AUSTIN, Texas — A jury in Texas awarded the parents of a child killed in
the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School more than $4
million in compensatory damages from the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones
for defaming them by spreading lies that they were complicit in a
government plot to stage the shooting as a pretext for gun control.
And more trials to come. Nail that S.O.B.
I’ve been casually following this, didn’t he say that a $2M settlement would “break them” meaning his Info Wars org?
I haven't heard that but I can't imagine that to be. Jones at times has made 10's of thousands of dollars per day at times. I'm guessing he has tons of money stashed away. In any case, I hope these court cased sink this disgusting cretin of a human being.
Is referring to him as a "human being" being too nice?
100's of thousands Brian.
one disclosed email revealed in one day the company made 800k.
Thank you for the correction, M! I do remember the numbers being 100's of thousands.
AUSTIN, Texas — A jury in Texas awarded the parents of a child killed in
the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School more than $4
million in compensatory damages from the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones
for defaming them by spreading lies that they were complicit in a
government plot to stage the shooting as a pretext for gun control.
And more trials to come. Nail that S.O.B.
I’ve been casually following this, didn’t he say that a $2M settlement would “break them” meaning his Info Wars org?
I haven't heard that but I can't imagine that to be. Jones at times has made 10's of thousands of dollars per day at times. I'm guessing he has tons of money stashed away. In any case, I hope these court cased sink this disgusting cretin of a human being.
Is referring to him as a "human being" being too nice?
It’s hidden at this point unfortunately and he saw this coming
bankruptcy filing made by Free Speech Systems indicated that $62 million in assets had been withdrawn from the company in 2021 and 2022.
"If you look at the bankruptcy filing, leading up to the declaration of bankruptcy, Alex Jones, the sole owner [of Free Speech Systems], took $62 million in draws in 2021 and 2022," Moshenberg told CNN. "Just straight up draws. That's why the company has few assets."
the punitive damages should come in far higher. I doubt the families will ever see a dime.
I would not be surprised if his money is stashed, but I really hope those families at least get some kind of compensation. B
But regardless, how in the hell do you compensate parents who lost there kids and then had these kinds of lies about them spread around. I can't even begin to imagine the pain he inflicted on these families. That man is pure evil.
"Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!" -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
AUSTIN, Texas — A jury in Texas awarded the parents of a child killed in
the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School more than $4
million in compensatory damages from the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones
for defaming them by spreading lies that they were complicit in a
government plot to stage the shooting as a pretext for gun control.
And more trials to come. Nail that S.O.B.
I’ve been casually following this, didn’t he say that a $2M settlement would “break them” meaning his Info Wars org?
I haven't heard that but I can't imagine that to be. Jones at times has made 10's of thousands of dollars per day at times. I'm guessing he has tons of money stashed away. In any case, I hope these court cased sink this disgusting cretin of a human being.
Is referring to him as a "human being" being too nice?
100's of thousands Brian.
one disclosed email revealed in one day the company made 800k.
Thank you for the correction, M! I do remember the numbers being 100's of thousands.
AUSTIN, Texas — A jury in Texas awarded the parents of a child killed in
the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School more than $4
million in compensatory damages from the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones
for defaming them by spreading lies that they were complicit in a
government plot to stage the shooting as a pretext for gun control.
And more trials to come. Nail that S.O.B.
I’ve been casually following this, didn’t he say that a $2M settlement would “break them” meaning his Info Wars org?
I haven't heard that but I can't imagine that to be. Jones at times has made 10's of thousands of dollars per day at times. I'm guessing he has tons of money stashed away. In any case, I hope these court cased sink this disgusting cretin of a human being.
Is referring to him as a "human being" being too nice?
It’s hidden at this point unfortunately and he saw this coming
bankruptcy filing made by Free Speech Systems indicated that $62 million in assets had been withdrawn from the company in 2021 and 2022.
"If you look at the bankruptcy filing, leading up to the declaration of bankruptcy, Alex Jones, the sole owner [of Free Speech Systems], took $62 million in draws in 2021 and 2022," Moshenberg told CNN. "Just straight up draws. That's why the company has few assets."
the punitive damages should come in far higher. I doubt the families will ever see a dime.
I would not be surprised if his money is stashed, but I really hope those families at least get some kind of compensation. B
But regardless, how in the hell do you compensate parents who lost there kids and then had these kinds of lies about them spread around. I can't even begin to imagine the pain he inflicted on these families. That man is pure evil.
I agree he’s a POS
its probably going to be another Goldman family chasing OJ around for decades trying to get the money they are owed type of situation
Post edited by Cropduster-80 on
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,274
AUSTIN, Texas — A jury in Texas awarded the parents of a child killed in
the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School more than $4
million in compensatory damages from the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones
for defaming them by spreading lies that they were complicit in a
government plot to stage the shooting as a pretext for gun control.
And more trials to come. Nail that S.O.B.
I’ve been casually following this, didn’t he say that a $2M settlement would “break them” meaning his Info Wars org?
I haven't heard that but I can't imagine that to be. Jones at times has made 10's of thousands of dollars per day at times. I'm guessing he has tons of money stashed away. In any case, I hope these court cased sink this disgusting cretin of a human being.
Is referring to him as a "human being" being too nice?
100's of thousands Brian.
one disclosed email revealed in one day the company made 800k.
Thank you for the correction, M! I do remember the numbers being 100's of thousands.
AUSTIN, Texas — A jury in Texas awarded the parents of a child killed in
the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School more than $4
million in compensatory damages from the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones
for defaming them by spreading lies that they were complicit in a
government plot to stage the shooting as a pretext for gun control.
And more trials to come. Nail that S.O.B.
I’ve been casually following this, didn’t he say that a $2M settlement would “break them” meaning his Info Wars org?
I haven't heard that but I can't imagine that to be. Jones at times has made 10's of thousands of dollars per day at times. I'm guessing he has tons of money stashed away. In any case, I hope these court cased sink this disgusting cretin of a human being.
Is referring to him as a "human being" being too nice?
It’s hidden at this point unfortunately and he saw this coming
bankruptcy filing made by Free Speech Systems indicated that $62 million in assets had been withdrawn from the company in 2021 and 2022.
"If you look at the bankruptcy filing, leading up to the declaration of bankruptcy, Alex Jones, the sole owner [of Free Speech Systems], took $62 million in draws in 2021 and 2022," Moshenberg told CNN. "Just straight up draws. That's why the company has few assets."
the punitive damages should come in far higher. I doubt the families will ever see a dime.
I would not be surprised if his money is stashed, but I really hope those families at least get some kind of compensation. B
But regardless, how in the hell do you compensate parents who lost there kids and then had these kinds of lies about them spread around. I can't even begin to imagine the pain he inflicted on these families. That man is pure evil.
I agree he’s a POS
its probably going to be another Goldman family chasing OJ around for decades trying to get the money they are owed type of situation
Yes and, sadly, yes.
"Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!" -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
Alex Jones ordered to pay $49.3M total over Sandy Hook lies
By JIM VERTUNO
13 mins ago
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas jury on Friday ordered Infowars’ Alex Jones to pay $49.3 million in total damages to the parents of a first-grader killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, which the conspiracy theorist falsely called a hoax orchestrated by the government in order to tighten U.S. gun laws.
