All posts tagged: reflecting

Jimmy Kimmel ruthlessly taunts Trump over DC’s algae-infested Reflecting Pool

Jimmy Kimmel ruthlessly taunts Trump over DC’s algae-infested Reflecting Pool

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Jimmy Kimmel used his opening monologue on Tuesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! to mock Donald Trump’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The roughly 2,000-foot pool turned green with algae just days after the Trump administration completed its $14 million resurfacing project, coating its floor an “American flag blue.” “Now, not even a week later, it’s already completely green — it’s Mexican flag green,” Kimmel joked Tuesday. “Experts are saying that when Trump had it painted dark blue, he made the problem worse, because the darker color retains more heat and algae thrives in warmer water,” the late night host pointed out. “You know, he promised he would drain the swamp. Instead, he spent 14 million of our dollars building a new one. Jimmy Kimmel mocked Trump over his $14 million refurbishment of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which …

Why the Reflecting Pool Is Full of Algae After Trump’s Renovation

Why the Reflecting Pool Is Full of Algae After Trump’s Renovation

Published by skeptic

On Wednesday morning, workers poured hydrogen peroxide into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC. The treatment is the latest attempt by the Interior Department to control an algae bloom that has turned the pool bright green, despite President Donald Trump’s costly renovation to make it “American flag blue” in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary. Hot temperatures and climate change are among the risk factors that could be driving the outbreak. The Trump administration spent more than $14 million to update the pool ahead of celebrations across the US capital. The work was done under a no-bid contract by a company that has never worked for the federal government. (It has, however, worked on President Donald Trump’s golf courses, according to The New York Times.) Algae began forming less than a day after the updated pool was unveiled last week. An Interior Department spokesperson told CNN that the bloom was due to “residual algae from the supply lines, which have been sitting dormant for eight weeks.” One of the issues appears to be …

Reflecting Pool refills after Trump’s repaint : NPR

Reflecting Pool refills after Trump’s repaint : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Workers refill the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Friday, after a weeks-long project to resurface and repaint the basin. Rahmat Gul/AP hide caption toggle caption Rahmat Gul/AP WASHINGTON — Water is flowing back into the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, after a controversial painting job kept it closed for weeks. And to many onlookers, it doesn’t look much different. “The pool gets completed at 4 o’clock and the water will start to flow in … and it’s going to be beautiful,” President Trump told reporters in the Oval office on Wednesday. The next day, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shared a video of water bubbling up through a grate on the freshly-darkened pool floor. Trump had the pool’s surface darkened to a shade he calls “American flag blue.” For the last century, he’s said, the pool was “just gray … the color of concrete and stone.” By Friday morning, the 2,028 foot-long shallow pool had collected a stripe of water down the middle, just wide enough to reflect the Washington Monument across from it. The refilling continued …

Trump: Reflecting Pool work wasn’t simply ‘paint job’

Trump: Reflecting Pool work wasn’t simply ‘paint job’

Published by Sam Flores

President Trump dismissed criticism of the recent Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovations on Friday, rejecting claims the project amounted to merely a “paint job.” “The Great Reflecting Pool, that stretches between The Lincoln Memorial and The Washington Monument, just opened to ‘rave reviews’ but, maliciously or not, some say, like The Washington Post, it was… Source link

Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Repair Costs Rise Amid Leak Problems

Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Repair Costs Rise Amid Leak Problems

Published by Jenni Sidey

The Trump administration’s overhaul of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has become even messier, with newly obtained federal documents showing that the contractor hired to repaint the basin bright blue secured what government officials themselves described as an “inflated” profit margin while still struggling to stop the pool from leaking. The latest revelations, first reported by the New York Times, arrive just weeks after the Trump administration was sued over the controversial renovation project, which critics argue bulldozed past the normal federal review process for changes to one of Washington’s most recognizable historic landmarks.At the center of the dispute is Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a Virginia company with no previous federal contracts that was selected earlier this year to repair the Reflecting Pool ahead of celebrations tied to the country’s 250th anniversary. President Donald Trump initially claimed the work would cost less than $2 million and take about a week to complete. Federal records now show the government ultimately agreed to pay the company roughly $13.1 million. Related Articles According to documents reviewed by the Times, the company …

