The Ice Palace (No, Not That One) . . . Plus Grace & Frankie -- And How The Election Was REALLY Rigged February 10, 2017 Holy Cow. I hate the cold, but I think we need to go! Look! I know Northeast China is a bit of a trek but . . . check it out! Especially those pictures. Looking for something to binge on? I’m only two episodes into Grace and Frankie — talk about late to the party! Netflix is about to launch season 3 — and I’m not sure future episodes could possibly be as good. But if you like Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen, Jane Fonda, and Sam Waterston, for sure give it a try. The first episode is wonderfully titled: “The End.” Joe V: “Do we agree that the Dems can learn something by analyzing how the GOP has attained a net gain of 700+ seats in state legislatures … and control of the whole government? Watch this 4-minute clip or the complete 43-minute documentary.” ☞ Yep. It’s the story of REDMAP, based on the unfortunately-titled book by David Daley that I told you about a while back. The only thing wrong in the 4-minute clip is the last line, where he says we have to wait until 2031 to make it right. In fact, if we all put our minds to it — or just vote — we can turn it all around in 2018 and 2020. I don’t care that Kelly Ann Conway promoted Ivanka Trump’s clothing line. I care that our President lies constantly (or believes what he says, which makes him delusional), is “a national disgrace” (Colin Powell’s all too accurate words) . . . undermines respect for our “so-called” judges and our “very dishonest” press . . . is undignified, dangerous, ignorant, incompetent and somehow in the pocket of Vladimir Putin, who murders journalists and political opponents (but are we such great shakes, Trump asks?) and who has attacked the United States with the goal of destabilizing our precious democracy . . . toward which goal, if the last three weeks are any indication, he has made considerable progress. We need to fix this. Kelly Ann Conway’s clothing promo is the least of our problems. Have a great weekend. And — if you’re of age and not driving or in recovery — a drink.
Of Dolphins And Puppies (And Investors And Carnage) February 8, 2017 I saw a comedian — Trevor Noah? — commenting on our concern for dolphins . . . something along the lines of, “So there’s one dolphin trapped in a net with 1,000 tuna and everyone’s all trying to save the dolphin, and the tuna are going, Hellloooo! We’re in here, too, people!” Fair enough. Still, show me a team of tuna that can do this. (Thanks, Mel!) I’m sure you’ve seen it, but is it not breathtaking that our new president has issued an executive order designed to relieve financial advisors of the obligation to act in their clients’ best interests? Take a minute to think about that. Or that he would announce that the murder rate is the highest it’s been in 47 years when in fact it’s hovering around half-century lows?* Or that his administration would, in effect, come out against puppies? And try to blame that on Obama? Watch it here. And it’s only Wednesday. *He wants us to be afraid of the “carnage” that plagues us — including zero terrorist acts committed on our soil since 1975 by immigrants from the seven countries he’s seen a sudden urgency to fear. He wants the media to report more aggressively on the nearly 200 Americans killed by terrorists since 9/11 (versus about half a million in car crashes). He assures us he will “absolutely” release his tax returns if he runs for office — though “no one but the press wants to see them” — and he will sue the 11 women who claim he did what he bragged he does because, frankly, he could walk down Fifth Avenue shooting people and Kelly Ann Conway and Sean Spicer would attack anyone who criticized him for it. But I digress.
