The Senate is expected to pass legislation Tuesday granting Ukraine a new lifeline

 

Half a year of political squabbling and deadlock ended this weekend after a bipartisan vote in the House allowed for the passage of a bill greenlighting some $61 billion in military aid. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) opted to antagonize the Trumpist wing of his caucus by pushing through the funding requests, which are expected to be signed off by President Biden. That was no easy feat for Johnson, a relatively inexperienced figure catapulted to prominence amid the dysfunction and internecine battles of his own party. After months of stalling on Ukraine’s desperate aid requests, he appeared compelled by high-level intelligence briefings about the state of Kyiv’s plight and the entreaties of a handful of more establishment-leaning, senior Republican lawmakers as well as some leading Democrats. “Look, history judges us for what we do,” Johnson said at a news conference last week in response to a question from my colleagues about his decision to invite the ire of the Republican far right. “This is a critical time right now, critical time on the world stage. I could make a selfish decision and do something that’s different, but I’m doing here what I believe to be the right thing.” Far-right Republican lawmakers have openly mulled launching a bid to oust Johnson from his role as speaker. In Europe, though, the movement on Ukraine was cheered by Kyiv’s boosters. “Better late than too late,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted on social media. “And I hope it is not too late for Ukraine.” Ukraine’s struggles after more than two years resisting Russia’s invasion have been well-documented. The country’s weary armed forces are short on personnel and even shorter on ammunition, and officials in Washington and Kyiv warn that Ukrainian troops may soon be outgunned by the Russian invaders by roughly 10-to-1 in artillery rounds. Russian long-range missiles and drones land indiscriminately on Ukrainian cities, many of which lack the sufficient defenses to ward against such attacks. And far from retaking lost territory, Ukrainian forces are locked in a desperate battle to hold their ground, with Russia concentrating its latest offensive on the eastern town of Chasiv Yar in the partially occupied Donetsk region. In an interview with NBC, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated that his country had lost precious time while waiting for Congress to come to their rescue. “We’ve had the process stalled for half a year and we had losses in several directions, in the east. It was very difficult and we did lose the initiative there,” Zelensky said. “Now we have all the chance to stabilize the situation and to take the initiative, and that’s why we need to actually have the weapon systems.”  -Washington Post

A few simple precautions can make all the difference

 

To help safeguard your information, if you get an unrequested phone call:

• Do not provide or "confirm" any of your personally identifying information.
• Never read back a one-time security passcode (unless you have initiated the service call to a company's official phone number).

Here are more steps to protect against scams and identity theft.

Stay vigilant against phishing!

Phishing is a technique criminals may use to try to trick you into giving them your personal information—information that they may then use to try to steal your identity. They often do this by impersonating a company or institution, and then asking you to click on a link, open an attachment, or to "confirm" your date of birth, Social Security number, or account credentials.

Even if you feel confident in your ability to spot a scam, it's important to stay vigilant in your daily life. Most phishing attempts are carried out by email, text message, or phone. Here are several warning signs that should raise suspicion:

Warning signs of phishing attempts

• Someone contacting you to say that you have won an award or freebie.
• Someone contacting you with a deal that sounds too good to be true.
• Phone calls, emails, or texts that claim to be from the IRS.
• Unusual communication from someone asking for help.
• Unusual communication (that may sound legitimate) claiming to be from a company you work with.
• Communication from an unfamiliar email address or phone number.

Remember that phishers may use urgent-sounding language to try to get you to click on a link or attachment right away—before you have time to think it through. To create this sense of urgency, they might claim that something very good has happened (like you've won some money), or that something very bad has happened (like you're in debt with the IRS). Be suspicious anytime you receive an out-of-the-ordinary text, call, or email that makes such claims.

Here's how you can protect yourself, particularly if you've received a suspicious or unexpected communication:

Protecting yourself against phishing attempts

• Stop communication with the phisher immediately.
• Hang up the phone or ignore the suspicious email or text.
• Do not click on any links or download any attachments.
• Do not provide or "confirm" any of your personally identifying information.
• If you think the communication could be a legitimate request from a company you do business with, hang up and then call the company directly.
• Never grant remote access to your computer or read back a one-time security passcode (unless you have initiated the service call to a company's official phone number).

