1. It’s Tuesday, August 30, 2016. It’s 70 days until the election.

2. I don’t want to say Twitter is strange. But both Thurgood Marshall and Larry the Cable Guy are trending right now.

Are there two less likely people to be in the same sentence?

3. Can you think of anything that’s more of a waste of time than a debate about how someone marks the playing of the National Anthem?

Why does anyone care whether Colin Kaepernick stands or sits for the anthem? Did he weaken the defense of the nation? Was the gross domestic product diminished?

Now, Kaepernick says he’s making a statement by not standing for the anthem, saying he believes he can’t while there is racial inequality in the land. And he’s expressing a viewpoint, for which he’s as entitled as anyone else.

And here’s what gives his statement more power:  the whining of people complaining that he did what he did.

Here’s the proof: The football game in which Kaepernick sat through the anthem was Friday. Today is Tuesday.

We’re still talking about it. We’re still talking about the fact that one of thousands of people in a stadium didn’t stand for the two minutes it takes for whoever sang the anthem to sing it.

In fact, there’s a good chance that 50 or 60 years from now, when Colin Kaepernick leaves this vale of tears, this whole flap might be higher in his obituary than the Super Bowl game he won for the 49ers.

The National Anthem is a song. Not an especially good one, by the way – I wish Ellington, Gershwin or Brian Wilson would have come up with something better.

But because it’s the National Anthem, it is a touchstone. For some reason, people care whether other people stand or sit or take off their hat or put their hand over their heart.

They also care immensely about the performance. Jose Feliciano faced opprobrium surpassing Kaepernick’s when he sang a non-traditional version of the anthem at the 1968 World Series. 

But then we look back at Feliciano’s performance with almost reverence. And we realize that, much like the nation it represents, the anthem is different things to different people.

None of them are wrong. You are free to do what you want when the National Anthem is performed where you are. Many Americans think of the men and women who have sacrificed their lives for this country, and that’s great. Many Americans burst with pride at the accomplishments of a nation whose people are so diverse.

Then there are Americans like Colin Kaepernick, who believe America has yet to live up to the standards it has set, and that’s fine, too.

And thus I have wasted my time and yours over the past 14 paragraphs, including this one.

4. “The Producers” is my favorite movie comedy. And while Gene Wilder is the co-star and was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor, he seemed glad to let Zero Mostel, Kenneth Mars and Dick Shawn outshine him in the Mel Brooks classic.

He was clearly a talented actor. He made people laugh, and for that he made the world better.

Congratulations to Mr. Wilder on a life well lived.

1. It’s Monday, August 29, 2016. The election is 71 days away.

2. When I was a working journalist – we’re now talking two years ago – this week was considered similar to the week between Christmas and New Year’s.

It was the week most in demand for vacations, especially among colleagues with school-age kids. It was either the week to get ready for the new school year or, for the older parents, the week to send the kids off to college.

Those without kids took the week off because they could extend their time – Labor Day is a week from today, and that’s a holiday for just about everyone.

The news flow usually helped. Other people had the same family issues. So, the President – whoever he was – usually spent the week wherever he usually vacationed. Wall Street endured its quietest week of the year so far. Companies didn’t realize news. Congress was in recess.

So it was quiet.

3. Not sure if that’ll be the case in 2016.

On the plus side, for the first election year since 2004, there’s no political convention this week. Someone finally wised up to the idea that maybe there aren’t enough people paying attention this week.

On the minus side is this particular election year.

You got the guy, Trump, who seems determined to capture the news cycle no matter what. I wouldn’t put it past him to moon somebody in order to grab a headline, under the  premise that there’s no bad publicity if they spell your name right.

This weekend was a prime example. The tweet attempting to use the murder of basketball star Dwyane Wade’s cousin as a lure for African-American voters seemed almost as if someone hacked his account. It was tone deaf to the point of near sabotage.

I would think the idea that nothing like that will happen this week – heck, will happen later today – is, as they say in gambling, off the board. No one would bet against it.

Then you got the gal, Secretary Clinton. She’s going to do her damnedest to make this a no-news week. But, until she does something to put all her e-mail questions to bed once and for all, there’s always the chance that another headline that detracts her from the campaign message will grab the spotlight.

For my sake, for your sake, for the sake of my friends who are working in newsrooms while their colleagues enjoy their vacations, I hope it’s a quiet week.

It’s August 26, 2016, 74 days until the election.

And, after a one-week hiatus, it’s time for 20 Questions Friday.

I ask a bunch of questions. The reader is free to answer, or at least think about them.

Here we go:

— If you were Hillary Clinton, would you do what she did in her speech yesterday and give Republicans an opportunity to repudiate Trump’s racism, or would you have gone “You broke it, you own it” on them?

