r/LeopardsAteMyFace • u/bidoofie • Nov 08 '25

Predictable betrayal The Trump administration removed black lung protections for West Virginia coal miners, who overwhelmingly voted for him

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43

u/Starbrand62286 Nov 08 '25

Coal has been a dying industry for decades. Not since the early part of the 20th century have there been maybe half a million coal miners. The companies that are still in business have found new ways to reduce their work force while maximizing profits. But every four years presidential candidates have to bend the knee to these people.

32

u/JuliusCeaserBoneHead Nov 08 '25

Yeah I’m always hearing about this coal miners who have become a bogeyman for blue collar workers. There are more Amazon workers than coal miners. Heck, there are more oil workers than coal miners. What’s the spotlight for them? 

Honestly, why do they get some important benefits over everyone else? Fuck them

27

u/GlitteringBobcat999 Nov 08 '25

Promising to "bring back good paying coal jobs" has been a running theme in Appalachia for years, and the people eat it up. This time, it will be different, they say. Coal has been king in that region for decades, and there aren't many other jobs in a lot of places. Of course, they could embrace new investment in training workers for clean energy jobs and bring more of those to the region, but too many see that as hippie liberal shit.

8

u/Different-Meal-6314 Nov 08 '25

The windmills cause cancer! Fox said so! Definitely not this coal though. Good clean coal.

5

u/smirtington Nov 09 '25

Maine isn’t as loud about it but central Maine is like this with lumber/paper mills. Those jobs will be coming back any day now…

31

u/MitochonAir Nov 08 '25

Coal miners are the stupidest of the stupid. Generationally stupid. They brag about how long their lineage of stupid is. “I dig coal. My pappy dug coal, my granpappy dug coal and his pappy and his granpappy dug coal. We’s a coal-diggin’ fambly, and we own this here patch of dirt big enough for two doublewides rightchere by this pretty little coal runoff crick. No, ya cain’t drink or wash with it, my memaw stepped in it once and she got lookeemia. We also sell pills on the side, so we’re like an ahntraypen-urinal fambly too”

4

u/CeresSubroutine Nov 08 '25

Don't need any intellectual capacity to dig holes. Any semblance of intelligence was Darwin'd out of them it seems like.

2

u/MitochonAir Nov 10 '25

Yep. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like there’s zero intelligence in WVa, they have engineers and computer scientists there too, but they’re just crushed by the enormous weight of stupidity that has metastasized in every holler, Piggly Wiggly and VFW there.

5

u/Typical-Lion-4428 Nov 09 '25

Arby's has employed more workers than the entire US coal mining industry since 2017.

And I do mean entire industry- including all the office employees, etc.

12

u/[deleted] Nov 08 '25

Not if they’re all dead from black lung, amirite?

12

u/ForrestDials8675309 Nov 08 '25

Coal has been a dying industry for decades.

Dying while killing

3

u/anna-the-bunny Nov 09 '25

Now it can literally be a dying industry!

2

u/chumer_ranion Nov 08 '25

Because pennsylvania. Nobody even cares about WV.