❗️An air alert has been declared in Russia's Sevastopol, its governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said

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Automatic US draft registration: Worrisome measure that wouldn't work – DC think tank

The 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) - which was passed by the US House in mid-June - envisages automatically registering American men aged 18 to 26 with Selective Service's database of potential military conscripts.

Even though the US military is presently an all-volunteer force, the Selective Service System provides the Department of Defense with personnel in the event of a national emergency.

While "automatic" registration sounds "seductively simple" in practice, trying to base Selective Service registration on existing state and federal databases is doomed, Edward Hasbrouck, a member of the War Resisters League wrote for the DC-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft (QI).

🔸 Some 100,000 men per year don't register with the SSS despite risking penalties and "absolutely nobody" reports to the agency when they move, despite being required to do so.

🔸 The SSS database doesn't include many young men from states such as California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, where one is not required to register with the SSS in order to get a driver's license.

🔸 US states that obligate drivers to register with the SSS have foreigners who enter the US on a temporary basis and are non-eligible for draft on their lists.

🔸 While only males are eligible for draft, individuals can now self-select their preferred gender marker in US passports and Social Security records. That could trigger a "gender-judging quagmire". The DC-based think tank further laments the fact that an automatic system of registering for draft was introduced recently in Congress without any hearings or debate. According to the QI, the measure looks especially worrisome against the backdrop of Washington's involvement in the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts.

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France's National Rally party preliminarily wins the first round of the parliamentary elections with 34.5%, Macron's party is in 3rd place with 22.5%, according to Belgian media data.

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The French Interior Ministry announced the preliminary results of voting in the first round of the French parliamentary elections:

The National Rally party is in the lead with 34.2% of the vote, the New Popular Front coalition of the left is in 2nd place with 29.1%, Macron's coalition is 3rd with 21.5%

Based on the preliminary results of the first round of elections, the National Rally party will receive from 240 to 270 seats in parliament - a relative majority but short of an absolute majority, according to calculations by national TV. Macron's coalition is losing more than 160 seats in the National Assembly, and may win only 60 to 90.

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Bill Gates won't profit from Warren Buffett’s death

Even though the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has benefited from billions of dollars in donations from US investor and the world's tenth-richest person Warren Buffett, it appears that this gravy train will not last forever.

Upon his death, whenever it might occur, all of Buffett’s considerable wealth will go to a charitable trust overseen by his children whereas Gates’ organization won’t get a dime, Buffett himself has revealed in an exclusive interview with the Wall Street Journal.

“The Gates Foundation has no money coming after my death,” he said. The billionaire argued that his estate “should be used to help the people that haven’t been as lucky as we have been,” with Buffett noting that he and his children are “in the luckiest 100th of 1% or something.”

“There’s lots of ways to help people,” he added.

Meanwhile, Buffett’s children reportedly said that they haven’t yet decided how exactly to disburse this sizeable fortune, the newspaper points out.

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🔸 The National Rally party is leading in the French parliamentary elections

🔸 Beginning of the end? US reportedly withdrawing surveillance assets from Ukraine

🔸 Russian troops liberated Spornoe and Novoaleksandrovka settlements in the DPR

🔸 Hungarian Prime Minister announces new right-wing bloc in European Parliament

🔸 Why does US ship more tanks to Poland's huge military stockpile?

🔸 Has Israeli military grown weary of Netanyahu?

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Police cars are gathering at Place de la Republique in Paris, France, where unrest is possible following the announcement of the first parliamentary election results, reports a Sputnik correspondent.

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