🧚‍♀️ TREE HOUSE NEWS 🏡

NEWS AGGREGATOR & COMMENTS

May Great Spirit bless 🙏

Good morning, all! And it is a beautiful, typical, sunny springtime morning here at the Tree House News Central. 🏡📰 It's wonderfully warm out there, as it should be for this time of year. I am looking forward to going out and playing with my plants in my Green Space on the balcony this afternoon. This day is more like it, the kind of weather for walking in the park again🌞🌳🏞️🍃 There is not much new to report from the Newsroom this morning; all is well, so let us move on to the Discussion of the Day.

TODAY'S DISCUSSION

- Google Search -

Question: Who is doing the converting of the American political landscape toward authoritarianism? It's not Trump himself

Trump is too stupid.

🔹AI Overview

The shift toward authoritarianism is driven by a broad coalition of right-wing think tanks, conservative legal organizations, and influential operatives. Rather than originating with the president himself, this conversion is engineered by organizations like The Heritage Foundation, the America First Policy Institute, and key ideologues such as Russell Vought and Stephen Miller.

The primary architects orchestrating this shift include:

• The Heritage Foundation and Project 2025:
• Russell Vought:
• Stephen Miller:
• The Federalist Society:
• Influential Megadonors and Media Figures:

It's a Rich Man's World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETxmCCsMoD0

NOTE: In this little newsblog, Tree House News, I do my best to deliver the facts as closely as possible, using AI for the latest reports. I do my best to point out the possible underlying deceit and lying we see in the news on the airwaves almost daily. Lied to by the rich, THE RICH AND POWERFUL WHO WILL TURN THIS COUNTRY INTO A THIRD WORLD 💩🕳️COUNTRY, unless we, the people, wake the "F. up!" and do all we can do to derail their plans and keep the Constitution alive at all costs.

Even if it means we have to DEFEND AND PROTECT, but without doing it to the same extremes as they do, like mad bulls breaking into a china shop, smashing and trashing everything. The ignorant pea-brained "Dunce Brigade" is what I call them; all who call themselves Republicans are viper snakes in the grass, they are deranged. I do pray that after the elections, they get so badly beaten that they as a party will be DISOLVED INTO THE VACUUM OF NON-EXISTENCE. A bunch of insignificant little specks of dust floating in the ether of the infinite cosmos.

I am 80 years old, and I ain't about to change my ways, beliefs, or what I have learned about what's right or wrong. Both in theology and in quantum physics, the Quanta. I will not and refuse to change unless proven wrong. NOBODY IS GOING TO DICTATE TO ME WHAT'S RIGHT OR WRONG. I consider myself sufficiently intelligent to grapple with the issues we confront. I am largely self-educated, having spent days in libraries researching and seeking the truth about a wide range of topics that directly affect our lives. I have spent much time reading many books in libraries, and now that I have AI and Google Search to help me locate source material much faster, it's easier to get to the bottom of something. AI has its benefits.

Well, that pretty well wraps the discussion of the day. Thank you for dropping by to read the Tree House News.

BREAKING NEWS:

The shooting finally stopped. Then came everything else

Few ever see how a community carries on after a deadly school shooting. Survivors of last year's attack on a Minneapolis Catholic school want you to know: In class and at home, the trauma colors everything

MINNEAPOLIS — Near the end of a hall on the second floor of a red brick schoolhouse, third graders cozy up to read. Some pull on weighted blankets. A few take off their shoes. A handful settle under desks to plow through popular comics "Dog Man" and "Big Nate," or the series "I Survived," in which fictional children narrate their courage through disasters from Pompeii to Pearl Harbor.

After what happened to this school's 300 or so students just three days into this academic year, their teacher considered purging her classroom of almost every book. Nonfiction is nothing if not a buffet of bombs and blood. Even made-up stories feature characters who die, often shot by a gun.

But you can't filter their ordeal for them, Darcie Mullinax learned early from the trauma experts who came to this century-old private school to help everyone learn how to sleep again, how to think again, how to consider what might come next...

