Trump Threatens Tariffs on China Over ‘Hostile’ Rare Earths Policy

(Brett Rowland, The Center Square) President Donald Trump threatened a “massive increase” in tariffs on products from China after Beijing tightened export controls on rare earth minerals critical to advanced manufacturing.

Trump’s trade team has been working on a broader trade deal with China for months, but the U.S. president said Friday he is considering canceling an upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping over the export restrictions.

U.S. markets tumbled on the news, with all three major indexes in the red by midday Friday.

Trump lashed out in a lengthy Truth Social post. He said Chinese officials “are becoming very hostile, and sending letters to Countries throughout the World, that they want to impose Export Controls on each and every element of production having to do with Rare Earths, and virtually anything else they can think of, even if it’s not manufactured in China.”

China announced Wednesday that foreign entities must get a license to export products containing trace amounts of rare earths found in China or made using China’s extraction process. Rare earths are essential minerals in many products, including cars, semiconductors, electronics and advanced military equipment.

Trump said China’s restrictions on rare earth exports would be painful for the U.S. and the rest of the world.

“Nobody has ever seen anything like this but, essentially, it would ‘clog’ the Markets, and make life difficult for virtually every Country in the World, especially for China,” Trump said. “We have been contacted by other Countries who are extremely angry at this great Trade hostility, which came out of nowhere.”

Trump said the export restrictions were a surprise after months of better relations with Beijing since reaching a tariff truce in May. Trump said he was concerned about just such a move.

“I have always felt that they’ve been lying in wait, and now, as usual, I have been proven right! There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the World ‘captive,’ but that seems to have been their plan for quite some time, starting with the ‘Magnets’ and, other Elements that they have quietly amassed into somewhat of a Monopoly position, a rather sinister and hostile move, to say the least,” Trump said.

China recently opened a monopoly investigation into Qualcomm, a U.S. tech company, that could affect its acquisition of another company. China has also said it will charge new port fees to ships with ties to the U.S., including those owned or operated by U.S. companies.

The U.S. president said he plans to respond with export restrictions and tariffs.

“Dependent on what China says about the hostile ‘order’ that they have just put out, I will be forced, as President of the United States of America, to financially counter their move. For every Element that they have been able to monopolize, we have two,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I never thought it would come to this but perhaps, as with all things, the time has come. Ultimately, though potentially painful, it will be a very good thing, in the end, for the U.S.A. One of the Policies that we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States of America.”

Trump also said he was considering canceling a planned meeting with Xi Jinping.

“I have not spoken to President Xi because there was no reason to do so. This was a real surprise, not only to me, but to all the Leaders of the Free World. I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so,” Trump said.

Earlier this year, trade between the U.S. and China – the world’s two largest economies – came to a standstill after each country hit the other with tariffs above 100%. In May, the two nations reached a 90-day deal to continue talks. At the time, the U.S. said it would reduce its tariffs on China from 145% to 30% while the two nations continued to talk. China said it would cut its levies on U.S. imports from 125% to 10%, according to a joint statement from the two nations. That truce was briefly disrupted in June over concerns about rare earth exports, but Trump later said the deal was back on track.

The U.S. goods trade deficit with China was $295.4 billion in 2024, the largest with any trading partner, according to the White House.

Florida Teens Credited for Averting School Shooting Plot in Washington State

(Carleen Johnson, The Center Square) Two teenage boys in Florida are being called heroes for their response to a five-second TikTok video last month that may well have averted disaster all the way across the country.

The video, which has since been taken down, reportedly showed plans for a mass school shooting at Kamiakin High School in Kennewick, Wash.

“The contents of the TikTok were a map of a high school, and it had classrooms that were identified and labeled as targets,” said Kennewick School Board member Brittany Gledhill in a Thursday interview with The Center Square. “It had other classrooms that were labeled as potential targets. It had labeled exits, and it had the security department of the school listed as a potential threat.”

