Cubs Fans! One of your stars flipped the bird in his Oval Office meeting!

UK Daily Mail

A Chicago Cubs outfielder flipped the bird while posing with President Donald Trump during an Oval Office meet-and-greet with the World Series champions on Wednesday.

Albert Almora, Jr, the Cubs center fielder, extended his middle finger while standing just a few feet from Trump as the president sat down at the Resolute Desk.

Almora has his hands in his pocket, but the left middle finger is clearly extended.

The photograph was snapped by the Chicago Sun Times and later posted on Twitter. 

Before arriving at the White House, Almora told the Sun Times he was looking forward to meeting Trump.

'I just look at it as it’s not every day you get to meet the President of the United States,' he said. 

'And in a year I get to meet two.'

Trump welcomed the manager and several players from the Cubs to the White House.

The president met with manager Joe Maddon and some Cubs on Wednesday, and he calls the Cubs a 'great team'.

"Since taking office, a number of professional athletes have expressed displeasure over the prospect of visiting the polarizing Trump in the White House, but Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo above said it was 'an honor'   Read more.

Alleged NSA Leaker Reality Winner Appears in Federal Court, Trial Date Set

NBC News  "The young intelligence industry contractor accused of leaking a top-secret report to journalists made her second appearance in federal court on Tuesday, as a judge set her trial date for the fall.

"Reality Winner, 25, entered court Tuesday shackled at her ankles and wrists wearing an orange jumpsuit as two U.S. Marshals escorted her in. The handcuffs were removed and she sat quietly at the defense table for the rest of her status conference in federal court Tuesday afternoon.

"Judge Brian Epps set a proposed trial date of October 23 for Winner, who is charged with leaking classified information to the media while she was a government contractor working with the National Security Agency.

"She has pleaded not guilty to the charge of "willful retention and transmission of national defense information."

" 'It's a quite simple case, one count, one defendant,” Epps said during the Tuesday hearing, adding, “I don't want classified action to delay the case.' ” . . .

O’Keefe Drops Part 2 CNN Undercover Bombshell=> Van Jones: Russia is a “Big Nothing Burger”

The Gateway Pundit  James O’Keefe strikes again!

Project Veritas just dropped part two of their bombshell undercover videos of CNN dubbed ‘American Pravda’.

Part two is undercover video of one of CNN’s most prominent left-leaning political commentators admitting that the Russia story is a ‘Nothing Burger’.

"As TGP previously reported, James O’Keefe released part one of his ‘American Pravda’ series with CNN. O’Keefe says his goal is to expose the real motivation behind the decision making process in our dominant media corporation. The Russia story has dominated CNN. Since the inauguration, CNN has mentioned Russia on air nearly 16,000 times.

"In part one of the series released late Monday night, CNN Producer John Bonifield admitted the Trump-Russia story is B.S. but they continue to push the false narrative for ‘ratings’.

"James O’Keefe teased his Twitter followers Tuesday evening about the Wednesday release of part 2, “Tomorrow is my 33rd birthday. We will be blowing the candles out around noon, unwrapping ‘American Pravda: CNN, Part II’ "

. . . 

We all know that there is no Trump-Russia story. The media knows it and so do all the Democrat leaders. Shame on the mainstream media for pushing a false narrative for ‘ratings’ and to undermine the President of the United States. CNN should have their White House press credential stripped immediately.

VIDEO of Van Jones via Project Veritas:

UPDATED: Man destroys new Ten Commandments statue at Arkansas Capitol (Video)

UPDATE:  Man livestreams himself 'destroying Arkansas' new six-foot Ten Commandments monument' less than 24 hours after it was erected"   
Chutzpah manifested: "Prior to ramming the monument, Reed shared another video on his Facebook page where he said his intent to start a GoFundMe to buy a new car afterwards."  

. . . "During his interview with authorities at the time, he said 'voices in his head' and 'Satan' told him to urinate on the monument, and to 'smash it.'  

"He also had admitted that he was a Satanist.

"Reed was released from an Oklahoma hospital in January 2015 'under an agreement with Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater for continued treatment and family support. He is diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder,' the Arkansas Times reported. ". . . 

This man is ISIS material through and through.

Pictures and video added by TD

Yahoo  "A man yelled "Freedom!" as he crashed his vehicle into Arkansas' new Ten Commandments monument early Wednesday, nearly three years after he was arrested in the destruction of Oklahoma's monument at its state Capitol, authorities said.

"The privately funded Arkansas monument had been in place outside the state Capitol in Little Rock for less than 24 hours before it was knocked from its plinth and smashed to pieces.

"Michael Tate Reed, 32, of Van Buren, Arkansas, was booked in the Pulaski County jail shortly after 7:30 a.m. on preliminary charges of defacing objects of public interest, criminal trespass and first-degree criminal mischief. An arrest report lists his occupation as "unemployed/disabled."

