Meteorologists Sound Alarm Over El Nino Plume Racing Across Pacific Like “Freight Train”
Meteorologists on X are once again warning about a powerful El Niño, pointing to a new plume of warm subsurface water moving across the Pacific “like a freight train.” The latest water temperature data suggest that El Niño later this year could rank among the strongest on record, with potentially significant implications for the Lower 48.
“Updated El Niño forecast for this summer/autumn is ‘off the charts’ EXTREME with ‘boiling red’ map colors along Equatorial central and eastern Pacific Ocean,” meteorologist Ryan Maue wrote on X. He said this is “code red the Earth’s climate system going into Summer 2026,” which only means “suppressed Atlantic hurricane activity.”
Updated El Niño forecast for this summer/autumn is “off the charts” EXTREME with “boiling red 🔴” map colors along Equatorial central and eastern Pacific Ocean.
This is “Code Red” for the Earth’s climate system going into Summer 2026 –> suppressed Atlantic hurricane activity. pic.twitter.com/NSCJPak6Xt
Meteorologist Ben Noll said, “A brand new El Niño plume from ECMWF reaches +3˚C in most scenarios by November, which would put this event among the strongest on record.”
Breaking: Brand new El Niño plume from ECMWF reaches +3˚C in most scenarios by November, which would put this event near the strongest on record. pic.twitter.com/m2OOTeXcx8
If a super El Niño materializes, it could shift weather patterns worldwide, increasing the risk of flooding in some regions, drought and wildfires in others, and further raising global temperatures. An El Niño event typically strengthens the Pacific jet stream and redistributes heat and moisture globally.
Across the U.S., an El Niño influences seasonal rainfall, especially during winter. The stronger, more active jet stream typically shifts southward, bringing wetter-than-average conditions to the southern U.S., including California, the Gulf Coast, and the Mid-South.
The good news is that El Niño reduces Atlantic hurricane activity.
A number of industry leaders and policy experts are warning that the government’s permission of importing Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) into Canada at low tariff rates will undermine Canada’s auto sector and cause a number of substantial national security risks.
The warnings came in testimony before the House Committee on Industry and Technology, where the speakers said that Ottawa’s quota-based access to Chinese EV makers will make Canada vulnerable to unfair trade practices from Beijing, hollow out the country’s already-struggling auto industry, and bring along a host of security risks associated with data collection and surveillance.
“Let’s be clear, this is not the approach Canada wanted,” Michael Kovrig, head of the Global Network for Strategic Effects, said while testifying May 4 before the committee.
EV Deal
The import of Chinese-made EVs comes under the terms of an agreement between Ottawa and Beijing signed in January of this year that allows the import of up to 49,000 Chinese-made EVs in the first year at a tariff rate of 6.1 percent, down from 100 percent.
Ottawa has indicated the quota could rise to approximately 70,000 vehicles per year over the next five years.
As part of the agreement, Beijing moved to cut tariffs on Canadian agricultural exports, slashing tariffs from 84–100 percent on Canadian canola products to 15 percent and relaxing restrictions on other products including seafood and peas.
Ottawa also said it expects China will invest in the Canadian auto sector and possibly set up auto manufacturing inside Canada as part of the wider agreement.
Canada opened permits for Chinese-made EVs on March 1, under which 24,500 will be allowed until August under the 6.1 percent tariff rate. Permits are issued by Global Affairs Canada and last 60 days before expiry. Importers are required to be Canada-based automakers or agents of them, and vehicles must comply with Canadian safety standards.
Ottawa said it plans to review and potentially change how the import system works after the first six months.
‘Trifecta of Risks’
Kovrig said that allowing Chinese-made EVs into Canada causes a “trifecta of risks,” which he described as creating “structural dependence” on China, along with “unfair competition [that] erodes industrial capacity” and imposing a “systemic pressure” on government policy going forward.
“The real question is not, ‘don’t we want cheaper EVs?’” Kovrig said. “It’s whether Canada wants to be a producer in the future auto economy, or merely a consumer market for vehicles produced by China’s industrial system.”