Dealing With Narcissistic Personality Disorder Plus: Famous Narcissists February 7, 2017February 6, 2017 But first: Did you see Tom Brady Sunday? I can’t say he owes it all to BrainHq. But according to him it really helps. (Tom Brady Has A Secret Advantage.) Take a few hours to avoid dementia in later life? Tell your folks? I last wrote about BKUTK at $420. (Two years earlier, at $340.) Recently, I bought a little more at $464. These are non-voting shares but otherwise the same as BKUT, currently quoted at $570 bid, $650 asked. As I don’t usually take the time to vote anyway, I like that that my $464 shares are all but identical to shares someone is willing to pay $570 for — and that no one is willing to part with for less than $650. In a vaguely similar vein, I bought more SPRT yesterday at $2.30. As recently noted, the company appears to have more than $2 a share in cash and short-term securities; an operating business that could be worth a buck or more; $120 million in NOLs that could be worth yet another dollar; and activist shareholders who recently bought in at $3 hoping for a good gain. So it may not have much downside from here (famous last words!); and given what savings accounts are paying these days, the extra risk could be worth taking. And now: Der Spiegel sparks controversy with its cover depicting our President beheading the statue of liberty. It editorializes: “The United States president is becoming a danger to the world. It is time for Germany and Europe to prepare their political and economic defenses.” . . . Germany must stand up in opposition to the 45th president of the United States and his government. That’s difficult enough already for two reasons: Because it is from the Americans that we obtained our liberal democracy in the first place; and because it is unclear how the brute and choleric man on the other side will react to diplomatic pressure. . . . It is literally painful to write this sentence, but the president of the United States is a pathological liar. . . . He is attempting a coup from the top; he wants to establish an illiberal democracy, or worse; he wants to undermine the balance of power. . . . Among the things that counted as true progress during the 20th century were multilateralism and free trade. The world has become so complex that no single country can solve the major problems on its own — that was our recognition. Organizations like the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, NATO and the EU were all created for this reason. None of these organizations is perfect, but they are what we launched — and we do need them. Bannon now wants to wipe them away, and either Trump is executing Bannon’s intentions or he shares them. . . . The fact that the United States, a nuclear superpower that has dominated the world economically, militarily and culturally for decades, is now presenting itself as the victim, calling in all seriousness for “America first” and trying to force the rest of the world into humiliating concessions is absurd. The Germans are understandably sensitive to leaders suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder, given their history. Some find parallels to 1933 concerning. (“They argued he would grow more reasonable once in office and that his cabinet would tame him. . . . “) And while it would be a mistake to read too much into it — who knows why he chose to do this? — I continue to be ever so slightly freaked out that our president literally kept a book of Hitler’s speeches by his bedside. Nell Ziehl, chief of planning, education and outreach for the Maryland Historical Trust, writes about Coping With Narcissistic Personality Disorder in the White House. (After which I append a list of the world’s foremost narcissists.) I want to talk a little about narcissistic personality disorder. I’ve unfortunately had a great deal of experience with it, and I’m feeling badly for those of you who are trying to grapple with it for the first time because of our president-elect, who almost certainly suffers from it. Here are a few things to keep