That’s actually the Florida version of a criminal mastermind. They chose a relatively silent mode of transportation, had no lights, and traveled at night. Actual thought and planning went into this.
Florida Man seems more likely to do this in rush hour traffic on the back of a stolen riding lawnmower, naked and drunk. So by comparison this guy is Walter White.
Jones went on his radio show and laughed, “Do these people think they’re going to get any of this money?”
Even if they never got a dime, I would hope this case might start to be the beginning of the end of a generation of people willing to spread so much false information/propaganda. And not just false information, but false information that’s both very easy to prove is false and the proof is already widely known.
Can you imagine if every time a politician or news/media personality or anyone else for that matter, did something that was little more than making up, and spreading, damaging rumors, they were successfully sued for a billion dollars? I think the country would very quickly be a very different place.
That is true, but what Jones did was especially egregious. He mocked and spread vicious, dangerous lies about people who lost very young children to violence. He continued to do so over a decade and made a lot of money in the process.
Then he didn’t even show up to defend himself, over many months of the court demanding he come, and got a rare summary judgement.
Then his lawyers basically gave away all of his information as they were trying to determine damages.
This is such a perfect storm of stupidity, hubris, tragedy, and willful evil that I don’t expect we’ll ever see its like again. I don’t think you can base a precedent off of it. It’s like lightning hitting a game ball in the middle of an outdoor sporting event. You’re never going to see it again, so it’s not going to set a trend.
What needs to happen is for him to be 100% deplatformed and have all his businesses seized so he can’t sell his lies or his bullshit products anymore. There’s a few other things I’d like to see happen to him too but I’ll leave that to y’alls imagination.
The venal malice in his actions is uncontestable. He more recently disavowed the theory, saying that he did not really believe the whole crisis actors narrative – which he apparently thought would serve as some sort of murky (non)apology, when in reality it makes him look even more utterly vile.
Still, on the scale of fucking people over, Jones is a piker when compared to the fossil fuel industry, which has spent billions on trying to convince everyone that oil and coal are not completely destroying the global climate/ecosystem, consigning our young ones to eke out a diminishing existence in a collapsing environment. Oh, but how awful is that silly Swedish girl who is trying to make life difficult for us.
What needs to happen is for him to be thrown in jail for civil contempt.
And to have his assets seized.
I get all that (the entire post), but to clarify myself since I missed the entire point I was trying to make…I wasn’t trying to suggest that a governor that got lucky enough to land a spot on Fox and using that time to purposely defame some random small business should find themselves with a billion dollar judgement. But it would be nice if the Jones case trickles down and means we start to see some kind of consequences for this type of behavior, especially when there’s already laws in place that can be used.
For the rest of his life, he will be a professional litigant.
Yes that would be nice.
It could be like a legal bogeyman; if it could happen to Jones, maybe it could happen to you if you go too far.
And that’s why punitive damages exist, it is sending a message that people can’t get away with this sort of thing. It’s supposed up be a deterrent.
A more realistic metaphor (or is it analogy?) is “it’s like a game ball hitting a bird in the middle of an outdoor sporting event”.
BTW, very recent news shows the Big Unit’s photography company logo is a dead bird. He’s also now an NFL photographer.
LOL, I still have a gif of that on my PC somewhere. It never ceases to amaze.
It wasn’t enough that he looked like a scarecrow, he had to show them birds he means BUSINESS.
I think you live in WA so I figured you knew that one. 
Here is hoping the bullpen doesn’t implode tomorrow. My heart cannot abide another repeat of yesterday’s performance.
Since I was about 3 years old (though I lived in Guam for 2 years and Kansas for 6 months).
They already used that one to make sure the middle and lower class are thoroughly convinced that 87,000 armed IRS agents are going to audit them come next April.
I’ve already heard this brought up in the wild on two separate occasions. In both cases it wasn’t even related to what we were talking about, they just brought it up for no reason.
I hope he filled the kid up with formula before he dropped him off, 'cause that’s where they really get you.
“Apt natural.”
The difference is that the judgement against Jones is a real thing, as opposed to the mythical army of new IRS agents.
To be honest, on any given night on any given road in Florida you will encounter idiots riding bicycles with no lights, often wearing dark clothing to boot. It’s a constant hazard when you’re out in the countryside on unlit roads and come around a corner to find one or more such idiots toodling along. I don’t think they’re all drug mules, but they’re definitely stupid MFs.
I, too, dream of living in the land of unicorns. None of the legal consequences for scum like Jones and the tan turd will cause their followers to think. Said followers will just whine about the persecution.
I’ve never seen that on a bike - yet. I have seen darkly-clad people walking across a rural highway at night, almost right in front of me despite me being the only car on the road.