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Comment by iamtheworstdev | Hacker News Reader

> The following question is "what will they do with the names of the people they pull?".

I'll take a shot at the answer -> Charge them with treason. Because that's the country we live in now, and most of us are just sitting by passively watching it happen.

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There’s a good fraction of people, especially on this forum, who are actively encouraging this. Posts that criticize the administration consistently get flagged off the front page even when they’re related to tech

You are severely misreading why people flag posts about that discuss the administration (whether for or against): they are tiresome to read about, and it doesn't lead to productive interesting discussion (which is supposed to be what the vote buttons are for here). Politics isn't 100% off topic for HN but mostly I come here to get away from it and I'm sure others do too.

This is just conjecture

Some people do that, yes.

Others do what the parent post described.

HN is certainly not a monolith, and we've got our share of loons on all extremes of the political spectrum.

Yeah, because "AI is so great guys!!" is any better.

Maybe we'll be able to flag more than 1 type of post someday :/

I find the political discussions on here interesting and generally of decent+ caliber. Plus so much of what’s happening is tech related / enabled.

There’s 30 posts on the front page. If someone doesn’t care about politics why can’t they just ignore that 1 post instead of flagging it into oblivion?

I agree that it is slightly better than Reddit but often it just turns into a mess that doesn't touch on tech.

They are plenty of places for political discussions. HN is a rare great place for tech so personally I'd rather keep it that way.

I agree that HN tends to have better discussion, but I'd argue it tends to have better discussion precisely because it's not the norm, so there's input from the type of people that loathe the current state of Reddit on the matter, and also the type of people that do like yapping about it 24/7 are absent from it.

Is this thread not about the administration? The FBI currently acts at the will of the White House / GOP / Trump. Stick your head in the sand all you want, but don't betray the people who are standing up against oppression.

> they are tiresome to read about, and it doesn't lead to productive interesting discussion (which is supposed to be what the vote buttons are for here). Politics isn't 100% off topic for HN but mostly I come here to get away from it and I'm sure others do too.

I don't agree. Crypto scams get discussed at length here for days, but when it's a Trump crypto scam, it gets flagged and disappears.

> Politics isn't 100% off topic for HN but mostly I come here to get away from it and I'm sure others do too.

I sympathize, relate, and I'm not about to lecture you like some corners of the internet about "the privilege" to try and ignore stuff like this, but it is important to keep stuff like this at the forefront. We continue to experience unprecedented life events.

On the contrary, there's no need whatsoever to even deal with this since it already happens everywhere else, it's not some niche, subtle matter, it's probably the most talked about subject in the last decade.

That doesn't really resonate with me because you could make that argument about anything, _especially since_ most of the items that are posted here are links to other websites. There's no need to talk about it here - you could just talk about it at the relevant site(s) comment section.

No. I'm not saying "There's is some other place", I'm saying "This is everywhere already", and for that reason there is no need for it to be explicitly here. There is by no means whatsoever any shortage of places in which those discussions could take place.

The argument is that it should be everywhere, and I staunchly disagree.

> The argument is that it should be everywhere, and I staunchly disagree.

The argument is that it should be here, and that is a very reasonable stance. There is no shortage of places where anything can be discussed; that's not the point. "Here", there is a certain expectation around how to comment which makes this place a more interesting discussion forum, no matter the topic. That some topics bring out the worst in some people is not a good reason to make the topic verboten, but instead a reason to be more critical of the commentary under those topics.

> Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.

That doesn't say "no divisive topics" for a reason. The topics are not what make this place interesting, but instead the rules of engagement are.

By that logic we shouldn't talk about AI or video games either.

There are many topics discussed on HN that I find tiresome to read about. For example, diet and fitness topics. You could swap the comments from one article to another and not even notice.

That's why I stopped reading them.

It's never once occurred to me that I should rather open them up, dive into the comments section, and tell the participants that I'm trying to get away from boring discussions about diet and fitness.

