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Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by geek_at on Friday March 15, 2024 @02:53AM (#39712725)
While I can't see "Boeing" (as a whole command structure) can be blamed for his death I do see the possibility of some corrupt person in a high position fearing what he had on him personally and ordered a strike against him.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by KingOfCoders on Friday March 15, 2024 @03:01AM (#39712770)
I worked for an eBay Inc. company as an executive, never thought that could happen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBay_stalking_scandal

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by lukan on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:11AM (#39713212)
Never heard of that before.

What stands out to me is, that the executive person ordering it, Steve Wymer, was not charged at all, despite making very plain statements:

"Wymer texted Baugh that Ina Steiner was a "biased troll who needs to be BURNED DOWN"; that he wanted "to see ashes"; and that Baugh should do "whatever it takes.""

I would imagine the same will happen here(if it was murder). Some pawns get executed, who "missunderstood their orders".

Mafia bosses seems to operate like this as well. They don't give plain orders to kill someone. But their underlings know what is expected of them, by a certain nod or comment.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by publius_0xf3 on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:27AM (#39713308)
[Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_no_one_rid_me_of_this_tur...)
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by boringg on Friday March 15, 2024 @03:42PM (#39719857)
Never knew that was the origin.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by dylan604 on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:16AM (#39713249)
It's always hard for that lone wolf to know if it's just a dog whistle or a true call to action. But I'm sure that's exactly the way it's intended to allow for plausible deniability. "I never meant for someone to take me seriously. I was just venting. Locker room talk."
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by lukan on Friday March 15, 2024 @07:04AM (#39714213)
That's the difference between a good and a bad employee. Or rather, the good employee delivers results, (does not get caught) and the boss asks no questions regarding the details.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by cwillu on Friday March 15, 2024 @07:14AM (#39714257)
Fwiw, the dog whistle _is_ the call to action. It's mildly amusing that the connotation has inverted though.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by xtiansimon on Friday March 15, 2024 @08:52AM (#39714950)
“Trainers may use the whistle simply to gather a dog's attention, or to inflict pain for the purpose of behaviour modification.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_whistle

Seems to go both ways, but without a doubt it gets the animal’s attention.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by cwillu on Friday March 15, 2024 @05:27PM (#39720901)
My point is that “oh, that's a nazi dog whistle” has been so overused that people have now come to associate the term with “signal that people think signifies something to another group, but which doesn't”.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by KingOfCoders on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:17AM (#39713259)
Once in another company, the CEO told the legal counsel in a meeting, don't send me emails, do what is needed.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by rasz on Friday March 15, 2024 @11:16AM (#39716695)
There is a scene in Antitrust (@8:40) where Gates says something similar while planning a murder:

>The cold, hard facts are that anything is possible.

>Anything, anything. You're just not thinking creatively.

>I have every confidence that you can do that, Phil.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by the_du_ on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:43PM (#39720503)
I loved that movie I was quite young
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by latchkey on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:22AM (#39713287)
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by dullcrisp on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:36AM (#39713363)
I do wonder what happened there. CEO texts the chief communications officer that someone posting online needs to be taken down, chief communication officer takes that literally and relays the order to the head of security?
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by lukan on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:42AM (#39713398)
Well, how do you take down some blog, if there is no legal base for it, because all the content was obvious legal?

If there would have been a legal angle, they would have send out lawyers letters instead. That was apparently not an option, so crime was the only way to go. And that no one at the top gets prosecuted for this, is quite disappointing.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by smegger001 on Friday March 15, 2024 @07:51AM (#39714501)
File fake DMCA claim with the hosting company, drop of if challenged, file and cease and desist with the ISP threatening vaguely and claim it has slanderous/lible and your willing to sue and they will often take it down, buy a few bitcoin run them through a tumbler to anonymize them and pay a bot farm to ddos the site until your host drops you to make it go away.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by lukan on Friday March 15, 2024 @09:00AM (#39715000)
Apparently you would have done a more discrete job.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by thecatspaw on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:52AM (#39713454)
You can still ask their hosting company to take down the content for example, or try to pay them off, or other things.

Or since it was in the US make up some bogus claim and take them to court and hope they cannot afford court proceedings and fold.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by dolmen on Friday March 15, 2024 @10:04AM (#39715853)
> Well, how do you take down some blog, if there is no legal base for it, because all the content was obvious legal?

