December 16, 2025 • 36 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
FIRE research: 2025 sets new record for attempts to silence student speech
Guest: Robert Shibley - FIRE ‘s special counsel for campus advocacy
Can Hoop: Harvard Women’s Basketball Launches “NERD” Jerseys for Giveaway at 1/10 Game. The origins of the movement, how academics fuel the program’s competitive edge.
Guest: Coach Carrie Moore – Harvard Women’s Basketball Coach
Airline pilots hide mental health struggles to keep flying
Guest: Patrick Arnzen - former airline pilot and CEO of Thrust Flight, a multi-location flight training organization that has trained thousands of pilots from around the world
Weather forecast in New England this week.
Guest: Brian Thompson – AccuWeather Meteorologist
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's nice Eyes with Dan Ray. I'm doelling you easy
Boston's News Radio Pard evening.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Everybody. The cold weather continues here in New England. It
was still a very chilli day and I hope wherever
you are you're nice and warm. My name is Dan Ray.
I am broadcasting remotely. Rob Brooks is back at the
broadcast center in Medford, Massachusetts, and he will be running
this program for the next four hours, as he does
(00:27):
five nights a week while I'm here, and he even
does when I'm not here. He is one of the
most loyal employees that iHeart has in the in the
entire company, not only here in New England, but across
the country. So Rob Brooks, thank you for what you do.
We have four guests lined up tonight in our first hour,
looking forward to that, and then we have a couple
(00:49):
of issues we're going to deal with in the later
part of the program, beginning at nine o'clock. We'll talk
about starter homes. We had a guest on from the
Pirate Policy Institute and talking about starter homes housing affordability
in the Greater Boston area. And also we'll talk about
the suffering economy of customer service and boy, the economy
(01:12):
of customer service is indeed suffering. Anyone who has been
a customer that economy, they know exactly what I'm talking about.
But first let us start off with Robert Shibley. Robert
is Fire, special counsel for Campus Advocacy, Fires and organization,
the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, founded many years
(01:33):
ago by our great friend Harvey Silverglade in Cambridge. Robert Shibley,
Welcome to night Side. How are you, sir?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Hey, thanks very much for having me. It's good to
be here.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So the bad news is the twenty twenty five set
new records, a new record for attempts to silence student speech.
And I know that a long time ago was the
foundation of individual rights and in education it has now
changed to and expression. Your focus still is very much
on what goes on on college campuses around the country.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Correct, Yeah, we still do all of our original mission,
which was having to do with college campuses, and you're right,
it started right down the street from you folks in Cambridge,
and then a few years ago we expanded to try
to take on the broader area free speech across the country.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Right, So we're looking at a new record for attempt
to silence student speech. So we're kind of, I guess,
back to the to the real core of the problem
because for many, many years, students who expressed any point
(02:50):
of view, particularly those that were conservative, we're getting into
trouble on college campuses, and you defended a lot of
them this year. Some of the folks that you have
taken up the cause far for are people that maybe
conservatives disagree with you on. For example, I guess the
(03:11):
Indiana Attorney General urged his constituents to pressure Indiana University
to terminate a student from their campus after they posted
quote the world just got a little better today in
response to Charlie Kirk's murder. Let's talk about that one
fire is an absolutist and free speech. So it does
(03:33):
not surprise me that you are concerned about this, and
this is part of the focus of what you have.
Has your focus switched or simply the emphasis switched a
little bit. We're still talking about students, but maybe students
of a different kind who are being beset by academic
(03:54):
institutions and academic lack of freedom of expression.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yeah, well, this year I think was we really saw
this a perfect storm when it came to everybody turning
around and trying to use the power of the state
or the power of the institution to silence their opponents.
Because we started the year with the continued efforts for
people to silence those who disagree with them on the
(04:23):
war in Gaza, and that as that wrapped up, things
got a little quieter. We were thinking, O, all right,
you know, at least we got from that a little
bit here in terms of trying to censor people. And
then we had the huge burst after Charlie Kirk's assassinations,
and so we really saw it coming from both sides
(04:43):
this year, and I think that's why we saw, you know,
two hundred and seventy three efforts this year as opposed
to the last record was our first year of a
two hundred and fifty two in twenty twenty, during the
height of after the killing of George Floyd. So you know,
when I everything's get when everything is get hot and
bothered around the country, unfortunately, people turn to trying to
(05:05):
silence one another.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
So I get that, correct me If I'm wrong, you
were advocating for I assume in the spring for pro
Palestinian groups. I assume, am I correct.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
On that were both.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yeah, we had Yeah, we had cases from both because
you know, depending on you know, who is more or
less popular or powerful on campuses. You know, we saw
attempts from both sides to uh, you know, shout down
everything from shouting down I d S soldiers who were
(05:44):
you know, trying to have different events on campuses too.
I think you know the the well, you know, we
certainly got more press having to do with the pro
Palestinian protesters who were so Yeah, I think it. I
think it's fair to say that while it has come
from both sides, I think you're right in that we
(06:06):
certainly have seen an escalation in these these attempts coming
from the right and being applied to students who you
considered to be a little bit one left, whereas historically, yeah,
I was certainly students on the right. You had a
lot more problem on college campuses historically.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
And when you say idea for those who might miss
the acronym, that would be the Israeli defense forces right,
who were being denied or prevented from speaking the so
called heckless veto, similar to what was going on when
US military groups were attempting to recruit on campus decades
(06:43):
ago or that's right.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
That happened to me when I was in.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Law school ROTC ROTC programs, So there's one year. I'm
not sure if Representative Derek Van Orden is a Democrat
or republic I'm assuming he's a Republican. He announced on
x that he introduced legislation a strip federal funding from
(07:06):
Oberlin College, which is a bastion of liberalism in my opinion,
unless the university expelled the student over their social media activity,
which included a video in which she said I don't
feel bad quote about the shooting and that meaning of
Charlie Kirk and quote we need to bring back political
(07:28):
assassinations unquote. I can't imagine a more unpopular student to
go to battle on behalf of than that student, particularly
in the circumstances of Overland College. That's one that even
I think people on both sides might say that free
(07:51):
speech goes a little too far. I know that that
fire is an absolutist and that free speech can probably
never go too far. But let's talk about that one
for a second, because that one sort of makes to
hear in the back of my next stand up when
I say, when I hear someone say, I don't feel
bad about the Charlie Kirk assassination. We need to bring
(08:11):
back more political assassinations. I think that is an abhorrent
comment that we need to bring back more political assassinations
of anything. We need no political assassinations.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Well, you know, I think one thing that is important
when it comes to free speech is that it has
the benefit of letting you know what people really think
and you know what's really out there in terms of
the people that you live with, and so you know,
obviously most such comments are highly exaggerated. If every death
(08:47):
thread or people wishing bad things were to happen were
to take place, we'd probably all be dead. So we
know that's you know, that's not true. And we know
that people, especially on the internet, like to you know,
exaggerate for a fact, and so you know, I think
many people have been guilty of that from time to time.
That doesn't mean it's time to use the power of
(09:08):
the state in order to punish people that are you know,
our own communities, our cultures, our friends. We have ways
of moderating that kind of behavior. I think you're right.
