The Onion, a Chicago-based liberal satire publication that was recently purchased by longtime Democratic donor Jeff Lawson, attempted to acquire the assets of Alex Jones' Infowars empire last month in a court-ordered bankruptcy auction. Gun-grab activists and other leftists celebrated the news that the Onion had supposedly won the auction with an apparently suboptimal bid. Ben Collins, the CEO of the Onion's parent company Global Tetrahedron, promised he would turn the platform into a "cosmic joke." Collins' punitive plans were tripped up by the Houston bankruptcy judge involved the case, district Judge Christopher Lopez, who paused the acquisition and reportedly said, "No one should feel comfortable with the results of this auction." After weeks of uncertainty about the fate of the sale, Lopez rejected the Onion's bid Tuesday evening, ruling the auction process unfair and noting that money was left on the table. Lopez said that Christopher Murray, the court-appointed trustee who is liquidating Jones' estate, failed both to run a transparent auction process and to provide a rival bidder associated with Jones, First United American Companies, an opportunity to improve its bid, reported NBC News. 'It clearly was and must have been the subject of conspiratorial negotiation and agreement.' "I think you've got to go out and try to get every dollar," said the judge. "I think that the process fell down." According to the Washington Post, FUAC's $3.5 million bid was nearly double the Onion's supposedly winning cash bid. FUAC, an organization affiliated with Jones' supplements business, argued in court that its higher bid should have prevailed and that Murray improperly picked the Onion's bid. Lawyers for FUAC and Jones raised concerns about fraud and collusion, questioning how auctioneer Jeff Tanenbaum valued the Onion's $1.75 million cash and incentives bid at $7 million and why a live action had been spiked. They also complained about a gross lack of transparency, claiming, for instance, that "no announcement was ever made that joint bids, bifurcated bids, floating amounts or other form of non-final 'best and highest' bid structures was even in the contemplation of the Trustee and the Defendants, which it clearly was and must have been the subject of conspiratorial negotiation and agreement." Jones raised some of these concerns with Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck last month, alleging that the initial sale of Infowars was "100% cut-and-dry illegal." — (@) Lopez reportedly said when delivering his decision, "I don't think anyone acted in bad faith here. I think everyone was trying to buy an asset and put their best foot forward and play by the rules." 'It's like being held under water and finally getting air.' "It seemed doomed almost from the moment they decided to go to a sealed bid," said Lopez, reported the New York Times. "Nobody knows what anybody else is bidding." According to Bloomberg, the decision means Jones could remain in control of the platform. In a statement shared by Collins on X, the Onion, which previously mocked the death of Corey Comperatore, noted, "We are deeply disappointed in today's decision, but The Onion will continue to seek a resolution that helps the Sandy Hook families receive a positive outcome for the horror they endured. We will also continue to seek a path towards purchasing InfoWars in the coming weeks." Chris Mattei, an attorney for the families who backed the Onion's bid, said in a statement obtained by the Post, "This decision doesn't change the fact that, soon, Alex Jones will begin to pay his debt to these families and he will continue doing so for as long as it takes." Jones rushed to broadcast the news on a platform still out of Collins' reach, stating, "Finally, a judge followed the law in the lawfare fiascos and ruled in Infowars' favor." "It's like being held under water and finally getting air," added Jones. 'They're trying to destroy us and destroy free speech.' Jones also suggested that the coalition involved with the Onion's bid colluded to rig their bid and that there was cause for legal action and possibly a Department Justice investigation. "Now, the judge told them 27 days ago Bloomberg's Everytown that turned out is the group behind it — the Onion's, their front group — he told them they didn't own it and he said, 'Stop saying that.' They did not stop. Major cause of action." said Jones. "And I'm not a litigious person, but they're trying to destroy us and destroy free speech, so you know what's going to happen to them and Michael Bloomberg, Mr. Baby Feet." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to fortify and expand sanctuary policies beyond state mandates, aiming to shield illegal aliens from President-elect Donald Trump's upcoming mass deportation efforts.Chairwoman Nora Vargas put forward the proposal, claiming that it aligned with state law, citing former Gov. Jerry Brown's California Assembly Bill 4, which prevents local law enforcement from complying with Immigration and Customs Enforcement's detainer requests. 'This policy means that an illegal immigrant who has committed one of these appalling crimes will now walk free on our streets.'ICE's detainers request that local authorities hold already detained criminal illegal aliens in their jails for up to 48 hours beyond their scheduled release date to allow ICE agents time to transfer them into federal custody. However, California law bans this cooperation, forcing ICE to expend extra resources to track down and rearrest these individuals once they are back on the streets, which is considerably more costly for the agency and much more dangerous for the arresting officers.Former Gov. Brown further restricted the collaboration between local authorities and ICE in 2017 through California Senate Bill 54, which banned the transfer of illegal aliens to federal agents and also prohibited informing ICE about release dates.Vargas' policy "ensures that absent a federal warrant, no release will be delayed."Ahead of the vote, Vargas warned that some residents and fellow board members were going to share "a lot of misinformation" in opposition to her proposal.Over 100 San Diego County residents signed up to speak on the policy, and the county received more than 500 electronic comments concerning it.Vargas' policy read, "Today's actions will adopt a resolution and Board Policy L-2 to affirm the County shall not provide assistance or cooperation to ICE in its civil immigration enforcement efforts, including by giving ICE agents access to individuals or allowing them to use County facilities for investigative interviews or other purposes, expending County time or resources responding to ICE inquiries or communicating with ICE regarding individuals' incarceration status or release dates, or otherwise participating in any civil immigration enforcement activities."It added, "The proposed policy does not limit or prohibit giving assistance with the investigative activities of any local, state, or federal law enforcement agency relating to