Yesterday we informed you about how France’s lead television weatherman was forced to take a “holiday” in response to him publishing a book that is critical towards climate change alarmism. So far, all the TV network has done is unleash the Striesand Effect, heaping negative attention upon their decision, which is being seen as prohibiting free speech.I’ve heard from people in France, and they are mobilizing a petition:
The petition, written both in English and in French, is here. Please, sign it quickly, regardless of your opinion on climate change, since this journalist is in deep trouble. Thank you to all.English version :Philippe Verdier, a journalist in charge of the weather service of the French public TV channels France Télévisions, is threatened in his job and his career for having published a non-conformist book about climate. Even if he emphasizes that he is not a climate skeptic, Philippe Verdier points out in his book all the erring ways of climate policies. He also criticizes the IPCC and its ideological views that have just nothing to do with science.
The origin of his book is Laurent Fabius’ explicit and recent attempt to get full support of all French weathermen prior to COP21, the international climate conference that will be held in Paris late November. Laurent Fabius is the French Foreign Minister and also the future president of this conference.
In January, citizens from all countries in the world stood up for freedom of speech, with « Je suis Charlie » as a motto. Time has come to stand up again. The Collectif des climato-réalistes call on you to sign this petition regardless of your opinion about climate change.
French version:
Philippe Verdier, journaliste responsable du service météorologique de France Télévisions, est menacé dans son emploi et sa carrière pour avoir publié un livre critique sur la question du climat. Bien que se défendant de tout climatoscepticisme, il pointe dans son ouvrage de nombreux errements dans les politiques menées et le fonctionnement d’institutions telles que le GIEC, devenu l’instrument d’une lutte idéologique parfaitement étrangère à la science.
L’origine de son livre n’est autre qu’une tentative récente et explicite de mise au pas de la presse météorologique française faite par Laurent Fabius. Ce dernier, ministre français des affaires étrangères, est aussi le futur président de la COP21, la conférence internationale sur le climat qui commencera fin novembre à Paris.
Sous le slogan « Je suis Charlie », la France et le monde se sont dressés en janvier pour défendre la liberté d’expression face à l’obscurantisme. Le temps est venu de nous mobiliser à nouveau. Le Collectif des climato-réalistes appelle à signer la présente pétition indépendamment de toute opinion sur la question du climat.
URL of my story: http://mythesmanciesetmathematiques.wordpress.com
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I signed as 1,499.
Change.org server seems to have problems.
So I see. Sabotage can’t be ruled out.
I’ll check out with the webmaster. He will try to fix the problem asap
William Connolley thinks he’s amusing…. at least he links to the telegraph.
all in all, the Verdier story remains at 20-something results in the main media grouping on google. no AP, Reuters to help spread it around and no MSM interest in reporting any CAGW scepticism, however mild.
16 Oct: Science Blogs: Frances, top weatherman
Posted by William M. Connolley
It (it? Philippe Verdier, possibly-ex-weatherman) is all a bit silly, but here’s a snapshot from the Torygraph if you like. Its the same old stuff: We are hostage to a planetary scandal over climate change – a war machine whose aim is to keep us in fear… I received a letter telling me not to come. I’m in shock… This is a direct extension of what I say in my book, namely that any contrary views must be eliminated. Apparently the IPCC “blatantly erased” data that was contrary to their conclusions. Yawn…
http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2015/10/16/frances-top-weatherman/
Uh oh.
The server is misbehaving.
You can try refreshing the page, and if you’re still having problems, just try again later. We’re doing our best to get things working smoothly!
Dunno. It is not beyond the French government to use ANSSI as a weapon in cases like this and it is certainly not beyond the Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information to use dirty tricks. Change.org does not have an outstanding security record.
Error 502 Ray ID: 236a07cefeef0ab4 • 2015-10-17 06:43:42 UTC
Bad gateway
La révolution française, of course.
Oh oh, sounds like France might be involved in Weather Cooking again:
Wow, just replace the words “weather cooking” by “computer models” and there is a very good parallel with current times…
When was that speech delivered?
Uploaded Dec 2008
I signed. However. Doesn’t the world realize the best thing out of France is an empty airplane? They are the most useless, trouble starting humans on the planet? Doesn’t anybody read history anymore? The stupid burns.
I try not to blame whole countries for the goonery of their elites . . ‘member freedom fries? ; )
simple-touriste October 16, 2015 at 6:32 pm
https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&sl=fr&u=http://www.eco-mobilite.com/&usg=ALkJrhg7MzVO7Kvh081qCWMFbMKUmy_6PA
Apparently he original link to the petition given by Anthony has been “damaged” (guess by who?). it seems to be have been blocked at a Gateway in Marseille (France)
If you did not yet sign the petition, please use the direct link which is still active (for the moment?)
https://www.change.org/p/remy-pfimlin-président-de-france-télévisions-pour-que-philippe-verdier-soit-confirmé-dans-son-emploi-à-france-télévisions
Obviously you cant have people on TV who tell the truth. That defeats the purpose of mass media.
