A Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving to all my Yonkers family and friends, at 4:08 AM EST Yonkers is cloudy and 34 to 36 degrees (26 degrees w/WCF), with winds from the north/north-west at 11 mph, 80% humidity, The dew point is at 29 degrees, the barometer is 29.9 inches and rising, and the visibility is 10 miles.Yonkers will be mainly cloudy today, a few peeks of sunshine is possible, a high of 38 degrees with north-west winds at 5 to 10 mph. Partly cloudy tonight, a low of 26 degrees with north-west winds at 10 to 15 mph. Sun-up occurs at 6:57 AM and descends gracefully beyond the Palisades at 4:29 PM. You’ll have 09 hours and 31 minutes of available daylight. Bliss, Gooding County, Idaho, Population: 318. At 2:14 AM MST Bliss is partly cloudy and 41 to 45 degrees. Bliss will be cloudy overnight, a low of 38 degrees with east/north-east winds at 5 to 10 mph. Bliss will be cloudy early Thanksgiving Day with partial sunshine expected late, a high of 61 degrees with east/north-east winds at 5 to 10 mph. Considerable cloudiness Thursday night, low around 40 degrees with east winds at 5 to 10 mph. Durango, Estato de Durango, Mexico, Population: 518,709. At 3:20 AM CST Durango is clear and 34 to 37 degrees. Durango will have clear skies overnight, low around 35 degrees with light and variable winds. Sunshine and clouds mixed for Thursday, high of 72 degrees with north-east winds at 5 to 10 mph. Mostly clear Thursday night, low of 32 degrees with north/north-west winds at 5 to 10 mph. Dothan, Houston County, Alabama. At 3:25 AM Dothan is fair and 45 to 48 degrees (44 degrees w/WCF), Dothan will be clear overnight, low of 39 degrees with west/north-west winds at 5 to 10 mph. Thanksgiving Day Dothan will be mainly sunny, high of 54 degrees with north-west winds at 10 to 20 mph. Clear skies Thanksgiving night, low of 32 degrees with north/north-west winds at 5 to 10 mph. The Four Day Extended Yonkers Weather Forecast is: Friday(28) sunny, 0% chance of precipitation, 38H/26L; Saturday(29) partly cloudy, 10% chance of precipitation, 38H/36L; Sunday(30) partly cloudy, 10% chance of precipitation, 48H/44L; and Monday(1) partly cloudy, 10% chance of precipitation, 54H/30L. Today 11/27 In HISTORY (courtesy of the History Channel) 1 - 1746 - Robert R. (or R.R.) Livingston—later known as the Chancellor—becomes the first of nine children eventually born to Judge Robert Livingston and Margaret Beekman Livingston in their family seat, Clermont, on the Hudson River in upstate New York. The Livingston family were proprietors of large land claims in the Hudson Valley and their attempt to enforce restrictive leases led to tenant uprisings in 1766, during which tenant farmers threatened to kill the lord of Livingston Manor, Robert Livingston (R.R.’s relative), and destroy his opulent homes. The British army suppressed the revolt, saving the Livingstons. In 1777, the British army burned down Clermont and another of R.R.’s estates, Belvedere, in retribution for Livingston’s decision to side with the Patriots. During the 11 years between the tenant uprising and the burning of Clermont, Robert R. Livingston, who had graduated from King’s College (now Columbia University) in 1764, had established himself as a lawyer and political leader. He represented the Provincial Congress of New York at the Continental Congress in 1776 and helped to draft the Declaration of Independence, although he returned to New York before he was able to sign the document. During the War of Independence, Livingston served as secretary of foreign affairs under the Articles of Confederation. In 1783, he accepted the post of chancellor of the state of New York; he bore the title as a moniker for the rest of his life. The Chancellor was a Federalist delegate to the ratification convention in New York, and as New York’s senior judge administered President George Washington’s first oath of office. Under President Thomas Jefferson, Livingston negotiated the Louisiana Purchase and, while minister to France, sponsored Robert Fulton’s development of the steamboat. Livingston died on February 26, 1813. Today, both a bust in the U.S. Capitol and the name of New York’s Masonic Library memorialize R.R. Livingston as the Chancellor. 