I would also suggest listening to this speech the young man gave basically explaining how he saved the Internet from another assault by government. It's riveting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgh2dFngFsg

Hard to delve very far into this without having some seriously positive thoughts about Ron Wyden.

Certainly not for the influence he's having, which is none, but at least he's saying something. That faker in the White House isn't going to lift a finger on this -- he's all Mr. Patriot Act.

As Swartz says, Ron Wyden bought them some time, but the best part is the end of the speech where he talks about everyone making themselves the heroes in their own stories. That's strong. In fact, the speech conveys a spirit that's above average in enthusiasm rather than someone moping around in a funk.

What is obvious is that powerful forces must have seen this kid as a threat. Whether or not they drove him to kill himself or murdered him is anyone's guess. I certainly am not convinced that someone this bright would hang himself. It doesn't add up to me - that would involve a level of self-hatred or desperation that I don't see present.

If this young man was going to kill himself, I believe there would have been a high tech method and some brilliant message going out on the Internet. His mission in life seems to be to safeguard human communications - the freedom to convey our thoughts to one another, so he's going to go silent over this?

Who knows? Maybe something will still pop up like a virus and he'll explain his reasons, but that doesn't get us past the glaring inconsistency of someone this high tech going so primeval with his method of death.

To me this thing reeks of a hit - just as the DC Madam's hanging did. I could just imagine the meeting: "Sure, we can put him away for years, but what if he wins? He's won before. No, the best thing is to take him out now before the trial and let him be an example to anyone who tries to fight us again."

That's how I think it went down.

That faker in the White House isn't going to lift a finger on this -- he's all Mr. Patriot Act.

In this horrifying instance, I think you could spell "faker" differently.

6B

I dunno Bill. Sounds like you are going into tin foil hat territory. But in the absence of some sort of big final statement to the world, I am going to have to say you are onto something. Something stinks here. Something bad I don't want to think about.

I'm not sold just yet, but save me some tin foil. I'll make us a perfect replica Pileus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pileus_%28hat%29

Look here, the USAtty, her husband, 'these people' do NOT of their own position and volition do the bad things they do. They are issued orders what to do. Commanded by their controllers. No amount of shame or slap on them can match the effected influence which controls them first.

Jo, perhaps you've heard there is another atrocity by unnamed forces that must be tossed in the 'Tinfoil Conspiracy' bucket in order to be ignored. Although ignorance is not safety, nor bliss particularly. You might pick up the threads leading into it by fueling your search engine with 'Sandy Hook hoax.'

This awful USGovernment psychological war on Americans is going to continue and worsen until we ever stand up straight, identify and prosecute the USG'ers involved and complicit in staging the Nine-Eleven Op mass murder and mass psycho trauma.
(Un)Certainly it's easier to ignore it and think it's buried behind us in the past. 'Easier' is not safer.

The IBM Journal of Research and Development (IBM Labs house organ) is available at most university libraries for perusal. Used to free for online reading in the earlier days of the web. Then it moved behind a paywall (not IBM's either) and can set you back $31 per article viewed. Of course you can get access to all the papers for $1200 per year.
The prosecutor's husband is an exec at IBM. Just a coincidence, I'm sure....

6B or maybe 6C. However, the guy in DC is in a position to do much more damage.

Did anyone notice all the comments about how the Justice Department failed to prosecute the banks who caused the financial crisis, and yet, went after this young man as if it was the crime of the century? Weren't those quaint?

I might be out there with the conspiracy theories but at least I'm dialed in enough to realize how ridiculous that point is. To compare a human being like this to what happens to a corporation is ludicrous. Corporations are a vastly superior life form - in power anyway. Governments don't go after them - governments work for them.

We're in an age when corporations make new types of life. They genetically engineer corn for example, and then they patent it. They own the rights to life forms.

The notion that this young man should be mentioned in the same breath as a corporation is ridiculous. Corporations run the planet now, and to compare his rights to theirs is just nuts.

Oh, please. If you are going to take on the establishment make sure you are prepared to take the lickings that go inevitably go along with it.

This guy was raised by parents who blame suicides on third parties; if that is what you have come to believe then it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The person who is actually responsible for a suicide is the one that pulls the trigger, tightens the noose, jumps off the bridge, throws himself in front of the train, leaps off the building, swallows the pills or slits the wrists. I wish people would stop glorifying victims of suicide and reinforcing the belief others cause you to kill yourself. Maybe then there would be fewer suicides.

The government hates it when people step up and demand justice. And all their trained attack dogs perform on command 'cause they like the doggie treats and sense of power.

And like Gary Webb who committed "suicide" with TWO bullets to his head, there are a lot of folks who come to a sudden end that makes absolutely no sense without a tin foil hat.

"I wish people would stop glorifying victims of suicide and reinforcing the belief others cause you to kill yourself."

This is some kind of commonplace? I have missed it. I heard a report on NPR the other day that the suicide casualties from Afghanistan outnumber actual war deaths. I have not heard any glorification whatsoever, or blame beyond tremendous concern for what (not who) is driving soldiers to kill themselves.

Suicide is one of those great unfathomables. Most suicides are never known as such outside out of family and friends, if that. More shame attaches to suicide than glorification in most cases, I speculate. In this one there has been an outcry over a persecution very proximate to the tragedy. 26 seems like babies to most of us.

Tim's comment "And like Gary Webb who committed "suicide" with TWO bullets to his head" is not a joke:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb

As someone remarked a couple of days ago, the DC Madam was found dead by suicide, despite her statement that she was in no way suicidal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dc_madam

The grand-daddy of govt suicides is of course Vince Foster: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_foster

I guess this will surely end with Obama nominating Carmen Ortiz for the Supreme Court.