Podcast appearances and mentions of Radley Balko

Listen to Zooming In at The UnPopulist in your favorite podcast app: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | RSS | YouTubeLandry Ayres: Welcome back to Zooming In at The UnPopulist. I'm Landry Ayres.We find ourselves in a deeply troubling moment for American democracy, grappling with the stark realities of a political landscape increasingly defined by fear, performative cruelty, and a conscious assault on established norms and institutions.This special live recording from ISMA's “Liberalism for the 21st Century” conference features host Aaron Ross Powell, as well as longtime observer of the militarization of police and author of the Substack, The Watch, Radley Balko, and co-founder and former contributor of The Bulwark, Charlie Sykes, author now of the Substack To the Contrary. They explore the mechanisms of this assault, how a manufactured crisis of fear is being weaponized by law enforcement, and the profound implications for civil liberties and the rule of law in America.The discussion is insightful, if unsettling.A transcript of today's podcast appears below. It has been edited for flow and clarity.Aaron Ross Powell: Welcome to a special live recording of The UnPopulist's Zooming In podcast here at the “Liberalism for the 21st Century” conference in Washington, D.C. I am Aaron Powell and I'm delighted to be joined by Radley Balko and Charlie Sykes to talk about the situation we find ourselves in.To me, the most striking image of Trump's campaign, months before he was reelected, was from the RNC. Before that, there was the weird one of him in the construction vest. But the most terrifying image was the one depicting the “Mass Deportation Now!” signs and the sneering and cruel faces celebrating the culture that they were wallowing in. Those faces made me think, as I was looking at them, of the faces in photographs during the Civil Rights Movement of police officers about to inflict violence, turn on firehoses, let dogs loose, and so on. And it felt like what we are seeing now.The “Mass Deportation Now!” images characterize not just the policies of Trump 2.0, but the attitude that they're trying to inflict upon the country. It feels like a rolling back of what we achieved in the 1960s from the Civil Rights Movement—it feels like we're in a retreat from that. This is a conscious attempt to roll that back. So I wanted to talk about that.Radley, I'll start with you. We're sitting in D.C. right now as National Guard troops and members of all sorts of agencies are patrolling the streets. Is this surprising to you—the pace at which these nominally public servants, who are supposed to serve and protect, have embraced this role of violence and fear and chaos?Radley Balko: I'm surprised at how quickly it's happened. I've been talking to people about this day for the last 20 years. I've been warning about the gradual militarization of our police, which is something that has happened in conjunction with the drug war and then the war on terror over 40 or 50 years.That debate was always about, “How militarized should our police be? How do we balance safety, and giving police officers what they need to protect public safety, with civil liberties and constitutional rights?” The fear was always that another Sept. 11 type event would cause what we're seeing now—that there would be a threat, a threat that everybody acknowledges as a threat, that would cause an administration, states, mayors, to crack down on civil liberties. But it would at least be a threat that everyone recognizes as a threat. We would be debating about how to react to it.When it comes to what's playing out today, there's no threat. This is all manufactured. This is all made up.Your juxtaposition of those two images—the clownish image of Trump in the construction vest and the other one depicting this genuinely terrifying anger and glee a lot of his followers get from watching grandmothers be raided and handcuffed and dragged out of their homes—show the clownishness and incompetence of this administration juxtaposed with the actual threat and danger, the hate and vitriol, that we see from his followers.We always hear that story about Ben Franklin after the Constitutional Convention: a woman comes up to him and says, “So, what is it, Mr. Franklin, do we have a republic or a monarchy?” And he says, “A republic, if you can keep it.” That phrase, of course, has been echoed throughout the ages. If Franklin were alive today, he would say, “You know, when I said that, I was worried about a Caracalla or a Sulla or a Caesar.” Instead it's like, this guy, the guy that has to win every handshake, that's who you're going to roll over for?I saw a lot of libertarian-ish people making this point before the election—that Trump's not a threat, he's a clown, he's incompetent, he's not dangerous. And you know what? He may be incompetent, but he's put people around him this time who do know what they're doing and who are genuinely evil.So, on some level, this was the worst case scenario that I never really articulated over the years when I've talked about police militarization. This is actual military acting as police, not police acting as the military. But here we are and they're threatening to spread it around the country to every blue city they can find.Powell: He's a clown, he's rightfully an object of ridicule, he doesn't know anything, he's riddled with pathologies that are obvious to everyone except him. And yet it's not just that he won, but that he effectively turned, not all of the American right, but certainly a large chunk of it into a personality cult. Charlie, given that he seems to be a singularly uninspiring personality, what happened?Charlie Sykes: Well, he's inspiring to his followers.Let me break down the question into two parts.I was in Milwaukee during the Republican Convention, when they were holding up the “Mass Deportation” signs—which was rather extraordinary, if you think about it, that they would actually put that in writing and cheer it. It's something that they'd been talking about for 10 years, but you could see that they were ramping it up.But you put your finger on this culture of performative cruelty and brutality that they have embraced. Trump has made no secret of that. It's one of the aspects of his appeal. For many, many years he's been saying that his idea of law and order is to have cops who will break heads and inflict harm. He's talked about putting razor blades on the top of the wall that Mexico was going to pay for. He's told stories about atrocities. One of his standard stories—that I think the media just stopped even quoting—was about Gen. “Black Jack” Pershing in World War I taking Muslim terrorists and shooting them with bullets that had been dipped in pig's blood. Totally b******t—he made the whole thing up. But it was an indication of a kind of bloodlust. He's talked about extrajudicial killings. He has expressed his admiration for strongmen like Duterte in the Philippines who have done this. He's talked about having drug courts that would have trials and executions the same day. So this is not a secret.What is really remarkable is the extent to which he's communicated that to his base. I mean, there are Americans who legitimately have concerns about immigration and about the border. But what he's also tapped into is this really visceral hatred of the other and the desire to inflict pain and suffering on them. I think that that is one of the ugliest aspects of his presence in our politics, and we saw that with the “Mass Deportation Now!” signs.Now, the second part is how he is implementing all of this with his raw police state, his masked brute squads sent into the city streets. And, again, he's made no secret of wanting to put active military troops into the streets of American cities. He was blocked from doing that in Trump 1.0, but obviously this is something that he's thought about and wants to do. And one of the most disturbing parts about this is the embrace of these kinds of tactics and this culture by law enforcement itself. Radley's written a lot about this. Donald Trump has gone out of his way, not only to defend war criminals, but also to defend police officers who've been accused of brutality. So he's basically put up a bat signal to law enforcement that: The gloves are off. We're coming in. There's a new sheriff in town.What's happening in Washington, D.C. is just a trial run. He's going to do this in New York. He's going to do this in Chicago. He's going to do this in one blue city after another. And the question is, “Will Americans just accept armed troops in their streets as normal?”Now, let me give a cautionary note here: Let's not gaslight Americans that there's not actually a crime problem. I think Democrats are falling into a kind of trap because there are legitimate concerns about public safety. So the argument shouldn't be: There's no crime problem. The argument should be: This is exactly the wrong way to go about dealing with it. Having mass, brute squads on the street is one step toward really running roughshod over a lot of different rights—due process rights and other constitutional rights—that most Americans are going to be reluctant to give up. But we're going to find out, because all of this is being tested right now.Balko: I'd like to jump in on the crime point. I mean, crime is down in D.C. D.C. does have a comparatively high crime rate for a city of its size. There's no question. It's always been that way here. But the idea that there's something happening right now that merits this response is what I meant when I called it a manufactured crisis.I think it's important to point out that, like you said, he's always wanted to do this. This is just the reason that he's managed to put his finger on and thinks is going to resonate.“I've been talking to people about this day for the last 20 years. I've been warning about the gradual militarization of our police, which is something that has happened in conjunction with the drug war and then the war on terror over 40 or 50 years. That debate was always about, ‘How militarized should our police be? How do we balance safety, and giving police officers what they need to protect public safety, with civil liberties and constitutional rights?' The fear was always that another Sept. 11 type event would cause what we're seeing now—that there would be a threat, that everybody acknowledges as a threat, that would cause an administration, states, mayors, to crack down on civil liberties. But there would at least be a threat that everyone recognizes as a threat. We'd be debating about how to react to it. When it comes to what's playing out today, there's no threat. This is all manufactured. This is all made up.” — Radley BalkoI do think we need to talk about crime and about what works and what doesn't. But I think it's important to acknowledge that “crime” is just the reason that he's found right now. This is something that he's been planning to do forever. Like Kristi Noem said, it is basically about deposing the leadership in these cities. In Los Angeles, she said that their goal was to “liberate” it from the socialist elected leaders.Sykes: I agree with you completely about that. I'm just saying that there is a danger of putting too much emphasis on the idea that there is not a crime problem—because in Chicago, there's a crime problem, in New York, there's a crime problem. People feel it. And, I mean, didn't Democrats learn a lesson in 2024 when there was inflation and they said, “Oh no, no, no, there's not really inflation here. Let me show you a chart. You can't think that the cost of living is a problem because here are some statistics that I have for you. There's not really a problem at the border—if you think there's a problem of immigration, a problem at the border, here, I have a chart showing you that there isn't a problem.” Well, you can't.If the public honestly thinks that there is a problem at the border, that there's a problem with inflation, and that there's a problem with crime, it's politically problematic to deny it because as David Frum wrote presciently in The Atlantic several years ago: If liberals will not enforce the border—you could add in, “or keep the city streets safe”—the public will turn to the fascists. If they think you will solve this problem and you're pretending it does not exist or you're trying to minimize it, they'll turn to the fascists.Balko: I don't want to belabor this, but I just think it's dangerous to concede the point when the premise itself is wrong.So, Trump made crime an issue in 2016, right? Recall the American Carnage inauguration speech. When Trump took office in Jan. 2017, he inherited the lowest murder rate of any president in the last 50 years. And yet he ran on crime. I think that it's important to push back and say, “Wait a minute, no, Obama did not cause a massive spike in crime. There was a tiny uptick in 2015, but that was only because 2014 was basically the safest year in recent memory.”Trump is also the first president in 30 years to leave office with a higher murder rate than when he entered it. You know, I don't think that presidents have a huge effect on crime, but Trump certainly does.So, I agree with you that we can't say crime isn't a problem, but we can also point out that crime went up under Trump and that what he's doing will make things worse.Sykes: I think these are all legitimate points to make. It's just that, Trump has this reptilian instinct to go for vulnerabilities. And one of the vulnerabilities of the progressive left is the problem of governance. If there is a perception that these urban centers are badly governed, that they are overrun with homeless encampments and crime and carjacking, then the public will see what he's doing as a solution.By the way, I'm making this argument because I think that we can't overstate how dangerous and demagogic what he's doing is. But I'm saying that this is going to be a huge fight. He's going to go into Chicago where crime is just demonstrably a problem, and where I think the mayor has an approval rating of about 12 to 16%, and he's going to say, “I am here with the cavalry.”There's got to be a better answer for this. There's got to be a way to focus on the real threat to the constitutional order that he is posing, as opposed to arguing on his ground and saying, “No, no, don't pay attention to crime, inflation, the border.”And, again, I'm making this argument because this is one that I think the country really has to win. Otherwise we are going to see militarization and an actual police state.Powell: Let me see if I can pull together some of the threads from the conversation so far, because I think there's a nexus, or something that needs to be diagnosed, to see the way through.When you [Charlie] were mentioning the bullets covered in pig's blood, what occurred to me was ... I was a kid at the height of '80s action movies. And that's the kind of thing that the bad guys did in '80s action movies. That's the kind of thing that justified the muscular American blowing them up or otherwise dispatching them.There's been a turn, now, in that we're seeing behavior from Americans that they would have at one point said, “This isn't who we are.” The Christianity that many Americans hold to, this is not the way that Jesus tells them to act. There's been a shift in our willingness to embrace this sort of thing, and it's behavior that I would have expected to horrify basically everyone watching it happening.And it is—his approval readings are declining rapidly. It is horrifying a lot of people—but fewer than I would have hoped. One of you mentioned that, on the one hand, there's the cruelty, but there's also the fear—and those are feeding into each other. And what I wonder is, yes, there's crime, but at the same time, if your media consumption habits are those of a committed Trump supporter, you are being told constantly to be afraid that everybody outside your door, except for the people who you recognize, or maybe the people who share your skin color or speak with the same accent you do, is a threat to you and your family.I see this with members of my own family who are Trump supporters. They are just terrified. “I can't ride the subway. It's too scary to ride the subway.” Or, “I go out in D.C. and I see youths doing the kinds of things youths do, and now I don't feel safe having my family there.” We don't have a war. We don't have a crisis. But we've told a huge portion of the country, “You should be afraid of every last thing except your immediate family and that guy who now rules the country.” And the crime rates are part of it. It's like, “You should be scared of every single one of these cities.”Sykes: It's a story. One of the speakers today was talking about the power of stories, that demagogues will tell a story. And a story of fear and anger is a very, very powerful story that you can't counteract with statistics. You need to counteract it with other stories.“This culture of performative cruelty and brutality is one of the aspects of his appeal. For many years he's been saying that his idea of law and order is to have cops who will break heads and inflict harm. He's talked about putting razor blades on the top of the wall that Mexico was going to pay for. He's told stories about atrocities. He would tell the story about Gen. ‘Black Jack' Pershing in World War I taking Muslim terrorists and shooting them with bullets that had been dipped in pig's blood. He's talked about extrajudicial killings. He has expressed his admiration for strongmen like Duterte in the Philippines who have done this. He's talked about having drug courts that would have trials and executions the same day. What is really remarkable is the extent to which he's communicated that to his base. He's tapped into this really visceral hatred of the other and the desire to inflict pain and suffering on them. I think that that is one of the ugliest aspects, and we saw that with the ‘Mass Deportation Now!' signs.” — Charlie SykesPart of the problem is that Trump has made that narrative. So, for example, you have members of your family who are Trump supporters. My guess is that they could name the young women who had been raped and murdered by illegal immigrants. Because, I mean, on Fox News, this is happening all the time, right? On Fox News, illegal immigrants are criminals. “Look at the crimes they are committing.” They tell that story in the most graphic way possible, and then turn around and say, “If you oppose what Donald Trump is doing, you are defending these ‘animals'”—as Trump described them.It is deeply dishonest. It is deeply dangerous. But it is potent. And we ought to look at it in the face and recognize how he is going to weaponize those stories and that fear, which is really the story of our era now. We're living in this era of peace, prosperity, general safety—and yet he's created this “American carnage” hellscape story.Balko: Yeah, I also think there's this weird paradox of masculinity in the MAGA movement. It's not about masculinity—it's about projecting masculinity. It's about co-opting aspects of masculinity. And it's like, “We're the manly men. We need men to be men again. And that's why we support men who sexually assault and sexually harass women. And, at the same time, we're all going to genuflect and debase ourselves in front of this 79-year-old man, because he's our leader and we need to let him insult our wives. And we're also scared to take the subway.” I think there were 10 murders last year in the New York city subway. The subway is one of the safest public spaces you'll find anywhere. But you'll regularly see MAGA people go on Fox News and talk about how scared they are of it.I mean, I don't know how persuadable any of MAGA is, but I do think pointing out the sheer cowardliness might resonate. When Markwayne Mullin goes on the Sunday shows and says he doesn't wear a seatbelt anymore because he's afraid he'll get carjacked and he needs to be able to jump out of his car quickly ...Sykes: ... He actually did say that.Balko: Yeah. And, I don't know what the stats are, but it's something like you're 40 or 50 times more likely to die in a car accident than you are in a carjacking. So, you know, he's sealing his own fate, I guess.But I do think that maybe there's something to appealing to their lack of masculinity when they try to push some of these narratives.Sykes: Well, yeah, I do think there are narratives out there.We have National Guard troops here in Washington, D.C.