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John McAfee Launches Blog, Offers $25K Reward For "Real Killers"
An anonymous reader writes "The IT security pioneer John McAfee has launched a blog to document his life on the lam, as Belize police chase him down for suspicion of killing a neighbor. McAfee is using the blog to state his case, raise suspicions about Belize authorities and to offer a $25K reward to find the real killer or killers. From the article: 'McAfee writes that he is on run with a 20-year-old female named Sam, photos of whom are in the blog, along with a post from her. McAfee says a handful of friends and associates have been rounded up by police over the past week or so. His posts are filled with dramatic descriptions of his actions (including returning to his home in disguise to find police digging up his dead dogs and cutting off their heads) and lay bare his suspicions about Belize authorities. '"
There once was a man from Belize
Who neglected his bribery fees
Accused of a murder
He became a sheepherder
Fighting for refugees!
When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
Hans Reiser?
When you start defending yourself with the same phrases as OJ Simpson, you might be on the wrong side of the law. Looking for the real killer...
That is all.
Programmer named John
Millionaire! Where does he live?
Mud hut with no lawn
Unless a person is being framed, an innocent person has no reason to flee law enforcement because they are suspected of a crime.
All running does is increase the perception that the person is guilty.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
She looks okay to me, kinda cute. As long as someone is at least average in looks, their personality counts for a lot more in the end. There have been women that I don't consider that attractive, that start looking more attractive once I get to know them. Then there have been women who I initially find attractive, that just repulse me once I get to know them.
which is totally what she said
He should defend himself in court.
I'm guessing things look a little different when it's oneself being falsely accused, even without taking into account whatever level of corruption is perceived in the local judiciary.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
The trial would only last 30 days.
You seem quite confident in Belize's court system.
he and his 17 year old girlfriend are being chased around town by the cops for unlicensed drug manufacture, posession of an unlicensed firearm and suspicion of making crystal meth. Hes also wanted for questioning in the death of an american ex-patriot. hes not answering routine police questions and hes rambling on about secret plots to decapitate dead animals and collect his friends. John McAfee is a textbook example of drug-induced psychopathy.
of course, for those of us who doubled-up on our tinfoil this morning, belize isnt known as the most textbook of democratic states
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index
Good people go to bed earlier.
Have you ever been detained pre-trial in a third-world prison?
His blog is www.whoismcafee.com and it's just bizarre. Here's a sample:
For a guy that thinks he's going to be falsely arrested by the Belize's prime minister's police minions, you'd think he'd want to just get out of the country. I can't imagine that it would be all that difficult. Yet, he keeps going back to his residence where he's most likely to arrested (Belize police must be idiots if this is all true) in these ludicrous disguises that just makes this whole story seem like a farce.
If Belize is out for his head, why not just GET THE FUCK OUTTA THERE? Why the hell is this idiot still hanging around?
You would think that $25000 would be enough to grease the palms of the Mexican border guards, or hell just pay some drug runners to smuggle him to the US with their next shipment; if he is really being targeted and persecuted in Belize, the risk seems bearable.
And let this be a lesson for ya, it's all fun and games moving with your millions to a Caribbean tax shelter, until the local [cartel,corrupt police,militias, kidnappers, etc] come for you. Why not just keep your millions stateside, pay your taxes like a good boy, and get old and fat without these kinds of worries? Was there not enough suspense in that option?
Man you talk to a lot of women. You must have a good job because that gets expensive at 2.99 a minute.
You cant be insane after the fact. hehehe.
Rich people are so entertaining. Perhaps if this happened more, where rich on rich crime and lunacy to follow, it would be worth paying more taxes.
That, of course, presumes he's actually being falsely accused.
I honestly haven't seen enough evidence to sway me either way -- and it's not like people haven't gone to elaborate lengths to deny criminal charges.
So far we have the official version, and his version. I don't doubt the possibility of corrupt police and false charges -- but I can't exclude the possibility that he did it as well.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
> It looks like you're about to run out of your meds!
> Renew your prescription now and receive two years of protection for only $99!
I agree. As far as looks go, once a woman meets a certain standard, it doesn't matter how far above your standard she is.
I think it is a delicious irony that McAfee claims he may be the victim of a false-positive identification.
Someone is not up on his current police terminology. "Person of interest" is what used to be called "prime suspect". The reason for the change is that the courts in recent years have held that by pre-labling people "prime suspects" you give the lawyers a chance to show that police had already made up their minds as to who the guilty party was and ignored everyone else.
We were all warned a long time ago that MS products sucked, remember the Magic 8 Ball said, "Outlook not so good"
I'm assuming that the vast majority of commenters are from the US, Canada, and western European countries where the rule of law is well understood and (mostly) enforced in a non-arbitrary manner. That's apt to color your reaction to a story such as this.
