It seems Mark Steyn got tired of waiting for Dr. Michael Mann to finish the required legal discovery in that defamation lawsuit and has struck a blow in the form of a new book soon to be published. I wonder if we’ll see an attempt to block publication of this title: “A Disgrace To The Profession”. Yikes!
Steyn writes:
Some readers have asked for an update on the looming Mann vs Steyn trial of the century. I wish it were looming a bit more imminently, but apparently it would be unreasonable to expect the sclerotic District of Columbia courts to litigate a 270-word blog post in under 270 weeks.
As you know, Michael E Mann, the inventor of the global-warming “hockey stick”, the single most influential graphic in the history of climate alarmism, sued me for defamation for calling his ever more flaccid stick “fraudulent”. I had called it fraudulent in national publications in Britain, Canada and Australia at various times over the last 15 years, but the First Amendment apparently requires giving up five years in court and a seven-figure sum for the privilege of learning whether one can say the same thing in the United States. And, by the way, it is fraudulent: It abolished the very concept of “natural variability” and insisted that nothing happened in the global climate until the 20th century, and it did so using a handful of unreliable tree-rings processed through a statistical method fished out of a can of alphabet soup.
Right now, the case is stalled while the DC Court of Appeals decides whether their brand new anti-SLAPP law comes with a right of interlocutory appeal. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. But as of now no one knows. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to find that I’m a test case. At any rate, written briefs were filed last September and there was half-an-hour of oral argument in November, but apparently after seven months the judges are still no hurry to issue an opinion.
“A Disgrace To The Profession”
The World’s Scientists, In Their Own Words, On Michael E Mann, His Hockey Stick And Their Damage To Science
Volume I Compiled and edited by Mark Steyn
Do I expect you to publicly denounce the hockey stick as obvious drivel? Well, yes.
Jonathan Jones, Professor of Atomic and Laser Physics, University of Oxford
Michael Mann, Phil Jones and Stefan Rahmstorf should be barred …because the scientific assessments in which they may take part are not credible anymore.
Eduardo Zorita, Senior Scientist at Germany’s Institute for Coastal Research
Did Mann et al get it wrong? Yes, Mann et al got it wrong.
Simon Tett, Professor of Climate Science, University of Edinburgh
The defamation suit against Steyn by Michael E Mann, inventor of the global-warming “hockey stick”, is about to enter its fourth year at the DC Superior Court – which means Mark has a lot of case research lying around and he can’t wait forever for the trial to start. So he figured he’d put some of it in a new book, now available for pre-order exclusively from SteynOnline.
In the fall of 2014, not a single amicus brief was filed on Dr Mann’s behalf, not one. He claims he’s “taking a stand for science”, but evidently science is disinclined to take a stand for him.
That got Mark curious as to what actual scientists think of Mann, his famous hockey stick, and his other work. So he started looking – and the result is a rollicking collection of insights into Big Climate’s chief enforcer by scientists from around the world, from Harvard to Helsinki, Prague to Princeton, with commentary from Steyn telling the story of the rise to global celebrity of one Mann and his stick.
“A Disgrace To The Profession”: The World’s Scientists In Their Own Words On Michael E Mann, His Hockey Stick, And Their Damage To Science – Volume I will be published later this summer, but you can make sure you’re the first on your block with must-read book by pre-ordering your copy now exclusively from the SteynOnline bookstore. And as always Mark will be happy to autograph it personally for you or your warm-mongering loved one.
Available for pre-order
Thanks Mark!
I look forward to reading your new book.
Just ordered 2 copies.
One for me, one for a birthday present.
http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/The-Rise-and-Fall-of-Man-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i13268082_.htm
to Jim Brock:
The sheepskin doesn’t matter – it is what you do that counts, do you apply methods and use principles that are generally recognized as “science”.
Problem of course is by who – the “Post-Normal Science” bunch (a derivative of Post-Modernism, essentially use of emotions) or respected people like Richard Feynman.
BTW, in the US and Canada, “engineer” most often means an applied scientist, but perhaps a train driver is a “train “engineer” as it is in Canada-India-UK. There are boiler engineers (operate the safety-critical heating system that produces hot water or steam to heat buildings) and in Canada and the UK “Aircraft Maintenance Engineer” (aircraft mechanics, called A&P or the higher-capability IA people in the US).
Several months ago, Steyn wasn’t even set up to ship to Canada cost-effectively. Ironic as he lives in Canada? and grew up in the UK. (US market 10 times that of Canada, by population.)
“….it did so using a handful of unreliable tree-rings processed through a statistical method fished out of a can of alphabet soup.”
Steyn seems to deliberately go beyond just to tweak people.
The “can of alphabet soup” line is silly as used, it would be better IMJ if written “….as valid as one processed through a statistical method fished out of a can of alphabet soup.”, though it is an odd analogy in any case.
Steyn seems to get somewhat carried away by his own way with words.
IMJ Steyn made a serious error in not retracting the reference to the Sandusky case, especially after the author he quoted retracted.
I fervently hope that Mann loses big time, but while I may buy his book my sympathy for Steyn is diminished by his unwise decisions.