Exclusive Clip: In War-Torn Kyiv, Vitalik Buterin Makes the Case for Crypto’s Future

31-year-old Vitalik Buterin is one of crypto’s most important figures. As the founder of Ethereum, he pioneered the idea that crypto and blockchains could serve larger purposes beyond money. But Buterin also sought to diminish his own role within the ecosystem, and encouraged his community to think much bigger than their own short-term gains.

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A new documentary, Vitalik: An Ethereum Story, tells his story, following him around the world as he confronts difficult technical problems and evangelizes a strange new technology that attempts to reorient the world around its decentralized value system. ”In our minds, tech is never neutral: it’s a reflection of the values and blind spots of its creators,” says co-director Chris Temple. “As we head into conversations around AI and crypto, Vitalik models a new kind of leadership compared to the tech leaders that we’re used to—the Elon Musks, Mark Zuckerbergs and Jeff Bezos’s of the world—that are that are structured within these centralized organizations and decisionmaking apparatuses.” 

Temple and co-director Zach Ingrasci filmed Buterin across two years, and much of their footage didn’t make it into the 86-minute film. That includes one scene in Kyiv, Ukraine, in which Buterin plays chess with Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation. The scene, published exclusively by TIME, shows a fascinating peek into Buterin’s ideological leanings, and his acute desire for crypto to have real-world use cases beyond speculation. 

Read More: The Man Behind Ethereum Is Worried About Crypto’s Future

Buterin traveled to Ukraine in September 2022, six months after Russia’s invasion. While Buterin was born in Russia, he staunchly opposed the invasion and personally donated millions to Ukrainian relief efforts. Thanks in part to his vocal support, almost $100 million in crypto poured into Ukraine in the first couple weeks of the invasion, offering fast relief and easy, direct transactions.

The deleted scene shows Fedorov and Buterin talking over a game of chess. In the early days of the invasion, Fedorov tells him, the country’s national bank had banned international transactions, so the Ukrainian government instead used crypto to receive funding and buy weapons and military supplies. “All of the first drones, lots of ammunition, arrived thanks to crypto,” Fedorov tells him. “We saved the lives of hundreds—maybe thousands of our military. So it was highly important.”

Buterin responds: “We love Ukraine… For the blockchain community itself, this was the first opportunity to make a real difference with blockchain and cryptocurrency.” 

Later, when Fedorov points out that Ukrainians continue to live in the war-torn country, Buterin adds: “I think continuing real life means, even if I’m a good person, to show Putin a middle finger.” 

Ingrasci says the clip didn’t make it into the final cut because the moment it depicts is referenced in other ways. “But I think it’s the most important moment for Vitalik in our journey with him, because it’s this real world use case of how crypto can really make the world a better place,” he says. 

Vitalik: An Ethereum Story is available on VOD on April 15. TIME Studios served as one of the film’s production companies. 

Andrew R. Chow’s book about crypto and Sam Bankman-Fried, Cryptomania, was published in August.

source https://time.com/7277971/crypto-ukraine-vitalik-buterin-documentary/

The Rehearsal Season 2 Is About So Much More Than Aviation Safety

Nathan Fielder is kind of spooky. From the meta corporate satire of “Dumb Starbucks,” an ingenious viral stunt from his mid-2010s Comedy Central show Nathan for You, to the passive house as mirror for the soul in his first narrative series, Showtime’s The Curse, Fielder has a sixth sense for finding the right absurd metaphor to fit every moment. But never before has he anticipated the zeitgeist in as literal a sense as he does in the second season of The Rehearsal, the docu-comedy whose original 2022 run confirmed his warped genius. This follow up to that astonishing debut, which kept expanding and folding in on itself until it had reframed all of life as a succession of nested performances, sends Fielder on a quest to improve aviation safety.

