I was (slightly) reassured yesterday when the White House spokesman said the President-Elect will retain critical current executives until suitable successors are found, because that flatly contradicted weeks of the President-Elects declarations that ALL of them must be gone by noon today—specifically including those running the National NUCLEAR Security Administration. Not only that, he also announced a few days ago that, to avoid the celebration interfering with government (and vice versa) he will not report for actual WORK until Monday (apparently President of the United States is the only job on Earth where new hires can take the first THREE days off without being summarily fired.) Normally that would only be annoying, but if Putin proved only one thing in this election, it was that NO secrets are secure in the Information Age, so it is only a matter of time before it all comes out on the wash and fraught confrontation between the US and Russia ensues: In his place, I would likely follow the Yamamoto Doctrine that the sole hope is to get in the first shot and hope it is mortal. Bottom line:

There will NEVER be a better time than TODAY to nuke the entire US.

So, if this is the last time we speak: It has been a Hell of a ride, and (even if it frequently seemed otherwise) I deeply appreciate all you have done and tried to do. However well RAFOs course has vindicated Mikes assessment of wotmanias future, its demise left many in full panic; if nothing else, you cushioned a harsh blow to all of us. There is no point rehashing how we wound up here, since 1) there is no way to be sure of the answer(s) and 2) it no longer matters anyway, so I will skip it (for once.) I will say that (as you surely know) many MBs yet thrive, but each has a narrow yet deep niche we lack. I did try to do my part, for good or bad, but eventually felt like my best "contribution" would be addition by subtraction.

Yours was a noble effort, Ben, and more than anyone could reasonably ask or expect: Thanks, and be well, in business and life alike.