What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago, when we launched The Barbed Wire, it felt like we were finally crawling out of the wreckage of Trump’s first term, maybe even headed toward a slightly less-shitty future. Sure, Texas was still Texas — stubborn, messy, allergic to progress — but wasn’t the arc of […]
Tag: Austin
Posted inNews
The Day Austin ‘Lost Its Innocence’: HBO’s Newest Crime Doc Tackles Haunting Unsolved Murder
For tried and true Texans, HBO’s newest docuseries might hit close to home. “The Yogurt Shop Murders” digs into a 33-year-old cold case in Austin — a murder so haunting, the then-mayor proclaimed it the day Austin “lost (its) innocence.” In December 1991, when Austin was still a relatively small college town, not yet on […]
Posted inNews
‘She Needs to Have a Democracy to Grow Up In’: The Moms Who Left Texas to Defend Its Future
This story was originally written by Amanda Becker and published by The 19th* News. When Erin Zwiener finished taking the bar exam last Wednesday afternoon and walked out into the Texas heat, the aspiring lawyer was looking forward to one thing: Enjoying the final days of summer vacation with her daughter before she begins second grade. Then […]
Posted inPolitics
Reenact ‘The Fugitive,’ Dodge Warrants & Catch the Cubs: 10 Things Texas Dems Can Do While on the Lam
As you probably know, more than 50 Texas House Democrats have skipped town to stop Gov. Greg Abbott and the Legislature from turning Texas’ congressional map into a racist GOP fever dream where every district somehow ends in Ted Cruz’s driveway. Most of our blue-shirted fugitives have landed in Illinois, land of deep-dish pizza, wind, […]
Posted inNews
‘He’s Making Up Some Sh*t:’ Texas House Issues Arrest Warrants in Quorum-Bust as Democrats Counterattack
UPDATE: The Republican-led Texas House voted 85-6 to track down and arrest more than 50 Democratic lawmakers who left the state to break quorum and were not at the Capitol when the chamber gaveled in at 3 p.m. Monday, The Texas Tribune reported. To be clear, the move is largely bluster, since the civil warrants […]
Posted inNews
‘Love Is Blind’ Is Coming to Austin, Home of Horribly Behaved Singles
Tech bros, it’s your time to shine — “Love is Blind” is casting in Austin. The mega-popular show, where faceless singles meet behind a screen, fall in love, and get engaged (to varying degrees of success), bases itself out of one city for each season. The eight-season show has already had its moment in Dallas […]
Posted inNews
Thousands of Democrats Pour into Texas to Combat ‘Extreme Republican Gerrymandering’
As redistricting efforts ramp up in Texas, all eyes are on the Lone Star State. Last week, Houston congressional candidate Isaiah Martin went viral online after he was arrested at the Texas Capitol, where he was protesting the Republican-led “gerrymandering scam.” Martin, a 27-year-old Democrat, was removed from a redistricting hearing for refusing to cede […]
Posted inTV & Film
Richard Linklater’s Indie Classic ‘Slacker’ Is a Time Capsule of a Bygone Austin
Texas hasn’t gotten its due as a major piece in the complex puzzle of American art. We’re here to rectify that. Every three weeks, H. Drew Blackburn will conduct a thoroughly scientific analysis of the 254 integral (one for every county) books, movies, tv shows, albums, podcasts, songs, and magazine articles — you name it […]
Posted inNews
Dang, Texas Heat Advisories Are Back. Shocked? Neither Are We.
And we almost made it to August without triple-digit temperatures. North Texas is facing its hottest day of the year yet, and has been placed under a heat advisory as temperatures threaten to reach 105 degrees. According to the National Weather Service, a heat advisory means you should reconsider outdoor activities, primarily during peak heat […]
Posted inNews
Guess Who’s Back, Back Again? Texas’ THC Ban
Exactly one month after Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a bill that would ban all THC and hemp-based products, the Texas Senate has introduced — and advanced — a nearly identical measure. Second time’s the charm, right? “Feels a little like Groundhog Day,” Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock), who introduced Senate Bill 5, said at a July […]