— Who is the imbecile who thought banning Muslim women from wearing burkinis on a French beach was a good idea?

— Does anyone, other than business journalists and bankers, know what’s going on in Jackson Hole, Wyo., this weekend?

— Who’s for scrapping Halloween this year? Next year? Every year from now on?

— Can you imagine the look on Shinzo Abe’s face when somebody told him the proposal for his Super Mario entrance at the Rio Olympics closing ceremony?

— Is there hope for the Mets this season?

— Do you think there are drug companies watching how Mylan jacked up EpiPen prices and wondering if they have products for which they can do the same thing?

— What was the worst year for popular music?

— Why would my local independent league baseball team here in New York’s northern suburbs hold a promotion featuring the Phillie Phanatic, the sport’s stupidest mascot?

— Should Hillary Clinton hold a news conference, or are she and the voters better served when she does interviews like the one she did with Anderson Cooper this week?

— How does a 66-year-old guy perform a 3-hour, 52-minute high energy rock show, and then come back to the same stage two nights later and perform for 3 hours and 59 minutes?

— Do older people still tell toddlers they’ve stolen their nose, or have toddlers wised up?

— Does Trump ever do a campaign appearance where he doesn’t stand in front of a podium with his name on it in big letters?

— Rudy Van Gelder died this week. Are you aware of his amazing contribution to the history of jazz?

— Why is someone leaving crickets and worms on a New York City subway car any different from someone who feels compelled to bring their dog on the train?

— Do the forces that determine value in old stuff – like, say, VHS tapes – wait until I’ve thrown the stuff out before deciding that the stuff is now really valuable?

— Will President Obama and the First Lady cringe if and when they see “Southside With You,” the movie about their first date?

— Are your kids, or the kids in your community, back in school yet?

— Am I the only person who hasn’t had a really sweet ear of corn this summer?

— Do you believe that one reason I do this question post each week is that I have trouble remembering to put question marks at the end of questions.

1. It’s Thursday, August 25, 2016. It’s 75 days until the election.

2. It’s the 100th anniversary of the creation of the National Park Service. Not only does the NPS oversee the sprawling parks such as Yellowstone and Great Smoky Mountains, but it also is custodian of monuments including the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore.

The Park Service says that, to celebrate, there are no fees from today through Sunday. I’m not sure how that works, but if you have a chance, go. Especially the parks. I’ve been to seven of them, and they are all unique experiences.

Of the seven national parks I’ve been to, the one that stands out is Haleakala in Hawaii. I think that’s as close as any of us will ever come to seeing what the moon’s like. It’s also cold, which is a word you don’t often use on the rest of Maui.

If you can’t take part in the NPS Centennial, make a note to visit a park or monument sometime soon. They’re wonderful, and among the greatest things about this country.

3. The most recent addition to the National Park Service roster was made this week by President Obama. It’s the Katahdin Woods in northern Maine.

The President, who clearly was a fan of “The West Wing,” took a page from the Jed Bartlet presidency and declared the land a national monument by use of the Antiquities Act. This way he could bypass the Republicans in Congress, who wouldn’t throw a life preserver to someone who was drowning if President Obama asked for it.

In this case, a family that made a fortune getting people to pay crazy money for lip balm – Burt’s Bees – donated the land and pledged support to make the park operational.

And, of course, Maine’s zucca of a governor, Paul LePage, raised all kinds of objections to the idea of federal control of the land. It’s amazing – these people who cry about individuals lose their freedom have a problem when individuals decide they want the nation to share in what they have.

Not sure I’ll ever get the opportunity to get to Katahdin Woods – I haven’t even been to Acadia, which is Maine’s great seashore national park. But I’m glad it’s there if I’m ever in the neighborhood.

4. Hillary Clinton called into Anderson Cooper’s CNN program last night. This was shortly after Trump accused her of being a bigot – somehow, he’s thinking there’s some way he can mitigate the almost unbelievable disadvantage he has with African-Americans and Latinos.

Cooper didn’t softball anything with Clinton. But she stayed pretty true to her honed answers on such matters as the Clinton Foundation and why she hasn’t held news conferences in nearly a year.

There was also an exchange on the e-mail questions. The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza thought it was her best response to this matter yet.

Here’s what she said: “I have been asked many, many questions in the past year about emails, and what I have learned is that when I try to explain what happened, it can sound like I am trying to excuse what I did. And there are no excuses. I want people to know that the decision to have a single account was mine. I take responsibility for it. I apologize for it.”

That’s good. For starters.