—where were they on Jan. 6th? Why did the president not bring them in then? We had one of the greatest assaults on law enforcement. So we can call b******t on Donald Trump being the “law and order,” “back the blue” president.One of the first things he did when he took office was issue the blanket pardons to all the rioters and seditionists who not only assaulted the Capitol, but specifically the ones who attacked police officers. We can stand up and say, “I don't want to be lectured by the man who gave the Get Out of Jail Free card to the people who tased and bear sprayed police officers in this city. Not to mention,”—before he brings up the whole “defund the police” thing—“the man who right now is dismantling the nation's premier law enforcement agency, the FBI.” Because all of these FBI agents who are being gutted or tasked with hassling homeless people in Washington, D.C., you know what they're not doing? They are not investigating child sex trafficking. They are not engaging in any anti-terrorism activities.So, what you do is call them out, saying, “You are not making this country safer. You are not the ‘law and order' president. You are a convicted felon. You in fact have freed and celebrated people who actually beat cops.” If Barack Obama would have pardoned someone who had attacked police officers, the right would have been utterly incandescent. And yet Donald Trump does it and he's not called out on it.I understand that there are some who are reluctant to say, “Well, no, we're actually the party of law and order. We're actually the party of public safety.” But you hit him right in what I think is a real vulnerability.Balko: One of the guys who literally told Jan. 6 rioters to kill the police is now a respected senior member of the Justice Department, whereas the guy who threw a sandwich at a cop is facing a felony charge. That is Trump's approach to law enforcement.Sykes: I always hate it when people go on TV and say, “This should be a talking point.” But that ought to be a talking point. Don't you think everybody ought to know his name? We have the video of Jared Wise saying, “Kill ‘em! Kill ‘em!” and calling the police Nazis. And he is now a top official in Donald Trump's Justice Department.Powell: This is my concern, though—and this allows me to belabor my Civil Rights Movement point some more. One of the reasons that the anti-civil rights movement, the counter-movement, was as vicious and as ugly as it was is because it was a group of people who felt like they had a status level by virtue of being white, of being men. As they saw things, “If we help minorities and others rise up, that lowers the baseline status that I have.” So they wanted to fight back. It was, “I'm going to keep these people down because it keeps me up.” And when Radley said that they're “projecting masculinity,” I think that's a big part.A big part of the appeal is, “Now I'm seeing guys like me dominating. Now I'm seeing guys who are from my area or share my cultural values or dress like me or are into the same slogans or have the same fantasies of power as I do, or just aren't the coastal elites with their fancy educations and so on, dominating.” And my worry is if that's what's driving a lot of it—that urge to domination coupled with the fear, which I think then allows them to overcome any barriers they have to cruelty—if you marry, “I can have power” and “I'm scared of these people,” that to them justifies their actions in the same way that it does the action movie heroes killing the guys who put the pig's blood on bullets. It becomes justified to inflict cruelty upon those they hate.My worry is if you go after them in that way, it feels like, “Okay, now what you're saying is these guys who look like me, who were dominating, don't actually deserve it.” I don't think that means that we stay away from it, but I think it risks triggering even more of this, “What I want is for it to be my boot on people's necks and I want them to stop putting me down. And I want them to stop telling me that I'm not good, that I'm incompetent, that it's not okay for me to beat my wife” (or whatever it happens to be). Trump is like an avatar for very mediocre men.Sykes: Well, I wouldn't use that as a talking point.Balko: A few years ago, I wrote a piece about a Black police chief who was hired in Little Rock by a mayor who ran on a reform platform and this police chief had a good record. He was in Norman, Okla. before that—he was the first Black chief in Oklahoma. And he was not a progressive by any means, but he was a reformer in that he wanted things to be merit-based and Little Rock has a really strong white police union. I say that because they also have a Black police union, because the Black officers didn't feel like they were represented by the white union.One of the first things that Chief Humphrey did was make the promotional interviews, that you get to move up through the ranks, blind. So you didn't know who you're talking to. If you were white, you didn't know if it was a fellow white person you were interviewing. Most of the people in charge were. The result of removing race from that process was that more Black officers were getting promoted than before. And I wrote about him because he ended up getting chased out of town. They hit him with fake sexual harassment charges; the union claimed he was harassing white women. Basically, they exerted their power and managed to chase him out.But one of the things he told me when I interviewed him was—and other people have said different versions of this—that when your entire life you've been the beneficiary of racial preferences as a white person, as happened in this country for most of its existence, meritocracy looks a lot like racial discrimination. Because things that you got just simply because you were entitled to now you have to earn. And that looks like, “Hey, this Black guy is getting this job over me. And that's not right. Because my dad got that job over the Black guy and his dad got the job over the Black guy.”And I think this backlash that we're seeing against DEI—I'm sure there are parts of this country where DEI was promoting unqualified people just to have diversity, and I do think there's there's value in diversity for diversity's sake—is white people, who have been benefiting from our racial hierarchy system that's been in place since the Founding, were starting to see themselves passed over because we were now moving to a merit-based system and they saw that as discrimination. That's a big part of the backlash.I don't know what the solution is. I don't know that we just re-impose all of the former policies once Trump's out of power, if he's ever out of power. But I do think that there is value in diversity for diversity's sake. Obviously I don't support strict quota systems, but I do think it's important to make that point that addressing historical injustices is critical.We went to the art museum in Nashville the other day and they had a whole exhibit about Interstate I-40 going through Nashville. It was supposed to go through this industrial area where there were no neighborhoods or private homes. And the Tennessee legislature deliberately made it run through the wealthiest Black neighborhood in Nashville and destroyed about 80% of Black wealth in the city. That was 1968—that was not 1868. That's relatively recently that you're destroying a ton of wealth. And you can find that history in every single city.I think a big part of this backlash is not knowing that history—and only knowing what's happening now and experiencing it out of context. For those people, it feels like reverse discrimination.Sykes: So, yes, a lot of this is true. But it's not the whole story. In the state of Wisconsin, overwhelmingly white voters voted for Barack Obama, a Black man, twice in a row before voting for Donald Trump. So we do have that long, deep history of racism, but then also an America that I think was making some progress. I'm just going to put this out as a counterpoint: I think that if people were appealing to the “better angels of their nature,” a lot of these people would not be buying into the cruelty, the brutality, the racism. Instead, we're appealing to their sense of victimization.But let's be honest about it. We moved from a Civil Rights Movement that was morally based on fairness and the immorality of discrimination to one that increasingly was identity politics that morphed into DEI, which was profoundly illiberal. What happened was a lot of the guys we're talking about were thinking not just that they want their boots on people's head, but they're constantly being told that they were bad, that their contributions were not significant. There were invisible tripwires of grievance—what you could say, what you could do, the way you had to behave. In the before times, a lot of the attacks on free speech and the demands for ideological conformity on university campuses were not coming from the illiberal right—they were coming from the illiberal left.And as I'm listening to the speakers at this conference talk about the assault on liberalism, I think one of the questions we have to ask—and maybe this is a little meta—is why it was so brittle. Well, it was brittle because it was caught in a pincer movement by the illiberal left and the illiberal right. My point is that a lot of this reaction is in fact based on racial animus, but there's also a sense that I hear from a lot of folks, a sense of liberation that they feel, that the boot was on their necks and is now being taken off, that they're not having to go to these highly ideological DEI training sessions where they were told how terrible and awful they were all the time. And how, if you believed in a race-blind society, that was a sign you were racist. If white women actually were moved by stories of racism and wept, that was white women's tears. This was heavy handed.“I do think the people who signed off on extraordinary rendition and snatching people off the street and sending them to a literal torture prison in El Salvador, those people need to be criminally charged. But I also think there need to be civil society repercussions. There are so many people in media—pundits, politicians who know better—who have a long record of pointing out how dangerous Trump was and then turned on a dime and started supporting him. I don't wish any physical harm on those people. I don't think any of those people should be put in prison. But I think those people should never be trusted as public intellectuals.” — Radley BalkoSo there was a backlash that was going to be inevitable. What's tragic is the way that it has been co-opted by the people who have really malign motives, who are not acting out of good will—the Stephen Millers who have figured out a way to weaponize this. But that line that goes from the racism of 1957 to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, to a broad-based civil rights consensus—and, again, there's caveats in all of this—to identity-based politics. Let's be honest about it. That was not without sin. That was not without problems.Balko: So, I agree that there was I guess what you could call an illiberal approach to a mutual exchange of ideas on college campuses. There was a lot of shouting down of conservative speakers. In some cases, there were invitations revoked to valedictory speeches. There was some cutting off of funding for conservative speakers. But I want to make sure we're not delving into false equivalences here. I mean, the boot that you're talking about, Charlie, was a metaphorical boot, and we're talking about a very literal boot now.Sykes: Absolutely. That distinction is a significant one.Balko: So, my preferred way of expressing my disagreement with someone isn't to shout them down. I will say, though, that protest is a form of speech. I think, even to some extent, interrupting speeches that are particularly problematic or extremist is a form of speech. It's not one that I personally would engage in. But the type of censorship we're seeing now is direct. It is government censorship. It is not a violation of the spirit of free expression that we were seeing on college campuses before.Sykes: Oh, it was more than just that kind of violation. You had universities that required people to sign a DEI statement where they had to make ideological commitments in order to get a job. I mean, this was very heavy handed. There were no literal boots, but ... I like Jonathan Rauch's analogy that the illiberalism of the left is still a real problem, but it's like a slow-growing cancer. Right now, what we're facing with the illiberalism of the right is a heart attack. We have to deal with the heart attack right now, but let's not pretend that everyone who objects to some of the things that were happening are doing so because they are just vile, white racists.This is part of the problem. People spent decades accusing others of being racist on flimsy grounds. If you support Mitt Romney, you're a racist. If you support tax cuts, you're a racist. You know what happened? I come from this world and there was a time when to be called a racist was the worst thing you could possibly say about somebody. And it got to the point where, literally, if you were in favor of school choice, you were racist; in favor of tax cuts, you were racist. If you voted for a Republican … John McCain was a racist, George Bush was a racist. So when the real thing came along, guess what people said? They just rolled their eyes, shrugged, and said, “We've heard this before.” I mean, it was crying wolf for decades.And I've had these conversations when I would say, “How can you support someone who is just espousing this raw, vicious racism about Haitians eating dogs?” You know what I would get? “Oh, we've been hearing this for 20 years. Literally everyone I know has been accused of being a racist.”So we need to come back to a consensus. If we're going to restore that liberal consensus, we're going to have to say, “This is acceptable behavior. And this is not acceptable behavior.” But we are not going to use these labels to vilify. The politics of contempt is just not helpful. It is not helpful to tell people, “By the way, I think you're an idiot. I think you're stupid. I think you're racist. Would you like to hear my ideas about taxes now?” It doesn't work. And I think that one of the things that, tragically, Trump has tapped into is the sense that these elites look down on you.So, Aaron, when you say that this is the revolution of mediocre men, not helpful. Now, some of them are mediocre. I certainly agree. I write about mediocre people all the time—but, again, the politics of contempt is not the way to get ourselves out of this.Powell: I think there's a distinction between messaging and diagnosis. And if we're to understand how we got here, or the kinds of beliefs or values that can lead someone ... and I don't mean, you've been a partisan Republican voter for your entire life, and you come from a family of this, and you pulled the lever for Trump, but you're mostly an uninformed voter, which is a lot of people—I mean, the people who are cheering on Stephen Miller, they're in a different category. So it might be that, if you have one of those people in front of you, the message is not to say, “There's a broken set of morals at play here,” or “there's a cramped view of humanity at play here,” because they're not going to hear that in the moment.But if we're to understand how we got here and what we're up against, I think we have to be fairly clear-eyed about the fact that the [Trumpian] values that we've discovered over the last 10, 15 years have much more appeal and purchase among a lot of Americans than I think any of us had really expected or certainly hoped, and then figure out how to address that. And, again, it's not everybody—but it's more than I would like. If those values are central to someone's being, and the way that they view others around them and the way they relate to their fellow man, then I think a lot of the less condemning arguments also won't find purchase because, ultimately, it's not a policy difference. It's a, “I want a crueler world.”Sykes: This is where I think the argument that says, “Let's look at this cruelty. Let's look at this brutality. Let's look at the Stephen Millers” ... believe it or not, I actually think it's potent to say to somebody, “Do you want to be like that? Is that really what you want America to be? You're better than that.” And then, “Let me tell you the story of decency.”The story that we heard earlier today about how neighbors who are Trump voters will be there if your house is burning down or your father dies ... you appeal to that innate decency and say, “Do you really want this cruelty?” This is what's lacking, I think, on the right and in the Republican Party right now: people who say, “Okay, you may want less taxes, smaller government, a crackdown on street crime, less illegal immigration ... but is this who you want to be?” Show them the masked officer who is dragging the grandmother away. I do think that there is the better angel that says, “No, that is really not the American story.” You have to appeal to them as opposed to just condemn them. I'm not sure we're disagreeing, but I actually think that that's potent.Balko: I think there is not only room for ridicule when you're up against an aspiring authoritarian, but a lot of history shows it's often one of the few things that works because they really hate to be disrespected.I agree with Charlie that I don't think it's necessarily productive to make fun of people who have been tricked or who have been lied to, but I also think it's worth pointing out that Trump has contempt for his own supporters. I mean, one of the great ironies of our time is that when Trump would need a boost of self-esteem, he would go hold a rally in a state that, before he ran for president, he would never have been caught dead in. He grifts from his own supporters. His lies about Covid got his own supporters killed at higher rates than people in states that didn't vote for him. But I agree that it doesn't serve much benefit to denigrate people.Sykes: But do ridicule the people who are doing it. I mean, don't get me wrong. South Park is doing God's work right now.Balko: Absolutely.Powell: What, then, is the way forward?“This is part of the problem. People spent decades accusing others of being racist on flimsy grounds. If you support Mitt Romney, you're a racist. If you support tax cuts, you're a racist. You know what happened? I come from this world and there was a time when to be called a racist was the worst thing you could possibly say about somebody. And it got to the point where, literally, if you were in favor of school choice, you were racist; in favor of tax cuts, you were racist. If you you voted for Republican. John McCain was a racist. George Bush was a racist. So when the real thing came along, guess what people said? They just rolled their eyes, shrugged, and said, ‘We've heard this before.' I mean, it was crying wolf for decades.” — Charlie SykesLet's assume that democracy survives this current moment and that we somehow put Trump behind us. We can't go back to the status quo before this. We can't just say, “We're going to go back to the kind of politics we had during the Biden administration.” That seems to be off the table. We need something new. We need a new direction. What does that look like?Sykes: I honestly do not know at this point. And I don't think anybody knows. But I do think that we ought to remember, because we throw around the term “liberal democracy” a lot, that democracies are not necessarily liberal. Democracies are not necessarily kind. And I think we need to go back to things like the rule of law.I think it's going to involve some kind of restoration of balance in society. The damage that's being done now is so deep and some of it is so irreparable that I'm hoping that there will be a backlash against it, that there will be a pendulum swing back towards fundamental decency. And even though we keep talking about democracy a lot, I think we need to start talking about freedom and decency a little bit more.You know, I was listening to the Russian dissident who spoke tonight and he asked us to imagine what it's like trying to create a democratic society in Russia with all of their history and all their institutions. As bad as things are for us, we have a big head start. We still have an infrastructure, compared to what he is up against. We still can restore, I think, that fundamental decency and sense of freedom and equality before the law.Balko: I also don't know exactly what it's going to look like. I will say this: I think one of the big reasons why we are where we are today is that there wasn't a proper reckoning, and no real accountability, after the Civil War and Reconstruction. It's been the same with Jan. 6. There was no real accountability. The Democrats waited too long for impeachment. The DOJ was slow.I do think there have to be repercussions. I'm not saying that we throw everybody in the Trump administration in prison, but I do think the people who signed off on extraordinary rendition and snatching people off the street and sending them to a literal torture prison in El Salvador, those people need to be criminally charged.But I also think there need to be civil society repercussions. There are so many people in media—pundits, politicians who know better—who have a long record of pointing out how dangerous Trump was and then turned on a dime and started supporting him. I don't wish any physical harm on those people. I don't think any of those people should be put in prison. But I think those people should never be trusted as public intellectuals. We shouldn't employ them in that realm. I think they should be able to earn a living. I don't think they should earn our trust.I have zero confidence that that's going to happen. But I can personally say that I have no interest in participating in events like this with those people. I have no interest in giving those people any kind of legitimacy because they tried to take our birthright away from us, which is a free and democratic society—the country that, for all its flaws, has been an exemplary country in the history of humankind. They literally are trying to end that. And I don't think you just get to walk away from that and pretend like it never happened.Sykes: I totally agree.Powell: With that, thank you, Radley. Thank you, Charlie.© The UnPopulist, 2025Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X.We welcome your reactions and replies. Please adhere to our comments policy. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theunpopulist.net

