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Trump listens during a farming event in rural Pennsylvania, then threatens John Deere with tariffs [Video]
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Trump listens during a farming event in rural Pennsylvania, then threatens John Deere with tariffs [Video]

Donald Trump sat in a large barn in rural Pennsylvania on Monday, asking questions of farmers and offering jokes but, in a rarity for his campaign events, mostly listening.The bombastic former president was unusually restrained at an event about China’s influence on the U.S. economy, a roundtable during which farmers and manufacturers expressed concerns about losing their way of life. Behind Trump were large green tractors and a sign declaring Protect our food from China.”The event in Smithton, Pennsylvania, gave Trump a chance to drive his economic message against Vice President Kamala Harris, arguing that imposing tariffs and boosting energy production will lower costs. He highlighted Harris’ reversal of a previous vow to ban fracking, a method of producing natural gas key to Pennsylvania’s economy.And he noted the tractors behind him were manufactured by John Deere, which announced in June it was moving skid steer and track loader manufacturing to Mexico and working to acquire land there for a new factory. Trump threatened the firm with a 200% tariff should he win back the presidency and it opted to export manufacturing to Mexico.If they want to build in the United States, theres no tariff, he added.Trump opened the event with some of his usual themes. He declared that in 2020: “We had an election that didnt exactly work out too good. And it was a disgrace.But he then did something unusual: He let others do most of the talking.When one farmer said recent decades had seen scores of family farms shut down, Trump asked what that meant for overall production. The response was that, thanks to larger farms now operating, total production is actually up but “we are losing the small family farms.I know that, yes, Trump responded somberly. Later, he said, “I am not too worried about the people around this table supporting him on Election Day, while jokingly adding, But you never know.In response to another participants concerns about energy production, Trump said he didnt know that farmers were so energy-dependent. Another farmer talked about Chinese-subsidized businesses, prompting Trump to respond, Thats why we need tariffs.After the same farmer finished her comments by praising him profusely, he intoned: Amen. I agree.Trump has embraced tariffs as he tries to appeal to working-class voters who oppose free-trade deals and the outsourcing of factories and jobs, and the event wasn’t all about showing a more personable side.Later, the former president took questions from reporters and got more customarily combative when asked whether he was concerned that tariffs on manufacturers like John Deere would increase costs for farmers. He said of Harris, She is not going to be good for Pennsylvania.Stopping at a neighborhood market prior to an evening rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Trump bought a bag of popcorn and quipped that, if elected, he may send for more from the Oval Office. He also gave a woman paying for groceries a $100 bill, declaring that her total just went down a hundred bucks.The change didn’t last long. At his evening rally, Trump reverted to form, using an abrasive message to energize mostly conservative, white, working-class voters.Shes a one-woman economic wrecking ball and if she gets four more years, her radical agenda will smash the economy into rubble and grind your financial situation right into the dust, Trump said of Harris. He claimed, She wants to take your guns away even as the vice president has stressed being a gun owner herself.”Shes coming for your money. Shes coming for your pensions, and shes coming for your savings,” he said.The former president urged supporters to get out and vote but scoffed at the idea of casting early ballots, suggesting without evidence that it allowed more time to commit fraud. Citing unknown sources, he declared, They said, if we dont win this election, there may never be another election in this country.At one point, the former president caught a glimpse of himself on the big screen and joked about a handsome man over there before concluding, Oh, its Trump.He also got especially candid with the rally audience saying, I dont like anybody that doesnt like me, Ill be honest, before adding, sounds childish but thats the way it is … call it a personality defect.It was a starkly different tone from Trumps first event in Smithton, which was hosted by the Protecting America Initiative, led by Richard Grenell, Trumps former acting director of national intelligence, and former New York congressman Lee Zeldin.Grenell told the small group of attendees there, China is getting into our farmlands, and we have to be able to see China very clearly.At the end of 2022, China held nearly 250,000 acres of U.S. land, which is slightly less than 1% of foreign-held acres, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. By comparison, Canada was the largest foreign owner of U.S. land, accounting for 32%, or 14.2 million acres.Still, the National Agricultural Law Center estimates that 24 states ban or limit foreigners without residency and foreign businesses or governments from owning private farmland. The issue emerged after a Chinese billionaire bought more than 130,000 acres near a U.S. Air Force base in Texas and another Chinese company sought to build a corn plant near an Air Force base in North Dakota.Rex Murphy, from a nearby rural community who raises cattle and grows corn and hay, said farmers support Trump in this area, and said he wanted fewer taxes and more freedom.I want him to do everything for the economy, said Murphy, 48. If he just becomes president, and he does what he does, he will do more.Harris is visiting Pennsylvania on Wednesday. Attending a New York fundraiser on Monday, Harris running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, told a group of about 30 donors focused on climate change that Trumps energy catchphrase of drill, baby, drill is not a solution to things, and the public knows that its a cheap, easy thing.Walz, speaking at a midtown Manhattan hotel to an audience that included former presidential candidate Tom Steyer and Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, called climate change an existential threat but also an incredible opportunity to grow our economy. He specifically cited farmers who use their land to generate wind energy in addition to growing crops.Harris campaign spokesman Joseph Costello said that despite all his lies and pandering, Donald Trump used the White House to give handouts to wealthy corporations and foreign companies.”Costello said in a statement that those came “at the expense of family farmers, drive farm bankruptcies to record levels, and sacrifice small American farmers as pawns in his failed trade war with China.

