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Email Sent by Michael Hastings Hours Before His Death Mentions ‘Big Story’
- Udo 13y agoI remember actually rolling my eyes when the first Hastings crash conspiracy statements were made here on HN, now they don't seem so far fetched. Crazy world. Still, chances are it was an unfortunately timed accident. However small it might be though, the (perceived) realistic probability of government involvement is kind of a big deal, at least for people like me who historically never believed in that sort of thing.
- throwaway10001 13y agoAccidents do happen, even after sending email warning about big stories and Fed investigations. But then it all depends on his "big story." It need not be the Government doing it, maybe some big fish to avoid jail, embarrassment or a fortune loss, called in a favor or paid to have the problem solved. Personally I could see both of them happening.
- aaronbrethorst 13y agoSeriously, Glenn Beck's website is showing up on the front page of Hacker News? It's like the worst of Rush Limbaugh meets Alex Jones. Flagged.
- mbenjaminsmith 13y agoHere's the same story via the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-hastings-crash-emails-20130621,0,2806628.story http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-hastings-crash-e... Also, the local station KTLA broke the story.
- aaronbrethorst 13y agoI wish one of the legit news sources was on the front page, then, instead of this. edit: nice component, btw: https://github.com/lattejed/LJSelectionView https://github.com/lattejed/LJSelectionView
- mbenjaminsmith 13y agoThank you. Maybe a mod can swap the link. I don't think it matters under the circumstances though, this story is going to go under a microscope.
- stfu 13y agoI don't see this as an issue. We often have links on hn by left wing sources such as MotherJones. Quite frankly I enjoy reading stories written by the different viewpoints and am most certain hn readers are able to detract personal biases from articles as well.
- rattray 13y agoI'd prefer not to be supporting Glenn Beck's company by boosting his impressions if I can avoid it. Especially if another source (LA Times) broke the story.
- notTptacek 13y agoBad idea. You're trapping yourself in an information bubble. People probably 'prefer' the NYTimes to Rolling Stone but who did Michael Hastings write for?
- davidw 13y agoThose sites did not appear here in the past - or at least not prominently.
- alan_cx 13y agoGlenn Beck? Yuk, I feel dirty now! That's like reading the Daily Mail here in the UK!! That said, seems like a reasonable fair enough article.
- wavefunction 13y agoYou know what's worse then Glenn Beck's website might potentially be? Someone that would disregard a message simply because of the messenger. Now I'm not necessarily a believer, but it certainly is a fishy story.
- pyalot2 13y agoThe probability of a journalist investigating a big story in the atmosphere of recent scandals is significant. The probability of having a car crash, even a weird one is also quite significant. I won't comment on the (alleged) history of DUI offenses of hastings. But if you really want to go off the conspiracy deep end, here's my take: Hastings was driving a modern Mercedes. These come with everything like ABS, EPS, Servo steering, Electronic throttle control, automatic transmission and so forth. And as you might know, cars these days are basically computers on wheels intrepreting the users input to the devices output. So if you really wanted to "produce" a freak accident, like say, remote controlling the car into a palm tree. All you'd need to do was hack the onboard control computer, you probably wouldn't even need an RC receiver as you could probably reuse the builtin wifi/radio to input commands to the computer. So unless you perform forensic examination of the onboard computer (which is usually locked down with DRM so you aren't able to repair your own car anymore) there'd be zero evidence.
- tzs 13y agoHere's the fatal (no pun intended) problem with that theory: the groups capable of carrying that out are also smart enough to not go with such an unreliable plan. He was a reporter. Reporters are easy to lure to secretive meetings with anonymous strangers. You want to kill one? Shoot him at an anonymous meeting, using a non-traceable gun. Or better, use a gun that has been tied to organized crime. Simple and reliable.
- reledi 13y ago> Meanwhile, investigators are still looking into what caused Hastings to crash on Tuesday. They are trying to find out if the car had a technical problem or if he may have had a medical condition that caused him to wreck. There's speculation online that it was a bomb, which isn't under technical problems or medical conditions. Which makes me wonder, would investigators conclude it was a bomb if there was ample evidence?