We will never know the answer because the chief communication officer choose to contact the security department instead of the legal department.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by ValueAddedRS on Friday March 15, 2024 @01:09PM (#39718061)
Actually....he did contact the legal department too.

Court documents show eBay's Chief Legal Officer Marie Oh Huber was copied on the infamous Whatever It Takes email from Chief Communications Officer Steve Wymer wherein he referred to the twitter user Fidomaster/unsuckeBay (a frequent commenter and source for the blog) and the owners of the blog and said:

"I am utterly vexed by this! This twitter account dominates our social narrative with his CONSTANT obsession with trolling us. It's more than annoying, it's very damaging. There are a few people (this guy and the eComercebytes gal) infatuated with eBay who have seemingly dedicated their lives to erroneously trashing us as a way to build their own brand - or even build a business. It's genuinely unfair and causes tremendous damage because we look bad fighting back in public and standing up for ourselves. If we could engage, I'd welcome the fight and we have a lot of facts and truth to win with. But, instead we take shots broadside and sit on our powder. This issue gives me ulcers, harms employee moral, and trickles into everything about our brand. I genuinely believe these people are acting out of malice and ANYTHING we can do to solve it should be explored. Somewhere, at some point, someone chose to let this slide. It has grown to a point that is absolutely unacceptable. It's the "blind eye toward graffiti that turns into mayhem" syndrome and I'm sick about it. Whatever. It. Takes."

Oh Huber also engaged in multiple emails back and forth on the topic of Fidomaster/UnsuckeBay in particular as both her and Wymer had attempted to get Twitter to "kill" the account but had been unable to do so because, as mentioned above, there was not a strong legal basis for it.

And in fact at one point when Security Director Jim Baugh said he was investigating to try to identify the person behind the account and was making progress, Oh Huber replied with a smiley emoji and said "Thanks Jim, in light of this, I'll hold off on sending any letter."

Baugh's investigation included creating a fake Twitter account pretending to be an ex-eBay employee who engaged with Fidomaster/unsuckeBay to try to find some "connection" to EcommerceBytes and when that didn't work, part of the plan for escalating to all the crazy deliveries, online harassment and doxing, and in person stalking was a "White Knight Strategy" he hoped could convince the Steiners to "out" Fidomaster/unsuckeBay.

Per Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth B. Kosto:

"The campaign targeted victims one and two for their roles in publishing a newsletter that reported on issues of interest to eBay sellers. Senior executives at eBay were frustrated with the newsletter's tone and content and with the tone and content of comments that appeared underneath the newsletter's articles online.

The harassment campaign arose from communications between those senior executives and Mr. Baugh, who was at that time eBay's senior security employee. Mr. Baugh intended for the harassment and intimidation to distract the victims from publishing the newsletter, to change the newsletter's coverage of eBay, and ultimately to enable eBay to contact the victims to offer assistance with the harassment, what the government has called a White Knight strategy.

The White Knight strategy would earn goodwill with the victims, such that they might help eBay learn the identity of Fidomaster, an anonymous online persona who frequently posted negative comments about eBay underneath the newsletter's articles, and thereby allow eBay to discredit both Fidomaster and the victims."

Inexplicably, not only did Oh Huber keep her job after all this, but the entire security department at eBay was moved from Global Ops to Legal after their "internal investigation" into the scandal, putting it under her purview going forward.

Oh Huber has not been named in either the criminal or civil cases in this matter, but last week she did announce she was stepping down to "pursue a new chapter in her career, while exploring personal interests and passions" - which may or may not be related to the $3 Million fine and 3 years of compliance monitoring eBay will undergo as part of a deal they recently struck with the DOJ to try to avoid further criminal prosecution for the company or to the fact that discovery is moving forward in the civil case and more emails or other internal documents could soon become part of the public record.

https://www.valueaddedresource.net/ebay-chief-legal-officer-...

https://www.valueaddedresource.net/ebay-cyberstalking-scanda...

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by dullcrisp on Sunday March 17, 2024 @09:12PM (#39739609)
I’m hoping that means that she didn’t know what Jim Baugh was up to and that putting security under legal was intended to rein them in. Call me naïve but I can’t imagine that the eBay board is happy that this happened, though I do find it ridiculous that the CEO and other executives involved weren’t fired. There should be legal penalties preventing someone from leading a major corporation after being responsible for something like this. Attorneys can be disbarred so why not CEOs?
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by namdnay on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:45AM (#39713411)
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by DonHopkins on Friday March 15, 2024 @03:41AM (#39713015)
I could certainly believe Boeing would do something like that before I'd ever imagine eBay would, yet eBay did what they did.

