Ravi S. Iyer: Worldly

Last updated on 1st Sept. 2017 The first post that I put up on this matter is: Houston and some other parts of Texas, USA, reel under flooding impact of Hurricane/Storm Harvey, http://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.in/2017/08/houston-and-some-other-parts-of-texas.html , 28th Aug. 2017 After the above mentioned post, over the past few days I put up or shared a lot of short posts on my Facebook Timeline: https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7 , related to the severe flooding in Houston and some other parts of Southeastern Texas, as well as a few posts on heavy rains in Mumbai. I have given below the contents of those posts (slightly edited). 4 min. 24 secs, Sen. Ted Cruz on the devastation in southeastern Texas, https://youtu.be/VZc6VoBnacU Note that Senator Cruz represents Texas in the Senate, and that Houston is his home city. He speaks to the media from the Convention Center in Houston where rescued people are being given shelter. ----- Harvey Cattle Drive: Herding 400 head o...

Last updated on 4th Sept. 2017 Given below is a list of my recent posts on another blog of mine, on Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's conviction for rape, and his spiritual group, the Dera Sacha Sauda. 1) Some articles and my thoughts about Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh being judged guilty of sexual assault, and violence that followed, http://ravisiyer.blogspot.in/2017/08/some-articles-and-my-thoughts-about.html , 27th Aug. 2017 2) Clear condemnation of violence indulged in by Ram Rahim Singh's followers by President Kovind and PM Modi, http://ravisiyer.blogspot.in/2017/08/clear-condemnation-of-violence-indulged.html , 27th Aug. 2017 3) 27th Aug. 2017 update on Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh matter, http://ravisiyer.blogspot.in/2017/08/27th-aug-2017-update-on-dera-sacha.html , 27th Aug. 2017 4) Spiritual group leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh sentenced to 20 years jail and fined Rs. 30 Lakh (3 million); More on Dera Sacha Sauda, http://ravisiyer.blogspot.in/2017/08/...

My prayers to Almighty God and best wishes for the people of Houston and other parts of Texas, USA, reeling under floods from torrential rain that some say has not been seen before by them (not seen in Houston in living memory). Full extent of Harvey’s aftermath starts to come into chilling focus, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/full-extent-of-harveys-aftermath-starts-to-come-into-chilling-focus/2017/08/27/1b2b184a-8b56-11e7-8df5-c2e5cf46c1e2_story.html A small extract from above article, 'The full extent of Hurricane Harvey’s aftermath started to come into chilling focus Sunday in Houston and across much of Central Texas, as rain measured in feet, not inches, overwhelmed lakes, rivers and bayous, leaving several people dead and thousands displaced in a weather disaster described as “beyond anything experienced.”' Note that Houston is USA's 4th largest city. The damage is being talked in terms of billions of dollars and the recovery period being some years...

As the flurry of posts I put up on the Charlottesville, Virginia, USA tragic rally which was mainly dominated by white supremacists and neo Nazis, came to a close, I was reminded of an attractive but haunting melody song that I used to listen quite often on car FM radio during my stints in New England, USA in the second half of the 1980s, on a Boston "Easy Listening" - hope I got that correctly - FM station. The song was about the USA 1860s civil war from the South perspective. The song also mentions the name of Robert E. Lee, whose statue removal plans in Charlottesville were the ostensible reason for the rally! I have to say that I loved listening to that song though I did not know that much about how deep the wounds were of the USA civil war even in the 1980s then! Note that in my stay in New England, USA I was living in and consulting/working in places which had very few non-whites, and almost no African-Americans. I think what is clear to me is that even today in 2017...

