Robert Balkovich
@robertbalkovich.bsky.social
Sr. Lead Editor at Explore, former Lonely Planet guidebook writer, prolific and unremarked on fiction writer
Couldn't have happened to a worse piece of shit.
Woke 2 has arrived, and thank fuckin' god
Actress Dasha Nekrasova Fired By Gersh, Dropped From Movie Amid Backlash Over Podcast Interview With Far-Right Political Commentator Nick Fuentes
Actress Dasha Nekrasova has been dropped by Gersh over a podcast interview with far-right political commentator Nick Fuentes.
deadline.com
November 14, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Couldn't have happened to a worse piece of shit.
Any journalistic institution that does Olivia Nuzzi apologia should just be shuttered. This is basically the New York Post but with moodier photography.
November 14, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Any journalistic institution that does Olivia Nuzzi apologia should just be shuttered. This is basically the New York Post but with moodier photography.
The way some people talk about Bluesky content moderation....like I think it's always a good idea to discuss and question where the line is and how/when the rules are applied but it's starting to give
November 14, 2025 at 4:13 PM
The way some people talk about Bluesky content moderation....like I think it's always a good idea to discuss and question where the line is and how/when the rules are applied but it's starting to give
Sometimes you see a picture of a guy who was born the same year as you and you go "I'm actually doing fine. I look great, actually."
November 13, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Sometimes you see a picture of a guy who was born the same year as you and you go "I'm actually doing fine. I look great, actually."
This is actually a pretty perfect encapsulation of the abject media failure that got us here: a prolific sexual predator who had close connections to the country's most powerful people is "a guy" and a two-time president is just "somebody" so the things they said about each other aren't newsworthy.
The emails that you’re seeing now are news in themselves, but that’s because of how they’re coming out—a congressional committee released them—& the context in which they’re being viewed. A guy emailing a reporter talking about old girlfriends or saying someone is “dirty” is not a whole news story.
November 13, 2025 at 5:39 PM
This is actually a pretty perfect encapsulation of the abject media failure that got us here: a prolific sexual predator who had close connections to the country's most powerful people is "a guy" and a two-time president is just "somebody" so the things they said about each other aren't newsworthy.
It really is astounding that it apparently gave no editors pause that this fact check column ends with "Rest assured -- [total speculation about something the fact checker doesn't actually know for sure]."
I just remembered this from Glenn Kessler 3 months ago
November 13, 2025 at 2:50 PM
It really is astounding that it apparently gave no editors pause that this fact check column ends with "Rest assured -- [total speculation about something the fact checker doesn't actually know for sure]."
As much as she is right on this one it should also be noted that basically the only House members MGP speaks out against like this are Democratic members of color.
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez shocked and dismayed colleagues today with a rogue effort to condemn retiring Rep. Chuy García for effectively ensuring his chief of staff would succeed him in Congress.
Chaos erupts on House floor as Democrat moves to condemn fellow party member
Gluesenkamp Perez was told by fellow Democrats, "You don't need to do this right now."
www.axios.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:47 AM
As much as she is right on this one it should also be noted that basically the only House members MGP speaks out against like this are Democratic members of color.
Reposted by Robert Balkovich
Say what you will about Mike Johnson's tactical skills: he not only managed to make Grijalva a household name by refusing to swear her in, but he also further intensified the interest in the Epstein files. Checkmate, libs.
BREAKING: Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva is sworn into office, ending weeks of delay as the House reconvenes for a vote on funding deal.
Adelita Grijalva sworn in as the House's newest member, paving the way for an Epstein files vote
After weeks of delay, Democrat Adelita Grijalva of Arizona is a member of the U.S. House. Grijalva was sworn into office Wednesday, more than seven weeks after she won a special election in Arizona to fill the House seat last held by her late father.
bit.ly
November 12, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Say what you will about Mike Johnson's tactical skills: he not only managed to make Grijalva a household name by refusing to swear her in, but he also further intensified the interest in the Epstein files. Checkmate, libs.
You really would be hard pressed to find a public figure who is more openly contemptuous of the American populous than Donald Trump.
November 12, 2025 at 4:09 PM
You really would be hard pressed to find a public figure who is more openly contemptuous of the American populous than Donald Trump.
not "You're a cretin" 😩😩😩
Ruby Rose slams Sydney Sweeney and her team for “ruining” the Christy Martin biopic:
“For her PR to talk about it flopping and saying SS did it for the ‘people’. None of ‘the people’ want to see someone who hates them, parading around pretending to be us. You’re a cretin and you ruined the film.“
“For her PR to talk about it flopping and saying SS did it for the ‘people’. None of ‘the people’ want to see someone who hates them, parading around pretending to be us. You’re a cretin and you ruined the film.“
November 12, 2025 at 3:34 AM
not "You're a cretin" 😩😩😩
We actually don't hate the Trump admin enough.
NEW: The US has deported a longtime Oregon firefighter who was arrested by Border Patrol while deployed at a major wildfire in Washington state.
José Bertin Cruz-Estrada, separated from his family, is speaking out from Mexico for the first time:
“I feel betrayed ... What am I going to do now?"
José Bertin Cruz-Estrada, separated from his family, is speaking out from Mexico for the first time:
“I feel betrayed ... What am I going to do now?"
US firefighter detained on the job speaks out after deportation: ‘I feel betrayed’
Exclusive: Border patrol arrested José Bertin Cruz-Estrada while he was battling a wildfire in Washington. He is now in Mexico, separated from his family in Oregon
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:14 AM
We actually don't hate the Trump admin enough.
This is not even a knock on Josh Shapiro himself but I'd rate his odds of winning a Dem presidential primary at 0%. His only constituencies are in Pennsylvania and the NYTimes editorial page.
