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The Onion buys Infowars
- tonymet 2y agoThe Onion is irrelevant. In 3 years they will be gone and Alex Jones will pick this up for $5m
- thrance 2y agoAlex Jones still owes $1.5 billions to the people he wronged, he's never buying anything ever again.
- janniehater 2y ago[dead]
- arrowsmith 2y agoHow does this actually work though? Can the debt be discharged in bankruptcy? Now that he's been stripped of his assets, what's to stop him declaring bankruptcy, then using his name and reputation to get rich with another, new InfoWars-like brand?
- jsheard 2y agoThe announcement by America's Finest News Source: https://theonion.com/heres-why-i-decided-to-buy-infowars/ https://theonion.com/heres-why-i-decided-to-buy-infowars/ Alex Jones response: https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1857058831135645739 https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1857058831135645739
- mvidal01 2y agoThis is great!
- mtmail 2y agoReading the article didn't give me any confidence it's actually real/true. Which could be seen as a compliment.
- ixtli 2y agoIt is actually true! https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/business/media/alex-jones-infowars-the-onion.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/business/media/alex-jones...
- hoppyhoppy2 2y agoNo-paywall link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/business/media/alex-jones-infowars-the-onion.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Z04.01dE.dRPqDdLbhSa4&smid=url-share https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/business/media/alex-jones...
- tgv 2y agoWonderful news. I'm glad their CEO recognizes the great value of CEOs. My only worry is that this acquisition makes Global Tetraeder so large that it attracts the attention of those pesky EU bureaucrats, who will want to split it up into multiple imperfect solids.
- admksx45v65uqpw 2y ago[dead]
- arethuza 2y agoIf Brexit taught me anything it was that the correct phrase is pesky unelected EU bureaucrats!
- soco 2y agoNow if we want to get into dirty details, no bureaucrat is ever elected. You elect the representatives, and they nominate in turn whoever bureaucrats they feel comfy to work with. Or is this in the UK different?
- vidarh 2y agoYes, but that is not the point. The point is it was a favorite attack point used by Brexit supporters. A whole lot of the accusations against the EU applied just as much - sometimes much more - to the UK itself.
- notahacker 2y agoWe have people who frothed at the mouth over the role played by unelected bureaucrats now frothing at the mouth at proposals to remove the last hereditary Lords from our legislature... (in fairness, those people tend to hate the Civil Service in the UK too. And they're elected hereditary Lords, albeit via a franchise consisting entirely of other hereditary Lords)
- 2y ago
- rightbyte 2y agoSeems like the article is really gleeful. Somewhat ironic since The Onion could be brought down in the same way by defamation lawsuits.
- afavour 2y ago> Seems like the article is really gleeful. Good! It should be. Alex Jones is a ghoul making money from dead school shooting victims. Anything that embarrasses him is entitled to as much glee as it wants.
- rightbyte 2y agoYes and he profits from fooling mentally ill people. Selling homeopatic pills and whatever. But I think the right to be wrong is way more important than getting at Alexander Jones. The precedent is bad.
- nixdev 2y ago[flagged]
- anotherhue 2y agoWhich part do you think is made up? https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/charliewarzel/we-sent-alex-jones-infowars-supplements-to-a-lab-heres https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/charliewarzel/we-sent-a...
- nixdev 2y ago[flagged]
- anotherhue 2y agoLook, I'm a nix fan and a former SRE which seems to be a similar background to you. I obviously don't have details but I think it's clear you're not in a good headspace, if you can, would you consider taking a short break and going for a walk or something? HN will still be here.
- AdamN 2y agoAlex Jones using Twitter/X is on-brand.
- ixtli 2y agoI hadn't realized how hilarious this is until now
- pipeline_peak 2y ago> Twitter/X Why not call it one or the other?
- chairmansteve 2y agoCall it Twitter. Everyone knows what you mean, and it annoys Elon.
- seanw444 2y agoI'm not even your average Elon hater, and I still think X is a stupid name. Dude should've just kept the name and brand that everyone knows already.
- slt2021 2y agoold good ole Twitter was when your feed was only those you followed. new X is when your feed what Elon wants you to see and react to.
- pohl 2y agoI was pleasantly surprised to discover that Bluesky behaves like the Twitter of yore where you see only who you follow.
- Sohcahtoa82 2y agoThis is misleading. At the top of the feed, there are two tabs: "For you" and "Following". If you select "Following", then you only see people you follow.
- reaperducer 2y agothey are shutting us down even without a court order this morning He seems surprised. I guess losing a multi-year court case, being fined $1,500,000,000.00 by a jury, and going through bankruptcy court wasn't enough of a warning?
- delusional 2y agoPart of the MO of these outrage merchants is that they simultaneously claim that the government perpetrate the most vile acts (killing children, poisoning the water, false flag attacks) while also acting outraged and surprised that they'd do something as mundane as ignore a procedure.
- wmoxam 2y agoIt's a grifting method. Provoke outrage among the less informed and watch the money roll in
- chvid 2y agoI guess this is about the domain name infowars.com which belongs to a bankrupt company. Alex Jones is such a big name and has other channels (x.com, Joe Rogan etc.) that he can easily build a similar site/business under a new domain name. Perhaps The Onion should ask - who gets most promotion of this?
- plorg 2y agoThe auction included all of the InfoWars and several associated corporations' assets, including the studio and the supplements business. At one point the settlement administrator was trying to get Alex's Twitter handle. I believe he's been doing some half-ass scheming to create essentially the same company but in his parents' name, and I doubt he has a problem getting listeners back.
- ackbar03 2y ago... Infowars had a supplements business?
- bbor 2y agoOh man, you're in for a treat. Look up some videos on youtube, the classic being John Oliver's 2017 piece; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyGq6cjcc3Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyGq6cjcc3Q . He's adjacent to the newly mainstream right, yes, but he's been around for a long time as a more radical+fringe actor, and has all the baggage that goes along with that. A good portion (most?) of his money was made from selling vaguely anti-GMO and pro-masculinity products sold with a heavy dose of "big pharma doesn't want you to know this one trick". They ranged from insane horse bone dust stuff to plain overpriced vitamins; https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/charliewarzel/we-sent-alex-jones-infowars-supplements-to-a-lab-heres https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/charliewarzel/we-sent-a...
- Hikikomori 2y agoAnd the Knowledge Fight podcast if you really, really wanna get into it. Almost 1000 episodes now. https://knowledgefight.com https://knowledgefight.com Behind the bastards also has a few that are good summaries if you want something shorter, with the Knowledge Fight guys as guests.
- sed_zeppelin 2y agoOn a whim, I decided to peek at the InfoWars homepage. At this moment, I cannot determine which of the headlines are genuine InfoWars content and which are the product of Onion writers. (I assume it's genuine due to the recency of the sale closing?)
- nixdev 2y ago[flagged]
- afavour 2y agowhoops, looks like you let the mask slip! I see you started this thread debating the merits of trust in the court system, I'm relieved we've finally got to the crux of it. You consume and identify with the kind of crank material Infowars publishes. Thank you for letting us know.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- nixdev 2y ago[flagged]
- ziddoap 2y ago3 replies to a single comment, and you're doing this all over this thread. You're almost 10% of the comments here, and there's a lot of comments. Might be good to take a step back for a few minutes/hours.
