r/nottheonion • u/ClubZealousideal9784 • 14d ago
Boeing whistleblower dies following a brief illness, weeks after the suicide of another
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/boeing-whistleblower-dies-brief-illness-weeks-suicide-another-rcna150381[removed] — view removed post
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u/jbrunsonfan 13d ago
Even if they didn’t kill the guy, this is the kind of scrutiny you deserve after you kill somebody else
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u/v3ritas1989 13d ago
It is so fucking annoying that everyon nowadays gets labeled as a "whistleblower". Thats so stupid!
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u/PresidentialCamacho 13d ago
Learn to spot astroturfing. These headlines are specifically meant to short Boeing to make a buck for some hedge fund. They're meant to spread discord.
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u/JustAdmitYourWrong 13d ago
What the hell kind of title is this!? There was no suicide, Boeing is a killer plain and simple
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u/futanari_kaisa 13d ago
The first guy did not commit suicide. He said himself that he was not suicidal and if something happened to him it wasn't suicide.
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u/repeat4EMPHASIS 13d ago
No he didn't. The daughter of his mom's friend claimed it but both his mom and his lawyer said that years of hostile work environment, firing, and dragging his name through the mud took a toll on his mental health.
Mom:
I think if this hadn’t gone on so long, I’d still have my son... It would wear anybody down after seven or eight years.
His lawyer:
He said the years John Barnett spent fighting his case took a toll. In the days before he died, Barnett was deposed by Boeing's lawyers and Turkewitz said the testimony forced Barnett to re-live painful memories. "That was wearing on him," Turkewitz said. "I think it all came back to him.
This deposition was about whether Boeing was retaliating with a hostile work environment forcing him to resign because of his earlier whistleblowing, not from any new whistleblowing activities.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-barnett-boeing-whistleblower-family-interview/
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u/DaveOJ12 13d ago
He said himself that he was not suicidal and if something happened to him it wasn't suicide.
Where's your proof?
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u/Cybrknight 13d ago
All this will do is convince the next whistleblowers to whistleblow anonymously through sites like Wikileaks.
Going through official channels seems be too problematic to be worth it imo.
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u/Lookuponthewall 13d ago
I like a good conspiracy theory. However, I'm sure this is just an unfortunate coincidence that has the Boing PR folks shitting their pants.
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u/necronic23 13d ago
Looks like Boeing have been taking lessons from the Russians. Next Boeing will graduate to windows.
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u/SnooBunnies163 13d ago
He was a whistleblower years ago, and not even for Boeing, but for Spirit Systems. He died of MRSA (which is still pretty common) after going to the hospital for pneumonia. What are you going to say, that Boeing gave him MRSA? Come on.
And yet, the top comment on this post claims that Boeing “dipped into the Putin playbook”. This goes to show just how easily people can be manipulated by news articles.
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u/80burritospersecond 13d ago
This is all blown out of proportion. The simple explanation is that there's just so many Boeing whistleblowers out there that one is statistically bound to die every couple months.
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u/LordEternalBlue 13d ago
Yup, absolutely, just like that case of the North Korean dissenter who was found in their room to have committed suicide by 17 gunshots to the back of the head.
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u/exskuces 14d ago
2 Whistleblowers for the same company have died. Two Boeing have crashed killing hundreds of people. Other Boeing planes are falling apart in mid air.
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u/millennial_sentinel 14d ago
how the fuck is the FBI just dismantling the entire Boeing HQ after the FIRST murder now where are we ..3?
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u/PesticusVeno 14d ago
Ok, so why has Lockmart and Raytheon been getting all those weapon contracts over the years, when it's quite clear which company is really committed to putting people in the past tense.
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u/Levy_Wilson 14d ago
Being a Boeing whistle blower is starting to be as fatal as flying in one of their planes.
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u/totalahole669 14d ago
False headline: he was a Spirit AeroSystems whistleblower, which is a different company.
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u/Tank_7 13d ago
Spirit is essentially Boeing light. They manufacture a fuck ton of parts for them. I've rejected thousands of their parts as an inspector.
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u/totalahole669 13d ago
Spirit manufa tures parts for Airbus and Northrop Grumman as well. It is currently an independent company. That's like saying Rolls-Royce is Boeing light because they manufacture the engines.
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u/TwoBionicknees 13d ago
Joshua Dean, 45, a former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, alleged that managers failed to act on manufacturing defects on the 737 Max.
