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It’s hard to believe, but this Mann case has been wending through the courts for over a decade. It’s the Jarndyce case of the conservative vs. environmentalist movement whose purpose was to silence dissent.
That was explicitly the point all along.
The two also had a heated exchange over a private email Mann wrote in 2012, in which he said it was his “hope” that through the lawsuit he could “ruin this pathetic excuse for a human being,” referring to Steyn.
Back in 2012, this whole thing seemed like a ridiculous joke. And back then it was. But with enough money and lawyers, the case kept going because it also tracked the descent of the American Left into lawless totalitarianism which abused the legal system in order to silence political opponents.
The judicial wrangle began in 2012, when climatologist Michael E. Mann, a professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University and climate-change activist, sued National Review and pundits Mark Steyn and Rand Simberg, claiming that they had libeled him in a series of blog posts. On National Review’s website, Steyn commented on an article by Simberg, published by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Simberg likened Mann’s research on global warming to Penn State’s cover-up in the case of Jerry Sandusky, Penn State’s former assistant football coach and a convicted child molester. Simberg called Mann “the Jerry Sandusky of climate science,” except that instead of molesting children, Mann had “molested and tortured data in the service of politicized science that could have dire economic consequences for the nation and planet.” Though Steyn distanced himself from the Sandusky analogy, he noted that Mann was the scientist behind the controversial “hockey-stick” graph, which purports to depict a sharp rise in global temperatures in recent years. Steyn called the graph “fraudulent.”
When Mann’s lawyer sent National Review editor Rich Lowry a letter demanding a public apology and a retraction, Lowry told Mann to “get lost,” noting that the blog post, which the magazine had neither written nor edited, represented an opinion and was “fully protected under the First Amendment.” At issue, Lowry argued, was the accuracy of Mann’s research.
But Mann’s lawyer closed by appealing to partisan hate. And it paid off. Big time.
In John Williams’ closing argument on behalf of Mann, he said that the jury should award punitive damages so that in the future, no one will dare engage in “climate denialism”–whatever that is–just as Donald Trump’s “election denialism” needs to be suppressed. In 41 years of trying cases to juries, I never heard such an outrageously improper appeal. John Williams should be ashamed of himself, but he won’t be, because this jury apparently bought his argument: they want to make Mark Steyn pay $1 million out of his own pocket, to a plaintiff who suffered no damages but only made an ideological argument, so that no one will, ever again, try to challenge the regime’s global warming narrative. However false that narrative may be.
Here’s the actual exchange…
MR. WILLIAMS: And as you’ve been instructed, if you find punitive damages are appropriate for outrageous behavior, you can set an amount not just to punish, but to serve as an example to prevent others from acting in the same — in a same or similar way.
These attacks on Climate Scientists have to stop, and you now have the opportunity—
MS. WEATHERFORD: Objection.
MR. STEYN: Objection.
THE COURT: Sustained.
This verdict is not about defamation, it’s about suppressing political dissent, and if we can expect anything from a D.C. jury, it’s a willingness to protect its own party and to punish the political opposition.
I read that Steyn’s lawyers also found out that Mann has not paid a dime in legal fees. His litigation has been paid for, so Mann was not in any hurry. Meantime, this litigation has cost Mark a fortune in legal fees., not to mention the effect the stress must have had on his health. I hope that he will be able to appeal this outrageous decision and get the case out of the DC sewer.
The Left sues …
… because it’s never their money (often it is our money, and if that’s not possible, a donor steps in)
… and it costs our guy an endless amount of cash, time, and stress.
What gets me is not that wicked, evil, criminal traitors sue their victims to destroy whatever they have not already destroyed …
… but the number of ‘conservatives’ and professional right-wingers …
… who cannot even chip in a few bucks.
Won’t defend the Left’s victims. Won’t help them after the fact. Won’t even say they were innocent.
In fact our feckless “leadership” apologizes … goes Kamala Harris weaseling away from the Dem’s crimes.
George Soros is a, maybe the major, contributor to all things Dem. Activism on most levels even in other countries his money can be traced back thru the organizations. Worst though is his money buying state attorneys, governors etc. There needs to be law to stop that.
Anyone else old enough to remember when free speech was actually free? There’s a reason I gave up 60k followers on Twitter in November of 2020 after the steal…and this is it. While I’m sure this doesn’t help the cause of freedom and, though I’m still relatively unafraid to speak my mind, there’s very little blood in this particular turnip. So, in essence, punitive damages and draconian tactics such as these have had their intended effect on me and it gnaws daily on my soul.
