In recent days, Chicago has taken a series of bad news gut punches in the national media. Alongside the revelation that Cook County Prosecutor Kim Foxx refused to charge five gang members caught on video in a massive, deadly gun battle, news came of the Chicago Bears taking steps to leave the city for safer Arlington Heights. Finally one of the city’s most prominent business owners hinted he may move his company because of the insane violent crime.
Ken Griffin, the city’s wealthiest resident and CEO of multinational hedge fund Citadel LLC, called out Chicago’s inept Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the County’s incompetent prosecutor Kim Foxx for their permissive leadership on violence in the Windy City.
Billionaire Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of the hedge fund Citadel, hinted Monday that he might move his company’s headquarters from Chicago, saying the crime makes the city more akin to a war-torn country. https://t.co/jQA1nAHXpr
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) October 5, 2021
While Chicago’s politicians really don’t care much about the average citizen’s opinions, Griffin is threatening their wallets. He said the violence makes it “difficult” to keep the company and its very high-paying jobs in Lightfoot’s Mogadishu on Lake Michigan.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Griffin’s remarks:
“It’s becoming ever more difficult to have this as our global headquarters, a city which has so much violence,” Griffin said. “I mean Chicago is like Afghanistan, on a good day, and that’s a problem.”
Griffin said he personally saw “25 bullet shots in the glass window of the retail space” in the building he lives in, adding that someone “tried to carjack the security detail” that sits outside his house.
Griffin owns a $59 million Chicago condo, the most expensive in the state, according to Forbes.
“It just tells you like how deep crime runs in this city,” Griffin said. “There is nowhere, where you can feel safe today walking home at 9:30 at night and you worry about your kids coming to and from school.”
“That’s no way for our city to exist,” Griffin said.
Plenty of working and middle class residents have already fled Chicago and its violence. What makes this story so newsworthy is that the rich and powerful seldom discuss this publicly.
Just like the carjacking successfully completed right outside the door of Illinois Governor’s JB Pritzker’s Chicago mega-mansion, violent crime has pervaded every corner of America’s third largest city. If you owned a $59 million condo like Griffin, would you tolerate carjackings outside your front door and gunfire raking the windows of your home?
Chicago isn’t a safe place in which to live or work. And instead of — at a minimum — urging residents to tool up and protect their homes and families, Lori Lightfoot is busy pointing fingers and shifting blame for the violence she and her fellow potentate politician Kim Foxx have fostered through their “leadership” and tolerance of “mutual combat” on the city’s streets.
Just as gun companies are leaving states that actively make it difficult and expensive to do business because of hostile regulatory and political environments, prominent companies that pay big salaries and lots of taxes — companies like Citadel in Chicago and Amazon in Seattle — are threatening to pull up stakes for safer environments. Increasingly, voting with your feet is the only vote that really matters to politicians.
The reaction to Springfield moving out of Massachusetts by politicians was to offer more welfare and job-training to the people who would lose their jobs. Not change the laws. Not stop threatening the Firearms business. The loss of 700 jobs doesn’t mean anything to them.
When the Nissan auto company moved out of California because of high taxes they took several thousand jobs with them to Tennessee. And California has not lowered state business taxes.
So we’ll see if the politicians who run Chicago will change things for the better??? I seriously doubt it.
Because these politicians in Massachusetts California and Illinois only care about one thing. Staying in office. Everyone else around them can be in Ruins. But as long as they maintain political power that’s all they care about.
Thread Hijack,
“Whistleblower: Guns.com issues vaccine mandate for all employees, including remote workers”
Fugh Guns.com, the highest price for guns on the interwebz bar none!!!!
They’ve always been about MONEY.
Phony bastids that supports TTAG and vice versa.
They don’t have to worry about buisness leaving their states, Pelosi and the other communists in the District of Communists will just take the tax money from the other states and prop up their little Venezuela’s.
Quote: “Because these politicians in Massachusetts California and Illinois only care about one thing. Staying in office. Everyone else around them can be in Ruins. But as long as they maintain political power that’s all they care about.”
This is mostly true but you left out the main reason. The goals of democrats (communist party USA) are to destroy America. Local politicians are working to destroy their own piece.
When you see the same things happening in various places across the country under the same party connect the dots.
Be Prepared !!!
