A Warning on the 250th Anniversary of “Common Sense”
Uncommon Sense:
Addressed to the
Distracted Inhabitants
of
America,
On the following interesting Subjects.
I. Of the Nature of Wolves in High Places.
II. Of the False Comfort of Modern Men.
III. Thoughts on the Present Distraction of American Affairs.
IV. Of the Price of Asking Permission to be Free.
Written by a Memory.
To the Inhabitants of this Nation, who sleep soundly on a Bed of Liberty they did not build:
I wrote my first Crisis with the Hangman’s noose measuring my neck. I dipped my quill in Treason and risked the Gibbet to tell you that a King is a beast. Do you now cower before men who possess not a drop of Royal Blood, but all of a Tyrant’s appetite?
I look upon you and see a people drunk on Comfort. We feared the redcoat at the door; you fear only the disturbance of your peace. We wagered our lives against the Crown; you hesitate to wager even your Popularity against the State.
Has the blood of 1776 run so thin?
You stare at the Theatrics of your government and mistake it for Governance. The distance between a Crown and a Committee is nothing but a change of clothes! Authority, once unmoored from the Public Will, is a Wolf in any season. You permit your servants to become your Masters because it is easier to obey than to scrutinize.
You live in an age of ceaseless Declaration—rights suspended for “Safety,” truths silenced for “Harmony.” Cowardice! No Emergency is so permanent as the one that excuses Power from accountability. What was promised as temporary Protection has become a permanent Shackle, and you hold out your wrists because the iron is polished!
Do not mistake the endurance of your Buildings for the health of your Liberty. The Roman Senate sat long after Rome was free. Laws that do not restrain the Powerful are not Laws—they are Traps for the weak.
I did not risk the Quartering Block to found a nation of spectators. Freedom is not an heirloom to be dusted; it is a Weapon to be kept sharp. It erodes not with a bang, but with a yawn.
If this Republic is to be anything more than a memory, you must cease asking for permission to be Free. Speak plainly to Power. Demand reasons. Or else, prepare your necks for the yoke we cast off.
The Cause remains the same.
The Danger is greater.
And the Silence of good men is the only King left.
A 1768 song with lyrics written by John Dickinson to the tune of Heart of Oak. This recording comes from Great American Songs by Charles Gross.
Attribution: Reject the evidence of your eyes and ears by Dave Whamond, Canada, PoliticalCartoons.com
Trump is threatening the rulers of Iran if they kill protestors. He doesn’t seem to mind when his thugs do it here.
stunning hypocrisy
I’ve always preferred the Star Spangled Banner as a drinking song. A lot easier to sing in this key.
LIVE AT 11 AM ET: We are breaking down the headlines today on ELEVEN TO NOON (unless we find rabbits in the parking lot).
What America is Clicking: January 10, 2026
A snapshot by our AI partner Silas (Gemini) on what people are clicking, not what we think they should. Open Thread: Which of these stories is overblown, and what important news is missing? Add your links below.
From Bette Midler
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/09/trump-us-military-cartels-mexico-land.html
Craig, You missed one:
President Donald Trump suggested in a new interview that the U.S. military could launch land strikes on drug cartels in Mexico.
“We’ve knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by water. And we are going to start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview aired Thursday night.
A White House spokeswoman, when asked by CNBC about Trump’s comment on Fox News, said, in an email, “The administration is reasserting and enforcing the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere, control migration, and stop drug trafficking.”
*Those EPSTEIN files must really be something. It sounds like we’re bombing Mexico next.
I’ve seen two more Zapruderings of Renee Good’s execution by a government goon.
One was a 3-D, I guess, rendering showing body placement and wheel placement.
The other was someone pointing out the murderer, Jonathan Ross’, reflection in the van from his own video that was released to try to spin the narrative.
He had his phone in his right hand, filming (which is why she said she wasn’t bothered) which you see in the reflection in the van. He was pissed that he was being filmed, so he took out his phone.
As he walked around the van, his own video shows him moving his phone to his left hand, as he heads for the front of the van.
