The Hound | Sept. 4

Due to the federal holiday, there will not be an edition of The Hound on Sept. 7. We will be back in your inbox on Tuesday, Sept. 8. Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Hi there,

It’s Friday. On Wednesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC there "haven't been American deaths" in the Iran war — while 18 U.S. service members have died and hundreds more have been wounded since February. He apologized 45 minutes later, claiming he confused a six-month active war with a hours-long Venezuela operation. Venezuela never came up in the interview.

🖊️ Sign the petition to call on the media to cover Lutnick's false statement not as a forgivable slip, but as the latest chapter in this administration's systematic effort to hide the human cost of the Iran war from the American public.

This is not a gaffe. It fits a pattern of deliberate obscuring. In July, four service member deaths and dozens of injuries quietly disappeared from the Pentagon's own website. Hegseth has publicly complained that troop deaths receive too much press coverage. Eighteen families are grieving. Hundreds more are recovering from wounds. They deserve a press corps that refuses to let their sacrifice be disappeared by a talking point.

In addition, a young Haitian immigrant in Ohio died by suicide after being forced to wear an ankle monitor, “That ankle monitor is what killed him,” a family friend said. And State Rep. Justin Pearson, running for the Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District talks about the fight for America’s future is already happening in the South.

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

US commerce secretary erroneously said no Americans have died in Iran war, Trump claims (The Guardian)

The Fight for America’s Future Is Happening in the South (Mother Jones)

A Casualty of a Cruel Immigration Policy (The American Prospect)

Seth Moulton Sold Out Trans Kids — and Lost His Senate Race (The Intercept)

Trump’s DOJ Blocked Serious ICE Shooting Charge Over Federal Prosecutor’s “Strongest Possible” Objections (ProPublica)

These States Are Leading the Electricity Generation Boom (Inside Climate News)

Until next time,

Harry from The Hound

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