These are the top maybe-not headlines from the past 84-hours presented by The Conversation Project from raw engagement data from our social media to the headlines posted over the past weekend.
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The 8 topics that our followers ranked as the most conversational are:
TRUMP SAYS TALIBAN LEADERS WERE COMING TO THE US FOR A CAMP DAVID MEETING BUT HE CANCELED IT
Trump tweeted that he scrapped the meeting after the Taliban took credit for an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed a dozen people, including an American soldier. Inviting Taliban leaders onto American soil is an unprecedented move and a significant development in America’s longest running war just days from the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It comes after Trump said as recently as late last month that he is planning to withdraw thousands of US forces from Afghanistan but will keep 8,600 troops in the country at least for the time being. It’s not clear if Trump’s Saturday night announcement will impact that plan.
[SOURCE: cnn.com]
GOOGLE ASSISTANT’S AMBIENT MODE TURNS ANDROID DEVICES INTO SMART DISPLAYS
Google’s implementation is, like many things involving Google Assistant these days, a little strange and a little duplicative of current software. Although Ambient Mode on Google Assistant replicates some of a Nest Hub’s functionality, it’s not exactly the same thing. Instead, it does the stuff listed above in an interface that’s noticeably different from the Nest Hub.
[SOURCE: theverge.com]
STARBUCKS TO OFFER MENTAL HEALTH BENEFITS
This week in Chicago, Starbucks will bring around 12,000 store managers from the U.S. and Canada for a leadership conference. And in conversations and surveys with those employees, the coffee giant realized the need to put mental health on the agenda. In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Johnson said that the company found that some employees were afraid to reach out to the Employee Assistance Program, so they’re working to enhance the program, which provides short-term counseling services.
[SOURCE: finance.yahoo.com]
FLORIDA NURSE GIVES BIRTH WHILE ON DUTY DURING HURRICANE DORIAN: ‘I WAS IN THE PERFECT PLACE’
Laura Suazo volunteered to work at Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center on Monday amid warnings that Hurricane Dorian threatened the Florida east coast, according to a hospital statement to PEOPLE. She went into labor that day — three weeks early — and gave birth to daughter Penelope on Tuesday morning. Mother and baby are doing well, according to the statement. Little Penelope is one of eight babies born at the hospital during Hurricane Dorian between Monday and Tuesday, a hospital spokesperson tells PEOPLE.
[SOURCE: msn.com]
JOURNALISTS RALLY AROUND WASHINGTON POST REPORTER AFTER ERIC TRUMP CRITICIZES EMAIL
In Fahrenthold’s email, he writes “I’m very sorry to bother. I’m a reporter for the Washington Post, and I cover the Trump Organization as a business. As part of that, I try to make sure every Trump Org employee has my contact information. You know the company so much better than I ever could. I’d like your help to make sure I don’t miss something important. If you ever want to get in touch with me, I’d be glad to talk ‘on background,’ meaning I’d never use your name in any story, or tell anyone else that we spoke. All my contact information is below, including details for how to reach me on encrypted apps.”
[SOURCE: thehill.com]
IRAN NOW OPERATING ADVANCED CENTRIFUGES IN BREACH OF NUCLEAR PACT
The spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Behrouz Kamalvandi, announced the new measures at a news conference in Tehran, warning that there was little time left to salvage the deal. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said this week that Iran would set aside the accord’s restrictions on nuclear-related research and development and would expand its use of advanced centrifuges. The landmark agreement was signed by Iran and world powers in 2015 and curbed Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for major sanctions relief. President Trump abandoned the accord and reimposed a near-total embargo on Iran’s economy in the fall, frustrating European allies who helped negotiate the deal.
[SOURCE: washingtonpost.com]
KANYE WEST BUYS MASSIVE $14 MILLION WYOMING RANCH
The Ranch itself has 8 lodging units and is known for “monster trout” fishing. It has 2 fresh water lakes, a restaurant, an event center and meeting facilities. And — it’s a ranch, right — so there are lots of horse barns, corrals and lots of horsies. Fun fact … Cody is known as the “rodeo capital of the world.” Imagine Sunday Service at the rodeo?!? We’re told Kanye did not pay full price but we don’t know exactly how much he plunked down. The property itself is more than 9,000 acres! He now owns 4,500 of those acres, and the rest is leased from the federal government.
[SOURCE: tmz.com]
ANTONIO BROWN PUBLICLY ASKS RAIDERS TO RELEASE HIM AFTER THEY VOIDED HIS $29 MILLION GUARANTEED
Just a day after reports indicated that he would not be suspended and would play on Monday night against the Denver Broncos, the Oakland Raiders fined Antonio Brown over $200,000 for conduct detrimental to the team, thus voiding the $29.125 million guaranteed in his contract. As a result, Brown has taken to Instagram to publicly ask the Raiders to release him. Brown asking the Raiders to release him comes less than 12 hours after he released a movie trailer about himself on Instagram.
[SOURCE: brobible.com]
Eight Things To Talk About uses the raw engagement data from the social media engagement from The Conversation Project to generate the top-ranking headlines over the course of a weekend.
A full weeks’ data (from Friday to Friday) is compiled, weighed, and sorted to produce the content for the Wrap-Up Show with J Cleveland Payne, published every Saturday as a podcast available at ThisIsTheConversation.com or wherever your favorite podcasts are found.
To ‘participate’ in the rankings of the headlines for this newsletter or the podcast, follow the Conversation Project on social media and engage with the posts to give them more ‘votes.’ The Conversation Project can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Connect with us directly by emailing us at theconversationinbox@gmail.com or by simply visiting thisistheconversation.com.