2 - 1863 - Civil War - Confederate cavalry raider John Hunt Morgan and several of his men break out of the Ohio state prison and escape to the South. Morgan was raised in Kentucky and served in the Mexican War (1846-48) under General Zachary Taylor. A successful hemp manufacturer before the Civil War, Morgan moved to Alabama when Kentucky did not secede with the rest of the South. He became a hero in the South when he made four daring raids on Northern-held territory in 1862 and 1863. Though these raids were of limited strategic value, they boosted Southern morale and kept thousands of Federal troops occupied trying to hunt down Morgan. On his last raid, however, Morgans reach exceeded his grasp. He took a large band and headed through Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. After riding past Cincinnati, Morgan and his men tried to cross the Ohio River back into Kentucky, but they were surprised and routed by a larger Federal force at Buffington Island, Ohio. With his escape blocked, Morgan turned into northeastern Ohio but was finally surrounded by pursuing Yankee cavalry at Salineville on July 26, 1863. Morgan and several of his top officers were incarcerated in the newly constructed Ohio State Penitentiary at Columbus, while the rest of his men were sent to various Northern prisoner-of-war camps. In November 1863, Morgan and his men burrowed out of the prison by cutting a hole in a prison cell. Below the cell was a crawl space for ventilation through which they tunneled to the outside and journeyed safely to Confederate territory. Morgan returned to his cavalry activities in Tennessee after his escape. However, at Greeneville, Tennessee, in 1864, he was killed by Yankee cavalry. 3 - 1954 - Cold War - After 44 months in prison, former government official Alger Hiss is released and proclaims once again that he is innocent of the charges that led to his incarceration. One of the most famous figures of the Cold War period, Hiss was convicted in 1950 of perjury for lying to a federal grand jury. Specifically, Hiss was judged to have lied about his complicity in passing secret government documents to Whittaker Chambers, who thereupon passed the papers along to agents of the Soviet Union Upon his release, Hiss immediately declared that he wished to reassert my complete innocence of the charges that were brought against me by Whittaker Chambers. He claimed that his conviction was the result of the fear and hysteria of the times, and stated that he was going to resume my efforts to dispel the deception that has been foisted on the American people. He was confident that such efforts would vindicate my name. Some observers remained skeptical of Hisss protestations. Senator Karl Mundt felt that further investigation of the matter would probably be a waste of time, unless Hiss decided to come clean and tell the whole story. Chambers issued a brief statement in which he declared that the saddest single factor about the Hiss case is that nobody can change the facts as they are known...They are there forever. That is the inherent tragedy of this case. The controversy over the facts in the Hiss case is also here forever. It remains a highly charged issue. His defenders argue that Hiss was a victim of the Red Scare that swept through the U.S. during the 1940s and 1950s. Others are equally adamant in maintaining his guilt, claiming that documents recently released from Soviet archives strongly support the case that Hiss was a spy for the Soviet Union. 4 - 1095 - Crusades - Pope Urban II makes perhaps the most influential speech of the Middle Ages, giving rise to the Crusades by calling all Christians in Europe to war against Muslims in order to reclaim the Holy Land, with a cry of Deus vult! or God wills it! Born Odo of Lagery in 1042, Urban was a protege of the great reformer Pope Gregory VII. Like Gregory, he made internal reform his main focus, railing against simony (the selling of church offices) and other clerical abuses prevalent during the Middle Ages. Urban showed himself to be an adept and powerful cleric, and when he was elected pope in 1088, he applied his statecraft to weakening support for his rivals, notably Clement III. By the end of the 11th century, the Holy Land—the area now commonly referred to as the Middle East—had become a point of conflict for European Christians. Since the 6th century, Christians frequently made pilgrimages to the birthplace of their religion, but when the Seljuk Turks took control of Jerusalem, Christians were barred from the Holy City. When the Turks then threatened