Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

I really should read my own blog.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Republicans do not trust women.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Come on, man.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

We will not go back.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

You are here: Home / Economics / Free Markets Solve Everything / Nail His Ass to the Wall

Nail His Ass to the Wall

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blankenship

Don Blankenship, the CEO of Massey Energy, which was responsible for the disaster at the Upper Big Branch Mine in WV, was indicted today on multiple counts:

Don Blankenship, the longtime chief executive of Massey Energy, was indicted today on charges that he violated federal mine safety laws at the company’s Upper Big Branch Mine prior to an April 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners.

A federal grand jury in Charleston charged Blankenship with conspiring to cause routine and willful violations of mandatory federal mine safety and health standards at Upper Big Branch during a period from Jan. 1, 2008, to April 9, 2010, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said.

The four-count indictment, filed in U.S. District Court, also alleges Blankenship was part of a conspiracy to cover up mine safety violations and hinder federal enforcement efforts by providing advance warning of government inspections. The indictment also alleges that, after the explosion, Blankenship made false statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about Massey’s safety practices prior to the explosion.

“Blankenship knew that UBB was committing hundreds of safety-law violations every year and that he had the ability to prevent most of the violations that UBB was committing,” the indictment states. “Yet he fostered and participated in an understanding that perpetuated UBB’s practice of routine safety violations, in order to produce more coal, avoid the costs of following safety laws, and make more money.”

I’ve uploaded the indictment (.pdf) for you to read, and you can really get a sense of what a total scumbag the man is and how he bullied and badgered everyone to break the law and to continue to pay no attention to the HUNDREDS of safety violations that would directly lead to the deaths of those miners. He wrote multiple notes like “you have a kid to feed” and “I’m looking to make an example” and so forth, and they had an elaborate system to provide advanced warning to workers to cover up violations when safety inspectors showed up.

If you remember, Blankenship is the lovely gentleman who bought himself a couple judges and and has been basically an example of everything wrong with our corporatocracy for quite some time. I hope they nail his ass to the wall and he spends the rest of his miserable life rotting in jail.

Reader Interactions

176Comments

  2. 2.

    Morzer

    I assume you meant “total scumbag” but “wotal scumbag” has a certain ring to it. (Unless, of course, I have simply missed your cunning usage of West Virginia dialect to emphasize your point!)

    I favor castration and impalement on a spiked steel post over a slow burning and very smoky fire for this despicable creature.

  4. 4.

    Renie

    Hope he goes to prison and he is followed by many CEOs who are harming people and destroying this country

  6. 6.

    carolinadave

    While I am not a psychiatrist, I watched him in an interview and thought, “what a sociopath.”

    How a trial plays out we will all see. If his high priced legal team can portray this as part of the “war on coal” he will skate. No way any competent legal team will let him testify and subject him to cross-examination.

  7. 7.

    Morzer

    @Renie:

    Do we have a prison large enough to contain the entire Republican party? And which state would want to be responsible for the fiscal terrorists anyway?

  11. 11.

    Bokonon

    Wonder if the GOP will pipe up and claim that Blankenship is one more innocent victim of Obama’s victimization of job creators …

    Poor guy! All he was trying to do was cut some red tape, and show those pointy headed bureaucrats in Washington how to create jobs for hard-working Americans! You know??

  12. 12.

    Chet

    I also think this fucker’s name should be brought up in any and all future discussions of tort reform.

  14. 14.

    beltane

    @Bokonon: Of course the GOP will do this. Blankenship is not only a job creator, he is such an exemplary job creator that he creates jobs by killing employees. Any boss who doesn’t go tho this length to create jobs is obviously a commie.

  15. 15.

    Morzer

    I am normally vehemently against the death penalty, but I really do think that for us to pay a fortune to keep Blankenship in prison is nonsense and that the Chinese way of executing the corrupt with a bullet to the back of the head would be the logical and just thing to do.

  16. 16.

    Morzer

    @Amir Khalid:

    Holy Blankenship, you who were martyred in the Tyrant Obama’s War on Coal, pray for us now and after your death.

    I could see Cardinal Burke endorsing that prayer.

  18. 18.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Morzer:

    Do we have a prison large enough to contain the entire Republican party?

    South Carolina is too small for a republic, too large for an insane asylum, but just right for a prison full of Republicans. #Petigru2016

  21. 21.

