Radley Balko

Journalist. Quattrone Center journalism fellow.
Author: Rise of the Warrior Cop.
Co-author: The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist.
New podcast: Collateral Damage
Substack: radleybalko.substack.com
Signal: radleybalko.52

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Last Notes

2026-01-07 21:47:41 UTC

Like those before it, that insane, vile DHS statement about the Minneapolis shooting isn't about covering anything up. It's performative lying.
They aren't trying to persuade anyone that their agents did nothing wrong. They're trying to project that their agents can get away with anything.

2026-01-07 17:54:30 UTC

Short of a Nice-style mass killing event, there's no legitimate reason for a cop to fire into a vehicle. Even if the driver is headed straight at the cop, it won't stop the car. This is why so many police departments prohibit it.

2025-12-16 23:16:46 UTC

Also, Nigerian immigrants are among the best educated in the U.S. So the usual bullshit excuses about public assistance, crime, etc. don't apply. It really is just racism.

2025-12-12 20:45:24 UTC

I think it was a huge mistake to make our society so car-dependent. But man. The Discourse today is a good reminder that when it comes to roadways policy, otherwise progressive anti-car people quickly become some of the most pro-carceral, anti-civil liberties people on the planet.

2025-11-14 21:47:47 UTC

The important thing is not whether the Trump performing sexual favors for Bill Clinton thing is true. The important thing is that we all pretend it’s true, and that someone asks Trump about it every day.

2025-10-24 13:02:39 UTC

When Trump hears what Ronald Reagan said about immigrants he’s going to have DOJ arrest him for mortgage fraud.

2025-10-18 20:11:05 UTC

Those men are super dangerous drug smuggling terrorists, which is why . . . we are letting them go.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...
U.S. Is Repatriating Survivors...

2025-10-15 21:56:58 UTC

The Supreme Court’s majority right wing indicated in oral arguments that they think racism is over on the same day that the vice president defended the “I love Hitler” guy, and that the NYT reported that the current administration plans to accept only white, English-speaking refugees.

2025-09-07 14:22:55 UTC

From Kaufman's bio: "He has qualified as an expert witness in local, state, and federal courts."
Gotta' love Daubert.
https://oyster.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:c7ozmxoc5b2ky4iam2o36uic&cid=bafkreiaset2wlfqkrgnhzg2qmdulqzqlqcrfjh3pgab6tm43ojarwysby4

2025-09-07 14:15:07 UTC

New:
I wrote for Rolling Stone about the "rapid deployment units" Trump has ordered Hegseth to have at the ready.
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Trump's Most Dangerous Executi...

2025-08-25 15:06:36 UTC

It's hard to take that because of a 1.5 percent margin in one election, our country will now commit suicide -- and take a good chunk of the rest of the world down with it.

2025-08-24 12:52:22 UTC

It's telling that as Trump threatens a military takeover of cities, actively censors universities, imposes his politics on private companies, and weaponizes the DOJ against his critics, reactionary centrists who've made free expression their core issue . . . are still focused on wokeness.

2025-08-23 19:44:37 UTC

They’re mobilizing National Guard troops in 19 red states to send into blue cities.
They’re preparing for an occupation.
www.foxnews.com/politics/nat...
National Guard mobilizing in 1...

2025-08-15 14:23:11 UTC

The U.S. has never lived up to its stated commitment to human rights, but this is an embarrassment. Germany is not less free than El Salvador. Our assessment of a country's human rights record now turns on Trump's relationship with that country.
We are the baddies.
State Department human rights ...

2025-08-14 13:26:28 UTC

Just heard Barry McCaffrey say on MSNBC that “most” DC residents support Trump’s NG deployment.
Really? But what metric?

2025-08-11 21:52:17 UTC

I wrote a piece for The Intercept on Trump’s takeover of D.C.
theintercept.com/2025/08/11/t...
Trump's Trial Run for a Police...

2025-08-11 12:39:28 UTC

Let’s be clear about what’s happening. Violent crime in DC is at a 30-year low. There is no emergency. This is a test run. If the courts, Congress, and the rest of us let him get away with this, he’ll do it in every city that doesn’t capitulate to him.
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08...
Trump Administration Live Upda...

2025-07-31 10:52:48 UTC

Trump does shit every day that should get him impeached. But illegally punishing an entire country — and any Americans who use products or do businesses with anyone in Brazil — because it’s prosecuting its former president for attempting a violent coup is among the worst things he has done.
Trump signs order increasing B...

2025-07-16 12:38:11 UTC

Baltimore has started treated violent crime like a public health issue. The city is literally "sending social workers," as the law-and-order right derisively puts it.
And it's working.
popular.info/p/the-secret...
The secret to Baltimore's extr...

