Statement from Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “Every day that Russia’s forces continue their brutal attacks, the number of innocent civilians killed and wounded, including women and children, climbs. As of March 22, officials in besieged Mariupol said that more than 2,400 civilians had been killed in that city alone. Not including the Mariupol devastation, the United Nations has officially confirmed more than 2,500 civilian casualties, including dead and wounded, and emphasizes the actual toll is likely higher. Last week, I echoed President Biden’s statement, based on the countless accounts and images of destruction and suffering we have all seen, that war crimes had been committed by Putin’s forces in Ukraine. I noted then that the deliberate targeting of civilians is a war crime. I emphasized that Department of State and other U.S. government experts were documenting and assessing potential war crimes in Ukraine.”

“Today, I can announce that, based on information currently available, the U.S. government assesses that members of Russia’s forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine. Our assessment is based on a careful review of available information from public and intelligence sources. As with any alleged crime, a court of law with jurisdiction over the crime is ultimately responsible for determining criminal guilt in specific cases. The U.S. government will continue to track reports of war crimes and will share information we gather with allies, partners, and international institutions and organizations, as appropriate. We are committed to pursuing accountability using every tool available, including criminal prosecutions.”

“It’s disappointing that, just like in 2017, President Trump lets Mitch McConnell manipulate him again. Every single negative TV ad against our campaign has come from McConnell and his allies. I wish President Trump wouldn’t fall for McConnell’s ploys, but, once again, he has. I have not changed. I am the only proven America First candidate in this Senate race. I am the only candidate who fought voter fraud and election theft when it counted, between November 3 and January 6.”

“I repeat what has prompted President Trump’s ire. The only legal way America can prevent 2020’s election debacle is for patriotic Americans to focus on and win the 2022 and 2024 elections so that we have the power to enact laws that give us honest and accurate elections. President Trump asked me to rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency. As a lawyer, I’ve repeatedly advised President Trump that January 6 was the final election contest verdict and neither the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Code permit what President Trump asks. Period. I’ve told President Trump the truth knowing full well that it might cause President Trump to rescind his endorsement. But I took a sworn oath to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution. I honor my oath. That is the way I am. I break my sworn oath for no man. ‘I’m still the most conservative candidate in the race. Katie Britt’s campaign is supported and funded by McConnell allies, and she’s still a high taxing, open borders, cheap foreign labor, Chamber of Commerce lobbyist. ‘There’s only one conservative option in this race, and I am confident that the people of Alabama will see that on Election Day” says Mo Brooks in a statement responding to the Orange God Emperor’s decision to undorse him in the Alabama Senate GOP primary.

The US Supreme Court has overruled the Wisconsin State Supreme Court and tossed the redistricting map approved by Dem Gov Tony Evers in a “shadow docket” move. The next steps in the Wisconsin redistricting process are unclear at this point, but election law expert Steve Vladeck says it’s bad. Justices Kagan and Sotomayor dissented, writing “The Court’s action today is unprecedented. In an emergency posture, the Court summarily overturns a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision resolving a conflict over the State’s redistricting, a decision rendered after a 5-month process involving all interested stakeholders. Despite the fact that summary reversals are generally reserved for decisions in violation of settled law, the Court today faults the State Supreme Court for its failure to comply with an obligation that, under existing precedent, is hazy at best.”

The Supreme Court would not tell the Associated Press whether or not Justice Clarence Thomas is still in the hospital after being admitted with an infection over the weekend. Thomas, 73, was expected to be released Tuesday but his whereabouts are publicly unknown as of Wednesday morning. The court’s conservative majority could be busy trying to find an actor who resembles Thomas and can improvise on Conservative jurisprudence until they figure something out.

Far right “pro-life” North Carolina Lt Governor Mark Robinson, an expected 2024 gubernatorial candidate, admitted in a 2012 Facebook post he paid for an abortion in 1989, WRAL reports. It’s unknown if this contradicts anything Robinson has said publicly on the issue and it does certainly read as if sincerely regretted the abortion, so any potential political impact is unclear at best.

