I posted a comment on here and then deleted it when I considered the topic.
From the guidelines: Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities.... If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic.
There are plenty of places online to discuss politics and current events and HN is intended to be something else.
> There are plenty of places online to discuss politics and current events
Where? I keep seeing this claim but I don't think it's accurate. Not trying to be snarky, but you might find that all of those places you would suggest are distinctly different from HN in a way that leaves HN frequenters wanting HN. (Though, maybe not; I am genuinely curious for any suggestions.)
> HN is intended to be something else
I don't really disagree but I also firmly believe that if the political situation in the US magically reverted back to ca. 2010, people wouldn't be posting an article reporting about another video that surfaced showing how a woman was extra-judicially executed by an ICE agent; it would be something like Obamacare Bad and it would get flagged because it's way more obviously partisan.
The only reason this is considered "political" at all is that a certain politically partisan tribe in the US is trying desperately to paint the events as anything other than the factual statement that "a woman was extra-judicially executed by an ICE agent".
It's only the second item you list which is the problem. Political stories inevitably get discussed when they are significant enough, they don't even get taken down from the frontpage. No, the problem is the grifter crowd abusing the flag function for things they simply don't like.
