UPDATE: “En vérité, il est ressuscité”

I love the way it looks like the dog has turned his head to see who's talking shite about him.

“The queens are still out everywhere, period, whether people like it or not,” said Deja Dubois, a drag queen who graduated from UT Arlington in 2022 and performs for the Dallas Opera. “Walking their streets, walking the halls everywhere.” thebarbedwire.com/2026/02/05/c...

Epstein had many known connections to Silicon Valley CEOs, but less known was how he made money from those relationships. We did a deep dive into how he got dealflow in Silicon Valley, giving him shots to invest in Coinbase, Palantir, SpaceX and other companies. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/b...

can't help but think there is probably a corrosive effect of having sex trafficker-elite emails unveiled for months on end as one of the biggest cultural/news stories of the last year— unearthing an inexcusable moral rot in the upper echelons of power—but without any real accountability/justice

Brad Pritchett, CEO of the nonprofit Equality Texas, said many students are now “left without the tools they need to thrive.”

This was a massive undertaking by @kitoconnell.com, and we’re very proud of how it turned out. There are maps, lists of universities impacted, and tons of stellar quotes.

A 45-year-old man has been charged with two counts of assault after getting into a fistfight with a group of Texas teenagers who were protesting Immigration Customs and Enforcement. thebarbedwire.com/2026/02/05/m...

While reporting this, I had something happen that's never happened. A comms rep for one of the co's disputed my reporting and said what I was telling them was untrue because it was not in Grok, xAI's chatbot. I was looking directly at the files. And this person was using AI to challenge the truth.

“.. I’m sad for our country,” she said. “I don’t think that the escalation that we’ve seen, particularly in Minnesota, I don’t think it is. … ” She paused for another eight seconds .. “.. productive.” @nytimes.com #ALsen www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/u...

“An adult bears a clear responsibility to exercise restraint, especially in the presence of children,” Becerra wrote. “Violence or intimidation directed at a minor — particularly during a lawful, peaceful demonstration — has no place in a constitutional republic.”

lmaoooooo

A 45-year-old man has been charged with two counts of assault after getting into a fistfight with a group of Texas teenagers who were protesting Immigration Customs and Enforcement. thebarbedwire.com/2026/02/05/m...

A little over 2 weeks out from my concussion, and I still have lingering vertigo whenever I move suddenly. But the most maddening thing is that I keep mixing up words. “Blanket” for “napkin,” … “hotel” for “hospital” — “encore” when I mean “ensemble”… “ADU” for “ADR.” Makes editing a lot harder 🙃

editing a piece TK next week on Nazis and realized I’ve been delinquent in posting photos my dog Edith, which I frankly need to get through the day-to-day at this point:

2 weeks ago, the El Paso Medical Examiner ruled the death of a Cuban ICE detainee a homicide. This time, when a 32-year-old Nicaraguan man died, ICE bypassed the county medical examiner in favor of a military facility. They won’t publicly release a ruling. www.texastribune.org/2026/02/03/t...

As a Texas journalist, I cannot say enough how absolutely stupid it is to lay of PATRICK SVITEK during an election year. What idiocy. Also harrowing: An already impossible job market being flooded with the most talented reporters of my generation. God help us all.

“One young girl who kept coming up to me, a little girl who was hugging my leg, asking us to help get her out of there.” - Rep. Joaquin Castro

Let us guide you through the “fucking dumpster fire” surrounding the upcoming Democratic Senate primary in Texas thebarbedwire.com/2026/02/03/c...

After a content creator made serious claims about an off-the-record conversation she had with state House Rep. James Talarico, former Congressman Colin Allred chimed in with condemnations, and, well — all hell broke loose. thebarbedwire.com/2026/02/03/c...

This means there are babies young enough that they are not eligible for the MMR vaccine yet stuck in there. They are undefended from measles, in close quarters with one of the world's most contagious diseases.

We have a 2-month-old infant (too young to be vaccinated) being held in a prison where there is a measles outbreak. God forgive us.

Rep. @joaquincastrotx.bsky.social told reporters that there were about 1,100 detainees currently housed at the facility. That includes hundreds of other minors all the way down to a 2-month-old infant.

These prison camps are a hatchery for infectious disease. These are the sorts of things I was trying to warn folks about before Trump even took office. Science and past experience pretty much guaranteed it.

ICE tear gassed a bunch of children on Saturday. This was a massive escalation of force. They were shooting tear gas at the back of the crowd, it took these unmasked people maybe 3-5 minutes in the cloud of tear gas to escape in without trampling. www.theverge.com/policy/87278...

Folks: This is important. SHEAR—the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic (a GREAT organization)—is tracking examples of the regime erasing history. More at the link below.

