A beautiful morning, and I asked my black lab if she wanted to go out into the back yard. She looked over her shoulder at the back door, so I said; "OK, good girl!" My Google Dot responded with "I don't understand the question." I gotta work on my pronunciation...

Watching Robert Reich and Heather Lofthouse and their "Coffee Klatch". Prof Reich offered an interesting proposal. Knock down the gilded ballroom to create a Presidential Mausoleum, rather than library, Make it a collection of corruption.

With regard to Epstein; Who will be the first in traditional media to use the headline; "BUT HIS E-MAILS!!!!"?

So it's Monday, and it seems 8 Dems have crossed the line to give the GOP the necessary votes needed. The part that really bothers me, is that Trump will declare a great victory. As he is surrounded by sycophants and stenographers, that will be the story in the media, as they bury the lede.

If you live in Metro Orlando, and are looking at the cessation of your SNAP benefits, there are alternatives. I don't say thank you Orlando Weekly often enough, but they are rather good at this kind of thing.

I'm assuming the corporate suits thought it through, using consultants and focus groups, before changing @msnbc.com to... MS NOW! Really? I can't be the only one who reads it as M SNOW.

I stayed up much too late last night, watching the returns. I stayed on MSNBC, because I'm just not cruel enough to watch Fox...too much schadenfreude just isn't healthy.

What's one of the differences between Blue Sky and the X? The first thing I saw today was someone, not just reporting on the death of Dick Cheney, but offering sincere condolences to Liz Cheney. Humans live here.

I don’t live in Downtown Orlando but in the ‘burbs north of the city. My brother lives out in the boonies, and has regular visitors at night.

So, what really pisses me off? Cutting off food for our poorest or healthcare for everyone else, just so the billionaire crowd can buy a second luxury yacht? Yet, what has pissed me off royally, for years, has been guns. John Stewart and I are on the same page. www.youtube.com/shorts/V4B5P...

If you are an undocumented alien, you now have something in common with your native born neighbors; beginning in November, neither of you can get food assistance in the form of SNAP/food stamps.

Halloween falls on Friday this year. It's time for previously empty stores to start selling costumes you'll wear just once. (It's not like you can wear that "sexy nurse" outfit to work on Monday) It's also known as Samhain, the Irish for "Summer's end". In Florida, that alone is worth celebrating.

What's one way to really flatter Trump? Go to the White House and say... "I love what you've done with the place!"

The category is #totentanz25 Who does "death dance" (dark but danceable) as well as anyone? Maybe, ask a German...

It's just after 9:30 am, and I've already had 5 junk calls from people trying to sell me something. I've had it! What's worse, is that the FTC does have a do not call list...just not now. "Due to the government shutdown, we are unable to offer this website service at this time." www.donotcall.gov

Note:

Managed to get my TV streamer hooked up over the weekend. AT&T-Uverse is no more, but they have a semi-arrangement with Direct TV. I spent the weekend watching Liverpool, the Philadelphia Eagles and Florida Gators! Tonight, It's Rachel on MSNBC, all for less than Spectrum's glut of junk channels.

In Florida, October doesn't usually mean the World Series (remember, the Rays and Marlins live here). It means paying more attention to hurricane names. Currently, local weather is watching Melissa. Not a lot of fear from her name. However, Olga does scare me. (apparently Nestor fizzled out)

Went to Pickles' Deli, just north of Orlando. The check indicated a small discount if I paid in cash, rather than using a credit card. It was the first I'd seen of this. Is this sort of thing showing up in your area?

I had my local @npr.org station on in the car (Orlando's WMFE) and I caught the latter half of an interview. The subject was apparently a musician. Smart, articulate and a natural born story teller. I was shocked, since I have somehow always missed hearing Taylor Swift's speaking voice before!

I remember a bit of controversy regarding Ted Cruz's run for the Presidency. He was born in Canada, but of a US Citizen mother, so everything was cool. A potential Dem Candidate for 2028 might be Connecticut Rep Jim Himes. Harvard/Rhodes Scholar, born in Peru, of US parents. Everything still cool?

What surprises me today, is how distraught Right Wing commentators are, that Trump did NOT win the Nobel Peace Prize! Winner Maria Corina Machado, is a leader in Venezuela. She was so effective in her opposition to Maduro, that she remains in Venezuela, but has spent the last year in hiding.

Was in a doctor's office waiting room, and they had a game on; the New York Yankees playing in Seattle. It seemed suspect, but when I saw Wade Boggs come to bat for NY, I figured it wasn't the most up to date game.

My usual morning routine; listening to Up First on NPR. They're reporting on the Government Shut Down (now in day 8). I may be naive, but why didn't the Dems fight against extending billionaire tax cuts prior to trying to save the ACA? I guess, like a Facebook relationship, it's complicated.

Went to the eye doctor yesterday, and I made one observation. It is not exactly fertile ground for dating. I am at that awkward age, where I am too old for the staff, and too young for the other patients.

