Sunday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 63. Sunrise is 5:37 and sunset is 8:05 for 14 hours 28 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 43.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Upcomingposts (in no decided order): Claims of Legacy, a Particular Species of Democrat, a Whitewater Comparative Analysis, Whitewater’s Workforce, and Outcome-Driven Argumentation.
A study using imagery from the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed that “massive star clusters emerge more quickly from the clouds they are born in,” according to ESA.
Saturday in Whitewater will see a mix of clouds and sunshine with a high of 67. Sunrise is 5:38 and sunset is 8:04 for 14 hours 26 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 53.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1974, the House Committee on the Judiciary opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Nixon.
Some questions are easily answered, no matter how often or breathlessly asked. Below are a few questions to dispatch this Saturday morning.
1. So is Tommy Thompson running for governor in 2026?
Thompson had a greater likelihood of a career as a successful swimsuit model than he did as a 2026 gubernatorial candidate.
2. Does it matter that erratic gadfly Kirk Bangstad is running for governor as a Democrat?
No. The Journal Sentinel‘s politics mailbag asks this question, but Bangstad is unknown to most people, and pointing to his campaign will prove a wasteful diversion of resources for either the WISGOP or WisDems. The serious primary field consists of Tiffany and a few leading WisDems (of whom Bangstad is not one, and never will be one).
3. Does it matter what WisDems candidate Joel Brennan said about Wisconsin not being ready for a non-white gubernatorial candidate?
No. Brennan has since ‘clarified’ his view, but the former head of Wisconsin’s Department of Administration, and former president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee,1 is well behind other WisDems gubernatorial candidates.
4. Does it matter that Rebecca Cooke, Democratic candidate for Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District, once consulted for Kirk Bangstad?
No. Cooke was once a consultant in 2015 for Bangstad, but it means nothing for her primary race or the general election if she wins her primary. (Cooke is likely to win her primary; Bangstad has, ironically, endorsed Cooke’s primary opponent, Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge.)
Four questions — easily and simply answered.
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These ‘Greater City X’ or ‘Greater County Y’ organizations are political pipsqueaks. They’re only interesting to the few stodgy types who read WisPolitics or stalk the halls of the state capitol building panhandling for public money. No one else GAF. Even if Brennan ran as a Republican, where these roles count for more, most Republican voters would, sensibly, find his résumé unimpressive. ↩︎
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Upcomingposts (in no decided order): Claims of Legacy, a Particular Species of Democrat, a Whitewater Comparative Analysis, Whitewater’s Workforce, and Outcome-Driven Argumentation.
Today is Global Big Day, a yearly 24-hour birding event where people around the world record as many bird species as possible to support conservation. Here’s a video from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology aboutBig Day 2026 – Birding in the Five Great Forests:
On Saturday, May 9, Team Sapsucker will split up, searching for birds in the forests of Appalachia and Central America for Big Day 2026! The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s team of scientists and bird enthusiasts will race to identify as many species as they can in 24 hours, to raise awareness and crucial funds for conservation. One group will explore the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, while the others will traverse the Maya Forest in Guatemala. Both teams share a single goal: to help make a lasting impact for conservation.
Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 67. Sunrise is 5:39 and sunset is 8:03 for 14 hours 24 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 62.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1945, the German Instrument of Surrender signed at Berlin-Karlshorst comes into effect. (The day before, Germany had signed another surrender document with the Allies in Reims in France, but it was not recognized by the Soviet Union.)
Wisconsin’s Central Sand Plains lie northwest of Whitewater, in the middle of the state. Here is how the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources describes the area:
The eastern portion of the Central Sand Plains is a mosaic of cropland, managed grasslands and scattered woodlots of pine, oak, and aspen. Many of the historic wetlands in the east were drained early in the 1900s and are now used for agricultural purposes. The western portion of this Ecological Landscape is mostly forest or wetland. Oak, pine, and aspen are the most abundant forest cover types. Plantations of red pine are common in some areas. On wet sites the forests are of two major types: tamarack and black spruce in the peatlands, and bottomland hardwoods in the floodplains of the larger rivers. Many attempts to practice agriculture west of the Wisconsin River failed due to poor soils, poor drainage, and growing season frosts.
Best wishes to The Nature Conservancy as it works toward a conservation success story.
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Upcomingposts (in no decided order): Claims of Legacy, a Particular Species of Democrat, a Whitewater Comparative Analysis, Whitewater’s Workforce, and Outcome-Driven Argumentation.
