🧚‍♀️ TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

NEWS AGGREGATOR & COMMENTS

Great Spirit bless 🙏

Good morning from the Tree House. I've been sitting outside in my Green Space, watching the shimmering sun rise above the trees and doing a little contemplating.

So silent and peaceful at this time of the morning before they let the hounds of hell loose to create the din of construction all around us. I'll be glad when they leave and take their noisy monsters with them. Two years in a row is quite enough of this racket. Last year was our own apartment building; what a mucking fess!

There's good reason for it, but two summers spoiled by construction racket, debris, and chaos are too much. Maybe next summer will be quiet again. I love this place when there's no construction crap going on.

The odd chainsaw here and there irritates me a little, concerned that someone is taking trees out of the parkland behind our building. Usually, it's the town's cutting deadfall or preventing a leaning tree from falling on your head 🪾💥👩 Lawn mowers and leaf blowers I don't mind; they are summertime sounds, almost like music, and not to mention the aroma of fresh-cut grass. Or carpentry tools, I don't mind either.

BUT THAT CONSTRUCTION 💩 DRIVES ME UP THE WALL! 🧗

Especially that damned sewer-sucking machine and jackhammers.

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- Google Search -

Search: Misophonia

🔹AI Overview

Misophonia (Reaction to Everyday Noises)

If you mean a condition where specific everyday sounds trigger intense emotional and physical reactions (like a fight-or-flight response, anger, or a racing heart), the term is misophonia (literally meaning "hatred of sound")

Mental signs: Sudden anger, panic, rage, or disgust when hearing things like chewing, breathing, or tapping.

"ME" mostly sudden loud noises or a sudden motion or movement, I get the fight-or-flight or jump-out-of-my-skin effect. It's like someone rolled a grenade under the door.

Physical signs: Increased heart rate, high blood pressure, and tight muscles.

Read More - Google Search -

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Question: Empath's Reaction to loud sounds and motion.

🔹AI Overview

An empath often experiences sudden loud sounds and fast motion as an intense physical shock. Because their nervous systems process sensory input and emotional energy deeply, a sudden jolt can instantly trigger a fight-or-flight response, causing rapid heart rate, deep anxiety, or sudden irritability.

Nervous System Overdrive

• Exaggerated Startle Response:
• Sensory Overload:
• Energy Drain:

Emotional and Physical Reactions

You don't grow out of this sensitivity with age, nor does the sensitivity get weaker. It gets even more finely tuned with age; you learn how to react and deal with it differently. I still jump at the light bulb on the ceiling, but I have become much quicker at figuring out what the source of the noise is instead of having a panic attack.

Personally, I tend to believe that Empathy is, in part, based more on intuition and instinct.

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Search: Empathy is more part of Intuition and instinct

🔹AI Overview

Empathy shares a deep bond with intuition and instinct, acting as an automatic emotional reflex in some contexts, but it also relies heavily on deliberate, cognitive reasoning to accurately understand others.

American Psychological Association (APA)

Most agree that highly empathic people naturally possess a sharper sense of intuition because they notice subtle emotional cues. *However, scientific research shows that empathy and gut intuition are distinct processes ... YET!

An example: I was napping on the couch yesterday when there was a sudden, loud crash of thunder. I was lying back in the recliner couch, and somehow I managed to leapfrog out while still in the reclined position, standing in the middle of the room in the fight-or-flight stance, wondering what hit! I felt as if someone had just dropped the atomic bomb on the couch.

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- Google Search -

Search: PTSD

🔹AI Overview

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that can develop after you experience or witness a very scary, dangerous, or violent event. Symptoms include unwanted flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, and ongoing emotional numbness that last for more than a month and disrupt daily life

Core Symptoms

• Intrusion: Unwanted distressing memories, vivid flashbacks, or recurring nightmares about the event.
• Avoidance: Staying away from places, objects, thoughts, or people that remind you of the trauma.
• Negative shifts in mood:* Feeling detached, losing interest in fun activities, or struggling with persistent fear and guilt, arousal, and reactivity:

AS we notice that this mental disorder is a monster compared to the first two irritating syndromes that can be controlled to a degree. More like annoying horseflies eating your air sandwich 🪰🥪 in comparison to PTSD.

