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Apparently, safety is now a political statement

February 4, 2026

Erik Gorham

By ERIK GORHAM

According to the Tribune, the real danger downtown last week was not a large public gathering, traffic congestion, or heightened emotions around a controversial issue. It was an internal San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Office memo reminding employees to be aware of their surroundings.

The memo, described as “inflammatory,” opens with an inconvenient fact: “Currently, we are not aware of any specific threats.” That is a strange way to stoke fear. One almost expects the next line to read, “This message will self-destruct in five seconds.”

What follows is a checklist so dull it could double as an human resources onboarding handout. Avoid crowded areas when possible. Travel in pairs after work. Stay alert. Report suspicious activity. This is the same advice issued before parades, concerts, street festivals, and any downtown event where people gather in noticeable numbers.

Yet here, preparation itself is treated as provocation.

The editorial asks readers to believe that acknowledging the existence of a crowd is the same as accusing that crowd of violence. By that logic, barricades are insults and traffic cones are acts of aggression.

To keep the narrative alive, the piece promptly leaves San Luis Obispo, hopping to Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, as though geography were a technicality and relevance optional. A mundane memo becomes a symbol, then a villain, and finally an accessory to events it neither predicted nor addressed.

The most revealing argument is the one never stated outright. When a protest aligns with the preferred politics of the moment, institutions should suspend routine caution. That is not a defense of free speech. It is a demand for ideological immunity.

Peaceful protesters deserve respect. So do employees who would rather not navigate a crowded, emotionally charged downtown alone at the end of the workday. These principles coexist easily, unless one insists on turning common sense into a moral failing.

The memo did not demonize demonstrators. It did something far more heretical in today’s discourse. It behaved responsibly.

If that qualifies as fearmongering, then so does looking both ways before crossing the street.

 


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If the protesters want effective change they should be protesting in front of their congressman/woman’s office or at the congress building in D.C. They create the federal laws that ICE is enforcing and they have the ability to create laws to make citizenship easier for those here for the right reasons.


14

No, they would rather set up make ship checkpoints in local neighborhoods, stop everyone who enters to verify they are not someone they don’t want in…… hmmmmm, kinda like a country having borders and making sure those wanting to come across are not criminals, terrorists or someone else not wanted in a country.


9

The author of this article does not comprehend or does not care that America is being turned into a fascist nation where masked storm troopers can murder US citizens, conduct illegal searches and seizures, arrest innocent people and issue subpoenas to gather private information and intimidate those that question authority.


-53

Yet, here you are. The only person in the entire nation not arrested and “disappeared” in this fascist run government, for criticizing the fascist government…


Or…..you’re just wrong about it.


6

100%


Libocrats have ZERO self-awareness! It is their mental illness (as confirmed by multiple mental health studies).


Make no mistake about it, they have a real mental illness.


Starting with ZERO understanding of the very definition of the F word that they banty about in large proportions, just like the Prozac that they rely on to live on the fringe of reality.


#NEVERVoteDemoNcratAgain


2

You are advised to “travel in pairs” for “parades, concerts, and street festivals”? I did not know this.


-20

for safety, yes, that is a common recommendation


22

In the last decade how often has this type of memo been issued?


20

Sorry that people defending their Constitutional rights and protesting inconvenienced you for a moment. And that memo was a veiled threat, and either your a fascist boot-licker and know it, or you’re an idiot.


-93

You have lost your mind.


37

That dude is definitely unhinged.


1

It is a Constitutional right only to demonstrate a citizen’s disdain peacefully: signs in hand, mouths shut. Protesting for illegal, non-citizens is idiotic, mute, and needless to say, anti-American. Those who identify with this category should simply pack up and go to another country as Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O’Donnell have done. Living a life of protest is such a waste.


45

If what you say is true, then why did Trump pardon the Jan. 6 protesters? They had more than signs. They carried flag poles, blunt objects, chemical sprays and more which they used to breach the Capitol. And I don’t remember them keeping their “mouths shut.” Seems quite the double standard.


-23

You are all just only proving the point of this article. He is trying to point out that a simple memo giving safety advise has been treated as a political statement….much like your responses.


19

If you had read the executive order you would have understood the pardon was due to the fact that many of those did not receive their legally require due process.


18

So, all those folks rounded up by ICE and either immediately deported or held in detention without due process should be pardoned as well? And if you think because they are not documented they don’t deserve due process, you might look at the 5th and 14th amendments to the Constitution.


-19

They already have deportation orders, expired visa’s, or other criminal records making them eligible for deportation. Due process is different for citizens than for illegal aliens. Funny you mention the Constitution, that’s is what is being supported in Minnesota and other States by federal authorities.


