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Trial begins in Alex Jones’ Sandy Hook damages case

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Trial begins in Alex Jones’ Sandy Hook damages case

US radio host Alex Jones had mentioned {that a} 2012 faculty taking pictures the place 20 kids and 6 faculty employees have been killed was fabricated.

The jury trial of Alex Jones, a US conspiracy theorist, started in a case that can determine how a lot he should pay the household of a kid killed within the 2012 Sandy Hook bloodbath that he falsely claimed was a hoax.

Mark Bankston, an lawyer for the dad and mom of slain six-year-old Jesse Lewis, instructed jurors on Tuesday that the Sandy Hook hoax lie grew to become a “viral sensation” for Jones, who unfold it to thousands and thousands of individuals.

“Mr Jones was frequently churning out this concept that Sandy Hook was faux,” Bankston mentioned. “He was affected person zero for the Sandy Hook hoax.”

Jones, founding father of the Infowars radio present and webcast, had asserted the mainstream media and gun-control activists conspired to manufacture the tragedy wherein 20 schoolchildren and 6 faculty employees have been shot lifeless at Sandy Hook Elementary College in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012.

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Alex Jones claimed in court docket information final yr that he had a detrimental web value of $20m, however attorneys for Sandy Hook households have painted a unique monetary image [File: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters]

The Texas trial begins about two months after a gunman killed 19 kids and two lecturers at Robb Elementary College in Uvalde, Texas. It was the deadliest faculty taking pictures since Sandy Hook.

Jones has since acknowledged that the taking pictures passed off. Throughout a deposition in April, he insisted he was not chargeable for the struggling that Sandy Hook dad and mom say they’ve endured due to the hoax conspiracy, together with loss of life threats and harassment by Jones’s followers.

The defamation go well with in Texas, the place Infowars relies, is one in every of a number of introduced by households of victims who say they have been harassed by Jones’s followers and suffered emotional misery after he claimed the taking pictures was staged.

Choose Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin, Texas, who’s overseeing the trial, issued a uncommon default judgment in 2021, discovering Jones liable with no trial after he flouted court docket orders and failed to show over paperwork.

The plaintiffs are Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, Jesse’s dad and mom. A lawyer for Heslin and Lewis indicated in court docket on Monday that they’re searching for as a lot as $100m in compensatory and punitive damages.

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Throughout his opening tackle, Jones’s lawyer Andino Reynal known as Jones one of many “most polariding figures on this nation”, who made statements about Sandy Hook “that we don’t dispute have been mistaken”. However he mentioned Jones has already been punished for these statements when he was kicked off of Fb, YouTube, Spotify and Twitter for violating their hate speech insurance policies.

Jones has “already been cancelled” and misplaced thousands and thousands of {dollars}, mentioned Reynal, who known as on the jury to restrict the damages to $1.

Jones claimed in court docket information final yr that he had a detrimental web value of $20m, however attorneys for Sandy Hook households have painted a unique monetary image.

Court docket information present that Jones’s Infowars retailer, which sells dietary dietary supplements and survival gear, made greater than $165m between 2015 and 2018. Jones has additionally urged listeners on his Infowars programme to donate cash.

The damages trial follows months of delays. Three entities associated to Infowars filed chapter in a since-dismissed case. The households of the Sandy Hook victims had mentioned the chapter was a sinister try by Jones to protect his belongings from legal responsibility stemming from the defamation lawsuits.

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Jones, who was current within the courtroom, is about to face trial in September in an identical defamation go well with in Connecticut state court docket, the place he has additionally been discovered answerable for defamation in a default judgment.

The Sandy Hook gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, used a Remington Bushmaster rifle to hold out the bloodbath. It ended when Lanza killed himself with the method of police sirens.

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Thousands march in Budapest streets in support of Orbán

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Thousands march in Budapest streets in support of Orbán

A crowd of tens of thousands gathered in Hungary’s capital on Saturday in a show of strength behind Prime Minister Viktor Orbán a week ahead of the European Parliament elections.

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Tens of thousands took part in a so called ‘Peace March’ in Budapest on Saturday to show their support for Viktor Orbán and the Hungarian government.

Many of the marchers felt that the stakes in next week’s European Parliament elections (and local elections in Hungary) will be higher than ever.

“The whole world is dancing on a razor’s edge, war could break out at any moment. Everyone must speak up and stand for peace,” said one demonstrator.

Orbán’s supporters marched along the Danube River in Budapest from the city’s iconic Chain Bridge onto Margaret Island, waving flags and signs reading “No War.”

Orbán is the longest serving leader in the European Union, having been in power for the last fourteen years. He has focused his campaign for the European elections on the war in Ukraine.

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Critics say his appeals for an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine would result in Russia being able to retain territories it has occupied.

In return, Orbán portrays his opponents as warmongers who seek to involve Hungary directly in the conflict.

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Things to know about the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis officer that police describe as an 'ambush'

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Things to know about the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis officer that police describe as an 'ambush'

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota law enforcement on Saturday identified the man who they believe fatally shot a Minneapolis officer in what police are calling an ambush.

Minnesota Public Safety Department spokesperson Bonney Bowman named 35-year-old Mustafa Mohamed as the suspected shooter. He was later shot and killed by another responding officer.

Minneapolis officer Jamal Mitchell was responding to a call about a double shooting Thursday when he stopped to help Mohamed, whom he believed was injured, police have said.

