Conspiracy! The Show Who Killed Michael Hastings?

October 22, 2024

Adam talks to comedians Jessica Singer and Heather Marulli about the highly strange 2013 death of investigative journalist Michael Hastings.

Show notes: https://conspirapod.link/ep305

1
00:00:15,360 –> 00:00:34,360
I.
Hey everybody, welcome to

2
00:00:34,360 –> 00:00:37,520
Conspiracy the show.
I’m your host, Adam Todd Brown,

3
00:00:37,520 –> 00:00:40,800
joining me as Co host this week.
My favorite Co host of all.

4
00:00:40,800 –> 00:00:44,120
No Co host, but I do have a
couple of guests.

5
00:00:44,200 –> 00:00:47,040
Case in point, she was just on
an episode recently.

6
00:00:47,040 –> 00:00:49,680
Jessica Singer’s here.
Hello.

7
00:00:50,080 –> 00:00:52,880
Jessica, how’s it going?
It’s going swell, it’s going

8
00:00:52,880 –> 00:00:54,800
swell.
My caffeine is finally kicked in

9
00:00:54,800 –> 00:00:56,560
and I’m happy to be here.
Finally.

10
00:00:57,000 –> 00:00:59,560
It took a minute this morning.
That’s why we’re recording so

11
00:00:59,560 –> 00:01:01,560
late in the afternoon.
I wanted you to tap me to kick

12
00:01:01,640 –> 00:01:02,600
in.
Thank you so much.

13
00:01:03,080 –> 00:01:05,960
Also joining us, Heather
Marouli’s here.

14
00:01:06,400 –> 00:01:07,760
Hello.
How’s it going?

15
00:01:07,840 –> 00:01:09,720
Pretty well, things are going
fine.

16
00:01:10,040 –> 00:01:12,480
Good for me considering the
past.

17
00:01:13,280 –> 00:01:16,720
It can only go up from here.
No recovering from getting hit

18
00:01:16,720 –> 00:01:17,720
by a car.
Yes.

19
00:01:17,760 –> 00:01:19,880
And I’m I’m doing well.
Things are fine.

20
00:01:20,040 –> 00:01:23,680
Thank you.
So thank you both for doing the

21
00:01:23,680 –> 00:01:27,360
pod today.
We are talking about some shit.

22
00:01:27,400 –> 00:01:31,120
I have wanted to cover this for
a long time and we just, I

23
00:01:31,280 –> 00:01:35,320
allude to it all the time on the
pod and we’ve never done a full

24
00:01:35,320 –> 00:01:39,320
episode about this.
We are talking about the death

25
00:01:39,560 –> 00:01:44,400
of investigative journalist
Michael Hastings, which happened

26
00:01:44,400 –> 00:01:48,200
in 2013.
It seems like a pretty cut and

27
00:01:48,200 –> 00:01:50,320
dry thing.
He was just in a car accident

28
00:01:50,320 –> 00:01:53,080
and died.
Or is it that cut and dry?

29
00:01:53,160 –> 00:01:55,600
I don’t know.
Let’s God damn find out.

30
00:01:55,680 –> 00:01:58,840
Did either of you have any prior
knowledge of this?

31
00:01:58,840 –> 00:01:59,680
Yep.
Mm hmm.

32
00:02:00,280 –> 00:02:02,640
I think about it every time I
drive down Highland.

33
00:02:03,720 –> 00:02:06,600
Every time I drive down
Highland, I think about Michael

34
00:02:06,600 –> 00:02:08,919
Hastings.
I can’t say, you know, it’s a

35
00:02:08,960 –> 00:02:11,800
really busy St. and it happened
in the middle of the night.

36
00:02:11,800 –> 00:02:15,400
But I still think about, and I
will talk about it, but like I

37
00:02:15,400 –> 00:02:20,000
still think about the mechanics
of that accident and how insane

38
00:02:20,000 –> 00:02:25,120
it is that the engine was so far
away from the actual car when it

39
00:02:25,120 –> 00:02:27,440
happened.
There’s a lot of weird details

40
00:02:27,440 –> 00:02:30,000
to it.
I also find the part where it

41
00:02:30,000 –> 00:02:32,440
happened on a very straight
stretch.

42
00:02:32,680 –> 00:02:34,720
Road it.
It’s a very straight St.

43
00:02:34,800 –> 00:02:37,920
Very straight and there’s lots
of curvy roads in LA, but that

44
00:02:37,920 –> 00:02:40,960
one straight.
So for people who are

45
00:02:40,960 –> 00:02:44,480
unfamiliar, let’s just talk a
little bit about Michael

46
00:02:44,480 –> 00:02:46,840
Hastings background.
He was an American journalist

47
00:02:46,920 –> 00:02:50,480
who worked for Rolling Stone and
BuzzFeed.

48
00:02:50,520 –> 00:02:55,840
Just a sidebar, BuzzFeed is
massively underrated as a media

49
00:02:55,840 –> 00:02:59,720
outlet and the thing that people
make fun of them for the most is

50
00:02:59,720 –> 00:03:02,360
just brilliant business model
shit.

51
00:03:02,400 –> 00:03:05,920
Those list articles are why they
could pay people like Michael

52
00:03:05,920 –> 00:03:08,840
Hastings to write the articles
he wrote at BuzzFeed.

53
00:03:08,960 –> 00:03:11,520
That was absolutely their
business model and it was

54
00:03:12,040 –> 00:03:14,840
fucking brilliant.
He initially gained attention

55
00:03:14,920 –> 00:03:19,680
for covering the war in Iraq in
the 2000s for Newsweek, which is

56
00:03:19,680 –> 00:03:22,640
another interesting outlet.
They are clearly not under the

57
00:03:22,640 –> 00:03:24,360
thumb of the American
government.

58
00:03:24,520 –> 00:03:28,040
And you can tell by the ship
they report that other outlets

59
00:03:28,160 –> 00:03:31,240
end up not reporting.
It’s very interesting.

60
00:03:31,560 –> 00:03:33,960
They’re the only outlet that
reported, I’ve said this a

61
00:03:33,960 –> 00:03:39,680
million times on the network of
basically undercover operatives

62
00:03:39,680 –> 00:03:43,200
that the Department of Defense
has been cultivating in the

63
00:03:43,200 –> 00:03:46,000
United States for the past 15
years or so.

64
00:03:46,080 –> 00:03:49,920
There’s more of them than there
are undercover CIA operatives.

65
00:03:50,040 –> 00:03:52,160
And that should be such a huge
story.

66
00:03:52,160 –> 00:03:55,040
And only Newsweek covered it.
Pretty fucking crazy.

67
00:03:55,080 –> 00:03:56,960
We probably know some of those
people.

68
00:03:57,080 –> 00:04:01,080
Like, their job is to just go
out into like, industries and

69
00:04:01,080 –> 00:04:05,120
movements and groups and just be
there and report back to the

70
00:04:05,120 –> 00:04:06,600
government.
I guarantee you there’s some

71
00:04:06,600 –> 00:04:09,080
fucking LA comics involved in
bullshit.

72
00:04:09,160 –> 00:04:12,480
No way there’s not.
So yeah, Hastings, he worked for

73
00:04:12,480 –> 00:04:15,080
Newsweek.
He covered the war in Iraq in

74
00:04:15,080 –> 00:04:20,480
the 2000s, but it was 2010 when
he really started making waves

75
00:04:20,560 –> 00:04:22,800
with the US government.
That’s the year he published a

76
00:04:22,800 –> 00:04:27,160
profile of General Stanley
McChrystal called The Runaway

77
00:04:27,160 –> 00:04:28,840
General.
Did either of you read this

78
00:04:28,840 –> 00:04:30,520
article?
Yeah, I wrote the whole thing.

79
00:04:30,880 –> 00:04:34,440
I listened to almost all of it
because I started it a little

80
00:04:34,440 –> 00:04:37,280
too late.
People call listening to Reddit

81
00:04:37,360 –> 00:04:39,360
now, right?
So I I read most of it.

82
00:04:39,360 –> 00:04:44,080
Yeah, yeah.
How crazy is it that this got

83
00:04:44,080 –> 00:04:47,360
him fired?
I get that he was making jokes

84
00:04:47,360 –> 00:04:51,720
about his boss but I feel like
in 2K24 this would be fucking

85
00:04:51,840 –> 00:04:53,640
blip on the radar.
No, it wouldn’t have done

86
00:04:53,640 –> 00:04:56,120
anything.
It it’s really interesting to

87
00:04:56,120 –> 00:04:58,920
think about in, you know, past
context.

88
00:04:59,400 –> 00:05:01,600
Yeah, how quickly things like
change like that.

89
00:05:01,720 –> 00:05:06,160
Yeah, and it’s interesting to
think about the administration

90
00:05:06,160 –> 00:05:09,280
it was happening under, which is
the Obama administration.

91
00:05:09,280 –> 00:05:13,520
This guy was probably the most
vocal opponent in the United

92
00:05:13,520 –> 00:05:18,440
States of the President, who is
possibly best known for drone

93
00:05:18,440 –> 00:05:21,760
striking an American citizen to
death.

94
00:05:22,080 –> 00:05:26,120
Well, people are talking about
that now way more.

95
00:05:26,200 –> 00:05:28,920
I hear people talk about the
drone strikes, he’s a war

96
00:05:28,920 –> 00:05:31,520
criminal, etcetera.
Nobody talked about that when it

97
00:05:31,520 –> 00:05:35,360
was happening because nobody, I
guess nobody, knew or didn’t

98
00:05:35,360 –> 00:05:38,280
want to acknowledge it.
I think people just didn’t want

99
00:05:38,280 –> 00:05:42,040
to acknowledge it more, so we
wanted to be like or like, not

100
00:05:42,040 –> 00:05:44,440
look into it as much, I guess
because we’re like, but he’s

101
00:05:44,440 –> 00:05:48,560
good, it’s fine.
And I do think a big part of it,

102
00:05:48,560 –> 00:05:53,720
one, there was just a point
there where and this I feel like

103
00:05:53,720 –> 00:05:57,600
just kind of ended with Biden
like in the last six months or

104
00:05:57,600 –> 00:05:59,320
so.
But there was a point there

105
00:05:59,320 –> 00:06:02,960
where if you just criticized the
Democrat, Democrats would be

106
00:06:02,960 –> 00:06:04,920
like, oh, so you’re a Republican
now, huh?

107
00:06:05,800 –> 00:06:09,720
And I feel like that kind of
started with Obama because

108
00:06:10,080 –> 00:06:13,680
Republicans, definitely, that’s
a dividing line for them.

109
00:06:13,680 –> 00:06:18,040
Once Obama got elected, for some
reason, Republicans went fucking

110
00:06:18,040 –> 00:06:20,000
crazy.
Don’t know what it was about

111
00:06:20,000 –> 00:06:22,800
Obama.
Yeah, I mean, that.

112
00:06:23,600 –> 00:06:26,160
I mean, to me, that’s why Trump
won.

