International Women's Day

My wife is the living proof that you can move up without putting someone down, be strong without making someone weak and love without having to hate.

International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.

The International Women’s Day theme for 2016 is "Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality.”

THE PRESS -  "DERELICTS OF DOODY: Senate GOP leaders sign letter vowing to defy Constitution and ignore ANY Supreme pick." See the cover. http://nydn.us/vp5qdB

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "I will never vote for Donald Trump, not even if Ronald Reagan and William F. Buckley rise from the grave and beg me to support him." - Rick Wilson, a GOP consultant who outlined the many, many reason he won't support Trump in an op-ed. http://bit.ly/1QYrKMV

FOR THE LOVE OF LIBRARIES: President Barack Obama's nominee for the 14th Librarian of Congress has an "unparalleled" dedication to learning and education, the president said. He and Carla Hayden (and first lady Michelle Obama) go way back; they all know each other from Hayden's days working at the Chicago Public Library in the early 1990s. Hayden - who would be the first woman and the first African American to hold the position - is now CEO at Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library. "It became that community meeting place, and people were so relieved to have a safe place to be," she said. "I believe in what libraries can be for a civilized society, and a country that is open to all." The former American Library Association president, who would take over amid criticism of the technology policies at the nation's oldest federal cultural institution, must still be confirmed by the Senate.

THE CARDINAL WAY -- One day after announcing a record-setting $400 million donation from Nike founder Phil Knight, comes this from Stanford's Kathleen Sullivan: "The Stanford University Board of Trustees has approved a 3.5 percent increase in undergraduate tuition for the 2016-17 school year...total undergraduate charges will increase to $62,541 next year, including $47,331 for tuition, $14,601 for room and board, and $609 for a mandatory health fee." http://stanford.io/1KOK1zG

JUST DO IT: Nike's founder Phil Knight donates $400 million to Stanford University, via Wall Street Journal: One of the largest philanthropic gifts ever to a learning institution... http://on.wsj.com/1T77xdY

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to: Ron Howard (62) Studio City, CA; Tea Leoni (50) San Marino, CA; Eddie Murray (60) New York, NY; Joanne Woodward (86) Wilton, CT.

COLLEGE CHRONICLES – Engineering Failure:  The most valuable problems may be the unsolvable ones. The engineering school at Northwestern University is using the power of problems without clear solutions to prepare freshmen for the ups and downs of college and careers. Aware that some of its academically successful students arrive on campus without ever having failed at anything, the university requires all new engineering majors to take an unusual course featuring challenges they often can’t meet: working in teams to design and build devices to help individuals with disabilities. Learning to handle failure in small doses equips students for bigger challenges, professors say, building resilience and humility.

"USC tuition to top $50,000 for the first time,'' via LATimes: http://lat.ms/1L79N2g

SUMMERS ON TRUMP - Larry Summers blogs: "While comparisons between Donald Trump and Mussolini or Hitler are overwrought, Trump's rise does illustrate how democratic processes can lose its way and turn dangerously toxic when there is intense economic frustration and widespread apprehension about the future. This is especially the case when some previously respected leaders scurry to make peace in a new order - yes Chris Christie, I mean you. ...

"The possible election of Donald Trump as President is the greatest present threat to the prosperity and security of the United States. I have had a strong point of view on each of the last ten presidential elections, but never before had I feared that what I regarded as the wrong outcome would in the long sweep of history risk grave damage to the American project."

MIKE BARNICLE in Daily Beast, "The Two Americas Behind Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders": "The sadness within the American promise is that in places where voices are not heard, where dreams are now nearly dead, where a generation of hard work and solid wages have been hollowed out or stolen as the establishment sat on its hands unwilling to fight an economic system geared to satisfying shareholders before addressing the real needs of families that once thought they were on a level playing field, the future is now filled with dread instead of a dream.”

WALL STREET'S NEXT BIG SHORT: TRUMP? - Add the juggernaut that is Donald J. Trump to the list of what-ifs that is worrying Wall Street. A growing realization that the unpredictable New York real estate developer is in a position to win the Republican nomination and then battle Hillary Clinton for the White House in November's election has caused some investors to sell U.S. stocks. They fear having such a wild-card president could trigger trade wars, hurt the economy and add a lot of market volatility.

“As the market rarely feasts on lack of predictability - Trump represents a nightmare for investors this year,' said hedge fund manager Douglas Kass of Seabreeze Partners Management Inc, who said last week that he was adding to his existing short bet on the U.S. stock market in part because of Trump's increasingly strong position in the race. Trump's statements on business and Wall Street don't neatly fit into one ideological worldview, but if anything, they are seen as isolationist in a globally connected world".

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on Donald Trump: https://youtu.be/DnpO_RTSNmQ

COPY THAT - Xerox Corp. will split itself in two and give several board seats to activist investor Carl Icahn, reversing an effort by the century-old company to marry business services with its copiers and printers. Xerox will divide into two publicly traded companies: one containing its office machines and another housing its services operations ... The company made the announcement last week when it is forecast to report a fourth straight year of declining profits and sales.

The split unravels Xerox's biggest ever acquisition, the 2010 purchase of Affiliated Computer Services Inc. for about $6 billion, which pushed Xerox deeper into providing bill processing, managing call centers and other back-office services to government agencies and corporations. The split would follow a similar move by rival Hewlett-Packard Co. last fall. ... Mr. Icahn in November disclosed a stake in Xerox and said he would seek talks with the company about its future. With an 8.1 percent stake in the company, Mr. Icahn's hedge fund is now the second-largest shareholder after Vanguard.

COLLEGE HOCKEY GAME OF THE WEEK – Saturday 3/12, 7:00 p.m. ET: ECAC Quarterfinals, Clarkson College Golden Knights (20-13-3) at #18 St. Lawrence University Saints (17-13-4). Two old, old rivals battle for a ticket to Lake Placid. Saints in a tight one 4-3.  Season to date (7-7).

THE SWAMI’S WEEK TOP PICKS –

(SCIAC, Mar. 12) Baseball; University of Redlands Bulldogs (10-5) vs. California Lutheran Kingsmen (7-4), two top four teams in conference, Cal Lu 7 – 4.

(NHL, Mar. 12) New York Rangers (39-22-6) at Detroit Red Wings (32-23-11), The Wings suddenly are fighting for their playoff lives, they win 3 – 2.

(NBA, Mar. 12) Oklahoma City Thunder (43-20) at San Antonio Spurs (54-10), Spurs breeze, 104 – 85.

Season to date (23 -16)

REMEMBERING Nancy Davis Reagan ... LOU CANNON, who was written five books about Ronald Reagan and covered his presidency as senior White House correspondent for The Washington Post, is the eye-popping byline on the N.Y. Times obit of Nancy Reagan, "Fierce Protector and Influential Force as First Lady: Champion in the Struggles Against Drug Abuse and Alzheimer's Disease" (one-third of front page, plus 1.5 pages inside): "'Without Nancy, there would have been no Governor Reagan, no President Reagan,' said Michael K. Deaver, a longtime aide and close friend of the Reagans who died in 2007.

Next week: Bullying and the Words of the Month.

Until Next Monday, Adios.

Claremont, CA

March 8, 2016

#VI-34-296

CARTOON OF THE WEEK – “Hooray for Women”