The PEUtification of Iran

The Carlyle Group's Admiral James Stavridis and 8VC's Joe Lonsdale want to invest in Iran.  TechGod Joe told CNBC said he really excited to invest in Iran.  Stavridis noted in a Semafor interview:

And then if we do get to a serious ceasefire, which I think is not impossible at this time, what is the big investment opportunity in the Middle East? It could be Iran. There’s a lot of chaotic movement, but the potential of this country that’s two and a half times the size of Texas, 90 million people, demographics vertical, highly educated, a culture that’s deep and strong, they believe in themselves as Persians. If you follow the geopolitical trends to a happy ending, which is not impossible, Iran becomes a very interesting investment opportunity. It could look like the reconstruction of the Korean peninsula after the end of the Korean War.

It would be a natural fit for a politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU) like Carlyle to open an office in Tehran.  TechGod Joe Lonsdale's Palantir could take over spying on citizens from the mullahs.

PEU Legends and TechGods remaking Iran in the image of U.S. oligarchy?  It'd be a spectacular PEUtification, "something like no one has ever seen before," if they had not been looking in the American economic/government mirror every single day for the last two decades.

ProCap Joins Bitcoin Pump

Peter Atwater called the Procap Financial/Columbus Circle Capital Corporation deal "financial alchemy" as it combines two shaky ventures, a SPAC and a Bitcoin Treasury.  

The deal is interesting as the Columbus Circle SPAC is sponsored by Cohen & Company and managed by Cohen & Company executives.  Cohen & Company also serves as the "exclusive financial advisor" for the surviving entity, Procap Financial, and was a "co-placement agent in connection with the Preferred Equity Raise and Convertible Debt Raise."

The greed and leverage boys like to be on all sides of a deal, equity, debt, investment bank, financial advisory.  Nothing is arm's length anymore.  It's all bear hug. I believe they call it "fee earning synergy."

Peter Thiel, one of the greatest digital, libertarian alchemists, is backing the deal.  Rose Park Advisors and Fifth Down Capital. both Boston venture capital firms, invested alongside Thiel Capital.

The combination includes a preferred equity raise and convertible note sale.  Firms participating in those include:

Magnetar Capital, Woodline Partners LP, Anson Funds, RK Capital, Off the Chain Capital, Parafi, Blockchain.com, Arrington Capital, BSQ Capital Partners, and FalconX

Procap put that money to work already.   The yet to be combined firm bought $387 million worth of Bitcoin.

... the announcement notes that the TWAP for this purchase may differ from the “signing bitcoin price” referenced in the June 23 Business Combination Agreement between CCCM and Procap.

And who gets to pocket that?  I assume if it was going to cause a loss then the purchase would not have been made.

It all seems so loose.  But that is par for the course under Trump II, the digital Caligula.

AI: "It's Eating the Brain" as Well as Jobs

CEOs warned recently about AI eliminating jobs for humans, even those they promised in return for economic development funding.  

Former Microsoft founder Bill Gates believes AI will replace teachers and doctors.

All that sounds concerning to people wanting to be gainfully employed.  Two recent stories serve as counterbalance.  TechGod Elon Musk is redoing GrokAI because of "too much garbage."

For AI to purport to be the "correct version of human knowledge" is the usual TechGod blather.  

What does AI do to people's ability to learn and problem solve?  Just as social media made people anti-social:

A study showed artificial intelligence to harm the brain and its ability to conduct critical thinking.

AI is eating the jobs and also your brain.  So don't follow TechGod Reed Hoffman's coaching for the unemployed to use AI.  It could make one a very dull candidate.

Summa Health: Ohio Follows Massachusetts & Pennsylvania

The State of Ohio approved the sale of Summa Health to General Catalyst, a venture capital firm.  HealthExec reported:

It’s not entirely clear how business operations at Summa Health, a nonprofit, will change.

