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As he works to enter his vice president era, Tim Walz is invoking the power of Taylor Swift.
At the VP debate Tuesday night (Oct. 1), Kamala Harris’ running mate gave the pop superstar a big shout-out and wore Eras Tour-inspired friendship bracelets while facing off against JD Vance, Donald Trump’s pick for his second-in-command. After 90 minutes of back-and-forth — during which strings of beads occasionally peaked out from Walz’s shirt sleeves — the Minnesota governor ended his performance by marveling at the vast array of people supporting the Democratic ticket in 2024.  

“I’m as surprised as anybody of this coalition that Kamala Harris has built, from Bernie Sanders to Dick Cheney to Taylor Swift,” Walz said, staring into the camera to directly address the American people. “They don’t all agree on everything, but they are truly optimistic people. They believe in a positive future of this country, and one where our politics can be better than it is.”  

The 60-year-old politician was standing too far away from the camera to give a clear shot of his bracelets, but it’s very possible he was sporting an official Harris-Walz accessory on his wrist. The duo’s campaign began selling the beaded pieces in September, almost immediately after Swift endorsed their cause with a lengthy post on Instagram signed “Childless Cat Lady.”  

“I think [Harris] is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos,” the 14-time Grammy winner wrote in her message, which went live moments after the presidential debate concluded Sept. 10. “I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.” 

Though her support has arguably been the most impactful, Swift is just one of dozens of celebrities who’ve endorsed Harris and Walz ahead of election day on Nov. 5. Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Jon, Bon Iver, John Legend and Pink have all performed at campaign events this summer, while Ariana Grande, Cardi B, Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Carole King, Katy Perry, Kesha, Barbra Streisand and more have all spoken out in the Democrats’ favor. 

Watch Walz give Swift a shout-out at the VP debate below.

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With just over a month until Election Day, vice presidential candidates Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota’s Gov. Tim Walz will debate for the first time airing live on Tuesday (Oct. 1).

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The debate will take place at CBS News studios in New York City.

Read on for details on where and when to watch, and stream from anywhere.

Vice Presidential Debate: Time, Where to Stream Without Cable

What time does the debate start? CBS will broadcast and stream live coverage of the vicepresidential debate beginning at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Debate coverage starts at 4 p.m. ET on CBS.

Additionally, the debate will stream live on Paramount+ and simulcast on ABC, NBC, Fox, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, BBC News and C-SPAN, which you can access on DIRECTV Stream, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV and ExpressVPN to stream internationally.

DIRECTV Stream lets you stream ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox in addition to cable networks. Live TV streaming plans start at $80.  

Fubo and Hulu + Live TV offer live, local channels along with several cable channels. And you can join either platform for free, however Fubo offers a free trial for a week and Hulu + Live TV’s free trial lasts for three days. Both streamers offer plans under $80 per month.

Join Sling TV and watch cable channels and local networks such as CBS and ABC in select regions. Sling’s streaming plans start at $20 for the first month.   

Even though Amazon offers same-day delivery on select items, you might not have enough time to purchase a digital antenna, but it’s a decent option for streaming live channels without subscribing to a streamer. The vice presidential debate will also stream live on Prime Video’s Freevee channel.

To watch CBS on Paramount+, you’ll need to subscribe to the Paramount+ with Showtime. Plans start at $7.99 for the basic package and $12.99 for Paramount+ with Showtime, CBS and more. Start your free trail here.

Debate Rules & Moderator Details

CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell, will moderate the debate alongside Face the Nation moderator and chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan.

According to CBS News, each candidate will have two minutes to answer each question and one minute for rebuttal. Mics will not be muted while the other candidate speaks, but moderators can mute the candidates if needed.

The debate will include four commercial breaks.

With so much at stake in the upcoming U.S. election, five queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 are urging their fans to make their voices heard by voting.
In a PSA shared on Drag Race’s X account, the five queens — Amanda Tori Meating, Dawn, Megami, Plasma and Xunami Muse — shared what issues felt most important to them in the upcoming election, with every queen stating that they were worried about the status of rights for the trans community in the U.S.

