The Obama Administration has stepped up with nearly $40 million in grants to programs aimed at helping Appalachian communities devastated by the loss of about half of their coal mining jobs. Summary of the 29 grants.
Some particulars: A new school of Optometry in Kentucky (one of only two in the region), accelerated technology training, paid internships in the IT field, public water service construction, airport expansions, small business aid, and alternative energy jobs.
About once every four years politicians remember that there is such a thing as rural America.
you mean the most forgotten part of what bw calls “fly over country” aka the land between the hubs?
abc this morning reports on the battle of “who’s got the bigger bigot”…you know, he says she is, she says he is stuff
I’m overwhelmed by the scope and magnitude of the programs being initiated along with the expected partnerships that will emerge. At the heart of most of the programs is an educational element which, if faithfully implemented, will not just benefit the participants, but benefit communities and families by keeping generations of people together. The package appears to be worthy of our support, our strong support.
reposting bw’s comment at end of last thread:
Another reason to vote for Hillary? Science. I hate to see science get kicked to the curb by trumpence…all the weather disasters and the media gives trumpence a pass on climate change denial. trump IS alt right…putie is the master behind brexit and NATO busting. Angela Merkel is one of putin’s favorite targets and his boy, trump is continuing the same rant here in the US of AA. trump mocks and mispronounces Angela every chance he gets. So, when pp writes that Hillary is running for prez of the world? I sure hope she beats putie!
I thought so too Flatus, hope we see some good coverage of the results. The announcement of the grants got a lot of play in local media around the region.
Holy clean jobs instead of clean coal! Climate change deniers get a second chance. Speaking of Kentucky and eye doctors…what is up self-certified R. Paul? He paid an expensive price for that repug primary vote when putie’s lapdog, trump had already taken him down during the debates way before the primary vote.
I hear the grass is greener in kentucky these days, but still no medical marijuana. The best new, clean industry is marijuana…my senior bot will have pot.
Coulter mocks Trump’s immigration muddle
By Nick Gass
Poll: Rubio, Murphy easily win primaries, but face close contest in November
By Marc Caputo
sturge…this one is for you. 2 nights ago the winos discovered a large spider in the middle of the kitchen floor…it looked like a wolf spider, but it looked odd. So, we did our usual capture and release outside. When we had the spider in the glass vase, her back was covered in baby spiders.…really strange to see (right before bed)
bw, you ask about rant?
fox:
But for 18 minutes on Tuesday afternoon, someone, not something, was missing in Washington.
The Senate was scheduled to convene at 4 p.m. for a succinct session. But the confab didn’t start until 4:18 p.m. because the only senator required to be there to gavel the meeting in and out was running behind.
“I had a little trouble getting here,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., as he hustled up a back staircase at the Capitol for the abbreviated session. Fox News is told traffic delayed Kentucky’s junior senator from arriving on time.
When Paul did arrive, he conferred briefly with Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, then rapped an hourglass-shaped, ivory gavel on the desk, signaling the session started. The Kentucky Republican immediately asked the Senate reading clerk to announce a communication, which designated Paul as the senator authorized to preside.
[….]
The so-called “pro forma” sessions fall in the middle of the Senate’s seven-week congressional recess, and are simply “placeholders.” The Constitution requires both houses of Congress to convene every three days unless the other body blesses a recess. The House and Senate both approved an adjournment resolution which permitted the House to skate out of town, but not the Senate. The reason? If the Senate adjourned for more than 10 days and didn’t meet at regular intervals, it’s possible President Obama could make what’s called a “recess appointment” to the Supreme Court.
WikiLeaks Plays Doctor, Gives Hillary Clinton Fake Disease
With conspiracists and Trump surrogates pushing the ‘Clinton is dying’ story, WikiLeaks decided to wade in with an old email citing ‘decision fatigue’ as evidence of illness.
BEN COLLINS
🙂
thx, patd…jim webb held a similar duty for the dems when he was senator.
I thought he (Webb) was very impressive when he did the Democratic rebuttal after one of Bush43’s State of the Union addresses.
tony, thanks for the links. trump gets a pass on putie supporters running his policy. flynn interview from August 15th…he described putin as ‘adventurous’ after the security meetings. assange, flynn, page and manafort and now bannon, conway and ailes…more putie bots letting us know that Clinton has decision fatigue plus the email and Benghazi disease. At least the sane repugs recognize this, and do not want putie to run our policy. This will be about the alt right invading our shores better than any manchurian candidate could.
