MI Dem Senate Candidate El-Sayed Says There's No Justification for Temple Israel Attack & Then Justifies It

Abdul El-Sayed, who is vying to be the Democratic Party nominee for the open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, has excused the terrorist attack which took place last month against Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan under the guise of stating nothing justified the violence:

Nothing justifies the heinous attack that we saw on Temple Israel. I also think it’s just critical for us to understand that hurt people do hurt people, and the circumstances happening 6,000 miles away can affect the lives that we live here, and if we stand against violence, we’ve got to stand against violence, all violence. 

Of further note:

When a reporter from The Free Press pressed El-Sayed on his claim, asking whether a similar argument would have allowed sympathy for a Jewish person attacking a mosque after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel, he suggested the circumstances were not the same. 

“After Oct. 7, there was a whole genocide against Palestinians,” El-Sayed said. 

If El-Sayed truly deplored anti-Semitic violence, then he would have simply stated, "Nothing justifies the heinous attack that we saw on Temple Israel." Full stop. 

But he didn't stop there. Hurt people hurt people? No, most people who lose loved one managed to go through life without killing anyone. 

Then El-Sayed went further in justifying the attack on Temple Israel by effectively saying synagogues are legitimate targets for violence because of "genocide against Palestinians."

Never mind that the attacker's family was Lebanese, not Palestinian. Of course, El-Sayed neglects to mention that the attacker's brother was a Hezbollah commander. I suppose in El-Sayed's eyes members of Hezbollah are honorary Palestinians as they joined Hamas attack against Israel on October 8th.

It must be further mentioned that El-Sayed made these comments while campaigning with Hasan Piker, who can be best described as Nick Fuentes without the intellectual pretensions. Piker is someone who has praised Hamas, said he does not care if Hamas committed rape while claiming Orthodox Jews are inbred. El-Sayed tells me a great deal about himself when he excuses violence against Jews attack while campaigning with someone who publicly supports Hamas and promotes hatred against Jews. Furthermore, El-Sayed wants Democrats to publicly embrace Piker and many young Democratic activists are doing exactly that.

El-Sayed is in a three-way race in the Democratic primary with Congresswoman Haley Stevens and State Senator Mallory McMorrow. The winner of that race would face Republican Congressman Mike Rogers in this November's mid-terms. El-Sayed has not previously held public office although he previously made an unsuccessful bid for Governor in 2018 in a race which Gretchen Whitmer prevailed. 

If El-Sayed wins the Democratic Party nomination, it will demonstrate how deeply entrenched anti-Semitism has become in the party. If El-Sayed wins a seat in the U.S. Senate, then it will demonstrate how mainstream anti-Semitism has become in the United States. This neither bodes well for the future of either American Jewry or American democracy.

Davey Lopes Spent 50 Years in Baseball; Will Be Best Remembered as Part of Dodgers Infield with Garvey, Cey & Russell

 

Former MLB player, coach and manager Davey Lopes passed away today of complications of Parkinson's Disease. He was 80.

Lopes will be best remembered as being part of a four-man Los Angeles Dodgers infield which stayed together for 8½ seasons. Joining Lopes at second base was Steve Garvey at first, Bill Russell at shortstop and Ron Cey at third. The foursome played in four NL pennant winners (1974, 1977, 1978 & 1981) earning a World Series ring in 1981.

Born and raised in East Providence, Rhode Island's tight knit Cape Verdean community, Lopes would play collegiate baseball at both at Iowa Wesleyan University and later at Washburn College in Topeka, Kansas. Lopes opted to remain at Washburn after the San Francisco Giants made him their 8th round draft pick in 1967. But he would sign with the Dodgers when they made him their second-round draft pick the following year.

Originally an outfielder, Lopes converted to second base under the tutelage of his manager Tommy Lasorda when he was a member of Triple AAA Spokane Indians in 1970. Lopes would his make big-league debut with the Dodgers late in the 1972 season. In 1973, Lopes would finish 6th in NL Rookie of the Year balloting.

