1. It’s Monday, October 26, 2015

2. I can’t imagine Donny Trump or Ben Carson as the Republican nominees for president. And yet, we’re about to make the turn into November 2015, and they’re far and away at the top of the heap. Nobody else is close. The more these guys hang at the top, the less likely it is that anyone who’s more mainstream – although that does seem like a relative term with this bunch of loonies – can overtake them.

3. Blame Sarah Palin. That’s what former White House Chief of Staff William Daley says in a Washington Post op-ed piece. Daley believes that when John McCain picked Palin as his running mate in 2008, he opened the door to the kind of lunacy that has prevailed in the Republican Party since.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

I understand his point – since bursting onto the national scene, Palin has been an embarrassing example of what happens when right-wing talking points combine with being none too bright. And the veins she tapped with her candidacy – the empowerment of women, particularly working mothers – are clogged by the fact that nothing she claims to stand for helps them much.                                                                                                                                                                                      

But saying Palin is to blame misses a big point. The Republicans have been heading down the path they’re on for a long time. Since George W. Bush and Dick Cheney saw political advantage in a unified nation after 9/11 and went down the path of stupidity in Iraq. Since the Bush White House chose faith-based policies over fact-based policies. Since the refusal to tone down some of the racist sniping at President Obama from the day he was elected. Since they decided that immigration reform was a sure way to give Obama a victory without seeing that it would give them one, too.

Sarah Palin is a symptom, not a cause of the Republicans’ turn to stupid. She found a welcome home – just like Trump, Carson, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee and others who have no business claiming they should be our commander-in-chief.

4. Currently where I am, in the suburbs north of New York, it is 47 degrees, and with a mild wind it feels like 44.

And yet, thanks to the New York Mets, the summer continues, and will until at least Halloween night. By making it to the World Series, the Mets – and their opponents, the Kansas City Royals – still have us putting aside dealing with the fall and the fact that the end of the calendar year is fast approaching.

It does mean that, when we get to Citi Field on Friday, the conditions are not going to be quite the same as they were the night in July when there was a Heart concert right after a Met win over the Dodgers.

But that’s all right. As the Beach Boys proved, summer is a state of mind as well as a season. The summer of 2015 goes on here in New York and, with luck and some decent pitching, it’ll last until a ticker tape parade downtown next week.

It’s October 23, 2015, and time for Friday Yes or No. I ask the questions. I answer them simply and elegantly.

Q1: Although it’s hard to beat Donny Trump on a day-to-day basis, is Trey Gowdy the biggest horse’s ass in America today?

A1: Yes

Q2: So, now that Hillary Clinton has answered every possible question anyone can ask about what happened in Benghazi three years ago, will this put an end to the “investigation”?

A2: No

Q3: Is that because Fox News needs something to talk about every once in a while?

A3: Yes

Q4: Is it possible that the Chancellor of Germany is more interested in the truth about the horrors that befell millions of Jews during the Holocaust than the Prime Minister of Israel?

A4: Yes

Q5: Will Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders make a big pitch to woo the supporter of Lincoln Chafee, who’s dropped out of the presidential race?

A5: No

Q6: Did some PR person earn his/her keep with the promotion of Back to the Future Day?

A6: Yes

Q7: Is “Back to the Future II” anywhere near the quality of sequel that “Godfather II” is?

A7: No

Q8: Is Paul Ryan making a mistake in becoming Speaker of the House?

A8: No

Q9: Is that because he isn’t really running for anything, and it doesn’t matter what happens?

A9: Yes

Q10: Two days after the fact, is it still hard to believe that the Mets will be playing in the World Series?

A10: Yes

Q11: Will they win it?

