The Onion buys Infowars

[Bradskii]

From here: The Onion buys conspiracy theory site Infowars with plans to make it ‘very funny, very stupid’

'The satirical news outlet the Onion has purchased Infowars, the rightwing media platform run by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, at a court-ordered auction.

CEO Ben Collins confirmed this in a post on Bluesky on Thursday, writing: “The Onion, with the help of the Sandy Hook families, has purchased InfoWars. We are planning on making it a very funny, very stupid website. We have retained the services of some Onion and Clickhole Hall of Famers to pull this off.

In order to make the bid work, a lawyer representing the families told CNN that the families “agreed to forgo a portion of their recovery to increase the overall value of the Onion’s bid, enabling its success”.

“After surviving unimaginable loss with courage and integrity, they rejected Jones’s hollow offers for allegedly more money if they would only let him stay on the air because doing so would have put other families in harm’s way,” said Chris Mattei, an attorney for the families.

In a post on social media earlier this week, Mattei added that “the breakup of Infowars this week is just the start of Alex Jones’s lesson in accountability” and that the families “will go after his future income and any new Infowars owner acting as a vehicle for Jones’s continued control of the business”.

Looking forward to seeing what they do with it.

 

[mourningdove~]

Looking forward to seeing what they do with it.

It won't matter.

Info warriors have left Infowars with Alex Jones and moved on to AJNLive (Alex Jones Network):

x.com

x.com

 

[Bradskii]

It won't matter.

Info warriors have left Infowars with Alex Jones and moved on to AJNLive (Alex Jones Network):

x.com

x.com

'...the families “will go after his future income...'

 

[mourningdove~]

'...the families “will go after his future income...'

I think it will be harder to do.
AJ doesn't own AJNLive.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Yes, conspiracy theories are supposed to be funny, why take them seriously?

 

[Bradskii]

I think it will be harder to do.
AJ doesn't own AJNLive.

Is he getting paid? Then the parents will 'go after his future income'. I'll be very honest with you. If I was one of the parents of one of those children I would spend the rest of my life hounding the guy relentlessly for everything he earned. I would do my best to ruin him.

 

[mourningdove~]

Is he getting paid? Then the parents will 'go after his future income'. I'll be very honest with you. If I was one of the parents of one of those children I would spend the rest of my life hounding the guy relentlessly for everything he earned. I would do my best to ruin him.

They probably will spend the rest of their lives 'hounding' him.

Meanwhile, Alex Jones will continue on ...

AlexJones.Network

alexjones.network

 

[durangodawood]

Alex Jones deserves to be stripped of all his assets to compensate for the harm hes caused, and live out a life of tedious anonymity doing a boring job.

 

[mourningdove~]

Sandy Hook families get ‘justice we have long awaited’ by buying Alex Jones’ Infowars with the Onion​

Sandy Hook families who successfully sued Alex Jones for defamation in Connecticut teamed up with the satirical news outlet the Onion to buy the bankrupted conspiracy and merchandizing broadcast site Infowars, a federal trustee said Thursday.

“The world needs to see that having a platform does not mean you are above accountability – the dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for,” Robbie Parker, the father of a girl slain in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, said in a statement. “We were told this outcome would be nearly impossible, but we are no strangers to impossible fights.”

The sale of Infowars, which the Sandy Hook families and the Onion achieved at a closed auction Wednesday, was confirmed by a federal bankruptcy official Thursday. The purchase price and other terms of the acquisition were not disclosed in the court filing or by the families’ attorneys, except that the purchase puts “an end to the misinformation machine that Jones used to defame the families and victims for years.”

Included in the sale is Infowars’ “intellectual property, including its website, customer lists and inventory, certain social media accounts and the production equipment used to put Jones on the air,” according to a statement by the families’ attorneys.

A sale closing is expected no later than Nov. 30, according to a document filed Thursday by U.S. Trustee Christopher Murray in southern Texas bankruptcy court.

Shortly after news broke Thursday morning about the winning bid, the Infowars site was down with a notice that said, “Site unavailable until further notice.”

