Friday, July 31, 2015


DARE WE SAY CONSPIRACY?: REMEMBER JOURNALIST MICHAEL HASTINGS AND ALL THOSE “CYBER-CRASH” THEORIES? THEY’RE NOT SO IMPLAUSIBLE AFTER ALL

Dare we say "conspiracy" in the automobile death of investigative journalist Michael Hastings? Well, you tell us. Hastings, you'll recall, died in a fiery car crash on June 18, 2013, in Los Angeles. While some merely thought that the crash was an unusual and unfortunae accident, others - including us - were not so sure. Hastings had, of course, investigated General McCrystal in Afghanistan, causing him to resign. At the time of his untimely death - Hastings was only 33 - he was rumored to be investigating the CIA, though the specific focus of that alleged investigation is not known, though some speculate he was investigating the Director. In any case, Hastings had apparently toward the end of his life become very tense and anxious, and at one point had also asked a friend to borrow his car, as Hastings thought his car was being messed with, though I haven't been able to find any specific mention of how Hastings thought it was being done, nor by whom.
But in any case, the theories soon focused on anomalies of the crash itself, including the incongruous fact that the engine of Hasting's car was apparently ejected from the vehicle during the crash and thrown some distance from the car. These theories quickly concluded that the possibility existed that the car was hacked, and turned into a weapon against Hastings. Things were not helped by the fact that US counter-terrorism tsar Richard Clarke signed off on the possibility.
Well, now there's these two stories, shared by Mr. R.G. and Mr. V.T.:
Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway—With Me in It
Newest Remote Car Hacking Raises More Questions About Reporter’s Death
As the second article notes, measures are working their way through Congress to pass legislation ostensibly for the purpose of protecting drivers in their vehicles, which seems absurdly contradictory to the surveillance state that COngress, in large part, has allowed America to become.
But for our high octane speculation purposes, however, the scenario raises some disturbing potentials. If indeed Mr. Hastings was murdered through a cyber-attack on his own vehicle(and I am inclinced to think he was), then this would imply a fairly sophisticated player is in the mix. And this in turn would require a thorough investigation of its own, beginning with an attempt to determine, with as much exactitude as possible, for that in turn will establish motivation, and perhaps means. We are looking, in other words, at an automotive version of Global Hawk airplane remote control technology. Personally, I have my doubts that Mr. Hasting's unfortunate death was due simply to his alleged investigations of the CIA or its Director. After all, many people have done similar investigations, published riveting exposes. and have not crashed into trees or telephone poles. In short, a generalized "investigation" doesn't provide anything near the detail needed to make reasonable conclusions or assumptions regarding motive. Until more details are known, we are left with more questions than answers.
We are also left, however, with a number of anomalies, including Hasting's own statements to friends, and a very unusual "accident."

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