While hurricane Michael was devastating Florida, Trump was hosting Kanye West in the oval office!  Can you imagine if Obama was hosting a black musician in the oval office during a natural disaster, what would the Republicans say about that?  Remember when West grabbed the microphone from Taylor Swift when she was accepting an award?  Obama was asked about that and he called West an unprintable name.   I am sure Trump and his supporters thought or said the same or worse thing about West at that time.  But now that West is ranting about how great Trump is and that slavery was a choice, Trump and his supporters love him!

Also going on was the report that a Saudi journalist may have been killed by the Saudi government in Turkey.  Trump had little to say about it other than he doesn't like it.  Wow!  Not only that, he doesn't think that he will stop the sale of billions of military hardware to Saudi Arabia.  I guess making money is important than justice for criminal acts.  Also the Saudis have been saying great things about Trump, something that leaders of other countries are not.

These two events show that Trump loves it when people kiss his butt.  He doesn't care if those people have mental issues or are not really friends of the country.  But people who kiss your butt can also come back and bite your butt!  Something he should have learned from Omarosa and Michael Cohen.

Kavanaugh was confirmed as expected.   But I think the FBI report should have been made public.  The GOP, including Collins, say that the investigation was thorough.  I think the whole country, not just the senators, should be the judge of that. 

Three people I used to have respect for in the past, tick me off in this sad affairs.  Feinstein, who had been a long serving Democrat, looked weak and indecisive as the ranking member of t he Judicial committee.  By her delayed action, she gave the GOP a target to deflect attention from Kavanaugh.  I think it is time for her and Pelosi to exit the Democratic leadership roles. 

Lindsay Graham acted as a bulldog for Kavanaugh which means he was essentially a bulldog for Trump.  This comes from a man who called Trump all kinds of names in the past.  Now he is practically subservient to Trump.  Remember Graham was also one of McCain's best friend.  McCain must be rolling over in his grave seeing what Graham is doing.

I used to think Jeff Flake would be a good candidate for president from the GOP.  I thought he had a good grasp of foreign issues.  While he is a conservative, he was open to progressive ideas.  He had been attacking Trump.  Of course, he knew Trump supporters were out to get him, so he retired instead of running for reelection.  But he admitted that he would not had the gut to insist on FBI investigation if he was running for reelection.  Turns out he did not vote with his conscience because he had said that Kavanaugh would be disqualified if he lied.  It is obvious he lied about his drinking and about some of his actions.  But Flake voted for him anyway.  I guess Flake does not like to burn bridges, in case he returns to politics later.

While the result is disappointing to the Democrats, they should understand there was no good outcome to begin with.  I don't think there was any way the FBI could have come up with something in one week.  This was a fig leaf to let the GOP claim that they did a thorough job of vetting him.  Even if something came up and Kavanaugh had to be dropped, it would not help the Democrats.  Trump would then appoint a conservative WOMAN, which would still stack the court.  So there was no win for the liberals in this case.

The only way for the liberals to win is to win the midterm this year and the election in 2020.  Without power, all the protests do no good.  In fact, this whole process has energized a somber GOP and make it more difficult for the Democrats to win the midterm.  Now that GOP won this battle, maybe their energy will be slightly less than if Kavanaugh had to be dropped.  All the talk about impeaching Kavanaugh is detrimental to the cause.  It is going to energize the GOP even more.  Even if the Democrats win the House, impeachment is not going anywhere without a super majority in the senate.  So why bother wasting all the energy while energizing the other side?  Put the focus on ballots!

While we are waiting for the result of the FBI investigation and what happens to Kavanaugh after that, I will give my take on the trade pact that Trump has made with Mexico and Canada.

Surprise!  I give Trump credit for getting it done.  I know that Trump doesn't really understand trade and doesn't understand the detail of the agreement.  But he did make the demand for changes in NAFTA.  Sometimes a president gets lucky and things work out and sometimes despite great intentions, things fall apart.  Like I give Obama credit for making the call to get bin Laden.  He didn't know how to find him nor how to get the SEALS in position to get him.  But he was at the helm at the right time, so he gets credit.  So does Trump here.

Having said that, most experts don't think the new agreement will help the economy much.  It may help dairy farmers.  It will force car makers to pay Mexican workers more to avoid tariffs.  But I am not sure that it will bring back auto jobs back to the U.S.  Due to the power of the U.S. economy, Canada and Mexico had to make some concessions.  But only time will tell if this worked out for the better.  Ironically, before Trump, the biggest foes of NAFTA were the unions.  So will see how this works out for Trump and his strange bedfellows, the unions.  By the way, economists also see similarity between this agreement and the TPP which Trump had withdrawn the U.S. from.  So this would be like Obama trashing Romney care and then creating Obamacare!

