Wednesday, 14 January 2026

TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

NEWS AGGREGATOR & COMMENTARY

May Great Spirit bless 🙏

Well, another cloudy morning 😔 but still the predicted high is on the mild side, 43° F. and overcast. The forecast calls for cooler weather, with some snow and clouds beginning tonight. YUCKY SNOW! Stick my finger down my throat! If I were ten years younger, I would get a snowmobile. I should have started building an Earth Ship home back then. We would be settled in it by now. If I had an Earth Ship home, you bet I would be spending most of my time in the greenhouse during the winter.

From here at the kitchen table, looking out at the trees and my Green Space on the balcony, when it's bright and sunny, it looks cheerful and welcoming. We may not have a river running through it 😉 But we do have a creek running through the woods below, only about 400 feet from the edge of the woods. I used to spend a lot of time sitting by the creek or under the giant weeping willow on the other side, or just walking the park trail, which is at least 10 miles long, partly follows the Welland Canal, and ends at Lake Ontario.

TODAY'S DISCUSSION:

ONTARIO'S POTENTIAL:

The longer summers are what make the Niagara Region such a good place to grow fruit and grapes. My tropical balcony is as close as I'll ever get to going back to Tennessee or Florida. With a bit of ingenuity and imagination, I have decorated my balcony and the interior of my home to feel bright and balmy 😊

If our FEDERAL GOVERNMENT can ever learn to SMACK ITSELF IN THE BUTT WITH BOTH HANDS, it would make for a reasonably good climate, worth checking into to encourage newcomers with specialized skills and professions relocating from the U.S. to Canada. The peninsula between the southern shore of Lake Ontario and the eastern end of Lake Erie is, in my opinion, the best place to live in Canada, thanks to its microclimate and proximity to Ontario's industrial base. Weather-wise, we only get about 2 months of snow and cold, and even then, it's on and off, with thawing in between.

And if Ontario Premier Ford continues to honor the deal with the federal government through Prime Minister Mark Carney over access to the Ring of Fire, there will be job opportunities all the way north from Niagara Falls to the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario. "Hey, You!" Do you like wilderness, winter sports, curiosity, and adventure? If I were younger, I would like to go there for curiosity, then come back where it's warm ♨️ 😁

- Google Search -

ONTARIO'S POTENTIAL

Ontario's potential lies in leveraging its vast natural resources, particularly critical minerals for green tech, strategic investments in clean energy (nuclear, storage, grid), skilled workforce, and innovation to boost its economy, attract investment, create jobs, and secure its position in global supply chains, especially in advanced manufacturing and technology sectors, while balancing economic growth with environmental stewardship.

Or is this just another air sandwich? 🥪

I Beg You Pardon? 😲

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-eclUz-RYI

BREAKING NEWS:

There is so much news today that I will be abbreviating each news item for you to choose to read.

Iran vows to punish protesters as Trump warns against executions

What We Know

• Iranian officials have pledged to swiftly try and punish anti-government protesters, with officials warning that anyone arrested in the past few days is considered guilty of waging “internal war” against the regime...

Read More:

Updated 10:30 AM EST, Wed January 14, 2026

- CNN -

Some US personnel told to leave Qatar base as Iran vows to punish protesters

What We Know

• Some personnel have been urged to leave a US military base in Qatar as a “precaution,” as President Donald Trump considers taking military action against Iran. He warned the regime against executing protesters and said the US would take “strong action” in response...

Read More:

Updated 10:49 AM EST, Wed January 14, 2026

- CNN -

New documents shed light on Renee Good’s ties to ICE monitoring efforts in Minneapolis

The woman killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis last week served on the board of her son’s school, which linked to documents encouraging parents to monitor ICE and directing them to training. The documents shed new light on Renee Good’s connection to efforts to monitor and potentially disrupt ICE operations – an association that federal officials have made clear is at the center of their review into the deadly incident that occurred as she partially blocked ICE agents in the street with her SUV.