- TerraHertz 13y agoAren't you forgetting the long, sad history of official investigators lying their arses off? For instance take just one example - the TWA 800 'investigation'. With recent whistleblowers coming forward with details of what a coverup that was. Not trying to derail, but for anyone interested: http://everist.org/archives/links/_TWA_800_links.txt http://everist.org/archives/links/_TWA_800_links.txt
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- dakrisht 13y agoDoubt it. We hear what they want us to hear. Also not sure about the speculation online... Things that fly are more appealing.
- jlgreco 13y agoWhy would some nefarious conspiracy orchestrator put a bomb in the car? If you are going to cause a crash, why throw a bomb into the mix too? It would only serve to cause more suspicious and loose ends. The absolute most that makes any sense is a gallon jug or two of gas under the seat just to be sure, but even that is really pushing it. Think about it, if you were tasked with causing somebody to be declared dead in a car crash, would you also put a bomb in the car? Only if you wanted to be caught maybe...
- tomjen3 13y agoNo, I wouldn't. But then the car blow up (sending the transmission way away) and cought fire. A car doesn't blow up and doesn't catch fire from hitting a tree. A bomb fits the evidence much better.
- informatimago 13y agoSo, nothing new on the Voynich front.
- TerraHertz 13y agoDoes anyone know the name of the street where the crash occurred? Said to be in Hancock Park, but I can't find that palm lined center-row street in google maps. Want to check something out. My opinion on the crash - from the pictures online of the crash almost immediately after impact, the whole car is very much on fire, yet the R-side door paint is unburned. This just doesn't fit with modern fuel safety construction. In the current political climate, and given the evidence he was onto some big story, the 'dead man in a wifi-controlled car' idea seems quite realistic.
- dakrisht 13y agoHighland Avenue - pretty decent two-lane street (in each direction) with a large center divider full of relatively skinny palm trees and grass. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Highland+Avenue,+hancock+park&hl=en&ll=34.083038,-118.338368&spn=0.001067,0.00142&sll=33.999883,-118.473362&sspn=0.012079,0.022724&hnear=N+Highland+Ave,+California&t=h&z=20 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Highland+Avenue,+hancock+park...
- ghshephard 13y agoSomewhat ironic (or perhaps disturbing is more appropriate) the recent posting on HN [1] of the historic CIA review of assassinations, in which staged car accidents were fairly prominent. This line from that post comes to mind, "If the subject's personal habits make it feasible, alcohol may be used [2 words excised] to prepare him for a contrived accident of any kind." [1] http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB4/ciaguat2.html http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB4/ciaguat2.html
- l33tbro 13y agoHow could it be staged, exactly? The guy was flying down Melrose. The engine of his Merc flew like 100 feet from site of impact. I just don't see how it could be staged.
- dakrisht 13y agoFlying down Highland. And that was a transmission, not an engine.
- l33tbro 13y agoRe: Engine. http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2013/06/michael_hastings_crash_engine_flew_speeding_recovery.php http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2013/06/michael_hastings_... Obviously crashed on Highland. CCTV of of him flying on Melrose ... link evades me right now.
- dakrisht 13y agoCheck my post above for the flying by link... It's a transmission connected to the engine. Forgot this car has a small motor. But they're both out there, laying 200 feet out. Strange.
- fnordfnordfnord 13y agoIt is both. It would be much harder to separate the engine from the transmission in a collision.
- ohwp 13y agoCars almost never get fire when they crash. It seems more likely that you crash a car that caught fire.
- tomjen3 13y agoFuel tanks don't catch fire if you shoot at them with tracer bullets (see the old episode of mythbusters), why should they explode when the car hit a tree? It was a nice car, well designed, and surely the engineers at BMW had considered various crash situations, including a front colliosion with a blunt object.
- numbsafari 13y agoBecause they do: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x22gip_video_auto http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x22gip_video_auto
- numbsafari 13y agoAlso: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaGNk4se99I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaGNk4se99I
- hysterix 13y agoPeople mentioning mythbusters as if it is actually a relevant data point is really annoying. They are an entertainment show, nothing more. Because they shot a tracer bullet at a gas tank (really that's the "evidence"?) means exactly nothing in the real world.
