colonies, Holly Maddox proved her usefulness to Gilead as a doctor, until she was able to get out. Their reunion strikes inverted notes of June and Serena’s brief time together, with mother and daughter bonding over baby Nichole—including Holly being her namesake—yet also unable to fully mend their own trauma about Holly not being there for June when she was younger. Yet when June gets called back to rescue Luke (O-T Fagbenle) and Moira (Samira Wiley) from an abandoned water park in No Man’s Land, mother and daughter fight over what example one has set for the other. “The only way to win is to show up and fight, which is what you taught me,” June says, to which Holly immediately replies, “And I was wrong! I lost—I gave up so much time with you, and god do I regret it. All you can do is survive and protect the people that you love.” So June leaves Nichole with Grandma and heads back east. Even though Serena and June wind up on opposite borders, with Serena allowing herself to be coaxed back to New Bethlehem, they’re still on similar trajectories. They’re both working moms! The ambassador-turned-spokeswoman, and the spy-slash-general. New Bethlehem Credit: Disney/Steve Wilkie Joseph Lawrence’s (Bradley Whitford) pet project continues apace, an island community within Gilead meant to operate without Handmaids or hangings. Last season June said no way to moving back—even if it had meant supervised visits with Hannah/Agnes—but newly minted Commander Nick Blaine (Max Minghella) with his new Wife Rose and baby on the way is willing to be a poster child. Though the former Eye can’t help but get pulled away from foreign diplomats’ tours and other photo ops by the opportunity to see June again. Then there’s Serena, who knows she can’t really say no when Lawrence shows up at the New Canaan shelter; but her ego still makes it far too easy for her to decide she’s being called by God Himself to lead this new stage of the nation she helped build. I’m really not sure what to do with the overall humorous vibe in the Lawrence household. Whitford has always been acerbically charming as the OG Commander, to the point where the viewer has to constantly remember that he helped build the damn place. To watch him joke around while combining households with his new Wife Naomi Lawrence (née Putnam) diminishes the horrors he’s committed, even indirectly. Similarly, showing off New Bethlehem seems to be more about saving his own neck than actually providing Gileadean refugees—or escapees—with a place where they won’t still be subjugated or used against their will. Lawrence brags about reforming the conservative theocracy of Gilead 1.0, claiming that they’ve “liberalized [the country] without spilling a drop of blood.” (How long do we think that is gonna last?) It’s one thing to show citizens in a fascist society trying to build out safe havens or corners, but not when they are the literal architects of the fascist society. Aunt Lydia’s Special Girls Credit: Disney/Steve Wilkie Those who aren’t lucky enough to just build new sandcastles when their old ones get stomped on are struggling to survive in Gilead’s increasingly broken system. Aunt Lydia, in particular, has gone through a FAFO journey these past few seasons, primarily through the lens of poor Janine, who was dragged away by the Eyes at the end of last season after lashing out at the new Mrs. Lawrence. The latest indignity is that she was sent not to the Colonies, but (gasp!) to Jezebels. Lydia seems more broken up by this fact than poor Janine, pairing her eyepatch with lingerie and a collar, but let’s remember that it’s been at least two months. Of course she’s disassociating in order to cope with the further violation of this place. The only time she does get her old spark back is to hiss at Lydia to leave her alone: “Every time you help, you just make things worse.” Could this be what finally radicalizes Aunt Lydia? She will play a prominent role in The Testaments, though the Lydia of the book had a much more nuanced motivation for joining Gilead’s early architects, compared to the flimsy and insulting backstory that the show gave this version. Still, Ann Dowd can sell almost everything about this character, so I’m hoping that we’ll see more from her by the end of The Handmaid’s Tale than just witnessing Gilead’s hypocrisy with open-mouthed horror. Blessed Be the Fruit Credit: Disney/Steve Wilkie While there is still plenty of tension with regard to June’s love triangle—she loves Nick, but Luke waited for her—the true push-and-pull that season 6 is setting up is between her two daughters. Nichole is almost two years old by the time we get past the two-month time jump, the camera lingering lovingly on her face as she gets to know her grandmother. While she has been through her fair share of dire situations since her birth, she seems content that at least one of her parental