May 16, 2017

"The Democratic National Committee staffer who was gunned down on July 10 on a Washington, D.C., street just steps from his home had leaked thousands of internal emails to WikiLeaks..."

"... investigative sources told Fox News."
A federal investigator who reviewed an FBI forensic report -- generated within 96 hours after DNC staffer Seth Rich's murder -- detailing the contents Rich’s computer said he made contact with WikiLeaks through Gavin MacFadyen, a now-deceased American investigative reporter, documentary filmmaker, and director of WikiLeaks who was living in London at the time....

The federal investigator, who requested anonymity, said 44,053 emails and 17,761 attachments between Democratic National Committee leaders, spanning from January 2015 through late May 2016, were transferred from Rich to MacFadyen before May 21.

On July 22, just 12 days after Rich was killed, WikiLeaks published internal DNC emails that appeared to show top party officials conspired to stop Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont from becoming the party’s presidential nominee....
ADDED: I was surprised, writing this, to see I already had a tag for Seth Rich. I used it once before, on August 10, 2016: "Assange — seemingly bound by the Wikileaks rule against revealing sources — seems to say that the murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich was a source."

230 comments:

1 – 200 of 230   Newer›   Newest»
Stephen Taylor said...

I think the Clinton crime family had him shot.

Todd said...

What? Wait, that CAN'T be right! I thought it was all the Ruskies and Trump!

JohnAnnArbor said...

So it WASN'T the Russians? Or was the Podesta phishing thing a separate attack?

Todd said...

At least that is what all of the MSM, Democrats, blog commentors, etc. told me...

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

No Justice, No Peace, until Seth Rich is avenged.

I Callahan said...

Inga? Brookzene? Other lefty sock-puppets?

Do you feel that trembling underneath your feet? That's the sound of the world crumbling around you.

rhhardin said...

He was working for the Russians.

JohnAnnArbor said...

ARM, I'm glad you find a murder a joking matter.

As for the Clintons, I just said a few days ago that LOTS of coincidences seem to occur around them.

Owen said...

Did Seth Rich's murder wound match Vince Foster's gun?

JohnAnnArbor said...

He was working for the Russians.

The simpler explanation is that he was sympathetic to the Bernie bros and their point that the DNC had rigged the primary process for Hillary. There were a LOT of such Democrats, and some in the "right places" to do this can't be discounted.

Once written, twice... said...

Trump fired Comey to try to stop this investigation because it traces back to his campaign.

Todd said...

Or... Did the Ruskies and Trump actually really do it and then frame Seth for it by planting all of the evidence on his laptop and setup the fake mugging to get him out of the way all the while laying a smoke screen to make people think the Hillary camp did it through their DNC connections as part of keeping Bernie out of the running?

Mark my words, somehow this will all lead back to the chemical/industrial complex putting fluoride in the city water.

JohnAnnArbor said...

Trump fired Comey to try to stop this investigation because it traces back to his campaign.

Whatever you say, racist.

robother said...

Wait, I thought The Russians in collusion with Trump hacked the DNC emails! Oh well, thanks to a third rate armed robbery gone wrong, I guess we'll never know what really happened. But The Narrative must be preserved: all good progressives must avert your eyes from this story. (Will WAPO or NYTimes even manage to slip it into their pages?)

Once written, twice... said...

Trump had Seth Rich murdered.

stever said...

I think Todd is on to it.

urbane legend said...

Todd said...
Mark my words, somehow this will all lead back to the chemical/industrial complex putting fluoride in the city water.

So it won't lead to Flint, MI.

ndspinelli said...

The Dem trolls are out in full force on this one. And, I get an access denied on the link.

Nonapod said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Martha said...

We now have two medias.
One covers Trump with 24/7 OUTRAGE at EVERYthing Trump says or is suspected of doing. White House staff and spokespeople are mocked and ridiculed—even their clothes and body build are fair game for this media to savage.

The other media covers the real crimes and unethical behavior of the Democrats and Obama's administration including using the CIA, FBI, and NSC conducting surveillance on American citizens and the real source of the Wikileaks leaks.

The center cannot hold.

Nonapod said...

I recently made a personal policy to be highly skeptical of any story about or related to Trump that's been based on information gleaned from "anonymous sources". Should I be highly skeptical of this too? If this story is true it may pretty much put the final nail in the coffin of the Trump/Russia thing and would imply that there's some pretty ruthless characters in the upper echelons of the DNC. As someone who tends to believe the absolute worst about the DNC, is this just too good to be true?

David Begley said...

Seth Rich was from Omaha. I know his dad. His family is denying the Wikileaks evidence. Obviously I feel terrible for the Rich family, but the random robbery and murder story seems unlikely. One thing for sure: This murder will not be solved. The coverup becomes the thing.

Sebastian said...

Next, they'll tell us a Secretary of State put secret info on an unprotected private server, easy prey for the Russians. Unpossible!

buwaya said...

The odds against random murder are extreme. Even in DC, and especially in this case.
Common sense says this was a political asassination.

Matt Sablan said...

Considering someone poisoned a conservative speaker over seas, the idea of a conspiracy to murder Seth Rich is less crazy than it was just a few days ago.

JohnAnnArbor said...

I recently made a personal policy to be highly skeptical of any story about or related to Trump that's been based on information gleaned from "anonymous sources". Should I be highly skeptical of this too? If this story is true it may pretty much put the final nail in the coffin of the Trump/Russia thing and would imply that there's some pretty ruthless characters in the upper echelons of the DNC. As someone who tends to believe the absolute worst about the DNC, is this just too good to be true?

It's always good to be skeptical of information that confirms your world-view as a counter to the natural "oh, of COURSE" confirmation bias everyone has.

Anonymous sources are a difficult matter. They can be right, wrong, in-between, partly right and partly wrong, or fictional (made up by the reporter). We just don't know.

Dave from Minnesota said...

JohnAnnArbor....on BernieBots disliking The Queen. I see that a lot recently. First with her paranoid Captain Queeg moment (on why she lost the election), to her recent announcement of starting a new political organization and needing to raise funds to support it.
They want her to go away as much as Republicans do.

Lyle Smith said...

Get on it FBI.

Original Mike said...

Blogger JohnAnnArbor said..."ARM, I'm glad you find a murder a joking matter."

What, you don't find that "reasonable"?

robother said...

"His family is denying the Wikileaks evidence." After seeing what happened to their son, they probably don't want to lose any more family members.

Dave from Minnesota said...

"As someone who tends to believe the absolute worst about the DNC, is this just too good to be true?"

I've seen both the right and left fall for fake stories recently because they wanted them to be true. I say....if a political story seems too perfect, there is a strong probability it is not true. Example, Trumps mother was not an illegal alien.
I fell for the doctored photo of Margaret Sanger at the KKK rally.

Big Mike said...

I lived near Washington, DC, from 1969 until I retired and moved to s new home in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley last summer. I never believed the "robbery gone bad" theory.

Dixie_Sugarbaker said...

Could this be why the DNC did not let the FBI review their servers when they were claiming they were hacked by the Russians?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

ARM proves he and leftists like him do not care about the truth or the level of corruption inside the democrat machine.

sy1492 said...

I think the surname Rich is of Russian origin.

DKWalser said...

One of the biggest lies perpetuated by the Democrats and by our intelligence community is that we "know" that the Russians hacked the DNC's email system and shared those emails with Wikileaks. How do we "know" this? The DNC hired a private consultant to investigate the leaks. The consultant determined that the hack was likely done by people in Russia, most likely under direction from the Kremlin. The consultant drew this conclusion from "computer fingerprints" that showed the malware used was of a type that is frequently used by Russians and from the fact many Russian hackers are believed to operate with the approval of the Russian government.

