During a press conference at the NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday, President Joe Biden said NATO would respond “in kind” if Russia uses WMDs in Ukraine, CNBC reports. “We will respond if [Putin] uses it,” said Biden, adding “The nature of the response depends on the nature of the use.”

When asked if he thought Russia should be expelled from the G20 Biden said simply “Yes,” adding that he’d like to see Ukraine there instead. The president also said his administration’s three major objectives at the NATO summit appeared to have been reached during the emergency meeting. “First, to support Ukraine with military and humanitarian assistance. Second was to impose the most significant most significant economic sanctions regime ever, in order to cripple Putin’s economy and punish him for his actions. Third, was to fortify the eastern flank of our NATO allies who were obviously very, very concerned and somewhat worried what would happen.”

Turns out Trump-endorsed Michigan Attorney General candidate Matthew DePerno is a con artist asshole who was fired by a firm in 2005 for padding his billable hours with clients, BridgeMI reports.

“A group of Georgia voters filed a legal challenge today to Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s candidacy for re-election in 2022. The challenge, filed with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, alleges that Greene is constitutionally disqualified from public office under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, on the grounds that she helped facilitate the January 6, 2021 insurrection. The voters are represented by Free Speech For People, a nonpartisan, non-profit legal advocacy organization with constitutional law expertise, which is serving as co-lead counsel in the matter, along with New York-based Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP. Bryan Sells, an Atlanta-based civil rights lawyer specializing in voting rights and election law, is serving as local counsel.”

“Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment, known as the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause, provides: ‘No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress… who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress… to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.’ The purpose of the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause, passed in the wake of the Civil War, is not to punish the oathbreaker but rather to protect the country. No criminal conviction or prior adjudication is required under the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause, although Greene would be able to seek judicial review of an adverse decision. Anyone seeking to run for public office in Georgia ‘shall meet the constitutional and statutory qualifications for the office being sought.'”

“Under Georgia’s candidacy challenge statute, once a challenge is filed, the Secretary of State must request a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge of the Office of State Administrative Hearings to determine whether the candidate is qualified for office. The burden of proof then shifts to the candidate, who must ‘affirmatively establish [their] eligibility for office.’ The challengers intend to issue subpoenas to Greene and take her deposition under oath—something that the U.S. House January 6 Select Committee has not yet done” – Press release on FreeSpeechForPeople.org

As the 2022 Midterm primaries approach and Trump endorsements for key Republican races have dwindled down to just a few remaining open spots, at least five members of the Former Guy’s imperial court in exile are being paid contracts up to $10,000 per month to squeeze an endorsement from the Orange Allah, the Washington Post reports. Among the most fervid would-be endorsees are quack daytime TV doctor Mehmet Oz and amoral MAGA capitalist David McCormick, both of whom are locked in an apocalyptic battle to show themselves most worthy of being showered in the Holy One’s golden glory and the GOP nomination for Senate in Pennsylvania.

Separately, the Daily Beast reported that the Donald may just decline to endorse any candidate in the hotly contested Ohio Senate primary as he’s afraid of backing a loser in the race and thought the recent confrontation between frontrunners Josh Mandel and Mike Gibbons was embarrassing (even though it’s more or less the same kind of stupid shit he himself has done in debates).

Any endorsement that materializes going forward is contingent above all on a candidate’s ability to win, thereby preserving Trump’s influence over the GOP ahead of an expected comeback attempt in 2024. Many observers reacted to Wednesday’s undorsement of Mo Brooks in Alabama as being much more about Brooks’ shitty polling numbers relative to the two other candidates Mike Durant and Katie Britt than Brooks’ supposed heresy against Donald’s reinstatement fantasies, and that above all else Donald needs a perfect-ish record for GOP endorsements going into the Midterms.

Except he’s already failed. Putting aside the first-in-the-nation Texas primary earlier this month in which Trump grossly mischaracterized his “33-0” record, the Donald is 0 for 2 in the other 49 states before the first vote. Sean Parnell dropping out in Pennsylvania and Trump backing away from Mo Brooks for likely losing aren’t erased if he eventually picks the winner.

Celebration of one month since the beginning of the russian invasion took place in Hell. 15,800 russian soldiers marched in parade. The highlight of the column of military machinery was russian large landing ship "Orsk".#UAarmy #StopRussia pic.twitter.com/bat9oprpq1

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 24, 2022

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claimed their naval forces destroyed the large Russian troop landing ship Orsk as it was docked in the occupied Black Sea port city of Berdyansk on Thursday. Video and images of the attack and ensuing fire – which reportedly spread to an ammunition depot and a 3,000-tonne fuel tank – appear to be genuine. Once again, we’re not experts, but losing a large vessel and however many crew were on board at the time along with a shit ton of fuel and ammunition is probably really bad for Russian military operations in the region.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is busy working and totally has not disappeared at all, Meduza reports. “Defense Minister Shoigu reported [to Putin and his council] on the progress of the special military operation, as well as on ongoing military efforts to provide humanitarian assistance, ensure security and restore vital infrastructure in the liberated territories,” said Peskov. Naturally no video of the meeting was released.

Five people including at least were wounded during a shootout apparently between two parties at a suburban Phoenix shopping mall Wednesday afternoon, the Associated Press reports.

Police say a man in the mall with a woman and child got into a confrontation with a group of young men he apparently knew.  At some point, people in each group pulled weapons and shooting began.