113
00:06:26,160 –> 00:06:30,120
It was like this total backlash
of like, OK, you elected that

114
00:06:30,120 –> 00:06:32,200
guy, we’re getting this guy in
here.

115
00:06:32,200 –> 00:06:34,920
And it’s been nonsense ever
since.

116
00:06:34,920 –> 00:06:36,720
Like, unbelievable.
Yeah.

117
00:06:36,720 –> 00:06:39,760
And if you look throughout the
world where countries have

118
00:06:39,760 –> 00:06:43,360
elected people like Trump, it’s
a lot of times followed by that.

119
00:06:43,360 –> 00:06:47,560
It’s followed by about 8 to 10
years of really liberal times

120
00:06:47,560 –> 00:06:51,800
where this seething undercurrent
of the country feels like

121
00:06:51,800 –> 00:06:53,800
they’re not being represented
anymore.

122
00:06:53,840 –> 00:06:57,920
It’s woke now.
And yeah, I think that had a lot

123
00:06:57,920 –> 00:07:00,040
to do with Trump getting
elected.

124
00:07:00,120 –> 00:07:04,120
I think you cannot discount the
fact that Obama was our first

125
00:07:04,120 –> 00:07:06,800
black president.
Oh, that’s definitely part of

126
00:07:06,800 –> 00:07:08,000
it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

127
00:07:08,000 –> 00:07:10,520
I kind of thought that was
implied in our conversation.

128
00:07:11,400 –> 00:07:13,000
The whole MAGA.
Thing.

129
00:07:13,040 –> 00:07:15,920
Oh no, no, no, no.
I mean Democrats not wanting to

130
00:07:15,920 –> 00:07:17,920
criticize Obama.
Oh, OK.

131
00:07:17,960 –> 00:07:20,640
Yeah, that’s true.
Yeah, I think it’s on both

132
00:07:20,640 –> 00:07:23,320
sides.
I think he was played with like

133
00:07:23,400 –> 00:07:26,080
we played with him with kid
gloves, kind of on the

134
00:07:26,400 –> 00:07:29,160
Democratic side because we’re
like, don’t want to mess up

135
00:07:29,160 –> 00:07:32,560
having more not old white men in
office.

136
00:07:32,720 –> 00:07:35,240
Yeah.
So yeah, this article parkins

137
00:07:35,240 –> 00:07:38,480
back to a different time when
you could lose your job in the

138
00:07:38,480 –> 00:07:41,960
military just for making fun of
someone in a Rolling Stone

139
00:07:42,120 –> 00:07:45,280
article.
But that’s basically what

140
00:07:45,280 –> 00:07:49,120
happened with this article.
Stanley McChrystal got fired

141
00:07:49,280 –> 00:07:53,440
very shortly after it came out.
And Obama was like, it’s not

142
00:07:53,440 –> 00:07:55,200
because of the Rolling Stone
article.

143
00:07:55,600 –> 00:07:57,160
Shut the fuck up.
Yes, it was.

144
00:07:57,280 –> 00:08:00,600
Everyone knows it was.
And he just, in this article, if

145
00:08:00,600 –> 00:08:04,920
you read it, he just repeatedly
criticizes Obama and Biden,

146
00:08:04,920 –> 00:08:08,000
makes fun of them, calls them
names.

147
00:08:09,200 –> 00:08:12,440
And he had to see this coming,
right?

148
00:08:12,440 –> 00:08:15,600
Did he think this reporter was
just not going to put any of

149
00:08:15,600 –> 00:08:20,160
that in the article?
Not writing it down, I don’t

150
00:08:20,160 –> 00:08:22,240
know, maybe.
I don’t know if he thinks about

151
00:08:22,240 –> 00:08:23,880
stuff like that.
Probably not.

152
00:08:24,160 –> 00:08:27,160
Just plainly, just like from
other things he said, he doesn’t

153
00:08:27,160 –> 00:08:30,360
seem like he’s like thinking.
You know, they talk about how he

154
00:08:30,360 –> 00:08:33,840
allegedly sleeps 4 hours a night
and eats one meal a day.

155
00:08:33,840 –> 00:08:35,960
Like he his brain might be
atrophied.

156
00:08:36,360 –> 00:08:37,640
Yeah.
He has no room.

157
00:08:37,640 –> 00:08:39,799
He has no room.
It’s focusing on like staying

158
00:08:39,799 –> 00:08:41,880
awake and staying.
Yeah.

159
00:08:42,200 –> 00:08:45,160
Yeah, and that even that ties
into like Alzheimer’s and shit.

160
00:08:45,160 –> 00:08:48,480
There’s a process that happens
in your brain that clears those

161
00:08:48,480 –> 00:08:50,880
plaques out that cause
Alzheimer’s, but you have to

162
00:08:50,880 –> 00:08:52,960
sleep a certain amount of time.
Oh, really?

163
00:08:53,480 –> 00:08:55,280
To happen?
Well, that’s interesting.

164
00:08:55,400 –> 00:08:58,080
So yeah, he’s probably just
riddled with dementia by this

165
00:08:58,080 –> 00:09:02,920
point too, and thinks it’s OK to
tell a Rolling Stone reporter in

166
00:09:02,920 –> 00:09:06,800
regards to a dinner he had to
attend with a French minister.

167
00:09:06,800 –> 00:09:11,520
Quote it’s fucking gay.
So funny choosing to have my

168
00:09:11,520 –> 00:09:14,880
laptop read this article to me.
There were some really funny

169
00:09:14,880 –> 00:09:18,880
things I said when he would like
call things Gucci or like curse

170
00:09:19,240 –> 00:09:21,840
or like, because I wouldn’t be
looking at the screen so I

171
00:09:21,840 –> 00:09:24,240
wouldn’t see it coming.
And then I just hear these

172
00:09:24,240 –> 00:09:26,840
things and I’m like, is this?
Does he know he’s funny?

173
00:09:28,960 –> 00:09:32,640
The mention of him loving the
movie Talladega Nights, I

174
00:09:32,760 –> 00:09:34,640
thought that was really
interesting.

175
00:09:34,640 –> 00:09:38,440
And then also the bit about his
wife thinking thinking gets cute

176
00:09:38,440 –> 00:09:41,160
and funny that he took her to
Jack-in-the-box or something on

177
00:09:41,160 –> 00:09:44,840
their anniversary.
No, she was already dressed up.

178
00:09:45,040 –> 00:09:49,960
Like he had her dress up, then
took her to jack-in-the-box and

179
00:09:49,960 –> 00:09:53,520
she’s like, isn’t that funny?
And it’s like, that’s awful.

180
00:09:53,800 –> 00:09:57,080
That’s actually awful.
I kind of feel bad for her.

181
00:09:57,440 –> 00:10:00,960
Unless it was like because we
met at a jack-in-the-box like.

182
00:10:01,960 –> 00:10:04,200
Talk about being ahead of his
time though.

183
00:10:04,200 –> 00:10:07,600
How many Instagram videos have
you seen where it’s the caption

184
00:10:07,600 –> 00:10:10,920
is taking my girlfriend to an
exclusive club for dinner and

185
00:10:10,920 –> 00:10:13,240
then they cut to them eating
Costco hot dogs and she’s

186
00:10:13,240 –> 00:10:15,360
looking all mad.
He should have put it on video.

187
00:10:15,360 –> 00:10:18,000
He would have kept his job.
Share that shit on social media.

188
00:10:18,000 –> 00:10:20,720
Should have vined it.
Was it in the time of Vine?

189
00:10:20,920 –> 00:10:25,880
Yeah, I think Vine was probably
the Yeah, just a six second clip

190
00:10:25,960 –> 00:10:28,760
of you pissing off your wife
goes viral, you keep your job.

191
00:10:28,880 –> 00:10:32,720
So yeah, I don’t think this kind
of scandal would get someone

192
00:10:32,720 –> 00:10:36,200
fired today.
I also don’t know that any

193
00:10:36,200 –> 00:10:39,040
outlet, maybe Rolling Stone,
would.

194
00:10:39,400 –> 00:10:42,120
They might be the exception, but
I don’t know that any outlets

195
00:10:42,120 –> 00:10:46,520
would write an article like this
anymore because mainstream

196
00:10:46,520 –> 00:10:50,920
outlets are so reliant on the
government and access to the

197
00:10:50,920 –> 00:10:55,840
government for their reporting.
Which I cannot stress enough, is

198
00:10:55,840 –> 00:10:59,880
not the way it should work.
But I don’t think a lot of major

199
00:10:59,880 –> 00:11:02,560
media outlets would want to risk
their relationship with the

200
00:11:02,560 –> 00:11:04,480
government by writing something
like this.

201
00:11:04,840 –> 00:11:08,320
Unless it was Trump, then that’s
fine because it’s not going to

202
00:11:08,320 –> 00:11:10,840
matter.
Like when the New York Times did

203
00:11:10,840 –> 00:11:14,640
that big expose of the Trump
family shielding their money

204
00:11:14,640 –> 00:11:18,400
from taxes by giving it to their
kids through, like, various

205
00:11:18,400 –> 00:11:19,920
gifts and things, it didn’t
matter.

206
00:11:20,080 –> 00:11:23,320
Nothing happened.
But he eventually turned this

207
00:11:23,320 –> 00:11:27,040
reporting into a book called The
Operators that included even

208
00:11:27,040 –> 00:11:30,480
more scandalous quotes about
McChrystal and his team.

209
00:11:30,560 –> 00:11:35,360
But there’s a really interesting
part in this book that people

210
00:11:35,360 –> 00:11:39,760
pointed to after Michael
Hastings died where he’s at a

211
00:11:39,880 –> 00:11:42,240
party with a bunch of Stanley
McChrystal staff.

212
00:11:42,440 –> 00:11:45,560
Everyone’s drunk.
And at one point, one of them

213
00:11:45,640 –> 00:11:48,680
turns to Michael Hastings and
says, you’re not going to fuck

214
00:11:48,680 –> 00:11:51,520
us, are you?
At which point another staffer

215
00:11:51,600 –> 00:11:55,280
chimes in and says, we’ll hunt
you down and kill you if we

216
00:11:55,280 –> 00:11:58,760
don’t like what you write.
And Michael Hastings chalk that

217
00:11:58,760 –> 00:12:04,040
up to drunken jokes in the book.
But where they, I don’t know.

218
00:12:04,040 –> 00:12:05,520
So I’m going to say something.
Oh, nothing.

219
00:12:06,280 –> 00:12:09,720
I think we were just face
reacting in an audio medium

220
00:12:09,720 –> 00:12:11,960
agreeing with you.
I think that’s.

221
00:12:12,680 –> 00:12:15,840
I I agree, yeah.
Yeah, I think we’re both just

222
00:12:15,840 –> 00:12:20,120
like, yeah, that was probably a
lot scarier than a drunken hee

223
00:12:20,120 –> 00:12:23,240
hee moment.
Yeah, and I already mentioned a

224
00:12:23,240 –> 00:12:27,480
little Hastings was super duper
vocal about the Obama

225
00:12:27,480 –> 00:12:30,200
administration.
And I know that would make a lot

226
00:12:30,200 –> 00:12:33,360
of listeners tend to think, oh,
well, he’s like a right winger.