The rare Kirtland’s warbler is listed as “near threatened” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Key threats are fire suppression, brood parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds, and loss of habitat on the wintering grounds.
The jaguarundi is one of the strangest-looking cats in the Americas. Long-bodied, short-legged and sleek, it has more than a hint of otter or weasel about it, which explains why it is sometimes called the otter cat.
Yet this elusive hunter is very much a felid, and a close relative of the puma. Found from northern Mexico right into South America, the jaguarundi is unusual not only for its shape but also for its habits, being more active by day than many of its feline neighbours.
The jaguarundi ranges from northern Mexico through Central America and across much of South America east of the Andes, reaching as far south as central Argentina. Historically, it also occurred in southern Texas, though it is now thought to have disappeared from the USA.
Tuesday, May 12 at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Hamnet @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Historical Drama/Biography/Romance
Rated PG-13; 2 hours, 6 minutes (2025)
The powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet. Oscar Winner, Best Actress: Jessie Buckley
Thursday in Whitewater will see intervals of clouds and sun with a brief shower or two and a high of 59. Sunrise is 5:41 and sunset is 8:02 for 14 hours 19 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 71.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1992, Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise.
Over three months ago, a longtime resident1 contended during public comment at the 1.20.26 session of the Whitewater Common Council that a demographic projection showed that Whitewater would lose 3,000 people in population by 2040. See Whitewater Common Council, January 20, 2026 Video @ 46:54.
On 2.9.26, this libertarian blogger wrote an assessment of that claim, concluding that the resident confused the authorship of the demographic projection and misunderstood or ignored the limitations of that projection’s conclusions. SeeOver Reliance on a Single Population Projection (outlining the reasons that “solid, rational planning for 2040 beats picking — cherry-picking, really — one estimate in remarks to the Whitewater Common Council.”)
Later, Later, that same over reliance on a single projection spread through others onto social media.
Honestly, to have the the hubris of some of these gentlemen in believing they can take a single demographic projection (and ignore other projections and different methodologies) is nearly satirical — something like an economic model that relies on one positive quarter from 2023.
One should be clear that this reliance on one projection was a transparent effort to undermine a proposed development project by throwing anything and everything at the wall.
Well, as one should have seen months ago, any considered analysis of several demographic projections (not simply a single projection that satisfies one’s argument!) concludes that
After consideration of both high and low forecasts, the [Whitewater Forward] plan uses a forecast based on an annual average resident growth rate of 0.4%, with some growth in local student population through 2030 based on the University’s strategic goals.
Indeed, of the four major population projections for Whitewater that RDG Planning reviews, only one of them shows a decline. The one projection that estimates a decline relies, as I noted at the time, on a “method [that] also produces a projection that can be highly sensitive to short-run disruption — especially in places that are unusual in ways for which the model does not account.”
decline of the student population after 2020 [i.e., a temporary distortion from the pandemic] is likely influencing the projection for Whitewater, along with the unique population age cohorts from university students that factor into the birth and death model.
No one need be a demographer (as I am not) to grasp that serious argumentation requires looking at several studies, considering whether one of them might have (as in this matter) a different methodology, and then fairly and accurately representing those various demographic projections and their approaches.
Regrettably, that’s not what one of Whitewater’s longtime residents did this winter. It’s what RDG Planning & Design’s Population Forecasts for Whitewater (2026) does this spring.
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Local landlord, former Community Development Authority member, former Community Development Authority chairman, former school board member, former school board president. ↩︎
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Upcomingposts (in no decided order): Claims of Legacy, a Particular Species of Democrat, a Whitewater Comparative Analysis, Whitewater’s Workforce, and Outcome-Driven Argumentation.
As Russian drones overwhelm Ukraine’s vast air defenses, civilian volunteers are stepping in to take them down. The New York Times takes flight with a crew that’s turned an old skydiving plane into a drone hunter.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 52. Sunrise is 5:42 and sunset is 8:01 for 14 hours 19 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 79.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1840, the Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp, officially goes on sale for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
When a major corporation proposes to build a data center in a community, this libertarian blogger has contended that the proposal should be a local decision. The local decision, however, should — and must — be a local public discussion. A non-disclosure agreement between a corporation and a city or county government, for example, by design prevents adequate public discussion. It is wrong to think that voters choose representatives with an implied power to conceal major information from those very voters. On the contrary, representatives of the people serve only for limited times and purposes.
Embedded above is a video of Wisconsin residents speaking out against secretive data center deals with government. See also Tom Kertscher, More than NDAs. Wisconsin communities face scrutiny over data center secrecy (‘The town of Beloit is the fifth Wisconsin community with an NDA for a possible data center’), Wisconsin Watch, March 23, 2026.