I think a lot of people, probably most people, find
that kind of comment abhorrent. And you know, I certainly
(09:28):
wouldn't want to be the person I wouldn't be. I
wouldn't want to be in the in the shoes of
the person who said that, because I think it. It
certainly is. I mean, it's not likely to make you
more popular with most people. But that's part of social sanction,
and that's an important part of having that free society,
is let the society take care of it rather than
the government.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
All right, Robert Shibley, great explanation. If folks want to
get in touch with Fire, either to support them or
to just get some more information, what's the best website?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Head to the Fire dot org TGFIRA dot org.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
That's great. Keep it simple, keep it clean, keep it clear. Robert,
I really enjoyed the conversation. It's great to know that
there's organizations like Fire out there defending not only the
First Amendment, but the use of the First Amendment. Thank
you so much for your time. Thank you, good night.
When we get back, we're going to talk with the
Harvard women's basketball coach, coach Carrie More. They have an
(10:29):
interesting program coming up. Well, they of course have an
interesting program as an athletic group at Harvard women's basketball.
But they are going to celebrate academic and athletic excellence,
and both can be celebrated, and they're going to celebrate
in a very interesting way with a jersey giveaway on
January tenth. I'm looking forward to this conversation with coach
(10:53):
Carrie Moore right after the break here on night Side.
It is a Tuesday night and the show is rolling.
Get on board before we get too far down the track.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You're on Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio plug.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Delighted to welcome coach Carrie Moore, Harvard women's basketball coach,
to Nightside. Normally, coach at this time of night, you're
you're putting in plays and making adjustments on the fly.
So it's great we caught you on the night off.
Welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Yeah, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Dan.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
I appreciate you having me on this is this is
exciting for us. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I was talking with a friend of mine, you were
your assistant athletic director, Joe Bradley, about you, and he's
a huge fan of what you have brought to the
Harvard women's basketball program. Uh. You you just had a win.
I believe over Arkansas, which was, yeah, a historic win.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
First of all, Yeah, it was you know, historic win,
but I think just a much needed win for you know,
where we were at, you know, in our season. We
were coming straight from the Bahamas. Uh literally, we took
a flight from the from Nasau to uh Fayetteville in
Arkansas to two flights actually because there's no directs from
(12:12):
the Bahamas if if anyone's wondering out there. But but yeah,
it was our our program's first first SEC victory in history,
which is a pretty big deal considering you know, the
program has been around for you know, fifty plus years.
So uh yeah, just just really proud of the girls.
(12:33):
You know, it was a true road game. It was
at Arkansas, a lot of their fans, you know, we
were we were taking one of our seniors home. It
was her homecoming, Gabby Anderson's, and I just thought that
the girls really responded to you know, some adversity that
that we faced kind of along the way and kind
of up until that point and played really well. Uh
(12:54):
you know, wasn't wasn't really close much of much.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Of the game. Now, you have a promotion coming up
on January tenth, I'm not sure who the opponent is
on January tenth, but you probably know, So why'd you
tell who are you playing on January tenth?
Speaker 5 (13:10):
Yeah, of course, Dan. We we played Columbia, which, if
anyone is familiar with IVY League Women's basketball, Colombia is
a really good team and actually the team that we
beat last year in the IVY League Women's Basketball Tournament championships.
So it's it's gonna be a it's gonna be a
really you know, competitive game, and we usually draw really well,
(13:31):
and we felt like, you know, what better game to
you know, give away you know, these these jerseys than
than that one. It's our first home IVY League contest
as well, so a lot of excitement surrounding it.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
So the jersey's not going to say Harvard as they
normally do. You're gonna have the word nerd on the jerseys.
And there's a reason for that. Everybody thinks of nerd
as as sort of a bad word. If you someone
a nerd, it's not considered to be a compliment. How
(14:04):
is it you folks have decided we're going to take
that word nerd any r d and make I guess
young women, but young men as well. Know, yeah, that
that there's nothing wrong you can be an athlete and
a nerd by bottling a basketball player and a student
at Harvard tell us about it.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna give all credit to you know,
our players on this one, specifically Harmony Turner, who was
a senior on our championship team last year. She's now
playing in France, but she she started the slogan nerds
can hoop to and I just think, you know, we've
really rallied behind her and and really tried to carry
that forward because I think you can do both and
(14:48):
where you know, our team specifically is trying to erase
the stigma of you know, you you can only be
a basketball player or you can only be a great student,
but you can't do both. And I think our team
is a great example, you know, of of the combination
that that makes you know them so special, uh, is
(15:08):
that you know, we're we're one of the best mid
major teams in the country, but they are getting a
Harvard degree all at the same time. So the girls
are excited. I mean, it's it's definitely Uh. You know,
something that that started out is you know, I think
something they were just saying kind of to each other,
and then you know, it got on social media and
and harms. You know, platform really took off last year.
(15:30):
And then now our marketing department is coming to us,
you know, really trying to to help us push this,
you know a little bit more publicly, and and uh,
you know, credit to them. It's it's been getting a
lot of attention. So just really excited for our girls
to to just give them the platform to kind of showcase,
you know, who they are and what makes them so special.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
So is that the one game this year you're gonna
wear that jersey? I know a lot of uh sports teams,
both professional and college trying to have different different jerseys. Uh,
is that the one game with the jersey will be
won and will and instead of Harvard it will say NERD.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
So So actually, Dan, that's that's you're giving me ideas here.
So so our team doesn't actually have the jersey, it's
it was a replica of our jersey created to give
away to fans as a giveaway for fans to come,
so the fans will have them on. But now you're
giving me ideas, So now I think we might have
to do an alternative jersey next year with with with
(16:26):
nerds on it. Right now it's just a black jersey
with with Crimson as the title, but we might have
to see what we can do next season.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Okay, So this game is a home game. What's your capacity?
We want to fill the the the room for what's
the capacity of the of Harvard women's basketball court.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
It's around twelve twelve hundred or so. I mean, if
we can get a thousand in there, it'll feel like
it's rocking. So, you know, I think if if folks
want to see, you know, an exciting matchup, you know,
high level, you know scoring, you know, really two great
defensive teams, great coaching and uh, you know, I think
a lot on the line in this one. So you know,
(17:11):
definitely come out and make some noise for us. We've
sold it out in years past and and we'd love
to do the same thing again this year.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Okay, So if folks want to get tickets to this game,
if they're not on you know, on the campus, uh,
where can they get all the information as to where
the game will be played and what the tickets will
cost and uh, and they'll be able to walk away,
hopefully with with a Nerd, Jersey.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Oh definitely.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
I think if if you just go online and google
Harvard women's basketball schedule, you'll see you'll scrow down and
you can see Harvard versus Columbia at Laviti's Pavilion on
January twelve, I believe, January tenth. January tenth, and uh,
there's a link there that you can click that says
(17:56):
tickets and it's not It is not expensive at all,
very affordable, and we'd love to have people coach I back.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Jump on that one. Let me tell you, I'm always
going to do that. I wasn't a basketball player, but
as a baseball player, you always got to back up
the center field and when the ball.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Is in.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Your field anyway, coach more great talking with you. I
love your enthusiasm, and go Crimson and best of luck
in that game and for the rest of the season.
Everyone on Nightside now has a rooting interest for Harvard
women's basketball. Since we just had an opportunity to meet
and greet coach Carrie Moore on Harvard women's basketball coach,
(18:34):
thanks so much, coach.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
Yeah, thank you so much. Dan really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
And happy holidays you will and just tell Joe Bradley.
I treated you okay tonight. You know what I'm saying.
