Hot Chocolate Day

 

DIsney Class

From Yahoo/WP;

“Disney trips are so complicated now that you need a class to plan one”

Rob Kayris and his family of six were “dumping a boatload of money” into a Disney trip last year and wanted to make the most of it. So a few months before the vacation, they took a class about the new ride reservation system, Genie Plus. Then right before the trip in February, they took it again. “I feel like if you don’t know how it works, you’re going to waste probably two to three days before you have a grip on what’s what,” said Kayris, a copy machine salesman who lives outside Philadelphia.

Disney has always been a paradise for planners - or nightmare for the disorganized. When is the best time to go? How can we save money? Is it possible to avoid long lines? David Semanoff, a public relations firm owner who has been visiting Disney parks since he was an infant, distributes a 10-page primer to friends with tips on rides, dining, character interaction and what to do if it rains (“get your ponchos and go to the park!”). Reactions to his advice can be mixed. “I think some are already so overwhelmed at the idea of the trip,” he said.

Travel agents, YouTubers, influencers, bloggers, friends-with-experience, Disney experts and paid services like Touring Plans have filled the knowledge gap and helped frazzled families figure out their dream vacation even as the cost has soared. Some visitors turn to VIP tours that cost between $450 and $900 an hour, plus park admission. Others have used the service of independent guides, a practice Disney has been cracking down on.

The pandemic added a new layer of complications. Then came a fresh upheaval: Instead of the old, free-to-use ride-reservation system, the company introduced one that costs money, requires early wake-ups and drains cellphone battery life. The 2021 introduction of Genie Plus, which mobilizes vacationers to reserve rides starting at 7 a.m. and then throughout the day, turned vacation organization into a near-competitive sport. And it created a new lane for tipsters, content creators, travel advisers and savvy regulars. One of those is Brooke Raybould, a social media content creator who sells a 200-page digital “Mom’s Guide to Disney World” for $40. Her TikTok on her family’s early-morning approach to tackling the Magic Kingdom featuring a 7:20 a.m. arrival at the park with her four sons - went viral last year. “There’s an entire system to doing Disney World the right way,” she said.

Learning the lingo For the average Joe, the nomenclature of a Disney World trip can befuddle. Lightning lanes let you bypass longer standby lines to get faster entry to a ride. Genie Plus is the way you get access - unless you’ve paid for an individual lightning lane, which is only available for certain rides and doesn’t require Genie Plus. Those can be booked at 7 a.m. for resort guests and at park opening time for everyone else. Virtual queues for the newest, hottest rides are free, but also open for booking at 7 a.m. and often fill up quickly. Got all that? “I knew it would be complicated, but I don’t think I could have imagined the Disney-industrial complex was this complicated,” Theresa Brown, a New York City resident who took a family trip to Disney World in August, said in an email. “The sheer brain power just to figure out the Disney lingo and landscape is monumental.”

Kirsten Andrade, a concierge travel planner for Favorite Grampy Travels, saw that need when she created the Genie, Genie+, and Lightning Lane Tip & Tricks Facebook Group in 2021 - which has more than 200,000 members now. After several months, she decided to launch an interactive online class, which costs $39. “It’s kind of a mixture of a Zoom and like a remote college class,” said Andrade, who is based in Pittsburgh. “We’ve got a little pop quiz built in.” Planning forums are full of stressed-out newcomers trying to decipher a virtual queue from a lightning lane, and worrying about what happens if the technology glitches out - as technology often does. “I’ve had people call me crying,” said Jacquie Murphy, a Wilmington, N.C.-based travel planner with Kingdom Elite Travel.

Jessica Mickelson, 39, worked for years as a family therapist and now applies those skills to her Disney planning business, Well Hello Magic. Her tagline is “minimizing parental stress at the Disney parks.” “There is a therapeutic touch woven into everything,” she said. The mom of four kids between the ages of 3 and 12 created a “Magic Made Easy” course for $139 as well as shorter free park guides, a YouTube channel, podcast, blog and social media accounts. Mickelson is not a travel agent - she doesn’t book trips for anyone - but includes tips on choosing an agent, sample itineraries, Disney apps and what happens when everything goes wrong. “Then I talk about realistic expectations, which is the therapist in me,” she said. She likes her family trips to be low-key and flexible with a mix of parks, hotels and other activities. Still, her husband, Jerod, can’t help but engage in a modern-day Disney activity: testing the WiFi speed before 7 a.m. to make sure they have a strong connection to book reservations right on time.

A costly, time-consuming perk Murphy sees the value in Genie Plus, but she wishes visitors had more transparency about the price. At Disneyland, the price varies but starts at $30. At Walt Disney World, prices change according to the day and park; on Tuesday, for example, the service cost $17 at Animal Kingdom up to $27 at Magic Kingdom or for multiple parks. The price reached $39 at Magic Kingdom around Christmas, according to Disney Tourist Blog. “I think the thing that people have the hardest time wrapping their brain around is not knowing how much it costs in advance,” Murphy said.

David Gordon, a theater journalist in New York City whose wife works for a Disney subsidiary and gets free tickets, has purchased a $25 quick entry - an individual Lightning Lane - to ride a Star Wars ride on a trip to Disneyland. And his family used Genie Plus over the Christmas holiday at Walt Disney World to avoid lines for rides with his young daughter, which he called an “absolute game changer.” He said he understands Disney is trying to get people to use its apps. But many parks fans don’t want to view their trip through a small screen. “It’s the one time in my life where I want to be looking around and taking in all the sights and smelling the flowers,” he said. “The fact that you have to be so tethered to your app that you should probably bring an extra battery just to make sure you get on the one ride you want to get on is shortchanging the whole Disney experience.”

Disney has said it is taking customer feedback into consideration. The company created its own team of advice-givers in 2008, now an online forum called planDisney. “We know everyone vacations differently, and with hundreds of iconic Disney attractions and experiences to enjoy at Walt Disney World, we are listening to our guests and giving them many choices and ways to personalize their visit to meet their unique needs,” Disney World spokeswoman Jacquee Wahler said in a statement. In a blog post last year, the company acknowledged that guests want to use the Genie Plus service to plan their days in advance of a park visit, not just in real time - and said that may be possible in 2024. “Our goal is to give you the opportunity to spend less time planning in the park and more time enjoying your visit with friends and family,” the blog post said.

