Sunday, 4 January 2026

TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

NEWS AGGREGATION & COMMENTARY

May Great Spirit bless 🙏

Well, here I am at 7:00 a.m. at my work station in the Newsroom. I've been awake for the last hour after one of those dreams, which isn't worth recounting; I was happy to wake up from it. I am now sipping a cup of fresh-ground coffee. I do pray that whoever our coffee suppliers are here in Canada, keep on delivering coffee. I guess the only other replacement is tea, but I don't think tea in the morning would ever replace coffee's popularity. It's not just that it tastes good, but it also helps stimulate wakefulness, especially in the workplace, and the bosses don't mind how many trips you make to the coffee machine during the day.

TODAY'S DISCUSSION:

Coffee, EVs, Hybrids, & Carbon Capture

- Google Search -

Canadian coffee products include major chains like Tim Hortons, popular roasters like Kicking Horse Coffee, and many smaller, local brands such as Balzac's, Muskoka Roastery, and Canadian Heritage Roasting Co., often featuring Canadian themes or flavors like maple, with many companies roasting and packaging coffee within Canada, even if beans are imported. Brazil is one supplier we can depend on in Canada.

- Google Search -

Brazil coffee is widely available in Canada, sold by local roasters, major retailers like Superstore and Walmart, and online marketplaces like Amazon, both as single-origin beans (like Santos) and in blends, including Fair Trade and Organic options. Brazil is a significant supplier of green coffee beans to Canada, making it a staple of the Canadian coffee market.

- Google Search -

About EVs. *OK:* to keep the country's economy on a stable footing, Canada had to scrap the end of oil use because global oil demand is set to peak and begin a permanent decline before 2030, with the use of alternative energy, which Trumpo The Typo just killed.

EVs are out! But nothing is stopping Canada from going hybrid. A hybrid vehicle significantly cuts emissions, typically reducing CO2 by 20% to 40%. 40% is getting close to half the emissions of a regular diesel- or gas-powered vehicle. This type of vehicle would make much more sense than EVs in the cold climate of Northern Canada.

- Google Search -

Alberta's oil refineries are cutting CO2, primarily through large-scale Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) projects, like the Sturgeon Refinery's integrated system and Shell's Scotford complex, plus industry-wide initiatives like the Pathways Alliance, aiming to capture emissions from production and petrochemicals for permanent underground storage or enhanced oil recovery (EOR). These efforts focus on developing lower-carbon fuels, leveraging Alberta's existing infrastructure (like the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line), and meeting provincial goals for net-zero by 2050. However, debates continue over caps and regulations.

So, Environmentalists, don't worry. If the above is true, the carbon reduction will come, just maybe not until a bit later than 2030, not until Canada is on a more stable economic footing, both domestically and internationally. If you're a flasher and you need business, you need to take off your overcoat now and again to show off your wares.

BREAKING NEWS:

Inside the operation: How the US moved to capture Nicolás Maduro

It was just like watching television.

Huddled in a draped-off room at Mar-a-Lago around screens set up for his viewing pleasure — including, according to photos released by the White House, a live feed of social media messages on X — President Donald Trump watched and listened as highly trained American Delta Force soldiers rushed into Nicolás Maduro’s home in Caracas, where the Venezuelan leader was sleeping alongside his wife.

Maduro was quickly dragged into custody as he tried to flee to his steel-enforced safe room...

A strike months in the making:
‘Pretty much an ultimatum’:
Conditions ripen for a strike:
‘The speed, the violence’:

Read More:

Updated Jan 3, 2026, 8:02 PM ET - 13 hr ago

- CNN -

Who is Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s leader after Maduro’s capture?

Following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro during a US military operation in Venezuela, the command of the South American country has fallen into the hands of Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez.

That is what Venezuela’s constitution outlines in its different scenarios anticipating a president’s absence. Under Articles 233 and 234, whether the absence is temporary or absolute, the vice president takes over the presidential duties.

Rodríguez – also minister for both finance and oil – stepped into the role on Saturday afternoon. Hours after the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, she chaired a National Defense Council session, surrounded by other ministers and senior officials, and demanded the couple’s “immediate release” while condemning the US military operation. Standing before the Venezuelan flag, Rodríguez said...

An official with Maduro’s ‘full trust’:
On the path to an understanding with the US?:

Read More:

PUBLISHED Jan 3, 2026, 8:15 PM ET - 13 hr ago

- CNN -

CANADIAN NEWS:

Thousands evacuated from Pimicikamak Cree Nation after homes, water treatment plant damaged in power outage

Chief working on recovery plan, says repairs could cost at least $44M after days-long outage

The chief of Pimicikamak Cree Nation says hundreds of homes have been "severely compromised" in the aftermath of a days-long power outage that damaged a water treatment plant and plumbing systems, and about 4,000 people have been evacuated from the northern Manitoba First Nation.

Residents in Pimicikamak, about 530 kilometres north of Winnipeg, started reporting burst pipes, leaks and sewer backups after power restoration began on Thursday. All power was back on as of Friday afternoon, Manitoba Hydro said.

The power to the First Nation, which has an on-reserve population of around 7,000, went out last Sunday night after a power line that crosses the Nelson River snapped, and pipes froze in the extreme cold, as temperatures dropped well below the –20 C mark...

Read More:

Posted: Jan 03, 2026 5:01 PM EST | Last Updated: January 3

- CBC -

How a good old-fashioned boycott got Canada to trade Kentucky bourbon for Canadian whisky

'Buy Canadian' movement built up demand for domestically produced whisky, expert says

It's been a long time since many Canadians have felt the burn. That familiar aromatic, spicy and sometimes smoky flavour of a smooth, Kentucky bourbon has been but a memory for consumers in this country for much of the past year.

Ever since U.S. President Donald Trump launched his tariff war and began threatening to make Canada the "51st state," angry consumers and lawmakers have united behind a "Buy Canadian" movement and bourbon was caught in the crossfire.

"People didn't want to lose their bourbon and neither did I," said Ottawa-based whisky expert Davin de Kergommeaux. But he, like so many other consumers, supports the boycotts of American products in favour of Canadian alternatives...

Souring on American whisky:

U.S. booze exports have dropped — and it's not just Canada

CHART | Included:

Bourbon by any other name:
That Canadian spirit:

WATCH | Is the boycott of U.S. alcohol really helping Canadian distillers:

Read More:

Posted: Dec 31, 2025 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: December 31, 2025

- CBC -

🙏 TODAY'S PRAYER: 🙏

Have as great a day as you can. Give it your best effort to make it a better day; if the effort is at least your best, that is sufficient. My prayers also go out to all my readers and to those in need. AMEN! 🙏