People of Jones' ilk are grifters on a massive scale. They aren't engaging in political speech. They are selling a product that stimulates rage and paranoia. To be more precise, they make money from amoral advertisers. I also wonder which Reublican politicians have appeared on his show over the years.
I suppose it's beating a dead horse, but imagine what would have to be true for Jones' lies about Sandy Hook to be true. Everyone in the town's police, fire and emt agencies would have to be in on it. Every school and hospital staffer, every funeral director and religious figure, every family, every local reporter would have to be in on it. Hospitals would have to submit fraudulent bills to insurance companies. And so on.
How could such an obvious lie gain currency? How could it drive people to acts of the utmost cruelty to the victims' families? We all know who made the ground fertile for such lies: the conservative media and political industrial complex.
I’m glad he’s getting some comeuppance, but literally yesterday at Walmart I saw someone wearing an infowars t-shirt that said Fauci should be imprisoned. 😬
As an attorney I wish people would stop saying Alex Jones attorney screwed up by turning over those text messages. When you get a discovery request you can't choose not to turn over stuff that's damaging to your client. It is an egregious ethical violation for you to withhold evidence or make privilege claims you know are false. What the plaintiffs attorney did was total bush league by saying publicly and falsely that the other attorney screwed up. It made me sympathetic to Alex Jones's attorney even though Jones is a wretched human being who I would never represent no matter how much he paid me.
The massive hit of schadenfreude I enjoyed watching Phat Alex squirm under cross and being hit with massive awards was almost worth the wait. We can only hope he is prosecuted for multiple counts of perjury. Now, I have a proposal for all Bulwarkians: what are the odds that Alex Jones is fueled by rhoid rage: the bellicosity frequently associated with anabolic steroids. I put the odds at over even: the tells - his hoarse voice and muscle mass. Place you bets!!!!
The schadenfreude was indeed delicious, almost overwhelmingly so! But the better treat is that the DOJ and Jan 6 committee can now access all of Alex Jones’ texts/emails including those with Stone. There will be a whole ton of seditious material.
Jones does not live in reality. He lives inside his own head, a world of abjectly dangerous mental illness. The reality of the court room has little effect upon him. He is the same demagogue. The same utterly foul human being. The court judgement will only provide fodder for even more grievance linked to perceived lib persecution. And given his stashed away millions on millions of loot, his ability to scam unlimited more, and good old Texas law limiting punitive damages (what a marvelous place to live), well, Jones is all copacetic and set for many more years of spew.
Unless, of course, he's in the slammer. For overt perjury.
The best way to hold Jones accountable has now arrived through his own actions. He should be indicted and tried on charges of perjury forthwith. The judgement in this civil case is a start, but because of what likely will be near endless appeals and other legal and financial maneuvering, I doubt this miscreant will feel any real financial pain anytime soon. Nor do I believe the loss of any $$ will hurt him in the end as much as the loss of his freedom for however long the law would allow in such a case.
Money can be replaced. Time, on the other hand, cannot.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the whole issue of lying and how normalized it has become within the GOP. Beyond compromising a number of core principles, heretofore deemed inviolable and supposedly what people teach their offspring not to do, it is a cautionary tale of how things get twisted when the end becomes so important that the means no longer matter.
As long as Republicans feel that winning is more important than how the victory is achieved, and that any tactic is appropriate as long as owning the libs is the outcome, our republic will never be safe from their scheming, because there will never be any restraints placed upon how far they will go to obtain the desired results. It becomes a bottomless pit of deception and rewriting of truth to suit a purpose, and if bottom ever is reached, they will simply break out the shovels and start digging.
How sad that so much our society has allowed anger and hatred to become not just a mainstream approach to governance, but also an unlimited supply of rocket fuel to this end. I wish I could live long enough to read how future history books will judge this era, not to mention what it will lead to before the worm eventually turns, as it usually does, somehow, some way.
MC, a subscriber to JVL's The Triad, posted a comment on JVL's "Deplorables are Real" with a link indicating that, by TX law, the max punitive damages Jones will have to pay is $750,000 - not $45 mil: https://mobile.twitter.com/greg_doucette/status/1555568718830346243
There is a huge market for the crap that Jones and those like him peddle. HUGE. There are many that hate reality and so they take refuge in their favorite lies. Jones is merely one among many who are willing to sell them those lies.
