JFK Files Released and International Tensions – 3/18/2025

United States

  • Trump administration reportedly plans significant reductions to HIV prevention funding, per The Wall Street Journal
  • A judge has temporarily blocked Trump’s EPA from revoking $20 billion in climate grants, per Politico
  • Federal authorities arrest filmmaker Carl Erik Rinsch for allegedly defrauding Netflix of $11 million over an unfinished sci-fi series, per NBC
  • A CIA cable from November 23, 1963, reveals a Polish driver’s warning of a Soviet plot to pay a U.S. individual to assassinate President Kennedy, per JFK Files, 104-10068-10142
  • Declassified files show CIA approval to train operative ‘Lemur-1’ for a covert aquatic mission codenamed AQUATIC LEMUR, per JFK Files 104-10068-10164
  • CIA documents expose infiltration of a Mexico City journalist seminar in November 1963 to gather intelligence, per JFK Files 104-10068-10172
  • Birth rates shift as more U.S. women over 40 have children while teen births hit a record low, per NBC
  • CIA tracked a yacht tied to Cuban exiles smuggling weapons as Argentine beef, later modified in secret, per JFK Files, 104-10069-1077
  • CIA monitored a Cuban exile group in Minnesota smuggling supplies into Cuba, per JFK File 1104-10069-10120
  • Auto market stability is threatened by looming price increases, per NBC
  • CIA collaborated with a New Orleans group to broadcast anti-Communist radio across Latin America, per JFK File 1104-10069-10260
  • President Trump dismisses both Democratic FTC commissioners, per Reuters
  • Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore safely land on Earth via SpaceX splashdown after nine months stranded in orbit, per AP
  • White House unveils app allowing migrants to opt for self-deportation or risk permanent U.S. ban
  • A judge overturns Trump’s transgender military service ban, ruling it indefinite, per AP
  • FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover pushed for a swift report hours after Oswald’s death to quash conspiracy theories, writing, “there is nothing further on the Oswald case except that he is dead,” per JFK File 198-10007-10029
  • National Archives confirms no evidence links U.S. Secret Service, CIA, or FBI to JFK’s assassination
  • A site called “Dogequest” allegedly leaks personal info of Tesla owners, demanding they sell their cars to be removed, amid rising anti-Tesla incidents, per New York Post
  • ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith urges Democrats to drop gender-neutral bathrooms and transgender pronouns to reconnect with working-class voters
  • A food worker who said MAGA supporters should be barred from Mexican restaurants claims she lost her job over the viral video, per Eric Daugherty
  • BlackRock CEO Larry Fink warns of a looming shortage of electricians in the U.S., per FORTUNE
  • National average income for a single person to live comfortably reaches approximately $94,000
  • Louisiana conducts its first execution using nitrogen gas
  • Judge Ana C. Reyes, appointed by Biden, blocks Trump’s transgender military ban
  • A CIA memo suggests Jack Ruby allegedly met Lee Harvey Oswald at a nightclub weeks before JFK’s assassination
  • Ex-New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu reveals ongoing talks with GOP leaders about a potential 2026 Senate bid, per Fox

International

  • A 1963 CIA report explores using Cambodian dissident Son Ngoc Thanh against Prince Sihanouk, with Taiwan assessing his potential for assassination plots, per National Archives, File 176-10037-10460
  • In 1962, a South Vietnamese officer warned President Diem of rising coup risks amid military unrest, per National Archives, File 176-10037-10452
  • China and Cuba offered military aid to Brazilian governor Leonel Brizola in 1961, who declined to avoid U.S. backlash, per National Archives, File 176-10037-10440
  • Communist diplomats in 1963 speculated on Kennedy’s assassination, with a Soviet official citing “radical right-wing elements” in the U.S., per National Archives, File 176-10037-10120
  • Liberal Mark Carney overtakes conservative Pierre Poilievre as the Polymarket favorite for Canada’s next election
  • A 1962 U.S. report described Vietnam’s war as a stalemate with persistent Viet Cong strength, per National Archives, File 176-10036-10179
  • Before Kennedy’s death, a 1962 report warned of a growing Viet Cong threat despite U.S. efforts, per National Archives, File 176-10036-10173
  • Cuban exile group Alpha-66 planned to sabotage Cuba’s power plants with hidden weapons shipments, per JFK File 104-10069-10132
  • A secret 1962 Miami meeting between CIA, Army, and Cuban exiles refined intelligence operations, per JFK File 104-10069-10185
  • In 1963, South Vietnamese officials plotted to oust President Diem, fearing a power vacuum, per National Archives, File 176-10036-10149
  • A South Vietnamese colonel in 1963 sought Air Force backing for a swift coup against Diem, per National Archives, File 176-10036-10143
  • Colonel Pham Ngoc Thao alleged Diem’s advisor Ngo Dinh Nhu considered Communist ties in 1963, per National Archives, File 176-10036-10143
  • CIA files name Latin American leaders, like Argentina’s Alfredo Palacios, who opposed U.S. influence in 1961, per JFK File 1104-1070-10272
  • In 1952, CIA arranged a fake job for agent William J. Accin to mask a covert overseas mission, per JFK File 104-10070-10296
  • Trump asserts Russian forces have encircled 2,500 Ukrainian troops, repeating earlier claims with new specifics
  • Zelensky declares Ukrainian troops will hold Kursk as long as strategically required, saying, “Ukrainian military personnel remain in Kursk and will remain there as long as this operation is necessary”
  • Hungary’s parliament votes 136-27 to prohibit public LGBT Pride events, citing potential presence of children
  • Parents of missing U.S. student Sudiksha Konanki, lost in the Dominican Republic, request she be declared dead after authorities conclude she drowned, per AP