to invade the Byzantine Empire and take Constantinople, Byzantine Emperor Alexius I made a special appeal to Urban for help. This was not the first appeal of its kind, but it came at an important time for Urban. Wanting to reinforce the power of the papacy, Urban seized the opportunity to unite Christian Europe under him as he fought to take back the Holy Land from the Turks. At the Council of Clermont, in France, at which several hundred clerics and noblemen gathered, Urban delivered a rousing speech summoning rich and poor alike to stop their in-fighting and embark on a righteous war to help their fellow Christians in the East and take back Jerusalem. Urban denigrated the Muslims, exaggerating stories of their anti-Christian acts, and promised absolution and remission of sins for all who died in the service of Christ. Urbans war cry caught fire, mobilizing clerics to drum up support throughout Europe for the crusade against the Muslims. All told, between 60,000 and 100,000 people responded to Urbans call to march on Jerusalem. Not all who responded did so out of piety: European nobles were tempted by the prospect of increased land holdings and riches to be gained from the conquest. These nobles were responsible for the death of a great many innocents both on the way to and in the Holy Land, absorbing the riches and estates of those they conveniently deemed opponents to their cause. Adding to the death toll was the inexperience and lack of discipline of the Christian peasants against the trained, professional armies of the Muslims. As a result, the Christians were initially beaten back, and only through sheer force of numbers were they eventually able to triumph. Urban died in 1099, two weeks after the fall of Jerusalem but before news of the Christian victory made it back to Europe. His was the first of seven major military campaigns fought over the next two centuries known as the Crusades, the bloody repercussions of which are still felt today. Urban was beatified by the Roman Catholic Church in 1881. 5 - 1703 - Disaster - An unusual storm system finally dissipates over England after wreaking havoc on the country for nearly two weeks. Featuring hurricane strength winds, the storm killed somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000 people. Hundreds of Royal Navy ships were lost to the storm, the worst in Britains history. 6 - 1940 - Romania - Two months after General Ion Antonescu seized power in Romania and forced King Carol II to abdicate, Antonescus Iron Guard arrests and executes more than 60 aides of the exiled king, including Nicolae Iorga, a former minister and acclaimed historian. The extreme right-wing movement known as the Iron Guard was founded by Corneliu Codreanu in the 1920s, imitating Germanys Nazi Party in both ideology and methods. In 1938, King Carol II managed to establish a stronger dictatorship in Romania and took steps to suppress the activities of the Iron Guard as well as its left-wing antithesis, the Romanian Communist Party. However, the control fell into violent turmoil after the Munich Pact of 1939 was signed, seen as an abandonment of Romania by its Western allies from World War I, followed by a Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact in 1939, which ceded portions of Romania to the USSR. General Ion Antonescu emerged from the chaos victorious and established a dictatorship with Nazi leader Adolf Hitlers approval, killing, exiling, or imprisoning most of his former political opposition. Nevertheless, Romanian resistance to the Iron Guard and Nazi occupation persisted during the war, and in August 1944 a massive revolt toppled Antonescus government in the Romanian capital of Bucharest, allowing the Soviet liberators to capture the city without firing a shot. In 1945, Romanian communists came to power with the backing of the Soviet Union. 