Lopes' greatest strength on the diamond was his baserunning as he would lead the NL in stolen bases in back-to-back seasons in 1975 and 1976 with 77 and 63, respectively. Between 1978 and 1981, Lopes was selected to four consecutive NL All-Star Teams giving Joe Morgan a run for his money as the best second baseman on the Senior Circuit. In 1978, Lopes would earn his lone Gold Glove. Lopes would also be named team captain,

After earning a World Series ring with the Dodgers in 1981, Lopes would be traded to the Oakland A's where he would spend nearly three seasons before being dealt to the Chicago Cubs late in the 1984 season. Lopes would be reunited with Cey as the Cubs would win their first NL East title. The Cubs would fall to the San Diego Padres in the NLCS led by the former infield mate Garvey. The Cubs would send Lopes to the Houston Astros during the 1986 season and would enjoy one more post-season as a player as the Astros earned the NL West title.

Lopes' playing career ended following the 1987 season. Over 16 seasons, Lopes appeared in 1,812 games collecting 1,671 hits for a lifetime batting average of .263 with 155 HR and 614 RBI along with 557 stolen bases. Those 557 stolen bases put him 26th on MLB's all-time list. To put that number into perspective, no active MLB player is in the Top 100 in stolen bases with Starling Marte of the Kansas City Royals tied for 102nd with 361 career steals - nearly 200 fewer than Lopes.

Following his playing career, Lopes spent nearly 30 years as a big-league coach and manager. Lopes had stints as a coach with the Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres (twice), Washington Nationals (twice), Philadelphia Phillies as well as five seasons back with the Los Angeles Dodgers as their first base coach between 2011 and 2015. 

In 2000, the Milwaukee Brewers hired Lopes as their manager. Following back-to-back losing seasons, the Brew Crew fired Lopes early in the 2002 season replacing him with Jerry Royster. It was probably just as well because Lopes loved teaching the art of baserunning and stolen bases. 

In his capacity as a coach, Lopes would return to the World Series thrice. First with the San Diego Padres in 1998 and with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008 & 2009 with Lopes earning his second World Series ring in 2008. Lopes would retire from baseball after the 2017 season when he coached under his former Dodgers teammate Dusty Baker with the Nats. It is not known if Lopes had been diagnosed with Parkinson's at this point. 

What is clear is that Davey Lopes spent half a century of his life in baseball - 20 as a player at both minor and major league level and nearly three more decades as a coach and manager. Lopes will also be remembered in Providence where he had a sports and recreation center named after him following his retirement as a player.

While Lopes' career fell short of Cooperstown, he enjoyed a solid playing career and built an even deeper legacy as a mentor. R.I.P.

Hours After Claiming "A Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight", Trump Gives the Iranian Regime Yet Another Lifeline

This morning, President Trump proclaimed "a whole civilization will die tonight."

By this evening, some 10½ hours later, Trump had given the Iranian regime yet another lifeline and accepted their 10-point proposal as "a workable basis on which to negotiate" via Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir. In the meantime, there is to be a 2-week ceasefire.

Portions of this 10-point plan include giving Iran $2 million for every ship which passes through the Strait of Hormuz, ending all sanctions against the Iranian regime and all military action against Iran's allies in the Middle East including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis. 

This is every bit as deranged as telling the whole world that "a whole civilization will die tonight." The Iranian regime now has something it did not have before, and we can thank President Trump for it. Yet there is nothing for which to be thankful.

Needless to say, there is no proposal from Iran about ending its nuclear program, its desire to annihilate Israel or extending more freedoms to its populace. Of course, the Iranian regime isn't interested in these things, and neither is Donald Trump. The Iranians know Trump is looking for a way out and they knew he would take anything they offered him.

Last week, the Iranian regime had rejected a 15-point proposal from the Trump Administration. One of its chief problems was that no one knew what the hell was in the proposal. Not that it mattered much due to Trump's eagerness to accept their own proposal. 

