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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

104,183 Followers  |  1,891 Following  |  5,012 Posts  |  Joined: 08.05.2023
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Posts by Radley Balko (@radleybalko.bsky.social)

It's all so goddamned predictable.

01.03.2026 16:06 β€” πŸ‘ 493    πŸ” 99    πŸ’¬ 8    πŸ“Œ 2
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Tulsi Gabbard released a fundraising video in 2019 titled "Trump's Path To War With Iran"

"We've gotta stop Donald Trump from starting a war with Iran."

01.03.2026 02:39 β€” πŸ‘ 2302    πŸ” 879    πŸ’¬ 82    πŸ“Œ 71
User Chris: What was the core difference why you think the DoW accepted OpenAI but not Anthropic

Sam Altman: 
I can't speak for them, but to speculate with the best understanding of the situation.

*First, I saw reporting that they were extremely close on a deal, and for much of the time both sides really wanted to reach one. I have seen what happens in tense negotiations when things get stressed and deteriorate super fast, and I could believe that was a large part of what happened here.

*We believe in a layered approach to safety--building a safety stack, deploying FDEs and having our safety and alignment researcher involved, deploying via cloud, working directly with the DoW. Anthropic seemed more focused on specific prohibitions in the contract, rather than citing applicable laws, which we felt comfortable with. We feel that it it's very important to build safe system, and although documents are also important, I'd clearly rather rely on technical safeguards if I only had to pick one.

*We and the DoW got comfortable with the contractual language, but I can understand other people would have a different opinion here.

*I think Anthropic may have wanted more operational control than we did

User Chris: What was the core difference why you think the DoW accepted OpenAI but not Anthropic Sam Altman: I can't speak for them, but to speculate with the best understanding of the situation. *First, I saw reporting that they were extremely close on a deal, and for much of the time both sides really wanted to reach one. I have seen what happens in tense negotiations when things get stressed and deteriorate super fast, and I could believe that was a large part of what happened here. *We believe in a layered approach to safety--building a safety stack, deploying FDEs and having our safety and alignment researcher involved, deploying via cloud, working directly with the DoW. Anthropic seemed more focused on specific prohibitions in the contract, rather than citing applicable laws, which we felt comfortable with. We feel that it it's very important to build safe system, and although documents are also important, I'd clearly rather rely on technical safeguards if I only had to pick one. *We and the DoW got comfortable with the contractual language, but I can understand other people would have a different opinion here. *I think Anthropic may have wanted more operational control than we did

I saw some folks asking what the difference was between what OpenAI signed with the DoD and what Anthropic said they wanted, and Sam more or less admits here the key point: OpenAI's deal requires them to trust the NSA. Anthropic's contract had real safeguards.

01.03.2026 04:38 β€” πŸ‘ 2337    πŸ” 579    πŸ’¬ 27    πŸ“Œ 49
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Civil rights stories removed from Border Patrol’s website during Black History Month Historical accounts of women, Black men, and the agency’s deployment against segregationists in the sixties have disappeared from the official Customs and Border Protection (CBP) website.

NEW: As Black History Month comes to a close, CBP appears to have scrubbed stories about Black people and marginalized groups' contributions to the history of the agency from an official page.

Archived versions show the changes happened the first week of February:

26.02.2026 22:02 β€” πŸ‘ 436    πŸ” 233    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 7
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Got a cab near the Department of Education. Hadn’t seen the Charlie Kirk banner before.

01.03.2026 15:15 β€” πŸ‘ 1985    πŸ” 554    πŸ’¬ 379    πŸ“Œ 482

These assholes are really gonna go with β€œwar is peace, actually.”

01.03.2026 03:10 β€” πŸ‘ 2610    πŸ” 528    πŸ’¬ 93    πŸ“Œ 11
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Peace is war. War is peace.

01.03.2026 03:00 β€” πŸ‘ 554    πŸ” 109    πŸ’¬ 39    πŸ“Œ 14
Two photos. The first shows Catturd tweeting: Name one US inspired regime change that hasn't ended in absolute disaster

The next tweet shows him posting an AI illustration of Khamenei turned into a pile of dust. It says "I'm eliminated."

Two photos. The first shows Catturd tweeting: Name one US inspired regime change that hasn't ended in absolute disaster The next tweet shows him posting an AI illustration of Khamenei turned into a pile of dust. It says "I'm eliminated."

Two tweets. The first shows Laura Loomer promoting her show, where she says "A message has been sent that we are not interested in going back to the way politics were prior to Donald Trump, prior to 2016. We don't want warhawks. We don't want any more Neocons. We want American First. Period. End of discussion."

