TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

Land of Whispering Pines 🌲

Good morning! May the Great Spirit bless you 🙏

It's a beautiful sunny morning ☀️ here and the birds 🦜 are a-singin'' here in the Niagara Peninsula region of Ontario. Don't go to Ohio, go to Ontario, Canada ~♪♫♭~♪♫~ where the moose roam in the fields of Moosennee. 🍁 I certainly didn't waste time after my cereal to go sit out in my green space with my coffee. I almost drifted away to Wonderland in the warm morning sun. All systems appear to be operational, and everything is a go! Now, to turn on the juice to activate the brain for the day. C.O.F.F.E.E. ☕ Nothin' like a bit of humor to start the day. Well, some like their coffee black, I prefer mine with a little cream, and I pass on the sugar. I'm not a sweets person, but sometimes it doesn't hurt to throw in a little sugar when needed.

My only other plan for today, besides reporting the news, is to wash the windows. Maybe walk tomorrow. I don't miss my exercise. I use the cubie and the stair climber stand-up machine for at least half an hour per day. Now, onto the international news for the day. Thank you for reading the News.

TODAY'S DISCUSSION:

When and when not to Humor

Close follow-up of yesterdays Discussion Tree House News

TREE HOUSE NEWS🏡 June 27, at 100:35 AM

About using the humor side of things.

Example. Below is my own experience:

I once worked for a grouchy boss who never had anything nice to say at the start of the morning, grumbling like Scrooge. One morning, he and his wife, both dressed up as if they were going to a special occasion, I thought, 'That's good, I'll be the boss of the shop for the day.' As they walked into the room, he began his usual grumbling. I stood up, curtsied slightly, and politely said, Good morning to you, too, with a smile. His wife laughed her arse off. It worked, and I didn't forget that; it was the first tool I learned when I became a social worker, some years later - humor.

- Google Search -

Using Humor To Resolve Conflict:

What type of stress is relieved by laughing loudly?

Laughter is the Best Medicine - HelpGuide.org

A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after. Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease. May 16, 2025

Usually, when I make fun of something, it's to lighten up a heavy topic. Better to laugh than get angry over something you can't do anything about, or the cat already got out of the bag, or it's already spilled milk. Ya can'ts put the spilt milk back in the jug!

BREAKING NEWS:

Senate votes to move forward on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ though measure’s fate remains in question

Senate Republicans took a major step toward delivering President Donald Trump his “big, beautiful bill” late Saturday, though the fate of the giant tax cuts and spending measure is still in question as other hurdles remain.

After an hourslong push by Senate GOP leaders Saturday, the bill cleared a key procedural vote, 51-49. Republican leaders must now satisfy numerous holdouts still demanding changes to the bill. Trump’s multitrillion-dollar bill would lower federal taxes and infuse more money into the Pentagon and border security agencies, while downsizing government safety-net programs including Medicaid.

The timeline is extremely tight: Trump has demanded to sign the bill on the Fourth of July, but the measure must still go back to the House if it passes the Senate. Saturday’s vote allows the Senate to begin debating Trump’s bill, teeing up a final passage vote in that chamber as soon as Monday. In a late-night post on social media, Trump declared a “GREAT VICTORY” after the bill cleared the Senate, offering praise to four key senators who shifted their votes to get the procedural bill over the finish line...

Read More:

Updated 2:30 AM EDT, Sun June 29, 2025

- CNN -

UN nuclear watchdog chief says Iran could again begin enriching uranium in ‘matter of months’

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog says US strikes on Iran fell short of causing total damage to its nuclear program and that Tehran could restart enriching uranium “in a matter of months,” contradicting President Donald Trump’s claims the US set Tehran’s ambitions back by decades.

Rafael Grossi’s comments appear to support an early assessment from the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, first reported on by CNN, which suggests the United States’ strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites last week did not destroy the core components of its nuclear program, and likely only set it back by months.

While the final military and intelligence assessment has yet to come, Trump has repeatedly claimed to have “completely and totally obliterated” Tehran’s nuclear program.

The 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran began earlier this month when Israel launched an unprecedented attack it said aimed at preventing Tehran developing a nuclear bomb. Iran has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes...

Read More:

Published 6:17 AM EDT, Sun June 29, 2025

- CNN -

Republican plans to overhaul Medicaid are already shaking up the 2026 midterms

Senate Republicans have yet to finalize their version of President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy proposal, but GOP lawmakers up for reelection in 2026 are bracing for the political impact of the bill’s Medicaid cuts.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is pushing for a provider relief fund. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina has warned GOP leaders about how many in his state could lose care. And Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa has picked up a crop of Democratic challengers campaigning off her “Well, we all are going to die” response to a town hall protester.

Tens of thousands of people could lose coverage in each of those three senators’ states, according to a KFF analysis on the version of the bill passed by the Republican-led House last month. Beleaguered Democrats, meanwhile, hope that laser-focusing on health care will help them chip away at the Republicans’ 53-seat Senate majority and take back the House. A key part of Democratic messaging has been to tie the Medicaid cuts, which would largely affect low-income Americans, to tax breaks for the wealthy...

Read More:

Published 6:00 AM EDT, Sat June 28, 2025

- CNN -

CANADIAN NEWS:

Teacher shortages persisted this school year. What's being done to fill the gap for the next?

Teacher shortages have become an issue for nearly every province and territory

For several months this year, Katherine Korakakis' kids had substitute instructors that were "not qualified to teach the subject," said the Montreal parent, whose province started this school year thousands of teachers short. "It wasn't a math teacher who was teaching math. It wasn't a French teacher who was teaching French."

She was already worried about learning loss after the pandemic, and scrambled to get her teens extra tutoring, a luxury she knows not everyone can afford. "Having a child score in the high 90s … one year in math and then having a non-qualified teacher coming in the second year and the child scoring a 50 — there's something wrong here," she said. Teacher shortages have become an issue in nearly every province and territory. Kids facing one substitute teacher after another. French taught by a non-speaker. Relying on uncertified adults to supervise classrooms.

While some governments suggest an aging workforce and growing populations are behind the shortages, teachers themselves point to working conditions. So what's being done to improve the situation for next year?...

• 'Just getting through the day':
• Nearly 200 uncertified teachers now filling N.B. teacher shortage
• Quebec relies on thousands of uncertified teachers
• B.C. boy denied full-time class due to lack of school assistants
• What's influencing shortages?:
• Territory considering Whitehorse school's proposal for more full-time substitute teachers amid shortage
• Ontario teacher shortage to worsen in 2027, ministry document warns
• Job 'isn't worth the conditions that we're facing':
• What's being done about shortages:
• Launching new recruitment campaigns and strategies (N.B. and Alberta).
• Funding programs for rural and remote teacher candidates to train in their home communities (B.C. and Alberta).
• Bursaries for teacher-candidates or cash incentives for new teachers who relocate to remote regions (B.C. and Alberta).
• Developing certification programs targeting those without formal qualifications already teaching in schools (Quebec).
• What do aspiring teachers think?:

Read More:

Jun 29, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

- CBC -

♪♫NATURE'S SOUNDS AND MUSIC TO SOOTH THE SOUL♪♫

🌸 🌺 🪷 ~ Come with me to a gentle place to be ~ 🌸 🌺 🪷

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-h-4aqAaIA