In 1937, at just 19 years old, Gertrude Belle Elion graduated summa cum laude in chemistry from Hunter College. Despite her outstanding academic record, she was rejected by all 15 graduate schools she applied to — simply because she was a woman. Laboratories at the time openly refused to hire or fund female researchers.
Motivated by the painful loss of her grandfather to cancer, Elion refused to give up. During World War II, she joined Burroughs Wellcome (now part of GSK), where she collaborated with George Hitchings to pioneer a revolutionary approach called rational drug design. Instead of relying on trial and error, they studied the biochemistry of diseased cells to create targeted, precision medicines.
When forced to choose between pursuing a traditional PhD or continuing her groundbreaking laboratory work, Elion chose the lab. She never earned a doctorate during her career.
Her persistence paid off in ways that transformed human health. Elion developed:
· 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) — the first effective treatment for childhood leukemia
· Azathioprine (Imuran) — which made organ transplantation possible by suppressing immune rejection
· Acyclovir (Zovirax) — the first selective antiviral drug, proving viruses could be targeted specifically
Her research also laid the foundation for early HIV treatments. In 1988, Elion was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (shared with Hitchings and Sir James Black), becoming one of the few Nobel laureates to receive the honor without a PhD.
Gertrude Elion’s story is a powerful reminder that brilliance and determination can overcome systemic barriers — and one person’s refusal to be stopped can save millions of lives.
BREAKING: Trump's top counterterrorism official RESIGNS in protest because he “cannot in good conscience” support the illegal war with Iran — and exposes the White House's lies on the way out.
This kind of courage is rare in MAGA world...
"After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today," Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, wrote in a letter to the president. "I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."
Kent is an Army Ranger combat veteran and a former CIA paramilitary officer who lost his wife to a suicide bombing in Syria. Unlike most Trump officials, he had actual experience in his appointed field. His departure is a massive black eye for the administration.
"I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024, which you enacted in your first term," Kent continued. "Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation."
"In your first administration, you understood better than any modern President how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars. You demonstrated this by killing Qasam Solamani and by defeating ISIS," wrote Kent.
"Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran," he went on. "This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again."
"As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives," he contonued.
"I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for. The time for bold action is now. You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards," wrote Kent.
"It was an honor to serve in your administration and to serve our great nation," he concluded.
This is what every single Trump official should be doing right now. The Iran War is blatantly illegal, serves Israel's interests not those of the United States, and constitutes the wholesale slaughter of men, women, and children. Remaining in the Trump administration at this point is signing on to be party to horrific war crimes. History is watching and future prosecutions must be pursued.
Please ❤️ and share to call for more Trump officials to resign!
A pedophile.
An adjudicated rapist.
A convicted felon.
A pathological liar.
A sociopath.
A malignant narcissist.
A sadist.
A racist.
A fascist.
A traitor.
An insurrectionist.
A war-monger.
A demagogue.
A despot.
An enemy of the Constitution.
An American nightmare.
🇮🇹 The speech that all of Italy heard. And that the world must hear.
In a country that will host the Olympic Games, Italian Senator and Vice President of the Human Rights Commission Filippo Sensi took the floor and said what should have been said out loud long ago.
He called it a disgrace that the International Olympic Committee disqualified Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych.
Not for doping.
Not for violating fair play.
But for… memory.
For a helmet bearing the faces of Ukrainian athletes — his friends, colleagues, champions — killed by Russia.
The IOC stated that the helmet “did not comply with regulations.”
And then Sensi asked a question that brought silence to the chamber:
Does aggressive war comply with regulations?
Is there a separate technical protocol for it?
The correct angle of a missile strike?
The permissible size of a crater?
An athlete prepares for the Olympics for years.
A Ukrainian athlete trains between air raid sirens, in shelters, under news of the dead.
He overcomes fear, exhaustion, and loss.
And he steps to the start line not only for a medal — but for the right to exist.
And he is suspended… for remembering.
Because memory is the most dangerous substance. It is hard to add to a prohibited list. But apparently, someone would very much like to.
The senator named names. Just a few among more than 650 Ukrainian athletes killed by Russia:
▪️ Yevhenii Malyshev, 19, biathlete — killed in Kharkiv.
▪️ Mariia Lebid, 15 — missile strike in Dnipro.
▪️ Dmytro Sharpar, 25, figure skater — killed in Bakhmut.
▪️ Volodymyr Androsiuk, 22, track and field athlete — also Bakhmut.
▪️ Daria Kurdel, 20 — missile strike in Kharkiv.
▪️ Alina Perehutova, 14 — standing in line for water with her mother in Mariupol.
▪️ Maksym Halinichev, 22, boxer — killed defending Luhansk region.
▪️ Viktoriia Ivashko, 9, judoka — missile strike in Kyiv.
▪️ Kateryna Diachenko, 11, gymnast — airstrike on Mariupol.
▪️ Karina Bakur, 17, world kickboxing champion — shielded her father with her body.
These were the faces Heraskevych wanted to carry with him to the start line.
So that they would “compete” alongside him.
So that their dream would not die with them.
And for that, he was punished.
Because it turns out that the faces of murdered athletes violate regulations.
But their absence on the track does not.
In his speech, Sensi said the most important thing:
The Olympic Committee did not lose an athlete.
It lost its most valuable medal — its conscience.
Sport without memory is just a show.
Sport without humanity is just decoration.
Sport that fears truth is not about peace.
The Olympic movement was born from the ideals of honor, dignity, and unity.
Yet today Ukrainian athletes must prove not only their strength — but their right to remember their fallen.
And if memory becomes a violation of regulations — then the problem is not the helmet.
The world must hear this.
Because silence is also a position.
And indifference is also a choice.
Memory cannot be disqualified.
And conscience cannot be added to a prohibited list.
🇺🇦 We remember every one of them.
And we will not allow their names to be erased.
This video is ten minutes, but it'll be the best 10 minutes of your day.
Every single American needs to see this clip.
You can find it on instagram posted by CSPAN and then you can download it yourself and repost this video here and across every platform.
I HOPE, WHEN WE START HOLDING THESE PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR CRIMES THAT PAM BONDI
GETS THE JUSTICE THAT
SHE DESERVES
I’ll never forget the people who let one raging madman rewrite their entire personality and value system. Watching folks abandon everything they once claimed to believe just to fall in line and excuse the most heinous behavior will be studied for years by psychologists and historians alike.
Donald Trump isn’t just a politician. He’s an infection in the bloodstream of America, and the damage to our national soul is catastrophic.