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NATION/WORLD Thursday, November 12, 2015 East Oregonian Page 7A Fact Check: Putin puffery in GOP’s latest debate By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER and JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON — You’d think from the latest Republican presiden- tial debate that Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina have special insights into what makes Russian Vladimir Putin tick because the candidates have been up close and personal with the Kremlin’s man himself. Not so much. Trump declared himself a “stablemate” with Putin because both were on the same TV program — once, and in different segments, thousands of miles apart. Fiorina claimed a “private meeting” with Putin, but the setting was a holding room where they sat before giving speeches; not exactly a summit. The Putin puffery proved to be one of the odder episodes of an evening that brought viewers a YDULHW\RIÀXEVDQGH[DJJHUDWLRQV Some of the claims Tuesday night and how they compare with the facts: ——— TRUMP: Speaking of Putin, “I got to know him very well because we were both on ‘60 Minutes,’ we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that.” FIORINA: Saying the U.S. is currently in a weak position with Russia and that is “one of the reasons I’ve said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting.” THE FACTS: Trump and Fiorina seemed to be contesting who knows Putin better — Fiorina from a chance meeting in a holding room failed to invest in vocational training — a point also stressed by President Barack Obama’s now-defunct jobs council. But Rubio is wrong to suggest that studying philosophy is a waste of money and time. 3D\6FDOH D ¿UP WKDW DQDO\]HV compensation, put the median midcareer income for philosophy majors at $81,200 in 2008, with welders making $26,002 to $63,698. Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce said in a 2014 analysis that median incomes were $68,000 for people with an advanced degree in philos- ophy or religious studies. So knowing Plato and getting a college degree still pays off. AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps ——— Ted Cruz speaks as Carly Fiorina tries to make a comment during a TRUMP: 7KH 3DFL¿F WUDGH Republican presidential debate at the Milwaukee Theatre, Tuesday agreement signed by Obama with in Milwaukee. 11 other nations “was designed before she and Putin addressed a 1996 and 1997, the unemployment for China to come in through the Beijing conference in 2001, or rate fell afterward. In June 2007, back door and take advantage of Trump from having appeared on ZKHQ WKH ¿UVW RI WKUHH DQQXDO everyone. ... China takes advantage the same “60 Minutes” program as minimum wage increases was (of the U.S.) through currency Putin in September. implemented, the unemployment manipulation.” At least Fiorina actually met rate was unchanged until the Great THE FACTS: 7KH7UDQV3DFL¿F Putin. During a September appear- Recession began six months later. Partnership trade pact, signed last ance on “The Tonight Show,” she Economic research has found month, does not include China and described how they sat in adjacent that when states raise their minimum is intended to give the United States chairs for 45 minutes while they wages higher than neighboring PRUHLQÀXHQFHLQ$VLDDVDFRXQWHU- each waited to speak. Trump’s only states, they don’t typically fare any weight to China’s rising economic connection to the Russian leader worse than their neighbors. power. Obama argues that China was that they both appeared on the It’s not known, though, what could join later, but without having same show. He was interviewed would happen to jobs if the minimum DQ\ LQÀXHQFH RQ WKH DJUHHPHQW¶V in New York, Putin in Moscow, wage were doubled to $15. That’s terms. and they weren’t even in the same something many fast-food workers Regarding currency manipula- segment on the program. who demonstrated before the debate tion, Trump is recycling an outdated ——— were demanding. claim. He has argued that China BEN CARSON: “Every time ——— keeps its currency undervalued by we raise the minimum wage, the MARCO RUBIO: “Welders 15 percent to 40 percent, which number of jobless people increases.” make more money than philoso- would make its exports cheaper and THE FACTS: Actually, that phers.” more attractive overseas. Yet the usually doesn’t happen. When the Not so, on average. Peterson Institute for International minimum wage was increased in Rubio is arguing that the U.S. has (FRQRPLFV ZKLFK KDG FULWLFL]HG China for keeping its currency arti- ¿FLDOO\ORZFRQFOXGHGLQWKDW China’s currency by then was fully valued. The International Monetary Fund has reached the same conclu- sion. ——— FIORINA: “Obamacare isn’t really helping anyone.” THE