1. It’s Wednesday, August 12, 2015.

2. I was standing at the New City, N.Y., bus stop at 5:15 a.m. one morning in 2010 when there was a discussion among the regulars. It was a bunch of folks griping about President Obama.

But the topic surprised me: They groused that he had promised to bring all the troops home from Iraq, and some were still there.

Here’s what Jeb Bush and the neocons who believe Obama squandered his predecessor’s (and Jeb’s brother’s), um, victory in Iraq don’t get. The American people were sick of Iraq well before Obama was elected. If anything, even conservatives believe troops were there too long.

And there were two reasons. One is that it wasn’t our job to build a nation. The second is that the cost contributed to the economic crisis of the late ‘00s.

In his speech last night, Jeb Bush revisited the Iraq problem that originated with his big brother. If the Republican Party wants to replay that battle, it can pretty much guarantee Hillary Clinton’s victory.

1. It’s Monday, August 10, 2015.

2. It’s four days after the fact, and the Republican presidential debate still ranks among the top news items. That seems silly. The Iowa caucus isn’t until February. Election Day is 15 months away. Lots of serious issues are going to come to the fore, some we might not be able to imagine.

3. I emphasize serious, because the reason we’re still talking about a debate six months before the first significant vote is cast is Fabulous Donny Trump. His performance – let’s emphasize that word, please – had to leave anyone with a mind who watched that debate baffled.

Yes, the Fox News interrogators went after Donny with gusto. But he leaned into their punches every single time. When I was watching him answer questions about his ill-mannered remarks toward women, his position on immigration, whether he’d run as an independent and why he gave money to Hillary Clinton, my mouth was agape. I imagined I looked like the audience in Mel Brooks’ classic “The Producers” when it’s first exposed to the opening number of “Springtime for Hitler.”

4. Of course, Trump has kept the momentum rolling with his tasteless follow-up comments about Fox News’ Megyn Kelly. That has been the talk all weekend. Every other candidate who appeared on Sunday talk shows had to answer Donny-Megyn questions before getting to the reason they appeared on the show in the first place. Trump’s been called a misogynist, among other things, and has been forced to defend his attitudes toward women. 

5. And yet if you watched that debate, you have to wonder whether Donny Trump really is any meaner to women than some of the others on that stage.

In that debate, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida corrected Ms. Kelly when she asked whether he opposed a woman’s right to an abortion except in instances of rape or incest. No, Rubio said, even in instances of rape and incest. Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who showed his political cowardice early in the campaign, reaffirmed his position when asked by Ms. Kelly if he opposed the right to abortion even if carrying the fetus jeopardized a woman’s life.

And former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a worthless sack of dust and feathers, said he supports the idea that the instant sperm and egg mix is when that mixture has its Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. In the case of the Fourteenth Amendment, Huckabee is granting rights to random cells that he’s taking away from the woman whose body they’re mixing.

In addition, the Republicans in the debate tripped over themselves demonizing Planned Parenthood, which is one of the nation’s leading advocates for women’s health — on which former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said beforehand this nation spends too much money.

6. All this raised some thoughts:

      a) I wonder if Huckabee is going to lose NRA support for his stance. Because while granting Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, he didn’t grant the just-fertilized egg what the gun morons see as the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

     b) Why would that constitutional protection be limited to the combination of sperm and egg? As the forces needed to create that combination, should sperm and egg also be granted the rights of U.S. citizenship?

     c) Shouldn’t any woman carrying a sperm-egg combination against her will be allowed to claim a tax deduction? If this is just as important as her actual kids, they should have the same status in the eyes of the tax laws.

     d) Do these people celebrate their birthday? Why? Isn’t the date of conception far, far more important to them? Shouldn’t they commemorate when their parents got together in the bedroom of their home, or a hotel room, or the back seat of their Rambler and did what they did to bring about their arrival?

     e) These are the same people who complain when there aren’t two parents of different sexes. (Again, God forbid the parents are the same sex! Government is never too big to stop that as far as these folks are concerned). So, if the mother dies as a result of being forced to give birth, isn’t that both shameful and holy at the same time? And shouldn’t the child, or fetus, or just completed sperm-egg combination be prosecuted because of its role in having just one parent. Or do it just have the rights of citizenship without any responsibility?

    f) Given the arguments these people give, should an accused rapist be exonerated if that act of violence results in a fetus? If it’s illegal to mitigate his violence, wouldn’t he have done the nation a service?

    g) If the sperm-egg combination, at any stage in the nine months before being delivered as a child, requires care, wouldn’t it violate the constitutional rights granted it by Huckabee not to provide that care? Wouldn’t that mean that the woman carrying it has to see a doctor or else it’s violating those rights? And wouldn’t that mean that the woman needs some sort of health coverage or else she’s violating the Constitution? Thus, Obamacare seems like a necessity in your machinations. Am I right, guys?

