Tag Archives: Debate
A Debate Heats Up over California’s ‘Zone Zero’ Rules to Cut Home Losses to Flammable Vegetation
After years of delay, California is rushing to finalize its rules requiring a five-foot ember-resistant perimeter around homes in areas of the state facing high wildfire risks.
The science supporting the benefits of keeping this buffer zone, known as “zone zero,” clear of anything likely to catch fire and ignite the side of a building is well established. But as the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection moves forward, they’re encountering pushback from an unexpected corner.
A handful of scientists involved in fire research have questioned a piece of the proposal that would require removing non-tree vegetation in zone zero, noting that the role of landscaping plants in spreading fires, particularly if they’re hydrated and well-maintained, has not been sufficiently studied to support their complete removal.
“The question isn’t whether zone zero is important because it is,”
said...
VP Debate Night: Vance Sanitized Trumpism, Walz Called Himself a Knucklehead
Politics tamfitronics If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIREDVice Presidential candidates governor Tim Walz and US senator JD Vance faced off last night in their first and only debate. Will Vance’s repackaging of Trump’s record on issues like abortion and January 6 land with independents and swing state voters? Where was the fiery Walz who won social media by calling Republicans “weird?” And will any of this really matter on election day? WIRED’s Tim Marchman and Makena Kelly join Leah to discuss.Leah Feiger is @LeahFeiger. Makena Kelly is @kellymakena. Tim Marchman is @timmarchman. Write to us at [email protected]. Be sure to subscribe to the WIRED Politics Lab newsletter here.Mentioned this week:No, Tim Walz Is Not...
The VP Debate Shows How Performance Shapes Our Democracy
Politics tamfitronics What are Vice Presidential debates for? In the frenzy of deciding what to think after a debate that basic question often gets lost. Debates generate a distinct news cycle as mainstream media plan for, cover, and finally discuss and fact-check the event. Researchers are divided in how to interpret these cycles. One side says: this is all pseudo-events, generated for the media, by the media. Manufactured sites, imagined to be authentic. The other side argues, no, these debates are media events that bring societies together in a common viewing experience, offering a chance to discuss core values and particular policies, ultimately generating social cohesion.The J.D. Vance-Tim Walz VP debate was both. A maddening amount of punditry combined with moments when we had chances to consider what topics, delivered by whom, should define who...
At the presidential debate, fossil fuels and energy politics took center stage
Politics tamfitronics A month ago, it seemed unlikely that Vice President Kamala Harris would ever reach a goal she set out to achieve as a presidential hopeful in 2019. But at 9 p.m. on Tuesday night at the National Constitutional Center in Philadelphia — five-odd years after she dropped out of her first presidential race — Harris finally faced off against Donald Trump in what will likely be the only debate between the two candidates before Election Day.Harris and Trump are diametrically opposed to each other on issues ranging from national security to the economy to foreign policy, but perhaps nowhere are the candidates more at odds than on the matter of climate change: One thinks rising temperatures pose an existential threat, the...
