1. It’s Saturday, June 25, 2016.

2. Not excited about the expected return of Jose Reyes to the Mets.

For one thing, he’s not the same physically as he was in those glory years of the mid to late ‘00s. There are not going to be a lot of triples, even in a ballpark originally built for him to hit them.

But more important, I’m not comfortable with rewarding a guy with a homecoming after a domestic violence arrest. The Oct. 31 incident, in which Reyes was accused of grabbing his wife by the throat and pushing her into a sliding glass door, resulted in no conviction because his wife declined to cooperate with authorities.

I understand that Reyes that, whatever the circumstances, hasn’t been convicted of a crime. He has the right to pursue his career.

Just don’t expect me to give him a warm welcome. Let’s see how serious he is about remorse for the incident before fans start singing the “Jose” version of “Ole, Ole, Ole” again.

3. The postmortems about the Brexit vote continue. My favorite, by the way, is the one in which people who voted “Leave” were just registering a protest and weren’t serious about it.

Surprise!

4. One interesting fact that’s emerged is that older Britons overwhelmingly supported leaving the European Union while younger ones and those who live in London turned out en masse to vote “Remain.”

The breakdown is stunning, and yet not surprising.

Older people don’t generally react well to change. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe it’s because the changes in their lives are generally negative. Their health is worse. Their kids have left the house. They can’t work the new-fangled technology. Their idea of what’s good in a movie, TV show or song is now out of style, relegated to oldies channels.

So there’s a projection, perhaps, that this change isn’t good, and maybe they should do something about it.

Their problem is that they think static is good and reverting is better. The key word in “Make America great again” isn’t “great.” It’s “again,” as if some utopia has been lost in all the change. Whatever happened to flip phones? Why are there all these replays in baseball? Why are those people speaking Spanish?

But if you’re young, it looks different. This is OK. But it’ll be even better when. When Apple works out the bugs. When you can be exactly who you want. When you create more energy than you use. When this Peruvian dish is available everywhere. When you can pick up a few Korean words.

What the British vote on exiting the European Union was about, and the U.S. election is shaping up to be about, is whether or not we as a nation are up to the idea of handling rapid change. Not just in technology – that’s been changing constantly forever. Can we change how we think about our neighbors, about the makeup of our population? Can we change how we think about the way people live and make it sustainable in a world that isn’t going to stand still?

Young people aren’t threatened by the idea that the world is changing. They embrace it and adapt.

The Brexit vote infuriates young people because they were doing just fine, thank you, taking on the challenges. In fact, they were loving it. If anything, they want things to be better.

It’s the same in the U.S. This country, one forged in a revolution that embraced all the new ideas of its time, fails if it stops embracing the challenge of the future.

Young people are ready to do that. And, even though I’m fast being an old guy, I’m on their side.

It’s Friday, June 24, 2016.

Well, the cranky old man on the train in “A Hard Day’s Night” won after all.

I didn’t think Brexit would happen. I didn’t think the English people – let’s distinguish who actually did this from the Scots and the Irish – wanted to play down to the stereotype of being closed-minded, stuck-in-the-past bigots.

But they did.

I have some quick thoughts:

1. Just 13-1/2 months ago, David Cameron won big time. The Conservatives romped over divided opposition and formed a government completely without the Liberal Democrats they need five years earlier.

Now, he’s headed out of 10 Downing Street. He received an unusual “no confidence” vote – from the people, not his fellow members of Parliament. And, as happens when your power relies on people agreeing with you all the time, you lose the authority to lead.

Hard cheese, as they say over there, because tough luck is too obvious.

2. As everyone predicted, world financial markets took a body blow from the British vote. The Dow fell more than 600 points. Stocks tumbled more than 3% in London, nearly 7% in Frankfurt and 8% in Paris.

Paul Krugman in The Times isn’t worried about the impact of the financial markets as much as he’s worried about the economic effect on the U.K., which will now have outsider status in its trade dealings with its biggest partner.