    WV Blondie

    I almost never post a comment here – though I read Balloon Juice every single day.

    But as a long-time resident of West Virginia, and on a day when I have plenty of my own troubles to deal with, this gives me just a smidge, a modicum, a skosh of hope that justice does eventually arrive. And this wotal scumbag should feel DREAD.

  22. 22.

    KG

    @Morzer: i’ve a better idea, when it comes to white collar crimes (which this probably will be classified as, deaths notwithstanding) there should be prison time and criminal fines… and the fines should at least be close (or more than) the cost of imprisoning the perp.

  23. 23.

    Professor

    But what would Joe Manchin say? He going to blame Obama because Coal is the mainstay of West Virginia. This is the problem with a single industry state.

  26. 26.

    bemused

    Rolling Stone did a piece on him in 2010, The Dark Lord of Coal Country. Hideous man. He grew up without much, raised by a single hardworking mother in WV but did whatever it took to get ahead. He completely turned his back on working people. The photos I’ve seen of his WV huge house on top of mountain overlooking two states is pretty creepy.

  29. 29.

    Mike G

    He sounds like the kind of freedom-giving job creator our Republikkkan congressional overlords would praise as a hero of free enterprise hampered by Marxist bureaucrats.

  31. 31.

    Cervantes

    @Chet:

    I also think this fucker’s name should be brought up in any and all future discussions of tort reform.

    It is my understanding that one can make this happen nowadays, if by “discussions” you mean “Internet searches.”

  35. 35.

    Howard Beale IV

    Now the question becomes does he go to trial or cop a plea? Given that some Federal prosecutors couldn’t convict ham sandwiches without fucking the case up, if the Feds win, any sentence will be an effective death behind bars.

  36. 36.

    Trollhattan

    @Russ:
    Saw this mentioned in comments a few threads down and have to agree, at least manslaughter would have been just. But as it is, him in prison for (effectively) life and his fat golden parachute snatched will be a good start.

    Those families live every day knowing he sent them to their doom.

    “But they could have just gotten another job.”

    Would love to hear what the options are, short of decamping for another part of the country (two years into the recession, at that).

  39. 39.

    Bokonon

    @beltane: I can top that. I bet someone in one of the GOP’s propaganda shops can plant the following narratives in the media:

    * The whole thing was a “false flag” operation by Obama to discredit the coal industry before the election.
    * The people who were killed were all corrupt union bosses and Chicago-style thugs, who were busy running a Democratic party phone bank out of the mine on company time while neglecting their duties. The explosion was their fault.
    * It was ISIS that blew up the mine – and Obama is just trying to hide his culpability. Like he did with Benghazi!
    * The mine explosion is all the fault of some lazy government bureaucrat somewhere.

    Actually … they’ve already tried that last one.

  40. 40.

    Elizabelle

    @Michael G:

    Blankenship is wearing about 33-34 flags on his hat and shirt.

    Subtract a few flags, and that’s how many human beings, and families, he destroyed. Through negligence.

    For profit.

  42. 42.

    Trollhattan

    @Bokonon: I’ve been “lectured at” that everybody responsible for the Deepwater Horizon explosion was killed on the platform. Well now that fixes that, doesn’t it?

  43. 43.

    The Dangerman

    Jail time would be great but hit him where it hurts (fucker works for the rest of his life to pay for the damages and liquidate his assets so that he has little more than a cardboard box in which to live).

  44. 44.

    Baud

    @Bokonon:

    Actually, my bet is that they’ll try to find one of the victims’ family members to come out in support of Blanketship and attack Obama.

  46. 46.

    D58826

    There have been a lot of pixels spilled over the past week about elections having consequences. Well here is another one and for once it leans in the direction of Justice. The federal prosecutors in W. Virginia have obtained a 4 count indictment against former Massey energy CEO Don Blankenship. The charges are the result of a 4 year investigation into the deaths of 29 miners at the Massey Upper Big Branch mine. While none of the charges are for murder, if he is convicted on all four counts he would face a maximum of 31 years in jail. At his age, if he was forced to serve the maximum, that would amount to life in prison. If there was a murder indictment I would be more than happy to overlook my opposition to the death penalty. Blankenship claims that the investigation is politically motivated and he is innocent. I actually agree with him on the former but certainly not the later. If the GOP had been running things in Washington there would have been no DOJ investigation and the accident investigation would have been a whitewash. Don would have called a few friends in the White House and he would have been named Businessman of the year. Given the business friendly Bush administration they probably would have file criminal charges against the dead miners for violating air pollution standards.
    Elections have consequences and in this case maybe on the side of the angels for once. The voters in West Virginia seem to be intent on digging their own graves and then paying the oligarchs for the shovels.

