The "What happened in your state last week?" Megathread, Week 35 - Politics

The "What happened in your state last week?" Megathread, Week 35
Updates to Our Rule Against Harm
Fact check: Conservative tweeters falsely claim Biden didn't show up at Dover to honor troops' remains
Don’t Negotiate With Trump’s Disease-Spreading Zombie Army
Laurence Tribe: If Garland doesn't prosecute Trump, the rule of law is "out the window"
Biden Deserves Credit, Not Blame, for Afghanistan
Biden's child tax credit kept 3 million children out of poverty in just its first round of payments
America’s Military Is Too Big for America’s Good
January 6 committee to ask telecommunications companies to preserve phone records of members of Congress who participated in 'Stop the Steal' rally
The Left Frets That Kyrsten Sinema Is Now Just Trolling Them
New polls suggest broad support for Democrats' voting rights bills
Mississippi Passes NY’s COVID Death Rate; Reeves Says MS 'Less Scared'
The tax overhaul Democrats are pushing that could raise enough money for 2 $1,400 stimulus checks
Be Glad Donald Trump Isn’t Running the Show in Afghanistan
58 Years After Historic Rally, Thousands March on Washington for Voting Rights, DC Statehood
Rep. Jim Jordan Suddenly Remembers At Least One Other Call With Trump On Jan. 6: Report
US intercepts five rockets targeting Kabul airport
The MAGA Movement’s a Bigger Threat to America Than the Taliban
Trumpists live in an alternate reality — but they believe in it, and that's terrifying
Why Aren’t Democrats Talking About the Worst Possible Outcome of the California Recall?
Yes, Let’s Mandate Vaccines for Eligible School Children, Fauci Says |Requiring shots for deadly diseases is “nothing new”—and it will save lives.
Partisan Republican vote ‘audits’ are making elections less safe, officials say
Who Votes for People Who Do This Much Damage?
Survey: Most Americans Support Defending Taiwan if China Invades
Biden has canceled over $9 billion in student loan debt
How the Critical Race Theory Scare-Mongering Failed in Virginia
Mother refuses to get COVID shot, so judge strips her of visitation rights

The "What happened in your state last week?" Megathread, Week 35

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 09:59 AM PDT

Welcome to the 'What happened in your state last week' thread, where you can post any local political news stories that you find important in the comments. This is a weekly thread posted every Monday, in order to facilitate more discussion on local issues on /r/politics. Since this is intended to be a thread about local politics, top-level comments that are exclusively about national issues will not be allowed. When commenting, please include the state you're living in, and don't forget to link sources. Also, please actually describe what happened. Things like "I live in X, you know what happened", "Nothing happened" or "[Politician] continues to be an idiot" isn't helpful to users and will be removed.

If someone from your state made a news round-up that you think is insufficient, feel free to comment to that round-up with further news stories. Enjoy discussion, and review our civility guidelines before engaging with others.

Hi there, /r/politics. Because this thread is about local politics, I'd like to reiterate that news about President Biden or any other national political figure is off topic in this thread and will be removed. Thank you, and have a good week.

submitted by /u/optimalg
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Updates to Our Rule Against Harm

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 10:19 AM PDT

We have recently updated our rule against harm which we believe will help users better understand how we have enforced this rule.

First, we have updated the normal text of the rule to read:

Do not suggest or support harm

Any comment that threatens, advocates, celebrates, suggests, wishes, hopes, dreams, expresses extreme indifference towards, otherwise supports in any way or could result in harm of any kind, violence, or death is prohibited.

This better embodies how we have enforced this rule, which is a zero-tolerance approach to any comments that could be construed as advocating, wishing, or expressing extreme indifference to death or serious harm. We understand that some subreddits have more lax standards when it comes to this, but particularly in light of the political violence in recent years, we believe our approach is necessary to prevent fostering the environment in discussion of politics that can give rise to acts of violence in real life. Politics is a messy and controversial subject, but that does not mean it is acceptable to cheer on harm against people you disagree with.

Second, we have added text that describes our stance on comments that fall under the broad umbrella of downplaying COVID, COVID misinformation, or promoting vaccine hesitancy:

This includes any comment or opinion post that has the effect of discouraging people from taking the COVID vaccine or playing their part in necessary public health measures such as wearing masks or social distancing, including those promoting misinformation, mocking people following those measures, promoting dangerous alternate remedies, or downplaying the effectiveness of those measures.

COVID is serious, and it is real. It has killed over 600,000 Americans, and hundreds continue to be hospitalized across the nation on a daily basis. Many of those infected have long-lasting complications, including children. Democratic and Republican leaders alike, including both Presidents Biden and Trump and Senate leaders Schumer and McConnell, have also encouraged Americans to take the COVID vaccine. Comments that mock or downplay necessary public health measures to limit the infection, that promote dangerous alternate remedies, or that promote vaccine skepticism have a clear, negative effect on public health, which can directly harm other people.

We have specifically chosen to include this language as part of our harm rule to limit its scope. Misinformation is a tricky subject, and we often receive many reports of misinformation over political opinions or facts, but moderators are not fact checkers; deciding on an official set of facts or viewpoints absent some kind of harm to a group undermines the purpose of discussion. With COVID misinformation, however, many of the comments that downplay the severity of the disease or promote vaccine skepticism are outright dangerous if believed.

We would like to note that this change is not motivated by any of the recent discussions across the site regarding other subreddits that promote COVID misinformation. The moderator team has been discussing these changes for weeks, and any timing is entirely coincidental. We do not, and have no plans to, take a position on the letter that has circulated regarding these subreddits.