Tips from the experts Mickelson likes to visit the parks in late August and September, when kids are back in school and crowds are more manageable. “You kind of exchange the heat for the crowd level,” she said. She plans for midday breaks and rest days that let her family take advantage of non-park offerings at the resorts. Her biggest tips are to understand the geography of the parks and learn to ignore Disney FOMO (fear of missing out). When booking Genie Plus, she said it’s important to know which rides sell out quickly, start with the high-demand one your family wants and then tackle other attractions in the same area. “With Genie Plus, we have never zigzagged across the park,” she said. Murphy recommends that guests bring an extra power bank or cellphone charger when they go to the parks because they’ll spend so much time on their phones. She also suggests people “play around” with the My Disney Experience app in advance of a trip to Walt Disney World to get familiar with all the features. On the day of a Disney World visit, Murphy suggests a triage approach starting at 7 a.m. sharp: First, join a virtual queue to get on the hottest new rides without paying extra. Next, use the Genie Plus service (which can be purchased as early as midnight) to choose the first attraction you’ll hit - ideally one that books up quickly. Finally, for those staying on Disney property, snag up to two individual lightning lanes. Everyone else has to wait for the park to open to reserve those slots. Semanoff’s number one tip is to book a room at a Disney resort. He said it’s worth the splurge if for no other reason than being able to pay for a spot on the most popular rides at 7 a.m. Plus, he said staying on property keeps “the whole vibe alive” and lets guests avoid morning traffic jams. His recommendations wrap up with perhaps the most challenging tip to follow: “Remember to have fun! It can be stressful and annoying, so remember to breathe and enjoy.”

^ I've been to Disney World in Florida dozens of times (and stayed at 1 Disney Resort and 1 Military Resort on Disney Property) as well as going to Euro Disney in France.

I've been to Disney World with someone in a wheelchair several times too.

The "happiest place on Earth" seems to not be so happy anymore. ^

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/disney-trips-complicated-now-class-192256040.html

Blue Lights

"Blue Lights" is a show about 3 Probationary Police Officers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and how they deal with the regular crimes (thief, assault, etc.) and crimes specific to North Ireland (terrorism from the IRA and the Loyalists, etc.)

The PSNI was founded in 2001 to replace the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) which was heavily Protestant-run and very anti-Catholic.

I have been to Belfast and other locations in Northern Ireland and it shows how things haven't really changed - just below the surface -  much since the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998.

"Blue Lights" is a good show even if you don't want to deal with the Sectarian aspect of NI.

It is like “The Rookie” in the US or “Rookie Blue” in Canada.

Nightly Log Out

 

Sunnie Williams

SUNNIE WILLIAMS' FUNDRAISER

Sunnie is everything her names means. She is bright, smart, caring and full of life. She is the light that brightens every room she enters. She has an old soul and is mature beyond her 10 years.

"When Sunnie was first diagnosed we felt like there was no hope- like we were the only ones in world with this detrimental diagnosis and no one knew how or what we were supposed to do, but then we found CSN. CSN gave us hope and connections with so many families that were experiencing the same thing we were. That was the moment I knew I needed to do something to help- to be a part of what little bit of good there was in this new terrible reality. I was already apart of “THIS” but at least in some way I could try to help make a difference for future children and families. I encourage Sunnie everyday to keep fighting and keep pushing because she is touching so many lives and her fight is making a difference. Please consider donating to CSN in honor of my Sunnie- so that she can continue to touch the lives of so many and hopefully help in finding a cure so no more children have to endure what she and so many others have." - Jade Williams

Thank you for choosing to donate to The Cure Starts Now Foundation. 100% of this donation, after credit card processing fees, goes directly towards research to find the homerun cure for cancer starting with pediatric brain cancer research.

If you would like to make a donation by mail please send a check to:  The Cure Starts Now Foundation; 10280 Chester Road; Cincinnati, OH 45215 and put the child's name in the memo.

The family receives notification of all donations made to this tribute fund automatically.

^ If you would like to donate please click on the following link. Thank you. 

https://p2p.thecurestartsnow.org/1783?fbclid=IwAR16EoUiCpnPML5KB5z2bgxMoJei-n4jsBAnxLBDCc2jFD6sSXLA8PsbiEs

^

Tuesday

 

Harder Tests

"Is it just me or are those 'I'm not a Robot' tests getting harder?"

Jack Whitehall

^ I feel like I'm sitting down for a High School Regents or AP Exam every time I have to prove I'm human ^

95: Jacqueline Van Maarsen

From the Anne Frank House:

Jacqueline Sanders-van Maarsen was born in Amsterdam #onthisday 30 January 1929, the daughter of a Jewish father and a Christian mother. When the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in 1940, she had to attend the Joods Lyceum where she met Anne Frank.

On Monday 15 June 1942, Anne wrote in her diary: 'Jacqueline van Maarsen I only just got to know at the Jewish Lyceum and she is now my best friend.'

Unlike Anne Frank, Jacqueline was escaped persecution thanks to her mother, who was not Jewish, and survived the war. In her books and when she visits schools, Jacqueline talks about her friendship with Anne but also about the dangers of antisemitism and racism and where they can lead to.

 Jacqueline turned 95 today, happy birthday!

Settle Down

 

Class Shelter

 

If you think you had trouble learning a new Language in School here is a Teacher and Students learning English in a Ukrainian School in a Metro Station used as an Air Raid Shelter in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Kharkiv is only 19 miles from Russia and has been constantly bombed with many killed and wounded since Russia started the War in February 2022.

These are the “Military Targets” that Russia “Only” shoots.

The Big Lift

 

I have seen “The Big Lift” many times.

It stars Montgomery Clift (in his second film filed in 1940s Post-War Germany) and was filmed on location in West Berlin, East Berlin and in West Germany and released in 1950.

It is about the Soviet Blockade of Berlin (located 100 miles inside the Soviet Zone of Occupation) from June 25, 1948 until May 12, 1949 (323 Days) when the Soviets tried to starve the Citizens of West Berlin and to force the French, the British and the Americans from West Berlin.

The Soviets closed all Train, Land and Sea Traffic to West Berlin and offered extra Food Rations to any West Berliners that moved to East Berlin (the Berlin Wall stopping traffic between West and East Berlin wasn’t built until 1961.)