“I am very, very concerned about making sure that my trans family are protected, and that we have someone in office who actually sees them as human beings and will fight for their rights to healthcare and to just exist as humans,” Megami said in the video. Plasma added that it was “hard to fathom” that trans people’s “right to be who they are, intrinsically [and] autonomously, is at stake in this election.”

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Dawn pointed out that LGBTQ+ people are an actively important voting block in the 2024 election. “We’re such an important demographic of people,” she said. “Because our rights are under fire right now.” As Amanda Tori Meating put it, “there are a lot of us, and they don’t think that we’ll all vote.”

In closing the video, Xunami Muse called on fans to make sure they did their civic duty in November. “There are so many policies trying to take our rights just to exist away,” she said, while a graphic directing viewers to Headcount’s voter registration website appeared on screen. “So it’s not an option … it’s a must. It’s our right. It’s our duty as an American to go out there and vote.”

RuPaul’s Drag Race has a long history with presidential elections — since the show’s fourth season in 2012, every season of the show taking place during an election year has included at least one election-themed challenge, including performances in mock debates (seasons 4 and 12), creating attack advertisements (season 8) and even writing lyrics to a political anthem (season 16).

While none of the five queens directly stated which candidate they would be voting for in the 2024 election, all of them focused on the attack on LGBTQ+ rights happening in the U.S. The ACLU is currently tracking over 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills across all 50 states, with the vast majority of those bills introduced by right-wing legislators.

Former president Donald Trump’s official platform includes promises to “keep men out of women’s sports” (a reference to ongoing attempts to ban transgender athletes from competing in school sports) and to “cut federal funding for any school pushing … radical gender ideology, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.” Vice President Kamala Harris’ platform, meanwhile, includes a promise to pass the Equality Act into law “to enshrine anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQI+ Americans in health care, housing, education, and more.”

Watch the full PSA from the queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race below:

“It’s not an option. It’s a must. It’s a right. It’s a duty as an American to go out there and vote.” 🗣️ Make sure you and your friends are ready to vote by taking action at https://t.co/0wvFl34pxL and be entered for a chance to win a trip to RPDR Live in Las Vegas! pic.twitter.com/en28HiyIwi— RuPaul’s Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) September 30, 2024

New York City’s Mayor Eric Adams made somewhat of a cameo in The Notorious B.I.G.‘s video for the rapper’s debut single “Juicy.” According to a resurfaced tweet from New York Times reporter Jesse Drucker, his eagle-eyed son spotted the now-mayor as he was watching the video. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See […]

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Donald Trump might enjoy favorable support among his base but the race for the White House against his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, remains tightly contested. However, Donald Trump took things to a shocking level when he essentially endorsed police brutality to stamp out crime.
Donald Trump was in Pennsylvania on Sunday (September 29) and delivered a speech that should have been focused on his policies but devolved into him spouting debunked claims of crime rising under President Joe Biden’s administration and more talking points that he’s largely remained committed to. However, things took a dark turn when the former president suggested the police be allowed to use rough tactics to stop crime, especially in the world of retail theft.
“See, we have to let the police do their job,” Trump began. “And if they have to be extraordinarily rough…and you know the funny thing about all of that stuff. Look at the department stores. You see these guys walking out with an air conditioner and a refrigerator on their backs.”
The Trump faithful applauded on cue during this speech segment the business mogul continued to deliver his dangerous rhetoric.
“And the police aren’t allowed to do their job,” Trump continued. “They’re told if you do anything, you’re going to lose your pension, you’re going to lose your family, your house, your car. The police want to do it. The Border Patrol wants to do it. They’re not allowed to do it because the liberal left won’t let them do it.”
He continued to double down on the threat of police violence against theft, once again to the approving cheers of his supporters.
“One rough hour, and I mean real rough, the word will get out, and it will end immediately, end immediately. You know, it will end immediately,” Trump said.
On X, formerly Twitter, observers have likened Donald Trump’s support of concentrated and lawless police violence to the film franchise, The Purge, in which for 24 hours, crimes can be committed without consequences.
We’ve got reactions listed below.