7.  I’m still not sure why anyone else in the world believes they have the right to tell a woman what she should be able to do with her body. Each step down that path is a step toward hypocrisy, cruelty and inequality. And ludicrous.

It’s August 7, 2015 and time for Friday Yes or No, when I answer the burning questions of the day with unusual (for me) brevity:

Q1: Does Fox News really, really, really want Fabulous Donny Trump out of the Republican race?

A1: Yes

Q2: Despite having all the money he needs to spend on advisers, did Fabulous Donny Trump do any more than 2 seconds of preparation for last night’s debate in Cleveland?

A2: No

Q3: Did Fox News overcompensate for years of shilling for the GOP by asking a lot of gotcha questions, the plurality of which were directed at Fabulous Donny Trump?

A3: Yes

Q4: Was Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s debate performance more suitable for the fall 2016 debates with the Democratic nominee than for a debate for the Republican faithful?

A4: Yes

Q5: Was it a good idea for Jeb Bush to associate himself proudly with Michael Bloomberg in a debate targeted at an audience that hates gun control and loves the right to drink 40 ounces of Mountain Dew?

A5: No

Q6: Are there too many questions in this post about an intraparty debate that’s half a year before the Iowa caucus and 15 months before Election Day?

A6: Yes

Q7: Was Jon Stewart’s last “Daily Show” as much fun to watch as Stephen Colbert’s last “Colbert Report” or David Letterman’s last “Late Show.”?

A7: No

Q8: Should President Obama tone down his campaign for Congressional support of the Iran nuclear deal after saying that Republican opponents are acting in concert with Iranian radicals?

A8: No

Q9: One year after the shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer, has life for African-Americans in Ferguson, Mo., improved significantly?

A9: No

Q10: Are the Amazin Mets for real?

A10: YES

1. It’s Thursday, August 6, 2015.

2. It’s a big night for television.

At 9 p.m. ET is, according to the TV listings for Fox News Channel, “Republican Presidential Candidates Debate.”

But let’s face it. The program is really “Fabulous Donny Trump in the Republican Presidential Candidates Debate (also  featuring nine other guys).

People will interrupt their vacations or whatever else they might have done on a summer Thursday night to see exactly what Fabulous Donny will say. It’s the night we’ll find out exactly how serious Fabulous Donny is about this presidential race, and give us some insight of how much longer we’ll have him around.

3. Also on the agenda tonight, at 11 p.m. ET, is Jon Stewart’s last go-round as host of “The Daily Show.”

You wonder what the big gotcha will be, like Stephen Colbert’s rendition of “We’ll Meet Again” with about half the people who ever showed up on his program.

Warning to DVRers: It’s supposed to run 52 minutes, but there’s a real good chance it could run long. Set the DVR at two hours, and you really can’t wrong.

4. Today is the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act by President Lyndon Johnson.

As if to remind us why this act is necessary, a federal court yesterday struck down a Texas (of course) law that required some sort of government-issued photo ID in order to vote. The law meant that while a voter registration card is invalid in Texas, a concealed-weapon license is.

Again, this is Texas. The state will probably appeal the ruling, since it’s more interested in making sure there are as many obstacles to minority citizen voting as they can possibly throw out there.

5. There are critics who say President Obama’s speech yesterday in support of the nuclear limitation deal with Iran was not presidential.

In it, he stated the obvious: the only alternative to the agreement is war, and that those who blast the agreement are pretty much in cahoots with radicals in Iran.

It’s funny — there are so many people about how political figures use obfuscatory language to state what’s on their mind. The president didn’t bother. He said what he meant, and meant what he said.

And he’s absolutely right.

The Republicans who oppose this agreement need to say to the American people that they are willing to send their sons and daughters to the Persian deserts to stop Tehran from getting nuclear weapons. It would be bloody and awful, and make the Iraq debacle seem like a preliminary event. And saying that there some be more negotiations with Iran is equally ridiculous. Our negotiating partners have sacrificed more than we have, and their patience would be tested if we turn away from the deal.

President Obama is serious about keeping Iran from getting nuclear weapons in the near future. His opponents need to say what they would do if they scuttle this agreement.