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BREAKING NEWS RECAP:

Trump’s enduring focus: An Iranian assassination plot

The prospect that Iran might try to kill Trump has hung over the president since he had a top Iranian official assassinated more than six years ago.

VIDEO | Included:

The threat appears to loom large on President Donald Trump’s mind. It has prompted missile launchers to surround the president on his golf courses. It led him to hide in an airline catering truck to surreptitiously switch planes as he left Turkey last month.

And it has spurred heightened worries among his protective detail and intelligence agencies already weighing a record number of threats to his life. In public and private, Trump keeps musing about the possibility that Iran might assassinate him.

Depending on the day, the prospect is floated as a simple fact of life, a warning to potential perpetrators and even a point of pride for the world’s most powerful leader. The comments suggest that if Iranian leaders want Trump to be concerned about his safety six months into his war, they are succeeding...

News

• Trump vows U.S. will ‘decimate’ Iran if it attempts to assassinate him:

IRGC had told an Iranian operative to “focus on surveilling, and ultimately, assassinating” Trump and an Iranian dissident in New York,

Read More:

Aug. 13, 2026, 5:00 AM EDT

- MS NOW -

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Sell Ukraine 10% of US Patriots and ‘we will destroy all the Russians’ ballistic missiles,’ Zelensky tells CNN

Kyiv — Ukraine has only a tenth of the interceptor missiles it urgently needs from the United States to stop surging Russian ballistic missile attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN in an interview, adding his days are spent in “millions” of phone calls, in opaque deal-making with allies for more.

Russian ballistic attacks have risen fast in recent weeks, hitting the capital Kyiv particularly hard, as Moscow exploits Ukraine’s near-zero stocks of Patriot interceptor missiles. Zelensky said a tenth of the US current stockpile would be enough to stop all Russian ballistic missile attacks, but 5% would be enough to get Ukraine through the winter.

“This year we have two and a half times less interceptors than we had in 2025,” he said. “Russia has two times more ballistic missiles per month than they had before.” July was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since April 2022...

US intel assesses Putin could launch attack aimed at testing NATO unity

Read More:

Updated Aug 13, 2026, 1:48 AM ET - 9 hr ago

- CNN -

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CANADIAN NEWS:

LeBlanc, U.S. counterpart meeting once again to negotiate deal as tariff deadline looms

U.S. offer would lower some sectoral tariffs, but not enough for Canada: sources

Canadian trade officials are meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington once again, as both sides hustle to lock down a crucial trade deal ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's pressing tariff deadline.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc's office confirmed to CBC News on Thursday morning that he and chief trade negotiator Janice Charette will meet with Greer this afternoon. It will be the second meeting this week between the Canadian and American trade officials, and the fourth in just three weeks...

WATCH | New pitch for Trump in the works:

Canada, U.S. not yet ready to make tariff deal, Canada unsatisfied with latest U.S. offer: sources

Read More:

Posted: Aug 13, 2026 10:22 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago

- CBC -

- Google Search -

Question: Is it true the Government is considering throwing out the US ambassador for Canada

AI Overview

The Canadian government is not considering expelling U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra. Instead, the rumor stems from a public e-petition launched by a Canadian citizen that calls on the federal government to declare the ambassador persona non grata.

Details of the Petition

• Signatures:
• Presentation:
• Grievances:
• Official Stance:

Diplomatic Reality

• Action Required:
• Government Position:

- Read More - Google Search -

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60,000 Canadians sign petition to expel U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVQjx4wBEBw

 

🧚‍♀️ TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

NEWS AGGREGATOR & COMMENTS

Great Spirit bless 🙏

Good morning! I'm starting The Tree House News on time today. My Facebook News Group posting dates were all out of order this morning. It had been a while since I played around with the settings, so it took me a little time to figure out how to get all the post dates back in sequence. My apologies for the confusion.

The weather forecast is for a sunny day. The sun is out, but it's very hazy. I don't know if the haze is wildfire smoke or just moisture from high humidity. Haze is common in August. I just checked, and the air quality report for the area says "Good." No major storms of any kind in the forecast, and the long range shows mostly sunny days through the rest of August, except for a couple of days of rain, with temperatures shuffling from the eighties to the low-to mid-seventies toward the end of the month.

