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AOC Says Reflecting Pool Is ‘Swamp’ Because GOP Doesn’t ‘Understand First Thing About Science’
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has become a “swamp” because the GOP doesn’t understand science.
Ocasio-Cortez made the comments in response to journalist Pablo Manríquez, according to The Hill.
“I mean, when you defund science research, when you de — when you don’t really understand the first thing about science,” she said. “Yeah, they talked a bunch of smack, they said that they had to repaint the pool, and now they’ve turned the place into a swamp. They turned it to an actual swamp.”
READ MORE: Critics Torch Interior’s ‘Propaganda’ for Likening Reflecting Pool Algae to Iran’s Navy
President Donald Trump had often railed against the maintenance of the reflecting pool not being up to snuff, and recently renovated it. But instead of making the water beautiful and clear, the pool has turned solid green from algae blooms. The lining is pulling away and floating up, and this week, three dead ducks were found in the reflecting pool.
The deaths of the ducks have led some to speculate that there is blue-green algae in the pool, which is harmful to humans and animals, according to Newsweek. However, aquatic ecology professor Rosalina Stancheva Christova took samples of the water last Tuesday, and determined the algae was a common green variety of the Desmodesmus genus, according to NPR. Desmodesmus is not toxic.
The algae may be harmless, but it is unsightly, particularly in a pool that’s supposed to be crystal clear as a mirror. Part of the issue is that the blue lining that replaced the old liner is too dark.
“The new, darker interior surface is going to absorb more sunlight,” specialist “Swimming Pool Steve” Goodale told NPR. “It is going to result in water that’s warmer, and that ultimately is going to lead to more prolific algae growth.”
The Department of the Interior said that the bloom was due to “residual algae” in the supply lines, according to CNN.
Just as it’s unknown currently what killed the ducks—if it was algae, natural causes or something entirely different—it’s not clear why the liner is peeling off, however some experts have ideas.
Science communicator “The Monarch Diaries,” explored what was perhaps happening in a thread on the social media platform Bluesky. This May, shortly after the renovation process started, they predicted that the lining—Rhino Pipeliner 5000—would be a perfect place to grow algae.
“They’re using Rhino Pipeliner 5000, which freezes as sprayed-on curds almost exactly as it hits the surface. Won’t flow out, flatten, and self-level like standard epoxy or paint would. Under standing water, the orange peel texture is a perfect scaffolding for algae, bacteria, and general bio scum,” they wrote.
They're using Rhino Pipeliner 5000, which freezes as sprayed-on curds almost exactly as it hits the surface. Won't flow out, flatten, and self-level like standard epoxy or paint would.Under standing water, the orange peel texture is a perfect scaffolding for algae, bacteria, and general bio scum
— The Monarch Diaries (@monarchdiaries.bsky.social) 2026-05-20T05:15:26.286Z
In another post they accurately predicted that the liner would start peeling away, but they gave it 5 years rather than a month.
If Rhino Pipeliner 5000 (w custom flag blue tint) is indeed what they're applying, in around 5 years it'll be delaminating and peeling up in massive slimy sheets. So a perfect future metaphor for the Trump yearsinB4 capitol scum pond liner delamination
— The Monarch Diaries (@monarchdiaries.bsky.social) 2026-05-20T05:44:55.270Z
The Monarch Diaries explains that Rhino Pipeliner 5000 is intended for use in pipes, as its name suggests. They say that it “shrinks 1-3% when curing”, perfect for pipes but not for a large pool.
“On a big slab, uh, no it will pull towards the center and delaminate from the substrate at the edges. Plus, applying directly to concrete is a problem. Long story short: Swiss cheese pinhole effect,” they said.
This shit shrinks 1-3% when curing, which in a pipe is exactly what you want. On a big slab, uh, no it will pull towards the center and delaminate from the substrate at the edges.Plus, applying directly to concrete is a problem. Long story short: Swiss cheese pinhole effect. Already flagged.
— The Monarch Diaries (@monarchdiaries.bsky.social) 2026-05-20T05:26:44.551Z
In another thread, they explained that the coating needs to be resprayed within a 4-hour window or it won’t work—but they say that didn’t happen.
“Watching them work, here’s what they did: spray a section, let it sit for hours to days, then spray the next one feathering over the cured edge. This lands FAR outside the 4-hour application overlap window (worse in hot humid weather). The seams never got a chemical weld in the first place,” they wrote.
Watching them work, here's what they did: spray a section, let it sit for hours to days, then spray the next one feathering over the cured edge. This lands FAR outside the 4-hour application overlap window (worse in hot humid weather). The seams never got a chemical weld in the first place. 4/
— The Monarch Diaries (@monarchdiaries.bsky.social) 2026-06-19T17:04:35.373Z
The entire thread is interesting and goes into the physics of what may be happening for those who are interested.
While there is a scientific explanation for what has happened, Trump claimed that the disaster that is the reflecting pool is because of vandals. Six people have been arrested for vandalism, but the government’s own documents show no evidence of vandalism, according to Rolling Stone.
Instead, the supposed “vandals” can be seen in video footage either touching the water or pieces of the plastic liner that have floated to the top of the reflecting pool. Trump has recently accused vandals of cutting the liner with a knife, despite saying the liner could not be cut last month when touting the then-upcoming renovation.
Image via Shutterstock
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Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
Inside the Group Helping MAGA Voters Walk Away — And What Finally Pushed Them
