Elect Sherm Lollar to Baseball Hall of Fame

 Elect Sherm Lollar to Baseball Hall of Fame

Been a White Sox fan since this 6 year old heard about their 14 game winning streak from May 15-30, 1951. This kicked off the Go-Go White Sox who went on to 17 straight first division finishes including the magical ’59 pennant winning team.

The 50’s teams were filled with exciting stars like Nellie Fox, Jungle Jim Rivera, Chico Carrasquel, Jim Busby, Luis Aparicio, Dick Donavon and Billy Pierce.

But the heart and soul of the 50’s Sox was catcher Sherm Lollar. Not flashy but rock solid handling pitchers and knocking lots of home runs in cavernous Comisky Park.

Lollar was among the best all time defensive catchers during his 18 seasons from 1946 to 1963. In 1,752 games he hit .262 with 155 dingers and 808 RBI. His .357 on base percentage topped that of Hall of Famer Yogi Berra. A seven time All Star, Lollar led AL catchers in fielding 4 times. In the full season of 1961, he made only 1 error. His .992 career catcher fielding percentage is best in MLB history. He throw out 46% of base stealers, ranking him fifth all time. Upon retirement in 1963 he ranked fifth in home runs by a catcher.

Never considered for the Hall during his early eligibility, Lollar is currently eligible to be identified as a Golden Era ballot candidate by the Baseball Writers Association of America’s Historical Overview Committee.

It took the Hall 51 years after he retired for the Hall to enshrine fabulous Go-Go White Sox Minnie Minoso into the Hall. Lollar, who died in 1977, retired 63 years ago.

Come on Major League Baseball. Punch Sherm Lollar’s ticket to the Hall of Fame.

Walt Zlotow Glen Ellyn

When is a ceasefire in a war not a ceasefire?

 When is a ceasefire in a war not a ceasefire?

In the case of Donald Trump's ceasefire in his Iran war, it is when he continues his naval blockade of Iranian ports. Iran has correctly called out Trump's blockade is an act of war. They have declared that will prevent them from returning to negotiations with the US which was the goal of declaring the ceasefire. In addition to his counterproductive blockade, Trump keeps threatening to annihilate Iran if they don't negotiate a deal based on his terms.

If Trump complies with the ceasefire by withdrawing the blockade, he faces the daunting task of negotiating with an Iran holding the trump card Trump can't ignore....Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz. As the world spirals into economic meltdown from the loss of 20 million daily barrels of oil, Trump is faced with Iran's sensible, non-negotiable demands: end the criminal US war forthwith, guarantee it will never again attack Iran, end all economic sanctions and pay reparations for Iranian damage caused by thousands of US bombs.

Trump now faces complete defeat if he does the right thing and ends the war on Iran's terms. If he restarts the war targeting Iranian infrastructure, Iran will retaliate by targeting all Israeli and Gulf States infrastructure, possibly even all Gulf States oil production.

Trump appears on the cusp of destroying his presidency as every one of his 77 million voters are paying more for gas and soon more for everything. But unless he pivots to peace, he may be on the cusp of destroying the world economy. Trump campaigned to be a Peace President putting America First by ending senseless wars. By attacking Venezuela, blowing up little civilian boats in the Caribbean, bombing Somalia over 60 times, and attacking Iran, Trump has put America; indeed, the whole world last.
    
Walt Zlotow West Suburban Peace Coalition  Glen Ellyn IL 

10 takeaways from Trump’s senseless Iran war

 10 takeaways from Trump’s senseless Iran war

1. First time a foreign power, Israel, goaded America into launching a criminal war

2. Trump’s capitulation to Israel’s war demands is destroying his presidency and will likely hand over Congress to Democrats in November

3. Air power alone has not and will not achieve victory over Iran


4. Ignoring Iran’s ability to close Strait of Hormuz gave strategic advantage to Iran to force stalemate, if not achieve outright Iranian victory

5. US has greatly degraded world economy and may spiral it into recession, possibly even depression if it doesn’t end war soon

6. All US Gulf States bases have been damaged or destroyed and may never be rebuilt due to loss of US security credibility to Gulf States

7. Israel has largely destroyed its support among young Americans disgusted with its endless manipulation of US to support both its Gaza Genocide under Biden and war to destroy Iran under Trump


8. If desperate Trump resumes bombing to destroy Iranian infrastructure, Iran will retaliate destroying Israeli and Gulf States infrastructure, possibly all Middle East oil production

9. A peaceful settlement on Iran’s sensible terms is the only path to Middle East peace

10. As long as the war continues, Israeli use of nuclear weapons remains a possibility

Will Netanyahu demolish second consecutive US administration in ’28?

