QOTD: Did the CIA Kill Michael Hastings?

Jack Baruth
by Jack Baruth
qotd did the cia kill michael hastings

Three and a half years ago, I expressed some suspicion regarding the death of investigative journalist Michael Hastings. I didn’t have any inside information or unique knowledge on the subject; I just didn’t like the way the aftermath of the crash looked when evaluated in light of the “official” story that was being handed out at the time.

A lot of people thought I might have a point. Another, perhaps larger, lot of people thought I was crazy. Well, there’s now some information available to all of us, thanks to WikiLeaks, that might shed some additional light on the topic.


Part of the “Vault 7” release suggests that the CIA explored methods of performing “undetectable” assassinations via hacking into a vehicle control computer. It’s very far from being impossible; every modern automobile in production can perform two of the three major control operations — braking and acceleration — via computer control, and many cars are also able to steer via a computer command. But even if you don’t have computer-controlled steering, it’s child’s play to “steer” a car through the brakes. That’s how stability control works, you know.

Of course, it’s a long way from saying that it’s possible to kill someone remotely in their car to proving the CIA killed Michael Hastings, even if the CIA was or is passionately interested in the subject of vehicle assassination. But I think it’s safe to say the three traditional components of a murder — motive, means, and opportunity — are all present to a greater or lesser degree in this case.

What do you think? Am I being paranoid? Am I not being paranoid enough? Should I stop driving my Accord on the street and return to my trusty cable-operated, ABS-removed Plymouth Neon? Or will the CIA try another method of killing me? Maybe they’ll send me a really fine-looking girl, the way the opposition did in the movie “Munich.” I could live with that. Or die with it!

[Image: By Lord Jim (flickr) [ CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons]

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  • MaintenanceCosts This is now our fourth 20th Anniversary GTI, and the third of those four that had major structural modifications for purely aesthetic reasons. I didn't picture Tim as the type to want to join the STANCE YO crowd, but here we are?
  • JMII This is why I don't watch NASCAR, it just a crash fest. Normally due the nature of open-wheel cars you don't see such risky behavior during Indy car events. You can't trade paint and bump draft with an Indy car. I thought it was a sad ending for a 500. While everyone wants a green flag finish at some point (3 laps? 5 laps?) red flagging it is just tempting people too much like a reset button in a game.The overall problem is the 500 is not a "normal" race. Many one-off competitors enter it and for almost every driver they are willing to throw away the entire season championship just to win the "500". It sure pays way more then winning the championship. This would be like making a regular season NFL game worth more then the Super Bowl. This encourages risky behavior.I am not sure what the fix is, but Indy's restart procedures have been a mess for years. If I was in charge the rule would be pit speed limiter until the green flag drops at a certain place on the track - like NASCARs restart "zone". Currently the leader can pace the field however they wish and accelerate whenever they choose. This leads to multiple false and jumped starts with no penalty for the behavior. Officals rarely wave off such restarts, but that did happened once on Sunday so they tried to make driver behave. The situation almost didn't happen as there were two strategies in the end with some conserving fuel and running old tires, driving slower with others racing ahead. However the last caution put everyone on even terms so nobody had advantage. It always gets crazy in the last few laps but bunching up the field with a yellow or red flag is just asking for trouble.
  • Tim Healey Lol it's simply that VWVortex is fertile ground for interesting used cars!
  • Jalop1991 I say, install gun racks.Let the games begin!
  • EBFlex For those keeping track, Ford is up to 24 recalls this year and is still leading the industry. But hey, they just build some Super Dutys that are error free. Ford even sent out a self congratulatory press release saying they built Super Duty’s with zero defects. What an accomplishment!
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