Mind-boggling brainteaser challenges you to find the only piece of popcorn without a smiling face - and it's much trickier than it looks!

UK Daily Mail  "This baffling brainteaser challenges players to spot the only piece of popcorn without a smiling face - and it's surprisingly tricky to do. 
"The visual puzzle, created by British company Metcalfe's and charity Spread a Smile, shows cheery popcorn pieces having a party... but there is one in their number that's not joining in the fun. 
"To make things more difficult the creators have added in distractions like movie clappers, rubber rings and bright yellow party hats." . . .
   

More here.

Russian pranksters say they fooled Bernie Sanders by posing as Greta Thunberg

Louis Casiano | Fox News  "A pair of Russian pranksters who have targeted several high-profile American politicians claim they called Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders late last year posing as teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg with an offer to support his campaign.
"Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov Told the Associated Press the call took place in December 2019. The pair posted an audio recording of the purported call to YouTube on Thursday. The Sanders campaign did not immediately return Fox News' request to verify whether or not the recording is authentic.
"The recording was released more than two months after the call because of Sanders' success in the Iowa Democratic caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, they said.
"On the call, a female pretends to be Thunberg and Stolyarov plays her father, Svante. They offer to lend support to the Vermont senator's campaign. Sanders suggests "Greta" make a public statement in support of him and that they do an event together the next time she visits the United States." . . .

. . . " 'Let us continue to talk and when you come to the United States I will bring some people together and we can do some interesting things, and if you wanted to make a statement in support of my candidacy and the program we have outlined for climate change, I would be very very appreciative," Sanders said." . . .

. . . "At one point during the exchange, the fake Thunberg proposes to record a hip-hop song with Sanders, singer Billie Eilish and rapper Kanye West.The pranksters then say they are slated to visit Russia and need advice on how to behave." . . .
. . . 

. . . "House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was a victim in 2018 when the radio shock jocks posed as Andriy Parubiy, the former speaker of Ukraine's parliament. During the call, Schiff said he would be willing to accept information damaging to Trump.
"Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., was also tricked by the pranksters when she was tricked into thinking she speaking with Thunberg and that she had dirt on Trump."

Mike and Hillary: watch out, Mike

Bloomberg campaign downplays report he is considering Hillary Clinton as running mate  . . . "The Drudge Report, citing a source close to Bloomberg’s campaign, reported that Clinton was under consideration after internal polling found that a Bloomberg-Clinton ticket would be a “formidable force.”. . .
"The conservative news aggregator, which came to prominence in the 90s for first reporting the Monica Lewinsky scandal, reported that Bloomberg would consider changing his residence to a home he owns in Colorado or Florida, “since the electoral college makes it hard for a POTUS and VPOTUS from the same state.”
"But the Bloomberg campaign quickly tamped down that report but fell short of denying it outright.
""We are focused on the primary and the debate, not VP speculation," Bloomberg communication director Jason Schechter said in a statement." . . .

DICK MORRIS: To: Mike Bloomberg: Before you put Hillary on your ticket, better hire a taster  

"Former Clinton advisor Dick Morris fired a warning shot to Mike Bloomberg following Matt Drudge’s claim that Bloomberg was considering Hillary Clinton as a running mate.

“ 'Sources close to Bloomberg campaign tell DRUDGE REPORT that candidate is considering Hillary as running mate, after their polling found the Bloomberg-Clinton combination would be a formidable force…” Matt Drudge said.

"DICK MORRIS: To: Mike Bloomberg: Before you put Hillary on your ticket, better hire a taster. . . ."

The Media’s Bernie Sanders Makeover Begins

Left-wing pundits have already started selling moderates on a vision of the radical Democratic presidential front-runner that doesn’t comport with reality.