He called me, well, he's a good guy. He's a
good guy. Thank you so much, appreciate it. Will we
get back right after the news at the bottom of there,
we're going to talk with a former airline pilot and
CEO of thrust Flight. That's a multi location flight training
organization that has trained thousands of pilots from round world.
(19:00):
But he's going to tell us that airline pilots, current
day airline pilots, some not all, some might be hiding
some mental health struggles because they want to keep flying.
They want to keep they want to stay up in
the air. An interesting dilemma. Back with Patrick Arnsen right
after this break at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Delighted. Welcome to Night's out here on WBZ, Patrick Arnsen, Patrick, welcome,
How are you, sir?
Speaker 4 (19:37):
Oh, I'm great, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
You're welcome. So you're a former airline pilot, commercial airline pilot.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
I assume I am, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
And CEO of thrust Flight, a multilocation flight training organization
that has trained thousands of pilots from around the world.
Where is thrust Flight located or does.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
It We're located in We have multiple locations. We have
several locations in Texas and also in Arizona.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I see. Okay, and that is where aspiring pilots go
to get some certifications in some training.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
I assume yes, sir, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Wow. So just for background, you flew commercially. How long
were you a commercial airline pilot?
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I was a commercial airline pilot for five years?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Five years? Okay. So the conversation tonight deals with pilots
who are currently active but they want to stay flying.
At what age do pilots commercial airline pilots are they
required as some other you know, judges and police officers
(20:45):
are required to retire. Is there an age limit or no,
there is.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
It's sixty five years old. So every airline has to
every airline pilot has to re tire at sixty five Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Is there any waiver that's granted or is that is
that you know, just absolute requirement.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
That's a hard rule. Yeah, so they can continue to
fly past that, but not for the airlines. As an
airline captain. So they could, they could be a charter
pilot something.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Like that, Okay, which is fine, but probably the idea
of flying one of the big birds with two or
three hundred people on board that day is over. We
all know that at the age of sixty five, the
age of sixty five and twenty twenty five is not
the same as the age of sixty five in nineteen
(21:34):
twenty five. People are living longer, and they're living very
healthy lives into their seventies. I assume is that an
FAA rule of regulation that have to be changed.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
It is an FA rule, and there has been legislation
and a lot of push to extend that. In fact,
it was extended from sixty two to sixty five about
ten years ago, and now they're trying to push it,
to push that longer. But I know there's been a
lot of pushback as well. And you know, in my opinion,
(22:07):
it's a fairly archare Croy. I know plenty of very
vibrant sixty five year olds that would love to continue
flying and that are very healthy, but are forced to
retire early.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I think the Indianapolis coachs just bought a gout, brought
Philip Rivers out of retirement. I don't if you're a
football fan, but he has to be at least sixty five. No,
he's actually forty five. But you know, people do things
later and later in life. Gordie Howe played in professional
hockey untill he was nearly sixty five, or maybe even
a little bit beyond, but we'll leave that. So what
(22:41):
percentage Is this a real problem? Are there a lot
of pilots who have lost it off their fastball and
are dealing with some form of mental health struggles. I
don't want to scare the heck out of the flying public,
but is there a cadre of folks who find themselves
in that situation they want to push the limits and
(23:01):
they want to stay up in the air and the
cockpit until sixty five?
Speaker 4 (23:05):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, I think the vast majority
of the people that I that I know would would
probably not retire at sixty five. So, you know, I
think there's a large percentage of the pilots that are
that are flying that would would love to continue to
fly past that, you know, and that's at the end
of the career is where most of these folks make
(23:27):
make the most of their money. So you know, they
certainly have a financial incentive to to want to fly.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Well, this article that I'm reading out of Reuters, which
I'm sure you hopefully have read, airline pilots had mental
health struggles to keep flying. Are you familiar with this?
And there was I have no idea how many are
in this situation, but you know, it highlighted a pilot
(23:53):
for Delta, father of three, who was only forty one
years old, and he's terrified that getting treatment for depression
could eventually cost him his license and his livelihood. Is
is that a problem that you're able to address for
us or no?
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Sure? Sure. I think it's a huge problem. And you know,
I think that the the public forgets that people, the
pilots are people too, you know. And I think the
roters reports that out loud. You know what a lot
of pilots have been whispering for years.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
You know, the.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
System makes honesty feel dangerous, and quite frankly, I was
not shocked by the story, and I think that's why
it should get everyone's attention.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I will tell you this as somebody who has flown
a lot in my life. When I was a television
reporter here for the CBS affiliate in Boston for many years,
I flew a lot more than I wanted to, to be
honest with you, But every time I get on a plane,
I take a little peek in the cockpit. I like
to see a few gray hairs up there. To be
(24:55):
honest with you, I hate you, you know, but I
mean there's something to be said for experience.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
There, certainly is there, certainly is.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Well. Let me ask you, Patrick, if there are any
aspiring pilots out there who would like to get in trust,
in in in contact with you or with thrust Flight.
What's the best way they can do that. Maybe this
conversation has, you know, started a few folks about thinking
about maybe doing what you've done for a living all
(25:27):
your life.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Oh well, I tell you it's it's a wonderful career.
They can find us at trust slight dot com on
any of the social media platforms and YouTube.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Sounds great. Thanks very much for your for your time tonight.
I enjoyed the conversation. It's one. As they say, I'm
going to keep looking for those those gray hairs on
the pilots there, at least flying the planes that I'm on.
I don't want I don't want to look up there
and see see some fourteen year old said have your pilot.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
That's great. Thanks, thank you for your.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Thank you for your time. Talk to you soon, really
get back we talk's spend a little bit of time
talking with Brian Thompson, one of our favorite ACI Weather meteorologists,
about the weather forecast for the balance of this week.
It's gonna get a little better, but it's gonna get
a little winter. And as we approach Christmas now and
we're in Honikah, people have to think about what their
(26:21):
schedule is. So we'll give you a good opportunity to
listen to Brian Thompson give us the rundown and what
we can expect at least into the weekend. We'll be bad.
That's a little further than probably going to push him.
But I think he'll. I think he'll he'll play along
with us. Coming back on night Side.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Night Side with Dan Ray, I'm telling you bes Boston's
news Radio.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Well, we've had a bomby first week of December. First
a couple of weeks of December with temperatures sometimes you know,
getting up into the mid eighties. It's been very comfortable
here in New England, not where this is Brian Thompson. Brian,
what's going on? This is the This the cold is
first half of December that I can remember in some time.
Speaker 6 (27:04):
Yeah, and Dan, we've had so many warm Decembers in
recent years. It's just been a it's been a bit
of a shock to the system, not just the cold,
but how how long it has lasted. It's been a
very cold month so far. We're nearly eight degrees below
average for the month.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Eight degrees. That's an incredible number.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
Especially since we're halfway through the month. That's not a
that's not a small number.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Now.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Yeah, I mean even if you get if you get
to the normal December by the end of the month,
would still be four degrees below normal. I assume today's
today's the sixteenth. I like to watch and I think
I mentioned to you before in the Globe and Sundays.
It tell us, it tells us where our temperature has
been on an average throughout the year. And we're getting
(27:49):
pretty close to being right where the average is supposed
to be, or maybe even a little below that. I
don't know if we can, if we can accomplish that
by the of December and not, but we're gonna get
a little relief in the next few days, DESI understands,
but not without some other complications.
