Top of the Fold

• DeSantis signs bill ending Disney’s self-governing status: On Friday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation dissolving the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the 55-year-old special tax and self-governing deal The Walt Disney Company inked with the state in order to build Disney World. The decision to eliminate Disney’s special arrangement was brought on after the company decided to campaign against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law. Disney pushed the false claim of it being an anti-gay law. “You’re a corporation based in Burbank, California, and you’re gonna marshal your economic might to attack the parents of my state,” DeSantis stated. “We view that as a provocation, and we’re going to fight back against that.” Meanwhile, some state Democrats asserted that eliminating Disney’s special deal means negative tax consequences for local residents. That’s not true, though perhaps Democrats are learning that Disney shelling out more in taxes might mean price increases for Disney’s patrons.

• Biden wants to make the military “green”: The primary job of any military should be the defense of the nation by the use of force to eliminate threats posed by foreign enemies. The trouble is that Joe Biden is following in the footsteps of his old boss, Barack Obama, and sees the U.S. military as a cultural petri dish for the executive branch to foist its leftist ideology upon the American people. Case in point are Biden’s comments on Earth Day when he stated: “In the U.S. military, every vehicle is going to be climate-friendly. Every vehicle. I mean it. We’re spending billions of dollars to do it.” Really, every vehicle? How about the goal that every vehicle will be designed to most effectively help the military meet its aim of taking the fight to the enemy with the express goal of prevailing? The U.S. military is not a band of leftist eco-warriors. If such were the case, the U.S. Navy would still consist entirely of a fleet of sailing ships — albeit with no U.S. Navy or even United States to speak of.

• South Carolina Supreme Court gives church properties back to Episcopal Church: South Carolina’s Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Episcopal Church in a property dispute. The ruling may be a win for the Episcopal Church, but it’s a loss for 14 congregations that 10 years ago broke away from the denomination over the national leadership’s unbiblical decision to ordain homosexual clergy and embrace the redefinition of marriage. In total, 29 South Carolina parishes broke away from the Episcopal Church and joined the Anglican Church in North America. The Episcopal Church then initiated a dispute and eventually a lawsuit over ownership of local church building properties. Back in 2014, the rector of The Church of the Good Shepherd in Charleston, Reverend Shay Gaillard, contended: “The buildings and the land are assets for Gospel ministry. They were paid for by members of this parish, past and present. No outside group should determine their usage.” This has implications for all hierarchical ownership of church properties and impacts the largest protestant breakaway churches from the leftist Episcopal Church. We suppose this is one way to prevent dissent. Of course, while the Episcopal Church may have secured the physical church buildings, it has lost and continues losing those true followers of Jesus who make up the real body of Christ, the living church.

Headlines

• Orrin Hatch, towering GOP senator, dies at 88 (National Review)

• Twitter reconsiders Elon Musk’s takeover bid after $46.5 billion in financing secured (PM)

• Joe Biden talks climate, not crime, in crime-plagued Seattle (Washington Examiner)

• U.S. diplomats’ return to Ukraine, military aid among issues Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin discuss with President Zelensky (Fox News)

• Russian general announces plan to invade Moldova after Ukraine (National Review)

• Durham issues trial subpoenas to Clinton campaign and DNC (Washington Examiner)

• Anthony Fauci: Courts should stay out of CDC’s way on mask mandates (Free Beacon)

• Texas National Guard soldier missing after mission to rescue migrant from river (Fox News)

• Amid public concern about grooming kids, American Library Association picks president who pushes “queering” libraries (The Federalist)

• “Doctor Strange" sequel banned in Saudi Arabia over inclusion of gay character (National Review)

• France’s Macron wins second term, defeats Le Pen in first reelection win in 20 years (Fox News)

• Policy: When is green not all that green? (The Hill)

• Humor: Kamala Harris to replace Neil DeGrasse Tyson as host of "Cosmos” (Babylon Bee)

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

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