But here’s the thing about the impact on financial markets:

Yes, they’re resilient. The money that dropped from everyone’s 401(k)s during the 2008 crisis came back and then some. So, even though I’m a retiree who’s counting on my savings for food and medicine at some point, I’m not calling my broker and screaming at him to save me.

But, days like today do nothing to inspire confidence in financial markets. People remember the big hits, and – even though they’re likely to get the money back – they don’t like the nausea they get watching their portfolio’s value diminish.

It’ll be another grievance that feeds the kind of dissatisfaction that led to yesterday’s vote.

3. Here’s a message to Trump supporters: Today is a mere annoyance next to what will happen to markets if you commit political suicide and elect that maroon.

One of the things that’s happen in today’s market is that investors are fleeing to the safety of U.S. currency and government debt.

That’s the blessing of the world’s most stable economy. That’s what’s meant by the full faith and credit.

That’s what Trump doesn’t understand.

He sees debt as something you negotiate, or just get out of all together. He has said that it doesn’t matter, because the government prints money.

So if that debt isn’t worth what we say it is, people will flee from rather than to it. A world that already has few safe havens would lose what everybody thinks is the safest.

It’s a bad day when investors think China, with a government that always seems to be guessing what to do, is more stable than the United States. And that bad day would be Nov. 9 if the election goes the wrong way.

1. It’s Tuesday, June 21, 2016.

2. It’s summer. The days are long. The weather is warm. It’s the best.

But my glass-half-empty side reminds me that, starting tomorrow, the days get shorter. The darkness is coming back. So savor the light, the 5:15 am sunrises and bright spots in the sky after 9 pm (Or even 10 in some places). Alas, they go away.

3. I’m afraid I knew the Senate would choke on the idea of even a micromeasure of gun control. Proposals that would have required background checks on all sales and prevented sales to anyone on a no-fly list died in the votes sought by their Democratic sponsors.

But here’s what I think: It’s better to have these votes than to sit and wring hands every time there’s a horrific massacre. “Thoughts and prayers” has become a punchline. Democrats should keep voting – put the idiots on the other side on record as being in favor of mass murder.

It’s should be a badge of honor that you’ve voted three times, five times, 10 times, as many times as it takes to get sensibility in our gun laws. Make the bastards at the National Rifle Association spend themselves into insolvency.

The tendency after these votes fail is to slink away and shrug. Don’t do it. Because, and it gives me incredible sadness to say it, there’s another shooting incident days away. There always is, and always will be as long as this country does nothing about this sickness.

4. “Remain” has taken the lead over “Leave” in polls ahead of Thursday’s vote on whether the U.K. should leave the European Union.

That might be because of the determined effort of Remain supporters.

I follow J.K. Rowling on Twitter and her passion on the Brexit vote rivals Harry Potter’s determination against Lord Voldemort.

Today, soccer star David Beckham weighed in on why Britain should stay. “We live in a vibrant and connected world where together as a people we are strong,” the world’s best-known soccer star said on Instagram. “For our children and their children we should be facing the problems of the world together and not alone.”

And who’s on the other side? Some cranky politicians who sound like the disagreeable man on the train in “A Hard Day’s Night.” And a guy who gave his name in court as “Britain First, Death to Traitors” when charged with killing lawmaker Jo Cox last week in Birstall.

You might be angry about certain things going on in the U.K. But when you see that the others on your side are crabs and murderers, you might have a second thought: If those dregs on my side, am I on the right side?

We’ll find out in two days whether this reassessment of who’s on your side leads to sanity in Britain and support for Remain.

5. This same sort of reassessment might happen in the U.S. presidential campaign.

White supremacists, anti-Semitic scum, gun violence worshippers and other lowlifes have shown their sympathies to Trump in this campaign.

Now, I understand that there are few people who are persuadable at this point – one new poll says only 22% of voters believe they could change their mind.

