Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

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

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

1 80 190

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

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

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

This is a result of bad decision making and mismanagement. The aquifer wasn't declining bf they permitted a massive new users, including a 16 billion gallon-per-year San Antonio-area development and industrial users like Samsung, which uses 15 million gallons per day.

1 6

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

From 2020-23, the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer ↓ 168 ft, and >125 wells in Milam, Burleson, and Lee counties "either started sucking air or dried up." The groundwater management district has permitted vastly more water use than is sustainable. If they stopped pumping now, it would take 100 yrs to recover

THE CARRIZO TAP

Slated to deliver water to Samsung, some worry aquifer might not hold

www.eastwilcoinsider.com

3 4 6

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 10h

Holy crap! I'm a lot more concerned about cops using AI for their homework than schoolkids. This seems like a terrible idea, esp given the myopic, biased inputs cop AI wd rely on. New CA law to require disclosure of AI use is a bare minimum.

Concerns about AI-written police reports spur states to regulate the emerging practice

AI-generated police reports promise to save cops time, but they also raise a host of legal and technical concerns.

theconversation.com

1 8

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

Apparently even mentioning "indigenous people" is woke and merits an "investigation" by Texas state officials. www.expressnews.com/news/texas/a...

The Alamo removed this social media post. A Texas official called it woke.

Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said her staff is investigating how the site's online content is approved.

www.expressnews.com

1 7 11

Reposted by Grits for Breakfast

Kara Swisher @karaswisher.bsky.social · 1d

I thought they said it was wrong for an administration to ask a social media platform to take stuff down.

380 1.5K 6.2K

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 14h

“'I was using race as the reason to determine whether somebody was here legally or illegally,' he said. Now, he says, the Supreme Court is just fine with that approach. 'I was vindicated by the Supreme Court of all this shit.'”

Jessica Pishko @jesspish.bsky.social · 14h

for @slate.com I wrote about Joe Arpaio's view on the SCOTUS shadow docket decision in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo, the case in which Kavanaugh said it was okay to racially profile people.
“I was vindicated by the Supreme Court of all this shit.”
slate.com/news-and-pol...

He Was the Most Notorious Sheriff in America. He Says the Supreme Court Vindicated Him.

Thanks, SCOTUS.

slate.com

1 10 25

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 14h

The #txlege passes unconstitutional garbage ALL the time that they know full well doesn't hold up to scrutiny: IMO it's a conscious, intentional, and overt violation of their oath to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States. www.kxan.com/news/texas/d...

www.kxan.com

1 1 6

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 14h

Related: Grocery store inflation www.wsj.com/economy/cons...

Grocery Prices Keep Rising. Frustrated Consumers Are Trying to Adapt.

Shoppers say they are cutting back on purchases, stockpiling certain foods or exploring more-affordable stores.

www.wsj.com

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 14h

New taxes on imported consumer goods (tariffs) get a lot of blame for rising prices, but driving down the dollar has boosted them even further. Where are all the inflation hawks when you need them?

Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 17h

That’s crazy. I wonder what happened in January

1 5

Reposted by Grits for Breakfast

Annette Gordon-Reed @agordonreed.bsky.social · 19h

1)You may remember the articles criticizing liberal students for their hesitancy to make friends with conservative students—alleging that they were less open-minded than their conservative counterparts.

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 1d

Here are the little darlings they’ve created. Horrifying.

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

57 1.2K 4.4K

Reposted by Grits for Breakfast

Jessica Pishko @jesspish.bsky.social · 1d

Censoring social media? Well I declare I thought the administration stood for free speech.

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 1d

At the request of the U.S. Department of Justice, a Facebook group used by nearly 80,000 people to report sightings of federal immigration agents in the Chicago area has been taken down by the social media giant Meta, Facebook’s parent company.

Facebook suspends popular Chicago ICE-sightings group at Trump administration’s request

The group, "ICE Sighting-Chicagoland," has been increasingly used in the last five weeks of President Donald Trump’s intense deportation campaign to warn neighbors that federal agents are nearby.

trib.al

5 31 80

Reposted by Grits for Breakfast

Michael Morrell @genuinemichael.bsky.social · 2d

Let’s get biblical, biblical…

16 190 670

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 1d

This looks fun www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/s...

