1. It’s Saturday, January 28, 2017.

2. It is gorgeous today just north of New York City.

The sky is a perfect blue with a few unthreatening clouds. Despite a recent drought, the trees are especially green. 

Combined with Rockland Lake, which is about 50 feet in front of me, blue and green dominate my view.  There’s a little brown in the dry, soft ground. There’s the white and a touch of gray in the few clouds. And that’s it.

It’s 83 degrees this afternoon. That’s not as hot as it’s been; we had a two-week stretch when the heat index topped 100 degrees routinely. There’s a nice breeze today, maybe 6 or 7 mph, and it’s not humid at all.

But I’m sitting here in blue cargo shorts and a Mr. Met orange t-shirt and a new pair of brown deck shoes. Admittedly, the shirt doesn’t blend well with the overall background. But the Mets beat the Yankees 7-1 last night, so forgive a little joy and visual dissonance on my part.

There are people in the park. A boy about five or six riding a bike with training wheels. A young couple wheeling an infant in a stroller with a red canvas top to block out the sun. A good-sized, balding muscular guy in his 50s wearing a blue sleeveless shirt and gray shorts with his earphones planted in his ear.

I’m here to write. In the next half hour or so, I’ll pack up by black folding chair, my green cooler bag and this iPad, and head home. Tonight, I’m firing up the gas grill for these weird beef-chicken burgers I bought at Stew Leonard’s. Since it’s late Vidalia onion season, I can grill that, too. Later, I’ll scoop some vanilla ice cream into a bowl with a mess of fresh blueberries from New Jersey and some whipped cream.

The sun will set just after 8, so there’s a chance my wife and I might go back to the park.  I’ll walk around or sit in the car and reflect. My wife is still big into Pokemon Go, so she’ll be hunting augmented reality creatures and getting restocked at the park’s several Poke Stops. We’ll discuss going to the Nyack farmers’ market tomorrow and how we’ll spend a rare weekend without commitments.

3. Of course I’m not talking about January 28, 2017. I have no idea if this is a freaky mild winter’s day or something more typical – gray, cold, dark, maybe a little snow, maybe a lot.

But I wrote this on August 3 and delayed the post until now.

Why torture myself – and you – on such a winter’s day?

For one thing, to celebrate the day I’m writing this. This is as perfect as it gets, and I wanted to capture the feeling because I know it doesn’t last 365 days. I suppose today is the argument for moving to San Diego, but I’m not quite ready to leave New York with its ever-changing weather.

The other reason I wrote this in August and posted this today is to offer hope. No matter what today is like, whether it’s a miserable mid-winter day or one that’s sunny and above 40 degrees, perfect days like the one when I wrote this are on the way. 

They might take awhile. But five or six months from now, the sun will shine, it will be warm enough to dress lightly, and we’ll again be in the throes of summer. Grilling and biking and sitting by a lake enjoying the blues and greens.

So cheer up!

4. Unless…

One thing I don’t know when I post this is what happened in the election in November.

If, by some fluke, Trump won, forget everything I said. There is nothing to look forward to, and a beautiful day like the one on which I wrote this will be a sad memory of a time before madness.

Please tell me that didn’t happen.

1. It’s Tuesday, January 24, 2017. It’s the birthday of Oral Roberts and John Belushi.

2. Apparently, it really bothers Trump that he got 2,864,974 fewer votes than Hillary Clinton.

In a meeting with Congressional leaders yesterday, he repeated the flat-out lie that he would have won the popular vote if millions of illegal immigrants didn’t cast ballots.

There is no evidence of even one illegal immigrant casting a vote.

There’s lots of reasons to hate Trump – we’ll discuss one in a moment. But giving credence to your labeling him a pathological liar by pathologically lying about something easily disproved is sick. It’s a self-inflicted wound.

And it’s something to keep in mind any time he claims anything in the next 1,457 days. That number, like the 2,864,974, is also a fact. Unfortunately.

3. One of the things Trump did yesterday was sign an executive order stating the United States will no longer provide funding for international organizations that aid in legal abortions.

