Hey, remember how decent people warned that Donald Trump?s presidential pardon of the lawless, criminal, and very racist Joe Arpaio would only give the green light to others in power to continue the scourge of racial profiling? Here?s The Oregonian:

Federal agents mistook a longtime Washington County employee for an [undocumented] immigrant just as a nearby demonstration against arrests of undocumented immigrants ended at the courthouse in Hillsboro.

The mistake rattled Isidro Andrade-Tafolla, a married father of three children who lives in Forest Grove and has worked as a road maintenance worker for the county for nearly 20 years.

"It was frightening, disturbing, humiliating and I'm still trying to process being stopped because of my color and my race," he said Tuesday.

Andrade-Tafolla was leaving a court hearing with his wife when two people in plain clothes approached him to demand his name and identification, but refused to identify themselves. Andrade-Tafolla, who is Latino and a United States citizen, later recalled that both had been seated near them inside the courtroom:

"They never identified themselves even when my wife and I kept asking who they were and why they wanted my information," said Andrade-Tafolla, 46.

"I gave them my name. They said they had a picture of me, that I wasn't here legally and when they showed my wife and I the picture, there was no resemblance except we were both Hispanic." The woman in the van had the photo on her cellphone.

According to Andrade-Tafolla, several more unmarked cars pulled up?all to try and detain one person, but remember, there?s no money for Head Start?with those agents also refusing to verbally ID themselves.

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort offered to give a ?private briefing? on the state of the campaign to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

?If he needs private briefings we can accommodate,? Manafort wrote in the July 7, 2016, email, portions of which were read to The Washington Post along with other Manafort correspondence from that time.

A spokesperson for Deripaska has denied that any briefing took place. But if it did, it certainly wouldn?t be the first time Manafort exchanged notes with the Russian aluminum king. After all, Deripaska was the sugar daddy to many of Manafort?s activities in Eastern Europe. And more than a decade ago, Manafort offered to provide the oligarch with very special information.

Manafort told Deripaska in 2005 that he was pushing policies as part of his work in Ukraine ?at the highest levels of the U.S. government ? the White House, Capitol Hill and the State Department,? according to the documents. He also said he had hired a ?leading international law firm with close ties to President Bush to support our client?s interests,? but he did not identify the firm. 

According to the New York Times, we now know the name of that law firm.

The Justice Department, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation, recently asked the firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, for information and documents related to its work on behalf of Mr. Yanukovych?s government, which crumbled after he fled to Russia under pressure.

And one of the things that law firm did for Manafort, was justify political prosecutions in Ukraine.

According to a report from NPR, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents skirted their own ?sensitive locations? policy?which dictates that areas like medical facilities are generally off-limits excluding ?exigent circumstances??in the arrests of an undocumented couple who were rushing their two-month-old baby to a hospital for an emergency, lifesaving procedure. 

Initially, Oscar and Irma Sanchez, who have three other U.S. citizen kids, were told that their local hospital wasn?t equipped to do the surgery, and that they would need to take Isaac to Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi. But that meant the undocumented parents would have to go through a Border Patrol checkpoint. As they were trying to figure out how they could get their baby to Corpus Christi to save his life, ?a Border Patrol agent showed up in the waiting room ? perhaps tipped off by a nurse?:

The agent said that the family could be escorted through the checkpoint, but that they would be arrested upon their arrival in Corpus Christi ? an arrangement that they agreed to, because it would get their son the surgery.

The Border Patrol followed the ambulance, the night of May 24, as it raced to Corpus through desolate ranchland, carrying Oscar, Irma and tiny Isaac ? with an IV in his arm and a tube in his stomach. Once they arrived at Driscoll Children's Hospital, the green-uniformed agents never left the undocumented couple's side. Officers followed the father to the bathroom and the cafeteria and asked the mother to leave the door open when she breast-fed Isaac.

This is your tax dollars at work. "Everywhere we went in the hospital," Oscar said, "they followed us."

CBP claimed to NPR that they were nice enough to always leave ?one parent with the baby at all times? while they took the other off-site to fingerprint, book, and expose to possible deportation. At one point, Oscar says, he asked the hospital if they could delay Isaac?s surgery for just a short time until both parents were back onsite. The doctor agreed, and Isaac?s procedure was, thankfully, a success.

CBP claims they didn?t violate their ?sensitive locations? policy because no arrests were made at the hospital, despite the fact they were treating a breastfeeding mother and her child no different than they would someone who actually did pose a danger. Neither parents have criminal records. And, there?s no answer yet from Driscoll Children's Hospital if and why a member of their medical staff is moonlighting as a federal immigration agent. 

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has become keenly interested in many White House episodes in which Donald Trump played a central role, not least of which was the crafting of an initial statement about the meeting between Don Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and a Kremlin-linked lawyer. That statement?which disintegrated over a period of days under the weight of further reporting?was reportedly dictated by Trump from Air Force One, which has piqued Mueller?s interest. Politico writes:

Special counsel Robert Mueller has sought phone records concerning the statement written aboard Air Force One defending a meeting between Trump campaign officials and Russians at Trump Tower last year that was set up by Donald Trump Jr., according to two people familiar with the investigation. [...]

The statement about the Trump Tower meeting, written on the return from a European summit earlier this year, touched off a frenzy inside the White House, with dozens of phone calls from Air Force One and back in Washington and New York.