There were only 8,973 Americans, 7,606 British and 6,100 French Soldiers in West Berlin at the time. There were an additional 48,000 Americans in the rest of West Germany.

There were 1.5 Million Soviet Troops in and surrounding Berlin at the time.

Since the Soviets blocked all other routes the Western Allies started the Berlin Airlift to fly supplies (food, coal, medicines, into Berlin) using 3 twenty-mile-wide Air Corridors from West Germany to West Berlin.

The planes (from the French, the British and the Americans) going to supply West Berlin flew out of Lubeck or Rhein Main and those returning from West Berlin flew into Celle.

Based on a Minimum Daily Ration of 1,990 Calories the American Military Government set a total of daily supplies needed at 646 tons of flour and wheat, 125 tons of cereal, 64 tons of fat, 109 tons of meat and fish, 180 tons of dehydrated potatoes, 180 tons of sugar, 11 tons of coffee, 19 tons of powdered milk, 5 tons of whole milk for Children, 3 tons of fresh yeast for baking, 144 tons of dehydrated vegetables, 38 tons of salt and 10 tons of cheese.

 In all, 1,534 tons were required each day to sustain the over 2 Million People in West Berlin.

 Additionally, for heat and power, 3,475 tons of coal, diesel and petrol were also required daily.

The Planes flew one after another and only had a few minutes to attempt to land in West Berlin or abort (due to the weather, interference from Soviet planes, or plane malfunction) and returned to West Germany without delivering their supplies.

1 Western Allied plane reached West Berlin every 30 seconds where West German Workers worked fast to unload the supplies so the plane could return to West Germany.

Colonel Gail Seymour "The Candy Bomber" Halvorsen, besides, bringing much-needed supplies to West Berlin, also dropped American Chocolate Bars (23 tons total) to the Children in West Berlin. Halvorsen died in 2022 at 101 years old.

Stalin and the Soviets saw they had failed in getting the French, the British and the Americans to abandon West Berlin as well as for West Berliners to flee to Communist East Berlin and so they ended the Blockade of Berlin in May 1949 (the Airlift continued until September 1949 – to stock-up in case the Soviets tried another Blockade.)

After the Blockade more East Germans and East Berliners moved to West Berlin (rather than the other way around as expected by the Soviets.)

39 Brits, 1 Australian and 31 American Soldiers were killed during the Berlin Airlift.

The Blockade cost the Western Allies US $500 Million Dollars (equivalent to $6.15 Billion Dollars in 2024.)

I often went to the places in Germany that were used during the Berlin Blockade including the Wiesbaden Air Base and the Rhein Main Base.

Paper Snow

 I was asked for more pictures of our snow.

Here's what you can do if you live in a place with no snow:

1. Take a piece of Printer Paper out and hold it up to your eyes - see snow.

2. If you want to see a Blizzard shake the Paper.

95: Morris Frank

95 years ago today (January 29, 1929) Morris Frank founded the first Guide Dog School in the US.

Morris Frank, himself blind, founded The Seeing Eye in Nashville, Tennessee. Frank had brought the first U.S. Seeing-Eye Dog, Buddy, into the U.S. from Switzerland.

January 29th is National Seeing Eye Dog Day. Seeing Eye Dogs are service dogs specially trained to be the eyes for their visually impaired owners. Typically, Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers and German Shepherds are chosen as Seeing Eye Dogs, since these breeds are capable of complex training, and staying calm and focused when necessary.

Frank worked with Buddy until her death in 1938.

Between 1928 and 1956, Frank, as The Seeing Eye's Vice President, traveled throughout the United States and Canada, spreading the word about The Seeing Eye and the need for equal access laws for people with Guide Dogs.

He met with U.S. President Herbert Hoover in 1930 and with U.S. President Harry Truman in 1949.

Between 1954 and 1956 alone, Frank met with 300 Ophthalmologists and met with Seeing Eye graduates in all 48 States and throughout Canada.

Frank constantly championed for the right to be accompanied by his Guide Dog. In 1928, Frank was routinely told that Buddy could not ride in the passenger compartment with him; by 1935, all railroads in the United States had adopted policies specifically allowing Guide Dogs to remain with their owners on trains, and by 1939, The Seeing Eye informed the American Hotel Association that the number of hotels that banned guide dogs from the premises was small and "growing smaller constantly".

By 1956, every State in the country had passed laws guaranteeing blind people with guide dogs access to public spaces.

Frank retired from The Seeing Eye in 1956, at age 48, to found his own insurance agency in Morristown.

He died on November 22, 1980, at his home in the Brookside section of Mendham Township, New Jersey.

Free Shoveling Class

***FREE SNOW SHOVELING CLASS***

Tomorrow I will be holding a FREE snow shoveling class in my driveway.  Come and join the class and learn about the proper ways to shovel.  Reviewed techniques will include the scoop and throw method, the down and push method (AKA the plow technique), as well as the upside down scraping technique. 

Don't miss out on this amazing and FREE opportunity to enhance your snow lifting techniques without throwing your back out!  I will provide the driveway to ensure your training is conducted in the most life-like situation, I only ask that you bring your own shovel (Ergonomical designs suggested) 

PM me for additional details and times.  Class size is limited and handled on a first come first served basis...Subject to date change depending on total accumulation.

First 20 people to sign up will receive a FREE snowman kit to take home with you absolutely free of charge!

Bazinga!

Crossing Arms

 

80: Siege Of Leningrad

From Reuters:

“Russia marks 80 years since breaking the Nazi siege of Leningrad”

The Russian city of St. Petersburg on Saturday marked the 80th anniversary of the end of a devastating World War II siege by Nazi forces with a series of memorial events attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and close allies. The Kremlin leader laid flowers at a monument to fallen Soviet defenders of the city, then called Leningrad, on the banks of the Neva River, and then at Piskarevskoye Cemetery, where hundreds of thousands of siege victims are buried. On Saturday afternoon, Putin was joined by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Gatchina, a town outside St. Petersburg that once housed camps for Soviet prisoners of war, for the unveiling of a statue commemorating civilians killed during the Nazi onslaught. The Red Army broke the nearly two-and-a-half year blockade on Jan. 19, 1943, after fierce fighting. Estimates of the death toll vary, but historians agree that more than 1 million Leningrad residents perished from hunger, or air and artillery bombardments, during the siege. Putin was born and raised in Leningrad, and his World War II veteran father suffered wounds while fighting for the city.

