June 29, 2013

When Phillippe Reines — the man behind Hillary's "reset" button — said "fuck off" and "have a good life" to Michael Hastings — the reporter who died recently in a mysterious car crash.

In the comments to the "Snowden is like a hot meat pie in your hands" post — about what leaker Edward Snowden means to the Russians — David said "So much for reset. Apparently Obama and Clinton have not improved relations [with Russia] much." Which got me looking up articles about Hillary Clinton's foolish "reset" button. I found "Hillary’s Aide Really Half-Assed That ‘Reset’ Button Thing" from March 2009:
[F]ingers had to be pointed at someone, and, for the most part they were conveniently targeted at a guy everyone hated already anyway, Hillary's senior adviser Phillippe Reines, who was nearly fired during the presidential campaign for making a tactless comment about John McCain's torture experience. He's also been agitating some in the State Department press corps by restricting their access.
(I think the referenced comment about McCain is here.) Now, we talked about Reines last fall in connection with this story: "Hillary Clinton Aide Tells Reporter To 'Fuck Off' And 'Have A Good Life.'" And I'm surprised to see that the reporter is Michael Hastings, who died in a fiery single-car wreck on June 18th:
He had emailed a warning to colleagues on June 17 saying the "Feds" were interviewing his close friends and associates. He added: "I'm onto a big story, and need to go off the radat (sic) for a bit." BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith confirmed that he had received the email....

The circumstances and rumors surrounding the death led the FBI to issue a statement stating that Hastings was never under investigation.
In this light, you might want to read that Phillipe Reines/Michael Hastings email exchange again. Hastings was asking questions like "Why didn’t the State Department search the [Benghazi] consulate...?" and "What other potential valuable intelligence [besides Ambassador Stevens's diary] was left behind that could have been picked up by apparently anyone searching the grounds?" Reines became extremely defensive and abusive:
I now understand why the official investigation by the Department of the Defense as reported by The Army Times The Washington Post concluded beyond a doubt that you’re an unmitigated asshole.

How’s that for a non-bullshit response?

Now that we’ve gotten that out of our systems, have a good day.

And by good day, I mean Fuck Off.
ADDED: From 4 days ago: "Was Michael Hastings Murdered? Internet Conspiracy Theories Are Rife."
First, it's obvious that Hastings was working on a big story, though the exact subject is under debate. Considering the title of his email ["FBI Investigation, re:NSA"] and his last article on BuzzFeed, many (including the Guardian's Glenn Greenwald) think it may have been a piece on PRISM. The Huffington Post thinks he was writing about General Petraeus, while the Los Angeles Times stated that it was on a privacy lawsuit against the Department of Defense and the FBI. They are all big, government-related cases that many would prefer go unexamined.

Second, Hastings reached out to the legal team at Wikileaks for assistance, claiming that that FBI were investigating him. Wikileaks has also claimed that there is a "non-public complication" in Hastings' death, though they have not released more information.

Third, while is it ordinary protocol for police departments to issue a statement that there was no foul play (as the LAPD have done), the FBI hardly ever responds to media attention. However, in this case, they have made an exception. The FBI has released a statement denying that they were ever investigating Hastings, which is interesting considering that after years in his field, Hastings is well aware of what being investigated by the FBI looks like.

Fourth, the car accident itself was pretty bizarre. When the car hit the tree, the engine ejected and was later found over 100 feet away. That kind of ejection is pretty unusual, especially for a Mercedes, and it also meant that Hastings would have had to be driving close to 100 mph, which is much faster than that section of road permits.....

61 comments:

rhhardin said...

It was Fort Marcy Park time.

edutcher said...

Hillary was already a lousy executive when she was made Secretary - HillaryCare and her Presidential campaign were disasters in no small part because of her.

Reines was just the one who got thrown under the bus.

As for Hastings, nobody's accused the Feds of any murder.

Yet.

