Sign in

Stephen Downing

@stevedowning.bsky.social
30 followers 75 following 150 posts

Stephen Downing is a retired LAPD deputy chief, a screenwriter, television producer and investigative journalist.

PostsRepliesMedia
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
In The Ministry of Misinformation I expose how federal spin and local silence have fused into a single, dangerous pattern: propaganda at the top, paralysis on the ground. From Chicago’s Blackhawk “Tuesday night terror” to Long Beach’s car-wash raids open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
The Ministry of Misinformation (Local Edition)
How DHS spins, ICE sins, and city halls across America shrug — seen up close from Long Beach.
010
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Trump’s grotesque fantasy video—dropping feces bombs on protesters—and exposes it for what it is: a deranged confession masquerading as propaganda. It’s a blistering look at the mind of a man who mistakes humiliation for power and contempt for leadership. open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
When the King Lost His Throne — and His Control
Trump’s AI tantrum reveals everything you need to know about his view of the First Amendment, the American people, and his bowels.
010
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
beachcomber.news/content/long...
beachcomber.news
Long Beach Finds Its Voice — and Its Sense of Humor
It was one of those blue-sky Long Beach Saturday mornings that feels like freedom itself – if freedom came with sunscreen, protest signs and the occasional Golden Doodle. The city’s 1.5-mile stretch o...
010
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
When ICE Comes to the 50-Yard Line
Bad Bunny, the NFL, and the Playbook for Patriotic Resistance
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend... ICE has dropped age limits and is now recruiting father-son teams. My son and I have 55 years of law enforcement service between us — but something tells me our loyalty to the Constitution over personalities might not make the cut. Satire, hip pain and more:
open.substack.com
Father, Son & ICE: A Recruitment Story We Didn’t See Coming
Where the hip meets the nerve and the satire meets the Department of Homeland Security
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 03/08/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend... The Ninth Circuit just gave city councils a spine—unlawful ICE detentions based on race or language are now clearly unconstitutional. No more excuses. If your leaders won’t act, they’re not confused—they’re complicit.
open.substack.com
A Federal Ruling, A Local Responsibility: The Ninth Circuit Just Gave City Councils, Sheriffs and Police Chiefs Their Backbone Back
The court has spoken: detaining people based on race, language, job, or location is unconstitutional—and cities and counties have no excuse for enabling it.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
When Truth Is Fired—How Authoritarians Crush Accountability One Statistic at a Time
Erika McEntarfer’s firing isn’t about jobs. It’s about power, propaganda, and a man’s obsession with controlling reality.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
The Nero Doctrine: Trump’s Second Hundred Days and the Fall of American Democracy
A former LAPD Deputy Chief examines how tyranny, loyalty cults, and democratic decay have become normalized under Trump’s reign—and why silence is complicity.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend... Federal agents lied under oath—and not one has been charged, fired, or investigated. Meanwhile, peaceful protesters faced felony indictments. This isn’t law enforcement. It’s authoritarianism. Read it, share it, and speak up.
