Does anyone realize how sick Jones and his followers are? Harassing parents who's young children were murdered. Spreading fantastical lies about everything and everyone. Thank you Donald Trump, your presidency has really brought the slimy under belly of humanity out into the open. trump and the jones & their supporters need to be made obsolete and soon!
18
I am very much a Civil Libertarian but what this guy does is way beyond the pale. More disturbing is how many people lap this stuff up like a kitten drinking warm milk from a bowl.
10
It would be instructive to know who by name are the "very powerful people", referenced in the article. Perhaps this is worthy of some investigative journalism, maybe from the safety of the UK.
Personally, I think it is time to boycott Facebook or any digital platform for Infowars until it is taken down. Fine if Jones wants to use his First Amendment rights if and when he sites sources, uses facts and does not incite violence or slander individuals. Jones is indeed "shouting fire" with demonstrable harm. And yes, those following up on his posts should face consequences.
11
Thank you, NYT, and other sources of investigative journalism, for keeping an eye on the trolls and slime who use the Internet to spew evil and lies and incite others to follow along.
As many who comment here have stated, the problem of evil is not new. What is new is that the Internet can be used to amplify and give an audience to the worst of the worst, and anonymous others can join in with no fear of consequences.
This makes the power of the press even more important as one of the few means to shine a light to send the cockroaches back where they belong.
The NYT and other media are not perfect, but they are oh so important these days.
22
It's Slander, isn't it?
2
This nut Jones was producing fake news long before fake news was a thing. I met him in Austin 20 years ago when he introduced himself after cannon balling my toddler-aged nieces and me in the shallow end of a neighborhood pool. He was then and remains today a pathetic loser.
23
What? This family loses their child and they're chased all over the country and have to hide?
Why?
What is wrong with this country.
33
I'm going to exercise my free speech rights by making this statement:
The bar for truthfulness in our country has been lowered right down to the ground, due to a leadership problem.
20
This commenter obviously has it wrong:
"Please Americans, if you want news , read a newspaper."
If a newspaper publisher is sued for defamation because it published something that was true, it would have no exposure on that claim since "Truth is a defense"in defamation cases.
In these "public figure" (or not) cases, the falseness of what was written is already established (or presumed). The questions usually are whether the defendant (i.e. the Times 50+ years ago, in New York Times v. Sullivan, and Alex Jones now) KNEW it was false but said it anyway.
If Alex Jones did other things, though -- such as broadcast information from which some other nut case can figure out where the plaintiff lives -- he should be made to pay substantial damages.
5
Now I don't believe in a lot of his views, but when a independent media producer that does actually report on events around the world.(including the crazy spin that they put on it like every other media organization on the planet does) Is attacked by everyone for false claims he made 4 years ago, I tend to support the man who isn't continuing to call Sandy Hook victims crisis actors.
I see him getting attacked by the mainstream media owned by billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Rupert Murdoch, and Michael Bloomberg. The very billionaires he criticises and calls out daily, no wonder he’s slandered by the media they own. So I support the man that the wealthy and powerful want to get rid of.
You also can’t go to jail for defamation, at most you have to pay a fine, and the legal costs and the potential costs of losing this court battle will most likely result in him having to shut down infowars, legally squashing an independent media producer and his right to free speech and press. Something that legacy news organizations have been trying to do before YouTube was even an idea. (Just because you’re not on cable TV doesn’t mean you can’t be apart of the press)
So to cap it all off, I say this.
Freedom of speech is null and void if there are consequences for said speech.
3
The ever present argument exists that one can't tell fire in a crowded theatre and not expect consequences. This guy does the equivalent of inciting a riot or inciting violence amongst his followers. Is it possible that one of his thousands of claims are true? Perhaps. But I'm not willing to listen to the other thousands of ugly and ridiculous claims in the meanwhile.
8
I think that your statements are valid, but Alex jones is using his spot on national tv to attack people verbally. I don’t agree with his statements and how he handles news, but when he starts attacking people who have lost their children or their lives or someone they love, by giving addresses, dismissing the incident that killed that person, and being a reason someone does not feel safe where they live, that’s when the foot must go down. I’m not saying his show should go down completely, he absolutely has freedom of speech, but that needs to be watched so he doesn’t attack someone as violently, or his show should go down for a short period to return after that time is done. He needs to watch what he says, because people are being affected on the other side in scary ways.
4
Alex Jones himself testified in his divorce court proceedings that the falsities and hyperbole were all for show.
5
Jones is an entertainer who over blows everything. Every once in a great while he hits on something real. For me, he serves as a counterweight to the liberal media. Both are garbage, but Jones helps balance it.
2
A commenter mistakenly wrote:
"Free speech does not include slander."
Incorrect. Free speech DOES include slander -- at least if you're a "public figure."
That's been well-established for many decades, since some Southern police chief sued the NY Times for defamation and lost because, although the NYT had its facts wrong, the plaintiff was a public official. This slander exception was soon extended to all "public figures," official or not.
The Supreme Court later put limits on the "public figure" exception announced in that case (New York Times v. Sullivan). In Time Inc. v. Hill, a family complained that Time magazine had slandered it in an article about the brutal murder of a family member. Time defended by citing the NYT v. Sullivan slander exception, arguing that the Hills were "public figures." The Hills replied that they were "public figures" only because their family's tragedy had been publicized but that they'd theretofore lived quiet, private lives.
The Hills won, setting an "Are you kidding?" limit on the NYT v. Sullivan doctrine.
Here too, the plaintiffs here can hardly be called "public figures," and so their claim should not be barred by NYT v. Sullivan.
On the other hand, we shouldn't allow a slander claim against a nut case who spouts off some delusional "hoax" theory about a widely reported incident. I'd express my deepest condolences to the plaintiffs but then toss them out of court, reminding them that the First Amendment protects nut cases too.
1
Surely the FBI has to get involved. This is terrorism.
21
Will the GOP and its deplorable supporters ever realize the amount of damage they are doing to our democracy and other residents? The life of no person in the US is improved by anything Alex Jones says, but plenty are harmed. How can it be there is such a market for such nonsensical idiocy? Will the GOP leadership ever experience shame and get back to the real world?
15
This isn't free speech, it's disgusting.
Facebook, Google, Twitter and all other venues should ban Alex Jone's vile hate speech.
Alex Jones should be convicted of harassment and incitement to violence, and sentenced to prison for a long time.
Haven't the parents of Sandy Hook students who were senselessly murdered suffered enough?
What is wrong with him?
15
Dan White is remembered well by everyone who lived in SF when he shot and killed Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.
At his murder trial, though, White came to be known for something else: the "Twinkies Defense." His lawyers argued that his behavior should be excused because he'd been eating a lot of junk food at the time. The jury was not impressed, and White was sentenced to a long stay in the Do-Right Hotel.
But White's "Twinkies Defense" lived on. When I heard his lawyer assert that, I admitted to myself that I just didn't have the imagination to be a criminal defense lawyer: I'd never have even thought of the "Twinkies Defense," much less actually assert it in a court of law.
If I'd had any lingering doubts, the plaintiffs' claims in this case would have erased them. That my client might have a defamation claim against Alex Jones for his having posited that Sandy Hook was an elaborate hoax is an argument I'd never have even THOUGHT of and, hence, I'd have unwittingly denied my client -- the plaintiffs in this lawsuit -- their day in court.
Alex Jones may be an utter idiot (I suspect that's the case, though I've never heard him speak or read anything he's written (assuming he knows how to write -- does he?), but he's entitled to spin out as many absurd "hoax" arguments as he likes.
I nevertheless give the plaintiffs' attorneys great credit for imagination. I suspect they'd have thought of the "Twinkies Defense."
4
I hope he ends up in jail.
11
In Jones' conduct, we see how low people will go in their scrabble for money. Kinda' reminds me of Ann Coulter.
18
Are these issues really happening in the United States?
8
I cannot imagine the heartache, the despair, the shock these good parents suffered when their young innocent children, barely older than babies were brutally murdered in cold blood. If that horror wasn't enough along came this viper, this propagandist and manipulator to wreck their lives.
It wasn't enough to falsely call them liars and fakes. No, he had to give out their home addresses and personal details to allow his deluded, poorly educated, knuckle-dragging cult followers to harass them and even threaten their lives. All for profit. Oh, and what of the high flying internet platforms hosting this person and allowing his hate to be spread like the manure it is?
Well, they have turned a blind eye. They have investors to please and stock prices to worry about. What are grieving parents to the millennial millionaires of Silicon Valley we reference. Collateral damage. After all they can't even keep the Russian I.R.A. off their platforms, and they have only platitudes to mouth about concern and action.
13
So today, Spotify decided to partially remove Alex Jones’ podcasts. Only partially. Why? Why just partially.
I don’t get why these main, great innovative companies have to be boycott to do the right thing...
5
Another commenter reminded us all of Jim Jones, the "leader" who persuaded 909 "followers" to join him in drinking poison. The poison was put in Grape Koolaid. Though that happened about 40 years ago, I'm sure everyone who was around back then remembers it very well.
What I'll wager few people remember -- or even saw -- is the TV commercial I saw a day or two after that incident. Gauzy scene, late afternoon sun, camera pans in slowly to some grandfatherly-looking type sitting in his back yard holding a glass containing some purple liquid. The guy says -- and I swear I am not making this up -- "Remember how good Koolaid used to taste? Well, it still does."
That was the one and only time I ever saw that ad. Though it struck me as the height of bad taste, I'll bet it sold a lot of Koolaid.
2
"Defamation" is an imprecise forboding-sounding word that people like to throw around casually.
Mr. Jones is finally being held accountable for practicing or suborning libel.
Free speech is everyone's right. Speaking lies about people is actionable.
11
Okay the guy is a malicious looney toon, but, the people. Dumb down the school texts some more. Cut the budgets for the arts and education. Turn away from science. Alex Jones is the result.
America wake up.
14
Its pretty sad that our national discourse is dominated by discussion of the most bizarre conspiracy theorists. Is this produced by the acceptance of this nonsense as worth considering by Trump himself or is this simply an attempt by the dregs of our society to get some attention? There are lots of serious matters we do not consider, e.g. that depriving children of contact with their parents permanently damages them psychologically. One could be forgiven for thinking that the Trump base is not up to such complex thoughts.
1
What's with that picture? Why is he holding a belt? Plus, those 2 behind him are clearly actors.
1
"If the parents are found to be public figures, they will have to prove actual malice, or that Mr. Jones knew the claims were false, but repeated them anyway."
That is a very interesting point. How could it be shown in court that Jones does not believe what he is saying?
2
If the plaintiffs are held to be "public figures," Jones will win for sure, just as the New York Times won 50+ years ago when it was in Alex Jones' shoes. The Times had its facts wrong then too, but insisted that it believed -- mistakenly, as it happened, but sincerely -- that its facts were correct. Ergo, no "actual malice," and so the Times won.
Fast-forward 50+ years to the present, and it will be virtually impossible for the plaintiffs here to show actual malice, since Jones presumably will say -- just as the Times said 50+ years ago -- that he believed what he said was true (and, indeed, that he STILL believes it's true). In other words, he may have been "mistaken" but, like the Times 50+ years ago, he was "sincere."
More important -- since I can't even imagine the plaintiffs will be held to have been "public figures" -- Alex Jones should be allowed to spout off whatever "hoax" theories he wants to spout off, and if someone chooses to assign weight to them, so be it. Jones should NOT, however, be allowed to say something that could harm the plaintiffs -- such as broadcasting information that allows other nut cases to find the plaintiffs and harm them.
I am disgusted by this man Jones. He deserves tar and feathers...
20
I pray that Jones loses this suit and is forced to shut down. He is truly an evil and vindictive man, and his broadcasts, as hateful as they are, serve to lead the easily misled to become as twisted as he is. Putin must be very pleased...
22
Jones is among the worst of the worst in American media history. And our president consults with him regularly.
15
When one carries Al’s level of attractiveness, it is so easy for most to overlook an occasional over-the-top conjecture.
1
Send to the poor house or lock him up or Facebook and Google and use common sense to restrain his "free' speech garbage for cash job.
Along with people's rights comes responsibilities. This is a very irresponsible (and despicable) human being.
28
The fact that this couple suffered the horrible loss of a child and then has to live with the consequences of this sick bully using their grief for his own gain says it all. This is not free speech. This is total harassment of private citizens in a public forum.
20
Jones, like Fox noise, should be sued in court for lying, trying to destroy the truth, confuse people, and spread chaos. Just like the trump's so-called Presidency has done. What have we become when we listen to and believe this kind of madness?
10
I'm less and less convinced that dangerous liars like Alex Jones will be prosecuted. He deliberately attacks victims and steps on tragedy.
Pathetic slice of humanity.
16
One of the most disturbing events I remember happening in 1978 was the mass suicide of 909 followers of Jim Jones, a cult leader who convinced his flock to drink poison. Back then, when most Americans could actually be shocked by such things, there was a lot of national discussion and examination of Jones. How could people be manipulated to commit suicide? What is it in our human nature that makes us susceptible to such monsters?
Well, today, it seems that there are literally millions of Americans who "drink the kool aid" (hate speech and lies) distributed by sociopaths like Jones, Limbaugh and by institutions like FOX News. Millions have passed over to a very dark place where the collective moral compass has been smashed and murdered children mean better ratings for evil men. Shame on this country. Shame on its people.
22
Jones has been living and broadcasting in Austin for 30 years. He is a complete joke here and universally ignored. Last year, he lost custody of his children and most of his parental privileges because he couldn't control his insanity even for a couple of hours in the divorce proceedings. It's a shame the Trump cultists are such suckers they need pyschos like Jones to validate their racism and ignorance.
44
Trump too was a complete joke here in NYC...
7
The problem with this, is that Sandy Hook was indeed an elaborate hook. But they did not mean it that way.
The Sandy Hook community allowed and invited FEMA, to come one year ahead of time, and planned this exercise. I have no problem with that.
I have no problem with getting rid of guns.
The images of the protagonist, Adam, are feeble. The stories are make-believe. Emotions on the TV bites are not believable. Parents who just lost their child yesterday do not all of a sudden, speak from the perspective of their child in heaven.
Sandy Hook was an exercise, by FEMA and the Connecticut government, to move toward tighter gun control. There's nothing wrong with that.
Free speech does not include slander. If the courts decide he defamed them then he should pay a hefty sum. I believe he put those families through unnecessary harm for his own gain. He should be banned from the radio for a year or more as well.
5
To think how much pain and suffering these parents and families have endured just by losing their family members, and then to imagine the need to move repeatedly just to remain safe from crazy people stirred up by the likes of Mr. Jones, is sickening. Incredibly unkind, this kind of conspiracy theory that targets those who are victims of terrible tragedy is nothing but gratuitously cruel. Since Mr. Jones has made so much money off of his treatment of these folks, the very least he can do is share his profits with those who have provided the basis for his wealth. That and a multi-decade prison term would provide some sense of justice, and might remind some of his followers that there is a thing called reality that is best adhered to, for sanity and safety for all.
4
Democracy,Constitution, some years ago ; was asked : what do you think about Democracy for your Latin American Country
the question came from a serious thinker and Journalist; my honest answer was : we are not ready for it..
the person doing the question seemed baffled by the answer,Democracy and Constitution rights as both
Own Rights and obligations, and governments duly prepared Honestly to make it happen but as civilized citizen
Have the obligation to respect,my fellows Your mr.Jones is abusing his freedom to speak By provocative, Inciting
People to go against each other with unimaginable consequences once Conflict starts, then if Governments Fails
To honestly make those abusers of peoples rights. Not imposing a stiff penalty to make things happen
Then I may think as at the time for us, But Now seems you all are failing; or dully ready to Respect the Law.or Democracy.
1
Alex Jones and Donald Trump have something in common: they both have the uncanny ability to make completely opposing claims about a subject.
Donald Trump offers Scottish officials his reason for wanting to build a protective sea barrier is to fight against rising sea levels due to the climate change - that he alternatively states is a Chinese Hoax.
Alex Jones is being sued for identifying a person as being a shooter in a shooting - while he alternatively contends that school shootings were 'staged' for political purposes and never happened.
I respect Jones' Constitutional right to free speech, but do not believe that right takes priority over intentionally false speech that causes actionable damage against people or property.
GeneGrossman.com
4
The article reports that the prevaricator Alex Jones says to a fictional Robert Mueller (I doubt he has the guts to speak to real people, of the type who believe in facts and accountability) something about how he would die trying...I'd would vote the he quit this junk, but definitely prefer 'die trying' over any further (unfortunate) success. As Mark Twain once said: I wish death to know man, but there are some obituaries I have read with pleasure
1
There was a time when the good and decent people of this country would not tolerate the harassment and lies about the parents of a murdered child. A time when Alex Jones and his ilk would be run out of town on a rail.
Now, not only is he allowed to persist, he gets rich doing it.
Remind me again how Hillary was wrong to call these people 'deplorable.'
Remember--judgments last forever. I hope the court/jury awards this family not only everything Alex Jones has but everything he will ever receive.
30
It's a shame that this evil chapter in US History continues to live on, pushed forth by folks to make political and economic gains. Callous disregard for the victims.
Those kids would have been twice as old in 2018.
1
I thought it was understood that when one speaks one takes care to speak only what is true, or true as far as you know and that it is one's responsibility to have fact based evidence to back your words. When you stand corrected by the evidence you accept it and try to understand it if you don't. This is the way human culture has progressed; as a search together with other humans to discern fact from fiction so we can make decisions which aren't going to injure us or cause problems. The verbal irresponsibility of elevating hate speech to acceptability is bringing the U.S. down so far we cannot even have a rational discussion to solve problems; like climate change which is going to eliminate all of us very soon.
3
Donald Trump appeared on Alex Jones radio program. What a shock.
13
I’m all for free speech. I’m also for a free press that provides the news. I am not for media companies spewing out lies and propaganda filth. If people want to voice their untruths they should stand on a street corner and see who listens. I’m waiting for Fox and OAN to be taken off the air along with all the other propaganda perpetrators. Poor CNN should stop covering Trump altogether and stick to other news.
3
It is beyond the pale that Alex Jones has fostered a bizarre following of people whose purpose in life is to harass the families who lost children and adults in the Sandy Hook massacre. Jones is the epitome of evil, his moronic followers along with him should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To disrupt peoples' lives torn apart by grief and loss is inexcusable behavior that deserves serious jail time.
15
Mr. Jones is a snake oil salesman, much like his friend Donald Trump. They play on peoples fears. He uses his platform to sell you his books and other garbage. What most Americans have to realize is that these radio talk shows as well as the 24 hour news channels(all of them not just Fox) are more entertainment based than they are news based. All of these guys like Rush and Jones are not journalists, they are entertainers. They will say whatever it takes to get ratings. The 24 hour news channels all run a similar format, they put together a bunch of opposing panel members and let them argue their opinions. Please Americans, if you want news , read a newspaper. Fortunately this is where real journalists still work. How credible can Donald Trump be about fake news when he supports Alex Jones and the National Enquirer. Wake up people.
11
I'm all for free speech but I am so glad they are going after him. Every action has a reaction. He is interfering with their safety and he should be held accountable for that. Also, they should have a meeting with him and show all the pictures of their kids who were killed and see if he still feels the same way. I hope he goes down for this. Enough is enough.
3
Alex Jones knows all his claims are false.
I can't wait for them to ask him under oath if he really believed they were 'crisis' actors while he was reporting they were. I honestly don't think he did. And THAT forced admission would have him lose all credibility with his fans and be the end of him. That would then be justice.
4
I don't see too much difference between Alex Jones' production of Inforwars and several of the JFK productions alluding conspiracies.
Infowars promulgates alternative theories and challenges everyone to do more research.
Is Michael Moore heading to the courtroom as well ?
1
This is Trump's base. They are ignorant and hate filled people and completely gullible. I know I sound superior, but really, 20 kindergarten children died. I can't begin to imagine how those families feel but they need all the support we can give, not death threats and harassment. I bet the Jones listeners think they are good Christians too. So shameful.
7
No morals, no values, nothing but the unfettered pursuit of money regardless of the consequences. I hope Jones gets taken to the cleaners. The 1st Amendment is not a duicide pact.
1
What he is doing is not speech. It is the well recognized tort of “intentional infliction of emotional distress.” And he is doing it so he can make money. A court should award the plaintiffs monetary damages of everything he has or will ever have.
27
There are a lot of Americans like Jones.
5
Extraordinary claims stated as fact need to be backed up by extraordinary proof. If Alex Jones can’t provide proof of his wild claims, he must be punished for his hateful, incendiary words. He may be a good candidate to use as an example to other, similar hate merchants.
4
I was taught that there are limits to freedom of speech where it may endanger others unnecessarily. This was usually illustrated by the example of 'yelling FIRE in a crowded theater'.
Alex Jones is a conspiracy profiteer, and the internet is his megaphone. He is victimizing these people for profit. There have to be limits when there are no facts to support his claims.
4
I would like say that the world would be a better place without this animal walking around. Would be good if someone published his address like his loser followers did to the Sandy Hook families. Think about having the worst thing happen to you and then having to deal with the most cruel aftermath.
4
there are no words that can adequately describe what an immoral, demented creature Alex Jones is.
6
I hope he pays-- financially, emotionally, spiritually
The additional suffering he has caused these poor parents is unconscionable.
8
A long time back, Jones was just a nutjob peddling hats & pins at a corner table in gun shows in central Texas, ranting about "black helicopters" and "state secret ops" in the middle of the nite in urban America (none of which he ever documented).
Unfortunately, he gained traction (slowly) on late nite public access channels in Austin (where liberals think everyone should have a voice, ironically) and he's turned into a malicious, attention seeking, sociopathic loudmouth for paranoid ultra conservative types.
I truly hope Alex Jones gets sued out of existence.
He's peddled lies and hats and pins far too long.
