Today is election day in Russia, and it is quite obvious who will emerge victorious as the country’s next president. However, Ukraine has chosen the eve of election day and into Friday to send a ‘message’ – while apparently losing a lot of men in the process.

There have been repeat significant cross-border ground and shelling attacks from Ukraine in the past 48 hours. Russia’s defense ministry (MoD) announced Friday morning that it “repelled” the latest major attempted incursion in the Belgorod region on the border.

The MoD claimed its forces, including border security services, took out some 50 invaders in the assault. Russian media summarized of the military’s statements: “The team was then targeted by Russian artillery and military aviation. The territory through which other Ukrainian troops could reach Kozinka to prop up the advance force was remotely mined.”

The statement continued, “The Ukrainians were then forced out of the village, with survivors running into the freshly placed minefield and getting killed, according to the statement. An attempted evacuation was stopped by rocket artillery.”

Russian media has further published videos and images which purport to confirm that attempted major cross-border incursion. The same groups from a similar Tuesday raid appear to have been behind the newest attack – mostly made up what have been described as anti-Putin Russian nationals collaborating with Kiev.

President Putin on Friday addressed the string of cross-border attacks, describing there had been “four attacks on the Belgorod region and one attack on the Kursk region by armed Ukrainian proxies numbering about 2,500.”

🇺🇦⚔️🇷🇺 Northern Front, Belgorod: The Ukraine-backed Russian opposition continues to shell the city relentlessly. According to enemy reports, over 140 strikes have been recorded since the beginning of the day. pic.twitter.com/Udp3U5IMtf

— Astraia Intel (@astraiaintel) March 15, 2024

Putin additionally said the invading militants had 35 tanks and 40 armored vehicles, as cited in Reuters. He estimated that about 60% of the invading force was killed.

But it was fresh drone attack and shelling on Belgorod city Friday that resulted in Russian civilian casualties. Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that during the attack air defenses shot down ten inbound “aerial targets”.

“According to preliminary information, one civilian was killed. At the moment of the shelling attack, the man was working at a store,” Gladkov stated on Telegram. “Paramedics did their best to save his life, but he died from his injuries at the scene,” the governor added.

Somewhat unexpectedly, or perhaps due to the security situation, President Putin is widely reported to have cast his vote online…

‼️🇷🇺 Vladimir #Putin has cast an online vote for the 2024 #Russian Presidential Elections.

🐻 Who do you think he voted for? pic.twitter.com/SzkSa5fmOH

— Maimunka News (@MaimunkaNews) March 15, 2024

Putin spoke of the civilian death on election day, saying, “I am sure that our people, the people of Russia, will respond to this with even greater solidarity. Who did they decide to intimidate? The Russian people?“

Russia unleashed its own large-scale strikes on the southern Ukraine city of Odesa on Friday. The NY Times describes, “A Russian missile attack on Odesa killed at least 17 people and injured 73 others, Ukrainian authorities said on Friday, the latest in a series of deadly air assaults on the southern Ukrainian port city.”

“Ukraine’s state emergency services said a first missile hit several houses late in the morning, prompting rescuers to rush to the scene,” the report continues. “A second missile then landed on the same site, causing many fatalities, including at least one paramedic and a rescue worker. The reports could not be independently verified.”

Meanwhile, there were various other reports of local election disruptions on Friday…

🇷🇺 RUSSIAN ELECTIONS: BALLOT BOXES ON FIRE, VANDALISM, TERRORIST PLOTS

It’s been quite the first day for Russia’s elections – from alleged disappearing ink pens at polling stations to multiple arrests across the country for lighting ballot boxes on fire or dumping into them.… pic.twitter.com/zLfGwW2ZCU

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 15, 2024

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

Lithium Americas Corp has received a conditional commitment for a $2.26-billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to help it build lithium processing facilities in Nevada, as the Biden Administration looks to support America-produced lithium and reduce dependence on Chinese supply.  

Lithium Americas’ Thacker Pass project in Humboldt County, Nevada, is located next to a mine site that contains the largest-proven lithium reserves in North America, DOE said.

The U.S. Administration plans to extend the $2.26 billion loan under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. The government funding is intended to help finance the construction of Thacker Pass, targeted to produce an initial 40,000 tonnes per year of battery-grade lithium carbonate, Vancouver-based Lithium Americas Corp said in a statement.

