Radley Balko
@radleybalko.bsky.social
95K followers 1.7K following 3.9K posts
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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Reposted by Radley Balko
kimberlyhs.bsky.social
So very good
radleybalko.bsky.social
The first episode of Collateral Damage, my reported podcast with The Intercept, went up today.

Hope you’ll check it out and, if you enjoy it, give it a favorable rating or review.

Eternal thanks to my producers @lauraflynn.bsky.social and Andrew Stelzer for making it happen.
Ep. 1 Dirty Business: The Atlanta Narcotics Unit’s Deadly Raid on 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston.
Podcast Episode · Collateral Damage from The Intercept · 10/08/2025 · 55m
podcasts.apple.com
Reposted by Radley Balko
heathercherone.bsky.social
Perry: DOJ's definition of rebellion would mean that
"literally all nonviolent protest” could be considered evidence of rebellion. Is that your argument?
Hamilton: The president has determined there is a danger of a rebellion, and you must defer to that finding
Reposted by Radley Balko
markfollman.bsky.social
A very weird detail in this WSJ story about Trump’s weaponization of DOJ and FBI:

“Trump occasionally reminds aides about an incident last year in which Trump cut his hand on Bondi’s large wedding ring, causing him to bleed.”

…??

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Inside the Justice Department Where the President Calls the Shots
The president has executed a wholesale transformation of the Justice Department, taking control in ways he could have only dreamed of in his first term.
www.wsj.com
radleybalko.bsky.social
Who said this, and why do they want to fight me?
Reposted by Radley Balko
edwardluce.bsky.social
"None — repeat none — of America’s fentanyl has been found to originate from Venezuela. Yet Trump and Pete Hegseth, his compulsively strutting “secretary of war”, insist that the country is fuelling America’s opioid epidemic." Me on Trump's wag the dog script. www.ft.com/content/5b3e...
Venezuela is Trump’s useful enemy
Despite the president’s claims, the South American country is nowhere close to being the US’s biggest drug supplier
www.ft.com
Reposted by Radley Balko
emptywheel.bsky.social
Stephen Miller is murdering Venezuelans and Colombians in cold blood bc he believes it helps his propaganda campaign to paint Latinos as dangerous.

www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
Stephen Miller views the air strikes as an opportunity to paint immigrants as a dangerous menace, according to one of the White House officials.
radleybalko.bsky.social
Kavanaugh stop
collincountydems.bsky.social
This is terrifying!

ICE breaks into this woman’s car in the pick-up line at West Loop Elementary school in Chicago and detains her before she can pick her kids up from school. (They were eventually let go after showing their documents)

This is Trump’s America.
Reposted by Radley Balko
annabower.bsky.social
Good time to read @mollyroberts.bsky.social:

“It’s hard to imagine a worse case than the one against James Comey—until you see the one against the attorney general of New York.”

www.lawfaremedia.org/article/next...
Next Up: Letitia James
Molly Roberts
Monday, October 6, 2025, 9:59 AM
Share On: f X in $
It's hard to imagine a worse case than the one against James Comey-until you see the one against the attorney general of New York.
radleybalko.bsky.social
Jack Posobiec spread antisenitic hate on Twitter for years, including tagging Jews with triple parentheses.

JD Vance wrote the forward to Posobiec’s book, Unhuman.
atrupar.com
JD Vance describes Chuck Schumer as "one of the most famous Palestinians in the world"
Reposted by Radley Balko
vocabulist.bsky.social
In case anyone thinks this is paranoid, Trump’s junta has defined terrorism to include trespass, naming ICE agents on the internet, and whatever “civil disorder” is.
politically motivated terrorist acts such as organized doxing campaigns, swatting, rioting, looting, trespass, assault, destruction of property, threats of violence, and civil disorder
radleybalko.bsky.social
Everyone is lying except the people we know lie to us multiple times per day
atrupar.com
Kristi Noem: "I was in Portland and met with the governor and mayor and chief of police and superintendent of the highway patrol. They are all lying and disingenuous and dishonest people. Because as soon as you leave the room, then they make the exact opposite response."
radleybalko.bsky.social
Judge Nelson is arguing that a president's declaration that a protest is preventing him from effectively executing the laws -- and therefore gives him the power to send in the military -- is not reviewable by district court judges.
radleybalko.bsky.social
Listening to this. And it's not going well.
gabrielmalor.bsky.social
I will be live-posting Oregon v. Trump, which will be heard before the 9th Cir. shortly.
gabrielmalor.bsky.social
The family has been gathering for a wedding this weekend, so mostly I'm cooking a lot and playing host until Sunday.

I am going to try and make time to listen to this oral argument tomorrow in the National Guard to Portland case.
Reposted by Radley Balko
gabrielmalor.bsky.social
I will be live-posting Oregon v. Trump, which will be heard before the 9th Cir. shortly.
gabrielmalor.bsky.social
The family has been gathering for a wedding this weekend, so mostly I'm cooking a lot and playing host until Sunday.

