It would seem to go without saying, but: Before accusing myriad
individuals and organizations of defrauding the American people, it’s
advisable to make sure you are not currently doing the same.
With that in mind, meet Jagadish Shukla, professor of climate dynamics
at George Mason University. On September 1, Dr. Shukla and 19 other
climate scientists sent a letter to President Obama, Attorney General
Loretta Lynch, and White House Office of Science and Technology policy
director John Holdren calling for “a RICO investigation of corporations
and other organizations that have knowingly deceived the American people
about the risks of climate change,” a (criminally irresponsible) tactic
initially proposed by Rhode Island senator Sheldon Whitehouse in a
Washington Post op-ed in May. The letter could be found on the website
of the Institute of Global Environment and Society (IGES) — the
“non-profit, tax-exempt research institute” founded and headed by Dr.
Shukla. And then it couldn’t. In late September, the “RICO20” letter
vanished from the IGES website; in its place is a message explaining
that “the letter was inadvertently posted on this web site [and] has
been removed.” (It is still visible here.)
The curious disappearance set several people inquiring. It turns out
that heading up IGES is nice work if you can get it. The Washington Free
Beacon reports that since 2001 the organization has received more than
$63 million — 98 percent of its total revenue — from taxpayers, mainly
in the form of grants from the National Science Foundation, the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration. And an astonishing amount of that money has
ended up in Dr. Shukla’s pocket."
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