7 - 1957 - India - Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru makes an impassioned speech for nuclear disarmament in New Delhi. Jawaharlal Nehru, independent Indias first prime minister, was born in Allahabad, India, in 1889. He was educated in England and in 1912 returned to India to become a lawyer. After the 1919 massacre at Amritsar, in which 379 unarmed protesters were gunned down by British troops, he decided to devote himself to the struggle for Indian independence. He became closely associated with the Indian National Congress Party and developed a friendship with independence movement leader Mohandas Gandhi, who was 20 years his senior. In 1921, British authorities imprisoned Nehru for his political activities for the first time. During the next 24 years, he was to serve another eight prison terms for his civil disobedience, which added up to a total of more than nine years behind bars. In 1929, Gandhi helped Nehru become leader of the Indian National Congress, and Nehru soon emerged as Gandhis political heir. In 1942, Gandhi and Nehru launched the Quit India campaign, declaring that India would offer no war-time aid to Britain unless Indian independence was immediately granted. Britain responded by jailing them and other Indian leaders from 1942 until after Germanys defeat in 1945. After the war, Nehru participated in the talks that led to the division of the Indian subcontinent into the independent states of India and Pakistan. In 1947, Nehru became independent Indias first prime minister. Subsequently reelected three times, he was an enormously popular leader. He skillfully led India through the difficult early years of independence, which saw bloody fighting between Hindus and Muslims. In foreign affairs, he advocated nonalignment for India in the divided Cold War world and sought diplomatic and nonviolent solutions in his conflicts with other nations. On November 27, 1957, he appealed to the United States and the USSR to end nuclear tests and begin disarmament, which, he said, would save humanity from the ultimate disaster. Nehrus 17 years in office ended with his death in 1964. 8 - 1965 - Vietnam War - The Pentagon informs President Johnson that if General Westmoreland is to conduct the major sweep operations necessary to destroy enemy forces during the coming year, U.S. troop strength should be increased from 120,000 to 400,000 men. Also on this day: The Viet Cong release two U.S. special forces soldiers captured two years earlier during a battle of Hiep Hoa, 40 miles southwest of Saigon. At a news conference in Phnom Penh three days later, the two Americans, Sgt. George Smith and Specialist 5th Class Claude McClure, declared that they opposed U.S. actions in Vietnam and would campaign for the withdrawal of American troops. Although Smith later denied making the statement, U.S. authorities announced that the two men would face trial for cooperating with the enemy. Also on this day: In Washington, nearly 35,000 war protestors circle the White House for two hours before moving on to the Washington Monument. Dr. Benjamin Spock, Coretta Scott King, and activist Norman Thomas were among those who gave speeches. 9 - 1970 - Vietnam War - A South Vietnamese task force, operating in southeastern Cambodia, comes under North Vietnamese attack near the town of Krek. The South Vietnamese command reported repelling the assault and killing enemy soldiers. The South Vietnamese command also reported killing 33 Viet Cong in the Rung Sat special zone, 23 miles southeast of Saigon. 10 - 1914 - World War One - German commander Paul von Hindenburg issues a triumphant proclamation from the battlefields of the Eastern Front, celebrating his armys campaign against Russian forces in the Polish city of Warsaw. On November 1, Hindenburg had been appointed commander in chief of all German troops on the Eastern Front; his chief of staff was Erich Ludendorff, who had aided him in commanding several earlier victories against Russian forces in East Prussia. The new command, dubbed OberOst, had two objectives: First, they were to mount a counterattack in Poland while their colleague, Erich von Falkenhayn, managed German forces fighting in the Ypres region on the Western Front. Second, they were to balance the faltering Austrian command headed by Conrad von Hotzendorff. Earlier, Conrad had audaciously blamed his armys failure against Russia on a lack of sufficient German support and demanded that 30 new German divisions be sent east, a notion that Falkenhayn steadfastly opposed. The German campaign against Warsaw, launched in early November 1914, aimed to draw Russian manpower and other resources away from their ferocious assault on the struggling army of Germanys ally, Austria-Hungary. In this it proved successful. The Germans scored several significant victories, most notably at the neighboring city of Lodz. Though the broader German assault ultimately failed, leaving Warsaw still in Russian