First, a report from National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on its initials below. (MEDIA 7-22-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  GAZA , IRAN and UKRAINE entries for today, so far, are HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll up.) — MCM

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AFP news agency says its journalists in Gaza are at risk of starving to death. Reported by Sacha Pfeiffer | NPR  AFP’s global news director Phil Chetwynd says the French news service’s journalists in Gaza are at risk of starving to death. The agency is struggling to get those journalists out of Gaza. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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TO BE CONTINUED

NOTE: This date’s entries are fewer and shorter than usual — but not because of a snoozy summer, which this one is anything but. My apologies for visitors who like entries longer and earlier. Scroll further down for links to an assortment of other news and commentary sources. 

For today, links to reports from the Associated Press and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their initials below. (There is no previous KING entry.  UKRAINE, GAZA and MEDIA and entries for this date are HERE, HERE, HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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Things to know about the release of federal documents related to MLK’s assassination, by Adrian Sainz | AP  MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Federal records related to the investigation into the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. have been released, following the disclosure in March of tens of thousands of documents about the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. READ MORE . . .

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Trump administration releases files on Martin Luther King Jr. assassination. Reported by Steve Inskeep and Elena Moore | NPR  Two segments: Academic, author, pastor and radio host Michael Eric Dyson is interviewed following the National Archives’ publication of newly digitized documents relating to the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — as part of a directive by President Trump. Click HERE to listen to interview and HERE to read another report.

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MORE ANOTHER DAY

NOTE: This date’s entries are fewer and shorter than usual — but not because of a snoozy summer, which this one is anything but. My apologies for visitors who like entries longer and earlier. Scroll further down for links to an assortment of other news and commentary sources. 

For today, links to two reports from the Associated Press; others are accessible by clicking on its initials below. (UKRAINE 7-21-25 is HERE or scroll down. KING, MEDIA and GAZA entries for this date, so far, are HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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NEWER  Zelenskyy renews offer to meet with Putin as officials say Russian attacks kill a child in Ukraine, by Illia Novikov | AP  KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today renewed his offer to meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, but hopes of progress were low as delegations prepared to hold another round of talks. Russian forces, meanwhile . . . READ MORE . . .

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Swarms of Russian drones attack Ukraine nightly as Moscow puts new emphasis on the deadly weapon. From AP. Russia now often batters Ukraine with more drones in a single night than it did during some entire months in 2024, and analysts say the barrages are likely to escalate. Some experts say . . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

NOTE: This date’s entries are fewer and shorter than usual — but not because of a snoozy summer, which this one is anything but. My apologies for visitors who like entries longer and earlier. Scroll further down for links to an assortment of other news and commentary sources. 

For today, links to reports from National Public Radio and the Associated Press; others are accessible by clicking on their initials below. (GAZA 7-21-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  UKRAINE, KING and MEDIA entries for this date are HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll up or down.) — MCM

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Israel expands military operation into central Gaza. Reported by Emily Feng and Sacha Pfeiffer | NPR  For the first time in 21 months of war, Israeli ground troops have pushed into central Gaza. Palestinians sheltering in several areas there have been ordered to evacuate. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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UN body says over 1,000 have been killed seeking food in Gaza since May as hunger crisis worsens, by Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy and Tia Goldenberg | AP  DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since May while trying to get food in the Gaza Strip, mostly in the vicinity of aid sites run by an Israeli-backed American contractor, the United Nations human rights office said today. Israeli strikes killed 25 people across Gaza, according to local health officials. READ MORE . . .

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NOTE: This date’s entries are fewer and shorter than usual — but not because of a snoozy summer, which this one is anything but. My apologies for visitors who like entries longer and earlier. Scroll further down for links to an assortment of other news and commentary sources. 

For today, a link to a report from Consortium News; others are accessible by clicking on its name below. (MEDIA 7-20-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  KING, UKRAINE and GAZA entries for this date are HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll up.) — MCM

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FROM JULY 20  MAGA going to Israel for propaganda training, by Joe Lauria | Consortium News  The Israel foreign ministry will spend $86,000 to finance a tour of Israel for 16 Americans to get them to use their vast online influence to craft more positive images of a nation openly engaged in genocide. READ MORE . . .