Jones, at least, can be sued and deterred somewhat. Those that follow him will be more adept at avoiding this while still peddling their goods--and the politicians can rarely be touched...
and if there is one group that should be definitely harshly punished by lying it is politicians... put we very rarely punish them for their lies, because we LIKE their lies.. we WANT their lies.. and se we elect and re-elect.
And then bitch about what a mess things are. Bitch about what liars politicians are. Bitch about how corrupt they are.
And then re-elect them.
Politicians just do and say what they think the voters (or enough of them to get the politician into office) want them to do and say. Entertainers, like Jones, do and say what they think will make them money.
I was unaware of this until a day or two ago, but Alex Jones has a book coming out at the end of the month, brought to you by Skyhorse Publishing, the same folks who are bringing us Paul Manafort's personal apologia, due out later this month as well. More rewards for human excrement. I took a peek at the Amazon preview for Jones's book, and it looks like the work of a college kid who wrote a term paper of required length, but didn't do any research and has no idea about the subject area, and so went with huge margins and extra line spacing to get the paper to the required length.
I realize this is a civil trial, but it would be interesting to know if Judge Gamble can order "community service" in addition to the cash payouts.
If so, Puddin'head Jones should be forced to recant all the lies about Sandy Hook reading off a prepared script with FACTS about the incident, names of those killed, and his heinous behavior on a recording, in a style of a news program, along with interviews of those affected, medical personnel, law enforcement, and other professionals.
In addition, Jones''s "merch ads" will be him voicing over PSAs about alleviating gun violence, mental health/counseling opportunities for those in need, community services, etc.
For one week straight that will be his programming.
Then, on an indescriminant basis over the next month, the recording would be played once a week.
Finally, for as many days that he snorted about Sandy Hook, the PSA would play over the following years, once a week on days determined by a court appointed producer.
The money damage won't hurt him...it is his ego that needs to be brought down in size.
The Travis County DA is a member of Democratic Socialists of America. Their DAs don't believe in prosecuting anything. Perjury isn't often prosecuted and this is likely to be no exception, even though it is an open and shut case. The nutty far left is no different from Alex Jones.
People of Jones' ilk are grifters on a massive scale. They aren't engaging in political speech. They are selling a product that stimulates rage and paranoia. To be more precise, they make money from amoral advertisers. I also wonder which Reublican politicians have appeared on his show over the years.
I suppose it's beating a dead horse, but imagine what would have to be true for Jones' lies about Sandy Hook to be true. Everyone in the town's police, fire and emt agencies would have to be in on it. Every school and hospital staffer, every funeral director and religious figure, every family, every local reporter would have to be in on it. Hospitals would have to submit fraudulent bills to insurance companies. And so on.
How could such an obvious lie gain currency? How could it drive people to acts of the utmost cruelty to the victims' families? We all know who made the ground fertile for such lies: the conservative media and political industrial complex.
I’m glad he’s getting some comeuppance, but literally yesterday at Walmart I saw someone wearing an infowars t-shirt that said Fauci should be imprisoned. 😬
As an attorney I wish people would stop saying Alex Jones attorney screwed up by turning over those text messages. When you get a discovery request you can't choose not to turn over stuff that's damaging to your client. It is an egregious ethical violation for you to withhold evidence or make privilege claims you know are false. What the plaintiffs attorney did was total bush league by saying publicly and falsely that the other attorney screwed up. It made me sympathetic to Alex Jones's attorney even though Jones is a wretched human being who I would never represent no matter how much he paid me.
The massive hit of schadenfreude I enjoyed watching Phat Alex squirm under cross and being hit with massive awards was almost worth the wait. We can only hope he is prosecuted for multiple counts of perjury. Now, I have a proposal for all Bulwarkians: what are the odds that Alex Jones is fueled by rhoid rage: the bellicosity frequently associated with anabolic steroids. I put the odds at over even: the tells - his hoarse voice and muscle mass. Place you bets!!!!
The schadenfreude was indeed delicious, almost overwhelmingly so! But the better treat is that the DOJ and Jan 6 committee can now access all of Alex Jones’ texts/emails including those with Stone. There will be a whole ton of seditious material.
I like the way the judge spoke to Jones like he was in kindergarten.
Jones does not live in reality. He lives inside his own head, a world of abjectly dangerous mental illness. The reality of the court room has little effect upon him. He is the same demagogue. The same utterly foul human being. The court judgement will only provide fodder for even more grievance linked to perceived lib persecution. And given his stashed away millions on millions of loot, his ability to scam unlimited more, and good old Texas law limiting punitive damages (what a marvelous place to live), well, Jones is all copacetic and set for many more years of spew.
Unless, of course, he's in the slammer. For overt perjury.
The best way to hold Jones accountable has now arrived through his own actions. He should be indicted and tried on charges of perjury forthwith. The judgement in this civil case is a start, but because of what likely will be near endless appeals and other legal and financial maneuvering, I doubt this miscreant will feel any real financial pain anytime soon. Nor do I believe the loss of any $$ will hurt him in the end as much as the loss of his freedom for however long the law would allow in such a case.
Money can be replaced. Time, on the other hand, cannot.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the whole issue of lying and how normalized it has become within the GOP. Beyond compromising a number of core principles, heretofore deemed inviolable and supposedly what people teach their offspring not to do, it is a cautionary tale of how things get twisted when the end becomes so important that the means no longer matter.
As long as Republicans feel that winning is more important than how the victory is achieved, and that any tactic is appropriate as long as owning the libs is the outcome, our republic will never be safe from their scheming, because there will never be any restraints placed upon how far they will go to obtain the desired results. It becomes a bottomless pit of deception and rewriting of truth to suit a purpose, and if bottom ever is reached, they will simply break out the shovels and start digging.
How sad that so much our society has allowed anger and hatred to become not just a mainstream approach to governance, but also an unlimited supply of rocket fuel to this end. I wish I could live long enough to read how future history books will judge this era, not to mention what it will lead to before the worm eventually turns, as it usually does, somehow, some way.
MC, a subscriber to JVL's The Triad, posted a comment on JVL's "Deplorables are Real" with a link indicating that, by TX law, the max punitive damages Jones will have to pay is $750,000 - not $45 mil: https://mobile.twitter.com/greg_doucette/status/1555568718830346243
Schadenfreude for breakfast! My favorite.
There is a huge market for the crap that Jones and those like him peddle. HUGE. There are many that hate reality and so they take refuge in their favorite lies. Jones is merely one among many who are willing to sell them those lies.
Jones, at least, can be sued and deterred somewhat. Those that follow him will be more adept at avoiding this while still peddling their goods--and the politicians can rarely be touched...
and if there is one group that should be definitely harshly punished by lying it is politicians... put we very rarely punish them for their lies, because we LIKE their lies.. we WANT their lies.. and se we elect and re-elect.
And then bitch about what a mess things are. Bitch about what liars politicians are. Bitch about how corrupt they are.
And then re-elect them.
Politicians just do and say what they think the voters (or enough of them to get the politician into office) want them to do and say. Entertainers, like Jones, do and say what they think will make them money.
The problem isn't the sellers, it's the buyers.
I was unaware of this until a day or two ago, but Alex Jones has a book coming out at the end of the month, brought to you by Skyhorse Publishing, the same folks who are bringing us Paul Manafort's personal apologia, due out later this month as well. More rewards for human excrement. I took a peek at the Amazon preview for Jones's book, and it looks like the work of a college kid who wrote a term paper of required length, but didn't do any research and has no idea about the subject area, and so went with huge margins and extra line spacing to get the paper to the required length.
Excellent!
I realize this is a civil trial, but it would be interesting to know if Judge Gamble can order "community service" in addition to the cash payouts.
If so, Puddin'head Jones should be forced to recant all the lies about Sandy Hook reading off a prepared script with FACTS about the incident, names of those killed, and his heinous behavior on a recording, in a style of a news program, along with interviews of those affected, medical personnel, law enforcement, and other professionals.
In addition, Jones''s "merch ads" will be him voicing over PSAs about alleviating gun violence, mental health/counseling opportunities for those in need, community services, etc.
For one week straight that will be his programming.
Then, on an indescriminant basis over the next month, the recording would be played once a week.
Finally, for as many days that he snorted about Sandy Hook, the PSA would play over the following years, once a week on days determined by a court appointed producer.
The money damage won't hurt him...it is his ego that needs to be brought down in size.
The Travis County DA is a member of Democratic Socialists of America. Their DAs don't believe in prosecuting anything. Perjury isn't often prosecuted and this is likely to be no exception, even though it is an open and shut case. The nutty far left is no different from Alex Jones.