Tony Branco

David Harsanyi  "Just you watch: By the time Election Day rolls around in November, liberal columnists will be telling us that Bernie Sanders is the “real conservative” in the presidential race.
"Many among the center–left commentariat are struggling to come to terms with the likelihood that the Democratic Party will nominate an authoritarian leftist for president. A lot of this anxiety is, no doubt, driven by recent polls that find a majority of Americans are more open to voting for a non-binary Martian atheist than for a socialist.
"Others, however, have begun reinventing Sanders, who, they now contend, isn’t actually a socialist socialist, because he’ll never send you to die in an icy gulag and few of his policy ideas will ever come to fruition.
"Matt Fuller over at Huffington Post posits that moderates shouldn’t be too “scared” of a Sanders presidency “when all Republicans and most Democrats in Congress publicly oppose Medicare for All.” Really? The signature policy idea championed by a major party’s leading presidential contender is so unpopular that the majority of elected officials can’t publicly support it, and that should reassure moderates?
“ 'Vote Bernie: He’s got tremendously unpopular positions that will never pass!' ” . . .

Paul Krugman is more straightforward in his latest column, “Bernie Sanders Isn’t a Socialist.” The real problem, contends the New York Times pundit, is that the man who once rolled with the “Trotskyite Socialist Workers Party” and defended a slew of Marxist dictators throughout the Cold War merely brands himself a socialist . . .

CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin feels ‘snookered’ for having taken Michael Avenatti seriously

Twitchy  "Celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti was found guilty on multiple charges yesterday in the Nike extortion trial, and a legal analyst for the cable news network that hosted him countless times (and even touted him as a possible contender for president) is now having second thoughts: . . .

‘Heartbreak on Valentine’s Day’: Resistance media’s collective squee-gasm over ‘folk hero’ Michael Avenatti is coming back to haunt them
‘CNN hardest hit’: The Resistance’s favorite lawyer Michael Avenatti has just been found guilty on all counts in Nike extortion trial

CNN’s ‘Reliable Sources’ newsletter takes aim at Fox News, right-wing personalities for saying Avenatti was a ‘media darling’ (Do they REALLY want to go here?)

Sen. Ben Sasse on Michael Avenatti conviction: “Avenatti is a D-list attorney but a Grade-A scumbag”

“the noted scumbag and left-wing-media darling who orchestrated attacks on Justice Brett Kavanaugh, was found guilty on all counts in his Nike extortion trial.”

The impeachathon must go on

Timothy Bishop

Democrats Aiming for More Impeachments  1. It's hard to imagine a weaker or more disgraceful case than the last round, but stay tuned.  Every single Democrat in the Senate voted for a charge so comically weak that it could exist only under the blanket of protection deployed by a virulently dishonest national media.  The House charged the president and his team with obstructing Congress because they did not like that the White House's team asserted executive privilege, something Bill Clinton did 14 times.  It is hard to conceive of a charge that could be any weaker, although trying to impeach the president for removing traitorous staff members might clear that low bar.

Executive privilege is a foundational protection built into U.S. separation of powers.  We have the Judicial Branch to decide these questions.  House Democrats were so sure that they had an ironclad case that they rushed to...not respond to the White House's legal arguments.

Equal Rights Amendment's Intentions HIJACKED By LGBTQ Movement

Socio-Political Journal

"The slogan in the 1970s was ERA Now. But what happens when it’s ERA later?"In this case, much later. Virginia’s purported ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment last month created a legal mess. Among the questions raised is whether the equality promised for two sexes would apply to the growing LGBTQ movement.
“ 'What is difficult in the case of the Equal Rights Amendment is that the words are essentially meaningless,” said Rob Natelson, who heads the Constitutional Studies Center at the Independence Institute. “The amendment is so poorly drafted and so general it’s fair to say it’s meaningless.”
"The amendment, which has been kicking around for nearly a century, cleared Congress in 1972 and headed to the states for ratification. It stalled out, but backers in recent years have tried to revive it, even though deadlines for ratification expired decades ago.
"Virginia says it is the critical 38th state to ratify the ERA with its General Assembly vote and insists the deadline is meaningless. The Trump administration says Virginia is wrong.
"This week, so did Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an ERA supporter who nevertheless said the amendment is dead and supporters need to restart the process.
“ 'I would like to see a new beginning,” she said Monday.
"The ERA would declare equality of rights on “account of sex.”
"What that means exactly is contentious. If the amendment is added to the Constitution, it would create a morass of legal questions — chief among them whose vision of sex would control it.
"When Congress debated and approved the ERA in 1972, equality of the sexes was understood to mean men and women. The gay rights movement was nascent, and transgender rights was only notional. Neither figured in the debate in Congress nor in the statehouses that ratified it." . . .