The FBI, when it did its own investigation, relied on the report from the consultant hired by the DNC. Why? Because the DNC would not give the FBI access to its email server. So, the FBI could not examine the server and felt the consultant's work was credible enough to suit the FBI's purposes. Later, when "all the US intelligence agencies" issued its joint report that concluded, with a high degree of confidence, that Russia had attempted to influence our election by working with Wikileaks to release the DNC's internal emails, the agencies were relying on the FBI's conclusions -- which were based on the report written by the DNC's hand-picked consultant. (Notably, the NSA did not join the rest of the intelligence community in concluding that the Russian's hacked the DNC's email server.)

In short, the federal government never examined the DNC's email server and never independently confirmed who was behind the hack. Instead, the DNC's self-serving story of the a Russian hack was adopted by the government as the only explanation of what happened.

Browndog said...

It was reported, just prior to his assignation, that Rich was leaking DNC emails, and was about to file a lawsuit against the DNC.

It was reported at the time of his assassination that Mark Rich leaked the DNC emails to Wikileaks. Emails he had legal access to. There was no hacking.

The most important aspect to this, in my opinion, is that law enforcement know this, and have known this from day one-

Yet, Clapper, Comey, and the rest claimed under oath that the Russians hacked the DNC emails.

Why will no one take notice?

Unknown said...

I like how the leftists seem to think that Trump had Seth Rich murdered.... to protect the DNC's secrets.... because Trump is Satan, I guess; source of all evil?

I can only imagine the scene at ARM's house, or Once Writtens: "Honey, why are you so late?" "I worked late tonight, the boss actually wanted me to show results. Can you imagine--expecting me, a Democrat, to do work?"
"Stop stalling! Oh, what's this? There's lipstick on your coat! In bright purple, so it can't be mine. Care to explain?"
"Uh.... Uh.... Hey, didn't you get a degree from Amhearst?" "Yes, but what does that have to do with this purple lipstick on your coat?"
Some muttering "Gullible then". Louder: "Okay, well, I hate to have to tell you this, but honestly, it wasn't my fault! Yes, I had sex with this stacked blond bombshell. On an unrelated note, I gave her my 401-K because I'm charitable. But it wasn't my fault! See, Trump came out of nowhere and held me down while I was raped by this girl that makes Kate Upton look like a troll! It was all Trump's fault! He's evil! The girl was forced by Trump as well! Blame him! Oh, and honey? She's so worked up about it that she asked me to comfort her tomorrow and protect her from the evil Trump! So I won't be home until morning....."

That's basically the leftist world view.

--Vance

ndspinelli said...

A cardinal rule of investigation is there are NO COINCIDENCES unless they are PROVEN to be coincidences. There are many BIG coincidences in this case and NO curiosity by the MSM.

Anonymous said...

"Do you feel that trembling underneath your feet? That's the sound of the world crumbling around you."

Seth Rich stumbled into the Pizza Parlour and discovered the truth, then leaked it all to the Wikileaks. Pizzagate is real after all folks!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I hope Quaestor doesn't mind a re-post. It's worth a re-post.


Fact: The DC police have stated that the Seth Rich murder was a "botched robbery attempt". They have produced no evidence or testimony to support this conclusion. Rich was shot from behind at close range with a .380 hollow-point bullet. No one heard the shot. Nothing was taken, which is odd considering he had an iPhone 7, a Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch, several credit cards and an undisclosed amount of cash on his person.

Fact: Seth Rich was a Sanders supporter and known to his colleagues as bitter and resentful over the unfair DNC policy intended to give HRC the nomination no matter what result the primaries produced.

Fact: John Podesta is a fuck-up.

Fact: Hillary Clinton is unimpaired by burdensome moral constraints.

Fact: A highly improbable number of Clinton associates have met with untimely violent ends.

YoungHegelian said...

Oh, geez. And after I poo-pooed the idea that the killing was a political hit to many friends, out comes this piece of info.

Can anyone here recommend a good brand of tinfoil hat? I want something that fits well, & looks tasteful & not gaudy. There's a reason conspiracy-theory conferences aren't covered by Tom & Lorenzo, ya know?

Swede said...

This helps explain why the leftists here are always so eager to toe the line.

Look what happens when you don't.

Sad!

Big Mike said...

@DKWalser, and why is it beyond belief that the Russians did hack the DNC server? First, it's in their interest to perform espionage on American politicians, and, second, eight years of Obama have convinced me that Dumbocrats are congenitally incapable of performing cyber security. I assume they also penetrated -- or tried to penetrate -- the RNC and Trump's campaign.

But it does NOT follow that they shared their intelligence haul with Wikileaks. What's their motivation? They hated Hillary? Get in line! Why would they give up material they could use to damage or blackmail a sitting president in favor of putting a loose cannon into the Oval Office? That may make sense to stupid people like Inga and ARM, but not to anyone who credits the Russian FSB with the slightest scintilla of brains.

The Democrats have turned themselves into an extremist party that advocates violence to achieve their goal of political power. It's going to be up to our law enforcement agencies and courts to fix this while it can still be fixed.

Drago said...

The standard operating procedure for Wikileaks is to utilize "insiders" to gain information/access.

This would certainly fit that pattern.

It would make no sense to kill Seth Rich since the damage was already done and killing him would only bring more attention on to yourselves....unless you could be completely sure the DC police would hush it up and the Intelligence Community would spin the insider leak as a "hack" by the Russians which would tie nicely into democrat political tactics and talking points.

.....oh.

Annie said...

Was it Hillary or Wasserman-Schultz who put out the hit on him?

How long before the private investigator gets disappeared?

buwaya said...

"after I poo-pooed the idea that the killing was a political hit to many friends"

The odds always were heavily on the side of it being a "motivated" murder. Random murder of someone of his sort is extremely rare, and it was highly coincidental besides, considering his affiliations. There was obviously something behind it, but the reasons were speculative.

Its far, far more suspicious now, with something much closer to being the probable cause.

As for tinfoil hats, just some history will do.

Big Mike said...

@Inga, where in DC or Chicago or Baltimore do you live, that you find cold-blooded murder to be s source of mirth?

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

AND his contact in London, another American working as a journalist died suddenly. After receiving the emails from Rich. Hmmm.

M Jordan said...

I wonder if the reason Rich's dad has been quick to throw cold water on this new development is because he'd rather have his son's murder go "unsolved" than reveal his son to have sabotaged the DNC. Tribalism is a powerful force.

CStanley said...

The family's reaction is very odd IMO.

I can understand wanting privacy and not wanting the political fallout,; also fully understand the need in such a high profile situation to hire a PR person to buffer the family from the media.

So then they hire as their spokesperson a guy who is a Democratic Party PR crisis management consultant, who starts spouting off Democrat talking points about the right wing media.

Doesn't smell right to me.

furious_a said...

a now-deceased American investigative reporter

Is there nobody the Clinton Crime Family Mafia Syndicate *and* Charitable Foundation can't reach?

furious_a said...

The family's reaction is very odd IMO.

So was Mary Jo Kopechne's.

Humperdink said...

If the Clintons done nothing else in their combined political careers, they have turned the actuarial tables upside down for those people in their orbit.

Robert Cook said...

It seems reasonable to assume this was an assassination. However, it remains opaque as to who might have had Rich killed or why. It may be a party or parties no one has even considered, and for reasons yet unknown.

Unknown said...

Never forget: Inga, ARM, and the rest of them don't care if Hillary had this guy killed. Or Vince Foster, or any of the other numerous people who died via suicide with two bullets to the back of the head when they became inconvenient.

The sin of Cain: To murder and get gain, simply doesn't matter to them. I've said before that Hillary or Obama could sacrifice a screaming American pregnant teenage girl, Aztec style, on the front lawn of the White House at noon three times a week; and Inga, ARM and the rest would be silent or defend them.