hands, the kaiser rewarded Hindenburg by promoting him to field marshal, the highest rank in the German army. In his statement of November 27, Hindenburg expressed his satisfaction with the results of the campaign and, of course, with his promotion. I am proud at having reached the highest military rank at the head of such troops. Your fighting spirit and perseverance have in a marvelous manner inflicted the greatest losses on the enemy. Over 60,000 prisoners, 150 guns and about 200 machine guns have fallen into our hands, but the enemy is not yet annihilated. Therefore, forward with God, for King and Fatherland, till the last Russian lies beaten at our feet. Hurrah! 11 - 1942 - World War Two - French Admiral Jean de Laborde sinks the French fleet anchored in Toulon harbor, off the southern coast of France, in order to keep it out of German hands. In June 1940, after the German invasion of France and the establishment of an unoccupied zone in the southeast, led by Gen. Philippe Petain, Adm. Jean Darlan was committed to keeping the French fleet out of German control. At the same time, as a minister in the government that had signed an armistice with the Germans, one that promised a relative autonomy to Vichy France, Darlan was prohibited from sailing that fleet to British or neutral waters. But a German-commandeered fleet in southern France, so close to British-controlled regions in North Africa, could prove disastrous to the Brits, who decided to take matters into their own hands by launching Operation Catapult: the attempt by a British naval force to persuade the French naval commander at Oran to either break the armistice and sail the French fleet out of the Germans grasp—or to scuttle it. And if the French wouldnt, the Brits would. And the British tried. In a five-minute missile bombardment, they managed to sink one French cruiser and two old battleships. They also killed 1,250 French sailors. This would be the genesis of much bad blood between France and England throughout the war. General Petain broke off diplomatic relations with Great Britain. The Sports Scene: NFL Thanksgiving Football: Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks at San Francisco 49ers. NHL Hockey Action: The New York Rangers lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3, the New York Islanders topped the Washington Capitals 3-2 in overtime, the New Jersey Devils were idle, Wpg 2-Buf 1, Det 5-Phi 2, Fla 1-Car 0, Pit 4-Tor 3 (OT), LA 4-Min 0, Chi 3-Col 2, and Cgy 2- SJ 0. Tonights NHL Action: All the local teams are off, and Edm at Nas. NBA Action: Dallas Mavericks 109-New York Knicks 102 in overtime, Brooklyn Nets 99-Philadelphia 76ers 91, Por 105-Cha 97, Cle 113-Was 87, GSW 111-Orl 96, Tor 126-Atl 115, LAC 104-Det 98, Hou 102- Sac 89, Mil 103-Min 86, OKC 97-Uta 82, SA 106-Ind 100, Phx 120-Den 112, and Mem 99-LAL 93. Todays NBA Action: No games scheduled. But two years later, with the Germans now in Vichy and the armistice already violated, Admiral Laborde finished the job the British had started. As the Germans launched Operation Lila, the attempt to commandeer the French fleet, Laborde ordered the sinking of 2 battle cruisers, 4 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, 1 aircraft transport, 30 destroyers, and 16 submarines. Three French subs managed to escape the Germans and make it to Algiers, Allied territory. Only one sub fell into German hands. The marine equivalent of a scorched-earth policy had succeeded. Happy Thanksgiving everybody, pause from your busy day and think of the good things that have happened in your life that give us pause to be thankful! On this Thanksgiving Day also pray for a renewed peace and harmony between all our brothers and sisters in this great nation of ours. Instead of becoming closer it seems lately that we are drifting apart. Enjoy your turkeys, yams or sweet potato, turnips, cranberries, mashed potatoes, string beans and the multitude of pumpkin pies that will be ingested on this Thanksgiving Day watch the March of the Wooden Soldiers if you find it on TV or perhaps the other classic The Wizard of Oz. and may your families and friends be a comfort to you everyday. Remember to keep Melvina and her sister Louise in your thoughts and prayers. As always, keep safe, PUSH, and keep smiling!
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 10:02:01 +0000
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