The amount is less than the $150 million sought by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son Jesse Lewis was among 19 children and six educators killed in the deadliest classroom shooting in U.S. history.
The trial is the first time Jones has been held financially liable for peddling lies about the 2012 attack in Newtown, Connecticut.
Jurors at first awarded Heslin and Lewis $4.1 million in compensatory damages, which Jones called a major victory. But in the final phase of the two-week trial, the same Austin jury came back and tacked on an additional $45.2 million in punitive damages.
Punitive damages are meant to punish defendants for particularly egregious conduct, beyond monetary compensation awarded to the individuals they hurt. A high punitive award is also seen as a chance for jurors to send a wider societal message and a way to deter others from the same abhorrent conduct in the future.
Attorneys for the family had urged jurors to hand down a financial punishment that would put Infowars out of business.
“You have the ability to stop this man from ever doing it again,” Wesley Ball, an attorney for the parents, told the jury.
It’s unclear how much money Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, have.
An economist hired by the plaintiffs testified that Jones and the company are worth up to $270 million, suggesting that Jones was still making money.
But Jones testified that any award over $2 million would “sink us.” And Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy protection during the trial’s first week.
Jones still faces two other defamation lawsuits from Sandy Hook families in Texas and Connecticut.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
The same jury ordered Jones to pay Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis $4.1 million in compensation for defamation. Jurors began considering additional punitive damages Friday as a separate issue. The parents want to punish Jones for a decade of pushing false hoax claims that they say led to a decade of trauma and abuse from the Infowars host's followers.
Bernard Pettingill, who was hired by the plaintiffs to study Jones’ net worth, said records show that Jones withdrew $62 million for himself in 2021, when default judgments were issued in lawsuits against him.
“That number represents, in my opinion, a value of a net worth," Pettingill said. "He’s got money put in a bank account somewhere.”
The money that flows into Jones’ companies eventually funnels its way to him, said Pettingill, who added that he has testified in approximately 1,500 cases during his career.
“He is a very successful man,” Pettingill said, calling Jones a “maverick” and “revolutionary” for finding ways to monetize his online messaging.
While the $4.1 million award Thursday was less than the $150 million the parents sought, it marked the first time Jones has been held financially liable for repeatedly claiming that the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history was a hoax perpetrated to try to bring about tighter gun restrictions.
Mark Bankston, an attorney for Heslin and Lewis, whose 6-year-old son Jesse was among 20 children and six educators killed in the school attack in Newtown, Connecticut, insisted that the $4.1 million compensation award wasn't a disappointment and warned that they would be trying to punish Jones in the next phase.
“We aren't done yet,” Bankston said Thursday. “After tomorrow, he's going to owe a whole lot more.”
Another of the plaintiffs' attorneys, Wesley Ball, asked jurors in closing Friday to award an additional $145.9 million, which would bring the total amount in damages to that $150 million target.
“You are asked to punish Alex Jones," Ball said. "You are asked to deter Alex Jones from ever doing this awful thing again to another person or another family — to deter anyone who wants to step into his shoes.”
"Send the message to those who desire to do the same: Speech is free. Lies, you pay for,” he said.
But Jones' lawyers said their client has already learned his lesson, and asked for lenience. The jury's punishment should be less than $300,000, attorney Andino Reynal said.
“You’ve already sent a message. A message for the first time to a talk show host, to all talk show hosts, that their standard of care has to change," Reynal said.
Jones still faces two other defamation lawsuits from Sandy Hook families in Texas and Connecticut that put his personal wealth and media empire in jeopardy.
Jones — who was in the courtroom briefly Friday but left before Pettingill's testimony — told jurors earlier this week that any award over $2 million would “sink us." And a week ago, his company Free Speech Systems, which is Infowars' parent company, filed for federal bankruptcy protection.
Lawyers for the family suing Jones contend that Jones has tried to hide evidence of his true wealth and have sued him claiming he's tried to hide money in various shell companies.
During his testimony, Jones was confronted with a memo from one of his business managers outlining a single day's gross revenue of $800,000 from selling vitamin supplements and other products through his website, which would approach nearly $300 million in a year. Jones called it a record sales day.
Jones, who has portrayed the lawsuit as an attack on his First Amendment rights, conceded during the trial that the attack was “100% real” and that he was wrong to have lied about it. But Heslin and Lewis told jurors that an apology wouldn’t suffice and called on them to make Jones pay for the years of suffering he has put them and other Sandy Hook families through.
The parents told jurors about how they’ve endured a decade of trauma, inflicted first by the murder of their son and what followed: gun shots fired at a home, online and phone threats, and harassment on the street by strangers. They said the threats and harassment were all fueled by Jones and his conspiracy theory spread to his followers via his website Infowars.
A forensic psychiatrist testified that the parents suffer from “complex post-traumatic stress disorder” inflicted by ongoing trauma, similar to what might be experienced by a soldier at war or a child abuse victim.
Throughout the trial, Jones has been his typically bombastic self, talking about conspiracies on the witness stand, during impromptu press conferences and on his show. His erratic behavior is unusual by courtroom standards, and the judge has scolded him, telling him at one point: “This is not your show.”
The trial has drawn attention from outside Austin as well.
Bankston told the court Thursday that the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has requested records from Jones' phone that Jones' attorneys had mistakenly turned over to the plaintiffs. Bankston later said he planned to comply with the committee's request.
Last month, the Jan. 6 committee showed graphic and violent text messages and played videos of right-wing figures, including Jones, and others vowing that Jan. 6 would be the day they would fight for Trump.
The committee first subpoenaed Jones in November, demanding a deposition and documents related to his efforts to spread misinformation about the 2020 election and a rally on the day of the attack.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,274
A
Texas jury on Friday decided that the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones
must pay the parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school
shooting $45.2 million in punitive damages, one day after rendering a $4
million award for compensatory damages.
The
jury announced both awards after several dramatic days in court that
included testimony that Mr. Jones and Free Speech Systems, the parent
company of his misinformation-peddling media outlet, Infowars, were
worth between $135 million and $270 million.
And this:
“We ask that you send a very, very simple message and that is: Stop Alex
Jones,” Mr. Ball said. “Stop the monetization of misinformation and
lies. Please.”
Yes, please!
"Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!" -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,274
Case against Alex Jones can proceed, Connecticut judge says
Yesterday
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — A federal bankruptcy judge on Monday cleared the way for a defamation lawsuit in Connecticut to proceed against Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
The case was filed by relatives of some victims of the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Jones has falsely claimed that the nation’s deadliest school shooting — which killed 20 students and six educators — was a hoax.
Jones’ lawyer had sought to transfer the case to a federal bankruptcy court, rather than continue the case in Connecticut state court. That move brought the first day of jury selection to a sudden halt earlier this month.
However, Monday's ruling by Judge Julie Manning essentially allows the plaintiffs to continue the defamation lawsuit against just Jones as an individual, without Free Speech Systems, a company owned by Jones and a defendant in the Connecticut case.
“The plaintiffs’ rights to have that process continue in the Connecticut Superior Court should not be disturbed,” Manning wrote in the decision, adding that the plaintiffs’ claims for damages were ready for trial.
