These are the top maybe-not headlines from the past 36-hours presented by The Conversation Project from raw engagement data from our social media to the headlines posted over the past day.
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The 8 topics that our followers ranked as the most conversational are:
EU SAYS POLITICS MATTER FOR 5G SUPPLIERS IN MESSAGE TO CHINA
The European Union is poised to say potential 5G suppliers will be evaluated based on their home country’s laws, a stance that could exclude Chinese businesses from some lucrative contracts for the advanced telecommunications networks. “Factors, such as the legal and policy framework to which suppliers may be subject to in third countries, should be considered,” according to a draft of a joint statement obtained by Bloomberg and planned for release next month. The document is due to be approved on an informal basis this week by government envoys with formal sign off by ministers due in December, and the wording is subject to changes.
[SOURCE: bloomberg.com]
TNT’S CHARLES BARKLEY APOLOGIZES FOR ‘ATTEMPTED JOKE’ AFTER ALLEGEDLY TELLING FEMALE REPORTER ‘I WOULD HIT YOU’
Charles Barkley apologized to a reporter Wednesday for what he called an “attempted joke,” following claims the NBA Hall of Famer had told her “I don’t hit women but if I did I would hit you.” The TNT basketball commentator’s response came a day after Axios reporter Alexi McCammond tweeted about the alleged exchange. McCammond, a politics reporter covering the 2020 presidential election, wrote: “Just FYI Charles Barkley told me tonight “I don’t hit women but if I did I would hit you,” and then when I objected to that he told me I “couldn’t take a joke.” She said she had asked Barkley off the record for clarification on which Democratic candidate he supported for president. “My comment was inappropriate and unacceptable,” Barkley said in a statement released by Turner Sports PR. “It was an attempted joke that wasn’t funny at all. There’s no excuse for it and I apologize.”
[SOURCE: foxnews.com]
HORSE RACING’S MAJOR PLAYERS FORM SAFETY COALITION
A group of horse racing organizations has announced the formation of a coalition to promote enhanced safety protections and work together to develop new reforms in a sport roiled by a series of equine deaths. The Thoroughbred Safety Coalition introduced Tuesday includes Churchill Downs Inc., the New York Racing Association and The Stronach Group, along with Breeders’ Cup Ltd., Del Mar and Keeneland racetracks. Together they represent over 85% of major racing in the U.S. The coalition will adopt best practices and set stricter guidelines for allowable medications, enact standards for whip use, encourage greater transparency and tracking of veterinarian exam records, and commit to the creation of new positions to implement and enforce these reforms. Currently, rules and regulations vary among the 38 racing states, and the sport lacks a so-called league office to oversee it. Bill Thomason, president and CEO of Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky, said there is no single solution, but the group is committed to “finding the right answers, wherever that may lead us.”
[SOURCE: usatoday.com]
MONEY RAISED TO INSTALL EQUINE MRI AT SANTA ANITA
A fundraising campaign to install an equine MRI at Santa Anita has been successful, and it’s expected to be in place during the troubled track’s winter-spring meet that begins on Dec. 26. Karen Klawitter, CEO of the Southern California Equine Foundation, said Tuesday the machine which allows for horses to be scanned while standing should be fully operational “by early in the upcoming Santa Anita season.” Funding came from a variety of groups and individuals, including prominent breeder and owner John Harris, veterinarians Vince Baker, Melinda Blue and Ryan Carpenter, Del Mar, Los Alamitos, the California Thoroughbred Trainers and California Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Foundation. The equine imaging center at Santa Anita already has nuclear scan technology and will add an equine PET scan, with track owner The Stronach Group kicking in $500,000 for it and another $200,000 coming from a private foundation dedicated to research on equine health issues.
