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Another DOGE staffer explaining how he flagged grants at NEH for "DEI"
- sidewndr46 8mo agoFor anyone wanting more context this comes from a deposition of Nathan Cavanaugh as part of discovery of a lawsuit by the ACLS. They recently filed for a summary judgement https://www.acls.org/acls-aha-mla-lawsuit-discovery-materials/ https://www.acls.org/acls-aha-mla-lawsuit-discovery-material... https://www.acls.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/247-Memo-of-law-in-support-of-motion-for-summary-judgment.pdf https://www.acls.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/247-Memo-of-... It doesn't appear that DOGE itself or the individuals is facing any kind of legal consequence here.
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- jalapenoj 8mo ago[flagged]
- miltonlost 8mo agoDo a nasty job for a nasty administration for nasty people for nefarious purposes, expect a nasty response.
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- zobzu 8mo agomany comments do not seem to target the staffer, but rather, their race - here's one of the top rated comments: https://bsky.app/profile/enuffbs.bsky.social/post/3mguqaeqwis23 https://bsky.app/profile/enuffbs.bsky.social/post/3mguqaeqwi... "The culture of mediocre white men continues. This is a study in the Dunning-Krueger effect. Too bad these clowns have no subject matter expertise is any area. They don’t even have a fully formed pre-frontal cortex. [...]"
- miltonlost 8mo agoWhere is that "targeting" their race? "The culture of mediocre white men continues" to me isn't targeting his race. It's targeting his mediocrity and society's allowing up mediocre white men to succeed easily. They're not saying he's mediocre BECAUSE he's white (which would be the racist part).
- happytoexplain 8mo agoDisclaimer: I think the root problem being described by the quote is real, and I think the way DOGE/MAGA/etc interpret "DEI" is absolutely just pure, petty hatred with no semblance of reason, even though there is certainly a rational argument against DEI you can make. That said, I think your take is a little disingenuous. The way they've used the person's race in the sentence is really common, and we understand in those cases that it may or may not come from a racist place in the writer's heart, and we really only have cues/heuristics/history to go on. E.g. if I mention that race X commits more crime, the reason I'm saying it and the context of the surrounding text and my tone and wording all inform you of whether I am saying that from a place of honesty (wanting things to be better for everybody, including race X), or a place of hatred for race X. Generally when a writer inserts a person's race flippantly like in the parent's quote, it comes from a place of pettiness, at least partially (and yes, you can be racist against your own race). In particular, this is a good example of a common format used when speaking sarcastically or bitterly about, specifically, white people (sounds like "a room full of old white men" or "angry white lady"). It's now particularly obnoxious, since its usage has largely outgrown the legitimate grievances which inspired it. It's important to be extremely careful about this kind of "reverse racism" - yes, the point is that the target race is privileged in some way, so it feels more harmless than "regular" racism. But "reverse racism" becomes "regular racism" very, very fast, and the cute shine drops off of it like a rock. I think we're well into crossing that big fuzzy line at this point (and for the past decade, in fact). I think emotionally intelligent people and good communicators are wary of using "white people" (or any race) in any sentence where it is accompanied by an implied eye-roll.
- pear01 8mo ago
- jeffbee 8mo ago"How dare they say mean things about the manner in which I destroyed a nation?"
- whimsicalism 8mo agoI’m no big fan of DOGE but our fiscal trajectory is utterly unsustainable, much more nation destroying than the particular cuts being mentioned here. I hate that it is now a republican talking point, but we do need a focus on raising revenue and reducing expense — and there is no easy ‘fraud’ win on expense, most of these are on real things that big coalitions of people want but we cannot afford without a large increase in revenue-as-%-GDP (ie. middle & working class tax increases), inflation (effective middle & working class tax increases), or a technological productivity boom.
- jeffbee 8mo agoThe fuckwit in the video is personally responsible for crushing the productivity boom. Higher education is, or at least was, one of America's chief export industries.
- verdverm 8mo agoThe top 5-6 expenses (SS, Medicare, interest, health, defense, income security) https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/federal-spending/ https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/feder... Going to be hard to cut into these, and the middle/working class is shrinking as wealth concentrates and wealth inequality expands. Perhaps if there weren't so many middlemen taking slices w/o providing value...
- whimsicalism 8mo agoSource on the middle class shrinking? How can both the middle and working class be shrinking? Real median incomes are increasing.