There is also a conflict of interest for many in the tech space who browse this forum. Many of the technologies we work on are being abused by this administration.

IE Flock being a ycombinator startup, Ring cameras giving free access to police and others[1], AI systems being used for targeting dissent, ad-services and the data they vacuum up being bought by agencies to build up profiles for dissenting citizens[2]. We've watched this type of technology even be used to target the families of people in warzones to explicitly perform war crimes[3].

This is a forum of people who have effectively built the panopticon but don't enjoy hearing about how the panopticon is being used. Politics is now interwoven into our careers whether we like it or not. There is no pure technology, everything we work on effects the world for better or worse. Pulling the wool over our eyes to pretend there's a pure non-political form of talking about these topics is childish and naive.

[1] https://www.cnet.com/home/security/amazons-ring-cameras-push... [2] https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/26/tech/the-nsa-buys-americans-i... [3] https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/09/10/questions-and-answers-is...

> There is also a conflict of interest for many in the tech space who browse this forum. Many of the technologies we work on are being abused by this administration.

Possibly true. Just irrelevant.

I already have far too much exposure to Trump, and I'm not even American. I'd like it not to come up here. You may disagree, and that's fine, but the original question was - why are stories about him flagged. I maintain that the answer, for many people if not nearly all, is simple: ugh, not again.

The "hide" button is right next to the "flag" button.

> Politics isn't 100% off topic for HN but mostly I come here to get away from it and I'm sure others do too.

Whilst I sympathise, it's a bit hard to avoid politics on here, when the tech oligarchs of Silicon Valley are actively supporting a corrupt administration to line their own pockets.

A statement of fact that will no doubt earn the ire of many tech-bro's.

I understand the instinct to remove "politics" from HN but it's fuzzier than that. There were great HN-related conversations to be had around DOGE and what it was (purportedly) trying to achieve with automation, AI, replacing old code bases etc. There was a fascinating discussion about COBOL and what DOGE didn't understand and it immediately got flagged off the front page. Same thing recently with Grok and non-consensual adult content. Folks on HN are well placed to speak knowledgeably about it yet it is instantly voted off the front page.

Difficult not to see it as folks plugging their fingers in their ears. And there are folks on here that are flagging things because they paint the administration in a bad light. There are DOGE folks here, there are Palantir folks, etc. etc., I don't think you can dismiss those motivations even if they aren't true for you personally. I think the core problem is that flagging system is too powerful and too anonymous.

The no politics rule on HN is the equivalent of "the suspect smelled like marijuana so I had probable cause to search his car." -- it gives the moderators a plausible reason to remove content they don't want on here while maintaining an air of legitimacy around the removable because thems the rules.

Donald Trump has threatened to annex my country. Are posts about that political? Sure doesn't seem like it to me. From my persective this subject seems more like an existential threat then a discussion about policy. But I suppose to Americans it is just a matter of policy and politcs.

The incessent posts about Bay Area housing regulations -- political or not? Seems pretty political to me but apparently it isn't?

Sorry, your country potentially being annexed just doesn't spark curious discussion. We've seen this with the other 5 countries that were annexed: just a lot of tiresome complaints and people flagging each other in the comments.

When I'm hiding in my basement from the Patriot Press Gangs, I want to read about the difference between TCP Reno and TCP Tahoe, not about some boring politics.

If you want to talk about a country being annexed, you can go to literally any other website. That's not true if you want to talk about TCP.

> There were great HN-related conversations to be had around DOGE and what it was (purportedly) trying to achieve

Were there? I just saw people blindly advocating and excusing their incompetence. The discussions were very polarized, not well thought out or supported with evidence, and not remotely productive. At least from what I saw.

> There were great HN-related conversations to be had around DOGE and what it was (purportedly) trying to achieve with automation, AI, replacing old code bases etc

I have a very different impression of those discussions, with more or less half of the comments being flagged and downvoted into oblivion, and the overall mood being very heavy in negativity and hostility.