I am thankful that I do not need to leave the comfort of my nest to be on someone else's clock for the next month or so. Or ever.

PET PEEVE: When you're 81, you don't travel as well. For starters, one doesn't notice all the bruises one collects in unfamiliar places, without a clue as to their cause. It looked like my legs had been attacked and pecked by aggressive guineahens from just lifting the darn suitcase to get something out while I was at my sister's place! Or stuff I'm not accustomed to getting in the way has a tendency to leave its mark. More bruises on the shinbones, arms, and hands. What do I have to do when I go out to cover up the black-and-blue marks? Get a NASA spacesuit?

THIS IS MORE A REMINDER THAN THE DISCUSSION OF THE DAY

Just a thought.

Question: Bible: The seven angels holding the seven golden bowls

🔹AI Overview

In the Bible, the seven angels with the seven golden bowls appear in the Book of Revelation (chapters 15 and 16). These bowls are filled with the wrath of God, representing the final plagues that finish God's judgment on the earth before the end of the age.

Setting the Scene

• The Heavenly Temple:
• The Angels' Appearance:
• Receiving the Bowls:

The Seven Bowl Judgments

In Revelation chapter 16, a voice from the temple commands the seven angels to go and pour out the bowls of God's wrath onto the earth:

• Description of the result of the plagues or the seven bowls:

Read More - Google Search -

In view of all the world events that are going on at this time, and from all the history I've read about ancient and present-day wars, it is clear that they were all devices to kill as many people as possible. Of course it's THE ENEMY! But then the enemy will also be from natural disasters. WHY KILL OR TAKE SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE? What does it gain you? IF IT WEREN'T FOR GREED, ANYTHING CAN BE NEGOTIATED ONCE TRUST IS ESTABLISHED. What does mass murder get you? MISERY and SUFFERING! It means that we have lost life's value, and the ruling insanity has no value for life. INSANITY SHOULD NOT BE LOOSE ON THE STREET. Let the Orange Maniac Hitler Wannabe cockroach be an object lesson to that.

Especially pay attention to the last two bowls.

Sixth Bowl: The great river Euphrates dries up to prepare the way for the kings from the East, gathering armies for the battle of Armageddon.

Seventh Bowl: A loud voice declares "It is done!" as a massive earthquake and severe hailstorm strike the earth, ending the sequence of plagues.

I do sincerely pray that I will still be around to hear those words, "IT IS DONE!"

That will be it for today for me. Thank you for visiting and reading the Tree House News 🏡

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BREAKING NEWS RECAP:

Establishment strikes back in Wisconsin and other takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries

The Democratic establishment roared back Tuesday in Wisconsin, as the party coalesced at the last minute behind the last moderate standing against democratic socialist Francesca Hong in the primary for governor.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley — who dropped out of the race last month, only to jump back in after another prominent candidate’s exit — will narrowly defeat Hong, CNN’s Decision Desk projects.

Crowley’s victory reflects a primary electorate in a perpetual presidential battleground state that feared Hong might have been a much weaker candidate in the general election against Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany. The outgoing, two-term governor, Tony Evers, hit the campaign trail in the race’s closing days to rally Democrats around Crowley...

• Another underperformance for the left:

So, what might explain this?

Governor: Wisconsin

CHART Included | Projected Winner:

• Progressive wins Minnesota Senate primary:

Senate: Minnesota

CHART Projected winner

• Darline Graham makes runoff, but has her work cut out for her:

Senate: South Carolina:

CHART Included | Advanced to runoff:

Senate: South Carolina

Advanced to runoff

• It’s been a bad week for Trump’s endorsees:

Governor: Minnesota

Projected Winner

Democratic upheaval in Connecticut

House 1: Connecticut

Projected Winner

• Dems stick with establishment’s pick in key Wisconsin district:

House 3: Wisconsin

Projected Winner

Read More:

Updated Aug 12, 2026, 3:59 AM ET - 6 hr ago

- CNN -

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s pivot on ‘woke’ politics isn’t unreasonable

What Ocasio-Cortez’s viral “woke one was crazy” remarks reveal about how the left is evolving.

