Jason Martell Threatens to Sue Me

4/17/2013

Obviously, we can’t take the self-selected comments left on blogs as a representative sample of public opinion, but I’m getting tired of the repetitive complaints about how I’m not “open minded” and how asking alternative speculators to prove their claims is somehow “trashing” them for offering “possibilities” to explore. This happened again this morning when ancient astronaut writer Jason Martell accused me in an email of bringing “bad karma” onto myself with my “negative views” about him and his poor research. Martell suggested I was “INACCURATE” (his caps) in describing his claims, but he initially refused to say which of my references to material taken directly from his Knowledge Apocalypse do not appear in the book.

A follow-up email didn’t really explain what I got wrong, but I was able to discern that in writing my blog post the other day I apparently misread a paragraph where he discussed the number 60. I missed that he wants us to multiply sixty minutes in an hour by the sixty seconds in a minute to generate the 3,600 years of Nibiru’s orbit. Therefore, he does not believe that the orbit of Nibiru is 60 years but 3,600, which is the number I should have reported in the first place since it is listed elsewhere in the book. I apologized to Martell for the error, and I corrected my original blog post to reflect his belief that Nibiru’s orbit is symbolized in “seconds” that were not invented until Babylon, two millennia after Sumer. The Babylonians did not have 60-minute hours to multiply them by, of course, since they used 120-minute double hours.

He also was upset because he felt I had said he claimed to be a linguist, which I never said. Martell claims, however, to be an expert in Sumerian culture, as described in his press materials: “Jason Martell is a researcher and lecturer specializing in the ancient Sumerian culture, Sumer's advanced technology, and how it relates to Planet X.” As I noted, Martell does not appear to be able to distinguish what is and is not Sumerian based on his conflation of various Mesopotamian cultures in his Knowledge Apocalypse.

Then Jason Martell threatened to sue me: “I will not communicate with you further. But please be advised, I do have a nice team of legal advisors. Please watch your comments, as you now have my attention.” Misreporting a digit (60 vs. 3600) is not libel, as established by U.S. case law. I am publishing his threat so there is a public record of it.

Also this morning I received a somewhat ominous email telling me my “time is up” along with a video of an alternative type ranting about “false skeptics” over video of the World Trade Center collapse. Another message accused me of using my skepticism to make “lots of money” by denying the truth of aliens. I wish! The only people making money are those who get paid huge speaking fees to deliver lectures about their ancient astronaut claims. I also received more than a dozen emails and blog comments today criticizing me personally, some in very harsh terms. Do I think it is a coincidence that so many messages happened right after Jason Martell wrote to me? Answering that might be libelous, so I will do like Ancient Aliens does and say that it is an intriguing question.

UPDATE: It's not a coincidence. Martell mass emailed subscribers to his X-Facts mailing list to send me hate mail. I'll discuss Martell's classy tactics in a separate post.

22 Comments

Christopher Randolph

4/17/2013 05:33:10 am

I think you're pretty safe. I don't see any competent lawyer taking this (losing) libel case on without a massive retainer and the advice that likely nothing is to be gained by it.

Unfortunately I've been hit with actual libelous claims twice thus far and received legal advice that even with the facts on my side the finances weren't (i.e. easier and cheaper to let the liars lie). It's doubly frustrating when the perps have no assets to speak of... which describes a goodly number of sad internet trolls.

In the first instance a small local 'alternative' paper accused me of breaking state and possibly federal laws through fraud and election funding shenanigans. A few months later the paper went bust of its own accord; had I sued and won there might not have been assets to collect! In the second case I have an unhinged woman who lives in someone else's basement and works off the books spreading internet lies about me. The legal advice I've received is that I'd be spending thousands of dollars to threaten a person who has nothing with losing "all of it!"

If we can't punish real libel you should be safe from make-pretend "libel."

Just be thankful that truth is still the ultimate defense and that you don't have to worry about the nightmare that is being hit with libel charges in the UK, which any number of snakes there use to chill criticism.

4/17/2013 05:36:50 am

Incidentally the young woman who wrote the hack job article on me is now an associate editor at a famed national political magazine. We're certainly in a society where no good deed goes unpunished and no harmful act goes unrewarded.

The Other J.

4/17/2013 04:46:20 pm

What the hell do you do that attracts that kind of crazy attention?

