The circumstances of the crash are perfectly consistent with it being an accident, and every single article I've seen that says otherwise checks off every box of the Conspiracy Theorist Checklist (or it would if such a thing existed).
I'm going to need something more than "the USG could have assassinated him". Because even in the current climate, even with the threats, an accident is still the best explanation until shown otherwise. And none of the articles have come anywhere close to showing otherwise.
I didn't say the USG did assassinate him. I said they have the authority to.
What I have said however, is that Hastings was threatened with death repeatedly for his writings. I wouldn't find it the least bit surprising if someone did make an attempt on his life.
Indeed, I don't think the USG would bother with an official assassination of someone like Hastings. There are plenty of dark characters available for that type of simplistic grunt work. For example, the guy associated with McChrystal that directly threatened to murder Hastings.
You asked me, what conspiracy? And the answer is, the conspiracy theory that this crash was an assassination by the US government.
You may not find it surprising if someone attempted to kill him. I may not find it surprising either, I don't know. But what I do know is that nothing revealed about this particular case so far points toward an assassination, and all of the articles about it posted on HN have approached the crash with a conspiracy mindset, where they twist fairly mundane facts to try to support the idea that it was, in fact, an assassination.
I'm going to need something more than "the USG could have assassinated him". Because even in the current climate, even with the threats, an accident is still the best explanation until shown otherwise. And none of the articles have come anywhere close to showing otherwise.