This was, perhaps, Trump’s way of sticking his middle finger at the 3-million-plus people who participated in Saturday’s Women’s Marches around the nation and world.

Sadly, this means these organizations – which help poor women get the health services they desperately need – must either not help those women choose whether to have an abortion or not take funds vital to their existence.

It’s an imposition of the values of the minority that won this election on the rest of the world. And, in reality, it will do nothing to stop women who feel compelled to end a pregnancy for whatever reason – health, safety or choice – from getting that abortion. 

Now, of course, there’s a better chance of that abortion being done in an unsafe manner. As one critic of yesterday’s action put it, a return to “coat hanger medicine.” And instead of being, as they say, pro-life, the proponents of this crap are actually doing more to hurt and potentially kill women.

This is the first salvo in the so-called religious right’s new drive to end legal abortion. Their hypocrisy on this stuff – see their support of a womanizing candidate for president – is plain to all.

So is the fact that no matter what happens – even if Roe v. Wade were somehow overturned – what they do won’t end abortion. Just like the 2,864,974 more people who voted for Hillary Clinton, and the fact that Trump won the Electoral College, that’s a reality that won’t change.

1. It’s Monday, January 23, 2017. It’s the birthday of Ernie Kovacs and Gary Burton.

2. We’re supposed to be getting a big-time wind-and-rain storm today.

One way you can tell the weather is off is that here, about 40 miles from the Atlantic, it smells like the beach.

Nothing major has happened around here as yet, and my understanding is the worst of this will be in New York City and on Long Island. I hope people heed the weather warnings and stay safe.

3. It appears that, even by fivethirtyeight.com’s more conservative estimate, the number of people who participated in Saturday’s Women’s Marches surpassed the 2,864,974 more voters who chose Hillary Clinton over Trump.

That’s a reason to be optimistic.

Now what’s important is whether those millions of people are willing to do what it takes to fight this occupation of our government by thieves and scoundrels.

For one thing, these people have to vote. And not just quadrennially, when the presidency is at stake.

The Republicans have attained this level of dominance the same way good teams do in baseball. In baseball, you score when you get runners on base. In politics, you win when you get people into office.

4. No office is too small. Town council. School board. Library board.

These all count. This is how Trumpistas wormed their way to dominance. They showed up on election days – whether they were in November or April – and voted when our side didn’t.

They dominate state legislatures and governors’ mansions, largely because people get to know them from town councils and school boards. By dominating at the state level, they’ve redrawn the lines so that they control the House of Representatives.

That control gave them power to go after the Senate and the White House. And now they have it all.

5. But here’s what the 2,864,974 margin should remind us: We outnumber them.

Even when they systematically exclude people who are on our side: African-Americans, Hispanics, young people, the elderly. We outnumber them by at least 2,864,974.

And we need to demonstrate that every time there’s a vote. Every time. 

If you live in a place where people who support Trump hold office, you need to vote them out. It can be a school board where members oppose paying for after-school programs or art and music curricula. It can be a town council that denies climate change by refusing to impose restrictions on plastic shopping bags. Or a state legislature that thinks fracking’s a good way to bring in a few extra bucks.

Hell, if you live in a place where people who support Trump hold office, you need to make sure there’s someone worth while to replace them.

And sometimes that person is you.

6. What I would love to see emerge from the Women’s Marches isn’t just a show of solidarity, clever signs and those knitted caps.

I would love to see many of those women run for office.

From community planning board to Congress and the governors’ mansions. All the way to the White House, again.

Our society frowns on politics. It equates it with criminal behavior.

But politics is how we determine government. And we need good, smart people doing it again.

That is what will scare the hell out of the Trumpistas.

But, once again, keep this in mind: There are 2,864,974 more of us than them. If we vote as often and as fervently as they do, and for smart people who share our values, they lose.

That’s why Trump’s crowd envy led to all those crazy statements from him and his pet spokespeople over the weekend. “Alternative facts” my ass!

There’s only one fact that matters: There’s more of us. That’s what scares them.

So congratulations to the organizers and participants of Saturday’s big success. Lots of my friends participated, and I’m proud of them.