Blockade survivor Irina Zimneva, 85, told The Associated Press that she’s still haunted by memories of the tiny food rations distributed to residents during the deadly winter of 1941-1942. Each of her family members received 125 grams of bread a day, and Zimneva’s mother pleaded with her to be patient as she begged for more. “I don’t know what other way (I would have survived),” she told the AP. When Nazi soldiers encircled Leningrad on Sept. 8, 1941, Zimneva had more than 40 relatives in the city, she said. Only 13 of them lived to see the breaking of the siege.

Before the anniversary commemorations, an open-air exhibition was set up in central St. Petersburg to remind residents of some of most harrowing moments in the city’s history. The Street of Life display shows a typical blockade-era apartment, with a stove in the center of a room, windows covered by blankets to save heat and the leftovers of furniture used for kindling. Visitors can also look inside a classroom from that time, and see replicas of trams and ambulances from the early 1940s. For older residents, these are poignant reminders of a time when normal life had been suspended, with heavy bombardment largely destroying the city's public transit network, while death and disease spread through its streets. “If you touch the history, you feel that pain and horror that were happening here 80 years ago. How did people manage to survive? It’s mind-boggling,” Yelena Domanova, a visitor to the exhibition, told the AP.

World War II, in which the Soviet Union lost an estimated 27 million people, is a linchpin of Russia’s national identity. In today’s Russia, officials bristle at any questioning of the USSR’s role, particularly in the later stages of the war and its aftermath, when the Red Army took control of vast swathes of Eastern and Central Europe.

Moscow has also repeatedly sought to make a link between Nazism and Ukraine, particularly those who have led the country since a pro-Russia leadership was toppled in 2014. The Kremlin cited the need to “de-Nazify” its southern neighbor as a justification for sending in troops in February 2022, even though Ukraine has a democratically elected Jewish president who lost relatives in the Holocaust.

^ Yesterday (January 27th) Russia marked the 80th Anniversary of the lifting of the Siege of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg.)

The Germans laid a 872 day Siege on Leningrad from September 8, 1941 until January 27, 1944.

640,000 Soviet Civilians were killed during the Siege (from Starvation, from the Extreme Cold, from German Bombings, etc.)

An additional 400,000 Soviet Civilians (of the 1.3 Million evacuated) were killed evacuating Leningrad through the 18 mile long Road of Life (Дорога жизни) an ice road from Leningrad across a frozen Lake Ladoga to the rest of the Soviet-Held Territory. I visited Saint Petersburg and it is a really nice city (or at least it was when I was there.)In 1945 the Soviets helped defeat Europe from the German Nazis.

Sadly, today the Russians have become the Nazi Zs.

I wonder if Putin has ever read how it ended for Hitler and his Nazis ?

The Siege of Sarajevo lasted from April 5, 1992 to February 29, 1996 (1,425 days.) ^

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-marks-80-years-since-breaking-the-nazi-siege-of-leningrad/ar-BB1hm5ii

88: Alan Alda

Stop Funding UNWRA!

 

^ The Netherlands and Iceland have also stop funding The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) because of some of its’ Employees helped the Hamas Terrorists murder Innocent Men, Women and Children inside Israel on October 7, 2023.

In 1949 (1 year after Israel became an Independent Country) the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was created only to help Palestinian Refugees.

It is the first and only time that the UN has created an Agency to help a specific group of people – the Palestinians.

Even after the Holocaust and World War 2 the UN didn’t create a separate Agency to help Jewish Holocaust Survivors.

For reference after World War 2 ended in 1945 there were at least 60 Million Displaced Refugees throughout Europe (including Jewish Holocaust Survivors.)

The UN did not separate helping Jewish Holocaust Survivors with helping the Germans Displaced from East Prussia or those fleeing Soviet Communism.

Despite that massive number of Refugees by 1952 all but 2 United Nations run Displaced Persons Camps in Europe were closed with the final Camp closed in 1957. That means that in 12 years (from 1945-1957) the UN moved  over 60 million Refugees and helped them get resettled and rebuild their lives.

In 1949 the UNRWA helped 700,000 Palestinian Refugees.

In 2024 (75 years later) the UNRWA is currently helping 5.6 Million Palestinian “Refugees.”

It would seem that after 75 years the Palestinians would be able to find their own work, find their own homes, get their own food and rebuild their lives but the UNRWA still officially supports 5.6 Million Palestinians and adds to that number every year.

The UN gives Refugee Status to the Descendants of Palestinian Refugees rather than on real Refugees.

One should also question the role the United Nations has had and currently has with the Hamas Terrorist Group (especially inside Gaza.)

Since 2006 Hamas has ruled Gaza. Gaza is only 25 miles long and 7 miles wide so logically one can assume that the UNRWA has to work closely with the Hamas Terrorists there on a regular basis.

There is only one Open Border Crossing (to Egypt) where all goods and people into and out of Gaza have to travel to/from. It makes one question what kinds of aid and supplies are being brought in from Egypt over the years, since 2006, since Hamas has modern weapons, rockets, missiles, etc. to bomb Israel every day now for 100+ days.

It also makes one question what the UNRWA knows about all of this and whether the UNRWA and their Staff in Gaza and Egypt help Hamas bring in all these military weapons.

This is something people should think about when they blindly support the Palestinians in Gaza, Hamas or the United Nations - especially the UNRWA. ^

Saturday

 

2024 = 1945

 

 

On May 8, 1945 (79 years ago) World War 2 and the Holocaust ended. 6 Million Jews were murdered by the Germans throughout Europe and North Africa.

The world vowed “Never Again!”

On October 7, 2023 the single largest Massacre of Jews since the Holocaust were murdered by Hamas Terrorists inside Israel.

The Terrorists also took Israeli, American and Other Nationalities (Men, Women and Children) hostage.

113 days later and the Terrorists continue to hold 136 Hostages (including American Citizens) hostage.

In 1945 the World vowed to never allow the Holocaust or the murder of Innocent Jewish Men, Women and Children to happen.

The rise of Anti-Jewish Attacks in the United States has risen 388%.

The rise of Anti-Jewish Attacks across the World has risen 350%.