Lithium Americas targets mechanical completion of Thacker Pass Phase 1 for 2027. Major construction is expected to start in the second half of this year, following the anticipated closing of the DOE Loan and issuance of full notice to proceed (FNTP), which is expected in the second half of 2024.  

“The United States has an incredible opportunity to lead the next chapter of global electrification in a way that both strengthens our battery supply chains and ensures that the economic benefits are directed toward American workers, companies and communities,” Lithium Americas’ president and CEO Jonathan Evans said.

The lithium price crash over the past year is holding back reinvestment in new supply, the world’s top lithium producer Albemarle has said recently.  

While major lithium suppliers continue to see a surge in long-term demand as the energy transition gathers momentum, the current low price environment is “unstainable,” Kent Masters, Albemarle’s chairman, president, and CEO, said on the company’s earnings call last month.

The current lithium prices are not in a range allowing projects, especially in the West, to get off the ground, Masters added.

 The deferral of new supply developments amid the low prices is setting the stage for the next lithium supply crunch later this decade, executives and analysts say.

While Joe Biden insists that Americans are doing great – suggesting in his State of the Union Address last week that “our economy is the envy of the world,” Americans are being absolutely crushed by inflation (which the Biden admin blames on ‘shrinkflation’ and ‘corporate greed’), and of course – crippling debt.

The signs are obvious. Last week we noted that banks’ charge-offs are accelerating, and are now above pre-pandemic levels.

…and leading this increase are credit card loans – with delinquencies that haven’t been this high since Q3 2011.

On top of that, while credit cards and nonfarm, nonresidential commercial real estate loans drove the quarterly increase in the noncurrent rate, residential mortgages drove the quarterly increase in the share of loans 30-89 days past due.

And while Biden and crew can spin all they want, an average of polls from RealClear Politics shows that just 40% of people approve of Biden’s handling of the economy.

Crushed

On Friday, Bloomberg dug deeper into the effects of Biden’s “envious” economy on Americans – specifically, how massive debt loads (credit cards and auto loans especially) are absolutely crushing people.

Two years after the Federal Reserve began hiking interest rates to tame prices, delinquency rates on credit cards and auto loans are the highest in more than a decade. For the first time on record, interest payments on those and other non-mortgage debts are as big a financial burden for US households as mortgage interest payments.

According to the report, this presents a difficult reality for millions of consumers who drive the US economy – “The era of high borrowing costs — however necessary to slow price increases — has a sting of its own that many families may feel for years to come, especially the ones that haven’t locked in cheap home loans.”

The Fed, meanwhile, doesn’t appear poised to cut rates until later this year.

According to a February paper from IMF and Harvard, the recent high cost of borrowing – something which isn’t reflected in inflation figures, is at the heart of lackluster consumer sentiment despite inflation having moderated and a job market which has recovered (thanks to job gains almost entirely enjoyed by immigrants).

In short, the debt burden has made life under President Biden a constant struggle throughout America.

“I’m making the most money I’ve ever made, and I’m still living paycheck to paycheck,” 40-year-old Denver resident Nikki Cimino told Bloomberg. Cimino is carrying a monthly mortgage of $1,650, and has $4,000 in credit card debt following a 2020 divorce.

“There’s this wild disconnect between what people are experiencing and what economists are experiencing.“

CBS: Do you attribute the inflation crisis to the pandemic or Biden?

WISCONSIN VOTER: “It’s been YEARS now since the pandemic — I’m not buying that anymore. At first I did; I’m not buying that anymore because yogurt is STILL going up in price!” pic.twitter.com/apahb65scB

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 15, 2024

What’s more, according to Wells Fargo, families have taken on debt at a comparatively fast rate – no doubt to sustain the same lifestyle as low rates and pandemic-era stimmies provided. In fact, it only took four years for households to set a record new debt level after paying down borrowings in 2021 when interest rates were near zero. 

Meanwhile, that increased debt load is exacerbated by credit card interest rates that have climbed to a record 22%, according to the Fed.

[P]art of the reason some Americans were able to take on a substantial load of non-mortgage debt is because they’d locked in home loans at ultra-low rates, leaving room on their balance sheets for other types of borrowing. The effective rate of interest on US mortgage debt was just 3.8% at the end of last year.

