Alex Jones...

[Ernie]

Alex Jones's possessions are being liquidated to pay court case dues.

https://apnews.com/article/alex-jones-s ... a54c6e6c0e

[Ernie]

Lesson is: Don't say things like the following and make money off of it if you want to keep your assets.

"Mr. Jones’s Sandy Hook commentary went on for years. Here is a small sampling of what he said:

“My gut is, with the timing and everything that happened, this is staged. And you know I’ve been saying the last few months, get ready for big mass shootings, and then magically, it happens.”

“Folks, we got to get private investigators up to Sandy Hook right now. Because I’m telling you this — this stinks to highest heaven.”

“We’re sorry for everybody’s losses, whatever. We’re investigating this, though.”

“It’s as phony as a $3 bill.”

“You’ve got parents laughing — ‘hahaha’ — and then they walk over to the camera and go ‘boo hoo hoo,’ and not just one but a bunch of parents doing this and then photos of kids that are still alive they said died? I mean, they think we’re so dumb.”

“Why did Hitler blow up the Reichstag — to get control! Why do governments stage these things — to get our guns! Why can’t people get that through their head?”

“I watched the footage, and it looks like a drill.”

After Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie died at Sandy Hook, gave a news conference the night after the shooting, Mr. Jones said:

“You know, after you lose your daughter, they put you on some antidepressants or something, but I thought those take a month to kick in. I mean, it’s like a look of absolute satisfaction, like he’s about to accept an Oscar.”

“It looks like he’s saying, ‘OK, do I read off the card?’ He’s laughing, and then he goes over and starts basically breaking down and crying.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/22/us/p ... -hook.html

Alex Jones called the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a hoax on his radio show "Infowars," claiming it was "staged" by the government so they could "go after our guns” and “start a civil war.”

In the aftermath of the tragedy, Jones called the shooting “completely false” and accused grieving parents of being “crisis actors," or people acting as victims of a tragic event to sway public opinion.

https://www.statesman.com/story/news/20 ... 390023007/

Mr Jones has now repeated his comments, including about what he says never happened at the elementary school in Connecticut, in an interview to NBC’s Megyn Kelly.

Ms Kelly told Mr Jones that his response was “a dodge”. He denied it, adding: “I looked at all the angles about Newtown, I made my statement before the other media picked it up.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 86656.html

[Ken]

And it wasn't just what he said.

He has a LOT of rabid followers. And many of them took up his lead to dox and harass all these parents, hounded out of their homes and basically drove some of them into self-imposed witness protection just to escape all the endless online and real life harassment by very unhinged people.

Alex Jones knowingly sicced a rabid mob on all those poor parents. All for advertising dollars and ratings.

First your child is murdered in school by a psychopath. Then a rabid mob hounds you out of your home and into hiding.

Alex Jones deserves every bit of this.

[Josh]

A chilling case for free speech; we aren't a country that really honours the First Amendment anymore. Of course, pornographers are free to claim they need to distribute their filth far and wide and local communities are left powerless to stop it, with the courts siding with the pornographers, but a talk-show host who has always had kind of far "out there" ideas isn't allowed to engage in what is clearly political speech.

[Ken]

A chilling case for free speech; we aren't a country that really honours the First Amendment anymore. Of course, pornographers are free to claim they need to distribute their filth far and wide and local communities are left powerless to stop it, with the courts siding with the pornographers, but a talk-show host who has always had kind of far "out there" ideas isn't allowed to engage in what is clearly political speech.

Willful and malicious slander has never been protected by the First Amendment. Defamation law actually predates the American Revolution. This is nothing new.

Truth is always a defense against charges of libel and slander. In this case it turns out that Alex Jones had no defense. Because he knowingly, repeatedly, and maliciously lied for profit. And caused real people to suffer real damages.

[Josh]

A chilling case for free speech; we aren't a country that really honours the First Amendment anymore. Of course, pornographers are free to claim they need to distribute their filth far and wide and local communities are left powerless to stop it, with the courts siding with the pornographers, but a talk-show host who has always had kind of far "out there" ideas isn't allowed to engage in what is clearly political speech.

Willful and malicious slander has never been protected by the First Amendment. Defamation law actually predates the American Revolution. This is nothing new.

Truth is always a defense against charges of libel and slander. In this case it turns out that Alex Jones had no defense. Because he knowingly, repeatedly, and maliciously lied for profit.

Actually, for America, the amount of defamation lawsuits is quite new. Historically, America has been a bastion of free speech, compared with a place like the UK where free speech isn't really a right.

It is very sad to see free speech fall by the wayside and be replaced with the new reality: those allowed to speak will be those with wealth, power, and influence. Say something the global elites don't like, and you'll be sued out of existence.

[Ken]

I would be opposed to Trump securing a multimillion judgment against someone engaging in political speech against him.

However, why do you always need to bring Trump into every discussion?

With conservatives, it seems that every accusation is actually a confession. If you want to claim that defamation lawsuits are on the rise, fine. Then it is reasonable to ask who is doing the most of them. It's not some anonymous and mysterious "global elites". We can actually put a name to who is doing it the most: https://firstamendmentwatch.org/tag/tru ... efamation/

The Ken Challenge: discuss any political topic without brining up Trump.

You are the one who popped up here to defend Alex Jones of all people on First Amendment grounds. And then claimed that defamation lawsuits by some anonymous "global elites" are a growing problem. I'm simply pointing out who those global elites really are. They aren't mysterious anonymous figures. We can put a name to who they are. Feel free to point to any other American political figure who has filed more of them. Go ahead and try. In fact, one of his big efforts was to amend libel laws to make it easier to file more of them. Seriously: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/10/busi ... =url-share

Look. I think the jury reached the right decision in this case. And I'm also not convinced that an increase in defamation lawsuits by the powerful is really a big problem in this country. The majority of states have anti-SLAPP laws. Could we use on at the federal level? Probably. If you think so then maybe support Jamie Raskin who has been pushing legislation to that effect: https://raskin.house.gov/2022/9/chairma ... ent-rights

But if you really want to argue that defamation lawsuits are some growing crisis in this country then it is perfectly reasonable to ask which global elite figure is filing more of them than anyone else. And the answer is pretty clear.

[barnhart]

Do social conservatives consider Alex Jones a conservative.

[Grace]

I would be opposed to Trump securing a multimillion judgment against someone engaging in political speech against him.

However, why do you always need to bring Trump into every discussion?

With conservatives, it seems that every accusation is actually a confession. If you want to claim that defamation lawsuits are on the rise, fine. Then it is reasonable to ask who is doing the most of them. It's not some anonymous and mysterious "global elites". We can actually put a name to who is doing it the most: https://firstamendmentwatch.org/tag/tru ... efamation/

The Ken Challenge: discuss any political topic without brining (bringing) up Trump.

Agreed !

[justme]