S04.E16: Coal mining in the United States and Bob Murray

[Athena]

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Other segments: American Health Care Act of 2017

[cpcathy]

This show depresses me so much. Then in the last minute gives me belly laughs with the squirrel and John running away from it. Thanks, John!

[crookedjackson44]

My DVR cut off the last minute or so.  What did the squirrel say/do?

[ganesh]

He was nibbling on the check, and then bopped around a little, and sat at the desk. 

Literally (which I know is overused), but literally anyone at any energy company has said that the coal jobs aren't coming back, including this guy. I just don't understand the delusion of the president here. I'd like to put them back to work too, but they're not going to be working in coal mines. 

The vibe I got from the miners here on the show, and it's colored from actual news pieces I've watched is, "well, we don't have mining jobs, so I don't know what else I'm going to do. I'll just wait for the president to give me a job and sit here and feel bad for myself." I mean, I do feel bad to a point. Aren't these the type of people who will tell you to pull yourself up by the bootstraps? I'm sorry, but you have to either get some technical training, and yes, you're probably going to have to move somewhere else for a job. Good for the guy who is learning coding. 

[cpcathy]

38 minutes ago, crookedjackson44 said:

My DVR cut off the last minute or so.  What did the squirrel say/do?

 

Also, his movement were so spot-on, like a real squirrel! Then at the end he sat down at John's desk.

[iMonrey]

So now I see why Trump loves coal so much. I'd posted earlier on the Real Time forum it was probably because he needed the coal mining states to win the electoral college. But now I see he's just buddies with the coal mining executives. Should have known.  The industry is laying off workers while the CEOs get multi-million dollar pay raises. The whole thing disgusts me.

[attica]

It's hard for me to imagine an eviler type of person than the men who run coal companies. Even cartoon villains don't come close to their baseness.

28 minutes ago, ganesh said:

you're probably going to have to move somewhere else for a job.

For instance, I'd recommend moving to NYC to get into the surging business of mascot-building/performing. LWT's use alone makes it a growth industry! And if you get on tv, there's a good union health-plan! (I'm not making this joke at the miners' expense, I promise. I'm just amazed at LWT's commitment to the mascot bit, year after year.)

[ganesh]

I was going to say, if we invested in constructing small nuclear plants on closed coal sites, then you could make more than $80K per year as an operator, but mascots are a burgeoning industry too. I don't get why solar, which JO mentioned, hasn't invested in the coal mining regions either. 

32 minutes ago, attica said:

It's hard for me to imagine an eviler type of person than the men who run coal companies. Even cartoon villains don't come close to their baseness.

I really wish someone would go to these coal miners and say, "the company terminated health care and pension for 1200 miners so they could give management a $12M bonus. Please tell me why you're so loyal."

[peeayebee]

A really good show with a cute, funny ending.

 

7 minutes ago, ganesh said:

I was going to say, if we invested in constructing small nuclear plants on closed coal sites, then you could make more than $80K per year as an operator, but mascots are a burgeoning industry too. I don't get why solar, which JO mentioned, hasn't invested in the coal mining regions either. 

Makes sense for renewable energy companies to move to the coal states and open factories and other businesses. Of course they'd have to train the new employees. I'm trying to remember, however, if this Administration has cut funding to job training and renewable energy programs. Seems it has done this and ceded the burgeoning industry to China. But the plan is all about rewarding the top executives of businesses. Screw the peons.

Bob Murray is a piece of work, a piece of shit. I wonder if he'll sue, but I don't see what standing he'd have. 

[ganesh]

Jon said that the funding was cut for the job programs like the one the guy was talking about for coding, but I don't know about the larger picture. 

[Chippings]

Can't you just imagine, with the Cease & Desist letter in front of them, how incredibly carefully they wrote the piece about Bob Murray and the company ?  They must have analyzed every syllable, and then have run it by their lawyers as well.  If Murray saw fit to sue them, even if it was specious, it could cost LWT a honking fortune to defend.  

And Yes, Ganesh, I also wish somebody could get up in front of miners and remind them about the termination of the health benefits, and the golden parachutes for the executives.  Blecch.

