I wish I were on the jury. They’d go home with every penny he has.
Jones and his hangers on will portray this as a SLAPP, but it’s not. He’s been doing real damage to real people.
I’m so glad they’re suing and I hope many others do the same. People like Jones will continue to spread this vileness as long as they can get away with it. I used to think there was no reason to respond, but in the wake of the 2016 election and increasing spread of fake news I think it’s important for the health of our democracy to stand up to these bullies.
Before this is all over, we’re going to find out that Alex Jones is as twisted and depraved an individual in his personal life as is Trump.
Legal Fee GoFundMe’s on the way, more crying and then screaming coming up, buy my Super Magic Muscle Builder ads being prepared, psycho tantrums being written…
He better stock up on lube.
(Had to look that one up.) I just read four definitions of defamation and this crisis actor stuff is straight down the middle. And the sheer reckless vileness of this against parents of atrociously slaughtered children is such that I think Jones should make haste to settle this on whatever terms they’ll accept.
I hope they ruin him financially. Can they award more than what the lawsuit is seeking? Inciting violence against the families of the victims is one of the most depraved things to come from the right wing media cesspool.
Back in the 1980s, I used to listen to shortwave radio. (I had an awesome Sony ICF 2010 with mods.) At night, when the atmosphere was best for broadcasting, it was this amazing mix of cultures and languages.
At the time, for Americans, it was mostly the outlet for scaremongers fueling fears about the coming race wars, and antisemitism. They broadcast terrible things into the dark, to people all over the country. The advertisers were the same prepper companies and gold mongers you see now on Fox etc.
Many of the shortwave broadcasting licenses and facilities were owned by religious groups that bought them decades ago for evangelism and keeping missionaries up to date. But they rented out the facilities to hate-radio broadcasters at very high fees, and made lots of money doing it.
There was a great organization back then called “Rightwing Radio Watch” that kept track of the behavior of these people, and published news about what they were saying and what they were up to.
All the dark, isolated crazy of the Shortwave world became a business model for rightwing media. It’s now basically the GOP’s platform. Alex Jones is a big part of it.
What’s the current legal status of “intentional infliction of emotional distress?” It used to be that once you had a tort you could add that and the sky would be the limit.
I don’t think the “I’m an entertainer - it was humor, sarcasm, acting…” is going to work. And can he say, “I really believe this. I saw or heard what I consider proof of it.” And his attorney can convince s jury that a reasonable person would think this, too.
Of course, if it’s a jury of Alex’s peers, they’ll all be batshit crazy, hateful and cruel themselves.
I wish I were on the jury.
and there was Capital Punishment for libel
In front of a firing squad
of AR15’s
I don’t think sincere belief is a defense to defamation. Actual truth of the statements is a defense, but believing and spreading false information is not.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham mocked one of the student survivors for not getting into college
Even pettier: for not getting into specific colleges, since he did, in fact, get into college. Accuracy, please.
About time, but be careful, Alex Jones is represented by a very tough NY attorney, forget his name but it was something like Miguel Cohan?
A million? Hulk Hogan got $31 million. I’d aim for the stars to finish Jones off once and for all.
Right wing money versus law. Corporate and NRA-friendly speech should not drown out individuals’ speech just because the former has deeper pockets.
It seems like the courts are the place where the basic institutions of the republic are being defended these days – I have to salute the wisdom of the founders in making it a (relatively) independent and co-equal branch of government.
and a couple of body parts.
Yes. I wish we could appeal to these people’s concern for the health of our democracy as a way to get them to look at themselves in the mirror. It may be, though, that since they got into these rackets for the money, hitting them in the wallet is the only way to get them to stop, or at least do a modicum of fact-checking first.
His penalty should also include time in prison with a cell mate from the most notorious of the world that needs someone to fill all of his needs!