Maybe the shuttered bar owners need the nuns to march for theme. The Sisters of Charity marching 1965 in support of civil rights. (Uncredited photo.)

Civil disobedience was once the honored touchstone of the Boomer generation’s fight against racial injustice and anti-war protests.

Now, it should be redeployed to fight  unjust, excessive and dangerous Covid-19 pandemic restrictions that are destroying small businesses and abusing children by keeping them out of schools.

Sadly, so many Americans today are unaware of the critical role that civil disobedience played in ridding the country of Jim Crow and pulling America out of the unpopular Vietnam War.

It was used in lunch counter sit-ins and to protest other racial wrongs. Those who used it were  willing to accept the legal consequences of their actions. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was rightly praised for successfully employing the tactic to fight racial discrimination.

Now some restaurant owners are openly defying the pandemic restrictions in the same manner, although the woke left might not call recognize it or call it such.

In Washington state,  officials have threatened fines and criminal charges against businesses defying COVID-19 restrictions. In Staten Island, Mac’s Public House is openly defying Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s unscientific and loopy order shutting it and others down. 

Today’s media of course put down such actions as “flouting” instead of acknowledging the once honored practice. Maybe the bars that are protesting their shutdowns should recruit some nuns to march with them, as the civil rights protesters did in the ’60s and ’70s. Just to show you how little civil disobedience is resected today, on Saturday Night Live, the wealthy Pete Davidson disrespected the protesters and bar owners. (See below)

In Illinois, strip clubs were open, but now getting a burger and a beer in a tavern is verboten. Many schools have shutdown in-person learning. Constitutionally protected places of worship have to initiate costly legal battles to stay open. And so much of the suppression of American’s civil right is done contrary to the scientific evidence.

Today’s media of course chose instead consider the protests that led to arson and murder as something heroic. Small businesses, in turn, are either ignored or portrayed as in some cases so ignorant and money-hungry that they would willingly murder by virus their customers.

It’s as if the media years ago would have condemned King as an ignorant law-breaker. Come to think of it, some did.

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Do you ever read something that bothers you so much, even seemingly inconsequential and trivial, that for some reason you can’t shake it off? Another person might not give it a second thought, but it gets on your nerves and stays there.

I was informed the other day, by no less an authority than the venerated Wall Street Journal, that my fun and festive Christmas wreath is “tone-deaf.”

A recent piece I came across in the Journal real estate section was pretentiously headlined: “Why You’ll Want a Simple Wreath this Holiday.” (Few things get my goat more than being told by would-be trendsetters and tastemakers what I’m supposed to want. There’s no better way to get on my bad side right out of the starting gate.)

The upshot of this article was that your holiday decorating ought to match the tenor of the times—that is, it should be as dull, bleak, joyless and sterilized as 2020 itself. Over-the-top wreaths with big bows and shiny balls and other frou-frou are “tone deaf,” the article proclaimed. Instead, the wreath gracing your front door ought to be bland and monochromatic as…wheat.

No joke. As alternatives, the WSJ piece suggested stripped-down wreaths constructed from berries and a dried-wheat wreath from Pottery Barn as examples of the type of minimalist holiday cheer appropriate to 2020.

My tone-deaf wreath, according to WSJ

 

The dried-wheat wreath WSJ thinks I should have

Which would you rather look at?
There have been periods in the recent past when it was suggested that more understated and subdued holiday festivities were called for in light of national events. Two that come to mind are the post-9/11 season and the 2008-09 recession. In the case of the latter, Oprah sidelined her wildly popular and celebrated “Favorite Things” tradition.
You can choose to subscribe to a contrarian school of thought, which is that going all-out and over-the-top is the tonic we need in troubled times. You don’t have to go out and buy new stuff. But if you’ve already got the lights, ornaments, the mechanical lawn Santa and snowmen, why should you let them collect dust in the basement because some Scrooges in the print media say so?
Maybe carrying on—decorating, dressing, gift-giving, cooking and baking—same as we do every year is the biggest middle-finger we could give to this horror show of a year. It’s not like anyone is going to any big, boozy holiday soirees. At least not unless they’re a politician.
If understatement and minimalism suits your personal taste, then by all means, do you. There’s nothing wrong with that style. There’s nothing wrong with any kind of decorating. Unleash your inner Martha Stewart.
I remember back a couple decades ago when the minimalism movement was in vogue. A woman I knew had an annual tradition where she bought a large real fir tree and invited her friends to a tree-trimming party at her Uptown condo. “When it comes to Christmas,” she declared, “I’m a maximalist.”
And wheat is for farmers.
Let’s raise a glass to big-ass bows, giant shiny balls, and flashy multicolored string lights. According to WSJ, my Christmas wreath is tone-deaf. With all due respect Wall Street Journal, take your dried wheat and stuff it.