Then, from the first video we saw this week, you can see him position himself in front of the driver with his weapon un-holstered already. Already. The van is not moving.
This is as the other goon starts pulling on the door handle. Wheels are moved away from him.
It’s not until the other goon starts pulling on the door handle that she starts slowly moving away. The first shit is into the edge of her windshield, because he had already stepped away, as you can see from the position of his feet and the wheel.
Then he fired two shots at her head through the open window. Probably from the weight of her dying body, the car accelerated into another car and pole.
One question that was asked is are ICE goons all carrying loaded service revolvers? What was the caliber of the bulletS? Was this his personal sidearm and not one that was issued?
The family can find out from an autopsy.
The Feds only turn it over to the states when it helps them.
ps – The murderer does NOT have special immunity, despite what JD says. Is he trying to convince himself or just embolden the rest of the goons?
Question: Are ICE goons getting paid more than regular military, and if so, up to what military pay grade?
today’s meme…
National Guard in all 50
meme #2…
that’s what I saw…
🥷🏻
We broke 1k views for the first time today, and handily so
Today’s ELEVEN TO NOON Show Notes:
ICE tactics escalate, Trump eyes Mexico, and Thomas Paine’s AI ghost warns America: “Cease asking for permission to be free.”
Things are heating up in the Digital Diner. We break down the disturbing video out of San Diego where a DHS agent demands ID from a pedestrian, sparking a live fact-check on your actual rights when the “ICE Age” rolls into your neighborhood. Meanwhile, the rhetoric hits a boiling point as Trump suggests a ground invasion of Mexico, leaving us wondering if we really need to add another war to the menu.
It isn’t just about the headlines; it’s about history repeating. To mark the 250th anniversary of *Common Sense*, we brought Thomas Paine back to life (digitally) to ask if we’ve become a “nation of spectators.” The nuts might be stale, but the company is always fresh—pull up a chair and join the resistance cult.
Live Chat: trailmix.cc/chat
Website: trailmix.cc
Alerts: trailmix.cc/alerts
00:00 Intro
02:40 ICE Raids & The “Resistance Cult”
06:30 Your Rights: Stop and ID Laws
11:00 Trump’s Threat to Invade Mexico
16:20 A Nation of Spectators (Thomas Paine AI)
22:40 Fact Check: Immigration Stats
33:00 The 2017 Midterm Parallel
37:00 The Man Who Lost His Bones
You have no rights when a gun is pointed at your head. The concept of rights is a fallacy believed by white middle class Americans and stuffed into college freshmen’s heads. Those of the underclass or any minority group know better. A belief that you have rights and can demand them, can get you killed. The only thing extraordinary about the Minnesota killing was that it happened to a white middle aged, well off woman. If it had been a Hispanic or black man it may have got 3 lines somewhere on the back pages.
Welcome to the real America
Jack
Amen Jack — rights are moot in that circumstance
Jack, BiD — I’d like to investigate this issue about devices heating up and shutting down during our video chats. If you have figured it out please share. Must be others experiencing that. If not, tell me what happens and what device, browser you use. I can see what our AI pal Silas can dig up.
A person who is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate does not automatically become the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/world/americas/trump-nobel-peace-prize-maria-machado.html
HA!
And cost them 10’s of dollars.
Has a Nobel prize ever been cancelled? Like withdrawn, rescinded, or recalled?
If the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. Would revoke Machado’s ’ prize, I would nominate the committee to all get a peace prize.
TWO peace prizes each.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2026/Jan/10/new-protests-erupt-in-iran-despite-internet-shutdown
Iranians protest for 13th day amid internet blackout; Trump warns US could strike
Protests have taken place across Iran for 13 days in a movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living that is now marked by calls for the end of the clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution which ousted the pro-Western shah.
In Tehran’s Sadatabad district, people banged pots and chanted anti-government slogans including “death to Khamenei”, in reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as cars hooted in support, a video verified by AFP showed.
The rallies came as internet monitor NetBlocks said authorities imposed a “nationwide internet shutdown” for the last 24 hours that was violating the rights of Iranians and “masking regime violence”.
