Saturday, August 01, 2026

The reflecting pool is only one of Chump's many lies

If you missed it, Chump's claims regarding vandalism destroying The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool have been exposed as lies.  He lies the whole time.  Over and over.  The fault was his and the people he employed.  Glenn Thrush (NEW YORK TIMES) reports:

Jeanine Pirro faced the cameras on July 2 with characteristic self-assurance to announce the indictment of the 67-year-old ex-Olympian David Hearn for trashing “sacred” government property, President Trump’s highly prized but shoddily renovated Reflecting Pool.

“This is not only a priority for the president, but for myself,” said Ms. Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, disclosing felony vandalism charges against Mr. Hearn for touching the lining of the pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. She added: “We will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hearn willfully destroyed property.”

This was not the case.

Ms. Pirro’s office dramatically reversed course on Friday, not only withdrawing the charge against Mr. Hearn but blasting the Interior Department for the rushed and “botched” renovation, along with U.S. Park Police officials who fed bad information that led her to publicly cite “tremendous evidence” against Mr. Hearn. In the process, intentionally or not, she skated perilously close to contradicting Mr. Trump — and he noticed.

Ms. Pirro’s 20-page filing did not refer to, much less rebuke, Mr. Trump for claiming the damage was caused by left-wing vandals rather than his administration’s missteps. But it raised innate doubts about his assertion that criminals had slashed the pool’s lining with a “knife or blade.” 


Chump took to social media today to insist that it was "VANDALISM" (in all caps).  Poor Chump, exposed as a liar and not smart enough to keep his head down.  No, he needs to attract attention to himself and his lies.  He is so sick and disgusting. 


And he's destroying the government's standing.  As with Homeland Security, the Justice Department has been caught lying in court too many times.  They are not to be automatically given the benefit of the doubt.  They've destroyed that.  Thrush notes:


It is now much more common for grand juries around the country, particularly in Washington, to reject indictments brought by the department. In years past, this almost never happened.

Last December, grand jurors in Virginia rejected the department’s effort to indict Letitia James, the New York attorney general, on mortgage-related charges for the second time in a one-week period. Earlier, a jury in the district halted an attempt by Ms. Pirro’s office to prosecute a Justice Department employee who tossed a sandwich at federal officers. Around the same time, she thrice tried and failed to indict a woman who pushed an F.B.I. agent during a protest.


Kyla Guilfoil (NBC NEWS) adds:


Hearn’s lawyer said in a statement Friday that the Trump administration owes Hearn an apology.

“The Government’s case against Davey Hearn should never have been brought,” Steven Levin, Hearn’s attorney, said in a statement. “Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American. The government’s approach was ready, shoot, aim. The federal government owes Mr. Hearn an apology.”


Finya Swai (THE HILL) notes reaction from Democratic politicians to the news:


“Another embarrassment to Donald Trump as he weaponizes the Justice Department to go after those he perceives to be his enemies — only to have to drop the charges,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) wrote on the social platform X.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) argued Hearn, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, should have legal recourse after being prosecuted.

“Maliciously prosecuted clearly innocent people like David Hearn should have remedies against federal officials who unconscionably target them,” Blumenthal wrote on X.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) accused Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who doubled down on claims that the damage to the pool was caused by vandals, of misrepresenting the facts of the case.

“You are lying when it comes to Olympian David Hearn. The court filing from trump’s own Justice Dept proves it,” Lieu said in response to Burgum’s comments. “The DOJ admitted the Reflecting Pool failed because of shoddy contracting work. This calls into question how much of what you said are lies.”

In a separate post, Lieu alleged that Hearn’s prosecution was politically motivated, calling it “unethical” behavior from interim Attorney General Todd Blanche and the department he helms.

“The only reason @TheJusticeDept charged Olympian David Hearn was to sooth trump’s fragile ego,” he wrote. “The Justice Dept knew they were indicting an innocent person. This is unethical, radical, criminal behavior by @DAGToddBlanche and his thugs at the Department.”



Chump is such a liar.  He claimed a cease-fire in Gaza this week.  We didn't even bother with it because it was obvious he was lying yet again.  Aaron Boxerman (NEW YORK TIMES) notes today, "Israeli strikes in Gaza on Saturday killed at least two people and damaged warehouses for medical supplies, Palestinian officials said, despite a recent deal between President Trump’s Board of Peace and Hamas to advance the Gaza cease-fire."  He's a liar and he keeps getting exposed so he finds new lies to tell.  


His lies about the economy are exposed as well.  Thomas Kika reports:


President Donald Trump's promises of an "economic revival" and a return of manufacturing have once again fallen flat, with a new Washington Post piece documenting the closure of a factory in "Trump country" owned by a prominent Trump donor.

