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      How CBS Will Fact Check the Walz-Vance VP Debate

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      CBS is experimenting with a novel way to offer real-time fact-checking of the vice-presidential debate on Tuesday. Just don’t expect the moderators to frequently jump in.The journalistic dilemma of how to fact-check national candidates on the debate stage has cropped up again and again in the 2024 election.Should CNN’s moderators — who were relatively passive when President Biden debated former President Donald J. Trump in June — have been quicker to interject? Should ABC’s moderators — who politely but firmly clarified several of Mr. Trump’s outlandish claims at the second debate on Sept. 10 — have stayed quiet?Moderation is an art, not a science. But CBS News, host of Tuesday’s vice-presidential matchup between Senator JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz, is using technology to try something new.A QR code — the checkerboard-like, black-and-white box that can be scanned by a smartphone — will appear onscreen for long stretches of the CBS telecast. Viewers who scan the code will be directed to the CBS News website, where a squad of about 20 CBS journalists will post fact-checks of the candidates’ remarks in real time.The code will appear only on CBS; viewers who tune in on a different channel will not see it. (Nearly every major network will simulcast the debate, starting at 9 p.m. Eastern) But it is a novel approach to guide viewers, already accustomed to watching TV while hovering over a smartphone or laptop, to supplemental journalistic material elsewhere.“The idea is to give people that second-screen experience,” said Claudia Milne, the senior vice president for standards and practices at CBS News, adding, “The audience can get the takeaway they need in a responsible and smart way.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      We Watched Vance’s Old Debates. Here’s What We Learned.

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      Senator JD Vance assumed his first public office just last year. But to win that job, he had to survive about a dozen debates, sharpening his chops when facing opponents onstage.Some politicians enjoy mixing it up with crowds on the campaign trail, while others revel in fund-raising.JD Vance loves debates.Mr. Vance, the first-term Republican senator from Ohio, will get his moment on the most prominent stage of his fledgling political career on Tuesday, when he represents Donald J. Trump’s presidential ticket in a matchup against his Democratic rival, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.It’s a moment he has been anticipating for months.Mr. Vance spoke eagerly about the vice-presidential debate shortly after being named to Mr. Trump’s ticket in July. When President Biden dropped out of the race, Mr. Vance reacted with disappointment — because now he would no longer debate Vice President Kamala Harris.“Talk about take-backs,” Mr. Vance said at his first solo campaign event. “I was told I was going to get to debate Kamala Harris, and now President Trump’s going to get to debate her. I’m kind of pissed off about that if I’m being honest with you.”For his face-off with Mr. Walz, Mr. Vance has been busy with debate prep, including semiregular “murder board” sessions in which his top advisers pummel him with pointed questions and heated attacks.But his biggest advantage may be his recent experience. While Mr. Vance, 40, assumed his first public office just last year, to win that job he had to survive a gantlet of about a dozen primary and general-election debates.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      We Watched Tim Walz’s Old Debates. Here’s What We Learned.

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      He may not be a lofty orator, but he has shown an ability to deliver punchy critiques with Everyman appeal.Before he was known to the nation as an affable Midwestern dad and a vice-presidential nominee, Tim Walz was a fast-talking political long shot in an ill-fitting suit, spoiling, in his Minnesotan way, for a debate-stage fight.As he stood next to his opponent — a crisply dressed six-term Republican congressman — Mr. Walz, a teacher by training, offered viewers a stark contrast at that 2006 debate, hosted by KSMQ-TV. Mr. Walz cast their choice as one between a political insider focused on “moving up in elected office” and the alternative he said he represented: “I live in the world that most of you live in.”Mr. Walz sparred with Gil Gutknecht, then the Republican incumbent, in a 2006 congressional debate.KSMQ-TV, via C-SPANNearly two decades later, Mr. Walz is the one who has moved up in elected office, rising from congressman to governor and now, Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate. He is set to face Senator JD Vance of Ohio, former President Donald J. Trump’s running mate, in a high-profile debate on Tuesday.Mr. Walz and his allies have tried to set expectations high for Mr. Vance, emphasizing his Yale Law School credentials. And Mr. Vance is a practiced verbal pugilist who seems to delight in combative exchanges on cable news and Sunday morning shows.But a review of a half-dozen recorded debates over Mr. Walz’s career makes clear that while the camo-wearing, car-tinkering man from Mankato may not be his party’s most stirring speaker, he is in fact a seasoned debater himself.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Is Paying Kids to Read a Wise Strategy?

