The Culture War - Tim Pool - February 25, 2026


The Chicago Bears ARE LEAVING, 100 Years Of Failed Democrat Policy Has GUTTED Our Culture


Episode Stats

Length

33 minutes

Words per Minute

184.46553

Word Count

6,193

Sentence Count

567

Misogynist Sentences

2

Hate Speech Sentences

7


Summary


Transcript

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00:01:00.000 There are many things that make me angry when it comes to failed policy.
00:01:04.380 There are many things that happened in Chicago that led me to believe it was not the place for
00:01:10.780 me to live anymore. And it's a combination of factors. High taxes, limited opportunity,
00:01:16.840 financial distress, crime, violence. Now, I'm not going to pretend like I grew up every day running
00:01:23.520 from gunfire, but yet sometimes running from gunfire. I've talked about how where I grew up on the south side,
00:01:30.160 you have a hot dog stand and it had bulletproof plexiglass with actual bullet holes pocked all in several areas
00:01:39.300 because the gangbangers in the Leclerc courts would shoot for no reason.
00:01:42.640 But what I can't stand right now and actually is like a spear through my heart
00:01:49.160 is hearing that the Chicago Bears are leaving Chicago.
00:01:54.880 I saw this news last week and I'm not a big sports guy. I'm not a big football guy. I'm not a big baseball guy.
00:02:01.120 But there's one thing that I do know and love, and that is my home and my traditions.
00:02:04.980 And though I don't live there anymore because of what I see is largely political and economic failures,
00:02:10.780 it is admittedly, again, I'm not there, but extremely painful to hear that the Bears
00:02:18.400 aren't going to be the Chicago Bears anymore. And it makes me angry. I'm going to tell you,
00:02:26.340 tell you something. I watched them tear down statues, these protesters, the far left,
00:02:31.620 whatever you want to call them. I watched them tear down statues of Christopher Columbus,
00:02:35.120 of Thomas Jefferson, of Hans Christian Haag. You probably don't even know who he is,
00:02:40.780 but yeah, he was an abolitionist. Frederick Douglass. They tear these statues down.
00:02:46.860 They spit in the face of what those who came before us built of the things that we know and love.
00:02:54.460 And it's funny to me to be so moved by a shocking story such as this, that the Bears are leaving.
00:03:00.020 Can they stay? Well, my friends, theoretically, they could choose to be the Chicago Bears.
00:03:08.460 The challenge arises due to high property taxes and an inability for the Chicago Bears to build a new
00:03:16.020 domed stadium. They need to modernize. I agree that they need to modernize. They have been at Soldier
00:03:22.940 Field in Chicago for half a century, my whole life. And famously, the Saturday Night Live,
00:03:30.020 skit of the Chicago guys with the mustaches talking about Ditka and the Bears. And y'all know the joke,
00:03:36.720 even if you aren't from Chicago. There is so little, in my view, that makes Chicago what it is.
00:03:43.380 I have to be honest. That growing up, I would see all this talk about the West Coast, all of this talk
00:03:49.680 about the East Coast, and what did Chicago have? But we had a few things. Despite the fact that the
00:03:55.380 Cubs hadn't won a World Series in forever, people still knew the Cubs, man. They were still a premium
00:04:01.500 brand. And we loved the White Sox because they were a winning team. But we had the Chicago Bears,
00:04:07.180 and we had our team. And I know, again, it's not like they're as bad as the Cubs. But hey,
00:04:13.240 they did really well so far this past year. I mean, it was great, right? We had something that was
00:04:19.720 ours that was recognizable. And I view this now as such a shocking and egregious failure of policy
00:04:27.980 that is intolerable. And it's funny. I'm going to say it again. I know you're going to be like,
00:04:33.680 Tim, there's a migration crisis. There's financial distress. There's gang violence. I get it.
00:04:38.700 But all of these things I've known about since I was a kid, and they've been problems we've been
00:04:43.920 seeking to solve. To see now, as I'm near 40 years old, the Bears are gone. I'm like, well,
00:04:53.720 now you've just crushed one of the key things that makes Chicago, Chicago. They took away the
00:04:58.920 taste of Chicago. I went back, and they didn't do the fireworks for the 4th of July. And I am on the
