Radley Balko

@radleybalko.bsky.social

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Journalist. Author of Rise of the Warrior Cop. Co-author of The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist.

Substack: radleybalko.substack.com

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To-mayto, to-mahto slate.com/life/2024/07...

Today we celebrate the day the Founders declared independence by publishing a list of things King George had done that, apparently, were cuckish insufficiently authoritarian.

Goddamn, the new Black Crowes album takes me back. Just one steaming helping after another of stanky, southern-fried, funkified, Gospel-flecked rock.

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July 4th is very rough on my dog (he is a royalist and considers George Washington a traitor)

DEFUND THE POL . . . Wait, what? www.nytimes.com/2024/06/26/u...

House G.O.P. Pushes Deep Cuts to Federal Law Enforcementwww.nytimes.com Republicans put forward a spending bill that would slash funding for federal law enforcement, though they failed to find a way to defund the special counsel prosecuting former President Donald J. Trum...

Not that anyone is asking me, but I have no idea what the Democrats should do right now. All the options seem bad, and there isn’t one that seems less bad than the others. And as a professional opinion-haver, it’s disorienting to have no strong opinion about something so enormously consequential.

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The one thing we have working for us right now is that Republicans are such monsters they fundamentally misunderstand how to properly capitalize on Biden’s weaknesses.

You could say this about the era preceding nearly every authoritarian government. And Trump has explicitly vowed to remove people who won’t follow his orders and replace them with people who will. Heritage and Claremont are lining up candidates ready and eager to do what he asks.

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Read this story and then ponder how many good apples in the police department and prosecutor's office *absolutely knew* who was the real murderer was and conspired to railroad this lady to protect him.

Just a jaw-dropper from the state whose attorney general is currently trying to execute an innocent man. innocenceproject.org/missouri-cir...

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Kevin Roberts believes he’s a noble defender of “real America” against a totalitarian “woke,” “globalist” assault from without and within. “Project 2025” is his declaration of war on multiracial pluralism. I wrote about his extremist worldview here: 1/ thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/project-20...

Heritage Foundation president celebrates Supreme Court presidential immunity ruling: "We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be" www.mediamatters.org/project-2025...

Heritage Foundation president celebrates Supreme Court immunity decision: "We are in the process of the second American Revolution"www.mediamatters.org

“Project 2025” Promises Revenge, Oppression, and Autocratic Rulethomaszimmer.substack.com The Right’s plans for a return to power are driven by a radicalizing siege mentality and a desperate desire to restore dominance

Has he not heard of hot dog meat?

Huh?!

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Latest: federal appeals court rules that foreign students who enrolled and paid tuition at a fake Michigan university run by ICE can sue the government for breach of contract reason.com/2024/07/03/i...

Indian students who enrolled in fake university run by ICE can sue the government, court rulesreason.com Foreign students paid millions of dollars to a fake university run by ICE. A federal appeals court says they can sue for breach of contract.

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AP story waits until paragraph 16 to mention police & prosecutors are accused of conspiring to protect the cop who's apparently the real killer, until then making him seem like a lone wolf

Just a jaw-dropper from the state whose attorney general is currently trying to execute an innocent man. innocenceproject.org/missouri-cir...

Missouri woman who has served more than 40 years for murder is declared innocent by judgewww.nbcnews.com She must be freed or retried for the 1980 murder within 30 days, a judge ruled, but the Missouri AG has asked an appeals court to review the judge's decision.

Just a jaw-dropper from the state whose attorney general is currently trying to execute an innocent man. innocenceproject.org/missouri-cir...

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In a ruling Tuesday, a judge identified "glaring deficiencies" in Angola prison's heat-related labor policies. Plaintiffs say they're often forced to work outside in extreme temperatures, including on the Farm Line, which is "akin to 19th century slavery." @elizabethweill.bsky.social has more:

Judge Orders Changes to Louisiana Prison Labor Program Likened to ‘19th Century Slavery’theappeal.org Incarcerated laborers on Angola's Farm Line face “substantial risk of injury or death” during extreme heat, a federal judge ruled this week, ordering corrections officials to make policy changes to “p...