2025-06-16 16:15:35 UTC

A majority of white Catholics and white evangelicals support deporting undocumented immigrants to foreign prisons with no due process.
You know, just like Jesus would have done.
prri.org/spotlight/ne...
New PRRI Poll: Six in Ten Amer...

2025-06-11 01:28:19 UTC

We’ve leapt over a lot of red lines in the last week. But one I find most worrying is Trump/MAGA/ICE have ceased even pretending to claim some criminal pretext for cracking down on protected speech. It’s just straight up “if you criticize us, you’re getting throttled/arrested/disappeared.”

2025-06-09 21:15:55 UTC

I’d add this: Decades of studies have shown that large groups want to be seen as legitimate, and largely self-police yahoos prone to violence — *until* law enforcement starts using violence, at which point they unite against a common enemy.
It’s a lesson too few PDs ever seem to learn.
#nevent1q…dtsx

2025-05-09 23:40:41 UTC

Almost threw out my back rolling my eyes at this.
Complete failure to grapple with the ample historical evidence of why cops might not be popular with marginalized communities in Chicago.
Also, perhaps police culture itself contributes to mental illness among cops?
www.thefp.com/p/chicago-po...
How Can You Be a Cop in a City...

2025-05-08 19:31:17 UTC

Trump reportedly considering Meth Raccoon to helm ONDCP, Fish & Wildlife
6abc.com/post/woman-a...
Raccoon found with meth pipe i...

2025-05-02 16:16:08 UTC

I wrote about Trump wanting to “unleash” the police.
theintercept.com/2025/05/02/t...
Cops Are Already Unleashed. Tr...

2025-04-30 01:32:46 UTC

I’ve watched too many of these raids to count. This one is one of the most infuriating in recent memory.
Appropriate that we learn about it on the same day SCOTUS hears oral arguments for a case that may remove the last remaining way to hold federal agents accountable for this kind of terror.
'We're citizens!': Oklahoma Ci...

2025-04-17 17:04:04 UTC

Trump threatens to block all 10,000 international students from attending Harvard unless the school turns over student info they’ll use for new visa revocations and deportations.
Every day feels like a fresh round of this country stabbing itself in the face.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/u...
Trump Threatens to Block Inter...

2025-04-07 03:31:25 UTC

One man just wiped out $10 trillion in wealth, is destroying centuries-old legal protections, and seems determined to unravel humanity’s greatest public health achievement. In 3 months.
I don’t know how we get out of this. But if we do, one person can never have that kind of power again.

2025-04-06 19:43:33 UTC

The Secretary of the Interior requires his staff to make him cookies and serve him meals.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
The Cabinet Secretary Who Want...

2025-04-06 13:08:32 UTC

This post was written by one of the original members of the first SWAT team in the country (in Los Angeles).
He has long since been an outspoken critic of police abuse.
One thing I’ve thought about often lately: the sense of urgency we’ve seen from older people.
“Hands Off!”: The Day America ...

2025-04-06 03:21:41 UTC

Gonna be a wild time when other countries start reciprocating by revoking American visas and deporting Americans because of the policies of this administration.
https://oyster.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:c7ozmxoc5b2ky4iam2o36uic&cid=bafkreibieya3drljrohsznfissd3oktbiablfsp4jvv6once574ajblfty

2025-04-06 00:15:15 UTC

— “Backbreaking work on turnip farms and factory lines is good for you, actually”
— Destroying universities
— “You don’t need so many things”
— Elites attacking elitism
— Hate/contempt for cities
— “Suck it up for the greater good”
Am I crazy, or is MAGA starting to sound kinda’ Mao-y?

2025-04-05 13:13:29 UTC

Upon learning that your own mistake sent an innocent father to a brutal prison where he’s likely to be tortured, anyone with a shred of decency would be overcome with shame and fight like hell to get him back.
They think it’s funny.
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
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2025-04-03 22:25:10 UTC

The assholes who refused to wear a mask to protect their own grandparents are demanding we endure a depression to protect Donald Trump's ego.
https://oyster.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:c7ozmxoc5b2ky4iam2o36uic&cid=bafkreifubuyzhibhqzmqammx2zmfmshl53akvkqgyeoucmvezru2uzgqbu

2025-03-28 13:29:12 UTC

Proud of journalists & outlets still standing up to power in the face of threats while Big Law, corporations, and other institutions capitulate:
Wired, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, Miami Herald, Techdirt, Marisa Kabas, the Unpoulist, ProPublica, MSNBC.
(Feel free to add others in replies)

2025-03-26 23:31:10 UTC

Wonder what we’d find if we started scrutinizing the tattoos of ICE agents?
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The men disappeared to El Salv...

