Corey

[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.

[Anthony Bradley @drantbradley]

Clemson is $1.5B in debt. Syracuse is closing or pausing 93 programs, UNC-Chapel Hill plans to cut spending by $89M over 3 years. Duke recently let 600 employees go in a $350M budget cut. Indiana public colleges announced a plan to eliminate or merge 580 programs statewide.

[ABC News @ABC]

NEW: Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, California, has been charged with acting as an illegal foreign agent for China, the Justice Department announced on Monday.

Wang agreed to plead guilty, the Justice Department said. https://t.co/61VZ41RJMF

[Rand Paul @RandPaul]

TODAY is the day. The DOJ must charge Fauci for lying under oath or lose the chance forever. This man oversaw gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab, lied to Congress about it repeatedly, and watched as you were called crazy for asking questions. The statute of limitations expires tomorrow. The American people have waited long enough for accountability.

[Rand Paul @RandPaul]

The DOJ's deadline to charge Fauci for lying under oath about funding gain-of-function research in Wuhan is in 6 days. We can’t allow the statute of limitations to run out. He MUST be charged!

Agree? RT.

[Darren R Pang @Panger40]

Congrats to Golden Tempo on the @KentuckyDerby victory.
Troy Murray has attended for so many years and his good friends brought his pic to his seat, so why wouldn’t 19 win. Just incredible and emotional. 19 came out of nowhere. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Love ya @muzz19

[Rand Paul @RandPaul]

The COVID cover-up goes all the way to the top. Fauci funded the Wuhan lab. Senior intelligence officials hid classified evidence from the president himself. Scientists were silenced. Millions paid the price.

The DOJ has until May 11th to prosecute Fauci before the statute of limitations runs out.

I am not letting this go. The American people deserve justice.

[Anthony Pompliano 🌪 @APompliano]

This is insane.

A New York City police officer conducted a drug bust on a known criminal.

The criminal tried to flee the scene on a scooter, so the officer deployed a non-lethal weapon (threw a cooler at him) in an honest attempt to stop the suspect.

The suspect died, which is unfortunate, but now the officer has been sentenced to 3-9 years in prison.

That alone would be ridiculous. The judge took it a step further and explicitly said the aggressive sentence was meant to be a deterrent to other police officers.

For what? For stopping criminals from committing crimes?

The hardworking men and women of the NYPD deserve better than this. They risk their lives every day to protect innocent citizens from drugs and violent criminals.

Activist judges who abuse their position of power over politics should be removed from office as well.

[NHLonTNT @NHL_On_TNT]

Eddie Olczyk with a touching tribute to his late friend and Blackhawks legend Troy Murray ❤️

[Spittin' Chiclets @spittinchiclets]

An emotional Patrick Kane watches his tribute video as the Red Wings honor him for becoming the all-time leader by a US born player 👏 🥺

[Dave Smith @ComicDaveSmith]

Guys guys, he’s just joshin around.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

Some of us never forgot.

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

Today marks the end of the survivor participation for our rape gang inquiry hearings. I simply have no words that describe the bravery and courage of these women who have come forward.

No words.

What they have been through is indescribable.

It has been a life-changing experience for me. I never thought such evil was possible. Never. Not here, in Britain. In our towns, in our communities. It is pure evil. These men are so utterly depraved.

If it were up to me, thousands of them would receive the death penalty.

To do what they did, on such an industrial scale, to innocent young girls - many of whom were already in such an incredibly vulnerable place? There is no redemption possible. The world is a better place without them in it.

I started this inquiry because so many others failed.

Speaking honestly, I did not understand how deep this evil is rooted in our society.

Police, politicians, council officials, the NHS, social workers, children’s homes - it is everywhere.

IS everywhere. Not was. IS.

Meeting these women, and men, listening to how severely they were failed by those tasked to protect them? My views have changed forever. I knew it was bad. I never knew how bad it was.

Every single one who has come forward is a hero in my view.

The courage and grace in how they have conducted themselves is unlike anything I have seen in my life. All because they don’t want others to suffer the same fate. That is an extraordinary sacrifice. They could have just moved on with their lives. Tried to forget. But no, they chose to do this. I am in awe of all of them.

Our hearings will finish tomorrow, following the contribution of three more expert witnesses.

Then the next stage begins. We will produce a report, and then we will seek to put people in prison. There are FAR more testimonies and evidence to release - this will keep coming and coming and coming.

Even with a media blackout, we have reached tens of millions. We have made real progress.

And following such immense demand, we will reopen the portal so that more women can tell their stories.

This is just the beginning.

Politicians from all parties have failed these girls, again and again and again.

I do not intend to join that list.

To everyone who donated, thank you. To our team, thank you. And especially to the survivors, thank you.

I believe that together we can start to make Britain understand what is happening, and then finally do something about it.

[Chicago Bears @ChicagoBears]

Warning: the following highlights are offensive ⚠️

[Shawn Ryan @ShawnRyan762]

🚨IMMEDIATE RELEASE🚨
I Am Being Threatened For Protecting Children...

If you would like to read both letters yourself, you can do so here:
https://t.co/2n8YmJ9uRu

[Governor Tim Walz @GovTimWalz]

Minnesota’s economy doesn’t work without child care providers – so we’re giving them a raise.

[Steve Guest @SteveGuest]

MUST READ from the WSJ: “Something is profoundly wrong with the U.S. welfare system—a problem that runs far deeper and is more dangerous than the shocking fraud in Minnesota that has been making headlines… real federal welfare spending has soared by 765%, more than twice as fast as total federal spending, and now costs $1.4 trillion annually. Were that money simply doled out evenly to the 19.8 million families the government defines as poor, each household would receive more than $70,000 a year.”

[Dave Portnoy @stoolpresidente]

It’s time to fulfill the prophecy

[Dante @DanteTheDon]

One of my friends was a teacher at an elementary school on the Southside of Chicago a few years ago. She had her class write letters to Santa, and one of her students wrote this.

Understandably, it broke her heart. To the point she went out and bought gifts herself for her students.

The following year she started a drive and asked my good friend @WarrenEnglish3 to help out. He in turn reached out to me and got me involved. And I couldn’t be happier that he did.

She is now the Assistant Principal at this school and they need still need our help.

In the spirit of the holidays, I’m asking for you to do a good deed in making elementary aged kids holiday a little brighter this year, as my friend is putting on a Christmas Party for her students and giving out gifts.

I’ve attached an Amazon Wishlist link in my bio.

Take 2 minutes, and drop a few dollars on something that will put a smile on a kids face this holiday.

Let’s knock this out of the park. The school is short a pretty substanital number of gifts for these elementary kids. I told her we will smash this list and take care of all the kids in her school. And to plan a backup school we can take care of next.

Thank you in advance for all your help, support, shares and likes. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah.

LINK FOR THE WISHLIST IS IN MY BIO AND HERE- https://t.co/R8WEY2m90b

[Chicago Bears @ChicagoBears]

O-Line appreciation post 🫡

RT to #ProBowlVote the big guys up front:
@darnellwright @jonahjackson73 Drew Dalman @JosephThuney @OzzyTrapilo