Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

The answer to the question in this blog headline is starting to become “yes,” even as voting continues in the mid-term election.

So much so that the Washington Post started a weekend story this way, under this headline:  “The corruption election:  Democrats link Trump’s wealth to voters’ economic pain.”

“Candidates are painting the president and Republican incumbents as enriching themselves while ordinary Americans struggle to make ends meet.

“Last year, a super PAC dedicated to electing House Democrats asked voters something that would shape the midterm cycle:  Did they blame greedy corporations or corrupt, out of touch politicians for their economic problems?

“The answer:  Politicians, by a 2-to-1 margin.

“The finding helped make corruption a central line of attack in the party’s campaign to regain control of Congress, fueling advertisements in battleground states across the country.  Tying corruption to voters’ economic malaise, Democrats learned, gave new potency to a criticism of President Donald Trump that the party had struggled for years to make stick.”

Of course, the easy answer on corruption is that Trump is guilty of it in spades. 

The Atlantic Magazine joined the fray with these paragraphs:

“An interesting thing has popped up in opinion surveys over the past couple weeks.  A Fox News poll finds that corruption is the top issue for voters, edging inflation, gas prices, and health care.

“CNBC gets the same result:  ‘Voters are now more concerned about government corruption than any other issue, including high grocery and gas prices, according to the final CNBC All-America Economic Survey.’

“The Financial Times has similar findings:  ‘About 69 per cent of registered voters, and almost 50 per cent of those who voted for the president in 2024, said they were ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ concerned about ‘corruption, self-dealing or conflicts of interest’ in the Trump administration.’”

Of course, Trump, the epitome of a narcissist, won’t back down, apparently believing that what are described as “corrupt dealings” only to serve to  solidify his standing with his MAGA base.

Relaying again on Google, I cite the following examples of Trump corruption where he blends holding the high office of the presidency with personal and family enrichment.

Key areas of corruption and self-dealing

• Cryptocurrency and digital ventures:
  • Trump and his family generated over $1.4 billion in profits from cryptocurrency projects like World Liberty Financial and related digital assets.
  • Critics and congressional trackers note that crypto investors and executives — including figures facing federal scrutiny — have funneled large sums into these ventures around the time of regulatory settlements or policy shifts. 
• Foreign gifts and deal-making:
  • The administration faced constitutional Emoluments Clause challenges over high-value foreign gifts and investments, including a luxury Boeing 747-8 jet gifted by Qatar and a $2 billion investment into World Liberty Financial by an investment firm linked to the United Arab Emirates.
• Stock trading and alleged insider trading:
  • Financial analysts and the Brennan Center for Justice have highlighted Trump’s extensive stock trading while in office, noting that he bought and publicly praised shares in companies — such as Boeing, Palantir, Oracle, and Nvidia — directly impacted by his executive actions, trade trips, and federal contracts.
• Pardons and legal interventions:
  • Watchdogs tracking executive clemency report instances where high-profile individuals or corporate founders received pardons or dropped federal investigations after their companies or families made significant financial contributions or took steps that benefited Trump-linked ventures
• Civil fraud and asset valuation:
  • In a major civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, a court ruled that Trump and the Trump organization deliberately inflated and deflating property values (such as Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower) to secure favorable bank loans and insurance terms.

Atlantic Magazine adds this:

“If an anti-corruption message does carry Democrats to victory in the House, and perhaps in the Senate, it will also point to how they might use Congress over the next two years.  Even if they win both chambers, they will have little ability to enact policy — including actions that might help bring prices down.  But a House majority alone would have investigatory power and could use its reach to delve into Trump-administration actions that threaten both rule of law and voters’ pocketbooks.”

For my part, I hope there is a way for Trump to pay a price for his rampant corruption.  He has soiled the presidency beyond the realm of reason and common sense.

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

The title of this blog is the famous chorus from the classic 1969 song “Lodi” by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

I use the title to commemorate that, on my wife’s and my way south to where we live in the winter, La Quinta, California, we always stay about halfway in the beautiful town of Lodi.

We used to stay at a I-5 roadside motel near Lodi, but one year we ventured five miles to the East and found the town.  A great “fiind.”

Written by famous musician John Fogerty, the song tells the story of an aging or down-and-out musician whose career has stalled, leaving him stranded in a small California town playing local bars with no money for a bus or train ticket home.

According to Google, Fogerty has admitted he never actually visited Lodi when he wrote the track.  He simply looked at a map and thought it had “the coolest sounding name.”

Despite painting the town as a dead-end musical purgatory, the song made Lodi famous worldwide and became an embraced part of the city’s local culture and events.

We have seen that, too, as we stayed here over the years.  Great restaurants.  Great wine tasting establishments.  Welcoming vineyards.

It is great small town with an amazing advantage – it is wine country, so we always sample the region’s produce.

So, when I say “we are stuck in Lodi again,” I don’t imply anything negative with the word “stuck.”  For us, it is always positive.

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I wrote yesterday that I came across two stories about golf in Scotland that, for me, were hard to pass up.

So, I turned both into blogs, reprinting the stories word-for word.

Yesterday, part 1 focused on golf on the Old Course in St. Andrews,
Scotland, a story that appeared in Links Magazine.  Today, it’s a Washington Post story about golf on Scottish islands, called the Hebrides.

It’s a great place to play golf as it was meant to be long ago.  No gambling.  No private tracks.  Just a chance to make friends for life, must like I do at my two home golf courses today – Illahe Hills in Salem, Oregon, and The Palms in La Quinta, California.

Friends in golf are important in my life.

So, don’t be surprised if I end up in the Hebrides soon.