00:05:05.420 verge of flipping over my 2,000-pound table. I'm not getting the table that we have in here. It's like
00:05:10.680 1,600 pounds. This is the line for me. I don't know. Maybe Chicago doesn't matter the same way
00:05:17.460 to you guys as it does to me. But I went back with my wife, and they said, well, they do fireworks
00:05:23.640 just because now. The city stopped doing it. Navy Pier just does their own private fireworks
00:05:29.700 periodically. So where is the 4th of July, the taste of Chicago and the fireworks? And you know
00:05:34.900 what? Blame me. Say, Tim, you left. If you cared about it so much, why don't you stick around and
00:05:38.800 fight for it? The policies of these people over the past several decades have gutted and
00:05:45.680 destroyed my hometown. People say, Tim's not even from Chicago. He's from the South. I am
00:05:50.920 from Chicago proper. The Midway Orange Line, Midway and Pulaski Orange Line, that's where
00:05:57.580 I grew up. Garfield Ridge area. Now it's close to the suburbs. Sure, it's southwest side.
00:06:03.360 We had our problems. And I felt like, you know, it was time to go. And now I'm just beyond pissed
00:06:12.300 off when I see this story from the Trib. Pritzker, he basically says, guys, the Bears are leaving
00:06:19.520 Chicago. Now the question is whether or not they're going to be the Indiana Bears or the
00:06:23.940 Arlington Heights Bears. But it sounds like there ain't no Chicago Bears anymore.
00:06:30.020 These scumbags and I see Donald Trump. He sends in the National Guard or DHS.
00:06:40.960 I talked to my friends where we grew up with gang violence, racial violence and all these
00:06:47.200 all these liberals cheering on the socialist mayor who's burning it all down. It's not only
00:06:52.400 his fault. We had a lot of failed mayors and a lot of failed government policy at the state
00:06:56.280 level like Pritzker. I asked my friends, like, are we better off with DHS going in? And yes,
00:07:03.360 absolutely. I asked my friends, what would you rather have the gangbangers going around
00:07:06.660 robbing people or some National Guardsmen? They say, National Guard? National Guard ain't
00:07:10.560 gonna bother me. They don't bother me. So here we are, my friends. I'm gonna read for you what's
00:07:16.780 currently going on with the Chicago Bears, the latest development, of course, with Pritzker
00:07:20.440 saying, I think we can all now recognize it's done. Now, whether or not the Bears go
00:07:25.040 to Indiana, I don't know. But I'm gonna I'm gonna show you the failed policy that has led
00:07:30.720 to this decision. And it's in my opinion, it's not one thing, though. They cite property taxes
00:07:36.140 as the principal issue. Why won't the state just say the Chicago Bears got to stay in Chicago?
00:07:42.960 I'm gonna read the story from you here. Before we do, my friends, you go to castbrew.com and you
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00:08:14.180 I'm a big fan. Check it out at castbrew.com. Don't forget to smash that like button. Share the show
00:08:19.100 with everyone you've ever met. This may be what unifies us when you can get Tim Poole to be like
00:08:25.960 football matters. Yeah, I got to tell you again, guys, I don't watch a lot of football, a little bit
00:08:34.880 here and there. I can't tell you much about the star players, if at all. I've heard some names.
00:08:40.020 I track it only passively. And, you know, recently with the Super Bowl, I was in an Uber
00:08:45.460 and the driver was like, you watching football? And then I was like, hey, he asked me about the
00:08:50.680 Super Bowl. And then I was like, if the Bears ain't in it, I ain't paying attention. See, that's the
00:08:54.640 thing. It's funny, right? If the Cubs, the Sox, the Bears, Chicago Fire, Blackhawks, if a team from
00:09:02.880 Chicago is making it, I'm interested. I just am. It's a part of who we are as Americans, I guess.
00:09:08.460 We have our hometown teams. So you find yourself in some other city and you're like, I'm rooting
00:09:12.220 for this team. And, you know, we're out here in, like, West Virginia. And so, like, I can root for
00:09:18.840 the Ravens. They're not my team, but it's like, hey, you know, like, we're here, right? I got my
00:09:23.660 friends. They're wearing the jerseys or whatever. Here's a Tribune. Pritzker suggests no matter how
