 Welcome to Think Tech on Spectrum OC16, Hawaii's weekly newscast on things that matter to tech and to Hawaii. I'm Lisa Anderson. And I'm Arby Kelly. In our show this time, we'll review some of the recent Think Tech commentaries we have recorded in our downtown studio. Our hosts and guests like to express themselves on public issues, and we want to share their commentaries with you. Beyond our 35 weekly shows and our feature movies on OC16, Think Tech also records and broadcasts community service commentaries by its hosts, guests, and members of the public. We like these commentaries to deal with public policy issues and problems in our community, that is to identify those issues and problems, to analyze their causes, dynamics, and prospects, and of course to suggest thoughtful solutions going forward. We are open to any issue that reflects or affects Hawaii, and we're open to diversity in subjects and speakers. Our credo is reflected in our reception room by the Norman Rockwell painting called The First Freedom, one of our four freedoms that he painted for the cover of the Saturday evening post many years ago. Here are a handful of the commentaries that we have recorded over the past few weeks. As you will see, the speakers are generally well informed and often quite passionate on their issues. Judge Brett Kavanaugh will most likely become our next Supreme Court Justice. For many, that statement strikes fear that he may be the fifth vote that limits or overturns major provisions of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Others are concerned that Kavanaugh's previous written legal opinions that the President of the United States is exempt from the powers of legal subpoena or criminal prosecution and investigation. In 2009, Kavanaugh wrote in an article for the Minnesota Law Review that Congress should pass a law exempting a President while in office from criminal prosecution and investigation, including from the criminal prosecutors or defense counsel. Given Robert Mueller's investigation of Trump and the many guilty pleas and indictments already obtained, it's easy for all of us to see why President wants Kavanaugh nomination fast-tracked through the Senate. Kavanaugh is Trump's dream come true. Protests of opening day Judge Kavanaugh's nomination hearings interrupted opening statements of those senators who sit on the Judicial Committee. Protests decrying a lack of fairness echoed in the Senate hearing chambers. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham lectured his fellow Democratic senators about the fairness of the Russian nomination process. He said, you had a chance. You lost. If you picked judges from your way of thinking, then you better win an election. If memory serves me correctly, we had a Democrat president that not only won an election, but two of them. President Obama attempted to fill a Supreme Court vacancy seven months before the 2016 presidential election. His choice was with a Comparise nominee who was recommended by Republicans. Judge Merrick Garland was blocked from all Senate nomination hearings by the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell wanted to make sure Obama would not have a chance to have his pick on the bench. He said, it's a president's constitutional right to nominate a Supreme Court justice and it's the Senate's constitutional right to act as a check on a president and withhold its consent. When the Republicans block a nomination, it's a constitutional duty. When Democrats want to obtain thousands of documents written by Kavanaugh before the nomination hearings, it's an attempt to interfere with the president's agenda and progress for the nation. There's a word for a situation where President Obama was denied his nominee and Trump can get his nominee approved in record time. The word is hypocrisy. Its definition is a situation where someone pretends to believe in something they really do not believe or that is the opposite of what they do or say at another time. There is no legal or legislative action to prevent hypocrisy of this nomination and Senate confirmation. However, there is plenty to be done in the next 59 days to ensure there is a check of Trump's runaway power as the provisions in the Constitution had intended. November 6th, 2018 is that opportunity, that point in our country's future that fork in the road, which will have a profound impact on how we've received with our great 242 year experiment of democracy and the preservation of the Republic. Or if that power falls into the unfettered demands of an autocrat president and obedient administration, there is more at risk than a potential reverse of Roe versus Wake court decision. There will soon be the unchecked out of balance power of the executive branch, including the Justice Department, Trump's controlled House of Representatives, Trump's controlled Senate, and soon the judicial branch of our government, all in the control of this unstable president. Think about that leading up to November 6th. Better yet, do more than think, act. I'm Arby Kelly, a host with Think