How awful is Neera Tanden's group?

Submitted by gjohnsit on Sat, 09/14/2019 - 1:03am

Last week I wrote about ThinkProgress being shut down. ThinkProgress is owned by the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAP Action).
CAP Action is headed by Neera Tanden. A neoliberal centrist who served as an advisor to Hillary Clinton.
I thought that it would be the last time anyone mentioned ThinkProgress.

It turns out it only lasted three days.

Three days after liberal news site ThinkProgress was shut down and the dozen remaining staff members laid off, the site’s parent organization announced Monday it is being relaunched with a focus on “analysis of the news, policy, and politics.”

Hmmm. Why would a loyal Democratic institution like CAP do this?

Oh, union busting.
It looks like Third Way and Republicans have a lot in common.

The union that has represented workers at the site ThinkProgress said on Monday that it was exploring “legal options” against the site’s owner, the Center for American Progress (CAP), just days after it shut the progressive news outlet down.

But if you thought that was all you would be wrong. Neera's group is more unethical than that.

Then, on Monday, CAP Action Fund executive director Navin Nayak announced in a post on ThinkProgress that the site would be repurposed “as a site that offers analysis on policy, politics, and the news.” Nayak also confirmed that CAP would not automatically kill recurring donations to ThinkProgress. Rather, those donors would have to email CAP and opt out of the recurring payments so their hard-earned money wouldn’t go towards great CAP projects like its partnership with the right-wing American Enterprise Institute to “defend democracy.”
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Submitted by gjohnsit on Sat, 09/14/2019 - 1:13am

I really hate this woman

Everything you need to know about what Tanden thinks of journalistic independence is shown in her handling of ThinkProgress, the news blog run by CAP. According to the New York Times, Tanden assaulted Faiz Shakir, then a ThinkProgress staff member, because he asked Hillary Clinton about her stance on the Iraq War. Tanden, of course, is a longtime Clinton loyalist. Shakir is now Sanders’ campaign manager.

“I didn’t slug him, I pushed him,” Tanden told the Times.

So Tanden, who assaulted a journalist because he asked a question she didn’t like, is on MSNBC talking about journalistic independence in order to criticize Sanders.

In 2015, leaked emails showed Tanden censored the staff’s coverage of Israel. Other emails showed Tanden telling Clinton campaign chair John Podesta she would try to get ThinkProgress to change a headline on a story criticizing Clinton for making a “dishonest attack” on Sanders’ health care proposal.

“They are crazy leftists down there,” she wrote of ThinkProgress. The outlet ultimately changed the headline to something more innocuous.

Tanden also seems like a generally miserable boss. For example, she once named an alleged sexual harassment victim in an all-staff meeting. No thank you, please!

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Submitted by dervish on Sat, 09/14/2019 - 1:59am
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and know that DOV had a lot to do with this too...

https://twitter.com/AsInMarx/status/1172368663548067840

That should be enough to get her dragged off of GOS and publicly shamed, but that will never happen.

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Submitted by Wally on Sat, 09/14/2019 - 7:01am
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@dervish

Edit/ sorry mornings

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Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Sat, 09/14/2019 - 11:12am
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@dervish

Hit that as hard as you can,

and know that DOV had a lot to do with this too...

https://twitter.com/AsInMarx/status/1172368663548067840

That should be enough to get her dragged off of GOS and publicly shamed, but that will never happen.

Thank you for reminding me why I don't use Twitter! Biggrin

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 09/14/2019 - 1:52pm
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@dervish

Kambama. They say that Tulsi was just repeating Russian talking points when she went after Kambama. They absolutely refuse to admit the things she did as prosecutor. Let a innocent man stay in prison because he filed his papers too late. WRONG!! That never happened

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 09/14/2019 - 1:49pm
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@snoopydawg

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

Submitted by Wally on Sat, 09/14/2019 - 1:58pm
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@snoopydawg

Unlike Terrence Starr, she seems to hate Bernie lots more than Biden. Lots, lots more.

Go figure.