Yet the loans and interest payments can be a significant strain that shapes families’ spending choices. -Bloomberg

And of course, the highest-interest debt (credit cards) is hurting lower-income households the most, as tends to be the case.

The lowest earners also understandably had the biggest increase in credit card delinquencies.

“Many consumers are levered to the hilt — maxed out on debt and barely keeping their heads above water,” Allan Schweitzer, a portfolio manager at credit-focused investment firm Beach Point Capital Management told Bloomberg. “They can dog paddle, if you will, but any uptick in unemployment or worsening of the economy could drive a pretty significant spike in defaults.“

“We had more money when Trump was president,” said Denise Nierzwicki, 69. She and her 72-year-old husband Paul have around $20,000 in debt spread across multiple cards – all of which have interest rates above 20%.

During the pandemic, Denise lost her job and a business deal for a bar they owned in their hometown of Lexington, Kentucky. While they applied for Social Security to ease the pain, Denise is now working 50 hours a week at a restaurant. Despite this, they’re barely scraping enough money together to service their debt.

The couple blames Biden for what they see as a gloomy economy and plans to vote for the Republican candidate in November. Denise routinely voted for Democrats up until about 2010, when she grew dissatisfied with Barack Obama’s economic stances, she said. Now, she supports Donald Trump because he lowered taxes and because of his policies on immigration. -Bloomberg

Meanwhile there’s student loans – which are not able to be discharged in bankruptcy.

“I can’t even save, I don’t have a savings account,” said 29-year-old in Columbus, Ohio resident Brittany Walling – who has around $80,000 in federal student loans, $20,000 in private debt from her undergraduate and graduate degrees, and $6,000 in credit card debt she accumulated over a six-month stretch in 2022 while she was unemployed.

“I just know that a lot of people are struggling, and things need to change,” she told the outlet.

The only silver lining of note, according to Bloomberg, is that broad wage gains resulting in large paychecks has made it easier for people to throw money at credit card bills.

Yet, according to Wells Fargo economist Shannon Grein, “As rates rose in 2023, we avoided a slowdown due to spending that was very much tied to easy access to credit … Now, credit has become harder to come by and more expensive.”

According to Grein, the change has posed “a significant headwind to consumption.”

Then there’s the election

“Maybe the Fed is done hiking, but as long as rates stay on hold, you still have a passive tightening effect flowing down to the consumer and being exerted on the economy,” she continued. “Those household dynamics are going to be a factor in the election this year.”

Meanwhile, swing-state voters in a February Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll said they trust Trump more than Biden on interest rates and personal debt.

Reverberations

These ‘headwinds’ have M3 Partners’ Moshin Meghji concerned.

“Any tightening there immediately hits the top line of companies,” he said, noting that for heavily indebted companies that took on debt during years of easy borrowing, “there’s no easy fix.“

Authored by Matt Taibbi via Racket News,

Did they tell you the part about giving the president sweeping new powers?

It’s funny how things work.

Last year at this time, Americans overwhelmingly supported a ban on TikTok.

Polls showed a 50-22% overall margin in support of a ban and 70-14% among conservatives. But Congress couldn’t get the RESTRICT Act passed.

As the public learned more about provisions in the bill, and particularly since the outbreak of hostilities in Gaza, the legislative plan grew less popular. Polls dropped to 38-27% in favor by December, and they’re at 35-31% against now.

Yet the House just passed the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” by a ridiculous 352-64 margin, with an even more absurd 50-0 unanimous push from the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

What gives?

As discussed on the new America This Week, passage of the TikTok ban represents a perfect storm of unpleasant political developments, putting congress back fully in line with the national security establishment on speech. After years of public championing of the First Amendment, congressional Republicans have suddenly and dramatically been brought back into the fold. Meanwhile Democrats, who stand to lose a lot from the bill politically — it’s opposed by 73% of TikTok users, precisely the young voters whose defections since October put Joe Biden’s campaign into a tailspin — are spinning passage of the legislation to its base by suggesting it’s not really happening.

“This is not an attempt to ban TikTok, it’s an attempt to make TikTok better,” is how Nancy Pelosi put it. Congress, the theory goes, will force TikTok to divest, some kindly Wall Street consortium will gobble it up (“It’s a great business and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok,” Steve Mnuchin told CNBC), and life will go on. All good, right?