To my view, this exchange further undermines Wolff’s claims that his relationship with Epstein was that of journalist and subject. Here, Wolff shares the pitch for funding from an accused man with Epstein, and offers commentary indicating a shared ideological commitment against the Me Too movement.

Rep. @joaquincastrotx.bsky.social told reporters that there were about 1,100 detainees currently housed at the facility. That includes hundreds of other minors all the way down to a 2-month-old infant.

There are hundreds of Liam’s in Dilly in disgusting conditions! 😡

Experts have described Dilley as “a hellhole” and decried the lack of proper medical care. Court records claim food is filled with worms, and the water is undrinkable. As a result, reports have spread of children are hitting themselves in the face and wetting themselves long after potty-training.

NEW: @joaquincastrotx.bsky.social is calling for Dilley Immigration Center to be “shut down immediately.” Dilley released Liam Ramos. But hundreds of children who remain in the facility are facing a measles outbreak. The highly contagious disease can be deadly. thebarbedwire.com/2026/02/02/h...

Experts have described Dilley as “a hellhole” and decried the lack of proper medical care. Court records claim food is filled with worms, and the water is undrinkable. As a result, reports have spread of children are hitting themselves in the face and wetting themselves long after potty-training.

This is just insane. It’s only a matter of time before DHS kills another innocent person here. (clip via MPR and @davidjbier.bsky.social on X)

"MPR News has learned that the police chief in the small southern Minnesota city of St. Peter intervened Thursday afternoon to prevent federal immigration agents from arresting a local resident" who had been observing federal agents. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

And STILL the files aren’t all released as required… www.cnbc.com/2026/01/30/j...

Jesus Christ

I had this shirt made to make me finish book edits (my novel is called Something’s Wrong With the Girls!) and get them back to my publisher, and it felt really appropriate to wear today. Also you can see my little remaining concussion bump on my forehead 🫡

As luck would have it, my colleagues and I recently represented journalists in the Minnesota Supreme Court in a case involving allegations that they trespassed while newsgathering. Here's an excerpt from our brief: assets.aclu.org/live/uploads...

I was avoiding reading about Catherine O’Hara because I’m already emotional and knew I’d cry but I just learned my favorite little internet pug, a tiny French boy named Albert, has been kidnapped from his yard. I am absolutely fucking devastated. www.instagram.com/p/DUJS9OMjdRv/

“… Epstein and Musk appeared to be emailing back and forth about timing and travel logistics … Musk said he would already be in the Virgin Islands and asked Epstein if ‘there [is] a good time to visit? 'any day 1st - 8th. play it by ear if you want. always space for you,’ Epstein responded.”

This is disgusting. I imagine that it’s hard to lose relevance so profoundly, and Chris must’ve justified this headline by thinking it is a very Brave question that’ll get his Substack much-needed eyeballs. But it’s irresponsible bigotry. Full stop. In case any of you are still following this clown.

The arrests of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort have me very emotional. Teary from the privileged comfort of my desk while writing about Leqaa Kordia. Liam Ramos, assaults on the constitution and press, the extrajudicial killings... the treatment of people of color in this country. It is overwhelming.

Since arrests of student protesters* began, there's no one I believed was more at risk than Leqaa Kordia. Her arrest was hardly noticed, even among the community of solidarity. I think it was 3 mos before a habeas corpus was filed. Her life is in danger. *She was mistakenly considered a student.

“The federal government cannot lock someone up because they don’t like what she said at a protest,” said @genefortexas.bsky.social. “This is un-American, illegal political persecution, and it’s happening right in our backyard.” thebarbedwire.com/2026/01/30/t...

On Friday, the weather in Alvarado was in the 30s, and officials at a 10 a.m. press conference outside Prairieland were wrapped in scarves and heavy jackets. “She does not even have clothing that fully covers her body,” said Bhojani.

After touring the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, the Dallas congresswoman said officials there told her that no one being held there has any criminal record. bit.ly/4ro2SqG

I recall writing this in 2023. "[Trump] already calls [reporters] 'the enemy of the people,' and reporters ... already received regular threats of ... death. If he becomes president again, my compatriots will experience much worse ... yet my compatriots seem to be in the mood to pretend.

ICE are running around in the streets using facial recognition on random people and telling anyone filming them they're a domestic terrorist and Democrats solution is to equip every ICE agent with their very own body-worn surveillance camera

Most of waking hours are spent consuming, curating, or creating news. But I was on TikTok for the puppies in the snow videos and that’s how I learned Scotland is… really mad at the U.S. for abducting two people? There’s so much news. www.rawstory.com/amp/trump-ac...