Then you need to ban me again, because I have no idea how I violated the guidelines any more than the OP submission did. My comment was a digression along relevant, imperative and inoffensive lines that were introduced by the source. I am not the only person raising this point, I am not inviting extremist interpretations, and I'm not misrepresenting the consequences presented in the article. For years, Hacker News has tolerated pugilist insults being hurled at the EU with the sole purpose of starting ideological flamewars. Now that someone steps up to accuse America of a double-standard, it's offensive and insensitive? I really don't get it. What culture are you even trying to foster, at this point? Certainly not one that gratifies an audience's curiosity.

If you want to threaten people with the guidelines, then they have to be interpretable. The current "politics is bad except when it's not" rationale is not going to age with grace - it's going to create a series of unsustainable and conflicting precedents that only get worse as America's political landscape further deteriorates. Take a stance on it and stand your ground, people will not listen if your guidelines "maybe" enforce something or provide "probably" off-topic criteria.