Tech. Today, I wanted to talk to you about politics, but I promise I'm not just going to lambast you with political views. Today, we're actually going deeper into how you judge your candidates. Now, you may think, oh, I'm left or oh, I'm right. But actually, R or D has nothing to do with it. What you really do is you look at someone's face. Now, studies have shown that when you show candidate photos to a group of people and have them judge who looks the most competent, the results of the audience vote predicted an election 75% of the time, roughly 75% of the time. And that is a pretty strong indication that we don't really look at the person, we just look at the face. And here are some of the ways that you are judging your candidates by their faces, and I'm here to ask you to look deeper. So one, we prefer young looking candidates when we're looking to change. We're looking for a new future, someone to lead us to somewhere we've never, ever been before. That's when we prefer young faces, which is one reason that the young, seemingly inexperienced Barack Obama had such wild success on his change platform. Because youth and change, they absolutely go together and the science is clear on that. But this isn't to say that all voters are agist, in fact, it's just the opposite. When we are looking for stability, when we are looking for safety, that's when we prefer older candidates. We like wrinkles, we like gray hair because it shows experience, it shows knowledge and wisdom. And that will help keep the country stable. Now, say we're getting ready for a time of war, or there's been a lot of global conflict and we want to win. Then, voters will prefer masculine faces, not necessarily men, but they prefer candidates with masculine features. So stronger jaws, thicker eyebrows, stuff like that. But when we're looking to broker new peace, when we're looking for resolution, when we're looking for new treaties and alliances, that's when candidates prefer feminine faces, not necessarily females, but feminine features, the soft round jaw, the larger eyes, the smaller eyebrows. And those are just a few things you judge people on. Now, let's get into the slightly more taboo topic of race. You actually prefer to vote for someone who is your same race. And there's an over 60% accuracy for that. So you are much, much more likely to vote for someone who is your same color. And just being aware of that bias is great to know for when you're actually there in the voting booth. But say you are actually wanting to run for office and you are not the color of most of the people in your district. Don't worry, because we actually, when we're looking at voting for outsiders, we look to see soft, trustworthy, almost childlike faces. So chubby cheeks or larger eyes, all of those show that you look safe, you look trustworthy, which makes people feel okay letting an outsider into the group. So those are just a few things that you will be judging your candidates on. But I want you to keep in mind that has nothing to do with their actual personality, has nothing to do with their actual character, with what they're actually going to do while they're in office. So it's my challenge to you. Stop just looking at the faces. Stop just looking at the R or the D next to the name. Do your research, do some homework, do some digging. And find out what's behind the mask, what's behind the fancy rhetoric on the website, what's behind the little 30 second clip that's going around the news that's supposed to tell you everything you need to know about this candidate. Don't be fooled, because it doesn't. Only by doing some research, digging into this person's history, finding out are they honest? Are they trustworthy? Do they do what they say they will do? Only that is how you'll really know if you can trust them or not, if they can handle the responsibility or not. So this election year, please look past the faces, look past the fancy rhetoric, and look past the 30 second news cycle. Dig deeper. And that's how you'll find deep candidates that you'd be proud to have an office. Deep in Kalihi Palama, an ethnically diverse and economically challenged census tract of over 40,000 residents. The principal of Kalahakawa Middle School, named after our king, told me how the Kalahakawa Math Club, comprised of mostly immigrant family children, had progressed from zero to seventh among public schools and 14th among private and public schools. And she added the Math Club members stay after school daily. I asked, why such dedication? She responded simply that they wanted to access the PC and internet, neither what they had. I recall the Super 30, a world-renowned educational program started in India under mathematician Anand Kumar in 2002. The program selects 30 lower caste students annually and trains them for the JEE, the Indian Institute of Technology Entrance Exam. In the first year of coaching, 18 out of 30 students made it to IIT. Two years later, 22 out of 30 had passed extremely difficult exams. Later, the entire cohort of 30 passed an amazing success story. In a world that is increasingly flat through PCs and internet, Google search, why can't kids in Kalihi Palama do the same? That is, why not have 12 Farrington students graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in engineering on computer science by 2030? 