Without consequences, Israel will continue to murder Palestinians

Refaat Alareer

The Electronic Intifada 

7 August 2022

Children’s ages can now be counted in wars.

 Osama Baba APA images

Amal is now two wars old.

No one ever gets used to being bombarded every year or so. The kids in particular live in constant fear. But it does become part of life.

As the Israeli missiles rained down on Gaza City on Friday, my daughter Amal, 6, asked her mom, memories of last year’s horror still fresh: “Will there be another war?”

During the assault, my children, especially Linah, 9, and Amal, have been mostly quiet. Amal has tried to sleep and Linah lay down in the living room. At night, like most kids in Gaza, they shriek in fear each time they hear an explosion. A report published by EuroMed found that about 91 percent of Palestinian children live in constant trauma and terror due to recurrent Israeli attacks.

Nothing can prepare you for this. Israel has been bombarding Gaza ever since the second intifada. We never get used to the bombs. And we never know how to deal with the sheer terror and absolute Israeli savagery. No lies or hugs or sweets can calm the kids down. When the bombs fall, the kids will always shriek in utter fear. The lies that things will be alright and that these are fireworks no longer work.

By Sunday morning, Israel had killed at least 30 Palestinians, including two Islamic Jihad leaders, and a little girl, Alaa Qaddum, 5.

Well over 250 Palestinians have been injured and several homes and buildings have been destroyed or damaged.

As I was writing this on Saturday morning, Israel had just struck a wedding in the northern Gaza Strip, reportedly killing the groom’s mother.

Flimsy and murderous

Israel’s pretext this time is as flimsy as can be. After detaining a senior Islamic Jihad leader in the occupied West Bank, Israel said it was engaged in a “preemptive operation” to stop alleged missile attacks before they start.

This is like Israel’s war on Gaza in May 2021 and its massive 2014 attack and the many escalations between them. And it brings back memories of Israel’s bombing campaigns in 2012, 2008-09, 2006 and many others, several of which coincided with Israeli elections.

Palestinian resistance fighters, as expected, reacted eventually by firing volleys of homemade missiles at Israeli military targets. By doing so, they are affirming the Palestinian right to self-defense and liberation.

Many Palestinians have seen countless of their loved ones murdered in their sleep, or when they were resting and generally minding their own business. If Israel will kill us regardless of who we are or what we are doing, then, many Palestinians believe, why not die fighting and defending our very existence?

There is no one more determined or dangerous than a person who has nothing to lose.

During the May 2021 aggression, according to Airwars, in more than 70 percent of Israeli attacks that killed Palestinian civilians, there were no reports of any casualties from the resistance. In other words, civilians were the only victims.

According to B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group, nearly two-thirds of the more than 2,200 Palestinians Israel killed in Gaza in 2014 were civilians.

Notice that such statistics usually count Palestinian civilian police or resistance fighters killed in their homes as they slept as militants.

Given these realities, I am certain that civilians, mainly children, women, and the elderly, are not collateral damage – rather they are Israel’s main targets.

Sweets and guilt

But despite all that, I want to make things seem okay to my children. I can’t prevent their eyes from seeing what they see, or their ears from hearing the bombs. I cannot protect their hearts from the Israeli mayhem.

So, I go out to buy sweets. But to venture out is to put yourself in grave peril. One might get killed simply being in the street, not that remaining at home is much safer.

I don’t take the elevator if the power is on. Not that the stairs are safer.

I make sure not to walk near buildings or under trees lest I should appear suspicious to Israeli drones. Not that walking in the middle of the street is any safer.

And then there is the guilt. The guilt of being able to go out while hundreds of thousands can’t. The guilt of being able to buy bread and other essentials while hundreds of thousands cannot afford such necessities.

Taking my time to double check I am not buying Israeli products, I get several things: cookies, chips, chocolate pudding and sweets. When I come back home, Amal does not rush to greet me as she usually does. She does not rush to ransack the bags to snatch and devour her favorite sweets. She remains motionless, almost lifeless.

Israel has the “right to defend itself,”says the American administration. So, too, say British and European statements.

Several officials, including from the UN and the Red Crescent, waited for hours for the Palestinian resistance to react to issue tame condemnations calling on “all sides to avoid further escalation.”

The UN’s Tor Wennesland announced he was “[d]eeply concerned by the ongoing escalation between #Palestine|ian militants & #Israel” … of course only after the Palestinian resistance struck back with what little they have.

These vicious lies of Israel defending itself attempt to create a false moral equivalence that both sides are to blame. This obscures rather than reveals.

It is really not hard to understand why this keeps happening, why my youngest daughter is two wars old already. Israeli immunity from criticism and consequences along with the political and financial support it unconditionally receives from the West (and even from Arab countries) are the reasons it feels safe to continue to murder Palestinians.

Lives and votes

Indeed, we understand that when Israel escalates against us, its political leaders not only receive more votes in elections, they receive more support from western countries.

With Israeli polls projecting Benjamin Netanyahu to win a majority of 60+ seats in upcoming elections, the current interim coalition government, considered to be “moderate” by many liberals in the West, must have thought a quick war on Gaza might appeal to Israel’s electorate.

Palestinians have become accustomed to Israel’s carnage when elections approach. Israeli leaders know the best way to win votes is to flex their muscles. Our problem, in other words, is not with Netanyahu or the Likud but with the Israeli occupation itself.

Yet it is wrong to assume Israel kills Palestinians only when there are elections on the horizon. Israeli and Zionist militias have been massacring Palestinians for approximately 100 years now. Israel is not satisfied with anything but total victory for its colonial rule.

Palestinians are not Ukrainians for the world to care about. It’s not Russia bombing us for the world to send us sophisticated weapons to defend ourselves. We are not mostly blond with blue eyes. We are not Jews. And for being the wrong sort of people, it seems, we have to starve, to live in fear and terror, and die without anyone lifting a finger.

