Brian is founding member of The Barbed Wire team. A longtime Texas journalist, he has written for the Austin American-Statesman, the Waco Tribune-Herald, Texas Monthly, and more. He was also a writer and producer at Rooster Teeth.
Culture
Every year around this time, people make New Year’s resolutions with the same confidence you hear right before someone says, “No, it’s fine, I know exactly where I’m going” and then immediately misses their exit To get a sense of what we actually resolve to do (and
Culture
If you’re reading this, congratulations!!!! You survived 2025. Truly, an achievement on par with running a marathon, passing calculus, or navigating I-35 through Waco without crying. The world right now feels like a group project where half the participants insist that gravity is a hoax, another quarter is
Culture
Dear Santa, Howdy from Texas, big man. Hope things are well up at the North Pole, where I assume the ice hasn’t melted, the power grid works, and y’all haven’t deported any elves. I’m writing because I have a few tiny Christmas wishes for next year.
Arts & Entertainment
The year was 2015. I was not in a good place. I had quit my lucrative (ha) job in newspaper journalism to enter the equally lucrative world of local television, hosting a late-night comedy show on The CW in Austin. It was exhilarating, but I had no idea what
Perspectives
Remember the “War on Christmas”? Yes, that early-2000s fever dream when Fox News convinced half the country that “Happy Holidays” was basically Sharia law in a festive font. A time when the right blamed “secularists” for everything, but everyone understood the subtext: post-9/11 panic, a dash of
News
Here’s the good news: THC is still legal in Texas. Now, the bad news: Some Republicans in Congress still want to ban it — and they might get their wish. Yes, despite attempts by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to rip weed gummies out of the mouths of his constituents, it
Perspectives
Fewer than 3 million Texans bothered to vote this week, but that didn’t stop them from rewriting the state’s constitution — again — mostly in ways that make life easier for property owners, business interests, and the already comfortable. In a turnout so low it barely qualifies as “consent of
News
Early voting is underway for the Nov. 4 election, and you may be asking yourself, what’s the point? Don’t worry, you’re in good company. Texans love to gripe about property taxes, potholes, and school funding, but when it’s time to vote for the people who actually
Perspectives
Fellow Texans, it’s our sad duty to report that our governor appears to be taking his marching orders from a right-wing social media account (and, yes, we’re talking about … sigh … Libs of TikTok). While it’s a well-known fact that Gov. Greg Abbott lives in fear
Perspectives
Why legislate the messy way when you can just etch your politics into the bedrock of the state forever? This is why Texans love a good constitutional amendment, and on Nov. 4, we get to vote on 17 of them. Buckle up, it’ll be a veritable buffet of tax
James Talarico
If political fundraising is supposed to be a marathon, U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico just showed up, sprinted past fellow Democrat Colin Allred, and then jogged a victory lap while counting $100 bills. In just three weeks, Talarico — the 36-year-old Texas state rep turned Senate hopeful — pulled
Culture
If you live in or have just heard of Texas, you know about our barbecue — particularly brisket. It’s one of the foods most strongly associated with the state. Heck, it may as well be on our flag. And of all the other states with a strong identification with a