There’s a new Clint Eastwood movie opening this weekend. That might be the last time we can stay that. The 94-year-old hasn’t shared any retirement plans, but given his age every new movie can, potentially, be his last. It’s sad but true. Equally sad? Most Eastwood fans won’t be able to see “Juror #2.”     The drama debuts Nov. 1 in select theaters. Very select, to be more accurate. The film opens in less than 50 screens nationwide with no existing plans for an expansion. Even indie films will start out modestly with the hopes of adding theaters if the box office results demand it. Warner Bros. Discovery isn’t thinking that far ahead, and the film’s north of the border release slate is only marginally better. The film’s official website only promotes showtimes in 18 markets. Cineplex, Canada’s leading exhibitor chain, is opening the film in just one theater in Toronto and 160 nationwide venues. Why release a Clint Eastwood film in that fashion? It’s gets even more confusing. Did we mention it’s a star-studded affair with Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Kiefer Sutherland and Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons?  All of the above appears lost on his longtime studio. The company has treated “Juror #2” as shabbily as its “Salem’s Lot” remake. That film sat on the shelf before being dumped onto Max earlier this month.      “Juror #2” may have modest box office appeal, but it’s still an Eastwood film with a twisty premise. A conflicted juror (Hoult) realizes he has a deeply personal stake in the case he’s asked to judge. The curious rollout hasn’t gone unnoticed. The Telegraph, hardly a conservative outlet, blamed the insulting release plan on Eastwood’s politics. He leans to the Right, something that caught plenty of attention during the 2012 election cycle. Eastwood famously mocked President Barack Obama as an “empty chair” at the RNC, drawing scolding reviews from the biased press. His political views are no secret, but he’s been mostly quiet on that front in the Trump years. He has yet to weigh in on the Trump/Kamala Harris matchup. The Telegraph still smells a rat. “Why Hollywood liberals are punishing Clint Eastwood for his politics,” reads the headline. In a town where to be a Democrat is practically de rigueur, Eastwood’s liberal Republicanism – he has described himself as a social liberal and a fiscal conservative – has marked him out as somehow problematic… The studio’s one potential excuse crumbled over the weekend. The film debuted at the AFI Film Festival to very positive reviews. Critics didn’t label it an Oscar favorite, nor did they deem it so disappointing that it merited that shabby release. Could this be a personal matter? Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav infamously raged against Eastwood’s last film, 2021’s “Cry Macho.” The oater, a disappointment on several levels, didn’t ring those studio cash registers as hoped. It didn’t help that it came out during the pandemic. “It’s not show friends, it’s show business,” Zaslav reportedly said about the actor’s 50-plus year relationship with Warner Bros. Yet “Cry Macho” hardly broke the studio’s back. The suits would take several “Cry Macho” duds over “Joker: Folie a Deux,” expected to cost the studio up to $200 million. Eastwood’s Hollywood reputation remains impeccable. He gets the job done on time every time, never going over budget. “Juror #2” boasts a budget in the mid-$30 million range, according to Variety. That has to count for something. Right? Apparently not. Nor does his legacy as one of Hollywood’s most beloved and talented artists.   Clint Eastwood’s final film ‘JUROR #2’ will only be released in less than 50 theaters for its entire run with no wider release planned. Warner Bros will also not reveal any box office numbers for the film. (Source: https://t.co/Hwe0Wp5Az6) pic.twitter.com/kzOasT34xQ — DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 24, 2024   Did The Telegraph get the story right? Hollywood routinely blacklists conservatives, no doubt. Yet the older guard are often given a pass of sorts. Jon Voight is far more outspoken than Eastwood on political matters, but he’s worked consistently in recent years in both indie fare and mainstream productions like “Ray Donovan.” Tim Allen and Kelsey Grammer have also avoided overt punishment, for the most part. Eastwood’s Hollywood legacy has earned him a better release schedule than “Juror #2” has received. The industry routinely rolls out dreck into thousands of theaters. Think “Madame Web,” “Borderlands” and “The Crow” in this year alone. By all accounts “Juror #2” is a superior product. That isn’t the bottom line here, though. Legends deserve better.

