Top of the Fold

• Today is Earth Day: This is the 52nd annual Earth Day, which of course is little more than a day for leftist environmental activists, celebrities, and politicians to jet around the globe warning of the imminent disaster of climate change. None of these celebrities practice what they preach, but there is some genuine good news for the environment — the end of Joe Biden’s mask mandates means decreasing the number of trashed masks ending up in the ocean. Meanwhile, to counter soaring gas prices and to “save the planet,” the Biden administration is still pushing electric vehicles (which few Americans can afford) as the needed long-term change away from fossil fuels. There’s just one big problem: EVs aren’t even remotely environmentally friendly. “We are gonna have to strip mine the entire planet to get those materials,” Charles Payne marvels. “Drilling a hole for oil ain’t nothing compared to the strip mining we have to do to this entire planet. 500,000 pounds of ore have to be moved to make one battery.” Meanwhile, driving around in that gas-guzzler is contributing to increasing CO₂ in the atmosphere, which is literally greening the planet.

• GOP governors band together to tackle Biden’s border malfeasance: More than two dozen Republican governors have recently inked an agreement to form what they are calling the American Governors Border Strike Force. The effort, led by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, aims to create a multiple-state tracking system in which states share intelligence on criminal activity directly related to the flow of drugs over the border. As Ducey explains, “The American Governors’ Border Strike Force will serve as a force multiplier in the fight against criminal activity directly tied to our border.” In short, these Republican governors have come together to be better prepared for the onslaught of criminal drug-related activity that is all thanks to the Biden administration’s refusal to secure the southern border.

• Firearm-related deaths among young people increased in 2020 … thanks to BLM and COVID lockdowns: In 2020, the number of firearm-related deaths surpassed vehicle-related deaths in people under the age of 19 for the first time since the data has been collected, which is roughly a 40-year period. Of course, the anti-Second Amendment crowd immediately claimed the cause for this increase has everything to do with people being allowed to own firearms. However, what they fail to note is the fact that firearms are merely tools that require action by an individual. So, what were the real factors for the rise in firearm-related deaths in 2020? First, COVID lockdowns — which kept kids at home and often isolated — increased the rates of mental illness and depression, a fact that has been well documented. (Annual suicides account for more firearm-related deaths than crime.) Second, 2020 was also the summer of Black Lives Matter mass rioting. In the wake of the death of George Floyd, BLM pushed an anti-police narrative that resulted in spiking violent crime rates across America’s large cities. Gang-related violence can be blamed for thousands of these firearm-related deaths, and as is often the case, the firearms used in these crimes are already illegally possessed by the criminals in the first place. Once again, the problem isn’t guns; it’s criminals and liberal political policies that enable them.

Headlines

• Florida House passes bill stripping Disney of self-governing status; the bill now heads to the governor’s desk (Fox News)

• CNN+ will shut down April 30, just one month after launch (CNBC)

• Elon Musk announces he’s secured funding for Twitter (Daily Wire)

• Joe Biden to issue Earth Day order to safeguard old-growth forests (Washington Post)

• Coca-Cola hosts Earth Day event with Democrat who says Jews control weather (Free Beacon)

• White House issues clarification after Biden confuses two major issues (Townhall)

• Secret Service claims it has “no records” of who visits Biden in Delaware (NY Post)

• Kamala Harris’ chief of staff Tina Flournoy is most senior staffer to quit during 12-person exodus (NY Post)

• Barack Obama keynotes disinformation conference alongside allies linked to fake news scandals (Free Beacon)

• Largest state library association to host drag queens at annual conference (Daily Caller)

• More than 300,000 votes unverified in Georgia’s Fulton County in 2020, new complaint alleges (Just the News)

• Tennessee passes bill making drunk drivers pay child support if they kill a parent of a minor (Daily Wire)

• Policy: Holding WHO accountable (City Journal)

• Humor: CNN+ exceeds all expectations by lasting nearly three weeks (Babylon Bee)

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

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