(A proposal to bar data-center secrecy agreements, introduced as 2025 SB 969, did not become law. The bill failed to pass by March 23, 2026, pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1.)
While non-disclosure agreements are often useful between private parties, public institutions, by their nature, must adhere to an open standard of information and decision-making. There is a clear difference between representing an entire community and representing a limited number of self-selected stockholders. SeePrivate Company, Public Company, Public Agency. It’s typical in places beset with cronyism — as Whitewater once was for many years — for special-interest types to blur or reject this distinction for their own advantage. We have come far in recent years and, as these changes are rooted in broad social trends, irreversibly so. SeeChange Comes from Many People and Places.
While free transactions in private property are foundational to flourishing societies, government isn’t private property. The answer to the question of Who owns the City of Whitewater? is no one and yet everyone.
To believe in the importance of private property — and it is critical to prosperity — is to understand rightly both its extent and limits.
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Upcomingposts (in no decided order): Claims of Legacy, a Particular Species of Democrat, a Whitewater Comparative Analysis, Whitewater’s Workforce, and Outcome-Driven Argumentation.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 56. Sunrise is 5:43 and sunset is 8:00 for 14 hours 17 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 87 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Alcohol Licensing Committee meets at 5 PM and the Whitewater Common Council meets at 6 PM.
What ails: boosterism, toxic positivity, regulatory capture, populism, closed government, news deserts, and violence. What heals: free markets, charity, tragic optimism, open government, impartial government, a professional press, and individual rights.
A few remarks are in order.
Whitewater has made great progress on what heals these last few years, notably in open government, impartial government, balanced development, and the rise of standard-model news reporting from the Royal Purple. These are significant gains for the city.
Special-interest cronyism is much weaker in this city than a generation ago; it’s weaker even than a decade ago. The special-interest men are no less scheming and self-aggrandizing than before, but they reason poorly, speak poorly, and do both with transparently self-interested motives.
It seems likely that they blame their decline on a few people, and in this they’re as wrong as they are about public policy. Since the Great Recession, Whitewater has been on an inexorable socioeconomic and cultural transformation that leaves yesterday’s cronyism inadequate to the next generation’s needs. Whitewater is not changing because of a few — she’s changing because of many.
It’s absurd — crazily so — to assume that a few men, each carrying on like an angesehener Bürger of a stagnant medieval town, could forever hold back change in an American city of nearly sixteen thousand. Americans have built across this continent the most dynamic and productive society in human history. We are an energetic and innovative people.
Sensible people commit to enduring principles applied uniquely in each new generation (of philosophy, religion, economics, science, or art); others senselessly commit to nothing more than their own static positions despite a changing society. It’s predictable, almost poignant, to watch aged men fight for their past against the rest of the city’s future.
How very unfortunate to think so narrowly that someone wouldn’t grasp that ‘we’ve never seen this before‘ is an expression of a limited perspective rather than a worthy critique.
If one only looks beyond one’s image in a mirror, to thousands and millions and hundreds of millions beyond, then one sees new and creative ideas waiting, all around.
Change comes from those thousands and millions and hundreds of millions.
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Upcomingposts (in no decided order): Claims of Legacy, a Particular Species of Democrat, a Whitewater Comparative Analysis, Whitewater’s Workforce, and Outcome Driven Argumentation.
Monday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 75. Sunrise is 5:45 and sunset is 7:59 for 14 hours 14 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 92.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater School Board’s Policy Review Committee meets at 4:30 PM.
On this day in 1961, the Freedom Riders begin a bus trip through the South.
In some political developments, there’s more than one way to assess an event. As a sensible approach, should assess what one believes is accurate yet be open to being proved wrong.
On the existence of bipartisanship in Wisconsin politics, recent campaign spending produces two possible theories. The first possibility is that conservative spending on WISGOP candidates with selected moderate positions is a sign of increasing bipartisanship. The second possibility is that spending on these candidates is an attempt to preserve their incumbencies to support more conservative WISGOP positions on many other issues.
In a late-night press conference during the final days of the Assembly session in February, eight Republican lawmakers in some of the chamber’s most closely contested districts made a dramatic announcement.
They told reporters they had persuaded longtime Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, to allow essential votes on bills to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage for new Wisconsin mothers and to require insurance companies to cover additional screenings for women at increased risk of breast cancer. Vos had opposed the bills, which stalled in the Assembly for months.
