Standing Up Against Tyranny

Another act of courage from LA County Supervisor Hahn and more hypocrisy from the Orange Felon

After months of the Orange Felon ramping up drug war rhetoric and dispatching the U.S. fleet to blow up a few boats suspected of drug running, he  then pardons former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández who was sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in a drug trafficking operation that moved hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States. He was released from prison following a pardon from the one president who himself should be imprisoned, which gives us a curious definition of “Giving Tuesday.”

Hernández was released from the United States Penitentiary, Hazelton, in West Virginia, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons told the Associated Press. The bureau’s online inmate records also reflected his release. The hypocrisy is so blatant, even a blind man could see this!

At almost the same time, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors took a first vote to approve Supervisors Janice Hahn and Lindsey P. Horvath’s authored ordinance to prohibit law enforcement agents, including those from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, from wearing masks or concealing their identities when conducting law enforcement duties in unincorporated LA County. This follows a state law prohibiting the same thing, but  like many other laws, the current regime will just ignore it and then sue over it.

Kudos go to Hahn and Horvath for standing up for the thousands, millions that are not being heard or are terrified by the terror tactics of ICE. As Hahn put it in a press release, “This is how authoritarian secret police behave — not legitimate law enforcement in a democracy. ICE agents are violating our residents’ rights every day they are on our streets. These agents hide their faces. They refuse to wear badges. They pull people into unmarked vans at gunpoint and wonder why people resist arrest.” 

This is exactly what the No Kings and anti- ICE raid protests are about and our local government has gotten the message here in Los Angeles. “We are declaring in no uncertain terms that in LA County, police do not hide their faces.  That is our expectation, and this ordinance will now make it our law,” Hahn announced on Dec. 2.

If approved the ordinance will:

1. Prohibit all law enforcement, including local, state, and federal, from wearing masks or personal disguises while interacting with the public in the course of their duties in unincorporated LA County; and
2. Require that all law enforcement, including local, state and federal, wear visible identification and agency affiliation while interacting with the public in the course of their duties in unincorporated LA County

Read the full text of the ordinance here: https://tinyurl.com/mask-prohibition

The question I have been asking law enforcement leaders and patrol officers is, “What would you do if you witnessed federal agents actually breaking the law?” And local police are compromised when it comes to a conflict with federal agencies because there is this thing called “supremacy” that gives higher authority to feds over local police. In short, they differ judgement to the feds and I’m sure none of them have ever foreseen that they might be called on to enforce a law against armed federal agents, until now.

“For months, federal officers have taken actions that erode the trust of our communities—so much so that Los Angeles County is now under a declared state of emergency,” said Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath. “Today, we are taking a necessary step toward restoring transparency. Los Angeles County is ending anonymous policing in our neighborhoods. If you carry the power of a badge here, you must be visible, accountable, and identifiable to the people you serve.” 

This could very much lead to a showdown between the two levels of policing that might not end well for either side. However, the elected reps are courageously standing up for what is a constitutional right against “anonymous policing.” These ICE raids have all the symbolism of a tyrannical government and are not even being used for the purpose promised by the Orange Felon, “To take the criminal element out of the country.” 

Nearly 65,135 people as of Nov. 16, 2025 have been detained. A significant portion of them have no criminal convictions and were taken without legal arrest warrants. And let’s talk about the American citizens who have been arrested because they are brown. Who will be next you might ask?

I’m reminded of this 1946 post-war confessional prose piece by the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller:

 First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist 

Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist 

Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew 

Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me.

 We all as Americans cannot tolerate or stand by as the rights of some are abused while we watch and we all know that an injury to one is an injury to all.