Sid Roberts, MD

@TracesofTexas Fascinating that Angelina County in deep East Texas bucked the trend!

This is a map representing how Texas counties voted on the question of secession back in 1861. I've been studying it for several days and cogitating and have these observations: The map is almost a perfect overlay of Texas’s cultural fault lines in 1861. What jumps out first is how strongly the plantation belt of East Texas voted to leave the Union. From the Red River down through the Brazos and into the coastal counties, secession support is nearly continuous. These counties held the highest concentrations of enslaved people, in some cases 30–50 percent or more of the population. Their wealth, political leadership, and social structure were deeply tied to slavery, so their vote reflected both economic self-interest and political alignment with the broader Deep South. In striking contrast, the strongest pockets of Unionist sentiment appear in the Hill Country, especially Gillespie, Kendall, Comal, and surrounding counties. These areas had large populations of German immigrants, many of whom came to Texas after the failed European revolutions of 1848. They tended to oppose slavery on political or moral grounds and had little economic stake in it. But there's also this: they had only recently settled the frontier and often depended on the U.S. Army for protection from Comanche raids. Secession meant the likely withdrawal of federal troops, which many saw as a direct threat to their survival. There's also a belt of divided or Union-leaning counties stretching across parts of North Texas, particularly along the Red River and westward. Much of this region was still frontier in character, with fewer enslaved people and a population made up largely of small farmers rather than plantation owners. These communities had weaker ties to the slave economy and often stronger attachment to the federal government, which provided military protection and infrastructure. I think the above observations almost self-evident once you understand the demographics and the commerce patters. What is more curious to me is South Texas. Despite having relatively few enslaved people compared to East Texas, many counties there still voted for secession. This reflected the influence of large ranching elites and established political leadership, particularly in older Tejano and Anglo settlements. My impression is that loyalty to local power structures and political identity often outweighed purely economic considerations. Finally, the yellow counties in the west and northwest show me just how incomplete Texas settlement still was. Many of these counties had only been created in the 1850s and had too few residents or too little organization to hold a meaningful vote. Texas in 1861 was still a frontier state, with its political geography shaped as much by settlement patterns as ideology. Viewed altogether, it's clear that Texas did not move toward secession as a unified block. Instead, votes followed the invisible boundaries of slavery, ethnicity, settlement age, patterns of commerce, frontier dependence etc.... The strongest support for the Union came from newer, less slave-dependent, and often immigrant communities. The strongest support for secession came from older, wealthier, slaveholding regions tied culturally and economically to the Deep South. Thanks to the Texas Almanac for providing this great map!

@bonhoefferchild Such a cult… Wow…

"We love Epstein so much ... we turned ourselves into redacted Epstein files for the movie! Praise Trum.... we mean Jesus!"

This is quite an exchange with @DavidAFrench about whether we are witnessing the emergence of a "dual state."

@j_luh @SprakerMDPhD @ABR_Radiology Without community generalists, most of our cancer patients would not get treated.

@SprakerMDPhD Amen to that! In fact, @ABR_Radiology tests our ability to take care of patients in the community as a generalist

A clarification: The brass ring is about how I was taught that the Academic Oncologist is the one true path. It is *a* path that is right for some and wrong for others. Real Oncologists take many paths towards helping patients, and many who teach us may never even see them.

@SimonLo21054188 @j_luh @banu_atalar @ACRCARROS1986 So excited for Debra Monticciolo!!

ACR announces 2026 Gold Medalists and Honorary Fellows | Newswise- Congrats to ⁦@banu_atalar⁩ for the Hon FACR award! ⁦@j_luh⁩ ⁦@ACRCARROS1986⁩ newswise.com/articles/acr-a…

@DavidAFrench How ironic that these are the same Christian Nationalists clamoring to return to the morals of an earlier age.

This is the best thing I've read on the boat strikes, from a Marine veteran: nytimes.com/2025/12/05/opi…

Excited to welcome Eugenio Longoria Sáenz as the new Executive Director for @AngThriveTX!

@DavidAFrench says what most won’t: We all have monsters in our midst. nytimes.com/2025/09/14/opi…

Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News | The Wiz (1978) | TUNE youtu.be/6pO83K6gqx0?fe… via @YouTube I’m just going to leave this right here…

@JordanJ65544091 Another reason I dropped my ASTRO membership this year.

@yuanjamesrao Glad I’m retiring soon…

Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule 2026 released. Too much to digest quickly but it's out there for those who are interested in billing and policy. Table 14 describes major modification to delivery CPT codes, previously predicted by ASTRO. #radonc Link below

A must read, with very important insights from @PeterHotez newyorker.com/science/elemen…

@MatthewBoedy It was a well-deserved swipe at Christian Nationalism, which is political and only pseudo-religious. About time it gets called out.

Misstep here by Newsom. No reason to go at Johnson’s religion. Gov could have just said the speaker was calling for vigilante justice.

Are you obsessed with learning to love others better? If not, what god are you following? My latest (final?) @lufkindailynews column! drsidroberts.substack.com/p/time-flies-b…

@racheljwelcher We used to call these non-salvation issues. But with Pharisees - the increasingly dominant fundamentalists of various stripes - salvation isn’t the end game: It’s all about power and control.

Why is it that so many Christians can have fellowship while disagreeing about the following: -Baptism -Spiritual gifts -Eschatology But not: -Women in ministry (complementarianism/egalitarianism) Would love to hear your thoughts!

It is early, and little information out still, but to be just diagnosed with Gleason 9 metastatic prostate cancer - as a President! - is perplexing. 🤔

@ryanburge The liberal drift was to leave the SBC (either voluntarily or forced out).

*whistles to self* Look at all that liberal drift inside the Southern Baptist Convention.....

@loveandmedicine Congratulations!!

I am honored to enter the role of Medical Director at UTHSCSA Department of Radiation Oncology. I feel passionately aligned with our mission to serve South Texas cancer patients and invested in the excellence of our teams. Wish me luck 🌺