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.
Perspectives
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
Perspectives
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
News
It looks like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has dusted off his CRT-sensing goggles and set his sights on Austin ISD — a district he claims is sneakily indoctrinating children with Pulitzer-Prize-winning history lessons. On Monday, Paxton’s office announced it wants to haul in Austin ISD’s
News
After a long and hard-fought battle to give even more taxpayer money to the wealthiest Texans, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a private school giveaway (sorry “school choice”) into law Saturday. The new law allows parents to redirect public tax dollars — previously used for pesky things like public education — to
Culture
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
Perspectives
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
Perspectives
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
Texas Politics
Pearland Republican Jeff Barry didn’t bother pretending his vote for private school vouchers was about principle. Pressed by a constituent who called his support a “betrayal,” Barry laid it out plainly: “If I voted against it I would have had every statewide and national political figure against me. Not
News
The Texas House of Representatives gave initial approval of Senate Bill 2 around 2 a.m. Thursday morning, with an 85-63 vote, largely along party lines. What does that mean? Texas is on its way to one of the country’s largest tax-payer funded school voucher programs, a
News
Well, well, well. It seems the Tesla Cybertruck — that stainless steel wedge of suburban overcompensation — isn’t exactly flying off the shelves like Elon Musk probably imagined back when he was smashing its windows on stage. So what’s a floundering EV giant to do when the original “futuristic” truck,
Culture
Heads up, sky-gazers and anyone looking for an excuse to stand in their yard and stare into the night sky — this Saturday, April 12, the Pink Moon is rising! Oh and by “pink,” we mean “not pink at all, but still emotionally satisfying.” Despite its rosy moniker, this “Pink
Culture
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