ICE now has the biggest budget of any law enforcement agency in America.“ICE and Customs and Border Protection have long been the most rogue, kind of renegade and certainly pro-Trump police agencies in the federal government,” explained Radley Balko, a journalist who's covered policing for decades. “What I think we are seeing right now is Trump is attempting to build his own paramilitary force. They want people whose first, ultimate loyalty in this job is going to be to the president.”Balko is the author of “Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces.” And he's been tracking the changes at ICE and the Trump administration's escalating law-and-order tactics on his excellent newsletter, The Watch.Mentioned:“ICE's Mind-Bogglingly Massive Blank Check” by Caitlin Dickerson“The police militarization debate is over” by Radley BalkoBook Recommendations:The Highest Law in the Land by Jessica PishkoUnruly by David MitchellBottoms Up and the Devil Laughs by Kerry HowleyThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.You can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.htmlThis episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Jack McCordick. Fact-checking by Will Peischel. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld. Mixing by Isaac Jones. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show's production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Michelle Harris, Rollin Hu, Elias Isquith, Kristin Lin, Aman Sahota, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Tonight on The Last Word: Donald Trump threatens to send troops to more Democratic-led cities. Also, a federal judge blocks the Justice Department from deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia. And the House Oversight Committee issues a subpoena for the Epstein birthday book. Radley Balko, Jason Stanley, Gene Sperling, Andrew Weissmann, Garrett Gaff, and Rep. Robert Garcia join Ali Velshi.

