Friday, 1 August 2025

TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

Land of Whispering Pines 🌲

Good morning! May the Great Spirit bless you 🙏

It's a beautiful, typical August morning, 🌅 much cooler than it was, but still lovely and sunny. Sitting here next to my green space with the sliding glass doors open, 🪟 I listen to nature's orchestra outside. 🐦🦜🦗 I allow myself to drift for a couple of minutes while watching the steam lazily drifting up from my cup of coffee in the early morning sunlight. ☕

Then a thought came to mind, and I wrote what I thought, *a stream of thoughts* of what was in my heart, expressed in words.

🙏 G-D BLESS AMERICA 🙏

Let us pause for a moment to pray and meditate for those souls in America who will be left swinging in the wind like an old, empty barn door with squeaky, rusty hinges. Vultures are everywhere in the scraggly limbs of dead trees, awaiting their meal. Brooding, dark, brownish-grey haze above, and the air is filled with the smell of decay among the rubble and smoke.

Will this land of a once-proud people see sunlight shining through the dark clouds of despair again? Only if one with compassion, empathy, and faith grows a spine and spreads their wings, and flies on high over the garbage dump that we, the people, have been ensconced in by the dominant elite. The Oligarchy

TODAY'S DISCUSSION:

Most democratic media outlets widely acknowledge that they are uncertain or cannot guarantee they will still be operational in a couple of months or so. It only takes a few seconds for the Orange Lord Jabba the Hutt to choke someone's wallet to death.

It may come to the point where they, the government in power, no longer guarantee free speech or the expression of any ideas that go against His Orange Majesty's grain if you do not conform. It's the Labor Camps, Concentration Camps, or Extermination Camps for those who take the name of the Kink and Lord Jabba the Hutt in vain. The loyal may gain gainful employment in the Orange Kink, the Hutts' Dunce Brigade, ICE, or other organizations equivalent to Hitler's Gestapo.

I have already taken some measures in case of such a situation.

I will still have CBC and CTV, as well as our top newspapers, the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail. All four cover international news with reasonable accuracy in detail.

I already have an account with a few podcasters and news chasers like myself, who, in my opinion, are among the best informed. I also have a couple of news fact-checkers. There comes a time when you have to roll the dice. I'm not a good gambler, but I do pray that my faith and intuition will get me through the tough times, the Orange Jabba the Hutt's garbage dump. But then, I have always been a survivalist; if I weren't, I wouldn't be here typing this out.

Thank you for reading the News.

BREAKING NEWS:

‘House is gone. Cars are gone’: Paul Whelan’s life one year after his release from a Russian prison

For Paul Whelan, returning to life in the United States after more than half a decade of Russian imprisonment has been “interesting” – and not without its challenges.

“You’re literally starting over,” he told CNN ahead of the one-year anniversary of the sweeping US-Russia prisoner exchange deal that secured his release. “For people like me who have come home after five-and-a-half years, we really don’t have very much. House is gone. Cars are gone. Employment’s gone. No health insurance,” he said.

His post-traumatic stress disorder gets triggered in hotel rooms, after he was “violently arrested” in one in 2018 while visiting Moscow for a friend’s wedding. It was that arrest on espionage charges that started his nearly six-year nightmare of Russian detention...

Keeping in touch with former inmates:

August 1, 2025 - Updated 9 hr ago

- CNN -

US job growth stalls: Just 73,000 jobs added in July, with ‘stunning’ downward revisions to recent months

The US job market slowed substantially in July and was much weaker than previously thought in previous months, suggesting President Donald Trump’s trade policy may be stifling hiring.

The US economy added just 73,000 jobs last month, and the monthly totals for May and June were revised down by a combined 258,000 jobs. The prior two months’ revisions were “stunning,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG, in an interview with CNN.

May’s estimated 144,000 net gain was revised down by 125,000 to 19,000; and June’s preliminary tally of 147,000 was slashed by 133,000 to 14,000, respectively, according to data released Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“It’s stalling out right now,” Swonk said of the US labor market...

Read More:

August 1, 2025 - Updated 15 min ago

- CNN -

Kamala Harris says system is ‘broken,’ criticizes ‘capitulation’ under Trump

Former Vice President Kamala Harris said she would not run for public office because the system is “broken,” as she reflected on her decision not to pursue a gubernatorial run in California and spoke about what she views as “capitulation” by those tasked with guarding democracy during Donald Trump’s second administration.

In the former 2024 presidential candidate’s first interview since losing the election, Harris spoke about her career as a public servant, noting that when she was young she thought that people who want to improve or change a system should not just do so from the outside but also change it from the inside.

“That has been my career and recently I made the decision that I, just for now, I don’t want to go back in the system. I think it’s broken,” Harris said in an interview with CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”...

Read More:

August 1, 2025 - Updated 2 hr ago

- CNN -

SOME GOOD NEWS:

‘Everyone I know in the US who has a conscience wants to leave’: Why this American woman relocated to Bali

Riding along the busy, narrow roads of Bali on her scooter with the sun illuminating her face, Victoria Kjos has a clear destination in sight — the beach.

The 71-year-old American, who relocated to the Indonesian destination in 2022, is a regular fixture on the sands of Sanur, which extends along the southeastern coastline of the tropical destination, known as the “Island of the Gods.”

When she’s not enjoying one of Bali’s finest stretches of shoreline, Victoria can be found exploring sites like Besakih, a temple complex known as the “Mother Temple of Bali,” located on the slopes of Mount Agung, the island’s highest volcano, or enjoying a massage at a local spa...

‘Spiritual journey’:
No going back:

Read More - 10 min read:

August 1, 2025 - Updated Jul 31, 2025

- CNN -

I feel the same here in the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario, Canada.

I was born and raised in the Ontario North Land. I am now still close enough to nature to feel its spirituality, I wake up each morning grateful to be free and the master of my soul and body, and that I live in a land of laws, rules, regulations, human rights, and a democracy, ethics and empathy or we would be also be in a debauchery like our brothers and sisters south of the border. Misery, Jabba the Hutt loves company.

CANADIAN NEWS:

Canada 'disappointed' by Trump boosting tariffs to 35%, says Carney

Prime minister says 'historic investments' have been made into border security as Trump raises fentanyl again

Prime Minister Mark Carney released a statement just past midnight on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to increase a tariff on Canadian goods to 35 per cent. "While the Canadian government is disappointed by this action, we remain committed to [the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement], which is the world's second-largest free trade agreement by trading volume," the statement read.

"The U.S. application of CUSMA means that the U.S. average tariff rate on Canadian goods remains one of its lowest for all of its trading partners. Other sectors of our economy — including lumber, steel, aluminum and automobiles — are, however, heavily impacted by U.S. duties and tariffs."

WATCH | Trump speaks at the White House just hours before tariff deadline:

This week, Cross Country Checkup is asking: What challenges are you facing as you try to buy Canadian? Leave your comment here, and we may read it or call you back for Sunday's show.