Exclusive: Details on Email Michael Hastings Sent Just Hours Before His Death

[dkf]

http://ktla.com/2013/06/21/exclusive-details-on-an-email-michael-hastings-sent-just-hours-before-his-death/#axzz2Wq8zwRvg

[octoberlib]

1. Oh hell. nt

[Fire Walk With Me]

2. I cannot get it to play at all, not a moment of it. What pray is the gist? n/t

[octoberlib]

3. KTLA showed an email Hastings sent out to friends and co-workers

saying that the feds were investigating him and they might be questioned.

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. Thank you! n/t

[karynnj]

14. You might add though that it was a balanced article - while being troubling

They have film taken within a minute before the crash that shows his car speeding through an intersection and there were no cars following. This suggests no one was following.

On the troubling side, he was warning friends to get legal coverage if asked to speak of him and he spoke of going off the radar as he was on to a big story. In addition, he seemed very panicked and the friend interviewed repeatedly spoke of how that was not like him.

The end conclusion of the police was - no foul play.

[Fire Walk With Me]

18. Those who know LAPD, know LAPD =are= foul play. n/t

[Eddie Haskell]

27. Did they get a licence #?

I watched the video. How the hell can anyone claim that was his car?

[octoberlib]

28. There was no article at the link above. Just a video.

The police are still waiting on toxicology reports and investigating if there were any mechanical problems with the car. We'll see. He was definitely going fast as hell.

[noise]

30. Troubling side?

Don't you mean the conspiracy nut side?

Just because Hastings was likely perceived by those in power as using his journalism to aid enemies of the US doesn't mean that he would be targeted in any way.

[karynnj]

32. You misuderstood what I was saying

The "troubling" part was that it did report that HE seemed to be concerned and even panicked.

"On the troubling side, he was warning friends to get legal coverage if asked to speak of him and he spoke of going off the radar as he was on to a big story. In addition, he seemed very panicked and the friend interviewed repeatedly spoke of how that was not like him. "

That does not mean that I buy that the government was out to kill him. It does suggest that his own mental state could have played a role - even if it was not based on reality. Just because he was a very talented, excellent journalist does not mean that he could not have over reacted to something - leading him to speed through the area where he hit the tree.

However, at this point, they have not yet done the mechanical inspections to try to determine if the car could have been the problem.

[Junkdrawer]

8. Also says "I'm working on a big story and have to go off the radar for a while"....n/t

[freedom fighter jh]

10. Also says the LAPD says there appears to be no foul play involved.

That ought to be enough to allay any concerns.

(sarcasm)

[KurtNYC]

12. Also shows Hastings car going through an intersection at high speed minutes before the crash

Boston brakes?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Boston%20Brakes

[freedom fighter jh]

25. Sounds like it could be nt

[HiPointDem]

5. there's nothing there but the title.

[octoberlib]

6. The video will load. It just takes a minute nt

[undergroundpanther]

7. i wonder what the big story was

no foul play involved ,my ass. Too often good people get killed by the sociopathic 1 percenter's killer servants when thier disgusting dreams of worldwide full spectrum domination start making the news. They know the evil they do,they want to keep mosty people dumb apathetic bystanders who don't give a shit what they do, or arre too scared to do anything.I happen to give a shit what they do,I know many others do. I hope there are enough of us out there who do,too.
Enough to crush the machine.

[Unknown Beatle]

13. I'll second that.

You can get killed out here trying to tell the truth! - Cornel West

[dipsydoodle]

9. I can see notes about loading problems

I'm in the UK and the video link worked just fine for me.

[jtuck004]

11. A thing I find odd is that law enforcement is typically reticent about revealing anything, seems

not uncommon for them to even acknowledge an investigation.

Yet here they come, telling us "there is no investigation" going on? That seems unusually chatty, different from the norm. But maybe it's because I'm more tuned in to this one.

[ReRe]

15. Question

Can anyone remember someone saying derogatory remarks about the recently departed? (Not including DU.) Like Geraldo. And the NYTimes in their obit? I find that behavior highly suspect.

[leftynyc]

16. Can't do videos at work

but will definitely check it out later today. Really appreciate the link.

[GeorgeGist]

17. Someone's fishy ...

[GeorgeGist]

19. Definitely suspicious ...

that a man on the trail of NSA would use email to convey his concerns about Feds investigating him.

[magellan]

20. Really? Why?

There's nothing secret or illegal about telling colleagues you may be under investigation and giving them a heads up about possible visits.

[djean111]

21. I have no opinion on any of this as yet, but how else would he contact people quickly?

Carrier pigeons?
Would he just not warn people because of NSA?