Less than 2 minutes. A classy video from New York Times on the solar eclipse in USA,  https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/videos/1906511316233048/ . Jackson Hole, Wyoming turning dark as the solar eclipse reaches totality,  https://www.facebook.com/Q2News/videos/10150826561039982/ , slightly over 1 min. "At the speed of darkness...watch as #SolarEclipse2017 shadow moves across our beautiful planet at <1 mile/second; as seen from GIII aircraft", 42 secs. video, https://twitter.com/Dr_ThomasZ/status/899788647041388544 . Alaska Airlines catches the eclipse from the air: Alaska Airlines Great America Escape flight #9671, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FwF1DvksIQ , around 1 min. Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook post having 3 pics from a Data center of Facebook in Prineville, Oregon that was in the path of the total solar eclipse, https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10103981850246981 . Has a video and an awesome set of 52 pics: ‘We are all just mind-boggled:’ scenes from...

I think those USA media outlets that are critical of USA President's family's minor children for stuff like the dress they wear, must be advised to stop doing that. I mean, let the kid enjoy his childhood like any other kid. So long as he is not doing anything harmful to himself or others, I think the USA media should respect Barron Trump's privacy. Note that Barron Trump is eleven years old - not yet a teenager. The details of the matter are that a media outlet called "Daily Caller" ran a story attacking Barron Trump's dress with the headline, "It’s High Time Barron Trump Starts Dressing Like He’s In the White House." The White House responded by the USA First Lady, Melania Trump's, spokesperson saying, "As with all previous administrations, we ask that the media give Barron his privacy".."He is a minor child and deserves every opportunity to have a private childhood." Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former USA president ...

Last updated on 24-Aug-2017 24th Aug. 2017 Update-Note: I had made a mistake in my reading of small excerpts of the judgement in presuming that the Indian Supreme Court Chief Justice's words about injuncting triple talaq for six months during which he instructed Indian parliament to enact law on it, was part of an overall judgement. It was not so, according to The Hindu reports I read today. It was part of the minority (2 judges) judgement which got overruled by the majority (3 judges) judgement! The majority judgement struck down triple talaq way of divorce for Muslim men in India as unconstitutional! ... My apologies to readers who may have got misled with previous contents of this post. Note that I have changed the post title as well.  The Hindu, a mainstream South Indian newspaper, stated in an article on 23rd Aug. 2017, "The Centre is all set to send an advisory to the states, asking them to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court order declaring triple talaq void...

Given below are three articles related to how R. Derek Black, who was raised in a white nationalist family, being the son of white nationalist Stormfront website founder, and who was a young rising star of white nationalism, moved away from white nationalism. 1) The white flight of Derek Black By Eli Saslow, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-white-flight-of-derek-black/2016/10/15/ed5f906a-8f3b-11e6-a6a3-d50061aa9fae_story.html , 15th Oct. 2016 As he was being raised in a white nationalist environment, Derek Black was taught that USA was meant for white Europeans and that others would be made to eventually leave USA. As a young white nationalist star having a daily radio show, Derek Black talked about 'white genocide' - referring to whites losing their culture and tradition due to large numbers of non-white immigrants. Derek Black's friendship and interactions with liberal students including a devoutly Jewish student, led to him questioning some of his cheri...

MO Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal Issues TEARFUL Apology To President Trump(VIDEO)!, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvtLKW77pZw , 3 min. 7 secs, published on 21st Aug. 2017. Chappelle-Nadal talks about a (church) service she attended which seems to have helped her make the decision to publicly apologize to USA President Trump for her earlier deleted comments where she had "hoped" that Trump would be assassinated. Earlier she had acknowledged that she had made a mistake but tied her possible apology to President Trump to an apology from him for his Charlottesville remarks. [For more see my post: USA Missouri state senator who posted and deleted comment hoping for president Trump assassination should publicly apologize to Trump, https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2017/08/usa-missouri-state-senator-who-posted.html .] But today she has apologized publicly. Here are her words from the above video: This morning I attended a wonderful service here at (Wellspring). And the title ...