FACTS: Public opinion remains divided over Obama’s health care law, but it’s clearly helping many people. In the two years since the law’s coverage expansion began, the share of Americans without health insurance has declined to 9 percent, a historic low. That translates to roughly 16 million people gaining coverage, even as the economy and hiring have been improving. Also as a result of “Obamacare,” people with pre-existing health conditions can no longer be turned away by insurers, and everyone is required to have coverage or face ¿QHV While the coverage mandate in Obama’s law remains highly unpopular, state-run high-risk health insurance pools like the one Fiorina proposes to replace the law have been tried before by many states and failed to solve the coverage problem. The main reason was cost. The risk pools grouped people who couldn’t get private insurance because of health problems, resulting in very high premiums and pricing out low-income people. Some risk pools had long waiting lists. As a rule, broad insurance pools that include lots of healthy people seem to be better for covering people with health problems than SURJUDPV VSHFL¿FDOO\ WDUJHWHG WR that group. BRIEFLY Storm brings tornadoes in Midwest Najim Rahim via AP, File In this Oct. 16 file photo, the charred remains of the Doctors Without Borders hospital is seen after being hit by a U.S. airstrike in Kunduz, Afghanistan. U.S. troops had no eyes on Afghan hospital recommendation of Afghan IRUFHVWKHRI¿FLDOVDLG Members of the unit have WASHINGTON — Immediately after the U.S. told Rep. Duncan Hunter, a killed at least 30 people in California Republican who a devastating airstrike on serves on the House Armed a charity hospital, Afghan- Services Committee, that istan’s national security they were unaware their adviser told a European target was a functioning diplomat his country would hospital until the attack was take responsibility because over, said Joe Kasper, Hunt- “we are without doubt, 100 er’s spokesman. Looking ahead, the percent convinced the place was occupied by Taliban,” strike raises questions about according to notes of the whether the U.S. military meeting reviewed by The can rely on intelligence from Afghan allies in a war in Associated Press. More than a month later, which small contingents of no evidence has emerged Americans will increasingly to support that assertion. ¿JKWZLWKODUJHUXQLWVRIORFDO Eyewitnesses tell the AP forces. Also at issue is how the they saw no gunmen at the target was vetted. American hospital. Instead, there are commanders, with sophisti- mounting indications the cated information technology U.S. military relied heavily at their disposal, allowed the on Afghan allies who strike to go forward despite resented the internationally reports in their databases that run Doctors Without Borders the hospital was functioning. hospital, which treated Even if armed Taliban Afghan security forces and ¿JKWHUV KDG EHHQ KLGLQJ Taliban alike but says it inside, the U.S. acknowl- refused to admit armed men. edges it would not have The new evidence EHHQMXVWL¿HGLQGHVWUR\LQJD includes details the AP has ZRUNLQJ KRVSLWDO ¿OOHG ZLWK learned about the location wounded patients. Jailani, a 31-year-old of American troops during the attack. The U.S. special mechanic who uses only forces unit whose commander one name, says he was at called in the strike was under the hospital to see his broth- ¿UHLQWKH.XQGX]SURYLQFLDO er-in-law, Ibrahim, who was governor’s compound a half- admitted two days before the mile away from the hospital, airstrike. “On the day of the attack according to a former LQWHOOLJHQFH RI¿FLDO ZKR I was in the hospital from 9 has reviewed documents a.m. until 5 a.m. During that describing the incident. The time, the Taliban came in commander could not see without guns, as patients or the medical facility — so accompanying their patients, FRXOGQ¶W NQRZ ¿UVWKDQG or sometimes they came to whether the Taliban were take their dead out,” he said. using it as a base — and “They did not have permis- sought the attack on the sion to enter the hospital with Associated Press their guns.” President Barack Obama KDVDSRORJL]HGIRUWKHDWWDFN The Pentagon has said it was a mistake that resulted from both human and technical errors, and it is investigating, along with NATO and the Afghan government. “No other nation in the history of warfare has gone to the lengths we do to avoid civilian casualties,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said in a statement. “And when we make a mistake, we will not only own up to it, we will DOVRVFUXWLQL]HDOORIWKHIDFWV to learn from them so that it never happens again.” The attack by an AC-130 gunship came after days RI KHDY\ ¿JKWLQJ LQ WKH northern Afghanistan city. About 35 members