On Sunday, ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl asked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to weigh in on how Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong — a fellow democratic socialist who was leading the polls ahead of Tuesday’s Democratic primary — might struggle to “get around” some of her past progressive positions on abolishing policing and canceling Thanksgiving.

Ocasio-Cortez’s response was both surprising and opaque. She noted that Hong has moved away from those positions before saying, “I have a local city councilman that has this saying, ‘Woke one was crazy’” — and let out a hearty laugh. Karl followed up, “Did the movement go too far, with some of those positions? ...

"During this time and especially during Covid, there was a huge opening of the Overton window. We were shut down. There was some of the highest unemployment rates that we have seen because of those shutdowns, and I think that the doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place, and I actually think that the discussions that had that were had in that time were quite fruitful. I think that when we talk about crime today, it’s fundamentally different than the way that we talked about crime in bringing crime down, right? And I think that we all share in the goals of having as low a crime rate as possible. I think that you know during lockdown, of course, rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today."

• Even at the peak of the criminal justice reform movement’s power in 2020, abolishing police departments was politically toxic.:

Read More:

Aug. 12, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT

- MS NOW -

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Trump’s Tariffs Force Some Canadian Companies to Consider Moving South

If President Trump moves ahead with 50 percent tariffs on a wide range of Canadian products later this month, some companies may only survive by relocating to the United States.

At Northern Cables, the machinery that churns out steel-clad cable runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The push isn’t driven by a flood of new orders. It’s driven by fear.

The Canadian company is rushing to fill warehouses across the United States. It is one of many businesses making goods in Canada for U.S. customers that now face pressure to move their factories south of the border to avoid President Trump’s 50 percent tariffs, which are scheduled to start next week, on their products.

Mr. Trump’s latest tariff salvo hits particularly close to home for Northern Cables. Its factory, partly housed in a former Coca-Cola bottling plant, sits about 2.5 miles north of the invisible line dividing Ontario and New York State along the St. Lawrence River...

Northern Cables, which has 320 employees, is not alone. A survey of 275 manufacturers conducted by the polling firm Angus Reid for KPMG found that 29 percent had moved some or all of their production to the United States since Mr. Trump started his trade war with Canada. Another 13 percent more were considering it.

Much of the copper used by Northern Cables comes from the United States.

Read More:

Updated 8:43 a.m. ET - Aug. 12, 2026

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Question: Trump’s Tariffs Force Some Canadian Companies to Consider Moving South. Is Carney not cutting freight costs for metals to cover the US tariff

🔹AI Overview

No, the federal freight rebate program is designed to lower domestic shipping costs within Canada, not to cover or offset U.S. tariffs.

Freight Cost Reductions vs. U.S. Tariffs

The 50% Freight Rebate: Ottawa launched a rebate program covering 50% of eligible freight costs for shipping domestic steel (and planned lumber) via rail or marine transport between Canadian provinces and territories.

The Purpose: This policy aims to encourage manufacturers to reorient their supply chains and source materials domestically within Canada, rather than serving as an export subsidy for goods sent to the United States.

U.S. Tariff Impact: It does not apply to exports crossing the border into the U.S. and does not offset the 50% American duties on Canadian metals, which is why export-reliant companies still face severe pressures to move operations south.

So now we have it, making the transportation of goods 50% cheaper to deal with within our own country. Great! Good idea. Please also extend this to other crucial goods, such as groceries, medical supplies, and aid, as well as to the development of alternative fuels, building more greenhouses, and becoming less dependent on the US for our food. JUST CUT THE U.S. LOOSE ALTOETHER, Wana know what Canadians are beginning to think of shmuckaricans? Fn NAZIS! Who the F needs a bunch of Nazi Cocroaches making your life miserable?

The way that country is treating us Canadians, whatever s--t befalls them, I believe they deserve it, they deserve it for their aggressive, arrogant, psychotic, demented lunacy, of senseless aggression and hate, "MAY KARMA COME SOON!"

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CANADIAN NEWS:

$100M Steel Rebate: Can Canada Break Its U.S. Dependence?

Canada is making a $100 million bet on its domestic steel industry.

The federal government has introduced a shipping rebate designed to cover up to 50% of eligible costs for moving Canadian steel by rail and water.

