VICTORIA TAFT: Where Does Comedian Jon Stewart Go to Get His Lefty Credentials Back After COVID Report Vindicates Him?

VIDEO: Dear Chinese Workers in 2023: Sucks To Be You. “The Chinese government is carefully covering up the situation of its major economic regression, so it isn’t easy to tell from the statistics how serious the situation is.”

If you don’t have the time or inclination to watch a video, Lawrence Person has done a fine job of breaking out the bullet points.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: What’s Up With John Fetterman?

THE NEW SPACE RACE: SpaceX Falcon rocket aces 100th consecutive rocket landing. “Simultaneously, demonstrating just how far SpaceX is ahead of its competitors and the rest of the spacefaring world, the Starlink 6-1 launch culminated in the 100th consecutively successful landing of a Falcon rocket booster. As a result, SpaceX’s landing reliability now rivals the launch reliability of some of the most reliable rockets ever flown. That extraordinary feat bodes well for SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket, which is designed to propulsively land humans on the Earth, Moon, Mars, and beyond.”

Most impressive.

FAFO: Putin issues alert after drone strikes 60 miles from Moscow; Russian death toll surpasses all wars since WWII.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered officials to tighten control of the Ukraine border Tuesday after a flurry of drone attacks targeted regions inside Russia – with one drone crashing just 60 miles from Moscow.

Ukraine authorities did not take responsibility for the attacks but have claimed the right to such forays to turn back Russia’s invasion. Pictures of the drone showed it was a small Ukrainian-made model with a reported range of close to 500 miles but no capacity to carry a large load of explosives.

Russian forces shot down a Ukrainian drone early Tuesday over the Bryansk region, local Gov. Aleksandr Bogomaz said in a Telegram post. He said there were no casualties. Three drones also targeted Russia’s Belgorod region along the border, and one flew through an apartment window in its namesake capital, local authorities reported.

Moscow Regional Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said the Moscow-area drone apparently was targeting – but did not hit – a Gazprom gas distribution facility.

Ukraine going after a target that deep inside of Russia, even unsuccessfully, was almost science fiction before today.

Plus: “More than 60,000 Russian troops have died in the first year of the Ukraine war, more than all Russian wars since World War II combined, a new study says.”

KEVIN DOWNEY JR: Climate Be Damned! Inspector General Investigating Buttigieg’s Private Jet-Setting Life.

HEINLEIN’S CRAZY YEARS (CONT’D): Biological male runner wins women’s 1,500m event in Canada.

CYBERSECURITY: LastPass Vault Breached via Employee’s Home Computer, Giving Keys to the Kingdom to Hackers.

CHICAGO: Calling the Police: Lightfoot Needs A Lifeline. “What Lightfoot is testing is if, in America’s third largest city, the rise in violence is enough to make calls to defund the police enough of a liability that she can overcome her deep unpopularity to eke into the runoff, which is to take place on April 4th.”

THEY’RE REAL, BUT I’M NOT SURE THEY’RE SPECTACULAR: Report on Afghan Withdrawal Details the Spectacular Failings of the Biden Administration.

DAVID HARSANYI: That Warren Burger Quote Gun Grabbers Love Is Ahistorical — Not To Mention Sort Of Fake.

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR WEEKLY INSANITY WRAP: The Correct Take on Scott Adams. “Is Scott Adams racist? For the famous “Dilbert” humorist, it might be something worse — and better.”

Plus:

• Nike offers to #FundMorePolice.
• Stephen Colbert’s most epic self-own ever.
• The coolest dog in the world.

So much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.

JOANNE JACOBS: Catching ChatGPT cheaters is tough: Is it bursty? “Justness is a cornerstone of the rule of practice of law and is first harmonic to the saving of social order and the tribute of soul rights . . . Outlaw justice involves the funfair and colorblind undefined of Torah . . . “

HEALTH: Common Artificial Sweetener Linked to Cardiovascular Disease.

THE ENEMY WITHIN: Chinese Communist Party Demands Employees At Western Firm Show Their Support.

When China began to require Western corporations to establish Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cells, businesses brushed off the move as benign. For example, when HSBCHBA became the first international financial institution at which workers established a Chinese Communist Party cell in its investment banking venture in China in July, the bank stated that the CCP committee does not influence the direction of the firm and has no formal role in its day-to-day activities. But the CCP may have begun to flex its muscle in other ways. This week, the CCP cell inside the Beijing office of Big Four accounting firm EY demanded that party members wear CCP badges at work in the run-up to China’s annual parliamentary meetings. The presence of CCP cells in Western financial institutions may not mean that communists are managing your money. However, they spell trouble for Western businesses operating in China.

