Most college students think America invented slavery, professor finds
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/29719/
Most college students think America invented slavery, professor finds
October 31, 2016
For 11 years, Professor Duke Pesta gave quizzes to his students at the beginning of the school year to test their knowledge on basic facts about American history and Western culture.
The most surprising result from his 11-year experiment? Students’ overwhelming belief that slavery began in the United States and was almost exclusively an American phenomenon, he said.
“Most of my students could not tell me anything meaningful about slavery outside of America,” Pesta told The College Fix. “They are convinced that slavery was an American problem that more or less ended with the Civil War, and they are very fuzzy about the history of slavery prior to the Colonial era. Their entire education about slavery was confined to America.”
Pesta, currently an associate professor of English at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, has taught the gamut of Western literature—from the Classics to the modern—at seven different universities, ranging from large research institutions to small liberal arts colleges to branch campuses. He said he has given the quizzes to students at Purdue University, University of Tennessee Martin, Ursinus College, Oklahoma State University, and University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
The origin of these quizzes, which Pesta calls “cultural literacy markers,” was his increasing discomfort with gaps in his students’ foundational knowledge.
“They came to college without the basic rudiments of American history or Western culture and their reading level was pretty low,” Pesta told The Fix.
Before even distributing the syllabus for his courses, Pesta administered his short quizzes with basic questions about American history, economics and Western culture. For instance, the questions asked students to circle which of three historical figures was a president of the United States, or to name three slave-holding countries over the last 2,000 years, or define “capitalism” and “socialism” in one sentence each.
Often, more students connected Thomas Jefferson to slavery than could identify him as president, according to Pesta. On one quiz, 29 out of 32 students responding knew that Jefferson owned slaves, but only three out of the 32 correctly identified him as president. Interestingly, more students— six of 32—actually believed Ben Franklin had been president.
Pesta said he believes these students were given an overwhelmingly negative view of American history in high school, perpetuated by scholars such as Howard Zinn in “A People’s History of the United States,” a frequently assigned textbook.
What’s more, he began to observe a shift in his students’ quiz responses in the early 2000s. Before that time, Pesta described his students as “often historically ignorant, but not politicized.” Since the early 2000s, Pesta has found that “many students come to college preprogrammed in certain ways.”
“They cannot tell you many historical facts or relate anything meaningful about historical biographies, but they are, however, stridently vocal about the corrupt nature of the Republic, about the wickedness of the founding fathers, and about the evils of free markets,” Pesta said. “Most alarmingly, they know nothing about the fraught history of Marxist ideology and communist governments over the last century, but often reductively define socialism as ‘fairness.’”
Pesta also noted that, early on, his students’ “blissful ignorance was accompanied by a basic humility about what they did not know.” But over time he said he increasingly saw “a sense of moral superiority in not knowing anything about our ‘racist and sexist’ history and our ‘biased’ institutions.”
“As we now see on campus,” Pesta said, “social justice warriors are arguing that even reading the great books of Western culture is at best a micro-aggression, and at worst an insidious form of cultural imperialism and indoctrination.”
Pesta, an outspoken critic of Common Core, said he believes that these attitudes will become more pronounced moving forward, due to Common Core architect David Coleman’s rewrite of Advanced Placement American and European history standards.
Pesta argues that Coleman, now president of the College Board, “has further politicized the teaching of history, reducing the story of Western culture to little more than a litany of crimes, exploitations, and genocides, while simultaneously whitewashing the history of ideologies like socialism and communism.”
Despite no longer giving the quizzes, Pesta told The Fix that he continues “to seek effective ways to teach students the literature of Western culture, which it is not only alien and complex, but often condemned by students before it is truly encountered.”
“We must absolutely teach those areas where Western culture has fallen short, but always with the recognition that such criticism is possible because of the freedoms and advantages offered by Western culture,” he said.
Emails show that CNN contributor Donna Brazile gave Hillary Clinton debate questions in advance
CNN cuts ties with Donna Brazile after hacked emails suggest she gave Clinton campaign debate questions
October 31, 2016
CNN quietly cut ties with Donna Brazile, acting Democratic National Committee chair and a longtime contributor on the cable news network, after hacked emails published by WikiLeaks revealed that she had provided the Hillary Clinton campaign with questions in advance of Democratic primary debates hosted by CNN.
