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Ukraine: Is the U.S. Furthering or Preventing Negotiations?
“The United States is in a punishment mindset with regards to Russia and it needs to quickly transition to a more balanced, diplomacy-based approach, that includes clear incentives, off-ramps for sanctions, and a realistic pathway to a ceasefire.”
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Long Covid and Public Policy: A writer on chronic illness speaks out
An analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, released in early February by the Center for American Progress, concludes that the pandemic has led to 1.2 million more people being identified as having a disability in 2021 than in 2020. Meghan O’Rourke, author of “The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness” speaks out on the policy shifts needed to address the concerns of people with chronic illnesses, including people with long Covid.
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End of Federal State of Emergency Could Mean Catastrophic Medicaid Results
The federal public health emergency (PHE) is set to expire on April 15. New reports show that without the PHE’s renewal, 15 million people–including 6 million children––could potentially lose Medicaid coverage. Libby Watson writes that a right-wing campaign is pushing an end to the PHE and the transition period may serve as a “gold rush” for private contractors and consulting firms.
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* Threats of a No-Fly Zone * $782 Billion for Pentagon
William Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said of the prospect of a no-fly zone over Ukraine: “Implementing a no-fly zone of any sort, whether for all of Ukraine or ‘just’ to protect humanitarian corridors and Ukrainian defensive systems, would mean that the U.S. Air Force would essentially become the Ukrainian air force, fighting alongside Ukrainian ground forces against Russia. … Shooting down Russian planes and bombing Russian anti-aircraft sites would greatly increase the risks of escalation, up to and including a nuclear confrontation.”
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Why the Pandemic Is Not Over and What We Need to Do About It
Physicians and researchers contend that the pandemic is not over––because new variants will inevitably arise in the coming months. Given that information, they call for a new phase of health preparedness and accountability: improving indoor ventilation, increasing testing and contract tracing, improving sick pay, strengthening health services, and addressing ongoing vaccine hesitancy and resistance.
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New CDC Data Undermine the Agency’s COVID Isolation Guidelines
New data from the CDC cast doubt on the agency’s own guidelines for those isolating with COVID-19. Dr. Michael Mina says: “In general, individuals in isolation who are planning to leave isolation at 5 days since symptom onset, per CDC recommendations, have perhaps the single greatest risk for spreading the virus compared to any other known group of people.”
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If Russia is to Withdraw, There Must be Negotiations
“President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly hinted that a treaty of neutrality may be on offer; and he is right to do so. For two things have been made absolutely clear by this war: that Russia will fight to prevent Ukraine becoming a military ally of the West, and the West will not fight to defend Ukraine.”
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Calling Russia’s Attack “Unprovoked” Lets U.S. Off the Hook
“Putin was very clear about a path to deescalation: He called on the West to halt NATO expansion, negotiate Ukrainian neutrality in the East/West rivalry, remove U.S. nuclear weapons from non proliferating countries, and remove missiles, troops and bases near Russia. These are demands the U.S. would surely have made were it in Russia’s position. Unfortunately, the U.S. refused to negotiate on Russia’s core concerns.”
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Media Coverage of Ukraine: When Selectivity Becomes Propaganda
“The whiteness of Ukrainians may make it easier for Western governments to sell to their publics escalation and intervention instead of urgent negotiations to defuse a potentially catastrophic crisis between nuclear superpowers.
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What’s Wrong with the CDC’s Decision to Drop Mask Mandate
The CDC’s new guidelines, which allow around 70 percent of Americans to stop wearing masks indoors, place a double burden on the medically vulnerable, asking them to exclude themselves from society and bear the cost of buying PPE. Disability advocates have decried the agency’s shift. Beatrice Adler-Bolton says, “We should be honest that a lot of what anti-mask sentiment is boiling down to is a rejection of social rights for the medically vulnerable.”
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“With a tiny staff, it has managed to place on the air and in newspapers, points of view otherwise excluded from the national debate.”
Howard Zinn