All of it, 10-4-26

For now, a link to a discussion from Consortium News and links to beginnings of two reports from the Associated Press; other published material is accessible by clicking on their names or initials. (Scroll down for today’s ALL OF IT 10-3-26.) — MCM

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The World This Week — ‘Edge of the abyss,’ at 9 a.m.  Joe Lauria of CN and former CIA analyst Joe McGovern on * Putin’s warning against an attack on Kaliningrad * Trump’s Time interview * the curious FlyDubai incident * government “false flag” operations * U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt steams toward Gulf * advance UAE warning of Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack * Israel’s Oct. 27 presidential election * high school students revolt in France * Kentucky death penalty and botched execution. Click HERE for video.

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FROM OCT. 3  Who are the mystery men who stepped in to keep the FlyDubai plane from crashing? From AP.  JERUSALEM — As of Saturday, three days after the uniformed crew members rushed to the cockpit to steady the Israel-bound plane carrying 182 people after a sickening plummet, they still haven’t been publicly identified. FlyDubai has called them only on-duty crew members traveling on the plane. It’s not clear . . . REGIASTER FOR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO READ WHOLE REPORT. Click HERE for same offer to read same AP report and others in Spanish for free.

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What to expect this week from school protests rattling France’s government, by John Leicester | AP  PARIS — A key question is whether violence on the margins of the demonstrations will worsen, blurring the lines between protest and rioting, and whether Macron’s government will ratchet up the already muscular response by police. REGISTER FOR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO READ WHOLE REPORT.

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TO BE CONTINUED

All of it, 10-3-26

Belatedly, in this second of only two entries for this date, links to a commentary from CraigMurray.org.uk via Consortium News, and to reports from the Associated Press and Reuters; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials. NOTE: Each item includes matters that will be unfamiliar even to readers who are British, so please read — and view — carefully. (Scroll down for ALL OF IT 9-29-26.) — MCM

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FROM OCT. 2  Fatuous false flags, by Craig Murray | CraigMurray.org.uk  / Consortium News  Rather than abandoning the plainly nuts Fairford narrative, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his government are doubling down on the claim it is an Iranian terror plot. READ MORE . . .

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Ax-wielding FlyDubai co-pilot had been flagged over extremism concerns, by Samy Magdy, Sam Mednick and Cara Anna | AP  CAIRO — The co-pilot accused of attacking the captain of an Israel-bound flight with an ax and trying to seize the controls was an Omani national who had been barred from flying on his country’s airline because of concerns about extremist views, officials said today. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE for others.  Click HERE for report from Reuters.

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FROM SEPT. 29  UK examines foreign state involvement in suspected airbase plot, releases suspects, by Toby Shepheard | Reuters  FAIRFORD, England — British police said on Monday they were investigating whether individuals acting for a foreign state were involved in an apparent plot to attack an airbase used by the United States but said five suspects they had arrested would be released on bail. READ MORE . . .

Advisory, 10-3-26

An appeal.

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ADVISORY: Dear Readers (both of you), I’m putting together a little package that might exemplify the ideal or the sorry were it to appear under the rubrics of other categories of this blog including 9/11 TRUTH, MEDIA, IRAN, and UKRAINE. It will be the only (other) entry for today. Please return. — MCM

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Iran, 10-2-26

HedgeLinks to an interview from Chris Hedges’ YouTube channel, and to reports from the Associated Press and Reuters; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials. (Scroll down for Iran 9-28-26.) — MCM

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FROM c. SEPT. 29  Iran has destroyed U.S. bases in the Gulf (w/ John Mearsheimer). Hedges and University of Chicago political scientist John Mearsheimer discuss the damage Iran’s use of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones has inflicted on U.S. military bases; shifting alliances resulting from the war; and what the future may hold. Click HERE for nine-minute video.

