SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

A MAN TO BE THANKFUL FOR – FROM THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE:  Ray Chavez, the nation’s oldest surviving veteran of the attack on Pearl Harbor, died Wednesday at the age of 106.  Kathleen Chavez, who had been her father’s live-in caregiver for more than 20 years, said he passed away peacefully in his sleep between 3 and 6 a.m. Wednesday. His health had declined in recent months and he was in hospice care when he passed.  Memorial services are pending. Kathleen said her father wished to be buried at Miramar National Cemetery.  Chavez surged into national prominence three years ago when fellow Pearl Harbor veterans recognized him as the oldest survivor of the 1941 Japanese attack that ushered the U.S. into World War II.  At its peak, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association had 58,000 members. Today, there are fewer than 200, according to Stu Hedley, 97, who heads the association’s now-10-member San Diego chapter.  The greatest generation fades, and we miss them.

THIS IS NOT A LESSON IN DEMOCRACY – FROM BIZPACREVIEW:  Rider University in New Jersey sent a survey to students during the spring semester, asking them which restaurants they would like to see the school bring on campus. But when it became clear that Chick-Fil-A was the students’ top choice, the college disregarded the results of the survey.  The school will not bring the popular fast food chain to campus because “their corporate values have not sufficiently progressed enough to align with those of Rider,” according to a Nov. 1 email sent to Rider students and obtained by Campus Reform. The school went on to clarify that the decision was in an effort to “promote…inclusion for all people.”   I guess these brilliant educators are talking about the fact that one of the company's founders doesn't agree with gay marriage.  I wonder how many potential employees won't have jobs because Rider's administration wants to strut its ideological stuff.

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE – FROM THE WEATHER CHANNEL:   Wind chills Thanksgiving morning will be in the teens, perhaps 20s below zero in northern New England and the Adirondacks of upstate New York. Subzero wind chills are likely in parts of southern New England, western and central New York and northern Pennsylvania, including Boston, Hartford, Providence, Albany and Syracuse.
Wind chill advisories have been issued for some parts of the interior Northeast for Thursday morning. Frostbite is possible in as little as 30 minutes in these areas.   These will be the coldest temperature anomalies - in other words, the temperatures most below average - anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere on Thanksgiving Day.   For some Northeast cities, high temperatures on Thanksgiving could be close to the coldest on record no matter what day of the month the holiday was celebrated (e.g. Nov. 22, Nov. 24, Nov. 26, etc.).  Be sure your car is in shape, with a fully charged battery.  As you'll recall, we had a traffic disaster in the New York area last Thursday, with many batteries, including ours, replaced the next day.

November 21, 2018