227
00:12:33,480 –> 00:12:38,600
Yeah, No, what he didn’t like
about Obama was Obama campaigned

228
00:12:38,640 –> 00:12:43,800
in large part on ending all of
the crazy war shit George W Bush

229
00:12:43,800 –> 00:12:47,400
was doing, including promising
to shut down Guantanamo, which

230
00:12:47,400 –> 00:12:50,120
he never did.
But then when he got in office,

231
00:12:50,360 –> 00:12:53,680
it was the exact opposite.
He didn’t do anything to scale

232
00:12:53,680 –> 00:12:56,880
any of the war shit back.
He just kind of expanded it by

233
00:12:56,880 –> 00:13:00,840
introducing this drone program
into the mix as if that was like

234
00:13:00,840 –> 00:13:03,400
a more ethical way to fight
wars.

235
00:13:03,600 –> 00:13:07,280
And I don’t know about that.
He also took issue with the

236
00:13:07,280 –> 00:13:10,800
Obama administration spying on
journalists.

237
00:13:10,920 –> 00:13:16,040
He in May 2013 went on a podcast
and in response to a question

238
00:13:16,040 –> 00:13:19,400
about the drone strike program
that started under Obama, he

239
00:13:19,400 –> 00:13:23,680
said, quote, Obama enshrines
killing people and spying on

240
00:13:23,680 –> 00:13:28,240
journalists as the two major
tenets of his national security

241
00:13:28,240 –> 00:13:29,520
state.
End Quote.

242
00:13:29,600 –> 00:13:35,080
I think he would in today’s
political climate, I think this

243
00:13:35,080 –> 00:13:38,040
guy would get labeled a right
winger for saying stuff like

244
00:13:38,040 –> 00:13:42,800
this, even though he’s just
making valid criticisms of

245
00:13:42,800 –> 00:13:46,120
Obama’s performance in office.
But I don’t know that people

246
00:13:46,120 –> 00:13:48,880
would take it that way today.
I’m surprised they did back

247
00:13:48,880 –> 00:13:49,600
then.
I don’t think.

248
00:13:49,600 –> 00:13:51,920
I think even back then, people
were probably like, oh, so

249
00:13:51,920 –> 00:13:54,880
you’re a right winner then.
He also called an MSNBC

250
00:13:54,880 –> 00:13:59,000
contributor named Perry Bacon a
quote stenographer for the White

251
00:13:59,000 –> 00:14:00,400
House.
Drag him.

252
00:14:00,720 –> 00:14:03,520
Yeah, I wonder what Perry Bacon
said in response.

253
00:14:03,520 –> 00:14:06,520
But that’s the problem.
Now almost every journalist is a

254
00:14:06,520 –> 00:14:10,320
stenographer for to the White
House again, Zeppelin.

255
00:14:10,320 –> 00:14:12,960
Trump’s in office.
But even then, kind of so

256
00:14:12,960 –> 00:14:16,240
shortly after Obama’s re
election, Hastings published an

257
00:14:16,240 –> 00:14:20,560
e-book called Panic 2012, the
sublime and terrifying inside

258
00:14:20,560 –> 00:14:24,520
story of Obama’s final campaign.
And in February 2012, he

259
00:14:24,520 –> 00:14:28,440
partnered up with WikiLeaks,
fucking uh oh, and published

260
00:14:28,440 –> 00:14:31,080
another Rolling Stone article
that detailed the Department of

261
00:14:31,080 –> 00:14:34,800
Homeland Security’s efforts to
monitor the Occupy Wall Street

262
00:14:34,960 –> 00:14:37,080
movement.
Remember that shit that didn’t

263
00:14:37,080 –> 00:14:40,880
do anything?
I remember that it, it was many

264
00:14:40,880 –> 00:14:43,280
years, wasn’t it?
Like I don’t know how many years

265
00:14:43,280 –> 00:14:45,480
that was.
It lasted a while.

266
00:14:45,480 –> 00:14:52,760
I I moved to New York briefly in
late 2011 and it was still kind

267
00:14:52,760 –> 00:14:56,800
of going then, I believe.
Wait a second, why does the

268
00:14:56,800 –> 00:14:59,400
Wikipedia say it only lasted 59
days?

269
00:14:59,400 –> 00:15:01,480
Are we having a Mandela Effect
moment?

270
00:15:01,760 –> 00:15:03,920
Oh, it could be.
Yeah, maybe it wasn’t used.

271
00:15:04,240 –> 00:15:06,920
I think there were some people
who were there for years.

272
00:15:07,120 –> 00:15:08,520
Probably.
They might have just been

273
00:15:08,520 –> 00:15:11,480
homeless though.
Sorry.

274
00:15:12,040 –> 00:15:15,840
People who were like voluntarily
living in a tent or something.

275
00:15:16,440 –> 00:15:18,360
I don’t know.
I was in college.

276
00:15:18,360 –> 00:15:22,520
I don’t have a lot of memories.
Yeah, I don’t remember how long

277
00:15:22,640 –> 00:15:26,760
it lasted. 59 days sounds more
right than years.

278
00:15:26,760 –> 00:15:30,600
That’s what it says, but it says
for the wider movement, see

279
00:15:30,600 –> 00:15:35,280
Occupy movement.
And that says it was from 2011

280
00:15:35,280 –> 00:15:41,200
to 2016, OK Occupy movement was
an international populist socio

281
00:15:41,200 –> 00:15:43,880
political movement that
expressed opposition to social

282
00:15:43,880 –> 00:15:47,080
and economic inequality.
And that was September twenty,

283
00:15:47,120 –> 00:15:50,440
11th November 2016.
So maybe that’s what I’m

284
00:15:50,440 –> 00:15:53,560
thinking of, yeah.
Probably same but different.

285
00:15:53,720 –> 00:15:56,960
Hastings was also the first
person to cover the story of

286
00:15:57,280 –> 00:16:01,960
Bowie Bergdahl, who was an
American soldier who basically

287
00:16:02,000 –> 00:16:06,520
deserted the military in
Afghanistan and ended up being a

288
00:16:06,520 –> 00:16:09,720
prisoner of war.
And in his profile of Bergdahl,

289
00:16:09,720 –> 00:16:12,720
Hastings suggested that there
were some people within the

290
00:16:12,720 –> 00:16:16,320
Department of Defense who did
not want him to be returned

291
00:16:16,400 –> 00:16:20,200
because of the things he knew
about what we were doing in

292
00:16:20,200 –> 00:16:22,720
Afghanistan.
But he was eventually they freed

293
00:16:22,720 –> 00:16:26,840
in 2014 and immediately faced
charges of desertion from the

294
00:16:26,840 –> 00:16:31,440
military sidebar.
Bowie Bergdahl was the subject

295
00:16:31,440 –> 00:16:35,600
of season 2 of the Serial
podcast, which I’ve still never

296
00:16:35,600 –> 00:16:37,400
listened to.
Oh, I didn’t either.

297
00:16:39,560 –> 00:16:42,160
I listened to the first season.
Oh, I didn’t listen to the first

298
00:16:42,160 –> 00:16:44,120
season.
I have, I have not.

299
00:16:44,120 –> 00:16:46,520
I don’t think it surprises
anybody that I haven’t listened

300
00:16:46,520 –> 00:16:51,040
to Serial.
Are you not a big true crime

301
00:16:51,040 –> 00:16:55,080
person?
I I’ll watch like documentaries.

302
00:16:55,080 –> 00:16:57,000
If I’m going to learn about
stuff like that, I’m going to

303
00:16:57,000 –> 00:16:59,000
watch it.
I’m not going to listen to it.

304
00:16:59,240 –> 00:17:03,160
Yeah, Serial.
I think the biggest impact it

305
00:17:03,160 –> 00:17:07,760
had on the world was for a while
there everyone decided their

306
00:17:07,760 –> 00:17:11,319
shit needed to be a series.
And when I say everyone I mean

307
00:17:11,319 –> 00:17:14,560
people running comedy shows.
Like there I would see comedy

308
00:17:14,560 –> 00:17:18,640
shows where it was like volume
three season 4 episode 6.

309
00:17:18,640 –> 00:17:23,560
It’s like shut the absolute fuck
up, what is wrong with you?

310
00:17:24,200 –> 00:17:26,319
You are doing a God damn comedy
show.

311
00:17:26,319 –> 00:17:29,720
No one has volumes of your
comedy show at home on their

312
00:17:29,720 –> 00:17:34,240
shelves you fucking weirdos.
God comics are weird.

313
00:17:34,320 –> 00:17:37,200
They are Jesus.
The worst people, honestly.

314
00:17:39,680 –> 00:17:44,080
So the last article Hastings
published was a BuzzFeed piece

315
00:17:44,080 –> 00:17:48,800
called Why Democrats Love to Spy
on Americans and it came out

316
00:17:49,080 –> 00:17:52,560
right after Was it Glenn?
Is it Glenn Greenwald?

317
00:17:52,560 –> 00:17:53,760
Is that his name?
Who?

318
00:17:53,760 –> 00:17:57,000
Yeah.
Who I think is probably a good

319
00:17:57,080 –> 00:18:01,720
example of the path Michael
Hastings career might have taken

320
00:18:01,800 –> 00:18:05,280
had he not tragically died in
Hancock Park.

321
00:18:05,360 –> 00:18:09,400
Because Glenn Greenwald is also
an investigative journalist, and

322
00:18:09,720 –> 00:18:12,440
you’ll hear a lot of people on
the left now who are like, man,

323
00:18:12,440 –> 00:18:16,840
fuck that guy.
And I don’t know exactly why,

324
00:18:17,040 –> 00:18:20,960
but I feel like there was a
pretty strong effort to

325
00:18:21,000 –> 00:18:26,440
discredit him and make him look
like a bad person when he’s one

326
00:18:26,440 –> 00:18:30,200
of the most vocal opponents of
the American government and one

327
00:18:30,200 –> 00:18:33,520
of the most honest opponents of
the American government.

328
00:18:33,520 –> 00:18:36,920
He doesn’t criticize the
American government from a, oh,

329
00:18:36,920 –> 00:18:39,920
I’m a Republican, I’m a Democrat
kind of position.

330
00:18:39,960 –> 00:18:43,040
It’s more a I’m questioning the
government, which that is

331
00:18:43,040 –> 00:18:45,160
getting more and more rare these
days.

332
00:18:45,280 –> 00:18:47,080
Yeah.
I think Glenn Greenwald lives in

333
00:18:47,080 –> 00:18:50,240
like, fucking Venezuela now.
Brazil.

334
00:18:50,520 –> 00:18:52,880
Brazil.
Well, because didn’t his husband

335
00:18:52,880 –> 00:18:55,160
get cancer and didn’t he pass
away?

336
00:18:56,200 –> 00:18:59,160
Could be.
I think I think he died and

337
00:18:59,360 –> 00:19:01,240
Glenn is down there with their
children.