Jones continued his broadcast on the Alex Jones Network at a backup studio.

“We will continue on with the Alex Jones Network, which I don’t own. They can’t take down what I don’t own,” Jones said. “We will be bigger and more effective. We’re here, stronger than ever.”

Meanwhile the runner-up in Wednesday’s auction whom Jones said he was “working with” – a buyer identified as First United American Companies – filed a request for a status conference with U.S. bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez to “address the apparent defects in the sale process, including changing the procedures, lack of transparency, and inaccurate disclosures to interested bidders.”

“Because the value of the assets is in the process of being destroyed at this very minute, FUAC requests a status conference today if the court’s calendar can accommodate it,” the request states.

During a mid-afternoon conference, Lopez at first took umbrage upon hearing the runner-up bidder’s accusations. But the judge concluded by promising a hearing where those who object to the sale’s procedure could argue their case.

During Thursday's conference, the trustee Murray revealed that the Jones-affiliated First United American Companies made a higher cash bid of $3.5 million, but that the bid by the Onion and the Sandy Hook families was selected as the winner due to an unusual offer by the Sandy Hook families.

“The Connecticut families said they would waive their potential recovery and give it to all unsecured creditors, which would be better off than the cash alternative,” Murray told the judge. “With this mechanism … the bid was certainly much better than the ($3.5 million) offer.”

Murray declined to give details about the value of the family's offer, because costs of the liquidation and other variables remained to be calculated.

The judge also promised to take up at a future hearing a request by Jones’ lawyer Vickie Driver to allow the Infowars studio to reopen until the judge makes a final decision about the auction sale, out of concern for 30 employees who no longer had a place to work.

Murray did not reveal the cash amount of the Onion bid, saying it would all come out in the hearing.

https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/infowars-auction-sandy-hook-onion-alex-jones-19915831.php

 

[RileyG]

I didn’t know The Onion was still around…

 

[mourningdove~]

I didn’t know The Onion was still around…

Never heard of them ... but they've made a big name for themselves now!!

 

[RileyG]

Never heard of them ... but they've made a big name for themselves now!!

They’re a satire site. Was bigger around 15 or so years ago.

 

[mourningdove~]

Alex Jones deserves to be stripped of all his assets to compensate for the harm hes caused, and live out a life of tedious anonymity doing a boring job.

Even though he has admitted he was wrong ... and that he believes the Sandy Hook shooting was 100% real, and that he was sorry for hurting the feelings of those families, and now has huge outstanding legal bills and has lost Infowars, his work of 30 years?

From August 2022 ...

Alex Jones concedes Sandy Hook attack was ‘100% real’​

Under oath and facing a jury that could hit him with $150 million or more in damages for his false claims, Jones said Wednesday he now realizes that was irresponsible and believes that what happened in the deadliest school shooting in American history was “100% real.” ..................

“I unintentionally took part in things that did hurt these people’s feelings,” said Jones, who also acknowledged raising conspiracy claims about other mass tragedies, from the Oklahoma City and Boston Marathon bombings to the mass shootings in Las Vegas and Parkland, Florida, “and I’m sorry for that.”

https://apnews.com/article/health-us-news-shootings-texas-lawsuits-d029d6736d2ce6755c9e89e7cf9f27af

 

[mourningdove~]

They’re a satire site. Was bigger around 15 or so years ago.

Well, according to the article I posted earlier, the Onion plans to relaunch Infowars in January.
What they are planning to do doesn't sound very funny.

From the article:

The gun violence prevention group, Everytown for Gun Safety said it will serve “as the exclusive advertiser” when the Onion relaunches Infowars in January.

“It’s fitting that a platform once used to profit off of tragedy will be a tool of education, hence our multi-year advertising commitment to this new venture,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, in a statement. “We’re proud to be a part of what comes next, not only in terms of staunching the flow of hurtful misinformation, but also for the potential this new venture has to help Everytown reach new audiences ready to hold the gun industry accountable for contributing to our nation’s gun violence epidemic.”