2018 plus 12 years. Why MIT? MIT is the world leader in engineering, computer science, and entrepreneurship. The bar is global. More Silicon Valley startups were launched by MIT graduates than any other university. MIT has historical roots in Hawaii. Two Mawians graduated from MIT in the class of 1894. Three University of Hawaii presidents were MIT alumni. Farrington High School was designed by MIT architect. The Super FSS program was succeed with a vision, a strategy, and execution. And hard work, mentoring, and community support. The first FSS students who completes the program when enter MIT in fall 2024, class of 2028. The program begins at seventh grade at Farrington's two feeder schools, Dole and Kalahkawa. It is a parallel, virtual, global, mentor-rich program. Just having a laptop doesn't mean you become the next Bill Gates. The student will have three areas of study. The core, standard English, math, computer science, history, sciences. The international program, learning about Asia-Pacific regions so to design products to sell to those markets. And a micro MBA, finance, venture capital, IPOs. Ultimately, the Super FSS program is not simply about elite university acceptance and graduation, but to result in the transformation of Kalihi Palama. After establishing startups with multi-million dollar IPOs, Farrington MIT grads will collaborate to develop transformational programs in Kalihi Palama. By the mid-2030s, this group will lead one, affordable housing. Two, academic facilities, resources, and instructors for K to 12 public education. Three, launch high-paying technical jobs. And four, construct world-class medical health centers. In the run-up to Election Day, newspaper editors usually expect to see endorsements on the editorial page, but I question that practice. Newspaper endorsements have become much part of the American political process since the 1800s. American newspaper editors view endorsements as a vital public service, even though their impact is considered minimal. I still think they should keep their opinions to themselves. Newspaper editors see it as their duty to help inform the public and help foster their discussion about important issues. Some even think it is important in their civic duty if their goal is to help voters make a smart informed decision that you should stay correctly in the position of the candidate, perhaps even some point or a counterpoint. That's it. Most newspapers have editorial boards made up of opinion writers, top editors, even company executives who decide the editorial direction. These editorial boards operate independent of the newsroom. And then who's the journalist? The journalists are expected to report the news without bias or favor. So why not have the editorial way do the same? It is obvious that Honolulu's privatizer is partisan and their opinion leaders do have strong opinions about what is the best residence of their communities. So do you think even are smarter than you are readers? I didn't think so. There is no conclusive evidence to show that newspaper endorsements actually influence voters. So do us a favor this year. Stop endorsing candidates and just report. These are only a few of the many commentaries Think Tech has on file and on YouTube. You can see lots more of them on the commentaries playlist on our YouTube site, youtube.com slash Think Tech Hawaii, providing a platform for civic and civil engagement to allow people to express themselves is core to our mission of raising public awareness. If you have a point you'd like to make or a commentary you'd like to record, please let us know. And now let's check out our Think Tech schedule of events going forward. Think Tech broadcasts its talk shows live on the internet from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Then we broadcast our earlier shows all night long and on the weekends. And some people listen to them all night long and on the weekends. If you missed a show or if you want to replay or share any of our shows, they're all archived on demand on ThinkTechHawaii.com and YouTube. You can also see our videos on our Think Tech smartphone app available for download on iPhone and Android. For our audio stream, go to ThinkTechHawaii.com slash audio and we post all our shows as podcasts on iTunes. Visit ThinkTechHawaii.com for our weekly calendar and live stream and YouTube links or better yet, sign up on our email list and get our daily email advisories. ThinkTech has a high-tech green screen studio at Pioneer Plaza. If you wanna see it or be part of our live audience or if you wanna participate in our shows, contact shows at ThinkTechHawaii.com. If you wanna pose a question or make a comment during a show, call 808-374-2014 and help us raise public awareness on ThinkTech. We are always looking for new shows. Here are some