Speaker 6 (28:08):
Yeah, and that is that's fairly typical this time where
we're talking about temperatures as warm as we're talking here,
and we're talking about temperatures getting into the fifties Thursday
night into Friday. Usually that's accompanied by a storm that's
moving up to our north and west or on the
warmer side of it, and that usually does bring some rain.
That's gonna be the case here, and not say it
can't ever get warm when it's dry this time of year,
(28:30):
but it's more likely that there's a storm cutting up
to our west, we get a huge flow of warm
air out of the south and west, and that's exactly
what's going to happen here. So we'll see the rain
moving looks like very late Thursday nights and then probably
rain through a good chunk of Friday through at least
the early afternoon hours. And the wind is going to
be very gusty with the storm system as well. It's
a pretty powerful storm. We're talking about highs probably into
(28:52):
the mid to upper fifties on Friday, So this is
going to be a big warm up that's gonna put
a dent into that departure from average we're at right now.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Sure, but that also is going to mean that the
snow cover, which I know, I live right outside of Boston.
If I have snow cover, there's probably a lot of
other places that have snow cover. But with temperatures in
the fifties and a driving rainstorm, we're going to be
back to bare ground by by the end of the weekend.
Speaker 6 (29:18):
So yeah, I think that's a fair assumption. I would
say probably by midday Friday, a lot of that snow
is going to be gone because when the kind of
the perfect ingredients to melt snow are a moist atmosphere
with a lot of moisture, which we'll have this time around,
and a southwesterly wind, which we'll have this time around
as well. In tempera is gonna be well above freezing
(29:38):
of course, into the fifties, so that snow is gonna
be melting very quickly.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
So that's going to mean that the likelihood of a
white Christmas here in southern New England is probably the
odds are getting a little long on.
Speaker 6 (29:52):
That, yet not great, I will say, because as we
as we look ahead deeper into the forecast, as you
get into the weekend, there really aren't too many opportunities
for precipitation. Temperature is going to be kind of bouncing
back and forth, but as we get into next week,
closer to Christmas, the flow is going to be very
west to east across the country, a lot of Pacific
(30:13):
air coming eastward, which really prevents the cold air from
settling in. I'm not saying it's going to be warm,
but we're talking about highs in the thirties and forties,
and it just doesn't look like there's going to be
many opportunities for snow next week. It's not completely out
of the question that if it's just cold enough, when
we get one of these little systems to move along
this fast flow, that we could pick up a little
bit of snow, but at this point I would say
(30:34):
that's on the unlikely side. Now you're going to hear
a lot about how warm it's going to be on
Christmas across a lot of the country. We're going to
be kind of on the.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Edge of that.
Speaker 6 (30:42):
I don't know if we'll ever get into that really
warm air that a lot of the Midwest and the
planes are going to get into where we could be
talking about temperatures that are way above average. But again
with the air mass originating kind of from the Pacific
instead of Canada, that kind of put keeps a lid
on how cold it can get around here.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Now. I know that our temperatures have been cold, but
the problem part of the country really has been the Midwest,
the plains and the upper Plains. I have friends out
in uh out in Kansas and places like that, and uh,
they've had some really tough weather, uh and and and
(31:20):
and they're gonna they're gonna get another batch of of
cold weather. It sounds to me like, what is our
long range forecast? And I know I always ask you this,
but I never get the I never missed the opportunity,
uh to get a sense of what's it look like
in you know, the balance of the month into January,
(31:41):
maybe even a little peak into the rest of the winter.
What are we thinking here?
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Is this?
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Is this this cold snap we've had, Is that uh
a a canary in the coal mine at all? Or
is this something that is just transitory? And and maybe
we'll have a warmer I know, Oh, we always had
the January thaw I wait for that about January twentieth,
but as an old New Englander, But where do you
(32:07):
think we're going to be for the balance of the
winter in terms of cold, you know, temperatures, but also snowfall.
Speaker 6 (32:13):
Yeah, well, our thinking is as we get into January again,
there's going to be a it looks like through a
lot of the rest of December. I don't see any
at least through the end of next weekend, and next
weekend doesn't look like we have an extended cold And
our overall thinking has been as we get into January
that it will probably end up closer to average, not
quite as cold as it has been this month, at
least compared to average. Course, January overall is a colder month.
(32:35):
And then our thinking has been that as we get
into February, there's a potential for some more cold shots
to happen like we've seen this month, So we'll see
if that comes to fruition. Of course, when you can
get some cold shots into February, that's where you can
get into some really cold air. That's where you can
get into the the below zero kind of territory. And
(32:56):
even in December, we've seen that across the Midwest. You're
talking about the Midwest, places like Chicago and Minneapolis running
nearly ten degrees below average this month, so there's been
a lot of cold around. Again, we may see that
relax a little bit next month, and the potential for
some cold shots into February doesn't mean it's going to
be cold all month, but again there's certainly going to
(33:17):
be opportunities for the cold there to come southward as
the winter goes on.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
The Other thing, Brian, which I had to mention, and
that is that I read somewhere today that the sunset
has now I think today for the first time is
a minute, how should I put this?
Speaker 6 (33:36):
That the sun the sunset starts getting later. Yeah, yeah,
so that actually happened. That actually happens a little before
the solstice. And on the flip side, I believe it's
the sun rise continues to get a little later after
the solstice, so it doesn't just completely flip on Sunday morning,
(33:57):
which is the solstice.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
So that means that but today instead of setting out
whatever it was, instead of setting in four thirteen, it's
setting in full fourteen. I'm just picking those numbers out
of my head. So you could really say Hey, we
had another minute of sunshine this afternoon. Doesn't it feel
like winter is almost beaten? Winter? Not quite, but psychologically
(34:21):
we're on the We're now in the right direction, I
guess yeah.
Speaker 6 (34:24):
Because we're at the point of now that we're almost
at the solstice, we're not really losing much daylight anymore. Anyway,
that happens at the fastest rate in the fall months
when we're kind of halfway in between. But yeah, we
as we head into the last few days or December
and January, then that's when it starts to accelerate and
we start to see more daylight.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
Yeah, there will be a time sometime in late January
when each of us will say, wow, these days are
getting a little longer, and they'll still be just as cold,
but it'll be kind of the first sign that maybe
we will get in the spring and another summer if
we wait, if we stick around, there's hope springs eternal,
(35:06):
that's for sure.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Yeah. That's once.
Speaker 6 (35:07):
Once the sun rise, once it starts being bright around
five o'clock, it is very noticeable.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Oh yeah, it's like, wow, we're heading in the right direction.
Brian Thompson, thank you so much. As always, always enjoy
talking with you. Always make weather fun and and enjoyable
and informative. So thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
It's good to be with it. Dan.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Talk soon, okay, Mary Christmas. If I don't get a
chance to chat with it between now and then, all right,
So we're wrapped up here in the eight o'clock hour.
When we come back, we're going to talk about housing affordability.
