Tuesday, 19 August 2025

TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

Land of Whispering Pines 🌲

Good morning! May the Great Spirit bless you 🙏

Well, folks, it's not as muggy out; actually, it's a little cool. Half clouds, half sun - the fascinating thing is that, after yesterday's rain, it seems to have cleared the air a lot. Everything looks almost sparkly, and the leaves on the trees are vibrant green. The air is crisp and blue, and all is very still, as if Mother Gaia herself were holding her breath; silence, except for a few birds.

Mornings like this are the perfect time to connect the spiritual with the physical, find inner peace, and be in harmony with nature. Even if it is only for a few seconds, it's a much more positive way to begin the day. It sets the mood for the day, so that even if the train gets off the tracks, you are better equipped, *composed, and concentrating* to engineer a way to get the train back on the tracks without getting more lost in the swamp of confusion.

I made the coffee and had my cereal, then my sister joined me for coffee, and now I'm about to move on to the day's discussion.

TODAY'S DISCUSSION:

There's no such thing as a 'coolcation' — you'll be sweating buckets on your Arctic getaway

There used to be places to go to escape the heat on our summer vacations. You could venture to Norway to see its world-famous fjords. A trip to Scotland for a temperate round of golf. Visiting Sweden's Lapland could bring you face-to-face with reindeer.

But the Arctic's icy grip is loosening as the planet warms, and these cool, far-flung destinations are becoming increasingly vulnerable to heat waves.

Extreme heat: has roasted tourists across southern Europe from Spain and France to Italy and the Balkans in recent years, but the unusually high temperatures spread way north this summer. Legitimate heat waves have struck countries more synonymous with snowy, frigid weather in the winter and cool summers: Sweden, Finland, and Norway.
Wildfires have erupted across Europe and Canada:
According to the BBC and Sky News:
Reindeer stopped grazing:
World Weather Attribution group found:

NORDIC HEAT WAVE:

- CNN com -

Aug 18, 2025

So, you 👉🎃💩 , the Orange Slime Bag! Kink of Bizarromerica may you boil in boiling 💩 in the seventh circle of HELL! Climate change is a Chinese Hoax, eh!

Straight from the horse's mouth, I am 80 years old, and I have lived through those changes, unless I'm going Coo-Coo. THIS IS NOT NORMAL. I will submit a post relating to this topic later today, along with my response to the author of the post.

BREAKING NEWS:

Trump pushes for Putin meeting as Zelensky calls White House talks a 'significant step'

What We're Covering:

• Trump pushes Ukraine talks:

US President Donald Trump says he "sort of set up" a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that they "have to call the shots." The Kremlin today reiterated its refusal to commit to a meeting but stopped short of ruling out further talks.

• White House summit:

• Sticking points:

Read More:

13 min ago

Lavrov says Rubio liked his “USSR” sweater at Alaska summit

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told him that he liked the “USSR” sweater he wore ahead of Friday’s summit in Alaska.

Lavrov caused a stir last week when he arrived at a hotel in Anchorage wearing a sweater emblazoned with “CCCP” - the Cyrillic letters for the Soviet Union. Speaking to Russian state media Tuesday, Lavrov said the US delegation in Alaska reacted to his choice of attire without “any hysteria,” and that Rubio even said that he liked the sweater.

Pro-Kremlin commentators were delighted with Lavrov’s outfit, which seemed intended to hark back to Russia’s time as an imperial power during the Cold War. Olga Skabeeva, a state television host, shared a picture of Lavrov’s sweater saying: “The sweater! USSR! The best!!”

But, speaking Tuesday, Lavrov downplayed his sweater’s symbolism.

“I think there is no imperialism here, no attempts to revive imperial thinking, as some in the West like to say, we are not talking about that,” Lavrov said. “We are talking about the fact that there is history and this history needs to be preserved, including, if you like, with a sense of light humor,” he added...

Read More:

22 min ago

Coalition of the Willing" leaders discuss potential further sanctions pressure on Russia

Ukraine’s allies in the “Coalition of the Willing” discussed potentially placing more sanctions pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine, according to a Downing Street spokesperson. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer co-chaired a meeting of the coalition on Tuesday, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron...

Read More:

- CNN -

BREAKING! TWO NEW UPDATES:

6 min ago

Trump rules out sending US troops to enforce potential peace deal in Ukraine

President Donald Trump has ruled out sending American troops to help enforce a potential peace deal in Ukraine, despite him expressing an openness to the idea yesterday.

In a phone interview on Fox News this morning, Trump was asked: “What kind of assurances do you feel like you have, going forward, past this Trump administration, that it won’t be American boots on the ground defending (Ukraine’s) border?”

“Well, you have my assurance, and I’m president,” Trump responded.

A White House official confirmed Tuesday that Trump has ruled out putting US troops on the ground in Ukraine...

Read More:

12 min ago

US will need to pressure Putin to hold talks with Zelensky, Ukrainian parliament member says

The United States will likely have to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Yehor Cherniev, member of Ukrainian parliament, said.

Asked by CNN’s John Berman whether he believes Putin will ultimately sit down with Zelensky, Cherniev said that he does not think the Russian president will agree on his own. “I believe in the strength of the sanctions and pressure from the US and from President Trump that can press Putin and push Putin to this meeting. So, I think it can be done, but with the pressure from the US side,” Cherniev said.

He added that, from the Ukrainian side, “President Zelensky said that he is ready to meet with President Putin without any preconditions. And I think it’s a good manifestation that-that we are ready for a peace. But definitely not the peace on the any conditions for any price.” ...

Read More:

Updated 9:38 AM EDT, Tue August 19, 2025

Trump changes his tone in latest meeting with Zelensky

01:38

- CNN -

CANADIAN NEWS:

Air Canada, flight attendants reach tentative deal to end strike

Airline says flights to gradually return beginning Tuesday evening

A tentative agreement has been reached to end the contract dispute between Air Canada and its flight attendants, both the airline and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) announced Tuesday.

CUPE, which represents more than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants, said that after nine hours of talks with the assistance of the chief mediator appointed by the federal government, the deal struck will be presented to its membership, who will have an opportunity to ratify it.

The union gave few details on the agreement, but said it does guarantee ground pay for their members — something that's been a major sticking point in talks so far...

Some cancellations expected in coming days:
Binding arbitration had been rejected:

Read More:

Posted: Aug 19, 2025 5:44 AM EDT | Last Updated: 15 minutes ago

- CBC -

Inflation slowed to 1.7% in July, but food prices rose at faster pace

Prices for gasoline also down 16.1% year-over-year, according to Statistics Canada

Inflation cooled in July, thanks largely to relief at the gas pumps, but Statistics Canada said grocery and shelter costs were accelerating last month. The annual rate of inflation fell to 1.7 per cent in July, the agency said Tuesday, down from 1.9 per cent in June and just slightly below what economists were forecasting.

Costs rose 3.4 per cent annually at grocery stores, up from 2.8 per cent in June. Confectionery and coffee products saw big price jumps in July, which Statscan said were tied to tough growing conditions in countries that produce cocoa and coffee beans...

Inflation rate rose slightly to 1.9% in June as vehicle and clothing prices climb

Bank of Canada holds interest rate at 2.75% as economy shows resilience in the face of tariffs

Read More:

Posted: Aug 19, 2025 8:53 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

- CBC -