#DEI bureaucracy

[stakeholders-sgv]

#SanJose #homeless #relocation program isn't a solution—it’s a bureaucratic shell game. Shuffling people elsewhere doesn’t fix the crisis, it just hides it. Real change means investing in #housing, not #displacement. #SiliconValley #GreyhoundTherapy #SFBA #ForcedDisplacement #California #CApol

[its-suanneschafer-author]

Continuing my review and summarization of Project 2025, Chapter 16 covers the Dept of the Interior.

1. Increase leasing of federal lands for oil and gas production, including fracking

2. Reverse Biden’s placing of federal lands as off-limits to economic and recreational usage and his climate initiatives such as increased solar and wind energy

3. Reinstate offshore oil drilling to the maximum extent

4. Abandon withdrawals of lands from leasing in the Thompson Divide of the White River National Forest, Colorado; the 10-mile buffer around Chaco Cultural Historic National Park in New Mexico; and the Boundary Waters area in northern Minnesota 

5. Approve the 2020 Willow EIS, the largest pending oil and gas projection in the United States in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, and expand approval from three to five drilling pads

6. Construct a new 211-mile roadway on the south side of the Brooks Range, west from the Dalton Highway to the south bank of the Ambler River, and open the area only to mining-related industrial uses

7. Repeal of the Antiquities Act of 1906 and reduce the number of national monuments 

8. Remove grizzly bears and gray wolves from the endangered species list

9. End federal mandates and subsidies of electric vehicles

[circleandsquarecomic]

Circle Abhors a Vacuum

[namistrella]

I'm gonna say it until I'm blue in the face

Right now, it doesn't matter that our federal programs and institutions need reform. YOU CAN'T REFORM SOMETHING ONCE IT'S GONE. It will take WAY more work (and harm way more people in the meantime) to rebuild from scratch than to work to save these programs now.

Did the grant freeze scare anyone?? It should have!! Yes, it's been temporarily blocked, BUT EVEN IF IT STAYS BLOCKED, IF THERE'S NO ONE TO ADMINISTER THE GRANTS, WE STILL DON'T GET FUNCTIONING PROGRAMS

Snyder's On Tyranny, #2: DEFEND INSTITUTIONS. All Americans should be throwing their backs behind civil service right now and calling their reps until the reps actually DO something to keep our workers in their jobs. We NEED good people in the agencies and offices that are being targeted!! Or we are going to lose programs, resources, and data we worked for generations to build!

Don't think for one second it's going to be fucking ICE that shuts down because of this... ICE won't be touched. It'll be research, welfare, disaster assistance, land protections, environmental protections, even access to core data that we take for granted, is what we're going to lose. With the grant freeze, and the DEI purge, we've already seen just how FAST resources can be ripped away

FEDERAL WORKERS ARE NOT YOUR ENEMY. We need to stand together on this, as they are building a resistance to defend the constitution against ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC, because if anyone's the enemy here it's the fucking fascists. And, like it or not, bureaucracy (filled with stubborn, dedicated people) is our first line of defense.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Frank Vyan Walton at Dark Skies on the Horizon:

They told everyone they wanted to “Make America Great…. Again.” They said that they’d make America “Strong” and “Rich.” They said they would bring down prices for groceries and eggs. It’s becoming clear that all of that was a lie. All of it was a scam. All of it was bullshit. They only had one real plan — they only had one real goal — Revenge. They want revenge on the Dreaded Deep State that repeatedly told Trump “No” during his first term every time he suggested doing something illegal and fucking crazy like having Active U.S. Troops “Just Shoot and Crack (the) Skulls” of protestors. They told him “No” when he wanted to have an alligator moat and electric fence at the border. He wants revenge on the FBI for investigating his campaign staffers for their multiple unexplained communications with Russia. He wants revenge on the DOJ for 8 of his staffers and sycophants getting prosecuted and convicted for various crimes including 5 of them who were convicted of lying under oath about communicating with Russia during the 2016 election. He wants revenge for losing the 2020 election, revenge for sparking the Capitol attack on January 6 and the prosecution and conviction of thousands of MAGA morons who believed his lies. He wants revenge against Jack Smith, Fanni Willis, Alvin Bragg and Letitia James for suing and prosecuting him after he committed fraud, committed rape, committed insurrection and tried to steal the 2020 election with fake electors. He wants revenge on Black people for the 2020 Floyd protests, revenge for the Civil Rights Act — which is what enabled the government to sue him for discrimination in the 70s twice — revenge on Immigrants and revenge on Native Americans for getting in the way of God Given Manifest Destiny. Every day, it’s become more and more clear. Clear enough that even some MAGAs have noticed, but will it become obvious enough in time for the courts and Congress to stop him before it’s too late? Look, no one disagrees with reducing government waste. Nobody doesn’t want to remove fraud and unneeded bureaucracy that slows down the delivery of federal dollars in solving problems.