Lies and questions

The sweets and the kids’ favorite pudding remain untouched. Linah and Amal cower against the walls of the living room. They refuse to eat or be entertained. Nusayba, my wife, tells them yet another set of little lies: the bombings are far away, the missiles are “ours,” and this too shall pass.

There will be more Israeli wars and more Israeli massacres. Will Israeli war criminals ever pay for their crimes? Will Arab countries rushing to normalize ties with Israel see it for what it is: an entity built on the violent dispossession and dislocation of Palestinians? Can grassroots organizations and free people wherever they may be put more pressure on their governments to boycott and hold Israel accountable?

If not, the lies, little and big, will continue. Israel will continue to shed Palestinian blood, for fun or for political gain, or to consolidate its occupation.

Or simply because it can.

Refaat Alareer is the editor of Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine. He teaches world literature and creative writing at the Islamic University of Gaza. Twitter: @itranslate123

Dozens Dead As Fighting In Gaza Strip Escalates Transcript

Rev › Blog › Transcripts › Gaza Strip › Dozens Dead As Fighting In Gaza Strip Escalates Transcript


Intensifying fighting in the Middle East between Israeli Defense Forces and the militant group known as The Palestinian Islamic Jihad has left at least 24 dead. Read the transcript here.

Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling.

Matt Bradley: (00:01)
Tonight, the Gaza Strip teeters on the edge of all-out war, as an exchange of missiles between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group escalated on its second day. It’s the worst fighting the Gaza Strip has seen in war than a year.

Matt Bradley: (00:16)
Tonight the Israeli military is claiming some deaths were due to a misfired rocket from Gaza, an incident Palestinian officials say killed six people. At least two dozen Palestinians have been killed so far. Among them, the entire Islamic Jihad leadership, according to Israel’s military, and a five year old girl. Mourners for that youngest victim gathered in Gaza City’s morgue yesterday.

Riyad Qaddoum: (00:40)
[foreign language 00:00:40].

Matt Bradley: (00:40)
“What has she done wrong, this innocent child? She was preparing for kindergarten,” her grandfather said.

Matt Bradley: (00:45)
Israel started the fighting yesterday with a barrage of missiles it said was meant to preempt an imminent Palestinian attack. Palestinian Islamic Jihad responded by firing at least a hundred rockets into Israel overnight, most of which Israel intercepted, according to its Defense Ministry. Only two Israelis suffered minor injuries.

Matt Bradley: (01:04)
Both sides appear to be digging in for a longer fight. A worsening conflict for civilians, but fought on a desperate and deprived Gaza Strip. Matt Bradley, NBC News.

Militants fire rockets at Jerusalem after Israel kills senior Islamic Jihad commander

By Adam Schrader

Rockets are fired by Palestinian militants into Israel, amid Israel-Gaza fighting, 

in Gaza, on Sunday. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Militants fired rockets at Jerusalem on Sunday after Israel announced it had killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza as a delegation from Egypt arrived in the country to broker a truce between the opposing parties.

Israel Defense Forces announced Sunday that Khaled Mansour, the commander of Islamic Jihad's Southern Gaza Division, was targeted and killed in an airstrike on an apartment building in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza on Saturday night, escalating three days of intense fighting between the parties.

"He was responsible for dozens of terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers," the Israel Defense Forces said in its statement. "We will continue to act against any threat to Israel."

The strike triggered a barrage of 580 missiles fired from Gaza toward Israel which intercepted 97% of them with its Iron Dome defense system, the Israel Defense Forces said in another statement.

RELATED Israel bombs residential buildings in Gaza in second day of airstrikes

"In response to continuous rocket fire from Gaza toward Israel, we are currently striking Islamic Jihad rocket launch posts in Gaza," the Israel Defense Forces said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said in a statement that Israel Defense Forces have killed 31 civilians including six children and four women and injured another 284 civilians.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid vowed in a statement that the operation in Gaza "will continue as long as necessary."

RELATED Israel Gaza attack kills Palestinian militant commander, 5 year-old-girl

Islamic Jihad confirmed Mansour's death in a statement to The New York Times and said his body was found with the bodies of two more militants and five civilians, including a child, under the rubble of a building.

"We affirm that the blood of the martyrs will not be spilled in vain," the Islamic Jihad's military wing vowed, according to The New York Times.

Israeli officials told The New York Times that a delegation from Egypt had arrived in Israel and made progress on Sunday toward a cease-fire between Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian militants.

Right-wing Israelis shout at Palestinians after visiting the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem, on Tisha B'Av, on Sunday. Right-wing Israelis commemorated the destruction of the ancient temples in Jerusalem while air raid sirens sounded in the areas of Jerusalem as the Israeli military strikes Gaza and Palestinian militants fire rockets into Israel. 

A Palestinian gestures to Israeli police securing right-wing Jews who visited the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem, on Tisha B'Av, on Sunday.

Palestinian youth shout at right-wing Jews leaving the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem, on Tisha B'Av, on Sunday.

All Photos by Debbie Hill/UPI |

Fidel Castro's daughter defends casting James Franco in biopic: 'The project is almost entirely Latino'

Emmy winner John Leguizamo and other Latinx actors have called out Franco's casting as the controversial Cuban leader in the upcoming film, Alina of Cuba.

By Jessica WangAugust 07, 2022 at 12:18 PM EDT

Fidel Castro's daughter Alina Fernández supports James Franco's casting as her father in the upcoming independent film, Alina of Cuba.

The anti-communist activist said "the project is almost entirely Latino, both in front and behind the camera" after Emmy winner John Leguizamo and other Latinx actors criticized Franco's casting, calling the inclusion appropriation amidst the Latinx community's continued exclusion from Hollywood.

