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 […]
Category: Opinion
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 […]
Posted inOpinion
Trump Administration Deportation Actions, Plans Are ‘Beyond the Pale’ As President Considers Deporting Citizens
In a mere three months, the Trump administration has arrested legal residents, stripped them of their status, accused them of being members of transnational gangs, and sent them to a prison labor camp in a foreign country. Upon scrutiny, many of these cases reveal a disturbing pattern: many of those deported have no criminal record, […]
Posted inOpinion
I Went to an Abortion Conference. It Made Me Want to Be a Mother
This week I’m celebrating seven years married to my husband and we still have no children. We’re happily married and very much enjoy not having parenting responsibilities, but it’s a part of life that we both want. We thought for sure by now, in our mid 30s, we’d at least have a toddler, but as […]
Posted inCulture
Elon Musk Was Mercilessly Trolled on Video Game Livestream, Then He Rage Quit
If there is one dark joy these days, it’s still being able to laugh at the world’s richest man, who consistently exhibits the aura of a divorced dad showing up at the skate park. Over the weekend, zillionaire Elon Musk, who has reportedly been using AI to spy on the few federal workers he’s allowed […]