**********

HIKING MILES ACROSS REMOTE ISLANDS AVOIDING SHEEP MANURE AND PLAYING INTO Sideways rain allowed us to discover the true origins of the game

Quick Summary

• Six golfers traveled to Scotland’s Inner and Outer Hebrides to explore the roots of the game by playing 10 remote, primitive courses.
• The courses remain relatively untouched by modern technology and agronomy due to their remoteness and limited funding.
• Many of the golfers played with hickory-shafted clubs to more fully experience what golf was like before course designers and mowers reshaped landscapes.

Before a round of golf at Askernish, on the Isle of South Uist in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, course manager David Shawish explained a local rule in a Scottish lilt. Translated: “If your drive’s perfect, but you can’t find the ball, it’s gone down a rabbit hole.” In that case, he said, you can place a new ball near where you think the other disappeared, without penalty.

A perfect drive swallowed by a rabbit hole? You bet! The course really is that quirky. And, over an eight-day golfing adventure to 10 courses in the remote Inner and Outer Hebrides, Askernish was the most groomed.

Six golfing strangers from different generations and backgrounds (five Swedes and myself, an American) were brought together by Ingvar Ritzén, who periodically takes small groups to explore Scottish courses. I learned of Ingvar in 2018, while playing in the World Hickory Open Championship, in Scotland. We kept in touch over the years. And this July, I joined him on a trip to the Hebrides to discover the roots of Scottish golf.

Six men taking several ferries, driving in a van over 1,200 miles on one-lane roads shared with cows, hiking miles of rugged terrain, all while carrying our clubs. It meant embracing uncertainty, discomfort, wildly unpredictable weather, and limited accommodations in remote villages. No valet parking, turndown service, caddies, pushcarts or golf carts. We all needed to be fit enough to carry our clubs 27 holes a day.

This was not for 99 out of 100 golfers. For me, it was the trip of a lifetime. And a bonding experience like no other.

It’s all rough

Other courses in Scotland are more famous. Arnold Palmer said of the St. Andrews Old Course, which bills itself as the oldest course in the world, “This is the origin of the game…seemingly untouched by time.” But, with modern agronomy and irrigation, the Old Course absolutely has been touched by time.

Golf is vastly different in the Hebrides, two archipelagoes off the west coast of Scotland, all but one of the islands accessible only by ferry. These courses remain relatively untouched by modern technology, due to their remoteness and limited funds.

On this trip, many of us played with hickory-shafted clubs, the equipment used before the steel shaft was introduced in the 1920s. Hickory clubs are heavier than modern ones, and harder to play since they have a tiny sweet spot, about the size of a dime.

Playing with hickories in primitive conditions would give us a true sense of what golf was like before course designers reshaped landscapes and mowers meticulously smoothed out their surfaces.

Our journey began with a three-hour drive from the Edinburgh airport to Oban, a seaport town on the Scottish west coast that would be our hub. A 2½-hour ferry ride brought us to our first round at Colonsay Golf Course, a 200-year-old course overlooking a sandy beach, situated on machair grassland, found only on the western coasts of Scotland and Ireland.

This shortish grass growing in sandy soil, tended by sheep, offered a natural style of play. A caretaker cleans the greens of sheep manure, but he seemed to have been on vacation for months. The “clubhouse” is a bench with boxes for scorecards and an “honesty” box to pay the fee of 15 pounds (about $20). Walking was akin to avoiding land mines, stepping around and over rabbit holes and sheep manure. On the eighth hole, I rolled my 6-foot par putt over a pile of sheep manure smoothed over by my right foot. It rained the entire round.

Ferry to the fairway

Iona was next. Reaching the course began with an 80-minute ferry from Oban to the Isle of Mull, then 75 minutes driving one-lane roads across the island to take a 15-minute ferry trip to Iona. Then walking five minutes to the post office, where you pay £1 per scorecard, and finally a 1¼-mile hike to the course.

At the Iona course, sheep graze on the first seven holes. The remaining 11 holes have enormous cows. The 10th hole is a stellar 325-yard par 4. Your second shot is blind—you can’t see the green, which is set between large, jagged rock formations. Mats, a 23 handicap, astonishingly had three birdies in a row. He said he never had three birdies in a row before, and at that handicap he probably never will again. His feat was even more impressive since the rain, at times, was sideways.

The next day we went to Glencruitten, just outside of Oban. This roller-coaster of a course is home to Scotland’s current top golfer, Robert MacIntyre. On the 17th hole, the sun made its first appearance in the first 53 holes of golf on this trip. It was still shining on 18, but then disappeared.

The following days we played at an array of courses—at Traigh, the Isle of Skye, Askernish and finally to Barra, for a two-night stay at a local B&B to experience the most primitive of the courses we played.

Barra Golf Club, the most westerly course in Scotland, is best played in hiking boots. If I ever think to complain about the distance from a green to the next tee, I will remember Barra, particularly the climb from the fourth green to the fifth tee, a 200-yard hike uphill, then another 150 yards along a narrow ridge. The greens on Barra were protected from the cows by fences, and you entered the greens through a turnstile.

From Barra we went to a jetty of land on the island of Vatersay, where we invented a golf course, playing around cows to reach objects in the distance. “See that ditch? Let’s play to that.” “That rock in the distance? That’s our target.”

One last ferry back to Oban and a short drive to our final course, Seil Golf Club. I had my best shot of the week on the fifth hole, missing a hole-in-one by 6 inches.

It’s about the journey

More important than the golf, the trip fostered camaraderie. Being willing to chase something completely unreasonable, with golf as the catalyst, and choosing to spend more than a week together, these five Swedes and I had become brothers. As men age, true connections are a rare find.