4/17/2013 06:02:22 pm

In the case of the newspaper story I was running for local political office and - be careful what you wish for - we actually contacted the paper to run a story. They stuck a (very young at the time) reporter on me and I suppose she didn't much like something I had to say.

Although the overall tone of the piece was decidedly negative (and largely inaccurate), the actionable portions included the claims that I was collecting unemployment while running (untrue and she made no attempt to verify this even by asking me let alone the state - I was living off of savings for a few months) and/or that I was financing the campaign with unemployment compensation and not declaring it.

I spent a bit less than three hours on a marathon phone call with the editor negotiating the size and content of the retraction for them to print in the next issue to hold off a lawsuit. It ran a full quarter page of a large format broadsheet, larger than a few features in that issue.

Lessons here pertinent to Jason's issue are that even at this level of inaccuracy + malice + damage I still had a libel lawyer tell me that I'd spend more on the case then I'd get out of it.

The second issue is someone else's insanity. Long story short I run local pub quizzes, and a person with apparent mental problems has been stalking me on the web for a few years because she didn't like how I marked an answer. No kidding. I've left a few forums I used to participate in for some time because she sockpuppets them with a cast of characters who attack anything I say, no matter how minor, she has TWO sites devoted to mocking me, etc.

A trigger here is that the question involved a poli sci issue, and that was my academic area and area in which I was a professional researcher for a number of years. She's a 10th grade dropout who "homeschools" (in this case that means simply left her child uneducated & reportedly nearly feral) and is on some lunatic crusade to 'prove' that a person who avoids formal schooling knows more about a subject than some 'college boy.'

Absolutely EVERYTHING about her crusade against me reminds me of Scott Wolter and his pals... save for the fact that he at least gets paid.

4/17/2013 06:10:44 pm

"Lessons here pertinent to Jason's issue are that even at this level of inaccuracy + malice + damage I still had a libel lawyer tell me that I'd spend more on the case then I'd get out of it."

To clarify, if a libel specialist told me that reporting in a local paper that I was breaking campaign finance laws was too small to bother expecting recovery from, I seriously doubt that an error in one figure is attached to the orbit some lunatic claims a fake planet has is rather unlikely anything worth keeping our blog host awake nights.

Jason has attempted accuracy, has corrected the record when given clarifying info, has made no actions with malice (a key component of libel - it has to be wrong AND purposefully mean, not just wrong) and this is all happening in a venue too small to be considered substantially harmful to the financial interests of the subject.

Bart Colavito

5/28/2013 12:35:27 am

It's not him in particular, that's so annoying. It's the genre of people who make their living wandering around after people saying "that's not right", "that's not right" when they have nothing interesting to say themselves.

Matt Mc

4/17/2013 05:33:37 am

I am sorry you have to go through this. I hope this does not diswade you from continuing your excellent work.

Cathleen Andersin

4/17/2013 06:05:31 am

Talk to a lawyer Jason. It may be worth the time to pay one to send him a letter directing his attorneys to contact your lawyer.

And, also mention the penalties for bringing frivolous lawsuits and violating rule 11.

J Adamson

4/17/2013 06:45:01 am

My reaction to Jason Martell?

Faking History is downloading to my Kindle right now..........

Tara Jordan

4/17/2013 06:54:30 am

Jason,you`re safe.As an American citizen,your freedom of speech is protected by the First Amendment.If this remarkable sniveling character wants to play hardball,we can give him a taste of his own medicine.We could launch a massive campaign on social networks (Twitter, Facebook etc...) to expose his despicable behavior.Trying to silence you is akin to intellectual terrorism.

Jim

4/17/2013 07:46:34 am

Jason,
You have some nerve misrepresenting 3,600 with 60! You are a MONSTER! Now I need to go burn some sage to cleanse your bad karma off myself.

Dan D

4/17/2013 08:24:25 am

“I will not communicate with you further. But please be advised, I do have a nice team of legal advisors. Please watch your comments, as you now have my attention.”

