Ravi S. Iyer: Worldly

Last updated on 28th March 2017 I spent a lot of time over the past few days viewing videos and reading articles related to the issues and politics involved in the GOP Health care bill withdrawal. [Readers may want to read my related post, USA GOP Health-care bill withdrawn; Coping with astronomical costs of 21st century medical care is major social and political problem, http://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.in/2017/03/usa-gop-health-care-bill-withdrawn.html , dated 24th March 2017] I decided to write this note as a means of ensuring better learning in my role as a student-observer of USA democracy on vital society matters like Health Care. At a very top-level view, then candidate Trump & team including Mike Pence, Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus, in the last few weeks & months before the Presidential general election, promised to repeal and replace Obamacare with something else that will deliver great healthcare at lower cost. It was a major plank of Trump's campaign. Tru...

Last updated on 28th March 2017 GOP health-care bill: House Republican leaders abruptly pull their rewrite of the nation’s health-care law, https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-leaders-prepare-to-vote-friday-on-health-care-reform/2017/03/24/736f1cd6-1081-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html , March 24th 2017 Small extract from it: In an interview with The Washington Post, Trump deflected any responsibility for the setback and instead blamed Democrats. “We couldn’t get one Democratic vote,” he said. “I don’t blame Paul,” Trump added, referring to Ryan. Trump said he would not ask Republican leaders to reintroduce the legislation in the coming weeks, and congressional leaders made clear that the bill — known as the American Health Care Act — was dead. --- end extract --- Ravi: Medical science has made extraordinary progress in saving and extending human lives, and also improving the quality of human life, over the past few decades. But along with that has come astro...

Normally I take a publicly neutral stand on USA politics and especially avoid writing on topics related to USA security and investigative agencies. Please note that I am an Indian living in India. However, as a lover of democracy of which USA is a leading force in the world today, and as a well wisher of the people of the USA, I felt it appropriate to make an exception in this case. On 20th March 2017 (yesterday), FBI Director Comey asserted in his testimony to the USA House Intelligence Committee that the FBI had looked carefully inside the FBI and that he had "no information" to support the tweets of USA President Trump that his predecessor, former USA President Obama wire-tapped Trump Tower. He also said that the Department of Justice had asked him to share that they too did not have any information to support those tweets. Comey also said, "No individual in the United States can direct electronic surveillance of anyone. It has to go through an application proces...

I normally avoid posting sensitive political stuff like this one. But I felt I need to post this one to voice out my view that USA White House top leadership which includes the White House press secretary, needs to back super sensitive statements with evidence OR not make such super sensitive statements at all. US will 'not repeat' claims GCHQ wiretapped Donald Trump, http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39300191 , 17th Mar. 2017 A short extract from above linked article is given below: A spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said it had been made clear to US authorities the claims were "ridiculous and should have been ignored". --- end extract --- Ravi: Let us hope that in future the USA White House top leadership will be more careful about their reputation of being truth-tellers. The world not only expects it from the militarily and financially most powerful country in the world, but needs it. And the USA too would need support from other countries of the world f...