HL readers know our subject selection is idiosyncratic and pursued only when our take is, if not unique, not what you’re getting virtually any other place.  This post like the previous 138 checks the second box, but not the first.  It was commissioned by several fellow tennis nut subscribers. The first self-evident truth in The Matter of Naomi Osaka was that it was predictable bordering on certain, and certainly predicted in our post of September 12, 2018, “A Young Version of Serena Williams Defeats Her in The U.S. Open Final” HL 59.  More about that later. Margrethe Vestager Second truth is that the four major so-called “Grand Slam” tournaments violated U.S., U.K., E.U. and Australian antitrust laws by agreeing not to compete in [...]

The obligatory prefatory recitation.  We don’t like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and considered his March 3, 2015 address to Congress a monumental breach of diplomatic norms, ingratitude incarnate and astoundingly ham-handed (irony intended).  His government’s interference with the sound equipment at Al-Aqsa during Ramadan, that disturbed the call to prayer, is as vile and antithetical to Jewish ethical teaching as anything we’ve witnessed during Israel’s lifetime, which roughly coincides with ours. […]

In reality and previous years a Roland Garros postscript followed the tournament (see HL 116 “Roland Garros 2020, Plus Ca Change, Plus C’est La Meme Chose”).  But this year a “pre” is in order, since as we begin to emerge from the pandemic the “Plus Ca Change” portion of the Parisian platitude for once has equal weight with the “Plus C’est La Meme Chose” part. […]

Unless one has been on the dark side of the moon or further out in space with “Ingenuity” you’ve heard or read Representative Maxine Waters’ exhortation to protestors “to get more confrontational” if the Floyd/Chauvin jury does not render a guilty verdict.  And you also likely know the judge has already stated that her comments may provide sustenance for Chauvin’s certain appeal of conviction.  Certain, without regard to Waters’ inflammatory remarks. […]

The New York Times’ April 13 headline, reading much like one in Rupert’s New York Post, screamed “Bond Girl Talk and Groping: Albany’s Toxic Culture for Women.”  It featured numerous claims of survivorhood by New York State Senator Julia Salazar, the self-anointed “Bond Girl, since her allegations were not accompanied by the name of the alleged sexual assailant.  The column was written by a trio of “alleged” reporters, an homage to Gene Shalit, the wonderful cinema critic of blessed memory, who referred to cinematic stinkers as “alleged movies.”  But the Times’ article was not merely a credulous and poorly researched piece, it was one so badly written that we, and believe you, will read it many times just to experience the superlative negative in Times or perhaps any newspaper’s articles.[1] […]

Last week Amazon workers at the Bessemer, Alabama facility overwhelmingly voted against unionization.  Implicitly, the workers registered more faith in their employer to continue raising wages and improving benefits and Amazon’s much criticized work environment.  The lopsided 70/30 result coincided with ongoing reports about just how well Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Costco, Target and major supermarket chains have fared during the pandemic.  They have profited enormously because of our dependence on them and the essential workers who staff them.  These companies and many other essential merchandisers and service providers have prospered in explicit profits and even larger increases in market capitalizations. […]

Ted Cruz called for legislation ending Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption the same week that China’s oxymoronic competition authority fined Alibaba $2.8 billion, citing the e-commerce giant for violations of China’s antitrust gufflaw.  Though the United States, unlike China, actually has antitrust laws grounded in and enforced to protect business competition and also unlike China has not yet devolved into one-man rule, Ted and Xi agree about one thing.  Antitrust is merely a cudgel to be wielded politically against businesses that piss them off. […]

While trying to concentrate on “8 Candidates Compete for a Job That May Involve Prosecuting Trump” the New York Times 3/25/2021 cursory review of those seeking to replace Cyrus Vance Jr. as New York County District Attorney[1] - Tom Petty’s “Yer So Bad” flooded my mind and competed for attention.  Specifically, Petty’s repeated sentiment “I can’t decide which is worse.”  Not so much about the 8 candidates – although, so far, we are not overly impressed  – than Cy’s gross abdication of responsibility to finish the one truly important thing he’s attempted as DA. Tom Petty His investigation of the Trump Organization, that’s already made two successful roundtrips to SCOTUS and has great potential as one of three serious vehicles to prosecute, convict, [...]

When those involuntarily kissed on the cheek at a wedding (between chin and cheekbone) became “survivors” as happened at the recent “March to Impeach Cuomo and #TaxTheRich” rally in Greenwich Village’s Washington Square Park, it may be time for a Doug Ginsburg moment.  The rally starred Lindsey Boylan, a candidate for the primarily ceremonial and patronage rich office of President of the Borough of Manhattan.  Boylan’s campaign to date has primarily been based on being victimized by an unwanted 2018 Cuomo kiss in the Governor’s 40th floor offices at 633 Third Avenue, where HL kissed and was kissed goodbye by another governor, as both resigned. […]

Another classic liberal friend of ours (see HL 129) shared yet another back and forth they’d had with a friend from Oklahoma “where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain.”[1] Our friend had been startled that 92 percent of those recently surveyed in Boise City, Oklahoma said they would not be vaccinated, with many assigning their anti-vax stance to distrust of a medicine foisted on them by coastal elites and with frequent mention of New York “our fair city.”  They even stated that Trump, who himself, along with herself, had been vaccinated in January, was just another New Yorker, not to be trusted, but still voted for, as he was overwhelmingly in all 77 Oklahoma counties.  But only as the least bad choice on the [...]