Credit Line

“There is a strange little cultural feedback loop that’s playing out again and again on social media. It begins with, say, a white American man who becomes interested in taking an outspoken stand against racism or misogyny. Maybe he starts by attending a Black Lives Matter demonstration. Or by reading the novels of Elena Ferrante. At some point, he might be asked to “check his privilege,” to acknowledge the benefits that accrue to him as a white man. At first, it’s humiliating — there’s no script for taking responsibility for advantages that he never asked for and that he can’t actually revoke. But soon, his discomfort is followed by an urge to announce his new-found self-­awareness to the world. He might even want some public recognition, a social affirmation of the work he has done on himself.

These days, it has become almost fashionable for people to telegraph just how aware they have become. And this uneasy performance has increasingly been advertised with one word: “woke.” Think of “woke” as the inverse of “politically correct.” If “P.C.” is a taunt from the right, a way of calling out hypersensitivity in political discourse, then “woke” is a back-pat from the left, a way of affirming the sensitive. It means wanting to be considered correct, and wanting everyone to know just how correct you are.

Earning the “woke” badge is a particularly tantalizing prospect because it implies that you’re down with the historical fight against prejudice. It’s a word that arose from a specific context of black struggle and has recently assumed a new sense of urgency among activists fighting against racial injustices in Ferguson, Sanford, Baltimore and Flint. When Black Lives Matter activists started a website to help recruit volunteers to the cause, they called it StayWoke.org. “Woke” denotes awareness, but it also connotes blackness. It suggests to white allies that if they walk the walk, they get to talk the talk.

“Woke” feels a little bit like Macklemore rapping in one of his latest tracks about how his whiteness makes his rap music more acceptable to other white people. The conundrum is built in. When white people aspire to get points for consciousness, they walk right into the cross hairs between allyship and appropriation. These two concepts seem at odds with each other, but they’re inextricable. Being an ally means speaking up on behalf of others — but it often means amplifying the ally’s own voice, or centering a white person in a movement created by black activists, or celebrating a man who supports women’s rights when feminists themselves are attacked as man-haters. Wokeness has currency, but it’s all too easy to spend it.”

Amanda Hess is a David Carr fellow at The New York Times.

COLLEGE CHRONICLES – After two semesters of vigorous protest at campuses all over the nation, we come to the end of an academic year. At the University of Missouri, a graduate student’s hunger strike prompted the football team to announce a walkout, compelling in turn the resignations of the university president and chancellor. At Claremont McKenna College, protesters drove out the dean of students. Under pressure, Harvard and Yale did away with the title “master.” And at more than 50 schools in all, student protesters made demands – for greater faculty diversity, new courses, public apologies, administrator’s ousting.

It has been half a century since we’ve seen U.S. schools so roiled. This following recent years’ campus actions on sexual assault and student debt – has managed to broaden the attention on administrators and trustees. One of the signature achievements of the last century was the reconstitution of America’s higher-education system. After World War II, student bodies at the country’s public and private institutions started to look like America itself. But their faculties have not caught up. Less than 6% of full-time faculty at four-year institutions are African American. Faculty diversity has proved harder to pull off than student body diversity; the problem comprises not only universities’ struggle to keep professors from leaving but also the difficulty in diversifying doctoral programs.

In recent months, university presidents have pledged to address this problem. Yale vowed to spend $50 million on faculty diversity, Brown has said it will double its faculty diversity by 2025, and college presidents at less wealthy universities have signed off on protesters’ demands, promising movement on a handful of related issues.

Making black students and professors feel truly welcome at predominantly white U.S. colleges will require heavy lifting. Colleges without war chests would be well advised to do their damnedest to promote openness, tolerance and curiosity among their student bodies. The ex-protesters who will graduate this season deserve an extra cheer for dragging their schools into the future.

COMMENCEMENT SEASON PART THREE –

John Hopkins University – May 18: Spike Lee, filmmaker

Rochester Institute of Technology – May 20: France Cordova, Director of the National Science Foundation

Colby College – May 22: Arianna Huffington, journalist and author

SPOTTED – Alex B. Deputy Campaign Director to Josh Gottheimer’s New Jersey Fifth Congressional District and niece to this writer, hugging Vice President Joe Biden at a campaign function last week:

TRUMP REFERENDUM - This year, the presidential race isn't a clear referendum on the outgoing president/incumbent, and whether he will effectively get four more years through Hillary Clinton. This is a referendum on Donald Trump, the reality show candidate, the infotainment ringmaster, the Twitter-meister. As Marshall McLuhan put it long ago, the medium is the message. Just watch today's Sunday talk shows.