According to a spokeswoman for the network, CNN accepted Brazile’s resignation on Oct. 14.
The emails showed that Brazile — whose role as a CNN contributor was suspended in July after she took over for departing DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz — shared with the Clinton campaign a question that would be posed to Clinton before the CNN Democratic Debate in Flint, Mich., in March, and another before a CNN town hall Columbus, Ohio, a week later.
The network vehemently denied giving Brazile access to debate questions in advance.
“CNN never gave Brazile access to any questions, prep material, attendee list, background information or meetings in advance of a town hall or debate,” the spokeswoman, Lauren Pratapas, said in a statement. “We are completely uncomfortable with what we have learned about her interactions with the Clinton campaign while she was a CNN contributor.”
Brazile has appeared as a guest on Yahoo News’ live coverage of campaign events, including the recent presidential debates, but was not paid for any of those appearances.
Brazile did not respond to a request for comment.
On Twitter, she referred media to her previous statement the emails exposed by WikiLeaks (“This is exactly what the Russians intended to do,” Brazile said on Oct. 11, “and they’re doing it”), thanked CNN and wished her former colleagues well.
Venezuelan jail reveals emaciated prisoners left starving to death (two minute video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cks4OBHGG5U
Here’s a 2006 audio recording that shows Hillary Clinton proposing to rig the Palestinian election
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-W-SYn-uhk
Video: Trump opponents attack homeless woman who was protecting Trump’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star after it was vandalized
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njN75nJdCAk
Social justice warrior says we should abandon science because it’s “racist.” Then the hypocrite uses her smartphone!
This video, which is from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, has been showing up on a lot of different YouTube channels, along with the new phrase “decolonize science” and the twitter hashtag #sciencemustfall.
The woman says that science is “racist” and we should abandon it, because it does not treat African witchcraft and black magic the same way that it treats Newtonian physics.
But she’s wrong on that – for two reasons.
First of all, science is not “racist.” Science treats all races the same. The same laws of science apply to people of all races. Newtonian physics applies to people of all races.
Secondly, science actually does treat African black magic and witchcraft the exact dame way that it treats Newtonian physics, because in both cases, science requires these things to be provable, repeatable, and predictable. The fact that Newtonian physics is provable, repeatable, and predictable, while African black magic and witchcraft are not, is irrelevant. What does matter is that both can be subject to scientific testing.
The woman also says that she did not join the science faculty because of this “racism.” She’s wrong about that. The real reason she did not join the science faculty is because she’s an idiot.
At the very end of the video, she proceeds to use her smartphone. For someone who claims to be in favor of abandoning science, that’s stunningly hypocritical.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9SiRNibD14
When it comes to taking time off from campaigning, CNN reporter Dana Bash holds a very different standard for Trump than she does for Clinton
Here’s another great example of media bias at its finest:
Trump Shuts Down CNN Crank for Questioning Him on “Taking Time Off” to Attend Hotel Opening
Donald Trump SHUTS DOWN liberal CNN host Dana Bash after ridiculous biased question.
October 26, 2016
Dana Bash: For people who say you’re taking time out of swing states to go do this, you say?
Donald Trump: I say the following. You have been covering me for the last, long time. I did yesterday 8 stops and 3 major speeches. And I’ve been doing this for weeks straight. I left for here for an hour-and-a-half. I’m leaving here and going to North Carolina, then I’m going to Florida, then I’m going up to New Hampshire. For you to ask me that question is actually very insulting because Hillary Clinton does one stop and then goes home and sleeps. And yet you ask me that question. I think it’s a very rude question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r-A_3G0Z0E
Whoa! Listen to this four minutes of Michael Moore talking about Donald Trump!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsPlwhahHAo
Berkeley protesters form human chain to stop white students from getting to class
In my opinion, any college student who tries to physically prevent other students from getting to class should be expelled.
Whatever their actual goal was, the only result they could possibly get from this kind of thing is to show the whole world that they are bullies.
And please keep in mind that this is not just any college – this is one of the most prestigious colleges in the U.S.
Actually, it seems to be that the more prestigious the college, the more dumb the protestors are.