The link at the top of the page to the video where ‘he explains his ideas and book’ seems to be down, and labelled as private by the author.
Anyone know what happened??
May be Anthony has an explanation.
I’ll check from my side with the webmaster of the petition and with Philippe verdier directly, if I can reach him (during the WE).
Philippe has also a podcasted interview in English with the BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p035dk68
Ah – it has returned!
😉
Vincent Bolloré, one of the few billionaires controlling the private media in France (see wikipedia for details)
Follows the Francs. 🙂
a friend of sarko – the man with a yacht
Signed and remarked…# 1845
oups sorry, my last post was an answer to a question by ratuma.
Mistake corrected
counter at 2111 but I don’t seem to be able register my support for Philippe Verdier in thier poll. Nothing happens when I click the button.
Not a world shattering response in any case.
I should think that splashing there stupid “climaterealiste” name right across the top probably ensured no one from the other side of the debate will be voting out of a conciencious call for freedom of speach.
Nice move “Collectif des climato-réalistes”, not so strong on political reasism are we?
Please try again. Our server got some trouble. Overcrowded? Cyberattack?(the French Government has a special cyberteam to silence climato-skeptics…).
Who know but the website of the petition is again operational.
Sorry for unconvenience…
La grande nation. Craignant de la mondialisation. Napoléon, le
premier européen. Vous ne serez pas à genoux devant le thermomètre.
Hans
Cold weather certainly conquered Napoleon in Moscow in 1812.
Vive le changement climatique , alors !!
non c’est plutôt “Charlemagne” –
concerning “‘l’europe” non ” the european union ” we do not want it – we did not want it – many tks to Robert Schuman – Jean Monnet and the USA
2,137 supporters right now
363 needed to reach 2,500
So what happens at 2500 ? If that level of support gets sent to the head of TF2 and he has how many tens of millions of french viewers, he will probably be more encouraged to sack him next week, not less.
It would have been smarter to present it as a neutral petition in favour free speech than to rub everyone who goes for the climate alarmism up the wrong way by the confrontational “Collectif des climato-réalistes”
It’s done now, but not smart.
At first sight you are right, of course.
But we (the Collectif…) have the feeling (without formal proof, so far…) that all this has been orchestrated by Laurent Fabius, who is at the same time in charge of organizing the coming COP21, but who is also Minister of Foreign Affairs of France (which underlines the international political dimension of the first of his two tasks). We think that, as Minister of F.A, he must be attend to the image of his vertuous(?) nation (an important part of the strategic plan and electoral promises of President Hollande).
Remember also that the Declaration of Human Rights (including Freedom of Speech…) is a French invention, written in the wake of the French Revolution.
Making from the case of Philippe Verdier an international “buzz” (thanks to the support of all of you) is a way to highlight internationally (and remember Fabius is Minister of F.A….) the contradictions exhibited by this government (hosting the COP21…) between acts (I mean censorship) and statements (I mean being a vertuous natiion). A real shame actually.
By this way we have, all together, a fantastic tool to tarnish the image of that government, positioning himself as a leader of politically correctness, including the promotion of all the warmist utopies we know all too well.
Who knows what happens? The important thing is this move has already pushed the French government into an even deeper hole. They have apparently initiated a cyber attack on change.org, whose server is located in California, US, at CloudFlare. I guess they failed to obtain a license from American authorities in advance to do that, much less from CloudFlare, which has all kinds of interesting implications. They might have come to their senses in the meantime, heeding the law of holes though. Anyway, the first lesson to learn for both sides is that governments are not all that powerful after all.
They may try to block access from inside France, the technical means are given, mainly due to the child porn farce. However, there is no way to do that in secret. Once the French public becomes aware of the deed and word starts spreading via social media, the the govt’s cause is lost.
Provided, of course, the French is still the free people they were rumored to be, instead of a freedom loving one. That’s the only important point. If they are not ready to rally en masse to protect freedom of speech, “Collectif des climato-réalistes” or not, they’re doomed anyway.
Who knows what happens? The important thing is this move has already pushed the French government into an even deeper hole. They have apparently initiated a cyber attack on change.org, whose server is located in California, US, at CloudFlare. I guess they failed to obtain a license from American authorities in advance to do that, much less from CloudFlare, which has all kinds of interesting implications. They might have come to their senses in the meantime, heeding the law of holes though. Anyway, the first lesson to learn for both sides is that governments are not all that powerful after all.