The map in the video did not indicate the location or name of the school.

“But this young man who lives in Florida decided to show it to a brother, and then together they decided that they needed to tell the authorities,” Gledhill said.

She explained that local authorities in Florida contacted the FBI, and within hours, the investigation was underway to determine the TikTok poster’s location.

That was September 19, a Friday.

“We got involved on Sunday, so that we were able to sweep the campus and provide a secure and safe environment for our students and staff, and that was in conjunction with KPD, or Kennewick police department,” said Kennewick School District Superintendent Lance Hansen.

At that point, the suspect, a 14-year-old Kamiakin High School freshman, was already in custody.

According to the Tri-City Herald, the FBI was able to match the layout and room numbers shown in the TikTok video to Kamiakin High School, and at that point, the FBI contacted the internet provider about the IP address linked to the account.

Officials were able to narrow down the location to a few dozen potential residences in Kennewick, and according to the Herald, law enforcement further narrowed the list based on the times the TikTok account was active.

The address was further narrowed to the boy’s home, where he reportedly lived with his grandparents, and more than two dozen firearms were located.

Hansen told The Center Square that officials believe the young man was most likely to carry out his plan had the boys in Florida not done the right thing.

“It was smart and courageous at the same time, and I think that they can be an example or model for others who may see something and think it’s not a big deal. Just the thought that they would recognize this isn’t right and have the courage to speak up … that’s really where I believe the story is,” Hansen said.

Gledhill said the school board, administration and staff members from Kamiakin High School are putting together a gift basket and thank-you notes for the boys in Florida who reported the TikTok post to authorities.

“We averted a terrible tragedy because of these two young men,” she said. “This is my home high school, and I have two of my own children [who] go to that school.”

Hansen said the school community is still reeling from what could have happened, but is also trying to find a lesson in it.

“In times where information can flow so quickly and there’s some level of anonymity that is created in ways that we communicate, like with social media, it sometimes creates some boldness in youth, which I think is a false positive,” he said. “I mean, there are benefits to the way that we communicate, and there [are] some unintended consequences of that. Having said that, as I reminded our parents, every person who’s on a campus is responsible for the safety of the campus. That’s students, staff, whoever is there. So that model … needs to be applied for everything.”

Given that the accused is 14, he is being charged as a juvenile. Assuming he pleads guilty or is convicted, he could only be confined until he turns 21.

IRS Reveals Tax Inflation Adjustments for 2026

(Morgan Sweeney, The Center Square) Americans can look forward to bigger standard deductions on their 2026 taxes and higher standard deductions on their 2025 taxes, thanks to inflation and the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

On Thursday, the IRS published its annual tax inflation adjustments for more than 60 tax provisions, including the standard deduction, income tax tiers, employer-provided childcare tax credits and others. Many of those adjustments were influenced by the One Big Beautiful Bill, the sweeping legislation passed in July that will advance many of President Donald Trump’s fiscal and policy priorities over the next decade. The bill made permanent tax cuts contained in Trump’s signature Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which delivered major tax reforms. 

The One Big Beautiful Bill raised the standard tax deduction for married couples from $30,000 to $31,500 for tax year 2025, and for single taxpayers from $15,000 to $15,750. For tax year 2026, the standard deduction will increase to $32,200 for married couples, $16,100 for individuals and $24,150 for heads of household.

It also bumps up the income thresholds for each tax bracket for 2026, while keeping the top tax rate at 37% for the highest earners. The lowest rate is 10% for individual filers making $12,400 or less or married couples making $24,800 or less. 

Most Americans fall into the 12% or 22% brackets. Individuals with incomes ranging from $12,401 to $50,399 will pay a 12% income tax. Those making $50,400 to $105,699 will pay a 22% tax. These are up from $11,926 to $48,475 and $48,476 to $103,349 that will pay these rates for tax year 2025.

