Radley Balko
banner
radleybalko.bsky.social
Radley Balko
@radleybalko.bsky.social
Journalist. Quattrone Center journalism fellow.
Author: Rise of the Warrior Cop.
Co-author: The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist.
New podcast: Collateral Damage
Substack: radleybalko.substack.com
Signal: radleybalko.52
Reposted by Radley Balko
What an insane way of talking about a facility that's being described as a "megawarehouse" for human beings.
While bragging that they're eliminating wasteful government jobs by cutting social services, Republicans tout government jobs added by ICE funding.

"We have a new ICE facility built in San Antonio," says Rep. Gonzales (R-TX) on FTN. "This is $125 million that's coming to the community, 1200 jobs."
Transcript: Rep. Tony Gonzales on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Feb. 8, 2026
The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. Tony Gonzales, Republican of Texas, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Feb. 8, 2026.
www.cbsnews.com
February 8, 2026 at 10:48 PM
Reposted by Radley Balko
The Sermon on the Mount, by Beryl Lewis, before 1965, 📸 by @ScottStrazzante
February 9, 2026 at 2:16 AM
Reposted by Radley Balko
Like Kendrick, political as hell precisely because it doesn't bother to acknowledge the haters. They're irrelevant, beneath attention. And nothing is more intolerable to fascists than the thought that their enemies are cool, enjoying themselves, and not thinking about them.
February 9, 2026 at 1:40 AM
Reposted by Radley Balko
They are saying Kid Rock handed his Grammy to lil’ Kyle Rittenhouse during the halftime show.

(Not true. Kid Rock has never won a Grammy).
February 9, 2026 at 1:50 AM
Reposted by Radley Balko
what a shot
February 9, 2026 at 1:38 AM
Reposted by Radley Balko
The Party of Free Speech strikes again.
February 9, 2026 at 12:31 AM
Reposted by Radley Balko
Gift shop in the Minneapolis airport is selling "ICE OUT of St. Paul" posters next to cute onesies and fridge magnets.
February 8, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by Radley Balko
I need this poster on my bedroom wall
February 8, 2026 at 4:10 PM
MAHA commercial featuring Mike Tyson right after Bad Bunny.
February 9, 2026 at 1:37 AM
February 9, 2026 at 1:34 AM
lol
February 9, 2026 at 1:30 AM
Reposted by Radley Balko
The proposed centers are so large that some could house as many as 8,000 detainees at once, according to a DHS spreadsheet of more than 20 potential locations that was verified by NBC News. The largest federal prison in the U.S., for example, has roughly 4,000 inmates.
ICE plans to build mega warehouses for immigration detention spark growing concern
Sources at two government contractors told NBC News they were worried that new warehouses — and the large numbers of immigrants who would be housed in them — would present safety problems.
www.nbcnews.com
February 8, 2026 at 12:23 AM
Varmints and ferments
"I just eat meat and ferments."
RFK Jr on what he'll eat during the Super Bowl: "I am on a carnivore diet so I just eat meat and ferments, and I'm very happy with that. So I'm probably going to have yogurt."
February 8, 2026 at 7:00 PM
"I just eat meat and ferments."
RFK Jr on what he'll eat during the Super Bowl: "I am on a carnivore diet so I just eat meat and ferments, and I'm very happy with that. So I'm probably going to have yogurt."
February 8, 2026 at 6:58 PM
Reposted by Radley Balko
February 8, 2026 at 6:38 PM
Reposted by Radley Balko
“It’s illegal not to like me” part ♾️ bsky.app/profile/jake...
The president is now attacking a US Olympian as a “Loser” and misrepresenting his words for his mild unspecified criticisms about things going on in the US right now.
February 8, 2026 at 6:47 PM
Reposted by Radley Balko
Bill Ackman's fund, Pershing Square, manages 18 billion dollars for wealthy clients, billions of it for the Harvard Endowment

Anyways here he is uncritically eating up conspiracy slop from Naomi Wolf about stolen NYC elections
February 8, 2026 at 2:28 AM
Reposted by Radley Balko
One man tracking people being deported & deportation flights at the Minneapolis airport.
One person creating a record for future inquiries & potential prosecutions.

Trevor Paglen's deep surveillance documentation now being done by everyday people.

www.npr.org/2026/02/06/n...
Minneapolis now has daily deportation flights. One man has been documenting them
A professional airplane enthusiast has been tracking the federally chartered deportation flights out of the Minneapolis airport as DHS sends immigration detainees to other states and, eventually, othe...
www.npr.org
February 7, 2026 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by Radley Balko
i don’t know if it’s the jaunty bow tie or what but i cannot stop laughing at this
February 7, 2026 at 6:19 AM
Reposted by Radley Balko
I'm sorry the guy changing the rules on the fly is named what
I stand with County Executive Calvin Ball as he signs emergency legislation today prohibiting privately owned buildings from being used as ICE detention centers.

Howard County chose dignity, accountability, and its people. Tune into our event now:
bit.ly/4a2VtHw
Redirecting...
bit.ly
February 7, 2026 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Radley Balko
MAGA-aligned military commanders are pressuring enlisted service members to go to the Melania movie and bring their families. Troops at 8 different bases have complained. www.businessinsider.com/us-military-...
February 7, 2026 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Radley Balko
They looked for “Don T” in the Epstein files and redacted all instances, which means they also redacted a lot of “don’t”
February 7, 2026 at 7:56 PM
Reposted by Radley Balko
NEW: A baby held in immigration detention became so sick, she had to be rushed to a hospital in severe respiratory distress.

“She was at the brink of dying,” a lawyer told me.

But the girl didn’t go home after her 10-day hospital stay; instead, ICE put her and her mother back in lock up at Dilley.
Toddler hospitalized with respiratory failure was returned to ICE detention without prescribed medication, lawsuit says
The 18-month-old was sent back to a South Texas facility after days in intensive care with severe respiratory distress, according to a federal lawsuit.
www.nbcnews.com
February 7, 2026 at 8:25 PM
Someone should look into that.
I hate to break it to you, but cops have been told they're above the law for a lot longer than that, in this country.
Even under a best case scenario — Dems take the WH in 2028, ICE and BP are abolished or rebuilt from scratch — we’re still going to have thousands of angry, unemployed, well-armed, MAGA loyalist former immigration cops who have been told for 3-4 years that they’re above the law.
February 7, 2026 at 8:53 PM