I’ll happily say Death to AmeriKKKa, Death to Europe, Death to Isntrael, Death to the Vassal SStates of AmeriKKKa, Death to FaSSciSSm, Death to KKKapitalism, and victory to Communism infinite times. There’s a reason why I avoid like the plague, and it’s because of KKKumSSKKKin shit like this.
Yeah the framing there is kinda silly, but it does seem like the whole fab reshoring thing has been plagued with problems. The more interesting parts of the article were that the time to build fabs is increasing, especially in recent times Things look even worse when you look at specific decades. In the 90s and 2000s, the U.S. was pretty fast and saw average construction times of about 675 days. In the 10s, that number dramatically increased to 918 days. Meanwhile, China and Taiwan were going at a much faster pace that decade, with an average completion time of 675 and 642 days, respectively. and the number of fabs overall is at all time low Naturally, the amount of fabs the U.S. is making at all has also declined. In the 90s, 55 fabs were constructed in the U.S., dropping to 43 in the 2000s and then to 22 in the 10s. At the same time, China is massively accelerating its fab construction, from 14 in the 90s to 75 in the 2000s to 95 in the 10s. It’s also not just a month difference for the delays The findings aren’t surprising, as many high-profile fabs have missed their original targets for production. TSMC’s Fab 21 in Arizona recently added a one-year delay, Intel’s Ohio fabs are apparently slipping from 2025 to late 2026, and Samsung delayed a Texas-based foundry to 2025 due to not receiving its CHIPS Act funds. And there are a couple of related data points from TSMC and Samsung regarding fab construction https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/us-government-doles-out-paltry-dollar35-million-of-the-dollar52-billion-chips-act-warns-of-possible-delays-in-intel-and-tsmc-fab-buildouts https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/us-govts-sluggish-chips-act-payouts-slam-the-breaks-on-samsungs-fab-company-delays-mass-production-at-texas-fab-to-await-further-chips-funding-report So, while I agree that EPA regulation isn’t the core problem here, I think it’s pretty clear that US is having trouble with the whole reshoring idea.
Can’t stand this mf, stfu nobody cares, just complete navel gazing wanting to be congratulated about first leaving the alt-right and then talking about his worthless uninformed thoughts on online ideology, jreg created a plague of these men
The Big Dig was the most expensive highway project in the United States, and was plagued by cost overruns, delays, leaks, design flaws … $21.5 billion adjusted for inflation, a cost overrun of about 190%. It’s absurdly expensive even by the standards of absurdly expensive highway projects.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—The acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, welcomed the recognition of the constitutional government of Venezuela, led by President Nicolás Maduro, announced by US President Donald Trump on Saturday, March 7. “President Trump, we consider this decision as a recognition of the people of Venezuela and their just cause for the truth about our country,” Rodríguez wrote on social media. Earlier, Trump said during his speech at the Shield of the Americas summit in Florida: “I am pleased to announce that this week we formally recognized the Venezuelan government. In fact, we legally recognized it.” Speaking to an audience of right-wing heads of state from Latin America and the Caribbean, the US president praised Delcy Rodríguez’s leadership following the bloody January 3 US bombing of Venezuela, saying, “The president of Venezuela … is doing a very good job.” On multiple occasions, Rodríguez has reiterated that the constitutional and legitimate president of Venezuela is Nicolás Maduro, who is illegally imprisoned in the United States since January 3. In her post, the acting president reiterated Venezuela’s willingness “to build long-term relations based on mutual respect, equality, and international law, with a view to promoting a work agenda that strengthens cooperation for the benefit of both countries.” She added that “diplomatic dialogue is the virtuous path to resolve our differences and advance on points of agreement.” Assets abroad and the 2015 National Assembly Following the announcement, Chavista analysts wonder if the US decision will translate into the end of the US recognition for the illegitimate far-right Venezuelan National Assembly of 2015, which still controls PDVSA, CITGO, and several other Venezuelan assets abroad. According to analysts, the failed US-led “interim presidency” of Juan Guaidó was created to justify the US robbery of CITGO, Venezuelan gold in the Bank of England, and the blocking of Venezuela’s access to $5 billion in Special Drawing Rights from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The blocked assets also include liquid assets in international banks that are currently being stolen by the “deputies” of the 2015 National Assembly who are living abroad and are plagued with multiple embezzlement accusations. Constitutional mandate and historical reversal Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in by the National Assembly as acting president on January 5, fulfilling a decision issued two days earlier by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ). The court designated her to temporarily carry out this responsibility following the unforeseen kidnapping of President Maduro by US military forces. Under these exceptional circumstances, the constitutionally mandated 90-day deadline to call for presidential elections was not activated, as the president’s absence did not fall under the specific cases defined in the constitution. By recognizing the Venezuelan government, Trump reversed a policy that he himself initiated in January 2019, when the US empire recognized far-right National Assembly Deputy Juan Guaidó as an “interim president,” forcing President Maduro to sever diplomatic relations. Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, continued the policy of not recognizing Maduro’s 2024 reelection, despite brief periods of rapprochement. Venezuela and US Announce Restoration of Diplomatic Relations Following January 3 US Aggression Upon his second inauguration on January 20, 2025, Trump tightened an aggressive policy against Venezuela. On January 3, 2026, he ordered US troops to bomb populated areas of Caracas, Miranda, La Guaira, and Aragua states and kidnap President Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. On Thursday, March 5, Venezuela and the US jointly announced the restoration of diplomatic and consular relations. On Friday, the acting president pointed out that on January 8, while paying tribute to those who were killed in the US invasion, she had stated her commitment to resolving historical differences through diplomatic channels. Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff OT/JRE/SC From Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond via This RSS Feed.
How long until the next, deadlier, plague shows up? Laurie Garrett did some pretty great analyses back in the 90s based on population density and mobility in The Coming Plague that worked pretty well for COVID, iirc. With the collapse of biomedical shields at NIH and CDC, I shudder to envision a pathogen like the one in Contagion showing up for Act II of the American Shitshow.
Does this update fix the ‘no sound through HDMI when docking’ issue that plagues both my official and third-party docks? These ports and plugs weren’t designed to handle my frustrated, high-rate plugging and unplugging, and I am so very tired.
Almost all of your examples are exactly what they mentioned Obamacare - shitty mild reform forced after literal decades of working class begging for drastic reform. The essential “meat” of it in terms of progress was ending the ability of insurers to deny for pre-existing conditions. The cost of this was the individual mandate, forcing everyone to buy (still privatized and ridiculously expensive) insurance, which was ultimately a huge win for insurers. They sold a significantly higher amount of shit coverage high deductible plans, especially to young people, who generally never meet the deductible. So now they had the monthly premiums for those people while essentially paying $0 in coverage. In turn many of those people became extremely resentful and saw the gop as saviors when they eventually removed the individual mandate to pander to them. Romneycare, the original bill, did nothing to address the huge administrative overheads that plague our system (5-10x the rate of other countries), no regulatory controls for price gouging, etc because it was designed to look like something was being done while ultimately serving the corporate monopolies involved in health insurance, which the democrats were happy to adopt because they are corporatist in nature Green energy investments were paltry and pathetically low considering the scale of the issue. Americas grid is not even 25% green energy. Meanwhile China has 3x the capacity of Americas entire grid in green energy alone When has significant antitrust action occurred? Honestly? The last real movement was breaking up the telecoms in the late 80s/early 90s. Even that was pointless as the telecoms eventually re-convened through mergers and acquisitions over the next 10-15yrs and have reemerged as Internet monopolies with price fixing and everything. Monopolies exist everywhere in the USA - obviously in tech to an almost unprecedented level, health insurance through companies like Aetna and Cigna, mass media is overwhelmingly owned by 6 indicates/companies, even shit like the major music record labels have dwindled from like 14 to like 4 from 2000-now because no controversial merger is ever blocked. Even fucking grocery chains and food brands that have been demonstrably shown to price fix are either given a slap on the wrist fine or nothing at all Gay marriage was not codified in a way that prevents repeal at any point, similar to abortion rights. As a result it is in a precarious situation where the republican evangelicals are actively funding court battles to challenge it Aid abroad was to generate “soft power”, eg “I did you a favor so you now owe me the world”. While aid is good it was extremely often exploited for imperialist motives like perpetuating the military industrial complex Every single one of these is an example where the democrats presented idealized progressivism, watered it down to something tolerable for the donor class (and sometimes even beneficial), and still went into it kicking and screaming (the complaints people have about fetterman, that they had about manchin and sinema, were about Lieberman in the ACA days). Neoliberals eat it up because it feels like progress with marketing and the democrats then leave the issue behind forever as “solved”, eg “we did the absolute bare minimum to appease enough of the masses to continue to secure power”
Nahhh this mf had a whole ass PHD while I am STILL struggling with ONE college degree that was supposed to take six semesters since 2017!! Altho I had 3 whole years where classes were suspended (thanks to the Plague 19000), so technically I’ve only been at it for five years… BUT STILL!! GORDON GIVE ME SOME OF YOUR LEARNING POWERS! I BEG OF YOU! I CAN’T POSSIBLY BE THIS WASHED AT STUDYING!!
cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/33780 Palestinians walk through roads surrounded by rubble and collapsed buildings in Al-Zahra, northwest of Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the central Gaza Strip on Dec. 19, 2025. Photo: Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Images In Gaza, movement is no longer a mundane part of daily life. Israel’s military assault and prolonged siege have dismantled Gaza’s transportation system so thoroughly that journeys that once took minutes by car now require hours of walking through rubble and grotesque debris. What used to be an ordinary act — leaving home, reaching a clinic, visiting kin — has now become a form of physical labor, a calculation of pain, and a risk weighed against necessity. By late 2025, Gaza’s Ministry of Transport and Communications reported that approximately 70 percent of registered vehicles — more than 50,000 cars, taxis, buses, and trucks — had been destroyed or rendered inviable. Between 68 and 85 percent of the road network suffered damage or total destruction, with some areas such as Khan Younis losing more than 90 percent of their routes. Israeli forces repeatedly bombed, cratered, and bulldozed major roads and intersections, instigating chaos that fragmented the Strip into isolated zones where movement between neighborhoods requires long detours or hours on foot. [ Related Trump’s War to Nowhere](https://theintercept.com/2026/03/06/podcast-trump-iran-israel-war/) While the world turns its attention to Iran, daily life in Gaza has not returned to pre-genocide conditions. Since the U.S. and Israel began their joint assault on Iran, Lebanon, and the broader region, prices in Gaza have risen sharply as people rushed to buy essential goods and fuel. The sudden surge in demand and limited supply spiked the cost of food, water — and transportation. Border crossings were closed for 48 hours, further exacerbating shortages and contributing to the rapid rise in prices. In recent days, prices have begun to gradually decrease and stabilize, but the overall economic burden remains heavy for most households in Gaza, where many people are still struggling to cover basic needs. Roads no longer connect neighborhoods, and transportation no longer guarantees access to health care, work, or sustenance. Even streets that remain technically passable are obstructed by rubble, vehicles, or collapsed infrastructure beneath the surface. Water and sewage lines burst under bombardment, flooding streets and turning mobility into an endeavor plagued by biohazards. In many areas, roads have become indistinguishable from ruins. This collapse did not result solely from airstrikes. Israel’s blockade — which continues to restrict fuel, spare parts, tires, batteries, and heavy machinery — has undermined Gaza’s ability to repair or recover. Vehicles that survived bombardment often remain immobilized due to mechanical failures no workshop can fix. Even basic parts and equipment — filters, belts, brake systems — have become hard to find. Fuel scarcity has driven prices far beyond the reach of most families, while mechanics resort to dangerously improvised substitutes that destroy engines and emit toxic fumes across densely populated areas. [ Related Plans Call for “New Rafah” Built in Israel’s Image — Without Palestinians](https://theintercept.com/2026/01/21/gaza-ceasefire-phase-two-rafah-project-sunrise/) As formal transportation disappears, residents rely on unsafe alternatives: tuk-tuks with no safety standards, animal-drawn carts, overcrowded cargo trucks not designed for passengers, or walking long distances across shattered streets. Asphalt has collapsed and fractured, mingling with rubble, sewage, twisted metal, and remnants of destroyed buildings, forming uneven, dirt-like paths. Movement through these spaces turns the act of walking into a physically punishing routine. The clatter of collapsing buildings and distant bombardment is constant, and the air feels opaque with dust and smoke. Municipal authorities cannot clear the wreckage. The fuel shortages and lack of functioning equipment affect them too, preventing large-scale removal of debris. The result is a form of enforced immobility: Entire neighborhoods remain effectively cut off, not by checkpoints but by devastation. Residents plan their days around how far their bodies can carry them. Residents plan their days around how far their bodies can carry them. I have experienced this reality repeatedly. Over several weeks, I traveled with my brother, Mohammed, four times to reach a dentist in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, nearly 10 kilometers from our home. There is no reliable transportation between the two areas. The distance became an ordeal measured not in maps but in muscle fatigue, time lost, and pain that intensified with every uneven step. On one of those days, rain fell heavily. Broken roads turned to mud layered over shattered asphalt and sharp stones. Water pooled in craters left by bombs. At times, I sprinted across short safe patches, only to be slowed again by mud and debris. Transportation carried us only part of the distance. We always completed the journey on foot, adjusting our pace to the condition of the road and to the limits of our bodies. Without severe tooth pain, I would not have left my room. The road drained me more than the dental procedure itself. Each step felt like a negotiation between necessity and collapse. I tried to make the walk bearable by searching for fragments of beauty along the way. I tried to make the walk bearable by searching for fragments of beauty along the way: a flowering tree growing beside rubble, a rose bush somehow still nourished, a building that had not yet fallen, the faint radiant glow of children playing in a distant schoolyard. I photographed the clouds, took pictures of myself simply to pass time, and paused whenever my body demanded it. These small acts were my survival mechanisms, attempts to assert that Gaza still contained something worth noticing. This experience is not exceptional. It reflects a broader reality in which access to health care depends not on medical need alone, but on physical endurance. Patients miss appointments or abandon treatment altogether because they cannot reach clinics. Parents carry children for kilometers to medical points. Elderly people and those with disabilities remain trapped in place, dependent on others or forced to forego care indefinitely. The ability to walk through rubble for long distances has become a filter that determines who receives care and who does not. The ability to walk through rubble for long distances has become a filter that determines who receives care and who does not. Economic consequences intensify the crisis. Tens of thousands of drivers have lost their livelihoods as taxis, buses, and trucks were destroyed or immobilized. Commercial transport has slowed dramatically, disrupting supply chains and inflating the cost of basic goods. Workers arrive late or not at all. Students walk for hours or drop out entirely. For displaced families, transportation costs have reached apocalyptic levels, with some paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to move belongings short distances. Those without money walk, scavenge what they can, and leave the rest behind. In the absence of regulation and fuel availability, informal transport operators dictate prices brazenly. Gaza’s local authorities acknowledge the exploitation, but under siege conditions, they have limited options to protect residents. Scarcity governs movement more than public need, reshaping social relations around access, endurance, and pent-up anger. Western‑run aid organizations vow to “maintain a steady and predictable flow of supplies,” yet recent reports note that while some aid has entered Gaza, the overall volume remains insufficient to meet basic needs, fueling frustration and despair. The pattern of destruction reveals intent. Israeli attacks have repeatedly targeted intersections, bridges, and key road junctions, severing connections between neighborhoods and governorates. These actions obstruct ambulances, humanitarian convoys, and civilian movement, amplifying the effects of injury, hunger, and displacement. Gaza’s government estimates that losses in the transport sector exceed $3 billion, including the destruction of more than three million linear meters of roads. Mobility itself has become a casualty of war, leaving residents lurking between hazards and temporary shelters, pleading for safety. [ Related Gaza’s Civil Defense Forces Keep Digging for 10,000 Missing Bodies](https://theintercept.com/2025/11/28/gaza-palestine-ceasefire-rubble-bodies/) Local officials have proposed emergency rehabilitation plans focused on reopening critical routes linking hospitals, shelters, and aid distribution centers. These efforts prioritize survival rather than reconstruction. Without access to fuel, spare parts, and heavy machinery, even minimal recovery remains largely theoretical, constrained by political decisions beyond Gaza’s control. Transportation in Gaza is not a technical issue or a matter of convenience. It defines the limits of daily life. It determines who can reach a doctor, who can work, who can study, and who must stay behind. As long as movement itself remains under siege, life in Gaza will continue to contract, measured not by distance but by pain, exhaustion, and loss. In the 21st century, Palestinians in Gaza navigate a landscape where walking through ruins has replaced the most basic promise of mobility, ceaselessly testing endurance, resilience, and the abiding human spirit. The post Israel Destroyed Gaza’s Roads and Transit. Now, We Walk Everywhere. appeared first on The Intercept. From The Intercept via This RSS Feed.
