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.
@Duke C,
Personally, I think you selected the wrong fictional ship’s captian to compare Mann to. I think it’s more likely that he (or rather his career) is headed for a captian Ahab (Moby Dick) moment.
Tim says:
October 26, 2012 at 1:36 pm (Edit)
Look at you all! Just look at you all….. Astonishing amount of bullshit, gossip, self-congratulation, sheer nastiness, wriggling & writhing. No wonder you aren’t taken seriously.
#################
Tim is that suppose to be a commentary on the climategate mails?
Tim says:
October 26, 2012 at 1:36 pm
Look at you all! Just look at you all….. Astonishing amount of bullshit, gossip, self-congratulation, sheer nastiness, wriggling & writhing. No wonder you aren’t taken seriously.
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Pssst…Tim, this is WUWT, not RealClimate or Mikey’s tweet.
@Centers for Disease Control
I’m going to have to pull you up on this. I’m proud to be an atheist. Or at least what I think an atheist is. I don’t subscribe to any doctrine so I suppose the label might not fit me but my position remains the same. However I won’t explain that position to you as it has no bearing on the issue of climate change. I am opposed to preaching.
Indeed my politics are what can be described in the UK as ‘left of centre’ which on the political scale of the US could put me somewhere left of Stalin. It does not matter though.
My understanding of the CAGW theory is based upon my education and understanding of work done by others. It’s that which allows me to refute and dismiss it.
This point is something others here would do well to consider. Your politics or religion ( or lack thereof ) should not interfere with your understanding of, or work in the science. All manner of pre-conceived bias can be introduced and not only that, you’ll just plain insult people ( which is what prompted me to write this )
I’m a labour (UK) voter. I’m an atheist as much as I understand the label and I am a staunch opponent of the theory that man is influencing the climate to the extent that we are able to do anything about it. Only the latter should matter here.
Reg Nelson says: October 26, 2012 at 9:33 am
“Using MIke’s Nobel Trick I just got inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and am soon to be knighted (waiting for my certificate to finish printing on my inkjet). I shall hereby be known as Baseball Hall of Famer Sir Reginald Nelson.”
Too Funny!!!!!!!!! Seriously……too darn funny!!!!!!
So one part of a document which is nothing to do with a Nobel Prize has been spliced onto a copy of a Nobel Prize certificate. A bit like the splicing of selective proxy temperature data onto instrumental temperature data to hide the decline in the proxy data.
Is this Mike’s Nobel trick?
The Nobel committee better be careful else Mikey will take them to court for ruining his reputation of having a Nobel Prize.
Tim
I see you’re back and now all you have to say is that we are all nasty and bullshitting.
I really do wonder how you and those on Mann’s facebook page are able to stare facts in the face and then your only reaction is to insult evrybody here indiscrimately. It says so much.
There is no bullshit. I started to look into this quite a few days ago and my posts on it are about the first that got out there. I checked my facts, contacted the Nobel.org and did not just throw out any unfounded information. I posted it because I thought it to be a very serious issue for an academic. Clerarly many believe so, too.
This issue is beyond any doubt. We are talking 100%. Not the clinate science sort of certainty, but actual 100% truth. And when your earlier dissembling in this post was not successful here you are insulting everyone.
Mann has written on his facebook page:
“Its sort of funny how the rabble don’t seem too interested in the fact that many other IPCC co-authors (e.g. University of Montana scientists Steve Running) have found the IPCC’s official commendation to lead authors (“contributing to the award of the Nobel Peace Prize”) translated to having been co-awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize”
Just breathtaking. Many others have “found” the certificate “translated” to having been awarded the prize.
See. Nothing to do with them. It has merely been “found” to have been “transalated” into a claim to be a Nobel Laureate. Every single time without fail that some issue or other comes up about Mann he demonstrates
Someone should take a screenshot of the facebook page. It is incredibly revealing and relevant to the current legal dispute.
Mann claiming to have won the Nobel Prize is like those sad people who falsely claim to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Does he value himself so poorly, despite his real accomplishments, that he has to delude himself with such a claim?
Tim says:
October 26, 2012 at 1:36 pm
When a donkey like Mann makes such a complete Ass of himself – what did you think we would do? Pat him on the back and say, ‘Never mind dear!’, the millions of starving energy and poverty stricken folk in the world have seen billions wasted into CAGW whilst struggling for even basic necessities like clean water! The ridicule directed at skeptics just for asking how he produced his results for his pal reviewed paper(s) has come back to bite his own backside and is THOROUGHLY deserved.
