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Jean in Florida's avatar

“Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.” Cree Indian Proverb

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Chris Woods's avatar

#democracydying

This tangled web of influence is horrible. There's no democratic justification for such bribery.

To think that this one corruptor determines the fate of our planet and millions of lives and livelihoods while there's clear evidence of Global Warming all around us is sociopathic.

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VALERIE MELUSKEY's avatar

Thanks, Chris, We have to ask, "what IS good for West Virginia"? So many obese, uneducated, opiod addicted...in his state.

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Jayb's avatar

If the world survives the upcoming disasters that are going to be enabled by the corrupt self-interest of the powers-that-be, including Manchin, we need to overhaul our government from top to bottom. How can it be legal for Senators to enrich themselves to this degree while in office or immediately after leaving office, though with no term limits in place, these people never pull their snouts out of the trough. The conflicts of interest are limitless. An existential threat to the entire world.

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VALERIE MELUSKEY's avatar

All of what you say points to: Voting Rights must be passed or we won't be able to make any changes.

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PA Dunn's avatar

"Every time we can’t drill a well in America, terrorism is being funded. Every onerous regulation puts American lives at risk,” Hamm said." This may be the dumbest sentence I have ever read. How do people get to say stuff like this and we as a public don't just laugh them out of their job?

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Lucy Guerlac's avatar

What a disgustingly corrupt person. To think he is the nexus for so much crucial legislation is terrifying.

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Susan Guyaux's avatar

More than anything else you have written about, this sickens me the most. And you have uncovered some horrible things. But this. This is the worst. Manchin drives the last nail in the coffin of the world.

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BabsPHL's avatar

Still do NOT understand who died and left Manchin BOSS! He's a one-man band calling the shots for the Senate! Grow some, Dem Senators, and quit letting him determine the outcome of important legislation!

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VALERIE MELUSKEY's avatar

Thank you Judd and Tesnin for such a thorough report. Such anti-life, anti-wellbeing, anti-all we care about can leave us with..."what can we ever do about such power and wealth?" One important answer is bringing more and more specific truths to light. You are doing just that!

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Hazel's avatar

Manchin has been bought lock, stock and oil barrel. He is in a state that is full of poverty. If you think he cares about anything besides lining his pockets and the 1%, you might buy mountain top real estate in Florida from Rubio or DeSantis.

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Terry Christiani's avatar

Foxes "guarding" the hen house...

We're all going to burn before we get any real action that might save our environment. The planet will be fine and possibly better off without the infection of polluting humans.

Manchin and the rest of them who put their greed and the interests of the donor class above the needs of everyday people are a bunch of oligarchic ghouls. They need to be voted out!

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Abby's avatar

Just wow. The webs of corruption are in the shadows but you are shining light on them. Keep it up, Judd and Tesnim!

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PoetryIsDemocracy's avatar

Great reporting and writing. Forwarding to others who can help spread the word about this sh*tshow.

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Joseph Mangano's avatar

The Democrats should be ashamed to have someone like Joe Manchin among their ranks. Unfortunately, on the whole, they are very much a corporatist entity like their Republican counterparts, albeit with much better positions on social issues.

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Dr Lou's avatar

Joe Manchin’s wealth is heavily connected to coal, fossil fuels and deep pocketed corporate political sponsors.  It is to this he is beholden, it is this that he protects and it is by this he is led.

Manchin’s principle funding sources ‘…includes $13,000 from the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance (DEPA), a lobbying group founded by the billionaire oil tycoon Harold Hamm. In 2016, while serving as Trump’s energy advisor, Hamm said we should “double U.S. oil production.” 'Hamm has used the DEPA to advocate for more oil and gas drilling and less fed oversight. “Every time we can’t drill a well in the US terrorism is being funded. Every onerous regulation puts American lives at risk"

Yes, Hamm really made the preposterous and insane claim that if he isn’t allowed to continuing poisoning the Earth; our and the global community, ‘terrorism’ is being supported. And he made this claim while demanding less federal and state oversight of his filthy, slowly contracting Industry of Death. Anybody surprised?

THIS is ‘The Manchin Industry’ but I’ve not heard even one related question put to Manchin by our easily distracted and retweet happy mainstream media.

Manchin is a primary Congressional protector of out of control, catastrophic and human caused climate disruption as it increasingly generates destructive Climate Storms; massive Climate Fires and deadly Climate Droughts which are destroying the planet’s interconnected ecosystems while creating huge numbers of Climate Refugees not only around the globe but here in the United States as well.

Protecting fossil fuels and his own investments in fossil fuels is what Joe Manchin is about. 

Though rarely identified by the media, a reality is that so many refugees to the U.S. particularly from Central America left their homes because their farms and agricultural sectors have been decimated by human caused catastrophic Climate Change and Climate Drought. Responding effectively to climate change would then also help reduce the numbers of refugees coming to the United States.  

These would be excellent points to make and questions to ask.

But 'Manchin doesn't just receive contributions from fossil fuel companies. He (also) maintains lucrative ownership stakes in two coal companies [ https://theintercept.com/2021/09/03/joe-manchin-coal-fossil-fuels-pollution/ ] that he founded, Enersystems and Farmington Resources.’

‘Enersystems "purchases low-quality waste coal from mines and resells it to power plants as fuel" and Farmington Resources "holds coal reserves" and supports mining activity.’

As CEO of the pharmaceutical company, Mylan (now part of Viatris), Manchin’s daughter, Heather, Bresch, oversaw a 461% increase in the cost of EpiPens. EpiPens are a commonly used and critically important lifesaving device for many persons which have been held hostage in order to generate massive and prohibitive profits.  

But I’ve yet to hear even a single question about this issue put to Manchin.

Manchin’s money is, indeed, from coal, fossil fuels and deep pocketed corporate political sponsors. Additional questions the #MSM [ https://twitter.com/hashtag/MSM?src=hashtag_click ] needs to ask Manchin include:

His so many obvious conflicts of interest and deep investments in coal and fossil fuels,

His unconditional and incredible dishonesty,

His total indifference to West Virginia voters and his home state which would hugely benefit by the full infrastructure package — and voting rights legislation — being pushed by Joe Biden and the Democrats, and

Why he remains a Democrat other than to act as a tool of the GOP whose agenda he pushes unabashedly while disrupting hugely and nationally popular legislation by Biden and Democrats ranging from infrastructure to desperately needed voting rights.

I have absolutely NO interest in about anything Machin has to offer on the budget, Joe Biden or hugely popular Democratic legislation being repressed by the GOP and which he is  directly aiding and abetting.

I do have a great deal of interest in his response to any or all of the questions and issues I’ve posed here, however.

THIS is Joe Manchin [ https://twitter.com/Sen_JoeManchin ]’s and the GOP’s sick political game being played and able to take deep root in a sick political system where money is all that’s required to be elected to and maintain a grip on  national office.

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Not that Nick's avatar

George Carlin summed it up perfectly. "The planet is fine. The people are fucked."

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Joshua Fialkov's avatar

I suppose this is beyond naive but doesn’t Manchin realize that manufacturing, installing, maintaining, and upgrading wind, solar, and nuclear plants is a hundreds of billions (or more) long term business ESPECIALLY for a state that has an entire population of people who are either unemployed or constantly on the verge of downsizing. That’s BESIDES the whole we’re killing our planet stuff.

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