The stakes are MUCH higher for Boeing, and we already know quite well that Boeing decided to put many human lives at risk to save money, and that's already resulted in many deaths. And they have a long history of making products designed specifically for killing humans.

https://www.boeing.com/defense

>This trusted partnership continues as defense customers once again look to Boeing to help them solve their toughest challenges.

Faking a suicide isn't a particularly tough challenge.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by themoonisachees on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:31AM (#39713336)
Boeing also has very privileged relations with various three letter agencies.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by echelon_musk on Friday March 15, 2024 @05:07AM (#39713541)
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by johnnyanmac on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:42AM (#39713401)
I could never imagine eBay doing this in 2019. 2 bloggers really got a CEO this hot and bothered? Were they really causing that much of a hit to ebay's sales or rep?

This sounds like one of those early 2000's trolling moments before such commentary conformed into a blob on modern social media. But given the rest of the events of the '20's I shouldn't be that surprised.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by raizer88 on Friday March 15, 2024 @03:53AM (#39713080)
Boing is so entrenched with defence contractors that any one of them could have killed him to preserve existing contracts to be canned do to some "deep restructuring" due to the trial.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by hughesjj on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:38AM (#39713377)
I really wish Boeing defense got spun off, them being under the same leadership is a threat to national security. The infection is only growing as they continue to share leadership.

Could the union elect/nominate new leadership, or are they corrupt these days as well?

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by otherme123 on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:50AM (#39713443)
Curiously, the Boeing branch that works for defense comes from the McDonell-Douglas buy: pre-merge Boeing main bussiness was comercial airplanes, MD was focused on military contracts. And arguably, all the current Boeing problems come from that buy/merge.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by hayst4ck on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:52AM (#39713455)
> I really wish Boeing defense got spun off, them being under the same leadership is a threat to national security.

Don't look at their board of directors unless you want to fully realize the magnitude of what you don't yet realize you're saying!

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by dolmen on Friday March 15, 2024 @10:15AM (#39715991)
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by dolmen on Friday March 15, 2024 @10:11AM (#39715937)
Airbus has the same structure with feets both in civil aviation and the defense industry, like if nobody could make business without those ties.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by gonzo41 on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:15AM (#39713248)
Time for everyone to rewatch Michael Clayton.

Boeing is a defense contractor. They'll have 'contacts'.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by jonathankoren on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:05AM (#39713171)
Karen Silkwood died under very suspicious circumstances. She had documents that described Kerr-McGee lax safety at a plutonium fuel plant, that went missing after her car was found with damage to rear in an ostensibly single car front end fatal accident, along with a cocktail of illegal drugs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Silkwood

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by madaxe_again on Friday March 15, 2024 @03:16AM (#39712864)
Boeing is also deeply entwined with state/political entities with a strong vested interest in preserving the status quo who may not be squeamish about direct action.

Against the general backdrop of Boeing’s woes, suiciding a whistleblower is low-hanging fruit.

Who knows. Maybe he has a deadman’s set up.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by XorNot on Friday March 15, 2024 @03:37AM (#39712986)
Contrary to popular belief, there is not a readily and highly available supply of assassins and hitmen in the world.

The problem with this whole "he totally didn't kill himself" thing is...okay, so how did they kill him? Because you can't just put a gun in the hand of an unwilling person and force them to shoot themselves without leaving evidence.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by LudwigNagasena on Friday March 15, 2024 @03:46AM (#39713044)
You are talking about a company that participated in CIA kidnappings. Surely they can find a way.

https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-sues-boeing-subsidi...

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by ImHereToVote on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:05AM (#39713169)
The CIA and NED are way to interested in the wellbeing of Americans to do something so heinous. /s
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by tim333 on Saturday March 16, 2024 @08:08AM (#39725178)
While the CIA have done a variety of coup like overseas operations I think they'd be reluctant to kill people to meddle with a domestic factory safety hearing.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by dheavy on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:00AM (#39713131)
Can you provide non-anecdotal evidences for your first statement?

Because it's fairly easy to do so for the opposite statement. e.g. https://assassination.globalinitiative.net/monitor/

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by max_ on Friday March 15, 2024 @03:45AM (#39713036)
I think you heavily under estimate what normal people motivated by money are capable of doing.

In my friends highschool, some businesses guy was paying highschool kids (16 - 17 ish) to strangle car owners and steal their cars. They were later caught.