But, if you’re backing Trump, you might at some point check who’s with you on this.

It’s not pretty. Anyone who’s a lock to get a big thumbs-down at the pearly gates. No one who appreciates a summer sunrise, Lebron James’ shot block in the NBA Finals or a good potato knish.

That day of consideration is still 4-1/2 months away, and there are Americans so filled with bile that these people actually look OK to them.

But eventually, people who say they want to make America great again will have to decide if folks who’ve done everything they can to betray the country will be their teammates. Like their counterparts in Britain, they might have second thoughts.

1. It’s Friday, June 17, 2016.

2. Earlier this week, former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe tweeted out the following: It is not enough to simply beat Trump. He must be destroyed thoroughly. His kind must not rise again.

I don’t know Mr. Plouffe, so I can’t say which Trump outrage sparked that particular reaction. Was it patting himself on the back for “predicting” the Orlando nightclub massacre? Was it reiterating the proposed restrictions on Muslims? Was it the implication that his former boss – you know, the guy who had the guts to get bin Laden when the evidence wasn’t overwhelming – was implicit in this terrorism?

Or was it all of the above, and maybe even more?

There are times when I ask myself why this makes as angry as it does. I’ve been following presidential politics since I was 6 years old and rooted for JFK. I’ve lived through Nixon, Agnew, George Wallace, Reagan, George W. Bush, Cheney and other miscreants.

But I think I’m coming to understand.

We live in a nation that elected an African-American President and Indian-American governors in Louisiana and South Carolina, and saw an Italian-American woman become Speaker of the House. Its heroes include Oprah Winfrey and Muhammad Ali and Lin-Manuel Miranda. It celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision a year ago that marriage is a right guaranteed by the Constitution to anyone regardless of the gender of their partner.

But there are those who aren’t crazy about all that. Because none of the above could have happened when I was born 62.2 years ago. The 1950s America that was so great it needs to be made that way again was exclusive and available to a few.

Here in the suburbs, I live around those people. They’re angry about losing privilege, and can’t brook the idea that they need to share the bounty of this country who don’t look or sound like them. They’ve refused to see change as good and necessary for a nation to flourish.

Trump taps into their anger. Big time. He gives it license. The horrific reports of the behavior of people at his rallies, with their misogyny, racism and out-and-out hatred – behavior he stokes rather than quells. 

Trump’s fan club might have some legitimate beefs about the impact of trade on their jobs. Their opinions on real issues, while I agree with not a single one – have the right to be heard.

But the rise of this jackass has brought out the latent hatred in our country. It’s been dormant, not dead, after all we think we’ve been able to celebrate.

It’s pathetic. And it needs to be shown that it’s irrelevant to 21st century America – a country that whose majority with an amalgam of what we now call minorities. Being white will become one of them.

Change is coming. These folks can either learn to adapt and make peace with it, or get stomped with it.

So I more than second David Plouffe’s sentiment. I take it further.

I don’t merely want Trump to lose. I want his defeat to be historic.

I don’t want to see Trump win a single state. In fact, I would love if we could admit 10 more states that he could also lose. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, at least temporarily. East Dakota. Old Jersey. We could borrow New Brunswick from Canada and Chihuahua from Mexico.

I’m willing to have Hillary Clinton only take enough electoral votes to be elected President for sure. I’d give states to Gary Johnson of the Libertarians and Jill Stein of the Greens and even some write-ins.

As long as Trump and his ilk get nothing. Nothing but the scorn of the majority of the American people, and consignment to the sections of history books where this country’s worst enemies reside in infamy.

3. I’ll try to go back to talking about real issues next week.

1. It’s Thursday, June 16, 2016.

2. David Wright has been the face of the Mets since pretty much the day he stepped into the uniform in 2004.

Alas, his long string of injuries – including his attempt to play through spinal stenosis that might cripple other people – seems cruel to both Wright and fans who root for him and the team.