62 days to Cleveland, 69 days to Philly, 175 days to election.

INFLATION WATCH - The year-over-year rate of core CPI inflation rose steadily from a low of 1.6 percent in January 2015 to 2.3 percent in February this year. At that point, the three-month annualized rate had reached a startling 3.0 percent. You could be forgiven, therefore, for thinking that the dip in core inflation back to 2.2 percent in March was an inevitable correction ...

With upward pressure now evident in each major element of core CPI inflation - rents, non-rent services, and goods - we were quite surprised to see such a soft number in March. Prudence suggests, therefore, that we look for a 0.3 percent rebound in April, lifting the year-over-year rate back to 2.3 percent.

HISTORY 101 - 100 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK, the modern map of the Middle East was drawn: European powers secretly concluded the Sykes-Picot agreement that led to the modern Arab states. In 1916, during World War I, France and Britain secretly ratified the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which concerned postwar partitioning of Arab lands held by the Ottoman Empire.

50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK - China barely notes start of Cultural Revolution 50 years ago: On May 16, 1966, the ruling Communist Party's Politburo met to purge a quartet of top officials who had fallen out of favor with Mao. ... The start of the Cultural Revolution was not widely known or understood at the time, but soon took on an agenda characterized by extreme violence.

SPORTS BLINK - As doping scandal grows, could Russia get Olympic boot? Is Russia's doping limited only to track and field and the winter sports at the Sochi Games? Why would that be? ... Earlier this year, the World Anti-Doping Agency announced that Russian swimming was being scrutinized.

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to: Barb Colley …famous ROC administrator;  Bill Dillhoefer …the best practice swing in golf; Giselle Fernandez (55) Austin, TX; Shelly LaMotte …famous hospitality manager.

THE SWAMI’S WEEK TOP PICKS –

Major League Baseball Game of the Week: Saturday May 21, 2:10 pm ET; Fox – World Champion Kansas City Royals (19-19) vs. First Place Chicago White Sox (24-15). When will the Royals start playing like World Champs, we say now: Royals win 4 – 2.

The Preakness Stakes: Saturday May 21, 6:18 pm ET; NBC – A Sawbuck across the board:

Win – Nyquist,      Place – Exaggerator,       Show - Stradivari

Season to date (46 -26)

MARKET WEEK – Saudi Arabia held $116.8 billion in U.S. debt at the end of March, revealing for the first time the holdings of the world's biggest oil exporter. That puts the oil rich nation among the largest foreign nation holders of American debt.

Chinese investment in the U.S. real estate market has surpassed $300 billion and is growing despite China's economic weakness and increased currency controls, a new report shows. But China still only makes up 10 percent of all foreign direct investment.

STOCKS TO WATCH - Syngenta's (SYT) takeover by ChemChina will reportedly be scrutinized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Reuters reports the USDA is joining the government panel reviewing the planned $43 billion deal in this country.

Office Depot (ODP) is mulling a possible sale of some of its European operations, after its takeover by larger rival Staples (SPLS) was called off last week due to regulatory concerns.

Alaska Air (ALK) and Virgin America (VA) have been asked by the Justice Department for more information about Alaska Air's $2.6 billion acquisition of its rival airline. The two companies say they're cooperating fully with regulators as they move to complete the deal.

Pandora Media (P) is being urged to explore a sale by hedge fund Corvex Management, which has disclosed a 9.9 percent stake in the online music streaming company.

DRIVING THE WEEK -  Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Monday "will participate in a moderated conversation at the Anti-Defamation League's Shana Amy Glass National Leadership Summit ... Senate Finance has a hearing at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday on the corporate and individual tax system ... House Financial Services subcommittee has a hearing at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday on "Interest on Reserves and the Fed's Balance Sheet" ...

House Financial Services has a hearing at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday on CFPB arbitration ... Consumer Prices at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday expected to rise 0.4 percent headline and 0.2 percent core ... Industrial Production at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday expected to rise 0.3 percent ... Index of Leading Economic Indicators at 10:00 a.m. Thursday expected to rise 0.4 percent ... WalMart reports first quarter earnings on Thursday ... G7 finance ministers meet Friday and Saturday in Sendai, Japan

Next week: Ten questions to a new college graduate and words of the month.

Until Next Time, Adios.

Claremont, CA

May 17, 2016

#VI-42-304

CARTOON OF THE WEEK –Moving to Canada

The Scramble

The month of May: Commencements, Indianapolis 500, Tornados, and The Scramble.