He's correct. My error. Deleting the original.

Justice Sotomayor did not vote to grant cert in McCrory (bite mark case). She wrote it wasn’t ripe yet for SCOTUS review but urged legislative action to allow for post-conviction review when forensic science changes the validity of the trial’s evidence.

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One thing about the Trump immunity ruling that was really galling to me... this is same SC who rushed to make sure states could complete *executions* while Trump was still in office. No consideration. Then took ages to carefully craft hurdles to Trump being held accountable for crimes we WATCHED.

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In an 11-6 decision, the Tennessee Historical Commission has, once again, voted down a request from Middle Tennessee State University to rename a campus building that honors Nathan Bedford Forrest.--a slave trader, Confederate general and first Grand Wizard of the KKK. 🗃️ wpln.org/post/for-a-s...

For a second time, Tennessee Historical Commission denies request to remove KKK leader's name from MTSU buildingwpln.org A building at Middle Tennessee State University will continue bearing the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

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There's no longer any ceiling to how wackadoodle Republican lawsuits can go. As @elliemargolis.bsky.social has flagged, the sovereign state of Missouri, being unable to invade or embargo New York, has instead sued it before SCOTUS to try to aid Trump, because ... reasons. ago.mo.gov/wp-content/u...

🤷‍♂️

"fear mongering on the basis of extreme hypotheticals"

Presidential candidate who the far-right members of the Supreme Court just placed above the law tells voters how he will exercise his new powers.

Jesus. Automated enforcement advocates really underestimate the potential for abuse with these cameras. The amount of information they collect is staggering, as is the ability to piece it all together to meticulously track individual people. reason.com/2024/07/01/s...

Sacramento cops shared license plate data with anti-abortion statesreason.com Sacramento authorities are not only collecting drivers' information but sharing it with law enforcement agencies in other states without a warrant.

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When you're worried there might be a pride flag at semiquincentennial parade

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"Authorities are not ruling out racist motives."

White Nebraska man shoots and wounds 7 immigrant neighbors. "Police previously received a complaint from the family that Booth had made an obscene gesture and told them to go back to where they came from and ‘speak English,’ Crete Police Chief Gary Young said Saturday.” apnews.com/article/man-...

White Nebraska man shoots and wounds 7 Guatemalan immigrant neighborsapnews.com Authorities are not ruling out racist motives as they investigate why a white Nebraska man shot and wounded seven neighbors who were Guatemalan immigrants.

The Aristocrats! www.cnn.com/2024/07/02/p...

RFK Jr. denies eating a dog while sidestepping sexual assault allegations in Vanity Fair article | CNN Politicswww.cnn.com Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has denied allegations made in a new Vanity Fair report that he had previously eaten a dog while sidestepping accusations of sexual assault lev...

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yep, it’s the obvious next move

There is also every reason to think that this court will expand Trump v. U.S in his second term to extend immunity to those doing his bidding. I.e., “Our holding in Trump v. U.S. demands that government officials be able to enact the will of the executive without fear of criminal proceedings.”

We've now reached 200 death row exonerations. Meanwhile, the state with the most (Florida) is pushing to limit appeals, carry out executions more quickly, allow death sentences from non-unanimous juries, and impose the death penalty for crimes other than homicide.

public.tableau.com

If you subscribe to a newsletter but later change your mind, just email the author and ask for a refund. Most of us will give you one. Really tired of people canceling by filing "fraud" disputes with their banks over a $6 charge. I get charged $15 for each dispute, whether I win or lose.

😃 www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | The tragedy of John Robertswww.washingtonpost.com As the chief justice begins his 18th term, he is at times an isolated and even tragic figure.

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Well, the Missouri Attorney General is also opposing a local prosecutor's motion to vacate a death sentence based on DNA evidence that excludes the defendant. So he's that kind of lawyer. apnews.com/article/miss...

I'm sorry, what? How did any lawyer sign their name to this lawsuit? Missouri has filed against New York under SOCTUS's original jurisdiction to stay Trump's sentencing. ago.mo.gov/wp-content/u...

ago.mo.gov