[...] They want revenge for Woke, DEI and CRT. It doesn’t matter that “Woke” is simply being awake and aware of Racism, DEI doesn’t affect hiring and the CRT is only taught in graduate school. They don’t care what the facts are or what the truth is. They just want to get even. They think thousands — no, Millions — of minorities have gotten some kind of special treatment that has magically catapulted them into undeserved, unearned positions.

[...] When there was a push to remove Confederate statues and monuments they argued that it was “erasing history” — even though none of those monuments were made following the Civil War to commemorate it, they were mostly built after 1914 and the rise of the KKK, and then again to oppose the Civil Rights movement after Brown V Board. Those were monuments to racism, segregation, subjugation, slavery and against Civil Rights and freedom — not to history and heritage. But let’s take the opposite argument now — if removing those statues reversed the commemoration of White Power in America, what does removing the factual historical accomplishments of Black and Brown Americans do? Doesn’t it deliberate further the goals of White Supremacy? Doesn’t it create a false narrative that only White Men have accomplished anything in this country? Doesn’t it stoke the fires of White Power? It’s basically impossible to ignore that this has nothing to do with making America “Great” in any possible way. This isn’t bringing down the price of eggs, or the price of gas, this isn’t helping people buy groceries, this isn’t helping people pay the rent, this isn’t helping anyone with their electric bill. It’s just vengeance. Pure vengeance. The question is, have enough of the MAGA faithful noticed this mendacity for them to be willing to help make a change? Perhaps. There are many MAGAs who now regret their vote for Trump and are starting to realize that it was a massive mistake. The Leopards are in face-eating mode.

The MAGA Cult is nothing more than a dangerous cult poisoning America.

[1americanconservative]

@StephenM

President Trump pledged to seal the border — and he did.

President Trump pledged to end DEI — and he did.

President Trump pledged to dismantle trans ideology — and he did.

He pledged to get men out of women’s sports — and he did.

He pledged to get woke out of the military — and he did.

He pledged to take on our corrupt colleges — and he did.

He pledged to stop inflation and unload American energy — and he did.

He pledged to take our jobs back from China and foreign nations — and he did.

He pledged to end weaponized government — and he did.

He pledged to reassert control over the rogue bureaucracy — and he did.

He pledged to seek peace and security in the world — and he did.

He pledged to restore democracy — and he did.

One vow brought to life after another, day after day after day.

For ten years, the communist left tried to stop him at any cost. They tried to frame him, defame him, bankrupt and jail him. Tory went after his family, friends and closest allies. He survived not one but two assassination attempts on his life.

He endured one wicked witch hunt, hoax, persecution and campaign of fraud and destruction after another. Comey and Clapper and Brennan and Mueller and Schiff and Garland and Smith.

Never for one second did he bend, buckle or bow. He was unyielding, unwavering and unstoppable as he led the nation to a stratospheric victory and electoral landslide in November.

The man in the arena.

We are living through destiny fulfilled.

And now, we stand on the verge of enacting his agenda — America’s agenda — into law.

To every Republican in Congress: honor destiny’s call. Honor the mandate. Honor the moment. Stand with Trump. Bring it home. Deliver the win.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

What would you say are Trump's biggest successes from both his first and currently ongoing second presidential terms?

