john galt perez

🇮🇷 Iran's soccer chief says he'll meet FIFA's president in the next few days to demand guarantees that Iran will be "respected" at the World Cup in the U.S. Iran's Foreign Ministry is backing him up, saying host countries must issue visas without political considerations and that FIFA is obligated to ensure proper conditions for all teams. The threat is real: if FIFA can't deliver, Iran pulls out. The backdrop is that Federation president Mehdi Taj was denied entry into Canada last week over his links to the IRGC, which both the U.S. and Canada designate as a terrorist organization. Iran is scheduled to play all 3 group stage matches on U.S. soil, with their base at a complex in Tucson, Arizona. A war with the host country and your federation chief can't get a visa. Straightforward World Cup preparation. Source: Reuters

A mild morning.

The Islamic Health Authority shared footage showing the moment the ambulance was struck. Jarring.

What is Hantavirus, exactly? -Causes respiratory and cardiac problems + hemorrhagic fevers -Normally transmitted to humans by infected rodents -Only a rare variant, the Andes strain (what's been reported on MV Hondius), spreads between humans

🇮🇱🇵🇸 Hebron is the only Palestinian city with Israelis living directly inside it, making it one of the tensest places in the West Bank. A few hundred Jewish settlers live in the center, surrounded by 200,000 Palestinians and protected by IDF troops. Even the mosque is split, half for Muslims, half for Israelis. Over 900 Israeli checkpoints across the West Bank now turn 5-minute drives into hours-long ordeals. Palestinians carry babies, groceries, and fence panels by hand because checkpoints block the roads. This is the part nobody discusses on cable news. Source: RocaNews YT

🇺🇸🇮🇱 The story behind why 30 House Democrats just demanded the U.S. acknowledge Israel's nukes is darker than people realize... Jonathan Pollard, the most infamous Israeli spy in U.S. history, helped build Israel's nuclear program by stealing American secrets. When Netanyahu visited Clinton in the 90s and demanded Pollard's release, he reportedly mentioned Israel had Lewinsky tapes. As a friendly FYI. CIA Director George Tenet threatened to resign if Pollard was freed. Trump finally let him go. Pollard recently bragged on camera that Israel once threatened to nuke the U.S. to force a weapons airlift. That's the relationship Castro's letter is trying to drag into daylight. Source: Breaking Points

OpenAI just created a $10 billion company whose ONLY job is forcing businesses to use AI. And they're literally guaranteeing investors a 17.5% annual return to make it happen. It's called "The Deployment Company." OpenAI finalized it yesterday with 19 investors including TPG, SoftBank, Bain Capital, Brookfield, and Advent International. Here's the structure: OpenAI puts in $1.5 billion. The private equity firms put in $4 billion. In exchange, those PE firms open up their 2,000+ portfolio companies as a CAPTIVE customer base for OpenAI's products. OpenAI then embeds teams of engineers directly inside those companies, Palantir-style, to integrate their tools into daily operations. And here's the big red flag in all of this: OpenAI is GUARANTEEING those PE firms a 17.5% annual return over five years. That means even if the companies in the portfolio don't want AI, don't need AI, or get zero value from AI, OpenAI is still on the hook to pay those returns. Think about what that means for a second. OpenAI is so desperate for enterprise adoption that they're paying Wall Street to force their product into thousands of businesses. They've essentially turned private equity firms into a distribution cartel with a guaranteed commission. This has NEVER been done before in enterprise software. No software company in history has guaranteed above-market returns to financial sponsors just to get their product installed. And it gets crazier: Within MINUTES of OpenAI's announcement, Anthropic announced their own version. A $1.5 billion joint venture with Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, and Hellman & Friedman. Same playbook. Two companies worth a combined $1+ TRILLION in private valuation both concluded on the same day that organic demand for their products is not growing fast enough. If enterprises were lining up to buy AI on their own, you wouldn't need to bribe private equity firms with guaranteed returns to shove it into their portfolios. You would just sell it normally like every other software company in history. But they can't. Because the gap between what AI companies PROMISE and what enterprises actually experience is still enormous. OpenAI's COO Brad Lightcap just moved into a new role specifically to lead this push. They've also signed "Frontier Alliances" with major consulting firms to embed AI through professional services channels. Every move they're making screams the same thing: We have a demand problem. And this is all happening right before OpenAI tries to IPO at $850 billion. If they can show Wall Street that 2,000+ companies are "using OpenAI products" through this PE distribution channel, it inflates their enterprise metrics right before the roadshow. Doesn't matter if those companies actually need it or if it creates real value. What matters is the number on the S-1. This is the AI playbook entering its most dangerous phase. The tech is real but the business model is being held together by financial engineering, guaranteed returns, and captive distribution deals that look more like a pharmaceutical company paying doctors to prescribe their drug than a software company earning customers on merit. And both OpenAI and Anthropic admitted it on the same day.

The futures are bid pre-market on news of another peace deal. The goal of the deal is to re-open the Strait of Hormuz which was open two months ago. The fundamental question on the table is why did an oil crisis catalyze THE AI top? S&P momentum stocks closed 4 standard deviations overbought yesterday. Today will build on that. The reversal will be violent.