A11: Yes

1. It’s Wednesday, October 21, 2015.
2. I really don’t care that this is the day portrayed in “Back to the Future II.” I saw the first one. But other than “Godfather II,” sequels never measure up to the original.
3. Unless the Republicans in the House have completely lost their minds, Paul Ryan is the next Speaker. He’s told them the conditions under which he’d accept the position, and now they have to accept them or move on. And if they don’t accept them, who are they going to get? Here’s the problem with a nihilist view of government: Unless you seek anarchy, you need to do something that resembles governing. The Republicans — and a lot of people who goad them — don’t seem to understand this. I suppose they could continue down the path they’re on. But the whirlwind they’ll reap would be especially ugly.
4. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve sat in either Shea Stadium or Citi Field and watching a sure thing go up in ignominious smoke. I have a 21-year-old son who can remember some of the most soul-crushing defeats ever witnessed by humans. So the Mets having a three-games-to-none lead over the Chicago Cubs is better than the alternative. But it’s nothing to celebrate, because a team has to win four games to advance to the World Series. And until the Mets win that fourth one, there’ll be no rest for the fan who still cringes at the thought of 2007 and 2008 and countless games before and after.

1. It’s Tuesday, October 20, 2015.

2. It’s a lot warmer than when I almost froze in my seat at Citi Field on Sunday.

3. Americans often forget that Canada is a different country. So trying to read something from yesterday’s election results into U.S. politics is foolhardy.

But here’s a thought: Canadians appear to have gotten tired of a kind of negative vibe that was coming from the Conservatives and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He had a chilly relationship with President Obama, wasn’t a big believer in climate change and thought confrontational politics was the way to go.

It wasn’t. The Liberals, led by the relatively young Justin Trudeau, swept into power with what most observers believed was a positive message about the country and its future.

Canadians have every reason to see a bright future. So, by the way, do Americans. That’s not the message you’re getting from the Republican candidates, and that could very well be their undoing.

President Obama won twice with a theme of hope, and now so has Prime Minister Trudeau. The next president is likely to have done the same.

4.    Up until this weekend, even the people who lived in his Jackson Heights apartment building were likely to have forgotten George Bell, who died in July of last year.

But the power of good journalism is such that Mr. Bell is now unforgettable, thanks to a terrific story by N.R. Kleinfeld of The New York Times. The story describes the circumstances of his death in his cluttered apartment, who he was and how the details of his solitary life were wrapped up. 

In the process, it showed how much work is involved in wrapping up those details.

The story certainly leaves an impression. It’s a reminder of how many people live by themselves, especially in a place such as New York. It reanimates the fear some of us (I raise my hand) hold about dying alone.

There are issues raised by a story such as this one. One letter to the Times complains that Mr. Bell’s privacy is invaded by the story. And John Hockenberry’s public radio show this morning heard from people distinguishing from living alone and being lonely, with so many saying that they prefer living by themselves and feel anything but lonely.

It’s thought provoking and inherently sad, because it involves death. It’s also uplifting in a strange way. I strongly recommend it. I think it will stick in your mind for awhile. (Read it here)

1. It’s Monday, October 19, 2015.

2. Hillary Clinton is scheduled to testify this week before the Benghazi special committee of the House, also known as the Hillary Is Icky Committee.

This should be quite a show. Nothing would be better than for the former Secretary of State and current presidential candidate to put these cretins in their place. Remind them that they’ve tried to make political hay out of the deaths of four Americans who put their lives in harm’s way for this country.                                                              

Here’s to hoping she nails these jerks every chance she gets.

3. It would be odd to defend George W. Bush, arguably the worst president of my lifetime and perhaps in American history.

But leave it to Donny Trump to make W. look good. His comments about 9/11 are unseemly and preposterous. Hindsight is perfect, and to think that Bush could have stopped the attacks if he had just had tighter controls on federal agencies is a 14-year-old second guess.

To bring it up the way he has in the campaign, to imply it wouldn’t have happened on his watch, is idiocy.

But then, what else do you expect from Trump?

4. The euphoria I feel for the New York Mets this morning is pretty overwhelming.

I was at Game Two of the National League Championship Series last night, and despite the cold and the wind that made it colder, it was a lot for those us wearing orange and blue. What we have to avoid, fellow Mets fans (and the Mets themselves), is the vainglory that strikes the Mets down time and time again.

The Chicago Cubs of 2015 are a very good baseball team, and their fans might be the best in the world. Those fans show up at Wrigley Field even when the team stinks. They’re not going down without a fight, and what makes them tougher is that they’re harder to dislike than the Chase Utley-imbued Dodgers.

So I’m optimistic, but still very, very nervous. Those last two wins are not going to be easy.