00:09:29.300 Indiana v. Illinois fight goes, the new Bears home won't be in Chicago. As Indian and Illinois
00:09:36.100 lawmakers spar over where the Chicago Bears should build a new stadium, even J.B. Pritzker acknowledged
00:09:41.960 Friday the team's next home is unlikely to rise within Chicago's city limits. Quote, I think now
00:09:48.940 there's a common understanding by most of the General Assembly that they're not going to be able to build
00:09:53.960 in the city of Chicago. Pritzker's pronouncement came a day after Indiana lawmakers took another step
00:09:58.840 toward potentially luring Chicago Bears across the border to Hammond. We got more updates on this.
00:10:04.340 As a key Indiana House committee approved a plan to create an agency that would build a new stadium
00:10:08.900 for the team. I go to people, I go to people and I say they tore down a statue of Frederick Douglass.
00:10:15.640 Okay, that guy was based AF, okay? Abolitionist, former slave, fighting for what it meant to be free
00:10:23.400 in this country that claimed freedom but kept slaves. Man, that guy was awesome. And far left,
00:10:28.840 whack-a-loons tore his statue down and they claim they oppose racism.
00:10:33.700 Now, you may be saying, Tim, what is that all about? The point is this.
00:10:37.640 How many of you watching, honest question, don't really care all that much like you generally
00:10:41.640 understand, but how many of you are deeply moved by the threat that the Bears could leave Chicago?
00:10:47.040 This is the point. The failed policies, the protests, like all the protests, they are bad.
00:10:53.700 They should be called out. I mean, like free speech and all this is fine. I'm saying the riots,
00:10:57.640 tearing down statues, destroying our culture, destroying our history. But when you have
00:11:01.860 politicians over the last hundred years, failed Democrat policy, threatening our legacy.
00:11:06.600 If a good time sounds like, or golden hour tastes like, and getting back to yourself feels like,
00:11:18.540 you've got a sense of New Brunswick.
00:11:22.460 Threatening what it means to be. I'm sorry, it crossed the line for me. I'm going to say it again.
00:11:28.220 I used to go to the Taste of Chicago. We'd get food. It's not like it was there forever,
00:11:31.900 but we made something and I grew up with it. We used to go to the lake on the 4th of July to see
00:11:36.700 the fireworks and they've gotten rid of it. And I am shocked. I really, really am. This is what I
00:11:42.240 was talking about the other day. I was debating Andrew Heaton on the issue of tariffs. And I said,
00:11:46.720 they come to me and tell me, Tim, if you make your skateboards in China and sell them here,
00:11:52.520 you'll save five bucks a board. And I said, I don't want five bucks a board. I want my country back.
00:11:58.100 But you know what? Times they change, I guess. Maybe it's stupid of me. No, no, I understand.
00:12:06.600 Things change. They don't last forever. The shopping, I used to go to Dominic's when I was
00:12:11.660 a kid on Archer Avenue. And it went out of business a long time ago. I get these things.
00:12:16.660 We used to have a blockbuster video. Blockbuster video is gone. It's now an extended boutique called
00:12:22.480 Peaches. Actually, one of the premier boutique clothing stores or something like this for ladies.
00:12:27.340 And I don't even know what it's about. All I know is people rave about it, even far, far away
00:12:31.400 on the south side where I grew up. I get it, man. They toured on the playground at the school I went
00:12:37.360 to and they built an expanded school, got bigger. All of that I get. But we have our team. We have our
00:12:43.380 history. We have our statues. We have our flag. And all that's happening is the left is burning it all
00:12:49.060 down. So I tell you this. I can come on my show and I can bitch and moan about why tearing out a
00:12:54.480 statue is wrong. But you take my hometown team away, team away, and I am going to start losing it.
00:13:01.920 Quote, for at least a year and a half, there's been a significant effort by the Bears as well
00:13:06.420 as Chicago lawmakers and others to try to figure out if the Bears could build what they need to
00:13:10.200 build in the city of Chicago. They looked and they think and they, I think, gave the old college
00:13:14.780 try to find a place within the city of Chicago and they couldn't. So basically, here's what's going