Not exactly. The bill passed in the House that’s likely to win the Senate and be swiftly signed into law by the White House’s dynamic Biden hologram is at best tangentially about TikTok.

You’ll find the real issue in the fine print. There, the “technical assistance” the drafters of the bill reportedly received from the White House shines through, Look particularly at the first highlighted portion, and sections (i) and (ii) of (3)B:

As written, any “website, desktop application, mobile application, or augmented or immersive technology application” that is “determined by the President to present a significant threat to the National Security of the United States” is covered.

Currently, the definition of “foreign adversary” includes Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China.

The definition of “controlled,” meanwhile, turns out to be a word salad, applying to:

(A) a foreign person that is domiciled in, is headquartered in, has its principal place of business in, or is organized under the laws of a foreign adversary country;

(B) an entity with respect to which a foreign person or combination of foreign persons described in subparagraph (A) directly or indirectly own at least a 20 percent stake; or

(C) a person subject to the direction or control of a foreign person or entity described in subparagraph (A) or (B).

A “foreign adversary controlled application,” in other words, can be any company founded or run by someone living at the wrong foreign address, or containing a small minority ownership stake. Or it can be any company run by someone “subject to the direction” of either of those entities. Or, it’s anything the president says it is. Vague enough?

As Newsweek reported, the bill was fast-tracked after a secret “intelligence community briefing” of Congress led by the FBI, Department of Justice, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). The magazine noted that if everything goes as planned, the bill will give Biden the authority to shut down an app used by 150 million Americans just in time for the November elections.

Say you’re a Democrat, however, and that scenario doesn’t worry you. As America This Week co-host Walter Kirn notes, the bill would give a potential future President Donald Trump “unprecedented powers to censor and control the internet.” If that still doesn’t bother you, you’re either not worried about the election, or you’ve been overstating your fear of “dictatorial” Trump.

We have two decades of data showing how national security measures in the 9-11 era evolve. In 2004 the George W. Bush administration defined “enemy combatant” as “an individual who was part of or supporting Taliban or al Qaeda forces, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States.” Yet in oral arguments of Rosul et al v Bush later that year, the government conceded an enemy combatant could be a “little old lady in Switzerland” who “wrote a check” to what she thought was an orphanage.

Eventually, every element of the requirement that an enemy combatant be connected to “hostilities against the United States” was dropped, including the United States part. Though Barack Obama eliminated the term “enemy combatant” in 2009, the government retained (and retains) a claim of authority to do basically whatever it wants, when it comes to capturing and detaining people deemed national security threats. You can expect a similar progression with speech controls.

Just ahead of Monday’s oral arguments in Murtha v. Missouri, formerly Missouri v. Biden — the case so many of us hoped would see the First Amendment reinvigorated by the Supreme Court — this TikTok bill has allowed the intelligence community to re-capture the legislative branch. Just a few principled speech defenders are left now. Fifty Democrats voted against the bill, which is heartening, although virtually none argued against it on First Amendment grounds, whis is infurating. Pramila Jayapal had a typical take, saying the ban would “harm users who rely on TikTok for their livelihoods, many of whom are people of color.”

Contrast that with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who went after members of his own party, singling out Republicans encouraging a governmental power grab after years of fighting big tech abuses not just at TikTok but other platforms. These people claim to be horrified, he said, but actions speak louder than words.

“Look at their legislative proposals,” he said, noting many want to “set up government agencies and panels” on speech, effectively saying “If you’re not putting enough conservatives on there, by golly we’re going to have a government commission that’s going to determine what kind of content gets on there.”

These, he said, are “scary ideas.”

Why the TikTok Ban is So Dangerous:

With the new TikTok ban, the devil is in the details. Why we should be glad for the dwindling cast of congressional speech defenders like @RandPaul and @RepThomasMassie, and welcome the @ACLU‘s belated return to the 1A battlefield:… pic.twitter.com/h4nHul5YHK

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 15, 2024

He’s right, and shame on papers like the New York Post that are going after Paul for having donors connected to TikTok. Paul has been consistent in his defense of speech throughout his career, so the idea that his opinion on this matter is bought is ludicrous. It’s a relief to be able to expect at least some adherence to principle on this topic from him or fellow Kentuckian Thomas Massie, just as we once could expect it from Democrats like Paul Wellstone or Dennis Kucinich.