Two months after the bills passed the Assembly, the Jobs First Coalition, a political advocacy organization that has backed Republican candidates, released ads lauding the efforts of some of those GOP lawmakers to get the two women’s health bills signed into law. Michelle Litjens Vos, the speaker’s wife and a former state lawmaker, works on fundraising and event planning for the Jobs First Coalition, according to recent tax documents.
[…]
The ads, which have been shared as candidates are circulating nomination papers to get on the November ballot, point to an Assembly Republican strategy cognizant of a national mood that has turned on President Donald Trump and the Republican establishment. The bills also highlight a political issue that appeals to female voters, a voting group that Republicans have often struggled with at the national level.
In this reading of events, these ads show a move away from traditional WISGOP positions generally. Perhaps this is an accurate reading.
There is, however, an alternative reading of this ad spending. This libertarian blogger, being skeptical of claims of bipartisanship, would contend that WISGOP support for some moderate (WisDems) positions may be an attempt to re-elect vulnerable Republican incumbents who will, if reelected, simply vote the WISGOP line on other issues. And so, and so — a few moderate positions for the sake of reelection and immoderate votes within a WISGOP caucus once reelected.
Which assessment is more accurate? We don’t know, and will not know unless these WISGOP candidates are reelected and their full voting records are examined beginning next year.
For now, I’m doubtful of genuine, comprehensive bipartisanship. These ads look to skeptical eyes as no more than situational, temporary positioning for immediate electoral advantage.
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Upcomingposts (in no decided order): Claims of Legacy, a Particular Species of Democrat, a Whitewater Comparative Analysis, Whitewater’s Workforce, ‘What Ails, What Heals’ Reviewed, and Outcome Driven Argumentation.
A sheep owned by Anne O’Connor, who runs Clover & Bee Farm in Underhill, Vermont, with her husband, Gunnar, gave birth to a rare batch of six lambs earlier this month. The sextuplets and their mother are all doing well, making the lamb windfall even more remarkable. The same ewe previously had quadruplets, and while a recent checkup indicated she would have two lambs this time, O’Connor suspected more. When the big day came, the baby lambs seemed to have kept coming and coming, she said. “I was a little bit suspicious, just given how big she was and that she was going a little earlier, that she might have more than two,” she said. “Six is great, but it’s definitely — it’s plenty.”
Sunday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 66. Sunrise is 5:46 and sunset is 7:57 for 14 hours 11 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 96.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1715, a total solar eclipse is visible across northern Europe and northern Asia, as predicted by Edmond Halley to within four-minute accuracy.
As the conflict continues, Donald Trump has encouraged Americans to keep things “in perspective,” citing the long wars in Vietnam and Iraq to suggest that U.S. involvement in Iran is “not very long at all.”
Two months into the war in Iran, President Trump is confronting the complicated reality of a conflict that has proved costly, deeply unpopular and lacks a clear endgame.
Energy markets are in turmoil. The Pentagon has given its first public estimate of the war’s cost: $25 billion so far. Key Republicans in Congress are growing impatient. And Mr. Trump is lashing out at foreign allies, like Germany, who have shown no interest in joining the fight.
[…]
Just three weeks ago, Mr. Trump said Iran had agreed to all of his demands and he suggested a breakthrough was near. Iran would work with the United States to remove its enriched uranium, energy prices would drop and a growing global crisis with potential severe political ramifications would subside.
None of that happened.
No, none of it.
A better approach for a better world would be free trade in capital, labor, and goods.
We have tariffs and war instead.
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Upcomingposts (in no decided order): Claims of Legacy, a Particular Species of Democrat, a Whitewater Comparative Analysis, Whitewater’s Workforce, ‘What Ails, What Heals’ Reviewed, and Outcome Driven Argumentation.
Saturday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 55. Sunrise is 5:47 and sunset is 7:56 for 14 hours 9 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 99.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1945, the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wöbbelin concentration camp, finding 1,000 dead prisoners, most of whom starved to death.
One doesn’t have to be a Democrat (as I am not) and one doesn’t have to be a backer of Rep. Francesca Hong for governor (her candidacy would not be my first choice) to wonder about the sincerity of a leaked WISGOP consultants’ assessment talking up her candidacy. Jessie Opoien reports that
A leaked memo from consultants to U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany’s campaign for governor gives voters a glimpse into how a Republican campaign sizes up its potential competition from the Democratic side.
In this case, Tiffany’s consultants were raising a warning about state Rep. Francesca Hong’s early momentum in the Democratic primary field and suggested a strategy for how to prepare for a general election contest against a candidate who identifies as a democratic socialist.
