Chapek Says He Was Pressured Into Disney's Woke Pivot; Milei Torches the UN; Chicago Schools Keep Shrinking

Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek has broken his silence in a new memoir, revealing that his infamous 2022 capitulation on Florida's parental rights law — widely mocked by critics as the 'Don't Say Gay' bill — was not his idea. In March 2022, Chapek initially argued that corporate statements against legislation were counterproductive, a position he reversed just four days later with a public apology, a pledge to be a better LGBTQ+ ally, and a suspension of Disney's political giving in Florida. Now Chapek says flatly that apologizing was a mistake and that he was pushed into it by 'powers bigger than me' — declining to name names, citing both legal concerns and a desire to avoid fresh political controversy.

The episode is further complicated by the role of Bob Iger, Chapek's predecessor and eventual successor. Iger publicly declared the Florida bill would 'put vulnerable, young LGBTQ people in jeopardy' just months after stepping down as executive chairman — a move Chapek says gave Iger a strategic advantage by aligning him with Hollywood's creative community at the exact moment Chapek was trying to build those relationships himself. Chapek notes he spent the first 18 months of his tenure locked in Zoom calls due to COVID, unable to establish in-person ties that Iger had cultivated over decades.

Argentina's President Javier Milei used his UN General Assembly address to deliver a blistering critique of the organization, calling it home to 'fatally arrogant parasites masquerading as well-intentioned bureaucrats.' Invoking Ludwig von Mises, Milei accused the UN of failing its founding mandate on collective security while simultaneously overreaching into domestic policy through what he called 'gender agendas, environmental extremism, and economic regulation.' He reserved particular scorn for the UN's pandemic management, arguing that agencies promoted forced lockdowns that destroyed jobs and set back the education of entire generations — and that the institutions created under those emergency powers have never been dismantled. He extended the critique to artificial intelligence, warning that granting state control over AI means granting specific bureaucrats power to limit everyone else's innovation, a pattern he called a centuries-old pattern of trading freedom for promised protection.

On the domestic front, Chicago Public Schools reported enrollment has fallen to approximately 304,700 students — the lowest level in more than two decades. The district had seen a brief stabilization between 2023 and 2024 fueled by an influx of immigrant students, but that reprieve has ended. Total enrollment is now down from a peak of nearly 439,000 in the 2002-2003 school year, a loss of roughly 134,000 students over two decades that critics attribute to poor management, high taxes, and a union-dominated system with limited academic accountability.