Donald Trump currently holds a razor-thin 0.6% lead over Kamala Harris in the RealClearPolitics Polling Average for Pennsylvania. With this key swing state potentially deciding the outcome of the Electoral College, Democrats can only wonder how different the polls might look if Pennsylvania’s popular governor, Josh Shapiro — once considered a front-runner for Harris’ vice presidential pick — were on the ticket instead of Tim Walz. One factor that pushed Walz to the top of Harris’ list, despite the strategic advantages of choosing a swing-state governor like Shapiro, stands out: Across the board, Walz has been more progressive on education issues. As a former teacher, Walz would be poised to play a leading role in education policy if he and Harris win on Election Day. Last year, Shapiro angered fellow Democrats and teachers’ unions by working with state Republicans on a plan to enact a private school voucher system. Later, facing pressure from his own party, Shapiro reversed course and vetoed the proposal, leaving Republicans and school-choice advocates feeling betrayed. His reversal mollified some within his party, and dozens of unions publicly released statements of support — but others on the left never quite forgave him. When Shapiro’s name was floated as a likely VP candidate, a coalition of progressive groups published an open letter to Harris. The letter attempted to link Shapiro’s voucher-friendly stance to the Heritage Foundation’s controversial Project 2025 and “respectfully” urged Harris not to choose him. Accordingly, some Democratic leaders worried that Shapiro’s past support for vouchers might erode support among a critical part of their base. Nikhil Goyal, a DNC delegate from Vermont, said he would have “grave concerns” about Shapiro “when we have a great desire to win over educators and school staff and Americans who support public education.” In contrast, Tim Walz boasts sterling credentials from the standpoint of anyone opposing school vouchers. Walz is the first former schoolteacher to appear on a major-party ticket in half a century. As governor of Minnesota, he strongly opposed school-choice initiatives like the one Shapiro had backed. When the state’s Democratic House Speaker suggested a minor compromise with Republicans on vouchers, Walz’s response was unequivocal. “It was kind of ‘over my dead body,’” she recounted. Trump has vowed to enact “universal school choice” if given a second term, and he appointed outspoken voucher advocate Betsy DeVos as his education secretary during his first term. On the other hand, the Democratic Party platform released this summer included a strong statement against private school vouchers. Support for publicly funded school vouchers has become a third rail in Democratic politics. And Shapiro’s past flirtation with vouchers may well have cost him the VP slot. What’s more, in a year when college campuses erupted in pro-Palestinian protests over the Biden administration’s support for Israel in the Gaza war, Shapiro’s Jewish heritage and public efforts to hold university leaders accountable for anti-Semitic incidents on Pennsylvania campuses may have been seen as an additional electoral liability among young progressives who view Israel as an oppressor and the chief evildoer in the war in Gaza. Walz, by contrast, has been more outspoken in his support for pro-Palestinian protesters. While he condemned Hamas, he said he believes students are protesting on behalf of Palestinians “for all the right reasons.” As a former teacher, Walz would be poised to play a leading role in education policy if he and Harris win on Election Day. Republicans, accordingly, have drawn attention to Walz’s education record as governor, betting that the progressive policies that helped him win the VP race may not endear him to swing voters. Walz, for instance, signed a law preventing libraries from removing sexually explicit books from children’s shelves and mandated that public schools stock tampons in boys’ bathrooms — a policy that JD Vance has criticized on the campaign trail. Team Trump has also highlighted Walz’s support for critical race theory and his overhaul of the state’s social studies curriculum. In September, Donald Trump Jr. and other campaign supporters began posting a video on X featuring Brian Lozenski, a professor of multicultural education at Macalester College whom Walz tapped to help write the state’s ethnic studies standards. In the video, Lozenski describes himself as a critical race theorist and explains his views: The first tenet of critical race theory is that the United States as constructed is irreversibly racist. So if the nation-state as constructed is irreversibly racist, then it must be done with, it must be overthrown. ... You can’t be a critical race theorist and be pro-U.S., OK. It is an anti-state theory that says the United States needs to be deconstructed, period. Right. Like that’s, you know, and so I think, I think it’s an interesting argument there. And that’s why I’m a critical race theorist. Katherine Kersten dug deeper into the curriculum standards Lozenski helped craft in her piece for the Wall Street Journal: “High school students are told to ‘develop an analysis of racial capitalism’ and ‘anti-Blackness,’” she wrote, “and are taught to see themselves as members of ‘racialized hierarchies’ based on ‘dominant European beauty standards.’” Lozenski is a founding organizer of Education for Liberation Minnesota, a group that Kersten notes has advocated for “defunding the police” and “abolishing the social order and building a new society.” If Walz is poised to take a leading role in education policy in a potential Harris administration, his record offers much for progressives to celebrate. Whether more moderate swing voters — those Harris and Walz need to win over in Pennsylvania — will be impressed by the kinds of ideas promoted by Walz’s appointee Lozenski is another matter. If Pennsylvania goes red on Nov. 5, Democrats will be left with many questions. Here’s one: What if the uncompromising brand of progressivism that helped Walz secure the VP nod over Shapiro is the very thing that gives Trump a second term? Editor's note: This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.