Espionage, intimidation, oh, yeah, but murder - that would take same sex marriage and "Trayvon" off the front pages in a second.

PS Given Hastings' interest in Benghazi, this isn't too OT:

Fox is saying more Benghazi shoes to drop.

It ain't goin' away.

Anonymous said...

The FBI denied investigating Hastings, the NSA denied snooping, the IRS denied targeting the Dearest Dear Leader's enemies, the State Dept. insinuated that the filmmaker caused the death of ambassador Stevens, the Justice Dept. accused unscrupulous gun sellers walked guns down the Mexican borders ...

They are really telling us to Fuck Off!

somefeller said...

Hillary, Benghazi and an accidental death. Yes, that trifecta is like catnip to a certain set. Good for blog eyeballs.

SteveR said...

To the extent that Hillary Clinton is the smartest woman ever and the destined to be first woman president, she was a crappy SOS.

YoungHegelian said...

Am I being asked to believe that in the cabal of nutjobs (which Reines is) that attach to every powerful political figure, there wouldn't be one who would murder in order not to see his/her ticket to ride derailed from a rise to greater power?

Hell, I'd believe that in a New York minute. And that goes for both sides of the aisle, too!

David said...

Projection!

Hilary has surrounded herself with unmitigated asshomes for a long time. Married a mitigated one.

The collective job of this anal ring is to protect her. By any means necessary.

Amazingly, she has a better chance of being the next President than anyone else.

We may all find ourselves rooting for Joe Biden.

edutcher said...

somefeller said...

Hillary, Benghazi and an accidental death.

Not like it hasn't all happened before.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Just because the FBI wan't investigating him doesn't mean he wasn't being investigated by (a) the CIA, (b) the State Department, (c) non-FBI investigators at the DOJ, or (d) private investigators working for Hillary Clinton or the DNC.

It depends on the definition of investigation, doesn't it? Although at this point, what does it matter?

I don't think we can rule out that he hit the tree at high speed because he was being chased or was trying to elude someone.

He told people he was onto a big story and he died in a fiery crash. Those are really the only two facts we have at this point.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Somefeller is in the Reines camp. If you cannot blindly worship the democrat, fuck off. How dare you ask questions regarding the Benghazi debacle. Just eat the lies and be a good little reporter worshipper like the rest of the hack media.

Skeptical Voter said...

Well I'd like to tell this little schmuck's female boss to F off if you get my drift, and I think you do.

John henry said...

It was not a "Reset" button no matter how they choose to label it.

In the US a red pushbutton on a yellow background, such as Hilary gave to Putin, is legally defined as an "Emergency Stop" button.

It can be used for no other purpose under the US Code of Federal Regulations and under most state codes.

If Hilary had called it an emergency stop, rather than a reset button, the metaphor would actually have worked better as well as being legal.

But what has Hilary ever cared for law anyway?

John Henry



There is a federal law as well

John henry said...

It was not a "Reset" button no matter how they choose to label it.

In the US a red pushbutton on a yellow background, such as Hilary gave to Putin, is legally defined as an "Emergency Stop" button.

It can be used for no other purpose under the US Code of Federal Regulations and under most state codes.

If Hilary had called it an emergency stop, rather than a reset button, the metaphor would actually have worked better as well as being legal.

But what has Hilary ever cared for law anyway?

John Henry

Left Bank of the Charles said...

I forgot (e) DOD investigators, (f) General Stanley McChrystal, and (g) the same outfit who killed Andrew Breitbart in LA only 15 months ago.

Rialby said...

At the end of the day you will still vote for her because the Republican nominee will be something something blah blah justification nonsense.

Robert Cook said...

Wow! Any reporter who can't get a Senator or Congressman or "official spokesperson" to respond with an equally hostile, insulting response to a question is not doing his or her job! This just confirms Hastings was was one of the few indispensable journalists working in America in recent years.

Mark O said...

