Steven D. Smith

VP at @TheHeraldGroup, Cincy born, Hoosier bred. Previously with @HouseGOP/@RepLizCheney, @RepFrenchHill, @RepEdRoyce, @RepGosar & @SpeakerBoehner.

[U.S. Soccer Men's National Team @USMNT]

RIP IT AND FLIP IT! A WORLDY FROM JEDI!

#USMNT x @VW

[Yogi @Houseofyogi]

Chicago lost the Bears this week. A team that's been in the city since 1921.

They didn't lose them to a bigger market or a better deal. The Bears decided they'd rather be a tenant in Indiana than deal with Illinois for one more year.

Think about how badly you have to run a place for that to be the smart move.

They lost them for two reasons.

The people running Illinois would rather villainize a builder than keep one. And they're bad at their jobs.

In 2021 the Bears spent $197M on the old Arlington Park racetrack.

Before they could break ground, Cook County valued the empty lot at $192M (Bears said $60M). They were salivating at the chance to extort a building that didn't even exist yet.

That fight dragged on for years.

The Bears were ready to put $2B into the stadium. All they wanted was a promise the county wouldn't reassess them into oblivion, plus $855M for infrastructure everyone uses. Roads, transit, utilities. A $3B project, two thirds of it private money pouring into Illinois.

Springfield had since 2021 to get this done. They dragged it to the final night of session, passed it through the Senate at 3:39AM, and the House went home without voting.

So now it's all gone.

The funniest part? This started because Cook County tried to grab the tax early. They knew a built stadium would pay $53M a year. Now they get under $4M on a vacant lot. No jobs, no buildout, no new anything.

Congrats on fighting for scraps and losing the whole prize.

Pritzker: they're "an $8.5B valued business" that doesn't need propping up.

But be smart for a second. Almost every NFL city throws in public money for a stadium. Not charity. The return is real. Tourism, hotels, restaurants, jobs, game days, property tax on a huge development. The math works.

Indiana did the math. While Illinois sat on it for years, Indiana passed a bill in months, put up $1B, and took the team.

And the Bears took a worse deal to get there. In Illinois they were going to own their stadium. In Indiana they rent it from the state. A team that wanted to build its own home gave up ownership just to escape Chicago.

Nobody won but Indiana. The Bears lost their stadium. Illinois lost the team, the $2B, and $53M a year in taxes.

Pritzker after they left: "I wasn't willing to give up billions of dollars of taxpayer money to give it to a billionaire-owned family or team."

There it is. "Billionaire-owned."

That's how Democrats talk about any business right before they run it out of town. Call them a billionaire, act like you're saving working families, take a victory lap while the tax base drives across the state line.

Meanwhile they're running the whole state into the ground. And you already know how this ends. You're living in it.

Pensions are $143B in the hole, worst in the country and not close. You pay $6,285 a year in property taxes, double the $2,969 national average, for a city that's $1.15B in the red. The mayor called its finances "the point of no return."

When you run things this badly, you sell what's left.

They leased the parking meters for 75 years to Morgan Stanley and a sovereign wealth fund in Abu Dhabi. Took $1.15B and burned through it in two years. The investors already made it all back, with 58 years left to collect.

Sold the Skyway. Sold the downtown garages. Every asset that made money, gone for one check.

But a fixed property tax rate for a team that's been here 106 years? That's "propping up billionaires."

Companies are leaving. Boeing for Virginia. Caterpillar for Texas. Citadel for Miami. In 2023 alone Illinois lost 56,000 people and $6B in income to other states. The ones who left earned a third more than the ones who moved in.

Indiana didn't outbid anyone. AAA credit, 16 years straight. A $676M surplus. Fourth-lowest debt per person in the country. They just weren't a disaster.

Illinois could have collected $53M a year. It chose zero. Ignore all the bad management but make sure to stick it to those evil, pesky billionaires.