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1. Regardless of what people are framing it as, it’s scary to imagine.

2. Worth a watch.

4. Some more talking points about what Trump may allegedly be angling for.

10. Instead of reducing it to name-calling, just keep educating. It’s all new information for some.

Randy Rainbow is back in his election era, and he’s using the music of pop superstar Taylor Swift to ridicule former president Donald Trump.
In a new parody video posted on Monday (Sept. 30), Rainbow created a “Donald’s Version” of Swift’s hit 1989 single “Blank Space,” switching up the lyrics to openly mock the Republican nominee’s latest statements in a divisive campaign for the White House.

Rainbow started off his new clip pretending to be the moderator at the presidential debate earlier in September, using clips of both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris to underline his jabs at the former president. “Mister former fake president girl sir, you have been critical of your opponent’s immigration record. Would you care to elaborate by making up some crazy-a– bulls–t?” Rainbow asks in the introduction before replaying clips of Trump making the false claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were kidnapping and eating pets.

Launching into his song, Rainbow donned his best Taylor Swift drag and immediately went after Trump’s increasingly strange public comments at both his rallies and the Sept. 10 debate. “Pushin’ garbage, playin’ games/ Got more tall tales than bankruptcies,” Rainbow jabbed in his first verse. “Hey girl, you OK? Do you believe a word you say? Can’t believe a word you say, ’cause we’ve been tryna ditch you for damn near a decade.”

On the song’s choruses, though, Rainbow opted to sing directly to his audience, urging them to get to the polls on Nov. 5. “Soon it’s gonna be November, and we’re gonna get the final say/ Better get your act together, or he’s gonna take your rights away,” he sings. “Got our foreign rivals rooting, he’d be their Christmas gift/ ‘Cause he loves Kim Jong and Putin, but hates Taylor Swift!”

The pop singer made news shortly after the debate when she publicly endorsed Kamala Harris, stating that the vice president “fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.” Swift also made it clear that she would not support Trump’s election bid, despite AI-generated photos (shared on social media by Trump) that claimed to show her lending him her support. “It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” she wrote. “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter.”

Closing out his parody video, Rainbow dressed up as Swift in her endorsement post to deliver one final string of insults at the former president, calling him a “narcissistic weirdo,” a “low-IQ, hot-headed nutjob” and even an “orange fecal stain.” For his final punchline, Rainbow called up Swift’s classic lyric to taunt Trump: “He’s got a blank space, baby/ And it’s in his brain.”

Watch Randy Rainbow’s parody of Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” above.

Sabrina Carpenter copped to possibly having a role in last week’s first-ever indictment of a sitting New York mayor. During her headlining show at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday night (Sept. 29), Carpenter took a moment to respond to the historic news from Friday that N.Y. Mayor Eric Adams had pleaded not guilty to five felony charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery after officials accused him of taking more than $100,000 in illegal gifts in exchange for allegedly helping out the government of Turkey.

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According to fan video of the moment, she joked, “Damn, what now? Should we talk about how I got the mayor indicted?” pulling her face away from the mic as she laughed while the crowd clapped and yelled. Carpenter was referring to reports earlier this month that tied the filming of her blood-soaked 2023 “Feather” video to one of the voluble Mayor’s friends.

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Carpenter made headlines last Halloween when just weeks after filming the visual inside Brooklyn’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Annunciation Parish Church in Williamsburg led to the demotion of Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello. The Church leader was relieved of his administrative duties after it emerged that he’d approved the shooting of the clip in which Carpenter, 25, bloodily offs former boyfriends and winds up in a skimpy black dress posing and wriggling on the altar in the ornate 130-year-old church next to a bedazzled coffin emblazoned with the message “RIP B–ch.”

After the video’s release, Bishop Robert J. Brennan said he was “appalled at what was filmed” at the church,” noting that the parish did not follow “diocesan policy regarding the filming on Church property, which includes a review of the scenes and script.” The song was featured on Carpenter’s 2022 Emails I Can’t Send album.

