The V.P. Debate – The New York Instances

Would you like to receive The Morning by email? Here is the registration.

Good Morning. Mike Pence and Kamala Harris meet in the campaign’s only vice presidential debate. We break it open.

Mike Pence and Kamala Harris are both seasoned debaters. And their debate last night was much easier to follow than last week’s presidential debate.

There was also a problem with the Vice Presidential debate: Pence made repeated statements that were either misleading or untrue.

Instead of setting out his honest disagreements with Harris and Joe Biden – whether it be over tax policy, abortion, policing, immigration, the environment, or a host of other issues – Pence misrepresented the Trump administration and Biden’s records.

To be clear, both Pence and Harris were at times occupied with slight exaggerations and rhetorical flourishes. That’s normal in politics. Harris, for example, exaggerated the job losses caused by President Trump’s trade war with China. But Pence was far more dishonest. In several places he seemed to want to run on a record that didn’t exist.

Here is a partial list:

The most disappointing aspect of Pence’s performance is that he has deep disagreements with Harris and Biden that are not dependent on bias. It is entirely possible to make fact-based arguments against higher taxes for the rich. or commonly available abortions; or high immigration; or new restrictions for the police.

But Pence didn’t do that.

A strong moment for every candidate: Harris’ opening speech holding the government accountable for the dire coronavirus toll in the US; Pence celebrates the Trump administration’s turn to a more hawkish stance on China, which has since become a non-partisan consensus.

Speaking time: Despite the Vice-President’s repeated interruptions, the two debaters spoke for almost the same amount of time: almost 36 minutes and 30 seconds.

Unanswered questions: Harris refused to answer Pence’s direct question whether Democrats would increase the number of Supreme Court justices. Pence didn’t respond when the host asked him why America’s pandemic death toll was disproportionate to the population and what he would do if Trump refused to accept the election results.

Immediate polls after the debate: Fifty-nine percent thought Harris won, 38 percent thought pence won, according to CNN’s poll.

• Oil production in Venezuela has slowed to its lowest level in nearly a century due to years of mismanagement and US sanctions. A decade ago, the country was Latin America’s largest oil producer.

• The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded today to Louise Glück, the American poet, “for her unmistakable poetic voice which, with its austere beauty, makes individual existence universal.”

• The Justice Department charged two British members of an Islamic state cell of kidnapping, detaining and killing hostages, including journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

• States along the Gulf Coast were under storm warnings on Thursday, watching the Hurricane Delta, which Mexico had largely spared the day before, migrated north.

• Maya Wiley, a former top attorney for Mayor Bill de Blasio, announced her candidacy for Mayor of New York City. Wiley did not name de Blasio, who will have to step down next year over term restrictions, but said New Yorkers were facing a “crisis of confidence in the governance of our city.”

• Prosecutors have charged six current and former chicken industry executives with price fixing, the Wall Street Journal reported.

• A Kenyan court convicted two men of their roles in a 2013 terrorist attack on an upscale shopping mall in the state capital, Nairobi, in which 67 people were killed.

• Lived life: Singer, actor and record label owner Johnny Nash helped bring reggae music to mainstream American audiences with his 1972 hit “I Can See Clearly Now”. He died at the age of 80.

IDEA OF THE DAY: Remote debates

Holding a face-to-face debate during a pandemic carries risks, regardless of how many precautions the debate organizers take. And the precautionary measures for last night’s debate were rather weak, as experts from my colleague Apoorva Mandavilli said.

This morning the Presidential Debate Commission said the next Trump-Biden debate would be virtual rather than face-to-face. The President immediately replied: “I will not have a virtual debate.”

The precedent for a remote debate dates back to the first year of the President’s televised debates. Frank Donatelli, former aide to Ronald Reagan, writes in RealClearPolitics:

On October 13, 1960, Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John Kennedy discussed for the third time, this time on a continent. Nixon was in a studio in Los Angeles, Kennedy in an identical studio in New York, and a group of four questioners and host Jack Shadel of ABC was in a third location in Los Angeles.

There are several advantages to this remote format, noted Donatelli. There is no audience that can be interrupted. Candidates cannot perform stunts, such as walking towards their opponent. And the moderator can control the microphones if one candidate keeps interrupting the other.

Donatelli wrote his article in May, before the coronavirus infected Trump and parts of his inner circle. Donatelli’s conclusion: “Let the virtual debates of 2020 begin.”

Experiment with tofu

These fluffy tofu scrambled eggs offer a satisfying combination of flavors and textures that can transform even the greatest tofu infidel. Spring onions, soy sauce, and cumin seeds season the dish, and cooked vegetables or leafy greens make delicious additions. Serve with potatoes, tortillas or salad.

Meet Bad Bunny

The Puerto Rican reggaetonero Bad Bunny dominates global pop on its own terms.

He has flexible attitudes towards gender and sexuality; he paints his nails purple; and he often talks about depression. His album “YHLQMDLG” became the most Spanish-language album of all time. And he cracked “the gringo market” – as he calls it – “without assimilating, without making the only concession that seemed inevitable: his mother tongue”, writes Carina del Valle Schorske in a profile of the artist.

Welcome to the homecoming

At historically black colleges and universities, coming home is more than a football game. It’s a tradition that is similar to a family gathering. This year most schools canceled their celebrations due to the pandemic. While it doesn’t, this collection of videos, photos, and past homecoming memories help celebrate the spirit of the event.