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:
LEON SPINKS HOSPITALIZED, BOXING LEGEND ‘FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE’
Boxing legend Leon Spinks — who famously beat Muhammad Ali in 1978 — is fighting for his life in a Vegas hospital, TMZ Sports has learned … and his wife is asking for prayers. Details surrounding the 66-year-old’s condition are unclear — but we know his family and friends are very concerned. In fact, Leon’s wife, Brenda, went to social media saying, “Reaching out to ask you to kindly send some prayers out for my Beautiful Husband Leon so that he may overcome the obstacles that have crossed his path.” Spinks has fought back from serious medical situations in the past — he was hospitalized in 2014 after a piece of bone from a chicken wing caused major damage to his intestines. The boxer underwent several surgeries and spent weeks recovering at a rehabilitation center. Spinks is a boxing legend — he was inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in 2017. His 1978 victory over Muhammad Ali to win the heavyweight championship of the world is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in boxing history. Spinks is also a military veteran who served in the U.S. Marines from 1973 to 1976.
[SOURCE: tmz.com]
GRETA THUNBERG NAMED TIME MAGAZINE’S 2019 PERSON OF THE YEAR
Greta Thunberg was named Time magazine’s 2019 Person of the Year. She is youngest figure to receive the distinction in its 92-year history. “She became the biggest voice on the biggest issue facing the planet this year, coming from essentially nowhere to lead a worldwide movement,” Time Editor-in-Chief Edward Felsenthal said at the announcement on Wednesday. “She embodies youth activism.” The 16-year-old Swedish climate activist has become an iconic face in the fight to save the planet from climate change. Last year, she began spending her Fridays protesting by herself outside the Swedish parliament, and that effort grew to her leading a host of student-led climate strikes involving millions of people all around the world. Thunberg sailed on a solar-powered boat from England to New York this fall for a United Nations climate summit instead of flying, emphasizing it’s less harmful to the environment. She then drew worldwide attention for her fiery speech at the U.N., where she accused world leaders of stealing her dreams and childhood with their inaction on climate change.
[SOURCE: abcnews.go.com]
NEW ZEALAND HAS ORDERED MORE THAN 1,290 SQUARE FEET OF SKIN FOR VOLCANO VICTIMS
New Zealand has ordered 1,292 square feet of skin to treat patients injured in Monday’s volcanic eruption on White Island, authorities said Wednesday. A total of 47 people were on White Island, off the coast of North Island, when the eruption occurred. Eight people have been confirmed dead, and more than 20 others are currently hospitalized in critical condition. Search and recovery operations are continuing for those still missing and presumed dead on the island. The skin is now needed to treat patients severely injured by the volcanic ash and gas. On Tuesday, medical officials said 27 people in hospital had burns to at least 30% of their bodies and many have inhalation burns that require airway support. Every burns unit in the country is at full capacity. “We currently have (skin) supply, but are urgently sourcing additional supplies to meet the demand for dressing and temporary skin grafts,” said Peter Watson of the District Health Boards on Wednesday. “We anticipate that we will require an additional 1.2 million square centimeters (1,292 square feet) of skin for the ongoing needs of the patients.” To put that into context, the average human body has about 11 square feet (1 square meter) to 21 square feet (2 square meters) of skin surface area. The skin order has been placed and will come from the United States, Watson said. Skin and tissue banks from neighboring Australia, like the Donor Tissue Bank of Victoria, are also providing skin grafts and supplies.
[SOURCE: cnn.com]
HOUSE PASSES DEFENSE BILL TO ESTABLISH SPACE FORCE, PAID FAMILY LEAVE FOR FEDERAL WORKERS
The House on Wednesday easily passed the compromise defense policy bill that would grant federal workers 12 weeks of paid parental leave and create a new branch of the military dedicated to space. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed in a 377-48 vote, with many “no” votes coming from progressive Democrats upset after several of their priorities were removed from the legislation. In all, 41 Democrats and 6 Republicans voted “no.” The compromise bill picked up Republican support that was absent when the House passed its original version of the defense legislation in July, allowing the chamber to send the $738 billion bill to the Senate. “This was not an easy process,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said ahead of the vote. “We have a divided government. We have a Republican president, a Republican Senate and Democratic House who do not agree on a lot of issues, and those are the issues that tend to get focused on. But what this conference report reflects for the most part is that we do agree on a lot.” Rep. Mac Thornberry (Texas), the top Republican on the committee who voted against the House version in July, added that the final bill is “good for the troops, and it is good for national security, and when it comes to a defense authorization bill, that’s all that really matters.” House passage of the NDAA comes two days after the compromise bill was unveiled following months of negotiations between the Democratic-led House, GOP-led Senate and the White House. President Trump has said he will sign the compromise bill.
