CALIFORNIA – With the recent passage of California’s law prohibiting law enforcement, including federal officers and agents, from wearing face coverings while in the course of their duties, it compels reasonable minds to wonder why the inverse of such legislation wasn’t proposed or passed.
As in, why hasn’t California brought forth legislation banning face coverings for protesters and rioters?
As previously reported here at Law Enforcement Today, death threats against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have exploded in recent months in the wake of sweeping immigration enforcement operations across the country. Considering agents and their families are enduring increased threats and potential doxing from anti-ICE radicals, federal authorities have opted to use face coverings to mitigate these sorts of threats.
So, what do California Democrats decide to do when faced with this reality? Well, they decide to fast track legislation over the summer banning law enforcement from adorning face coverings, with Governor Gavin Newsom gloating about how the bill will put an end to masked federal agents “hidden from accountability, any transparency, any oversight.”
But Newsom isn’t talking about “accountability” in the sense of formal discipline if an ICE agent runs afoul of policy or federal law in the course of their duties. Newsom is a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them; he doesn’t honestly believe that a federal agency can’t identify a malefactor from within because their face was covered during an operation.
Even when the general public doesn’t know the identity of a potential bad apple within a federal or state/local law enforcement agency, one could bet their bottom dollar that officials within the agency knows their identity – and Newsom knows this, too. When Newsom is talking about “accountability,” he’s giving a tacit endorsement of vigilante justice against these agents and their families.
Bear in mind, what federal authorities have been doing insofar as immigration enforcement operations isn’t illegal. Apprehending individuals for immigration-related offenses, as well as arresting citizens who commit brazen felonies like battery on an officer or agent in the presence of a federal law enforcement, is perfectly legal and comes with the job ICE is tasked with.
But Newsom sees this federal enforcement and proceeds to sound the dog whistle that attracts the ears of California’s most radical activists, signing this ban on face coverings for law enforcement that was literally called the “No Secret Police Act,” which the Secret Police nod is a callback to none other than Nazi Germany’s Gestapo who were called the same thing.
In short, you have ICE agents carrying out their duties and facing death threats from anti-ICE radicals, so they adopt face coverings in response. Newsom sees this and approves legislation banning law enforcement from wearing these face coverings and calls for “accountability.” Then Newsom further activates the radicals wanting to harm and kill ICE agents and their families by calling ICE agents Nazis via the adoption of said legislation calling them “Secret Police.”
But the icing on the cake is this: Newsom, nor any California Democrat for that matter, have proposed any recent legislation banning protesters and rioters from face coverings. Again, Newsom is a lot of things, but he isn’t stupid – there’s a reason why he moved so quick to use legislation to unmask federal law enforcement engaged in lawful activities but hasn’t even addressed masked violent rioters with similar legislative measures.
It's not as though attempts to unmask radicals engaged in violent protests via legislation is unheard of, as there’s a rich history of anti-mask laws within the United States that were largely in response to groups like the KKK. Newsom ostensibly knows of this history as well, but when it comes to groups like Antifa and similar radicals of a lateral agenda, he has no interest in unmasking them.
While the enforcement mechanisms of California’s law are currently being contested in federal court and will likely be found to be unenforceable due to the Supremacy Clause and standing federal law, it’s the intent behind the law that matters. Newsom is flagrantly calling ICE agents the Secret Police with his unmasking law on the books, in turn activating his own Secret Police of sorts with anti-ICE radicals who face zero repercussion for showing up to violent protests and riots with their faces covered.
Newsom wants to embolden his most radical and violent base, greasing the proverbial wheels of a destructive form of accelerationism while leaving law enforcement demoralized and at risk for targeted acts of violence against them and their families.
As in, why hasn’t California brought forth legislation banning face coverings for protesters and rioters?
As previously reported here at Law Enforcement Today, death threats against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have exploded in recent months in the wake of sweeping immigration enforcement operations across the country. Considering agents and their families are enduring increased threats and potential doxing from anti-ICE radicals, federal authorities have opted to use face coverings to mitigate these sorts of threats.
So, what do California Democrats decide to do when faced with this reality? Well, they decide to fast track legislation over the summer banning law enforcement from adorning face coverings, with Governor Gavin Newsom gloating about how the bill will put an end to masked federal agents “hidden from accountability, any transparency, any oversight.”
But Newsom isn’t talking about “accountability” in the sense of formal discipline if an ICE agent runs afoul of policy or federal law in the course of their duties. Newsom is a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them; he doesn’t honestly believe that a federal agency can’t identify a malefactor from within because their face was covered during an operation.
Even when the general public doesn’t know the identity of a potential bad apple within a federal or state/local law enforcement agency, one could bet their bottom dollar that officials within the agency knows their identity – and Newsom knows this, too. When Newsom is talking about “accountability,” he’s giving a tacit endorsement of vigilante justice against these agents and their families.
Bear in mind, what federal authorities have been doing insofar as immigration enforcement operations isn’t illegal. Apprehending individuals for immigration-related offenses, as well as arresting citizens who commit brazen felonies like battery on an officer or agent in the presence of a federal law enforcement, is perfectly legal and comes with the job ICE is tasked with.
But Newsom sees this federal enforcement and proceeds to sound the dog whistle that attracts the ears of California’s most radical activists, signing this ban on face coverings for law enforcement that was literally called the “No Secret Police Act,” which the Secret Police nod is a callback to none other than Nazi Germany’s Gestapo who were called the same thing.
In short, you have ICE agents carrying out their duties and facing death threats from anti-ICE radicals, so they adopt face coverings in response. Newsom sees this and approves legislation banning law enforcement from wearing these face coverings and calls for “accountability.” Then Newsom further activates the radicals wanting to harm and kill ICE agents and their families by calling ICE agents Nazis via the adoption of said legislation calling them “Secret Police.”
But the icing on the cake is this: Newsom, nor any California Democrat for that matter, have proposed any recent legislation banning protesters and rioters from face coverings. Again, Newsom is a lot of things, but he isn’t stupid – there’s a reason why he moved so quick to use legislation to unmask federal law enforcement engaged in lawful activities but hasn’t even addressed masked violent rioters with similar legislative measures.
It's not as though attempts to unmask radicals engaged in violent protests via legislation is unheard of, as there’s a rich history of anti-mask laws within the United States that were largely in response to groups like the KKK. Newsom ostensibly knows of this history as well, but when it comes to groups like Antifa and similar radicals of a lateral agenda, he has no interest in unmasking them.
While the enforcement mechanisms of California’s law are currently being contested in federal court and will likely be found to be unenforceable due to the Supremacy Clause and standing federal law, it’s the intent behind the law that matters. Newsom is flagrantly calling ICE agents the Secret Police with his unmasking law on the books, in turn activating his own Secret Police of sorts with anti-ICE radicals who face zero repercussion for showing up to violent protests and riots with their faces covered.
Newsom wants to embolden his most radical and violent base, greasing the proverbial wheels of a destructive form of accelerationism while leaving law enforcement demoralized and at risk for targeted acts of violence against them and their families.
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