1. It’s Tuesday, August 29, 2017.

2. It’s the 100th birthday of Isabel Sanford, who played Louise Jefferson on “The Jeffersons” and the 25th birthday of New York Mets pitching ace – although, alas, not this season – Noah Syndergaard.

3. I know I said yesterday that giving to local charities might be the best way to help the folks in such dire need in the Houston area.

But when you look at the charities’ Web sites, you can tell that they’re struggling just like everyone else – that makes sense, given the magnitude of the catastrophe.

So I gave money to globalgiving.org. It’s a crowdfunding site founded by two World Bank veterans aimed at directing funds to worthwhile organizations. It has pretty high ratings as far as I can research, and seems to have some semblance of a plan to aid vetted local charities in the area affected by Harvey.

The organization is looking to raise $2 million to help storm victims. It’s about a third of the way there.

I’ll also repeat this from yesterday: Your wanting to make sure the money is spent well is based on the fact that you’re spending it with your heart. That’s why it’s important to feel as though you get it right.

Take the time to research who gets your charity.

4. It is the measure of Trump’s evil that he made a point of pardoning the bag of pus named Joe Arpaio while the nation was focused on a horrific storm.

He says he did it then because he thought ratings would be higher. So he not only wanted to perpetrate this travesty of justice, he wanted you to know it and then have its heinousness play second fiddle to tragedy.

Think about it. It was a moment when the people of this country needed to come together to help those in desperate need. A chance to bring the nation together. A slam-dunk opportunity to show leadership.

And instead, there was a weekend in which 100% of the attention couldn’t be focused on where it should be, because a racist torturer and convicted criminal got the kiss of respectability.

This scum pool – I’m talking about Arpaio now – defied a court ruling that he should stop abusing people. Instead of respecting the rule of law pending appeal, which is what you would imagine a sheriff would do, he flouted it.

What kind of respect does the other scum pool – I’m talking about Trump now – expect? What moral leadership can he offer in crisis without showing respect for the people he’s supposed to lead?

And here’s the problem. There are people in this country who think this is OK.

There are still pundits who believe we should be respectful of Trump voters. They voted because of economic insecurity or some other crap they made up.

The fact is they voted for Trump because they hate people who aren’t them. Simple. They can’t accept that people speak Spanish or Korean in the neighborhood Walmart and challenge their legitimacy.

And that’s how you get the Arpaios of this country. There’s probably more garbage like him out there. But he’s a pretty special class of trash.