- tptacek 13y agoBy which you mean "cars catch fire all the time when they crash". http://www.chandlerlawgroup.com/library/national-vehicle-fire-statistics.cfm http://www.chandlerlawgroup.com/library/national-vehicle-fir... (stats from NFPA).
- ohwp 13y agoMmm, in another report I read it was less than 20% in case of a crash.
- dakrisht 13y agoRaw footage of the crash - that Mercedes (appears to be a 2012 C-Class Coupe) is totally engulfed. The car blew up on impact. How is another question. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LSY3wVuASg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LSY3wVuASg
- cheald 13y agoI thought that cars exploding on impact were pretty much the stuff of Hollywood. Mercedes in particular is well-known for their cars' safety. This doesn't smell right.
- dakrisht 13y agoHere he is running a red light at high speed (looks like he's traveling well over 80mph) at the intersection moments before the crash. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNhqKRugk8Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNhqKRugk8Q
- dakrisht 13y agoAt 5:00 you can see the entire transmission torn off maybe 200-300 feet away from the crash site. Witnesses report seeing the car driving at a high rate of speed (100+ mph). Damage on the front of the vehicle is extensive and there is debris everywhere - now the question is - would the car explode on impact given the speed or would the fuel tank/pump be cut-off from the engine/electrical systems. Yes and no.
- Amadou 13y agoCorrection for anyone likely to be disappointed as I was - raw footage of the fire after the crash. The guy with the video camera gets there and interviews an eye witness after the car is already burning. What is amazing to me is just how much the entire car burns. I really don't know anything about car fires but it looks crazy how much the entire vehicle is engulfed in flames from what appears to be a one-car head-on accident in a relatively new mercedes. I had a, I guess unfounded, belief that a modern luxury-brand car would be fairly fire retardant. Not much you can do about gasoline and the tires, but seems like all the interior upholstery and cushions, etc could be reasonably non-flammable.
- dakrisht 13y agoWant to consolidate all of my comments into one, so here goes: 1. Raw footage of the crash, that Mercedes (appears to be a 2012 C-Class Coupe) is fully engulfed in flames. The car blew up on impact. How is another question. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LSY3wVuASg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LSY3wVuASg 2. Dash cam footage of driver running red light (Highland Avenue & Santa Monica Blvd) at a high rate of speed. Video dissolves moments later (something was cut from it) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNhqKRugk8Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNhqKRugk8Q 3. 5:00 into first video (crash) - you can see the entire transmission thrown over 200 feet into the sidewalk. 4. Car is really on fire here, not sure a C-250 fuel tank (17.4 gallons) could create that big of a fireball? And that's a full tank. 5. I will assume Mercedes would engineer the car with the fuel pump cutting off from the engine at the moment of impact. All electrical systems, fuel, combustion, etc. would be disconnected for this reason. 6. He was traveling at a high rate of speed (80+ mph). Highland Avenue is a nice two-land (in each direction) street, no potholes, bumps, smooth like a baby's ass (that particular section of the street). The palm trees are also fairly thin compared to some bigger ones we have here. 7. Who are these LANewsLOUDLABS people? Why are they filming a) the red light at that gas station, b) the accident site shortly after (but going through side streets as opposed to simply going straight and making a right turn?) and c) have an LAPD police scanner (LAPD uses trunked communication, you need a $500+ scanner, of course, accessible to anyone (and legal) with $500.00. But a, b, and c just seem odd... 8. You can tell briefly that the car used by "news" above has a silver exterior. I'm not sure of the make/model, does NOT really sound like a V8 to me, maybe a turbo 6... Driver saying "oh shit" seems genuine, if that makes a difference. Prelim thoughts: 1) He was going fast, really fast. 2) He ran a red light (there's always a reason for this: alcohol, bad judgment, being chased by someone, etc.) 3) Vehicle burst into flames - but when? 4) Engine and transmission over 200 feet away from crash site (tree) 5) That roof is gone, there's a big hole with flames shooting out - but this car has a panorama sunroof. That glass shattering + high impact collision = hole. 6) Any arson specialists, chemists - feel free to chime in on the pattern, color, position, spread of the burns at 3:00 of the video. 7) The cockpit is intact - so is the drivers seat - the engine is gone, the car is badly damaged in the front, but if there was no fire, I'd say bad injuries but alive. Fire killed the guy.
