Here’s something out of left field (literally) and almost too good to be true, but it really is. Get this: 17 news organizations, including NPR, WaPo, AP, now have grown a spine and filed an amicus brief (see download below) to OPPOSE in court Michael Mann’s effort to keep his UVa CLIMATEGATE-related e-mails secret.
Basically, Mann’s attempt at hiding his emails of work done on public funds and time from public view has backfired, and now is a story that has “legs” in reporter parlance. From Columbia Journalism Review:
Strange bedfellows: ‘Climate change deniers, newspapers partner in a FOIA fight’
Public information laws have forged an unlikely team in Penn State climate scientist Michael Mann’s quest to keep his emails private
‘Organized by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, 17 news organizations, including National Public Radio, Dow Jones, and The Washington Post, submitted an amicus brief in November, supporting the group’s rights to Mann’s emails.
A verdict is expected soon in one of Mann’s cases, a trial winding through the Virginia courts that, oddly, pits him against the interests of the press. Mann is challenging the American Traditions Institute in court—it has since changed its name to the less charged “Energy & Environment Legal Institute”—after the group attempted to obtain access to his email through a FOIA request. Mann argues that his emails constitute “proprietary information,” a special exemption granted to research institutions under Virginia state law. But after an appellate court issued a strong finding, broadly defining “proprietary information” in a way that would make almost any university document—and potentially government documents—exempt from public release, the press took notice.
“By defining an exemption to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (‘VFOIA’) as broadly as the lower court has done, this Court Would be, in effect, removing almost all public documents from the ambit of the records law,” reads the brief. By exempting Mann’s emails from public release, the group argues, the court is setting what journalists see as a dangerous precedent—making it much more difficult to gain access to public records.’
See more at: http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/michael_mann_versus_the_press.php?page=1
Here is the page that defines the interest, note the list of heavy hitters.
Basically what has happened is that journalists are afraid that if Mann wins, it will set a legal precedent that will be used to restrict the ability of the press in future issues where work products and emails discussing research are needed for journalist investigations, but will be made off limits. So, they are going to throw Mann under the bus to keep their FOIA ability intact.
IMHO, the Mann’s days are numbered as a hero of the climate movement.
Read the amicus brief for yourself: ATI-v-UVA-RCFP-amicus (PDF)
ADDED: And it’s a strange place now for some news outlets to find themselves in, particularly the Washington Post. This (absurdly detached) blast from the past below reminds us how these outlets may act out with their editorial positions, but these aren’t always harmonious with their lesser-advertised legal postures. (h/t to Chris Horner of ATI who’s been fighting this fight for a very long time.)
Mann may be disposable because of a series of papers inc. Marcott et al., so even if he is thrown under the bus the alarmists and MSM may still say there is a hockey stick regardless. There needs to be readiness for this, including education regarding the issue of splicing datasets with completely different resolutions, something that wouldn’t stand a chance of getting past peer review in scientific fields uncorrupted by special interests.
In a related matter, “the most transparent Administration in history” also seems to have a problem cooperating with FOIA requests.
They have a lot in common with one Michael Mann. They both won the Nobel Prize, too.
Fellow Yaleian says:
March 17, 2014 at 11:06 pm
Either Mann’s emails contain juicy information, or his paranoia is blocking them on principle in which case there might not be anything worth reading.
—————————————————————————————————————
In either case they’re worth seeing.
Even if there’s nothing damning in them, it’s highly unlikely that there’s really anything deserving of protection from FIOA requests. So release will, if nothing else, show what extreme lengths and how much court time he’s prepared to waste to avoid scrutiny: “You hired all those lawyers to protect this????”
“I guess if Pearl Harbor happened in 2014 the headline would be “Some Say Japanese Hawaiian Visit Good For US Economy – Media Files Suit To Request FDR’s Secret Memos”
So, Mann is suppose to be our unelected Commander-in- Chief??
Funny how things go. Maybe the Left is wondering why they are shoveling so much snow and exhaling all that carbon pollution.
Like I said in a previous post, he is on his way out. He made all the money he could off this. The next pillars to fall will be Prince Phillip and Jones.
