The lowdown on the ~$1 $Billion Alex Jones Sandy Hook defamation jury award - where does free speech end, & criminal liability begin?

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The compensatory damages awarded Wednesday by a Connecticut jury were the largest so far in several lawsuits filed by families of victims in the attack that killed 20 children and six educators in Newtown, Conn.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/13/alex-jones-1-billion-sandy-hook-damages/
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Is Alex Jones a $Billionaire?
If he can't pay that much, will the court render him penniless, and stiff the awardees for the balance?

WaPo continues:
Alex Jones, 48, is a far-right radio and web-streaming host from Texas who rose to national prominence in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, when he became one of former president Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters — and one of Hillary Clinton’s most vociferous critics.
But his claims that the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown was staged by advocates of gun control sparked a years-long legal battle. Jones, who has used his website Infowars as an unfiltered platform to spread and amplify conspiracy theories and far-right political ideas for decades, labeled grieving parents of the victims “crisis actors” and called the massacre “the fakest thing since the $3 bill.”
“They’re clearly using this to go after our guns,” he said in a 2013 video.
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Will Jones pay $1 billion to Sandy Hook families?​

Jones claims he is unable to pay large-scale damages to the families suing him for defamation.
The $965 million damages awarded to the plaintiffs in the Connecticut case mark a stunning increase from what a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay in August as part of a separate defamation suit over his comments about Sandy Hook. Then, he was ordered to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages and $4.1 million in compensatory damages — and because Texas imposes a strict limit on punitive damages, Jones is unlikely to have to pay that full amount.
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U.S. citizens have a free speech right enshrined, enumerated in the United States Constitution's Article of Amendment #1. BUT !!
"No right is absolute. Conversely, no government authority is absolute." lawyer, law Professor and former ACLU head Nadine Strossen
We have a right to free speech. That right does not include:
- libel
- slander
- perjury
- defamation
- betraying State secrets
- inciting riot
- etc.

But what is the government recourse? Can't unring the bell. Can't un-tell the lie.
In the Alex Jones case, a $Billion $Dollars aside, what's the correct way to implement justice?​
 
We have a right to free speech. That right does not include:
- libel
- slander
- perjury
- defamation
- betraying State secrets
- inciting riot
- etc.
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although what Jones said was monstrous and much of it demonstrably untrue Im not sure which of those categories what he said falls into, betraying state secrets? (that was humour by the way).

At the time I was posting with a lot of conspiracy theorists many of who had totally bought into the whole "it never happened" "there are no bodies" "the school wasnt operating (moth balled)" "Adam Lanza did not exist there is no paper trail for him pre Sandyhook" Almost all of which could be completely refuted with just a few moments on the internet but of course the deep state could be relied on to cover their tracks well
 
"Im not sure which of those categories what he said falls into" m #2
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Possibly none.
I didn't watch the trial. I suspect the conviction and punitive sentence / judgement is premised on the harm it did to the bereaved.
There are traumas in life that have been scored for traumatic impact.
- divorce
- moving household
- death of a parent, etc.
One of the most severe traumas a human can suffer is a parent being pre-deceased by their own offspring. And I gather there were 20 children lost at the Sandy Hook massacre.

Jones would have to be a spectacular fool to believe his own nonsense, and an unspeakable monster to parlay his sick-minded conspiracy theory into personal gain. Despicable.
 
I didn't watch the trial. I suspect the conviction and punitive sentence / judgement is premised on the harm it did to the bereaved.
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i think you are right but should courts enforce the law or feelings?

I cant totally see how "Mr X killed his child" if defamatory but struggle a little to see how "MrX never had a child" is defamatory
Jones never (so far as I am aware) said that the parents did anything wrong or illegal he just said that they werent parents and that their children didnt exist and therefore couldnt have been killed and that the children and indeed the parents were actors employed by dark forces within the US government. Yes the claim is rubbish but is it defamatory?

Jones would have to be a spectacular fool to believe his own nonsense
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I dont think that Jones did believe every thing he said he said it because his audience did and they paid his salary

Amusingly Jesse Ventura was interviewed here last night and he was talking about the evils of Jones and his conspiracy theories before segueing into a rant of his own about JFK and 911!
 

How much will Sandy Hook parents actually get from Alex Jones?​


www.ctvnews.ca

How much will Sandy Hook parents actually get from Alex Jones?

Alex Jones owes US$965 million to eight family members of Sandy Hook shooting victims and a first responder. A CNN analysis examines how much of that money the parents would actually see.
www.ctvnews.ca www.ctvnews.ca

Don't forget that there was a separate lawsuit in Texas where the plaintiffs were awarded $49.3 million (likely will be reduced by Texas statute) and there is a third lawsuit, also in Texas, that's yet to be heard. And then there are 50 other states where I'm sure there are lawyers salivating over the prospects of suing Jones.
 
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"I dont think that Jones did believe every thing he said he said it because his audience did and they paid his salary" m #4
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That's what I figure.
If so, $one $Bil. isn't enough.