Palestinians walk through roads surrounded by rubble and collapsed buildings in Al-Zahra, northwest of Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the central Gaza Strip on Dec. 19, 2025. Photo: Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Images In Gaza, movement is no longer a mundane part of daily life. Israel’s military assault and prolonged siege have dismantled Gaza’s transportation system so thoroughly that journeys that once took minutes by car now require hours of walking through rubble and grotesque debris. What used to be an ordinary act — leaving home, reaching a clinic, visiting kin — has now become a form of physical labor, a calculation of pain, and a risk weighed against necessity. By late 2025, Gaza’s Ministry of Transport and Communications reported that approximately 70 percent of registered vehicles — more than 50,000 cars, taxis, buses, and trucks — had been destroyed or rendered inviable. Between 68 and 85 percent of the road network suffered damage or total destruction, with some areas such as Khan Younis losing more than 90 percent of their routes. Israeli forces repeatedly bombed, cratered, and bulldozed major roads and intersections, instigating chaos that fragmented the Strip into isolated zones where movement between neighborhoods requires long detours or hours on foot. [ Related Trump’s War to Nowhere](https://theintercept.com/2026/03/06/podcast-trump-iran-israel-war/) While the world turns its attention to Iran, daily life in Gaza has not returned to pre-genocide conditions. Since the U.S. and Israel began their joint assault on Iran, Lebanon, and the broader region, prices in Gaza have risen sharply as people rushed to buy essential goods and fuel. The sudden surge in demand and limited supply spiked the cost of food, water — and transportation. Border crossings were closed for 48 hours, further exacerbating shortages and contributing to the rapid rise in prices. In recent days, prices have begun to gradually decrease and stabilize, but the overall economic burden remains heavy for most households in Gaza, where many people are still struggling to cover basic needs. Roads no longer connect neighborhoods, and transportation no longer guarantees access to health care, work, or sustenance. Even streets that remain technically passable are obstructed by rubble, vehicles, or collapsed infrastructure beneath the surface. Water and sewage lines burst under bombardment, flooding streets and turning mobility into an endeavor plagued by biohazards. In many areas, roads have become indistinguishable from ruins. This collapse did not result solely from airstrikes. Israel’s blockade — which continues to restrict fuel, spare parts, tires, batteries, and heavy machinery — has undermined Gaza’s ability to repair or recover. Vehicles that survived bombardment often remain immobilized due to mechanical failures no workshop can fix. Even basic parts and equipment — filters, belts, brake systems — have become hard to find. Fuel scarcity has driven prices far beyond the reach of most families, while mechanics resort to dangerously improvised substitutes that destroy engines and emit toxic fumes across densely populated areas. [ Related Plans Call for “New Rafah” Built in Israel’s Image — Without Palestinians](https://theintercept.com/2026/01/21/gaza-ceasefire-phase-two-rafah-project-sunrise/) As formal transportation disappears, residents rely on unsafe alternatives: tuk-tuks with no safety standards, animal-drawn carts, overcrowded cargo trucks not designed for passengers, or walking long distances across shattered streets. Asphalt has collapsed and fractured, mingling with rubble, sewage, twisted metal, and remnants of destroyed buildings, forming uneven, dirt-like paths. Movement through these spaces turns the act of walking into a physically punishing routine. The clatter of collapsing buildings and distant bombardment is constant, and the air feels opaque with dust and smoke. Municipal authorities cannot clear the wreckage. The fuel shortages and lack of functioning equipment affect them too, preventing large-scale removal of debris. The result is a form of enforced immobility: Entire neighborhoods remain effectively cut off, not by checkpoints but by devastation. Residents plan their days around how far their bodies can carry them. Residents plan their days around how far their bodies can carry them. I have experienced this reality repeatedly. Over several weeks, I traveled with my brother, Mohammed, four times to reach a dentist in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, nearly 10 kilometers from our home. There is no reliable transportation between the two areas. The distance became an ordeal measured not in maps but in muscle fatigue, time lost, and pain that intensified with every uneven step. On one of those days, rain fell heavily. Broken roads turned to mud layered over shattered asphalt and sharp stones. Water pooled in craters left by bombs. At times, I sprinted across short safe patches, only to be slowed again by mud and debris. Transportation carried us only part of the distance. We always completed the journey on foot, adjusting our pace to the condition of the road and to the limits of our bodies. Without severe tooth pain, I would not have left my room. The road drained me more than the dental procedure itself. Each step felt like a negotiation between necessity and collapse. I tried to make the walk bearable by searching for fragments of beauty along the way. I tried to make the walk bearable by searching for fragments of beauty along the way: a flowering tree growing beside rubble, a rose bush somehow still nourished, a building that had not yet fallen, the faint radiant glow of children playing in a distant schoolyard. I photographed the clouds, took pictures of myself simply to pass time, and paused whenever my body demanded it. These small acts were my survival mechanisms, attempts to assert that Gaza still contained something worth noticing. This experience is not exceptional. It reflects a broader reality in which access to health care depends not on medical need alone, but on physical endurance. Patients miss appointments or abandon treatment altogether because they cannot reach clinics. Parents carry children for kilometers to medical points. Elderly people and those with disabilities remain trapped in place, dependent on others or forced to forego care indefinitely. The ability to walk through rubble for long distances has become a filter that determines who receives care and who does not. The ability to walk through rubble for long distances has become a filter that determines who receives care and who does not. Economic consequences intensify the crisis. Tens of thousands of drivers have lost their livelihoods as taxis, buses, and trucks were destroyed or immobilized. Commercial transport has slowed dramatically, disrupting supply chains and inflating the cost of basic goods. Workers arrive late or not at all. Students walk for hours or drop out entirely. For displaced families, transportation costs have reached apocalyptic levels, with some paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to move belongings short distances. Those without money walk, scavenge what they can, and leave the rest behind. In the absence of regulation and fuel availability, informal transport operators dictate prices brazenly. Gaza’s local authorities acknowledge the exploitation, but under siege conditions, they have limited options to protect residents. Scarcity governs movement more than public need, reshaping social relations around access, endurance, and pent-up anger. Western‑run aid organizations vow to “maintain a steady and predictable flow of supplies,” yet recent reports note that while some aid has entered Gaza, the overall volume remains insufficient to meet basic needs, fueling frustration and despair. The pattern of destruction reveals intent. Israeli attacks have repeatedly targeted intersections, bridges, and key road junctions, severing connections between neighborhoods and governorates. These actions obstruct ambulances, humanitarian convoys, and civilian movement, amplifying the effects of injury, hunger, and displacement. Gaza’s government estimates that losses in the transport sector exceed $3 billion, including the destruction of more than three million linear meters of roads. Mobility itself has become a casualty of war, leaving residents lurking between hazards and temporary shelters, pleading for safety. [ Related Gaza’s Civil Defense Forces Keep Digging for 10,000 Missing Bodies](https://theintercept.com/2025/11/28/gaza-palestine-ceasefire-rubble-bodies/) Local officials have proposed emergency rehabilitation plans focused on reopening critical routes linking hospitals, shelters, and aid distribution centers. These efforts prioritize survival rather than reconstruction. Without access to fuel, spare parts, and heavy machinery, even minimal recovery remains largely theoretical, constrained by political decisions beyond Gaza’s control. Transportation in Gaza is not a technical issue or a matter of convenience. It defines the limits of daily life. It determines who can reach a doctor, who can work, who can study, and who must stay behind. As long as movement itself remains under siege, life in Gaza will continue to contract, measured not by distance but by pain, exhaustion, and loss. In the 21st century, Palestinians in Gaza navigate a landscape where walking through ruins has replaced the most basic promise of mobility, ceaselessly testing endurance, resilience, and the abiding human spirit. The post Israel Destroyed Gaza’s Roads and Transit. Now, We Walk Everywhere. appeared first on The Intercept. From The Intercept via This RSS Feed.
Palestinians walk through roads surrounded by rubble and collapsed buildings in Al-Zahra, northwest of Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the central Gaza Strip on Dec. 19, 2025. Photo: Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Images In Gaza, movement is no longer a mundane part of daily life. Israel’s military assault and prolonged siege have dismantled Gaza’s transportation system so thoroughly that journeys that once took minutes by car now require hours of walking through rubble and grotesque debris. What used to be an ordinary act — leaving home, reaching a clinic, visiting kin — has now become a form of physical labor, a calculation of pain, and a risk weighed against necessity. By late 2025, Gaza’s Ministry of Transport and Communications reported that approximately 70 percent of registered vehicles — more than 50,000 cars, taxis, buses, and trucks — had been destroyed or rendered inviable. Between 68 and 85 percent of the road network suffered damage or total destruction, with some areas such as Khan Younis losing more than 90 percent of their routes. Israeli forces repeatedly bombed, cratered, and bulldozed major roads and intersections, instigating chaos that fragmented the Strip into isolated zones where movement between neighborhoods requires long detours or hours on foot. [ Related Trump’s War to Nowhere](https://theintercept.com/2026/03/06/podcast-trump-iran-israel-war/) While the world turns its attention to Iran, daily life in Gaza has not returned to pre-genocide conditions. Since the U.S. and Israel began their joint assault on Iran, Lebanon, and the broader region, prices in Gaza have risen sharply as people rushed to buy essential goods and fuel. The sudden surge in demand and limited supply spiked the cost of food, water — and transportation. Border crossings were closed for 48 hours, further exacerbating shortages and contributing to the rapid rise in prices. In recent days, prices have begun to gradually decrease and stabilize, but the overall economic burden remains heavy for most households in Gaza, where many people are still struggling to cover basic needs. Roads no longer connect neighborhoods, and transportation no longer guarantees access to health care, work, or sustenance. Even streets that remain technically passable are obstructed by rubble, vehicles, or collapsed infrastructure beneath the surface. Water and sewage lines burst under bombardment, flooding streets and turning mobility into an endeavor plagued by biohazards. In many areas, roads have become indistinguishable from ruins. This collapse did not result solely from airstrikes. Israel’s blockade — which continues to restrict fuel, spare parts, tires, batteries, and heavy machinery — has undermined Gaza’s ability to repair or recover. Vehicles that survived bombardment often remain immobilized due to mechanical failures no workshop can fix. Even basic parts and equipment — filters, belts, brake systems — have become hard to find. Fuel scarcity has driven prices far beyond the reach of most families, while mechanics resort to dangerously improvised substitutes that destroy engines and emit toxic fumes across densely populated areas. [ Related Plans Call for “New Rafah” Built in Israel’s Image — Without Palestinians](https://theintercept.com/2026/01/21/gaza-ceasefire-phase-two-rafah-project-sunrise/) As formal transportation disappears, residents rely on unsafe alternatives: tuk-tuks with no safety standards, animal-drawn carts, overcrowded cargo trucks not designed for passengers, or walking long distances across shattered streets. Asphalt has collapsed and fractured, mingling with rubble, sewage, twisted metal, and remnants of destroyed buildings, forming uneven, dirt-like paths. Movement through these spaces turns the act of walking into a physically punishing routine. The clatter of collapsing buildings and distant bombardment is constant, and the air feels opaque with dust and smoke. Municipal authorities cannot clear the wreckage. The fuel shortages and lack of functioning equipment affect them too, preventing large-scale removal of debris. The result is a form of enforced immobility: Entire neighborhoods remain effectively cut off, not by checkpoints but by devastation. Residents plan their days around how far their bodies can carry them. Residents plan their days around how far their bodies can carry them. I have experienced this reality repeatedly. Over several weeks, I traveled with my brother, Mohammed, four times to reach a dentist in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, nearly 10 kilometers from our home. There is no reliable transportation between the two areas. The distance became an ordeal measured not in maps but in muscle fatigue, time lost, and pain that intensified with every uneven step. On one of those days, rain fell heavily. Broken roads turned to mud layered over shattered asphalt and sharp stones. Water pooled in craters left by bombs. At times, I sprinted across short safe patches, only to be slowed again by mud and debris. Transportation carried us only part of the distance. We always completed the journey on foot, adjusting our pace to the condition of the road and to the limits of our bodies. Without severe tooth pain, I would not have left my room. The road drained me more than the dental procedure itself. Each step felt like a negotiation between necessity and collapse. I tried to make the walk bearable by searching for fragments of beauty along the way. I tried to make the walk bearable by searching for fragments of beauty along the way: a flowering tree growing beside rubble, a rose bush somehow still nourished, a building that had not yet fallen, the faint radiant glow of children playing in a distant schoolyard. I photographed the clouds, took pictures of myself simply to pass time, and paused whenever my body demanded it. These small acts were my survival mechanisms, attempts to assert that Gaza still contained something worth noticing. This experience is not exceptional. It reflects a broader reality in which access to health care depends not on medical need alone, but on physical endurance. Patients miss appointments or abandon treatment altogether because they cannot reach clinics. Parents carry children for kilometers to medical points. Elderly people and those with disabilities remain trapped in place, dependent on others or forced to forego care indefinitely. The ability to walk through rubble for long distances has become a filter that determines who receives care and who does not. The ability to walk through rubble for long distances has become a filter that determines who receives care and who does not. Economic consequences intensify the crisis. Tens of thousands of drivers have lost their livelihoods as taxis, buses, and trucks were destroyed or immobilized. Commercial transport has slowed dramatically, disrupting supply chains and inflating the cost of basic goods. Workers arrive late or not at all. Students walk for hours or drop out entirely. For displaced families, transportation costs have reached apocalyptic levels, with some paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to move belongings short distances. Those without money walk, scavenge what they can, and leave the rest behind. In the absence of regulation and fuel availability, informal transport operators dictate prices brazenly. Gaza’s local authorities acknowledge the exploitation, but under siege conditions, they have limited options to protect residents. Scarcity governs movement more than public need, reshaping social relations around access, endurance, and pent-up anger. Western‑run aid organizations vow to “maintain a steady and predictable flow of supplies,” yet recent reports note that while some aid has entered Gaza, the overall volume remains insufficient to meet basic needs, fueling frustration and despair. The pattern of destruction reveals intent. Israeli attacks have repeatedly targeted intersections, bridges, and key road junctions, severing connections between neighborhoods and governorates. These actions obstruct ambulances, humanitarian convoys, and civilian movement, amplifying the effects of injury, hunger, and displacement. Gaza’s government estimates that losses in the transport sector exceed $3 billion, including the destruction of more than three million linear meters of roads. Mobility itself has become a casualty of war, leaving residents lurking between hazards and temporary shelters, pleading for safety. [ Related Gaza’s Civil Defense Forces Keep Digging for 10,000 Missing Bodies](https://theintercept.com/2025/11/28/gaza-palestine-ceasefire-rubble-bodies/) Local officials have proposed emergency rehabilitation plans focused on reopening critical routes linking hospitals, shelters, and aid distribution centers. These efforts prioritize survival rather than reconstruction. Without access to fuel, spare parts, and heavy machinery, even minimal recovery remains largely theoretical, constrained by political decisions beyond Gaza’s control. Transportation in Gaza is not a technical issue or a matter of convenience. It defines the limits of daily life. It determines who can reach a doctor, who can work, who can study, and who must stay behind. As long as movement itself remains under siege, life in Gaza will continue to contract, measured not by distance but by pain, exhaustion, and loss. In the 21st century, Palestinians in Gaza navigate a landscape where walking through ruins has replaced the most basic promise of mobility, ceaselessly testing endurance, resilience, and the abiding human spirit. The post Israel Destroyed Gaza’s Roads and Transit. Now, We Walk Everywhere. appeared first on The Intercept. From The Intercept via this RSS feed
