_*]:min-w-0 gap-3 standard-markdown">

Group Chat News is back for America's 250th birthday week and the guys go deep on the gamification of everything, AI gatekeeping, and the great retail shakeup. Steve Pitino of Ales Grey stops by with a massive Walmart 4th of July shoe giveaway before the crew gets into why politics might be the biggest trap of all, the AI lockout dividing the haves from the have-nots, and how Jersey Mike's just dethroned Chick-fil-A.

This week's Group Chat covers:

America at 250 — is the country falling apart or winning more than ever?
NYC affordability, the DSA, and the middle-class squeeze in big cities
Declining birth rates and the forecasted hit to car sales by 2040
The gamification of everything — sports betting, Polymarket & Kalshi, and $165 billion wagered
How retail traders and day-trading boomers now move even the biggest stocks
AI gatekeeping — Anthropic and OpenAI limiting frontier models to 100 companies and the government
China's open-source AI catching up to the US frontier labs
Should you put confidential financials into AI? The data privacy debate
Jersey Mike's dethrones Chick-fil-A and goes public at a $12 billion valuation
Reformation's IPO and why "retail is dead" is a lie
Sephora's new "quiet hours" and the future of the in-store experience

⭐ EXCLUSIVE ALES GREY 4TH OF JULY SHOE DEAL ⭐ Steve Pitino is doing the biggest giveaway yet for the 250th. Here's how it works:

Head to Walmart.com and buy any Ales Grey shoes (seven colors, including the new Red, White & Blue — made in the USA.
For every pair you buy, Ales Grey matches you with a FREE pair of black shoes, unlimited. If you buy 10, get 10 free.
The first 25 Catties also get the limited Red, White & Blue pair free — only 250 made in the world, each a one of one, not even available to the public yet.
To claim: DM a picture of your receipt to @alesgrey on Instagram and they'll send your free shoes.