It's like, right there. You don't have to work for a specific company to be a whistleblower, you just have to have information on that company that is secret and you blow the whistle on them.
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u/moustacheption 14d ago
in a developed nation, a company like this would have their executives and board investigated
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u/ValyrianJedi 13d ago
Because a dude died of a well documented illness and infection years after testifying about something?
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u/moustacheption 13d ago
Boeing astroturfing out I full force 🫢
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u/ValyrianJedi 13d ago
The fact that you probably actually believe that is almost as insane as thinking that a guy who died of pneumonia and MRSA infection years after he was done testifying was somehow murdered by Boeing.
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u/moustacheption 13d ago
If it was a single incident, it’d be far fetched. But this isn’t the first coincidental whistleblower death while Boeing happens to be under a lot of scrutiny about their planes falling apart in the skies.
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u/DarthVaderIzBack 14d ago
Hope the 3rd Whistleblower makes it to court.
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u/no_one_1nteresting 13d ago
The first one already went to court and said everything he had to before killing himself. He was a wistle blower in 2017 and was heard in 2019
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u/JoelBuysWatches 13d ago
Same with this one. There’s literally dozens of these whistleblowers and they’re all middle aged factory workers. It’d be weirder if none of them had died in the past couple years.
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u/Jhawk163 14d ago
Man if they can get Epstein in prison they can get the 3rd, 4th, fucking 98th guy.
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u/TrogdorIncinerarator 14d ago
Can we put "alleged" or "apparent" in front of that "suicide", please and thank you, NBC.
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u/Malphos101 14d ago
Plot twist: Airbus/Lockheed killed the second guy to try and finish Boeing off.
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u/MydnightWN 13d ago
The whistleblower is from 8 years ago, hasn't said anything about Boeing in over 6 years, and died of MRSA.
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u/Malphos101 13d ago
"Uhmm ackshually let me explain why your obvious joke is factually inaccurate..."
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u/MydnightWN 13d ago
Obvious? Have you not read the comments around here?
Reading comprehension is hard, bless your heart.
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u/druss21 14d ago
A couple subs/days behind, are we?
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u/Fleming24 13d ago
And it's still getting reported as if it's a likely conspiracy despite clearly seeming like a simple coincidence when actually reading what happened. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't actually put it past companies like Boeing that they might've murdered people but these two cases really don't seem like it.
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u/-SPM- 14d ago
I’ve been seeing a lot of stuff about it today and it has me tripping cause I keep thinking it’s new even though I saw it a couple of days ago
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u/sw00pr 13d ago
Reddit is just behind on things these days. It's no longer the place for breaking news.
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u/v0idst4r2 13d ago
Is that a bad thing though? The race to the bottom for breaking news tends to lead to misinformation getting reported first and loudly, whereby the accurate retraction tends to be buried on the 30th page that no one has read.
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u/grokthis1111 13d ago
no. there are plenty of subreddits with the latest news. it's just that this isn't a break news subreddit.
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u/Drainbownick 14d ago
We’re Boeing! Boeing to kill you if you blow the whistle!
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u/hawker_sharpie 14d ago
what if you blow the hatch?
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u/IWantToSortMyFeed 14d ago
You'll pay extra for the fresh air, slave. You're lucky you're even traveling at all and not grinding your crank.
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u/MagikCactus 14d ago
Im out of the loop, What are they even whistleblowing about? Cause I keep hearing about something up with Boeing
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u/nukidot 14d ago
Next Boeing whistleblower should be put in Witness Protection.
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u/millennial_sentinel 14d ago
The US Marshals have 100% protection rate. Boeing is a quasi-govt business at this point from decades of contracts. They’re not going to mess up that streak because a bunch of military involved, defense contractors are killing off their own.
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u/woody90749 14d ago
You have got to admit… there is something to this. 2 whistleblowers suddenly dying within months of each other? Coincidence? Perhaps… but if you follow the money and history, this coincidence has a meaning. Whatever that means, right?! I say, this all stinks to high heaven. Or at least to FL38
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u/OwnVehicle5560 14d ago
There are a good number of whistleblowers. It’s not beyond the realm of probability that two die close to each other, especially if we accept the fact that the first was suicide (making death a non random variable due to the stress of whistleblowing.