Protect your phone service.

Think of how protective you are with something like your Social Security number. You know that if a criminal were to obtain it, they might be able to take out a credit card in your name, obtain your tax refund, or even worse.

Increasingly, your cell phone account is becoming something you need to protect just as diligently. If criminals can gain access to your phone calls and text messages, they can potentially steal one-time passcodes and break into your accounts.

For example, one way they may do so is with "SIM swapping." (A SIM card is a small plastic card that stores identifying information on your cell phone, and that allows you to make and receive calls.) With this scam, a fraudster may call your cell phone provider pretending to be you, saying that you have a new SIM card to activate. If the scammer already has some of your personal information (like the last 4 digits of your Social Security number, your date of birth, or your password for your mobile provider account), they might be able to convince the cell phone carrier that they are you and get your phone number reassigned to their SIM card.

Here are several warning signs not to ignore:

Warning signs that your phone has been compromised

• You stop receiving phone calls and text messages.
• Your phone says "no service" or "emergency calls only."
• Restarting your phone does not restore service.
• You receive emails from your cell phone provider about changes to your account.

 

-Fidelity Viewpoints

Caring for older Americans’ teeth and gums is essential, but Medicare generally doesn’t cover the costs

 

C. Everett Koop, the avuncular doctor with a fluffy white beard who served as the U.S. surgeon general during the Reagan administration, was famous for his work as an innovative pediatric surgeon and the attention he paid to the HIV-AIDS crisis.

As dentistry scholars, we believe Koop also deserves credit for something else. To help make the medical profession pay more attention to the importance of healthy teeth and gums, he’d often say: “You are not healthy without good oral health.”

Yet, more than three decades after Koop’s surgeon general stint ended in 1989, millions of Americans don’t get even the most basic dental services, such as checkups, tooth cleanings and fillings.

Americans who rely on the traditional Medicare program for their health insurance get no help from that program with paying their dental bills aside from some narrow exceptions. This group includes some 24 million people over 65 – about half of all the people who rely on Medicare for their health insurance.

“Medically necessary” exceptions

When the Medicare program was established in 1965, almost all dental services were excluded due to the expense and vigorous opposition from associations that represent dentists out of fear that reimbursement rates would be markedly low compared to traditional insurance plans or out-of-pocket payment.

However, interest in including dental benefits in Medicare is on the rise at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency responsible for the Medicare program, as well as many organizations that seek to provide dental benefits to all members of society.

The Biden administration initially considered the addition of comprehensive Medicare dental coverage as part of its proposed Build Back Better legislation, a broad US$1.8 trillion legislative package designed to fix problems ranging from child care costs to climate change, but failed to get enough support in Congress.

Dental coverage was eliminated from the version of the bill the House passed in 2021, in part due to cost concerns and resistance from organized dentistry due to the low reimbursement rates for medical care for patients with Medicare benefits.

In 2022, after the broader package was blocked in the Senate, the federal government added coverage for dental treatment that was designated as “medically necessary” for people with Medicare.

The list of circumstances that would lead patients to be eligible is short. Some examples include patients scheduled for organ transplants or who have cancer treatment requiring radiation of their jaws. But we believe that dental care is necessary for everyone, especially for older people.

Chew, speak, breathe

While many working Americans get limited dental coverage through their employers, those benefits are usually limited to as little as $1,000 per year. And once they retire, Americans almost always lose even that basic coverage.

Given the importance of oral health for your overall health and quality of life, and increasing scientific understanding of the role of poor oral health in a wide array of chronic diseases, we believe that Medicare should include basic dental services.

A healthy mouth is essential for chewing, speaking and breathing. Being able to flash a good smile boosts self-esteem and helps maintain a sense of well-being.

Left untreated, dental diseases often result in infections that can cause severe pain. Poor oral health can lead to hospitalization and even death. Yet, routine oral care is frequently unavailable to many Americans.