"James Franco has an obvious physical resemblance with Fidel Castro, besides his skills and charisma," Fernández told Deadline. "I find the selection of the cast amazing." The film, based on the true life story of Fernández and her exile from Cuba as a staunch critic of the government and her father's rule, will also star Ana Villafañe as Fernández and Mía Maestro as her mother Natalia Revuelta, the socialite who had an impassioned affair with Castro.

Fidel Castro's daughter Alina Fernández defends casting James Franco in biopic 'Alina of Cuba'

 

| CREDIT: JUANJO MARTIN/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK; DANIELE VENTURELLI/DANIELE VENTURELLI / GETTY

Alina of Cuba will be directed by Miguel Bardem with a script from award-winning playwrights Jose Rivera and Nilo Cruz. "The filmmakers worked a lot and I can't be more grateful to them for their overall inclusive selection," Fernández continued. "To me, the most important thing about this movie is that the conversation about Cuba is alive. Personally, the experience is so far too unexpected but more than anything, humbling."

Leguizamo spoke out against Franco's addition on social media Friday. "How is this still going on?" the actor asked. "How is Hollywood excluding us but stealing our narratives as well? No more appropriation Hollywood and streamers! Boycott! This F'd up! Plus seriously difficult story to tell without aggrandizement which would b wrong! I don't got a prob with Franco but he ain't Latino!"

"Latin exclusion in Hollywood is real! Don't get it twisted!" he added in another post. "Long long history of it! And appropriation of our stories even longer! Why can't Latinxers play Latin roles? Why can't we play lead roles?" Sol Rodriguez, Jeff Torres, and Ana Navarro also expressed their disappointment. In response, John Martinez O'Felan, a producer on the film, called Leguizamo's comments "a blind attack."

"A guy like John Leguizamo has historically been looked up to by Hispanics as one of America's earliest actors of Latin descent since the '90s and I've always admired him as a fellow underdog," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "But his comments are culturally uneducated and a blind attack with zero substance related to this project... I think he should move past himself and also acknowledge that this story is about a Latin female immigrant living in America who is of historical importance, led by a Latin woman and I'm just an underdog who is making it."

Reps for the film and Franco didn't immediately respond to EW's request for comment Sunday.

Cuban oil storage facility blaze leaves one dead, 17 missing and 121 injured

Sunday 7 August 2022 

The blaze was triggered by a lightning strike at an oil storage facility in Matanzas.

Credit: AP

A fire set off by a lightning strike at an oil storage facility in the Cuban city of Matanzas has left one person dead, 121 people injured and 17 firefighters are unaccounted for.

Firefighters and other specialists were still trying to control the blaze at the Matanzas Supertanker Base, where the fire began during a thunderstorm Friday night, the Ministry of Energy and Mines tweeted.

Authorities said about 800 people were evacuated from the Dubrocq neighbourhood closest to the fire.

Cuban authorities said an unidentified body had been found late on Saturday and officials were trying to identify it.

The government said it had asked for help from international experts in “friendly countries” with experience in the oil sector.

Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío said the US government had offered technical help to quell the blaze. On his Twitter account, he said the “proposal is in the hands of specialists for the due coordination.”

Giant waterspout descends from dark clouds to loom over Cuban port city

A huge plume of smoke rises from the Matanzas Supertanker Base, as firefighters work to quell the blaze.    Credit: AP

Minutes later, President Miguel Díaz-Canel thanked Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Nicaragua, Argentina and Chile for their offers of help. A support flight from Mexico arrived on Saturday night.

The official Cuban News Agency said lightning hit one tank, starting a fire, and the blaze later spread to a second tank.

As military helicopters flew overhead dropping water on the blaze, a dense column of black smoke billowed from the facility and spread westward more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) toward Havana.

Roberto de la Torre, head of fire operations in Matanzas, said firefighters were spraying water on intact tanks trying to keep them cool in hopes of preventing the fire from spreading.

Cuba's Health Ministry reported that 121 people were injured with five of them in critical condition. The Presidency of the Republic said the 17 people missing were “firefighters who were in the nearest area trying to prevent the spread.”

The accident comes as Cuba struggles with fuel shortages. There was no immediate word on how much oil had burned or was in danger at the storage facility, which has eight giant tanks that hold oil used to fuel electricity generating plants.

A helicopter carrying water flies over the Matanzas Supertanker Base.

Credit: AP

“I was in the gym when I felt the first explosion. A column of smoke and terrible fire rose through the skies,” resident Adiel Gonzalez said. “The city has a strong smell of sulfur.”

He said some people also decided to leave the Versailles district, which is a little farther from the tank farm than Dubrocq.

Many ambulances, police and fire engines were seen in the streets of Matanzas, a city with about 140,000 inhabitants that is on Matnzas Bay.

Local meteorologist Elier Pila showed satellite images of the area with a dense plume of black smoke moving from the point of the fire westward and reaching east to Havana.

“That plume can be close to 150 kilometres long,” Pila wrote on his Twitter account.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones blames Soros for verdict to pay millions over Sandy Hook

by Asher Notheis

 Breaking News Reporter |

 WASHINGTON EXAMINER
| August 06, 2022

Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has blamed George Soros after he was ordered to pay $50 million in damages over comments he made about the 2012 shooting in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

Jones said in a Friday broadcast that Soros had joined other "operatives" in coordinating the trial, though did not specify any names. He also accused Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of being a "blue-haired SJW" and claimed she "altered the record of the trial."

"This is beyond any kangaroo rigged court ever," Jones claimed without evidence.

