More Mann-Made Global Warming
I'm sooo jealous. You've no idea how jealous. Dr Michael Mann - inventor of the discredited Hockey Stick, junk scientist extraordinaire, onlie true begetter of Mann-made global warming - is suing Mark Steyn for defamation, not me.
Dr Mann chose to announce it on Facebook:
I have formally demanded a retraction of, and apology for, this defamatory piece about me by National Review. I have retained counsel to pursue my legal rights.
Here's the link to the "defamatory" piece, which you can still read online - 11 days after it was published - at the NRO site. This suggests that NRO's lawyers aren't taking it quite as seriously as Mann is.
And here - thanks for reminding me, Watts Up With That? - is another thing Mann tried unsuccessfully to have taken down from the internet.
I really don't know why Mann keeps on fighting it. Surely he must realize that ever since the Climategate emails were published he was always going to have difficulty being taken seriously ever again. Better to go with the flow, I say, and let nature take its course. Mann should abandon all pretence at being a scientist and concentrate on his burgeoning career as a comedy figure. I see a bright future ahead of him. Why, if this goes on, he could become a legend to rival the great Fatty Arbuckle.
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Apr '12
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
This is what happens when Science is converted into a tin-horn religion. Mann lived in a protected bubble for decades, used to people simply taking notes and nodding in agreement.
Apr '11
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
I hope Professor Mann's attorney explained to him that Truth is an Affirmative Defense. I suspect the tattered remains of Mikey's reputation are in for another drubbing in the full glare of the public spotlight.
Mar '11
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
I particularly liked this part of the lawyers letter: "We further demand that you take all steps to preserve any and all documents related to these publications and to Dr. Mann."
As I recall, the warm-mongers evaded peer review for a long time by trashing the reputations of everyone who asked to see the raw data before confessing that the data had been deleted. Oops! Accidents happen.
I'm pretty sure the suckers who believe in global warming or climate change never read National Review; perhaps now some of them will.
Dec '11
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
1. The best I can tell this threatened lawsuit meets the criteria for vexatious and frivilous.
2. Discovery will go very poorly for Dr. Mann.
Edited on July 26, 2012 at 2:43pmMay '11
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
Don't despair, James. Maybe you'll be called as a character witness.
Nov '10
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
and this is the scholar that the vaunted UVA President spent almost $1million in legal fees to defend his "academic freedom".
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
What's so funny about this is that Steyn is quoting someone else. I assume it's the Rand Simberg comments that are bothering Mann, right? Not Steyn's funny take on them.
Mar '11
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
In order to make this defamation claim work Mann has to prove that the information in the article is false and that NRO knew or should have know it was false and published it anyway.
The crux of the claim will come back to did Mann do wrong in creating the hockey stick graph and with his other data. Mann brings a lawsuit that subjects his work to the real scrutiny that it should have received from the Penn State investigation. Penn State liked the grants Mann could generate, the legal system gets no similar benefit from Mann's work.
This is a very bad idea for Mann. He should have kept his head down and said nothing at all.
May '10
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
Buck up James. I know it is hard, but we should celebrate the victories of our friends.
We need a Delingpole/Steyn Pod Cast! Maybe proximity will help get you in the trouble with the right people.
Dec '11
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
I read the complaint and he isnt suing over the comparison to sandusky, he is suing over being referred to an as academic fraud.
Jun '12
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
Maybe we should open a betting pool on how long before this lawsuit gets quietly dropped.
May '12
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
Wouldn't you rather be sued be a real Mann, and not a disingenuous, discredited (there is a less polite term) pedantic ninny?
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
Guruforhire
I read the complaint and he isnt suing over the comparison to sandusky, he is suing over being referred to an as academic fraud. · 11 minutes ago
That seems like a horrible idea ... for Mann. In fact, I bet that this won't go far at all precisely because Mann wouldn't want a moment of discovery.
May '10
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
I think they're squabbling over the movie rights...
Mar '12
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
Mr Delingpole:
I really thought you were an evil denier paid by Big Oil (Imperial March playing here). But after this, is obvious to me that you are not more than a double agent in the University of East Anglia payroll.
Maybe if he actually sues you, you can ask Mr Mann to put some error bars in his graphs. I am sure they will look just a little bit different...
Mar '11
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
I bet it will not be actually filed.
Dec '11
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Guruforhire
I read the complaint and he isnt suing over the comparison to sandusky, he is suing over being referred to an as academic fraud. · 11 minutes ago
That seems like a horrible idea ... for Mann. In fact, I bet that this won't go far at all precisely because Mann wouldn't want a moment of discovery.
His lawsuit being thrown out of court for being vexatious and frivilous would be the best likely outcome for Dr. Mann.
He has to prove that Steyn and the NRO did not reach a different conclusion than the referenced "investigations."(I consider those investigations along the lines of the catholic church clearing its "scientists" of wrongdoing and declaring that Galileo was a quack)(further, MMGW and geocentrism suffer from the same problem, mainly that the stars always end up in the wrong spots).
His lawsuit is like OJ suing any newspaper in america over being referred to as a murderer.
Apr '11
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
Mann is a public figure. He is quoted in the Independent newspaper as claiming to be a reluctant public figure. In order for him to prove libel he will have to prove “actual malice” in addition to proving the allegations are false. I suppose it is possible to prove actual malice in a theoretic sense, but in the real world Steyn’s calling Mann a fraud is on the same level as Mann intimating that those who disagree with him are deniers, or in plain English, liars who deny the plain truth which Mann sees. I can’t see any court or court of appeals finding that a political disagreement, with colorful language, rises to the level of actual malice. If so, both sides beware!
Aug '10
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Guruforhire
I read the complaint and he isnt suing over the comparison to sandusky, he is suing over being referred to an as academic fraud. · 11 minutes ago
That seems like a horrible idea ... for Mann. In fact, I bet that this won't go far at all precisely because Mann wouldn't want a moment of discovery. · 49 minutes ago
So, it would appear that this is the offending passage: "Michael Mann was the man behind the fraudulent climate-change 'hockey-stick' graph..."
Um, it was fraudulent.
I don't wish any hassle upon Mark Steyn, but I do relish the thought of seeing this hashed out in court. And I suspect that Steyn, like Bre'r Rabbit, would just love to be thrown in the "briar patch".
Edited on July 26, 2012 at 4:13pmApr '12
Re: More Mann-Made Global Warming
I suggest that Doctor Mann pick up a biography of Oscar Wilde to see just how wrong libel suits and the discovery process can go.