Rob Jetten, the 38-year-old leader of the progressive D66 party, was sworn in as the Netherlands' youngest ever and first openly gay prime minister heading a centre-right minority coalition of D66, VVD and CDA with just 66 of 150 seats. The government must win case-by-case parliamentary support for every reform including raising defense spending to 3.5 percent of GDP via a new "freedom tax" while cutting welfare benefits, raising healthcare contributions and tightening asylum rules.

China has banned exports of dual-use items including rare earths such as dysprosium, yttrium and samarium to 20 Japanese defense-linked entities including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipbuilding and aero engine units while adding another 20 firms such as Subaru Corp to a watch list requiring stricter individual licenses. The measures target remilitarization and nuclear ambitions amid Japan's defense spending increases and have been called completely unacceptable by Tokyo which demanded immediate withdrawal. The back and forth between China and Japan over the last year or so has been quite alarming and each country seems to be taking every opportunity to provoke the other.

Chad has closed its eastern border with Sudan following clashes in the border town of al-Tina between Sudan's Rapid Support Forces and local fighters aligned with the Sudanese army that killed five Chadian soldiers and three civilians while wounding at least 12 others. The action aims to stop further spillover from Sudan's civil war which has already pushed nearly a million refugees into Chad with reports of militants crossing into Chadian territory. The situation in Sudan is not only tragic for the Sudanese people caught in a horrific warzone, it has serious implications for the entire region as can be seen by the spillover into Chad. Again, we suggest larger entities should support Sudan in quelling the rebel forces as this civil war has simply gone on for too long.

The Justice Department has shelved pursuit of charges against six Democratic lawmakers including Senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin who released a 90-second video reminding service members of their duty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice to refuse unlawful orders. A federal grand jury refused to indict the group under a law carrying up to 10 years in prison for urging insubordination with the case tied to concerns over U.S. military strikes resulting in over 130 deaths. It's quite useful that the grand jury refused to indict because that type of political lawfare is undesirable at the moment. That said, I hope it does not inspire more antagonism from politicians who hope to score political points by driving a wedge between the federal administration and the members of the military.

Dozens of Democrats will boycott President Trump's State of the Union address, choosing silent protest and counterprogramming events such as the People's State of the Union instead of attending the joint session of Congress. The speech will likely focus on the economy and foreign policy including tariffs and Iran while potentially breaking previous records for length set by Trump's earlier 100-minute address. We'll discuss this more tomorrow I imagine but I thought it was worth noting in advance.

School safety grants and community engagement programs are moving from the Department of Education to the Department of Health and Human Services, while oversight of foreign university gifts over $250,000 will shift to the State Department under new interagency agreements. These changes continue the reorganization to dismantle federal education bureaucracy by parceling out functions for greater efficiency and state-level control with special education programs remaining in place for now. All of these maneuvers make sense given the mandates of these other agencies. Hopefully this dismantling process results in more attention to education at the local level.Local

Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public emergency after the collapse of the Potomac Interceptor pipeline spilled 250 million gallons of untreated sewage into the river with temporary pipes diverting flow for repairs. The declaration seeks federal disaster assistance and presidential support for full reimbursement of cleanup costs while assuring residents that drinking water remains safe but advising against river contact. This is one of the biggest water disasters in American history and I'm not sure it's wise to try to assuage residents' fears about the quality of the water so quickly.

Kansas's new law effective February 27 requires driver's licenses and birth certificates to list only biological sex assigned at birth invalidating approximately 1,700 existing licenses and up to 1,800 birth certificates reflecting transgender identities while enforcing bathroom and facility restrictions. Attorney General Kris Kobach is dropping a related lawsuit against Governor Laura Kelly as the legislation overrides prior policies. Culture war issues make for sticky policy situations as now we are locked into a chaotic back and forth over documentation that should be pretty mundane.

Maryland's attorney general has filed suit to block the Trump administration's plan to convert a warehouse in Washington County's Williamsport area into a new ICE immigration detention facility. The lawsuit challenges the closed-door purchase process and seeks to prevent construction amid the administration's push to expand detention capacity nationwide. For those looking for resistance to the expansion of ICE this is great news. I remain increasingly concerned about the breakdown in cooperation between state governments and the federal government. However, these are powers the state of Maryland has and can use, so to be clear, I'm not condemning the move just concerned about what it tells us about the political climate of the country.

The Virginia Senate budget would phase out the data center sales and use tax exemption starting January 2027 to redirect an estimated $1.6 billion in annual lost revenue toward transportation water infrastructure and resident rebates while the House plan retains the credit through at least 2050 with added clean energy requirements. Lawmakers are debating the exemption's cost to ratepayers for energy infrastructure against industry claims of tens of thousands of jobs and billions in investment driven by the AI boom. We've hinged the entire U.S. economy on the success of AI making me think, in the end, the demands of AI focused companies will need to be met.