I had a conversation with Andrew mccoolah. He's with the
Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research and chair of the
(35:47):
legalized starter homes here in Massachusetts. They have gathered sign
issues to get that on the ballot. First of all,
we will explain what starter homes are, and then we'll
probably have a conversation of whether it's a good idea
or aboud idea. I know that Andrew feels it's a
great idea, and many young people who are trying to
get into a home field it's a great idea. But
(36:10):
I have some questions. And the questions really revolve around
whether or not localities have the right to zone their
communities so that there are minimum housing standards. There are
some implications for that when those minimum standards are taken
away more kids in school, tax rate goes up, all
of that. Will talk with Andrew mccoola coming up, and
(36:32):
I hope that you folks are willing to join the
conversation and ask questions, whatever your perspective here on Nightside,
right after the nine
It's nice Eyes with Dan Ray. I'm doelling you easy
Boston's News Radio Pard evening.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Everybody. The cold weather continues here in New England. It
was still a very chilli day and I hope wherever
you are you're nice and warm. My name is Dan Ray.
I am broadcasting remotely. Rob Brooks is back at the
broadcast center in Medford, Massachusetts, and he will be running
this program for the next four hours, as he does
(00:27):
five nights a week while I'm here, and he even
does when I'm not here. He is one of the
most loyal employees that iHeart has in the in the
entire company, not only here in New England, but across
the country. So Rob Brooks, thank you for what you do.
We have four guests lined up tonight in our first hour,
looking forward to that, and then we have a couple
(00:49):
of issues we're going to deal with in the later
part of the program, beginning at nine o'clock. We'll talk
about starter homes. We had a guest on from the
Pirate Policy Institute and talking about starter homes housing affordability
in the Greater Boston area. And also we'll talk about
the suffering economy of customer service and boy, the economy
(01:12):
of customer service is indeed suffering. Anyone who has been
a customer that economy, they know exactly what I'm talking about.
But first let us start off with Robert Shibley. Robert
is Fire, special counsel for Campus Advocacy, Fires and organization,
the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, founded many years
(01:33):
ago by our great friend Harvey Silverglade in Cambridge. Robert Shibley,
Welcome to night Side. How are you, sir?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Hey, thanks very much for having me. It's good to
be here.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So the bad news is the twenty twenty five set
new records, a new record for attempts to silence student speech.
And I know that a long time ago was the
foundation of individual rights and in education it has now
changed to and expression. Your focus still is very much
on what goes on on college campuses around the country.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Correct, Yeah, we still do all of our original mission,
which was having to do with college campuses, and you're right,
it started right down the street from you folks in Cambridge,
and then a few years ago we expanded to try
to take on the broader area free speech across the country.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Right, So we're looking at a new record for attempt
to silence student speech. So we're kind of, I guess,
back to the to the real core of the problem
because for many, many years, students who expressed any point
(02:50):
of view, particularly those that were conservative, we're getting into
trouble on college campuses, and you defended a lot of
them this year. Some of the folks that you have
taken up the cause far for are people that maybe
conservatives disagree with you on. For example, I guess the
(03:11):
Indiana Attorney General urged his constituents to pressure Indiana University
to terminate a student from their campus after they posted
quote the world just got a little better today in
response to Charlie Kirk's murder. Let's talk about that one
fire is an absolutist and free speech. So it does
(03:33):
not surprise me that you are concerned about this, and
this is part of the focus of what you have.
Has your focus switched or simply the emphasis switched a
little bit. We're still talking about students, but maybe students
of a different kind who are being beset by academic
(03:54):
institutions and academic lack of freedom of expression.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yeah, well, this year I think was we really saw
this a perfect storm when it came to everybody turning
around and trying to use the power of the state
or the power of the institution to silence their opponents.
Because we started the year with the continued efforts for
people to silence those who disagree with them on the
(04:23):
war in Gaza, and that as that wrapped up, things
got a little quieter. We were thinking, O, all right,
you know, at least we got from that a little
bit here in terms of trying to censor people. And
then we had the huge burst after Charlie Kirk's assassinations,
and so we really saw it coming from both sides
(04:43):
this year, and I think that's why we saw, you know,
two hundred and seventy three efforts this year as opposed
to the last record was our first year of a
two hundred and fifty two in twenty twenty, during the
height of after the killing of George Floyd. So you know,
when I everything's get when everything is get hot and
bothered around the country, unfortunately, people turn to trying to
(05:05):
silence one another.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
So I get that, correct me If I'm wrong, you
were advocating for I assume in the spring for pro
Palestinian groups. I assume, am I correct.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
On that were both.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yeah, we had Yeah, we had cases from both because
you know, depending on you know, who is more or
less popular or powerful on campuses. You know, we saw
attempts from both sides to uh, you know, shout down
everything from shouting down I d S soldiers who were
(05:44):
you know, trying to have different events on campuses too.
I think you know the the well, you know, we
certainly got more press having to do with the pro
Palestinian protesters who were so Yeah, I think it. I
think it's fair to say that while it has come
from both sides, I think you're right in that we
(06:06):
certainly have seen an escalation in these these attempts coming
from the right and being applied to students who you
considered to be a little bit one left, whereas historically, yeah,
I was certainly students on the right. You had a
lot more problem on college campuses historically.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
And when you say idea for those who might miss
the acronym, that would be the Israeli defense forces right,
who were being denied or prevented from speaking the so
called heckless veto, similar to what was going on when
US military groups were attempting to recruit on campus decades
(06:43):
ago or that's right.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
That happened to me when I was in.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Law school ROTC ROTC programs, So there's one year. I'm
not sure if Representative Derek Van Orden is a Democrat
or republic I'm assuming he's a Republican. He announced on
x that he introduced legislation a strip federal funding from
(07:06):
Oberlin College, which is a bastion of liberalism in my opinion,
unless the university expelled the student over their social media activity,
which included a video in which she said I don't
feel bad quote about the shooting and that meaning of
Charlie Kirk and quote we need to bring back political
(07:28):
assassinations unquote. I can't imagine a more unpopular student to
go to battle on behalf of than that student, particularly
in the circumstances of Overland College. That's one that even
I think people on both sides might say that free
(07:51):
speech goes a little too far. I know that that
fire is an absolutist and that free speech can probably
never go too far. But let's talk about that one
for a second, because that one sort of makes to
hear in the back of my next stand up when
I say, when I hear someone say, I don't feel
bad about the Charlie Kirk assassination. We need to bring
(08:11):
back more political assassinations. I think that is an abhorrent
comment that we need to bring back more political assassinations
of anything. We need no political assassinations.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Well, you know, I think one thing that is important
when it comes to free speech is that it has
the benefit of letting you know what people really think
and you know what's really out there in terms of
the people that you live with, and so you know,
obviously most such comments are highly exaggerated. If every death
(08:47):
thread or people wishing bad things were to happen were
to take place, we'd probably all be dead. So we
know that's you know, that's not true. And we know
that people, especially on the internet, like to you know,
exaggerate for a fact, and so you know, I think
many people have been guilty of that from time to time.
That doesn't mean it's time to use the power of
(09:08):
the state in order to punish people that are you know,
our own communities, our cultures, our friends. We have ways
of moderating that kind of behavior. I think you're right.
I think a lot of people, probably most people, find
that kind of comment abhorrent. And you know, I certainly
(09:28):
wouldn't want to be the person I wouldn't be. I
wouldn't want to be in the in the shoes of
the person who said that, because I think it. It
certainly is. I mean, it's not likely to make you
more popular with most people. But that's part of social sanction,
and that's an important part of having that free society,
is let the society take care of it rather than
the government.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
All right, Robert Shibley, great explanation. If folks want to
get in touch with Fire, either to support them or
to just get some more information, what's the best website?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Head to the Fire dot org TGFIRA dot org.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
That's great. Keep it simple, keep it clean, keep it clear. Robert,
I really enjoyed the conversation. It's great to know that
there's organizations like Fire out there defending not only the
First Amendment, but the use of the First Amendment. Thank
you so much for your time. Thank you, good night.
