We watched Venezuela beat the United States, 3-2, in the World Baseball Classic. The only scoring for the U.S. was on a Bryce Harper home run.

I must admit to rooting for Venezuela, considering how the United States has treated it over the past year. And I was not alone. The stadium in Miami, where the Marlins usually play to empty seats, was totally packed, and the Venezuelan fans were by far in the majority. What does that show you?

There were no politics on display, although the undercurrent must have been there. The Nationals were not represented on either team, although Geraldo Parra (last year Nats first base coach) was the Venezuela first base coach, and ex-Nats Harper and Kyle Schwarber (now both Phillies) were on the U.S. team.

And yesterday’s Cardinals-Nats spring training game was also televised, and was true to form. With excellent pitching, the Nats won, 1-0, but they only had four hits. Their spring training record is now 14-7. This puts them in second place in the 15 team Grapefruit League, two games behind Atlanta.

I think the new full time telecast duo of Dan Kolko and Kevin Frandson will do just fine, and the third member of the team, Alexa Datt, who will be interviewing players from the dugout, is a welcome addition. She is a local native, but has spent the last few years in St. Louis with the Cardinals, Blues, and Billikens. I just wish we knew how we are going to watch the season on FIOS.

Enough of baseball, you say. Get on with the real stuff.

It looks like no one is going to accept the invitation to Trump’s party, and he will have to figure out how to extricate us from Iran himself. The ingrates at NATO won’t help him, China and Russia are both smart enough not to help him (although everything he is doing seems to help them), and Israel won’t help him because their business in Iran is not yet complete.

Joe Kent, a right wing, white supremicist kook who was totally unqualified to direct our counterterrorism efforts has resigned with a stinging letter that says that Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the U.S. and maybe no threat at all, and that Trump was, in effect, duped by Netanyahu to start the war. He of course may be right. Or he may just be looking for a way to bash Israel. Or both.

Trump on the other hand says just what you would expect. First, that he really doesn’t know Joe Kent at all. And second, that he always thought he was bad, very bad, on terrorism. This, of course, provides the obvious reason to choose him for the job. Trump wanted a counterterrorism chief he could ignore, so he could rely on his own bones and guts. Fair enough.

So what is the Board of Peace doing? How are the Palestinians in Gaza faring? What are we doing to stop violence in the West Bank? Has Hamas given up their arms in Gaza? Has Hamas stopped its activities in the West Bank? What does the future hold for the one million displaced in Lebanon? Will Hezbollah be destroyed there? And in Iran, what will we or Israel do to keep Iran from rebuilding conventional weapons and working again on its nuclear program (whatever that really is)? And when Israel be ready to stop?

Other things to think about? Ukraine? Cuba? The entite global economy? The operation of the 2026 midterms?

Should we just go back to baseball?