Employer-provided childcare may become a more common employee benefit, as the OBBB “significantly enhances” this credit for employers, according to an IRS press release. Eligible small businesses can receive an up to $500,000 tax credit for providing childcare services in tax year 2026, up from $150,000.

Alternatively, the OBBB made permanent the elimination of the personal exemption and limits on itemized deductions, although it does limit “the tax benefit from itemized deductions for those taxpayers in the highest tax bracket.”

Military Explosives Plant Blows Up in Tennessee, Killing Numerous Workers

(Headline USA) An explosion at a Tennessee military munitions plant left multiple people dead and missing on Friday, authorities said, as secondary blasts forced rescuers to keep their distance from the burning field of debris.

The blast, which people reported hearing and feeling miles away, occurred at Accurate Energetic Systems in rural Tennessee. The company’s website says it makes and tests explosives at an eight-building facility that sprawls across wooded hills in the Bucksnort area, about 60 miles southwest of Nashville.

“We do have several people at this time unaccounted for. We are trying to be mindful of families and that situation,” Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said at a news conference. “We do have some that are deceased.”

The cause of the explosion, which Davis called “devastating,” was not immediately known, and the investigation could take days, the sheriff said.

Aerial footage of the aftermath by WTVF-TV showed the explosion had apparently obliterated one of the facility’s hilltop buildings, leaving only smoldering wreckage and the burnt-out shells of vehicles.

The sheriff added that although the scene was secure from large explosions, smaller ones may still be heard.

Emergency crews were initially unable to enter the plant because of continuing detonations, Hickman County Advanced EMT David Stewart said by phone. He didn’t have any details on casualties.

Accurate Energetic Systems, based in nearby McEwen, did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment Friday morning.

“This is a tragedy for our community,” McEwen Mayor Brad Rachford said in an email. He referred further comment to a county official.

Residents in Lobelville, a 20-minute drive from the scene, said they felt their homes shake and some people captured the loud boom of the explosion on their home cameras.

The blast rattled Gentry Stover from his sleep.

“I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,” he said by phone. “I live very close to Accurate and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”

State Rep. Jody Barrett, a Republican from the neighboring town of Dickson, was worried about the possible economic impact because the plant is a key employer in the area.

“We live probably 15 miles as the crow flies and we absolutely heard it at the house,” Barrett said. “It sounded like something going through the roof of our house.”

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency confirmed there were injuries but wasn’t sharing any numbers because the Department of Health hasn’t confirmed them, spokesperson Kristin Coulter said by telephone. TEMA district coordinators have deployed to the area at the request of Hickman County, she said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

FBI Investigating Bomb and Material of ‘Unknown Origin’ Left at Crash Site Near Area 51

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) On Sept. 23, an unmanned aircraft assigned to the 432nd Wing of the Air Force crashed into the desert near Area 51—the famous military facility long thought to be associated with alien technology.

Over the next four days, authorities guarded the site while it was cleaned. But when they returned there last Friday, they found “an inert training bomb body and an aircraft panel of unknown origin that were placed on the site post-incident,” the Air Force said in a press release.

“The matter is under investigation by Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) and the FBI,” Creech Air Force Base said. “No further details are available at this time.”

According to the Area 51 research site dreamlandresort.com, the crash took place in Tikaboo Valley, which is about 11 miles from the Area 51 perimeter.

“The aircraft was part of a very large scale night mission in the Dreamland airspace, involving several flights of B-2 from Whiteman AFB, several USN F/A-18G ‘Growler’ jammers, several tankers, two Area 51 aircraft using Callsigns SABRE 41 and SABRE 42, a number of ELINT (electronic intelligence) platforms, several tankers and several flights of 4 or more UAVs each,” reported dreamlandresort.com, which is run by a man named Joerg Arnu. “It was one of the largest mission observed in the airspace in recent memory.”

Arnu also visited the crash site, publishing a video 11 days ago. Arnu found that the site was thoroughly swept for debris and smoothed over. A Joshua tree at the site seemed to be burnt, indicating that the downed aircraft caused a fire.