I don’t often do this, but as Walter pointed out in today’s podcast, this bill is so dangerous, the moment so suddenly and unexpectedly grave, that we both recommend anyone who can find the time to call or write their Senators to express opposition to any coming Senate vote. It might help. Yes, collection of personal information and content manipulation by the Chinese government (or Russia’s, or ours) are serious problems, but the wider view is the speech emergency. As the cliché goes, forget the furniture. The house is on fire. Let’s hope we’re not too late.

Subscribe to Matt Taibbi’s Racket News substack here…

Can’t find a house to buy? The underlying problem remains a persistent housing shortage and elevated mortgage rates that have paralyzed the housing market nationwide. 

However, don’t fear ahead of the spring housing season. New housing data from industry researcher ResiClub reveals pockets of housing markets with increasing inventory (i.e., active listings), which means weaker home price growth and, thus, better affordability for homebuyers. 

Last week, ResiClub reported that the number of active US homes for sale in February 2024 (664,716) was up +15% year-over-year from February 2023 (579,264). However, active inventory for sale is still 40% lower than its pre-Covid levels of 1,102,660.  

The good news is that regionally speaking, taking a look at a 12-month inventory shift, these are the five states with the largest supplies coming onto the market in February: 

• Florida: +45.8%

• Mississippi: +28.0%

• Louisiana: +28.0%

• Alabama: +27.0%

• Arkansas: +23.2%

If you’re a homebuyer, avoid these five states, as inventory remains extremely tight. 

• Nevada: -32.0%

• Illinois: -9.8%

• New Jersey: -9.1%

• Idaho: -9.0%

• Rhode Island: -7.8%

Here’s a 12-month inventory shift of the nation between Feb. 2023 and Feb. 2024. 

Year-over-year shift in active housing inventory for sale

Florida: +45.8%
Mississippi: +28.0%
Louisiana: +28.0%

U.S. +15.0%

New Jersey: -9.1%
Illinois: -9.8%
Nevada: -32.0%

Interactive map: https://t.co/LrJ1Nm4WMi

Article: https://t.co/WuxZZWp5s5 pic.twitter.com/2tGHKCPT5I

— ResiClub (@ResidentialClub) March 14, 2024

In summary, the best deals this spring could be in southern states.

An ugly week on the macro side – hotter than expected inflation, slower than expected growth, weaker than expected labor market data…

Source: Bloomberg

…but the inflation issues sent rate-cut expectations reeling (now less than 3 cuts priced in for 2024)…

Source: Bloomberg

And as rate-cut expectations fell, Treasury yields rose… non-stop… all week with the belly of the curve underperforming (5Y yields up 28bps on the week)…

Source: Bloomberg

Yields all ended back up near their year-to-date highs…

Source: Bloomberg

Higher yields were initially shrugged off by stocks but as they kept rising, there was no arguing…

Source: Bloomberg

Small-Caps and Big-Tech were the week’s biggest losers…

Banks were not pretty this week as The Fed’s BTFP facility expired…

…and liquidity was sucked hard out of the RRP. $108BN drawn down in the last two days to fresh cycle lows…

Source: Bloomberg

Anti-Obesity drug stocks dared to end red…

Source: Bloomberg

AI stocks also pumped and dumped on the week…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar surged this week – as BoJ chatter picked up – with its best week since mid-Jan (rebounding some from last week’s dollar-plungefest)….

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar’s gains were gold’s losses as the precious metal ended the week down 1%…

Source: Bloomberg

Despite big net inflows this week…

Source: Bloomberg

…bitcoin ended the week only marginally higher (up around 3%), with choppy moves (day-session dips bought overnight), but ened back above $70,000…

Source: Bloomberg

…and ethereum was a little worse, down around 3%, on the week (thanks to Democrats’ letter overnight pressuring the SEC on ETH ETFs)…

Source: Bloomberg

NatGas erased most of last week’s gains…

Source: Bloomberg

Still there were some bright spots…

Crude surged on the week, breaking out of its range to its highest since early November…

Source: Bloomberg

And as goes crude, so goes wholesale gasoline… and then goes pump prices…

Source: Bloomberg

..but it was copper that really regained its legs, surging up to its highest since Feb 2023…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, was this week’s ‘stalling’ in NVDA ‘the top’?