- text0404 8mo agoOk, then let's address the 52% elephant in the room instead of making cuts to the 3%: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_spending_in_the_United_States#/media/File:Discretionary_Spending_2019_Budget.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_spending_in_the_Uni... Reducing defense spending by a fractional amount will have more of an impact than completely eliminating science spending altogether. The Iran tally is up to what, $11b now after a single week?
- taeric 8mo agoSadly typical of a lot of online commentary. People are rewarded for the "passion" of the response.
- verdverm 8mo agoNot unique to Bluesky, typical of the far too online crowd. There is plenty of good content on Bluesky, where you can actually have more control over it through the open algos and moderation systems (in ATProto writ large)
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- wnevets 8mo agoThe people who claim to care about "DEI" are very quiet about all of the unqualified people in the current administration.
- etchalon 8mo agoThey can't be incompetent. They're young white men, who obviously deserved their role, earned it through merit alone, and were given no social or economic advantages over their peers.
- verdverm 8mo agoThey praise "me ri't?" trumpian version
- UncleMeat 8mo agoThe fact that a16z hired Daniel Penny is to me the most disgusting example of this.
- throwawaypath 8mo ago[flagged]
- aaron695 8mo ago[dead]
- newstacky 8mo ago[flagged]
- DEADMEAT 8mo agoWhich companies are now struggling due to DEI?
- wnevets 8mo ago> DEI is racist and counterproductive Please define DEI.
- buckle8017 8mo ago[flagged]
- wnevets 8mo ago> DEI is just policies intended to favor one racial group over another. That sounds terrible. What is your source for this definition of DEI so I may read more about it?
- buckle8017 8mo ago[flagged]
- throwawaypath 8mo agohttps://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/1134/BillText/e1/PDF https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/1134/BillText/e1/... (b) “Diversity, equity, and inclusion” means any effort to: 1. Manipulate or otherwise influence the composition of employees with reference to race, color, sex, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation other than to ensure that hiring is conducted in accordance with state and federal antidiscrimination laws; 2. Promote or provide preferential treatment or special benefits to a person or group based on that person’s or group’s race, color, sex, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation
- benmmurphy 8mo agoit seems like if these statements that were part of the grants were 1FA protected then they should not have been part of the grants in the first place. since having 1FA protected statements in the grants allows the government to compel speech by favouring grants that make approved statements in the same way they can suppress speech by targeting grants that include disfavoured statements. people were previously claiming certain buzzwords needed to be included in order to hurdle the grant process. of course this is probably completely unworkable in practice since you need some kind of description of the grant and almost anything could be seen as some kind of speech that might be favored or punished for political reasons.
- Starman_Jones 8mo agoWhat do you mean by 1FA? It reads like your saying "Grants should not include first-amendment-protected statements," but that is not how the first amendment works. It's passive; speech is protected by default.
- etchalon 8mo agoIn a just world, these incompetent children would be unemployed, unemployable, and have to walk around neighborhoods notifying people they live in the area.
- richard_chase 8mo ago[flagged]
- richard_chase 8mo ago[flagged]
- j2kun 8mo agoBecause it was the "hackers" (Musk) that created this situation, and the "hackers" (DOGE staffers) that participated.
- IncandescentGas 8mo agoHow does someone as young as Cavanaugh become so homophobic. I wanted to believe our society was past this.
- happytoexplain 8mo agoIn my experience, as men age, they (statistically speaking) become less homophobic, but more xenophobic.
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- apical_dendrite 8mo agoWhat DOGE was doing here effectively erased any non-white person from history. It goes way beyond rolling back "DEI". Essentially they were saying that a project on an incident in history where the participants were white was OK, but a project on a similar incident in history where the participants were black or female or Jewish is not OK because it's "DEI". So for instance, a grant to study labor history through the lens of white coal miners would be OK, but a grant to study labor history through the lens of female Jewish garment workers would get canceled.
- irenetusuq 8mo ago[dead]
- throwworhtthrow 8mo agoNote the way he brushes off his own attorney's objections, not even looking at or reacting to her, while he discusses why someone who's mass-canceling grants doesn't need any grant-writing experience. Total disdain for any kind of expertise, whether academic or legal.
- harrisi 8mo agoI was curious about this from another video in relation to this case. I have no legal training, but I think there's no reason the witness would refuse to answer when counsel objects. There's no judge in the room as far as I know. The court handles the objections after the fact, I think, which could potentially have implications on how the trial proceeds. Again, I have never practiced law, so I may be entirely incorrect. Also, I am not defending the witness or their actions.
- YCpedohaven 8mo ago[dead]