General Catlyst's CEO made it clear Summa would be the venue for its healthcare AI and other related services provided by fellow GC affiliates.  A press release referred to its "Silicon Valley's innovation engine."  Yes, the engine that includes intellectual property theft and replaces people with chatbots prone to hallucination, when not providing "garbage out" from "garbage in."  GC just put another $200 million into healthcare AI affiliate Commure.

VC's tend to swing harder for the fences than private equity underwriters (PEU).  The disaster of Massachusetts' Steward Healthcare under Cerberus Capital Management ownership was chronicled over a decade (Forbes).  A similar but much faster implosion occurred at Hahnemann Health in Philadelphia under Paladin Healthcare Capital (New Yorker).

The Carlyle Group, a politically connected PEU, sank ManorCare, a giant nursing home chain.  It did so under the watchful eye of former Medicare Chief Gail Wilensky.

Summa will be ground zero for the transformation of "healthcare as medicine" to "healthcare as software", no doctor needed.

Not mentioned in any article are the equity stakes Summa executives will obtain when the nonprofit switches over to a for-profit.  That conflict of interest is rarely identified prior to any takeovers.  It arose with Steward over time as several dividend bleedings sent big money to CEO Ralph de la Torre, M.D.

How can this happen yet again?  Politicians Red and Blue love PEU (and their new TechGod brethren), and increasingly, more are one.

I encourage Summa Health staff to buckle up.  VC firms operate their mechanical bull at level 10, while PEUs tend to be at level 8.  That means more bullshit slung and at greater distances.  Duck if you see Commanure flying at you.

Joint Commission for Healthcare Accreditation Partners with Snake Supplier

The Joint Commission for Healthcare Accreditation chose Palantir for an Artificial Intelligence partnership.  The announcement came in May with the Joint Commission's CEO citing: 

“Palantir’s emerging leadership in healthcare transformation"

Recent comments by Palantir CEO Alex Karp raise serious questions as the type of leadership provided by the Joint Commission's new supplier. Alex may not be a self administering drug addled TechGod, but he does want to spray opioid laced bodily fluids on people doing their job as financial analysts.  At least he said those words on CNBC.

Fellow TechGod and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale recently called out healthcare cartels at the Reagan Library.  Joe seemed pretty hyped up in the interview.  Lots of caffeine or some TechGod self medicating?

He wrote on X in February

Most hospitals are corrupt, backwards cartels & local monopolies, with state lobbying arms to keep out competition or threatening innovation. 

They often have talented staff (talented surgeons, some other great doctors & nurses), but often cynical or disgruntled administrators.

Another X post had Lonsdale's prescription for healthcare.

aggressive deregulation to allow innovation & competition, forcing EHRs to let patients port data to apps, and FTC breaking up local monopolies and PBM cartels.

How would one force EHRs to do anything without regulation?  Wouldn't breaking up hospital systems also be a regulatory intervention?

Joe wants the government to change market structure so his companies can win.  Lonsdale wants healthcare to become software.  Medicine is like intellectual property rights in AI, something to be steamrolled or worked around.

TechGods want healthcare as medicine to disappear, replaced by healthcare as software.  The Joint Commission picked a snake for partner with Palantir.  Their leadership is based on steamrolling competitors, manipulating market structure from the top down, selling billions in services to Uncle Sam and for the spoils to accrue to the TechGods.  

Healthcare as medicine needs people to do the work.  Healthcare as software does not.  The Joint Commission picked a snake supplier, one with endless venom.  I expected better.

The PEUples House

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU (private equity underwriters) and increasingly, more are one.  Congress lives this with their new tax bill which saves PEU preferred "carried interest" taxation, a highly unpopular tax dodge.  Both parties combined to do one better, allow greater deductibility of burdensome interest expense.  The greed and leverage boys make money by saddling affiliates with debt, often taking those borrowings and paying themselves a handsome dividend/special distribution.

The Lever reported:

...an accounting maneuver included in the bill creates more lenient standards for calculating the deduction as a share of total taxable income, which could boost private equity firms’ tax savings by an estimated 15 percent, netting the companies billions of dollars.