Every Artist Has a Favorite Subject. For Some, That’s Math.

www.nytimes.com

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 1d

Trump pulled out of bipartisan antitrust efforts against the ag conglomerates just last month. I can't imagine the farmer or rancher who thinks that's in their best interest. www.economicliberties.us/press-releas...

USDA Takes Heat off Big Ag by Ending Antitrust Collab with States - USDA Takes Heat off Big Ag by Ending Antitrust Collab with States

Following news that the US Department of Agriculture has ended a Biden-era partnership with the attorneys general of 31 states and the District of Columbia to address antitrust violations in the groce...

www.economicliberties.us

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 1d

That's not right. IRL farmers *need* regulation bc they're under the thumb of a buyer oligopoly owned by GOP megadonors. Dems created most farm subsidies and has bailed ag out repeatedly. Rural America is anti-Dem over the culture wars, but they don't benefit from R economics.

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 1d

Apropos of nothing, were you aware that "Young Republicans" include individuals up to 39 yo? I've known YRs w/ kids in HS.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

POLITICO: “.. They referred to Black people as monkeys and ‘the watermelon people’ and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies .. and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 1d

Good Lord. While not definitive, the association between lead intake and aggression/violence is significant. Giving lead regularly to the protein shake/supplement guys doesn't seem like a good idea.

My better half worked for Consumer Reports for 20 years. I love those guys.

paris martineau @paris.nyc · 1d

my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements

we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports

CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

www.consumerreports.org

1 4

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 1d

Gateway's lay leadership collaborated to cover up Morris' misdeeds: In a just world, that church would have been wiped off the face of the earth, but apparently those same leaders and their buddies on the church's governing board feel it's important to continue this legacy.

Judge outlines next phase of $1M case against disgraced North Texas pastor

Robert Morris and several Gateway Church staff and elders were named in the lawsuit.

www.chron.com

2 2

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 1d

Documentary spotlights historical influence of 8 Fort Worth civil rights leaders fortworthreport.org/2025/10/13/d...

Documentary spotlights historical influence of 8 Fort Worth civil rights leaders

The Fort Worth branch of NAACP debuted its new film "Unlocked Voices: Bridging the Future” at I.M. Terrell Academy on Oct. 11.

fortworthreport.org

Reposted by Grits for Breakfast

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 2d

The entire incident is infuriating and terrifying. She’s a Latina woman who was working a service job. On her way home late at night, with her headphones in, she was detained for an hour by masked federal agents who wouldn’t give her their names.

Maria Greeley, 44, had just finished working a double shift at the Beach Bar on Ohio Street
earlier this month when she said she was surrounded by three federal agents who grabbed her, forced her hands behind her back and zip tied her.
Headphones in, Greeley had been focused on getting home to her two dogs for a walk.
Instead, she said she was detained by masked agents who did not answer when she asked for names. They questioned her for an hour, she said.

200 2.4K 6.1K

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 1d

Purges at Texas universities continue www.expressnews.com/news/article...

Texas State again fires professor for remarks at socialist conference

Texas State President Kelly Damphousse informed Tom Alter of his firing on Monday, following an Oct. 6 hearing.

www.expressnews.com

2 1

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 1d

if they're "able bodied," literally nothing. Medicaid only reimburses services for sick people, healthy people place no burdens on the program.

Reposted by Grits for Breakfast

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 2d

I can’t help but think today about how many young people were savaged on social media, branded as anti-semites and abandoned by their schools for daring to call for a ceasefire. I remember saying that it was the first time I can remember that calling for ceasefire was regarded as a hostile demand.

3 2.3K 11K

Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 1d

IOW, it's TACO Tuesday

Forbes @forbes.com · 2d

Vice President JD Vance suggested President Donald Trump’s renewed tariff threats were a negotiation tactic.

U.S. Stock Futures Rise As Trump Softens Tone On China After 100% Tariff Threat

Vice President JD Vance suggested President Donald Trump’s renewed tariff threats were a negotiation tactic.

www.forbes.com

1 7