Jeremy Brecher at Common Dreams writes?The New AFL-CIO Stand on Climate Change:

At its Quadrennial Convention in late October, the AFL-CIO unanimously adopted a resolution on ?Climate Change, Energy, and Union Jobs.? The resolution says that the fastest and most equitable way to address climate change is for ?labor to be at the center of creating solutions that reduce emissions while investing in our communities, maintaining and creating high-wage union jobs, and reducing poverty.?

If acted on, the resolution will bring about significant changes in organized labor and will bring American trade unions into far closer alignment with allies in the climate protection movement.

The resolution starts with the facts of global warming. It acknowledges ?the overwhelming scientific consensus? that climate warming is ?due to human activities? and that higher global temperatures will trigger ?irreversible changes in our climate,? causing ?a rise in sea levels and storm surges, an increase in droughts and extreme weather events, a substantial threat of increased extinctions, decreased food security in some regions, and an increase in heat-induced health problems.?

The resolution turns next to the social justice dimensions of climate change. ?Workers, communities of color and low-income Americans suffer disproportionately from environmental degradation and climate change? through ?polluted air, water and land,? and from ?drought and extreme weather events.? It cites Pope Francis and other religious leaders on the ?moral imperative to address both climate change and poverty.?

The resolution notes that tens of thousands of union members work in industries that rely on fossil fuels or live in regions where fossil fuels are ?the primary economic driver in their communities.? Like all workers, they have a right to ?a strong, viable economic future? including good jobs at union wages and benefits. It cites the Paris Agreement on ?the imperative of a just transition? of the workforce and ?decent work and quality jobs? when addressing climate change. It resolves to fight politically and legislatively ?to secure and maintain employment, pensions and health care? for workers affected by changes in the energy market. [...]

The AFL-CIO has never endorsed science-based targets and timetables for greenhouse gas reduction. This resolution still fails to do so.

The AFL-CIO has also long endorsed an ?all the above? energy policy which does not advocate for the transition to fossil-free energy at all, let alone on a timetable necessary to protect against catastrophic climate change. This resolution endorses renewable energy and energy efficiency, but also carbon capture and storage and nuclear power. It does not call for even a reduction in the burning of fossil fuel. [...]

TOP COMMENTS ? HIGH IMPACT STORIES

QUOTATION

?Ever since the development of political machinery and bureaucratic organizations among Indians, there has been a sudden perspective of women?and the roles of women?as second-class citizens. The basic reason for discrimination against Indian women stems from the federal government?s intervention in Indians affairs.?
               ~Annie Dodge Wauneka (Navajo) in Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies (1981)

TWEET OF THE DAY

BLAST FROM THE PAST

At Daily Kos on this date in 2004?Don?t Mourn, Organize:

Why were we in this fight in the first place? Because terrible leaders are doing terrible things to our country and calling this wonderful. Because radical reactionaries are trying to impose their imperialist schemes on whoever they wish and calling this just. Because amoral oligarchs are determined to enhance their slice of the economic pie and calling this the natural order. Because flag-wrapped ideologues want to chop up civil liberties and call this security. Because myopians are in charge of America?s future. 

We lost on 11/2. Came in second place in a crucial battle whose damage may still be felt decades from now. The despicable record of our foes makes our defeat good reason for disappointment and fear. Even without a mandate over the past four years, they have behaved ruthlessly at home and abroad, failing to listen to objections even from members of their own party. With the mandate of a 3.6-million vote margin, one can only imagine how far their arrogance will take them in their efforts to dismantle 70 years of social legislation and 50+ years of diplomacy. 

Still, Tuesday was only one round in the struggle. It?s only the end if we let it be. I am not speaking solely of challenging the votes in Ohio or elsewhere ? indeed, I think even successful challenges are unlikely to change the ultimate outcome, which is not to say I don?t think the Democrats should make the attempt. And I?m not just talking about evaluating in depth what went wrong, then building on what was started in the Dean campaign to reinvigorate the grassroots of the Democratic Party, although I also think we must do that. I?m talking about the broader political realm, the realm outside of electoral politics that has always pushed America to live up to its best ideals and overcome its most grotesque contradictions. [?]

It's tough on the psyche to be beaten.Throughout our country's history, abolitionists, suffragists, union organizers, anti-racists, antiwarriors, civil libertarians, feminists and gay rights activists have challenged the majority of Americans to take off their blinders. Each succeeded one way or another, but not overnight, and certainly not without serious setbacks. 