A message was left seeking comment with Jones’ attorney, Norm Pattis.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Alex Jones faces second trial over Sandy Hook hoax claims
By DAVE COLLINS
1 hour ago
WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut jury is slated to begin hearing evidence Tuesday in a trial to decide how much money conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting for spreading a lie that the massacre was a hoax.
The trial is being held in Waterbury, less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Newtown, where 26 children and teachers were shot to death in 2012.
It's the second such trial for Jones, who was ordered by a Texas jury last month to pay nearly $50 million to the parents of one of the slain children.
A six-member jury and several alternates will decide how much the conspiracy theorist should pay relatives of eight victims and an FBI agent who responded to the school. Judge Barbara Bellis found Jones liable without a trial last year after he failed to turn over documents to the families' lawyers.
Jones is not expected to attend the trial Tuesday. He said on his show Monday that he would be traveling to Connecticut next week.
The trial is expected to last about a month and feature testimony from both Jones and the families.
The Sandy Hook families and former FBI agent William Aldenberg say they have been confronted and harassed for years by people who believed Jones’ false claim that the shooting was staged by crisis actors as part of a plot to take away people's guns.
Some say strangers have videotaped them and their surviving children. They’ve also endured death threats and been subjected to abusive comments on social media. And some families have moved out of Newtown to avoid harassment. They accuse Jones of causing them emotional and psychological harm.
Jones, whose web show and Infowars brand are based in Austin, Texas, has been banned from YouTube, Facebook and Spotify for violating hate-speech policies.
Jones now says he believes the shooting was real. At the Texas trial, he testified that he realizes what he said was irresponsible, did hurt people’s feelings and he apologized.
He continues, however, to insist that his comments were protected free speech. He views the lawsuits as efforts to silence him and put him out of business.
Jones’ lawyers say he intends to appeal the judgement against him in Texas. Jones also will face a third trial back in Texas involving the parents of another slain child.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Infowars rep: 'False statements' on Sandy Hook shooting
By DAVE COLLINS and JENNIFER PELTZ
50 mins ago
WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — A representative for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' Infowars empire acknowledged on the witness stand Wednesday that the show and website spread falsehoods about the Sandy Hook school shooting.
“I don’t think that we disagree that there were false statements made,” Brittany Paz testified at a civil trial involving Jones' claims that the nation’s deadliest school shooting was staged as a pretext to tighten gun regulations.
Paz, a lawyer hired by Jones' defense to testify on the company’s workings, said she believed Jones didn't personally investigate the massacre. Nonetheless, he and Infowars repeatedly and falsely said it was a hoax, propped up by actors posing as grieving parents. Multiple Infowars videos featured what Paz called the “crisis actor theory.”
“You mean ‘lie’?” plaintiffs' lawyer Christopher Mattei said, to objections from Jones' attorney.
“They're not actors. Correct,” Paz ultimately responded.
Soon after the killings, Jones disseminated the notion that one slain child’s father was reading a script devised by the government or media to shape public opinion, and Jones said the claim “needs to be looked into.”
Later on, another young victim's father told Infowars in an email that the families were distraught at being harassed over the lies about the supposed hoax and crisis actors. An Infowars employee replied that the company was distancing itself from the claims. But another Infowars employee continued to develop the theory, Paz testified.
The jury is tasked only with determining what Jones has to pay to eight victims’ families and an FBI agent — a judge already found the Infowars host liable for damages, by default. She made that determination after he failed to turn over documents as ordered during the lawsuit.
Jones is expected to testify eventually, but he hasn't attended the trial so far. On his Infowars web show Wednesday, he called the proceeding a “show trial” meant to squelch dissent. He has cast the case as part of a dark campaign against him, his audience and Americans’ free speech rights under the First Amendment.
“We knew they were using Sandy Hook to get the Second, but now they’re using it to kill the First,” he said. The trial comes about a month after a Texas jury ordered him to pay nearly $50 million to the parents of a child killed at Sandy Hook.
Jones' lawyer, Norm Pattis, has urged the Connecticut jury to keep any damages minimal, arguing that the families are making overblown claims of harm.
The families say the emotional and psychological harm was profound and persistent. Relatives say they were subjected to social media harassment, death threats, strangers videotaping them and their children, and the surreal pain of being told that they were faking their loss.
“It’s hurtful. It’s devastating. It’s crippling. You can’t grieve properly because you’re constantly defending yourself and your family and your loved ones,” Carlee Soto Parisi testified Tuesday.
Her sister, teacher Vicki Soto, was among the 26 people killed on Dec. 14, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty victims were children.
Soto Parisi described seeing social media comments claiming that she was a crisis actor, that her sister wasn’t shot or didn’t exist, and that the massacre never happened. She testified about getting ominous social media messages with gun emojis and finding a note on her door from a stranger saying she needed to go to church.
And one time, she said, a conspiracy theorist showed up and shouted, “This never happened!” at a fundraising run that the family holds in Vicki Soto’s honor.
The families argue that Jones trafficked in lies to boost his audience and, with it, customers for Infowars merchandise. Data shown in court Wednesday charted spurts in people viewing his websites and social media accounts after he started talking about Sandy Hook.
By 2016, Jones' show aired on 150 affiliate radio stations, and the Infowars website got 40 million page views a month, according to statistics that the company used to pitch advertisers. Paz said she believes Jones has made hundreds of millions of dollars in the decade since the Sandy Hook slayings.
Jones now acknowledges the shooting was real. At the Texas trial, he testified that he realizes what he said was irresponsible, and he apologized.
He insists, however, that his comments were protected free speech.
“I don't apologize for questioning it,” he said on his show Wednesday. “I apologize if, out of context, I hurt somebody's feelings.”
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Alex Jones makes 1st appearance outside Sandy Hook trial
By DAVE COLLINS
1 minute ago
WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — A defiant Alex Jones showed up at a Connecticut courthouse Tuesday and hurled insults at the judge overseeing a trial to determine how much he owes for spreading the lie that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was a hoax.
Jones spent just a few minutes at the court in Waterbury, arriving at about 9:30 a.m., accompanied by one of his attorneys. He repeated declarations he made last week on his Infowars show that the proceeding is nothing more than a “show trial.”
Judge Barbara Bellis found Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, liable by default last year after the conspiracy theorist didn't abide by court orders requiring him to turn over documents.
“This is a travesty of justice and this judge is a tyrant,” Jones said outside the courthouse. “This judge is ordering me to say that I’m guilty and to say that I’m a liar. None of that is true. I was not wrong about Sandy Hook on purpose. I questioned it.”
Jones left a short time later, indicating he would not be testifying on Tuesday. He is expected to be called to the stand as soon as Wednesday.
The jury, seated about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the town where 26 children and teachers died in the mass shooting, has been hearing evidence for a week to determine how much Jones must pay the families of eight victims and an FBI agent who was among the first to respond to the massacre.
Because he has already been found liable by the judge, Jones is not allowed to present defenses arguing he is not responsible or that the First Amendment gave him the right to say the shooting didn’t happen.
Jones has complained that he was found “guilty” without trials. There is no guilt in civil trials, including this one in Connecticut or one last month in Texas where a jury in a separate defamation lawsuit against Jones awarded nearly $50 million to the parents of one of the children killed in the shooting.