In 2024 Never Again is happening.

 

79: Ukraine

From Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s Facebook Post:

Сьогодні світ вшановує пам’ять мільйонів жертв Голокосту. Злочину нацистів, якому ніколи не буде забуття. Рукотворної катастрофи, яка забрала життя мільйонів невинних людей. Шість мільйонів євреїв були вбиті...

Кожне нове покоління має знати правду про Голокост. Це дуже важливо для того, щоб людське життя залишалося найвищою цінністю для всіх народів світу.

Так само важливо пам’ятати про подвиг тих, хто ще не знав, чи зло програє, але попри все беріг у своїй душі добро й рятував життя інших.

На жаль, ми не знаємо всіх таких історій порятунку, багато імен Праведників та рятівників залишилися невідомими. Але кожне ім’я, яке відоме, має бути збережене навіки. Щоб людство завжди пам’ятало, що навіть у найтемніших обставинах варто вірити й допомагати світлу перемогти.

Вічна пам’ять усім жертвам Голокосту!

——

Today, the world commemorates the millions of Holocaust victims. The Nazi crime that will never be forgotten. The manmade disaster that claimed the lives of millions of innocent people. Six million Jews were killed...

Every new generation must learn the truth about the Holocaust. Human life must remain the highest value for all nations in the world.

It is also important to remember the heroism of those who, despite not knowing whether good would triumph over evil, kept goodness in their hearts and saved other people’s lives.

Unfortunately, we do not know all such salvation stories; many names of the Righteous and saviors remain unknown. But every known name must be preserved indefinitely. So that humanity always remembers that even in the darkest of times, it is worth believing and helping the light to triumph.

Eternal memory to all Holocaust victims!

^ I don't see Russian President Vladimir Putin marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day. ^

79: Stats

Today (January 27^th) is Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 79^th Anniversary of the end of the Holocaust

 280,000 Holocaust Survivors are still alive as of January 2024.

They live in 90 Countries.

49% live in Israel.

16% live in the United States.

12% live in the Former Soviet Union (including Russia and Ukraine.)

9% live in France.

6% live in Germany.

2% live in Canada.

1% live in Australia.

 

61% of Holocaust Survivors alive today are Women.

39% of Holocaust Survivors alive today are Men.

 

The Median Age of a Holocaust Survivor alive today is: 86 years old (meaning they were born in 1938 and were 7 years old when the Holocaust ended in 1945.)

 

88% of Holocaust Survivors live at or below the Poverty Line.

Check-In

 

Show your Neighbors some kindness today by checking in on them. Even if that Neighbor is a grouch!

51: The Draft

 

51 years ago today (January 27, 1973) the United States ended the Military Draft.

It had been in place, in different forms, throughout most of American History.

In Colonial America (1492-1776) the Thirteen Colonies used a Militia System for Defense which required  able-bodied White Males to enroll in the Militia, to undergo a minimum of Military Training, and to serve for limited periods of time in War or Emergency.

The same Militia System was used after the United States became independent in 1776, but was done at the State Level (not the Federal Level) until 1789.

During the American Revolutionary War, the States sometimes Drafted Men for Militia Duty or to fill State Continental Army Units. This First National Conscription was irregularly applied and failed to fill the Continental Ranks.

Post Ratification of the Constitution in 1789, Article I.8.15, allows for Congress to Conscript. Giving it the power to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; Section 8.16 of the same article, allows Congress to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.

Article II.2.1 makes the President the Commander in Chief of the Militia.

Conscientious Objection was allowed and you could pay a fine instead of serving.

The Second Militia Act of 1792 defined the First Group who could be called up as "each and every free able-bodied White Male Citizen" between the ages of 18 and 45.

During the War of 1812 (1812-1815): President James Madison unsuccessfully attempted to Federally Draft 40,000 Men.

During the American Civil War (1861-1865) both the Union and the Confederacy used the Draft.

In The Confederacy South: The First Conscription Act, passed April 16, 1862, made any White Male between 18 and 35 years old liable to three years of Military Service.

On September 27, 1862, the Second Act extended the age limit to 45 years.

The Third Act, passed February 17, 1864, changed this to 17 to 50 years old, for service of an unlimited period.

From 1862-1864 those Drafted could hire a Substitute to fight for them.

There were exemptions to the Draft (most notably the “Twenty Negro Law” where any White Man that owned 20 or more Black Slaves couldn’t be Drafted.)

It lasted until the Confederacy was defeated in 1865.

Conscientious Objection was allowed and you could pay a fine ($500 or $9,141.41 in today’s money) instead of serving.

In the Union North: The Militia Act of 1862 authorized a Draft within a State when the State could not meet its quota with Volunteers.

The Act, for the first time, also allowed Blacks to serve in the Militias as Soldiers and War Laborers, but in Segregated Units headed by White Officers.

Anyone Drafted could hire a Substitute (someone not themselves eligible to be Drafted) to fight for them. 2% of the Union Soldiers who fought were Draftees and 6% of the Union Soldiers who fought were Draftee Substitutes.

Conscientious Objection was allowed and you could pay a fine ($300 or $5,484.85 in today’s money) instead of serving.

The Enrollment Act of 1863 also known as the Civil War Military Draft Act was the first genuine National Conscription Law. The law required the enrollment of every Male Citizen and those Immigrants who had filed for Citizenship, between 20 and 45 years of age, unless exempted by the Act.

The Act replaced the Militia Act of 1862. It set up under the Union Army an elaborate machine for enrolling and Drafting Men for Conscription. Quotas were assigned in each State, and each Congressional District, with deficiencies in Volunteers being met by Conscription.

The hiring of Substitutes was still allowed. Draft Boards were local.

Once the Civil War ended in 1865 the Draft also ended and until 1917 the US Military had only Volunteers (including during the Mexican-American War 1846-1848, the Second Opium War 1856-1859, the Various Indian Wars 1860s -1920s the Spanish-American War 1898, the Philippine-American War 1899-1902, the Boxer Rebellion 1899-1901 and the Mexican Border War 1910-1919.)

The Selective Service Act of 1917 allowed for the Draft during World War 1. All Males aged 21 to 30 were required to register to potentially be selected for Military Service.

At the request of the War Department, Congress amended the Law in August 1918 to expand the age range to include all men 18 to 45, and to bar further Volunteering.

