José Antonio Kast, a 59-year-old socially conservative Catholic and leader of the Republican Party, won the presidential runoff with 58% of the vote against centre-left candidate Jeannette Jara. This victory marks Chile's sharpest rightward shift since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship in 1990 amid voter concerns over rising crime, immigration, and economic challenges. Kast, who has defended aspects of Augusto Pinochet's regime and whose father was a former Nazi Party member, campaigned on an iron-fisted approach including mass deportations of undocumented migrants, military deployment to high-crime areas, building more prisons, and opposing abortion even in cases of rape, while moderating some positions to broaden appeal. He will take office on March 11, 2026, facing a divided congress that may limit his hardline agenda. While pundits and talking heads continue to try to smear the rightward shift as something being facilitated by ignorance and hate, they continually ignore the underlying analysis that is making people gravitate towards protectionist and nationalist leaders. People need leaders that will use the tools of the state to advance their interests, not the interests of some abstract global community, and if "far-right" leaders are the only ones offering that, then we will continue to see people find reason to support these types of leaders.

The Democratic Party, founded in 1994 as Hong Kong's leading moderate pro-democracy force pushing for universal suffrage, overwhelmingly voted with 97% support on December 14 to dissolve after over 30 years due to intense political pressure from China's 2020 national security law. That law led to arrests of leaders, electoral overhauls favoring "patriots," and warnings of consequences for continuing operations. Coinciding with the disbandment, 78-year-old pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai was convicted on national security charges including collusion with foreign forces and sedition in a trial criticized internationally as undermining press freedom and dissent. He faces a potential life sentence after over 1,800 days in solitary confinement, highlighting the broader erosion of freedoms under "one country, two systems" as dozens of civil groups have closed. While we stand firmly against the CCP's current repression of political speech, thought, and activism, it was only a matter of time until the repression cracked apart any unity among dissidents. No matter our opinion, it seems to us that Hong Kong should truly be under the jurisdiction of the CCP and Hong Kong's independence was a spectre left over from the colonial era.

New Delhi's air quality index surged to hazardous "severe" levels above 450 for multiple days (the highest this winter) due to crop residue burning in nearby states, vehicle emissions, construction, and cooler temperatures trapping pollutants. This prompted bans on construction, diesel generators and certain vehicles, water sprinklers for dust control, and allowances for hybrid school and office operations to protect public health. The thick smog caused over 40 flight cancellations, dozens of delays, more than 50 train disruptions, and a surge in hospital visits for respiratory issues, eye irritation, and complications among vulnerable groups like children and the elderly. Experts advise avoidance of outdoor activities and N95 mask use. There have been protests for weeks, and though we do not usually cover something like this as it seems more environmental than political, we see the political angle as important as the inability of the government in India to get the situation under control has allowed it to become an extremely toxic environment. Unlike an earthquake or tsunami, this disaster is the consequence of human choices over time.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is set to cut up to 35,000 mostly unfilled health care positions (including nurses, doctors, and support staff created during the COVID era) by the end of December, following earlier reductions of 30,000 jobs through attrition and buyouts, amid a nationwide shortage of applicants and a planned consolidation of regional offices. Critics, including union representatives, warn that these cuts to an already chronically understaffed agency serving millions of veterans could increase workloads for remaining employees, exacerbate access issues, and negatively impact care quality despite targeting vacant roles. If the government cannot keep its commitment to those who have served in the armed services, we have a government that cannot at all be trusted.

The Pentagon launched GenAI.mil, a dedicated platform providing nearly 3 million employees, warfighters, and contractors access to certified commercial generative AI tools starting with Google Cloud’s Gemini for Government. It features natural language processing, retrieval-augmented generation, and web-grounding to minimize hallucinations while handling Controlled Unclassified Information. The initiative supports organizational, intelligence, and warfighting use cases, aiming to embed AI as a daily force multiplier, foster innovation, expand to models from other providers like Anthropic and OpenAI, and achieve global AI dominance for national security and economic advantages as directed under the current administration. The AI revolution is well underway and it will be important to keep track of the ways it is implemented in governance, and here we see the government offering an AI platform as a product.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development launched a federal investigation into Boston's affordable housing initiatives, alleging that policies prioritizing opportunities for communities of color and encouraging banks and developers to focus on those groups violate anti-discrimination laws by potentially excluding others based on race. City officials, including Mayor Michelle Wu's office, dismissed the probe as politically motivated attacks from Washington, reaffirming commitment to addressing racial disparities in homeownership and development through equity-focused programs. We continue to suggest that though efforts like this are well-intended, there is a reason they fall outside the bounds of the law. Governments can't discriminate like this and it doesn't matter if that discrimination is the negative or positive kind. We have to find other ways to deal with these existing disparities if we don't want them all to be rolled away by legal authorities.

City Councilor Barb Warwick proposed a 30% increase in the real estate tax millage rate from 8.06 to 10.48 mills for 2026 (the first hike in 11 years) to generate additional revenue for core services and close multimillion-dollar budget gaps amid economic pressures. The change would cost owners of a $100,000-valued home an extra $242 annually or about $20 monthly, with a public hearing scheduled for December 22 and final approval needed by year's end from council and potentially overriding a mayoral veto. This is an absurd idea, and hopefully the council shoots it down. However, the notion that a major city would even consider raising property taxes this high was something worth noting.

A federal audit found New York issuing non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses to individuals without verified long-term work authorization in systematic violation of safety regulations, prompting threats to withhold $73 million in highway funds and potentially revoke the state's CDL certification if not addressed within 30 days. Required actions include pausing new issuances, voiding invalid licenses, and conducting a full program audit, while state DMV officials accused federal authorities of misrepresenting facts in response. This level of regulatory dysfunction does seem like it would trigger oversight and intervention.

A bipartisan Senate Bill 1014, unanimously advanced by the Education Committee, mandates a "bell-to-bell" cellphone ban in K-12 schools. This prohibits student access throughout the day including lunch and recess, with districts deciding storage methods and exceptions for specific needs, to combat distractions, mental health issues, and learning impacts linked to excessive use. Supported by research showing associations with depression, anxiety, lower grades, and dependency symptoms, plus positive outcomes in states with similar bans, the policy would take effect in the 2027-2028 school year, aligning Pennsylvania with growing national trends. Perhaps these sorts of regulations are the way to go as they not only seem intuitively correct but also are being quickly adopted all throughout the nation.