Weather Report #48: A neo-noir J-horor thriller, a podcast about the Dominican Republic's immigration enforcement, and more...
Consuming 06/29/2026
Hello, dear reader! Welcome to your Weather Report, a (sometimes) weekly column where I recommend some articles, a movie, and some music for readers to consume.
Here's what you're getting this week:
- Listen to a podcast I hosted about how the United States shaped the Dominican Republic's border and immigration enforcement from the early 1900s to the modern day.
- Get ready for a podcast about how the colonial relationship between the United States and the Puerto Rico has shaped the Caribbean archipelago's culture, society, and more.
- Essays, articles, and columns about: how Big Oil shaped a landmark climate study, a group of migrants deported to Venezuela by Trump that are nowhere to be found after the recent earthquakes, and how zines were used to sentence anti-ICE activists to decades in prison.
- A J-horror neo-noir movie about a malignant virus spreading through society that causes a series of murders in Tokyo. This movie should be in conversation for one of the best horror movies ever made.
- The only ambient playlist I've been listening to lately.
If you're interested in seeing the recommendations – and supporting Heavy Weather's quest to keep tabs on collapse – you can become a paid subscriber by clicking the button below. Paid subscribers get access to the MEDIA LIST, a comprehensive list of every book, movie, and video game I've ever recommended. If you're already a paid subscriber, thank you very much! This newsletter would literally not be possible without your support.
What I Did This Week:
A couple of weeks ago, I was on one of my favorite podcasts, It Could Happen Here, to talk about how the United States shaped the Dominican Republic's border and immigration enforcement. The podcast takes the listener from the early 1900s, when the US essentially created the Dominican Republic/Haiti border through its customs receivership and ensuing military occupation, to the modern day and how the DR border force was created with the help of American officials and training.
I'm going to be doing a few more podcasts about the Caribbean for them, so stay tuned!
Updates:
We're on the verge of the United States' 250th birthday, a terrible celebration of a bad place that's only getting worse as the years go by. Puerto Rico has been a colonial possession of the US for about 128 of those 250 years, which has irreparably altered our culture, society, and even the very land that I'm standing on as I right this. To mark the anniversary, the team over at The Latino Newsletter is releasing an 8-part podcast series about the relationship between the US and PR, and how it has affected aspects of Puerto Rico, like our baseball, music, and more!
The first episode premieres on Saturday, July 4!
That's it for this week's free stuff. If you want to see the media recommendations and the link round-up, you can become a paid subscriber today.