Mohamed then shot Mitchell multiple times, killing him, police said. A local coroner identified Osman Said Jimale, 32, as the third man who died in the shooting. Four others were injured.

Aside from the identities of the slain men, few details have emerged since the shooting. Many questions remain, but here are some things to know.

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WHAT HAPPENED?

Officers responded to a call of a double shooting at an apartment complex in the south Minneapolis neighborhood of Whittier.

As Mitchell was about two blocks from the complex, he noticed individuals who were injured. He got out of his car to provide aid to Mohamed, who then shot the officer, according to police.

“I’ve seen the video, and he was ambushed,” Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said at a Thursday news conference. “I’m using the term for a reason.”

Another officer arrived and exchanged gunfire with Mohamed, who died despite life-saving efforts on the part of officers, Minneapolis Assistant Police Chief Katie Blackwell said.

That officer had non-life-threatening wounds. Another person, believed to be an innocent bystander, was shot and taken to a hospital in critical condition, Evans said.

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When other officers went to the apartment, they found two people inside who had been shot. One was dead and the other was hospitalized in critical condition, Evans said.

WHO WAS KILLED?

Police so far have provided little information about the suspected shooter, Mohamed, and the other man who died, Jimale.

Mitchell was a father who was engaged to be married. He had been with the department for only about 18 months.

The Minneapolis Police Department posted on Facebook last year that Mitchell and another officer had rescued an elderly couple from a house fire.

On Feb. 7, 2023, Mitchell’s third day on the job, he and officer Zachery Randall responded to a call and found a house on fire, the post said. The officers ran inside and got the couple out before the home was fully engulfed in flames and destroyed.

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“I told him, ‘You’re one of the good guys, Jamal,’” close friend Allison Seed told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “They really needed him.”

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Exactly what led up to the shooting and the shooter’s motivations are still unknown.

Evans said he believed the shooting was isolated to the two locations and that the people in the apartment “had some level of acquaintance with each other.”

The connection between the two shooting scenes wasn’t immediately clear. Police had said the public was not in any danger.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has said authorities are still investigating and asked people to “be patient with us as we do not know all of the facts yet. We want to make sure that the investigation is completed and we’re doing it the right way.”

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Tulsi Gabbard's aunt killed, prominent Samoan author charged with murder

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Tulsi Gabbard's aunt killed, prominent Samoan author charged with murder

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A prominent Samoan author and playright has been charged with murdering the aunt of Tulsi Gabbard, the former Hawaii Democratic Congresswoman, according to multiple reports. 

Papalii Sia Figiel, 57, was arrested Sunday following the death in Samoa of 78-year-old Caroline Sinaviana-Gabbard, a retired former University of Hawaii professor. 

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The victim was stabbed multiple times and beaten with a hammer, local reports said, citing police. Samoa is a country located in the South Pacific Ocean.

AMERICAN SAMOA SNUBS BIDEN 2 CAUCUSES IN A ROW AFTER BACKING JASON PALMER IN 2024, MICHAEL BLOOMBERG IN 2020

An award-winning author has been charged with murdering the aunt of Tulsi Gabbard, the former Hawaii Democratic Congresswoman, according to multiple reports.  (Facebook, left, and Ethan Miller/Getty Images, right)

The deadly incident took place on May 25 at Figiel’s home in the village of Vaivase-Uta, which is about three miles from the island nation’s capital city of Apia. Figiel’s property also doubles as the local theater, the New Zealand Herald reports. 

An argument had broken out between the pair before the incident turned violent, Samoan Police Commissioner Auapaau Logoitino Filipo said, according to the publication. It is not clear what sparked the argument. 

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The two women were colleagues and friends, and Gabbard was Figiel’s mentor, according to local media reports.

Sinaviana-Gabbard was Tulsi Gabbard’s aunt and sister of Hawaii state Sen. Mike Gabbard. 

Her family says she was the first Samoan to become a full professor in the U.S., and was an accomplished writer, teacher and environmental activist.

HOW WOULD TULSI GABBARD FARE AS VP?

Apia, Samoa, aerial shot

An aerial view of Main Beach Road in Apia, Samoa, 2021 during a lockdown. Apia is about five miles from where Caroline Sinaviana-Gabbard died.  (Chikara Yoshida/Getty Images)

Mike Gabbard said he was very close to his sister growing up and proud of her accomplishments in life.

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“Caroline was my best friend as a teenager,” Mike Gabbard said in a statement to Spectrum News. 

“She helped me considerably during my rebellious stage of adolescence. She got me hooked on reading, so much so that I followed in her footsteps and majored in English at Sonoma State University in California, then returned to our birthplace, American Samoa, where I taught English in high schools and was a faculty member, guidance counselor and dean at the community college for many years.”

“I love her deeply and wish her well as she continues her journey.”

Map of Samoa

Samoa is a country located in the South Pacific Ocean. (Google Maps)

Mike Gabbard went on to say that he forgives the person responsible for her death, but hopes justice will be served and that the person “will be punished to the full extent of the law.”

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According to Spectrum News, Sinaviana-Gabbard earned undergraduate degrees in English and psychology from Sonoma State University, a masters’ degree in folklore from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in American studies from the University of Hawaii.

She taught Pacific literature at the University of Hawaii for over 20 years before retiring. 

A spokesperson for the lawmaker’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital request for comment. 

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