Tim Walz is drowning in scandal. Some of that has to do with his political history — like how he made Minnesota a transgender sanctuary, removed all restrictions on abortion, and allowed Minneapolis to burn to the ground during the BLM riots. But some of the scandal has to do with his personal history — most notably his hushed love affair with the daughter of a Chinese Communist Party official while he was teaching in Foshan, China. “Tim Walz had a secret fling with the daughter of a high-ranking communist official during his 1989 teaching stint in China. Jenna Wang, who is now 59 years old, claims that the VP hopeful showered her with gifts and seduced her,” says Liz Wheeler, reading from a Daily Mail news article. According to the outlet’s report, Walz and Wang had to keep their relationship under wraps because the girl’s father would have “[disowned] her for fraternizing with a Westerner.” Although Wang hoped for marriage, “no proposal was forthcoming from the future Minnesota governor, and the shame of being treated ‘like a prostitute’ eventually left Wang feeling angry and suicidal.” While Walz was sneaking around with Wang, the CCP was taking notes on him — specifically how he was “a prime target for its influence operations in the U.S.,” according to a report from the New York Post. “They thought that they could use Tim Walz as part of their influence operations in Washington, D.C., and you know what? Somehow I suspect that they were successful,” says Liz. “You'll notice that the same press that falsely accuse you and I of being Nazis because we support Trump, the same press that is running interference like crisis PR for Joe Biden after he called all of us garbage won't ask Kamala Harris or Tim Walz a single question about this affair that Tim Walz engaged in with the daughter of a Chinese communist politician,” she adds. To hear more about the suppressed scandal, watch the clip above. Want more from Liz Wheeler?To enjoy more of Liz’s based commentary, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Florida issued a reminder to the Department of Justice that federal election monitors are not allowed inside the state's polling places after the Civil Rights Division announced agents will be in 27 states to ensure "compliance with federal voting rights laws.""The Justice Department enforces federal voting rights laws that protect the rights of all eligible citizens to access the ballot. The department regularly deploys its staff to monitor for compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections in communities all across the country," the DOJ said in a press release on Friday.Florida will be sending its own election monitors to polling locations next Tuesday to ensure election laws are being followed."The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will coordinate the effort. Monitors will include personnel from the Civil Rights Division, other department divisions, U.S. Attorney’s Offices and federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management. Throughout Election Day, division personnel will maintain contact with state and local election officials," the DOJ said.Alongside Florida, the DOJ is sending monitors to states such as Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and North Carolina.Shortly after the DOJ's announcement, the Florida Department of State posted the letter the agency sent to the federal government."As a reminder, Department of Justice monitors are not permitted inside a polling place under Florida law. Section 102.031(3)(a) of the Florida Statues lists the people who 'may enter any polling room or polling place.' Department of Justice personnel are not included on the list," Secretary of State Cord Byrd wrote."Even if they could qualify as 'law enforcement' under section 102.031(3)(a)6 of the Florida Statues, absent some evidence concerning the need for federal intrusion, or some federal statute that preempts federal law, the presence of federal law enforcement inside polling places would be counterproductive and could potentially undermine confidence in the election," Byrd continued.Florida will be sending its own election monitors to polling locations next Tuesday to ensure election laws are being followed. — (@) Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris made appearances across the Rust Belt on Friday but had very different messages for voters.Both Trump and Harris held rallies in Wisconsin, with the Republican also making a pit stop in Michigan. In a race that will largely be decided by undecided voters or key demographics that may be up for grabs, the candidates have chosen contrasting messages to close with. How does she plan to improve the state of affairs for Americans, and as sitting vice president, why hasn't she? "Oh, it's good to be in the house of labor!" Harris remarked at her rally in Janesville, Wisconsin. "I