This just in. Here’s a potential bombshell for the Mann:
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Popcorn futures* continue their unprecedented climb:
UPDATE: Sunday 10/28 Mark Steyn writes an uproariously funny but at the same time stinging evisceration of Dr. Mann on his private website titled The fraudulent Nobel Laureate
This part says it all, I’d make it “Quote of the Week”, but then I don’t want to fragment this thread:
When a man sues for damage to his reputation and grossly inflates that reputation in the very court filings, that says something about his credibility.
He also links to this thoughtful essay by Dr. Roger Pielke Jr.
Mann’s embellishment has placed him in a situation where his claims are being countered by the Nobel organization itself.
*There are no popcorn futures markets, the graph is based on a corn future market graph, just for fun
Read Steyn’s latest here: The fraudulent Nobel Laureate
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Mark Steyn takes note of the airbrushing going on in Mike’s Nobel Trick:
A week ago, Michael Mann accused us of damaging his reputation – and seems to have made it a self-fulfilling prophecy. A week ago, he was a “Nobel prize recipient”. Now he’s not. Great work, Mike!
Dr. Judith Curry sends some advice in her week in review:
“JC message to Michael Mann: Mark Steyn is [a] formidable opponent. I suspect that this is not going to turn out well for you.”
Read more at JudithCurry.com
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FLASH: 10/26 7:30AM The Nobel committee responds to Mann’s “certificate”, says he can’t claim he won it (the Nobel prize itself).
See below. – ALSO National Review makes phone call to Nobel committee, audio and transcript below.
NOTE: This is a top sticky post for awhile since the interest is high. New stories appear below this one. UPDATE – legal complaint added, plus a new opinion piece by Chris Horner regarding claims of exoneration has been added – see below the “continue reading” line. UPDATE2: Steyn responds, see below.
UPDATE 3: Steyn responds even further, saying:
“Over the years, I’ve been sued and threatened with suits in various countries around the world but I’ve never before seen a plaintiff make such a transparently false assertion right up front in the biographical resumé.”
Details (and a photo to back up Steyn) below.
UPDATE4: CEI officially responds to the lawsuit, and Steyn mocks Mann even more with a priceless zinger, see below.
In related news, popcorn futures explode go nuclear.
More details to follow.
From Michael Mann’s Facebook page.
Lawsuit filed against The National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute 10/22/12
Today, the case of Dr. Michael E. Mann vs. The National Review and The Competitive Enterprise Institute was filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Dr. Mann, a Professor and Director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, has instituted this lawsuit against the two organizations, along with two of their authors, based upon their false and defamatory statements accusing him of academic fraud and comparing him to a convicted child molester, Jerry Sandusky. Dr. Mann is being represented by John B. Williams of the law firm of Cozen O’Connor in Washington, D.C. (http://www.cozen.com/attorney_detail.asp?d=1&atid=1406).
Dr. Mann is a climate scientist whose research has focused on global warming. In 2007, along with Vice President Al Gore and his colleagues of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for having “created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming.”
Nevertheless, the defendants assert that global warming is a “hoax,” and have accused Dr. Mann of improperly manipulating the data to reach his conclusions.
In response to these types of accusations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation and seven other organizations have conducted investigations into Dr. Mann’s work, finding any and all allegations of academic fraud to be baseless. Every investigation—and every replication of Mann’s work—has concluded that his research and conclusions were properly conducted and fairly presented.
Despite their knowledge of the results of these many investigations, the defendants have nevertheless accused Dr. Mann of academic fraud and have maliciously attacked his personal reputation with the knowingly false comparison to a child molester. The conduct of the defendants is outrageous, and Dr. Mann will be seeking judgment for both compensatory and punitive damages.
Journalists interested in further information regarding the filing of this lawsuit may contact Dr. Mann’s attorney at 202-912-4848, or jbwilliams@cozen.com.
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I’m sure Mark Steyn is thrilled with the prospect of now being able to do additional commentary on this side show. I can’t wait for depositions and discovery.
