Though America’s white population must continually be reminded that racism – overt, covert and systemic, still pervade American life, Jews need little reminder of pervasive anti-Semitism, mostly below the surface in America but openly expressed virtually everywhere else. H.L. encounters it as he travels and often because his funny Welsh/Greek-Russian Romanian name allows him to “pass for white” (as Jews used to say) and initially cloaks his ethnicity and religion. […]

Monday, June 4, H.L. went to Roland Garros anxious to watch the Rafael Nadal/Maximillian Marterer match – though not much in doubt – and very much excited at the prospect of seeing the 22nd match between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.  It was to be played on Court Philippe Chatrier-  center court – but of course.  Though the match would have occurred in only the fourth round, with the quarters, semis and final still to be contested, this match was one likely to make those succeeding it seem anticlimactic. […]

By this 52nd post, readers know that Hopelessly Liberal is a chronicle of and guide to survival until the Trump presidency ends.  Perhaps, like Nightline, it will continue after the hostages are released.  H.L. bears witness to the daily assaults on our decency and Constitution and calls for resistance and preservation of the best in America during this dark age.  But each of us needs occasional respite and escape from this war, as we did after 9/11.  H.L.’s is tennis.  Playing it, watching it played beautifully and debating it with others similarly obsessed.  Last week H.L. traveled to Paris and the French Open, contested at Roland Garros next to the Bois de Boulogne.  […]

After Parkland, in stand your ground Florida and the Santa Fe Massacre in the have it your way (open and/or concealed carry) Lone Star state, the gun cult doubled and redoubled down.  Armed guards at both schools weren’t enough.  More guns packed by more teachers were needed and might have reduced the number of casualties – they chanted.  And one might predict that it is just a matter of time until the cult calls for armed high school students.  Except a cult lawmaker already proposed that.  He be Ohio Republican Representative Niraj Antani. […]

“Say Anything” was a great John Cusack flick.  Among many reasons was the line that billed it as a “Lloyd Meets Girl Movie.”  Lloyd Dobler said any and everything and won the love of the objectively unreachable and out of his class, Diane Court played by Ione Skye. […]

The stakes in the 2018 congressional elections are greatest of any in midterm memory.  If Democrats can thread the needle and regain control of the Senate, the next Gorsuch-like abomination can be prevented.  The multi-faceted damage his votes and opinions will inflict has been hinted at but will become increasingly clear in the spring and crescendo this June. […]

The Supreme Court will hear argument today in Gill v. Whitford, the partisan gerrymandering case.  The issue, whether Wisconsin Republican legislators who get a minority of votes can continue to draw district lines that guarantee them a large majority of seats?  This practice employed by both, and all parties when in power dates back to the earliest days of the republic.  A SCOTUS ruling that the practice is unconstitutional would rank among a score or so of the most important in over two centuries.  But even if the Court so rules and levels the political playing field in a manner and magnitude not seen since Reynolds v. Sims in 1964, that won’t help Democratic voters in New York State, not as long as  the Empire State has a governor with surname Cuomo. […]

A constant in these posts is the liberal conscience as it processes Trumpism.  Asking what do I want to happen in this or that context or contest?  What will I do to help bring that outcome to pass while also keeping eyes on the prize of ending Trump’s presidency? HL 27 “The Guilty Conscience of the Liberal Mind Confronts Trump’s Inheritance of ObamaCare” HL 29 about “Walking and Chewing Gum Simultaneously” and HL 44 “Trump Gonna Mess Your Mind” each and all addressed these issues involving personal responsibility. […]

Guess who the ugly old American Woman is these days?  Sorry sisters, the one Canada looks down on, the one the world despises, the one with war machines and ghetto dreams.  Its personification is Donald Trump – say T, say R, say U, say M, say P and Trump gonna mess your mind and already is.  For example, how are you feeling about the DACA deal that Trump appears to be cutting with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi? […]

Less than 100 hours after his appointment as White House Communications Director Anthony  (the “Mooch”) Scaramucci did his imitation of “thunderbolt and lightning” but wasn’t “very very frightening” even to his staff whom he told “I’m going to fire everybody” [except Sarah Huckabee and himself] “I’m going to put [you] out on Pennsylvania Avenue to sell postcards to tourists outside the gates” if you don’t stop leaking the truth about this president because it damages “the presidency” – a phrase and concept new to Trump and one that he immediately began trying to pronounce in his daily Jeff Session’s tantrum.  As in the Attorney General’s Russia recusal was “a bad thing, not for the president, but for the presidency.  I think it unfair for the presidency.”  Watch him say those unfamiliar words here and a free HL subscription goes to anyone that can document him uttering those obscure words before. […]