I’m guessing that in this group of protestors, there are probably exactly zero STEM majors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R6dzZdceT4
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/24/berkeley-protesters-form-human-chain-stop-white-st/
Berkeley protesters form human chain to stop white students from getting to class
October 24, 2016
Students at the University of California, Berkeley held a day of protest on Friday to demand the creation of additional “safe spaces” for transgender and nonwhite students, during which a human chain was formed on a main campus artery to prevent white students from getting to class.
The demonstrators were caught on video blocking Berkeley’s Sather Gate, holding large banners advocating the creation of physical spaces segregated by race and gender identity, including one that read “Fight 4 Spaces of Color.”
Protesters can be heard shouting “Go around!” to white students who attempt to go through the blockade, while students of color are greeted with calls of “Let him through!”
Students turned away by the mob are later shown filing through trees and ducking under branches in order to cross Strawberry Creek, which runs underneath the bridge.
Protesting students went on to march through the Berkeley Student Union, chanting and disrupting students who are studying.
One student, who was not a part of the protest, tells the videomaker that the demonstrators are “being quite childish.”
“I agree with the right to protest, but disrupting the peace of others is not OK,” he says.
The group later occupies the school store, chanting “Students Over Profits!” They place an “eviction notice” on the store, which claims the university “wrongly allocated this two-story facility to third-party corporations, keeping in line with its intensifying legacy of prioritizing financial profit over student needs.”
Demonstrators finally made their way to an intersection in front of campus, where students blocked traffic and chanted, “Whose university? Our university!”
Hillary Clinton has abnormal eye movements, say majority of doctors surveyed, reports AAPS
This video was posted at YouTube by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByesjJnHRx8
Hillary Has Abnormal Eye Movements, Say Majority of Doctors Surveyed, Reports AAPS
October 25, 2016
TUCSON, Ariz. — Concerns about Hillary Clinton’s health have been subdued after her three debate performances. She presented her ability to survive 4-and-a-half hours on a stage with Donald Trump as proof of sufficient stamina to serve as commander-in-chief.
“She evidently intended this as a joke, although I suspect our combat veterans would not be amused,” states AAPS executive director Jane Orient, M.D.
Videos are, however, circulating on the internet, from her rather brief and rare appearances in public, which are purported to show pathological eye movements.
“These are quick, episodic, and inconsistent,” states Dr. Orient, who is an internist. “So we decided to ask doctors on our email list to have a look at one of the videos.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they saw abnormal movements. Only 15% did not, and 21% were unsure. There are long segments in which the eye movements appear normal.
About 60% of those who saw abnormal movements thought “the cause could be a potentially disabling neurological condition,” and none of them were willing to say that it isn’t.
Such movements signify an abnormality in portions of the brain that coordinate the eye muscles. There is a long differential diagnosis. Possibilities the respondents suggested include increased intracranial pressure (she is at risk for that because of her history of head trauma and a transverse sinus clot); a drug effect; or a chronic degenerative neurological condition. Parkinson’s disease is mentioned—with drug treatment concealing most manifestations but causing the eye signs.
Doctors were asked which tests would be helpful, and 37 responded. The most common one was a full neurological examination by unbiased specialists, including a neuro-ophthalmologist.
“A neuro-ophthalmologist could do a structured examination, but it might be normal at a moment in time. The video clips need to be explained,” stated Dr. Orient. “A cardiologist might do an electrocardiogram that is perfectly normal—but he will also look at a 24-hour monitor that may show a transient life-threatening rhythm disturbance.”
A collection of additional clips in slow motion has been posted.
“As Hillary revealed to the public, perhaps illegally, the President may have only four minutes to respond to a nuclear threat,” said Dr. Orient. “The public needs to know whether she is concealing a serious, progressive illness that may impair memory, reasoning, alertness, or ability to think quickly at a critical time.”
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a national organization representing physicians in virtually all specialties and every state. Founded in 1943, AAPS has the motto “omnia pro aegroto,” which means “all for the patient.”
