We sometimes turn off user flags in exceptional cases but this doesn't seem like one to me.
Does the number of comments on a post get taken into account along with votes and flags? It seems to me that if a story is polarising people who disagree with it will be much more liberal with their down vote whereas people who may agree with it are taking the time to read and comment instead of immediately voting.
Edit: @dang on the off chance you read his, is it worthwhile upvoting an article once it's dead? Or is the flag permanent?(I figure it's pissing against the wind, but I'd like to know either way).
They'd rather flag and stifle discussion than let people know that her actions didn't rise to the level of criminal charges. It is sad. It's also exactly what I've come to expect. People scream about the liberal media, and yet here we are watching a pro-liberal (in theory... i guess... maybe just not anti-liberal) story get censored as fast as they get posted.