This Might Be News: Another Plot Twist in the Mystery of ‘The Maltese Professor’?

Posted on | January 6, 2018 | Comments Off on This Might Be News: Another Plot Twist in the Mystery of ‘The Maltese Professor’?

Given the proliferation of “fake news,” it’s hard to know what to believe, but this story certainly seems interesting:

It was a chance romantic encounter by George Papadopoulos that set in train the events that led to the Australian government tipping off Washington about what it knew of Russian hacking efforts to swing the US presidential election.
Fairfax Media can reveal a woman in London with whom Papadopoulos became involved happened to know Alexander Downer and told the Australian High Commissioner about Papadopoulos, a newly signed staffer for Donald Trump. Downer, being a canny diplomat, followed it up and arranged a meeting with the young American, who was mostly living in London at the time.
What followed was the now infamous May 2016 conversation over many glasses of wine at the swanky Kensington Wine Rooms, during which the 28-year-old Papadopoulos spilled to Downer that he knew of a Russian dirt file on the rival Clinton campaign consisting of thousands of hacked emails.

Let’s ask questions: Did this actually happen Papadopoulos described it? That is to say, were “thousands of hacked emails” from the Clinton campaign (a) obtained by hackers who were (b) working in the service of the Russian government and (c) making these emails available to the Trump campaign in the form of a “dirt file” of which (d) Papadopoulos had obtained “inside” knowledge through his connections to the Trump campaign? We know that DNC emails were released by WikiLeaks in July 2016, but I have yet to see proof that this was a Russian government operation, nor am I aware that this alleged “Russian dirt file,” of which Papadopoulos reportedly boasted to Downer, actually existed as described. What the hell are we to make of this?

Papadopoulos has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. In his January interview, he didn’t deny knowing Joseph Mifsud, a mysterious Maltese professor with links to the Russian government, nor having met with Russian officials to whom Mifsud introduced him. Nor did he deny that Mifsud had told him the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails”.

It’s like a 1940s film noir — The Maltese Professor — with these weird characters involved in a Byzantine plot full of double-crosses and intrigue, including a romantic liaison between Papadopoulos and a woman who “happened to know” this Australian diplomat who ratted him out. The officially reported facts of the Papadopoulos-Mifsud connection don’t really answer the fundamental questions:

The court filings say that on April 25, 2016, after “multiple conversations” with a Russian national connected to Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Papadopoulos told Miller that “the Russian government has an open invitation by Putin for Mr. Trump to meet him when he is ready,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The advantage of being in London is that these governments tend to speak a bit more openly in ‘neutral’ cities,” he said.
On April 26, Papadopoulos met with Joseph Mifsud — identified in the court filings as an “overseas professor” — for breakfast at a London hotel. There, Mifsud told Papadopoulos that he had learned from high-level Kremlin officials during his recent trip to Moscow that the Russians had “dirt” on Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails,” the filings say.
Papadopoulos emailed [Trump aide Stephen] Miller the next day.
“Have some interesting messages coming in from Moscow about a trip when the time is right,” he wrote, the court filings say.

(Papadopoulos wanted to arrange a Trump-Putin meeting, for some unknown reason thinking this would be good P.R. for the campaign.)

Papadopoulos also emailed Paul Manafort on April 27 asking “to discuss Russia’s interest in hosting Mr. Trump.” . . .
“Have been receiving a lot of calls over the last month about Putin wanting to host him and the team when the time is right,” Papadopoulos told Manafort. . . .
[T]he young adviser continued to pitch a Trump-Putin meeting to high-level campaign officials, including Sam Clovis, the national cochairman . . . and Corey Lewandowski, the campaign manager.
On April 30, Papadopoulos thanked Mifsud for his “critical help” in facilitating a meeting that would be “history making if it happens,” the filings say.
About four days later, Papadopoulos’ contact at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told him that the ministry was “open for cooperation.” Papadopoulos forwarded that email to Manafort, asking, “Is this something we want to move forward with?”
On May 5, Papadopoulos called Clovis. After their phone call, he forwarded Clovis the ministry contact’s email with a new subject line: “Russia updates.”
Papadopoulos’ efforts to arrange the Trump-Putin meeting continued through June.
“Russia has been eager to meet Mr. Trump for quite sometime and have been reaching out to me to discuss,” Papadopoulos wrote to Manafort on May 21.
Manafort forwarded that email to his longtime business associate Rick Gates and said, “Let’s discuss.”
“We need someone to communicate that DT is not doing these trips,” Manafort wrote. “It should be someone low level in the campaign so as not to send any signal.”