4
@Joey: If you knew anything about public access channels, you would know that everyone who produces content for them must sign a contract agreeing to abide by a number of rules. One of them is that you may not commit libel, nor may you slander anyone. Content is not screened ahead of time, so anyone who violates the rules is responsible for the violation and is liable in any lawsuits that may ensue as a result of the producer's content. So, no, "liberals" don't think that just anyone should have a voice, if that voice is in violation of laws. Jones is the one responsible for his content, not the access stations, and he knows that. Now you know it, too.
He was also fired from his first radio station show and was forced to start broadcasting from his own home on the Internet, which is not regulated in any way in the United States, though other countries around the world have speech standards and enforce them, hate speech being a major violation of nearly every other democracy's broadcasting rules. And, by the way, if anyone wants to boycott Jones's current broadcaster, or complain about his content, the name of the company is Genesis Communications Network, or GCN.
2
Alex Jones is a sad victim of his own sick perversion.
12
Inforwars puts me in mind of Interahamwe, the radio station that fomented the genocide in Rwanda.
15
He is simply grotesque. And his fans are even worse. Paranoia for Dummies. Period.
1
What sort of childhood did this terrible man have? He was very poorly raised, and poorly educated, I'd wager. His family should be appalled.
6
It's simple.... Alex Jones is a despicable, evil person.
19
"Drain the swamp". This reptile should be thrown back into where he obviously came from.
3
Let's call Alex Jones what he is: an evil, uneducated, dangerous man.
His enablers own his horrible behavior.
That the U.S. can 'create' such a man is something for the average American to be deeply ashamed of.
5
We have a cancer of horrible, horrible people who so want five minutes of fame, they will say and do anything to hurt already hurting people. Are there really so many hateful, unbalanced people in this country?
9
This man should be kicked off of every single social media platform for hate speech.
2
Jones is scoundrel whose business plan is to sell doomsday prep merchandise to nincompoops, whose fickle attention he holds with his scurrilous garbage, the more lurid the better. His lies about the Sandy Hook parents are libelous on the face of it; actual malice and a reckless disregard for the truth are merely other elements of his business plan.
3
What kind of human being uses other people's tragedy to profit from it ? It is not enough for
Alex Jones to twist the truth, he has to incite hate against the victim's parents. Haven't they suffered
enough with the loss of their child? I hope the parents nail him with this defamation lawsuit
and Facebook and YouTube removes the Infowars website for good.
1
Sounds like a classic case of- "you can't holler 'fire!' in a movie theater".
Alex should take a closer look at the 'Right to Free Speech'.
1
Sobs like a baby when he's out of the studio and facing reality.
As ye sow, Alex.
2
If we let bullies claim they are exercising their first amendment rights, we are on the road to perdition.
What about the rest of our rights? The right to threaten and hurt should not be equivalent to the right to live and pursue a productive life.
6
Who are these people? Who educated them? In their entire lives , did they ever have that increasingly rare quality called “morality”?
I’m not referring to Jones....he’s just another loud mouthed money grubber. But, the people who believe this kind of stuff. At one time, each of them was an innocent infant. A few years later, they were still innocent toddlers. Then, for each of them, something went horribly wrong, by accident or by conscious choice. They are now the cretins, the troglodytes, the vermin who live in the dark world of their minds. Where did they come from?
39
@Patrick alexander
One possible answer to your question is contained in the lyrics to a song from a Broadway musical of seventy years ago:
"You've Got To Be Carefully Taught"
"South Pacific" (1949)
Words: Oscar Hammerstein II
Music: Richard Rodgers
You've got to be taught
To hate and fear
You've got to be taught
From year to year
It's got to be drummed
in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught
You've got to be taught
To be afraid
Of people whose eyes
are oddly made
And people whose skin
Is a different shade
You've got to be carefully taught
You've got to be taught
Before it's too late
Before you are 6 or 7 or 8
To hate all the people
your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught
###
Of course, it helps to have the curiosity of a brick — and an I.Q. that hovers around room temperature (in Fahrenheit).
7
Only in the misbegotten United States are these sick lies tolerated, all in the holy name of free speech.
2
@Patrick alexander
"Where did they come from?"
The American educational system, a system that emphasizes rote memorization over actual learning. And if you are better at memorizing than actually doing, you win.
Welcome to the corporatization of America.
1
Free speech does not protect the promulgation of lies.
23
Inciting violence and making libelous claims are crimes and nothing whatsoever to do with free speech. In his case they should take him for everything he has and throw in a few years of psychiatric commitment for good measure.
19
I don't understand how this is not libel or slander which is not protected free speech. Also, is this not incitement to violence which would make him criminally liable? I hope he loses every dime he has at the very least.
24
Alex Jones and Facebook have a lot in common, spreading hate and lies. Free speech has consequences which hopefully Mr. Jones is about to find out.
10
Jones's own words and characterization of his work as entertainment in hearings related to his marital woes should serve as prima facie evidence of his knowledge that he was spreading lies, or, at the very least, was guilty of reckless disregard for the truth.
14
This is extremely sad. The people making death threats should be identified and prosecuted.
I don't understand how human beings could make death threats against these parents.
16
It seem as though we are experiencing a period in the evolution of human civilization when we must distinguish between not just fact and fiction, but between the rational and the absurd. The fact that these lines are so blurred in such a public way is disheartening to the point of despair for the future of humanity. Folks like Alex Jones represent the frayed ends of society's unraveling.
14
Devolution, not evolution.
1
Are we not men?
1
There is no lower form of life than someone who badgers and threatens grieving parents. Equally sad is the fact that some clearly mentally unstable folks follow Alex Jones who is interested only in making a buck.
14
Free speech does not extend to yelling "fire" in a crowded movie theatre just to see what happens. So it would seem to me that Alex Jones would not be protected by "free speech". His speech is the equivalent of yelling fire.
10
Alex Jones' actions are as contemptible as those of his hero, Trump. No normal human being could contemplate the anguish Jones has brought to grieving families, or Trump has brought by endorsing Jones. I hope with all my heart that Jones will be condemned by court.
23
@Edward Bash
Trump is not Jones's hero. You give them both too much credit.
The Sandy Hook parents are spending millions on lawsuits, most notably contesting statutory immunity for gun companies. They got Obama to speak out loudly on their behalf at his State of the Union, calling for the specific gun control laws cited by the parents. The only shootings that have garnered as much attention are those of James Brady and Gabby Gifford.
Many complain how the rich and famous get special treatment. That's as true among shooting victims as it is in tax breaks. The victims of Orlando, Virginia Tech and Las Vegas were middle class and got middle class justice. The wealthy and famous victims speak the loudest. But if you ask me, the most sympathetic victims out there were those in the Charleston church, who forgave the unspeakably racist shooter, Dylan Roof.
4
What is your point exactly?
5
A difference here is that Jones claimed that Sandy Hook was a hoax and that these children did not die.
1
I believe that he's trying to pass off infamous and covert disinformation for Trump as reason and principle.
2
Don't say rage, hate and evil don't take a toll on someone; Though he looks as though he's in his mid-60s, Alex Jones is 44. That's the same age as Ryan Phillipe, Leonardo DiCaprio and Andrew Lincoln.
9
@Randy
DiCaprio, these days, looks like he has been driven hard and put away wet.
Will Alex's next move be to sue Facebook for being "quieted" on that platform? Or would he not do so, since he knows the FB wallet is far deeper than anything he has? Also I wonder what he and his team would do if someone follows him every day after the trial? After all, the streets are open to the public and surely he would have no reason to fear anything, just like (as he would argue) the parents of the murdered child.
13
Sometimes there aren't any words to explain the preposterous inexplicable indecency that is Alex Jones and the hole in my chest feeling it leaves.
9
He must be made paid to pay for the consequences of his cruel free speech. The poor parents of a murdered child now have to protect themselves from a media personality who trades in dangerous lies and incites gullible people.
Please, Judge, make him empty his bank account of his ill-gotten gains to pay for this. Society and the parents need to be healed from the injuries sociopaths like cause.
18
Can he be locked up? He committed a crime by spreading hates?
7
Alex Jones and his followers are a cancer in our society. When will they drink the kool-aid?
14
A. Find the biggest book in the world.
B. Throw it at him.
31
GOP Trump thrive by conspiracy theories like this.Vote Out GOP for change.Ray Sipe
14
That Donald Trump vilifies the NY Times and CNN yet endorses grave plunderer Jones' "amazing reputation" says everything about the current state of our nation.
39
"Efforts to reach Mr. Jones on his cellphone and through the Infowars email were unsuccessful. Mark Enoch, his lawyer in the case, did not respond to telephone and email requests for comment."
Mr. Jones, as you (I hope) end up sued into poverty, please note that the New York Times, while reporting allegations about your awful treatment of grieving people, did not post your phone number or email address.
"Free speech" has consequences, including being balanced in the court over whether your talk is criminal or not. You'll still be allowed to say whatever pops into your twisted broken mind, but there are penalties, too. It seems the people who cling closest to the supposed benefits of a right forget to think about the responsibilities that go along with it.
38
I noticed, as I went to post, that the NYT site has written below this box "comments are moderate for civility".
Can you do that for the entire country, and our sorry "President",too, please?
17
Every sociopath and psychopath have a common trait. The lack empathy for others. And they also lack, totally, the ability to understand how they hurt others through the pedaling of their bigoted, racist and hate-filled pronouncements.
Alex Jones is a psychopath and a sociopath. He seeks only to hurt innocent people as much as possible. Jones believes his conspiracy theories are valid even when known to be outrageous falsehoods. Jones fantasy about the slaughter at Sandy Hook is not a fantasy to him. Its an outlet for his anger and his venom towards others. Jones gains internal power and satisfaction from spewing his vicious lies. We could label Jones mentally ill but that is not enough. He know the difference between right and wrong. What he does is criminal subversion of truth. He does what ISIS and Al Qaeda do; He preys on innocents and seeks to dominate them through his acts of intimidation. Jones abuses innocent citizens the way some people abuse senior citizens, the mentally and physically handicapped and minorities. That is an act of a criminal.
24
I'm starting to wonder if Alex Jones is an agent of the Russian government.
He's doing exactly what Vladimir Putin is trying to do to us: sowing discord and dividing Americans with his outrageous and disgusting behavior.
24
There are no words for the kind of evil that spreads lies like this man, and others, spread. Society depends on truth to survive. What happens when people are too ignorant to recognize lies and men too greedy care? Stupidity is a terminal disease, as is cynicism. We are on deep trouble.
10
and for such a long time, I thought Trump was the worst man in the world.
10
As if the many homeless people on our city streets were not sufficient evidence, Alex Jones and his InfoWars devotees are a clear indication of the serious mental health crisis in this country. And now we have the delusional QAnon group too.
This emergence cannot be blamed solely on racism as many of the targets are not minorities. Perhaps poor or little education is a factor, but those who easily believe such cruel nonsense must also have some mental health deficiency.
6
While we see an issue with state-controlled media in autocratic regimes in Russia, NK and other 3rd world countries, in the name of free speech on the exact opposite spectrum, we are doing an equal, if not more damage with this pile of vile by conflating lies, fictions, rumors and innuendo as entertainment with no accountability.
Today, we have a rating system for any kind of entertainment from movies to video games and others. Moreover, there are restrictions on what can be shown in a public theater or the type of books a public library can carry or the verity of a marketing ad, or the comments we can post in a public forum. We even bleep out expletives in the name of civility when we all know what they are. However, it is unfathomable how this type of “free speech” is acceptable. If Jones’ and other opinion shows are entertainment as they claim, they should announce as such throughout the program, like an infomercial.
9
Pearl Harbour staged attack; Extermination camps during WWII, some fabrication; landing on the moon the work of Stanley Kubrik ;the Gernika bombing was the work of the Basques; all of those things are Opinions, same as Handy Hook. Why some cannot accept the facts?
I guess the Truth is to unpleasant to accept, and they prefer Alternative Facts.
Just imagine the Alternative Facts propose and believed in Nazi Germany. Its horrible to think that that phenomenon is likely in any society.
4
I realize that pedophilia is a magical hot button to press that always results in attention for both accuser and accused, but I'm concerned that Mr. Jones is too fixated on it. His preoccupation with child sex crimes indicates to me that he's either schizophrenic or considering perpetrating the crimes himself.
On the other hand, to simply toss around such accusations because you want/need attention and are making easy money off this attention is plain evil.
4
This repulsive man's defense of himself may end up causing these parents even greater sadness and discomfort. How much more suffering must these people be put through?
7
Everyone is targeting Alex Jones and it looks like he deserves it, but no one is talking about Wolfgang Helbig and that is indeed sad. So you all don’t know and you all don’t want to know. That is the situation at hand. How does it make you feel to be bathing in ignorance?
2
Wolfgang Helbig was a classical archaeologist who died in 1915. That may be why nobody is talking about him much these days.
Wolfgang Halbig is a nutcase who also claims that Sandy Hook was a hoax. Let's talk about him, instead.
Here's hoping that Alex Jones, a criminal pathological liar, loses and is penalized to the extent that his 'evil empire' crumbles.
15
The other person profiting from Mr. Jones's attacks and lies is Mark Zuckerberg. It is time Facebook takes responsibility for the destruction it has done to our society. Everyone who continues to use Facebook while Infowars utilizes their platform to spread these malicious lies is complicit in this family's harassment.
12
Only in today's America could a disgrace such as this occur, where the parents of a murdered children have to move repeatedly due to fear for their own lives and possibly bankrupt their finances to defend themselves from heinous crazy people hurling despicable lies.
18
Jones is gutless, unwilling to stand by the words that are his bread and butter, lies that they are.
8
When Jones moved in to his place on Trautwein Rd. in Dripping Springs, TX (right across the street from Jessee James, the motorcyle guy), he changed the feel of this rural neighborhood.
He quickly built a tall, stone wall arounf his "compound" with cameras watching all that goes on around him... it's a cold, forbidding place since his arrival with all the garbage that follows around with him...
My hope is that he is finally held accountable for the trash he spews. Sure, there is freedom of speech but not when it advocates violence, which his does. He needs to be shut down.
Jones no doubt, was the teenaged jerk who yelled "FIRE!!" in a crowded movie theater just to watch the panic.
He is a cancer on decency.
28
"Last week Mr. Jones broadcast a bizarre accusation about a child sex ring."
Is this out of the same nonexistent pizzeria basement as the last one?
9
God, if you are aware of this evil outrage among other insane things that are going on in this country, please strike these monsters down! We can't take this anymore.
Vote down every republican in every election from now on. Make sure all your friends and family vote for Dems. Make sure you are registered to vote and know where your polling station is before November.
11
That self-promoting hate monger should be ignored and disappear. There is no benefit to society from attacking families who have suffered a tragic loss. People who live in Sandy Hook recognize the families when we see them around town. We respect their privacy and wish them peace.
5
Intentional misinformation is inherently criminal, and not free speech.
Instead of asking whether the parents are "public figures" the burden should be on the speaker who is a "public figure".
Intentionally speaking falsely, and doing so knowingly to a mass audience, ought to be considered a criminal fraud.
8
I wonder why this isn't libel? Free speech is one thing, but if you publish a false statement that damages someone's reputation, isn't that libel? Aren't Alex Jones' videos published on the internet? And don't they contain false statements that damage the reputations of the Sandy Hook families?
6
How do these parents keep going? Keep getting up each day to face what this country's laws have permitted to happen to their babies and their lives? It is incomprehensible. The pain.
How Alex Jones can be anything other than a terrorist?
10
If there is any justice in the land, surely he will be held accountable for his blatantly false accusations and stories? He spreads hate-filled, racist, anti-Semitic lies that lead to real world consequences like what the Sandy Hook families have had to deal with. Alex Jones should be in jail and his accounts should be shut down across all media platforms. There are limits to free speech and he crossed them long ago - why has he been allowed to continue to for long and inflict so much damage?
5
While we see an issue with state-controlled media in autocratic regimes in Russia, NK and other 3rd world countries, in the name of free speech on the exact opposite spectrum, we are doing an equal, if not more damage with this pile of vile by conflating lies, fictions, rumors and innuendo as entertainment with no accountability.
Today, we have a rating system for any kind of entertainment from movies to video games and others. Moreover, there are restrictions on what can be shown in a public theater or the type of books/media a public library can carry or the verity of an advertisement, or the comments we can post in a public forum. We even bleep out expletives on public airwaves/media in the name of civility when we all know what they are. However, it is unfathomable how this type of “free speech” is acceptable on public airwaves. If Jones’ and other opinion shows are entertainment as they claim, they should announce as such throughout the program like an infomercial.
2
Alex Jones is a cult leader with a cult following. Like most cults, they're misinformed, radical, and potentially dangerous. If they want to drink the cool-aid on their own, go for it. But they have no place in a normal, civilized society.
8
Remember Pizzagate--the claim that the Clintons were involved in a child sex abuse conspiracy out of Washington D.C. pizza restaurant? And the young man who believed the claim and appeared at the restaurant brandishing a firearm which he fired in the air? He is now in prison. That is what happens when blatantly untrue claims are made by people who have access to a wide spread group of listeners or readers
17
The peddlers of hate, ignorance and falsehood profit financially by their evil actions. They need to publicly admit to the truth and also pay a serious price for their actions.
6
Jones knows the truth but creates conspiracies so he can be listened to, even if by the lunatic fringe. While he may not be breaking any legal laws he's certainly breaking moral ones. To deny the parents of those slain children peace is morally revolting and so is Jones.
9
Alex Jones is merely the face (symptom) of a disease that is our truly angry and divided society. Nevermind his videos or the hatred they aspouse, look at the comments under many other, even the most innocuous, Youtube videos. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas students can't even sing a song about love at the Tonys (one from another Tony award winning play having nothing to do with gun control) without the terrible comments that ensued. Even the "dancing baby" video from the 1990s could, in today's environment, bring out the hate.
One only wonders, in one of the wealtiest nations on earth and one with great opportunity, what has gone wrong to perpetuate such hostility and anst. One even begins to wonder if money is either the probem or, for that matter, the cure?
3
Didn’t the president scorn a US Senator who was a POW, and didn’t that same president mock Gold Star parents? Alex Jones is a horrible human being willing to distort truth, and so is the president, who accepts support of scoundrels like Jones.
I fear America is already engaged in a Second Civil War — a war over truth and tolerance and the rule of law. It’s a war for America’s soul. Removing this president, punishing Alex Jones — these are the battles we must now fight.
11
During divorce proceedings Jones claimed his online persona and opinions were an act.
5
First amendment rights only go so far. When your concocted stories motivate people to physically harm people, you deserve to go to jail. Hopefully, they will find a way to put Jones away.
6
Lies are not opinions. In America, lies will only decrease when you have to pay for lying rather than getting paid for lying. The problem that good, honest people encounter is that none of them will form a bund to assassinate liars, so they go to the courts instead. Of course, that's also all that keeps America from becoming a failed state. And that will only last as long as the courts can show, by their actions, that they recognize that lies are not opinions.
3
To think that Ms. De La Rosa cannot visit her son's grave because of threats made to her is so shameful. You did this, Alex Jones. This is the most cruel harassment that I have ever heard of. FaceBook and YouTube must keep you off of their platforms permanently.
10
Perverse: Jones harasses victims' families, they respond by trying to help each other out, and Jones wants to use that to label them "public figures" so he can harass them some more.
Please, Your Honor, see through this sick argument and make Jones pay for all the harm he's done.
9
Slander and propaganda are not protected under free speech. There are consequences for lying on national tv and websites if the parties being attacked sue them. That is what we have to do; sue them every single time. Make lying and propaganda disguising itself as news very expensive for the perps. To attack families who have lost their children due to a violent attack is beyond the pale. Alex Jones is a very sick and evil man who has hurt many innocent people just to make a buck for himself. I hope they throw the book at him.
6
Why isn't anyone dragging him into court for violating FCC rules? He does have a radio broadcast show, he's not just on youtube, which I believe is not subject to FCC rules. It sounds to me as if he is clearly violating them.
Broadcasting false information that causes substantial 'public harm'
The FCC prohibits broadcasting false information about a crime or a catastrophe if the broadcaster knows the information is false and will cause substantial "public harm" if aired.
FCC rules specifically say that "the public harm: must begin immediately and cause direct and actual damage to property or the health or safety of the general public; or divert law enforcement or public health and safety authorities from their duties."
Broadcasters may air disclaimers that clearly characterize programming as fiction to avoid violating FCC rules about public harm.
https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/broadcasting-false-information
2
Mr Pozner and Ms de la Rosa's brave actions should be recognized as contemporary "Profiles in Courage." This lawsuit based on their shared loss and empathy for all gun violence victims is a testament to what is left of good and brave in America. We need them desperately at this time in our country's history. As to Mr Jones and his followers, heed this action carefully and, while it's doubtful your heinous words, threats, and harassment will cease tomorrow, they will stop.
5
alex Jones has the freedom of speech to say whatever he wants. i disagree with him, and i've disagree with lots of people, even got into fights.
1
Review: “Alex Jones, Pursued Over Infowars Falsehoods, Faces a Legal Crossroads"
When I first saw this article, it caught my eye. It caught my eye because I have spent months researching different school shootings in America. The author of this article does an incredible job enticing readers. Seeing this article made me excited to know more about the horrible things happening in our schools. This story did not disappoint. Throughout my research I have caught myself getting frustrated at why this has not been stopped, but I have never been so frustrated than I am after reading this article. It is about a man named Alex Jones being put on trial because he made false accusations that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax. I was frustrated at the complete lack of human decency conveyed in this article. But I have to say, it was written very well. This article made me want to keep reading because the story is so unique, and is part of history in America. I respect this writer because throughout the article they never showed a bias, which would be a very challenging due to this very controversial subject. The article is filled with evidence, which I enjoyed because it let me form my own opinions. The article kept me engaged the entire time. Although I would have liked to know more about the conspiracy theories Jones made considering the whole story is about them. All in all I did enjoy this article very much and want to read a lot more about not only this topic, but others.
1
Oliver Wendell Holmes said it best: "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic. [...] The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent."
Falsehoods are not protected speech. Falsehoods are evil.
Lies are corrosive. Free speech requires responsibility on the part of the speaker.