Calm down, Tim. No one takes this seriously. Steyn doesn’t take it seriously. CEI doesn’t take it seriously. NR doesn’t take it seriously. Mann… well, most people don’t take it seriously. But seriously. Why would a guy like Mann who avoids debating his stick with sceptics at every opportunity want to debate the first amendment with Steyn? He should stick to what he thinks he knows and continue debating with his friends. It’s safer.
sorry posting malfunction:
………he demonstrates a deliberate evasion of the actual issue and gets straight to the usual Koch Brothers, conspiracy crap.
Tim says:
October 26, 2012 at 1:36 pm
“Look at you all! Just look at you all….. Astonishing amount of bullshit, gossip, self-congratulation, sheer nastiness, wriggling & writhing. No wonder you aren’t taken seriously.”
Shame, shame, I agree. We should all gather up our dignity and behave like IPCC Nobel Peace Prize laureates… oh wait… nevermind… seriously…
Do you think his lawyers are ready to strangle him? I’m surprised they haven’t taken him off the twit. Given the care being demonstrated, I’m beginning to think the suit isn’t all that serious.
CYA P.S. – For those who don’t understand literary devices (demonstrably some) the “strangle him” is not literal. It is a figure of speech.
Nobel Peace Prize?
It’s not even one of the big three for science: Physics, Chemistry, or Medicine and Physiology.
Apparently, the Nobel Peace Prize is now handed out in Europe with every order of moules et frites – mussels and chips.
Tim says:
October 26, 2012 at 1:36 pm
Look at you all! Just look at you all….. Astonishing amount of bullshit, gossip, self-congratulation, sheer nastiness, wriggling & writhing. No wonder you aren’t taken seriously.
__________________
That’s just insulting and I can’t understand why the mods let it stand, unless to allow you to receive the lesson you will get.
Do you think people here are idiots? Are we all right-wing hummer drivers with shares in big oil? I find the commentators on WUWT that be amongst the most highly intelligent community i have the luck to participate in.
Don’t insult people. Argue with them. Argue with them in the scientific meaning of the word. Disagree? Say so and say why. Don’t insult, it just makes you look like a fool.
Gunga,
my point exactly, no science, no fact on here, just gossip and pathetic insults
BTW Tim. I think that given your propensity to insult that you should declare yourself & your interest.
My name is Craig Frier and I have shares in BP which my grandad bought me. Should I cash them in I might get to take some friends for a slap up meal.
“Boston and NY Mental Examiner” in the Nobel Institute transcript sounds more like “Boston Environmenal Examiner” to me.
“A quick question to our friends in the US – Is this a lawsuit that can be SLAPPed?”
Meaning?
@Typhoon’
That’s a good point. As our overlords keep on trying to persuade me that I am a citizen of the EU and it just got the award, I think I can claim without hesitation to be
Latimer Alder, Mannian Laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize 2012.
Tim, you’re right about one thing, our joy at Mann’s legal action can barely be contained.
For a couple of reasons actually, first the Barbara Streisand Effect – as phrases like “Mike’s Nature trick”…”Hide the Decline” and “Climategate emails” get a fresh new audience. This wider exposure is good for us.
Secondly let’s call it the “Oscar Wilde Effect”….because it was revelations that arose during a legal action Oscar himself instigated that destroyed him. A court of law is a dangerous place for someone who has something to hide and as we know by his own admission, Mike ‘hid the decline’.
Throw in the fact that someone who as long been portrayed as a self aggrandising, puffball actually claims (in writing, as part of his defence!!!) to have been ‘awarded’ the Nobel Prize as part of his defence…when it’s clear as day that he hasn’t and I think we have the makings of an exciting and entertaining new front in the destruction of your Warmist Drivel™.
It’s been a long time coming…surely you can understand why we’re so pleased?
Just thinking, now when Mann goes to the EU he can introduce himself to EVERY SINGLE PERSON he walks by on the street as a fellow nobel prize winner.
Tim says:
October 26, 2012 at 2:15 pm
Gunga,
my point exactly, no science, no fact on here, just gossip and pathetic insults
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I see you can read comments about as well as Mann reads tree rings.
The words are there but you only see what you want.
PS Is the title of Mann’s next book going to be “The Laureate Wars”?
On correction to the transcript. Not “NY Mental Examiner” — Environmental Examiner… lol