352 points

I never thought I’d see the day when a respectable blue chip company like Boeing is publicly outed as ordering an assassination. They fucked up royally. The timing of it all is too eyebrow raising not to be noticed by the entirety of the airplane-using world. Top down criminal investigation. Now.

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124 points
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I kind of thought corporations aren’t allowed to murder people but at this point I don’t know anymore.

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109 points

Murdering people has been a normal part of corporations for a long time, but they generally do it to union organizers in the developing world.

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6 points

Let’s be fair, they do it everywhere. They do it more in the developing world, but it’s not exclusive there.

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80 points

In America it used to be you could just bribe your governor and they’d deploy the national guard to kill striking worker’s families like the Ludlow Massacre and the Battle of Blair mountain.

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29 points

Ludlow Massacre and the Battle of Blair mountain.

It blows my mind how blatantly these events are not taught to anybody. Never forget.

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20 points

They’re clearly allowed to do whatever the fuck they want.

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14 points

I mean, there have been several huge instances of mass murder by corporations. Go look into the US’ history with strikebreaking and you’ll see just how bad it used to be. At least Boeing is trying to pretend it was a suicide, instead of just blatantly firebombing him in his own home.

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5 points

I don’t think they are allowed. But I think they do it.

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1 point

Now the corpos who order planes see that boeing is willing to do anything in order to get the job done…

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1 point

too big to fail. /s

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103 points

well your first mistake was thinking Boeing was a respectable corporation (that ship sailed in 1997 when they dropped the “engineering first” priority in lieu of “business first”)…

your second mistake is thinking any corporation is respectable ;-)

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36 points

Their third mistake is thinking any corporation will be held accountable

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19 points
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Oh, you got caught doing some shitty business thing and now you’re not making as much money. Here is a government bailout to make it up.

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20 points

lol you’re right.

In other news, if you search for flights on kayak and exclude Boeing planes, holy crap the tickets are insanely expensive.

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Turns out people pay extra money to avoid death, who knew.

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11 points

next stops: buy Kayak and shut it down; Make it illegal for similar searches to be performed; make it illegal to disclose who makes the aircraft.

Unless citizens make it clear that they won’t stand for bullshit, they will get bullshit.

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3 points
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Scary thing nobodies talking about is: if these Boeing-built bad parts are able to slip past inspectors, which we had (naievely?) assumed were given full access top-notch, and neutral, might the standards of other planes build-quality have also dropped?

How safe are the other company’s planes?

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58 points

Boeing is a major part of the military industrial complex. They own the politicians in both parties, the regulators, and the courts. Laws don’t apply to them.

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40 points
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If you’re the government, you want your military planes to work. It’s in their interests to have whistleblowers. (Now there’s lots of steps that are problems in realizing that.)

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16 points

No. If you’re the state you want shit to work. If you’re part of the government, you just want to get your bribes.

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4 points

I mean there may simply have been internal reports already, just highly classified to avoid “embarrassing” the nation and not accessible or known to the general public.

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18 points

If they can’t deliver a product that stays in one piece when not even being shot at, they aren’t about to stay a part of that MIC for long.

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1 point

The MIC has very little to do with making high-quality military equipment and much more to do with kickbacks and local jobs. Boeing and the other prime contractors are massively inefficient and often performing make-work jobs that no one in the military wants (like making more tanks).

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3 points
Removed by mod
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2 points
*

EDIT: The posts above and in response to this one both got modded, so I’m gonna edit this one because it looks weird out of context and perhaps wasn’t constructive.

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22 points
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I never thought I’d see the day when a respectable blue chip company like Boeing is publicly outed as ordering an assassination.

Why does this surprise you that a company, a large company, would order an assassination of someone? This doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.

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3 points
Removed by mod
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At the end of which some low level schmuck will be thrown under the bus and they will be fined a few million dollars grand total for all this shit.

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0 points
Deleted by creator
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314 points

when a whistleblower dies on the day of his deposition, you have to work really hard to convince me that it’s suicide.

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144 points

They could have threatened to fly his family on a 737 Max if he didn’t kill himself

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8 points

Now that is a big threat!

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Oh yeah, now this is an avengers level threat!

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2 points

“We appreciate your candor and willingness to see the truth outed. As such, we hope your family will join you on a lovely vacation, with a complimentary flight on a 737 max.”

“Well shit, they’ve got me by the balls now”

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22 points
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Definitely! But a ‘friend of the family’ is not really a perfect source.

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13 points

Just saying, I bet Boeings lied more about things that caused humans to die than the friend of the family has so if its he said she said, I think she’s got the superior credibility. She just doesn’t have superior profits.

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1 point

Doesn’t matter, we’ve already got a rabble on.

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197 points
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Boeing rep: Tragically, it appears that Mr. Barnett was discussing suicide in the lead up to his death.

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92 points

“We will be offering a stock buyback in his memory.”

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30 points

Sounds like an admittance of guilt to me. Nothing will happen, sadly.