VR4 - It's a Boston doubleheader for this Vapid Response Wednesday as Thomas, Lydia, and Matt take on two truly awful takes from the pages of Matt's hometown paper last week within 24 hours of each other. But first: a vintage amuse douche from Tucker Carlson on the evils of the National Guard's occupation of DC--in January 2021 (and apparently no other time)! Then in today's main stories: (1) Conservative opinion-haver Heather Mac Donald on why she supports Trump's absolute right to send American military personnel to occupy American cities just because he wants to. (2) Project 2025 collaborator Hillsdale College dispatches its finest journalistic mind to explain why Donald J. Trump (yes, that Donald J. Trump) is 2025's best possible candidate for a Nobel Peace Prize (yes, that Nobel Peace Prize). Watch on YouTube! “Trump was right to send the National Guard to Washington,” Heather Mac Donald, Boston Globe (8/13/25) “Breaking down the White House lies about D.C.”, Radley Balko (8/13/25) “Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize,” John J. Miller, Boston Globe (8/14/25) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

RoboCop may be “the future of law enforcement” but he might also be much closer to reality than anyone ever dreamed or feared. Join us as we unpack this classic 1987 movie and the central concept that drives it.“Come quietly or there will be…trouble.”Officer Alex J. Murphy (R.I.P.)This episode of Does it Fly? is brought to you by our friends at Omni Consumer Products, who would like to encourage you to visit beautiful Delta City, Michigan, America's safest place to live…or else!Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop (1987) is genuinely one of the finest science fiction films of the 1980s. Its unique blend of biting satire and over-the-top violence and gore set it apart from the endless parade of Reagan-era hyper violent action movies and the unique “media breaks” and corporate culture feel remarkably (perhaps disturbingly prescient) almost 40 years after release. Hell, we might even argue that the cynical vision of the future on display in RoboCop was too optimistic given the state of the world these days, but that's neither here nor there.Because the central conceit of RoboCop, using cybernetics to enhance a human for the specific purpose of perfecting law enforcement, may have seemed like the stuff of science fiction in 1987, but it's a little closer to the realm of science fact today. Just how close is another story, but that's for our hosts, Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi and Tamara Krinsky, to decide. With that in mind, we'd like to remind everyone of the Prime Directives of our show (not to be confused with Starfleet General Order 1…we are a Roddenberry Entertainment production, after all):Explain the Science of RoboCopUnpack the Story Logic of RoboCopDiscuss the Vibes and Questions that RoboCop RaisesUphold the Law(Wait, no! That last one isn't ours).Check out the latest episode of Does it Fly? for the answers to these questions and more!https://youtu.be/uBbq29Tu7_cSUGGESTED VIEWING The RoboCop franchise is…well, let's pretend that it isn't a franchise. There is one perfect movie from director Paul Verhoeven and then there are fainter and fainter echoes in the form of two big screen sequels (and one reboot), a pair of live action TV series, one average (if bizarre) animated series and one truly unwatchable one. Seriously, the 1987 movie is an all-time genre classic and is not to be missed, and that's the crux of our discussion in this episode.But there's also a truly amazing four part documentary about the making of that film called, appropriately, RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop, which somehow manages to be every bit as compelling as the movie itself. Highly recommended for those who want to get an almost Tamara-like deep knowledge of this brilliant film.FURTHER READING Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today's episode? Of course you do! The Future of Law EnforcementTo build a cybernetic police officer, you require three key ingredients: powered exoskeletons, general robotics, and BCIs (brain-computer interfaces). All of these are pretty broad subjects, but the links will take you to what we believe are the easiest (and coolest!) overviews for the layperson.Robot Police Dogs“Woof, woof, you #@&*$!” Ted TalkMy Stroke of InsightGiven how much of Robo's origin story revolves around a traumatic brain injury and his essential recovery from that, Tamara recommends My Stroke of Insight, which you can find anywhere, but we recommend purchasing from here if you can.“OCP Runs the Cops!”We also recommend Radley Balko's Rise of the Warrior Cop for further insight on the militarization of police. It was written back in 2013 but like RoboCop, it's still incredibly relevant today.WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?For a more recent take on a sci-fi dystopia, allow us to recommend our Squid Game episode!Just for comparison with another hero who uses robotics and cybernetics, we took a look at the science of Iron Man, as well!FOLLOW US!Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! Subscribe to Does It Fly? Pod: https://www.youtube.com/@doesitflypod?sub_confirmation=1And don't forget to follow Roddenberry Entertainment:Instagram: @RoddenberryOfficial Facebook: RoddenberryBluesky: @roddenberrypod.bsky.socialFor Advertising Inquiries: doesitfly@roddenberry.comCheck out the official Does it Fly? playlist, too!