They may try to block access from inside France, the technical means are given, mainly due to the child porn farce. However, there is no way to do that in secret. Once the French public becomes aware of the deed and word starts spreading via social media, the the govt’s cause is lost.
Provided, of course, the French is still the free people they’re rumored to be, instead of a freedom loving one. That’s the only important point. If they are not ready to rally en masse to protect freedom of speech, “Collectif des climato-réalistes” or not, they’re doomed anyway.
His revelation about foreign minister Lauren Fabius meeting all the TV weather presenters and pushing them to repeatedly talk about climate chaos is appalling but not that surprising.
I guess that would have caused some ructions.
His labour union ‘Force Ouvrier’ seems to be backing him. Must be great to go into a discussion with management holding a big red banner with FO written on it !
I have no ideas of the political positioning of Philippe Verdier. In France, between well educated people we agree to avoid political or religious confrontations (remember, we had religious wars for centuries between protestants and catholics and all the wounds are still not healed, believe me). On the other hand, our Collectif is open to any “honest man” (in the renaissance meaning of the word), without political or religious believes or affiliations discrimination.
This being said, it is common in the French public sector to be affiliated to a union, and indeed those are highly politicized. The unions of course organize strikes (a systemic weakness for the French economy) and they are also, by Law the sole social partner allowed in the Conseil d’Entreprise, where organization and manpwer problems are debated.
But also, they provide legal support to their affiliates in case of trouble with the direction. This is why, preventively, Philippe Verdier used their umbrella, just in case…
Also, he played quite cleverly one union (F.O.) against another (CGT), as the attack aimed to get him sacked came precisely from that other union.
Well this is just my personal opinion and I share it completely with myself 😉
Salut Henri,
I have no idea either, from some of what I’ve read I’m not sure I’d support what he says for the most part ( he says he believes ‘climate change’ is real ) but that does not affect my support for his right to publish his book without getting harrassed by his employer.
I read some unions were calling for his dismissal, showing their untennable position and hypocracy about freedom of speech. Thanks for bringing me up to speed and naming names.
He is very well advised to be supported by a union in this sort of confrontation. TF2 will be watching very carefullly what they say to him next to explain thier actions.
IMO they will try to drag this out until after COP-out21 is over and then put him back,
Your collectif may be open to any honest man but anyone calling themselves “realists” is really staring out by saying “I’m right”. I’m sure that all the alarmists regard themselves as “realists” too.
If you want to start a polemisised oppostition to the alarmists polemic , it’s one approach. It is not one which lends itself to a non partisan support for freedom of speech.
It was good idea to try to support M. Verdier but I don’t think fronting it with such a name was the best way of acheiving that aim. It has just scraped throught the 2500 mark. That is a demonstation of a lack of interest, not resounding support for your man.
If you had done it in the name of “le collectif pour la libre expression” you may have got broader support.
If you think that you agree to avoid political confrontations with a name like you have I suggest you think again. If you think that you can discuss climate and avoid political confrontations you are living in a dream world.
Bien a toi, Herni.
Hi Mike,
I guess you are right about the name of the collectif. I was actually not personally involved in this label, having joined the group later. Our aim is not specifically to support Philippe Verdier and launch a battle in the name of the freedom of speech (in which case the name you suggest would have been indeed perfect),. but to denounce the farce of the COP21 and that non scientific concept of consensus that IPCC put continuously forward.
Of course we are nor “alarmists” or “warmists”, neither “negationists” believing that the earth is flat. We try to force an open debate based on real experimental facts (not models because we know of course that rubbish in = rubbish out) and quantify the experimental and algorithmic errors associated to their consolidation (just like what happens on this site, actually).
We know (some of us are university professors of mathematics or of [heat and mass transfer & energetics] engineering) also that the climate is a nonlinear complex system with many feedbacks loops, having each their own time constant, and that that system is multi-periodic, even slightly chaotic, thus unpredictable on the medium to long term, and certainly not subject to be handled properly with linear methods like moving averages or regression lines. Our core business is to try to vulgarize those ideas to the public, the media, the industry and the deciders. We are of course not the only ones involved in this kind of approach, but we focus on France (and Belgium) where we are still “preaching in the desert”. All a job actually…
Mike, Fabius being the ‘Minister of FA’ would also get a laugh!
Wikipedia
what’s the laugh, Billy?
Fabius went to “ENA” – (école nationale d’Administration) and being a socialist is just the opportunity he had to get involved in politic with François Mitterand (if I remember well) – anyway :
“Etre de gauche ou être de droite, c’est choisir une des innombrables manières qui s’offrent à l’homme d’être un imbécile ; toutes deux, en effet, sont des formes d’hémiplégie morale.” José Ortéga y Gasset
let hope it is the end of our troubles and that “the scum” of that society is going to disappear and let us free
Mike – If I said the Minister of “SFA” would that make you laugh? Or perhaps that isn’t an expression in your neck of the woods? SNAFU. FUBAR. 🙂
I understand he has already been replaced by Monsieur Lysenko.