The Democrats’ February Blues; "Earlier this month, the Democrats had a disastrous four days".

Victor Davis Hanson  . . . "On February 4, the second day of this Democratic train wreck, Trump gave his State of the Union address. Even many critics grudgingly admitted that it was the best speech of Trump’s presidency. That same day, a Gallup poll showed Trump’s approval rating at 49 percent, the highest of his presidency — higher than when he won the 2016 election.

"The Democratic members of Congress attending the State of the Union address appeared petty, showing that they were politicos first and elected officials second. Some Democratic representatives did not show up. Others walked out. Some hectored Trump. Some would not stand up — even when ordinary Americans were being applauded for their extraordinary lives.
"House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) tore up her official copy of the presidential speech on national television the moment Trump finished delivering it. It was the first time in history that the House speaker, seated directly behind the president, had shown such childishness.
"Then, on February 5, the Senate voted to acquit Trump on two impeachment charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
"When the impeachment inquiry started in September based on a “whistleblower” complaint, Trump’s approval rating was about eight points lower than it is now. The efforts of the impeachment triad of Representatives Pelosi (D., Calif.), Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.), and Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) proved an unmitigated political disaster for their party. It’s no wonder, given that the partisan impeachment effort never won bipartisan or public support." . . .

Bernie isn't lefty enough for NYT??? . . . "Krugman wrote, "Bernie Sanders isn’t actually a socialist in any normal sense of the term. He doesn’t want to nationalize our major industries and replace markets with central planning; he has expressed admiration, not for Venezuela, but for Denmark. He’s basically what Europeans would call a social democrat — and social democracies like Denmark are, in fact, quite nice places to live, with societies that are, if anything, freer than our own."

"If Denmark were so nice and free, Krugman would live there. He's rich, and any university would hire him at the drop of a hat.

He greatly amuses me. He is the 21st century's Professor Irwin Corey, who billed himself as "The World’s Foremost Authority." Corey was a comic. Krugman is an economist. He has a Nobel Prize to prove it. But to me, he is a bigger laugh than Corey, whom Lenny Bruce called "one of the most brilliant comedians of all time." . . .

Alabama representative introduces bill forcing men over 50 to have vasectomies

Andrea Widburg  "Last year, Alabama passed a law banning abortion except for situations in which the mother's life is at risk.  A federal judge found the bill unconstitutional, and the Alabama attorney general did not appeal the decision.  Nevertheless, on Thursday, state rep. Rolanda Hollis introduced a counter-bill requiring that all men over fifty or who have had three children must get a vasectomy.  The bill is silly and fails to make a convincing pro-abortion case.

"The bill's summary is brief:

Under existing law, there are no restrictions on the reproductive rights of men.

This bill would require a man to undergo a vasectomy within one month of his 50th birthday or the birth of his third biological child, whichever comes first. 

"Hollis explained that she wants to highlight that it's wrong for Alabama ever to foreclose the possibility of abortion for unwanted children, especially in cases of rape or incest:. . . "

Progressives are told they might be allowed to have children after all  . . . "Despite our ability to feed people (an ability hindered by culture and corruption, not technology), there exists a class of people that wants to see humans erased from the Earth so the land can be returned to a pre-human paradise.  These people are oblivious to the fact that it's humans who give meaning to the Earth and that Nature without humans to observe it and provide context is the equivalent of one hand clapping." . . .

Leftist thuggery: Political violence accelerates against Trump-supporters

Monica Showalter  "Last year, there was the brutal beating of the Manhattan art gallery–owner who was beaten black and blue for walking to Chinatown with his MAGA hat on. As with so many of these cases, the cops dismissed it as isolated and unimportant.

"The conservative press is paying attention, but the nets and mainstream media continue to ignore this shocking pattern of political violence.

"Ever see one of these violent incidents on an Axios news summary?  Ever seen an editorial of outrage in the Washington Post over the leftist cult of violence? Nobody's being asked to answer for this climate of violence that is clearly real and growing, amounting to a threat on our democracy. Democrats love to speak of "threats to democracy" in reference to President Trump, but rest assured, the real ones are in the leftist thugs attempting to turn the U.S. into a Venezuelan-style hellhole where violence rules the day." . . .