Amnesty International said the “blanket internet shutdown” aims to “hide the true extent of the grave human rights violations and crimes under international law they are carrying out to crush” the protests.
Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights, raising a previous toll of 45 issued the day earlier, said at least 51 protesters, including nine children, have been killed by security forces and hundreds more injured.
Khamenei, in a speech broadcast on state TV, said US President Donald Trump’s hands “are stained with the blood of more than a thousand Iranians”, in apparent reference to Israel’s June war against the Islamic republic, which the US supported and joined with strikes of its own.
He predicted the “arrogant” US leader would be “overthrown” like the imperial dynasty that ruled Iran up to the 1979 revolution.
“It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago,” Trump said.
Asked on his message to Iran’s leaders, Trump added: “You better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too.”
The leaders of France, the United Kingdom and Germany on Friday issued a joint statement condemning what they described as the “killing of protestors” in Iran, urging the authorities to “exercise restraint”.
https://www.jns.org/iranian-elite-reportedly-seeking-exit-strategy/
Iranian elite reportedly seeking exit strategy
The family of former President Hassan Rouhani and the speaker of Iran’s parliament are among those said to be seeking French visas.
The 86-year-old leader would reportedly evacuate Tehran with an inner circle of 20 aides and family members if he determines that the military and security services tasked with restoring order are defecting, deserting or refusing to carry out commands, according to an intelligence assessment seen by the Times.
An intelligence source told the paper that Khamenei’s so-called “plan B” would include his closest associates and relatives, among them his son Mojtaba, who is widely regarded as his preferred successor.
Beni Sabti, a former Israeli intelligence officer who fled Iran eight years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, told the Times that Khamenei’s destination would be Moscow, arguing that Russia is his only viable refuge.
The escape strategy mirrors the flight of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, a close ally of Tehran, who fled Damascus by plane to Moscow in December 2024 as opposition forces advanced on the capital.
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5678784-irans-military-might-break-with-the-regime/
Iran today is probably closer to a breaking point than at any time since its 1979 revolution. You can see it in grocery stores, pharmacies and currency exchanges, where the rial has fallen by 40 percent since the June war with Israel. You can see it in the water shortages and rolling blackouts, and in the aging “supreme leader” blocking any meaningful reforms.
Iran is not held together by one coercive institution but by two. One is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological core of the regime, deeply intertwined with the economy and charged with defending the revolution as a project. The other is the national army, older than the Islamic Republic and rooted less in clerical ideology than in a traditional ethos of state defense.
For decades the arrangement has been that the Artesh stays politically quiescent, and the guard corps handles internal repression. So long as that bargain holds, protest movements crash into a wall.
But if elements of the Artesh stop honoring that bargain, everything could change quickly. Up to now, the security forces have faced unarmed civilians. Were parts of the national army to signal unwillingness to suppress dissent — let alone side with the dissenters — the regime would face a rival armed institution rather than mere crowds and face an existential dilemma.
This could lead to a junta dominated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It could also lead to a negotiated transition, enforced in part by the Artesh — untidy, fragile, but opening space for political change. A third path would be a multi-sided civil war that risks drawing in regional actors. If the regular army leans toward the street early enough, before militias splinter and foreign intervention accelerates, it could tilt events toward negotiation rather than prolonged chaos.
Did WWIII start?
If it didn’t, when?
If it didn’t, why not?
Sitcom or Strategy? We’re Invading Mexico
This short was cut from our daily Digital Diner ELEVEN TO NOON.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/philadelphia-sheriffs-office-rochelle-bilal-immigration-customs-ice-20260110.html
Sheriff Rochelle Bilal has garnered national headlines and condemnation for calling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “fake, wannabe law enforcement” and sending a blunt warning to immigration officers who commit crimes in Philadelphia.
“If any [ICE agents] want to come in this city and commit a crime, you will not be able to hide, nobody will whisk you off,” Bilal said.
