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Grits for Breakfast

@gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social

3.9K followers 2.1K following 6.2K posts

Nom de plume of Scott Henson, Austin, TX. Cancer survivor, househusband, recovering policy wonk (justice systems, civil liberties; innocence). Retirement focus: TX negro-league baseball, female lion tamers. Zines: https://www.gfbpubs.com

www.gfbpubs.com

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Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 12d

Remember when smallpox broke out in Laredo and the Texas Rangers were sent in to overcome armed resistance by antivaxxers, killing one person, wounding 13, and arresting 21 others? Happened in 1898. Weird to think that, if RFK were telling this story, the Rangers wd be the bad guys.

The Laredo Smallpox Epidemic of 1898-1899: A Historical Overview

Explore the events surrounding the smallpox epidemic in Laredo from October 1898 to March 1899, including the violent confrontations between Mexican Americans and Texas Rangers.

www.tshaonline.org

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Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 4h

Hegseth's Bragg obsession is annoying af and bad for Texas.

San Antonio to lose two Army commands to North Carolina www.expressnews.com/news/article...

San Antonio to lose two Army commands to North Carolina

The headquarters of Army North and Army South, both now at Fort Sam Houston, will be merged into a new Western Hemisphere command based at Fort Bragg, N.C.

www.expressnews.com

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Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 5h

I don't think a short term change in material conditions spurred authoritarianism. But I do think trends around real wages and income inequality that Dems ignored have been weaponized by authoritarian ideologues. They offer no solutions, but have figured out how to package messages to divert blame.

Wage Stagnation in Nine Charts

Our country has suffered from rising income inequality and chronically slow growth in the living standards of low- and moderate-income Americans. This disappointing living-standards growth—which was i...

www.epi.org

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 5h

Whenever you see a man in a banana suit playing a sousaphone at a protest, you know it's gonna be a good 'un.

Tim Dickinson @timdickinson.bsky.social · 16h

Un-presidented brass band at city hall in Portland tonight celebrating the release of their clarinet player from federal custody

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Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 6h

Oh, that's interesting, I hadn't realized that.

My granddaughter is a college freshman this year and has MANY opinions on how kids use ChatGPT, its IRL utility, what doesn't and doesn't constitute "cheating," and what it misses. You'd enjoy her rants on the topic. Completely different world.

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 6h

I believe you and others calling out their big picture goals. The megachurch religious grifters also all claim to want money for a Higher Purpose. But they're still grifters in the end, and grifting all has commonalities in form and function.

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 6h

I'd submit myopic focus on their stated goals risks myopia obscuring near-term vulnerabilities. W/o revenue, or a realistic promise of it, a (likely) bubble-burst thwarts their project. And IRL, besides automated call centers and kids cheating on their homework, there's no revenue model for it yet.

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 7h

I don't track it like you do, but it looks to me like they're running through the capitalization fast and the bubble-bursting talk is already in full flower. If they can't prove AI has real-world value (which in that world, means profit creation/revenue), the whole grift falters.

Opinion | Warning: Our Stock Market Is Looking Like a Bubble

www.nytimes.com

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 7h

I believe you. But the practical function of accumulating a trillion dollars is the same whatever motivates it. And these guys need money to pull off their grift just like any Ponzi scheme huckster. Porn makes 4x the revenue they do. You don't think they want some?

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Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 7h

Lots of online services are free early and charged for later. Once AI porn use is widespread, it wouldn't surprise me to see them monetize it and I expect them to, it's the nature of the beast.

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 7h

I don't disagree w/ that. At the same time, they say they need $1 trillion for data centers but the whole industry has ~$13 billion in revenue, *less than a quarter of porn.* Avaricious behavior for the purpose of financing a trillion dollar social engineering scheme is still, in the end, greed.

Reposted by Grits for Breakfast

David Wesley @david-wesley.bsky.social · 1d

Someone laid down the perfect track on this coverage of the Portland frog

youtube.com/shorts/pPTD2...

ANTIFA FROGGIE VS ICE IN PORTLAND OREGON 🐸

YouTube video by TEAM AMERICA

youtube.com

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Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 8h

This is a real threat and I don't doubt it will happen. But also, the porn industry generates more revenue than books, radio, video games, or movies. It's likely they want to do adult entertainment for the same reason Willie Sutton robbed banks: That's where the money is.