1. It’s Wednesday, August 5, 2015.

2. Christmas is 142 days away. I say this because I just ordered my first Christmas gift online. Can’t say what I bought, since one of you readers might be a recipient. 

3. The 2016 U.S. presidential election is 461 days away. But the campaign started months ago, and tomorrow is an early pivotal moment, the first Republican debate.

Because this is a society that plays a lot of games, there has to be some kind of scenario for this debate. In this case, Fox has decided that only the ten leading candidates can participate in the primetime show. The other seven candidates will try to break through in a preliminary debate, or what boxing calls the undercard.

I’m sure Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal and George Pataki — guys who have been elected governor of their states multiple times — are thrilled with that. 

4. Of course the main attraction of tomorrow’s main debate is Fabulous Donny Trump. He leads the polls; does that mean he gets to stand in the best position on the stage?

This debate will determine how long the Fabulous Donny phenomenon will last. He’s running a campaign that focuses on his spit-out-something-and-see-if-it-sticks style, thinking that those kinds of pronouncements take the place of thought-out policy. His campaign is what he senses from his success in reality TV is how America works.

Over the weekend, friends wondered when he would get bored with this and go back to making New Yorkers crazy with his bad taste. This debate will say a lot about when or even whether that happens.

If Fabulous Donny has a good time tomorrow night, he might very well be in this for the long haul. And the people who would actually vote for him (instilling the scary thought that those people are among us) are looking for reaffirmation in their belief that this is the guy who’s the answer to whatever problem they’re trying to solve.

If they come away happy, and Donny comes away happy, it’s going to be a long campaign.

5. I don’t want to jump the gun on everything. For one thing, it’s still summer! Nothing better than that. Enjoy the day.

1. It’s Tuesday, August 4, 2015

2. It’s President Obama’s 54th birthday. I guess the Fox GOP debate isn’t today because this is a national day of mourning to those folks.

3. A nice birthday gift for the president would have been acceptance of his common sense proposals to combat climate change. Alas, the ignorant killjoys of the Republican right have other ideas. They’re giving the president a suit, and not the kind you get at Brooks Brothers.

According to The New York Times, they’ve been planning legal action since before the president even began considering what to do. Because to these knuckleheads, it isn’t about solving problems. It’s about making the most of them. 

4. Clearly, the putz making these videos aimed at demonizing Planned Parenthood is determined to increase the number of abortions in this country.

I know, he claims to be an anti-abortion activist.

But that’s just a ruse. He obviously believes abortion is a desirable procedure, because he’s going after the leading organization in reducing the number of terminated pregnancies. Through family planning and education, much of that provided by Planned Parenthood, this country has reduced the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions.

Those programs are so much more effective that telling kids in their hormone-racing years that, nah, hold that thought, you can wait. And if you just can’t, you have to accept the consequences.

So what do you think this guy’s game is? Is he invested in clothes hanger makers, whose business – sadly – will improve as abortions are harder to get for people of limited means? Or is he behind some kind of warped chemistry firm that will make something aimed at helping a woman abort a fetus by drinking it? Or does he represent a country that will be the abortion go-to place for women with the means to get it done?

Whatever it is, he and the self-sanctified creeps on this campaign to vaporize Planned Parenthood are more than happy to see the progress made in reducing abortions turned back. You, as a voter, need to ask them why.

As was proven all those years before Roe v. Wade, women who feel that they must have an abortion will have one. Whether it’s done legally and safely, or in those crude backroom ways that endanger the woman’s life, or by women with the means to pay an otherwise reluctant doctor or fly to some country that allows the procedure.

Stopping Planned Parenthood from the important work it does, keeping women healthy and informing women and men of the choices they have to make their lives happier, is idiocy. So far, the Senate has resisted the nonsense. Sadly, I’m not confident that will continue. 

1. It’s Monday, August 3, 2015.

2. The roller coaster of being a New York Mets fan is on the ascent after this weekend’s three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals. It included Friday night, when Wilmer Flores — a national hero for showing that being a Met means more to him than just a paycheck —homered to win the game.

But being a Met fan means there’s a big fall out there somewhere. Until it doesn’t happen, I’m trying to temper my enthusiasm. 

3. Sometimes, in baseball, two outfielders are converging on a fly ball. One has a better chance of catching it. So what the other does is get into a position that would allow him or her to catch the ball if there’s a flub.

That’s what this Joe-Biden-running-for-president thing looks like to me (and Nate Silver).

There’s little doubt that Hillary Clinton is the Democrats’ front runner. But Democrats have been scared by the Clintons’ adventures in the past. If there’s something out there that could knock Mrs. Clinton out of the race or jeopardize a victory 15 months from now, the thought is that someone needs to take up the party mantle.