Per the Saturday morning piece, the Conn Selmer plant in Eastlake, Ohio, just east of Cleveland, shut its doors for the last time at the end of June. Located within a 61-year-old building, the plant was a subsidiary of the Steinway Musical Instruments company until its acquisition in 2013,

"At a time when the president of the United States said the country was in the midst of a manufacturing renaissance, the 150 people who still worked at the plant were losing their jobs, and seeing many of them offshored to China," the report detailed.

The plant was one of the many holdings in the portfolio of John Paulsen, a billionaire hedge-fund owner whose firm acquired Steinway over a decade ago, and who emerged as a vocal backer of Trump during his 2024 campaign. He was also notably supportive of Trump's tariff plans, claiming that they could "protect American jobs and protect American manufacturing.


Meanwhile, another of his friends is involved in a scandal.  Andrew Tate is in jail currently and accused of inappropriate photos of minors, sex trafficking and rape.  And Andrew has friends and supporters in Chump and his family (especially son Baron) and his administration (JD Vance, for example, follows Tate).  Jennifer Bowers Bahney (MEDIAITE) explains:


The lawyer for manosphere influencer Andrew Tate warned Republicans a reckoning is coming if President Donald Trump doesn’t step in to help with Tate’s legal battle that’s coming to a head in the United Kingdom.

Both Andrew and brother Tristan Tate are being held in a Miami jail while they fight extradition to the UK on 59 rape and sex trafficking charges. The brothers have denied all charges.

When reporters asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in July, “Is President Trump or the administration — do they have any plans to intervene in the extradition process for the Tate brothers?”

Leavitt answered with a curt, “No.”

In addition, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters, “There’s no role for us to play at this moment, or maybe ever in that regard. But I’m not going to opine on [that].”

Now, the Tates are threatening to pull their support from Republicans in upcoming elections if Trump doesn’t come to their aid — and they could take their tens of millions of young, male followers with them.

“Andrew Tate was a material participant in ensuring President Trump’s victory,” Tate’s lawyer Joseph McBride told Vanity Fair. “And if Trump doesn’t support him, and if the next people who are going to be running for office potentially are just like, ‘Yeah, down the river he goes,’ that young cohort of people will break with the Republican Party in the next election.”


They are Chump people.  And they think they can blackball him to their followers.  

Mary Papenfuss (DAILY BEAST) notes some supporters Chump has lost:

More trouble is brewing for Republicans in the midterm elections as a crew of high-profile Donald Trump defectors announced they’re joining forces to launch a new political “movement” to oppose the current president and his supporters.

Trump “betrayed us all,” former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted on X Saturday, alongside a photo of the newly organized Trump opposition team meeting in Tucker Carlson’s hunting lodge-like Maine home.

“We said no more foreign wars and we meant it and supported Donald Trump because he made that promise. But he’s betrayed us all,” Greene continued. “Our commitment is America First for all Americans, right, left, and center. The movement has begun.”

The post was seen by more than 5.5 million people and racked up nearly 10,000 comments, with some defending Trump and others attacking him. 


Let's note this Wednesday press release from Senator Alex Padilla's office:

WATCH: Padilla: “No matter what our policy differences or disagreements may be, we must remember and respect the fact that every single person in detention is a human being”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, joined Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and their Democratic colleagues in a spotlight forum to sound the alarm on the overcrowding, inadequate medical care, and the 53 deaths under the second Trump Administration in immigration detention facilities.

In his remarks, Padilla underscored the need for oversight and accountability for the Trump Administration’s cruel anti-immigrant agenda, reflected in the conditions of detention centers across the country. Padilla specifically highlighted the unacceptable conditions in ICE detention centers in California, including inadequate access to medical care and clean drinking water, and overcrowding, that have been the center of lawsuits demanding improvements.

The Spotlight Forum included testimonies from Michelle Brané, former Ombudsman of the Office of the Immigration and Detention at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Michele Heisler, Medical Director at Physicians for Human Rights, Jennifer Babaie, Associate Director of the National Immigrant Justice Center’s Adult Detention Project, and Ricardo Hernandez-Navarrete, a student who spoke about his experience in ICE detention. Padilla questioned Brané and Heisler about oversight of detention facilities and the lack of proper medical care for detainees.

Padilla concluded his remarks by calling for independent, credible investigations into the Trump Administration’s mismanagement of ICE detention facilities.