I enjoyed classic Scottish food like full Scottish breakfasts with haggis and blood pudding; chicken rumbledethumps, a dish with mashed potatoes, cabbage and cheese; Tennents lager and single-malt Scotch.

I always felt you cannot play golf with tension, or trying to exercise control. Life is about accepting the good and bad bounces. Sometimes you do the right thing but get a lousy result. These Scottish courses forced me to play by that rule if I wanted to make it through the day in one mental piece: On many of these golf courses you can hit a perfect drive and still go down a rabbit hole. The key is to relax, deal with what just happened and focus on the next shot.

Having previously spent months in the U.K. and Scotland at the big-name courses, I believe we can learn something from playing these no-frills courses: The biggest experiences can come from the smallest places. Less really can be more.

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Those who know me know that I love golf in Scotland.

In some cases, Scotland is called “the home of golf,” though it could be contended that a forerunner of golf, something in the Dutch language  called “kolf” started in the Netherlands, then made its way to Scotland where it became popular with a new name, “golf.”

I have gone to Scotland five times to play golf, loving the experience every time, both on famous courses like the “Old Course” in St. Andrews, but also on lesser-known tracks in every city, big and small. 

In Scotland, you don’t check the weather report before you play.  You just go play regardless of conditions.  Which is why a wee dram of Scottish whiskey warms the body and soul after a wet, windy round.

On Scotland trips, I have been accompanied – or should I say “led” — by my wife whose parents emigrated to the U.S. after being born in Scotland.  So, I am a Scot of sorts.

I read two great stories this week on golf in Scotland, one in the Washington Post and one in Links Magazine.  They were so good I decided to devote two full blogs to reprinting them, word-for-word.

This is Part 1, a story by Al Lunsford in Links Magazine that appeared under this headline:  7 Things I Didn’t Know About the Old Course Until My First Round.

He is right; I didn’t know all of them, just a few.

**********

Playing the Old Course at St. Andrews for the first time is surely one of golf’s most greatly anticipated days. There’s the bucket-list factor, which for me came in the form of playing alongside my dad and brother-in-law, something that nearly brings me to tears just writing this sentence. The buildup also presents a blend of preparation and research into the history, the routing, and the town with the anxiety of facing a few of the most pressure-packed shots of your life that only the Home of Golf can present. For months, I debated between which of two specific clubs (4-iron or 3-hybrid?) I would use on the opening tee shot, only to choose neither.

Yet no matter how much reading and YouTubeing you do, there are still some things you don’t know, don’t learn, or don’t fully understand about this one-of-a-kind golf course until stepping foot on those hallowed grounds. Here are some discoveries I made during my first loop around the Old Course.

No Insult Added to Injury

For those curious, I chose a 3-wood off the first tee at the recommendation of my caddie, Tom, who in a gravelly and seasoned tone gave me a line straight at Swilcan Bridge and a maximum of 260 yards to work with into a medium breeze on a perfect summer morning. Maybe it was the shock of choosing a club I hadn’t previously considered, or the absence of expectations with no time to hit balls before our 7:40am tee time, but I felt strangely calm over a shot that I’d been told unanimously I would be shaking over. (I was much more nervous over the tee ball on 18, with the vehicles and buildings looming closer on the right and a decent score going.)

Old Course 1st hole (photo by Kevin Murray)

I caught a good one with my first swing, perhaps too good—watching the ball bounce and roll out on the firm turf, I wasn’t totally sure I hadn’t run one into the only real water hazard I could find on the course. As I approached and sighed with relief upon seeing my Bridgestone safely dry (with about 15 yards to spare before the burn), I learned something new. Whether or not you hit one into Swilcan Burn out of the gate, you’ll notice in passing that there are a few ball retrievers poking out of the stream. (I found this was commonplace across all my rounds in Scotland where burns were in play.) This means that while many players will lose strokes on the approach into the first green, few will walk to the second tee without the ball they began the round with.

“Always 18” on Double Greens

This is one fun fact I’m sure I’d heard at some point but was reminded of by Tom once we stepped onto the green at the 2nd hole, the first of the seven gargantuan shared putting surfaces at the Old Course. “Which hole is the other flag from?” I inquired. “16—they always add up to 18,” replied Tom, almost before I could finish my question (far from his first rodeo). His point: If you’re ever curious about the holes that share a green, do the math: the two hole numbers combine to equal 18. Which means the 3rd hole shares its green with the 15th, the 4th with the 14th, and so on. Told you it was fun! To save you a Google, the Old Course has just four holes with single greens at the 1st, 9th, 17th, and 18th.

The double green shared by the 7th and 11th holes at the Old Course (photo by Kevin Murray)

White Out, Red In (With One Exception)

Given the number of greens with two flagsticks, it only makes sense that there be some distinction that exists between hole locations, so players understand the correct flag to play toward. The solution was laid out on the Old Course in 1857, when dual flags were first introduced on the double greens to create a proper 18-hole layout. As written in the Fifeshire Journal that year, “On each green, with the exception of the first and return, two holes have been placed; the one is played to by parties going outwards, the other in the in-coming. To prevent mistakes, the outgoing hole is supplied with a white flag, and its neighbor sports a red one, that being the color for all the return holes.”

So, on the first nine, aim for the white flags. On the second nine, the red flags are the play, with one exception. The Old Course’s closer, “Tom Morris,” is backdropped by the famous Hamilton Grand; as the story goes, the 18th hole uses a white flag instead of red because it’s easier to see against the apartment building’s iconic red façade. I clearly wasn’t paying close attention, as I didn’t realize this discrepancy until my post round visit to the gift shop, where I found it curious that the collectible pin flag for the 18th wasn’t available in red.