After a decent interval of licking our wounds and pondering what might have been and where we went wrong, we need to spit out our despair and return ? united - to battling those who have for the moment outmaneuvered us. Otherwise, we might just as well lie down in the street and let them flatten us with their schemes.

On today?s Kagro in the Morning show: There was just too much insightful push-back on the Donna Brazile story to let things go. And then, there was Armando. We learn once again that the key moments in politics aren?t always the sexy ones. Truth is, you just gotta keep showing up. Forever.

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Rosamaria Hernandez, the 10-year-old special needs child explicably targeted by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and taken into custody following emergency gallbladder surgery, was released earlier today after more than a week in detention:

?We?re just thrilled ? it?s such a relief,? said one of her lawyers, Michael Tan, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union. ?It?s actually quite overwhelming. This was the first time in her life she was separated from her family.?

Of the next step in her case, he added, ?There?s really no reason to be targeting Rosa Maria for deportation,? given her age and condition.

?Finally, Rosa Maria has been released to her family where she belongs,? Representative Joaquin Castro, a Democrat who represents the San Antonio area, said in a statement on Friday evening. ?This young girl and her loved ones have been through a traumatizing ordeal.?

He added: ?The United States should not be a place where children seeking life-sustaining medical care are at risk of apprehension.?

?Rosamaria is finally free. We?re thrilled that she can go home to heal surrounded by her family's love and support,? the ACLU continued. ?Despite our relief, Border Patrol?s decision to target a young girl at a children?s hospital remains unconscionable. No child should go through this trauma and we are working to make sure it doesn?t happen again.?

As the ACLU noted, Rosamaria should never have been targeted by Border Patrol in the first place, and there are many questions the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must answer in the coming days, and officials must be held accountable. Why was Rosamaria targeted? Why did officials ignore medical professionals who said Rosamaria should be with family? Why was she denied post-operative care?

For now, the most important thing is that Rosamaria is home, thanks to her advocates and all those who spoke out on her behalf.

Actress Mila Kunis has her own sly way of protesting the vehemently anti-choice Vice President Mike Pence: setting up an anonymous monthly donation to the major reproductive healthcare provider Planned Parenthood in his name. During an interview on TBS?s CONAN with host Conan O?Brian, she shared a juicy tidbit about a small form of resistance she practices every week. She explained, in part:

I disagreed with some of the stuff that Pence was doing and was trying to do.

And so, as a reminder that there are women in the world that may or may not agree with his platform, I put him on a list of reoccurring donations that are made in his name to Planned Parenthood.

Love it.

Watch the clip below:

Last night for eleven glorious minutes, Donald Trump?s Twitter account was deactivated. Twitter promised an investigation and before long they revealed how and why Trump?s account had been closed for business. 

And with that, Twitter began celebrating the unknown rogue employee.

The Republican tax plan is designed to be confusing. They don?t want us to know everything that?s in it ahead of time, because we?d notice how bad it is for us. So little bits of information trickle out, like this in the Chronicle of Higher Education, and they don?t necessarily get the attention they deserve:

The plan would also tax the tuition waivers that many graduate students receive when they work as teaching assistants or researchers.

Claus Wilke, an integrative biology professor at the University of Texas at Austin, explained on Twitter what this could mean to STEM education:

The result? ?At that point, a PhD would not be a viable choice anymore, except for the independently wealthy.? Or, maybe, people who were so confident that they?d be walking out of grad school and into a job with Monsanto or a defense contractor that it was worth taking on some debt. Either way, it?s not an outcome that?s good for American higher education.

Posting two new Russia revelations here for discussion because, it?s Friday! And why not? Shocker: Carter Page lied to the media about his Russia contacts.

Another shocker: Team Trump has been lying about ?coffee boy? George. 

Discuss.

Following the publication of a communiqué claiming responsibility for a fire in a garage at a Grenoble police depot (gendarmerie) during the night of September 20th/21st, Indymedia Grenoble and Indymedia Nantes have been threatened by the French police. The administrators of these sites received emails from the Central Office for the Fight Against Crime Linked to Information Technology and Communication (OCLCTIC) demanding that the concerned articles be removed from the sites in under 24 hours, otherwise rendering the sites liable to blocking and dereferencing.

The communiqué?s authors explained that the garage fire had been carried out as "part of a wave of attacks in solidarity with people currently under trial" such as the Quai de Valmy police car arson. In this Grenoble arson attack, several dozen police vehicles were burned (torched).