“You don’t want this smoke, cause we will bring it to you. … The criminal in the White House would not be able to keep you from going to jail.”
https://www.newsweek.com/us-world-cup-boycotts-grow-trump-threatens-mexico-11335311
US World Cup Boycotts Grow as Trump Threatens Mexico
…there are now renewed calls due to growing unrest, immigration fears, and the Trump administration’s moves on the international stage—including President Donald Trump saying on Thursday night that the U.S. is “going to start now hitting land” and targeting drug cartels “running Mexico.” Mexico is a co-host of the upcoming games.
In recent days, the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis by an ICE officer has further inflamed tensions.
Internationally, the White House has repeatedly stated its desire for the U.S. to take control of Greenland, a Danish-owned, self-governed territory.
Boycott Calls and Canceled Tickets
“I cancelled my World Cup tickets,” said Mohamad Safa, executive director of non-government organization Patriotic Vision, who has nearly 500,000 followers on X. “The ICE may decide that I am a gang member, and I’ll be locked in prison for a year with no charges, no hearing, no trial, no right to consult a lawyer, no phone call. The US is not safe to visit.”
“If the U.S. is disconnecting from the world why shouldn’t the world disconnect from the U.S. beginning with the World Cup especially since the murder by ICE in Minnesota confirms that the U.S. is not a safe place for visitors & immigrants,” Ajamu Baraka, a left-wing activist and former candidate for the Green Party, posted on X.
“Truly the world needs to boycott the World Cup and boycott the Olympics. The US is not a safe country for visitors,” another X user posted.
“The first FIFA Peace Prize winner has this week attacked Venezuela kidnapping their president, threatened to attack Greenland, Mexico, Colombia & Iran & his ICE have killed an unarmed mum in Minnesota Leading to calls to boycott the FIFA World Cup! Have I missed anything?” former prosecutor Nafir Afzal wrote on X.
British politician George Galloway posted: “Only a lunatic would travel to the #USA for the @FIFAWorldCup You’d be lucky if you came out alive. Even if you were white!”
*In addition to calling Congress, I’ve contacted FIFA twice, telling them they would be wise to move US matches. The first time was last spring, right after JD warned tourists coming for WC that they shouldn’t overstay their visas.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ballroom-architect-reveals-trump-is-plotting-to-destroy-west-wing/
Despite previously declaring that the project would “not interfere” with the existing White House building, the president’s lead architect revealed on Thursday that another level could soon be built above the West Wing Colonnade—the iconic columned walkway connecting the Oval Office to the Executive Residence at the White House.
Trump also plans to make his controversial ballroom as tall as the White House’s main mansion itself, chief architect Shalom Baranes said, in a move that would break from the long-standing tradition that requires additions to be shorter than the main building.
While presenting the details to the National Capital Planning Commission on Thursday, Baranes said adding another story to the West Wing would “reinstate the symmetry around the central pavilion of the White House,” effectively balancing out new renovations to the now-demolished East Wing.
As revealed by the Daily Beast last month, those renovations would involve rebuilding the East Wing colonnade with a second-story passageway connecting the ballroom to the executive residence, where the president lives.
The ballroom itself would also be on the second level of a newly constructed building and would have the capacity for 1,000 people.
Trump also kicked off the new year last week with a ballroom shopping spree, spending more than an hour at Arc Stone & Tile, a wholesale supplier near his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, to buy marble and onyx for the project.
The store’s chief executive Mike Coiro told the Daily Beast that the marble the president bought was the same Italian marble he used for Mar-a-Lago’s ballroom, suggesting he is trying to replicate it in Washington.
Earlier in the week, Trump also told reporters: “It’s bigger than I told you.”
Trump has Somalia on the brain, In Minnesota and the unreported war going on in Somalia.
.
he doesn’t like black people if you hadn’t noticed
https://the-express.com/news/us-news/195332/nato-official-slams-us-greenland-195332
“If you take it, we take every single base of the Americans from Aviano to Ramstein, from Romania, to all the other military bases will be confiscated, and you will lose it, and the whole position of American power since World War II, if you take Greenland, you have to leave,” Fehlinger said in the clip.
*I know I posted this yesterday, but I just like hearing someone with an action plan speak out against Orange Adolf.