What is revealed by the Papadopoulos case is not “collusion,” because what Papadopoulos was trying to do was to set up a Putin-Trump meeting that never happened. It is evident that this “newly signed staffer” was acting on his own initiative, an enthusiastic amateur trying to impress his bosses with his London-based connections. For nearly a month, it seems, the top campaign officials were reluctant to tell Papadopoulos to stop his activity until Manafort firmly declared that Trump “is not doing these trips.” This would seem to indicate that Papadopoulos’s efforts were never authorized by the candidate or his top staff, and there is nothing — absolutely nothing — we have seen so far to indicate that the alleged “Russian dirt files” actually existed, or that the Trump campaign ever obtained them if they did exist. The Maltese Professor had claimed to Papadopoulos that “high-level Kremlin officials” told him they had these emails, but where is the smoking-gun evidence that this unverified claim led to “collusion”?

Here’s a question: Was this discussion of “dirt files” actually a reference to the DNC emails later released by WikiLeaks? Or to put it another way: What did The Maltese Professor actually know?

If indeed what Mifsud was telling Papadopoulos was that Russia had obtained those DNC emails, this is smoke, but the question is, was the Trump campaign in any way responsible for the fire? We don’t even know — however much it may seem a common-sense deduction — that the DNC emails were what Mifsud was talking about, but as a matter of fact, it was WikiLeaks that released those emails, and we have no evidence that the Trump campaign had anything to do with that.

You picture Bogart as detective Sam Spade in The Maltese Professor, a cigarette dangling from his lip, trying to make sense of it all. As obvious as it may seem that (a) Putin didn’t want Hillary Clinton to win the election, and (b) this Mifsud-Papadopoulos connection was part of an official Russian effort to influence the election, what actually happened as a result? You may surmise there was intent to “collude” on the part of some Trump aides — i.e., they were willing to accept Russian assistance — but beyond that, what do we have?

“Nothing,” says the detective, opening his desk drawer to pull out a pint of whiskey and pouring himself a stiff drink. “A whole lot of nothing.”

Mueller and his team will keep investigating, of course, but unless and until they actually find something, it’s still just a bunch of nothing.

Category: Donald Trump

In The Mailbox: 01.05.18

Posted on | January 5, 2018 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 01.05.18

— compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
Ninety Miles From Tyranny: The 90 Miles Mystery Box, Episode #126
EBL: Was Bannon The Littlefinger Of The Trump Administration?
Twitchy: Fake Fire And Fury Excerpt Takes Twitter By Hilarious Storm
Louder With Crowder: Bernie Sanders Releases Video Of “Patriotic Millionaires” Who Want Higher Taxes
According To Hoyt: Breaking The Gears
Monster Hunter Nation: January Update
Vox Popoli: Three Authors Weigh In On Worldcon

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Friday Hawt Chicks And Links
American Power: Laura Ingraham – Trump/Bannon Feud Has Set Off “Pavlovian Feeding Frenzy” In Media, also, Dan Simmons, Ilium
American Thinker: Note To NeverTrumps – Trump’s Character Is Admirable
Animal Magnetism: Rule Five 2018 Inventions Friday
BattleSwarm: LinkSwarm For January 5
BLACKFIVE: Jayne Anne Krentz, Promise Not To Tell
Bring The HEAT: Cats In Zero G
CDR Salamander: In Addition To A Vote, The Enemy Has Eyes And Ears
Da Tech Guy: Fire & Fury Is Out Today – Debunked, Bothered & Bewildered, also, The Greatest Lost Metal Band Of All Time
Don Surber: The Pro Wrestling Presidency
Dustbury: Even Jenny Is Cold These Days
The Geller Report: Facebook Removes “Warriors Of Christ” Page With No Right Of Appeal, also, Western Feminists Ignore Iran While Boycotting Israel
Hogewash: Asteroids! also, Team Kimberlin Post of The Day
Jammie Wearing Fools: Ladies, You’ve Been Wearing Your Underwear Wrong All Along
Joe For America: Peter Thiel Planning To Launch Conservative News Outlet With Mercers
JustOneMinute: Free The States! also, Fake News?!?
Legal Insurrection: DOJ Opens New Investigation Into Clinton Foundation Over Pay-To-Play Allegations, also, California’s New “Raw Water” Fad Could Be Lethal
Michelle Malkin: Pyongyang On The Prairie Part III – All In OCPD’s Crime Lab Family
Power Line: The White House Press Corps Humiliates Itself, also, Thoughts From The Ammo Line
Shark Tank: Florida GOP Gets Nuked As Trump Factions Divide Annual Meeting
Shot In The Dark: Carrying Ellison’s Water
STUMP: More On High-Tax States Trying To Be Clever In Helping Rich People Avoid Taxes
The Political Hat: The Most Racist?
This Ain’t Hell: Harold Martin And His “Breathtaking” Heist Of Top Secret Data, also, Mark B. Chartrand a/k/a Mark Bryant
Weasel Zippers: New Trump Book Has Disclaimer Stating Parts Are Untrue, also, Britain’s NHS Orders Cancellation Of 50,000 Surgeries As “Third World Conditions” Devastate Hospitals
Mark Steyn: Let A Thousand Checks Bloom