PHOTO #1: Author
PHOTO #2: Potterybarn.com

Filed under:
media, popular culture, society

The Chicago real estate market is on a run. November was the third month in a row where home sales posted a 14 year record high. You can see it in the graph below which shows monthly home sales going back to 1997 with all Novembers flagged in red and a green 12 month moving average. However, the amount by which November sales exceeded previous years is not nearly as dramatic as it was in September or October so sales are losing a bit of steam.

November beat last year’s sales by 18.4%, which is still a very respectable showing. This surge is a last ditch attempt by the market to make up for the lost sales earlier in the year resulting from Covid 19 related issues. Please note that in a couple of weeks the Illinois Association of Realtors will release their official sales data and they will announce a 17.5% increase in home sales. We have agreed to disagree on the proper way to calculate sales gains.

Check out the moving average line and you’ll see that it’s coming back but is still not quite back to where it was before the pandemic struck but it’s getting really close to where it was a year ago. 12 month sales are now down only 1.6% from a year ago. It’s entirely possible that the year will close out with sales very close to 2019.

BTW, everything you’ve heard about how people are really liking the suburbs right now is absolutely true. The broader metro area, which includes the city and the suburbs, is doing even better than the city. Sales for the last 12 months are actually up 7.2% from last year at this time.

Chicago home sales have been declining now for several years but the Coronavirus really tanked the market in May and June. The market returned to more normal levels starting in July and appears determined to make up for lost time.

Chicago Home Contract Activity

Contracts for homes continue to run at the highest levels since I’ve been tracking the data – 13 years now. November contracts were 8.3% higher than last year, which is the 5th month in a row of gains over last year, though the increases have been getting progressively smaller. If you look at the light blue moving average line below you’ll see that we’re just about back to where we were before the pandemic nightmare started.

The bottom line is that December closings should be higher than last year but you also have to factor in pending home sales.

Chicago home sale contract activity hit another record high for this time of year after plummeting to record lows because of Coronavirus issues.

Pending Home Sales

Pending home sales represent contracts written that haven’t closed yet – i.e. they should theoretically close in the next month or two. In the graph below you can see that we’re currently at the highest level in 4 years. We ended November 472 units higher than last year, which is down from October’s 637 unit increase but still significant. When you consider that last year there were 1896 closings in December those extra 472 units could have a significant impact.

After hitting historic lows the backlog of homes likely to close in the next 1 – 2 months has reached the highest levels in 4 years.

Distressed Home Sales

With the moratorium on foreclosures (and I hear that it’s been extended yet again) it should be no surprise that the percentage of home sales that are distressed continues to decline. November only had 3.2% distressed sales, down from 6.0% last year and another record low.

Since the housing crisis the percentage of home sales that are distressed has steadily declined.

Chicago Home Inventory

Since the pandemic attached (condos/ townhomes) and detached inventory has been significantly diverging as you can see in the graph below. Everyone has known that detached inventory was extraordinarily low. November had only a 2.2 month supply, which is the lowest level for a November over the time period I’ve been tracking, though it’s up a tiny bit from the July low of 2.1 months.

However, condos are a totally different story with inventory actually rising. Prior to November I wasn’t willing to declare a condo glut because those inventory levels were not really exceeding last year’s levels. But November ended with a 6.8 month supply, which is almost a 9 year high – for any time of year. Clearly, as everyone has been saying, condos are out of favor relative to single family homes.

After a big Coronavirus induced spike in April the inventory of homes for sale dropped back down. Detached inventory hit a record low in July while attached inventory returned to normal levels.

Chicago Home Sale Market Times

Regardless of the higher inventory levels it sure doesn’t look like condo sellers are having any trouble selling their places based on the market times I’m seeing. For condos that closed in November it only took them 66 days to sell on average, down from 83 days last year. It doesn’t really make sense that condos would sell so fast, given their inventory levels, but maybe condos that aren’t selling are being yanked off the market? By comparison single family homes sold in an average of 63 days, which is down from 76 days last year, but that’s no surprise given the low inventory levels and high demand.

When the pandemic first hit Chicago market times rose but now they are actually quite a bit lower than last year.

If you visit our Web site you will find some additional  Chicago real estate market data.