Kovrig’s concerns were echoed by Brian Kingston, president and CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association.
“There are no guardrails in this agreement to ensure a level-playing field for manufacturers that have invested in Canada, or to protect Canadians from cybersecurity risks,” Kingston told MPs.
Kingston added that demand for EVs is closely tied to government incentives rather than free-market forces, and that serious harm could be done to the North American auto supply chain.
“Demand for EVs is directly related to rebates, and we saw it when the previous federal government rebate went away, we saw demand for EVs decline quite significantly,” he said, adding that import of Chinese-made EVs “will undermine the auto sector and presents risks to the North American auto supply chain.”
Canada’s auto sector remains a major part of the economy and directly employs roughly 125,000 workers, the majority of whom are employed in Ontario. More than 90 percent of Canadian-made vehicles are exported to the United States.
Kingston also said that keeping access to the U.S. market is crucial for Canada and “there is no industry without U.S. access,” saying that opening up to Chinese imports could undermine North American integration.
In mid-January, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Canada’s deal with China was “problematic.” This was followed on Jan. 24 by U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to put 100 percent tariffs on Canadian goods in response to the deal.
Controls
Several Liberal MPs on the committee asked questions about the economic and security issues related to importing Chinese-made EVs, stating that it could help Canadian consumers access more affordable vehicles and move Canada closer to climate goals.
For her part, Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner asked whether Canada could put conditions on Chinese firms, such as on domestic labour, security, and standards, in order for them to be allowed to import the vehicles.
Kingston said such an approach won’t work.
“If you say that you have to have a local supply chain and use local unionized labour, the response from a Chinese OEM [Original Equipment Manufacturer] is, ’thanks, but no thanks,’” he said.
“The moment they want more access, they will restrict our exports of canola. They’ll come up with other reasons to leverage more access into the market. This is the Chinese trade playbook. You can see it in sector after sector in different countries,” he added.
Kovrig shared this view, saying that Beijing tends to use a quota as a “ratchet” to force more market access.
“What begins as a capped quota becomes a ratchet that only expands. Concentrated sectoral economic dependence also constricts federal policy-making autonomy,” he said.
“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] weaponizes technology, supply chains, and market access to coerce independence to its geopolitical agenda.”
He added that “forced labour” is also part of the Chinese EV supply chain and cited evidence from Sheffield Hallam University linking forced labour of China’s ethnic Uyghur population to key battery and EV production stages.
Kingston added that even if China were to build a factory in Canada, it would likely be a human rights and economic disaster.
“If they build a plant, they bring in labour from China. And as we’ve seen in Hungary, the conditions have been characterized as slave-like conditions,” he said, referring to a Chinese-operated factory in Hungary.
Benefits of EVs
Several industry leaders who testified before the committee said EVs would be a net positive for Canada.
Jeff Turner, director of Mobility at Dunsky Energy and Climate Advisors, said EVs would help Canadians in various ways, including by bringing “almost $2,000 per year in fuel savings per household and reductions of GHG emissions and other emissions that have significant health impacts for Canadians.”
Cherith Sinasac of the Electro-Canada Foundation also emphasized her view of the positive role that EVs could have and said their origin is much less important than infrastructure readiness.
“Canada needs a strong long-term EV charging infrastructure strategy,” she said, adding that there must be a coordinated investment strategy by provinces and economic sectors.
“EVs and their battery storage have the potential to be a national energy asset for our grid,” Sinasac said.
Security Risks
Kingston and Kovrig both said that in addition to economic damage, bringing in Chinese-made EVs could pose security risks, including potential data access concerns and dangers to national security.
“China’s 2017 National Intelligence law compels any Chinese firm, including from overseas operations, to share data with Beijing on demand,” Kovrig said. “There’s no judicial review and no challenge mechanism.”
Kovrig described Chinese-made EVs as “a rolling computer with cameras” that are “state-linked data platforms.”
This echoed similar concerns from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who stated his opposition to allowing Chinese-made EVs into Canada this past January, writing on X that such vehicles “function like roving surveillance systems on our streets [and] should not be allowed in Canada – collecting data, tracking Canadians and exposing us to a foreign regime.”