open.substack.com
The Screamer and the Jury, Part II: When the Law Lies, and Power Looks Away
First came the tantrum. Now come the facts. Perjury, impunity, and a DOJ that protects the abusers.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Character on Trial
How Trump’s Legal Enforcers Are Rewarded—While Integrity Gets Fired
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Predators in Power: Trump, Epstein, and the Rise of America’s First Gestapo
From Gaddafi’s rape rooms to Trump’s obsession with burying the Epstein files, history shows when unchecked power and sexual predation collide—and how ICE will become the enforcer of that silence
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
THE DAY CONGRESS WAS LOCKED OUT
A Fictional Warning Rooted in Historical Fact
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
The Line That Wasn’t: When MAGA Loyalty Trumps Innocence Itself
When political loyalty outlasts even the innocence of children, the problem isn’t just the leader—it’s the followers who’ve forgotten where the line is.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
History Rhymes in Sirens: From Daryl Gates to Tom Homan, the Fight for LA’s Soul Rages Again
From Battering Rams to Blacked-Out Vans: Why LA’s Past Policing Wounds Are Bleeding Into a Federal Immigration Crisis
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Trump’s Desperate Deflection: The Epstein Files and the Specter of Accountability
Donald Trump’s latest social media post reads less like a serious statement from a United States President and more like a panicked rant scribbled on the back of a cocktail napkin during a 3 a.m.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Shrimp Cocktail, Family Dreams, and the ICE Assault on Our Humanity
What I witnessed at a Long Beach food truck is what America is supposed to be. What Trump and Stephen Miller are doing to it is everything we’re supposed to resist.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
BREAKING NEWS: Gestapo on the Green: The ICE Assault on MacArthur Park and the Death of Lawful Order
Trump’s Heinrich Himmler, Stephen Miller, has launched his second act and once again targets Los Angeles with militarized raids, political vengeance, and the machinery of fear.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
When ICE Abuses Its Power — And Local Law Enforcement Stands Down
It’s time to demand your city or county step up, intervene, and defend your rights
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
When ICE Overreaches and Local Law Backs Away: A Call to California’s Chiefs and Sheriffs
A July 3rd Los Angeles Times article revealed what no democratic society should ever normalize: masked ICE agents, operating in Los Angeles, seized a woman on the street and shoved her into an unmarke...
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Read This and Weep for the Republic
A veteran cop’s warning: when public servants are forced to serve a man instead of the law, we’re no longer a democracy—we’re a regime.
090
Reposted by Stephen Downing
Michael Feinberg @michael-feinberg.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
@lawfaremedia.org has been producing incredibly important scholarship and commentary on national security and rule of law issues for fifteen years now, and I’m beyond excited to join their team this fall.
givebutter.com
Public Service Fellowship
Alumni of the federal workforce and civil service with expertise in national security, law, and policy
1920933
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Read This and Weep for the Republic
A veteran cop’s warning: when public servants are forced to serve a man instead of the law, we’re no longer a democracy—we’re a regime.
010
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
They Wear Masks Because They Know What They’re Doing Is Wrong
SB 627 wouldn’t be necessary—if we had a government that still believed in the rule of law.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
The DHS Hit List: How Kristi Noem Is Turning Homeland Security into a Political Smear Machine
When a federal agency starts issuing press releases that read like campaign attack ads, it’s time to stop calling this governance—and start calling it what it is.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
The Pulpit and the Pentagon: When Faith Becomes a Weapon of Command
Hegseth, Potteiger, and the Quiet Threat Facing Every Service Member Who Doesn’t Bow to Their Brand of Christianity
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
The Grotesque Unleashing of Police Power
Why President Trump’s executive order threatens the integrity of American policing and the constitutional principles that sustain it.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
When Propaganda Replaces Due Process: DHS, Trump, and the “Kidnapped” Child
The Smell of Propaganda Is Hard to Miss
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Muscle, Not Justice: The Outrageous Arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan
The arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan wasn’t law enforcement — it was political theater designed to intimidate America’s judiciary into silence
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Trump’s Grift Economy: When Dictatorship Meets Day Trading
Cronyism, Capitulation, and Chaos—And Why His Latest Retreat Makes Him More Dangerous
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
What Did They Expect?
How Pete Hegseth’s Appointment Exposed the GOP’s Willful Incompetence—and Why His Fall Might Be the Pentagon’s Chance to Recover
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
When the Federal Government Kidnaps Your Neighbor: It’s Time for the States to Step Up
The oath of office means nothing to them. But it still means everything to us.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Part I: They Came for the Children. Next Time, They Might Not Ask.
Homeland Security Agents Tried to Disappear Kids from Two LA Elementary Schools. What Happens When They Come Back Backed by a President Who Just Laughed in the Face of the Supreme Court?