What she really needs to do is go into detail. Explain why she did it. Explain why she now understands it was not the right thing to do. Explain that it doesn’t matter what Colin Powell or Condoleezza Rice or, had there been e-mail at the time, George Washington did. And explain what she’ll do to make sure she and others don’t do anything like that again.

Once she does that, she’ll have really done all she can to get this over with. Calling Anderson Cooper or Rachel Maddow or whoever and repeating the long quote three paragraphs up won’t really do that.

1. It’s Wednesday, August 24, 2016. It’s 76 days until the election.

Of all the disasters that can befall us on this planet, earthquakes rank among the most capricious.

Yes, we know where the major fault lines lie. And Italy, devastated by this morning’s quake, is as prone to them as any place in the world.

But we have no idea when and how hard they’ll hit. They’re not like hurricanes, which we can track for days and warn people to get out of the way.

I suppose we could tell people not to live in earthquake-prone areas. A lot of folks avoid the whole state of California for that reason.

And yet, people choose to live where the ground tends to shake. For whatever reasons. And there’s nothing they can do when their devil’s bargain goes sour, and the lives they’ve created are reduced to rubble.

So today is a sad day. At this writing, there are at least 73 people dead, hundreds more injured, many still trapped in the ruins of what were gorgeous villages.

The people in the area will most likely rebuild their communities, because that’s what they’ve done for hundreds of years. They’re also Italians, which makes them a little hard-headed – I can say that. We can only wish them the best, and mourn those lost in a random moment when the earth shook.

2. If you know or – in my case – love someone who needs to carry an EpiPen, you understand that there’s no price too high for these potentially life-saving devices.

But that’s because I’m willing to go into bankruptcy so that I have the peace of mind that, should my wife ever need the epinephrine injection to save her life, she’s got it. A lot of folks who need – or whose kids need – these devices can’t or won’t do that.

Unfortunately, you know who else understands this. Mylan Labs, which makes the EpiPen. It has jacked up the price for a two-pack of the injection devices to more than $600 from about $100 less than a decade ago.

Now I know how inflation works. Using the government’s Consumer Price Index inflation calculator, something that cost $100 in 2007 should cost a little more than $116 this year. 

So, basically, EpiPens have risen more than 300 times faster than everything else.

Does that seem logical?

So the people at Mylan have a little explaining to do. It’s good to see that members of Congress from both parties are interested in getting their – and our – questions answered about this.

Maybe there’s something about the ingredients of epinephrine, or the composition of the injectable device itself, that warrants price increases this steep.

But if this is just a Martin Shkreli-style money grab, then Mylan needs to get the demonization it deserves. Hopefully, starting with its stock, which is down more than 7% in the past five trading days.

The rest of the pharmaceutical industry needs to show Mylan the back of its hand, too. Because all this is going to do is strengthen the hand of those who want to find ways to bring down drug prices that won’t make the industry happy at all.

Please don’t give me the crap about free markets and risk-taking and insurance coverage and fiduciary duties to shareholders. That’s not going to cut it with a family whose kid will die if it can’t afford access to an EpiPen.

At some point in this freaking century, the greed has to stop. Hopefully, the EpiPen Scandal of 2016 will help do that.

1. It’s Tuesday, August 23, 2016. It’s 77 days until the election.

2. The latest Hillary Clinton e-mail stuff reenforces what I’ve said for months: She needs to get past this.

Because it’s not enough for Trump to lose this election. She has to win it.

What I mean is that people should want to vote for her as much as they don’t want Trump anywhere closer to the White House than that hotel he’s building on Pennsylvania Avenue and 12th Street.

And the e-mail thing gets in the way. It makes it seem like there’s something she’s hiding.

The latest revelations aren’t particularly damning, but they do paint a picture of people involved with the Clinton Foundation trying to influence the then Secretary of State.

So, even though it appears she and her campaign aren’t listening to me, let me try this again:

3. Get it all out there. Now.

Yes, you might think there’s nothing to hide. But some of the people who are voting for you reluctantly have questions.

Answer them. Answer them the way you did when you answered every single damn question that the morons at the Benghazi committee threw at you for 11 hours.

That, Secretary Clinton, is when you shine. You put these imbeciles away and you make people realize, yet again, why you’re the good guy. That you are trying to do the people’s work and those who stand in your way aren’t.

Do a serious one-hour interview with a real journalist, a Gwen Ifill or Scott Pelley. Let them ask any question they want. Answer them all. With the truth – don’t try to fudge or play word games.

Or do a news conference, and let it go as long as it needs to. Two hours? No problem. Answer every question. Answer questions from Breitbart and Daily Caller and Fox News and anyone else. Stand there and stand firm. Tell the truth. Admit mistakes. Apologize for leaving the wrong impression or mishandling the situation.