What the heck is The Scramble? Historically the month of May is the one month of the year when there are many golf tournament fundraisers, the weather is better, time is available before summer vacations, Christmas and tax bills have been paid, we have some cache (cash) to spend.

Why not a golf fundraiser? From food banks, catholic charities, Red Cross, Cancer Society, this is the month. The Scramble is the format of choice for fundraising tournaments. The Scramble allows the low handicap (good) player to play with the high handicap (lousy) player. It can get complicated for the average non-player: everyone hits their first shot, you select the best, then you all hit from that point again, and repeat this process until you are in the hole. The fewest strokes (hits) wins: sounds easy. But then you have mulligans (second chances), cigars, alcohol, bad jokes, bizarre golf pants, all thrown in this can get quite intimidating.

Needless to say from POTUS, to POTULV, from CEOs to OGs, all kinds of golfers participate. My only advice do not talk about two things on a golf course: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. It will get ugly, stick to the NBA and NHL playoffs, the price of gasoline, summer plans, and of course the Darth Vaders in your office and you will be fine.

COLLEGE CHRONICLES – VOTING ON UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX'S FUTURE: Apollo Education Group is relying on its shareholders to approve a merger today that would take the company private and prevent it from having to sell off the University of Phoenix or take other, less desirable measures to address declining performance and cash flow. The board of directors has already voted "aye" for the proposal on the table, which would sell institutions housed under Apollo Global - including Phoenix, Western National and Iron Yard - to a consortium of investors. They include Najafi Companies, Apollo Global Management and The Vistria Group, whose Chief Operating Officer Tony Miller, a deputy secretary at the Education Department from 2009-13, would become chairman of the Apollo board under the $1.1 billion deal.

Because the transaction involves a change in ownership, it requires the approval of a majority of shareholders who don't typically cast votes on company business. The Apollo board pleaded with them in a letter last week for their blessing - and noted that if they don't, their approval won't be required to pursue one of the alternative plans like spinning off company business or converting Phoenix into a nonprofit school.

If shareholders vote "no" anyway? "The company could face serious consequences, including a further decline in share price that could have an impact on the company's access to liquidity," the letter says. "The board appreciates that the proceeds of any sale of the University of Phoenix may be limited. However, the board believes that selling the University of Phoenix may still be an appropriate step to mitigate downside risk inherent to the status quo operation of the University of Phoenix, which may negatively impact the value of the University of Phoenix and the value of Global." Phoenix said earlier this month it would cut about 470 jobs as part of its five-year "transformation plan".

COMMENCEMENT SEASON PART DEUX –

University of Southern California – May 13: Larry Ellison, Oracle founder and chairman

University of Arizona – May 13: Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General

Scripps College – May 14: Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State

Eureka College – May 14: David Axelrod, political advisor

University of Montana – May 14: J.K. Simons, Oscar winning actor

Monmouth College – May 15: Jon Meacham, historian and author

Duke University – May 15: Mike Krzyewski, college basketball coach

POTUS WEEK - Monday, the President will deliver the commencement address to the 2016 graduating class of Howard University ... On Tuesday, the President will welcome the NCAA Champion UConn Huskies women's basketball team ... On Friday, the President will host the President of Finland and the Prime Ministers of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland at the White House for a U.S.-Nordic Leaders Summit. ...

In the evening, the President and the First Lady will host the Nordic leaders for a State Dinner. On Sunday, the President will travel to Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus to address 2016 graduates at Rutgers University's 250th Anniversary commencement.

GOOD READ - Obama and Bryan Cranston on the Roles of a Lifetime," by Philip Galanes in his "Tables for Three" column in the May 8 N.Y. Times Sunday Styles section -- Obama: "I just spoke to a group of young interns who rotate out every six months." ... Cranston: "And you crushed their spirit?" Obama : "I told them, if you had to choose a moment in human history to live ... you'd choose now. There's power in nostalgia, but the fact is the world is wealthier, healthier, better educated, less violent, more tolerant, more socially conscious and more attentive to the vulnerable than it has ever been." http://nyti.ms/1STn6kJ

DONALD TRUMP'S DEBT PROBLEM - Donald Trump has a debt problem. Twice in the last five days the presumptive Republican nominee has said things about dealing with the $19 trillion federal debt that left Wall Street terrified, Republicans dumbfounded and Democrats licking their chops.

The trouble for Trump began last Thursday on CNBC when he appeared to suggest that as president he would not repay all the U.S. debt owed to creditors. Asked if the U.S. should repay its debts in full or ask creditors to take less, Trump said: 'I would borrow, knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal.' ...