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13 points

hope Boeing get their ass handed this time.

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190 points

They make airplanes tf is this mafia shit

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166 points

They also make military equipment, an enormous amount of it

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79 points

Both incorrect, they make money.

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4 points

They take money. It’s banks that make it.

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38 points

They also bribe politicians to give them an excuse to sell those weapons. Gulf of Tonkin, anyone? Grenada? Panama? Af-fucking-ghanistan?

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11 points

Viet FUCKIN NAM

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76 points

They are also involved in the military and aerospace industry. They also practically only have a single competitor in the passenger plane manufacture industry (airbus). So they are rich and powerful and do not shy away from exerting their influence to protect their interests.

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20 points

Welcome to capitalism, baby!

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14 points

Odds echo in reality. The French thriller “Blackbox” featured a conspiracy around a new aircraft crashing taking inspiration of the MCAS related crashes.

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9 points

Didn’t used to be this way till the BAs took over

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6 points

fuck McDonnell-Douglas

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0 points

Planes crashed more back then. Statistically speaking, safety has still improved over time even after the McDonnell-Douglas merger. Maybe it could have improved faster but commenters in this thread are saying crazy hyperbolic shit like “complete disregard for human life” which just doesn’t track with the actual accident rates. But conspiracy theories and corporate malfeasance sure do get a lot of clicks if you’re a news site. I’m sure executives were, are, and will continue to be profit-oriented while pretending to be something else, otherwise their business goes under.

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1 point

Fucking corporate shills everywhere.

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8 points

They are a megacorp, they have enough money to do what they want

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1 point
*

When you have enough money you’re effectively a god in every way except the omnipotently immortal part.

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5 points

Correction: they make money

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5 points

Wait until you hear about the people who make chocolate

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3 points

Didn’t stop coca cola or the banana companies

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3 points

They’re rich enough to easily hire a good hitman.

And have the motivation to silence this guy before the entire country is calling for Boeing to have their corporate charter revoked

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158 points

Wow. That is chilling and very damning of Boeing. Like really…Boeing is that dirty? Surely not?

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203 points

Friendly reminder that Boeing is not a plucky airline that can’t make safe airplanes, it’s an AMERICAN MILITARY DEFENSE CONTRACTOR worth billions. If I you threaten that arrangement with slander like the truth and facts, they are good friends with people who kill for a living and completely unashamed in paying for their services.

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112 points

Put another way: there are plenty of people who will eagerly issue death threats, stalk you, and swat you over minor differences in opinion. Think what they would do over serious money.

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3 points

… Oh they totally killed him didn’t they? You put it in very good perspective.

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29 points

This so much. Put it up there with Lockheed

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8 points

Boeing makes the minuteman missles, directly profiteering from nuclear weapons which could destroy humanity many times over. They’re evil.

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2 points

it’s an AMERICAN MILITARY DEFENSE CONTRACTOR worth billions

Probably one reason why the FAA isn’t immediately shutting Boeing’s shit down, you know when doors fall off their planes mid-flight, and investigations uncover more problems.

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99 points

Do you have any fuckdamn idea how many innocent people died by the command of American fruit companies?

Capitalism feeds on blood, it always has.

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49 points

United Fruit just turned into Chiquita and continued on like they didnt massacre people too.

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6 points

They literally overthrew democratic governments just to install their own puppets.

A fucking FRUIT company.

And you’re right, they just kept going like nothing happened.

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90 points

Like really…Boeing is that dirty? Surely not?

I mean they were willing to knowingly keep producing unsafe air planes which lead to several crashes killing 100’s. So yeah, I really wouldn’t be surprised if they also do assassination to ensure their profit.

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4 points

Also as stated elsewhere, they make world ending nuclear bombs delivery rockets. They’ve profited from the possible destruction of all of humanity.

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26 points

Boeing is that dirty? Surely not?

Why not?

International profit chasing entities just wouldn’t value profits over human life?

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8 points

It is a corporations fiduciary responsibility to maximize profits over any other things. That obviously includes human lives.

Does a human life have a value to other humans? Yes.

Does a human have a value to a corporation? It has a value and a cost, if the cost is higher than the value of the human then it is a risk to the value of the company and can be liquidated.

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6 points

“But corporations are supposed to care about people more than profits!”

Welcome to the real world, buddy.

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

Oh and have you any idea what Boeing has been doing for some years now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8oCilY4szc

Hint: it involves maximising profits while endangering people, to the extent that Boeing is literally assassinating witnesses so the extent of how recklessly they endangered lives for profit wouldn’t come out.

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23 points

If you want, take a deeper look into the *max events and you’ll find that being dirty is the least surprise.

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3 points
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2 points

Why not? They killed multiple hundreds of people so far. Just one more.

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-16 points
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I’m not any defender of corporations, by any means, but I’m not sure that I’m willing to take the word of a “close family friend” who “needed help one day” any more than some corporate HR; and “I don’t care what they say, I know that Mitch didn’t do that” isn’t exactly a solid argument to be basing things on.