Biggest accomplishments from his first term were slashing regulations, a booming economy, gas prices that dipped below $2, destroying ISIS as a credible threat, tax cuts, and his biggest and the entire reason I voted for him the first time, putting a conservative majority on the supreme court. There were more, but those are the ones that stick out to me. This term he's deporting illegals, bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US, makin foreign companies invest in the US, slowly fixing the disastrous Biden economy, protected the filibuster, is dismantling the bloated and unconstitutional federal bureaucracy, is finding an eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse at all levels of government, is doing his best to close down agencies like the DoE, USAID, USIP, etc, destroying the Houthis and possibly even bombing Iran into dust, ending transgender nonsense in government, ending DEI, turning the military back into a lethal fighting force and not a woke social experiment, supporting Israel against the evil, genocidal Hamas, forcing college campuses to address the rampant anti-semitism and political violence on campuses, sending the Democratic Party into a death spiral of its own making, and these are just the things I can name without going back to look them up. Trump has had one of the most consequential first two months of any president in history, and I can only hope he keeps the momentum going for the next 4 years.

[mariacallous]

The “deep state” is a top-tier conservative bogeyman, right up there with DEI and George Soros. But it seems fair to ask: If a bunch of shadowy, unelected figures, many with shared business interests and connections, took over government functions at the highest levels and directly contravened the will of Congress, what might you call that? How about … DOGE?

After years of alarm over unelected bureaucrats pulling the strings, what better example can you find than this moment the US government is in? DOGE is the thing it claims to fear the most. Elon Musk is the problem he purportedly wants to solve.

Secretive? The so-called Department of Government Efficiency has never provided an org chart, did not have a publicly documented leader until last week, and refused to reveal the identities of its young staffers in early internal meetings. Check.

Unelected? Self-evidently so. Check.

A web of connected interests outside of government? DOGE is inarguably the Elon Musk extended universe. Current and former employees from X, SpaceX, the Boring Company, and Tesla currently control or are deeply embedded in countless government agencies, including the ones they’re ostensibly regulated by. (How many of them? Hard to say exactly, so score another point for “secretive.”) In fairness, some DOGE staffers appear to have no prior affiliation beyond an apparent zeal for dismantling the US government. But otherwise … Check.

And this is all in service of an agenda set not by Congress but by the world’s richest man. Look no further than DOGE’s deep freeze of the legally mandated Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the unilateral canceling of around 10,000 humanitarian aid contracts apportioned by Congress, or the firing of thousands of probationary workers and others—without apparent cause—for evidence that it is executing an agenda outside of any legislative framework. Check, check, check.

It’s true that “deep state” is a tricky term to pin down, largely because it’s so often used as shorthand for “things Glenn Beck doesn’t like.” Let’s look, then, at how Elon Musk defines it.

“If there's not a good feedback loop from the people to the government, and if you have rule of the bureaucrat, if the bureaucracy is in charge, then what meaning does democracy actually have,” Musk said at a recent Oval Office visit. And then, moments later: “We have this unelected, fourth unconstitutional branch of government, which is the bureaucracy, which has, in a lot of ways, currently more power than any elected representative. This is … This is not something that people want, and it does not match the will of the people.”

Sounds bad. Also sounds like DOGE. This is the same unelected Elon Musk that met yesterday with GOP senators and representatives desperate for a say in where the DOGE wrecking ball heads next. Musk reportedly claimed that agency heads were the ones doing the firing, not DOGE. But who do you think installed most of those leaders? Who told them to cut until they hit bone? It was a bald demonstration of power. Musk has it. Elected representatives do not. DOGE is the bureaucracy it came to destroy.

(Small point of order: Musk is both head of DOGE and not head of DOGE, depending on who you ask and what’s legally more convenient at the time. They’re really running up the scoreboard on the secrecy thing.)

Or maybe we should look to a neutral party. FBI director Kash Patel is not himself a member of DOGE, and he literally published a whole book about the deep state just two years ago. “It is worthwhile to be very clear who we are talking about,” Patel writes in Government Gangsters, and yes that is the actual name of the current FBI director’s recent book, “because the Deep State likes to operate in the shadows using arcane bureaucracy, opaque legal minutia, hidden levers of power, and insider political gamesmanship largely unfamiliar to the American public.”

