Name: The Greatest Hoax
ISBN: 9781936488490

The Greatest Hoax

Americans are over-regulated and over-taxed. When regulation escalates, the result is an increase in regulators. In other words, bigger government is required to enforce the greater degree of regulation. Bigger government means bigger budgets and higher taxes. “More” simply doesn’t mean “better.” A perfect example is the entire global warming, climate-change issue, which is an effort to dramatically and hugely increase regulation of each of our lives and business, and to raise our cost of living and taxes. In The Greatest Hoax, Senator James Inhofe will reveal the reasons behind those perpetuating the Hoax of global warming, who is benefitting from the general acceptance of the Hoax and why the premise statements are blatantly and categorically false.

What Hacker News says

foobarbecueMar 2023

I read The Greatest Hoax when it came out. Good book. What a creep Abagnale is. The book caught my eye becuase I remember seeing Abagnale give his lectures at Google, thinking, wow, this guy sure doesn't seem like a genius. We are all just gullible.

thread

jack_rimintonMay 2021

In reality he seems more of a small-time crook and a big-time creep. Arrested mainly for steeling from families while dressed as a pilot and a kids camp.

From Wikipedia: "Abagnale was in fact in the United States Navy from December 1964 through February 1965. Following his release from Great Meadow Prison on Dec 24, 1968, Abagnale was re-arrested on Feb 14, 1969, in Baton Rouge after victimizing a local family and small business. He told the Parks family of Baton Rouge he was a TWA pilot on furlough while he stayed with them. While their backs were turned he rifled through their belongings and stole their personal checks. This is the first reference to Abagnale committing a crime dressed as a pilot. Abagnale was convicted and sentenced for theft and forgery from the Parks family and a local small business (Dolley and Son) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in June, 1969 (State of Louisiana vs. Frank W. Abagnale. Case #69.103 and Case #69.104). Abagnale fled his supervised probation and court-ordered psychiatric treatment and in August, 1969, he victimized two local families in Klippan, Sweden, while dressed as a TWA pilot (Swedish national Archives, Case #B -195/70). Within a month, Abagnale was arrested in Montpellier, France, and served 3 months in Perpigan prison. He was extradited to Sweden and was sentenced to two months in Malmo jail. After deportation to the United States, Abagnale secured a Pan American Airlines uniform. In the summer of 1970, at 22 years old, Abagnale began a three-month period where he wrote 10 personal checks with a Pan American Airlines logo attached. Targets included small businesses such as Hales Camera in Provo, Utah, and Pilgrim Dry Cleaner in Houston. On November 2, 1970, Abagnale was arrested in Cobb County, Georgia. This three-month period is the basis of his self-promotion as the world's greatest imposter. Federal court records show that Abagnale was convicted for the 10 Pan American Airlines checks in five States (Texas, Arizona, Utah, California and North Carolina), worth a grand total of less than US$1,500 (United States of America vs. Frank W. Abagnale. Southern District of Georgia. For the US, J. Owen Forrester, Docket #s 26829, 26814, 26797, 26793, 26734, 26733, 26706, 26689). Following parole, he claimed he went to work for the FBI. However, he was arrested in the summer of 1974 in Friendswood, Texas, for theft at a kids' camp, Camp Manison. This arrest was noted in the local paper (Houston man arrested for Camp Manison theft. The News (Friendswood, Texas). 1974;Thursday 5 Sep,Page 1). Combined, the NPR article, and the separate article in the Louisiana Voice, and the detailed, 350-reference book The Greatest Hoax on Earth, debunk Abagnale's many claims, and refute his long-standing claim that he "never, ever" ripped off an individual or small business.[33] There is no evidence that he was ever nicknamed The Skywayman, nor that he was ever on any wanted list of the FBI."

thread

foobarbecueJun 2026

Except actually real whereas Frank Abagnale fabricated all of his supposed cons (read The Greatest Hoax).

thread

foobarbecueDec 2021

I recently read The Greatest Hoax on Earth and my takeaway was the incredible extent to which bumbling pathological liars like Frank Abagnale or CW can build credibility through sheer persistence.

thread

cmurfJun 2019

My earliest recollection of climate change/global warming was about 30 years ago, and it was understood this was a society and political issue then, and the need for a systematic approach by corporations and government was needed.

Conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, called the most docile claims about global warming/climate change as radical, lies, socialism, communism, anti-business, pro-big government, and so on. The more aggressive claims were impugned as forms of eco-terrorism. It's the same today. The climate change deniers go so far as to insist that all of this is just delusional panic over nothing.

Michael Crichton, science fiction author, was a notable climate change denier who pushed exactly that: this climate change business is nonsense and people who claim otherwise are crazy. He wrote a book on the subject "State of Fear" about how global warming was a fraud, perpetrated by a few to exploit others.

A still sitting U.S. senator, James Inhofe from Oklahoma, says global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. And he cited "Dr. Crichton" and his book as the kind of real facts we need to pay attention to, and invited him to testify before Congress as a climate expert and scientist.

It's like humans are designed to make everything a dispute.

thread

drewrvAug 2015

Rick Santorum has accused universities of "indoctrination" and "killing religion". http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rick-santorum-left-uses-college-... https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201203/...

James Inhofe has written a book about how climate science is supposedly a hoax. http://www.amazon.com/The-Greatest-Hoax-Conspiracy-Threatens...

Chris Christie said that a national teachers union deserves a “punch in the face” http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/chris-christie...

thread