Why was death row inmate Melissa Lucio's execution delayed?
Nearly half of the jurors who sentenced a Texas woman to die for the 2007 death of one of her 14 children called for her execution to be halted and for her to get a new trial before the state’s top criminal court delayed her lethal injection.
John Oliver knocks Bush statement on Russia, Ukraine: 'You are not the guy for this one'
Comedian and television host John Oliver took a shot at George W. Bush for a statement the former president issued condemning Russian's invasion of Ukraine last week. "I join the international community in condemning Vladimir Putin's unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine," Bush said after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. "Hold on, George. Not from you," Oliver shot back during a segment on the...
news.yahoo.comDeSantis, lawmakers take aim at mandates in special session bills
The Florida House and Senate on Monday rolled out proposals for a special legislative session next week that will focus on opposing COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates. A series of bills were released as Gov. Ron DeSantis reiterated what he sees as the need for the session, which will start Nov. 15.
news.yahoo.comThe 'Vietnamese Alex Jones' has his YouTube channel taken down after being called out by John Oliver
John Oliver threw a jab at the spread of misinformation among the immigrant diaspora in the U.S., including the Vietnamese community, in an episode of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.” The misinformation disease: In the episode, which aired on Oct. 11, Oliver said the spread of misinformation among the immigrant community was fueled by the lack of platforms that deliver reliable and accurate news in their languages, according to VN Express. “For many older Vietnamese Americans, there is such a vacuum of credible news channels that broadcast in Vietnamese,” he said.
news.yahoo.comJohn Oliver humiliates local TV stations with 'sexual wellness blanket' sponsored content
Local news is very important to any community, and "not just in a civic sense," John Oliver said on Sunday's Last Week Tonight. It's a trusted source of information, a way to hold local politicians and businesses accountable, and also "a major money-maker for stations," he said. "But the need to both inform a community and make money has always been tricky to reconcile." "Clearly, maintaining journalistic independence from advertisers is critically important — so important, in fact, it's frequently referred to as the church-state wall," Oliver said. "And the FCC has rules requiring broadcast stations to announce when content has been sponsored or paid for in any way. Unfortunately, many local stations have either completely broken those rules or violated the spirit of them through a practice known as sponsored content," where "advertising is blended directly into the broadcast." Sponsored content is "both more widespread and harder to detect than you might realize," he said. "Sometimes local businesses will pay for an interview where they can script the questions and make sure that they're presented glowingly." Even if these "trusted local TV" shows stay just on the legal side of the FCC rules, they still shouldn't sell themselves out for uncritical coverage of questionable medical devices and treatments, Oliver argued. "You might think viewers should be smart enough to approach anything on these shows with skepticism. The thing is, though, many of these stations also swap figures between their newsroom and their sponsored-content shows." If you watch Last Week Tonight regularly enough, you might see where this is going. "Right now, it's far too easy to make a ridiculous product that makes outlandish claims and get it onto local TV," Oliver said. "And the reason I know that is, we did. We started a company called Venus Inventions and created something called the 'Venus Veil,' an absurd medical product based on technology that absolutely doesn't exist." His team also created a website and hired an actress — and humiliated a trio of local TV shows. "It was all shockingly affordable and, sadly, on some stations, didn't even look that out of place," Oliver said. And given the importance of local news, "that is not good." You can watch the real TV news segments and fake testimonials about the "sexual wellness blanket" at the website, and watch Oliver's segment, with cameos from George Clooney and NSFW language, below. More stories from theweek.com5 riotously funny cartoons about GOP resistance to the January 6 CommissionWSJ: 3 Wuhan Institute of Virology researchers believed to seek hospital care in November 2019Angelina Jolie stands perfectly still, unshowered, covered in bees for World Bee Day
news.yahoo.comJohn Oliver called out by 10-year-old Israeli girl over 'war crime' comments made on 'Last Week Tonight'
A 10-year-old Israeli girl issued a response to John Oliver after a segment on “Last Week Tonight” was highly critical of Israel and its role in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
news.yahoo.comChina urges US to play constructive role in Gaza diplomacy
China on Monday renewed calls for the U.S. to play a constructive role in ending the conflict in Gaza and stop blocking efforts at the United Nations to demand an end to the bloodshed. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said China, as rotating head of the Security Council, has urged a cease-fire and the provision of humanitarian assistance, among other proposals, but that obstruction by “one country” has prevented the council from speaking with one voice. “We call on the United States to assume its due responsibility and take an impartial position to support the council and play its due role in cooling down the situation and rebuilding trust for a political solution," Zhao said at a daily briefing.
