1. It’s Friday, October 6, 2017.

2. It’s the 240th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery.

It took place about 10 miles up the Hudson from where I live and is noted for the fact that the generals on both sides were named Clinton – in fact, both of the Americans’ generals were brothers named Clinton.

The British Clinton, who was no known relation, beat the two Americans. So not a good day in history for the good guys.

3. Neither, unfortunately, is today.

Let’s start with Harvey Weinstein.

Exposing sexual predators with power requires a strength that often takes time to muster. We saw what happened last year with Roger Ailes at Fox News.

Unfortunately, 20 years went by before Harvey Weinstein was shown for what he is. It was supposedly the best kept secret in Hollywood that this producer, a hit maker responsible for loads of Oscars, took unwelcome liberties with women in the film industry. He paid those who complained to maintain his reputation.

So kudos to The New York Times for bringing this out into the open. And kudos to the women who told their stories to the Times’ reporters.

Folks on the right are chortling over what they perceive as Democrats’ discomfort about Weinstein, who donated a lot of money to the party’s candidates over the years.

What Democrats should be is angry. So should Republicans and any other political stripe you imagine.

Sexual predators look for ways to cloak their heinous behavior in respectability. In Weinstein’s case, he might have reached the conclusion that as long as he put in his money in noble causes on the left, his abhorrent behavior would be overlooked.

That might have worked for a time. But hypocrisy stinks and the smell overpowers.

Several Democrats who received money from Weinstein are either returning it or donating it to groups advocating against violence toward women. That’s a no-brainer.

If you’re a Democrat and believe that women deserve fairness and justice, that money should be out of your hands.

And Weinstein should be a pariah to the party. For as long as he lives.

4. Today’s other news that reflects an irrational view of women comes, of course, from the White House.

As expected, Trump announced that employers no longer have to pay for essential contraceptive services required by Obamacare if they have religious objections.

For some reason, people who don’t believe women should have the ability to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy to full term also don’t believe women should have the ability not to become pregnant in the first place.

I guess, they believe, this is how you stop men and women from engaging in sexual activity unless they want to procreate.

Which is, of course, ridiculous. Most people don’t want 10 children. It’s hard enough to raise one.

Not to mention that some people don’t want any for whatever reason.

And that reason is nobody’s business but that person’s or couple’s.

Finally, contraceptives are not just for birth control. They are often used to combat other health issues such as migraines related to menstruation.

Here’s something that shouldn’t be a radical idea: Women are entitled to be free from pain.

But the busybodies of the Christian right seem to believe it’s divine will that their preferences on this be the law of the land.

Not every employer is going to be stupid enough to take away the provision of contraceptive services to employees.

Just the ones who hide behind some religious excuse to reveal their contempt of the women who work for them.

5. And, finally, this: Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton apologized for remarks demeaning a female reporter who asked him about routes, which is what wide receivers run on pass plays.

He thought it was funny that she would know what a route was.

One thing that should be really tired is the concept that women don’t understand anything about sports.

It should have been tired more than a half-century ago.

It’s my experience that women know all they need to know about any sport. This shouldn’t need to be said, but women have proven themselves as sports journalists – and it is preposterous to infer that they’re not sophisticated enough to understand the real nitty gritty of the game.

And that applies to fans, too. It’s my experience, for instance, that women who follow the Mets enough to blog or tweet are as knowledgeable and entertaining in their statements and exhortations as any guy.

One more thing:

It was my mom, nearly 60 years ago, who taught me how to keep score. That I’ve done so to cover a World Series professionally is a tribute to her teaching and her passion for the game.

Now she’s absolutely wrong about supporting the designated hitter. She may be about to turn 85, but I don’t intend to let up on that argument.

1. It’s Monday, October 2, 2017. We’re two days into the final quarter of the year.

2. It’s the 11th anniversary of the West Nickel Mines School shooting.

A terrorist from nearby walked into an Amish girls’ school in Pennsylvania and shot eight of the 10 girls in attendance, killing five of them, before he took his own miserable life.