I wonder now if the Present US Administration will step in with another Executive Order and break up another Due Process to save the State Department’s new Man-Made Global Warming Alarm initiative.
Most Sincerely,
Paul Pierett
nicholas tesdorf:
At March 17, 2014 at 9:52 pm you ask
No, the analogy is not as you suggest, and the ‘war’ to stop the AGW-scare is nearer its end than you suggest (perhaps because your account of WW2 is mistaken).
This response of the MSM is the ‘Kursk’ of the AGW-scare.
H1tler never had a defeat before the battle of El Alamein and had no victory after it.
AGW proponents never had a defeat before the Copenhagen CoP and have had no victory after it.
Montgomery won the Second Battle of El Alamein which was from 23 October – 11 November 1942 and on 10 November 1942 at the Lord Mayor’s Luncheon at the Mansion House, London, Churchill said of it
Australia and Canada have acted to defend against the AGW scare following the Copenhagen CoP. This is similar to the resistance of the Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943) which provided a slow but certain halt to any advance of H1tler’s forces.
The battle of Kursk was from July 5 to August 23, 1943 and destroyed the remaining military might of the Naz1s who were then systematically driven back to Berlin. If promoters of the AGW-scare lose support of the MSM then they lose all of their strength because the scare is refuted by behaviour of the real world and by empirical science. This thread is discussing the ‘Kursk’ of the AGW-scare: the ‘bunker’ of the CRU at UEA awaits the leaders of the scare.
Richard
I have always wondered why Mann has needed to use a baseball bat to defend his hockey stick…?
The bottom line is this:
If you work for government, or a quasi-government organisation, in a strategic or diplomatic position, you are obviously entitled to privacy. The same applies if you have commercially, or financially, sensitive information.
However, if none of the above applies and it is your choice to make yourself a high profile spokesman for a controversial subject in which you are mostly funded (having your nest feathered) by the taxpayer, then you need to be squeaky clean and totally open.
If you choose to try and hide data, information, processing techniques and your communications on publicly funded servers, then the only conclusion must be that you have something very bad to hide.
“Something very bad to hide” can mean many things, but in this instance probably means slagging off ones colleagues and/or data manipulation (and subsequent dodgy interpretation) on a scale which would make even the ‘climate scientist’ fraternity squirm with embarrassment.
18 March: SMH: Peter Hannam: Food security, economy to be hit by climate change, leaked IPCC draft report shows
Global warming will displace millions of people, trigger falling crop yields, stoke conflict and cost trillions of dollars in lost economic output, a United Nations report will warn.
A draft of the report to be finalised later this month by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and obtained by The Independent in Britain, says “hundreds of millions of people” will be forced to move because of coastal flooding and land loss as sea levels rise…
Poverty and economic shocks from climate change will have a significant impact on migration, increasing the risks of violence from protests and from civil or international conflicts, according the draft version of the report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability states…
The summary of the draft report alone runs for 76 pages, with the full 30 chapters extending for hundreds more. The draft summary notes that the number of papers on adaptation to climate change had doubled in the five years to 2010, adding to the material to be assessed by the reports’ authors.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/food-security-economy-to-be-hit-by-climate-change-leaked-ipcc-draft-report-shows-20140318-34zpm.html
18 March: UK Independent: Tom Bawden: Official prophecy of doom: Global warming will cause widespread conflict, displace millions of people and devastate the global economy
A draft of the final version seen by The Independent says the warming climate will place the world under enormous strain, forcing mass migration, especially in Asia, and increasing the risk of violent conflict.
Based on thousands of peer-reviewed studies and put together by hundreds of respected scientists, the report predicts that climate change will reduce median crop yields by 2 per cent per decade for the rest of the century – at a time of rapidly growing demand for food. This will in turn push up malnutrition in children by about a fifth, it predicts…
AND ON AND ON AND ON…
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/official-prophecy-of-doom-global-warming-will-cause-widespread-conflict-displace-millions-of-people-and-devastate-the-global-economy-9198171.html
This just has to happen.
No doubt the emails will reveal arrogance and contempt for almost everyone, and confirm that the cause took preference over the science.
Pardon my ignorance about this subject but what makes anyone think Mann hasn’t already deleted all or most of the emails in question?
