Kash Patel's Personalized Bourbon Stash
44 points
2 hours ago
| 8 comments
| theatlantic.com
| HN
throwworhtthrow
1 hour ago
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Context:

The FBI Director Is MIA - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47813001 (18 days ago)

F.B.I. Director Sues The Atlantic Over Article Claiming Excessive Drinking - https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/us/politics/kash-patel-at... (15 days ago)

FBI investigating leaks to journalist who wrote explosive article on Kash Patel - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48037332 (8 hours ago)

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arjie
51 minutes ago
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Isn't this just a strange form of Challenge Coin[0]? I always found those odd and this seems odd in the same vein as opposed to a new kind of odd. It being alcohol is perhaps mildly interesting.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge_coin

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tclancy
4 minutes ago
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Oh he has those too. According to the article, his are comically oversized, even for the genre. Because of course they are. The poor dude just screams I WANT TO BELONG in a way the other children find repellent. Other than bullies who know the value of a useful fool. Weird.
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travelalberta
43 minutes ago
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I think Tim Dillon said it best when he stated: “Kash Patel was hired to explicitly NOT run the FBI”
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3eb7988a1663
1 hour ago
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Can someone explain Patel's defamation lawsuit? I have no reason to doubt the Atlantic story about his drinking. If he sues and publicly loses, that is significantly more humiliating than quietly letting the story be forgotten.
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bdangubic
1 hour ago
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Suing is highly publicized thing, the "he dropped the lawsuit" or "lawsuit was dismissed" will be Friday news dump not covered by anything or anyone (especially now when one party control most if not all media - including "social" media)
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jandrese
1 hour ago
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Exactly right. The right wing media will be all over the lawsuit and the X crowd will take the opportunity to dunk on the "liebral media" and how this proves that journalists can't be trusted because they make stuff up like Kash Patel's drinking.

They will be silent months later when the lawsuit is quietly dropped. The only thing the readers will remember is how the evil liberals got what was coming to them. These are the people who still think the Muller report "totally exonerated" the Trump administration.

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throw0101a
1 hour ago
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> The right wing media will be all over the lawsuit and the X crowd will take the opportunity to dunk on the "liebral media" and how this proves that journalists can't be trusted because they make stuff up like Kash Patel's drinking.

After The Atlantic published their story on the military group chats and were attacked by the Administration their subscription numbers purportedly went up:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_government_group...

"There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." — Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

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bdangubic
36 minutes ago
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Comparing a drunk FBI Director frivolous lawsuit to military group chat leak is all sorts of crazy. No one's subscription numbers are going up for reporting about should-be-in-AA-meetings-and-not-running-FBI DEI hire (or even worse the eventual drop/dismissal of this case).
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fragmede
34 minutes ago
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You misspelled DUI hire.
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bdangubic
31 minutes ago
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He, just like about every single person working in this Administration, is a textbook definition of DEI hire (someone holding a job many other people are more qualified for :) ).
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tekla
1 hour ago
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Intimidation.
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3eb7988a1663
1 hour ago
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The calculus still fails for me. If this was a podunk Youtuber, sure, intimidate away. The Atlantic has been in the press business for a long time, and is not going to publish a piece against a vindictive administration without being confident in the reporting. They are prepared to defend themselves against a baseless suit.
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tekla
1 hour ago
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Well the Government has effectively infinite resources, versus some media outlet.

You also forget that the point is to signal to the base/allies that you are fighting. The fact that the lawsuit didn't immediately get tossed out is a signal that your claims might have merit (even though thats not really how it works)

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throw0101a
1 hour ago
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> Well the Government has effectively infinite resources, versus some media outlet.

The Atlantic is (co-?)owned by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerson_Collective

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atlantic#Ownership_and_edi...

I would guess they have some resources too.

> The fact that the lawsuit didn't immediately get tossed out is a signal that your claims might have merit (even though thats not really how it works)

The Atlantic may have not filed a motion to dismiss so they could go to discovery to dig up more info on how the FBI is being run.

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gowld
1 hour ago
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Kayfabe for the base and the ignorant middle.
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jcgrillo
1 hour ago
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There's nothing wrong with Woodford but... idk if I was going to have a bottle engraved with my name maybe find something more interesting? Strange behavior though...
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malbs
50 minutes ago
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I love that Sarah Fitzpatrick has absolutely doubled down on this, gets sued, drops another article, "come at me bro"
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ugh123
58 minutes ago
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Guy is a fucking joke
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themafia
1 hour ago
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> he believes that many agents would worry that if the director offers you a bottle, and “you aren’t on board on receiving it enthusiastically, you are getting polygraphed for loyalty.”

You work at a place that can polygraph you for loyalty? And you're defending anything about this?

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tclancy
1 hour ago
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A. it shows you what deep thinkers the whole place is regardless of the person in charge right now (who is incredibly odious)

B. Of course _you_ would say that.

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