3
It's almost impossible to believe that such heartless and, yes, evil, people as Alex Jones exist in our modern society, particularly when they can get away with their disgusting behavior unpunished.
But I'm sad to say that he pre-dates Trump, and by all accounts, we have a substantial proportion of our population who either believe the likes of Jones and more recently a similarly minded Trump, or propagate such filth themselves, that I'm afraid this is a deep problem in America that won't go away any time soon, even if lawsuits are ultimately successful and crushing towards Jones and his ilk.
Sign. Thankfully, the vast majority among us are good people.
2
The problem is that the vast majority of good people cannot be bothered to cast a ballot, so elections are decided by the minority on the fringe.
3
Free speech to incite violence against others and lying about an actual tragic event where parents suffer the ultimate tragedy of losing their innocent children is truly despicable. I hope the Newtown families win millions in order to discredit and hopefully bankrupt Alex Jones so that he never gets on air again. This would be the just punishment.
7
We can only hope that the precedent of this trial puts an end to people like Jones who profit from the mental instability of their audience. Bring back the Fairness Doctrine--it is more than obvious that many cannot understand the difference between outlandish "news" for entertainment and the truth. The very people who are consumed by fears of nefarious plots are unable to recognize the hucksters who promote and profit from their fears.
5
Losing a child to violence is one of the the worst things a parent can experience. It's appalling to hear that on top of dealing with that, these parents are threatened and traumatized over and over, for years, after losing a child. I don't know how they hang on, but I wish them all the strength and love possible. Alex Jones and the people who are threatening and harassing them need to be brought to justice and held accountable for such cruel and inhumane acts. Freedom of speech is not freedom from accountability.
5
This man deserves a taste of his own medicine, with a large side of Cody Wilson.
This has nothing to do with free speech.
3
When I first saw this article, it caught my eye. It caught my eye because I have spent months since the Parkland shooting in Florida researching different school shootings in America. The author of this article does an incredible job enticing readers. Seeing this article made me excited to know more about the horrible things happening in our schools. This story did not disappoint. Throughout my research I have caught myself getting frustrated at why this has not been stopped, but I have never been so frustrated than I am after reading this article. It is about a man named Alex Jones being put on trial because he made false accusations that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax. I was frustrated at the complete lack of human decency conveyed in this article. But I have to say, it was written very well. This article made me want to keep reading because the story is so unique, and is part of history in America. I respect this writer because throughout the article they never showed a bias, which would be a very challenging due to this very controversial subject. The article is filled with evidence, which I enjoyed because it let me form my own opinions. The article kept me engaged the entire time. Although I would have liked to know more about the conspiracy theories Jones made considering the whole story is about them. All in all I did enjoy this article very much and want to read a lot more about not only this topic, but others.
1
There should be legislation to protect legitimate shooting victims from the kind of domestic terrorism they now face. And the suggestion that crime victims are public figures in the meaning of libel law is ridiculous. No one whose six year old is murdered in his classroom should spend the rest of their lives hiding from domestic terrorists. The purpose of this terrorism is to keep the growing list of shooting victims from speaking out about guns. It's a direct infringement on their rights to petition the government for redress of grievances, and their freedom of speech.
8
Jones and his cronies (and, in a different medium, President Trump with his cries of "fake news") are the biggest threat to the First Amendment and our democratic republic in modern history. At least someone is trying to hold Jones to account.
Who will have the guts to do the same to the president?
5
No one will ever be able to do a successful defamation suit if the defendant can just say that in his heart of hearts he really believed what he published.
3
Not all speech is protected under the first amendment. Terrorizing and incitement, for example...not covered.
5
Deciding which side is right or wrong, in this case, is close to impossible. We have two sides with significant reasoning to back them up. On the one hand, we have Alex Jones who spends his time creating conspiracy theories out of devastating events. A conspiracy theory is nothing more than an opinion, an opinion that everyone is allowed to state thanks to the First Amendment. Any opinion can be presented, but we as humans have to reason and think for ourselves whether or not that is a good opinion. Jones has every right to say it, and listeners can decide for themselves whether to trust it or to reject it. On the other hand, we have a tragic event being presented as a play put on by the government and played by parents. Nonetheless, I think that what Alex Jones did is wrong. After suffering through the loss of a child these parents have to read an opinion about how their child's death was just a conspiracy act. I myself do not agree with this opinion and believe that it should have never been introduced. As a result, a family continues to relive their child's death in a conspiracy.
And let's hope at the crossroads, Alex Jones, a train-wreck of a person (what in God's name must have happened to him?) meets reality head-on.
19
There is no penalty under our laws sufficient to balance the defamation and malice of Alex Jones. I am hoping that the courts can find a sufficient penalty to make Jones plead for universal health care and food stamps.
4
Profiting from the grief of others is simply unspeakable. Jones needs to be held to account.
17
Ms. Wilson erroneous;y defines the so-called "actual malice" rule of Times v. Sullivan: Even a public figure can recover damages for defamation on proof that the defendant either knew his statement to be false, or publsihed it with "rekless disregard" for the truth
3
It is easy to despise Alex Jones and everything he stands for. But in demanding accountability from peddlers of conspiracy theories, we may be crossing a dangerous line into stifling free speech. Lying is bad. Censorship is worse. Who will be the judge of what is or isn’t true? Sure, Jones’ lies about the Sandy Hook parents are disgusting (and may, in fact, be illegal under the libel laws). But how about the meme that GMOs are dangerous? It’s not true, so should we shut down all “alternative-health” sites? Where does it stop when self-appointed morality guardians start going around and prescribing what can, or cannot, be said and written? Millions of people died fighting thought control, censorship and suppression of free speech. Should their sacrifice be in vain because of Alex Jones?
1
I always thought one of the lines that can be crossed to "censor" or limit free speech is incitement to violence. Now Alex Jones can claim he does no such thing, but the reality is that he does. So I would use as a standard the reality rather than the claim.
14
You say ‘censorship is worse’ but this isn’t a matter of censorship. Alex Jones is spewing lies & hate speech.
His statements are so outrageous and so damaging that I would not be surprised to find he holds a foreign account, filled by Putin.
4
Truth is not opinion, truth is fact. What is being determined is not whether Jones lied. When speech is used to incite violence and to libel the innocent, these are crimes wholly unprotected by the First Amendment. Period.
5
Alex Jones sounds like a real 'tough guy' - Wonder if he would like to spend 5 minutes behind closed doors with the mother or father of one of the victims.
7
This is like the theory that going after "top-level" drug-lords will end the scourge of addiction. As if 10 more ambitious sociopaths aren't already in line to take their place.
The solution is to identify and prosecute every single perpetrator of felony assault. Threatening harm is assault, whether done face-to-face, by letter, by phone, or online.
We know that our government can trace online activity. Some small number of these felons might be using means that actually make it impossible to identify them, but surely the vast majority are hiding in the equivalent of plain sight.
Once 1,000 or so of these criminal psychopaths are in jail, and therapy is offered to those who voluntarily surrender (and to juvenile offenders), this problem will shrink 10,000-fold. But if we continue to tolerate a million death-threats a day as the new normal, then civilization becomes the new abnormal.
6
@Dan Coleman
I think rather than shrink the problem, this approach would simply cement them in their positions and give all the future versions of Jones more history to distort.
There is some room between using government intelligence and law enforcement and casting a blind eye to the situation. The Charleston congregation nailed it; but I fear no group of people any larger than that is capable of compassion or forgiveness. Whether the situation involves 2 or 200 sides the main preoccupation of any side is to push the other(s) further away while at the same time reasserting their own identity as distinct and superior to the rest. Identity politics wins and destroys the country because it no longer desires to be United.
Recently, President Trump has entertained thoughts of revoking citizenship for naturalized Americans. Had he suggested revoking citizenship for Alex Jones and his ilk, Mr. Trump would likely have generated considerable support. But no, Trump praises oxygen wasters like Jones instead, while threatening productive citizens.
Americans can do something about Trump in just 3 months and a couple of days. Alex Jones is a different problem. He deserves a tit for tat persecution campaign in response to his unconscionable treatment of the parents of Sandy Hook's victims.
11
I wish the NY Times, Washington Post & other media outlets would run 1 less Donald Trump story each day and replace it with a story each day about Donald Trump's SUPPORTERS, many of whom are obviously inhinged, delusional & just plain nuts.
Yesterday's Trump rally in Tampa was a good example of the behavior of some of Trump's deranged supporters.
Our nation is in deep, deep trouble.
14
I don't know the relevant laws that apply to this case, but I can spot right from wrong. It's wrong to harass parents who have lost a child, especially in such a tragic way as the Sandy Hook kids. Alex Jones and his minions are in the wrong here.
1
Trump without the Rich Father. Period.
7
I think it's time hunt down Alex Jones' family. He doesn't mind harassing other people's families. He doesn't mind other people's families getting hurt by his cultists
He'll change his mind when it's turned back on his family.
9
@Matt--We don't really know if his family agrees with him or not. I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt unless we hear differently. HIs ex-wife waged a credible attack against his "opinions" and the man himself.
I doubt harassing his family would do anything but antagonize them, not Alex Jones.
3
Jones' ex-wife actually uses his unhinged beliefs against him in a custody suit. Jones countered that his show is merely "performance art". Why haven't his mouth-breathing audience woken up to him?
1
My fiance and I were eating breakfast in Encinitas, California, this past weekend when the elderly woman eating alone at the next table started a conversation. We were more interested in eating our breakfast than hearing her travel stories, but we smiled along to be nice. Then her monologue took a weird turn when she started going on about how uber-wealthy Americans had engineering 9/11 so that they could make money on the anticipated economic downturn that would follow. To cut her off, my fiance asked about my avocado toast, and I got up to fill our water glasses. This woman got the idea that we weren't interested in hearing her crazy conspiracy theories, but she initially seemed to think she had a receptive audience for her crackpot ideas. It was only later that I was angry with myself for not confronting this woman. How disgusting of her to make these outrageous claims, which she probably got from Alex Jones or some similar source, about the deaths of 1000s of our fellow Americans. Good luck to Ms. De La Rosa and Mr. Pozner. They are heroes!
23
I'm thinking Alex Jones does not have ability to empathize with what these SandyHook parents have gone through, and continue to go through. This is just pouring massive amounts of salt into their wounds. For profits, nothing more. Would he have a come to jesus moment if he in fact lost one of his own children? His actions and words are vile.
4
@Steve Alex Jones is mentally ill. He doesn't have the capacity for empathy, only paranoia. Those who follow his ranting and raving encouragements, really incitements to violence, are equally disturbed. I don't want to hear that he's really a "performance artist" - how many people, family members, would have died if the Pizzagate shooter at Comet Ping Pong in D.C. didn't stop his attack to double-check for "child slaves"?!
4
@Steve
People who lack the ability to empathize to this extreme are properly known as psychopaths. And I doubt he would have a come to Jesus moment if it happened to his own child - he would only double down on the notion that if only if his child were able to pack a gun with his lunch then his child would still be alive.
5
... and is it any wonder that we cannot have nice things in our country ?
... like genuine, honest, reliable, affordable health care and health care insurance coverage?
... like reasonable, common-sense, legislation on gun sales and ownership and punitive measures for selling guns illegally?
... well look no further than the past three decades during which a certain subset of "citizens" have weaponized free speech in order to spew all their hate and their lies and their conspiracies to cause our culture and our democratic institutions to rot.
9
Sad to see people like Alex Jones exists, who profit from other peoples sadness and Misery.
4
To the parents of Sandy Hook: I am so sorry that you have had to suffer so much at the hand of Jones and his minions. Your bravery and fortitude to continue to prosecute him can only inspire us all to resist the contagion of hate that has overtaken our country.
Thank you.
4
If there were well anyone else inciting the violence, hate , hate, misinformation this man does say for example Iran, or Chinese, or your opposing High School Football coach what would people think.
This the type of man who will sooner or late say he can use a gun on people and it is free speech.
2
The depths some people will stoop to in the name of political ideology and religion.
3
I sincerely hope that Jones loses everything and is left permanently destitute...
9
How to comment civilly about Jones and Trump, two decidedly uncivil and apparently disturbed people? Is their insanity enough to justify their acts of deception and aggression? IMHO they both deserve to feel the full weight of the law and their fortunes should be forfeit as a lesson to other trolls and subhumans.
7
As if loosing a child isn’t the worst thing that could happen to a parent, to have to endure what this despicable man has done is unconscionable. My heart breaks for these parents. Yet another person in the nightmare we are now living that I picture in an orange jump suit and behind bars.
7
"As a condition of parole, a judge ordered that she cease consuming Infowars programming, the court documents state."
That's interesting, John Kelley had to do something similar to Trump as a condition of his agreeing to become his Chief of Staff. It seems some people, including the president, are too impressionable to be exposed to things like Breitbart, Daily Caller, InfoWars, etc. Someone like Alex Jones says the word and we've got a lady ready to threaten grieving parents.
Now Jones has gone back to the well accusing his political targets of involvement in the trafficking of child sex slaves. Jones KNOWS where this could lead because he's seen it happen before. Last time, Jones spewed lies like this it ended with one of his weaker-minded fans opening fire on a pizzeria (which Jones claimed was Clinton's secret trafficking HQ).
Neither is any of this a matter of opinion. That's just silly. Saying that the Second Amendment is the most important of all Civil Rights is an opinion statement. Saying that a group of people faked the deaths of children as part of a liberal plot to seize all firearms is an assertion of very serious fact.
And by the way, while Jones deserves to be held accountable, courts and tech companies cannot solve the problem of an electorate too lazy to think for itself. The lies of Trump, InfoWars, Breitbart, etc. are not particularly sophisticated. Social media or not, no one has any excuse for being fooled by this stuff.
8
The Times needs to look deeper here. Jones is just the face of this. His case actually can be viewed in the abstract as just another 1st Amendment question. But the people who listened to him weren't Constitutional case studies. The family of this murdered child has lived in mortal danger themselves ever since Sandy Hook because Jones' poisonous audience took sick delight in their grief and fear. Jones can argue that he's just a voice, even that he's just an entertainer having fun, and that his performance art doesn't make him responsible for what the listeners do. He might even get away with that tactic. The Jones lovers who take his performances as sanction isn't having fun when they torment and threaten families of victims. They're criminals.
16
My heart breaks for the parents and my blood boils at the hideous misappropriation of free speech rights. Jones is manipulating the media and spreading violent lies. I am ashamed to find I belong to a professional organziation having a conference in Austin this year.
6
Alex Jones is a vile human being. The fact that Donald Trump thinks he is a great guy shows you what a predicament we are in as a country.
Godspeed to the Newtown parents in their lawsuit against Alex Jones.
All reasonable Americans are rooting for you!
10
It seems to me you can’t have it both ways! If you have the right to say anything and by doing so destroying innocent people’s lives then it makes no sense that you can then hide behind the law. Yes you can say whatever, but especially when you’re making money off of raping these people’s peace of mind you better be prepared to cover the costs. And these should be enormous. I think if you’re making money destroying the truth, yes you have a right to that but it’s going to cost you.
If American culture doesn’t come to terms with this new concept of relative truths and ‘fake’ whatever, we’re doomed. Who knew these ‘amendments’ would get such a working through.....!
8
You don’t have the right actually. If you incite violence or libel someone it’s a crime, and should be.
4
It breaks my heart to see our constitutional rights twisted to unrecognizable grotesquery by the likes of Alex Jones and his ilk. I'm in awe of you, Veronique and Leonard. Thank you for fighting through your devastation on behalf of us all. May you prevail in Noah's name.
4
I sincerely hope these Good People can bring chief-hater and lie-spreader Jones down - hard.
A trillion dollar judgment against him would do the job.
WE THE PEOPLE must hit the stations that carry hate-jocks with everything we have to put a stop to it. Marches and demonstrations at their ivory tower locations would help.
Pulling retirement dollars from i heart radio (previously Clear Channel owned by Mitt Romney's Bain Capitol) and other BIG hate- monger owners would help.
But most of all, turning them off and boycotting their advertisers would put a quick end to it. Start with Ram trucks.
49
Sorry, I have a used ram truck four-wheel-drive – used for dump halls – that I beat like a..... (if i keep atf in the steering pump) ,,,, Maybe paid a little bit too much, ‘bout a thousand bucks to some non corporate towing company = cannot be sure of his political bent though - )
Now it is time to quit Facebook. That they will not remove these bullying liars who incite violence against grieving parents of murdered children is just too much. A 30 day suspension is a joke and an insult to law abiding citizens. Bye-bye FB. Your time has come. I am happy to leave it to the whackos, nazis, fascists, and deplorables,. (I hope NY Times permits the use of the word deplorable, or is that now censored because it suggests liberal leanings?)
83
@rac,
Generalize much? Not all users of FB are what you describe.
4
I deleted my account three months ago and haven’t missed it one bit.
4
Free speech is his constitutional right. No one can stop him from speaking. But, apparently, he doesn't understand that free speech has consequences.
272
@Irene
Free speech IS a right.
Getting your hate-filled speech on YouTube and Facebook is NOT a Constitutional right.
These are private corporations (or run by private corporations) and they can ban whoever they want.
6
@Irene same goes with Donald trump, all his lies will soon catch up with him. He would have been fine but his ambition for Presidency will eventually grant him the same misery.
4
@Irene The First Amendment does not protect speech that incites violence. Given that he gives out the address of the targets of his conspiracies, and these people have been threatened with violence, he is inciting violence. Their right to privacy, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness trump his right to spread falsehoods and violate their privacy.
2
Alex Jones: there will be a reckoning. You WILL pay for the grief you inflicted on innocent people. No amount of self righteousness will help you.
My heart goes out to the parents who must endure this cruel time when you have your children to mourn. Please know that most of us are with you and behind you.
84
Youtube "remains a main source for his broadcasts" despite the fact that Google reviewed his account and removed some of his videos. Yet this man is still earning money on the site, despite all the hate and demonstrable lies. He is STILL earning money through Youtube, despite harassing the parents of a massacred kindergartner.
Tech companies need to stop giving this man a platform. They should not be showing his videos, or publishing his rants...they shouldn't have anything to do with him at all. This is not about the first amendment (even if it was, private companies can choose to publish or not publish whatever they want). This is about basic morality. It is flat out wrong to fund this man's hate.
63
@Jack
Why are they not suing YouTube? Obviously cost is potentially the reason, but this is absurd. Where in our constitutional handouts does it cover the rights of normal individuals against such overwhelming wealthy corporations?
6
Perhaps as consumers we should start pressuring YouTube to remove hate speech from its website. It should be in a category with pornography and snuff videos. If the public in general is using the site, we should not be exposed to these depraved activities.
47
"It's not ignorance does so much damage; it's knowing so darned much that ain't so."
- Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
10
What kind of person tries to make money off the grief of a parent who has just lost their child? Alex Jones and his followers are pure evil. She had to move because of Alex's clans death threats? He should be in prison for this and so should every single person who threatened these parents. Throw the book at them!
100
A frothing mad 'militia' running physical riot on American soil while 'protecting' the 2nd Amendment. What more could divisiveness could Mister Putin ask of his investments in the NRA?
Let's use the FBI for the purposes it was designed: keeping law-abiding Americans safe from criminal conspiracies, foreign and domestic
36
Simple question:
Why is Alex Jones not in prison?
78
@slim1921
Because he hasn't been convicted of a crime...Yet.
1
Post script to my previous post, Alex relies on his followers to harass people because he is too much of a coward to face them himself.
40
Lock him up - Lock him up. And throw away the key. What a despicable person.
42
Good luck to these parents. Alex Jones is a piranha who needs his teeth pulled.
30
LOCK HIM UP!!!!
41
"On Friday, Facebook removed Mr. Jones’s personal page from the site for 30 days, citing “bullying” and “hate speech.” The company has yet to take any action against the Infowars Facebook page, despite pleas from Sandy Hook parents."
Seriously? 30 days for Jones and nothing for Infowars? Facebook, you are truly vile.
79
There must be a special place in Hell for people like Alex Jones who derive pleasure by hurling accusations and insults at parents who have had their children taken from them through gun violence. It is obscene to derive notoriety by attacking those who have suffered the worst pain a parent can suffer. Shame on him and his followers.
31
"Crisis Actor" Alex Jones.
18
In the name of all of those children and adults who lost their lives at Sandy Hook, I hope that Alex Jones goes down big.
40
Alex Jones makes me ashamed to be a human being.
22
if there is anyone in the "news industry" who is the enemy of the people it's Alex Jones. I hope he is humiliated and destroyed.
30
Alex Jones could not operate in Canada because most of his show would be deemed hate speech, which is illegal. Our acceptance of "free speech" in the US is too expansive. We do not need to tolerate hate speech. Certainly the rights of these victims of Jones should supercede Jones' right to be evil. Good for Facebook and Google to remove hate speech from their platforms.
25
He is a sickening individual who deserves to be impoverished. This despicable excuse for a man exploited the horror and deep sadness (so deep, it is incomprehensible) of parents who lost their innocent babies to a deranged mass murderer. By publishing his lies, he's profited financially through social media and hurt families who were already hurting unimaginably. To make money in this way is far lower than even bank robbers and con men. He should be in prison for what he's done to these poor families.
35
The basket of deplorables (i.e. the unhinged) Hillary warned us about!
30
Noah Pozner's body was ripped apart by the force of the weapon used against him in a classroom full of little children. The bottom half of this small boy's face was torn off, as was one of his hands. I know this because I read the newspaper accounts of his open-casket funeral. Like Emmet Till's mother before her, Noah's mother knows the power of "having to look." She asked the governor of CT to look upon the face of her tiny child in his casket. The gaping wound where his jaw used to be was covered by a cloth. The governor wept.
I spell this out in such detail because we, the American people, won't look. Our members of Congress, who have not represented our safety well, MUST look. Whether it's attending funerals, being required to look at photographs of first graders and high school students that the public doesn't see -- the least our members of Congress can do is FACE IT. Face the reality of your failures of public policy. Face what the grip of the NRA and their weapons manufacturer puppet masters have wrought on our children.