“I’m being put in an impossible position inside of this courthouse, where I’m being ordered to say I’m guilty," Jones said Tuesday. “Has anybody ever heard of someone being ordered to say they’re guilty? Even in a criminal trial where they found somebody with dead bodies, if the guilty person wants to get up and say they’re innocent they’re allowed to.”
The plaintiffs say Jones’ promotion of Sandy Hook conspiracy theories on his show led to the families being threatened and harassed by deniers of the shooting. They say they’ve endured death threats and in-person harassment, video recording by strangers and abusive comments on social media. Some families moved to avoid harassment.
And they say while Jones talked about the shooting, sales of the dietary supplements, clothing, food and other items he hawks on his show surged. A representative for Free Speech Systems testified last week that she believed Jones and his company made at least $100 million in revenues since the school shooting.
On Tuesday, the jury heard testimony from Clint Watts, a former FBI agent and cybersecurity expert, who spoke about how the internet and social media are used by governments and organizations, including terrorist groups, to spread misinformation and call people to action.
Watts said that by the end of 2012, around the time of the school shooting, Jones and Infowars had the infrastructure in place to have far-reaching influence: multiple websites, a large amount of content and a huge audience.
That audience grew by tens of millions of people by the end of 2013, Watts said.
Joshua Koskoff, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, showed Watts and the jury a video of some of Jones' first comments about the school shooting, on the day it happened.
“They are going to come after our guns, look for mass shootings,” Jones said, referring to his conspiracy theory that mass shootings are staged to spur gun control. “They are coming. They are coming. They are coming.”
Jones adds: “They're declaring war on the Second Amendment period.”
Jones doesn't clearly define who “they” are.
Watts said he believed Jones was trying to spark anger and fear among his audience and create an us versus them narrative aimed at building his audience and increasing product sales.
Jones has painted the trials as a conspiracy by Democrats and the media to take away gun rights, put him out of business and silence him.
Jones says he now believes the Sandy Hook shooting did happen. Under oath and facing a jury in Austin, he said he realized portraying it as a hoax hurt people's feelings, and he was sorry for that.
___
Associated Press writers Michael Hill and Pat Eaton-Robb contributed to this report.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Alex Jones testifies in trial over his Sandy Hook hoax lies
By DAVE COLLINS and PAT EATON-ROBB
Today
WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — Alex Jones took the stand Thursday at his Connecticut defamation trial, acknowledging he had promoted the conspiracy theory that the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, but angrily refusing to keep apologizing for that.
More than a dozen relatives of the 26 shooting victims showed up to observe his often contentious testimony in Waterbury Superior Court, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Newtown, where the shooting occurred.
Jones was found liable last year by default for damages to plaintiffs without a trial, for what the judge called his repeated failures to turn over documents to their lawyers. The six-member jury is now deciding how much Jones and Free Speech Systems, parent of Jones’ Infowars media platforms, should pay the families for defaming them and intentionally inflicting emotional distress.
On Thursday, Jones admitted calling parents “crisis actors” on his show and saying the shooting was “phony as a three-dollar bill.”
Plaintiff attorney Christopher Mattei accused Jones of putting targets on the parents' backs, pointing to the family members in the courtroom and saying “these are real people.”
“Just like all the Iraqis you liberals killed and love,” Jones responded. “Just, you're unbelievable. You switch on emotions, on-and-off when you want. You're just ambulance chasing.”
“Why don't you show a little respect?” Mattei shot back, as Jones' lawyer, Norm Pattis, shouted objections and several family members shook their heads in apparent disbelief.
The exchange went on with Mattei pointing out that the families in the courtroom had “lost children, sisters, wives, moms.”
“Is this a struggle session?” said Jones, who in recent years has acknowledged the shooting was real. “Are we in China? I've already said I'm sorry hundreds of times and I'm done saying I'm sorry.”
After excusing the jury for the day, Judge Barbara Bellis admonished both sides, saying further outbursts would lead to a contempt hearing.
Bellis had begun the day by going over the topics that Jones could not mention in his testimony: free speech rights; the Sandy Hook families’ $73 million settlement this year with gun-maker Remington (the company made the Bushmaster rifle used to kill the victims at Sandy Hook); the percentage of Jones’ shows that discussed Sandy Hook; and whether he profited from those shows or a similar case in Texas.
“This is not the appropriate forum for you to offer that testimony,” Bellis said. Jones indicated that he understood.
But the jury had to be sent out of the courtroom several times while attorneys argued about the scope of Jones’ answers.
“You’re going to get your exercise today, for those of you who wear Fitbits,” the judge told jurors.
Earlier in the trial, family members of the victims have given often emotional testimony describing how they endured death threats, in-person harassment and abusive comments on social media. Some moved to avoid the abuse.
Jones’ shows had portrayed the Sandy Hook shooting as staged by crisis actors as part of gun control efforts.
Testimony also has focused on website analytics data run by Infowars employees showing how its sales of dietary supplements, food, clothing and other items spiked around the time Jones talked about the Sandy Hook shooting.
Evidence, including internal Infowars emails and depositions, also shows dissention within the company about pushing the hoax lies.
Pattis is arguing that any damages should be limited and accused the victims’ relatives of exaggerating the harm the lies caused them.
Jones has already been found liable by default in two similar lawsuits over the Sandy Hook hoax lies in his hometown of Austin, Texas, where a jury in one of the trials ordered Jones last month to pay nearly $50 million in damages to the parents of one of the children killed. A third trial in Texas is expected to begin near the end of the year.
Jones was asked Thursday about a page on his Infowars site that called the trial a “kangaroo court” and included a graphic showing the judge with lasers shooting from her eyes. He said the page was created by his staff, but called it a “good report.”
He was asked about advertisements on that page and other Sandy Hook content, as well as daily profit reports. Jones said he could not answer thoses questions, but denied he saw the trial as a marketing opportunity.
Later, when asked about his fundraising and items offered in his Internet store, he made sure to give out the URL where people could buy cryptocurrency to support his company.
“That will end up as a clip on your show tonight,” Mattei said. “You’re advertising for your cryptocurrency page?”
“I mean people want to keep us in the fight, so I mean I hope whoever the big whales are that would give us money before keep doing it,” Jones said.
Jones, who is expected back on the stand Friday, made brief comments to reporters while leaving the courthouse.
“The First Amendment will prevail,” he said. “The American people will never be silenced.”
____
Associated Press writer Michael Hill contributed to this report from Waterbury.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Alex Jones is the lowest form of homo sapiens. Just an absolutely worthless piece of shit.
This is true But it has to be asked....who is the bigger more worthless piece of shit?
aleQs Jones? Or The worthless pieces of shit who believe him and buy his worthless crap?
jones. some people get grifted for whatever reasons their brain tells them to. the grifter is always the bigger POS.
So many idiots just itching to part with their money
Speaking of which:
Trump allies create a new super PAC called MAGA Inc.
By JILL COLVIN, Associated Press - 1h ago
NEW YORK (AP) — Top allies of former President Donald Trump are creating a new super PAC that's expected to serve as the main vehicle for his midterm spending and could become a key part of his campaign infrastructure should he move forward with a 2024 White House run.