You have to understand what pieces like this from the NYT are and are not.
They are not an honest assessment of the state of politics today.
They are a negotiation tactic—an effort by a calcified, right-leaning legacy institution to steer the discourse in a direction more palatable to elites.
They are not an honest assessment of the state of politics today.
They are a negotiation tactic—an effort by a calcified, right-leaning legacy institution to steer the discourse in a direction more palatable to elites.
November 11, 2025 at 8:35 PM
This is not even a knock on Josh Shapiro himself but I'd rate his odds of winning a Dem presidential primary at 0%. His only constituencies are in Pennsylvania and the NYTimes editorial page.
Anthony Horowitz: The last time we saw bond, he was poisoned and blown to smithereens -- how will they get past the fact that he is dead with a capital D?
Rebecca Ass: My name is Rebecca Ass.
Rebecca Ass: My name is Rebecca Ass.
James Bond’s death in No Time to Die is causing a nightmare for the next film. Writers are stuck because Bond “was blown to pieces.”
Anthony Horowitz, author of three 007 novels, says:
“You can't have him wake up in shower and saying it was all a dream."
radaronline.com/p/james-bond...
Anthony Horowitz, author of three 007 novels, says:
“You can't have him wake up in shower and saying it was all a dream."
radaronline.com/p/james-bond...
November 11, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Anthony Horowitz: The last time we saw bond, he was poisoned and blown to smithereens -- how will they get past the fact that he is dead with a capital D?
Rebecca Ass: My name is Rebecca Ass.
Rebecca Ass: My name is Rebecca Ass.
Josh Barro is regularly loud and wrong in ways that would tarnish anybody else's career, but his father has a Wikipedia page so instead he gets to keep publishing his opinions in the New York Times.
No, false.
This wasn’t about a mere “policy agenda”—pre-Trump shutdowns were, which is also why they were much shorter—it was about egregious lawbreaking.
No one explained how it could’ve gone any other way? I did.
Just put on the red hat and say you like the serially lying authoritarian, Josh.
This wasn’t about a mere “policy agenda”—pre-Trump shutdowns were, which is also why they were much shorter—it was about egregious lawbreaking.
No one explained how it could’ve gone any other way? I did.
Just put on the red hat and say you like the serially lying authoritarian, Josh.
November 11, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Josh Barro is regularly loud and wrong in ways that would tarnish anybody else's career, but his father has a Wikipedia page so instead he gets to keep publishing his opinions in the New York Times.
This really is the thing: the people in the party who see Trump et al. defying court orders and committing war crimes and abducting people off the street and don't understand that business as usual = annihilation cannot continue to be in power. Our safety is at stake and they are failing badly.
"We’re done waiting for Dems to find their spine. We can’t afford a weak & cowardly Democratic Party while the authoritarians invade our cities, terrorize our communities, & threaten our democracy. We get the party we demand, & we intend to demand a Democratic Party that fights.” — @indivisible.org
Indivisible Launches its Largest Primary Program in Response to Senate Democrats Surrendering on the Shutdown Vote
indivisible.org
November 10, 2025 at 11:53 PM
This really is the thing: the people in the party who see Trump et al. defying court orders and committing war crimes and abducting people off the street and don't understand that business as usual = annihilation cannot continue to be in power. Our safety is at stake and they are failing badly.
No more woke DEI, baby!! Meritocracy is back!!!!!
POLITICO: “.. The White House was blindsided by the idea, according to two people familiar with the situation .. and is now dealing with a furious backlash from conservative allies, business leaders and lawmakers.” 🤡
@politico.com $XHB
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
@politico.com $XHB
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
November 10, 2025 at 11:43 PM
No more woke DEI, baby!! Meritocracy is back!!!!!
Sherrill the living proof that the actual schism in the party right now is Fighters vs Folders not Left vs Center.
This is really good to see: Miki Sherrill just put out a statement sharply criticizing the Senate Dems' pending cave in the government shutdown, ripping it as "malpractice" and a betrayal of the people who are "counting on us to fight for them." Sherrill knows what drove her victory. Wake up, Dems.
November 10, 2025 at 3:10 AM
Sherrill the living proof that the actual schism in the party right now is Fighters vs Folders not Left vs Center.
Reposted by Robert Balkovich
My theory about Joyce Carol Oates is that all her bad posts are her charging up like Godzilla's spines until she lets loose with a radioactive blast that leaves the world's richest Nazi a pile of ash
November 9, 2025 at 2:31 PM
My theory about Joyce Carol Oates is that all her bad posts are her charging up like Godzilla's spines until she lets loose with a radioactive blast that leaves the world's richest Nazi a pile of ash
Reposted by Robert Balkovich
oh so these people do pay attention to who politicians follow on social media, they just don’t care that the vice president follows a bunch of actual neo-nazis
Axios tried to bust James Talarico for following adult content creators on Instagram and I'm genuinely impressed by his campaign's response
November 8, 2025 at 4:39 PM
oh so these people do pay attention to who politicians follow on social media, they just don’t care that the vice president follows a bunch of actual neo-nazis
Reposted by Robert Balkovich
I love that the Boston cop slide never got fixed and now people just willingly go down it in tribute. It’s basically a national landmark at this point
November 8, 2025 at 6:15 AM
I love that the Boston cop slide never got fixed and now people just willingly go down it in tribute. It’s basically a national landmark at this point
And fucking stay away!!!!
🚨BREAKING: President Donald Trump violated the Constitution and federal law by ordering hundreds of National Guard soldiers to Portland, Oregon, earlier this year, a federal judge ruled Friday. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Trump-Appointed Judge Rules His Portland Military Takeover Was Unconstitutional
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:08 AM
And fucking stay away!!!!
Trump take survival rations
November 8, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Trump take survival rations