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John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

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Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#371

From McAffee in 2019, "Getting subtle messages from U.S. officials saying, in effect: "We're coming for you McAfee! We're going to kill yourself". I got a tattoo today just in case. If I suicide myself, I didn't. I was whackd. Check my right arm. " https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/120086428376625152...

$WHACKD

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why kill someone they were about to get legitimately?

Because whatever he says in a trial becomes public record and widely reported on.

Edward Snowden has published a book, appeared on every podcast and talked to every media outlet since the 2013 revelations. He's still alive (granted, in Russia, where he'll probably be stuck forever).

I seriously doubt a drugged-up 75yo who lived outside the US for much of the past 20 years somehow had a hotter scoop on the US government's doings.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#373
post #23

What a strange life he lived. I'm not going to make a value judgement about whether or not he was a 'good' person, but I do applaud the fact that he dared to deviate from the norm. "There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die." -- Hunter S Thompson RIP

It should be noted that this Hunter S Thompson quote refers to Oscar Zeta Acosta. Acosta made a big difference fighting for the rights of poor and marginalized mexican-americans in east LA. He did something more with his life than just take a lot of drugs and be weird.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is indeed an alternative possiblity, but the possiblity that he was murdered should not be discounted. Murdering those that challenge authority has been happening since the dawn of history and nothing has fundamentally changed. Well other than needing to make it look like a suicide since modern society likes to believe it's enlightened.

McAfee was an obviously unhinged lunatic peddling fringe nonsense. You can make an argument that cryptocurrency poses a threat to the state, but a 75 year old man who spends 16 hours a day rambling on twitter about fringe stuff does not. The available evidence points strongly to a deeply mentally ill guy facing life in prison and killing himself.

Unhinged folks can be murdered by state actors outside the law too...

This is one of those situations which may well just be impossible to unravel in a satisfactory way.

In fact, if you're clever and in intelligence, a good way to cover your tracks and generally be nefarious is to provide a reason for your desired outcome to happen. In other words, do what you can to encourage the unhinged tendencies of your target so that they might actually do it themselves or at least it will seem more plausible that they did.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As cynical as it might seem, there is an alternative possibility: in spite of getting a tattoo saying he would not kill himself, and in spite of posting a tweet saying he would not kill himself, he went ahead and killed himself.

It is indeed an alternative possiblity, but the possiblity that he was murdered should not be discounted. Murdering those that challenge authority has been happening since the dawn of history and nothing has fundamentally changed. Well other than needing to make it look like a suicide since modern society likes to believe it's enlightened.

There's a saying, you can't escape death and taxes.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#376

From McAffee in 2019, "Getting subtle messages from U.S. officials saying, in effect: "We're coming for you McAfee! We're going to kill yourself". I got a tattoo today just in case. If I suicide myself, I didn't. I was whackd. Check my right arm. " https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/120086428376625152...

The trait that carried McAfee furthest was, in hindsight, his incredible talent as a hype man. He effectively created an image as a larger-than-life figure who those in power were afraid of and wished to stop.

I have no trouble believing that people wanted him dead in general. He was credibly accused of both murder and sexual assault[1]. I am sure he was annoying to many officials, but most of the reports of death threats around McAfee were those experienced by the people he disliked.

I think that the simplest and most straightforward explanation is that this tweet (and tattoo) were another promotional stunt for someone trying to get out of the charges against him. It would be another in a long line of claims McAfee made on various topics which had the effect of, however briefly, centering himself in the eye of the public. He wasn't adverse to extreme actions and I have no trouble believing that he would both get that tattoo and decide later to end his own life.

[1] https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/12/12887124/john-mcafee-rape...

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#377

From McAffee in 2019, "Getting subtle messages from U.S. officials saying, in effect: "We're coming for you McAfee! We're going to kill yourself". I got a tattoo today just in case. If I suicide myself, I didn't. I was whackd. Check my right arm. " https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/120086428376625152...

There was a ruling today approving his extradition to the US. US officials were about to get him and he was facing extremely serious charges. That's a really important bit of context to keep in mind before jumping to ideas that some shadowy "they" had him killed.

The timing does make me suspicious. I'm generally willing to believe he was "suicided" by some shadowy conspiracy. But if that's what happened, why would they do it on the day his extradition was approved?

If our secret ninja assassins wanted to take him out because he Knew Too Much or whatever, they could do that any old time. Why do it on the day his extradition was approved instead of some random day 6 months ago or something.

On the other hand, it seems much more reasonable that a man whose extradition to the US to face Federal Criminal charges was just approved might suddenly decide to kill himself rather than deal with that.

Unless of course the Secret Ninja Assassins knew that and decided to kill him today to make it look less suspicious. But then we're really getting into the weeds of conspiracy, where any crazy thing we could dream up might have happened.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#378
post #66

I met John in an Atlanta airport lounge years ago[1]. I recognized him immediately as I've always admired him, and I decided to go up to him and tell him as much. He invited me to sit down, and told him about when I was a teenager in the 90s learning about tech entrepreneurs at the time, I always thought he was pretty cool and had good ideas. I told him I respected him, and that I was sure he'd lived an incredible li…

When you say he was "sloshed" do you mean he was drunk? Or do you mean he was very pleased with your praise?

Not sure why you’re downvoted. I was also confused for a moment - “inebriated with praise” is not an uncommon expression.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#380
post #66

I met John in an Atlanta airport lounge years ago[1]. I recognized him immediately as I've always admired him, and I decided to go up to him and tell him as much. He invited me to sit down, and told him about when I was a teenager in the 90s learning about tech entrepreneurs at the time, I always thought he was pretty cool and had good ideas. I told him I respected him, and that I was sure he'd lived an incredible li…

When you say he was "sloshed" do you mean he was drunk? Or do you mean he was very pleased with your praise?

Sloshed is a weird word. It means drunk but if you go through etymology, it started at slush and moved to slosh which was to splash around in slush. Then somewhere along the lines, 'slosh' meant to pour without care and make a mess. That turned into pour alcohol carelessly and become a mess.
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