U.S. Personnel Who Died in Mexico Were Working For the CIA, Sources Say Two Americans killed in Mexico, previously identified only as embassy staff but working for the CIA, participated in a raid on a drug lab.

BREAKING: U.S. Personnel Who Died in Mexico Were Working For the CIA, Sources Say

Two Americans killed in Mexico, previously identified only as “staff from the United States Embassy,” participated in a raid on a drug lab.

theintercept.com/2026/04/21/c...

Frankenstein (1910). Kind of wild to consider that its release is closer in time to the publication of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel than to the present day

Filmmakers Jason Osder, Will Youmans and Alex Odeh’s daughter Helena Odeh speaking on the documentary Who Killed Alex Odeh for the 25th Chicago Palestine Film Festival.

Cuba: The Bay of Pigs Invasion 65 Years Later Washington D.C., April 16, 2026 - In the wake of the failed CIA-led Bay of Pigs invasion, President John F. Kennedy considered reconfiguring and even dismantling the intelligence agency, according to ...

In the wake of the failed CIA-led Bay of Pigs invasion, President Kennedy considered reconfiguring and even dismantling the Agency, according to documents posted by the National Security Archive on the 65th anniversary of the paramilitary assault on Cuba. nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

In A Trip to the Moon (1902), the space travellers return to Earth by splashing down in the sea

Iranian President Sayyid Mohammad Khatami

Bombing To Win, which I am sure most American foreign policy experts have read

Warfare in a Box | Benjamin Fogel South Africa’s Executive Outcomes offered a modern army for hire.

In our new issue, @benjaminfogel.bsky.social tells the story of Executive Outcomes, the South African private military company that reinvented the mercenary for a new age of warfare.

A Disappearing Data Chronology About the ExhibitThe Disappearing Data Chronology documents fundamental changes to the federal information landscape under the Trump administration, including major data losses and restorations, legal...

Today, the Archive published a Disappearing Data Chronology--a timeline tracking changes in access to federal information under Trump, including major data losses and restorations, legal challenges to information takedowns, and threats to archival collections. nsarchive.gwu.edu/special-exhi...

But behind the scenes, Israeli officials have conveyed a more targeted message. In private calls to local leaders across southern Lebanon, Israeli military officials have assured several Christian and Druse communities that they could remain in the evacuation zone. They have pressed them, however, to force out any Lebanese from neighboring Shiite Muslim communities who have sought refuge among them as Israeli bombardment flatten Shiite towns, according to local Christian, Druse and Shiite leaders who spoke to The New York Times. The Shiites make up the majority of southern Lebanon.

So what this describes is ethnic cleansing www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/w...

Cap’n Crunch and the Serial Killer: John McNaughton on His Career Currently underway at the the Nitehawk Cinema in Prospect Park, “Portraits of Wild Things: The Films of John McNaughton” is a long overdue retrospective of the Chicago-based filmmaker of Henry…

from this interview: filmmakermagazine.com/127515-inter...

John McNaughton telling a story about the time he met George Lucas and Lucas couldn’t stop talking about Peter Watkins’ Culloden

Metropolis (1927)
Directed by Fritz Lang

Argentina’s Military Coup of 1976: What the U.S. Knew Washington, D.C., March 23, 2021 - On the eve of the 45th anniversary of the military coup in Argentina, the National Security Archive is today posting declassified documents revealing what the U.S. g...

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the military dictatorship in Argentina. The National Security Archive has published hundreds of declassified U.S. documents over the years on the coup, Operation Condor, and the U.S. role in supporting the regime. (Click below)
nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

Buster Keaton in Hard Luck (1921)

Mueller’s FBI persecuted Muslims nationwide. He was responsible for one of the most egregious, systemic violations of civil rights in the history of the FBI, which is saying a whole lot.

This was Mueller’s FBI:

Collections - Chicago Film Archives CFA's collections contain films of all genres, including documentaries, experimental films, and home movies, many available for streaming.