Let us remember that David Sirota’s career involves making fake political websites
this how I feel about the media coverage of this campaign
How bad was that AP article on Clinton Foundation and accusation of Pay To Play? They tried to turn an annual event hosted by ALL Secretaries of State as some sort of criminal act.
Several media bits on “whither the GOP after this election”. Easy answer:
Building concentration camps for non white people with great big gold Trump logos. If they won’t reject him, they get the reputation that comes with him.
woooohooo Jaime
they endorsed him he’s theirs
the media is reflecting the change of the world view…instead of left and right? Today, political leanings are defined as either Globalist or Nationalist. Baby boomers now represent only 25% of the US population and the old, analog political ways of their heyday are dying-out. Mimic hacks are taking over from professionals….politics have gone digital. Put me in the globalist column and keep that nationalist, putie, out of my politics, please. It sure looks like the pugs will not make it into the WH this cycle, thank you sun! But, 2020 will be a different story…and AI takeover will be much more prevalent. At least we will have four years of the globalist point of view. The media will eventually be able to define itself from its current disarray to decide what their job really is…report or influence.
Legalizing pot is not just a thing for potheads. It is a criminal justice issue. Obama lied about what he would do and he was stupid. I know Clinton won’t do anything.
This is about the dumbest policy choice ever. Costs millions, the laws have ruined people’s lives and for what -so the police can harass blacks and latinos
The same people who think sex is for procreation only (Hi Ping)
Looking at map above and preponderance of distressed counties in eastern KY, how can Mitch McConnell with all his power and influence tolerate that?
Wasn’t his wife an anti-labor Sec’y of Labor — still paying off old promises
And if you are looking for a scandal what about this
The president of the company that has raised the price of the epi pen 400% is the daughter of Sen Joe Manchon of WVA
what is his position of the govt being allowed to negotiate drug prices and does he do any inside lobbying….of course since his name isn’t Clinton Dave asshole Sirota could care less
How can Kentuckians, rich or poor, hill climbers or flat landers tolerate the selfish turd?
As these old industries die, the families that depended on them for both pride and survival need to be assisted in the transition. Those close to retirement need some form of redundancy payment with work perhaps in helping to reclaim the environment those industries have destroyed.
The young men and women need training in other careers. Like it or not, that is expensive. Then there is always something to be done and people needed to do it. Unfortunately, many of those things that need to be done are not good profit centers so we all have to chip in.
These industries have been dead for years propped up on the backs of employees for the benefit of the owners
There are proud people who have worked in mines but there are no miners proud to pass along the career to their children
“The Obama Administration has stepped up with nearly $40 million in grants…”
How many coal-country votes does $40 million buy?
Meanwhile, every 3 songs my Pandora runs an Anti-Trump ad from a pro-Hillary superPAC. Citizen’s United working as intended.
Bink,
These are grants as opposed to fully funded federal programs. Grant requests are typically written by local activists/organizations requesting supplemental funding to what they already have. It is not the Feds shoving some unwanted program down peoples throats. Follow-on funding might be available if required and justified.
Watching the Trump speech right now ginning up his “Lock Her Up” minions. Haven’t we seen this before?
It just gave me great pleasure to switch off msnbc as trump was in mid-lie/mid-rant, mid if-you-only-knew.
I’m off to Publix. I’ll buy whatever is on sale for those who have ordered previously. The stuff will be at my house by 1600-hrs eastern. Sea, I’ll get you something to cheer you up even though you’re not a regular 🙂
Trump’s current strategy is to attack Clinton on his vulnerabilities – he is a bigot and a racist so he attacks her for those reasons because he knows the media will make false equivalencies — he doesn’t even want minorities to vote
oh my Hillary Clinton just put up road block to Troll’s u-turn
Has always bugged me that environmentalists, especially the climate folks, show so little empathy for the workers displaced and communities destroyed. Helping them as part of their agenda would gain wider support for the cause.