338
00:19:02,080 –> 00:19:03,960
Yeah, that’s a bummer.
If I’m not mistaken at.

339
00:19:04,200 –> 00:19:05,840
Least he didn’t get his car
hacked.

340
00:19:06,160 –> 00:19:08,280
He did not get his car hacked,
no.

341
00:19:09,440 –> 00:19:14,680
And after Greenwald reported on
all that, that’s when Hastings

342
00:19:14,680 –> 00:19:17,480
wrote this article about why
Democrats love to spy on

343
00:19:17,480 –> 00:19:20,880
Americans.
And it was all about how

344
00:19:20,960 –> 00:19:25,640
Democrats, and this is all true
in 2006 and 2008 both, one of

345
00:19:25,640 –> 00:19:29,640
the things they campaigned
really hard on was, well, check

346
00:19:29,640 –> 00:19:32,320
out how the Bush administration
is spying on you.

347
00:19:32,400 –> 00:19:34,360
Don’t you want all that to go
away?

348
00:19:34,360 –> 00:19:36,240
We’re the good guys.
We’re going to get rid of all

349
00:19:36,240 –> 00:19:38,240
that.
And they did not, they

350
00:19:38,440 –> 00:19:43,320
dramatically expanded spying on
Americans under the Obama

351
00:19:43,320 –> 00:19:45,800
administration.
And that was one of Michael

352
00:19:45,800 –> 00:19:48,680
Hastings big sticking points
with Obama.

353
00:19:48,800 –> 00:19:51,360
So now let’s talk about his
death.

354
00:19:51,440 –> 00:19:57,240
He was killed on June 18th,
2013, approximately 4:25 AM in a

355
00:19:57,240 –> 00:20:02,880
single vehicle car crash in the
Hancock Park neighborhood of Los

356
00:20:02,880 –> 00:20:03,960
Angeles.
Is this?

357
00:20:04,400 –> 00:20:05,760
Close to where you live,
Heather.

358
00:20:05,880 –> 00:20:09,600
No, but I it’s a street.
Sometimes I pick to work.

359
00:20:10,400 –> 00:20:13,320
I’m on it frequently.
It’s a popular street, very

360
00:20:13,400 –> 00:20:15,640
popular street.
I take Highland to work

361
00:20:15,680 –> 00:20:19,560
everyday, yeah.
Yeah, witnesses said his car was

362
00:20:19,560 –> 00:20:22,040
traveling at a high rate of
speed, so much so that was

363
00:20:22,040 –> 00:20:26,280
creating sparks and flames
before crashing into a palm

364
00:20:26,280 –> 00:20:29,320
tree.
And surveillance video from

365
00:20:29,320 –> 00:20:32,200
around the scene seems to
confirm those reports.

366
00:20:32,320 –> 00:20:36,160
Heather already mentioned this.
The cars engine was ejected and

367
00:20:36,160 –> 00:20:39,760
it was like 50 to 60 yards from
the crash site.

368
00:20:39,760 –> 00:20:42,000
Why?
That’s so sketchy.

369
00:20:42,200 –> 00:20:46,120
I mean, to me it just it sounds
like a bomb like like a pile

370
00:20:46,240 –> 00:20:48,880
type.
Yeah, it sounds like something

371
00:20:48,880 –> 00:20:52,960
exploded because I’ve seen.
I mean, I don’t know, I guess if

372
00:20:52,960 –> 00:20:55,840
there’s a skeptic out there who
wants to dig into it.

373
00:20:55,840 –> 00:20:59,480
Find me a bunch of pictures of
car accidents where the engine

374
00:20:59,480 –> 00:21:03,840
flew 50 to 60 yards away.
Especially if you’re hitting a

375
00:21:03,840 –> 00:21:06,400
tree, it seems like you hit it
head on.

376
00:21:06,520 –> 00:21:09,200
Wouldn’t the engine just like?
Get crushed in it, yeah.

377
00:21:09,720 –> 00:21:13,880
Honestly, even just like one
other example, like I know you

378
00:21:13,960 –> 00:21:17,160
said, like many other examples,
was there like one or two other?

379
00:21:17,160 –> 00:21:21,760
Things I think I think maybe it
could happen in like a Formula

380
00:21:21,760 –> 00:21:25,600
One crash where there’s like
where they’re they’re driving so

381
00:21:25,600 –> 00:21:26,560
fast that.
Like.

382
00:21:27,080 –> 00:21:31,200
Debris can like fly crazy
distances but.

383
00:21:31,200 –> 00:21:33,760
OK.
One other resident, potential

384
00:21:33,760 –> 00:21:36,920
cash, you know.
I got a regular car accident

385
00:21:36,920 –> 00:21:39,080
like this it to me this it makes
no sense.

386
00:21:39,360 –> 00:21:43,160
No, I agree with that.
And his body was burned beyond

387
00:21:43,160 –> 00:21:44,800
recognition.
Very convenient.

388
00:21:44,880 –> 00:21:49,640
And very shortly after the
crash, the LAPD swooped in to

389
00:21:49,640 –> 00:21:52,400
assure the world there was no
evidence of foul play.

390
00:21:52,560 –> 00:21:55,400
Oh, thank God.
Yeah, since when do we not trust

391
00:21:55,400 –> 00:21:58,360
the LAPD, you know?
Have they lied before?

392
00:21:58,880 –> 00:22:01,200
I don’t think so.
I don’t think they have ever

393
00:22:01,200 –> 00:22:04,920
lied about anything and that’s
that’s why I trust them

394
00:22:04,920 –> 00:22:07,080
inherently.
Are you hearing this, LAPD?

395
00:22:07,080 –> 00:22:10,440
If you ever pull me over, just
know Adam Todd Brown trusts you

396
00:22:10,440 –> 00:22:13,520
inherently.
So I feel like any situation

397
00:22:13,520 –> 00:22:17,240
like this is very complicated.
You see this with Gary Webb

398
00:22:17,240 –> 00:22:20,960
also, who is the journalist who
broke the story about the CIA

399
00:22:20,960 –> 00:22:23,200
selling crack in the United
States.

400
00:22:23,320 –> 00:22:27,040
He eventually committed suicide
and it’s one of the weirdest

401
00:22:27,040 –> 00:22:31,240
suicides ever ever because he
shot himself twice in the head.

402
00:22:31,560 –> 00:22:32,720
Wait, what?
I never heard.

403
00:22:35,280 –> 00:22:37,640
About this, yeah.
The first shot went through his

404
00:22:37,640 –> 00:22:41,240
cheek and then the second shot
killed him.

405
00:22:41,320 –> 00:22:46,720
I think he was trying to make it
look like the CIA killed him

406
00:22:46,760 –> 00:22:50,680
when he shot himself the first
time because the CIA wouldn’t

407
00:22:50,680 –> 00:22:52,680
miss.
They’re not going to fucking

408
00:22:52,800 –> 00:22:54,920
miss shooting someone in the
head.

409
00:22:55,000 –> 00:22:59,160
And what’s really complicated
about it is his entire family

410
00:22:59,200 –> 00:23:03,400
swears he committed suicide.
And the other thing that makes

411
00:23:03,400 –> 00:23:06,400
me think, unlike Michael
Hastings, that Gary Webb wasn’t

412
00:23:06,400 –> 00:23:09,800
killed by the government, By the
time he committed suicide, the

413
00:23:09,800 –> 00:23:13,000
government had killed him.
He was still alive, but he had

414
00:23:13,000 –> 00:23:15,200
no fucking career.
He had no money.

415
00:23:15,400 –> 00:23:18,400
He was living with his mom the
night he committed suicide.

416
00:23:18,400 –> 00:23:22,000
His motorcycle got stolen, and
that was like his last God damn

417
00:23:22,000 –> 00:23:25,200
worldly possession.
So I think he killed himself.

418
00:23:25,200 –> 00:23:28,000
And I think that first shot
might have been, oh, well, if

419
00:23:28,400 –> 00:23:31,120
there’s two shots, they’ll think
the CIA did it and that’ll put

420
00:23:31,120 –> 00:23:34,600
some stink on them forever.
But I don’t think the CIA had

421
00:23:34,600 –> 00:23:37,000
reason to kill Gary Webb by that
point.

422
00:23:37,000 –> 00:23:40,320
Michael Hastings, on the other
hand, I absolutely think they

423
00:23:40,320 –> 00:23:42,880
had reason to kill him.
But you see the same thing where

424
00:23:42,880 –> 00:23:45,720
his family and his friends are
like, I don’t know, he was

425
00:23:45,720 –> 00:23:50,440
pretty depressed at the time and
he was acting pretty weird.

426
00:23:50,720 –> 00:23:54,560
Did he have a mental health
diagnosis of anything other than

427
00:23:54,560 –> 00:23:57,240
depression?
Was he bipolar or anything like

428
00:23:57,240 –> 00:23:59,800
that?
I haven’t read anything where he

429
00:23:59,800 –> 00:24:04,080
was specifically diagnosed with
that, but there is a quote from

430
00:24:04,080 –> 00:24:08,320
his brother.
His brother was apparently in LA

431
00:24:08,320 –> 00:24:11,200
at the time Michael Hastings
died because he was trying to

432
00:24:11,200 –> 00:24:15,960
orchestrate a intervention of
some sort and he thought Michael

433
00:24:15,960 –> 00:24:20,840
Hastings was having a drug
induced manic episode at the

434
00:24:20,840 –> 00:24:24,560
time he died.
And I get that, but also,

435
00:24:24,600 –> 00:24:27,840
wouldn’t that make it the
perfect time for the government

436
00:24:27,840 –> 00:24:30,720
to swoop in and kill him in a
way that looked like it could

437
00:24:30,720 –> 00:24:34,000
maybe have been suicide?
Yeah, no, that would they go

438
00:24:34,000 –> 00:24:37,560
well together in like a gross
way, Yeah, like to time that,

439
00:24:37,560 –> 00:24:39,760
yeah.
And I don’t know if I believe

440
00:24:39,760 –> 00:24:43,760
this, but there’s a theory out
there about Jimmy Hoffa that

441
00:24:43,800 –> 00:24:47,960
suggests this serial killer
named Edward James Edwards.

442
00:24:48,080 –> 00:24:49,400
Is it Edward James or Edward
Ray?

443
00:24:49,400 –> 00:24:51,480
Hold on.
Edward Wayne Edwards.

444
00:24:51,560 –> 00:24:55,720
The, and it’s actually Edward
Wayne Edwards son who suggests

445
00:24:55,720 –> 00:24:58,840
that Edward Wayne Edwards might
have killed Jimmy Hoffa because

446
00:24:58,840 –> 00:25:01,000
Edward Wayne Edwards was a
serial killer.