Tufts University campus police to probe ‘offensive’ Halloween costumes, students told
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/29616/
Campus police to probe ‘offensive’ Halloween costumes, students told
October 25, 2016
Members of Tufts University’s Greek system have been told they could face “serious disciplinary sanctions” — including a possible investigation by the campus police — for wearing Halloween costumes that offend peers or make the campus community “feel threatened or unsafe.”
The warning was part of a letter to the presidents of fraternities and sororities on campus signed by various Greek Life council leaders, who asked the chapter presidents to relay the message to their members.
The letter stated in part that “Greek Brothers and Sisters have worn costumes that appropriate cultures and reproduce stereotypes on race, gender, sexuality, immigrant or socioeconomic status. Outfits relating to tragedy, controversy, or acts of violence are also inappropriate. … It is our mission to promote spaces that allow members of the Tufts community to have fun without feeling as though any part of their identity is being misrepresented or targeted.”
The letter went on to warn “there are consequences for wearing an offensive costume.”
It states: “Mary Pat McMahon, the Dean of Student Affairs, described the consequences as follows: ‘The range of response for students whose actions make others in our community feel threatened or unsafe, or who direct conduct towards others that is offensive or discriminatory, includes [Office of Equal Opportunity] and/or [Tufts University Police Department] investigation and then disciplinary sanctions from our office that could run a wide gamut depending on what is brought to our attention and the impact of these actions on others. Any complaints will result in full investigation by University officials and could result in serious disciplinary sanctions through Judicial Affairs.’”
The letter then encouraged students to report each other if they “encountered someone who is wearing an inappropriate and offensive costume,” providing the URL to Tufts’ “Incidents of Bias, Intolerance, Discrimination and/or Hate Reporting Form.”
Signed by the Inter Greek Council, Multicultural Greek Council, InterFraternity Council, and Panhellenic Council, the letter also reminds students to obtain consent before any sexual encounters during Halloween, citing a traditional increase in assaults during this time.
In a statement emailed Monday to The College Fix, campus spokesman Patrick Collins clarified that “Tufts University does not have a ‘Halloween costume policy.’”
“The letter was written by students, for students, to encourage a thoughtful and considerate celebration of Halloween within our diverse and inclusive community and to stress the importance of alcohol safety and sexual consent,” Collins said. “We commend the leaders of our Greek Life councils for proactively raising these important issues with their fellow participants in Greek Life and encouraging responsible behavior. As is the case at any time, students whose actions are discriminatory or threaten others can face a range of disciplinary sanctions. Depending on their seriousness, such actions, when called to our attention, can prompt investigations by the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs, the Office of Equal Opportunity or, in certain circumstances, the Tufts University Police Department.”
Jake Goldberg, a student at Tufts University and founder of Students Advocating for Students, a free speech advocacy group which first reported on this issue, told The College Fix that “this campus, as well as many other universities around the country, have fundamentally inverted the meaning of tolerance.”
“Many of my friends have felt compelled to alter their costume plans out of fear of administrative retaliation,” Goldberg told The Fix. “Merely unintentionally offending somebody with your costume could cause a Tufts student to face severe discipline … . A truly tolerant campus would ignore unfavorable costumes, a truly totalitarian campus would censor them. It seems quite clear based off of Tufts’ policy which category the university falls into.”
The 20 most damning revelations about Hillary Clinton from the Wikileaks emails. via @Liz_Wheeler (five minute video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_seuHhAMcMw
Video: Clinton campaign and DNC incite violence at Trump rallies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IuJGHuIkzY
CNN cuts satellite feed as soon as WikiLeaks is mentioned by Congressman Collins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbA5RE9eK08
Video shows Democrats explaining how they’ve been committing voter fraud for the past 50 years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDc8PVCvfKs
Stanford study: “As such, as a whole, these data suggest that election fraud is occurring in the 2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primary election. This fraud has overwhelmingly benefited Secretary Clinton at the expense of Senator Sanders.”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6mLpCEIGEYGYl9RZWFRcmpsZk0/view?pref=2&pli=1
Associated Press debunks Hillary Clinton’s promise to get money out of politics
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2128180-clinton-vows-to-get-money-out-of-politics/
Clinton Vows to Get Money Out of Politics
July 29, 2016
Hillary Clinton promised to get big money out of politics during her Democratic National Convention speech on Thursday in Philadelphia as she accepted the party’s presidential nomination.
