From LifeSiteNews

By Calvin Freiburger

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has shuttered its Office of Diversity & Inclusion (ODI) ahead of the executive branch’s handover from Joe Biden to Donald Trump, in what critics suspect was a move to destroy records before they could be reviewed by the former agency heads’ political opponents.

“We believe that differences in thought and belief, in race and religion, in orientation, and in ability contribute to more effective decision making, drive innovation, and enhance the employee experience,” the FBI declares, as reported by Fox News. “We know that a more diverse workforce allows us to connect with and maintain the trust of the American people. We also understand we have work to do. We stand committed, as today’s FBI, to fostering a culture of inclusivity and diversity.”

The bureau confirmed to Fox this week that it actually closed the office in December, without elaborating why. But while the elimination of the office is welcome news to conservatives, questions remain.

“We demand that the FBI preserve and retain all records, documents, and information on the now closing DEI Office—Never should have been opened and, if it was, should have closed long ago,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Why is it that they’re closing one day before the Inauguration of a new Administration? The reason is, CORRUPTION!”

The infusion of left-wing “diversity” priorities into every facet of government has been one of the most controversial aspects of the outgoing administration, as has the politicization of law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, from targeting peaceful pro-life activists for federal prosecution, to meeting with social media companies to collude on what speech the government wants censored, to branding “radical-traditionalist” Catholics as an alleged potential threat.

Fox notes that the FBI still has numerous identity-based entities, such as the American Indian and Alaska Native Advisory Committee, Asian Pacific American Advisory Committee, Black Affairs Diversity Committee, Bureau Equality, Hispanic Advisory Board, Near and Middle East Advisory Committee, Persons with Disabilities Advisory Committee, Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee, Women’s Advisory Committee, Blacks in Government, FBI African American Millennials, FBI Family, FBI Jewish Americans, FBI Latinos for Empowerment Advancement and Development, “FBI Pride,” Federal Asian Pacific American Council, and Federally Employed Women.

Why Meta’s decision to abolish DEI might be a turning point

Christopher F. Rufo

Last week, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, formerly Facebook, made a stunning announcement. He was abolishing the company’s DEI programs and discontinuing its relationship with fact-checking organizations, which he admitted had become a form of “censorship.” The left-wing media immediately attacked the decision, accused him of embracing the MAGA agenda, and predicted a dangerous rise in so-called disinformation.

Zuckerberg’s move was carefully calculated and impeccably timed. The November elections, he said, felt like “a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech.” DEI initiatives, especially those related to immigration and gender, had become “disconnected from mainstream conversation”—and untenable.

This is no small about-face. Just four years ago, Zuckerberg spent hundreds of millions of dollars funding left-wing election programs; his role was widely resented by conservatives. And Meta had been at the forefront of any identity-based or left-wing ideological cause.

Not anymore. As part of the rollout for the announcement, Zuckerberg released a video and appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast, which now functions as a confessional for American elites who no longer believe in left-wing orthodoxies. On the podcast, Zuckerberg sounded less like a California progressive than a right-winger, arguing that the culture needed a better balance of “masculine” and “feminine” energies.

Executives at Meta quickly implemented the new policy, issuing pink slips to DEI employees and moving the company’s content-moderation team from California to Texas, in order, in Zuckerberg’s words, to “help alleviate concerns that biased employees are excessively censoring content.”

Zuckerberg was not the first technology executive to make such an announcement, but he is perhaps the most significant. Facebook is one of the largest firms in Silicon Valley and, with Zuckerberg setting the precedent, many smaller companies will likely follow suit.

The most important signal emanating from this decision is not about a particular shift in policy, however, but a general shift in culture. Zuckerberg has never really been an ideologue. He appears more interested in building his company and staying in the good graces of elite society. But like many successful, self-respecting men, he is also independent-minded and has clearly chafed at the cultural constraints DEI placed on his company. So he seized the moment, correctly sensing that the impending inauguration of Donald Trump reduced the risk and increased the payoff of such a change.

Zuckerberg is certainly not a courageous truth-teller. He assented to DEI over the last decade because that was where the elite status signals were pointing. Now, those signals have reversed, like a barometer suddenly dropping, and he is changing course with them and attempting to shift the blame to the outgoing Biden administration, which, he told Rogan, pressured him to implement censorship—a convenient excuse at an even more convenient moment.

But the good news is that, whatever post hoc rationalizations executives might use, DEI and its cultural assumptions suddenly have run into serious resistance. We may be entering a crucial period in which people feel confident enough to express their true beliefs about DEI, which is antithetical to excellence, and stop pretending that they believe in the cultish ideology of “systemic racism” and race-based guilt.

DEI remains deeply embedded in public institutions, of course, but private institutions and corporations have more flexibility and can dispatch with such programs with the stroke of a pen. Zuckerberg has revealed what this might look like at one of the largest companies. Conservatives can commend him for his decision, while remaining wary. “Trust but verify,” as Ronald Reagan used to say, is a good policy all around.