The goal is straightforward: make it cheaper for Canadian steel producers to reach customers across the country and strengthen domestic supply chains as U.S. tariffs and global trade uncertainty put pressure on traditional export markets. But can a transportation subsidy actually make Canadian steel more competitive?

In this documentary, we examine Canada's $100 million steel rebate, the impact of U.S. tariffs, Canada's dependence on the American market, railway and marine infrastructure, domestic manufacturing, construction demand, and the long-term battle to build a more resilient Canadian supply chain.

The bigger question is whether this program is simply a temporary safety net — or the beginning of a major shift toward greater Canadian economic independence. Can Canada move more steel at home, protect its industry, and reduce its dependence on the United States? ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DObF8xcbLU

 

🧚‍♀️ TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

NEWS AGGREGATOR & COMMENTS

Great Spirit bless 🙏

Good morning everyone. This morning was like trying to start up one of those old crank-start Ford motor carriages. Crank it a half dozen times before it starts struggling to chug its way to a more rhythmic idle. The road ahead in the kitchen seemed kind of like hitting potholes or letting go of the clutch too quick; good way to lose your dentures if you have your mouth open at the time. Oh well, it was a rough POTHOLY ROAD in the kitchen this morning. Once I got the dishes put away and got the coffee done,

I ate my cereal, then I was coming more online naturally, and I shifted from bot mode to human cognition. I got me a coffee and went to sit in my Green Space for a bit to relax before I do the news. I figure doing the news keeps the grey matter upstairs well exercised, or it keeps the cobwebs from gathering too much wool. Anyway, that's what keeps me going; I do not have memory loss problems; I've always had memory lapses, yes, not losses. Lapses of memory, yes, I forget, then remember later, usually too late. Call me the absent-minded professor.

I have dabbled in a little of a lot of things in my life. I need to stay active and connected, informed, and I am the curious type, so I do a lot of reading, searching, and researching. I got more education on my own from reading books than I ever did in all the classrooms I was in as a student.

Dear friends, this is a carryover from yesterday's news I thought was important enough to repost on today's news as well.

ONTARIO HEALTH CARE:

Not concerned? Must be nice to be rich and afford private health care, or sell your house, car, kids, wife, dog, cat, budgie. It's up to you. 👼🤑🤮👹🔱

P.S. I don't like telling this story, but I can't just let this go. I had a wonderful friend in Tennessee; she later succumbed to cancer. She had to sell her farm for the doctor's bills. That's why I would like to put a stake through the heart of the vampire that's causing all this pain and suffering by denying basic health care to the people. IF THE ONTARIO GOVERNMENT IS FOLLOWING SUIT WITH THE U.S. ON THIS, MAY THEIR ROTTEN SOUL ROT IN HELL! 👹🔥🔱

_*CURSED BE THE WHOLE LOT OF YOU! THE ORANGE JABBA THE HUTT DIAPERED BUTTHOLE AND HIS 💩 DIAPER KISSING MAGAts AND DUNCE CADETS!*_

_*THAT'S THE SPECIALTY OF THE DAY: a 💩🥪, a glass of water, and a toothpick 🫗 / DON'T YOU KNOW? That's also the main course in jail: a pine float.*_

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Question: Is Ontario losing Ontario Health Care Support?

🔹AI Overview

Ontario is not officially ending its universal public health care plan (OHIP), but reports from financial watchdogs and healthcare unions warn that the system faces severe strain, underfunding, and potential staffing shortages that threaten the level of support available...

• Financial Pressures and Projected Shortfalls:
• Impact on Community and Home Support:

Read More - Google Search -

Ontario hospitals have lost $2.2bn in day-to-day funds

Doug Ford promised to end hallway medicine. Union workers say job cuts have made the problem worse than ever.

Ontario hospital funds to cover daily expenses have dropped by $2.2 billion in the last six years, shows a new report by the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU), a part of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). The report, released on Tuesday, highlights how costs for hospitals have risen by six per cent per year.

OCHU leaders decried Ontario Premier Doug Ford's plan to only increase hospital funding by 3.3 percent in 2026/27 while costs continue to grow. The result has been hospitals needing to borrow money to pay their operating costs.

