Venezuela Beats USA To Win 1st WBC Title

(Screenshot of Team Venezuela's Eugenio Suarez after his double which put his team ahead for good)

Team Venezuela has done it!!!

They bested Team USA 3-2 in the final of the 2026 World Baseball Cup in Miami to win their first WBC title.

Venezuela broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the 9th on a double by Eugenio Suarez. The US squad had tied the contest 2-2 in the bottom of the 5th on a HR by Bryce Harper.

The Venezuelan team was something of a sleeper team. They had beat the Netherlands, Israel and Nicaragua before losing to the Dominican Republic. But then everyone sat up and took notice when they ousted the 3-time WBC champion Team Japan.

Last night, they ended Team Italy's Cinderella story with a come from behind victory scoring 3 runs in the 7th inning to reach the final against Team USA.

I must admit I am still a bit downcast with the U.S.-Venezuela final given what has transpired since the beginning of 2026. Yet, under the circumstances, I am happy for Team Venezuela. Winning the WBC means a whole lot more to Venezuela than it does to this country. This triumph will provide a considerable source of joy for a country which has not had a lot to cheer about either from their own government or from ours.

Team Italy Bids Arrivederci to WBC

Tonight, the Cinderella story ended. Team Italy was bounced in the World Baseball Classic semifinal by Team Venezuela falling 4-2.

Before tonight's loss, Italy had bested Brazil, Great Britain, the United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico in this year's tournament.

Now, it must be said that a majority of Team Italy are American born players of Italian heritage. Not only that, but if you include manager Francisco Cervelli there were more Venezuelans on Team Italy than Italians. There were three Italian born players on the team including pitcher Sam Aldegheri who became the first Italian born MLB player when he debuted with the Los Angeles Angels in 2024.

Nevertheless, it would have been something completely different had Team Italy won the tournament. Perhaps it would have helped stimulate more interest in the game over there. 

Mind you, baseball isn't entirely a foreign concept in Italy. I remember when former MLB player Lenny Randle became a star in Italy in the early 1980's with Nettuno. On a personal note, my parents saw Randle and his Nettuno team play in France during the summer of 1983. Sadly, Randle passed away in December 2024.

As for Venezuela, they deserve to be there. Indeed, they knocked off Team Japan which has won three WBC Titles including the most recent tournament in 2023.

Tomorrow night, Venezuela faces Team USA in the WBC Final. Although this is Venezuela's first appearance in the WBC Final, I find it all a bit depressing as it is just a reminder of the American military invasion of Venezuela in which they ousted one dictator to replace him with another.

It's hard to root for Team USA when manager Mark DeRosa boasts about having their ticket punched to the semi-final before they earned that spot or having a member of Seal Team 6 speak to the team about killing Osama bin Laden as well as Bryce Harper minimizing the importance of the WBC compared to the Olympics.

Let me put it this way. A World Baseball Classic title would mean a lot more to the people of Venezuela than it would to the people of this country.

As for Team Italy, even when represented by Americans and Venezuelans, they played with a joie de vivre. Or should I say with a gioia di vivere. What with the Armani jackets, the kisses on the cheek, the espresso, the wine with music by Andrea Bocelli. 

They played for the love of the game. Now that's amore.

A Message for Javier Bardem: Free Palestine....From Hamas

 

Actor Javier Bardem took the stage at last night's Oscars to say, "No to war and Free Palestine."

Of course, this is nothing new under the sun for Bardem who accused Israel of genocide at the Emmys six months ago and pledged not to work with anyone who supported genocide.

But when you stop to think about Bardem's statement, it is most peculiar.

After all, it was Hamas who initiated the conflict on October 7th, raped and murdered civilians while also taking hostages.

Oh, I'm sure Bardem was referring to the present conflict in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East.

While you can certainly make the case there is a great deal of stupidity involved in said conflict as I have, it is telling that Bardem doesn't see fit to call for a Free Iran. He has no words of support to offer either Jafar Panahi or Medhi Mahmoudian, the director and screenwriter for the Oscar nominated documentary It Was Only an Accident. Both Panahi and Mahmoudian have been arrested by the Iranian government for their opposition to the present regime.

In the grand scheme of things, Bardem is no more interested in freedom for Palestine than he is for freedom for Iran. If this was the case then Bardem would declare, "Free Palestine....from Hamas." After all, Hamas has just as much contempt for Palestinians as it does Israelis. Hamas had no qualms about executing Palestinians seeking food aid.

The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is little better where 90-year-old Mahmoud Abbas remains President despite the fact his four-year term expired 17 years ago. 

When Javier Bardem (or anyone else for that matter) chants, "Free Palestine" (with Hamas in power), what they really want is a genocide of Jews.

