Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

[elfismiles]

Justice Department: FBI Has Started to Process Michael Hastings Documents
August 15, 2013

ByJason Leopold

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicated that the FBI has likely located responsive records pertaining to investigative journalist Michael Hastings, who died in a tragic car accident in Los Angeles in June, and the agency expects to finish processing the records in about three weeks.

DOJ revealed the details in a court filing Tuesday in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit I filed with Ryan Shapiro, a doctoral candidate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who specializes in FOIA research revolving around the policing of dissent. Shapiro and I both filed FOIA requests with the FBI after Hastings's death for any records the agency may have on the reporter. When the FBI failed to respond our records requests within the 20 business day timeframe as required by law and Shapiro's request for expedited processing within 10 calendar days we sued.

"The FBI has completed its search for potentially responsive records and expects to finish processing the records by September 9," DOJ said in its response, in which the agency requested an extension to respond to our motion for summary judgment due to scheduling conflicts. "The brief extension sought will allow the FBI to complete processing, which would moot Plaintiff’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment. Additionally, the additional time will allow Defendant to prepare the appropriate responses to be prepared and filed. The requested extension will not unduly delay adjudication of this action."

Jeffrey Light, our attorney on the Hastings lawsuit, responded to the government's request for an extension arguing that there is an "urgent need to inform the public regarding records maintained by the FBI about Mr. Michael Hastings." As such, our response to the government notes, "the Court should deny Defendant’s request for an extension of time."

https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/blog ... -documents

[8bitagent]

http://www.salon.com/2013/08/21/report_ ... ered_with/

Helicopters often circle over the hills, but Hastings believed there were more of them around whenever he was at home, keeping an eye on him. He came to believe his Mercedes was being tampered with. “Nothing I could say could console him,” Thigpen says.

One night in June, he came to Thigpen’s apartment after midnight and urgently asked to borrow her Volvo. He said he was afraid to drive his own car. She declined, telling him her car was having mechanical problems.

“He was scared, and he wanted to leave town,” she says.

The next day, around 11:15 a.m., she got a call from her landlord, who told her Hastings had died early that morning. His car had crashed into a palm tree at 75 mph and exploded in a ball of fire.

Is this to be believable? I don't even know what to believe anymore. Unauthorized cremation, DMT, working on new Patreus story...who even knows what is true. This of course if this story is true, doesn't surprise me.

[Forgetting2]

I don't remember where it was, but someone witnessed Hastings and his brother checking under his car just before the crash. (It's somewhere upthread here.) The LA Weekly story really goes all out to portray a guy going insane. But this story is still filled with too many questions. And if anyone had good reason to be paranoid, it'd be a guy like Hastings. He was diving into the most dangerous stuff out there.

I think I mentioned on a different thread Colbert introducing Jeremy Scahill by saying he was honored 'to be the last person to see him alive,' shortly after Hastings' death.

I really would like to see a decent interviewer talk to his brothers.

[Lord Balto]

This is bullshit and is freaking me out. I read about this crash earlier today, before they had released the identity of the driver. And it struck me then as just being bizarre as hell. Then when I found out who it was I was very disturbed.

I've driven down this street a million times. You don't lose control of your car going down that street. It's not a highway. It's as straight as an arrow. And it was 4 am on a fucking monday night. Possibly the only time there's no traffic in LA. Let's just discuss the odds of this freak accident happening when and where it did TO A GUY WHO HAPPENED TO HAVE BROUGHT DOWN ONE OF THE MOST BRUTAL GENERALS IN ONE OF HISTORY'S MOST EVIL EMPIRES.

Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, stinks like a duck .....

And now it turns out he was traveling at the horrendous speed of 35 mph. And there are even trolls at Who, What, Why assassinating the character of the reporter Dvorak in San Diego. It looks like a full court press from Murder, Inc. in No. Va.

[Forgetting2]

I don't think that 35mph is a reliable figure. It comes from Dvorak, I believe, and her reporting has been filled with inaccuracies. (See upthread for details.)

[justdrew]

I don't think that 35mph is a reliable figure. It comes from Dvorak, I believe, and her reporting has been filled with inaccuracies. (See upthread for details.)

is Dvorak the one who has been a Birther in the past?

[Forgetting2]

^^I did hear that somewhere, but not sure if it's true...

