Columns

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo was caught in a video screaming expletives when someone made the mistake of calling him “Fredo,” referring to the fictional character Fredo Corleone from “The Godfather films.” Fredo is portrayed as the gentle, but dim-witted brother, incompetent in the family’s business but desperate for respect from his father.

“I can’t take it anymore! My social media friends are driving me batty!”
“Ah, yes, you speak of a recent Pew Research Center survey that found ‘46% of adult social media users say they feel ‘worn out by political posts and discussions they see on social media’ — a share that ‘has risen 9 percentage points since the summer of 2016, when the Center last asked this question.’”
“I sure am worn out. Half of my online friends hate one political party, half of them hate the other. Personally, I’ve come to dislike both parties!”

I have a long history of dumb ideas.
It was my idea buy a used, 1999 diesel Volkswagen Beetle. There’s a reason you don’t see many of them on the road today.
It was my idea, as a boy, to play darts near our old gas furnace. How was I supposed to know a dart could puncture a gas line? The fire department was wondering the same thing.
And it was my idea to put a pan of burning oil under a running faucet. The little mushroom cloud that followed generated a surprising amount of black smoke.