It was very heartening for me to note that Boston police and Boston city administration headed by mayor Marty Walsh (Democrat), ensured that dozens of free speech rally goers (mostly pro Trump, I guess) who may perhaps have numbered a hundred or so, and who did not seem to have any open white supremacists or neo Nazis among them, were able to hold their rally peacefully without being attacked by protesters who numbered in the tens of thousands. It was also very heartening for me to note that tens of thousands of people, mainly the afore mentioned protesters but may have included some of the free speech rally goers too, openly demonstrated against bigotry and hatred, and against white supremacy and neo Nazism, at the same time in Boston. Please note that I have visited Boston city many times in the second half of the 1980s and so there is some personal interest for me in seeing how Boston city of today is handling such matters. I think at least some of the protesters/protest orga...

https://twitter.com/attn/status/898328098529083394 , 3 min. 42 secs video, dated 17th Aug. 2017 Transcript of most of what Arnold Schwarzenegger says from around 0:55 in the above video is given below (slightly edited): I have a message to the neo-Nazis, to the white nationalists and to the neo-Confederates. Let me be just as blunt as possible. Your heroes are losers. You are supporting a lost cause. Believe me, I know (knew) the original Nazis. I was born in Austria in 1947 shortly after the second World War. Growing up, I was surrounded by broken men - men who came home from the war filled with shrapnel and guilt, men who were misled into a losing ideology. And I can tell you that these ghosts that you idolize, spent the rest of their lives living in shame. And right now they're resting in hell. I know that you weren't born with these hateful views. No one is. But the truth is, it's never too late to make the choices to learn, and to evolve and to underst...

Read Apple CEO Tim Cook's Email To Employees About Charlottesville, https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/read-apple-ceo-tim-cooks-email-to-employees-about , 17th Aug. 2017. Here are the contents of Tim Cook's email as reported by above article: Team, Like so many of you, equality is at the core of my beliefs and values. The events of the past several days have been deeply troubling for me, and I’ve heard from many people at Apple who are saddened, outraged or confused. What occurred in Charlottesville has no place in our country. Hate is a cancer, and left unchecked it destroys everything in its path. Its scars last generations. History has taught us this time and time again, both in the United States and countries around the world. We must not witness or permit such hate and bigotry in our country, and we must be unequivocal about it. This is not about the left or the right, conservative or liberal. It is about human decency and morality. I disagree with the presi...

1) Yes, What About the “Alt-Left”? What the counter-protesters Trump despises were actually doing in Charlottesville last weekend, http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/08/what_the_alt_left_was_actually_doing_in_charlottesville.html This article has really shaken me up. It supports the lesser amount video evidence that the VICE News documentary had of the Friday event, what seems to me to have been: a) Police ABSENCE at the statue site in UVa campus where counter-protesters were trying to block the protesters b) The protesters using shoving kind-of force (as against beating up force) against the NON-ANTIFA/NON-ANARCHISTS peaceful counter-protesters who were trying to block them. About the other point about the possibility of protesters badly beating up the peaceful counter-protesters, which did not happen on the Friday event as far as I know, had the self-defense Antifa/Anarchists not been there: That's a difficult thing to answer. But one thing seem...

Trump gets rid of White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-decides-to-get-rid-of-white-house-chief-strategist-stephen-bannon/2017/08/18/98cd5c40-8430-11e7-902a-2a9f2d808496_story.html , dated 18th Aug. 2017 The article quotes White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, as saying "White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve’s last day. We are grateful for his service and wish him the best."

A short extract from "The Latest: Greitens tells senator to resign for Trump post", https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-latest-greitens-tells-senator-to-resign-for-trump-post/2017/08/17/92415046-83ab-11e7-9e7a-20fa8d7a0db6_story.html , dated 17th Aug. 2017: "Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens is calling for the resignation of a Missouri legislator who posted on Facebook that she hoped President Donald Trump would be assassinated. Democratic state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal says she posted and later deleted the comment Thursday out of frustration over Trump’s reaction to the white supremacist rally and violence last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia." The article also reports that Missouri state Democratic Party Chairman said 'that the comments were “indefensible” and that the (Democratic) party wouldn’t tolerate calls for the assassination of a president'. Ravi: Any call including any 'hopes' for violence against USA president...