Ravi S. Iyer: Worldly

Deposed Saudi Prince Is Said to Be Confined to Palace, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/28/world/middleeast/deposed-saudi-prince-mohammed-bin-nayef.html , 28th June 2017 A small extract from it: "After the announcement, Mohammed bin Nayef returned to his palace in Jidda to find that his trusted guards had been replaced by guards loyal to Mohammed bin Salman, according to the Saudi and a former American official. Since then, he has been prevented from leaving the palace." Ravi: Sad, if NYT report is true. My God! How different living in a democracy, even a mix of feudalism and democracy that exists in India (my country), is as compared to a monarchy! The very fact that many think that the NYT report could be true shows how unpredictable life can be in monarchies & dictatorships, no matter how powerful a position a person may be having. [I thank nytimes.com and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above very small extract from thei...

Last updated on 01-Jul-2017 Here are two associated youtube videos: 1) American Pravda: CNN Producer Says Russia Narrative “bullsh*t", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdP8TiKY8dE , 8 min 48 secs, published 26th Jun. 2017 2) James O'Keefe reacts to Sarah Huckabee Sanders' mention of Veritas video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YydiOM6dIY8 , 1 min. 33 secs, published 27th Jun. 2017 ------------------------- Update on 30-Jun-2017 3) Van Jones: Russia is “Nothing burger”– American Pravda: CNN Part 2, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2G360HrSAs , 3 min. 54 secs, published 28th Jun 2017 4) Van Jones RESPONDS to Russia "Nothing Burger" Comments, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpXmx8-JbFM , 4 min. 23 secs, published 29th Jun 2017 Note: Criticism from USA mainstream media about James O'Keefe is that he selectively edits his videos (to present a misleading view). ---------------- I was debating whether to put up this video link on Facebook now i...

It's time to 'get off the crazy train': Rep. Jason Chaffetz explains why he's retiring and joining Fox News, http://www.businessinsider.com/jason-chaffetz-retirement-fox-news-contributor-2017-6 , 29-Jun-2017 (IST). USA House of Representatives member Jason Chaffetz (who also held/perhaps still holds important positions in some Congressional committees) explains the challenges of life as a House Rep. He says that while he is paid "a very handsome salary", his (and family's) home is in Utah (state of USA) and not Washington DC. While in Washington DC, Chaffetz sleeps in a cot in his office! He says that like him, there are dozens of others in USA Congress who cannot afford to have two mortgages besides having kids in college and other expenses. He says that Washington DC is very expensive. He also indicated that it is very unhealthy to keep flying between Washington DC and his home in Utah every four days. Further, he has to raise about a million doll...

Pic and text below are from USA President Donald Trump's recent Facebook post, https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/photos/a.488852220724.393301.153080620724/10159379035880725/ The future of our partnership with India has never looked brighter! http://45.wh.gov/X7PbsA — with Narendra Modi. --- end Donald Trump FB pic & text --- Ravi: The entire text message in above pic is: "The future of our partnership has never looked brighter. India and the United States will always be tied together in friendship and respect. PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP". The short url/link above corresponds to the document, Fact Sheet: The United States and India — Prosperity Through Partnership,  https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/06/26/fact-sheet-united-states-and-india-prosperity-through-partnership , dated 26th June 2017. I have given below some extracts from it: President Donald Trump hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House on June 26, 2017. Th...

Given below are pics and extracts from recent Facebook posts about Indian PM Narendra Modi's visit to USA White House to meet USA president Donald Trump. Below pic (PM Modi, President Trump and USA First Lady Melania Trump) is from https://www.facebook.com/narendramodi/posts/10158981866740165 Below pic is from https://www.facebook.com/narendramodi/photos/a.10150164299700165.421791.177526890164/10158980974275165/ : Below text and pics are from  https://www.facebook.com/PMOIndia/posts/1099955406801829 : PM Narendra Modi presented President Donald J. Trump a folio containing an original commemorative postal stamp that had been issued by India in 1965. The stamp had been issued in 1965 to mark the death centenary of President Abraham Lincoln. The stamp honoured the memory of a great American President & symbolized closeness of the ideals for which Lincoln stood & which drove Bapu. Both leaders believed in the basic goodness of the common citizen, and in eman...