00:13:19.900 on. I asked Grok to give us the issue, right? The main Chicago Bears tax issue revolves around
00:13:28.100 the team's push for a new stadium. In suburban Arlington Heights, likely where it's going,
00:13:33.520 or maybe Hammond, Indiana. Okay, so they own land in Arlington Heights and they want to build a
00:13:38.160 privately financed domed stadium in the surrounding development. They're seeking the key tax-related
00:13:42.720 concessions from Illinois to make it viable. They go to Arlington Heights, I'm upset. They go to
00:13:46.940 Indiana, I'm pissed. The Chicago Bears in Arlington Heights might still try and keep the name,
00:13:52.180 but it still is just sad. Guys, can't we figure something out for this? Here is the problem.
00:13:59.940 The people of the city don't care enough. They don't care enough. Okay, I got, I'm going to rant
00:14:05.040 too much on this one. Let me give you some of the facts. I know many of you are sitting here saying
00:14:08.460 like, just tell me what's going on. Without special legislation, the Bears could face massive annual
00:14:13.040 property taxes in the range of $100 million to $200 million once the stadium's in full effect
00:14:17.080 because taxes are so high. The team has requested about $850 million in public funds for essential
00:14:22.240 support for their $2 billion stadium. Yeah, if you build it in Chicago, frustrated by slow progress
00:14:29.220 in Illinois, the Bears have explored a competing proposal in Indiana where lawmakers passed legislation
00:14:34.500 just recently offering up to $1 billion in public funds to lure the team to Hammond.
00:14:39.400 I will not tolerate this. Indiana House sends environmental deregulation. Chicago Bears
00:14:46.260 stadium bills back to the Senate. A narrowly divided vote to roll back portions of their
00:14:51.540 environmental code, plus a big, a high profile bid to lure Chicago Bears across state line,
00:14:56.360 anchored a deadline, a deadline day push. Lawmakers also narrowly set up an end of the session
00:15:03.980 negotiation. So they've also narrowly approved a controversial proposal to ban public camping.
00:15:08.040 But the point is this. They're moving forward. One of the most contentious votes of the day came
00:15:13.540 on Senate Bill 277, an environmental policy to over a policy overall that passed a House
00:15:19.320 5345 with 16 Republicans joining Democrats in opposition. The proposal makes dozens of changes
00:15:26.240 to Indian environmental regulations, including replacing certain mandatory requirements.
00:15:30.900 Supporters argued the measure modernizes outdated language, blah, blah, blah. We get the point.
00:15:34.340 The point is ultimately that they want to bring the Chicago Bears to Indiana. And I'm going to break
00:15:43.320 down for you the argument I've made for some time and what I can't stand about all of this stuff that's
00:15:48.840 going on. I've got this story, I believe that's here we go. This is from May 20th, 2024. Why so many
00:15:56.280 black Chicagoans are frustrated by the migrant crisis. I'm going to give you a general story,
00:16:01.040 analogy, metaphor, whatever you want to call it. The year is old, 1750. And a man stakes a claim in a
00:16:08.920 piece of land. And there's no one around for miles. He stakes his claim, builds his farm with his family.
00:16:15.200 His family helps him build a new farm for his new family. And then they they live. And over time,
00:16:22.520 others move nearby and needs arise. And you get the formation of a small town. There's a marketplace
00:16:29.660 in the city center where the farmers can come and trade wares and gears. And you get a small town.
00:16:35.000 Eventually, you build up to around 100 or so people. And now it's maybe the late 1700s,
00:16:39.080 early 1800s. And a man says, let's put let's come together and make some recreation. And they
00:16:43.800 they make a field. I don't know when the first year for baseball was, though, but we'll use baseball as
00:16:47.720 an example. First year of I think it was 1700s baseball in the US. I want to get the exact number for
00:16:53.220 my story. 1846, the first officially recorded organized game. 1792. Indeed. I knew I had my
00:17:04.200 dates right. So it's the late 1700s, early 1800s. And a man says, hey, these this game the kids are
00:17:10.240 playing, you know, we should bring everybody together. We should play. Right. So you create
