Russia Paying US Recruits $26,000 to Become Cannon Fodder in Ukraine War

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Russia is recruiting frontline troops for its war against Ukraine any way it can, and has duped at least 18 US men into fighting.

Moscow has suffered 1.5 million casualties including 500,000 deaths since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, per estimates from the UK, and aggressively enlists foreigners to prop up its war effort.

Most are sent into the “meatgrinder” — the frontlines where they are mostly cannon fodder, quickly mowed down by Ukrainian drones, soldiers or artillery.

“It has become an entire industry and is very profitable. Russia suffers 30,000–40,000 casualties every month and they are no longer able to cover their losses,” Vitaliy Matvienko, who heads a Ukrainian state project on Russian surrenders, told The Post.

“They recruit foreigners, send them to war, and when they are killed, their deaths do not create any negative reaction in Russian society. In most cases, the families of killed foreign recruits do not receive the compensation they are supposed to receive.”

Agents all around the world have been mobilized and use targeted ads on Facebook, TikTok and Telegram to prey on the poor, vulnerable and ideologically obsessed — earning $24,000 per recruit, plus a cut of their salary. (Read more from “Russia Paying US Recruits $26,000 to Become Cannon Fodder in Ukraine War” HERE)

Dedicated Dad of 2 Killed by Central Park Bicyclist During Walk to Work

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A dedicated dad of two was knocked to the ground and killed when a bicyclist rammed into him during his morning walk to work in Central Park last week, his family and police said.

Richie O’Brien, 41, strolled through the iconic green space on the way to his steamfitter job during the dawn hours of Sept. 23, when the cyclist pedaling north on the park’s East Drive near East 84th Street struck him, according to the NYPD and a fundraiser launched by his loved ones.

The impact threw O’Brien to the ground and caused severe head trauma, for which medics rushed him to Weill Cornell Medical Center. He succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, his family said.

“Although our hearts are broken by this unimaginable loss, Richie’s legacy will live on,” his family posted on a GoFundMe page.

Kin described O’Brien as “a proud Local 638 Steamfitter who went to work every day to provide for his family and give his wife, Ronni, and their two daughters, Kylie and Mia, the life they deserve.”

Kylie and Mia are 12 and 8 years old, respectively. (Read more from “Dedicated Dad of 2 Killed by Central Park Bicyclist During Walk to Work” HERE)

The Kids Are Alright: Data Finds Young Teens Less Likely To Identify As Gay

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New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that fewer high school-aged Americans are identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB).

The decline is largely driven by young women. According to the CDC’s Youth Risk Survey of U.S. 9th to 12th graders in 2025, there is a relative decline in LGB identification across each grade compared to two years earlier, according to a breakdown of the findings by San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge.

Seniors, ranging in age from 17 to 18, had the highest rate of LGB identification among the four grades measured, with 16 percent identifying as LGB. However, that was still two percentage points below the rate among seniors surveyed in 2023.

Each grade had a lower rate of LGB identification in 2025 than in 2023, with younger grades showing a decline. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that fewer high school-aged Americans are identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB).

The 9th graders, aged 14 and 15, had the lowest rate of LGB identification and the largest drop from previous years. While the CDC found that 17 percent of 9th graders identified as LGB in 2023, only 11 percent did in 2025. (Read more from “The Kids Are Alright: Data Finds Young Teens Less Likely To Identify As Gay” HERE)

Hospitals Used AI To Inflate Medical Bills By Nearly $1,000,000,000, Report Finds

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Hospitals’ use of artificial intelligence tools hiked healthcare spending by nearly $1 billion over a two-year period, per a Blue Cross Blue Shield Association analysis released Thursday.

BCBSA’s new study shows that a major rise in patients being documented as having complex conditions led to $942 million in additional medical care costs for Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) companies between 2023 and ‌2025.

The study “raises concerns” that the widespread adoption of AI coding tools is driving higher healthcare spending in the U.S., which “ultimately puts pressure on premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for families, employers and taxpayers,” according to BCBSA’s report. The research looked at secondary diagnoses such as anemia after major bowel surgery.

“If patients are truly sicker, we’d expect to see more treatment,” BCBSA Senior Vice President of Product and Data Science Luke Chalker said in a statement. “For example, we’re seeing significantly more anemia diagnoses at these hospitals without a corresponding increase in transfusions.”

“The disconnect between diagnoses and treatment suggests that AI is identifying more billable conditions, not sicker patients,” Chalker continued.

(Read more from “Hospitals Used AI To Inflate Medical Bills By Nearly $1,000,000,000, Report Finds” HERE)

Trump Junks Biden’s Title IX Rules, Now Defines Sex by Biology

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The Department of Education said Monday it will formally remove the Biden administration’s Title IX regulations and restore rules issued during President Donald Trump’s first term.

The change takes effect Tuesday. Under the final rule issued Monday, the Education Department’s anti-discrimination policy will recognize sex as male or female at birth. It formally removes Biden-era regulations that extended protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity to students and employees at federally funded schools.

The 2024 rules also forced schools to use transgender students’ pronouns and changed how schools handle harassment complaints. A federal court struck down the rules in January 2025.

