Thursday, 1 January 2026

TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

NEWS AGGREGATION & COMMENTARY

May Great Spirit bless 🙏

Good morning from the Niagara Peninsula. They are calling for another day of 20 to 30 kph winds on and off, with blowing snow, at 21° F *YUCK!* Just plain puky weather until at least next week. I ain't leavin' the house until mid-April.

Well, there isn't much shaking here in the Newsroom this morning, so I'm taking some time for myself, thinking random thoughts before I make the morning coffee.

As for my physical health, I am pretty well back to normal again, as normal as I can be for an 80-year-old in rehab. I am doing exercise every day now to build myself back up. Rehabilitation from any illness when you're 80 years old has only one speed, slow! I'm exercising to strengthen my legs after being laid up for months. I'm still pretty wobbly in the legs when I walk.

And now that my stomach has settled down, I've been changing my food intake daily to include more protein, fiber, probiotics, and other nutrients instead of drinking juices and consommé for almost a month because that was all my stomach would handle. I lost 14 lbs. The current flu nearly brought me to the Pearly Gates 🏛️👼, to the point that everything was making me nauseous, even colors and sounds. I pray that I never experience that again.

Out of Today's Breaking News:

At least one good news today, would you believe out of America this time.

Zohran Mamdani is sworn in as mayor of New York City

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist who campaigned on a promise to tackle the affordability crisis in one of America's most expensive cities, was sworn in as New York City's112th mayor early Thursday. Mamdani, a 34-year-old immigrant from Uganda, makes history as the city's first Muslim mayor, first South African mayor, and the youngest mayor to hold the high-profile office in more than a century.

"This is truly the honor and the privilege of a lifetime," Mamdani said moments after being sworn in.

The former state assemblyman from Queens captured the world's attention and stunned the political establishment with his win in the Democratic primary last summer, running a campaign focused on affordability: He promised to create a universal childcare program, freeze the rent for roughly two million rent-stabilized tenants, and make city buses "fast and free."

Read More:

Updated Jan 1, 2026, 7:58 AM ET - 54 min ago

- CNN -

TODAY'S DISCUSSION:

~ COURAGE ~

I have good vibes about Zohran Mamdani, just as I do about Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, who has some grit and teeth to chew it with, too. And we have two fire eaters: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders. C'MON THE REST OF YOU CHICKEN LIVERS! If I were still living in Tennessee, you can bet yer boots I would be out there defending the rights of We, the People, in one way or another.

When I fell into a hole, which I did several times in my life, I was at the bottom of the hole back then, making wrong choices because that was where it felt most comfortable, like that was where I belonged. After enough time at the bottom, I found it was kind of boring down there in the dark. I climbed back out, dukes up and ready for action 🥊 🥊

_*As I always said for most of my life, I was hiding in the shadows, hard pressed against the wall. Hiding, with nowhere to go, I shouted, "WHAT HAVE I GOT TO LOSE?" Then I forged forward 🦸‍♀️ 🏃‍♀️‍➡️*_

- Google Search -

Courage:

Courage is the mental and moral strength to face fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation, enabling one to act despite apprehension for a greater purpose, even when it's difficult or risky, and involves not just physical bravery but also emotional honesty, vulnerability, and standing up for one's own values. It's about controlling fear, not the absence of it, allowing for perseverance, authenticity, and doing the right thing.

BREAKING NEWS:

Dozens presumed dead in New Year catastrophe in Swiss ski resort

What We're Covering

• Deadly blaze: Dozens of people are presumed killed and around 100 others injured in a fire at a New Year’s party in a Swiss ski resort, according to police.

• Alpine haven: One of Switzerland’s most exclusive locales, Crans-Montana is known for sweeping vistas stretching from the Matterhorn to Mont Blanc.

• Investigation underway: The area is closed to the public while police investigate and a no-fly zone is in place. Officials are treating the tragedy as a fire, not a terror attack, a prosecutor said.

• Scenes of panic: Video from outside the Le Constellation bar shows panic in the crowd as the blaze broke out. Two witnesses told CNN affiliate BFMTV that the deadly fire was caused by sparklers placed in champagne bottles, but officials say it will take time to determine the cause...

Read More:

4 min ago

NOW: Officials are providing an update on the fire

More To Read:

Updated 11:20 AM EST, Thu January 1, 2026

- CNN -

‘Profound costs’: How Trump upended the federal government in his first year back in Washington

As President Donald Trump’s first year back in the White House winds down, he has already transformed and upended the federal government.

He has used political purges, mass federal layoffs and drastic spending cuts to neutralize dissent and aggressively implement his second-term agenda. At the same time, he has also ordered the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute his political opponents. And he has sidelined or dismissed dozens of independent watchdogs that hold agencies accountable.

Trump allies maintain that he is simply using all of the tools at his disposal, under an expansive view of executive power, to enact policies that the American people endorsed when they voted to return him to the White House in 2024...

Gutting the federal workforce:
Dramatic spending cuts:
Testing the rule of law:
Neutralizing oversight:

Read More:

PUBLISHED Jan 1, 2026, 6:00 AM ET - 5 hr ago

- CNN -

CANADIAN NEWS:

Some snowbirds want out of Florida. A bad housing market makes it hard to leave

After a year of Trump 2.0, some Canadians in Florida face a difficult decision this winter

As the era of bilateral bad blood between Canada and the U.S. drags on, some snowbirds are facing a choice this January: Go south to warmer climes, or boycott a country that has gone from friend to somewhat of a foe. That decision is more difficult for the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who collectively own an estimated $60 billion worth of property in Florida, the favoured refuge for generations of the winter-weary.

Donna Lockhart, a snowbird from Ennismore, Ont., decided the recent anti-Canadian sentiment was too much to bear and it was time to put her condo near Punta Gorda, Fla., up for sale and get out of U.S. President Donald Trump’s America...

Housing troubles in southwest Florida:
The Canadian exodus:
A different approach:

Posted: Jan 01, 2026 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

- CBC -

Cool space stuff you don’t want to miss in 2026, including a Canadian who’s heading to the moon

We have a mission to the moon, eclipses and meteor showers

Happy new year!

As we roll into 2026, we can look back on all the great things that happened in space in the last 12 months, from getting our third-known interstellar visitor — 3I/ATLAS — to seeing beautiful displays of the northern lights, to the opening of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory that could change our views on the universe in ways we have yet to understand.

And now, we look ahead to some of the very cool things skywatchers might want to keep an eye on in the coming year.