The Judiciary committee has voted to pass the Kavanaugh nomination to the full senate.  That was expected given that the GOP has no desire to do a full investigation on the allegations.  I didn't think yesterday's hearing was going to change anything.  I think most people believe that Ford was truthful.  But given no investigation, no other witness called, there was no way to prove Kavanaugh was guilty.  I will admit that in a criminal trial, there is reasonable doubt and so the verdict would be not guilty.  But I think in most people's mind there is reasonable doubt about Kavanaugh's innocence.  I mean, if I see these allegations against him, I would never hire him.

Besides the allegations, I also have a less opinion of Kavanaugh after the hearing yesterday.  I can understand him being angry and feel that he must fight back strongly to keep his nomination going.  After all, it worked for Thomas.  As a white guy, Kavanaugh cannot call this a lynching.  But his opening statement could have been written by Trump.  Basically he was Trump light yesterday.  If nothing else he was playing to Trump and Trump's base.  But for me, he was unnecessary belligerent.  Like when he answered questions about his drinking, he attacked the senator by asking if she drinks and if she gets drunk.  To me, it shows he was losing his composure.  And even if can prove the senator drinks heavily, it does not absolve him of his own heavy drinking.  He kept referring to his accomplishments in academics and athletics.  Again, this just shows arrogance and does not prove anything.  People with great accomplishments have, after all, being proven to be sexual predators.

While being Trump light yesterday, it also shows that the Democrats are right in opposing him with the utmost vigor.  By saying this was all planned by Democrats as revenge for the Clintons and the 2016 election, he becomes another mouthpiece for Trump.  Do you think now there is anyway that a case involving Democrats will get a fair hearing from him on the Supreme Court?  It is one thing to believe that he is an extreme right winger, but his remarks yesterday removed all doubt.

I spoke too soon about Trump not attacking the alleged victim.  He just could not help himself despite everyone around him telling him to cool it so as not give the Democrats more ammunition with the midterms coming up.  So it looks like Ford will testify on Thursday.  But the odds are still in Kavanaugh's favor despite a second accuser has come forward.  That accuser is not asked to testify, nor will any other witness be called.  The GOP is also using a female attorney to question Ford so as to not look like a bunch of old white men are bullying her.  I can understand the GOP accusing the Democrats of delay tactics.  But the Republicans are hypocrites.   They delayed and refused to vote on Obama's nominee even though there were several months to election.  So they are now accusing the Democrats trying to delay past midterm election in 6 weeks?  It is just like they said that the Mueller investigation has gone on too long.  But the Mueller investigation is way shorter so far than the GOP led investigation of Benghazi and Whitewater. 

Trump gave a speech in the UN today where he said that his administration has accomplished more in two years than any other American administration.  Yes, he said it with a straight face.  There was laughter from the audience full of world leaders.  Ironically, Trump has said in the past that other countries were laughing at America during the Obama era.  He promised that they will not be laughing at us when he is president.  Well, Donald, they are not laughing at us anymore like you promised.  They are laughing at YOU!

Watched the favorite show of LBOAYM last night.  Didn't find anyone interesting enough for me to root for.  I was surprised to see that the model Ren was really good.  Models have been terrible in the past.  As usual a football player emerged as one of the favorites.  But I think the Argentinian actor potentially is the best but I don't think he can win since I don't think many people know him.  The bachelor guy was one of the worst in recent seasons.  I don't think he was trying.

Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing is temporarily derailed as the Senate committee has scheduled a hearing on Monday.  That means the vote, which was expected in a couple of days, will not take place for now.  The GOP is going to try to make it a "he said, she said" situation that if there is no third party collaboration, the confirmation will take place.  The end result will be similar to the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill saga.  I do think that instead of a 99% chance of confirmation before this accusation came out, the chance of confirmation is now 75%.  There is a more chance that the two GOP women moderates will vote no if the accuser is credible on the witness stand.  So Kavanaugh will have to sweat more in the coming weeks.

I understand Kavanaugh, as a conservative, will not want to answer about Roe v Wade during the confirmation hearings.  But what is disappointing is that when asked, he refused to answer whether the Supreme Court made the right decision in not overturning the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.  The constitutionality of the act was upheld by the Supreme Court in Chae Chan Ping v United States (1889).  I don't think that it is controversial to say that the Chinese were discriminated against by the act.  Of course, to say the right thing would have meant that Kavanaugh is disagreeing with Trump that a race or a religion can be discriminated against.  I think this puts Kavanaugh's impartiality into question.