in mind: 1) It’s not curable and it’s barely treatable. He is who he is. There is no getting better, or learning, or adapting. He’s not going to “rise to the occasion” for more than maybe a couple hours. So just put that out of your mind. 2) He will say whatever feels most comfortable or good to him at any given time. He will lie a lot, and say totally different things to different people. Stop being surprised by this. While it’s important to pretend “good faith” and remind him of promises, as Bernie and others are doing, that’s for his supporters, so *they* can see the inconsistency. He won’t care. So if you’re trying to reconcile or analyze his words, don’t. It’s 100% not worth your time. Only pay attention to and address his actions. 3) You can influence him by making him feel good. There are already people like Bannon who are ready to use him for their own ends. The GOP is excited to try. Watch them, not him. President Obama, in his wisdom, is treating him well in hopes of influencing him and possibly averting the worst. If he gets enough accolades for better behavior, he might continue to try it. But don’t count on it. 4) Ultimately, he will betray anyone who tries to get close to him. It might take a while, though, so we can’t count on that. 5) He only cares about himself and those he views as extensions of himself, like his children. (People with NPD can’t understand others as fully human or distinct.) He desires accumulation of wealth and power because it fills a hole. (Melania is probably an acquired item, not an extension.) He will have no qualms *at all* about stealing everything he can from the country, and he’ll be happy to help others do so, if they make him feel good. That is likely the only thing he will intentionally accomplish. 6) It’s very, very confusing for non-disordered people to experience a disordered person with NPD. They do not observe social conventions or demonstrate basic human empathy. It’s very common for non-disordered people to lower their own expectations and try to normalize the behavior. DO NOT DO THIS AND DO NOT ALLOW OTHERS, ESPECIALLY THE MEDIA, TO DO THIS. If you start to feel foggy or unclear about this, step away until you recalibrate. 7) People with NPD often recruit helpers, referred to in the literature as “enablers” when they allow bad behavior and “flying monkeys” when they perpetrate bad behavior on behalf of the narcissist. Although it’s easiest to prey on vulnerable or malicious people, good people can be unwittingly recruited. It will be important to support good people around him if and when they attempt to stay clear or break away. 8) They like to foster competition for sport in people they control. Expect lots of chaos, firings and recriminations. He will probably behave worst toward those closest to him, but that doesn’t mean (obviously) that his actions won’t have consequences for the rest of us. He will punish enemies. He may start out, as he has with the New York Times, with a confusing combination of punishing/rewarding, which is a classic abuse tactic for control. If you see your media cooperating or facilitating this behavior for rewards, call them on it. 9) Gaslighting — where someone tells you that the reality you’ve experienced isn’t true — is real and torturous. He will gaslight, his followers will gaslight. The GOP has been gaslighting for 30 years. Learn the signs and find ways to stay focused on what you know to be true. 10) Whenever possible, do not focus on the narcissist or give him attention. Don’t circulate his stupid tweets or laugh at him — you are enabling him and getting his word out. (I’ve done this, of course, we all have… just try to be aware.) Pay attention to your own emotions: do you sort of enjoy his clowning? is this kind of fun and dramatic, in a sick way? You are adding to his energy. Focus on what you can change and how you can resist, where you are. We are all called to be leaders now, in the absence of leadership. Finally, a list of some famous narcissists. Bare-chested Putin is not yet on it for some reason, but Stalin is.