The CCP is a master practitioner of lawfare, or the purposeful use of law to achieve strategic objectives. In a recent legal salvo, the CCP launched several reforms to increase Party influence in the corporate world. In January 2020, a CCP regulation required all Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to amend their corporate charters to include the Party in their governance structure. SOEs must now appoint a Party secretary to serve as chairman of any corporate board, and establish CCP committees to facilitate Party activities and advance government policy. In September 2020, the General Office of the Central Committee of the CCP released a report asking China’s United Front Work Departments to spread Party ideology and influence in the private sector, including integrating Party leadership into all aspects of corporate governance.

Recently, the China Securities Regulatory Commission began requiring the creation of CCP cells in foreign financial firms as well. Within Chinese corporations, CCP committees serve as labor unions. In some cases, they function as a way to install a party member in a corporation’s executive ranks. The Party’s aim seems to be to ensure that private sector businesses fall under Party influence and will work with it to achieve national goals.

Beijing has figured out a way to start forcing foreign-owned businesses to act as CCP state-owned enterprises. Westerners were fools to believe — or at least pretend to believe — these cells were benign.

Then again, that’s been true about most of how the West has done business in China these last 30 years.

GAS FOR ME BUT NOT FOR THEE: After Bashing Natural Gas, Oregon Gov. Installs $300K Natural Gas Generator at Mansion.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA Is Desperately Trying to Mine the Moon Before China Gets There.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: DeSantis Seems Content to Let Trump Run Against Trump for a While. “Speaking of publicity — the longer DeSantis waits to announce his candidacy, the greater the buzz will build about whether he will or not. It’s free press on autopilot.”

OH MY: Sam Bankman-Fried’s donations may have been tens of millions more than we thought. “According to figures compiled by Open Secrets, Bankman-Fried was the second-largest donor of the 2022 campaign cycle, with almost $36 million in donations, largely to Democratic groups and candidates. This put him ahead of megadonors like Peter Thiel or James Simons but behind George Soros or Ken Griffin. Now, the Department of Justice is alleging that his donating spanned even further, using the names of other executives to support more political candidates than he himself did.”

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Chicago’s Mayoral Election on Tuesday May Be a Harbinger of the Future for Other Big Cities. “Vallas claims to be the law-and-order candidate, while Johnson has indicated he will defund the police and spend the money on “people.” Garcia is a radical congressman, and Lightfoot has presided over a city in the throes of a violent crime wave not seen since the 1990s.”

A TAXING ISSUE: Corporations are laughing at the idea of paying taxes as nearly $1 trillion goes offshore every year, researchers say.

About a decade ago, the world’s biggest economies agreed to crack down on multinational corporations’ abusive use of tax havens. This resulted in a 15-point action plan that aimed to curb practices that shielded a large chunk of corporate profits from tax authorities.

But, according to our estimates, it hasn’t worked. Instead of reining in the use of tax havens – countries such as the Bahamas and Cayman Islands with very low or no effective tax rates – the problem has only gotten worse.

By our reckoning, corporations shifted nearly $1 trillion in profits earned outside of their home countries to tax havens in 2019, up from $616 billion in 2015, the year before the global tax haven plan was implemented by the group of 20 leading economies, also known as the G-20.

When taxes are simple, transparent, and not too high, they generally get collected. If governments were more serious about generating revenues than creating carveouts for their friends, they’d simplify their tax codes rather than play these charades.

MATT MARGOLIS: The Air Raid Siren During Biden’s Visit to Kyiv Was Likely Staged: Here’s How We Know.

PAULA BOLYARD: We Need to Talk About Mark Levin’s Interview With Ron DeSantis Last Night. “Whether or not DeSantis decides to run for president, he’s demonstrated over and over again that it’s possible to stand up to the woke mob and The Swamp and win.”

HEH: Aussie Reporter Loses It on Air Covering Biden’s Mental Health.

“SENSITIVITY READERS” NEED TO GO THE WAY OF BOWDLERIZERS: ‘The Name Is Bond. James Bond. My Pronouns Are…’ 007 Novels Get Woke Makeover.