“current strategy is to attack Clinton on his vulnerabilities”
kgc, not current. been his modus operandi all along. notice that just as or before some scandal/expose` is about to be published about him he unleashes an attack on her accusing her of what hell be charged with.
he also has a history of following his buddy roy cohn’s advice to strike back and strike back tenfold…. never settle.
craig, this from hillary briefing statement back in march:
“it means we need to support our coal miners, their families, and their communities. Coal will remain a part of the energy mix for years to come, and we have a shared responsibility to ensure that coal communities receive the benefits they have earned—and can build the future they deserve. That’s what my plan does, by safeguarding retirement and healthcare benefits and school funding, creating good-paying jobs in infrastructure, reclaiming and repurposing abandoned mining sites, expanding broadband, and investing in hydropower and clean energy. And I will launch a Coal Communities Challenge Fund to support the locally-driven economic development in health care, housing, and small business that is happening by coal communities, for coal communities.”
politico even earlier in November said of her plan:
Hillary Clinton’s proposal for $30 billion in aid for people suffering from the decline of the coal industry drew a mixed-to-hostile response Thursday from critics of President Barack Obama’s environmental policies — raising doubts about whether she can arrest the Democratic Party’s electoral slide in coal country.
The package her campaign outlined includes billions of dollars to shore up coal workers’ pension benefits and retrain out-of-work miners or power plant employees to find jobs in other industries. It also includes spending on the so-far-elusive goal of developing “clean coal” technology that would capture and store coal-burning plants’ greenhouse gas pollution.
[….]
Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune praised the plan, which he said would help coal communities cope with a transition that already is underway.
“Clean energy, including wind, solar and energy efficiency, is already creating more jobs than fossil fuels — and that pace is only going to accelerate,” Brune said in a statement. “It’s essential that all regions and communities, especially those who have helped power this country, experience the benefits of our transition to clean energy and aren’t unfairly burdened.”
so she can talk ’til she’s blue in the face and if it’s not outrageous or scandalous enough, her aspirations to help get little coverage.
There are all kinds of programs some already institutionalized in the federal government
just google environmentalists and social justice. just google it
I love that the Washington Post lampooned Giuliani’s health it was well done
too bad they didn’t also do Trump
wapo Hillary Clinton’s ‘alt-right’ speech, annotated
from Hillary’s speech today:
“You know, my friends, this is a moment of reckoning for every Republican dismayed that the Party of Lincoln has become the Party of Trump. It’s a moment of reckoning for all of us who love our country and believe that America is better than this.
Twenty years ago, when Bob Dole accepted the Republican nomination, he pointed to the exits and told any racists in the party to get out.
The week after 9/11, George W. Bush went to a mosque and declared for everyone to hear that Muslims “love America just as much as I do.”
In 2008, John McCain told his own supporters they were wrong about the man he was trying to defeat. Senator McCain made sure they knew: Barack Obama, he said, is an American citizen and a decent person.
We need that kind of leadership again.
We can have our disagreements and believe me I understand that. I think that’s healthy. We need good debates. But we need to do it in a respectful way, not finger pointing and blaming and stirring up this bigotry and prejudice.
Every day, more Americans are standing up and saying “enough is enough” – including a lot of Republicans. And I am honored to have their support.
And I promise you this: with your help, I will be a president for Democrats, Republicans, and independents. For those who vote for me and for those who vote against me.”
sounds like our fearless leader wrote this:
We can have our disagreements and believe me I understand that. I think that’s healthy. We need good debates. But we need to do it in a respectful way, not finger pointing and blaming and stirring up this bigotry and prejudice.
or her speech writer is a closet trail mixer.
Clinton’s Speech Annotated
Craig
As an ardent environmentalist, I resent being told we don’t care about miners and others losing their work. It has always been the stance of the environmental movement that closing down mines and such was essential to survival, but the people affected should not be injured by that elimination. The fact that the corporations and Congress wouldn’t take the steps necessary to support and retrain is not the fault of the very necessary movement.
Craig, lately you seem to be channeling the negative from the right wing memes about the left rather than what is actually being done or said.
If your income did not depend on the profit motive, what would you do to earn it?
I would probably be reading to children in a classroom or planting trees.
Jamie, I’ve heard too many libs make fun of rural folks and their plight not to think many don’t really give a crap about them, (but not you of course), even while their causes destroy their livelihoods. If anything, conservatives are worse, pay lip service and also ignore them.