Explore Peru — Free February 6, 2017February 2, 2017 I met Sarah Parcak at a TED Conference a few years ago as we wandered the halls scavenging among the health food stations. “I’m a space archaeologist,” she said. (This morning, I was on the phone with a Jamaican/Cuban American with a joint degree in midwifery and finance. A max-out DNC donor, she’s running for vice chair. Could life possibly have been so interesting when only white males with property were allowed to vote? But I digress.) “A space archaeologist?” Yes, she explained; she looks at the earth from satellites trying to spot ancient cities and pyramids hidden by soil or sand. Last year, she won the TED prize to build out her vision of getting thousands of us — tens or hundreds of thousands more likely — to join her search. And now you can! Click here to start combing Peru to discover the next Machu Picchu. Here, to watch Sarah’s TED talk. It’s pretty cool. BONUS: Mike Rutkaus: “It Can’t Happen Here, a novel by Sinclair Lewis about the guy who beat FDR in 1936 and became dictator of the U.S. He notes that dictators rarely have a wife present…in the book she is always coming to DC next year.” Not to mention Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America, wherein “America First” candidate Charles Lindberg beats FDR in 1940 and negotiates an understanding with Hitler. Or My New Order, the book of Hitler’s speeches our current president kept by his bedside.
Tom Brady Has A Secret Advantage – Which I Reveal Below February 3, 2017February 3, 2017 But first, who’s gotten what so far: Putin’s gotten a President and Secretary of State he loves, plus a destabilized America, quickly losing its place as the world’s moral beacon. Trump may have gotten 19.5% of Russian oil giant Rosneft. (We’ll probably know right about the time he releases his tax returns, as he promised he “absolutely” would if nominated. As he reminded us recently, he is a man of his word.) China’s been handed the Pacific trade region. (See: Make China Great Again.) ISIS has been handed an enormous recruiting boost. They just might be able to ignite a war of civilizations after all. Goldman Sachs got the Treasury Department and has seen its stock rise 50 points since the election, enriching its owners by $20 billion. Rick Perry got the Department he couldn’t remember he wanted to eliminate. There’s more, but it’s only been two weeks. And now the good news. BrainHQ is the exercise program I’ve been touting for years (and of which I own a small piece). Remember these four minutes on the Today Show? How a 10-year study of 2,800 subjects found a 48% decrease in dementia from just having done 14 hours of training with Brain HQ? Imagine if you — or your grandmother — “worked out” with it regularly. Turns out, that’s what Tom Brady does. As Tom Brady nears 40, brain training hones his edge By Mark Craig Star Tribune FEBRUARY 2, 2017 HOUSTON – Talk about no fair. Tom Brady plays for America’s model franchise and is married to Brazil’s model, well, model. He made $14 million this season. She made more than twice that. He’s won four Super Bowls and is three days from playing in his seventh. He’s got 17 years of NFL quarterbacking experience, an ageless right arm and dimples beyond his 39th birthday, for gosh sakes. So what more great fortune could this Patriots quarterback and all-time NFL icon take with him into his 40s? Nothing, right? Wrong. According to Brady, his brain is faster than it’s ever been. And he believes it’s helping his long-term cognitive health while making him a better quarterback. Not exactly the news the NFL’s 31 other teams are looking for as Brady tries to beat the Atlanta Falcons and win Super Bowl LI a whopping XV years after his first Super Bowl victory. If opponents are looking to assign blame for this added boost in what should be Brady’s professional winding-down years, they might want to jab a finger at BrainHQ. That’s the brain training program that Brady’s TB12 Sports Center installed as one of the four pillars of improvement techniques designed to meet the boss’ goal of playing this game until he’s 50. “I’ve used it for probably three years now consistently,” Brady said Wednesday. “There has been a lot of talk about concussions and head trauma and CTE. I’ve learned that prevention is part of the issue. I work hard to try and prevent some of those things from happening. BrainHQ does a great job of cognitively trying to keep me ahead of any of those problems.” Yeah, but does it make you a better quarterback? “Yeah, you can see yourself improve,” he said. “It does a great job of tracking you, monitoring you, seeing where you were before. It’s been a great tool.” Those are sweet words to the ears of Dr. Henry Mahncke, CEO of Posit Science, the creator of the BrainHQ training program. According to Mahncke, Brady stumbled onto BrainHQ about three years ago, tried it for a year and liked it so much that he called Posit Science for a meeting. Perhaps the greatest quarterback in NFL history wanted to add Mahncke, Dr. Michael Merzenich, a recent winner of the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience, and their team of neuroscientists to his stable of trainers. While the other three pillars of the TB12 Sports Center work on physical exercise, recovery and diet, the neuroscientists work on brain training exercises to help Brady study better between games and think faster during them. “First of all, we built this for everyone, not just athletes,” Mahncke said by phone Wednesday. “Anyone who does the exercises repeatedly improves. But in the case of a Tom Brady, you talk to him. He told me, ‘When I look down the field, I feel I can pick out what I need to see in faster time than I have.’ For me, that’s kind of the icing on the cake about whether this works.” Mahncke said BrainHQ has 29 brain exercises that are done on a computer screen. One example of an exercise that Brady uses is called “Double Decision.” It’s a program in which Brady has to focus on the center of the screen while also being able to acknowledge and locate items that appear in his peripheral vision. “It’s asking his brain to split its attention,” Mahncke said. “It’s a very demanding divided-attention scenario.” Yeah, but, c’mon Doc, Brady isn’t wearing a helmet while scrambling away from angry 300-pound defenders when he takes the test, right? “Yes, but if you didn’t know anything about physical training and wanted to play football, you’d probably think, ‘Well, all I need to do is play a lot of football and I’m ready physically,’ ” Mahncke said. “Obviously, guys do a lot more than play football to get ready for it physically. They go to the gym and train each muscle in isolation so when they’re out on the field every muscle is at its best working together when they’re out on the field. The brain is exactly the same way. “When we train Tom’s brain, we’ve made it faster and more accurate so when he is scrambling and he’s got his helmet on, his brain is as fast and as accurate as we can make it. It’s ready to perform. In that regard, brain science is catching up to physical science.” And, well, all that really matters is Tom Brady’s full-hearted endorsement. “I love doing it,” he said. “So it will always be a part of my routine.” Try it here, free.