Clouds and drizzle for a Friday morning in Central Florida. So this is what it must be like in war-ravaged Portland! Of course, it's also 71 degrees at 8am, so the analogy sort of falls apart, but there must be Antifa deployed somewhere. Probably waiting to get into EPCOT...

t's 11pm on a Tuesday night, and I'm ready for bed. Who knew that spending a day doing absolutely nothing, could be so exhausting? Well, maybe Congress knew. (re-posted, to make sense...it WAS late...)

Doing my usual Sunday routine; making coffee and listening to @wfuv.bsky.social. Since the station is in The Bronx, playing excellent Irish trad music from behind the Antifa lines, is a revolutionary act. Up the Rebels!

@johnfugelsang.bsky.social has a new, highly successful book, and he's making the circuit. I've seen a lot of his interviews, but I think this one with @wajali.bsky.social is the best so far. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ndM...

optics are important; reportedly war ravaged Portland;

Having a glass of wine to celebrate the return of internet...it turns out to be a long story, ending with a massive tree branches in my back yard. "Clean up? Not my job.", said the installer. The Cabernet Sauvignon is good if you let it breathe. It's Kirkland from Costco, so maybe hyperventilate.

An attempt to watch pirated "Real Time with Bill Maher" failed. HBO/Warner Bros is getting better at scrubbing YouTube...then, I saw the guest list; Aiden Walker, a "content creator" I've never heard of. Michael Smerconish and Rep. Nancy Mace. Oh well, my life will go on...

I am far from an admirer of Winston Churchill, but I have to grudgingly admit how the man could turn a phrase. When I think of Trump's last week or so, I think of Churchill's quote "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

I'm doubly disappointed! First, I'm told my rapture outfit I got from L. L. Bean is useless, (naked? really?) then somebody said the whole thing is being postponed! Who's running this, NASA?

I usually learn quite a bit from @maddow.msnbc.com, thanks to her ability to tell a story. Last night, her interview with Kamala Harris just made me sad...thinking of what might have been, but realizing my vote just wasn't enough. If you missed it;

In the litigious world of Donald Trump, "I'll see you in court" is as common as "good morning". Maybe it's time for Kenvue, the company which makes Tylenol, to haul his ass into court. Kenvue, formerly part of Johnson & Johnson, appears to have deep enough pockets.

This time of year, here in Florida, many of the local weather kids begin to get positively giddy talking about tropical storms turning into hurricanes. The exception is Brian Shields of Orlando's ABC affiliate. He covers the Caribbean, with a minimum of drama.

My Eagles beat the LA Rams 33-26 this afternoon. So I started prepping for dinner, then turned on MSNBC to catch up on the news. They are covering Kirk Fest in Arizona. I would rather watch the Cowboys. And I hate the Cowboys. Looks like a good crowd in Chicago, however.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz is now on MSNBC spouting the Netanyahu line...in short "release the hostages and the war in Gaza will end." Excuse my skepticism.

If asked, could Trump even find Estonia on map? (no fair consulting Melania or his advisors...assuming they would know.)

One of the tasks I've taken on, is to read the poetry of Arthur Sze. He becomes the United States Poet Laurate next month, and think it would be helpful neurologically. The Library of Congress appoints him, so I'm surprised Trump didn't ask for a guy who does limericks...at least not yet.

Today is one of those days where nearly every post on Blue Sky seems to be part of an inside joke, and I'm on the outside. Have people suddenly become more cryptic? Or, am I simply becoming dimmer?

It struck me that Robert Redford was the last of a breed. He wasn't just an actor (his only Oscar was as director of "Ordinary People"), but a genuine movie star. Like Bogart, Gable, Tracy and others of an earlier era, his mere presence made a film, with a minimum of dramatics.

Putting in a new kitchen water filter, and I heard myself say "lefty-lucy, righty-tighty". I probably shouldn't be allowed to use anything more complicated than an electric screwdriver.

Saturday night @orlandocitysc.com travel to the occupied city of Washington DC (Buzzards Point to be specific). Orlando's team has 22 members, who are not US Citizens. I'm just saying...

For a different perspective, I often listen to James O'Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social on LBC. (LBC started as London Broadcasting Company, but is now known as Leading Britain's Conversation) Mr. O'Brien was reportedly taken to task, by listeners, for simply playing Charlie Kirk's actual comments.

What do we actually know about the shooting yesterday? One shot, from approximately 2 football fields away. A lucky shot? Not likely. A trained shooter, with a scope? More likely. 2 persons of interest arrested, then released within hours. A diversion, to allow the shooter to escape? Possibly.

Out of curiosity, I looked up Ghislaine Maxwell. Born in 1961, she has already had a novelesque life, which made me think of the quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald; "Let me tell you about the rich. They are different than you and me." Were he alive today, only Fitzgerald could do her biography justice.

Do they still do "parlor games" any more? Reportedly multiple members of Trump's Cabinet were also involved with Epstein. The game would be surmise which current Cabinet members socialized with the late convicted pedophile. I have my guesses...

Memo to Karoline Leavitt; "Get out now! While you still can."