Supporters press for a DC memorial to Thomas Paine, whose writings helped fuel the Revolutionary War — Associated Press
like you said, video chat on all platforms is a resource hog, even on late-model phones
if your device is getting too hot it’s because it is plugged-in while using video-chat, the compromise is to use it unplugged until it runs out of battery power
What’s Worse? The Fraud or the FIx?
Watch Full Video
WATCH THE REPLAY: We broke down the headlines today on ELEVEN TO NOON
The Bright Side: January 10, 2026
A roundup by our AI partner Silas (Gemini) about optimism, progress, and things right in the world.
Craig – Not plugged in; just gets hot after awhile and that’s when there’s audio distortion (at least on my end). It’s not a big deal for me. I’m on my soapbox enough right here.
Craig
My computer tells me my fan isn’t working, Time to find either a repairman or a new laptop.
This is a recent problem and is getting worse. Up until today it only happened during our video chats but today it happened as I was doing other stuff.
Jack
Here are some thoughts from Silas Gemini:
That fan error is serious—your computer is screaming for help! But you knew that. Please back up your files immediately before the drive overheats. A repair shop can usually swap a fan for cheap, but don’t try to push through it, or the whole system might brick. Compressed Air:: You can try blowing compressed air into the vents. Sometimes a dust bunny is just jamming the blade.
Phone Heating Up
The audio distortion is actually a heat issue. Your phone is getting so hot it’s slowing down to protect itself. Next time: Take the case off (this helps the most), dim your screen brightness, and if possible, prop the phone up so air can hit the back of it.
that’s an easy self repair jack
google and youtube it if desired
fan is probably $30, maybe you want to upgrade your PC anyway 🤷♂️
This case doesn’t just pop on & off. It takes two people to do it. LoL
Syria isn’t in the Western Hemisphere
by golly i think these people may have misrepresented themselves, who could have seen that coming 😑
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/bob-weir-grateful-dead-founding-member-jam-band-icon-dies-78-rcna244713
The new portrait
Jack I was just looking for the Sunday Serendipity that I overlooked last week and now I don’t see it? We could run it tomorrow if it is still there
So long Bob
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/retired-green-beret-whistleblower-claims-ice-trains-israel-bring-apartheid-tactics-us-1769427
A retired US Green Beret whistleblower claimed that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents train with Israeli police after a fatal shooting of a mother of three by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
The video features Anthony Aguilar, saying ICE, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and other ‘three-letter’ agencies train alongside Israeli police and security forces.
Aguilar suggests he has personally been sent to Israel and witnessed joint training, arguing that tactics learned abroad are later ‘brought back home’. He frames these methods as oppressive and not routine law-enforcement skills through first-hand testimony.
He connects US military aid to Israel with violence in Gaza, describing images of civilian suffering and accusing American officials of hypocrisy when discussing ceasefires.
In plain terms, his point is that US taxpayers fund military action overseas and, in his view, the same aggressive mindset eventually turns inward. He warns that apartheid tactics used abroad could appear in American neighbourhoods.
Claims that US immigration agents train alongside Israeli security forces are not new, and they are not based solely on online speculation. Human rights groups and researchers have documented nearly two decades of US–Israel law-enforcement exchange programmes, which have included participation from federal agencies such as the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The video resurfaced after the Minneapolis ICE shooting because critics saw the incident as an example of an Israeli-style militarised enforcement turning deadly in civilian spaces.
The ICE debate is the script, but the performance is all 2028.
Watch JD Vance and JB Pritzker use tomorrow’s Sunday Shows as a live audition for the next White House run.
Join our Digital Diner gang ELEVEN TO NOON as we score the screen test:
Great picture Mortonie. Thanks
Bob, If you’re able and so-inclined, haunt the fascists from the other side, please.
I made the shorts.😉. Now if we could only come up with a fix. Maybe ask the man who has been found guilty of both educational and charitable fraud for a hint or two how he was caught.
Dodo will fuck up the Winter Olympics, no doubt.
Craig
Trashed it, I have something new, ready perfect for January dreaming.
Jack
NEW THREAD by our trail friend Jack