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For today, links to nine reports: from the Associated Press, National Public Radio, Middle East Eye, the Cradle, Middle East Monitor, and Reuters; others or at least headlines are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA 7-20-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  UKRAINE and 9/11 TRUTH entries for this date are HERE and HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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UN food agency says Israeli tanks and snipers opened fire on a crowd seeking aid in Gaza, by Wafaa Shurafa, Melanie Lidman and Samy Magdy | AP  DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The U.N. food agency accused Israel of using tanks, snipers and other weapons to fire on a crowd of Palestinians seeking food aid, in what the territory’s Health Ministry said was one of the deadliest days for aid-seekers in over 21 months of war. READ MORE . . . and click HERE and HERE for reports from NPR and Middle East Eye.

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FROM JULY 20  Gaza on ‘brink of mass death’ due to Israeli-imposed famine. From the Cradle. Authorities in Gaza warned on Sunday that the strip is “on the brink of mass death” due to widespread famine and starvation resulting from Israel’s siege and genocidal war. READ MORE . . .

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FROM JULY 20   Gaza on brink of famine as UN says Israel is starving civilians. From Middle East Monitor. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has accused Israel of “starving civilians”, including a million children in Gaza, by blocking vital food and medicine deliveries into the besieged enclave. READ MORE . . .

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Israel sends tanks into Gaza’s Deir Al-Balah, raising concerns among hostages’ families, by Nidal al-Mughrabi  CAIRO — Israeli tanks today pushed for the first time into southern and eastern areas of the Gazan city of Deir Al-Balah, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes some of the remaining hostages may be being held. Gaza medics said at least three Palestinians were killed and . . . READ MORE . . . and click HERE for July 20 report from the Cradle.

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Pope speaks against forced mass displacement of Gaza civilians, by Giulia Segreti and Alvise Armellini | Reuters  VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo, whose role in advocating for peace in Gaza has become notably stark since Israel struck the territory’s only Catholic church last week, told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today that he opposed . . . READ MORE . . . and click HERE for July 20 report from Reuters. 

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For today, links to eight reports: from the Associated Press, Tass, Reuters, the Kyiv Independent, the Moscow Times, Kyiv Post, and National Public Radio; others or at least headlines are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE 7-20-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  GAZA and 9/11 TRUTH entries for this date are HERE and HERE, or scroll up or down.) — MCM

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Russia launches a major aerial attack on Kyiv hours before high-level talks on support for Ukraine, by Emma Burrows and Illia Novikov | AP  Overnight and not today Russia unleashed one of its largest aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent months, hours before the U.K. and Germany are to chair a meeting to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans for NATO allies to provide Ukraine with weapons. READ MORE . . .

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Russian troops pound Ukrainian military-industrial sites in overnight strike. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russian troops delivered an overnight strike by precision weapons, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles on Ukrainian military-industrial sites over the past 24 hours in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry said today in a broader statement. READ MORE . . .

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What is known about the aftermath of Ukraine’s overnight drone strike on Russian regions. From Tass. MOSCOW — Air defense systems intercepted 74 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The fall of drone debris on an infrastructure facility at the Kamenolomny station in the Rostov Region caused delays for 26 passenger trains. READ MORE . . .

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Russia says it favours new round of peace talks with Ukraine, highlights gulf between them. From Reuters. MOSCOW — The Kremlin said today that Moscow was in favour of a new round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine but the two sides’ positions were diametrically opposed so there was a lot of diplomatic work to be done. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that . . . READ MORE . . .  and click HERE for report from the Kyiv Independent.

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Russia and Ukraine may hold new round of peace talks this week, reports say. From the Moscow Times. Russian and Ukrainian delegates could meet for a third round of peace negotiations in Turkey this week, Turkish and Russian media reported today, citing sources familiar with the matter. READ MORE . . .  and click HERE for report from Kyiv Post.