proudly stand with labor. I have my whole entire career. I always will," Harris continued. "This is about the dignity of work. It is about America's work force. It is about our future. And it's just about what is right." Notably, the jobs report was released the same day, revealing that the Biden-Harris administration added only 12,000 more jobs in the month of October. This is the lowest increase since 2020. Harris also put forth a last-ditch economic pitch to rally-goers in Little Chute, Wisconsin, promising to implement a middle-class tax and a federal ban on corporate price-gouging on groceries. It's clear the Harris camp is tailoring its message to voters' priorities, as the economy ranks the most important issue going into November. However, the Achilles' heel of the Harris campaign has been this very issue. How does she plan to improve the state of affairs for Americans, and as sitting vice president, why hasn't she already done so? Harris closed out her Rust Belt tour in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with celebrity appearances and endorsements from rappers like Cardi B and GloRilla."Just like Kamala Harris, I too have been the underdog," Cardi B said. "I've been underestimated. My success belittled and discredited. Let me tell you something. Let me tell y'all something. Women have to work ten times harder, perform ten times better, and still, people question us, how we got to the top."Cardi B went on to speak about abortion "rights," an issue the Democratic Party has made a focal point for the Harris campaign. “Donny Dump, if your definition of protection is making sure our daughters have fewer rights than their mothers, then I don’t want it," she said. Trump, on the other hand, has spent time securing a key demographic in Michigan: Muslim and Arab voters. In the aftermath of Trump's Thursday campaign stop in Dearborn, a Muslim-majority city, left-wing politicians like Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan sounded the alarm for her own party. "Trump is a proud Islamophobe + serial liar who does not stand for peace. The reality is that the Biden admin’s unconditional support for genocide is what got us here," Tlaib said in a post on X. "This should be a wake-up call for those who continue to support genocide. This election should not be this close."Although Tlaib expressed her vehement opposition to the Republican nominee, she pointed out a key weakness within her own party. Harris' campaign has been weighed down by the Israel-Gaza conflict and the administration's apparent inability to resolve it. Although Muslims and Arabs may have been a reliable demographic for Democrats to secure, the ongoing war has turned many away from Harris. This could be particularly detrimental for Democrats in key states like Michigan that have a substantial Arab population. Harris knows this, and Trump is capitalizing on it. Trump also took time to counterprogram Harris in Milwaukee. Trump hit on recurring themes like illegal immigration and using tariffs to protect American workers and punish foreign adversaries. The campaign stops were wrapped up with a hopeful closing message. "My closing message is that I love America, and I'm inviting you to join us in building an extraordinary future," Trump said. "My oath of office is an oath of allegiance to you, the American people. I'm asking for your vote, but I want you to know that whether or not you vote for me, when I win, I will fight for you with every breath of my body." "Everything we have been fighting for these last four years comes down to these next four days," Trump continued. "With your help, from now until Election Day, we will restore America's promise, and we will take back the nation that we love." On Saturday, Trump is continuing his campaign with rallies in Gastonia, North Carolina, and Salem, Virginia. He will then return back to North Carolina to hold a rally in Greensboro. Harris is traveling to Atlanta, Georgia, to hold a rally and then later to Charlotte, North Carolina. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Once, not so long ago, the Red Guard “spontaneously” swept through China in force, destroying the “Four Olds” and creating the illusion of a grassroots, youth-led, mass movement of revolution. As it turns out, there was nothing spontaneous about it. Rather, the illusion was created by gathering dozens of smaller units led by trained cadres into one space, like Tiananmen Square, where Mao Zedong held his enormous rallies. The effect was as magnificent as it was artificial, yet it took the good people of China too long to realize what was happening to their country. Mao’s coordinated propaganda machine mobilized a popular revolution out of thin air. America is currently experiencing something similar, but the propaganda machine has moved to the digital world. The Harris-Walz presidential