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Boeing whistleblower found dead in US

bbc.com

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Re: Boeing whistleblower found dead in US

#261

Post by bilekas »

aydyn wrote: post #256
yifanl wrote: post #61

I'm just going to take this story at face value, there's an infinite number of alternate explanations that I'd be powerless to talk about. I've had my own (thankfully brief) moments where I've thought about suicide just from the perception that my coworkers, my bosses, the entire world, just does not care about doing the right thing. Mr Barnett worked for the same company for over three decades and physically watched…

[flagged]

> Occam's razor

From my point of view Occam's razor here wouldn't be assassination. It's would be as mentioned above, mental health and overwhelmed by the sheer impact of your whistleblowing.

Maybe there is no Occam's razor here if there's no obvious answer.

Re: Boeing whistleblower found dead in US

#262

Post by falsandtru »

dang wrote: post #151
falsandtru wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hacker News is extremely strongly manipulated. What users see as popularity order is actually the order manipulated to the moderators' liking. https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented#behavi... I believe this is a good technical article for HN concerning safety culture of engineers, but moderators didn't think so.

It's not a technical article. It's a lurid media topic* about a suspicious-looking alleged suicide with zero information for a substantive discussion, and tons of fuel for sinister speculation. That's not what HN is supposed to be for. However, we can give this one a pass because the ongoing Boeing saga is of interest and there's clearly a community appetite to discuss this development. Edit: even though the thread i…

[flagged]

Re: Boeing whistleblower found dead in US

#263

Post by saagarjha »

coolspot wrote: post #248
KingOfCoders wrote: post #187

Has someone numbers about suicides in cars with guns? This looks fishy to me. But perhaps I've just watched too many mafia films.

Suicide in a car is a “popular” way of doing this because there is less cleaning afterwards. Crime scene cleaning of a room costs like $20k. Bodily fluids go everywhere.

Is cleaning a car less expensive? I feel like it would be harder, just considering that it's a cramped space that seems difficult to scrub and full of stuff that is not easily washable.

Re: Boeing whistleblower found dead in US

#264

Post by xvector »

hef19898 wrote: post #244
xvector wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The man was just about to testify. The timing is what makes this suspicious, not the suicide itself. Let's not be so naive as to imply that these companies and their vested interests would not murder someone to protect a multi-billion dollar business. Shit like this happens all the time.

All the time, huh? Not the usual lawyer intimidation, pressure and PI surveillenace, but actual murder? Ok, can you link to cases then? In the US or Europe or some place like this, not Africa or some developing country where western companies run amok at times. And also some recent ones, in the last 20 years or so?

Okay.

- Jeffrey Epstein (2019, US): no explanation needed.

- Michael Hastings (2013, USA): Journalist known for his critical reporting on the US military, died in a car crash consistent with a car cyberattack (maximum speed/brake tampering, body charred beyond recognition) amidst national security investigations he was involved in. Expressed concerns his car had been tampered with and that he was being targeted hours before his death.

- Alexander Perepilichnyy (2012, UK): Exposed a Kremlin-linked fraud scheme, died under mysterious circumstances while jogging in England shortly after.

- David Kelly (2003, UK): A British weapons expert embroiled in controversy over the UK government's Iraq war intelligence. Suicided two days after testifying in a forest outside his home.

- Gary Webb (2004, USA): Investigative journalist who exposed the CIA's connections to drug trafficking, died from two gunshot wounds to the head in what was ruled a suicide.

- Deborah Jeane Palfrey (2008, USA): aka the "DC Madam," operated an escort service, threatened to expose high-profile clients, was found hanged right before she could testify in court. Notably, she said publicly multiple times that she would never commit suicide. One of the girls under her employ was also suicided by hanging.

Re: Boeing whistleblower found dead in US

#265

Post by furyg3 »

yifanl wrote: post #61

I'm just going to take this story at face value, there's an infinite number of alternate explanations that I'd be powerless to talk about. I've had my own (thankfully brief) moments where I've thought about suicide just from the perception that my coworkers, my bosses, the entire world, just does not care about doing the right thing. Mr Barnett worked for the same company for over three decades and physically watched…

Just to chime in on the 'alternate explanations', I think it's important for anyone with conspiracy ideas to remember that the case he was being questioned in was not an investigation into Boeings liability as an airplane manufacturer, but rather a civil suit he made against Boeing for defamation of character.

Re: Boeing whistleblower found dead in US

#266

Post by kuratkull »

saagarjha wrote: post #263
coolspot wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suicide in a car is a “popular” way of doing this because there is less cleaning afterwards. Crime scene cleaning of a room costs like $20k. Bodily fluids go everywhere.

Is cleaning a car less expensive? I feel like it would be harder, just considering that it's a cramped space that seems difficult to scrub and full of stuff that is not easily washable.

I imagine you just scrap the (assuming reasonably priced) car, who would want to use it afterwards?

Re: Boeing whistleblower found dead in US

#267

Post by whatevertrevor »

coolspot wrote: post #248
KingOfCoders wrote: post #187

Has someone numbers about suicides in cars with guns? This looks fishy to me. But perhaps I've just watched too many mafia films.

Suicide in a car is a “popular” way of doing this because there is less cleaning afterwards. Crime scene cleaning of a room costs like $20k. Bodily fluids go everywhere.

Also less traumatic for your loved ones to replace a car than have to move houses because they can't get the image out of their mind.

Re: Boeing whistleblower found dead in US

#268

Post by mrjin »

thinkingemote wrote: post #229
keernan wrote: post #10

He was scheduled to appear for day two of his deposition testimony the morning of his death. Had he died Sat night instead of Sat morning, the transcript of Saturday's testimony could have been read to the jury during trial. Obviously that can't happen now and whatever he was going to say in Saturday's testimony is lost forever.

Witnesses often write sign and submit a written witness statement into evidence before appearing. It's probably up to the judge now. The written evidence gets sent to prosecution and defence. There would be a question whether witness actually did write the statement... but might be better than nothing

That might be the case as long as he was not suicided.

Re: Boeing whistleblower found dead in US

#269

Post by falsandtru »

dang wrote: post #243
falsandtru wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Once I unkilled it, it went back from [flagged][dead] to just [flagged], and it went back to being visible to everyone whether they are logged in or not, or have 'showdead' turned on or not. In other words, you resurrected the deleted text. I just hope this conversation will not be deleted/flagged again and become unreadable.

I don't want to argue definitions. If you prefer to call a comment 'deleted' which anyone with 'showdead' turned on in their profile can read, that's fine. On HN, we've always used the word 'dead' for that class of comments.

[flagged]

Re: Boeing whistleblower found dead in US

#270

Post by amatecha »

hiddencost wrote: post #175
leetrout wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> from the perception that my coworkers, my bosses, the entire world, just does not care about doing the right thing. How did you overcome this?

Quit

I mean, you kinda glossed over 1/3 of the issue... how do you quit “the entire world”? I think the person asking for advice wanted a real answer for “how can one deal with this difficulty”, especially because in the work situation, a new job won’t necessarily make any difference in terms of the internal struggles.
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