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8bitagent » Wed Jun 19, 2013 11:40 pm wrote:I notice that even amongst the alternative to the mainstream left(your Greenwalds, Cenks, Scahills, etc) that even hinting at foul play in accidents/suicides/etc is taboo. But even amidst say, MSNBC and just the general news media it feels like a trip to the check out line at a grocery store. Your met with all these bullshit automated pleasantries, shitty garbage stories on the tabloid covers and rubber barrier bars to simulate the idea of
individual thought.JackRiddler » Wed Jun 19, 2013 11:20 pm wrote:luther blissett wrote:My girlfriend seems to think this is a warning shot, and possibly could be meant to chill Scahill since they were just physically in the same space just before the accident. I think that the atmosphere in America is kinetic if enough people were to be exposed to just the right combination of information post-PRISM. I just watched "Dirty Wars" last night right before finding out about Hastings' death and feel quite angry.
Chill Scahill? If they wanted to, they could have killed Scahill, right? I'd think, and again I suppose accident isn't ruled out, that the idea is to chill Hastings. Or get revenge for something pretty fucking obvious he put over on Commander Deathsquad himself.
I think you're quoting Luther Blassett...I can't even remember the last time I had a girlfriend:)
But Scahill is super high profile and red hot at the moment, so wouldnt that make him safe?
Forgetting2 » Thu Jun 20, 2013 5:28 am wrote:When the guy said 'jackknife' I assumed he meant one end of the car lifted up; thus the image of a jackknife. Be interesting to find out what he meant with an interpreter. (It was the person who spoke spanish who said that, I believe?)
justdrew » 20 Jun 2013 04:24 wrote:wouldn't hurt if someone could get over there in daylight and take some nice high res pics of the scene
would be nice if we could spot where the car mounted the curb
also the speed at impact should be fairly determinable from the distance the engine flew.
looks like no break skid marks, but need daylight shots to confirm.
"stuck accelerator" is another trick I can see the onboard computer pulling.
JackRiddler » Thu Jun 20, 2013 11:18 am wrote:Can the sophisticated modern car electronics programmed to intervene by temporarily governing speed and even steering be tampered with, either on the unit or by some exotic remote control?
"You're not going to fuck us, are you?" asks one staff member.
Hastings responds: "I'm going to write a story; some of the stuff you'll like, some of the stuff you probably won't like."
Another staffer then says: "We'll hunt you down and kill you if we don't like what you write."
JackRiddler » 20 Jun 2013 15:18 wrote:Is it possible to tamper with the sophisticated modern car electronics programmed to intervene by temporarily governing speed and even steering, either on the unit or by some exotic remote control?
By the way, "The Lone Gunmen" pilot episode strikes again.
Michael Hastings, the FBI, and WikiLeaks: Death of Journalist Sparks Conspiracy Theories
By Joe Coscarelli
New York
The death of reporter Michael Hastings, best remembered for taking on General Stanley McChrystal and other powerful people, has been met with shock and grief in the journalistic community, especially from those fortunate enough to work alongside him. But one layer below the fond remembrances are a host of vague questions and inferences about the circumstances surrounding the 33-year-old BuzzFeed reporter's fiery solo car crash early Tuesday in Los Angeles. Bringing those suspicions to the forefront last night was WikiLeaks, never reticent to insert itself into a story, which teased, "Michael Hastings death has a very serious non-public complication. We will have more details later." And after three hours tweeted: "Michael Hastings contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson just a few hours before he died, saying that the FBI was investigating him."
"Yeah," BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith confirmed to Daily Intelligencer. "Before his death, Michael told a number of his friends and colleagues that he was concerned that he was under investigation."
But other, less reputable sources have taken the speculation much further. "Vince Foster-like murder plot emerging in Los Angeles? Did the Obama administration knock off a star reporter?" asked one blog early on Wednesday, adding to existing conspiratorial Twitter chatter. Another wrote, "Admit it, Michael Hastings’ Death is Weird and Scary." Hours before revelations about a potential FBI investigation, InfoWars, the Alex Jones website that serves as a catch-all conspiracy-theory clearing house, mentioned Hastings's death with an editor's note: "Journalists who mess with government and military power often die under mysterious circumstances." None had more than conjecture.
The circumstances are these: "Police said a vehicle was southbound on Highland about 4:20 a.m. when it lost control south of Melrose and smashed into a tree," the L.A. Times reported. Video purports to show Hastings's Mercedes-Benz running a red light at a high speed minutes before the crash. "It sounded like a bomb went off in the middle of the night," a witness told the local news. "I couldn't have written a scene like this for a movie, where the engine flies from the car." Photos and video from the aftermath show extreme wreckage, and as of yesterday, the coroner had not officially identified the body because it was too badly burned.
But an automotive writer also fed the doubters:
I’m here to state that I’ve seen dozens of cars hit walls and stuff at high speeds and the number of them that I have observed to eject their powertrains and immediately catch massive fire is, um, ah, zero. Modern cars are very good at not catching fire in accidents. The Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which is an evolutionary design from a company known for sweating the safety details over and above the Euro NCAP requirements, should be leading the pack in the not-catching-on-fire category. Nor is the C-Class known for sudden veering out of control into trees and whatnot.
The crash is under investigation and there will be an official accident report (a toxicology report could take weeks). Whatever its findings, they can likely coexist with Hastings's mind-set at the time and a potential government investigation without representing something more sinister.
"He was incredibly tense and very worried and was concerned that the government was looking in on his material," said Hastings's friend and Current TV host Cenk Uygur. "I don't know what his state of mind was at 4:30 in the morning, but I do know what his state of mind was in general, and it was a nervous wreck." But Mother Jones editor Clara Jeffery put it plainly: "Ugh, the people posting Vince Foster style comments re Hastings death do a disservice to his no BS truth telling." Let's wait for the facts.
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