Concerning. Also? DOGE. The agency has subsumed the most arcane corners of US bureaucracy to launch its incursions. To justify its firing spree it has attempted to draw legal distinctions so opaque, so minute, that it was recently reprimanded in court. It used an exemption intended to help onboard disabled workers faster to install SpaceX employees at the Federal Aviation Administration before anyone knew it was happening.

The only thing missing is gamesmanship, because DOGE is the kind of guy that plays Jenga with a hammer.

Or if you need a more precise definition, let history be a guide. The term “deep state” has its roots not in drive-time talk radio but in 1970s Turkey, where a bunch of unelected officials seized power within political structures.

“It is a phrase that generally refers to a kind of shadow or parallel system of government in which unofficial or publicly unacknowledged individuals play important roles in defining and implementing state policy,” writes historian Ryan Gingeras in Last Rites for a ‘Pure Bandit’: Clandestine Service, Historiography, and the Origins of the Turkish ‘Deep State’. In Turkey, those shadows were cast primarily by military figures, not juvenile technocrats, but you get the point.

There are signs, at least, that people are beginning to see DOGE for what it is. Republicans have faced loud protests in town halls, even in deep red districts. It’s gotten so bad that GOP House members have been told to stop meeting with constituents in person. The Supreme Court has handed the agency its first major defeat at that level of the judiciary. Improperly fired workers are starting to return to their jobs.

“Deep state is limited,” writes Patel. “It depends on a lot of people either having no idea what’s going on or being led to believe that what the Deep State is doing is actually good. When those people stop listening, the Deep State starts to lose control.”

The impacts of DOGE’s cuts are increasingly impossible to ignore, or to confuse with any greater good. Whether DOGE loses control will depend, though, on if anyone in power can see that it’s the very thing they’ve warned against. Or if they can bring themselves to care.

[gsirvitor]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/trump-canceled-dei-program-raw-sewage-alabaman-homes-rcna201164

pretty sure youll find some retarded way to defend this the same way youre justifying the suspension of due process, the elites are laughing at you for being a useful idiot

Well, let's look into the situation, shall we?

The Biden Administration, in 2022, launched an EPA-USDA partnership.

The EPA is the United States Environmental Protection Agency, founded in the '70s, with the stated goal of setting and enforcing environmental standards and regulations, despite allegations of the agency's corruption, mismanagement and fraud.

Much of this fraud and mismanagement was even being investigated under the Biden administration, allegations of falsifying risk assessments for dangerous chemicals, billions in funding going missing, and so on.

Now, the USDA, the United States Department of Agriculture, has been investigated too, and has been found to have mismanaged government funding, and checkoff funds.

The aforementioned Closing America’s Wastewater Access Gap Community Initiative, headed by the EPA and USDA has achieved nothing in these past 3 years, other than spending taxpayer dollars to do nothing.

Despite Google AI claiming it achieved its goal, the affected communities still have these issues, no new sewage system, no clean water, no, just government bureaucracy scratching its head trying to figure out how to hire a contractor to replace the degraded systems.

I would also state, predicating a government agency on fighting "environmental racism" isn't helping you beat the DEI allegations.

I work in construction, do you know how simple it is to dig up a sewer system, and broken septic tanks? Do you????

It's so simple, sure, decontaminating the ground and ground water will take effort and time, and money, but the aforementioned agency wasn't doing that, it was wasting money over engineering a solution.

Which is typical government bureaucracy.

Now, let's go over the Trump Administration's statement on the situation;

“The DOJ will no longer push ‘environmental justice’ as viewed through a distorting, DEI lens,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.

“President [Donald] Trump made it clear: Americans deserve a government committed to serving every individual with dignity and respect, and to expending taxpayer resources in accordance with the national interest, not arbitrary criteria.”

So, yeah, end a racist and corrupt program, it shouldn't base its treatment on the race of the aggrieved party, nor should it continue to exist when it can't actually deliver on its promises.

You may not believe me, but I've been following the situations in areas such as Lowndes County, it's a damn shame that they're subjected to this, but the Biden administration's solution, wasn't a solution.

Is this retarded to you? Because I find defending illegals and terrorists to be far more retarded.

[its-suanneschafer-author]

Continuing my review and summarization of Project 2025, Chapter 12 covers the Deep of Energy and Related Commissions.