When we get back, we're going to talk with the
Harvard women's basketball coach, coach Carrie More. They have an
(10:29):
interesting program coming up. Well, they of course have an
interesting program as an athletic group at Harvard women's basketball.
But they are going to celebrate academic and athletic excellence,
and both can be celebrated, and they're going to celebrate
in a very interesting way with a jersey giveaway on
January tenth. I'm looking forward to this conversation with coach
(10:53):
Carrie Moore right after the break here on night Side.
It is a Tuesday night and the show is rolling.
Get on board before we get too far down the track.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You're on Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio plug.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Delighted to welcome coach Carrie Moore, Harvard women's basketball coach,
to Nightside. Normally, coach at this time of night, you're
you're putting in plays and making adjustments on the fly.
So it's great we caught you on the night off.
Welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Yeah, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Dan.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
I appreciate you having me on this is this is
exciting for us. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I was talking with a friend of mine, you were
your assistant athletic director, Joe Bradley, about you, and he's
a huge fan of what you have brought to the
Harvard women's basketball program. Uh. You you just had a win.
I believe over Arkansas, which was, yeah, a historic win.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
First of all, Yeah, it was you know, historic win,
but I think just a much needed win for you know,
where we were at, you know, in our season. We
were coming straight from the Bahamas. Uh literally, we took
a flight from the from Nasau to uh Fayetteville in
Arkansas to two flights actually because there's no directs from
(12:12):
the Bahamas if if anyone's wondering out there. But but yeah,
it was our our program's first first SEC victory in history,
which is a pretty big deal considering you know, the
program has been around for you know, fifty plus years.
So uh yeah, just just really proud of the girls.
(12:33):
You know, it was a true road game. It was
at Arkansas, a lot of their fans, you know, we
were we were taking one of our seniors home. It
was her homecoming, Gabby Anderson's, and I just thought that
the girls really responded to you know, some adversity that
that we faced kind of along the way and kind
of up until that point and played really well. Uh
(12:54):
you know, wasn't wasn't really close much of much.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Of the game. Now, you have a promotion coming up
on January tenth, I'm not sure who the opponent is
on January tenth, but you probably know, So why'd you
tell who are you playing on January tenth?
Speaker 5 (13:10):
Yeah, of course, Dan. We we played Columbia, which, if
anyone is familiar with IVY League Women's basketball, Colombia is
a really good team and actually the team that we
beat last year in the IVY League Women's Basketball Tournament championships.
So it's it's gonna be a it's gonna be a
really you know, competitive game, and we usually draw really well,
(13:31):
and we felt like, you know, what better game to
you know, give away you know, these these jerseys than
than that one. It's our first home IVY League contest
as well, so a lot of excitement surrounding it.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
So the jersey's not going to say Harvard as they
normally do. You're gonna have the word nerd on the jerseys.
And there's a reason for that. Everybody thinks of nerd
as as sort of a bad word. If you someone
a nerd, it's not considered to be a compliment. How
(14:04):
is it you folks have decided we're going to take
that word nerd any r d and make I guess
young women, but young men as well. Know, yeah, that
that there's nothing wrong you can be an athlete and
a nerd by bottling a basketball player and a student
at Harvard tell us about it.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna give all credit to you know,
our players on this one, specifically Harmony Turner, who was
a senior on our championship team last year. She's now
playing in France, but she she started the slogan nerds
can hoop to and I just think, you know, we've
really rallied behind her and and really tried to carry
that forward because I think you can do both and
(14:48):
where you know, our team specifically is trying to erase
the stigma of you know, you you can only be
a basketball player or you can only be a great student,
but you can't do both. And I think our team
is a great example, you know, of of the combination
that that makes you know them so special, uh, is
(15:08):
that you know, we're we're one of the best mid
major teams in the country, but they are getting a
Harvard degree all at the same time. So the girls
are excited. I mean, it's it's definitely Uh. You know,
something that that started out is you know, I think
something they were just saying kind of to each other,
and then you know, it got on social media and
and harms. You know, platform really took off last year.
(15:30):
And then now our marketing department is coming to us,
you know, really trying to to help us push this,
you know a little bit more publicly, and and uh,
you know, credit to them. It's it's been getting a
lot of attention. So just really excited for our girls
to to just give them the platform to kind of showcase,
you know, who they are and what makes them so special.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
So is that the one game this year you're gonna
wear that jersey? I know a lot of uh sports teams,
both professional and college trying to have different different jerseys. Uh,
is that the one game with the jersey will be
won and will and instead of Harvard it will say NERD.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
So So actually, Dan, that's that's you're giving me ideas here.
So so our team doesn't actually have the jersey, it's
it was a replica of our jersey created to give
away to fans as a giveaway for fans to come,
so the fans will have them on. But now you're
giving me ideas, So now I think we might have
to do an alternative jersey next year with with with
(16:26):
nerds on it. Right now it's just a black jersey
with with Crimson as the title, but we might have
to see what we can do next season.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Okay, So this game is a home game. What's your capacity?
We want to fill the the the room for what's
the capacity of the of Harvard women's basketball court.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
It's around twelve twelve hundred or so. I mean, if
we can get a thousand in there, it'll feel like
it's rocking. So, you know, I think if if folks
want to see, you know, an exciting matchup, you know,
high level, you know scoring, you know, really two great
defensive teams, great coaching and uh, you know, I think
a lot on the line in this one. So you know,
(17:11):
definitely come out and make some noise for us. We've
sold it out in years past and and we'd love
to do the same thing again this year.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Okay, So if folks want to get tickets to this game,
if they're not on you know, on the campus, uh,
where can they get all the information as to where
the game will be played and what the tickets will
cost and uh, and they'll be able to walk away,
hopefully with with a Nerd, Jersey.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Oh definitely.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
I think if if you just go online and google
Harvard women's basketball schedule, you'll see you'll scrow down and
you can see Harvard versus Columbia at Laviti's Pavilion on
January twelve, I believe, January tenth. January tenth, and uh,
there's a link there that you can click that says
(17:56):
tickets and it's not It is not expensive at all,
very affordable, and we'd love to have people coach I back.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Jump on that one. Let me tell you, I'm always
going to do that. I wasn't a basketball player, but
as a baseball player, you always got to back up
the center field and when the ball.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Is in.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Your field anyway, coach more great talking with you. I
love your enthusiasm, and go Crimson and best of luck
in that game and for the rest of the season.
Everyone on Nightside now has a rooting interest for Harvard
women's basketball. Since we just had an opportunity to meet
and greet coach Carrie Moore on Harvard women's basketball coach,
(18:34):
thanks so much, coach.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
Yeah, thank you so much. Dan really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
And happy holidays you will and just tell Joe Bradley.
I treated you okay tonight. You know what I'm saying.
He called me, well, he's a good guy. He's a
good guy. Thank you so much, appreciate it. Will we
get back right after the news at the bottom of there,
we're going to talk with a former airline pilot and
CEO of thrust Flight. That's a multi location flight training
organization that has trained thousands of pilots from round world.
