Ravi S. Iyer: Worldly

Last updated on 10th Mar. 2019 Chapter 3 of James Comey's book, 'A Higher Loyalty' is on the bully and bullying. Now James Comey was born in Dec. 1960,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Comey , and so is only around 2 years older to me (I was born in 1962). So I have found accounts of his growing up in a small city called Yonkers in New York which is very close to New York city, and later in New Jersey, Allendale, to be very interesting, and I compared it mentally with my growing up in few parts of Bombay/Mumbai (Dadar and Bandra(East) with fair bit of holidays spent in Chembur/Ghatkopar) and later a town close to Mumbai called Dombivli from where I would commute to Mumbai by (usually crowded) suburban trains for college and later work. Comey who now is a well built six foot eight inches and so has an imposing physical figure, writes that as a kid he was "anything but imposing"! He studied in Yonkers till he was in fourth or fifth grade and was a well acc...

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/english/hollywood/news/harvey-weinstein-charged-with-rape-sex-crimes-involving-two-women/articleshow/64321255.cms It quotes the NYPD (New York Police Department) that Weinstein was "arrested, processed and charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women." ... "The NYPD thanks these brave survivors for their courage to come forward and seek justice". One of his alleged victims, Rose MacGowan said, "I have to admit I didn't think I would see the day that he would have handcuffs on him" ... "I have a visceral need for him to have handcuffs on." The investigation has been done by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the police. Hats off to the Manhattan District Attorney's office and the New York police department for upholding the awesome principle of 'Equal justice for all' in the USA by charging Wei...

As expected, the Karnataka chief minister Shri Kumaraswamy (from Janata Dal (Secular) in 3rd place in number of seats won) sailed through the vote of confidence as the 2nd placed Congress party supported him with Deputy Chief Minister being from the Congress. This vote of confidence was done one day after he was sworn in as CM. The BJP (1st place in seats won) walked out. For more details, please see Live: Karnataka Assembly floor test | Kumaraswamy wins trust vote with 116 votes; BJP walks out, http://www.thehindu.com/elections/karnataka-2018/karnataka-assembly-floor-test-live-updates/article23985735.ece , 25th May 2018. As per my understanding, now the government led by Shri Kumaraswamy as chief minister, has earned the constitutional authority to rule for the term of 5 years, so long as he does not lose any vote of confidence (no-confidence) motion put up against him in future (or early elections are called by the CM). I think that is a legal outcome going by the Indian constit...

Please note that I have a PUBLICLY NEUTRAL role in these social media posts that I put up related to Indian political leaders which include leaders in government currently and those not in government. I am an Indian citizen and resident of India. I do vote in Indian elections but I keep who I vote for as a private matter. I should also say that I am a beneficiary, a lover and an open supporter of democracy in India. Saw this youtube video in Kannada, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r64FZ6t9Mw , 6 min. 5 secs, which captures today's (25th May 2018) unopposed election (as the BJP withdrew its candidate for speaker) of Shri K.R. Rameshkumar (of Congress) as speaker. His nomination seems to have been made by former Chief Minister (CM) Shri Siddaramaiah (Congress) and seconded by current Dy. Chief Minister, G Parameshwara (Congress). The video shows Shri Rameshkumar being congratulated by current Chief Minister, Shri Kumaraswamy (Janata Dal (Secular)) and by former CM and current ...

Good to read about this non-partisan action of Hon'ble Chief Justice of India on the Karnataka govt. formation matter which paved the way for a fair Vote of Confidence test on the floor of the Karnataka assembly. In my considered opinion, CJI Dipak Misra has done a great service to democracy in the country (India) by rising up to the occasion, arranging for a 3 judge bench of the SC to hear the petition in early hours of the night, just a few hours after the petition was made, and ensuring that the Supreme Court of India acted justly, quickly and decisively in the matter. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/cji-turned-tables-on-congress-by-granting-urgent-karnataka-hearing/articleshow/64264889.cms And I think the SC should continue to act in this manner when it comes to Vote of Confidence for the currently invited CM of Karnataka, Shri Kumaraswamy. As one of the SC judges said, the floor test is the vital decider (I think he used the term 'proof of the pudding'...

Last updated on 23rd May 2018 Please note that this article has two parts as reflected by the semicolon separation of two parts of the title of this post. The second part of the article is "My view" on living within one's means which refers to one point in Krugman's article. But my view is independent of Krugman's view on living within one's means. America’s Dismal Turning Point by Paul Krugman, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/opinion/americas-dismal-turning-point.html , 16th May 2018 A small extract from it: Meanwhile, circa 1980 financial leverage began its huge climb, with household debt relative to income soaring (and setting the stage for the 2008 financial crisis): [Ravi: article has a graph supporting the statement] --- end extract --- Ravi: When I first stayed in the USA for around 7 months in my first USA trip around 1986/87, I was astonished to see how people (many people) in the USA splurged on borrowed money. I got acquainted with t...

