Fact checks have piled up discrediting the Trump administration’s justifications for family separation at the border https://t.co/5q0glXVRs3

— POLITICO (@politico) June 19, 2018

President Trump has blamed Democrats for the practice of separating children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border.

But his administration put that policy in place. https://t.co/hO29tdrUWU

— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) June 18, 2018

MSNBC destroyed Trump’s lie that his policy of child separation at the border was the fault of Democrats with an immediate fact check while Trump was still talking. https://t.co/NOJXgkpUHG pic.twitter.com/r1VhocIS69

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) June 18, 2018

Some Republican commentators argue the Trump admin’s policy of separating families at the border is essentially a continuation of previous administrations. It’s not: https://t.co/9WjOvrkNhR

— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) June 19, 2018

New York Times fact check

Trump continues to blame Democrats

Potential Zinke conflict of interest

Sad!

The Interior secretary is involved in a multi-million-dollar project funded by the chairman of an energy-services giant, which strikes ethics experts as a situation full of conflicts of interest https://t.co/1qK39GVSdu

— POLITICO (@politico) June 19, 2018

This miscreant needs to be brought to the bar of justice. Thoroughly corrupt https://t.co/tyIEC8ORH6

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) June 20, 2018

Ryan Zinke sought Wednesday to explain his role in a real estate deal involving a nonprofit he launched and developers backed by the chairman of Halliburton, a major energy company with extensive business before his department https://t.co/5nLoAG85It

— POLITICO (@politico) June 27, 2018

Ryan Zinke’s interest in opening a microbrewery is now part of an ethics probe into his dealings with an oil services executive.https://t.co/aMu2Ix28w4

— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) August 2, 2018

Fact check on Trump’s immigration rant today

CNN fact check

Four factions of Republicans on Trump’s immigration policy

This analysis discusses how Republicans in Congress are in four groups.

Trump administration memo creating the zero tolerance policy separating families

Trump keeps lying and blaming Democrats. It’s all his.

Here is @TheJusticeDept memo ordering the "zero tolerance" policy responsible for young children being forcibly separated from their parents.

Facts are stubborn things, @POTUS. And the facts here are clear: you, and you alone, own this cruelty. End it now. #KeepFamiliesTogether pic.twitter.com/VBIJFYj4WI

— Senator Ben Cardin (@SenatorCardin) June 19, 2018

Hypocrisy on immigration

This tweet makes a great point!

The irony of the Trump admin enforcing misdemeanor unlawful entry because “all laws must be enforced” when he pardoned Joe Arpaio because he was “treated very unfairly” when he was prosecuted for blatantly violating a court order re immig actions should not be lost on anyone.

— Daniel S. Goldman (@danielsgoldman) June 19, 2018

“Infest”: Language as a weapon

Trump has called some illegal immigrants “animals” and today said Democrats want them to “infest” our country. It’s an effort to appeal to the bigots that are a large part of his base.

Here are some tweets on Trump’s disgusting language.

Important: In the past Trump has talked about "crime infested" areas. Today is the first time he's talked about PEOPLE as an infestation, saying Dems want illegal immigrants to "infest our country, like MS-13."

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 19, 2018

Dear @realDonaldTrump: Like your grandfather, my parents infested America. As their son with yellow skin, I now get to vote against your harmful policies. And after you leave due to either losing reelection or impeachment, I will still be here reversing your shit.

Cheers. https://t.co/vN4fJfp4h9

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 19, 2018

As Trump uses words like "infest, animals and shithole countries" to talk immigration, worth remembering this story as language as a weapon in the Trump era immigration debates: https://t.co/jcUSfJqOfx

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) June 19, 2018

And folks who cry foul when the media points this out are willfully ignoring a very obvious patternhttps://t.co/tCrnjPTn6w

— Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) June 19, 2018

Trump’s statement that immigrants will “infest our Country” probably sounds better in the original German. https://t.co/k7FBgBkCHQ

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 19, 2018

1/2 This is a usage point I’ve actually studied over the years.
There are virtually no cases of “infest” being used in English in a neutral way. Almost always applied to vermin, pests, disease. See context notes from Am Heritage Dic: https://t.co/nQvQnkGvEG https://t.co/mitj7lI2jg

— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) June 19, 2018

2/2 Of the 125,000+ words in ‘Our Towns,’ exactly two are “infest.” One refers to roaches that ate up a school’s garden; another, to an invasive plant now choking the surface of Caddo Lake, TX-LA.

Applying it to people is an undeniable tell, like “shiftless.”

— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) June 19, 2018

Also – insects infest. This public language about immigrants from a US president after, say, 1970, is remarkable. https://t.co/xRhAUjqo5P

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 19, 2018

"Characterizing people as vermin has historically been a precursor to murder and genocide." https://t.co/p9setYAijA

— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) June 19, 2018

Trump's tweet this AM about how immigrants will "infest our Country" speaks to this point. The family separation policy is unpopular, and has lukewarm support even among his base, so he turns up the racial anxiety dial several notches.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) June 19, 2018

Words like “infest,” even when you sprinkle in the MS-13 red herring, conjure thoughts of extermination. This is evil and dangerous. https://t.co/HB58AJlcns

— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) June 19, 2018

Disturbingly apt: “ethnopartisanship” https://t.co/VIT6HKShpZ

— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) June 19, 2018

Language historically associated with de-humanization, from the head of govt, actually deserves note — in the context (which I and others have fully engaged in) of policy outrages that need to be opposed and reversed.

— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) June 19, 2018

Trump refers to deportees as "animals":
History and psychological science show that when we refer to people as “animals,” it flips a mental switch in our minds. It allows us to deny empathy to other people, makes us feel numb to their pain. https://t.co/5MjLlMsnYG
via @voxdotcom

— Michiko Kakutani (@michikokakutani) June 18, 2018

update:

This https://t.co/LrBmPnFD6N

— Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) June 21, 2018

"Infest," "breeding," "violent," "shithole countries": The language Trump uses when he talks about immigrants. https://t.co/VDqaJSlymn

— Lisa Tozzi (@lisatozzi) June 19, 2018

Signs of Life: Symbols in the American City

The best museum exhibit I ever saw was “Signs of Life: Symbols in the American City” at the Renwick in Washington in 1976.

It was created by architects Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc. Their description, with many photos, is here.

The exhibit had lots of neon and furniture and architecture labeled with their historical influences.

I learned about several outstanding artists from this exhibit.

John Baeder paints realistic pictures of diners.

Photographer Stephen Shore was the subject of a recent exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. He was commissioned to take photos for the 1976 exhibit.

The New York Times review is here.

“Invention and Tradition” – an essay by Denise Scott Brown, one of the exhibit’s creators.

Update 8/1/18 on one of their buildings:

The demolition of this little-known but wonderful Venturi and Scott Brown building is a huge loss not only for Pittsburgh, but for architecture https://t.co/EKkBOSX46r
— Paul Goldberger (@paulgoldberger) August 1, 2018

Update: 9/21/18

Robert Venturi passed away.

Some other thought on Bob Venturi, from me and others, are posted after this Record obituary. https://t.co/yzlWlMnvz1
— Paul Goldberger (@paulgoldberger) September 21, 2018

The image at the top is the Guild House in Philadelphia designed by Venturi.

Update: In a 7-2 vote, the Pittsburgh City Council voted against designating the Venturi Scott Brown-design Abrams House as a landmark, paving the way for its demolition.https://t.co/oWXK7e4HRE
— Architects Newspaper (@archpaper) March 23, 2019

Background on Trump’s anti-immigration views

This article explains how anti-immigration policy went from the right-wing fringe into Trump’s campaign.

"In Miller’s view of the electoral landscape, the president is winning anytime the country is focused on immigration—polls and bad headlines be damned.” Read @mckaycoppins: https://t.co/nJMuz6Ztpb

— Yoni Appelbaum (@YAppelbaum) June 19, 2018

Nice @nancook scoop. Trump planning ANOTHER crackdown on immigration. Per Cook, ideas include tightening rules on student visas, limiting visas 4 ag workers & making it harder for legal immigrants who have applied for any welfare programs to obtain residency –> https://t.co/2fyVKtV6wa

— Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) June 18, 2018

https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status/1008884901058433025

Trump’s desire to put all his political eggs in the the basket of anti-immigration policy rests on the fact that he has precious little else to run on. https://t.co/apL1vDw4i8 pic.twitter.com/68t72g2Vwx

— The New Republic (@newrepublic) June 19, 2018

Donald Trump and Stephen Miller are driven by (racist) convictions. https://t.co/NsTvxoZG8s pic.twitter.com/YZtqDMAqVh

— The New Republic (@newrepublic) June 19, 2018

Trump keeps lying and blaming Democrats on immigration

Trump keeps spewing lies and hatred on immigration.

Democrats are the problem. They don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13. They can’t win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2018

Now, he claims the media is helping “smugglers and traffickers”.

The link above connects to ongoing notes on his speech this morning.

Facing a severe backlash against a policy Trump claims he hates even though it’s his own policy, Trump is defiantly preserving the policy while simultaneously lying that he is helpless to change it: https://t.co/suQ955v0W0

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) June 19, 2018

Month: June 2018

Fact checks on Trump’s policy of separating families at the border