1) Under Trump, America was energy independent, and Biden’s policies are increasing prices and hurting Americans. NB: The US was never close to being truly independent of foreign energy, and in fact, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a spike in gas prices—and we all know how Trump supports Putin and thus supports the increased gas prices caused by Putin’s war. Also, American imports of Russian energy spiked during the Trump presidency.

2) Repeal the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act which which are subsidizing alternate energy methods

4) Remediate former Manhattan Project and Cold War nuclear sites and develop new nuclear weapons—and produce plutonium pits in quantity

5) Focus on studying threats to the electric grid, oil and gas infrastructure and developing strategies and technology to combat these threats

6) Do not allow the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to regulate climate, in fact eliminate all of the Dept of Energy’s applied energy programs

7) Streamline nuclear regulatory requirements and licensing processes (What could go wrong with that?)

8) Stop using energy policy to advance social agendas

9) Review and consolidate all federal science agencies

10) End the focus on climate change and green subsidies and eliminate the Office of Clean Energy Demonstration and the Clean Energy Corps

11) Eliminate energy efficiency standards for appliances

12) Stop climate reparations (funds provided to developing countries for the harm caused by the developed countries’ use of fossil fuels)

[darkmaga-returns]

The IRS is slashing 25% of its workforce—around 20,000 employees—as the Trump administration moves to dismantle the agency permanently. This drastic cut, reported by Fox News late Friday, follows a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) probe into waste and fraud that began nearly two months ago at IRS headquarters, signaling the end of a bloated bureaucracy.

The layoffs, set to start Friday and continue through next week, mark a seismic shift for the federal agency. Initiated after DOGE officials targeted inefficiencies and corruption, this reduction is a key step in streamlining operations as the administration prepares to shutter the IRS for good.

Discernreport.com reports: Most job cuts will center around the IRS Office of Civil Rights and Compliance, which protects taxpayers from discrimination, audits, and investigations.

White House spokesperson Liz Huston told Fox News, “In a stark contrast to the previous administration’s wildly unpopular plan to hire thousands of additional IRS agents, President Trump is focused on saving tax dollars, eliminating bloat, axing useless DEI offices, and increasing the agency’s efficiency.”

Here’s more from Fox:

In addition to the layoffs, the agency said in a letter to employees that it is eliminating its Office of Civil Rights and Compliance, which is responsible for protecting taxpayers from discrimination, audits and investigations. . . .  “This action is being taken to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the IRS in accordance with agency priorities and the Workforce Optimization Initiative outlined in a recent Executive Order,” the letter states, referring to President Donald Trump’s executive order directing the Department of Government Efficiency to get rid of wasteful spending. The agency said it was approved to offer Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP). Information about those programs will be shared with employees at a later date, the message said. “This calendar year to date, approximately 5% of this office left through the Deferred Resignation Program and attrition,” the message said. “An additional 75% of the office will be reduced through a RIF (Reduction in Force).”

A Treasury Department spokesperson told Fox News, “The rollback of wasteful Biden-era hiring surges and consolidation of critical support functions are vital to improving both efficiency and quality of service. ” The spokesperson added, “The Secretary is committed to ensuring that efficiency is realized while providing the collections, privacy, and customer service the American people deserve.”

[philosophicalconservatism]

DEI

The political Left's desire for power is far greater than its desire for inclusion. This is why it has been forever opposed to the policy with the most potential to bring about meaningful and lasting inclusion: the policy of school choice. Rather than artificially elevating unqualified candidates because of race or sex, why not simply assure that these individuals have a solid foundation of early education that enables them to become qualified candidates? The answer is because it would take away too much power from the education bureaucracy. It would destroy their unconditional control over the education curriculum to which millions of children are subject. The market would now make clear which approaches work and which do not, and parents would be empowered to act on that knowledge.

[vague-humanoid]

The federal government is going MAGA — fast.

Why it matters: President Trump has only been in office a week, but the departments under his command are moving with blazing speed to transform the federal bureaucracy into an army of loyalists.

The new administration immediately moved to freeze nearly all foreign aid, root out DEI programs, remove officials and whole offices deemed ideologically suspect, and muzzle public health agencies.