"Authorities did not know whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf, and a video arraignment was set for Thursday morning, a Pulaski County sheriff's spokesman said.

"Arkansas Secretary of State's Office spokesman Chris Powell said officials believe a Facebook Live video posted on a Michael Reed's Facebook account that depicted the destruction is authentic." . . .

To vet or not to vet

James Clapper suggests the U.S. set up a diplomatic mission in North Korea. The problem is, he wants to let Kim Jong-un do the same

"Not in Our Best Interests"

Weekly Standard   "James Clapper has this right: An "alternative approach" to North Korea is needed. The former director of national intelligence made the claim in Seoul this week at a seminar hosted by the Joongang Ilbo (a major South Korean newspaper) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"The historical record speaks for itself: Bill Clinton's administration struck a supposed non-proliferation deal with the Kim regime in 1994, which the nominally socialist state quickly proceeded to cheat on. George W. Bush then pursued a quasi-schizophrenic good-cop, bad-cop routine, one day (excellently) declaring he "hated" Kim Jong-il, then later, disgracefully, removing the terror-sponsoring state from the State Department's list of state sponsors of terror. Barack Obama, for his part—the man Clapper served for six and a half years—practiced what was euphemistically referred to as "strategic patience," also known as "sitting around and hoping the Kims shape up." They didn't, and here we are. North Korea is now nuclear-armed and remains the human rights horror show it's always been." . . .

California’s ‘Soft Secession’ Grows More Aggressive

California has it’s own particular kind of crazy, but his one takes
 the cake! Students from public universites will be stopped from 
raveling to “anti-LGBT” . . .

David French at National Review

Imagine if the governor of Texas called his state a ‘separate nation.’

. . . "The political answer — to the extent one truly exists — to this alarming trend is a healthy federalism. In other words, states should protect the fundamental constitutional rights of all their citizens at the same time they enact economic, environmental, and social policies consistent with the state’s ideology and values. In short, let Massachusetts be Massachusetts and Tennessee be Tennessee, but only within the bounds of the federal Constitution. 

"And that brings us to the state of California, which not only is increasing its resistance to the Trump administration but also is increasingly belligerent against other states and increasingly hostile to fundamental constitutional rights. In other words, it’s turning healthy federalism into a “soft secession” (to borrow Jason Willick’s excellent phrase). California is violating fundamental constitutional rights at the same time that it tries to use its economic power to coerce other states to adopt its social policies. To Golden State progressives, California should be California, and Tennessee should be California, too. 

"Take, for example, California’s ever-expanding “travel bans.” Last week California “restricted publicly funded travel” to Texas, Alabama, Kentucky, and South Dakota. California now restricts travel to eight states, including my home state of Tennessee. Their sins? Enacting robust religious-liberty protections that California deems insufficiently progressive. For example, Tennessee passed a law that protected counselors from counseling or serving a client “as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with the sincerely held principles of the counselor or therapist.” Under the law, counselors are required to arrange a referral to another counselor, one who has no conflict. In other words, it’s a win-win. Clients get counseling, and counselors are protected from compelled speech. That’s worth a travel ban? 

"It is when California progressives believe that every citizen has to bend the knee to the sexual revolution. " . . .

Study: TV News Is Obsessed With Trump-Russia Probe

MRC   "How much has the media’s obsession with the ongoing Russia investigation smothered the rest of the Trump policy agenda? A Media Research Center study of every broadcast network evening newscast in the five weeks since the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller on May 17 found a whopping 353 minutes of airtime devoted to the Russia probe, or 55 percent of all coverage of the Trump presidency during those weeks.

"The networks’ relentless coverage of Russia meant little airtime was spent on important policy topics, as the investigation garnered 20 times more attention than the new health care bill, 100 times more attention than the administration’s push to improve the nation’s infrastructure, and a stunning 450 times more coverage than the push for comprehensive tax reform."

. . . "Given the disconnect, it should be no surprise that half of all voters see the media as biased against Trump, compared to only four percent who think the media are pro-Trump, according to a recent Rasmussen poll, with two-thirds of Republican respondents (68%) saying media coverage of the President is “poor.' ”

Trump backers hold sit-in at Starbucks after staff mocks woman in Trump T-shirt

"Hart, who did not participate in the Saturday event, told FOX 46 Charlotte she walked out when other people noticed and other baristas laughed. She said she believed she was being bullied for wearing the shirt. “I just found it really sad that I can’t wear a T-shirt with our president without being made fun of,”  . . .

The Charlotte Observer

"A group of Republicans turned the tables on a Charlotte Starbucks Saturday, after its staff was accused of mocking a customer for wearing a Donald Trump tee-shirt.

