Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

[bks]

The tox report will at least at minimum be another piece of a puzzle, and even if the information within it cannot be wholly trusted there will be people who can read it carefully and tell whether there's something odd about the way the investigation is being conducted. It's data, in other words, and not just about what may or may not have been in his system.

Maybe that's overly hopeful.

[8bitagent]

HOWEVER, I think like Russ Baker at whowhatwhy told me, he is taking it slow and waiting for the tox report, he is on the case and he isnt one to speak soon or early but when he does speak he has all the facts gathered and is ready to draw some hard hitting conclusions, he is always usually the last one to speak on issues like this, he is still coming out with Boston Bombing stuff, so he takes his time and I also suspect a lot of others are just waiting for that tox screen/report to come out before they start publishing their findings as the tox screen/report is and should be a big part of any story that comes out about this so I am assuming that is what most everyone is waiting for before they start to tackle this issue an draw conclusions.

Yeah that's a good approach. With 9/11, there were a lot of erroneous "facts" and theories that even most truthers will agree didn't pan out. It's cliche to say, but we do live in a world where people expect immediate answers. Heck police were saying that out in Boston. I've zero knowledge of legal systems, detective work, etc. But as a lay person, I would think the #1 thing to find is the minutia of his last 48 hours. Credit/debit card uses, ATM uses if possible. Restaurants, etc. Beat by beat where he was, what he was doing, where his car was at. The cops sure seem to have that ready to go with alleged terror suspects.

[8bitagent]

Thanks for keeping on top of it, Alchemy.

The only other case I can think of that was so obvious and in-your-face was the "suicide" of the Washington DC Madame. I may have mentioned that upstream somewhere. You know, the one who warned that if she "committed suicide" that it wouldn't really be a suicide and lo and behold she "committed suicide" shortly thereafter.

Yes ABSOLUTELY! That was another one that was indeed a slap in the face and a warning to others. There is no doubt in my mind that woman did not kill herself and I also think Phillip Marshall was likely a hit but there are some things that came out to indicate he was troubled but that still doesnt explain why he would kill his kids and the fucking dog too.

Anyway please keep your eyes and ears open for any new developments wrt Hastings.

Here's the scary thing. We see things like OKC cop Terrence Yeakey, Gary Caridori(absolutely no question to me that was a hit) blowing up in his plane right before the Franklin trial begins. We see things like Hastings in what sure seems like a suspicious explosive fire. But is it possible these spook types have ways of offing people not even the best investigator would know about? I was rewatching the movies Michael Clayton and The International, and they both have scenes of injections that serve to look like natural heart attacks. But what if they have even more subtle ways of offing people? In the 1986 Silence of the Lambs prequel Manhunter based on Red Dragon, the main protagonist Will Graham is unnerved and puzzled at how the killer managed to get in and out without waking or alarming anyone. In the case of Fred Hampton, they just straight up blasted him. If Philip Marshall and his family was a hit(and sadly, I dont see evidence of it so far but it would make sense since I feel he was onto something fierce), then it was done in a very niche black ops manner. I mean all it takes is one neighbor to see men in black clad outfits and the jig is up.

There's also what I believe is something beyond accidents/suicides...and thats "random attacks". Ive speculated that the FBI agent lady killed by the DC sniper may have been one such victim, or even Clinton intern Caity Mahoney or the Chandra Levy case.

[Canadian_watcher]

I dont see evidence of it so far but it would make sense since I feel he was onto something fierce), then it was done in a very niche black ops manner. I mean all it takes is one neighbor to see men in black clad outfits and the jig is up.

I think the REALLY sad part is that that is absolutely, demonstrably not true at all. It's too easy to get around witness testimony.

[8bitagent]

I dont see evidence of it so far but it would make sense since I feel he was onto something fierce), then it was done in a very niche black ops manner. I mean all it takes is one neighbor to see men in black clad outfits and the jig is up.

I think the REALLY sad part is that that is absolutely, demonstrably not true at all. It's too easy to get around witness testimony.

Well shoot, that's right too. I mean 700 people said they saw a missile streak up from the ocean to hit TWA 800....dozens saw shots fired from the grassy knoll...all of these hundreds of people are called "kooks" to this day

The tox report will at least at minimum be another piece of a puzzle, and even if the information within it cannot be wholly trusted there will be people who can read it carefully and tell whether there's something odd about the way the investigation is being conducted. It's data, in other words, and not just about what may or may not have been in his system.

Maybe that's overly hopeful.