Edited June 19, 2017 by Chippings
grammar

[attica]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

Makes sense for renewable energy companies to move to the coal states and open factories and other businesses.

There are 10 states that restrict the use of rooftop solar panels, so that industry is shut out. (Why yes, they're all governed by Republicans! Or in the case of VA, was when the laws were passed). Wyoming is trying to pass a no-renewable-at-all bill. I don't see coal states on the list, but I would not be surprised if those states were as hostile towards renewables  moving in. Because we are governed by the Worst.

Edited June 19, 2017 by attica

[netlyon2]

Is anyone here a "Leverage" fan?  During John's discussion of the coal industry, I kept thinking about "The Mine Job."  For those of you who didn't watch the show, that episode is about a corrupt mine owner who got subsidies to improve his mine's safety, but instead keeps the money for himself.  He uses some of it to bribe the local Attorney General to bury complaints against him.

Yesterday (before LWT aired), one of the showrunners was tweeting about how people thought he was exaggerating how ruthless corporate executives could be.  *sigh*

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1) #Leverage was five seasons of being Kevin McCarthy in BODY SNATCHERS. Screaming "Late stage capitalist sociopaths are coming!"

2) and everybody shrugging and saying "C'mon man, you're being a little over the top. This can't really be happening in AMERICA!"

 

Moving on, I'm glad that he opened the show with the AHCA.  It is really difficult for me to wrap my mind around all of the shades of chicanery that we are being shown on a daily basis.

Edited June 19, 2017 by netlyon2
I have many skills, but embedding tweets is not one of them!

[peeayebee]

I just can't believe what's going on with the AHCA. It's infuriating. Infuriation seems to be a familiar state to me.

[purist]

16 hours ago, attica said:

There are 10 states that restrict the use of rooftop solar panels

The fuck???

[netlyon2]

18 hours ago, attica said:

There are 10 states that restrict the use of rooftop solar panels, so that industry is shut out. (Why yes, they're all governed by Republicans! Or in the case of VA, was when the laws were passed). Wyoming is trying to pass a no-renewable-at-all bill. I don't see coal states on the list, but I would not be surprised if those states were as hostile towards renewables  moving in. Because we are governed by the Worst.

Out of curiosity, I cross-referenced this list with the states that have joined (or expressed support for) the United States Climate Alliance--the group of states that have pledged to uphold the objectives of the Paris Agreement despite 45's withdrawal.  Unsurprisingly, Virginia is the only state on both lists.  Hopefully, this signals a commitment in VA to making greater strides in renewable energy.

According to Wikipedia, the top 5 coal-mining states (totaling 71% of US coal production) are Wyoming, West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, and Pennsylvania; as @attica noted, these states are not on the "Throwing Shade" list.  However, expanding the list to all 25 coal-producing states shows considerable overlap, 7/10 states that are wasting their potential to generate solar power.  I, too, would not be surprised to discover that those states are (hopefully "were" in the case of VA) inclined to throw up barriers to renewable energy. 

Interestingly, 9 of the states on the "Throwing Shade" list have at least one city that is a member of the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda, an organization that has also committed to upholding the Paris Agreement goals.  Oklahoma is the only exception.  I've decided to see that as a sign of hope that there will be pressure from the major cities to make change at the state level.

Wow, these are things that I wouldn't even be thinking about if it weren't for LWT.  I love this show!

[dusang]

Without investigating this at all, I just cannot fathom the reasoning that would go into legally blocking renewable energy. 

[attica]

@dusang, I can think of two off the top of my head. 1) you have friends/money in the fossil-fuel extracting biz, and you want to protect those interests against competition; 2) you think liberals are awful and so anything that causes them pain makes you stronger.

[dusang]

1 hour ago, attica said:

@dusang, I can think of two off the top of my head. 1) you have friends/money in the fossil-fuel extracting biz, and you want to protect those interests against competition; 2) you think liberals are awful and so anything that causes them pain makes you stronger.

Well, yes but I feel like those are both subtexts of what would have to be more publicly palatable reasons that I can't figure out. "Solar panels are stealing from God!"