I am going to try and make time to listen to this oral argument tomorrow in the National Guard to Portland case.
2025-10-09  9:00 am  Courtroom 2, 3rd Floor Rm 330, James R. Browning U.S. Courthouse, San Francisco
Before: GRABER, R. NELSON, and BADE, Circuit Judges
Case No.	Title	Nature	Origin	Time / Side
25-6268	State of Oregon, et al. v. Trump, et al. - Federal officials appeal the district court’s order granting the State of Oregon and the City of Portland’s motion for Temporary Restraining Order, and temporarily enjoining the federalization and deployment of Oregon National Guard service members to Portland. [3:25-cv-01756-IM]	Civil	OR	20 min
radleybalko.bsky.social
Some good news.

That "Texas won't execute a guy who is likely innocent, at least in the near future" counts as good news right now . . . says a lot about right now.

But I'll take it.

clayjak.substack.com/p/breaking-n...
BREAKING NEWS: Robert Roberson will see his next birthday
That should make us all hopeful
clayjak.substack.com
Reposted by Radley Balko
hcrichardson.bsky.social
20 paragraphs down in the NBC News story that broke the information that the administration is considering invoking the Insurrection Act is the report that Stephen Miller is driving the issue.
Reposted by Radley Balko
gottalaff.bsky.social
There it is.
bobcesca.bsky.social
From the memory hole: There was a hostage release and ceasefire deal in place by the Biden administration 10 months ago. It was allowed to expire in March, under Donald Trump, and now it's been revived and rebranded, with Donald taking full credit like always.
Reposted by Radley Balko
bernybelvedere.bsky.social
Rapidly becoming a single-issue voter with that issue being *make sure Pizzagate Posobiec never sets foot in the White House again*. Ready to pledge support to any candidate from any party who guarantees this.
radleybalko.bsky.social
Nothing remotely resembling an insurrection is happening anywhere in the country. Any violence associated with protest has been isolated, mild, and, in nearly every case, instigated by federal law enforcement. If we let Trump get away with calling dissent an insurrection, our republic is over.
BREAKING: Trump Admin 'Seriously' Considering Using the Insurrection Act, Reports NBC
President Trump is "seriously" considering invoking the Insurrection Act in order to more easily deploy National Guard troops to major cities as part of crime crackdown, NBC reported on Wednesday
www.mediaite.com
Reposted by Radley Balko
sethcotlar.bsky.social
Benny Johnson and Oregon MAGA activist (and convicted J6 felon) David Medina accompanied Kristi Noem during her visit to Portland. Here they are amplifying a local MAGA influencer with some, well, interesting ideas about race and religion.
Benny Johnson @bennyjoh...•17h
Huge shoutout to@basedinportland
She and her family drape themselves in American flags and walk the streets of Antifa-overrun Portland, showing fearless support for ICE agents. They spend countless hours outside the ICE facility, thanking the agents working tirelessly to Show more
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Based. In Portland. o
2,998 posts
BENNY SHOW..
日
Follow
Based. In Portland.
@basedinportland
Christ is ALL #MAGA mom in PDX
§ Wife tryin' to be His
dream girl. Mother x 4 life schoolers. Portiand TPUSA Chapter
3:31
INER
Family Leaders.
© Portland, OR # Joined September 2024
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if you wouldn't mind clicking on the account their client uh
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2.4K
Ill 69K Based. In Portland.
White Pride
@basedi... •8/30/25
Celina10101
@celina1010...•8/30/25
It's so over for multiculturalists, the surfer bros are waking up Ö&
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3
176
30
Ill 646 Based. In Portland.
We read our Bibles - we know.
@basedin... •9/8/25
...
No one asked for mass Islamic migration.
Now we must fight legally before the fight requires a well regulated militia.
Wall Street Apes &
@WallSt.. •9/8/25
American Pastor has traveled all over the Europe and has a warning, "The enemy of the world is Islam, 1000%"
"There are places in Texas, there are places in Dearborn, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota that are nearly fully Islamic. They are trying to institute all of their Sharia Show more
radleybalko.bsky.social
It's a disgrace. The Post's Opinion section has now been fully Orbanized.
pbump.com
I spent more than a decade at The Post. It was good to me and I was proud to work there. I’ve largely refrained from being critical since I left. But this framing of the special counsel probe is embarrassing and flatly wrong. Stunning, but not. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Jack Smith’s lawfare and James Comey’s arraignment on pathetically weak charges
Good people will be deterred from public service if they see a meaningful risk of winding up in jail afterward.
www.washingtonpost.com
Reposted by Radley Balko
bgrueskin.bsky.social
I’m not saying that the Washpost’s new Opinion editor was sent on a mission destroy that section’s reputation.

I’m just saying that if someone were sent to destroy the Opinion section’s reputation, they’d be doing exactly what this guy is doing.
pbump.com
I spent more than a decade at The Post. It was good to me and I was proud to work there. I’ve largely refrained from being critical since I left. But this framing of the special counsel probe is embarrassing and flatly wrong. Stunning, but not. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Jack Smith’s lawfare and James Comey’s arraignment on pathetically weak charges
Good people will be deterred from public service if they see a meaningful risk of winding up in jail afterward.
www.washingtonpost.com