They don't care that Hillary is a murderer, most likely. In fact, they probably would cheer them on. What's the life of a pregnant teen girl to the left? Worthless, except if used politically somehow.

Never forget that Commie thought is all about the group, not the individual. We are but mere masses of undistinguished humanity, to be controlled with an iron fist with no regard for the person. That's how China, North Korea are. Only the "important" people matter. Everyone else is there for their amusement/use, mere slaves for the authorities. That's what the left promises for all of us: we too can be slaves. Slaves matter to their owners after all; so they will take care of us--food, shelter, health care.... because a sick, starving slave is no use to anyone. And for those slaves who end up sick and starving--well, no leftist ever had a problem culling the herd, after all.

Rich was a sick person to the left... so Hillary culled him. Why are you upset? Inga knows that Rich deserved his fate for crossing the Queen. Right?

--Vance

David Begley said...

When Hillary was in Omaha she met with Seth's parents.

This whole thing is hard to figure. What has the FBI done? I seem to recall the FBI was called in to investigate.

Kevin said...

Seventeen US intelligence agencies hardest hit.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

CStanley said...
The family's reaction is very odd IMO.


Not wanting to have their son's murder exploited for tired partisan political purposes? This is odd?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Who killed Seth Rich and why? Why were the DC police told to stand down, why? and by who?

Democrats do not care if this guy was killed for leaking to wiki.

ndspinelli said...

I would bet there was a slush fund @ Clinton Charities for PI's.

David Begley said...

When will the media do a fact investigation on Seth's murder? We just get opinions and speculation, if anything at all.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Seth's parents are not the authority on what happened to Seth.

Progs whining about political exploitation is rich.

Matt Sablan said...

[Seriously, I doubt Clinton had this guy killed. But, engaging in a radical conspiracy theories is now in-bounds, and someone on the left DID poison a guy recently. The guy luckily survived.]

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

It's time to drain the swamp.

furious_a said...

When Hillary was in Omaha she met with Seth's parents.

Hillary lied to the faces of the families of the Benghazi dead as she stood over their coffins at Andrews AFB. She's good at that sort of thing.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

funny how the media and the D-party faithful have no interest in the finding the truth.

FullMoon said...

buwaya said... [hush]​[hide comment]



The odds always were heavily on the side of it being a "motivated" murder. Random murder of someone of his sort is extremely rare, and it was highly coincidental besides, considering his affiliations. There was obviously something behind it, but the reasons were speculative.


Bad guy with gun does not know who his victim is, just some white yuppie guy who looks worth robbing.
Bad guy points gun, victim says "fuck you" and starts fighting, or turns to run and stats hollering.. Bad guy shoots victim,and runs away as fast as he can, because he is a robber, not a murderer. Bad guy is scared to death of being seen, is not going to hang around wasting time searching victim for potential loot.

If assassination, why was laptop not taken from Rich's home, as well as his phone at time of robbery that could have info? If professional, why do it on street where witness might walk or drive by?

Or, Rich bumps into guy walking, words exchanged, guy shoots Rich and runs.

Just wondering..

Anonymous said...

"where in DC or Chicago or Baltimore do you live, that you find cold-blooded murder to be s source of mirth?"

My source of mirth is you folks and your penchant for pinning deaths on the Clintons. Robert Cook has a point, if Rich was indeed murdered because he leaked things to Wiklleaks or Russia, there would've been a couple of entities that might have wanted him dead.

Darrell said...

Not wanting to have their son's murder exploited for tired partisan political purposes? This is odd?

Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner actually laughed-- from Hell at your comment. I was on the Ouija board at the time. . .

buwaya said...

"However, it remains opaque as to who might have had Rich killed or why. It may be a party or parties no one has even considered, and for reasons yet unknown."

Indeed. However, any reason outside of politics would be extreme low probability events. It could be a crime of passion, or money, or drugs, or a random spree killing, but all of these are also extremely low probability events.

As I mentioned in the previous thread, there are any number of entities in the Democratic/bureaucratic/corporate confluence in DC that could have been motivated to end a leak in a particularly final way. Among other things, very likely, to discourage other leakers and maintain omerta.

It does not pass the test of common sense that contacts/leaking to Wikileaks had nothing to do with the case.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

And Thinga says Darrell isn't funny. We agree to disagree!

n.n said...

Rich was no longer viable, so on principle he was aborted.

I wonder if Planned Parenthood will be contracted to cannibalize his colorful clumps of cells.

buwaya said...

"Or, Rich bumps into guy walking, words exchanged, guy shoots Rich and runs."

Take the population of fellows like Rich in DC, and use that as the divisor for the number of such random murders in DC. And then consider the odds against this so conveniently happening, at random, to the fellow that leaked the DNC email database.

I Callahan said...

Seth Rich stumbled into the Pizza Parlour and discovered the truth, then leaked it all to the Wikileaks.

In debate parlance, that's called a non-sequitur.

Say what you want about the Pizza stuff, but there IS evidence that Rich was communicating with Wikileaks. But do continue choking that chicken...

Quaestor said...

I wonder if the reason Rich's dad has been quick to throw cold water on this new development is because he'd rather have his son's murder go "unsolved" than reveal his son to have sabotaged the DNC. Tribalism is a powerful force.

Tribalism, perhaps. However, the idea of a father ruthless sacrificing his son in honor of a higher principle is nothing new and has been seen as iconic by the Left since the days of the French Revolution. Consider this famous painting. The point is clear, family ties are secondary. Brutus condemned his sons to death for treason. A True Believer — and the Democratic Party is full of them — could easily be persuaded to hold Seth Rich a traitor deserving his fate. This isn't tribalism. This is the logical consequence of idealism.

buwaya said...

"If professional, why do it on street where witness might walk or drive by?'

Because it looks much less like a professional hit and more like a random crime. Why do things in a way that screams "professional"? I suppose they could have broken into and waited in his apartment, taking his laptop, etc., and then quietly shot him in the dark with a silenced pistol, movie style. Or injected him with some ex-Soviet assassination drug. How professional is that?

The professionals weren't all that professional in fact. Truly diligent sorts should have robbed him.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Bad guy with gun does not know who his victim is, just some white yuppie guy who looks worth robbing. Bad guy points gun, victim says "fuck you" and starts fighting, or turns to run and stats hollering.. Bad guy shoots victim,and runs away as fast as he can, because he is a robber, not a murderer. Bad guy is scared to death of being seen, is not going to hang around wasting time searching victim for potential loot.

Soooo ... Bad guy sets himself up for a capital charge and gets absolutely nothing for his trouble, though Rich was wearing, among other things, a Rolex and a $2K necklace. Stupid bad guy. The moment Rich turned on him is when he should've fled. Not after he shot him. Except that Rich didn't turn on him; he was shot twice in the back, which does seem to rule out any sort of confrontation.

Qwinn said...

We know liberals are very upset about wikileaks. They've been screaming about it for months as the basis of all their Russia/Trump nonsense.

Seth Rich is clearly connected to wikileaks.

But for some crazy reason, liberals don't want Seth Rich's murder investigated

What could *possibly* explain that? It's a mystery!

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

FullMoon, to continue: Likely the perp didn't know where the laptop was. It needn't even be at home, and if it is, how do you locate it?

Quaestor said...

Inga wrote: My source of mirth is you folks and your penchant for pinning deaths on the Clintons. Robert Cook has a point, if Rich was indeed murdered because he leaked things to Wiklleaks (sic) or Russia, there would've been a couple of entities that might have wanted him dead.

Abby Normal is off the gurney and staggering about once again.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

FullMoon, again:

Or, Rich bumps into guy walking, words exchanged, guy shoots Rich and runs.

