NATION/WORLD
Thursday, October 17, 2019
East Oregonian
A7
AP fact check: Dems fl ub details on climate, guns
By HOPE YEN, CALVIN
WOODWARD AND
SETH BORENSTEIN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A
dozen Democrats seeking the
presidency tussled in a debate
packed with policy, fl ubbing
some details in the process.
Several gave an iffy
explanation of why they’re
not swinging behind a bold
proposal to make people turn
over their assault-style weap-
ons. Sloppiness also crept in
during robust exchanges over
foreign policy, health care,
taxes and more. And when
climate change briefl y came
up, its threat to the planet was
exaggerated.
How some of their claims
from Westerville, Ohio, on
Tuesday night stack up with
the facts:
Climate change
Bernie Sanders: “We’re
forgetting about the existen-
tial threat of climate change.”
“Right now the CEOs in the
fossil fuel industry know
full well that their product
is destroying this world and
they continue to make huge
profi ts.”
The facts: Earth’s exis-
tence and life on the planet
will not end because of cli-
mate change, as the Vermont
senator asserts. Fossil fuels
do not have Earth on a path
of destruction.
Science says climate
change is dramatic and will
cause harm, but it won’t
wipe out everything and
won’t end humanity.
“It’s an existential threat
for many species. It’s an exis-
tential threat for many eco-
systems. I don’t think it’s an
existential threat for human-
ity,” said Princeton Univer-
sity climate scientist Michael
Oppenheimer.
The Earth will still exist
and so will humans, but the
way we live and the planet
will be dramatically different
if burning of fossil fuels con-
tinues unabated, said Oppen-
heimer, a co-author of many
of the most dire international
science reports on climate
change.
“Existential” has per-
haps lost its literal meaning,
as politicians in general and
Democrats in particular cast
many threats as existential
ones even when existence is
not on the line. In the debate,
for example, Sen. Cory
Booker described the closing
of two Planned Parenthood
clinics in Ohio as an existen-
tial threat to abortion rights
in America.
Syria
Joe Biden: “I would not
have withdrawn the troops,
and I would not have with-
drawn the additional 1,000
troops that are in Iraq, which
are in retreat now, being fi red
on by Assad’s people.”
The facts: The former vice
president is wrong. There is
no evidence that any of the
approximately 1,000 Ameri-
can troops preparing to evac-
uate from Syria have been
fi red on by Syrian govern-
ment forces led by Presi-
dent Bashar Assad. A small
Buttigieg was citing the
chance for an assault-weap-
ons ban as a reason for not
supporting the more radical
proposal by Democratic pres-
idential rival Beto O’Rourke
to force gun owners to give
up AR-15s and other assault-
style weapons. Klobuchar
spoke in a similar context.
sion in late 2007 also con-
tributed to manufacturing’s
decline.
Warren is basing her
claim that trade policy mat-
tered more than automation
on research from the Upjohn
Institute that suggests rel-
atively modest productiv-
ity gains in manufacturing
outside of the computer and
electronics sectors, a sign to
those researchers that trade
policy mattered more for job
losses.
But there is also a big-
ger threat from automation
for workers outside factories.
These are secretaries, book-
keepers and a wide array of
professions. Automation can
displace these workers and
put downward pressure on
their wages, forcing them to
fi nd other jobs.
Jobs
AP Photo/John Minchillo
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders,
I-Vt., left, former Vice President Joe Biden, center, and
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., raise their hands to speak
during a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by
CNN/New York Times at Otterbein University on Tuesday in
Westerville, Ohio.
group of U.S. troops came
under Turkish artillery fi re
near the town of Kobani last
week, without anyone being
injured, but there is no indi-
cation that Syrian troops
have shot at withdrawing
Americans.
Also, Biden was address-
ing the situation in Syria, not
Iraq.
Gun control
Pete Buttigieg: “On guns,
we are this close to an assault
weapons ban. That would be
huge.”
Amy Klochubar: “I just
keep thinking of how close
we are to fi nally getting
something done on this.”
The facts: No, the U.S.
is not close to enacting an
assault-weapons ban, as
Buttigieg claimed, nor close
on any signifi cant gun con-
trol, as Klobuchar had it.
Congress is not on the verge
of such legislation. Pros-
pects for an assault-weapons
ban, in particular, are bound
to remain slim until the next
election at least.
Legislation under dis-
cussion in the Senate would
expand background checks
for gun sales, a politically
popular idea even with gun
owners. But even that bill has
stalled because of opposition
from the National Rifl e Asso-
ciation and on-again, off-
again support from Trump.
Democrats and some Repub-
licans in Congress say they
will continue to push for the
background checks bill, but
movement appears unlikely
during an impeachment
inquiry and general dysfunc-
tion in Congress. And Sen-
ate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell has made it
clear he won’t move forward
on gun legislation without
Trump’s strong support.
Elizabeth Warren: “The
data show that we’ve had a
lot of problems with losing
jobs, but the principal rea-
son has been bad trade pol-
icy. The principal reason has
been a bunch of corporations,
giant multinational corpora-
tions who’ve been calling the
shots on trade.”
The facts: Economists
mostly blame those job losses
on automation and robots, not
trade deals.
So the Massachusetts sen-
ator is off.
Let’s start by acknowl-
edging that the U.S. economy
has been adding jobs, just
that the nature of those jobs
has changed as factory work
and other occupations have
become less prevalent.