Financial experts instantly leaped on the comments, suggesting that Trump - who is no stranger to bankruptcy as an executive - would allow the U.S. to default for the first time in its history, an event which could send interest rates soaring and tank the U.S. economy.

FAILED CLEAN-UP ATTEMPT - Trump went on CNN on Monday morning to clear things up. Of course he would never allow the U.S. to default. Anyone who suggested such a thing must be 'crazy.' What Trump meant to say was that if interests rates rise he would consider buying back existing U.S. debt at a lower prices. As interest rates rise, the price of existing debt goes down. ... But then he landed himself right back in the soup.

"'This is the United States government,' Trump said. 'First of all, you never have to default because you print the money, I hate to tell you.' That comment - that the U.S. can simply pay back its trillions of dollars in debt by printing a ton more money - drove Wall Street crazy again.

"'If there is ever an example of how dumb it is to print money to handle debt I'm in a country which has had had to learn that the hard way more than once,' said David Kotok, chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors, speaking from a conference in Argentina.

"'It's a stupid idea. You don't discharge debt especially U.S. dollar debt by printing money. You do print money to create liquidity for banking systems in trouble but you don't print money to cheapen your debt which is the reserve currency of the world."

HOW TRUMP AND CLINTON INVEST - The Vanguard 500 Index Fund is Hillary and Bill Clinton's top holding - they've invested between $5 million and $25 million in it ... The $185 billion fund, which charges a 0.05 percent fee, is the only investment listed aside from cash and insurance policies. Trump's biggest bet has been on the Obsidian hedge fund run by BlackRock Inc., with $25 million to $50 million invested, according to his July 2015 filing.

The hedge fund, which had about $1.9 billion in assets as of March, charges a 1 percent management fee and 20 percent of profits. Trump also reported placing $1 million to $5 million in each of three hedge funds run by John Paulson's Paulson & Co., and investments of $100,000 to $5 million in 11 mutual funds managed by Baron Capital Management.

DO YOU KNOW THE WAY TO SAN JOSE? - Poor San Jose-so far from God, so close to San Francisco. San Jose is the 10th largest city in the United States, the third most populous in the state of California-and No. 1 in disrespect. With more than 1 million people, it's Northern California's biggest municipality-but it's constantly outshined by those 850,000 San Franciscans to its north.

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to: Erin Andrews (38) Manhattan Beach, CA.; Candice Bergen (70) Montecito, CA.; George Clooney (55) Toluca Lake, CA.; Missy Franklin (21) Denver, CO.; Robert Osborne (84) Studio City, CA.; Robb Suffredini …famous Detroit fan; Frankie Valli (82) Palm Beach, FL.; Sula Vanderplank ….famous world traveler; George Will (75) Reston, VA.

NEWSPAPER WAR - Two American newspaper stalwarts are in combat mode. Gannett (of USA Today fame) wants to buy Tribune Publishing (of The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune fame). Last week, Tribune rejected Gannett's (unsolicited but arguably veeerrry generous) $815 million offer as an 'opportunistic proposal' that 'understates the Company's true value. Gannett fired back with how could Tribune 'deny their shareholders this compelling, immediate and certain cash value' and shame on them for not 'making a counterproposal or otherwise negotiating or providing any constructive feedback.' And it ain't over yet: 'Gannett has the financial capacity to fund this all-cash offer and our Board and management team are ready to negotiate a transaction with Tribune and committed to making this a reality.

BABY BOOMER FANTASY: GEEZER ROCK FESTIVAL - Confirming weeks of rumors, Goldenvoice Entertainment announced it is bringing Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, The Who, Paul McCartney, Neil Young and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters to the Empire Polo Club stage in Coachella, California, during a long October weekend. Rink Rats reader Mark H. says he is going, anyone else?

HUELL HOWSER MOMENT - Calif. History: Why a historic highway that united California's two halves may never reopen to cars.  Opened in 1915, and credited by historians with uniting the economies of Northern and Southern California, the notoriously slow and dangerous roadway had been superseded in 1933 by Highway 99, itself to be replaced in 1970 by the 5 Freeway. http://lat.ms/1Tsggm5

RINK RATS IN THE KITCHEN – Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs, thanks CTL:

1). Set eggs out of refrigerator – bring to room temperature

2). Place in small sauce pan – cover with water

3). Place on stove – bring to a boil

4). Just when the pan begins to boil, turn down heat to a low boil, leave on burner for 12-13 minutes

5). Drain water, cover with cold water and ice, sit in ice bath 13 minutes

6). Drain, place in refrigerator – viola the “Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs”.

