Sunday, 31 August 2025

TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

Land of Whispering Pines 🌲

Good morning! May the Great Spirit bless you 🙏

To start the morning, before the grey clouds, white noise, and clamor of the outside world begin to overwhelm the silence and peace, "I FEEL!" the pleas of the desperate and oppressed people everywhere, their cries for freedom grow louder as each day progresses.

PRAYER FOR THE DAY:

I solemnly pray that every day will be a day to sing, dance, and rejoice in the sunshine. EVERY DAY!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w9gb9ZEvMs

Well, so far, it is a picture-perfect late August morning. Hummingbirds are still coming to my feeder in my green space, and it is so silent out there - a peaceful silence. As I sit here and sip my coffee, looking out at the trees across the laneway, they are still a healthy green, bathed in the bright sunlight of that "pearly blue" sky. I remarked to myself, "It's the cleanest air I have seen all summer." Earlier in the summer, as the temperature rose, the smoke became thicker.

TODAY'S DISCUSSION:

"DISASTERS"

There doesn't seem to be as much of a problem with fires and smoke in the lower half of Ontario. We have experienced occasional heavy summer rain and nighttime thunderstorms here in the Niagara Region. I'm not sure what's happening up north, given that the jet stream over Ontario is currently so far north. It should have similar weather patterns to those we have down here, as well as cooler temperatures, even frost and snow in some areas. Late August, September, and then October marked the beginning of winter in the Cochrane, Kapuskasing, Hurst, and Moosenne areas, which lasted until sometime in April. The leaves didn't come on the trees till mid to late June.

The hot, dry summers were always a good tinder for forest fires, but nothing like what we get today, all across the country from the East Coast to the West Coast! "Eh!" Today, we live in the early days of an apocalyptic environment, one that is often depicted in science fiction novels, disaster movies, or comic books. I enjoy chair-edge disaster films, especially if they have a good ending, but that should be for entertainment, and productive when they have a lesson attached to it. It should NOT BE TESTED IN REAL LIFE! The key words here should be LEARN FROM OUR ERRORS AND ADJUST.

As a survivalist, I have learned many pointers from reading and watching films and documentaries about natural and human-caused disasters. At one time, when I owned property, I could have survived a couple of years without outside help. Now, since we live in an apartment, I can only prepare by stocking sufficient food and supplies so that we can live off the grid for a good part of the winter if we experience either a power blackout, or are snowed in, or both.

I can only pray that any disaster that may befall us is only temporary and that it does not require significant adjustments or shifts to our system of rights and freedom in our sovereign government of Canada, which, if allowed to fall, would have a catastrophic effect on our daily lives. Think about it - THIS IS THE MORE REASON TO BUY CANADIAN.

BREAKING NEWS:

China’s Xi rolls out the red carpet for Putin and Modi as Trump upends global relations

Tianjin, China

—

Autocrats, populists, friends and foes, a strongman waging a war in Europe and the leader of the world’s biggest democracy will all be hosted by Chinese leader Xi Jinping this weekend at a summit designed to showcase Beijing as a global leader capable of providing a counterweight to Western institutions. Heads of state and delegations from across Asia and the Middle East will meet from Sunday in the Chinese port city of Tianjin for the two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional security grouping that has emerged as a cornerstone of Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s drive to rebalance global power in their favor.

Chinese officials have billed the summit as the SCO’s largest yet, with the diplomacy and pageantry setting the stage for Xi to tout his country as a stable and powerful alternative leader at a time when the world’s leading superpower the United States under President Donald Trump is shaking up its alliances and waging a global trade war...

‘Architect and host’:
What is the SCO?:

Read More:

Updated Aug 31, 2025, 12:53 AM ET - Updated 10 hr ago

- CNN -

Removal of Guatemalan children in US custody expected to begin Sunday

The repatriation of Guatemalan children in US government custody is expected to begin Sunday, according to a notice sent to attorneys, prompting a scramble among lawyers who say kids were woken up in the middle of the night and are at risk if returned to their home country.

CNN first reported that the Trump administration was moving to repatriate hundreds of Guatemalan children who arrived to the US unaccompanied, in coordination with the Guatemalan government.

A federal judge temporarily blocked the removals of unaccompanied Guatemalan minors in US custody early Sunday, though plans appeared to still be underway, according to an immigration attorney representing Guatemalan children who were transported out of their shelter after the judge’s ruling...

PUBLISHED Aug 31, 2025, 8:23 AM ET - 2 hr ago

- CNN -

Welcome to the new USSR of America

This one word captures the most important division among Democrats

As President Donald Trump openly contemplates sending military forces into more American cities, the leading congressional Democrats almost invariably describe his actions as an attempt to create a “distraction” from something else — whether that’s the cost of living, the massive Medicaid cuts he signed into law, or the controversy around the Jeffrey Epstein files.

That reflex captures the overwhelming preference of top DC Democrats to frame the 2026 election on familiar partisan grounds, particularly the charge that Trump has failed in his core 2024 promise to bring down the cost of living for average families. It also reflects their hesitation about contesting Trump’s actions relating to immigration and crime. But the tendency of Democratic congressional leaders like Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries to dismiss Trump’s moves threatening democracy as a “distraction” from other issues has created the most significant fissure between the party’s grassroots and its Washington leadership...

Democrats try to choose their battleground:
Prioritizing kitchen-table issues can be a self-perpetuating cycle:

In a recent interview with podcaster Molly Jong-Fast

Read More:

PUBLISHED Aug 31, 2025, 6:00 AM ET - 5 hr ago

- CNN -

Even Fox is above board about this issue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M0fLbrkBfE

Democrats need to take a stand and make their voices heard, or no one will listen.

CANADIAN NEWS:

Fort Providence ordered to evacuate due to wildfire 2 kilometres away

Fort Providence residents ordered to leave community Sunday morning and head to Hay River

The community of Fort Providence, N.W.T., has been ordered to evacuate as of 8:57 a.m. on Sunday. Community members are asked to leave immediately to Hay River.

An evacuation alert had been put in place on Saturday. According to an update from N.W.T. Fire on Sunday morning, the wildfire grew significantly overnight driven by severe northerly winds. The fire is now two kilometres north of Fort Providence...

Read More:

Posted: Aug 31, 2025 11:09 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

- CBC -

Rural B.C. residents facing $33M waterline repair bill question if they can afford to stay

Dozens of Sage Mesa residents are under a boil water advisory. Getting clean water won't come cheap

Over 200 residents in a rural area northwest of Penticton, B.C., may have to shell out over $1,000 a month just to have water. The jaw-dropping cost has homeowners that rely on the Sage Mesa Water System stressed out and demanding a more reasonable solution. Bruce Turnbull has lived in his home for over 40 years...

'I really don't want to leave':

WATCH | Residents face massive water bills:

'We need clean water':

Read More:

Posted: Aug 31, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago

- CBC -

Average number of sick days taken by public servants growing post-COVID, new data shows

After hitting a low of 5.9 days in 2020-21, number rising as people return to offices

Federal public servants were less likely to call in sick to work during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, new government data shows.

The figures shared by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat indicate that in 2020-21, when the pandemic had most office employees working entirely remotely, the average number of sick days for the public service was 5.9. That number grew to 8.1 in 2021-22, 8.8 in 2022-23 and 9.2 in 2023-24...

Federal spending on personnel hit $71B in 2024-25: Budget watchdog

Federal public service shrinks for 1st time in a decade