Edited June 20, 2017 by dusang

[iMonrey]

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Well, yes but I feel like those are both subtexts of what would have to be more publicly palatable reasons that I can't figure out. "Solar panels are stealing from God!"

That's what I'm struggling with - what's their excuse? I imagine it's along the same lines as "they're stealing our jobs/hurting our economy by putting coal miners out of work." Good grief. What happened to unregulated capitalism and letting the market decide, huh? Huh? HUH?

Edited June 20, 2017 by iMonrey

[netlyon2]

There's also social pressure to ignore the science.  I remember reading this article earlier in the month and feeling an amazing mix of anger, frustration, pity, and horror.

Climate Science Meets a Stubborn Obstacle: Students

This is why, as much as I rolled my eyes when he said it, John set aside the debate about whether coal hurts the environment.  There are still people who believe that the science is made up and will shut down when presented with evidence to the contrary.  So LWT's strategy was to look at a different, less triggering, aspect of the situation.  Of course, I don't know that any science-denying coal miners were watching his show, but you never know, I guess.

And, of course, as long as unscrupulous lawmakers and buisnesspeople can profit off of that ignorance, they will.  After all, it's not like any politician on the national stage was "committed to meeting the climate change challenge . . . and making the United States a clean energy superpower" while "not allow[ing] coal communities to be left behind—or left out of our economic future" and put forward a plan to that dual end. *sigh*

ETA - In re-reading the linked article, I was struck anew by this sadly illuminating passage:

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When she insisted that teachers “are supposed to be open to opinions,” however, Mr. Sutter held his ground.

“It’s not about opinions,” he told her. “It’s about the evidence.”

“It’s like you can’t disagree with a scientist or you’re ‘denying science,”’ she sniffed to her friends.

Gwen, 17, could not put her finger on why she found Mr. Sutter, whose biology class she had enjoyed, suddenly so insufferable. Mr. Sutter, sensing that his facts and figures were not helping, was at a loss. And the day she grew so agitated by a documentary he was showing that she bolted out of the school left them both shaken.

“I have a runner,” Mr. Sutter called down to the office, switching off the video.

He had chosen the video, an episode from an Emmy-winning series that featured a Christian climate activist and high production values, as a counterpoint to another of Gwen’s objections, that a belief in climate change does not jibe with Christianity.

“It was just so biased toward saying climate change is real,” she said later, trying to explain her flight. “And that all these people that I pretty much am like are wrong and stupid.”

 

Edited June 20, 2017 by netlyon2

[ganesh]

If any student "sniffs" at me, they are out of there. I take the point of the article, but all I was seeing was a teenager being a teenager.

We talk about public communication of nuclear issues all the time, and I have to kind of put the burden on the teacher there. Facts and figures don't help. You can have a substantive discussion about how the research process works, etc. So in effect it's not specifically about climate change. 

But no, young lady with not even a high school diploma yet, you can't disagree with scientists. You can ask all the questions you want, and the scientist should have the patience to address them. 

[Lantern7]

I just want to belatedly thank John for pointing out that Orrin Hatch is third in line for the presidency. Yeesh.

I think we should be okay with the coal-session. What would happen if "we" moved from talking about coal to nuclear energy?

And I kinda feel bad that Disney doesn't own HBO. John could have been visited by Squirrel Girl herself. Then again, she probably would have been way nicer voicing her opinion instead of a belligerent talking rodent.

[OneWhoLurks]

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A Republican coal baron is suing John Oliver, HBO, Time Warner, and the writers for Oliver’s show over the most recent episode of Last Week Tonight.

The suit, filed on June 21 in the circuit court of Marshall County, West Virginia, holds that Oliver and his team “executed a meticulously planned attempt to assassinate the character of and reputation of Mr. Robert E. Murray and his companies” by airing an episode that ripped into him. Murray runs the country’s largest privately owned coal company, Murray Energy Corporation.

“They did this to a man who needs a lung transplant, a man who does not expect to live to see the end of this case,” reads the complaint, which also lists Murray’s companies as plaintiffs.

