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https://www.huffpost.com/entry/israel-us-desantis-disney_n_644a5274e4b0d840388d096b

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Says Disney Lawsuit Is Political

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday shrugged off Disney’s lawsuit against him as politically motivated, and that it was time for the iconic company to stop enjoying favorable treatment in his state.

Disney sued DeSantis on Wednesday over the Republican’s appointment of a board of supervisors in its self-governed theme park district, alleging the governor waged a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” after the company opposed a law critics call, “Don’t Say Gay.”

The legal filing is the latest salvo in a more than year-old feud between Disney and DeSantis that has engulfed the governor in criticism as he prepares to launch an expected 2024 presidential bid.
“They’re upset because they’re having to live by the same rules as everybody else. They don’t want to pay the same taxes as everybody else and they want to be able to control things without proper oversight,” DeSantis said during a visit to Israel. “The days of putting one company on a pedestal with no accountability are over in the state of Florida.”

DeSantis was speaking on the third leg of an international trip meant to burnish his foreign policy credentials ahead of a potential campaign for the Republican presidential nomination as a key rival to former President Donald Trump.
DeSantis has dived headlong into the fray with Disney, a major driver of tourism and a font for employment in Florida, as business leaders and White House rivals have bashed his stance as a rejection of the small-government tenets of conservatism.

The fight began last year after Disney, in the face of significant pressure, publicly opposed a state law that bans classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades, a policy critics call “Don’t Say Gay.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-sen-tuberville-blocked-184-230233459.html
GOP Sen. Tuberville blocked 184 military promotions in his ongoing abortion fight with the Pentagon

Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama blocked 184 military promotions Tuesday in the latest chapter of his protest against the Pentagon's new abortion policy.

The drama unfolded in the Senate as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, moved a request to allow the promotions and Tuberville blocked the action.

"I warned Secretary Austin that if he did this and changed this, I would put a hold on his highest-level nominees. Secretary Austin went through with the policy anyway in February of this year, so I am keeping my word," Tuberville said on the Senate floor.

He has been blocking military promotions in objection to the Department of Defense providing leave and covering expenses for service members who travel to have abortions. Tuberville claims the policy is a violation of federal law.

Warren and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin say the promotions are critical to military readiness, and Tuberville is blocking pay raises and preventing key leaders from taking their posts.

"One senator is jeopardizing America’s national security," Warren said on the Senate floor.

The promotion of Shoshana Chatfield to vice admiral and as the U. S. representative to the NATO military committee is especially urgent, Warren said.

"At this critical juncture of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, we need her leadership in NATO now more than ever," she said.

Blocking military promotions leaves America more vulnerable, Austin said last month during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-states-targeting-diversity-equity-130418508.html
GOP states targeting diversity, equity efforts in higher ed

Frustrated by college diversity initiatives he says are “fomenting radical and toxic divisions,” Texas state Rep. Carl Tepper set out to put an end to diversity, equity and inclusion offices in higher education.

The freshman Republican lawmaker filed a bill to ban such offices. Three months later, he filed a new version of the legislation doing the same thing. The difference? Tepper switched the wording to align with a new model bill developed by the Manhattan Institute and Goldwater Institute, a pair of conservative think tanks based in New York and Arizona, respectively.

Republican lawmakers in at least a dozen states have proposed more than 30 bills this year targeting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in higher education, an Associated Press analysis found using the bill-tracking software Plural. The measures have become the latest flashpoint in a cultural battle involving race, ethnicity and gender that has been amplified by prominent Republicans, including former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, potential rivals for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024.

Many of the proposals root in one of a half-dozen conservative or libertarian organizations offering recommendations for limiting consideration of diversity, equity and inclusion in employment decisions, training and student admissions. Some measures mirror the model bills nearly exactly. Others copy key definitions or phrases while adapting the concepts to their particular states.