France's Top Weatherman Suspended for Questioning Global Warming

“Every night, France’s chief weatherman has told the nation how much wind, sun or rain they can expect the following day. Now Philippe Verdier, a household name for his nightly forecasts on France 2, has been taken off the air after a more controversial announcement--criticizing the world’s top climate change experts. Mr. Verdier claims in the book Climate Investigation that leading climatologists and political leaders have ‘taken the world hostage’ with misleading data. In a promotional video, Mr. Verdier said: ‘Every night I address five million French people to talk to you about the wind, the clouds and the sun. And yet there is something important, very important that I haven’t been able to tell you, because it’s neither the time nor the place to do so.’ He added, ‘We are hostage to a planetary scandal over climate change--a war machine whose aim is to keep us in fear.’ His outspoken views led France 2 to take him off the air starting this Monday. ‘I received a letter telling me not to come. I’m in shock,’ he told RTL radio. ‘This is a direct extension of what I say in my book, namely that any contrary views must be eliminated.’ ... He said he decided to write the book in June 2014 when Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, summoned the country’s main weather presenters and urged them to mention ‘climate chaos’ in their forecasts. ‘I was horrified by this discourse,’ Mr Verdier told Les Inrockuptibles magazine. Eight days later, Mr Fabius appeared on the front cover of a magazine posing as a weatherman above the headline: ‘500 days to save the planet.’”

“France’s top weatherman sparks storm,” The Telegraph, London, Oct. 15, 2015

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