Siva @sivav.bsky.social · 20h

I’m guessing the reason OpenAI wants to do erotica is to gather more personal information from users. It will insist on camera access to verify DL and passport photos and use that data to train models. If it can create dossiers and eventually a social graph it can match the advantage Meta AI has

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Reposted by Grits for Breakfast

Jessica Pishko @jesspish.bsky.social · 22h

At least once a day I think about how Bovino was himself at CBP lo these many decades just waiting to become a star.

Gizmodo @gizmodo.com · 1d

Border Patrol Posts Instagram Propaganda Video Featuring Antisemitic Slurs

The video was pinned to Border Patrol's Instagram Reels.

gizmodo.com

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Reposted by Grits for Breakfast

Ginger @gentlyepigrams.bsky.social · 17h

I read this last week and really enjoyed it.

John O'Keefe @johnokeefe.bsky.social · 19h

Threads of Empire: A History of the World in Twelve Carpets
Dorothy Armstrong
newbooksnetwork.com/threads-of-e... #ottomanhistory #textilehistory #arthistory #islamicart

Dorothy Armstrong, "Threads of Empire: A History of the World in Twelve Carpets" (St. Martin's Press, 2025) - New Books Network

newbooksnetwork.com

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Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 8h

Oh that looks fascinating. Title is reminiscent of the (also enjoyable) History of the World in Twelve Maps.

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 9h

For years, when Roe was in effect, the Texas GOP platform had quite specific language advocating open defiance of various federal court precedents.

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 9h

So apparently it's now okay for prosecutors to eavesdrop on conversations between defendants and their lawyers, after SCOTUS declined to hear a habeas writ challenging that practice in the US Attorney's office in Kansas. This court does much of its damage by NOT ruling on stuff.

Justices Skip Case on Prosecutors’ Attorney-Client Eavesdropping

The US Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear an appeal over whether prosecutors listening to privileged inmate calls with their lawyers violates the Sixth Amendment absent a showing of prejudice.

news.bloomberglaw.com

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Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 9h

Whoops, missed Brownsville-Harlingen, at 90%, and McAllen-Edinburgh, at 80%.

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 9h

(cont.)
Midland: 85%
Odessa: 68%
San Antonio: 93%
Tyler: 89%
Waco: 99%
Wichita Falls: 93%

Data is from 2022. San Angelo was the only TX city where women as a class out-earned men, at 102%. Spreadsheet for the top 250 largest metro areas is here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Detailed tables: Full-time, year-round workers under the age of 30 by U.S. metro area, 2019

docs.google.com

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Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 9h

Surprised to see San Angelo top the list of TX metro areas w/ the highest relative wages for women. Others:

Amarillo: 77%
Austin: 95%
Beaumont/PA: 68%
Bryan-College Station: 82%
Corpus Christi: 80%
DFW: 95%
El Paso: 87%
Houston: 95%
Laredo: 84%
Lubbock: 80%

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Young women are out-earning young men in several U.S. cities

The gender wage gap is narrower among younger workers nationally, and the gap varies across geographical areas.

www.pewresearch.org

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Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 11h

For sure. In fact, the WRITING may improve. But if they more convincingly put forth hallucinations, it's not an improvement.

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 11h

This is a function of management want-to. Not every jail is like this. It's a choice that speaks to the individual Sheriff's priorities who's managing it. Most by far wd rather expand their jail and ↑ the number of beds than clean up the jail they've got and run it professionally.

Why America’s Jails Are So Disgusting

Understaffing, outdated facilities and poor management have led to filthy conditions in jails in St. Louis, Cleveland and Hinds County, Mississippi.

www.themarshallproject.org

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Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 11h

BTW, there's a terrific out of print book by Harvey Katz from the early 1970s called "Shadow on the Alamo: New Heroes Fight Old Corruption in Texas" that's the best thing I've read critiquing the whole special district governance model.

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 11h

Water districts have been around LONG bf that became a concern, and their priority generally is maximizing permits/revenue, not in any way conservation. In Houston, ppl w/ $ care about subsidence; I doubt Greg Abbott would blink twice if all of Milam County dropped into a sinkhole.

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Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 23h

Texas water policy is corrupt and broken, pandering to the biggest users at the expense of current ratepayers and future generations.