Figure CEO Says Humanoid Robots Could Soon Enter Homes For $600 A Month
Figure’s CEO told Sourcery’s Molly O’Shea that the humanoid robotics company is preparing for a “near-term” push to bring humanoid robots into homes, where they would perform basic household tasks under a consumer subscription model that could cost “hundreds per month,” similar to a car lease.
Molly O’Shea asked Figure CEO Brett Adcock:
“In the near term, what do you see as the first commercial application for these robots? Like, is it gonna be in the home? Is it gonna be in the factory?”
Adcock responded:
“In the near term, we’re gonna be selling these into the home. So you can lease a Figure 03 for something like $600 a month.”
He continued:
“Yeah. You can plug it into a wall outlet, and it’ll go to its dock and charge. I want it to do the laundry every day, dishes every day, and tidy the house multiple times a day. That’s what I want.”
.@adcock_brett says in the “near term” @Figure_robot will sell humanoid robots for the home for ~$600/month:
“You can plug it in a wall outlet, it’ll go to its dock and charge.”
Adcock posted a chart on Threads showing, he said, “Humanoid robots manufactured at Figure by month,” revealing a clear production ramp.
However, the chart lacked a Y-axis, leaving the actual shipment numbers unclear.
Forbes pointed out that shipments may have climbed from roughly 60 units in February to 120 in March and 240 in April. However, those shipment numbers remain far below China’s Agibot, which reportedly shipped 5,000 humanoids over three months.
Our latest note on the humanoid robot space, including UBS’s delivery estimates, is available here.
On April 8, the California Assembly Committee on Public Employment and Retirement voted 19–0 to adopt AB2017, followed on April 22 by the California Assembly Committee on Appropriations, which voted 7–0 to adopt the bill. And with those votes, all that is left for this to become California law is the passing of it by the State Assembly and Senate and approval by the governor.
And with it, the state of California will no longer exist as we know it, but will become the Islamic Republic of California.
There are no holidays from other religions that are recognized as state holidays in California.
Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and Epiphany are all extremely important holidays in Judaism and Christianity.
But none of them are recognized as California state holidays.
But according to Haney and the California legislature, apparently, Islamic holidays are much more important to the state than either Judaism or Christianity.
This bill is clearly unconstitutional, as it is in direct contradiction to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . .”
By placing two Islamic holidays as official state holidays, they are respecting the establishment of a specific religion. But the problem is greater than just their violation of the Constitution in attempting to pass this bill.
The holidays themselves, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, are expressions and manifestations of the very worst aspects of Islam.
Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the Islamic month of Ramadan and is the penultimate celebration of the month and its meanings. Ramadan is the month-long holiday commemorating Mohammed’s first vision in 610 CE, in which he supposedly was visited by the angel Gabriel (named Jibril in Arabic) in a cave near Mecca and given a revelation that ultimately became the Quran. It is a month of fasting and a national holiday in countries such as Iran, Turkey, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and other Muslim theocracies.
It is also traditionally the month of war in Islam. Although war is forbidden in the Quran during four other months (the 1st, 7th, 11th, and 12th), it is not only allowed during Ramadan; it has historically been encouraged to be a month of initiating war against “infidels.” The Yom Kippur War against Israel in 1973 was started by the Arabs during Ramadan. Three years ago, Ismail Haniyeh, who was considered the political leader of Hamas (and who lived in Qatar until killed in July of 2024 and had a net worth of over two billion dollars), called for all Arabs to attack Israel during Ramadan and to siege and blockade the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and have continual mass riots there. Ramadan, going back to Mohammed himself, is the time to start wars on non-Muslims and is a source of Islamic pride as the time to forcefully convert the world to Islam. The Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s official arm in Syria, has even described Ramadan as “a month of conquests.”
Some historical examples of the Islamic intention during Ramadan include the Battle of Badr, a victory led by Mohammed himself in the second Ramadan; the conquest of Mecca, 6 years after Badr; the war for Andalusia in 711 CE; the Battle of Ain Jalut against the Mongols; and the Battle of Hattin during the Crusades.