"Words exchanged," and he gets shot twice in the back? How likely do you find that?

JPS said...

FullMoon, 11:47:

You and your damn horses-not-zebras analysis.

Wouldn't surprise me a bit if there were someone in the Clinton orbit who'd put out a hit against someone they thought was a real threat to the boss. But a lot of people get randomly murdered in D.C. The odds that one random victim should have a grievance against the DNC, or have given them one against him, seem quite high.

But null hypotheses are no fun.

Darrell said...

Something's missing from the Seth Rich murder theories. Like that he possessed even more damning materials that he hadn't uploaded to Wiki yet.

FullMoon said...

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

FullMoon, to continue: Likely the perp didn't know where the laptop was. It needn't even be at home, and if it is, how do you locate it?

5/16/17, 12:06 PM


If the idea was to stop Rich from divulging more secrets, I would imagine burglarizing his home and car might be a good start before murdering him. All I am saying is that it is easy to imagine his murder was random. Happens almost every day.

buwaya said...

"But a lot of people get randomly murdered in D.C."

The vast majority are poor, black, and the motives are, though stupid, well understood.
A young white man with a good position in the political-professional cursus honorum?
Extremely low probability event.

FullMoon said...


Blogger Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

FullMoon, again:

Or, Rich bumps into guy walking, words exchanged, guy shoots Rich and runs.

"Words exchanged," and he gets shot twice in the back? How likely do you find that?

5/16/17, 12:10 PM


How likely? How likely is it that guy gets in nightclub argument, goes and gets gasoline and torches club with people inside? Or, goes and gets his friends who come back and fire bullets into the crowd outside the club> Or comes back a week later and does a drive by shooting into the other guys house?

It happens all the time.

James K said...

it is easy to imagine his murder was random. Happens almost every day.

As has been pointed out, not really. Not to people like Seth Rich. This appeared to be more execution-style, four shots. And if it was just some bad guy, how likely is it that the murder would be unsolved? Most murders are solved, especially ordinary street crimes.

Lewis Wetzel said...

I do not believe our intelligence services are competent enough to carry out the assassination of an American citizen in the United States.
Look at everything that could go wrong. If Rich was wounded, but not killed, the conspiracy might be exposed. If the killer was ID'd, the conspiracy might be exposed.

FullMoon said...

buwaya said...

"But a lot of people get randomly murdered in D.C."

The vast majority are poor, black, and the motives are, though stupid, well understood.
A young white man with a good position in the political-professional cursus honorum?
Extremely low probability event.

5/16/17, 12:15 PM


Point taken.
But, walk down the street and identify the people you pass according to their profession, or importance in the world.

If I am a robber and pass you on the street, do I know how well read and intelligent you are, or any of your background? Just saying a common robber could have done it. Not so far fetched.

Matt Sablan said...

I'm not sold on the conspiracy theory.

But, there's a lot more evidence for it than Russia hacked the election.

furious_a said...

funny how the media and the D-party faithful have no interest in the finding the truth.

"The Media's purpose is to cover a story. With a pillow. Until it stops moving" -- Iowahawk

CStanley said...

ARM quoted CStanley saying...
The family's reaction is very odd IMO.

And responded...
Not wanting to have their son's murder exploited for tired partisan political purposes? This is odd?


No, the fact that their decision to hire a Democratic partisan PR crisis consultant is inconsistent with the goal of preventing the politicization of their son's murder.

buwaya said...

"Just saying a common robber could have done it."

Yes. But the odds of that happening to any given person are extremely low. The only reason its not rare is that there are a vast number of potential victims. The odds against it being the case for THIS PARTICULAR victim are extremely small.

If we were to take the role of an intelligence analyst taking this as a possible case of assassination in the context of covert operations, we would consider it open and shut, the probability that it was a deliberate killing being extremely high, and random extremely low.

Big Mike said...

My source of mirth is you folks and your penchant for pinning deaths on the Clintons. Robert Cook has a point, if Rich was indeed murdered because he leaked things to Wiklleaks or Russia, there would've been a couple of entities that might have wanted him dead.

We'll, that's a relief, Inga. I had been afraid it was because, being a hard core Dumbocrat, you have a callous attitude towards killing things. And you're absolutely right. Assuming, as seems increasingly likely, young Mr. Rich was murdered because he leaked over 45,000 DNC Emails to Wikileaks there really were multiple entities who would have wanted him dead -- all of them connected to the DNC and/or the Vlonton campaign and/or shadowy organizations funded by George Soros and Tom Steyer. None connected with the Republicans or Trump.

It's called common sense; try it sometime.

buwaya said...

The party, and the greater system, have many levers vis-a-vis the family.
They are extremely dangerous and extremely well funded.
They can offer vast rewards and can make credible threats against the rest of the family.

FullMoon said...

James K said...

it is easy to imagine his murder was random. Happens almost every day.

As has been pointed out, not really. Not to people like Seth Rich. This appeared to be more execution-style, four shots. And if it was just some bad guy, how likely is it that the murder would be unsolved? Most murders are solved, especially ordinary street crimes.


Not to people like Seth Rich?
Average low life robber does not know Rich is special, until he hears about it tomorrow.

Quaestor said...

But a lot of people get randomly murdered in D.C.

DC gets a lot of spillover from Baltimore, a city fast on the heels of Chicago for the dubious laurel, "America's Murder Capital". Both are not inconsequentially cities dominated by the Democratic Party for nearly a century, but that is neither here nor there. The point is a "lot of people get randomly murdered" is total bullshit. Most of the murders in the District are gang related, and therefore not at all random, though often there are more bullets flying than a conscientious Mafia button man would condone.

In point of fact, the random murder meme is entirely bullshit. Even the most psychopathic killers choose their victims based on whatever twisted logic dominates their reason.

James K said...

Just saying a common robber could have done it. Not so far fetched.

How many "common robbers" shoot the victim in the back and don't take his wallet or jewelry?

Of course anything is possible. Not so many things are probable given the collection of facts we know.

JPS said...

buwaya,

"The odds against it being the case for THIS PARTICULAR victim are extremely small."

Yes. Agreed. But what are the odds that, if it hadn't been him, among DC's many other murder victims there would have been some other person about whom we could construct a highly suspicious story that the murder wasn't randon? Approaching unity, I'd guess.

Maybe Rich was whacked by the Clinton mafia - or maybe this is all Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy.

Unknown said...

FullMoon is right. It very well could have been a random murder, and Seth Rich just pulled the short string in the unlucky lottery of life.

But the other option, that he was assassinated, is also very plausible. So why shouldn't we investigate it, Full Moon? Let's say that Mike Flynn's aide turns up just like Seth Rich, after having sent a bunch of incriminating emails to wikileaks. Then turns up dead.

Do you think that the media would be all "oh, random murder! Nothing to see here! Move on!" No, Trump would be impeached the next day.

We all know that. Why are you so eager to give a suspicious death connected to the DNC a pass without investigating it?

--Vance

buwaya said...

"there really were multiple entities who would have wanted him dead -- all of them connected to the DNC and/or the Clinton campaign and/or shadowy organizations funded by George Soros and Tom Steyer. "

Not just these. There were and are all sorts of interests lined up in support of Clintons victory, besides any "evil billionaires" named above. Who ordered the hit matters not a lot, though of course it would be interesting to know where the orders came from. I suspect the proximate organizers were some of those characters from the Democratic party dirty tricks department that we met during the campaign.

Its rather like Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Orient Express" - everyone has a motive.
The important matter is the fact of murder, and the motive. The number of the guilty is vast. No doubt quite a few were happy to hear of it.

FullMoon said...

Unknown said...

FullMoon is right. It very well could have been a random murder, and Seth Rich just pulled the short string in the unlucky lottery of life.