[luv2dive]

TYT had a good take on the horrible reporting of Hastings tox results, and both youtubes are worth the time.


Misleading Headlines Dominate Michael Hastings' Toxicology Reporting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qwKRhLc ... M73A0ZjYjQ

Michael Hastings' Toxicology Reports Twisted Throughout Media

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjUFs-hb ... M73A0ZjYjQ

Me thinks that the "media" got the message that was intended by the flamboyant way Mr. Hastings made his much too early departure from this realm.

Move along folks... nothing to see here....

[justdrew]

why then wouldn't he just rent or call a cab? strange stuff. If he were so paranoid, why not setup an "insurance file" - there are web sites for that even.

[Forgetting2]

Here's Mother Jones on Dvorak. Of course they're dismissive of any and all conspiracy wackos, but they do have a couple links to Dvorak which might be useful in figuring out who she is.

[Iamwhomiam]

Rent a car or call a cab? Neither would have helped. Hastings was most likely was under near continuous surveillance. And he wasn't paranoid, he was rightfully scared for his life.

The 35mph speed was supposedly determined through careful analysis of some film footage. If it's actually true, I'd like to hear the explanation for how the engine and transmission wound up 150 feet down forward of where the car came to rest.

[Forgetting2]

Maybe he did have an insurance file?

If he thought he was in imminent danger, I could understand not wanting to wait around for a cab. And really, if you made the call for a cab when your sure you're being monitored, how could you trust what arrives at your front door.

For TYT, in the first video above, the LA Weekly article gives them peace of mind, or at least seems to. Perhaps that's their confirmation bias. My biases have not yet been confirmed or denied. The coroner's report simply raises more questions I would like answered by someone I can have some trust in.

The 35mph came from Dvorak. So it's suspect from the start. (At least that's the first and only place I saw it sourced.) And she said she had some professor at a San Diego college come up with the estimate. Another problem is that the estimate is taken from the Krikorian video and this is an iPhone video of a security film tape. A video of a video. There are a number of ways for errors to occur here.

[Forgetting2]

OK, something weird about the Krikorian video on page 37. The one that shows the crash. The ones I downloaded from Krikorian's site, before he took them off his site, are 15 frames per second. An iPhone shoots at 30 frames per second; it doesn't give you an option. When you upload an iPhone video to youtube, it doesn't change the frame rate. It stays at 30 frames per second. I don't know how the original security cam footage was being played. For now I'll assume it's playing at 'real time,' which means the action taking place on the video is representative of the time the actions actually took place in. That would have then have been recorded at real time by Krikorian at the iPhone's 30 frames per second. (I'm pretty sure Krikorian said he used his iPhone. Need to double check that. Although I think most phone video's work the same, basically)

So why did he change it to 15 frames per second to upload the video? I did a rough estimate that at 15 frames per second the car is going 52 to 58mph. (the car is 180.7 inches long, by the Mercedes website stats-though it's hard to say how many times it's own length it moves per second because of the angle and blurriness) At 30 frames per second it would be going twice that speed; between 100 and 115mph. The testimony of the only eye witness said the car was going at 'top speed.' He said it was accelerating like he was trying to kill himself. A half mile earlier it was traveling at roughly 77 mph, assuming the LoudLabs video was not tampered with. The higher rate of speed in in keeping with the one eyewitness testimony.

I'm a little tired right now, but there seems to be something weird here...

[Lord Balto]

Here's Mother Jones on Dvorak. Of course they're dismissive of any and all conspiracy wackos, but they do have a couple links to Dvorak which might be useful in figuring out who she is.

"Conspiraciy wackos"? Drink a lot of Kool-Aid?

Classic example of calling people names when you don't have any evidence.

[Lord Balto]

Rent a car or call a cab? Neither would have helped. Hastings was most likely was under near continuous surveillance. And he wasn't paranoid, he was rightfully scared for his life.

The 35mph speed was supposedly determined through careful analysis of some film footage. If it's actually true, I'd like to hear the explanation for how the engine and transmission wound up 150 feet down forward of where the car came to rest.

It's called a bomb. Great for faking plane crashes and collecting on insurance. Nice for getting rid of whistle blowers too. Are you folks this naive at this point in the history of the Empire?