Rich Americans with Medicare coverage are almost three times more likely to receive dental care compared to those with low incomes. And almost 3 in 4 low-income people over 65 don’t see a dentist in a typical year.

Connected to many serious conditions

Numerous epidemiological studies have associated atherosclerosis, a serious condition colloquially known as clogged arteries, cardiovascular disease and stroke, with periodontal disease – chronic inflammation of the bone and gum tissues that support the teeth.

Having diabetes makes you three times as likely to develop gum disease because diabetes compromises the body’s response to inflammation and infection. At the same time, treating diabetes patients for gum disease can help control their blood sugar levels. Researchers have found that when people with diabetes get preventive dental and periodontal care, their diabetes is better controlled and health care costs decline.

Poor oral health can also increase the risk of contracting pneumonia, especially for patients in hospitals and nursing homes. When patients see a dentist before entering the hospital, they’re less likely to get pneumonia during their stay.

There is also evidence that untreated dental problems may contribute to rheumatoid arthritis as well as Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive impairments.

Chemo can damage your teeth

Many cancer treatments can damage teeth, especially for older adults. As a result, Medicare has started to reimburse for dental bills tied to tooth decay or other oral conditions after they get chemotherapy or radiation treatment.

The American Dental Association warns of the oral health problems that arise following chemotherapy and radiation treatment and offers tips on protecting your teeth during treatment.

More than nice to have

The history of U.S. health care helps explain why Medicare generally won’t cover the cost of dental and gum treatment. Doctors and dentists are educated separately, and doctors learn very little about dental conditions and treatments when they’re in medical school. Most dental electronic health records aren’t linked to medical systems, hindering comprehensive care and delivery of dental care to those in need.

At the same time, medical insurance and dental insurance have evolved to serve very different functions. Medical insurance was designed specifically to cover large, unpredictable expenses, while dental insurance was intended to mainly fund predictable and lower-cost preventive care.

While protection from catastrophic medical costs has always been perceived as a necessity, coverage of dental services was conceived as a benefit that’s mostly nice to have. But that’s an outdated idea disconnected from a large body of scientific evidence.

Medicare Advantage plans

Until Medicare expands coverage to include preventive dental services for everyone, alternative plans such as Medicare Advantage, through which the federal government contracts with private insurers to provide Medicare benefits, serve as a stopgap.

In 2016, only 21% of beneficiaries in traditional Medicare had purchased a stand-alone dental plan, whereas roughly two-thirds of Medicare Advantage enrollees had at least some dental benefits through their coverage. However, these plans vary greatly in the procedures that they cover.

The costs of this hole in Medicare coverage are high: 1 in 5 Americans with Medicare – including many with little disposable income – are spending at least $1,000 a year on dental care.

It seems that Dr. Koop was onto something – you can’t be healthy without good oral health. Adding basic dental benefits to Medicare would likely help many older Americans to live happier and healthier lives, and at the same time potentially reduce overall health care costs.

-Frank Scannapieco, Professor and Chair of Oral Biology, University at Buffalo

-Ira Lamster, Clinical Professor of Periodontics and Endodontics, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)

The Conversation

Israel vs. Itself: If You See War Crimes, Say War Crimes by Ben Rosenfeld

 

As a (half) Jewish American, I can’t help but feel Israel is slaughtering Palestinians in my name. So I wail at the Facebook wall, inveighing against Israel’s war crimes. Invariably, someone responds by pointing out how terrible Hamas is. Yes, and? 

 

Israel may have declared war on Hamas, but it is civilians Israel is murdering and maiming by the tens of thousands. With Israel’s atrocities on daily display, the impulse to blame Hamas for them is just knee-jerk tribalism. 

 

Even staunch Israeli apologists are disquieted by the Palestinian body count. Yet it takes strong forces of experience, and even stronger forces of reason, to realign one’s allegiances and transgress against the tribe.

 

So these apologists sublimate their discomfiture by lamenting, vaguely, the terrible suffering in Gaza–stopping short of blaming Israel for its own heinous acts. 