Indonesian police have opened fire on peaceful protesters in Jayapura, with at least four gunshot wounds and one death. West Papuan activists and families have been forced to flee to the jungle for safety. Indonesian security forces are conducting scores of raids, sweeps and offensives against West Papuan civilians. The attacks are happening during the visit of National Police Chief General Sutarman with over 200 people arrested across West Papua. Journalists have also been attacked by Indonesian police according to Amnesty International...Read more at San Fransisco Bay Area Indymedia. The Indonesian Police chief says any plans to free Papua from Indonesia won't be tolerated, including Flag raising ceremonies on the West Papuan national Day, December 1st.

Calls for Independence by West Papuans have been made since the sham "Act of Free Choice in 1969". They have suffered a neglected genocide at the hands of the Indonesian military (2004) with continued Repression (2007). Thousands of Papuans took to the streets in 2010 and in 2011 rejecting special autonomy, demanding a referendum on independence. Indonesia plans to build 1,500 km of new roads in the next two years to accelerate ?development', increase military presence, and open up more illegal logging. Three Papuans highlighted the human rights abuses at the APEC meeting in Bali this year by scaling the Australian Consulate?s fence in the dead of night and hand-delivering a personal plea to open the Indonesian province to world scrutiny.

A new academic law and human rights report A slow-motion genocide: Indonesian rule in West Papua (PDF), details the extent of the genocide and abuse of human rights. (Review by Greenleft) Activists have called for Australia to End pragmatic complicity in West Papua in response to comments by new conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Imprisoned Papuan leader Selpius Bobii also responded saying, "We Live In Terror, Mr Abbott".

Related: Waging Nonviolence: Flotilla unsettles Indonesia?s occupation of West Papua | West Papuan National Day Goes Global | West Papuans to join commemoration of Eureka Rebellion in Ballarat
More Information: West Papua media Alerts | Freedom Flotilla

Civil society organisations abandoned the COP19 climate change negotiations in Warsaw on mass. Members from Greenpeace, Oxfam, WWF, Actionaid, Friends of the Earth, the International Trade Union Confederation (statement) and 350.org all started leaving the conference at 2pm. This is an unprecedented action, the first time several major civil society groups have staged a mass walkout.

Friends of the Earth International highlighted that the Warsaw Climate Change negotiations were failing, with Tension high in Warsaw talks as G77+China walk out. The role of Australia and reduced ambition of Japan  have been widely mentioned. Australia and Canada are seen as the major wreckers, but there has been substantial intransigence from much of the developed world to progressing the negotiations forward on finance, ambition, and a loss and damage mechanism. Poland's Coal Summit has shown the fossil fuel corporatism entwined in this COP with widespread dismay at the coal powered negotiations of COP19 and at UNFCCC official Christiania Figueres who gave the keynote speech at the coal summit 

Related: Democracy Now: "Nature Does Not Negotiate": Environmentalists Walk Out of U.N. Climate Summit in Warsaw | "Polluters Talk, We Walk": Civil Society Groups Abandon Warsaw Talks over Inaction on Global Warming | "We Have to Consume Less": Scientists Call For Radical Economic Overhaul to Avert Climate Crisis
Analysis: The Warsaw walkout and the Climate Movement

The weekend of 16th and 17th November saw tens of thousands of people in Canada and Australia out in the streets in over 260 protests against the climate policies of these countries. Australia and Canada are seen as the major wreckers in Warsaw at COP19.

The Saturday protests in Canada occurred from coast to coast to Repulse Bay, Nunavut on the Arctic circle, more than 10,000 people gathered in over 180 events co-ordinated by Defend our Climate. Many protests focussed on stopping further expansion of the Alberta tar sands and pipelines to move the bitumenous oil south to Texas, east through Ontario and Quebec, and west through British Columbia. On Sunday, more than 60,000 people attended climate protests across Australia, protesting the attempt to repeal carbon pricing and clean energy programs by the conservative Government lead by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, elected on 7 September this year, who denied any link between climate change and bushfires as unusually early and intense bushfires raged around Sydney.

Civil Society NGO and local Polish activists also staged a Climate Justice march in Warsaw in association with the COP19 climate change negotiations taking place. Super Typhoon Haiyan set the initial mood at the negotiations with Philippines negotiator Naderev Saño (Yeb Saño) saying "time to take action. We need an emergency climate pathway". There is widespread dismay at the coal powered negotiations in Warsaw with Japan and Australia being particularly singled out.

Related: Australia Indymedia - Tens of Thousands rally for Climate Action across Australia