Asses&Villains: Pumping the Brakes on Ukraine

Secretary of State Marco Rubio halted spending Friday on most existing foreign aid grants for 90 days. The order, which shocked State Department officials, appears to apply to funding for military assistance to Ukraine.

Rubio’s guidance, issued to all diplomatic and consular posts, requires department staffers to issue “stop-work orders” on nearly all “existing foreign assistance awards,” according to the document, which was obtained by POLITICO. It is effective immediately.

It appears to go further than President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, which instructed the department to pause foreign aid grants for 90 days pending review by the secretary. It had not been clear from the president’s order if it would affect already appropriated funds or Ukraine aid.

The new guidance means no further actions will be taken to disperse aid funding to programs already approved by the U.S. government, according to three current and two former officials familiar with the new guidance.

Back in CA, Trump just completely circumvented the land grab that the Cali politicians were attempting after this tragedy. Huge blow to those scumbags that were attempting to seize land via permit denials. Yes, that’s you Coastal Commission…Trump vows to override them and give the people back their property….The Coastal Commission rejected a desalination plant in Huntington Beach in 2022. Newsom said he wanted it but didn’t call them out like President Trump has. This is how you do it. Newsom could have changed the composition of the commission but failed. LAFD needed that extra 50M gallons of water per day.

Back to the Future of Home Schools….

A new parent survey conducted this month by the National School Choice Awareness Foundation revealed that the percentage of parents considering microschools and similar options more than tripled in 2025 compared to the 2022-2024 survey average, climbing from 5 percent to 16 percent. Interest in homeschooling also rose 39 percent.

This is in stark contrast to declining parent interest in traditional neighborhood public schools. The percentage of parents considering those fell by 22 percent during this same time period.

More Nukes….less dumb wind energy pollution….

South Carolina utility Santee Cooper is seeking buyers to restart construction of two large nuclear reactors that halted in 2017 amid cost overruns and other woes, the Wall Street Journal reports.

It’s another striking sign of how rising electricity demand — notably tech companies’ quest to power AI data centers — is driving fresh interest in nuclear energy.

“Santee Cooper will likely look to tap a consortium that could include a construction firm, a tech company that will use the power, and an additional partner for capital,” and another power company partner, the WSJ reports.

On Monday, Trump issued an order pausing new federal approvals for wind projects, pending a “comprehensive assessment” of permitting practices, while opening the door to a review of existing leases and previously-issued permits subject to litigation.

The Order is here: Section 1.  Temporary Withdrawal of Areas.  Consistent with the principles of responsible public stewardship that are entrusted to this office, with due consideration for a variety of relevant factors, including the need to foster an energy economy capable of meeting the country’s growing demand for reliable energy, the importance of marine life, impacts on ocean currents and wind patterns, effects on energy costs for Americans –- especially those who can least afford it –- and to ensure that the United States is able to maintain a robust fishing industry for future generations and provide low cost energy to its citizens, I hereby direct as follows:

Under the authority granted to me in section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1341(a), I hereby withdraw from disposition for wind energy leasing all areas within the Offshore Continental Shelf (OCS) as defined in section 2 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1331.  This withdrawal shall go into effect beginning on January 21, 2025, and shall remain in effect until this Presidential Memorandum is revoked.

To the extent that an area is already withdrawn from disposition for wind energy leasing, the area’s withdrawal is extended for a time period beginning on January 21, 2025, until this Presidential Memorandum is revoked.

This withdrawal temporarily prevents consideration of any area in the OCS for any new or renewed wind energy leasing for the purposes of generation of electricity or any other such use derived from the use of wind.  This withdrawal does not apply to leasing related to any other purposes such as, but not limited to, oil, gas, minerals, and environmental conservation.

Nothing in this withdrawal affects rights under existing leases in the withdrawn areas.  With respect to such existing leases, the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Attorney General as needed, shall conduct a comprehensive review of the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases, identifying any legal bases for such removal, and submit a report with recommendations to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.