Journalist Michael Hastings dies in car crash at 33
Michael Hastings, the award-winning journalist whose explosive 2010 Rolling Stone profile of U.S. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal ("The Runaway General") led to McChrystal's resignation, died in an early morning car accident in Los Angeles on Tuesday, the magazine said. He was 33.
"Hard-charging, unabashedly opinionated, Hastings was original and at times abrasive," Rolling Stone, where he was a contributing editor, said in an obituary. "He had little patience for flacks and spinmeisters and will be remembered for his enthusiastic breaches of the conventions of access journalism." http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/michael-hastings-dead-33-002300721.html
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Hours before his death Michael Hastings contacted Wikileaks attorney said FBI was investigating him! .......sorry folks....can't embed from youtube...........AGAIN!!!! ..........they are seclective on what you can and can't copy/embed or upload to twitter or facebook!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Hastings likely murdered for what he knew and wrote about By Andrew W. Griffin Red Dirt Report, editor Posted: June 20, 2013 reddirtreporter@gmail.com
OKLAHOMA CITY – In an violent explosion more conducive to a fire-prone ’75 Ford Pinto, rather than a newer model Mercedes, investigative reporter Michael Hastings, 33, is being mourned following his mysterious death in a fiery crash in Los Angeles, California, which we noted here yesterday. But people are beginning to ask a lot of questions about the circumstances leading up to Hastings’ untimely death. After all, he brought down Gen. Stanley McChrystal via his crack reporting skills. Hastings was warned by McChrystal staffers that any bad information reported about the general would be met with his death. All in jest, right?
Hastings, just a couple of weeks ago, was reporting on the Democrats’ love of spying on Americans. And then we learn, via The Telegraph, out of Britain, that Hastings contacted WikiLeaks right before his death.
Yeah, about that death. We learn that there were no skid marks leading up to the tree Hastings allegedly ran into. The engine is down the road. And the blazing fire that followed the impact of the tree was so hot and intense that the body of the driver was utterly incinerated, according to the Los Angeles Coroner’s office.
And that tree? If he hit it as hard and as fast as they claim, that tree would likely not be still standing. We suspect that it was a car bomb, not unlike the spook-orchestrated, 1976 car bombing of Chilean diplomat and economist Orlando Letelier on a Washington D.C. street.
The message here is that reporters need to keep their heads down and do as they are told. Hastings’ mistake, they would say, was that he didn’t go along with the program. You don’t just take down a US general – a key figure in the battle against the “War on Terror” – and not face some consequences. Hastings knew government spooks were following him. He got death threats fairly regularly. Yet he soldiered on, refusing to give in to the thugs. He had some serious dirt, we are told, and was looking to expose it.
Will Hastings’ notes make their way to Buzzfeed or Rolling Stone? Or will they disappear as they tend to in the wake of assassinations such as this? We know Hastings fearlessly wrote blistering articles against the powerful, including President Obama and his drone policy. Was Michael Hastings murdered for what he reported and what he knew? The signs, as the old Magic 8-Ball might say, point to yes.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot."
From Henry's clip and witness reports as near as I can tell... Someone driving fast (over 100mph) bottomed out on some bumps, lost control of the car, hit trees & a hydrant as the car burst into flames. The wreck was so violent it tore the motor from the car.
Anyone see anything else???
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
There is another video which shows him blowing by a cop car at high speed and running a red light at the same time, the cops dash cam caught it on tape, however the officer doesn't go after him until 2 minutes later, I find that odd.
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot."
A close friend of mine that has been in the auto insurance business for 15 years, many of those years as an adjuster. I asked if he's ever heard of an accident where the car became engulfed in flames and the body was burned beyond recognition. He said that only happens in the movies. He said it looked like there was an accelerant other than gasoline on the car for it to burn like that.
A close friend of mine that has been in the auto insurance business for 15 years, many of those years as an adjuster. I asked if he's ever heard of an accident where the car became engulfed in flames and the body was burned beyond recognition. He said that only happens in the movies. He said it looked like there was an accelerant other than gasoline on the car for it to burn like that.
The government isn't that stupid....they knew full well that the insurance adjusters AND auto enthusiasts AND pracitcally the rest of the world knew this was a set up. It is the governments way of showing what will happen to those who chose to expose the 'other side' of the issues. This administration is catching up to the clinton administration with 'accidental' dead bodies.
It don't take a rocket scientist here folks!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
The government isn't that stupid....they knew full well that the insurance adjusters AND auto enthusiasts AND pracitcally the rest of the world knew this was a set up. It is the governments way of showing what will happen to those who chose to expose the 'other side' of the issues. This administration is catching up to the clinton administration with 'accidental' dead bodies.
It don't take a rocket scientist here folks!
It don't take a rocket scientist here folks! Nope. It just takes a vivid imagination and a love for Conspiracy Theories.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
A fiery car crash in Houston sent nearly a dozen people to the hospital on Sunday. Emergency crews responded to a crash at the corner of Crestmont Street and 610 Feeder Road around noon. When first responders arrived, they saw a SUV on fire. They said the SUV was traveling eastbound on 610 feeder road and a minivan was traveling south on Crestmont when they collided. "There's conflicting stories to who ran a red light after the car accident occurred, this other vehicle here burst into flames," said Sgt. JR Roberts with the Houston Police Department.
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5 California high school students identified as victims of fiery car crash Five Southern California high school students who died in a fiery car wreck on their way to the beach included a pair of sisters and best friends who bonded over their immigrant experiences, friends said Tuesday.
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Caruso was pulling away from of the intersection when out of the corner of his eye he saw a black SUV speeding toward a silver SUV stopped at the intersection. He floored the gas pedal and narrowly escaped the collision of the two vehicles. When the black SUV hit the silver one, the silver SUV burst into flames immediately, according to Caruso. The car then spun around in the intersection. "It was like something you would see in an action movie," Caruso said. No other drivers were around when the fiery collision occurred.
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At least three people died in a fiery car wreck in South Los Angeles on Tuesday evening, police said. The violent crash came when two vehicles collided in the 800 block of West Manchester Boulevard just before 10:30 p.m., a witness at the scene said.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Here's a conspiracy theory: The reporter is tired of hiding from the general who is looking to punch him hard in the face for wrecking the general's career by snitching on him when he made some imprudent casual remarks, so: he tells everybody the government is after him, gets a cadaver from somewhere, and using remote control technology invented by some guy up in Schenectady who hates muslims, he crashes his car at high speed. The general quits looking for him, and the government gets the blame for his death. It's a win-win. Plus he gets to see whether his fellow journalists show him the proper respect when they think he's dead.
Was Michael Hastings' Car Hacked? Richard Clarke Says It's Possible Mike HoganJun 24, 2013 The peculiar circumstances 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."
"So if there were a cyber attack on the car -- and I'm not saying there was," Clarke added, "I think whoever did it would probably get away with it."
Authorities have said that it may take weeks to determine a cause of death for Hastings, but that no foul play is suspected.
Hastings was driving a 2013 Mercedes C250 coupe when he crashed into a tree on Highland Ave. in Los Angeles at approximately 4:30 am on June 18. Video posted online showed the car in flames, and one neighbor told a local news crew she heard a sound like an explosion. Another eyewitness said the car's engine had been thrown 50 to 60 yards from the car. There were no other vehicles involved in the accident.
The fire was so all-consuming that it took the Los Angeles County coroner's office two days to identify Hastings' body, but Clarke said a cyber attack on the vehicle would have been nearly impossible to trace "even if the dozen or so computers on board hadn't melted."
Hastings practiced a brand of no-holds-barred journalism that tended to anger powerful people. His 2010 profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, published in Rolling Stone, was so damaging that it ostensibly prompted President Barack Obama to fire the general (the president denied that the article had a role in his decision).
In the days before his death, Hastings was reportedly working on a story about a lawsuit filed by Jill Kelley, who was involved in the scandal that brought down Gen. David Petraeus, according to the LA Times. KTLA reported that Hastings told colleagues at the news site BuzzFeed that he feared the FBI was investigating him. On June 20, the FBI denied that any investigation was under way.
"I believe the FBI when they say they weren't investigating him," said Clarke. "That was very unusual, and I'm sure they checked very carefully before they said that."
Clarke worked for the State Department under President Ronald Reagan and headed up counterterrorism efforts under Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He also served as a special adviser on cyberterrorism to the younger Bush and published a book on the topic, Cyber War, in 2010.
"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."
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