Alex Jones to pay $1 billion over Sandy Hook lies

Jury awards Sandy Hook families $965 million; the US and Mexico agree to a deal on Venezuelan migrants.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

Sandy Hook lies cost Alex Jones $1 billion

Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images

• Wednesday, a jury ordered conspiracy theorist and Infowars host Alex Jones to pay $965 million in damages for lying about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. [Vox / Aja Romano]
• Jones repeatedly called the shooting — which left 26 people, including 20 children, dead — a hoax. Victims’ relatives and an FBI agent who responded to the tragedy sued the host for using his online platform to falsely claim the shooting never happened and the victims were hired actors. [Associated Press / Dave Collins]
• The families and the FBI agent testified about receiving threats and facing harassment from people who believed Jones’s lies. [ABC News / Aaron Katersky and Meredith Deliso]
• The families’ lawyers have vowed to pursue every penny of the settlement; however, should Jones file for personal bankruptcy, that could reduce the verdict. [Washington Post / Annabelle Timsit, Leo Sands, and Joanna Slater] 
• This was the second judgment reached for Sandy Hook victims after a Texas jury awarded a victim’s parents nearly $50 million in August. Two more defamation trials are scheduled for this year. [New York Times / Elizabeth Williamson]

The US and Mexico reach a deal to expel Venezuelan migrants

• The US announced it will accept a limited number of Venezuelan migrants, and that it will start expelling Venezuelan migrants who enter the US via land to Mexico. [BBC / Will Grant and Tiffany Wertheimer]
• The announcement’s part of a US-Mexico deal, effective immediately, that expands the Title 42 program, which allows the US to bar entry to noncitizens during public health emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic. [AP / Elliot Spagat]
• Venezuelan migration has increased amid political and economic instability. The US will allow 24,000 Venezuelans who successfully apply online and have financial sponsors in the US to arrive by plane. [Texas Tribune / William Melhado]
• That, however, is a tiny number compared to the over 150,000 Venezuelan migrants that border officials apprehended between October 2021 and August 2022. [New York Times / Eileen Sullivan and Zolan Kanno-Youngs]
• About 1,000 Venezuelans cross the US-Mexico border daily; the Department of Homeland Security hopes the new arrangement will discourage others from making the trip. [Washington Post / Nick Miroff and Kevin Sieff]

Support our journalism

Reader contributions help keep Vox and newsletters like Sentences free for all. Support our work with a one-time gift today.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined former President Donald Trump’s request to intervene in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. [Vox / Ian Millhiser]

• A Texas sheriff has certified the nearly 50 migrants Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flew to Martha’s Vineyard last month as victims of a crime, opening the door for special visas. [WGBH / Sarah Betancourt]
• Ukraine’s Western allies on Thursday pledged to help with air defense as Russian missiles pounded the Kyiv region. [AP / Sabra Ayres]
• A mobile clinic will offer 60 free vasectomies in Missouri next month to meet surging demand after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. [People / Vanessa Etienne]

“Every day in that courtroom, we got up on the stand and we told the truth. Telling the truth shouldn’t be so hard, and it shouldn’t be so scary.”

[Robbie Parker, whose 6-year-old daughter was killed at Sandy Hook / Washington Post]

Neil deGrasse Tyson gets political

On this first episode of The Gray Area, Sean Illing talks with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who takes on many of our most vexing societal problems in his new book Starry Messenger. 

Read more from Vox

The best thing you can do to quash a deadly Covid-19 surge this winter

How the Pennsylvania Senate race got so close

Welcome to Netflix — with ads

How the world has gotten much worse for animals

Amazon workers in upstate New York are fighting for a crucial second union win

This email was sent to you. Manage your email preferences or unsubscribe. If you value Vox’s unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring contribution.

View our Privacy Notice and our Terms of Service.

Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Floor 12, Washington, DC 20036.
Copyright © 2022. All rights reserved.