But the other option, that he was assassinated, is also very plausible. So why shouldn't we investigate it, Full Moon?


Hey!, I am not against investigating it. Make no mistake, I want it to be connected to Hillary. Just have absolutely no problem imagining it could have been robbery gone bad. Admittedly, I have no idea of the crime statistics in that neighborhood. If nobody ever robbed there, then likelihood of assassination makes sense

buwaya said...

"Not to people like Seth Rich?"

Certainly not as a matter of probabilities.

James K said...

Here's a handy map of all 301 2016 DC homicides. Seth Rich is the one by the "Bloomingdale" label. Only a handful in that area of the city. Judge for yourself how many appear to be random and unsolved.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Following Crazy April? 'That way madness lies.'

Quaestor said...

Average low life robber does not know Rich is special...

Ah, you've put your canine foot in the trap, FullMoon. If the robber was ignorant of Seth Rich's position (hardly special, btw, given that neighborhood is full of Congressional staffers, lobbyists, and other political supernumeraries) then why was Rich not robbed of his valuables?

Let's see if we can summarize the FullMoon theory, shall we? Seth Rich was shot from behind by either a motiveless random killer of the kind that doesn't apparently exist or he was killed by a robber who does not rob, An invisible murderous non-thief who flees when no one sees him. But you've left out what the residents of the neighborhood did in the nighttime, haven't you?

Yancey Ward said...

I remember at the time that I thought Assange might be using Rich as a cover story for the real leaker at the DNC, but I now think it more likely it was Rich all along.

It was always far more likely that the DNC e-mails weren't hacked by anyone, but were rather leaked by an insider upset with how Bernie Sanders was being treated during the primary season. The weight of evidence, such as it is, is greatly on the side of that narrative.

I will make a prediction- if it is ever shown conclusively that Rich did steal and leak the e-mails, the new narrative will be put out that Rich was a Russian agent who was killed to tie up a loose end.

Big Mike said...

@FullMoon, a robbery gone bad and they left a Rolex on his wrist? Because they were smart enough to figure out how to get a gun despite the District's extreme gun laws but too stupid to spot a Rolex. Uh huh.

Big Mike said...

@Yancey, yeah, Inga and Cookie are already starting to lay that groundwork.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Two bullets and no robbery. No robbery at all. Nothing taken.
Might have been better for the assassins to take something. Appears like a botched assassination. All A-OK! and under control. DNC media 100% silent and incurious, FBI and DC police standing down.

FullMoon said...

Big Mike said...

@FullMoon, a robbery gone bad and they left a Rolex on his wrist? Because they were smart enough to figure out how to get a gun despite the District's extreme gun laws but too stupid to spot a Rolex. Uh huh.

5/16/17, 12:53 PM


Dumb enough to be a robber, Smart enough to get their ass out of their as quick as possible after murdering a guy. What would you do, hang around, check his watch and his pockets. And, a criminal needs to be smart to get a gun? Are you saying all gun toting criminals are smart?



Quaestor said...

The probability is Seth Rich was not "whacked" by a Clinton enforcer. However, WaPo, the DC prosecutor's office, and the entire left-wing media machine are singularly uncurious about the case and openly hostile to anyone advocating for a vigorous investigation because they dread where such an investigation may lead.

Matt Sablan said...

"@FullMoon, a robbery gone bad and they left a Rolex on his wrist?"

-- It is possible. Home invasions that go bad sometimes leave lots of small, portable valuables because the robber didn't expect to be a murderer.

Again, I'm not sold on the conspiracy version of the Seth Rich murder, but it isn't exactly Pizza Gate or Russia Hacked the Election crazy to believe it.

FullMoon said...

I've lost track. Was Rich murdered as punishment for leaking, or to prevent further leaks?

Matt Sablan said...

When this first was released, early reports stated that his personal flashdrives he normally carried around with him were missing. Did that ever get resolved?

Matt Sablan said...

"This" being the murder story nearly a year ago, not this particular revelation.

Quaestor said...

Dumb enough to be a robber, Smart enough to get their ass out of their as quick as possible after murdering a guy. What would you do, hang around, check his watch and his pockets. And, a criminal needs to be smart to get a gun? Are you saying all gun toting criminals are smart?

FullMoon, you may be unequipped to assess anyone's intelligence if that's an example of your reasoning.

Humperdink said...

Full Moon asked? "I've lost track. Was Rich murdered as punishment for leaking, or to prevent further leaks?"

Yes.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

That fact that Seth was communicating with Wikileaks - why - just ignore that, too.

Jim Gust said...

Zero Hedge reported a Podesta email calling for making an example of a suspected leaker:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-16/murdered-dnc-staffer-seth-rich-was-contact-wikileaks-says-former-dc-homicide-detecti

Make of it what you will.

FullMoon said...

Quaestor said...

Dumb enough to be a robber, Smart enough to get their ass out of their as quick as possible after murdering a guy. What would you do, hang around, check his watch and his pockets. And, a criminal needs to be smart to get a gun? Are you saying all gun toting criminals are smart?

FullMoon, you may be unequipped to assess anyone's intelligence if that's an example of your reasoning.

Huh? You know any real life criminals?
You think it requires intelligence to get an illegal gun?
You think a robber who just murdered someone is cool, calm, and collected, gonna hang around taking a dead man's watch?
Not the smartest guy here, fer shure, but have had some life experience that enhances lack of god given intelligence and book learnin'

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I think he was whacked...

They knew they had a leaker, and they took him out. It's simple really. They = the paid democrat party mob. Dark money pays for all sorts of deeds.

Quaestor said...

-- It is possible. Home invasions that go bad sometimes leave lots of small, portable valuables because the robber didn't expect to be a murderer.

That's hard to square with the facts, Matthew. Rich was shot from behind at close range, not contact range. There was no evidence of a struggle. No witness has come forward. There is no evidence of a struggle. The kind of home invasion gone bad scenario that you describe typically involves resistance by the victim or intervention.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The Clintons sure get lucky when it comes to dead people.

DKWalser said...

@DKWalser, and why is it beyond belief that the Russians did hack the DNC server?...

Big Mike, I never claimed it was beyond belief that the Russians hacked the DNC server. I claimed it was a lie to claim that we "know" they did and that they were behind Wikileaks' publication of the DNC emails. For the reasons you mentioned, it is probable that the Russians would have waited to use the DNC emails against Hilary after she was elected. But, I don't think we know that is what they did. We do know that the Democrats wanted before the election for everyone to believe that the Russians were behind the hack and directed the email's release to the press. They've wanted us to have that belief after the election, too. It seems obvious, at least to me, that the intelligence agencies have cooperated with the Democrats in spreading as certain knowledge what is at best supposition.

FullMoon said...

From DailyCaller:
"According to police reports, officers patrolling the Bloomingdale neighborhood heard gunshots at around 4:20 a.m. on the morning of July 10, 2016. Officers discovered a “conscious and breathing” Rich on the 2100 block of Flagler Place NW.
Newsday reported that Rich was alive for at least one hour and 40 minutes after being shot, but did not say whether Rich was able to identify his assailants. The Daily Caller News Foundation has reached out to the Metropolitan Police Department for comment."

Matt Sablan said...

That's also true Quaestor. I'm not sold on the theory yet, just because that's a big claim, and I want hard evidence not just maybes.

But, if people do believe it, I also don't consider it a nutso conspiracy theory.

Quaestor said...

FullMoon wrote: You think a robber who just murdered someone is cool, calm, and collected, gonna hang around taking a dead man's watch?

If robbery is the motive, yes. Else why the killing? If your "dumb robber" is too fearful to take the watch and the other valuables, would he not be even more frightened to shoot in the first place?