447
00:25:01,080 –> 00:25:04,720
He was a serial killer of
opportunity where he would just,

448
00:25:04,920 –> 00:25:07,600
oh, if I can commit this murder
and fucking get away with it,

449
00:25:07,600 –> 00:25:10,040
I’m going to do it.
He was in Jimmy Hoffa’s inner

450
00:25:10,040 –> 00:25:15,400
circle at the time Jimmy Hoffa
died and he witnessed this big

451
00:25:15,400 –> 00:25:19,880
fight that Jimmy Hoffa had with
one of his associates right

452
00:25:19,880 –> 00:25:22,760
before he died.
And Edward Wayne Edwards son

453
00:25:22,760 –> 00:25:25,000
thinks so.
I think he saw that fight and

454
00:25:25,000 –> 00:25:27,960
knew if he killed Jimmy Hoffa in
that moment, they would blame it

455
00:25:27,960 –> 00:25:29,840
on that guy he had the fight
with.

456
00:25:29,920 –> 00:25:32,960
And this could have been the CIA
acting in that way.

457
00:25:33,040 –> 00:25:36,560
Yeah, because he was also
emailing his friends and family

458
00:25:36,560 –> 00:25:40,360
and telling them the FBI was
going to be talking to them.

459
00:25:40,480 –> 00:25:43,680
And everyone talked about how
weird he was acting, how he was

460
00:25:43,680 –> 00:25:46,480
agitated and paranoid.
Well, and if they’re hacking his

461
00:25:46,480 –> 00:25:48,720
car, they’re hacking his e-mail.
Sorry to interrupt you.

462
00:25:48,880 –> 00:25:51,840
Well, yeah, absolutely.
And the idea that he was

463
00:25:51,840 –> 00:25:56,880
agitated and paranoid, I mean,
this is a corny thing to quote

464
00:25:56,880 –> 00:26:00,440
in this moment, but there’s a
line from a Nirvana song that

465
00:26:00,440 –> 00:26:03,160
says just because you’re
paranoid don’t mean they’re not

466
00:26:03,160 –> 00:26:05,600
after you.
And it seems like they were

467
00:26:05,600 –> 00:26:08,360
after this guy when he was
paranoid about the government

468
00:26:08,360 –> 00:26:09,880
being after him.
Wait.

469
00:26:10,480 –> 00:26:13,160
Did his brother say what drugs
he was doing?

470
00:26:13,320 –> 00:26:15,600
Like was he doing coke?
But this is my question, was he

471
00:26:15,600 –> 00:26:19,040
doing cocaine they found?
Weed and amphetamines in his.

472
00:26:19,040 –> 00:26:22,480
System OK well I mean
amphetamines and cocaine make

473
00:26:22,480 –> 00:26:26,600
you really paranoid yeah I think
he had a reason to be paranoid

474
00:26:26,760 –> 00:26:31,560
but that it got turned up even
higher by that drug 1000.

475
00:26:31,560 –> 00:26:34,120
Percent, yeah, it’s not going to
make it better.

476
00:26:34,520 –> 00:26:38,240
Yeah, meth is not the drug to do
when you’re afraid the

477
00:26:38,240 –> 00:26:41,120
government is following you.
Yeah, but that’s how you think

478
00:26:41,120 –> 00:26:42,720
faster and you get ahead of
them.

479
00:26:42,720 –> 00:26:48,840
No, I’m just kidding.
But also, that paranoia, a lot

480
00:26:48,840 –> 00:26:51,880
of it turned out to not be
unwarranted.

481
00:26:52,080 –> 00:26:55,200
In the days before he died, he
started, like I said, emailing

482
00:26:55,200 –> 00:26:58,320
friends and colleagues to tell
them the FBI might be knocking

483
00:26:58,320 –> 00:27:03,120
on their door to ask questions.
The FBI, after he died, denied

484
00:27:03,280 –> 00:27:06,120
that they were surveilling
Michael Hastings or that they

485
00:27:06,120 –> 00:27:08,920
had any files on him.
To which the rest of the world

486
00:27:09,080 –> 00:27:12,560
replied, fucking yeah, right.
And of course, it later came

487
00:27:12,560 –> 00:27:15,880
out, the FBI absolutely
surveilling Michael Hastings.

488
00:27:16,160 –> 00:27:18,920
They had a file on him.
There was a Freedom of

489
00:27:18,920 –> 00:27:21,000
Information Act request that was
filed.

490
00:27:21,240 –> 00:27:24,440
The FBI tried to ignore it, and
these two journalists took them

491
00:27:24,440 –> 00:27:27,520
to court to get Michael Hastings
files.

492
00:27:27,520 –> 00:27:32,240
So we know the FBI lied about
whether they were following this

493
00:27:32,240 –> 00:27:35,320
guy.
And one of, I think the most

494
00:27:35,320 –> 00:27:39,080
interesting detail, and I think
the detail that points to this

495
00:27:39,080 –> 00:27:44,800
not being an accident, is around
12:30 AM the morning he died,

496
00:27:44,880 –> 00:27:48,200
Michael Hastings went to his
neighbor’s house, a woman named

497
00:27:48,200 –> 00:27:52,480
Jordana Thigpen, and asked if he
could borrow her car because he

498
00:27:52,480 –> 00:27:56,320
was afraid to drive his own car.
He said the car had been

499
00:27:56,320 –> 00:27:57,480
tampered with.
That’s.

500
00:27:57,760 –> 00:27:59,800
Huge.
That’s so huge.

501
00:28:03,040 –> 00:28:07,360
So significant like literally
less than 4 hours before his car

502
00:28:07,360 –> 00:28:09,960
killed him.
This is a quote from her.

503
00:28:10,000 –> 00:28:13,080
She just said he was scared and
he wanted to leave town.

504
00:28:13,200 –> 00:28:15,080
End Quote.
But she didn’t give him her car

505
00:28:15,080 –> 00:28:18,000
because she said her car had
mechanical issues.

506
00:28:18,000 –> 00:28:19,560
Probably didn’t have a car bomb
in it.

507
00:28:20,880 –> 00:28:23,640
But yeah.
He was like, do you want to

508
00:28:23,640 –> 00:28:25,800
trade cars?
And she was like, no, I don’t

509
00:28:25,800 –> 00:28:26,280
want to die.
It’s.

510
00:28:28,160 –> 00:28:31,320
Like come on, it’s a Mercedes.
I don’t know.

511
00:28:31,320 –> 00:28:33,960
And now I just like wonder what
they actually did because I feel

512
00:28:33,960 –> 00:28:37,440
like when there have been, you
know, like in movies, sometimes

513
00:28:37,440 –> 00:28:40,000
they’ll have like, you know,
somebody goes into a car and

514
00:28:40,000 –> 00:28:43,000
they turn the ignition at the
car just blows up right then.

515
00:28:43,360 –> 00:28:45,360
Yeah.
Like, is that a real thing

516
00:28:45,360 –> 00:28:47,320
they’ve done in real life?
Like Godfather.

517
00:28:47,320 –> 00:28:49,360
Style.
Yeah, like Godfather or like

518
00:28:49,360 –> 00:28:52,360
this is the Pelican Brief.
The Pelican Brief where like

519
00:28:52,360 –> 00:28:54,920
they, they, they were, they were
thinking about turning the

520
00:28:54,920 –> 00:28:56,960
ignition.
They’re like, wait, no, they

521
00:28:57,000 –> 00:28:59,680
don’t do it.
When when you say have they done

522
00:28:59,680 –> 00:29:01,560
it, do you mean the American
government or has that?

523
00:29:01,720 –> 00:29:04,360
Happened, but the government or
like somebody trying to kill

524
00:29:04,360 –> 00:29:07,000
somebody, like is that an
accurate like if that’s how they

525
00:29:07,040 –> 00:29:09,520
portray it in the movies, is
that as soon as you turn on the

526
00:29:09,560 –> 00:29:12,240
ignition, the car blows up, But
is that realistic?

527
00:29:12,680 –> 00:29:16,080
I think so that would that seems
like it would be an obvious way

528
00:29:16,080 –> 00:29:19,600
to trigger an explosive.
Yeah, maybe too obvious this

529
00:29:19,600 –> 00:29:21,280
time.
Well, that’s what I’m wondering,

530
00:29:21,280 –> 00:29:24,880
like, how would the mechanics of
this particularly work?

531
00:29:24,880 –> 00:29:28,880
So like he was driving and then
what happened exactly?

532
00:29:29,040 –> 00:29:31,960
I mean this is maybe had to like
hit a certain speed.

533
00:29:32,480 –> 00:29:36,720
So just the fact that he showed
up asking to borrow that car

534
00:29:36,760 –> 00:29:39,200
tells me at least he didn’t kill
himself.

535
00:29:39,320 –> 00:29:43,480
He didn’t like intentionally
drive his car into this tree.

536
00:29:43,480 –> 00:29:47,200
Because if you’re planning to
just kill yourself, why Like you

537
00:29:47,200 –> 00:29:49,720
would just get in your car that
you thought was tampered with

538
00:29:49,760 –> 00:29:52,440
and let the government have
their fucking way with you.

539
00:29:52,720 –> 00:29:54,960
Which seems like it’s exactly
what happened.

540
00:29:55,040 –> 00:29:58,320
But that makes me think he did
not commit suicide.

541
00:29:58,440 –> 00:30:03,680
Also, at the time of his death,
he was working on a profile of

542
00:30:03,680 –> 00:30:08,240
then CIA Director John Brennan
and his role in an Obama

543
00:30:08,240 –> 00:30:12,000
administration effort to crack
down on investigative

544
00:30:12,280 –> 00:30:15,560
journalists.
So he had already taken down a

545
00:30:15,560 –> 00:30:18,920
fucking military general with
one of his profiles.

546
00:30:19,000 –> 00:30:23,560
And he was not only working on
this story about CIA Director

547
00:30:23,560 –> 00:30:27,320
John Brennan, he told people he
needed to, like, go off the grid

548
00:30:27,400 –> 00:30:31,600
for a few days to work on it
because he was concerned about

549
00:30:31,640 –> 00:30:33,880
being followed by the
government.

550
00:30:34,520 –> 00:30:37,360
So that is all weird.
And then there’s this.

551
00:30:37,440 –> 00:30:41,000
Shortly after he died, former
U.S. intelligence official

552
00:30:41,000 –> 00:30:45,440
Richard Clark revealed that the
technology to allow someone to

553
00:30:45,440 –> 00:30:49,960
hack a car existed and that the
crash was consistent with a

554
00:30:49,960 –> 00:30:52,240
cyber attack.
This is kind of a long quote.

555
00:30:52,520 –> 00:30:54,560
Here goes.
There is reason to believe that

556
00:30:54,560 –> 00:30:58,600
intelligence agencies for major
powers, including the United

557
00:30:58,600 –> 00:31:02,200
States, know how to remotely
seize control of a car.