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u/woody90749 14d ago
Beyond the realm of probability? Ok sure. How many confirmed whistleblowers have there been? The first we know of made a video stating he has never been suicidal. Yet “commits suicide” weeks after posting. I encourage research on following the money with this. Might open your eyes. Or not. That’s ok too 🙂↕️
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u/angelerulastiel 14d ago
He didn’t make a video. He supposedly told one acquaintance at a party and didn’t mention anything it to anyone else.
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u/woody90749 14d ago
He didn’t make a video. You are correct. But he did tell a family member. And it wasn’t at a party. His lawyer has contested the suicide claim.
https://youtu.be/sA44FFi95PA?si=AcGgVeKg6tQtQh-t
Now the second whistleblower suddenly falls ill from MRSA and pneumonia? More probable than the first. Sure. But how can you not be suspicious when these two whistleblowers die suddenly within months of each other?! Follow the money and history!
Again: how many whistleblowers are out there? Help me find that info so we can create a data set
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u/DriverPlastic2502 14d ago
boeing whistleblower dies after being murdered by boeing. Weeks after the murder of another whistleblower by boeing.
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u/17racecar71 14d ago edited 14d ago
Seems to be a lot of Boeing operators in this very sub. “It couldn’t be intentional. I’m a doctor, MERSA is real.” We are onto you.
downvotes, of course. If you think that will silence me you are mistaken
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u/angelerulastiel 14d ago
You don’t even know how to spell it, but think you know better.
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u/17racecar71 14d ago
You’re missing the point. Knowing how to spell things isn’t as important as knowing the truth
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u/angelerulastiel 14d ago
But if you don’t have any clue what you’re talking about, as evidenced by not being able to spell it since it’s in the article and is the abbreviation so you don’t know what it stands for, then it’s really hard to claim you know the truth.
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u/defroach84 14d ago
Conspiracy theorists are going to love this.
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u/BigsbyMcgee 13d ago
Honestly I’m not so sure this is even a conspiracy… it’s pretty clear cut tbh
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u/MydnightWN 13d ago
The whistleblower is from 8 years ago, hasn't said anything about Boeing in over 6 years, and died of MRSA.
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u/Lou-Saydus 14d ago
Yes I’m sure it’s totally normal for two whistle blowers to die suddenly.
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u/MydnightWN 13d ago
The second whistleblower is from 8 years ago, hasn't said anything about Boeing in over 6 years, and died of MRSA.
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u/3MATX 14d ago
I think Reddit users have only adopted tin foil hats more over the years. The idea of Boeing killing people is so far fetched. Okay maybe some rouge individuals but even that’s more remote than the moon. Everyone’s well aware of Boeings shortcomings. Even without a handful of witnesses they will face consequences. I fail to see what any one individual could provide that email, phone, and others testimonies can’t.
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u/theboredfemme 14d ago
Coca Cola and united fruit company. There’s a precedent’s with far lower stakes
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u/csonnich 14d ago
The idea of Boeing killing people is so far fetched.
The idea of Boeing planes killing people and falling apart in the sky used to be far fetched, too.
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u/DBeumont 14d ago
Boeing is primarily a weapons manufacturer for the U.S. government. They're highly unlikely to face real consequences, and could easily pull this off.
The idea would be to scare others out of becoming whistleblowers.
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u/thebusiestbee2 14d ago
Why would they need to worry about whistleblowers highly unlikely to face real consequences for their issues? It's precisely because they're highly unlikely to face real consequences that they have no reason or need to pull this off.
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u/Michael074 14d ago
how many more people need to die with no evidence of foul play before you would start to suspect some sort of conspiracy? personally at 2 I am now fairly suspicious.
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u/ValyrianJedi 13d ago
All the whistle blowers will die eventually. People die... This was after the case was over, of an extremely well documented medical issue/illness
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u/SkittlesAreYum 14d ago
Honestly I would need to know the number of whistleblowers, the current legal status of their cases, and the circumstances of their deaths.
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u/FatalTragedy 14d ago
I'd start to get legitimately suspicious at 3. At 4 I'd really start thinking something is going on. At 5 I'd be pretty damn sure something is going on.
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u/ContemplatingPrison 14d ago
A friend for the first one that died said that he told him he would never kill himself. So that is odd. This second ine was healthy as shit according to his mom. Would run every day. Did marathons. Was never sick. Then randomly caught something that killed him in days. It's odd circumstances for sure.