- nixdev 2y ago[flagged]
- afavour 2y ago> Alex Jones was declared to be in default for failing to provide a document that never existed in the first place. You've said this numerous times. It isn't true. > In her ruling, Bellis criticized Jones’ attorney for providing only “sanitized, inaccurate” financial records and showed “callous disregard” for her repeated rulings to provide complete analytics data. She found Jones’ attorneys actions “were not just careful” but constituted “a pattern of obstructive conduct” requiring the most severe sanction of default, what she called a “last resort,” as reported by the Hartford Courant. https://firstamendmentwatch.org/judge-finds-alex-jones-liable-by-default-in-sandy-hook-elementary-defamation-suit/ https://firstamendmentwatch.org/judge-finds-alex-jones-liabl... It was for a pattern of behavior, not any single document. Speaking of patterns of behavior, you've now left three increasingly unhinged replies to my single comment. Whatever impression it is you're trying to create, I don't think it's working.
- Maken 2y agoI like how he still tries to sell his merchandise until the very last moment.
- plorg 2y agoHe has for some time been telling his listeners to buy supplements from a new company set up in his father's name that is a thin cutout for the one ostensibly run by himself. It seems likely a good lawyer could pierce that corporate veil and go after the new company, but I don't know if that has happened.
- Suppafly 2y ago> It seems likely a good lawyer could pierce that corporate veil and go after the new company, but I don't know if that has happened. He's spent the whole time since losing the lawsuit illegally shifting assets to his parents and they bankruptcy courts haven't seemed to be able to stop that.
- Conscat 2y agoFor what it's worth, a lawyer _did_ ask the presiding Judge Christopher Lopez to tell Alex Jones he definitely can't do that and solidify this in writing the terms of bankruptcy, and the judge simply refused to even try on the basis that everyone involved is an adult and ought to know better.
- sharpshadow 2y agoIt’s standard practice to let somebody else own your things when you are in a position that don’t allow you to have something. It’s not provable easily and if it’s justice to charge him 1.4B for talking some shit it’s also justice to use the loopholes of the system.
- ryandrake 2y agoThat and the defiance, conspiracies, deep state, freedom-fighter verbal diarrhea until the bitter end. You almost get the feeling that he actually believes it all.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- kristopolous 2y agoI like the twitter comments. They're already baking how it's part of the secret globalist plot. See also https://reddit.com/r/QAnonCasualties/ https://reddit.com/r/QAnonCasualties/ if you haven't yet.
- mooreds 2y ago"Much like family members, our brands are abstract nodes of wealth, interchangeable assets for their patriarch to absorb and discard according to the opaque whims of the market. And just like family members, our brands regard one another with mutual suspicion and malice." Glorious.
- brabel 2y agoThat part hurt a little bit, recently had to start looking at family just like this.
- WarOnPrivacy 2y agoIt felt like coming home here.
- sixothree 2y ago[flagged]
- JKCalhoun 2y ago"They are a true unicorn, capable of simultaneously inspiring public support for billionaires and stoking outrage at an inept federal state that can assassinate JFK but can’t even put a man on the Moon."
- bityard 2y agoThat is the funniest thing I have read in a very long time.
- xenospn 2y agoI’m cracking up
- glonq 2y agoWow, crazy to watch all the bootlickers and nutters in his feed who are angry about this.
- QuercusMax 2y agoThey're all "verified" (paid) accounts too, which is why Twitter is such a cesspool. They sort paid accounts to the top.
- bandyaboot 2y agoFreemium speech?
- pacomerh 2y agoright, I was reading their comments, I cannot believe it. But hey, if you view the world like that, guys like Alex will always prosper and have a crowd.
- thecosas 2y agoTruly a great piece of satirical writing on The Onion. Just one example: > With a shrewd mix of delusional paranoia and dubious anti-aging nutrition hacks, they strive to make life both scarier and longer for everyone, a commendable goal.
- that_guy_iain 2y agoI saw the onion post and didnt really believe it.
- emchammer 2y agoI'm hoping that Department Head Rawlings and Jim Anchower will return as contributors. When did T. Herman Zweibel pass the reins to Bryce P. Tetraeder?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- agumonkey 2y agoHow can Jones respond this way when families are backing that. Does this qualify as insanity or more like bottomless greed ?
- briantakita 2y agoThere was an emergency hearing to challenge the sale to the onion. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/not-funny-onion-buys-infowars-bankruptcy-auction https://www.zerohedge.com/political/not-funny-onion-buys-inf...
- keepamovin 2y agoThis has been halted due a judge deciding it was a private sale masquerading as an auction: https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1857290045536780334 https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1857290045536780334
- Kye 2y agoIs there a credible source on this?
- keepamovin 2y agoYeah, this one. Why?
- Kye 2y agoAre you doing a bit? I can't tell.
- keepamovin 2y agoYou can't tell what's credible.
- probably_wrong 2y agoI don't want to link to paywalled sources, but yes, multiple outlets are reporting that the sale has been halted until next week to ensure that the process was fair.
- yaksha 2y agohttps://apnews.com/article/onion-buys-infowars-alex-jones-6496f198d141c991087dcd937b3588e9 https://apnews.com/article/onion-buys-infowars-alex-jones-64... "Walter Cicack, an attorney for First United American Companies, told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez that Murray changed the auction process only days before, deciding not to hold a round Wednesday where parties could outbid each other. Sealed bids were submitted last week, and the trustee chose only from those, Cicack said." "“We’re all going to an evidentiary hearing and I’m going to figure out exactly what happened,” he said. “No one should feel comfortable with the results of this auction.” An exact date of next week’s hearing was not immediately set. After the hearing, Jones said on his show that he thought the auction was unfairly rigged and expressed optimism that the judge would nullify the sale."
- codeulike 2y agoFounded in 1999 on the heels of the Satanic “panic” and growing steadily ever since, InfoWars has distinguished itself as an invaluable tool for brainwashing and controlling the masses. With a shrewd mix of delusional paranoia and dubious anti-aging nutrition hacks, they strive to make life both scarier and longer for everyone, a commendable goal. They are a true unicorn, capable of simultaneously inspiring public support for billionaires and stoking outrage at an inept federal state that can assassinate JFK but can’t even put a man on the Moon. Perfect
- ttonkytonk 2y agoI hope Mr. Tetraheder remembers to make any accounts permanent regardless of the wishes of the members - nothing like a permanent asset.
- daft_pink 2y agoNot sure if this is true or just another Onion article.
- llm_trw 2y agoThe onion has not yet bought the times.
- NoboruWataya 2y agoWhen they do I hope it's Infowars that first reports the deal.
- zrail 2y ago> yet
- zemo 2y agowhy would they buy something that no longer exists? https://theonion.com/new-york-times-to-cease-publication/ https://theonion.com/new-york-times-to-cease-publication/
- AnimalMuppet 2y agoNBC is reporting it too. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/onion-wins-alex-jones-infowars-bankruptcy-auction-rcna179936 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/onion-wins-alex-jones-i..., reported on HN by elsewhen at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42136327 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42136327. So... I guess it's real? Still feels surreal...
- spacemanspiff01 2y agoThe past 10 years feels surreal...
- Maken 2y agoInfowars itself confirms it: https://www.infowars.com/posts/watch-live-last-infowars-transmission-ever-you-are-the-resistance https://www.infowars.com/posts/watch-live-last-infowars-tran...
