Barb Shelly
@bshelly.bsky.social
Observer and sometimes-chronicler of events, especially in Kansas City and the U.S. heartland. You'll see a lot of posts from me about the Chiefs, the Royals, the Missouri legislature and life in KC.
This debacle of a Chiefs game, and season, is not on Patrick Mahommes. He's playing his heart out with a bum knee and not one of his receivers can come through for him.
December 8, 2025 at 4:26 AM
This debacle of a Chiefs game, and season, is not on Patrick Mahommes. He's playing his heart out with a bum knee and not one of his receivers can come through for him.
This Chiefs game is awful! No one can catch the damn ball.
December 8, 2025 at 4:21 AM
This Chiefs game is awful! No one can catch the damn ball.
This guy.
RAJU: If defenseless survivors were killed, would that constitute a violation of the laws of war?
MIKE JOHNSON: I'm not going to prejudge any of that. I was pretty busy yesterday. I didn't follow a lot of the news.
MIKE JOHNSON: I'm not going to prejudge any of that. I was pretty busy yesterday. I didn't follow a lot of the news.
December 2, 2025 at 4:18 PM
This guy.
A little dose of happiness. Mazel Tov.
Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey celebrated his marriage to his partner Alexis Lewis in an intimate ceremony in Washington, D.C. on Saturday evening.
Cory Booker Weds Alexis Lewis in a Private Ceremony
The couple married at a courthouse in Newark days before hosting an intimate wedding in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. They shared their wedding details exclusively with The New York Times.
nyti.ms
November 30, 2025 at 7:46 PM
A little dose of happiness. Mazel Tov.
I have a lot of thoughts about this, starting with the observation that Hegseth's attempt to corral the media and minimize leaks appears to be failing miserably.
www.npr.org/2025/11/25/n...
www.npr.org/2025/11/25/n...
U.S. ready to cut support to Scouts, accusing them of attacking 'boy-friendly spaces'
Documents show the U.S. military is planning to sever all ties with the organization formerly known as the Boy Scouts.
www.npr.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:50 PM
I have a lot of thoughts about this, starting with the observation that Hegseth's attempt to corral the media and minimize leaks appears to be failing miserably.
www.npr.org/2025/11/25/n...
www.npr.org/2025/11/25/n...
This is quite the speech Mamdani is giving.
November 5, 2025 at 4:37 AM
This is quite the speech Mamdani is giving.
Why does the NYTimes give this guy space for his deceits? He voted for Medicaid cuts after saying he wouldn't. He'll vote against the working poor every single time. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/o...
Opinion | Josh Hawley: No American Should Go to Bed Hungry
www.nytimes.com
October 28, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Why does the NYTimes give this guy space for his deceits? He voted for Medicaid cuts after saying he wouldn't. He'll vote against the working poor every single time. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/o...
Reposted by Barb Shelly
If you're in Kansas City next Thursday night and you're interested in #redistricting, you should join us: www.kcur.org/redistrictin...
Redistricting: A Community Q&A
Join KCUR Thursday, October 30, at the Kansas City Public Library for a conversation about redistricting in Missouri and Kansas.
www.kcur.org
October 23, 2025 at 1:59 PM
If you're in Kansas City next Thursday night and you're interested in #redistricting, you should join us: www.kcur.org/redistrictin...
Go see a play. It at least read this excellent column.
I saw a play! Go see a play.
Me being me, I wrote about about how the characters' legal situation should be different:
missouriindependent.com/2025/10/24/t...
Me being me, I wrote about about how the characters' legal situation should be different:
missouriindependent.com/2025/10/24/t...
The small, bipartisan step Missouri should take for formerly incarcerated people • Missouri Independent
“Man, don’t let them put you back in there.” Oshoosi Size is living with his older brother, Ogun, after being released from prison. Ogun wants his little brother to get his life together and stay out...
missouriindependent.com
October 25, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Go see a play. It at least read this excellent column.
Just another week in the Trump 2 presidency.
Over the past week, the president said the DOJ should pay him a quarter billion dollars, bulldozed half the White House to build himself a gaudy ballroom, bragged about murdering civilians in international waters, pardoned some more criminals, directed federal prosecutors to indict his opponents ...
October 24, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Just another week in the Trump 2 presidency.
Yes. And that can't happen soon enough.
I’m disgusted by the photos of Ttump’s demolition at the East Wing, but I’m even more sickened by the renderings of his mar-a-lago ballroom dwarfing our White House. Once we’re rid of this despicable man, that ballroom must also be removed.
October 21, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Yes. And that can't happen soon enough.
Reposted by Barb Shelly
I am completely awestruck by the ease with which Mike Johnson lies on a daily basis. I'll never understand how such a transparently fraudulent "man of faith" can live with themselves. Life is too short to be that phony.
October 21, 2025 at 2:46 PM
I am completely awestruck by the ease with which Mike Johnson lies on a daily basis. I'll never understand how such a transparently fraudulent "man of faith" can live with themselves. Life is too short to be that phony.
'Peaceful with no arrests.' Cheers to Chicago.
So proud of Chicago for turning out 250,000 strong to let Trump know how we feel about his terror campaign against our city. Incredible crowd and like in other big cities, it was peaceful with no arrests. #NoKings
October 19, 2025 at 11:40 AM
'Peaceful with no arrests.' Cheers to Chicago.
So using racial slurs, calling rape "epic'" and threatening violence is just kids being kids, but criticism of Charlie Kirk should be reported to employers to get people fired. Got it.
No one in the GOP Hitler chat was a "kid," JD Vance. We checked.
By scanning public records and media reports, Mother Jones determined the ages of eight of the 11 participants in the abhorrent leaked texts from young Republicans that Politico covered on Tuesday: They appear to range from 24 to 35.