Went to see "Crazy Rich Asians" today.  Maybe the last Asian American to have watched the movie?  I am not a big fan of romantic comedies usually.  But I really enjoyed the movie.  I can see why it is given a 93 by Rotten Tomatoes.  I guess that the all Asian cast was a plus.  Although I wonder how come the father of the main guy was not featured in the movie?  They can't find a 60 plus years old Asian man to be in the movie?  I could certainly have filled the role of an old curmudgeon! 

Trump used to like Bob Woodward.  Or at least he said nice things about him.  Not any more!  I don't think Woodward's book nor the op-ed in the NYT make much difference in this time of polarization in the country.  But it must seem appropriate that Woodward, who helped bring down Nixon, is at it again here!

Naomi Osaka's victory brings to forefront the notion of Japanese identity.  As in many Asian nations, biracial kids are discriminated against in Japan.  Changes have been coming but slowly.  With Osaka's humility and calmness in victory (some Japanese call it the Japanese way), it may make changes in Japan and elsewhere come quicker.

The Justice department is coming down on the side of Asian Americans who are suing Harvard for racial discrimination.  Of course, Jeff Sessions and others in the Trump administration do not really care if Asian Americans are discriminated against in elite colleges.  It is just that this issue is splitting Asian Americans into two camps:  one on the side of those against affirmative action and the other for affirmative action.  It is obvious which side Sessions and Trump are on.

I believe that connecting race with affirmative action is not a good idea.  I think if you say affirmative action is aimed for the benefit of disadvantaged students regardless of color, it would be more acceptable and fair.  A child of a black doctor who went to a private school should not get extra points over a white child who went to a poor school.  If you use socio-economic status as a yard stick, you would get more underrepresented minorities accepted without using the word race.  In California, since affirmative action was banned at the ballot box, underrepresented minorities actually have increased at UCLA and UC San Diego, two of the top schools in the system.  There has been a more concerted effort to recruit and retain disadvantaged students without specifying race.  And that has worked for those two schools.

I think where Harvard gets into trouble is that it gives extra weigh to alumni kids who are mostly white and athletes who are also mostly white.  There is no question that they discriminate against Asian Americans if you look at SAT scores and grades.  So they use subjective factors such as "personality", or "kindness".  I am sure that Asians score lower in those categories because that is the stereotype even in Ivy League schools.  I don't believe that Asians have worse personalities than other races, so I think these subjective factors are more biased than standardized testing.

So what I like to see happen is that schools like Harvard get rid of the legacy factor, no extra points for athletics (unless you are going to play div, 1A football like Stanford), and get rid of subjective personality factors unless you can demonstrate that the applicant does have at least a borderline personality disorder.  Do more recruiting with poor students as oppose to trying to get a black doctor's kid so that he/she will be paying full price.  I don't think any of these will be adopted unless Harvard lose the lawsuit.

The Maverick has died.  With the death of John McCain, the nation has lost a true patriot and one of the last few in Congress who is willing to reach across the aisle for the good of the country.  I supported Obama but I always said that if McCain had won in 2008, I would not be devastated as I was in 2016.  McCain was an honorable man who stood on whatever side he thought was best for the country.  While I do not agree with many of his beliefs and ideas, I can see that he was always reasonable. 

As his final act of defiance, McCain has made it known that Trump is not welcome at his funeral.  At the same time he would like his old foes, Bush and Obama, to give eulogies.  Thank you Senator McCain for your service to the country.  May you rest in peace.

It is one thing to rile up the base to support you, it is another thing causing danger to a whole group of people.  This is what happens when Trump says that the press is the enemy of the people.  This is obviously not true.  For without a free press, there is no democracy.  It is usually dictators who want to control what the press say.  Trump's words have caused many of supporters to act angry toward journalists.  Jim Acosta of CNN was verbally abused by Trump supporters the other day.  Yet the White House refused to walk back the enemy of the people narrative.  Even Ivanka Trump said that the press is not the enemy of the people.  I have a son who had worked as a journalist till recently.  I would hate to have him attacked.  I think it is a matter of time before a journalist will be physically attacked.  Even if not, intimidation of the press is not a sign of democracy.

It seems that Trump attacks CNN more than the far more liberal MSNBC.  I think that is because only liberals watch MSNBC and Trump cannot reach those people anyway.  But CNN, while on the liberal side, is moderate and a lot of independents watch it.  It is those people that Trump want to steer away.  I don't think he will be successful.  I don't think that anyone who watches CNN thinks that Don Lemon is the dumbest person on television.  Trump just comes across as a racist when he says things like that.

Michael Jordan, who is usually completely silent on politics, comes out in support of LeBron.  But what is more amazing is that Melania Trump appears to support LeBron.  At least until, the White House makes her take it back a little.  Hey LeBron, invite Melania to the school ASAP.  If she declines, it would make her statement insincere or that the White House is forcing her to decline.  If she accepts, that would be a black eye to Trump!