14

Most have sought and been granted asylum and so are legally entitled to stay in the country and are protected by the Constitution. That’s why young Liam Ramos and his father have been released from illegal detention. ICE has already shredded the Constitution many times this year. If you don’t like asylum laws then urge the Republicans to sit down and negotiate an immigration reform law.


Seeing as how the Republicans control the executive and legislative branches they could easily force Dems to accept a stricter new law. Without a law, the next Democratic president will simply undo all that Trump has done. Ruling by executive order, as the last three presidents have done is no way to run immigration.


-6

You are aware that for many of those that claimed asylum during the previous four 4 years, that is only the first step and as we found out the administration told everyone to just say “Asylum”, that starts the process, the illegal alien is allowed, temporarily into the country, while their asylum application is processed, at some point their application might have been reviewed and either deemed to not meet the requirements for asylum or put before a judge for a hearing and if the illegal alien did not show up, which we are told was very common, in both of these cases a deportation order could be issued. You may be confused that allowing an illegal into the country after claiming asylum is not “granting asylum” but only the first step, granting asylum is a long process and takes often time years but during that process illegal aliens are still required to adhere to certain policies and follow procedures and if they don’t their asylum claim can end and deportation is a possibility.


5

Funny how suddenly you are a constitutional and amendment professional suddenly.


Why weren’t you a constitutional and an amendment professional and advocate during the Obama administration???? Or the Clinton administration.? They deported WAY MORE than Trump will EVER deport!!!!


OH THATS RIGHT….IT DIDN’T SUPPORT YOUR NARRATIVE THEN!!!!!


5

I have often brought up the fact that Obama deported over three million. And he faced protests for it as well, but what he didn’t do was send roving groups of masked agents out in the streets to racially profile and pull over anyone with dark skin. 90% of those deported by Obama were the “worst of the worst.” He did it with targeted raids. According to Trump’s own DHS, only about half of those picked up by ICE have criminal records and many are asylum seekers who are simply looking for a new life.


As for Clinton, his deportations were done without ICE, and he was still working within the framework of the 1987 immigration reform law which was passed by Ronald Reagan. What we need today is an update to that law, because, as I have pointed out, immigration enforcement by executive order is not working.


-3

Bullshit


-13

You always spout about this one singular day, January 6th. January 6th, January 6th, January 6th…..


One effing day. How many days has your radical left cronies been out and about involved in violent, unpeaceful protests???? An absurd effing amount!!!! COUNTLESS!!!!!


JUST QUIT bringing up January 6th like a scapegoat to detour from the radical left protests and those you call your peeps!!!!!


4

I don’t remember any left-wing protests that attempted to topple our government and hang the vice president of the United States. We have had many protests over the decades but none went as far as Jan. 6, so I will certainly continue to bring it up when I see hypocritical statements from the right. My peeps? Not so much. I was a Republican until about 2000 and am currently an old man with limited mobility. But thanks for lumping me with people who are fighting tyranny.


-4

The Capital building has been bombed and damaged a number of times, by various leftist groups and “revolutionaries”…..and not a single time, by anything or anyone right wing connected. Even on Jan 6, bombs were, again, placed by a leftist who didn’t like our government.


One of those bombers, is still a good friend of Obama.


1

We’re protesting for protecting the Constitution. U.S. citizens have been detained without cause, without a warrant, without due process, without being able to see their attorney… We aren’t pro violent people who are not here legally. That’s a stupid, horseshit excuse from the right to justify what they are doing and demonizing us standing up for the Constitution.


-3

Mouths shut? I missed that part in the constitution.


0

Talk about unhinged! Weren’t you the same person saying the lady from the capitol deserved it? Kinda find it funny , it’s only constitutional and legal when you agree with the message. How many months ago did the left think hunting was the only reason to own guns?

You are no different than what y’all call mega , both brain dead extremist. Democracy is about meeting in the middle not getting your way every time.. you sir and the maga extremist are why this country is going down the drain.


-3

Yes, I was. Ashlee Babbitt broke into the Capitol, smashed a window, tried to get into a restricted area to help overthrow a lawful election, and was warned repeatedly by armed Capitol police before they fired. Alex Pretti was not holding his weapon, was on a public street, and was murdered by being shot in the back while trying to help somebody else. Those are NOT the same. It’s amazing the hoops you will jump through to defend your position.


-4

Thank you for proving my point.. protesters are doing the exact same things.. and for what protesting a legal action they didn’t agree with. You can twist it anyway you want , both protestors protesting a legal action. It’s amazing the hoops you’ll jump through to make it seem different. Like I said proves my point , you believe protests are ok only when you agree with the message.


5