Here's a relevant billboard advertisement: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-large-billboard-advertising-machine-gun-america-seen-on-international-79207927.html . Here's the website of one firm based in Orlando (Florida, USA) which seems to have the name, 'Machine Gun America': https://machinegunamericaorlando.com/ . Ravi: Given the mass shooting incidents in the USA where so many innocent people, including school kids, are being killed by crazies with some such crazies being school kids themselves, I find such advertisements about machine guns aimed at USA civilians, to be very frightening. Now guns for protecting oneself and for hunting etc. are another thing. But machine guns, at least to my mind, brings up images of war movies with the machine gun being used to slaughter human beings. And, very, very unfortunately, it brings back horrendous memories of videos of the recent past slaughter in Las Vegas, USA where machine guns were used from a higher floor hotel...

Now this particular 17 year old school shooter does not look so brave! Huh! I hate having to write such stuff about minors. But innocent lives are being lost. So this cannot be viewed as a small mistake by a minor (less than 18 years old person). I was a free service teacher in a deemed university in South India for around 9 years. My experience there taught me the value of punishment to correct students (though most of the students I taught were above 18 - doing Masters courses typically). Some students think themselves to be some kind of great people when they actually are just students who may have potential to be great someday. Such students understand only the language of disciplinary power that teachers have over them. It is when they get disciplined that all their hot air vanishes and  they get their feet on the ground. This mass shooter freak student wanted to commit suicide after he killed few other students and at least one non-student adult but lacked the guts t...

Last updated on 20th May 2018 As a beneficiary, lover and supporter of democracy in India, I felt it appropriate to put up this post. But please note that I have a PUBLICLY NEUTRAL role in these social media posts that I put up related to Indian politics. I do vote in Indian elections but I keep who I vote for as a private matter. I think this matter would have international interest as Bangalore (Bengaluru), the Silicon Valley city of India, is the capital of Karnataka! Bangalore has the India main offices (India HQs) of many USA tech. companies. http://www.timesnownews.com/elections/karnataka-assembly-election-2018-latest/election-news/article/karnataka-live-updates-bs-yeddyurappa-to-present-letter-of-support-congress-drafts-plea-for-goa-manipur/229317 reports that the Indian Supreme Court ordered a floor test to be conducted by 4 PM tomorrow (19th May) for both BJP and Congress-JD(S) POST-POLL alliance to prove their majority. The report quotes a Congress leader who was arg...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/business/zte-trump-china.html A small extract from it: .. the [USA Federal Commerce] department forbade American technology companies from selling their products to ZTE for seven years. That means no Qualcomm chips or Android software for its phones, and no American chips or other components for its cellular gear. Analysts estimate that four-fifths of ZTE’s products have American companies. ZTE went into a tailspin, saying last week that it had shut down major operations. --- end small extract --- Ravi: USA tech. companies are way ahead of the rest of the world in most tech. products and services categories. In a component-based-development model that gets followed by tech sector worldwide, most end products & services offered by tech companies worldwide rely on foundational components supplied by USA tech. companies. So if USA federal government orders USA tech. companies to stop shipment (of their foundational components) to any end pr...

I am thoroughly enjoying this positive news of a 92 year old Dr. Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia becoming PM again and holding press conferences, joking etc. What a great health and fitness achievement from an Asian leader! I find this inspiring. A small extract from article below: [Mahathir] looks young — or at least far younger than he is — and he acts young. The mental and physical frailties that batter many people in their 70s seem to have left Mahathir alone. In part that could be personal discipline. Mahathir was a doctor before becoming a politician, and he regularly recites his rules for keeping young: don't eat too much, exercise and read. --- end small extract --- So that's the Dr. Mahathir Mohamad Mantra for health & fitness leading to longevity - "Don't eat too much, exercise and read"! Malaysia's new leader shows that 92 isn't really so old, https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/malaysias-leader-shows-92-55086139 . [I thank ab...

