Shelby Balik
@shelbymbalik.bsky.social
Professor at MSU Denver. Historian of early America and American religion: politics, households, reading and writing, gender, and race. Parent of current and recent teenagers. I should be writing.
she/her/Dr.
she/her/Dr.
Did the SNF commentators just promote the Betsy Ross myth? Yes. Yes, I believe so.
Ask a historian or stick to football, @snfonnbc.bsky.social
Ask a historian or stick to football, @snfonnbc.bsky.social
November 17, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Did the SNF commentators just promote the Betsy Ross myth? Yes. Yes, I believe so.
Ask a historian or stick to football, @snfonnbc.bsky.social
Ask a historian or stick to football, @snfonnbc.bsky.social
It sounds like the NY Times is ... nostalgic? for this "lost" New York?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/s...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/s...
Epstein Emails Reveal a Lost New York
www.nytimes.com
November 16, 2025 at 9:32 PM
It sounds like the NY Times is ... nostalgic? for this "lost" New York?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/s...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/s...
In other news, Texas A&M will heretofore be known as TPUSA.
November 14, 2025 at 2:50 PM
In other news, Texas A&M will heretofore be known as TPUSA.
Well, let's see. Liberal feminism put women in the workplace. So ... oh, I see where you're going with this question.
How does Douthat still have a job?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/o...
How does Douthat still have a job?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/o...
Opinion | Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace?
www.nytimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Well, let's see. Liberal feminism put women in the workplace. So ... oh, I see where you're going with this question.
How does Douthat still have a job?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/o...
How does Douthat still have a job?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/o...
I know you are, but what am I?
November 4, 2025 at 4:50 PM
I know you are, but what am I?
People are about to lose their health care and SNAP benefits, but thank goodness we're honoring people who committed treason in defense of slavery.
A Confederate statue toppled in Washington, D.C., in 2020 has been reinstalled
A statue of Confederate general Albert Pike, which had been pulled down during the Black Lives Matter movement, has been put back up in Washington, D.C.'s Judiciary Square.
www.npr.org
October 29, 2025 at 1:05 AM
People are about to lose their health care and SNAP benefits, but thank goodness we're honoring people who committed treason in defense of slavery.
A military paid with private funds is no longer a military. They are private mercenaries.
www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...
www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...
Pentagon to use $130 million donation from anonymous Trump ‘friend’ to pay military members | CNN Politics
The Trump administration plans to funnel a $130 million donation from an anonymous ally of President Donald Trump toward paying military service members during the government shutdown, the Defense Dep...
www.cnn.com
October 25, 2025 at 3:06 AM
A military paid with private funds is no longer a military. They are private mercenaries.
www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...
www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...
I've got a bad feeling about this.
October 25, 2025 at 2:45 AM
I've got a bad feeling about this.
What about babies who develop fevers? They take Tylenol. If so, we’re talking about … (checks notes) … basically every child.
RFK JR: There are many other confirmations -- there are two studies that show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism. It’s highly likely because they are given Tylenol
October 9, 2025 at 6:35 PM
What about babies who develop fevers? They take Tylenol. If so, we’re talking about … (checks notes) … basically every child.
Nope.
Trump: "We took the freedom of speech away because that's been through the courts and the courts said you have freedom of speech, but what has happened is when they burn a flag it agitates and irritates crowds."
October 9, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Nope.
"One of the negative consequences AI is having on students is that it is hurting their ability to develop meaningful relationships with teachers, the report finds."
Teaching is only possible with positive and trusting relationships. So AI is f*cking that up, along with everything else.
Teaching is only possible with positive and trusting relationships. So AI is f*cking that up, along with everything else.
Rising Use of AI in Schools Comes With Big Downsides for Students
A report by the Center for Democracy and Technology looks at teachers' and students' experiences with the technology.
www.edweek.org
October 8, 2025 at 10:44 PM
"One of the negative consequences AI is having on students is that it is hurting their ability to develop meaningful relationships with teachers, the report finds."
Teaching is only possible with positive and trusting relationships. So AI is f*cking that up, along with everything else.
Teaching is only possible with positive and trusting relationships. So AI is f*cking that up, along with everything else.
We have seen the enemy within, and it isn't who they say it is.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Trump tells a roomful of silent generals to join a ‘war from within’
The president delivered an unusually meandering speech to an unprecedented gathering of the nation’s top military leaders
www.washingtonpost.com
September 30, 2025 at 5:44 PM
We have seen the enemy within, and it isn't who they say it is.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
What the what?
White House official Lindsey Halligan: "While slavery is obviously a horrible aspect of our nation's history, you can't really talk about slavery honestly unless you also talk about hope and progress ... we need to stop focusing so much on the lack of progress."
September 27, 2025 at 9:58 PM
What the what?
ATTN: Portland is in fact not a war zone. The Dept. of Defense is just trying to declare war on it anyway. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!
September 27, 2025 at 6:22 PM
ATTN: Portland is in fact not a war zone. The Dept. of Defense is just trying to declare war on it anyway. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!
Pretty sure we've long since settled the "battle" v. "massacre" question. This is sickening.
Only an administration intent on committing war crimes in the present and future would stoop to calling Wounded Knee a "battle" rather than what it truly was: a massacre of over 250 Lakotas, mainly women, children, and the elderly. 1/
September 26, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Pretty sure we've long since settled the "battle" v. "massacre" question. This is sickening.
Bait taken.
September 24, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Bait taken.
Just a religious historian, going through a bit of scholarly déjà vu, thinking she's probably knows how this rapture thing is going to turn out.
September 23, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Just a religious historian, going through a bit of scholarly déjà vu, thinking she's probably knows how this rapture thing is going to turn out.
Oh, but they are.
Trump:
"When you have a network, and you have evening shows, and all they do is hit Trump... They're not allowed to do that."
"When you have a network, and you have evening shows, and all they do is hit Trump... They're not allowed to do that."
September 19, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Oh, but they are.
I deeply resent that I live in a historical moment -- however brief it may be -- in which I have to agree with Tucker Carlson.
www.huffpost.com/entry/tucker...
www.huffpost.com/entry/tucker...
Trump Administration's Free Speech Crackdown Has Even Tucker Carlson Alarmed
"There's nothing darker than that," he warned.
www.huffpost.com
September 18, 2025 at 5:12 PM
I deeply resent that I live in a historical moment -- however brief it may be -- in which I have to agree with Tucker Carlson.
www.huffpost.com/entry/tucker...
www.huffpost.com/entry/tucker...