- Kye 2y agoPerfectly balanced, as all things should be. Thanks, Tim Onion. https://bsky.app/profile/bencollins.bsky.social/post/3law23rslrk26 https://bsky.app/profile/bencollins.bsky.social/post/3law23r...
- sofixa 2y agoThis sounds like an Onion headline. And to add extra spice, they're actually doing it for a good cause, educating about gun safety in cooperation with nonprofits and the families of children killed in the Sandy Hook massacre. Obligatory fuck Alex Jones with a bat with rusty barbed wire. He profited off the misery of murdered kids, this is beyond low.
- muffwiggler 2y ago[flagged]
- wl 2y agoEverytown isn't an educational organization and they have no gun safety programs. It's Michael Bloomberg's gun control advocacy group.
- nixdev 2y ago[flagged]
- zemo 2y agoThe first time I heard about it was from an Onion headline about it: https://theonion.com/heres-why-i-decided-to-buy-infowars/ https://theonion.com/heres-why-i-decided-to-buy-infowars/
- xena 2y agoGod I wish I could contribute to that.
- lukev 2y agoGood news for you: https://membership.theonion.com https://membership.theonion.com
- cranberryturkey 2y ago[flagged]
- matthewsinclair 2y agoAll I can do now is hope and prey that this ends up being the literal dictionary definition of “Poe’s Law”. #goodspeed
- lenerdenator 2y agoBeautiful. The poet they sent couldn't have done better.
- dogleash 2y agoFunny concept. Shame that The Onion's writing these days so mid.
- aaomidi 2y agoI think it’s more that the world is now the onion.
- tuyiown 2y agoOne option for the onion is to end being an entertaining opinion journal with very nuanced and layered (intended) points of view. They already are almost there, what place do they have where so many in the media are parodies of themselves ?
- Cthulhu_ 2y agoIt's like the conundrum that the writers of South Park had, reality became worse than the worst they could think of. To the point where they really struggled when Trump actually won in 2016.
- newmanpo 2y agoYou think the world has gotten dumber? By the numbers it’s smarter even if it’s unevenly distributed and less smart than people’s vain sense of cultural identity leads them to believe. For example; ~15% in the US have earned more than a bachelor’s. While public polls show people believe close to 50% have a PhD. Close to 50% have a bachelors. So the majority misunderstand ground truth but understand how to abstractly find the answer. Seems better to have people know how to count their way out of a bag and miss some inane specific than everyone being actually uneducated.
- philipov 2y agoIf life could stop imitating art now, I'd appreciate it very much.
- dionian 2y agoKids these days will never know how funny the onion used to be They used to distribute hard copies in big cities because people actually read it
- binarymax 2y agoI really can’t imagine a better steward. Truly amazing. I doubt there’s any way to undo all the damage that has been done, but at least we’ll get some cathartic laughs out of it all.
- bckr 2y agoI actually almost fainted laughing when I read this and then some of the coping responses on X. I needed this today. What a good move.
- CoastalCoder 2y ago> I really can’t imagine a better steward. You're probably right. But here's my alternates list: - The Simpsons writing team - Jimmy Kimmel (maybe) - Conan O'Brien - Stephen Colbert - a deep fake of Alex Jones, scripted by a bunch of giggling 6th grade boys
- datadrivenangel 2y agoFinancial Ruin and Mockery seem appropriate for the peddlers of vitriolic clickbait.
- consumer451 2y agoTim Onion's (Ben Collins) statement on Bluesky: [0] > Hi everyone. > 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. > I can't wait to show you what we have cooked up. Next post: [1] > Does anybody need millions of dollars worth of supplements? [0] https://bsky.app/profile/bencollins.bsky.social/post/3law22gmbfk26 https://bsky.app/profile/bencollins.bsky.social/post/3law22g... [1] https://bsky.app/profile/bencollins.bsky.social/post/3law23rslrk26 https://bsky.app/profile/bencollins.bsky.social/post/3law23r...
- gorbachev 2y agoIs that enough to tank the market with a fire sale? Probably not.
- TomK32 2y agoI'd chip in just to have that shit destroyed and see them selling onions instead.
- josefresco 2y agoThe funniest thing would be to keep running the site as-is but swap out the insanity for stuff that reads like insanity but is legit or morally sound. The audience might not notice, and could (IMHO) easily be duped into supporting good causes!
- consumer451 2y agoThis is exactly what I was thinking. Being funny is great, but for years people will continue to go to the website not knowing what has transpired.
- tialaramex 2y agoThe core idea of satire, which is often missed in supposedly satirical works is that you should not only make fun of the thing you don't believe, but you should also explain what you do believe under the cover of pretending to dismiss it. For example everybody knows Swift's Modest Proposal does not seriously intend that the problems in Ireland ought to be fixed by literally eating children, but if you read it, the proposal also very clearly explains what should be done, in the form of taxation of the wealthy absentee landlords (many of them English) for example - it just couches all these boring but entirely reasonable steps as ludicrous and easily dismissed while insisting that eating babies is a good idea.
- jacknews 2y agoI'm very much not a fan of Q-anon and related subcultures, but the sandy-hook award of $1.5 billion is obviously ridiculous, and is clearly just a government/institutional exercise in dictatorial/systemic power. There is no possible way that someone ranting on the internet can cause 1.5 billion of emotional damage or whatever the claim was. In particular, the libel (and it should be libel, making claims that are not true, rather than 'defamation' which is merely slurring them), should be from a credible source. Alex Jones is obviously not a credible source in this, or any case, and is unlikely to have caused any material harm (loss of jobs etc) to the 'victims'. I mean, good riddance to Alex Jones, but the tools and methods used were entirely inappropriate to a liberal democracy, where you prevail with better arguments.
- NotLongNow 2y ago[dead]
- fisherjeff 2y agoIt was a civil case, so no government/prosecutor, and the jury awarded much more than plaintiffs asked for. EDIT: Also you can disagree with the amount, but the award is literally the jury saying that the plaintiffs “prevailed with better arguments”
- s1artibartfast 2y agoThat doesnt mean it was a reasonable amount.
- pohuing 2y agoNo but it dispels the opening statement of gp about supposed dictatorial power.
- AnimalMuppet 2y agoWell, it moves the claim. Now the dictatorial power lies with the jury. The normal corrective for such a thing is to appeal the amount of the award, on the grounds that it is clearly unreasonable. For Alex Jones, it probably didn't matter - he was bankrupt either way, so the extreme amount of the award is just a middle finger from the jury, with no practical effect.
- neom 2y agoJeff Lawson the founder of Twilio owns The Onion, glad he's growing his quality retirement project.
- jnwatson 2y agoHe seems to be doing a better job running a newspaper than Bezos.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- mrguyorama 2y agoI bet they sell fewer fraudulent merchandise than Bezos too
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- KerrAvon 2y agodefinitely printing fewer lies in the newspaper than Bezos
- zeroonetwothree 2y agoWhat “lies” is Bezos printing? AFAIK the only influence he had was pulling the endorsement for president.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- master-hax 2y agohow did it feel when Saudi Arabia stole your handle? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neom
- 2y ago
- krunck 2y agohttps://archive.ph/pxmqX https://archive.ph/pxmqX
- delichon 2y agoThe current speculation by the right-o-sphere that Alex Jones is about to be appointed the Trump press secretary is apt for the moment where Trump seems to have made his nominations on the basis of how much they will disturb the left. It's hard to imagine anyone that could be more effective at achieving that than Jones.
