michael hastings who is a contributor to the young turks and to bus feet of
rolling stone
past passed away
he was involved in a car crashed last night
or early this morning at four twenty five a m here in los angeles
is a single
person accident
uh... witness describes his car growing at a very good uh... fast-paced
crashing obviously and
as you can see exploding
and is a horrible horrible thing to look at
was that uh... highland and melrose here lasted less
whitelist thirty three years old he was in my opinion one of the best
journalists in the country and i don't think you get a lot of dispute on that
on people who are paying attention
uh... he of course uh... broke the general stamina crystal story that led
to rehearsals resignation that wasn't one of many many stories that he broke
on national security issues
wars afghanistan iraq on the pentagon
one of the reasons he was
among the best
was because he actually challenge the government
he challenged the pentagon he did not believe them and the rest of the press
would offer get angry with them you're not supposed to report
what they tell you or what you find out if you didn't get clearance
no that's exactly what you're supposed to do blessings akeli what michael would
do oftentimes
i will go a little further here
and i think
that at least part of his death can be attributed
to our police state
now the reality is up dot by new michael he lived in l_a_ and uh...
he was offering
here at the young turks
and he was
very nervous
about the government tracking
that's because the government was very likely
that doesn't mean they did anything else
but it does mean that in a police state
everybody especially if you're a journalist especially if you're a
journalist that breaks really important stories that upsets a powerful
should be concerned that they're going to be tracked that every their every
move is
watched every conversation is listened in on
and that every email is monitor
it doesn't mean that it necessarily was bike could it be
absolutely
it has been in the past for other journalists
and right now we're in the middle of several scandals st p_e_
foxnews
now i've shirl atkinson at c_b_s_
is absolutely convinced that uh... for
uh... computer was hacked at home and at her work
so
michael he sings
arguably almost indisputably indisputably among the three journalists
that shows the government most aggressively and broke the most relevant
stories about the powerful
he wouldn't be tracked
he wouldn't have a right to be nervous
i don't know what led to his death on that particular night
but i do know that he was scared to death of a police state
and now he's dead
is this the kind of country won't we wanna live in
as this uh... statement we wanna
call america
i mean this is what we had as an idea of america
sam you're thoughts
well i mean obviously unlawful migrants is it's devastating
uh... he
you know he was incredibly brave in reporting on on one thing i was doing
obviously in almost every day when the crystal j socking
and he also uh... was very fearless in terms of dealing with the media
establishment that uh...
the u_n_ him as in many respects is a prior
because he didn't uh... it involved with the conventions in rules that uh... that
bay
has that was so they can maintain that the access to their sources
and um... i think you know your
uh... whether or not it's related to uh... is his is accident is that
the idea that we have reporters
who and uh... my place is just one of them i mean uh... robert greenwald that
this film on uh... whistleblowers where we've heard from people like jane mayer
uh... from the new yorker and uh... was reading from the times uh... these are
very well-established reporters
and uh... they uh... they talk about
you know how it's true and they're reporting but but
eat when you just see it presented in a way it's easy to isolate if the peace of
this in their lives
and there is it would be
before this way you would be a rational
for them and not to assume
uh... that they're being servo i mean i and
and this is very problematic in the uh... because uh... clearly
our government has over stepped in those bounds where
uh... where reporters have to think twice
about about in in in many cases probably a lot more then you know we can be aware
uh... and i knew michael any thought a lot about it
and and he's not long to think about it he's absolutely right of course you
would think it would be silly for you
to assume that the other is no way that they would be uh... the the the tracking
of course they'll and
uh... and it it was it like i say he would be irrational for them to have any
other thoughts because this is what they're doing
they're breaking stories there clearly upsetting the establishment
uh... i'm not just of the press but but uh... of the national security state
and this is the environment that is created when
you have
secret laws when you have the senator is of the united states
uh... begging their staffers to get reporters to report on something
that they can even communicate to their staffers
uh... and distant disused
this is how corrosive this is
uh... and and so
you know we've heard and and we'll talk more about this is the show progresses
but we've heard that
uh... that supposedly a fifty attacks or how many ever read tags have been have
been stopped by this impreza bomb and sell said
well we don't know if it's exactly uh... toward this pack but
it gives us some uh... help on the margins for
you know uh... putting a box in everyone's apartment in the country
error house in the country that this rebels them
were also seriously decrease the margins right but we don't do that because it's
corrosive to our society's and this is where the corrosion starts
yet and you know what
at least in this case
it didn't lead to more security a little less security
and he was a deeply nervous guide four
understandable reasons and look look at the the targeting that happen of
journalists not just the government in the a_p_ the foxes and c_b_s_
stories
but also glenn greenwald
a targeted by a private contractors
we know because anonymous letter ruble allsec
uh... actively emails of three private contractors anita gary federal literally
had to email si
we've got a target blank greenwald
because if wean knock him out not meaning physically but in terms of is
that any retention
yeah that if we knocked him out of the rest the press will go along because
they're worried about their salaries in their profession it's at a rock
so is it possible private contractors who by the way also closely work with
jay sock to the defense apartments at a rat
could have access to information could have access
to what you're doing so that's another thing you have to worry you know i mean
but we know it would have the very least we know there's evidence of this uh...
in regards to the fusion centers which are these uh... department homeland
security centers around the country
uh... set up a sensibly for proper for homeland security we know for a fact
that uh... because of doctors they came out uh...
arriving in the past month
that the uh... i arizona fusion centers we're sharing the information that they
had uh... gathered up on the hockey by wall street
wins the private companies
uh... saying a heads up these uh... you're gonna get protesters here ameen
surely when we set up ah... homeland security and in these type of apparatus
no one is contemplating that these are to protect private industry raided to
protect them from protesters
uh... that and that's just absurd but that's what happens this is a you know
we hear the term slippery slope all the time
but this is what happens when you incentivize a security state based upon
the billions upon billions upon billions of dollars as being learned by private
companies banana recycles itself the meeting and suddenly the lines become
blurred and uh... there's there's pretty like i say this is incredibly corrosive
in many respects these types of reporters that the title report of
michael hastings was
uh... are the uh... the canaries in coal mine
because this is where that corrosion starts this is where the corrosion value
stocks
i don't know what the government did or didn't do specifically in case of
michael hastings track humor not tracking and of course
i don't work and then i say i'm not you know i don't have access that
information
but i do know that michael was
deeply concerned
about the government
and
the police state and the national security
complex and he was worried that they were out to get it
now he's dead at the age of thirty three