3. As I write this, the death toll from last night’s horror in Las Vegas is 59.

That’s nine more people than died more than a year ago in an Orlando night club, 27 more than in the 2007 slayings at Virginia Tech and 33 more than the number of children and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.

Shooting death stats look like we’re listing the home run leaders in baseball.

It’s pathetic. It’s sick.

And yet, there are idiots who believe that somebody’s right to shoot up a country music concert in Las Vegas supersedes the concertgoers’ rights to live.

We are going to hear – and we should hear – the tragic stories from Las Vegas. There will be more than we can bear. More than 500 people were injured last night.

That means about 600 lives were affected by a terrorist – stop minimizing these people as misguided and recognize them for what they are! – who somehow decided he’d go to the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Casino Hotel and start shooting.

Actually, that 600 number is way too small. There are parents and children, spouses and lovers, business partners and drinking buddies, teammates and neighbors. Thousands of them whose lives can never be the same.

You would think that this one, this is the one, that will get this nation on a path toward reining in this embarrassment of gun violence. That this time, this time, is when we’ll put a stop to this nonsense.

That there must be something we’re doing wrong that civilized nations – this stuff takes us out of that group – manage to do fairly well. There are countries of significant size, such as Japan, that have fewer gun deaths annually than we had last night in Las Vegas. We can’t do that?

Actually, we can’t. We won’t.

I’d love to be optimistic and say there will some result from this. Why does any civilian need 19 automatic or semi-automatic weapons? Surely, there’s a way to control this – even a minimum effort.

Nope. Not gonna happen.

We didn’t do it after Columbine when it was high school kids killed or Aurora when moviegoers got shot. We didn’t do it after Virginia Tech when it was college students or after Colorado Springs when it was women getting examinations at a clinic.

Most of all, we didn’t do it after Sandy Hook. We didn’t do it when most of the victims were 6- and 7-year-old children, less than two weeks before Christmas.

None of that, not Orlando or Killeen, Texas, or San Bernardino or Roseburg, Oregon, or any other mass slaying you can think of moved the U.S. Congress toward some semblance of reason on the possession of firearms.

In fact, after Sandy Hook, the scumbag who runs the National Rifle Association stood in front of TV cameras and proclaimed that the real problem was that the school’s educators weren’t armed. “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a guy,” said this collection of vomit and excrement.

And that’s where it stands. This country wouldn’t do anything about kids getting killed. The NRA roused its members, who got into their pickup trucks, sat on their brains and railed about how Barack Obama or some other liberal was taking away their guns.

What’s left to get indignant about if you can’t see that killing kids at an elementary school is the ultimate obscenity. That urinating on the flag while the national anthem plays pales in comparison.

So 59 people at a country music concert, while certainly an impressive number, won’t change anything.

The House might – might – postpone its vote that would allow looser restrictions on silencers that was scheduled for this week. But forget forgetting the idea. That ain’t happening.

And with this idiot who occupies the Oval Office, there’s no impetus at all for change.

I’d love to think that tonight, as families wail about the loss of someone they love, as friends stare blankly at the TV screens showing the latest news, as the beyond-belief brave men and women who responded to this incident continue to help those who were wounded, that this will be the turning point.

That the nation’s lawmakers will realize that prostitution to the gun industry is a surefire path to hell. That people have the right to go out in public – I guarantee no one in that concert crowd thought twice about his or her safety – without fear.

To a concert, a ball game, a mall, a rally, a parade, a hospital. To an elementary school, for God’s sake.

This is the game changer?

No. Sorry. They’ll wait this one out too.

But I’d give a lot to be proven wrong.

1. It’s Tuesday, September 26, 2017.

2. It’s the 140th birthday of Edmund Gwenn, best known for his portrayal of Kris Kringle in the 1947 film “Miracle on 34th Street.”

To commemorate, somebody should stand at the Macy’s in Herald Square and direct people to Bloomingdale’s. Unfortunately, you can’t send them to Gimbels – it’s long gone.

