Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

[The Consul]

Maybe it is because they don't want to hit trees in a one hundred mile an hour exploding fire ball....or worse, be branded as wild eyed conspiracy theorists.

What they need to do now...is pick up on whatever threads and stories he was working on and, as they say on the telly, watch their six as they pursue them to the end.

[8bitagent]

[JackRiddler]

Maybe it is because they don't want to hit trees in a one hundred mile an hour exploding fire ball....or worse, be branded as wild eyed conspiracy theorists.

The craziest thing is that most of them, possibly even the handful who are the real thing, fear the latter more than the former.

What they need to do now...is pick up on whatever threads and stories he was working on and, as they say on the telly, watch their six as they pursue them to the end.

Yes.

[barracuda]

It's also possible that some journalists simply don't think he was murdered.

I don't really understand why no one seems to know or care where Hastings was prior to the crash, where he was coming from, where he'd been staying or visiting, etc. Did no one at all see him in the 24 hours before the crash?

In other news...

Michael Hastings was not working on Jill Kelley story, wife says

[stillrobertpaulsen]

I saw Larisa's "loon" comments on facebook as well. I only know her (besides having previously known OF her thru her writing) because of my friendship with her husband Scott. So I don't feel I can really speak to this exactly, other than to say... on the one hand, she and most journalists are just sick and tired of the worst of the conspiracy community spamming them with what often ARE loony theories. On the other hand, with her husband at least, I know him well enough to try and talk out / talk through some of his own knee-jerk criticisms of the conspiracy community. I love and respect them both and thankfully have never felt shut-down by there skepticism when talking with them face to face. On yet the other hand, it does seem that Larisa has seen enough to know that, yes, sometimes it seems like whistleblowers ARE seemingly killed in America, but than possibility does not seem to extend to journalists in her view:

I think you're probably right as far as her and Scott being sick of spamming being the primary motivation for the "loon" comment. I noticed she linked to the Richard Clarke car-hacking article, so perhaps she is opening up to the possibility that this may not have been just an accident.

[Nordic]

It's also possible that some journalists simply don't think he was murdered.

I don't really understand why no one seems to know or care where Hastings was prior to the crash, where he was coming from, where he'd been staying or visiting, etc. Did no one at all see him in the 24 hours before the crash?

In other news...

Michael Hastings was not working on Jill Kelley story, wife says

Aside from the fact that she might mot like dying in fireballs, why would a guy like Hastings tell his wife what he was working on, especially if it involved potentially dangerous disclosures?

Hell, I don't even tell my wife about the screenplays I'm working on (provided I'm actually working on one) but maybe I'm just weird. A lot of writers, however, don't really like talking about their work until it's done, and even then, the whole idea is that people read it. That's why we put all the work into writing, so it can be read.

[JackRiddler]

It's also possible that some journalists simply don't think he was murdered.

I don't really understand why no one seems to know or care where Hastings was prior to the crash, where he was coming from, where he'd been staying or visiting, etc. Did no one at all see him in the 24 hours before the crash?

Wasn't he at the event with Scahill? Am I getting that wrong?

In any case, one thing is well known and should be of primary interest: An e-mail saying he was under investigation by the FBI, working on a big story, and had to go hide for a while.

Hmmmmmmmm...

[The Consul]

I don't think any self respecting journalism department could validate degrees for any of their graduates without having schooled them on Roger East and the Balibo 5 as a cautionary instruction on the dangers of reporting in the field, or the perils of assuming conservative governments give a rat's ass about journalism, free speech, democracy or human rights. In all of these cases the ashes of shame are all that are left and the great steel hand of commerce sweeps them under the rug the instant the last ember fades.

[stickdog99]

It's also possible that some journalists simply don't think he was murdered.

I don't really understand why no one seems to know or care where Hastings was prior to the crash, where he was coming from, where he'd been staying or visiting, etc. Did no one at all see him in the 24 hours before the crash?

In other news...

Michael Hastings was not working on Jill Kelley story, wife says

You don't have to think he was murdered to ask the relevant questions about the circumstances of his death, such as all those that you highlighted.