And while you’re at it, try to blunt whatever it is that WikiLeaks might try to leak out just before Election Day in an effort to embarrass you, your husband and/or President Obama. Get whatever’s questionable, whatever’s iffy, whatever’s whatever out there ahead of the bastards who would bring you down.

Then, you can win this election on what really matters. The issues. Who will handle the economy best. Who will protect the nation best. Who will advance our society and raise our standard of living.

Those are the things about which Trump has no clue. You do. That’s what we should be talking about.

Not, as Bernie Sanders would say, your damn e-mails.

4. The heatwave that gripped greater New York the past few weeks has broken. But with the cooler temperatures comes the realization that summer is winding down.

I hate that. I love summer. I love the light. I relish the warmth, even when it’s a little excessive. So I always sense a tinge of sadness when the weather turns cooler. There’s the realization that this doesn’t last forever, unless you live in San Diego or Miami.

There are many places where kids are already back in school. Personally, I think going back to school before Labor Day borders on criminal, but I guess so does keeping them in school past the first day of summer at the other end.

1. It’s Monday, August 22, 2016. The election is 78 days away.

2. I’m going to miss the Rio Olympics. And I’m not.

It was fun to watch these sports that you don’t see all the time. I saw more water polo and table tennis in the last two weeks than I saw in the 62.3 years prior.

But then, there’s a reason you only watch these sports every four years. They’re not so compelling as to make you wonder where the nearest water polo match will be taking place.

Then again, if the Olympics whetted (or wetted) your appetite for water polo, the NCAA men’s season is about to get underway. The women – who, from their gold medal in Rio, appear to be better at the sport – play in the spring.

3. President Obama goes to Louisiana tomorrow to see the aftermath of the recent flooding first hand.

I don’t think he’s going there in order to placate his critics who say he cravenly ignored the flooding while on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. While he might have not been there in person, his administration is working hard to get aid to people, with FEMA expanding its relief effort again today. 

I think Obama’s going to Baton Rouge tomorrow because this is the right time to do it. Because his visit might actually comfort, rather than inconvenience people, which is the goal.

4. Strangely though, last week might have been the right time for Trump’s visit, even though it might seem to some as though he was there to make political hay.

Because here’s the thing: Trump’s obsession with being at the top of the news every single day has obscured important stories that are out there languishing for attention.

The flooding in Louisiana is just the biggest of several. The wildfires in California, the unrest in Milwaukee, the economic crisis in Venezuela, the turmoil in the Philippines and the ongoing battle against the Zika virus are also stories lost in the fog of Trumpmania – and, to be fair, the Olympics.

But the Olympics are now over, so that distraction is gone. And maybe as part of his reset, under new campaign management, Trump might be trying to get people to focus on real issues instead of what stupid thing he did. Going to Louisiana to spotlight the crisis there might be a way to do that.

Then again, this morning, Trump acted like a neighborhood biddy in gossiping about two morning news show hosts. So maybe that reset isn’t going so well.

5. By the way, in case you need a reminder about what’s at stake in Louisiana, here’s a terrific piece from Saturday’s “All Things Considered” on NPR.  

It features a woman who is dealing with the devastation of flooding in her life for a second time. She was a victim of Hurricane Katrina 11 years ago.

It is heartbreaking to hear. But it’s important to hear. Because when we see the news, sometimes we forget that it involves real people and real problems.

The flooding in Baton Rouge is a reminder. Not a welcome one, but a reminder nonetheless.

1. It’s Wednesday, August 17, 2016.

2. Is this guy who’s taking over the Trump campaign, Stephen Bannon, quitting his job as Breitbart’s executive chairman?

Why bother? Just formally annex Breitbart, um, News to the campaign. Or vice versa.

3. Apparently, this shake-up is happening because Trump’s poll numbers remain low. 

And, of course, Trump sees it this way: He’s not putting enough Trumpness into the race, going easy on anyone who says “No” to his predestined march to the White House.

It’s time for Trump to take off the gloves and be a man. Stop playing patty-cake with Mexicans, Muslims and Hillary Clinton.

That’s what Putin would say. That’s what Roger Ailes says. That’s what Rudy Giuliani says. And Trump probably can’t get three better examples of real men.

Let it ride, Trumpy. Let it ride.

4. One of the casualties of Trump’s dominance in the news is the fact that real stories getting short shrift.

One of them is the flooding in Louisiana, following 20 inches of rain in two days.

The numbers are staggering: 40,000 homes destroyed. 30,000 people rescued. At least 11 people have died so far.