The Education Department then told schools it would enforce the 2020 rules. Monday’s action puts that change into the published federal regulations; schools have already been operating under the earlier rules. (Read more from “Trump Junks Biden’s Title IX Rules, Now Defines Sex by Biology” HERE)

Trump: U.S. Will Win Iran War ‘Very Soon’ as Mediated Talks Continue — ‘One Way or the Other’

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President Donald Trump said Monday the war with Iran will end with a U.S. victory “very soon,” declaring the outcome will be decided “one way or the other” as Washington and Tehran remain engaged through mediators over a potential agreement addressing the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program.

After confirming that his team had been in contact with Iran through mediators earlier Monday, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he expected the standoff to be resolved quickly.

“We’re going to win,” Trump said. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s going to be one way or the other. And it’s going to go pretty quickly.”

The renewed diplomacy comes days after Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days in exchange for a series of U.S. concessions, including lifting the naval blockade and easing economic pressure on Tehran.

Qatari officials were shuttling between the two sides Monday, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi meeting the intermediaries in New York as negotiations continued without direct U.S.-Iranian talks. (Read more from “Trump: U.S. Will Win Iran War ‘Very Soon’ as Mediated Talks Continue — ‘One Way or the Other’” HERE)

One Tiny Word on the Label Reveals what the FDA Won’t Let Brands Hide

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Peanut butter is a spread by definition, but when the word “spread” appears on a peanut butter jar label, it’s most likely satisfying a legal requirement rather than acting as a simple descriptor.

Skippy, a well-known name in the peanut butter world, must label its Natural Peanut Butter Spread as such because it contains palm oil.

Regulations set by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) state that, in order to be classified as peanut butter, a product must contain at least 90% peanuts — otherwise, the word “spread” needs to be included on the label.

The Skippy website acknowledges this FDA regulation, saying: “Natural Peanut Butter Spreads can include additional ingredients like palm oil or other oils, which are not hydrogenated.”

“These spreads may still contain at least 90% peanuts but include other ingredients that place them outside the standard definition of ‘peanut butter,'” the website notes. (Read more from “One Tiny Word on the Label Reveals what the FDA Won’t Let Brands Hide” HERE)

OpenAI Learns Its Tech Probed Another Cybersecurity Target: The US Government

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OpenAI’s autonomous agents probed U.S. government websites this summer without the company noticing.

The agents interacted with sites operated by the Education Department, the Commerce Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to the New York Times. OpenAI has confirmed the Commerce and SEC episodes while it keeps investigating what happened at Education.

At the Education Department, the software tried and failed to break into the civil rights office in search of data, according to researchers at the AI firm Transluce. At Commerce, the agents pulled Census Bureau figures after finding login credentials in public code repositories, Politico reported. They also copied public material from SEC.gov and Investor.gov and reposted it on a separate site.

None of the activity counted as a breach, OpenAI said. The company found no misused SEC credentials, no account access, no nonpublic data and no changes to SEC data or systems, according to the Associated Press (AP). Chief Executive Sam Altman called it an “extensive and ongoing review related to our agents’ use of internet access during training and evaluation” in a social media post, AP reported.

(Read more from “OpenAI Learns Its Tech Probed Another Cybersecurity Target: The US Government” HERE)

HIGH ALERT: Foiled UK Terror Plot could Change Security at US Bases Worldwide, Expert Says

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Five men arrested near a key U.S. bomber base in the U.K. on Sunday may have planned a “complex,” coordinated attack with potentially far-reaching security implications for American military installations globally, a former U.S. intelligence official warned.

As counterterrorism police investigated after officers detained the suspects near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, a former Pentagon official also said President Donald Trump will ultimately be the one to decide the consequences if indeed the “trail leads to Tehran.”

The men were initially held on suspicion of offenses under Britain’s Explosives Act before being arrested on terrorism charges in connection with the airfield, a key U.S. Air Force hub and the primary European base for American strategic bombers.

“We had them under investigation,” Trump told reporters in Chicago. “They were looking to do big damage to our fort.”

“It may have been Scotland Yard. I don’t know. We worked with a lot of them. We had them under view for a long time, and we got them,” Trump added. (Read more from “HIGH ALERT: Foiled UK Terror Plot could Change Security at US Bases Worldwide, Expert Says” HERE)

Healthcare Workers Are Dropping Health Insurance As Affordability Crisis Drags On

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Some U.S. healthcare workers are now dropping health insurance coverage as costs continue to skyrocket.

Many health professionals are currently grappling with unaffordable medical bills, according to multiple recent reports. More medical workers will likely forgo health insurance in the near future, potentially straining the nation’s healthcare system, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Healthcare workers are no different than the millions of Americans facing skyrocketing insurance premiums they cannot afford,” a Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare spokesperson told the DCNF. “This has meant more people forgo purchasing insurance and put off care until they need an emergency department visit, which can lead to hospitals becoming overwhelmed.”

“An increase in the number of independent and small practice providers foregoing health insurance has the potential to put more strain on the larger healthcare system if they forego preventive care, get sick and cannot afford treatment or need to step back from the workforce,” the spokesperson continued. “This is especially true in rural communities, where hospitals and health systems are already stretched thin.”

In 2025, family premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance climbed to an average of $26,993, according to estimates from KFF.

(Read more from “Healthcare Workers Are Dropping Health Insurance As Affordability Crisis Drags On” HERE)