Poll: How will the Trump Presidency End?

by Nomad

Time for a test of your prophetic abilities. In the graphic below, you will find a few possible outcomes for President Trump. Click on the button of the scenario which you think most likely.
(Note: One vote per person and choose carefully. There's no way to erase your vote.  )

Sanity Sunday Musical Break - In Memory of Nancy Wilson

by Nomad

This week marked the passing of legendary jazz vocalist Nancy Wilson. She was 81.

With a career that spanned over a half century,  Wilson recorded more than seventy albums and won three Grammy Awards for her recordings.
According to her biography:

She was second only to the Beatles in sales, and her albums outsold those of Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and the Beach Boys.

What a lot of people don't know is that Wilson was also an activist for civil rights in the 1960s. At a time when activism could mean the end of a promising career, Wilson participated in the 1965 Selma march.

Masha Gessen: The Decline of Democratic Values in Russia is a Warning to the World

by Nomad

Never heard of Masha Gessen?

This Russian-American journalist has an important message for liberal democracies around the world.
Examine what happened in Russia and never think it can't happen in your own country.

A Touch of Irony in St. Petersburg

The other day I was reading the headlines in The Moscow Times and I saw an item that seemed to come straight from the days of the Soviet Empire. That was a time when the Kremlin attempted to muzzle writers and suppress their works.

Reportedly, customs officials in St. Petersburg stopped a best-selling book (ordered through Amazon) entry. It would, it was explained, require that the buyer, human rights lawyer Sergei Golubok, provide a written assurance that the material was not extremist in nature.