558
00:31:02,240 –> 00:31:05,120
What has been revealed as a
result of some research at

559
00:31:05,120 –> 00:31:09,640
universities is that it’s
relatively easy to hack your way

560
00:31:09,640 –> 00:31:13,520
into the control system of a car
and to do such things as cause

561
00:31:13,520 –> 00:31:17,240
acceleration when the driver
doesn’t want acceleration, to

562
00:31:17,240 –> 00:31:19,760
throw on the brakes when the
driver doesn’t want the brakes

563
00:31:19,760 –> 00:31:23,640
on to launch an airbag.
You can do some really highly

564
00:31:23,640 –> 00:31:27,960
destructive things now through
hacking a car and it’s not that

565
00:31:27,960 –> 00:31:29,880
hard.
So if there were a cyber attack

566
00:31:29,880 –> 00:31:33,680
on the car, and I’m not saying
there was, I think whoever did

567
00:31:33,680 –> 00:31:35,720
it would probably get away with
it.

568
00:31:35,760 –> 00:31:37,880
End Quote.
That’s Richard Clark.

569
00:31:37,960 –> 00:31:44,040
And I remember hearing about
that, and it sounds crazy, and

570
00:31:44,040 –> 00:31:47,600
people treated it like it was a
crazy suggestion.

571
00:31:47,600 –> 00:31:50,960
But I feel like you don’t even
have to think about it that long

572
00:31:50,960 –> 00:31:53,760
to realize it’s not crazy.
You’re just talking about

573
00:31:53,760 –> 00:31:56,080
hacking a computer.
So what if it’s in a car?

574
00:31:56,240 –> 00:32:00,160
Like people hack baby monitors.
They hack fucking home

575
00:32:00,160 –> 00:32:03,280
surveillance systems.
If it’s a computer, you can

576
00:32:03,280 –> 00:32:07,360
fucking hack it.
Yeah, so for years that was just

577
00:32:07,400 –> 00:32:11,280
a thing that had been suggested,
but everyone treated it like

578
00:32:11,320 –> 00:32:15,840
science fiction type shit.
But in 2017, WikiLeaks released

579
00:32:15,960 –> 00:32:20,320
a bunch of CIA documents, and
among them was proof that the

580
00:32:20,320 –> 00:32:24,480
CI, as Center for Cyber
Intelligence, had been exploring

581
00:32:24,480 –> 00:32:29,600
methods to hack into vehicle
systems since at least 2014.

582
00:32:30,080 –> 00:32:34,320
But the fact that Richard Clark
gave that quote in 2013 makes me

583
00:32:34,320 –> 00:32:38,000
think the intelligence community
knew about this shit way before

584
00:32:38,040 –> 00:32:41,200
2014.
And one of the documents was

585
00:32:41,200 –> 00:32:44,640
meeting notes that showed the
CIA has a division called the

586
00:32:44,640 –> 00:32:49,400
Embedded Development Branch that
was discussing a list of targets

587
00:32:49,440 –> 00:32:52,760
that could be hacked.
And it included vehicle systems,

588
00:32:52,800 –> 00:32:56,520
which was referring to computer
systems that started being built

589
00:32:56,520 –> 00:33:00,000
into cars in the 2000s.
And it mentions 1 specifically

590
00:33:00,000 –> 00:33:04,480
called QNX, which at that point
in history was in use in more

591
00:33:04,480 –> 00:33:08,680
than 50 million vehicles across
at least 14 different brands,

592
00:33:09,040 –> 00:33:12,960
accounting for 50% of the market
share for modern cars.

593
00:33:13,720 –> 00:33:17,880
That was part of my question is
what year vehicles is this in

594
00:33:17,880 –> 00:33:20,840
because I think my car is so old
that no one can hack it and I’m

595
00:33:20,840 –> 00:33:25,400
safe so in case I have an enemy.
I mean my car can get hacked by

596
00:33:25,400 –> 00:33:27,840
a fucking USB.
You can break into a Hyundai

597
00:33:27,840 –> 00:33:30,800
with a USB port so.
I heard from that.

598
00:33:31,160 –> 00:33:35,000
Yep, I use an old school thing
on my wheel because you can

599
00:33:35,000 –> 00:33:37,440
lock.
And you use the club?

600
00:33:37,760 –> 00:33:41,600
I use the club.
Wow, I love seeing an old school

601
00:33:41,600 –> 00:33:46,280
club out there.
It is what the Hyundai

602
00:33:46,280 –> 00:33:48,920
dealership and my local mechanic
have been like.

603
00:33:48,920 –> 00:33:50,960
Hey, you just got to use a club.
Wow.

604
00:33:52,240 –> 00:33:56,840
In 2024, OK.
This QNX computer system that is

605
00:33:56,840 –> 00:34:02,000
mounted in a bunch of cars, it’s
normally tied to Bluetooth and

606
00:34:02,000 –> 00:34:04,120
Wi-Fi and things like that.
It’s described as an

607
00:34:04,120 –> 00:34:07,240
entertainment system, but it can
also be used for things like

608
00:34:07,240 –> 00:34:12,120
accelerating and braking.
And this was one of the systems

609
00:34:12,120 –> 00:34:15,560
that in this WikiLeaks document,
the CIA talked about maybe

610
00:34:15,560 –> 00:34:18,560
having access to being able to
hack.

611
00:34:18,639 –> 00:34:22,239
And what’s worse is it doesn’t
just run cars.

612
00:34:22,239 –> 00:34:25,920
There’s like trains that use
this program, buses.

613
00:34:25,920 –> 00:34:30,800
There’s so many things that if
an intelligence outfit got the

614
00:34:30,800 –> 00:34:33,639
means to hack it, they could
cause a lot of fucking

615
00:34:33,719 –> 00:34:37,600
destruction without people
really ever knowing what

616
00:34:37,600 –> 00:34:39,960
happened.
And for the record, Hastings was

617
00:34:39,960 –> 00:34:44,960
driving a Mercedes when he
crashed and those do use the QNX

618
00:34:45,080 –> 00:34:47,960
system.
Only problem here is the CIA

619
00:34:47,960 –> 00:34:52,400
memo was dated 2014 and Hastings
died in 2013.

620
00:34:52,920 –> 00:34:54,639
Oh well, then it couldn’t have
been them.

621
00:34:54,840 –> 00:34:56,719
Yeah, couldn’t possibly have
been.

622
00:34:57,120 –> 00:35:02,120
See, my first thought when I
realized that discrepancy was,

623
00:35:02,120 –> 00:35:05,160
oh, maybe the CIA just planted
this document.

624
00:35:05,160 –> 00:35:09,640
But if they just did an Adobe
edit, they just, they just

625
00:35:09,640 –> 00:35:13,240
deleted the three and what, a
four or something?

626
00:35:14,400 –> 00:35:17,040
Yeah, it wouldn’t surprise me
because then if anyone came

627
00:35:17,040 –> 00:35:18,360
asking, they could be like,
what?

628
00:35:18,360 –> 00:35:20,360
We didn’t kill that guy.
We didn’t even start looking

629
00:35:20,360 –> 00:35:24,800
into this stuff until 2014.
That seems so impossible to

630
00:35:24,800 –> 00:35:26,760
believe because they’ve been
killing people for decades.

631
00:35:28,520 –> 00:35:30,160
Like what are they talking
about?

632
00:35:30,480 –> 00:35:33,320
Yeah, that’s the thing.
The CIA, I mean, this

633
00:35:33,320 –> 00:35:36,400
government, we have a pretty
long track record of killing

634
00:35:36,400 –> 00:35:37,520
people.
It’s just whether you want to

635
00:35:37,520 –> 00:35:39,640
believe the government did it or
not.

636
00:35:39,880 –> 00:35:44,560
But I’m sorry, it’s 2024.
There can’t possibly be anyone

637
00:35:44,560 –> 00:35:48,080
out there who still thinks that
string of assassinations in the

638
00:35:48,080 –> 00:35:51,440
60s was just all lone nuts.
Right.

639
00:35:51,520 –> 00:35:53,200
Yeah.
I do think there’s people that

640
00:35:53,200 –> 00:35:55,000
still think that.
Oh, I think there are.

641
00:35:55,000 –> 00:35:56,680
Yeah, absolutely.
OK, I thought you were saying

642
00:35:56,680 –> 00:35:58,720
that no one thinks that anymore.
I’m like, Oh no, there’s

643
00:35:58,760 –> 00:36:02,000
definitely.
I just can’t imagine thinking

644
00:36:02,000 –> 00:36:02,960
that.
No.

645
00:36:03,400 –> 00:36:05,440
Well, I mean that they were
Patsy.

646
00:36:05,440 –> 00:36:08,640
Some of them you know.
Well, yeah, I think James or Ray

647
00:36:08,640 –> 00:36:13,080
definitely didn’t kill MLK, but
so does his family and a jury in

648
00:36:13,080 –> 00:36:16,160
a civil trial.
But also, even with that

649
00:36:16,160 –> 00:36:19,720
discrepancy, who says it was the
CIA who did this?

650
00:36:19,840 –> 00:36:24,040
I feel like, and I know I’m
guilty of this, I just say CIA

651
00:36:24,120 –> 00:36:27,040
when I mean American
intelligence.

652
00:36:27,120 –> 00:36:31,360
But the CIA is busy toppling
foreign governments.

653
00:36:31,440 –> 00:36:34,960
This could have been fucking
naval intelligence, could have

654
00:36:34,960 –> 00:36:38,600
been the FBI, could have been
the fucking Postal Inspection

655
00:36:38,600 –> 00:36:42,240
Service.
It could have been so many of

656
00:36:42,240 –> 00:36:46,800
the, I think 18 intelligence
agencies we have in the United

657
00:36:46,800 –> 00:36:49,440
States.
So if the CIA was just looking

658
00:36:49,440 –> 00:36:53,240
into this in 2014, it could have
been them being like, do you

659
00:36:53,240 –> 00:36:55,440
hear what fucking Naval
intelligence did the Michael

660
00:36:55,440 –> 00:36:57,200
Hastings?
We got to figure out how to do

661
00:36:57,200 –> 00:36:59,720
that shit.
That’s crazy because we know

662
00:36:59,720 –> 00:37:02,640
these agencies don’t talk.
That’s fucking how 9/11

663
00:37:02,640 –> 00:37:06,240
happened.
The FBI and the CIA were just

664
00:37:06,240 –> 00:37:08,840
like keeping information to
themselves because they’re so

665
00:37:08,840 –> 00:37:10,040
competitive.
Yeah, I was going to say,

666
00:37:10,080 –> 00:37:11,720
they’re almost competing with
one another.

667
00:37:11,720 –> 00:37:14,960
Yeah.
Yeah, so if the CIA just started

668
00:37:14,960 –> 00:37:18,240
looking into this in 2014, I
wouldn’t be surprised if it was

669
00:37:18,240 –> 00:37:21,560
because of Michael Hastings.
And they were like, oh, who did

670
00:37:21,560 –> 00:37:23,720
that?
We need that shit.

671
00:37:23,800 –> 00:37:26,880
So this doesn’t do anything to
make me feel like Michael

672
00:37:26,880 –> 00:37:28,800
Hastings wasn’t murdered by the
government.