Officials initially said one person was in critical condition at a local hospital, but by early evening the patient reportedly improved.  Hundreds of people fled the mall as shots were fired, and some suffered minor injuries. 

Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed sending car owners in the state a $400 debit card to help ease the economic pain of rising gas prices, KTLA-TV5 in Los Angeles reports.

The program would cost $11 billion, of which $9 billion would go toward the payments to residents and the rest to administrative costs, pausing a diesel tax that generates $600 million per year and providing $750 million in rail subsidies.  The money would come from California’s budget surplus, which estimates put between $50 billion and $68 billion.

The New York Times obtained a copy of former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz who resigned abruptly last month and boy was he not happy with how the investigation was going.

Clearly, Joe Biden can’t be around anyone who doesn’t completely fall in line with his fear-mongering authoritarian one-size-fits-all COVID handling. I am proud of my service and will not resign. pic.twitter.com/EP1vHWATp4

— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) March 23, 2022

The President–President Joe Biden, in this case–has the obligation and right to appoint anyone to positions within the Executive Branch, even honorary ones like the one Oz had on (what once was) the President’s Council on Physical Fitness.  Oz didn’t have a term.  He didn’t have a contract.  And he pitched snake oils and sham treatments on his talk show.  Obviously, Oz doesn’t understand the rules of the game, and he again whines.

Likely because he’s hoping to tapp [sic] into the scads of money dupes are throwing at his father’s next failure, Donald Trump Jr. is launching a news aggregator social media app that aims to challenges Google and Apple News, Axios reports.

To be called MxM, for “minute to minute,” the app states that it will pull news from multiple sources in an unbiased way, although if it is like the Trumps’ Truth Social, claims of impartiality only go so far as posts don’t insult or offend the platform or the Trumps.

“We created the MxM News app to help people cut through that clutter and get trustworthy news and information about topics that matter and impact their lives,” Junior said without a bit of self-awareness. “We view it as an important public service and also believe it will be a great business.”

Performance artist, anti-Constitutionalist and Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton attempted to score points in the confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson by saying he doesn’t “find her credible” because she admits that she doesn’t remember signing a standard form for a convict being released per the recommendation of the parole board.   The issue wasn’t the form; it was the fact that the convict who got paroled, who had been convicted on child pornography charges, re-offended and was put back in prison.

Apparently not understanding the concept of recidivism, Cotton apparently thinks Judge Jackson should have personally investigated the individual case of a sole offender who was reviewed and approved for parole instead of relying on the report and recommendations of the parole board… because, Cotton believes, that’s what all judges do and those judges never, ever had a convict re-offend.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu hasn’t been seen in public in at least 12 days, Fox News reports, relaying from independent outlets Mediazona and Agentstvo. He’s probably fine though. Must’ve gone fishing or maybe even skiing in the Urals. It’s still pretty cold there, good time of year to hit the slopes. Nice powdery consistency to the snow in March. He’ll be back at work real soon.

NBC News reporter Vaughn Hillyard posted audio of a Wednesday conversation with Mo Brooks, in which the now jilted Congressman explained that Trump was angry with him after he refused to introduce legislation in the House to rescind the 2020 election nearly a year later. Forget the fact that it’s Constitutionally impossible to overturn an election after a president has been sworn in but they didn’t even have the fucking votes to do it even if it was somehow doable.

Brooks also spoke with Politico’s Kyle Cheney on Wednesday and told him more or less the same about Trump’s insane command. Cheney writes that these details from Brooks may have relevance to the House January 6th Committee’s investigation as it’s further evidence of Trump ordering his minions to subvert the Constitution, even if this instance is far outside the timeframe.

Rothschild and Co.’s wealth management will stop taking new business from clients with Russian citizenship, Bloomberg reports citing inside sources. About 70 current Russian clients are still with the Paris-based bank, it’s unclear if or when those relationships will be wound down.

“I support whomever President Trump supports, period. My endorsement was always solely contingent on the president’s support,” said Former Trump Reichsminister of Racial Purity Stephen Miller in a statement. Above is the announcement for Miller’s appearance at Brooks’ campaign launch in Alabama (a year ago yesterday) with a broken heart emoji added.

Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State, has died of cancer at 84, her family confirmed, the Associated Press reports.  A World War II refugee born in Prague in what was then Czechoslovakia, Albright serves as Secretary of State in the first term of Bill Clinton’s administration.

A Russian tank driver, fed up with the absolute clusterfuck his army’s invasion of Ukraine has gone over the last month, reportedly crushed his colonel’s legs by running him over with the armored death machine earlier this month, the Daily Beast reports based off an account by Ukrainian journalist Roman Tsymbaliuk. The fragging could not be independently confirmed, however a pro-Kremlin Chechen warlord wrote on VK on March 11th that the officer in question, Col. Yury Medvedev, was injured in action in Ukraine and had been evacuated to a hospital in Belarus.

Tsymbaliuk wrote that the solider had “blamed the commander of the group, Col. Yury Medvedev, for the deaths of his friends,” and “during battle, he ran over the commander with a tank as he stood next to him, injuring both his legs. Now Col. Medvedev is in a hospital in Belarus, waiting for monetary compensation for combat wounds received during the ‘special military operation to protect the Donbass.’ Colonel Medvedev was awarded the Order of Courage.”