- jlgreco 13y ago
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- crocowhile 13y agoThis is a video from a UCSD researcher on malicious attacks on modern automobiles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHfOziIwXic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHfOziIwXic Examples of what can be done: Insert in the radio a CD containing a malicious WMA file that would play fine on the computer but once in the car could completely compromise the car electronics...
- scotth 13y agoWell that was eye-opening.
- contingencies 13y agoLink to the original paper and one additional paper: http://www.autosec.org/publications.html http://www.autosec.org/publications.html The money shot - single image comparing all attack vectors: http://i.imgur.com/ylXoPmz.png http://i.imgur.com/ylXoPmz.png
- l33tbro 13y agoI still call poppy-cock. It's just such a ridiculous proposition. Look, the guy contacted Wikileaks a few hours before his death. Wikileaks! He also contacted his employers about a story he was writing on the subject of NSA. Now, if .. IF the FBI/NSA were intent on ending him, surely they would have been privy to said communications. This being the case - what motive would they have to go through with it? I mean, by doing so, they would knowingly and invariably be drawing more heat to that which they were covering up. How? Well, a) Wikileaks knows about it. Therefore a suspicious death would draw more attention to whatever it was he was about to report. b) A suspicious death would make him a journalistic martyr, prompting one of his fellow reporters to pick up on where his research was left and give even greater salience to the issue reported. The FBI aren't stupid. They know that murdering a reporter would only magnify the issue down the track. I'm sorry, it just doesn't make sense to me that they would willingly self-immolate by killing the dude and igniting several spotfires. I'd like to believe it too. I'd love to see these Prism guards go down, believe me. Honestly thought the people of HN were a bit beyond the conspiracy crap you find on Reddit and such places.
- crocowhile 13y agoWell, he was one of the most successful journalists of his age; he previously destroyed a former CIA general with his writings; he claimed one year ago to have lots of sources in governmental agencies ( http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/uaha0/iam_michael_hastings_a_reporter_for_buzzfeed_and/c4tpn8s http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/uaha0/iam_michael_... ); he recently wrote messages saying he was onto something big re: NSA; he was, basically, at the apex of his career. Why would he go "yeah, let's see how fast this car can go now!" all of a sudden? I am not saying he was killed but I would not find hard at all to believe TBH.
- rdouble 13y agoWhy would he go "yeah, let's see how fast this car can go now!" all of a sudden? Maybe he was drunk.
- crocowhile 13y ago
- alan_cx 13y agoFirst I have seen of this, so I have no idea of the various theories. As I understand it, the car crashed at the front and blew up? Correct? If so... I find it very, very hard to believe a modern Mercedes would do that. Merc are very safety conscious, they sell to well off people who expect not to blow up, and that is on top of strict EU safety rules and testing. I assume the US also has it's standards to comply with too. This is a luxury car manufacturer which prides its self on safety above and beyond legislation or international standards, and sells to customer who fully expect that. So, is there no public Merc statement or full on internal investigation? A Merc blowing up like that publicly should be a massive PR disaster for them. Who wants a luxury car that blows up in a front impact? If it is as simple as a front impact causing the car to blow up, I would have thought Merc would be very, publicly, concerned about that. If I were some one interested in investigating this, I'd be perusing Mercedes to see what they have to say.
- yaix 13y agoYeah well, the hole in the Pentagon on 9/11 was too small for the airplace too, and the engines magically disappeared. Regardless, today's "truth" is the official version.
- tptacek 13y agohttp://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/car-experts-michael-hastings-crash-572699 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/car-experts-michael-ha... “It wouldn’t be an underestimation to say that every day, a lawsuit is filed over a car fire right after an accident. There are every year 300,000 vehicle fires and a couple hundred deaths and a couple thousand injuries.”
