The Hound | Mar. 19

Pentagon requests $200 million for Iran War, NOTUS takes on Washington Post, and disappearing American electric vehicles.

March 19, 2026

Hi there,

It’s Thursday. Politico’s founder and former owner, Robert Allbritton, is launching a new rival to Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post. NOTUS, which Allbritton owns, is rebranding as The Washington Sun and has recruited a number of staff from the wreckage of the Post after a third of its staff was laid off earlier this year. A bombshell New York Times investigation uncovered a pattern of abuse by civil rights icon Cesar Chavez, which included labor activist Dolores Huerta disclosing she was raped by Chavez. In addition, the Pentagon is now seeking $200 billion in additional funding for the ongoing Iran War, which is on top of the already massive $800 billion defense budget.

This request comes even as Congress has not formally authorized the war and lawmakers from both parties are raising concerns about its scope, cost, and lack of clear strategy. When the government asks for hundreds of billions more dollars to sustain a conflict, the public deserves a clear explanation of the mission, the goals, and how it will end. When coverage focuses on the size of the request rather than the absence of a coherent plan, it obscures the recklessness of pouring more resources into an open-ended conflict.

The public deserves journalism that asks not just how much this war will cost, but why it is being fought and how it will end. Democracy depends on scrutiny before more lives and resources are committed.

Read about this, and more, with today’s stories:

Until next time,

Harry from The Hound

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