The political action committee, called MAGA Inc., will supersede Trump’s existing super PAC, Politico first reported. Paperwork for the new committee was filed Friday morning with the Federal Election Commission.
News of the new super PAC also comes less than two months before the Nov. 8 midterm elections and as many Republican candidates have been struggling to raise money against well-funded Democrats.
“President Trump is committed to saving America, and Make America Great Again, Inc. will ensure that is achieved at the ballot box in November and beyond,” said Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich, who will serve as the group's executive director.
Just wait until these two outfits get back on the air and rail against the great injustice that is the liberal, commie, Antiiiiiiiiiifa, BLM, fascist, Obama, Hillary, Brandon, Gore, legal system.
Verdict upends Project Veritas’s journalism defense in infiltration case
On Thursday evening, a jury in D.C.'s federal courthouse returned a verdict against Project Veritas in a case stemming from its 2016 efforts to infiltrate Democracy Partners, a progressive political consulting firm that assisted Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. The verdict, which included a damages award of $120,000, followed roughly a week of testimony in the case and one day of jury deliberations.
The verdict upends claims by attorneys for Project Veritas, the video-sting operation founded by James O’Keefe, that its four-part video series on Democracy Partners amounted to old-fashioned journalism.
“We thank the Jury for its decision and are deeply appreciative of the time and effort the members of the Jury devoted to consider our case," Democracy Partners said in a statement. "Hopefully, the decision today will help to discourage Mr. O’Keefe and others from conducting these kind of political spy operations.”
In a statement Thursday night, O’Keefe announced that Project Veritas will appeal the verdict. “The jury effectively ruled investigative journalists owe a fiduciary duty to the subjects they are investigating,” O’Keefe said in a statement, noting also that “investigative journalists may not deceive the subjects they are investigating.” O’Keefe was a constant presence at the trial, as were several other Project Veritas staffers.
At issue in the proceedings were two civil charges leveled by Democracy Partners in its 2017 suit — that Project Veritas engaged in unlawful wiretapping and fraudulent misrepresentation when it used false identities, bios and pretenses to earn the trust of Democracy Partners co-founder Robert Creamer and others. Project Veritas planted an intern — Allison Maass, who presented herself under the pseudonym “Angela Brandt” — in the firm’s offices, where she taped the goings-on from a camera attached to a button on her shirt.
“Fake, fake, fake,” said Joseph Sandler, attorney for Democracy Partners, in his closing statement on Wednesday.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,274
This couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.........lies are bad. Lies that hurt people are worse. Lies that hurt people and embolden others to hurt those people continuously are even worse.
This couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.........lies are bad. Lies that hurt people are worse. Lies that hurt people and embolden others to hurt those people continuously are even worse.
What was really messed up about this was his "army" of supporters that ridiculed the families and harassed them. That is messed up.
Comments
I would not be surprised if his money is stashed, but I really hope those families at least get some kind of compensation. B
That man is pure evil.
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
its probably going to be another Goldman family chasing OJ around for decades trying to get the money they are owed type of situation
Yes and, sadly, yes.
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas jury on Friday ordered Infowars’ Alex Jones to pay $49.3 million in total damages to the parents of a first-grader killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, which the conspiracy theorist falsely called a hoax orchestrated by the government in order to tighten U.S. gun laws.
The amount is less than the $150 million sought by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son Jesse Lewis was among 19 children and six educators killed in the deadliest classroom shooting in U.S. history.
The trial is the first time Jones has been held financially liable for peddling lies about the 2012 attack in Newtown, Connecticut.
Jurors at first awarded Heslin and Lewis $4.1 million in compensatory damages, which Jones called a major victory. But in the final phase of the two-week trial, the same Austin jury came back and tacked on an additional $45.2 million in punitive damages.
Punitive damages are meant to punish defendants for particularly egregious conduct, beyond monetary compensation awarded to the individuals they hurt. A high punitive award is also seen as a chance for jurors to send a wider societal message and a way to deter others from the same abhorrent conduct in the future.
ALEX JONES
How Alex Jones' bombastic behavior impacts him in court
Alex Jones ordered to pay Sandy Hook parents more than $4M
Sandy Hook lawyer: Jan. 6 panel asked for Alex Jones' texts
Alex Jones concedes Sandy Hook attack was '100% real'
Attorneys for the family had urged jurors to hand down a financial punishment that would put Infowars out of business.
“You have the ability to stop this man from ever doing it again,” Wesley Ball, an attorney for the parents, told the jury.
It’s unclear how much money Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, have.
An economist hired by the plaintiffs testified that Jones and the company are worth up to $270 million, suggesting that Jones was still making money.
But Jones testified that any award over $2 million would “sink us.” And Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy protection during the trial’s first week.
Jones still faces two other defamation lawsuits from Sandy Hook families in Texas and Connecticut.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his company Free Speech Systems are worth up to $270 million, an economist testified Friday to a jury trying to determine if Jones should have to pay punitive damages to the family of a 6-year-old killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.
The same jury ordered Jones to pay Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis $4.1 million in compensation for defamation. Jurors began considering additional punitive damages Friday as a separate issue. The parents want to punish Jones for a decade of pushing false hoax claims that they say led to a decade of trauma and abuse from the Infowars host's followers.
Bernard Pettingill, who was hired by the plaintiffs to study Jones’ net worth, said records show that Jones withdrew $62 million for himself in 2021, when default judgments were issued in lawsuits against him.
“That number represents, in my opinion, a value of a net worth," Pettingill said. "He’s got money put in a bank account somewhere.”
The money that flows into Jones’ companies eventually funnels its way to him, said Pettingill, who added that he has testified in approximately 1,500 cases during his career.
“He is a very successful man,” Pettingill said, calling Jones a “maverick” and “revolutionary” for finding ways to monetize his online messaging.
While the $4.1 million award Thursday was less than the $150 million the parents sought, it marked the first time Jones has been held financially liable for repeatedly claiming that the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history was a hoax perpetrated to try to bring about tighter gun restrictions.
Mark Bankston, an attorney for Heslin and Lewis, whose 6-year-old son Jesse was among 20 children and six educators killed in the school attack in Newtown, Connecticut, insisted that the $4.1 million compensation award wasn't a disappointment and warned that they would be trying to punish Jones in the next phase.
“We aren't done yet,” Bankston said Thursday. “After tomorrow, he's going to owe a whole lot more.”
Another of the plaintiffs' attorneys, Wesley Ball, asked jurors in closing Friday to award an additional $145.9 million, which would bring the total amount in damages to that $150 million target.
“You are asked to punish Alex Jones," Ball said. "You are asked to deter Alex Jones from ever doing this awful thing again to another person or another family — to deter anyone who wants to step into his shoes.”
"Send the message to those who desire to do the same: Speech is free. Lies, you pay for,” he said.
But Jones' lawyers said their client has already learned his lesson, and asked for lenience. The jury's punishment should be less than $300,000, attorney Andino Reynal said.
“You’ve already sent a message. A message for the first time to a talk show host, to all talk show hosts, that their standard of care has to change," Reynal said.
Jones still faces two other defamation lawsuits from Sandy Hook families in Texas and Connecticut that put his personal wealth and media empire in jeopardy.
