President Trump has been a cheerleader for coal miners. But these miners say his administration is failing to enforce limits on a lethal workplace hazard
What, the anti-worker leader of the anti-worker party is anti-worker? Who would have guessed?
I thought that’s what they voted for?
They voted for their kids to work in those mines too.
Sort of the joke of the industry.
You bring in some soulless billionaire despot in blue jeans to tell Bari Weis’s CBS that wind farms took our freedom.
Then a village full of miners get shoved down a big hole when one of them asks about their three month delinquent back pay. This goes completely without mention, except in some Trotsky magazine that your average liberal wouldn’t wipe their ass with.
The people who get to vote aren’t the ones complaining
That’s fucked up that guys are still digging coal and getting black lung, there’s no way that shit is cheaper than solar or wind
They actually consider working the mines to be their cultural heritage. The number these mining companies have done on these families’ heads is astounding.
That’s not all that weird all things considered, just look at anyone named Smith, Miller, or Stewart all of them are names based on their ancestors jobs. That only really happens when your job is your heritage and I’d say that takes about 3-4 generations minimum. Mind you doesn’t make it any less fucked up that they prostate themselves to that shit work.
Meanwhile, I know the goal of companies is to fully automate all of mining.
They didn’t want re-training.
I remember all the alt-right asshats trolling journalists that lost their jobs to “learn to code”. I think that originated in the idea of trying to retrain miners…
Ah, but the cost of the miner with black lung is increasingly handled by that individual or their family.
If you are a coal miner and you think that a man that lives in a gilded apartment can relate to you and has your best interests at heart you are going to be sadly disappointed.
I had a great-grandfather that died of black lung. I thought that was wild to hear about when I was a kid, and I’m Gen X. The fact that it’s still happening is crazy.
Not with that attitude!
Can someone explain to me why in 2025 people are still ending up with black lung? Don’t they wear respirators on the job to prevent inhalation of silica dust?
Over the past few years, mine owners cut on safety while Republicans blocked regulatory enforcement funding.
From what I’ve read, that has meant more time on the job, increasing potential exposure. But I still haven’t seen anything related to respirators. Do they not wear them? Are they not provided? Do they not work? Are workers not being washed down to prevent dust inhalation before leaving their shift?
They are probably a pain in the ass to wear and the company has no incentive to encourage/mandate use… because just protection people from getting terminal illness for profit isn’t a good enough reason…
Of course they are cast aside. They cost money with no benefit for Trump. Money he would like to spend on his billionaire cronies instead.
Proper medical care for 100 normal people or one more yacht for a rich guy? Guess what he’ll choose.
So glad we got rid of the illegals so our kids can share in the proud tradition of getting black lung and being forgotten. /s
The plan is to cast everyone aside to die once their capital has been extracted. The ones who survive must still have some capital left to extract.
HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BLACKEN OTHER PEOPLE’S LUNGS!! 😢
Trump has been a cheerleader for coal mine OWNERS. He doesn’t give a shit about the people in the mines. Never has.
West Virginia voted for DJT. DJT fucked them over on this. They got exactly what they voted for.
I’ve said this until I was blue in the face. The closure of NIOSH in Morgantown, the place that arguably led the charge for discovering black lung’s cause and combatting it, and continually working on particulate science, was the absolute biggest slap in the face to this state that could have happened. The biggest ally miners had in the the twilights of their careers is gone, and in it’s place, you get a “good job, bro” and kicked out the door by the mine barons. Any shot you have at recompense dies when they declare bankruptcy with yet another shell company; the holding ponds they’re responsible for? Not their problem. The recovery costs of the natural environment? State’s cost now. Yet all those profits go right into ol’ Jimothy Justice’s pockets. Probably amped as fuck that he gets to continue his racket, and ALSO vote on the policies that regulate the industry. How fun that is!
Fucks sake.
That face eating leopard be looking like Mr Creosote right about now.
Correct