GEORGE SOROS SAYS IT'S NOT HIS FAULT VIOLENT CRIME IS ON THE RISE

Jones alleged that Gamble had turned off the livestream of the trial at certain points when his lawyers were speaking in an attempt to discredit him. He also said she was "coordinating with the corporate media" who were present in the courtroom covering the trial.

The conspiracy theorist also denied that his lawyers handed over a digital copy of his cellphone to the opposition team, saying that he willingly handed over a copy of the phone. A Sandy Hook lawyer claimed on Wednesday that members of Jones's legal team "messed up" and sent over a file believed to contain all of the Infowars host's text messages going back two years.



The Infowars host's accusations come right after he received a punitive damage verdict of $45.2 million from the jury on Friday. The total of the punitive damage verdict is in addition to the $4.1 million in compensatory damages he must pay to Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of a victim in the school shooting.

The trial over the past week is the first of three trials that Jones will face in relation to his claims that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax. The other two are set for September, one in Texas and one in Connecticut, with eight families represented in the Connecticut trial.

On Wednesday, Jones conceded that he believes the shooting was "100% real" and that it was irresponsible to declare the shooting a hoax.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones attempts to answer questions about his emails during trial at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday.
(Briana Sanchez/Austin American-Statesman via AP, Pool, File)

How Alex Jones helped mainstream conspiracy theories become part of American life

By Shannon Bond
Published August 6, 2022 


Matt York
/
APA jury has ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay millions of dollars for spreading lies about the Sandy Hook school massacre. But his influence in right-wing media and politics remains strong.

Name a traumatic news event in recent decades, and it's almost certain Alex Jones has claimed it didn't happen — or not the way you think it did.

The Boston Marathon bombing in 2013? Staged by the FBI.

The shooting of Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords in 2011? A government mind control operation.

The September 11th terrorist attacks? An inside job.

All lies.

The conspiracy theorist and radio host was confronted with his track record of fabulism this week in an Austin, Texas, courtroom. He was on trial to determine how much he should pay for defaming the parents of a first grader killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, after years of falsely claiming that no children died and the families were "crisis actors" in a "giant hoax" designed to take away guns.

"Would you agree with me that there is not a mass tragedy, mass bombing, mass shooting that has occurred in America in the past 15 years that you have not attached the words 'false flag' to?" Mark Bankston, the parents' attorney, asked Jones.

"I have asked the question because I believe a lot of things are provocateur or allowed to happen," Jones replied.

The jury ordered Jones to pay $49.3 million in damages to Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, for the mental anguish caused by his lies about Sandy Hook.
Jones has a history of prolific fabulism

Jones got his start in public access broadcasting in Austin, Texas, in the 1990s. From his early days on air, he spouted conspiracy theories about the siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, and the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

When his wild claims got him fired from a local radio station, he founded Infowars in 1999 and started broadcasting over the internet and in radio syndication.

After the September 11th attacks, Jones surged to fame as a "truther," claiming the Bush administration was behind the tragedy.

As his audience grew, Jones popularized a vocabulary for pernicious doubt: not just that officials and media are hiding the truth, but that tragic events are being engineered for nefarious purposes.

"He's at least a catalyst of those prevailing narratives that follow almost every newsworthy tragedy, whether it's a mass shooting or otherwise," said Sara Aniano, a disinformation researcher at the Anti-Defamation League.

Jones's response to Sandy Hook was perhaps the most egregious example. For years, Infowars aired falsehoods that the tragedy was invented and implied the families of the murdered children were lying.

That created a template to cast doubt on subsequent mass shootings.

"A lot of people who share these theories that those were staged by the government for gun control reasons or that the children and parents are crisis actors will reference Sandy Hook as the basis of that conclusion," Aniano said.

The lies on Infowars had real-world consequences.

At the trial, Lewis and Heslin testified about the harassment and death threats they've received from people who believe Jones.

"When you say those things, there's a fringe of society that believe you, that are actually dangerous," Lewis said in emotional testimony addressed directly to Jones.
Infowars profits from "preaching apocalypse"

Infowars doesn't just disseminate harmful lies; it profits from them.

According to a forensic economist called by the parents' lawyers, Infowars' parent company raked in $64 million in sales of supplements, survivalist gear and other products last year.

The plaintiffs also presented evidence from Jones's own cell phone showing in 2018, Infowars was making as much as $800,000 a day.

The combined net worth of Jones and Infowars is between $135 million and $270 million, the economist estimated.

Jones is not the first person to grift off conspiracy theories, but Infowars harnessed the power of the internet to do so on a massive scale — a model that's been imitated by anti-vaccine advocates, COVID-19 deniers and champions of baseless claims that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

"You preach apocalypse and then you sell stuff that can help you in an apocalypse," said Yunkang Yang, a communications professor at Texas A&M.

Elijah Nouvelage / Getty Images
/Jones inside the Georgia State Capitol during a "Stop the Steal" rally against the results of the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 18, 2020 in Atlanta, Ga.

Trump and Jones find common ground in conspiracism

Jones has also left a mark on conservative politics.

When Barack Obama was president, Infowars and Donald Trump both promoted the racist lie that he was not an American citizen.

Infowars was also a big spreader of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which falsely accused Hillary Clinton and other Democrats of running a child sex trafficking ring out of a Washington, DC pizzeria. Days after Jones urged his audience to investigate, a man, who told the New York Times he listened to Jones's radio show, entered the restaurant and fired a rifle. (Jones later apologized to the restaurant owner for promoting the lie.)

In late 2015, ahead of Republican primaries, Trump called into Infowars for a mutually fawning interview with Jones.

Trump "gave those folks who are conspiracy theorists signals that he was their guy and they had a candidate who was a conspiracy theorist for the first time," said Melissa Ryan, CEO of consulting firm CARD Strategies, which tracks disinformation and extremism.

