A close-up look at Abraham Lincoln’s presidency offers possibilities for our own political polarization.

Readers will have their say, and a lot of it.

Despite the excessive-heat warning from the National Weather Service, our intended quarry was a species that’s more recognizably caught in the bone-chilling winds and cold of winter: the iconic codfish.

The 47-year-old Amagansett resident, assisted by a crew of 14, swam a 23.9-mile U-shaped arc in the Atlantic Ocean between Block Island and Montauk last Thursday. Her time of 8 hours, 39 minutes, and 45 seconds, which the Marathon Swimmers Federation is expected to certify, is most notable for the fact that apparently no swimmer has ever before spanned Montauk and Block Island.

The Bad News Bubs repeated as the A bracket champion in the Travis Field memorial double-elimination softball tournament in Amagansett last week, while the Bud Heavies were the B bracket champs.

Hoops 4 Hope, a nonprofit founded by Mark Crandall of Amagansett to work with young people in Zimbabwe and South Africa, is now also working with youngsters here, using basketball as a means by which to teach them how to be a good teammate.