- tyleo 2y agoI don’t think effective government is founded on the basis of lolz.
- Maken 2y agoHaven't you seen the DOGE department yet?
- reaperducer 2y agoHaven't you seen the DOGE department yet? How do you make government smaller? Step 1: Make government bigger by inventing a new department! (Strictly speaking, it's not a government department. It is a private entity that will operate outside the government, and influence the president. What could possibly go wrong?)
- Maken 2y agoWhatever it is, it for sure has the lolzs as its basis.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- dmix 2y ago> It is a private entity that will operate outside the government, and influence the president. What could possibly go wrong? National Science Board is an external advisory board to the US gov. There's tons of examples of this sort of thing, especially in education and science.
- nashashmi 2y agoI hope that they can keep the spirit of the infowars conspiracy genre alive. > “US seeks to destabilize Canada into a war with Mexico to solve the border crisis “
- LegitShady 2y agopotentially hilarious. can't wait to see what they launch.
- duxup 2y agoInside a lot of humor is some deep seated truth. It's encouraging that an org based on humor / even a little truth here ultimately buys and will discard an empire of hateful lies.
- gchamonlive 2y agoThe onion should just keep Alex Jones without any filters but put the onion logo on every page. The joke is already good enough, just keep it going.
- craftkiller 2y agoThe Onion already did that joke: https://theonion.com/sale-of-bet-to-white-supremacist-group-results-in-no-ch-1819595187/ https://theonion.com/sale-of-bet-to-white-supremacist-group-...
- carabiner 2y agoSources: Hackers Vandalized Drudge Report For Last 15 Years https://theonion.com/sources-hackers-vandalized-drudge-report-for-last-15-y-1819574601/ https://theonion.com/sources-hackers-vandalized-drudge-repor...
- russdpale 2y agoNot a good idea, Alex Jones is a big reason for the hate against people like Anthony Fauci.
- hotep99 2y agoAnthony Fauci is a big reason for the hate against people like Anthony Fauci.
- gchamonlive 2y ago> His advice was frequently contradicted by Trump, and Trump's supporters alleged that Fauci was trying to politically undermine Trump's run for reelection - Wikipedia Seems like a nice fellow
- arrowsmith 2y agoIdk I think the global events of 2020 to 2022 had a bigger effect on public opinion than fringe lunatics like Alex Jones.
- duxup 2y agoInside a lot of humor is some deep seated truth. It's encouraging that an org based on humor / even a little truth here ultimately buys and will discard an empire of hateful lies.
- muffwiggler 2y ago[flagged]
- nixdev 2y ago[flagged]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- micromacrofoot 2y ago> Whether this is actually true or not (and I haven't looked into) sounds about right
- nixdev 2y ago[flagged]
- MisterBastahrd 2y agoYour ignorance of how the legal system actually works does not make you immune from the consequences of defying the legal system. You've gotten accurate explanations multiple times and yet you continue to throw a pedantic tantrum in the comments. Calm down, conspiracy guy.
- jwkpiano1 2y agoThis is a ridiculous comment. They basically refused to participate in the trial, so much so that they got a default judgment against them. Any reasonable observer sees what happened here. You’re not fooling anyone.
- nixdev 2y ago[flagged]
- greenie_beans 2y agobro you need to stop reading info wars
- kregasaurusrex 2y agoThere's tonnes of worthless merchandise and supplements of a dubious nature which The Onion, the least expected of all possible buyers, now has to find a use for. My first suggestion would be melting down all of the 500% marked up gold bars[0] and make a one-time-run charity auction collectible for the Sandy Hook families. Or upcycling all the paper in Alex Jones' books [1] into paper mache, and use it to make globes, to really stick it to the globalists! [0] https://www.infowarsstore.com/24-karat-999-pure-gold-collectible https://www.infowarsstore.com/24-karat-999-pure-gold-collect... [1] https://www.infowarsstore.com/infowars-media/books/the-great-awakening-alex-jones https://www.infowarsstore.com/infowars-media/books/the-great...
- dmvdoug 2y ago> As for the vitamins and supplements, we are halting their sale immediately. Utilitarian logic dictates that if we can extend even one CEO’s life by 10 minutes, diluting these miracle elixirs for public consumption is an unethical waste. Instead, we plan to collect the entire stock of the InfoWars warehouses into a large vat and boil the contents down into a single candy bar–sized omnivitamin that one executive (I will not name names) may eat in order to increase his power and perhaps become immortal.*
- ziddoap 2y agoFunny, for sure, but does not explain what they will be doing in reality.
- SauciestGNU 2y agoThey probably don't want to be in the business of selling unregulated, scammy, and potentially dangerous goods. They might destroy the merch. Who knows.
- rsynnott 2y agoI'd assume destroy, maybe keep a bit for novelty value. Like, they're not going to resell it, you'd assume.
- ur-whale 2y agoFitting!
- bogtog 2y agoReally curious what the bidding was like or who else made an offer, since it seems that the Sandy Hook Victims (who own all of the debt?) wanted the sale to The Onion specifically
- TomK32 2y agoI'd be surprised if there weren't any safeguards to prevent Infowars from posting hate ever again.
- NortySpock 2y agoA buyer is not always required to select the bid of the highest monetary value; sounds like the Onion had a proposal that was "a reasonable sum of money, and also we help lead a healthy way to find a path to redemption for this website and make it a kinder place than before"
- Magnets 2y agoare the families the seller or just the beneficiary?
- apozem 2y agoPart of the sale is that Onion InfoWars will run pro-gun safety ads from Everytown USA. That and the obvious goal of humiliating Jones is probably why the Sandy Hook parents sold it to the Onion. Can't say I'm not happy. Jones is an evil man who has richly earned this indignity and worse. His campaign of harassment against people whose children were murdered was so bad, some parents brought private security guards to testify at his trial [0]. They described death threats, strangers confronting them in their homes and shooting at their cars. [0]: https://apnews.com/article/shootings-texas-school-connecticut-538914ccd342aad854bbb717966eb177 https://apnews.com/article/shootings-texas-school-connecticu...
- geor9e 2y agoI wondered how the structure worked too. Technically the Sandy Hook Victims can buy Infowars. All the money they bid would just all come right back to themselves anyway. This article calls it a "joint bid". https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-14/the-onion-says-it-s-purchased-infowars-out-of-bankruptcy https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-14/the-onion... Meanwhile, Alex Jones is calling a hearing next week to accuse the bid process of being rigged https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1857223561754059168 https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1857223561754059168
- petercooper 2y agoI'm watching his stream just to see how the drama goes down and a silly tech-adjacent bit popped up when he started ranting about Linux and how if "they" were trying to take Linus Torvalds down, they still couldn't ever own Linux!
- Evidlo 2y agoIs there a recording of this?
- petercooper 2y agoNo, but I imagine it'll pop up somewhere given everyone who records and shares his stuff. I was going to clip it at the time but my screen capture software decided to spontaneously update and demand money for the upgrade.
- philistine 2y agoAnd I believe he is wrong in this case. Linus is absolutely a lynchpin for Linux control. He can be replaced, but whoever replaces him then becomes that lynchpin. He's the benevolent dictator for life after all.