Now don't get me wrong. Trump's rhetoric concerning "a whole civilization will die tonight" was certainly unhelpful and made him come across as more maniacal than the Iranian regime.

Yet when one reads Trump's statement, it his third sentence which is the dead giveaway.

However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen.

In a subsequent Truth Social post, Trump made reference to an official statement from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.  

Araghchi has been Iran's Foreign Minister since August 2024 and was previously the chief negotiator of the Iran nuclear deal from which Trump saw fit to withdraw in 2018.

Where exactly is this Complete and Total Regime Change to which Trump is referring?

Last month, Trump claimed there had been regime change in Iran "because the leaders are all very different than the ones that we started off with."

Yet as I pointed out at the time, "Oh, there might be some new faces, but the regime is exactly as it was before."

The only difference now is that Iranian regime is stronger now than it was before. They are grinning ear to ear because of Trump's bravado and desperation. Perhaps the Iranian regime will name a sewer after him.

Trump Spent 90 Minutes Telling the World How Deranged He is

 

If a Trump supporter wants to accuse you of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) then please refer them to today's White House press conference. 

Because he spent 90 minutes telling the world how deranged he is.

The world was treated to Trump telling us, among other things, that he could run for President of Venezuela and win while easily learning Spanish in the process, brags about how great he gets along with North Korea's Kim-Jong un, that the real reason he is mad at NATO is because they won't let him have Greenland and that Vladimir Putin has explained NATO to him. 

Now, I'm sure Putin has explained his view of NATO to Trump. The fact that Trump accepts Putin's word at face value is both deranged and delusional. It is also treacherous.

Of course, Trump has been deranged for many years.

The difference now is the derangement is accompanied by incoherence with a splash of incontinence as Trump demonstrates his unseriousness concerning Iran.

Because anytime the President orders our troops into battle it must be done so with the utmost seriousness and sobriety and making a clear case as to why Iranians and the world are better off without a regime which has been a cancer to the world for nearly a half century.

But as long as Trump insists discussing his political aspirations in Venezuela, his chumminess with Kim, how he covets Greenland and everything he knows about NATO is from Putin coupled with his cruelty towards American civilians (whatever their legal status), Trump has succeeded in making the world more scared of the United States than Iran and (dare I say) Russia and China. That is some doing.

Tom Nieto Only Hit 5 Career HR But One of Them Was a Game Winner

Former MLB player and coach Tom Nieto passed away suddenly of a heart attack on March 27th. Nieto was 65.

Nieto spent parts of 7 seasons in MLB from 1984 to 1990 playing with the St. Louis Cardinals, Montreal Expos, Minnesota Twins and the Philadelphia Phillies as a backup catcher. 

Following his playing career, Nieto was a big-league coach with both the New York Yankees and the New York Mets from 1995 to 2002 and 2005 to 2008, respectively. He would also return to both the Cardinals and Twins organizations as a minor league manager.

Nieto was with teams which reached the World Series 4 times during his playing and coaching career. As a player, Nieto was part of both the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals and the 1987 Minnesota Twins. The Redbirds would fall to the Kansas City Royals in controversial fashion. However, two years later, Nieto would earn his first World Series ring in the Twin Cities besting his former Cardinals teammates though he did not play in the Fall Classic. Nieto would get to go back to the World Series as the catching coach for the New York Yankees in 2000 and 2001 earning a ring in 2000 in the Subway Series against the New York Mets while falling short the following year against the Arizona Diamondbacks thanks to Luis Gonzalez's Game 7 heroics against Mariano Rivera.

Like many backup catchers, Nieto was a light hitter. He had a lifetime batting average of .205 with 5 career HR in 251 games played. 

However, one of those 5 HRs was a game winner. While with the Montreal Expos in 1986, Nieto hit a walk off HR off Ron Davis of the Chicago Cubs. As it turned out, it was Davis' Cubs debut after having been acquired from the Twins.

Tom Nieto was not a household name, but he got to live his big-league dream and spent a good part of his life in baseball. Not a bad way to live. R.I.P.