The white flag at the 18th hole of the Old Course (photo by Kevin Murray)

Carved in Stone

As we strolled down the Old Course’s fairways, we came across a few odd-looking bumps in the ground concealed in green artificial turf. One of our caddies lifted the mysterious veil to explain: Underneath the protective cover are the stones that once marked the boundary line between the golf course and the “common land.” The indicators are clear, as one side is engraved “G” and the other “C.” Though these are hiding in plain sight, they’re hard to miss in the middle of the 5th and 7th fairways, in particular; seasoned visitors and pros during the Open Championship have been known to use them as an aiming point off the tee on those two holes.

The boundary stones at the Old Course (photo by Al Lunsford)

“Mushroom soup, please”

The 4th hole at St. Andrews is named “Ginger Beer” after what is thought to be golf’s oldest halfway house. In the 1850s, David “Auld Da” Anderson would position a cart full of Ginger Beer behind the 4th green for golfers to refresh themselves during their rounds. Today, the Old Course has a permanent halfway house building between the 9th green and the 10th tee, with a menu that includes visitor favorites such as the Pork and Haggis Sausage Roll and the Macaroni Pie. But apparently, you shouldn’t sleep on the Soup of the Day, especially if it’s mushroom—which all of our caddies ordered expertly in a coffee cup for efficient consumption. It smelled tempting, but fresh off a birdie and still full after a hearty pre-round breakfast at the Fairmont St. Andrews (and having reached my personal lifetime haggis quota—once was plenty), I left without sampling the soup or the other local delicacies this go around. You have to have a reason to come back, eh?

The Old Course halfway house menu (photo by Al Lunsford)

The Depths of Hell

During the Open Championship’s regular return to St. Andrews, viewers are refamiliarized with the most notorious of the Old Course’s 112 bunkers. Outside of perhaps the Road bunker on the penultimate hole, none is more well-known (or feared) than Hell. The 300-square-foot, horseshoe-shaped hole in the ground commands your attention as you decide what to do in the middle section of the “Long” par-five 14th. My take? Avoid it at all costs. If you’re questioning whether or not you can clear it, don’t even try; there’s plenty of room left in the 5th fairway to stay far, far away.

I’d heard the tale of Jack Nicklaus’s trouble exorcising himself out of this sand pit on the way to a 10 in the 1995 Open, but it’s hard to fathom its depths until you’re standing next to it (and hopefully not in it). The Hell bunker is 10 feet deep in spots, causing me to wonder if dunking a basketball would be easier than clearing the lip. Pro-tip: Take a picture sitting on top to give your social media feed a life-size perspective.

The author, left, and his brother-in-law atop Hell bunker (photo by Al Lunsford)

Green Means Go at the Road Hole

One of golf’s most thrilling tee shots, there’s nothing that compares to 17 at St. Andrews, where players aim over the corner of the Old Course Hotel and walk with anticipation to see where their ball settled on the other side. Naturally, I thought about this moment, but didn’t consider how we might know when the coast was clear to hit until waiting on the tee. The caddies in front of us were out of sight, so I looked around for a mirror, or perhaps a camera feed, but found the solution off in the distance. Positioned at the edge of the boundary is an attendant holding two colored flags: red for hold, green for go. A simple system, and one I thought was perfectly appropriate for the Old Course.

The flags alerting golfers on the tee at the Road hole (photo by Al Lunsford)

It’s said that when the wind flips, the Old Course can morph between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with bunkers that were an afterthought in one round suddenly swallowing golf balls in the next. I didn’t get a second crack this trip, and I’ll be impatiently waiting for the next opportunity to unearth more of the Home of Golf’s secrets sooner than later.

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Some people know the answer to the question in this blog headline, but it also is not well-known.

The designer, as stated in the headline, was Billy Bell, the son of his father by the same name and they designed many golf courses in the West, including Illahe where the son made one of his marks after his father’s death.

The two were featured in the recent edition of FORE magazine, which is published by the Southern California Golf Association.

William P. “Billy” Bell, Sr. and his son William F. “Billy” Bell, Jr. are the famous “Bells”— Southern California’s first family of golf course architecture — who were inducted into the Southern California Golf Association Hall of Fame as part of the 2017 class.

So, in that sense, they are famous.  More so in California than in Oregon.

The senior Bell started as a caddie master, greenskeeper, and construction supervisor.  He collaborated heavily with Golden Age architects like George C. Thomas Jr. (on Bel-Air CC, Riviera CC, and Los Angeles CC North) and designed or co-designed more than 70 courses.

He was known for signature lacy-edged bunkers, undulating greens, and natural terrain integration.

His son, Billy, studied at USC and designed or co-designed more than 100 courses, with and beyond his father.  For instance, he completed his father’s vision for Torrey Pines after his father’s passing in 1953.

Here is a list of notable courses designed or co-designed by the Bells:

Bel-Air Country Club	Los Angeles
Torrey Pines Golf Course (North & South)	San Diego
Industry Hills Golf Club (Ike & Babe)	Industry, CA
Sandpiper Golf Club	Goleta/Santa Barbara
Bermuda Dunes Country Club	Bermuda Dunes
Brookside Golf Club	Pasadena

According to Google, add Illahe Hills to the list.  It ranks up there with some other Bells’ designs. 

“Illahe opened in 1961 and stands as a premier example of the Bells’ Pacific Northwest portfolio, showcasing how the family’s design philosophy adapted beautifully to the dense trees and rolling landscape of the Willamette Valley.

“Built as a traditional 18-hole, par-72 championship course, it features a highly walkable layout that naturally leverages the local countryside terrain rather than fighting it.

“True to the Bell style, it uses strategic bunkering and raised, undulating greens to challenge golfers of all skill levels.

