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:
KANYE WEST ASKS KIM KARDASHIAN TO STOP WEARING REVEALING DRESSES AS IT ‘AFFECTS HIM’ AS A CHRISTIAN
The celebrity couple quarreled on a recent episode of their show, “Keeping Up With The Kardashians”, after West spoke out against Kardashian’s decision to wear revealing clothes in public. However, she responded that she was on a different path to him. The debate was sparked by Kardashian’s decision to wear a tight-fitting Thierry Mugler dress to the 2019 Met Gala Ball. The designer dress had been made in skin colour to give the impression that she was naked with water dripping down her body. West said to his wife: “I just went through this transition from being a rapper, looking at all these girls and looking at my wife, like, ‘Oh, my girl needs to be just like the other girls showing her body off’. I didn’t realize that that was affecting my soul and my spirit as someone that’s married and the father of now … about to be four kids. A corset is a form of underwear. It’s hot. For who, though?” West has famously been hosting weekly Sunday Service events throughout the year, which have attracted thousands of attendants. The events feature gospel music by West and his band, and more recently, sermons have also been introduced. Kardashian responded to her husband: “You’re giving me really bad anxiety. You knew last night I was having really bad anxiety and I don’t need any more negative energy, for you to say you’re now not into me wearing a tight dress.”
[SOURCE: christiantoday.com]
39 BODIES FOUND IN ESSEX TRUCK CONTAINER
Residents of the English town of Grays, 20 miles east of London, said their hearts were “broken” after 39 people, including a teenager, were found dead in a truck at an industrial park Wednesday. Eastern Avenue, a street in the heart of the usually-bustling industrial area, was closed off after ambulance workers made the discovery and called police around 1:40 a.m. Police said the container arrived at a nearby town after traveling from the Belgian port city of Zeebrugge early Wednesday, before it was transported by the truck to Waterglade Industrial Park. Police have not yet identified the 39 victims or their nationalities, however a 25-year-old truck driver from Northern Ireland was arrested on suspicion of murder. Paul Berry, a local councilor for Armagh in Northern Ireland, identified the driver as Morris Robinson. Berry told CNN he learned of the arrest after speaking with Robinson’s father. The local councilor said the driver was known locally as “Mo,” and that his family is “salt of the earth and clearly we need to give them space.” Wednesday, Essex Police Deputy Chief Constable Pippa Mills told reporters the “number one priority” for police was finding out who the victims were and where they were from. The force set up a helpline for people to call if they are concerned their relatives might have been among those inside the truck.
[SOURCE: cnn.com]
NEW JERSEY PUPILS WITH $75 LUNCH DEBT BANNED FROM PROM AND FIELD TRIPS
The school board president of Cherry Hill in New Jersey said the plan struck a “balance of compassion” while “holding people accountable”. The prom ban was brought in after previous measures taken by the district were condemned as “lunch-shaming”. In August, Cherry Hill had announced that students behind on payments would only be given tuna sandwiches rather than a full meal. Following a public outcry, the board withdrew the policy, replacing it with the ban on indebted students taking part in extra-curricular activities. The district has 19 schools with a total of about 11,350 students, of whom about 20% are eligible for reduced-price or free meals, The Inquirer reports. Steve Ravitz, who runs a Cherry Hill supermarket chain, posted on Facebook earlier in September that he would be “happy to solve this issue”. But a later post from Mr Ravitz said: “I understand that the board has decided to NOT accept any significant donation to help with the ‘lunch’ issue. Strange.” A meal at Cherry Hill costs $3, rising to $3.10 for high school students.
[SOURCE: bbc.com]
HONG KONG FORMALLY SCRAPS EXTRADITION BILL THAT SPARKED PROTESTS
The bill – which would have allowed for criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China – prompted outrage when it was introduced in April. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets and the bill was eventually suspended. But protesters have continued regular demonstrations, which spiralled into a wider pro-democracy movement. It is the worst crisis for Hong Kong since the former British colony was handed back to China in 1997. It has also presented a serious challenge to China’s leaders in Beijing, who have painted the demonstrators as dangerous separatists and accused foreign powers of backing them.The proposed bill would have allowed for Hong Kong to extradite criminal suspects to places it does not have an extradition treaty with, including mainland China, Taiwan and Macau. Critics of the planned law had feared extradition to mainland China could subject people to arbitrary detention and unfair trials. The bill’s formal withdrawal meets only one of five key demands emphasised by some protesters, who have often chanted “five demands, not one less” in Hong Kong’s streets.