UPDATES:
Here is the legal complaint: http://legaltimes.typepad.com/files/michael-mann-complaint.pdf
Chris Horner has this opinion piece now which explains his opinion on why Dr. Michael Mann was never fully investigated and thus never exonerated.
Mark Steyn responds with: I’ll have more to say about this when I’ve stopped laughing.
Mark Steyn writes in a further update:
Actually, it’s worse than that. I’ve just read the official indictment or whatever you call it against NR, and he makes the claim that he has been “awarded the Nobel Peace Prize” in the complaint itself (page 2, paragraph 2).
Over the years, I’ve been sued and threatened with suits in various countries around the world but I’ve never before seen a plaintiff make such a transparently false assertion right up front in the biographical resumé.
And I’ve got the photo of Dr. Mann’s award (shown from his office window) to back up what Steyn says here.
Note it says “for contributing to” not awarded to.
Be careful, don’t choke on your popcorn while laughing.
UPDATE4:
CEI has released it’s official statement on the lawsuit on their website here: http://cei.org/news-releases/climate-scientist-sues-cei
The say:
One of our attorneys, Bruce D. Brown of Baker Hostetler, expertly laid out the legal arguments against Mann’s defamation claim. In short, Dr. Mann is a public figure, and under libel law he would need to meet an exceedingly high standard to prevail. Given the support that Simberg’s criticisms rest on, that standard simply can’t be met. As for Simberg’s Sandusky metaphor, it was purely that—a metaphor.
They are also inviting readers to comment on the CEI Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CompetitiveEnterpriseInstitute/posts/428205930566869
Meanwhile, Mark Steyn whips out an example of his rapier wit over Mann’s “Nobel Prize” claims (see photo above) writing:
On the one hand, Michael Mann’s own web page:
He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with other IPCC authors in 2007.
On the other, the Nobel committee:
Only persons named explicitly in the citation may claim to share a Nobel Prize.
So we’re being sued for loss of reputation by a fake Nobel laureate. Hilarious.
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FLASH The Nobel committee responds to Mann’s “certificate” From Tom Richard at Climate Change Dispatch and at The Examiner
I contacted the The Norwegian Nobel Institute to find out if Mann was indeed a Nobel Laureate, winner, etc…
…snip…
Geir Lundestad, Director, Professor, or The Norwegian Nobel Institute emailed me back with the following:
1) Michael Mann has never been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
2) He did not receive any personal certificate. He has taken the diploma awarded in 2007 to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (and to Al Gore) and made his own text underneath this authentic-looking diploma.
3) The text underneath the diploma is entirely his own. We issued only the diploma to the IPCC as such. No individuals on the IPCC side received anything in 2007.
(NOTE: on point 3, another example here (PDF) suggests that the IPCC added that text, not Mann – Anthony)
Lundestad goes on to say that, “Unfortunately we often experience that members of organizations that have indeed been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize issue various forms of personal diplomas to indicate that they personally have received the Nobel Peace Prize. They have not.”
Full story at Climate Change Dispatch and at The Examiner
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ALSO: From NRO’s “The Corner” a call to the Nobel committee by Charles C. W. Cooke:
TRANSCRIPT
Cooke: Hello there, do you speak English?
Nobel Committee: Yes, can I help you?
Cooke: I’m a writer. I’m wondering if I could ask you about previous winners of the Nobel Peace Prize?
Nobel Committee: Oh, could you speak a little bit louder. It’s difficult for me to hear.
Cooke: Sorry. I’m trying to look for some information about previous winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Nobel Committee: Which one?
Cooke: I was wondering, has Dr. Michael Mann ever won the Nobel Peace Prize?
Nobel Committee: No, no. He has never won the Nobel prize.
Cooke: He’s never won it?
Nobel Committee: No.
Cooke: Oh, it says on his-
Nobel Committee: The organization won it. It’s not a personal prize to people belonging to an organization.
Cooke: Okay. So if I were to write that he’d won it, that would be incorrect?
Nobel Committee: That is incorrect, yes. Is it you that sent me an email today? I got an e-mail from our Stockholm office regarding Michael Mann.
Cooke: Oh. No, I didn’t send you an e-mail.