If there’s nothing ‘juicy’ in the remaining emails, he’ll sit there laughing his head off.
What am I missing?
16 March: Siberian Times: Russia gains vast new area twice the size of Crimea with ‘the energy riches of an Ali Baba’s cave’
Highly prized victory comes without a shot in anger after 13 year battle in the corridors of the United Nations.
The Siberian land mass is officially 52,000 square kilometres bigger after an enclave in the Sea of Okhotsk was recognised as part of Russia’s continental shelf. The decision comes from the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf…
The treasure trove includes hydrocarbon resources exceeding one billion tonnes, believes Donskoy. He has described it in the past as ‘a real Ali Baba’s cave in terms of resources’, adding that access will long-term bring ‘enormous opportunities and prospects for the Russian economy’.
Moscow sent a request in 2001 for the entire continental shelf, including the Arctic shelf, which the UN rejected demanding more data and evidence that the enclave is the natural continuation of the Russian territory. The decision, released at the weekend, is a first step in a Russian campaign to claim huge new rights based on the Lomonosov and Mendeleev Ridges being extensions of the Siberian continental shelves.
If approved, Russia would gain 1.2 million square kilometres of Arctic territorial waters.
http://siberiantimes.com/business/casestudy/news/russia-gains-vast-new-area-twice-the-size-of-crimea-with-the-energy-riches-of-an-ali-babas-cave/
It appears that Mikey has overplayed his hand, and is losing his street cred. Poor baby!
I smell a rat, something too good to be true, i am betting the emails reveal nothing and the press looks good for demanding the emails.
Something wrong here, bet they did done kind of deal.
“Get this: 17 news organizations, including NPR, WaPo, AP, now have grown a spine and filed an amicus brief ”
One more sign that CO2AGW gets thrown under the bus. Similar signs in Germany: A few days ago a state broadcaster was allowed to broadcast a satire on the Energiewende, days after that the socialist vice chancellor voiced concerns about exploding energy costs.
The Empire has now run its renewables scheme, throws it under the bus to concentrate on the impending financial meltdown; concentrates forces for potential survival.
Your MSM are state-controlled; somebody gave them the order to go after Mann.
Reading of Mann’s tenacity, I’m reminded of the story of Richard Nixon’s mother. When Nixon was
battling ondrowning in the Watergate affair he told the story of his mother telling him: “Don’t you ever give up!”. On hearing this, Johnny Carson said, what she really said was: “Don’t you ever give up?”Punctuation is all…
I agree with Richard @ur momisugly 2.23
Something’s burning.
Peter Miller says:
March 18, 2014 at 1:46 am
“The bottom line is this:
If you work for government, or a quasi-government organisation, in a strategic or diplomatic position, you are obviously entitled to privacy.”
No; that’s wrong and all mixed up. There’s transparency – meaning FOIA – including workplace communications; and for strategic/diplomatic stuff, secrecy, NOT privacy. No paid worker can expect PRIVACY at work. For private companies, SEC, IRS and so on might sift through stored company e-mails any time.
I am hoping that the tide is turning against academic prima donnas. I hope the ‘Sir’ paul nurse is next. I bet he requested the ‘black steam’ photo for his article.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/10701265/Climate-change-weve-put-off-the-difficult-decisions-for-too-long.html
I think those long, CCCCOOLLDDD winter days and nights you all have been having up there in the US of A have allowed the MSM reporters to ponder over their winter boubon the possibility that … Oh my gawd..!! What if the skeptics are right!? Will that we THE story of the century thus far or what? We’ll be covering witch burnings for years! Real climate witches and wizards!
Just good old journalistic bread buttered on one side – the side of history – which is always right.
Can’t wait for the media packs to form up around all the usual suspects. Kim Kardashian – take a year or so off! The Ship of Fools may be setting sail soon.
Maybe they should also take notice of what Don Easterbrook has to say: http://iceagenow.info/2014/03/video-climate-scientist-predicts-20-years-global-cooling/
Just kill the entire scam for good.
MSM still has the power to do that.
@richardscourtney wow, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
I would argue thought that the Germans never had a realistic chance of a victory at Kursk. Same for the global warming hysterics?