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair The United States of America was founded on the lofty principles of freedom, equality and liberty for certain classes of white men. After two centuries and a half, it has “evolved” from the noble rhetoric of its third president, Thomas Jefferson, to the vile, racist and imperialist diatribe of its 47th office holder, Donald J. Trump. The U.S.-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the second in less than nine months, has revealed that the nation of once “honorable ideals” has joined its ruthless counterpart, Israel, to become a lawless, rogue state bent on regional and global hegemony. This latest act of naked aggression reinforces what much of the world already knew or experienced—the U.S. and Israel are the “world’s leading sponsors of terrorism.” In this era of state-sponsored terrorism, media disinformation and the manipulation of public discourse, I am heartened by the prescience of America’s revolutionary founders, who, along with their fellow colonists fought to free the colonies from the yoke of British domination. In so doing, they carved a destiny that demands much of us all. Now more than ever the timeless insights of the architects of the Republic are increasingly relevant and offer counsel during this evolutionary (or revolutionary) era. In a letter, for example, to his predecessor, John Adams, Jefferson wrote, “Bigotry is the disease of ignorance of morbid minds….education and free discussion are the antidotes of both” (1816). Sam Adams, the mastermind behind resistance to British rule, informed us, “If virtue and knowledge are diffuse among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security” (1779). Our forefathers also championed a free press as foundational to liberty. Jefferson again: “Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe” (1816). And James Madison, fourth president and Father of the Constitution, reminded us: “A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or perhaps both” (1822). The founders were keenly aware of the importance of an independent press—considered the “fourth branch of government”— in preserving freedom and self-government. Unfortunately, the corporate media today has increasingly been in the business of shaping public perceptions. Rather than hold government to account, they often act as its stenographers and cheerleaders. This is notably evident in the way U.S.-Israeli policies and actions in West Asia are narrated and in their shielding of both regimes. Decades of excusing, downplaying and ignoring Israeli atrocities and crimes against the Palestinians have established a pattern of neglect that continues as Washington commits similar crimes against Iran, Lebanon, Yemen and other regional actors that challenge its geopolitical agenda. The U.S. media has, for years, successfully employed a “shell game,” distracting the public with fear-based narratives about “Islamic extremism” and “Islamic terrorism,” while extenuating or ignoring the decades-long U.S.-Israeli war on the Islamic world. Bear in mind that the major terrorism arbiters are themselves terrorists. Washington and Tel Aviv murder children, women and men; then they decide who is a terrorist and what terror is—consider the U.S. carpet bombing of South Asian countries, invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Lebanon and of late, Iran; and the continued genocidal Israeli war against the Palestinians. One of history’s most calculated and consequential deceptions was constructed by the administration of President George W. Bush, following the deadly attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The official explanation of events is a glaring example. It is, to this day, a construction rarely if ever challenged. The inaccurate narration linking the political act of 9/11 with Islam and Islam with terrorism have impacted the lives of 2 billion Muslims worldwide. The consequences of the deception and manipulation have been globally incalculable. President Bush’s interpretation of the catastrophic attack,“they hate our freedoms,” was uninformed and silly. It did, however, set in motion the Islamophobia that continues to plague the U.S. and many Western countries. The causes and origins of the strikes have remained largely hidden and unexplained. Instead, religion, “Islamic terrorism,” became the default explanation, assumed cause and easy target. In actuality, the 9/11 attacks were political acts driven by long-standing grievances against the American and Israeli regimes and were aimed at altering their policies in the region. Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda, detailed the reasons for hostilities in his 2002, “Letter to the American People,” and in a 2004 video message. In 2004 he accepted responsibility for the terrorist act. In both messages he cited three geopolitical grievances as the primary reasons: • Israeli occupation of Palestine and treatment of Palestinians, and American support for Israel. • The continued permanent presence (since 1990) of U.S. military troops in Saudi Arabia, home to the sacred sites in Mecca and Medina. • American economic sanctions on Iraq and U.S. military involvement in Muslim majority countries, such as Lebanon and Somalia. Rather than analyze the causes of the hostility to guide future policy, Washington invaded the Muslim countries of Afghanistan and Iraq and began surveilling and harassing American Muslims. Washington and Tel Aviv continue to leverage the “terrorism” and “existential threat” narratives to justify suppressing Palestinian resistance and to crush regional opposition. The struggle, however, of Muslim, Christian and Jewish Arabs against Zionist occupation, barbarity and genocide is not terrorism; it is genuinely existential. Corporate media enforcers are dutifully working to legitimatize the recent unprovoked US-Israeli war on Iran. Their coverage of Iran, past and present, is replete with bias, lazy research and void of context. The legality of the war is scarcely discussed, much less its morality. It is important to recognize that the endless wars in West Asia follow from Israel’s illegal occupation of Arab land in Palestine: 1948-49; 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, 2006, 2023-present. For years, the Israeli regime has used biblical references to occupy, demonize and to justify the killing of Palestinians. It employs religious text not to liberate, but to oppress and implement political violence. After the 7 October 2023 rebellion, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned to the most violent verses in the Old Testament, including the Amalek tale, to launch and incite his genocidal war on the people of Palestine. The state-sponsored savagery of the Jewish state, however, has yet to be labeled “Judaic” or “Hebrew terrorism,” much less deemed terrorism at all. Liberation has no religious affiliation. For centuries, Muslim-majority lands have experienced foreign domination, spanning the Ottomans, British, French and now Israel and the United States. Throughout, they have struggled to liberate themselves from imperial control. The violent methods employed, were not Muslim, Christian or Jewish tactics. They were, however, extreme actions meant to cause terror in order to accomplish political ends. Although the term “terrorism” did not exist during the American Revolution (coined during the 1789 French revolution), the largely Christian patriots, who destroyed property, assaulted officials, issued death threats, and tarred and feathered Loyalists, would have been labeled terrorists by imperial Britain; or perhaps, if the word had existed, they would have been designated “Christian terrorists”. Historically, people seeking liberation from external domination have used political violence, while drawing on religious faith for inspiration and courage. The political struggle for freedom, independence and self-determination transcends religion, whether carried on by the Sons of Liberty in 1776 or Palestinian liberation movements today. The United States is currently in an existential battle over its identity: the vision of the Founders vs. the authoritarian path set by Donald Trump. In this defining era, the abiding words of Thomas Jefferson clearly forewarns: “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.” The post Customizing Hate: How Terrorism Rhetoric Has Been Used to Shape Anti-Muslim Bias appeared first on CounterPunch.org. From CounterPunch.org via this RSS feed
Nearly 20 years ago, I stepped into the downtown Baltimore office of an obscure state official named Dr. David Fowler. He was lanky, affable, with an Afrikaner accent that alluded to his South African roots. He was also the state’s chief medical examiner, the man who determined the fate of all cases of suspicious deaths across the state. I had no idea at the time, but roughly two decades later, he would become one of the most infamous pathologists in the world, his work and reputation fodder for national headlines after his stunning testimony on behalf of Derek Chauvin, the cop accused and eventually convicted of murdering George Floyd on camera in May of 2020. Perhaps I should have expected it based on what transpired that day in Fowler’s office. I had no idea at the time, but roughly two decades later, he would become one of the most infamous pathologists in the world, his work and reputation fodder for national headlines after his stunning testimony on behalf of Derek Chauvin, the cop accused and eventually convicted of murdering George Floyd on camera in May of 2020. I was visiting to question him about the death of a man in police custody that occurred after he was struck with a Taser. Fowler had ruled the cause of death the result of a condition called “excited delirium.” I had never heard of it, so I wanted an explanation. The autopsy had listed cardiac arrhythmia as a key contributor to the victim’s death, so I was curious why the Taser wasn’t identified as the primary cause. It seemed logical that the shock of thousands of volts of electricity emanating from the allegedly non-lethal weapon could have been definitively responsible for the victim’s demise. Fowler, however, didn’t think so. He was adamant that the now-discredited excited delirium theory, not the Taser, was key to explaining the fatal incident. In fact, he gave me a book on it. The theory seemed absurd. And, indeed, it was. That was the beginning of what would turn into decades of often contentious coverage of Fowler by me and my reporting partner, Taya Graham. Reporting that included stories concerning the massive number of unclassified deaths Fowler’s office left undetermined, the death of young men in police custody that an audit showed were wrongly decided, and women caught in the throes of addiction whose suspicious deaths were overlooked. Along the way, we found cases that still haunt us. Mysterious deaths with gaping holes of missing evidence and unexplained circumstances. Tragic tales of innocent people who expired under dubious circumstances that—in light of a scathing audit that found Fowler’s office was plagued by investigative lapses and discredited science—might have otherwise been resolved. That’s why we have compiled relevant facts of each case in the story that follows. Much of this reporting is personal for us; though, as always, we do our best to remain objective. But it’s our exactitude as reporters and our need for truthful answers that also drives our conviction that the cases we recount here—cases we’ve spent years investigating and reporting on ourselves—might have had different outcomes if someone other than Fowler was in charge. And that is the point of this piece: to reveal what happens when a bureaucrat weaponizes incompetence. To reckon with how the government can be an unwitting accomplice to murder, not by acts of commission, but through many mundane and concerted acts that entrench a state-sanctioned system of willful indifference. — Stephen Janis, 2026 In May 2011, a young woman named Emily Hauze attended a party in Fells Point, a waterfront neighborhood in Baltimore known for its lively bars and cobblestone streets. The recent Loyola College graduate had been living with her parents in Pennsylvania, but she often returned to the city to spend time with her college friends. She even had something to celebrate—a new job as a teacher. At the party, she met a young man. He was a Johns Hopkins Medical School student who, attendees later told us, was not a friend of anyone at the party. In fact, no one could recall who invited him. The pair left together and ended up at a Mount Vernon apartment. The next day, police received a call that a maintenance worker at the same apartment building had made a gruesome discovery: A body was lying in a dumpster attached to a compactor at the bottom of the building’s trash chute. Police arrived to find a naked female corpse in the dumpster. The position of the body indicated that it had traveled down the chute and into the compactor. At the time, the deceased could not be identified. Minutes later, an officer stopped a young man in the lobby who was carrying a bag of clothes. He explained they belonged to a young woman who had vanished from his apartment early in the morning and had never returned. He identified the woman as 23-year-old Emily Hauze. One would think, given the questions raised by circumstantial evidence alone, Hauze’s death would require an extensive investigation. But that’s not what happened. Instead, an inconspicuous government agency quizzically ruled Hauze’s death an accident—a determination that ended the investigation, according to police records we reviewed. According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), the official conclusion was that Hauze ended up naked and dead at the bottom of that trash chute by some fatally unlucky accident she caused herself. But how could she have thrust herself through a roughly 24-inch-wide trash chute? What would prompt anyone to crawl into a stinking metal contraption attached to a shaft traveling 25 stories? And why was a young man carrying her clothes through the lobby instead of calling the police? It was a process we had become accustomed to after reporting on death investigations over the past two decades: A mysterious death in Baltimore, a cursory look by police, and an even more questionable ruling from the OCME that shuts down the investigation entirely. At the time, that determination marked the end of the road for Hauze’s case. Until now. In recent years, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has come under renewed scrutiny for lax and often questionable practices. Much of that scrutiny has focused on one man who played a central role in shaping how the office operated: former Chief Medical Examiner Dr. David Fowler. Fowler’s work remained largely obscure until he testified in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer whose knee pressed into George Floyd’s neck for over 8 minutes. The downward pressure caused asphyxiation and ultimately killed him. Floyd’s death prompted national outcry and widespread protests. In recent years, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has come under renewed scrutiny for lax and often questionable practices. Much of that scrutiny has focused on one man who played a central role in shaping how the office operated: former Chief Medical Examiner Dr. David Fowler. Called by Chauvin’s defense, Fowler testified that Floyd’s death was caused not by police restraint, but by underlying heart disease, drug use, and carbon monoxide exposure—conclusions sharply at odds with the jury’s verdict and later medical consensus. Even with Chauvin’s conviction, the world erupted in outrage at Fowler’s manifest incompetence. Roughly 450 doctors penned a letter calling for his work to be examined. The Maryland attorney general responded with an extensive audit of police custody deaths for which the OCME conducted autopsies. It found Fowler had ruled incorrectly on 41 deaths involving police restraint. Many in the public were shocked at these findings; we were not. That’s because we had covered Fowler’s work on a variety of mysterious cases for almost two decades, including police-involved deaths, questionable suicides, murky drug overdoses, and even a home invasion that Fowler ruled did not contribute to the death of the homeowner. We wrote stories on all of these cases, calling into question the rulings of the OCME. But nothing happened. His role as an obscure bureaucrat went unexamined by the government that appointed him. But much has changed since Fowler’s testimony. A formerly inscrutable agency is in the spotlight. And families who believe Fowler erred in cases involving their loved ones are speaking out. That’s why we are going to explore in detail some of the most vexing cases we covered during Fowler’s tenure. In each case, we will compare the findings of the audit with gaps and failures in the investigative process that seem to raise more questions than answers. Rey Rivera “Routine deficiencies in case files—including missing photographs, absent scene analyses, and inadequate investigative follow-up—compromised accuracy across the board.” — Maryland OAG Audit, 2025 The highest profile case from the Fowler era is the alleged suicide of Rey Rivera. The 26-year-old aspiring filmmaker’s mysterious death became a national story after a Netflix reboot of Unsolved Mysteries highlighted the case. Rivera was found on the floor of an empty office in May 2006. The space was the home of a former storefront church, which had recently been vacated, behind the historic Belvedere Hotel in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood. A hole in the ceiling over Rivera’s body suggested he had jumped from the roof of the Belvedere with the intent to commit suicide. But a series of bizarre and seemingly contradictory facts belied those conclusions, all of which became even more questionable when the Unsolved Mysteries episode aired. “Routine deficiencies in case files—including missing photographs, absent scene analyses, and inadequate investigative follow-up—compromised accuracy across the board.”