For Pete’s Sake

Here’s the latest victim of political correctness on college campuses. Prospector Pete had been the mascot of Cal. St. Long Beach since the school opened in 1949. He has become persona non grata because he symbolizes the gold rush, which caused indians great suffering. NY Post sports media critic Phil Mushnick had an interesting response to the ban, asking how many of California’s colleges were built on indian land. Kudos.

The U.S. economy added 263,000 jobs in April, soaring past Wall Street’s expectations of an increase of 185,000. The unemployment rate fell to 3.6%, the lowest since 12/1969. Average hourly earnings rose by six cents. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by about 3.2%, slightly missing expectations of 3.3 percent. On the down side, the labor force participation rate fell a little to 62.8% from 63%. All this begs the question — why isn’t President Trump’s approval rating a lot higher? Two years into his term, it seems America got the CEO it desperately needed.

The first round leader on this week’s stop on the LPGA tour has a musical name — Anne Van Dam. Love it! She’s from the Netherlands. Here she is:

From Yahoo’s Odd News, edited by yours truly: All right, horse lovers, pony up for a jar of poop from 1997 Kentucky Derby winner Silver Charm — only $200… A 36-year-old guy from suburban Philadelphia racked up nearly $128,000 in unpaid tolls and subsequent fines. His last name? Stiff!

My thanks to the studious young man who couldn’t have been more than 14, who bought the weighty The Symbolism of Evil by Paul Ricoeur, Illusions by Aprilynne Pike, Rumi’s Little Book of Life: The Garden of the Soul, the Heart, and the Spirit by Rumi, the fourth entry in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, a book on golf, and Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster. The kid is light years ahead of where I was at that age. Thanks also to Ira, who purchased a large pictorial on art history, and You Can Fool All the People All the Time, a collection of essays by legendary satirist Art Buchwald; and to the gentleman who chose a travel guide on Costa Rica; and to the young man who selected two young adult novels; and to Lulu, who jumped on Bad Luck and Trouble by her favorite author, Lee Child.

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