news.yahoo.comJohn Oliver now has a sewage plant named after him
DANBURY, Conn. – Comedian John Oliver made a secret trip to Connecticut last week to help cut the ribbon on a sign naming a sewage treatment plant in his honor. Danbury's City Council voted earlier this month to rename the sewage plant “The John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant,” following a tongue-in-cheek battle that began with an expletive-filled rant against the city on HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” in August. Mayor Mark Boughton responded to the attack by posting a video of himself at the sewage plant saying the city was going to name it after Oliver "because it’s full of crap just like you, John.”Oliver offered to donate $55,000 to local charities if Danbury actually followed through with the idea. Oliver shared a video of the ribbon-cutting on his show Sunday. “This place takes the worst that humanity can produce, and transforms it into something that we can live with,” Oliver said.
Connecticut city OKs renaming sewage plant for John Oliver
Every time residents of Danbury, Connecticut, flush, they will be sending their special deliveries to the John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant. The City Council voted 18-1 Thursday night to rename the sewage plant after the comedian, who began a tongue-in-cheek battle with Danbury when he went on an expletive-filled rant against the city on HBO's “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” in August. He posted a video of himself at the sewage plant saying the city was going to name it after Oliver. Oliver upped the stakes on his Aug. 30 show by offering to donate $55,000 to local charities if Danbury actually followed through with renaming the plant. The mayor added he will be offering tours of the sewer plant for $500 donations to local food pantries.
City won't waste John Oliver's donation, on 1 condition
This video frame grab shows John Oliver from his "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" program on HBO, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020. (HBO via AP)DANBURY, Conn. A Connecticut city won't waste an opportunity to get a sizeable donation from comedian John Oliver about a weeks-long joke pertaining to the name of a sewage plant in the area. Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said on WTNH-TV that he would accept Olivers challenge to name the citys sewage plant after him following Oliver's offer to donate $55,000 to local charities. If youre going to forget a town in Connecticut, why not forget Danbury? Oliver said. We are going to rename it the John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant, the Republican mayor said.
John Oliver: Name sewage plant for me, I'll give to charity
DANBURY, Conn. Comedian John Oliver upped the stakes in a tongue-in-cheek spat with a Connecticut city, offering to donate $55,000 to charity if officials follow through on a joke to name its sewage treatment plant after him. Mayor Mark Boughton said last week that Danbury was going to rename the facility the John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant, in response to Oliver's expletive-filled rant against the city on a recent episode of HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver." Because its full of crap just like you, John," Boughton said in a video posted on his Facebook page. But then he went off on another rant after playing a video of Boughton saying it was just a joke. Aw (expletive) you, Danbury, Oliver said.
Guilfoyle's loud RNC speech makes her the comics' favorite
Stephen Colbert mimicked poking his head out from under a table after playing a clip of Guilfoyle on CBS' Late Show." I'm glad we already have kids, because I think I was sterilized by that.He called Guilfoyle a vengeful banshee who will haunt your dreams.On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah said Guilfoyle's speech was so loud that Canada called the cops. I want to wish a speedy recovery for anyone who watched the convention on headphones, he said. MSNBC's Morning Joe ran portions of her speech side-by-side with Dwight Schrute's classic award acceptance speech in The Office.Somewhere, Kimmel was taking notes. That stands in contrast to Colbert, who is doing the Late Show live for the two weeks of the convention.
Longing for the Summer Olympics? This virtual Marble League might be the next best thing
Meet your newest obsession: Jelle’s Marble Runs. The idea for the Marble League was simple enough: What if marbles competed in a series of events? A man in the Netherlands made it happen, and now, his Marble League is getting so much attention that it deservedly got a shoutout from “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver. For all new fans, here are all the teams competing in Marble League 2020 and Marble League Showdown! But like most of us, Jelle’s Marble Runs has been facing some economic problems since the pandemic started.