I would like to see great HN-related conversations. Maybe if they disabled donwvotes and flagging, and did some heavy handed moderation against negativity and hostility. A great conversation depend on a safe environment where people feel free to express their genuine views and opinions.

Flagging off news about current events (whether you support the regime or not) is counterproductive to a forum nominally for the startup community. Startup founders need to be aware of the environment they are operating in, so if the current environment is a corrupt fascist authoritarian one then you need to be prepared to operate in that type of business environment. If you now need to bribe certain officials in the regime in order for your startup to succeed, for example, flagging posts about how that's necessary is counterproductive.

First, there's no way you could even know that.

Second, that justification doesn't make sense because you could just not read the post. There's even a feature to hide it for yourself.

Third, that's not what flagging is for. Per the HN guidelines, posts should be flagged if they're spam or off topic, not if you personally find them tiresome.

It's flagged because its historically not Hacker News. Many of the newer accounts seem to bias towards using this forum as a "reddit" to discuss how much they hate the current administration or their mental issues. The technical "hacker" content is getting less and less -- thank God for https://lobste.rs/. So that's all fine and maybe hackers should just change be a reddit forum, but don't take it personally or be surprised if 15 old accounts are flagging your posts. I say this noting that the account you posted from is only 9 months old.

Sadly politics in the US has reached the point where it is impossible to separate, particularly if you're involved in any kind of business.

Wow, thanks for this! I normally don't login to HN and comment anymore due to all the reddit-style comments - especially the constant hate for the US and the President. Thanks for giving me another outlet to review tech-related stuff.

Hating the current administration is one of the top technical issues on my mind. There is a substantial chance that all US-EU software collaboration is going to get blown up in the next few months if Trump makes good on his threats to invade Greenland, just as international trade has been reoriented around his illegal tariffs and responses to them.

When Trump decides to destroy your life, as he's destroyed so many others, I hope you'll find supporters who aren't so determined to ignore the inconvenience as you.

We historically haven't had an administration like this either. People need to get over politics creeping into their every day life because that's what it's actually doing. We're at the point where the government is using tech to police and surveil the public and many of the CEOs of tech companies are openly coordinating with the President. Tech is politics at this point.

Sadly, a lot of people in Silicon Valley now subscribe to this "dark enlightenment" nonsense.

I fear the answer, but what the fuck is "dark enlightenment" ?

It's pretty shocking how many people on HN are ok with government officials killing citizens in the streets, but writing diversity statements is just too far.

Well it really depends on what was leaked.

Or they'll have ICE take them and they'll be deported or made to disappear. Some might even end up dying.

That's how the US is right now.

That only works if they aren't U.S citizens... Which if they're working for the gov means they are. This administration is creative they will find other more 'legal' ways for retribution so the punishment sticks.

What difference does it make whether they are US citizens or not?

At least DHS is not interested in finding out. And there has been plenty US citizens deported under DHS.

https://www.congress.gov/119/meeting/house/118180/documents/...

https://www.propublica.org/article/immigration-dhs-american-...

> And there has been plenty US citizens deported under DHS.

Are you sure? Do you mind linking to information / reporting about that? I have not seen any.

How about starting on the wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths,_detentions_and_deporta...

Then you can read the congressional report:

https://www.congress.gov/119/meeting/house/118180/documents/...

At this point this is not an accident it's an intentional policy to spread fear and suppress dissent

Sure, since you haven't heard of Wikipedia, or internet in general.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths,_detentions_and_deporta...

Thanks. It (US citizens deported) hadn’t crossed my radar before, so it is helpful to have this reference.

My pleasure.

It's easy to not see anything if you willingly close your eyes

Or what Upton Sinclair said.

> That only works if they aren't U.S citizens

Ice has already summarily executed two US citizens. one literally on camera and broadcasted to the world.

I think you're talking about Renee Good - who is the other person?

