🧚‍♀️ TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

NEWS AGGREGATOR & COMMENTS

Great Spirit bless 🙏

Hi there, everyone. I need to go out and get a couple of things done tomorrow, preferably earlier in the day, so I thought I would start aggregating the news this evening and finish publishing it in the social networks in the morning. "I jest truly didn't feel like a' settin' aboot and a watchin' TV anyway!" So says Mrs. Ophelia Sorebutt. ✨(‿ˠ‿)⚡️<- "Ifn's I's had me sam paddin' the likes of dat, I wouldn't have ta worry aboot a sore butt fram a sittin' on it fer too long!" 👩‍🌾🐮☺️

Have you ever wondered just how much our federal government gets hit by corporate theft, tax avoidance, and other types of theft, like auto theft, and procurement fraud? Those are the real welfare bums, and then you have the drug cartels and other illegal groups of parasites; the whole lot of them are the blood suckers feeding off We, the People's tax money.

This is why we are short of doctors, hospital beds, and clinics. The bloodsuckers are sucking off the money faster than the government can pay it out to them. Below is what I have pieced together with the help of a little AI Googling.

TODAY'S DISCUSSION:

Corporate Federal Theft

- Google Search -

🔹AI Overview

Question: How much are the Corporate federal thieves costing the Government of Canada?

Estimates of the costs of corporate tax avoidance and evasion to the Government of Canada's revenue vary by source and methodology, ranging from several billion to over $40 billion annually. These figures often represent lost revenue potential rather than direct "theft" in a criminal sense, as they often involve the use of complex, albeit legal, loopholes and tax havens.

• Key estimates include:

Canadians for Tax Fairness reported that tax avoidance by 123 of Canada's largest corporations cost $30 billion in 2021. On average, that figure is closer to $10.5 billion.

The Canadian government loses over $40 billion every year to various tax loopholes.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates that up to $25 billion per year is lost due to profit-shifting strategies.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) estimated that federal corporate income tax (CIT) for the 2018 tax year was between $3.3 billion and $5.3 billion lost to international tax evasion.

The Conference Board of Canada estimates that overall tax evasion and avoidance amount to between $8.9 billion and $47.8 billion every year.

Ontario auto theft claim costs surged past $1B last year

Newly released data shows Toronto saw over $351M in auto theft claims costs in 2023

• Google Search -

🔹AI Overview

Question: Drug cartels and associated organized crime networks are a multi-billion dollar burden on the Government of Canada

Drug cartels and associated organized crime networks impose a multi-billion-dollar economic, social, and security burden on the Government of Canada and its citizens. Organized crime in Canada is estimated to generate proceeds in the billions, significantly impacting public safety, undermining the rule of law, and eroding financial, legal, and social institutions.

National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians

Key Aspects of the Burden:

- Google Search -

🔹AI Overview

Question: How much are illegal transactions online and personal costing the Government of Canada?

*Illegal online transactions and personal fraud*

Illegal online transactions and personal fraud are costing Canadians and the government hundreds of millions annually, while broader financial crimes (such as money laundering) are affecting the economy by tens of billions.

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC), fraud and cybercrime in Canada resulted in over $638 million in losses in 2024, up from $578 million in 2023

- Google Search -

Question: How much did Canada lose to tax evasion, fraud, car and home theft, and drug cartels?

🔹AI Overview

Canada faces substantial annual economic losses and security threats from organized crime, with estimates for money laundering alone ranging from $45 billion to over $100 billion CAD annually. While specific, combined, or total annual losses for all categories are difficult to pinpoint due to high levels of unreported crime, recent data shows the following:

Simple answer, we gots ta gits rid of the tiefs. Good time to deport someone? How about some investigations, charges laid, and trials held? They would be a good investment toward building a nation as the PM envisions it. Even the opposition parties agree. We can do better to build better.

Why do you think our groceries are costing so much? T.H.E.F.T.! GREED IS WHAT KILLED AMERICA. Do you want the same thing to happen here in CANADA? Mr. PREMIER CARNEY, it's time to wean de tiefs off de Federal Tities, I Would Say.

BREAKING NEWS:

US increases military pressure on Iran ahead of high-stakes talks

The US military is continuing a significant buildup of air and naval assets in the Middle East ahead of planned talks with Iran in Geneva on Tuesday. The pieces are being moved into place both to intimidate Tehran and to have options to strike inside the country should negotiations over its nuclear program fail, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

US Air Force assets based in the United Kingdom, including refueling tankers and fighter jets, are being repositioned closer to the Middle East, according to sources familiar with the movements.

