As with the previous debate in June between Trump and President Joe Biden, Hampton Roads viewers should look for the candidates’ positions on issues central to the region, particularly those about the military and climate change. Policies in those two areas will shape the future of coastal Virginia and should carry considerable weight with area residents.

A little more than 10 weeks ago, Biden and Trump met on a stage in Atlanta in a debate that would alter the course of the campaign and, in no small way, the future of the United States. The shortcomings of both men were made plainly obvious. Biden spoke haltingly, looking frail as he struggled to argue his positions with clarity or intensity, while Trump began with plenty of energy, but his fact-free bluster petered out over the course of 90 minutes.

For Biden, this was effectively the end of his campaign. He withdrew from the race on July 21, and formally endorsed Harris as his successor. The party coalesced around her, formally making her the Democratic nominee through a virtual roll call of delegates on Aug. 6.

Though she has been in the spotlight for weeks — holding rallies, selecting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, accepting her party’s nomination at the DNC — there is still a sense that the nation doesn’t really know Harris or what her election would mean in terms of policy.

She delivered a detailed economic policy speech in North Carolina last month and has been increasingly more specific about her plans if elected. Still, there is no better opportunity than in a debate with Trump for Americans to gain a better sense of what a Harris administration would do to improve their lives.

This is also a pivotal moment for Trump, who now faces a difficult bid for another term as president. While he led Biden in most swing states, Trump now trails Harris — and the debate may be one of the last opportunities to reverse that decline.

Trump, of course, is a known quantity, with a four-year record in office that spells out the type of leader he was and would be. On the campaign trail, though, his lengthy, often-rambling speeches are short on policy specifics and long on half-truths, grievances and promises of revenge.

For Hampton Roads voters, Tuesday’s debate may offer a chance to hear the two candidates sound off about defense policy and climate change. These two issues, more than others, will define the trajectory of the region and shape the future of our communities.

Our area is home to more than 80,000 active-duty service members and about 120,000 retirees, and the region is heavily dependent on defense spending to power its economy. As such, the policies of the next commander in chief are hugely consequential here and questions about the military deserve to play prominently at the debate.

So, too, should climate policy be central to the debate, not only for Hampton Roads but for communities across the nation threatened by extreme weather and the perils of a warming planet. The United States should be a leader, not only in defending against climate change, but in turning crisis into opportunity through the development of a green energy economy and resilience solutions for at-risk areas.

Though vice presidential candidates Walz and Sen. JD. Vance will debate each other in October, this could be the last chance to see both presidential candidates head-to-head. Hampton Roads voters should hope this event is marked by substance rather than spectacle and that Americans come away knowing more about how those vying to be the next president will address the important policy questions facing our nation.

Mayor Richard West has tarnished the name of our great city by instructing the city attorney to do discovery work for his stepbrother in Nahunta, Georgia. West acknowledged his wrongdoing, but blamed the city attorney for not advising him correctly. West then encouraged the firing of the attorney, but the attorney resigned and took a job in Charlottesville in June 2023. As mayor, he used city staff time and our money to pay for his personal business. Ethically, that is wrong.

At recent City Council meetings, West and Council member Amanda Newins have led an effort to get Councilman Don Carey to resign his council seat to run for mayor. Virginia Senate Bill 1157, passed in 2021, clearly states that “the election of its mayor, governing body, or school board at a May election shall, by ordinance, provide for the transition of such elections to the November general election date.” It further states that no term of members of council or school board shall be shortened that expires as of June 30, and shall continue in office until their successors have been elected at the November general election.

The problem is that the City Council and city attorney were negligent in changing the city charter to comply with state law. Instead, they choose to smear Carey’s reputation as a lawbreaker to hide their own incompetence. When that did not work, West and his acolytes filed suit on Aug. 28 in Circuit Court to remove his candidacy from the Nov. 5, election.

Carey is a bastion of honesty, and integrity and has a strong policy on transparency and accountability. Further, he is a family man, youth mentor through his REECH Foundation and a man of faith. He will not smear the good name of our beloved city, nor be a puppet for retired Congressman Randy Forbes. You may remember the joint letter in the previous election circulated by Rick West and Randy Forbes that smeared Councilwoman Ella Ward and council candidate Susan Vitale for failure to vote on one of their issues.

West and his acolytes on the council opposed citizens’ request to vote on changing the election system in Chesapeake from an at-large system to a single-member (ward) voting system. Chesapeake is the only large city in the commonwealth holding on to the at-large system, which by its very nature discriminates against minority voters. He is not concerned about equality in representation, but wants power and control over what happens in the city and affects our daily lives. Real estate and transportation industries have contributed $310,865 this year to his campaign. What is that about? I think you know.

On the other hand, he has not provided any leadership in providing a convocation and performing arts complex, affordable housing, nor any facility to graduate high school seniors or to accommodate our high school swimming teams.

Citizens of Chesapeake, it is time to vote for change and progress. We need new leadership if our city is to achieve progress and move Chesapeake to a better place to live, work, play, farm and serve all the people.

George F. Reed, Ph.D., is a retired educator, a U.S. Air Force veteran and president of G. and L. Associates Consulting in Chesapeake. He serves as secretary of the Chesapeake Juneteenth Foundation and is a board member of several nonprofit organizations.

On Aug. 26, former President Donald Trump appeared at Arlington National Cemetery. Federal law prohibits the taking of videos in Section 60 of the cemetery for political purposes. Nevertheless, this is what Trump did.

Is nothing sacred for Trump? Section 60 is hallowed ground.

We should not be surprised as Trump has a long history of disrespecting our military. Recently, Trump made headlines by stating that a civilian award he gave to one of his campaign donors was “much better” than the Medal of Honor. The head of Veterans of Foreign Wars called Trump’s comments “asinine.”

Retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly quoted Trump calling our fallen soldiers “suckers” and “losers.” Trump mocked Sen. John McCain who was tortured for years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

Clearly, Trump has no appreciation for the sacrifices and dedication of our military. Why would any retired or active duty member of our military vote for Trump to be our commander in chief?

James Lonergan, Virginia Beach

2024 election

Here’s what I will consider before I vote for the next president of the United States.

Precursor: Early 2024 in-person voting begins as early as 45 days prior to Nov. 5, Election Day. That’s Sept. 20 here in Virginia. Internal state voter-roll management and cleanup is difficult but a must-do for voting results validity.

Would you buy a house sight unseen and without an inspection? Absolutely not. Then why would you vote for a presidential candidate without knowing what his or her current policy positions and implementation plans are on the many significant issues that impact your life and livelihood? Simply stated, I want to see all the candidates’ cards “face up” on the table before I vote.

In a previous letter I strongly advocated for at least three presidential debates. I want to hear and see the candidates, not their surrogates, nor position statements from their staffs. This is what American voters deserve to best decide who has the intellect, confidence, grasp of the issues and best solution set, and the verbal and unscripted thinking-skills necessary to succeed domestically and internationally to govern and lead our great nation as president.

I want to vote given knowns vice unknowns. Votes should be earned and not automatic.

John R. Baer, Yorktown

Afghanistan

All the attention that has been drawn to this calamity hasn’t taken into account a few facts leading up to it. All the blame is directed toward President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris with no mention of the former administration not allowing a transition team into the different agencies to get a firm grasp of what the current situation was that they would be facing.

There were numerous military and nongovernmental organization officials who had been dealing with the Taliban for months or years who had a good idea what Biden was facing, and I would hope were giving him the best information possible. If they didn’t have the best knowledge of current conditions, how do you expect Biden to know any differently?

Trump signed the withdrawal agreement with a specified date, which really meant nothing because the Taliban were in charge of much of the conditions and could alter the agreement any time they wanted to. It’s also been reported that an ISIS-K suicide bomber attacked Hamid Karzai International Airport’s Abbey Gate. ISIS–K has been at war with the Taliban.

Now we have Trump at Arlington National Cemetery, with some of the families of the 13 service members, his “suckers” and “losers,” using the place for a campaign prop in violation of federal law that prohibits such activity. Despicable doesn’t begin to describe him and his entire campaign.

Jeff Allen, Hampton

Joke to queen

What we have seen play out on the Democratic side in the past weeks and the ascension of Vice President Kamala Harris to the Democratic candidate for president can only be described as from a joke to a queen.

