Per that KTLA report:

“A lot of his friends were worried that he was in a very agitated state, yes. No question, people were concerned,” said Cenk Uygur, host of “The Young Turks.”

“He was incredibly tense and very worried and was concerned that the government was looking in on his material,” he said.

“I don’t know what his state of mind was at 4:30 in the morning, but I do know what his state of mind was in general, and it was a nervous wreck.”

So Cenk had noticed what I noticed. I’d be surprised if he hadn’t. (I didn’t watch his show last night, but have it on DVR, and will watch it soon.)

Very interesting!

On a related note … A couple of years ago, I went to a talk by a computer-security researcher getting his PhD from UCSD. In the first part of his talk, he showed how to hack the most secure voting machines. But, in the second part of his talk, he showed how he and an assistant hacked cars. In one video, he unlocked the car and started the engine so that his assistant could drive it away.

But in the final video, they took the car to an abandoned runway. While the assistant was driving down the runway, the researcher remotely took control of the throttle, sped the car up, and ultimately slammed on the brakes. It was shocking. And it was all done through the satellite radio via some malware he had download via the car’s CD.

Per KTLA:

The coroner’s office had yet to identify the victim, but both Rolling Stone and BuzzFeed, where Hastings worked most recently, reported that it was him.

The solo-vehicle crash happened near the intersection of Highland and Melrose avenues around 4:15 a.m., according to the LAPD.

Hastings’ Mercedes-Benz slammed into a tree and caught fire.

“I was just coming northbound on Highland and I seen a car going really fast, and all of a sudden I seen it jackknife,” said Luis Cortez, who witnessed the wreck.

“I just seen parts fly everywhere and I slammed on my brakes and stopped and tried to call 911,” Cortez added.

The engine of the vehicle was found in a yard about 100 feet away.

The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Coroner’s officials said the body was too badly burned to make an immediate identification.

Police were investigating the possibility that speed may have been a factor in the crash.

Read more: http://ktla.com/2013/06/19/driver-killed-in-fiery-car-crash-in-hollywood/#ixzz2Wfesc100

My friend and I discussed this. Drugs? Personal tragedy? Medical issue? Threats?

In our minds, something had happened. But, we have no way of sorting it out.

I was a big fan of Machael Hastings and consider his death to be a big loss to journalism and to the nation. The kind of reporter of whom whe have all too few.

That said, a week or so ago, Michael Hastings was on The Young Turks and with 24 hours on either Chris Hayes’ or Rachel’s show. I each case he was part of a panel and in each case he was unusually belligerent, not obnoxiously so but way more than usual. Also, he was not so articulate as usual. And, one of my friends had noticed it too.

Something was definitely wrong.

Today’s column by Paul Krugman is his best ever:

[...]

Even while urging us to run bigger deficits for the time being, Christine Lagarde, the fund’s head, called on us to “hurry up with putting in place a medium-term road map to restore long-run fiscal sustainability.”

So here’s my question: Why, exactly, do we need to hurry up? Is it urgent that we agree now on how we’ll deal with fiscal issues of the 2020s, the 2030s and beyond?

No, it isn’t. And in practice, focusing on “long-run fiscal sustainability” — which usually ends up being mainly about “entitlement reform,” a k a cuts to Social Security and other programs — isn’t a way of being responsible. On the contrary, it’s an excuse, a way to avoid dealing with the severe economic problems we face right now.

[...]

’m trying to look at the TPP and “red meatify” it. Take the actual positions it takes and show the RW just how anathema they are to their beliefs.

The term “corporate capitalism” gets them going every time around here.

Hi CT and Dearie.

Hey CT, did you participate in the work that led to the discovery that we’d crossed that 400ppm CO2 threshold. A good, but sad, march of science.

My dog has some gripes with my neighbors on that matter. Even when I pop backing bubbles, she runs and hides in the closet.

It’s tough to improve on perfection, and mid-June around here the weather is close to perfect. Also, not much violence this week. The sounds I hear coming from Casa Blanca sound more like fireworks than gun fights. ;-)

Hi Suzanne!

Nonetheless, President Obama stands by his man [Clapper].

Clapper sat there with his bare face hanging out and answered “no” to Wyden’s question, when the truth, which he knew, was “yes.” He responded to criticism by claiming that that was the “least untruthful” answer he could give. Clapper is a lying sack of shit, who has committed the federal felony of lying to Congress. He should be impeached, convicted, and sentenced.

Bill Clinton was impeached for lying to a grad jury.

James “the weasel” Clapper, U.S. Director of National Intelligence, lied to Congress, a federal offense. Specifically, he deliberately and directly lied to the Intelligence Oversight Committee, thereby preventing it from performing its function, i.e. defrauding the United States of America (18USC371).

I recommend impeachment of the weasel.