Trade with China has
contributed to shuttered
factories and the loss of
roughly 2 million jobs,
according to research pub-
lished in 2014.
But the primary culprit
that accounted for 88% of
factory job losses between
2000 and 2010 was automa-
tion, according to researchers
at Ball State University.
Job fi gures show that the
outbreak of the Great Reces-
Health care
Warren: Buttigieg’s Medi-
care buy-in option is “Medi-
care for all who can afford it.”
The facts: Warren ignored
the fact that Buttigieg would
provide subsidies to help
people pay premiums for the
plan.
She was jabbing at Butt-
igieg’s proposal to create an
optional health insurance
plan based on Medicare.
Individual Americans could
join it, even those covered by
employer plans.
Buttigieg calls it “Medi-
care for all who want it.”
His plan tracks with
Biden’s health care proposal.
Biden would also provide
subsidies for those who pick
his “public option.”
Trump dismisses U.S. stakes in Syria: ‘Let them fi ght’
By ROBERT BURNS
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
Washing his hands of Amer-
ica’s presence in Syria, Presi-
dent Donald Trump declared
Wednesday the U.S. has no
stake in supporting the Kurd-
ish fi ghters who died by
the thousands as U.S. part-
ners against Islamic State
extremists.
Condemnation of his
stance was quick and severe,
not only from Democrats but
from Republicans who have
been staunch Trump support-
ers on virtually all issues.
The House, bitterly divided
over the Trump impeachment
inquiry, banded together for
an overwhelming 354-60
denunciation of the U.S. troop
withdrawal. Many lawmakers
expressed worry that it may
lead to revival of IS as well as
Russian presence and infl u-
ence in the area — in addition
to slaughter of many Kurds.
At the White House,
Trump said the U.S. has no
business in the region — and
not to worry about the Kurd-
ish fi ghters.
“They know how to fi ght,”
he said. “And by the way,
they’re no angels.”
Trump said he is fulfi ll-
ing a campaign promise to
bring U.S. troops home from
“endless wars” in the Middle
East — casting aside criticism
that a sudden U.S. withdrawal
from Syria not only betrays
the Kurdish fi ghters but stains
U.S. credibility around the
world and opens an import-
ant region to Russia, which is
moving in.
“We have a situation
where Turkey is taking land
from Syria. Syria’s not happy
about it. Let them work it out,”
Trump said. “They have a
problem at a border. It’s not
our border. We shouldn’t be
losing lives over it.”
Trump said he was sending
Vice President Mike Pence
and Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo to Ankara to urge
the Turks to halt their week-
long offensive into northeast-
ern Syria. But his remarks,
fi rst to reporters in the Oval
Offi ce and later at a news con-
ference with his Italian coun-
terpart, suggested he sees lit-
tle at stake for America.
“Syria may have some help
with Russia, and that’s fi ne,”
he said. “They’ve got a lot of
sand over there. So, there’s a
lot of sand that they can play
with.”
He added, “Let them fi ght
their own wars.”
More than once, Trump
suggested the United States
has little at stake in the Mid-
dle East because it is geo-
graphically distant — a notion
shared by some prior to Sept.
11, 2001, when al-Qaida mil-
itants used Afghanistan as
a base from which to attack
the U.S. That attack set off
a series of armed confl icts,
including in Iraq, that Trump
considers a waste of Ameri-
can lives and treasure.
The current withdrawal is
the worst decision of Trump’s
presidency, said South Car-
olina Sen. Lindsey Graham,
who meets often with the
president and is one of his
strongest and most important
supporters in Congress.
“To those who think the
Mideast doesn’t matter to
America, remember 9/11 —
we had that same attitude
on 9/10/2001.”
Senate Republican leader
Mitch McConnell of Ken-
tucky said he strongly dis-
agreed with Trump and had
told the president so. But
he asked, “What tools do
we have” to back up that
disagreement?
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.,
told reporters he didn’t
know what could be done
to undo the harm he felt was
resulting.
“There are some mistakes
that are not easy to reverse.
And there are some that are
irreversible,” said Rubio, who
was a Trump rival for the
GOP presidential nomination
in 2016.
Turkish troops and Turk-
ish-backed Syrian fi ght-
ers launched their offensive
against Kurdish forces in
northern Syria a week ago,
two days after Trump sud-
denly announced he was with-
drawing the U.S. from the
area. President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan has said he wants to
create a 20-mile-deep “safe
zone” in Syria.
Ankara has long argued
the Kurdish fi ghters are
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by the U.S. military in car-
rying out his instructions to
withdraw all 1,000 troops
in northeastern Syria. He
referred to the approxi-
mately two dozen soldiers
who evacuated from Tur-
key’s initial attack zone last
week, but cast that as mean-
ing the U.S. has “largely”
completed its pullout.
nothing more than an exten-
sion of the Kurdistan Work-
ers Party, or PKK, which has
waged a guerrilla campaign
inside Turkey since the 1980s
and which Turkey, as well
as the U.S. and European
Union, designate as a terror-
ist organization.
Trump mischaracterized
the progress made thus far
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From the archives of the Athena Public Library, City
of Echo, Milton-Freewater Area Historical Society,
Pendleton Round-up, Tamástslikt Cultural Institute
and Umatilla County Historical Society