S2 #5
What I can't figure out is where it all ends up.
I suspect if the jury knows their award will be reduced by about 2/3 they'll simply award three times as much as they think appropriate, so after the systemic reduction, it works out right.
Don't know.

The Jesse Ventura episode was an education for me. I'd been voting for "dark horse" candidates for decades.

The following excerpted from U.S. Presidential candidate Libertarian Andre Marrou's
1992 stump speech.

The annual subsidy for each American dairy cow is between $600-$700 dollars a year.
This is greater than the per capita income of half of the worlds population. And what do
we get for that? We get a price for milk and other dairy products that's double the
world's level.
Who does this impinge on? Primarily poor people with children. Rich people could care
less what the price of milk is. Poor people without children, they don't use much milk.
It's the poor people with children who are primarily hurt by this.

You ask a very sensible question.
We'd need to know the wording of the statute ostensibly enforced by the verdict. I don't have that information.

S2 #6
If kids can sell lemonade at roadside, I'm tempted to offer bargain rate lobotomies at the DC capitol.
 
Jesse Ventura used to be a regular on RT and his son Tyrel had his own show

interesting point I just noticed that all RT content is blocked
 
I'm a hermit mm.
I thought "RT" was Round Table, perhaps you've heard of it.
I'm not just acting ignorant. This is the genuine article.
 
Oh.
I'm not a subscriber.
BUT !!
"interesting point I just noticed that all RT content is blocked" m #8
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"Interesting" indeed.
Blocked by whom? Where? How? Why?

That's not an obligatory quiz m #8. Only my reminder that "answers" often precipitate more questions.
 
RT the TV station was closed down across Europe and America at the start of the current unpleasantness (western governments didnt want their propaganda being challenged by Russian propaganda).
But I didnt realise that there was a black out on the internet out put as well (even archive stuff is blocked) I discovered this when I attempted to check the spelling of Tyrel his programme is blocked going back to at least 2015.
No idea who is blocking it I assume the EU and UK governments I am UK based so unless I cloak up i cant say where else it is blocked.

According to NYT Russia is blocked from the global internet
 
Thanks m #12
With your eyes I can see across the ocean.
"According to NYT Russia is blocked from the global internet" m
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By whom?
I can easily imagine he wouldn't want domestic Russians reading Western news accounts of Putin's invasion, atrocities, etc.

If the West is, they may be doing more harm to their cause than good.
 
mark mywords said:
RT the TV station was closed down across Europe and America at the start of the current unpleasantness (western governments didnt want their propaganda being challenged by Russian propaganda).
But I didnt realise that there was a black out on the internet out put as well (even archive stuff is blocked) I discovered this when I attempted to check the spelling of Tyrel his programme is blocked going back to at least 2015.
No idea who is blocking it I assume the EU and UK governments I am UK based so unless I cloak up i cant say where else it is blocked.

According to NYT Russia is blocked from the global internet
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RT.com is not globally blocked. Individual ISPs might block it (though I doubt that); mine has not, I can access rt.com with no problems other than visceral revulsion.

Within russia THEY (russian government) blocked most SOCIAL NETWORKS, but not Internet in general. Russia is not cut off from the internet.
 
Victor Danilchenko said:
Russia is not cut off from the internet.
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Not sure what to make of that D #14.
Certainly Putin's heard of the Internet, and understands that communication could be instrumental in removing him.
So I deduce Putin perceives a superior danger in taking the Internet down in Russia. Perhaps he thinks he's successfully split the baby. Is e-mail still up in Russia? Is it censored or monitored? I'm guessing at least some is monitored, even if only Putin's enemies.
 
mark mywords said:

Russia, Blocked From the Global Internet, Plunges Into Digital Isolation​

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From your own link:

Russian authorities and multinational companies have erected a digital barricade between the country and the West, erasing the last remnants of independent information online.​

Russian authorities are blocking within russia those sites on the internet which contradict their propaganda -- mostly social media sites and news sites that would tell russians the truth about this filthy war. We aren't blocking russian sites here.

Here's rt.com from my computer. It's quite reachable. You can't help lying, can you? Gotta push those kremlin narratives!
 

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You may recall I didnt say who was blocking it or where it was being blocked but it appears that RT and any thing to do with it cannot be accessed from the UK (tried two ISPs with the same result .
 
My thanks to you both.
It's rough going for me to adjust to the fact Russia's been at it for most of a year already. It's anyone's guess how this will affect the human gene-pool centuries hence (if there is a human gene-pool by then).
 
mark mywords said:
although what Jones said was monstrous and much of it demonstrably untrue Im not sure which of those categories what he said falls into, betraying state secrets? (that was humour by the way).

At the time I was posting with a lot of conspiracy theorists many of who had totally bought into the whole "it never happened" "there are no bodies" "the school wasnt operating (moth balled)" "Adam Lanza did not exist there is no paper trail for him pre Sandyhook" Almost all of which could be completely refuted with just a few moments on the internet but of course the deep state could be relied on to cover their tracks well
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the first 4.
 
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