- Steko 13y ago"I find it very, very hard to believe a modern Mercedes would do that. " Mercedes cars are not immune to the rules of physics. Gasoline is flammable. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/car-experts-michael-hastings-crash-572699 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/car-experts-michael-ha... But post-crash fires are, in fact, depressingly typical, especially in high-speed scenarios, says Philadelphia attorney Max Kennerly, whose firm represents plaintiffs in car fires. “If someone is driving at high speed and hits a very solid object, yeah, you’ll get a fire out of that,” Kennerly says. “It wouldn’t be an underestimation to say that every day, a lawsuit is filed over a car fire right after an accident. There are every year 300,000 vehicle fires...” Frank Markus, technical director of Motor Trend, points out that “any impact at speeds high enough to rip the drive train out of a car is highly likely to force some object to rupture the fuel tank. There is a lot of potential chemical energy in a gas tank that's even a quarter full... So while the casual evidence might suggest otherwise, the prosaic reality is that cars involved in high-speed crashes often go up in flames edit: boo, beaten to the punch by 2 minutes with the same cite.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- tptacek 13y agoThe Blaze. Glenn Beck's site. Really?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- Kylekramer 13y agoThe main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory is that conspiracy theorists actually believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is chaotic. The truth is, that it is not the Jewish banking conspiracy or the grey aliens or the 12 foot reptiloids from another dimension that are in control. The truth is more frightening, nobody is in control. - Alan Moore
- blueprint 13y agoWhat is the evidence that this world operates chaotically? Are you sure you understand what that word means? When we talk about the term "truth" it's absolutely critical that we have evidence in our words.
- blueprint 13y agoBeing downvoted for asking for evidence of claims about the term 'truth' is not a good sign.
- hysterix 13y ago"Nobody is in control". Wow that is probably the most naive statement I've seen made on hn in a while. If you truly believe that, I've got some beach front property in arizona to sell you. I love the logic, we aren't being controlled by "reptilians' so therefore nobody is in control? Really terrible statement that is meaningless.
- brokenparser 13y agoWell, he's definitely "off the radar" now.
- TerraHertz 13y agoI'm sure many here will roll their eyes at this source: http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1687.htm http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1687.htm Top US Journalist Attempting To Reach Israeli Consulate Assassinated - By Sorcha Faal But it's an interesting set of dots. The address they give for the Israeli consulate is correct: http://www.israeliconsulatela.org/index.php/en/get-directions http://www.israeliconsulatela.org/index.php/en/get-direction... Which does make it about 9 miles from Hastings' crash site, fwiw. But I'm more interested in identifying the exact crash location, and the direction he was going. In this article: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/21/email-sent-by-michael-hastings-hours-before-his-death-mentions-a-big-story-and-a-need-to-go-off-the-radar/ http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/21/email-sent-by-mic... there are two photos of the crash site that should allow location of the exact site using google maps and streetview. Particularly this one: http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/600x39998.jpg http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/600x39998... It seems to be somewhere sth of the intersection of Highland and Melrose Av, here: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Highland+and+Melrose+avenues&hl=en&ll=34.082379,-118.338423&spn=0.004417,0.004308&z=18 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Highland+and+Melrose+avenues&... I've tried, but still can't pinpoint it. From this image: http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/600x339.jpg http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/600x339.j... I'm wondering if the car clipped the foreground palm tree, then hit the next tree solidly on the front left of the car. So the car ends up spinning to the right, stopping at 90 deg to the street. This would explain why there's little visible damage to the RH side of the car. But not really why the rear damage. If that's so, it must have been traveling away from the camera view point. But is that going Nth or Sth? In either case, it's hard to see how that fits with heading to the Israeli consulate. Someone might like to go and see if there's any shrapnel damage in the road surface anywhere before the impact point.
- dakrisht 13y ago"I need to go off the radar for a bit." Not sure how big this guy is, let's just say average build, average height - is it me - or is there no visible body in the driver's seat at 3:00 in the video? If he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, he would have been ejected to where the engine was. Otherwise, that seatbelt keeps him in the same place, even if he leaned over, etc. Not into conspiracies but definitely some interesting observations from others on this thread. The BIGGEST red flag of course is WHY he was speeding through a red light at a high rate of speed. Could be many, many things.
- DanBC 13y ago> The BIGGEST red flag of course is WHY he was speeding through a red light at a high rate of speed. I'd be interested to know how many people drive through red lights, and how many people drive at that speed, and how many people drive at red lights at that speed. (Not because it has any bearing on this story, I just want to put it in some kind of context.)