Michael Hastings Death: Readers Respond to Our Cover Story

Another fly by wire car hijacked via CANBUS. Seems German cars are the easiest.

Interesting but of course, untrustworthy.

Michael Hastings FBI Document: Redacted Freedom Of Information Act Release Posted To Bureau Website

About the explosion and 'sparks' prior to the crash; there was a DWP water pipe, protected by a substantional metal guard-cover (about a foot and a half tall,) positioned roughly sixty feet north of the palm tree that Hastings vehicle impacted. A tall water spout from this pipe can be seen in the photos taken during the immeadiate aftermath of the crash. Hasting's car must have first hit the pipe and its cover, ripping out the transmission, causing some sparks for sure, and this also must have generated a loud boom. The transmission then flew down the street, and the car continued until it hit the tree. The car impacted the tree on its driver side-- causing the car to rotate around the tree, landing in the east-west position on a north-south street. There's the second explosion, Heat, sparks, combustable fluids spilling could have caused a third explosion, added to the chemicals used in the car's interior, which are highly flammable.

It could have been that he took his eyes off the road and veered into the median.

The coroner's report said that drugs almost certainly had nothing to do with Hastings' death or crash -- and yet nearly every news outlet spun the story to imply the opposite.

Along with (disputed) rumors about Hastings thinking he was so "invincible" that he could fly from balconies.

Hastings had metabolites from Rx marijuana and Rx Adderall (which leaves the "meth" residue as many over-the-counter substances do), both of which were legal. And they had been taken many hours prior to the crash.

And his suspicions of being monitored by the feds or that his car had been tampered with are being used as "proof" that he was paranoid, despite the fact that both things appear to have been completely true. (With little mention that Richard Clarke, security guru for 4 presidents and no tin-foil hat nutjob, suspected car-hacking within days of Hastings' death).

So now the image presented by the mainstream media is "meth addicted mental case" just in time to discredit his final piece due out any day now on CIA Director John Brennan.

Sometimes paranoia is just rational thought.

If this were supposedly an accident then why along have people disappeared and been threatened? Everyone has demons,so I wish that theory would end. Something else happened to him.its obvious.i see him as a brilliant journalist, who was murdered. And no one now is investigation this further? That's not even fair to Michael.way too many secrets, unanswered questions.and wife is happy? She was told to go on tv and portray the oh its just an accident. She was threatened.

@MysterBlack - Most of these questions do have answers.

1. There wasn't. This is a misinterpretation of a translated interview with a witness who said he saw sparks coming from the bottom of the car.

2. Because the car was going close to 100mph and the engine was ejected. It continued to move in the direction it was previously going, due to the laws of physics.

3. We don't know what happened. That's one of the remaining mysteries of this whole thing. It's likely only Hastings knew.

4. I'm not at all certain he did. The only evidence this happened is Wikileaks' own Twitter feed. Regardless, if he contacted a lawyer, that would be confidential.

5. I'm not convinced this happened either. I can't find confirmation from any credible source.

6. Rolling Stone will be publishing the story later this year. It was completed by a friend of Hastings.

More debunky goodness here: http://skeptoid.com/blog/2013/08/26/why-michael-hastings-wasnt-murdered/

There are unanswered questions:

1. Why was there an explosion before impact?

2. Why were the engine remains found so far from the car?

3. What happened between 1 am and 4 am?  Further, why did his brother say he passed out, but that his neighbor said around the same time he came and asked to use her car?

4. Why had Hastings contacted Wikileaks?  What was discussed?

5. Why did federal agents visit his house the day before the crash?  How does this square with their statement that he was not being investigated?

6. What is the content of the story he was working on?

These questions bear investigation.

Maddeus can't be trusted. All the L.A press have been gagged by various means. Any publication that would hire the demented Amy Alkon is not a resource for truth.

His own troubled mind was a far more likely murder weapon … "Sure, it's totally conceivable this was an accident induced by emotional disease or exhaustion. But it's hardly an open-and-shut case” ...  "That Hastings car could have been hacked receives not a mention by Maddaus" ... “leaves this reader wondering if Maddaus isn't just pushing a theory of his own."

. . .