Explosions witnessed at Beirut funeral for Hezbollah members and a child killed in pager attack [Video]
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Explosions witnessed at Beirut funeral for Hezbollah members and a child killed in pager attack [Video]

Explosions went off in Beirut and multiple parts of Lebanon in an apparent second wave of detonations of electronic devices, Hezbollah officials and state media said Wednesday, reporting walkie-talkies and even solar equipment being targeted a day after hundreds of pagers blew up. At least nine people were killed and 300 were wounded, the Health Ministry said.Several blasts were heard at the funeral in Beirut for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by exploding pagers the day before, according to Associated Press journalists at the scene. An AP photographer in the southern coastal city of Sidon saw a car and a mobile phone shop damaged after devices exploded inside of them.A Hezbollah official told the AP that walkie-talkies used by the group exploded. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Lebanons official news agency reports that solar energy systems exploded in homes in several areas of Beirut and in southern Lebanon, wounding at least one girl.The new blasts hit a country still thrown into confusion and anger after Tuesday’s pager bombings, which appeared to be a complex Israeli attack targeting Hezbollah members that caused civilian casualties, too. At least 12 people were killed, including two children, and some 2,800 people wounded as hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members began detonating wherever they happened to be in homes, cars, at grocery stores and in cafes.In the first wave of bombings, it appeared that small amounts of explosives had been hidden in the thousands of pagers delivered to Hezbollah and remotely detonated. The reports of further electronic devices exploding suggested even greater infiltration of boobytraps into Lebanon’s supply chain. It also deepens concerns over the attacks in which hundreds of blasts went off in public areas, often with many bystanders, with no certainty of who was holding the rigged devices.The attacks, which Israel has not commented on, renewed fears that the simmering conflict between Israel and Hezbollah could escalate into all-out war. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday the U.S. is still assessing how the attack could affect efforts to negotiate a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.Israel began moving more troops to its border with Lebanon on Wednesday as a precautionary measure, according to an official with knowledge of the movements who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged fire almost daily since Oct. 8, the day after a deadly Hamas-led assault in southern Israel triggered the war. Since then, hundreds have been killed in the strikes in Lebanon and dozens in Israel, while tens of thousands on each side of the border have been displaced. Hamas and Hezbollah are allies and both are supported by Iran. Israeli leaders have issued a series of warnings in recent weeks that they might increase operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying they must put a stop to the exchanges to allow people to return to homes near the border.New details on the operation began to emerge. An American official said Israel briefed the United States after the attack, in which small amounts of explosive had been hidden in the pagers. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the information publicly.The pagers were made by a company based in Hungary, another firm said Wednesday.The AR-924 pagers used in Tuesday’s attack were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, which is based in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, according to a statement released by Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese firm that authorized the use of its brand on the pagers.Gold Apollo’s chair, Hsu Ching-kuang, told journalists Wednesday the firm has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years.According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC, Gold Apollo said in a statement.BAC Consulting Kft. was registered as a limited liability company in May 2022, according to its records. It has 7,840 euros in standing capital, the records showed, and had revenue of $725,768 in 2022 and $593,972 in 2023.At the headquarters of a building in a residential neighborhood of Budapest, the names of multiple companies, including BAC Consulting, are posted on pieces of paper on a window.A woman who emerged from the building and declined to give her name said the site provides headquarter addresses to various companies.BAC’s parent company is registered to Cristiana Rosaria Brsony-Arcidiacono, whose describes herself on her LinkedIn page as a strategic advisor and business developer. Among other positions, Brsony-Arcidiacono says on the page that she has served on the board of directors of the Earth Child Institute, a sustainability group. The group does not list Brsony-Arcidiacono as among its board members on its website.The Associated Press has attempted to reach Brsony-Arcidiacono via the LinkedIn page and has been unable to establish a connection between her or BAC and the exploding pagers.The attack in Lebanon started Tuesday afternoon, when pagers in their owners’ hands or pockets started heating up and then exploding leaving blood-splattered scenes and panicking bystanders.It appeared that most of those hit were members or linked to members of Hezbollah whether fighters or civilians but it was not immediately clear if people with no ties to Hezbollah were also hit.The Health Ministry said health care workers and two children were among those killed. In the village of Nadi Sheet in the Bekaa Valley, dozens gathered to mourn the death of one of the children, 9-year-old Fatima Abdullah.Her mother, wearing black and donning a yellow Hezbollah scarf, wept alongside other women and children as they gathered around the little girls coffin before her burial.Hezbollah said in a statement Wednesday morning that it would continue its normal strikes against Israel as part of what it describes as a support front for its ally, Hamas, and Palestinians in Gaza.This path is continuous and separate from the difficult reckoning that the criminal enemy must await for its massacre on Tuesday, it said. This is another reckoning that will come, God willing.At hospitals in Beirut on Wednesday, the chaos of the night before had largely subsided, but relatives of the wounded continued to wait.Lebanon Health Minister Firas Abiad told journalists during a tour of hospitals Wednesday morning that many of the wounded had severe injuries to the eyes, and others had limbs amputated. Journalists were not allowed to enter hospital rooms or film patients.Abiad said the wounded had been sent to various area hospitals to avoid any single facility being overloaded and added that Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Egypt offered to help treat the patients.Earlier Wednesday, an Iraqi military plane landed in Beirut carrying 15 tons of medicine and medical equipment, he said.Experts believe explosive material was put into the pagers prior to their delivery.