What are the odds that two whistle blowers for the same company die?
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u/caustictoast 14d ago
They aren’t from the same company. This dude didnt work for Boeing. It’s in the article you clearly didn’t read
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u/agnosiabeforecoffee 14d ago
Yeah, my partner's parents swear he wasn't suicidal too. Doesn't make them right, or him any less dead.
It is really common for a person's loved ones to deny they were suicidal after they die by suicide. They don't want to believe their loved one was capable of suicide or that they possibly missed warning signs.
Someone claiming "they would have never killed themselves!" really doesn't mean shit.
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u/ContemplatingPrison 14d ago
Thats not what his friend said. His friend said that he care to him and told him something like "if I show up dead it will not be me who did it"
He was scared he would be killed. You can look it up
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u/Null-Ex3 14d ago
and yet that "friend" never gave a surname and strangely his familly does not claim the same
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u/agnosiabeforecoffee 14d ago
Jennifer said: "I know he did not commit suicide there's no way. He loved life too much, he loved his family too much, he loved his brothers too much to put them through what they're going through right now...I think somebody didn't like what he had to say and wanted to shut him up and didn't want it to come back on anyone so that's why they made it look like a suicide."
This is extremely typical coping that happens after a suicide.
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u/Hakairoku 14d ago
Coming from a suicidal individual, I wouldn't be saying that. What pulled me out was the fact that I was going to say I did.
If the guy said that if he says it wasn't him, it wasn't him. Why the hell are you giving a corporation like Boeing a fucking pass?
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_RADISH 13d ago
Boeing don't deserve a pass for this, he killed himself because of the depression and stress caused by being a whistleblower. Boeing is 100% culpable to that. But the evidence of it being a murder is extremely circumstantial. You're telling me this guy thought he was going to get murdered and instead of telling his wife, family, lawyer, close friends, or the media, he just decided to tell a random acquaintance?
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u/Hakairoku 13d ago
You talk as if you're not running on assumptions yourself. He kills himself a day before his actual hearing, and his own lawyers were the ones that asked for a check if he was still even alive?
Yea, totally suicide due to depression!
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u/repeat4EMPHASIS 13d ago
It wasn't the day before his hearing. He blew the whistle in 2017 and that was already addressed.
This trial was to claim Boeing retaliated by firing him after and he was suing them for lost wages. He already testified in this trial as well so there was 0 new information coming out.
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u/Mmg5561 14d ago
You're missing the point the other user is trying to make. They are trying to say that this dude was in fear of other people coming to kill him. Do you think he killed himself to avoid the fear of being killed by other people? That does not seem likely to me.
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u/agnosiabeforecoffee 14d ago
The only person who has claimed he was in fear is the daughter of a friend of his mother. None of his immediate family has claimed that. His lawyers have hot claimed that. He did not post online claiming that.
The other users point is based on a bad source that has no confirmation.
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u/ContemplatingPrison 14d ago edited 14d ago
I don't know what you're quoting but that's not it.
They stated specifically John said "if anything happens to me, it's not suicide"
It was reported right when it happened. I get it you want it to be what you think. Good luck with that
Could he have still killed himself, yup but that doesn't change the fact that this was reported to have been said by him by his family and friends.
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u/agnosiabeforecoffee 14d ago
I am literally quoting the family friend who claimed he didn't kill himself. The family friend that made that claim was not a man. It was the daughter of one of his mom's friends.
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u/ContemplatingPrison 14d ago edited 14d ago
You just quoted a friend. I get it you quoted one of his friend. Congrats
Jennifer told the WCIV television station that she asked her friend if he was "scared", to which Barnett told her, "No, I ain't scared, but if anything happens to me, it's not suicide."
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u/agnosiabeforecoffee 14d ago
Here is the OG source: https://wpde.com/news/local/if-anything-happens-its-not-suicide-boeing-whistleblowers-prediction-before-death-south-carolina-abc-news-4-2024
Her claim that he said that has not been publicly validated by anyone else. People can claim anything, it doesn't make it true. One person making a claim is not evidence.
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u/ContemplatingPrison 14d ago
Jesus christ. All of that for nothing. Hahaha. No one said it was evidence. I stated it was said by the friend.
You're argument is pointless. I never even said it wasn't suicide.
