Thursday open thread: Alex Jones FAFO edition

Well hello, Barflies!

I was out and about running errands when the news of the verdict in the Alex Jones defamation case in Connecticut broke. The jury awarded the plaintiffs—the families of those massacred at Sandy Hook in 20120151—a total of $965 million dollars. Let's just round it up to a cool $1 billion. 

Now, judgments like these are usually lessened on appeal. But even if the awards go down by 80% to 90%, that's still $100 million to $200 million dollars for the families. Which is not good for Jones.

Jones was on air on his fetid show when the verdict came down. He laughed it off. He said he didn't have the money, so wouldn't have to pay anything. He also immediately begged his audience to send money, laughing that any money they send would never go to the people he victimized for ten years.

Now, his listeners may believe this. Jones may even believe this. But this is in no way how things work. His Hail Mary of filing for bankruptcy won't shield him either. The court will strip him of every asset to pay the Sandy Hook families. One cannot declare bankruptcy to escape civil or criminal penalties. 

Yesterday I wrote about the amazing things humans can do. Well, this verdict is no less amazing. The jury heard testimony of a cancer on our commonwealth, and returned the appropriate decision. This is our justice system working as it should. A man like Alex Jones cannot upend and terrorize grieving families and expect to get away scot free due to the First Amendment. Free speech is not an absolute. The First Amendment protects citizens from being jailed for their protected political speech. It doesn't protect them from civil consequences. That can range from the ever-feared "cancel culture", to a jury awarding those you injured with your lies almost $1 billion. A lie won't land you in jail; but it may land you in the poor house.

Now, of course, Jones will appeal. But it's hard to see how he gets out of this without paying some substantial amount of damages. He can preen and snicker all he wants to his idiot followers. The fact is that he's on the road to penury. (He's already been on the road to perdition for quite a while.) What Peter Thiel helped do to Gawker Media, these jurors are doing to Jones. The difference is that Jones deserves it. That's an ordering of the scales.

Why do I have hope that we'll get through these tough times? Because of stories like this. There are far more decent people in the world than miscreants. We outnumber them. We merely need to remind them of this fact. With a Louisville Slugger, if need be.