To u/WeAreThePlan OP: This is an excellent post to get the conversation started on what role each of the major players we know of so far (emphasis there!) seem to be playing. This of course, is subject to change.

So far, the MSM has alternately shown CEO Brian Johnson in both a good and bad light; the same goes for the suspected assassin. They have indicated that UNH was under an investigation for insider trading by DOJ and that Johnson was set to testify, but of course that doesnt make him the epicenter of corruption and importantly, I think, no one has spoken to the actual level of cooperation he had with DOJ so far, nor how cooperative he was expected to be in future testimony.

He may have decided to capitulate totally and give all the info he knew to DOJ, whether that would prevent him from serving time or maybe if had a change of heart and wanted to come clean. Such things are known to happen to people when they are faced an opportunity to tell the truth and find vindication.

In that case, the hit would not have been based on addressing any past grievances with CEO Johnson concerning the actions of his company and their treatment of consumers, on either an individual basis or writ large. The purpose of the "deletion" would've been to keep him from "spilling the beans" as it were, either on his own personal actions or those taking place within his company, or even bringing to light people and events outside his company or the healthcare industry in general. Its a wide net we have to cast at this stage.

With respect to the suspected shooter, the legacy media has also adopted a polarized viewpoint. They've proferred a lot of noise about the potential level of sophistication of the hit; with good faith and the current information we possess, I respectfully dismiss all such discussion as naught but hot air, a red herring designed to distract from more critical issues at hand.

They have at least FEIGNED sympathetic tones when it comes to the motive of addressing personal grievances, if indeed that were the penultimate reasons behind the assassination. With Americans of all political stripes coming forward to offer their own stories about UNH; denial of claims, deferral of coverage expected, delays in remuneration from the provider, etc. there is a palpable lack of sympathy that must be addressed. However, the hard line is drawn at taking a life to mediate that unsympathetic treatment by an insurer, which the media has also been clear to draw hard lines at.

Yes yes, all very droll I hear you say and you'll find no disagreement from me. However the most recent set of events in our timeline is where all this bland rhetoric seems to become important, largely because the tightly wound story the media has spun so far has been unraveled significantly by the capture of Luigi and subsequent investigations into his online imprint and personal character.

There WAS a limited hangout with pretty tight borders regarding this story. That spot has been blown, as they say, and desperately the MSM will be trying to develop a new one in the coming days.

Chiefly what's at play here is the almost laughable scenario given to us as the events leading to the capture of Luigi Mangione. For those of us who were already dubious of a "lone gunman" scenario being trotted out to account for everything, the suspect's capture represented a conclusion to a setup we saw coming in some of the details at the initial scene. NYPD was reporting candy wrappers, a water bottle and a cell phone left at the scene.

I regarded that with suspicion and contempt, as a simple viewing of the footage would cement the idea that this shooter was far too careful to have ignored details like this during his planning and execution. Now the latest news of his capture at a random PA McDonald's, and the murder weapon as well as a manifesto discovered right on his person, has become too much to bear.

The range of Mr. Mangione from genius level intellect to acting like a schmuck is too bipolar for any logical person to accept. It is as he stated an insult to the intelligence of the American people. Couple that with a YouTube event seeming to indicate he had foreknowledge of his own capture and the true roles of the characters and their motivations both are strewn about wildly on the chessboard.

In my experience, its generally safe to go the opposite direction of the mainstream media and look for clues there. If you find any at all you're most likely on the right track to solving the equation.

Thus it will be interesting to see if they release that manifesto at all or even if samples can be garnered by the small cadre of investigatory journalists still working today. I say this because Mr. Mangione is a youth with an online profile that has since been wiped; and at his level of intellect there is little doubt he will have an inimitable style of writing, even frequently used vocabulary that will mark his communication style. We have pieces of a commencement speech already; doubtless that our Internet sleuths can easily spot a mismatch if given access to the manifesto.

At this stage my inclination is to put stock in the scenario where Luigi Mangione is a functional patsy: if he DID carry out the act himself he was blackmailed into doing so. If he was chosen merely to be caught and blamed for the murder than there are other factors at play. I am speculating now that Luigi Mangione was a potential whistleblower on insider trading activities he had knowledge of and sought to bring light to.

By claiming his piece in declaring him the party responsible for the murder and pinning the direct evidence squarely on him, the [DS] fits a pattern it has been famous for since the incident involving Oswald and Jack Ruby. They succeed in silencing multiple voices willing to speak truth, who were also direct witnesses to the criminality and who it was linked to up the chain. They ALSO do a good job of muddying the waters, creating unclear motives for the assassin and the victim alike.

If we see them endeavoring to fully or heavily redact evidence the prosecution obtains to point to his guilt, while obfuscating anything with exsculpory potential for the defense, we should know the answer.

Can we see another image of the assassin sans mask, line it up next to Luigi? High definition preferably? Let's get a publicly available download to some of that cell phone data. Any texts to or from a member of the Pelosi family on there? Any 'government contractors' in contact?

Thanks for allowing me to give this treatment and share my thoughts on what has happened so far, OP.