Handing the Mic to Garrison Keillor February 2, 2017January 31, 2017 He hopes the Republicans will save us (see below) . . . though possibly not the South Dakota Republicans. South Dakota’s legislature has overturned an anti-corruption referendum that would have imposed an ethics commission on them. . . . The Republican-dominated committee that approved the repeal bill did so under South Dakota’s “state of emergency” provision . . . Wow. I wonder whether Trump would have come within 3 million votes of Hillary if his voters had read The Making Of Donald Trump by David Cay Johnston. It’s not just Putin and the Russians Trump is suspiciously close to; not just Breitbart’s Steve Bannon; but convicted felons, mafia connections, and more. How did this guy, who promised “absolutely” to release his tax returns if nominated, and all but universally condemned by Republicans from Barbara Bush and Colin Powell to Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, ever pass vet to be President of the United States? Anyhow, today belongs to Garrison Keillor in the Washington Post: What we know so far is that the man is who he is. There is no larger, finer man inside him trying to get out. Everyone who is paying attention knows this. Flags flying at the Capitol, the U.S. Marine Band, gray eminences in black coats, and He Who Is Smarter Than Those With Intelligence delivers 16 minutes of hooey and horse hockey about corrupt politicians betraying the people, and American carnage, and patriotism healing our division, though the division is mainly about Himself and though love of country does not necessarily make people stupid. There might as well have been a 14-year-old boy at the lectern saying that he is in possession of the Golden Goblet that will drive the Gimlets from Fredonia and preserve the Sacred Marmite of Lord Numbskull and his Nimrods. The next day he motored out to the CIA and stood before the memorial wall honoring heroes who gave their lives in anonymity and he bitched about his newspaper coverage. The next day he boasted that his inauguration’s TV ratings were higher than those in 2013. The day after that, he told the congressional leadership that he lost the popular vote because millions of illegal votes were cast, which everyone in the room knew was a bald-faced lie, except perhaps Himself. The man is clueless, tightly locked inside his own small bubble. A sizable minority of Americans, longing for greatness or wanting to smack down an ambitious woman and to show those people in the hellhole coastal cities what the real America is all about, has elected him. To him, this minority is a mass movement such as the world has never seen. God have mercy. “American carnage,” my Aunt Sally: The correct term is “American capitalism.” Jobs are lost to automation, innovation, obsolescence, the moving finger of fate. The carriage industry was devastated by the automobile, and the men who made surreys and broughams and hansoms had to learn something new; the Pullman porter union was hit hard by the advent of air travel, and the porters sent their sons to college; the newspaper business was hit hard by Craigslist. Too bad for us. I know gifted men who were successful graphic designers until computers came along and younger people with computer skills took their place and those gifted men had to do something else. T-shirts are made in Asian countries because Americans don’t want to pay $20 for one. Coal yields to natural gas as renewable energy marches forward. Who doesn’t get this? The idea that the government is obligated to create a good living for you is one the Republican Party has fought since Adam was in the third grade. It’s the party of personal responsibility. But there he is, promising to make the bluebirds sing. As if. Everyone knows that the man is a fabulator, oblivious, trapped in his own terrible needs. Republican, Democrat, libertarian, socialist, white supremacist or sebaceous cyst — everyone knows it. It is up to Republicans to save the country from this man. They elected him, and it is their duty to tie a rope around his ankle. They formed a solid bloc against President Obama and held their ranks, and now, for revenge, they will go after health insurance subsidies for people of limited means, which is one of the cruelest things they can possibly do. Dishwashers and cleaning ladies need heart surgery, too — hospital emergency rooms already see streams of sick people, uninsured, poor or unable to deal with the paperwork, coming in for ordinary care, and when upward of 30 million are left high and dry, people will suffer horribly. “Nobody is going to be dying on the streets,” Trump said. No, they’re going to die at home in their bedrooms. The question is: How cynical are we willing to be and for how long? How long will Senate Republicans wait until a few of them stand up to the man? Greatness is in the eye of the beholder. American self-respect is what is at stake here, ladies and gentlemen. The only good things to come out of that inauguration were the marches all over the country the day after, millions of people taking to the streets of their own free will, most of them women, packed in tight, lots of pink hats, lots of signage, earnest, vulgar, witty, a few brilliant (“Take your broken heart and make it art”), and all of it rather civil and good-humored. That’s the great America I grew up in. It’s still here.