 

Hamas’ depravity notwithstanding, it should not pain decent people to condemn Israel’s own barbarism. This is a no-brainer for myriad experts on human rights law, including at the U.N. and the U.S. State Department. Anyone who has difficulty acknowledging Israel’s war crimes needs to examine their own tribalism and prejudice. 

 

If you or your loved ones were forced out of your homes to scramble up and down Gaza for refuge from Israel’s fusillades–and bombed and shot anyway while you fled or waited in line for food relief–you would not be mouthing platitudes in support of your attackers, like ‘war sucks,’ ‘civilians always take the brunt of it,’ ‘Hamas started it’ (a statement which elides decades of subjugation by Israel), and ‘Israel does not intentionally target civilians.’ (It absolutely does; plus, wantonly failing to protect civilians is tantamount to targeting them.) 

 

Such utterances only serve to condone and perpetuate Israel’s savagery. 

 

If Israel were the Middle East’s shining beacon of human rights, it would not be heaping collective punishment on Palestinians, any more than we would justify calling in airstrikes on a synagogue full of worshipper-hostages to kill a band of terrorists who shot their way into it. 

 

If the U.S. were such a standard-bearer of human rights, it would not be breaking its own rules to reward Israel with weapons to murder more Palestinian civilians. Amid this mayhem, Biden administration officials’ rote admonitions to Netan-yahoo to protect innocent lives is just nauseatingly enabling lipservice. 

 

That Hamas fighters embed among civilians does not give Israel license to obliterate Gaza to get at Hamas. Few Israel hawks would advocate leveling the locations where the remaining Israeli hostages are held to kill their captors. The only “reasons” for valuing tens of Israeli hostages’ lives over tens of thousands of Palestinian children’s lives are tribalism and racism. 

 

That Israel’s options may be constrained by Hamas’ venality is largely Israel’s own fault after decades of occupation and brutality–including holding scores of Palestinian hostages without fair legal process–just as Israel’s slaughter today will provoke conflict yet to come. There is nothing about Israel’s reaction to October 7 which is making the world safer for Jews. 

 

One option Israelis do have, which is not available to the Gazans it is butchering, is to elect a different government. Isrealis should exercise this power to end apartheid and uproot settlements in the West Bank, and to foster a viable, sovereign Palestinian state. 

 

Instead, the banality of evil is on historic display in Good Israelis’ and Good Americans’ rationalizations of Israel’s stark war crimes. If that reference to WWII Germany offends, it is because the person taking offense is not Palestinian.

 

Yes, the scale is totally different. No, Israel on the whole is not trying to exterminate the Palestinian people–though numerous Israelis in and out of government want this. In reality, a big plurality of Israelis would like to rid ‘Canaan’ of Palestinians–from the river to the sea. 

 

The difference between Israeli and Palestinian extermination rhetoric is that Israel actually has and is using the power to back it up. What Palestinians say with Israeli boots on their necks is not predictive of how they will act when the pressure is off. 

 

A people forced to choose between exodus and rubble are living and dying with the reality of genocide, while academics continue to debate the applicability of the term. We each have but one life to live and one to give. I guarantee you that if yours were Palestinian lives, you would not hesitate to condemn Israel’s monstrous war crimes. 

 

And since that’s true, you should strive to be just as appalled as if you were Palestinian. 

If I’ve learned one useful teaching from Judaism, it’s that breaking down our othering walls is the ultimate quest and hope for humanity.

 

Ben Rosenfeld is a civil rights attorney in San Francisco. Twitter: @benrosenfeldlaw.

 

Melancholie by Albert György

                                   How the World Makes Me Feel These Days.

Israel's Starvation Campaign

 

...Al Jazerra reports that as of March 27^th, “27 people – 23 of them children – have starved to death as a result of what international bodies say is Israel’s use of hunger as a weapon of war.”

 

Israel’s starvation campaign began on October 9, 2023, when Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced, “We are fighting human animals.” He added, “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed.” Energy Minister Israel Katz issued an order “to immediately cut the water supply to Gaza.”