Unlike during the Civil War no Draft Substitutes could fight for you.

The US Military was still Segregated. Draft Boards were local.

Conscientious Objection was allowed, but you had to serve in Non-Combat Military Roles.

By the end of World War I, some 2 Million Men Volunteered for various branches of the Armed Services, and some 2.8 Million had been Drafted.

The Draft ended when World War 1 ended on November 11, 1918.

From 1918-1940 the US Military only had Volunteers.

The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, also known as the Burke–Wadsworth Act, was the first Peacetime Conscription in United States History.

This Selective Service Act required that Men who had reached their 21st Birthday but had not yet reached their 36th Birthday register with local Draft Boards.

From 1940-1942 there was a National Draft Lottery.

When the U.S. entered World War II in 1941, all Men from their 18th Birthday until the day before their 45th Birthday were made subject to Military Service, and all Men from their 18th birthday until the day before their 65th Birthday were required to register and those Drafted served for the “duration of the War plus 6 months.”

From 1942-1945 the National Draft Lottery was replaced with the Local Draft Boards.

Conscientious Objection was allowed, but you had to join the Civilian Public Service (working in Soil Conservation, Forestry, Firefighting, Agriculture, Social Services and Mental Health Services.)

12,000 Americans served in the CPS.

By 1945, 50 Million American Men had registered for the Draft and 10 Million were Drafted.

From 1946-1948 the US Military had all Volunteers.

The Selective Service Act of 1948, also known as the Elston Act, was a major revision of the Articles of War of the United States enacted on June 24, 1948 that established the current implementation of the Selective Service System.

The new Law required all Men of age 18 to 26 to register. The US Military also  became Integrated in 1948.

During the Korean War 1950-1953 The Selective Service System used Local Draft Boards to Draft 1.5 Million Men.

In 1953 President Eisenhower ended the Paternity Deferment for Married Men.

In 1962 President Kennedy ordered that Men with Children be placed at the bottom of the Draft List and Married Men without Children be placed right above those with Men with Children.

President Johnson ended both of these policies in 1965.

During the Vietnam War 1964-1973 8,744,000 Americans served in the US Military of whom 3,403,000 were deployed to Southeast Asia with 2,215,000 of them Draftees.

Of the nearly 16 Million Men not engaged in active military service, 96% were Exempted (typically because of jobs including other Military Service), Deferred (usually for Educational Reasons), or Disqualified (usually for Physical and Mental Deficiencies but also for Criminal Records including Draft Violations).

On December 1, 1969, a National Draft Lottery was held to establish a Draft priority for all those born between 1944 and 1950.

This was done by President Nixon because the Local Draft Boards were seen as favoring the White and Rich. A National Draft Lottery was also held in 1970, 1971 and 1972. 

Conscientious Objection was allowed, but you had to serve in a Non-Combat Military Role or go to Prison.

On January 27, 1973 the US officially ended the Military Draft (after the Paris Peace Accord between the US and North Vietnam – also signed on January 27, 1973.)

From 1973-1980 not only was the US Military All-Volunteer, but Men no longer had to register for the Draft with the Selective Service System.

In 1980, after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, President Carter started requiring all Men to register for the Selective Service System from the time they were 18 until they were 25.

This requirement remains in place today with many Federal and State Penalties for not registering (ie. a Federal Felony punishable by up to 5 years Imprisonment or a $250,000 Fine.)

Today, the Selective Service System continues to update its policies with Congress in case the Draft is ever brought back.

If the Draft was returned there would be a National Draft Lottery to ensure equality (although Women still won’t be Drafted even though they have been allowed in Combat Roles since 2016.)

College Deferments would only last until the end of that Semester and not when you graduated. 

Current Change to any National Draft Lottery: The Men called first would be those who are or will turn 20 years old in the calendar year or those whose Deferments will end in the calendar year.

Each year after, the Man will be placed on a lower priority status until his liability ends.

For 50 years the US Military has been an All-Volunteer Force.

They have fought in: the last days of the Cold War 1973-1991, Lebanon 1982-1984, Grenada 1983, Libya 1986, Panama 1989-1990, the Gulf War 1990-1991, Iraqi No-Fly Zone 1991-2003, Somalia 1992-1995, the Former Yugoslavia 1992-1996, Haiti 1994-1995, Kosovo 1998-1999, Afghanistan 2001-2021, Yemen 2002-Present, Iraq 2003-2021, Pakistan 2004-2018, Somalia 2007-Present, Indian Ocean Pirates 2009-2016, Libya 2011, Uganda 2011-2017, Syria 2014-Present and Libya 2015-2019.

A Poll conducted in 1973 (when the Draft ended) found that 84% of every American either served or knew a Loved One that served in the US Military.

A Poll conducted in 2019 found that 0.01% of every American either served or knew a Loved One that served in the US Military.

Holocaust Day

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today is International Remembrance Day: 2024 is the 79th Anniversary of the Liberation of the German Concentration and Death Camps by the Allies and the end of the Holocaust.

Between March 1933 and May 1945 the Germans ran around 42,500 Concentration, Labor, POW and Death Camps and Ghettos throughout occupied Europe. Between 15-20 Million Men, Women and Children were imprisoned and/or died at these sites.

That number includes:

8 Death Camps (in German-Occupied Poland: Auschwitz, Chełmno, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka, Majdanek, Maly Trostenets in German-Occupied-Belarus) and Sajmiste in German-Occupied Serbia)

980 Concentration Camps

30,000 Slave Labor Camps

1,150 Jewish Ghettos

500 Brothels filled with Sex Slaves

8 Disabled Killing Centers (Am Spiegelgrund Clinic in Austria, Bernburg Euthanasia Centre in Germany, Brandenburg Euthanasia Centre in Germany, Grafeneck Euthanasia Centre in Germany, Hadamar Euthanasia Centre in Germany,  Hartheim Euthanasia Centre in Germany, Soldau Concentration Camp in German-Occupied Poland and Sonnenstein Euthanasia Centrein Germany)

1,000 POW Camps

 

Targeted Groups Murdered By Nazi Germany:     1933-1945

Jews:   6 Million Men, Women and Children.

Soviet Prisoners of War: 3.3 Million Soldiers (including 50,000 Jewish Soldiers.)

Non-Jewish Polish Civilians: 3 Million Men, Women and Children.

