Top of the Fold

• Musk’s Twitter move: Over the weekend, billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made a surprise reversal as he backed out of joining Twitter’s board of directors. Following Musk’s recent acquisition of a 9% stake in the social media giant, a move that made him the company’s single largest stockholder, he was widely expected to join Twitter’s board of directors. Indeed, Musk initially agreed to do just that, but he apparently had a change of heart. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced Sunday that Musk “will no longer be joining the board,” which Agrawal thinks is “for the best.” Prior to buying his Twitter stake, Musk had hammered the Big Tech company because, as “the de facto public square,” it is “failing to adhere to free speech principles,” which “fundamentally undermines democracy.” He even floated starting his own social media company. What may be behind Musk’s sudden about-face is that if he had joined Twitter’s board, he would have had to agree to limit his stake to a maximum of 14.9% of company stock. Could Musk, the richest man in the world with an estimated net worth of over $287 billion, be after an even bigger piece of the company?

• Academy bans Will Smith for 10 years: “The Board of Governors has decided, for a period of 10 years, from April 8, 2022, Mr. [Will] Smith shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs in person or virtually, including but not limited to the Academy Awards,” read a statement released Friday from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The statement also thanks and praised Chris Rock for “his composure under extraordinary circumstances.” Smith responded to the announcement with a brief statement: “I accept and respect the Academy’s decision.” In the day after the Oscar slap, Smith offered a public apology to both the Academy and Rock, and last week he resigned from the Academy, which means he cannot vote but still would have been able to be nominated and attend the award show. Inquiring minds want to know whether Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett, will continue to attend the Oscars in his absence and, if so, will she be going solo?

• Hispanics swinging toward GOP: A recent NBC poll found a 30-point shift since 2018 of American Hispanics’ political allegiance, as a significant number of them are bailing on the Democrat Party and siding with the GOP. That the nation’s largest minority demographic is fast turning Republican is obviously bad news for Democrats. But the reason for this rapid party change has more to do with the Democrats and their adoption of a hard-left socialist policy agenda, as well as their embrace of radical gender ideology. The main motivation behind Joe Biden’s open-border policy has everything to do with the Democrats’ calculating it as an effective, albeit underhanded, means to grow their political base. However, that calculation appears to be backfiring. The Democrats’ growing radical agenda is not just chasing Hispanics out of the party; nearly every single traditional Democrat demographic has lost ground to Republicans in recent years, with one exception: College-educated women are increasingly flocking to the party of the donkey.

Headlines

• California, New York handled COVID lockdowns the worst, Florida among the best, new study shows (Fox News)

• Biden to nominate new ATF director, release “ghost gun” rule (AP)

• TV gun violence on PG, TV-14 shows jumps since Newtown shooting (CNS News)

• General Milley concedes Afghanistan withdrawal may have influenced Putin’s Ukraine move (Washington Examiner)

• Russia appoints general with cruel history to oversee Ukraine offensive (NBC News)

• Clock ticks toward Russia default after S&P downgrade (Fox Business)

• Global food prices hit all-time high (Washington Examiner)

• Finland and Sweden could apply to join NATO as soon as this summer (Insider)

• Unholy matrimony: Suspects arranged 400 “sham marriages” for green cards (NY Post)

• Ron DeSantis has raised more money than any other candidate for governor ever (Blaze Media)

• Bin Laden’s secrets revealed (Power Line)

• Policy: New Jersey gender identity lessons for first-graders prove parents were right to worry (NY Post)

• Satire: Clarence Thomas receives invite to celebration of first black Supreme Court justice (Babylon Bee)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit Headline Report.

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