Gloves Off. Mike Mann to File Suit against National Review Sleaze
August 24, 2012
The set-up.
In a new sleazy low, the National Review website published a post comparing climate scientist Mike Mann to pedophile Jerry Sandusky.
Video above reviews the sad history of the climate denial machine’s ugly attacks on Mann and his now richly affirmed paleotemperature studies.
See here for my last summary of the current story.
In response to the latest in vile and disgusting attacks on climate science and scientists, Paleo-Climate expert Mike Mann today served the once-long-ago-useful-now-ridiculous National Review with the letter demanding a retraction and apology. The letter can be viewed below, or on Mike’s Facebook page, where you may choose to spread it around.
Today this post appeared on Mann’s Facebook page:
People have been asking for my reaction to the recent response by the National Review. Here is a statement from my lawyer John B. Williams of Cozen O’Connor:
********
The response of the National Review is telling with respect to the issues it did not address. It did not address, or even acknowledge, the fact that Dr. Mann’s research has been extensively reviewed by a number of independent parties, including the National Science Foundation, with never a suggestion of any fraud or research misconduct. It did not address, or even acknowledge, the fact that Dr. Mann’s conclusions have been replicated by no fewer than twelve independent studies. It did not deny the fact that it was aware that Dr. Mann has been repeatedly exonerated of any fraudulent conduct. It did not deny the fact that it knew its allegations of fraud were false. Rather, the National Review’s defense seems to be that it did not really mean what it said last month when it accused Dr. Mann of fraud. Beyond this, the response is little more than an invective filled personal attack on Dr. Mann. And further, this attack is coupled with the transparent threat that the National Review intends to undertake burdensome and abusive litigation tactics should Dr. Mann have the temerity to attempt to defend himself in court.
*********We intend to file a lawsuit.
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The legal dismemberment of the Denial machine has begun. In a conversation thursday with a very senior scientist, I was updated on a number of actions slowly encircling the Denial industry. Think, – Tobacco lawsuits on stereo steroids, with extra secret sauce.
Below, more video of Mike Mann’s defense, under oath, of the Hockey Stick paper:
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
August 24, 2012 at 5:29 am
Go get ’em Mike … make them pay big time …
August 24, 2012 at 5:29 am
[…] The set-up. In a new sleazy low, the National Review website published a post comparing climate scientist Mike Mann to pedophile Jerry Sandusky. Video above reviews the sad history of the climate d… […]
August 24, 2012 at 6:27 am
Kudos to Dr. Mann for having the courage to go after his persecutors. They richly deserve to be brought to heel. They are a pestilence upon society.
Off Topic: Along these lines, there’s a YouTube video that is just now going viral with someone who will be very much on Dr. Mann’s side:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0823/breaking30.html
And I’ve mirrored it here: http://www.occupybend.org/news.php?1100
August 24, 2012 at 6:31 am
The Zebra strikes back. (See I did read the book)
August 24, 2012 at 8:05 am
[…] […]
August 24, 2012 at 9:10 am
Mann has finally realized that in dealing with the far right- one must go on the offensive and stay there. These people have been empowered far too long to abuse others, like Mann, Hansen and other climate scientists.
Good for Dr. Mann.
August 24, 2012 at 10:53 am
So called “think tanks” (Marshall Institute, Heartland Institute, Cato Institute, etc.) have always attempted to educate the masses against reasonable thinking, but after Regan fired the air traffic controllers in 1981, others right-wingers considered this the opening shot in a war on anything resembling “progressive”. Political types like Newt Gingrich, Grover Norquist, and Rush Limbaugh piled on which only seemed to increase the divide between left and right (before Gingrich, politicians could meet in the middle to negotiate; extremist TEA-party types today call “negotiation” “compromising” then hang the label “moderate” on the poor soul caught doing this which tends to finish their political career). I’ve been watching this happen my whole life and have wondered “why people on the left usually show up to a gun fight with a knife”. Kudos to Mann for fighting back.
p.s. There are many voting idiots out there who who don’t like anything progressive, left, or educational only because people from the left are perceived as being weak. I’m afraid these people will never respect science and reason until they see a bloody nose. Let the “Hunger Games” begin.
August 24, 2012 at 10:22 pm
Good comment Neil.
I have hated bullies all of my life,and seeing one in action is the quickest way to get a rise out of me,and I think that that is a very common trait in most decent humans.
My older brother taught me at age 7,that the only way to deal with a bully is to fight back hard and swiftly.I made use of that advice several times in my life,and it is truly amazing to see the stunned looks on their faces once they realize that they have gotten in to something that they weren’t counting on.
I have earmarked $1,000 to support actions for climate scientists to go on the offensive against these thugs,and have already donated some to the
Climate Science Legal Defense Fund. I suspect that there are many many more people out there that feel the way that I do,and can afford to take the fight to these scumbags.
Go Dr. Mann,give them hell…better still,give them the truth,and they will think that it is hell!
August 24, 2012 at 2:31 pm
[…] here is a report from an alternate universe, in which Mann is not going to get shredded on the stand: The legal dismemberment of the Denial […]
August 24, 2012 at 3:16 pm
I’m very glad to see Dr. Mann confronting these low-lifes and their libels. Public discourse has been destroyed by right-wing lies and a media too weak and compromised to challenge them. Recognizing everyone’s right to their own opinion is fine– but (in a bit of conceptual leger-de-main) this has been transformed (in the eyes of the National Review and the rest of their ilk) into entitlement to their own facts, and (ipso facto) the right to slag their opponents with baseless and vile accusations. I hope the courts are prepared to follow through: the Dover decision, by a Republican, Bush-appointed judge, gives me some hope that the U.S. legal system isn’t ready to give up on facts and evidence- yet.
August 24, 2012 at 4:05 pm
I didn’t see a link to the “recent response by the National Review” Mann mentions, so here it is:
Click to access 2012-08-22_National_Review_Response_Letter.pdf
August 25, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Sifting through the Hostetler response, the outcome will depend upon whether the court decides that National Review knows that it’s lying – or if it is truly clueless. That is a good question.