New York Times article: The C.B.O. Did the Math. These Are the Key Takeaways From the Senate Health Care Bill. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/26/us/cbo-score-of-senate-health-care-bill.html , dated 26th June 2017 USA CBO says number of uninsured goes up from 28 million now to 41 million in 2018 under proposed Senate Healthcare bill! [Ref: Table 4, Page 47, https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/115th-congress-2017-2018/costestimate/52849-hr1628senate.pdf (49 pages).] For a country of around 300 million population, the rise in uninsured by around 13 million in 2018 (as per CBO estimate) under USA Senate Health bill, is close to (additional) 5% of the population! And that uninsured number goes up to 49 million rising by 22 million (after rounding the result figure using original non-rounded figures for calc) in 2026. Increase of 22 million would be additional 7.3 percent of USA population (using current USA population figure) becoming uninsured, with total uninsured being ...

Last updated on 27th June 2017 One brutally frank insider-view of US health insurance and so healthcare industry: --snip--, Before Congress Cuts Your Insurance, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/23/opinion/obamacare-cancer-pre-existing-conditions.html , 23rd June 2017. Two sentences from the article: "The problem was never Obamacare. It was uninsured America — people who had been cut out of the system, but who were nonetheless pushing us toward collective bankruptcy." Ravi: It seems to me that providing medical insurance for all in a country, in this age where medical expenses can be huge for certain illnesses/injuries, is an extraordinarily challenging task for countries with a large population, even if that country is doing well economically. The article mentions that the US healthcare insurance industry prior to Obamacare was employer-driven. What is becoming clear to me is that for middle-class and poor USA citizens (and non-citizen residents), having a job in the...

Note: I have tried to avoid offending any conservative Muslim readers of this post. In fact, the earlier version of this post shared a Facebook video that had additional text which was not really truthful and fair to Egypt leader Nasser. I later realized that it may have offended some conservative Muslim readers and so searched for some youtube videos of that same speech which is more accurate in its share of Nasser's speech extract and have given that below. However, if the content of this post is still offensive to some conservative Muslims, I would like to know their views and request them to comment on my post sharing their views. I respect conservative Muslims who choose to follow conservative Muslim lifestyle including women wearing hijab/scarf. In this post I have only tried to share different views on such lifestyle being imposed on all Muslims, between moderate and ultra-conservative leaders of some Muslim countries.  And I must also say that I am a devotee of Shirdi...

Facebook video,  https://www.facebook.com/RTvids/videos/1611907528819494/ , around 1 min 50 secs, dated 22nd June 2017 is about a ceremony in Moscow to mark the start of USSR's war against Nazi Germany due to Nazi Germany's aggression against it. Ravi: My comment in my share of the above FB post here: https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/1927004197516148 , is as follows: The USSR fighting off Nazi Germany's aggression against it was of great benefit to the world at large, including India, as that seems to have decided the eventual collapse of Hitler and his Nazis. Had the then Soviet Union fallen to Hitler perhaps the world would have been a very different place today. USSR paid an unthinkably heavy human price of 26 million lives to defeat the Nazis. I think the entire world should be thankful to USSR (Russian federation today) for that great act of courage, resilience and fighting spirit and capability.

USA President Trump tweeted on 22nd June 2017, "With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea..." and "...whether there are "tapes" or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings." Source: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/877932907137966080 and https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/877932956458795008 . Some articles on this statement of Trump: 1) Trump Says He Did Not Tape Comey Conversations, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/us/politics/trump-comey-tapes.html 2) A timeline of Donald Trump’s talk about nonexistent James Comey tapes, http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2017/jun/22/timeline-donald-trumps-talk-about-nonexistent-jame/ Ravi: Well, USA president Trump can certainly keep the media and the world guessing, and perhaps even send them on a wild goose chase! Hmm. As ...