0:00 - Introducing PEEP 1:06 - LA Wildfires (Part 2) 34:46 - Dave's Panama Homework 35:29 - Court Update (Porn Case) 43:20 - Court Update (Net Neutrality) 50:00 - Court Update (Judges Act) 54:25 - Immigration - The Difference Between Biden and Trump 1:06:06 - Immigration - H1B Visas 1:14:59 - Laken Riley Act 1:24:08 - Violence Against Women By Illegal Aliens Act 1:30:40 - Radley Balko Planet America Interview 1:52:05 - Radley Balko PEEP Extra Interview RADLEY BALKO'S SUBSTACK * https://radleybalko.substack.com/ DR DAVE'S HOMEWORK/SHOWNOTES: *The article about the Panama Canal Dr Dave rated https://americasquarterly.org/article/why-the-u-s-should-not-take-back-the-panama-canal/

After two three-year-old girls were raped and murdered in rural Mississippi, two innocent men were convicted and were in prison for decades. Meanwhile the real killer remained free. Today I'm talking to Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington about their fantastic book, The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South.   Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18  See more information on my books: katewinklerdawson.com   Follow me on social: @tenfoldmore (Twitter) / @wickedwordspod (Facebook) / @tenfoldmorewicked (Instagram)   2024 All Rights Reserved  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We received a statement from Kathy Allen's attorney pertaining to a rumor. We also cover the latest defense filing in the case, conspiracy theories around our exclusive news update on Todd Click, and more.Our previous interview with journalist Radley Balko on legal pushback against tool mark identification: https://art19.com/shows/murder-sheet/episodes/f10600ae-ee1e-4b54-8238-a3f5395ce496Our previous interview with a forensic examiner on tool mark identification: https://art19.com/shows/murder-sheet/episodes/96e43dd1-1c7c-4d06-ba25-8342005826d3 Another talk with a forensic examiner on tool mark identification: https://art19.com/shows/murder-sheet/episodes/aa77c321-eb87-4aac-a7cf-01b75cc74d12Support The Murder Sheet by buying a t-shirt here: https://www.murdersheetshop.com/Send tips to murdersheet@gmail.com.The Murder Sheet is a production of Mystery Sheet LLC.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Co-hosts of The New Abnormal Danielle Moodie and Andy Levy are steamed that Gov. Mike DeWine and Springfield Mayor Rob Rue had only a mild message for former President Donald Trump after he took to the national stage to spew a disproven conspiracy theory about their residents. Then, investigative journalist Radley Balko joins the pod to talk about Trump's promise to carry out what would be the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. Plus! A conversation with David Rothkopf, CEO of the DSR Network and regular Daily Beast contributor, about his latest piece. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At Cato University earlier this month, journalist Radley Balko discussed a range of ways that public sector officials, particularly police and prosecutors, are largely able to escape accountability for misconduct. He offers at least one way to evaluate certain incidents to prevent tragic outcomes for Americans going forward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, Hunter spoke once again with Radley Balko, a long-time investigative journalist, to discus his most recent reporting on public defense in Florida and Georgia. As has been discussed on the show previously, both states are struggling to meet the promises of Gideon. For Florida, the state has continued to move in a “tough on crime” direction and seems fine with leaving public defense ill equipped to handle the cases. In Georgia, the lack of independence leaves the system unable to properly advocate for its needs and the needs of their clients.   Guests: Radley Balko, Investigative Journalist   Resources: Read Radley's Coverage Here https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/the-states-of-indigent-defense-part-6eb     Contact Hunter Parnell:                                             Publicdefenseless@gmail.com  Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter                                                                 @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com  Subscribe to the Patron www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast  Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN  *As a reminder, any statements made on the show do not reflect the views or policies of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*

Radley Balko is the guest today as we discuss the Right's efforts to retcon George Floyd's murder and Derek Chauvin's responsibility in a "documentary" from Alpha News, The Fall of Minneapolis. We walk through some of the debunks together, and chat about the broader systemic circumstances that lead for calls of police reform. Radley has done an absolutely incredible series covering this in meticulous detail on his Substack (linked below as well). Be sure to check it out and subscribe; supporting independent journalism is critical! The retconning of George Floyd Part 1 - Part 2 - Interim Update/Response to Coleman Hughes - Part 3 Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content

On the latest episode of Just Asking Questions, Radley Balko debates Coleman Hughes about Hughes' recent column arguing that Derek Chauvin may have been wrongly convicted of George Floyd's murder.

Jose Pagliery, a political investigations reporter at The Daily Beast, joins the program to discuss Trump's jam-packed court calendar. Plus, a conversation with journalist and author Radley Balko about the sinister attempt to “retcon” the death of George Floyd and exonerate the cop who killed him, Derek Chauvin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Controversial physics firebrand Sean Carroll has cut a swathe through the otherwise meek and mild podcasting industry over the last few years. Known in the biz as the "bad boy" of science communication, he offends as much as he educ....> No, we can't back any of that up obviously, those are all actually lies. Let's start again.Sean Carroll has worked as a research professor in theoretical physics and philosophy of science at Caltech and is presently an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. He currently focuses on popular writing and public education on topics in physics and has appeared in several science documentaries. Since 2018 Sean has hosted his podcast Mindscape, which focuses not only on science but also on "society, philosophy, culture, arts and ideas". Now, that's a broad scope and firmly places Sean in the realm of "public intellectual", and potentially within the scope of a "secular guru" (in the broader non-pejorative sense - don't start mashing your keyboard with angry e-mails just yet). The fact is, Sean appears to have an excellent reputation for being responsible, reasonable and engaging, and his Mindscape podcast is wildly popular. But despite his mild-mannered presentation, Sean is quite happy to take on culture-war-adjacent topics such as promoting a naturalistic and physicalist atheist position against religious approaches. He's also prepared to stake out and defend non-orthodox positions, such as the many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics, and countenance somewhat out-there ideas such as the holographic principle.But we won't be covering his deep physics ideas in this episode... possibly because we're not smart enough. Rather, we'll look at a recent episode where Sean stretched his polymathic wings, in the finest tradition of a secular guru, and weighed in on AI and large-language models (LLMs). Is Sean getting over his skis, falling face-first into a mound of powdery pseudo-profound bullshit or is he gliding gracefully down a black diamond with careful caveats and insightful reflections? Also covered the stoic nature of Western Buddhists, the dangers of giving bad people credit, and the unifying nature of the Ukraine conflict.LinksYouTube 'Drama' channel covering all the Vaush stuff in excruciating detailThe Wikipedia entry on Buddhist Modernism Sharf, R. (1995). Buddhist modernism and the rhetoric of meditative experience. Numen, 42(3), 228-283.Radley Balko's Substack: The retconning of George Floyd: An Update and the original articleWhat The Controversial George Floyd Doc Didn't Tell Us | Glenn Loury & John McWhorterSean Carroll: Mindscape 258 | Solo: AI Thinks Different

Today, Hunter is once again joined by Arlington, VA Chief Public Defender Brad Haywood. This time, Brad joins the show to dig into the ways copaganda has negatively impacted criminal legal reforms in Virginia. Specifically, we discuss the ways false media outrage about organized retail theft and the century old war on drug rhetoric have shaped Virginia's discourse on criminal legal policy.   Guests: Brad Haywood, Chief Public Defender, Arlington and City of Falls Chruch, Virginia   Resources:   Retail Theft Coverage https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/07/retail-theft-losses-inventory-nrf https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/02/27/shoplifting-retail-theft-lawmakers-response https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/19/target-store-closures-theft-and-crime-higher-nearby.html#:~:text=Retail-,Target%20blamed%20theft%20and%20violence%20for%209%20store%20closures.,locations%20it%20kept%20open%20nearby&text=Target%20blamed%20theft%20and%20violence%20when%20it%20closed%20nine%20stores,kept%20open%20near%20those%20stores https://sentinelcolorado.com/opinion/editorial-auroras-shoplifter-jail-crusade-is-a-mirage-of-honesty-credibility-and-facts/ Fentanyl Terorism Law https://virginiamercury.com/2023/07/21/states-stiffen-penalties-for-fentanyl-despite-public-health-concerns/#:~:text=Va.,to%20ten%20years%20in%20jail Radley Balko on Jason Miyares https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/virginias-culture-warrior-attorney           Contact Hunter Parnell:                                 Publicdefenseless@gmail.com  Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter                                                                 @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com  Subscribe to the Patron www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast  Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN  

