A photojournalist was arrested by ICE at gunpoint — and his DACA status revoked. “Ya’akub isn’t being accused of breaking immigration law — his DACA protection doesn’t expire until May 2026. In fact Ya’akub’s lawyers say he hasn’t been accused of any crime.” thebarbedwire.com/2025/11/04/h...

"Rather, the Trump administration is alleging he’s “glorifying terrorism” via social media posts. However, Ya’akub’s online history instead reflects a consistent belief in favor of human rights and solidarity through community activism."

Texas "voters approved 17 new amendments that collectively read like a love letter to the state’s tax-averse elite...(and) will cost Texas ~$50 billion next budget cycle — money that could’ve gone to, say, public schools or infrastructure, but instead will help fund slightly nicer second homes."

"It’s becoming clearer to me that the government is attempting to lay a foundation for dissenting political beliefs as grounds for terrorism." - Sam Judy in @thebarbedwire.com

"To be queer in Texas is to be enraged, joyful, desperately frustrated, emboldened by solidarity, sometimes scared for yourself and your friends, and other times grateful for a thoughtful, sparkling community." Our EIC, @oliviamesser.bsky.social, opens up about how queer Texas really is. ⬇️

Ya’akub Ira Vijandre is a 38-year-old Muslim Filipino photojournalist who sheds light on human rights abuses. As a DACA recipient, his arrest holds drastic implications for the state of free speech in America.

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. ⬇️

not all bad news from the texas elections last night (but still mostly bad 🥲)

The Barbed Wire is hiring!

Are you a social media manager who is passionate about the culture and lives of Texans? Our incredible social media manager was recruited for an exciting, glossy new opportunity, which means ...we’re hiring! Come work with us at @thebarbedwire.com 💕 www.journalismjobs.com/job-listing/...

“Cows are now possibly getting more tax relief than renters,” writes @briangaar.bsky.social. But don’t worry, we also outlawed a lot of things that weren’t happening! If you’re wondering, that’s a total of 547 amendments since the Constitution was adopted in 1876. thebarbedwire.com/2025/11/05/w...

“It’s becoming clearer to me that the government is attempting to lay a foundation for dissenting political beliefs as grounds for terrorism. And people like Ya’akub — non-white, non-Christian — have been made its primary examples.”

Arresting photographers has a long tradition...in North Korea and Iran.

"Rather, the Trump administration is alleging he’s “glorifying terrorism” via social media posts." Massive free press violation right here.

Time to get up!!!

A photojournalist was arrested by ICE at gunpoint — and his DACA status revoked. “Ya’akub isn’t being accused of breaking immigration law — his DACA protection doesn’t expire until May 2026. In fact Ya’akub’s lawyers say he hasn’t been accused of any crime.” thebarbedwire.com/2025/11/04/h...

progressives in red states watching hasan piker lib out at the zohran victory party

Supposed to be Done Working for the day, but the stories we have coming over the next few days feel so important. Some are also just… a genuine pleasure to read. Manning a startup newsroom in 2025 is obviously crazymaking, but I’m desperately grateful to be able to do this work, however imperfect.

I’m still really bummed about how bad the new season of The Witcher is 😭

my son missed his flight out of san diego yesterday because of a ridiculously long security line, and a couple who wouldn't let him through when he kindly asked. America the beautiful!

One commenter wrote: “I thought NYers moving to TX already had Abbott tariffs? Like: 5x chance your children are shot to death in school. 168.4x chance the books in your kids’ school are censored.” thebarbedwire.com/2025/11/04/a...

Today’s the day to vote!!! Let @briangaar.bsky.social be your guide thebarbedwire.com/2025/10/07/t...

you think about the scale of the Wilkes and Dunn empire and you just kind of go blank at the way they have their hands in everything www.nytimes.com/2024/10/02/m...

It just keeps getting worse www.latimes.com/california/s...

Edith watching me work 👀

If you gotta be stuck somewhere, Houston bush is one of the finest people watching locales in this decaying nation.

Sorry, we gave your salary to Bari Weiss’s bodyguards

painfully true as of today.

!!!!! pagesix.com/2025/11/03/e...

“If you’re flying out of the Houston airport, allow 6 hours to go through security. I am not kidding. I saw people today who waited more than 3 hours and still hadn’t gotten to the front of the line.” thebarbedwire.com/2025/11/03/t...

“He lived by an essential truth: That the meaning of life is found in devoting yourself to a cause larger than yourself. For Wilson, like millions of folks, that cause was found in sports. But it wasn’t merely sports; it was community. It was family.” thebarbedwire.com/2025/10/31/l...

“His love for this University and its teams was constant and contagious. Scott Wilson will forever be a Longhorn legend, remembered not just for his incredible streak of support, but for the person he was.”

mmmm if not bedtime, why dark outside?

Off the top of my head, in terms of degrees of separation I managed to get from myself to *Jimi Hendrix* in "three hops," this is a WILD assertion to make www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

So like me to my DoorDash driver to everyone who ever called the driver and then everyone who ever called them. As a basis for killing people

Three hops out encompasses so many people that a strike predicated on that degree of association is an indiscriminate strike.

Sunday is the day for movies about lady war correspondents

someone invited people magazine to the kitchen and they brought their own knives

A lovely tribute by @paulbegala.bsky.social — with quotes from legendary football coach Mack Brown, Quarterback Colt McCoy, and other members of Longhorn Nation — to UT superfan Scott Wilson, who attended every longhorn football game in the last 25 years. thebarbedwire.com/2025/10/31/l...

A lovely tribute by @paulbegala.bsky.social — with quotes from legendary football coach Mack Brown, Quarterback Colt McCoy, and other members of Longhorn Nation — to UT superfan Scott Wilson, who attended every longhorn football game in the last 25 years. thebarbedwire.com/2025/10/31/l...

damn do men love writing columns about how cool it is that Sydney Sweeney is hot

Five minutes into the new season of The Witcher without Henry Cavill

Not the point but wtf “…said in an interview conducted Wednesday evening through his Ring doorbell in Huntington Station, Long Island, from his current location in Florida.” I typed my first stories on an actual typewriter. I will now crumble into a fine grey powder.

I’m crying www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

I have been charged in a federal indictment sought by the Department of Justice. This political prosecution is an attack on all of our First Amendment rights. I’m not backing down, and we’re going to win.

What an odious thing to say. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

i cannot believe that “mamdani calls a close adult relative an ‘aunt’ even if they are not literally their parent’s sister” is what counts as a “scandal” these days

Uncle Quentin? Boy I sure hope Maya isn’t planning on running for mayor of New York!