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      More from our inbox:Trump and the Psychiatrists: Is He Unfit to Serve?The Folly of a Second DebateA Heartwarming Story of Immigrants in the Heartland Tara BoothTo the Editor:Re “To Persuade a Reluctant Tween to Read, Try Cash,” by Mireille Silcoff (Opinion guest essay, Sept. 8):While I appreciate Ms. Silcoff’s desire to have her daughter experience the joys of reading, I seriously doubt that paying her daughter to read “worked.” While the monetary reward persuaded her daughter to read the book in the short term, it was unlikely to facilitate the motivation to read, which must feel like a choice and unpressured.Decades of research have shown that paying people to do things they love undermines their subsequent motivation, and paying them to complete tasks they do not enjoy keeps the motivation tied to rewards so that they are less likely to value the activity and choose to engage in it on their own.The belief in rewards as an effective motivator is a myth; other strategies are more likely to facilitate long-term motivation. Rewards are a simple fix that is likely to backfire.Wendy S. GrolnickLongmeadow, Mass.The writer is professor emeritus of psychology at Clark University and co-author of “Motivation Myth Busters: Science-Based Strategies to Boost Motivation in Yourself and Others.”To the Editor:I loved this guest essay because that’s precisely what I did 20 years ago when my husband and I traveled for our yearly two-week vacation to the beach with my daughter, two nephews and three other children who often vacationed with us.I offered each child a new book of their choice and $20 if they finished it before the trip was over. All of the kids got the $20 to use during two hours on their own at souvenir shops, and this reading challenge became a standard of our summer vacations.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Pete Buttigieg Plays Vance in Walz’s Debate Prep

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      Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota is intensifying his preparations for the vice-presidential debate on Oct. 1, with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg serving as a stand-in for his opponent, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, according to five people with direct knowledge of the preparations, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the private efforts.Mr. Buttigieg, one of the Democratic Party’s most skilled communicators and a fixture on Fox News, played a similar role for Kamala Harris in 2020, acting as Vice President Mike Pence in her mock debate sessions. Mr. Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Ind., is now trying to channel another fellow Midwesterner in Mr. Vance.Mr. Walz’s debate prep is being run by two campaign advisers, Rob Friedlander and Zayn Siddique, according to multiple people with knowledge of the process. Others who are involved include Chris Schmitter, a longtime Walz aide who has worked with the governor for nearly two decades; Liz Allen, Mr. Walz’s campaign chief of staff; and Michael Tyler, the Harris campaign’s communications director, the people said.Mr. Buttigieg has won acclaim from Democrats for his deft performances on Fox News, parrying hosts and delivering the administration’s message behind enemy lines. He had been helping Mr. Walz’s debate team via video conference, but joined the preparations in-person on Wednesday in Minneapolis. So far the sessions have been informal — no lights, stage sets or dress rehearsals — but Mr. Walz is expected to do a more intensive debate camp before the matchup in New York City.Mr. Buttigieg has clearly watched Mr. Vance closely. Asked on MSNBC in late July what he would like to debate Mr. Vance about, Mr. Buttigieg quipped, “Where do you start?”“They selected somebody who has really reminded so many Americans of why they are off-put by the turn that the Republican Party has taken in the last few years,” he said. “What I would most want to see in that debate, whoever is at the table with him, is getting into that relationship between the strange worldview and a strange set of policies.”The Washington Post earlier reported on Mr. Buttigieg’s role in the debate preparations.Mr. Walz, a Nebraska native who leans into his down-home persona on the campaign trail, has begun to set debate expectations, noting that Mr. Vance is a “Yale Law guy” whom he expects will be well-prepared.“I believe in America, I believe in the middle class and I’m making sure that I have all those facts to back that up,” Mr. Walz told Spectrum News in Wisconsin on Saturday.A representative for Mr. Vance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the role that the Harvard-educated Mr. Buttigieg is playing, or on the debate more broadly.The officials who described Mr. Walz’s debate preparations and Mr. Buttigieg’s involvement said the transportation secretary’s assistance was coming in his personal capacity, as have so many of his appearances aiding the Democratic presidential ticket. More

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      Elizabeth Warren: Don’t Be Fooled. Donald Trump Has a Plan.

