All things are possible.

I say this in reference to how I feel at the beginning of a round of golf. Hope springs eternal, optimism is the word of the moment. But often enough, with each passing hole, I am reminded of how baseless my optimism truly is.

The reminder quickly comes that playing golf decently and well is highly unlikely to happen when one plays sporadically, once every month or two. The lack of reps eventually—or often quickly—catches up with you.

This happened yesterday, as I played in a tournament we’ve been part of for four or five years now. The excitement and optimism are palpable as we all await the starting gun—or, less dramatically, the announcement that it’s time to head to our first hole. From then on, there will be more than enough reminders that I haven’t come remotely close to the 10,000 hours of practice often cited as critical if one hopes to master anything.

But no matter. It’s a great day for being outside with friends, occasionally making a good putt or driving the ball straight down the fairway, and making a contribution to lowering the team score. In reality, I can’t expect anything more than that.

It’s supposed to be a basketball game that the fans come to see, but often enough—at least whenever the Indiana Fever and Sophie Cunningham are in the building—it’s more like people coming to the fights and having a basketball game break out.

So much drama is unbecoming of a professional caliber sport.

Caitlin Clark attracts a similar amount of attention, and between the two of them, the distraction level often enough skyrockets. It is difficult not to chalk this up to simmering racial animosity, jealousy, and just plain poor sportsmanship. In addition, it’s becoming reminiscent of an average soccer match, where choreographed tumbles and crying to the ref are annoying staples that waste time and cheapen the product.

Anyway, all these extracurricular activities are dragging down the women’s game. They take away from the game itself. People may well come to expect a certain amount of aggressive play, but judging from what ends up on YouTube and ESPN, there’s a regular diet of headlocks and fisticuffs and flagrant fouls. It’s gone way beyond just pushing and shoving, which may put butts in the seats and bolsters viewership, but somehow diminishes the value of the WNBA.

Visceral reactions to hair-pulling ignorance passing for expertise. Standing by as the people in charge degrade our understanding of disease prevention and make decisions based on unproven theories and maybe coincidence.

So many questions, often including, “What’s wrong with these people?!”

How is it possible that Donald Trump can sign yet another hair-brained Executive Order, this one scaling back the vaccine schedule? Based on what? An unproven, tenuous connection between vaccines and autism? And what experience does RFK have that warrants his involvement in any medical decisions whatsoever?

This administration is a nightmare. A hugely dangerous, very bad joke, playing fast and loose with peoples’ lives.

It’s not exactly a charm offensive. But it is offensive.

No doubt, mistakes were made and missteps taken during Covid, but this hind-sighted attempt to skewer Anthony Fauci, the point person who was trying to do his job amidst constant pushback and handcuffing from a stupefyingly ignorant administration—especially the POTUS—is a malicious, wicked witch hunt all its own.

How dare Rand Paul pursue this attack on Dr. Fauci! Aren’t there more legitimately pressing issues to tend to?

I never thought I’d see an instance where pleading the 5^th made perfect sense, where I didn’t automatically rush to judgment and declare, in my mind, that the person doing the pleading had to be guilty. In Fauci’s case, he did what he needed to do to protect himself from Paul and the rest, who simply have it out for the guy who was trying to keep people safe in the middle of a fucking pandemic.

By the way—discrediting scientists and smart people is part of Project 2025. Weaken public confidence in the very people who actually know what they’re talking about, and trained in the methods that lead them beyond missteps to important discoveries and breakthroughs.

All Paul and the rest have in their arsenal is an irrational vengeance, and a hunger for finding scapegoats on their wild goose chases. All so they can keep in the good graces of the decaying toddler at the top.

So, there was not much talk of election fraud after Trump won in 2024. Is it because he won, as opposed to losing? Is it because the fraud was negligible, the margin was fairly robust—2 million votes or so—or because Democrats took the high road and refused to follow the script Trump usually rolls out after an election he lost?

I’ve often wondered about that comment Trump made at some point during the 2024 campaign regarding how his supporters won’t even have to vote. What?

I’ve heard a few whispers since then, but nothing that would amount to a growing concern. The results were tabulated without much fanfare, and the country proceeded to gird its loins in preparation for four more years of Trumpian “brilliance.” It’s been a joyride ever since.

One win after another. So much winning. We’re exhausted from all the winning.

Do we have the right people in place at the U.S Bureau of Reclamation to tend to the current situation at Lake Mead and Hoover Dam? Is there anyone awake there who gives a shit?

I realize that this is a simmering disaster in the making due in part to 25 years of drought and an ungodly level of demand downstream. I can’t help but think, though, that no one in this current administration even knows how to address the looming disaster or even cares that it’s happening. It’s just another thing to add to the long list of time bombs and items to neglect.

Of course, maybe someone could have seen the writing on the wall, as millions of people poured into a desert and thought it would be a good place to put down roots.