The next tweet says: Today is a great day. 

Our military is amazing. 

@PeteHegseth
 is an absolute killer. 

Now you see why the Deep State worked so hard against him. 

It’s great having a Sec War who has Infidel literally tattooed on his body. 

He actually gets it. 

God bless him.

Two tweets. The first shows Laura Loomer promoting her show, where she says "A message has been sent that we are not interested in going back to the way politics were prior to Donald Trump, prior to 2016. We don't want warhawks. We don't want any more Neocons. We want American First. Period. End of discussion." The next tweet says: Today is a great day. Our military is amazing. @PeteHegseth is an absolute killer. Now you see why the Deep State worked so hard against him. It’s great having a Sec War who has Infidel literally tattooed on his body. He actually gets it. God bless him.

Two tweets. The first shows Will Chamberlain tweeting: The Republican Party is no longer the party of regime change and endless wars. If you want to be its standard-bearer that is a non-negotiable position.

The next tweet shows him posting "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead." The tweet has a USA flag attached.

Two tweets. The first shows Will Chamberlain tweeting: The Republican Party is no longer the party of regime change and endless wars. If you want to be its standard-bearer that is a non-negotiable position. The next tweet shows him posting "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead." The tweet has a USA flag attached.

Two tweets. The first shows Gunther Eagleman tweeting: "Warmonger Lindsey Graham just rushed to Fox to advocate for U.S. involvement as soon as he could.

He is also pushing for a US-backed regime change in Iran.

I would like to renominate Graham to get a one-way ticket to the frontlines of every war he wants America involved in." There's an attached video of Graham speaking. 

The next shows Eagleman tweeting: UST IN! President Trump is HARD AT WORK all weekend after the massive strikes on Iran!

He’s already on the phone with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte! 

Trump is a machine!" There's an attached video of a news segment about the war in Iran.

Two tweets. The first shows Gunther Eagleman tweeting: "Warmonger Lindsey Graham just rushed to Fox to advocate for U.S. involvement as soon as he could. He is also pushing for a US-backed regime change in Iran. I would like to renominate Graham to get a one-way ticket to the frontlines of every war he wants America involved in." There's an attached video of Graham speaking. The next shows Eagleman tweeting: UST IN! President Trump is HARD AT WORK all weekend after the massive strikes on Iran! He’s already on the phone with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte! Trump is a machine!" There's an attached video of a news segment about the war in Iran.

manufacturing consent through lowly paid influencers

28.02.2026 20:20 β€” πŸ‘ 6611    πŸ” 1497    πŸ’¬ 91    πŸ“Œ 75

Senator Mullin that guy died in 1989

28.02.2026 21:03 β€” πŸ‘ 1722    πŸ” 285    πŸ’¬ 74    πŸ“Œ 10

If you were at work today and you got a phone call from your wife that France just blew up your kid's school, your lifelong opinion of France is probably not going to be anything other than "Death to France"

28.02.2026 16:47 β€” πŸ‘ 962    πŸ” 267    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 12
Post image 28.02.2026 15:31 β€” πŸ‘ 8461    πŸ” 2251    πŸ’¬ 461    πŸ“Œ 121

So, it was Iran? Not China? Not Venezuela? Not the radical left?

We are living inside the minute-by-minute delusions of a madman.

28.02.2026 17:02 β€” πŸ‘ 2411    πŸ” 753    πŸ’¬ 116    πŸ“Œ 27

(American bombing stops.)

Trump: I stopped NINE wars

28.02.2026 17:49 β€” πŸ‘ 212    πŸ” 29    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Exclusive: Prior to Iran attacks, CIA assessed Khamenei would be replaced by hardline IRGC elements if killed, sources say In the run-up to the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Saturday, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency assessed that even if Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the operation, he would likely be replaced by hardline figures from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), two sources briefed on the intelligence said.

Exclusive: Prior to Iran attacks, CIA assessed Khamenei would be replaced by hardline IRGC elements if killed, sources say reut.rs/4l9SCAs

28.02.2026 16:05 β€” πŸ‘ 1615    πŸ” 867    πŸ’¬ 68    πŸ“Œ 267
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Hennepin County Attorney’s Office blasts DOJ over closed civil rights investigation The Justice Department announced it had ended an investigation into Mary Moriarty’s office over a policy considering race in charging decisions. Her office called the investigation a β€œstunt.”

"This was a political attack from the beginning. Their lawyers committed to defending actual civil rights have left."

www.startribune.com/doj-civil-ri...