It’s October 16, 2015. The sun is shining, birds are singing, food tastes better and Friday Yes or No is here:

Q1: A lot of Bernie Sanders supporters seem to think their candidate won Tuesday’s Democratic debate, and the media narrative that Hillary Clinton did better is unfair. Are they right?

A1: No

Q2: Is that because Hillary Clinton was the only one of those five people who seemed like a President of the United States?

Q2: Yes

Q3: Did Sanders do badly in the debate?

A3: No

Q4: It’s just that Hillary did better, right?

A4: Yes

Q5: Everyone knows Afghanistan is a quagmire. But does President Obama have any realistic option than to keep U.S. forces there?

A5: No

Q6: Should CNBC have agreed to the debate changes Donald Trump and other Republicans demanded?

A6: No

Q7: Is it any surprise that daily fantasy sports leagues are attracting legal scrutiny?

A7: No

Q8: Would a ban on advertising by DraftKings and FanDuel while charges are being investigated be welcome?

A8: Yes

Q9: Do you think Chase Utley is enjoying his offseason now that the Mets have eliminated him and the Dodgers in the playoffs?

A9: No

Q10: Does that make me unabatedly happy?

A10: Yes

Q11: Is there anything more fun than the idea of a Mets-Cubs meeting in the National League Championship Series?

A11: No

1. It’s Thursday, October 15, 2015.

2. It looks as though Hillary Clinton did exactly what she was supposed to do at Tuesday night’s Democratic debate. And, as a result, a lot of the talk about finding someone else (see Biden, Joe) is abating.

Clinton’s problem this summer has been that she’s had no good way of displaying her strengths at the same time her opposition – the Republicans and Bernie Sanders – have been able to swat at her.

But on the stage with other Democrats, there was little doubt who had the presidential bearing, who was the one you would want in the Oval Office or Situation Room in a tense crisis. (An aside: Those 3 a.m. ads, which were mocked last time around, might play really well later in the campaign.)

Sanders, for his part, appealed to his base and showed his main virtue as a candidate – his reputation for saying what he thinks. That was clear in the comments that lambasted the attention on Clinton’s e-mail server – it was a moment that helped her, but it showed why people are drawn to Sanders in the first place.

It’s not clear what happens when, as expected, she’s the nominee; I guarantee he’s not her running mate. He’ll be given a role at the convention and a chance to speak his mind, and will be well received. But after that, who knows?

3. President Obama will not leave office without a sizable U.S. force in Afghanistan. He announced that this morning, saying the 9,800 troops there now will stay through most of next year.

The president wanted to extract our forces from Afghanistan before Jan. 20, 2017, the day he leaves office. But Afghanistan isn’t a very cooperative place – its history is one of fractiousness and strife.

Other outsiders have faced these problems as well; its reputation as the graveyard of empires. It would seem easy to say that we should just let Afghanis kill each other and put our people out of harm’s way.

The problem is that the Taliban stepped over a line when it harbored al-Qaida as it plotted the Sept. 11 attacks. We have extracted a little revenge and pushed them back into insurgency rather than power.

I understand what President Obama is thinking: We can’t let them give another terrorist group another shot. I’m not happy about troops staying there. I just can’t think of what else we can do.

4. I would like to be able to say this has been a great week for baseball.

Toronto’s dramatic decisive game victory in the American League Division Series. The fact that neither Texas team is going to the next round, jinxed by a bad jump-the-gun celebratory Tweet from the state’s moron governor. The sound of thousands of Cubs fans singing their team song in such strong unison that someone recorded the sound from a mile away from Wrigley Field.

But as far as I’m concerned, this will be a miserable week for baseball if tonight’s game in Los Angeles doesn’t go the Mets’ way.

I’m on the verge of busting from the tension. With that in mind, a simple, heartfelt and strong “LET’S GO METS!” is in order.

1. It’s Tuesday, October 13, 2015.

2. It’s a good thing I don’t have to speak these words for them to appear. After last night at Citi Field, it’s going to take a good three days to get my voice back – hopefully, in time for the Mets and their opponent in the National League Championship Series.