Today, Hunter is joined by longtime criminal justice investigative journalist Radley Balko to discuss his newest reporting on Public Defender systems around the country. Over his storied career covering everything from police misconduct to legislation like AEDPA, Radley noticed that at the heart of so many cases was poor access to competent counsel. This spurred him in the fall of 2023 to start an investigative series into the inner workings of each state's public defender system. Today, Hunter and Radley discuss the first instalment that covered Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Alaska, and California.     Guests: Radley Balko, Investigative Journalist     Resources:   The Watch (Radley's Podcast) https://radleybalko.substack.com/ States of Indigent Defense Part 1 https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/the-states-of-indigent-defense-part Perpetual Crisis in Indigent Defense https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/the-perpetual-crisis-in-indigent Lee Enterprise Arizona https://tulsaworld.com/news/national/on-the-brink-of-crisis-arizona-s-public-defense-system-hit-hard-with-staffing-shortages/article_36323850-9373-11ed-ae95-77f4bfa2e383.html Larry Price https://www.star-telegram.com/news/nation-world/national/article271245217.html#tbl-em-lnvtce7s7qjuyz92fnl     Contact Hunter Parnell:                                 Publicdefenseless@gmail.com  Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter                                                                 @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com  Subscribe to the Patron www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast  Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN  

We recently got the opportunity to speak with the journalist Radley Balko about how two so called "experts" repeatedly gave evidence in criminal courts which may have led to a slew of wrongful convictions. It is a fascinating story — and one he and Tucker Carrington share in detail in the book Cadaver King And the Country Dentist.You can find Radley's substack at: https://radleybalko.substack.com/The Murder Sheet participates in the Amazon Associate program and earns money from qualifying purchases.Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Cadaver-King-Country-Dentist-Injustice-ebook/dp/B01NCHP7XH/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2D71QFMYQOYNR&keywords=the+cadaver+king+and+the+country+dentist&qid=1701378859&sprefix=%252Caps%252C123&sr=8-1&_encoding=UTF8&tag=murdersheet-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=de204b67b7af35f40b32987721665780&camp=1789&creative=9325Send tips to murdersheet@gmail.com.The Murder Sheet is a production of Mystery Sheet LLC .See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on The New Abnormal, MSNBC political analyst and pollster Cornell Belcher talks the science of polls before we all start pulling our hair out. Then we talk to Radley Balko, publisher of Substack page The Watch, about his latest piece discussing how medical examiners shield violent cops from scrutiny. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Offbeat is The Murder Sheet's audio opinion column. It's where we give you our takes on topics in crime. In this episode, we'll talk about our collective bias toward interesting stories, the shortcomings of storytelling in the true crime genre, and how it influences how we all think about real-life crimes.Today on The Murder Sheet, we'll be talking about the deluge of cranks who seem to flock to every major true crime story.Our conversation with Michael Arntfield where he shared the plane anecdote: https://art19.com/shows/murder-sheet/episodes/c51f3f44-5b07-4fc7-9095-b85badd46d07Our conversation with Radley Balko where he discussed problematic expert witnesses: https://art19.com/shows/murder-sheet/episodes/f10600ae-ee1e-4b54-8238-a3f5395ce496Send tips to murdersheet@gmail.com.The Murder Sheet is a production of Mystery Sheet LLC .See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We talk about recent court filings in anticipation of tomorrow's suppression hearing in the case against Richard Allen.Here's a link to our episode with journalist Radley Balko: https://art19.com/shows/murder-sheet/episodes/f10600ae-ee1e-4b54-8238-a3f5395ce496Here's a link to the Caden Smith case: https://art19.com/shows/murder-sheet/episodes/59edcfb1-a293-47db-ade0-849a0c18c4d6Send tips to murdersheet@gmail.com.The Murder Sheet is a production of Mystery Sheet LLC .See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A Chicago judge recently became the first judge in the country to bar the use of ballistics matching testimony in a criminal trial. What inspired him to make that ruling? What does it mean for other cases-- like Delphi-- where ballistics testimony seems to play a key role?To get some answers, we turn to Radley Balko-- a journalist whose coverage of the case first brought it to our attention.You can follow Radley Balko at his Substack: https://radleybalko.substack.com/If you are interested in other perspectives on this subject, you can listen to our earlier episodes on this subject:https://art19.com/shows/murder-sheet/episodes/a00b85a5-138d-449f-b101-d6be85e2e14dhttps://art19.com/shows/murder-sheet/episodes/aa77c321-eb87-4aac-a7cf-01b75cc74d12Send tips to murdersheet@gmail.com.The Murder Sheet is a production of Mystery Sheet LLC .------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Special thanks to our sponsor HelloFresh! They're America's #1 meal kit for a reason. You'll get the convenience of pre-portioned ingredients delivered to your door. This food is healthy and nutritious, with so many farm-fresh ingredients. Plus, it's been fun to try out new meals … it takes all the anxiety out of trying to research recipes and get it right on the first go. We've really enjoyed getting to cook together, and try out all sorts of fresh, delicious meals!Hello Fresh features all sorts of meal plans, including Fit & Wholesome and Pescetarian, so you can find a great match for your preferences and lifestyle, along with plenty of options to mix and match proteins and sides. We're all about saving time, so we also love their Fast and Fresh meals, which take just 15 minutes to put together. It's all the convenience of takeout, without having to rush out and spend a fortune. HelloFresh is actually 25% cheaper than takeout, and also less pricy than running to the grocery store. If you're thinking of trying out Hello Fresh, we'd strongly recommend it. Plus, now's a great time to test it out – Murder Sheet listeners get a special discount! Go to HelloFresh dot com slash msheet16 and use code msheet16 for 16 free meals plus free shipping!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Noam Dworman, Dan Naturman and Periel Aschenbrand are joined by journalist, Radley Balko. Balko is the author of two books and has received numerous honors and awards for his work.

Noam Dworman, Dan Naturman and Periel Aschenbrand are joined by journalist, Radley Balko. Balko is the author of two books and has received numerous honors and awards for his work.

On this week's episode, The Watch's Radley Balko details the landmark decision of a Chicago judge not to allow firearm forensic experts to testify in a criminal case. Balko said the court's decision comes after years of criticism aimed at the field of forensic pattern matching. He argues many of the techniques made famous on shows like CSI have little scientific basis. Many, he said, are based on little more than the best guesses of examiners who are mainly just eyeballing evidence. He explained the idea that matching a mass-produced bullet to the mass-produced gun it was fired from, to the exclusion of all other guns, may well be impossible. Or, at the very least, we don't have advanced enough techniques to pull it off with the level of certainty you'd want for evidence that could put somebody in jail for years or even decades. Indeed, Balko noted, most examiners cited as experts in court are unwilling to even submit to outside tests of their methods. Plus, Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman and I talk about how far the injunctions against President Biden's pistol-brace ban extend. Jake also tells us about his latest rifle purchase, which is a bit of a throwback. And I give an update on how I'm liking the Phlster Enigma and appendix carry. Special Guest: Radley Balko.

The 2014 SWAT raid on the Martinez home, which left a Pomona police officer dead, was part of a multi-jurisdictional operation targeting members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club. So what was David Martinez's relationship with the Mongols, and how did that relationship lead to a raid on his family home in San Gabriel? In this episode we zoom out from the night of the raid to see a bigger picture that includes the Mongols' long history with the ATF and David's fraught history with them. We then explore the SWAT raid itself with police militarization expert Radley Balko, plus the search warrant affidavit, police operations reports, and shocking interviews with detectives after the raid. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's episode of You And The Law Podcast Show Co-hosts Chiefs along with their guest. Journalists and author Radley Balko, talk about police misconduct and his investigative reporting. Along with discussing his book Rise of the Warrior Cop. The Militarization of America's Police --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/youandthelaw/support

U.S. police officers shoot and kill more than 1,000 people annually. According to a Washington Post study, half of those people are White, but Blacks are shot at more frequently, even though they represent just 14% of the population, and are killed at more than twice the rate of Whites. The same is true of Hispanic Americans and Latinos. This is a collision of the rawest and most brutal sort and it raises myriad questions about safe streets and public safety; crime, racism and institutional violence; police training and the increased militarization of US police forces. This week on Crash Course, Tim O'Brien interviews two guests: Radley Balko, a journalist and the author of “The Rise of the Warrior Cop,” and Laurence Ralph, an anthropology professor at Princeton University and the director of the Center on Transnational Policing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Memphis Police Department has disbanded its special SCORPION unit, after five of the unit's officers were involved in the death of Tyre Nichols. But similar units are still operating across the U.S.Specialized police units are often created after a spike in crime, as officials come under pressure to do something about it. The units often operate with little oversight and develop a reputation for using aggressive tactics.We speak with journalist Radley Balko, author of "Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces." He has studied police tactics and whether special units work to keep communities safe.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Tonight on The Last Word: Tyre Nichols's family holds a press conference. Also, 24 GOP senators sign a letter demanding spending cuts. Plus, Rep. George Santos recuses himself from committee assignments. And Trump pleads the Fifth over 400 times in the New York fraud deposition. Marq Claxton, Radley Balko, Sen. Chris Murphy, Rep. Daniel Goldman and Barbara McQuade join Lawrence O'Donnell.