GAS PROBLEMS - Cost estimate of Los Angeles-area gas leak hits $665 million: San Diego-based Sempra had estimated costs of $330 million in its annual report in February, but that was before courts forced its Southern California Gas Co. to continue paying to house thousands of relocated residents.

WET HOT AMERICAN SUMNER -- The Sumner Redstone saga has industry insiders salivating in Hollywood and Times Square as the long-awaited trial probing the 92-year-old Viacom and CBS chief kicked off in Los Angeles on Friday. This soap opera's got it all: power, sex, divorce, family intrigue and a $42 billion media empire to boot. So it's easy to see why publications from the California trades to the New York tabloids have been all over it. The New York Times had three stories in its business section on Friday raising the curtain on the proceedings. Last week, Fortune dropped a three-part, supposedly 16,000-word feature on the whole affair: "The Disturbing Decline of Sumner Redstone". (http://for.tn/1O0wer9)

And you can expect a lot more where that came from over the coming week, the trial is scheduled to last five days.

ENDORSEMENTS -- Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Loretta Sanchez (age 56, Chapman University 1982) 46th Congressional District Representative by the Inland Valley Bulletin, Ron Hasse Publisher.

CONVENTION WATCH -- Bush 41 and Bush 43 plan to skip GOP convention: The last two Republican nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, also plan to avoid the event.

THE SWAMI’S WEEK TOP PICKS –

Major League Baseball Game of the Week: Saturday May 14, 1:05 pm ET; Fox – Chicago Cubs (25-8) vs. the New York Metropolitans (21-12), one of these two teams will be in the World Series come October, Cubbies win 6 - 4.

Season to date (45 -26)

MARKET WEEK – U.S. corporate profits, weighed down by the energy slump and slowing global growth, are set to decline for the third straight quarter in the longest slide in earnings since the financial crisis. ... Weakness was felt across the board, with executives from Apple Inc. to railroad Norfolk Southern Corp. and snack giant Mondelez International Inc. saying the current quarter remains tough. ...

The concerns from company executives echo weak economic data released Thursday morning, which showed U.S. gross domestic product rose just 0.5 percent in the first quarter. Business investment and consumer spending on goods slowed, while consumer spending on services climbed. ... Based on the 55 percent of companies in the S&P 500 index that had already reported results ... Thomson Reuters expects overall earnings to decline by 6.1 percent in the first quarter.

DOLLAR DROPS - The dollar dropped against almost all of its major peers after weaker-than-expected U.S. economic growth dimmed prospects for a Federal Reserve interest-rate increase at a time when monetary easing is being put on hold elsewhere. Asian stocks fell and crude oil traded near $46 a barrel. ... The yen was headed for its biggest weekly jump since 2008 after the Bank of Japan unexpectedly refrained from adding to record stimulus.

The slowest pace of American economic expansion in two years reignited some concern over the global outlook, and pushed out bets on the potential timeline for tighter Fed policy. This central-bank inaction also comes amid a middling U.S. earnings season, with disappointing results from technology companies compounded by investor Carl Icahn’s decision to sell his stake in Apple Inc.

FIRST QUARTER SUCKS ... AGAIN - While Q1 GDP in the US came in below consensus at 0.5 percent annualized (from 1.4 percent in Q4), it also gives us little insight into how the Fed might act going forward. Q1 GDP growth in the US has historically been lackluster given a number of seasonal-adjustment issues, and this year was no different. ...

Investment plummeted by 5.9 percent (previously -2.1 percent), the worst we've seen since 2009. This is partly owing to a relatively strong USD and a continued collapse in oil and gas drilling.

Next week: Credit line, boring conferences, and words of the month.

Until Next Time, Adios.

Claremont, CA

May 12, 2016

#VI-41-303

CARTOON OF THE WEEK –Mother’s Day

Seventy Two Hours

This past week in a span of seventy two hours I participated or witnessed the following on a collegiate campus (The University of La Verne):

Employer Interview Mentoring – Our College of Business & Public Management offers mock interviews to any student wishing to practice their skills to obtain internships and/or full time positions. I interviewed six students; student athletes, international students, Arts & Science majors, Business majors, all but one are currently working a part-time job. A perfect example of the diverse student body this University has. Yes, some need to work on their communication and writing skills, yes some need to understand the competition they face in the “real world” of full-time employment. But every student is committed to their education, their family, and to be active citizens in their communities.