Jones — who was in the courtroom briefly Friday but left before Pettingill's testimony — told jurors earlier this week that any award over $2 million would “sink us." And a week ago, his company Free Speech Systems, which is Infowars' parent company, filed for federal bankruptcy protection.
Lawyers for the family suing Jones contend that Jones has tried to hide evidence of his true wealth and have sued him claiming he's tried to hide money in various shell companies.
During his testimony, Jones was confronted with a memo from one of his business managers outlining a single day's gross revenue of $800,000 from selling vitamin supplements and other products through his website, which would approach nearly $300 million in a year. Jones called it a record sales day.
Jones, who has portrayed the lawsuit as an attack on his First Amendment rights, conceded during the trial that the attack was “100% real” and that he was wrong to have lied about it. But Heslin and Lewis told jurors that an apology wouldn’t suffice and called on them to make Jones pay for the years of suffering he has put them and other Sandy Hook families through.
The parents told jurors about how they’ve endured a decade of trauma, inflicted first by the murder of their son and what followed: gun shots fired at a home, online and phone threats, and harassment on the street by strangers. They said the threats and harassment were all fueled by Jones and his conspiracy theory spread to his followers via his website Infowars.
A forensic psychiatrist testified that the parents suffer from “complex post-traumatic stress disorder” inflicted by ongoing trauma, similar to what might be experienced by a soldier at war or a child abuse victim.
Throughout the trial, Jones has been his typically bombastic self, talking about conspiracies on the witness stand, during impromptu press conferences and on his show. His erratic behavior is unusual by courtroom standards, and the judge has scolded him, telling him at one point: “This is not your show.”
The trial has drawn attention from outside Austin as well.
Bankston told the court Thursday that the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has requested records from Jones' phone that Jones' attorneys had mistakenly turned over to the plaintiffs. Bankston later said he planned to comply with the committee's request.
Last month, the Jan. 6 committee showed graphic and violent text messages and played videos of right-wing figures, including Jones, and others vowing that Jan. 6 would be the day they would fight for Trump.
The committee first subpoenaed Jones in November, demanding a deposition and documents related to his efforts to spread misinformation about the 2020 election and a rally on the day of the attack.
___
Find AP’s full coverage of the Alex Jones trial at: https://apnews.com/hub/alex-jones
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Jurors award $45.2 million in punitive damages after lawyer for Sandy Hook parents asks them to ‘stop Alex Jones.’
A Texas jury on Friday decided that the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay the parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting $45.2 million in punitive damages, one day after rendering a $4 million award for compensatory damages.
The jury announced both awards after several dramatic days in court that included testimony that Mr. Jones and Free Speech Systems, the parent company of his misinformation-peddling media outlet, Infowars, were worth between $135 million and $270 million.
And this:
“We ask that you send a very, very simple message and that is: Stop Alex Jones,” Mr. Ball said. “Stop the monetization of misinformation and lies. Please.”
Yes, please!
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
-EV 8/14/93
not sure I really care
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Won't it be nice when they both become a distant memory one day!
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — A federal bankruptcy judge on Monday cleared the way for a defamation lawsuit in Connecticut to proceed against Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
The case was filed by relatives of some victims of the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Jones has falsely claimed that the nation’s deadliest school shooting — which killed 20 students and six educators — was a hoax.
Jones’ lawyer had sought to transfer the case to a federal bankruptcy court, rather than continue the case in Connecticut state court. That move brought the first day of jury selection to a sudden halt earlier this month.
However, Monday's ruling by Judge Julie Manning essentially allows the plaintiffs to continue the defamation lawsuit against just Jones as an individual, without Free Speech Systems, a company owned by Jones and a defendant in the Connecticut case.
“The plaintiffs’ rights to have that process continue in the Connecticut Superior Court should not be disturbed,” Manning wrote in the decision, adding that the plaintiffs’ claims for damages were ready for trial.
A message was left seeking comment with Jones’ attorney, Norm Pattis.
continues....
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut jury is slated to begin hearing evidence Tuesday in a trial to decide how much money conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting for spreading a lie that the massacre was a hoax.
The trial is being held in Waterbury, less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Newtown, where 26 children and teachers were shot to death in 2012.
It's the second such trial for Jones, who was ordered by a Texas jury last month to pay nearly $50 million to the parents of one of the slain children.
A six-member jury and several alternates will decide how much the conspiracy theorist should pay relatives of eight victims and an FBI agent who responded to the school. Judge Barbara Bellis found Jones liable without a trial last year after he failed to turn over documents to the families' lawyers.
Jones is not expected to attend the trial Tuesday. He said on his show Monday that he would be traveling to Connecticut next week.
The trial is expected to last about a month and feature testimony from both Jones and the families.
The Sandy Hook families and former FBI agent William Aldenberg say they have been confronted and harassed for years by people who believed Jones’ false claim that the shooting was staged by crisis actors as part of a plot to take away people's guns.
SHOOTINGS
FBI reviewing Ohio shooter's interest in violent ideology
Before massacre, El Paso became a hot spot on Mexican border
Couples, parents, friends among the dead in shootings
Plan to boost 'red flag' gun laws gains momentum in Congress
Some say strangers have videotaped them and their surviving children. They’ve also endured death threats and been subjected to abusive comments on social media. And some families have moved out of Newtown to avoid harassment. They accuse Jones of causing them emotional and psychological harm.
Jones, whose web show and Infowars brand are based in Austin, Texas, has been banned from YouTube, Facebook and Spotify for violating hate-speech policies.
Jones now says he believes the shooting was real. At the Texas trial, he testified that he realizes what he said was irresponsible, did hurt people’s feelings and he apologized.
He continues, however, to insist that his comments were protected free speech. He views the lawsuits as efforts to silence him and put him out of business.
Jones’ lawyers say he intends to appeal the judgement against him in Texas. Jones also will face a third trial back in Texas involving the parents of another slain child.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — A representative for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' Infowars empire acknowledged on the witness stand Wednesday that the show and website spread falsehoods about the Sandy Hook school shooting.
“I don’t think that we disagree that there were false statements made,” Brittany Paz testified at a civil trial involving Jones' claims that the nation’s deadliest school shooting was staged as a pretext to tighten gun regulations.
Paz, a lawyer hired by Jones' defense to testify on the company’s workings, said she believed Jones didn't personally investigate the massacre. Nonetheless, he and Infowars repeatedly and falsely said it was a hoax, propped up by actors posing as grieving parents. Multiple Infowars videos featured what Paz called the “crisis actor theory.”
“You mean ‘lie’?” plaintiffs' lawyer Christopher Mattei said, to objections from Jones' attorney.
“They're not actors. Correct,” Paz ultimately responded.
Soon after the killings, Jones disseminated the notion that one slain child’s father was reading a script devised by the government or media to shape public opinion, and Jones said the claim “needs to be looked into.”
Later on, another young victim's father told Infowars in an email that the families were distraught at being harassed over the lies about the supposed hoax and crisis actors. An Infowars employee replied that the company was distancing itself from the claims. But another Infowars employee continued to develop the theory, Paz testified.