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Category: Linkagery

Guy McPherson’s Climate-Change Doomsday Cult: ‘Near Term Extinction’

Posted on | January 4, 2018 | 3 Comments

In August 2007, University of Arizona Professor Guy McPherson gave the keynote address for the university’s Master of Public Health (MPH) program: “The End of Civilization and the Extinction of Humanity.” The basis of Professor McPherson’s doomsday vision then was “peak oil”:

Because this country mainlines cheap oil, it is easy to envision the complete collapse of the U.S. economy within a decade. The Great Depression will seem like the good old days when unemployment approaches 100% and inflation is running at 1000% per year. Obviously, this is a very good thing . . . for the world’s cultures and species, other than our own. After all, in the name of economic growth we have ripped minerals from the Earth, often bringing down mountains in the process; we have harvested nearly all the old-growth timber on the continent, replacing thousand-year-old giants with neatly ordered plantations of tiny trees; we have hunted species to the point of extinction; we have driven livestock across every almost acre of the continent, baring hillsides and engendering massive erosion; we have plowed large landscapes, transforming fertile soil into sterile, lifeless dirt; we have burned ecosystems and, perhaps more importantly, we have extinguished naturally occurring fires; we have spewed pollution and dumped garbage, thereby dirtying our air, fouling our water, and contributing greatly to the warming of the planet; we have paved thousands of acres to facilitate our movement and, in the process, have disrupted the movements of thousands of species.

At the time he gave that speech, the average U.S. price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $2.77. Currently, it’s $2.52 a gallon. So “the complete collapse of the U.S. economy . . . when unemployment approaches 100% and inflation is running at 1000% per year”?

It didn’t happen. The professor was wrong. “Peak oil” was a myth.

Undeterred by his failed prophecy, however, Professor McPherson continued preaching the imminent apocalypse, and in 2009 retired from the university to become a full-time secular evangelist of a doomsday scenario: “Near term human extinction” via “abrupt climate change.” He has spent years promoting this vision on his “Nature Bats Last” blog, in media appearances, and in public speeches. Read more

Category: Conspiracy Theories, Global Warming

In The Mailbox: 01.04.18

Posted on | January 4, 2018 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 01.04.18

— compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
EBL: Hillary Burning Down The House
Twitchy: Tucker Carlson Sets Off “Brianna Wu” By Basically Quoting MLK On Race
Louder With Crowder: Andrew Cuomo Is Suing To Block You From Getting A Tax Cut
Intellectual Takeout: Why High School Kids Should Start Teaching Younger Students (h/t NeoWayland)

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: An Australian Republic, The Country Be Damned
American Power: Strangled By Identity, also, Bruce Schneier, Data And Goliath
American Thinker: Jail Hillary And Huma, Not Kristian Saucier
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Scofflaw News
BattleSwarm: Did A Charlie Geren Operative File False CPS Report Against Primary Opponent?
CDR Salamander: Mind The Gap
Da Tech Guy: The Magnificent Seven Posts You Didn’t Find So Magnificent In 2017, also, The Art Of Conversation
Don Surber: Trump Triggers A Half-Billion In Bonuses For Workers
Dustbury: It Being Too Warm In Alaska
Fred On Everything: The Wall, The Sound, And The Fury – And Not Much Else
The Geller Report: Muslim Protesters Smash Holocaust Display At National Museum Of Tunisia, also, Denmark’s PM Extremely Worried About Parallel Societies, Islamicization
Hogewash: I’m So Old… also, Team Kimberlin Post of The Day
Joe For America: Trump Responds To Bannon – “He Has Lost His Mind”
Legal Insurrection: Sen. Grassley – Comey May Have Leaked Classified Memo, also, Paul Manafort Sues To Rein In Mueller
Power Line: If It’s Too Good to Check, It Probably Isn’t True, also, “I Am A Social Justice Warrior!”
Shark Tank: Trump’s Button Is “Much Bigger And More Powerful” Than Yours
Shot In The Dark: Boca Chica And The DFL’s Intellectual/Political Cleansing
STUMP: Theme For The Year – High Tax States Attempting To Avoid The Effect Of Federal Tax Changes
The Political Hat: Hypocrisy Incarnate – Intolerance For The Intolerant, Excluding The Non-Inclusives, And Desubjectivfying Objectivity
This Ain’t Hell: Increased Firings At The VA, also, Son Tay Raider CSM Jospeh Murray RIP
Weasel Zippers: Norks Appear To Have Scored Own Goal In Botched Missile Test, also, Israel Planned To Kill Head Of Iran’s Quds Force (Responsible For Hundreds Of American Dead) But Obama Warned Iran
Megan McArdle: A Transparent CBO Would Be A Pointless CBO
Mark Steyn: The Two-Tier Sisterhood