- samatman 2y agoYou're assuming that would be one person and one organization, the way it is now. I think that's the most likely outcome, but it isn't a safe bet by any means. In any case I hope it's a good long time before we have to find out, since I wish Linus long life and good health.
- philistine 2y agoThere's already a contingency plan, and Linus has designated his consigliere, Greg Kroah-Hartman, as his successor. I don't expect the structure to change. I guess we'll see.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- skibz 2y agoJustice, both poetic and civil. Bravo to The Onion.
- mannycalavera42 2y agotoday an onion made me cry a bit
- zenethian 2y agoWhat's wild is that if I go to the Infowars website I can't actually tell if The Onion is controlling it yet or not. It all looks like satire already, full of absolutely ridiculous headlines.
- avgDev 2y agoImagine there are humans who read those headlines and think to themselves that it is real.
- int_19h 2y agoWorse yet, imagine that those humans are armed, and many of them routinely fantasize about what they do when "it's time". My local gun store has sported an InfoWars sticker for many years now.
- olddustytrail 2y ago> My local gun store Not a thing for most places
- titusjohnson 2y agoCan't say that about the USA.
- Freedom2 2y ago> imagine that those humans are armed, and many of them routinely fantasize about what they do when "it's time" I don't think those people actually exist. I've never seen an actual person who wasn't satirizing or parodying an image of this person.
- fundingshovel 2y agoAnybody else have to triple check it wasn't just The Onion trolling?
- drawkward 2y ago[flagged]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- nixdev 2y ago[flagged]
- burnt-resistor 2y agoI refuse to believe in any conspiracies except that The Onion took over The Matrix and is running a Truman Show program full of unreal absurdities to see if I'll go insane.
- gigatexal 2y agoOh now this is some good news in the post truth world of Trump 2.0
- sincerecook 2y ago[flagged]
- talldayo 2y ago"Libel? What's libel?" - Famous last words
- sincerecook 2y ago[flagged]
- talldayo 2y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times_Co._v._Sullivan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times_Co._v._Sullivan
- sincerecook 2y agoOh, you don't think they do it with malice?
- talldayo 2y agoYou wanted to know where to collect your check, and that link very clearly explains why it won't be cut. If you don't want to read, you are free to hire an attorney to explain the concept to you for an hourly fee.
- hipadev23 2y agoIs Alex Jones the new Press Secretary yet?
- leptons 2y agoThe next 4 years are going to be an absolute farce in the US.
- vixen99 2y agoLooking from abroad some folk have the impression that the previous four years were. They were a triumph?
- leptons 2y agoThe US has recovered from inflation better than practically any other country. Yes, the last 4 years have been far, far better than trump's first term by any measure you care to mention, except maybe hate, lies and fear.
- marcusverus 2y agoBiden wins on inflation, real wage growth, illegal immigration, and international military conflict?
- zeroonetwothree 2y agoI’m not a Trump supporter but clearly inflation was worse during Biden than Trump, that’s just a fact. So your claim that it’s on “any measure” is wrong.
- bathMarm0t 2y agoFiscal policy was used to ensure we didn't all starve during the pandemic, and that 2024 didn't do it's best 1928 impersonation. Was inflation worse? Of course. The conditions and context of either presidency aren't even close.
- andy_ppp 2y agoThey can just run the original content with a The Onion logo and every will find it hilarious.
- dtquad 2y agoA significant percentage of the population will always gravitate towards the type of content produced by Alex Jones and Infowars. Russia solved this by making "controlled" media outlets (and in recent years Telegram channels) for people who gravitate toward conspiracies and contrarian viewpoints without making them critical of the current Russian administration. Obviously that is not what The Onion is planning to do but that is what this story reminded me of.
- ImHereToVote 2y agoThe US already does this. The problem is that most Americans can't understand that their favourite Red/Blue scandal is just a side show at the circus of genocide.
- zer8k 2y ago[flagged]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- astura 2y agoThis is actually really good news. The money they paid is going directly to Sandy Hook families Nobody can use Infowars for evil. Alex Jones looks like a fool.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- jl6 2y agoI worry that this might make The Onion a less credible news source.
- moogly 2y agoStrange. I like The Onion as much as the next guy, but you can't make Infowars more of a "parody of itself" than it already is. Just shut it down?
- quantadev 2y ago[flagged]
- zemo 2y agoThe Onion reporting that bigfoot was spotted riding a log flume at an amusement park is, you know, an obviously untrue statement that readers are aware is untrue, told for amusement. Alex Jones saying that Sandy Hook parents are faking it and their children were never killed is ... it's different, man. It's a different thing.
- autophagian 2y agoAgreed. Plus, these days, i can’t get any work done without my Brain Force Plus
- hyperpape 2y ago> I always thought "The Onion" was just like Alex Jones in that they call out all the insanity being done by a certain "ilk" of our society which has indeed gone insane thru over-consumption and over-believing in the lies the MSM tells daily, in their failed attempts to slander the political party they've decided to side against. -- You > Instead, the publication portrayed Biden as a blue-collar "average Joe", an affable "goofy uncle", a muscle car driver, an avid fan of 1980s hair metal, a raucous party animal, a shameless womanizer, a recidivist petty criminal, and a drug-dealing outlaw. --https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden_(The_Onion) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden_(The_Onion)
- akaru 2y agoYes, we will lose our first amendment rights if people can’t get rich off of telling obvious lies and slander against grieving parents. Look at yourself in the mirror and try again.
- quantadev 2y agoWe all want lies to not happen online. But the problem with censorship is that it must be done by humans, and any human will always impose their own sense of morality and politics onto others. So since no human can be trusted to be put in charge of someone elses speech that means NONE of us can be allowed to be "in charge". No human has the omniscience to be able to flag anything as "true" or "false". Best example in recent history: Hunter Laptop. People will flag it as "false" even knowing it's "true". The FBI and 51 officials did exactly that and it was enough to swing 2020 election all by itself. Not to mention the 100s of other political lies, everything from drinking bleach hoax, to "good people on both sides" hoax.
- jdadj 2y agoI wonder if Cards Against Humanity bid against them.
- bayareacommie 2y ago[dead]
- from-nibly 2y ago> “By divesting Jones of Infowars’ assets, the families and the team at The Onion have done a public service and will meaningfully hinder Jones’s ability to do more harm,” How hard is it really to start a new podcast?
- tantalor 2y agoIANAL but isn't it going to be very hard for Jones to meaningfully profit from a podcast, or anything really?
- narrator 2y agoJones isn't in it for the money.
- drawkward 2y agoNarrator: Jones was in it for the money.
- narrator 2y ago[flagged]
- drawkward 2y agoI am not sockpuppeting anyone; I am using a construction from "Arrested Development." This construction is frequently used on the internet. Is the whole of the internet sockpuppeting you? https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-narrator https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-narrator
- dijksterhuis 2y agoNarrator: the whole of the internet was indeed sockpuppeting them. (sorry, i couldn’t resist)
- 2y ago
- wg0 2y agoThat's the best practical joke I have ever heard!
- zdw 2y agoWhat really should have happened in this case, like the the Parkland killer, was for the people who sued to also take his Name and Likeness. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/families-settle-court-battle-over-who-owns-parkland-killers-name-and-likeness/ar-AA1tv1Fj https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/families-settle-court-b... This would hopefully avoid letting him just rebuild another slime empire.
- smegger001 2y agoThen we just end up with "the artist formerly known as Prince" situation where everyone knows the nom de plume is actually him.
