The Onion buys out Alex Jones’s InfoWars platform – National & International News – THU 14Nov2024

The Onion buys out Alex Jones’s InfoWars.

Rampant violations of Sudan arms embargo have prolonged civil war.

NATIONAL NEWS

The Onion buys out Alex Jones’s InfoWars

The satirical publication The Onion has won the bankruptcy auction to purchase InfoWars, a media property once owned by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Jones was forced to sell the site, which he established in 1999, after the families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting won a $1 billion defamation suit against him. 

The Sandy Hook shootings left 20 elementary school children and six staff members dead. Following the tragedy, Jones used his InfoWars platform to promote conspiracy theories alleging that the shooting was a hoax staged by gun control advocates. For years afterwards, families whose children had been brutally slain were subjected to harassment and threats from Jones’s followers. 

InfoWars was sold as part of a bankruptcy proceeding, along with all of its associated intellectual property. This includes the health supplement business Jones promoted on the site. The generally left-leaning Onion has not disclosed how much they paid for InfoWars. 

This purchase was backed by the Sandy Hook families, who reportedly agreed to forego a portion of their recovery claim against InfoWars to decrease its liabilities. The families were pleased that the property was not purchased by associates of Jones or his ideological allies.

In true Onion style, CEO Ben Collins said “the Onion is proud to acquire Infowars, and we look forward to continuing its storied tradition of scaring the sites users with lies until they fork over their cold, hard cash. Or bitcoin. We will also accept Bitcoin”. In another statement, Collins said that The Onion plans to turn InfoWars into a “very funny, very stupid website” lampooning online influencers who spread misinformation. They also have a multi-year exclusive advertising contract with Everytown for Gun Safety.

Lawyers for Jones have raised concerns about how The Onion acquired InfoWars at the auction. A company associated with Jones submitted a $3.5 million bid. They were expecting a round of competitive bidding, but instead the trustee only open sealed bids. Federal bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez has ordered a hearing for next week. 

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Rampant violations of Sudan arms embargo have prolonged civil war 

Since April of last year, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has been in a bitter civil war with the rapid support forces (RSF) militia for control of the country. The war has dragged on longer and has been more devastating and deadly than anyone anticipated at the outset. To date, between 20,000 and 150,000 people have been killed; over 7 million have been internally displaced; and more than 2 million have become refugees in neighboring countries. 

Cameron Hudson, a former Sudan advisor to the US government says, “Neither side started this war with enough weapon stocks to sustain the fighting for this long. Outside weapons flowing in are what is keeping the fighting going. And advanced weapons, not just artillery and ammunition, have made the conflict that much more deadly and widespread,” Hudson said. 

Deadly proxies

Despite a UN arms embargo that has been in place for Sudan since 2004, international players have been backing and arming the two factions in ever shifting alliances in exchange for access to and control of Sudan’s many natural resources and strategic ports. Both factions have been accused of acts of systematic rape, starvation as a weapon of war, and genocide. Most human rights organizations agree that the RSF has used these tactics much more extensively than SAF. Any international backers of these factions necessarily share culpability for their crimes. 

Russia and Iran have been caught supplying weapons to the SAF, although Russia’s Wagner mercenary group was supporting the RSF until recently. However, the United Arab Emirates is by far the worst offender. The UAE has been caught countless times supporting the RSF with funds, weapons, and even combatants. Despite clear violations of international law, the UAE has paid little price in terms of diplomacy. Western weapons manufacturers have also failed to uphold their obligations to ensure their weapons are not finding their way to Sudan. Amnesty International recently identified French threat mitigation systems installed on UAE-made armored vehicles.

In their efforts to gain or maintain footholds in Africa, these foreign actors have made this conflict far deadlier and more destructive than it ever should have been.