In her nearly hour-long speech, Clinton tried to woo Bernie Sanders supporters as she urged for unity among Americans. She also attacked her opponent, Donald Trump, asking people to imagine what it would be like to have him in the oval office with the nuclear codes.
She then criticized his Republican National Convention remarks in which he said he could fix the country on is own.
“Americans don’t say ‘I alone can fix it,’” Clinton said referring to Trump, “We say, ‘We’ll fix it together.’”
The former senator said she will pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, the 2010 Supreme Court decision that allows unlimited corporate spending in elections.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Citizens United, a nonprofit corporation, made a documentary about the former secretary of state called “Hillary: The Movie,” in which she was highly criticized. Citizens United intended to show the documentary by buying airtime and having it accessible to viewers for free through on-demand.
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a 5-4 decision, ruled that money to influence elections and policy is a “free speech” constitutional right. The decision overruled a previous 6-3 decision, Austin v. Michigan State Chamber of Commerce, that allowed prohibitions on independent expenditures by corporations.
“That’s why we need to appoint Supreme Court justices who will get money out of politics and expand voting rights, not restrict them,” said Clinton at the DNC as crowds cheered.
“And if necessary, we will pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United!” she added.
Clinton had previously promised to overturn Citizens United within her first 30 days in office.
According to a poll by Bloomberg Politics last year, 78 percent of those surveyed said the Citizens United ruling should be overturned, while 17 percent called it a good decision.
In her DNC speech Clinton went after big banks and corporations.
“I believe American corporations that have gotten so much from our country should be just as patriotic in return. Many of them are, but too many aren’t. It’s wrong to take tax breaks with one hand and give out pink slips with the other,” she said.
“And I believe Wall Street can never, ever be allowed to wreck Main Street again,” she added.
However, Clinton has been criticized for benefiting from PACs throughout her career, with donations from individual donors from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs.
.
http://www.wkyt.com/content/news/Clinton-has-twice-as-many-six-figure-donors-397215271.html
Clinton has twice as many six-figure donors
By Associated Press
October 15, 2016
Hillary Clinton has at least twice as many six-figure donors as Donald Trump.
A joint fundraising account for Clinton and Democratic Party groups saw 317 who gave at least $100,000 between July and September, while a joint fundraising account for Trump and Republican Party groups counted 158 over those same three months.
Both presidential candidates use “victory” funds to enable generous donors to far exceed the $2,700 per-donor, per-election limit. The large donations are parceled out to the campaign, national party committees and state party groups.
Overall, the Hillary Victory Fund raised $261 million in the three-month time period while Trump Victory raised $61 million. The unconventional Republican nominee has struggled to raise money from the kinds of traditional donors who write the biggest campaign checks.
Clinton has another joint fund for big donors, while Trump has another account for his campaign and the party that’s aimed at small donors.
Italy: African Muslim destroys invaluable historic statues in four Roman churches, terrorizes tourists (two minute video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df_si1PnEcY
Jill Stein: “On the issue of war and nuclear weapons, it is actually Hillary’s policies which are much scarier than Donald Trump”
The following was recently said by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein:
It’s important to look at where we are going. It’s not just a moment in time, but where has the strategy of voting for the lesser evil taken us?
All these times you have been told to vote for the lesser evil because you didn’t want the wars, or the meltdown of the climate, or the offshoring of our jobs, or the attack on immigrants, or the massive bailout for Wall Street, but that is actually what we have gotten. By the droves.
Because we with public interest allow ourselves to be silent, and voted for the lesser evil. But the lesser evil doesn’t solve the problem.
The Obama administration, even with both houses of Congress, actually did all of these fossil fuel emissions. “All of the above” gave us some renewable energy but it completely amplified and intensified our carbon production, which has been incredibly destructive to the climate.
The wars have gotten bigger, we are now bombing seven countries.
It is important to not just look at the rhetoric but also look at the track record and the reality is the lesser people and greater people is a race to the bottom, and even Donald Trump in the right wing extremism grows out of the policies of the Clintons, in particular Nafta, which sent our jobs overseas and Wall Street deregulation, which blew 9 million jobs up into smoke.