The bravery of Noah's mother or disgusting behavior of Alex Jones change the minds of the people who allow it. Who do we want to be? Do we want to be the country where you are 25 times more likely to die from gun violence than any other place in the world, outside of a war zone? Do we want to be the country of greed over children, greed over safety, greed over anything, at any cost?
That is who we are now. Noah's mother knows - LOOK.
168
@ML:
Our republican congress works for the NRA, not the people of this country!
8
@ML
Thank you.
4
@ML
Thank you for stating it so clearly.
~ 9/11 family member
3
Alex Jones has no more constitutional right to be on Facebook than I have a right to be published in the New York Times. He can jolly well exercise his right standing on a soapbox in front of his house.
47
@MayCobleThanks for pointing out that the First Amendment does not mean that someone must be given a platform for their speech. It means simply that the *government* cannot prohibit someone from speaking. And even then there are legally recognized limitations. So Facebook -- or any ISP -- is perfectly within their rights to ban him.
Let's hope that someday people like Alex Jones will be relegated to literal soapbox rantings (I'll even make him a tinfoil hat!)
4
What Alex Jones is doing to this family in particular - by publishing their address, hounding them in his broadcasts - is basically stalking and inciting violence. It seems that apart from defamation, they may have claims against him laws against stalking and inciting violence.
In law school we learned the difference between "malum in se" (things that are illegal because they are immoral, and that anyone would think are illegal, whether they know the law or not) and "malum prohibitum" (things that are illegal because they are proscribed by some law, but are not necessarily immoral such that a regular person who didn't know the law would know were illegal).
What Jones is doing is clearly malum in se. I sincerely hope that he finds his way behind bars - if he gets off on the argument that he's offering "opinion" about "public figures," the ramifications will be dear.
48
In widely reported (and accessible) court filings, Mr. Jones's divorce attorney calls him a "performance artist" who is acting a part. In other words, it's all a bit.
Why do his if-I-only-had-a-brain followers ignore this?
More importantly, why has our educational system failed these know-nothings so completely?
31
I wonder how Alex Jones would feel if his address were published by a liberal group who feels his hate speech was unworthy of being heard, or was dangerous.........or threatened him and made him move 7 times?
It's the same thing we are saying now, that Republicans would be outraged if a Democratic President (Hillary Clinton in particular) were doing everything Trump is doing and there were no consequences. They'd be investigating the heck out of her, as they did even BEFORE she was the nominee, and since.
I am 63 years old and don't recognize this country. For now it's a verbal or technological civil war. I fear it will become a real one.
54
@MotownMom
Your fear should be real and remember this: most of the guns are owned by people who think jones is their hero!
3
@MotownMom
I'm 62 and I with you 100%. Growing up in the 60s with all the news of antiwar protests and civil rights protests is mild compared to this right-wing nut job / Dumpster president stuff.
NOT my president. I want my country back.
Vote D 2018
3
I am so tired of and done with Facebook...the ads, the memes, the lies and propaganda. It's been taken over by people I do not want to know, much less be "friends" with.
39
@mary bardmess
Mary, perhaps it is because of my 45 years in the marketing communications business because, the only time I went to the FB home page, it looked like a data-skimming scam. At that time, I had no idea it would come to this: a site that aided and abetted the Kremlin in its efforts to disrupt our democracy and cause mayhem at NATO.
When Putin replied to a reporter's question about whether or not he had supported Trump in 2016, he said yes. And it is not because he likes DJT. It is because he hates democracy and sees Trump as the easily manipulate simpleton that he is. And Facebook has made this all possible. And so had Twitter, by the way.
5
Hope those Sandy Hook parents win this case and this blow-hard demagogue is taken off the air. And to think Donald Trump actually like this guy. UNBELIEVABLE.
65
Jean W. Griffith,
Actually there is nothing unbelievable at all that Trump likes Alex Jones. It makes perfect sense, really. Same reason he encouraged people in his rallies to punch protesters, bragged about grabbing women by their genitals, disparages John McCain for being a POW, called Mexicans rapists, won't stand up to the NRA and worships Putin. Shall I continue?
5
@Jean W. Griffith
" donald the demented" aka "trump the terrible " would like this guy absolutely like aj...both of the same ilk. trump and jones are terrorists in their own unique way.
3
When the 1st Amendment meets and messes with the 2nd Amendment in the Age of Trump when corporations are people and money is speech an era when pride is still the greatest of all sins and the love of money is still the root of all evil who "wins" and who "loses" is an academic rhetorical question. Because there is no humble humane empathy anywhere there can be no moral rescue nor human redemption.
23
AMEN.
4
This man must be stopped and his private internet sewer of lies permanently shut down. If there was ever an exception needed to the First Amendment, Alex Jones is it.
39
Seriously? "a “post truth” ethos that flourished online during the last presidential campaign" ?? Has the author forgotten all the lies Republicans have been peddling, literally for decades? Reagan sold people on the tax fairy and her magical cost free tax cuts. The Clintons were accused by right wing smear artists of murder and drug running and Republicans actually spent our tax dollars investigating those ludicrous accusations. Then there were the Wen Ho Lee/Chinagate, Swiftboaters, Birthers, and other fake scandals.
The Republican Party has been "post truth" for a very long time. It has been so blatant that Karl Rove openly bragged about how Republicans create their own reality and mocked Democrats for living in the reality based world. The mainstream media is well aware of this yet pretends the lying only started with Trump,
92
All Americans should root these families on.
30
Simon,
All HUMANS should root these families on. Americans aren't the only parents who have lost children to gun violence. If Alex Jones loses this case, maybe it will set a precedent that will be followed in other Countries as well.
1
The depths of the stupidity of public is bottomless.
How could anyone think Alex Jones has any credibility?
41
@Jk you answered your own question...."the depths of the stupidity of the public is bottomless."
15
"How could anyone think Alex Jones has any credibility?"
Well, just ask all his minions who are threatening the parents who lost a child at Sandy Hook.
1
This despicable hate monger of cruel fake news belongs in a special "bushel basket of deplorables" along with his loyal and ignorant listeners who believe his hurtful and dangerous propaganda.
29
Tell a Trump supporter that Mars is a good place to live. They would pack up and try to move. It is sad, shocking and pathetic that people believe Alex Jones. He is a shyster, a liar, and a dangerous man. Look how many people believed Hitler? What's scary is how many believe whatever Trump says, no matter how easily it is proven false. Facts do not seem to matter any more. I am deeply sorry for these parents, first for the tragic loss of their child, and for the hassles they must endure because of this blithering idiot. Shame on Alex Jones and all the morons who support him.
28
hey I don't need his ilk here.
8
I'm all for free speech, but that's not what Alex Jones is doing to parents of Sandy Hook victims. He put them in harms way by claiming the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax hatched to fight gun rights. It's bad enough that people have guns just because our Founding Fathers wanted to ensure that the federal government wouldn't encroach on states rights, but even when people use them to kill our children we have to endure the insane, vicious, liable verbal attacks of Jones and his ilk. We have a right to say we want to repeal the 2nd Amendment. And Jones has a right to disagree. But he doesn't have the right to proffer lies that demonize the parents of Sandy Hook victims, thereby inciting others to harass and potentially harm said parents. Good luck to the Pozner's.
436
@Aurora
t's bad enough that people have guns just because our Founding Fathers wanted to ensure that the federal government wouldn't encroach on states rights
This is inaccurate and a very poor understanding of the history of our country. The second amendment's purpose is to avoid a king having a standing army. It was meant to have a citizen army ready to DEFEND THE COUNTRY. Not a paranoid citizenry who thinks that the Feds will encroach on states rights.
7
W,
Agreed. I'll go a step further with what you said and point out what a ridiculous and delusional joke it is that these Flag Waving, 2nd Amendment Gun Fanatics with their cache of firearms and fortified compounds think they can intimidate and will successfully "stand their ground" against our U.S. Military Drones, Fighter Jets and Navy SEAL Teams.
2
Jones isn’t exactly hiding his agenda: he is waging a war on information, and thereby, reality itself. His campaign of misinformation and disinformation is intended to sow mistrust of all media outlets and widen the social and political chasms in America. As we see now in the Butina case, operating in broad daylight can be more effective than clandestine operations. While America is certainly capable of breeding our own sociopaths,Jones perfectly promotes the Russian agenda in America. Who would be surprised to learn he was “tasked” long ago?
19
@JB and both of these examples are directly connected to the gun lobby. Those that believe Jones allege that it is a hoax started by people with an anti-gun agenda.
6
@Susan
Now the NRA is "owned by Putin" all that $ donated to it. So, what can we expect but more divisiveness.......I shudder to think how the strings are attached. Follow the $ for all these hate is great groups -including the Trumps and their associates- and Surprise- we find Russian Banks!
Maybe there needs to be some new legislation which would set new standards for defamation and libel in this Internet age. Having the First Amendment should not mean the freedom to post lies or have libelous "opinions" in this country. I am not just speaking of Alex Jones, but also of the sort of poison one sees person to person on social media. It might be the only way to make people responsible for publicly accessible posts, even on a small scale. The rule should be: if you post or send demonstrably untruthful or unknowable statements about any person or private entity with the intention of harming them, you are responsible to the point of legal sanction or penalty.
15
Jones is a horrifying example of a human but what is even more horrifying is those who believe the words that come out of his mouth and actually attempt to act upon them. I hope this bankrupts Jones and puts him officially off the air for good. Although sadly someone will enable him and provide another platform. What I would like to see happen to Jones ? Something biblical which would at least stop words from coming out of his mouth.....although if I specified the act, it would not compile with NYT's guidelines.
23
My son died. Not in Sandy Hook but in a wreck. This was 7 years ago and I have managed to still be here.
If anyone addressed my son's death as Jones does the Sandy Hook children I would find a way to rip his heart and lungs out of his chest with my bare hands.
He is a plague on humanity. Who but a deranged sick mind would do what he does. He should not have such a public forum. Don't we have laws about hate crimes?
109
@michouavl
May I offer my sincere sympathies on the death of your son.
~ 9/11 family member
2
I fail to see the difference between Alex Jones making money off his lies, and Facebook and YouTube making money off Jones.
They all need to be stripped of every cent.
Really? There's a clause somewhere in the First Amendment that protects liars and those who make money off liars?
I must have missed that one.
Either a nation is decent - or it is not.
Either men are decent - or they are not.
This country has become so creepy.
44
@rosaActually, yes. The First Amendment protects liars. It protects offensive speech. It protects even creeps like Alex Jones (though not in the case of libel). Otherwise, who decides what’s “decent” or not? You? I consider myself a moral and well-educated person yet I have a strong hunch that you and I have very different standards of decency. I don’t like self-righteousness, moral absolutism, and black-and-white thinking. Those make Jones’ empire of conspiracy theories possible.
1
The fact that this despicable human being has an large audience is mind numbing.
Worse still is that many of his audience still believe him.
Just another day in Trump's America.
29
@Stan Carlisle That he has so many followers is an example of the "long tails" that the internet enables. Among a large group of people you will find a few who are susceptible to the rantings of a person like Jones--statistically speaking these are extreme outliers. Even if this is 0.0001 percent of the population, you are talking about a load of people.
3
@Stan Carlisle
My first reaction was to think of the audience for this kind of idiocy shored up by evil intention. They can't have IQ's much higher than 70 or so. They can't have compassion or any feelings of commonality with another being.
Were there always so many of them as now?
6
Considering that Alex Jones is a popular social component of today's so-called civil society it is no wonder that there is an opioid epidemic.
17
Why would you demonize grieving parents of murdered children? Republican puppets of Putin hope to provoke laws restricting speech. Such laws will be very helpful in controlling dissent as we roll our necks under the bootheel of tyrants. Democracy is too messy for these devotees of the “winner take all” world they assume they will run. Are we Great yet?
14
The evil in this man needs punitive remediation.
17
Mr. Jones is profiting from Outrageous blasphemy. It is appalling to even think this is possible; to use Sandy Hook survivors for his victims.
I feel great sadness and despair for our country that there are such hateful stupid people in our country and he has thousands of followers. No wonder we have a huge cultural divide. Our society is broken and corrupted by idiots like Jones Trump and many others because a large number of americans cannot actually think for themselves. They blindly believe what they are told.
We are reaching the bottom of our worst period in history.
22
It is important to discern between 'belief' and 'opinion,' this is especially crucial in a case such as this. The First Amendment protects both, however, at different extents. For example, 'hate speech' is protected by the First Amendment, however, words that incite violence, threats, harassment, etc. are not. Most speech is protected under the First Amendment, so the 'context' becomes just as, if not more important, than the actual speech or words used.
For example, 'defamation,' i.e. libel or slander, the first being more prevalent in this circumstance, may be grounds for a lawsuit. However, you must prove 'damage, or at least per se (Texas).' Despite proving innumerable damage, the case may still lack the most essential, and crucial aspects: intent and context. Did Alex Jones knowingly disseminate 'falsehoods' to damage the reputations of the victims, and their families, or were his comments derived from his own opinion of the facts presented. Having a 'different viewpoint' does not constitute defamation, even if your viewpoint (opinion) may damage the character, or reputation of another. This matter does not concern the distinction between whether the 'Pozners' are public, or private figures, but the 'content' being a 'matter of public concern' which it is, making it significantly harder to claim defamation.
Despite what you hear, the First Amendment is probably the 'most significant' and 'unadulterated' constitutional liberty Americans possess today.
2
@Mat
"Did Alex Jones knowingly disseminate 'falsehoods' to damage the reputations of the victims, and their families"
Yes, indeed he did. It should be obvious there is no actual evidence to support his claims and he continued to make them in the face of contrary evidence. There ARE NO FACTS in support of his claim, thus there is no question of his "opinion of the facts presented". On another note, guidelines spelled out in 1969 added three factors in judging whether speech inciting to violence may be prohibited: to be subject to restriction, speech must have the intent and the likelihood of causing imminent violence. See https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/395/444
12
@Mat This is where rational people have to draw the line and where we often hear Trump supporters talk about "alternative facts." There is no opinion about what the facts are. Jones can't say that is just my opinion that these children weren't really murdered. He is not saying that he believes that anti-gun forces were taking advantage of the sad events; he says that they manufactured these events and the children didn't even exist, much less die. Those "opinions" are not protected by the first amendment.
4
@Susan, we must separate the 'public court' from the 'judicial court.' Something can be deemed immoral and be perfectly legal. The judicial court handles legal matters, as the public court, i.e. the media and public opinion form the construct of societal norms, and ethical and moral standards.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has given credence to Alex Jones’ monstrous lies and conspiracy theories. And thus far, both have been given a pass by their cult-like followers. Time for this to stop: free speech has limits.
22
If there is any justice in the universe this man will be in prison, soon.
22
Alex Jones you look very worried and you should be. Justice will do its job and truth will prevail. You are a shame on america.
22
@Mother
I hope you are right. But the trial is being held in Austin, Texas, his home town. And we know Texas is not exactly the center of Justice for All.
1
Alex Jones is a huckster and con man who would love to become another Trump if allowed. He should be vilified publicly and legally for slander, libel and no First Amendment right to free speech should apply to him because he LIES, LIES, LIES so he can hawk his dubious products at over-inflated prices. Watch John Oliver's segment on him and you'll have this slime ball's number pretty quickly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyGq6cjcc3Q
15
This is just another permutation of the NRA right-wing fueled gun rights extremism that is a cancer in American society. Jones and his ilk have specific hatred towards the Sandy Hook families because the deaths of their kids brought about a wave of anti-gun activism.
The moment these school shootings happen, the NRA and ring wing media go into emergency mode which, in its most extreme fringe, devolves into these types of personal attacks on victims. Mr. Pozner and Ms. De Las Rosa processed their searing grief and moved on to advocating for common sense gun regulation because they were desperate to find a way to protect other families from the horror of school shootings.
Normal humans with normal empathy can understand their activism as their mode of coping with unspeakable tragedy. Even many rigorous second amendment advocates understand that people whose lives are shattered by guns will feel this way, even if they don't share the view that gun regulations are the answer to the problem.
Alex Jones represents the extreme fringe of right wing conspiracy purveyors who, enabled by impotent social media policies, try to take advantage of the first amendment and wind up profaning it. The people who lap this stuff up are so frightening to me. They believe in Clinton child sex rings in pizza parlor basements, school shooting hoaxes using child actors and Robert Mueller trafficking kids, but shout fake news when NYT and WAPO point out the actual effects of tariffs, for example.
363
I appreciate the idea of limits to free speech. Period.
With penalties due to resulting harassment or destruction of a person's quality of life.
Period.
10
It is a bit ironic that the 1st amendment protecting free speech also protects hate and false speech. It is over the line when one who indulges in false and dangerous speech threatens the lives and welfare of innocents.
9
Every article about Alex Jones must include why his actions are differentiated from any run of the mill fantasist who spreads conspiracy theories.
Donald Trump acknowledged that his first phone call after being declared the winner of the presidential election was to Mr. Jones. Jone's in turn, publicly stated that Trump thanked him for making the difference in his victory.
There are millions of Americans who believe in every kind of bizarre conspiracy, but never one who is President of the United States with the full authority and desire to turn such insanity into governance.
Donald Trump/Alex Jones is a coalition of purposeful gross distortion for which rationality has proved to be defenseless in combating.
96
I can't imagine what these poor parents are going through. It beggars description.
Alex Jones is the face of evil. I pray that he is held accountable.
133
I hope and pray that the courts will do the right thing and hold this money-grubbing, pathetic excuse for a man accountable for the pain and danger he's caused to the Posner's. Let it go to the highest court if need be - but let justice be done.
And if not, then perhaps it's time for good people to turn around and fight fire with fire...give Jones a taste of his own medicine. The problem with this line of thought is that by definition good people don't generally act in vile and repugnant ways. Something on which Jones clearly counts.
53
This individual is a rather ideal identity to discredit general inquiry. The two must be kept separate, as they are separate matters, regardless of the particular incident or circumstances. A free press, free inquiry and due process are the relevant matters, among others--not individual personalities, entertaining and distracting though they may be.
4
@Matt Andersson Nonsense! The Constitution defends both principles and individuals. These parents are not entertainment or distractions, and to suggest so is beyond insulting.
2
The widespread abuse of our 1st Amendment PRIVILEGE has been ongoing since our Constitution was ratified. Alex Jones is amongst the biggest abusers.
It is time we enact reasonable laws that protect innocent persons from injury resulting from the spreading of bold lies. A beginning point would be examining the laws in UK and Germany - both countries have strong freedom of expression provisions, but both also have equally strong laws to prosecute those who spread lies. Only publicly elected officials have some protection (as in USA where we cannot slander or liable a publicly elected official).
7
Since when does free speech include lying? Like the Alex Jones hoax and the Holocaust deniers...a lie is a lie, and provably so.
63
Best of luck to these parents, up against the NRA and their leader Vladimir Putin.
20
People who are stupid enough and vile enough to believe this should be the ones being deported.
Stupidity is ruining our country.
80
@K Hunt
You are absolutely correct. What we desperately need is for the CDC to develop a vaccine for Willful Ignorance.
2
Hope they take all this fool's money, then his company's money and any business associates he has, then throw him in jail... no, under the jail, and throw away the key.
He can keep Trump and family company there.
17
I don't know. I've seen the video of people walking into and back out of that building, the helicopter video, of people walking in circles, in and out, around the rear, back to the front, back in, back out, wandering around. It's pretty odd. Unless you've seen it, you cannot understand. Go watch it. Look at the videos of that woman who pops up at disasters. I mean - that's pretty clear. There _is_ a lot of oddness around the whole thing.
@Ingolf Stern
Occam's razor Ingolf, Occam's razor. The problem with most of these conspiracy theories is they require hundreds if not thousands of people to be in on them. Once you get up to those kinds of numbers it's not possible to hide the basic truth. For example, in the case of Sandy Hook every state trooper, local police officer, EMT worker, not to mention local and state officials, not to mention the parents, friends, other family members, members of the community would have to be in on the conspiracy. Your talking thousands if not tens of thousands of people. They would all have to be in on it.
Oh and by the way, odder things have happened, such as life on Earth. Are you just a conspiracy?
3
@Ingolf Stern I agree. Also the part where the top right corner fuzzes out for a second and Keanu Reeves walks by. Keep trying.
Most of the world--ie the same, normal people--don't agree with you. But I assume you think it would be perfectly fine if we found your home address and employer, made them public and harassed you daily until you had to move seven times, right?
11
It is people like Jones, and the greed driven parasites at Facebook etc that are tearing this country apart by allowing Russian elements to use their platform. 100 billion fine, Zuckerberg removed from office , if not imprisoned for a short while for being COMPLICIT in not doing his job. That will wake up the 1% in Silicon Valley. It is disgusting that these people who have everything do NOTHING to address the ills they created.
22
How bizarre and ironic that the current president of the United States refers to Alex Jones as amazing, but calls CNN fake news.
67
@Diane L.:
Trump is "amazed" by whoever is kissing his rear.
11
All I can say is that I hope he gets what he so completely deserves.
25
Noah Pozner was a little boy murdered at Sandy Hook. His parents have been forced to move seven times as a result of being persecuted by people incited by Alex Jones who says that they are paid actors and that Sandy Hook is a hoax. The truth is that Alex Jones is the very well paid actor who promotes terrorism against grieving parents.
57
OMG Sandy Hook get over it. It is just another left wing attempt to be heard. There are many followers of Info Wars. The left is trying everything it can to shut down opposing views with any means available. The left are like little kids with temper tantrums and will do anything to get their way. I never realized that until it happened. I am glad I switched from left to right.
1
@Chris Anderson
OMG Alex Jones. It is just another right wing attempt to be heard. There are many followers of Info Wars. The right is trying everything it can to hold onto their guns and shut down much needed gun control laws opposing views with any means available. The right are like little kids playing with toys that kill; with temper tantrums and will do anything to get their way. I never realized that until it happened. I am glad I'm not one of them.
4
@Chris Anderson get over it? Good thing I'm liberal, or I'd wish that the next child lost in a shooting would be yours. Then we could all pretend it didn't happen and call you to taunt you and threaten you. Good thing.
12
@Chris Anderson I'm willing to bet you never switched from left to right. But "OMG Sandy Hook get over it" must be the most hilariously insensitive comment I've ever read. It could almost be a parody of insensitivity. Is it?
4
Alex Jones is a low-life huckster, laughing all the way to the bank from the cash generated by his conspiratorial ranting. As I recall, in a recent domestic lawsuit, Jones claimed that his Infowars broadcasts were really meant as entertainment, not to be taken seriously. There is something seriously wrong in a country that allows a buffoon like Jones to spew his nonsense, affecting the lives of innocent people already deeply wounded by the murder of their children. This isn't a First Amendment issue, its an issue of decency and the indecent President who thinks that Alex Jones is doing good work.
37
@Dave DiRoma, it is also the 'First Amendment' which allows you to state and express your own opinions. 'You can't have your cake and eat it too.'
@Mat The First Amendment guarantees your right to express your opinion. It does not shield you from the consequences of expressing your opinion, such as defamation lawsuits, criminal incitement, etc.
4
@Michael Miller, Yes, but only when it applies. People are 'allowed' to formulate their own (differing) opinion from 'material fact,' and express their opinion publically, so long as they do not use words or speech that incite violence, harrasse, etc. He is a despicable human being, yes; but legally accountable for any damages caused from defamation, no. This fundamental function of the First Amendment allows for the diversity of beliefs and ideas that make the United States great. However, we must also tolerate the ideas and opinions which may be against our own 'good nature,' i.e. how the Ku Klux Klan is still allowed to gather, or neo-Nazis, so long as their words, speech, and actions do not incite violence.
Republicans have franchised bottom feeding to a cottage industry. When you look around at the YouTube personalities and authors, the landscape of self proclaimed pundits are everywhere. They've overflowed onto college campuses and when shooed they nail themselves to a cross waving invoking the tactic, they've been denied free speech. Its not as if the republican "message" isn't perfectly understood out here in Progressive Land, we can recite it as well as they can, Supply Side Everything and the Trickle Down will provide. Light candles at their altar and the Job Creators will Miracle jobs … living wage jobs, down on us. The realization has dawned on us finally that republicans aren't so much a political party, esp the way this administration does it, but shill operatives for wealthy interests. What else can you call appointing what amounts to spooks to head cabinet posts that have sued for pursuing it's assigned duty. The entire republican operation has a movable feast of cheerleaders manning media from every angle, from the bottom all the way thru to the top, reinforcing the message daily. Republicans would be an endangered species if the operation were discovered for what it actually is.
27
@Ratza Fratzahe The problem is the poor, rural 'conservative' continually voting against their own interest. How do you make someone understand they're cutting off their nose to spite their face?
8
@M Here's my crazy idea. We need to meet each other. A nationwide "Liberals in Diners Drinking Coffee." LOL. There are a lot of misconceptions out there, but the most damaging ones, are the ones we have about each other from other parts of the nation or from other political parties. That divide needs to be addressed. People everywhere are lingering over breakfast while they solve the problems of the world, so to speak, so......it would so awesome to make something like that, a program for national pride.
Crazy, no?
We are an emotionally sick society if the kind of malicious bilge promulgated by Jones has an audience. What kind of person finds the promotion of unsubstantiated and cruel rumors about people whose son has been murdered entertainment?
I wish there was a website to offer financial support for those bringing this lawsuit. Personally, it would be a most satisfying to make a donation.
24
@Saddha
Perhaps this site can connect you with Ms. De La Rosa:
https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/about
3
Alex Jones is a sick, sick man who should never have been allowed to spew his conspiracy theories to his vulnerable listeners.
Unfortunately, the First Amendment gives him the right to do so and demonstrates the double edged sword it is when it lets him fill the airwaves with his hate-filled speech.
10
Jones. Trump. Two peas. One pod.
26
Facebook must take down Alex Jones and the Infowars page. Second, the US like other more civilized countries needs tougher laws on hate speech. What Jones has done to the Pozner family is a national disgrace. I wish they had moved to Canada so that they could have continued their lives in peace.
32
Shame on Mr. Jones!
9
I happened to come upon one of this guy's radio broadcasts last year in rural Delaware. I was shocked and appalled by his horrible show. He is clearly in love with himself and gets off on the power trip of feeling important. His outrageous claims (Democrat child sex rings, etc) are truly sickening. It would truly be just for him to be convicted in court for his hateful lies. Even worse is how many pitiful people listen to and accept him - boggles the mind. We are doomed.
20
The families are lot more restrained I would be in their shoes.
16
Terrible facts but pretty standard operating procedure for a suit--always ask for costs.
2
I am so tired of the lack of empathy seen in people like alex jones and those who support him. No parent should have to live through the horror of losing a child in such a brutal and unnecessary way. How could anyone with any semblance of morality condone his stories on the basis of free speech? At what cost to these grieving families? When does the free speech of one greedy person weigh as more important than the pain it brings to devastated families? This is pretty easy to determine folks, or at least it should be.
365
@mebulle1, the irony of all of this is that Alex Jones got on a stand in one of his custody/visitation battles and said that he really didn't BELIEVE the stuff he spews forth on his program, he does it for entertainment value. The epitomy of hypocrisy.
4
@mebulle1
Anyone with a speck of humanity would agree with you. The problem is not just deranged people like Mr. Jones, but all the people who support and enable him. He'd have no power without them.
But it's also become more and more clear that the problem is that those of us with empathy and compassion are not exercising our power of free speech in numbers large enough to enact change. We have the numbers, and we need to stand up. The reason we don't stand up is because we are afraid of saying and doing the right thing. I only hope that all the cruel and inhumane things we've been witnessing are finally enough to motivate the majority of Americans, whom I think are good and decent people, to move into action, speak the truth, vote, and steer our country back to dignity.
I still believe there are more of us than them. What breaks my heart, is that we aren't banding together to stop it, when I know we can.
3
While the results are horrible, I’m not sure if this is really defamation. Invasion of privacy, cyber-bullying, hate speech all seem to be more reasonable claims.
It’s pretty clear that a line is being drawn in America as to what free speech should be. Based upon Citizens United and Masterpiece Cakeshop, I’m not hopeful that the decision will be one in the public interest.
7
@Zack
The three elements of defamation are that it has to be a defamatory statement, it has to be published to third parties, and it has to be a statement which the speaker or publisher of the statement knew or should have known was false at the time that they made the statement.
I would think all three of those criteria are met. If we're going to allow Alex Jones and his ilk to make the claim that they did not know or should not have known that unsupportable conspiracy theories are not facts then we are so far down the "post-truth" rabbit hole that law becomes meaningless.
6
@Zack
It's defamation. He claims they are actors and liars. That claim is getting them death threats and harassment.
3
I don't understand why the platforms Jones uses for InfoWars - Facebook, Google/YouTube and Twitter are not named in this lawsuit. The argument that they are simply the "dumb pipes" connecting audiences to information without any responsibility is absurd. Using this same logic Silk Road would still be running as a platform to sell guns and drugs and Ross Ulbricht would not serving a life sentence in prison.
They are sharing revenue from this content with Alex Jones thus complicit in the crime as he is. The line of questioning for Mark Zuckerberg from the House and Senate in April does not inspire any confidence that our elected officials have the mental capacity to regulate these businesses. The only option I see is that we, the electorate, need to select representatives that will legislate and regulate these companies.
25
Stating an obvious point- Alex Jones has only one mouth, however, he has many followers. These people are 'buying' much of what he says, and buying many of the products he sells. I'm calling this "Double Questionable Judgement." If Alex Jones was off the air or net, these people will find someone else for similar, I'll call it, stuff. Listening to several right wing radio shows and reading several online right leaning sites, I notice that many of the products advertised have questionable or no value, in my opinion. Many of these products are scams or scamish, although I am sure they are legally advertised. Although being scammed, duped, brainwashed, or just fooled is not limited to any single demographic, what Alex Jones does (and similar) seems destructive. Next- How about people that give often hard earned money to millionaire tele-evangelists? Certainly, that is a similar disorder of judgement.
13
A finding that the Pozners are public figure would make their lawsuit much harder to win, but might be very helpful to their cause. If they have to attempt to prove that Mr. Jones had actual knowledge that what he said about them was false, then they get to have access to absolutely every bit of documentation of anything he said to anybody that can be recovered. Not just the business communications at that time. Absolutely everything. Even a single instance of Jones saying, "I can't believe my audience fell for that one," would be relevant in showing that he had a pattern of saying things he knew weren't true.
20
@Polly How on earth could the Pozners be considered public figures? If so, then all it takes to make anyone a public figure is to commit a suitably horrible crime against them. This is madness.
4
The Pozners’ case against Jones and the litigation against Cody Wilson’s attempt to flood our nation with untraceable, undetectable 3-D printer guns reveal our nation to be at a constitutional crossroads. These two horrible specimens of mankind are hiding behind distorted interpretations of the First and Second Amendments that would give them unlimited power to destroy others’ rights to life. However, the courts have long been consistent in ruling that rights granted by the Constitution are not unlimited. It is well past time for the courts to firmly remind Jones and Wilson, as well as other would-be destroyers of the fabric of our society, of those limits and the legal jeopardy they face for intentionally violating those limits.
64
Free speech? No rights granted by the Constitution are unlimited.
Jones will do anything to make a buck. How he further victimizes families who've lost children in a most terrible way so that he can maintain his base of followers is reprehensible in the extreme. No decent, sensible person would portray such harmful fabrications as fact. Wait...am I describing Jones or 45?
26
This story reminds me of the insight of a German comic, explaining how in the US we are very careful to sensor bad words but we let any falsehoods go unpunished. His counterargument was how in Germany they don't worry about bad words but go after lies that are related to hate speech. On reflection, it does seem odd how concerned we are about the f word as opposed to hate speech.
29
This man is evil. Jones has shepherded us into a time where truth does not matter, reality does not matter, and he is without shame. He brought us into the age of Trump. Trump imitates him. If there is a discrepancy between fact and your position, make it up! It is interesting that Communists and authoritarian governments do this all the time. I hope the courts are sympathetic to parents and victims of violence that Jones has slandered
30
Who's worse? Mr. Jones or those who indulge him?
I'd say they're all about the moral equivalent of pedophiles.
24
he is not an entertainer. He is a rabble rouser with no morals. I cannot fathom that the FCC has not stopped him.
There is nothing legitimate or right about what he says. All of it is provably false.
Has everyone lost their minds?
The promotion of lies is a directly destructive to society evil that free speech does not allow for.
No rational person can make a rational argument that his lies are in any way protected speech.
Look at how our society has been degraded since the deregulation that destroyed so much of our (yours and mine not "the governments") regulatory system. You can directly connect it to the lies that began being allowed over our airwaves.
24
look to the White House and stretcher of truth in chief for guidance.
4
While it's little comfort to the parents of the children slaughtered at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, I hope they realize that the vast majority of humanity grieves with them, and considers the likes of Alex Jones and his cohort to be perhaps the closest proximity to Satan ever to walk the planet.
23
Any time you think the right wing in this country can't get any lower, someone like this guy comes along. I hope they take everything from him.
31
Free speech is one of the most important things. but inciting violence and purposely spreading false information that will harm people doesn't seem to me to get a free pass as free speech. You are responsible for your actions; you can have any opinion, but you don't have the right to have people listen to you (who would listen to me! thank goodness for a comments section!) and you don't have a right to lie about people and direct a mob to harm people. Posting addresses??? He should be liable for any harm that comes to them and for costs for moving and protection and security.
26
'Recent “most popular” stories on the Infowars website included ... “Left Protests ‘Racist’ Stand Your Ground Law After Black Man Shot in Self-Defense.”'
The New York Times is featuring this story on its home page right now.
alex jones reports news. he has employees that report news. he links to sites such as this to report news. he also has a radio show that is broadcast through am, fm and shortwave. during his radio shows, he sometimes speculates on alternative theories on why events take place. there is a whole industry online of reputable alternative news sites doing the job that legacy media will not. considering how wrong the mainstream media frequently is reporting their own speculation as news, one has to wonder why they are going after a rival news outlet in stories like this.
much of what the lawsuits are about has little to do with what alex jones speculated(oh yeah, first amendment anyone?). with all the handwringing about how journalists are under fire on all fronts, how can the times even write a story like this?
for the record. alex jones has repeatedly claimed that he believes the sandy hook shooting was not a hoax.
these lawsuits should scare everyone. they are in fact, "lawfare" . alex jones can afford to fight them off for now because of his following. but what about the smaller alternative media outlets?
you know, the ones who were right about how iraq didn't have wmd's like this paper did?
6
@connie mack Jones is an admitted fraud - he said so in his divorce battle. He needs to have his content removed from FB etc. This is not free speech but shouting fire in a movie theatre.
79
@connie mack
I have to wonder what your agenda is when you conflate legitimate alternative news sources with the garbage Jones spews. The only way this would make sense is if you remove truth and reason from the equation. Then everything is the same as everything else. Totally fabricated, ugly lies become the same as insightful journalism.
But they are not the same. People who muddy the water using emotionally laden references to progressive thought have done immense harm to civil society. We all need to become savvier at reading through such messages.
107
@connie mack
Don't buy it. Look up the legal definition of slander/defamation. it has nothing to do with reasonable speculation, and Jones is guilty of it. I hope he ends up wandering the streets homeless, muttering his asinine theories to himself.
124
Poor insignificant little man. So insecure in his body and tiny little mind that he has to spread vicious rumors to get friends and followers. A tiny cog in the universe who has amounted to absolutely nothing but a legend in his own tiny mind.
Pity this creature. There is a special little ring in hell waiting for him.
31
The details of what Alex Jones and his followers have done to these Sandy Hook families are shocking. Everything Jones has put out there has resulted in putting these families through a hell for which there are no words to describe. They've lost their little children in the most painful way and now they have to fear for their safety and their sanity. This is heinous.
How can FaceBook and YouTube justify a suspension only for Alex Jones and his ilk? Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, you have children. What is the matter with you?
Alex Jones is a lost cause, but at least you can take away his biggest platforms - forever. Do something, for God's sakes.
114
I hope these plaintiffs take every dime he has and put him out of business. He needs to realize that the lies he tells have real world consequences.
36
The US peaked in terms of primary education standards and distributed wealth decades ago. That domestic, commercial conspiracy theorists and foreign propagandists are finding a greater audience of willing participants is a symptom of blind desperation as our country forgoes truth and honor in favor of belief and tribes.
The case has a chance at defining this problem as a public threat to security. We need a McCarthy without shame moment.
4
Why is Alex Jones allowed to participant in a civil society? Why is his every waking moment not a challenge for him?
9
There must be a price to pay for lying and causing such emotional damage and physical disruptions to people's lives just because you want to sell vitamins to the uninformed. This is not a free speech issue. If Jones has real proof the Sandy Hook was a "false flag", let let him put forth for the public the evidence he has.
If he does not, he is lying, defaming people, and should pay the price.
11
In spewing falsehoods on Sandy Hook, this man and his followers (including now some lackey Fox commentators) literally embrace evil. It almost makes me faint to know our president embraces him whole-hardheartedly.
25
OMG those poor families! That’s not free speech - it’s revenue-generating hate speech put forth by someone seeking equal parts attention and $$ and who belongs in jail. Also, Facebook needs to own their part in this, start acting like it belongs at the grown up table and take the lead in addressing Infowars and other issues.
29
Somebody please shut this man down. He is certifiable and shouldn't have the national soapbox for his vicious and virulent views. Those poor parents, my heart goes out to them.
18
I hope that can get every penny. It's the only thing this sort of trash will understand. Seriously. As for his " fans " : SHAME on you. Bigly.
20
Your child is murdered, Jones says he wasn't and you become a "public figure" and fair game for his demented money grubbing because the tragedy made you one?
Justice can not, must not fail these poor people in this. Jones deserves the full weight of it.
36
We have long known that our society contains immoral people. They would commit crimes in secret and our legal system would find them and serve them justice. Nowadays, they plot and act within our legitimate systems in plain view, and use our rights and freedoms to avoid justice.
210
@Dave W And quite a few are in the white house.
6
@Dave W
And there are many, many more of them than anyone ever suspected.
They only redeemable thing about Alex Jones is his voice.
It is 60 miles of gravel road and seems to be very similar to his "dad", Rush Limbaugh, who employs double tracking his voice, to
add a little icing to the cake of hate.
AM radio sadly is home to a plethora of like minded personality
disorders.
Add yelling and people will stay tuned.
The hater's hater.
perhaps a relative will help him seek help.
8
Part of me actually wants the vile Alex Jones to win—not because he is in any way remotely in the right (oh dear gods NO), but because the moment His Hideousness has the aegis of a judgement in his favor in non-crazy Austin TX, or a successful appeal in the Supreme(ly-stolen) Court and its at-least-two Thief Justices, his show's reason for existence and his babble that he's fighting against Entrenched Forces Of The Deep State® would collapse into a singularity of logic and nope.
Jones combines a face vaguely like Bill Hicks' with the marketer shamelessness that Hicks would loathe. I'd happily trade our Jones for heaven's Carrie Fisher; God would have far more patience with him than I.
3
Welcome to the upside-down.
12
How is it that individuals who create fear and encourage violence, in part through repeatedly making outlandish claims through social media channels, are only given 30-90 day suspensions on those platforms? It’s not like this leopard is going to change his spots. It’s appalling that Facebook, YouTube and Twitter lack the resolve to deal with characters like this. They make all of us less safe.
27
Alex Jones deserves no mercy for his hounding of the parents of murdered kids. He should be sued into oblivion and sent to jail and have his license to lie without consequences taken away forever. He is a predator plain and simple.
27
Greed is Jones motivation, that or insanity. That the families of those little boys and girls had to see their bloody bullet-riddled bodies, is one horror, then to have this creep call it a hoax is another. One can only hope justice is done here.
20
Commentators, please remember this is NOT a FREE SPEECH issue. The government is NOT attempting to prevent Mr. Jones from speaking. This is CIVIL LIABILITY issue in which Mr. Jones is accused of deliberately causing damage to the plaintiffs ("defamation") and should PAY for that damage. And THAT, my friends, is perfectly acceptable.
(Oh, and YouTube and Facebook are private companies, they can kick this jerk off their platforms any time they want).
108
John Oliver did a show on this guy. He's a con man and nothing more. With any luck he will get sued into oblivion.
29
In a civilized society Mr. Jones wouldn't even exist.
22
Part of me actually wants the vile Alex Jones to win—not because he is in any way remotely in the right (oh dear gods NO), but because the moment His Hideousness has the aegis of a judgment in his favor in non-crazy Austin TX, or a successful appeal in the Supreme(ly-stolen) Court and its at-least-two Thief Justices, his money-making show's reason for existence and his babble that he's fighting against Entrenched Forces Of The Deep State® would collapse into a singularity of logic and nope.
Jones combines a face vaguely like Bill Hicks' with the marketer shamelessness that Hicks would loathe. I'd happily trade our Jones for heaven's Carrie Fisher; God would have far more patience with him than I.
1
Mark Zuckerberg; Facebook is destroying the lives of many innocent people in this country and it is eroding the very democratic principles this country was founded on. Have you no sense of decency?
27
What has happened to basic human decency in the USA? Profiting from murdered children and targeting their parents on their suffering. This transcends political preferences, it reaches the very basic fabric of consciousness.
I can not find a word to describe Jones but evil.
34
He's the crazy uncle at Thanksgiving. We used just roll our eyes and get up from the table. Thanks to technology his "crazy" is everywhere. Getting up from the table isn't enough anymore.
21
@Mike B You should watch the John Oliver episode about Alex Jones: this guy is not crazy, and knows very well that what he is saying is completely crazy. However he makes a lot of money from his audience, and also probably some more money from products he sells in relation to his conspiracy theories. There is definitely malice in his claims (although at that point you could argue that he is some kind of sociopath, ruining people’s lives for money), unlike his audience who are actually a bunch of loonies.
13
Anyone who has lost a child understands the complete and utter desolation a parent endures. To have had that child murdered rather than succumbing to natural causes must, I imagine, only increase the abject devastation of that loss. To hear that someone, anyone really, say that it never happened, and that your grief is part of an act must be intolerable. That the accuser is believed by many thousands, some of whom would seek to do you harm, must compound grief with fury and fear to an unimaginable height.
Alex Jones, during a custody battle with his former wife, who feared his mental state, told the court that his on-air persona was all an act, that he was nothing like that in person. The judge didn't buy it and he was only allowed supervised visitation with his children. In spite of the public knowledge of his admission, tens of thousands continued to take his "act" as gospel truth, with a number of them going forth to threaten and harass the parents of the children of Sandy Hook in ways no sane person could justify.
Jones is not the only one who should be made to pay for the damage he has wrought; any of his followers who have spread this filth, or acted upon it, should be made to account for their hideous behavior right alongside him.
At some point this insanity has to stop.
To Noah's family and the others, I've wished you peace and comfort since that terrible day; and now, I wish you justice. The people of America are on your side.
667
check out the John Oliver "Last Week Tonight" show of July 31, 2017. Available on YouTube
19
No right is absolute. the courts have long held that speech that is a "clear and present danger" to society can be limited.
it's a no-brainer
47
Dante described the incarnation of Evil - Satan - as stuck in ice for eternity. To work evil in the world Satan has to use human beings.
Satan found one in Mr. Jones.
When Mr. Jones reaches the Pearly Gates, he had better have a fantastic lawyer to plead his case. Otherwise he will be a resident of Hell who is constantly moving from one level to another to escape the eternal punishment for using the deaths of children to spread his lies.
Just when he things he can rest in whichever circle of Hell he stops at, the tiniest of Satan's workers will punish him for the evil he spreads in this world.
22
@Dave,
You assume he's going south I think the direction is north. There won't be any pearly gates when he departs this world. It'll be another place. And it will be quite warm too.
5
This man is in the entertainment business. But the subjects of his format is just horrible. Some people will go to any length to make money. I hope he is put out of business.
54
It is so achingly sad what these parents have had to endure because of the malicious idiot Alex Jones. Their grief interrupted by death threats and their safety and privacy violated by conspiracy loving idiots. Alex Jones is just the public face and voice of a bunch of very stupid sociopaths.
I hope he loses big time.
75
Arguably the most important case of our times.
Agreement on a common set of empirical facts about the world is necessary to govern a state. For this country's political system to have even a shot at pulling itself out of the tribalism, epistemological uncertainty, and culture of spectral it has been wallowing in, political actors MUST work together to acknowledge common reality.
There will, and in a democracy should always be, disagreements about what to do in response to the existential truth of the world. But for disagreements to be resolved, for the country to move forward in ANY direction, for citizens to start realizing there are bigger threats than their fellow citizens, we must all agree on a basic set of facts in the first place.
This is more than about just "civility," and I'll have no more desire to see my political opponents in power if they start seeing the world as it is. You don't have to retreat from your convictions to desire the possibility of dialog. Dialog doesn't necessarily mean compromise. But for any governance, from politicians of any ideology, to be seen as legitimate the kind of thinking Mr. Jones peddles must be acknowledged, combated, and isolated. Disagreements among partisans must become disagreements about what to do with political power in the world, not disagreements about the world itself. That is the domain of science, not politics.
40
@Keith Excellent points Keith. To your point on the "common reality", I recall that in the hate speech case against a Holocaust denier in Canada many years ago, the courts held that the holocaust was a "historical fact", and therefore the speech did amount to hate speech.
Of course the laws are different in the US, but the same principle should be considered by the Plaintiffs' attorney(s), so that we can agree on that common reality legally.
I can't imagine how twisted the lawyers for the defense must be as people. I understand the legal principles, and respect them dearly, which is why trying to apply them in such an incongruous manner in this case is so disheartening.
10
@Keith
Well said, sir. I believe this IS the most important case in our time, as do so many others not as vocal as the slimy provocateur Jones. My hope is that truth will prevail and lies will be "acknowledged, combated and isolated".
6
We are finding out every single day what the critical role of truth is for the sake of authentic life. Though freedom is also critical for life, this is secondary because freedom cannot be at the expense of truth without be internally contradictory, That is to say, there are limits to freedom. When Trump is said to be a "clear and present danger" to American democratic life (in the just "living of" sense), that's what's being spoken of. But, how did we, all of us, get to where we are? How did we let it happen?
22
Mr. Jones makes enormous amounts of money from his various media enterprises, just like the crazy tabloids found in grocery stores do. The crazier and more provocative the statements, the more appealing they are to their largely base, mean-spirited audience, which seems to include about 49% of the Trumpian USA. He's a business man, plain and simple. I think demonstrating damages to their victims in a court of law is critical if Mr. Jones is doing things like providing the addresses of these poor folk to his cabal, and that leads directly to harassment. But even if successful, it is only likely to lead to a financial penalty and costs. Mr. Jones, and his media empire, has lots of money and influence and can certainly pay off any damages he accrues. In fact, all this publicity is probably doing him lots of good. Sadly, hate speech and irresponsible misrepresentation hides behind the powerful and entirely necessary First Amendment. So I think the actual solution, the only solution, is to not have a receptive audience.
10
It is way beyond time that our country revisit its laws for libel, for incendiary speech that endangers others and the accountability of network providers that enable such affronts to innocent people.
Yes, Alex Jones is exactly what he appears to be and those who subscribe to his lies, conspiracy theories, and attacks are just as evil as he is. But in addition to Jones and the other vermin under their rocks, we must hold our elected leaders accountable for their inaction.
The reality is that politicians do zero, nada, nothing to confront these challenges to our domestic tranquility. I contacted Chris Collins' office to find out what he has done to address just a minor instance of this abuse of the public; eg, the incessant robocalls that are enabled by networked communications services. The answer is nothing.
The point is that without the network services providers and the communications companies that provide such vermin as Jones a forum, Jones et al would be a faint echo in this land.
Contact your representative. Ask him or her what they're doing about this abuse of our daily lives. Tell him or her what they need to do to restore some degree of honesty and tranquility to our communications.
Then sue the pants off Jones and make him homeless.
24
The parents are NOT public figures. Just try naming all of them.
23
And to think that if De La Rosa and Pozner's names are known at all ( and I couldn't recall them offhand) it is because they've had to defend themselves against
Alex Jones and his harpies. This makes me sick.
10
Take this Turkey for everything he has. Leave him broke and living under a bridge,
50
A despicable human being abetted by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube....and followed by people who are either incredibly gullible, deranged or massively disenfranchised by our social system.
Our judicial system has to act and protect the unfortunate parents who -not only lost their children- have been abused and threatened.
66
I hate to echo this vile phrase, but, seriously: Lock Him Up.
55
@Mark R. Unfortunately Trump would/will pardon him anyway...
3
Never watched him. Never will. He's not worthy of intelligent debate and no intelligent people should waste time in any discussion over him. Just stop being played. Just say no.
9
@Rusty C
"Never watched him."
And you are providing your "analysis" based on????
"I read he was evil in the NYTimes" is not a good answer.
@rfmd1 I've never watched him either, but there are plenty of accounts about what he states in reputable news media.
@rfmd1
One doesn't have to watch this evil man only read his words and what he stands for to know the man. Nuff said.
Certainly Jones should be found liable for violating relevant defamation or libel laws. However, I would prefer to see the harshest punishments reserved for members of the general public who choose to take action based on what Jones says. People need to be held truly accountable for their own actions. Intimidation, death threats, stalking, harrassment - the penalties for all need to be increased and the prosecutions need to be happening regularly. Whatever laws need to be changed, whatever rules of evidence need to be updated to better reflect the realities of the age of the Internet and social media, do it.
We cannot continue to shake our fingers at and give just a slap on the wrist to people who upend others lives' based on information that ANY reasonable person who undertook ANY even minimal due diligence (i.e., fact checking) would recognize as false. And, of course, there's the not-insignificant fact that ordinary citizens should not be acting as judge and jury anyway. Trying to punish someone simply because you believe they did something wrong is as anti-real American values as trying to restrict what opinions one may express.
12
@Kristin
I agree completely, but no laws need to be changed: threatening violence is a felony--it's known as assault, regardless of the medium. And most of the perpetrators can be easily identified and prosecuted. What's missing is demand for action on the part of law enforcement agencies nationwide. This situation will not improve until hundreds of these felons are behind bars. That could happen overnight: the evidence is all out there waiting for any competent prosecutor to pursue.
3
So do we know that Lucy Richards has in fact stopped consuming Infowars programming? What an absolutely ridiculous condition for parole considering she's threatening someone's life. And who is going to actually monitor that?
25
What is up with Alex Jones and child sex rings? Of the limitless fabrications this weirdo can come up with he's chosen at least twice (Sandy Hook and Pizza-gate with Clinton) to use child pornography and sex trading. It's so revealing of his sick and demented character, or lack thereof. And the 1st amendment may shield people like Alex Jones from imprisonment, but it doesn't protect him from the fallout and consequences of his disturbed fabrications.
47
@Pg Maryland
Projection?
4
Let's put the Cody Wilson's and Alex Jones' of the world on an island in the middle of the ocean and see who survives. These people are a menace to society and become the leaders to the unhinged of this world. The ones who can't think for themselves and who are so easily mesmerized by these nuts I truly fear for this country.
24
``Efforts to reach Mr. Jones on his cellphone and through the Infowars email were unsuccessful.''
The mark of a coward. And let's not forget, this is the guy Donald Trump said had an `amazing reputation'.
41
Freedom of Speech is not an unlimited right (e.g. one can't libel or slander another without potential consequence, or yell "fire" in a crowded theater, etc.), and Alex Jones has constantly flouted the prescribed limitations.
There's no such thing as a slam-dunk legal case, but his First Amendment assertions seem flimsy (claiming Sandy Hook is a government-perpetrated hoax, when there are actual dead bodies, death certificates and funeral bills? claiming his speech is opinion when that "opinion" is easily refuted by documented fact?).
I hope Alex Jones is found guilty, and that in additional to making financial restitution (which could never be adequate given the pain and suffering he's caused), his crimes are deemed heinous enough to warrant barring him from contributing to all media outlets. His "work" serves no useful purpose besides his personal enrichment, and he has repeatedly abused his First Amendment privileges.
As for his telling Robert Mueller "You’re going to get it, or I’m going to die trying,” I think a lot of us are rooting for the latter option.
35
American's should not fear people like Jones or his followers but we shouldn't give them what they want either. This branch of Trumpism is salivating at the idea of a hot civil war on the streets of our nation. They just don't want to fire the first shots. That is why Charlottesville was such a setback for their 'cause' as the main violence perpetrated there was by the alt-right Fascists and that isn't an overstatement, these people are Fascists, plenty of video from that day to prove it.
23
Alex Jones is a "hoax", he is full of lies as much as the leader of the free world....
21
1. Lenny Pozner dropped his lawsuit vs. Wolfgang Halbig just before discovery last year.
2. Noah Pozner died in Pakistan & Sandy Hook
3. David Wheeler is an actor
4. Robbie Parker is an actor
5. Gene Rosen is a fraud
1
This man is absolutely the vilest of the vile.
How this isn't a perfect example of "Yelling FIRE in a theatre", I'll never understand.
134
This makes me want to cry. It is so horrible. What a horrible man. Why do the courts take so long for justice? Send him to prison.
75
The first amendment protects unpopular speach so why would anyone be against letting him speak. You don't have to like him but he has a right to say what he wants. It's a real shame that modern day liberals are so quick to shut down free expression. what happened?
@adamlevy hate speech that encites hatred should not allowed in Germany or US.
1
@adamlevy You think he has a right to say things that make people fear for their lives? Free speech is not unlimited.
1
@adamlevy Would you feel the same way if you were forced to move several times because someone lied about you on line?
8
What Jones purveys is hate speech. This should be sufficient for Facebook and YouTube to cut him off completely. What are they afraid of? A lawsuit? If so, that would be one worth fighting. That such big, powerful companies are too chicken-hearted to do the right thing is a shame.
140
@Lenore
Facebook and YouTube are afraid that all that money they are getting from the ads these sites draw will dry up.
4
@Lenore I am quitting FB over this. These companies are not chicken-hearted; they don't care, and they are unethical in profiting from the suffering inflicted on others. There could not be more unethical businesses.
but... since Alex Jones and Donald Trump are such bigly bigly bigly best buddies.... Alex Jones will get more and more and more popular than ever.... especially with the evangelicals who have a non-wavering sycophancy to Trump.
34
@Brenda Starr Hi cuz! Let's hope this suit cuts him below the knees. He is the vilest of vile creatures.
6
Given that Facebook has not taken down the Infowars page, I'd suggest that these aggrieved parents sue Facebook as well while their pockets are still deep.
163
@OmahaProfessor I strongly agree.
19
Look at this man. His appearance betrays the vile soul that festers within. I hope this suit ruins him and invokes a 'come to jesus' moment for him. What a wretch. We stand by you Sandy Hook!
64
Infowars is an un-American horror movie written by Stephen King, directed by Ridley Scott, starring Alex Jones, produced by Donald Trump. Any similarity to the film "28 Weeks" is pure coincidence!
29
"avatar for a “post truth” ethos"
C'mon, NYT, do better than this. Alex Jones is a liar who fantasizes and encourages violence from his followers.
Take every dollar and gun the sicko has.
74
The line between hate speech and free speech is not all that difficult to see. What is difficult is seeing that line when large sums of money are involved.
This same line is obscured by a President who habitually lies.
435
@rjon InfoWars earns a fortune out of advertising on the site. That is Mr Jones' sole interest. Everything else is just there to feed the critical reasoning-free curious clickers.
18
Who advertises on InfoWars? They should be boycotted into oblivion.
Alex Jones is an insult to rational thought. As part of his defense, a motion to dismiss actually likens Jones to Bob Woodward. This is what the First Amendment argument is all about. If Jones is a journalist, or so the argument goes, he shouldn't be held liable for being wrong; journalists frequently make mistakes without being asked to pay restitution for damages. He conveniently skips over the fact that Bob Woodward was right about Watergate.
I don't know anyone that would consider Alex Jones a journalist. That's like calling Peter Sagal a journalist because he brings up news on a radio game show. Actually, "Wait, wait... Don't tell me" provides a much more journalistic service than InfoWars ever will. Think about it.
Unfortunately, the legal definition of a "journalist" is much more murky. Generally speaking, any conversation that is in the public's interest is considered journalism. Lawyers have used circular logic to abuse this definition for a long time now. For instance, They've argued anything in a newspaper must be in the public's interest because why else would it be in a newspaper? The public is clearly interested enough to read it. Jones might actually get away with this absurdity.
The good news: Libel law grants no special privileges to the news media. In other words, if the judge decides Jones has committed defamation, it doesn't matter whether the court considers Jones a journalist or not. He's liable for wrong doing anyway. Keep your fingers crossed today.
36
During Jones's court hearings in a child custody battle with his ex-wife, he claimed to be a "performance artist" who did not necessarily believe everything he himself said on the air. He argued this, because his ex-wife claimed that he was polluting their children's minds with the kind of garbage we are discussing here. So Jones himself has forfeited any claims to being a journalist by stating in a court of law that he is simply making stuff up in order to entertain an audience of crackpots and "the poorly educated," as our Dear Leader likes to call them.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr Jones real name is Ivan Smirnoff.
18
It might when we discover the source of his funding.
18
@arthurw904
Source of funding: all of the over-priced stuff he hawks on his show and website.
Alex Jones hides behind "Free-Speech" so that he may make any outrageous accusation without any consequence or responsibility, and then profit those broadcasts and messages, regardless of those he hurts, and any factual basis. Like Joe McCarthy of the 1950's he will only stop when legal action and investigation makes his lack of moral integrity and lies too costly and too criminal to continue. He's a huckster, poorly educated opportunist who profits from division and lies. Calling this man a Conspiracy theorist is like disservice, he's a snake-oil sales man of the lowest kind.
55
Just like his buddy Don the Con Trump.
19
Lock him up! This is not about the First Amendment. It's about shouting fire in a theater. He is a public safety hazard.
76
The "fire" analogy is correct. Even worse is the violence this jackal encourages. These parents lost their child and now they are being persecuted and hunted by morons who believe Jones.
Facebooking had better step up and remove him from the site altogether. YouTube as well.
What a perversion of free speech. What happens when Jones' address is published and someone comes after him? He'll cry for help like a baby.
This guy may be the lowest creature there is, and in trump land that's going some.
33
America allows Alex Jones to spread dangerous lies and promote harm to innocent people. It similarly allows Cody Wilson, distributor of 3-D weapon plans to add a new dimension of threat to innocent people. Both claim protection by the First Amendment.
This isn’t free speech; this is anarchy. We should expect something more from a democracy.
126
@Michael: It occurred to me yesterday that perhaps the reason why the current federal "government" isn't doing more to protect the public from these menacing weapons is that Trump loves the militias and the so-called alt-right - another code word for fascist haters, so those folks can arm themselves to the hilt should a serious threat to his "presidency" can be "defended" by these "freedom loving citizens."
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube need to step up and take some responsibility for allowing that man to spread his lies. When people are being threatened because of his fabrications then it is time to shut him down.
55
Welcome to the Land of Trump. The more ignorant and bigoted you are the more you'll feel at home. People like Alex Jones don't deserve the space they occupy on earth.
67
@Nick Adams
Yep, can't agree more- Alex Jones and his ilk are complete wastes of space.
2
Given their hardship, De La Rosa and Posner, would probably qualify for refugee status in lot of countries.
What they have had to endure it beyond brutal.
54
We need to treat the Alex Jones of the world the way we went after the Klan. Sue them for everything they own, property, bank accounts, land, bankrupt them into oblivion.
152
@Lyn Elkind
Except the Klan is back with a vengeance, with boutique splinter groups like Evropa, who staged a protest Sunday in New York in front of the Mexican Consulate; then they proceeded uptown to hang a 100-ft. Banner over the Hillman Arch in Fort Tryon Park. They're sort of a collegiate branch of the KKK, well-dressed, heretofore non-violent, just the way Hitler Youth began canvassing and protesting at German universities.
12
You are exactly right- they are the modern equivalent of the Klan.
8
I would like to know how to help these parents in any way possible. I am in shock at the thought of what they have been going through. That man needs to be locked up forever. I will complain to Facebook now. Everyone must at least do this.
57
@Alicia
That’s the best idea of the day! I will post on Facebook that we all need to contact them and complain as well as YouTube
4
The quickest way for ignorant and untalented people to make money is to sell hatred, anger and lies. There will always be buyers.
I hope Jones loses. But the bankruptcy laws in Texas and Florida will permit him to keep a good amount of his money. Each state has its own definition of the homestead exemption. That's one of many little things we need Congress to change to get control of this cancer that is ruining our country.
Vote.
46
Please. Someone explain to me what motivates Mr. Jones. Why would he spread these lies? Many times you can figure why a nut case is doing what he is doing. For money or something. This is beyond nuts. Lock him up.
51
@Donna maybe check his connections to the N.R.A..
9
A monster who knows no low -- how could you do this to the parents of these slaughtered children? And, of course blame someone else. Let's hope you end up in a black hole and we never have to see you or hear about you ever again.
33
Why is the trial being held in Texas?
4
“Lawyers for Noah Pozner’s parents will seek to convince a Texas judge that they — and by extension the families of eight other victims in the 2012 shooting that killed 20 first graders and six adults — have a valid defamation claim against Mr. Jones, whose Austin-based Infowars media operation spread false claims that the shooting was an elaborate hoax.”
8
Jones’ show is broadcast from Austin, TX.
7
This is to be held in TEXAS? Freedom... Free Speech... Open Carry... Well, this will be interesting. Feel bad for the parents.
11
Jones is an agent of evil. Prison time would be ideal, bankruptcy suffice.
28
The thing is Alex Jones knows he is lying and playing his audiences for the chumps that they are. That our political “leaders” are silent is their shame. If truth prevails the plaintiffs will win as Jones has defamed for his personal gain and “glory”. Too bad he won’t be locked up for his crimes.
19
Seriously needs to be imprisoned for lying. Did you hear that Mr. President?
29
Why is Alex Jones carrying his belt in the photo? Was he just released from jail or a psych ward?
21
The American public has shown itself to be a small child needing help while crossing the street. Unlike Europeans, we don’t emphasize the importance of critical thinking and general broadness of mind. We emphasize material. We glorify money to such an extent that we have sacrificed enlightenment and critical thinking. We are today a two-generation+ nation of uneducated gluttons who drive BMWs yet cannot distinguish between verifiable truth and ghoulish disinformation. Not only ghoulish but painfully crude and obviously false. I add that point to illustrate the depths of the ignorance. What we are witnessing is the failure of our culture.
84
@Martin X
Thank you for your articulation of our demise as a society. Just think of the number of sugar filled cereals in the supermarket, number of toothpaste brands, and you have a country that has always been off its rocker. But hate is a progressive disease, and the one thing Americans despise is reality. Shopping, guns, and racism--the American dream!
11
@Martin X Well said. I grew up in New York City and my dad used to read all 3 NY newspapers every day. I asked him why and he explained the importance of getting news and opinions from a variety of sources, and then draw your own conclusions. My dad only had an eighth grade education, but lots of wisdom. Americans don't read newspapers anymore and prefer to regurgitate the various memes seen on some social networking site, and rarely question what they read. We are a woefully ignorant and uneducated society, and so easily manipulated.
253
@MaxCornise Actually, hate seems to be more a "conservative" disease, tbh.
Alex Jones has been yelling "fire" in a crowded theater for years - figuratively but also literally when it comes to social issues.The first amendment does not allow yelling "fire".When will the law catch up to this dangerous person.?
35
This person must be a trump supporter, who believes his rantings and ravings about fake news. This is obviously a very sick person, heartless and without a soul, else how he could be so devastatingly cruel. M heart goes out to Noah's parents and to all the parents of all the innocent children murdered in all the school massacres by those crazy unhinged animals.
24
At what point do lies and death threats cross the line of free speech into something more sinister? At what point does hatred cross the line into anarchy? At what point can someone declare that this person or group of people be placed in prison, an internment camp or sent to gas chambers? Who has given Alex Jones and his ilk the right to destroy our democratic society? Who? And more importantly, who will stand against them and when? Is it already too late?
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
18
Free speech? You can't yell "FIRE" in a crowded movie theater without violating the law. Words have consequences. Hate-speech is illegal and it should also be illegal to use social media to spread lies. There are vile elements in society like Jones who profit from stirring up hysteria and they should be brought to justice for their crimes.
32
Remember when trump stood on stage with his "angel-families" behind him? The families had a relative murdered by an immigrant. I wish someone would photo shot the same scenario but this time have tump stand in front of all the families who have lost a child in school shootings.
23
@fish out of Water,
Unfortunately there isn't a stage large enough to accommodate all of those people.
2
I have a message for progressive billionaires: If you want to help redeem our society, finance lawsuits like this one.
24
@Paul Kolodner As much as I support these parents and hope they bankrupt Jones, I can't agree with you. That would just give the unhinged more ammunition to claim that these suits are just the billionaire globalists trying to take them down.
Alex Jones is to journalism what Bernie Madoff is to financial planning. Both use intentional deception of others to enrich themselves. Only Alex Jones would stand behind the constitution to defend his actions.
If you Google "ponzi scheme guy" the first link that comes up is to Bernie Madoff. I hope that Alex Jones's name similarly becomes linked forever with "fake news" or better yet "hate broadcaster".
29
In an interview arranged by Roger Stone, Trump was on the Alex Jones Infowars show:
Trump: "Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down"
22
He's not an intelligent man, but hopefully he is savvy enough to wear a bullet-proof vest.