While I don't know the facts in this particular case, it is often true in many Central and South American countries (and Caribbean islands) that the rule of law can be enforced arbitrarily, and sometimes in response to the desire to acquire the wealth of an accused person. Presumption of innocence or even actual innocence does not matter in such cases; individuals have been known to disappear for years into Byzantine court systems, or found guilty without what we would consider to be sufficient evidence of guilt. I have a friend whose college roommate has been held as a political prisoner for well over a decade in a South American country; my sisters have both had to "pay tickets" to Mexican police to keep their passports from being impounded. So I don't take flight from authorities as an admission of guilt; if McAfee knows or suspects he's being railroaded, that's probably the wise choice.
For all I know, he may be guilty, but don't take his actions as an admission.
Actually I am a lab rat in an elaborate plot to take over the world.
Former anti-virus mogul... running from corrupt 3rd-world foot-soldiers through the jungle with a girl half his age?
I think Dos-Equis just found their new pitch-man. "I don't always run from corrupt Central-American governments, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis..."
Since when does any of that matter!
People (read: upper management) buy insanely expensive software that sucks every day. A product like McAfee isn't popular because customers like it on the individual level, it's popular because it's sold via buzzwords at the enterprise level.
See also: any IBM software (rapsody, clearcase, clearquest, ..) and SAP
Ironically the guys who put care and effort into their software are the ones struggling, while the folks who put most of their budget into marketting are making a fortune selling junk that barely works.
And let this be a lesson for ya, it's all fun and games moving with your millions to a Caribbean tax shelter, until the local [cartel,corrupt police,militias, kidnappers, etc] come for you. Why not just keep your millions stateside, pay your taxes like a good boy, and get old and fat without these kinds of worries? Was there not enough suspense in that option?
Exactly. This is the exact point of the "You Didn't Build That" speech (and the Elizabeth Warren one which gave rise to it). Try getting your Subway franchise or tanning salon off the ground when there are roving bands of thugs and rebels going up and down the unpaved roads. Once you buy your own security force, one could argue that you're out the same amount of money.
Have you ever been detained pre-trial in a third-world prison?
Well, you kind of have to expect that possibility when you flee first world countries to avoid lawsuits/prison (the reason Mcaffee is in Belize in the first place).
Yeah, but it should be obvious to anyone who travels to or decides to live in a third world country that you just don't fuck with the the management. Look, it sucks, but these people have absolute power, and very little accountability. Third world countries are often corrupt, and the last thing you want to do is paint a target on your forehead. No telling if McAfee is behind it or not, but any way you look at it... he's pissed somebody off.
Or, the other possibility is that he's a crazy old man, and all of this is in his head.
None of the outcomes here are good.
This signature intentionally left blank.
Obviously, it was the one armed man.
This signature intentionally left blank.
I'm guessing that his craziness is going to start ticking off the gang leaders he claims to have recruited. Gangs know how to deal with a rabid dog.
Google for "mcafee removal tool" ?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Have you ever been in a turkish prison?
Have you ever seen a grown man naked?
The worst part about Argentina is, it could easily be changed, except the people like it that way. Kirchner stays in power because she has the support of the [majority of the] people in what she does.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
clap clap clap clap clap clap
If the alternatives were clearly a choice between paying for a huge welfare state and living in a community of thugs out to take whatever is lying around, then you, Elizabeth Warren and President Obama would be correct.
The problem is, civilization does not necessarily lead to corruption without the influences of a huge welfare state. And in the US there is clear evidence that the presence of the police, fire and other protective services aren't part of the welfare state - we have had them long before we had the idea of a welfare state.
There is also clear evidence that you can pick two people off the street and pretty easily identify the "entrepreneur" - someone that will be successful in building a new business and pretty easily identify the other sort that would prefer to live off your contributions. If this were not the case and such things were completely dependent on the government then the "You didn't build that" folks might have a point. The facts are more like if you do not have the ambition, focus and energy you aren't going to build anything no matter what. If you do, then mostly all the government can do is stand in the way - there were plenty of people building businesses in the 1700s when there was very little government in the way and no organized police.
It all comes down to the individual. You might like the "it takes a village" concept better, but it has little to no basis in reality. Reality is that you have it or you don't, and if you don't no amount of government "help" is going to make the difference.
This here's a story about John McAffe and Sam
Two mismatched lovers with nothin' better to do
Than sit around the house, live off John's savings, and watch the tube
And here is what happened when they decided to cut loose
They headed down to, ooh, old Belize
That's where they ran into a great big hassle
John shot a man while robbing his castle
Sam took the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run...
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Only if there's no crack involved.
Proud member of the Ferengi Socialist Party.
See also: any IBM software (rapsody, clearcase, clearquest, ..) and SAP
How you can list terrible IBM software and NOT mention Lotus Notes is, frankly, shocking.