"Trump won by being willing to appeal to this base of supporters that other people in the party would have kept at arm's length," she said, "lest they be called out for having extremist views."

The early years of Trump's presidency may have been the peak of Jones's mainstream influence. By 2018, pressure mounted on tech companies to crack down on hate speech and harmful falsehoods. Jones and Infowars were kicked off Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Apple's app store.

That curbed his ability to reach a wider audience, but according to evidence presented in court, he's still making plenty of money. The forensic economist called by the plaintiffs said Jones's deplatforming has not dented his revenues.

Now, Jones and Infowars are facing multiple trials that could put them on the hook for further damages to the victims of his lies.

Jones is trying to shield his assets through bankruptcy, but has vowed to keep Infowars alive.

But even if Jones were to go silent and Infowars went out of business tomorrow, the seeds of doubt he so effectively planted are flourishing.

"Conspiracy is a permanent part of our political and cultural discourse now," Ryan said. "I think you can say that Alex Jones was an innovator in that."

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


Shannon Bond is a business correspondent at NPR, covering technology and how Silicon Valley's biggest companies are transforming how we live, work and communicate.
See stories by Shannon Bond

Massive verdict against Alex Jones isn't just vindication. It's a warning.

This is not only a large blow to Jones, who has already filed for bankruptcy, but to other conspiracy-theory fomenters.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones attempts to answer questions about his emails asked by Mark Bankston, lawyer for Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, during trial at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday.

Briana Sanchez / Austin American-Statesman via AP, Pool

Aug. 6, 2022, 

By JoAnne Sweeny, professor of law at the University of Louisville’s Louis D. Brandeis School of Law

Alex Jones, host and creator of the far-right conspiracy-theory website Infowars, has received what is likely to be only the first of a series of expensive lessons about the importance of fact-checking.

On Thursday, a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay $4.1 million in compensatory damages to the parents of one child killed in the Sandy Hook massacre. The parents, Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, had sued Jones for defamation after Jones accused them of faking the death of their son in order to attack gun rights.

The size of the verdict validates the strategy of going after conspiracy theorists on grounds of defamation.

On Friday, in addition to the $4.1 million, meant to compensate Heslin and Lewis for the emotional trauma they suffered, the jury determined Jones would also have to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages. Punitive damages are awarded against defendants to punish them for their bad behavior.

This is not only a large blow to Jones, who has already filed for bankruptcy, but to other conspiracy-theory fomenters who fill their audiences’ heads with stories of the deep state, a stolen election and a child-sex ring in the basement of a pizza restaurant.

Jones styles himself as a media broadcaster, and the media has historically been given a lot of latitude in publishing statements that are even partially false. That latitude has helped modern partisan news sites like Newsmax and Breitbart to use their platforms to spread outlandish theories with impunity.

But after the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 insurrection, individuals and companies have started to push back against media outlets that spread false information. Their weapon of choice is the defamation suit.

Fox News is currently being sued for $1.6 billion by Dominion Voting Systems for Fox News’ claim that Dominion voting machines helped rig the 2020 presidential election. The verdict against Jones should serve as a warning to the network and all the other conspiracy-peddlers out there. Repeating nonsense theories from 4chan or Reddit may not be protected free speech even if you attempt to disguise it as “questioning known liars in the media.”

Alex Jones ordered to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages in defamation trial

Early on in his Texas case, Jones tried to invoke his freedom of speech in multiple ways. First, he argued that the case should be dismissed because he was speaking on a matter of public concern, and his speech should therefore be protected under the First Amendment. Second, he argued that his statements against the Sandy Hook families were mere opinions and therefore couldn’t be defamatory. He lost both of these arguments largely on procedural grounds because he refused to produce documents to the plaintiffs' attorneys despite a very clear court order.

It’s unfortunate that a jury never heard the merits of the case or Jones’ First Amendment defenses. The unusual path of this case allows for a considerable amount of uncertainty in whether conspiracy theories can be defended on free speech grounds in the future.

The Texas Court of Appeals, however, did indicate that many of Jones’ claims would not have succeeded before it sent the case back to the trial court whose jury determined the payout. In response to Heslin’s claim of defamation, which rested on Jones’ statements being provably false, Jones argued that his statements were not defamatory because he was just stating his opinion and not a false statement of fact.

The court of appeals, however, pointed to several of Jones’ statements claiming that Heslin had lied about holding his son’s body. Jones, cloaking his statements as merely “questioning” whether the media was lying because of allegedly conflicting evidence, was not enough for the court of appeals to find that Jones had made a statement of opinion rather than fact.

The court of appeals’ opinion, along with the massive payout faced by Jones — whose estimated net worth is between $135 million and $270 million — should give less financially secure conspiracy theorists pause before hitting the publish button.

The size of the verdict validates the strategy of going after conspiracy theorists on grounds of defamation. That’s significant because, though it has been argued that some of Jones’ activity crosses the line into outright criminal incitement, it’s much harder to make a case on that score.

After Jones broadcast the home address and other identifying details about Leonard Pozner, another one of the Sandy Hook parents, death threats followed. But this doesn’t necessarily show that Jones actually wanted Pozner to be harmed.

The closest thing Texas has to incitement is criminal solicitation, and this crime is limited to situations in which the parties are “acting together,” which means that the person who “encourages” the crime must have specifically wanted that crime to happen.

During his testimony this week, Jones apologized to the families and stated that he “never intentionally tried to hurt” them. Indeed, there isn’t a lot of evidence to support the accusation that Jones actively wanted his followers to harass and threaten the Sandy Hook families, even though that is what ultimately occurred.