Key Excerpts:

  • PADILLA: We’re reminded by the findings of a court-appointed monitor that the California City Detention Center has failed to comply with a judge’s order to provide adequate healthcare. So these aren’t just our accusations. These are court findings and court orders we’re discussing here.
  • PADILLA: Another is a ruling from District Court Judge Sykes earlier this month requiring federal immigration officials to provide clean drinking water and adequate medical care for those held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. We’re talking about basic, fundamental human rights.
  • PADILLA: Their lives have meaning and value, and they retain the fundamental human right, even in custody, as the law clearly says, they deserve access to basic things like food, drinking water, and lifesaving medical care.
  • PADILLA: As awful as this Administration’s anti-immigrant mass detention and deportation agenda is, it still has a legal responsibility to ensure the people in detention are treated humanely.
  • BRANÉ: We spoke to detainees, visited the medical center, and reviewed staffing records. I will say that staffing is a critical piece that is consistently not complied with. When facilities are understaffed, the people in those facilities are not safe. They don’t get recreation, they don’t get the medical care they need, and they don’t get proper and appropriate food.
  • HEISLER: In our research, we did find that the highest rates of death were in the most overcrowded facilities. It is not the largest detention facilities that have the highest rates. In fact, it’s the ones that have had a really rapid increase in population.
  • PADILLA: Once upon a time, we had a true Department of Justice and a Civil Rights Division that we could sometimes turn to as an alternative. That no longer carries any credibility. So finding other mechanisms for credible, independent investigations is essential.

Video of Padilla’s opening remarks and questioning is available here.

###


The following sites -- plus Stan's "SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY (Spoiler)" --  updated: 






Diana Ross - This House

Diana Ross - Reflections (June 3, 2010 - Chastain Park, Atlanta, GA)

 

Tracy Chapman – Stand By Me (Live on Letterman, 2015)

Trump LASHES out at his own DC attorney over DOJ admission Reflecting Pool damage wasn’t vandalism

Roberta Flack sings "Suzanne" Live! (HD) on Flip Wilson (1972)

Fmr. fire ranger: DOGE DELAYED a $10 million wildfire grant. It ‘would’ve really helped us’

Bird on the wire -Judy Collins live 1968

Trump DESPERATELY HIDES the TRUTH as the WORLD BURNS!!

Sandy Denny: Who Knows Where the Time Goes? BBC John Peel Sessions

Melania GOES MISSING as Donald DISCARDS Her AND BARRON!!!

Count On Me - Diana Ross and Ronda @ Lokerse Feesten - Lokeren, 31-07-2026

Epstein Survivor Drops BOMBSHELL Information, Trump EMBARRASSED as the TRUTH Comes Out

Anita Baker- Same Ole Love (Official Video)

Musk is getting his “GRUBBY LITTLE PAWS” back in politics

Brenda Russell ~ Think It Over (1979) R&B Slow Jam

THE TATE UPDATE: THIS IS EMBARRASSING!

Sade - Never as Good as the First Time (Extended Mix) [Audio]

Trump PANICS ALL NIGHT as CALLS for HIS REMOVAL GROW!!!

Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart - It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back) (Peacetour Live)

Trump HEALTH COLLAPSES as Iran gives FATAL DIAGNOSIS!!!

Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company (with lyrics)

'THE BOSS WANTS THIS MONEY': Bombshell report UNMASKS Trump's corrupt multimillion-dollar operation

 

RAYE covers Nina Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’ for Like A Version

photos from the edge 37 - ISTANBUL PHOTOGRAPHS

 

photos from the edge 37 - ISTANBUL PHOTOGRAPHS
Photographs by David Bacon
https://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2026/07/photos-from-edge-37-istanbul-photographs.html



These photographs taken this summer are my small tribute to the work of the great Turkish photographer, Ara Guler.  His dark, moody images of his beloved Istanbul, taken starting in the 1950s when he was in his twenties, have become the city's visual memory of itself.  In them, people recall and ponder the way it looked and felt before so much was swept away by the modernization of the last few decades, with its tourism and gentrification.

Lillian and I were waiting on the dock in Eminonu for a ferry to take us up the Golden Horn to the huge cemetery of Eyupsultan, when I found a small bookstore and café above the slips where the boats come in.  In what other city in the world, I thought, would you find a place in a ferry terminal to read and buy a book to go with your coffee while you wait.  And in the bookstore there was a little section devoted to Guler.  

That says something about how ordinary people - from the commuters who take the boat to work every day to the students riding the ferry to school - think about him. To Orhan Pamuk, who won the Nobel Prize for his novels in 2006, Guler with his camera was the poet of "the Istanbul of the 1950s and 1960s - the streets, pavements, shops and dirty, neglected factories, its ships, horse carts, buses, clouds, private taxis, shared taxis, buildings, bridges, chimneys, mists and people; and the soul in all these things, so difficult to recognize at first sight." 