figures, of which she has more than a few, will always be around to care for her. Hannah (who knows herself more as Agnes at this point) we don’t see at all in these first three episodes, but that doesn’t mean that her parents aren’t thinking of her every moment. Both endanger their relative safety and stability to reenter No Man’s Land for her sake. Even as Holly implores June to forget about Gilead, June reminds her that they have their claws in Hannah—and that time is actually running out, as she has been dressed in the purple garb of Wives-in-training. If they don’t move quickly enough, she will be so swallowed up by Gilead that she won’t even remember her birth name to scribble when no one’s watching. Without delving too deeply (I’ll save that for the series finale), I will point out that The Testaments recently announced the casting of its two young leads, Agnes (Chase Infiniti) and Daisy (Lucy Halliday). I’ll reiterate my point from last season, that it’s unclear how Gilead will determine which of its next generation of young women (stolen from the United States, or born into Gilead) become Wives and which are relegated to Handmaids. Hopefully we’ll find some of that out this season, but they might just save that for the next series. To Epilogue or Not to Epilogue Credit: Hulu While season 1 followed the book plot up fairly closely up until June gets carted away by the Eyes, the second season’s plot divergences meant that we continued on in the present instead of mirroring the novel’s time jump several centuries later. The Thirteenth Symposium on Gileadean Studies in 2197 offers the small comfort that the Gilead era does not last forever, though the nation’s fate remains an enigma, as does Offred’s. An epilogue via flash-forward would be an apt way to conclude The Handmaid’s Tale while leaving the story open for The Testaments. Gileadean Studies Credit: Disney/Steve Wilkie If you’ll indulge the update on my own personal timeline, my son was ten months old the last time I wrote about this show; now he’s three-and-a-half, while my daughter is eleven months old. I know the wait between seasons stretches extra-long with prestige TV, but this one feels especially wild. This might also explain why I found the scene of the women attacking Serena Joy on the train to be surprisingly triggering; the way in which they shoved her while she had a newborn strapped to her chest forced me to actually stop and take a breather. Who else groaned out loud when Serena gave Rachel as her alias at New Canaan? Way to be self-aggrandizing, yet also with a shred of self-awareness. Are we meant to believe this was really Aunt Lydia’s first time in a Jezebels? I figured she was not so easily shocked. “It’s not a good time to be an American in Canada.” “Oh? That’s news.” …when was this script written? Two stars left in the American flag, which I’m assuming stands for Alaska and Hawaii. New Gilead colorway just dropped: Not only does Serena Joy waltz into New Bethlehem in an all-mauve ensemble, but it’s got pants! It’s darker/dustier than the pink that Gileadean girls wear, yet not as dark as the purple they put Agnes in to signal her impending Wife training. So what class does Serena inhabit now—unmarried mother, or the first officially-recognized Widow? The way that Nick’s father-in-law Commander Gabriel Wharton (Josh Charles) is taking a special interest in her, I think he wants to Wife her up again pretty quickly. What are you hoping to see in the final season of The Handmaid’s Tale?[end-mark] The post <i>The Handmaid’s Tale</i> Final Season Premiere: All Roads Lead Back to Gilead appeared first on Reactor.

Illegal immigrants overstaying their deportation day will have to pay a fine of $998 per day after their official removal date.  The Trump administration is enforcing a 1996 Clinton administration-era law. Though on the books, the law was enforced for the first time in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term, Reuters reported.  The Department of Homeland Security is also considering seizing property of immigrants who don’t pay the fine, according to emails and documents obtained by Reuters.  DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Reuters in a statement that illegal immigrants can “self-deport and leave the country now,” and inform the government on a Customs and Border Protection app, known as CPB Home under the Trump administration and formerly as CPB One under the Biden administration.  “If they don’t, they will face the consequences,” McLaughlin said. “This includes a fine of $998 per day for every day that the illegal alien overstayed their final deportation order.” Reuters reported that a March 31 email shows the White House National Security Council and Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, pressed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to enforce the fines.  