Isn’t that ‘Comrade Lysenko’?
db, someone is using your name to post AGW garbage on American Thinker. He claims to be a WUWT Mod. LOL
Check it out:
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/10/climate_change_and_leftist_hypocrisy_comments.html#disqus_thread
Thanks George. No, that isn’t me. I only use ‘dbstealey’ on this site and no other site, ever.
I got a call from a friend about it. If there’s ever a problem, Disqus can be subpoenaed and then our identity thief pal will be working for me. I hope he’s a homeowner. ☺
db, you are welcome, my friend. Keep up the good fight.
George,
I kind of like the fact that he wishes he was me.
Now, if the identiy thief/impostor would get a life, we’d all be better off. ☺
He may have been reinstated but the management will ease him out using other excuses.
Wasn’t it Voltaire who said:
I may disagree with what you say so I am giving you the arse.
Mjw
October 17, 2015 at 3:28 pm
I think you were kidding. The real Voltaire quote was pertinent to this issue – this may not be exact but close: “I may disagree with what you say, but I defend to the death your right to say it.”
Unless of course you live in France today. And after Charlie. What could they be thinking? Or not thinking perhaps.
“Je ne suis pas d’accord avec ce que vous dites, mais je me battrai jusqu’à la mort pour que vous ayez le droit de le dire.” Voltaire
I signed with complete name and affiliation: “Je SUis Phillipe.”
Hmmm, I thought this petition would pull in in the tens of thousands. After all it has been posted all over the world. I wonder how many votes came from France? Maybe they are not too in love with this guy. I still think he got a raw deal and should retain his job. Let me check my facebook – Hmmm, just what I thought. I posted this on Facebook when it first came out. No likes and no comments :-(.
I do have over 50 facebook “friends”…
Actually I have 74 “friends”. There are only 2, maybe 3 that react when I post something on “Climate Change”. They get annoyed if I send them a direct email. Especially with that great Ted Cruz/Greenpeace President video…
Here’s an email example from that Ted Cruz Video:
“Phil I love you, But politically I don’t agree with you and I like to leave science things like climate change
to Science guys not my friendly neighborhood Graphic Artist or numbskull right wing only give a shit about corporation republicans.
I won’t be convinced by such videos. I don’t care for ANYONE running on the republican side for president(and that is because I DO pay attention) and I am thrilled you don’t vote”
love
Rxxxxx
(I do vote, but it’s hard because I live in the Baja)…JPP
If you check the comments on the petition website, you’ll find out that about half of them come from France. You have also to know that, so far, there is only a very smal number of climato-sceptic (or better “realist”) blogs in French. This is why we launched in parallel a “conventional” media campaign over the WE.
I think our weakness so far has been to have not put enough emphasis on how far this local “scandal” (dirty attack to Human Rights, more precisely on Freedom of Speech on a journalist) could jeopardize the success and outcomes of the COP21 and tarnish a little bit more(hopefully definitively?) the image of its organizers.
Ethics are extremely important for us (I have been for many years the VP of the European Federation of Ethics….and Sustainable Development, based in Paris), whatever the social, political or religious ideas and believes of the players involved.
Philippe Verdier is NOT a climato-skeptic; he believes in climate change and even anthropogenic contribution, to some extend; he recognizes however that consensus is meaningless in science and that the climatic system is extremely complex; in a few words, that “the science is all but settled” . But he is definitively an IPCC-skeptic, and this is what the French Establishment cannot accept
But the fight is not over….
OK – thanks for this information. I didn’t realize there was a comment section at the bottom of the Petition Page, – interesting!
I’ve signed and passed it on. I hope the public backlash is fierce.
i have signed it to
Translated from English in French (sorry the only source available att his time)
”
“Un état totalitaire vraiment efficace serait celui dans lequel le pouvoir exécutif des chefs politiques et de leur armée de directeurs contrôle une population d’esclaves qui n’ont pas à être contraints parce qu’ils aiment leur servitude.”
(Aldous Huxley, lors d’un discours à l’université de Californie)
and freely retranslated in Frenglish (sorry again…):
“A really effective totalitarian State would be the one where the executive power of the political leaders and their army of directors controls a population of slaves who do not need to be submitted by force (~ ???) because they like their servitude”
(Aldous Huxley, during a conference at the Universit of California)
and I hate (effective) totalitarian States….
Missing from this thread is the obligatory alarmist saying:
“Please name one time a skeptic was prevented from doing their job based on their views”.