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“I think you should get your a– to the draft. I don’t think it’s asking too much for you to get on a private jet, fly to Pittsburgh with all of your family and be there so when your name gets called, you walk out on that stage, YOU DAP WITH THE AKWARD COMMISSIONER, YOU HUG HIM, you rock the Raider jersey and you say, ‘I am proud to be in the NFL.’”

A government filing shows that men of a certain age could be automatically registered for a military draft before this year ends. While the U.S. has long utilized an all-volunteer force and a draft has not been in effect since the tail end of the Vietnam War in the 1970s, the option of conscription has been considered an option since the SSS registration was reinstated in 1980 by then-President Jimmy Carter.White House Previously Said Draft 'On Table'The proposed rule change was submitted a little over 30 days after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, as part of a conflict...

Eligible men will automatically be registered into the military draft pool by December as part of an effort to streamline the previous process of self-registration and save money. The Selective Service System (SSS) — the government agency that maintains a database of men to be called up to serve in the case of a national emergency — submitted a proposed rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on March 30, according to the office’s website. Most men between the ages of 18 and 25 are already required to register with the Selective Service, but automatic registration was mandated...

Former White House adviser and key figure in the MAGA movement, Steve Bannon, has called on the United States Department of Homeland Security to deport Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son, Yair, and send him to fight in Iran. “Netanyahu's kid down in Miami, turf him out tomorrow,” Bannon said. Similarly, on February 28th, a site was launched with the URL ‘DraftBarronTrump.com,’ a satirical site with fabricated quotes from the Trump family hailing Barron Trump’s bravery and how he should enlist to fight against Iran. A draft would require approval from both the president and Congress, and the US has not...

An official from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the minimum age for participation in war-related support roles has been lowered to 12, according to remarks aired on state media. Rahim Nadali, a cultural official with the Guards in Tehran, said an initiative called “For Iran” was recruiting participants to assist with activities such as patrols, checkpoints and logistics. “Given that the age of those coming forward has dropped and they are asking to take part, we lowered the minimum age to 12,” he said, adding that 12- and 13-year-olds could now take part if they wished. The comments were broadcast as...

Do politicians internalize the consequences of their war-related votes? A new paper published in the Journal of Political Economy finds that they do -- when their family is involved. In “No Kin in the Game: Moral Hazard and War in the U.S. Congress,” authors Eoin F. McGuirk, Nathaniel Hilger, and Nicholas Miller compare conscription-related voting records of members of Congress with and without draft-age sons. They find that legislators with sons eligible for the draft are 7-11 percentage points less likely to vote for conscription than their counterparts with daughters of the same age. The authors compiled a dataset of...

PITTSBURGH -- Plenty of kids know the joy of a snow day, but what about a draft day? Pittsburgh Public Schools students are about to find out. The district notified staff and families that it will operate remotely April 22-24 as the city prepares for and hosts the NFL draft. With city officials anticipating up to 700,000 visitors and travel disruptions around the region, the school district determined that it would be less disruptive to students to transition to "asynchronous teaching and learning." "Our priority is maintaining continuity of learning while recognizing the extraordinary circumstances the city will experience during...

As the United States continues to strike Iran roughly 10 days since ordered by President Donald Trump, questions about how long the war may last have been coupled with the prospect of a military draft that administration officials admit remains "on the table.”Six U.S. soldiers have been killed in the war that Trump has continually defended on the backdrop of what he and other senior officials have attributed to “an imminent threat” posed by Iran towards the U.S., Israel and other Middle East nations. The potential length of this conflict has drawn many assumptions, as Trump has floated a “4-5...

Arab bus driver, Fakhri Khatib, plows into ultra Orthodox Jews haredim protesting draft. killing teenager Yosef Eisenthal and injuring several others.Bus driver rams into ultra-Orthodox protesters in Jerusalem, 14-year-old killed.Thousands of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protesters gathered in Israel's capital on Tuesday evening • Driver arrested after killing one, injuring three others • Shas: "Haredi blood is not cheap."By Miriam Sela-eitam, Tobias Holcman. JPost, January 6, 2026.Yosef Eisenthal, a 14-year-old boy, was killed, and three were injured after a bus driver ran over ultra-Orthodox Jews during a haredi draft protest in Jerusalem on Tuesday."We responded to a severe collision involving a bus...

Majorities of Israelis oppose granting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a presidential pardon in his criminal trial…according to a new survey conducted for Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site, this week. In response to the question, “Do you support or oppose Netanyahu’s request for a presidential pardon without admitting guilt or expressing remorse?” 53.2 percent of respondents said they oppose it, while 42.4% said they support it, and 4.4% said they don’t know. On the issue of ultra-Orthodox draft exemptions, the respondents were asked if they support or oppose the law proposed by MK Boaz Bismuth: 53.8% said...