The next day, a CBP memo argued for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to take on the task instead, anticipating that CBP would need about 1,000 new paralegal specialists. The agency currently has 313 paralegals, according to the emails reported by Reuters. The post Trump DHS to Fine Illegals Ordered Deported $998 For Each Day Overstayed appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine exposed the harsh reality that energy dependence can pose a threat to national security. For too long, Romania, like much of Europe, has relied on imported Russian fossil fuels, leaving families and businesses vulnerable to geopolitical manipulation. If Romania is to secure its future, it must cut its reliance on unstable suppliers and invest in domestic energy.  A solution for achieving energy independence? Nuclear energy. Specifically, small modular reactors. These reactors are currently developed in partnership with the United States as a clean, scalable, and safe source of energy. Romania can benefit from safe, sustainable power generation, strengthen its economy, and attain true energy independence with America’s innovative assistance and technology.  Romania positioning itself as a nuclear energy innovator  In recent years, the United States and Romania have gradually expanded their civil nuclear cooperation. In 2021, Romania signed an agreement with NuScale Power to explore small nuclear reactor deployment. That vision is now coming to life through the Doice?ti small modular reactor project, which is backed by the U.S. government, Romanian nuclear energy company Nuclearelectrica, and private investors. With construction set to begin by the end of the decade, Romania is positioning itself as a nuclear energy innovator. This project isn’t just about energy; it’s about economic modernization, growth, and jobs. The plant is projected to create over 2,000 jobs during construction and 200 permanent jobs once operational. It will attract high-tech investment and increase Romania’s industrial base, ultimately contributing to GDP growth and greater energy self-sufficiency.  Small modular reactors: a new generation of technology  Some critics question whether going nuclear is the right choice. One concern is over the risks associated with nuclear energy sources. Yet small modular reactors are a new generation of technology that is compact, factory-built, and designed with passive safety systems that make already safe nuclear energy even safer. They offer constant and reliable power, unlike intermittent renewables such as wind or solar, and their scalability makes them ideal for a flexible energy future.   America’s energy policy is becoming more supportive of nuclear innovation. Both the private sector and Congress agree that nuclear power is essential to any meaningful energy transition. Reflecting the critical role of the private sector that is the engine of innovation and efficiency, Heritage Foundation scholar Jack Spencer recently published a timely book on the subject, laying out a bold agenda for moving nuclear forward. Spencer’s book “Nuclear Revolution” underscores “why government intervention in the nuclear industry is a problem, how to move from the status quo to something new, and why such reforms will kick off an era of nuclear entrepreneurship and innovation.”  U.S Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has also made commercial nuclear power a priority for unleashing American energy abundance and innovation. Signing his first Secretarial Order directing the Department of Energy to take immediate action to unleash American Energy in accordance with President Donald Trump’s executive orders, Wright noted,  The long-awaited American nuclear renaissance must launch during President Trump’s administration. As global energy demand continues to grow, America must lead the commercialization of affordable and abundant nuclear energy. As such, the Department will work diligently and creatively to enable the rapid deployment and export of next-generation nuclear technology.  Romania can benefit from this renewed focus on nuclear energy. This is a pivotal moment. Through its partnership with the United States and investment in small modular nuclear reactors, Romania can secure long-term energy independence, fuel economic growth, and even become a regional energy leader.   A pragmatic strategy that’s in America’s interest  From this broader and geostrategic perspective, continuing to enhance pragmatic bilateral relationships with Romania on key economic, energy, and security policy fronts can be in America’s foreign policy interest.   According to The Heritage Foundation’s latest annual Index of Economic Freedom, Romania’s economy is considered “moderately free.” To be sure, Romania’s rise toward greater economic resilience and competitiveness has been held back by institutional shortcomings and weak spots that require further reform. The government will have to focus on improving the judicial system, strengthening anti-corruption efforts, removing rigidities in the labor market, and further modernizing the financial sector.  