But now the 3-plus million of you who took part and those of us who cheered them on have to do something to make that protest sting. Vote. Vote every time you have a chance. No excuses.

Organize and, while it might take up to four years, these four years will go a lot better.

It’s Friday, January 20, 2017.

That’s the first thing that’s hard to write. This day – at first thought to be impossible, then thought to be highly improbable, then thought to be certainly not happening – is now inevitable.

So I’m writing this while Barack Obama is still President of the United States.

I’ve appreciated that fact since the night of his election. I was working at CNN and never got to see the spontaneous parade on Broadway of people celebrating.

We knew his presidency wouldn’t last forever. At most, it would be eight years long, and eight years are up.

I’ve been trying to figure out what it is about Obama that makes me feel so sad at his departure from the White House.

Presidents come and go. Some you like and some you don’t. I’m a Democrat, so you can guess who my favorites are.

But Obama stands out. In a big way.

I think it’s because he, above all else, is a man of words.

You’d know this by reading “Dreams From My Father,” his memoir of his family written 20 years ago. It is compelling reading, and all the more so because it’s hard to imagine that the young man who wrote so candidly about his shortcomings and a life without a father had designs on the White House.

His speeches are brilliant. Every one of them entertaining, informative and inspiring. I should disqualify the Rutgers commencement speech I attended last year, which was still pretty damn impressive.

My favorite remains his speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march. I thought he was at his absolute best that day. http://time.com/3736357/barack-obama-selma-speech-transcript/

His words sang that day. They were, in their own way, a brag. Not about himself, but about the country he led.

“Because the single most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘We,’ he said. “We The People. We Shall Overcome. Yes We Can. It is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone.”

“Oh, what a glorious task we are given, to continually try to improve this great nation of ours,” he said.

His language reached us because it was meant to celebrate us. The words reflected his pride in his country and implored us to share it.

Obama reminds us that it is patriotic to be compassionate. It is patriotic to be generous. That America is better when it reaches than when it just grabs, when it considers others rather than tries to rule them.

What makes me sad in these final hours of this presidency is the sense of losing what is best about America. Its hopes, its ambitions and its compassion.

The people who voted for his successor couldn’t see past the smoke screen put up by his detractors, none of whom – none – can match his ability to articulate what’s best about America. We’re going from poetry to cacophony – literally in a split second.

It sucks.

So in these last moments, let’s savor the fact that Barack Obama was President of the United States. And when you’re down in the next four years – and there will be lots of opportunities to be down in the next four years – just search YouTube for a video. There are hundreds in the 2,682 days of his presidency.

And never let it be forgotten that once, in our lifetime, America had a leader who sang our hopes and aspirations. One of which is that someone like him comes along again some day.

1. It’s Thursday, January 19, 2017. It’s the birthday of Paula Deen and Thomas Kinkade.

2. It’s the last full day of the Obama administration. Also the last full day of presidential dignity.

3. Trump’s Cabinet nominees have shown few signs of surprise competence in the Senate hearings.

I’m sure that, depending on what issues are most important to you, there’s a most infuriating one in the bunch.

My vote is Betsy DeVos, the pretty much uneducated choice for Secretary of Education.

Having just helped two children all the way to their college degrees, education is clearly important to me.

Particularly public education. I happen to live in a slightly above average suburban school district. There certainly are better ones. But, as certainly, there are worse.

The idea should be that all of them can improve. Especially those that are underperforming. Education can inspire kids to achieve beyond their circumstances, and is a source of satisfaction in and of itself.

But DeVos seems to be convinced that public schools, if they’re to be tolerated, should be made to enforce a value set – her value set – which includes religious beliefs that many Americans, perhaps a majority, don’t share.

Her Senate hearing was a comedy of errors. She doesn’t know much about student loans, even though the federal government is the largest provider of them. She doesn’t much about for-profit universities, which she would need to regulate. She doesn’t understand rules about special education, which is essential to children with disabilities and challenges.

And she doesn’t understand much about violence in schools, making the laughable statement that guns should be allowed in schools in case a grizzly bear attacks.