Harris dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary in 2019. Her far-left policies forced her out even before the Iowa caucuses. One can only guess what qualities enticed President Joe Biden to select her for vice president. Diversity, equity and inclusion comes to mind. Prominent Democratic voices even suggested she be taken off the Biden-Harris ticket before the Biden withdrawal.

As vice president she has become famous for her “word salad” comments, her cackle and running off her staff, but she will save the world with her “reproductive rights” platform. Her pro-Palestine stance encourages Hamas to battle on. Her big government or socialist government and open border policies will continue to undermine the average citizen’s life and overburden local governments with migrant issues. While continually fanning the hate Trump flames, she is flip-flopping on her earlier positions fast.

The queen may well ascend to the throne because of the liberal media, but when a prominent Kennedy endorses her opponent and even Mark Zuckerberg seems to be having second thoughts about the Democratic machine, it should give everyone second thoughts about supporting Harris.

Helmut Walter, Yorktown

In one scenario, low energy prices lead to a lot of slack. At the margin, people don’t need to be so careful about how they deploy their AIs. Right now, for instance, I don’t pay extra for using my current LLMs more. So I am willing to play around with them a lot without worrying about whether any single use is going to achieve some concrete useful end. The result is some silliness, some jokes and more indulgence of my random obsessions, in addition to help with my history and economics questions.

I call this the AI Future With Slack.

It is not clear how long the system can operate like this. As more institutions work with generative AI, demands on those services will increase. AI companies will have to invest more to meet the growing demand for computing power. AI services will also lose their initial venture-capital-funded runways and be forced to make a profit. Over the long term, each use of generative AI will cost a noticeable amount of money.

I call this the AI Future Without Slack.

Both AI usage and global economic growth will significantly boost the demand for energy, and thus energy prices. Using the vast computing powers of AI could mean significantly higher energy costs.

Of course, there are many different variables that figure into energy costs, ranging from the future of nuclear fusion, battery technologies and numerous regulatory decisions. Energy will continue to be relatively cheap for households (that is, voters) and will get relatively expensive for business-owned AIs.

To the extent there is a lot of slack, AIs themselves will create wild products of the imagination, especially as they improve in computing power and skill. AIs will sing to each other, write for each other, talk to each other — as they already do — trade with each other, and come up with further alternatives we humans have not yet pondered. Evolutionary pressures within AI’s cultural worlds will determine which of these practices spread.

If you own some rights flowing to AI usage, you might just turn them on and let them “do their thing.” Many people may give their AIs initial instructions for their culture-building: “Take your inspiration from 1960s hippies,” for example, or “try some Victorian poetry.” But most of the work will be done by the AIs themselves. These productions might quickly become far more numerous than human-directed ones.

With a lot of slack, expect more movies and video, which consume a lot of computational energy. With less slack, text and poetry will be relatively cheaper and thus more plentiful.

In other words: In the not-too-distant future, what kind of culture the world produces could depend on the price of electricity.

It remains to be seen how much humans will be interested. Perhaps some AI productions will fascinate us, but most are likely to bore us, just as few people sit around listening to whale songs. But even if the AI culture skeptics are largely correct, the sheer volume will make an impact, especially when combined with evolutionary refinement and more human-directed efforts.

With high energy prices, AI production will more likely fit into popular culture modes, if only to pay the bills. With lower energy prices, there will be more room for the avant-garde, for better or worse. Perhaps we would learn a lot more about the possibilities for 12-tone rows in music.

A weirder scenario is that AIs bid for the cultural products of humans, perhaps paying with crypto. But will they be able to tolerate our incessant noodling and narcissism? There might even be a columnist or two who makes a living writing for AIs, if only to give them a better idea of what we humans are thinking.

The possibilities are limitless, and we are just beginning to wrap our minds around them. The truth is, we are on the verge of one of the most significant cultural revolutions the world has ever seen.

Tyler Cowen is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of economics at George Mason University and host of the Marginal Revolution blog.

Compact and powerful, Hurricane Andrew slammed into south Florida, obliterating houses and leaving 65 people dead. In the days that followed, our response to the disaster was a textbook case of failure, with a breakdown in communication and coordination at all levels of government. Nobody, from the White House down, had any inkling what was going on. Peg Maloy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s spokesperson at the time, put it best: “Something is wrong. Nobody knows where it’s breaking down. I’d like to know myself.”