“What a silly argument! 99% of abortions in this country are done ‘on demand’ meaning the woman had CONSENSUAL sex, got pregnant, and simply does not want to have the child. Everybody knows theres exceptions to rules and in the case that you mentioned that should be up to the woman. But to have abortion ‘mills’ that kill the unborn at will is shameful and as sure as I am writing this if we allow this to become an accepted part of our society WE WILL FEEL THE WRATH OF GOD!!! And I’m not on a ‘high horse’!! I’m not saying abortion is wrong cause I said so it’s wrong cause God says so. It’s wrong when others do it and it was wrong when I paid for it to be done to my unborn child in 1989,” wrote Robinson in response to another Facebook user.

Veteran Kremlin official Anatoly Chubais, who has held a variety of posts in Russian government leadership since the 1990s, most recently as special envoy to international organizations, has quit his job and left Russia for good in protest of the invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports.

Chubais hung up the phone when contacted by Reuters, whose sources said Chubais did not indicate where he was headed. Probably a smart move all things considered. Even smarter would be to avoid windows on the upper floors of tall buildings. Staged accidents happen, you know.

Russian asset and former Trump 2016 Campaign manager Paul Manafort was detained, but not arrested, by US Customs and Border Patrol after he had boarded a flight in Miami bound for Dubai on Sunday, Murdoch-owned website Knewz.com reports, citing officials with Miami-Dade police who confirmed the incident and that Manafort’s passport was revoked. Miami-Dade PD were not otherwise involved and CBP did not comment on why Manafort was yanked from the flight.

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection is unable to discuss a specific individual’s arrival or departure into or from the United States,” CBP said in a statement to Knewz (God that name sucks). No other details were available, but it’s probably nothing good for Manafort.

Congressman Mo Brooks’ Twitter profile as of 8:49 AM EDT Wednesday.

“Mo Brooks of Alabama made a horrible mistake recently when he went ‘woke’ and stated, referring to the 2020 Presidential Election Scam, ‘Put that behind you, put that behind you,’ despite the fact that the Election was rife with fraud and irregularities. If we forget, the Radical Left Democrats will continue to Cheat and Steal Elections. Just look at what is happening in Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and elsewhere, but tremendous progress has been made that will help us in 2022 and 2024. The 2020 Election was rigged, and we can’t let them get away with it.”

“When I endorsed Mo Brooks, he took a 44-point lead and was unstoppable. He then hired a new campaign staff who ‘brilliantly’ convinced him to ‘stop talking about the 2020 Election.’ He listened to them. Then, according to the polls, Mo’s 44-point lead totally evaporated all based on his ‘2020’ statement made at our massive rally in Cullman, Alabama. When I heard his statement, I said, ‘Mo, you just blew the Election, and there’s nothing you can do about it.’ Very sad but, since he decided to go in another direction, so have I, and I am hereby withdrawing my Endorsement of Mo Brooks for the Senate. I don’t think the great people of Alabama will disagree with me. Election Fraud must be captured and stopped, or we won’t have a Country anymore. I will be making a new Endorsement in the near future!” says the Orange God Emperor.

Moderna announced Wednesday its lower-dose COVID-19 vax was found to be safe and at least partially effective in children under 5, including babies, as it seeks emergency use authorization from the FDA to dose basically the last set of Americans ineligible to be inoculated against the virus, the New York Times reports. “What we have seen is a successful trial. What I will say is 37.5 percent and 43.7 percent are higher than zero,” said Moderna VP Dr. Jacqueline Miller. “If I were the parent of a young child, I would want there to be some protection on board, especially if we see another wave of infections.” Miller said the dose does not help protect against the Omicron variant.