Five days after former police officers were charged with murder in the death of Tyre Nichols, the circumstances that led to his death renewed conversations about policing, the use of force and related issues. Radley Balko, author of "Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces," joined Geoff Bennett to discuss the new attention around elite police units. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

The Fellas discuss Radley Balko's book "The Rise of the Warrior Cop"

We can argue at length about the proper role of government. But if we're to have any state at all, one of its clear jobs is to protect us from crime, and to punish criminals.And yet the American criminal justice system is anything but just, and a full accounting of just how bad it is can be pretty harrowing. The criminal justice system is the most direct application of violence by government on its citizens, and it's overrun by corruption, self-interest, racism, and brutality.To talk about just how bad things are and how we can build a more humane system, I'm joined by journalist Radley Balko (@radleybalko). For years, he's been the top writer in the country when it comes to investigating, exposing, and cataloging the horrors and corruption of the American criminal justice system.Radley and I talk about the state of our system, the prospects for reform in the wake of the widespread protests after the murder of George Floyd, and why many in the liberty movement tend to turn into law and order, bust some heads conservatives whenever those pushing back on police violence and state injustice get even the slightest bit unruly.Support the show and get every episode two weeks early, as well as access to the Discord community and book club. Sign up here: https://www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribeProduced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reimaginingliberty.com/subscribe

We can argue at length about the proper role of government. But if we're to have any state at all, one of its clear jobs is to protect us from crime, and to punish criminals. And yet the American criminal justice system is anything but just, and a full accounting of just how bad it is can be pretty harrowing. The criminal justice system is the most direct application of violence by government on its citizens, and it's overrun by corruption, self-interest, racism, and brutality. To talk about just how bad things are and how we can build a more humane system, I'm joined by journalist Radley Balko (@radleybalko). For years, he's been the top writer in the country when it comes to investigating, exposing, and cataloging the horrors and corruption of the American criminal justice system. Radley and I talk about the state of our system, the prospects for reform in the wake of the widespread protests after the murder of George Floyd, and why many in the liberty movement tend to turn into law and order, bust some heads conservatives whenever those pushing back on police violence and state injustice get even the slightest bit unruly. ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club. Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

The presence of the US Constitution is the root of all evil. The absence of the US Constitution is the root of all evil. The US Constitution shrugged. Works Used In The Making of This Episode: NSA Warrantless Searches. Wikipedia. Reality Winner. Wikipedia. FISA. Wikipedia. "Limiting no-knock warrants is not enough. The Breonna Taylor tragedy leaves no doubt." The Editorial Board, USA TODAY. July 19, 2021. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/todaysdebate/2021/07/19/breonna-taylor-limiting-no-knock-warrants-isnt-enough/7937814002/. "Detention Short of Arrest: Stop and Frisk." Justia US Law. https://law.justia.com/constitution/us/amendment-04/14-detention-short-of-arrest-stop-and-frisk.html "The No-Knock Warrant for Breonna Taylor was Illegal." Radley Balko, Washington Post. June 3, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/03/no-knock-warrant-breonna-taylor-was-illegal/. "Surveillance Under the USA Patriot Act." https://www.aclu.org/other/surveillance-under-usapatriot-act. "The FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump's Florida residence." https://www.vox.com/23302249/fbi-search-mar-a-lago-former-president-donald-trump-florida-doj LawByMike on TikTok. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

What makes Nashville laugh? Where are the best places in town to catch a comedy show? What is it like to be a comedian in Music City?  To answer these questions and more, we're joined by a panel of local comedians, producers, and booking managers. They'll share their experiences on stage, and give us some insight into what it takes to put together a show.  The start the show, we'll be joined by journalist Radley Balko to discuss his Nashville Scene report on Nashville Code enforcement and how its being abused. Guests:  Radley Balko, opinion journalist for Washington Post Amber Autry, comedian and producer for Don't Tell Comedy Brad Sativa, comedian and Tennessee native Lydia Popovitch, comedian who moved to Nashville from California in 2021  Donnie Sengstack, comedian and application developer with Vanderbilt Medical Additional Reading: Nashville Scene: Code Snitching – Nashvillians Are Weaponizing Metro Codes Against ‘Undesirable' Neighbors

Daniel Woislaw of Pacific Legal Foundation joins us to talk about the intersection of civil rights and property rights. We discuss when a search and seizure can cross the line to a taking, how the U.S. Supreme Court has considered property interests in a Fourth Amendment context, and what Fourth Amendment issues eminent domain attorneys should be aware of when assessing a matter.   Daniel's book recommendations: Origins of the Fifth Amendment: The Right Against Self-Incrimination by Leonard Levy Rise of the Warrior Cop, by Radley Balko   Please share your thoughts on the show or this episode with me. I'm on Twitter @J_Clint. If you have thoughts about future show guests or ideas for episodes, please let me know.

Author and Washington Post Columnist Radley Balko joins the show this week to talk about how police militarization impacts gun rights. Balko has spent a career documenting questionable police tactics, and he provides some unique insight into the Amir Locke case. Minneapolis Police killed Locke during a no-knock raid in February because he reached for a gun during the confusion caused by his apartment door being kicked in without warning. Locke wasn't the subject of the warrant and had no record, but he ended up dead. Now, the police officer who shot him has been cleared of any wrongdoing. He is far from the only person who has had their life or freedom taken without recourse as the result of drawing a gun during a no-knock raid. Balko gives background on a vast collection of people who have found themselves in the same situation. We also discuss the delicate balance between respecting police, attempting to make their jobs safer, and upholding Americans' civil liberties. Balko explains his view on how gun-rights proponents should react when those priorities come into conflict. And he shares real-world examples of it happening, including the use of dubious ballistic matching evidence against criminal defendants. Plus, Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman and I discuss California Senator Diane Feinstein's (D.) solution to last week's deadly shootout in Sacramento. And we have another member segment too! Special Guest: Radley Balko.

The FBI's crime lab is considered one of the very best, but the agency also has a long record of scientific errors that have contributed to false convictions. Radley Balko details the latest scandal. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Wherein we are joined by Radley Balko to discuss his new piece in The Intercept -- "Big Trouble in Little Rock" -- describing the old guard in a police unit trying to take down a Black reformist police chief. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Carol François and Kourtney Square, the aunt and niece duo, are taking a self-care break, but until they return with a new episode of Why Are they So Angry? listen to this reprise of "A Night of Terror at the Algiers Motel". Citing the extensive research from Radley Balko's compendium of studies about systemic racism in the criminal justice system and harrowing encounters with police brutality as detailed in the Algiers Motel incident, the pair trace the long history of policing and over policing starting as far back as America's Colonial times. Citations: Campaign Zero, https://www.joincampaignzero.org/ “Eight Can't Wait Project”, https://8cantwait.org/ “Slave patrols: an early form of American policing, Chelsea Hansen, July 10, 2019, National Law Enforcement Museum, https://lawenforcementmuseum.org/2019/07/10/slave-patrols-an-early-form-of-american-policing/ Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, Douglas A. Blackmon, Doubleday, 2008. Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas, Sally Hadden, Harvard University Press, 2003. “There's Overwhelming evidence that the criminal justice system is racist. Here's the proof”, Radley Balko, Washington Post, June 10, 2020. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/carol-francois/support

Radley Balko argues that over the last several decades, America's cops have increasingly come to resemble ground troops. The consequences have been dire: the home is no longer a place of sanctuary, the Fourth Amendment has been gutted, and police today have been conditioned to see the citizens they serve as an other—an enemy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Radley Balko, journalist, author, and criminal justice blogger, joins us this week to discuss the U.S. criminal justice system as a whole, the problems with crime labs, the militarization of the police, and the future of enforcement.

Intro:- Funny/stupid childhood memories: staying up lateBook Report:- Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis (Nick)- Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ | IMDb (Ken)Life in Japan:- Customer service in Japan (Nick)- TV news media too harsh on celebrity private lives, esp re drugs and marital infidelity (Ken)Links:Elimination diet | WikipediaCarnivore diet | Everyday HealthHalloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) | IMDbIseya Yusuke | Japan Times (topic page)“Why Paul McCartney Ended Up Spending Nine Days in Jail” | UCR"What the World Could Teach America About Policing" by Yasmeen Serhan | The AtlanticOn Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman | Goodreads"Magazine vs Clip – What's the Difference and Why is it Important?" by Sam Hoober | The Truth About GunsRadley Balko | Goodreads (author page)Radley Balko: a curated collection of links | The Marshall ProjectRadley Balko | ACLU"Abortion and crime: who should you believe?" by Steven D. Levitt | Freakonomics Blog

Dr. Carol François and her niece Kourtney Square are at it again taking a deep dive into explaining systemic racism. Episode 5 is part two of their “Criminal Justice Trilogy”, delving into how justice becomes injustice in America's courts. They look at the role of jurors, prosecutors, and judges in upholding systemic racism and examine how sentencing and wrongful convictions disproportionately penalize Black/African Americans. You'll hear about the gruesome murder of teacher David Wyatt at the hands of a white mob as well as the tragic story of Lena Baker. Finally, the duo brings the topic into focus by showing the relationship of the past to present-day prison conditions and practices. WARNING, this episode contains graphic violence and is not suitable for children. Learn more about this team and their work to see, say, and confront systemic racism at www.whyaretheysoangry.com. Citations “Ga. Woman Pardoned 60 Years After Her Execution,” Heard on All Things Considered, NPR, August 26, 2005. “In Honor of Lena Baker (Posthumously),” United States Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr., Congressional Record Statement, https://bishop.house.gov/media-center/congressional-record-statements/in-honor-of-lena-baker-posthumously?fbclid=IwAR1oyJNo9_U6qU0d4tuSNQe4WtlCBPpqBFpCOE4m7uIkfyRoVwyPLLCXQNc Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, by Douglas A. Blackmon. “There's Overwhelming evidence that the criminal justice system is racist. Here's the proof”, Radley Balko, Washington Post, June 10, 2020. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/carol-francois/support

