Michael Hastings was working on a story about the CIA prior to his death, according to LA Weekly. "That Hastings had the Central Intelligence Agency in his sights is no surprise to those who knew his work," writes Dennis Romero, adding that "the shadowy world of intelligence and off-the-record American aggression was a favorite topic of the journalist."

The story gets even more suspicious. Hastings apparently contacted Wikileaks a few hours before his death. The whistleblower organization posted the following tweet:

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The establishment media glossed over the suspicious death of Rolling Stone journalist Michael Hastings in cursory fashion.


"Mr. Hastings was believed to have been alone in the car, which struck a tree at high speed, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner's office," the New York Times reported earlier today.

Photographs of the crash scene, however, reveal that the car Hastings was in did not experience a high-speed crash. "There is no impact damage to this car. The only damage there is BLOWN OUT in the back, not smashed in the front and it obviously missed the tree as it rolled to a stop," writes Jim Stone. "This was a Mercedes, not a Pinto, which means it did not burst into flames on its own. One (seldom quoted) eyewitness said the car 'exploded,'" Stone continues.

"No matter how you slice this particular pie, a Mercedes is not just going to explode into flames without a little assistance," Stone explains. "Car fires in new cars happen for three main reasons - running the engine out of oil, or running the engine out of coolant, or after an absolutely huge car mangling accident, having the hot side of the battery short out against the frame before it reaches the fuse panel. And for all 3 of those normal reasons, which account for virtually all car fires in modern cars, the fire would have started in the engine compartment, progressed slowly, and scorched the hell out of the paint before ever reaching the gas tank. That clean paint is the be all tell all, Michael Hastings was murdered, and the rest is detail."

The murder of Michael Hastings needs to be put in context. He is the journalist who brought down Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, then the top commander of United States forces in Afghanistan. The military undoubtedly viewed Hasting's reportage as a direct threat and reacted accordingly.

Obama's Assassination Policy

In February, the Justice Department released to the two congressional intelligence committees classified documents spelling out its legal justification for assassinating American citizens. The documents refer to the Pentagon dinner guest Anwar al-Awlaki who was allegedly killed by a CIA Predator drone strike in Yemen. Obama had the documents released on the eve of confirmation hearings of John O. Brennan, his pick for CIA boss and, not exactly coincidentally, the main architect of his murderous drone program.

Even though the public was not allowed to see the documents, the establishment media dutifully spread the message - the government had contrived a legal justification for assassinating citizens, beginning with alleged al-Qaeda bigwig al-Awlaki and his teenage son. Millions of Americans - brainwashed by years of war on terror fairy tales and propaganda - supported the policy.

Targeting Journalists

The Obama administration demonstrated its contempt for the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution when it was revealed in May that the Justice Department secretly obtained phone records of journalists at the Associated Press.

The move was an obvious attempt to intimidate and send a message to elements of the establishment media not following the government's playbook. Fear and intimidation may work for establishment journalists, but for alternative media journalists - even those working on the fringe of the establishment represented by the liberal magazine Rolling Stone - assassination now appears to be the preferred course of action for deviating from the script.

The sloppiness of the Michael Hastings assassination was deliberate. The government, the Pentagon and the CIA are interested in sending a message, the same message sent by Hitler, Stalin, Mao and dozens of other dictators - go up against the government, deviate from unwritten parameters, and you may be assassinated.

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