Pam Bondi Kissed Trump's Ass & It Still Wasn't Enough to Save Her Job

 

During Pam Bondi's 14-month tenure as United States Attorney General, she displayed an extraordinary degree of obsequiousness to President Trump.

South Park infamously lampooned Bondi with having shit on her nose. 

Yet for all her loyalty to Trump, it wasn't enough as he fired Bondi from her post.

Unlike Kristi Noem, Bondi will not be demoted to government job with a snazzy title with little authority.

All Trump had to say for Bondi on Truth Social was that "she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future."

Well, maybe she'll end up working for the Qataris again and have some nice things to say about Hamas.

In the meantime, Bondi is desperately hoping Trump will change his mind stating she will "continue fighting" for him.

Therein lies the problem. Trump doesn't think Bondi fought hard enough for him. She likely sealed her fate during her disastrous congressional testimony back in February over the Epstein files which only heightened the perception she was covering up for Trump's behavior during the time he palled around with Epstein. Worse still, was Bondi's unwillingness to acknowledge Epstein's victims who were present at the hearing.

Bondi's abrupt dismissal might have more to do with the fact that she was scheduled to soon testify again on Capitol Hill in front of the House Oversight Committee on April 14th. Dismissal or not, Bondi will likely have to testify once more unless House Republicans should decide to quash the subpoena.

It has long been said that Trump has sought the DoJ to act as his personal law firm. Well, Bondi's successor (at least for now) will be Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche who, well, had been Trump's personal attorney until being appointed to his present position following the 2024 election.

Yet personal attorney or not, Blanche might prove only to be acting successor. Speculation abounds that Trump might move former NY GOP Congressman, gubernatorial candidate and current EPA Director Lee Zeldin into the role.

Whoever Trump ultimately names as Bondi's permanent successor, he/she will need to be able to defend Trump at all costs and do so without making Trump look bad. Pam Bondi succeeded at the former and failed at the latter. All it cost Bondi was her last shred of dignity.

It is Fitting That Trump Would Address the Nation on April Fool's Day

 

I did not see all of President Trump's White House address ostensibly concerning Iran.

But I didn't really need to see it all to catch its essence.

I would estimate I watched between 5 to 10 minutes of his speech.

In that short time, Trump utilized his usual catchphrases - "like never seen before", "never been anything like it and "like you wouldn't believe."

And therein lies the problem.

I don't believe him. Well, at least mostly.

Of course, I am hardly alone in thinking this way.

In which case, it is fitting that Trump should choose to address the nation on April Fool's Day.

In between talking about the purported military triumph against the Iranian regime, Trump found the time to claim we had "the highest stock market ever", with "no inflation" and "larger refunds than ever thought possible" due to the Big Beautiful Bill.

As to said military triumph, Trump said it would be a great "investment in our children's and grandchildren's future."

Although Trump has concluded the Iranian regime is no longer a threat and that we have beaten them, we will be there at least another two to three weeks.

Trump incredulously claimed that he "never said regime change was our goal" when he encouraged Iranians to "take over your government."

Trump reiterated that regime change had taken place in Iran because "all their original leaders are dead" while characterizing the "newer group" as more "moderate and reasonable."

Well, maybe this so-called new Iranian regime is more amenable to Trump because he lifted sanctions against Iranian oil thus giving them a lifeline.

As I argued a week ago, "Oh, there might be some new faces, but the regime is exactly as it was before."

The Iranian regime still regards the United States as the "great Satan" and views Israel as "little Satan." While they may very well be diminished in their capacity to act against the United States and Israel, as long as the Iranian regime remains in its present form, it will bide its time and will strike when neither we nor Israel see it coming.

It must be said that the April Fool's joke of Trump's address is on us for having once again put him into the position where, in between publicly delighting in the death of a former FBI Director, musing about withdrawing from NATO and attending a Supreme Court hearing on birthright citizenship, he can make White House speeches in which he describes B-52 bombers as "beautiful."

We have a fool for a President because we were foolish enough to elect him President - again.