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A look at President Trump’s foreign policy 6 months into his second administration. Reported by Tamara Keith and Sacha Pfeiffer | NPR  As a candidate, President Trump promised to change America’s foreign policy. Six months into his second administration, where do things stand? Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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For today, links to reports from National Public Radio and the Associated Press, and to an interview from SGT Report; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (9/11 TRUTH 5-31-25 is HERE; it would take awhile to scroll down.  GAZA and UKRAINE entries for this date are HERE and HERE, or scroll up.) — MCM

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FROM JULY 20  After plea deals are canceled, what happens next with the Guantanamo 9/11 trials? Reported by Sacha Pfeiffer, Gabriel J. Sánchez and Tinbete Ermyas | NPR  Georgetown University Law professor Stephen Vladeck explains where things stand with the 9/11 Guantanamo cases now that the plea deals have been canceled. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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FROM JULY 11  Appeals court throws out plea deal for alleged mastermind of Sept. 11 attacks, by Mark Sherman and Jennifer Peltz | AP  WASHINGTON — A divided federal appeals court on July 11 threw out an agreement that would have allowed accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to plead guilty in a deal sparing him the risk of execution for al-Qaida’s 2001 attacks. READ MORE . . .

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FROM JULY 19  WTC-7, a fifth plane & the whole truth. Sean Turbull of SGT Report hosts architect Richard Gage and engineer Kamal Obeid to discuss evidence ignored by the National Institute of Science and Techonology (NIST) pertaining to the collapses of three World Trade Center skyscrapers on Sept. 11, 2001. Click HERE  for interview, and HERE for related info from Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth.

NOTE: Entries today later and briefer than usual, or missing. Visitors are encouraged to scroll down to previous ones and click on sources of news and opinion for fresher news and opinion.

For today, links to three articles from Harper’s Magazine; others are accessible (I hope) by clicking on its name below, or by buying or borrowing a copy. (MEDIA 7-15-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  GAZA and UKRAINE entries are HERE and HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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FROM AUGUST 2025 ISSUE  Playing dead: Do the Democrats really want reform? by Andrew Cockburn | Harper’s Magazine  On April 25, I arrived in Grand Island, a city of some fifty thousand in the heart of rural Nebraska, for a People’s Town Hall. READ MORE . . .

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FROM AUGUST 2025 and JULY 1970 ISSUES  The démodé party, by John Kenneth Galbraith | Harper’s Magazine  The Democratic Party has, within a relatively short span, lost its purpose; it has become a defender of the status quo, a role in which . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM AUGUST 2025 ISSUE  Casus belli: The origins of the war in Ukraine. A review of two books, by Samuel Moyn | Harper’s Magazine  Does ending a war depend on rethinking how it began? Head-spappingly fast after the United States initiated direct talks with Russia in February [2025], the question of . . . READ MORE . . .

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NOTE: Entries today later and briefer than usual, or missing. Visitors are encouraged to scroll down to previous ones and click on sources of news and opinion for fresher news and opinion.

For today, the first reprint, lightly edited, of a July 19 message to a friend in the U.S. Southwest who used to work in New York State government, included here only because of the outspokenness of the NYC Democratic mayoral primary victor, state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, against Israel’s U.S.-supported genocide in the Gaza Strip. (GAZA 7-19-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  MEDIA and UKRAINE entries for this date are HERE and HERE, or scroll up or down.) — MCM

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You may know someone who knew the winner of the Dems’ NYC primary from his time in the Assembly. I have not followed his political pursuits of recent months, haven’t known how to spell or pronounce his name, or what he looks like — most dark-haired bearded males his age look alike to me.

I see similarities between him and TR and so will try to find my copy of “The Bully Pulpit” by Doris Kearns Goodwin or borrow it from a library. TR served in the Assembly and (I seem to remember from that book) was out of favor with his party’s establishment or its NYC branch who wanted to get him out of the city — perhaps out of favor in some of the same ways Truman was with the Prendergast machine in Missouri, and Sanders was with the Paquette machine in Burlington. 

I haven’t yet  opened the Harper’s that came yesterday featuring something about how the Democratic Party is digging its own grave, but one example is sure to be the race in New York. I did just read “Sun Valley vs. Queensbridge,” by Patrick Lawrence, which seems to ring true though I hope not his pessimistic words near the end of it. Here’s a link: https://scheerpost.com/2025/07/18/patrick-lawrence-sun-valley-vs-queensbridge/

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