King Maha Vajiralongkorn has arrived in Beijing for a five-day state visit invited by President Xi Jinping to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Thailand-China diplomatic ties, marking the first such visit by a Thai monarch. The itinerary includes meetings with Xi and Premier Li Qiang, visits to Lingguang Buddhist Temple and Beijing Aerospace City, a state banquet, and underscores growing economic and cultural relations, including China’s role as Thailand’s largest trading partner and recent cooperation on security issues. China clearly has been on a quest to promote unification and alignment in its region among those willing to cooperate with their larger agenda and rightly so.

Germany’s coalition government agreed on a voluntary military service plan to expand the Bundeswehr, rejecting full conscription while allowing partial compulsory enlistment as a last resort if recruitment targets are unmet. The scheme requires all 18-year-olds to register and complete questionnaires with mandatory responses for men, offers incentives like €2,600 monthly pay and free driving licenses, aims to increase forces to up to 270,000 active personnel and 200,000 reservists by 2029, and addresses security threats from Russia amid concerns over U.S. NATO commitment, with 54% public support. It will be interesting to see how this alternative to a conscription via draft goes, it strikes us that much like trying to solve the demographic crisis the chief impediment isn’t simply a lack of incentives but deeper cultural and social shifts that make the military unappealing for many young German men.

Israeli settlers conducted violent attacks in the West Bank, including burning a mosque in Deir Istiya with graffiti and setting fires to vehicles, farmland, and property in Beit Lid and Deir Sharaf, resulting in injuries to Palestinians and clashes with Israeli soldiers. President Isaac Herzog and military leaders condemned the surge in settler violence as shocking and unacceptable, with over 260 incidents recorded in October alone amid the olive harvest season and a total of around 1,500 attacks in 2025, prompting calls for decisive action, international concern over regional stability, and arrests of suspects. Beyond waging a genocide in Gaza, Israel has also shown an inability to implement the rule of law and ensure its citizens are held responsible for criminally dispossessing people of land and harming both property and persons.

The percentage of U.S. adults considering religion important in daily life has dropped to 49%, a 17-point decline since 2015, marking one of the largest global decreases. This trend aligns with rising religious unaffiliation at 29% and declining Christian identification to 62% from 78% in 2007, while comparable drops occurred in countries like Greece with a 28-point decline, Italy at 23 points, and Poland at 22 points, positioning the U.S. closer to the OECD median of 36% amid expectations of 15,000 church closures this year. While we do not advocate explicitly for the adoption of any particular faith tradition, this decline is helpful in understanding that many of the problems we face are not simply economic or political but spiritual in nature. In the same way a country full of physically undeveloped people is inevitably going to take a toll on a country, the mass acceptance of spiritually underdeveloped people is a recipe for hedonism and chaos.

The U.S. government has reopened after a 43-day shutdown which was the longest shutdown of our federal government in history. The shutdown ended with President Trump signing a funding bill that passed with support from six Democrats who prioritized ending public hardship over extreme partisan allegiance. The legislation guarantees back pay for 1.4 million federal workers, funds SNAP through September 2026, allows gradual reopening of museums and national parks, includes TSA bonuses and a Senate provision for lawsuits over Jan. 6 phone records, and addresses ongoing disruptions like air travel delays, IRS backlogs, and economic data impairments. Perhaps we need to have a very serious national dialogue about the harm extreme partisanship is doing to our country as the government continues to operate as though it’s a car with a long ignored check engine light on.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics may never release the October jobs and inflation reports due to halted data collection during the 43-day government shutdown, potentially impairing the federal statistical system permanently. While September data will be issued soon, the absence of October unemployment rates and other metrics from household surveys could hinder Federal Reserve decisions amid recall bias concerns, with economic costs estimated at $15 billion per week and 60,000 non-federal job losses from ripple effects. This data is particularly useful for those trying to assess the health of the American economy and the ongoing failures of this bureau are starting to make keeping track of the economic situation in the country increasingly difficult.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther proposed a $1.26 billion 2026 budget emphasizing public safety, housing stability, and basic services. The plan allocates $851.8 million for safety including new police and fire recruits and youth programs, $6.5 million for homelessness prevention and rental assistance, and funds for parks operations, street maintenance, and waste collection to support equitable community prosperity. This vision seems to assume things are looking upward at a time where it appears to us that wise leadership would be buckling down and preparing for seriously difficult times ahead.

A federal judge ordered the release of hundreds arrested in Chicago’s Operation Midway Blitz immigration raids starting September 2025 for violating a consent decree prohibiting warrantless arrests, affecting up to 615 detainees who can post bond and wear monitors pending cases. Community efforts including MigraWatch trainings for over 2,000 people, Whistlemania kits, and mutual aid raising $230,000 for impacted vendors have supported resistance, with estimates of 1,300 illegally detained and immediate releases for at least 13 individuals. While understandably people are impassioned regarding the enforcement of federal immigration law, it seems wise to us to allow the police to conduct their business unimpeded.

Meta pledged over $1 billion to construct a 700,000 square-foot AI data center in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, set to open in 2027 and create 100 jobs, with $200 million for energy infrastructure. A proposed state bill aims to establish guardrails for data centers including prevailing wages and renewable energy requirements, while Microsoft develops interconnected AI facilities in Wisconsin as part of a superfactory network using advanced GPU systems and liquid cooling. We try to routinely keep track of the advancement of data centers across the country as they are clearly critical infrastructure in relation to the AI revolution that is taking place but come with serious baggage such as serious public health risks and environmental concerns.

The Detroit Reparations Task Force released recommendations addressing historical harms like enslavement, redlining, and discriminatory policies, proposing programs for eligible Black residents including housing grants up to $40,000 and 1,000 affordable units. Additional measures include $100,000 business grants, police reforms ending qualified immunity, water shutoff moratoriums, free community college, food sovereignty funds, environmental reparations zones, and a cultural programs office, funded through taxes and fees with oversight by an independent board. We here at Mituye stand fully in support of reparations for Black Americans, but firmly believe they must come from the federal government as city governments are likely unable to afford or meaningfully advance proposals like this one.