00:17:14.440 they create a baseball field. A couple generations go by and you start getting your first organized
00:17:19.220 baseball game. Now it's just pre-Civil War. Years go by and now you've got actual organized
00:17:24.320 baseball and there are teams in the community. And one day in this bustling town now with over
00:17:30.980 a thousand people, they go to a city hall meeting, town hall meeting, and they say, what should we do?
00:17:39.300 You know, we have small, limited public funds. We have a grant. And well, we should we should we
00:17:44.940 need to do something. Right. And a man stands up and says, listen. My great granddaddy, my great,
00:17:50.800 great granddaddy helped come together in this town and build this field where we all play baseball
00:17:55.900 together. And, you know, I got to say the old scoreboards falling apart. Grass is not being
00:18:02.460 mowed properly. I think it's time we revitalize this and make sure that our kids can have what our
00:18:07.860 grandparents gave to us. All in favor. 79 out of 79 percent. Yeah, everyone cheers. The other half
00:18:14.600 are like, well, do we need baseball? But everyone cheers and claps and they say, we're going to all
00:18:17.280 pitch in. We're going to put together and we're going to fix up this baseball field. And it is
00:18:20.680 revitalized. A legacy of the people who built this town, giving something beautiful to their children
00:18:25.760 and saying it was nice for me. I want you to have this and more. Well, now we get into the modern era.
00:18:31.940 It's the 90s. And a man goes to town hall and now there's 10,000 people in this big town. It's not
00:18:39.420 the biggest, you know, especially for the 90s. They say, look, I know we're not the biggest town.
00:18:45.040 I know we're not the best, but we do have our town baseball field, local school, and the kids play
00:18:50.160 there all day. And I think it's time that we allocate some funding and revitalize it just like
00:18:54.260 our great, great grandparents did and their grandparents before them. And everyone claps and
00:18:57.660 cheers. Overwhelming fanfare. And they say we're going to put the money towards
00:19:01.880 fixing up our baseball field. It's small. I know. Well, now the year is 2020 and town hall once
00:19:10.900 again. And a man says 30 years ago, my grandfather came before you and he said, we're going to fix up
00:19:18.280 this baseball field. I think it's high time we do the same. And so sure enough, everybody claps and
00:19:23.960 cheers and they say, yay. And the vote fails. 47 to 53. And they decide they're not going to
00:19:31.860 spend money on the baseball field. In fact, they're going to build a new migrant welcome
00:19:35.260 center. And the reason why? Well, over the past 20 years, the city's become a haven for Haitian
00:19:41.180 migrants that were brought in by the various administrations. They invited these people
00:19:46.320 in and said, we're going to center all of you in this small town. Now, the Haitian migrants outnumber
00:19:52.880 the voting bloc, not the actual population, but the voting bloc. Why? Well, these individuals have
00:19:59.160 interests. They're not wrong to have interests. And when they sit there looking at each other,
00:20:04.140 hearing that the town is going to spend money on a baseball field, they go, what? We don't need a
00:20:09.240 baseball field, nor do we care about baseball. We as migrants know how hard it is for our friends
00:20:15.500 and family to come here and not have not understand how to work and a place to go.
00:20:20.200 We need a migrant facility and welcome center. And so they vote. And that's what you get.
00:20:27.660 And what you get is your legacy and what your great grandparents built and what your family
00:20:33.040 and friends talked about and the games that you used to go to, gone. The park starts falling apart.
00:20:38.680 Eventually, people stop going. And I saw this happen when I went on the 4th of July back to my
00:20:43.160 hometown in Chicago. And I went to Vidham Park and it was the 4th of July and nobody was playing
00:20:48.560 baseball. Nobody was outside. The weeds were overgrowing in the baseball fields and there
00:20:52.800 were soccer goals. I don't mind soccer. We got the Chicago Fire. It is what it is.
00:20:57.440 But what happened to when I was a kid, all the kids running around and playing? Every street,
00:21:02.760 you'd see kids goofing off. There's fireworks. There's barbecues. Smoke fell in the air.
