I am trying to set up a meme here. The US civil court system is, quite bluntly, unjust, as is their criminal court system. Or their family court system. Within this system, trolls such as Micheal Mann can hit people with a SLAPP suit and tie them up in court.

Thus stopping criticism of his ideas. Now, I’m skeptical on global warming, but I am against people censoring others because they disagree. There is a name for this from 4chan: butthurt. Most of us, when insulted, hold onto the emails for when we need something to snark. Mann calls a lawyer, and uses the corrupt nature of the US courts….

You cop a plea – or else. Even on nothing cases. A couple of years back, I was pulled over by a cop in upstate New York for an alleged stop-sign violation. I pleaded not guilty. The unprepared but remarkably unpleasant town prosecutor handed me his business card and said, “Call me, we can talk.” He wanted me to enter into negotiations to agree to plead guilty to a lesser offense and make a cash donation to Mothers Against Stop-Sign Violations. And he seemed barely to comprehend the concept of innocence – or, indeed, of a speedy trial.

At the federal level it’s even worse, with US prosecutors “winning” on a scale (95 per cent) unseen outside the justice systems of the more thin-skinned and neurotic dictatorships. They win because, not to put too fine a point upon it, they have the resources to buy up their witnesses. You want to nail the CEO? You “persuade” the CFO to testify against him.

Take Dinesh D’Souza, one of those “political enemies” who’s managed to attract the attention of the feds. For a campaign finance “violation” of $15,000, he has already been handcuffed and perp-walked, bailed for half-a-million, lost his passport and freedom of movement, and requires permission from a judge even to travel from New York to Boston. This is disgraceful. Yet D’Souza now faces the choice between confessing to something or having his life ruined. This is a disgusting, capricious system of which Americans should be entirely ashamed.

…. but some of us do not live in the USA. Some of us actively avoid the US. And that gives us freedom to tell the US judges no shove their rulings somewhere private and painful. It means we can mock trolls: those who live in the USA have lost that ability.

So, if you do not live in the USA and you know that there are no hate speech laws with teeth… it is time to relentlessly mock all those who think they  can use a judge to determine truth, or use the process of the court to harm your advesaries.

Michael, if you have read this far: I live in NZ. We have free speech. And your legal actions have harmed the cause of global warming and climate change about as much as hiding your working for  your graph.

The correct response to criticism would have been to show  your data, not sue.