“While Bell Jr. drafted the original 1961 footprint, other acclaimed architects have touched the course since then.  Robert Muir Graves completed a re-design in 1981, followed later by renovations from John Harbottle III and contemporary updates by Northwest designer Dan Hixson.

“Heavily regarded as one of the purest tests of golf in Oregon, it was named the 2023 Oregon Golf Association Facility of the Year and has hosted numerous USGA Championship qualifiers.”

I know about the latter because on many occasions I have served as a tournament starter at my home track. 

I also met Harbottle before his passing and, more recently, have had discussions with current course architect advisor, Hixon.  He has advised about removing trees from the golf course and an entirely new approach to bunkers.

For those tasks, he deserves credit.  And so does Illahe, a solid golf track worthy of being grouped into the list of courses due to the Bells.

I have been fortunate to play Illahe for more than 40 years.  And I hope more to come.

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

As we head toward the mid-term elections, I urge all of us to pay attention to the damage Donald Trump has done, is doing, and will do to this country.

That demands that we vote for all those who oppose Trump’s effort to represent himself and not the American people.

No organization has said this better than the New York Times whose editorial writers stroked this a telling headline, one I borrowed for this blog.

I choose to reprint the editorial word-for-word today, so read on.

*********

President Trump has encouraged voters to pretend he is on the ballot for the November 3 mid-term elections, and this time we can agree with his political advice.  Americans should be thinking of the Trump administration as they vote for members of Congress and state officials.

Voters should keep in mind Trump’s failure to keep his campaign promises, his attempts to undermine American democracy, and his flagrant corruption.  They should be thinking of the Republican Party’s acquiescence to this abuse of power, and they should hold Republicans accountable.

Today’s Democrat Party has plenty of flaws, including a disappointing failure to present a coherent agenda of its own.  Nonetheless, Democrats offer the only alternative this year to the damage that Trump and his party have inflicted on the nation.  A vote for a Democrat candidate is the best way for Americans to repudiate the Trump administration’s performance over the past two years.

If Democrats retake both houses of Congress, and more state governments than they now control, it will tell the world that Trump does not represent most Americans.  It will demonstrate that a country that starts to slide toward autocracy can move back to normalcy, as happened in Hungary this spring.  Most important, it will create a desperately needed check on Trump during his final two years in office.

Take a moment to imagine how Washington could change if Democrats win control of the House of Representatives.  Trump’s legislative ambitions will be largely ended; he will not be able to pass more tax cuts that worsen the national debt.

Democrats can instead use must-pass spending bills to restore money that was improperly cut from Medicaid, schools, scientific research, and disease prevention.  And Congress will finally have committee chairs who seek to exercise their constitutional duty to hold the president and his appointees responsible for their actions, through the use of hearings, subpoenas and more.

Even if Trump and his aides illegally defy subpoenas, the House can summon corporate executives and others who have enabled him.

If Democrats take the Senate, they will be able to do more.  As the body that confirms nominees for top administration jobs and the judiciary, the Senate can stop Trump from appointing unqualified cabinet members like Todd Blanche, Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and ideologues like Russ Vought.

Senators can insist on federal judges who, while surely conservative, will uphold the law.  Many judges appointed by previous Republican presidents have honorably done so in recent years, but some Trump appointees have failed to meet this basic standard.  The Senate’s confirmation role will be particularly important if any Supreme Court vacancies arise in the next two years.

Regardless, Trump will almost certainly continue to do damage in office.  He will issue executive orders and conduct foreign policy, and he may defy congressional authority in ways that violate tradition or the law.  Yet, the difference between a government completely run by a political party in thrall to him and a government with an empowered opposition is profound.  Americans now have an opportunity to register their displeasure with his conduct, and they should seize it.

It is worth taking a moment to review the records of both Trump and congressional Republicans since he returned to office in January 2025.

In a 21-month span, he has done more harm to democracy and the rule of law than any other president in the modern era and perhaps longer than that.  He has broken his oath to defend the Constitution by trying to rewrite it on his own.  He has refused to honor Congress’s power of the purse and misused national security laws for political ends.  He has defied federal court orders on Medicaid funding, deportation orders and more.

He has dismantled the Justice Department’s legacy as an impartial enforcer of federal law, turning it into an instrument of retribution against his adversaries while canceling investigations into his allies.  He has appointed inept sycophants to oversee crucial government functions, including law enforcement, national defense, and public health.  He has sought to disenfranchise large numbers of voters, claiming fraud that cannot be found, and championed an extreme new approach to partisan gerrymandering.  He has physically besmirched the White House by demolishing the East Wing and financing a garish renovation with donations from wealthy allies.

In foreign affairs, Trump has wasted lives and military resources on a miscalculated and illegal war with Iran, a strategic blunder that has forced a global retreat of American power.  He has left the United States less prepared for future conflicts.  He has left the United States isolated and vulnerable, by alienating longtime allies.  He has weakened Ukraine in its heroic fight against Russia and cozied up to President Vladimir Putin.

On the economy, his policies have raised the cost of living, contributing to a decline in real wages. Interest rates are up. Economic growth and job growth are down.  He has handed out billions to the wealthy and large corporations, leaving the rest of us with the tab, through a national debt that now exceeds $40 trillion.

He has created a culture of corruption and avarice with no precedent.  He has pardoned political cronies, violent felons among them.  He has used the levers of power, including regulatory oversight and diplomacy, to bring in billions of dollars of profit for his family business and his closest supporters.  In 2025 alone, the president’s business empire earned $2.24 billion, nearly two-thirds of it from cryptocurrency, which Mr. Trump’s executive branch is supposed to be regulating.

