Ravi S. Iyer: Worldly

When author of post or comment is not mentioned, it should be assumed that it is me (Ravi S. Iyer). To save time, I am usually not providing my FB post links but only contents. I am also not hyperlinking links. So readers will have to copy-paste links from this post onto a browser link box and then browse to that link. ========================================== In a non-public FB post somewhere, I wrote: In multiple USA media channels, I saw the report about Steve Bannon publicly talking about putting heads on pikes and placing them on two corners of the White House. So I presume it to be true. I am shocked, horrified and very saddened to know that a former campaign manager of President Trump, and a former chief strategist in the White House administration of President Trump, said such words publicly. I do hope that Bannon takes back these words, given the status that he has had in the White House in the past. I mean, nobody in his/her right mind wants USA politics talk stuff (not acts

The book: FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt) by Jean Edward Smith (referred to as FDR book in this post) gives an account of how dire the situation had become in Europe for democracy and freedom loving people due to the aggression of Hitler starting from 1938. Initially, most people in USA did not want USA to get involved in the war directly. Some wanted to be neutral while some supported Britain and France (democracies) in their fight against Hitler's aggression in Europe that was able to conquer many small European countries in a short span of time. As president of USA, FDR was against Hitler right from the initial aggression that Hitler showed with his annexation of Austria on 11th March 1938. But he was opposed by isolationists in USA who wanted to be completely neutral. FDR's second term was to end in early 1941 with the president election to be held in November 1940. As per the book, FDR had planned to retire after the second term (in early 1941), and had already made some arran

This post follows up on my recent post: One Hundred Days of 1st FDR US Presidential administration (in 1933) brought in astonishing changes: New Bank Law, https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2020/11/one-hundred-days-of-1st-fdr-us.html . Sources: 1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt#First_New_Deal_(1933%E2%80%931934) 2) FDR Book: FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt) by Jean Edward Smith (referred as FDR book below). Some other key measures taken in the first 100 days, besides the new bank law, were: * As mentioned in his campaign pledge, sale of beer and light wine was permitted. FDR is said to have signaled that this work should be taken up by saying, "I think this would be a good time for a beer", as the new bank law was received with great support and praise across the USA. The FDR book mentions that FDR's assistant, Louis Howe (whose official designation then seems to have been Secretary to the President), acted on FDR's signal and started the work that le

FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt) by Jean Edward Smith has a chapter titled, "ONE HUNDRED DAYS" starting from page 305. While I had a general idea that FDR had achieved a lot with his New Deal, I was astonished to see how many changes FDR brought in, in his first hundred days as President of USA, starting from 4th March 1933. I looked up Wikipedia page of FDR for this period, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt#First_New_Deal_(1933%E2%80%931934) . Given below is some info. about the new bank law ushered in during this period, as per above FDR book and above Wikipedia page. [I plan to cover few more of the changes in this period in later posts.] * Wiki page says, "When Roosevelt was inaugurated on March 4, 1933, the U.S. was at the nadir of the worst depression in its history. A quarter of the workforce was unemployed. Farmers were in deep trouble as prices had fallen by 60%. Industrial production had fallen by more than half since 1929. Two million people were

While US President Trump has not conceded, as per media networks which I think base their projections on results declared by US states' election bodies, Joe Biden is President-Elect of USA, and here we have Joe Biden addressing the US nation, celebrating his victory and talking about how he will govern USA in the coming years: Joe Biden addresses the nation after election victory, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eolEz_jU-vs , 24 min. 19 secs, published by CNN on 7th Nov. 2020. Joe Biden's speech makes no reference to Trump not conceding, nor does he reference legal challenges which Trump campaign says it will make (or has already made, in some cases perhaps). Vice President-elect Kamala Harris delivers speech ahead of Joe Biden, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt8VvrdxzHo , 11 min. 35 secs.