— Maryland OAG Audit, 2025 The highest profile case from the Fowler era is the alleged suicide of Rey Rivera. The 26-year-old aspiring filmmaker’s mysterious death became a national story after a Netflix reboot of Unsolved Mysteries highlighted the case. Like many of the cases we covered, it wasn’t just the medical evidence that made Rivera’s suicide tough to accept for his family and friends. It was also the narrative bolstered by police and accepted without pushback by the OCME that somehow Rivera—just married and planning to move to Los Angeles—suddenly decided to jump off the top of a building. The case files do little to explain why he would have made such a fateful and out-of-character decision. Instead, what we know about Rivera’s final hours reveals less of a path to a spontaneous suicide than a series of mysteries that don’t evince a simple explanation. The morning he disappeared was routine. He kissed his wife, Alison, goodbye before she departed on a business trip to Richmond, Virginia. He made a last-second visit to an Apple store to rent some equipment for an editing project he was wrapping up for a client. According to a guest who was visiting the couple, Rivera returned home briefly, then suddenly left again shortly after receiving a mysterious phone call. He departed with just his keys, a credit card, and a cellphone. He was wearing shorts, flip-flops, and a T-shirt. And then he just disappeared. When Rivera failed to check in, friends frantically searched Mount Vernon, where his car was found in the parking lot next to the Belvedere Hotel. Three employees of the firm where Rivera worked ventured to the top of a nearby parking garage adjacent to the building. There they spotted a hole in the roof, and eventually police found Rivera’s body underneath. Since the case was featured on Netflix, an entire subreddit has emerged, filled with theories about how Rivera ended up on the floor of that empty conference room. Fueling that speculation is a bizarre note found taped behind his computer shortly after he died. It was written in florid prose, heavy on metaphor. It mentioned his high school friend, Porter Sansbury, and the firm where they worked together, Agora. The FBI concluded it was not a suicide note. It was certainly a message of sorts, though difficult to dissect. Something about it always felt like a cry for help, like Rivera had gotten in over his head and didn’t know what to do. Rivera’s friends described him as a larger-than-life personality, a hero to many, a stalwart companion who would bend over backwards for even a casual acquaintance. Perhaps he just didn’t know how to ask for assistance. But there is one aspect of certainty in the case: the flimsy work of the homicide unit and the similarly incomplete autopsy. The case file released by the Baltimore Police Department is amazingly bereft of details. No witness statements, for example, from the people who found the hole. No interviews with the employees of the firm where he worked. Nothing about the hotel or the people who may have been present when he allegedly jumped. In the files made available to us, there were no photos of the scene or statements from family and friends about when they had last seen Rivera. Nothing about a possible motive for him to run from his house, without saying a word, to apparently jump to his death. That doesn’t mean the evidence doesn’t exist; it just wasn’t in the files released by police after the case received international attention. Similarly, the autopsy report itself is vague and seems incomplete, though it also reveals that the medical examiner who examined Rivera’s body, Melissa Brassell, had doubts. “Injuries at the time of the autopsy were consistent with the fall from a height,” Brassell wrote in her May 2006 report. “Because the circumstances surrounding the incident are unclear, and it is not known how the deceased came to have precipitated from such a height, the manner of the death is best classified as UNDETERMINED.” But there were plenty of investigative opportunities to answer that question, none of which made it into the case files. Marie Dauenheimer, an accredited medical illustrator who depicts catastrophic injuries for wrongful death cases, told us that, when a person falls from a height, generally injuries are bilateral—meaning they occur on both sides of the body. That was not the case with Rivera’s corpse. “There’s really nothing that happened to that left leg. Nothing happened to the pelvis on that side. It’s really just very perplexing,” she said “Usually, you’d see a lot more lower limb injuries—and, again, they would be bilateral.” Investigators could have also tried to trace Rivera’s cell phone to learn where he had been prior to his death. But they didn’t. They could have mapped the room where he was found and the location of his body to determine the vantage points from where he could have actually fallen. But they didn’t. And there is no indication in any of the documents from the medical examiner’s autopsy and the homicide case files that anyone was interviewed, though we know police spoke to Rivera’s widow, Alison. It seems that investigators, without any conclusive evidence, abandoned a methodical search for clues. That’s because, again, the case was essentially closed after Fowler’s office ruled Rivera’s death undetermined. According to the autopsy report and the case files, no one in the OCME’s homicide unit pursued any potential leads after the OCME’s ruling. In fact, both the autopsy and police report provide few, if any, examples of anyone involved in the case asking questions of anyone. The testimonies of people who worked in the Belvedere, as well as friends and family, simply were not included in the files we reviewed. Investigators could have also tried to trace Rivera’s cell phone to learn where he had been prior to his death. But they didn’t. They could have mapped the room where he was found and the location of his body to determine the vantage points from where he could have actually fallen. But they didn’t. This lack of curiosity about the circumstances surrounding Rivera’s alleged suicide also reflects one of the most pointed criticisms of the 2025 audit. The outside auditors noted that Fowler’s office often failed to answer basic questions, and seemed to lean on the ‘undetermined’ classification instead of drilling down into the details to answer critical mysteries, like where exactly Rivera would have jumped from to end up where he was found. When Stephen spoke to Fowler about this case back in 2007, he portrayed the ruling as a favor to the family. He believed classifying Rivera’s death as undetermined left the door open to further investigation. But, of course, the undetermined ruling produced the exact opposite effect. It left his death in a post-mortem purgatory for eternity. Pete Peltesmes “Deaths occurring in the course of another person’s actions should be certified as homicides; OCME failed to apply this ‘but-for’ standard in numerous cases.” — Maryland OAG Audit, 2025 If there is a case that reveals the impact of Fowler’s unconventional overreliance on ‘undetermined’ as a manner of death, it is the untimely demise of 77-year-old Pete Peltesmes. Although his case received little attention, it is perhaps the most striking example of how much damage an unorthodox medical examiner can do to a suspicious death investigation before it even starts. Peltesmes was born in Greece and immigrated to the US in 1967. He opened and managed a successful restaurant in the Baltimore area before retiring. He was home in July 2013 when a group of men banged on the door. What happened next is a matter of dispute between his family and OCME. “Deaths occurring in the course of another person’s actions should be certified as homicides; OCME failed to apply this ‘but-for’ standard in numerous cases.”— Maryland OAG Audit, 2025 When Peltesmes’ wife returned home, she found her husband lying on the floor unconscious. His pants were pulled down to his ankles. His wallet was stolen. There was a large bruise on the left side of his head. There were other injuries as well: his ribs were fractured on the left side of his body; there was extensive bruising on his arms and neck. All signs of a violent home invasion. Doctors later determined Peltesmes had a massive stroke. Police arrested several suspects, but they were not charged with murder. No charges were filed against the home invaders save for robbery. That’s because Fowler’s office refused to rule Peltesmes’ death a homicide. The OCME argued that the timing of his stroke was too murky to definitively blame his death on the intruders. Thus, the case was ruled undetermined. But the OCME theory that the timing of his death could not be determined is problematic at best. It contradicts a very simple fact: police believe Peltesmes was at the door when the invaders attacked. His body was found behind said door. In other words, he was alive when the thieves entered the home. The evidence for this theory is compelling. For example, the extensive list of injuries suggest Peltesmes initially fought back. The bruising, the broken ribs, and head injuries all allude to a violent struggle. Secondly, the fact that Peltesmes was found behind the open door suggests he suffered the stroke after the intruders entered. It seems improbable he would rise from his nap, venture to the front of the house, then have a stroke at the front door prior to home invaders entering and looting the place. It’s possible, of course, but not probable. This evidence would normally lead to what’s known as a ‘but/for’ analysis. (In this case, but/for the burglary, Peltsemes would probably be alive.) However, Fowler’s office ruled it was impossible to reach that conclusion and ruled his death undetermined. For Fowler, such rulings were not unusual, but what makes Peltesmes’ case unusual is the fact that the family fought back. They tried to overturn Fowler’s ruling. They sued the OCME in administrative court, seeking to convince a judge to void the undetermined ruling. What happened during the proceedings shows just how bizarre the agency’s approach to pathology was. Both Fowler and an assistant medical examiner were grilled on the stand by the family’s lawyer, exposing startling lapses. At one point, an unnamed pathologist was asked to explain the broken ribs Peltesmes sustained during the attack. She told the court she was not aware of the injury. “I didn’t know that the ribs were broken, I didn’t confirm that the ribs were broken during the autopsy,” she testified. This is precisely the type of shoddy work that the audit of OCME during Fowler’s tenure highlights. It’s truly remarkable that a medical examiner in a potential homicide case was completely unaware of a significant injury. Both Fowler and an assistant medical examiner were grilled on the stand by the family’s lawyer, exposing startling lapses. At one point, an unnamed pathologist was asked to explain the broken ribs Peltesmes sustained during the attack. She told the court she was not aware of the injury. Fowler also testified, and his explanation for dissociating the stroke with the robbery was even more problematic. “This would not be the first time in our experience as medical examiners we’ve seen an individual collapse and there has been scavenging of the body for valuables,” Fowler opined. Perhaps. But the “scavenging” occurred in Peltesmes’ home during a robbery in his living room. How Fowler could conclude that the stroke and the attack were unrelated is almost as difficult to understand as his testimony on George Floyd’s cause of death. In this case, though, Fowler received pushback from someone other than a reporter or distraught relative. That’s because the family hired an outside pathologist, Virginia’s former Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Marcella Fierro, to testify. She told the court that the evidence clearly supported a determination of homicide as the manner of death. “He opened that door, and something bad happened to him. He had a massive stroke, and he died. And he would be alive and well today in his usual state of miserable health were it not for that event,” Fierro testified. She also took issue with Fowler’s use of the “undetermined” designation. “Death should not be certified undetermined until you have exhausted every last piece of the investigation.” The judge ultimately ruled he did not have jurisdiction over the OCME. Questions about Peltesmes’ case remain unanswered and his cause of death remains undetermined. Still, Peltsemes’ family has not given up their quest to have the case re-examined. His daughter Eleni has sent letters to both the Maryland attorney general’s office and OCME requesting the case be re-opened and the classification changed to homicide. The medical examiner turned down her request, and she has yet to hear back from the attorney general’s office. But she remains undeterred. “I will never stop fighting, never,” she told us. “My father deserved better.” Emily Hauze “Case reviewers found key investigative details routinely absent, and determinations issued without sufficient justification or documentation.” — Maryland OAG Audit, 2025 One of the consistent critiques from the outside pathologists who reviewed the OCME’s work was that it was often incomplete or bereft of critical details. And no case embodies that lack of thoroughness more than the death of Emily Hauze, the recent Loyola College graduate who was found naked and dead at the bottom of a trash chute in a Mount Vernon apartment building in 2011. “Case reviewers found key investigative details routinely absent, and determinations issued without sufficient justification or documentation.” — Maryland OAG Audit, 2025 The OCME‘s autopsy report does little to explain how Hauze ended up naked in a trash compactor. Nothing in the case files even attempts to posit a theory about how someone weighing roughly 100 pounds could thrust themselves through a metal box roughly two feet across, restricted by a metal spring. Especially a young woman whose friends say she was not inclined to put herself in danger. Trash chute designs vary widely, but climbing into one, let alone pushing your body into the shaft, would not be easy. The case files do not describe the chute’s design, or how Hauze would have climbed into it. The compactor, which literally compresses the material thrown down the chute, also erases injuries. In this case, it is again astounding how readily the OCME accepted the theory that someone could actually end up in it by accident. The story the medical student shared with police to explain this improbable sequence of events only adds to that mystery. He told police that he and Hauze had sex. Shortly afterwards, he claimed, Hauze said she was going to the bathroom, left the room, and he fell asleep. The next morning, he woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. She simply disappeared. He also explained that the phone call was from Hauze’s friend trying to find her. Then, he told police, he fell back asleep until 11 AM. Coincidentally, that was the time police were knocking on doors in nearby apartments seeking information about the unidentified body. The OCME‘s autopsy report does little to explain how Hauze ended up naked in a trash compactor. Nothing in the case files even attempts to posit a theory about how someone weighing roughly 100 pounds could thrust themselves through a metal box roughly two feet across, restricted by a metal spring. Especially a young woman whose friends say she was not inclined to put herself in danger. It’s worth noting that Hauze’s body was unclothed, and that all her jewelry was left in his room. So, apparently, she stripped down completely naked before venturing into the hall and eventually ending up in the trash chute. But a separate case that occurred in the same building makes the conclusions about her death even more difficult to fathom. One year prior to Hauze’s passing, a man named Harsh Kumar ended up in the same trash chute. Kumar’s death was also ruled an accident by OCME. Police attributed it, in part, to his use of the sleep aid Ambien, which they concluded led him to wander aimlessly and, perilously, into the chute. Within one year of each other, two people apparently climbed into the same constricted steel shaft and thrust themselves towards a horrifying death. Nowhere in any of the documents we reviewed did any member of law enforcement or OCME interrogate how and why someone would make such a consequential mistake. In fact, the only explanation we have been able to conjure for this apparent lack of investigative insight comes from a private investigator. Hauze’s family hired former homicide detective Stephen Tabeling to investigate. Tabeling was a former lieutenant in Baltimore’s murder investigations unit during the 1970s. Tabling reached out to the detectives assigned to the case, but they refused to help him. However, they did share their theory of what happened: Hauze, they told him, mistook the trash chute for a pet door; she crawled in thinking it was an entrance to the medical student’s apartment. Tabeling was shocked. “I couldn’t believe it,” he told us. “But that’s what they thought.” Tabeling also had a run-in with Fowler’s office about the case, but he said the chief medical examiner wouldn’t budge. “I can’t understand how they could come to that conclusion,” Tabeling added. The case is, of course, dormant. The family has not responded to our emails, and the homicide case files show no investigative work over several months after her body was found. Robert Clay Photo Stephen Janis – Courtesy of the Clay Family “OCME’s conclusions frequently relied on unsupported or discredited scientific rationales, resulting in manner-of-death rulings judged not reasonable.” — Maryland OAG Audit, 2025 The death of Baltimore activist and business leader Robert Clay in May of 2005 prompted one of our first—and, perhaps, the most politically fraught—encounters with the OCME. Clay was a larger-than-life Black business contractor who exerted political power behind the scenes both in Baltimore and outside of the city. He was a frequent contributor to political campaigns and a noted adversary of then-Mayor Martin O’Malley, whose campaign for governor had just kicked off when Clay died. Clay was found dead on the first floor of his office in Reservoir Hill, a neighborhood on the city’s west side—the victim of a gunshot wound. His body was splayed across the floor, but his feet were resting on the bottom of a staircase. A stolen .38 Special was found underneath his body. The OCME didn’t immediately rule on Clay’s death because there was so much contradictory evidence. The primary pathologist, Anne Rubio, said at the time she had concerns that made her reluctant to deem it a suicide, even as homicide detectives were urging her to do so. The evidence was decidedly ambiguous. Clay was right-handed, for instance, but the gun was found in his left hand. The bullet that killed him traveled from the left side of his head out the front of his right side, meaning he would have had to aim the gun over his left ear with his left hand—a highly unusual and awkward way to commit suicide for someone who is right-handed. The bullet that killed Clay was never found. Police explained to us that unrecovered bullets were routine. But it still made definitively connecting the gun found on Clay to his death nearly impossible. The gun, in fact, was stolen during a burglary in Frederick, Maryland, 10 years before Clay died. Police refused to release details of a trace conducted through the National Crime Information Center database. How Clay acquired the weapon that apparently killed him remains a mystery. The bullet that killed him traveled from the left side of his head out the front of his right side, meaning he would have had to aim the gun over his left ear with his left hand—a highly unusual and awkward way to commit suicide for someone who is right-handed. It is also unclear if Clay’s hands were checked for gunshot residue—a test that can be done post-mortem to confirm if a person fired a weapon. The files don’t contain any evidence a GSR test was administered; however, it’s worth noting that testing for gunshot residue has also been scrutinized for methods that can produce false positives. Lastly, Clay did not leave a suicide note. Rubio finally ruled Clay’s death a suicide, to the dismay of his family. The FBI confirmed this ruling by citing what legal experts now consider to be questionable forensic science: blood spatter analysis. They argued the blood spatter made it impossible for someone to sneak up behind Clay and shoot him. The spatter, they argued, would have been disturbed. However, blood spatter analysis has been widely discredited. In 2009, a report by the National Academy of Sciences found blood spatter analysis lacked rigor. “The uncertainties associated with bloodstain pattern analysis are enormous,” the report noted. “Some experts extrapolate far beyond what can be scientifically supported by bloodstain pattern analysis.” Authors of the report also note that “the opinions of bloodstain pattern analysts are more subjective than scientific.” We’ve examined some photos from the scene. The blood spatter extends outward from Clay’s body, projecting perhaps three to four feet onto the first floor lobby of the building. The blood trail snakes around a divider leaving no trace on the wall itself. Even more intriguing is that there is very little blood spatter on the wall adjacent to his body. Minimal. Much less, in fact, than the residue on the floor depicted in the scene photos. Investigators noted more blood stains on the wall than the