The announcement that he is undergoing surgery to repair a herniated neck disc is one more blow to a man who has represented the Mets with strength, pride and class.

I would love nothing better than to see David Wright back on the field for my favorite team, and I’m sure he’ll give it his best. He always does.

3. A British member of Parliament was killed today while meeting with constituents in Birstall, about 200 miles northwest of London.

A 52-year-old man is under arrest, the BBC reports.

The incident involving the Labour MP, Jo Cox, comes amid the heated referendum campaign over whether or not Britain will withdraw from the European Union. Cox, who was 41, supported Britain remaining in the EU.

The campaign is an echo of what we’re seeing here with the Trump phenomenon – it’s surprising that the supporters of Brexit don’t wear red baseball caps reading “Make Britain Great Again.” In this case, the ease in which people can immigrate between EU nations is making Britons – especially the English – anxious.

The Brexit vote is a week away. Much as it would be a tragedy if the United States disengaged with the world by following Trump, it would be bad for Europe and the World if the United Kingdom acts out of fear and does the same.

4. As a liberal Democrat, the idea of filibustering in the U.S. Senate is unsettling. The filibuster has most famously been used by racist Southern senators to kill civil rights legislation in the 1950s and 1960s.

But then there was yesterday. And while it might seem hypocritical to some, there certainly were differences to the talkfest staged by Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and other Democrats – and, yes, one Republican.

For one thing, yesterday’s filibuster was aimed at advancing, not stopping, legislation. In this case, it was an effort to get a vote on two measures that would at least try to stem some of the mass shootings we’ve seen in this country.

For another, instead of holding the floor by reading recipes or “A Tale of Two Cities,” the Democrats actually spoke to what they believe about the epidemic of gun violence. 

5. Murphy and a lot of other people are revolted by the notion that “thoughts and prayers” are the only thing Congress can offer after an atrocity such as occurred Sunday in Orlando.

Congress can actually try to do something. It can pass legislation to try to keep weapons out of the hands of people who would commit such acts. And while I don’t think it seems like too much to ask, it can also limit the type of weaponry available to that which you wouldn’t use in a war zone.

The two measures Murphy and the Democrats want a vote on would restrict sales of weapons to people on terror watch list and would expand background checks for buying a gun. They’re pretty weak compared to what’s needed, but, hey, you gotta start somewhere.

The Times’ story on the filibuster took a very skeptical tone. Murphy ended his filibuster after nearly 15 hours when he said there was an agreement for a vote on the proposals. But the Times says there probably would have been votes anyway, since it’s impossible for the Republicans leading the Senate to vote on anything without Democratic complicity.

But while the filibuster went on, it was a sight to behold. Murphy and most of his colleagues offering the arguments for why something needs to be done. Why it’s unacceptable that this country hasn’t acted to curb these mass killings.

Orlando is the biggest so far, with 49 victims. Because it took place at a gay nightclub, it reeks of homophobia. Because the shooter’s ancestry was Afghan and he claimed allegiance to ISIL, it hints at terrorism.

But what it really is is some warped mind who got his hands on a semi-automatic weapon and killed people because he couldn’t think of anything else worth doing.

6. The filibuster was great. But I’m still skeptical.

We talk a lot about doing something when these killings occur. Yet, if the nation didn’t do anything after the killing of elementary school kids in Connecticut in 2012, it won’t do anything when the victims are at church, a holiday party, a college or a nightclub.

I’m hoping to be proven wrong.

1. It’s Wednesday, June 15, 2016.

2. I was just in a dentist’s chair, undergoing a procedure requiring 20 shots of Novocain.

I’d still rather endure that than sit on a bus stuck outside the Lincoln Tunnel for over an hour, as apparently happened this morning when a truck overturned on the helix entering the tunnel.