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He couldn’t have known, when conceiving it, that air-travel disasters would become a recurring theme of the early Trump 47 era, as the White House blamed DEI for a deadly midair collision between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter, before laying off hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration workers. You don’t have to be clairvoyant, though, to connect our precarious era to the terrifying experience of trying to land an imperiled plane with a questionable captain. More grounded (so to speak) and less philosophically ambitious than its predecessor—but still consistently unique and funny and strange and profound—the second season of The Rehearsal, premiering April 20 on HBO, trains its focus on the cockpit, whose occupants are entrusted with dozens to hundreds of lives. In dissecting the relationship between captain and first officer, Fielder crafts a subtle analogy for another topic of escalating urgency: challenging authority.

In its initial incarnation, before Season 1 got so thrillingly messy, The Rehearsal billed itself as an attempt to repurpose the social-engineering methods Fielder devised to pull off the remarkable manipulations of Nathan for You, in order to help regular people “rehearse” for tough situations in their own lives. One guy wanted to come clean with friends he’d been lying to for years. A woman who couldn’t decide whether to have kids rehearsed parenthood. If you take it at face value—rarely the right choice in Fielder’s world—Season 2 is driven by the creator’s own obsession with what he sees as an overlooked problem in commercial aviation. After poring over transcripts from the cockpits of planes that crashed, he has concluded that many of these tragedies could have been avoided with better communication between captain and first officer.

As Fielder explains, co-pilots often seem to defer to superiors making poor choices, failing to take control of the aircraft even when doing so could prevent mass fatalities. So it stands to reason that first officers should be empowered to speak up and captains open to feedback. That’s where the Fielder magic comes in. Piles of HBO money is thrown at this cause; the crew constructs a flight simulator, an airport set, even a Congressional hearing room for elaborate roleplay scenarios. Actors trained in Season 1’s Fielder Method shadow (some might say “stalk”) aviation employees as they traverse the globe. Real pilots are recruited to discuss their frustrations and participate in simulations. All the while, Fielder frets over whether he, a comedian with a reputation for humiliating people that dates back to Nathan for You, can get anyone to take him seriously on an issue he really cares about. A circus clown occasionally wanders into the frame, silently mocking him with the implication that they two are the same.

The show remains at its stickiest when, as though in response to critics who called Nathan for You cruel, it’s mucking around in Fielder’s own psyche. That bizarre subjectivity remains largely inscrutable to viewers despite many apparent insights, thanks to our awareness that The Rehearsal is his creation—one whose ratio of authenticity to artifice only he can fully know. A quasi-digression on the autistic community’s embrace of The Rehearsal blurs the line between neurotypicality and neurodivergence. In an episode that’s bound to cause chatter, Fielder sets up a ridiculous rehearsal to help him confront Paramount+ about the removal of a Nathan for You episode it judged to be controversial, preferably without ruining his chances of getting The Curse renewed (its network, Showtime, has the same parent company). A running theme is his worry that the show can’t work as a vehicle for positive change without sacrificing entertainment value, but when he turns the camera on himself, Fielder is always both funny and fascinating.

Yet beyond the self-referential humor (callbacks to Season 1 gags, like the deeply awkward laptop harness, abound) and even the mission to make aviation safer, The Rehearsal’s second season functions as a metaphor for a universal problem. A first officer who’s too intimidated to challenge a captain’s suicidal choices isn’t much different from a regular person, or a nation of them, so afraid to confront authority that their silence dooms them. What Fielder and his pilots are really rehearsing is good citizenship in the midst of an epochal emergency. Towards the end of the season, he explains to a potential ally: “It’s hard for us to be the people we ideally want to be in every situation.” But practice helps. As we fly into turbulence, our best selves balking just when they should be seizing the controls, maybe it isn’t just pilots who could use a rehearsal. 

source https://time.com/7276895/the-rehearsal-season-2-review/

Abortions Keep Increasing in the U.S., Data Show

The number of abortions provided in most of the U.S. increased slightly in 2024 from the year before, according to new data released on April 15.

The research was conducted by the Guttmacher Institute, which studies and supports sexual and reproductive health and rights. The organization uses both a statistical model and survey responses from providers to estimate the number of abortions provided by clinicians in states without near-total bans for its Monthly Abortion Provision Study. The data released on April 15 show that nearly 1,038,100 abortions were provided in 2024 across all states without near-total bans—a less than 1% increase from 2023 to 2024. 