“This is a Flag of White Supremacy!” WATCH as Raging Leftists Attack College Republicans, Spit on Flag  

Video shows one of the thugs/thugettes spitting on a replica of the Betsy Ross flag. It also shows one of the attackers shoving a conservative student into a pile of rocks.

Stone Jury foreman sees racism even when she has to create it...

Jury Foreman In Roger Stone Case Was Trump-Hating Russia Collusion Hoaxer
If in congress, she would have been one more scowling face dressed in white.

. . ."In August last year, Hart also tweeted that anybody who supported President Donald Trump was racist.

“Then stop being racists. Co-signing and defending a racist and his racist rhetoric makes you racist. Point blank,” Hart wrote on Twitter while linking to a piece in the Atlantic of Trump supporters complaining about the label constantly being lodged against them.

" 'But believe it or not, it gets worse. While Hart was serving on the jury, she tweeted about the president’s impeachment, sharing a letter to the editor in the New York Times requesting the outlet use more direct language to accuse Trump of committing a crime in his dealings with Ukraine." . . .

Read Hart's tweets at the above link

A former Democratic congressional candidate revealed Wednesday that she was the foreperson on the jury that convicted Roger Stone.  . . . "Judge Jackson interjected during the line of questioning to ask Hart whether Trump or Stone’s political affiliations would change how she weighed evidence at trial.
“ 'Is there anything about his affiliation with the Trump campaign and the Republican party in general that gives you any reason to pause or hesitate or think that you couldn’t fairly evaluate the evidence against him?” Jackson asked.
"Hart answered: “No.' ” . . .

...but is she good with this racism? I'm told we have to accept it, but I will not. 


University Student In ‘Multicultural’ Center Says Whites Should Leave: ‘Too Many White People In Here’
"The Constitution is sexist", says a squad member
U. Central Florida Students Protest ‘White Supremacist’ Ben Shapiro

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Three High School Girls Launch Lawsuit in Bid To Block Transgender Athletes from Dominating Female Sports

“Forcing girls to be spectators in their own sports is completely at odds with Title IX, a federal law designed to create equal opportunities for women in education and athletics,” 

Western Journal

Bloomfield High School transgender athlete Terry Miller, second from left, wins the final of the 55-meter dash over transgender athlete Andraya Yearwood, far left, and female runners in the Connecticut girls Class S indoor track meet at Hillhouse High School in New Haven on Feb. 7, 2019

"The families of three female high school runners filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday seeking to block transgender athletes in Connecticut from participating in girls sports.
"Selina Soule, a senior at Glastonbury High School, Chelsea Mitchell, a senior at Canton High School, and Alanna Smith, a sophomore at Danbury High School are represented by the conservative nonprofit organization Alliance Defending Freedom.
"They argue that allowing boys who identify as female to compete has deprived them of track titles and scholarship opportunities.
“ entally and physically, we know the outcome before the race even starts,” said Smith, who is the daughter of former Major League Baseball pitcher Lee Smith. “That biological unfairness doesn’t go away because of what someone believes about gender identity. All girls deserve the chance to compete on a level playing field.”

Making HIStory: In February, a Man Will Try Out for the Olympics – in the Women’s Division  "We’re on the edge of history.
"February will see the USA Olympic trials, and for the first time ever, in the women’s division, a dude will take a shot.
"From Sports Illustrated:

[Megan Youngren] is set to make history on Feb. 29 as the first openly transgender athlete to compete at the U.S. Olympic marathon trials.

"Here’s how SI sketched it out:

"On Dec. 8, 2019, 28-year-old Megan Youngren became one of 63 women at the California International Marathon to officially qualify for the 2020 U.S. Olympic marathon trials, the race that will determine the team for Tokyo. Her 40th-place finish in 2:43:52 came as both a relief and a reward, after four months of intense training.

"As reported by the Anchorage Daily News, Susan Hazzard — head of communications for USA Track & Field — noted the newsworthiness:

“We have not had a transgender athlete compete in our Olympic trials or U.S. championships that I’m aware of,” said Hazzard, who has been with USA Track and Field for 20 years." . . .