(19:00):
But he's going to tell us that airline pilots, current
day airline pilots, some not all, some might be hiding
some mental health struggles because they want to keep flying.
They want to keep they want to stay up in
the air. An interesting dilemma. Back with Patrick Arnsen right
after this break at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Delighted. Welcome to Night's out here on WBZ, Patrick Arnsen, Patrick, welcome,
How are you, sir?
Speaker 4 (19:37):
Oh, I'm great, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
You're welcome. So you're a former airline pilot, commercial airline pilot.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
I assume I am, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
And CEO of thrust Flight, a multilocation flight training organization
that has trained thousands of pilots from around the world.
Where is thrust Flight located or does.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
It We're located in We have multiple locations. We have
several locations in Texas and also in Arizona.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I see. Okay, and that is where aspiring pilots go
to get some certifications in some training.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
I assume yes, sir, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Wow. So just for background, you flew commercially. How long
were you a commercial airline pilot?
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I was a commercial airline pilot for five years?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Five years? Okay. So the conversation tonight deals with pilots
who are currently active but they want to stay flying.
At what age do pilots commercial airline pilots are they
required as some other you know, judges and police officers
(20:45):
are required to retire. Is there an age limit or no,
there is.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
It's sixty five years old. So every airline has to
every airline pilot has to re tire at sixty five Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Is there any waiver that's granted or is that is
that you know, just absolute requirement.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
That's a hard rule. Yeah, so they can continue to
fly past that, but not for the airlines. As an
airline captain. So they could, they could be a charter
pilot something.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Like that, Okay, which is fine, but probably the idea
of flying one of the big birds with two or
three hundred people on board that day is over. We
all know that at the age of sixty five, the
age of sixty five and twenty twenty five is not
the same as the age of sixty five in nineteen
(21:34):
twenty five. People are living longer, and they're living very
healthy lives into their seventies. I assume is that an
FAA rule of regulation that have to be changed.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
It is an FA rule, and there has been legislation
and a lot of push to extend that. In fact,
it was extended from sixty two to sixty five about
ten years ago, and now they're trying to push it,
to push that longer. But I know there's been a
lot of pushback as well. And you know, in my opinion,
(22:07):
it's a fairly archare Croy. I know plenty of very
vibrant sixty five year olds that would love to continue
flying and that are very healthy, but are forced to
retire early.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I think the Indianapolis coachs just bought a gout, brought
Philip Rivers out of retirement. I don't if you're a
football fan, but he has to be at least sixty five. No,
he's actually forty five. But you know, people do things
later and later in life. Gordie Howe played in professional
hockey untill he was nearly sixty five, or maybe even
a little bit beyond, but we'll leave that. So what
(22:41):
percentage Is this a real problem? Are there a lot
of pilots who have lost it off their fastball and
are dealing with some form of mental health struggles. I
don't want to scare the heck out of the flying public,
but is there a cadre of folks who find themselves
in that situation they want to push the limits and
(23:01):
they want to stay up in the air and the
cockpit until sixty five?
Speaker 4 (23:05):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, I think the vast majority
of the people that I that I know would would
probably not retire at sixty five. So, you know, I
think there's a large percentage of the pilots that are
that are flying that would would love to continue to
fly past that, you know, and that's at the end
of the career is where most of these folks make
(23:27):
make the most of their money. So you know, they
certainly have a financial incentive to to want to fly.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Well, this article that I'm reading out of Reuters, which
I'm sure you hopefully have read, airline pilots had mental
health struggles to keep flying. Are you familiar with this?
And there was I have no idea how many are
in this situation, but you know, it highlighted a pilot
(23:53):
for Delta, father of three, who was only forty one
years old, and he's terrified that getting treatment for depression
could eventually cost him his license and his livelihood. Is
is that a problem that you're able to address for
us or no?
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Sure? Sure. I think it's a huge problem. And you know,
I think that the the public forgets that people, the
pilots are people too, you know. And I think the
roters reports that out loud. You know what a lot
of pilots have been whispering for years.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
You know, the.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
System makes honesty feel dangerous, and quite frankly, I was
not shocked by the story, and I think that's why
it should get everyone's attention.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I will tell you this as somebody who has flown
a lot in my life. When I was a television
reporter here for the CBS affiliate in Boston for many years,
I flew a lot more than I wanted to, to be
honest with you, But every time I get on a plane,
I take a little peek in the cockpit. I like
to see a few gray hairs up there. To be
(24:55):
honest with you, I hate you, you know, but I
mean there's something to be said for experience.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
There, certainly is there, certainly is.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Well. Let me ask you, Patrick, if there are any
aspiring pilots out there who would like to get in trust,
in in in contact with you or with thrust Flight.
What's the best way they can do that. Maybe this
conversation has, you know, started a few folks about thinking
about maybe doing what you've done for a living all
(25:27):
your life.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Oh well, I tell you it's it's a wonderful career.
They can find us at trust slight dot com on
any of the social media platforms and YouTube.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Sounds great. Thanks very much for your for your time tonight.
I enjoyed the conversation. It's one. As they say, I'm
going to keep looking for those those gray hairs on
the pilots there, at least flying the planes that I'm on.
I don't want I don't want to look up there
and see see some fourteen year old said have your pilot.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
That's great. Thanks, thank you for your.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Thank you for your time. Talk to you soon, really
get back we talk's spend a little bit of time
talking with Brian Thompson, one of our favorite ACI Weather meteorologists,
about the weather forecast for the balance of this week.
It's gonna get a little better, but it's gonna get
a little winter. And as we approach Christmas now and
we're in Honikah, people have to think about what their
(26:21):
schedule is. So we'll give you a good opportunity to
listen to Brian Thompson give us the rundown and what
we can expect at least into the weekend. We'll be bad.
That's a little further than probably going to push him.
But I think he'll. I think he'll he'll play along
with us. Coming back on night Side.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Night Side with Dan Ray, I'm telling you bes Boston's
news Radio.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Well, we've had a bomby first week of December. First
a couple of weeks of December with temperatures sometimes you know,
getting up into the mid eighties. It's been very comfortable
here in New England, not where this is Brian Thompson. Brian,
what's going on? This is the This the cold is
first half of December that I can remember in some time.
Speaker 6 (27:04):
Yeah, and Dan, we've had so many warm Decembers in
recent years. It's just been a it's been a bit
of a shock to the system, not just the cold,
but how how long it has lasted. It's been a
very cold month so far. We're nearly eight degrees below
average for the month.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Eight degrees. That's an incredible number.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
Especially since we're halfway through the month. That's not a
that's not a small number.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Now.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Yeah, I mean even if you get if you get
to the normal December by the end of the month,
would still be four degrees below normal. I assume today's
today's the sixteenth. I like to watch and I think
I mentioned to you before in the Globe and Sundays.
It tell us, it tells us where our temperature has
been on an average throughout the year. And we're getting
(27:49):
pretty close to being right where the average is supposed
to be, or maybe even a little below that. I
don't know if we can, if we can accomplish that
by the of December and not, but we're gonna get
a little relief in the next few days, DESI understands,
but not without some other complications.
Speaker 6 (28:08):
Yeah, and that is that's fairly typical this time where
we're talking about temperatures as warm as we're talking here,
and we're talking about temperatures getting into the fifties Thursday
night into Friday. Usually that's accompanied by a storm that's
moving up to our north and west or on the
warmer side of it, and that usually does bring some rain.