Billions more for politically connected billionaire PEU Legends.  There is no people's House.  It belongs to the PEUples.

LinkedIn: Jobs Down, Advice Up Says TechGod Founder

TechGod LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman painted a dark picture for college grads seeking entry level jobs.  

Congress is yet to tackle known social media harms for children, so they cannot be counted on to reign in billionaire TechGods worst instincts.

Because power and money talk, Congress has regulatory protections for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in its Big Beautiful Bill.

The good news is I don't have to use the job killing AI bullet.  I can stay away from AI, all of them.

Hoffman's advice to college grads is to "use AI," the very thing taking away their employment opportunities.  Spoken like an arrogant TechGod, always pushing their book. 

Isn't LinkedIn supposed to help people find employment?  Don't they use AI?

Welcome to a world of endless billionaire TechGod enrichment opportunities, known as "Gush Up Economics."  Apparently, they are the only talent worth paying and paying and paying and paying.

Update 6-23-25:  A MIT study on ChatGPT showed how the mental crutch turns the human brain off.  Reid Hoffman wants college grads to be less capable of skills required for employment.  

Elon Musk is retraining his Grok AI because there is "too much garbage" being produced.

TechGods Join Military Reserves: Young Men

U.S. Tech executives joined the U.S. Army Reserves and were installed as lieutenant colonels in the newly established Detachment 201, an Executive Innovation Corps.  Weren't executives already working on behalf of the military via direct government contracts?  Doesn't the military already have a Defense Innovation Board?

The first members of this new elite unit include:

• Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer
• Andrew Bosworth, chief technology officer of Meta
• Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s chief product officer
• Bob McGrew, an advisor at Thinking Machines Lab & former chief research officer for OpenAI

These highly paid tech executives with loads of company stock now have a military commission with commensurate pay and benefits.  The public has a right not to be excited that billionaire TechGods get yet another way to make money while working to eliminate millions of jobs across the country.

The words "oracle", "breaking defense" and "detachment" seem a perfect fit for this cataclysmic moment.  

The wholesale, unrestrained government embrace of AI charges ahead on all fronts with no consideration of how people are supposed to make money and support themselves in this bizarre future.

There's always the AI Emergency Air Corp where human soldiers rush out on the battlefield to save downed drones or some future politicians digital hairpiece.  Between those rushes of adrenaline human soldiers can ingest AI porn, fall "in love" with their time-limited AI chatbot and bet digitally until their hearts are discontent.

Lakers Go to TWG Global

Mark Walter is reported to be the new majority owner for the Los Angeles Lakers.  Walter is CEO of multiple billion dollar entities, TWG Global and Guggenheim.  

Walter's TWG owns stakes in a number of professional sports franchises.

It's not clear if Walter is using any United Arab Emirates money to take the majority stake.  Not long ago they did a "you fund my junk and I'll fund yours" deal.  

TWG is not the first to partner with Mubadala.  The Carlyle Group, a politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU), did so in 2007 and again in December 2024.Lakers fans should know 

Mark Walter's TWG is big into Artificial Intelligence and already partners with Palantir, the firm building digital dossiers on U.S. citizens.

They recently added Elon Musk's xAI to the mix.  Musk is fresh off scraping lots of U.S. government data into his xAI machines.

There are enough millionaires in the Los Angeles area to sell out The Forum.  The question is how many regular people will be afforded the chance to attend a game.  Does the price of admission also include having your phone scraped by TWG's AI?

I have an idea for a promotion:  Lost your job to TWG's AI?  That gets you included into a drawing for a free ticket to the Lakers vs. Kings.  That's the least billionaire TechGods and PEU Lords can do for the little people they plan to supplant.

Evil GENIUS Act Passes Senate

President Trump's drive for $200 billion in net worth got a significant boost today as the U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Act, which provides for dollar backed stablecoins.

Trump II holds a 40% stake in USD1 stablecoin issuer World Liberty Financial, as well as 22.5 million $WLFI tokens.