I flew directly over Chicago last week on my way to my actual destination. As I looked out the plane’s window, I thought to myself, “Thank you, Lord, for sparing me from being there.”
did you ever think that you might get shot down and end up there anyway?
🙂
‘We have a Red Sleigh down. I say again. We have a Red Sleigh down.’
Heed the words of the inestimable ‘IHAQ’, who is literally a effete west coast elite mocking those of us in flyover country, and while on his way the east coast to boot. Stand in awe of his judgement, and know you’ll never be up to his lofty standards.
As it was, is, and ever shall be.
All Hail.
You listening to the voices in your head, again?
Da Bears leaving Chiraq has nada to do with “safety”. They want ultimate control & a much larger dome stadium. And host a Super Bowl. They have the smallest venue in pro football. Sorta like the Cubs tiny Wrigley Field.
Actually Wrigley Field holds 5000 more fans than Fenway. Of course in baseball there’s still an appreciation for the history of the game and I doubt any true fan of the Cubs or Red Sox desire a new billion+$ retractable domed eye sore.
What’s yer point? They’re both tiny…
The fans seem to like it that way.
The Raiders left Oakland for LA. Then they finally Left California for Las Vegas. Because only in Nevada would they use tax payer money for a billionaire business man. To build a stadium, for him.
“only in Nevada would they use tax payer money for a billionaire”
Many of your comments here are spot-on, but this is almost 180 out from reality.
All NFL teams want taxpayer-funded stadiums, and they usually get them. The Chargers left San Diego for the exact same reason.
The difference is that in Nevada taxes on residents are low (property) or nonexistent (income). The majority of Nevada revenue derives from taxes on tourism-related business, so reinvesting those dollars to boost tourism makes a lot more sense than extorting workers to pay for stadiums in other states.
I don’t blame the states for competing with each other, but they shouldn’t be allowed to compete like that.
100% of corporate welfare is a scourge on working Americans. It should be federally outlawed. It’s past time for the big guys to make it on their own. Every penny in tax breaks given to them is a penny taken from small business. If no state could offer that, then they would be competing on existing tax laws that are the same for everyone in the state. Red states would still be getting new business.
I agree. I’m disgusted with the entitled crybaby Chargers to this day. I’m just less disgusted in a low-tax jurisdiction where the main tax burden falls on mega-casinos.
Chikybo.
“What makes this story so newsworthy is that the rich and powerful seldom discuss this publicly.”
They only do that when it starts to affect their bottom line $$$$
In the near future, Citadel is going to have an issue just keeping the lights on. And Ken could end up in jail for lying to Congress.
Exactly. This motherfucker is the biggest criminal in the city. He is fucked. #KenGriffenLied.
“Billionaire Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of the hedge fund Citadel, hinted Monday… “
It hurts my heart to hear this poor billionaire whining about his troubles, how tragic his life must be.
And it is revealing that many TTAG followers seem to share his sentiments.
The 98% of Americans who make up the rest of us could care less about the billionaires’ troubles.
“The love of money is the root of all evil… “
Let’s not forget when ignorant, worthless overpaid chumps in the NFL take a knee it contributes to the mess we see in Chicago. No faith in America, no faith to ever leave the projects unless fools shoot their way out and land in the big house…providing democRats don’t throw them a rope.
The Bears owner’s laid down the law. Kneel and you may get cut. Try a mite harder princess…
Just think, gentlemen: there is some poor geezer out there who has resigned himself to lying with this hate filled harpy.
Dear Schmuck,
Speaking of lying [sic] and hate-filled….
To Debbie.
Taking a knee to call attention to the killer cops like Chauvin torturing people to death in front of the entire civilized world is calling for a stop to blatant murder by cop. And yes civilized people have no faith in U.S. largely untrained cops who get “Unqualified Immunity” to shoot and kill and torture to death people at at will.
Former 49ers backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick originally started the protest in the 2016 season by kneeling while The Star Spangled Banner before preseason games. He continued this during regular season, leading to much controversy. Kaepernick stated many times that his reasons for kneeling was to bring attention to police brutality against African-Americans.
AND ONLY A RACIST WOULD CONDEMN KAEPERNICK.
All real Americans who believe in justice for all should salute Kaepernick.
Remember folks. lil’d is known to be mentally ill. Do not engage.