And that’s just in the first 200 years of Islamic history.
But Matt Haney and the California Legislature want to make this holiday, which is about military victory over non-Muslims, into an official state holiday!
And then there is the second Islamic holiday that they want to make an official state holiday: Eid al-Adha, the “Feast of the Sacrifice.” This is a holiday about being willing to violently sacrifice and kill if it is commanded by Allah. It includes throwing stones at a wall to symbolize the willingness to fight for the “will of God” by stoning Satan and exemplifies the observant Islamic belief in stoning when “required.” Animals are also sacrificed as part of this holiday’s celebration. And this is not a small sacrifice of one chicken for an entire community, but rather, the expectation is that each Muslim will perform animal sacrifices.
Each year, this holiday causes the death of 50 million animals and encourages the practice of stoning anything that is contradictory to the Quran, Hadith, and Islamic theology. And this is the holiday that Haney and his Democratic colleagues in the California State Legislature want to make into an official state holiday.
War, stoning, and animal sacrifice—these are the values that have been unanimously approved by the committee, and are on track to becoming approved by the California government.
Yom Kippur is a Jewish holiday about the value of being self-reflective and atoning for our personal sins. Epiphany is a Christian holiday celebrating the baptism of Jesus; Good Friday deepens the Christian faith as it honors the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for all of humanity; and Ash Wednesday reminds Christians of the journey of Jesus during Lent that leads to the Resurrection on Easter. Atonement, spiritual awareness, faith in God: these are values that the State of California rejects as holidays while honoring the Islamic values of war and death.
With the passing of this bill, which is not certain but is highly likely, California will officially have gone off the cliff, rejecting Western civilization in favor of officially adopting Islamic practices and values.
Tech Bros Aim To Sidestep Local Resistance By Installing Mini Data Centers In Homes
California-based startup Span has developed XFRA, a distributed AI-compute network that turns unused electrical capacity in residential homes and small businesses into miniature data centers.
It may be one of the more ingenious workarounds yet from tech bros, as traditional data-center buildouts are increasingly delayed or canceled, not only because of permitting bottlenecks and grid constraints, but also because of rising local opposition.
Across parts of the country, ordinary folks are watching power bills surge, while AI hyperscalers are set to splurge $700 billion on data center buildouts this year alone. XFRA appears to be a convenient sidestep of local opposition by tech bros, transforming homes into miniature data center nodes.
“Comprising a distributed network of compute nodes located in residential and small commercial spaces, XFRA enables both the immediate and future compute needs of hyperscalers, neoscalers and AI cloud providers,” Span revealed earlier this month.
SPAN says XFRA is already running revenue-generating test units and plans a 100-unit test later this year, with broad U.S. deployment planned for 2027. This deployment next year could scale to more than 1 gigawatt of AI inference compute capacity.
According to a LinkedIn video, Span CEO Arch Rao says each node contains Dell PowerEdge servers with 16 Nvidia RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell GPUs, 4 AMD EPYC CPUs, and 3 TB of RAM, connected to a 24-port gigabit switch.
In the XFRA White Paper, Rao outlined how XFRA would install an “energy and compute system, including SPAN panel, whole-home battery backup system, along with the XFRA compute Node, at no cost to homeowners.”
The white paper then describes how homeowners benefit from a backyard data center: “XFRA pays the homeowner a monthly rental to subsidize their energy and high-speed broadband bills such that they are a fraction of what they would normally be. This offers homeowners a sizable discount, and predictability in their monthly billing.”
“your mortgage basically pays for itself” 1,2
1) mortgage may be 20%-40% higher
2) homeowner’s job will migrate to collocated data center https://t.co/vBJv3cZAVm
News of the backyard data center concept first circulated earlier this month. The topic resurfaced on Tuesday when CNBC reported that Nvidia and homebuilder PulteGroup are helping SPAN install mini data centers in homes.