SHOOTINGS
FBI reviewing Ohio shooter's interest in violent ideology
Before massacre, El Paso became a hot spot on Mexican border
Couples, parents, friends among the dead in shootings
Plan to boost 'red flag' gun laws gains momentum in Congress
The jury is tasked only with determining what Jones has to pay to eight victims’ families and an FBI agent — a judge already found the Infowars host liable for damages, by default. She made that determination after he failed to turn over documents as ordered during the lawsuit.
Jones is expected to testify eventually, but he hasn't attended the trial so far. On his Infowars web show Wednesday, he called the proceeding a “show trial” meant to squelch dissent. He has cast the case as part of a dark campaign against him, his audience and Americans’ free speech rights under the First Amendment.
“We knew they were using Sandy Hook to get the Second, but now they’re using it to kill the First,” he said. The trial comes about a month after a Texas jury ordered him to pay nearly $50 million to the parents of a child killed at Sandy Hook.
Jones' lawyer, Norm Pattis, has urged the Connecticut jury to keep any damages minimal, arguing that the families are making overblown claims of harm.
The families say the emotional and psychological harm was profound and persistent. Relatives say they were subjected to social media harassment, death threats, strangers videotaping them and their children, and the surreal pain of being told that they were faking their loss.
“It’s hurtful. It’s devastating. It’s crippling. You can’t grieve properly because you’re constantly defending yourself and your family and your loved ones,” Carlee Soto Parisi testified Tuesday.
Her sister, teacher Vicki Soto, was among the 26 people killed on Dec. 14, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty victims were children.
Soto Parisi described seeing social media comments claiming that she was a crisis actor, that her sister wasn’t shot or didn’t exist, and that the massacre never happened. She testified about getting ominous social media messages with gun emojis and finding a note on her door from a stranger saying she needed to go to church.
And one time, she said, a conspiracy theorist showed up and shouted, “This never happened!” at a fundraising run that the family holds in Vicki Soto’s honor.
The families argue that Jones trafficked in lies to boost his audience and, with it, customers for Infowars merchandise. Data shown in court Wednesday charted spurts in people viewing his websites and social media accounts after he started talking about Sandy Hook.
By 2016, Jones' show aired on 150 affiliate radio stations, and the Infowars website got 40 million page views a month, according to statistics that the company used to pitch advertisers. Paz said she believes Jones has made hundreds of millions of dollars in the decade since the Sandy Hook slayings.
Jones now acknowledges the shooting was real. At the Texas trial, he testified that he realizes what he said was irresponsible, and he apologized.
He insists, however, that his comments were protected free speech.
“I don't apologize for questioning it,” he said on his show Wednesday. “I apologize if, out of context, I hurt somebody's feelings.”
___
Peltz reported from New York.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — A defiant Alex Jones showed up at a Connecticut courthouse Tuesday and hurled insults at the judge overseeing a trial to determine how much he owes for spreading the lie that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was a hoax.
Jones spent just a few minutes at the court in Waterbury, arriving at about 9:30 a.m., accompanied by one of his attorneys. He repeated declarations he made last week on his Infowars show that the proceeding is nothing more than a “show trial.”
Judge Barbara Bellis found Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, liable by default last year after the conspiracy theorist didn't abide by court orders requiring him to turn over documents.
“This is a travesty of justice and this judge is a tyrant,” Jones said outside the courthouse. “This judge is ordering me to say that I’m guilty and to say that I’m a liar. None of that is true. I was not wrong about Sandy Hook on purpose. I questioned it.”
Jones left a short time later, indicating he would not be testifying on Tuesday. He is expected to be called to the stand as soon as Wednesday.
The jury, seated about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the town where 26 children and teachers died in the mass shooting, has been hearing evidence for a week to determine how much Jones must pay the families of eight victims and an FBI agent who was among the first to respond to the massacre.
GUN VIOLENCE
Trial set to begin for Alex Jones in Sandy Hook hoax case
Swedish voters boost anti-immigration party amid high crime
Visa, Mastercard, AmEx to start categorizing gun shop sales
School gun case sparks debate over safety and second chances
Because he has already been found liable by the judge, Jones is not allowed to present defenses arguing he is not responsible or that the First Amendment gave him the right to say the shooting didn’t happen.
Jones has complained that he was found “guilty” without trials. There is no guilt in civil trials, including this one in Connecticut or one last month in Texas where a jury in a separate defamation lawsuit against Jones awarded nearly $50 million to the parents of one of the children killed in the shooting.
“I’m being put in an impossible position inside of this courthouse, where I’m being ordered to say I’m guilty," Jones said Tuesday. “Has anybody ever heard of someone being ordered to say they’re guilty? Even in a criminal trial where they found somebody with dead bodies, if the guilty person wants to get up and say they’re innocent they’re allowed to.”
The plaintiffs say Jones’ promotion of Sandy Hook conspiracy theories on his show led to the families being threatened and harassed by deniers of the shooting. They say they’ve endured death threats and in-person harassment, video recording by strangers and abusive comments on social media. Some families moved to avoid harassment.
And they say while Jones talked about the shooting, sales of the dietary supplements, clothing, food and other items he hawks on his show surged. A representative for Free Speech Systems testified last week that she believed Jones and his company made at least $100 million in revenues since the school shooting.
On Tuesday, the jury heard testimony from Clint Watts, a former FBI agent and cybersecurity expert, who spoke about how the internet and social media are used by governments and organizations, including terrorist groups, to spread misinformation and call people to action.
Watts said that by the end of 2012, around the time of the school shooting, Jones and Infowars had the infrastructure in place to have far-reaching influence: multiple websites, a large amount of content and a huge audience.
That audience grew by tens of millions of people by the end of 2013, Watts said.
Joshua Koskoff, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, showed Watts and the jury a video of some of Jones' first comments about the school shooting, on the day it happened.
“They are going to come after our guns, look for mass shootings,” Jones said, referring to his conspiracy theory that mass shootings are staged to spur gun control. “They are coming. They are coming. They are coming.”
Jones adds: “They're declaring war on the Second Amendment period.”
Jones doesn't clearly define who “they” are.
Watts said he believed Jones was trying to spark anger and fear among his audience and create an us versus them narrative aimed at building his audience and increasing product sales.
Jones has painted the trials as a conspiracy by Democrats and the media to take away gun rights, put him out of business and silence him.
Jones says he now believes the Sandy Hook shooting did happen. Under oath and facing a jury in Austin, he said he realized portraying it as a hoax hurt people's feelings, and he was sorry for that.
___
Associated Press writers Michael Hill and Pat Eaton-Robb contributed to this report.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — Alex Jones took the stand Thursday at his Connecticut defamation trial, acknowledging he had promoted the conspiracy theory that the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, but angrily refusing to keep apologizing for that.
More than a dozen relatives of the 26 shooting victims showed up to observe his often contentious testimony in Waterbury Superior Court, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Newtown, where the shooting occurred.
Jones was found liable last year by default for damages to plaintiffs without a trial, for what the judge called his repeated failures to turn over documents to their lawyers. The six-member jury is now deciding how much Jones and Free Speech Systems, parent of Jones’ Infowars media platforms, should pay the families for defaming them and intentionally inflicting emotional distress.
On Thursday, Jones admitted calling parents “crisis actors” on his show and saying the shooting was “phony as a three-dollar bill.”