00:21:08.020 Why can't the future generation have these things? And don't get me wrong,
00:21:10.720 there's cultural problems that we engaged in. Many of our kids are on the internet. Many of us
00:21:15.460 didn't have kids. I get it. You know, the reality is I should have stayed there. Theoretically,
00:21:20.900 like if things were going well, I would have stayed there. I would have had a family of my own around
00:21:25.120 my early 20s. And then this 4th of July, my teenage kids would be grilling alongside me
00:21:30.400 and they'd be playing baseball. And they'd probably be skateboarding. But to be honest,
00:21:35.520 I'd probably have my kids do Little League or something and that stuff. It's America.
00:21:39.020 We'd still go to baseball games. Went to one recently. It's so awesome. I love it. Always will.
00:21:43.340 Not even a diehard sports fan for organized sports. Baseball, it's just so fun. We got a box for
00:21:51.300 everybody in the company. We hung out. We had nachos. We had hot dogs. It was a lot of fun
00:21:56.400 to watch the game. It was a lot of fun. And what was it? I think it was like the Sox at the Nationals
00:22:02.640 or whatever. The Sox lost. It is what it is. This is where we're at right now. The failures of policy
00:22:08.120 and the disinterest of the people of Chicago. Because the point is this. If all of the people
00:22:14.760 of Chicago really wanted to make sure the Bears would stay, this would not be happening and there
00:22:19.340 would be no question. I don't fault Indiana for saying we're going to have the Hammond Bears.
00:22:25.380 I know the Bears will still exist, but this is a Chicago institution, my friends. A Chicago
00:22:31.660 institution. The Bears. The Bears. The Bears. A Chicago institution. And so, I ask why it is
00:22:40.800 that people in Chicago are in distress. Why it is that my family all left. If they didn't go to
00:22:47.920 the suburbs, they just left entirely. Why I have many friends who left. I was talking to my wife
00:22:53.940 recently about how, honestly, it'd be great to go back. You know why? Growing up there, I remember
00:23:00.040 the summer nights. I remember the smell of springtime and the smell of fall. There's nice
00:23:05.080 residential neighborhoods where you can go trick-or-treating. You can't really do that out
00:23:08.580 here. Houses that are just so far away, no one trick-or-treats. And I got a kid now, and I'd love
00:23:13.000 to have my kid go trick-or-treating. And then we'll check the candy for razor blades. And so, we've
00:23:17.180 talked about how we like the weather. I know it's too hot in the summer and it's too cold in the winter,
00:23:20.900 but then you get summer and winter sports. Although skiing's not really that great. But we like the snow.
00:23:25.540 We grew up there. I like when it's snowing on Christmas morning. I like presents under the
00:23:30.780 tree. I want my children, I want future generations to experience all that was great, all of the good
00:23:37.160 that we held, and we can do away with the bad. Unfortunately, you know what I see? I see the bad
00:23:42.880 is only getting worse. Map shows U.S. cities with most people in financial distress. Let's see who ranks
00:23:49.780 number one. We don't need the bulletin. Let's see. Chicago had the largest year-over-year increase
00:23:56.660 in the share of people with distressed accounts, and the largest spike in the average number of
00:24:00.880 distressed accounts per person. On top of that, it ranks first in Google search interest for both
00:24:05.800 debt and loans, signaling heightened demand for borrowing. We got this Chicago Mayor Brandon
00:24:12.240 Johnson. New low approval ratings. It's just failure and failure and failure.
00:24:18.600 And a city council vote on $70 million in migrant funding highlighted the situation faced by
00:24:25.380 communities like South Shore. Migrants have been resettled in black communities where people have
00:24:29.820 been fighting for decades for development and resources. And this was the point exemplified
00:24:35.500 so perfectly how over the last year I have been talking about this story of the baseball field
00:24:41.900 and how the migrants, they have their interests, and I respect it. I really do. You know,
00:24:47.080 the people who come here from other countries that know America is great, when asked what do they