By scanning public records and media reports, Mother Jones determined the ages of eight of the 11 participants in the abhorrent leaked texts from young Republicans that Politico covered on Tuesday: They appear to range from 24 to 35.
October 16, 2025 at 2:15 AM
So using racial slurs, calling rape "epic'" and threatening violence is just kids being kids, but criticism of Charlie Kirk should be reported to employers to get people fired. Got it.
Defending one's voters rights in Missouri has become an endless slog, as Bridgett Dunlap relates here in the Missouri Independent. Gotta do it, though. missouriindependent.com/2025/10/13/g...
Gov Kehoe will ‘let the courts decide’ on Missouri gerrymander rather than do his job • Missouri Independent
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe called lawmakers back into session to gerrymandering the state's congressional map.
missouriindependent.com
October 13, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Defending one's voters rights in Missouri has become an endless slog, as Bridgett Dunlap relates here in the Missouri Independent. Gotta do it, though. missouriindependent.com/2025/10/13/g...
The KC Star interviewed residents of deep red Abilene, Kansas, about the ouster of the Eisenhower Museum director. They are pissed. A small break in the wall.
www.kansascity.com/news/politic...
www.kansascity.com/news/politic...
Abilene residents slam Trump ouster of Eisenhower museum leader over sword: ‘It’s crap!’
“That’s not his,” said Abilene Wanda Bell, of an Eisenhower sword requested by the Trump administration. “It’s one of the treasures of our history. That’s not somebody else’s to walk in and demand.”
www.kansascity.com
October 8, 2025 at 1:53 PM
The KC Star interviewed residents of deep red Abilene, Kansas, about the ouster of the Eisenhower Museum director. They are pissed. A small break in the wall.
www.kansascity.com/news/politic...
www.kansascity.com/news/politic...
Ouch. This is a mistake. I can almost guarantee it.
Now with all KCEB precincts reporting and 59% of JCEB precincts reporting:
KCEB JCEB Total
YES 17593 28137 45730 83%
NO 5654 3445 9099 17%
KCEB JCEB Total
YES 17593 28137 45730 83%
NO 5654 3445 9099 17%
October 1, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Ouch. This is a mistake. I can almost guarantee it.
I am waiting...waiting...waiting for Senate Republicans to state that American cities cannot be used as training grounds for combat.
September 30, 2025 at 10:55 PM
I am waiting...waiting...waiting for Senate Republicans to state that American cities cannot be used as training grounds for combat.
Very good story here.
In @missouriindependent.com this morning: my look at the potential consequences of the Missouri Republican gerrymander in Kansas City, with a focus on the city’s Historic Northeast area that will be split three ways
missouriindependent.com/2025/09/10/o...
missouriindependent.com/2025/09/10/o...
One urban crossroad, 3 new districts: Kansas City braces for Missouri gerrymander • Missouri Independent
The Republican plan, urged on by Trump and approved by the Missouri House, would split Kansas City three ways.
missouriindependent.com
September 11, 2025 at 4:07 AM
Very good story here.
Re: the shooting of Charlie Kirk. Best wishes for his recovery. And I hate what our country is becoming.
September 10, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Re: the shooting of Charlie Kirk. Best wishes for his recovery. And I hate what our country is becoming.
Reposted by Barb Shelly
If I have any credibility with you from 20 years of reporting on rightwing & fascist movements, please listen when I beg you not to celebrate Charlie Kirk getting shot. Leave aside morality: this isn’t a match in dry grass, it’s a torch. We do not want what this could ignite & we would not win.
September 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM
If I have any credibility with you from 20 years of reporting on rightwing & fascist movements, please listen when I beg you not to celebrate Charlie Kirk getting shot. Leave aside morality: this isn’t a match in dry grass, it’s a torch. We do not want what this could ignite & we would not win.
Well. This is a polite way to frame Roberts' tenure. Actually, it's a whitewash.
In the 20 years since becoming chief justice, John Roberts has established himself as a pivotal figure in the US Supreme Court's history, guiding it during a momentous epoch when its conservative majority has steered US law dramatically rightward reut.rs/4pdboIA 1/9
September 8, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Well. This is a polite way to frame Roberts' tenure. Actually, it's a whitewash.
This is your regular reminder that the majority of mass shootings are carried out by white males. Thank you for your attention.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
DOJ considering banning trans people from gun ownership: report
Justice Department reportedly mulling restrictions in threat to Second Amendment rights fueled by anti-trans rhetoric
www.independent.co.uk
September 5, 2025 at 7:32 PM
This is your regular reminder that the majority of mass shootings are carried out by white males. Thank you for your attention.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
I just heard a news reporter talking about the Missouri legislature debating "initiative petition reform." Don't do that, people. Republicans want to destroy our initiative petition process. It is not reform.
September 4, 2025 at 11:08 PM
I just heard a news reporter talking about the Missouri legislature debating "initiative petition reform." Don't do that, people. Republicans want to destroy our initiative petition process. It is not reform.
Reposted by Barb Shelly
Missouri has eight congressional districts, and Democrats hold two. The new map would split Kansas City, which is currently entirely in the 5th District and represented by 11-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, into three districts where Republicans would have an electoral edge. #moleg #mogov
Missouri governor calls lawmakers back to Capitol to gerrymander congressional map • Missouri Independent
Missouri lawmakers will return to the Capitol to gerrymander the state’s congressional map in the hopes of creating a new Republican seat.
missouriindependent.com
August 29, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Missouri has eight congressional districts, and Democrats hold two. The new map would split Kansas City, which is currently entirely in the 5th District and represented by 11-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, into three districts where Republicans would have an electoral edge. #moleg #mogov