suspected violations of criminal laws."The proposed policy passed in a 3-1 vote on Tuesday. Supervisor Jim Desmond held the only dissenting opinion. He called Vargas' policy "radical," "reckless," and "a direct betrayal of the people we are sworn to protect.""Today's outrageous decision to turn San Diego County into a 'Super' Sanctuary County is an affront to every law-abiding citizen who values safety and justice," he wrote in an emailed press release."Consider this: Under this policy, law enforcement is prohibited from notifying ICE about individuals, in custody, who have committed violent and heinous crimes, including rape and stalking, assault and battery, burglary, child abuse, and more," Desmond explained.He added, "Let me be crystal clear — this policy means that an illegal immigrant who has committed one of these appalling crimes will now walk free on our streets, once they serve their jail sentence, protected by county policies, with no coordination with ICE."Following the board's vote, the San Diego County Sheriff's Office issued a statement declining to enforce the new policy.Sheriff Kelly A. Martinez wrote, "As the Sheriff of San Diego County, my number one priority is protecting the safety and well-being of all residents of our diverse region. While protecting the rights of undocumented immigrants is crucial, it is equally important to ensure that victims of crimes are not overlooked or neglected in the process. Victims include undocumented individuals — these vulnerable individuals express to me that their legal status is used as a weapon against them when offenders from their community victimize them."The sheriff's office contended that the board of supervisors does not set its policy.The department stated, "The sheriff, as an independently elected official, sets the policy for the Sheriff's Office. California law prohibits the Board of Supervisors from interfering with the independent, constitutionally and statutorily designated investigative functions of the sheriff, and is clear that the sheriff has the sole and exclusive authority to operate the county jails.""The Sheriff's Office will not change its practices based on the board resolution and policy that was passed at today's meeting," it declared.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

While conservatives across the nation rejoiced at the acquittal of Daniel Penny, many on the left are crying racism, insisting Penny was the aggressor and Neely the victim. Megyn Kelly recently responded to the left’s reaction — specifically the BLM left, who perhaps has been the loudest in its protests. Dave Rubin plays the clip of Kelly’s “rather spectacular analysis of the situation.” “Over on Neely’s side, some of them are describing him as the victim. He wasn't the victim; he was the aggressor; he was the criminal on that subway car that day, who was seriously threatening other passengers,” she said, pointing to Neely’s “long history of hurting [passengers].” And to the person who yelled, “It's a racist country!” in the courtroom, Kelly had the following response: “Hello madam or sir, that's not working anymore. You're going to have to find a new line. I don't know what it's going to be, but the BLM era is officially over — it's over.” “You had us in some sort of weird psychotic headpin for four or five years, and it's done. Trump is re-elected, and Daniel Penny is acquitted in one of the most leftist jurisdictions in America, despite the fact that he is white and Jordan Neely was black, and they're still yelling, ‘It's a racist country.’ You fools, you absolute fools," she lambasted. In regard to Neely’s father, who’s now supposedly suing Daniel Penny, Kelly asked, “Where was he when Jordan Neely had dozens of arrests over the years? When he was punching 67-year-old women in the face? Where was the grieving dad then?” But “now you're totally behind your son? I don't feel sorry for you.” Dave agrees wholeheartedly with Kelly’s response. “That's right — this thing had nothing to do with race. This had everything to do with the lawlessness of New York City and the defunding of the police that is pushed by BLM and the progressive people like Kathy Hochul,” he says. “The death of Jordan Neely is far more on them actually than it is on Penny.” To hear more of Dave’s commentary and watch the footage of Kelly ripping into the left’s response to Penny’s acquittal, watch the clip above. Want more from Dave Rubin?To enjoy more honest conversations, free speech, and big ideas with Dave Rubin, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube just released some new stats that show how the service is being consumed on televisions, and the numbers are enormous. Watch time on TV for sports content was up 30 percent year over year; viewers watched more than 400 million hours of podcasts on their TVs every month. This is YouTube we’re talking about, though, so of course the numbers are huge. The living room has been YouTube’s fastest-growing platform for years — Alphabet’s chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, said on the company’s most recent earnings call that watch time is growing across YouTube “with particular strength in Shorts and in the living room.” Even as YouTube continues to dominate basically all facets of the entertainment business, the arrow on your TV still points up. The trend hasn’t changed in forever, but YouTube has spent the last couple of years finally doing something about it. It launched a way to sync your phone and your TV, so you can watch a video on the big screen and interact with it on the small one. Earlier this year, the company redesigned the TV interface to make it easier to find comments, links, and channel pages while you’re watching a video. It redesigned those channel... Read the full story at The Verge.

Image: The Verge. Photos: Getty Hello, and welcome to Decoder! I’m David Pierce, editor-at-large of The Verge. As you may have noticed, we’re dropping some extra episodes in the feed this week. You’ll have Nilay back on Friday and for next week, as we run toward the end of the year. But I’m really excited to be here with you all today because I’m getting to talk about one of my favorite things: podcasts. There’s something strange happening these days in the podcast world — well, actually, there are kind of a lot of things happening. It’s been a wild year. One thing I’ve noticed recently is the way companies that deal in money have been using podcasts not just as an entertainment medium but also as a weird hybrid of marketing, thought leadership, and networking. It’s something we’ve seen for a few years now with venture capital firms, for example: not only do most of the top-level VC companies have their own podcasts but also people who do podcasts about venture capital end up going into it after meeting and talking to all these folks. It’s kind of a weird, complicated web that goes both ways, and it’s not getting any less weird or less complicated once you add stuff like crypto and politics to the mix. So I... Read the full story at The Verge.