X users had a lot to say about the backyard data-center concept:
putting compute on residential meters is how they bypass every local zoning fight
Running at 8 hours a day off peak would only cost about 17k just in electrical- no mention on how to cool it, or what external connectivity options are. Californias load can’t even sustain the EV’s currently on grid and people think we should be putting half rack AI clusters in…
A federal jury in Texas found a physician guilty of unlawfully distributing over a million pills of opioids and other controlled substances from a Houston-area clinic that operated as a pill mill, the Justice Department announced Monday.
Dr. Barbara Marino, 65, of Tomball, was the sole prescribing physician at Angels Clinica, where she prescribed oxycodone, hydrocodone, and the muscle relaxer carisoprodol despite no legitimate medical purpose. The clinic accepted only cash and charged based on the prescriptions.
“Medical physicians who exploit their prescribing authority for profit over patient care break an inherent trust with their patients and we will hold them accountable,” Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division said in a statement. “The Department of Justice remains committed to protecting the public from dangerous and unlawful distribution of controlled substances, especially when the drug dealer is a doctor.”
DEA Assistant Administrator Cheri Oz said patients put their trust and lives into the hands of medical and health care professionals.
“The highly addictive, dangerous misused drugs in this case—oxycodone and hydrocodone—are meant to treat pain, not cause it,” Oz said. “DEA remains relentless in our pursuit of those who poison our communities and exploit our health care system, all to line their own pockets with the profit from other’s pain.”
Prosecutors noted that many patients were delivered by street-level “crew leaders” or “runners” who then filled the prescriptions and peddled the pills. Marino received over $400,000 in less than a year for writing the scripts, while ignoring red flags outlined in Texas pharmacy board guidance, prescribing the strongest short-acting versions of the drugs to nearly every patient.
In the trial, jurors heard of a pregnant woman in her third trimester who received the opioid-muscle relaxer combination, and a patient diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The jury found Marino guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and four counts of distributing a controlled substance. She could be sentenced up to 20 years in prison per count.
At Marino’s trial, an OB/GYN testified to the dangers to the pregnant patient and her unborn child. The prosecutor argued in closing arguments that the woman “didn’t go to her doctor, she went to her drug dealer.”
The DEA investigated the case, and the Justice Department’s Criminal Division Fraud Section trial attorneys prosecuted the case, along with the Texas Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Sentencing for Marino has not yet been scheduled.
USAF Says Former Qatari 747 Boeing Ready For USA Paint Scheme
The U.S. Air Force reports that the Boeing 747 donated by Qatar, now designated the VC-25B Bridge, has completed modification and flight testing and is entering the paint phase ahead of deployment as an interim Air Force One jet.
The bridge aircraft is a former Qatar head-of-state Boeing 747-8i that will serve as an interim presidential aircraft until Boeing’s delayed VC-25B replacements are ready, now expected in 2028.
“This program epitomizes what is possible when clear accountability is placed on one individual, and the entire enterprise of stakeholders aligns behind a single mission outcome … deliver a bridge capability as soon as possible to relieve pressure on the aging VC-25A fleet,” Gen. Dale White, Department of War direct reporting portfolio manager for Critical Major Weapon Systems, wrote in a press release.
The VC-25B Bridge underwent flight testing in Texas and is now in a hangar being painted in a “new red, white and blue” livery, according to the U.S. Air Force. The service said the aircraft will be ready for use by summer, likely ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations on July 4.
Rendering of the new paint scheme:
Military blog TWZ noted there are still a lot of “questions swirling about the legality and ethics of receiving the gifted plane.” Last May, the Pentagon took delivery of the aircraft and said it would rapidly undertake the required modifications.
USAF did not disclose the new capabilities added to the former Qatari jet nor disclose the cost of the modifications. Lawmakers suggested last year that those modifications could exceed $1 billion.
The Trump administration is cracking down hard on radical gender policies in public schools. The Department of Justice has launched full investigations into 36 Illinois school districts accused of helping children “change genders” without telling their parents and pushing sexual orientation and gender ideology without proper opt-out notifications.
While blue-state bureaucrats treat families as obstacles, the DOJ is stepping in to enforce basic accountability and Supreme Court precedent.