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While that number is relatively steady compared to the year before, researchers noted that the finding “masked substantial variability across individual states,” with some states experiencing significant decreases and others seeing notable increases. For instance, there were roughly 12,100 fewer abortions provided in Florida in 2024 than in 2023, which researchers attributed to the state implementing a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, a policy that went into effect in May 2024. Similarly, South Carolina provided about 3,500 fewer abortions in 2024 than in 2023. Researchers attributed this to the state’s six-week ban, which was upheld by the state Supreme Court in August 2023. 

At the same time, researchers found that the number of abortions provided in Wisconsin increased from about 1,300 in 2023 to about 6,100 in 2024—an increase of 388%. Abortion access in the state became largely unavailable after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 until late 2023, when a Wisconsin judge ruled that an 1849 law that had been interpreted as a ban didn’t make abortion illegal. Arizona, California, Kansas, Ohio, and Virginia also saw significant increases in the number of abortions provided in 2024 compared to the year before.

“What happens in one state affects what happens in other states,” says Isaac Maddow-Zimet, data scientist at the Guttmacher Institute and the project lead for the Monthly Abortion Provision Study. He notes that while Florida saw a sharp decline in the number of abortions provided between 2023 and 2024, Virginia, which allows abortions until about 26 weeks of pregnancy, saw a significant increase. In part, he says, that’s because people in Florida “were traveling to Virginia to access care.”

The data also reveal that about 155,100 people traveled across state lines for an abortion in 2024, accounting for about 15% of all abortions provided in states without near-total bans. That’s a slight decrease from 2023, when roughly 169,700 people crossed state lines, representing about 16% of abortions in states without near-total bans. Still, the number of people who traveled across state lines for an abortion in 2024 is nearly double the number who did so in 2020, before the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, according to Maddow-Zimet.

“[Travel is] still a major way that people are accessing care, despite the many barriers that accompany it, and it’s still extremely elevated compared to historical patterns,” he says. 

It’s not yet clear why travel for abortion declined slightly from 2023 to 2024, but he speculates that more patients in states with near-total abortion bans may be receiving abortion pills in the mail via telehealth rather than having to travel across state lines. Another explanation, he says, could be dwindling resources to support travel.

Read More: What Are Abortion Shield Laws?

“Abortion funds saw big increases in donations immediately post-Dobbs, and then really saw that drop off, and they’ve only had to deal with an increasing amount of need,” Maddow-Zimet says.

Ushma Upadhyay, a public health scientist at the University of California, San Francisco who was not involved in the new research, says that the slight increase in abortions in 2024 is consistent with data from other sources (including WeCount, an abortion tracking effort that she co-chairs.) While a limitation of the Guttmacher Institute’s research is that it doesn’t include data from states with near-total abortion bans, she says, it illustrates trends in out-of-state travel for abortion care.

“That’s a huge contribution to our understanding of what’s happening with abortion access right now,” Upadhyay says.

Familiar states were at the top when it came to the number of abortions provided to out-of-state residents: Illinois, North Carolina, Kansas, and New Mexico. Illinois, which allows abortion until fetal viability, provided the highest number of abortions to out-of-state residents in 2024, at about 35,000 abortions, which accounted for 39% of all abortions provided in the state. Meanwhile, Kansas, which allows abortion until about 22 weeks of pregnancy, provided roughly 16,100 abortions to out-of-state residents, but that accounted for the majority of abortions provided in the state—71%. 

That’s in part due to their geographical proximity to states that have near-total bans, as well as efforts among abortion providers and some state governments to make abortion more accessible, according to Maddow-Zimet. Illinois, for instance, is “the closest point of access” for many people living in Southern states that have near-total abortion bans and are surrounded by states with restrictive policies, he says.

Similarly, Maddow-Zimet says that New Mexico (which doesn’t have a gestational limit on abortion) and Kansas see many patients from Texas, which has banned abortion in nearly all situations.

