🍃Carkner🥺Mar 13

RE: https://glammr.us/@carkner/116201263062748307

for those who were following my thread, sadly the videos were made private for now after a court order: "Pursuant to an Interim Order issued by the district court in our lawsuit on 13 March, we have taken the video depositions down, pending a determination from the Court on the government's request that the videos not be publicly available."

the transcripts are still available here though https://www.mla.org/Resources/Advocacy/Joint-Lawsuit-over-Dismantling-of-National-Endowment-for-the-Humanities/Discovery-Documents-in-NEH-Lawsuit

#NEH #DOGE

Show thread🍃Carkner🥺Mar 16

they're uploaded here for the time being so I'm listening to the Wolfson one which I hadn't listened to at all yet.
https://archive.org/details/Doge-Depositions-MLA-ACLS-AHA-Lawsuit-About-The-NEH/Depositions+for+MLA-ACLS-AHA+Lawsuit+About+the+NEH/3-7-26_Adam+Wolfson+Deposition+in+MLA-ACLS-AHA+Lawsuit+About+the+NEH.mp4

#NEH #DOGE #uspol

DOGE deposition videos in Depositions for MLA-ACLS-AHA Lawsuit About the NEH : MLA, ACLS, AHA : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Depositions for MLA-ACLS-AHA Lawsuit About the NEHIncludes:   - Justin Fox Deposition   - Nathan Cavanaugh Deposition   - Adam Wolfson Deposition   -...

Internet Archive
Show thread🍃Carkner🥺Mar 16
as a historian I'm somewhat shamed by the fact that this guy trained as a historian and worked at NEH for two decades before doing a heel turn and helping DOGE to dismantle the organization and humanities funding in general in the USA. some people will do anything for status
Show thread🍃Carkner🥺Mar 16

after about 1h19:30 he's asked about this Forward article because Michael McDonald (the MAGA guy who was promoted to puppet head of the NEH) texted it to him. Wolfson plays dumb about whether there was anything going on about Jewish-themed grants being cut or that anyone discussed it.

(Funny, the two DOGE guys he worked with to accomplish the cuts didn't seem to have any shame about saying Jewish topics were DEI and wasteful spending)
https://forward.com/culture/711925/neh-grant-termination-jewish-yiddish/

#NEH #DOGE

Jews thought Trump wanted to fight antisemitism. Why did he cut all of their grants?

When DOGE routed the National Endowment for the Humanities, hundreds of grants for Holocaust history and Yiddish culture were terminated

The Forward
Show thread🍃Carkner🥺

this guy is generally a bore to listen to though, probably the least interesting of the 4. He was just a middle level "Stay out of trouble" guy who rubber stamped whatever insane stuff DOGE was doing and conveniently doesn't remember anything specific a year later.

half the time he's like "oh i'm not a policy guy" "Above my paygrade" "I'm not a spreadsheets guy" "Hmm better ask them about it"

dude you had been acting head of the NEH in 2021 and you helped all this happen in 2025!

Mar 16 at 7:59pmWeb
Show thread🍃Carkner🥺Mar 17
I watched most of the way till the end of the deposition (turning it off when I ended my workday) but it really didn't go anywhere. The guy is too lethargic to really have any dramatic moments, often retreating into bafflegab or "Well, it depends what you mean, hem, can you rephrase because I'm not sure what you're referring to, and actually it's not the way we usually talk about it there and ..."
Show thread🍃Carkner🥺Mar 17

It did convince me that the DOJ lawyers are really just there to protect the honour and secrets of DOGE and MAGA people wherever they may be in the government. Clearly not to protect these 4 clods who ended up in the depositions.

The DOJ lawyers snap to attention whenever DOGE is invoked or something that could lessen its prestige.😒