Perpetrator in Temple Israel Attack Had Ties to Hezbollah

Consider what I wrote about a couple of days ago concerning Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, the man responsible for last week's terrorist attack against Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan:

While Ghazali did not have a previous criminal record, in light of his actions yesterday, one must wonder what his online activity was like or his interactions with his closest of friends. Perhaps this information will come to light in the not-too-distant future. Or perhaps we will never know.

Well, it turns out Ghazali had ties to Hezbollah as per CNN: 

According to law enforcement officials briefed on the matter, Ghazali shows up in federal government databases as having connections to “known or suspected terrorists” associated with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Ghazali, who is a naturalized US citizen from Lebanon, is not listed in the government databases as a member of Hezbollah himself, they added.

According to the officials, Ghazali’s last foreign travel was from the United States to Lebanon in 2019. He returned to the US through Atlanta, where he was flagged in DHS systems for “threshold targeting” based on prior records of his contact with suspected Hezbollah members.

In an interview with Customs and Border Protection agents at the time, Ghazali said he had traveled abroad to receive hair transplant treatment. Ghazali’s phone was inspected by CBP, and agents found individuals who were known or suspected Hezbollah members in his contacts, according to the officials. It is not clear who those contacts were, or what Ghazali’s relationship to them was.

Yet I believe it is reasonable to infer Ghazali's Hezbollah contacts included his brother Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali who the IDF identified as "a Hezbollah officer" who was "responsible for managing weapons operations within a specialized branch of the Badr Unit. The IDF added the Badr Unit "is responsible for launching hundreds of rockets toward Israeli civilians throughout the war.” 

Yes, let us not forget that Hezbollah launched attacks against Israel the day after the October 7th attacks.

Even if Ayman Mohamad Ghazali was not an official member of Hezbollah, he not only had ties to the group but sympathized with their objectives and was prepared to lay down his life to carry out those objectives. I have little doubt that Hezbollah would view Ghazali's attack against Temple Israel some 6000 miles away as an act of resistance.

Needless to say, headlines from the Detroit News, The Guardian and other media outlets which mention that Ghazali had lost family in an Israeli airstrike without mentioning his family's ties to Hezbollah is not only quite misleading, but it also minimizes his own act of terrorism against Temple Israel. Such headlines and stories also have the effect turning Ghazali into an aggrieved victim seeking vengeance.

This is journalistic malpractice. It is one thing to be critical war of the current military action in the Middle East. Whatever legitimate criticism there might be against the Trump Administration and the Israeli government, we should not accept the word of the Iranian regime and their allies at face value. To do so is to engage in bad faith.

War Isn't Supposed To Be Fun

During a 30-minute phone interview with NBC News, President Trump declared that while U.S. airstrikes on Iran's oil facilities on Kharg Island had rendered them "totally demolished" he added that "we may hit it a few more times for fun."

Someone ought to tell Trump that war isn't supposed to be fun.

Not that he would listen, mind you. But someone should tell him just the same.

While I firmly believe that both Iran and the world would be better off without its current murderous regime, to achieve such a goal through military actions requires seriousness and sobriety among the leaders who launched this campaign into effect.

Alas, President Trump possesses neither seriousness nor sobriety. 

I'm sure Trump's apologists will say that he was only joking.

Well, this isn't a time for jokes.

Not when U.S. soldiers are losing their lives in this endeavor. To date, 13 U.S. soldiers have lost their lives. Six soldiers lost their lives in an Iranian airstrike while a seventh soldier died following an Iranian attack in Saudi Arabia. More recently, six more soldiers died when a refueling aircraft crashed in Iraq.

Should Trump see fit to bomb Kharg Island "for fun" and more U.S. soldiers die in the process then who will tell their families that their loved ones died for President Trump's amusement?

Such callousness on Trump's part makes him little different from those in the Iranian regime he purportedly decries. For their gratification, both Trump and the Iranian mullahs consider life cheap and expendable.

It wasn't so long ago that Trump blasted previous administrations for starting "stupid wars" and claimed he would start any of his own.

Of course, this turned out to be yet another lie.

While removing Iran's regime by military force is not stupid in principle, it has become stupid in practice.

That's because this stupid war was started by a stupid man.

What Does a Reform Temple in Suburban Detroit Have To Do With Israeli Airstrikes in Lebanon?

Consider what I wrote the following concerning the thwarted terrorist attack against Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan:

As of this writing, the now deceased assailant has not been identified. Whether the source of inspiration for the attack was white supremacy or Islamic fundamentalism, there is an anti-Semitic rot in this country which has escalated into violence.

The assailant has been since been identified as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a Lebanese born restaurant manager who came to this country in 2010, became a U.S. citizen a decade ago and resided in Dearborn Heights, a suburb about 20 miles west of Detroit.