North Carolina is also the closest state for many people living in states with restrictive abortion laws, such as Florida. North Carolina has banned abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy and has a 72-hour waiting period to get an abortion.

“That means that you have to stay multiple days or might have to travel twice, and so it’s really remarkable that people are still traveling to North Carolina to access care,” Maddow-Zimet says. “It speaks to the amount of need there is.”

The number of abortions in states without near-total bans that were provided by online-only clinics increased from 10% in 2023 to 14% in 2024, though the researchers note that the national number is likely even higher. Upadhyay says she thinks this is a trend that will likely continue as people learn more about medication abortion, which can be prescribed via telehealth. Previous research from the Guttmacher Institute has found that medication abortion is the most common method of abortion in the U.S.

Maddow-Zimet says 2024 was a year that saw significant changes in state abortion laws—both to expand and restrict access to care. “There’s really a bifurcated policy landscape where we have a lot of efforts on one side to increase access to care,” he says, and, on the other, “an enormous amount of effort to make care more and more difficult to access.” 

“We absolutely see those trends continuing,” he says.

source https://time.com/7277872/abortion-increasing-guttmacher-data/

Trump Escalates Fight Over Deportees in El Salvador, is ‘All For’ Sending Americans There Next

It didn’t take long for the Oval Office meeting Monday between President Donald Trump and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele to turn ominous. In his opening remarks, the El Salvadoran strongman offered to assist the U.S. with what he said were its crime problems. “We know you have a crime problem and a terrorism problem we can help with,” Bukele said. By the end of the ad hoc press conference 40 minutes later, Trump and his aides had taken him up on the offer by suggesting their own harsh and potentially illegal moves.

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First, Trump’s aides made clear they wouldn’t comply with a Supreme Court order to “facilitate” the release of a Maryland man, Kilmar Abrego García, whom the administration has admitted was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March and locked up in that country’s Terrorist Confinement Center, known as CECOT. Then Trump proposed sending U.S. citizens convicted of crimes to El Salvador, where prisoners are allegedly held incommunicado and face physical and mental abuse.

It was a striking example of Trump’s approach to his second term in office: when faced with challenges to his authority, even over basic civil liberties, he has reached for even more power. Asked by a reporter whether he was open to deporting U.S. citizens to El Salvador, Trump said, “You think there’s a special category of person? They’re as bad as anybody that comes in. We have bad ones too. I’m all for it.”

Observers went into the press conference expecting the two leaders to discuss the Abrego García case. After the Trump administration admitted to mistakenly deporting the Maryland man, a district court had instructed officials on April 4 to “facilitate and effectuate” his release from CECOT and return him to the U.S. The Supreme Court noted on April 10 that the Trump administration had admitted to violating “a withholding order forbidding his removal to El Salvador” and unanimously ordered the government to “facilitate” his release. The Court acknowledged the President’s powers to conduct foreign affairs and instructed the district court to clarify its order that the Trump administration must “effectuate” Abrego García’s return to the U.S.

Asked whether the administration was going to comply with the court’s order, Trump asked his Attorney General Pam Bondi to respond. “First and foremost, he was illegally in our country,” Bondi said. She said that in 2019 an immigration court and a board of appeals had both ruled that he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which Trump has declared a terrorist organization. “That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us,” she said, adding that if they did, the U.S. would provide a plane. When a reporter asked Bukele whether he would send Abrego García back to the U.S., he said, “Of course I’m not going to do it.”

Trump was then asked whether he would consider sending U.S. citizens to be imprisoned in El Salvador if they committed violent crimes. Trump welcomed the idea and said that Bondi, who sat on one of the Oval Office couches near him, is “studying” the laws. “If we can do that, that’s good,” Trump said. “I’m talking about violent people.”

El Salvador’s prisons have been called out by Human Rights Watch for “cases of torture, ill-treatment, incommunicado detention, severe violations of due process and inhumane conditions, such as lack of access to adequate healthcare and food.” Sending U.S. citizens there could cross the 8th Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment and violate restrictions against imprisoning people more than 500 miles from home that Trump signed into law in 2018 as part of the First Step Act. Bukele relishes being called the “coolest dictator” and has brushed aside civil rights in El Salvador as part of his crackdown on gang violence.