  48. 48.

    shelley

    Wonder if the GOP will pipe up and claim that Blankenship is one more innocent victim of Obama’s victimizatio

    Cue Sean Hannity to start broadcasting his show from outside this CEO’s home.

  49. 49.

    John Revolta

    I can remember when Abbie Hoffman got arrested for wearing a shirt that looked just. like. that.

  51. 51.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @The Dangerman: A conviction on these charges would make civil suits by the families of the deceased a lot easier.

    ETA: Statute of limitations issues may come into play though.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    In a statement issued late this afternoon, Blankenship’s attorney, William W. Taylor III, said, “Mr. Blankenship is entirely innocent of these charges. He will fight them and he will be acquitted.”

    “Don Blankenship has been a tireless advocate for mine safety,” Taylor said. “His outspoken criticism of powerful bureaucrats has earned this indictment. He will not yield to their effort to silence him. He will not be intimidated.”

    Whew.

  54. 54.

    biff diggerence

    No surprise if hick fraud Senator (and Presidential Candidate, yeah blow me) Joe Manchin, rushes
    to this scumbag’s defense.

  56. 56.

    D58826

    @Baud: I’m sure he has been an advocate for ‘mine’ safety. I will protect ‘mine’ and the rest of you can go hang.

    I think the democrats should adopt him as their mascot. Between now and Nov. 2016, every ad should include his photo, the names of the 29 miners and a brief comment – ‘brought to you by the GOP’

  60. 60.

    bemused

    @Baud:

    Blankenship had no use for safety regulations. The mine had been evacuated three times in the two months before the explosion for dangerously high methane levels. Blankenship argued that the explosion was unavoidable, an act of God.

  61. 61.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Baud: If they have, I wonder if they named Blankenship individually or if it would be possible to bring him in in some way. Of course, I don’t feel like digging that deeply into Civ Pro rules this evening.

    ETA: I am sure the plaintiffs’ lawyers will use this to whatever advantage they can.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    @bemused:

    Safety regulations are always saving other people’s lives. Other, less worthy people. When have I ever been saved by a safety regulation? Never! What a waste.

  64. 64.

    Roger Moore

    @Morzer:

    Do we have a prison large enough to contain the entire Republican party?

    A rough, back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that you could fit every registered Republican into the Boeing factory in Everett Washington. There wouldn’t be a lot of space left over for air, which seems to recommend it as a possibility.

  66. 66.

    D58826

    @bemused:

    an act of God

    . He better pray that God has more mercy than many of us. Otherwise he is going to spend a lot of time in a very warm place assuming that is Satan will let him in. It seems even the devil has standards.

  67. 67.

    Davis X. Machina

    @bemused:

    Blankenship argued that the explosion was unavoidable, an act of God.

    True for some values of ‘God’. Like Mammon.

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Baud: Rule 34. Producing Documents, Electronically Stored Information, and Tangible Things, or Entering onto Land, for Inspection and Other Purposes? Weirdly, that fits with the other one.

  70. 70.

    chopper

    i’m generally cynical about the idea that a big mucky muck in the energy world will get nailed to the wall over anything.

    but oh god, it would be so fucking sweet wouldn’t it. sweet saccharine jesus this fuckjob needs to go to jail.

  75. 75.

    Tree With Water

    From my vantage point a continent away, I’m surprised Blankenship wasn’t prosecuted, convicted, and canned years ago. Or long ago lynched by West Virginians.

    Can someone recommend a well written (introductory) history of coal mining in the Appalachians?

  77. 77.

    Booger

    Good timing with Howard Berkes’ ongoing series on mine safety violations on NPR. Berkes is a national treasure, worth a hundred thousand Russerts.

  79. 79.

    Keith G

    @Morzer: Assuming he is convicted on all or most counts, many, many years in the general population of one of our average Federal prisons would do just fine. A ballistic lobotomy would seem humane by comparison. Spending a few decades in USP Marion would not be a good time and very appropriate for him.

  80. 80.