I'm sure the 68 members of the Senate who voted "YES" were aware of Trump's holdings before they passed the evil GENIUS Act.  

I don't get stablecoins.  .It's like contracting out your currency to a middleman (who you already know works with criminals).

Matt Stoller wrote:

The crypto bill is the wholesale deregulation of finance at the behest of big money donors. It’ll lead to another financial crisis, but the people who supported it won’t be blamed. So yeah it makes sense for cynics to support it.

I imagine this will blow up much faster than Gramm-Leach-Bliley, the deregulation that enabled Wall Street to package financial garbage and push it on their clients.  It took nearly a decade for the elimination of Glass-Steagall to result in the Fall 2008 Financial Crisis.

It takes financial cops to catch financial criminals and those are in very short supply.  For Trump to hit his $200 billion net worth target "the pump must go on."  The Senate did their part today, as did Treasury Chief Scott Bessent.

Pump, pump, pump...

TechGods: They're Eating the Jobs

CNBC interviewed Andrew Yang about the non-existent AI regulatory environment and the high likelihood of significant job loss.

Providing jobs for people is no longer part of a corporation's aim.  CEOs may wish to consider how they expect people in the future to pay for their products.  Henry Ford put considerable thought into this when he started his automobile company.

Yang believes in several years that many jobs will be replaced by AI and that the process will occur on a mass level fairly quickly.  Congress is still working on social media's predatory impact on children and has no appetite to deal with current or potential harms from AI, including widespread intellectual property theft.

TechGods -  "Our creations are valuable to society, yours are not, even though we incorporated yours into ours..."

It is the Age of Usurpment.

Dominari PIPES SRM for Sun/TRON

Mar-a-Lago remains the physical epicenter for crypto firms going public via existing Florida corporations.  I can see the great decider and corporate matchmaker Donald J. Trump pairing executives up in the main ballroom.  He's saying:  "It's your turn in the financial fantasy suite.  All I want is a cut, maybe some recurring revenue.  It's not for me.  It's for the boys."

Dominari Holdings, with Don Jr. and Eric (nearly 1 million shares) on their Advisory Board, announced:

Dominari Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: DOMH) today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Dominari Securities LLC, served as the exclusive placement agent, successfully leading the placement of a $100 million equity investment for SRM Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: SRM)

An SEC filing revealed more details.

In addition, American Ventures LLC received warrants as it was the most recent PIPE investor in SRM International in May 2025.  

American Ventures LLC has a Dominari board member for its manager Soo J. Yu.  FINRA shows that Soo Yu is an employee of Dominari.  SEC filings indicates American Ventures to have a Jupiter, Florida address and Soo Yu to be the "manager of the manager and investment manager."

Morningstar reports the company will change its name to TRON, after a reverse merger.  The company's press release makes no mention of a name change.

It's clear that more than one Dominari entity is benefiting from the deal and Eric Trump's proceeds could be far more than selling a stinking painting.

The Reds only have scruples when the Blue team is in power (and visa versa).  This version of the Insanely Greedy Reds far surpasses prior editions.    The epicenter is Mar-a-Lago with secondary shocks arising from Trump Tower.

The MMEGA Phone

While world leaders escalate the use of violence and war to "solve problems" Americans don't know what's next with Israel-Gaza, Israel-Iran, Ukraine-Russia, U.S.-Canada, U.S.-Greenland and the ever changing Trump tariffs.  

The Trump family wants to ensure Americans have a smart phone that enables citizens to keep up with Trump II's savage whims.  

Trump does a lot and never gets credit for anything.  

Let's give him credit for "Make the Middle East Great Again!"

Also, a nod to Trump Mobile for its use of biometric id, 5g and 45/47 ad nauseam:

I'll venture it comes pre-loaded with Truth Social, a Trump digital wallet, TruthFi, Trump memecoin promotion ($TRUMP), World Liberty Financial USDI promotion, American Bitcoin and a complimentary digital cologne to remove the ethical stink.