Join Dr. Carol François and Kourtney Square, the aunt and niece duo, for Episode 4 of Why Are they So Angry? This episode, the first in a three-part series about systemic racism in America's criminal justice system, examines the phenomenon in policing. Citing the extensive research from Radley Balko's compendium of studies about systemic racism in the criminal justice system and harrowing encounters with police brutality as detailed in the Algiers Motel incident, the pair trace the long history of policing and over policing starting as far back as America's Colonial times. The episode ends with recommendations for how listeners can confront systemic racism in their personal spheres of influence. Learn more about this dynamic team at the website www.whyaretheysoangry.com or follow them on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Citations: Campaign Zero, https://www.joincampaignzero.org/ “Eight Can't Wait Project”, https://8cantwait.org/ “Slave patrols: an early form of American policing, Chelsea Hansen, July 10, 2019, National Law Enforcement Museum, https://lawenforcementmuseum.org/2019/07/10/slave-patrols-an-early-form-of-american-policing/ Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, Douglas A. Blackmon, Doubleday, 2008. Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas, Sally Hadden, Harvard University Press, 2003. “There's Overwhelming evidence that the criminal justice system is racist. Here's the proof”, Radley Balko, Washington Post, June 10, 2020. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/carol-francois/support

In this episode we move through Paul Butler's theorization of the chokehold and give a fast and dirty summation of the War on Drugs, the militarization of the police, and the consequences of contemporary policing. This draws from my time as a student of Dawn Dow and Gretchen Purser and my study of Michelle Alexander, Radley Balko, Michelle Brown, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Loic Wacquant, and Bruce Western among others. What's shared here isn't exhaustive but lays a foundation for better understanding emerging critiques of policing.  

Follow us! RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themindkiller Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mind-killer/id1507508029 Google: https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Iqs7r7t6cdxw465zdulvwikhekm Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/vvcmifu6  Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-mind-killer    News discussed:   Justin Amash is introducing a bill to end qualified immunity Samuel Sinyangwe's Twitter thread proposing police reforms  The NAACP's demands The 8 Can't Wait Campaign Congress has announced hearings on legislation to end or curtail the program giving excess military equipment to police Tyler Cowen article on police unions The Cato Institute explaining police courtesy cards Slatestarcodex on race and justice  Radley Balko on police violence and race  Zvi Mowshowitz on quarantine restrictions going forward Trevor Bedford Twitter thread on the effects of protest on quarantine and followup Asymptomatic spreading is “very rare” says WHO Phil Magness' Facebook post regarding Sweden   Happy News!   UK welcomes Hong Kongers fleeing tyranny   Got something to say? Come chat with us on the Bayesian Conspiracy Discord or email us at themindkillerpodcast@gmail.com. Say something smart and we'll mention you on the next show!   Intro/outro music: On Sale by Golden Duck Orchestra This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindkiller.substack.com/subscribe

News Failing Fish and Game eyes bail-out http://www.unionleader.com/news/environment/panel-offers-prescription-for-struggling-wildlife-agency/article_c94f3e08-64e7-561a-8622-224ba561c772.html?block_id=664688 Having the agency pay for itself makes the most sense, paying out of the general fund will unmoor it from reality, like other agencies Taking violations out of the court system makes sense Canoe licenses make sense Getting more federal money will come at a price of more federal control Rescues from White Mountains National Forest should be paid by private insurance and hikers should require insurance to go up there The idea that the state (ie everyone who lives around you) should pay for your hiking mistakes is morally outrageous Liberty Stance: Privatize the lake or whatever body of water and let the shareholders of the lake's corporation determine what's to be done. Walter Block wrote a book The Case for Privatizing Oceans, Rivers, Lakes and Aquifiers https://mises.org/library/water-capitalism-case-privatizing-oceans-rivers-lakes-and-aquifers Former Portsmouth Police commissioner and partner indicted in shooting case http://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/former-portsmouth-police-commissioner-partner-indicted-in-shooting-case/article_378bf097-ee35-58c3-b677-d036e502e787.html?block_id=664688 Shot fired when teen intruder was fleeing, not when in the home Like any dangerous job, training can remove danger by replacing emotional reaction with calm competence A forklift driver who panicked and killed a co-worker as a consequence could not simply claim “Well I have a dangerous job.” This is childish excuse making. Manchester Police looking into body cameras (Matt) http://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/manchester-police-looking-at-body-cameras-for-officers-price-tag/article_d97ffda6-dbed-50c3-bf2b-afa865affc34.html?block_id=664686 Between $250 and $900k If funding is an issue, let go of some officers or admin. Don't let the Police Chief decide. His input should be noted though. Check out Radley Balko's blog for de-escalation and themarshallproject.org Battle for Secretary of State wages on “New Hampshire is one of three states where legislators choose the chief election official, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.” http://www.nhpr.org/post/lawmakers-face-mounting-pressure-both-sides-secretary-state-race Van Ostern's site http://vanostern.com/our-platform-free-fair-new-hampshire/ Bill Gardner, believe it or not. No website. But the secretary of state's website http://sos.nh.gov/ Portsmouth NH Passes scooter ordinance: (matt) http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20181126/portsmouth-passes-scooter-ordinance Why? Has accumulation of these things become a problem? I thought Bird paid people to gather these up? Link to LA times article criticizing Birds https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-bird-scooter-vandalism-20180809-story.html Events Freecoast Liberty Outreach Meetup (Please only talk about this week's) Rochester meet-up this Thursday the 29th Seacoast Holiday Fun 39th Annual Candlelight Stroll at Strawbery Banke http://www.seacoastonline.com/thingstodo?_ev_id=314567_39th_annual_candlelight_stroll Seacoast Media group runs Gift of Warmth for families struggling to pay for fuel this Winter http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20181125/gift-of-warmth-opens-as-winter-arrives Four baby goats up for adoption from Throwback Brewery http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20181121/throwback-brewerys-baby-goats-up-for-adoption Nubble lighthouse decked out for the Christmas season http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20181124/lighting-of-nubble-ushers-in-holiday-season NH History Early History Keene Granted a township in 1732 by Massachusetts Governor Jonathan Belcher Originally named Upper Ashuelot In 1741 NH and Massachusetts settled their boundary dispute and the town was north of the new line It was a miniature republic, setting its own laws and managed its own political affairs without higher influence. Upper Ashuelot took no part in provincial affairs for 27 years. Most of the Connecticut river valley wasn't at the general assembly. The first interaction the town had with the province, as it was then, was for the refusal to pay taxes for the support of the minister From the provincial records 1742: “I am therefore by his Excellency's Command to inform the respective Inhabitants, that it will be very agreable to the Governor that you & each of you, who have been delinquent on that occasion, do forthwith comply with your obligations in regard to the payment of your Ministers, as a contrary behavior will incur his Excellency's displeasure.” In 1747 during King George's war, part of the French and Indian wars, indigenous americans attacked the village and burnt it down. People started resettling there as early as 1749 but due to the whole boundary issue before Governor Benning Wentworth regranted the town after a petition was gathered. “Claiming the right to name the town, the governor named it Keene. In his business as merchant at Portsmouth, previous to his appointment as governor, Mr. Wentworth had contracted with an agent of the court of Spain to supply that government with a large quantity of oak timber. To meet the expense involved he borrowed money in London. When he delivered the timber at Cadiz the agent with whom he had made the contract was out of office and the new agent declined to pay. On his voyage home his ship foundered and he was saved with the crew in a boat, to find himself bankrupt. Afterwards he made another voyage to Spain and claimed payment for his timber. Sir Benjamin Keene was then the English minister to Spain, and he used his influence to aid Mr. Wentworth, who, though unsuccessful in his suit, formed a warm friendship for Sir Benjamin, and his gratitude, and his admiration for the man, led him to name this town in his honor   Named after an attempted bailout   https://ci.keene.nh.us/keene-public-library/griffin-history-town-keene   Suggestions/Feedback Do you have a topic that you would like for us to discuss? A correction and additional piece of information that we may have overlooked, please send it in to freecastpodcast@gmail.com While you are here, follow us on Twitter @freecastpodcast and like our Facebook page.

North Korea's nuclear program is racing forward. The regime tested a Pukguksong-2 missile on Sunday and leader Kim Jong-Un made a big show of ordering the missiles into mass production. Ankit Panda, host of the podcast The Diplomat, joins Lindsay Beyerstein to talk about North Korea's nuclear strategy. Mainstream media pundits often portray Korean leadership as erratic and irrational, but Kim's nuclear strategy is anything but haphazard, Panda says. What kind of nuclear conflict is North Korea envisioning? What can their arsenal already do? The Trump administration has promised a new approach to North Korea, but officials have struggled to articulate what that means. Is the era of “Strategic Patience” really over? Recommended reading: With DHS Position, Clarke Would Be the First ‘Patriot' Leader to Hold a Federal Post, by David Neiwert for The Southern Poverty Law Center, 2017 A David Clarke dossier, by Radley Balko for the Washington Post, 2017