If it is a murder, it is one that cannot be solved without a confession.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Isn't always a happy coincidence when reporters who ask democrats tough questions end up dead.

Chip Ahoy said...

It was an EASY button.

I thought at first, and then, no, yes, no, yes, no, it's more like the button on the bottom of collapsing toys. You push it in and the figure made of beads pulled tight collapses because it's not tight anymore. Oh, they're such fun. Push the button, boop, everything falls amusingly, release the button, boop, it pulls back taught into place automatically. Get a collapsing robot for five dollars.

Gosh, that seems kind of high for such a small toy. Here's a donkey for two dollars.

Carnifex said...

does anyone but the media and the wingbat base of the D party believe anything this administration sez? And I really believe the base knows that their being lied to also, but as the recent poll showed, their real fear is conservatives. You can;t argue with that kind of stupid. all you can do is shoot it in the head to put it out of its misery };-)

Carnifex said...

does anyone but the media and the wingbat base of the D party believe anything this administration sez? And I really believe the base knows that their being lied to also, but as the recent poll showed, their real fear is conservatives. You can;t argue with that kind of stupid. all you can do is shoot it in the head to put it out of its misery };-)

Sam L. said...

Say what you will, there are a hell of a lot of dots out there waiting to be connected.

edutcher said...

Was the recent poll honest or just something to keep people apart?

Remember, divide and conquer is the stock in trade of the community organizer.

But, no, I don't think all but the most brainwashed apparatchiks (and we have some here) buy the Choom Gang's propaganda anymore.

Their problem is that they've burned all their bridges with everyone else.

Anonymous said...

Carnifex said...
"their real fear is conservatives"

The real terrorists are Tea Partiers. Tea Partiers terrorize them with threats to shrink govt. spending, shrinking their loots of the taxpayers' money.

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

Just think about the very idea of the world's preeminent nuclear power addressing foreign relation with the second most powerful nation who has been an extremely dangerous enemy for decades with a silly little "reset button". Somebody should have just been smacked up side the head when they offered up that shit. This entire administration is like a sorority activities committee without the fresh eggs.

dreams said...

Maybe Vince Foster was murdered. Its probably best not to get in the way of ambitious sociopaths like the Clintons.

dreams said...

Hastings wasn't a good guy, he was an Obama loving liberal.

"The book might even be an interesting one; I don’t know, because I haven’t read it. It’s called Panic 2012: The Sublime and Terrifying Inside Story of Obama’s Final Campaign, and you can read more about it here, including the quote that grabbed my attention:

One of those off-the-record moments [with the press during the 2012 campaign] was an event where President Obama joined reporters for drinks while the campaign was in Orlando, Fla., an event that Hastings partially details in the book.

“The behavior of the assembled press corps was telling. Everyone, myself included, swooned. Swooned! Head over heels. One or two might have even lost their minds,” Hastings writes, as each reporter had a chance to speak personally with the president. “We were all, on some level, deeply obsessed with Obama, crushing hard, still a little love there. This was nerd heaven, a politico’s paradise, the subject himself moving among us — shaking our hands, slapping our shoulders!”

It’s not as though we didn’t already know about this sort of thing. After all, haven’t we joked for years about “tingles” Chris Matthews of MSNBC and “pants crease” David Brooks of the NY Times? But there’s something about the above quote that still sent a shiver of horror down my spine: the blatant, bizarre, hyper-emotionality and near-eroticism (Hastings, by the way, was not gay) of the attraction."

http://neoneocon.com/2013/06/22/michael-hastings-obama-and-the-swoon/

Anonymous said...

all the minions eager to work their way up the food chain have to work pretty hard to impress their sociopathic leaders.

edutcher said...

bagoh20 said...

Just think about the very idea of the world's preeminent nuclear power addressing foreign relation with the second most powerful nation who has been an extremely dangerous enemy for decades with a silly little "reset button". Somebody should have just been smacked up side the head when they offered up that shit. This entire administration is like a sorority activities committee without the fresh eggs.