"Hospitals need six per cent annual increases simply to maintain services," said OCHU president Michael Hurley in a press release. "The Ford government has cut hospital budgets in real terms, year after year, resulting in a loss of beds and staff in the face of significant utilization pressures from an aging population."

"Hospitals need six per cent annual increases simply to maintain services," said OCHU president Michael Hurley

Scarborough Health Network's new emergency department

* READ MORE: Care is infrastructure:*

August 6, 2026

*- rabble-ca -*

_* MISAPPROPRIATED FUNDS. And there you have it, everything I could dig up in one morning. I really feel that our Health Care in Ontario is in RED ALERT 🔴 MODE!

Think about it, do you wish to end up like my friend in Tennessee?*_

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BREAKING NEWS RECAP:

Trump secretly switched planes in Turkey amid security concerns, official says

President Donald Trump secretly slipped out of Turkey last month on an alternate military plane, which he boarded while hidden inside a catering truck, as part of an elaborate ruse prompted by an Iranian threat, according to a US official.

Trump ultimately landed at Joint Base Andrews and deplaned Air Force One at 1:23 am ET.

President Donald Trump secretly slipped out of Turkey last month on an alternate military plane, which he boarded while hidden inside a catering truck, as part of an elaborate ruse prompted by an Iranian threat, according to a US official.

The clandestine security plan — first reported by the Washington Post and confirmed by CNN — underscored the lengths American officials went to in order to protect Trump from being assassinated by Iran.

Trump had flown to Turkey on a new plane gifted by Qatar and meant to be used as Air Force One. But while he was on the trip, officials announced he would fly out on an older presidential plane, which CNN and others had previously reported was due to security concerns.

That, though, was apparently part of the subterfuge. After boarding the older aircraft, a moment caught on camera, Trump secretly got off via the catering vehicle and moved to a smaller Air Force C-32A...

VIDEO | Included:

Read More:

Updated Aug 11, 2026, 6:49 AM ET - 3 hr ago

- CNN -

_________________________________

Trump seems to think he has credibility on medicine, science and public health. He doesn’t.

Not to put too fine a point on this, but on scientific matters, the president is about as reliable a source as a Magic 8 Ball.

VIDEO | Included:

With 12 weeks remaining before the midterm elections and six weeks before early voting begins in some states, Donald Trump may not be focused on the issues voters care about most, but he’s clearly focused on the issues he cares about most.

In recent weeks, the president has invested considerable time and energy into everything from the Reflecting Pool to his 2020 election conspiracy theories to the White House ballroom vanity project, none of which is especially important to the American mainstream. So it didn’t come as much of a surprise to see the Republican turn his attention this week to another one of his preoccupations: peddling misinformation about vaccines.

The Wall Street Journal reported two weeks ago that Trump had privately lobbied Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr...

The executive order recommends reducing the amount of immunizations kids receive to provide protection for 11 diseases, down from the 18 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had previously recommended. The immunizations that were reduced will remain available for certain high-risk groups and “for shared clinical decision-making, ensuring that parents have all options available to them,” according to the order. Those include the hepatitis A and B vaccines, and the Covid-19 and flu vaccines.

It also recommends separating the combined measles, mumps and rubella, also known as MMR, vaccine into three individual shots, along with generally administering vaccines during separate visits “to give parents more options regarding the timing and frequency of this vaccine administration.”

Maddowblog

• Trump pushes GOP to focus on health care in midterms, which would be fine with Democrats:

Aug. 11, 2026, 9:07 AM EDT

- MS NOW -

_________________________________

CANADIAN NEWS:

Canada-U.S. trade minister to meet U.S. counterpart for 3rd time in as many weeks

Meeting comes ahead of Aug. 19 deadline for new 50% U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc is set to meet with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at his office in Washington Tuesday, marking the third time in three weeks the pair have met face to face, LeBlanc's office confirmed Tuesday.

LeBlanc had initially planned to travel to Washington on Monday, but his flight to the U.S. capital was diverted back to Montreal Monday afternoon due to severe weather.

Canada's chief trade negotiator, Janice Charette, meanwhile spent all day Monday in Washington meeting with officials from the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Charette and LeBlanc will not comment on the negotiations before or after the 1:30 p.m. ET meeting, according to the minister's office...

Carney says Trump agreed to 'intensify' trade talks after 50% tariff threat

U.S. declines to extend CUSMA trade deal with Canada, Mexico

Read More:

Aug 11, 2026 8:26 AM EDT | Last Updated: 43 minutes ago

- CBC -*

_________________________________

'Pushed over the brink: the escalating assault on Ontario’s hospitals'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5hA4fMuwsc

 

🧚‍♀️ TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

NEWS AGGREGATOR & COMMENTS

Great Spirit bless 🙏

"Good morning to all! Have a productive and safe day, and be blessed!" It's easy to put oneself in a safe little cocoon and pretend the world out there doesn't exist. I used to do that; heck, before Paula and my mom and dad all the way back since grade school, I was pretty well a loner, and I didn't mind it. "Mrs. Invisible, you know." I have learned to do that quite effectively, being invisible; if required, as an example, "I go row my row boat gently down the stream of imagination." Especially when I can just step out in my Green Space for a few moments. I will miss sitting out there when winter comes 😢

_________________________________

*TODAY'S TOPIC:*

COCOONING

Back to the Cocoon Syndrome, I guess that it would cover about 75% of the population, like worker ants; every worker ant simply follows the command of the leader ant ahead of them, and has no other thoughts except to follow the leader ant. The leader ants are also the scout ants; they're at least smart enough to check out the trail ahead before proceeding with the troops. I wish these leader ants of this colony of Dunce Ants would FALL OFF HELL'S PRECIPICE 🧗🔥!

It's easy to be in a cocoon and only come out when required, but in doing so one is actually insulating themselves or hiding from change. You lose touch with the flow of reality. You miss details, are more apt to believe in conspiracy theories and such. Being uninformed about the regular flow of life around you because you don't give a damn! UNTIL IT HITS YOU! Life is constantly changing, from the arrival of one photon of light after another, to allow you to see the entire movie one frame at a time; the transaction and process of life, also called the evolution of body, mind, and spirit, all part of the infinite fabric of time and space*_

The Little talked about cocooning syndrome COCOONING

- Google Search -

Question: Cocooning, staying inside home to hide and avoid the outside world

AI Overview

Cocooning is the behavior of staying inside your home to find safety, comfort, and relief from a harsh or stressful outside world. Trend forecaster Faith Popcorn coined the term in 1981. It describes a voluntary retreat into a personal sanctuary to rest, recharge, and avoid burnout.

There is a problem with this: some people will not face reality and will remain hiding in their cocoons. I almost did.

Origins and Meaning

• Definition: Insulating yourself from the unpredictable and tiring outside environment.
• Origin: Coined by marketing consultant Faith Popcorn during the early 1980s social and political shifts.
• Purpose: Acting as a form of deep self-care, mental recovery, and boundary-setting

Common Types of Cocooning

• Restful:
• Socialized:
• Armored:

Why People Do It

• Burnout:
• Over-stimulation:
• Uncertainty:

Read More - Google Search -

When I was among the outside world, I used to hide inside, so I was alone, even in a crowd; people, even today, still bump into me because they don't notice me, Mrs. Invisible.

_________________________________

BREAKING NEWS RECAP

Powerful earthquake sparks evacuations in Colombia

Updated Aug 10, 2026, 9:28 AM ET - 12 min ago

- CNN -

_________________________________

Challenging fire weather continues in West as thousands evacuated in Canada while Spokane crews gain ground

Updated Aug 10, 2026, 3:38 AM ET - 6 hr ago

- CNN -

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**Netanyahu calculates upsetting Trump is his least-bad option**

On tricky issues, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s preference is to kick the can down the road. If he must take a position, he likes to include a twist of ambiguity, some wiggle room, just in case things get hairy later. Not this time, though, on the subject of US President Donald Trump’s roadmap for progressing the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

“I wish to be precise: Israel does not accept the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said during opening remarks at Sunday’s weekly Israeli Cabinet meeting.

• In fact, he went on to say it twice:

“I have heard people saying: ‘You didn’t say it.’ So here I am saying it again: Israel does not accept the 15-point document.”...

Related article

Hamas fighters patrol a street in Deir el-Balah, Gaza, on February 8, 2025.

Trump announces Gaza breakthrough but uncertainty remains

VIDEO | Included:

• Speaking to voters:

Read more:

Updated Aug 10, 2026, 1:33 AM ET - 8 hr ago

- CNN -

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We’re still learning the damage Musk and DOGE wrought

Between a new GAO report showing minuscule savings and ample evidence of the harm done, it’s clear we’re still sorting through the wreckage.

Elon Musk’s five-month tenure in the Trump administration provided the country a funhouse mirror version of technocratic governing. Here was a supposed expert in efficiency, a genius brought into to make the fixes politicians couldn’t. The so-called Department of Government Efficiency that he may or may not have led promised to slash $2 trillion in wasteful spending from the United States budget. According to its own “Wall of Receipts” website, it cut at most $215 billion, or about 11% of that initial projection.

DOGE’s failure at its task is about all we know about it. A new report from the Government Accountability Office explains that the quasi-agency vastly exaggerated the savings it produced. Some of the claimed cuts are impossible to verify. Despite promising transparency and a data-driven mindset, DOGE was a jumbled mess, and we’re left with little understanding of what it did or didn’t do. Indeed, a month after it officially shuttered, we’re still struggling to figure out exactly how much harm was caused by Musk and his similarly unqualified wrecking crew.

• Despite promising transparency and a data-driven mindset, DOGE was a jumbled mess, and we’re left with little understanding of what it did or didn’t do:
• During its brief existence, DOGE was a bastion against expertise and was seemingly allergic to good data management:

Read More:

Aug. 10, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT

- MS NOW -

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CANADIAN NEWS:

93-year-old's 'lifetime of memories' piled on a curb in St. Catharines, Ont., after flooding

Volunteers mobilize to help most vulnerable in wake of emergency

Generations' worth of memories were laid out on Mary Winning's curb in St. Catharines, Ont., on Sunday in a jumbled mess of sewage-soiled mementoes, furniture, boxes and bags.

The 93-year-old's home was flooded twice in five days during back-to-back storms that dumped months' worth of rain on the city in just a few hours on the night of July 27 and again on Aug. 2, overwhelming sewers and spilling sewage-tainted water into thousands of homes.

"I'm glad she isn't able to go downstairs because it would break her heart to see," said her daughter Gail Winning, there along with her sister Carol Macdonald...

• State of emergency remains:
• Service owed:

Read More:

Posted: Aug 10, 2026 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

- CBC -

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What you need to know about B.C. wildfires on Aug. 10

Police confirm wildfire death near Summerland, thousands remain under evacuation order

THE LATEST:

• RCMP confirm death of 80-year-old woman in wildfire near Summerland, B.C.

• Some evacuation orders and alerts downgraded for Bradley Creek fire.

• Nearly 22,000 people under evacuation orders provincewide, more than 10,000 under evacuation alerts.

• Flights resume from Kelowna International Airport after smoke-related cancellations.

• Most of southern B.C. under yellow and orange air quality warnings.

• B.C. Wildfire Service warns of potential for wind, dry lightning.

The Penticton RCMP has confirmed the death of an 80-year-old woman who was fleeing the Bald Range wildfire near Summerland, B.C.

A witness reported the death to police early Saturday morning. The RCMP said the woman "died suddenly" while evacuating with family, and that her death is believed to be a result of the fire...

WATCH | RCMP confirm fatality in wildfire near Summerland:

• OKIB downgrades, rescinds some orders and alerts:

Read More:

Posted: Aug 10, 2026 9:57 AM EDT | Last Updated: 18 minutes ago

- CBC -

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Another heatwave hits Europe as drought and fires worsen in Europe

*Europe is bracing for another wave of extreme heat, with temperatures forecast to reach the mid-30s Celsius in parts of Britain and France and spread across much of the continent. The latest heatwave comes after record-breaking temperatures, worsening drought, major wildfires and thousands of excess deaths, while dangerously low river levels threaten water supplies.*

August 10, 2026

- Global News -

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Europe’s record-breaking heat wave shrinks rivers and exposes secrets of the past

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n0_5Ly4Yo4