6
I don't know, folks.... If there's a case under libel law, good, let Jones pay (and pay) (and pay). But wish away your first amendment rights, and how long before calling Donald Trump a liar, referring to the Israeli occupation or insisting Jesus wasn't divine is a crime in the U.S.? It's not as if there aren't powerful interest who would love to see it.
If that sounds far-fetched, have a look at "food disparagement" and related laws in farm states, enacted at the behest of agribusiness, such that no one dares utter a peep of criticism against food or pesticide producers. -- a mere word can leave the speaker destitute.
It can and does happen here.
9
@jrd The law should be capable of distinguishing between agribusiness-driven "food disparagement" SLAPP suits and the scenario here. If there isn't a law that can stop a bloated bigot from profiting off of the pain of grieving parents, let's enact one.
26
@jrd Honest to God, if we can't protect grieving parents from this harassment, we don't deserve the rights that we have.
It's a far different thing to protect a person than it is to protect a megabusiness. One wrong law doesn't mean all laws are wrong.
2
If the Trumpian age is a dark time, Jones is its shadow. Darkness personified. Whatever is in the book, I hope they throw it at him.
27
I meant to add, may tender mercies, justice and the loving thoughts & prayers of millions of us bring comfort to the hearts of Sandy Hook's families and their community.
17
This skid mark on the short clothes of humanity will weep in court just as he has done in the past, but make no mistake, he is just another in the plethora of right-wing sociopaths devoid of compassion and empathy.
7
When Democrats get back control of the House of Representatives I'd like to see an investigation into hate media and any possible ties to Russia. I doubt any one of the individuals involved could get through a hearing without committing perjury — and then we can jail them.
12
What a sad commentary. If it will make a dollar, say it.
4
The good news is that there isn't a single comment supportive of Jones here. Which begs the question, how does this guy support himself? The terrifying thought is that he could be supported by rational people who just look because they're curious how the nutty half lives. Or maybe by disruptive foreign influence. Or perhaps by anti-government subversives. Can it really be that he has no actual supporters and no actual means of support? How could such a person operate at this level without supporters or money? Expose the money source, and shut him down.
15
@Mike John Oliver told the whole story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyGq6cjcc3Q
It's more fear and craziness that seems to thrive in various degrees on the right.
12
@Mike He sells boatloads of snake oil to credulous folk, some of whom are moved by his claims that's he's barely hanging on and the libs are gunning for him
11
@Steve
Thank you for the link and a wonderful belly laugh so sorely needed. Made my day.
That a demoniacal soulless horror like Jones is allowed to continue unchecked with his spreading of lies and incitements of hate is not just astonishing, it's terrifying.
This is symptomatic of what was once a great nation has lost it's way, it's soul and most of all it's moral compass.
43
You are so right !
2
Jones is a hateful crude conman just like Trump is a hateful crude conman. He should be barred from all media outlets just as Trump should be barred from using twitter to spread his evil.
Hopefully sanity and common sense will be present in the courtroom and this human pustule will be found guilty and punished in some fashion for the additional grief he has caused the families of the slain children and teachers.
Frankly -- it's too bad that we live in a moderately "sane" society and the rack, dungeons, etc. are unavailable for use on Jones so he'd get the kind of punishment that he so richly deserves.
For the sake of our country -- I'd like to see all social media including YouTube shut down so that the platforms they provide for the rankest, most evil among us would no longer be available for them to be allowed to spread their poison on a minute by minute basis.
8
Alex Jones is a monster. His followers are dangerous, and his "show" should be removed from all public access. I can only hope he gets his comeuppance today and tomorrow, to give relief to the millions of us who find his toxic schtick nauseating. He is one of the most vicious rabble-rousers directly responsible for the state of the union (a shambles).
16
This case should be a slam dunk for the plaintiffs.
Mr. Jones reeks of malice. The harm that he has inflicted on these families is as obvious as it is despicable.
The bar for proving defamation in the US is rightfully high in order to protect our first Amendment right to free speech. Mr. Jones has made exceeding that bar child's play.
This case *should* be a slam dunk for the plaintiffs...
14
Sandy Hook families, please know that innumerable millions of caring people stand with you.
173
I know several people who lost family members in Newtown; what Alex Jones has done to further devastate these victims should be treated as an act of terror, because that’s exactly what it is. The man deserves multiple life sentences.
48
@Wrong Way
Domestic terrorism: you are right!
7
@Wrong Way
Succinctly put. Utterly true.
This could apply to other families, survivors, thrust into public spotlight after a tragedy and then being harassed and hunted by the evil crackpots out there.
~ 9/11 family
Put him out of business, but first find out if he’s getting Russian money, too.
16
Republicans have quietly benefitted from all the right wing hate machine. Now the chickens have come home to roost. Everyone from the Murdoch family to Glenn Beck to Alex Jones should be ashamed.
They are a blight on our country. It looks like only bringing the fairness doctrine back will reduce or eliminate this criminal behavior.
46
"Each time they have moved, online fabulists stalking the family have published their whereabouts.
'With the speed of light,” she said. “They have their own community, and they have the ear of some very powerful people.'”
I would like to know exactly who these "very powerful people" are who persecute and threaten grieving parents and families. Are they elected officials? Do they have jobs from which they can be fired? Why are the victims of this behavior the only ones paying? I hope Jones loses the suit badly and that it inspires many more.
19
I can only hope that Alex Jones, InfoWars and all of his insane followers go down in flames. To prey on people who have lost their children takes a special kind of nasty. May karma come swiftly and cost him everything!
23
If the parents of these murdered children are found to be "public figures", it's because this horrific event forced them into being public figures. Unlike Alex Jones, they did not seek publicity, they were just normal people going about their lives when this horror was thrust on them.
31
Jones and his depraved followers are the ultimate embodiment of right wing evil in this country. They have always been around - see the John Birch Society - but now the internet has given them a platform that allows them to spread their poison and connect with others who share the same malign and delusional views. Facebook, YouTube and other major platforms must deny them access. They do not have a right to get their lies published.
12
Finally a chance for justice, so this 'criminal' snake called Alex Jones is put away, by throwing conspiracy theories in the airwaves and out-right lies about the evidence, all to pad his ego and make a buck. I understand the first amendment, but this beast ought not have the right to spread hate and division, so credulous and ignorant and prejudiced may have a field day. No shame, nor decency, Alex Jones? You are a disgrace to humanity. If there is justice in the world, prison must be part of it for his incitement to violence, akin to an extremist seeking to destroy others for the fun of it.
14
Once (if!) this Republican controlled nightmare is over, I hope that there is a HUGE push in Education and Public Health/Public service announcements, to teach people to separate fact from fiction and become more discerning about internet/media content. The ignorance and susceptibility to outright stupidity in the country has been alarming.
23
The real question is why would anyone believe what comes out of Alex Jones' mouth? If you heard a friend or family member spouting this nonsense you would tell them to get a clue. There's something about the internet that let's these ideas fester in facelessness and obscurity. One hateful whack job gets to opine to other whack jobs miles away without any fear of their identities and opinions actually being known or pointed out. Soon you have a community, hiding behind their keyboards, spewing these outrageous theories.
Good luck to families in this case. We all need to stand behind them and be ready to squelch this hateful rhetoric whenever we hear a hint of it.
13
Mr. Jones devtoees need not worry. If he is convicted, Trump will pardon him, maybe even give him a job in the White House.
3
@mjbarr This is a civil lawsuit. There's no pardon for a judgment for millions against a civil defendant.
9
Jones is a vile, odious con man doing damage on par with Rupert Murdoch, Rush Limbaugh and the Koch brothers. One can only hope that karma catches up with him (and them) in an epic way.
34
What are you gonna believe? What I tell you or your own lyin' eyes? With Alex Jones, the evidence of your own lyin' eyes is worthless.
The family of Noah Pozner deserve a reprieve, and the deserve compensation. Suffering the worst a parent can suffer, the senseless and brutal death of their small child, for no reason other than it is easy for crazy people to get hold of hyper-lethal weapons, the Pozners then suffered at the hands of the lunatic fringe motivated by the dangerous idiot Alex Jones.
Jones used his platform to threaten them, to incite violence, with his lunatic ranting, convincing the lunatic fringe that their own lying eyes deceived them. And his motivation isn't truth telling, it is to sell stuff.
We don't get to yell "fire!" in a theater, but we can draw targets on photos and publish their address, and say they ought to go the way of the dodo, and it is Free Speech. I truly hope that Alex Jones loses his empire over this.
Some people deserve the hell they earn. Alex Jones is one of them.
19
The reason that Alex Jones should be allowed to do and say what he wants to is the same reason the National Enquirer should be allowed to publish stories of famous people having cancer and other outrageous claims. If we start to censor Alex Jones eventually we will loose what makes this country so great. Being able to criticize the President and those in power is the most important of our freedoms and should be apparent to those here especially. Its sad that the parents have suffered so much after a school shooting, but unless he specifically called for something to happen to them, calling it a hoax was not the same as threatening them personally, someone should be punished for that.
2
@Mark
Calling the Sandy Hook shooting a “hoax” is a lie; this event happened, and these children were murdered. But that’s not where it stops: Alex Jones has continually baited the deranged people who follow him into harassing the parents of the victims, and it is putting the parents in danger. The article spells this out very clearly; there are numerous other articles about this subject since the Sandy Hook shooting happened that can inform you about the abuse that the parents have suffered at the hands of Alex Jones and his followers. First Amendment rights are indeed limited under certain circumstances, and this kind of abuse of the First Amendment is dangerous and needs to be stopped.
What is happening to the Sandy Hook parents isn’t “sad.” It’s morally bankrupt and potentially criminal. I hope they sue Alex Jones into destitution, and I hope Facebook and YouTube take heed. Another thing that makes this country great is that when people are wronged, they have a chance to seek justice. The Sandy Hook parents have been grievously wronged by Alex Jones, and I hope the they get the justice they deserve.
615
@Mark: There's a difference between free speech and yelling "fire" in a crowded theater. Jones does the second as does his rabidly deranged followers, and he should be locked up for his behavior. It's criminal that grieving parents are harassed to the point of death threats and needing to move 7 times in 6 years to protect themselves while also grieving the loss of a child who's grave they can't even visit without fearing for their lives.
22
@Mark The Enquirer has been sued (and the suit won) on a few occasions when a public figure took exception to those lies; none of them involved actual death threats.
Seriously, if one's false rhetoric is causing others to rise to such levels of harassment as to make you move even once (much less seven times, and being unable to visit your own child's grave), it is over and above "free speech".
25
Hopefully Jones will be penalized and his voice diminished by this case. I hope it sets a legal precedent for other like voices that lie, distort, and seek to divide such as Limbaugh, Pirro, Hannity, Lahren etc. It is one thing to express different points of view, ...... another to intentionally distort , lie and seed hatred.
42
I love free speech. I would love even more for Alex Jones' platforms to taken away from him. I can't fathom why Facebook suspends only his personal page, and not his InfoWars page. I don't understand why YouTube doesn't ban him permanently. I don't understand why Twitter permits him to have a personal account or an Infowars account. He and his followers are dangerous. During a custody trial in Austin, his attorney described him as a "performance artist" We'd be better served if performed his "art" from a street corner.
51
@RHDey They don't ban him, because he's making them significant amounts of money. Unfortunately, it's that simple.
8
He should “perform” behind bars or in a padded room.
2
This is ‘Miracle on Thirty-fourth Street’ turned inside out and backwards. Letters to the post office addressed to ‘Santa Claus’ are now pathetic internet trolls who believe in ‘Alex Jones’ and call his vile diatribes ‘the truth.’
16
Good god, what have we become?
54
Jones didn't give 'opinion'; he presented his lies as facts. He has damaged people's lives by unleashing the loonies. I hope he loses everything.
76
It's obvious that he spouts his hate and lies to make money. Why haven't facebook and youtube just completely banned him? Maybe because they also make $ on his videos being watched. Shame on them - Facebook and Google do what is right. This is no longer free speech!!
38
@Wayne weirdly Trump is always talking about making libel penalties more severe. Jones is the absolute poster-boy for slander and libel.
4
I hope they take him to the cleaners.
23
Alex Jones completes the circle with trump's FAKE NEWS CAMPAIGN. AS Trump rails about legitimate journalists-see yesterday's Tampa rally- as his base curses, spits and screams at these journalists just as Alex Jones's supporters attack, harass innocent families. The most basic of factual events are discredited and challenged with a false substitute reality.
Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 fiction a forerunner to our present?
24
May the court see fit to take every last penny from this verbal arsonist and rabble-rouser, to shut down his current media sites, and shut down any attempt by him to open up shop under any other corporate or private media operation.
63
This lunatic, and especially all the soft minds that follow him, should be legally barred from media, media devices and any exposure to media in general. For five years. Like an ankle bracelet, these nuts need to be monitored. They crossed the line to 'dangerous' years ago.
92
"Lucy Richards, an Infowars devotee, was arrested the next year for repeatedly threatening Mr. Pozner’s life. She was sentenced to five months in prison last year. As a condition of parole, a judge ordered that she cease consuming Infowars programming, the court documents state."
Five months?
Heck five years minimum!
Good sentence judge. Geez.
No "consuming" Infowars?
Yeah, I am positive she hasn't done that.
Anyone who threatens a life is not going to be told who she can and can't listen to on the radio.
Chaos reigns in the USA.
30
Mr. Pozner is delusional at best and otherwise an egocentric capitalist that surprisingly does not hold a major position in the White House cadre of sycophants surrounding you know who. They should have a special place in prison where they can share the same cell and recall their fake truths together.
8
@Joe Urciuoli I really hope you meant to say Jones and not Ponzer, the father of a murdered child.
1
@Joe Urciuoli Did you mean to say Jones?
1
Joe-Wonder how your view of Mr Pozner and the whole 'crisis actor conspiracy' would be received at a local tavern in Newtown? You're in the same state, so why don't you drive over there and have a chat with some of the locals. Share your thoughts. I'm sure you'll run into more than a few people who were directly impacted by this tragedy. Do you suppose they're all actors too, in on the elaborate scheme to maintain the fiction? An entire town of planted actors?
Make sure you've got your InfoWars shirt and bumper sticker proudly displayed.
7
Ms. De La Rosa and Mr. Pozner, I am incredibly sorry for your ongoing losses - your son, your family, your home and your community. I am also thankful for your strength in opposing Jones and his hateful and deeply injurious speech. Unwittingly you have become my heroes (and I suspect many others). I wish you and yours victory and ultimately peace.
1065
In what twisted universe could this possibly be happening? If our laws permit such execrable behavior, then they must be changed. “Freedom of speech” cannot possibly be intended to ruin the lives, doubly, of people who already had their world torn apart.
605
@Susan Blum I firmly support the 1st amendment, which is #1, after all. But it's an amendment, written by Madison alone, passed by Congress. Not the Constitution. It was written for moral but also political purposes, to help the Constitution itself pass muster. Madison himself was displeased. He knew that these explicit "commandments" would become misshapen relics as times changed. SCOTUS can potentially guide new meanings, but also twists them. Don't expect SCOTUS to figure out internet regulation; if they're not hamstrung by politics, they're oblivious to how technology advances. Their treatment of software patents is embarrassing.
I am aware that Alex Jones is a crazy ranter. How does he profit from this? Does he mainly spread the word through Youtube and Facebook or is there a paid medium? Does he have paying sponsors? Is he self funding? Perhaps the First Amendment wan't expecting crazy loons.
This is worse than shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater. He needs to be stopped.
41
@judy He has paying sponsors, and he also sells "nutritional supplements" and fear-based products. It's quite a racket.
2
@judy John Oliver did a pretty good breakdown on how he makes his money. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyGq6cjcc3Q
The lame defense that Alex Jones was really aiming at "the media and government officials" is only the ironic dusting on the mountain-sized suffering he has caused. The falsehoods he has uttered and the sham of his business form an entire mountain range of false witness, hurt, and pain.
Conservatives used to lecture the rest of us for our consequence-free lives filled with marijuana and contraceptives. They sought to remind the unemployed that their lot was a consequence of personal moral failures. They even blamed hurricanes striking cities as a result of homosexuality.
Perhaps at last a beam of reality can shine in the darkness. If these families are successful, it won’t fill their loss or remove their pain. At best, it will be a salve on a wound that will never fully heal.
Alex Jones and his followers, however, need a strong lesson in consequences. The more painful and public the better. Holding him to account for defaming a family and causing gratuitous emotional pain and material damage is a corrective we need in this case.
False words should have negative consequences. Otherwise we lose our grip on morality and reality.
56
It's shameful that YouTube (owned by Google), which has complete discretion to ban whatever they want to ban, continues to enable professional liars like Jones. "Do no evil" used to be one of Google's founding principles; today they're actively doing evil, for profit.
34
@James Demers YouTube and Facebook have banned him a couple days ago. He is still on Spotify.
Twice I started to write a comment and twice I had to walk away. That awful, hateful man does not deserve the protection of the First Amendment. He is the personification of evil. I fear that if it were my child that this happen too, I would seek satisfaction, not through the courts, but through a more ancient way of satisfying honor.
34
If things don't work out for Jones in this lawsuit, he can always go to work handling public relations for Putin.
19
Jones is a disgrace to the human race.
Right wing media regularly brings out family members killed by illegal immigrants to drum up support. Does Jones call them crisis actors?
72
The stories of De Rosa and Pozner are shocking, even in a time when our capacity for shock and disbelief are challenged daily. It is also shocking how leadership and education at all levels have failed to minimize the impact of hate speech. Foul and vile lies have been used against one group or another from time immemorial: "Jews slaughter Christian babies; Catholics eat human flesh; this group spreads disease; that group spreads sedition and revolution." Yet, knowing this, I'm still horrified that the likes of Jones can thrive in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. There have always been manipulators of people who thrive on our demons. There have also been those who call forth our better angels. It is often said: “Cometh the hour, cometh the (wo)man.” America got Lincoln and FDR when they were badly needed. What we have now is a macabre dance of death—death of virtue, of honor, of joy, of love. Let’s stop dancing to the music of this orchestra of the cruel and the macabre.
27
Alex Jones is cruel, plain and simple. He may not use a gun to hurt others; his cruel heart is his weapon of choice. Shame, shame on him.
23
One thing to add to this criminal defamation perpetrated by the very sick Mr. Jones--
The equally sick fake president of the United States actually praised him knowing full well what nonsense he slings and harm he's caused.
That such a man occupies the most hallowed position in our country is a slap to our founders and every true patriot who ever stood up for the sacred creed of our nation - whether in uniform or civilian clothes.
I'm for driving the stain of Jones and his followers out of our midst.
Into the void where they are gone forever.
Take the big idiot with them.
No, better, let every journalist who asks him a question or writes about him to say out in the open, "Sir, do you believe Alex Jones when he says that twenty children were actually not killed at Sandyhook? Do you stand with Alex Jones whom you praised?"
Let him tie himself up with an answer and let the public revulsion at this man - and Jones - rise to new levels.
Wrap it around his neck.
100
Guilty or not - how sick is someone that can put forth such blatant lies regarding the death of children? This is a clinically insane person hiding behind our laws of free speech that should afford him no protection. The fact that we capitalize the word “infowars” as if it is a legitimate entity only gives creedance to this very sick individual. Facebook should be ashamed of itself for allowing this deranged persons ideas to have a voice. We have a duty - and the freedom - to marginalize and remove this type of sick behavior at every turn. Reminder: this involves the death on innocent children and this person uses them as pawns. Need we say more? We should not have to.
19
@ANP: "We have a duty - and the freedom - to marginalize and remove this type of sick behavior at every turn. "
Who is "we"? Leftist activists? Stalinists? Pol Pot's thought police? That's what it sounds like. Would you agree that those on your political side were ever wrong? Should they also be subjected to marginalization and removal? If not, then why them and not you?
If this man is allowed to get away with this....
...imagine the precedent it would set
...and the crazies it would further embolden.
American civil society will re-rise or fall further based the outcome of this case.
15
In my opinion, this individual is equivalent to the person who shouts fire in a crowded theater - for personal profit.
20
One of the big early promises of the Internet was democratizing broadcasting - giving every citizen a channel, rather than having an elite minority choose what constituted news and then packaging that news to sell to a citizenry with no other access to it. That's a really great sell to young people who would rather take shortcuts to wealth and respectability than put in the years of dues paying that used to be required.
Like all promises of technology, the reality has proved to be quite different. Maybe elitism - giving more power and credibility to those trained and experienced in the ethical practices of gathering information and "telling the truth" -- really is the way to go, especially in a democracy that arguably cannot exist without real journalistic standards and outlets.
If "the world is flat" means Alex Jones can gain more credibility than the NY Times online with some people, and Trump calls "fake news" anything that he disagrees with, then technology not only is aiding and abetting election meddling. It is also enabling and celebrating the triumph of irrationality and ignorance. Silicon Valley, while the world burns you get rich. And innocent people just trying to live their lives get sucked into the hellish vortex you created.
13
The Sandy Hook families should apply for asylum in Canada. Every day my sense of shame for this country diminishes. I see no light at the end of the tunnel.
41
This is the sentence that gets me: " The parents, the filing says, 'isolate specific statements, take them out of context while ignoring other relevant portions, and misinterpret what was said.' "
That's exactly what Jones does.
42
What a hateful human being this Jones creature is. He seems to be a gun nut. Gun nut=NRA = Russian Connection? Could Jones be a Russian spy, sowing discord to weaken the US? Does he get money from the NRA?
No one should have to move from their home and live in fear due to the slandering ravings of a sociopath. No one.
58
The massacre of 27 teachers and innocent children by a young demented man in Sandy Hook Elementary School on 14 December 2012 was an American tragedy. Today, an ignorant man from Texas calls these real murders a hoax. Alex Jones and his followers -- who believe Jones's Infowars dogmatic conspiracy theories -- hound the parents of the slain children!
Doesn't this hark back to precisely what happened in Germany in the early 1930s? The state-sponsored use (the US Constitution guaranteeing freed speech and guns) of propaganda and demagoguery to kill millions of people like vermin?