Texas also has a criminal harassment law, which makes it illegal for a person who has the “intent to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, or embarrass another” to publish “on an Internet website, including a social media platform, repeated electronic communications in a manner reasonably likely to cause emotional distress, abuse, or torment to another person, unless the communications are made in connection with a matter of public concern.”

Again, Jones’ behavior almost fits the bill. He did make repeated broadcasts on his website that were likely to cause the Sandy Hook families emotional distress. But there isn’t much evidence that he did it specifically to harass them and, more important, the subject was certainly a matter of public concern.

Though it has been argued that some of Jones’ activity crosses the line into outright criminal incitement, it’s much harder to make a case on that score.

But with no recourse under criminal law, it was up to the Sandy Hook families to go after Jones’ wallet. This week, the only thing the jury was asked to determine was how much money Jones should be required to pay to Heslin and Lewis for his defamatory statements.

When assessing damages, Jones’ apology to the parents may have influenced the jury, though under Texas defamation law, there is no requirement that Jones intended to harm anyone; he merely had to be reckless in publishing information that he had reason to know was false. However, Texas law does state that Jones’ intent may impact how much in punitive damages the jury can award.

Texas’ definition of defamation and its requirement of actual ill-will for exemplary or punitive damages is typical across the country, so the plaintiffs who have sued Jones in Connecticut will have the same burden of proof for punitive damages.

Heslin and Lewis have said they are thrilled with the jury’s verdict. Absent criminal charges against Jones, a massive damages award and a bankruptcy filing will have to be punishment enough — along with the hope that this verdict will keep other conspiracy theorists from spreading lies.

EDITORIAL: We stand by people with uteruses, now and forever

The State News Editorial Board

A woman marches with a helicon in front of the Michigan State Capitol on June 24, 2022.

"This is a 1909 Helicon which was around during the women's movement," she said. "There were suffragist marches in the 1920s to attain the right to vote and I am sending a message."— Photo by Devin Anderson-Torrez | The State News

Our summer newsroom currently consists of 19 female-identifying students which is roughly 76% of the staff—our editorial board has seven women.

When Roe v. Wade was reversed, we all felt the impact

As student journalists, we are told not to react to the recent decision due to journalistic ethics. We are not supposed to post on our Instagram story, like a tweet, comment on a Facebook post, etc., to remain unbiased as our reproductive rights become political.

In fact, journalists around the world were reminded of their organizations' respective social media policies on June 24.



We have uteruses, so yes, we do have opinions.

However, The State News strives for objectivity and clear, fair, accurate reporting. We will offer up a platform for those who need it, whether you’re an anti-abortion or abortion-rights advocate, male or female or non-binary.

We want to share your voice.

It’s important for us at The State News to provide a space with resources and educated information, so you are able to make an informed decision. Through thorough research, we aim to help.

Our reporters have been covering Roe v. Wade since the documents were leaked earlier this summer: putting together pieces about the overturn, reactions to the reversal, protests and celebrations afterward and a comprehensive guide on everything you need to know about the current status of abortion rights in Michigan.

And while the women on staff all have our own opinions of the recent decision, our goal is clear: We will continue to bring unbiased coverage pertaining to abortion rights and how it affects the MSU community.

Resources for students

With the overturn of Roe v. Wade, concerns about the formula shortage, women’s healthcare, adequate childcare — including parental leave — and more have surfaced. The State News wants to let you know what your options are.

If you are in need of formula, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has tips on finding safe substitutes.

READ MORE

Abortion-rights in Michigan: Everything you need to know
MIRANDA DUNLAP

culture

Lansing area students, lawmakers, advocates react to Roe v. Wade overturn
MIRANDA DUNLAP

Currently, Olin Health Center will continue to offer reproductive health resources. The Gynecology Clinic at Olin Health Center has contraceptive counseling and contraceptive options such as oral contraceptives (birth control pills), diaphragms, Ortho Evra patch, Depo Provera injection, and NuvaRing. Over-the-counter options are Plan B: Emergency Contraception, foam and condoms. Additional options include the insertion of Paragard, Skyla, and Mirena IUDs (intrauterine device) and Nexplanon.

Olin Health Center also provides pregnancy testing, screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and diseases and more. Some of these options may require a referral and may not be covered by insurance.

If you are a student parent, then MSU provides resources to help you find childcare, scholarships and grants, academic and family support and more through the Student Parent Resource Center.

“MSU will continue to stand for sustainable health for all,” President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. said in a statement following the ruling. “In the face of a ruling that jeopardizes many people’s health, we will — within the boundaries of the law — continue to educate the next generation of clinicians and health professionals in reproductive health and also support access to equitable, high-quality, affordable and safe health care for all.”

Stanley also said that the administration is meeting with a group of deans and vice presidents to see how the Supreme Court’s decision will impact the university.

“The group has and will continue to focus on maintaining the strength and integrity of MSU’s health and medical education curriculums, the health and medical services we provide, and our health benefits for employees, within the confines of the law,” Stanley said.

Support student media!

Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
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We are living in a time filled with many questions. The State News will continue to be there to help answer some of them for you.

We stand by people with uteruses, regardless of their choices on their bodies.

The State News Editorial Board is composed of Editor-in-Chief SaMya Overall, Managing Editor Dina Kaur, Social Media Manager Lauren Snyder, Copy Chief Jada Vasser, Photo Editors Devin Anderson-Torrez and Rahmya Trewern, Staff Rep. Morgan Womack and Diversity Rep. Elle Fromm.

July 1, 2022

 Conservatives give Hungarian strongman a standing ovation for opposition to LGBTQ rights

“Hungary shall protect the institution of marriage as a union of one man and one woman.... And leave our kids alone."

By John Russell Friday, August 5, 2022

Prime Minister Viktor OrbánPhoto: Shutterstock

Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister Viktor Orbán delivered an anti-LGBTQ speech in Dallas on Thursday, receiving a standing ovation from conservatives.