#RealEstate #ChicagoRealEstate #Coronavirus

Gary Lucido is the President of Lucid Realty, the Chicago area’s full service real estate brokerage that offers home buyer rebates and discount commissions. If you want to keep up to date on the Chicago real estate market or get an insider’s view of the seamy underbelly of the real estate industry you can Subscribe to Getting Real by Email using the form below. Please be sure to verify your email address when you receive the verification notice.

Last weeks shooting death of Retired Chicago Firefighter Dwain Williams at 2 pm in the afternoon seemed to have awoken many folks. The retired Father of 4 stopped to pick up a bag of PopCorn and upon returning to his vehicle he was met by 3 armed gunmen who demanded his vehicle. Mr.Williams drew his weapon and was immediately shot down and killed. He was a registered Concealed Carry Permit holder. He became the City’s 737th  murderer victim in 2020 and was one of over 1,270 Carjacking victims so far in Chicago this year. Carjackings have soared by 134% over last year and the most since 2002.  Chicago is enduring a gruesome year of violence. Twelve people a day are being shot down in Chicago alone. As of this morning, the shooting toll stands at almost 4,00 folks shot. The Cook County Medical examiner puts the number of Homicides in Cook County over 925 so far this year.

Almost immediately Politicians and so-called Community activists were lined up at the scene of Dwain William’s murder, anxiously awaiting their turn for interviews and face time from the local press. So far $34,000 dollars has been raised for any information on the killers. Thus far the Police have not interviewed anyone, and are pleading with the public for help. What is curious to me is the response by local Politicians and Community activists.

One of the many so-called Community activists Raul Montes took  (a hardline approach?) calling for more Cops and even asking President Trump to activate the National Guard in Chicago. Hey Raul! where you been? I imagine he hasn’t heard of the defunding the police movement. Picture the National Guard, (I have lived it first hand in 1968,) roaming Chicago’s streets and not knowing State Laws, local laws, Arrest Search, and Seizure,  and with no instruction on the use of deadly force. Add to that, they would not know a Chicago Gang Banger from Sammy Sosa or a local alderman. Not be outdone in the (GET BEFORE THE NEAREST CAMERA RUSH)  is none other than  State Representative La Shawn Ford, who a few years back tried to push a bill in Springfield that would prevent the Police from questioning suspects, even at the scenes of the crime when it is probable that a crime has been committed and the suspect fits the description given by a victim.

Despite the fact that the United States Supreme Court (TERRY vs OHIO) gave Law enforcement the right to question suspects if they believe he or she has committed a crime or is about to. Rep. La Shawn Ford’s latest proposal is to try and get Governor Pritzker to take Executive action to register Chicago’s pervasive VIOLENCE as a public health Crisis. Steven King could not even make that up. Okay,! Chicago your violence is a public health crisis, “TAKE THAT”. Even Pritzker would have had to do a double-take on that. There were many more proposals but all this in my opinion was in keeping with former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s famous quote. ” YOU NEVER WANT TO LET A GOOD CRISIS GO TO WASTE.”. Wise men talk because they have something to say, fools because they have to say something.

By being passive and with no lack of fools making speeches, we have allowed the violence problem in Chicago to expand and grow to a point where decent dedicated people along with the politicians have no answers and are willing to put forth nonsensical ideas just for the sake of being heard. The speech makers and the babbling pundits all talk a good game but none so far can play a good game. Make no mistake, Chicago’s Gangs are a powerful force, and power concedes nothing without a demand, it never did and it never will. We all have to be aware of do-gooders breathing their own exhaust, it’s delusional, and it’s all an illusion. The violence will stop in Chicago when the gangs meet a force that is superior and willing to restore decency to communities and a city that desperately needs help.

A little known voice of reason in Chicago who seldom is ever heard is Pastor Anthony Williams of Chicago’s Southside. All of Chicago needs to hear HIS words.”UNTIL WE COME AT THIS AND CAGE THIS MONSTER RIGHT (VIOLENCE) WE’RE GOING TO GET WHAT WE ARE GETTING. NONE OF US ARE SAFE, WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO LIVE LIKE THIS.” I wonder if the Mayor of Chicago knows who he is.? Hello!

My usually unreliable sources at Faque News.conjob are reporting that a leaked  White House document revealed that POTUS fully intends to exercise his “Limitless” powers of Pardons to free from censure Benedict Arnold, as well as other controversial figures, both living and deceased.   Reporter Charlatan Mountebank has released  the  famous names listed in the document, accompanied by Trump’s rationale for each exoneration.

