In Benin, a group of mid-ranking officers appeared on state television on Sunday night to declare the dissolution of the government, suspension of the constitution, and closure of all borders. They cited widespread corruption and economic mismanagement under President Patrice Talon. Within hours Nigeria deployed F-7 fighter jets and elite troops to Benin’s border, the African Union suspended Benin’s membership, and ECOWAS activated its standby force while the UN Security Council scheduled an emergency session. There’s been a series of military coups recently throughout the African continent; this one, though, does not seem like it will be very successful.

The 187-page IMF paper explicitly warns that unregulated dollar-pegged stablecoins are accelerating de-dollarization in emerging markets by enabling instant capital flight and undermining domestic monetary policy transmission. On the same day, BRICS finance ministers formally launched “BRICS Pay Coin,” a gold-backed digital settlement token already accepted by central banks in Russia, India, South Africa, and the new members Iran, Egypt, and UAE for cross-border trade. Shoutout to BRICS: the most significant element of getting the world out of the bind it’s currently in requires upending the dominance of the global banking cartel. Also, the IMF is full of s***; they are simply running cover for the interests of global capital and their warnings should be dismissed out of hand.

Royal Thai Air Force F-16s armed with precision-guided munitions struck at least eight Cambodian artillery and command posts near Preah Vihear temple after Cambodian forces allegedly shelled Thai villages and killed four civilians. More than 18,000 residents on both sides have evacuated, hospitals in Surin and Siem Reap are overwhelmed with wounded soldiers, and both nations have recalled ambassadors while moving additional armored units to the disputed zone. While a peace deal was seemingly in the works, it remains unclear that these two nations are able to maintain a stable border, which has tremendously negative implications for ordinary people in Southeast Asia.

After posting combined losses of over $200 billion in 2023 and 2024 due to paying high interest on reserves while holding long-dated bonds bought at near-zero yields, surging interest income in 2025 has returned the Federal Reserve System to profitability for the first time since rate hikes began. The Fed will resume quarterly remittances to the Treasury in Q1 2026 and potentially add $80 to $100 billion annually to federal revenue. It’s good news to see the Fed functioning better than it has for the last several years; nonetheless it’s a corrupt institution and needs to be abolished. We can’t make it any clearer how we feel about central banks and their role in fundamentally eroding the sovereignty of peoples all throughout the world.

Facing a budget that has remained essentially flat since 2015 while application volume rose 40%, NIH funded only 16.8% of competitive grant proposals in fiscal 2025 compared to 21.3% the prior year. Cancer-research awards alone dropped 24%. Thousands of established labs now face closure or severe downsizing, prompting warnings of a “lost generation” of biomedical researchers. State-level governments are going to have to step into the gap and use their resources to ensure public institutions, like flagship state universities, have the funds they need to conduct quality research.

The $2 billion Low-No Emission Bus Program will fund the purchase of 1,800 battery-electric and hydrogen buses plus charging infrastructure across 48 states. The largest awards are going to Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and rural consortia in Appalachia and the Deep South. The grants require at least 40% of funds to benefit environmental-justice communities and mandate that all new buses be American-made. Buses are awesome and the more funding we can have to improve basic infrastructure the better.

Enabled by special home-rule legislation signed by Governor Healey, the 13% residential levy increase is the largest single-year jump since the 1980s. It will shift more of the tax burden from vacant downtown office towers onto homeowners to prevent a fiscal crisis. The average single-family home valued at $850,000 will see an additional $1,050 to $1,200 in property taxes starting January 2026. Public officials are going to have to get serious about finding creative ways to significantly reduce spending, because increasingly turning to taxing homeowners into oblivion is not a sustainable solution.

Mayor Cherelle Parker’s five-year, $2 billion Housing for Our Most Essential plan combines land-bank reforms, tax-abatement expansion, and $750 million in direct city bonds to preserve or build 40,000 affordable units. Half are reserved for households earning under 30% of area median income. City Council unanimously advanced the enabling budget ordinances last week, clearing the way for construction to begin in spring 2026. So we’ve returned full circle to rebuilding the projects; it’s literally like we never learn. Perhaps, though, this will work out great and these public funds will help usher in the affordable, walkable, and desirable urban cities everyone is dreaming of.

Enrollment has plummeted from 203,000 in 2014 to 182,800 this fall due to charter-school growth, population decline, and families leaving the city. This has left more than 60 buildings under 50% capacity and contributes to a $400 million annual structural deficit. Superintendent Tony Watlington announced the first wave of 15 to 20 school closures and mergers will be finalized by March 2026, with affected buildings repurposed for early-childhood centers or sold. We keep going on about the demographic cliff, but it really won’t dawn on the public writ large until they see signs of significant distress like schools closing, cities shrinking, and infrastructure degrading.

The Maine Human Rights Commission added MSAD 52 (Turner, Leeds, and Greene) to its ongoing civil-rights lawsuit. It alleges the district’s policy requiring students to use bathrooms and play on sports teams matching their birth certificate violates the Maine Human Rights Act and constitutes illegal discrimination. Five other districts are already defendants in the case, which seeks statewide injunctions and could reach the Maine Supreme Judicial Court next year. The culture wars continue on, although, at least in our opinion, issues like these are losing steam and people are starting to be less adamant about reshaping the world to accommodate these sorts of requests.