3. Every time I’ve been to Disney World, I’ve heard hotel workers, golf course workers, lifeguards, pool attendants and boat operators warn about the possibility of alligators. In particular, they advise not wading into ponds, lagoons or lakes. There are even signs posted warning not to go into the water.

But not everyone gets the word. Last night, a 2-year-old from Nebraska got dragged into a lagoon near the Grand Floridian, one of the most lavish of the hotels around the Magic Kingdom.

It seems unlikely that this story will end happily. I feel for the family.

4. I didn’t know that anyone harbored the idea that soldiers – American or Iraqi – got rich taking U.S. money earmarked for the effort to topple Saddam Hussein.

It doesn’t matter if Trump meant that American soldiers took the money, as it first sounded to those reporting it. Or that he meant Iraqi soldiers – our presumed allies – as he later had his mouthpiece try to explain.

He’s basically maligned people who put their lives on the line in support of the United States. If he really meant Americans, I wonder how that plays with those who believe he’s an advocate for veterans. And with so many real issues in this country, why would anyone sane raise this now?

It used to be that casting aspersions on our people in uniform, even accidentally, was a death blow to someone running for office. Welcome to the bizarre world of 2016.

5. Many years from now, I hope American history classes watch President Obama’s comments on terrorism yesterday to see how a real leader acted in the early 21st century.

The President took his critics to task in so thorough a way that, in the 24 hours since, their only whine can be that he seems more angry at them than the guy who murdered 49 people in an Orlando bar Sunday morning.

In particular, the President went off on the ridiculous notion that he doesn’t understand the terrorism problem because he refuses to use the term “radical Islam.” As if, as he pointed out, just saying those words will make the problem go away, or the forces combatting terrorism stronger.

“There has not been a moment in my seven and a half years as President where we have not able to pursue a strategy because we didn’t use the label “radical Islam,” Obama said, according to a transcript from The Washington Post. “Not once has an adviser of mine said, “Man, if we really use that phrase, we’re going to turn this whole thing around.” Not once.”

He said the implication that not saying “radical Islam” is hampering the fight against ISIL, as the President calls it, or al-Qaeda, would surprise those who’ve been involving during his administration – including the guys who nailed Osama bin Laden five years ago.

6. And why won’t the President use the phrase? Maybe because the phrase itself implies that the nation’s 3.3 million Muslims and the world’s 1.6 billion are complicit with the action of people who hide behind the mantle of the religion to commit murder, rape and other despicable acts.

“That’s their propaganda, that’s how they recruit,” Obama said of terrorists. “And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush, and imply that we are at war with an entire religion, then we are doing the terrorists’ work for them.”

7. There was so much more to his comments – his blasting of Trump for proposing a ban on Muslims entering the country, the idea that some Republicans have proposed putting Muslims under special surveillance. And his pointing out that such ideas are completely counter to both our values as a nation and the fight against real terrorists.

His anger showed in his expression and voice. It was a masterful putdown of people who have been trying – and failing – since 2009 to delegitimize this president.

Obama’s bet is that his critics will be consigned to the ignominy that others similarly short-sighted and foolish endure in our history. The silliness of his critics will be their shame to bear throughout time.

Hopefully starting on Nov. 8, when the Republican presidential nominee gets his ass kicked.

1. It’s Tuesday, June 14, 2016.

2. It’s Flag Day. On this day in 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the 13-star version of the flag we use today.

3. Of course, by order of President Obama, flags that can be have been lowered to half-staff to commemorate the 49 people gunned down early Sunday at a nightclub in Orlando. I’m not sure if this is the first of the 240 anniversaries of the flag’s adoption that it’s been flown at half-staff.

But I’m sure it’s not the first time the flag has been lowered to commemorate a mass shooting. In fact, it seems to happen all the goddamn time.

As Trevor Noah pointed out on the Daily Show last night, President Obama has given 16 briefings following mass shooting events during his 7 years and 5 months in office. He’s only given 12 state dinners for visiting leaders. 

