Latest Chapter in Climate McCarthyism
Power Line - Tuesday November 3, 2015
by Steven Hayward
The climatistas are entering their desperado phase, with calls to suppress all deviations from green orthodoxy. We saw recently the ludicrous call for a RICO investigation of climate skeptics, and the more recent charge that Exxon “suppressed” early findings about global warming (nicely debunked today by SeekingAlpha).
Now comes Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse calling for the speech of climate skeptics to be suppressed because it is “fraudulent,” that is, it disagrees with him, so the government has the right and authority to shut it down. Seriously, that’s his argument:
Sheldon Whitehouse: Fraudulent speech is not protected
. . . Protected free speech has boundaries, and one boundary is fraud. The test of whether the denial campaign amounts to fraud is the test established by the Founding Fathers: a case, in a neutral court of law, where the truth can be tested with evidence, under oath and by cross-examination.
Sen. Whitehouse
That would be a splendid trial to have, actually, as it would explode the “certainty” of the so-called “consensus.” Whitehouse, whose own corrupt self-dealing on environmental matters has never been properly investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee, is still going with the risible “tobacco scientists” analogy, failing to note that in the case of climate change, unlike smoking, there are lots of independent scientists, like Princeton’s Freeman Dyson for example, who have no ties to the energy industry, and yet disagree with Sen. Whitehouse. Are they to be fired from their jobs? Someone should ask the senator.
It’s already happening in France:
Top French weatherman ‘sacked’ over climate change book
A popular weatherman announced Saturday evening he been sacked by leading French news channel France Télévisions for publishing a book which accused top climate change experts of misleading the world about the threat of global warming.
Philippe Verdier, a household name in France for his daily weather reports on the France 2 channel, announced in an online video that he had received a letter of dismissal.
“My book ‘Climate Investigation’ was published one month ago. It got me banned from the air waves,” said the weatherman, who was put “on leave” from the TV station on October 12.
“I received this letter this morning and decided to open it in front of you because it concerns everybody- in the name of freedom of expression and freedom of information.”
His announcement comes four days after France Télévisions chief Delphine Ernotte told French MPs that Verdier had been summoned to a formal interview that could lead to his dismissal. . .
He said he was inspired to write the book after France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius met with TV meteorologists and asked them to highlight climate change issues in their broadcasts.
“I was horrified by this speech,” Verdier told French magazine Les Inrockuptibles last month.
It’s a basic rule with liberals: When persuasion doesn’t work, resort to thuggery.
Read More Here
No comments:
Post a Comment