Then there's the Henri Paul toxicology report. To me the biggest question is what the heck was Hastings doing between say, 3pm and 4:24 AM that day/night/morning.

[Canadian_watcher]

In my city we had a case a decade ago where a single mother who lived on the wrong side of the tracks was accused of violently murdering her only daughter by stabbing her in the head with scissors. The motive they ascribed to the crime was that the mother was fed up picking lice out of her daughter's hair and snapped, killing her and hiding her body under the stairs in the basement.

But the thing was that this mother was beside herself with grief, having called the police to help her find her missing child.

it didn't matter that they found the child in the basement, which to my way of thinking would disqualify the mother as a suspect almost surely. (who would kill their kid, leave her body in their house and then call in the cops if they didn't want to be caught?) anyway..

The coroner happily did his part. his report, delayed I might add, indicated that head wounds were consistent with scissors. Turns out though that there was a dog in the house (and that in the end the dog did kill the child). The coroner ALSO had the dog's head (can't remember why, but obviously there must have been someone who suspected the dog). It took YEARS for this woman to clear her name because of the Coroner who had lost the dog's head (something about having put it in a paper bag and it got thrown out??? wtf?) I'm happy to report that she did reclaim her innocence - but what hell she lived through.

In short, coroner's reports and toxicological reports are easy to fake too - and oftentimes the reporters have an agenda which is why they have their positions in the first place. In the case I just mentioned the coroner's past cases were examined and it turned out that in every case where a parent was accused of murdering a child he found 'cold hard medical proof' that they'd done it. Except he didn't. All of the cases were revisisted and some thrown out.

This is my problem with capital S science and those that refuse to be skeptical about it but never cease to question what they like to call pseudoscience.

it's a racket.

[brainpanhandler]

This is my problem with capital S science

That unscrupulous people can hide behind a white coat and a degree and do unscrupulous things? That's an indictment of the scientific method?

it's a racket.

Science?

[Hunter]

The tox report will at least at minimum be another piece of a puzzle, and even if the information within it cannot be wholly trusted there will be people who can read it carefully and tell whether there's something odd about the way the investigation is being conducted. It's data, in other words, and not just about what may or may not have been in his system.

Maybe that's overly hopeful.

That is precisely how I see it, whatever the outcome is, truth or fiction, it will be another piece of the puzzle and it needs to be examined at least on that basis if nothing else. When we get all the data that the authorities will eventually release we can then look at it as a whole, see how truthful it may be and draw come conclusions based on that either way so yea, IMO it is an important piece of this whole puzzle that I am waiting anxiously for. The ME's office isnt open yet in California but it should be in about 30 minutes so I will be placing some calls at that time and identifying myself as someone with legal rank, so we will see how that develops within the next hour.


If it comes up CLEAN then that is something of an important development, if it comes up with scripts we can possibly find who prescribed it and why, if it comes up with booze or illicit drugs we can talk to those close to him and who may have been with him that day and night and who can vouch he wasnt drinking or using any illegal drugs, so whatever they throw at us it can lead us in a direction to look in to that further and disprove it and provide more evidence that a coverup is taking place. So yes, again, I do await anxiously that tox screen/report.


I also just found out the other day that it is extremely difficult and often impossible to get FINGERPRINTS from a body that was burned as badly as his body likely was, some have mentioned pulling back the burnt layer of skin and getting a print from unburned layers but often times in a fire like this, and this was a HUGE fire that burnt for some time as we all know, it could have very easily burnt all of the skin off to the bones, I know CSI and NCIS is hollywood but a lot of the forensic stuff on there is pretty spot on and you will usually notice that they cannot get prints from badly burnt hands which I assume Hastings was so I am still very skeptical how the FBI was able to ID Hastings with fingerprints seemingly within hours of this accident, that smells, it stinks, while possible, it is rare from what I have been told by MEs that I work directly with in my profession and several of them expressed dismay at when I told them that the FBI seemingly out of nowhere, announced they matched his prints after I showed them the video of the burning car, they told me it would be highly unlikely, improbable and extremely rare to get prints from a driver involved in that sort of explosion fire, so that alone is starting to raise a lot of red flags IMO.

[Canadian_watcher]

This is my problem with capital S science

That unscrupulous people can hide behind a white coat and a degree and do unscrupulous things? That's an indictment of the scientific method?

it's a racket.

Science?

nope, not what I meant.