Serb Civilians (on the territory of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina): 600,000 Men, Women and Children.

People with Disabilities: 270,000 Men, Women and Children (doesn’t include the 375,000 Disabled who were Forcibly Sterilized.)

Roma and Sinti (Gypsies): 500,000 Men, Women and Children.

Jehovah's Witnesses:  5,000 Men, Women and Children.

Homosexuals:  9,000 Men in Concentration Camps (Doesn’t include the 50,000 Men held in Regular Prisons.)

Holocaust Remembrance Day

 

Johnny 5

 

Master Chef 22

From Yahoo/Parade:

“And the Winner of 'Hell's Kitchen' Season 22 Is...”

Season 22 of Hell’s Kitchen began with 18 chefs vying for the position as head chef at Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen restaurant in Las Vegas and the $250,000 prize. On finale night, the Top 3 were Ryan O'Sullivan, Sammi Tarantino, and Johnathan Benvenuti. Then Sammi was eliminated in the first hour and it was down to the two men, but it was Ryan who ended up walking through the winner’s door into a whole new life.

“Growing up, Gordon Ramsay was always a household name in Ireland and the U.K., so I was well aware of the shows,” Ryan tells Parade in this exclusive interview. “So, I always knew what Hell’s Kitchen was about and I always had an idea of what it entailed to be on the show. Finally, when I got there, I told myself, ‘Just don’t go home first. Just don’t go home first.’ That was my strategy. It was, ‘Feel it out, see what it’s like, see what the talent is like, play to your strengths, and whatever you do, do not go home first.’ “Ryan’s strategy worked and he’s happy that he’s finally able to reveal the fact that he’s the winner of season 22 of Hell’s Kitchen because it’s been almost two years since it filmed, during which he’s kept his job as head chef at The Country Club at Mirasol in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., to pay the bills while he waited for his win to be revealed.

The 30-year-old chef, who hails from Cork City, Ireland, was bitten by the culinary bug at a young age as he watched his father, who is also a chef, whip up meals. It was also his father who introduced him to Gordon Ramsay via TV and cookbooks, so it’s almost as if Ryan’s getting cast on Hell’s Kitchen was predestination. So, it was particularly special for Ryan that the show flew in his dad from Ireland for the taping of the finale and his father got to eat his food, because Ryan has never cooked for his father before. “To see him there, and to see him also live out his dream a little bit because he never before met Gordon Ramsay, so for me to be the catalyst for him to then meet Gordon Ramsay meant a lot to me.” Ryan says. “I wasn’t cooking exactly, but it was my menu, it was executed by me, but just for him to see me [in action] was phenomenal. I wish my mother could have been there as well because she’s got a bit of FOMO, but with COVID that wasn’t possible.”

During our Zoom chat, Ryan talked more about winning season 22 of Hell's Kitchen, how he's planning to spend his $250,000 prize and how the friendships he made on the show are for life.

Was there a point in the competition where you said, “I can win this. I may have this?” Honestly, there wasn’t a single point in the competition. I knew that I was going to be a frontrunner. From the first couple of dishes, the first couple of episodes, I was like, “Okay, I can get up there." I never once thought, “Okay, I can 100 percent win this. I’m definitely the best here.” I never thought that once. I did have a set belief and told myself that, “You can do this. You can do this if you put your mind to it and if you stay away from the drama,” which is very hard to do in Hell’s Kitchen because there’s a lot of drama. And even up until the final, I don’t know what’s going on in anybody else’s kitchen, I don’t know what else is going on with other people. I would just concentrate on my own game, and if my own game was good enough then what will be will be.

MasterChef is just a cooking competition, but Hell’s Kitchen is also a job interview. What do you think that you brought to the table that Johnathan or Sammi didn’t that made you Gordon’s final choice? Personally, I like to think that the kicker for it all was the hunger. Everybody says that they want to win and they’re the hungriest person there, no pun intended, obviously we’re all starving. But I came from Ireland five years ago to chase my dream, that’s what I came here for. Five years later this landed in my lap. This was destiny. I think Gordon knew that my entire life I’ve watched him on TV, from a toddler, all the way up, reading his books, listening to him on TV, interviews, radio shows, you name it, I’ve seen it. And then he saw me when I was put in front of him. They say never meet your idol, for me that was a complete opposite. I knew once I met him and if I got in front of him, he’d know what I was about. I think the main thing for Gordon was the loyalty I’d have for him and for the job and for the company. I’ve worked my ass off to get where I am. Nothing ever comes cheap, and I think what made me stand out was the passion. I felt like I had more passion, I felt like I had more drive. I can’t say I have more skill. We’re all very different, we’re all very great at what we do, we all have different skills. They’re all fantastic, fantastic, fantastic chefs. Johnny and Sammi are unbelievable and when all’s said and done you see how great they really are as chefs, but I just think I had the edge because I wanted it that little bit much more and I was willing to do anything to get it.

What made you decide to serve the dishes that you did for your final menu? The final menu for me was an ode to my home. It was an ode to stuff that I knew growing up. It was an ode to different people in my life, and that’s what I wanted it to be. They say cook from your heart, and when I cook from my heart, I think of my individual family members like my father, my mother, my grandparents, and what they would have eaten and what was available to me as a kid. How could I make that? I can make the dishes familiar to you in a way that I can change it, but it can still mean something to me. If I’m going to go through dish by dish, the vol-au-vent that I wanted to do, a chicken and mushroom vol-au-vent is one of the most common things you’ll find at an Irish wedding. It’s always on a starter, it’s a classic, classic dish, a vol-au-vent. I remember chef Jason said to me, he said, “Oh, you’re doing a vol-au-vent?” He was like, “Yeah, good luck winning with a vol-au-vent, what is this, the ‘70s?” I looked at him and I said, “It’s not the vol-au-vent that’s going to win it for me, it’s the reason I want to cook the vol-au-vent, it’s how I’m going to make it my own and tell a story through the dish.” The lobster pot-au-feu, a pot-au-feu is just a French term of everything in a pot. That was from my mother, you know? She was never going to outclass my dad being a chef, but she was a very, very good home cook. When she’d come home from work or wherever she was, she would do her best to put together a good meal if my dad was at work. She always used to love putting a roast beef in a pot or a collar of bacon with some beautiful vegetables and a nice sauce. So, the lobster pot-au-feu was an ode to my mother because my mother is one of the most glamorous women I’ve ever met in my life and the lobster is a very glamorous protein. So, I’m going to take that pot-au-feu, use the lobster, which is glamorous, and then turn it into a ravioli because that’s then my twist on it because I love making pasta. All these dishes meant something to me in a certain way and I wanted to twist them to have them make more sense to somebody that’s eating them that wouldn’t know my story, you know?