The result of our failed government response was, as always, human suffering, with the affected communities left to fend for themselves. The town of Homestead was a devastated landscape, littered with dead animals, the smell of human waste hanging in the air. Dade County’s Emergency Management director, Kate Hale, said during a televised news conference: “Where in the hell is the cavalry on this one?”

The bad news is that, when it comes to responding to catastrophes, little has changed in the decades since that hot August morning some three decades ago. While some agencies (the Federal Emergency Management Agency is a notable example) have improved their capabilities and their processes, as a nation we have made no progress in our readiness for major disasters.

This was clearly shown 13 years later in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and, most recently, by our national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, when a clumsy federal bureaucracy and its various components, from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA, failed to take an ownership stake in the crisis. Instead, they pointed at each other and dithered, while the virus spread rapidly across the nation.

Although it’s true that the COVID-19 disaster unfolded in a polarized political climate, its failures cannot be attributed to partisanship. The causes of our national failure arose out of incompetence. The partisan divisions that emerged were the result of that incompetence, not its cause. Meanwhile, the absence of a cohesive national plan leaves us vulnerable.

Catastrophes overwhelm us, affecting everyone in the same way at the same time. They ignore political boundaries, sowing chaos and demanding information and resources way beyond what is immediately available. Many people, even some crisis management professionals, think the challenges are just too great. They believe that planning for catastrophes is wasted effort; an exercise in futility. They are wrong.

Planning (i.e., what must happen and who is on the hook to do it) enables coordination, and, with effective coordination, nothing is impossible. Only national executive leadership can build the plan that establishes accountability across all levels of government, that connects to the private sector and deploys the resources and solutions needed to address widespread and urgent human suffering.

Now is the time for us to stop the dithering and the finger-pointing and to start reconfiguring ourselves to confront the unknown in a complex environment. With the national nominating conventions over and the candidates engaged in an eight-week sprint to Election Day, this is a critical opportunity to elevate this issue. Preparing the nation for the inevitable next catastrophe — whether it be a natural disaster, pandemic or terrorist attack — is a fundamental responsibility of the federal government. The president owns this issue, and we should not let the candidates off the hook.

How many more failures must we be forced to endure before we get the plan we need? The voters deserve to know.

Kelly McKinney is the assistant vice president of emergency management and enterprise resilience at NYU Langone Health in New York City. He is a former deputy commissioner for the New York City Office of Emergency Management and the author of “Moment of Truth: The Nature of Catastrophes and How to Prepare for Them.” McKinney wrote this for the Chicago Tribune. 

As the election season arrives, it is instructive to take a look at the map of our country. Change from the default view to the terrain view. Think about where the rivers, water, flatlands and cities are located. Next, look at the population centers. All of a sudden, you can see how complicated the allocation of resources is and the different kinds and levels of resources that are needed for each area.

This is outside of politics. This is inside of reality, and so, when you make your decisions upon what platform you might vote for and which representatives support what you believe in, take the time to examine everything in front of you, the information is there in front of all of us. Let your kids into your thinking process. It will make them better Americans and stewards of the future of this magnificent land that we all inhabit.

Curtis Bailey, Virginia Beach

Taxes

I am mystified by the lack of foresight exhibited by the “tax-the-rich” crowd. They quote percentages of income paid (not dollars) to justify their position.

Fact: The 1-percenters (we’ll call them the “super wealthy”) pay roughly 40% of the federal income tax dollars collected. Fact: Close to 50% of income earners pay no federal income tax dollars. One could pose the question as to what is their fair share? After all, they enjoy the same federal benefits such as military protection, border security, etc., that the super wealthy receive. It’s not rocket science to understand that all of us benefit from the tax dollars paid by the super wealthy. It’s almost criminal to expect them to pay more.

In addition, the 1-percenters have a hand in or are directly responsible for creating many good paying jobs for the rest of us, also, let’s not forget the large charitable contributions many of them make. Just imagine the USA without the super wealthy’s tax contributions. The rest of us would see our tax liability increase twofold or more. A final observation: If “ignorance is bliss,” the tax-the-rich crowd must be ecstatic.