campaign is leading an active campaign to manipulate information on multiple social media platforms. The Harris campaign is creating an illusion of mass support, spreading lies about its opponents and violating various rules on these platforms – not to mention the blatant dishonesty at play here. According to a multi-part report from the Federalist, the Harris campaign is behind a coordinated effort to “artificially boost their popularity, spread election disinformation, and skirt election laws.” The author saw a post inviting Reddit users to join a Discord server, coordinating an “astroturfing” campaign.Astroturfing is a “political and marketing term that describes creating swarms of coordinated and/or paid messages and posts to create the illusion of support from ordinary people deceptively. Essentially, ‘astroturfing’ is the opposite of grassroots support.” Accordingly, several moderators, who are Harris campaign volunteers sometimes, spam certain pieces of information onto social media. Then, they direct people to like and comment on it in a very organized fashion. Check out the original report for a full breakdown and screenshots of the Discord server and spreadsheets they use.How effective was the Reddit inflation campaign? The report found “1,728 posts created by 67 unique Harris-Walz campaign volunteers since Oct. 4, many of which received a LOT of traction in a very short time span.” Further, by applying a filter on the last 1,000 posts on r/Politics, which has a reach of 8 million users, it was found that this subreddit was glutted with Harris campaign workers: “Of the top 1,000 posts on r/Politics, 126 were written by a user bearing the mark ‘Kamala Harris Volunteer.’”These actions directly violate Reddit’s terms of service, which explicitly forbid vote manipulation of any kind. The Harris campaign has manipulated other platforms as well. On X, the goals differ slightly because of the structure of the platform: One particular goal, according to a user of the Harris-Walz campaign Discord server, is to get campaign volunteers to swarm the site and “block [Community Notes] we don’t like.” The Community Notes feature is designed to correct false information, but there is a voting system to ”mitigate political bias” on a post. A community note will only stay with enough "upvotes," but it can also be "downvoted," and it can eventually disappear. According to the second part of the report, this system is likewise being artificially manipulated by the Harris campaign volunteers running the Discord server. While community notes have more effectively mitigated the impact of political bias on X, the Discord server volunteers have been contributing false Community Notes as well as advising and soliciting support from users: “In the 'twitter-community-notes' channel found on the Harris-Walz Discord, paid Democrat staffers are also writing dubious Community Notes on X to undermine GOP and Trump messaging. They then encourage volunteers to rate them positively.”In a fitting conclusion to this saga, Reddit moderators removed the original report from the Federalist when a user posted it on the platform: “The moderators of Reddit's 8 million-member politics message board, known as a subreddit, removed The Federalist report itself when a user posted it. The headline — 'The Harris Campaign Manipulates Reddit to Control the Platform' — allegedly violates the board's rules.”Thanks to the excellent reporting from Reddit Lies on X, this campaign move was brought to light. The Harris campaign is creating an illusion of mass support, spreading lies about its opponents, and violating various rules on these platforms — not to mention the blatant dishonesty at play here. The Chinese were crushed by a similar deceitful propaganda campaign. We can only hope that we don’t repeat history.

Precisely one year since its early access launch, spell-fusing roguelike Magicraft has launched version 1.0 on Steam, and it’s fast proving to be a winner. It takes the bullet hell style of games like The Binding of Isaac and Enter the Gungeon and introduces a clever spellcrafting system reminiscent of Noita to allow you to create all manner of powerful skills. With an impressive visual art update, a fifth chapter, and plenty of new spells, relics, and gear sets to further amplify the variety of your builds, the full launch is a great time to try it out, and plenty of players have already done just that. Continue reading Spell-fusing action roguelike Magicraft surges on Steam with 1.0 launch MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best roguelikes, Best indie games, Best fantasy games

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Players across the world celebrate the Soulsborne series for a plethora of reasons, and among them, we find its lore: the context that adds depth to a game's story, characters, and setting.