How do so many coal companies get to walk away from their obligations with bankruptcy? | Opinion

Mine responsibility

In regard to the article about Black Diamond Coal cheating: How many times does the company get a “Pass” putting their workers lives at risk? They are now facing the third violation in the past 12 months (including March and August 2022).

A miner who is 100 percent disabled with Black Lung receives a maximum of $1,320 per month. The problem arises in that there is no guarantee that the money will always be there. Many mining companies claim to “self-insure” their participation in the Black Lung Fund. However, what happens when the company declares bankruptcy and walks away from all its obligations? Five major companies, including Murray Energy Corp., have declared bankruptcy in the past year.

Coal mining is in a nation-wide decline. Forbes released a report in December that stated using new solar and wind facilities to generate electricity is now cheaper than burning coal in most of the United States. Don’t give Black Diamond a “walk.” We also have some bad characters in my home state of Virginia.

Earle Mitchell, Springfield, Va.

Impeach Biden

After this China spy balloon fiasco - not to mention how it appears President Joe Biden has downgraded our nation’s security and economy to detrimental levels -- it is now time to impeach Biden, in my opinion. I’m sure within a short time, Vice President Kamala Harris will give good reason to impeach her as well. We can not wait any longer. Since some media outlets have reported the Bidens have been paid off by the Chinese, we can not give Biden two more years to continue destroying our nation. I urge everyone to contact U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and U.S. Rep. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to request they move on impeachment immediately. Enough talk already.

Carole Johnston, Ft. Wright

Curriculum additions

The flair up over what many of our politicians see as a liberal education suggest these office-bearers may soon evaluate our schools’ required reading lists that have content deemed questionable for the pliable minds of youths. Such a review is long overdue.

How long overdue is it you ask? I graduated from Lexington’s Lafayette High School in 1964. I still recall what the evil overlords of its English department required us to read The Canterbury Tales. This 14th-century work is smuttier than Fifty Shades of Grey. It has two college students sleeping with a miller’s wife and other sex scenes. Also, Black Like Me, published in 1961, gave an eye-opening view of the Jim Crow South and may have helped to spawn the civil rights movement. Looking Backwards, written in 1888, foresaw an America without war or poverty, and reads like the agenda for today’s Democrats.

Such a review will assure young folks, unlike those of yesteryear, will no longer be forced to read books saturated with sex and disruptive political themes. Instead, they can use their free time to watch all the sex and politicized content they want on social media.

Jim Kurz, Lexington

Cancellation concerns

Thank you so very much for printing Mr. Nussbaum’s pensive and nuanced AT&T cancellation letter — replete with vitriol over a business strategy having absolutely no origin in any decision-making that occurred in Lexington, Fayette County, or the state of Kentucky. It’s so refreshing to me that, despite having deleted my Facebook account nearly a decade ago, I’m still fortunate enough to be able to read such thought-provoking, locally-relevant rants in my hometown newspaper.

Completely unrelated, of course… but y’all know you don’t need to print absolutely every single letter you receive, right?

Aaron Kruse-Diehr, Lexington

Nichols’ death

Tyre Nichols questionable “traffic stop” by Memphis police, ending with his brutal, vicious beating and murder by five Black cops has terrified a heart-broken public.

Don’t even think about putting a “Black Lives Matter” sticker on your car. The police will ignore it.

Was the black cop who took pictures of the dying Tyre Nichols propped against their police car doing a trophy shot?

Judy Rembacki, Georgetown

Santos ethics

Prior to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, while warning his fellow Republicans about the potential for awkward hot mic moments, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Cal.) told CNN, “We have a code of ethics of how we should portray ourselves…”

Code of ethics? Uh, Mr. Speaker, that train has left the station. The fact that the GOP majority allows an admitted liar (U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.)) to hold a seat does more to accurately portray the GOP than any hot mic moment ever could. And in her rebuttal, Arkansas’ Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee-Saunders admonished us to “choose between normal and crazy.”

Here we have Santos ‘portrayed’ in a very clear light: he is a tool. He cannot be responsive to his constituents, because he must vote the way the Speaker and his allies tell him to vote. If he fails to do that, Santos would no longer be a tool for the GOP and could lose the support of his Caucus.

Yes, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) embarrassed herself, but that’s nothing compared to the continued embarrassment of a Representative named Santos.

At least, I think his name is Santos.

DeAeth Ross, Lexington

Republican wokeness

“I can’t believe how much time we spent doing post-mortems after election losses. Also, how much money we spent trying to convince people our ideas were good. All we needed to do was tell them the elections were stolen, rigged and fraudulent. People will believe anything we tell them. They won’t look at facts and think for themselves. We could have made our lives so much easier. Now thankfully we have seen the light and we’ll keep repeating the lies over and over. It worked for Trump it will work for us too.”

Just a little Republican wokeness for you.

Jay Hopkins, Frankfort

This story was originally published February 9, 2023 at 3:46 PM.