His name was Keith Porter. [1]

Relatedly, here's a fuller list of recent shootings by immigration agents. [2]

1. https://www.foxla.com/news/ice-shooting-keith-porter-northri...

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shootings_by_U.S._immi...

I'm not quite sure why this is being voted down.

But as an outsider, its really not normal for agents of the state to detain people without legal basis. much less deliberatly make sure they can't be found. (citizen or not.)

You as a US citizen are not required to carry ID, so being arrested on the spot for not having proof of citizenship is grossly authoritarian.

Not to mention shooting someone in the street.

ICE is now close to being Trump's private police, funded by tax payer's money and beyond accountability.

Close? That's been the case since ICE started rocking face masks and getting deployed only to "blue" cities.

It seems our down-voters disagree.

Quite an interesting phenomena though, how affiliations color some unarguable facts. Many clearly believe that ICE agents are doing the right thing, they got what they voted for.

Don't be so gullible.

There are quite a few examples where they did detain US citizens, even claiming that the papers they had weren't good enough.

The president has also multiple times said that he will strip people of citizenship. Yes, it's not exactly legal but they're doing illegal shit all the time and nobody's stopping them.

There are many documented cases of them detaining natural born US citizens for close to a month.

ICE just summarily executed a US citizen in the street with the full support of the administration.

Nonsense. You are seriously mistaken if you think mere legality will stop them.

This regime has already illegally stopped, assaulted, arested, jailed, and/or deported multiple US citizens. They now stop people and demand they show citizenship papers, and the AsstDirFBI has said people must carry proof of citizenship at all times, and if not, ICE are free to abuse you under the presumption you are an illegal.

We are already under a "May I see your papers, please?" Nazi-like system.

Except without the superficial politeness of the "May..." and "...Please" and seeing the face of your accusers who hide behind masks.

oh how naive you are... do you not watch the news / go outside?

This would only be true if ICE cared to obey the law, which they do not. They are not observing even the most basic facsimile of due process or probable cause. Protesting them is being treated as grounds for brutalization or arrest. They are actively flaunting their contempt for the Constitution while "conservatives" cheer from the sidelines.

Instead of calling them "conservatives" we should be calling them reactionaries. They want to erase the progress of the 20th century.

Practically, what is stopping them from black-bagging and deporting citizens? Congress? The courts?

That's just it. In theory Congress watches the watchers.

But half of Congress sucks Trump's cock and the other half is literally denied the right to do their job.

Nah, ICE is snatching and robbing US citizens too, even when they have ID on them. My (US citizen) friend got taken last month and driven hundreds of miles to another state simply for speaking spanish in public.

This clearly struck a nerve. What I was trying to say is I doubt they will use ICE for retribution here... My bet is they will use the FBI and simply arrest the sources. I'm aware ICE has detained U.S citizens and also killed citizens on the street.

They also lie to local police. There was a case here where they drove erratically to try and make it look like a legal observer rammed their vehicle. They hit him twice, called the local police, lied to the police and then said observer provided his dash cam footage and was released. Will ICE face any repercussions? Nope.

Link?

https://lataco.com/oxnard-dash-cam-ice-crash

Don't be ridiculous. Charging someone can be fraught. They will simply and quietly disappear.

But I would think they'd like to publicly make an example of them. So, disappear most, publicly flog the rest.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/us/prosecutors-doj-resign...

If you've got a way for us to not just passively sit by and watch it happen, well, we'd all love to see the plan.

Denaturalize and deport?

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/24/nx-s1-5649729/trump-administr...

Ironic that the orange man is telling Iranians to risk their lives.

His policy is very consistent and clear. He does not care about the form of government, how they treat the population etc, only that they show deference to him (personally).

Charging with a crime is so last decade. Nowadays they just shoot people they don't like.

That's always the country we've lived in.

If these people were caught, they'd always have been punished. What they did is extremely illegal. The issue is with the manner of obtaining evidence, not with the crimes being pursued.

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