[Sunlei]

24. he probably has a couple hundred press contacts on his email lists, people mass mail all the time.

even from the cameras showing him speeding, doesn't look out of control at all. That's a fast low car, he hit a lightpole? that's like hitting a brickwall.

[Civilization2]

22. clearly a suspicious car "accident", a journalist the day before said he was on a "big story".

Seems rather strange,. Boston Brakes seems likely. I notice the news story goes to pains to show "no one was following him" as if that somehow proves something? I guess if "no one was following him" then it must have just been an accident,. lolz.

When Hastings is telling people I am onto a "big story" and "federal agents are questioning my friends and family",. then he is "accidented" the next day, I would say something is up.

We can only hope someone else who fed him or was told by him the info. that led to this can get the info. out without being filmed with "no one was following him".

[dotymed]

23. It seems that his "big story"

got him "Wellstoned."

I find it really odd that another "reporters" dash cam just happened to catch Hastings car speeding through
an intersection as "proof" that no one was following him.

What are the odds?

[Octafish]

34. +1

What are the odds?

Any word on where he was, who he was meeting With at 4:30 a.m.?

The info might shed light on the why.

[MannyGoldstein]

26. Relax, people. We only execute people after a trial.

Well, at least we only execute them after a judge OKs it.

Ah, alright, no judge needed, but we only execute them when they have it comin'.

And at least we don't have secret kill lists that are not reviewed by the judiciary.

Oh, OK, we do.

But if our government says they didn't kill someone, we can believe it. Because they don't blatently lie to our faces.

Well fuck it. Maybe I'll catch some Kardashian stuff on TV.

[JimDandy]

29. LOL n/t

[okaawhatever]

31. Well, I'll be the dissenting vote. I think Michael fell off the wagon and was back to using coke.

Sorry folks, it is what it is. I don't think he's a bad person. I think he's a very talented journalist, but he's human and he's openly admitted to struggling with addiction. I think it was a very sad event but I'm not thinkin' government conspiracy. Just a tragic loss. He was traveling at a high rate of speed, ran over a median which could cause the fuel line to come loose and hit a telephone pole. He was coming from an area that had a lot of bars. He says he will be working on a story, but that would be a great excuse if he had fallen off the wagon. We'll see. I hope he didn't fall of the wagon and I hope no one else was involved.

[karynnj]

33. Let's wait for toxicology reports before accusing him of that. If untrue, it is a smear.

If true, it could explain a lot. Would coke explain the near paranoia in his comments to friends and that he sounded different? I know nothing about drugs, but in various links, there is mention of paranoia. (like this one from the National Institute of Health - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC181074/ )

[okaawhatever]

35. Coke makes you very paranoid. He admitted doing crack which is a coke variant.

I'm not sure of it's effects, but they must be similar since I think the main ingredient is coke. I'm just putting a couple of things together. I don't think it's a smear to have an opinion that he fell off the wagon. I don't feel like he's a bad person, just someone who by his own accounts had "struggled" with it. I hope he didn't lose the struggle, but that coke/crack will kick your azz. It's very tough to stop doing. It's a ten thousand pound gorilla on anyone's back. I don't even know if he went to rehab or just cut it out on his own. I don't think he's a bad person, just a suffering one.

My observations are this:
He had been stressed and pre-occupied right beforehand. (statements from friends)
That could mean he was under intense pressure, possibly leading to a relapse, or he could have already been doing it
He contacted his attorney at 1 in the morning. That is very odd if he hadn't just been contacted by the FBI or some other event that had just ended prompting a call in the middle of the night rather than waiting until the morning. Excuse me, I think it was a text, not a call.
He tells his friends and co-workers he'll be "out for a couple of days". That could be consistent with either a story or a bender. I knew a nurse who got hooked on that stuff and that was her m.o. She'd go on benders.The story he was working on was about Jill Kelly, the socialite caught up in the Patreus scandal (assuming he hadn't started something no one else knew about).
Traveling at that high rate of speed without being followed. I would imagine if there were something wrong with his car, such as a stuck gas pedal, he'd be honking the horn, hitting the brakes, maybe pulling the emergency break. Two witnesses saw this and said he didn't stop for the lights, didn't show any signs of distress, etc.
The explosion is suspect, except that he crossed over a median which could have detached his gas line or gas tank. Couple that with metal dragging on the ground from having the undercarriage torn up from the median and you have spark and fuel.

I hope he didn't have to go out that way. I hope he didn't die conflicted or in pain. Just that it's a possibility. Everyone was putting their opinions out there, I was just sharing mine.