Accounting Students Year End Banquet – The Society of Accounting Students is a mentoring, networking, community involvement organization on campus. Every year they hold a dinner to honor students for the academic and community achievements. I had the pleasure of sitting with a former student who is a third year student, and a twenty one year old student who is graduating this month who was attending the dinner with his parents and girlfriend. The parents were so proud of their soon to be graduating son, but also they were so impressed by this woman third year student  at our table, in her mid-thirties, working full time achieving academic honors, and at the same time raising three children (on her own).

Student Play “Electricidad” – After the dinner I attended our student production of a contemporary American urban tragedy embedded in East Los Angeles gang culture. This play draws on Sophocles’ classic Greek play “Electra” to explore the repetitive cycle of familial love, revenge and honor that appears throughout history from the Greeks to modern day Southern California. The best production in the many productions I have attended over the years. The nine cast members represented: international students from South America and Indonesia, a former military serviceman and an adult learner, students from East Los Angeles, Northern California, first time actors and actors going on to careers in the theatre.

Senior Day Softball Game – Our women’s softball team are Conference Champions, they celebrated their season by honoring the graduating seniors (Five) and taking two games from Chapman University. These student athletes work full time all year raising funds for their uniforms and out of state trips, in addition to their academic load they all work part-time jobs and participate supporting other student organizations on campus.

Best of The University Music Department – An annual concert performed by students and faculty celebrating the end of the year in music: the quality and talent of the students and faculty performers is second to none.

Not a bad seventy two hours in higher education.

COLLEGE CHRONICLES – SIGN OF THE TIMES – The other day I parked on one end of campus and proceeded to walk to the other end of campus, approximately four blocks. I passed twenty to thirty students and every one of these students were walking and looking at their cellular phone. ABSOLUTELY no one was looking ahead and acknowledged me with a smile or hello or even a grunt (it was 9:30 am in the morning). Our students have lovely foreheads, hair styles and caps.

Perhaps we should offer a class in “Monotasking”? Monotasking, the performance by an individual of one task, and only one task, at a point in time. Monotasking can be more productive than multitasking because it allows an individual to put all their attention and focus on the task at hand.

I think multitasking is overrated.

PARTIAL PROGRESS IN ATHLETE GRAD RATES: Division I athletes graduated at slightly higher rates in 2014-15, but more teams than last year were penalized for low completion, the National Collegiate Athletic Association said this week. The overall Division I Academic Progress Rate ticked up one point to 979 last year, thanks in part to gains at less-wealthy schools and historically black colleges, as well as among football and men's and women's basketball teams. (The APR is more generous than the Federal Graduation Rate because it doesn't count transfer students as non-graduates.) But 23 teams - including several HBCUs such as Alabama State and Howard University - will be barred from postseason competition in 2016-17, up from 21 last year. And 31 are subject to additional penalties, three more than the year prior: http://on.ncaa.com/1Nlzhd3.

FIRST DAUGHTER TO COLLEGE - The President and Mrs. Obama announced Friday that their daughter Malia will attend Harvard University in the fall of 2017 as a member of the Class of 2021. Malia will take a gap year before beginning school.

COMMENCEMENT SEASON PART UNO –

University of Redlands – April 23: Jane Goodall, Conservationist and Ethologist

University of Michigan – April 30: Michael Bloomberg, Owner Bloomberg Media, Inc.

High Point University – May 7: Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State

POTUS WEEK AHEAD: On Tuesday, the President will honor the 2016 National Teacher of the Year and finalists at the White House, thanking them for their hard work and dedication each and every day in the classroom. On Wednesday, the President will travel to Flint, Michigan to the hear first-hand from Flint residents about the public health crisis, receive an in-person briefing on the federal efforts in place to help respond to the needs of the people of Flint, and deliver remarks to community members. ... In the evening, the President will deliver remarks at the Asian Pacific American Institute of Congressional Studies 22nd annual awards gala dinner.

On Thursday, the President will host a Cinco de Mayo reception at the White House. In the afternoon, the President will be joined by the Vice President, First Lady and Dr. Biden to kick off the 5th anniversary of Joining Forces and the 75th anniversary of the USO. The event, A Celebration of Service, will include nearly 1,500 service members and their families. ... On Saturday, the President will deliver the commencement address to the 2016 graduating class of Howard University in Washington, D.C. As one of the nation's top Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Howard University is recognized for its rigorous education and legacy of building lasting bridges of opportunity for young people.

APPLE DISAPPOINTS - From the iPod to the iPhone to the iPad, Apple created more than a decade's worth of new gadgets to fuel its historic growth. But the technology company's dazzling 13-year run of quarterly revenue growth ended on Tuesday - a casualty of Apple's already immense size, weakness in key global markets like China and the lack of another hot product to pry open the wallets of customers. Apple ... said ... that revenue for its second fiscal quarter ... declined 13 percent to $50.6 billion as sales of its flagship product, the iPhone, fell, with little else to take its place.