To that end, one of the practical engagements Washington can opt for and reinforce is to continue supporting America’s interaction with Romania through the Three Seas Initiative.  Officially launched in 2016, the initiative aims to strengthen infrastructure, energy, and digital interconnectivity projects among countries bordering the Adriatic, Baltic, and Black seas and to connect them for greater regional development.  For the United States and Romania, energy policy is no longer just about economics. It goes well beyond watts and grids as a pragmatic geoeconomic strategy that should not be missed.  The post Romania’s Nuclear Energy Partnership with the U.S. Matters More than Ever  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. In 2025, over 200,000 foreign nationals in Russia handed over their facial and voice data to the government’s Unified Biometric System (UBS) as a prerequisite for acquiring or renewing mobile SIM cards. This surge in biometric registrations, announced by the Center for Biometric Technologies, reflects a sharp year-over-year increase and highlights the expanding role of state surveillance in everyday access to essential services. A regulation introduced at the start of the year mandates that all foreign residents must now appear in person at designated service centers to provide biometric samples before being granted a SIM card. The UBS database, which stores both facial and vocal identifiers, serves as a central tool for identity verification across numerous public and private services, from banking to digital administration. More: Russia’s Biometric Boom Faces Rising Data Security Fears Authorities have stated their intention to consolidate several bureaucratic processes into a single visit. As reported by Izvestia, individuals may soon be able to register their biometrics, create a Gosuslugi account, and obtain their pension insurance number (SNILS) in one streamlined session at a government service center. Gosuslugi functions as the digital interface between Russian citizens, businesses, and state institutions. It is the main platform through which individuals access government services online. Beyond expanding data collection from foreign residents, the Russian government is now targeting the private sector. Over the next two years, it plans to integrate the UBS across a wide range of businesses. “Get ready to have UBS integrated into every business in a couple of years,” Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev said during a February meeting with business leaders, where new anti-fraud policies and biometric implementation were discussed. Representatives from major online platforms, including Ozon, Wildberries, Avito, Yandex, Lamoda, MegaMarket, Cian, and HeadHunter, were in attendance. These companies, however, pushed back on the proposal, describing it as an unnecessary financial burden with few real-world applications. Shadayev countered by asserting that participation would not be compulsory. Despite that reassurance, infrastructure is rapidly being built. Sixteen firms have already received authorization to operate as commercial biometric systems (CBS), and around 200 organizations are reportedly engaging with the national biometric framework. Nearly 3 million individuals have been enrolled in UBS so far. Sberbank reports that the bulk of its Smile to Pay users are based in urban centers like Moscow and St. Petersburg, with 25 to 44-year-olds comprising more than half the user base, followed by individuals aged 45 to 64. “The transaction count in 1Q25 has already surpassed the entire 2024,” said Dmitry Malykh, senior vice president and head of Transaction Banking at Sber. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Russia Expands Biometric Surveillance: Over 200,000 Foreign Nationals Enrolled in Unified Biometric System Amid SIM Card Mandate appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. A district court in Germany has handed down a first-instance, seven months prison sentence to journalist David Bendels, because he in February 2024 published a satirical meme on X – as a form of criticism of Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. The meme featured an image – a photo montage – of Faeser “holding” a sign reading, “I hate freedom of expression.” Bendels, who is editor-in-chief of Deutschland-Kurier, then found himself in the dock accused of “defamation against political figures.” According to the German press, this is the first time a journalist has been found guilty on this type of charge “in the Federal Republic of Germany” – that is, since the end of the Second World War. However, speech