$100,000 Michael Hastings National Security Reporting Fellowship - A Reward To Uncover Foul Play?

Could this be read as a reward to track down the responsible persons behind his disappearence in case of foul play? It will certainly raise additional interest for the last story (or stories) he was working on! Conspiracy or not it is a fantastic way of honoring his legacy and Buzzfeed deserves our applause for this! It is worth noting that this is an annual fellowship.

Michael Hastings National Security Reporting Fellowship, 2013-2014

The Michael Hastings Fellowship is aimed at proven journalists with strong sources and major stories to their credit who are interested in focusing for a year on a single subject and producing a series of stories on that topic. Proposed topics may include American foreign and national security policy; federal or local counterterrorism policy; the U.S. military; whistle-blowers; government secrecy; federal law enforcement; the military-industrial complex; veterans; human rights in conflict zones; and other related topics...

...a project that tells stories that those in power have no particular interest in having told...

Applicants are asked among other things to explain in detail how their project is consistent with Michael Hastings' legacy. That sounds almost like looking deeper into what he was working on at the time of the car crash is a requirement.

I would like to encourage anybody who is reading this and feels qualified to meet the requirements to consider the possibility of a Hastings NSA Snowden connection. Feel free to "steal" my timeline. I think this needs further investigation:

A CONDENSED Timeline of Hastings NSA Snowden Related Events (scroll down for v. 3.3 with pics & links)

May 20 - Hastings states on TV: "...government, 'we declare war on you...'

May 20 - Snowden arrives in Hong Kong with 4 laptops giving him access to top-classified US secrets

Jun 5 - Greenwald breaks the NSA story in an exclusive on the Guardian

Jun 7 - Hastings LAST article: Why Democrats Love To Spy On Americans - LAST SENTENCE of this article is:

Perhaps more information will soon be forthcoming.

Jun 8 - "Intelligence officials overheard joking about how NSA leaker should be 'disappeared' after handing classified documents to press"

Jun 9 - Snowden is identified as the NSA-whistleblower behind Glenn Greenwald's story in the Guardian

Jun 12 - Hastings twitter feed goes silent

Jun 17 - Snowden: "Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped."

Jun 17 - Hastings mails a friend: "I'm on a big story, and need to go off the radar for a bit"

Jun 18 - Hastings contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Robinson, saying that the FBI was investigating him.

Jun 18 - Michael Hastings disappears in car accident

A Timeline of Hastings NSA Snowden Related Events v. 3.3

May 20 - Hastings states on TV: "...government, 'we declare war on you'..."




May 20 - Snowden arrives in Hong Kong with 4 laptops giving him access to top-classified US secrets



Jun 5 - Greenwald breaks the NSA story in an exclusive on the Guardian




Jun 7 - Hastings LAST article: Why Democrats Love To Spy On Americans - LAST SENTENCE of this article is:

Perhaps more information will soon be forthcoming.

Jun 8 - "Intelligence officials overheard joking about how NSA leaker should be 'disappeared' after handing classified documents to press"




Jun 9 - Snowden is identified as the NSA-whistleblower behind Glenn Greenwald's story in the Guardian




Jun 12 - Hastings twitter feed goes silent



Jun 17 - Snowden: "Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped."




Jun 17 - Hastings mails a friend: "I'm on a big story, and need to go off the radar for a bit"



Jun 18 - Hastings contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Robinson, saying that the FBI was investigating him.



Jun 18 - Michael Hastings dies disappears in car accident

Personally I think if anyone who tries to investigate this guys murder will meet the same fate.

Note not worth the trouble to be looking for your shoulders.

reply to post by sylent6


I am not conviced it was murder. But there are so many "cute" coincidents - these need to be at least taken into account before dismissing the possibilty of an assassination.

I have been asked in another threads to explain in more detail where I see a possible Snowden NSA Hastings connection - I guess it makes sense to repost this here:

Where do I see a possible Snowden Hastings connection? Well to begin with there is the closely related timing of events as shown in my timeline.

Michael Hastings was (is?) one of a very few journalists that had the balls and reputation to potentially tackle a topic like the Snowden/NSA story. Snowden leaked to Glenn Greenwald through Lauren Poitras but he may have leaked material also to other journalists. Actually he did try with the Washington Post first - to no avail.

Snowden (30) and Hastings (33) belong(ed) to the same generation. That could have meant something to a young whistleblower too...

My main suspicion however is, and please keep in mind that this is highly speculative, that Greenwald (46) may have been knowing/suspecting what Hastings was working on. So Snowden/Greenwald may have given Hastings access to specific documents and he may have had additional knowledge to - for lack of a better term - weaponize this data.

According to Hasting's wife Elise Jordan he was working on a story/book about John O. Brennan. Could it have been NSA data about CIA Brennan? Potentially with further implications like the administration being blackmailed by NSA/CIA data?

I am obviously grasping in the dark but I see a pattern (timeline) and try to make sense of it with the limited information available to me. My hope is that other people with more information will look into this and confirm or debunk my theory based on their additional data.

reply to post by MindBodySpiritComplex



Are you actually serious? Your just gonna completely make up #? The stipend is exactly what it says its for. Stop posting innane ramblings about the hastings case.

reply to post by raifordko


funny you should say this because I just got my first applause in a U2U saying:

Applause!
from: FORUM STAFF
sent: 18-7-2013 at 22:11

A member of the forum staff, ________, has applauded your activity

I blanked out the name because this came as a private message but here is a screenshot of the rest of the message:



Thanks for the applause, you know who you are!