Best drop the "dumb robber" theory, because it stinks of desperation.

Achilles said...

I wonder if the reason Rich's dad has been quick to throw cold water on this new development is because he'd rather have his son's murder go "unsolved" than reveal his son to have sabotaged the DNC. Tribalism is a powerful force.

Their son was just murdered for crossing the DNC/Clintons. I wonder why they would say something that serves the DNC/Clintons.

I Callahan said...

Huh? You know any real life criminals?
You think it requires intelligence to get an illegal gun?
You think a robber who just murdered someone is cool, calm, and collected, gonna hang around taking a dead man's watch?
Not the smartest guy here, fer shure, but have had some life experience that enhances lack of god given intelligence and book learnin'


I have no dog in this fight, FullMoon, but what would be the point of the criminal going after and shooting Seth Rich if not to take his valuables? Unless, of course, the reason to kill him wasn't to go after his valuables...

Achilles said...

This is another thread where the leftists are completely inhuman and disgusting it seems.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Too fearful to steal anything but fearless when it came to firing two shots.

right.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

(exactly Q)

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Achilles said...
This is another thread where the leftists are completely inhuman and disgusting it seems.


Because exploiting a man's death for narrow partisan purposes is a real class act?

Swede said...

Ambassadors, Deputy White House Counsels, DNC staffers...

Sometimes you gotta break some eggs to make that glorious Democrat omelet!

FullMoon said...


Blogger Quaestor said...

FullMoon wrote: You think a robber who just murdered someone is cool, calm, and collected, gonna hang around taking a dead man's watch?

If robbery is the motive, yes. Else why the killing? If your "dumb robber" is too fearful to take the watch and the other valuables, would he not be even more frightened to shoot in the first place?

Best drop the "dumb robber" theory, because it stinks of desperation.

5/16/17, 1:22 PM


Hmm, your comments display a certain lack of real world experience, not to mention lack of imagination. Know any criminals? Ever commit a crime? Yeah, didn't think so.
BTW, 52 violent crimes committed in the last year within 1500 feet of address where he was shot.254 property crimes. Not exactly best neighborhood
BTW, he was not dead when shooter left.
BTW cops hears shots and responded immediately. Too bad shooter was not still there removing watch, which btw, had a torn band, as if someone tried to pull it off.

FullMoon said...

I Callahan said...

Huh? You know any real life criminals?
You think it requires intelligence to get an illegal gun?
You think a robber who just murdered someone is cool, calm, and collected, gonna hang around taking a dead man's watch?
Not the smartest guy here, fer shure, but have had some life experience that enhances lack of god given intelligence and book learnin'

I have no dog in this fight, FullMoon, but what would be the point of the criminal going after and shooting Seth Rich if not to take his valuables? Unless, of course, the reason to kill him wasn't to go after his valuables...

5/16/17, 1:30 PM


Like I said before, guy may have been a robber who panicked when Rich did not cooperate. Most robbers are not murderers. Or, shooter was just an asshole who got in argument and shot Rich.

David said...

It's interesting what leaks quickly, and what oozes out after a long and helpful (to someone) interval.

FullMoon said...

Rene Saunce said...

Too fearful to steal anything but fearless when it came to firing two shots.

right.

5/16/17, 1:31 PM


You think a guy who shoots someone in the back is fearless? Takes courage to shoot an unarmed person?
Nope, just takes a punk with a gun.

Quaestor said...

It seems obvious, at least to me, that the intelligence agencies have cooperated with the Democrats in spreading as certain knowledge what is at best supposition.

The supposition rests on a claim of Russian "fingerprints" on the hacks. I know a little about hacking, enough to say that the claim is utter bullshit. The only way to pin it on the Russians is to have an unambiguous IP trail to a Russian host. However, that is ludicrously improbable. It does take much effort to hide one's tracks. There are about a dozen countries that do not require IP logging, and there are dozens of VPN services that operate server farms in those countries. Skilled hackers are never discovered by their trails. They are exposed by informers for the most part, and they are convicted by evidence found on their devices.

There are rumors flying that code containing Cyrillic text was found on Hillary's homebrew mail server. If true, and it isn't, it proves nothing or even suggests anything. Hacking tools can be purchased by anyone with a will to intrude. Just like all other software products hacking tools have commentary lines embedded in their source code. If the comments use Cyrillic it means nothing important or evidentiary. Hackers love to be cryptic. Hackers also hack each other. They cut and paste old code into new tools. And it not unusual to see traces of several languages in a single program.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

"Trump had Seth Rich murdered."

Such rich insights, brought to you by the guy who wanted to bet that the Dow would never rise above 20,000 again.

David said...

This is still an unsubstantiated report. As with the other unsubstantiated reports flying around, there are quite a few people who instinctively believe it.

What I believe is that there are few trustworthy sources in this whole mess, and its hard to tell which ones are trustworthy. This is not some average political spat. It's about election to the Presidency of the United States, and an attempt to depose a sitting elected President. The stakes are gigantic. Anything is possible, very little is proven.

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

But we know the Russians hacked the DNC even though the DNC denied FBI experts access to the computers. We know because the contractor on DNC's payroll, the DNC and the DNC's consorts in the leftmedia told us the Russians left "fingerprints" behind.

Just imagine! Those stupid, careless Russians, unskilled at hacking, etc., left their fingerprints behind!

Is it not remarkable that anyone actually claims to believe this nonsense?

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

I knew a middle aged white guy in DC who was shot by his mugger after he had handed over his wallet, apparently just for the hell of it. It was non-fatal. My acquaintance was shot in the thigh. That happened in the late '80's, about 6 blocks away from the Capitol. After he got out of the hospital, he immediately put his handsome Victorian Capitol Hill home up for sale and moved out to Bethesda. I knew so many people - white, middle-class government workers -who were victims of mugging and/or home break-ins in DC that I used to wonder how they managed to put together juries, since being the victim of a violent crime within the past 5 years usually got you struck from the jury.

I was under the impression that DC had become a safer place since that time, when having bars on the first floor windows of lovely old homes was a standard feature. Outside of the Georgetown and upper NW area, there are an awful lot of neighborhoods where the projects are only a block or so away from the homes of yuppie government workers. It used to be that E. Capitol got dicey once you got past Lincoln Park. 8th Ave. SE was also iffy, despite the fact that the Marine Barracks was there. Go one block in the wrong direction, and suddenly you're not in Yuppieville anymore.

So I'm willing to believe that a white guy was randomly shot. But I'm also willing to believe that the DNC would not hesitate to murder someone perceived as a threat and there are many suspicious aspects to this case - such as the fact that Rich wasn't robbed. The matter should be investigated.

Yancey Ward said...

This new story is actually quite a bit different from the Russian hacking story- it is quite specific in detail, for example, the numbers of e-mails and attachments Rich had in his possession, and it includes the name of a real Wikileaks colleague. The source, if real, claims to have seen the correspondence between McFayden and Rich.

Given the weight of the evidence, I think it most likely now that Seth Rich was a source for Wikileaks. It is possible that Assange did use Rich as a beard for the real leaker, but that seems less likely today than it did last August.

Now, the question is, was Rich murdered in connection to this? I still think it most likely the murder is unrelated to any connection he had with Wikileaks, but it isn't an implausible scenario if he was the DNC leak. Coincidences do happen, but they do raise suspicions. I would want someone who has his electronic devices to confirm or flatly deny the new story. I would also want someone who is investigating this to come forward to confirm or deny the existence of this forensic report.

buwaya said...

"The stakes are gigantic. Anything is possible"

This is true. This is a historic, unprecedented situation, overall, in the US.
You have a cold civil war going on. This is not normal politics.
A lot of people wish it was normal, but it simply isn't.

ConradBibby said...