Yeah right. The Star Spangled Banner has nothing to do with the local police. He only began kneeling when he lost his starting position and became irrelevant. Then he promised to be a good boy and stop kneeling when he thought that would get him a better deal. What a coward. I guess money and fame were more important to him than any protest. Lucky for him, Nike rescued him when the NFL was done with him.
Well I tried.
ROFL!
Until we have Universal Background Checks the “Iron Pipe Line” will continue to funnel in tens of thousands of second hand guns into Chicago (per Law Enforcement Studies). Two Chicago studies proved that the guns most used in crime were not stolen but second hand guns that had been through numerous owners before being bought by criminals out on the street.
Well, we have plenty of laws against drugs. How’s that working out? Last I checked we also have plenty of laws against shooting at people. Hasn’t stopped a damn thing. I don’t know why you think more gun laws are going to be anymore effective than more drug laws, or more laws against robbery, rape, or murder.
And without you even realizing what you posted you were advocating we have no laws against murder, rape and robbery because the laws are not 100% effective.
As far as drugs being sold, until we decriminalize drugs and treat addiction as the disease that it really is gangs will continue to make a profit selling drugs. When you give people drugs that are addicted they stop buying them from drug gangs. Its actually cheaper to give them drugs and put them into treatment than incarcerate them for years at the cost of millions of dollars, not to mention hiring gangs of untrained thug cops who end up shooting people first and asking questions later.
Ah yes, if there were no guns I’m sure these upstanding gentlemen would have simply walked away. You should try moving to Brazil, they have extremely stringent UBC, registration and gun control there, and it’s extremely peaceful! Just go wandering through the Favela around 10pm. Mexico is another good option for a country with all those gun control laws you’re in favor of, and it’s super safe and peaceful.
Again pure Hillbilly ignorance of the culture and governments of foreign countries. When drug gangs control the politicians laws are meaningless whether they be anti-drug laws or gun control laws. Its all for show.
Then you should know that since the drug gangs in Chiraq control the politicians in Chiraq the very laws you’re proposing are all for show and the systematic control and oppression of law abiding citizens, not criminals.
Ignorance is ad hominems and invalidating your own argument.
Come on, guys. It’s lil’d. he’s seriously mentally ill. Just back away.
Dacian; What good are universal background checks when an absolutely flawless counterfeit driver’s license can be bought on Alibaba made on the exact same equipment that the states issuing licenses make them on. They can be had for $200 and are indistinguishable from the real thing. I also don’t believe that you have a full grasp of how the background check system works. It doesn’t run someone’s information against a master list of every person in a state or the nation; it only runs it against a list of prohibited persons.
You know zero about how Background checks are done and no its not done just on a drivers license if its done right. Try and buy a permit to buy a second hand machine gun or new silencer and you will have to submit more than just a drivers license. This is how a professional background check is done at the Federal level for restricted weapons and should be done for all weapons.
Little d, you do know that your cherished Universal Background Checks would only work if combined with complete firearms registration?
Good luck registering 450-600+ million firearms without searching every 2″ of ground and leaving complete destruction in your wake across the whole country. Even with ALL of your antifa and BLM comrades and motivated by loot and plunder, it would take centuries.
Too bad your very ignorant of the History of gun control. You shouldn’t be it worked very well in Australia where they turned in railroad cars full of banned guns.
But we are not talking about confiscation in the U.S. just Background Checks when you sell a gun. If the penalties are severe yes the majority of people would never take the chance of going to prison and losing their job and being fined because they did not go through a dealer to sell their gun.
Different demographics little commissar. Much lower population, much higher urbanization, much lower rate of gun ownership, much lower proportion of self-loading firearms and handguns, generous above market rates for the returns, and heavy fines and prison terms as the stick.
Of the above, I could only imagine the last being used in the USA.
that is a load of biased, anti-gun group sponsored, crap.
A 2019 survey conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) found that 43 % of criminals bought their firearms on the black market, 6 % acquired them via theft, and 10 % made a retail purchase – 0.8 % purchased a weapon from a gun show. ~1% of the guns used in crime were purchased from legitimate law abiding gun owners via deception (fake ID’s, false information, etc…) (gun owners do a pretty good job of making sure their guns do not go to criminals, sometimes mistakes are made. But legitimate law abiding gun owners and dealers are the least of your problems and pretty much self-regulate a lot better than any government regulation.)