The Kremlin says Russian dictator Vladimir Putin still plans to attend the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia in November, and doesn’t really see why he wouldn’t since it’s got nothing to do with their war on Ukraine, AFP reports. “It will depend on many things, including the Covid situation. But so far, yes. The intention is to come,” Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Lyudmila Vorobieva said to reporters Wednesday, adding that any effort to expel Russia from the G20 would be a “disproportionate” reaction to the bloody, unprovoked assault on a free country. The G7 international forum used to be the G8, until they expelled Russia in 2014 after it annexed Crimea.

Former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ wife Debra appears to have filed threee separate false voter forms related to her and her husband’s fraud in the 2020 election, the Washington Post reports. Debra signed a voter registration form, an absentee ballot request for her husband and the one-stop application in 2020, all of which lied about her home address. Mark himself only lied on the voter registration form that he signed, so it’s possible he could cut a deal with prosecutors and flip on his wife to avoid incarceration. It’s the smart play here.

A tornado ripped through New Orleans Tuesday evening as massive storms stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, Reuters reports.  Video posted on social media show a multi-vortex tornado hitting neighborhoods in and around the city.

Insufferable dipshit “journalist” James O’Keefe claims the Justice Department illegally spied on his organization beginning in late 2020 and seized emails related to their obtaining Ashley Biden’s personal diary, the New York Times reports. Whatever the details may be, they’re largely irrelevant given last year’s reporting that actual journalists (and possibly even members of Congress) were spied upon by the DOJ during the Trump Administration’s Russia shitshow, and nobody in the MAGA media, Project Veritas included, gave a fuck when that became public.

“Biden, sounding maybe a touch defensive, has described Ketanji Brown Jackson as one of this country’s great legal minds,” underdeveloped zygote and Hungarian representative on Fox Tucker Carlson bloviates, “and we certainly want to believe that for, for real, given that she’s probably going to be confirmed no matter what we think.  The question is, is it true?  Is she really one of this country’s great legal minds?  One way to know, one indication would be her LSAT scores.  The LSAT is not a knowledge test.  It measures logic and reasoning ability. and no one doubts it’s an accurate measure of those things which predict legal skill, and that’s why top law firms, law schools have long used that test.  So, how did Ketanji Brown Jackson due on the LSATs?  Sorry, you’re not allowed to ask because asking is racism.  Watch.”

Well, Tuck’ums, saying the LSAT measures someone’s acumen practicing law is like saying an eye test can tell if someone will be a successful ophthalmologist.  The education happens AFTER admission, not before.  And yes, it is racism because you somehow didn’t ask for the same information for the last three Supreme Court nominees, who just so happened to be white.

For another day, Ukrainian forces fought off Russian attacks around the besieged city of Mariupol, with reports that local forces liberated a Kyiv suburb from the invaders, the Associated Press reports.

Further reports from Ukrainian sources, as yet unverified, state that Ukrainian forces have surrounded and isolated pockets of Russian troops in at least three locations on the outskirts of Mariupol, with a number of Russian soldiers surrendering.

“Putin’s back is against the wall,” Joe Biden said as he prepares to travel to Europe this week to meet with allies. “And the more his back is against the wall, the greater the severity of the tactics he may employ.”

Republican Indiana Senator Mike Braun seems to believe the US Supreme Court should revisit the 1967 Loving v Virginia ruling which made overturning state bans on interracial marriages, Insider reports. “When it comes to issues, you can’t have it both ways. When you want that diversity to shine within our federal system, there are going to be rules and proceedings that are maybe going to be out of sync with what other states would do. It’s the beauty of the system and that’s where the differences among our 50 states in points of view ought to express themselves,” said Braun when asked about his views on the ruling on a call with reporters Tuesday, implying he believes the ruling was federal overreach. Braun later tried to walk it back, saying there’s “no question that the Constitution prohibits discrimination of any kind based on race… Earlier during a virtual press conference, I misunderstood a line of questioning that ended up being about interracial marriage,” which is complete bullshit, since the MAGA kids already saw the wink.