Radley Balko Speaking in Philly Tonight

I'll be speaking on police militarization at Drexel University tonight. The event is open to the public.

Details:

Tuesday, May 12—9-11 pm.

Campbell Auditorium, 113 Stratton Hall

3201 Chestnut Street

Philadelphia, PA.

Comments

[nobody]

Sonuvabitch! I’m supposed to have my D&D game tonight. I’d skip it, but I’m the DM. Fuckityfuckfuck.

[nobody]

Goddamn responsibilities and whatnot.

[ed]

It’s all about priorities.

[High Every Body]

If I start warming up the Rambler now I might get there in time.

[Mad Max]

nobody,

Combine the two concepts.

DM: The innkeeper refuses to serve you any more ale. He says you are “verily as pickled as an herring, and more foul-smelling.”

PLAYER 1: He can’t do that to me! I’m a Paladin, sworn to avenge wrongs and fight evil! I can’t take this kind of disrespect from civilians! I summon all my Paladin buddies to the tavern.

DM: You meet your buddies at the tavern door. Now what?

PLAYER 1: We bust the door down!

PLAYER 2: I zap the innkeeper with my +2 Taser of Stunning!

DM: The innkeeper is stunned, but doesn’t fall down.

PLAYER 3: I kill his dog with my two-handed sword!

PLAYER 4: I tackle him and put him in irons for resisting arrest!

PLAYERS 1, 2 and 3: Us, too!

DM: You hit the dog, it takes 10 hit points of damage, and since it only had half a hit point to begin with, the dog is dead. You’ve also successfully tackled the innkeeper and shackled him.

PLAYER 1: I plant a mandrake root in his pocket and charge him with possession of a controlled substance.

etc.

[Brandon]

Radley,

What’s the turnout and response been like at these campus events?

[rox_publius]

Mad Max = awesome

[nobody]

My D&D group was nice enough to reschedule our game night this week and so I got to see Radley speak.

I arrived at the lecture hall 15 minutes late (stupid South St. bridge construction) and was happily surprised at the large turnout. The event seemed to be organized by the Drexel University Student Liberty Front (I immediately thought they were a left wing revolutionary group when I saw the name, though the flag they sported was the familiar Don’t Tread on Me) and the audience appeared to be mostly students with a smattering of adults between the age of roughly 30 and 60. The crowd was attentive and interested and most stayed through to the very end (nearly 2 hours).

I’d read most of the anecdotes on H&R and the Agitator that Radley told the audience. Clearly, there were many in the audience that had not. I think many were pushed a bit further toward outrage at the current state of the nation.

One moment in particular struck me though, and that was when Radley mentioned that the best way to end the militarization of law enforcement would obviously be to end the War on Drugs, but “that will never happen”. Frickin’ Radley.

[nobody]

Also, I saw a student give a knowing fist pump when Radley mentioned the Cato study concerning drug legalization in Portugal. Awesome.

[Scotticus]

HTML experimentation
05/14/09 14:55

[Scotticus |]

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