- highcountess 2y agoYou are quite the tyrant. Think about what you are proposing. You should be ashamed
- grahamj 2y agoEverything about this is pure win
- stonethrowaway 2y ago[dead]
- nxobject 2y agoIt looks like Everytown for Gun Safety is now getting ads on The Onion, too - of course The Onion is still out of money, but what the hell at least there’s a serious part to this.
- EvanAnderson 2y agoReferring to Jones as "...the hapless owner of InfoWars (a forgettable man with an already-forgotten name)..." in the announcement is a masterstroke given Jones' ridiculous ego. I hope Jones is never named on the new site, but frequently and flagrantly referenced in a manner like this.
- SimbaOnSteroids 2y agoI hope for the opposite, Jones has so much video and audio content available cloning him digitally and shoving an AI generated fist, ahem, somewhere, and using his likeness as the satire would be cathartic. Better yet he himself argued in court that the person live on Info Wars is a character inseparable from the brand.
- ravenstine 2y agoThey should make a video of Jones actually eating his neighbors.
- russdpale 2y agoThis has been my thought all along. Drown out his real stuff with AI generated slop. Slop him.
- GuB-42 2y agoIsn't that illegal? If it isn't, it may become so in the near future as many legislations are working on it. Satire is protected in the US and many other countries, but "cloning" a person using AI implies that it makes difficult to distinguish between the real person and the clone. I guess it can pass if it is obvious that it is indeed satire, but that would be risky. Maybe it could be remediated by having him wear a clown hat or something.
- peppers-ghost 2y agoI don't think it would be in this case. It's possible his likeness will be included in the sale due to him claiming he played a character on infowars.
- zenogantner 2y agoNext step: The Onion buys X.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- NelsonMinar 2y agoThe NPR article conveys that this was more than just a very clever stunt > "The Connecticut families agreed to forgo a portion of their recovery to increase the overall value of The Onion's bid, enabling its success," according to their lawyers. ... Jones was hoping a bidder ideologically aligned with him would have bought Infowars and hired him back to keep doing his show. https://www.npr.org/2024/11/14/nx-s1-5189399/alex-jones-auction-infowars-bankruptcy-sandy-hook https://www.npr.org/2024/11/14/nx-s1-5189399/alex-jones-auct...
- oddevan 2y agoYeah, this seems like a clear-cut "We want justice, not money" decision. We don't know how much the families gave up (could be a little, could be significant), but whatever it was was the difference between Infowars remaining what it is or utterly destroying Infowars' credibility. Because now the Wikipedia entry is going to say "parody site" at the top.
- qingcharles 2y agoLOL, it's already being updated... "InfoWars was an American far-right[2] conspiracy theory[3] and fake news website[1] created by Alex Jones.[36][37] It was founded in 1999, and operated under Free Speech Systems LLC." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InfoWars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InfoWars
- barbazoo 2y ago> We don't know how much the families gave up (could be a little, could be significant) It's hard to put yourself in someone else's shoes but as a parent I can imagine the money not playing an important factor at all in this. Money would hopefully be the least of my worries.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- superfrank 2y agoJones owes them $1.5 billion. They're never going to see most of that judgement. They're likely giving up money they were never going to receive anyway. My hunch is that the judge and everyone involved knows that they aren't going to get anything substantial from Jones, which is why they allowed them to use money they are owed from the judgement as part of the bid. It allows them to get something of value out of the ruling (or at least take something of value from Jones).
- iancmceachern 2y agoPrediction: Over the next decades the onion will slowly become not a, but the only, source of real news as all the other sources become more like info wars.
- The_Blade 2y ago"And now with the State of the Onion address, President Swift!"
- oblio 2y agoShe'd probably be a better president than Trump, I imagine she's already a better businessperson than he is.
- fareesh 2y agoPrediction: The Onion will be out of business within 5 years
- iancmceachern 2y agoI bet this was posted by someone at the onion
- standardUser 2y agoWorth remembering that Donald Trump embraced Alex Jones after his sustained campaign of vicious, hateful and provably-false lies about dead child. So did Joe Rogan.
- xanderlewis 2y agoI actually kind of liked Joe Rogan (from the little I saw of him interviewing scientists and other ‘intellectuals’), but the more I think about it and learn the more I realise he’s just a moron.
- standardUser 2y agoHe's a very likeable personality. But he offers the same platform and uses the same kids gloves on all of his guests, regardless of if they are world class professionals at the top of their field or the most deranged sicko fucks peddling insane conspiracy theories.
- xanderlewis 2y agoYeah — exactly. I’ve never seen anything that makes me doubt he’s a good person. But he seems utterly unable to distinguish between bullshit artists and genuine experts.
- spacechild1 2y agoHis schtick is "I'm just a dumb boy, what do I know?", which IMO is just irresponsible when you have such huge reach and influence. Joe Rogan is either utterly naive or he is a cynic.
- bamboozled 2y agoHe also has a lot of very strong opinions on some important topics and then when convenient he will pull that line out.
- parkerhiggins 2y agoThe Onion did a fundraising campaign a few months ago. Glad to see this is where my donation went!
- Lammy 2y agoI wish I lived in the reality where the Waking Life (2001) version of Alex Jones was the one we got: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5HLn3eYLSo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5HLn3eYLSo
- h_tbob 2y ago[flagged]
- ThrowawayTestr 2y agoJones was sued in civil court.
- mdp2021 2y ago> striv[ing] to make life both scarier and longer There are "weather", "climate" and "Climate"... And that above is "Climate". A concise definition of the Times. Bless the Onion!
- Validark 2y agoWhat does this mean?
- programmertote 2y ago"Infinite Growth Forever," - that onion-y sign off made me laugh.
- jakjak123 2y agoActually started laughing seeing that
- pessimizer 2y ago[flagged]
- mdp2021 2y agoInteresting piece on The New Republic: https://newrepublic.com/post/188430/alex-jones-meltdown-reaction-the-onion-buy-infowars https://newrepublic.com/post/188430/alex-jones-meltdown-reac...
- MilnerRoute 2y agoI thought this was a prank, but "The satirical news company plans to shutter Jones’ Infowars and rebuild the website featuring well-known internet humor writers and content creators." https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/onion-wins-alex-jones-infowars-bankruptcy-auction-rcna179936 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/onion-wins-alex-jones-i... See also: "Why I Decided To Buy 'InfoWars'" "Make no mistake: This is a coup for our company and a well-deserved victory for multinational elites the world over... we plan to collect the entire stock of the InfoWars warehouses into a large vat and boil the contents down into a single candy bar–sized omnivitamin that one executive (I will not name names) may eat in order to increase his power and perhaps become immortal." https://theonion.com/heres-why-i-decided-to-buy-infowars/ https://theonion.com/heres-why-i-decided-to-buy-infowars/
- phendrenad2 2y agoHoly cod, Infowars' afterlife as a (presumed) parody of itself is going to be bigger than its regular existence ever was.