Edit: I seem to have missed this on my first read:

Jennifer said she thinks somebody “didn’t like what he had to say” and wanted to “shut him up” without it coming back to anyone"…“That’s why they made it look like a suicide,”

I’m never surprised to hear something bad about Boeing, but this is just a woman convinced with, on the face of it, no other proof than what’s in her own head. Unless she’s got a recording or document, the article’s title could have been, “Family friend tells reporter a story”

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46 points

And he said, ‘No, I ain’t scared, but if anything happens to me, it’s not suicide.’

He pretty much said “I think something may happen to me and they will make it look like a suicide.”

Unless she’s got a recording or document, the article’s title could have been, “Family friend tells reporter a story”

Yeah, it won’t hold up in court, and neither would it if she had recorded this casual, intimate conversation between two old friends.

Maybe, though, it’s enough to get the coroner to take another look at his death.

I’m not any defender of corporations, by any means, but I’m not sure that I’m willing to take the word of a “close family friend” who “needed help one day” any more than some corporate HR;

You sure have a lot more faith in corporations than I do…

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8 points

Maybe, though, it’s enough to get the coroner to take another look at his death.

He’s a high profile corporate whistleblower who allegedly committed suicide. Any coroner who isn’t already triple checking everything is way too corrupt or lazy to bother with another look.

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-14 points

He pretty much said “I think something may happen to me and they will make it look like a suicide.”

Did he state that somewhere else? Admittedly I haven’t been following the story too closely so I may have missed something there; but if he isn’t documented saying that somewhere credible, then all we have is her claiming that he “pretty much said” that. Is it likely he said it? I mean, I’d definitely be saying it if I was in his shoes, but one family friend’s claim isn’t enough to convince me that this should have been published as it was. I guess this is all more me just trying to voice frustration with the article. Not that it’s unprecedented (maybe even the norm) these days, but it’s always frustrating to see headlines with unsubstantiated claims and discussions ensuing as if it’s fact.

Maybe, though, it’s enough to get the coroner to take another look at his death.

Here’s to hoping

You sure have a lot more faith in corporations than I do…

I probably don’t, I’m just trying to present an argument with throwing on more layers of personal bias

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21 points

This isn’t “I know Mitch didn’t do that”, it’s “he literally told me the specific thing that happened and he wasn’t going to do it”. What motivation does she have to just fully make up a conversation? Boeing has billions of dollars of motivation, she knew him from family get togethers.

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9 points

There’s a few accounts on these threads that are really determined to remain neutral and open minded about Boeing, I blocked a different one with the same speech pattern recently

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-1 points

My pet theory: Some extra dirty psycho at Boeing probably had him killed. Probably to cover up specifics about themselves. It seems pretty clear Boeing is rotting at the head and has been for decades. All these issues that have come up since MAX are the result of deeply systemic problems, stemming from crooked, greedy psychopaths at the top.

But in the interests of being as rational and honest about this as possible, let’s also not forget that this article is based on her claim, and she’s the only one (so far) to make it. People have been known to seek attention with bullshit. It’s evidence, yeah, is it really unimpeachable? Well…

Think about it like this: if there was a dated and notarized statement in his handwriting saying the same thing that she claims he told her, that would be more trustworthy.

But again, pet theory, some Boeing sicko was covering their own ass by having him Epsteined. Totally plausible.

I don’t think this is the last we will be hearing about this.

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-14 points

What motivation does she have to just fully make up a conversation?

That’s my point: we have no idea. We have no information other than that her and Barnett’s mothers are best friends and that he was a pallbearer at her father’s funeral. She could be a well educated individual that is doing her best to make a point and draw attention to something, or she could be someone who believes tons of stuff that is blatantly false and is telling her opinion to anyone who will listen. Either way, (copying from my other comment) I guess this is all more me just trying to voice frustration with the article. Not that it’s unprecedented (maybe even the norm) these days, but it’s always frustrating to see headlines with unsubstantiated claims and discussions ensuing as if it’s fact."

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17 points

My brother in whatever, for your information that is called a “witness”

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3 points
*

Fascinating

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3 points

I feel the same about the response given that I’m agreeing with everyone’s sentiments overall and only questioning the validity of a single source. Suppose I need to get a better feel for the site before trying to be more active.

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1 point

Epstein. Your argument is disproven

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-1 points

I can see you were born yesterday.

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-3 points

I’m curious if some one who disagreed with you - on something that they found completely, obviously true - tried to convince you they were right by saying that their mom’s friend’s daughter made a claim about it, how inclined would you be to believe them or that daughter?

I think we all agree that Barnett suspected that something would happen; and we all agree that Boeing is a terrible company that is capable, and guilty, of terrible things. My point it just that there is concrete evidence of these things and articles should rely on something other than some person made a claim with nothing but, “it’s obvious” or “I know” to back it up

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