People flag when they think a story falls outside the guidelines.

According to the guidelines, this story wouldn't normally be "on-topic", as it doesn't fit the "gratifies one's intellectual curiosity" test; it's just grist for political controversy, which HN specifically seeks to avoid.

Sure, there's currently a lot more politics on HN than normal due to current events in the US, but even still, this story doesn't add enough substance to the debate to warrant being accepted.