What has the Republican-controlled Congress done to rein in these abuses? Virtually nothing.  With only a few exceptions, the Senate has approved inept cabinet members and agency heads and then stood by as they rounded up legal immigrants, brought ludicrous criminal charges against political opponents, depleted the military of top talent, and spurned the scientific consensus on the need for vaccines.

No congressional committee has demanded an accounting for the destruction of the United States Agency for International Development, which is leading to needless misery and death in other countries.  Nor has Congress fought back against the shrinking of other federal agencies that it created and that the Trump White House unilaterally defunded.  No committee has investigated the Trump family’s enrichment and self-dealing, though it is vastly worse than Hunter Biden’s schemes of familial exploitation, which Republicans rightly denounced.

A determined Congress could have tried to prevent the two presidential decisions most responsible for the inflation that has imperiled Republican political prospects:  Starting a war against Iran and imposing tariffs on global imports.

Republican leaders didn’t even try.  A handful of Republican legislators joined Democrats in passing resolutions against the war, but party leaders opposed the efforts and made sure they remained toothless.

The Republican majorities in the House and Senate do not even seem to care when Trump casts aside laws that they passed themselves.  In September, Congress passed a bill enabling tighter sanctions on Russia’s energy exports, and the president signed it.  When he later changed his position and said he would not enforce the sanctions, only a small number of Republicans objected, none of them in leadership.

The current Congress is the second least productive on record, passing fewer bills than any other save its immediate predecessor, the 118th Congress, in 2023 and 2024, when Republicans also controlled the House.

The most significant piece of legislation that the 119th Congress passed is the law that Trump insisted be called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.  In truth, it is mostly a handout to the wealthy, which worsens both the national debt and economic inequality.

The Republican congressional candidates on the ballot this year deserve to pay a price for both the damage their party has done and the damage it has failed to stop.  In the face of a power-grabbing president, they have mostly shown cowardice.  The Constitution envisions the legislative branch as the first among equals in the government’s power-sharing system; James Madison said that it “necessarily predominates.”

This Congress has enthusiastically ceded its power.  It is Congress that has the power of the purse, the power to declare war, the power to determine who enters the country, the power to levy duties and tariffs.  Its current leaders have instead become bystanders to Trump’s assertions of executive supremacy. Having signed on to Trump’s cult of personality, a vast majority of congressional Republicans are now loath to break with it, fearing the president will destroy their political careers and subject them to harassment, as he has done to others in the party.

Only voters can provide a counterweight. They have a chance to demonstrate next Tuesday that dereliction of constitutional duty can likewise end a politician’s career.

If any Republican officials on your ballot have consistently stood up to Mr. Trump on these matters, you should consider rewarding their political courage. In most state and local races, though, constraining his overreach will require voting Democratic. There are now 23 states where Republicans control both houses of the state legislature and the governor’s seat; several of those “trifectas” are at risk, including those in Georgia, Iowa, Ohio and New Hampshire.

When a democracy begins to slide toward autocracy, legislative elections offer the most significant potential turning point.  If voters endorse the new regime — or the party in power manages to subvert the popular will — the slide can accelerate.  If voters successfully reject the regime, democracy can begin to recover.  The United States will be stronger if the 2026 midterms are such a turning point.

Trump has dominated American politics for more than a decade, and the Republican Party has been his eager accomplice in degrading the nation’s ideals.  The American people have a chance over the next week to speak in a clear voice.

If they do, they can allow the nation to glimpse the end of the Trump era and the start of something brighter.

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

As a person who likes words, it is surprising to me how often quality journalists make mistakes in word usage.

No doubt I make mistakes, too.

One reason is that I don’t have an editor to review and approve what I write.  I just write and sometimes fall victim to writing too fast.  Or, I am just not smart enough to avoid mistakes.

Still, I find myself drawn to write about words, so I open the Department of Words Matter, one of five departments I run with a free hand to manage as I see fit.

FROM THE WASHINGTON POST:  “Two Palestinian gunmen were slain in the attack, days before Israeli elections that have centered around the prime minister’s handling of security issues.”

It is not possible for something to be “centered around” something else.  The phrase should be this:  Centered on.

IN GENERAL:  Incorrect word usage in major newspapers usually stems from homophone confusion, malapropisms, or the high-speed pressure of a modern newsroom.  Over time, major publications like The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Guardian have issued high-profile corrections for printing completely wrong words that subtly — or hilariously — changed the meaning of their reporting.

HERE ARE A FEW NOTABLE REAL-WORLD EXAMPLES:

1. Anecdote vs. Antidote

• The Publication: The Los Angeles Times
• The Error:  A reporter mistakenly wrote that a medical patient was given an “anecdote” to counteract a poison.
• The Correction:  The paper had to issue a clarification noting that the patient was actually given an antidote (a remedy to counteract poison), rather than an anecdote (a short, amusing story).

2. Throws vs. Throes

• The Publication:  Multiple major media outlets
• The Error:  Publications frequently print that a country, political party, or economy is in the “throws of a crisis.”
• The Correction:  “Throw” is a verb meaning to propel something through the air.  The correct term is throes, a noun referring to intense struggles, pain, or spasms (e.g., “in the throes of a crisis”).

3. Plumbers vs. Janitors

• The Publication: The New York Times
• The Error:  In a pop-culture reference regarding the iconic video game characters Mario and Luigi, a writer referred to them as “janitors.”
• The Correction:  The Times issued a humorous formal correction pointing out that the brothers are, of course, plumbers.