[Hunter]

HOWEVER, I think like Russ Baker at whowhatwhy told me, he is taking it slow and waiting for the tox report, he is on the case and he isnt one to speak soon or early but when he does speak he has all the facts gathered and is ready to draw some hard hitting conclusions, he is always usually the last one to speak on issues like this, he is still coming out with Boston Bombing stuff, so he takes his time and I also suspect a lot of others are just waiting for that tox screen/report to come out before they start publishing their findings as the tox screen/report is and should be a big part of any story that comes out about this so I am assuming that is what most everyone is waiting for before they start to tackle this issue an draw conclusions.

Yeah that's a good approach. With 9/11, there were a lot of erroneous "facts" and theories that even most truthers will agree didn't pan out. It's cliche to say, but we do live in a world where people expect immediate answers. Heck police were saying that out in Boston. I've zero knowledge of legal systems, detective work, etc. But as a lay person, I would think the #1 thing to find is the minutia of his last 48 hours. Credit/debit card uses, ATM uses if possible. Restaurants, etc. Beat by beat where he was, what he was doing, where his car was at. The cops sure seem to have that ready to go with alleged terror suspects.

That is the the sort of forensic investigation that needs to take place especially if it comes back dirty, what ATM withdraws were there, what bars or restaurants was he at, who did he cll on his cell phone, any known drug dealers etc, we should have this information from the authorities and if we dont then someone, maybe me, needs to start digging around to find out, if they come back with a dirty tox screen what he was doing who he was with who was he calling, what did he use his ATM credit cards on, that sort of forensic accounting investigation can reveal a lot but I suspect that is going to have to be a private effort because it seems LAPD has already filed this one away. I would really like to know where the fuck the car is and how closely they looked at it, for all we know its already on a ship being sent to china as scrap metal heh.

[Hunter]

I dont see evidence of it so far but it would make sense since I feel he was onto something fierce), then it was done in a very niche black ops manner. I mean all it takes is one neighbor to see men in black clad outfits and the jig is up.

I think the REALLY sad part is that that is absolutely, demonstrably not true at all. It's too easy to get around witness testimony.

Well shoot, that's right too. I mean 700 people said they saw a missile streak up from the ocean to hit TWA 800....dozens saw shots fired from the grassy knoll...all of these hundreds of people are called "kooks" to this day

The tox report will at least at minimum be another piece of a puzzle, and even if the information within it cannot be wholly trusted there will be people who can read it carefully and tell whether there's something odd about the way the investigation is being conducted. It's data, in other words, and not just about what may or may not have been in his system.

Maybe that's overly hopeful.

Then there's the Henri Paul toxicology report. To me the biggest question is what the heck was Hastings doing between say, 3pm and 4:24 AM that day/night/morning.

4 am would seem to be a good time to start his STATED DESIRE to go off the radar for a while and meet a source while everyone else is alseep, that is what I think he was up to, he had sent an email 15 hours earlier saying he needed to go off grid for a bit so I would assume he may have been trying to beat the daylight, traffic and any spooks that may be out and about, he could have also been involved in a dead drop dropping or picking up his sources info for whatever story he was working on and felt that was the best time to do it, IN ANY CASE a guy who is PASSIONATE about what he does, at a TIME WHEN THE VERY THINGS HE IS PASSIONATE ABOUT are at the forefront of the newsmedia, doesnt send an email about his big story, an FBI tail, and a need to get off the grid AND THEN GO OUT AND GET HAMMERED COKED UP 15 hours later and decide to give up ten plus years of sobriety, does that really makes sense to anyone here, seriously?

[Nordic]

No I don't think that makes sense to anyone here but perhaps Barracuda, and it also really bothers me as to the timing of this, i.e. Snowden and the other revelations that were supposed to drop but now, for some mysterious reason, seem to have been delayed.

[Forgetting2]

Good points Alchemy. Thanks.

[coffin_dodger]

i.e. Snowden and the other revelations that were supposed to drop but now, for some mysterious reason, seem to have been delayed.

I wonder if there isn't a fear amongst the leak community that we may begin to suffer from information overload. Not the we here (us hardened theorists), but the wider world of the general public who might, faced with ever-increasing threats to their way of life, decide to simply shut it all out and potentially disengage. If I hadn't been delving into this shit for the last x yrs, I suspect I'd see all that's happening in a more alarming light and this shit takes time to assimilate into daily life - especially so for the vast majority of people that simply don't have the time (work commitments, kids etc) to study these revelations in detail and contemplate the full ramifications of what they represent.

[seemslikeadream]

Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

thanks everyone for keeping on this