I already had a little book of his photographs at home, but waiting for the ferry I splurged and bought a big one.  I sat drinking my coffee and looked to see if I would recognize anything.  When I was sixteen and just out of high school, I took several hundred dollars I was paid when a car hit me years earlier, and used it to hitchhike through Europe.  Starting in Paris I headed east, finally winding up in Istanbul.  

It was 1965, and there were pictures in the book that Guler had taken that year.  I looked at the photographs and marveled at their gritty, earth-connected working-class vision of his city.  I thought, I didn't know how lucky I was to have seen just a little piece of Istanbul as it was then.  

Much as I wanted to rediscover Guler's Istanbul, I knew everything changes.  Guler himself changed, becoming a celebrity Magnum photographer, better known outside Turkey for taking photographs of famous people. But I decided the best way to acknowledge and honor him was to do as he did - look for people in the street, or working in the small shops.  

So many of his images were taken on the Galata Bridge across the Golden Horn, and in the communities surrounding each end of it.  How could I pay tribute to him without just a few photographs on the bridge?  And along with the tourists, there were still the old guys fishing, as he'd seen them half a century ago.

Taking a photograph freezes a moment, letting you see just a tiny piece of someone's life. That fragment can then acquire a life of its own, becoming part of a collective memory of a city or of a people.  That's what happened to Guler's photographs - why they're so honored. But at the time you release the shutter and freeze the image, you're just trying to honor that person you see.  That's not so different whether you're a famous guy like Ara Guler, or just another guy with a camera, like me.












































 



Immigrant Workers and the Recent History of Immigration Raids
A presentation by David Bacon at the UCLA Latin American Institute, with photographs and transcript.
3/11/25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FlsyWTBWso
 

David Bacon @photos4justice on the daily lives and ongoing struggles (both personal and political) of farmworkers - interview on Against the Grain with C.S. Soong
 

BOOKS - LIBROS

More Than a Wall / Mas que un muro
El Colegio de la Frontera Norte
https://david-bacon-photography.square.site/product/more-than-a-wall-mas-que-un-muro/1?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false

En Mexico: https://libreria.colef.mx/detalle.aspx?id=7864
 
In the Fields of the North / En los campos del norte
University of California Press / Colegio de la Frontera Norte

https://www.ucpress.edu/books/in-the-fields-of-the-north-en-los-campos-del-norte/paper
En Mexico: https://libreria.colef.mx/detalle.aspx?id=7586

The Right to Stay Home:  How US Policy Drives Mexican Migration  (Beacon Press, 2013)
https://www.beacon.org/The-Right-to-Stay-Home-P1055.aspx


Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants  (Beacon Press, 2008)
Recipient: C.L.R. James Award, best book of 2007-2008

https://www.beacon.org/Illegal-People-P780.aspx

Communities Without Borders (Cornell University/ILR Press, 2006)
https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801473074/communities-without-borders/#bookTabs=1

The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border (University of California, 2004)
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-children-of-nafta/paper

 



WORK AND SOCIAL JUSTICE:
The David Bacon Archive exhibition at Stanford Libraries

https://exhibits.stanford.edu/bacon/browse
For a catalog: (https://web.stanford.edu/dept/spec_coll/NonVendorPubOrderform2017.pdf)

 

THE REALITY CHECK - David Bacon blog
http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com

For more articles and images, see  http://dbacon.igc.org and
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/albums
 
 
BROOKE ANDERSON PODCAST #8
�� LISTEN: https://linktr.ee/thatshowthelightgetsinpodcast (or anywhere you get your podcasts)
 

MAS QUE UN MURO
Cinco Entrivistas sobre la exposicion en el Museo Nacional de las Culturas del Mundo, CDMX:


Part 1:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eix0HEStpc
Part 2:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO4IIBPs06U
Part 3:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHtY-fgtsjs
Part 4:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm_MNrEX2Mw
Part 5:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpwSuBbgAQs

 


Pacific Media Workers Guild, CWA Local 39521, adopted a resolution supporting the Labor Call for a Ceasefire in Gaza:  https://mediaworkers.org/guild-joins-calls-for-immediate-ceasefire-in-gaza/

WHEN WE SPOKE OUT AGAINST WAR
Unearthing the history of protest against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Photographs © by David Bacon

https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/52759801492/in/album-72177720306862427/
 


 

Copyright © 2026 David Bacon Photographs and Stories, All rights reserved.