    Quaker in a Basement

    If found guilty, my suggested sentence is 29 years, one for each miner who died. But not 29 years in prison. I prefer 29 years working in his own mines, if he can survive that long.

  81. 81.

    Hungry Joe

    As for Blankenship and his flag duds, Samuel Johnson defined patriotism as “the last resort of a scoundrel.” But Ambrose Bierce improved on that in “The Devil’s Dictionary.” Patriotism is NOT the last resort of a scoundrel, Bierce said; “I beg to submit it is the first.”

  82. 82.

    John N

    @Davis X. Machina: I wish more people played Civ. It’d be easier to explain that if you don’t build the buildings from each era, your Civ falls behind. Right now, our Civ, America, is failing to build the key buildings from this era, i.e. failing to update our infrastructure to a modern level. We’re not going to get the growth and production bonuses from those buildings. Instead, we’re spending all of our production and wealth on new units, then gifting them to other Civs, and then declaring war on them. In the context of the game, our behavior is very weird and certainly not likely to lead to a victory.

  83. 83.

    Morzer

    @John N:

    On the other side of the equation, we won’t be invaded by Attila the Hun, Gandhi and Catherine the Great any time soon. So there’s that.

  91. 91.

    cckids

    @KG:

    the fines should at least be close (or more than) the cost of imprisoning the perp.

    More. Much, much more. Leave his wife & kids the same level of income the widows & children of the dead miners have. Or less.

    Punitive fines should be f*cking punitive, should put the fear of God into these bastards that not only will they rot in jail, their kids will be unable to go to a good college & their wives will have to get a job stocking shelves at Wal-Mart.

    And I know I framed that as though only men are in that position, but in that industry, at that level, I’d be willing to be that it is 99.9% male. Turnabout would, of course, be fair play.

  94. 94.

    Morzer

    @Baud:

    All I can say is don’t blame me when the Mahatma feasts on your flame-grilled chitterlings to the plaudits of the troops and for the amusement of the children.

  100. 100.

    wooby

    No. Do not execute him. Give him life. A long long time to contemplate what he’s done. (He won’t.) And to feel bored and deprived and resentful and unappreciated. That’d be something like hell.

  107. 107.

    Botsplainer

    Beyond sad. Feel really awful.

    Wife is far, far away and not back until 11 PM Tuesday. She’s been gone since 11/2. I’m leaving for what was supposed to be a fun dive week Saturday morning, to return the following Saturday.

    It’s a long time away. She’s gone between 8 and 10 weeks a year, 2-3 weeks at a time. I’m always taking care of the stuff at home when she goes, and it is usually on the other side of the world – Australia, NZ, Southeast Asia.

    This time, she’s in Africa.

    This time around, it’s been shitty from moment one in terms of me being bored and lonely, while she’s been overstimulated and exhausted. We had a stupid text fight at 4 AM my time this morning over a kid nearly getting caught up in a forwarding scam. All I said was “I’m not going to text fight with you” over her exclamation point panic, invited her to find a good phone line to call me, and it apparently opened the gates of hell over not dealing with it the way she wanted me to react and deal with it (I’m deliberative). I’ve been told that I’m not going to be spoken to, and she’ll talk to me when I get back, but not before.

    Now I’m thinking of canceling my dive trip that I paid for months ago, because I can’t have this sort of shit lingering – it would completely kill the joy of the diving.

    I’ve been cold fucking sober the entire time.

  108. 108.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Botsplainer: That sucks.I have some idea of what you must be going through. Husband kitteh and I had a huge fight when I was in India this May, and we couldn’t really talk or sort it out and the whole fight hung like a black cloud over the trip, till we sorted it out, not the easiest thing to do over the phone. I hope things work themselves out between you and Mrs Botsplainer soon.

  110. 110.

    Deecarda

    @Amir Khalid:

    What I find ironic is West Virginians who come to the defense of the coal CEO’s & blame government regs & the UMWA for mine closings & lost jobs. Towns like Welch, once thrived, but is now pretty much boarded up. Not a penny of the big mining profits was invested locally after raping those mountains and leaving behind flooded out ghost towns. The population consists of folks too old or poor to leave. But you can bet they blame it all on the gov’t & the union.

  111. 111.

    Tommy

    @John N: Oh Civ. Been playing the game for twenty years and it is still hard to explain to people. I think it is safe to say a lot of stuff is going on :).

