5 ms·

Michael Hastings told Wikileaks FBI investigating him hours before death.

58 points by teawithcarl 13y ago

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
kintamanimatt 13y ago
On a side note, of all the things I expected to see, Justin Bieber trolls were not on that list. I suspect this is Wikileaks making opportunistic inferences. If someone's being investigated by the FBI, their mind is going to be elsewhere. A distracted driver, possibly one that's also tired (I don't imagine he was sleeping well if this was the case) is more likely to have an accident. It's unlikely to be a hit job courtesy of the FBI! Wikileaks needs to not descend to the Daily Mail's level. If they want the public to take them seriously they need to maintain a squeaky clean image, free from tabloid rhetoric. Ambiguous "teaser" tweets do nothing to bolster their image and only serve to undermine it.
- malandrew 13y ago
  Maybe, but cars just don't explode like that. Engines don't just fly dozens to a hundred feet from the vehicle. Given how the impact with the palm tree occurred, the engine should be under the passenger/driver. They are designed to break free and be pushed down under the car in high speed impacts so that they don't end up in the cabin and crushing the legs of the passenger or driver. I'm actually very curious where the engine is relative to the car.
mpyne 13y ago
The Internet is beautiful. The tweet immediately fell into the pits of Biebermania somehow.
- kintamanimatt 13y ago
  The degree of righteous indignation in Rob Bieber's reply was somewhat excessive, especially as I can find nothing in that troll's history that indicates he'd been trying to use Rob (apparently a relative) as a way to get Justin to Brazil before! It does seem as though other Bieber fans have been harassing him though.
ferdo 13y ago
One woman in the area described it sounding “like a bomb went off in the middle of the night” & a man said “I couldn’t have written a scene like this in a move” with the engine flying 50-60 yards from the car. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-1KzlL9fJM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-1KzlL9fJM
- groby_b 13y ago
  Yes. That's what actual car accidents are like. The movies don't prepare you for that.
  - ferdo 13y ago
    "Cars just dont explode" http://automotivethinker.com/general/cars-just-dont-explode/ http://automotivethinker.com/general/cars-just-dont-explode/
    - mbreese 13y ago
      But a collision with an object could sound like a bomb and have enough energy to cause an engine to fly 50+ yards.
      - kintamanimatt 13y ago
        And if he fell asleep (he was driving at night) and mistook the accelerator for the brake, it's quite likely the impact could have been quite a high energy one, especially in a car that's well powered.
      - ferdo 13y ago
        Hastings ticked off some very powerful people in his short life. Ticking powerful people off is a good way to die in a plane wreck, a car wreck, a "fall" or any number of other accidents. I'm not saying this is what happened, but it seems more likely than not that he was assassinated for his work.
        13y ago
Oculus 13y ago
Cars don't burn like that when hitting a tree.
- chimingin 13y ago
  um, yes, they absolutely do. sadly, I know from experience.
- adestefan 13y ago
  Sometimes they do. This is why both fire and ambulence are dispatched to accidents. Would you like me to start sending you all the nasty images from accident scenes that my EMT brother gets to go to? I find it fascinating how quickly he's able to go from bouncing off the walls to stoic when he gets a single car accident call. They're never pretty.
  - wavefunction 13y ago
    >>This is why both fire and ambulence are dispatched to accidents. I don't think you can make that claim necessarily. Firetrucks get dispatched for people experiencing health emergencies as well as ambulances just because they are often able to respond more quickly than EMTs. I know this from talking with my firefighter friends and experiencing it first hand with relatives that have passed. Also firetrucks were always being dispatched to a retirement home where I grew up, not because there were fires or a likelihood of explosion.
    - mindcrime 13y ago
      It varies by jurisdiction. Some fire departments provide both fire protection / fire suppression and emergency medical response. Others do only fire. But even departments that are "fire only" (like the department I was with) are dispatched to most car accidents due to the fire risk. 50 times out of 100 we got there, did a quick size up, found no risk of fire, and returned to quarters, but on the more serious crashes, we would stay on scene while the medics were working. If there was someone pinned in a vehicle, we would pull a 1-3/4" handline and charge it and keep it in place in case anything happened during the actual extrication process.
danso 13y ago
After Aaron Swartz's untimely death, Wikileaks had the good timing of making claims that could not be proved about their association with him. But if Hastings talked to a Wikileaks lawyer, than they should be able to prove that http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/19/3893268/wikileaks-tweets-aaron-swartz-was-ally-and-possibly-source http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/19/3893268/wikileaks-tweets-a...
mpyne 13y ago
You guys are all hilarious. If a secret service had wanted Hastings dead they would have had some hoods break into his house, simulate a robbery/ransacking, stab him and run off. Extra credit when they ensure the hoods are later arrested and brought on trial, only to have the case thrown out because evidence about the murder weapon gets thrown out because an investigating officer "accidentally" broke chain of custody.
- wavefunction 13y ago
  Maybe the methods would be tailored to the specifics of the person targeted. That makes a lot more sense than some sort of generic "send in the goon squad."
  - mpyne 13y ago
    Yes, but people are saying that "someone" specifically tailored an unusually violent car wreck and fire to kill this guy. The key word is "unusual", which is what you would not see if the pros actually wanted him dead.
    - indrax 13y ago
      Unless the real message is "Yes, we will touch the media." which is relevant given the timing.
saalweachter 13y ago
The thing that makes me most skeptical of secret government hit squads is how totally unnecessary they are. The US government can utterly ruin anyone's life through prosecution if it so chooses. I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to think of all of the leakers, nonviolent noncompliers, and activist who have been targeted over the years. Prosecution is zero risk for the individuals ordering it. The brief flurry of attention the prosecuted receive is insignificant compared to the cost to them in time, credibility, and money. And prosecution sends a very clear message to deter others. As a tool for punishing critics in a country like the US, prosecution is simply unmatched.

