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CNN 10
Discussion on the Second And Final Debate For The President With The Election Days Away.
Aired October 23, 2020 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to another edition of "CNN 10". My name is Carl Azuz. It`s always good to see you.
First story we`re reporting on this October 23rd, the second and final U.S. presidential debate between incumbent Republican President Donald Trump and
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
It was held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. It`s a major event in the U.S. election process. And the night before the debate, the
Director of National Intelligence and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation held a news conference. They said the nations of Iran and
Russia had taken steps to interfere with the election and spread false information about it. So the U.S. government warned Americans to be on
guard concerning the stories they read on e-mail and social media.
The planned debate topics were titled "Fighting COVID-19," "American Families," "Race in America," "Climate Change," "National Security," and
"Leadership." They were chosen by debate moderator Kristen Welker, an anchor and correspondent for NBC News. And while CNN.com will have full
coverage of the debate, we`re going to focus on the first topic today because it`s affected so many people around the world.
Here`s an idea of how the two major party candidates addressed the coronavirus pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, as you know, 2.2 million people modeled out were expected to die. We closed up the greatest economy
in the world in order to fight this horrible disease that came from China. It`s a worldwide pandemic. It`s all over the world.
You see the spikes in Europe and many other places right now. If you notice, the mortality rate is down 85%. The excess mortality rate is way
down and much lower than almost any other country. And we`re fighting it and we`re fighting it hard.
We have a vaccine that`s coming. It`s ready. It`s going to be announced within weeks and it`s going to be delivered. We have Operation Warp Speed,
which is -- the military is going to distribute the vaccine. I can tell you from personal experience that I was in the hospital, I had it, and I got
better, and I will tell you that had something that they gave me, a therapeutic I guess they would call it. Some people could say it was a
cure. But I was in for a short period of time and I got better very fast or I wouldn`t be here tonight. And now they say I`m immune, whether it`s four
months or a lifetime nobody`s been able to say that. But I`m immune.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And we`re in a circumstance where the president thus far and still has no plan. No comprehensive plan. What I
would do is make sure we have everyone encouraged to wear a mask all the time. I would make sure we move in the direction of rapid testing,
investing in rapid testing. I would make sure that we set up national standards as to how to open up schools and open up businesses so they can
be safe and give them the wherewithal, the financial resources, to be able to do that.
TRUMP: We have to open our country. We`re not going to have a country. You can`t do this. We can`t keep this country closed. This is a massive country
with a massive economy.
We have to open our country. You know I`ve said it often, the cure cannot be worse than the problem itself. And that`s what`s happening. And he wants
to close down -- he`ll close down the country if one person in our massive bureaucracy says we should close it down.
BIDEN: I`m not shutting down today (ph) but there are -- look, we need standards. A standard is if you have a reproduction rate in a community
that`s above a certain level, everybody says slow up, more social distancing, do not open bars and do not open gymnasiums, do not open until
you get this under control -- under more control. But when you do open, give the people the capacity to be able to open and have the capacity to do
it safely.
We ought to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. We ought to be able to safely open. But they (ph) need resources to open. You need to be
able to, for example, if you`re going to open a business, have social distancing within the business. You need to have -- if you have a
restaurant, you need to have plexiglass dividers so people cannot infect one another. You need to be in a position where you can take testing
rapidly and know whether a person is in fact infected. You need to be able to trace. You need to be able to provide all the resources that are needed
to do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Ten second trivia. In metric units, which of these prefixes means billion? Kilo, mega, giga, or tera.
These prefixes are in order of thousand, million, billion, and trillion with giga denoting billion.
But when it comes to wildfires, the term giga is used a little differently. A gigafire denotes a value of 1 million as opposed to 1 billion. The term
has been around for a few years now and it`s been applied to several massive blazes throughout history, including one burning in California
right now.
It`s called the August Complex fire. It`s mostly contained, meaning it`s mostly blocked from spreading further, but the damage has already been
done. It`s part of a highly active fire season across the United States.
This isn`t the worse in national history, at least not at this point. The National Interagency Fire Center says since 1983 there have been two years
when wildfires burned more than 10 million acres and 2020 hasn`t seen that yet.
It`s also possible that decades of fires before 1953 were much worse, but the NIFC says data from them isn`t as reliable.
Lightening strikes are responsible for igniting many wildfires. So are people. Through everything from campfires to fireworks to arson.
For the more recent blazes, especially the ones in California, some experts and politicians have blamed a warming climate for higher temperatures and
more severe droughts, which makes severe fires more likely. Some experts and politicians have blamed bad land management, not doing enough to remove
dense forest vegetation which helps fires spread more easily. Whatever the causes are, "CNN 10" contributor Tyler Mauldin explains the effects across
the Golden State.
Tyler?
TYLER MAULDIN, CNN 10 CONTRIBUTOR: Carl, California`s largest wildfire ever recently became a gigafire. It`s a term that U.S. hasn`t had to use in more
than a decade.
I`m referring to the August Complex fire in Northern California. It`s taken the top spot for the largest fire in California history and has now burned
more than 1 million acres.
Once a wildfire burns 1 million acres or more, it gets coined as a gigafire. This is one notch above a megafire, which experts use when, as
you may have guessed, a fire has scorched 100,000 acres or more.
The country`s most recent gigafire was the 2004 Taylor Complex fire in Alaska. Before that, it was the Yellow Stone fires in 1988.
So this is yet another unfortunate superlative for an already record- breaking fire season.
The U.S. has had tens of thousands of fires this year. Many of these have been large wildfires, leading to more than 8.3 million acres burned. Way
more than we`d see in a normal year.
Half of that 8.3 million has occurred in California alone, making this year the state`s worst year on record according to Cal Fire. And speaking of the
history books, this fire seasons has not only given way to the largest fire ever in California, it`s also produced five of the six largest fires on
record for the state.
AZUZ: Probably seems like something called a diabolical ironclad beetle would be pretty tough. Well, it is. So tough you can run over it with a car
and the beetle is still ticking.
Scientists wanted to find out why. And in a new study published in "The Journal of Nature", they credit two interlocking lids over the beetle`s
back for protecting it.
These things fit together like a jigsaw puzzle and that helps the beetle spread any force that`s applied to it across it`s body. Researchers are
hopeful that studying this beetle will allow them to invent new and stronger materials for better engineering in the things we build.
It`s back is strong, it`s name is bad, and it walks to the beetle of a different drum. Some try to crush it but it`s ironclad, withstanding weight
thousands of times its own. Unlike the beetles, it wanting help (ph) if the lower man (ph) gives it a hard day`s night, its lids to come together to
save its hide, it`s ticket to survive makes it feel alright.
I`m Carl Azuz and Friday`s are awesome, especially for the students of Wentzville, Missouri who get today`s shout-out at Timberland High School.
Have a great weekend from all of us at CNN.
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