The review is also looking at whether the district’s violated parents right to opt their child out of lessons on gender and s*xuality.”
🚨 BREAKING: The Trump administration launches investigations into DOZENS of Illinois school districts for carrying out TRANSGENDER transitions on kids behind the parents’ backs
Senior correspondent Mike Tobin reported: “The DOJ has launched an investigation into some 36 schools in Illinois. The investigation is going to probe whether the schools are pushing woke agenda on the students, particularly if they’re pushing s*xual orientation and gender ideology.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon made the administration’s position crystal clear: “This Department of Justice is determined to put an end to local school authorities keeping parents in the dark about how sexuality and gender ideology are being pushed in classrooms.”
“Supreme Court precedent leaves no doubt: parents have the fundamental right and primary authority to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children,” Dhillon added.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker dismissed the probe as “a sham aimed at punishing states President Trump does not like.”
The official DOJ announcement confirms the scope: the investigations examine whether districts included sexual orientation and gender ideology (SOGI) content in any pre-K-12 class and whether parents received opt-out notices. They will also assess compliance with biological-sex rules for bathrooms, locker rooms, and girls’ sports.
This isn’t isolated. It directly builds on a pattern of leftist gender ideology assault that the Trump administration is systematically dismantling.
A year ago, the White House stated outright that “changing a minor’s gender is child abuse and medical malpractice.”
Democrats, meanwhile, have pushed to classify “misgendering and deadnaming” as child abuse:
These examples show the coordinated push: hide the truth from parents, punish dissent, and medicalize confusion at the expense of children’s long-term health.
Illinois districts now face the same scrutiny California tried to ram through before the Supreme Court stepped in to protect families.
The investigations come after recent Supreme Court victories affirming parental rights over secret social transitions and ideological curriculum. Parents are no longer sidelined while schools play doctor and activist behind closed doors.
This DOJ action sends a loud message: federal funding and civil rights enforcement will no longer subsidize secrecy and experimentation on minors.
The Trump administration will seek to defund the districts that refuse to comply and restore parents as the ultimate authority over their children’s upbringing.
Without such action, The US risks going down the same path as the UK, where new trans guidance for schools suggests that kids as young as four can “change gender”:
Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.
US Intelligence Only Sees Limited Additional Damage To Iran Nuclear Program Since Last June
A widely circulating fresh report in Reuters has raised eyebrows and serious questions related to the effectiveness of the 38-day aerial campaign which saw US-Israel bombs unleashed in the many thousands (combined: some 20,000+ munitions expended) on the Islamic Republic.
“US intelligence assessments indicate that the time Iran would need to build a nuclear weapon has not changed since last summer, when analysts estimated that a US-Israeli attack had pushed back the timeline to up to a year, according to three sources familiar with the matter,” the report lays out.
“The assessments of Tehran’s nuclear program remain broadly unchanged even after two months of a war that US President Donald Trump launched in part to stop the Islamic Republic from developing a nuclear bomb,” it continues.
The Israelis are believed to have done most of the direct targeting of Iranian nuclear facilities in the late February through April air campaign. This after already since last June, the White House insisted Iran’s nuclear program was ‘obliterated’.
Again, one wonders what nearly 40 days of record-levels of bombardment of Iranian cities and military sites actually accomplished in terms of degrading Iran’s nuclear enrichment capability – which has emerged as the primary US goal (stalled negotiations have centered on the demand that Tehran given up its nuclear material). It seems the needle may have hardly moved in terms of degrading Iranian nuke sites since last June?
The Reuters report gives the following additional conclusion: “The unchanged timeline suggests that significantly impeding Tehran’s nuclear program may require destroying or removing Iran’s remaining stockpile of highly enriched uranium, or HEU.”
And that of course brings the situation back to the square one dilemma of whether to launch ground operations to recover what Trump calls the ‘nuclear dust’ – which further raises the prospect of utter disaster and endless quagmire (and there are signs of quagmire already, even without ground forces).