But four legal experts who reviewed the documents for CNN said they largely describe nonviolent civil disobedience tactics practiced at American protests for generations – far from the sinister depiction of extremism and domestic terrorism portrayed by Trump administration officials like Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Vice President JD Vance. “There’s nothing in there that suggests attacking ICE agents or engaging in any other form of physical harm or property damage,” said...

Read More:

Updated Jan 14, 2026, 12:13 AM ET - 10 hr ago

- CNN -

Vance and Rubio to hold meeting on Greenland as Trump faces Venezuela war powers vote

What We're Covering

• Greenland meeting: President Donald Trump said this morning that “anything less” than US control of Greenland is “unacceptable.” Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Danish and Greenlandic officials today.

Read More:

Updated 11:05 AM EST, Wed January 14, 2026

- CNN -

Vance and Rubio to hold meeting on Greenland as Trump faces Venezuela war powers vote

What We're Covering

Read More:

Updated 11:05 AM EST, Wed January 14, 2026

- CNN -

CANADIAN NEWS:

ArcelorMittal Dofasco quietly extends 'green' steel timeline from 2028 to 2050, gets $50M more from Ottawa

Dofasco says while its timeline has been 'drawn out,' it has the same decarbonization ambitions

ArcelorMittal Dofasco has quietly extended its timeline by 22 years to phase out coal for "decarbonized" steelmaking, says a federal government document, aiming for 2050 instead of 2028.

Ontario’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases is also receiving $50 million more from the federal government for the project, according to an amendment posted to the Government of Canada's website last March. It was posted after the U.S. first imposed tariffs on Canadian steel and shortly before the federal election. The change brings Ottawa’s total contribution to $450 million...

Hamilton residents request Ontario investigate ArcelorMittal Dofasco for releasing emissions far above limits
Iron production moving to Quebec:
'No one knows what's really planned':
ArcelorMittal Dofasco misses key milestones in $1.8B 'green' steel project promised for 2028
Ford government eyes 'green steel' as way to catch up on cutting carbon emissions

Read More:

Posted: Jan 14, 2026 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 8 hours ago

- CBC -

Carney lands in Beijing, kicking off China trade mission

Visit is first by a Canadian PM to China since 2017

Prime Minister Mark Carney has landed in Beijing, marking the first visit by a Canadian prime minister to China in eight years. Carney will meet with senior communist leaders on Thursday, ahead of a Friday meeting with President Xi Jinping and a business banquet.

It's the first visit by a Canadian prime minister since China detained two Canadians for nearly three years in 2019 in retaliation for the arrest of a Chinese tech executive in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition warrant...

Carney heads to Beijing to talk trade after years of diplomatic strain with China
As Carney heads to China to talk trade, Ontario premier still '100% dead against' rolling back EV tariffs
Carney wants to 'recalibrate' Canada-China relations with visit: PM's parliamentary aide
Conservatives accuse Liberals of 'kowtowing to Beijing' as 2 MPs cut Taiwan trip short

Read More:

- CBC -

CBC News further expands local journalism, bureaus

Historic investment in local journalism comes at critical moment, with local news in steep decline in Canada

We use this editor's blog to explain our journalism and what's happening at CBC News. You can find more blogs here. Two weeks ago, we rang in the new year across Canada with a CBC News live countdown special that celebrated the midnight turnover of the calendar — repeated six times, across each of this country's time zones.

It was only the second year we've done the New Year’s Eve special as a rolling, 7.5-hour live event, and already we've seen significant audiences, as several million Canadians tuned in at various points in the night across TV, CBC Gem, YouTube, TikTok, CBC Radio One and our streaming channels...

The 11 new CBC News bureaus are (from west to east): LIST Included:

Read More:

Posted: Jan 14, 2026 11:25 AM EST | Last Updated: 32 minutes ago

- CBC -