Craig
Doesn’t that come under the heading of “some people say” :). Look above at all the quoted policies and demands for actions to be taken. Listening to all the comments about mining, I keep thinking of the very wonderful movie “October Sky”. The way out is always providing a way up.
When it comes to the hill folk. How can you make fun of the people in Songcatcher and when it comes to the problems and ugliness of the meth epidemic infecting those whose lives have been destroyed try Winter’s Bone
The images are out there. The people need help. The corporations and politicians are screwing them over. That is what needs to be changed.
One thing I know for sure, the Alt-right, Breitbart, and Donald Trump are not the answer.
For example, the Environmental Defense Fund, any sign on their web site showing concern for the jobs their agenda would displace? http//www.edf.org
Just catching up. Got a lot of chuckles from some of yesterday’s later comments and enjoyed the music too. Also, thanks for the kind words.
OldSeaHag: hope your ribs are on the mend
Nice to see some good news today re money for the little people 🙂 I live in a city that had lost its main industry years ago and was dying. Grants from both public and private sectors have been revitalizing my city in recent years, providing lots of new jobs and infrastructure. It’s been fun to watch so I’m happy for the people of the coal mining areas.
Attention class! On a completely different (sort of) note: Has anyone here been watching BrainDead? It’s a summer series that started in June but I didn’t get around to watching it. Even though the first season is still running, Amazon has put it on Prime video for streaming. It is basically our current political arena with alien brain eating bugs added to the mix. A combination of creepy and funny. I’ve watched the first three episodes so far and I think some folks here might get a kick out of it. Available if you have Amazon Prime or the ability to stream CBS shows. I, for one, am pretty convinced that DT has had alien bugs eating his brain for a long time 🙂
And I haven’t seen any environmental group say anything about this Obama Administration effort to help workers who lost their livelihoods to their agenda. Find one and prove me wrong please.
https://www.edf.org/ecosystems/job-creation-through-coastal-restoration
https://www.edf.org/energy/us-methane-mitigation-industry
Thank you KGC Saved me the research time.
Granny
Adoring Brain Dead even when it makes me squirm. Nothing quite like the queen & King mating image …. irk on TV out in the open for goodness sake .. X rated and all. lol
Greatest hope, they will find a reason for Aaron Tveit to sing
OH my I should not have opened that door. But it makes me happy and right now I really need happy. Aaron Tveit singing
Having grown up when I did, beginning in 1950 (essentially the same life as in the 1930’s and 1940’s), I was privileged to experience those in poverty, but did not know it because they were farmers. Life without electricity, farms without electricity. Life without indoor plumbing, many times including when I lived in a state park. Life without a television, eh, I was born in 1950. One of the things so many point out today is “everyone” has electricity and indoor plumbing (sort of).
What is missing is the ill health of living in poverty. The conditions of living in coal country and black lung disease. When there is one job, and it goes down or away, think of what is left. Think of soft coal mining. Think of Detroit. Detroit will eventually return. In the hills of Appalachia not much. What occupations can support people in areas that do not support access to anything, other than a coal train out of town?
Did the meme for HRC change today? I think so. She killed of the faux controversy of her latest “emails”, much of which sounded like from her COS computer and much of which said “no”. I know people in the Congress, I donate to their campaigns. If I stop by one of the office buildings to say “HI”, and they come out of their office to greet me, does that mean access? Hell no.
Can the orange moran overcome reality or does his alternate form of reality take over what we know exists? No. At what point will he give it up and let Pence run for president? I hope not. The problem is even though Pence is far, very far, right, his “sanity” would allow Republicans to form up around him and vote for him instead of HRC.
BB
I honestly think Hillary Clinton is speaking to our better angels. The question is who is listening?
Gosh Craig’s taking talking points from Gov Paul LaPage -Maine
Sorry, but I’m in one-armed paper-hanger mode for the next week or so. I see that drumpf went to New Hampshire to talk about what blacks don’t have to lose by choosing him. Renee did you and your other black friends go up and see him? Jesus, he goes from one of the whitest cities in the US to one of the whitest states in the US to talk about what he can offer blacks. What a freakin idiot.