DeVos will be approved. She and her family, the people who inflicted Amway upon the world, have donated too much money to Republican lawmakers over the years for them to turn their backs on her now.

But parents and others concerned about the quality of schools in their area – that should be, but isn’t always, everyone – are going to have to cope with four years of no help from the federal government.

That seems unfair if your kids are going through their formative education years. I wish things were different.

1. It’s Wednesday, January 18, 2017. It’s the birthday of Daniel Webster and Martin O’Malley.

President Obama leaves office with a 60% approval rating, according to a CNN poll out this morning. 

He’s probably rolling his eyes at the news, thinking where were you when I needed you?

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that a lot of people don’t like your successor. But people who haven’t completely bought into the Obama-hating crowd of the past eight years take a look at the record. And on net, they feel pretty good.

I’ll talk more about this in the next few days.

3. Obama did manage to piss some folks off yesterday.

He did it by commuting the 35-year prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, a former Army intelligence specialist who divulged documents about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to WikiLeaks. Instead of being released in 2045, Manning will get out of prison in four months.

Republicans are crying hypocrisy. They wonder how those who advocate leniency for Manning can turn around and complain about WikiLeaks’ publication of the e-mails of the Democratic National Committee and former Hillary Clinton campaign chief John Podesta.

Somehow, this seems really simple to me.

Chelsea Manning isn’t being pardoned. She is having her sentence commuted. She has served about seven years in a military prison.

Manning has been held to account. She has admitted wrongdoing. She has apologized for her actions.

She didn’t run away to Moscow (see Snowden, Edward). She didn’t hide in a Bolivian embassy (see Assange, Julian). She didn’t order the hacking of American citizens for nefarious purposes (see Putin, Vladimir).

And she didn’t attempt to capitalize on the material leaked and brag how important it was (see Trump)

I’m not excited about Manning’s release. She did something terrible, and she’s no hero to me. As Snowden is no hero, either.

But here’s the thing: At least Chelsea Manning accepted the consequences of her actions. Her beef was with the severity of the sentence and the rough treatment she received, largely because she was also transgender.

So I also don’t have a problem with her pending release. I can understand if you feel more needed to be extracted. But I don’t.

And I admit to being glad to know the information she revealed – confirming, as I always believed, the war in Iraq was bogus and stupid.

By the way, there’s been no accountability for the travesty that was Iraq. It left more than 4,000 Americans dead, thousands more crippled physically and emotionally, spurred the rise of ISIS and destabilized the Middle East.

That seems a lot more heinous than anything Chelsea Manning did.

1. It’s Tuesday, January 17, 2017.

2. It’s the birthday of the two of the three most admired women in America: Michelle Obama and Betty White. Hillary Clinton’s birthday is in October.

3. As long as I can remember, the incoming president spent the months between his election and Jan. 20 trying to reach out to the part of the nation that didn’t vote for him.

In that way, the inauguration becomes a celebration for as much of the nation as possible, which gives the new president a launching pad for his agenda.

Obviously, it doesn’t always work. Barack Obama had a huge approval rating when he took office. He had met with his vanquished opponent, John McCain, shortly after Election Day. And with an all-star concert at the Lincoln Memorial, Aretha and Yo-Yo Ma performing at the inauguration, and Beyoncé singing “At Last” at the first dance, there was a pretty good vibe.

But Republicans were determined to stop him for accomplishing as much as he wanted – and, with the help of the financial hole his predecessor dug, they did a pretty good job of it.

Now here comes Trump. Both the CNN/ORC and Washington Post/ABC polls out this morning put his approval rating at 40%. That’s 44 points behind Obama in the 2008 CNN poll. 

And the reason is simple. Trump has done nothing – absolutely nothing – in the past two months to heal the wounds he helped inflict.

He has picked a Cabinet of rogues and self-interested jerks.

He has continued to attack the media and even the woman he beat, even though she has swallowed her pride and said she will attend the inauguration as is customary for former First Ladies.

Maybe things will work in reverse. Maybe Trump will win everybody over.

Nah. That ain’t happening. This is going to be a very bumpy ride.

1. It’s Monday, January 16, 2017.

2. Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

It is a day to celebrate.