The US is also continuing to flow air defense systems to the region, according to a US official, and several US military units deployed in the region that were expected to rotate out in the coming weeks have had their orders extended, said one source familiar with the matter. Dozens of US military cargo planes have transported equipment from the US to Jordan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, according to flight-tracking data...

• US military build-up in the Middle East - MAP:
• ‘No one knows’ who would take over:
• ‘It’s hard to do a deal with Iran’:

Read More:

Updated Feb 16, 2026, 7:42 PM ET

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, pioneering civil rights activist and racial ‘pathfinder,’ dies at 84

The Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson, the towering civil rights leader whose moral vision and fiery oratory reshaped the Democratic Party and America, has died, a Rainbow PUSH Coalition spokesperson and his son confirmed to CNN. He was 84.

Jackson, a protégé of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., had been hospitalized in recent months and was under observation for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), the Rainbow PUSH Coalition has said. Jackson died Tuesday morning, surrounded by his family, Rainbow PUSH said in a statement.

“His unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and human rights helped shape a global movement for freedom and dignity. A tireless change agent, he elevated the voices of the voiceless – from his Presidential campaigns in the 1980s to mobilizing millions to register to vote – leaving an indelible mark on history,” the statement read...

Read More:

Updated Feb 17, 2026, 5:11 AM ET - 1 hr 18 min ago

- CNN -

Hillary Clinton accuses Trump administration of a ‘cover-up’ over its handling of Epstein documents

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accused the Trump administration of a “continuing cover-up” in the way it has handled the release of millions of documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein.

“They are slow walking it, they are redacting the names of men who are in it, they are stonewalling legitimate requests from members of Congress,” Clinton told the BBC at the Munich Security Conference in Berlin. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has repeatedly defended the US Department of Justice’s handling of the files, saying the department is “committed to transparency” and “is hiding nothing.”

The latest batch of documents released by the DOJ contained several references to Bill Clinton, offering fresh insights into the sometimes-lewd ways the former president’s staff communicated with Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell...

Read More:

PUBLISHED Feb 17, 2026, 5:55 AM ET - 38 min ago

- CNN -

CANADIAN NEWS:

Paid out of pocket for a fender-bender? Fine, but the law says you have to tell your insurer

4 out of 10 people who got in a crash paid for repairs themselves, poll found

You’re backing into a parking space when you hear it — that dreaded crunch, the sound of your fender clawing its way across concrete. With cars now akin to computers on wheels, that scraped fender might actually eat into the thousands, thanks to repairs for a back-up camera and sensors (which apparently you didn't use in this instance).

But even if the cost is more than your deductible, the first instinct is not always to put a claim through your insurer. In fact, a recent poll of 1,000 people commissioned by Cost of Living found that 43 per cent of those who had a crash in the last five years chose to pay for repairs out of pocket — and of those, 57 per cent said they wanted to avoid a bump in their premiums. (The margin of error in the poll was 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.) ...

• Failing to report:
• Fixing your vehicle yourself:

Posted: Feb 17, 2026 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

- CBC -

China showcases humanoid robots at Spring Festival gala

China ⁠accounted for 90% of the roughly 13,000 humanoid robots shipped globally last year

China's most-watched TV show, the annual CCTV Spring Festival gala, on Monday showcased the country's cutting-edge industrial policy ‌and Beijing's push to dominate humanoid robots and the future of manufacturing. Four rising humanoid robot startups — Unitree Robotics, Galbot, Noetix and MagicLab —demonstrated their products at the gala, a televised event and touchstone for China comparable to the Super Bowl for the United States.

The program's first three sketches prominently featured humanoid robots, including a lengthy martial arts demonstration where over ​a dozen Unitree humanoids performed sophisticated fight sequences waving swords, poles and nunchucks ​in close proximity to human children performers...

Posted: Feb 17, 2026 4:48 AM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

- CBC -

Prince Albert urges 2026 census participation after missing out on funds

The City of Prince Albert says it’s lost out on millions of dollars in federal and provincial funding because of low participation in the 2021 population census.

VIDEO | Included:

February 17, 2026 - 49 minutes ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf6_cMa9hHs