A few other things capturing Mueller interest include Trump's bizarre Oval Office meeting with Russian officials and the firing of both Mike Flynn and James Comey.

Investigators are particularly interested in what happened inside the White House after former deputy attorney general Sally Yates told White House lawyer Don McGahn of the Flynn meeting with Russians. Flynn was said to have misled Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russian officials during the presidential transition.

What Mueller?s team undoubtedly knows at this point is Yates? full accounting of those back-to-back meetings in which she informed McGahn that Flynn had been lying and might be compromised. We don?t know all of what transpired in those meetings because Yates wasn?t at liberty to say during her Congressional hearing, but Mueller sure wants to know how that information settled into the West Wing because it took another two weeks before Flynn was finally ousted from his sensitive national security adviser post.

Oh, and in case you missed it, Spicey and his penchant for taking meticulous notes may wind up being a gift to Mueller. If he was as prolific as Axios reporting suggests, his notes could provide a window into White House atmospherics at many of these critical junctures.

The Kaiser Family Foundation has provided an estimate of funding changes under the latest attempt at TrumpCare under the Republican Graham?Cassidy Bill. Their numbers confirm how this bill hurts everyone, with overall drop of $107 billion less made available through the Republican ?block grants? than is now provided through the ACA. But even that doesn?t capture the way this is really being used as a carrot to red states and a big stick to blue states.

There would be a significant redistribution in federal funding across states under the block grant. Overall expansion states would lose $180 billion for ACA coverage and non-expansion states would gain $73 billion over the 2020-2026 period. A typical Medicaid expansion state would see an 11% reduction in federal funds for coverage compared to an increase of 12% in a typical non-expansion state.

States that attempted to do the right thing will be punished. States that deliberately denied help to their own people will be rewarded.

But that?s not all. A third of the drop in federal funds comes from putting a cap on Medicaid payments. Those caps get more damaging over time, and they don?t just affect extended Medicaid.

Almost all states face a potential loss of federal funds for their traditional Medicaid programs under the per enrollee cap; thus, the per enrollee cap offsets some or all of the gains some states may realize under the block grant and further cuts federal spending in states that may see a loss under the block grant.

Republicans can sell the idea that in the short term they stole money from Nancy Pelosi and Bill de Blasio to shower on their home state. But the truth is they?re robbing from everyone?including the poor in their own state.

BAD NEWS: Zombie Trumpcare is back. GOOD NEWS? If we stop (or delay this) past September 30, we win. Call your senators at (202) 224-3121 and tell them YOU ARE WATCHING! (After you call, please tell us how it went.)

Donald Trump has claimed to love ?the blacks? over and over again. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he famously asked what blacks had to lose by voting for him. A great many of us (especially black women) predicted that blacks stood to lose a lot by Trump being in office?hence our not voting for him. But we are also now learning that blacks have a lot to lose just by working for Trump. In a new lawsuit filed this week in Washington, D.C., three black employees claim that they were discriminated against in their work for BLT Prime, the steakhouse in the Trump International Hotel. 

In a civil complaint filed Wednesday morning in D.C. Superior Court, [Dominque Hill], a former BLT employee, and [Irving Smith, Jr.], a current one, allege that the Trump Organization and hotel managing director Mickael Damelincourt saw to it that the restaurant routinely steered black employees to less lucrative shifts and subjected them to discriminatory behavior by other staff and by guests. The two men are joined in the case by another former BLT employee, JaNette Sturdivant.

Why is this not surprising? Trump has a long history of anti-black racism. From his calls for the death penalty for the Central Park Five to being sued for housing bias and discrimination, his actions have long proven that he believes that blacks are, in every way, inferior to whites. While Trump clearly doesn?t oversee the day-to-day operations of the hotel, we should not have any doubt that he has put in place a team of equally bigoted and racist employees who have little respect for blacks and other people of color. After all, we?ve seen who he?s brought to work for him in the White House. 

?They started hiring all these people and instead of putting them on day shifts they was giving them night shifts and keeping us on day shift. Next thing I know, within the month all the black people were on the day shift,? [Smith said]. [...]

After the election, Smith claimed one of his co-workers began making racist statements to him and that Smith?s complaints to management fell on deaf ears.

?He used to say ?This is white America time, you need to get used to it, and if you don?t get used to it you should go work somewhere else,? ? he alleged.

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

Authorities of Tacloban City with a population of 220,000 and capital of Leyte province, gave an early estimate that perhaps 10,000 people died from this one city. Many people were surprised by the huge storm surge tidal waves that inundated much of the city. Many smaller coastal villages were also devastated with most buildings destroyed or suffering severe damage. According to the UN Reliefweb report on 14 November the number of affected people has increased to 11.8 million. The official death count from Typhoon Haiyan is currently 4,460 but with numbers still increasing. There were 921,200 people displaced and 243,600 houses destroyed. A total of 2.5 million people are in need of food assistance.

Related: Climate IMC: Typhoon Haiyan: This is a climate crime | Time for turning tears into anger says Walden Bello | Philippine groups demand action on climate finance, loss and damage in Warsaw climate talks | Ejected from COP19 for expressing solidarity to the Philippines | Youth observers expelled from UN climate change talks for Philippines Solidarity | Indybay: Super typhoon Haiyan is climate wake-up call | They destroy We suffer Statement on Yolanda?s Aftermath
Non-corporate Typhoon Haiyan Relief Efforts: Waves for Water | Haiyan NYC Relief Project | Doctors without Borders | Oxfam International