Nearly half of the smartphones sold in the United States are iPhones, and Apple may be reaching the saturation point among potential customers in other developed countries. Rival smartphone makers using Google's Android operating system continue to challenge the company with powerful, less expensive devices. Over all, Apple sold 16 percent fewer iPhones in the quarter compared with the same quarter last year.

CARL CANS APPLE – Carl Icahn: We're out of Apple, and it's China's fault," via CNBC: "Billionaire investor Carl Icahn told CNBC on Thursday he has sold his Apple position as the tech giant's stock continues to shed value after disappointing earnings. 'We no longer have a position in Apple,' Icahn told CNBC's 'Power Lunch,' noting Apple is a 'great company' and CEO Tim Cook is 'doing a great job. Chief executive Tim Cook is probably one of the most competent operations executives in the industry but is clearly not a technology visionary. Apple needs another Steve Jobs to reinvent itself otherwise it will join the ranks of HP and Compaq.

GOOD READ - DAVID BROOKS, "If Not Trump, What? How to heal a crisis of solidarity": "The leaders of the Republican Party are ... going down meekly and hoping for a quiet convention. They seem blithely unaware that this is a Joe McCarthy moment. People will be judged by where they stood at this time. Those who walked with Trump will be tainted forever after for the degradation of standards and the general election slaughter.

"The better course for all of us - Republican, Democrat and independent - is to step back and take the long view, and to begin building for that. This election - not only the Trump phenomenon but the rise of Bernie Sanders, also - has reminded us how much pain there is in this country. According to a Pew Research poll, 75 percent of Trump voters say that life has gotten worse for people like them over the last half century.

"This declinism intertwines with other horrible social statistics. The suicide rate has surged to a 30-year high - a sure sign of rampant social isolation. A record number of Americans believe the American dream is out of reach. And for millennials, social trust is at historic lows. Trump's success grew out of that pain, but he is not the right response to it. ...

"We'll probably need a new national story. Up until now, America's story has been some version of the rags-to-riches story ... I don't know what the new national story will be, but maybe it will be less individualistic and more redemptive. ... We'll probably need a new definition of masculinity, too. ... The traditional masculine ideal isn't working anymore. It leads to high dropout rates, high incarceration rates, low labor force participation rates. This is an economy that rewards emotional connection and verbal expressiveness. ...

"We'll also need to rebuild the sense that we're all in this together. ... Maybe the task is to build a ladder of hope. ... Trump will have his gruesome moment. The time is best spent elsewhere, meeting the neighbors who have become strangers, and listening to what they have to say."

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to: Chris Krich …famous mentor, Cloris Leachman (90) Malibu, CA; Willie Nelson (83) Austin, TX.

GDP CHEAT SHEET - Via Hamilton Place Strategies: http://bit.ly/1Tz9I7M

CHINESE INVESTMENT IN U.S. SOARS - Chinese investment in the US hit a record $15bn last year and is set to reach twice that this year despite calls for greater scrutiny and growing political sensitivities in Washington, according to a new report. ... The study by the National Committee on US-China Relations and the Rhodium Group, which tracks foreign direct investment in the US, is an attempt to promote China's growing role as an investor in the US.

The committee, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, hosted the Chinese table tennis team for a visit to the US in 1972 that formed part of the 'ping-pong diplomacy' that led to the restoration of diplomatic and trade relations with China under President Richard Nixon. ... At the end of 2015, more than 1,900 Chinese-affiliated companies were operating in the US across more than 80 per cent of its congressional districts and employing some 90,000 people, according to the report.

CHINA GROWTH SLOWEST IN SEVEN YEARS - China's economy grew 6.7 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, meeting expectations and at its slowest pace in seven years, although other indicators show the slowdown in the world's second largest economy may be bottoming out. .. Analysts had expected gross domestic product (GDP) to grow 6.7 percent, easing slightly from 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter and marking the slowest rate of growth since the first quarter of 2009, when growth tumbled to 6.2 percent.

China's economy grew 6.9 percent in 2015, its weakest rate in a quarter of a century. Analysts expect the economy will lose more momentum this year, forecasting growth will cool to 6.5 percent even if Beijing ramps up fiscal spending and cuts interest rates again.