Source: Bloomberg

How ironic would it be if we saw peak AI just as Jensen unveils his latest and greatest at GTC on Monday?

Iran-backed Houthi rebels have attacked more than 40 merchant vessels amid the ongoing war in Gaza and severed several undersea communication cables. The Biden administration’s Operation Prosperity Guardian, a US-led naval coalition to shield commercial ships from drone and missile attacks, continues to fail as another ship was hit by a missile Friday.

“A merchant vessel has reported that they have been struck by a missile and the vessel has sustained some damage. The crew are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call,” UK Maritime Trade Operations, a part of the navy that provides maritime, wrote on X. 

The attack on the vessel occurred around 0400 local time on Friday and 76 nautical miles west of the port city of Al Hudaydah. No details about the vessel’s name or type of ship were released. 

Hours before, UKMTO reported another ‘incident’ 50 nautical miles southeast of Aden, Yemen. 

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden reapproved a $10 billion sanctions waiver for Iran despite the ‘rogue regime’ funding proxy wars across Iraq and Syria and the Red Sea against the US and allies. 

Biden Grants Iran Billions In Sanctions Relief Amid Secret Talks Over Red Sea Attacks https://t.co/dBUNNWJBy5

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 14, 2024

And then there’s this… 

Yemen’s Houthis Claim 1st Hypersonic Missile Test, Likely Sourced From IRGC https://t.co/5HvYx8siTn

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 14, 2024

A recent interview with Adm. James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, and Goldman’s Allison Nathan reveals that the world is on fire. 

“In my career, I’ve never seen a higher level of maritime risk than I do today. That owes first and foremost to the return of great power competition, which we thought was basically over when the Soviet Union collapsed.” 

Three decades after the Cold War ended, conflicts rage across Ukraine, Gaza, the Red Sea, Myanmar, the Sahel, Sudan, and potentially Taiwan and Iran. The rules-based system of international relations modeled on America’s liberal-democratic values is crumbling as the world stumbles into a nascent multipolar era. 

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

The Missouri school where a black student beat a white girl into a seizure last week has a history of anti-white racism cases and violent confrontations, according to local residents, former students and staffers.

Here’s the backstory:

Now a former student at the Hazelwood East High School in St. Louis has charged that anti-white bullying has been ongoing at the school for decades.

In addition, locals say fights have extended out into their neighbourhoods for years.

In 2017, a principal alleged that anti-white discrminination was the cause of her demotion, as reported at the time by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 

NEW: Reports are coming in that brutal fights involving students in @HazelwoodSD have been going on for YEARS. The school appears to have incorporated equity based school discipline policies according to their most recent DEI Initiative.

A former student tells me another student… https://t.co/aUcv9hEria pic.twitter.com/KEWwLCA6qQ

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 11, 2024

It has also been noted that while most students in the district have been struggling to reach proficiency levels, it was awarded the North County Incorporated (NCI) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leadership Award in 2022.

It’s a familiar story all over the country.

Meanwhile, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, has urged “This evil and complete disregard for human life has no place in Missouri, or anywhere.” 

Bailey added, “I am praying for the victim. The criminal should be charged and tried as an adult. If the victim dies, that offense should rise to a homicide.”

The victim, identified only as Kaylee, is still in critical condition, fighting for her life according to her family, with a skull fracture, brain bleeding, and damage to her frontal lobe.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to accept donations for the family, it notes “Kaylee is fighting hard to stay alive and heal but this is only the beginning of a very uphill battle for Kaylee and her family.”

“We will not know the [extent] of the brain damage that has occurred until she wakes up but the path to recovery will be extremely hard on the family, not only mentally but financially.”

The St. Louis Dispatch also reports that many students walked out of the high school on Monday after video of the brutal incident went viral online.

*  *  *

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.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Podcast King Joe Rogan took a swipe at Rock Grandpa Neil Young Thursday after Young announced earlier this week that he was returning his music to Spotify following a two year hiatus in protest of ‘COVID disinformation’ on Rogan’s output.

Here’s the backstory if you’re unfamiliar:

Young, who reportedly took a 60% revenue hit from the move, while Spotify did not, initially published a post on his website Tuesday begrudgingly announcing he was returning to the ‘Low Res’ platform.