In shifting from ‘Epic Fury’ to ‘Project Freedom’ – the US administration seems to want to find a way out of this without a protracted ground war, which would mean serious losses in blood and treasure. The below is the official latest White House position:
While Operation Midnight Hammer obliterated Iran’s nuclear facilities, Operation Epic Fury built on this success by decimating Iran’s defense industrial base that they once leveraged as a protective shield around their pursuit of a nuclear weapon,” said White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales, referring to the June operation and the latest war that began in February.
“President Trump has long been clear that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon – and he does not bluff.”
But Iran has countered that it considers its enriched uranium stockpile a matter of national sovereignty, and will ‘never’ allow it to be transferred outside the country.
Next round of US-Israeli bombing being planned?
An Israeli official told CNN:
The coordination between Israel and the United States includes preparations for a round of strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure and senior officials.
“The intention is to carry out a short operation aimed at pressuring Iran to make further…
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei two weeks ago denied reports at the time which said Tehran had agreed to transfer its highly enriched uranium abroad, saying “enriched uranium is sacred to us, as is Iranian soil.” The Iranians have since repeatedly made clear that the issue is a non-starter, and wants to focus talks on opening Hormuz and ending the war.
The complaint, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, accuses state officials of trying to impose their own climate policies on domestic energy producers in a way the DOJ says burdens national energy development and intrudes on federal authority.
The underlying lawsuit was filed in 2020 by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison against Exxon Mobil, the American Petroleum Institute, Koch Industries, and Koch subsidiary Flint Hills Resources. Minnesota brought the case under state consumer-protection laws, alleging that the companies engaged in fraud and deceptive business practices by misleading the public about “climate change and the role of fossil-fuel products in climate change.”
That lawsuit remains pending after years of procedural fights over whether it belongs in state or federal court. Minnesota succeeded in keeping the case in state court in 2024, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a lower-court ruling allowing the lawsuit to proceed there.
In its new complaint, the DOJ argues that authority over national energy policy and major questions involving greenhouse gas emissions rests with the federal government, not individual states. The department is asking the court to block Minnesota from pursuing the 2020 lawsuit and prevent the state from bringing similar litigation in the future.
“Climate change lawsuits, like Minnesota’s, artfully plead around federal law while transparently seeking to change national energy policy related to global greenhouse gas emissions and to regulate conduct beyond local borders,” the complaint states.
The federal government’s move to counter climate litigation with its own lawsuit follows an executive order issued last year by President Donald Trump, who directed the DOJ to “take all appropriate action to stop” state lawsuits seeking to “dictate national energy policy.”
“President Trump promised to unleash American energy dominance, and Minnesota officials cannot undermine his directive by mandating that their woke climate preferences become the uniform policy of our Nation,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement.
Ellison, who is named as a defendant in the DOJ lawsuit, pledged to seek dismissal of what his office called a “frivolous and meritless” case.
“In 2020, I sued Big Oil for lying to Minnesotans about the true causes of climate change, then sticking us with the bill for the harms it is causing,” Ellison said in a statement. “Six years later, we are still waiting to go to trial because Big Oil has pulled every procedural trick in the book to delay facing the consequences of their unlawful actions.”
Minnesota is among a number of states and local governments that have turned to consumer-protection, public-nuisance, and similar laws to sue major oil and gas companies over the climate impact of their products. Those lawsuits generally accuse the companies of misleading the public about climate risks while seeking to hold them financially responsible for infrastructure costs, natural disaster- or health care-related costs, and other damages.
The DOJ has taken aim at several such efforts. Last year, it filed preemptive lawsuits against Hawaii and Michigan, though both were dismissed by federal judges. Separate DOJ challenges to New York and Vermont’s laws, which seek to impose penalties tied to past greenhouse gas emissions to fund disaster relief and climate-related projects, remain pending.
Allowing individual states to use courts to advance climate goals, the Trump administration argued, would create a patchwork of conflicting regulations and interfere with the executive branch’s authority over national energy security and interstate commerce.
“When states target or discriminate against out-of-state energy producers by imposing significant barriers to interstate and international trade, American energy suffers,” Trump’s executive order stated.