As a counter, Hong’s Democratic rivals have pointed to polling showing her as the only candidate losing in a hypothetical matchup with Tiffany.
[…]
“We Need To Take Francesca Hong Seriously,” warns the subject line of the memo, prepared earlier this month by consultants Clinton Soffer and Chris Hansen.
They cited polling that shows Hong’s early strength. In a Marquette poll released March 24, Hong led the field with 14%, followed by former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes at 11% and the rest of the field in single digits. But 65% were still undecided.
[…]
The memo compares Hong to other potential Democratic candidates Tiffany could face in the Nov. 3 general election, viewing her as someone whose nomination “virtually guarantees elevated Democratic enthusiasm and turnout in Dane County and the Milwaukee media market, where statewide races are decided.”
No one should take this ‘leaked’ assessment, from consultants to an opposing party, about a single candidate, in a crowded field, at face value. That the reporting does so is embarrassingly credulous.
A ‘leaked’ memo makes it sound as though someone smuggled a document from an office late one night.
It’s more probable (although not certain) that a consultant hit send on his own Outlook message.
Polls show most Democrats are undecided, liberal candidates with politics other than Rep. Hong’s have done well in both Madison and Milwaukee (Susan Crawford, Chris Taylor), and there’s solid reason to think that disappointment with Trump will be the foundation of any Democrat’s chances. (Indeed, Opoien’s reporting notes that the clear majority of Democrats, themselves, are undecided yet her reporting relies on Republicans‘ views of Hong’s supposed popularity.)
It’s more plausible to think that the leaked memo talks up the candidate the Tiffany campaign least fears rather than the candidate it supposedly most fears.
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Upcomingposts (in no decided order): Claims of Legacy, a Particular Species of Democrat, a Whitewater Comparative Analysis, Whitewater’s Workforce, ‘What Ails, What Heals’ Reviewed, and Outcome Driven Argumentation.
Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 49. Sunrise is 5:49 and sunset is 7:55 for 14 hours 6 minutes of daytime. The moon (a ‘Flower Moon‘) is full today.
There are two main consequences of destructive economic policies: the loss to those who experience them, and the loss of credibility for those who advocated for candidates who adopted those destructive policies.
In Whitewater, the same special-interest men who claim they know what’s best for the city have for years advocated for policies that have done the worst to the city, state, and nation. They’re like film producers who repeatedly back movies that bomb, yet blame audiences for not appreciating their vision.
Consumers faced escalating prices in March as the Iran war sent oil soaring and created a new level of challenges for the Federal Reserve, according to a batch of reports Thursday that showed economic growth slower than expected and a generational low in layoffs.
The core personal consumption expenditures price index, which excludes food and energy, accelerated a seasonally adjusted 0.3% for the month, pushing the 12-month inflation rate to 3.2%, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The readings matched the Dow Jones consensus estimates. Core inflation hit its highest level since November 2023.
Including the volatile gas and groceries components saw higher readings, with the monthly gain at 0.7% and the annual rate hitting 3.5%, also in line with forecasts.
In other economic news Thursday, the Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product grew at a 2% seasonally adjusted annualized pace in the first quarter, up from 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025 but lower than the 2.2% estimate.
See Jeff Cox, Core inflation rate hit 3.2% in March as first-quarter growth disappointed at 2%, CNBC, April 30, 2026.
“This is a split-screen economy,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “Companies and investors involved in AI are on fire. Meanwhile, middle and moderate income households are struggling with high gas prices and inflation that’s back at the hottest level in three years.”
That’s Whitewater too, isn’t it? In our case, a few student-rental landlords rode a wave over the last generation, but the rest of the city was left behind.
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Upcomingposts (in no decided order): Claims of Legacy, a Particular Species of Democrat, a Whitewater Comparative Analysis, Whitewater’s Workforce, ‘What Ails, What Heals’ Reviewed, and Outcome Driven Argumentation.
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower brings shooting stars before dawn, the Moon meets brilliant Venus after sunset, and May wraps up with a rare Blue Moon. Look to the early morning sky around May 5-6 for meteors from Halley’s Comet, though bright moonlight may wash out some of the fainter streaks. Then on May 18, spot the crescent Moon near Venus low in the western sky just after sunset. May ends with a Full Moon on May 31. May ends with a Blue Moon, meaning the second full moon in a single calendar month, but it will not actually look blue. 0:00 Intro 0:09 Eta Aquarids 1:25 Moon and Venus conjunction 1:54 Blue Moon 2:35 May Moon phases