 

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The complaint also said Murray’s website “was hacked and inundated with the message incited by Defendants: ‘Eat shit, Bob.’” And it says Murray’s health grew worse after Oliver’s show aired, “likely further reducing his already limited life expectancy due to his Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.”

Ever since Hulk Hogan (with an assist from Peter Thiel) sued Gawker into bankruptcy, high-profile lawsuits against media outlets tend to generate significant jitters. But Ken White, a First Amendment litigator at Brown White & Osborn LLP in Los Angeles, told The Daily Beast HBO and Oliver don’t have much to worry about.

“Overall I’d say it appears frivolous and vexatious,” he said. “Any core of merit is buried in nonsense.”

 

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White said HBO’s lawyers will likely try to get the suit moved to federal court––especially given that West Virginia coal country state courts are unlikely to sympathize with sardonic New Yorkers.

“It looks like the Plaintiffs tried to craft the complaint to avoid federal court, but they probably won't succeed,” he added.

A spokesperson for HBO, who hadn’t yet seen the full complaint, told The Daily Beast the company is confident nothing in the episode violated Murray’s rights.

 

Republican Coal King Sues HBO Over John Oliver’s Show

[Lantern7]

Well, John did stick his head in the lion's cage. Since he's on HBO, I wouldn't blame him if he dropped trou and invited future litigants to taste his salty nuts. And then a giant squirrel would try to eat them, but for completely different reasons.

[purist]

2 hours ago, OneWhoLurks said:

“They did this to a man who needs a lung transplant, a man who does not expect to live to see the end of this case,” reads the complaint

Oh boo fucking hoo. Tell that to the miners with black lung who can't afford health care.

Way to go, Ollie!

Edited June 22, 2017 by purist

[ganesh]

6 hours ago, purist said:

“They did this to a man who needs a lung transplant, a man who does not expect to live to see the end of this case,” reads the complaint

John can do a web short pissing on his grave! Or maybe have the squirrel do it!

Talk about karma though. 

[DEL901]

During the episode John practically dared them to sue him.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[trow125]

I'm sure HBO's army of lawyers ran over that script with a fine-toothed comb before it aired. I hope this will be another example of the Streisand Effect, i.e. the piece will get a ton more attention BECAUSE of the lawsuit. Right now it has around 4.5 million YouTube views, but a lot of LWT "top stories" have over 10 million, so this one still has the potential to grab a lot more views.

[attica]

Question for the Court: can you ruin the reputation of a Garbage man*? You can't in a slander case, truth being the best defense, but I admit I don't know precedent and case law for 'hurt fee-fees.'

*To be clear, this does not refer to sanitation workers. They do an honest day's work.

[ganesh]

55 minutes ago, trow125 said:

 

I'm sure HBO's army of lawyers ran over that script with a fine-toothed comb before it aired.

 

John said as much before he went into the squirrel bit: the material written for the piece was all factually correct, and they used video and quotes of the guy's own words. If he doesn't like it, hey, look in the mirror. 

I think they're (the company) is just trying to save face because they issued the threat and they think they have to follow up on it. Which is their own fault in the first place because certainly someone should have researched this show and figured out that this is exactly what was going to happen. And it probably will raise more attention and awareness for these issues and blow up in their faces. 

Maybe their hoping HBO will just pay a settlement to make them go away, but I think HBO's pockets are deep enough. 

[iMonrey]

This is hilarious. I can't wait to see what he has to say about it this Sunday.

[DEL901]

31 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

This is hilarious. I can't wait to see what he has to say about it this Sunday.

He's going to be sooo excited!

[peeayebee]

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“Overall I’d say it appears frivolous and vexatious,” he said. “Any core of merit is buried in nonsense.”

This is perfect. I love the wording. 

[rwlevin]

And...Bob Murray is suing Last Week Tonight.

[stillshimpy]

On 6/19/2017 at 10:24 AM, peeayebee said:

I was going to say, if we invested in constructing small nuclear plants on closed coal sites, then you could make more than $80K per year as an operator, but mascots are a burgeoning industry too. I don't get why solar, which JO mentioned, hasn't invested in the coal mining regions either. 

