HBO’s John Oliver voiced his disapproval of those who praised the vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz for its civility on Sunday’s installment of Last Week Tonight. Oliver wondered “why do manners matter” because the GOP ticket is proposing a list of things he does not like. Oliver began by teeing up a montage of news clips, “In contrast to the presidential debate, Walz and Vance seemed at pains to be courteous to one another, something many commentators saw as a plus.” The package concluded with CBS White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe declaring, “In many ways, that's what the country has been saying they want more of.”     Oliver did not hesitate to show his dismay, “Okay, first: On the list of things America's been saying it wants more of, civility is, at best, number six, after affordable healthcare, gun control, cheaper housing, reproductive rights, and starring vehicles for Nicola Coughlan.” He also wondered, “Why do manners matter here?” because "The debate included discussions on how to carry out mass deportations and whether women should have control over their own bodies. Etiquette is kind of beside the point. It's like reading a ransom note and going, 'This cursive is just so lovely. Look at the capital Y in ‘You have 24 hours before he dies.’ There are still some people who were raised right.’” Oliver lives in such a thick bubble that he can’t imagine that Republicans have moral beliefs too, and that they find Walz’s defense of abortion or education standards repulsive. Additionally, Walz has a history of making things up about his personal life, but Vance still managed to be polite to him. Speaking of Vance, Oliver was also not thrilled that anyone could say anything remotely positive about him, “And complimenting Vance on his civil tone is a little hard to take, given how he spent the rest of his week. Just days before the debate, he took part in an event called The Courage Tour, hosted by Lance Wallnau, a prominent far-right Christian nationalist, and someone who's talked about Kamala Harris like this.” In the clip, Wallnau went on a bender about Harris doing “witchcraft” and using “that occult spirit” to manipulate people into thinking she looks presidential. Is that cringe? Sure, but so is associating with a pro-Hamas imam, but again, Oliver can’t even imagine Republicans being able to throw his criticisms right back at him. Here is a transcript for the October 6 show: HBO Last Week Tonight 10/6/2024 11:05 PM ET JOHN OLIVER: In contrast to the presidential debate, Walz and Vance seemed at pains to be courteous to one another, something many commentators saw as a plus. VICKY NGUYEN: The debate was so polite. It's being called "A night of Midwest nice" MARY CALVI: Despite their differences, they still managed to be civil. AINSLEY EARHARDT: It was so refreshing to see these two guys, though. They were so polite to one another. STEVE DOOCY: They were. BRIAN KILMEADE: I liked it. STEVE FABIAN This was a civil debate. It almost seemed like these guys, kind of, liked each other. ED O’KEEFE: In many ways, that's what the country has been saying they want more of. OLIVER: Okay, first: On the list of things America's been saying it wants more of, civility is, at best, number six, after affordable healthcare, gun control, cheaper housing, reproductive rights, and starring vehicles for Nicola Coughlan.  But also, why do manners matter here? The debate included discussions on how to carry out mass deportations and whether women should have control over their own bodies. Etiquette is kind of beside the point. It's like reading a ransom note and going, "This cursive is just so lovely. Look at the capital Y in ‘You have 24 hours before he dies.’ There are still some people who were raised right."  And complimenting Vance on his civil tone is a little hard to take, given how he spent the rest of his week. Just days before the debate, he took part in an event called The Courage Tour, hosted by Lance Wallnau, a prominent far-right Christian nationalist, and someone who's talked about Kamala Harris like this: LANCE WALLNAU: She can look presidential and that's, we'll go to this later, that's the seduction of what I would say is witchcraft, that's the manipulation of imagery that creates an impression contrary to the truth. But it seduces you into seeing it. So that spirit, that occult spirit, I believe, is operating on her and through her. OLIVER: Okay, first: Kamala Harris isn't the one who's been relentlessly promoting witchcraft, you're thinking of Universal's marketing department. And this guy clearly shouldn't be commenting on the election. He should be standing in a tent in 1856 selling children mercury tonics he claims will let them talk to ghosts.