Angelina Jolie's guide was dramatically ordered to register at a war conscription office during her visit to frontline regions of Ukraine on a UN humanitarian mission. The Hollywood star, 50, was being escorted by Dmytro Pyshchikov, 33, when they were stopped at a checkpoint in Pivdennoukrainsk, in the south of the country, on November 5. During this checkpoint stop, guards reportedly found his documents showed he had no grounds for deferment from military service. Despite the bodyguard's claims that he was escorting an 'important person' he was still taken to the local Territorial Recruitment Centre [TRC] - which handles enlistment...

Some 200,000 ultra-Orthodox men blocked the entrance to Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon for a “million man” protest against military conscription. The gathering saw protesters attack journalists, and hundreds clashed with police as the event came to an end. A 20-year-old man fell to his death from an unfinished high-rise building in the city center, where several ultra-Orthodox youths had gathered on several floors. Police later said they were investigating the death as a possible suicide. The fall victim was later identified by Hebrew media outlets as Menachem Mendel Litzman. As word of his death spread, the rally organizers declared the...

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews packed the streets and sidewalks for blocks around the Israeli Consulate in New York City on Sunday to protest issues including a potential end of an exemption for religious students from compulsory service in Israel’s military. The protest at the consulate, a block from the United Nations campus in Manhattan, illustrated the complex relationship between Israel and segments of the large population of very religious Jews in New York and its suburbs. The two influential, and often rival, grand rebbes of the Satmar community both called on adherents to participate in the demonstration. It comes after...

Every six months, approximately 130,000 Russian conscripts are called up for their year of service, where most of them will face sadistic hazing. In Russian, it’s called dedovshchina, a brutal internal army regime that began in Soviet times but is thoroughly embedded in modern military culture. Western militaries have worked hard to reduce bullying and hazing in the ranks with some, but not complete, success. But in Russia’s army, dedovshchina is a unique cultural staple and a formative part of the military identity. Multiple sources, both those who served in Soviet times and those with experience in the modern Russian...

HOVELTE, Denmark (AP) — Peering across a dense stretch of woodland outside of Denmark’s capital with camouflage paint smeared across her face, 20-year-old Katrine scans the horizon for approaching threats. After nearly four months of military training, the young soldier and the rest of her unit spent early June completing their final exercises near the Danish army’s barracks in Hovelte, 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of Copenhagen. Katrine and other female soldiers, all of whom spoke to The Associated Press on June 11 on the condition that only their first names be used because of operational security, volunteered for military...

Ukraine's Western allies are not imposing new sanctions on Russia in part because of Kyiv's refusal to lower the mobilization age to 18, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Valasz Online published on June 10. With the start of thefull-scale invasion, Ukraine updated its mobilization legislation and lowered the minimum age for compulsory military service from 27 to 25. Yet, some partners, includingthe U.S., still criticize Kyiv for setting the age threshold too high. "I do not believe that we should mobilize people from the age of 18, as the leaders of other countries have thought,"Zelensky said. "However,...

Russian president Vladimir Putin was expected to give a speech at 6pm London time from Moscow potentially announcing the official declaration of war in Ukraine to defend Russian-occupied territories, but kept the world waiting on Tuesday night. Russian news channel that announced the speech deleted their posts around two hours after the Russian leader was set to begin what would have been his first international announcement since the country’s invasion of Ukraine on February 25. It appeared as though the Russian leader had cancelled his speech, pushing it back to Wednesday, according to a Telegram account run by political analyst...

BALTIMORE (AP) _ Carrying puppets, signs and roses, hundreds accompanied a pickup truck carrying the coffin of peace activist Philip Berrigan as it wound its way Monday through the rough neighborhood where he once served as a priest. Family members stood in the back of the truck along with the plain wooden coffin, hand-painted with red roses, as bagpipers played ``Amazing Grace'' while the procession marched to the funeral at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church in west Baltimore. ``He was bigger than life _ extremely human and heroic and committed,'' said actor Martin Sheen, who marched in the funeral...

LONDON — Lines at neighboring borders and protests are just some of the scenes in Russia following President Vladimir Putin’s call for partial military mobilization. Last week, Putin ordered up to 300,000 Russians to serve in the invasion of Ukraine that began in February. Since then, thousands of citizens have fled the country to bordering nations, including Georgia and Mongolia. A satellite image of the Russia-Georgia border taken on Tuesday shows a multitude of cars and people waiting at the crossing. According to Russian state news outlet Tass, more than 5,000 cars had created the traffic jam, which was up...

Last fall, Egor Redin was in hiding at a Baptist church in Tajikistan, two thousand miles from home. The pastor advised him not to leave the building because the secret police might be watching. Redin had hoped to apply for asylum in Tajikistan but was warned not to. If Tajik authorities found out he was Baptist, he would likely be deported back to Russia, where he would face criminal prosecution for protesting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As a father of two little girls aged two and four who was also a pacifist (historically Russian Baptists have refused to serve in...