shows we've recently added to our talk show lineup. Tourism 101, hosted by Mufi Haneman. It plays monthly on Wednesdays at 10 a.m. and covers tourism, a study of events and developments in Hawaii tourism. Pinoy Power, Hawaii, hosted by Emmy Ortega Anderson. It plays weekly on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. and covers culture, a study of Filipino news, events and culture. The Will of the People, hosted by Martha Randall. It plays bi-weekly on Thursdays at 1 p.m. and covers politics, a study of politics and public and political opinion. All great, all worth watching and of course, all worth learning from. Go ahead, give us a thumbs up on YouTube or send us a tweet at ThinkTechHI. We'd like to know how you feel about the issues and events that affect our lives in these islands and in this country. We wanna stay in touch with you and we'd like you to stay in touch with us. Let's think together. And now, here's this week's latest ThinkTech commentary. Our topic today is, do we have two lives? Confucius said, we have two lives and the second begins when we realize we only have one. What does this really mean? In my world, this has become very evident, both because of my health concerns as well as in my personal life. When we were young, the majority of us have a nagging belief that we can't die, that we are only one of billions and not that important. We believe that right will always win in the end. We think our parents can't make mistakes. We believe in our teachers and our government. We believe all of these things until we don't. We'll lose many of these beliefs as we age, usually not at the same time, but we generally learn we are mortal, that people do lie, that not everything is as it seems at first glance. Hopefully, we also learn that our actions have consequences. We can try to learn that our efforts can go towards fixing something and we learn that even though we alone can't fix everything, that we are not just a single one out of billions, but one who can join with others to form a formidable force for change. When we learn that life isn't as easy as we once thought it was and learn that effort generally helps lead toward what we consider good, then we can start living in the real world. Our real life is when we become our best self, the self that can take a punch and come back stronger. I had an epiphany the other day. I realized that we never know what will happen tomorrow, that we should enjoy our today. You have one life, then you must live it. 20 years from now, you'll be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bow lines, sail away from that safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails, explore, dream, discover. You know who said all that? Mark Twain, smart man, huh? When you realize you have only one life, a new life begins. You are no longer bogged down by opinions or simple yet annoying things in life. You really start living the way you want to. You begin to take risks, hanging around like-minded people, leaving energy draining people, traveling to where you want, doing extraordinary stuff because you want to. You're not scared of anything because you know you have only one life and this moment is the only moment ever. I know this because I'm doing it right now. When we start living our passion, our second life, then we realize that we cannot live without it and actually have only one life and one choice. That's our passion. We'll be right back to wrap up this week's edition of Think Tech, but first we wanna thank our underwriters. The Atherton Family Foundation, the Center for Microbial Oceanography, Research and Education, Collateral Analytics, The Cook Foundation, Hawaii Council of Associations of Apartment Owners, Hawaii Energy, the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum, the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, Hawaiian Electric Company, Hawaii Technology Development Corporation, Kaelin Ho of BAE Systems, Integrated Security Technologies, Kamehameha Schools, Wayne Kurisu, Carol Mon Lee and the Friends of Think Tech, MW Group Limited, The Scheidler Family Foundation, Shreem LLC, The Sydney Stern Memorial Trust, Volofoundation, Yuriko J. Sugimura, thanks to you all. Okay, Arby, that wraps up this week's edition of Think Tech. Remember, you can watch Think Tech on Spectrum OC16 several times every week. Can't get enough of it, just like Arby does. For additional times, check out oc16.tv. For lots more Think Tech videos and for underwriting and sponsorship opportunities on Think Tech, visit thinktechwae.com. Be a guest or a host, a producer or an intern and help us reach and have an impact on Hawaii. Thanks so much for being part of our Think Tech family and for supporting our open discussion of tech, energy, diversification and national and global awareness in Hawaii. And of course, the ongoing search for innovation wherever we can find it. You can watch this show throughout the week and tune in next Sunday evening for our next important Think Tech episode. I'm Elise Anderson. And I'm Arby Kaelin. Aloha, everyone.