Today: 'You’re Gonna Get Confirmed'

Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sept. 7, 2018 5 AM PT

The hard part in the Senate hearing for President Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee appears to be over.

TOP STORIES

‘You’re Gonna Get Confirmed’

Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, had some advice 20 years ago for a judicial aspirant seeking Senate confirmation: Don’t talk about your policy positions, show respect for Supreme Court precedent and reveal no ideological agenda. Sound familiar? After two days of questioning and some drama over the release of documents, Kavanaugh revealed very little about his views on abortion or presidential power. With Republicans in control of the Senate, Kavanaugh appears on track to be confirmed by the end of the month. “You’re gonna get confirmed,” GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham told him. “You’re gonna make it.”

A New Fight Over Migrant Children Is Coming

Under pressure from the courts, the Trump administration is still scrambling to undo the aftermath of its widely condemned “zero tolerance” immigration measures. This week, it has filed new proposed rules that could allow minors to be held indefinitely along with their parents in the custody of immigration authorities, beyond the current limit imposed by a 1997 consent decree called the Flores agreement. The proposal almost certainly will end up in the courts.

More From Washington

-- Trump feels “amazingly alone,” and increasingly the world sees it.

-- It wasn’t me: Vice President Mike Pence and a number of other senior officials asserted they didn’t write an explosive, anonymous New York Times op-ed.

-- The Justice Department has unveiled charges against a North Korean national in the 2014 hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment at a politically sensitive time for Trump in his bid to improve relations with North Korea.

Backing Off, by Popular Demand

When the Oscars unveiled a new award for “outstanding achievement in popular film,” the idea proved unpopular among many in Hollywood. Less than a month later, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has reversed itself, canceling the award for 2019 with plans to “seek additional input” on whether to move forward with it at all.

He Played It for Grins

“My career is not like a regular chart,” Burt Reynolds once said. “Mine looks like a heart attack.” The actor, who died Thursday at age 82, was a box-office star in the late 1970s and early ’80s with movies like “Smokey and the Bandit” and “The Cannonball Run.” He was Cosmopolitan magazine’s first nude male centerfold, something he’d end up regretting. Along with fame came a series of lows, including an ugly divorce with actress Loni Anderson. But for some, including writer Jeffrey Fleishman, “he is forever part of my youth, a flickering piece of adolescence.”

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FLASHBACK FRIDAY

On this date in 1938, a Superior Court judge and most members of a jury hopped on the chutes ride at the now long-gone Ocean Park Pier in Venice while deciding the case of a violinist who claimed the attraction injured her back and pelvis. “It was a nice ride,” said the judge. The jury returned to court and granted $6,045 in damages.

MUST-WATCH VIDEO

-- A bitter clash among senators at the Kavanaugh hearing included New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker saying, “Bring it!” to a threat of expulsion.

CALIFORNIA

-- The Delta fire has scorched more than 15,000 acres and forced evacuations in Shasta County.

-- An advisor to L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti says Garcetti’s political action committee will pay for his security detail’s expenses on political trips.

-- A former UC Irvine vice chancellor committed sex discrimination by paying women less than men, a campus review has found.

YOUR WEEKEND

-- Calling all gardeners: Here are 22 things to do in your garden in September.

-- Homemade pita bread is so much better and easier than you might think.

-- During a weekend escape to Alpine County, you’ll discover a spectacular slice of California.

-- Opening next weekend: Sanrio’s Hello Kitty Grand Cafe will serve coffee, tea and cocktails in Irvine.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Twentieth Century Fox has pulled a scene from “The Predator” after director Shane Black cast his friend, a registered sex offender, for a scene with Olivia Munn.

-- Fifteen years after Walt Disney Concert Hall opened in downtown L.A., architect Frank Gehry is still dreaming of how it could be transformed.

-- Film critic Justin Chang calls “The Nun” a jumpy but minimally scary extension of “The Conjuring” universe.

NATION-WORLD

-- India’s Supreme Court has repealed a 157-year-old law banning gay sex, a signal of how the country has become more accepting of gay and transgender citizens.

-- Japanese authorities rushed 25,000 military and police personnel to Hokkaido island in a massive rescue effort after a powerful earthquake.

-- Researchers say wind and solar farms can make their own weather, including bringing extra rain over the Sahara desert.

BUSINESS

-- The story of a high blood pressure medication tainted with a carcinogenic material once found in rocket fuel shows how difficult it is to ensure drug safety.

-- The world’s largest hotel companies will provide panic buttons to hotel employees who work alone or in isolated locations.

-- Twitter is permanently banning right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his “Infowars” show for abusive behavior.

SPORTS

-- Clay, grass, hard tennis courts: The definitive guide to who rules on each surface.

-- Believe it or not, columnist Bill Plaschke says, the Rams have a legitimate chance to play in the Super Bowl.

OPINION

-- Kavanaugh will be our next Supreme Court justice for all the wrong reasons.

-- In the case of the New York Times’ Trump “Resistance” essay, anonymity and good journalism are antithetical, writes columnist Robin Abcarian.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- “I have a confession to make.... I invented touchscreen keyboard autocorrection for the original iPhone”: A software designer explains why it often goes awry. (Wired)

-- Where did Taco Tuesday come from? It’s complicated. (Thrilllist)

ONLY IN L.A.

We end this week with a bit of poetry from reader Jack Peachum, who says he was inspired by a newsletter item about Buster the roller-skating rooster:

SKATES (1952) After L.A. Times

Buster,

handsome skating rooster,

you were in my dreams last night

— bird for the ages — plumage of an angel!

But where did you go?

Disappeared in your own lifetime —

ahhh, fame, how brief an hour!

I see you dancing between a little girl’s feet,

cutting skate-marks in ice

or rolling across rink floors,

— ice-skates, roller-skates, all the same to Buster —