Oh look, somebody thinks they're about to get sued.
Conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones was pressured to air an apology for his role in spreading the false “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, which led to a Jones listener firing a gun inside a Washington, D.C. pizzeria. Jones aired a pre-taped video in which he acknowledged that he made commentary about the pizzeria owner that “in hindsight I regret, and for which I apologize to him.”
Since Alex Jones was not blathering on about lizard men, gay frogs, or that the Sandy Hook Elementary School murders were faked, we can presume he is making this statement under duress. Say, because a conspiracy theory he promoted led directly to a man entering a restaurant with a loaded gun and ordering the customers and employees out so that he could save the imaginary victims of Jones' imaginary conspiracy.
But this statement does not seem like it should be enough to stave off the presumptive lawsuit against him. After creating an incident that could have cost someone their life, "my bad" doesn't seem to cover it. So let's hope the owners, employees and customers of Comet Ping Pong all sue the malicious Jones for every cent he's worth and a few cents after that, so that finally, at long last, Jones will stop maliciously planting slanders against whichever Americans he feels like inventing fictions about on any given day. Americans' sense of collective decency could never stop him, but a threat to his pocketbook might finally have even the worst of America’s liars thinking twice.
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BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Daily Kos on this date in 2008—Will The Media Finally Report That The Surge Has Failed?
The centerpiece of John McCain's campaign is that "the surge is working" in Iraq. He has repeated this lie hundreds of times on the trail, and in doing so, he has rarely been challenged. The press has largely reported his contention as fact, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
The surge, the president's "New Way Forward," was supposed to provide stability, promote political progress, and otherwise assist the Iraqi government in meeting certain benchmarks. As to those expressed goals, the surge has, by any measure, failed.
Yet John McCain, this administration, and members of the press who dutifully repeated their spin as fact maintain that the surge "worked" because there has been, in the last several months, a sharp decline in violence. The reality presents a much more complex situation.
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