 

I have sort of a weird background, in that on my paternal side I'm from sort of a long ling of New England blue bloods with a very light dash of the late entrants:  Southern Liberal Activists.  All very white collar, ivy league educated, etc. etc.  Then my maternal grandfather was a Scottish coal miner who started in the pits at 13 and eventually became the mine manager.  Then for part of my childhood I lived in North-Eastern Pennsylvania, an area of the country that has never gotten over the death of the coal mining industry. 

So having presented what sort of, kind of, maybe helps me with an informed opinion:  A big part of the problem for the true coal mining areas is that they simply don't get a lot of sunshine.   NEPA is overcast a great deal, sure there's some sun but it's nothing like Colorado (another place I lived) where you get 300 days a year of sunshine.  Then also wind energy can be a bit difficult to come by because where there are coal mines, there are hills and small mountains.  

That is one of the barriers that stands between effective use of solar energy and some of the coal mining regions.  It may also be why there are areas that outlaw solar panels on roofs.  

Don't get me wrong, my sympathy for regions so resistant to change is pretty low.  One of the worst parts of our society is a deep-seated, oft-repeated resistance to change.   I was so glad to see the coal miner who was learning to code, in multiple coding languages.   That's what will save their lives, their ability to make money on which to live.  Their health.  Their futures. 

I always love John but never more than when he does something like this:  openly inviting someone like that odious cross between a reptile and every condensed evil in the world, Bob Murray, to sue the deep pockets of HBO because he can't win, that odious barnacle on a ship held aloft on the back-breaking, lung-searing, life-crushing work of others he's exploited, used and mistreated to become wealthy, has used the wealth gleaned from the gross mistreatment of people who are otherwise helpless, Murray can't win.  John didn't fabricate anything, just used what Murray has done and then bludgeoned others into silence with by using his money. 

One of the worst parts about watching people from coal mining areas wring their hands and say they want their jobs back is that the people who did those jobs before them wanted nothing more than for their children to be out from under the thumb of the cruel entities running those mines.   My grandfather was sent to the pits at 13.  He was incredibly bright and eventually became the manager of the mine, but he had one rule fro my mother, his only child when it came to dating:  She was not allowed to date a miner, period.  He saved every pound note he could get his hands on, doing extra jobs outside of the mines to make that money, to send her to an English boarding school, to try and change the course of her life.  It worked.  

The "I just want the job my grandfather had" set are up in the night dreaming if they think that is what their grandfathers wanted for them.  They are talking about a generation that embraced the GI Bill as a way of paving a path out of those fucking mines.  

As for the failing health of the frog-faced Murray:  There is a theory that the only hell that exists is that we will feel all the pain, suffering and torment we have visited upon others as we die.  That's it.  That's hell.   By that measure, John Oliver's fully justified expose of his complete dearth of human decency is the very least of his problems.   

[ganesh]

If there's not enough sun in those regions, then my point about the reactors is still valid. 

[stillshimpy]

That was tried with Three Mile Island, @ganesh, an event that rightly or wrongly, shaped the regional attitude toward Nuclear Power Plants. 

[ganesh]

There's new, smaller designs that can fit into existing sites where the coal plants have shut down. To tie this to the show: John pointed out that coal miners can make $80K per year, and asked what other jobs can they have in the region that would pay as much. My response, in addition to the thousands of construction jobs, is that you can make at least that much for 20+ years by building new nuclear. The coal jobs aren't there, but the workforce is. There's ways you can put them to work. 

[stillshimpy]

I actually didn't comment one way or another, @ganesh .   

Some of the regional attitudes like, "I just want to do the same job my granddaddy did" (which is a quote from a miner interviewed back during the campaign) impede progress.  Change in some areas of the country, and the world at large, is viewed dimly.  It is, however, the only chance these regions stand of an economic recovery of any meaningful variety.  

