Incidentally, last week when I was in California I had dinner with another blogger I'm quite fond of. During the course of dinner we were talking about various blogs we like, and he said "No offense, but I think Radley Balko is the most valuable blogger in America right now."
None taken, as I quite agree. Radley is one of the few bloggers doing actual reporting on police and prosecutorial abuse, shining light on the darker spots of the justice system. If you're not reading him, you either need to rectify this situation, or get your head examined. I think most cops are fundamentally good people doing a dangerous and that is neither well-paid nor particularly rewarding. Likewise, prosecutors generally went into their work because they care deeply about justice. But both groups of people have vast and poorly supervised powers of coercion, which is a recipe for making bad things happen. The work Radley does actually makes America a better place, which is more than almost any of the rest of us can claim.
Yeah. And unlike you, Balko is actually a libertarian. He doesn't use it as a label that he has to excuse every time some major issue - the war, the collapse of Bear Stearns, the mortgage crisis, monetary policy - comes along.
"If you're not reading him, you either need to rectify this situation, or get your head examined."
And if you're not reading Patterico.com's critiques of Balko then you're naive.
Balko is too overwrought, overheated, and prone to distortion ["but for noble reasons, I swear!"] for my tastes.
i was enjoying balko's blog until i saw this post - http://www.theagitator.com/2008/03/11/idol-blogging-7/
Radley's work is the most valuable, but it's the hardest to read. Other bloggers entertain and inform, Radley does that while making me really, really angry. Nobody else is out there breaking things down to the local, individual level and pointing out every little abouse of power from the top on down, and it's impossible to read him without feeling that little spark of rage I didn't think I had
Was the blogger with whom you dined Will Wilkinson?
Radley Balko should win some sort of journalistic award...do they have a Pulitzer Prize for bloggers? I guess he could win it for his work for Reason.
And if you're not reading Patterico.com's critiques of Balko then you're naive.
Patterico's rejoinders of Balco are limited. He really just takes an ocasional swipe at Balko when Balko gets overwrought and overstates the scope of some injustice or other by only reporting one side.
The rest of the time, it's dead silence. Patterico, in my experence, disappears when Balko's pointing out various injustices/horrors of the drug war and resulting police militarization in our country, incidents of prosecutor misconduct, etc. And nobody else seems to pipe up, ever.
Is it helpful to have someone keeping Balko in check every once in a while? Sure. But unfortunately, that's about the only response to Balko's documentation endless litany of abuses. They point out the (and I'm being generous here) five to ten percent of the time when he overreaches. And seem to ignore everything else.
"The work Radley does actually makes America a better place, which is more than almost any of the rest of us can claim."
Wow Megan, you just took a big fat dump into the palm of the invisible hand.
Couldn't agree more, which I bring up since you don't seem to be getting a lot of love for this post.
Mr. Balko got a man off death row. Which is easily the most impressive accomplishment I've heard any blog claim (and he's too humble to claim it) - hell, possibly more impressive than the accomplishments of all other political blogs combined.
I don't read Balko because the first time he came to my attention - Corey Maye(?) - he laid out a compelling case of police incompetence and injustice that turned out to be completely wrong. Not overwrought but wrong. They didn't have a warrant for the premises searced, no wait they did. They didn't identify themselves as police, no wait they did. The man had a license for the firearm, no wait, etc. At that point I punted since I can't trust what he writes.
Thank you for the kind words, Megan.
Megan, I second your comments on the value of Radley's work.
CAL, as an attorney who was moved to become actively involved in Cory Maye's case after reading Radley's initial posts in December 2005, I urge you to look into the matter further. Radley got some significant details wrong in his initial posts, and he candidly corrected those errors as he obtained more information. But the fact remains that what happened to Cory Maye is an injustice that has yet to be redressed.
I believe Radley's blog includes links to our post-trial briefs seeking a new trial for Cory, as well as links to the opposition briefs filed by the State. I think there may also be a link to the transcript from the two-day post-trial evidentiary hearing held in September 2006. I urge you to read through those materials, and then reach your own informed conclusion concerning whether Cory, at a minimum, deserves a new trial. I think you will agree after reading those materials that Cory's case raises deeply troubling questions that should concern us all, and that Radley deserves credit for helping to bring these issues to light.
CAL,
They didn't have a warrant for the premises searced, no wait they did. They didn't identify themselves as police, no wait they did. The man had a license for the firearm, no wait, etc.
Maye rented a duplex; the police had a search warrant for the other side.
As to whether they identified themselves, accounts vary. Maye claims they did not. The raiders say they did. Neighbors couldn't corroborate either way.
A firearm license is immaterial to whether or not they had/didn't have a warrant or did/did not announce themselves. If you want to get him on a firearm registration law, so be it, but he didn't murder anyone and should not be executed for his role in the death.
CAL -
Inre: the Corey Maye case --- Not in Defense of Radley, but regardless of what he said that was right or wrong, you seem to be missing a insanely large point about principals much broader than simply the cops might have done something wrong or this guy might have done something unlawful...
Cal -
MS born and raised here. MS has no licensing system for handguns, no permit required for purchase, no registration, and no record of sale. Balko may have thought at the time a permit was required (it is in other locales), but in MS owning/having a gun in your house is no different than having a TV.
Balko's my favorite blogger, but he should be fact-checked just like anyone else, and he makes mistakes like anyone else.
But his coverage is unlike most bloggers, and he's making a real impact. Many bloggers never do the level of research on a subject to stumble across a Corey Maye. Even if they did, it's likely dismissed as a simple case of a person involved with drugs who's a cop-killer.
I've been reading Radley almost daily for a few years now and I have yet to read another blog that even holds a candle to The Agitator. He updates very frequently and always seems intellectually honest. The links are good too.
Radley points out the ugly consequences of a government quietly overstepping its bounds and shamelessly helping itself to it's citizens property and freedoms -fuel for anyone who despises corruption and injustice. It seems now that there's nothing which can't be regulated or outlawed so long as it can be loosely argued that it harms children or helps terrorists. Basically anything. It's maddening that this type of journalism gets less exposure than sports or celebrities. Keep up the good work Radley.
As for the Cory Maye discrepancies; there's all sorts of things wrong with this raid but I don't see how the gun permit was even relevant. Would a permit have changed anything?
Mr. Balko got a man off death row. Which is easily the most impressive accomplishment I've heard any blog claim (and he's too humble to claim it) - hell, possibly more impressive than the accomplishments of all other political blogs combined.
Right, which is why I see Patterico as being small minded and nit picky.
Abram,
CAL wont read anything, he has already made up his mind.