Abrego García had been living in Maryland with his wife and three children—all U.S. citizens. In 2019, immigration officials said he was a member of MS-13 and began removal proceedings. One immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals agreed, but those decisions were overridden when another immigration judge determined that Abrego García and his family had shown the gang in El Salvador threatened and harassed his family. Abrego García was arrested in March and mistakenly added to one of the flights, the Trump administration has said.

In the April 4 ruling, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego García’s release from prison in El Salvador to ensure his deportation case is handled correctly and instructed officials to report on what actions were being taken. She called into question whether Abrego García had a gang affiliation at all, writing that the evidence the government produced “consisted of nothing more” than a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie and a “vague, uncorroborated allegation” from a confidential informant that Abrego García belonged to an MS-13 clique in New York, “a place he has never lived.”

Abrego García’s case raises questions about whether the Trump administration has erroneously accused some people held in El Salvador of being gang members and then refused to correct their mistake. “As Americans, we should all be concerned by reports that 75 percent of the migrants the Trump Administration has sent to CECOT have no criminal record,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Since Trump came to office on Jan. 20, his administration has flown more than 200 people from the U.S. to El Salvador to be imprisoned in CECOT.

source https://time.com/7277797/trump-escalates-fight-over-deportees-in-el-salvador-weighs-sending-americans-there-next/

Pfizer Ends Development of Its Obesity Pill

Pfizer is ending the development of its potential once-daily pill treatment for obesity after venturing into the biggest and most expensive level of clinical testing.

The drugmaker said Tuesday that it would stop studying danuglipron after a participant in one of its trials experienced a possible drug-induced liver injury that ended once the person stopped taking the drug.

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Danuglipron was in phase three testing, which is generally the last phase of development before a company submits the potential treatment to government regulators for approval.

A company official said in a statement that Pfizer still plans to develop other potential obesity treatments in earlier stages of testing.

Read More: Weight-Loss Drugs Like Wegovy Are Linked to Hair Loss

Obesity treatments have become one of the more promising and lucrative sectors of drug development for pharmaceutical companies. Eli Lilly and Co.’s Zepbound, for instance, brought in nearly $5 billion in sales in 2024, its first full year on the market.

But leading treatments like Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy are injectable. Drugmakers are eager to develop an easier-to-take pill version for patients who don’t want to deal with needles and daily injections.

Lilly researchers expect to see data this year from studies of a couple potential oral treatments it has developed.

While the drugs have become top-sellers, many patients have had a hard time getting them either due to recently concluded shortages or patchy insurance coverage. Both Lilly and Novo have recently announced price cuts, but the treatments can still cost hundreds of dollars a month, putting them out of reach for some people without coverage.

Pfizer said in late 2023 that it would abandon a twice-daily version of danuglipron after more than half the patients in a clinical trial stopped taking it.

A company spokeswoman said the decision announced Monday meant Pfizer would also stop testing danuglipron in combination with other drugs to treat obesity.

Shares of New York-based Pfizer Inc. advanced 18 cents to $22.09 in morning trading Monday.

source https://time.com/7277617/pfizer-ends-development-obesity-pill/

Golfer Rory McIlroy Wins 2025 Masters to Complete Career Grand Slam

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The closer Rory McIlroy came to fulfilling his lifetime dream—winning the Masters—the more it kept slipping away. Sunday at Augusta National felt like his last 11 years in the majors, blunders mixed in with sheer brilliance.

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A two-shot lead gone in two holes. A four-shot lead gone in three holes with a shocker of a mistake. A 5-foot putt on the final hole to win narrowly missed.

And then McIlroy turned what could have been another major collapse into his grandest moment of all when he hit wedge to 3 feet for birdie in a sudden-death playoff against Justin Rose to become—finally—a Masters champion and take his place in golf history as the sixth player with the career Grand Slam.