Today in Texas, may the man who claims that the truth is a hoax be brought to justice for his social media slander against the parents of Sandy Hook. And may all American parents who have lost their children and relatives -- innocents! -- to massacres by young white men, be vindicated in an Austin, Texas, court of justice.
28
@Nan Socolow: "may all American parents who have lost their children and relatives -- innocents! -- to massacres by young white men, be vindicated in an Austin, Texas, court of Justice,"
I guess parents of victims of POC murderers aren't worth the empathy? Isn't that fundamentally racist?
@Chris
"I guess parents of victims of POC murderers aren't worth the empathy? Isn't that fundamentally racist?"
Name one mass murder rampage, which is what this article is about, committed by a person of color (POC) as you describe, one school shooting, one church shooting, one mall shooting, theatre shooting, concert shooting. All murders are heinous but we are talking specifically about the slaughter of school children by a white person with a gun on a murderous rampage and a right wing media "darling" and admired friend of our president who is claiming it is all a hoax!! Nice try at changing the subject, typical right wing strategy when you have nothing but nonsense to add to the conversation.
This is utterly heart-breaking. What these families have been through and then to add this to it. I'm utterly disgusted at the lack of compassion in some people. Absolutely shameful.
40
Yes, we all have a right to free speech, but we also have to take responsibility for what comes out of our mouths. If we lie, it is perjury, when taken under oath. If we lie and it causes the death of innocent or guilty individuals, it ought to count as murder. If we lie to earn or keep money, then in many cases that is called fraud. So please explain to me why Infowars, Alex Jones and his enablers are not responsible for the swill that flows from their mouths?
And to the families of those poor murdered children, I cannot express how heartbroken I believe you must feel given the horror of this tragedy and its sequel created by Alex Jones and entities like him and his enablers.
26
@Rita Harrisi: "If we lie and it causes the death of innocent or guilty individuals, it ought to count as murder. If we lie to earn or keep money, then in many cases that is called fraud. "
Should this also count for Hillary, or do you only expect this to be enforced on people you disagree with?
@Chris What does Hillary have to do with this? Stop avoiding the issue. The is about Alex Jones and Sandy Hook.
@Chris
Time to ignore the troll.
I was truly affected by Sandy Hook masacre. I cried and cried. I didn’t personally know any of the families and i still don’t. But they are, somehow, part of me because no child should have ever died like that. None. When i see the “i can’t imagine what you are going through” phrases, i tremble every time. Because we should sit in our living rooms, close our eyes and actually imagine how we would feel if our own child had just been killed in such away. As society, Sandy Hook children should all be our children so it will never happen again and the Jones of the world didn’t exist or the Megan Kellys of the world didn’t provide them with the tools to be “famous”.
40
Every time I think of Sandy Hook, I tear up. Every time. As a mother, as a human being, I cannot bear to think of what those children, those families and that community experienced. Utter horror.
10
It’s difficult to put into words the level of disgust I feel about this absolute shyster. To lose a child is devastating, to continually relive it because of this evil troll is unacceptable. I hope they receive a huge financial settlement that at least compensates them for having to relocate and I hope Jones is once again exposed as a liar and a conman. He’s a modern day snakeoil salesman.
24
Let me know where I can send money to help Pozner and Fontaine. My heart goes out to them and I hope they can find some contentment and peace in their lives. They are fighting the good fight - the fight against pure evil. My heart breaks when I think of what the Sandy Hook parents have gone through. My tears fell numerous times seeing those innocent children's photos and I'm deeply saddened that so much of our Country has turned into such a vile, evil, hate filled place. No human being should have to go through what they have gone through, and are still going through.
39
Why hasn't Alex Jones been doxxed yet himself?
Fair's fair.
24
The sad and outrageous irony is that if the Pozners are “public figures” it is because their child was murdered and Alex Jones made their names public, encouraging his followers to torment them for years.
232
“If the parents are found to be public figures, they will have to prove actual malice, or that Mr. Jones knew the claims were false, but repeated them anyway.”
Anyone else remembering that this was also the premise of Denial (2016), starring Rachel Weisz, in which her defense team had to prove that the holocaust did happen? I wish the struggles of that real case were less relevant to psychological landscape of our time.
Best of luck to the parents fighting for truth and reason. Their success would benefit us all. To lose a child and then be treated by conspiracy theorists and quacks as liars is unconscionable.
103
America is the most violent industrialized country in the world.
When one believes that law enforcement & the government are not able or interested in protecting it's citizens we may have to resign to the fact that we are no longer a Democratic Country.
Many black communities feel targeted by law enforcement.
We all have to watch our backs, when our country is being held captive by an administration that does not have it's citizens safety & interests at heart.
39
@Codie: "Many black communities feel targeted by law enforcement".
What's your point? Given that statistically, they are many times more likely to be murdered by a criminal neighbor of the same ethnicity than by the police, and that the heavier policing in Black communities was instigated by Bill Clinton at the behest of Black community leaders, how does this tie in with Alex Jones and/or Trump?
Well, the old saying "the inmates are running the asylum" is apt across the board as it pertains to folks on the right. This man is very sick and very evil. I hope he can be silenced.
68
@Deb Paley
Hahaha! Rest assured that from outside the Leftist bubble, that saying also clearly applies to the crazies in the Left.
@Chris
Please name the crazies on the left. You right wingers alway make this assertion but somehow can never back it up with actual fact. Sorry, but contrary to the right wing philosophy, facts DO matter to some of us.
@sharon Thanks Sharon!! The knee-jerks on the right think that whataboutism applies to everything. It does NOT apply to objective facts and truth.
Alex Jones is hurting our democracy. He promotes hates and lies.
59
Alex Jones developed "fake news" to such a vile art form that an occasional guest on his show adopted it to win a Presidential election. Perhaps there will finally be a price for Jones to pay for his vileness-and perhaps the same justice awaits our SCPOTUS for his mendacity.
41
That Alex Jones has prolonged this tragedy is inhumane. I hope that this lawsuit succeeds and that he is utterly destroyed financially for the rest of his life. He deserves that and much more.
195
This line tells us all we need to know: "Donald J. Trump appeared on his show during the campaign, praising his reputation as “amazing"."
They both deserve the same fate: bankruptcy and jail.
341
Glad to see him have to account for his crimes. At least it will cost him a pretty penny for his defense. I hope the judiciary (which is the last thread in this delicate democracy) will navigate free speech versus hate speech.
24
This is an interesting case. We have a system that prohibits organized violence, but not stochastic violence. And stochastic violence is the main means by which white supremacy protects itself. No specific call to arms. Just repeated declarations as to how threatened white people are. And with that the vigilantes will arm themselves and attack.
47
Free speech is essential in a democracy. Lies and factual distortions are not essential. Democracy anywhere is sabotaged when people like Jones hide behind laws that were not intended to defend outright lies.
214
These "new media" folks typically alienate their "fans" after a few years, never to be heard from again. Jones is a sad exception. What is striking is that he has not simply flamed out in the six years he has gained notoriety.
Jones' personal life must be a horror story -- the almost sci-fi level of paranoia and mental incoherence.
74
I think it is time we start holding these purveyors of propaganda accountable for what they are broadcasting. People like Alex Jones are harming our Democracy by promoting conspiracy theories and falsehoods that encourage this extremist fringe to victimize these families who have who have already lost so much!
137
What victims of mass shootings have to endure is outrageous! If these cases are dismisses or Mr. Jones wins affirmation for his hate speech, then we have a serious problem with how our 'freedom of expression' is legally understood. A similar horror has descended upon the pastor of the Baptist church in Texas where 26 people were gunned down. Right-wing haters have claimed that his teen daughter who was killed did not really exist and insisted upon seeing her birth certificate to "prove" that she did.
What kind of people victimizes people whose children were gunned down in cold blood instead of supporting and loving them? What kind of a nation allows such cruel behavior in the name of freedom?
635
@Anne-Marie Hislop
People like NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer in Florida. See the New Yorker article that reveals how she works with Florida's legislators:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/05/the-nra-lobbyist-behind-fl...
13
@Anne-Marie Hislop
A friend of mine fervently believes that the Parkland, Florida students who spoke out about gun violence had to be crisis actors hired by liberal dark money because “no real survivors of a school shooting would ever wish to restrict their precious Second Ammendment rights.” She also believes abortions are a far more heinous stain upon America than “the few hundred children who have died in school shootings over the years.” There is no talking with her about this - she just flies into an emotional rant that invariably ends in personal aspersions cast at me. This is what Alex Jones has wrought. He is truly an enemy of the people.
1
It is horrifying that these people have had to go through all this whilst dealing with their son's death.
America, what are you thinking of to allow this? What is your legal system for, if not to protect people like them? Why are politicians of all parties not speaking out and helping them?
For heaven's sake do something now, before your last shreds of credibility as a world leader disappear down the drain.
1284
@Janet P Our representatives from Connecticut (where Sandy Hook is located) have tried their best to support and defend these families as they have faced the horrors delivered by fellow Americans. I am fully behind my rep and Senators from CT. Unfortunately, their mission to stop the madness with guns has made them a target of the NRA, and they use tactics similar to InfoWars to make them reviled in the eyes of the gun culture.
I have never been politically active, and have decided to donate to their campaigns and use my voice to scream from the hilltop about our crazy gun laws(or like some states, TX as an example, lack thereof).
November’s election cannot come soon enough...Alex Jones belongs in jail, and his soap box needs to be permanently deleted.
34
@Janet P Too late, our credibility is already totally gone.
1
@Janet P---Americans have largely lost the ability to discern right from wrong. I don't know why this is, but we see it in the popularity of Alex Jones, videos about the earth being flat, the moon landings, and worst of all our most recent election. Discerning what is real and what is not requires a certain trust in the media, the ability to think critically about how the world works, and the willingness to accept new information which pertains to your personal beliefs.
Another troubling aspect is that stories like this one about Alex Jones require the acceptance of malice toward other human beings, which is something I cannot explain.
2
More power to these people. I hope they crush Alex Jones into bankruptcy. The man and his followers are a menace to society.
782
@Jude Parker Smith
I want him in jail as well.
38
@Jude Parker Smith
Only bankruptcy?
20
What a sick man Alex Jones is. How does someone become like him? To think Sandy hook was a staged fraud. This is such an awful story. I hope the Pozners win. What happened to our country that allowed for this and the rise of Donald Trump? I fear for our future. Imagine if 3D ghost guns and rifles are available to be downloaded and printed.
190
@RC
Trump knows that off-their-rockers media folks like Jones actually make him look like the rational sane person in the room. Trump wants these folks on the internet, etc.
39
@RC: Sadly, a supposed child sex ring in pizza restaurant struck a chord in a deranged American, and now Jones is accusing Mueller of the same thing. Jones and his ilk are a despicable stain on humanity.
4
Everyone in America should read this story and wake up! To lose your six your old child in a mass murder is an unthinkable nightmare that unfortunately could happen to anyone in the wrong place at the wrong time in today's America, but to be re-traumatized over and over again by the venomous lies spewing from Alex Jones' monstrous mouth is an act of terrorism that MUST BE STOPPED.
And if the courts won't do it then we the citizens must demand that SPOTIFY, YOU TUBE, FACEBOOK & other outlets who allow him to soil their platforms ban him immediately. And if they don't then we will ban them!
466
@Elizabeth I think this is an important point. Facebook will take notice if millions of people leave their platform in protest.
1
Alex Jones is a poster boy for the harm that First Amendment absolutism has done to this country. In most European European countries his lies would be considered hate speech and he'd be in jail, where he belongs.
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@pbk3rd: In European countries, there is no such thing as freedom of speech. Any negative opinion of anyone or any entity can be (and is) construed as hate speech and prosecuted under a number of laws weaponized to censor speech and thought. If you think that THAT's a better alternative than having to accept other people's differing opinions, then you're ready for Khmer Rouge utopia!
There is a certain satisfaction in knowing that Alex Jones is in legal trouble for spewing bile and inciting violence towards people who lost their children in a gun massacre. He can say he was attacking the media, but families having to move 7 times to avoid harassment is insane.
It seems that the FCC could do more to contain this sort of airwave abuse though it is doubtful that they would tackle the issue of false news with this administration that depends on it so dearly.
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With [un-Fit to Print] Pie at the FCC's helm? Yeah don't bother. He'll sooner ban ad-blockers, make the Facebook account a mandatory ID, or bring back 56k.
His smug smile and attacks on basic internet and telecom principles make him arguably more disgusting than "covfefe" or alex jones—and THAT is quite a feat.
How much money is Alex Jones getting from the NRA? An educated rumination...
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@Jill Onewein. Or better yet, how much from Russians bent on social unrest?
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@Jill Onewein And how much of that money came from Russia?
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Alex Jones saw the harvest that Rush L was reaping and he said, "I want me a part of that" and the rest is history. Rush proved that hate and sensational lies caught the eyes and ears of the people seeking excuses to build on their hate. The results was fortune for Rush and then for Alex.
Now, at last, comes time to pay up for the utter lies and other damages done. Show Mr Jones the same he showed others, no mercy at all.
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@WorldPeace2017
This is the same kind of falsehoods that the Clinton's suffered when they were accused of killing Vince Foster. We all know that never happened because there was no money to be made from that. A speech to Wall Street, for hundreds of thousands of dollars just months before the Presidential election, sure! Hey, that really happened. Some things really happen that are almost unbelievable, that give the Alex Jones's of the world credibility. We all want to believe that these awful events didn't happen, it's a level of processing in our minds, a cognition. When someone says it never happened, it has a small level of traction. Getting a aired on Fox, well, it must be true.
@WorldPeace2017
Don't forget all the money Glen Beck.
Justice Holmes of SCOTUS declared that "shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater is not protected by the 1st amendment". So how can Jones make implied threats against Mueller, incite violence against the Sandy Hook parents and not be punished? In fact Jones' counter suit is a travesty. Jones needs to be excluded from Facebook for life, at a minimum.
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@toom And maybe it's time to expand or clarify 1st amendment rights. And where is the FCC? How can Fox get away with the same sort of falsehoods and conspiracy theories? Surely it can't be good for our democracy to allow these people to harass victims of crimes and their families.
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And YouTube.
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The “shouting fire in a theater” case did not stand and is no longer relevant. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/11/its-time-to-stop-us...
Social media can be like any potential contagion. A disease-causing agent spreads person to person, incoherently. If the body politic has a good defense system, if it's been vaccinated or immunized, counter forces stream into action. They attack the antigen, surround and quarantine it. But if a people have weak media and educational immune systems, if they've lost resistance, they succumb.
America has veins of deeply disturbed people, unable to resist evil forces that sweep over them through social media. Unless the nation can get a handle on it, these forces will erode public decency and well-being. Facebook and Google are monopolies: absolute powers, corrupted absolutely. They are the ether through which so much malevolence travels, and are clueless about what to do. They must be regulated.
If the early days of telephones were marred by people calling strangers and spreading racist, violent rumors, inciting riots, AT&T would have faced an existential threat. People didn't bury their head in the sand. Now, with so many distractions, most of us don't care if Google and Facebook spread diseased thought. Which is how epidemics start.
If anyone deserves dignity, it's Ms. De La Rosa. Americans should feel shame at her suffering. If a child is abducted, people go crazy with fear and anger. But if a child is shot in school, it's sad but forgettable. We need to change. The best way is to change the internet.
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@Brian Years ago, at least ten, my father (now 96) calmly said, "The internet is going to implode." I understood what he meant. But as wise as he is, I understood what he didn't understand. The power of fools to keep their foolishness going. And the internet is a safe space for foolishness.
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@Jim Cricket Ultimately we'll learn. But it could be the hard way. Russians currently have waves of internet thuggery spreading on themselves, just like others. But they suffered a century of thick communist lies, and grew a hard cynical shell. It's not a model. Americans relative isolation and culture of common sense led generations to lower their guard about information sources. We lost healthy skepticism, the same as losing one's resistance to a bacterium. Instead we turn on legitimate gatekeepers, like an auto-immune disorder. That's what makes our society so vulnerable to real information scoundrels.
Some issues and some people are just plain disgusting. Please, legal system, protect these parents. It is the definition of the word "justice."
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I feel so sorry for the families that have gone through a child's death and then on top of that have their lives threatened because people are told that the death did not happen. What type of person would do that to a family who has just lost a kid?
Reading the headlines and snippets of information that appear on infowars, I see why people might be bamboozled into believing what it says. The information generates just enough uncertainty that people who want to believe the misinformation or who are skeptical of accepted ideas are given a platform to repeat. This just goes to show why real journalism is so important; even if they sometimes get things wrong, they actually fact check and have the obligation to correct incorrect facts.
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@Sherry
No-one is being 'bamboozled' by Alec Jones' nonsense. The people who buy into his lies are like the kids who join gangs - they have low self-esteem, maybe some personality disorder, and they are desperate for a feeling of self-importance. The more aggressive members of this clan are miniature versions of the Oklahoma bombers - 'see what I can do!'.
The best disinfectant is sunlight - bringing these shady characters into the glare of public opinion. We need more articles like this.
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@Sherry "What type of person would do that?" That's easy: the same type of person who claimed, a few weeks ago, that the crying children being held by border guards and separated from their mothers were "child actors"; the same type of person who insisted that the articulate young student, David Hogg, who spoke so eloquently after the Florida high school shootings, was a professional "crisis-actor" hired by the anti-gun lobbyists. Was that Laura Ingraham or Anne Coulter? Does it matter? Who can distinguish among the Joneses, Ingrahams or Coulters anymore? They are all the same. It's a pity there are such people attracting followers in our country. It's a pity there are such people, period.
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If Jones can't be held accountable for his lies, then there is no protecttion for any of you, anywhere, and the rule of law no longer runs in the US.
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@Jon If you follow politics in the Divided States of America you are witnessing Trump's very best efforts to turn the rule of law into the emperor's pleasure. Given that, we also have many lunatics like Jones running around because he nurtures the very same people who vote for Trump. Jones thrives as Trump thrives because the sheer number of ignorant people in country of 350 million is enormous, even if only a small percentage. If Jones et. al could be ignored by the media, he would fade quickly, but the media is also culpable of inflaming the issue as a way of selling their product.
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@Jon
The "rule of law" ended in the U.S. on Jan. 20, 2017 at 12:00 noon.
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In a country whose government constantly lies to its citizens, is it any wonder that "events" reported by the establishment media are increasingly disbelieved?
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The State of Wisconsin has a defamation law that I think should be enacted in other states. It says that if there is something about an individual or a business in an article that the person or business thinks is defamatory, they should write to the publication and demand a retraction and correction. If that doesn't happen in a certain time, then they have a legal right to sue the publisher. This law protects both the publisher and the public and should improve the quality of news articles.
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@Kay Facts should be the guideposts. Someone may think something is defamatory but they have to prove how that it is. From what I've read, Jones doesn't actually believe Sandy Hook was a hoax. If that can be proven then that is evidence of malice, meaning he aired & spread the hoax KNOWING it was a lie. And in America malice is the core evidence needed to win libel and defamation convictions.
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This, THIS, is contributing to the downfall of civility -- the double-edged sword of the internet, particularly Facebook and its ilk, where there is no accountability for the truth. Madmen (and madwomen) can have their say without regard for harm done to people's lives.
The proverbial genie is out of the bottle and I do despair about the future. In the past, following the end of major wars, the losing side generally retreated and/or modernized its culture or government to adapt to the winning side. Now, every voice, no matter how twisted or hateful or perverse, has a platform and an audience -- into infinity.
Just as the Second Amendment couldn't anticipate that semi-automatic weapons would be used against schoolchildren, I'm afraid the First Amendment's protection of free speech may be too broad for the Internet Age.
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A precious six year old child is brutally murdered.
A TV personality uses that tragedy to earn a fortune by claiming the child's murder was a hoax.
The parents sue the TV personality and...
They are forced to move seven times because of death threats.
Death threats for defending the loss of your murdered son.
Many of us in the commenter world have drawn parallels between today's political climate and the rise of Nazi Germany. It's here folks. Organized groups are stalking, harassing and threatening to kill the parents of a murdered child in support of a political platform. That platform is fascism. It is based on hate and lies.
I am concealing my name for this post because the threat of death threats is real. These people are insane.
What's Trump got to say about this? Nothing. Does the Republican Party condemn it? No. They are afraid to anger their gun nut and right wing conspiracy base. A base that makes death threats to political opponents. People who entered the political arena because a TV personality defamed their family over the loss of their son.
1930's Nazi Germany. Coming to a town near you.
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Very well said.
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@XXXXX, you are very right. These people are sinister and deranged. In a better world, these poor people would be sympthized with and helped, not persecuted for having the audacity to send their children to school and expect them to be safe there. It is a very mixed up time and all I can hope for is that the US stops the madness of unfettered gun access and the madness of the people who sit at their computers and ingest all this vile, false hatred. I hope Alex Jones feels the full effect of the law, for those poor people's sakes. It would be a step on the return to the road of decency, from which he and many others have gone so far from.
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@XXXXX
I just watched the latest Tampa FL trump rally. These people are scary and frankly appear deranged. They suspend all belief of anything that is denigrating of trump. Has any other president in our history had adulation where they question no information that puts the president in a good light but dismiss any information that denigrates their "god"? That every news item against this president exposing the evil, the ineptitude, the ignorance, the hypocrisy can be dismissed as some "deep state" conspiracy working against the president. They blame any negative insight on trump as fake news. The crowd was in a frenzy, bordering on ecstasy. The anger was palpable and could be felt through the television screen. It's impossible to recognize these people as fellow Americans. If we superimposed photos of any despotic leader's rallies with the attendance at the trump rally the hatred etched on their faces would be the same. I know we dismiss the comparisons to Nazi Germany or Mussolini's Italy but we dismiss them at our peril. We smugly believe that it could never happen here but it's happening here now. Uninformed people are dangerous and easily manipulated and trump is a master manipulator. Hundreds of 1000's believe that the news, unless sycophantically supporting trump, is fake. He admonishes to not believe what you hear or see with your own eyes but rather only what he states to be the real truth. All despots use the same tactics and the true believers succumb. God help us.
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