The Return of Clarence Thomas: Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and a woman who claims he sexually assaulted her in high school both are scheduled to testify under oath in front of Congress about the incident she says happened in the 1980s when she was 15 and he was 17.

“I have never done anything like what the accuser describes — to her or to anyone,” Kavanaugh said in a new statement. “Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday.” He was reported to have spent nine hours behind closed doors at the White House yesterday.

The accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, publicly identified herself on Sunday. She’s now willing to be fed to the Washington reputation grinder.

The White House, and President Trump who’s been accused of sexual impropriety by multiple women, are being careful so far about not attacking Ford while supporting Kavanaugh. “He is somebody very special; at the same time, we want to go through a process, we want to make sure everything is perfect, everything is just right,” Trump said. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said during an interview on “Fox & Friends,” that “This woman should not be insulted, and she should not be ignored.”

Ford first contacted members of Congress and The Washington Post in July, but her accusations did not go public until last week.

Kavanaugh has been vetted six times by the FBI to evaluate him for previous positions. This accusation has never surfaced before.

The whole things recalls the 1991 nomination of now Justice Clarence Thomas when his former colleague Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment in dramatic hearings that dragged into the night. Senators at the time were clueless about sexual harassment — that it even existed. Thomas was confirmed. But in the age of the MeToo movement in which powerful men are falling, a new drama is unfolding.

Whichever way it goes, this is going to be noisy.

Trade War: President Trump placed tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods yesterday, adding to the $50 billion he already taxed. He said he will “immediately” charge tariffs on another $267 billion worth of imports “if China takes retaliatory action against our farmers or other industries.”

The latest round of tariffs is 10 percent, rocketing to 25 percent on Jan. 1^st. Trump is trying to bludgeon China into abandoning what he considers unfair trade practices.

The Chinese don’t play fair, but Trump risks hurting American customers and companies. He’s hitting everyday items, including food, clothing and electronics – Walmart stuff. The cost is just injected into the price of the t-shirt.

President Obama placed a tariff on imported tires. The NY Times reports that, “One study of the Obama tire tariffs found in a single year, 2011, Americans spent an extra $1.1 billion on tires as a result of a tariff that preserved, at most, 1,200 jobs. That is almost $1 million per job, for jobs paying an average of about $40,000.”

Heavy Weather: Tropical depression Florence has performed a left hook, travelling up past Ashville and Knoxville, across the top of West Virginia and into Pennsylvania, headed for New York City. It’s raining buckets outside New York this morning.

At least 23 people have died in the storm and many thousands are flooded out of their homes. Rivers in the Carolinas are expected to crest tomorrow and Thursday.

End of Discussion: Co-host Julie Chen will be exiting CBS’s daytime show “The Talk,” following the firing of her husband, former CBS network boss Les Moonves. It would have been impossible for her to go on chatting about current issues, sexual harassment the biggest.

Chen disappeared from the show right after her husband was bounced. He’s the one who gave her the job and also made her the face of “Big Brother.” The season for Big Broter ends Sept. 26^th. We’ll see if she’s invited back.

Statuary: Saturday Night Live’s Michael Che and Colin Jost hosted the Emmy Awards last night, spearing their own industry. Che opened with, “It is an honor to be here sharing this night with the many, many talented and creative people in Hollywood who haven’t been caught yet.”

Jost said, “Netflix, of course has the most nominations tonight. That’s right. And if you’re a network executive, that’s the scariest thing you can possibly hear except maybe, ‘Sir, Ronan Farrow is on line one.’

They give a lot of awards, so we’re not going to list them all.

-HBO and Netflix tied with 23 Emmy’s each.

-Best Drama: HBO “Game of Thrones”

-Comedy: Amazon,  “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”

Director Glen Weiss proposed to his girlfriend during his acceptance speech. She said yes.

Family Values: Speaking of Ronan Farrow, his titular father, Woody Allen, has thrown more doubt on Farrow’s parenthood. He’s been long-rumored to be the product of a post-marriage affair between Mia farrow and Frank Sinatra. Just look at him.

In a New York magazine article in which Farrow’s wife, Soon-Yi Previn, trashes her mother, Mia Farrow — formerly Woody’s girlfriend, formerly  Frank’s wife — the 82-year-old Allen said of Farrow, “In my opinion, he’s my child.” He said, “I think he is, but I wouldn’t bet my life on it. I paid child support for him for his whole childhood, and I don’t think that’s very fair if he’s not mine.”

Woody was better when he was funny.

Things Go Better With Coke: It’s the new Coke all over again. The Coca Cola company says it is examining the possibility of including the marijuana extract Cannabidiol, or CBD, in a new line of “wellness” drinks. CBD is said to have no psychoactive properties and is supposed to help with pain and inflammation. Coke hopes it will make its stock high.

-30-