There is definitely a **real** reason for this.  `stdout` is actually getting passed to a json parser.  If you do not suppress this HTTPS warning, the JSON parser will fail because it will see input like:

```json
    Skipping HTTPS certificate checks altogether. Note that this is not secure at all.
    {
       "foo": "bar"
    }
```

where it expects input like:

```json
    {
       "foo": "bar"
    }
```

For an example of where this is used, see: https://github.com/opscode-cookbooks/jenkins/blob/master/recipes/_node_jnlp.rb#L66