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Category: Linkagery

In The Mailbox: 01.03.18

Posted on | January 3, 2018 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 01.03.18

— compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
EBL: J.R.R. Tolkien Day
Twitchy: Gay News Anchor Has Best Take On Winter Storms, And It’s Not Even Close
Louder With Crowder: ICE Director Suggests Charging Sanctuary City Pols With Crimes
Quillette: Why No One Cares About Feminist Theory (h/t NeoWayland)

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Podcast #70 – The Chasing Women Episode
American Power: Emily Ratajkowski Talks Feminism, also, The View Of The Blinkered
American Thinker: The Left’s 1942
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Hump Day News
BattleSwarm: Bosch Fawstin Suspended By Twitter
CDR Salamander: The Cluster Around Clusters
Da Tech Guy: Sometimes It’s You, also, Your Five Favorite Posts Of 2017, also also, Our Second Annual Lemon Awards
Don Surber: Iran’s Fellow Travelers At The NYT, also, AP Notches First Fake News Of 2018
Dustbury: Things Are Tough All Over
The Geller Report: California Prosecutes Man For Posting Anti-Muslim Messages On Facebook, also, Sadiq Khan’s London – Knife Crime, Gun Crime, Theft, Rape, Burglary, Rape & Homicide All Up
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post Of The Day, also, Some Golden Blasts From Out Of The Past
Jammie Wearing Fools: Witness Says Russia Probe Grand Jury Looks Like A Black Lives Matter Meeting
Joe For America: CNN Says Fox Does A Disservice To Its Viewers By Telling The Truth
JustOneMinute: FBI Irregularities In Clinton Investigation? Shocking! also, Immigrants & Crime In Germany
Legal Insurrection: Al Franken Officially Resigns From The Senate, also, Trump Urges DOJ To Investigate Huma Abedin For Forwarding State Passwords To Insecure Yahoo Account
Power Line: Trump’s Twitter Storm (Updated), also, Fear And Loathing At The DOJ – Andrew McCarthy Comments
Shark Tank: Immigration Reform Could Be Florida’s Top Issue In 2017
Shot In The Dark: The Right People
Sister Toldjah: MSNBC Guests, Former Producers Say Chris Matthews Like “A Teenage Boy” On Set
STUMP: Starting The Year Off Right – Lawsuits Over KY Pensions
The Jawa Report: First Jawa Jihad Winner Of 2018
The Political Hat: When Transgender Rights & Socialized Healthcare Collide
This Ain’t Hell: ISIS Executioner Captured, also, Joshua Boyle Facing 15 Charges
Weasel Zippers: California Pranked By Signs On Interstate After Sanctuary State Law Takes Effect, also, German Police File Charges Against AfD Lawmaker For Criticizing Muslim Rape Gangs
Megan McArdle: Metrics And Their Unintended Consequences
Mark Steyn: Virtue-Signaling While Rome Burns

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Category: Linkagery

In The Mailbox: 01.02.18

Posted on | January 2, 2018 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 01.02.18

— compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
EBL: Darkest Hour – A Review
Twitchy: Wil Wheaton’s Meltdown Over TNG Mini-Me Is The Gift That Keeps On Giving
Louder With Crowder: This Woman Won $20K For Yelling “Boobs!” On CNN
City Journal: Fractured West (h/t NeoWayland)