[SOURCE: thehill.com]
HARVEY WEINSTEIN, ACCUSERS REACH TENTATIVE $25 MILLION DEAL
Harvey Weinstein’s long battle with his accusers appears to be winding down, he’s reached a tentative $25 million settlement with dozens of his alleged victims … TMZ has confirmed. The deal, struck Wednesday, means the disgraced studio mogul will NOT be required to admit any wrongdoing or pay anything to his accusers himself. Insurance companies repping The Weinstein Company will shell out the full amount. More than 30 women accused Weinstein of a variety of allegations … ranging from sexual harassment to rape. The alleged victims — from actresses and former employees — will share the payout … with 18 alleged victims splitting $6.2 million and no individual getting more than $500k. There’s a separate chunk — $18.5 million — that’ll be set aside for those in a class-action case and future claimants. The total payout is actually $47 million … with a huge chunk covering legal costs. The settlement means that all civil suits against Weinstein and The Weinstein Company will also get dismissed. The New York Times was first to report the story. Genie Harrison, a lawyer for one of the victims, told The NYT, “I don’t think there’s a markedly better deal to be made. We have really, truly done the best we can under the circumstances, and it’s important for other victims to know this, come forward and be able to get the best level of compensation we were able to get.” A judge still has to approve the settlement. Weinstein’s still slated to go on trial in January on charges of sexual assault involving two women.
[SOURCE: tmz.com]
WOMAN FEATURED IN DENVER POST STORY ABOUT CONVERSION THERAPY FOUND DEAD IN BOULDER COUNTY
A woman who shared her story with The Denver Post about undergoing conversion therapy through the Catholic Church was found dead Monday afternoon near Gross Reservoir, according to the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office. Alana Chen, 24, was reported missing to the Louisville Police Department on Saturday. Monday morning, Boulder law enforcement received information that a suspicious vehicle was parked in the Osprey Parking Lot at the reservoir in the Boulder County foothills. Sheriff’s officials have said Chen’s death is “not considered to be suspicious.” After running the license plate on Monday, law enforcement officials determined the vehicle was Chen’s. Her body was found nearby a few hours later, according to the sheriff’s office. The Boulder County Coroner’s Office on Tuesday evening formally identified Chen as the woman whose body was found at the reservoir, and said a ruling on the cause and manner of her death is pending further investigation, according to the Daily Camera. In August, Chen discussed her mental health and self-harm struggles with The Post, saying she had endured conversion therapy when she came out to a priest at Boulder’s St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church. She said she later sought more formal counseling through the church and Catholic Charities’ Sacred Heart Counseling.
[SOURCE: denverpost.com]
1,000 POT CONVICTIONS BEING TOSSED AS KIM FOXX MOVES TO EXPUNGE RECORDS OF MARIJUANA BUSTS
More than 1,000 pot convictions will soon be off the books in Cook County. In a hearing Wednesday afternoon at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx stood before the circuit court’s chief judge and called for the vacation and expungement of 1,012 low-level, nonviolent convictions for possession of less than an ounce of pot. The vast majority of the people who were granted relief at the hearing still don’t know it yet — but Foxx said they would be subsequently notified of the expungement of their cases by mail. In the audience for the hearing were community activists, as well as Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who sat in the courtroom’s jury box, state “Cannabis Czar” Toi Hutchinson and state Rep. Kelly Cassidy (14th), who helped lead the way on legalization. Cook County Clerk Dorothy Brown served as the court clerk to Chief Judge Timothy Evans for the hearing. With recreational marijuana set to become legal in the state in three weeks, officials called the mass expungement historic and said it demonstrated a key goal of the state’s legalization efforts — justice. “As a prosecutor who has previously prosecuted these cases, we must own our role in the harm we have caused, particularly to communities of color and we must actively work to play our part in reversing those harms,” Foxx said.
[SOURCE: chicago.suntimes.com]
TRUMP TO SIGN ORDER TO INTERPRET JUDAISM AS A NATIONALITY
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to include discrimination against Jews as a violation of law in certain cases, with an eye toward fighting anti-Semitism on college campuses. It’s an order that would allow Trump to take further steps to combat anti-Israel sentiments and divestment movements on college campuses by requiring colleges and universities to treat those movements as discriminatory or risk losing their funding. The order would apply in cases where anti-Semitism is involved and applies only to discrimination concerns. A senior administration official told CNN on Wednesday that the order “does not ‘define’ Judaism at all. The (order) represents a legal judgment that discrimination against Jewish people is sometimes covered by Title VI.” A White House official confirmed to CNN on Tuesday that the order would interpret Judaism as a nationality and not just a religion. The executive order released on Wednesday was not that specific. The order released Wednesday evening interprets Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — which “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving Federal financial assistance” — as protecting from anti-Semitism. The Department of Education can withhold federal funding from any college or educational program that violates Title VI, according to the Civil Rights Act.
[SOURCE: cnn.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.
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