27.02.2026 15:30 β€” πŸ‘ 61    πŸ” 14    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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> @covie93.bsky.social

28.02.2026 16:11 β€” πŸ‘ 25682    πŸ” 5404    πŸ’¬ 245    πŸ“Œ 181

In a just world, every bad faith git with a platform who called Trump an anti-war president would be driving DoorDash for the next ten years. It was always such transparently false bullshit.

28.02.2026 17:38 β€” πŸ‘ 1229    πŸ” 219    πŸ’¬ 33    πŸ“Œ 17
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Washington Post layoffs include entire Ukraine, Middle East bureaus - National | Globalnews.ca The Post’s executive editor Matt Murray called the move painful but necessary to put the outlet on stronger footing and weather changes in technology and user habits.

I’m not the world’s fourth-richest man so I don’t mean to speak out of turn here, but I think that firing your full-time foreign correspondents right before a major war might not have been a particularly wise move in terms of, you know, getting or keeping subscribers

globalnews.ca/news/1165243...

28.02.2026 12:55 β€” πŸ‘ 637    πŸ” 153    πŸ’¬ 35    πŸ“Œ 10

Democrats should promise that every refugee, asylum seeker, and green card holder illegally deported, arrested, sent to CECOT, or sent to a third country can come back to the U.S. with a fast track to citizenship.

28.02.2026 17:28 β€” πŸ‘ 1083    πŸ” 252    πŸ’¬ 14    πŸ“Œ 2

WOW. 19 people, all who were imprisoned and mistreated in a foreign prison at the direct command of the United States, are brave enough to say β€œWe are innocent, and we will endure more time imprisoned to prove that.”

I can only admire the enormous courage such a move takes.

28.02.2026 16:57 β€” πŸ‘ 4603    πŸ” 1373    πŸ’¬ 32    πŸ“Œ 14
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Radiohead is demanding that the Trump administration take down a pro-ICE promotional video featuring a version of its song β€œLet Down” without permission.

Full statement from the band:

27.02.2026 19:23 β€” πŸ‘ 6257    πŸ” 1561    πŸ’¬ 72    πŸ“Œ 141

Related point, if you are in misinformation research and have been launching study after study to see what Uncle Fred thinks after seeing misinformation PLEASE listen to what @katestarbird.bsky.social and I have been saying for years: effects on elite and official action is what matters most.

28.02.2026 16:36 β€” πŸ‘ 265    πŸ” 79    πŸ’¬ 8    πŸ“Œ 4

In case you’re just waking up, the U.S. has teamed up with Israel overnight to start an illegal war of regime change, apparently on a presidential whim with no involvement of Congress, and they are already committing horrific atrocities.

28.02.2026 12:14 β€” πŸ‘ 6505    πŸ” 2759    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 74
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You can just say things.

28.02.2026 08:21 β€” πŸ‘ 4539    πŸ” 1288    πŸ’¬ 89    πŸ“Œ 96
28.02.2026 12:23 β€” πŸ‘ 1892    πŸ” 667    πŸ’¬ 94    πŸ“Œ 24
THE SENIOR

THE SENIOR

I still refuse to believe this is a real movie

28.02.2026 03:59 β€” πŸ‘ 1339    πŸ” 48    πŸ’¬ 168    πŸ“Œ 20

Yes, it really was triple posted. Everything is fine.

28.02.2026 04:00 β€” πŸ‘ 299    πŸ” 64    πŸ’¬ 8    πŸ“Œ 0

So let’s think about this.

A private company refused - on principle - to yield to the government’s demands.

The government then cancelled its contracts with the company and has set about destroying it

27.02.2026 23:55 β€” πŸ‘ 4917    πŸ” 1566    πŸ’¬ 235    πŸ“Œ 89

Once again, in actual democracies, people do not need to engage in permanent litigation & political mobilization to retain the basic right to vote, because none of the major political parties make restricting suffrage the central pillar of their policy platform. We also don't have to live like this.

28.02.2026 01:46 β€” πŸ‘ 3241    πŸ” 1027    πŸ’¬ 40    πŸ“Œ 12
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Confused Trump Says the Civil War and Reconstruction Were the Same Thing: β€˜A Fancy Way of Saying the Civil War’ President Donald Trump botched 19th-century U.S. history on Friday, telling a crowd of supporters that the Civil War and Reconstruction were the same thing.

I don’t know how much less surprised I could be that Trump isn’t familiar with Reconstruction.

28.02.2026 01:35 β€” πŸ‘ 1442    πŸ” 282    πŸ’¬ 69    πŸ“Œ 24