[SOURCE: bbc.com]
NEW MEXICO OFFICER RESIGNS AFTER ‘EXCESSIVE FORCE’ ON 11-YEAR-OLD GIRL WHO ALLEGEDLY TOOK TOO MUCH MILK
A New Mexico police officer resigned earlier this month after body camera footage showed him throwing an 11-year-old girl to the ground following an altercation she had with the school principal, reportedly because she took more milk from the cafeteria than she was supposed to. Farmington Police Officer Zachary Christensen said he became involved in the Aug. 27 situation at Mesa View Middle School after the sixth grader “assaulted” two school employees. Video of the incident shows the alleged assault involved the student brushing past the school principal as he holds a door shut. Christensen pulls the girl’s backpack off as she questions what he’s doing. In the bodycam footage, the officer repeatedly shouts, “You’re done” at her, and then says “You’re not going to assault the principal” before he’s seen pushing the 11-year-old against a wall and demanding she put her hands behind her back. While the officer tries to handcuff her, the girl is heard telling him he’s hurting her. Christensen ultimately wrestles the girl to the ground, and she can be heard crying out as he demands she turn over and warns her, “Do not resist.” Someone watching the incident unfold tells the officer to stop and says he’s used “excessive force.” The child, according to KRQE, suffered a concussion and has arm and shoulder pain due to the incident. Christensen reportedly said he tried to arrest the girl because that morning, “she went straight to the cafeteria, she took more milks than she was supposed to, she threw a milk on the ground. I mean, they try to say something she just walks off.”
[SOURCE: foxnews.com]
WEWORK’S NEW CHAIRMAN CLAURE SAYS LAYOFFS ARE COMING IN INTERNAL MEMO
The morning after being installed as WeWork’s new chairman, Marcelo Claure told employees in a companywide email that they should expect layoffs as a result of the deal reached with SoftBank. On Tuesday, SoftBank struck an agreement to take control of WeWork, providing $5 billion in new funding, announcing a tender offer worth up to $3 billion and speeding up a $1.5 billion financing commitment. As a result, SoftBank will control approximately 80% of WeWork and Claure, SoftBank’s chief operating officer, will succeed former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann as its executive chairman. Claure wrote in an email to employees, which was obtained by CNBC, that he would need to “right-size the business” to get WeWork on track to profitability. Layoffs will occur as a result, but Claure didn’t say how many would be announced. The Financial Times reported Wednesday that WeWork could lay off as many as 4,000 people, or about 30% of its global workforce, with 1,000 of the cuts being made to its janitorial staff. Representatives from WeWork weren’t immediately available for comment. It’s a dramatic swing for WeWork, which just two months ago released its IPO prospectus following a SoftBank-led financing that valued the company at $47 billion. Last month WeWork withdrew its filing and was forced to seek a bailout to avoid running out of money. Claure went on to say that WeWork lacks “focus” and accountability, but credited co-CEOs Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham for steering the company through “these difficult times” and said he’s committed to being transparent on WeWork’s future moving forward.
[SOURCE: cnbc.com]
RAPTORS RECEIVE NBA’S BIGGEST CHAMPIONSHIP RINGS EVER
The Toronto Raptors received the biggest championship rings in NBA history and unfurled a banner celebrating their victory in a ceremony before their season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was on hand Tuesday night to honor the Raptors, who won the first title in team history with a six-game triumph over the Golden State Warriors last June. The rings each contain more than 650 diamonds, as well as 16 rubies representing the number of playoff victories required to win the title. On the face of the ring, diamonds form the Toronto skyline above the word “North” spelled out in diamonds inside a golden chevron. After the rings were handed out, five-time All-Star guard Kyle Lowry took the microphone to thank fans for their support, then gathered his teammates around him before leading a countdown to reveal the black, red and gold championship banner hanging above the home bench. During ring presentations for the Raptors’ staff, fans cheered loudly for Alex McKechnie. Toronto’s Director of Sport Science was credited with creating the load management schedule that helped keep NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard healthy during his lone season north of the border.
[SOURCE: foxnews.com]
COMEDIAN STEVEN CROWDER EXPOSES: TULSI GABBARD’S YOUTUBE VIDEOS WERE SUPPRESSED ON YOUTUBE WHILE SHE WAS TRENDING OVER HILLARY CLINTON FEUD
Crowder posted tweets showing that on Oct. 18, as Gabbard was trending on Google and social media for her response to allegations by Hillary Clinton that she was a Russian asset, her search results on YouTube in the United States buried Gabbard’s own content on the platform. But, by Oct. 20, when the furor had died down some, her search results were back to normal, giving the appearance that they could have been deliberately suppressed by YouTube during the time when people were most likely to be searching for her name. Both Crowder and Gabbard have significant histories of conflict with big tech companies. Most recently, Crowder discovered that YouTube search results for his page and video in the U.S. were being treated unusually by YouTube algorithms, causing direct searches for his most popular videos to yield results that buried his actual page and videos below videos about him from other, less popular pages. YouTube search results for a popular page typically list the actual page as the top result, followed by a selection of popular videos from that channel. For Crowder, his channel wasn’t even the top result. After Crowder publicized the problem on his Twitter page, website, and YouTube channel, something changed; his search results began showing up normally. Gabbard has also had some issues with Google. In June, after the first Democratic presidential primary debate, the Gabbard campaign attempted to buy Google ads to make sure the campaign page was at the top of search results for her name. Gabbard had been the most searched for candidate after the debate. But, Gabbard’s Google advertising account was suspended for six hours, from 9:30 p.m. June 27 until 3:30 a.m. June 28. Google issued a statement claiming the suspension was due to “verify billing information and policy compliance,” although a reason for the timing of that verification was never given. Gabbard sued Google for $50 million in damages, alleging that Google infringed on her freedom of speech and obstructed the campaign’s ability to fundraise.
[SOURCE: theblaze.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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