Tom Dingle, Suffolk

Pay attention

Re “Where’s Harris” (Your Views, Sept. 24): The writer describes Vice President Kamala Harris as leftist-Marxist leaning. Karl Marx was not a fan of democracy. Harris supports our Constitution, and democracy and freedom regarding citizens’ health care, voting, consumer and job rights, clean water and air, teaching in safe schools and immigration reform. As vice president, she helped grow the strongest world economy with job creation, inflation reduction, the greatest infrastructure bill working across this country and the successful management of the COVID-19 pandemic. For about 20 years, her public service reflects support of democratic values and the rule of law — not Marx.

Former President Donald Trump said he wants to be dictator for his first day. Regarding Project 2025, GOP vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance “has written the forward for a new book by the leader of the far-right governing plan,” according to The Hill. With the blueprint of Project 2025, Trump will have sweeping powers.

If we review Trump’s years in office, we can say he gave a tax cut to the richest and left us with a damaging national debt, which will wreak havoc to our country for decades. In addition, more than 400,000 Americans died under his management of the COVID-19 crisis. As a candidate, Trump is self-absorbed, irrational, a 78-year-old man, twice-impeached, a convicted felon and has been found liable for sexual abuse and business fraud.

He is unfit to hold office as dog catcher let alone president of the United States.

Patty Bates, Virginia Beach

It’s therefore incumbent on area residents planning to cast a ballot this year to give ample time to these municipal elections, where decisions directly affect their families, homes and businesses. The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press believe part of our service to readers is covering these vital local contests and this year will be no different as voters gather information essential to making informed choices at the polls.

Historically, Labor Day weekend marks not just the traditional end of summer, but the moment campaigns for the November election kick into high gear. That’s not the case with the presidential race, of course, but candidates for municipal offices typically make their push after students have returned to school and autumn is around the corner.

The expansion of early voting has changed that calculus. This year, Virginians can begin casting ballots in less than three weeks, on Sept. 20. Most of those voters don’t need to be persuaded; they are ready to vote on Day 1 of early voting.

But the majority of people intending to participate in November’s election will soon begin reviewing candidate lists, checking campaign websites, attending rallies and debates, and otherwise involving themselves in the process.

Trouble is, the races for many municipal offices struggle to find oxygen in a crowded electoral ecosystem. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump dominate everything, from news coverage to fundraising to campaign staffing. That energy and money trickles down to other races, but don’t expect to see advertisements for school board candidates at every intermission while watching professional football today.

They can’t compete with the national campaigns, or even the U.S. Senate campaign in Virginia between incumbent Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine and Republican challenger Hung Cao. Instead, they’ll have to use social media platforms, in-person rallies and on-the-ground get-out-the-vote efforts to connect with likely voters. It can be a slog.

Ultimately, they’re depending on a curious electorate to take an active interest in those competing to serve in municipal offices. They need would-be voters to look further down the ballot, to take an active interest in local races, and to come to the voting booth (or to fill out their absentee ballot) having done their research in order to make informed decisions for every race.

City councils in our region make a host of decisions that affect countless aspects of their communities. They set the property tax rate, oversee police and fire services, make planning and zoning decisions, and otherwise have a hand in numerous aspects of daily life.

School boards may not have taxing authority — district budgets depend on city council appropriations as well as state and federal support — but they do make policy and leadership decisions and even what books they consider “suitable” for public schools.

It would be folly to overlook those races or to allow others to make those decisions. So now is the time to dive in.

The Virginia Department of Elections has updated candidate lists on its website, elections.virginia.gov. Virginians can also confirm or update their voter registration, or register to vote by the Oct. 15 deadline. They can request absentee ballots as well.

The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press will publish voter guides prior to the start of early voting with information about the races and candidates seeking municipal offices. Readers should visit pilotonline.com/election-2024 and dailypress.com/news/politics/election for all our reporting about this year’s elections.

Along with candidates’ social media and in-person outreach, there is ample opportunity to be an informed voter this year — and no excuse not to be. It might require area residents to wade past the buzz around the federal races, but that effort is more than worthwhile.