Trump's website reveals third party relationships but not the manufacturer of the gold phone.

If "America First" means "Make the Middle East Great Again" then turning over your biometric data to Trump Mobile and its 5G towers makes perfect sense.  Let the splurge begin!  Trump wants to have over $200 billion by the time he leaves office.

Update:  The Guardian noted Trump's "extraordinary conflicts of interest."  Eric indicated:

"...eventually all the (Trump) phones can be built in the United States.."

Trump's new stablecoin is out:

First of all, USD1 is 1:1 to the Dollar.  World Liberty is investing your dollar into Treasury Bills and earning interest.  USD1 holders earn no interest.  The paper dollar can be spent in far more places than USD1.  

Trump's arrangement with World Liberty may provide insight into his new Golden Phone:

Bilderberg 2025 "It's a Wrap (on the Noggin)'"

The gathering of global tamperers, the Bilderberg Group, is ending today.  In an incredible stroke of luck Bilderberg attendees include James H. Baker, an expert in Iran's nuclear weapons program.

The Guest list of U.S. attendees at the Stockholm meeting are as follows:

TechGods Peter Thiel and Alex Karp are longtime attendees as both sit on Bilderberg's steering committee.  Palantir cut its teeth protecting the Bilderberg Group annual meeting.  Their technology is used to scoop up phone numbers of pesky protesters, whether outside the gates of their exclusive meeting compound or in downtown Los Angeles.

Intellectual property thief Eric Schmidt is also a longtime Bilderberger.  So much for doing no evil.  

The smattering of private equity underwriters (PEU) seems to get smaller as the TechGod presence increases.  TechGods of War, Space and AI are there.  

Red and Blue political teams are represented.  A number of current Trump officials are there, as are close Trump advisors not in the administration.

The media is there yet again, Bloomberg, CNN, FT, the Economist, NYT and the Atlantic.  But they never say a word, a requirement of Chatham House Rules.  

The Guardian dutifully writes about the confab and offered:

The two senior White House officials at the Stockholm conference, Kevin Harrington and Michael Kratsios, both used to work for Thiel Capital. And Thiel’s famously long list of influential acolytes includes none other than Vance. 

The Swedish PM, Ulf Kristersson, turned up for welcome dinner on Thursday evening, and would have been about halfway through his second plate of meatballs when the first of Israel’s rockets dropped on Tehran.

Taking out 20% of the world's oil production (should Iran close the Strait of Hormuz) would require lots of shifting to keep the lights on and vehicles moving, much less powering the TechGods new toys.  It would also make everything much more expensive.  

Global tamperers finally may have gone too far in remaking the world to their wishes, for their power and financial benefit.  Staff at the Grand Hotel caught a glimpse of the goings on.  If only they and the walls could talk, because media attendees won't.  

Update 6-18-25:  Will AI attend the Bilderberg annual confab in the future?  Will attendees be able to tell the difference between an AI hallucination and a TechGod rant?

Currently, there is zero regulation of AI.  Congress has a bill that prohibits state regulation of AI (of which there are four to five major billionaire backed companies)

Lords and Gods of Capital

PEU Lords and TechGods want to protect you from being de-banked.  Really?  That's a bit jarring for my synapses.

The Carlyle Group, a politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU), is partnering with Citi on asset back financing for fintechs.  

Their press release states:

Global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) and Citi today announced they will collaborate on asset-backed financing opportunities in the rapidly evolving fintech specialty lending space. 

Carlyle would package and sell the debt side, while Citi focuses on the equity side of promising fintechs. 

TechGods Peter Thiel, Joe Lonsdale, Palmer Luckey and major Andreesen Horowitz players want to play in the same fintech sandbox.  Axios reported:

.....Atticus, the stealthy stablecoin startup that we recently reported was raising funding from Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey and others at a $2.25 billion valuation. 