Gasp! Oh the horror that awaits you from the briefcase - toting Anunnaki (griffin-demon my ass)

4/17/2013 09:22:26 am

Turn the table on Martell.Publish his Email where he states "Bringing bad karma onto yourself".It could be interpreted as threat & (or) intimidation & potential violent retaliation.If anything happens to you in a foreseeable future (get burglarized,car or personal property being vandalized.mugged or physically aggressed by a stranger) Martell can find himself in big trouble.

titus pullo link

4/17/2013 01:27:15 pm

Let it go. A few years ago I ran for school board. I didn't know a woman on my street who was tight with the folks who lived here longer than we did and had kids the same age decided to run. The issue was around math education. Our district adopted some "math is fun" program from some EdD who didn't have a science or math background. 'The kids were told not to do their tables..or memorizing basic addition, muliplication and so on. Pretty soon our 8th graders were testing at 4th grade levels. So i ran to remove the "new math" program. It was pretty obvious that for most people, they need to do the tables first then can go on and analyze math related problems. Seriously try to solve an algerbra problem if you can't quickly know that 5x5 is 25 and so on. they had 8th graders cutting and pasting shapes to make math fun. anyway I ran on a platform of more accountablity, reduce the number of administrators and all the high priced overhead...man did I poke the hornets nest. All the usual suspects (teacher unions, firms that had nice crony capitalist contracts with the district) and all the stay at home moms who "voluntered at the schools" were upset. the stay at home moms were the worst..they were the classic free riders..always supporting more funding for the things their kids did..and when the bonds get passesd more debt goes on the tax payers...and then once their kids graduate..they move south for lower property taxes. Anyway..a guy in my neighboorhood had some sort of business relationship with the district related to these "new" programs...I think distributing text books or something I was told...he went out of his way to personally attack my in the neighboorhood. A typical liberal..he was really an authortarian who hated disent. Anyway...I lost the election by about 80 votes in a six way race and moved on. Now he always says hi to me when I walk by...I say hi back...I've moved on...besides keeping hate in yourself only hurts you...forget about this guy.

Jason Colavito link

4/17/2013 01:36:01 pm

I don't hate Jason Martell, but it's important that this information be available publicly, primarily to protect me in the event that he actual goes through with it, or, heaven forbid, his fans follow through on their threats.

titus pullo

4/18/2013 03:54:45 am

Jason,

good to have it documented..but I doubt he will sue and I don't think you have anything to worry about with the "fans"...but I suppose taking prudent measures makes sense..still a sad day that you have to worry about your safety..on somethign like this..

Gary J.

4/17/2013 02:18:12 pm

Do you have any idea what Martell's educational background is? I Googled his name and scanned a couple of his bios, and not once did I see a mention of his training. Perhaps he has none? As I've said before, I kinda enjoy the program, but have always questioned his credibility. BTW ... from his email to his subscribers ... I gather that he's not an English language scholar ....

4/17/2013 02:21:25 pm

All I know is that he has a background in technology and apparently, according to Martell himself, he made enough money to independently fund his ancient astronaut activities.

4/17/2013 02:39:04 pm

And a "background in technology" could mean darn near anything. Most of us could say that ... heck, we all use computers and cell phones ... therefore we have a "background in technology". Sounds like he didn't say he was responsible for advancing technology. Perhaps he was/is independently wealthy.

4/17/2013 04:53:22 pm

I'm pretty sure he made his money with an internet dating site. I'm 90% sure of that. Martell was on my radar a few years ago when I was teaching a comp course on conspiracy theories. I had to research a lot of these people in gathering materials for the course.

Yep, just checked. He was a code monkey for AmericanSingles.com, JDate.com, and a multimedia blog called Flux, and in 2008 started a Christian video sharing site called GodTube.com Read all about it:

http://www.cio.com/article/174401/With_God_As_Their_Witness_Entrepreneurs_Reveal_Ways_to_Bring_Social_Networking_to_the_Enterprise

a rare visitor

12/7/2013 02:18:26 pm

Thanks for that. I, too, was wondering what this guy's background was after seeing him on a film. He seems to lack any formal education on these subjects.

Thane

4/18/2013 03:55:02 pm

Jason,

Just make sure your site security is up to date and multilayer-ed. There are many ways the unhinged with a modicum of technical chops can cause you problems.

Also, you should notify your local PD of any cyber stalking or harassment. They won't be able to do much but they need to be advised just in-case someone finds our your address and pulls a "Swatting" attack on you.

Oh, and keep a hard copy on disk or thumb drive of all the threats and harassment (or both....i like redundancy especially in situations like this.)

One last bit of advice,......Backup and backup often.