NOTE: The message below is “under construction” beginning Sunday evening. (Scroll down for ALL OF IT 9-27-26, block out about an hour and three quarters, click on the link, , and get yourself up to date.) — MCM

–   –   –

Hello Joe Lauria, Ray McGovern and Rick Wolff,

I thought last week’s “The World This Week” (HERE, or scroll down) was one of the best, but yesterday (Sunday) morning’s was at least as enlightening — I would say entertaining as well, except that in some languages that would mean distracting, and this was an antidote to distraction.

Your latest (HERE, including music, print introduction, subtitles, and comments) is in competition for best of the year. For added oomph, if you can afford it, you might consider adding a transcript.

I hadn’t noticed this month’s regional elections in Germany despite AP’s and Reuters’ reports HERE and HERE, or anything about the prospects of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) party next door, although Reuters did have THIS.

The idea that the “far left” and the “far right” in both Germany and France have increased their prospects because of popular dissatisfaction with the “center” personified by Chancellor Merz and President Macron does seem accurate.

.

ADVISORY  The World This Week — ‘Shameless.’ Joe Lauria, editor-in-chief of Consortium News, hosts retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern and UMass economics professor emeritus Rick Wolff. From CN: “Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu this week used the seat of world diplomacy — established to pursue peace — to spread their vile supremacist ideologies. 1. Trump says he decides fate of nations. 2. Netanyahu’s paranoid aggression. 3. Lavrov speaks and Kiev lies. Plus the U.S.-China summit in Washington.” Click HERE at 9 this morning* to livestream, and later for video of discussion. 

*  TWTW’s move from 8 p.m. Saturdays to 9 a.m. Sundays may be designed to compete with “Meet the Press,” “Face the Nation” and like Sunday morning TV shows, which apparently have been influential enough combined with other corporate news shows to help put the world in the shape it’s in. — MCM

A link to an open letter to the U.S. Congress by a contributor to Common Dreams via Consortium News; other writings are accessible by clicking on their names. (Scroll down for ALL OF IT, and for Iran 9-25-26.) — MCM

–   –   –

FROM SEPT. 23  Stop mad king Donald Trump, by Jeffrey D. Sachs | Common Dreams / Consortium News  Dear Members of Congress,  In truly deranged remarks to world leaders at the U.N., Donald Trump declared that “I have a big decision to make,” whether to . . . READ MORE . . .

.

Links to commentaries from Do Not Panic via ScheerPost, and from Consortium News; others are accessible by clicking on their names. (Scroll up for today’s IRAN, and down for ALL OF IT 9-22-26.) — MCM

–   –   –

FROM SEPT. 25  A spectacle of the macabre in New York, by Nate Bear | Do Not Panic / ScheerPost  What’s unfolding in New York is a show of breath-taking degeneracy, a depraved spectacle exposing the illegitimate imperial order and the institutions on which it is built. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM SEPT. 22  Trump’s unconscionable U.N. rant, by Joe Lauria | Special to Consortium News  Donald Trump just delivered probably the most bombastic, ignorant, aggressive and outrageous speech to the rest of the world from the podium of the U.N. General Assembly in the 81-year history of the United Nations.  READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM SEPT. 25  Remaining silent, by Jean Bricmont | Special to Consortium News  I have lived my entire life in Europe and the United States, where I know that almost everyone  —  even those who claim to stand in “solidarity with Palestine” — begins any criticism of Israel or its government by “condemning” Hamas, Hezbollah, or the “mullahs’ regime.” READ MORE . . .

.

First, a link to a commentary from Jonathan-Cook.net via Consortium News; others are accessible by clicking on their names. (Scroll down for MEDIA 9-25-26.) — MCM

–   –   –

FROM SEPT. 25  Media can make us believe anything, by Jonathan Cook | Jonathan-Cook.net / Consortium News  The current narrative of “beloved king shocked by claim he said something nasty 30 years ago” is a perfect example of how, given a bit of time . . . READ MORE . . .

.

First, links to three reports from National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on its initials or name. (Scroll down today’s UKRAINE and MEDIA so far, and for IRAN 9-9-26.) — MCM

–   –   –

Iran’s president says his country has ‘no trust’ in U.S. in meeting with journalists. Reported by Steve Inskeep and Leila Fadel | NPR  Inskeep was part of a small group of journalists who met with an Iranian official on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Click HERE to listen and, later, read. Click HERE and HERE for related NPR reports.