Trump’s Reflecting Pool Paint Job Asks D.C. to Trust His Taste

Trump’s Reflecting Pool Paint Job Asks D.C. to Trust His Taste

Published by Daniella Wilson

For more than a century, the area around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has served as a staging ground for civic participation. With its grand scale but subdued character, it is a place where much of the meaning is made by the people using it: the millions of visitors who have descended upon “America’s Front Yard” for marches, tourism, and celebrations. But in recent weeks, the western end of the National Mall has become a construction zone, the latest spectacle in President Trump’s effort to imprint his legacy on Washington, D.C., by renovating it. Workers in protective suits have completely drained the water and are now coating the concrete basin with a vivid blue, while tourists gawk at the tarped-off project rather than the monuments that the pool was designed to mirror. In Trump’s view, the makeover, which he hopes to complete before the nation’s 250th birthday, on July 4, is coming along swimmingly. Last weekend, he shared photos of a sample test that crews conducted in the basin to inspect its reflective properties. “Looking …

John Oliver Mocks Trump, Ballroom, Reflecting Pool

John Oliver Mocks Trump, Ballroom, Reflecting Pool

Published by Daniella Wilson

John Oliver took aim at President Donald Trump‘s plans for a “huge” ballroom — something he’s done before and also before that — and his contradictory claims over upgrades on the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight. Oliver started out by pointing to Trump‘s social media post amid his trip to China wherein he noted that “China has a Ballroom, and so should the U.S.A.! It is under construction ahead of schedule and will be the finest facility of its kind anywhere in the U.S.A.” Said Oliver: “Because incredibly, despite everything going on in the world right now, Trump’s still relentlessly focused on what’s been called a ‘sweeping makeover’ of the White House and Washington D.C. In the past year, he’s installed two massive flagpoles, a Presidential Walk of Fame outside the White House, paved over the Rose Garden and redecorated the Oval Office, as if to answer the question, ‘What if an ancient Egyptian pharaoh owned an Airbnb?’” Oliver then showed video of Trump last week making the argument that all …

Trump Administration Faces Lawsuit Over Blue Reflecting Pool Renovation

Trump Administration Faces Lawsuit Over Blue Reflecting Pool Renovation

Published by Jenni Sidey

The Cultural Landscape Foundation, a Washington-area nonprofit focused on historic preservation, has sued the Trump administration over its controversial makeover of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, arguing that federal officials failed to follow legally required review procedures before coating the basin in a bright blue surface.  Filed Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C., the lawsuit seeks to halt work on the project through a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction. The group argues that the Interior Department violated the National Historic Preservation Act by moving ahead with major changes to one of the nation’s most recognizable memorial landscapes without the standard federal review process. The complaint also claims the Commission of Fine Arts, which traditionally reviews major design changes in the capital, was bypassed entirely.  Related Articles At the center of the dispute is President Donald Trump’s decision to coat the Reflecting Pool in what he has described as “American Flag Blue,” a color he said was suggested by a contractor hired to repair persistent leaks in the basin. Trump unveiled the project last …

Trump Posts AI Image Of Himself Swimming In Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

Trump Posts AI Image Of Himself Swimming In Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump baffled nearly everyone with a Truth Social post showcasing an AI-generated image of himself swimming in one of Washington DC’s most iconic monuments. In the wee hours of Friday, the president uploaded an image of a thinner, younger version of himself, wearing swim trunks and floating bare-chested in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. As his digital dupe lounged in a gold inflatable pool chair and flashed a thumbs up, he was joined by bare-chested versions of Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, alongside an unidentified (likely imaginary) woman wearing a gingham bikini and sitting on an invisible floating pool chair. The image was part of a spree of photos Trump posted to herald renovations he’s put in motion ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary. During a Friday night social media spree, President Trump posted this AI-generated image. RealDonaldTrump/Truth Social This past week, the 2,030-foot-long water feature was drained so crews could paint the bottom of the pool a vibrant cerulean shade, which the president …

Trump is resurfacing D.C.’s reflecting pool in ‘American flag blue’ : NPR

Trump is resurfacing D.C.’s reflecting pool in ‘American flag blue’ : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Workers paint a corner of the reflecting pool blue on Monday morning. Rachel Treisman/NPR hide caption toggle caption Rachel Treisman/NPR WASHINGTON — On a typical spring morning in D.C., the area around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool bustles with runners, photographers, tourists and families of ducks. This Monday, however, the 2,030 foot-long pool sat completely empty, save for a smattering of construction vehicles, portable toilets and traffic cones. In one of the corners of the drained pool, workers stood in a cluster, spraying the bottom with what looked like blue paint. “I honestly can’t tell what they’re doing right now,” said Laurie Collins, a lifelong D.C. resident who was taking pictures of the scene to update the nearly 180,000 followers of her Instagram account @dccitygirl. “The way it seems that they’re spraying this paint it’s probably going to take them a year to finish it.” The pool is being resurfaced as part of President Trump’s efforts to reshape iconic parts of the city. He says the project will take one week and cost $2 million. …