 

[Bradskii]

“I unintentionally took part in things that did hurt these people’s feelings,”

There are no words to describe this person. At least none that will allow me to remain a member of this forum.

 

[Bob Crowley]

I'd never heard of him as I don't keep up with conspiracy theorists or shock jocks. I rarely listen to radio anyway as I'm hard of hearing.

But I think we need to bear in mind that if we're disgusted with the cruelty of social media trolls the radio shock jocks were doing the same thing long before, and set the scene.

I haven't got much time for them.

Matthew 12:36 NIV "But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken."

 

[Bob Crowley]

While I'm on the matter of radio shock jocks, one of Australian's most vociferous examples of the kind has just been arrested on charges of indecent assault and sexual touching offences spanning two decades. He is protesting his innocence as he is entitled to do.

Broadcaster Alan Jones charged with historical indecent assault and sexual touching offences spanning two decades

He had no problem though labellling the Wagner family guilty of causing the deaths of 12 people in floods in 2011, and without proof. He and some radio stations were forced to 3.4 million dollars in damages.

Alan Jones and radio stations ordered to pay $3.4m damages to Wagner family

Broadcaster loses defamation case after accusing brothers over the Grantham floods

www.theguardian.com

If in his omnipotent arrogance he decided someone was guilty, they were guilty.

LIke I said I've got no time for radio shock jocks.

If he goes down on these charges, the Wagner family won't feel sorry for him.

 

[Bradskii]

While I'm on the matter of radio shock jocks, one of Australian's most vociferous examples of the kind has just been arrested on charges of indecent assault and sexual touching offences spanning two decades. He is protesting his innocence as he is entitled to do.

Broadcaster Alan Jones charged with historical indecent assault and sexual touching offences spanning two decades

He had no problem though labellling the Wagner family guilty of causing the deaths of 12 people in floods in 2011, and without proof. He and some radio stations were forced to 3.4 million dollars in damages.

Alan Jones and radio stations ordered to pay $3.4m damages to Wagner family

Broadcaster loses defamation case after accusing brothers over the Grantham floods

www.theguardian.com

If in his omnipotent arrogance he decided someone was guilty, they were guilty.

LIke I said I've got no time for radio shock jocks.

If he goes down on these charges, the Wagner family won't feel sorry for him.

He didn't plumb the depths such as the like of Alex Jones but I find him to be a truly awful person. His proclivities for 'going the grope' as the vernacular is down here is all but an open secret.

His time has come.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Alex Jones deserves to be stripped of all his assets to compensate for the harm hes caused, and live out a life of tedious anonymity doing a boring job.

That's kind of counter-intuitive to what the justice system is supposed to be for, is it not?

"Satisfying a bloodlust, making someone experience a misery, so it makes us feel better" is how we ended up with things like solitary confinement and the death penalty.

If I were to take your statement, and swap out "Alex Jones" for "The guy who shoved my mom and took her purse 7 years ago in downtown Cleveland"

If I were to say, "that scumbag should be stripped of everything he owns, and be forced to spend the rest of his life working at McDonald's living a miserable existence, because it would make me feel better to know that his life will terrible now until he dies"


I'm pretty sure I'd be getting a lecture or two...

 

[durangodawood]

That's kind of counter-intuitive to what the justice system is supposed to be for, is it not?

"Satisfying a bloodlust, making someone experience a misery, so it makes us feel better" is how we ended up with things like solitary confinement and the death penalty.

If I were to take your statement, and swap out "Alex Jones" for "The guy who shoved my mom and took her purse 7 years ago in downtown Cleveland"

If I were to say, "that scumbag should be stripped of everything he owns, and be forced to spend the rest of his life working at McDonald's living a miserable existence, because it would make me feel better to know that his life will terrible now until he dies"


I'm pretty sure I'd be getting a lecture or two...

Im talking about what I think he deserves. Not the same thing as what the I think justice system should mete out. Ideal justice and actual administered justice are different.