Also, watch or read Killers of The Flowers Moon.

The problem with planned murder is that it is all hidden, and the details are fuzzy. So there is alot of reasonable doubt.

But trust me, there is alot do planned killing going on out there.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by kashunstva on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:04AM (#39713163)
> normal people motivated by money… strangle car owners and steal their cars…

Those are not in any way normal people. If someone makes it to 16-17 y/o without acquiring that fundamental moral lesson, I would not characterize them as normal, whatever the cause of that failure.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by braymundo on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:19AM (#39713272)
Agree, not normal. Then again, what percentage of high level executives or contractors with companies like Boeing are "normal"?
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by max_ on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:23AM (#39713292)
I think what I meant was that they "looked normal".

They were just attending classes like their class mates.

It's not like they had a horns on thier head or walked around with pitchforks that made them obviously seem like killers.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by whacko_quacko on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:18AM (#39713268)
"Normal" means common here, and the fact that common people happily commit heinous acts is nothing new. E.g. the holocaust was comitted by "normal" people.

Moral grandstanding won't change the fact that civilization is rather thinly veiling the violent ape in most of us

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by psychoslave on Friday March 15, 2024 @05:31AM (#39713680)
>Moral grandstanding won't change the fact that civilization is rather thinly veiling the violent ape in most of us

I don’t think civilization is a panacea here.

To my mind, civilization is not exactly a strict synonym of peaceful generous enlightened humanism. Of course as a phenomenon it can encompass this kind of behavior, but just as well as it can help foster genocides, war and torture.

Holocaust didn’t happen despite civilized minds, it happened specifically through a civilizational scheme.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by renewiltord on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:29AM (#39713320)
All There is to Know About Adolph Eichmann by Leonard Cohen

EYES:……………………………………Medium

HAIR:……………………………………Medium

WEIGHT:………………………………Medium

HEIGHT:………………………………Medium

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES…None

NUMBER OF FINGERS:………..Ten

NUMBER OF TOES………………Ten

INTELLIGENCE…………………….Medium

What did you expect?

Talons?

Oversize incisors?

Green saliva?

Madness?

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by bostik on Friday March 15, 2024 @06:04AM (#39713870)
Back in Finland I saw an incredible play: https://www.tinfo.fi/en/NPfF-Plays/48/I-Am-Adolf-Eichmann - the utter banality of the thing, how the convicted mastermind behind the genocide was "merely solving ongoing logistical problems". And how the trial turned into a massive media circus, likely letting a number of equally culpable war criminals off the hook.

Turns out there is currently a fresh play in works that may have some of the same undertones: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-trial-of-eichmann-world-pre...

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by aredox on Friday March 15, 2024 @06:48AM (#39714121)
Go watch the recent movie "The zone of interest".

https://youtu.be/GFNtVaAuVYY?si=jiQlDA9Z1EKnPZ0Z

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by roenxi on Friday March 15, 2024 @07:03AM (#39714198)
About 3% of the male population has Antisocial Personality Disorder (ie, sociopathy). That could be described as normal - we're talking 1 person in 33. You'd probably meet one at a party. Nature no doubt builds some people to be killers.

Now most of them aren't going to kill anyone because that would be dumb. But that is a pretty decent pool of people who would consider the idea for money.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by whythre on Friday March 15, 2024 @09:55AM (#39715508)
3% strikes me as a pretty extreme minority, which makes it seem like the opposite of ‘normal.’ They might be more common than most people think (IE, 1 in 33), but that isn’t something that makes them normal.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by dolmen on Friday March 15, 2024 @11:00AM (#39716528)
3% is 3465 Boeing employees. That doesn't seem so minor.

150,000 * (1-23%) * 3% = 3465

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by dolmen on Friday March 15, 2024 @10:30AM (#39716173)
Boeing has about 150,000 employees (from the 2022 company report). US workforce is 23% women.

What if one of the 3465 males had its job at risk because of Barnett?