To describe the flooding as some of the worst in the state’s history underscores how bad this is. This is the state that suffered through Katrina more than a decade ago.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune’s Web site has links to charities that are taking donations to help the people of this region. 

Louisiana’s floods. California’s wildfires. Venezuela’s economic collapse.  

All important stories that are ongoing. All lost in the Trumpian fog.

Yes, news organizations bear a lot of the blame. They could try to focus on these stories.

It just doesn’t seem to last. Trumpmania’s sustenance is the daily train wreck – today, it’s the campaign shakeup, last week had President Obama founding ISIS. Newsrooms find it hard to turn away.

5. The cancellation of Larry Wilmore’s “Nightly Show” isn’t a shock, but it’s a disappointment.

The biggest problem from the outset has been the format. Despite Wilmore, who’s a genuinely funny guy, the show always feels like Bill Maher’s “Real Time” on HBO or even one of those stupid point-counterpoint panels that make up way too much of cable news.

You never see “Nightly Show” bits trending on social media the way other late-night comics do. Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and James Corden are masters of this. Even working from the less popular TBS, Samantha Bee and Conan O’Brien occasionally score online. Trevor Noah’s getting better.

But Wilmore and the “Nightly Show” were just too in the weeds to get the kind of traction that makes people watch clips over and over again.

Certainly, you can give it credit for being high-minded. But high-minded might not be what people are looking for at 11:30 p.m.

It hoped that there’s something out there for Wilmore’s outsized talent. And the complaint that there isn’t enough diversity on late-night television is valid.

So maybe, Comedy Central, it’s time to think about something involving women.

6. I’m not planning to write the rest of the week, although there’s an outside chance of a 20 Questions Friday. Enjoy the remainder of the Rio Olympics, and go USA!

1. It’s Tuesday, August 16, 2016. It’s 84 days until the election.

2. Northwestern’s Jordan Wilimovsky finished fifth this morning in the Olympic event the fewest people would want to take part in: the 10-kilometer men’s open water swim off Copacabana Beach in Rio.

The finish of this race was crazy. About 10 guys finished seconds apart after 6.2 miles in the water. So, while I’m sure Wilimovsky is disappointed about not getting a medal, we Wildcats are proud of this young man.

3. Expecting the Affordable Care Act to work perfectly in its first decade seems unreasonable.

There have been great successes in the two years since implementation: a sharp reduction in the number of uninsured Americans, the end of disqualifying preconditions, free physicals, among other things.

But there are still a few bugs in the system. Today’s decision by Aetna to pull out of hundreds of healthcare exchanges is one. The company says the markets it’s leaving are a drag on its earnings.

Aetna becomes the third company to pull back from the exchanges. Humana, whose acquisition by Aetna is opposed by the Justice Department on antitrust grounds, and United Healthcare have also withdrawn significantly from this key aspect of Obamacare.

Since the enactment of the law, these companies have seen a significant increase in revenue, and their stock prices have surged. There’s something in Obamacare for them. And they need to figure it out, because their actions will just increase the clamor for a single-payer system – which could leave them on the outside looking in.

The Aetna announcement might just be a negotiating ploy with the administration. But with the 2017 sign-up not that far away, playing around with Americans’ health care isn’t a great way to endear yourself to them.

1. It’s Monday, August 15, 2016. It’s 85 days until the election.

2. I always root for the Americans in the Olympics. Except last night.

It’s hard to root against Usain Bolt. It’s not bragging if you can do it. And last night, fighting age and eight other guys out to stop him, he proved he’s the fastest man in the world again.

That he does it with the flair he does it makes it just that much more entertaining.

He’s the pride of his homeland (although, and this is for you, Bob Costas, he’s still no Bob Marley!) and it’s easy to understand why. Good for Jamaica. Good for Bolt.

3. Trump is unveiling his anti-terrorism plan today.

Supposedly, the plan includes a longer questionnaire that asks a potential immigrant’s intentions, including their views on “tolerance” and “pluralism,” according to The New York Times.

Which means the only people who will get past the questionnaire are the ones who will be trained by terrorist groups to get past the questionnaire. Real refugees, people looking for a better life after fleeing the horrors of Syria and Iraq, aren’t going to be particularly good as nuances of democracy.

Let’s see if Trump finds a way to turn the unveiling of his plan into yet another campaign blunder. That’s what he’s good at.

4. In a normal presidential campaign, the revelation that Trump’s campaign manager might have taken money from people accused of subverting the government of Ukraine would be a devastating blow.

But what the Times reports today about Paul Manafort probably doesn’t make Trump’s top 25 blunders.

Maybe Trump should make Manafort take his questionnaire, asking about “honesty.”