3. Trump said today he’s going to Puerto Rico next week.

I’m sure the folks there will be thrilled to see him – so long as he brings some bottles of water and other forms of help.

The problem is that the storm hit the island six days ago. Six days in which the federal government, led by Trump, seems to have sat around waiting for some guidance.

That guidance came over the weekend from, among others, Hillary Clinton. She suggests sending the military to help – it’s really good at that.

What Trump could have been doing the past few days, if he was any kind of a leader, is muster support among the American people for the folks suffering in Puerto Rico. His five predecessors directed some of their fundraising efforts toward that.

Instead, he has tweeted more than 20 times about NFL players’ actions in bringing police conduct and racial inequality to national attention. Calling them sons of bitches and saying they should be fired.

He has trashed John McCain for taking a principled stand not to deprive millions of Americans of health care.

And he decided that Puerto Rico’s debt crisis had something to do with why a hurricane hit it.

I think we’re all so desperate to help the people of Puerto Rico that even this belated stuff is better than the neglect so far.

4. If you’ve been watching Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s outstanding “The Vietnam War” on PBS, you know we’re up to the Nixon years.

They echo nearly a half-century later.

The war divided the country. Support for it evaporated as people began to realize what this documentary makes absolutely clear – the war was a huge mistake, compounded by the deceit of American leaders of both parties.

Johnson knew victory wasn’t at hand when he was saying it was. Nixon sabotaged peace talks in an effort to ensure his election.

And Nixon played the people who maintained their faith in the country, turning them against those who questioned the war and the conduct of the government.

If you remember the proliferation of “Love It or Leave It” stickers on Fords and Chevys in the early ‘70s, you can see where Trump and his ilk are going with this crap about the NFL players.

It will work for the Trump faithful. They still think Hillary Clinton committed a crime somehow. They still think Trump knows how to run a business.

It won’t work for too many other people.

For one thing, protesters learned something. It’s one thing to protest violence, racial injustice and unending wars. It’s another to disrespect the country.

The NFL and other athletes have wisely chosen to express their total belief in the promise of this country. They have wisely expressed their admiration for the men and women who wear the uniforms of the armed forces, and the job they do serving the nation.

They’re also not condemning the idea of police. They’re just saying that a lot of the people who wear the uniform are not a credit to themselves or their communities.

Hopefully, we’re going to avoid the kind of divide that crippled our country through the 1970s and beyond.

Although not if Trump can help it. You get the sense he’d love to channel his inner Nixon as a way to keep power.

Even Nixon loved the country. Trump loves Trump.

1. It’s Monday, September 25, 2017

2. Holy cow, it’s the 100th birthday of Phil Rizzuto!

This isn’t a full blog post – I won’t be posting as often this fall due to the demands of my writing class.

3. But I wanted to remind everyone – perhaps even the president of the United States – that Puerto Rico isn’t just some island in the Caribbean.

It’s part of the United States.

(I know. I’ve said this before.)

So if we’re wondering when Puerto Rico is going to get help recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Maria, we’re wondering when our own country is going to help its own people.

And yet.

Trump spent a weekend going after athletes who don’t tow his line, but did nothing to rally support for people whose president he is.

The New York Times ran six stories on its front page this morning. Two stories on the protests by NFL players. One about buses in New York City. Zero about the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Ricans need our help. Big time. No place, perhaps in the history of this planet, has been devastated by a hurricane as Puerto Rico has. Its people have no power, no food, no water, no fuel – as well as a whole lot of destruction and a rising death toll.

So it’s up to us to help.

Here’s the link to Global Giving’s fund to help hurricane survivors: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/hurricane-maria-caribbean-relief-fund/ . It’s way behind its goal of $2 million – the same organization mustered $3.5 million for Harvey victims earlier this month.

Help if you can. Our fellow Americans are hurting.

1. It’s Friday, September 22, 2017.

2. It’s the first day of autumn. That stinks.

3. It shouldn’t just be up to Jimmy Kimmel to save this country from this Graham-Cassidy atrocity that looks as though it has a real good chance to pass the Senate.