"Starting at 2 p.m., more than 50 T-shirt wearing Trump backers staged a peaceful gathering at the Dilworth coffee house, filling chairs, tables and even the parking lot at one point.

"The group told TV station Fox 46 the sit-in was a little tense at the beginning, when a throng of people filed through the door. But the mood lightened as more and more people ordered coffee using the names of different members of the Trump cabinet, including Mike Pence and Jeff Sessions.

“ 'I gave them the name Trump and...they were very gracious about it,” Shellie Anderson told Charlotte TV station Fox 46. “We just wanted to reverse the little negativity...It’s really good to come together and take something negative and just come in here and be respectful.”

"The group presented no demands. Instead, its members sought to take a stand against any business disrespecting customers based on their politics, said James Tatro, a MeckGOP board member who participated in the event.

"While it has been described as a sit-in, Tatro says the crowd was made up of paying customers and not just “people who were filling chairs.”

“ 'We wanted the staff to see that Trump supporters are just as human as anyone else,” . . .

"Obama’s Criminal Enterprise Collapsing"

Daniel John Sobieski  "As former FBI Director James Comey’s best friend, Robert Mueller, stocks hisSeinfeld investigation-about-nothing with every Democratic lawyer and Hillary and/or Obama donor he can find, we are treated to the delicious irony of collusion with Russia being confirmed -- and the colluder-in-chief being Ex-president Barack Hussein Obama.

Even Obama’s Democrat supporters are now acknowledging he knew about Russia’s hacking of the DNC and Podesta emails. They are acknowledging that he did nothing but are not acknowledging the reason why – that he thought Hillary Clinton was going to succeed him and he wanted to do nothing to offend the Russians to whom he had once famously promised more “flexibility.”AsFox News Politics reported:

President Trump criticized his predecessor for allegedly doing “nothing” about reports that Russia interfered in last year’s presidential campaign, in a recent interview.“I just heard today for the first time that (former President) Obama knew about Russia a long time before the election, and he did nothing about it,” Trump said in the interview set to air Sunday on “Fox & Friends Weekend.” “The CIA gave him information on Russia a long time before the election. … If he had the information, why didn't he do something about it? . . .

Isn't this collusion with Russia?

And this?  Obama abandons missile defence shield in Europe 

No negotiating, no quid pro quo from Russia, just a free gift from a president ashamed of his country.

Trump EPA to rescind Obama 'Waters of America' power grab

Rick Moran  "The Trump administration EPA announced that they will rescind one of the biggest power grabs by a federal agency in US history.

"In 2015, the Obama EPA finalized a rule that would have brought almost all "navigable" waters in the US under federal government control. The "Waters of the US" rule targeted creeks, streams, and inland rivers even if they were on private property.

"The rule would have given the EPA jurisdiction not only over the water, but over much of the surrounding land as well. 

"But one of the first acts of the Trump administration was to order a review of the rule with the intent of repealing it.

. . . 

"The WOTUS rule was spectacular overreach. It would have massively interferred with agriculture, not to mention overturning the entire concept of private property. The gains in drinking water cleanliness would have been minuscule at the cost of a blizzard of paperwork for businesses and farmers.

"The Obama EPA sought to use the Clean Water Act for purposes it was not remotely intended to address. It was a power grab by the EPA that would have weakened private property rights while exercising stifling regulatory control. While it won't receive a lot of publicity, rescinding this rule represents one of the biggest roll backs of federal power in history. 

"The dream of greens is that eventually, the EPA will exercise control over every inch of land, every drop of water in the US - a nightmare scenario that was well on its way to becoming reality until the Trump EPA stepped in." 

Liberal sites word the action thus:

Think Progress: RIP, Obama’s Clean Water Rule

Trump plans to ditch Obama’s protection for small wetlands and waterways

New Low: CNN Uses Sesame Street's Elmo to Attack Trump's Travel Ban

Daily Wire

"Proving once again that there is no place you will find a happier leftist than in that influential sweet spot between parent and child, proving once again that during a month of extraordinary lows, CNN will always find a new barrel bottom, in the wake of President Trump's 9-0 Supreme Court triumph, the leftwing cable news network decided to use popular Sesame Street puppet Elmo as a propaganda tool against President Trump's temporary travel ban.

Popular “Sesame Street” character Elmo sympathized with refugee kids in an interview Monday with CNN, remarking that they are just like kids in America.Elmo was part of a panel including CNN reporter Clarissa Ward, Sherrie Westin from Sesame Workshop, and David Miliband from the International Rescue Committee.“Did you find that the Syrian little girls and little boys were a lot like your friends here in America?” Ward asked Elmo.“Yeah, they really were,” said the “Sesame Street” character. “It was very interesting because they like to play and learn just like Elmo and all of his friends at Sesame Street.” . . .