00:24:51.700 want, they're going to say, resources for us. Everyone will vote for their interests. I get it.
00:24:58.180 But why is it good for us to welcome in people who will say, your traditions, your world,
00:25:06.000 the good and beautiful things that were created by your forefathers, your ancestors,
00:25:10.840 your grandparents, they are not worth it anymore. I reject that outright. And they're funneling 70
00:25:17.800 plus million for welcome centers and migrant facilities. And they can't cut a deal so that
00:25:24.340 our hometown team can stay, can be a Chicago team. Now I'm going to stress this. I understand
00:25:30.760 Chicago's got limited space availability. The Bears bought in Arlington Heights.
00:25:35.320 So I stress this again. I lament the Arlington Heights Bears. They'll probably still call it the
00:25:41.900 Chicago Bears. I'll roll my eyes. We drive down 55 in a Lake Shore drive and there's Soldier Field.
00:25:48.840 That's the place. I know it wasn't always there. I know that it was hard fought to get there in the
00:25:55.440 first place. These things, just because they were built once before, does it mean they will remain
00:26:00.160 always. But I don't see a good and legitimate reason why we cannot, as the city of Chicago,
00:26:08.440 cut a deal and make it happen, whatever that deal may be. Because again, I'll stress this.
00:26:14.140 If the city actually cared about what it meant to be in Chicago, the city actually cared
00:26:18.240 what it meant to be an American, they'd move mountains for this. The truth is you can just do
00:26:24.960 things. And they could easily make this happen. You may say, Tim, there's not enough land.
00:26:31.380 One of the things Pritzker was talking about, I'll jump back to the story, is he says it's just,
00:26:35.820 it's overly dense, right? Let me see if I can find that quote. He says, he was at a meeting.
00:26:44.360 Let's see. Bears representatives have repeatedly assured the village that news regarding India does
00:26:48.240 not mean they have made a decision on a final site location. The news from Indiana underscores the
00:26:53.200 need for urgency on matters for Illinois leadership to work towards passing the mega projects bill.
00:26:57.980 I hope, I beg, and I pray that the reality is Indiana's providing some leverage to force Illinois
00:27:06.020 to get their act together. But here's what he said. For at least a year and a half, you know,
00:27:12.960 they gave the old college try. Transportation and a sufficiently large site are very hard to find in
00:27:17.580 a dense city like the city of Chicago, Pritzker said. So that's why I think we're down to the question
00:27:22.020 of whether they're going to build an Arlington Heights or they're going to build something in
00:27:24.940 the state of Indiana. It's intolerable if they go to Indiana. I'd appreciate the institution will
00:27:29.380 still exist. Fine. But Arlington Heights is even unacceptable. Guys, again, I know it's difficult,
00:27:37.200 wishful thinking. But if this really was a home, a city and a people, they'd say, okay, here's what
00:27:44.960 we're going to do. You start buying up property. How much space do you need? And we make it happen.
00:27:52.880 So it'll cost you $3 billion. If the city of Chicago is a unified people that believed in
00:27:57.500 their institutions, they'd say we can do it because a community can do it. My point is ultimately this.
00:28:03.560 If there is a will, there is a way. And today there is no will. We are a fractured people.
00:28:09.080 We are a struggling people. We've got, you know, Chicago. What is it? Is this? Where did that story
00:28:16.940 go? I had another story talking about actually, is it this one? I don't know. This is the protesters
00:28:23.100 in Chicago. Again, affluent white female liberals protesting against the migration issue. This is the
00:28:29.200 point. If we were a people that deeply cared, but we're not. So I can tell you just this. It's a
00:28:35.860 distressed place, Chicago, overall rank. Number one, people are upset. The city is fragmented
00:28:42.100 culturally, politically. The taxes are insane. There's reasons why I left and it breaks my heart.
00:28:49.460 There's political corruption to an extreme degree. And that's been the case for some time.
00:28:53.980 And it's why I don't know that I could live in the city of Chicago. I told you guys the story about
00:28:59.400 my friends and I were pulled over at gunpoint by Chicago police and they tried to frame us.