A giant "Vote for Trump" sign lit up the sky in Upstate New York Monday night after a judge's ruling determined that the sign is permissible despite grumblings from local Democrats.At around 7:15 p.m. on Monday, a crowd gathered to witness a 100-foot "Vote for Trump" sign light up atop a Sticker Mule facility in Amsterdam, New York, a city of some 18,000 residents about 35 miles northwest of Albany.'Whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, the sign is an uplifting thing for community enthusiasm.'The event would not have happened except that just two hours earlier, Montgomery County Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Slezak lifted a restraining order against the sign and the brains behind it: Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino.A representative from Sticker Mule apparently approached Amsterdam officials back in August about the planned campaign sign. However, the company rep was instructed to get a permit and some zoning variances before moving forward with the project, the New York Post reported.When the company apparently failed to follow instructions, a legal team working with Amsterdam Mayor Michael Cinquanti, a Democrat, and other city officials then filed a lawsuit, claiming that the sign presented "a dangerous distraction" that would impede "traffic flow." They also worried that people would stop and take a selfie with the "novelty sign," "all at the risk of injuring other operaters [sic] and/or passengers in traveling vehicles," the Post said.Those arguments failed to persuade Justice Slezak, who determined that the sign was far enough away from major thoroughfares that it would not pose any danger. The sign is clearly visible from the New York State Thruway, though, WRGB noted. Slezak also gave plaintiffs until October 18 to refile their case, which reportedly contained clerical errors."All I know is tonight the party is on and the lighting will occur, and there is no court order prohibiting the lighting and display of the sign," said Sal Ferlazzo, Constantino's lawyer. "So it's obviously a nice victory for Anthony and his team."Constantino, who also happens to lead a political action committee to support the candidacy of former President Donald Trump, is cheering the decision as a victory for Trump and for free speech.Democrats "want to get rid of free speech and censor America, and so the sign now signifies something even bigger than what I thought," Constantino said. "… In America, I got a First Amendment right.""It’s my building, it’s a beautiful sign, and whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, the sign is an uplifting thing for community enthusiasm," he claimed.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently identified three key drivers of the "civilizational suicide" underway in the West: a "parasitic mindset," climate alarmism, and false religion. Musk noted midway through his interview with the titular host of the Tucker Carlson Network that while leftist billionaire George Soros is "senile," he has bequeathed a powerful nongovernmental system to his son Alexander Soros and other "like-minded people" who may continue his "anti-civilizational" campaign of normalizing criminality and dismantling borders. While open borders and unchecked crime are certainly ruinous, Musk intimated that they are merely symptoms of a greater civilizational sickness — a sickness that leaves the body politic tolerating the Open Society Foundations' agenda, spurns life, mutates empathy, and glorifies an unmanned nature. When asked to assess the current state of Europe, Musk bemoaned the collapse of birthrates. "My biggest concern for Europe is that their birth rate is half replacement rate," said Musk. "So Europe is rapidly becoming with each passing year older and older with fewer and fewer young people. ... At the most fundamental level, unless Europe has a birth rate at least roughly equal to replacement rate, it is in population free fall, population collapse." 'Their main sort of domestic social policy is convincing you not to have kids.' In May, a peer-reviewed study published in the Lancet revealed that fertility rates have declined in all countries and territories since 1950 and that "human civilization is rapidly converging on a sustained low-fertility reality." The fertility rate references the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime. The replacement rate Musk referenced is 2.1. This is necessary for a population to maintain stability and replenish itself without requiring replacement by foreign nationals. Blaze News previously reported that in 1950, the global fertility rate was 4.84. In 2021, it was 2.23. By the end of the 2100s, it is expected to drop to 1.59 globally. The average fertility rate for the European Union as a whole in 2022 was 1.46. Italy and Spain were among the European nations with the lowest rates — 1.24 and 1.16, respectively. While Europe is on the greased track to collapse, Carlson reflected on the situation stateside, noting, "It does seem like the U.S. government — if you take three steps back — is pretty committed to making fewer Americans. There's a lot of anti-fertility propaganda. Actually, that seems like their main sort of domestic social policy is convincing you not to have kids." According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the general fertility rate in the U.S. reached a historic low of 1.61 in 2023. By way of contrast, in 1960, the U.S. fertility rate was 3.7. Despite these staggering statistics, the Biden-Harris administration has continued championing the slaughter of the unborn and the effective sterilization of vulnerable populations while Democratic lawmakers work to dissuade some young couples from becoming parents. A big driver of Western anti-natalism in recent years has been climate alarmism. Morgan Stanley analysts told investors in 2021 that the "movement to not have children owing to fears over climate change is growing and impacting fertility rates quicker than any preceding trend in the field of fertility decline." 