"Take the population of fellows like Rich in DC, and use that as the divisor for the number of such random murders in DC. And then consider the odds against this so conveniently happening, at random, to the fellow that leaked the DNC email database."

Yes, a random street shooting is rare, but I'd imagine it's still not as rare as political assassination done up to look like a random street shooting.

I Callahan said...

Like I said before, guy may have been a robber who panicked when Rich did not cooperate. Most robbers are not murderers. Or, shooter was just an asshole who got in argument and shot Rich.

That is completely possible.

Matt Sablan said...

"We know because the contractor on DNC's payroll, the DNC and the DNC's consorts in the leftmedia told us the Russians left "fingerprints" behind."

-- A report that received a significant re-write that downplayed the Russian angle, if I recall.

Matt Sablan said...

If Rich was not co-operating; wouldn't he be facing the robber? If he broke out running, why did the cops only report hearing shooting, and not someone screaming about a guy with a gun? It's possible guns are way louder than screaming, but it seems odd.

Which is my problem with this; it all seems so odd. How did this take nearly a year to come to light? Shouldn't his electronic devices have been immediately checked by the police, just in the routine, "Hey, do you think anyone has a reason to kill this guy in this suspicious shooting?"

ndspinelli said...

Matthew, "Forget it Jake..it's Chinatown..err, DC."

madAsHell said...

The Clintons sure get lucky when it comes to dead people.

They sure do!

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"Because exploiting a man's death for narrow partisan purposes is a real class act?"

Laugh out loud funny considering the source.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist at all. More than ever, it's just too difficult to keep the conspiracy from the light of day. However, given the prize at stake, it's not particularly far-fetched to think Rich was assassinated. We're pretty much conditioned to doubt this kind of thing goes on in the United States, but I'm sure it wouldn't have been the first time.

buwaya said...

"it's still not as rare as political assassination"

Random street shootings are not rare in such a large population.
But more common yet are murders with motives.
Political assassination is an uncommon motive (so far) in the US.
But this case has a glaring, unique motive, that can't be avoided.
If a man in such an unusual condition, with such enemies, is murdered, it is unlikely to be random if the rate of such random murders is so trivially low.
Consider - there were probably no more than 100 white people (out of 300+) murdered in DC in 2016, out of @250K white people, or 1 in 2500 - and only a portion of those would have been random street violence.
In the four months or so post-Bernie and pre-Trump window, it would have been @ 1/7500, or worse odds if one discounts those that were not random.

Would you bet on that, or murder with a motive in this case?
Its absurd to bet on random at such low odds.

buwaya said...

"How did this take nearly a year to come to light? "

Good question. Why indeed. How much do you trust the DC police, the FBI, the Justice Department, and the media?
Note also the interesting timing, post-Comey.

Lovernios said...

Another possible scenario would have this a crime of passion. A jilted lover who would rather kill than see another "steal" his/her love.

"If I can't have you; no one will!" Bang! Bang!

FullMoon said...

buwaya said...

"it's still not as rare as political assassination"

Random street shootings are not rare in such a large population.
But more common yet are murders with motives.
Political assassination is an uncommon motive (so far) in the US.
But this case has a glaring, unique motive, that can't be avoided.
If a man in such an unusual condition, with such enemies, is murdered, it is unlikely to be random if the rate of such random murders is so trivially low.
Consider - there were probably no more than 100 white people (out of 300+) murdered in DC in 2016, out of @250K white people, or 1 in 2500 - and only a portion of those would have been random street violence.
In the four months or so post-Bernie and pre-Trump window, it would have been @ 1/7500, or worse odds if one discounts those that were not random.

Would you bet on that, or murder with a motive in this case?
Its absurd to bet on random at such low odds.

5/16/17, 2:43 PM


And, with 14 robberies with gun in the area since Rich was killed, none involved homicide, lowering odds even more. Couldn't find statistic regarding arrests in gun robberies, or descriptions of robbers. How many guys working the area?

harrogate said...

Lol the perfect audience for this stuff, right here.

chickelit said...

Lol , yarrogat. As you're not the target audience for "Russian hacking"

buwaya said...

Also interesting is that the DC police (and who else?) seized the laptop of a victim of "random" street violence and examined its contents. Is this normal? To take a crime victims belongings from his residence and investigate his correspondence?

I don't think so. I wonder what instructions the DC police received, and from who.

Original Mike said...

If the FBI is investigating the "Russian hacks", don't they also have to be investigating this an an alternate way the DNC emails reached Wikileaks?

chickelit said...

@OM: Not if the FBI is a partisan organization.

Original Mike said...

Exactly.

Todd said...

hombre said...

Just imagine! Those stupid, careless Russians, unskilled at hacking, etc., left their fingerprints behind!

5/16/17, 1:58 PM


I am fairly sure that those same fingerprints would have been found on someone else's email server except that person foolishly wiped it with a cloth removing all fingerprint trace evidence...

Sebastian said...

The conspiracy possibilities are endless.

For example, does Robert Creamer have an alibi for the day of the murder?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Mad as HELL 2:33 -

Right before someone is supposed to spill the beans on a Clinton, boom - dead. All of them-- must be coincidences.

Darrell said...

Matthew Sablan said...
When this first was released, early reports stated that his personal flashdrives he normally carried around with him were missing. Did that ever get resolved?


Nothing to see here move along. Althouse Lefties and the MSM don't see a connection.

Jim at said...

"Because exploiting a man's death for narrow partisan purposes is a real class act?"

A leftist actually wrote this.
With a straight face.
Without even the slightest hint at self-awareness.

Darrell said...

After you solve the Rich murder, you can explain why the gun pictured in the photos of the first cop on the scene of the Vince Foster suicide is a different gun from the one presented at the Press conference by park police. The one in evidence now is the only gun bought by Foster--although witnesses say it was kept at his permanent residence. Every TV detective would demand an answer, at least. And a resolution like firing the first responder if he had messed with evidence before taking pictures.

Achilles said...

AReasonableMan said...

Because exploiting a man's death for narrow partisan purposes is a real class act?

Darrell said...
Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner actually laughed-- from Hell at your comment. I was on the Ouija board at the time. . .

Wheeler also told us, "I have a source inside the police department that has looked at me straight in the eye and said, ‘Rod, we were told to stand down on this case and I can’t share any information with you.’ Now, that is highly unusual for a murder investigation, especially from a police department.

Whomever has Seth Rich's laptop right now are the guilty party.

"The police department nor the FBI have been forthcoming,” said Wheeler. “They haven't been cooperating at all. I believe that the answer to solving his death lies on that computer, which I believe is either at the police department or either at the FBI. I have been told both.”

You are disgusting people.

harrogate said...

I challenge you , chicken-little, to find a single post where I've taken the Russkan hacking accusations seriously.

You won't find them because I don't take them seriously.

But thanks for the schoolyard "I know I am but what are you?!" response. Twas about what I expected.

Jay Vogt said...

Who's paying Wheeler, and why did that person feel the need to employ him?
Isn't any evidence of the alleged Russian hacking of the DNC now hopelessly corrupt given the insertion of Crowdstrike into the chain of evidence?
How come in a town that leeks like a sieve, no one will even "off the record" comment on the veracity of the "stand down" order as well as the care custody and control of the laptop?

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

Leaks only occur for Republican matters. I picture The Omen when people are afraid of the lightning rod impaling them or glass sliding off the glass truck if they break rank.

Drago said...

harrogate: "I challenge you , chicken-little, to find a single post where I've taken the Russkan hacking accusations seriously."

By my recollection it is quite true that Harrogate has not allowed himself/herself to be led by the nose on the absurd collusion/russia hacking to help Trump schtick.

If I am wrong about that please correct me.

Drago said...