Noah was one of the late-night comics, including Samantha Bee on TBS and John Oliver on HBO, who gave somber-with-a-touch-of-bite opening remarks on their show. Their general message was the same as the President’s, asking if these shootings are an indication of the kind of country we want to be.

4. But the only thing different about Orlando is the nature of the target.

And let’s face facts – this country let 26 children and teachers die in an elementary school classroom without doing a whole lot to change the ease in which sick people get semi-automatic weapons.

What’s another 49 people, most of them Hispanic and gay. Whose fatal flaw was having a good time on a weekend?

5. When I thought over the past week about issues, I was trying to think what to me is No. 1 in this campaign. And folks, it’s the same one it’s been since I was 10, the year after President Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas.

It’s gun control. It’s the ease in which people – some of them mentally ill – can get weapons.

It is crazy to me that there are people who believe the Second Amendment of the Constitution protects the right to weapons that killed scores of people in minutes.

It is crazy to me that every time you go out in public, every time you’re on a highway with guys driving like maniacs, every time you’re sitting at home minding your business, you need to be aware of the possibility that someone nearby has a gun that they might feel inclined to use for whatever purpose.

6. So is Orlando the tipping point? Is the sheer number of those killed enough to get some sort of change that killing elementary school kids in Connecticut or office party attendees in California or moviegoers in Colorado couldn’t affect?

Nah.

I am really skeptical. There will be hand-wringing for days. Memorials. Thoughts and prayers.

But the strategy of those who believe guns are part of the natural order of life, like breathing and eating, is to wait it out. That’s what they’ll do – a perverse variation of the North Carolina four-corner defense in basketball in which you try to run out the clock. And in a week or 10 days, we’ll give up trying again.

I’m wracking my brain for ways to change that. A boycott of some kind. Some social campaign that would force the gun nitwits to go along.

I’m stumped. For now. But I won’t stop trying.

1. It’s Monday, June 13, 2016.

2. It’s hard to think about much else after the horror that occurred early yesterday in Orlando. I can’t fathom being a member of a family who learned with horror that he or she would never see a loved one alive again. And why.

It seems small to say that your thoughts are with those who lost loved ones. The pain must seem like an abyss. I hope there’s a way to peace for all affected.

3. On June 3rd, I made a promise that I wouldn’t mention the name of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for 10 days. I kept the promise – check last week’s blog posts if you don’t believe me.

If such a moratorium seems silly or arbitrary to you, let me explain my rationale.

There’s a school of thought among people perversely egomaniacal: There’s no such thing as bad publicity. As long as they spell your name right, whatever is said helps keep the name out there.

So saying a judge is biased because of his ancestry or saying Muslims should be barred from the country or mocking a disabled reporter accomplish your goal. So would saying unicorns are turquoise, let’s have demo derby days on interstate highways and puppies are delicious.

4. The idea is to be in the news every day. Every day. It doesn’t matter what the news is. It doesn’t matter how outrageous it is. Just be in there. If not, there’s a risk you’re no longer front-and-center in the public mind, and then there’s the risk that, God forbid, people forget about you.

But the rest of us have a country whose present and future are at stake. And that’s what an election is supposed to be about.

5. So, for the past week, I’ve tried to think about issues. About what needs to be done. Because that’s what the candidates for president should be talking about.

For all the intensity of the Democratic primary campaign, neither Hillary Clinton nor Bernie Sanders ran a negative ad about their opponents. More than 200,000 TV ads ran, not one of them talking about personal matters.

Yes, American history is replete with elections that focus on the personalities rather than the issues. But the 2016 horse race is out of whack with reality.

6. There are things Americans really care about. Three of them rose to the surface yesterday in Orlando, and with a fury. Terrorism. LGBT rights. Gun control.

The Republican presidential candidate tweeted this on the Orlando incident: “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don’t want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!”

