His Name Was Seth Rich
I can't believe that I'm writing a politically related post. This is something I pay attention to and care about, so I'm going to do it!
1st Year Memorial
July 10th, 2017 marks the one year anniversary that Seth Rich died. Most people don't know that name, but I guarantee you he'll be a name known in American political history for quite some time. Even though he did not hold an elected office, he had a great influence on the course of the 2016 presidential election.
Just a Bit of Seth
I, of course, did not know Seth Rich. In fact I only know of his personal life what I have read. I know much more of his political influence. Seth was a high level data analyst for the Democratic party and a Bernie Sanders supporter during the 2016 election. He was angered by the methods used by his own party to guarantee the nomination of Hillary Clinton instead of Bernie Sanders for the Presidential ballot. In response, he leaked massive amounts of data from the Democratic National Convention to the international organization Wikileaks to expose the tactics of the party, whose leadership he was quite frustrated and disenfranchised with.
My Perspective
In my opinion, I do not believe Seth's intent was to strengthen the opposing party, nor was it spite against his own party. From what I have seen and read about Seth, he believed in Democratic ideals and wanted to save the party from the rampant corruption that had consumed the head leadership. As more and more evidence has emerged about what happened during the 2016 election, it is becoming increasingly clear that the DNC's head leadership played every advantage, both above and below the table to get specifically Hillary Clinton elected as President of the United States as the heir apparent to the Obama administration (despite the fact that she had a pathetic showing as Secretary of State during part of his tenure, but that's another topic).
I believe Seth Rich wanted to save his own party from the corruption that was engulfing it. The clear favorite from the Democratic voter base in both polling and interviews was Sanders. He pushed the progressive/socialistic ideals that would free young people from college debt and expand social programs that so many people depend on. Clinton looked to be the "more of the same" candidate, perpetuating the somewhat muddled programs that Obama had shaped for the previous two presidential terms. This was not a step forward and for a party that speaks out against rich people dominating the American political landscape, they certainly were being dominated and controlled by billionaires and millionaires that made the right connections to their preferred candidates and were sticking it to the common Democratic participant. I don't think you can get much farther from the core ideals of the party than that.
Combine that with tested campaign phrases like "It's her turn" and "I'm with her" and it appears that the DNC's position was more about legacy and personality than principle. Quickly sidelining Sander's aggressively progressive stances on national issues showcased a political environment devoid of principles and full of ego.
But this is my opinion. I did not know Seth personally and I cannot affirm for certain what caused him to copy massive amounts of communication and analytical data from the DNC servers and then send them to the one organization known in the world to put those documents on display for the whole world to see. I can imagine just how much like treason that act appeared to the insiders that had to deal with the fallout for that very significant political leak.
Propaganda Version
None of this, of course sounds familiar if you are not already familiar with the case. The leak I am referring to was publicly attributed to Russian hackers and a now-obviously-pseudo-persona-DNC-insider Guccifer 2.0. Closer examination has proven increasingly that both the alleged Russian hacking (in regards to this specific leak only, not any hacking of any kind done to any government or politically related servers in 2016) and the Guccifer 2.0 story do not match the dates, releases, and the facts (i.e. the leaked files were copied, not hacked). Even Julian Assange, the leader of Wikileaks, has all but declared that Seth was significant in the leaked information his organization acquired during the election.
But for months, now even a year, any narrative or conspiracy theory except Seth Rich leaking DNC information to Wikileaks to expose their internal corruption issues has been tossed around, played with, and practically shoved as an alternative to their being significant strife within the DNC. All of these stories fall apart at the seams, though. Even casual investigations and arguments against the propaganda shred these false narratives one by one like a dreadful game of whack-a-mole. But why?
Final Night
I won't fill in much of the details, there are much better journalistic treatises on this topic, particularly on 4chan and Reddit's famous THE_DONALD channel. I'll just give a short version.
Seth died on a walk home from a bar on July 10th, 2016. He was shot in a mugging in which nothing was taken from him. He was transported to a Washington D.C. hospital, still alive. His wounds were not life threatening according to witnesses. The ICU unit he was placed in (whose head doctor is directly tied to DNC leadership) was mysteriously cleared of medical staff and he was soon after found dead. His laptop was removed from his home by the FBI. The D.C. police refused to pursue his death as anything more than a robbery gone wrong. After a quick vigil, his beloved political party declared the matter closed stating that there was nothing of interest to be seen in his death.
Everything that has been revealed from that moment forward has been at the expense of his family, and people that have been enamored by the mystery of how a senior data analyst for one of America's most important political parties would die under such strange circumstances near one of the most significant political leaks of our time in the middle of an election year. The fact that this leaked data would go on to play such an important role in the remaining election just adds to the mystery.
Justice Needs To Be Served
Many people that have looked at the information regarding this case, both in known facts, hearsay, or conspiracy theories have agreed that Seth's murder (not a mugging) has much more than meets the eye. The only thing that is clear is that his death was significant. There is simply no reason to consider a man that died under suspicious circumstances with that deep of a connection to a major political party in the most significant presidential races of recent times at the heart of the most effective political leaks in American history is a matter to take lightly or to simply gloss over. In fact, the blatant disregard of the people he once served is one of the most irritating parts of this story. I would hope that the people he served and the party he tried to save from corruption (back to my opinion here) would have the decency to honor his death and uncover what really happened.