  112. 112.

    Botsplainer

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Husband kitteh and I had a huge fight when I was in India this May, and we couldn’t really talk or sort it out and the whole fight hung like a black cloud over the trip, till we sorted it out, not the easiest thing to do over the phone.

    Would love a civilized phone call. Best we’ve been able to do is broken up viber and FaceTime sessions – the places she’s been haven’t exactly been rocking phone service, and the wifi is choppy.

    Everything else has been by text, which I’m not real great at, and after an early dust up over my attempt to connect her with my dive trip after her safari trip, she’s taken to short, expressionless texts, which has been killing me. Thenotion of 9 days of silence is depressing in a major way.

  113. 113.

    Tommy

    @Deecarda: I live in what could be called “coal country.” We have a shitload of it in Southern Illinois. I am sure somebody will go to Google and point out what I am about to say is wrong, but people don’t die in the mines by me. Can’t recall the last time somebody died. Now I am not so proud we have these mines. But it kind of out of sight out of mind. We dig coal under corn fields and don’t blow up mountains. Again not the best fuel, but you try to run for statewide office here and you are against coal you are done (see Obama being for clean coal).

  114. 114.

    Morzer

    @Botsplainer:

    I know you feel bad, but if, as I assume there is, there’s a strong relationship between you, this will pass. Try not to get too down, because if you do, part of you will be resenting the miserable feeling and that will complicate things when you do talk. I find from my own experience when Madame Morzer is far away that rather than saying “I am not going to text fight with you”, it’s easier to say”I suck at discussions by text. Could we talk on the phone?”. That way you don’t seem to be shutting the other person down, which sometimes triggers a negative reaction.

  115. 115.

    Deecarda

    @Tommy:

    I grew up in NE PA, small towns which grew from mining anthracite. Not far from where they filmed the Molly McGuires. Coal is no longer King, but the coal breaker relics still stand. In fact, there is a mine fire burning for more years then I’ve been alive.

  117. 117.

    Tommy

    @Deecarda: Coal is still kind of king here. Part of that is (1) We have the world’s largest coal-fired power plant (2) Federal government is throwing a billion plus for us to build a “clean coal” plant upstate, and (3) They give a lot of money to political campaigns. Heck the Democratic running in my district, one of this primary ads he ran the last few months talked about him promoting clean coal in DC.

  119. 119.

    Ruckus

    @Morzer:
    For just the right effect the fire has to be coal burning. Preferably from his own mines. I wonder how many of his employees would volunteer to dig the coal for the fire?

  120. 120.

    Roger Moore

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I can never understand why people feel the need to literally wrap themselves in the flag like this dude.

    Because doing it figuratively isn’t enough to deflect criticism, which is the whole point of wrapping yourself in the flag.

  123. 123.

    Tommy

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yes it is and kind of one of the many reasons I like it here. Normally in my off-line life when I talk about computers, software, or video games I know a lot more than anybody else in the room. Not so much here.

  125. 125.

    Deecarda

    @Tommy:
    Unfortunately for southern WV, the mining hey day is about at it’s end. Unions have disappeared, towns are dried up. People living in ramshackle single wides clinging to life on a disability check & Oxycontins.

  126. 126.

    Shalimar

    Would it be cruel and unusual punishment to sentence Blankenship to spend every day for the rest of his life in an immersive, VR replica of the worst conditions of his own mines? Surviving relatives of his dead victims can help program the details as therapy.

    Related question, would having him suffocate in a cave-in at the end of every day be outlawed if West Virginia doesn’t have a death penalty for capital crimes?

  127. 127.

    raven

    @Tommy: My grandfather and his father mined in Du Quoin. Hiram, my great great, was killed the day Archduke Ferdinand was buried. He was cut in half in the wheelhouse of a mine when a cable snapped. When my grandfather died we found his black lung paperwork. He never got a dime. Have you ever heard of the Herrin Massacre?

  128. 128.

    Botsplainer

    @Morzer:

    I know you feel bad, but if, as I assume there is, there’s a strong relationship between you, this will pass.

    End of December makes 25 years, but this kind of silence is new, and really awful.

    Try not to get too down, because if you do, part of you will be resenting the miserable feeling and that will complicate things when you do talk.

    I know. Sad part is, the kids are gone, and it’s damned lonesome.

