Greg Sharp, of all people

Happy belated birthday.

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

You can all keep having your fights between right and left if you want. But the real war is between the top and the bottom.

[Die-Hard Chicago Bulls Fans @Bullsfans]

After Michael Jordan scored a career-high 69 points in one game, Stacey King said:

“I'll always remember this as the night that Michael Jordan and I combined to score 70 points"

Amazing sense of humor. Stacey, you will be missed so much.

[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.

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

The Chicago Skyline was too close in the original so I retook the photo from Hammond, Indiana.
#dabears

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

There’s no excuse for violence against women… unless…

[David Weigel @daveweigel]

Khanna says that Democrats should respect the women who came forward to talk about Platner while understanding that he changed and that veterans were “broken” in stupid wars.

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

@redsteeze Platner?! I hardly knew her!

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

Ngl, @Southpaw > @PhillyMascot and it’s not close.

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

@TheChicagoPope Plesac seems at ease and more natural tonight. Last year he was a little too amped up but maybe that’s what having to work with spazzy Schriffen does. These two tonight sound great.

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

@RoboSox_

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

@soxtimejack If I was a Phillies fan, I’d be all over the powder blues. These city connects are an abortion though.

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

@CHSN_WhiteSox Get used to it, @MLB.
Silver Slugger, Miguel Vargas.

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

@THurtt86 @Plesac19 @C1McKnight @whitesox @Phillies @CHSN__ I would approve of this.

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

Make @C1McKnight the full time play-by-play guy. #whitesox

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

@EndWokeness They only turn left.

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

You raise em right hoping they’ll grow up to be a vacuum cleaner or a lawn mower or Rocky Balboa’s butler.

[Dr. Debra Soh - SEXTINCTION is here @DrDebraSoh]

Welcome to the end of dating

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

@pmarca How very sciency.

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

Perfect day for #whitesox fans.

White Sox def Tigers
Royals lose
Guardians lose
Twins lose
Cubs lose

@SoxNerd

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

The @whitesox beat the Tigers today and every other team in the AL Centeal lost. With the Cubs down 5-0 in the 4th, we are on the verge of the first perfect day since 5/21/2023, when everyone except the Sox lost and the Guardians lost both ends of a double-header. @SoxNerd

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

The @whitesox beat the Tigers today and every other team in the AL Centeal lost. With the Cubs down 5-0 in the 4th, we are on the verge of the first perfect day since 5/21/2023, when everyone except the Sox lost and the Guardians lost both ends of a double-header. @SoxNerd

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

Happy birthday @Southpaw!

[Greg Sharp, of all people @gregsharpcomedy]

@whitesox