 

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reports that between 24 November 24^th and December 7, 2023, over 90 percent of the population in the Gaza Strip was estimated to face high levels of acute food insecurity, classified in IPC Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse).

 

Going further, it notes that over 40 percent of the population (939,000 people) were in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and over 15 percent (378,000 people) were in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5).

 

It projected that between December 8, 2023, and February 7, 2024, “the entire population in the Gaza Strip (about 2.2 million people) is classified in IPC Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse). This is the highest share of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity that the IPC initiative has ever classified for any given area or country.”

 

In December 2023, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated that “the Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip, which is a war crime.”  It added, “Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while willfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival.”

 

In the wake of Hamas’s vicious attack of October 7, 2023, Israel’s political leadership called for all-out war.  

 

The national security chief, Tzachi Hanegbi, said that Israel could no longer accept Hamas as a “sovereign entity in the Gaza Strip.” Going further he added, “Complete victory will be the only possible outcome of this battle. … We will not only collapse Hamas military and governmental capabilities but ensure that they will not be able to revive themselves afterward.” Prime Minster Netanyahu also insisted, “Destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, and bringing the captives back home.”

 

After six months of battle, employing the full force of territorial occupation, ethnic cleansing, systematic destruction, targeted assassinations and even starvation, the Israeli military and government has failed to secure “victory” or bring the hostages home.  One can only how long Israel’s failed effort will continue.

 

-CounterPunch

David Rosen is the author of Sex, Sin & Subversion:  The Transformation of 1950s New York’s Forbidden into America’s New Normal (Skyhorse, 2015).  He can be reached at drosennyc@verizon.net; check out www.DavidRosenWrites.com.

 

"A special State Department panel told Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the U.S. should restrict arms sales to Israeli military units that have been credibly accused of human rights abuses. He has not taken any action."

A special State Department panel recommended months ago that Secretary of State Antony Blinken disqualify multiple Israeli military and police units from receiving U.S. aid after reviewing allegations that they committed serious human rights abuses.

But Blinken has failed to act on the proposal in the face of growing international criticism of the Israeli military’s conduct in Gaza, according to current and former State Department officials.

Bottom of Form

The incidents under review mostly took place in the West Bank and occurred before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. They include reports of extrajudicial killings by the Israeli Border Police; an incident in which a battalion gagged, handcuffed and left an elderly Palestinian American man for dead; and an allegation that interrogators tortured and raped a teenager who had been accused of throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails.

Recommendations for action against Israeli units were sent to Blinken in December, according to one person familiar with the memo. “They’ve been sitting in his briefcase since then,” another official said.

A State Department spokesperson told ProPublica the agency takes its commitment to uphold U.S. human rights laws seriously. “This process is one that demands a careful and full review,” the spokesperson said, “and the department undergoes a fact-specific investigation applying the same standards and procedures regardless of the country in question.”

The revelations about Blinken’s failure to act on the recommendations come at a delicate moment in U.S.-Israel relations. Six months into its war against Hamas, whose militants massacred 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 240 more on Oct. 7, the Israeli military has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, according to local authorities. Recently, President Joe Biden has signaled increased frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the widespread civilian casualties.

Multiple State Department officials who have worked on Israeli relations said that Blinken’s inaction has undermined Biden’s public criticism, sending a message to the Israelis that the administration was not willing to take serious steps.

The recommendations came from a special committee of State Department officials known as the Israel Leahy Vetting Forum. The panel, made up of Middle East and human rights experts, is named for former Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the chief author of 1997 laws that requires the U.S. to cut off assistance to any foreign military or law enforcement units — from battalions of soldiers to police stations — that are credibly accused of flagrant human rights violations.

The Guardian reported this year that the State Department was reviewing several of the incidents but had not imposed sanctions because the U.S. government treats Israel with unusual deference. Officials told ProPublica that the panel ultimately recommended that the secretary of state take action.

