Trump's Card

[Tubby Isaacs]

Appalachia has been more or less off the radar for many years. The mining companies have been allowed to rape the area, funding for education and health care is poor and until LBJ took an interest (or had it pointed out to him) the extent of poverty in Appalachia (rural America in general, really) went unnoticed by the country at large. The situation has improved some but the Beltway Bandits still view the area as a place to be ignored when not being exploited. A plight, incidentally, not dissimilar to that of the Native Americans as I alluded to in an earlier post.

I don't see it as effecting the vote too much.

That's incredibly depressing. I'm not really expecting anyone else to care about them- that sort of thing doesn't happen much anywhere- but I'm amazed more of them don't at least abstain. Even more, I should say.

[adams house cat]

It's been like that forever Tubby. The list of industrial or environmental disasters in West Virginia alone is depressingly long and nobody ever gets really sanctioned. The occasional peppercorn fine. Mr. Peabody and his like buy up all the politicians, mine inspectors, environmental inspectors, what have you, as soon as they hit the shelves.

West Virginia politics has been a morass since before the Civil War (it was the subject of my Masters dissertation) and it hasn't changed that much.

Much of the area consists of small, isolated communities, farming on an almost subsistence level. Little federal or state aid gets to them and, frankly, they will do without it if they can, preferring to be left alone. In 2009 the number one cash crop in one West Virginia county was marijuana. Most of it was "exported".

This is a state where unlicensed strip mining still goes on, with the full knowledge of state and local authorities.

In all honesty Washington doesn't give a damn what Appalachia thinks. Joe Manchin will occasionally make a bit of noise for the sake of the folks back in the hollers but that's all it is. Noise.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Donald J. Trump

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80% of Mexico’s Exports come to the United States. They totally rely on us, which is fine with me. They do have, though, very strong Immigration Laws. The U.S. has pathetically weak and ineffective Immigration Laws that the Democrats refuse to help us fix. Will speak to Mexico!

Unbelievably, that exports figure seems to be correct.

What have Mexico got to do with US immigration laws?

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/danmericacnn/status/1010122242469060608?s=21

[Ginger Yellow]

Not sure why he says "yes soybeans". It's a massive agricultural crop.

[Tubby Isaacs]

It's been like that forever Tubby. The list of industrial or environmental disasters in West Virginia alone is depressingly long and nobody ever gets really sanctioned. The occasional peppercorn fine. Mr. Peabody and his like buy up all the politicians, mine inspectors, environmental inspectors, what have you, as soon as they hit the shelves.

West Virginia politics has been a morass since before the Civil War (it was the subject of my Masters dissertation) and it hasn't changed that much.

Much of the area consists of small, isolated communities, farming on an almost subsistence level. Little federal or state aid gets to them and, frankly, they will do without it if they can, preferring to be left alone. In 2009 the number one cash crop in one West Virginia county was marijuana. Most of it was "exported".

This is a state where unlicensed strip mining still goes on, with the full knowledge of state and local authorities.

In all honesty Washington doesn't give a damn what Appalachia thinks. Joe Manchin will occasionally make a bit of noise for the sake of the folks back in the hollers but that's all it is. Noise.

It can get much worse if Obamacare goes. At least Manchin's vote has helped block that. I'm amazed to see that the last governor, Earl Ray Tomblin, actually endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. Then again, he wasn't running for office again.

[adams house cat]

You're right about that Tubby. The ACA is one of the few Government programs that mean something in Appalachia. As a West Virginia said "WE don't worry about being allowed to keep our doctor. We only have one. Always only had one. This one is 83. When he dies we won't have any."

[Ginger Yellow]

So I thought Cohen might flip, but because we live in the stupidest timeline, this is how he (maybe) does it.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I don't know if this is true, but I saw something about Kentucky suggesting that lots of people "on Obamacare" don't really know that they're on it. Would that be the case in West Virginia?

[Ginger Yellow]

No reason it wouldn't be true everywhere. See "Get your government hands off my Medicare" signs passim.

[ursus arctos]

Kentucky expressly re-branded the whole thing so as to avoid the Obamacare label.

[Tubby Isaacs]

From what I'm hearing about some states, that probably saved lives.

[ursus arctos]

It certainly has.

[adams house cat]

Yes Tubby. See also Tennessee, Arkansas, North Carolina. And it has saved a lot of lives.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Is is ok to call people who refuse healthcare purely because of its name, stupid?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Is is ok to call people who refuse healthcare purely because of its name, stupid?

They should have had a picture of Obama beaming out on the letterhead, like the Uncle Ben's Rice logo.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yes Tubby. See also Tennessee, Arkansas, North Carolina. And it has saved a lot of lives.

Indeed.

I see the North Carolina Senate distinguishing themselves the other day by blocking an evaluation of Medicaid Expansion.

[adams house cat]

Nobody was surprised. A coterie of old, rich white men.

[adams house cat]

Nobody was surprised. A coterie of old, rich white men. Shameful.

[Gerontophile]

They should have had a picture of Obama beaming out on the letterhead, like the Uncle Ben's Rice logo.

I bet you're glad you didn't write that on Twitter.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I see you can't put it to ballot initiative. Shame. I suppose some of the obstructive politicians might get voted out.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I bet you're glad you didn't write that on Twitter.

I gave up Twitter. But probably, yeah. Did it not come out right?

[WOM]

It might have been willfully misinterpreted.

[Nefertiti2]

King Willem -Alexander of the Netherlands

https://twitter.com/mafia2222001/status/1009971697552887815

[The-Reverend]

If it wasn't so serious it would be like a real life Brass Eye special.