Driving the news: The agreement will see Atticus (or at least its gteam) effectively merge into something called Erebor, recently formed by Luckey with plans to get a banking license. Investors in the combined entity would include 8VC, Founders Fund, and Haun Ventures. Sources say that the new investment will be for around $250 million at the $2.25 billion valuation. 

The combined business would bank startups, with a stablecoin-native element to it.

PEU (pricktechs) and TechGod (dicktechs) want to fee your mind.  Thus, one should recall Synapse.

Ledgering issues, bank partner and regulatory lapses and gross mismanagement led to a shortfall of up to $95 million between bank-held funds and amounts owed to fintech end users (customers)

Andreessen Horowitz walked away from Synapse's stinking corpse.  It did open a Washington, D.C. office to help manage the fallout.  That should tell you what you need to know.  There is a protection racket but it does not focus on customers.

Billy Long Followed in PEU Legend's Footsteps

Former Congressman and now IRS Commissioner Billy Long shares one thing in common with Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein.  Both sold tribal tax credits.  Rubenstein did so prior to his founding The Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C. based private equity underwriter (PEU).  

Commissioner Long did so after he left the House and did not achieve his desired Senate seat.  Long tried to abolish the IRS while in Congress.  David Rubenstein hates paying taxes so the pair might actually get along.

Rubenstein hired former IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti at Carlyle.  I'm sure the PEU boys would line up to hire Long if he can help them avoid their already whittled down tax burden.

Billy Long did not get into the Senate but he did skate by with his recent confirmation.  Politicians Red $& Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.

College Sports Executives: Call Your Endowment Peers

College endowment experts may wish to communicate with their fellow athletic department staff regarding private equity underwriters (PEU).  Endowments are bailing on their private equity holdings, even selling them at a discount.  

College sports programs are looking at PEU investments to improve facilities and fund operations.  Sports Business Journal announced:

Elevate, a sports consulting firm, will operate a joint initiative funded by the Texas Permanent School Fund and Velocity Capital Management called the Collegiate Investment Initiative, which will provide $500 million in funding for collegiate athletics programs pursuing "capital-intensive projects," such as facility upgrades and renovations.

Endowments like to encourage alumni to leave a portion of their estate to fund university programs.  Private equity is going after that same demographic, encouraging retirees to invest in their PEU offerings.

Is it possible to eliminate the fee-charging PEU middleman and have endowments fund athletic expansion?  Realistic or not, the endowment folks should visit with their sports counterparts.  It might prevent the repeated learning of hard lessons.

Criminal Used "Currency" Coming to America

Both houses of Congress advanced bills intended to legitimize stablecoins as an asset class.  The House has the Clarity Act while the Senate considers the Genius Act.  

This is happening shortly after the political Red Team turned out in force at Bitcoin 2025.  Attendees remarked on the vibe change from eccentric, libertarian, drug addled raver to Wall Street crypto evangelist.

Former TechGod and current Vice President J.D. Vance brought down the house like only he can.  Everybody stand and clap your hands for the upcoming military parade.  I can't imagine a more tone deaf cheer.  Well, one CEO stood.

Elected officials are paving the way for stablecoins which accounted for 63% of the world's illicit transaction volumes.  Trump II, the digital Caligula, loves illicit.  For some reason a United Arab Emirates firm used Trump's USD1 stablecoin to buy a $2 billion chunk of Binance.  

Libertarians will get to enjoy the U.S. military on the streets in two major American cities, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.  Both are Trump ordered and intended for spectacle or show.  

Are these diversionary tactics to occupy the public while the Trump Team works their next fleecing of the government for his personal enrichment?  It is nice of Congress to help.  

Update 6-11-25:  Trump plans to liberate Los Angeles from criminals while liberating crypto currencies/stablecoins for criminals.  

Update 6-12-25:  Blue Teamer David Plouffe joined Coinbase's Global Advisory Council as two crypto/stablecoin bills advance in the House and Senate. A 401k specialist called opening up retirement accounts for crypto investments an "absolutely awful decision."  

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and their TechGod/CryptoBro brethren and increasingly, more are one.