Handing The Mic To David Brooks February 1, 2017January 31, 2017 But first . . . My pal Phil is a good friend and law school classmate of Judge Gorsuch. They text all the time. “He’s terrific,” Phil says — and I’m sure he is, in the same way Antonin Scalia was. Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg loved Scalia — just not his opinions. Judge Gorsuch is cut from much the same cloth. And he should not be confirmed until after Merrick Garland is. Garland was not given a hearing because — nearly a year before the next President would take office — the Republicans argued we should “let the people decide.” Of course, they had decided when they elected Obama, and again when they reelected him. But okay, now they have decided for a third time, with 66 million voting for Hillary (it would have been millions more if people hadn’t been assured Trump had no path to 270) and only 63 million voting for Trump (some of whom would not have if they had realized he might actually win). So Republicans who wanted to wait for The People have their verdict: Merrick Garland. Trump is legally president, and so should get to pick future Justices, but not the one Obama was — by the Republicans’ own logic — entitled to. Republicans already got two “gimmes.” With fewer votes than Gore, Bush got Roberts and Alito. And they will likely get more. But first — by the terms they themselves set — they should confirm Judge Garland. And Democrats should block anyone else until they do. And now . . . Conservative David Brooks, writing yesterday in the New York Times (subscribe!): The Republican Fausts David Brooks Many Republican members of Congress have made a Faustian bargain with Donald Trump. They don’t particularly admire him as a man, they don’t trust him as an administrator, they don’t agree with him on major issues, but they respect the grip he has on their voters, they hope he’ll sign their legislation and they certainly don’t want to be seen siding with the inflamed progressives or the hyperventilating media. Their position was at least comprehensible: How many times in a lifetime does your party control all levers of power? When that happens you’re willing to tolerate a little Trumpian circus behavior in order to get things done. But if the last 10 days have made anything clear, it’s this: The Republican Fausts are in an untenable position. The deal they’ve struck with the devil comes at too high a price. It really will cost them their soul. In the first place, the Trump administration is not a Republican administration; it is an ethnic nationalist administration. Trump insulted both parties equally in his Inaugural Address. The Bannonites are utterly crushing the Republican regulars when it comes to actual policy making. The administration has swung sharply antitrade. Trump’s economic instincts are corporatist, not free market. If Barack Obama tried to lead from behind, Trump’s foreign policy involves actively running away from global engagement. Outspoken critics of Paul Ryan are being given White House jobs, and at the same time, if Reince Priebus has a pulse it is not externally evident. Second, even if Trump’s ideology were not noxious, his incompetence is a threat to all around him. To say that it is amateur hour at the White House is to slander amateurs. The recent executive orders were drafted and signed without any normal agency review or even semicoherent legal advice, filled with elemental errors that any nursery school student would have caught. It seems that the Trump administration is less a government than a small clique of bloggers and tweeters who are incommunicado with the people who actually help them get things done. Things will get really hairy when the world’s problems are incoming. Third, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the aroma of bigotry infuses the whole operation, and anybody who aligns too closely will end up sharing in the stench. The administration could have simply tightened up the refugee review process and capped the refugee intake at 50,000, but instead went out of its way to insult Islam. The administration could have simply tightened up immigration procedures, but Trump went out of his way to pick a fight with all of Mexico. Other Republicans have gone far out of their way to make sure the war on terrorism is not a war on Islam or on Arabs, but Trump has gone out of his way to ensure the opposite. The racial club is always there. Fourth, it is hard to think of any administration in recent memory, on any level, whose identity is so tainted by cruelty. The Trump administration is often harsh and never kind. It is quick to inflict suffering on the 8-year-old Syrian girl who’s been bombed and strafed and lost her dad. Its deportation vows mean that in the years ahead, the TV screens will be filled with weeping families being pulled apart. None of these traits will improve with time. As former Bush administration official Eliot Cohen wrote in The Atlantic, “Precisely because the problem is one of temperament and character, it will not get better. It will get worse, as power intoxicates Trump and those around him. It will probably end in calamity — substantial domestic protest and violence, a breakdown of international economic relationships, the collapse of major alliances, or perhaps one or more new wars (even with China) on top of the ones we already have. It will not be surprising in the slightest if his term ends not in four or in eight years, but sooner, with impeachment or removal under the 25th Amendment.” The danger signs are there in profusion. Sooner or later, the Republican Fausts will face a binary choice. As they did under Nixon, Republican leaders will have to either oppose Trump and risk his tweets, or sidle along with him and live with his stain. Trump exceeded expectations with his cabinet picks, but his first 10 days in office have made clear this is not a normal administration. It is a problem that demands a response. It is a callous, bumbling group that demands either personal loyalty or the ax. Already one sees John McCain and Lindsey Graham forming a bit of a Republican opposition. The other honorable senators will have to choose: Collins, Alexander, Portman, Corker, Cotton, Sasse and so on and so on. With most administrations you can agree sometimes and disagree other times. But this one is a danger to the party and the nation in its existential nature. And so sooner or later all will have to choose what side they are on, and live forever after with the choice.