This is a thread of items from the collections of Chicago Film Archives that are newly available to view online. You can search the collection here: www.chicagofilmarchives.org/collections/

It's St. Patrick's Day AND Election Day, Illinois! ☘️🗳️

Politics and politicians have long been a staple of Chicago's downtown St. Patrick's Day parade. In 1977, many floats were dedicated to the recently deceased and famously Irish Mayor Richard J. Daley.

The use of POV shots in Abel Gance's Napoléon (1927) feels ahead of its time

Long Before MAGA’s White Grievance, There Was Bernie Goetz In 1984, a white man named Bernie Goetz shot four unarmed black youths on a New York City subway train. The tabloids hailed him as a fed-up everyman — rhetoric that permeated the culture and intensifi...

Here's my review of @historianheather.bsky.social's excellent new book FEAR AND FURY in @jacobinmag.bsky.social. Many thanks to Meagan Day for the edits, and many thanks to Heather for writing yet another monumentally important book.🗃️

jacobin.com/2026/03/goet...

Reread No One Left to Lie To recently and for all of Hitchens faults it’s incredible how his moral and political appraisal of the modern Democratic Party establishment/movement still sticks pretty well.

Ali Khamenei’s killing continues long US tradition of letting others pull the trigger Declassified documents reveal details about the long history of the US seeking allies willing to cooperate to kill.

Here is an article @lucatrenta.bsky.social and I wrote in @uk.theconversation.com that situates the Khamenei killing within long hist of assassination plots where US prefers that someone else pulls the trigger. Based @nsarchive.bsky.social docs posted over years
theconversation.com/ali-khamenei...

Ryan Coogler and Paul Thomas Anderson posing together with their Oscars

the boys!

Paul Bremer ran Iraq for Bush. His emails reveal panic and chaos ‘I am now officially the government of Iraq,’ Bremer wrote to his wife in private messages from 2003 unearthed by The Sunday Times. In frank detail, they show the dangers of waging war without the rig...

One of our students, Nick Davis, made an extraordinary discovery whilst researching for his history dissertation at
Girton College, Cambridge. Tomorrow his findings will feature on the front page of The Sunday Times Magazine.
Today's online version is here: www.thetimes.com/article/00b2...

Power without a throne: how Khalifa Haftar controls Libya – and is answerable to no one The long read: When Nato helped overthrow Gaddafi in 2011, there were hopes of a new beginning. More than a decade later, this former CIA asset runs the country – and Libya has become yet another less...

An incredible piece by Anas El Gomati. If you have the slightest interest, read immediately www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

Betting Against Increased Taxes, DraftKings Is Spending Big on Illinois State Races The sports gambling industry is pouring more than a million dollars into local Illinois races in a gambit to evade regulations and higher taxes.

DraftKings wants your legislature.

@matthewccook5.bsky.social reports a DraftKings-backed super PAC is pouring $1.2M into Illinois Democratic primaries, backing candidates who’ll block tighter rules and higher taxes after the state’s per-bet tax cut into profits.

Published today for the first time today, "Plan Victoria 82" is an essential Guatemalan army document describing its counterinsurgency strategy during the year of the Dos Erres massacre. nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/338...

Lost 19th century film by Méliès discovered at the Library | Timeless Library conservators recently made a startling discovery in a batch of decaying film reels -- a long-lost 1897 film by early cinema icon George Méliès. The French magician-turned-filmmaker's

In September, a box of old film reels was donated to the Library's National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. One of them was a nearly 130-year-old, long-lost film by iconic French filmmaker George Méliès. It had not been seen by anyone in likely more than a century. 🧵
blogs.loc.gov/loc/2026/02/...

The first film adaptation of Wuthering Heights was released in 1920. Today it is believed to be a lost film

Obama Presidency Oral History The Obama Presidency as told by 450+ officials, activists, organizers, and extraordinary people from all walks of life.

So the Obama administration oral history project went live today. An extraordinary resource for historians and teachers, and a great credit to the team of folks who compiled them all, including Evan McCormick, @pastpunditry.bsky.social and many others.

Frederick Wiseman - rare case where a 96-year-old filmmaker’s death feels tragic because they had so much more left to do. Uninterrupted streak of curiosity, empathy, wisdom, and quiet anger, ended only by the reality of living in a human body.