–   –   –

TO BE CONTINUED

Links to four reports: from Reuters, the Moscow Times and the Associated Press; other published material is accessible by clicking on their name or initials. (Scroll up or down for today’s IRAN and MEDIA so far, and down for UKRAINE 9-6-26.) — MCM

–   –   –

Russian strikes shut Ukraine’s biggest steelmaker, kill seven in Kyiv, by Dan Peleschuk and Ann Pruchnica | Reuters  Steelmaker ArcelorMittal said today it could not restart production at Ukraine’s largest steel plant after a series of missile strikes, the latest setback from Russia’s escalating air campaign. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

At least 2 killed as Ukraine strikes industrial sites across Russia. From the Moscow Times. At least two people were killed as Ukraine launched another nightly round of drone strikes across Russia, regional authorities said early tday, as two oil refineries were reported to have been hit during the air barrage. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM SEPT. 24  Russian strikes kill 8 in Ukraine as the UN debates how to end the war, by Hanna Arhirova and Barry Hatton | AP  KYIV  Officials said Thursday that Russian strikes on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region killed six agricultural workers and wounded 12 others, and killed a man and a woman in the capital Kyiv. Officials also reported a major bombardment in the southern port of Odesa. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE for others. A related AP report in English and Spanish is HERE .

.

Links to two interviews and three news reports: from National Public Radio and the Associated Press; other published material is accessible by clicking on its name or initials. (Scroll up for today’s IRAN and UKRAINE so far, and down for MEDIA 9-22-26.) — MCM

–   –   –

FROM SEPT. 24  Tucker Carlson has reconsidered Trump. And quite a bit else. Carlson, who supported Donald Trump so strongly that he spoke on his behalf at the 2024 Republican convention, tells Steve Inskeep of NPR that Trump should be removed from office. Carlson even offered a theory that Trump was not in charge when he ordered the start of the war. Click HERE for video and transcript of interview.

–   –   –

‘Primetime’ tells a fictionalized version of the rise of ‘To Catch a Predator.’ The rise of the NBC show is fictionalized in the film “Primetime,” starring Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen. A Martínez of NPR speaks with director Lance Oppenheim. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

–   –   –

FROM SEPT. 24  White House allows banned journalists back onto grounds. Reported by Brian Mann | NPR  Trump administration officials bowed to pressure from a federal judge, allowing CNN, MSNOW and Politico onto White House grounds after revoking their press passes over coverage Trump didn’t like. Click HERE to listen and read, and HERE for a related NPR report.

–   –   –

FROM SEPT. 5  In ‘Primetime,’ Robert Pattinson takes on the ‘irresistible’ role of Chris Hansen, by Lindsey Bahr | AP  VENICE, Italy — The English actor started out as a producer on the film. But . . . READ MORE . . .

Links to a news release, two website addresses, and two obituaries, from Integrity Media; richardpollak.com, and the New York Times via Editor & Publisher; other material is accessible by clicking on their names. (Scroll down for today’s ALL OF IT, and for MEDIA 9-11-26.) — MCM

–   –   –

FROM SEPT. 17  Integrity Media honors independent journalists at second annual awards. News release from Integrity Media. CHICAGO, Ill. — Integrity Media celebrated journalists and news organizations committed to courageous, independent reporting at its second annual Independent Journalism Awards, held Thursday at the University Club of Chicago. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Integrity Media. Website home page. Throughout the history of our nation, brave, truth-seeking individuals have impacted great change. Voting rights, citizenship, corruption, abuse in the workplace, religion, and beyond, are all arenas where . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Richard Pollak, writer, editor, teacher. An obituary at richardpollak.com. Richard Pollak published the books at left (click on titles for more info); served over two decades as literary editor, executive editor, or contributing editor at The Nation; wrote for that weekly, and for Harper’s, The Atlantic, and The New York Times Book Review; co-founded and edited [More], the monthly journalism review that published in the 1970s. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM JAN. 2  Richard Pollak, 91, dies; edited magazine that criticized the media, by Richard Sandomir | The New York Times / Editor & Publisher  Richard Pollak, the founding editor of More magazine, an irreverent monthly journalism review that during the 1970s critiqued the media’s coverage of contentious subjects like the Vietnam War, President Richard M. Nixon and the oil industry, died on Dec. 27 in Stockholm. He was 91. READ MORE of Times obituary with subscription or by creating an account of some kind with that newspaper.

.

Belatedly, a link to a discussion from Consortium News; other published material is accessible by clicking on its name. (Scroll scroll up for today’s MEDIA, and down for ALL OF IT 9-21-26.) — MCM

–   –   –

FROM SEPT. 19  The World This Week: ‘The AI wars.’ Joe Lauria of Consortium News hosts — yet again — former U.S. Marine Corps counterintelligence officer Scott Ritter and former CIA analyst Ray McGovern morning to talk about a range of topics including artificial intelligence, the wars in Ukraine and Iran, the barring of opposition candidates from Russia’s Sept. 18-20 elections, the return of “Russiagate,” President Trump, the Democrats, the FBI, the CIA, NATO, Western Europe’s politics and economies, Greenland, Estonia, the defrosting Arctic, China, 9/11, and the Western media. Click HERE for video, a print introduction (typos and all), and at least eight comments.

.