THE FIFTH ESTATE - L.A. Times owner wins auction for The Orange County Register, Press-Enterprise at $56 million: After a marathon, contentious auction that started Wednesday morning and went deep into the evening, Tribune said its $56 million cash bid was the winner over Digital First Media, publisher of the Los Angeles Daily News and Long Beach-Press-Telegram, and an investor group headed by Rich Mirman, CEO of Freedom Communications, owner of the Register and Press-Enterprise.

STATE OF THE MUSIC BUSINESS - What The Numbers Tell Us: The music industry is now a digital business, deriving more than 70% of its revenues from a wide array of digital platforms and formats. ... In 2015, digital music subscription services reached new all-time highs, generating more than $1 billion in revenues for the first time, and averaging nearly 11 million paid subscriptions for the year. ... The consumption of music is skyrocketing, but revenues for creators have not kept pace. In 2015, fans listened to hundreds of billions of audio and video music streams through on-demand ad-supported digital services like YouTube, but revenues from such services have been meager-far less than other kinds of music services.

LAKE WOBEGON, A new "Prairie Home Companion - The popular public radio variety show ... is set for some changes as ... Garrison Keillor prepares to retire and mandolin ace Chris Thile of the bands Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek gets ready to step in as its new host.

THE MAP -- Clinton allies quietly shape general-election map: By hoarding ad space in battleground states, they hope to keep Republicans on defense, no matter who is their nominee: The 2016 electoral map being drawn by pro-Clinton forces, according to ad reservations and interviews with high-level strategists and pollsters on both sides of the aisle, begins with a core group of familiar presidential swing states at the center of the fight - Florida, Ohio, New Hampshire, Nevada, Iowa, Virginia, and Colorado - with roughly a half-dozen other states on the periphery.

Those other states - which include Wisconsin, New Mexico, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, all perceived to be leaning toward the Democrats, and North Carolina, where the GOP is likely to begin with an edge - are thought to be competitive, though not yet at the point where they stand likely to flip their 2012 presidential vote in November. ... Clinton's allies are for now putting their money on the traditional battlegrounds - not the rust-belt states where Trump insists he can steal Democratic votes, or traditionally red, but diverse, states like Arizona and Georgia where Clinton's allies say she'd have a better shot with Trump as the GOP standard-bearer.

HOW STUDENTS MIGHT VOTE: As the 2016 candidates look for ways to woo young people, Tufts University's National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement is out with a new analysis of how 7.4 million college students voted - or didn't - in 2012. Only 45 percent of eligible student voters cast a ballot when President Barack Obama was re-elected, and those who were eligible to weigh in for the first time voted at an even lower rate of 40 percent. Women and black students voted at the highest rates (48 percent and 55 percent, respectively), and many voted absentee, early or by mail.

- "While college students are voting in higher numbers than young people overall, these data show that there is still significant potential to increase voting and political learning on campuses, particularly with regard to first-time voters," says Nancy Thomas, director of Tufts' Institute for Democracy & Higher Education. "In 2016, universities can and must do more to build the type of campus climates that not only reduce barriers to voting, but increase students' motivation to participate."

SPORTS BLINK -- Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira and Savannah Guthrie to Host the Opening Ceremony of the Rio Olympics Friday, Aug. 5 on NBC: From the Parade of Nations to the lighting of the Olympic cauldron, Matt, Meredith and Savannah will guide viewers through the spectacle and pageantry that only occurs when the world comes together at the Olympic Games. Rio 2016 will be Lauer's 11th Olympics for TODAY, and his fifth in a role on the primetime Opening Ceremony broadcast. Vieira works her third Opening Ceremony for NBC. Guthrie, in her third Olympics for TODAY, makes her NBC Olympics debut in Rio.

THE SWAMI’S WEEK TOP PICKS –

Major League Baseball Game of the Week: Saturday May 7, 2:10 pm ET; Fox – Washington Nationals (17-7) at Chicago Cubs (17-6), two hottest teams in baseball at Wrigley, Cubbies win 5 – 3.

Season to date (43 -23)

DRIVING THE WEEK - Indiana votes Tuesday and could bring the GOP race to an end while further expanding Hillary Clinton's lead over Bernie Sanders ... Milken Conference here in L.A. brings together lots of members of Congress. I'll moderate a panel with Sens. David Purdue (R-Ga.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) among others this morning and another with US Trade Rep Mike Froman this afternoon on TPP ... April jobs report on Friday expected to show a gain of 203,000 down from 215,000 in March.

Next week: Another try at do you have a Darth Vader at your work? Credit line and words of the month.

Until Next Monday, Adios.

Claremont, CA

May 2, 2016

#VI-40-302

CARTOON OF THE WEEK –Shannon Wheeler, The New Yorker