Top Journalist Who Took On Authority Dies In Fiery Crash

[pockybot]

Sure most of you know who Michael Hastings is, the 33 year old journalist who brought down General Stanley Mcchrystal and who for several years has been the #1 writer exposing CIA torture, war crimes, corruption, NSA overstepping it's bounds(long before the Snowden revelation) All this as the whole Bradley Manning/Snowden/whistleblower/NSA scandal hits a fever pitch.

A few days ago he sent his colleagues a desperate email saying he was very fearful, as he hinted at big revelations on his twitter. Later that night in the AM hours on a deserted Los Angeles road on Melrose he died in what can only be described as a fiery explosion inside of his car after it apparently hit a palm tree at 100+MPH.




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/22/michael-hastings-email_n_3484118.html

An eye witness to the crash said the car was going at insane speeds and began sparking before it hit the palm tree and immediately exploded. The engine was found over 60 feet away. So it was a pretty powerful explosion and expulsion.


Now maybe the pressure got to him and he was suicidal and just decided at 4:30 AM to say ******** it. Or maybe a computer malfunctioned happened that put him into sudden acceleration mode with his breaks not working.

Or maybe, he pissed off enough people in a position of power. There is this sentiment that black ops assassinations only happen "over there". Either in Russia against journalists, or if it IS sanctioned by the US(like Anwar al Awlaki's American non terrorist teenage son) it happens overseas. Now I don't even think the "government" or Obama's men had anything to do with this if there was foul play. Maybe it was a message being sent to Obama or other potential whistleblowers and plucky journalists.

But why is there an assumption that this kind of thing doesn't happen in America? In the 1950's the CIA had a top army scientist thrown out of a high rise in New York when they felt he went rogue. (Gerald Ford two decades later wrote an apology letter to the family) It has come out that the FBI colluded with Chicago PD to kill black civil rights activist Fred Hampton.
It doesnt even need to have been done by "the government" or intel agencies, but proxies of private defense firms who answer to noone.

Just saying, why is there this assumption that noone within the power structure would ever think of doing in a US whistleblower/journalist/etc?

[Omnileech]

So you think the Government would kill a journalist in a way that would guarantee that he'd make the news and draw attention to what he was doing and what he stood for when there were plenty of other ways to eliminate him without raising a stir. And because the Government did something similar over 60 years ago then it's a conspiracy?

Yeah Alex Jones, that sure passes Occam's razor.

[pockybot]

Omnileech

So you think the Government would kill a journalist in a way that would guarantee that he'd make the news and draw attention to what he was doing and what he stood for when there were plenty of other ways to eliminate him without raising a stir. And because the Government did something similar over 60 years ago then it's a conspiracy?

Yeah Alex Jones, that sure passes Occam's razor.

Nope, not "the government". Definitely not Obama's administration. Hell Obama did not care for General Mcchrystal, who Hastings helped get fired. If you've been paying attention, so much of what people think of as intel gathering, war zone security, etc is private contractors. A lot of former MIC people in the private sector as well. Who knows who could have been after him.

But why rule out foul play at all? If a mafia capo blew up in a car, why would it be ok to assume it was a mafia hit? I mean if Hastings was around in the mid 1980's and was snooping around exposing links between drug cartels and black ops contra and arms funding and his car crashed and blew up...wouldn't it be prudent to consider sabotage?

Even level headed non conspiracy guy Cenk of the Young Turks is saying at this point nothing should be ruled out

[Lord Cameron]

Omnileech

So you think the Government would kill a journalist in a way that would guarantee that he'd make the news and draw attention to what he was doing and what he stood for when there were plenty of other ways to eliminate him without raising a stir. And because the Government did something similar over 60 years ago then it's a conspiracy?

Yeah Alex Jones, that sure passes Occam's razor.

what you said doesn't even make sense, name a way to kill someone that is less conspicuious than a car wreck

[Heimdalr]

Even if they would rig his car to speed into oblivion, I don't understand why it would happen 4AM on a Tuesday. I'm much more inclined to believe he crashed running from someone or something that may or may not even be real.

[God Emperor Baldur]

Never heard of him.

[Wendigo]

So your theory here is that a Mercedes c250 coupe's gas and brakes are controlled from outside the car?

[Azkeel]

Wendigo

So your theory here is that a Mercedes c250 coupe's gas and brakes are controlled from outside the car?

They have the technology to do it. You can't deny that!

[Wendigo]

YahuShalum

Wendigo

So your theory here is that a Mercedes c250 coupe's gas and brakes are controlled from outside the car?

They have the technology to do it. You can't deny that!

That entirely depends on whom "they" might be.

In any case, since "they" probably drive expensive luxury cars, it wouldn't behoove "them" to have evil control mechanisms installed in them as standard equipment.

[TANRailgun]

Lord Cameron

Omnileech

So you think the Government would kill a journalist in a way that would guarantee that he'd make the news and draw attention to what he was doing and what he stood for when there were plenty of other ways to eliminate him without raising a stir. And because the Government did something similar over 60 years ago then it's a conspiracy?

Yeah Alex Jones, that sure passes Occam's razor.

what you said doesn't even make sense, name a way to kill someone that is less conspicuious than a car wreck

There are poisons that break down enough before killing you as to be pretty much undetectable. It'd just look like a heart attack or a stroke or something. Or you could just knock him out an throw him off a bridge...or you could arrange for him to fall asleep s**t-face drunk and have his house burn down due to an electrical fire or something...or arrange a common household accident...

I totally don't think about these things... ninja

[pockybot]

This is what Richard Clarke, the former top counter terrorism/US coordinator for security and intelligence in the Clinton and Bush first term administration said this morning.

Quote:

"I'm not a conspiracy guy. In fact, I've spent most of my life knocking down conspiracy theories," said Clarke, who ran afoul of the second Bush administration when he criticized the decision to invade Iraq after 9/11. "But my rule has always been you don't knock down a conspiracy theory until you can prove it [wrong]. And in the case of Michael Hastings, what evidence is available publicly is consistent with a car cyber attack. And the problem with that is you can't prove it."

Clarke said the Los Angeles Police Department likely wouldn't have the expertise to trace such an attack. "I think you'd probably need the very best of the U.S. government intelligence or law enforcement officials to discover it."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/michael-hastings-car-hacked_n_3492339.html

[azulmagia]

Blimey, never thought I'd see the day when Richard Clarke and ol' Pockybot were on the same page.

[Heimdalr]

It is certainly possible to rig that car - in fact, easier than most cars since you don't need mechanical devices, which would be easily discovered. Daimler is a manufacturer that relies heavily on electronic control modules for everything, and the transmission control unit and powertrain control module would be fairly simple to swap for pre-rigged replacements. The most pertinent sources of doubt here would be the questions Why, Why the ********, and Seriously?

[X of Castigation]

What good would murdering him after the fact do?