'It's infecting people and making it impossible for them to make rational decisions.' "The environmental movement in the extreme is fundamentally misanthropic and anti-human," Musk told Carlson. "They start seeing humans as a plague, a blight on the surface of the earth — that earth would be this paradise if only the humans weren't here." Musk noted that some climate alarmists are forthright about their desire to see humanity destroyed in a massive "holocaust," whereas others have not admitted as much out loud or to themselves. "A lot of people believe that the earth can't sustain this level of human population, which is utterly untrue. It may seem that in a crowded city there are a lot of people, but actually, if you look down in an airplane and say, 'Am I over a person at any given point in time?' when you're in an airplane, the answer ... 99.9% of the time is 'no.'" Musk emphasized that the world is in fact underpopulated and that the suggestion to the contrary was the result, in part, of the successful anti-human depopulationist propaganda advanced by biologist Paul Ehrlich. Despite having had the primary claim in his magnum opus proven wrong by real-world trends, Ehrlich doubled down on his anti-human mania in a "60 Minutes" interview last year, stressing the world has "too many people." Musk said, "I hope he burns in hell, that guy. Seriously. Terrible human being." After Musk highlighted that amidst the West's activist-supported population collapse, leftist governments — particularly the Starmer government in Britain — are actively censoring those who would dare criticize the native population's replacement and sporadic rape by immigrants, Carlson said, "You've used the phrase 'mind virus,' but it's behaving like a virus. It's infecting people and making it impossible for them to make rational decisions." Musk recommended the work of evolutionary behavioral scientist Gad Saad, who has argued that the West "has been parasitized by a set of idea pathogens that negate reality and common sense." Saad noted last year in the National Post that chief among all idea pathogens now plaguing the West is postmodernism: It is a form of intellectual terrorism as it posits that there are no objective truths since apparently all truth claims are tainted by subjective relativism and personal biases. Postmodernism opens the door to questioning the 'antiquated' reality of what constitutes a man and a woman. Until fifteen minutes ago, the 117 billion people who had ever lived, as a sexually reproducing species, knew exactly how to identify these two phenotypes. This is no longer true. The other pathogenic ideas Saad suggested are now crippling the West are the "DIE cult (diversity, inclusion, and equity)," cultural relativism, and suicidal empathy. Saad noted that suicidal empathy is what animates that class of people who would excuse the illegal entry of criminal noncitizens into the homeland despite their track record of preying upon the citizen population. 'The woke mind virus — it takes the place of religion.' "Progressives are driven by misplaced and hyperactive faux empathy," wrote Saad. "According to the tenets of progressivism, criminals are victims of society. Hence, to severely punish them for their acts presumes that they have personal agency." Musk contrasted the kind of "deep empathy" that would entail a desire to see civilization thrive and continue with this shallow or "suicidal empathy," which he suggested "results in the destruction of civilization." According to Musk, there is a link between the implantation and spread of this parasitic mindset and the decline of religion. "Nature abhors a vacuum. So when you have essentially a decline in religion and increase in the secular nature of society, for most people, they need something to fill that void, so they adopt a religion. It's not called a religion," said Musk. "The woke mind virus — it takes the place of religion, and they internalize and they feel it with religious fervor." Musk indicated that the adherents of this woke pseudo-religion then wage a "holy war." Blaze News recently discussed the implications of America's de-Christianization with Dr. Joshua Mitchell, professor of political theory at Georgetown University. 'Identity politics is the latest iteration of an incomplete religion.' Mitchell, whose thesis in "American Awakening: Identity Politics and Other Afflictions of Our Time" pre-empted Musk's realization by a few years, indicated that identity politics has absorbed much of the attention and energy previously invested into traditional religions. "So when the Pew Charitable Trusts notes that American church attendance is going down, I say, 'You don't know where to look,'" said Mitchell. "If we call religion 'institutionalized Christianity,' well, then of course the numbers are going down. But if we call religion 'the search for a way to think through purity and stain, innocent victimhood, and historical sin in order to find atonement,' then in America today we're having a religious revival." Mitchell borrowed a term from Alexis de Tocqueville to describe the woke pseudo-religion Musk recently identified: We didn't move from Christianity to a secular world. We moved from one incomplete version of Christianity — complete with a designated innocent victim and a moral economy that says who's purified and who’s damned — to the next. Identity politics is the latest iteration of an incomplete religion. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris reaffirmed her alignment with President Joe Biden during an interview on Tuesday morning on "The View."Harris was asked whether she would have "done something differently than President Biden during the past four years." In her response, she ostensibly admitted that a Harris presidency would be no different from Biden's."There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of — and I've been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact," she replied.Wall Street Journal senior political correspondent Molly Ball reacted to Harris' response, stating, "I'm surprised, frankly, that she doesn't have more to say about this given that she and her campaign know that this is one of the main questions that voters have about her.""In an electorate that doesn't like the way this administration has led and that doesn't like the track that the country is on, that may not be a very satisfactory answer," Ball added.'She was a major player in everything we've done.'Harris' comments echoed statements Biden made last week during a surprise press briefing — his first as president. Biden was asked about Harris' role in the administration's response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene.The president, who fumbled through his reply, stated that he and Harris are in "constant contact" with one another and "singing from the same song sheet.""She helped pass all the laws that are being employed now," Biden told reporters on Friday afternoon. "She was a major player in everything we've done, including passage of legislation which we were told we could never pass. And so she's been — and her staff is interlocked with mine in terms of all the things we're doing."During Harris' Tuesday softball interview with "The View," she did not attempt to distance herself from the current administration and its failures. "Let's talk about something you would do different from Donald Trump," Ana Navarro said to Harris. "Trump is lying, claiming that the Biden administration is intentionally withholding aid from the areas where Republicans live and that FEMA funds are being redirected to migrants.""What do you think the effect of these lies are, and why is he doing this?" Navarro asked Harris."It's profound, and it is the height of irresponsibility and, frankly, callousness," Harris replied. Many volunteer groups on the ground providing aid to those impacted by the hurricane have expressed frustration about the administration's delayed and lackluster response.During the interview, Harris was also asked about the immigration crisis under the Biden administration. She regurgitated tired and inaccurate claims that Trump worked to kill a so-called bipartisan Senate bill to address the issue.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

America is undeniably in a state of moral crisis — but does it have anything to do with demonic possession? While Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti, a Roman Catholic priest and exorcist in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., doesn’t believe we are possessed as a nation, he does believe Satan’s influence is “getting stronger.” This is what Rossetti explains as “demonic oppression.” “Satan’s always been around. So he didn’t disappear,” Rossetti tells Liz Wheeler of “The Liz Wheeler Show.” “Satan seems to be more unmasked today. You know, that sort of hidden presence, he almost seems to be more out front.” “You see this in many different ways,” he continues. “So I think that we’re really entering a time of spiritual warfare where Satan is burning churches, turning people from the faith, thousands, hundreds of thousands of people practicing witchcraft.” While Rossetti believes practices like Kundalini yoga are demonic influences, he doesn’t think that people realize what they’re doing. “You’re making a contract with Satan, whether you realize it or not, and you’re worshipping demons, whether you realize it or not,” he says, adding, “All these people who are practicing these occult things are putting themselves under the sway of Satan.” On social media platforms like TikTok, there are billions of people watching “WitchTok” videos, which showcase people dabbling in the occult. “The evil effects are coming to roost,” he says, explaining that one way demonic influences can manifest in human beings is through mental illnesses. Rossetti, who’s been practicing as a licensed psychologist for 35 years, tells Wheeler that in order to discern whether or not a person is under the influence of demons, he first screens them for psychological problems. “If it seems like there’s something spiritual going on, then we’ll start to discern, and part of discern is praying over the person. And if they’re really possessed, if the demons possess their bodies, then as we pray over them, eventually, the demons start reacting,” he explains. “Typically, the person’s personality recedes into the background, the demons come forward, and the first thing they say is, ‘You stupid priest.’” “It’s not the person's voice, it’s a different voice and obviously a different attitude. And the second thing they’ll say is ‘she’s mine’ or ‘he’s mine,’” Rossetti says. “And then we say, ‘Okay, well, game on. She belongs to Jesus, he belongs to Jesus.’” 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.

