A bankruptcy judge on Monday ordered a new hearing in conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' effort to stop the satirical news outlet The Onion from buying Infowars and turning it into a parody. Jones alleges fraud and collusion marred the bankruptcy auction in which The Onion was named the winning bidder on Nov. 14 over a company affiliated with him. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez had been scheduled to hear an emergency motion to disqualify The Onion's bid, but decided to put it off until either Dec. 9 or Dec. 17. That's also when the judge will hear arguments on a request to approve the sale of Infowars to The Onion. Lopez said similar arguments are being made in both requests. Lopez could ultimately allow The Onion to move forward with its purchase, order a new auction or name the other bidder as the winner. At stake is whether Jones gets to stay at Infowars’ studio in Austin, Texas, under a new owner friendly to him, or whether he gets kicked out by The Onion. The other bidder, First United American Companies, runs a website in Jones’ name that sells nutritional supplements. Regardless, Jones has set up a new studio, websites and social media accounts that would allow him to keep airing his show. And his personal account with 3.3 million followers on the social platform X was not part of the sale, although Lopez will be deciding whether it should be included in the liquidation and sold off later. In a new court filing Monday, lawyers for X objected to any sale of the accounts of both Jones and Infowars, saying X is the owner of the accounts and that it has not given consent for them to be sold or transferred. Jones has praised X owner Elon Musk on his show and suggested that Musk should buy Infowars. Musk has not responded publicly to that suggestion and was not among the bidders. Jones' bankruptcy and the liquidation of his assets came about after he was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion to relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Jones was found liable for defamation and emotional distress damages in lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas for repeatedly calling the 2012 shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators a hoax staged by actors to increase gun control. Proceeds from the liquidation are to go to Jones' creditors, including the Sandy Hook families who sued him. Jones alleges The Onion’s bid was the result of fraud and collusion involving many of those families, the humor site and a court-appointed trustee who is overseeing the liquidation. First United American Companies submitted a $3.5 million sealed bid, while The Onion offered $1.75 million in cash. But The Onion's bid also included a pledge by Sandy Hook families to forgo some or all of the auction proceeds due to them to give other creditors a total of $100,000 more than they would receive under other bids. The trustee, Christopher Murray, said that made The Onion's proposal better for creditors and he named it the winning bid. He has denied any wrongdoing. Jones and First United American Companies claimed that the bid violated Lopez’s rules for the auction by including multiple entities and lacking a valid dollar amount. Jones also alleged Murray improperly canceled an expected round of live bidding and only selected from among the sealed bids that were submitted. Jones called the auction “rigged” and a “fraud” on his show, which airs on the Infowars website, radio stations and Jones' X account. He filed a counter lawsuit last week against Murray, The Onion's parent company and the Sandy Hook families in the bankruptcy court. In a court filing on Sunday, Murray called the allegations a “desperate attempt” to delay the sale of Infowars to The Onion and accused Jones, his lawyers and attorneys for First United American Companies of a “vicious smear campaign lobbing patently false accusations.” He also alleges Jones collaborated with First United American Companies to try to buy Infowars. Lopez’s September order on the auction procedures made a live bidding round optional. And it gave broad authority to Murray to conduct the sale, including the power to reject any bid, no matter how high, that was “contrary to the best interests” of Jones, his company and their creditors. But at a Nov. 14 hearing Lopez said he was concerned about the process and transparency. “We’re all going to an evidentiary hearing and I’m going to figure out exactly what happened,” he said. “No one should feel comfortable with the results of this auction.” The assets of Infowars' parent company, Free Speech Systems, that were up for sale included the Austin studio, Infowars' video archive, video production equipment, product trademarks, and Infowars' websites and social media accounts. Jones is appealing the $1.5 billion in judgments citing free speech rights, but has acknowledged that the school shooting happened . Jones has brought in millions of dollars a year in revenue by hawking nutritional supplements, clothing, survival gear and other merchandise, including more than $22 million this year through Sept. 30 from his Infowars Store website, according to court documents. Many of Jones’ personal assets, including real estate, guns and other personal belongings, also are being sold as part of the bankruptcy. Documents filed in court this year say Jones has about $9 million in personal assets, while Free Speech Systems has about $6 million in cash and more than $1 million worth of inventory.