My Dear Wormwood…
You don’t have be (senior devil) Screwtape to see that the Democ-rat’s democracy (food stamps trump free speech) is a satanic joke.
Steyn was a humorist who often made witty remarks on radio and in writing. And he is very funny. This brings to mind President Trumps witty remark when he was. ridiculously accused.,The current trend of large dollar settlements for humorous quips suggests that creativity and comedy. are now suppressed along with climate change and vote fraud “ denial.”
Am I moderated by author choice or an Ai?
With DC juries as they are, and other such juries around the country, the rule of law has been repealed.
D.C . Stands for District of Crinimals
I was reading last night about a little ice age in Europe that spoiled life there for more than a century. A little warmer is better.
That was also the period of the Bubonic Plague, spread by parasites, carried by the rats, then biting humans. Maybe that is why the Globalists want to protect the lives of rats, in order to spread plagues and kill more humans.
I think it was the fleas on the rats -even worse!
That’s why I’m so fond of cats!
Not surprising. DC … District of Criminals or District of Communists …
… a bunch of hyper-partisan, tribal bigots …
… not interested at all in the nation, much less the rule of law, science, or the planet.
But this is much worse than just a threat to whatever remains of ‘free speech’ …
… It is an assault on truth itself.
The Big Lie of AGW (renamed Climate Change b/c there’s been no warming since 1998) …
… has already cost many lives and could lead to many millions – maybe billions – of deaths.
Never mind the untold suffering …
Depravity and psychopathology is endemic throughout America, including the courts, the electorate, the
government bureaucracy, the military, corporations, technology, the religious organizations, the educational
system/schools, entertainment, the news media, social and political leaders, the medical profession, etc,etc,etc.
And it seems that absolutely nothing can be done to stop the subversion and get the USA on the right track again
because the depraved psychopathic ideologies that are driving the lunatics have now become imbedded in
American society and culture and government. Recovering unity among the diverse people in the USA is probably
impossible now.
This seems like the prelude to what is becoming an American Apocalypse.
Biden is the Nero of America.
Yeah, like the Dark Ages. Same legal and political tactics being used.
Yuri Bezmenov NAILED it way back when on 60 min I do believe..sometime around 1978 or so..??
The verdict may pass for legal, but it is not legitimate. DC juries have a history of deciding cases according to their political beliefs, such as in the recent Giuliani case.
It is not just in DC. A NYC jury recently awarded Trump’s accuser $1M for sexual assault. Then a second NYC jury awarded the accuser $5M for defamation, because Trump denied that he committed the assault.
In Steyn’s case, he expressed the opinion that Mann’s hockey stick graph was fraudulent. Steyn’s codefendant, wrote that Mann “molested and tortured data in the service of politicized science…” In the wake of Climategate, Penn State, who was Mann’s employer, conducted an investigation and said that he had not done anything wrong. But in view of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, Penn State’s credibility is questionable at best. The president of Penn State went to prison, along with Sandusky, for that scandal.
Reasonable people can have different opinions about the methods Mann used to construct the hockey stick graph. The courtroom is no place for such an issue.
indeed, this was a basic issue that should have been met with an anti-SLAPP filing and settled it then and there
Biggest problem conservativs have with defamation is that they can’t just tell the truth, they need to lie
Here is a truth you cannot deny:
Biden is a corrupt depraved psychopath liar who should be imprisoned for his corruption and crimes
against America and US citizens.
I’ve been following the trial daily. Mann lied to the court and never proved his case. All that I have gleaned from this is:
A new federal District of Columbia needs to be established in the heartland, probably on the (somewhat) empty boarder between Nebraska and Kansas. This would be the best use of eminent domain in over a century. The only resident allowed will be the (temporary) occupant.of the new White House.
FEMA trailers will be moved to the new district for the Federal government to operate. Most surviving Federal agencies will be dispersed throughout the country. No moving expenses will be provided for any employees. Working for the people is a privilege and we need to thin the ranks by about 80%. New construction, other than a new White House and Capitol will be prohibited for twenty years.
The current district will be returned to Maryland so that they will have (ample) taxation with representation. Existing federal buildings, other than DoD, will be retained until sold off to reduce the national debt.
There will be no judicial district for the new “D.C.”. Any judicial actions required involving that new district will be rotated randomly within the other existing districts. However, juries from those trials will be drawn from the nation at large and will not exclusively come from that district.