The dictator kicked off the Conservative Political Action Conference’s (CPAC) annual gathering with an address attacking same-sex marriage and same-sex families, and alluding to the false “groomer” narrative that has recently proliferated on the American right.

“Hungary shall protect the institution of marriage as a union of one man and one woman,” Orbán said. “Family ties shall be based on marriage or the relationship between parents and children. To sum up, the mother is a woman. The father is a man. And leave our kids alone. Full stop. End of discussion.”



Orbán’s appearance at CPAC’s annual conference followed widespread criticism of a speech he gave in Hungary last week in which he decried Europe becoming a “mixed race” society.

“We do not want to become peoples of mixed race,” Orbán said in the speech, which one close aide described as “pure Nazi text,” resigning in protest.

Orbán has become a darling of the American right recently, thanks in part to close ties to former president Donald Trump and Fox News personality Tucker Carlson. Orbán endorsed Trump’s 2016 presidential run, celebrated Trump’s win, and then supported Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign. Trump later invited Orbán to the White House in May 2019 and endorsed the prime minister’s reelection earlier this year. Last year, Carlson broadcast a full week’s worth of his primetime show from Budapest, sitting down for a one-on-one interview with Orbán and later releasing a “documentary” portraying Hungary as a conservative paradise.

CPAC held a previous conference in Budapest earlier this year.

“There has been a democratic backsliding in Hungary for looking at press freedom, for looking at LGBTQ rights,” Hungarian journalist Flora Garamvolgyi, who covers Orbán’s ties to U.S. conservatives, told NPR this week. “And I don’t think that aligns with American values, whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat.”

Since taking power in 2010, Orbán has banned marriage equality in the Hungarian constitution. The constitution was also changed to define a family as a married man and woman. Same-sex couples cannot adopt. Parliament passed a law banning trans people from changing their birth gender. Then there was Hungary’s “anti-pedophilia” law, which banned mention of gay people in schools or in TV.

“He’s fighting for an old white world or old white Europe where, you know, men were men and women were women,” Aron Demeter, program director for Amnesty International in Hungary, told NPR this week. “And there were no transgender people or gay people. Or if there were gay people they stayed at home.”

How the US struggled to respond rapidly to the monkeypox outbreak: Experts

Experts say the U.S. should have rapidly distributed tests and vaccines

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By Mary Kekatos
August 06, 2022


 August 5, 2022

In early May, when the first cases of monkeypox surfaced in the United Kingdom and Europe, health officials in the United States advised Americans not to panic.

There had been outbreaks of the rare disease before that had been controlled with testing and vaccines, and experts were optimistic an outbreak of monkeypox in the U.S. could be contained.

"We're working hard to contain the cases that are happening so they don't spread onward," Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology division, said during a media briefing in May.

More than two months later, the situation appears to be much different.

MORE: Monkeypox case trajectory could outpace current vaccine supply, vaccine expert says


As of Friday, there were more than 7,100 reported cases in the U.S. across 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, according to the CDC, resulting in the Department of Health and Human Services declaring the outbreak a public health emergency Thursday.

That stands in stark contrast to instances of the disease in the recent past -- two travel-associated cases in 2021 and a small outbreak in 2003 linked to contact with pet prairie dogs, which were infected after being kept near small mammals from Ghana.

Currently, about 80,000 specimens per week are being tested and at least 600,000 vaccines have been distributed throughout the nation, health officials said during a media briefing Thursday.

While the federal government has acquired more than 1 million vaccine doses as part of the national stockpile preparedness program and has newly appointed monkeypox crisis coordinators, some public health experts interviewed by ABC News said the first cases in Europe back in May should have been a warning sign for the U.S. to ramp up testing and vaccination because of the possibility of community transmission.

Healthcare workers with New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene work at intake tents where individuals are registered to receive the monkeypox vaccine on July 29, 2022 in New York City.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Unlike COVID-19, monkeypox is more difficult to transmit, passing primarily through direct skin-to-skin contact. But there has been criticism leveled that it was a slow start and some mistakes made during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic were repeated.

"Quite frankly, the inability of the government and inability of federal public health to respond sooner than it did is what cost us here," Dr. Perry Halkitis, dean of Rutgers School of Public Health, told ABC News.


The White House said Thursday President Joe Biden is getting "regularly briefed on monkeypox" and it's an issue that is "top of mind" for him.
Lack of alarm bells

The first case of the current outbreak was reported in the U.K. on May 7. Soon cases began to crop up in countries in mainland Europe, such as in Portugal and Spain.

The U.S. did not see a case of monkeypox confirmed until May 19 in a Massachusetts patient. With only one case, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health cautioned the risk to the public was low.

But like the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak, some public health experts warned that cases were likely more widespread than was publicly known.

MORE: 2 more children in US test positive for monkeypox


Halkitis said the U.S. should have immediately started assembling a task force and increasing the supply of tests and vaccines after the first monkeypox patient was confirmed in Europe, suggesting potential community transmission.

"When the disease first appeared, that should have rung alarm bells for people," he said. "We know perfectly well from COVID how quickly things spread because of global travel. We should have been at that point acting immediately, putting task forces together, getting vaccines and we did not do that."

"Now they're going to put a task force together? It's a little late," Halkitis continued.
Testing criteria not broad enough

It was not until late June that the HHS announced it was expanding testing capacity and accessibility by shipping tests to five commercial laboratories nationwide.

Between mid-May and early June, U.S. laboratories had only tested a little more than 2,000 specimens from patients suspected to have monkeypox, a CDC report found.

However, testing has rapidly increased from 6,000 specimens per week in late June to more than 80,000 per week currently, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a media briefing Thursday.