“They really cleaned this up very well,” Arnu said.

Arnu also said on the video that at the time of the crash, he heard security transmissions saying that there was live ordinance on board of the unmanned aircraft, and that first responders were advised to keep their windows rolled up due to toxic fumes.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Gold Literally Grows in Trees

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) Money doesn’t grow on trees. Or does it?

Well, not exactly, but scientists in Finland have discovered gold nanoparticles embedded in the needles of Norway spruce trees.

It’s kind of like those pre-decorated Christmas trees. These already have gold trim!

But don’t get too excited.

You can’t see the gold with the naked eye. As an IFL Science article put it, “these particles are a few nanometers in size – barely big enough to make a nice bracelet for a bacterium.

Even if you were able to harvest a large quantity of nanoparticles, they wouldn’t weigh much. You’re not going to get rich harvesting gold from trees.

However, understanding the process that moved gold into the tree needles could help miners find new gold deposits.

The process is called “biomineralization.”  As the IFL article explained, “Microbes and oxidation help metal ions travel from the soil, up through stems, and into leaves.

In a nutshell, certain plant species can pull microscopic gold particles into their leaves or needles when their roots are buried in gold-rich soil. Scientists have known about biomineralization for quite a while. Eucalyptus trees in Australia have been known to contain trace gold. But the exact process that moves gold out of the ground into the plant remains unclear.

Finnish scientists discovered gold when they examined the needle samples from Norway spruce trees near the Kittilä gold mine. It ranks as the largest gold mine in Europe. The researchers pinpointed gold particles surrounded by bacterial microfilms embedded in needles from four trees.

Our results suggest that bacteria and other microbes living inside plants may influence the accumulation of gold in trees,” first study author Dr Kaisa Lehosmaa said.

“Our recent study provides preliminary evidence of how gold moves into plant shoots and how gold nanoparticles can form inside needles. In the soil, gold is present in a soluble, liquid form. Carried by water, the gold moves into the needles of spruce trees. The tree’s microbes can then precipitate this soluble gold back into solid, nanosized particles.”

Miners could use these gold-bearing trees to locate new gold deposits. In fact, a 2019 mineral exploration company used tree leaves to locate a 6-meter vein containing 3.4 grams of gold per ton in Australia.

Discovering gold in Norway spruce needles could facilitate gold exploration in the Arctic.

This suggests that these specific spruce-associated bacteria can help transform soluble gold into solid particles inside the needles. This insight is useful, since screening for such bacteria in plant leaves may facilitate gold exploration,” Lehosmaa said.


Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for Money Metals with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.

If Only I’d Been Paid in (Silver) Quarters!

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) On a recent video about “junk silver,” somebody commented, “I saw someone in another comments section make a joke that if they were paid in quarters back in the 60s, they could be a millionaire now.”

There were a lot of laughing reactions and indignant responses mocking the guy. But is he wrong?

Let’s run the numbers.

Keep in mind that quarters minted before 1965 are 90 percent silver. The feds removed the silver from quarters (along with dimes and half dollars) after President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Coinage Act of 1965. Coins minted in 1965 or later are mostly copper with faces made from the same alloy used in nickels.

In other words, quarters minted in 1964 or earlier were real money, and they’re worth a lot more than 25 cents.

How much more?

Well, as of Oct. 9, the silver value in a “junk” quarter was $8.91.

It’s pretty clear we’re calling the wrong quarter “junk,” eh?

With this in mind, let’s calculate how much money somebody who earned an average wage in 1964 was paid in quarters.

The median family income in 1964 was $6,000. That may sound like a pittance compared to today, but when you inflation-adjust $6,000, it equals about $62,900 in 2025 dollars.

For simplicity of calculation, let’s assume that our intrepid employee earned $5,000 between 1960 and 1964. That means he would have 80,000 quarters. Given the melt value of those quarters today, if he held on to all of them, he would have $712,800.

