As black lung disease makes comeback, Trump seeks to weaken coal miner protections

[phands]

Yet again we see that the orange nazi cares nothing for the people who voted for him....

After reaching a low point in the late 1990s, new studies are showing that black lung disease has made a startling resurgence, especially among coal workers in the central Appalachian region.
More than 10 percent of America’s coal miners with 25 or more years of experience have black lung disease, also known as coal workers’ pneumoconiosis. In central Appalachia — areas of West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee — it’s even higher. More than 20 percent of coal workers in the area with the same amount of tenure have been diagnosed with the disease, according to a new study by experts at the federal government’s National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
The dramatic increase in cases of black lung disease is occurring at the same time that the Trump administration is seeking ways weaken coal dust rules that protect coal miners from the disease — a move that would reduce costs for coal companies, which have been strong financial backers of Trump.

....

It appears lawmakers, however, have not been spurred to take action to help protect coal miners in response to the rise in black lung cases. Kentucky lawmakers, for example, passed a bill earlier this year that will make it harder for miners to obtain workers’ compensation benefits. Kentucky is one of the states that has witnessed the resurgence in the most advanced form of black lung disease.
The new law, which went into effect on July 14, drastically reduces the number of physicians in Kentucky permitted to read the chest X-rays when coal miners file a black lung claim. Six doctors in Kentucky will now be eligible to conduct the exams, according to an NPR review of federal black lung cases.

 

[PyramidHead]

Maybe slow your roll a bit, man. 12 threads is kind of pushing it, and the little nicknames are starting to grate something fierce.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

This is a bit of old news.

 

[phands]

This is a bit of old news.

The new legislation went into effect only a week ago.

 

[phands]

I wan't aware of a posting rate-limit...there seems to no such limit on trumpo's pernicious actions. And if the nicknames for the scumbag grate, they don't grate as much as his continued existence as president.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

And NPR reported on the legislation in March, The WV article is from December.

According to this article in February, the MSHA decided not to change the rule.

 

[PyramidHead]

I wan't aware of a posting rate-limit...there seems to no such limit on trumpo's pernicious actions.

Just asking for a little awareness of etiquette.

And if the nicknames for the scumbag grate, they don't grate as much as his continued existence as president.

But... they still grate, is all. Don't tick so many stereotype boxes, is all I'm suggesting.

 

[James Brown]

Don't tick so many stereotype boxes, is all I'm suggesting.

And don't get mad when conservatives invent derogatory nicknames for any future liberal leaders.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Duh!

It's black lung disease. Why would the GOP care about anything that only happens to blacks?

(Yeah, I know what it really is.)

 

[phands]

Don't tick so many stereotype boxes, is all I'm suggesting.

And don't get mad when conservatives invent derogatory nicknames for any future liberal leaders.

Given the orange wankmaggot's predilection for demeaning nicknames (Liittle Marco, Little Rocket Man, Crooked Hillary....etc), this is now a societal norm ;-)

 

[Lion IRC]

Don't tick so many stereotype boxes, is all I'm suggesting.

And don't get mad when conservatives invent derogatory nicknames for any future liberal leaders.

Given the orange wankmaggot's predilection for demeaning nicknames (Liittle Marco, Little Rocket Man, Crooked Hillary....etc), this is now a societal norm ;-)

Yeah!
It's like distorting forum users nick names.

 

[James Brown]

Don't tick so many stereotype boxes, is all I'm suggesting.

And don't get mad when conservatives invent derogatory nicknames for any future liberal leaders.

Given the orange wankmaggot's predilection for demeaning nicknames (Liittle Marco, Little Rocket Man, Crooked Hillary....etc), this is now a societal norm ;-)

So you concede the high ground?

 

[phands]

Given the orange wankmaggot's predilection for demeaning nicknames (Liittle Marco, Little Rocket Man, Crooked Hillary....etc), this is now a societal norm ;-)

So you concede the high ground?

Trumpo has no high ground - he's in his own swamp. I concede only that he is sack of shit.

 

[Lumpenproletariat]

Black Lung Disease is a non-issue.

Let those workers quit and get a job doing something that does not pollute the environment. There's plenty of jobs now, so why do they need to keep pumping CO2 emissions into the air?

After enough miners quit, the companies will do whatever is necessary to improve the conditions, if there's really a need to keep mining coal.

Also, the workers could stop whining for a change and take steps to reduce their exposure to the coal dust. Most of them do not use their safety equipment like they're supposed to. It's mostly their own fault.

We need to stop babysitting these crybabies. They know the hazard. If they keep doing that work, whatever happens is their responsibility, not the company's.

 

[bilby]

Given the orange wankmaggot's predilection for demeaning nicknames (Liittle Marco, Little Rocket Man, Crooked Hillary....etc), this is now a societal norm ;-)

Yeah!
It's like distorting forum users nick names.

Meh. I wouldn't complain; If he was intending insult he could easily have come up with a genuinely nasty variation, like 'Lying IRC', or 'Lion Idiotic Roman Catholic' or 'Lame Internet Relay Chat' - and i have no doubt others far worse.

You should be grateful that nobody calls you by any of those. Although I guess they would breach the TOU, so you likely needn't worry.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Trump deserves any name I or anyone else decides to give him. He shows no respect whatever to anyone who disagrees with him. He not only invents names for these people, he repeats them endlessly with juvenile cruelty. He's called people son of a bitch at official appearances, demonstrating that he has no appreciation and respect for the office he holds. Again: we owe Trump NO default of respect and forbearance because he's President. He's the Anti-President, the opposite of a minimally competent and respectable chief exec. When you call him a name, you're emphasizing the damage Trump himself has done to the country, and the need we have to flush this guy out of our public space.

 

[phands]

Given the orange wankmaggot's predilection for demeaning nicknames (Liittle Marco, Little Rocket Man, Crooked Hillary....etc), this is now a societal norm ;-)

Yeah!
It's like distorting forum users nick names.

Meh. I wouldn't complain; If he was intending insult he could easily have come up with a genuinely nasty variation, like 'Lying IRC', or 'Lion Idiotic Roman Catholic' or 'Lame Internet Relay Chat' - and i have no doubt others far worse.

You should be grateful that nobody calls you by any of those. Although I guess they would breach the TOU, so you likely needn't worry.

My use of "LIRC" isn't anything other than abbreviation, it's not a distortion in the way he tries to insinuate. It makes no difference to recognizing who that poster is, and it's epithet-free.
And, if I did want to insult, I could do so much more fluently and without swearing or making up petty soubriquets. I do use soubriquets, mostly in the case of the pitiful excuse of a president my adoptive country now has, because they are handy summaries.

As always, LIRC's comments are "Not Even Wrong".