That is what is creating this right wing extremism. A vote for Hillary Clinton isn’t going to fix it…
It is now Hillary Clinton that wants to start an air war with Russia over Syria by calling for a no fly zone.
We have 2000 nuclear missiles on hairtrigger alert. They are saying we are closer to a nuclear war than we have ever been.
Under Hillary Clinton, we could slide into nuclear war very quickly from her declared policy in Syria.
I sure won’t sleep well at night if Donald Trump is elected, but I sure won’t sleep well at night if Hillary Clinton elected. We have another choice other than these two candidates who are both promoting lethal policies.
On the issue of war and nuclear weapons, it is actually Hillary’s policies which are much scarier than Donald Trump who does not want to go to war with Russia.
He wants to seek modes of working together, which is the route that we need to follow not to go into confrontation and nuclear war with Russia.
Why trophy hunting can be good for animals
A trophy hunter pays $350,000 to legally kill a specific male rhinoceros which is old and has stopped breeding, and which has been harassing the younger males and preventing them from breeding. The money is used to pay to care for the living rhinos. Under this kind of policy, one population of rhinos increased from 100 to 18,000.
I myself am a vegetarian, but I have to admit that the logic in this video is quite sound. This is a good lesson in economics and the benefits of property rights.
I do understand why some people might have emotional objections to this, but even they can’t argue against the real world results of this kind of policy.
If the opponents of trophy hunting wanted to bring an end to it, all they would have to do would be to outbid the trophy hunters. As of yet, I don’t see any examples of them having done so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUA8i5S0YMU
University of Florida offers counseling to students who are offended by Halloween costumes
Halloween Costume Choices
October 10, 2016
October brings fall weather and Halloween. If you choose to participate in Halloween activities, we encourage you to think about your choices of costumes and themes. Some Halloween costumes reinforce stereotypes of particular races, genders, cultures, or religions. Regardless of intent, these costumes can perpetuate negative stereotypes, causing harm and offense to groups of people. Also, keep in mind that social media posts can have a long-term impact on your personal and professional reputation. The University of Florida’s Division of Student Affairs Diversity and Social Justice Statement reminds us that UF fosters a community that values and respects diversity. An inclusive definition of diversity recognizes the variety of personal and social experiences that make individuals and communities different from one another.
As a community, we aspire to demonstrate integrity, respect, and compassion that strives to maintain an affirming campus climate for all members of our community. If you are troubled by an incident that does occur, please know that there are many resources available. Please take advantage of the 7 day a week presence of the U Matter, We Care program at the University of Florida by emailing umatter@ufl.edu. Additionally, there is a 24/7 counselor in the Counseling and Wellness Center available to speak by phone at 352-392-1575. Lastly, the Bias Education and Response Team at the University of Florida is able to respond to any reported incidents of bias, to educate those that were involved, and to provide support by connecting those that were impacted to the appropriate services and resources. You may submit a bias incident report at http://www.umatter.ufl.edu/stopbias . Thank you for being mindful of these values, and have a fun and safe Halloween.
Experts said Arctic sea ice would melt entirely by September 2016 – they were wrong
Experts said Arctic sea ice would melt entirely by September 2016 – they were wrong
October 8, 2016
Dire predictions that the Arctic would be devoid of sea ice by September this year have proven to be unfounded after latest satellite images showed there is far more now than in 2012.
Scientists such as Prof Peter Wadhams, of Cambridge University, and Prof Wieslaw Maslowski, of the Naval Postgraduate School in Moderey, California, have regularly forecast the loss of ice by 2016, which has been widely reported by the BBC and other media outlets.
Prof Wadhams, a leading expert on Arctic sea ice loss, has recently published a book entitled A Farewell To Ice in which he repeats the assertion that the polar region would free of ice in the middle of this decade.
As late as this summer, he was still predicting an ice-free September.
Yet, when figures were released for the yearly minimum on September 10, they showed that there was still 1.6 million square miles of sea ice (4.14 square kilometres), which was 21 per cent more than the lowest point in 2012.
For the month of September overall, there was 31 per cent more ice than in 2012, figures released this week from the National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) show. This amounts to an extra 421,000 (1.09 million square kilometres) of sea ice, making the month only the fifth lowest since records began.
Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog 