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Matthew Cunningham-Cook

@matthewccook5.bsky.social

530 followers 210 following 250 posts

reporting ‪at the Center for Media and Democracy, organizing in the labor movement

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Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · May 3

my first byline in Rolling Stone (!) edited by the amazing @andrewperez.bsky.social. How exactly does Musk's privately held empire run? on the backs of retired teachers, firefighters, cops and bus drivers www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Elon Musk and His DOGE Bro Have Cashed In on Americans' Retirement Savings

Antonio Gracias is helping Musk gut the government and the Social Security program at DOGE, as they benefit from Americans’ retirement savings.

www.rollingstone.com

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Reposted by Matthew Cunningham-Cook

Logan Hullinger @loganhullinger.com · 21h

Over a century after Baltimore fought Prohibition, the city is experiencing a sober renaissance. These spaces differ in their approaches, but they all aim to foster a sense of community.

Read my latest for @baltimorebeat.bsky.social 🔽

baltimorebeat.com/sober-spaces...

Sober spaces in Baltimore are thriving

Over a century after Baltimore fought Prohibition, the city is experiencing a sober renaissance. More local businesses and organizations are providing substance-free spaces while working to ensure eve...

baltimorebeat.com

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Reposted by Matthew Cunningham-Cook

Randi Weingarten 🖇️📚✊🇺🇸 @rweingarten.bsky.social · 16h

Tesla's proposed compensation package for Elon Musk - already one of the richest men in the world - is another example of the company putting Musk before the interests of Tesla shareholders. (1/2) www.livemint.com/companies/ne...

Elon Musk’s $1 trillion Tesla pay plan sparks investor backlash — 3 reasons why | Company Business News

Tesla shareholders are urged to oppose a $1 trillion pay proposal for CEO Elon Musk, citing concerns over board impartiality and Musk's divided attention due to his multiple roles. Here are the key fa...

www.livemint.com

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Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 14h

I was today years old when I learned about the Constitution's Fugitive Slave Clause. what a country.

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 14h

there are two world outlooks: dialectical materialism and metaphysics

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 14h

believing private property rights are constitutionally sacrosanct is a Federalist Society position.

Reposted by Matthew Cunningham-Cook

Sarah Lazare @sarahlazare.bsky.social · 16h

Seems worth noting that just the NEW annual funding for Trump's deportation machine is more than 10x the annual budget for the entire Environmental Protection Agency.

The 13th Largest Army in World Is Unleashing Violence in Chicago

As federal agents kill and use extreme force in Chicago, their budget surges.

inthesetimes.com

Reposted by Matthew Cunningham-Cook

David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 21h

Minnesota allowed the sale of one of its electric utilities to a consortium led by BlackRock. Our James Baratta was there to witness the proceeding, and he explains how it's the beginning of a private equity roll-up to cash in on the AI data center boom.
prospect.org/environment/...

BlackRock Just Bought a Minnesota Utility

On Friday, state regulators voted unanimously in favor of allowing private equity to take a Duluth-based utility holding company private. The Prospect takes you inside the room where it all went down.

prospect.org

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Reposted by Matthew Cunningham-Cook

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 15h

My gosh. After the US bombed multiple boats in the middle of the ocean, murdering people on grounds that they were allegedly "carrying drugs," the US Attorney General says "Just like we did with cartels, we're going to take the same approach, President Trump, with Antifa."

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Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 15h

if only FDR had listened to you

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 15h

There you have it--"we can't do something even though it's by far the most efficient way of doing it and worked really well and was done when 95 percent Congressional committee chairs were open Confederates"

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 15h

well yes, I basically believe that. I'm a socialist. You're clearly not. I'd recommend 10 Days That Shook The World if you'd like more insight into the contours of the debate

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 15h

there is functionally no housing built without public funds in the US. period. money from a bank is a public fund, the Treasury prints that money and then lends it to banks.

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 15h

classifying that as "luxury housing" is a misnomer, in my view. but I believe they should be included

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 15h

*Fannie and Freddie

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 15h

that's not true re: rent control. 99.9 percent of the capital for housing and real estate more broadly comes from public purse, whether it's the Fed, Frannie and Freddie, HUD, or pension funds. So the question is how we are structuring that money for productive development

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 15h

how did it exempt luxury housing? SFHs?

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 15h

look, if you're the Federalist Society, you can believe that, but I just don't.

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 15h

"rent control limits that seek to privatize public subsidies." what do you mean by this?

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 16h

yes, I do.

Reposted by Matthew Cunningham-Cook

Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (AFT 5017) @ofnhp.bsky.social · 17h

⏰ 6 days to go until we strike!

We're standing up for the quality care that Kaiser patients deserve!

Kaiser has refused to come to an agreement that would give us a voice in critical decisions effecting the care we deliver.

Together, we can protect the future of care.

#OneVoiceOneFightOneFuture

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Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 16h

i wasnt saying you did

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 16h

www.coblentzlaw.com/unfamiliar-t...

UPDATE: San Francisco Empty Homes Tax – Superior Court Judge Strikes Down San Francisco Empty Homes Tax, Grants Challengers’ Motion for Summary Judgment - Coblentz Law

As discussed in our last update on the November 2022 Proposition M, Empty Homes Tax Ordinance (the “Empty Homes Tax”), the San Francisco Apartment Association, the Small Property Owners of San Francis...

www.coblentzlaw.com

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 17h

and it raised $75 million CAD. But again if the problem was only an "administrative burden", you would not see the full on campaigning against vacancy taxes. Homelessness is an "administrative burden" for Starbucks and McDonald's but you don't see them campaigning for more shelter beds

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 17h

the point of public policy should be to make it so that homes are for living in, not for value appreciation or speculation

Matthew Cunningham-Cook @matthewccook5.bsky.social · 17h

"The regression results of DID model indicate that controlling other elements
unchanged, British Columbia’s Speculation and Vacancy tax rate shows significant positive
effect on decreasing housing price in Vancouver, which means we can attribute the declined
Vancouver housing prices to the SVT."