The Trudeau government’s two-pronged announcement of a goods and services tax holiday on certain “essential” items and its pledge to dole out $250 to millions of people in the country have left economists scrambling to gauge the impact of Ottawa’s $6.3-billion, election-style splurge. With Canada’s economy facing several headwinds, the stimulus cheques and the on items such as groceries, children’s clothing, beer and Christmas trees are expected to spur consumers to open their wallets, boosting economic growth in the near term. However, the sugar high could fade quickly, as shoppers simply shift around the timing of their purchases. And the jolt of spending – coming on top of recent hotter-than-expected data – may help convince the Bank of Canada to slow its pace of interest-rate cuts. The new big-ticket spending proposals also raise questions about Ottawa’s ability to stay within its self-imposed deficit guardrails, especially if, as some economists think, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decides to make the sales tax changes permanent as a way to placate angry voters. “Once politicians get the idea that, ‘Oh, playing with the GST, playing with things that are taxable or not,’ is a political winner, they’re never going to stop. And that is not good for the budget and it’s not good for tax policy,” said Stephen Gordon, an economics professor at Laval University. Coming in at around 0.2 per cent of gross domestic product, Ottawa’s will ripple through the economy – but it’s hardly a game-changer. The economics team at Bank of Montreal boosted its GDP growth estimate for the first quarter of 2025 to 2.5 per cent from 1.7 per cent, but trimmed its GDP growth forecast for the third quarter, when the effect of the stimulus fades. Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, said that the tax rebates could theoretically increase GDP by as much as a quarter-percentage-point next year, especially because fiscal stimulus has a bigger impact when there is slack in the economy, as is currently the case. “But that’s only if these cheques are permitted to raise the federal deficit,” Mr. Shenfeld wrote in a client note. “If Ottawa is merely shifting funds from what it otherwise would have spent elsewhere, in order to stick to a given deficit target, the impact could be negated.” It’s also unclear how much the stimulus cheques will increase consumer spending, with people potentially pocketing the money or using it to pay down debt, rather than going shopping Mr. Shenfeld said the overall package would likely have a “very marginal” impact on upcoming Bank of Canada interest-rate decisions. This view was shared by other Bay Street economists, although there was a broad agreement that Ottawa’s stimulus essentially seals the deal for a quarter-point rate cut at the next Bank of Canada meeting in December, rather than another half-point cut, as happened in October. “On its own, this probably doesn’t move the needle so significantly because of the fact that it’s not massive and it is temporary,” said Taylor Schleich, director of economics and strategy at National Bank Financial. However, complicating that is the fact the measures come at the same time as stimulus is rolling out from other levels of government, inflation has picked up and housing markets are potentially reaccelerating, he said. “If the Bank of Canada was on the fence about cutting 25 or 50 basis points, perhaps all of this data taken together leads them more towards a more gradual easing approach in the near term,” he said. Governor Tiff Macklem said last month that the bank is less concerned than it was about government spending fuelling inflation and working at cross purposes to the bank’s still-restrictive monetary policy now that inflation is largely under control. “We’re no longer trying to get inflation down. Government spending is not pushing against us getting inflation down, we’ve got it down,” he told the Senate Banking Committee. It’s so far impossible to say how the two measures will impact the federal government’s bottom line, because Ottawa has yet to produce its final spending and revenue picture for the past fiscal year. However, in an , the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Canada’s budgetary watchdog, estimated the deficit for 2023-24 would come in at $46.8-billion, deeper than the $40-billion deficit laid out in the government’s 2024 budget. The government’s own fiscal guardrail aims to maintain the 2023-24 deficit at or below $40.1-billion. The stimulus cheques and GST changes will likely erode the government’s fiscal standing in the coming months, according to Derek Holt, head of capital markets economics at Bank of Nova Scotia, who speculated in a Friday note to clients that the planned two-month GST holiday “is very likely to turn permanent and blow through Ottawa’s finances.” In a separate report, Mr. Holt estimated if the GST changes were made permanent, along with the stimulus cheques, the changes would result in a $14-billion hit to federal finances in fiscal 2025-26 and $10-billion a year in subsequent years. Over a five-year horizon, if the GST changes remained permanent, “the cumulative deficit would balloon by about an extra $52-billion,” he wrote. Even if the changes remain temporary, tend to view these types of stimulus measures dimly, thinking of them as inefficient and poorly targeted. “If they wanted to beef up the income support at lower income levels then you either increase the GST rebates or the Canada Child Benefit, things like that. Just across the board $250 to everybody, that’s clearly electoral,” Prof. Gordon said. Luc Godbout, an economics professor at the Université de Sherbrooke, said the temporary nature of tax cuts will cause consumers to shift the timing of their consumption and complicate things for retailers. And higher-income individuals may also benefit disproportionately from the GST break on things such as restaurant meals. “These are not measures that were thought out from an economic perspective, but from a political perspective,” he said in an e-mail. Nor do the stimulus cheques or GST changes do anything to “impact our long-term growth trajectory or close the competitive gap we have with the U.S.” when it comes to attracting business investment, said Kevin Milligan, a professor of economics at the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia. “When you’re in a world of being in deficit and there’s not a macroeconomic need for it, I don’t see these as economically defensible measures,” he said.
BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. (WV News) – The Bridgeport boys basketball team isn’t yet at full strength, as four players who are expected to see regular playing time will be playing for a Class AAA state football championship this Saturday in Charleston. The Indians, however, thrived in their absence on Thursday. Bridgeport forced 18 turnovers – 10 in the first half – and held Liberty to single digits in three of the four quarters of its 69-26 victory over Liberty at Bridgeport. “It sure helped,” Bridgeport coach Dave Marshall said of the turnovers the Indians forced in their man-to-man defense. “We did not, and I mean this as a crazy compliment, we did not shoot the ball well. I just told them and I told them at halftime too, this is probably the best shooting outfit I’ve had since I’ve been here. I said, ‘That does not bother me, we took all good shots.’ “There’s nights where you have to let your defense grind and you have to get in transition. We’ve made an emphasis on trying to get better in transition. We’re still a work in progress, but we thought the turnovers that turned into offense on the other side, it was the right step. We have a long way to go, but it was a step in the right direction.” Beginning next Monday, Carter Zuliani, Jack Spatafore, Donovan Williams and Gavin Williams will be able to join the Bridgeport boys basketball team and will add to their depth in their games later in the week. Phoenix Sickles scored 19 points, Landon Sanders added 15, Anderson McDougal contributed 13 points and Aryon Dodd finished with 12 points. Bridgeport forced 11 turnovers in the first half and often converted off of them, including a pair of steals and transition layups by McDougal, the latter of which put the Indians ahead 13-3; another layup by McDougal stretched the Bridgeport lead to 15-6. “It’s a typical Dave Marshall Bridgeport team. They’re so good in their pack-line defense in the gaps, and it’s no surprise,” Liberty coach Zak Bart said. “We watched film of the last couple year’s games yesterday, and they’re really good at what they do. And the second thing is, we’re a dribble-drive team, and if we don’t do the little things away from the ball correctly to move people, then we’re in trouble and in for a long night.” Liberty’s Baustin Bowers, kept the Mountaineers relatively close early, hitting a layup, a jumper from the free-throw line and a turnaround jumper from the right baseline, which cut Liberty’s deficit to 19-12. But that was followed by a 12-0 Bridgeport run that featured a layup from Landon Sanders, a 3-pointer from Dodd, a put back and plus-one free throw from Sickles and a pair of free throws from Grayson Church: 31-12 Indians. “We knew coming in that we have a new group this year,” Bart said. “We only have two guys that have played varsity basketball before, and a couple kids that went to school here previously, so we knew there would be some nerves. I think a lot of those turnovers were nerves. We usually try to get under 10 as a good goal for us, and we’ll get there; give us a few games.” Leading 33-16 at the start of the third quarter, Bridgeport pulled away for good using a 19-0 run. Sickles scored eight of those points, including a 3-pointer from the right wing at the conclusion of the run that gave Bridgeport a 52-16 lead. That run finally came to an end on a 3-pointer from Eaden Spatafore, and following a put back from Sickles, Liberty’s Timmy Allman hit a layup which, in addition to Spatafore’s 3-pointer, were part of a five-point third quarter for the Mountaineers. Sanders still wasn’t done. After hitting another layup, he received a pass in the post and, after shaking a defender, buried another layup that gave the Indians a 58-21 lead. “Landon – and again, I mean this in all positive - Landon shot terrible,” Marshall said. “I think you know, he’s, in my opinion, one of the better shooters in the area. He didn’t shoot well, but he didn’t settle for that. He still scored 15 points with 1 of 7 from the three 3-poiint line. That’s a testament to how much he’s matured as a young man and a player, that he can still put up that kind of double digits without having his best shooting game.” Bridgeport still had its stroke from long range, as Dodd and Sanders each buried 3-pointers – Dodd from the left wing and Sanders near the top of the key – that were part of the six 3-pointers that Bridgeport drained on the night. Bridgeport led 65-23 after Sanders’ 3. Liberty sank three 3-pointers on the night, with Jeremih Williams hitting two of them, the last of which came from the left corner, cutting Liberty’s deficit to 65-26. Bowers led the Mountaineers with 12 points. Bridgeport travels to Fairmont Senior at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Liberty travels to Doddridge County at 6 p.m. Monday to face Wirt County.