of any kind is only defamatory if it is demonstrably false. And criminal prosecution of journalists who “mock” politicians is taken by many observers as proof that freedom of expression, as the basis of any democracy, is indeed under threat in Germany. Bendels’ sentence has been suspended for two years, considering that the journalist had no prior criminal record. But the ruling of the Bamberg, Bavaria court also issued an order for Bendels to apologize to Faeser, in writing. The journalist announced that neither he nor his publication accept the ruling. His legal representatives would appeal against it, it has been revealed. Meanwhile, many observers – opposition politicians, but also the country’s top constitutional and media lawyers – worry the case is politically motivated. Bendels and his media outlet are considered right-wing; however, his ordeal has been criticized not only by the similarly ideologically branded AfD party, but also by former Federal Minister Rupert Scholz, from the CDU – a well-known constitutional lawyer, and, media lawyer Joachim Steinhofel, who both said the meme was “unproblematic.” Faeser’s lawsuit was based on Germany’s Criminal Code Paragraph 188. The law the Code refers to was enacted during Chancellor Angela Merkel’s time in office, ever since giving rise to concerns that it may get misused to suppress free expression, including humor and satire. Faeser’s key argument, accepted by the Bavaria court, is that somebody viewing the meme posted by Bendels might have believed it was an actual photo of the politician (in plain view) carrying her “I hate freedom of expression” placard. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post German Journalist David Bendels Sentenced for Satirical Post Targeting Interior Minister Nancy Faeser appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Despite the big and open push that came in with the new US administration to end the practice of the government funding third-party groups to effectively act as its censorship proxies – some of these arrangements continue to be operational. Most appear to be working to strengthen previously established “preferred” narratives around health issues – as ever, with “combating misinformation” given as the declarative, overarching purpose behind the effort. But critics say, that was/remains a smokescreen meant to manipulate public opinion. The Federalist reports that the National Science Foundation (NSF) – one of the US government’s “independent agencies” designed to channel federal funds – had a number of programs under its “anti-misinformation” umbrella, the Convergence Accelerator. Among the ones who continue to this day are Chime In, Analysis and Response Toolkit for Trust (ARTT), and Expert Voices Together (EVT). Chime In’s original name was Course Correct. It was set up at the University of Wisconsin-Madison – with $5 million coming from NSF in 2022 – to provide “anti-misinformation” resources for journalists. True to the era, its original “mission” was to persuade (Covid) vaccine skeptics to take the jab; and then it went into advocating (“misinformation detecting”) in favor of persuading people there was no reason to be skeptical about genetically modified (GMO) foods, Covid narratives, and vaccines in general, as well as issues like sunscreen product and raw milk safety. ARTT, meanwhile, came up with its own “AI” chatbot, that focused on political discourse, but according to the Federalist, once again, heavily tied to vaccine hesitancy. From 2021, ARTT received close to $750,000 from the NSF, and a further $5 million, “to develop practical interventions to build trust and address vaccine hesitancy.” Another controversial tie-in concerning ARTT was the organization’s plans to partner with, among others, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which the article describes as being “infamous for performing transgender surgeries on, and administering opposite-sex hormones to minors.” ARTT – now operating as Discourse Labs, a non-profit – was, while one of the groups incubated by NSF’s Convergence Accelerator – backed up by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Wikimedia Foundation, Google, Mozilla, and Meta. EVT’s “new home” as of 2025 is “the leftist group Right To Be,” the report says. Some of the issues covered by this group are named, “Bystander Intervention To Support The LGBTQIA+ Community,” “Conflict De-Escalation In Protest Spaces,” and “Bystander Intervention To Stop Police Sponsored Violence and Anti-Black Racism.” But the Federalist reported earlier that, “a representative from Right To Be” previously told the site EVT “remains under the direction of George Washington University (and) direct inquiries there.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post US-Funded “Anti-Misinformation” Groups Are Still Quietly Active appeared first on Reclaim The Net.