1. It’s Tuesday, October 27, 2015.

2. The White House and Congress say there’s a budget deal that takes away the threat that the U.S. would default on its debt. It’s good that this has happened, but it’s still stupid that these negotiations ever come to this point.

The idea here is to give the new Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, a chance to shape his agenda without all the baggage from these ersatz crises. Unfortunately, Ryan already says he won’t work on immigration reform as long as President Obama is in office.

An opportunity to actually do some good, and – if he really thought about it – help his party, is being squandered in the pique Ryan and the Republicans have that Americans elected Barack Obama. Twice.

3.  The latest obscene video of a white police officer roughing up an African-American kid comes from Spring Valley High School in South Carolina. It will lead to protests by people who say black lives matter, counter protests by people say police lives matter, and then all will pass until the next video surfaces.

What would be better is if these stupid things didn’t happen. And while there are few details of what happened before the police officer flipped the girl over in her chair, there can’t be any circumstance in which what he did looks rational.

Why police officers don’t understand that, and figure out that they are supposed to be professional in dealing with problem situations, evades me. It appears to evade them, too.

The United States needs to do a better job of eliminating the kind of policing that exacerbates situations and leads to Ferguson or Staten Island or any of the racially charged incidents of the past few years. Otherwise, nothing gets better, and the reasoning behind the Black Lives Matter movement, the idea that people of color are not just would-be criminals and non-entities, will get angrier and harder to reconcile.

4.   The World Health Organization now says bacon, sausage and hot dogs are carcinogens. I think anyone who eats them knows they aren’t the healthiest things in the world. But, really, are they cigarettes? I don’t think the risk is anywhere near the same.

Putting processed meats in the same class as tobacco and asbestos doesn’t help reduce the risks of eating them – it makes people gives less consideration to how dangerous other substances are.

5.    Tonight is game one of the 2015 World Series. For the first time in 15 times, my team is in there. Whatever happens, I’m proud of the Mets and what they’ve accomplished. But if they lose, my heart will be smashed.

So let’s win this one, Mets, let’s say in five games so that, on Sunday night, my daughter and I can be part of the celebration at Citi Field.