Celebrate a life devoted to justice. Celebrate the idea that in America, we work on improving the imperfect and righting the wrong. Celebrate the diversity of our nation and the way the differences work together to make a stronger, more imaginative whole.

And here’s how powerful these ideas are. Dr. King lived just 39 years. He died 49 years ago – a longer span than his lifetime – and there are those among us who believe his ideals of peaceful protest and advocating for people who aren’t getting a fair shake have more power than ever before.

The election didn’t change that. Hopefully, it rekindled that in the complacent and informed the young.

There’s plenty of reason to dread what happens after Friday. But Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a reminder than even the brutality of racial hatred can be confronted and conquered.

It starts – emphasis on the starts – with the force of a chorus of millions singing “We Shall Overcome.” Then keep going from there.

I hope all of us reflect on this day and recommit to living lives dedicated to helping others and attaining justice. Have a great MLK Day!

3. Two things I thought about reading President Obama’s interview with New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani:

— How did this guy find time to read all the books he mentions and still run the country? He is the epitome of the literate person taking what he reads to heart and mind in everyday life.

Would that we all?

— I have the over/under on the number of books Obama mentions in the interview that Trump has read at zero.

3. If you don’t understand how much of an American hero John Lewis is, take off your flag lapel pin and take your flag off your car and house. Because you don’t fully understand what that flag stands for.

Yes, the flag represents thousands of men and women who died in wars and skirmishes.

But it also represents the pursuit of justice and the willingness of some brave men and women to endure hardship and pain to achieve it.

John Lewis is awe inspiring. And if you read the reaction to what happened this weekend, you can see that even many of those who disagree with his comments about Trump respectfully understand that.

Which is why Trump picked on the wrong man.

There’s more courage and honor in John Lewis’ fingernail than Trump has in his whole body.

I was thrilled that the result of the Trump Twitter tantrum was Lewis’ books selling out on Amazon. But I don’t think the commercial reward means as much to a man with the integrity of John Lewis as the understanding that millions of his fellow Americans appreciate who he is and what he stands for.

If you want to figure out what makes America great, start with John Lewis. And work down from there.

1. It’s Thursday, January 12, 2017.

2. It’s the birthday of Christiane Amanpour and the 48th anniversary of the New York Jets’ Super Bowl III win over the Baltimore Colts.

3. Of course I’m going to say Trump’s behavior toward CNN and reporter Jim Acosta at yesterday’s news conference was despicable.

I worked at CNN for 16 years and I know how hard everyone in the organization – myself included back in the day – strived for objectivity and fairness.

If I still worked at CNN, I – as the hundreds of men and women in the network’s newsrooms around the world do every day – would have to bite back my anger and report on this slander fairly and without prejudice.

But I left CNN in October 2014 and I can say what I want.

And what I want to say is Trump and the jackasses and jennyasses who work for him are compulsive liars.

CNN did not report the details of the material in the briefing on possible Russian blackmail that Trump and President Obama received. That was BuzzFeed.

I don’t think BuzzFeed should have reported the details, because they’re not substantiated. BuzzFeed knew that and published it anyway. CNN knew that and didn’t.

Here’s the other thing: Trump confirmed what CNN reported. He said the accusations should have never been put to paper – indicated, as CNN did, that they were in fact put to paper.

So his beef is that CNN reported something that actually happened.

Is this going to be a thing with this malevolent clown for as long as he’s president? Because he’s going to have problems.

Other organizations were reluctant to come to CNN’s defense at the travesty of a news conference.

But give credit to whom credit is due. Acosta says Cecilia Vega of ABC asked the question about whether Trump’s people had contact with the Russians during the campaign, which Trump denied. And Shepard Smith of Fox News apparently came to Acosta’s defense during his program.

One more point: The juxtaposition of Trump’s freak show performance with the dignity of President Obama’s farewell address the night before is enough, as I’ve said before, to give Americans the bends.

That, I’m afraid, is where we are as the vandals of the new administration get ready to sack our nation. And the only thing we can do is try to keep them accountable.