    I find from my own experience when Madame Morzer is far away that rather than saying “I am not going to text fight with you”, it’s easier to say”I suck at discussions by text. Could we talk on the phone?”. That way you don’t seem to be shutting the other person down, which sometimes triggers a negative reaction.

    I’m usually smarter than what I did. She just had a 6 hour delay on a flight to get to her connection to Zambia, then after a huge effort in Johannesburg , missed that, so she was stuck there today and overnight with her traveling companions, missing the planned over stimulating activities. So when the machine gun texts arrived and were coming out of order, they were arriving while these women were dealing with their blown connection.

    It was a perfect storm, and there were no reachable phones to be had, viber and FaceTime being useless.

  129. 129.

    Tommy

    @Morzer: That is pretty funny. I might have dressed like a “preppy” in highschool in the mid-80s but the things I liked were pretty heavy on the “nerd” side of things. Comic books. Video games. D&D. Building computers. Funny how those things I could be mocked for are then are now kind of “cool.”

  132. 132.

    Tommy

    @raven: Sorry to hear that. Terrible. And no I didn’t know about the Herrin Massacre.

    Update: When I said people don’t die here I mean recently, not in the past.

  133. 133.

    raven

    @Tommy: There is a book called Bloody Williamson and my grandfather wrote supplement to it:

    Down-home bullies, organized labor, the KKK and gangs of ’20s bootleggers converge in this reporter-style history of the bloody county of Williamson in southern Illinois. Formed in 1839, the county reeled from 780 murderous assaults and 50 murders (with only 6 convictions) in its first 37 years and was called a “disgrace to the state” by the Chicago Tribune in 1875. By the early 1900s, the Klan and union mobs moved in, leading to “The Herrin Massacre” of 1922, which General John J. Pershing called “ruthless murder” and the New York Sun disdained as “butchery.” This is a fascinating read by a top-notch midwestern historian, who examines the unusual mix of forces leading to generations of fear and lawlessness. “Bloody Williamson” will rock your world; you will marvel at the terrifying history that belongs to this quiet corner of rural America

  135. 135.

    Morzer

    @Botsplainer:

    I think what I would do is take a walk, clear my head and try and think of things that I really enjoy or make me happy – and then settle down to do something fun/absorbing. Get the anxieties, cobwebs, anger, fear and the rest of it out of my soul and generally try and start over mentally. Don’t assume the worst about the future. She may well be still having technical issues and the silence might come from that. Either way, just focus on doing good things and maybe nearer the time plan something nice for her return.

  137. 137.

    Tommy

    @raven: No worries. I know that. And I frankly am confused I didn’t know about Williamson. My parents and my family has lived since the 1880s in Mt. Carmel, directly across the state from me. I know the history there better then St. Clair county and the surrounding areas. Not surprised to see in your blockquote mention of the KKK. My dad was thinking of writing a book about the KKK and Princeton, IN. Just over the Wabash River from him. The KKK kind of ran things until really not that long ago (think around WWII).

  139. 139.

    FromTheBackOfTheRoom

    “He killed some folks. He did some things that were wrong. He did a whole lot of things that were right, but he killed some folks. He did some things that were contrary to our values. I understand why it happened. I think it’s important when we look back to recall how badly we needed that clean coal energy and there was enormous pressure on our energy producers to try to deal with this. It’s important for us to not feel too sanctimonious in retrospect about the tough job that those folks had. A lot of those folks were working hard under enormous pressure and are real patriots, but having said all that, he did some things that were wrong.”

  141. 141.

    raven

    @Tommy: The pool hall in “The Hustler” was patterned after the one in Johnston City, Il as well.

    But before we get going, let me first provide the Cliff Notes explanation as to why you should care about Johnston City. As noted previously, the first of these events was conducted in 1961. The last was in 1972. They were organized by the brothers George and Paulie Jansco and drafted off the popularity of The Hustler, the famous movie featuring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason. The tournaments were noteworthy for many reasons, not the least of which was their elevation of nine-ball as the official tournament game of pool and because they helped to establish Minnesota Fats as America’s most famous pool player. The tournaments were also the first significant pool events to bring gambling out of the shadows. In fact it was the gambling —and the romance that surrounded it —that attracted the national media to Johnston City. Whether for good or bad, this is simply a fact.

    http://untoldstoriesgeorgejansco.blogspot.com/

  142. 142.