It isn’t enough that he tries to capitalize on people’s fears after a horrific incident. He also wants us to believe that others are telling us how great he is for understanding it as an important part of his reaction to the tragedy.

An election should be about the issues. It should not be about an overgrown tumor of an ego stoking fear.

I’ll go back to saying Donald Trump’s name in this blog. And yes, because it matters so much to the fate of our nation, I’ll call out the times I think he’s more of a horse’s ass than usual.

But there are matters I want to see addressed in the 2016 election. In the next few days, I’d like to share my thoughts (and hear yours) about them.

We would all be better off if that’s how we looked at this campaign. What kind of a country do we want? And how do we get it? 

It’s June 10, 2016. I haven’t done a Friday Yes or No in months, due largely to the fact that I had to teach a class on Fridays up until a month ago.

But that’s over, and so is the hiatus for Yes or No. Here goes:

Q1: Are these the best days of the year, being both long and warm?

A1: Yes

Q2: Has the Stanford Rapist case been blown out of proportion?

A2: No

Q3: Is that because it’s about time that people understood the consequences of violence against women, and that’s what the letter written by the victim in the case helps to show?

A3: Yes

Q4: And because the cluelessness of the rapist, his family and the judge in the case is staggering?

A4: Yes

Q5: Are Americans paying enough attention to the Brexit vote scheduled later this month in the U.K.?

A5: No

Q6: Is Brexit, Britain’s exit from the European Union, a good idea?

A6: No

Q7: Will I write more about that as the vote draws near?

A7: Yes

Q8: Do I generally like the players the Mets drafted last night?

A8: Yes

Q9: Do I care who wins the NBA championship or Stanley Cup?

A9: No

Q10: Is there any surprise in President Obama’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton?

A10: No

Q11: Is there any surprise in Elizabeth Warren’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton?

A11: No

Q12: So these developments aren’t a big deal, right?

A12: No

Q13: They are?

A13: Yes

Q14: Is that because it’s a sign that the Democrats are putting their best battlers together for the tough campaign ahead?

A14: Yes

Q15: Does my 10-day moratorium on mentioning the name of Clinton’s opponent end next week?

A15: Yes

Q16: Has it been easy to maintain this?

A16: God, no!

1. It’s Thursday, June 9, 2016.

2. Both of my journalism classes at William Paterson heard me expound this past semester on what’s bad about social media and the Internet in general.

One flaw I pointed out is as obvious to them as it is to me – the anonymity afforded people when they comment on stories or post tweets.

That anonymity is seen by its availers as a license to spew hate.

3. That point is hammered home by The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, a journalist whose work includes the insightful exit interview with President Obama on foreign policy. 

In his latest piece, Goldberg writes about the anti-Semitism he’s encountered online, particularly on Twitter. And he explains why he has added multiple parentheses to his name in his Twitter handle – he’s appropriating a tactic the haters use to signal that someone they’re writing about is Jewish, as if the parentheses diminish them somehow.

Goldberg’s piece demonstrates his talent. On the one hand, he treats the haters like the lowlifes they are and shows how they twist themselves into pretzels to make their case.

But he’s hardly dismissive. Goldberg sees the danger these crackpots pose to the world and understands that fighting this crap is a job for all thinking people. And while I see the anonymity the jerks hide behind as a negative, he sees some hope in it – if people were more brazen about their anti-Semitism, it would signal more acceptance of such sentiment.

Since Goldberg started using parentheses in his Twitter handle, other writers who are Jewish have done likewise. They’re taking their stand against the hatred that, I still believe, the anonymity of the Internet gives a home.

4. Jews are not alone in this. Women, African-Americans, Hispanics and others who don’t conform to some dopey preconception get trashed by people hiding behind what they think are clever handles.

I applaud Jeffrey Goldberg and other journalists of the Jewish faith who stand up to anonymous hatred. Perhaps neo-Nazism is the cockroach of hatred – it keeps getting stomped and yet survives. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep on stomping.