But this is the kind of stupid the Lefty academics and media types love and they ate it up with a spoon and suckered the Lefty donors into backing this crowd.

40 years ago, these were the same idiots singing, "All we are saying 'give peace a chance'".

dreams said...

Notice all these people who are supposedly our betters "the best and the brightest" resort to foul language no different than any blue collar person might use when they're unable to defend their positions or actions.

Gospace said...

Being friends, business partners, and associates with Bill and Hillary is one of the most dangerous jobs in America. http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/BODIES.html There are other sites with similar lists. Snopes labels as false the claim that the two were responsible for the deaths. But then explains away them knowing so many people to die by suicide, violence or accidental death before their 3 score and 10.

Think about it. In your circle of friends and acquaintances over the years, how many people do you know who committed suicide or died violent, early deaths? Even among those you know just a little? They're batting way above average in that department.

At 58 I know one person who committed suicide, and one mass murderer. (4 family members), and knowing one mass murderer places me well above average in that number. And a handful of people who died in accidents- mostly naval aviators.

Nomennovum said...

Oh, Lord. Can we not elect a woman president -- PLEASE? Especially not a Clinton. We really don't need the drama. No Palin. No double X-ers at all. Let's get back to some normalcy. We really need a boring ass cracker dude. Romney would be acceptable. Rand Paul would be better. Speaking of ass crackers who would make better a president than Hillary -- how about James Deen?

averagejoe said...

Perfesser AA finds the accident suspicious since the car would have to be traveling 100mph and the road conditions wouldn't permit it... You've seen the video, right, of his car speeding through the intersection? I guess you haven't...

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Re the button: I like imagining that whoever had it in his hands when they walked out of the room unceremoniously dropped it in the trashcan without even a glance, like Tony Soprano when that stripper gave him a loaf of banana nut bread.

Rabel said...

Put Angela Corey on the case. She can find a murderer when few others can.

Jum said...

Except that Hastings blew by other witnesses so fast that it shook one man's car like Hastings was in an 18-wheeler passing by at high speed.

Jum said...

Except that Hastings blew by other witnesses so fast that it shook one man's car like Hastings was in an 18-wheeler passing by at high speed.

edutcher said...

dreams said...

Notice all these people who are supposedly our betters "the best and the brightest" resort to foul language no different than any blue collar person might use when they're unable to defend their positions or actions.

They were taught this in college. The women learned it from the feminists. They think it makes tough.

"Tear down this wall" got the point across.

So did "I can hear you, the rest of the world can hear you and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."

Nomennovum said...

Oh, Lord. Can we not elect a woman president -- PLEASE? Especially not a Clinton. We really don't need the drama. No Palin. No double X-ers at all. Let's get back to some normalcy. We really need a boring ass cracker dude. Romney would be acceptable. Rand Paul would be better. Speaking of ass crackers who would make better a president than Hillary -- how about James Deen?

I don't think Palin would be that bad, but, OK - Perry, Sessions, Kasich - or Romney - we'll find out some day he really did win anyhow.

Mark said...

If I were a reporter, the main question I'd be chasing is what has been the chain of custody for the car? Who has it now? And can we have a team of engineers examine it under supervision?

I would also look for security camera recordings along the car's known route.

David R. Graham said...

It's possible remotely to take control of an automobile's computers. It's also possible remotely to activate a previously-implanted device that overrides a specific control module on an automobile. Memory is dim: didn't Hastings and Breitbart die after visiting a grog shop?

I think fascists fear news more than they do opposition.

David R. Graham said...

"Romney - we'll find out some day he really did win anyhow."

Concur. 2012 was a fascist coup d'état. 2008 was the forewarning, treated as salvation.

kentuckyliz said...

Kinda makes me worry because I've tweeted, fb'd, and commented about this administration in a critical manner.

Ah well, I've had a good run.