So, not quite a million, but nothing to sneeze at.

Breaking it down a little further, it would take 112,360 90-percent silver quarters to equal $1 million at the current melt value. The value of those quarters would be $28,090 when calculated by their 25-cent face value. That means our 1960s worker would have needed to earn $7,022 per year between 1960 and 1964 for his silver quarters to make him a millionaire today. That equals $73,623 per year in 2025 dollars – certainly not an unreasonable salary for a professional.

Maybe those laugh emojis were unwarranted.

Of course, this assumes he kept all those quarters, which is unrealistic. The saving rate in 1964 was around 12 percent. That would be about $840 per year for our worker earning $7,020. If he saved the average, he would have 13,440 quarters today, with a melt value of $119,616.

Now consider this: if our worker had earned an average wage before 1960, he would have needed less than 10 years to accumulate enough quarters to be a millionaire today at the average saving rate.

What Have They Done to Our Money?

This thought experiment underscores how your government has devalued your money.

When Johnson signed the Coinage Act, he insisted that removing silver would have no impact on the value of U.S. coinage.

“[The] Treasury has a lot of silver on hand, and it can be, and it will be used to keep the price of silver in line with its value in our present silver coin,” he said.

Just a few years later, President Richard Nixon made a similar claim when he cut the final tie to the gold standard. He said, “Let me lay to rest the bugaboo of what is called devaluation,” and promised, “Your dollar will be worth just as much as it is today.

Both men were lying.

When you disconnect money from anything of tangible value, it is going to quickly depreciate. It’s as certain as death and taxes.

And that’s exactly what happened.

This currency debasement is ongoing.

This is why you want to have real money – gold and silver. It will not be devalued by government action and can hold the value of your wealth over time – like those silver quarters.

By the way, pre-1964 quarters, dimes, and half dollars are one of the best ways to invest in silver right now with historically low premiums.


Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for Money Metals with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.

Israeli Government Approves First Phase of Gaza Ceasefire Deal

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.comThe Israeli government approved the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal early Friday morning during a meeting that included US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

“The government has just now approved the framework for the release of all of the hostages – the living and the deceased,” the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

According to The Times of Israel, the approval of the deal now means that a ceasefire is in effect. However, Al Jazeera reported an Israeli airstrike and shelling in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, and attacks east of Gaza City early Friday morning.

The IDF continued to bomb Gaza on Thursday, including a strike in Gaza City that killed at least four Palestinians and left 40 missing under the rubble. The UN has said that it’s ready to surge aid into Gazato bring relief to the starving population.

Witkoff, Netanyahu, and Kushner at the government meeting (photo released by Netanyahu’s office)

Under the deal, Hamas will release all remaining Israeli captives within 72 hours in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Within 24 hours, Israel will pull its troops back from some areas of Gaza, but the IDF will retain control of more than 50% of the Palestinian territory.

Dropping its demand for a full Israeli withdrawal in exchange for the release of all the Israeli hostages was a significant concession from Hamas, which says it has received a guarantee from the US that Israel won’t restart its genocidal war.

“We received guarantees from the mediators and from the US administration, and everyone confirmed that the war has completely ended. We will continue to work with all national and Islamic forces to complete the next steps,” said Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official who Israel recently tried to assassinate in Qatar.

Many details of the long-term implementation of the ceasefire deal still need to be worked out, but President Trump is insisting that he has “ended the war” and that the deal will lead to an “everlasting peace.”

According to a report from Israel Hayom, the US has given Israel a guarantee that it would back Israeli military action if it determined Hamas violated the deal in a way that “poses a security threat.” The report said the understanding “constitutes a side agreement” between the US and Israel.

The US gave Israel a similar side deal for the November 2024 Lebanon ceasefire agreement, which Israel continues to violate on a near-daily basis.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.



