Opinion: Algae doesn't care about our party lines ⁠57%

By Scott Simon⁠0%

6/20/2026, 12:00:00 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 33 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Appeal to Authority, and Appeal to Emotion, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 56.2% saturation with 205 hits. Analysis detected 1,383 faulty-reasoning hits from 365 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 54.1% and a BS Rank of ⁠57% (8,984 of 20,497 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 56.20% of the article peer group.

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has witnessed more than a century of American history, in all its heartbreak and majesty. 
Crowds have gathered around it in protest and in praise to denounce American wars, and hear great voices sing and speak. 
Today, it's the center of a slimy controversy. 
President Trump said in April he found the water in the reflecting pool "filthy" and "disgusting." 
He authorized a no-bid contract to resurface the basin of the 2,000-foot long pool, and paint it "American flag blue" in time for July 4th celebrations. 
"I have a guy who's unbelievable at doing swimming pools," the president crowed, before the National Park Service gave out no-bid contracts for sealing and upgrades. 
After weeks of renovation, the project has cost taxpayers more than $14 million and… the reflecting pool looks green. 
And I mean green. 
Like the Chicago River on St. 
Patrick's Day. 
But that river is dyed green for a day. 
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is green because of algae. 
Look, algae happens. 
It's clouded the reflecting pool since it was first filled in 1923. 
Algae blooms flourish when sunlight falls on warm, sluggish water — like you'd find in a shallow, still pool absorbing the glare and swelter of a Washington D.C. summer. 
But a University of Virginia satellite analysis commissioned by the Washington Post saw more algae in the Reflecting Pool this month than at any other time in the past five years. 
The Interior Department says workers have deployed "a state-of-the-art ozone nanobubbler filtration system" to banish the algae. 
"President Donald J. 
Trump is an expert builder who has fixed the reflecting pool for good," spokesperson Kate Martin said in a statement this week, "unlike the failed and extremely costly attempt by Obama and Biden." 
That's a reference to a major project during President Obama's first term to stop the pool from sinking and add a filtration system. 
In these deeply divisive and partisan times, it's good to remind ourselves that many issues aren't just Republican red or Democratic blue. 
The Reflecting Pool algae doesn't care about our party lines. 
It's green, and it's not going anywhere. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 2.1%KUOW: 2.6%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.2%KUOW: 1.3%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 15.9%Scott Simon: 6.3%KUOW: 3.4%Availability Heuristic15.9%This article: 10.4%Scott Simon: 1.8%KUOW: 1.2%Representativeness Heuristic10.4%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.3%KUOW: 0.7%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 2.7%Scott Simon: 1.2%KUOW: 1.4%Overconfidence Bias2.7%This article: 12.1%Scott Simon: 9.6%KUOW: 7.4%Framing Effect12.1%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.1%KUOW: 1.0%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.4%KUOW: 1.0%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 5.2%Scott Simon: 0.2%KUOW: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect5.2%This article: 12.6%Scott Simon: 3.6%KUOW: 3.8%Optimism Bias12.6%This article: 1.9%Scott Simon: 1.6%KUOW: 1.8%Pessimism Bias1.9%This article: 36.4%Scott Simon: 7.0%KUOW: 8.0%Negativity Bias36.4%This article: 9.0%Scott Simon: 1.3%KUOW: 2.0%Self-Serving Bias9.0%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.0%KUOW: 0.9%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 6.3%Scott Simon: 0.1%KUOW: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias6.3%This article: 8.2%Scott Simon: 3.1%KUOW: 2.0%In-Group Bias8.2%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.1%KUOW: 0.5%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 13.7%Scott Simon: 10.6%KUOW: 2.7%Halo Effect13.7%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.0%KUOW: 0.2%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.0%KUOW: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 8.5%Scott Simon: 2.1%KUOW: 1.1%Recency Bias8.5%This article: 9.3%Scott Simon: 1.7%KUOW: 0.4%Primacy Effect9.3%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.0%KUOW: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 9.0%Scott Simon: 0.4%KUOW: 0.5%Ad Hominem9.0%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.0%KUOW: 0.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 28.2%Scott Simon: 6.0%KUOW: 4.3%Appeal to Authority28.2%This article: 15.1%Scott Simon: 2.3%KUOW: 1.4%False Dilemma15.1%This article: 1.9%Scott Simon: 0.9%KUOW: 0.9%Slippery Slope1.9%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.0%KUOW: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 5.3%KUOW: 4.1%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 8.8%Scott Simon: 0.3%KUOW: 0.3%Red Herring8.8%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.3%KUOW: 0.8%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 25.8%Scott Simon: 14.5%KUOW: 6.1%Appeal to Emotion25.8%This article: 2.7%Scott Simon: 1.3%KUOW: 0.8%Begging the Question2.7%This article: 11.2%Scott Simon: 2.1%KUOW: 2.2%Post Hoc (False Cause)11.2%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.0%KUOW: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.4%KUOW: 0.3%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 7.9%Scott Simon: 0.7%KUOW: 0.2%Appeal to Nature7.9%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.4%KUOW: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 7.4%Scott Simon: 6.3%KUOW: 3.3%Anecdotal7.4%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.0%KUOW: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 5.8%Scott Simon: 1.2%KUOW: 1.4%Ambiguity (Equivocation)5.8%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.0%KUOW: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.0%KUOW: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.8%Scott Simon: 0.2%KUOW: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.8%This article: 7.1%Scott Simon: 0.2%KUOW: 0.2%Special Pleading7.1%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.1%KUOW: 0.2%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 5.2%Scott Simon: 1.5%KUOW: 1.0%Unattributed Quote5.2%This article: 9.3%Scott Simon: 1.8%KUOW: 0.8%Quote-first Misdirection9.3%This article: 56.2%Scott Simon: 7.7%KUOW: 3.2%Biased Writer Voice56.2%This article: 11.0%Scott Simon: 2.6%KUOW: 1.5%Indoctrination11.0%This article: 6.0%Scott Simon: 0.7%KUOW: 1.1%Politically Left Leaning Bias6.0%This article: 0.0%Scott Simon: 0.0%KUOW: 0.2%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 7.1%Scott Simon: 0.9%KUOW: 1.3%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…7.1%

365 words analyzed.

Speakers

4speakers34%attributed speech242writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 8 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 100.0% coverageDonald J. Trump • 16 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 26 words • 100.0% coverageDonald J. Trump • 26 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 4 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 6 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 2 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 9 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 3 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 29 words • 100.0% coverageUniversity of Virginia • 31 words • 0.0% coverageInterior Department • 17 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 3 words • 100.0% coverageKate Martin • 33 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 23 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 7 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Kate Martin

100%flagged-word coverage
33 attributed words27% of attributed speech99% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Biased Writer Voice+46.7 ptsWriter: 53.3%Kate Martin: 100.0%100.0%Indoctrination-16.5 ptsWriter: 16.5%Kate Martin: 0.0%0.0%Attempt to Sell a Product -10.7 ptsWriter: 10.7%Kate Martin: 0.0%0.0%Politically Left Leaning B-9.1 ptsWriter: 9.1%Kate Martin: 0.0%0.0%Quote-first Misdirection-3.3 ptsWriter: 3.3%Kate Martin: 0.0%0.0%Unattributed Quote-1.2 ptsWriter: 1.2%Kate Martin: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.