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[–] 193 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Yes, it was a suicide, because his testimony wasn't part of anything related to whistleblowing, he was appealing a loss of the wrongful termination lawsuit against Boeing.

The idiots who never bothered to learn more than the man's name think "big company killed whistleblower" are showing just how little they understand things.

To recap, all the evidence from his whistleblowing was submitted to authorities 7 years ago. He had no bombshells to drop, no story that hadn't been told, just a lawsuit over how Boeing retaliated against him for Whistleblowing 7 years ago, forcing him to "retire".

A few days before he killed himself, he was on the stand in front of the appeals judges, and from all accounts, they did not seem like they were going to overturn his loss. He was then called back for another round of testimony, but was already dead by then.

Can you imagine a 7-year legal battle over being fired for having integrity? The stress this man must have felt?

Boeing killed John Barnett, but they didn't pull the trigger, he did. Don't cheapen that with lies about some sort of conspiracy. Just know that Boeing is one of dozens of companies who have worked for decades to weaken labor protections.

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  • [–] 58 points 2 years ago (2 children)
  • [+] 24 points 2 years ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)
  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    Well, you don't understand the legal system at all.

    You cannot submit new evidence in appeal, and again, the appeal was of the lawsuit for the Wrongful Termination. The whistleblowing was a separate item handled 7 years ago.

    John Barnett had not worked for Boeing for 7 years, that's why that's the only part of this timeline that mattered. He turned over the evidence that he had, and literally could not collect more, because he was forced into retirement.

    There's a chance he might have been called on for testimony by someone investigating the current and ongoing issues, but he had already submitted extensive sworn testimony on the subject, so there would be little need.

    But that wrongful termination lawsuit, that was personal to him, and he was losing the final appeal. Hell, the reporting at the time of his death even said that he "retired" rather than being forced out of the company. That alone should tell you something.

    But no, you want to spin an outlandish conspiracy theory based on a complete misunderstanding of the law and this man's life, all to say that Boeing, an admittedly evil company, is evil in a more personal way instead of the nebulous greed based evil that infects every corporation. The truth is, the company and its executives don't fucking care.

    They're shielded from liability and have gotten their payouts, they ruin lives, and their greed has resulted in deaths as planes fall from the sky, but they admit no wrong doing and pay a small fine out of the employee pension fund. That's the true conspiracy. Not some made up contract killing of a man who was no threat at all, because all of his evidence was submitted to authorities 7 years ago.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    You're absolutely right. I can't imagine the stress and depression they might have felt just by seeing how the system was completely against them. Labor protection laws in the US really need to change.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago*

    Also ruining someone's life in endless lawsuits against a company behind a squad of lawyers and walls of papers in a legal system in favor of power, is another form of killing someone.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The idiots who never bothered to learn more than the man's name think "big company killed whistleblower" are showing just how little they understand things

    And you have supernatural powers to understand all things? Don't act like you've got it all figured out, big guy.

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  • [–] 66 points 2 years ago

    How totally unexpected.

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  • [–] 60 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    I wonder what kind of yacht the police investigators are going to buy with the donations from the representative of the Boeing Corporation.

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  • [–] 25 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    Yacht? They're getting themselves an Apache. You can't recklessly gun down minorities suspects with a yacht.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    They probably don't actually get much. Fascists kind of instinctively back eachother up.

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  • [–] 55 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    "What about this note that says, 'If I die, it wasn't suicide'?"

    "That's still technically a suicide note."

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  • [–] 46 points 2 years ago

    Same as most other whistleblowers are die because of suicide, accident or a sudden and strange illness, by system.

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  • [–] 42 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I read the article and I have one outstanding question. Is this the same guy who stated he is not suicidal days before?

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  • [+] -15 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    People contemplating suicide tend to do that. They put on a false front, saying that they're okay when they really aren't.

    Couple that with a bad session in front of the appeal judges... and yeah. You can see why he did it.

    A 7-year legal battle to overturn his loss of the lawsuit against Boeing for their retaliation over his whistleblowing... And it was looking like the final appeal, his final chance, was slipping away.

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  • [–] 40 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    So its either presured into suicide by lawsuit from Boeing or murdered and made to look like suicide. Either way its fucked up.

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  • [–] 31 points 2 years ago

    Let me guess, he shot himself in the back 6 times?

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  • [–] 30 points 2 years ago

    Just like those people who shoot themselves in the back of cop cars with their hands cuffed behind them.

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  • [–] 20 points 2 years ago

    in other news, Charelston PD announces their new MH-139A helicopter

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  • [–] 19 points 2 years ago
    [–] 18 points 2 years ago
    [–] 18 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    “Open and shut case Johnson. Sprinkle some crack on him and let’s get out of here.”

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (1 child)
  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    How do you upload gifs in lemmy comments? 😮 mine got converted in a pic

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago*

    If yours got converted, then the server you're using, doesn't support drag and drop gifs.
    Instead of drag and drop, upload the gif to some other server, that allows such stuff and use that link in the ![alt_text_here](image-url) format as given by @Riccosuave@lemmy.world.

    For instance, the above comment has its GIF stored on tenor.com, which is less probably the default provider (for when you drag and drop) given by lemmy.world

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The bullet that killed him matched the gun in his hand, like okay that’s fair. But they use that as the justification for suicide. Like, of course if you want someone to look like they killed themselves you would use a gun and place it in their hand. Didn’t we learn about this kind of basic subterfuge in our teenage years watching TV/Movies.

    Whistleblowers risk their entire reputations and careers in the pursuit of doing the right thing and stopping corporations from committing crimes. Isn’t that the opposite of wanting to kill yourself? Courage in the face of tremendous opposition??

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago
    [–] 8 points 2 years ago

    move along folks, nothing to see here

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago

    well thats weird

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago*

    Well I certainly hope all those pigs don't do the same thing, but they always have a high tolerance for shame

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