A sight which may have been common in many parts of the world a century or two ago but which has become rare today. Former Saudi Crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef pledges allegiance to new Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (who is significantly younger to him), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEaq0coZVF8 , 25 seconds. I think Mohammed bin Salman behaved in a very polite and dutiful way towards his elder, Mohammed bin Nayef, the former crown prince. Nice to see this peaceful change in crown prince in a powerful country which has the vital mosques of Mecca and Medina, which are cherished by billion plus Muslims worldwide.

Warning: This post is about a tragic death by shooting. Readers who prefer not to read such stuff should skip reading this post. Harsh outburst from African-American mother in Minnesota, USA, on police officer who shot her son dead, being ruled innocent, Philando Castile's Mom: "Yall Are Next!" | BABYLON WATCH SPECIAL REPORT, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsTGh8JoIEA , 5 min. 24 secs. I recall reading and viewing about the tragic incident around a year back. The lady in the car had put up a Facebook Live video after Philando Castile was shot. Here's an article from the NYT having some expert views on the matter, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/21/us/video-police-shooting-philando-castile-trial.html . Ravi: It is hard not to feel that African-Americans in the USA are being treated badly by USA police at least in some cases. Some of the African-Americans can be big and so can be viewed as physically threatening by some USA police but then the police have the ...

The Facebook video of British PM Theresa May's statement on 19th June 2017 on the attack on people leaving a mosque in London, https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews/videos/10154789764137217/ , is around 7 minutes long. I have transcribed some statements of British PM Theresa May below: This morning, our country woke to the news of another terrorist attack on the streets of our capital city - the second this month, and every bit as sickening as those which have come before. It was an attack that once again targeted the ordinary and the innocent going about their daily lives. This time, British muslims, as they left the mosque having broken their fast and prayed together at this sacred time of year. Today, we come together as we have done before, to condemn this act and to state once again that hatred and evil of this kind will never succeed. ... Our thoughts and prayers this morning are with the family of the man who died and those who were injured. On behalf of the people of Lond...

https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/videos/1875839599300220/ , 3 min 23 secs, published by New York Times on 18 Jun 2017 (Indian Std. Time). BTW the short video clip in the above video of a USA citizen complaining to (or rather accusing) a USA Congressman (Tom MacArthur of New Jersey) of being a threat to his family due to the health care bill, led me to browse for a video it. Here's that video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TDkgIEn5Ac , 11 min. 46 secs, published May 11th 2017. It has some very strong words from the USA citizen about the health care bill passed by USA House of Representatives. The citizen is reported to be Geoff Ginter, a healthcare professional/worker, who was wearing his hospital dress at this Townhall. Note that MacArthur chose to have the townhall in an area of his constituency where he got limited vote (12 percent if I got that right). He said he wanted to hear their views. That willingness of MacArthur to hear his opposing side out has to be appreciated. ...

Delightful opening speeches by UK PM Theresa May and the Leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn in the new UK parliament, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zncI9vcda0 , 12 min 44 secs, published by The Independent on 13th June 2017.

Some personal background first: I personally have experienced gross abuse of power by multiple top administrators of a deemed university in India in the period June 2011 to May 2012, who behaved in a Hitler-Stalin dictatorial and bullying way and, unfortunately, have managed to evade public accounting of their gross abuse of power against me. I have exposed them publicly on the Internet by my whistle-blowing posts against them in 2015 and 2016 (one of the main posts is: http://ravisiyer.blogspot.in/2015/11/my-may-2012-service-record-record.html ), and have had to deal with the possibility of legal and other (possibly illegal) reactions from them against my whistle-blowing actions. So far I have not been challenged legally but I have been viciously attacked by cowardly conspirators on Facebook using fake IDs, for these whistle-blowing posts of mine as well as other posts of mine, with one of them threatening me with legal cases against me (by people who I have exposed), backed by (larg...