    Botsplainer

    @Deecarda:

    May I suggest sending one more text repeatedly: “I love you, I miss you, I’m sorry we fought”

    That’s tomorrow’s plan. Not too often, she was getting irritated with my constant reaching out even before the argument.

  147. 147.

    Morzer

    @Botsplainer:

    It sounds to me as if a couple of days of respectful silence might be good for both parties. Give yourself a break and don’t risk being drawn into another fight – especially if you think she might be annoyed at over-communication. It’s easy for something well-meaning to be taken the wrong way when people are already feeling a bit grumpy.

  148. 148.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Morzer:

    It’s easy for something well-meaning to be taken the wrong way when people are already feeling a bit grumpy.

    No, it fucking isn’t.

  149. 149.

    Botsplainer

    @Morzer:

    OK, so do I go on my dive trip? She’s back late Monday. I will be gone all week, not to return till Saturday. She’ll be home alone until I come back.

    That’s a lot of moody silence. 20 days total apart.

  150. 150.

    Tommy

    @Morzer: Far be it for me to offer relationship advice as a single, never married, 45 year old male. I know this is because I can be “difficult.” But “radio” silence for a few days might be helpful. However at the same time one text saying I love you, sorry, I’ll leave you alone for a few days, might not be the worse thing ever sent.

  151. 151.

    Tommy

    @Omnes Omnibus: Oh I can assure it is via text. An easy case in point is here. I have pissed people off here where that was totally not my desire. But because we are posting messages minutes after each other and not in the same room, face-to-face, it is hard to correct the misunderstanding. I can’t see your face. Your eyes. I can’t hear the influx of your voice. Your body language. I use all those other things I mentioned to determine, face to face, how a conversation is going. It is just text.

  152. 152.

    Morzer

    @Botsplainer:

    Yes,you should definitely go. Don’t sit around the house worrying and stressing and working yourself up to where you’ll be miserable and hard to deal with when she gets back. Send the short text, maybe plan something nice for her return, and go off on your trip with a clear conscience.

  153. 153.

    jonas

    This bastard has blood on his hands. The mining industry thinks it’s invincible and gets away with so much shit and horror it’s unbelievable. Seeing a fucker like this head to the big house for 25 to life would be sweeeeeeeet. Not as sweet as seeing Cheney and Rumsfeld in the docket at the Hague, but sweeeeeeeet.

  157. 157.

    J R in WV

    I don’t know if this is already mentioned, but this donkey’s ass was sued by his ex-housekeeper for back wages. He hired her for a set payment a week, and then added chores to her schedule until she was working 80 or 90 hours a week.

    When she asked for additional pay for the additional work, which included cleaning a second dwelling (a “camp” kind of thing, what billionaires have for a camp anyway) and a large million dollar RV bus kind of thing, which looks like 3 jobs to me, he fired her, and she sued him for back wages and mistreatment.

    Anyone who would mistreat his housekeeper like that, and kill people over and over at his dog-hole mines, for years(!!!) deserves the slowest possible death of a thousand infectious agonies, while rotting in prison being tended to by a prison system doctor.

    Money was the only thing that meant anything to him, and the power it provided him to mistreat people all around him. Some people make millions of dollars, and use it to try to make life better for their community and neighbors. Others are like Don Blankenship, using their money and power to grind everyone else into the dirt to the maximum extent possible.

    There are other despicable monsters somewhat like this guy in the coal business, but there is no one much worse than him in American business today, as far as I can tell. If anyone can suggest a worse monster, please post here to let us know so we can despise them together.

  159. 159.

    Botsplainer

    @Morzer:

    I was planning on leaving the car at the airport (basically the plan was that I was going to park there, and text her the location and the door code). Since she’ll be in late, I’ll leave her a big bottle of water and an energy bar or something in the console, along with keys. She’s coming home to a clean house, and I was going to place a frilly nothing in a wrapped box at her spot and have her favorite drinks on the counter along with some fruit. Maybe a spa certificate.

  160. 160.

    Morzer

    @Botsplainer:

    Sounds like an excellent idea. I think that would send all the right messages – i.e. you love her and are thinking of her, but at the same time can handle being on your own without being needy or clingy.

  161. 161.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Tommy: No, I just am not very good at pushing buttons. Luckily, when I was an artillery officer, I just told people which buttons to push and they physically carried out the action.

