Sanity Sunday Musical Break- Stéphane Grappelli

by Nomad

French jazz violinist, Stéphane Grappelli, might not be a familiar name to many of you. Grappelli has been called "the grandfather of jazz violinists" and certainly has a distinctive style.

Throughout his career, Grappelli collaborated with my top musicians like Jean-Luc Ponty, Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma, and most famously, swing guitarist, Django Reinhardt. (For a more complete biography, click here.)

Operation InfeKtion: The Seven Commandments of Fake News - Part 2

by Nomad

Operation InfeKtion: The Seven Commandments of Fake News is part two of a three-part NYT op-ed series takes a closer look at Russia's highly developed disinformation campaign and why it has, so far, been so effective.

A Closer Look at Trump's Amoral Defense of Saudi Arabia's Murder of Jamal Khashoggi

by Nomad

Gangsters Defending Gangsterism

Yesterday's statement from President Donald J. Trump about the US stand on Saudi Arabia in the wake of the Khashoggi murder seems worth a closer look.
Never in America's history have we seen such an appalling repudiation of international law and order by a sitting president. In a word, it is a disgrace.

Operation InfeKtion: Meet the KGB Spies who Invented Fake News - Part 1

by Nomad

"If you don't know who to trust anymore, this might be the thing that's making you feel that way. If you feel exhausted by the news, this could be why. And if you're sick of it all and you just want to stop caring, then we really need to talk."

The Art of Deception

Supreme warfare is achieved by overcoming one's enemy without fighting. That's a fundamental precept from the Chinese military general Sun Tzu's "The Art of War.

All warfare, writes Tzu, is based on deception. And the most successful type of warfare is that where the enemy does not recognize the battlefield and the type of weapons used. The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.

Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.

A Cautionary Tale about the Danger of Saviors and Blind Obedience

by Nomad

History has all kinds of interesting lessons to teach us. Here is one I recently found. 

The Saviors that Failed

The ancient concept of the Messiah, (mâšîah, "the anointed one") once figured prominently in the Jewish faith. In its basic form, the prophecies foretold of a divinely inspired leader who will save the world, or at least the nation of Israel.

Scholars tell us the belief originated with the exiled Jews in Babylonia in sixth century BC. It was practically a mania six centuries later when Israel fell under Roman rule.

As the long-awaited Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth represented only one candidate. Many others appeared before and after the Christ and drew large followings. The majority of them were religion-obsessed lunatics or outright charlatans.