Local lawmakers in Texas are responding to recent reports that some law enforcement agencies are using automated license plate reader technology to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions. Last week, The Barbed Wire delved into data first reported by 404 Media and found that at least five law enforcement agencies across Texas have conducted at […]
Category: Opinion
Posted inOpinion
I’m a Black, Queer, Trans Man Who Has Had Two Pregnancies. Texas Wants to Eliminate People Like Me From Healthcare Spaces.
It was May 2020, I was five months pregnant when I walked into the perinatal office, referral in hand, and said, “My name is Kayden Coleman and I have an appointment here at 2:00 p.m.” The receptionist looked at me — disregarding the paperwork I was holding — and said, “There’s no way you have […]
Posted inOpinion
Gov. Abbott is Stuck Between His Lieutenant and a Bag of Gummies
Gov. Greg Abbott can’t be enjoying all this. On one side, his powerful lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, is foaming at the mouth to rid Texas of THC products, waving candy-flavored edibles around like they’re contraband at a kindergarten show-and-tell. On the other, you’ve got hemp farmers, military veterans, and people who like sleeping through the […]
Posted inOpinion
Texas Police Are Running Constitutionally Questionable AI License Plate Searches for ICE
Many law enforcement agencies across the nation, including in Texas, use networks of cameras to automatically track cars — and some are using them to support federal immigration enforcement. That’s the topline from data recently obtained through a public records request first reported by 404 Media that The Barbed Wire has independently reviewed. Earlier this […]
Posted inOpinion
Texas Tried to Ban Imaginary Furries in Schools. Yes, the Governor Was On Board. No, It’s Not a Joke.
Well, we’ve done it again, Texas. Added yet another deeply embarrassing chapter to our ever-growing “Are We the Problem?” scrapbook. This time, it involves a doomed piece of legislation so absurd, so disconnected from reality, you’d think it was cooked up in an internet comment section. But no — it had the official backing of […]
Posted inOpinion
Did Trump call Elon Musk Fat? Musk’s Own Chatbot Says Yes
If you need a visual metaphor for Elon Musk’s current life trajectory, just picture a human piñata with a fading hair transplant. First, Donald Trump goofs on him during a White House press conference, and then Musk’s own AI chatbot jumps in to confirm it. Folks, we are witnessing the rare two-pronged roast: presidential and […]
Posted inOpinion
Texas Wants to Teach Kids About ‘Harmful’ Ideologies. Fascism Isn’t One of Them.
In the late 1940s through the 1950s, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy were leading figures in the Second Red Scare. The campaign of persecution targeted people accused, often falsely, of being communist and subjected them to public shaming, blacklists, and raids. You may know it better as McCarthyism. Why is […]
Posted inOpinion
Back-In Parkers: Society’s True Menace
There’s a lot of talk these days about threats to society — AI, Grand Theft Auto VI, birds that may or may not be government drones — but I’d like to nominate a new one: people who back into parking spaces. You know them. You see them. You feel them holding up traffic while they […]
Posted inOpinion
Not Talking to Trump Voters Isn’t Rude, It’s Self-Care
Ah, summer: a time for sunscreen, grilled meats, and your cousin showing up to the family cookout, quoting Joe Rogan between bites of brisket. Or, as happened to me recently, you post something on Facebook, and, all of a sudden, here comes that high school acquaintance you haven’t talked to in decades, ready to share […]
Posted inOpinion
‘The Most Irritating Person I’ve Ever Had to Deal With:’ Elon Musk to Leave DOGE
UPDATE, Apr. 22, 6:15 p.m.: Elon Musk confirmed Tuesday afternoon, during Tesla’s earnings call, that “my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly” likely starting in May, Axios reported. “I think I’ll continue to spend a day or two per week on government matters for as long as the President would like me to do […]