FBI raids Washington Post reporter's home • Hacker News Board

Re: FBI raids Washington Post reporter's home

#121

Post by collinmcnulty » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:11 PM UTC

chasd00 wrote: post #78

CodingJeebus wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is absolutely not normal as the article clearly states. Reporters are very rarely raided in the US under circumstances like these. The problem is that "classified materials" means whatever the government wants it to mean in this context. Is there a journalist you want to target for a particular reason? Just accuse them of handling classified information, which they don't ever have to produce to the public be…

Here’s a less sensational article. The journalist is not even a target of the investigation, the target is a contractor leaking documents. “ Natanson was told that she is not a target of the investigation, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. Instead, it appears to be related to an ongoing probe of a government contractor in Maryland.” https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/14/media/fbi-hannah-natanson-was...

Please don’t be so naive as to think that this administration is above creating a pretext for raiding the home of their real target while claiming it’s about something else. It’s the same thing (minus the raid, plus an indictment) they’re doing to Jerome Powell.

Re: FBI raids Washington Post reporter's home

#122

Post by JumpCrisscross » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:12 PM UTC

shermantanktop wrote: post #69

6stringmerc wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So how does the cycle work? I’m not being sarcastic I actually find this a relevant and on-point summation. I happen to be very interested in the systemic consequences and results in Western history as much as is applicable in present USA. I’m glad to be a bystander and not participant, that’s for sure.

One final resolution is the guillotine, dangling upside down on a meat hook, or a bunker fire. Those are extreme but we have to wonder what will stop a specific leader from pushing so far that they meet such a fate. This personality type does not stop unless they have to.

> One final resolution is the guillotine

Did you miss the lesson from the actual guillotine? It’s just another escalation in the cycle. The parties switch from raiding to guillotining each other. The guillotine doesn’t solve the problem, it just raises the stakes.

Re: FBI raids Washington Post reporter's home

#123

Post by megabless123 » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:12 PM UTC

Evidlo wrote: post #91

cultofmetatron wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

[flagged]

Not in practice

Re: FBI raids Washington Post reporter's home

#124

Post by HNisCIS » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:12 PM UTC

everdrive wrote: post #68

edot wrote: post #2

"Natanson said her work had led to 1,169 new sources, “all current or former federal employees who decided to trust me with their stories”. She said she learned information “people inside government agencies weren’t supposed to tell me”, saying that the intensity of the work nearly “broke” her." Wow. So they're going to plug her phone in to whatever cracking tech they have and pull down the names of everyone who has…

It's important to note, that the law is not written such that it's only illegal to share classified information when you have a good president. I think a lot of us are very sympathetic when classified information is released to the public due to public interest, concern regarding government action, etc. But it's still illegal. I'm not making a moral claim here. Rather, people who release classified information withou…

I understand what you're saying, but we as a society need to have some sort of baseline above the law and order view of the world. I know a lot of people are either too stupid or too tied up in the propaganda machine but we DEEPLY need to agree on some sort of universal ethical standards as a country or we will die.

We used to have at least vague concepts like that but the admin has eroded that in the pursuit of "anything goes" political maneuvering.

Re: FBI raids Washington Post reporter's home

#125

Post by expedition32 » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:12 PM UTC

iamtheworstdev wrote: post #20

edot wrote: post #2

"Natanson said her work had led to 1,169 new sources, “all current or former federal employees who decided to trust me with their stories”. She said she learned information “people inside government agencies weren’t supposed to tell me”, saying that the intensity of the work nearly “broke” her." Wow. So they're going to plug her phone in to whatever cracking tech they have and pull down the names of everyone who has…

> 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.

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

Re: FBI raids Washington Post reporter's home

#126

Post by lawn » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:12 PM UTC

INTPenis wrote: post #103

imzadi wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were over 1000 protests over the weekend. The one I went to in Surprise, AZ had almost 1000 people, in a fairly conservative area with mostly older, white demographics. I think the tide is turning.

Serious question from a clueless european here, who should they vote for? To us on the outside, getting filtered news that trickles down, it just seems like there are no candidates. One is 79 and one is 83, where are all the young politicians? Why does the media choose to only emphasize a few of them at the time?

Yes, the system sucks and there should be more and better candidates.

But when one side represents fascism and the other doesn't the choice is still easy.

Re: FBI raids Washington Post reporter's home

#127

Post by soupfordummies » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:13 PM UTC

INTPenis wrote: post #103

imzadi wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were over 1000 protests over the weekend. The one I went to in Surprise, AZ had almost 1000 people, in a fairly conservative area with mostly older, white demographics. I think the tide is turning.

Serious question from a clueless european here, who should they vote for? To us on the outside, getting filtered news that trickles down, it just seems like there are no candidates. One is 79 and one is 83, where are all the young politicians? Why does the media choose to only emphasize a few of them at the time?

The 83 year old wasn’t the candidate.

Re: FBI raids Washington Post reporter's home

#128

Post by HNisCIS » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:13 PM UTC

mingus88 wrote: post #81

everdrive wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's important to note, that the law is not written such that it's only illegal to share classified information when you have a good president. I think a lot of us are very sympathetic when classified information is released to the public due to public interest, concern regarding government action, etc. But it's still illegal. I'm not making a moral claim here. Rather, people who release classified information withou…

Soap box > ballot box > jury box > ammo box We are on step 3

I fear over the past week we've hit 3.99

Re: FBI raids Washington Post reporter's home

#129

Post by giancarlostoro » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:13 PM UTC

snowwrestler wrote: post #88

To clarify why it’s aggressive: federal employees have a legal duty to secure classified information, but everyone else does not. Reporters are not federal employees and it’s not illegal for them to have or discuss classified materials. Most of what Snowden leaked was classified, and remains classified to this day , but you and I can read about it on Wikipedia. The government pursued Snowden because he was legally ob…

That's nothing, there was the time the FBI raided James O'Keefe's house to find Ashley Biden's diary. I feel weird writing any of that out, because its sounds batshit, but they did that. Some people may not like James for any given number of reasons (NPR did a hit peace saying he doesn't qualify for journalism protections - which to me is a matter of opinion not necessarily fact), but since when do federal agents raid peoples homes for diaries? Were there nuclear launch codes in there or something? I would imagine there's way more important things they could have been doing at the time.

Re: FBI raids Washington Post reporter's home

#130

Post by SpicyLemonZest » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:13 PM UTC

INTPenis wrote: post #103

imzadi wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were over 1000 protests over the weekend. The one I went to in Surprise, AZ had almost 1000 people, in a fairly conservative area with mostly older, white demographics. I think the tide is turning.

Serious question from a clueless european here, who should they vote for? To us on the outside, getting filtered news that trickles down, it just seems like there are no candidates. One is 79 and one is 83, where are all the young politicians? Why does the media choose to only emphasize a few of them at the time?

US elections happen in two stages, a "primary" where each party decides their candidate and then the "general" where the final winner is decided. It sounds like you may only be getting news about general elections (and may have missed the news where the 83 year old ended up getting swapped out).