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Actually, this is the first I've heard of it. Interesting.
I don't post in here very often, but I'm surprised no one is talking about this yet.
The apparent death of Michael Hastings, the young investigative journalist known for ruffling feathers among the nation’s power elite, has brought with it a wave of unanswered questions and speculation. Best known for a Rolling Stone article that led to the firing of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the 33-year-old BuzzFeed reporter died in a car accident in Los Angeles early Tuesday morning, according to a statement released by Ben Smith, BuzzFeed’s editor-in-chief.
While the journalistic community has largely reacted to the news with an outpouring of grief, online forums have been running wild with conspiracy theories, and why wouldn’t they? Some of the details surrounding the story read like a poorly written political thriller. As of Wednesday morning, the Los Angeles County coroner's office had still not determined that an “unrecognizable” body pulled from a fiery solo car crash was actually Hastings, according to the Los Angeles Times. (The body is identified only as “John Doe 117.”)
Meanwhile, LA Weekly reports that Hastings was reporting extensively on the CIA at the time of his death, and the Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald pointed out that Hastings’ last article for BuzzFeed was on the NSA and the Democrats’ love for spying on Americans.
In Hastings’ 2012 book, “The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan,” Hastings writes of a McChrystal staffer who allegedly said to him, “We’ll hunt you down and kill you if we don’t like what you write.”
At the very least, there are still many dots to be connected, but as is often the case with unusual news stories, the real conspiracy-theory fireworks are on Reddit -- in particular, one RIP Hastings thread in which users have been running amok with Reddit-esque guesswork about how Hastings’ enemies might have pulled off such a deed.
“I wonder how small a remote driving device would be,” one user speculated.
“Don't need that, just mess up his brakes and fuel line,” another user replied. “Car slides, crashes and catches fire.”
Others suggested “throttle sabotage,” a manipulation that would prevent a car from decelerating and which could explain the vehicle's reported high speed at the time of the crash. Yet another user postulated that the “unrecognizable” body suggests abduction, not murder. Finally, one Redditor issued a warning to journalists investigating the case: Don’t dig too deep.
“Stick with the party line if you want a long happy life,” the user posted.
Other comments on different threads posted to the “Conspiro” subreddit contained similar sentiments:
“Full disclosure: I don't what They were targeting him for, besides his reputation. Was it what he found or what he was about to find or that if he worked on the story, he would've definitely found something. I think this is the possible start of a trend of taking out investigative journos.”
Reddit wasn’t the only forum where Hastings conspiracy theorists were expressing themselves. Twitter users put forth some thoughts as well, albeit less creatively.
http://www.ibtimes.com/michael-hasti...itter-1314253#
Actually, this is the first I've heard of it. Interesting.
Limbaugh liked his books, I doubt he liked his investigative journalism
Yeah, I heard about that.
People die all the time.
That said, fires are rare in car crashes.
DUN DUN DUN!!!
Don't worry, Alex Jones is on the case.
I was going to say something derogatory about what I am certain was Mr. Jones' orgasmic enthusiasm for this story, but in deference to Judy, I will refrain from that particular idiot. er, idiom.
Captain Uncredible will most certainly unravel this mystery. I can hear it now...
"We'da gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for that meddling crazy guy and his website/cableshow/slavishly-devoted-acolyte-army."
Seriously though, this is kinda creepy coincidence. The problem with thinking it was the CIA that killed him, is the same problem with most of these things.
1) It wouldn't stop someone else from looking into the same things, and might well encourage others to do just that.
2) You can't do stuff like that and expect that it not get out eventually.
Evil spy people would be cognizant of both of these things.
Still, a small scale operation to silence a critic... almost plausible.
Almost. I guess that is what makes it fun. Good luck Alex and his nutball army!
Alex says it was a "classic" car bomb in the dash and the police are in on it.
The government and MSM say there isn't any evidence the government killed him so it didn't happen.
Why blow him up at a high rate of speed on a city street at 4AM?
Just give him a fake heart attack like Gandolfini.
They probably spin their "wheel of death". It's like wheel of fortune but instead you got options for things like suicide by hanging or gunshot, pulling a weapon on a cop, having a heart attack, or in this case, at least, the tried and true car accident.
Is such a publicly spectacular assassination de rigueur? I didn't take the online course.
That is why you do not with the CIA.
the car (evidence) obliterated, the body (evidence) incinerated beyond recognition.
CIA/FBI/DoD programmed the cruise-control to pump up the juice once the car was at a speed that would indicate the driver was on a suitable stretch of road. maybe even allow the car to achieve that speed x times before triggering the pedal-to-the-medal acceleration.
...or he was drunk...
EMAIL SENT BY MICHAEL HASTINGS HOURS BEFORE HIS DEATH MENTIONS ‘BIG STORY’ AND A NEED TO ‘GO OFF THE RADAR’
In an email sent hours before his death in a fiery single-car crash in Los Angeles Tuesday, award-winning journalist Michael Hastings reportedly wrote that he was working on a “big story” and was going to “go off the radar for a bit.”
The subject of the email was “FBI investigation re: NSA,” KTLA reports.
A copy of the email, sent on Monday, was reportedly provided to KTLA by Staff Sgt. Joseph Biggs, who was a recipient of the email.
“Hey [redacted copy], the Feds are interviewing my ‘close friends and associates.’ Perhaps if authorities arrive ‘BuzzFeed GQ’, er HQ, may be wise to immediately request legal counsel before any conversations or interviews about our news-gathering practices or related journalism issues,” Hastings wrote in the email.
“Also: I’m onto a big story, and need to go off the radar for a bit,” he added. “All the best, and hope to see you all soon.” He signed the letter, “Michael.”
Roughly 15 hours later, 33-year-old Hastings was dead.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013...off-the-radar/
Leftist government sycophants will never admit whenever the truth is dangling in front of their faces like their gay lovers right before sex time tbh.
Looks like someone had to get a different screen name.
Planes crashing at ~500 or so mph leave behind all manner of evidence. Quit being stupid.
m>s u think?
the ONLY evidence in my scenario is the cruise control firmware, easily destroyed by the heat of the fire.
firmware
That's not evidence. That is just ignorance.
Hmmm
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...ushpmg00000037The peculiar cir stances of journalist Michael Hastings' death in Los Angeles last week have unleashed a wave of conspiracy theories.
Now there's another theory to contribute to the paranoia: According to a prominent security analyst, technology exists that could've allowed someone to hack his car. Former U.S. National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism Richard Clarke told The Huffington Post that what is known about the single-vehicle crash is "consistent with a car cyber attack."
Clarke said, "There is reason to believe that intelligence agencies for major powers" -- including the United States -- know how to remotely seize control of a car.
"What has been revealed as a result of some research at universities is that it's relatively easy to hack your way into the control system of a car, and to do such things as cause acceleration when the driver doesn't want acceleration, to throw on the brakes when the driver doesn't want the brakes on, to launch an air bag," Clarke told The Huffington Post. "You can do some really highly destructive things now, through hacking a car, and it's not that hard." ..................(more)
"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 . 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."
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