We’re back in that place in Texas where the locals like to pretend they’re really not a part of Texas — Austin. And I’m back to reading God Save Texas — A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State by Lawrence Wright, who identifies many of the ways Texas is unique. For example, this mixed bag:
Texas is the only state in the USA which was its own independent country before joining the Union in 1845. That probably explains a lot.
Texas is the only state in the USA to operate its own electrical grid. Lawrence Wright opines that this was done mostly to avoid federal regulations.
Texas has the highest rate of uninsured people in the nation. Whether or not there is a connection, Texas also has the country’s highest rate of maternal deaths.
Texas is where the landmark, now nation-dividing abortion rights case began in 1970. The United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Roe v Wade in 1973.
Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Houston sheltered as many as a quarter-million evacuees, about 40,000 of whom became permanent residents of Houston metropolitan area, more than were resettled in any state.
For many years prior to the the Trump administration’s severe restrictions on refugees to America, Texas led all states in the number of refugees accepted, including one-tenth of the 85,000 refugees resettled in the USA in 2016.
JER
ALL OVER THE MAP 