photos depict. But that discrepancy is left unresolved, and it raises questions about whether the existing bloodstain evidence can actually support the level of certainty investigators later claimed. The case file does not document the methodology used to analyze the bloodstain evidence, the assumptions underlying that analysis, or how particular patterns were interpreted. This absence makes it difficult to assess how investigators came to the irrefutable conclusion that there was no foul play. Still, the FBI used the blood spatter evidence to say it would have been impossible for someone else to have killed Clay. Their official reason was that the distribution of the spatter ruled out another person being at the scene when Clay died. In 2008, then-Baltimore City Inspector General Hilton Green decided to re-examine the case. He re-interviewed witnesses, spoke to officers involved in the investigation, and even talked to Fowler. Robert Clay – Courtesy of the Clay Family Green, who has since passed away, conducted his probe based upon the theory that Clay was murdered and the investigation was botched. He uncovered some intriguing details about events both before and after Clay’s body was found. In a report Green issued in 2009, he recounted business disputes between Clay and two individuals who were both eventually imprisoned: Wilkins McNair Jr., a Baltimore accountant who was charged with embezzlement, and LaVan Hawkins, a successful businessman who spent time in federal prison for withholding taxes from employees but not paying them to the government. McNair claimed that Clay’s death was tied to a dispute over contracts and that somehow Hawkins was involved. However, it was McNair who had been entangled in Clay’s personal business. After Clay’s death, his wife Gerietta retained McNair as a financial adviser. McNair convinced her to put proceeds from the couple’s Howard County home into a fund he managed. He then redirected the money into his own accounts, according to an FBI press release. McNair eventually pled guilty to embezzlement, his second set of charges for financial crimes. This means he had both motive and opportunity. But, again, the possibility of further investigation was shut down by OCME’s suicide ruling. When Green spoke to Fowler, he pressed him on the fact that Clay was right-handed. The report quotes Fowler as saying, “Although it was unusual that a right-handed man would shoot himself on the left side of the head, people in that state do unusual things when contemplating death.” Fowler also cited the aforementioned questionable blood spatter analysis, claiming an unidentified “expert” had concluded the evidence made murder impossible. “Dr. FOWLER further advised that a blood splattering expert had reviewed the case, and he too had agreed it was suicide,” Green’s report notes. Green ultimately concluded in the report that Clay had likely committed suicide; however, he urged law enforcement to interview both McNair and Hawkins. Fowler also clashed with Clay’s family. “He wasn’t open to the fact we believed Robert’s case needed more investigation,” Cheryl Clay, Robert’s cousin, told us. She also shared a letter written by Fowler shortly after the family had met with him to raise concerns about the autopsy findings and request that Clay’s case be re-opened. The missive was direct and to the point: Dear Ms. Clay, I am responding to your letter to Dr. Rubio regarding the death of Robert Lee Clay, Sr. Dr. Rubio has retired and is no longer available. The issues raised in your letter were all considered during the forensic investigation of Mr. Clay’s death. In the ten years since his death, no new information has been produced to suggest that it was anything but a suicide. In light of these facts, requests to reopen the investigation or change the manner of death determination in this case are denied. Sincerely, David R. Fowler Cheryl hopes questions about Fowler’s work might lead to police taking another look at her cousin’s case. “I truly believe Robert did not commit suicide,” she told us. She also recalls, with some bitterness, Fowler’s dismissiveness about the family’s concerns. An attitude, she says, that comports with his approach to investigating other suspicious deaths in Baltimore. Tyra McClary Tyra McClary – Courtesy of her family “The OCME exhibited an aberrant and unjustified reliance on the ‘undetermined’ manner of death, often substituting uncertainty for investigation.” — Maryland OAG Audit, 2025 Tyra McClary was a Baltimore resident who struggled with addiction. Her body was found in 2006 under a pile of mulch in Northwest Baltimore with a plastic bag tied around her legs. The toxicology report found heroin and cocaine in her system. So, initially, despite the strange circumstances surrounding the disposition of her body, her death seemed destined to be swept into Fowler’s vast “undetermined” category as hundreds of overdose deaths were happening across the city. But the autopsy also revealed that both McClary’s adrenal gland and her thyroid gland had hemorrhaged. Cyril Wecht, a famous pathologist who conducted autopsies of John F. Kennedy and Anna Nicole Smith, told us that this could be an indication of injuries associated with more nefarious manners of death. “The OCME exhibited an aberrant and unjustified reliance on the ‘undetermined’ manner of death, often substituting uncertainty for investigation.”— Maryland OAG Audit, 2025 “Adrenal hemorrhage can be the result of someone suffering prolonged stress, meaning an hour of stress, not minutes. Being left out in the cold, for example, or being in an extremely stressful situation for a very long period of time. Very rarely, it is sometimes caused by blunt force trauma to the stomach,” he said in an interview for the Baltimore Examiner. “Thyroid hemorrhage can indicate manual strangulation, being strangled with the hands, not ligature, meaning a rope. It can also be the result of blunt force trauma to the neck.” These injuries prompted the medical examiner to write that “homicide could not be ruled out.” Still, due to the fact that McClary’s body was partially decomposed and there was no evidence of injury, her cause of death was ruled undetermined. McClary’s family told us she was an addict who, for years, struggled to overcome her reliance on opioids. But treatment was hard to come by in the city during the 2000s. To support her habit, she often sold her body on the streets of Northwest Baltimore. Unfortunately, there was no attempt to investigate her death further, according to homicide records. Ultimately, it was an example of how an undetermined ruling leads to stasis. Perhaps it was that uncertainty that pushed McClary’s death into the middle of another controversy. Shortly after she died, a protest was held in Northwest Baltimore to call out police for not responding to community concerns about a possible serial killer. McClary’s picture was printed on a placard and hoisted above the crowd as one of the yet-unknown murderer’s victims. Stephen wrote a story for the Baltimore Examiner about the outcry, quoting some of the activists who alleged there were more bodies, perhaps a dozen. The police told him that was untrue. He included both sides in a 300-word report. Stephen’s former employer, the Baltimore City Paper, accused him of manufacturing a serial killer in 2006, criticizing him for quoting the protesters and blasting the Baltimore Examiner for hyping the story with alarming headlines. Needless to say, tensions were high. But the experience left us with a big question: Why would members of a community hold a protest, attended by over 100 residents, over a nonexistent serial killer? In 2008, though, suspicions about a serial killer in the community erupted again—this time after a series of strangulations. Five women were asphyxiated over four months in the same Northwest Baltimore neighborhood where the protests occurred in 2006. Along with his former colleague Luke Broadwater, Stephen delved into similar cases stretching back a decade. After their findings were published, police arrested William Vincent Brown, whom they connected to at least two murders and one attempted murder and rape during the 2000s. However, Brown was never charged in connection with the 2008 strangulation murders. At the time, Stephen hoped BPD would reinvestigate McClary’s case. He interviewed Wecht about the evidence, who said it was worth pursuing. But the police ignored it. In fact, even though the city formed a task force to investigate the five cases, four were never solved and remain open today. It seems unlikely, based on the cases we reviewed here, that Fowler’s questionable approach to pathology as Maryland’s chief medical examiner was limited to the type of police-involved restraint cases that were reviewed by the 2025 audit. More than likely, there are many additional suspicious deaths that warrant review. In a city that systematically, routinely, and notoriously buried the true scope and scale of racial injustice, economic inequality, and police abuse, Fowler was a critical cog in the state machine of organized indifference. Whether or not all of Fowler’s dubious rulings are ultimately reexamined, the bureaucracy that allowed Fowler to chart this course is due for a reckoning as well. His ability to operate without scrutiny for decades needs to be fully grasped, especially because the activists and families who challenged Fowler’s outlier tendencies were generally ignored. In a city that systematically, routinely, and notoriously buried the true scope and scale of racial injustice, economic inequality, and police abuse, Fowler was a critical cog in the state machine of organized indifference. For example, when Fowler ruled the police-custody death of Eastern Shore resident Anton Black an accident despite evidence to the contrary, few politicians questioned his decision. Black had been chased by three white officers to his Greensboro, Maryland, home after a 911 caller made a false accusation that he had kidnapped his cousin. Just a few feet from his doorstep, an officer laid on top of the 160-pound track star for minutes. Eventually, Black lost consciousness. En route to the hospital, he was declared dead. The body camera footage showed the officer sitting on top of him during the arrest. The downward pressure on his back was a classic case of positional asphyxia. But Fowler ruled it an accident attributable to a heart abnormality and bipolar disorder. We asked Wecht to review the case—he called Fowler’s ruling “blatantly wrong”—but we were the only media organization to do so. Every other outlet trumpeted Fowler’s ruling as definitive. Only a lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of his family prompted the state to respond. That suit was settled for $5 million, but Fowler’s ruling that Black’s death was an accident still stands. And that’s the dilemma facing state and city leaders in the aftermath of Fowler’s fall from grace. What should be done to fix 16 years of injustice resulting from questionable science and flawed postmortem investigations? Should the officers involved in Black’s death now be prosecuted? Should the AG’s office expand the scope of the audit of Maryland’s OCME and review other rulings on other deaths not involving police? Presumably, they will not. Instead, we expect the audit to be touted as an adequate response to a bureaucratic failure that has since been fixed. What’s worse, if Fowler had not testified in Derek Chauvin’s defense on national television, the current (but still limited) process of re-examining past police restraint cases would not have occurred. Only his very public and widely criticized testimony on behalf of Chauvin forced state officials to respond, not the decades of dubiously classified in-custody deaths under his watch. Perhaps it’s time to delve deeper into not just how Fowler was allowed to continue wreaking havoc on death investigations, but also why. Why were public officials so incurious? Why was OCME impervious to accountability? Who should have been watching? And does the office itself need reform in light of the audit’s findings? What’s worse, if Fowler had not testified in Derek Chauvin’s defense on national television, the current (but still limited) process of re-examining past police restraint cases would not have occurred. Only his very public and widely criticized testimony on behalf of Chauvin forced state officials to respond, not the decades of dubiously classified in-custody deaths under his watch. Answering these questions is, in some sense, even more important than reviewing past autopsies, if only to ensure that a tenure similar to Fowler’s is simply impossible. Before publication, we asked the Maryland attorney general’s office if they planned to re-open the specific cases included in this report. We also inquired into the scope of any future audits. Here is their response: “The Office of the Attorney General was granted the authority to perform a comprehensive review of the 36 cases where the reviewers – unanimously – concluded the manner of death should have been homicide. While that review is active and ongoing, our office will have no additional comment.” We also reached out to Dr. David Fowler several times via the email listed on his curriculum vitae with specific questions related to reporting contained in this report. He had not responded prior to publication. Finally, we asked the current management of the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for comment on our conclusions, out
Heavy bombing of Iran as war enters its third day. Strikes kill major Iranian leaders. Mass civilian casualties as Israel and the U.S. strike in the center of Tehran. Medical facilities in Tehran and Ahvaz damaged, and Iran says a nuclear facility was attacked. U.S. strikes across Iran include attack drones for the first time. Iran retaliates with major offensive against Israel and U.S. bases and military sites across the Gulf, and in Cyprus. Four U.S. service members killed. Three U.S. fighter jets shot down; Iran claims it downed at least one, while U.S. says it was friendly fire. At least ten killed at demonstration at U.S. consulate in Karachi. Oil facilities attacked, prices soar. President Donald Trump’s estimate of the length of the war shifts from “days” to “weeks.” Top Iranian officials signal Iran’s willingness to fight, defend retaliation. U.S. and Israel burning through munitions. China backs Iran’s self-defense. Israel pounds Lebanon, killing 31, after Hezbollah fires rockets.Lebanon’s prime minister demands ban on Hezbollah operations. Israel uses Iran war as a pretext to halt already limited aid to Gaza. Israel blocks movement in the West Bank. Congress to vote on War Powers Resolution. Sen. Tim Kaine, on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says no imminent threat justified war with Iran. Rashida Tlaib, AOC denounce U.S.–Israeli strikes and call for Congress to act. First anti-war ad of the midterm election cycle. Dark money–funded think tanks pushed regime change. Sen. Bernie Sanders unveils billionaire tax. 169 killed in attacks in South Sudan. Afghanistan says it fired on Pakistani jets as border fighting intensifies. Russian tanker bound for Cuba is drifting in the North Atlantic. Argentine Senate approves Javier Milei’s anti-labor reform. In case you missed it, Drop Site’s weekend coverage of the Iran war: Iran Prepared for an Existential War. How Much Are Trump and Israel Willing to Gamble? After a Sports Hall in Iran Was Bombed, Witnesses Describe Chaos and “Continuous Screaming” “Small Children Who Knew Nothing of Politics or Wars” As Trump Launches “Massive” Regime Change War, Iran Strikes Back at U.S. Bases and Vows Not to Capitulate This is Drop Site Daily, our free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday. Subscribe now A general view of Tehran with smoke visible in the distance after explosions were reported in the city, on March 02, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. Photo by Contributor/Getty Images. War on Iran Heavy bombing of Iran as war enters its third day: Multiple airstrikes hit Tehran on Monday as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran expands. Tehran’s streets have been largely deserted with people sheltering during airstrikes. On Sunday, the Israeli military launched a new wave of attacks targeting what it described as the “heart of Tehran,” with the Associated Press reporting a major explosion near a police headquarters, a state television building, the Revolutionary Court, and a Defense Ministry building. Al Jazeera said an army hospital and other government sites were also struck. Also on Sunday, Mehr News Agency reported that 20 people were killed in a strike on Niloufar Square, a densely populated residential and commercial area in Tehran’s District 7. Strikes kill major Iranian leaders: President Donald Trump on Saturday announced that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been targeted and killed. Khamenei’s daughter, son-in-law, grandchild, and a daughter-in-law were also killed in the strikes. Iranian state media on Sunday also announced the deaths of Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, Supreme National Defense Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps head Mohammad Pakpour. While Trump touted the intelligence operation that tracked Khamenei’s movements, an Iranian official tells Drop Site the Supreme Leader refused extra safety measures: “[The Supreme Leader] insisted on keeping things as normal and ordinary as possible, without seeking extra security measures or standing out in any way.” Read the full report, from Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain. Mass civilian casualties from U.S.-Israeli airstrikes: In the deadliest recorded attack of the war, an airstrike on Saturday morning struck a girls’ elementary school in Minab, a small city near the Strait of Hormuz, killing 165 people, according to the state-run IRNA news agency, many of them schoolgirls between seven and 12 years old. It was unclear if it was a U.S. or Israeli strike. On Saturday, CENTCOM’s spokesperson said they were “looking into” the reports. Hours later, an airstrike hit the main sports hall in Lamerd, a city near the Persian coast, as dozens of teenage girls were attending their regular training sessions. Additional strikes hit two nearby residential areas and a hall adjacent to a school. At least 18 people were killed, including many teenage girls. Read Drop Site’s on-the-ground reports from Minab and Lamerd. Iran’s casualty counts: At least 555 people had been killed in Iran, according to the Iranian Red Crescent. An earlier report had 747 injured, though the toll is expected to be an undercount. Over 130 cities across the country have come under attack, the Red Crescent said, with strikes hitting 24 of the country’s 31 provinces. Medical facilities in Tehran and Ahvaz damaged as civilian toll mounts: Iran’s Red Crescent Society said its Comprehensive Rehabilitation Center in Tehran’s Seyed Khandan neighborhood was seriously damaged in strikes, with photos showing shattered treatment rooms. On Sunday, Iran’s Health Ministry said Gandhi Hospital in Tehran was struck and Abuzar Hospital in Ahvaz was hit and evacuated, while damage was also reported at Khatam and Motahari hospitals in Tehran and three emergency bases in Sarab, Chabahar, and Hamedan. Officials said 21 patients were transferred after the Ahvaz strike and two emergency medical personnel were injured. Iran says nuclear facility attacked: Iran’s Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency said that U.S.