Rather than admit he may have been wrong, or that he can’t realistically stay off the world’s biggest music platform, Young claimed that because all the other platforms like Apple and Amazon also allow content from Joe Rogan and other so called ‘disinformation’ peddlers, he may as well just go back on Spotify.

Rogan addressed Young’s actions during a conversation about COVID vaccines, stating “By the way, Neil Young came back to Spotify. Congratulations, Neil.”

Rogan added, “His excuse was he said that because all of the platforms are now allowing my disinformation, he should just go back on Spotify too.”

“Great to know you got some ethics,” Rogan added, in an open swipe at the Canadian rocker.

Watch:

2 years after his ‘COVID misinformation’ tantrum, Neil Young announced he was returning to Spotify. Joe Rogan ‘welcomed’ him back by openly mocking him. “Great to know you got some ethics.” Now it seems Young has backtracked & isn’t returning. Report here https://t.co/gTr0euE9xT pic.twitter.com/TKTVHE3D2t

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) March 15, 2024

News articles have surfaced in their thousands about how Young is returning to Spotify, and many on social media have labeled him a hypocrite or worse.

“Spotify can have Neil Young or Joe Rogan. You can’t have both.”

Turns out all you have to do is wait a couple of years for Neil to capitulate and then you can. https://t.co/ihOBTvocTi

— Francis Foster (@francisjfoster) March 14, 2024

Just so we’re clear on this… Neil Young pulled his music from Spotify over the seriousness of @joerogan spreading “dangerous misinformation” … but now that this “dangerous misinformation” is on even more platforms Young has decided to, no, not to pull his music from the other… pic.twitter.com/6qdlM4OD54

— Five Times August (@FiveTimesAugust) March 13, 2024

Now, Young has deleted the initial announcement post from his website, and his music has still not appeared on Spotify, indicating that he has changed his mind again.

When previously asked by a fan in a letter (below) if he would ever go back to Spotify, Young responded “Why would I? It sounds like shit.”

Young also revealed that he asked Spotify to put disclaimers on Rogan’s content, but they initially refused to do so. Then he advised that such warnings could be difficult to find and follow.

Spotify did put disclaimers on Rogan’s content after the furore, but they do not appear to be doing it anymore.

*  *  *

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued formal approval for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to go into Rafah while announcing the rejection of the “still absurd” Hamas demands which were presented this week in ceasefire talks.

“The IDF is prepared for the operation and to evacuate the [civilian] population,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement. “He also approves an IDF plan of operation to enter the southern Gaza city of Rafah,” the PM’s office affirmed to the Times of Israel.

Axios’ Barak Ravid has reported that Hamas presented its plan Thursday, which lays out a first phase of a six week ceasefire that includes the release of about 40 Israeli hostages, but Israel would have to free some 400 Palestinian prisoners, among these many who have killed Israelis.

Crucially, the Hamas proposal has also included the “return of displaced Palestinians to their homes and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave.”

Israel has repeatedly said that the demand to withdraw all Israeli forces from the Strip remains a non-starter, given also Netanyahu has vowed to not halt the military operation until Hamas is eradicated.

Netanyahu had initially stated Thursday: “Hamas continues with its preposterous demands. The war cabinet will be updated tomorrow.”

Given the IDF ground offensive on Rafah looks to imminently proceed (though Israeli officials last month had initially offered a start date of March 10, which has come and gone), Israel still has a problem concerning the increasing condemnations coming out of Washington.

On Thursday Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, who was prior to this week seen as someone staunchly in Netanyahu’s corner, in a blistering speech called the Israeli PM a “pariah” and said he has “lost his way”. 

As we detailed earlier, the surprise rebuke followed on the heels of an annual “threat assessment” compiled by US intelligence agencies, which was released Monday and questioned Netanyahu’s hold on power. Below is what it said:

“Netanyahu’s viability as leader as well as his governing coalition of far-right and ultraorthodox parties that pursued hardline policies on Palestinian and security issues may be in jeopardy.”

It continues, “Distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections. A different, more moderate government is a possibility.”

According to Axios, Israel has been making some limited strides to try and calm US concerns over the humanitarian situation and the soaring death toll. 

“Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant signed on Thursday a letter to the Biden administration assuring Israel will use U.S. weapons according to international law and allow U.S.-supported humanitarian aid into Gaza, two Israeli and U.S. officials told Axios,” the report indicated.