150,000 * (1-23%) * 3% = 3465

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by didntcheck on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:19AM (#39713277)
Out of interest do you have an article on the case at your friend's school?
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by forgetfreeman on Friday March 15, 2024 @03:39AM (#39713002)
No but do you know what your average medical examiner makes? Professional hitmen might be rare af but bribing or otherwise pressuring local officials is pretty pedestrian.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by Thlom on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:15AM (#39713247)
One of the richest men in Norway cultivated a relationship with a torpedo and used his services on several occasions. It happens.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by vidarh on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:29AM (#39713322)
As a fellow Norwegian now living in the UK: That term is so archaic and unusual in English that odds are quite a few people won't know it at all (In 24 years in the UK I don't think I've ever heard it used)

For the non-Norwegians: "Torpedo" in Norwegian has adopted the 1920s US slang for a hit man / hired gun, and in Norwegian it's in common, contemporary use, though more often for threats and violence than outright murder.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by Wildgoose on Friday March 15, 2024 @06:25AM (#39713992)
Thanks, I hadn't heard that before.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by smegger001 on Friday March 15, 2024 @09:00AM (#39715011)
Okay that was making me think of the guy who had intimate relations with unexploded WWII artillery shell a few years ago (https://www.businessinsider.com/france-man-had-wwi-shell-lod...) and wondering how a that would work physically considering the size of a torpedo, and how it related to hitmen. Thing are much clearer now.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by vasco on Friday March 15, 2024 @03:48AM (#39713054)
You put the gun in their hands after you shoot them, as in every movie ever.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by sfn42 on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:05AM (#39713173)
Firing a gun leaves residue on your hands etc. They can tell whether you fired it
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by sethammons on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:32AM (#39713344)
I'm not a trained killer, but I have watched some movies. To account for residue, just place the firearm in the corpse's hand, point in a random upward trajectory and pull back on the dead person's trigger finger. Optionally, replace the spent bullet in the gun's magazine.

I feel you would have come up with this same solution had you needed to.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by ben_w on Friday March 15, 2024 @07:00AM (#39714186)
My guess is that Hollywood is as inaccurate with regard to homicide and secret assassinations as it is with hacking and programming.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by madaxe_again on Friday March 15, 2024 @05:35PM (#39720971)
It is far, far easier to just carry a small phial or swab of cordite residues and copper fines that you then apply to the back of the hand between thumb and forefinger, where swabs are taken. No screwing around.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by vintermann on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:57AM (#39713484)
Sure, they can tell, if they look.

But people with well-developed career instincts might not want to look. I think you overestimate how much the regular policeman, coroner etc. cares about truth for its own sake. Do you really want to pick a fight with Boeing?

It's very easy to play Nelson and turn the blind eye. Making up a coherent narrative in a lie is hard. But the lie "I didn't notice anything suspect" is very safe.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by withinboredom on Friday March 15, 2024 @05:11AM (#39713559)
They can tell whether you fired A gun, not necessarily that you fired that specific gun into your specific body. It's circumstantial evidence at best.

Better evidence would be signs of a struggle or calculating bullet velocity to see if it came from the gun in that position. However, there are ways of doing this without actually causing a struggle. Wait for them to go to sleep; you could even give them some melatonin or something to make them drowsy. If it's in a car, put some nitrogen canisters on the A/C intake to make them pass out.

If it is nefarious, there will be evidence somewhere. Whether you care to look for that evidence, know where to look for it or have the technology to find it ... that's another matter altogether.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by sfn42 on Friday March 15, 2024 @06:13AM (#39713934)
I think you got my point backwards. If you are found with a gunshot wound in your head, holding a gun, but you don't have gunpowder residue on your hand, it's pretty safe to say you didn't shoot yourself.

Of course there are ways to get around that but the killer has to actually perform that workaround.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by withinboredom on Friday March 15, 2024 @06:17AM (#39713954)
I got your point, but I was making that point that even then, it doesn’t mean anything. Maybe they went to a shooting range that afternoon. Maybe the killer does something to ensure the residue is there. Maybe the killer manipulates them in their sleep. Who knows.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by sfn42 on Friday March 15, 2024 @06:25AM (#39713991)
No you still don't seem to get the point. I'm saying the *absence* of gunpowder residue means something, I'm not saying the presence of it means anything.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by thaumasiotes on Friday March 15, 2024 @06:52AM (#39714139)
withinboredom seems to be making the similar but tangential point that, in the same way that absence of gunpowder is evidence [of something] while presence of gunpowder isn't evidence of anything, it's possible to demonstrate that a death was not by suicide, but it isn't possible to demonstrate that a death was by suicide. Same idea, but reversing "which part of the sentence is the variable".
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by sfn42 on Friday March 15, 2024 @07:38AM (#39714389)
I understand what they're saying, I just don't know why they keep explaining it when its irrelevant to what I'm saying.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by vasco on Friday March 15, 2024 @08:04AM (#39714611)
If you fire a gun inside a car, both people and the car would be full of gun powder residue, not just the hand that shot - I think.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by dolmen on Friday March 15, 2024 @11:10AM (#39716629)
... and that should be the same residue.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by withinboredom on Friday March 15, 2024 @08:43AM (#39714886)
I'm not "keeping explaining." I made a counter-point, and you redirected me to your point; I acknowledged that I got your point and explained I was making a counter-point, and you reiterated your point. I upvoted your final reiteration to ack that the conversation was over.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by berniedurfee on Friday March 15, 2024 @08:00AM (#39714578)
I’m guessing that’s a solved problem by now.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by hammock on Friday March 15, 2024 @09:36AM (#39715307)
Perhaps that is why so many suicides, such as that of Gary Webb, involve two bullets from the same gun
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by tim333 on Saturday March 16, 2024 @08:15AM (#39725234)
Most shots don't kill instantly, unless you go straight through the brain.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by timschmidt on Friday March 15, 2024 @03:59AM (#39713130)
> Contrary to popular belief, there is not a readily and highly available supply of assassins and hitmen in the world.

