[rndmize]

Articles like this (semi-political stuff) tends to get flagged and thus, disappears from the front page at speed. When I clicked the link to read the article, it was around #6 with 20-something points after 2 hours; when I refreshed HN ten minutes later, it had gained ten points but fallen all the way to the second page (~30 odd places).

I'd say there's a not unreasonable chance that the article was flagged because a reader didn't like the history it puts forth.