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: I Am A Ferryman, also, I’ve Never Liked New Year’s Eve
American Power: New Wave Of Business Optimism – The “Trump Effect” Will Cause Leftist Heads To Explode, also, Gal Gadot Named FHM’s Sexiest Woman Of 2017
American Thinker: Calling Bernie’s Bluff, also, NASA’s Rubber Ruler – An Update
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Monterey Bay News
BattleSwarm: Anti-Government Protests Across Iran, also, The Deafening Feminist Silence On Iran
CDR Salamander: Hey, It’s 2018…And All’s Well
Da Tech Guy: The Biggest Economic Threat In 2018 Is A Power-Hungry Democrat-Loving Mainstream Media, also, Why The (Non-Tapper) Never Trump Left Can’t Bear The Iranian Protests, also also, Obama And The Iranian Mullahs – A Love Story?
Don Surber: What If Regimes Change In Iran And North Korea? also, The Greatest Year In American History – A Day By Day Review
Dustbury: Strange Search Engine Queries, also, Worst Titles Of 2017
The Geller Report: More Than 1000 Cars Torched In France On New Year’s Eve, also, Facebook Shuts Down “Warriors For Christ” Page
Hogewash: Looking At Iran, also, Team Kimberlin Post Of The Day
Jammie Wearing Fools: The West Can Help Iranians Take Back Their Country
Joe For America: Stanford University Band Mocks Trump, Texas During Alamo Bowl, also, Judge Issues Final Order For Bakers Who Refused To Bake Gay Wedding Cake
JustOneMinute: Meanwhile, Back In Iran… also, Good Cop/Bad Cop, Bitterly Divided
Legal Insurrection: Trump Dumps Obama-Backed $13 Billion NY/NJ Rail Tunnel Plan, also, Fox News Trolls CNN, Kathy Griffin On New Year’s Eve
Power Line: It’s Time To Pull The Plug On Never-Trumpism, also, Fear And Loathing At The DoJ
Shark Tank: Bilirakis Draws Congressional Challenge From Federal Prosecutor
Shot In The Dark: Any Color You Want, As Long As It’s DFL! also, This Sends A Tingle Up My Leg
Sister Toldjah: Back In The Blogging Business
STUMP: Let’s Ring Out The Year With The 80% Funders!
The Jawa Report: Anon Swatter Jerkoff Unmasked, also, Meanwhile In Tehran
The Political Hat: Happy New Year! also, Not-So-Christian Church Celebrates Mohammed As Prophet
This Ain’t Hell: Baltimore Residents Blame Increased Murders On Decreased Police, also, Jerry Yellin (Last WW2 Fighter Pilot) Dies
Weasel Zippers: Arkansas Woman Who Declared Her Gun Range A “Muslim Free Zone” Enters Governor’s Race, also, Hillary Backers Brock & Buell Give $700K To Lisa Bloom To “Encourage” Trump “Victims” To Come Forward Before Election
Mark Steyn: Ave Atque Vale 2017, also, Welcome To The New Year, Same As The Old

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Category: Linkagery

Rule 5 Monday: Linda Ronstadt

Posted on | January 2, 2018 | 3 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

To a certain extent, women in the music business have always been appreciated for their looks as well as their musical talent, and for men of a certain age, the apotheosis of this was Linda Ronstadt. She could sing beautifully in just about every genre of music, and was gorgeous besides. Too bad she was politically flaky, but you can’t have everything.
It should hardly be necessary to remind the Loyal Readers that many of the following links are to pics generally considered NSFW, and it would behoove you -if you are the sort that makes New Year’s resolutions- to resolve to click the links with great discretion as to the time and place of your clicking.

The famous poster.

Animal Magnetism leads off this week with Rule 5 Amazing 2017 Friday, the Saturday Gingermageddon, and a Happy New Year!

EBL’s festive holiday herd includes Alison Krauss, Kate Mara, Vintage New Year’s Eve Ladies, Julie Andrews, Shakshuka & Cultural Genocide, Fortune Tellers, Rose Marie (RIP), Wind River, Iranian Women Protesting, Zooey Deschanel, Darkest Hour, and National Bacon Day.

A View From The Beach serves up extras for the holidays: Coming Up Daisies, Daisy Lowe, Downhill Into Another Frosty Friday, . . . Like a Fish Needs Hiking Boots, Baby, It’s Cold Outside, Femen, Vatican Repeat Babynapping Ritual, Putin Foe Succumbed to Acute Viagra Poisoning, Your Morning Shoe Ad, And Yet Another Merry Christmas, Have Yourself a Very PC Christmas, Merry Christmas to All!, Ghosts of Christmas Past and This Year’s Santa’s Little Helpers.

Proof Posiitve’s Friday Night Babe was Zoe McLellan, his Vintage Babe was New Year’s Babes, and Sex in Advertising was covered by Victoria’s Secret. At Dustbury, it’s Nikki Haley and Ellie Goulding.

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Category: Rule 5