I genuinely don't know what would help the anthracite regions of the world with embracing a path forward.  They are so busy rereading the former chapters of their history, they are highly resistant to writing the next.  Cuts and damage to the quality of public education offered in these areas will be devastating.  I hope someone, very soon, will find the way to talk to the people of the anthracite regions in a way they are willing to absorb and act upon.   

Just on a personal note, the people of NEPA were (overall) among the most decent human beings I've ever encountered.  I've lived in a lot of places since then and actually went directly from that area of the world to an Ivy League college town that was positively lousy with incredibly rich people.  It's not that they were less decent overall, but the people of NEPA and Western PA deserve much better fates than they currently have in front of them.  I genuinely wish that I knew the manner of address that would get those regions to embrace the need for change, but they are deeply traditional in their mindsets.  

There are options available for improvement, absolutely, but in my personal experience and still being in touch with people from NEPA, resistance to change poses one of the biggest obstacles, IMO.  

[iMonrey]

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Bob Murray, to sue the deep pockets of HBO because he can't win

And how dumb do you have to be anyway? Sure, let's draw more attention to the scathing John Oliver editorial by suing over it. HBO must be loving this. Ratings gold.

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Some of the regional attitudes like, "I just want to do the same job my granddaddy did" (which is a quote from a miner interviewed back during the campaign) impede progress.

What if your granddaddy installed asbestos insulation for a living? I mean, there's a reason some jobs aren't around anymore. Saying we have to bring back coal mining jobs is like saying we have to bring back the outhouse industry or the horse and buggy factories.

[ahisma]

15 hours ago, stillshimpy said:

A big part of the problem for the true coal mining areas is that they simply don't get a lot of sunshine.   NEPA is overcast a great deal, sure there's some sun but it's nothing like Colorado (another place I lived) where you get 300 days a year of sunshine.

Just because rooftop solar installation or wind farm siting isn't optimal, that doesn't man that solar panel or wind turbine factories couldn't locate in Appalachia. Though factory owners would probably look dimly on states with laws that discriminate against renewables. 

[DEL901]

I liked how John focussed on the fact that even the Kentucky Coal Mining Museum had converted to solar.

[paigow]

Bob Murray has fallen into the Trump Orangutan trap...Maher got a lot of mileage from that lawsuit...The common denominator is HBO gets free publicity again...and maybe a subscriber boost.

[Rlb8031]

On 6/19/2017 at 1:24 PM, peeayebee said:

A really good show with a cute, funny ending.

 

Makes sense for renewable energy companies to move to the coal states and open factories and other businesses. Of course they'd have to train the new employees. I'm trying to remember, however, if this Administration has cut funding to job training and renewable energy programs. Seems it has done this and ceded the burgeoning industry to China. But the plan is all about rewarding the top executives of businesses. Screw the peons.

Bob Murray is a piece of work, a piece of shit. I wonder if he'll sue, but I don't see what standing he'd have. 

West VA is full of mountains all of which are covered in trees and greenery. (If you've ever flown into Charleston, WV and seen what they had to do to make an airport [hint: they put it on a mountaintop so that you can think you're about to crash every time you land there], its understandable why neither solar or wind work well there). Generally coal is found in mountainous regions which aren't as attractive for solar or wind as western or plains states.

[OneWhoLurks]

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Even funnier than Oliver’s jokes about Murray, however, is Murray’s response to this accusation. The complaint insists that despite early reports, the mine collapse was indeed caused by an earthquake. The lawsuit cites a federal report which it says:

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contained multiple concessions that a sudden change in stresses due to a ‘slip along a joint,’ or ‘joint slip in the overburden,’ which is very similar to the United States Geological survey’s definition of an ‘earthquake’ … ‘could have been a factor in triggering the collapse.'” It then cites unnamed “studies” that supposedly determined that “the collapse was caused by what many would characterize as an earthquake.

At first glance, that sounds like a decent argument that the collapse was caused by an earthquake, and that Oliver is full of it. That is, until, you notice that none of the language the lawsuit uses or cites actually concludes that an earthquake caused the collapse. Not only that, the very federal report that Murray’s complaint cites reaches the exact opposite conclusion.