Nobel Committee: Oh. So what’s your name?
Cooke: My name is Charles Cooke.
Nobel Committee: And you work for?
Cooke: I write for National Review.
Nobel Committee: Okay, because I’ve got something from Boston and NY Mental Examiner that asked about the same thing.
Cooke: Oh, okay. Well maybe this is a big question. Okay, but he hasn’t won it. That is the answer.
Nobel Committee: No, he has not won it at all.
Cooke: Okay. Perfect. Thank you very much.
Nobel Committee: Thank you. You’re welcome. Bye bye.
I think it worth mentioning that Mann mentions his Nobel prize at least 3 times in the complaint.
2. … As a result of this research, Dr. Mann and his colleagues were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
5. …attempt to discredit consistently validated scientific research through the professional and personal defamation of a Nobel prize recipient. …
17. In 2007, Dr. Mann shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the other IPCC authors for their work in climate change, including the development of the Hockey Stick Graph.
Personally I think paragraph 5 is the best (or worst) one.
From what Phil says at October 25, 2012 at 9:58 am I assume he thinks that Briffa committed a “fr@ud”.
While that may be good support for Mann it does throw the CRU under a bus.
Phil, you may want to be careful next time you meets any UK climatologists.
Even so, that Briffa (who Phil indicates committed a “fr@ud”) refers to “Mike’s Nature trick” at all
doesn’t greatly support Mann.
How Mike enables “fr@ud”in his own work and Briffa’s is less important than that he does.
A point which Phil has conceded.
There have been several comments on the words, “…every replication of Mann’s work…” By the conventions of logic, this part of the claim is true–vacuously true. How so, you ask?
Although others have done relevant tree ring analysis, there are NO replications of Mann’s work, because Mikey refuses to disgorge his ‘data’ and computer code. Therefore any claims that one could make about about “every replication of Mann’s work” are equally true. Among other things, this would include the following hypothetical claim: …has concluded that Mann is a reincarnation of Torquemada!
Cheers,
Larry Fields
I wonder how widespread this claiming of a Nobel Laureate is for IPPC participants.
eg Kevin Trenberth’s CV:
http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cas/Trenberth/trenberth-cv.html
“Nobel Laureate (shared) for Nobel Peace Prize 2007 (as part of IPCC)”
I have won a Nobel peace price.
I live in the EU.
And Mann responds:
http://twitter.com/MichaelEMann/status/261531821374844928
The obvious likening of his situation to that of the POTUS is so, well, Mannian.
Trenberth’s Nobel claim is even more outrageous. On his website he actually describes himself as a Nobel Laureate. Not even Mann has actually used the word Laureate to describe himself.
Charlatans.
Speaking of discovery, the hockey stick tree graph should be front and center mounted on the largest piece of foam-core so that everyone can see it and understand it’s meaning.
define irony……a litigant with false declarations on his legal statement suing for defamation
Sort of like a lab assistant, who cleaned a petri dish, claiming to be a Nobel Laureate because the doctor he worked for won the Nobel Prize for Medicine
Judging from his response, Mike just doesn’t get it. It isn’t the certificate that’s a fake; it’s the Mann claiming to share a Nobel Peace Prize. Not the sharpest tool, though he is a tool.
He hasn’t got a chance against Steyn. Even if the insurers decided to settle, Steyn would come out on top. I envisage an “apology” along the lines of Shakespeare’s Marc Anthony speech:
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to praise Man, not to slander him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be. The robust Nobel Man
Hath told you McIntyre is ambitious:
If it is so, it is a grievous fault,
And grievously hath McIntyre dared ask
for the verification statistics and raw data.
But by concensus he is a Nobel Man…
I know there are some better poets on here so feel free to improve!
Steven Mosher says:
October 25, 2012 at 3:41 pm
richardscourtney says:
October 25, 2012 at 1:06 pm (Edit)
Steven Mosher:
At October 25, 2012 at 1:02 pm you say
In the end Mann will fight discovery. If he loses he will withdraw. His excuse will be brilliant.