Plaintiff attorney Christopher Mattei accused Jones of putting targets on the parents' backs, pointing to the family members in the courtroom and saying “these are real people.”
“Just like all the Iraqis you liberals killed and love,” Jones responded. “Just, you're unbelievable. You switch on emotions, on-and-off when you want. You're just ambulance chasing.”
SHOOTINGS
FBI reviewing Ohio shooter's interest in violent ideology
Couples, parents, friends among the dead in shootings
Plan to boost 'red flag' gun laws gains momentum in Congress
Death penalty questionable as a deterrent to mass killing
“Why don't you show a little respect?” Mattei shot back, as Jones' lawyer, Norm Pattis, shouted objections and several family members shook their heads in apparent disbelief.
The exchange went on with Mattei pointing out that the families in the courtroom had “lost children, sisters, wives, moms.”
“Is this a struggle session?” said Jones, who in recent years has acknowledged the shooting was real. “Are we in China? I've already said I'm sorry hundreds of times and I'm done saying I'm sorry.”
After excusing the jury for the day, Judge Barbara Bellis admonished both sides, saying further outbursts would lead to a contempt hearing.
Bellis had begun the day by going over the topics that Jones could not mention in his testimony: free speech rights; the Sandy Hook families’ $73 million settlement this year with gun-maker Remington (the company made the Bushmaster rifle used to kill the victims at Sandy Hook); the percentage of Jones’ shows that discussed Sandy Hook; and whether he profited from those shows or a similar case in Texas.
“This is not the appropriate forum for you to offer that testimony,” Bellis said. Jones indicated that he understood.
But the jury had to be sent out of the courtroom several times while attorneys argued about the scope of Jones’ answers.
“You’re going to get your exercise today, for those of you who wear Fitbits,” the judge told jurors.
Earlier in the trial, family members of the victims have given often emotional testimony describing how they endured death threats, in-person harassment and abusive comments on social media. Some moved to avoid the abuse.
Jones’ shows had portrayed the Sandy Hook shooting as staged by crisis actors as part of gun control efforts.
Testimony also has focused on website analytics data run by Infowars employees showing how its sales of dietary supplements, food, clothing and other items spiked around the time Jones talked about the Sandy Hook shooting.
Evidence, including internal Infowars emails and depositions, also shows dissention within the company about pushing the hoax lies.
Pattis is arguing that any damages should be limited and accused the victims’ relatives of exaggerating the harm the lies caused them.
Jones has already been found liable by default in two similar lawsuits over the Sandy Hook hoax lies in his hometown of Austin, Texas, where a jury in one of the trials ordered Jones last month to pay nearly $50 million in damages to the parents of one of the children killed. A third trial in Texas is expected to begin near the end of the year.
Jones was asked Thursday about a page on his Infowars site that called the trial a “kangaroo court” and included a graphic showing the judge with lasers shooting from her eyes. He said the page was created by his staff, but called it a “good report.”
He was asked about advertisements on that page and other Sandy Hook content, as well as daily profit reports. Jones said he could not answer thoses questions, but denied he saw the trial as a marketing opportunity.
Later, when asked about his fundraising and items offered in his Internet store, he made sure to give out the URL where people could buy cryptocurrency to support his company.
“That will end up as a clip on your show tonight,” Mattei said. “You’re advertising for your cryptocurrency page?”
“I mean people want to keep us in the fight, so I mean I hope whoever the big whales are that would give us money before keep doing it,” Jones said.
Jones, who is expected back on the stand Friday, made brief comments to reporters while leaving the courthouse.
“The First Amendment will prevail,” he said. “The American people will never be silenced.”
____
Associated Press writer Michael Hill contributed to this report from Waterbury.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
But it has to be asked....who is the bigger more worthless piece of shit?
aleQs Jones?
Or
The worthless pieces of shit who believe him and buy his worthless crap?
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
-EV 8/14/93
Trump allies create a new super PAC called MAGA Inc.
NEW YORK (AP) — Top allies of former President Donald Trump are creating a new super PAC that's expected to serve as the main vehicle for his midterm spending and could become a key part of his campaign infrastructure should he move forward with a 2024 White House run.
The political action committee, called MAGA Inc., will supersede Trump’s existing super PAC, Politico first reported. Paperwork for the new committee was filed Friday morning with the Federal Election Commission.
The buildout comes as Trump, a Republican, is under mounting legal pressure on multiple fronts. The Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into how hundreds of documents with classified markings ended up at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, and state and federal officials are probing his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. And in New York, Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit this week claiming Trump's namesake company engaged in decades of fraudulent bookkeeping, padding his net worth by billions of dollars and habitually misleading banks.
News of the new super PAC also comes less than two months before the Nov. 8 midterm elections and as many Republican candidates have been struggling to raise money against well-funded Democrats.
“President Trump is committed to saving America, and Make America Great Again, Inc. will ensure that is achieved at the ballot box in November and beyond,” said Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich, who will serve as the group's executive director.
Trump allies create a new super PAC called MAGA Inc. (msn.com)
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Verdict upends Project Veritas’s journalism defense in infiltration case
On Thursday evening, a jury in D.C.'s federal courthouse returned a verdict against Project Veritas in a case stemming from its 2016 efforts to infiltrate Democracy Partners, a progressive political consulting firm that assisted Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. The verdict, which included a damages award of $120,000, followed roughly a week of testimony in the case and one day of jury deliberations.
The verdict upends claims by attorneys for Project Veritas, the video-sting operation founded by James O’Keefe, that its four-part video series on Democracy Partners amounted to old-fashioned journalism.
“We thank the Jury for its decision and are deeply appreciative of the time and effort the members of the Jury devoted to consider our case," Democracy Partners said in a statement. "Hopefully, the decision today will help to discourage Mr. O’Keefe and others from conducting these kind of political spy operations.”
In a statement Thursday night, O’Keefe announced that Project Veritas will appeal the verdict. “The jury effectively ruled investigative journalists owe a fiduciary duty to the subjects they are investigating,” O’Keefe said in a statement, noting also that “investigative journalists may not deceive the subjects they are investigating.” O’Keefe was a constant presence at the trial, as were several other Project Veritas staffers.
At issue in the proceedings were two civil charges leveled by Democracy Partners in its 2017 suit — that Project Veritas engaged in unlawful wiretapping and fraudulent misrepresentation when it used false identities, bios and pretenses to earn the trust of Democracy Partners co-founder Robert Creamer and others. Project Veritas planted an intern — Allison Maass, who presented herself under the pseudonym “Angela Brandt” — in the firm’s offices, where she taped the goings-on from a camera attached to a button on her shirt.
“Fake, fake, fake,” said Joseph Sandler, attorney for Democracy Partners, in his closing statement on Wednesday.
Opinion | Jury finds Project Veritas liable for infiltrating Democracy Partners - The Washington Post
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
https://www.yahoo.com/news/alex-jones-ct-jury-sandy-hook-defamation-trial-200018013.html
Alex Jones ordered to pay nearly $1 billion by Connecticut jury in Sandy Hook defamation case
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
still one more lawsuit pending
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Oh hell no. Actually, in a case like this, it's ameliorating. So yeah, fuck that guy!
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2