And remind them that more people voted for Hillary Clinton than voted for Trump.

By the way, what would happen if, at exactly 10:40 a.m. EST on Jan. 20, everyone who wants Trump’s tax returns other than journalists tweeted him directly?

1. It’s Wednesday, January 11, 2017. It’s the birthday of Alexander Hamilton and Clarence Clemons.

2. Because I’m a journalism professor, I feel compelled to say this about the latest Trump development:

We don’t know the truth. So it is not ethical to jump to a conclusion. Even the intelligence chiefs who told Trump and President Obama about the claims aren’t certain they’re true.

Buzzfeed is well within its journalistic privilege to publish what it says is the report given by the intelligence community. If it is.  As a CNN alumnus, I am inclined to believe its reporting on this. 

So I’ll leave the elimination jokes – funny as some of them are – to others.

Here’s what I think is really important to keep in mind:

— Trump’s initial response to this matter – an all-caps tweet decrying fake news and a witch hunt – is idiotic.

Either he doesn’t understand the gravity of what he and his campaign are being accused of, or he understands it and thinks he can whistle past the graveyard with the same strategy that got him elected.

Not this time.

Unless he makes a serious refutation of the reports, or a serious admission to inappropriate behavior, he will not be to reassure the rest of the world that the leader of the United States isn’t a WikiLeaks revelation away from humiliation.

The people in the Baltics and in Ukraine need to know that Putin can’t blackmail Trump – this isn’t a joke to them.

— Trump’s first opportunity to refute these stories comes at tomorrow’s scheduled news conference.

He has to take that seriously; he can’t talk about dishonest media and witch hunts and fake news. He has to address the facts.

I’m not betting he will.

—  There will be some who believe the intelligence community is getting back at Trump for his recent criticism of their belief that the Russians hacked into our election.

But revealing this information doesn’t make these people look good or heroic. It makes them look bad.

It is information they should have known well before the American people voted on Nov. 8.

And it is information – this is for you, FBI Director James Comey – that far overshadows anything that might have been in a Hillary Clinton e-mail that might have been on Anthony Weiner’s old laptop.

The inability to know precisely whether these allegations are true or not is a monumental failure of organizations that are supposed to protect Americans. If the report on BuzzFeed is accurate, the Russians have been cozying up to Trump and his people for years.

Either they did or they didn’t. Why don’t we know for sure?

And because we don’t, a lot of Americans will question the legitimacy of the man taking the oath of office on Jan. 20.

3. There’s a lot to say about President Obama’s farewell speech in Chicago, and others will say it and say it well.

Here’s what important to remember:

If you watched the speech, either on TV or at McCormick Place, you watched a master of American political oratory. You watched a man whose eloquence shakes a room, who conveys confidence and trust and compassion and strength without screaming or resorting to barbs.

The speech was delivered just after 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Jan. 10.

There will be a speech delivered 231 hours later, just after noon EST on Jan. 20. It will not be given by Barack Obama.

It will be given by Trump, who will have taken the oath of office moments before.

What kind of inauguration speech will this guy give?

Despite its inevitability, it’s hard to imagine.

Will he deliver something carefully written by his people, crafted to address the ideas that brought him to this point?

Is there any chance in the world that it will be conciliatory? Or will it just be another shoutout to the voters who got him there – knowing there are 2,849,974 more who voted for someone else?

Can you imagine him tearing up at the thought of his wife, his third one? Do you imagine him signaling any parental emotion for his daughters and sons?

Or will he wing it, like his victory speech in New York in the early hours of Nov. 9? Will it ramble through incomplete sentences and unfinished thoughts? Will it be a mess? Will it insult certain people?

Will Lincoln and FDR and JFK turn over in their graves hearing it?

Last night, you saw a master of oratory. You saw someone trying to shape a future that he’ll no longer control nearly as much. You saw him try, one more freakin’ time, to reach out to people who don’t agree with him – as futile as that has been, for reasons he described too well.

The difference between 9 p.m. on Jan. 10 and noon on Jan. 20 will be stark. It will symbolize how much our world and especially our nation are about to change.

It will be quite a 231 hours.