Last week, 20 “climate scientists”–each of whom is government-funded–signed a letter to President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Lynch calling for government to investigate and prosecute those who question or disagree with the government’s climate-change messaging. See the letter here.
The letter makes numerous preposterous claims (e.g., that skeptics are knowingly promoting false science, as “extensively documented in peer-reviewed academic research,”* and that the “methods of [skeptic] organizations are quite similar to those used earlier by the tobacco industry”).** The letter further alleges that skeptics’ doubts constitute criminal acts.
Any notion that the First Amendment might protect the expression of doubts regarding the government’s claims goes unmentioned in the letter.
Debate no more! the letter says. Jail those who disagree with the government! See here.
* the letter cites “(Brulle, 2013)” as support for the proposition that “peer reviewed academic research” demonstrates that skepticism funders are knowingly funding false research. The Brulle “study” has been discredited. Essentially, the Brulle study made the claim that conservative oil billionaires are spending as much as $1 billion annually to promote climate doubts, based on the fact that certain philanthropists support free-market think tanks which occasionally delve into climate questions.
** the analogy between skeptics of the government’s climate-power agenda and the tobacco industry is a false one. Tobacco companies were marketing a product. Skeptics are merely voicing questions or expressing their opinions.