• Nobody went to school for weeks after the attack.:
• The Haegs did not have a plan for any of this.:

MUCH MORE TO READ - Complete with Images:

Published May 17, 2026

- CNN -

National Mall prayer event sparks concern about Trump administration eroding the wall between church and state

An all-day prayer event on the National Mall on Sunday — backed by the White House through a mix of taxpayer funds and private donations — is the most recent flashpoint in the Trump administration blurring separation of church and state.

The event, dubbed “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving,” is part of a series of celebrations commemorating America’s 250th birthday, and is expected to feature remarks from government officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and House Speaker Mike Johnson and video messages from President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The event will bring together faith leaders, public officials and musicians to reflect and worship ahead of the anniversary of the nation’s founding.

Sunday’s event is the latest in a series of faith initiatives and policy moves championed by the White House that have bolstered an emphasis on Christianity in the government’s operations, culture and policy.

Sunday’s event is the latest in a series of faith initiatives and policy moves championed by the White House that have bolstered an emphasis on Christianity in the government’s operations, culture and policy. Freedom 250, a nonprofit subsidiary of the National Park Foundation, which functions as the National Park Service's foundation arm, organized the event...

• Questions over constitutionality:
• A government-wide focus on Christianity:
• Public-private funds used for religious event:

Read More:

PUBLISHED May 17, 2026, 5:00 AM ET - 4 hr ago

- CNN -

Pete Hegseth thinks the lawmakers who know the most about the military should have the least to say

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s new attempt to mute his nemesis Sen. Mark Kelly is part of the Pentagon’s larger effort to muzzle all of us military retirees, especially those with legislative power.

It is ironic as well as troubling that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently went on X to accuse Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a decorated naval aviator who flew combat missions and served as a NASA astronaut, of improperly sharing privileged military information on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

It’s ironic because Hegseth himself revealed classified information and compromised operational security last year by sharing sensitive targeting information with a journalist, as well as his wife and brother, over Signal chats regarding a U.S. bombing raid in Yemen. Kelly, on the other hand, in his “Face the Nation” appearance, merely repeated the general concern that U.S. weapons stores are being depleted due to the Iran war. Not only has that concern been reported in the media for weeks, but it has also been discussed with the defense secretary in open congressional hearings.

• The “Signal Gate” defense secretary should not be insinuating that Kelly’s public comments violated any oath Kelly made,..

It is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to silence its most expert critics.

Read More:

May. 17, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT

- MS NOW -

CANADIAN NEWS:

Canadian, U.S. fascist fight clubs joining forces south of the border, CBC investigation finds

CBC ID'd Robert Rundo, founder of 'active club' movement, meeting with Second Sons Canada

Members of Canada's biggest white nationalist group trained this spring with U.S. counterparts south of the border and met with the founder of a global movement of fascist fight clubs, a CBC visual investigation has found. One expert called it a "very significant" signal of closer co-ordination between white supremacist groups on both sides of the border.

A Telegram post with blurred faces shows Second Sons Canada members posing with an individual CBC identified as Robert Rundo, an American neo-Nazi who founded the "active club" movement. Other posts show them training and meeting with active club groups in Texas and South Carolina in late March...

WATCH | Investigating Canadian white nationalist members south of the border:

• 'There's fun in fascism,' says Rundo:
• American Muscle event:

Posted: May 15, 2026 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: May 15

- CBC -

WHO declares Ebola outbreak in Congo, Uganda an emergency of international concern

Virus suspected as cause of death for 80 people, UN agency says

An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda has been declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization, after 80 suspected deaths and nine laboratory-confirmed cases.

On Sunday, WHO said in a statement that 80 suspected deaths, eight laboratory-confirmed cases and 246 suspected cases had been reported as of Saturday in the DRC's Ituri province across at least three health zones, including Bunia, Rwampara and Mongbwalu...

• International spread documented, WHO says:

WATCH | No approved therapies or vaccines for Bundibugyo virus, unlike other Ebola strains:

Read More:

Posted: May 16, 2026 8:18 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

- CBC -

I hope the factories will follow soon and have a Canadian workforce to make China-made cars manufactured in Canada. Is China eating Honda's lunch?

CONFIRMED: BYD’s 2026 Canada Lineup Is Insane (Top 7 Cars)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu4uPrJ0jF0