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The DEI era is ending — and America’s elite institutions may be dying with it
The reign of diversity, equity, and inclusion over America’s elite institutions is coming to an end — and BlazeTV hosts Christopher Rufo and Jonathan “Lomez” Keeperman believe those institutions may be coming to an end as a result.
But it’s not necessarily not a bad thing.
“That 10-year period … the BLM era, let’s call it. Did any of these institutions get better? … Did the journalism at the Times and the Post and the Atlantic improve? Were there sparkling, important, seismic essays that emerged in this 10-year period? … Did Hollywood produce better movies?” Rufo asks.
“The answer is absolutely not,” Lomez answers. “This isn’t even debatable. It is self-evidently the case that everything has gotten worse that these institutions were responsible for producing, and you can measure this along any metric you want.”
“Those things are dying, dead, in decline. What is doing better?” Lomez asks. “Well, all the places that these white men fled to. Crypto, you know, the frontiers of AI and tech, where they could find places to still ply their talents.”
“What happens to these institutions?” he asks. “I think we just let them — they sort of have to die.”
However, Lomez does believe there will be a “silver lining.”
“There has to be some reason this is happening and some way to make it better. And the answer I’ve come up with … these institutions actually needed to decline. They were already potentially in a sort of moment of secular decline anyway, and that this has freed a bunch of talent to go do other things,” he explains.
“I do believe these people and these impulses are going to find their way toward something productive,” he says. “And this is what’s going to arise out of this moment.”
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Migrant from Ghana hid in Nativity scene to avoid police, mayor says
A bizarre scene unfolded in a small town in southern Italy when the mayor said that he noticed that one of the “three wise men” figures in the public Nativity scene appeared to be moving.
Galatone Mayor Flavio Filoni wrote about the incident in a post on Facebook on Dec. 10. He says that he was admiring the Nativity scene set up by the town’s tourism office when he made the startling discovery.
Rather than a wise man, the man was a foolish criminal migrant from Ghana, according to Filoni.
“I noticed a presence I had initially mistaken for part of the scene. A detail that seemed harmless, but turned out to be decisive,” Filoni wrote.
A comical image of the scene shows the man trying to blend in among the mannequins of the holy display.
Rather than a wise man, the man was a foolish criminal migrant from Ghana, according to Filoni. He had previously been sentenced by a court in Bologna to nine months in prison but reportedly fled before completing his time. When he hid in the scene, the man was being sought for allegedly assaulting an officer and resisting arrest.
Filoni said law enforcement officials were able to capture the man without difficulty.
“A result that confirms, once again, how fundamental it is to place full confidence in the day-to-day work of those who guarantee safety and legality,” added the mayor.
RELATED: ‘Why would somebody have such hate?’ Churchgoers stunned at Nativity display vandalism
“A sincere thank you to all the women and men who guard our territory with competence, attention and dedication,” Filoni said.
Galatone is a small town of about 15,000 residents in the Lecce province of southern Italy.
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Trump says US struck drug-linked site in Venezuela: ‘We hit them very hard’
President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. military carried out a strike on Venezuelan territory, which he described as the first land-based attack in an escalating conflict tied to alleged narco-terrorism.
Trump made the remarks to reporters at the White House before a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said the strike targeted a dock area that he claimed was used to load boats transporting drugs.
‘Two nights ago we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.’
“It doesn’t matter, but there was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area,” Trump said. “It’s the implementation area — that’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”
When asked by a reporter whether additional strikes had occurred inside Venezuela, Trump declined to comment.
The Pentagon provided no details and referred all questions to the White House.
The president offered further details during a radio interview with WABC, saying the strike occurred two nights earlier and targeted what he described as a major shipping facility.
“We just knocked out — I don’t know if you read or you saw — they have a big plant or big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump said. “Two nights ago we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.”
The operation would represent the first direct U.S. strike on Venezuelan land during the current confrontation. The Trump administration has previously ordered strikes against vessels it says are operated by narco-terrorist groups smuggling drugs into the United States.
Critics of the administration have questioned those allegations and accused the U.S. government of acting unlawfully, including claims by human rights organizations that the strikes could constitute war crimes. Administration officials have rejected those accusations.
Tensions escalated earlier after the United States seized a Venezuelan oil tanker that administration officials alleged had violated U.S. embargo restrictions. Trump later ordered what the administration described as a full blockade of tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.
RELATED: Venezuelan freedom fighter wins Nobel Peace Prize — and immediately dedicates it to Trump
In response, Venezuelan officials announced military exercises that they said were intended to prepare the country to defend against a possible U.S. invasion aimed at removing President Nicolás Maduro from power.
Trump has previously said the United States could take military action to reclaim oil interests that were nationalized by Venezuela’s socialist government decades ago.
“It’s about — they took our oil, they took it, and they also sent millions of people in here from jails into our country,” Trump said in the WABC interview. “Some of the worst people on Earth.”
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PBB Collab 2.0: Boys invite girls to New Year ball with creative promposals
The boys made the girls feel extra special in the latest episode of “Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Collab Edition 2.0.”
Beyonce declared a billionaire by Forbes magazine
US singer Beyonce is now a billionaire, Forbes magazine said Monday, becoming only the fifth musician to achieve such a milestone.
Identity and individuality: Fashion creatives reflect on 2025 trends and what’s next in 2026
In the Philippines, where seasons are fewer and dressing is often dictated by climate and occasion, how a garment is worn is more important than what”s “in.”
‘Shake, Rattle & Roll: Evil Origins’ frames horror as a generational cycle
“Shake, Rattle & Roll: Evil Origins” marks a shift for the long-running horror franchise by structuring its story across three time periods–1775, 2025, and 2050–while revealing that all three segments are linked.
Marcos scrutinizing ratified 2026 budget –Palace
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his team are thoroughly reviewing the P6.793-trillion national budget for fiscal year 2026 ratified by Congress on Monday, Executive Secretary Ralph Recto said Tuesday.
Spanish family of four missing after boat sinks off Indonesia
Four members of a Spanish family are missing after a boat carrying eleven people sank off the coast of Indonesia in extreme weather, Spanish and Indonesian authorities said on Saturday.
DOLE: 33k establishments checked for labor compliance in 2025
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Monday said it significantly ramped up its labor inspection efforts in 2025, leading to improved compliance with labor laws and the award of over P2.45 billion to 835,886 workers nationwide.