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      During the presidential debate on Tuesday, Donald Trump was pressed on the details of his plan to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something “better.” The question should’ve been a softball. After all, Mr. Trump has been promising the American people a plan for nine years, so he’s had time to prepare. His answer? After ducking and weaving, he came up with: “I have concepts of a plan.” Uh, that’s not a plan.Plans translate values into action. They test the quality of the ideas and the seriousness of the people advancing them. Plans reveal for whom candidates will fight and how effective they are likely to be. And in a presidential race, if either party’s nominee is asked about his or her plans for something as fundamental as health care, voters should get a straight answer.The problem is not that Mr. Trump can’t think up a way to put his values into action. The problem is that when he and other Republican leaders produce plans with actual details, they horrify the American people.Mr. Trump’s health care values have been on full display for years. In 2017, Republicans controlled Congress, and their first major legislative undertaking was a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Every time they drafted something, independent experts would point out that their plan would toss tens of millions of people off their health insurance, jack up premium costs and slash benefits for those with ongoing health problems.After months of wrangling, Mr. Trump and Republican lawmakers voted a bill through the House to repeal the A.C.A. That night, Mr. Trump hosted a party at the White House to celebrate their big step toward taking away health care from millions of people.A.C.A. repeal then moved to the Senate. Republicans had the majority, so if they all stuck with Mr. Trump, the A.C.A. would die. As senators gathered to vote, nearly all of the Democrats — including Kamala Harris, then a senator from California — remained standing, too anxious even to sit down. We murmured stories about who would be affected by this vote: the uncle who had cancer and would lose coverage, the kid diagnosed with a heart anomaly whose parents wouldn’t be able to find new insurance, the college students who would just go without coverage and hope they didn’t fall on ice or get in a car accident. We felt the weight of people’s lives on the line.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      D.E.I. in College, Attacked and Defended

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      More from our inbox:Why Trump Doesn’t Want Another DebateTrump’s Mental FitnessCancel the Sentinel Missile ProgramA Walker in Manhattan Eli DurstTo the Editor:Re “D.E.I. Is Not Working in Colleges. We Need a New Approach,” by Paul Brest and Emily J. Levine (Opinion guest essay, Sept. 5):Mr. Brest and Dr. Levine underscore the importance of inclusion for all students’ academic success. I agree: For students to succeed, they must have access to a rigorous learning environment in which they also feel they matter.But I disagree with the professors on the history and roles of diversity offices that are responsible for fostering such a sense of belonging. Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in higher education are mission-driven, evidence-backed, research-informed and tailored to meet the particular needs of each campus.These practices seek to bring people together and collaboratively eliminate barriers to success, and they have evolved with legislative and judicial efforts to address decades of discrimination against protected categories under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.Given the complexities of differing institutional types, historical legacies and current contexts, the solution includes acknowledging that we live in a pluralist society, that we can value differences as a community of learners, and that doing so is not contrary to academic freedom and critical thinking.There is work ahead to ensure we can continue to meet the needs of our ever-evolving communities. There always will be work ahead; the pursuit of progress is, by definition, unending.Paulette Granberry RussellWashingtonThe writer is the president and C.E.O. of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump Calls for Ending Taxes on Overtime Pay in Tucson Speech

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      Although it had been billed as an event focused on housing and the economy, former President Donald J. Trump spent much of a meandering speech on Thursday in Tucson, Ariz., venting his grievances over his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.But when he eventually did turn to the section on economic issues, Mr. Trump made a new proposal as he sought to win the votes of working- and middle-class Americans: He called for eliminating taxes on overtime pay.“The people who work overtime are among the hardest-working citizens in our country, and for too long, no one in Washington has been looking out for them,” Mr. Trump said. “Those are the people that really work. They’re police officers, nurses, factory workers, construction workers, truck drivers and machine operators.”Mr. Trump’s speech was his first campaign event since a debate performance on Tuesday night that some of his allies have admitted fell short. Mr. Trump insisted to around 2,000 supporters in Tucson that it was a “monumental victory” for him that rendered the need for a subsequent debate unnecessary.“Because we’ve done two debates and because they were successful, there will be no third debate,” Mr. Trump said, repeating a declaration he made earlier on his social media platform, Truth Social.Even as he maintained that he had triumphed, Mr. Trump spent significant time during his speech bashing the debate’s host, ABC News, and its moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More