Jim: "A leftist actually wrote this.
With a straight face.
Without even the slightest hint at self-awareness"

It "ain't" nothin' new, neither.

Who can forget Bush being blamed for the murder of James Byrd in Texas and don't get me started on the Wellstone memorial service.

Anonymous said...

Breaking... from the NYTs.

Trump asked Comey in February to shut down the Russia investigation. Amazing. Let's see how the Trumpists spin this one. It just never ends. There is a memo and a paper trail.

Drago said...

Original Mike: "If the FBI is investigating the "Russian hacks", don't they also have to be investigating this an an alternate way the DNC emails reached Wikileaks?"

Oh, I don't think the FBI has been burning the candle at both ends investigating anything other than what obambi's minions running the joint want them to investigate.

When the FBI did encounter stuff they couldn't avoid (hillary's emails), the backflips the FBI/Justice dept pulled in immediately giving people blanket immunity, not looking at servers, allowing the destruction of evidence to go unchallenged, allowing Cheryl Mills to actually sit in on conversations with other "witnesses", etc tells you all you need to know about whether or not anyone investigated other ways emails could have ended up in Wikileaks little mitts.

We'll see if that changes.

Darrell said...

The "Russia" investigation has reached an "Unfounded" conclusion at least a half a dozen times, according to FBI sources and Comey's statements. Telling the FBI to stop wasting taxpayer money is a good thing, not bad. It was Comey's attempt at placating Democrats to keep employed.

Drago said...

Inga: "There is a memo and a paper trail."

There is a memo that Comey wrote. Which the White House denies.

pfft.

More of the same.

At least this one didn't include hookers in Moscow, so its a step up for you guys.

Drago said...

Its usually considered appropriate to end investigations after a long period of time and full use of national and international resources when nothing illegal is found.

But that won't help the dems, so the investigation into unspecified crimes must continue until something is found, even if it takes forever and nothing is found nor any crime ever specified.

Yes Inga, we are all well aware of the lefts tactic.

Darrell said...

Breaking from CNN--

Trump got another two scoops of ice cream at dinner last night when his other guests got just one. Investigating. . .

Darrell said...

If we can find a tape of Trump telling Putin that he will have more flexibility after the election, all hell will break lose. That will be unprecedented.

Michael K said...

Inga is excited by another fake news story.

In short, the federal government never examined the DNC's email server and never independently confirmed who was behind the hack. Instead, the DNC's self-serving story of the a Russian hack was adopted by the government as the only explanation of what happened.

The FBI backing down on investigating the DNC server is the dog that didn't bark in the night and still hasn't.

Crimso said...

"Who's paying Wheeler, and why did that person feel the need to employ him?"

I read somewhere (Daily Mail story? One of the Brit papers we have to go to now to get actual news; anyway, take with a grain of salt) that Wheeler was investigating on behalf of the Rich family, but that someone else was paying him. And I also read that the Rich family was upset about Wheeler going public, as their agreement with him was to keep it all private. Wheeler was a D.C. homicide detective (which tends to lend some credibility to the idea he would have sources inside the D.C. police) and is a frequent guest on Fox News. Anyone who has watched much Fox over the past decade or so would know him.

Daniel Jackson said...

Just saying, I grew up in DC and know this neighborhood somewhat, although I lived to the west of it near 14th and U Street NW. That area is notorious for drug related crimes like theft and assault. The 2100 block of Flagler Place, NW area is fairly calm and very upscale: https://m.spotcrime.com/mobile/map/index.html#124-198%20T%20St%20NW%2C%20Washington%2C%20DC%2020001%2C%20USA

Houses bought here for 400k are now asking 750k. Good place to live and walk. Even at night.

Metropolitan Police are reporting 135 homicides for 2016 of which 65 cases, including Seth Rich, remain unsolved: https://mpdc.dc.gov/node/1133867

Of the major cases unsolved listed on that site, there are three who appear to be of the Caucasian persuasion. Just saying.

The guy was gunned down in a good neighborhood just before dawn (astronomical twilight) from behind. Whoever came up from behind must have been quiet like a mouse because, being a DC Boy, I would be on my guard if someone was coming up behind even wearing track shoes.

As for leaving watch, phone, jewelry, etc, that pretty much rules out the usual predatory behaviors of the usual suspects in that area a bit to the west of 2100 block of Flagler Place, NW.

However, why take the laptop. It's not really a question. If it was gone, the police would have immediately their "clue". More to the point, there was no need to take it AND his life, the latter being the message. The leaks were already history, damage done, so only the payment remained.

Don't need much television to know this plot. The real question is who will be next.

ndspinelli said...

Daniel, Superb comment.

buwaya said...

Its the cops that took the laptop, from the victims home.
Why? Someone told them to no doubt.
Who?

Matt Sablan said...

Here's a possible theory that doesn't require a bumbling robber OR a conspiracy.

The Lone Wolf.

We know that within Clinton's camp, there was paranoia about leaks. They were searching through emails to find a leaker. What if at the DNC there was a similar paranoia... and what if someone FOUND the leaker, but when they brought it to their bosses, they couldn't prove it?

Assume this person is a party loyalist... not hard to see how they would decide to stop the leaks themselves. It explains why it is neither a professional robbery or hit job; the person is an amateur.

It locks up a lot of the problems neatly, with a bow (which is why it is highly unlikely to be true.)

Darrell said...

Did any neighbors see an old woman being tossed in the back of a black van racing away from the scene?

buwaya said...

That lone wolf thing doesn't work.

It wasn't revenge, as Rich was murdered July 10 and the DNC leak came out July 22 2016.
Someone knew he had the DNC files, or maybe something else too, before Wikileaks distributed them.

I suspect someone was trying to pre-empt a leak of some sort.

Matt Sablan said...

I suppose the timeline screws it up, unless we assume this was similar to Clinton's decades long fear of leaks being perpetuated within the DNC. ... which works for fiction, but not reality.

Daniel Jackson said...

“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.”

Mark Twain

In a room full of true believers, "will someone relieve me of this meddlesome priest" can summon many volunteers.

harrogate said...

Drago, I appreciate that.


I'm seeing lots of "I suspect" comments all over the board here and it's very entertaining. My personal fave might be the whole "when will they report the truth about the 'stand down' order!" thing.

Christ on a Crumb heap.

buwaya said...

"I'm seeing lots of "I suspect" comments all over the board here"

You should suspect too. Paranoia, under modern conditions, is common sense.

DanTheMan said...

>>Hmm, your comments display a certain lack of real world experience, not to mention lack of imagination. Know any criminals? Ever commit a crime? Yeah, didn't think so.

I have met several murderers, Mr. Moon. The lasting impression I have of them is inhumanity... they are not like normal people.

To walk up behind somebody and shoot them twice in cold blood, whatever the reason, is not an act that one can apply everyday reason to.

Like Cookie, I have no idea who killed him or why. But as others have said, it's one hell of a coincidence that he the leaker and a few days later got gunned down in such a manner...

Gospace said...

buwaya said...
"But a lot of people get randomly murdered in D.C."

The vast majority are poor, black, and the motives are, though stupid, well understood.
A young white man with a good position in the political-professional cursus honorum?
Extremely low probability event.


Especially in that neighborhood. "Random" street murders are clustered. And there aren't any others in that neighborhood. Hence, the murder was non-random, or targeted. Everything points to it being targeted.

William said...

As it turned out,Chandra Levy was killed by the kind of person you would expect to kill Chandra and not her Congressman boyfriend. There was , nonetheless, quite a lot of lurid speculation and innuendo. What's noteworthy about this case is the lack of interest it has piqued. That third rate Watergate burglary sparked far more interest in its time.....The circumstances surrounding this case are very strange, but the strangest thing is the lack of commentary and speculation.

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