Public Librarian Who Pedaled Smut to Children Receives Major Payout

(Headline USAA former Wyoming library director who was fired for pushing sexual content in the children’s section will be paid $700,000 after settling a lawsuit.

Terri Lesley was fired as the library system director in northeastern Wyoming’s Campbell County in 2023, two years into the book dispute at the library in Gillette. Lesley sued last spring over her termination and reached the settlement with county officials Wednesday.

“I do feel vindicated. It’s been a rough road, but I will never regret standing up for the First Amendment,” Lesley said.

A major coal-mining area on the Western high plains, Campbell County is among the most conservative areas in one of the most conservative states.

Public officials there sided with the book objectors and violated Lesley’s First Amendment rights, Lesley claimed in her federal lawsuit against Campbell County, including its commission and library board.

The county denied Lesley’s claims. Only Lesley’s performance — not the dispute over the books — played a role in her dismissal, the county argued in court documents.

A private-practice attorney hired by the county for the lawsuit, Patrick Holscher, and County Attorney Nathan Henkes didn’t immediately return phone messages Wednesday seeking comment.

The books in question included “This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson, “How Do You Make a Baby” by Anna Fiske, “Doing It” by Hannah Witton, “Sex is a Funny Word” by Corey Silverberg, and “Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy” by Andrew P. Smiler.

“We hope at least that it sends a message to other library districts, other states, other counties, that the First Amendment is alive and strong and that our values against discrimination also remain alive and strong,” said Lesley’s attorney, Iris Halpern. “These are public entities, they’re government officials, they need to keep in mind their constitutional obligations.”

Halpern and her firm, Rathod Mohamedbhai in Denver, have supported fired library employees elsewhere in recent years. Under the settlement agreement, Lesley is dropping her lawsuit, though a separate lawsuit she has filed against three individuals who contested the books will continue.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency tasked with enforcing discrimination laws, allowed the lawsuit against the county officials to be filed based on an earlier EEOC complaint filed by Lesley.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

 

Legacy Media Admits: Illegals Do Receive Free Health Care

(Luis CornelioHeadline USA) After weeks of repeating Democratic talking points that illegal aliens do not benefit from public health programs, some media outlets are now acknowledging the truth: illegal aliens can receive care through certain government-funded programs.

The debate over illegal aliens’ access to taxpayer-funded health care comes amid a standoff in Congress over government funding.

Republicans are pushing for a clean resolution to keep the government open for several weeks, while Democrats are demanding the reversal of limits on health care programs that provide benefits to illegal aliens.

ABC News offered one such concession. On Thursday, the outlet acknowledged that Emergency Medicaid does cover illegal aliens, though it downplayed the impact by claiming it only accounted for “0.4%” of total Medicaid spending in 2022.

But ABC cited a study from Emory University, the University of Colorado and Harvard that openly admitted it was incomplete. The study excluded reports from 11 states and did “not account for other public spending on undocumented immigrants.”

The Washington Post similarly skirted the issue, calling “the reality is far more complicated.”

The outlet reported that one of the Democrats’ demands to reopen the government involves reversing limits in the One Big Beautiful Bill, which — by The Post’s own admission — “curbs Medicaid reimbursements for hospitals that treat undocumented immigrants.”

In the next line, the outlet admitted that “Democrats want that eligibility and those payments restored.”

USA Today made a similar acknowledgment. The newspaper reported that while illegal aliens are generally ineligible for most government-paid health care, under the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act, “hospitals are required to stabilize anyone who shows up for emergency care – no matter their immigration status.”

Critics on X mocked the media’s admissions. Columnist Bonchie wrote, “We’re now at the ‘it’s happening, but it doesn’t matter’ stage.”

Another user echoed the mockery, adding: “1. That isn’t happening 2. It is happening, but it’s rare <– YOU ARE HERE 3. It’s happening, and it’s a good thing 4. You are required to support it happening to remain in polite society.”