Weather Report #17: A new space opera with a great hook, a fictional movie about a real kidnapping, and what I'm reading about the US bombing Iran.
Consuming 06/22/2025

Good morning, dear reader! Welcome to the Weather Report, a weekly recommendation of media and news you should consume. This week it's brought to you by a sick journalist who's been rotting in bed since Thursday.
Here's what you're getting this week:
- The last in my four-part series for The Latino Newsletter about immigration enforcement in Puerto Rico. It's seemingly the only reporting about the conditions about where migrants are held in the archipelago.
- Former Puerto Rico governor Wanda Vázquez Garced will plead guilty to misdemeanor soon.
- Big Oil wants the court to hear them out in PR RICO case.
- A great new space opera comic set after the revolution that reminds me of Andor and Dune.
- A fictional movie about a very real kidnapping in Latin America.
- Articles and essays about the US bombing Iran, AI slop, private military contractors, immigration enforcement, and the LA protests.
- Four songs I put on while sick in bed.
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What I Did This Week:
I wrote about the fear and detention migrants are facing in Puerto Rico for The Latino Newsletter. For this story, I spoke with a Venezuelan woman with TPS who's afraid of being picked up by ICE and several Dominican men who have been held in immigration detention in Puerto Rico and the United States.
There haven't been too many deep dives into what immigration enforcement is like in PR. I couldn't really find a good breakdown of what the conditions are inside the temporary detention centers, so I tried to find out myself. One migrant described a horrid place without much food or water, while another said he was relatively well cared for. As the immigration crackdown continues, I think the former's description will be the more common one, sadly.
Also, The New York Times falsely reported that there's only one detention center in PR, when there are at least three and more if you count the federal prison and the cells at the airport. So, support independent journalism if you want accurate reporting about Puerto Rico.
You can find the article here: https://thelatinonewsletter.org/p/fear-and-detention-in-puerto-rico.
If you want to see the behind-the-scenes reporting process for this story, you can find that here.
Updates:
Former PR Gov Will Plead Guilty Soon
Wanda Vázquez Garced, alongside co-defendants Julio Herrera Verlutini and Mark Rossini, said they were available to plead guilty to a misdemeanor on June 30 or July 1, according to court documents filed Friday afternoon.
The Information (the document that lays out charges against a person) will "charge a misdemeanor violation of 52 U.S.C. § 30121 (Contribution by a Foreign National) and § 30109(d)(1)(A)(ii) (Penalties for Violations)," reads the document.
I'm not going to lie to you, dear reader, this sucks. I was really hoping that this case would go to trial because: 1) corrupt politicians should be dragged through the mud and punished for defrauding the public, and 2) it would likely lead to A LOT of private government documents seeing the light of day because of discovery, which is a goldmine for journalists.
Alas, that's not going to happen anymore, and the defendants will likely just have to pay a fine and move on with their lives.
Big Oil Wants the Court to Hear Them Out
The fossil fuel companies currently being sued by 37 Puerto Rican municipalities requested an oral argument on their objections to a judge saying they should face certain racketeering and antitrust claims, according to court documents filed on Wednesday. The companies said they will be available to make the arguments as soon as the court's schedule is open to it.
Meanwhile, on Friday, the court submitted an order saying that both sides needed to explain how the Supreme Court's decision on Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization affects this case. If you want a thorough explanation of what happened there, SCOTUSblog has a good writeup.
Truth be told, I could see the Supreme Court's decision bolstering the municipalities argument because they're claiming the fossil fuel companies actions everywhere in the world led to Hurricane Maria and Irma in 2017. However, we'll have to wait and see what both sides argue.
That's it for this week's free stuff. If you want to see the media recommendations and the link roundup, you can become a paid subscriber today.