Blue
My 50’s upbringing was too far out of anyone’s norm to explain We really need to get lunch together somewhere someday. Short version: 21 schools in 12 years with enough trauma to fill several Lifetime movies. End result a whole lot of experience with virtually every end of the economic and social experience available to human beings and an affection for the needs of others plus a love of music from gut bucket to grand opera.
End result, there are very few things or people to which I can’t adjust except for those who hate others without a damn good reason. Today Donald Trump scared the hell out of me, and I’ve run out of people I can call to say it will be okay.
.
Bringing out the big guns of HOPE in spite of everything
https://youtu.be/K9ThrdUSQaA
Soooooooo close. There is NFL preseason football, High School football and Canadian football on. But no college football yet. God I can hardly wait.
And to Donald Trump and anyone voting for him because I really need to say it: FUCK YOU
Jaime
I’ll associate myself with that remark
KGC
Really need that like button 🙂
Poobah, as you well know, I live in the middle of this coal country, gas and oil country crap. I can tell you the loss of coal jobs is not related to environmental concerns. The loss of coal jobs is directly related to greed of the oil and gas industry, which is the meme floated by the right to try to slam Obama; it’s just to the contrary of that. Cheap gas drove the cost of energy down, and coal is no longer profitable to dig. It has damned little to do with environmentalists. I’m in the middle of it I’ve lived it for the last 25 years, and I ain’t buying what they’re selling because what they’re selling aint real.
one sometimes can find new truths for today in old movies of yesterday.
I took my last Hillary sign to the Oregon Coast today…so much enthusiasm!!!
Hillary was great today!!!
Ah Jamie! You do know the way into my heart XXOO! Les Mis, Hugh Jackman, Aaron Tveit et al!
I’m enjoying seeing Aaron again and I get a kick out of the departure from the usual “Previously, on XXXX” with musical recaps at the beginning. What a hoot and a bit of a relief from some of the gorier moments. Also love Tony Shaloub as the Trumpesque slime ball!
Also grown up in the 50s (waving hand) but I’d wager that my upbringing was considerably different from the rest of the class. I did learn a lot about the world though, so I have to be grateful for that. News was very big in our house!
Maybe we need a child of the 50’s get together. Guess what Happy Days and Norman Rockwell wasn’t it or maybe not .. 🙂
Trump’s biggest donor — also big investor in Breitbart and funded the Condom’s PAC for Ted Cruz
Robert Mercer – he sounds really slimy Rachael Madow did a great job
Jamie,
I love it when you talk dirty! All the more so because your sentiment towards Trump and his legions is exactly the same as mine.
Hey Jace
You want to hear me talk dirty … Find a big blue police box and see me in 1980. 🙂
To all the ‘mixers’ posting music the last couple of days. Thanks and Bravo!!!
Jamie,
LOL!
Jamie,
Please try and remember that when you talk to Trump or his supporters you have to speak slowly and use small words.
Yes my instructions for writing the Naval Ships Technical Manuals was to write to a 9th grade standard so the sailors wouldn’t kill themselves.
Donald Trump is dead….
Oh Jamie
Ditto on the F bomb to Trump supporters.. I worked with Grace today and of course i told her she was going to be one of those secret Republican women voting for Hillary.. Oh yes, she went off about Hillary being a crook that sold her country out.. I will vote for that idiot Trump she said over her.. Haha, fun fun.. I told her go for he’s toast!
Jace
Lol, yes, works for me..
I’ve gotten very good at it :0))))
I graduated a year before most of my age in 1961 but here is the Statler Bros for those who did it four years earlier
https://youtu.be/EAWOgXMeldU
And then my era came along with Jimmy Buffet & that Pencil Thin Mustache
Feel free to add your own. Sometimes you just need a sing along
Why not? Three for Thursday.
Oh hot damn Bink That’s Good!! Bring on the ladies from Down Under. If you don’t know Clairy Brown & the Bangin’ Rockettes, get acquainted.
Fox News Anchor Shepard Smith: Donald Trump ‘Trades in Racism’
Media Matters
No garden spiders this year……..not a single one……..
Sturgeone
Speaking of 1955
Group & Person you need to know in case you missed Maddow tonight
One People’s Project
New Thread…sorry to hear about the spiders, sturge.