Sue the Decline
Climate “scientist” Michael Mann is suing PJMedia friend Rand Simberg, Mark Steyn, and others. Full details from Fox:
Controversial climate scientist Michael Mann, who helped raise global warming’s profile by representing temperatures as a rapidly escalating “hockey stick,” has filed a defamation lawsuit against skeptics at the National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Mann said statements by the two organizations that compared him to convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky were offensive and defamatory, and called them the latest in a series of attacks he and other climate scientists have faced.
“Unsatisfied with their lacerations of his professional reputation, defendants have also maliciously attacked Dr. Mann’s personal reputation with the knowingly false comparison to a child molester,” the complaint reads.
Mann described the comments as one in a chain of attacks he has faced for his research into the effects of carbon dioxide — and mankind — on the climate.
Let the discovery process begin!
I find it astonishing that he’s following through with this. He’s spent years (and a ton of tax payer dollars) to hide his IPCC emails while at UVA. Those are now on the table.
And then the trail gets really interesting, because discovery should open up the rest of the pandora’s box that is still hidden behind the IPCC firewall.
Personally, I think the whole AGW meme is basically dead. But this will stick a fork in it, shove a spit up it’s rear, and roast it to ashes.
Sorry, may have carried that metaphor a bit far.
“roast it to ashes” which will unleash enough carbon dioxide to cause global warming.
I dunno how much discovery will turn up, it seems very likely that he would have sanitized his email archives and gotten other details taken care of prior to initiating the suit.
VA state law (let alone all of the arcane laws surrounding publicly funded research) requires that all email data (along with everything else related) be backed up by the university. If it’s gone, then the school is liable. And would lose their access to future funding should they be proven negligent.
It’s there. All of it. He can erase all he wants. But the university has it. That’s part of why they supported him in the various lawsuits against him. Otherwise, they’re either coughing it up (and proving at least partial complicity in his lies), or being taken out to the woodshed by the government.
Oh, my. This will be fun.
Ironically enough, Michael Mann can’t take the heat.
No, he can’t take the heat, even on his Facebook page. Peoples’ comments there are uniformly positive because he deletes negative comments, then blocks the people who posted them
This is going to be a lot of fun. At a minimum, they will be able to get every single communication between Mann and all the “investigations” that “cleared” him. It will be interesting to see how hard they actually questioned him.
Then there’s everything about “hide the decline”, everything about the Hockey Stick graph, and everything about trying to make the Medieval Warming Period disappear.
Popcorn, as far as the eye can see.
Don’t miss Mark Steyn’s observation about Mann’s press release …
If Mann suddenly decides to withdraw his suit, I hope Steyn, et al. (and the judge) don’t let him.
While i wouldn’t recommend rushing the answer, once it’s served, the lawsuit takes on a life of its own and Mann won’t be able to simply withdraw.
What’s remarkable here is that Mann undoubtedly knows about discovery and knows what the defendents will discover. I have to assume that he really believes his work is valid and his ethics passable. So is he insane? Or is he really that much smarter than us? We should find out in the next year or so.
Delusion is quite possible.
Remember, some people get so caught up in their Truth, that all attempts by others to disavow that Truth is seen as a violent assault on them. For Mann, he might think of himself as a Gaian Messaih, trying to stop what he views as the next apocalypse.
And now there’s a heretic that must be burned in the name of Gaia.
Be sure to check out the latest update on Rand Simberg’s site about how the judge that was assigned to this case has a reputation as being the most biased judge in the area, and the judge most likely to restrict the discovery process. She’s a ringer and the case will have to be won in appeal, if ever.
So, #6, sounds like the left will use corruption to conceal fraud.
So, #7, so what else is new ??
As Stephen noted, discovery will be a real hoot. . . .and, of course, it will ALL become part of the public record. . . .
Whatever happened to that guy “Brett” who was suing bloggers? (or wasn’t he?)