[Mariana Alfaro @marianaa_alfaro]

I am so hype for this World Cup bc we’re going to hear sentences like this that have never been uttered before

[David French @DavidAFrench]

It's not just the evidence of assault.

It's not just the Nazi tattoo

It's not just lying about the Nazi tattoo

It's not just the Kik account

It's not just the adulterous sexting

It's not just the deranged posting

It's all of it (and the more that may emerge).

This is the guy you want to burn your moral credibility for to beat ... Susan Collins?

[Maya Luna (NYC arc ✈️) @envisionedluna]

At this point the only thing that could hurt Platner with progressives is if it came out that he has a Star of David tattoo

[Nate Silver @NateSilver538]

Keep in mind that if you're defending Platner at this point you're signing up for 5 more months of defending an obvious pathological liar.

[Steven D. Smith @StevenDCSmith]

100% accurate.

[CrimsonCast @CrimsonCast]

You're gonna want to watch this

[Liverpool FC @LFC]

"I want to become one more of you." ✊

[Washington Examiner @dcexaminer]

Republicans wins 12th annual Congressional Soccer Match.

MORE: https://t.co/byGNbLAYrQ

@ussoccerfndn @CarliLloyd @AlexiLalas

[Steven D. Smith @StevenDCSmith]

Suited up in goal for the @GOP team at the 12th annual Congressional Soccer Match last night at @AudiField — and with @AlexiLalas coaching us up, we secured the W! This was my 4th time participating in this match, and it's still one of the best events in DC. All for @ussoccerfndn & kids who deserve safe places to play.
#SoccerWill
#Legacy2026

[Steven D. Smith @StevenDCSmith]

The month of June is the best weather month of the year. And it’s not even close.

[Capital Weather @capitalweather]

Our dry streak hits 6 days today (Wednesday) after having recorded 10 straight days of measurable rain at Reagan National.

Plenty of sun continues the next few days as highs heat up:

* Low 80s today
* Mid- to upper 80s Thursday
* At least upper 80s to low 90s Friday-Saturday, maybe low to mid-90s for some

Then, potential for scattered showers/storms at some point on Sunday.

(Photo by angela n./Flickr)

[litquidity @litcapital]

I will soon be introducing a bill to give the public a 50% ownership stake in Bernie’s three homes that were purchased from his taxpayer-funded income for over 35 years despite achieving absolutely nothing

[Daniel Priestley @DanielPriestley]

Under capitalism, socialists are free to build socialism.

Under socialism, capitalists aren’t free to build anything.

Nothing stops a group of socialists pooling their money, forming a company, and splitting every wage and every pound of profit perfectly equally.... Or to donate all profit to the government.

It’s legal. It’s easy. Owning the means of production is as simple as setting up a company.

Marx wrote his manifesto before the invention of limited liability companies. Back then “seize the factory” meant seizing it from the handful of families who could afford one.

That argument expired the day anyone could start a company with limited liability, raise investment and hire who they want.

Socialists are free to lead by example and demonstrate their system works. They can out-recruit, out-motivate, out-build and out innovate based on their ideas if they like. It would prove the philosophy works. Capitalism will happily host their experiment.

The fact that nobody does this tells you a lot.

[Steven D. Smith @StevenDCSmith]

@BernieSanders @grok when was the last time a bill authored by Senator Bernie Sanders was actually signed into law?

[Stephen L. Miller @redsteeze]

"Now I will."

[Nick Gillespie @nickgillespie]

A government that can't count votes in a timely manner shouldn't be allowed to run so many aspects of our lives.

[National Champion Hoosier Soldier @DidIndianaW]

Still one of the best videos I’ve ever watched

[Enguerrand VII de Coucy @ingelramdecoucy]

Making a ruckus over introducing stupid bills that’ll never pass is all Bernie does. In all his time in Congress Bernie’s only successfully passed 3 bills into law, 2 of which were for renaming post office branches in Vermont

The last successful bill he introduced was in 2013