Carpenter’s name popped up earlier this month when reports said that federal investigators were also in the midst of an investigation into the relationship between Gigantiello and Adams’ former chief of staff, Frank Carone. The church was reportedly subpoenaed by federal investigators last week seeking information about possible financial and business tied between longtime friends Gigantiello and Carone, in an investigation allegedly tied to the filming of the video that has racked up more than 100 million views to date.

“It would be inappropriate to comment further on that review, which is still ongoing,” diocese officials said in a statement. “The Diocese is fully committed to cooperating with law enforcement in all investigations, including conduct at individual parishes or involving any priest.”

Adams plead not guilty last week on federal charges alleging that he accepted expensive travel and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign dignitaries in exchange for political favors.

See fan video of Carpenter’s comment below.

Soul Asylum frontman Dave Pirner is a proud Minnesotan again after having spent 25 years living in New Orleans. So it’s not surprising he’s watching this year’s presidential campaign with even more interest since a home state horse, Gov. Tim Walz, is representing as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate on the Democratic ticket. (Pirner was born in Green Bay, Wisc., but grew up in Minnesota.)

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“I’m excited about it,” Pirner, who launched his music career in the North Star state drumming for the punk band Loud Fast Rules, tells Billboard from a stop during Soul Asylum’s recent Jubilee Tour with Stone Temple Pilots and Live. “There’s a certain amount of excitement in Minnesota going on. It’s funny to have a dude like that representing Minnesota ’cause he does remind you of a sports dad. There’s that, ‘Oh gosh’ kind of ‘aw shucks’ thing going on. I think it was a good choice because he seems like a nice complement to (Harris) in that good ol’ boy way or something. But he’s progressive and he’s well-liked.”

Pirner does not recall ever having met Walz, a music fan who signed a bill renaming a stretch of the state’s Highway 5 after the late Prince. But Pirner says he’s “ready to go out there and support the home team. Put my name in the hat.”

He’ll have to fit any support appearances into a busy schedule, however. Soul Asylum has concert dates booked into early November, including with the Juliana Hatfield Three, but most importantly the quartet’s 13th studio album, Slowly But Shirley, comes out Sept. 27. The 12-song set is the follow-up to 2020’s Hurry Up and Wait, its debut with Blue Elan Records, and reunites Pirner and company with Steve Jordan, the current Rolling Stones drummer who helmed Soul Asylum’s 1990 album And the Horse they Rode In On, a highly regarded set that was eclipsed two years later by the double-platinum Grave Dancers Union.

“When we first worked with Steve, we weren’t that great,” recalls Pirner, Soul Asylum’s only remaining founding member. “We were still learning how to play together. And since then I’ve sort of embraced most of the things that Steve had passed on to me from back then. So I kinda knew what he wanted and I wanted to give it to him, and I think it came together in a really organic sort of way that I think you can feel on the record — I hope you can, at least. It did mark a progression.”

Pirner adds that what Jordan and the band were looking for was “just excitement and not too much thinking about what you’re doing. It was more like capturing the band playing the songs off of each other and really listening to the other people in the band and trying to come across in a way that it felt new, fresh.” To that end Jordan had the group — Pirner, drummer Michael Bland, guitarist Ryan Smith and bassist Jeremy Tappero — tracking together in the studio to capture the energy and attitude of live music.

“We’ve tried just about every single way to record something over the years,” Pirner notes. “Working on the previous records the home studio became part of the picture, and you could also take things home and work on them. It depends on the song…but in this situation each song was approached with the same sort of method, which was ‘Get out there and play it!’ It was great ’cause watching Steve and Michael work together was one of those musical experiences I kinda live for. Steve is such a player’s player, and he’s such a vibe guy in a way that he understands the concept of trying to capture lightning in a bottle, and I think that’s what we were going for. We didn’t overplay anything and we tried to get things on the third take or so. It came together pretty quickly.”