00:29:02.860 So this is not a joke. It's not a fact. NBC reported on it. They claimed we matched a
00:29:07.480 description. I'll give you the quick version. My friends were there in 2012 during a NATO protest,
00:29:13.120 just covering the protest. We get pulled over by around 12 vehicles, some of them unmarked black
00:29:17.780 vehicles. They illegally search the vehicle and find nothing and then tell us to get lost.
00:29:22.920 By the time we make it back to the apartment we're staying at, the doors open, the lights are on.
00:29:26.580 Long story short, an individual that requested a ride from us tried to put drugs in our car.
00:29:33.340 He was being told by an individual who was dating a cop. We heard from friends the police scanner was
00:29:39.540 looking for our vehicle. And the ultimate conclusion was actually quite simple.
00:29:46.120 If we had allowed this individual to put drugs in our car under false pretenses, we didn't know the
00:29:52.140 person was trying to do it. They were trying to just grab a bag and put it in our car. We didn't
00:29:54.560 know it was in it. And I said, absolutely not. Had I just said, yeah, grab what you want,
00:29:58.020 come for a ride. If we got pulled over, prison. Prison for all of us. And you can watch the story
00:30:05.780 on NBC News. They talk about how this happened to us. And I can go into more detail and provide
00:30:11.340 more information on it. But for the political corruption in Chicago, which has been historic,
00:30:15.900 I just thought it's not a place that I could go right now as someone who challenges the corruption
00:30:21.460 itself. I'd walk in and, you know, it's as simple as, oh, look, we found drugs. Prison,
00:30:28.300 four years, guaranteed, mandatory minimum. I don't trust going to Chicago is safe in this
00:30:33.280 political environment, especially with what you see with Pritzker and Trump and all of that stuff.
00:30:37.200 Now, maybe you can call it paranoia. I know it's not. Because again, there's video of me,
00:30:41.680 Luke Rutkowski, my friend Jeff, Jess, getting pulled over, surrounded at gunpoint,
00:30:46.740 where they illegally search our vehicle. It happened. It's a corrupt place. And it's sad
00:30:52.240 because it's where I come from. But now what I see is the city doesn't have a shared identity.
00:30:58.620 They don't care about the bears. If they really did, they would move mountains,
00:31:03.540 come hell or high water. The Chicago bears would be in Chicago.
00:31:06.360 And there's ways to pull it off. But the truth is this. Let me just say one of the easiest things
00:31:13.200 a city could do, especially Chicago, with as much money as it makes, is secure a couple billion for
00:31:17.920 a stadium. Indeed, they could do it. And they could do it in the city limits. But if there's no interest
00:31:24.040 and no one really cares all that much, then they'll go to Arlington Heights where the land is cheaper
00:31:28.720 and there's less people. Arlington Heights. I got no beef with Arlington Heights, okay? I've skated there.
00:31:35.460 I have friends from there. We all know Arlington Heights. Indiana. I respect you, Indiana.
00:31:42.040 The fact that Indiana is moving mountains to try and get the Chicago Bears,
00:31:45.880 it breaks my heart that it might work. Because Indiana is basically saying we know what we need
00:31:50.960 to do to get a team as storied as the Bears. So I'm pissed. Maybe I'm just a dying old man
00:31:58.060 watching what once was go away. It is what it is, I guess. But I really do blame a variety of things.
00:32:05.360 We are weak culturally. We have generations of weakness and we have cultural fragmentation.
00:32:12.840 Perhaps, many of you may say, Tim, sometimes it just happens. Culture decays. Indeed. Indeed.
00:32:21.160 Perhaps no one's to blame. There's always going to be faults somewhere. So, best of luck, Chicago Bears.
00:32:28.000 The Bears. The Bears may just be the Hammond Bears. Who wants to say that? Nobody. It is what it is.
00:32:37.200 Thanks for that, everybody. I could probably talk for like seven years about this and why it pisses me off.
00:32:41.500 So I'll just wrap it up now. I usually go about 30 minutes on this show.
00:32:44.020 Follow me on X on Instagram at TimCast. Thank you so much. And we will see you tonight,
00:32:46.920 8 p.m. for TimCast IRL.
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