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FROM OCT. 1  Third aircraft carrier and thousands of troops head to Mideast as Trump weighs new Iran strikes, by Konstantin Toropin, Michelle L. Price and Aamer Madhani | AP  WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is dispatching roughly 9,000 troops aboard a group of ships to the Middle East, a U.S. official said Thursday. The bolstering of the American military presence comes as President Donald Trump warned anew that new strikes against Iran could be on the horizon. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE for others.

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FROM OCT. 1  Iran readies harder retaliation if attacked as diplomacy faces long odds, by Parisa Hafesi | Reuters  DUBAI — Iran is preparing a broader and more forceful response if the United States resumes large-scale military attacks, sources said, while continuing a diplomatic push that Iranian officials privately see as unlikely to succeed. READ MORE . . .

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9/11 truth, 10-1-26

A rumination. (Scroll down for 9/11 TRUTH 9-20-26, or click HERE.) — MCM

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“Don’t you hate,” writes Adrian Dannhauser, “when you know you’re right, but somehow you still end up in the wrong? You’ve played by the rules, your logic seems sound, but in the end, it just doesn’t add up. . . . If you’ve ever been in a heated argument, you know that rational thought does not carry the day.”

That sometimes pertains to a number of ugly truths that have been nailed down conclusively but do not carry the day.

I think of a friend who was a loving husband and father, faithful parishioner, successively city councilor, county commissioner and state representative, knowledgeable letter-to-the-editor writer and denizen of the public library — a stone’s throw from his law office. Army veteran and former FBI agent.

Naturally, Frank favored a state “bottle bill” when a City Council position on it came up, giving a litany of good reasons to be for it at a Council meeting but emphasizing each phrase with a jab of his index finger into the air in front of him. His side didn’t carry the day. Campaign donations from affected businesses may have made the difference (5-cent deposits for beer and soda pop containers is now state law), but his finger jabbing didn’t help.

Years later I lent him a CD from Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth about the World Trade Center skyscrapers coming down on Sept. 11, 2001, according to standard “controlled demolition” practices — but at odds with government and news media narratives. When I stopped at his house to pick it up, he had watched it. But he simply handed it to me with a sheepish smile and that was it.

A friend I didn’t know as well or as long had been a flight engineer for Pan Am and TWA  — flight engineers (at least at the time) accompanying pilots and copilots on large passenger liners. Bob had included me on mass email mailings to old Air Force and airline buddies, none of which interested me. Until after the September 2001 events. I lent him a book or a CD in which (I thought) knowledgeable people had challenged parts of official “9/11” accounts involving the airplanes. He simply refused to talk about it.

Just this morning I came across observation up top. It is also HERE. The onetime practitioner of corporate bankruptcy law turned priest and now church rector and author appears to know what she’s talking about, including the limits of law and of human reason.

 

Media, 9-30-26

NOTE: This entry, the only one for this date, may be tinkered with by me. (Scroll down for MEDIA 9-26-26.) — MCM

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Most Americans, when we think about Australia at all, know it as a continent-sized English-speaking nation surrounded by ocean, with kangaroos and koala bears, where humans have more interest in soccer (which they call football) than we have. And that it has a free press. Some of us know that Julian Assange is from there.

Assange is back home after having served five years in London’s Belmarsh prison after he was holed up for seven years in Ecuador’s embassy in London until the government in Ecuador changed hands and booted him out.

A year ago he won Integrity Media’s first Courage in Journalism award, and a news release about it is HERE. It includes a panel discussion starring journalist Melissa Fyfe of the Age, Member of Parliament Andrew Wylie, and barrister Greg Barns. Comedian Tom Ballard was moderator.

I found the discussion fascinating — refreshing and salubrious — while not understanding much of what they were talking about except that Australian journalists face the same kind of censorship as ours do in the United States and engage in similar self-censorship. And that Australian media ownership is undergoing the same consolidation that is going on in the United States and in much of the world, meaning that consumers of what newspapers and broadcasters turn out are getting a much more constricted view of what is really happening here and there.

I didn’t find Ballard funny at all, but then the topics under discussion are not funny. He may have been chosen to moderate because of some popularity. See his website.

