FRI brief 6.18.21
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Today’s stories
TEXAS MONTHLY’S best and worst list was released earlier this week. It’s an illustrative partisan effort that inverts nicely, the Best are the Worst and the Worst are closer the Best (with exceptions).
HOMEOWNERSHIP seems consistently in the news these days.
The post-COVID market is hot, labor and materials are expensive, interest rates are low but likely to climb, and hedge funds (knowing the former point) are gobbling up already low inventory.
These unique circumstances are paired with a generation of would-be buyers who’ve sat on the sidelines. Here are some initial thoughts on the matter.
There’ll be a lot of opportunity in this space.
Convincing Americans to get used to not owning a home is a globalist errand everyone should rally to defeat.
What may need to be remade is the vision of the home and community.
Perhaps, we can get off the idea that Americans need 800 square feet of home per person. The average family size of 3.14 ought to fit comfortably in a 1500 sq/ft house, yet the average home size in the U.S. has ballooned to 2,300.
Owning a home breeds responsibility, providing a sense of permanence that creates space for things like having kids and investing in a community for the long term.
JUNETEENTH is now a national holiday, a move Donald Trump pledged to make if re-elected and sworn into office. The Texas holiday, celebrated on June 19th, marks the day emancipation news reached the Lone Star state two years after occurring.
Making it a national holiday, logically, is the nation celebrating good news reaching Texas. Days off and celebrations of freedom are good, and no race has a monopoly on celebrating Juneteenth. Everyone can celebrate the news of slavery ending finally reaching Texas.
Of course, there’s a dust-up over this; Candace Owens has said the holiday gives black people a 'perpetual victim mentality.' While this is true of the pernicious Critical Race Theory, Owens's suggestion, it could be argued, would be like saying celebrating July 4th gives Americans a perpetual subjugation to the crown mentality.
The timing of the move is troubling, as the left tries to drive a wedge between the races in America, a well taken Owens point, but not the holiday itself.
Related: Texas A&M University System will observe Juneteenth
Hit the links
SCOTUS keeps dodging crucial cases
…and it’s got Sam Alito pissed
Illegal aliens to be housed in S. Texas prison
Cruz: McConaughey, a 'formidable' candidate for governor
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