This story is drawn from interviews with present and former State Department officials as well as government documents and emails obtained by ProPublica. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations. The Israeli government did not respond to a request for comment.

Over the years, hundreds of foreign units, including from Mexico, Colombia and Cambodia, have been blocked from receiving any new aid. Officials say enforcing the Leahy Laws can be a strong deterrent against human rights abuses.

Human rights organizations tracking Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attacks have collected eyewitness testimony and videos posted by Israeli soldiers that point to widespread abuses in Gaza and the West Bank.

“If we had been applying Leahy effectively in Israel like we do in other countries, maybe you wouldn’t have the IDF filming TikToks of their war crimes now because we have contributed to a culture of impunity,” said Josh Paul, a former director in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs and a member of the vetting forum. Paul resigned in protest shortly after Israel began its bombing campaign of Gaza in October.

The Leahy Laws apply to countries that receive American-funded training or arms. In the decades after the passage of those laws, the State Department, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, followed a de facto policy of exempting billions of dollars of foreign military financing to Israel from their strictures, according to multiple experts on the region.

In 2020, Leahy and others in Congress passed a law to tighten the oversight. The State Department set up the vetting forum to identify Israeli security force units that shouldn’t be receiving American assistance. Until now, it has been paralyzed by its bureaucracy, failing to fulfill the hopes of its sponsors.

Critics have long assailed what they view as Israel’s special treatment. Incidents that would have disqualified units in other countries did not have the same result in Israel, according to Charles Blaha, the former director of the State Department’s Office of Security and Human Rights and a former participant in the Israeli vetting forum. “There is no political will,” he said.

Typically, the reports of wrongdoing come from nongovernment organizations like Human Rights Watch or from press accounts. The State Department officials determining whether to recommend sanctions generally do not draw on the vast array of classified material gathered by America’s intelligence agencies.

Actions against an Israeli unit are subject to additional layers of scrutiny. The forum is required to consult the government of Israel. Then, if the forum agrees that there is credible evidence of a human rights violation, the issue goes to more senior officials, including some of the department’s top diplomats who oversee the Middle East and arms transfers. Then the recommendations can be sent to the secretary of state for final approval, either with consensus or as split decisions.

Even if Blinken were to approve the sanctions, officials said, Israel could blunt their impact. One approach would be for the country to buy American arms with its own funds and give them to the units that had been sanctioned. Officials said the symbolism of calling out Israeli units for misconduct would nonetheless be potent, marking a sign of disapproval of the civilian toll the war is taking.

Since it was formed in 2020, the forum has reviewed reports of multiple cases of rape and extrajudicial killings, according to the documents ProPublica obtained. Those cases also included several incidents where teenagers were reportedly beaten in custody before being released without charges. The State Department records obtained by ProPublica do not clearly indicate which cases the experts ultimately recommended for sanctions, and several have been tabled pending more information from the Israelis.

Israel generally argues it has addressed allegations of misconduct and human rights abuses through its own military discipline and legal systems. In some of the cases, the forum was satisfied that Israel had taken serious steps to punish the perpetrators. But officials agreed on a number of human rights violations, including some that the Israeli government had not appeared to adequately address.

Among the allegations reviewed by the committee was the January 2021 arrest of a 15-year old boy by Israeli Border Police. The teen was held for five days at the Al-Mascobiyya detention center on charges that he had thrown stones and Molotov cocktails at security forces. Citing an allegation shared by a Palestinian child welfare nonprofit, forum officials said there was credible information the teen had been forced to confess after he was “subjected to both physical and sexual torture, including rape by an object.”

Two days after the State Department asked the Israeli government for information about what steps it had taken to hold the perpetrators accountable, Israeli police raided the nonprofit that had originally shared the allegation and later designated it a terrorist organization. The Israelis told State Department officials they had found no evidence of sexual assault or torture but reprimanded one of the teen’s interrogators for kicking a chair.

Brett Murphy

Brett Murphy is a reporter on ProPublica’s national desk. His work uncovering a new junk science known as 911 call analysis won a George Polk Award, among other honors.

•  brett.murphy@propublica.org