You mentioned Jason, I was really surprised when you picked him for your team, especially since you had first choice. Well, honestly, it was actually chef Jason, the sous chef Jason, that said to me, “Good luck winning with a vol-au-vent.” And that’s when I was like, “All right, let’s see, buddy. Okay, let’s see here.” Honestly, I picked Jason because Jason is a fantastic chef. He’s a very good chef, he’s been around the block, he knows exactly what to do when he’s given instruction. When he has to give the instruction, I feel like he found it a little bit more difficult because he found it difficult for people to communicate back with him because he had one speed, he had one voice, and that was how he knew how to speak to people. When you’re working for your friend, there’s a lot less stress. You know that you’re just working for your buddy, you know you’re going to get it right, you’re not afraid to mess up because you know you won’t mess up. Jason and I are actually very good friends, like the rest of the cast. I picked Jason to run my meat station because I know that guy knows how to cook meat like the back of his hand. [During the show], he just put himself in situations where he wasn’t best for that situation. Instead of me picking my friends, I picked people that I knew were great in a position. I still have to run a kitchen at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who my friends are. I still have a job to do, I still have to run a kitchen, so I’m going to pick the people that I know are great in those positions. So, throughout the competition, I kept taking note who did fantastic in what position, and when people had the opportunity, I’m like, “Well, there’s my team.” I knew exactly where I’m going to put everybody, I know their strengths. I’ve got to play to my strengths, and I feel like maybe Johnny picked his friends over what their strengths were.

You and Johnathan seemed to be very tight on the show. Have you stayed friends since then? Me and Johnny are best friends. We talk on the phone every day. I talk to Johnny more than I talk to my wife I’d say, and he’d say the same thing. No, me and Johnny have been best friends since the second we met each other, we just clicked from the get-go because of the way we talk about food and what our goals are. We both got a five on the first day, and then we happened to be roommates, and when Tad and Mattias went home really early in the competition, it was just me and Johnny in that room. Every night once we’d take off our mics and get into bed and the lights went off, me and Johnny could stay up for an hour or two talking about the day or what’s going to happen next. We bonded from the get-go and the bond is as strong as it’s ever been, you know? It’s very strange for me to meet somebody and within three weeks feel like I’ve known him my whole entire life. Our friendship is a very, very special friendship. And if I never met Johnny through the show and I met him on the street, regardless, I think we’d still have the exact same friendship because that’s just who we are.

What’s the long-term dream? After you do your service in Las Vegas, where do you see your career going from there? After the term, I would love to stay in TV. I would love to have an opportunity to cook and talk. As you well know, I’m well able to talk and well able to cook, so I’d like to put the two of those together and stay on TV hopefully. I haven’t found my niche just yet; I have a lot of ideas. I’m talking to a lot of people. I think if I just get my foot in the door somewhere, somebody gives me one opportunity, I think I’ll knock it out of the park. With the cooking world so saturated, especially with TV, you need something a little bit different. You can’t have continuous cooking competitions or somebody just cooking some stuff, there has to be a want for it, there has to be a demand for it. Without going into too much detail, TV is where I’d love to stay. And then eventually down the road, I’ll open up a couple of restaurants, but not right now, not in the climate that we’re at with the cost of everything and staff, and the world is screaming out for staff. It’s not a great time to open up a restaurant. I’m only 30 years of age, I still have a lot of time on my side, but TV is where I’d like to stay.

You said on the show you had never cooked for your father before. Why is that? Christmas dinners and occasions like that growing up, he’s the chef of the house, so he would always cook all of them. No matter what he’d done, he’d come home, he’d cook all the food. He always would. Never really had time, not time to sit down like, “Dad, I’m going to cook a meal for you today,” because we’d always end up doing it together or something. Now, I think the most he might have ever gotten off me was a bowl of cereal, but that’s about it, you know? Down the line, I think I’ll get a lot more opportunities to cook for my mother and father. I’ve never really cooked for my mom either, she was always the feeder of the house. An Irish mammy would always feed us no matter what. There’s always something on the stove, there’s always something in the oven, she was always cooking.

Any thoughts on how you want to spend the $250,000 prize money? Is there something you want to invest in or do something special for your wife Jennifer? The first thing I’m going to do is just look at it. I’m going to look at it for about three months and just see it. I’m not going to touch a penny of it, I’m just going to look at it and enjoy the hard work that it took to get it. A lot of people say, “Easy come, easy go,” there was nothing easy about how I obtained this, and I definitely won’t be wasting it. I’m glad that I got it at 30 years of age instead of 25, because I would have done something stupid with it. Definitely, there’s a long vacation involved for my wife, I’ll maybe take my family on a nice cruise, all be together and celebrate. And then, hopefully, I’ll put some money towards a house and see what happens. I haven’t really thought that far yet. I’m still very busy in my day-to-day job. I think time will tell, but I think definitely a long vacation and maybe the thoughts of a house would be in the cards for.

What was the best part of the Hell’s Kitchen experience? Hand on my heart, I mean this the most, the whole thing for me, forget about winning, forget about everything else, the most beautiful thing for me about this whole thing is that I got to watch myself become friends with these people all over again. We’ve all been friends for two years [since the series filmed] and then to watch [on TV] us all become friends again is the best thing for me. I’m not an emotional man but watching myself with these people and the relationships we bonded brings a tear to my eye every time I see it. Because we’re all just trying to make it in this world and we’re all rooting for the same thing, we’re all on the same bus. I’d be lost without these people and I’m glad that we have these friendships that we made because it’s phenomenal.

^ This Season was really good and it was great to see Ryan win. ^

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/winner-hells-kitchen-season-22-030329883.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

American Flags

 

 The United States with Flags of the States and Territories.

Canadian Flags

 

 

Canada with the Flags of the Provinces and Territories.

Le Canada avec les drapeaux des provinces et territoires.