Extraordinary! A 90+ years old leader is staking claim to be PM (again) and courageously talks of restoring 'rule of law' in this press conference! And he cuts his jokes as well! I have not followed Malaysian politics and so don't know much about it. Further, I prefer to take a publicly neutral stand on politics of India (my country) as well as other countries. But as a beneficiary, lover and supporter of democracy, I do find this event to be very remarkable. Congratulations to Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahathir_Mohamad , for the energy and drive he is showing at this advanced age, as he is set to become the world's oldest country-leader. https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/10/asia/malaysia-election-mahathir-victory-intl/index.html . Around 25 mins, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HomtUui_q0Y .

Over two to three weeks, I managed to see almost the whole, if not the whole, of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's hearing in USA Senate and later in USA House of Representatives. The hearing happened on April 10th and April 11th (of 2018). I found this to be a very educative exercise. The USA Congress is the law making body and has the power to enact legislation to curb any wrong doings by Facebook or any other Internet company in the USA, no matter how much money power that company has. Mr. Mark Zuckerberg was clearly deferential to USA Congress in this regard and I think that was wise of him. The Senators and Congressmen and Congresswomen very clearly let Zuckerberg know that Facebook must co-operate with USA Congress in its efforts to prevent or limit wrongdoing on Facebook in matters like foreign interference in USA elections, selling banned material on Facebook including banned opioids which contributes to the horrible and tragic opioid epidemic in parts of the USA today, u...

Good development, in my considered opinion. The USA House of Representatives chaplain has laid out his position very well (his letter is linked in the WaPo article below). He is willing to correct any deficiencies in his duty as the chaplain if that is communicated to him (which did get communicated ****INDIRECTLY**** through USA Speaker Paul Ryan saying so but not when he demanded the resignation of the chaplain). My prayers to Almighty God to help in resolving any frayed tempers and harsh thoughts that had come up in this matter, and thereby allow one of the most powerful democratically elected bodies of the world, the USA House of Representatives, to function with the services of the chaplain to provide religious succour to them, as the members of the House do their very difficult jobs in this challenging period for USA, and for the world. In a reversal, Speaker Ryan says the House chaplain will remain in his post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-chaplain-rescin...

Last updated on 4th May 2018 Two of the great dangers of getting associated with politics today, both in the USA and in India, are the financial and legal challenges one may get embroiled into. If Mr. Caputo is being truthful about having incurred around 125,000 US dollars as legal fees (as he perhaps needed legal advice to ensure that he does not get trapped into perjury or some other problem in his hearing/interview), and that he can ill afford it, then it is a sad situation. Mr. Caputo says that he will never get associated with another Republican Party campaign again (due to this bad experience of financial and legal hassles). He also talks of his family having to face a difficult time, face death threats etc. The death threats part is really freaky and very scary, as Mr. Caputo does not seem to have been a very big figure in the Trump campaign. I mean, he would not have much official protection. Here's Mr. Caputo's interview on Fox News, https://www.youtube.com...

I recently needed to refer to official sources for Public Provident Fund (PPF) account as the officer at the bank where I have my PPF account did not have a clear answer to a particular question of mine. Browsing the net led me to many sites having info. on PPF but what I need is Govt. of India websites as that information would be authoritative and, if required, I would be able to point the bank officer to the Govt. of India websites. I found two Govt. of India websites having info. on PPF which together seems to provide the key rules associated with the PPF account. I thought this info would be useful to some others too and so decided to put up this post. Authoritative Website 1 : Income Tax Department, Government of India Income Tax Department -> All Rules -> Public Provident Fund Scheme, 1968,    https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/pages/rules/public-provident-fund-scheme.aspx Ravi: Has 14 rules (Rule 1 to Rule 13 with Rule 4 having a variation of Rule ...

The content of some of my Facebook posts ( https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7 ) of April 2018 (which come in this miscellaneous blog category) are given below: Sad that this sort of situ has happened. But as a person who is deeply interested in religion, I found this article to be of great interest. One hopes that things will get resolved positively. Democrats, and some Republicans, denounce Ryan’s ouster of House chaplain, https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/ryan-seeks-to-defend-ouster-of-house-chaplain-as-members-question-his-motives/2018/04/27/70937e8a-4a0f-11e8-827e-190efaf1f1ee_story.html ============================= It is the DNA and the computer (hardware & software) database matching that seems to have nailed the killer and rapist of California of 1970s and 1980s. Hail the great power of science and technology, and, of course, law enforcement agencies of USA for using them to deliver results! Search for ‘Golden State Killer’ Leads to Arrest of Ex-Cop, h...

James Comey's book, 'A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership' is already available in India at Indian print price of Rs. 559 (+ Rs. 50 shipping) from amazon.in here:  https://www.amazon.in/dp/1529000831/ref=pe_3025041_185740121_TE_item . Placed an order for it a little while back today.