Then you tried to claim it was a different quote. Take the L and walk away.
You're unbearable.
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u/defroach84 14d ago
People aren't even waiting until an autopsy to be completed to announce he was poisoned. As of now, you have two people who died with no evidence of foul play. If there is evidence, it'll come out. And then you can run with Boeing is murdering people for known issues that are already public.
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u/Tank_7 13d ago
The family wanted a toxicology report done in the hospital and the doctors blew them off.
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u/defroach84 13d ago
Apparently this person was a whistle blower 8 years ago 🤣
Seems like the media really want this conspiracy to be a thing.
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u/peggingenthusiast24 14d ago edited 13d ago
nice try, boeing PR guy
edit - anyone else notice the massive swing in upvotes/downvotes in this thread? boeing bots swooping in ?!
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u/ContemplatingPrison 14d ago edited 14d ago
I mean I dont trust the cops to even investigate the first one. Cops are lazy. They already have a story. Doubt they will truly investigate more. The mother is getting an autopsy for the second one. A private autopsy so yeah we will see.
I know one thing. We won't be hearing about any whistleblowers for boeing. Even if they weren't murdered. You have to imagine people will be scared to come forward
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u/BizzyHaze 14d ago
I'm the most skeptic of people, even subscribe to skeptic magazine, and I still feel that there's something behind this - especially since it's the second whistleblower to die in a short period of time from unusual circumstances
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u/ABetterKamahl1234 13d ago
and I still feel that there's something behind this - especially since it's the second whistleblower to die in a short period of time from unusual circumstances
Well, two things to consider. The first guy died after his testimony, and the testimony was on a second trial, an appeal, of the first court case, so it's way late to kill someone to protect yourself, and it'd be really fucking stupid to kill someone after they already provided testimony, as that's a surefire way to give probable cause arguments and even the shadiest of legal advisors will call you an idiot.
And the second guy isn't even Boeing, it's another company, just happens to be same industry. And died of something that happens at hospitals as they're rife with this problem as it's highly resistant to many things.
And much like the first, any united effort to do this would be legal suicide, and as evil as many corporate types can be, they love money and going to prison and these risks are very anti-money, there's nothing to protect themselves with by killing these people, only larger risks.
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u/cylordcenturion 13d ago
There are real conspiracys out there but they aren't ginormous things like covering up bigfoot or a massive ice wall holding in the flat earth's oceans
It's things like lightbulb companies organising to agree that everyone makes worse lightbulbs so they can all sell more.
Or engaging in crime in order to protect profits.
I can't really say if this is a conspiracy, but it is not outlandish and fits the scope of a real conspiracy.
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u/caustictoast 14d ago
This dude just got sick and died. It happens. Boeing has something like 30 active whistleblowers and this dude doesn’t even work for them, he works for a supplier. Go read the article and not just the headline
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u/OwnVehicle5560 14d ago
I’m willing to buy the first death of gunshot wood as suspicious, but dying of pneumonia in hospital seems like a stretch.
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u/YZJay 14d ago
The first was likely actually suicide, everything that he had on Boeing were already brought up years before, and changes were forced on Boeing after the info was put to light. But his daughter has mentioned that her father was depressed during his whole lawsuit against Boeing due to the company’s treatment of him, so they’re still to blame for his death.
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u/Fallingice2 13d ago
The guy literally made a video saying he is not suicidal. Out of here with that bullshit
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u/repeat4EMPHASIS 13d ago
He literally did not. One random friend of the family claimed he told her while his family did not say anything of the kind. Quit making shit up.
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u/NetDork 14d ago
It's not that much of a stretch. Hospitals are notorious for harboring antibiotic resistant bacteria. But while each can be explained individually, when there's a connecting thread you start seeing patterns.
Not saying there's something to it, but if another one goes soon I might be on that train.
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u/OwnVehicle5560 14d ago
Huh?
You say that hospitals are notorious for having bacteria, then say that there is a connection and suggest foul play?
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u/FondSteam39 14d ago
3 people in a village within a month in reasonable circumstances, unlikely.
Identical 3 people but they all had insider information which could severely fuck over a multi billion dollar corporation? Surely that'd set some alarm bells ringing.
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u/dutchwonder 14d ago
One them had already testified and ceased working for Boeing several years ago.
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u/Gojisoji 12d ago
Sounds like Boeing tying up some lose ends.