"As testing has increased, our capacity for testing has increased and far outpaced the demand," she said. "So right now, we're really only testing at about 10% of the capacity we have, and we are encouraging anyone who has a prospective rash that could be monkeypox to present for testing."

The CDC currently recommends that people be tested only if they think they have monkeypox -- including the telltale sign of a rash -- or have had close contact with someone who has monkeypox

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WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT MONKEYPOX
CDC, ABC NEWS

But Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, said testing recommendations should be expanded to a few more groups because not all rashes look the same and some high-risk people may not know that they were even exposed.

"We should be testing much more than we're testing now and I think we should loosen the criterion or guidance for who we should test," he told ABC News. "I think we should flood the community with testing, just like in COVID."

He also said because monkeypox does not always manifest as a rash on the skin -- with sores sometimes appearing in the mouth, vagina or rectum -- those at high-risk who don't have a traditional rash should have swabs performed in those areas to test for monkeypox.
Delay in making vaccines available

In May, Biden called the level of exposure something "everybody should be concerned about" but that the country has vaccines and that it doesn't rise to the level of concern of COVID.

So far, the U.S. secured 6.9 million doses for delivery by May 2023, according to the HHS, with 1.1 million made available to states for ordering.

Some experts say vaccines could have been distributed a lot more quickly. The U.S. government currently has a contract with Danish firm Bavarian Nordic to "finish and fill" Jynneos, a vaccine approved for both smallpox and monkeypox.

The bulk of the 1.1 million doses initially sat in a plant that needed to be inspected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a typical process for the agency.

Last month, the FDA said it had approved 786,000 doses to be released after it finished inspecting the plant and determined the vaccines being formulated there met its standards. The investigation only took about six weeks, much faster than typical for the FDA.

"Six weeks is pretty fast for that," Dr. Gregory Poland, head of the Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group, told ABC News. "What the argument would be is that the three-year-shelf life is too short."

A sign directs people toward a pop-up monkeypox vaccination clinic which opened today by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health at the West Hollywood Library on Aug. 3, 2022 in West Hollywood, Calif.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

As soon as vials are filled with the vaccine, a three-year ticking clock to expiration begins. Poland says the FDA may have held off on signing off to try to get the vaccine to as many people as possible before this occurred.

However, demand is far outpacing supply. About 600,000 doses have been delivered and there are 1.1 million people eligible to be vaccinated.

Currently, the U.S. only uses the Jynneos vaccine, not another smallpox vaccine called ACAM2000 -- which the U.S. has in a stockpile -- because the latter can cause side effects in people with certain conditions, such as those who are immunocompromised.

But Poland says the vaccine should be used and people can be screened to make sure they don't have any conditions that put them at risk.

"I understand reluctance to use it but, especially if monkeypox really starts exploding, I don't think you'll have a choice at that point," he said. "I think if your choice is we've got nothing or we've got this, that's easy for me."

MORE: 7 ways to reduce your risk of monkeypox

To increase the number of doses available, FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said during a media call on Thursday the agency has "identified a potential solution."

"We're considering an approach ... that would allow health care providers to use an existing one-dose vial of the vaccine to administer a total of up to five separate doses," he said.

The vaccine would be given in a smaller, shallower injection under the skin, a method Califf said would still be safe and effective but would allow up to five doses to be pulled from one vial.
Hesitation to declare a public health emergency

The HHS on Thursday declared monkeypox a public health emergency, 78 days after the first U.S. case was detected in May and about two weeks after the World Health Organization did the same.

It also comes two days after Biden named a national monkeypox team to help combat the outbreak and help increase the availability of tests, treatments and vaccines.

Larry Gostin, a former CDC and WHO consultant who has been advising the White House on monkeypox response, said the announcement could be a "turning point" in the nation's health response after a "lackluster start."

"It's coming very, very late," Gostin, also a professor of medicine at Georgetown University., told ABC News' "Start Here." "It's not a time to panic, but it's absolutely a time to get serious. And I hope that this will be a pivotal turning point for the administration after a lackluster start."

MORE: Health officials fight monkeypox stigma as virus spreads

By issuing a declaration, HHS will be able to take a series of actions including accessing funds set aside for such an emergency as well as appointing personnel to positions directly responding to the emergency. It will also help speed up test and vaccine distribution.

"One thing that's been hampered from the beginning is money," Chin-Hong said. "Money means personnel, it means even delivering medications to patients, it means diverting people away from other activities temporarily to try to focus on one outbreak instead of focusing on 10 million other things."

Before the U.S. declared an emergency, New York, Illinois and California all declared their own emergencies. But without a national declaration, it meant states couldn't access federal resources.

"California, Illinois and New York might be able to cobble stuff from their own state funds, but they can't really use federal funds -- unless it's been like some puny money for random emergencies in the future -- because there's no dedicated monkeypox money from a federal level," he said. "You know, a lot of the efforts in each of the parts of the country is hampered by money."

As to why the U.S. took so long to declare a health emergency -- HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra cited "evolving circumstances" for the declaration -- experts say there are a few reasons.

People line up at a monkeypox vaccination site, July 28, 2022, in Encino, Calif.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

One is to avoid further stigmatization of the LGBTQ community. So far, most cases in the U.S. have been reported among men who have sex with men, a group that includes people who identify as gay, bisexual, transgender and nonbinary.

Even though the CDC has said there is no evidence that monkeypox is a sexually transmitted infection and that anyone can contract the disease, Halkitis said health officials may have been worried about further discrimination of LGBTQ people.

"The other reason I think there's a hesitation is because I think people are exhausted with COVID," he said. "And the last thing people want to hear about is another public health emergency when we don't even have the last one under control."

ABC News' Devin Dwyer, Cheyenne Haslett and Karen Travers contributed to this report.