She's gotta find somewhere to go when Kamala falls waaaaay short if she even gets that far before dropping out (but I doubt TPTB will let Harris drop out).

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Submitted by UntimelyRippd on Sat, 09/14/2019 - 2:04pm

@Wally
at dPOS know all about Denise Oliver-Velez. She is a nasty, nasty piece of work.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

Submitted by Wally on Sat, 09/14/2019 - 4:52pm
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@UntimelyRippd

. . . before I got skull and crossboned for asking what I thought was a completely innocent question (seems it was asked in the wrong place at the wrong time).

I've come across toxic in my many, many days and daze, but looking at D O-V's twitter, that's something really fine tuned and probably big-time subsidized imho. Starr on the other hand, istm, is just off his nut although given his Rahhhhhhhsha ravings (I'm no fren o' Putin) has also probably done quite well for himself.

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Submitted by Richard Steele on Sat, 09/14/2019 - 10:09am

That's their concept of "party unity": you're screwed no matter who.

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Submitted by MrWebster on Sat, 09/14/2019 - 6:32pm

From Wikileaks

CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS ADVISED CLINTON TEAM AGAINST $15 MINIMUM WAGE, LEAKED EMAILS SHOW

It seemed from the leaked emails that she couldn't give a shit for any increase in min. wage, and then some vague bullshit that even liberal economists were against it.

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Submitted by laurel on Sat, 09/14/2019 - 9:23pm

What's good for the working people of America matters less than maintaining "my little in-group" -- or as the case may be, my little corporate paycheck -- against our lefty enemies. So for CAP there's Clinton and Kamala at the center, protected by Neera Tanden, protected by the DOV woman. Concentric circles of defense against anyone who questions their non-progressive moves. Do they care, or even know, what it's all about, anymore?

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Lurking in the wings is Hillary, like some terrifying bat hanging by her feet in a cavern below the DNC. A bat with theropod instincts. -- Fred Reed https://tinyurl.com/vgvuhcl

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 09/14/2019 - 9:44pm
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@laurel

Concentric circles of defense against anyone who questions their non-progressive moves. Do they care, or even know, what it's all about, anymore?

Neena Neena bitches and moans about Bernie being angry and his supporters being mean to everyone not him, but then she gets all nasty to people she doesn't agree with. She keeps talking about party uni, but after the things she has said to people she thinks that we should all fall behind whatever candidate they choose for us. And this is what makes this lonnnnggg campaign season so ridiculous. No matter how many people vote for their candidate they will just let their super delegates choose who gets to play president. This long campaign season is just another distraction from what Trump is doing behind our backs and with the help from both parties. Has any democrat spoken out about the Bahamas girl that Trump's goons kidnapped?

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

Submitted by ban nock on Sun, 09/15/2019 - 10:32am

is the 8% or so of voters. Good schools, entitled background, and a heck of a lot of money floating around.

A couple years ago in looking at the roster of who worked for the GOS I noticed what seemed like a lot of paid staffers. Many of them on the tech side or non writing positions, many writers also with no background on the site but some experience writing, not a full fledged journo like MB but just someone who has written professionally, , , and has a background in justice warriorism.

If you search bojos there are more people banned without the benefit of a down rate than there are for breaking any rules. I mostly find no rule breaking to the extent people get hidden. DK is culled to reflect simplistic me-too-ism, and the pervasive neo liberal backbone of the moneyed side of the Democratic Party, and I think Kos is getting paid what is a substantial amount for a not very respected blog.

I've noticed similar with other media sources. A link will lead to a research non profit who does pretty good sourced work, but then I've never heard of them, and then I find out that every staff member has worked for sources like Think Progress, then I look at their funding and as a 501c they have to be more forthcoming though it can pass through multiple hands before being delivered. Ever notice how much non profits donate to each other? I'm very suspicious of sources with an agenda, even if a fair amount of what they say is pretty truthful. I don't like being subjected to paid propaganda.

I think the Democratic Party was as bought via Citizens United as were the Republicans, but then I always assumed the R party to be fairly corrupt, what I don't like is the extent to which it has corrupted the D party and journalism in general.

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