Assange was not spoken of much, possibly because the . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED ANOTHER TIME, MAYBE

All of it, 9-29-26

Belatedly, the only link today, to an essay from Global Dialogue via the Floutist; others are accessible by clicking on their names. (Scroll down for ALL OF IT 9-28-26.) — MCM

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FROM JANUARY 2024  ‘Terrorism,’ this insidious word, by John V. Whitbeck | Global Dialogue / The Floutist  PARIS — The greatest threat to world peace and civil society today is clearly “terrorism” — not the behavior to which the word is applied but the word itself. Since the word “terrorism” (like the behavior to which the word is applied) can never be eradicated, it is imperative to expose it for what it is — a word. READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine, 9-28-26

Links to a report from the Associated Press and to a commentary via Informed Comment; others are accessible by clicking on its name or initials. (Scroll down for today’s LEBANON, GAZA, WEST BANK, IRAN, YEMEN and ALL OF IT, and for UKRAINE 9-25-26.) — MCM

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Russian drones hammer apartments, offices and a cultural landmark in Ukraine, killing 7, by Hanna Arhirova and Barry Hatton | AP  KYIV — Russia’s round-the-clock bombardment of targets in Ukraine killed at least seven people and wounded more than 50 others, officials said today. Click HERE for report including photos Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE for others.

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FROM SEPT. 26  The rule of the sophists, the reign of untruth, by Hugh J. Curran | University of Maine / Special to Informed Comment   ORONO, Maine – In classical Greek “opinion” is referred to as “doxa” with a clear distinction between “doxa” and “truth” (alethia). We have a President in the U.S. who gives daily information by way of a news program called “Truth Social.” “Truth”, to him, seems . . . READ MORE . . .

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Lebanon, 9-28-26

Links to two reports from the Cradle; others are accessible by clicking on its name. (Scroll up or down for today’s UKRAINE, GAZA, WEST BANK, IRAN, YEMEN and ALL OF IT, and for LEBANON 9-11-26.) — MCM

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FROM SEPT. 27  Israeli strikes pound south Lebanon after Hezbollah drone targets occupation forces. From the Cradle. Israeli shelling, bombing, and detonation operations surged across south Lebanon on Sunday, hours after Hezbollah launched an explosive drone at occupation forces operating in Tel Aviv’s so-called “security zone.” READ MORE . . .

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FROM SEPT. 27  Israeli finance minister calls for genocidal war on West Bank, annexation of south Lebanon. From the Cradle. Israeli Finance Minister and settler leader Bezalel Smotrich has called on Israel to “go to war” in the occupied Palestinian West Bank and “do there what we did in Gaza,” Israeli media reported on Sunday. READ MORE . . .

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Gaza, 9-28-26

Links to two commentaries via Informed Comment and to a report from Middle East Monitor; others are accessible by clicking on their names. (Scroll down for today’s UKRAINE, LEBANON, WEST BANK, IRAN, YEMEN and ALL OF IT; click HERE for GAZA 9-9-26 or scroll down.) — MCM

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Why didn’t Netanyahu’s cabinet preempt Oct. 7 (since it knew about it in advance)? by Dan Steinbock | Special to Informed Comment  SINGAPORE — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fiery speech to the UN General Assembly was an effort to shift attention away from a political storm brewing in Israel that won’t go away. It failed. READ MORE . . .

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FROM SEPT. 27  Israeli army kills 2 Palestinians, wounds 7 others in new Gaza truce violations. From Middle East Monitor. Two Palestinians were killed and seven others injured Sunday in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, amid Tel Aviv’s daily violations of a ceasefire agreement in place since October 2025, medical sources said, Anadolu reports. READ MORE . . .

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FROM SEPT. 26  The rule of the sophists, the reign of untruth, by Hugh J. Curran | University of Maine / Special to Informed Comment  ORONO, Maine – In classical Greek “opinion” is referred to as “doxa” with a clear distinction between “doxa” and “truth” (alethia). We have a President in the U.S. who gives daily information by way of a news program called “Truth Social.” “Truth”, to him, seems . . . READ MORE . . .

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