A US bankruptcy judge on Wednesday blocked a settlement between families who have sued Alex Jones over his false claims about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, saying their attempt to divide the bankrupt conspiracy theorist’s assets exceeded his court’s authority.
The decision complicates a proposed sale of Jones’ Infowars platform, and could spur divisions between families who sued Jones and won nearly $1.3 billion in Connecticut court cases and those who won $50 million in Texas courts.
The two groups of families had proposed a settlement that would guarantee the Texas families a 25% share of Jones’ future payments made to the Sandy Hook families, with the Connecticut families taking 75%.
US Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez rejected the settlement at a hearing in Houston, saying the families were asking him to also divide up the assets of Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, despite the fact that the company had been dismissed from bankruptcy last year.
“I can’t do that,” Lopez said. “That case is closed.”
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Vows to Prosecute Individuals Who Targeted Musk’s DOGE Employees › American Greatness– amgreatness.com Source Link Excerpt:
Edward Martin, President Trump’s interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia vowed on Monday to prosecute any “individuals and/or groups” who broke the law by targeting employees of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
On Sunday, the tech magazine, Wired, doxxed six of Musk’s DOGE employees, calling them too young and inexperienced to help Musk reform the government. Threats on social media soon followed.
Numerous posts on Reddit and Blue Sky called for harassment and/or violence against the men, whose ages range from 19 to 25.
“We are in contact with the FBI and other law enforcement partners to proceed rapidly,” Martin stated. “We also have our prosecutors preparing,” he added.
A potential trade war 2.0 could be setting off between China and the U.S. as China has responded to President Donald Trump’s 10% import tariff on ALL Chinese goods with tariffs of their own.
These tariffs include a 15% tariff on U.S. coal and a 10% tariff on crude oil, farm equipment, and select vehicles. In addition to that, numerous investigations into U.S. companies have been announced, with Alphabet Inc being the biggest of those targeted companies.
China hits back with tariffs on U.S. goods– japantoday.com Source Link Excerpt:
China on Tuesday slapped tariffs on U.S. imports in a swift response to new U.S. duties on Chinese goods, renewing a trade war between the world’s top two economies as President Donald Trump sought to punish China for not halting the flow of illicit drugs.
Trump’s additional 10% tariff across all Chinese imports into the U.S. came into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.
Within minutes, China’s Finance Ministry said it would impose levies of 15% for U.S. coal and LNG and 10% for crude oil, farm equipment and some autos. The new tariffs on U.S. exports will start on Feb 10, the ministry said.
China also said it was starting an anti-monopoly investigation in Alphabet Inc’s Google, while including both PVH Corp, the holding company for brands including Calvin Klein, and U.S. biotechnology company Illumina on its “unreliable entities list”.
Separately, China’s Commerce Ministry and its Customs Administration said it is imposing export controls on tungsten, tellurium, ruthenium, molybdenum and ruthenium-related items to “safeguard national security interests”. China controls much of the world’s supply of such rare earths that are critical for the clean energy transition.
LA Fire Department rolls out new measure to aid residents grappling with looters– www.washingtonexaminer.com Source Link Excerpt:
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced it is escalating efforts to target looting after California wildfires left areas vulnerable to criminal activity.
The department has formed a specialized Looter Suppression Team to crack down on looters raiding private property in Altadena, which lies within the Eaton fire burn zone.
The team will operate in conjunction with additional deputy personnel and helicopter patrols to provide around-the-clock protection to residents dealing with looters.
“Together, these efforts ensure continuous 24-hour patrolling to provide a consistent and visible law enforcement presence, particularly in neighborhoods still dealing with utility outages and heightened security risks,” the sheriff’s department said in a press release.
Neighborhoods in Altadena, a suburb of Los Angeles, were left unsecured after the Eaton fire forced mandatory evacuations. After surviving the fire, many residents faced the secondary threat of looters taking advantage of police departments that have been stretched to the limit, chaotic conditions, and abandoned property.
Christians Rejoice as Familiar Tune Is Heard at Start of Inauguration Ceremony | The Gateway Pundit– www.thegatewaypundit.com Source Link Excerpt:
Christians celebrated online after the popular hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” played in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday ahead of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The chorus to the song, which was being played on the piano, goes, “Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness, Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hast provided; Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.”
The lyrics were written in 1923 by Methodist minister Thomas Chisholm, while composer William Runyan wrote the tune.
The phrase “great is thy faithfulness” can be found in the third chapter of the book of Lamentations.
“It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness,” the passage reads.
Christian hymns playing in the rotunda: “For the Beauty of the Earth” and “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.”
“Great is thy faithfulness,
Great is thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hast provided;
Great is thy faithfulness,
Lord unto me.” pic.twitter.com/ZanyC43EZy
Pro-Life Accounts Restored on Facebook and Instagram Days After Letter From Attorneys– www.lifenews.com Source Link Excerpt:
Last week, Meta restored wrongfully suspended Facebook and Instagram accounts for pro-life news site LifeNews.com, LifeNews CEO and editor Steven Ertelt, and potential adoptive mom Abby Covington.
The move came days after Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter to Meta calling on the social media giant to reverse its deeply flawed decisions to ban the accounts for weaponizing its standards against “human exploitation” and “child sexual exploitation.”
Meta’s restoration of the specific accounts also comes in the immediate wake of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement of major changes at the company—including a badly needed series of improvements and clarifications to its content moderation policies. In both his video announcement on Meta, and his appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience later in the week, Zuckerberg critiqued his company’s overly broad content moderation standards that have opened the door for vast censorship of political and religious views like those expressed by Ertelt and Covington. Those policies are in large part responsible for Meta’s low 15% of a possible 100% tally on ADF’s 2024 Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index, which measures corporate respect for free speech and religious liberty.