It sounded well rehearsed
Four days on the run and he was dying of thirst
The brew was in my hand and he was on my tip
His voice was hoarse, his throat was dry, he asked me for a sip
"My name is McAfee, I got a license to kill
I think you know what time it is, it's time to get ill
Now what do we have here? An outlaw and his beer?
I run this land, you understand? I made myself clear"
Nonsense there's one option that works 100% of the time. Turn off your computer, unplug it from the wall, remove the hard drive, and smash it with a hammer and you're guaranteed 100% effective protection against computer viruses. Note, if you ever put in a new hard drive and plug the computer in/turn it on you will void your coverage.
I said all the options suck, not that there isn't an option that works.
Do you like gladiator movies?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Yup, Libertarian paradises tend to be like that.
No sig for the moment.
But if you do burn, it proves that you are made of wood. And if you're made of wood, it proves that you float. And if you float you weigh as much as a duck... therefore... logically...
Let's stop with the "I built it with my own two hands" BS. That only works if you are Robinson Caruso. If you start a business today, or even back in the 1700s you still have to work with a basic infrastructure that you did not build yourself.
Yes, let us take the roads, bridges, and basic services out of the equation. You boiled it down to a Us and Them moment where Us is the "I'm an entrepreneur" and the Them are those that just leach off the fruits of your labor.
There is also clear evidence that you can pick two people off the street and pretty easily identify the "entrepreneur" - someone that will be successful in building a new business and pretty easily identify the other sort that would prefer to live off your contributions
So fine, until you want to expand and hire another worker. Now that worker is not an entrepreneur, nor a leach, but one who contributes to the owner. The moment he/she hires then in reality, they did not build it themselves anymore,they hired someone else too to the work. Almost like the entrepreneur is leaching off the hard work of others. So now we have three players, the entrepreneur, the worker/laborer, and the leach. With a 93+% employment rate in the US, it would seem that those who leach, as a group, are pretty small. Those that entrepreneur are also pretty small, thus the largest group out there in business is the worker/laborer.
It takes some major cajones to stand up and say that the only contributors to a society are just the entrepreneurs, to say that they are the only group of value. Without that pretty large labor pool, they would build squat.
Life is a great ride, the vehicle doesn't matter
It takes the guy who hung the power lines for your business to get electricity. It takes the guy who paved the roads for you, your products and your customers to move on. It takes the guys who defend the borders and those who guard your business at night. It takes actual employees unless your brave new business is a one-man miracle. It takes customers and it takes suppliers. And it takes someone to take the trash out.
You might like the "I need nobody" concept better, but it has no basis whatsoever in reality. Reality is that you either live in a village or redefine success as "I found tasty worms and outran the bear today".
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
"He is a very eccentric person; there is no question. He is a very complex person. In fact, in one instance in August, I had heard a rumor that he had in fact killed somebody, and I asked him about that. And he says, “That he actively encouraged the rumors about him.” And I said, “Why would you do that?” He said, “Because I wanted people to be scared of me.” He said, “Remember I am living here, in a place where I feel very threatened. Where I think people are trying to harm me, and I want them to be afraid of me, and if they think that I am capable of some brutality, then all the better” So clearly he is living a life that most people would never choose, never even dream of. And yet, I asked him, point blank, “Why don’t you leave? If you think people are trying to kill you, why don’t you leave?” He says, “I love it here! What do you mean?” That’s why I said he is complex; it is very hard to figure him out."
There are some other interviews with or stories by Josh Davis who has interviewed him for over 100 hours over 6 months.
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/14/165160275/anti-virus-software-pioneer-on-the-run-in-belize
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/11/threatlevel_1112_mcafee/
McAfee sounds crazy and paranoid, but that doesn't mean that people aren't out to get him.
"Just enough government, and no more."
The problem is that's the motto of the anarchists, libertarians, capitalists, fascists, socialists and communists. The only distinction is on the definition of "enough".
Learn to love Alaska
They raided his home in the belief he was making Meth while he lied to them and told them he was doing pharmaceutical research.
The only thing wrong with their assessment was that it was worse than meth. He got all butthurt and mad and tried to paint the Belize authorities as bumbling idiots and corrupt when they were actually right all along - that McAfee is a fucking tweeker and drug manufacturer, which he admitted himself on a drug forum.
He is a crazy old man who was making Substance D in his own basement and is now as batshit from it as Bob Arctor.
--
BMO
yeah, class warfare.
And you berate the losing side for starting to notice and complain after 40 years.
Stay classy, job creator.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
That might be a good reason to live in a decent country instead of fleeing to some hell hole to cook drugs and nail jailbait.
I don't want to pre-judge this. But it is hard not to think of Hans Reiser.