2025-03-11 13:59:30 UTC

MS and LA have never reckoned with the damage West and Steven Hayne did to their criminal justice systems.
For more, check out the book Tucker Carrington and I wrote, which tells the macabre story of these two men’s 20-year reign in those two states.
www.parnassusbooks.net/book/9781541...
https://oyster.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:c7ozmxoc5b2ky4iam2o36uic&cid=bafkreiaselgndqusrcw4x3vllsggk3uefvcp6ratjmo7i5yqmqfth3cbyi

2025-03-10 19:48:08 UTC

This is the most anodyne pride display possible. Pretty clear now that Republicans just don’t want gay people to exist.
https://oyster.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:c7ozmxoc5b2ky4iam2o36uic&cid=bafkreidrsfnquwmghhw7vebfixkadojity4h3sxaoc7fddfavectyhih2y

2025-03-09 14:26:42 UTC

Post-Selma op-eds:
Carville: "Bonehead bridge stunt alienates working class whites"
Durbin: "Protesters lack decorum!"
Fetterman: Why I'm co-sponsoring Josh Hawley's 'Free the Bridges' act, allowing motorists to run over protesters
Jeffries: "God still on the throne"
www.npr.org/2025/03/09/n...
60 years after Bloody Sunday i...

2025-03-05 19:24:54 UTC

CNN reporting that Senate Democrats are “disappointed” in House members for violating “decorum” at Trump’s speech last night.
Just utterly clueless. And worth remembering next time those senators wax reverently about John Lewis.

2025-02-24 18:42:37 UTC

GOP members of Congress call on DOJ to criminally prosecute advocacy groups, public officials for informing immigrants of their rights. Daily Caller cheers them on.
dailycaller.com/2025/02/18/e...
EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans U...

2025-02-20 20:20:27 UTC

Given his new position and influence, at this point Musk’s moderation decisions at X are far closer to actual censorship than anything in the “Twitter Files.”
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cak4klqoj3bqgk5rj6b4f5do/post/3limvytlftl2k
#nevent1q…p4t5

2025-02-17 02:17:05 UTC

I don’t see how this could possibly go wrong.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Musk’s DOGE seeks access to pe...

2025-02-08 03:23:42 UTC

Let’s pan back a bit. The VP said a 25-year-old who tweeted racist shit 2 months ago should have access to everyone’s financial, medical, and other info — so he can fire people trying to fight racism.
And when a congressman said the kid should at least apologize first, the VP told him to “grow up.”

2025-02-07 22:13:49 UTC

We deeply regret this solitary, mistaken display of decency and good judgment.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/u...
Vance and Trump Call for Rehir...

2025-01-24 19:47:57 UTC

Putting this in my “possible book blurbs” file.
https://oyster.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:c7ozmxoc5b2ky4iam2o36uic&cid=bafkreib42o7ew6ypaflhorzd6mk7xlzs3ro34c4vaewvqnefe35pax7g5q

2024-12-23 15:09:39 UTC

Trump hasn’t yet taken office, but he has threatened four friendly countries. Plus Iran.

2024-12-01 00:46:29 UTC

Centrists, as Patel has journalists, nonprofit heads, and politicians frog-marched in handcuffs in front of TV cameras:
“I am outraged that the left made him do this.”

2024-11-21 17:52:58 UTC

Ah . . . there it is.
www.cnn.com/2024/11/21/p...
EXCLUSIVE: Ethics committee to...

2024-11-12 16:31:32 UTC

What I find most deflating about these exchanges is that even if Trump follows through with his darkest plans -- stuff people like my relative would acknowledge as horrific -- the information bubble is so pervasive that they either won't hear about it, or won't believe it.

2024-11-09 01:31:24 UTC

“You must give your money to people you find abhorrent or we will put you in prison” is a banger of a free speech policy. Fuck these people.
https://oyster.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:c7ozmxoc5b2ky4iam2o36uic&cid=bafkreic2nntz7iu35hfg4ldnggl6en3bbfxcwjgubatkssn2hynowqd4ia

2024-11-07 16:26:06 UTC

I found this really helpful, both in explaining how many of us are feeling, and the constructive, data-driven suggestions on how to process it all.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/elec...
Election Grief Is Real. Here’s...

2024-11-06 04:47:12 UTC

Missouri and Arizona voters passed abortion rights measures (as did 57% of FL voters, to no avail), but then voted to give power to the party that overturned Roe and wants a national abortion ban.
I guess hating immigrants and trans people is more important.

2024-11-04 15:44:54 UTC

Fascinating. But this is the path most “heterodox” thinkers take. Their hatred of the left ultimately displaces and distorts whatever allegiance they had to liberalism.
The idea that Harris poses a proportionate threat as Trump on on speech, democracy, etc. just isn’t serious.
https://oyster.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:c7ozmxoc5b2ky4iam2o36uic&cid=bafkreibyowhvdatrdm2ds5355tayqvosxn74uf6swich5jwftv2thnhk2a