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Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs on stage

Luke Combs, politics and healing our nation's divide

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The 12 worst House districts: Experts label gerrymandering's dirty dozen

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Is Antarctica gaining land ice?

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An iceberg calved from Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf.

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Sue Bin Park, Skeptical Science
By Sue Bin Park, Skeptical ScienceMay 21, 2024
Sue Bin Park, Skeptical Science
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This fact brief was originally published by Skeptical Science. Read the original here. Fact briefs are published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network, and republished by The Fulcrum. Visit Gigafact to learn more.

Is Antarctica gaining land ice?

No.

While Antarctic sea ice varies seasonally, the continent's land ice has continued to melt at an increasing pace.

Sea ice forms during the Antarctic winter and retreats during the warmer months. Such freeze-thaw cycles have no impact on sea levels since they happen within the ocean. However, Antarctic land ice has seen a net decrease, resulting in a significant increase in fresh water flowing into the sea. That does affect global sea levels.

The behavior of Antarctic land ice varies from region to region. In particular, the West Antarctic Peninsula has seen drastic ice retreat. On the other hand, East Antarctica's land ice has remained relatively stable to date. But if global warming crosses a specific threshold, serious loss is expected to occur. The planet has already moved a third of the way towards that threshold and will pass it within a century, if fossil fuel burning continues unabated.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Nature Mass balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet from 1992 to 2017

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Underwater cable model

A model of an internet cable that is laid along the seabed to transmit high-voltage electricity and the Internet via fiberglass.

Serg Myshkovsky/Getty Images

We need bipartisan cooperation to protect the internet

Your internet access is dependent on the security and resiliency of garden-hose-sized underwater cables. More than 800,000 miles of these cables criss-cross the oceans and seas. When just one of these cables breaks, which occurs about every other day, you may not notice much of a change to your internet speed. When several break, which is increasingly possible, the resulting delay in internet connectivity can disrupt a nation’s economy, news and government.

If there were ever a bipartisan issue it’s this: protecting our undersea cable system.

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Election Countdown, with guest Issac Saul of Tangle News

Scott Klug was a 32-year Democratic member of Congress from Wisconsin. Despite winning his four elections by an average of 63 percent, he stayed true to his term limit pledge and retired.

During his time in Congress, Klug had the third most independent voting record of any Wisconsin lawmaker in the last 50 years. In September 2023, he launched a podcast, “Lost in the Middle,” to shine a spotlight on the oft ignored political center.

“The podcast was born,” Klug told Madison Magazine, “out of the sentiment that a wide swath of the American public, myself included, can’t figure out how in the hell we got to this place. And more importantly, is there a way for us out of it.”

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CNN's John King and the Magic Wall

CNN and other media outlets need to explain the process, not just predict the winner on election night.

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This election night, the media can better explain how results work

Johnson is the executive director of the Election Reformers Network. Penniman is the founder and CEO of Issue One and author of “Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy and What We Can Do About It.”

Watching election night on cable or network news is a great national tradition. Memorable moments arise as the networks announce their projections in key states. Anchors and commentators demonstrate extraordinary understanding of the unique politics of hundreds of cities and counties across the country. As the results of the most consequential election on the planet unfold, there’s a powerful sense of shared witness.

But our polarized politics has revealed a serious flaw in election night coverage. As disinformation abounds, it is increasingly important for voters to know how the actual, legally certain election results are determined. And right now, voters are not seeing enough of that information on their screens on election night.

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Donald Trump on stage

The media has held Kamala Harris to a different standard than Donald Trump.

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The media is normalizing the abnormal

Rikleen is executive director of Lawyers Defending American Democracy and the editor of “Her Honor – Stories of Challenge and Triumph from Women Judges.”

As we near the end of a tumultuous election season, too many traditional media outlets are inexplicably continuing their practice of covering candidates who meet standards of normalcy differently than the candidate who has long defied them.

By claiming to take the high road of neutrality in their reporting, these major outlets are committing grave harm. First, they are failing to address what is in plain sight. Second, through those continued omissions, the media has abdicated its primary responsibility of contributing to an informed electorate.

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