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ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones backs off ‘Pizzagate’ claims

By Paul Farhi March 24 at 10:40 PM



Alex Jones, the conspiracy-loving media personality, apologized Friday for his role in promoting “Pizzagate,” the baseless viral story that a Washington pizza restaurant was the locale of a child sex-abuse ring run by Hillary Clinton and her campaign chairman, John Podesta.

In a surprising and rare bit of backtracking, Jones posted a six-minute video on his website, “InfoWars,” in which he read a prepared statement formally distancing himself and his site from what became a textbook story of fake news run amok. He addressed his apology to James Alefantis, the owner of Comet Ping Pong, the restaurant that was the supposed locale of the alleged conspiracy last year.

“I made comments about Mr. Alefantis that in hindsight I regret, and for which I apologize to him,” Jones said. “We relied on third-party accounts of alleged activities and conduct at the restaurant. We also relied on accounts of [two] reporters who are no longer with us.”

He added, “To my knowledge today, neither Mr. Alefantis nor his restaurant Comet Ping Pong, were involved in any human trafficking as was part of the theories about Pizzagate.” The story, he said, “was based upon what we now believe was an incorrect narrative.”

Jones, a staunch supporter of Donald Trump during the presidential campaign, offered no comment or apology to Clinton or Podesta for outlandish statements about their alleged involvement in the abuse of hundreds of children.

Jones didn’t say what prompted his apology but it may have been motivated by a letter Alefantis wrote to him in February. The letter demands an apology and retraction for InfoWars’ postings about Pizzagate; it does not threaten legal action, but refers to what Alefantis describes as “defaming” comments by InfoWars.

But the timing of Jones’s apology suggests he was concerned about a potential lawsuit. Under Texas law, the Austin-based Jones had to retract or apologize for the stories by Friday — one full month after receiving Alefantis’s letter — to avoid exposing InfoWars to punitive damages in a libel suit.

In a statement, Alefantis said, “I am pleased that Mr. Jones has apologized and admitted that he and his employees repeatedly spread falsehoods about me and my restaurant. I wish that he would have made this admission and apology months ago. And his apology, while welcome, does nothing to address the harm he and his company have done to me, my business, and my community.”

A spokeswoman for Alefantis said Friday that Alefantis and his attorney “continue to evaluate our legal claims.”

As the story spread, Alefantis and his employees received multiple death threats. The rumors culminated in December when a North Carolina man, Edgar Madisson Welch, came to the restaurant with a loaded assault rifle and handgun in what he called an attempt to investigate the claims. He fired the rifle several times while inside the restaurant, according to court documents.

Welch coincidentally pleaded guilty on Friday to weapons and assault charges in an agreement with federal prosecutors in the District.

InfoWars wasn’t the principal progenitor of the false story. The story spread primarily through such user-generated sites as Reddit and 4chan, as well as through fake-news websites and social media.

But InfoWars played a role, publishing numerous articles and commentaries that speculated about the alleged involvement of Clinton and Podesta. Pizzagate was sparked by cryptic comments made by Podesta in emails that were stolen and later released by WikiLeaks during the campaign.

Among the more damaging elements cited by Alefantis in his Feb. 22 letter was InfoWars’ role in encouraging its followers “to go out and investigate the ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy theory, to come to my restaurant and investigate lies.”

In his statement, Alefantis noted, “We can all hope that Mr. Jones’ retreat is the beginning of a process to hold accountable the people who motivated an armed gunman to travel across state lines and fire his weapon in a family-friendly restaurant.”

In 2009, the Senate voted for Obamacare without a single GOP vote.
In 2010, the House voted for Obamacare without a single GOP vote.

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In 2009, the Senate voted for Obamacare without a single GOP vote.In 2010, the House voted for Obamacare without a single GOP vote.

By changing the rules in Congress to get it passed. Do you support the GOP changing the rules just so they can pass bills?

Gorsuch being confirmed will be the worst out of all the other bad events because he will be on the Supreme Court for a long, long time. He is fairly young and as right wing as Scalia, if not more so.

The Commonwealth Fund is and advocacy group for government managed health care programs.

President Trump’s failure to make good on his signature promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act is the most crushing political defeat of his early days in the White House.

But it is hardly the only one.

Mr. Trump — who sold himself as a winner who could turn around a country that “doesn’t win anymore” — has endured a litany of missteps, controversies, resignations and investigations, all of which have dented his “I alone can fix it” vow to remake government with businesslike efficiency.

A month shy of the 100-day mark that presidents use to gauge success, Mr. Trump’s largely self-inflicted setbacks are evidence of a novice politician, often uninterested in the inner workings of government, who is struggling to wield his constitutional authority or fully understand the limits of his office.

“No administration has ever been off to a worse 100-day start,” said Steve Schmidt, a longtime Republican strategist who served as a counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney.

This being attributed to Ryan today:
Paul Ryan: 'We're not going to give up on destroying the health care system'
Freudian Slip?

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California’s clean-air agency voted on Friday to push ahead with stricter emissions standards for cars and trucks, setting up a potential legal battle with the Trump administration over the state’s plan to reduce planet-warming gases.

[California's] standards would require automakers to nearly double the average fuel economy of new cars and trucks by 2025, to 54.5 miles per gallon.

Automakers now complain about the steep technical challenge that the stringent standards pose. They have estimated that only about 3.5 percent of new vehicles are able to reach it, and that their industry would have to spend a “staggering” $200 billion by 2025 to comply.

Automakers have also been critical of a California’s zero-emission vehicle program, which requires automakers to sell a certain percentage of electric cars and trucks in California.

California can write its own standards because of a longstanding waiver granted under the Clean Air Act.

The vote, by the California Air Resources Board, is the boldest indication yet of California’s plan to stand up to President Trump’s agenda. Leading politicians in the state, from the governor down to many mayors, have promised to lead the resistance to Mr. Trump’s policies.

The administration could choose to revoke California’s waiver, at which point experts expect the state would sue.

California sued the George W. Bush administration after it challenged California’s waiver in 2007. Mr. Obama reversed the federal challenge.

The Trump administration’s move to ease emissions rules is the first part of an expected assault on Mr. Obama’s environmental legacy. In the coming weeks, Mr. Trump is also expected to announce that he will direct the E.P.A. to dismantle Obama-era regulations on pollution from coal-fired power plant.