"We're getting rid of all of the cancer ... caused by the Biden administration," Trump told reporters while signing a Day One executive order that stripped employment protections from civil servants.

Driving the news: Late Friday night, the White House fired 17 inspectors general — independent agency watchdogs responsible for identifying fraud, waste and corruption.

The mass firings, relayed via email, appear to violate a federal law that requires the administration to notify Congress 30 days before removing inspectors general.

Amid outrage from Democrats and ethics experts, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) — a Trump ally and longtime advocate for whistleblowers — called on the president to explain his decision to Congress.

Zoom in: DEI offices and programs have been shuttered across the government, including at the CIA, Department of Veterans Affairs, Army and Air Force, and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Federal workers have been ordered to report colleagues who may seek to "disguise" DEI efforts by using "coded language."

And Trump directed federal agencies to each identify "up to nine" major companies, universities or non-profits to investigate over their DEI practices.

There have been hundreds of staff removals or reassignments, including at the State Department, where far more career officers were asked to resign than in past administrations.

The Department of Justice reassigned at least 15 senior career officials, including a top counterintelligence attorney involved in the FBI's investigation of classified documents Trump stashed at Mar-a-Lago.

The DOJ also rescinded job offers to recent law school graduates who were placed through the Attorney General's Honors program.

Trump's National Security Council sent home around 160 staffers while Trump officials conducted loyalty screenings to ensure they're aligned with his agenda.

One of the administration's highest-profile firings so far was Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, the first woman to lead a branch of the U.S. military. She was accused of leadership failures and an "excessive focus" on DEI at the Coast Guard Academy.

Between the lines: Trump loyalists have also moved to centralize control around public messaging, particularly when it comes to public health.

The Department of Health and Human Services ordered an unprecedented "immediate pause" on all health reports and social media posts through at least the end of the month, leading scientists to cancel CDC meetings on the escalating bird flu outbreak.

The Pentagon also ordered a global pause on all official social media posts until the confirmation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has promised a radical culture shakeup across the U.S. military.

The new administration is also moving quickly on issues including LGBTQ and civil rights.

The State Department froze all passport applications with "X" designated as the gender.

DOJ ordered a freeze on civil rights litigation and is weighing a potential reversal of police reform agreements negotiated by the Biden administration.

It also ordered federal prosecutors to investigate local and state officials in so-called "sanctuary cities."

Meanwhile, the Pentagon moved to abolish an office set up during the Biden administration focused on curbing civilian deaths in combat operations.

Zoom out: Trump made no secret of his intentions to build a MAGA-aligned federal workforce during the campaign, and he quickly imposed a hiring freeze after taking office.

The vast majority of federal workers are career employees, not political appointments, but the president has made clear he wants them all to board the Trump train.

His administration is currently testing the ability to email the entire federal government workforce from a single email address.

What to watch: Trump's nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, will be a key architect of the White House's efforts to re-engineer the administrative state.

Vought has assailed "the woke and weaponized bureaucracy," and said in a 2023 speech to his conservative think tank that he wants to put federal bureaucrats "in trauma," ProPublica reported.

"When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains," Vought said — comments he defended during his confirmation hearing.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alice Speri at The Guardian:

Jo Boaler, a professor of mathematics education at Stanford University, is not new to criticism of her work turning ugly. Boaler champions a reformist approach to teaching maths, arguing that strategies that emphasise reasoning over memorisation lead to more equitable outcomes. When she first moved to the US from Britain in the late 1990s, she was warned that her research would anger defenders of traditional methods. Backlash from some colleagues – including accusations of “scientific misconduct” that the university dismissed – grew so personal that she briefly moved back to the UK.