@ raifordko You do realize this is a forum for conspiracy theories, right?

reply to post by MindBodySpiritComplex


I already said it in the other thread. You thinking a U2U from an obviously biased admin who completely lacks common sense as yourself is worth anything is laughable at best. This is a joke of a thread. Anyone with reading comprehension will immediately disregard your bull# once they read the article you based your ridiculous question off of.

Remember why BIN got banned as a single source, this exact #. Speculation without any evidence.

reply to post by raifordko


You must not have followed the Hastings case at all. There is abundance of information of how this could be a conspiracy.

You care to post information of how this ISN'T a conspiracy?

As far as I can tell the pieces seem to fit into the big picture.

So lets hear it. How isn't this a conspiracy?

-SAP-

reply to post by MindBodySpiritComplex


No, a hundred grand plus expenses is not a reward. It's a compensatory package for those willing to go out (get the scoop while getting scooped) like Hastings did; can one mimic his track-record/legacy? It's only worth a hundred grand?

A hundred grand ain't what it used to be.

reply to post by SloAnPainful


I am specifically referring to the OP's claim, albeit in the form of a hypothetical question, that the article is some type of reward to find out what happened to Hastings, when anyone with reading comprehension can clearly see that it is just a grant to try and find people worthy of REPLACING him as a go-getter willing to take tough assignments and not be afraid of who gets outed because of it.

The OP's attempt to make something out of nothing is BINworthy. We see how that turned out for BIN on these forums. Eventually you just lose all credibility, as this OP has done with such a ridiculous claim.

reply to post by raifordko


Let me ask you this. If an investigative journalist were to uncover details that showed the Hastings disappearance was in fact a planned "disappearing" by the government, or one of the letter agencies, would that qualify as a recipient of the fellowship?

They can't out right make an accusation without some solid evidence to back up the accusation. They cant get solid evidence to make the accusation without some hard core investigative journalism. This fellowship looks to me like a way to make it happen without putting their rear end in the fire.

I am quite sure that if someone were to propose a project that would uncover the conspiracy many of us see plain as day, they would not only meet all the criteria for the funding from this fellowship, but they would easily knock out anybody else vieing for the same funding.

So yes, in my mind it is a reward, but they cant flat out call it a reward without drawing attention from the same people that likely "disappeared" Hastings in the first place.

DC

reply to post by loveguy


Good point actually. Here are some links to articles he wrote:

Buzzfeed

RollingStone

GQ

In context of my opening post I would recommend especially reading Hasting's last article on Buzzfeed based on Snowden's NSA leaks: Why Democrats Love To Spy On Americans

reply to post by xDeadcowx


So glad, you see what I am getting at and taking the time to try to explain it to raifordko.

reply to post by xDeadcowx


Although nowhere do they ask anyone to investigate the death of Michael Hastings. They ask them to CONTINUE the type of work he was doing. He was a great journalist and we need more like him. To think it is anything other than that is absurd.

reply to post by MindBodySpiritComplex


Trying to explain reading comprehension to you is just as frustrating.

reply to post by SloAnPainful


I actually agree that this is "Speculation without any evidence" as raifordko writes. But I am presenting a conspiracy THEORY - and that is what this site is all about. If I had evidence it would not be a conspiracy theory anymore. I am not a journalist but I do hope some journalists will consider this THEORY. In conclusion I think raifordko is trolling or a shill...

reply to post by MindBodySpiritComplex


Then you don't understand what a conspiracy theory is. By definition, it is something that has been hypothesized and actually has some, even if little, evidential proof. Wild speculation is simply a conspiracy hypothesis and the onus is on you to provide some proof.

Not landing on the moon was a conspiracy theory, which has since been debunked pretty well.

Hiding aliens that crashed in 1947 is a conspiracy theory, perhaps that hasn't been so solidly debunked.

JFK being assassinated indirectly by LBJ is a conspiracy theory.

Elvis being alive is a fact. I mean conspiracy theory.

Speculating that this endeavor to find quality journalists is some type of reward asking people to find out "the truth about Hastings" is wild, fanciful speculation without an ounce of proof to back up your claim.

Originally posted by raifordko
reply to post by SloAnPainful

 

I am specifically referring to the OP's claim, albeit in the form of a hypothetical question, that the article is some type of reward to find out what happened to Hastings, when anyone with reading comprehension can clearly see that it is just a grant to try and find people worthy of REPLACING him as a go-getter willing to take tough assignments and not be afraid of who gets outed because of it.

The OP's attempt to make something out of nothing is BINworthy. We see how that turned out for BIN on these forums. Eventually you just lose all credibility, as this OP has done with such a ridiculous claim.

I think anyone who does not view it as a reward for pursuing the Hasting mystery is either delusional or has an interest in the Hastings question disappearing like he did.. in a puff of smoke.

reply to post by SubSea


Then you didn't read the article, you just went off the OP.

reply to post by raifordko


I read the article. What greater tribute to Michael Hastings than to get to the bottom of who took him out? While they may not say it in the article anyone with half a brain would automatically think the same thing. Was the "accident" a real accident? If it was I will kiss your bare butt on main street at high noon and give you two hours to draw a crowd!

I agree that this is a wonderful way to honour the legacy of Mr Hastings. If this can encourage someone to expose the goings on of National or International Security agencies abusing basic human rights, brilliant!
If he/she can come up with solid evidence to prove Micheal's death was not an accident even better.

x