- lynndotpy 2y agoAt the time the news of the Sandy Hook shooting broke, I was a highschooler in a vo-tech school in Connecticut. Friday in late December are usually unserious days in K-12! People had their sights set on winter break and work was thin. But I remember that day had a lot of commotion, a lot of seriousness, and then a lot of silence. Being a vo-tech school, we had students from all over the state. Some kids left or were taken out early, some of them having had ties to the families in Newtown. Throughout the day, our school got emptier and emptier. A lot of students didn't return to the building for the whole week or so until winter break started. Even though the seriousness weaned over the days, there was an unbreakable eeriness that just comes with the building being so sparsely populated. Our highschool was a small one (about 400 students total) which exacerbated it. I lived with my parents at the time and I saw my mom gradually become a Sandy Hook "truther" as she fell deep down Facebook rabbitholes. It was bad. Although she eventually came around, that created distance between us that never recovered. There's a lot of bad and mind-boggling news abound, but this is a very personally satisfying headline.
- toomanyrichies 2y agoThanks for sharing. Watching your mom deteriorate like that must have been hard, to say the least.
- mportela 2y ago> I saw my mom gradually become a Sandy Hook "truther" as she fell deep down Facebook rabbitholes. It was bad. Although she eventually came around (...) Mind sharing how she came around? My dad fell a similar hole but I haven't been able to rescue him yet.
- CoastalCoder 2y agoI'm not in his camp, but trying to play Devil's Advocate for your benefit: Are you sure that your arguments are more solid than his? E.g., are you and he both relying on outside source of information, which neither of you have the time / resources / motivation to verify? And if so, are you and he just assigning different levels of trust in a given source? When I've been in situations slightly similar to yours, I was disheartened to realize that my own justifications weren't as solid as I originally thought. That is, I was still pretty well convinced of my own position, but I realized that the main reason for it was a judgment call and intuition, rather than an unassailable argument.
- TZubiri 2y agoThe dankest timeline
- lasc4r 2y agoThey should name it X
- amai 2y agoXWars!
- MetaWhirledPeas 2y agoIn one sense this is funny, in another it's justice, but I think from a broader perspective this is just more of the same tit-for-tat nonsense that moves the needle in the wrong direction. My hypothesis is that the U.S. didn't become more divided because of moron sites like I.W. but rather because of our collective reaction to them. These groups are far easier to ignore when we stop trying to silence them.
- nomendos 2y agoNice summary and agree in the way you put it, which I am stating to all sides - so nobody likes to hear it :-) since majority is literally polarized (i.e. their objectiveness, capacity to think deep, sort/prioritize is disrupted by impact to emotions/biases)
- jfengel 2y agoI don't think the causation runs either direction. At most, I'd say that a site like InfoWars reflects the division, rather than either causing it or being caused by it. Divisiveness in the US goes much deeper than that, and long predates both the Internet and that kind of radio program. You could perhaps pick the early 70s as a starting point, with the US deeply divided by Vietnam and Civil Rights, at exactly the same time as real government conspiracies (Watergate, COINTELPRO, MKUltra) came to light. I'd actually trace it back further than that, through McCarthyism, the Civil War, and back before the Revolution. But there's a fairly direct course between the divisiveness of the 1960s and where we end up today. I really don't think it would have helped anything to ignore Alex Jones.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Rendello 2y agoAn outcome of two-party systems is polarization. A voter in a true multi-party democracy can vote in a multidimensional way, whereas a voter in a two-party system is forced into one of two "sides" on a one-dimensional line. As the values people hold dear are threatened, they will inevitably flatten their values and be pulled towards a pole.
- nsxwolf 2y agoWhen The Onion itself goes bankrupt in the not too distant future, can Alex Jones buy the Onion and get the domain back?
- iambateman 2y agoBuying trash in order to put it in the dumpster forever is honorable. But trash belongs in the dumpster, and nowhere else.
- fsckboy 2y ago[flagged]
- rootusrootus 2y agoAre you suggesting that everything Alex Jones says is supposed to be funny? And we all just don't get the joke?
- fsckboy 2y agoJoe Rogan, live, has Jamie research outlandish claims Alex Jones makes, and it turns out there are citations providing the basis for his claims. If you don't get a kick out of that, yes, you don't get it.
- rootusrootus 2y agoThere are citations for the Sandy Hook crisis actor accusations?
- fsckboy 2y ago[flagged]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- rootusrootus 2y agoSo, Alex Jones tells overt lies -- actual, he knew the truth to be otherwise lies, which resulted in people harassing and even attempting to kill the parents of the victims of the Sandy Hook shootings. But this is okay with you because free speech trumps all other considerations? No consequences allowed for opening your mouth, especially instigating violence? Nobody can make you feel empathy, nor punish you for lacking it. But I heartily disagree with your attempt to elevate it to something noble. It is not a superpower that makes you the only rational person in the room. Perhaps this is your point -- it is mental illness.
- oldgun 2y agoWait. When I first saw this news on Twitter I thought it was a joke, since it was a tweet by The Onion.
- liotier 2y agoI hope they preserve all the URLs - I'm laughing already just thinking about the wealth of inbound links soon pointing to parodic content.
- lisp2240 2y agoI hope they reward the Knowledge Fight guys for helping to make this happen
- the_optimist 2y ago[flagged]
- the_optimist 2y agoTo all the drive-by downvoters. Whatevs. If this is a low-quality environment, so be it.
- senderista 2y agoCan Global Tetrahedron buy Twitter please?
- aucisson_masque 2y agoWhat a time to be alive !
- inasio 2y agoI heard bidding got pretty heated between the Onion people, cards against humanity, and the pinboard guy
- outside1234 2y agoThis is going to be the greatest satire website ever
- outside1234 2y agoThe hilarious thing is that they just basically need to add the label "Satire:" to every "news" title on the site to realize value from it.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Out_of_Characte 2y agoI understand the vitriol against mr jones perfectly. Before his sandy hook saga I was actually somewhat of a fan of his work. I remember hearing an idiotic rant of his complaining that the US government was putting chemicals in the water that turned the frogs gay. But sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. "Researchers have found evidence that even extremely diluted concentrations of drug residues harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species" https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/birth-control-in-water-supply/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/birth-control-in-... That, and the purposeful addition of fluoride and other additives do put our freshwater at risk of a scandal if we ever undercount or overcount any risk. I wouldn't even put it past 1960's era scientists to have come up with insane grant proposals for asymmetric warfare of freshwater. Hell, who knows what project flies under the radar until its not. These are all things I would expect to read in an onion news article. Alex jones had the same vibe the onion had with their 9/11 coverage and why I think the purchase is both satirical and not at the same time. Satire is heterological in that way. What I would like to remind the reader of is that alex jones made a big mistake in vilifying the victims. But please do not take that as a pass to do the same to alex jones as he did to his victims. An eye for an eye will make the world blind. After the coup we will finally have the most trusted source of our news back.
- cogman10 2y ago> alex jones made a big mistake in vilifying the victims. But please do not take that as a pass to do the same to alex jones as he did to his victims. An eye for an eye will make the world blind. I'm sorry but this really undersells what Alex did. He didn't make a simple mistake and he wasn't taken to court quickly. Those kids were brutally murdered in 2012. The first lawsuit against Jones over it was filed in 2018. Jones spent 6 years calling it a hoax, calling the parents liars, and paying "reporters" to harass parents, family, first responders, and government officials. The parents ended up moving, changing their names, hiring private security, getting shot at, and one died by suicide. One parent said they knew when Jones mentioned them because new harassment started shortly afterwards. Jones was contacted by the parents, asked to stop, and one parent would issue dmcas to stop him from continually sharing his deceased son's photo. In Jones' text messages, he and his crew called the sandyhook experts crazy and used sandyhook as a shorthand to crazy conspiracy garbage. So why did he do it? Because he would daily track his sales and noticed that days where he talked about sandyhook brought in more money. This was all proved in court and depositions. Alex Jones is far from persecuted. And I'd love living in a world where someone who dedicated 6 years of their media empire to harassing harassing greaving parents, that person loses their money and company.
