The Hound | Sept. 17

Hi there,

It’s Thursday. Two U.S. officials familiar with Middle East operations told The Intercept the Iran war is "ultimately unsustainable" — and one warned it could lead to a full military "breakdown." The Pentagon inspector general confirmed that hundreds of buildings were destroyed or damaged across eight countries, along with dozens of aircraft.

🖊️ Sign the petition to call on the media to cover the Iran war not through the lens of White House press releases and CENTCOM non-answers, but as what U.S. officials themselves are describing in private: a conflict with no exit plan, a military on the edge of breakdown, and an administration lying to the public about every dimension of it.

Meanwhile, sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln endured nine months at sea with near-zero port calls, rampant morale problems, and suicide attempts. Trump's response: the deployment was "not nearly long enough." The public deserves war reporting that matches the reality on the ground — not the reality on Truth Social.

In addition, JD Vance got into a fight with a heckler in Kansas. And how the shuttering of USAID weakened environmental protections around the world.

Read about these, and more, in today’s stories:

Iran War Has the U.S. Military on the Brink of a “Breakdown” (The Intercept)

JD Vance Fights With a Heckler in the Middle of a Campaign Event (The New Republic)

Why Some California Democrats Step Up to Fill the Republican Void (The American Prospect)

Papa Johns, Propaganda and Putin: How a MAGA Influencer With Ties to Russia Became Trump’s Arctic Adviser (ProPublica)

Geopolitics and grain don't mix, say these Montana farmers (NPR)

How the End of USAID Eroded Global Environmental Goals (Inside Climate News)

Until next time,

Harry from The Hound

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