That's gonna be the case here, and not say it
can't ever get warm when it's dry this time of year,
(28:30):
but it's more likely that there's a storm cutting up
to our west, we get a huge flow of warm
air out of the south and west, and that's exactly
what's going to happen here. So we'll see the rain
moving looks like very late Thursday nights and then probably
rain through a good chunk of Friday through at least
the early afternoon hours. And the wind is going to
be very gusty with the storm system as well. It's
a pretty powerful storm. We're talking about highs probably into
(28:52):
the mid to upper fifties on Friday, So this is
going to be a big warm up that's gonna put
a dent into that departure from average we're at right now.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Sure, but that also is going to mean that the
snow cover, which I know, I live right outside of Boston.
If I have snow cover, there's probably a lot of
other places that have snow cover. But with temperatures in
the fifties and a driving rainstorm, we're going to be
back to bare ground by by the end of the weekend.
Speaker 6 (29:18):
So yeah, I think that's a fair assumption. I would
say probably by midday Friday, a lot of that snow
is going to be gone because when the kind of
the perfect ingredients to melt snow are a moist atmosphere
with a lot of moisture, which we'll have this time around,
and a southwesterly wind, which we'll have this time around
as well. In tempera is gonna be well above freezing
(29:38):
of course, into the fifties, so that snow is gonna
be melting very quickly.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
So that's going to mean that the likelihood of a
white Christmas here in southern New England is probably the
odds are getting a little long on.
Speaker 6 (29:52):
That, yet not great, I will say, because as we
as we look ahead deeper into the forecast, as you
get into the weekend, there really aren't too many opportunities
for precipitation. Temperature is going to be kind of bouncing
back and forth, but as we get into next week,
closer to Christmas, the flow is going to be very
west to east across the country, a lot of Pacific
(30:13):
air coming eastward, which really prevents the cold air from
settling in. I'm not saying it's going to be warm,
but we're talking about highs in the thirties and forties,
and it just doesn't look like there's going to be
many opportunities for snow next week. It's not completely out
of the question that if it's just cold enough, when
we get one of these little systems to move along
this fast flow, that we could pick up a little
bit of snow, but at this point I would say
(30:34):
that's on the unlikely side. Now you're going to hear
a lot about how warm it's going to be on
Christmas across a lot of the country. We're going to
be kind of on the.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Edge of that.
Speaker 6 (30:42):
I don't know if we'll ever get into that really
warm air that a lot of the Midwest and the
planes are going to get into where we could be
talking about temperatures that are way above average. But again
with the air mass originating kind of from the Pacific
instead of Canada, that kind of put keeps a lid
on how cold it can get around here.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Now. I know that our temperatures have been cold, but
the problem part of the country really has been the Midwest,
the plains and the upper Plains. I have friends out
in uh out in Kansas and places like that, and uh,
they've had some really tough weather, uh and and and
(31:20):
and they're gonna they're gonna get another batch of of
cold weather. It sounds to me like, what is our
long range forecast? And I know I always ask you this,
but I never get the I never missed the opportunity,
uh to get a sense of what's it look like
in you know, the balance of the month into January,
(31:41):
maybe even a little peak into the rest of the winter.
What are we thinking here?
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Is this?
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Is this this cold snap we've had, Is that uh
a a canary in the coal mine at all? Or
is this something that is just transitory? And and maybe
we'll have a warmer I know, Oh, we always had
the January thaw I wait for that about January twentieth,
but as an old New Englander, But where do you
(32:07):
think we're going to be for the balance of the
winter in terms of cold, you know, temperatures, but also snowfall.
Speaker 6 (32:13):
Yeah, well, our thinking is as we get into January again,
there's going to be a it looks like through a
lot of the rest of December. I don't see any
at least through the end of next weekend, and next
weekend doesn't look like we have an extended cold And
our overall thinking has been as we get into January
that it will probably end up closer to average, not
quite as cold as it has been this month, at
least compared to average. Course, January overall is a colder month.
(32:35):
And then our thinking has been that as we get
into February, there's a potential for some more cold shots
to happen like we've seen this month, So we'll see
if that comes to fruition. Of course, when you can
get some cold shots into February, that's where you can
get into some really cold air. That's where you can
get into the the below zero kind of territory. And
(32:56):
even in December, we've seen that across the Midwest. You're
talking about the Midwest, places like Chicago and Minneapolis running
nearly ten degrees below average this month, so there's been
a lot of cold around. Again, we may see that
relax a little bit next month, and the potential for
some cold shots into February doesn't mean it's going to
be cold all month, but again there's certainly going to
(33:17):
be opportunities for the cold there to come southward as
the winter goes on.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
The Other thing, Brian, which I had to mention, and
that is that I read somewhere today that the sunset
has now I think today for the first time is
a minute, how should I put this?
Speaker 6 (33:36):
That the sun the sunset starts getting later. Yeah, yeah,
so that actually happened. That actually happens a little before
the solstice. And on the flip side, I believe it's
the sun rise continues to get a little later after
the solstice, so it doesn't just completely flip on Sunday morning,
(33:57):
which is the solstice.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
So that means that but today instead of setting out
whatever it was, instead of setting in four thirteen, it's
setting in full fourteen. I'm just picking those numbers out
of my head. So you could really say Hey, we
had another minute of sunshine this afternoon. Doesn't it feel
like winter is almost beaten? Winter? Not quite, but psychologically
(34:21):
we're on the We're now in the right direction, I
guess yeah.
Speaker 6 (34:24):
Because we're at the point of now that we're almost
at the solstice, we're not really losing much daylight anymore. Anyway,
that happens at the fastest rate in the fall months
when we're kind of halfway in between. But yeah, we
as we head into the last few days or December
and January, then that's when it starts to accelerate and
we start to see more daylight.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
Yeah, there will be a time sometime in late January
when each of us will say, wow, these days are
getting a little longer, and they'll still be just as cold,
but it'll be kind of the first sign that maybe
we will get in the spring and another summer if
we wait, if we stick around, there's hope springs eternal,
(35:06):
that's for sure.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Yeah. That's once.
Speaker 6 (35:07):
Once the sun rise, once it starts being bright around
five o'clock, it is very noticeable.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Oh yeah, it's like, wow, we're heading in the right direction.
Brian Thompson, thank you so much. As always, always enjoy
talking with you. Always make weather fun and and enjoyable
and informative. So thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
It's good to be with it. Dan.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Talk soon, okay, Mary Christmas. If I don't get a
chance to chat with it between now and then, all right,
So we're wrapped up here in the eight o'clock hour.
When we come back, we're going to talk about housing affordability.
I had a conversation with Andrew mccoolah. He's with the
Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research and chair of the
(35:47):
legalized starter homes here in Massachusetts. They have gathered sign
issues to get that on the ballot. First of all,
we will explain what starter homes are, and then we'll
probably have a conversation of whether it's a good idea
or aboud idea. I know that Andrew feels it's a
great idea, and many young people who are trying to
get into a home field it's a great idea. But
(36:10):
I have some questions. And the questions really revolve around
whether or not localities have the right to zone their
communities so that there are minimum housing standards. There are
some implications for that when those minimum standards are taken
away more kids in school, tax rate goes up, all
of that. Will talk with Andrew mccoola coming up, and
(36:32):
I hope that you folks are willing to join the
conversation and ask questions, whatever your perspective here on Nightside,
right after the nine
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