- ingen0s 2y agoBreaking news: Trump names Alex Jones head of FCC
- nemo44x 2y agoCan anyone explain how InfoWars was sued and found guilty of free speech? There must be much more I’m not getting but although Jones sounds like an asshole I don’t think that’s illegal. Why can’t someone sell an opinion that a tragedy didn’t actually exist and was created to push an agenda? It could be a provably false claim but don’t they have the right to make it? Isn’t being despicable a basic right?
- Nursie 2y agoThere is a ton of information out there about this. It goes beyond free speech to defamation, inciting harassment etc. Repeatedly calling grieving parents "Crisis Actors", publicly calling them liars over and over again, it turns out is not OK. And then Jones/Infowars spectacularly failed to engage properly with the legal system, and the case went to default judgement. https://apnews.com/article/shootings-school-connecticut-conspiracy-alex-jones-3f579380515fdd6eb59f5bf0e3e1c08f https://apnews.com/article/shootings-school-connecticut-cons... > Isn’t being despicable a basic right? Personally I'm glad something could be done about it. He was profiting from causing further pain to people already going through something pretty unimaginable.
- alxndr 2y agoThat’s not how defamation laws work.
- hsuduebc2 2y agoMaking satire today is really hard. This could even be some article title on The Onion. Reality is their biggest competitor.
- m3kw9 2y agoIs not even funny
- mp05 2y agoWell not so fast the judge says: https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1857223561754059168 https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1857223561754059168
- bamboozled 2y agoShould we all just "get off the internet" and join X? What is the use of this post?
- mp05 2y agoWhy are you using quotation marks
- djfobbz 2y agoI hate to burst everyone’s bubble, but this is fake news. This deal is not final. The judge in the liquidation case is holding an evidentiary hearing next week to understand how and why secret bidding was set up and why it was not open to the general public. Sounds like a BIG loss for The Onion, not to mention the potential defamation cases that could arise from news outlets publishing an unverified story about a sale that isn’t final. Source: https://x.com/behizytweets/status/1857195724242329997 https://x.com/behizytweets/status/1857195724242329997
- janniehater 2y ago[dead]
- pupdogg 2y agoI read your comment with skepticism but it looks like you are correct. Very odd that they would publish this story so prematurely.
- briantakita 2y agoOdd but not surprising. There are political implications so any press is good press.
- pahool 2y agodo you have a source other than a tweet from the Twitter account of a political hack?
- tim333 2y agohttps://nbc16.com/news/nation-world/alex-jones-challenges-the-onions-winning-bid-for-infowars https://nbc16.com/news/nation-world/alex-jones-challenges-th...
- djfobbz 2y agohttps://variety.com/2024/digital/news/judge-onion-infowars-hearing-review-auction-1236211183/ https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/judge-onion-infowars-h...
- cmxch 2y agoNarrative security.
- peepeepoopoo88 2y ago[flagged]
- dougbrochill 2y agoThis is actually one of the funniest things I've seen
- hajile 2y agoOJ Simpson payed 33.5M to the family of the woman he murdered. It's insanity that you can flat-out kill someone and get paid less in civil court than denying a murder ever happened.
- jalapenos 2y agoI love this, it's like a pinnacle of performance art. Maybe "performance satire"?
- theodric 2y agoLooks like a judge has blocked the finalization of the sale pending a hearing: https://nypost.com/2024/11/15/media/infowars-sale-to-the-onion-could-be-held-up-in-court-as-alex-jones-says-site-is-hijacked/ https://nypost.com/2024/11/15/media/infowars-sale-to-the-oni...
- verisimi 2y agoIt's really just a simple internal resource transfer, I reckon.
- shadowvoxing 2y agoI know you on HN aren't actually interested in the truth, but here it is anyway. The Onion did not purchase Infowars: https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1857223561754059168?t=7Q-UGwa7_SEmrFPcM7Li8A&s=19 https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1857223561754059168?t=7Q-...
- bamboozled 2y agoYou're linking to a video from a guy who has lied so hard he is now bankrupt, to tell us it's a lie that his company got bought due to his lies, all while being hosted on a platform elusively catered to lying...
- 0points 2y agoWhy'd anyone take Jones words as truth anymore? He's a convicted serial lier. The domain obviously has changed owners.
- api 2y agoTruth from the guy who says the parents of murdered kids are “crisis actors.” This is the essence of populism: revolting against a disliked and distrusted establishment by backing a significantly and very obviously worse alternative. Instead of the mainstream media which has proven itself untrustworthy let’s go for a full on con artist. Instead of bad journalism let’s have pure fantasy made up by dudes taking bong hits. It’s the intellectual equivalent of protesting police misconduct by setting your own neighborhood on fire and destroying your own things. That’ll show em.
- jodacola 2y agoAs much as I’m amused by the purchase of InfoWars by The Onion, many are, in fact, interested in the truth and appreciate other perspectives. To wit, I did some googling because of your message, not the X post. Best I can find right now is this NY Post [0] article, so I’ll continue watching to see how this unfolds. [0] https://nypost.com/2024/11/15/media/infowars-sale-to-the-onion-could-be-held-up-in-court-as-alex-jones-says-site-is-hijacked/ https://nypost.com/2024/11/15/media/infowars-sale-to-the-oni...
- possibleworlds 2y ago
- internet_points 2y agoWir haben Kunst, damit wir nicht an der Wahrheit zugrunde gehen.
- throwaway106382 2y agoInfowars Sale to Onion Questioned by Bankruptcy Judge: https://archive.is/i3KQZ https://archive.is/i3KQZ EDIT: the sale been blocked, Alex Jones is still live as of this edit (NOV 15th 12:28 EST)
- adamrezich 2y ago[dead]
- geephroh 2y ago"Area Satirists Acknowledge Death Of Irony; Diversify Into Creatine Supplements"
- nph278 2y agoApology for bad English. Where were you when Irony die? I was at home, reading the Onion, when Tetrahedron call: Irony is kil. No.
- phyzix5761 2y agoDoes Alex Jones get any of this money? Because if he does this is effectively a partial refund for him.
- peppers-ghost 2y agoInfowars is being sold, along with his other assets because he's going bankrupt. He's not getting anything from the proceeds.
- ingen0s 2y ago...One nation indivisible – with liberty and justice for all. Justice has prevailed. Welcome Back, Alex.
- bbitmaster 2y ago[dead]
- butterisgood 2y agoAmong the things this year that I wish had never happened, this event is in the complement set.
- herdcall 2y agoApparently the sale has been reversed and is being contested. https://x.com/ericldaugh/status/1857261507010052306?s=46 https://x.com/ericldaugh/status/1857261507010052306?s=46
- qingcharles 2y agoI posted the full audio of the 14 Nov 2024 hearing with the bankruptcy judge so you can hear all sides of the story, and the judge's reaction. Apologies it's on the Tweeter/Xitter. https://x.com/magazedia/status/1857962924762898502 https://x.com/magazedia/status/1857962924762898502
- nkg 2y agoThis is so good. I love that country.