Benedict Arnold: “In my book ( by the way, which Tony Schwartz didn’t write Art of the Deal like he claims.  I’ll sue right after I sue all those litigious babes  who I had consensual–and sensual–sex with, believe me.) Loyalty is the most important thing to me–especially if you’re loyal to a psychotic egomaniac, which King George really  wasn’t, as many people have told me.  They called him Mad King George not because he was completely and permanently  unhinged, but because those American colonists turned on him and that made him really pissed off. Arnold was the Rudy Guliani of his day, the so-called Continental Congress was the Antifa.  I even made one of my favorite breakfasts  (once-over-lightly eggs with Hollandaise sauce) after my favorite American historical hero:  Eggs Benedict Arnold.”

Genghis Khan: ” Before all you  card-carrying constitutional “scholar” libtards get your Jewish noses out of joint, I declare that the President’s pardoning-authority is Limitless.  And that means Foreign and Domestic, Dead or Alive, Fictional or Non-Fictional. Got it?  Anyway, although I don’t believe in science, this one “distinguished” geneticist, Sykes, claimed that the genomes of 16 million people can be traced to one common male ancestor. And get this.  Most of them live in the same swath of territory conquered by Genghis Khan.  You do the algorithm, pal. Anyway, any guy who apparently impregnated that many babes  is okay in my book (which Tony Schwartz definitely did not write; I did).  And just think of all the other female “Spoils Of War” he must have nailed  but didn’t fertilize, due to birth-control pills and devices, which I disapprove of in the legislation I propose to write in my forthcoming second term.”

Ted Bundy:    ‘Sure he liquidated lots of babes, but I’m convinced he consensually  seduced first. And think of how many he nailed without bothering to snuff them.  After all he was, like me, an irresistibly handsome hombre.”

Jeff Daumer:  “If I was defending him in court, I would point out to the judge (if he was compassionate and reasonable in these matters  ( like, say, that Kavanaugh dude) , andd  say “The absence of a “no” constitutes adult consent.  And those fairies were  D-E-A-D at the time.  Not guilty, your honor.”

Charles Manson:  “With Charley boy,  I’d use the Grandma defense:  If a kid misbehaves and uses the excuse that his best friend, Floyd, told him to do something naughty, didn’t Grandma always say “If Floyd told you to jump in the lake, does that mean you had to jump in the lake?”  Charley only suggested felonious behavior to his friends.  Kind of the same as  me.  Which proves I’m not guilty”

Robert E. Lee: ” Even though I said I know more than any general, I was only referring to the 20th and 21st century.  Lee knew more tactical stuff than anybody.  He was just betrayed by the Southern populace, especially the nig, er, Negroes.”

Jeffery Epstein:  “Epstein  (a person  can barely recall every meeting) happened to like ’em young,   So?  Is that a crime?Besides,  many people have told me that a dude named Humbert Humbert had the same appetites, and never became a jailbird like Epstein unfairly did. And his girlfriend (who I know a little, a very little). Maxwell, unfairly might and who will be getting a pardon you bet your ass.”

Attila the Hun: “See Genghis Kahn. More or less.”

Bernie Madoff:  Legislative overreach is what did him in. Thanks to the   socialistic, Marxist Dems,damn them.  Hang in there, Bernie,  in memory of that great financial innovator, “Chucky” Ponzi, the cavalry is on its way and they’re  carrying a GET OUT OF JAIL FREE card with them. Will there be a big fat check coming my way, Bernie? You think?   Free unfettered enterprise is making America Great Again!”

Jim Jones:  “Nobody forced his followers to drink that Kool-Aid.   It was only a suggestion. But what happens?This Congressman, what’s his name, Ryan comes along and blurts out a story that Jones is a bad guy. No evidence. Jim made two mistakes.  He should have made Ryan sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement.  And he should have had his followers sign a paper saying nothing that happens to them are his, Jim’s, fault.  I could have advised him that stuff  So what happens bottom line?  Kool-Aid stock tanks, but I called Mercer and luckily went short on it.  Maybe I got the suicide news early.  Maybe I didn’t.  I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.  By the way, I know Jones wasn’t arrested for anything.  But history has branded him a “loathsome, egomaniacal, insane monster”.  See, those Leftist historians have a history of being unfair to Great leaders.  Such as I’m not sayin’ who, I’m just sayin’.

Afterword

Dreyfus:  Jared recommended that I pardon this guy.  But  I checked it out with a Dem historian who explained that Dreyfus had already been pardoned. So, I looked up the so called Dreyfus Affair in Wikipedia and, you know what, I saw he did it.  I’m looking into investigating  whether as President, I’m empowered to rescind his exoneration, kind of how I did with that business with the Central Park Five.  And also Obama’s forged birth certificate.  And this last election.

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