But he certainly is doing heroic work, spending three of his monologues battling a bill that – for all intents and purposes – doesn’t mean much for him personally.

Kimmel has the money to pay for the care his infant son, born with a faulty heart, requires.

His point is that people who don’t have his resources should, if they were in the same circumstances, be able to get the same treatment for their baby.

Kimmel could have just kept quiet. He could have made a few snide one-liners about this bill, and maybe some of them would make one of those recaps of late night jokes you see on the morning talk shows.

But he’s gone all out – as if his baby’s life depends on it. His power is in the unselfishness of this.

Kimmel made himself the target for the bastards who think this bill is a good idea. The Internet trolls, the Trump worshippers, the people who blame the poor for standing in the way of their greed.

I don’t know if he’s going to succeed. But if he doesn’t, he hopefully will sleep better at night than the people who perpetrate this fraud – including McConnell, Graham, Cassidy, Ryan and Trump himself.

If they manage to pass this crap, this thing that will make health care an ordeal for millions of Americans, I hope they don’t get another decent night’s sleep for the rest of their hopefully short lives.

4. The events of the past month just reinforce this: Democrats seek to govern, Republicans seek to rule.

The Democrats sought the deal with Trump, the one that raised the debt ceiling and approved government spending in exchange for protecting children brought here by undocumented immigrants. They wanted solutions to problems – keeping the economy stable and taking some of the fear away from those terrified by Trump’s ending the DACA program.

That’s governing, which is what we elect people to do. I wasn’t crazy about dealing with a demon, but governing requires being a grownup sometimes, and Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are grownups.

The Republicans don’t see that. With nothing else on the agenda, they went back to health care. They hadn’t abolished Obamacare, and that stuck in their craw.

Nothing bothers Republicans like being unable to wreak havoc simply because they can. Forget that Obamacare has given millions of Americans insurance they never had. Forget that it’s working to help make the country healthier.

They oppose it. Probably because a black guy who was popularly elected President was behind it.

So they came up with this Graham-Cassidy garbage. And because of the weird Senate rules, they only have until Sept. 30 to get it passed with a bare majority – 50 votes plus Mike “Praise God But Don’t Do Anything Godly” Pence. Otherwise it’ll take 60 votes – and the Democrats, to their credit, aren’t lending any to nihilism.

There won’t be any real hearings or debate. And despite the outcry of millions of Americans – maybe even to spite it – they’ll vote for this bill.

They’ll have ruled. Their majesties will have gotten the Obamacare repeal through.

And that’s all they can say. They won’t have done anything – not a blessed goddamned thing – to improve the health of the American people.

But that’s trivial to them. They’ll have won.

If they do, keep that in mind. And keep in mind every numbskull, every sap, every shell of a human being who calls himself or herself a Republican. Every one.

Graham-Cassidy is theirs. They own it.

1. It’s Tuesday, September 19, 2017.

2. It’s Roger Angell’s 97th birthday. He’s one of the few people who’d appreciate the fact that I’m seeing two Mets games – team current record, 65-85 – in the next eight days. From better days.

3. Talk like a pirate day is idiotic.

4. Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s “The Vietnam War” on PBS is really good.

I’ve always been a fan of Burns’ work. I was wary of this one. Jazz and the Civil War and the Roosevelts are all great subjects. They weren’t as visceral to me, as much a part of my march through history, as the war in Vietnam.

So far, two of the 10 episodes have aired, taking the history through the assassination of President Kennedy in November 1963. Just before that, earlier in November, was the coup and murder of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother.

The documentary – it’s weird to call it that, since it’s so long and episodic – is likely to revisit the divisions in this country that Vietnam created. The anti-war protests. The “love it for leave it” backlash on the right. The constant lie that the war was going well and would be over soon.

In some ways, Vietnam’s worst side effect was a second American civil war, a division of the nation so sharp that, in some ways, it never recovered.

Liberals were always perceived as anti-American and loathing of the military, in part because they protested what the military did in the name of the United States.

Conservatives were seen as willing to embrace scoundrels, thugs and worse if only they wrap themselves in the American flag and sing the National Anthem, respectfully.