Cue William Wallace motivational speech to the troops in Braveheart. I'd rather die today for freedom than to accept compromise and die an old age in my sleep, unfree from this day til that one.

FREEEEEEEDOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

kentuckyliz said...

Esteemed blogress, might I suggest social sharing buttons? If you give me a little blue and white f, a little bird, a red and white P, a G+, I might spread the Gospel of Althouse to the ends of the earth...and gain you new readers and amazon revenue.

I remain,
Your Obedient Servant.

Anonymous said...

At the "fuck off" and "have a good life" Cafe the Lettuce of Justice is Wilting.

Anonymous said...

AP reporters' phones tapped, drying up sources. Check.
Fox News reporter charged with espionage conspiracy. Check.
Pesky right wing reporter Breitbart dies of a heart attack. Check.
Pesky left wing reporter Hastings dies in a fiery 100 mile per hour Mercedes Benz C250 crash. Police close case: "no foul play." Check.
IRS employed to intimidate and destroy political enemies. Check.

Anybody else willing to challenge the regime? Didn't think so.

Eeyore Rifkin said...


"In Dulles UAL lounge listening to 4 US intel officials saying loudly leaker & reporter on #NSA stuff should be disappeared recorded a bit"

Text of a tweet by Steve Clemons, editor for the Atlantic.

Pattern of conduct? Means, motive and intent for a murder of Hastings are floating around. The seriously paranoid will wonder whether conspiracy theories about Hastings' murder are being floated to deflect attention from the truth, and ultimately to discredit any story resembling the truth.

As for speculated modus operandi, there are already stories collected of assassination by car accident. It would be interesting to see some of those connected to specific intel officials who say journalists ought to be disappeared.

Anonymous said...

At the Conspiracy Theory Cafe all Bets are Offed.

Anonymous said...

At the Conspiracy Theory Cafe Sometimes a Car Accident is Just a Cigar.

Anonymous said...

At the Conspiracy Theory Cafe Sometimes the Is What Where When is Who What How Huh?

Anonymous said...

I Walk Down City Streets Showing Strangers My Reset Button: does This make Me a Criminal?

Anonymous said...

By "Reset Button" I mean "Toggle Switch".

Mark said...

Koblog is correct. The military calls it battlespace preparation.

Deirdre Mundy said...

I think the big problem is that we're currently at a point where USSR-style tactics being used against reporters seems like a possibility.

30 years ago, we'd have laughed at the suggestion.

Even 10 years ago, it would have seemed highly unlikely to anyone not on the fringes.

But now? There's a sense that the government recognizes no limits on its ability to discipline and punish. Even if it was just a car accident (driving too fast while sleepy, for instance), the fact that 'assassination' is plausible means that America as we knew it is on life support.

Astro said...

No, really, it's just a coincidence that someone the Clintons find inconvenient - and by inconvenient I mean 'needs to die' , suspiciously dies.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I thought the reset button idea was simply brilliant.

In Godfather II, they passed around a solid gold telephone at the conference table so the camera could show you all the hoods/executives at the meeting.

Brilliant!

Later on, Hyman Roth's birthday cake had a depiction of Cuba on it in buttercream frosting. He asked for a smaller piece.

Brilliant!!!

So, as I was saying before about the reset button . . .

BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hastings death is suspicious and no one mentions of Stanley McCrystal?

If any one would like to burn Hastings it would be the former general.

Roux said...

Vince Foster was unavailable for comment.

Roux said...

Vince Foster was unavailable for comment.

Clyde said...

Saw an article the other day about ways in which cars can be "hacked." I have no problem at all believing that it is possible that Hastings could have been assassinated in such a way, especially if he had more embarrassing dirt on people in power. Hell, even a low-tech break-in to his car and some adhesive on the gas pedal, like in the movie The Blues Brothers could accomplish the same thing. His friends said he "drove like a grandmother." Of course, I also heard he drank and used drugs, so it could go either way.