
Michael Hastings told Wikileaks FBI investigating him hours before death. - teawithcarl
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/347475869629022208
======
kintamanimatt
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
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.

------
ferdo
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
Yes. That's what actual car accidents are like. The movies don't prepare you
for that.

~~~
ferdo
"Cars just dont explode"

[http://automotivethinker.com/general/cars-just-dont-
explode/](http://automotivethinker.com/general/cars-just-dont-explode/)

~~~
mbreese
But a collision with an object could sound like a bomb and have enough energy
to cause an engine to fly 50+ yards.

~~~
ferdo
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.

~~~
snowwrestler
You know who else ticked off some powerful people? Daniel Ellsburg. Seymour
Hersh. Bob Woodward. Julian Assange. Bradley Manning. All of whom are still
alive.

Hastings wrote a magazine story that forced a general to retire. That general
is now making a very cozy living as a speaker and consultant. Not exactly
horrible stuff.

I just object to the mindset that ticking off powerful people is likely to
lead to murder, when there is so much obvious counter evidence.

~~~
ferdo
Just like the guy that discovered Bush Jr's coke bust "committed suicide":

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hatfield](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hatfield)

This wasn't just a hit, it was personal. Someone really disliked Hastings.

~~~
krapp
You can go into a bookstore right now and find books calling Obama a muslim
traitor and probably the antichrist. If the government actually killed authors
who wrote negative things about presidents during their terms, it would be the
second leading cause of death for American authors after alcoholism. Hating on
presidents in the long form is practically an entire _genre._

Sometimes, you know, people take too many pills and then they never wake up.
Sometimes people get into car crashes. Sometimes things just happen, and death
like life doesn't have to follow a neat and obvious narrative.

~~~
lobster_johnson
> You can go into a bookstore right now and find books calling Obama a muslim
> traitor and probably the antichrist.

But those things are untrue. There is no point in trying to silence — or to
avenge the publication of — something that is (1) untrue and (2) does no
measurable harm.

~~~
krapp
Sure, but the administration already dealt with the book in the 'proper' way,
which was to deny all allegations and discredit the author. I remember there
being some jokes about it on late night television, but nothing major in terms
of public relations fallout. I just don't see it as having been worth killing
over, it was a minor though momentarily noteworthy event.

I _definitely_ don't see it as corroborating evidence that presidents so
routinely have their opponents and critics killed that Michael Hastings' car
crash must most likely have been a bomb (or whatever), when the more
reasonable explanation seems to serve perfectly well.

------
saalweachter
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.

------
danso
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-a...](http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/19/3893268/wikileaks-tweets-aaron-
swartz-was-ally-and-possibly-source)

------
mpyne
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
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
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
Unless the real message is "Yes, we will touch the media." which is relevant
given the timing.

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

~~~
JshWright
I've seen cars burn like that after hitting trees, guardrails, other cars...
just about any high speed collision has the risk of starting a fire.

It's certainly not majority of wrecks, but it's a high enough percentage that
most departments have an SOP that the first engine company in on the wreck
will stretch a handline (they might not charge it, but fire is enough of a
concern that they'll be ready to deal with it very quickly should the need
arise).

~~~
mindcrime
Yeah, fires definitely happen as a result of collisions, they just aren't
_terribly_ common. Or at least that's been my experience.

I think there's an NFPA (or IFSAC or similar) recommendation on the charged
handline thing, but my department defaulted to stretching a line but not
charging in most cases. But we did require a charged line in place on any
extrication scenarios.

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

~~~
kintamanimatt
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.