[SOURCE: usatoday.com]
PHONY `FACT CHECK’ ACCOUNT ON TWITTER RAISES NEW CONCERNS
Britain’s Conservative Party changed the name of its press office’s Twitter account to “factcheckUK” during a televised election debate between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn this week. The renaming made the account look like a neutral fact-checker, raising new concerns about all the creative ways groups and individuals can use social media to deceive voters. The party hardly even got a slap on the wrist, as Twitter pledged to take “decisive corrective action” only if the Conservatives try to mislead people again. The incident occurred after years of promises, new rules and millions of dollars spent by social media companies to prevent election interference following Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election. It shows that whatever steps tech companies have taken, users will continue to look for ways to exploit loopholes, unevenly enforced or nonexistent policies and companies’ fears of appearing partisan in their crackdowns. In one tweet, the Conservative Party account posted a short video with the words “factcheckUK verdict,” declaring Johnson the winner of the debate. The renamed account still carried the blue checkmark reserved for “verified” Twitter users.
[SOURCE: apnews.com]
ROBERT PATTINSON BRINGS BACK THE SUPER SKINNY TIE
Yesterday, Robert Pattinson appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers in support of his recently released film, The Lighthouse. The British actor sported his signature messy hair—delicately tousled, as if massaged by the nimble fingers of a cherub—and wore a suit. The look was courtesy of Celine and came impeccably tailored: The jacket ever-so-tightly hugged the body, the pants had a diamond-sharp pleat down the center, and the shirt’s collar was freshly starched and firm. The most surprising choice was a subtle one: Pattinson’s tie, which was roughly the width of a (souvenir size) Toblerone bar. While the tie was teeny tiny, it packed a punch. The gentleman’s accessory wasn’t the tie of funhouse mirrors; perversely bloated and worn by sloppy politicians. Nor was it printed with a frightful, cornea-searing print, like a spoof graphic or polka dots. (Quelle horreur!) It wasn’t too short (as beloved by teenage boys going to their first dance) and nor was it too long (as beloved by no one.) Instead, the skinny lil’ thing was comfortably knotted to the neck, hit the tip of the pants, and came with pops of demure red and off-white stripes, a pattern that the label formally describes as “Cambridge striped.”
[SOURCE: vogue.com]
JULIA ROBERTS SUGGESTED TO PLAY HARRIET TUBMAN BY STUDIO EXEC
If you were to think of the most out-of-left-field actress to play Harriet Tubman in a movie, you still wouldn’t stumble upon the person one executive allegedly suggested. Harriet, the historical drama based on Tubman’s life released earlier this month, stars Cynthia Erivo. But the film’s screenwriter and producer, Gregory Allen Howard, says when he first started working on the movie in 1994 that one studio executive suggested Julia Roberts to portray the legendary slave turned abolitionist. Yes, that Julia Roberts. In a Q&A with Allen published earlier this month by Harriet studio Focus Features (and reiterated in an L.A. Times essay published Tuesday), Allen recalled how “the climate in Hollywood … was very different” some 25 years ago. Thankfully, for everyone involved, Roberts was not cast as Tubman. Decades later, the film has become a reality, which Allen said is thanks to two groundbreaking films that changed the game for representation.
[SOURCE: ew.com]
JUSSIE SMOLLETT SUES CITY OF CHICAGO FOR MALICIOUS PROSECUTION
Jussie Smollett says the $10,000 he was mandated to pay after the criminal case against him was closed should prevent the city of Chicago from seeking reimbursement for the police investigation following his claim, back in January 2019, that he was a victim of a racist and homophobic attack. Attorneys for the former “Empire” actor filed a response Tuesday to Chicago’s lawsuit in federal court. They also filed a counterclaim against the city, saying Smollett was the victim of a malicious prosecution that caused humiliation and extreme distress. In January, Smollett told police he was attacked by two masked men as he was walking home from a Chicago Subway sandwich shop at approximately 2 a.m. The openly gay actor alleged that the masked men beat him, taunted him with homophobic and racial slurs and yelled, “This is MAGA country.” In February, police determined that Smollett’s masked assailants were brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo, who trained Smollett and worked with him on “Empire.” Authorities also identified the brothers as those on surveillance video purchasing the rope that was reportedly hung around Jussie’s neck during the alleged attack. After an intense investigation, police determined Smollett staged the entire episode with the help of two brothers, whom he paid to take part in the hoax assault, in an elaborate effort to drum up publicity for his middling career. After prosecutors dropped the case in March, Smollett maintained his innocence but agreed to let authorities keep a $10,000 bail. He was charged with filing a false police report, but those charges were dropped by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx a few weeks later.
[SOURCE: foxnews.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.
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