 

Coal CEO’s Lawsuit Against John Oliver Doesn’t Stand a Chance

[b2H]

On 6/19/2017 at 0:13 PM, ganesh said:

On 6/19/2017 at 11:36 AM, attica said:

 

I really wish someone would go to these coal miners and say, "the company terminated health care and pension for 1200 miners so they could give management a $12M bonus. Please tell me why you're so loyal."

And why would you vote against a candidate that had increased job re-training funds and programs in her campaign platform vs. for someone that insisted your job would 'come back' against conventional wisdom?   A case of voting against one's best interests.

[OneWhoLurks]

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While the litigation plays out, Murray wants Oliver to stop talking about him—and he wants HBO barred from re-broadcasting the episode in question. In a motion filed in the Marshall County Circuit Court in West Virginia on June 28, Murray’s lawyers asked Judge Jeffrey Cramer to bar HBO from re-broadcasting the June 18 episode of Oliver’s show, Last Week Tonight, and to bar Oliver and the other defendants (including the show’s writers) from discussing the lawsuit in public. That could mean HBO would have to take down any YouTube videos of the episode, according to First Amendment litigator Ken White, who called Murray’s effort to get a gag order “astonishingly frivolous.”

In the filing, Murray’s lawyers said Oliver incited his audience to “vigilantism” against the coal baron. Spammers tried to crash his company’s website, according to the motion, and the company had to take its entire site down on June 20 “to implement new, increased security measures.”

In a statement to The Daily Beast, HBO called Murray Energy's request “a dangerous and unprecedented violation of the First Amendment rights of HBO, John Oliver and the show, and we look forward to presenting our case in court.”

 

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White said the circumstances under which a judge will grant what’s called “prior restraint”—telling somebody they can’t say something before they have even said it – are extremely narrow, and that Murray’s motion probably doesn’t fit.

“The censorship demanded here is breathtaking and utterly meritless,” White continued. “The motion reflects the arrogance of plaintiffs who believe they control a local judiciary that will give them anything they want regardless of the rule of law.”

James Sammataro, a media attorney at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in Miami who specializes in First Amendment issues, told The Daily Beast that judges usually only grant the kind of gag orders that Murray wants in cases where national security could be at risk. And he said Murray’s motion is “a veiled threat” to outlets that have the YouTube video embedded in their stories about the lawsuit. The motion, if granted, would force HBO to take down all video clips of the episode, Sammataro said.

 

Coal King Begs Court to Gag John Oliver

[OneWhoLurks]

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“In November of 2016,” Murray’s brief said, “Oliver used ‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’ to encourage viewers to donate to numerous left-leaning organizations, which - not surprisingly - resulted in an immediate surge of millions of dollars in donations to the ACLU.” Oliver’s campaign, Murray claimed, meant that the ACLU wasn’t being straight with the court when it said no one in the Oliver camp had funded its amicus filing.

The only problem with that argument? Oliver never called on viewers to donate to the ACLU.

His Nov. 13 show did indeed ask viewers to open their wallets for nonprofits opposed to President Donald Trump’s agenda. Depending on which of Trump’s campaign promises they were most worried about, Oliver said, they should give money to Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the International Refugee Assistance Project, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Trevor Project for LGBTQ youth or the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Notably absent from that list: the ACLU. Oliver didn’t even mention free speech or civil liberties in his recitation.

 

Murray Energy’s tricky attack on ACLU in John Oliver libel case

[OneWhoLurks]

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Murray, the CEO of Murray Energy and a vocal supporter of President Trump's efforts to revive coal, warned that the decision by mostly Trump-appointed officials at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission would cause more coal-fired power plants to shut down.

"Mr. Trump's administration made some bad appointments to this commission," Murray told CNNMoney in an interview on Tuesday. "This will exacerbate the already bad situation."

Four of the five commissioners who run FERC were appointed by Trump, who has vowed to resuscitate coal country by relaxing regulation. All five dismissed Energy Secretary Rick Perry's proposal to subsidize power plants like coal and nuclear that maintain a 90-day supply of fuel on site.

 

Coal CEO slams Trump for picking 'inadequate bureaucrats'