” I am withdrawing because they want mails that will make my colleques look bad”
I had not thought of that. Yes, of course you are right. Thankyou.
I write this both to provide my thanks and to draw attention to your important point.
Richard
Would Mann’s withdrawing of the suit imply that he is admitting that what he alleged was said about him is correct?
Just wondering.
I too have won a Nobel Peace prize, And delight telling everyone i meet who lives outside the E.U.
Ain’t life grand Mikey LOL
I’m afraid that M@nn’s lawyers have shopped the venue, and are convinced that politics will trump justice. This is a very big deal, and I really, really hope I’m wrong, but the cynic in me says that this is all part of the effort to “re-educate” the populus. If they can get the case supported by a court, then the blathering will reach unimaginable heights.
The re-education process has already started on local TV stations with all of them talking about the “very active” tropical storm season. Of course, Hurricane Sandie is getting a big play, more emphasis that “yes, it’s happened before, but this could be especially bad…”
As for being awarded the Nobel prize..
This is known as Mike’s “Nobel Prize trick”
Maybe Mann is suffering from a martyr complex and this is just part of it, pyschologically it would make sense as he must be smart enough to know he can not win?
That certificate just goes to sho that Mann is the laureate’s laureate. The legal case is an aside with a pre-determined withdrawal or dismissal. The real show is Mann as the would-be emperor with no clothes and Steyn with a high definition camera.
I’m with Andy L, above: “From now on, I suggest we all refer to Mann as “fake Nobel Laureate Micheal Mann”
So please, people, with your comments from hereon, preface them with ‘fake Nobel Laureate Micheal Mann’. I thank you.
Re: Nobel Prize.
Always remember that the IPCC’s 2007 Nobel was: (1) shared 50% with none other than Al Gore (!), and (2) awarded for “Peace” and NOT for Physics (heh).
So Mann’s Nobel claim is in reality 1 / 2000+ scientists x 50% of the prize. Al Gore is, in fact, the Nobel laureate in this case.
in the meantime-
in the real world-
it is getting cooler and cooler-
in fact many of the extreme weather events we now see are due to the fact that we are now cooling down near to the maximum rate-
http://blogs.24.com/henryp/2012/10/02/best-sine-wave-fit-for-the-drop-in-global-maximum-temperatures/
ironically, it is this observable change in heat coming into earth, whether warming or cooling, that actually causes ‘weather” as we know it- without it there would not be any weather, no rain, and, hence, no life.
Is it not crazy for all of us to consider and think where we have ended up with this whole global warming hoax?
Michael E. Mann – Nobel Flatuleate
Has a certain smell to it doesn’t it 🙂
I don’t know why Mann is drawing flak for this certificate, clearly the ring widths in his paper (ie made from wood) certificate is a proxy for being awarded a real Nobel prize. After he flips it upside down and cuts off the text at the end it has a verification R2 statistic of 0.2, in the CENSORED directory.
/sarc
The Ghost Of Big Jim Cooley says:
October 26, 2012 at 7:44 am
“I’m with Andy L, above: “From now on, I suggest we all refer to Mann as “fake Nobel Laureate Micheal Mann”
So please, people, with your comments from hereon, preface them with ‘fake Nobel Laureate Micheal Mann’. I thank you.”
I will certainly not. For then I would not be able to trump my own achievement as an EU resident.
I also am a Nobel laureate, thank you very much.
There are half a billion of us but I like to think I played my part.
And it is clearly a very special honour.
Has anyone been to SkS or C to get their ‘official’ take on this? or has their Mann hero done so bad as to have them ducking under the parapet? I only ask because I refuse to visit either !
As for the fake Nobel prize – the official response is priceless. In the uk, we quite often use the term ‘Nob’ to refer to persons of dubious intellect and stupidity (amongst other things!).
Mann isn’t even a Nob – he’s a fake Nob ! – that’s kind of like the square root of useless!
“From the Norweign Nobel Institute:
1) Michael Mann has never been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.”
That’s a law-suit killer right there. How can Mann win a defamation suit when he lied about his Nobel prize and made up his own certificate? If I were Mann I’d be looking for a Mann-cave.