4. Ruckus vs. Raucous

• The Publication:  Common in various regional and national news publications.
• The Error:  Using “ruckus” as a descriptive modifier for loud behavior (e.g., “a ruckus crowd”).
• The Correction:  Editors frequently catch reporters confusing these two noisy words.  A ruckus is a noun meaning a disturbance or uproar.  The word to describe a loud, rowdy crowd is the adjective raucous.

Beyond these citations, another common mistake irritates me:  It is when nouns don’t agree with verbs, as in:

• Singular subject with a plural verb:
  • Incorrect: The dog bark at the mailman.
  • Correct: The dog barks at the mailman.
  • Incorrect: She eat breakfast every day.
  • Correct: She eats breakfast every day.
• Plural subject with a singular verb:
  • Incorrect: The dogs barks at the mailman.
  • Correct: The dogs bark at the mailman.
  • Incorrect: Cats is very cute.
  • Correct: Cats are very cute.
• Confusing the true subject:
  • Incorrect: A combination of these factors… have focused attention. (The verb incorrectly matches “factors” instead of the singular head noun “combination”.)
  • Correct: A combination of these factors… has focused attention.
• Compound subjects with “or”/”nor” mismatching:
  • Incorrect: The boy or his friends runs every day. (The verb should match the closer subject “friends”.)
  • Correct: The boy or his friends run every day.

In my time as a lobbyist, I often saw my associates write such a sentence such as this:  The legislative committee said it was time to conclude their work. 

Of course, it should be its work.

The modifier should agree with the noun, as in “The Committee did it’s work.”

In conclusion, I choose to cite a sentence written by none other than NY Times columnist Frank Bruni who often cites cases when wrong words are used – and he usually uses words deftly.

This is a sentence he wrote:  “A series of developments have put the 11th Congressional District — in a largely rural patch of western North Carolina — into play.”

Note the word “have” italics.  It should have been “has,” thus modifying the early words in the sentence, “A series.”  Don’t tell Bruni that I cite his mistake.

Now, two final points:  First, I attribute some of what I have written to my friend, Mr. Google; and, second, aren’t you glad you know all this?

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I have been familiar with discussions of miracles from my youth when I grew up in a Christian family, which honored such miracles as Jesus rising from the dead after a dreadful death.

His resurrection was truly a miracle.  And other miracles are described in the 66 books of today’s Bible.

But, in many places today, the subject of miracles ends up being controversial.  The question:  What is difference between a supposed miracle and a coincidence?

To those who believe in miracles – including me – the question boils down to a simple, yet profound, word:  Choice.  I choose to believe.  Some choose not to believe?

In this context, I was interested in what I have heard about action the Vatican takes to define miracles for the Catholic Church.  Google provides good information on the subject, as follows:

The Vatican uses a multi-tiered, rigorous scientific and theological investigation primarily overseen by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to certify miracles, which are most commonly sudden medical healings.

1. Local Investigation

• Initial Report:  The process begins at the local diocese level, where a bishop collects testimonies, medical records, and physical evidence from witnesses.
• Intercession Requirement:  Investigators must confirm that the person who experienced the healing prayed solely for the miracle.

2. The Medical Board

• Independent Review:  The case moves to the Vatican, where a panel of roughly 100 medical experts and physicians (some of whom are not Catholic) review the files.
• Strict Criteria:  To pass this stage, the healing must be:
  • Instantaneous or sudden
  • Complete and permanent, not a temporary remission
  • Organic and scientifically unexplainable given current medical knowledge
• Two-Thirds Majority:  Under reforms introduced by Pope Francis, at least two-thirds of the medical board must vote to affirm that the cure has no natural medical explanation.

3. Theological and Commission Review

• Theological Evaluation:  If the doctors rule out natural causes, a commission of theologians evaluates the event to ensure it represents a true sign of divine intervention rather than a coincidence.
• The “Devil’s Advocate” Role:  A designated official actively searches for alternative explanations, natural causes, or flaws in the testimony to test the claim’s integrity.

4. Papal Approval

• Final Sign-off:  The findings are sent to the Cardinals and officials of the Dicastery, and ultimately presented to the Pope, who makes the final decision to officially declare the event a miracle.
• Sainthood Milestones:  Generally, one verified miracle is required for beatification (making a person “Blessed”), and a second verified miracle is required for canonization (making a person a “saint”), though exceptions can be made by the Pope.

All this said, my view, again, is this:  I choose to accept the fact that God has the power to engage in miracles .  The most significant one was when Jesus rose from the dead.

Plus, even though I am not a Catholic,I applaud the Vatican for the rigor of its process.

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

The phrase “man’s inhumanity to man” crossed my mind the other day, but I don’t know why, at least not for sure.

Perhaps it was because I thought about Donald Trump and how he handles life or death situations and appears not to care about life.

• Such as going to war in Iran without a rationale for doing so.

• Such as targeting and deporting immigrants and their families out of some kind of “white national” perspective.

• Such as considering live streaming a military execution [Though, in the face of huge opposition on all sides, Trump finally demurred.]

Go ahead, add to the list.

Yet, in the history of mankind, inhumanity has been around for many years.  Here are citations from Goggle, which is important to attribute as the cite as I repeat part of what it says:

Antiquity and the Middle Ages

• The Roman Destruction of Carthage (146 BCE):  Following the Third Punic War, Rome razed the city and systematically killed or enslaved its population.
• Turco-Mongol Conquests (13th–14th Centuries):  The campaigns of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane resulted in the destruction of entire cities, mass executions, and massive depopulation across Eurasia.

Early Modern and Imperial Eras

• The Transatlantic Slave Trade (16th–19th Centuries):  Millions of African men, women, and children were forcefully captured, shipped across the Atlantic in brutal conditions, and subjected to chattel slavery in the Americas.
• Colonial Exterminations:  European colonization in the Americas, Africa, Australia, and the Pacific led to the collapse of indigenous populations through warfare, forced displacement, and disease.

