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In reply to the discussion: Michael Hastings and conspiracy theories: Richard Clarke throws fuel on the fire [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)Last edited Wed Jun 26, 2013, 03:40 AM - Edit history (1)
new Buzz Feed LA office. His duties were to cover Hollywood and LA celebrities, as well as do the occasional National Security type story. He was branching out.
Car was likely his--either owned or leased.
He was no stranger to booze/drugs, but supposedly had given 'em up. Of course, that shit's all over LA, when it's something you have to go looking for in VT. If he used his phone at all they should be able to figure out where he was/where he stopped.
I am editing to add a few links...it's plain that the media people "reporting" on this story don't have their facts up-to-date.
Here's the link that says he was living in LA. This is the most plausible scenario--you can't cover the west coast from NYC or VT.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/06/journalist-michael-hastings-dead-33/66376/
The "drove like a grandma" interview came out of FOX NEWS. Apologize for linking to them, but that's where it came from:
http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/06/25/michael-hastings-friend-joe-biggs-he-drove-grandma-crash-doesnt-add
There's video. The guy isn't saying HE knows that, he's saying that other friends, and family say that. The questioner is advancing the "some people say that the government killed him" meme.
The NYT said he lived in NYC. It is far more likely that he was bi-coastal, but they might not have dug too deep: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/business/media/michael-hastings-award-winning-journalist-dies-at-33.html?_r=0
A little VT blogish-thing calls him a "former Vermonter" so they apparently believed he'd moved away: http://vtdigger.org/2013/06/20/vermont-born-journalist-michael-hastings-killed-in-l-a-car-crash/
I think the reporting on this tragedy has been a bit slipshod. Something as basic as his address, even if they just say "In the 3000 block of SuchNSuch Road..." shouldn't be a situation where three different outlets say three different things.
I don't have any clear "feelings" on what caused this guy's death. I'm not at the point where I'm going to rule anything out, but my sense is, that if "they" (some enemy, pick one, any one--the government, an angry Gen. McChrystal serving up some revenge, or some other 'evildoer' who wants to harm this guy) wanted to kill him, they picked an awfully convoluted way to do it. Far better to just slip him a mickey and toss the car over a cliff. What if he wasn't wearing his seatbelt and went through the windshield, the car burned up and he survived, after spending a few weeks in hospital? Are they THAT good at controlling a vehicle? Was he dead in the car and they were driving the thing? If they're "controlling" the car, there's got to be a forensic trail that would indicate it...
Many questions. Some far-fetched, certainly.
No answers, really, yet...