Japanese video game designer Hideo Kojima issued an anti-woke message on his X account, advocating for teaching history even when it is at its most unsavory. Kojima is famous for his Metal Gear games, which date back to the late 1980s and have sold over 60 million copies combined over the series' lifetime. The games focus on espionage against the backdrop of secretive governments and the military-industrial complex. At the same time, the games have always honed in on the importance of freedom and the idea of American-style liberty.Kojima issued his guiding principles in a recent post on X, stating plainly that no matter how dark history has been, it must be passed down."We have to pass the torch, and let our children read our messy and sad history by its light," Kojima wrote. "We have all the magic of the digital age to do that with. The human race will probably come to an end some time, and new species may rule over this planet.""Earth may not be forever, but we still have the responsibility to leave what traces of life we can. Building the future and keeping the past alive are one and the same thing," he added. — (@) Kojima stated that this was the thesis of his 2001 game Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. A fan soon replied to his post with a clip from the game that eerily predicted the future of online censorship:One character in the video asks, "Why would you need to take away individual freedoms and censor the net?"Another character, who is later revealed to be an artificial intelligence program, explains that humanity cannot be trusted to determine truth for itself. As such, the AI deems it necessary to censor certain viewpoints online to save humanity from being exposed to inaccurate history.On the 20th anniversary of the game, Kojima posted about the importance of individual liberty and how society — in this case, online discourse — needs to be free and able to move in a natural direction without outside influence."LIBERTY and FREEDOM have different meanings, and MGS2 is not about singularity, but about the 'norms' of society having a will of their own," he wrote.Kojima consistently makes arguments on behalf of traditional Western and Japanese cultures, advocating for simplicity in society. In 2023, he wrote about how he had watched a movie that made him yearn for a time of community and neighborhoods."The film reminded me of the importance of community and 'kizuna' (bonds) with neighbors and local residents.""It reminded me of America in the 60's and Japan in the Showa era," he continued. "When 'home' was not isolated and neighborhoods were still close to each other."Another Kojima game, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, has also been applauded for its predictive nature. The 2008 release discussed private military operations in the Middle East and proxy wars fought using drone technology and autonomous war machines.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

More than a dozen attorneys general in the United States are suing TikTok in their jurisdictions. The new lawsuits predominantly criticize the platform's algorithm, saying it is addicting to children.One of the litigators is New York's Letitia James, who said American teens have died or been injured due to the influence of TikTok challenges, where users are indirectly dared to follow a trend.According to the BBC, James cited a 15-year-old boy who died doing a "subway surfing" challenge in Manhattan by attempting to ride atop a moving subway car. The boy's mother found TikTok videos of the same nature on his phone."TikTok knows that compulsive use of and other harmful effects of its platform are wreaking havoc on the mental health of millions of American children and teenagers," the New York lawsuit argued.The document continued, "Despite such documented knowledge, TikTok continually misrepresents its platform as 'safe' [and] 'appropriate for children and teenagers.'"The lawsuits claim that the algorithm, the "For You" feed on TikTok, uses design features that make children addicted to the platform. The features in question include the ability to scroll endlessly, push notifications, and face filters that create allegedly unattainable appearances.The 14 states suing TikTok include California, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, and Washington, along with the District of Columbia.In D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb called the algorithm "dopamine-inducing" and said it is intentionally addictive to trap users into excessive consumption of the app.Schwalb also argued that TikTok does this knowing that it will lead to "profound psychological and physiological harms," the Associated Press reported. The issues listed include anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia."[TikTok] is profiting off the fact that it's addicting young people to its platform," Schwalb said.In response, TikTok spokesman Alex Haurek said the company strongly disagrees with the lawsuits' claims, which he called "inaccurate and misleading.""We're proud of and remain deeply committed to the work we've done to protect teens and we will continue to update and improve our product," Haurek said. He added, "We've endeavored to work with the attorneys general for over two years, and it is incredibly disappointing they have taken this step rather than work with us on constructive solutions to industry-wide challenges."TikTok does not allow children under 13 to sign up and restricts some content for those under 18.The lawsuits call for TikTok to stop using the aforementioned features and also for the company to pay monetary fines for its alleged illegal and damaging practices.At the same time, TikTok faces a U.S. ban if parent company ByteDance does not sell the company by mid-January 2025, in accordance with federal laws. The company is challenging the ruling in a Washington appeals court.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Following new regulations in South Korea, Respawn Entertainment has revealed the exact odds of pulling various Apex Legends cosmetics from Apex Packs, and it’s rather illuminating. While the odds will not be changing from what players have been experiencing over recent months and years, the biggest takeaway from this new, precise data is just how slim your chances of getting Heirlooms, Apex’s most desirable items, really are. Continue reading Apex Legends Heirloom Shard drop rates are even lower than you think MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Apex Legends characters guide, Apex Legends skins, Apex Legends tier list

She ACTUALLY SAID IT: Kamala Tells 'The View' She Wouldn't Have Done ANYTHING Differently Than Joe Biden

'Pain Is Setting IN': Stephen King Coming to Terms With a VERY Likely Kamala LOSS Is Simply DELICIOUS