20th-Century World Wars and Totalitarianism

• The Armenian Genocide (1915–1917):  The Ottoman Empire systematically murdered an estimated 1.5 million Armenians during World War I.
• The Holocaust (1941–1945):  Nazi Germany engineered the systematic, industrial-scale murder of 6 million European Jews, alongside millions of Roma, Soviet prisoners, people with disabilities, and political dissidents.
• The Nanjing Massacre (1937–1938):  Imperial Japanese forces murdered at least 200,000 Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants following the capture of Nanjing during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Post-WWII and Late 20th-Century Atrocities

• The Cambodian Genocide (1975–1979):  The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, forced mass evacuations of cities and executed an estimated 1.5 to 2 million people through labor, torture, and starvation.
• The Rwandan Genocide (1994):  In roughly 100 days, extremist Hutu militias systematically slaughtered an estimated 500,000 to more than 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
• The Srebrenica Massacre (1995):  Bosnian Serb forces executed more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys during the Bosnian War, recognized as an act of genocide.

So, how does Trump fit into all this?

Well, it is clear to me – his approach and style fits. 

Look at Trump’s policies – if it could be contended that he has policies or just acts on the spur of the moment when whatever crosses his brain emerges out of his mouth.

Here are examples, again aided by Google:

• Family Separation Policy:  The 2018 “Zero Tolerance” immigration policy, which systematically separated thousands of migrant children from their parents at the southern border without formal tracking systems for reunification.
• Mass Deportation Agenda:  Civil rights organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union argue that his administration’s aggressive use of the military and federal law enforcement for mass immigration arrests and the revocation of legal status.
• Asylum and Refugee Rollbacks:  Human rights advocates point to the effective termination of asylum protections and drastic cuts to refugee admissions as a deliberate rejection of humanitarian obligations.

And this new report from today’s Washington Post: Trump administration has deported nearly one million through July. Yes, nearly one million!

For my part, I cannot countenance Trump’s degrading performance when it comes to human beings.  To himself, he is always the greatest person in the world and he hates immigrants and others who don’t look him or fawn over him. 

And, remember he, too, is the son of immigrants.

I also came across this verse from Collosians chapter 3 this morning and found myself wishing for it to be true of all, not just Christians.

“Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

Too much to hope for?  Perhaps.  But I persist.

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I am taking the action in this blog headline in order to include three items.

The first two could be included in the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering, one of five departments I manage with a free hand to act as I feel compelled to act.  For the third, the other department is the Department of Bits and Pieces

See, all this shows my incredible diversity.  Just don’t tell Donald Trump.

FROM COLUMNIST FRANK BRUNI IN THE NEW YORK TIMES: 

“Kimberly Guilfoyle must be frenzied.  She was abruptly ousted from her role as the U.S. ambassador to Greece and needs to scram, but I doubt she’s capable of packing in a jiff.  She probably fills a half dozen steamer trunks with the wardrobe needed to maintain her busy social calendar.

“Guilfoyle must be panicked.  Normally, a disgraced or displaced Trump-administration showboat can hope for lucrative harbor at Fox News, but she already worked for the network years ago, and that arrangement also had a tawdry finale.

“But above all, Guilfoyle must be baffled.  What exactly did she do to warrant President Trump’s contempt?

“But with her fame-hungry dreams and money-ravenous schemes, she didn’t violate the Trump ethos.  She paid tribute to it.  She didn’t contradict the Trump brand. She was its gaudy, greedy hood ornament.”

Comment: Call it what it is – mimicking Trump, which, in his world, gets you fired.

FROM COLUMNIST MAUREEN DOWD IN THE WASHINGTON POST:

“Sometimes a candid photograph captures a moment in a presidency, and the essence of the officeholder, so tellingly that you get a penetrating portrait of an era.

“It happened when L.B.J. yanked up his beagle by the ears for photographers and demonstrated his domineering leadership style.

“It happened when a photographer captured W. being told, while reading to children in a Florida classroom, that a second plane had hit the World Trade Center.  His look of shock raised questions about whether, after his decades of winging it, a parlous rendezvous with destiny might be too much for him to handle.

“It happened when Obama was photographed bending over in the Oval to let a Black child touch his hair, to see if it was the same texture as his own, capturing the historic nature of his election.

“It happened again when Doug Mills, The Times’s dazzling White House photographer, took a picture on Tuesday of President Trump on Marine One with his blond aides/acolytes Katie Zacharia, his wobbly new press secretary, and Natalie Harp, his special assistant for floofing.

“The president is leaning in to talk to the two Ivanka knockoffs, who look like sorority-sister clones, four eyes glued on the man they adore, two fervent smiles glazed with pink lip gloss.

“It is a snapshot of Trump’s hunger for adulation that has dragged us to this fraught moment in America.

“He desperately craves being the center of attention, and seeing blind devotion mirrored back at him as that devotion wanes with an increasingly disgusted, exhausted public.”

Comment: In Trump world, he gets what he wants, which is adulation.  But his attempt to gain that every day is starting to fall flat.

A POSTCRIPT ON MY CHOICE TO BELIEVE THAT GOD CREATED THE UNIVERSE: 

Upon reflection, I could have – or perhaps should have — placed this item first because of its prime importance.  At the same time, ending with it is okay, too.

In the Bible, Colossians 1:15-17 says this:

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

“For in him all things were created:  Things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

Comment: Consider these words, which reflect my CHOICE to believe in God as creator, which I summarized in more detail in a previous blog.

Great words: “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

As creator, that’s fine-tuning!