673
00:37:28,880 –> 00:37:32,560
It just makes me think maybe it
wasn’t the CIA because the CIA

674
00:37:32,880 –> 00:37:36,960
isn’t supposed to operate in the
United States anyway, which we

675
00:37:36,960 –> 00:37:38,880
don’t need them to.
We have so many other

676
00:37:38,880 –> 00:37:41,840
intelligence agencies.
But whatever the case, it seems

677
00:37:41,840 –> 00:37:43,920
like hacking a car isn’t
impossible.

678
00:37:44,000 –> 00:37:47,160
And again, it’s just a computer.
You can hack a computer, You can

679
00:37:47,160 –> 00:37:49,520
hack car.
You can hack the computer in a

680
00:37:49,520 –> 00:37:51,040
car.
And the fact that Michael

681
00:37:51,040 –> 00:37:55,200
Hastings, I wish he would have
went into detail when he told

682
00:37:55,200 –> 00:37:57,280
his neighbor that his car was
being tampered with.

683
00:37:57,320 –> 00:38:00,960
I wish he would have told her
exactly what was happening

684
00:38:01,040 –> 00:38:04,120
because I wonder if he was
having issues with like, it

685
00:38:04,120 –> 00:38:06,680
accelerating when it shouldn’t
have or braking when it

686
00:38:06,680 –> 00:38:10,680
shouldn’t have, because then,
yeah, I’d be fucking terrified

687
00:38:10,720 –> 00:38:13,160
if I was him and that shit was
happening.

688
00:38:13,160 –> 00:38:15,160
But last thing I want to talk
about.

689
00:38:15,400 –> 00:38:17,920
It’s probably not all that
surprising that this story

690
00:38:17,920 –> 00:38:21,080
involves a few figures who’ve
gone on to be involved with

691
00:38:21,080 –> 00:38:24,520
right wing outfits like Crowd
Boys or Q Anon.

692
00:38:24,600 –> 00:38:27,560
And one of the e-mail.
This, this is really fucking

693
00:38:27,600 –> 00:38:29,360
interesting to me.
Yeah.

694
00:38:29,640 –> 00:38:33,680
One of the emails Hastings sent
the day before he died was to a

695
00:38:33,680 –> 00:38:38,400
guy named Joe Briggs, who at the
time was just a military guy.

696
00:38:38,400 –> 00:38:41,440
I think he was in Afghanistan
and Hastings talked to him for

697
00:38:41,520 –> 00:38:44,400
his coverage on Afghanistan or
Iraq, one of the two.

698
00:38:44,520 –> 00:38:49,720
But since then, he is a member
of the Proud Boys who has been

699
00:38:49,720 –> 00:38:54,240
indicted in relation to the
January 6th insurrection.

700
00:38:54,280 –> 00:38:59,560
He is a family friend of the
Flynns, meaning Michael Flynn,

701
00:38:59,640 –> 00:39:03,280
the Q Anon enthusiast who kind
of sort of helped orchestrate

702
00:39:03,280 –> 00:39:07,280
January 6th, and Charles Flynn,
one of Michael Flynn’s brothers.

703
00:39:07,400 –> 00:39:11,920
Both of them were in Afghanistan
when Hastings published this

704
00:39:11,920 –> 00:39:16,120
article and got their boss,
Stanley McChrystal fired.

705
00:39:16,200 –> 00:39:20,040
Charles Flynn was head of
intelligence in Afghanistan when

706
00:39:20,040 –> 00:39:23,680
that happened.
And now Fast forward to 2023.

707
00:39:23,720 –> 00:39:27,800
Someone tweeted at Joseph Flynn,
who was Michael Flynn and

708
00:39:27,800 –> 00:39:31,480
Charles Flynn’s brother, about
all of these weird connections

709
00:39:31,560 –> 00:39:36,120
between Joe Biggs and the Flynn
family and Michael Hastings.

710
00:39:36,200 –> 00:39:40,200
And instead of just ignoring
that tweet or just replying and

711
00:39:40,200 –> 00:39:42,440
saying, Nope, we didn’t have
anything to do with it.

712
00:39:42,480 –> 00:39:46,840
Joseph Flynn first replied,
Michael H had some problems with

713
00:39:46,840 –> 00:39:49,840
his car that night.
Too bad, so sad.

714
00:39:49,880 –> 00:39:52,840
Which what do you mean by
problems with his car?

715
00:39:52,880 –> 00:39:56,520
That has never been said.
It’s only been said that he had

716
00:39:56,520 –> 00:39:58,600
a car accident.
He was driving too fast and he

717
00:39:58,600 –> 00:40:00,720
spun out.
What problems did he have with

718
00:40:00,720 –> 00:40:03,200
his car?
He also added, Well, it’s true.

719
00:40:03,280 –> 00:40:06,440
Very sad how that accident.
Happened.

720
00:40:06,520 –> 00:40:10,360
He was a relatively young guy.
Again, what the fuck do you mean

721
00:40:10,360 –> 00:40:14,960
by how that accident happened?
What would he know about how

722
00:40:14,960 –> 00:40:17,800
that accident happened?
And again, he could just be

723
00:40:17,800 –> 00:40:22,080
trolling or whatever, but that
would be a very tricky thing to

724
00:40:22,080 –> 00:40:24,920
troll people over.
It’s a very cocky troll.

725
00:40:24,920 –> 00:40:29,360
If it’s a troll, yeah, it’s like
he feels like he can’t.

726
00:40:29,560 –> 00:40:32,120
He’s untouchable if you can say
things like that.

727
00:40:32,200 –> 00:40:34,640
Which I’m sure he is.
Like, if this was a government

728
00:40:34,720 –> 00:40:37,160
initiative to kill Michael
Hastings, no one’s going to

729
00:40:37,240 –> 00:40:39,760
fucking go to jail for it.
So I don’t know, maybe Michael

730
00:40:39,760 –> 00:40:42,640
Flynn killed Michael Hastings.
Maybe he was the one who was

731
00:40:42,640 –> 00:40:45,160
behind it.
Or he’s just in support of it.

732
00:40:45,240 –> 00:40:48,560
Yeah, I mean, either way,
Michael Flynn, Charles Flynn

733
00:40:48,560 –> 00:40:51,320
were both in Afghanistan
working, understanding Stanley

734
00:40:51,320 –> 00:40:54,840
McChrystal when Michael Hastings
wrote this article that got

735
00:40:55,200 –> 00:40:58,000
still fired.
Joe Biggs is one of the last

736
00:40:58,000 –> 00:41:01,800
people Michael Hastings
contacted before he died.

737
00:41:01,880 –> 00:41:04,440
That’s when he was like reaching
out and telling people the FBI

738
00:41:04,440 –> 00:41:07,520
might be knocking on your door.
And I’m working on this big

739
00:41:07,520 –> 00:41:09,600
story about the director of the
CIA.

740
00:41:09,640 –> 00:41:14,160
So who knows who Joe Biggs went
and told after that and what

741
00:41:14,160 –> 00:41:17,680
happened from there.
But it seems like the Flynns

742
00:41:17,680 –> 00:41:20,880
fucking know something about
what happened to Michael

743
00:41:20,880 –> 00:41:22,960
Hastings.
And we’ll link to all this shit

744
00:41:22,960 –> 00:41:24,760
so people can read it for
yourself.

745
00:41:24,800 –> 00:41:28,320
The tweets from Joseph Flynn, if
you can believe it.

746
00:41:28,320 –> 00:41:30,240
His account has since been
suspended.

747
00:41:30,840 –> 00:41:36,320
Uh Oh yeah to an article that
has screenshots.

748
00:41:36,440 –> 00:41:38,440
I’ve been suspended before too,
you know.

749
00:41:38,560 –> 00:41:40,320
Was it because you killed
Michael Hastings?

750
00:41:40,400 –> 00:41:44,520
That’s right.
Yeah, that’s that’s why.

751
00:41:45,520 –> 00:41:48,000
If you haven’t been suspended
from Twitter, are you even

752
00:41:48,000 –> 00:41:51,320
living?
Exactly, exactly.

753
00:41:52,000 –> 00:41:53,200
Thank you.
Yeah, I know.

754
00:41:53,240 –> 00:41:54,960
I support it.
I don’t know what happened, but

755
00:41:54,960 –> 00:41:59,200
I’m sure I support it.
No, I always, I always just get

756
00:41:59,200 –> 00:42:02,000
in trouble when I’m fighting
like misogynists online.

757
00:42:02,000 –> 00:42:03,840
They’re like you.
Were mean you were mean to.

758
00:42:03,920 –> 00:42:07,000
A man you were mean to a man,
you’re banned.

759
00:42:07,240 –> 00:42:09,360
I mean, in their defense, don’t
be mean to men, you know?

760
00:42:09,360 –> 00:42:10,640
OK.
Geez.

761
00:42:10,640 –> 00:42:12,360
Yeah.
I’ll I’ll try not to.

762
00:42:13,040 –> 00:42:17,840
Men ever done to deserve that.
They’ve done some stuff.

763
00:42:19,960 –> 00:42:23,000
So what do we think?
Was Michael Hastings murdered?

764
00:42:23,000 –> 00:42:24,360
Yeah.
Yeah.

765
00:42:25,200 –> 00:42:29,000
I what I mean one hundred 100%.
Yeah, it’s almost.

766
00:42:29,240 –> 00:42:32,040
Crazier if he wasn’t at this.
Point yeah, no if.

767
00:42:32,040 –> 00:42:34,840
He wasn’t murdered then this
needs to be like.

768
00:42:34,840 –> 00:42:38,400
Steady.
Well, whatever model there needs

769
00:42:38,400 –> 00:42:41,080
to be a Mercedes recall.
Why didn’t they do that?

770
00:42:41,360 –> 00:42:44,640
They’re not like, I mean, it
makes no sense.

771
00:42:44,720 –> 00:42:47,800
No, that’s a great point.
Yeah, and I never did hear any

772
00:42:47,800 –> 00:42:51,840
of that follow up.
Aren’t they able to test debris

773
00:42:51,840 –> 00:42:56,320
from an explosion for C4 and
like other explosive type stuff?

774
00:42:56,320 –> 00:43:01,040
Yes, but when you say they, it
has to be a government agency

775
00:43:01,040 –> 00:43:05,200
that’s willing to do that.
Government agency like the NTSB

776
00:43:05,200 –> 00:43:07,560
or something?
They are not neutral.

777
00:43:09,800 –> 00:43:12,920
I think it’s kind of an oxymoron
to say a neutral government

778
00:43:12,920 –> 00:43:14,720
agency.
That’s the agency that

779
00:43:14,720 –> 00:43:17,160
investigates accidents.
Yeah, sure.

780
00:43:17,680 –> 00:43:21,960
They weren’t involved at all.
Well, NTSB is like airline and.

781
00:43:22,120 –> 00:43:25,400
No, I know usually it’s like,
you know, plane crashes.

782
00:43:25,880 –> 00:43:29,320
And so they will investigate a
traffic accident if it’s big

783
00:43:29,320 –> 00:43:32,120
enough, like they investigated
the, do you remember that

784
00:43:32,120 –> 00:43:34,240
limousine crash in upstate New
York?

785
00:43:34,600 –> 00:43:36,440
Oh yeah.
For like 20 people with that.