[8bitagent]

Wait, Richard Clarke is saying Hastings car could have been hacked? A few years ago he lengthily detailed a suspicion that Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Midhar were purposefully being shielded from the eyes of the FBI as Saudis were handling them and the CIA was monitoring them in a possible bid to "turn them". Of all people, I never expected Richard Clarke to be a "conspiracy theorist".

Man...Richard Clarke, thee Richard Clarke is saying what virtually no left leaning journalist would even hint at. Here's the quote from the aforementioned article you guys linked just to show it.

"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."

[Luther Blissett]

It's also possible that some journalists simply don't think he was murdered.

I don't really understand why no one seems to know or care where Hastings was prior to the crash, where he was coming from, where he'd been staying or visiting, etc. Did no one at all see him in the 24 hours before the crash?

Wasn't he at the event with Scahill? Am I getting that wrong?

In any case, one thing is well known and should be of primary interest: An e-mail saying he was under investigation by the FBI, working on a big story, and had to go hide for a while.

Hmmmmmmmm...

The strange, meditative Vine video of he and Scahill together at the screening of Dirty Wars was described as "likely the last video footage of Hastings alive" notwithstanding the dash cam video. I think it may have been taken a full 24-30 hours before, but I could be wrong. I feel like people would have been talking more about how "Scahill was with him on the night he died," etc.

[stillrobertpaulsen]

It's also possible that some journalists simply don't think he was murdered.

I don't really understand why no one seems to know or care where Hastings was prior to the crash, where he was coming from, where he'd been staying or visiting, etc. Did no one at all see him in the 24 hours before the crash?

Wasn't he at the event with Scahill? Am I getting that wrong?

In any case, one thing is well known and should be of primary interest: An e-mail saying he was under investigation by the FBI, working on a big story, and had to go hide for a while.

Hmmmmmmmm...

Looks like the screening was actually on June 13.

Michael Hastings BuzzFeed Correspondent-at-Large, Rolling Stone Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone
With Jeremy S. at sold out Dirty Wars screening vine.co/v/bldqqAiz3Jq
Thursday, June 13th

[Hunter]

SEE this is what I cant get over, a FEW WEEKS before Hastings dies we have Obama ordering a list be made up for possible CYBER ATTACKS and now we have various people saying Hastings car could have been cyber attacked. http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/securit ... 2nwq3.html

US President Barack Obama has ordered his national security team to draw up a secret target list for possible cyber attacks in an expansion of US planning for disabling and hacking into foreign computer networks, according to a copy of the top secret directive.

If they are willing to pull this shit overseas they can certainly do it here at home and I do recall the narrative when this came out that the list INCLUDED POSSIBLE TARGETS INSIDE THE US.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/securit ... z2XGlKMEk9


That is all just a little too much for me. I am not saying Obama ordered a hit on the guy but its not real complicated math IMO.

[Hunter]

Also as far as drinking goes Hastings makes it pretty clear in his various books that he has been sober for ten years or more. He seems to indicate he takes sobriety very seriously which I suppose doesnt rule out a PREVIOUS PROBLEM and thus a relapse but I am not seeing that here, I will leave that for some of the rest of you, my verdict is swift and simple on this, car was hacked and he was killed. By whom, I do not know. Could be anyone, doesnt have to be govt or Obama per se.

[Forgetting2]

The car in the dash video appears to be going 77 mph, approximately, when it goes thru the red light half a mile north of Highland and Melrose. I'm pretty sure that's the intersection of Highland and Santa Monica Blvd he's going thru. (I got the speed from the car traveling 3 times it's own length (a Mercedes C250 it was reported) in 12 video frames running at 29.97 frames per second, assuming of course the video isn't altered or otherwise transferred improperly.)

Regarding Barracuda's insistence that it's just as likely he's on a joy ride of some sort, thats about as much fun as russian roulette. I know it happens. I just don't see any character reference anywhere to think Hastings was that guy.

In reference to a comment I made earlier about having the cooperation of the LAPD, in light of Richard Clark's statement and the other information regarding the ability to hack a modern car, one wouldn't necessarily need the help or even knowledge of the LAPD, it seems. So the idea that a small group made up of people tied to McChrystal or Petraeus (or whoever) are responsible, seems possible.