Back at Stanford two decades later, Boaler was tapped in 2019 by the California department of education with four other scholars to rewrite the state’s mathematics pedagogical framework, a non-binding guide seeking to help educators improve outcomes “for all students”. That made Boaler a target once again. This time, the debate moved beyond the so-called “math wars” to become another battle in a newer conservative-led war over diversity and inclusion. Because her research focused on outcomes for students of all demographics and backgrounds, Boaler’s critics branded her as “woke” and attempted to delegitimise her work. Tucker Carlson, Ted Cruz and Elon Musk came after her. Opponents of her research sought to ruin her career, she says. The campaign against her harmed her reputation and took a personal toll. “The physical threats to my family were obviously the worst aspects, but erroneous and unfounded attacks on my work are physically and mentally draining,” she said. But the campaign against Boaler was hardly an isolated incident. Instead, it followed a well-tested playbook, which, since the 2024 resignation of the former Harvard president Claudine Gay over plagiarism accusations, has been increasingly wielded against women, scholars of color and others perceived by the right as progressive. “Most institutions, and even most individual scholars, aren’t fully aware of what’s been happening,” said Rebekah Tromble, a professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University. “And how this is ratcheting up and what could come for them.”

Rufo’s playbook

Recent, organised attacks against scholars have often involved accusations of academic misconduct published in rightwing media, social media campaigns to make the allegations go viral and pressure on universities to disown their faculty. These kinds of campaigns have been pioneered by Christopher Rufo, a conservative operative who first made a name for himself as a crusader against “critical race theory”, an academic approach examining the role of systemic racism in society. Rufo first surfaced the plagiarism allegations against Gay just six months after she made history as Harvard’s first Black president, and shortly after she came under fire during highly charged congressional hearings on accusations of campus antisemitism. He called the campaign to force her out of her job a “successful strategy” and “team effort”. While he gleefully took credit for Gay’s demise – when she quit, he posted the news with a comment, “scalped” – Rufo spoke of the campaign against her as a model he hoped others would emulate. It involved, he said, “varying degrees of coordination and communication” with media figures, conservative donors and politicians. (He was not involved in the campaign against Boaler.) “I’ve run the same playbook on critical race theory, on gender ideology, on DEI bureaucracy,” he told Politico magazine. “This is a universal strategy that can be applied by the right to most issues.”

Rufo’s comments following Gay’s resignation were a candid acknowledgement of a growing phenomenon scholars have increasingly warned about, involving sustained campaigns by conservative activists seeking to undermine the legitimacy of higher learning institutions they view as the root of “woke”, or liberal, politics. It’s a movement that has been embraced by many in the Republican party, including Donald Trump, who has made diversity and equity initiatives a primary target and who has promised to end “the scourge of DEI”. Rufo declined to answer the Guardian’s questions about these campaigns or his role in them. “Scholars have been screaming from the rooftops: ‘This is a playbook,’” said Tromble. Alarmed by the growing trend, in September she launched the Researcher Support Consortium, an online tool for scholars facing harassment or intimidation that seeks to fill the gap left by academic institutions, which she says have been slow to address the problem.

The Guardian has a solid article on the right’s war on academics done under the guise of "fighting wokeness”, especially the collegiate level.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

My brother works at a VA hospital. Due to Trump's hiring freeze on federal employees, the hospital had to rescind job offers for new doctors and other healthcare workers. I am in agreement of not hiring new fed workers for bullshit DEI agencies but I wish there would have been an exception made for the people who want to take care of our veterans.

There are always unfortunate side effects to even the best policies, but you can't always wait around for a perfect solution to every problem. I don't know why there wasn't an exception made for VA doctors, but I do support the hiring freeze because there were probably a lot of DEI hires and other suspect hires waiting to finalize that need to be vetted. It sucks for the VA, and I hope the freeze gets resolved before any veterans suffer for it, but that's also just a natural problem of government run healthcare. It's subject to the whims of bureaucracy.

[shadowfromthestarlight]

I firmly believe we have no choice but to go full steam ahead with the cleanup of the federal bureaucracy. There will always be some sad story about a young person who was really excited for their federal government job only to find out that it got cut or a well-meaning scientist whose project lost funding that the swamp rats can trot out to make DOGE and others coming on board to bring sweeping changes, like RFK and his allies, lose momentum. But the rot is too deep to stop and try to not do any damage. Change will be hard, but it needs to happen.

Nor do I feel sorry for leftists right now. If they hadn't insisted on ramming through DEI and gender ideology in every social institution, or defending the Democratic Party despite its obvious corruption and anti-democratic actions, or casting their lots with the deep state, they wouldn't be seeing the amount of backlash they are right now. We have to let them reap it. It's the only way forward.