“There were points in my career where I didn’t know if I would have this nice garment over my shoulders,” McIlroy said, that Masters green jacket looking like a perfect fit. “But I didn’t make it easy today. I certainly didn’t make it easy. I was nervous.

“It was one of the toughest days I’ve ever had on the golf course.”

The reward was greater than he imagined, and it showed. He rapped in that final putt, raised both arms in the air and let the putter fall behind him. He covered his head, dropped to his knees, and before long his forehead was on the green as his chest heaved with emotion.

That was 11 years of pent-up emotion from his last major, when he began to carry the burden of getting the final leg of the Grand Slam. It was 14 years of remembering the time he wasted a four-shot lead with an 80 on the final day as a 21-year-old.

“I started to wonder if it would ever be my time,” he said.

The thought could have easily crossed his mind during the final round.

What could have been a coronation for McIlroy along the back nine turned into a heart-racing, lead-changing, jaw-dropping finish at golf’s greatest theater that ended with McIlroy sobbing with joy and disbelief.

It ended with more heartache for Rose, who lost to Sergio Garcia in a playoff in 2017 and forced this one with a clutch 20-foot birdie on the 18th hole for a 6-under 66. He wound up joining Ben Hogan as the only players to lose twice in playoffs at Augusta National.

“It’s the kind of putt you dream about as a kid, and to have it and hole it, it was a special feeling,” Rose said. “And unfortunately, the playoff, they always end so quickly. If you’re not the guy to hit the great shot or hole the great putt, it’s over. But not really anything I could have done more today.”

The joy on McIlroy’s face never left him from the time that putt dropped—on the green, in Butler Cabin when defending champion Scottie Scheffler first helped him into the green jacket, and during the trophy presentation on the 18th green.

“My dreams have been made today,” McIlroy said.

Moments later, speaking to 4-year-old daughter Poppy, he told her: “Never give up on your dreams. Never, ever give up on your dreams.”

This was shaping up as another horror show for McIlroy, who in 2011 lost a four-shot lead on the final day with a 43 on the back nine, a highlight reel that now can start collecting dust.

“I didn’t make it easy today,” McIlroy said.

Right when it looked as though he would throw away another major, McIlroy delivered two majestic shots when nothing less would do, two birdies that sent him to the 18th hole with a one-shot lead.

That still wasn’t enough. He hit a wedge into the bunker and wound up missing a 5-foot par putt for a 1-over 73 and the first Masters playoff in eight years.

Faced with more failure, McIlroy responded with another booming drive, and this wedge bounced onto the slope of the top shelf with enough spin to trickle down toward the hole, closer and closer, until it stopped 3 feet away.

And when Rose missed from 15 feet, McIlroy finally sealed it.

“I just think all week how I responded to setbacks, that’s what I’ll take from this week,” McIlroy said, though he could have been speaking for the last decade. “Couldn’t be more proud I myself for that and being able to back bounce when I needed to.”

McIlroy went 11 long years without any major, knowing the Masters green jacket was all that kept him from joining Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen as the only winners of golf’s four professional majors.

Nicklaus and Player spoke on Thursday how they thought this was his time. Woods was among those to congratulate McIlroy and welcome him to the club.

So wild was this Sunday at Augusta National that McIlroy set a Masters record as the first champion to make four double bogeys—two in the first round that put him seven shots behind, two in the final round that turned this into a thriller.

U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, who beat McIlroy at Pinehurst No. 2 last June, had the lead after two holes when McIlroy opened with a double bogey. DeChambeau crashed out with a pair of three-putts and two shots into the water on the back nine, closing with a 75.

Ludvig Aberg, a runner-up in his Masters debut a year ago, suddenly had a share of the lead when McIlroy fell apart on the middle of the back nine. He missed a birdie putt from the fringe to take the lead, then finished bogey-triple bogey.

McIlroy and Rose finished at 11-under 277, two shots ahead of former Masters champion Patrick Reed (69). Scheffler, trying to win the Masters for the third time in four years, never got anything going this week and still shot 69 to finish fourth.

Rose had every reason to believe he threw away his chances on Saturday with a 75 that put him seven shots behind, and then two bogeys on the front nine. Even as he steadied himself, he was four shots back and running out of time.