of the 3rd Special Forces Group had been helping about 100 Afghan special forces VROGLHUVUHWDNH.XQGX]IURP the Taliban, the former U.S. LQWHOOLJHQFH RI¿FLDO VDLG From their position in the governor’s compound, they came under heavy assault by 7DOLEDQ ¿JKWHUV DQG VRXJKW to use air power to destroy the Taliban’s remaining command and control nodes around the city. The Afghans insisted the hospital was one of those command centers, and urged that it be destroyed, the IRUPHURI¿FLDOVDLG The AP has reported that some American intelligence suggested the Taliban were using the hospital. Special forces and Army intelligence analysts were sifting through reports of heavy weapons at the compound, and they were tracking a Pakistani intelligence operative they believed was there. It’s unclear how much of that intelligence came from Afghan special forces. They had raided the hospital in July, seeking an al-Qaida member they believed was being treated, despite protests from Doctors Without Borders. After the Amer- ican air attack, the Afghan soldiers rushed in, looking IRU7DOLEDQ ¿JKWHUV 'RFWRUV Without Borders said. The U.S. 3rd Special Forces Group knew the hospital was treating patients, according to a daily log by RQH RI LWV VHQLRU RI¿FHUV written Oct. 2. But 3rd Group also believed the compound was under the control of the Taliban, the daily log says, without explaining why. That belief was so pervasive in the Pentagon that Carter Malka- sian, a senior adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, emailed Doctors without Borders two days before the attack to ask about it. He was told it wasn’t true. It’s not clear exactly what the 3rd Group commander who directed the strike knew about the hospital, and why he made the decision to attack. Nor is it known who in the chain of command reviewed and approved the decision, or what those people knew. $IJKDQRI¿FLDOVVD\WKHLU forces were also a half mile away, and therefore could not KDYH EHHQ XQGHU GLUHFW ¿UH from the hospital. The hospital was among the only brightly lit buildings LQ.XQGX]DWQLJKW DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A storm system moved east into several Midwest states Wednesday, bringing strong winds, large hail and reports of tornadoes, after initially dumping a foot of snow on the Rockies. The National Weather Service said the system carried thunderstorms into parts of Iowa and northern Missouri and was expected to linger in those states for several more hours before heading farther east. That meant thunderstorms, large hail and damaging winds of up to 60 mph in some areas, particularly in a region southwest of Des Moines and northeast of Kansas City. +LVRI¿FHKDGUHFHLYHG reports of tornadoes, but he said they could not be YHUL¿HGXQWLOVXUYH\WHDPV were sent to the affected areas, which included a county in southeast Nebraska and two counties in southwest Iowa. There were some reports of damage to buildings in Adams County, Iowa, the site of one of the reported WRUQDGRHV+HVDLGRI¿FLDOV were still gathering information. The same storm system SDFNHGEOL]]DUGOLNH conditions for portions of Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas, the weather service said. Myanmar to transition to democracy YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar’s president has promised a peaceful transfer of power to the victorious party of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in general elections, ensuring that the country’s march toward greater democracy after decades of military rule will not be derailed. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy said Wednesday it received a message from Information Minister Ye Htut on behalf of President Thein Sein congratulating it for leading the race for parliamentary seats in the Nov. 8 election. The message helps remove lingering concerns that the military, which has DODUJHLQÀXHQFHRYHUWKH ruling party, may deny the NLD power, as it did after elections in 1990. It also means that Myanmar is likely to soon KDYHLWV¿UVWJRYHUQPHQWLQ decades that isn’t under the military’s sway. But while an NLD victory virtually assures it of being able to elect the president as well, Suu Kyi remains barred from becoming president by a constitutional provision inserted by the military before it transferred power to a quasi-civilian government in 2011. Suu Kyi has declared, however, that she will become the country’s de facto leader. Free Car Seat Check November 13, 2015 10:00 am - 1:00 pm St. Anthony Hospital Parking Lot 7 out of 10 children are improperly restrained for travel. Come and get your seat checked by a Child Passenger Safety Technician and make sure your child is as safe as possible! For more information, call 541-278-2627 2801 St. Anthony Way Pendleton, OR 97801 www.sahpendleton.org