See: Lake City Quiet Pills

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by publius_0xf3 on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:37AM (#39713373)
LCQP has been conclusively proven to be some random guy inventing a character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHWYTwY0hiw

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by Charlie_32 on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:04AM (#39713158)
Yeah where’s your evidence for this?
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by eggdaft on Friday March 15, 2024 @03:43AM (#39713024)
Citation needed for your first statement, certainly doesn’t rhyme true with what I hear in the UK.

As for mocking suicide… I think you’d have to talk to a professional about what they do it. Given David Kelly, Epstein, and many other high profile cases, it does seem to be as difficult as you imagine.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by vidarh on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:41AM (#39713392)
The more "interesting" case in the UK was GCHQ analyst seconded to the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6) who supposedly killed himself by stuffing himself in a bag padlocked from outside, placed in a bathtub, and suffocating himself in a Security Service safe house.

The inquest concluded his death was "unnatural and likely to have been criminally mediated" though with to little evidence to outright state it was an unlawful killing. The police eventually decided he'd likely locked himself in, despite the lack of fingerprints on both the bath and the padlock having made it a rather extraordinary feat for him to get into the bag and lock the padlock.

Which to me goes to show that whether or not you get away with faking a suicide likely has relatively little to do with how well - or plausible - you fake the suicide vs. how well you sufficiently prevent a link to yourself and the power you have to prevent a proper investigation.

At least in the case of David Kelly the circumstances were plausible.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Gareth_Williams

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by phpisthebest on Friday March 15, 2024 @03:54AM (#39713090)
There is a case where a woman "stabbed her self" 17 or so times, including in the back of the head and it was ruled a "suicide"

It does not take much for a motivated medical examiner to rule a death a suicide, their are plenty of examples where clearly not suicide was been rule suicide in history.

Then there is always the movie "The Shooter" where they had an arm contraption purpose built to force someone to "commit suicide", The device itself is plausible

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by hulitu on Friday March 15, 2024 @03:45AM (#39713038)
> Contrary to popular belief, there is not a readily and highly available supply of assassins and hitmen in the world.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assassinations_by_th...

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by ImHereToVote on Friday March 15, 2024 @04:08AM (#39713186)
This is just a bunch of conspiracy theories. As in, a list of various government factions conspiring on various assassination campaigns. It's a good theory mind you. I would love to see evidence for the opposing theory.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by dudeinjapan on Friday March 15, 2024 @03:41AM (#39713012)
Haven’t you ever played Assassin’s Creed?
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by j-krieger on Friday March 15, 2024 @05:03AM (#39713520)
> Contrary to popular belief, there is not a readily and highly available supply of assassins and hitmen in the world

What? There certainly are killers for hire in existence.

Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by anon291 on Friday March 15, 2024 @08:19AM (#39714704)
The good news is that you only need one assassin. It's not like you're trying to mass-produce dead people...
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by easyThrowaway on Friday March 15, 2024 @07:56AM (#39714536)
Or literally anyone else at the company whose job was at jeopardy because of the revelations.
Re:John Barnett before death "if anything happens, it's not ... by anon291 on Friday March 15, 2024 @08:18AM (#39714698)
Part of the issue is that many defense contractors are sucked into the idea that they're doing something for the 'greater good', and the moment people en masse enter that thoughtspace, it's actually pretty easy to get them to commit terrible deeds.