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Constitutional Collapse, Televised
The President Defies the Supreme Court. The GOP Shrugs. The Courts Must Now Decide: Surrender or Strike Back.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04...
stephendowning.substack.com
When the Courts Are Defied: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Bukele’s Visit, and Trump’s Shadow War on the Rule of Law
How a 9–0 Supreme Court ruling risks being neutered by executive defiance—and what Bukele’s U.S. visit reveals about who’s really calling the shots on Garcia’s fate.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
See my Substack post and then comments. I point to the fact that Trump can tell the El Salvadoran President what to do and he will do it. Breaking news (in comments) indicates that Trump told him to keep Garcia. stephendowning.substack.com/p/when-the-c...
stephendowning.substack.com
When the Courts Are Defied: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Bukele’s Visit, and Trump’s Shadow War on the Rule of Law
How a 9–0 Supreme Court ruling risks being neutered by executive defiance—and what Bukele’s U.S. visit reveals about who’s really calling the shots on Garcia’s fate.
100
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
When the Courts Are Defied: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Bukele’s Visit, and Trump’s Shadow War on the Rule of Law
How a 9–0 Supreme Court ruling risks being neutered by executive defiance—and what Bukele’s U.S. visit reveals about who’s really calling the shots on Garcia’s fate.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 13/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
An Open Letter to Donald J. Trump: The Orange Wrecking Ball of Democracy
Brace yourself — the language here is unfiltered, unpolished, and unapologetically pissed. Consider it a verbal Molotov.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
The IRS Has Fallen: When Pam Bondi Is the Law, the Coup Is Complete
How the quiet dismantling of tax enforcement, legal oversight, and institutional integrity signals the end of lawful government—and the rise of authoritarian control.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Trump’s Market Tip-Off Wasn’t Just Reckless—It May Have Been Criminal
He told investors to “BUY” in the morning. Then paused tariffs in the afternoon. The market surged. Now we ask: who knew—and who cashed in?
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Trump’s Tariff Revival and the Billionaire Dream of 1870
He’s not just reviving outdated economics—he’s restoring a world where the rich ruled unchecked, and every institution that served the people is on the chopping block… except one.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Billionaires Lost Billions? Cry Me a Superyacht.
While Wall Street wobbles, Main Street breaks—and only one class is poised to profit from the wreckage.
010
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
A Canadian Diagnoses Trump—and Dick Spackle Brings the Chart”
One psychologist sees through the chaos, Dick connects the dots to Bondi, Hegseth, Gabbard, and RFK Jr., and America gets the diagnosis it’s been avoiding since 2016.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
“Hands Off!”: The Day America Roared Back
Across the nation—and on the streets of Lakewood, CA—Americans rose up on April 5 to demand their democracy back. And not a single cop or Trumper was in sight.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Coffee, Bananas… and Now Avocados? Trump’s Tariff Tantrum Will Hit Your Whole Shopping Cart
From your kitchen counter to your medicine cabinet, Trump’s new “Liberation Day” tariffs are a direct hit on American families.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
An Open Letter to Senator Cory Booker
On Breaking a Record That Deserved to Fall
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
“This Was an Oversight” — No, It Was Authoritarian Arrogance
When the government breaks its own laws, shrugs, and claims no court can fix it—we’re no longer a nation of laws.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
The Masks Are Off — And On: When American Law Enforcement Acts Like a Death Squad
When law enforcement hides behind masks and unmarked vans, the line between justice and tyranny vanishes.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Trump’s Taxpayer-Backed Terror Fund: From Pardon to Paycheck for Seditionists
The man who incited a violent coup now wants to reward its foot soldiers—with your money.
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
open.substack.com/pub/stephend...
open.substack.com
Oops, I Warred Again: Trump’s Brain Trust Accidentally Texts War Plans to the Editor of The Atlantic”
Dick Spackle’s Interim Dispatch “Now With 30% More Treason!”
000
Stephen Downing @stevedowning.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
drive.google.com/file/d/1jbxD...
drive.google.com
000