A recent national survey of prison inmates aged 18 to 40, published by Preventative Medicine, found that only one in 10 purchased the firearm involved in the act/crime that resulted in them being jailed.
“Two Chicago studies proved…”
No, they did not prove anything.
The “Iron Pipe Line” is not a type of market from which criminals buy/get guns as you imply. “The Iron Pipeline” is the term applied to a physical route of Interstate 95 (I-95) and its connector highways. Its the route used to smuggle weapons from ten states mostly in the Southern United States to Mid-Atlantic states and New England. The term was originally coined by the ATF.
Except for stopping and searching every vehicle that travels I-95 and its connector highways, and in doing so violating the constitutional rights of millions of law abiding Americans, its a useless endeavor overall. Every large scale highway interdiction program ever tried by law enforcement in the U.S. has failed when the criminals simply took another route while the rights of thousands of Americas were violated via forced illegal searches.
A universal background check does nothing to keep criminals from getting guns nor does it do anything to keep people from driving down I-95.
Once again, laws and regulation do not keep criminals from getting guns. The only people who obey laws and regulation are law abiding people, criminals do not obey laws and regulation. These guns via the “Iron Pipe Line” go to the states with the strictest gun laws and strictest checks in the country, yet guns are still in the hands of criminals in these states.
History has proven to us time and time again, that in the U.S. the more something ‘personal rights or pleasure’ is regulated the more the black market in that something flourishes and the more that something is illegally used – it has happened for every single ‘personal rights or pleasure’ thing the U.S. has regulated.
More law and regulation in the form of universal background check does nothing to prevent or stop the methods by which criminals get guns.
It seems from the actual facts per the FBI that gun owners and dealers are the only ones that actually obey gun laws, and the only ones that are actually doing something to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. And now you want to apply more regulation and laws to these law abiding gun dealers and owners which are the lest likely source of guns for criminals and the best and only deterrent/prevention method, and let the criminals simply “find another route for their “iron pipeline” while the rights of millions of Americas are violated daily.
You’re insane.
Thread Hijack,
“Whistleblower: Guns.com issues vaccine mandate for all employees, including remote workers”
Fugh Guns.com, the highest price for guns on the interwebz bar none!!!!
They’ve always been about MONEY, not individual rights and freedom of choice!!!
Phony bastids that supports TTAG and vice versa.
As a matter of fact, I think I am glad that you don’t want vaccinations, some problems are self-solving it seems
Yep have REAL immunity. Get injection/s and you never will.
It appears there are well over 700,000 Americans who have achieved ‘real immunity’ to Covid, and thanks to that immunity they will never contract Covid again.
They are also immune to diphtheria, tetanus, polio, smallpox, measles, mumps, rubella, bubonic plague, hepatitis, HPV, etc.
Unfortunately, they were unavailable for comment regarding their good fortune in achieving ‘real immunity’.
@49er
…but, they will continue to vote Progressive Democrat in perpetuity…
All 50 states should compete against each other. To see who can create the most business friendly, and most armed to the teeth population the union.
Also think of them as 50 different lifeboats. With some of them taking on water. While others are fixing leaks.
I’ll be curious to see where he goes. Him leaving the area could have big impacts as in Citadel handles huge amounts of things for brokerages, he’s one of the richest (the if not the second or third) people in Ilinois, Citadel has their own tower in down town and a lot of other stuff.
He is definitely politically right leaning, he is one of the people that was trying to get gerrymandering reform to be addressed by the Supreme Court.
It’s important to understand that if someone ultra rich can’t insulate themselves from the vigors of a city’s crime then who can?
Also, it’s gotta be a pretty stupid or ballsy car jacker not to recognize some “contractors” and stay away.
The mayor of Chicago is a Democrat.
Take your money and get out.
Making progress.
Ken Griffin – isn’t all that bright Citadel LLC found in 1990. Chiraq has been a cesspool LONG before Beetlejuice crawled out for her hole in the ground.
All these comments and no one points out the irony?
cit·a·del
/ˈsidədl,ˈsidəˌdel/
noun
a fortress, typically on high ground, protecting or dominating a city.
Paper Tiger
“One that is outwardly powerful or dangerous but inwardly weak or ineffectual.”
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