Will Netanyahu demolish second consecutive US administration in ’28?

In the ’24 election Kamala Harris got a lot of votes, 75,017,613. But astonishingly, she got 6,268,841 less votes than when she ran with victorious Joe Biden in 2020, a massive 7.7% drop. Some of those missing voters selected third party. Some voted for Donald Trump. Many simply stayed home.

While there were several reasons, the one most cited was Biden and Harris’ complete support and enabling of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had near total control over the Biden administration, causing revulsion in peace advocates and many sensible 2020 Biden voters horrified their presidential choice would engage in such an abomination.

Harris made a mistake not breaking with Biden on genocide. By a more than three-to-one margin, Biden 2020 voters who did not vote for Harris, say they would more likely have voted for Harris if she pledged to break from President Biden's policy toward Gaza by promising to withhold additional weapons to Israel.

There was precedent for Harris doing so. In 1968 Democratic nominee Vice President Hubert Humphrey was losing badly to Richard Nixon due to massive defections from anti-Vietnam War Democrats. Humphrey, like Harris was a good soldier VP supporting his boss’s self-destructive war policies. A month before the election, Humphrey pivoted to peace in a prime time address. It closed the double digit gap but was too little too late. Had he broken from LBJ from the get go…likely no Nixon and no 5 year prolonged bloodbath under Nixon.

A little over a year into Trump’s second term, Netanyahu is at it again, sabotaging a US administration from winning in ’28. At his February 11 meeting with Trump, Netanyahu implored Trump to launch his now failed war on Iran by guaranteeing him victory in a couple of days after Israel assassinated Iranian leader Ali Khamenei.

Not only has the war failed to achieve every stated goal, it has thrown the world into economic chaos. Now every one of Trump’s 77,302,580 voters are paying over $4 a gallon to fill their gas guzzlers and soon will be paying higher prices for just about everything.

And Just like Vice President Harris who self-destructed in ’24 by staying loyal to her genocide enabling president, JD Vance is self-destructing staying loyal to his senseless, war mongering president, all due to the interference in American foreign policy of Benjamin Netanyahu.

As loyal as he is, Vance knew the war was a terrible idea. He told Trump so but once Trump decided to follow Netanyahu down the rabbit hole of lost war, Vance followed right behind. Apparently, Vance has learned nothing from Harris’ fealty to Benjamin Netanyahu in '24.

Much can happen before the next election. But history tells that as Vice President of a lame duck President, Vance in a near certainty to be anointed Trump’s successor at the GOP Convention in 2 years.

Another near certainty? Unless Vance breaks with Trump and comes out strongly against the lost war in Iran upending the world economy, Benjamin Netanyahu will sabotage his second consecutive US administration in the ’28 election.

Walt Zlotow West Suburban Peace Coalition Glen Ellyn IL

Iran aside, don’t ignore Trump’s war crimes in the Caribbean, Venezuela and Somalia

Iran aside, don’t ignore Trump’s war crimes in the Caribbean, Venezuela and Somalia

As Trump was cooling his massive, murderous bombing of Iran, he was ramping up his murderous bombing of small civilian boats in the Caribbean. In the last 5 days he obliterated 5 little boats Trump imagined were operated by narco terrorists. Since these dastardly attacks began last October, Trump has wiped out 53 little boats, killing 178. Those are war crimes.

On January 3 Trump invaded Venezuela, kidnapped its president Nicholas Maduro, murdering 83 in the process. More war crimes.

Most heinous but most ignored by the media is Trump’s endles war crimes in Somalia. Last year His African Command bombed pitifully poor, remote Somalia 124 times, likely killing thousands of imagined bad guys. Just last week Trump bombed Somalia 4 times in 2 days, raising the 2026 total to 52 attacks. He’s on track for a record year of war crimes in Somalia.

Why aren’t the media and the American people focused on Trump’s war crimes in the Caribbean, Venezuela and Somalia? Could be simply that these Trump war crimes have not raised a gallon of gas north of 4 bucks and threaten a global recession that will also engulf the Homeland. To put it more bluntly, ‘Hey Mr. Trump, as long as your war crimes don’t affect me personally, have at it.’

Walt Zlotow West Suburban Peace Coalition Glen Ellyn IL