You might wonder why someone with so much money would live so far from town down such a difficult road. Rounding a sandy curve it quickly became obvious: the staggering beauty of the Belize Barrier Reef coast.
McAfee's view is worth a fortune. An endless stretch of blue sky overhangs an ocean of pastel greens and blues framed by coconut palms. Next to a long wooden dock with chairs at its end sits a fast-looking boat with twin outboards.
The day before, I met "Tiffany" here. She claimed to be one of McAfee's girlfriends, one of seven. They all live together, sharing McAfee's houses and fantasies. He's 67. Tiffany says she's 23 and they have been lovers for three years. The girl beside her gives no name and only says she's 19.
Tiffany says she's not seen or heard from McAfee in nearly a week -- not since the neighbor, Greg Faull, was discovered dead and McAfee went into hiding.
Now a day later the 23-year-old had vanished too.
Half a dozen dogs lie sorry-looking or listless in the yard -- thin, hungry and thirsty. They're lucky to be alive.
Dogs just might be the key to this mystery.
Officials say their barking and aggressive behavior was a frequent source of friction between McAfee and Faull, a 52-year-old contractor who retired to Belize from Florida and lived next door.
On November 9, McAfee told police someone poisoned four of his dogs. Tiffany said to put them out of their misery he shot each one in the head and buried them.
Then two days later someone shot Faull in the head in his own living room. A 9mm shell was found on the second step on the first floor, and Faull was found dead on the second floor.
And McAfee had vanished.
This almost daily "catch me if you can" game is wearing thin on investigators. The longer it all goes on, the more suspicious police become.
So five days ago they dug up his dogs. I found the partially exposed graves next to a trash pit in the back behind his priceless ocean view. The flies led me there. I asked a caretaker if he was here when the police came for them. "Yes" he said, then added another tick up the strange-o-meter by revealing, "They cut off their heads."
Since only the heads had bullets, the investigators put the rest of the remains back in the holes, then hurriedly and poorly recovered them.
A source close to the investigation said authorities probably want to see if the slugs in the dogs match the one in Faull.
A bizarre visit to John McAfee's pleasure palace in Belize
Hello,
I am a former employee of Dr. John McAfee here, and would like to see if I can clear up some of the misperceptions about him that have arisen in this thread.
John took a leave of absence from McAfee Associates in 1993 for health reasons, which became permanent in 1994, and he divested himself of interest in the company as quickly as he could (i.e., subject to stock lockouts and the like). At the time he left, McAfee Associates had DOS, Novell, OS/2 and Windows 3.1 products. He certainly had nothing to do with the design or development of McAfee Associates' products after that. As a matter of fact, if it just says "McAfee" on it (sans "Associates"), it's pretty much a given that he was not involved with it.
I first met John when I was in high school, and started working for him after I graduated. One of the first things he did after employing me was read me the riot act regarding drugs and alcohol. At the time, he had been sober for just under a decade (eight or nine years, I think), but prior to that told me about how he had abused all sorts of substances, and as a result he had never done a single thing in his life that was worthwhile before quitting. I took John's advice to heart and have avoided these all my life.
While John was running McAfee Associates, we had a strict no alcohol/no drugs policy, and there was no drinking allowed at the company, at company events or even just going out for a meal. Showing up drunk, stoned or otherwise impaired would be a great way to get yourself fired.
In Belize, John started up several business ventures, one of which was looking at bacterial quorum sensing as an antibiotic. That fell through, and he changed focus to topical antiseptic compounds. He had reporters coming through all the time, as well as people, I believe, from the national hospital and university, so it should have been readily apparent to those who were knowledgeable in such matters that he was doing bio-pharmaceutical prospecting and not running a meth lab.
That said, it is particularly understandable how law enforcement would feel about a rich expat coming to their company and setting up a research lab. It probably looked like a cleaner, better-equipped version of the drug labs they were used to raiding. If the police had talked to the health officials, they could probably have arranged for regular inspections.
John has had continuous run-in's with politicians in Belize over the years, which you can read about over in his blog or elsewhere in the news. Without getting into the details of how Belize operates, it is apparent he believes that country's politicians are corrupt and is fearful for his life as a consequence. Just looking at the responses from the police and politicians there, it seems they are doing little to allay his fears. Calling him names is not going to help, nor is not addressing his claims of corruption or claims that they are holding his former employees hostage.
A lot of the conversations I have seen revolve around calling John McAfee crazy, paranoid, bonkers and so forth. But consider this: Each time he says something outlandish about where he his hiding, how he is monitoring things, et cetera, he causes law enforcement to expend efforts to find him. In a sense, it is kind of a war of attrition against them. In that context, this is not crazy at all, but rather very sensible and practical behavior in light of current circumstances.
Anyhow, I hope that puts things into context about the man behind the name.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
Dexter is a good dog.