By T-Paine
Los Angeles burned first. But this time not literally, but politically. Protests are erupting, spreading like fire through the streets, against the Trump administration’s deployment of federal troops. Ostensibly to "protect federal functions" under the latest authoritarian memorandum, nearly 2,000 National Guard soldiers and federal agents flooded the city without the state's consent, something no president had done since 1965. California’s own governor, Gavin Newsom, called it an unnecessary escalation, a crisis "manufactured" from whole cloth.
The language of the President's memorandum is classic fascist vagueness: who exactly are the "violent protestors"? What counts as rebellion against the United States government? The wording allows the state to target anyone, from immigration activists to peaceful marchers holding hand-painted signs, under the guise of protecting 'Federal functions.'
This isn’t paranoia, people. It’s precedent.
Under the still-lingering shadows of the Patriot Act, due process protections such as habeas corpus remain tenuous. ‘Suspected terrorists’ (a term never clearly defined) can be detained without trial. Now this lens is aimed at protestors. With ICE already flouting due process, what’s to stop federal troops from doing the same under these new orders? The framework of dictatorship is being assembled before our eyes.
And LA’s reaction may only be the beginning.
Across the country, Trump allies here in Ohio, as well as Florida, Texas, and elsewhere are watching carefully. Will LA roll over? Will the National Guard settle in without resistance? Or will this moment awaken the spirit of rebellion, as it once did in history?
History tells us this: fascist regimes can be resisted. But only if we learn from those who did it before.
Here’s something they don’t teach you in school: in Nazi Germany, not every citizen became a loyal follower of the Reich. The Edelweiss Pirates, working-class German youth, refused to join the Hitler Youth. They dressed differently. They sang banned songs. They spray-painted anti-Nazi graffiti. When the war began, they helped army deserters and escaped prisoners. Some even fought Gestapo agents directly.
They were not a large movement. They were not state-sponsored. They were local, scattered, working in secret. But their resistance mattered. It disrupted. It gave hope. It cost the regime energy and fear to suppress them.
They were executed, imprisoned, tortured—but they were not erased. History remembers. But more importantly, now so will you. They don’t want you to know resistance can happen from the inside. It’s easier for you to obey if you think it’s a foregone conclusion, that you have no path forward, no choice or autonomy, that you have no hope. And if corporate, pop culture nostalgia-bait has taught you anything worth holding onto: Rebellions Are Built on Hope.
Don’t get comfortable because it’s LA on the news. Ohio’s history runs with state violence—and memory.
Remember May 4th, 1970? Kent State. The National Guard opened fire on unarmed students, killing four, wounding nine. The order came from the state, but the rifles fired on your neighbors.
It can happen here again. Today’s guard trains in Ravenna, patrols Columbus, flies over Akron. ICE raids immigrant homes in Lorain. Far-right school boards meet in secret in Portage County. You’ve seen the “Thin Blue Line” flags. You’ve heard the truck horns on Route 43.
LA is the warning shot. Ohio could be next.
Our wonderfully incompetent and corrupt Sheriff, Bruce Zuchowski, has already made it clear where he stands. Under his watch, the Portage County Sheriff's Office entered into a partnership with ICE through the controversial 287(g) program: giving his deputies the power to detain, question, and hold immigrants on behalf of federal immigration authorities.
Zuchowski claims this makes the county “safer.” But safer for who? Not for immigrants. Not for students. Not for the working-class people who now drive the backroads of Ravenna or Kent knowing any random traffic stop could become a life-altering arrest.
Since this agreement was signed, residents have reported a visible increase in sheriff’s patrols, especially in neighborhoods known for immigrant families or activist organizing. Random traffic stops. "Safety checks." Silent intimidation. It’s the slow creep of fear—policing as a message.
And what message is that?
That Portage is no sanctuary. That the sheriff’s office now serves federal ICE priorities over local community needs. That your citizenship status, your skin color, your accent could be all it takes to make you a target.
Make no mistake: this is how the groundwork of authoritarian control is laid. Local cops, trained to act like border patrol. Sheriff's offices, quietly folded into federal operations. Dissent and difference redefined as threats.
You don’t need stormtroopers when you’ve got sheriff’s deputies and ICE fusion centers.
So. What would an Edelweiss Pirate look like today? Here. In LA. In Ohio. In Columbus. In Cleveland. In Akron. In Kent. In Ravenna.
LA’s moment is a warning and an opportunity. Federal troops are deployed against civilians on American streets. Habeas corpus, due process, privacy—these are all evaporating fast.
But in the cracks of oppression, resistance grows.
Be small. Be brave. Be a pirate.
The Edelweiss Pirates didn’t wait for Berlin to collapse. They fought in their own neighborhoods. You can fight in yours. It starts with leaflets, stickers, quiet acts of refusal.
As the state tries to clamp down on LA, or Chicago, or Columbus, remember: fascists fear the unpredictable. They fear the countless untraceable acts of rebellion that sap their strength.
Start here. Start small. Start now. No permission required.
This is not history class. This is happening now.