786
00:43:36,560 –> 00:43:39,320
See, that’s the thing I think
they investigate when it’s like,

787
00:43:40,200 –> 00:43:42,520
yeah, a a vehicle that’s
carrying people, sure.

788
00:43:42,520 –> 00:43:44,880
Carrying more than one person or
more than probably like three

789
00:43:44,880 –> 00:43:48,000
people or whatever.
Yeah, I did a bunch of episodes

790
00:43:48,000 –> 00:43:50,280
about the death of Paul
Wellstone.

791
00:43:50,400 –> 00:43:57,120
He was the only senator who
openly opposed the war in Iraq.

792
00:43:57,120 –> 00:44:02,800
He was the main opponent to
George W Bush’s foreign policy.

793
00:44:02,800 –> 00:44:11,560
He died in a plane crash.
That is highly suspicious and I

794
00:44:11,560 –> 00:44:14,040
did I think 3 or 4 episodes
about it.

795
00:44:14,040 –> 00:44:16,560
There’s a good book out there
called The Murder or the

796
00:44:16,560 –> 00:44:20,880
Assassination of Paul Wellstone,
but it’s very hard to find now.

797
00:44:20,880 –> 00:44:27,000
But they make a pretty good case
that he was killed in a plane

798
00:44:27,000 –> 00:44:29,800
crash that was caused
deliberately.

799
00:44:29,840 –> 00:44:35,080
And part of that conspiracy
involves the NTSB showing up and

800
00:44:35,080 –> 00:44:37,480
being like, Yep, nothing to see
here, don’t worry about it.

801
00:44:37,560 –> 00:44:39,920
And people are like, there’s
shit to see there.

802
00:44:39,960 –> 00:44:43,240
We know you’re fucking lying.
So yeah, I don’t, I don’t know.

803
00:44:43,360 –> 00:44:46,720
If the NTSB showed up, I
wouldn’t trust them to tell the

804
00:44:46,720 –> 00:44:50,160
truth about what happened here.
And yeah, there it would be an

805
00:44:50,160 –> 00:44:52,840
easy thing to test for.
But when the LAPD swoops in and

806
00:44:52,840 –> 00:44:57,080
goes Nope, no foul play.
They just get rid of the debris.

807
00:44:57,480 –> 00:45:01,000
Yeah, that’s a thing you see in
a lot of conspiracies is if the

808
00:45:01,000 –> 00:45:04,880
police show up and decide it’s
nothing, that’s a lot of times

809
00:45:04,880 –> 00:45:06,520
where it ends.
That’s the case with Kurt

810
00:45:06,520 –> 00:45:10,440
Cobain, where it was just a beat
cop who was like, oh, this looks

811
00:45:10,440 –> 00:45:13,360
like suicide in Seattle PD was
like, all right, I guess we

812
00:45:13,360 –> 00:45:15,840
won’t investigate then.
It’s like, damn, I think you

813
00:45:15,840 –> 00:45:18,440
should have investigated, but
that ship has sailed.

814
00:45:18,520 –> 00:45:20,760
So yeah, I think Michael
Hastings was murdered by.

815
00:45:20,800 –> 00:45:23,440
The.
Government, and I don’t think he

816
00:45:23,440 –> 00:45:25,400
was the first to be murdered by
the government.

817
00:45:25,400 –> 00:45:27,840
This shit isn’t new.
They’ve been doing that for a

818
00:45:27,840 –> 00:45:31,680
long time by this point, and I
think that’s our episode.

819
00:45:32,000 –> 00:45:34,720
Do we have any final thoughts?
I’m sorry, there’s no real

820
00:45:34,720 –> 00:45:38,360
resolution to this other than
the latest update being Joseph

821
00:45:38,360 –> 00:45:42,480
Flynn putting out shady tweets
about what might or might not

822
00:45:42,560 –> 00:45:44,520
have.
Happened now I, I’m going to

823
00:45:44,520 –> 00:45:47,360
continue to think about this
every six months for the rest of

824
00:45:47,360 –> 00:45:50,880
my life, Like every six months.
I’m like Michael Hastings, what

825
00:45:50,880 –> 00:45:54,040
happened there?
I, I talked to all my Co workers

826
00:45:54,040 –> 00:45:55,360
about this.
I was like, do you remember

827
00:45:55,360 –> 00:45:56,840
Michael Hastings?
They’re like, what are you

828
00:45:56,840 –> 00:45:59,640
talking about?
Like, you know, the guy who died

829
00:45:59,640 –> 00:46:03,400
in that weird car crash.
Yeah, it does seem like it’s

830
00:46:03,440 –> 00:46:07,200
pretty much a forgotten moment
in history now, like we’ve just

831
00:46:07,360 –> 00:46:09,560
moved on.
It happened under Obama.

832
00:46:09,600 –> 00:46:12,800
So everyone associates
government malfeasance with

833
00:46:12,800 –> 00:46:14,680
Republicans, unless you’re a
Republican.

834
00:46:14,760 –> 00:46:18,640
Yeah, it happened when I was
very much not paying attention

835
00:46:18,640 –> 00:46:20,600
to the news, like around that
time.

836
00:46:20,600 –> 00:46:22,440
So now think about it all the
time.

837
00:46:23,560 –> 00:46:26,160
Yeah.
But yeah, that’s crazy.

838
00:46:26,240 –> 00:46:28,480
Yeah, it’s a crazy fucking
story.

839
00:46:28,680 –> 00:46:31,160
Also, who’s tweeting in 2023?
No, I’m just kidding.

840
00:46:31,360 –> 00:46:33,360
Nazis.
Unfortunately, I am.

841
00:46:33,480 –> 00:46:36,080
Yeah, with the Nazis.
The Nazis are also there.

842
00:46:37,240 –> 00:46:39,360
Well, thank you for being on the
other side.

843
00:46:39,360 –> 00:46:45,560
So they have some sort of some
sort of people to fight against.

844
00:46:45,680 –> 00:46:49,920
I gave up.
Yeah, I I can’t do Twitter.

845
00:46:50,040 –> 00:46:52,000
So I think that’s our episode,
right?

846
00:46:52,000 –> 00:46:53,200
You did it.
We did it.

847
00:46:53,520 –> 00:46:55,200
We did it, meaning we killed
Michael Hayson.

848
00:46:55,200 –> 00:46:56,240
We did it.
We solved it.

849
00:46:56,360 –> 00:47:00,040
We solved, yeah.
We have solved the case.

850
00:47:00,040 –> 00:47:05,400
I assume Obama is going down
tomorrow soon as this episode

851
00:47:05,400 –> 00:47:09,280
comes out.
Thanks Obama and thank you 2 for

852
00:47:09,280 –> 00:47:12,720
doing the podcast.
What do we have to plug?

853
00:47:12,760 –> 00:47:14,760
This seems like a great time to
plug.

854
00:47:15,280 –> 00:47:18,000
I would like people to listen to
my solo podcast in Broad

855
00:47:18,000 –> 00:47:20,640
Daylight, which will be back
this week or next.

856
00:47:20,920 –> 00:47:26,240
I this is tax time for me, so
that’s been very busy, but it’ll

857
00:47:26,240 –> 00:47:28,480
be back very soon.
You can listen to it wherever

858
00:47:28,480 –> 00:47:31,080
podcasts are at or watch it on
YouTube at Adam Todd Brown

859
00:47:31,080 –> 00:47:33,160
Comedy and follow me on
Instagram.

860
00:47:33,160 –> 00:47:36,400
I guess Adam Todd, Brown Todd
with 1D Jessica, what do you got

861
00:47:36,400 –> 00:47:41,600
to plug?
Oh, you know, the usual I I

862
00:47:41,600 –> 00:47:44,520
changed my Instagram handle
because apparently it was hard

863
00:47:44,520 –> 00:47:47,680
to read.
So now it’s Jess period.

864
00:47:47,680 –> 00:47:52,600
I period can’t period singer
because it was Jess, I can’t

865
00:47:52,600 –> 00:47:56,480
singer and everyone thought it
was Jessica NT singer.

866
00:47:56,680 –> 00:47:59,120
So that’s that’s obviously very
interesting and I should keep

867
00:47:59,120 –> 00:48:01,800
talking about it.
No, but yeah, follow me and I’ll

868
00:48:01,800 –> 00:48:04,160
I’ll be performing around
Heather.

869
00:48:04,480 –> 00:48:07,320
Yes.
When is this being released?

870
00:48:09,080 –> 00:48:11,960
I don’t know a week or.
So, OK, well, you know, if it’s

871
00:48:11,960 –> 00:48:17,560
too late, if it’s too late, I,
I, so October 13th, I’m doing

872
00:48:17,560 –> 00:48:20,160
stand up comedy at Chatterbox
Comedy Night.

873
00:48:20,160 –> 00:48:22,560
And then the week after that,
I’m going to be in San

874
00:48:22,560 –> 00:48:26,240
Francisco.
I should be, I should be on the

875
00:48:26,480 –> 00:48:29,400
Punchline showcase that night of
the 20th.

876
00:48:29,400 –> 00:48:33,360
But listen, sometimes things
don’t work out in show business

877
00:48:33,400 –> 00:48:37,360
and that’s OK.
So I might be honest, I might

878
00:48:37,360 –> 00:48:39,840
not, you know, somebody needs to
go back to the ASAP.

879
00:48:39,840 –> 00:48:41,760
OK, so.
I.

880
00:48:42,200 –> 00:48:46,880
Am also on Twitter and Instagram
at fixed air Heather but on

881
00:48:46,880 –> 00:48:51,000
TikTok I’m at unruly Maruli
which I’m posting more on TikTok

882
00:48:51,000 –> 00:48:56,040
now because that’s what you’re
supposed to do and I’m obeying.

883
00:48:56,040 –> 00:48:59,360
I’m obeying the show business
gods by doing a TikTok.

884
00:49:00,000 –> 00:49:05,400
I do not.
I was going to say I’m on like a

885
00:49:05,400 –> 00:49:09,560
weird, crazy drunken Stoner
thing on October 30th.

886
00:49:09,560 –> 00:49:12,880
Come check out whatever that is.
It’s from like 4:00 PM to

887
00:49:12,880 –> 00:49:16,560
midnight.
I don’t know when I’m on. 4:00

888
00:49:16,560 –> 00:49:20,600
PM to midnight, you a tennis.
Tournament and then I’m on

889
00:49:20,640 –> 00:49:23,880
secondhand Sundays, which is I’m
on weed shows this month.

890
00:49:23,960 –> 00:49:27,720
Come on.
No one’s listening anymore.

891
00:49:27,920 –> 00:49:31,040
Let’s get out of here, Jessica.
Say goodbye.

892
00:49:31,640 –> 00:49:33,280
Well, no one’s listening.
Bye.

893
00:49:33,720 –> 00:49:37,720
Heather, say goodbye.
Goodbye and RIP Michael

894
00:49:37,720 –> 00:49:40,120
Hastings.
Goodbye everybody, we love you.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *