TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

NEWS AGGREGATION & COMMENTARY

May Great Spirit bless 🙏

I do pray a good Friday morning, everyone. It's 35°F and raining out there with an expected high of 37°F. I am thankful to awaken in what is still a free country. My state of health this morning appears to be stable, thus far, and I pray it stays that way. I feel like I'm flying an old aircraft, and I just reached 5,000 ft., and do the checklist list, ya know, like, "Props, check!, Flaps, check! Rudder, check! Engine ... I said engine? Er, no engine, sir!"

What makes this recovery a little more difficult than just a tooth extraction is that the bad teeth really played a number on my stomach, which had not yet fully recovered from the appendix removal last year. The GERD was irritated by the flu and the rotten teeth, along with the fact that I had no teeth to chew food properly and get the nutrients I should have.

TODAY'S DISCUSSION:

AXING OBAMACARE

Congress leaves town until 2026, letting enhanced Obamacare tax credits expire in two weeks

There you go, Trumpo the Typo has done it. He has graduated to be like his beloved and highly adored idol, Hitler. He lives to emulate a mass murderer. You see, Trumpo doesn't need gas chambers, just let the people die like flies on the street. Without medical aid, no support for the elderly, or war veterans, government employees who have lost their jobs and homes, living in tents, no soup kitchens, no food banks, living in squalor, garbage, and disease running rampant, and no vaccine or any medical help to protect them from it. Then the civil disorder and confusion will begin, driven by displacement, desperation, and starvation. Then, there are the break-ins for food, clothing, or any other necessities.

REMEMBER NEW ORLEANS Hurricane Katrina was a mighty and catastrophic tropical cyclone that killed 1,392 people and caused damage estimated at $125 billion, particularly in and around the city of New Orleans, in late August 2005. Afterwards, the looting and shooting. New Orleans experienced a breakdown in law and order characterized by widespread looting and exaggerated reports of violence.

As with most breakdowns in the system, by this coming spring, there won't be any system left. Trumpo the Typo killed it. No amount of Dunce Cadets will be able to stop the millions of people on the move, and they will be prepared for the inevitable fight.

🫷 VIVE LA RESISTANCE!🫸

BREAKING NEWS:

Exclusive: Top lawyer for military joint chiefs told chairman that officers should retire if faced with an unlawful order

How should a military commander respond if they determine they have received an unlawful order?

Request to retire — and refrain from resigning in protest, which could be seen as a political act, or picking a fight to get fired. That was the previously unreported guidance that Brig. Gen. Eric Widmar, the top lawyer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave to the country's top general, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, in November, according to sources familiar with the discussion.

Caine had just seen a video that included six Democratic lawmakers publicly urging US troops to disobey illegal orders. He asked Widmar, according to the sources, what the latest guidance was on how to determine whether an order was lawful and how a commander should reply if it is not...

Experts on civil-military relations have previously pointed to retirement as a reasonable option for officers who object to a particular policy, while noting that it comes with its own costs.

Read More:

PUBLISHED Dec 19, 2025, 5:00 AM ET - 1 hr 49 min ago

- CNN -

EU secures funding deal on Ukraine as Putin delivers end-of-year news conference

What We're Covering

• EU leaders announced a multi-billion dollar funding plan for Ukraine's economy and military for the next two years – with the package funded by borrowing cash, rather than tapping into frozen Russian assets held in the bloc. The deal, struck early Friday, offered a lifeline to Ukraine, which was rapidly running out of money.

• Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin is hosting his end-of-year news conference where the Russian president signaled there'd be no compromise on Ukraine. He said the EU's plan to funnel frozen Russian assets to Ukraine was "robbery."

• Russia's top economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev is expected to travel to Miami for a briefing on the results of peace talks between the US, Ukraine and Europe held in Berlin this week, a Russian source with knowledge of the trip told CNN.

Read More:

4 min ago

Putin says cooling of Russian economy in 2025 resulted from "conscious" decision to tame inflation

Read More:

27 min ago

Putin claims Russia has made compromises in Ukraine peace talks

• More To Read:

Updated 6:58 AM EST, Fri December 19, 2025

• Read more:

The big wrinkle in the multitrillion-dollar AI buildout

New York

—

There’s a giant question hanging over the tech industry: How long will its massive investments in AI infrastructure really last?

Tech giants are shelling out hundreds of billions of dollars on artificial intelligence infrastructure — mainly, data centers and the chips that power them. It’s an investment they say will set the stage for AI to overhaul our economy, our jobs and even our personal relationships. This year alone, tech firms are expected to pour $400 billion into AI-related capital expenditures. A portion of that will almost certainly put a recurring strain on companies’ balance sheets...

Sarah Friar, OpenAI's CFO, sparked backlash this week with a comment about government support for building AI infrastructure.

Why OpenAI went into crisis PR mode Thursday

• Chip lifecycles:
• What does this have to do with the AI bubble?:

Read More:

PUBLISHED Dec 19, 2025, 5:00 AM ET - 2 hr ago

- CNN -

CANADIAN NEWS:

Ryan Wedding’s image as alleged drug kingpin inflated by U.S., says Sinaloa cartel operative

Cartel has done business in Canada for decades, operative tells CBC News

The U.S. is “inflating” the image of Ryan Wedding to create a major news event the moment the alleged cocaine kingpin is finally taken down, says an operative with the Mexican cartel that law enforcement believes is protecting the former Canadian Olympian. In an interview with CBC News in northwestern Mexico, the operative with the Sinaloa cartel said that his organization has dealt with Canadian narcotics customers for more than two decades, but he’s only recently heard of Wedding’s name from news reports and social media posts.

“His name has gone viral in these last few months, they say he’s the new Chapo,” said the operative, referring to the nickname of Joaquín (El Chapo) Guzmán Loera, one of the former leaders of the Sinaloa cartel...

• Ontario trucker sentenced to more than 6 years for cocaine smuggling linked to Ryan Wedding
• *VideoWhat we know about Ryan Wedding's alleged Canadian associates
• Search for information:
• Not on National Guard's Sinaloa radar:

Posted: Dec 19, 2025 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

- CBC -

N.S. man inspires health-care system change while waiting for surgery in Toronto

Halifax kidney transplant doctor says Samuel Provo-Benoit's challenges have eased path for other patients

Even if Samuel Provo-Benoit doesn’t get the present he dearly wants in time for Christmas — a kidney and pancreas transplant to beat the Type 1 diabetes that’s steadily destroying his body — he has something else to celebrate. The North Preston, N.S., man’s story is helping to ease the path for transplant patients coming after him.

“It’s making me feel like my purpose [in] life is being fulfilled to help someone else along this journey called life,” Provo-Benoit, 35, said in an interview about going public to CBC in September.

• 'It was really valuable to bring it to the headlines':

Posted: Dec 19, 2025 5:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour ago

- CBC -

HEALTH CARE ONTARIO

Ontario is facing a complex healthcare crisis: while trying to attract U.S. doctors by cutting red tape, the system struggles with chronic underfunding, leading to clinic closures, staff cuts, and privatization, creating service gaps that new recruits can't immediately fix due to systemic issues like low pay, high workloads, and fragmented funding, even with some new hires. It's a push-pull: trying to solve staffing shortages with foreign recruitment while simultaneously dealing with the fallout from past cuts and funding models that drive doctors away or limit services.

Reasons for Closures & Cuts (Despite Hiring Efforts)

WHY THE SHORTAGE OF FUNDS, MR. FORD?

- Google Search -

During the Trudeau government's time in office, a $30-million healthcare allocation in Ontario was an annual commitment from the Ontario government, made in February 2023, as part of a larger healthcare plan that was later incorporated into a bilateral agreement with the federal government.

This is part of a broader pattern of substantial health-care spending announcements by the Trudeau government, which often involve much larger figures, such as:

$196.1 billion over 10 years in a health funding proposal to provinces and territories.

$3.1 billion in health-care funding deals were signed with individual provinces like Ontario to hire more health workers and reduce wait times.

$354 million over five years to increase the number of medical professionals in remote and isolated First Nations communities.

- Google Search -

Allegations that the Ford government in Ontario is "stealing" health care money refer to accusations by critics, such as the Ontario Health Coalition, that the government is intentionally underfunding public hospitals to facilitate the growth of private, for-profit clinics.

These accusations are often framed in the context of specific concerns:

• Diverting Funds and Staff:
• Higher Costs:
• Privatization:
• Wasted Funds/Mismanagement:

The Ford government has defended its actions by stating it is committed to improving access to care and reducing wait times through its "Your Health" plan, which includes licensing new clinics.

COCKROACH 🪳 THIEF FORD IS DOING THE OPPOSITE.

Bugs, bugs, bugs, 🪳🪳 🪳I think they're all in Parliament, Tom!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4vceDiMqxU