That someone is not any of the other Democrats running — even Bernie Sanders, the darling of the party’s left flank. I’m not even sure Sanders could carry Vermont, the state he represents in the Senate, against a Republican who’s not Fabulous Donny.

So what Biden might be doing is saying, “Hey, it’s Joey. If Hillary gets in trouble, I’m here.” Biden has been a loyal vice president and is more likable than perhaps anyone else in American politics.

The problem is he’s also a go-to punchline for everyone from Jon Stewart to The Onion. He would also be 74 years old on Inauguration Day 2017. That, I’m afraid, is a little old.

I’m not sure that if the ball hits off Hillary’s glove, Joey is the guy who could catch it.

It’s Friday, July 31, 2015. Here are this Friday’s ten questions with writer-supplied yes or no answers.

Q1. Is it me, or did July fly by?

A1. Yes

Q2. Is it true that there’s no crying in baseball?

A2. No 

Q3. If the clueless Minnesota dentist who hunted down the protected lion violated U.S. law as well, should he be extradited to Zimbabwe?

A3. Yes 

Q4. Is there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that, at age 67, I’m going to the Winter Olympics in Beijing?

A4. No 

Q5. Is it too bad that Taliban leader Mullah Omar died in his bed and not in one of the violent manners of death he unleashed on the poor people of Afghanistan?

A5. Yes 

Q6. Is Frank Bruni the best columnist in The New York Times’ stable?

A6. Yes 

Q7. Does Hillary Clinton and her husband make it hard sometimes to be enthusiastic about her run for the White House?

A7. Yes 

Q8. Is there any doubt that Fabulous Donny Trump will be the main attraction at next week’s Republican presidential debate?

A8. No 

Q9. When I see the full moon tonight, will I try to sing The Marcels’ version of the song “Blue Moon”?

A9. Yes

Q10. Is a good review in The New York Times enough to convince me to see the remake of “Vacation”?

A10. No 

Have a nice weekend!

1. It’s Thursday, July 30, 2015.

2. A guy who spews the crap that flows from Fabulous Donny Trump’s mouth, or is responsible for as many architectural nightmares, is on shaky ground when he calls anything “disgusting.” Especially when it’s a woman trying to feed her kid in the way that she’s biologically capable. 

3. What happened at Citi Field last night is a precautionary tale of 21st century media.

If you were a Mets fan on Twitter, you saw events unfold. Tweets that the Mets, hoping to grab a playoff spot, were on the verge of making a trade for a good hitter. Tweets that the hitter was Carlos Gomez, a former Met who’s now a star outfielder with the Milwaukee Brewers. Tweets that the Mets were sending back pitcher Zach Wheeler, currently recovering from Tommy John surgery, and outfielder Juan Lagares, whose bobblehead was given away by the team three weeks ago. Tweets that it was not Wheeler and Lagares, it was Wheeler and Wilmer Flores, who started the year playing shortstop.

Met fans around the world saw the tweets. Met fans in Citi Field saw the tweets.

So who didn’t see the tweets? Wilmer Flores, the 23-year-old guy who supposedly was about to have his life upended. Who got a standing ovation from fans in a blowout loss because they knew what he didn’t. And Terry Collins, the Mets’ manager, who couldn’t understand why his shortstop was crying in the middle of the field.

Eventually, the Mets’ front office disclosed that there was no trade. It appears one of the teams backed out at the last minute.

What’s strange is that the Internet has sped up word of mouth to the point that if somebody jumps the gun on an announcement, you have the bizarre spectacle of last night. When the news becomes a 23-year-old shortstop in tears because everyone else knows something — or thought they knew something — about him before he did.

Flores was not in the Mets’ starting lineup today against San Diego. He probably needs a day off. I sure as hell would.

4. A University of Cincinnati police officer has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in connection with the slaying of a motorist earlier this month.

Of course, the officer is Caucasian and the motorist is African-American.

What brought about the indictment is a body camera on the officer showing that his claim that the motorist was aggressive and posed a threat was bogus. “It was an asinine, senseless shooting,” the prosecuting attorney says.

Unfortunately, especially of late, it’s not an isolated incident. The fact that the case is being pursued with vigor is of little consolation. The fact is, despite all the incidents from Ferguson to Staten Island to North Charleston to Baltimore, this crap is still happening.

If Fabulous Donny really wants to see something disgusting, he should watch this video.

I’ll have more to say about this next week.