Teachers reported back yesterday at the little private school where I teach, so things are about to from busy to insane for yours portly.  Amid the hours of training sessions and diversity seminars, I came down with a bit of a cold yesterday afternoon.

The congestion and general wooziness that comes with it is not exactly conducive to mental activities like blogging, but some expired children’s Dimetapp, a hot shower, and Vick’s Vapor Rub helped immensely.  Toss in a good night’s sleep and some early morning ibuprofen, and I’m already feeling better.

That’s all to say that I don’t have much to write about this evening.  We’re still amid the summer news slump, wherein the smallest non-troversies grow startlingly out of proportion.

Yes, yes—the ChiComs are cracking down on Hong Kong.  That’s tragic, but is it really news?  What I mean is, is anyone surprised that a repressive, increasingly totalitarian regime is cracking down on the one oasis of freedom and capitalism within its massive borders?

The only other story I’ve heard about today is CNN host Chris Cuomo losing it over being called “Fredo.”  Aside from being a Leftist shill, the only reason Cuomo has a job is because he’s New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s brother—thus the “Fredo” appellation.

The nickname—a reference to the screw-up son from The Godfather—is often lobbed at Cuomo for comedic effect.  Naturally, Cuomo didn’t miss the chance to pull the race card, claiming the nickname is “like the N-word for us [Italian Americans].”  A man whose entire career is due to his accidental membership in a well-heeled family is complaining about racism—against Italians.  That died out a century ago!

Fortunately, the Internet has a long memory:  it soon surfaced that Cuomo called himself “Fredo” on Curtis Sliwa’s show back in 2010.

Cuomo lashed out at being called “Fredo”—apparently, the man who called him that was an admirer, but thought “Fredo” was Cuomo’s actual name—not because it’s allegedly racist, but because he’s self-conscious:  he knows there’s some kernel of truth to it.  He’s also an entitled media personality who has lived his entire adult life inside a protective bubble.

Well, it seems I can squeeze a few hundred words out of nothing.  That’s an important skill to possess as a history teacher.