Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer are back with their dramatised reconstruction of Mann vs Simberg and Steyn, now installed in a far grander courtroom - 132 - at the District of Columbia Superior Court. Day Eight began with Steyn's continuing cross-examination of the plaintiff. Michael E Mann's misogyny regarding Judith Curry audibly shocked the courtroom, but he recovered sufficiently to assert that the best proof that he really is a Nobel Laureate was that he was one of only two people to receive a standing ovation at some climate beano in Hawaii.
Then, at the end of the day, the judge, somewhat surprisingly, berated plaintiff's counsel for the irrelevance of their witnesses. From the official transcript:
THE COURT: I still am struggling with the need for the first two witnesses in the case, Dr. Bradley - and I know that you needed someone to set the table, and I knew that we were walking a fine line from a trial concerning climate change versus a trial concerning defamation. But...
MR. WILLIAMS: Your Honor...
THE COURT: ...what would Dr. Abraham bring to the conversation that would be relevant and helpful..?
MR.WILLIAMS: Naomi Oreskes testified for one hour total pursuant to your Court's -- pursuant to your order. We cut her back. The issue she testified about was the value of peer review, which is a critical issue in this case.
THE COURT: Right. And as did Dr. Mann, who spoke very credibly about peer review and his participation on. And that's why I questioned, well, why did we need Dr. Oreskes to testify about what Dr. Mann very clearly could have?
MR. WILLIAMS: Well, look... Naomi Oreskes happens to be the preeminent or one of the preeminent authorities in all of science on this issue, and we thought it would be very helpful to bring that level of expertise to the Court.
THE COURT: All right. All right. It may very well be you don't need Dr. Mann -- I mean, Dr. Abraham.
MR. WILLIAMS: We do need Dr. Abraham.
THE COURT: All right. All right. We'll see you tomorrow.
Bradley, Oreskes and Abraham are all irrelevant to the issues in this trial: Mann has chosen not to prosecute his case, but to distract the jury with credentialed bigshots.
Here's Ann and Phelim's take. Click below for all the action:
Today Rand Simberg is on the stand, followed by the witness Judge Irving thinks irrelevant. Mark's friend and inveterate Steyn Cruisemate Michele Bachmann will be back in court today, as will Mann's chum Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Mark is played by the Australian actor Thomas Bromhead. Steyn Clubbers are enjoying listening to Mr Bromhead bring Mark to life, which he could certainly use right now.
We thank everyone who's signed up for one of our limited-edition trial souvenirs: The SteynOnline Liberty Stick features both Magna Carta and the US Constitution, both of which appear to be entirely alien concepts in the District of Columbia. Every stick is signed and numbered by Mark - and is made in the USA.