Maddaus’ portrays Hastings as a journalist who was “both brilliant and troubled,” who had relapsed into drug use and suffered from PTSD and paranoia.  As a man struggling with his demons, with his mental health deteriorating in the weeks leading up to his death.    For example, Maddaus wrote:

“Interviews with friends as well as the coroner's report suggest that Hastings' mental health was deteriorating. … Hastings hung out with The Nation's Jeremy Scahill when the reporter was in town promoting his documentary “Dirty Wars.”  In May, Hastings was invited to a salon at director Oliver Stone's house … "He seemed a little stressed …"  A certain level of lighthearted paranoia would be unremarkable in such company [Cenk] Uygur says, "We joked that night that, if Scahill was there, we would have definitely had a drone strike on the house." 

Maddaus’ piece is well-written, emotionally compelling and persuasive (and even had me convinced for about a day). However, after taking a closer look at the LAPD reports and his profile, I feel a bit suckered.  I now think his portrait of Hastings as a “haunted soul” was too speculative, too thinly sourced, and “cherry-picked” quotes that supported his narrative (and omitted those that did not). 

I haven’t yet had time to analyze the piece in detail.  But, yesterday I found what appears to be an example of his omitting Jeremy Scahills’ recollection  of Hastings shortly before his death.

From the chronology of the above quote, a reader would assume that Hastings hung out with Jeremy Scahill sometime before the May salon at Oliver Stones’ house.  However, they got together after the Oliver Stone salon, on JUNE 12, 2013 (just five days before Hastings’ death).   Hasting spent that evening attending Scahills’ LA film premiere, the Q & A session, and then they hung out watching Scahill’s appearance on “The Tonight Show.“ It was probably his last public appearance (and appears to be the last time he tweeted).

So, did Scahill’s recollection suggest that “Hastings' mental health was deteriorating”?  No.  In his June 19th Hastings’ eulogy, “Michael Hastings Popped The Press Bubble, From The Campaign Trail To The Front Lines,” Michael Caledrone wrote that Scahill described Hasting’s as “totally full of life” that night:

“Nearly one week ago [June 12, 2013], Jeremy Scahill and several friends were hanging out in a Los Angeles hotel room to watch his taped appearance on the “The Tonight Show.” One of those friends was Michael Hastings … Scahill chatted with Jay Leno that night about “Dirty Wars,” his revealing new documentary … ‘He was so warm and effusive and excited, as if we'd just won the Super Bowl … was giddy that someone from our tribe had made it on one of those shows.’ … Scahill recalled Hastings talking excitedly last week about stories he was working on, including ones about the NSA. Hastings also spoke about the property he wanted to buy in Vermont.  ‘Totally full of life,’ he said.”

Just five nights later, Hasting’s died in a fiery car crash.  Why did Maddaus merely mention and then quickly pass over Scahill’s night in LA?  (and place his passing reference to it so the reader would get the impression it took place before May, long before his death).  Was he unaware of Caledrones’ eulogy (although the use of the similar phrases “hung out” and “hanging out” suggests that he had read it)?  Or, perhaps he omitted Scahill’s “totally full of life” remarks since they didn’t fit into his narrative of a “haunted soul”?

Either way, Scahill’s account calls into question Maddaus’ speculation that Hasting’s mental health was deteriorating in the weeks leading up to his death, and the accuracy of his profile.   Ultimately, perhaps the broad-strokes of his “haunted” portrait might be found to be accurate, but we’ll need to read accounts by Hastings' close family, friends, colleagues, and Elise Jordan before reaching conclusions about his mental state in the days preceding his death.

For more details, see my work-in-progress, “The Character Assassination of Michael Hastings,” in the post “More Lies Borne Out By Facts, If Not the Truth” at the Feral Firefighter blog.

@rothschildmd

Please crash your car into your own tree accidentally-on-purpose your own bad self, Lady Rothschild. 

I'll "debunk" that for you, too, if you like.

@rothschildmd 

1. Have you seen the video?  To me, it looks like an explosion before impact.

2. I'll grant you the law of physics make that possible.  It's still a far distance.

3. Mysterious, yes, worth investigating.  At least the part about the conflicting stories of the two people who are still alive.

4. I'm not at all certain either.  Is it still confidential if he is dead?  Perhaps it is worth asking if they could confirm the twitter feed at the very least.

5. I will look.

6. I know. I am interested to read, and eagerly await.  Hopefully no punches were pulled.

BTW, if I had to guess, I'd guess there's no murder.  However, there were enough uncertainties and intriguing facts that I have followed the case with some interest.  The smear about drugs made me more interested.

Thanks for your logical responses.