3. Because the Republican presidential campaign seems like such a freak show, the Democrats have been overshadowed. About all we know is that a House committee formed, it appears, for the sole purpose of taking down Hillary Clinton, has done some of what it set out to do.

I probably won’t watch, as Met consumed as I am. But here’s what I’m hoping for:

— I’d like to see Hillary Clinton show that she’s the leader of the party, contrasting herself with the other Democrats on the stage but doing so with the poise of someone in control. She has to show that she’s a president-in-waiting, with the temperament and strength to listen to other viewpoints in the party.

— I’d like to see Bernie Sanders make Clinton address the issues that have been his hallmark, particularly income inequality. He has some strong points, and getting the front-runner to acknowledge them will go a long way in bringing the party together to defeat whatever comes out of the other side.

— I don’t know what I expect from Martin O’Malley, Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb. I guess I hope they don’t go for broke and try to embarrass the other two. If they have points, make them – and then it’s incumbent on Clinton to either address them or explain why they’re unimportant.

If you’re not the least bit interested in Mets-Dodgers, by all means watch the debate.

It’s October 9, 2015 and time for Friday Yes or No, where I ask myself questions with twice as many possible answers as are available at a Republican House caucus.

Q1: Do House Republicans embarrass the United States?

A1: Yes

Q2: Will this week’s display of complete incompetence in operating their piece of the nation’s government come back to bite the Republicans?

A2: No

Q3: Is that because there are a surprisingly large number of people in this country who think chaos, gridlock, bickering, petty nonsense and other non-functions are how things are supposed to go?

A3: Yes

Q4: And because they think this is a good way to show how much they hate President Obama?

A4: Yes

Q5: Is it surprising that the Obama administration is having a tough time figuring out how to sort out the mess in Syria?

A5: No

Q6: Is Russia a possible help in getting this way too long running crisis resolved?

A6: No

Q7: Should guys who complain about Jessica Mendoza doing baseball analysis on ESPN just shut up and get their wives/girlfriends who are enjoying the game a beer?

A7: Yes 

Q8: On the other hand, are the guys who complain about Jessica Mendoza likely to have wives or girlfriends?

A8: No

Q9: Is it hard to think about much else when the Mets are about to start down a treacherous postseason path in Los Angeles?

A9: Yes

Q10: But will they prevail against the Dodgers?

A10: Yes

1. It’s Thursday, October 8, 2015

2. If someone in Ben Carson’s profession performed a prefrontal lobotomy, at least the patient would not have the cognizance to say what Carson said about the Oregon shooting victims.

What the brain surgeon said was that if he were in the room, he would have rushed the shooter, and that would have prevented more lives from being lost. His implication, despite his subsequent statements that he was only saying what he would do, was that the victims just laid down and died.

It’s monumentally dopey on two levels.

One is that no one who was at that horrible scene has the right to call out the victims. Those people had no idea what was going to happen to them that day, and few of us – thank goodness – have any experience dealing with that situation.

Secondly, Carson’s insensitivity to the survivors of the massacre and to the families of those who perished is obscene. To attempt to diminish them in any way, even if only by describing how goddamn superior you think you would be, is unforgivable.

Carson should be held to account for his comments. Do not forget them! Even when he disappears from the national scene, which would not come a moment too soon. Remember that there are people such as Ben Carson walking the Earth who, despite their degrees and their expertise, haven’t got the compassion or common sense of a pillbug.

3.   There are those who denigrate awards, and there’s some credence to that. I’m still trying to figure out how some of the movies that have won the Oscar for Best Picture – i.e., “The English Patient” – got three people to show up at the theater.

 But what’s good about something like the Nobel Prize for Literature is that it makes you curious who these people are who win these awards. And that’s definitely the case with Svetlana Alexievich, the Belarusian named to the honor earlier today.

Alexievich, according to the news reports, is one of the few people ever to win the prize for writing that would primarily be considered journalism. She’s written about the struggles of female Soviet soldiers from World War II and survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

The attention Alexievich is getting today tends to make me curious about her work. Unfortunately, it’s not available in English for e-book readers such as Apple Books or Amazon Kindle. So get on it, Alexievich’s publisher. She’s a winner – let’s make her work more readily available.