58 points by teawithcarl 13y ago

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

On a side note, of all the things I expected to see, Justin Bieber trolls were not on that list. I suspect this is Wikileaks making opportunistic inferences. If someone's being investigated by the FBI, their mind is going to be elsewhere. A distracted driver, possibly one that's also tired (I don't imagine he was sleeping well if this was the case) is more likely to have an accident. It's unlikely to be a hit job courtesy of the FBI! Wikileaks needs to not descend to the Daily Mail's level. If they want the public to take them seriously they need to maintain a squeaky clean image, free from tabloid rhetoric. Ambiguous "teaser" tweets do nothing to bolster their image and only serve to undermine it.

malandrew 13y ago
Maybe, but cars just don't explode like that. Engines don't just fly dozens to a hundred feet from the vehicle. Given how the impact with the palm tree occurred, the engine should be under the passenger/driver. They are designed to break free and be pushed down under the car in high speed impacts so that they don't end up in the cabin and crushing the legs of the passenger or driver. I'm actually very curious where the engine is relative to the car.

mpyne 13y ago

The Internet is beautiful. The tweet immediately fell into the pits of Biebermania somehow.

kintamanimatt 13y ago
The degree of righteous indignation in Rob Bieber's reply was somewhat excessive, especially as I can find nothing in that troll's history that indicates he'd been trying to use Rob (apparently a relative) as a way to get Justin to Brazil before! It does seem as though other Bieber fans have been harassing him though.