However, instead of treating the attack as motivated by Islamic fundamentalism, we are being to headlines such as these from the Detroit News and The Guardian.

Temple Israel synagogue shooter's family recently killed in an air strike

Suspect in Michigan synagogue attack had lost family in Israeli airstrike in Lebanon

These headlines are most peculiar. It's as if they are justifying the killer's actions or, at the very minimum, rationalizing them.

Now, I'm not doubting the facts of the case. In other words, I am not doubting that Ghazali's brothers and a niece and nephew were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.

Yet let me put it this way.

Let us suppose the brother of an American soldier killed in Afghanistan, Iraq, or for that matter Iran, were to see fit to avenge the death of his brother by attacking a mosque in the same manner in which Ghazali attacked Temple Israel. Somehow, I doubt either the Detroit News or The Guardian would treat us to these headlines:

Mosque shooter's brother was soldier killed by IED in Iraq

Suspect in Michigan mosque attack had lost brother in IED attack against U.S. military convoy

If such a horrible thing had come to pass, the Detroit News, The Guardian and a myriad of other media outlets would feature headlines feature words like Islamophobia and phrases like hate crime and white supremacy.

And not entirely without justification. After all, what would a mosque in suburban Detroit have to do with an IED attack in Iraq which killed an American soldier? 

The same holds true concerning yesterday's events. What does a synagogue in suburban Detroit have to do with Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon which killed civilians?

It is a question I must ask because of a lifetime of being lectured along the lines of "criticizing or condemning Israel isn't anti-Semitic". If that is the case, then why are people attending a day program at synagogue 6,000 miles away responsible for Israel's military actions?

In the case of yesterday's terrorist attack, one has to consider the very strong likelihood that Ghazali possessed a lifelong, violent hatred of Jews and a willingness to act out on that hate. Yes, I have no doubt that Ghazali was upset and in grief over multiple family members being killed by an Israeli airstrike. Yet I'm sure Ghazali had other relatives in this country who were equally upset by what happened but will manage to go through life without planning to carry out violence against a local synagogue.

Only a week elapsed between the time Ghazali's relatives were killed and Ghazali rammed his vehicle inside Temple Israel. Scarcely 48 hours before the attack, Ghazali bought $2,000 worth of explosives at a fireworks store. How did this purchase not raise a red flag?

While Ghazali did not have a previous criminal record, in light of his actions yesterday, one must wonder what his online activity was like or his interactions with his closest of friends. Perhaps this information will come to light in the not-too-distant future. Or perhaps we will never know.

Whatever the case, while no one is born a terrorist, one does not become this radicalized in just 7 days. I simply cannot fathom anyone doing what he tried to do to Temple Israel without a deep-seated and longstanding hatred of Jews.

Thoughts on the Thwarted Terrorist Attack at a Synagogue Outside Detroit

This afternoon there was a terrorist attack at Temple Israel, a synagogue in West Bloomfield Township which is about 25 miles northwest of Detroit.

The attacker drove his truck into the facility which also houses a school and a community center. The assailant then left the vehicle with a rifle and set a portion of the building ablaze. Fortunately, there were no fatalities among students and staff. One member of the Temple's security team sustained injuries but the terrorist was shot and killed.

While there is much one can criticize about the current direction of the FBI particularly on the question of fomenting anti-Semitism, the local office in Detroit did conduct an active shooter prevention and awareness training session this past January. I have little doubt this was crucial in preventing the loss of life today.

In recent months, there have been several attacks at other religious institutions in Michigan. In June 2025, a deacon at a church in Wayne used his vehicle to thwart a man wielding a rifle from injuring congregants as a Bible study class was going on inside the facility. The following month, four people were killed at a LDS church in Grand Blanc Township by an anti-Mormon zealot. The church was burned down in the process.

Nevertheless, in the wake of resurgent anti-Semitism since October 7th and amplified by the joint U.S.-Israel military campaign in Iran, it will be Jewish institutions and Jewish gatherings that will be most vulnerable to these attacks as demonstrated at the Capital Jewish Museum last May and at a march in solidarity with Israeli hostages in Boulder, Colorado last June

As of this writing, the now deceased assailant has not been identified. Whether the source of inspiration for the attack was white supremacy or Islamic fundamentalism, there is an anti-Semitic rot in this country which has escalated into violence. 

Because of this anti-Semitic rot, Jewish institutions have had to prepare themselves for such attacks as was the case with Temple Israel. While it is good Temple Israel took the steps necessary to prepare for the worst, it is also evidence that the standing of Jews in this country has diminished considerably since the October 7th attacks. 

I suspect that as time goes on anti-Semitism will be increasingly tolerated. With such tolerance for intolerance, fewer government agencies will be willing to assist Jewish communities in protecting themselves. In which case, the Jewish community could find itself in a familiar place - on our own.