  162. 162.

    J R in WV

    @Morzer:

    I think a bullet in the back of his head is too quick, and thus too kind. I’m thinking that 38 years in a supermax would be better, as every day would be terrible for a guy who hasn’t lifted a finger for decades.

  165. 165.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @burnspbesq: Yeah, I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to address a lot of things, so I just mentioned the concept. I think tolling is reasonable since there was a long term effort (per the indictment) to hide the wrongdoing.

  166. 166.

    burnspbesq

    @Tree With Water:

    I’m surprised Blankenship wasn’t prosecuted, convicted, and canned years ago.

    Im not. Judging from a quick reading of the indictment, a lot of the facts alleged could only have been established by live-witness testimony. In a non-union company in a right-to-work state, it was an act of no small courage to come forward, and it probably took a lot of hard work to break the wall of silence.

  167. 167.

    J R in WV

    @Elizabelle:

    It wasn’t negligence at all. He instructed his managers and foremen to move coal to the exclusion of any other task, specifically, safety practices were to be left in the dust while moving coal was all that counted.

    He knew that allowing water sprays at the face would result in terrific levels of coal dust in the air, and he knew that this would cause black lung in all the workers in the mine(s). In fact the dead miners all proved to have black lung in their post mine explosion autopsies.

    He also knew that allowing coal dust to accumulate in his mines without spreading rock dust (powdered limestone) created an explosive environment, and that a coal dust explosion would be many time more violent than a methane gas explosion.

    He also knew that bypassing the methane detectors on the electrical powered equipment, which would shut off powered machinery when methane levels exceeded levels set in mandatory safety standards, would in the presence of abundant coal dust create an almost inevitable explosion that would be fatal to everyone underground at the time.

    He ordered all those safety standards to be ignored. Preventing these explosions and black lung is a simple and inexpensive process. You spray water where coal dust is generated, you remove the methane with well planned ventilation plans, and you spread rock dust methodically to dilute the coal dust as it accumulates.

    I am not a miner, have never worked in the industry, yet I know all these rules, just as most Americans know not to drive north in the south-bound Interstate lanes. Blankenship knows these rules, and ordered his miners to ignore them, to move coal or be fired tomorrow.

    The water sprays were inactive as a matter of record. There was no rock dust being spread. The methane detectors were deliberately bypassed to prevent the machinery from shutting down.

    Murder, not manslaughter, not negligence.

    Not to give you a hard time, Elizabelle, forgive me if it feels like I’m giving you a hard time. Don is the buzzard getting the hard time, we hope.

  169. 169.

    burnspbesq

    @efgoldman:

    Criminetly. I know what a defense lawyer’s job is, but if there is an FSM, this guy would have been struck dead (or at least speechless) right there on the courthouse steps.

    Be patient. Nobody wants to give Blankenship grounds for an appeal.

    The FSM will turn him into a pillar of Parmesan cheese as soon as the trial is over.

  173. 173.

    Violet

    @Botsplainer:

    This time around, it’s been shitty from moment one in terms of me being bored and lonely, while she’s been overstimulated and exhausted.

    You mentioned this when she was leaving–that she has more activities she’s involved in so when your’e gone she’s busy but when she’s gone your’e not. Seems like this is at the heart of the issue. You depend on her for more of your social life than she depends on you. Nothing wrong with that unless it’s not working for you and it sounds like maybe it’s not.

    Maybe her being gone as much as she is no longer works for you. If that’s the case then that is a discussion you need to have with her. But that’s not today’s issue.

    Today’s issue is about taking care of yourself. So do it. Send an apology text for your part in whatever happened. Do it without expectations–do it for you. If she texts you back, fine. If not, that’s her issue.

    Do your part to make sure she comes back to a clean house with enough food to get her through a day or so–milk in the fridge or whatever she usually likes. Don’t go overboard. A note would be appropriate. A spa certificate likely too far. Don’t grovel.

    And for heavens sake, go on the freaking dive trip. You want to go, you’ve paid for it. she’s expecting you to go. Go on the damn trip. You’ll have a great time. Do it for you.

  174. 174.

    AxelFoley

    @Morzer:

    @Renie:

    Do we have a prison large enough to contain the entire Republican party? And which state would want to be responsible for the fiscal terrorists anyway?

    South Carolina? Too large for an insane asylum, but maybe small enough for a prison.

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