The only time the country seemed to come together after that was on September 12, 2001, the day after real thugs, nihilists who slandered the religion they wrapped themselves in, attacked all of us. And, thanks to a subsequent war on a country that didn’t do anything to us, that unity didn’t last.

So now we’re here.

Two sides whose animus is almost tangible. One that sees a changing world and seeks to embrace it, and I’m proudly part of that side. Another that fears the change and seeks to overturn it.

We’re now caught up in a third American civil war. How this one ends will determine the future of our children and their heirs. So “The Vietnam War” is informative and, perhaps, a guide.

5. I attended a wonderful garlic festival in Mystic, Conn., this weekend, and should have picked up some cloves for the Democrats in Congress to use.

Because the vampires on the other side have not yet given up their quest to strip millions of Americans of their health care.

The latest effort, sponsored by Republican imbecile senators Lindsay Graham and Bill Cassidy, is really close to success. It just needs 50 votes, since another piece of cheese, Mike Pence, can cast the tiebreaker.

Cassidy-Graham would replace the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, by giving states more flexibility in determining who gets coverage.

By that measure, states could allow insurers to refuse coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. They could allow insurers to charge unpayable premiums for those with pre-existing conditions.

Because it rewards the states that did not use Medicaid to help its residents pay for health care coverage, and punishes those that did, it essentially eliminates the aid that Medicaid provided people under the Affordable Care Act.

Democrats are fighting. But the base is a little tired. It’s been fighting this since the spring, and it thought this battle was over.

However, being vampires, the Republicans weren’t finished with this. Gutting Obamacare is their holy grail, and they worship at the church of Obama-hating with every waking hour.

What they don’t respect is what’s best for the American people.

We can only hope reason prevails. Because the only reason these Republicans want to do this is to show they can. There’s no benefit for the country, and that’s a criminal shame.

1. It’s Friday, September 15, 2017.

2. It’s Norm Crosby’s 90th birthday. I hope the celebration is more than he expectorates.

3. Obviously, there are some angry people this particular Friday.

Some idiot set off an improvised explosive device in the Parsons Green station of the London Underground. As of now, mercifully, no one was killed. But 22 people who were just going about their business on what is still, technically, a summer Friday are instead hospitalized with injuries.

Kim Jong Un’s pissed off too. The entire world, including countries that keep him afloat, condemned his recent spate of provocations involving missile launchings and nuclear detonations.

So he launched another missile. This time, it flew over the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Nothing fell on the island, but the sirens disturbed the early morning peace and scared more than a few folks.

And, of course, it wouldn’t be Friday if Trump wasn’t stewing. He’s hot about ESPN, of all things, because one of its hosts – using her eyes, ears and brain – came to the conclusion that he’s a racist.

Trump wants an apology. I’d say there’s little chance, but it’s amazing how far a little petulance from a guy with brain-dead followers goes, especially when your network isn’t doing well.

There certainly should be some short tempers in Florida, as the first post-Irma week winds down. More than 1.5 million people are without electricity – and the temperature in Miami as I write this is 91.

And an awful lot of people are still sifting through the mess that they call home. It must be hellacious, and you can understand why they might be a little less civil right about now.

4. I’m not sure what cures all these bad moods.

I know I’m in one, for a bunch of reasons that I won’t burden you with, and I’m having a real hard time shaking it off.

I’ve done a 4-mile run today and I’m looking forward to a lovely weekend with my wife, who’s not in a great mood herself.

Bad moods can be consuming. You sometimes live for feeding the agitation. Yes, there’s a satisfaction in having made yourself more angry. But, in fact, you’re more angry – and that can’t be good.

But I’m trying to break it. I’m writing this. I’m listening to Yes’ “I’ve Seen All Good People,” whatever it means. There’s my wife’s wonderful egg plant parmigiana for lunch. I’ll get a hair – or two – cut.

So everybody chill. It’s the last weekend of summer 2017. Can’t change that. But we can try to embrace the good and reject the evil.

Therefore I will. Have a great weekend.

1. It’s Monday, September 11, 2017.

Still can’t write that date without thinking about that day.

2. As always, my thoughts are with the people who lost loved ones that day 16 years ago.

I don’t know how they’ve made it through to 2017, but I hope their strength is forged from the admiration anyone with a heart has for them – especially today.

3. Of course, September 10 now appears to be a quite awful date in history – especially if you are or know someone who is a Floridian.

It’s going to take some time for folks to assess the damage done by Irma. Here’s to hoping that people heeded all the warnings, and that keeps down the casualty count.

The damage from the wind and the water is certainly going to be huge. But it can be fixed. Lives can’t.

4. By the way, let’s hear it for the good people of Puerto Rico.

The island didn’t get as clobbered as feared from the storm. But its neighbors to the east – the U.S. and British Virgin Islands – suffered the impact of 185-mile-an-hour winds. The devastation in some areas is said to be total.

So Puerto Ricans are doing what decent people everywhere do. They’re offering a helping hand. Coming up with supplies and evacuating those left homeless.

The conduct of these folks are what makes America great.

5. By the way, do you remember Hurricane Jose?

That was the storm that was right behind Irma in the Caribbean.

Actually, it still is the storm right behind Irma in the Caribbean.

According to the National Weather Service, Jose is going in a loop-de-loop. After a slight turn north, it will get right back on the course it was on.

And while it’s too early to tell, that course is headed for the east coast of Florida.

Jose is not, at this point, as big a storm as Irma. Winds top out at 110 miles an hour – not the 185 of Irma.

But right now, Florida doesn’t look like it could use any more water or wind. And a second storm will further tax a stretched-to-the-limit first responder system.

So let’s keep a wary eye on Jose, and hope it enjoys circling so much that it keeps doing it until it tires itself out.

6. So why is this post self-explanatory?

Irma is the second Category 4 hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in a month. Jose might be coming.

These storms are monsters. And while hurricanes are no new phenomenon, the consistent power of them are.

That, my friends, is climate change.

There are those who keep trying to deny this. Who say this isn’t the time to raise this issue.

Baloney. This IS the time to raise it. Because it’s not going to get any better. This area is still trying to recover from Sandy, a storm that hit five years ago.

How long will it take Texas to recover from Harvey, or Florida from Irma? And if storms are getting stronger, what dangers await the Atlantic coast and the Gulf States?

Only idiots deny climate change. The same idiots who thought Irma and Harvey were overblown threats.

Heed them at your peril.

1. It’s Friday, September 8, 2017.

2. It’s the 513th anniversary of the unveiling of the David, Michelangelo’s massive statue that now stands in the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence.

It’s one of the world’s most impressive pieces of human creation – Italian, of course. Hopefully, on a day like this, it’s a reminder that there will be beauty in the world again, even beauty from the hands of creatures such as us.

3. There is no good thing to be said about a Category 4 hurricane striking the heart of Florida, other than perhaps at least it’s not a Category 5 anymore.

Unless something amazing happens in the next few hours, Irma will devastate cities such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. It threatens the national playground of Orlando. People will die. Structure of all kinds will be destroyed. There will be misery and hardship for days.

There will be lots to be angry about in the days ahead. Has our failure to address climate change triggered storms that are more powerful and frequent than those of the past? Have we overbuilt in places such as Houston and Miami that are prone to these freaks of nature?

Those are good questions that need to be asked and answered. Trump and his idiots will dodge them because they don’t suit their narrative.

So let’s just hope they’re as focused as the rest of us on the safety and wellbeing of Floridians over the next few days. We will be watching – another tip of the hat to former colleagues at CNN and other networks for their courage and diligence. And we will be hoping for the best.

4. When Sandy struck in 2012, my family was faced with two big problems.

One was that we had no power for eight days. In late October-early November, that really stinks. By the eighth night, we fled for a hotel in New Jersey.

The other problem was gas. The price skyrocketed to nearly $5 a gallon – if you could find it. We spent a whole Saturday afternoon lined up for an Upper Nyack Citgo station. Police monitored the line to stop cut-ins.

At the time, I lamented our dependence on fossil fuels, shouting that there has to be a better way to power the world in the 21st century.

Since then, to the credit of the Obama administration and the governments of other nations, the world has moved closer to safer, cleaner alternatives.

I just spent a week in California, where you’re far more likely to see hybrid and electric vehicles than you are in greater New York. Driving through Ontario about four years ago, there were windmills for miles on end, and now you see them in places like New Haven and San Diego. There are solar panels everywhere.

Clearly, we haven’t come far enough. Proof is the line of traffic on Interstate 75 in Florida today. Not to mention the fact that a significant percentage of Florida gas stations are dry as millions try to flee this storm.

The fact that gas prices have tumbled in recent years, to below $2 a gallon at some times, actually hasn’t helped. People are again addicted to cheap gas – when they are, vehicles that get good mileage or don’t use gas at all tend to get passed over for the biggest honkin’ pick-up or SUV.

And, unfortunately, now that oil and coal are the toast of the Trump administration, continued progress toward making America more secure through alternative fuels can’t be expected.

So I’ll say it again. There’s gotta be something better than running the world on fossil fuels. Every time we have a storm, we’re reminded of that. Let’s see if Harvey, Irma and whatever else comes along this year helps more people get a brain.

1. It’s Wednesday, September 6, 2017.

2. It’s the 55th anniversary of the Munich Olympic massacre, when nine Israeli athletes were murdered by terrorists who had abducted them the previous day.

There are few events in history as disgusting. The only grace is the dignity with which the Israeli athletes conducted themselves in the final hours of their lives. They are the only heroes.

3. This is the day the United States begins to feel the impact of Hurricane Irma, one of the worst Atlantic storms ever.

No, it won’t hit Florida today. Florida won’t see this storm until Sunday, which it when it forecast to strike the Keys and then move on to the peninsula.

But the storm reaches our country when it either touches or skirts the United States Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico. Those people are Americans and we should be as worried about their safety and welfare as we were when Harvey was about to lash Texas nearly two weeks ago.

My fear is we won’t. Or, rather, our alleged government won’t.

This is especially true in Puerto Rico. It’s never good to get hit with a Category 5 hurricane, but it’s even worse when there’s a Category 5 financial crisis.

The commonwealth filed the nation’s largest-ever municipal bankruptcy this spring, reflecting years of economic decline that has reduced services and led to a flight of workers to the mainland.

There has been little indication that Washington is willing to help. You know Trump isn’t the least bit interested in it – especially since a golf course on the island that bore his name filed for bankruptcy two years ago.

Puerto Rico’s governor says the commonwealth has money to use to protect against the storm and begin a recovery. But a storm with winds of 155 miles an hour is going to do big-time damage to an infrastructure already crippled by a weak economy.

Coupled with a drain of talented people to help in the recovery, Puerto Rico is staring at some dismal days and weeks.

That’s something I hope we all remember when the time comes. We don’t know what damage Irma will do to Florida. But you can bet there will be massive efforts to raise funds to help akin to those that have – understandably – raised millions to help Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast.

That same effort, that same passion, is needed to help people of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands if, as feared, the worst comes to pass.

And we shouldn’t just need Carlos Beltran and Ricky Martin to tell us that. Puerto Ricans are our fellow Americans.

When they need help, they’re not foreigners.

They’re us.

4. It’s the day after Trump’s DACA Debacle and the fire is still burning. Now it’s one day less than six months until the Gestapo wannabes at ICE are unleashed on kids who’ve known no country other than the United States.

Again, it is a simple matter. There’s no crisis that warrants this abuse. There are no jobs that these people are stealing from others. There’s no rampant criminality among Dreamers, as some bubble brains spit out.

If anything, more than a few of those facing deportation are already out of the country – they’re in the uniform of the U.S. military in Afghanistan and around the world.

This is something we should at least complain about every single day, and do all we can to stop from happening on March 5, 2018.