-Israeli airstrikes targeted the Natanz enrichment facility on Sunday. “Again they attacked Iran’s peaceful safeguarded nuclear facilities yesterday. Their justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie,” Reza Najafi told reporters at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna U.S. strikes across Iran include attack drones for the first time: U.S. CENTCOM said on Saturday its early strikes targeted IRGC command centers, air defenses, missile and drone launch sites, as well as military airfields. It also reported the use of low-cost one-way attack drones in combat for the first time. Its ballistic missile attacks hit areas near Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, and Shiraz, according to the Associated Press, and Israel assisted in choosing targets and carrying out the attacks. Iran’s major offensive against U.S. bases and Israeli military sites: Iran responded to the Saturday attacks by unleashing a series of sustained missile and drone attacks against Israel and U.S. military facilities across the Persian Gulf, striking the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar. Iran also targeted Jordan, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, and Cyprus. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps described its offensive operation as the most intense in its history. At least 11 people were killed in Israel, along with three in the UAE, two in Iraq, one in Bahrain, and one in Kuwait. Iranian missiles hit Israel: Israel declared an immediate nationwide state of emergency after launching the war on Iran, with Defense Minister Israel Katz announcing school and workplace closures and the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command ordering civilians to remain near shelter. Over the weekend, Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel, including strikes on Tel Aviv, west Jerusalem, and Beit Shemesh, where nine people were killed in a residential building collapse, while additional fatalities brought the nationwide death toll to 11 and injuries to 456, according to the Health Ministry. Four U.S. service members killed: The U.S. military said a fourth service member has been killed since the start of the operation against Iran. On Sunday, CENTCOM announced that three soldiers had been killed and five were seriously wounded—the fourth, announced Monday, “succumbed to their injuries.” The soldiers killed had been deployed to a base in Kuwait supporting the operation, U.S. officials told NBC News. Three U.S. fighter jets shot down; Iran claims it downed at least one, while U.S. says it was friendly fire: The U.S. military said Kuwait “mistakenly shot down” three American F-15 fighter jets during a combat mission while attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones were underway. Iran claimed it shot one of them down. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely and are in stable condition. Iranian strikes hit airport and military sites in Kuwait: An Iranian drone struck Kuwait International Airport on Sunday, injuring several workers and damaging Terminal 1, according to Kuwait’s Civil Aviation Authority. Kuwait hosts major United States military facilities, including Camp Arifjan and Ali Al Salem Air Base. Overnight into Sunday, further explosions were reported, with the IRGC claiming Ali Al Salem Air Base was put “out of service.” Black smoke was later seen rising from inside the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City, which issued a shelter-in-place order as air raid sirens sounded. At least ten killed at demonstration at U.S. consulate in Karachi: In Karachi, Pakistan, demonstrators breached the outer wall of the U.S. Consulate in a protest over the war in Iran—following which security forces opened fire after parts of the compound and nearby police posts were set ablaze. Two more people were killed in a separate demonstration near the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad. The embassy issued a high-level security alert as unrest in the country continued. At least 35 people have been killed and hundreds more wounded across Pakistan during nationwide protests though total casualty figures remain disputed. Fires and drone attacks reported at U.S. facilities in Iraq: A fire was reported Saturday at the U.S. airbase at Erbil International Airport in northern Iraq following an Iranian strike, and by Sunday, the Iraqi Shiite militia Saraya Awliya al-Dam had claimed responsibility for a drone attack on U.S. forces at Baghdad International Airport in retaliation for the killing of Khamenei. As of late Sunday, there were no confirmed U.S. or civilian casualties from the Iraq incidents. Suspected drone strike hits UK base in Cyprus: Around midnight Monday, March 2, the British Ministry of Defense confirmed a suspected Iranian drone strike caused minor damage at RAF Akrotiri, a UK base in Cyprus, with no injuries reported. The incident followed Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s statement that Britain would permit the United States to use its bases for limited defensive purposes, including targeting Iranian missile launchers, while London, Paris, and Berlin said they were prepared to take proportionate defensive action but were not involved in the initial offensive strikes. Reports suggested RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia could also be made available as the conflict widens. Strikes in Bahrain: On Saturday, reports circulated that an Iranian drone struck the Crowne Plaza complex in Manama’s Diplomatic Area, near key government buildings, though Bahraini authorities did not immediately confirm damage or casualties. Early Monday, explosions were heard across the capital as Iranian missiles targeted sites in Bahrain, according to The Guardian, with footage appearing to show a direct impact inside a U.S. military facility. Bahrain hosts the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters. Thousands stranded as air travel disrupted: Iran also hit civilian airports in Kuwait, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai and airspace over much of the region remained closed on Monday. Major regional airports—including Dubai International, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, and Hamad International Airport in Doha—have suspended operations. More than 3,400 flights have been cancelled in the first few days of the conflict, and an estimated 300,000 people are currently stranded across the Gulf region, according to the Associated Press. Semafor reported that a limited number of private flights out of Riyadh are running the wealthy up to $350,000. Oil facilities attacked, prices soar: On Sunday, at least four oil tankers were struck or damaged in and around the Strait of Hormuz after Iran declared the waterway closed to international navigation. Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery, one of the largest in the world came under a drone attack on Monday, and was temporarily shut down. Qatar’s Defense Ministry said two drones struck energy facilities in the industrial city of Ras Laffan and Mesaieed with no reported casualties. QatarEnergy said it would stop its production of liquefied natural gas after the attacks. Oman said an oil tanker was attacked by an explosive-laden boat in the gulf of Oman on Monday. Earlier in the day, debris fell on Kuwait’s Ahmadi oil refinery, injuring two workers, after drones were shot down, the state-run KUNA news agency reported. Meanwhile, Chevron said it has been instructed by Israel’s Energy Ministry to temporarily shut down production at the Leviathan gas field. Oil prices surged to a 52-week high on Monday. Trump’s estimate of the length of the war shifts from “days” to “weeks”: On Saturday, Trump claimed on Truth Social that military action was justified because Tehran tried to interfere in the 2020 and 2024 U.S. presidential elections. On Saturday and Sunday, Trump said U.S. strikes on Iran would continue until American objectives were achieved, warning Iranian security forces to surrender while urging citizens to rise up. He offered varying timelines for the war, running from “two or three days” to “four to five weeks” and acknowledged further U.S. casualties were likely. Trump told Axios, The Atlantic, and The New York Times that he sees potential “off ramps” and has agreed to talks with Tehran. On Sunday, President Trump told ABC the U.S. had identified possible candidates to take over Iran after the death of Khamenei and other members of the country’s senior leadership, but that all of them were killed in the weekend’s strikes. “The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates,” Trump said. “It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead.” Top Iranian official Larijani signals Iran’s willingness to fight: Ali Larijani, the current secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and one of the most influential figures within the Iranian government, made several public statements about the Iranian government’s unwillingness to bend in the face of U.S. and Israeli aggression. On Saturday, he vowed “retaliation” that would make “Zionist criminals and the shameless Americans regret their actions.” He stressed that the casualties suffered were “very low” in the eyes of the Iranian government, and said that the armed forces of the country were experienced and ready for further aggression. On Sunday, Larijani underscored the posture that the government intends to take, saying unequivocally: “We will not negotiate with the United States.” Earlier Sunday, Aragchi said, “They must explain why they launched this aggression. After the attacks stop and they provide an explanation, we will consider how to respond.” Iranian foreign minister defends retaliation: On Saturday, Araghchi said in calls with counterparts in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Iraq that U.S. and Israeli strikes were a “flagrant violation of the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter”, and warned that any territory used to launch attacks on Iran would be treated as a legitimate target. In interviews with NBC and ABC News, Araghchi said Iran was acting in self-defense against U.S. military bases being used to attack it and insisted Tehran would respond “whatever it takes.” When asked by American reporters why Iran carried out several strikes on U.S. bases over the weekend, Aragchi responded accordingly: “We are under an attack from you. This is obvious. This is a very simple fact,” he told NBC. U.S. and Israel burning through munitions: Limited U.S. and Israeli interceptor stockpiles are influencing planning, the Financial Times reported, noting the Pentagon has ordered fewer than 650 THAAD interceptors since 2010 and could burn through large quantities quickly in a sustained exchange, after expending up to 150 during last year’s 12-day war with Iran. Officials told the paper that “magazine depth” may constrain the scope or duration of operations and force trade-offs affecting U.S. commitments in Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific. China backs Iran’s “self-defense”: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in a phone call that Beijing supports Tehran in “defending its sovereignty, security, territorial integrity, and national dignity,” following U.S.-Israeli attacks that have killed hundreds since Saturday. Wang also “urged the US and Israel to immediately cease military operations, avoid further escalation of tensions and prevent the conflict from spreading to the entire Middle East region.” Attacks on Lebanon Israel pounds Lebanon, killing 31, after Hezbollah fires rockets: At least 31 people were killed and over 140 wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon late Sunday and Monday after Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets at northern Israel. It marked the first major violation of the ceasefire by Hezbollah since it took effect in November 2024. Over that period, Israel has bombed Lebanon on a near daily basis and committed over 15,000 ceasefire violations, according to the UN. Hezbollah said it launched “advanced missiles” and a swarm of drones at the Mishmar al-Karmel missile defense site south of Haifa, calling the strike retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and for ongoing Israeli operations in Lebanon. Israel launched strikes across southern Lebanon and on the capital of Beirut. Tens of thousands in southern and eastern Lebanon are estimated to have fled their homes after the Israeli military ordered residents of 50 towns and villages to evacuate. The Israeli military threatened to invade Lebanon and Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem is now a “target for elimination.” Qassem succeeded longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah after he was assassinated by Israel in September 2024. Lebanon’s prime minister demands ban on Hezbollah operations: Lebanon’s prime minister Nawaf Salam said Hezbollah’s military activities are “illegal acts” and demanded the group hand over its weapons. He said rocket fire from southern Lebanon was an “irresponsible and suspicious act” that threatens national security. “We prohibit Hezbollah’s military activities and confine its role to the political sphere, and we demand that the military institutions implement this,” Salam said. The Gaza Genocide and the West Bank Casualty counts: Over the past 24 hours, at least one Palestinian was killed and five wounded in Israeli attacks across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,097 killed, with 171,796 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 630 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 1,698, while 735 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israel closes Gaza crossings and halts aid staff rotations: The Israeli military has reimposed a total closure on Gaza, shutting all crossings, including Rafah, “until further notice” COGAT said humanitarian staff rotations are postponed, preventing aid workers from entering or leaving the enclave. Israeli authorities claimed the aid already present in the area would suffice for an extended period even though Israel has only allowed in a fraction of the agreed-upon aid since the ceasefire went into effect. Food prices immediately soared in Gaza with Palestinians rushing to markets for basic goods. World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés warned the organization will run out of food this week. The group is currently preparing about 1 million hot meals per day, according to their estimates. Israel blocks movement in the West Bank: Israeli forces began enforcing strict restrictions on movement for Palestinians across the occupied West Bank on Saturday as it launched its war on Iran. Some 1,000 checkpoints and entrances to cities, towns, and villages have been closed until further notice, paralyzing daily life. United States By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at [email protected]. Congress to vote on War Powers Resolution: The Senate currently plans to vote Tuesday, and the House on Wednesday, on a resolution that would put lawmakers on record on whether to limit Trump’s war on Iran. In the House, opponents of the war are actively pressuring Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Katherine Clark to whip support for the measure rather than advise members to vote however they want—referred to as a “vote of conscience” on Capitol Hill. On Saturday, Jeffries said the Trump administration must immediately explain its decision to strike Iran and clearly define its national security objectives. He also urged the White House to articulate a plan to avoid another costly and prolonged military incursion in the Middle East. “This is not a vote of conscience, this is a vote about the Constitution and Article 1 responsibilities for members of Congress,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal told Drop Site. In the first year of the Trump administration, Jeffries and Clark have largely refrained from exerting discipline over the Democratic caucus, allowing significant defections beginning with the Laiken Riley Act, which set the stage for Trump’s violent mass deportation policy. The resolution from Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie is being publicly opposed by three Democrats: Josh Gottheimer of northern New Jersey, Thomas Suozzi of Long Island, and Greg Landsman of Cincinnati. Republican Warren Davidson, also of Ohio, however, has signaled he may break ranks and support it. First anti-war ad of the midterm election cycle: Voters in Texas and North Caroline go to the polls on Tuesday in closely-watched primaries. In North Carolina’s fourth district, AIPAC is secretly funneling money through a PAC linked to Hakeem Jeffries to boost incumbent Valerie Foushee, who won in 2022 thanks to an influx of more than $2 million from AIPAC. She is facing a rematch from Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam. Allam on Monday launched an ad condemning the Iran war; it will air during the Duke-N.C. State basketball game Monday night. In it, Allam slams Foushee for taking money from defense contractors and an AI company used by the Pentagon in the attack. (Ironically, that firm, Anthropic, is being pushed out by War Secretary Pete Hegseth, but in the meantime it is spending more than $1.5 million dollars backing Foushee.) In Texas, polls have Democrat James Talarico slightly ahead of Jasmine Crockett in the Senate primary, while Attorney General Ken Paxton holds a slight lead over incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn. The GOP primary is likely to head to a very expensive runoff. If the ethically challenged, scandal-plagued Paxton emerges the primary winner, Democrats feel they have a genuine chance at flipping the seat. Rashida Tlaib, AOC denounce U.S.–Israeli strikes and call for Congress to act: On Sunday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib issued a sweeping condemnation of the U.S.–Israeli attack on Iran, calling it an “illegal war of aggression” that has already killed children and risks igniting a catastrophic regional conflict. She accused President Trump of ignoring public opposition to a new war, criticized U.S. sanctions policy, and rejected the framing of the campaign as promoting democracy, saying “you cannot ‘free’ people by killing them.” Tlaib urged Congress to reconvene to assert its war powers and stop further escalation. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran “unlawful” and “unnecessary” and said she would vote “Yes” on the measure. Sen. Tim Kaine says no imminent threat justified war with Iran: Sen. Tim Kaine said on CNN that, based on the classified information he’s seen, there was no imminent threat from Iran to the United States that would justify sending American forces into another war, and he criticized the strikes as lacking legal authority. Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has introduced the parallel War Powers Resolution in the Senate. “Trump administration officials acknowledged in closed-door briefings with congressional staff on Sunday that there was no intelligence suggesting Iran planned to attack U.S. forces first,” Reuters confirmed. Sen. John Fetterman backed strikes, even as Oman said diplomacy was close: On Sunday, Senator John Fetterman defended President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran, telling CNN that Trump had tried to negotiate firm agreements barring Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons but that Iran refused (a misstatement of the facts, according to the Omani Foreign Minister). “Remind everybody…you are never allowed to acquire nuclear weapons, and clearly they was,” he said. Dark money–funded think tanks pushed regime change: Conservative dark money networks funneled millions into think tanks advocating regime change, including the Center for Security Policy and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Donors Trust, tied to conservative legal strategist Leonard Leo and funded in part by billionaire Barre Seid, gave more than $2.7 million to the Center for Security Policy between 2020 and 2023, while the Sarah Scaife Foundation, financed by the Mellon oil fortune, provided over $1.6 million to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies during the same period. The groups have publicly urged the Iranian public to overthrow its government and warned of threats to the United States. Report from The Lever available here. Sen. Bernie Sanders unveils billionaire tax: Jeff Stein in the Washington Post reports that Sanders is proposing a mega-tax on America’s roughly 1,000 billionaires, a levy that would raise a staggering $4.4 trillion and looks to reshape the conversation around wealth and inequality. The tax would pay for $3,000 stimulus checks to everyone earning less than $150,000 a year and also go toward proving universal child care, reducing health insurance premiums, expanding Medicaid, and requiring Medicare to cover vision, hearing, and dental, among other investments in housing and education. Potential Democratic presidential candidate Ro Khanna called it a “bold economic proposal” and said he would be working with Sanders on it. LEAKED Email: Kat Abughazeleh “firmly an interventionist,” foreign policy adviser said: Kat Abughazaleh, a socialist Democratic candidate in Illinois’ 9th District and one of the only Palestinian-Americans seeking office in 2026, was described by her national security adviser as “firmly an interventionist” who “won’t stop until Russia is made to pay for its crimes,” in written responses detailing her foreign policy vision, obtained by Drop Site. Abughazaleh subsequently said the email’s content was unauthorized and the individual was no longer on her staff. She said the advisor misrepresented her as an “interventionist,” while reiterating her support for arming the Ukrainian people, and eliminating “strategic ambiguity” with respect to China/Taiwan. The full leaked email is here. Other International News 169 killed in attacks in South Sudan: At least 169 people, including 90 civilians, were killed in South Sudan on Monday after militants raided a village in Abiemnom county, a remote area of the country, according to the Associated Press. The U.N. Mission in South Sudan said in a statement that 1,000 people sought shelter with its base after the attack. The killings are part of an escalating wave of violence gripping South Sudan as forces loyal to President Salva Kiir battle armed groups believed to be loyal to opposition leader Riek Machar. Afghanistan says it fired on Pakistani jets as border fighting intensifies: Afghanistan’s Taliban administration said it carried out air defense attacks against Pakistani aircraft over Kabul on Sunday, after explosions and gunfire shook the capital, according to Reuters. Heavy fighting has escalated between the countries along the 2,600-kilometer border, with a Pakistani official declaring that they were at “open war” last week. Russian tanker bound for Cuba is drifting in the North Atlantic: The Russian tanker Sea Horse, believed to be carrying about 200,000 barrels of diesel for Cuba, was diverted on February 25 and is now drifting in the North Atlantic to avoid potential U.S. enforcement action, Bloomberg reports. Although the Treasury Department said oil resales benefiting Cuba’s private sector would be permitted, infrastructure constraints and few reported deliveries—about 150 barrels per day versus roughly 22,000 barrels needed for basic operations—suggest that the shortfall will persist. Argentine soldier detained in Venezuela released after more than a year: An Argentine soldier, Nahuel Gallo, who had been held in Venezuela since late 2024, has been released and has already left the country, Reuters reported. Argentine Senate approves Javier Milei’s anti-labor reform: On Friday, Argentina’s Senate approved a sweeping labor reform backed by President Javier Milei, with the bill passing 42–28 with two abstentions. The overhaul weakens worker protections, including the right to strike, and unions say that the employer-funded severance scheme it creates could affect pension resources. Read more on this bill from Drop Site contributor Sam Carliner. More from Drop Site DOJ records show Epstein role in Gates Foundation polio work in Pakistan: Newly released United States Department of Justice documents detail Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s anti-polio campaign in Pakistan from 2013 to 2018. Emails show Epstein positioning himself as a gatekeeper between the foundation and the International Peace Institute, and receiving confidential field reports that included sensitive information about Taliban contacts, Pakistani military operations, and references to North Atlantic Treaty Organization activity. The disclosures, which come as Bill Gates publicly acknowledges and regrets his past association with Epstein, risk further inflaming mistrust of vaccination campaigns in Pakistan, where polio eradication efforts have long been entangled with intelligence operations and regional conflict. The latest on Pakistan from Waqas Ahmed and Murtaza Hussain here. On Saturday, Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim discussed Trump’s launch of the war on Iran with guests Ali Abunimah of The Electronic Intifada and Iranian-American writer Hooman Majd, Jeremy and Ryan discussed the roots and potential futures of the conflict in Iran. That livestream is here: Jeremy Scahill joined Hasan Piker’s livestream to discuss Iran. His appearance is here: Ryan Grim joined Rania Khalek on BreakThrough News on Saturday to discuss the war on Iran, with a particular eye to the way U.S. domestic politics might forge its path. Here: Programming note: You can sign up here to get updates from us on our WhatsApp channel. If you want to continue getting this newsletter, you don’t have to do anything. But if this is too much—we do try to be mindful of your inbox—you can unsubscribe from this newsletter while continuing to get the rest of our reporting. Just go into your account here at this link, scroll down, and toggle the button next to “Drop Site Daily” to the off setting. It looks like this: Subscribe now Leave a comment From Drop Site News via This RSS Feed.
Heavy bombing of Iran as war enters its third day. Strikes kill major Iranian leaders. Mass civilian casualties as Israel and the U.S. strike in the center of Tehran. Medical facilities in Tehran and Ahvaz damaged, and Iran says a nuclear facility was attacked. U.S. strikes across Iran include attack drones for the first time. Iran retaliates with major offensive against Israel and U.S. bases and military sites across the Gulf, and in Cyprus. Four U.S. service members killed. Three U.S. fighter jets shot down; Iran claims it downed at least one, while U.S. says it was friendly fire. At least ten killed at demonstration at U.S. consulate in Karachi. Oil facilities attacked, prices soar. President Donald Trump’s estimate of the length of the war shifts from “days” to “weeks.” Top Iranian officials signal Iran’s willingness to fight, defend retaliation. U.S. and Israel burning through munitions. China backs Iran’s self-defense. Israel pounds Lebanon, killing 31, after Hezbollah fires rockets. Lebanon’s prime minister demands ban on Hezbollah operations. Israel uses Iran war as a pretext to halt already limited aid to Gaza. Israel blocks movement in the West Bank. Congress to vote on War Powers Resolution. Sen. Tim Kaine, on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says no imminent threat justified war with Iran. Rashida Tlaib, AOC denounce U.S.–Israeli strikes and call for Congress to act. First anti-war ad of the midterm election cycle. Dark money–funded think tanks pushed regime change. Sen. Bernie Sanders unveils billionaire tax. 169 killed in attacks in South Sudan. Afghanistan says it fired on Pakistani jets as border fighting intensifies. Russian tanker bound for Cuba is drifting in the North Atlantic. Argentine Senate approves Javier Milei’s anti-labor reform. In case you missed it, Drop Site’s weekend coverage of the Iran war: Iran Prepared for an Existential War. How Much Are Trump and Israel Willing to Gamble? After a Sports Hall in Iran Was Bombed, Witnesses Describe Chaos and “Continuous Screaming” “Small Children Who Knew Nothing of Politics or Wars” As Trump Launches “Massive” Regime Change War, Iran Strikes Back at U.S. Bases and Vows Not to Capitulate This is Drop Site Daily, our free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday. Subscribe now A general view of Tehran with smoke visible in the distance after explosions were reported in the city, on March 02, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. Photo by Contributor/Getty Images. War on Iran Heavy bombing of Iran as war enters its third day: Multiple airstrikes hit Tehran on Monday as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran expands. Tehran’s streets have been largely deserted with people sheltering during airstrikes. On Sunday, the Israeli military launched a new wave of attacks targeting what it described as the “heart of Tehran,” with the Associated Press reporting a major explosion near a police headquarters, a state television building, the Revolutionary Court, and a Defense Ministry building. Al Jazeera said an army hospital and other government sites were also struck. Also on Sunday, Mehr News Agency reported that 20 people were killed in a strike on Niloufar Square, a densely populated residential and commercial area in Tehran’s District 7. Strikes kill major Iranian leaders: President Donald Trump on Saturday announced that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been targeted and killed. Khamenei’s daughter, son-in-law, grandchild, and a daughter-in-law were also killed in the strikes. Iranian state media on Sunday also announced the deaths of Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, Supreme National Defense Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps head Mohammad Pakpour. While Trump touted the intelligence operation that tracked Khamenei’s movements, an Iranian official tells Drop Site the Supreme Leader refused extra safety measures: “[The Supreme Leader] insisted on keeping things as normal and ordinary as possible, without seeking extra security measures or standing out in any way.” Read the full report, from Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain. Mass civilian casualties from U.S.-Israeli airstrikes: In the deadliest recorded attack of the war, an airstrike on Saturday morning struck a girls’ elementary school in Minab, a small city near the Strait of Hormuz, killing 165 people, according to the state-run IRNA news agency, many of them schoolgirls between seven and 12 years old. It was unclear if it was a U.S. or Israeli strike. On Saturday, CENTCOM’s spokesperson said they were “looking into” the reports. Hours later, an airstrike hit the main sports hall in Lamerd, a city near the Persian coast, as dozens of teenage girls were attending their regular training sessions. Additional strikes hit two nearby residential areas and a hall adjacent to a school. At least 18 people were killed, including many teenage girls. Read Drop Site’s on-the-ground reports from Minab and Lamerd. Iran’s casualty counts: At least 555 people had been killed in Iran, according to the Iranian Red Crescent. An earlier report had 747 injured, though the toll is expected to be an undercount. Over 130 cities across the country have come under attack, the Red Crescent said, with strikes hitting 24 of the country’s 31 provinces. Medical facilities in Tehran and Ahvaz damaged as civilian toll mounts: Iran’s Red Crescent Society said its Comprehensive Rehabilitation Center in Tehran’s Seyed Khandan neighborhood was seriously damaged in strikes, with photos showing shattered treatment rooms. On Sunday, Iran’s Health Ministry said Gandhi Hospital in Tehran was struck and Abuzar Hospital in Ahvaz was hit and evacuated, while damage was also reported at Khatam and Motahari hospitals in Tehran and three emergency bases in Sarab, Chabahar, and Hamedan. Officials said 21 patients were transferred after the Ahvaz strike and two emergency medical personnel were injured. Iran says nuclear facility attacked: Iran’s Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency said that U.S.-Israeli airstrikes targeted the Natanz enrichment facility on Sunday. “Again they attacked Iran’s peaceful safeguarded nuclear facilities yesterday. Their justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie,” Reza Najafi told reporters at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna U.S. strikes across Iran include attack drones for the first time: U.S. CENTCOM said on Saturday its early strikes targeted IRGC command centers, air defenses, missile and drone launch sites, as well as military airfields. It also reported the use of low-cost one-way attack drones in combat for the first time. Its ballistic missile attacks hit areas near Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, and Shiraz, according to the Associated Press, and Israel assisted in choosing targets and carrying out the attacks. Iran’s major offensive against U.S. bases and Israeli military sites: Iran responded to the Saturday attacks by unleashing a series of sustained missile and drone attacks against Israel and U.S. military facilities across the Persian Gulf, striking the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar. Iran also targeted Jordan, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, and Cyprus. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps described its offensive operation as the most intense in its history. At least 11 people were killed in Israel, along with three in the UAE, two in Iraq, one in Bahrain, and one in Kuwait. Iranian missiles hit Israel: Israel declared an immediate nationwide state of emergency after launching the war on Iran, with Defense Minister Israel Katz announcing school and workplace closures and the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command ordering civilians to remain near shelter. Over the weekend, Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel, including strikes on Tel Aviv, west Jerusalem, and Beit Shemesh, where nine people were killed in a residential building collapse, while additional fatalities brought the nationwide death toll to 11 and injuries to 456, according to the Health Ministry. Four U.S. service members killed: The U.S. military said a fourth service member has been killed since the start of the operation against Iran. On Sunday, CENTCOM announced that three soldiers had been killed and five were seriously wounded—the fourth, announced Monday, “succumbed to their injuries.” The soldiers killed had been deployed to a base in Kuwait supporting the operation, U.S. officials told NBC News. Three U.S. fighter jets shot down; Iran claims it downed at least one, while U.S. says it was friendly fire: The U.S. military said Kuwait “mistakenly shot down” three American F-15 fighter jets during a combat mission while attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones were underway. Iran claimed it shot one of them down. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely and are in stable condition. Iranian strikes hit airport and military sites in Kuwait: An Iranian drone struck Kuwait International Airport on Sunday, injuring several workers and damaging Terminal 1, according to Kuwait’s Civil Aviation Authority. Kuwait hosts major United States military facilities, including Camp Arifjan and Ali Al Salem Air Base. Overnight into Sunday, further explosions were reported, with the IRGC claiming Ali Al Salem Air Base was put “out of service.” Black smoke was later seen rising from inside the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City, which issued a shelter-in-place order as air raid sirens sounded. At least ten killed at demonstration at U.S. consulate in Karachi: In Karachi, Pakistan, demonstrators breached the outer wall of the U.S. Consulate in a protest over the war in Iran—following which security forces opened fire after parts of the compound and nearby police posts were set ablaze. Two more people were killed in a separate demonstration near the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad. The embassy issued a high-level security alert as unrest in the country continued. At least 35 people have been killed and hundreds more wounded across Pakistan during nationwide protests though total casualty figures remain disputed. Fires and drone attacks reported at U.S. facilities in Iraq: A fire was reported Saturday at the U.S. airbase at Erbil International Airport in northern Iraq following an Iranian strike, and by Sunday, the Iraqi Shiite militia Saraya Awliya al-Dam had claimed responsibility for a drone attack on U.S. forces at Baghdad International Airport in retaliation for the killing of Khamenei. As of late Sunday, there were no confirmed U.S. or civilian casualties from the Iraq incidents. Suspected drone strike hits UK base in Cyprus: Around midnight Monday, March 2, the British Ministry of Defense confirmed a suspected Iranian drone strike caused minor damage at RAF Akrotiri, a UK base in Cyprus, with no injuries reported. The incident followed Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s statement that Britain would permit the United States to use its bases for limited defensive purposes, including targeting Iranian missile launchers, while London, Paris, and Berlin said they were prepared to take proportionate defensive action but were not involved in the initial offensive strikes. Reports suggested RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia could also be made available as the conflict widens. Strikes in Bahrain: On Saturday, reports circulated that an Iranian drone struck the Crowne Plaza complex in Manama’s Diplomatic Area, near key government buildings, though Bahraini authorities did not immediately confirm damage or casualties. Early Monday, explosions were heard across the capital as Iranian missiles targeted sites in Bahrain, according to The Guardian, with footage appearing to show a direct impact inside a U.S. military facility. Bahrain hosts the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters. Thousands stranded as air travel disrupted: Iran also hit civilian airports in Kuwait, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai and airspace over much of the region remained closed on Monday. Major regional airports—including Dubai International, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, and Hamad International Airport in Doha—have suspended operations. More than 3,400 flights have been cancelled in the first few days of the conflict, and an estimated 300,000 people are currently stranded across the Gulf region, according to the Associated Press. Semafor reported that a limited number of private flights out of Riyadh are running the wealthy up to $350,000. Oil facilities attacked, prices soar: On Sunday, at least four oil tankers were struck or damaged in and around the Strait of Hormuz after Iran declared the waterway closed to international navigation. Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery, one of the largest in the world came under a drone attack on Monday, and was temporarily shut down. Qatar’s Defense Ministry said two drones struck energy facilities in the industrial city of Ras Laffan and Mesaieed with no reported casualties. QatarEnergy said it would stop its production of liquefied natural gas after the attacks. Oman said an oil tanker was attacked by an explosive-laden boat in the gulf of Oman on Monday. Earlier in the day, debris fell on Kuwait’s Ahmadi oil refinery, injuring two workers, after drones were shot down, the state-run KUNA news agency reported. Meanwhile, Chevron said it has been instructed by Israel’s Energy Ministry to temporarily shut down production at the Leviathan gas field. Oil prices surged to a 52-week high on Monday. Trump’s estimate of the length of the war shifts from “days” to “weeks”: On Saturday, Trump claimed on Truth Social that military action was justified because Tehran tried to interfere in the 2020 and 2024 U.S. presidential elections. On Saturday and Sunday, Trump said U.S. strikes on Iran would continue until American objectives were achieved, warning Iranian security forces to surrender while urging citizens to rise up. He offered varying timelines for the war, running from “two or three days” to “four to five weeks” and acknowledged further U.S. casualties were likely. Trump told Axios, The Atlantic, and The New York Times that he sees potential “off ramps” and has agreed to talks with Tehran. On Sunday, President Trump told ABC the U.S. had identified possible candidates to take over Iran after the death of Khamenei and other members of the country’s senior leadership, but that all of them were killed in the weekend’s strikes. “The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates,” Trump said. “It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead.” Top Iranian official Larijani signals Iran’s willingness to fight: Ali Larijani, the current secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and one of the most influential figures within the Iranian government, made several public statements about the Iranian government’s unwillingness to bend in the face of U.S. and Israeli aggression. On Saturday, he vowed “retaliation” that would make “Zionist criminals and the shameless Americans regret their actions.” He stressed that the casualties suffered were “very low” in the eyes of the Iranian government, and said that the armed forces of the country were experienced and ready for further aggression. On Sunday, Larijani underscored the posture that the government intends to take, saying unequivocally: “We will not negotiate with the United States.” Earlier Sunday, Aragchi said, “They must explain why they launched this aggression. After the attacks stop and they provide an explanation, we will consider how to respond.” Iranian foreign minister defends retaliation: On Saturday, Araghchi said in calls with counterparts in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Iraq that U.S. and Israeli strikes were a “flagrant violation of the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter”, and warned that any territory used to launch attacks on Iran would be treated as a legitimate target. In interviews with NBC and ABC News, Araghchi said Iran was acting in self-defense against U.S. military bases being used to attack it and insisted Tehran would respond “whatever it takes.” When asked by American reporters why Iran carried out several strikes on U.S. bases over the weekend, Aragchi responded accordingly: “We are under an attack from you. This is obvious. This is a very simple fact,” he told NBC. U.S. and Israel burning through munitions: Limited U.S. and Israeli interceptor stockpiles are influencing planning, the Financial Times reported, noting the Pentagon has ordered fewer than 650 THAAD interceptors since 2010 and could burn through large quantities quickly in a sustained exchange, after expending up to 150 during last year’s 12-day war with Iran. Officials told the paper that “magazine depth” may constrain the scope or duration of operations and force trade-offs affecting U.S. commitments in Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific. China backs Iran’s “self-defense”: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in a phone call that Beijing supports Tehran in “defending its sovereignty, security, territorial integrity, and national dignity,” following U.S.-Israeli attacks that have killed hundreds since Saturday. Wang also “urged the US and Israel to immediately cease military operations, avoid further escalation of tensions and prevent the conflict from spreading to the entire Middle East region.” Attacks on Lebanon Israel pounds Lebanon, killing 31, after Hezbollah fires rockets: At least 31 people were killed and over 140 wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon late Sunday and Monday after Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets at northern Israel. It marked the first major violation of the ceasefire by Hezbollah since it took effect in November 2024. Over that period, Israel has bombed Lebanon on a near daily basis and committed over 15,000 ceasefire violations, according to the UN. Hezbollah said it launched “advanced missiles” and a swarm of drones at the Mishmar al-Karmel missile defense site south of Haifa, calling the strike retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and for ongoing Israeli operations in Lebanon. Israel launched strikes across southern Lebanon and on the capital of Beirut. Tens of thousands in southern and eastern Lebanon are estimated to have fled their homes after the Israeli military ordered residents of 50 towns and villages to evacuate. The Israeli military threatened to invade Lebanon and Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem is now a “target for elimination.” Qassem succeeded longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah after he was assassinated by Israel in September 2024. Lebanon’s prime minister demands ban on Hezbollah operations: Lebanon’s prime minister Nawaf Salam said Hezbollah’s military activities are “illegal acts” and demanded the group hand over its weapons. He said rocket fire from southern Lebanon was an “irresponsible and suspicious act” that threatens national security. “We prohibit Hezbollah’s military activities and confine its role to the political sphere, and we demand that the military institutions implement this,” Salam said. The Gaza Genocide and the West Bank Casualty counts: Over the past 24 hours, at least one Palestinian was killed and five wounded in Israeli attacks across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,097 killed, with 171,796 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 630 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 1,698, while 735 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israel closes Gaza crossings and halts aid staff rotations: The Israeli military has reimposed a total closure on Gaza, shutting all crossings, including Rafah, “until further notice” COGAT said humanitarian staff rotations are postponed, preventing aid workers from entering or leaving the enclave. Israeli authorities claimed the aid already present in the area would suffice for an extended period even though Israel has only allowed in a fraction of the agreed-upon aid since the ceasefire went into effect. Food prices immediately soared in Gaza with Palestinians rushing to markets for basic goods. World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés warned the organization will run out of food this week. The group is currently preparing about 1 million hot meals per day, according to their estimates. Israel blocks movement in the West Bank: Israeli forces began enforcing strict restrictions on movement for Palestinians across the occupied West Bank on Saturday as it launched its war on Iran. Some 1,000 checkpoints and entrances to cities, towns, and villages have been closed until further notice, paralyzing daily life. United States By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at [email protected]. Congress to vote on War Powers Resolution: The Senate currently plans to vote Tuesday, and the House on Wednesday, on a resolution that would put lawmakers on record on whether to limit Trump’s war on Iran. In the House, opponents of the war are actively pressuring Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Katherine Clark to whip support for the measure rather than advise members to vote however they want—referred to as a “vote of conscience” on Capitol Hill. On Saturday, Jeffries said the Trump administration must immediately explain its decision to strike Iran and clearly define its national security objectives. He also urged the White House to articulate a plan to avoid another costly and prolonged military incursion in the Middle East. “This is not a vote of conscience, this is a vote about the Constitution and Article 1 responsibilities for members of Congress,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal told Drop Site. In the first year of the Trump administration, Jeffries and Clark have largely refrained from exerting discipline over the Democratic caucus, allowing significant defections beginning with the Laiken Riley Act, which set the stage for Trump’s violent mass deportation policy. The resolution from Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie is being publicly opposed by three Democrats: Josh Gottheimer of northern New Jersey, Thomas Suozzi of Long Island, and Greg Landsman of Cincinnati. Republican Warren Davidson, also of Ohio, however, has signaled he may break ranks and support it. First anti-war ad of the midterm election cycle: Voters in Texas and North Caroline go to the polls on Tuesday in closely-watched primaries. In North Carolina’s fourth district, AIPAC is secretly funneling money through a PAC linked to Hakeem Jeffries to boost incumbent Valerie Foushee, who won in 2022 thanks to an influx of more than $2 million from AIPAC. She is facing a rematch from Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam. Allam on Monday launched an ad condemning the Iran war; it will air during the Duke-N.C. State basketball game Monday night. In it, Allam slams Foushee for taking money from defense contractors and an AI company used by the Pentagon in the attack. (Ironically, that firm, Anthropic, is being pushed out by War Secretary Pete Hegseth, but in the meantime it is spending more than $1.5 million dollars backing Foushee.) In Texas, polls have Democrat James Talarico slightly ahead of Jasmine Crockett in the Senate primary, while Attorney General Ken Paxton holds a slight lead over incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn. The GOP primary is likely to head to a very expensive runoff. If the ethically challenged, scandal-plagued Paxton emerges the primary winner, Democrats feel they have a genuine chance at flipping the seat. Rashida Tlaib, AOC denounce U.S.–Israeli strikes and call for Congress to act: On Sunday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib issued a sweeping condemnation of the U.S.–Israeli attack on Iran, calling it an “illegal war of aggression” that has already killed children and risks igniting a catastrophic regional conflict. She accused President Trump of ignoring public opposition to a new war, criticized U.S. sanctions policy, and rejected the framing of the campaign as promoting democracy, saying “you cannot ‘free’ people by killing them.” Tlaib urged Congress to reconvene to assert its war powers and stop further escalation. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran “unlawful” and “unnecessary” and said she would vote “Yes” on the measure. Sen. Tim Kaine says no imminent threat justified war with Iran: Sen. Tim Kaine said on CNN that, based on the classified information he’s seen, there was no imminent threat from Iran to the United States that would justify sending American forces into another war, and he criticized the strikes as lacking legal authority. Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has introduced the parallel War Powers Resolution in the Senate. “Trump administration officials acknowledged in closed-door briefings with congressional staff on Sunday that there was no intelligence suggesting Iran planned to attack U.S. forces first,” Reuters confirmed. Sen. John Fetterman backed strikes, even as Oman said diplomacy was close: On Sunday, Senator John Fetterman defended President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran, telling CNN that Trump had tried to negotiate firm agreements barring Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons but that Iran refused (a misstatement of the facts, according to the Omani Foreign Minister). “Remind everybody…you are never allowed to acquire nuclear weapons, and clearly they was,” he said. Dark money–funded think tanks pushed regime change: Conservative dark money networks funneled millions into think tanks advocating regime change, including the Center for Security Policy and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Donors Trust, tied to conservative legal strategist Leonard Leo and funded in part by billionaire Barre Seid, gave more than $2.7 million to the Center for Security Policy between 2020 and 2023, while the Sarah Scaife Foundation, financed by the Mellon oil fortune, provided over $1.6 million to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies during the same period. The groups have publicly urged the Iranian public to overthrow its government and warned of threats to the United States. Report from The Lever available here. Sen. Bernie Sanders unveils billionaire tax: Jeff Stein in the Washington Post reports that Sanders is proposing a mega-tax on America’s roughly 1,000 billionaires, a levy that would raise a staggering $4.4 trillion and looks to reshape the conversation around wealth and inequality. The tax would pay for $3,000 stimulus checks to everyone earning less than $150,000 a year and also go toward proving universal child care, reducing health insurance premiums, expanding Medicaid, and requiring Medicare to cover vision, hearing, and dental, among other investments in housing and education. Potential Democratic presidential candidate Ro Khanna called it a “bold economic proposal” and said he would be working with Sanders on it. LEAKED Email: Kat Abughazeleh “firmly an interventionist,” foreign policy adviser said: Kat Abughazaleh, a socialist Democratic candidate in Illinois’ 9th District and one of the only Palestinian-Americans seeking office in 2026, was described by her national security adviser as “firmly an interventionist” who “won’t stop until Russia is made to pay for its crimes,” in written responses detailing her foreign policy vision, obtained by Drop Site. Abughazaleh subsequently said the email’s content was unauthorized and the individual was no longer on her staff. She said the advisor misrepresented her as an “interventionist,” while reiterating her support for arming the Ukrainian people, and eliminating “strategic ambiguity” with respect to China/Taiwan. The full leaked email is here. Other International News 169 killed in attacks in South Sudan: At least 169 people, including 90 civilians, were killed in South Sudan on Monday after militants raided a village in Abiemnom county, a remote area of the country, according to the Associated Press. The U.N. Mission in South Sudan said in a statement that 1,000 people sought shelter with its base after the attack. The killings are part of an escalating wave of violence gripping South Sudan as forces loyal to President Salva Kiir battle armed groups believed to be loyal to opposition leader Riek Machar. Afghanistan says it fired on Pakistani jets as border fighting intensifies: Afghanistan’s Taliban administration said it carried out air defense attacks against Pakistani aircraft over Kabul on Sunday, after explosions and gunfire shook the capital, according to Reuters. Heavy fighting has escalated between the countries along the 2,600-kilometer border, with a Pakistani official declaring that they were at “open war” last week. Russian tanker bound for Cuba is drifting in the North Atlantic: The Russian tanker Sea Horse, believed to be carrying about 200,000 barrels of diesel for Cuba, was diverted on February 25 and is now drifting in the North Atlantic to avoid potential U.S. enforcement action, Bloomberg reports. Although the Treasury Department said oil resales benefiting Cuba’s private sector would be permitted, infrastructure constraints and few reported deliveries—about 150 barrels per day versus roughly 22,000 barrels needed for basic operations—suggest that the shortfall will persist. Argentine soldier detained in Venezuela released after more than a year: An Argentine soldier, Nahuel Gallo, who had been held in Venezuela since late 2024, has been released and has already left the country, Reuters reported. Argentine Senate approves Javier Milei’s anti-labor reform: On Friday, Argentina’s Senate approved a sweeping labor reform backed by President Javier Milei, with the bill passing 42–28 with two abstentions. The overhaul weakens worker protections, including the right to strike, and unions say that the employer-funded severance scheme it creates could affect pension resources. Read more on this bill from Drop Site contributor Sam Carliner. More from Drop Site DOJ records show Epstein role in Gates Foundation polio work in Pakistan: Newly released United States Department of Justice documents detail Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s anti-polio campaign in Pakistan from 2013 to 2018. Emails show Epstein positioning himself as a gatekeeper between the foundation and the International Peace Institute, and receiving confidential field reports that included sensitive information about Taliban contacts, Pakistani military operations, and references to North Atlantic Treaty Organization activity. The disclosures, which come as Bill Gates publicly acknowledges and regrets his past association with Epstein, risk further inflaming mistrust of vaccination campaigns in Pakistan, where polio eradication efforts have long been entangled with intelligence operations and regional conflict. The latest on Pakistan from Waqas Ahmed and Murtaza Hussain here. On Saturday, Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim discussed Trump’s launch of the war on Iran with guests Ali Abunimah of The Electronic Intifada and Iranian-American writer Hooman Majd, Jeremy and Ryan discussed the roots and potential futures of the conflict in Iran. That livestream is here: Jeremy Scahill joined Hasan Piker’s livestream to discuss Iran. His appearance is here: Ryan Grim joined Rania Khalek on BreakThrough News on Saturday to discuss the war on Iran, with a particular eye to the way U.S. domestic politics might forge its path. Here: Programming note: You can sign up here to get updates from us on our WhatsApp channel. If you want to continue getting this newsletter, you don’t have to do anything. But if this is too much—we do try to be mindful of your inbox—you can unsubscribe from this newsletter while continuing to get the rest of our reporting. Just go into your account here at this link, scroll down, and toggle the button next to “Drop Site Daily” to the off setting. It looks like this: Subscribe now Leave a comment From Drop Site News via this RSS feed
Now to be fair to other survival games, 7 days to die is just a terribly made game imo. They’ve been consistently dumbing it down and straying further from a zombie apocalypse every update. Nowadays zombie dogs look more like wendigos, and for a while they had literal yetis and plague spitting mummies in the game until they got a lot of shit for it and had to retexture them into proper zombies. I’ve got 900 hours in the game and I just can’t touch it anymore, it’s no longer fun.
i haven’t had much of a chance to get to game pass titles yet, but i highly recommend the A Plague Tale duology (Requiem is still on game pass and is my favourite game in recent memories). i would also recommend checking out Gamika.me, it makes filtering game pass (and ps plus) games much easier imo (although it can be a bit slow to load initially).