He did his part in a 10-birdie round and that dynamic birdie putt to cap it off.

McIlroy did his part, too.

Nothing was more shocking than the 13th. McIlroy played it safe, leaving himself a big target from 82 yards away and a lob wedge. He missed his mark by some 20 yards, the ball disappearing into the tributary of Rae’s Creek and leading to double bogey.

Rose was on the par-3 16th and hit his tee shot to 4 feet for birdie, and suddenly they were tied. Then, McIlroy hit a weak drive to the right and was blocked by pines. He didn’t reach the green, didn’t make the par putt and no longer had the lead.

But he was resilient as ever—he’s been like that his entire career. Seemingly in trouble left of the 15th fairway, McIlroy hit 7-iron around the trees and onto the green to 6 feet.

He missed the eagle putt—the birdie still helped him regain a share of the lead. Two holes later, facing a semi-blind shot, he drilled 8-iron and chased after it, urging it to “Go! Go! Go! Go!” And it did, barely clearing the bunker and rolling out to 2 feet for birdie and a one-shot lead.

Turns out that wasn’t enough, either. He was 5 feet away from victory and badly missed the putt, leaving him more work to do—another chance to fail.

Not this time. The 35-year-old from Northern Ireland never wavered in what he came to Augusta National to do. He leaves with a green jacket.

source https://time.com/7277435/rory-mcilroy-wins-2025-masters-playoff-career-grand-slam-golf/

Sen. Bernie Sanders Issues Stark Warning About Trump During Surprise Coachella Appearance

Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent serving Vermont, made an unexpected appearance at the Coachella music festival in Indio, Calif., on Saturday evening. He offered a stark warning about President Donald Trump during a rousing on-stage speech.

Sanders’ surprise address included calls for the younger generation to “stand up” against the fossil fuel industry, insurance companies, and U.S. states that are looking to roll back abortion rights.

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Upon his first mention of the “President of the United States,” the crowd started to boo—a reaction which prompted Sanders to say: “I agree.”

“[Trump] thinks that climate change is a hoax. He’s dangerously wrong,” Sanders warned. “And you and I are going to have to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and tell them to stop destroying this planet.”

The Trump Administration has taken multiple actions that threaten to dismantle climate mitigation efforts since January—from the rollback of protections at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and an Executive Order to increase logging, to mass staff cuts at prominent agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

@latimes

Bernie Sanders made a surprise appearance at Coachella efore introducing Clairo. #bernie #clairo

♬ original sound – The Los Angeles Times – The Los Angeles Times

“This country faces some very difficult challenges, and the future of what happens to America is dependent upon your generation,” Sanders opened his speech saying, appealing to the younger members of the crowd. “Now you can turn away and ignore what goes on, but if you do that, you do so at your own peril. We need you to stand up and fight for justice, to fight for economic justice, social justice, and racial justice.”

Sanders went on to ask that the crowd “stand up and fight for women’s rights,” and work for economic justice and equality.

“We have an economy today that is working very well for the billionaire class, but not for working families,” Sanders said. Ending on healthcare, he called for the audience “to stand up to the insurance companies and the drug companies and understand that healthcare is a human right.”

Despite earning much applause of his own, Sanders was on stage to introduce singer-songwriter Clairo—born Claire Cottrill—who he praised on account of her own activism.

“I’m here because Clairo has used her prominence to fight for women’s rights, to try to end the terrible, brutal war in Gaza, where thousands of women and children are being killed,” Sanders said.

Earlier in the day, Sanders spoke with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat serving New York, in Los Angeles as a part of their “Fighting Oligarchy Tour.” Their rally drew thousands of attendees, and featured appearances from musicians Maggie Rogers, Neil Young, and Joan Baez. Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have been touring the nation in hopes to “take on the Oligarchs and corporate interests who have so much power and influence in this country,” and address the growing influence of billionaires on the U.S. government.

source https://time.com/7277392/bernie-sanders-coachella-appearance-speech-donald-trump-warning/