FIFA Peace Prize winner sows FIFA chaos

The Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. is still not American flag blue. President Donald Trump wanted it painted that color, but onlookers told NPR the color looks pretty much the same as it did before our government spent over $13 million on this. To be fair, that money was also supposed to fix leaks in the Reflecting Pool. But although there is new sealant in the pool, pipes taking the water from the Tidal Basin to the reflecting pool are still leaking underground. The Trump administration also hired a contractor for these repairs without a bidding process, which is almost definitely illegal.

Algae will likely return to the Reflecting Pool with warmer weather this summer as global temperatures continue to rise. And speaking of climate, the Trump administration gave $700 million to “clean” coal plants, even though there is literally no such thing as clean coal. As Grist explains, coal “is the most carbon-dense fossil fuel and therefore a leading cause of the climate crisis when burned.” Trump is using wartime powers from the Cold War to fund this, even though the U.S. House of Representatives voted to end the war we are currently in. And speaking of Congress, the Senate voted last week to fully fund ICE through the end of Trump’s term. The same legislation passed in the House on Tuesday.

The Trump administration is also regilding four horse statues through another no-bid contractor at the expense of $5 million taxpayer dollars. The president’s plan to build an arch is also moving forward without congressional approval, and it’s so tall that it could affect flight paths to the airport.

Trump says Iran is losing $400 million to $500 million a day. The claim has gone largely undisputed.

Trump lied when he said he “didn’t guarantee” that he wouldn’t go to war. In his acceptance speech after the 2024 election, he said, “I’m not gonna start a war. I’m gonna stop wars.”

Trump falsely said Iran has retained “maybe 21, 22% of their missiles.” The New York Times reported last month that Iran has retained about 70% of its missiles.

Trump did correctly claim that the stock market hit an all-time high. The S&P 500 hit that milestone near the end of May.

Trump once again alluded to the Obama administration paying Iran $1.7 billion. This was the settlement of a longstanding debt with interest as part of the Iran Nuclear Deal.

Trump tried to downplay his role in Iran’s enrichment of uranium. He tore up the deal that limited enrichment, and experts say that’s when Iran advanced its nuclear program. Notably, though, there is no evidence that Iran has nuclear weapons or came close to having them.

Trump claims to have built “a thousand miles” of a border wall. He built 452 miles in his first term, but only 80 of those were new barriers. He’s built 30 miles so far in his second term. And even that has had devastating impacts.

Trump says all farmers support him. His support among rural voters has actually fallen sharply.

There is, and I cannot stress this enough, no evidence that the 2020 election was stolen. There is also no evidence of voter fraud happening right now in California. It just takes a while to count votes in California because of widespread and legitimate mail-in voting.

In the 1930s, FDR pledged some of his own estate in Hyde Park, New York, to establish a library with his personal and presidential papers. He really wanted the federal government to preserve them, an instinct I can understand after not deleting any of my texts from the last five years.

Congress loved this idea so much that they passed three laws about it. The Presidential Libraries Act of 1955 provided “for the acceptance and maintenance of Presidential libraries.” The Presidential Records Act passed 23 years later, ensuring “the preservation of and public access to the official records of the President.” Eight years after that, Congress passed another law trying to reduce the cost of operating presidential libraries.

That brings us to the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. It opens next week. When I saw it last month with Dave, we explored its basketball court, exhibits on U.S. history, playground and more. Former president Barack Obama and the team behind the center envision it as a community space. But there’s one thing getting in the way of that vision: deep concerns from the actual community around the center.

Residents who live near the site have said they’re at risk of being displaced. Organizer Kyana Butler summed up what’s at stake to a Block Club Chicago reporter: “Now that the Obama Center is coming, all of these new buyers want to come in and take over the land … and kick out the people that have been here.” When Dave asked Obama why he chose this area, the former president cited Hyde Park’s formative role in his personal life and political career but did not mention the residents at risk of being displaced. The city of Chicago passed an ordinance to protect tenants from surprise sales and create more affordable housing, but has failed to follow through on those promises.

An estimated 5 to 7 million people are traveling to the U.S. for the World Cup, which started this week in cities across North America. One of them was Omar Artan, a Somali referee who U.S. Customs and Border Protection denied entry to even though he had a visa. Trump imposed a travel ban on Somalia and other countries last year and called Somali immigrants “garbage.”

CBP didn’t give details on why Artan didn’t pass their vetting process. NPR reports that an anonymous Trump administration official said Artan had ties to "suspected members of terror organizations” — a claim that’s drawn criticism from Somali officials who say Artan wouldn’t have been able to get a visa if that were true.

Andrew Giuliani, the person running the White House’s World Cup Task Force and the son of this guy, said in a press briefing, “if you are inside the country legally, then you have nothing to worry about.” This is demonstrably untrue as the Trump administration has deported people who are legally in the United States. Others traveling to the U.S. for the World Cup, from an Iraqi team staffer to fans from countries on Trump’s travel ban list, have been denied travel visas. A player for Team Iraq was questioned for hours, and Iran’s team has been forced to move its lodging to Mexico.

This brings us to this week’s media literacy tip from our friends at MediaWise! Big events like the World Cup usually come with a surge of misinformation and scams. Here’s how to spot them.

Graham Platner, Maine’s Democratic nominee for Senate, will face off against Republican Senator Susan Collins in November’s midterm elections. Collins is running for a sixth term after vowing to only run for two terms, three decades ago.

Platner has a tattoo with Nazi associations. He has said he covered up the tattoo once he learned its meaning, but an ex-girlfriend said he’s known about its Nazi associations.

Platner’s wife also flagged sexually explicit texts between her husband and other women to his campaign. His campaign then confirmed to POLITICO that Platner had sexted other women while married.

Three women also described volatile, toxic relationships with Platner to The New York Times. He was described as physically threatening in at least one instance. Platner disputed ever physically intimidating his partners.