ferdo 13y ago

One woman in the area described it sounding “like a bomb went off in the middle of the night” & a man said “I couldn’t have written a scene like this in a move” with the engine flying 50-60 yards from the car. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-1KzlL9fJM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-1KzlL9fJM

groby_b 13y ago
Yes. That's what actual car accidents are like. The movies don't prepare you for that.
- ferdo 13y ago
  "Cars just dont explode" http://automotivethinker.com/general/cars-just-dont-explode/ http://automotivethinker.com/general/cars-just-dont-explode/
  - mbreese 13y ago
    But a collision with an object could sound like a bomb and have enough energy to cause an engine to fly 50+ yards.
    - kintamanimatt 13y ago
      And if he fell asleep (he was driving at night) and mistook the accelerator for the brake, it's quite likely the impact could have been quite a high energy one, especially in a car that's well powered.
    - ferdo 13y ago
      Hastings ticked off some very powerful people in his short life. Ticking powerful people off is a good way to die in a plane wreck, a car wreck, a "fall" or any number of other accidents. I'm not saying this is what happened, but it seems more likely than not that he was assassinated for his work.
      - 13y ago

Oculus 13y ago

Cars don't burn like that when hitting a tree.

chimingin 13y ago
um, yes, they absolutely do. sadly, I know from experience.
adestefan 13y ago
Sometimes they do. This is why both fire and ambulence are dispatched to accidents. Would you like me to start sending you all the nasty images from accident scenes that my EMT brother gets to go to? I find it fascinating how quickly he's able to go from bouncing off the walls to stoic when he gets a single car accident call. They're never pretty.
- wavefunction 13y ago
  >>This is why both fire and ambulence are dispatched to accidents. I don't think you can make that claim necessarily. Firetrucks get dispatched for people experiencing health emergencies as well as ambulances just because they are often able to respond more quickly than EMTs. I know this from talking with my firefighter friends and experiencing it first hand with relatives that have passed. Also firetrucks were always being dispatched to a retirement home where I grew up, not because there were fires or a likelihood of explosion.
  - mindcrime 13y ago
    It varies by jurisdiction. Some fire departments provide both fire protection / fire suppression and emergency medical response. Others do only fire. But even departments that are "fire only" (like the department I was with) are dispatched to most car accidents due to the fire risk. 50 times out of 100 we got there, did a quick size up, found no risk of fire, and returned to quarters, but on the more serious crashes, we would stay on scene while the medics were working. If there was someone pinned in a vehicle, we would pull a 1-3/4" handline and charge it and keep it in place in case anything happened during the actual extrication process.

danso 13y ago

After Aaron Swartz's untimely death, Wikileaks had the good timing of making claims that could not be proved about their association with him. But if Hastings talked to a Wikileaks lawyer, than they should be able to prove that http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/19/3893268/wikileaks-tweets-aaron-swartz-was-ally-and-possibly-source http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/19/3893268/wikileaks-tweets-a...

mpyne 13y ago

You guys are all hilarious. If a secret service had wanted Hastings dead they would have had some hoods break into his house, simulate a robbery/ransacking, stab him and run off. Extra credit when they ensure the hoods are later arrested and brought on trial, only to have the case thrown out because evidence about the murder weapon gets thrown out because an investigating officer "accidentally" broke chain of custody.

wavefunction 13y ago
Maybe the methods would be tailored to the specifics of the person targeted. That makes a lot more sense than some sort of generic "send in the goon squad."
- mpyne 13y ago
  Yes, but people are saying that "someone" specifically tailored an unusually violent car wreck and fire to kill this guy. The key word is "unusual", which is what you would not see if the pros actually wanted him dead.
  - indrax 13y ago
    Unless the real message is "Yes, we will touch the media." which is relevant given the timing.

saalweachter 13y ago

The thing that makes me most skeptical of secret government hit squads is how totally unnecessary they are. The US government can utterly ruin anyone's life through prosecution if it so chooses. I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to think of all of the leakers, nonviolent noncompliers, and activist who have been targeted over the years. Prosecution is zero risk for the individuals ordering it. The brief flurry of attention the prosecuted receive is insignificant compared to the cost to them in time, credibility, and money. And prosecution sends a very clear message to deter others. As a tool for punishing critics in a country like the US, prosecution is simply unmatched.