Pirner says Slowly But Shirley‘s songs came together in a variety of fashions — some jammed out by the band in rehearsals, others that he “had been working in in ProTools and computers and messing around and cutting pieces of songs together.” One track, “High Road,” has been around “forever” before being finished off this time. The album is a mélange of Soul Asylum styles, from the jangle of “Freak Accident” to the punchy rock of “Freeloader,” “Trial By Fire,” “The Only Thing I’m Missing” and “Makin’ Plans,” to the cool groove of “Waiting on the Lord” and the mellow melodicism of “You Don’t Know Me.” There’s also a funky edge to “Tryin’ Man” and “Sucker Maker,” which Pirner credits to his time in the Big Easy and having Bland, who spent seven years playing with Prince, in the band.

“I think I was subconsciously trying to take things in a direction that was a little more funky or groovy or swingy or whatever — without forgetting that I’m dealing with a four-piece punk rock band,” Pirner explains. “That’s what’s always made punk rock so interesting is it does have this kind of ‘ignorance is bliss’ adventure to it, where it’s gonna come out sounding like your sh-tty band. But sometimes people try things they probably shouldn’t be trying, and something new comes out of that. It’s discovery, which is the beauty of music.”

Pirner is planning on a long cycle for Slowly But Shirley, including more headlining dates before the end of the year and into 2025. “We’ll play at the opening of a letter, as we used to say,” he notes. This year, meanwhile, also marks the 40th anniversary of Say What You Will…, Soul Asylum’s Bob Mould-produced debut album, and Pirner says that the passage of time has not been lost on him.

“It doesn’t get easier,” he acknowledges. “It feels exactly like 40 years. It’s kind of a grind. It’s different when you’re starting out because you’re just excited about everything and you have a much higher tolerance level because everything is new. You’re living a fairly miserable experience, but it’s an adventure. I’m grateful for all of it; it’s just what I do and what I’ve always done and what I love doing. Sometimes it’s not fun at all, but I’m like, ‘Well, this is what I wished for my whole life, so shut up.’ And I much prefer this to digging a hole, I’ll tell ya that.”

Stevie Nicks has returned with a rallying cry for women, dropping new single “The Lighthouse” Friday (Sept. 27) in hopes of reinvigorating the fight for reproductive healthcare. The track opens with a melodic pinging beat and anthemic sound effects as the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman sings softly, “I have my scars, you have yours/ Don’t let […]

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A Republican congressman posted a racist rant against Haitians and deleted it, but doubled down on his stance leading many social media users to denounce him.
On Wednesday (September 25), Republican Congressman Clay Higgins made a post on X, formerly Twitter, attacking Haitian migrants in Ohio using the same false claims initiated by Senator JD Vance and former President Donald Trump but expanding on them, saying they were “eating pets” and calling them “thugs” and “slapstick gangsters” who come from the “nastiest country in the western hemisphere.” He ended the since-deleted post with an ominous threat, writing: “All these thugs better get their mind right and their a– out of our country before January 20th.”
The representative from Louisiana’s 3rd district was confronted by the Democratic Representative from Nevada, Steven Horsford, who also serves as the Congressional Black Caucus chairman on Capitol Hill. In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Horsford shared how he introduced the motion to censure Higgins to the House of Representatives floor, which would ultimately be voted down by the Republican majority. “It is not about the next election. It is about everyday people in America feeling targeted. Today, it’s the Haitians. Who will it be tomorrow? Will it be you?”, Horsford said. 

Higgins, an avowed supporter of Trump, has made similarly offensive statements before and was dismissive of the outrage. “It’s all true,” Higgins said to CNN that evening. “I can put up another controversial post tomorrow if you want me to. I mean, we do have freedom of speech. I’ll say what I want,” adding: “It’s not a big deal to me. It’s like something stuck to the bottom of my boot. Just scrape it off and move on with my life.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York blasted Higgins for his remarks in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “Clay Higgins is an election-denying, conspiracy-peddling racial arsonist who is a disgrace to the People’s House,” he wrote in his statement.

The condemnation Higgins received online was swift, with many calling out his history of supporting the Ku Klux Klan. The former aide to Mike Pence, Olivia Troye, noted how dangerous he is as a member of the Homeland Security Committee. “This is a clear betrayal of his oath to protect Americans & a warning of what’s to come under a Trump presidency,” she wrote on X.

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