Free Republic

On June 2 HBO, MTV, and a host of celebrities will be joining Michael Bloomberg and other pro-gun control groups to watch participating mayors proclaim “Gun Violence Awareness Day” in their cities. Those participating will “wear orange” and MTV will “change its on-air logo — as well as several of its social media avatars — to orange in recognition of National Gun Violence Awareness Day.” According to PRNewsWire, participating celebrities–aka, “cultural influencers”–include: Julianne Moore, Russell Simmons, Sarah Silverman, Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, Aasif Mandvi,Alyssa Milano, Padma Lakshmi, John Hodgman, Amanda Peet, Perez Hilton, Melissa Joan Hart, Tiffani Thiessen, Tunde Adebimpe...

ROUND 7 - THE FINAL - OF THE '80S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, March 15 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. The Final Pair! Vote for your favorite! No reply, no vote. A tie will be broken with a run-off which will end (hopefully) the following Monday.

ROUND 6 OF THE '80S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, March 8 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. The Final 4 in just 2 pairs of songs! Vote for your favorite of each pair shown. No reply, no vote. (You may abstain from any pairs.) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end (hopefully) the following Monday.

ROUND 5 OF THE '80S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, March 1 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. The Great 8 in just 4 pairs of songs! Vote for your favorite of each pair shown. No reply, no vote. (You may abstain from any pairs.) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end (hopefully) the following Monday. Format: Yearly rank/seed - year - song title - act

ROUND 4 OF THE '80S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, Feb 22 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. Sweet 16 in 8 pairs of songs! Vote for your favorite of each pair shown. No reply, no vote. (You may abstain from any pairs.) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end the following Monday. Format: Yearly rank/seed - year - song title - act

We have a TIE from Round 3 to BREAK! (What is it with 1983? No one seems to be able to separate the songs!) #4 1983 "Down Under” Men at Work versus #1 1983 "Every Breath You Take" Police

ROUND 3 OF THE '80S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, Feb 15 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. Sweet 16 pairs of songs! Vote for your favorite in each pair shown. No reply, no vote. (You may abstain from any pairs.) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end the following Monday. Format: Yearly rank/seed - year - song title - act

We have a TIE from Round 2 to BREAK! #3 1983 "Flashdance... What a Feeling" Irene Cara versus#5 1983 "Beat It" Michael Jackson

ROUND 2 of the greatest hits of the '80s begins! Due date: Sunday, Feb 8 @6:00 pm (Eastern) Had to cut short the Round 1, as the response wasn't enough. Will try weekly rounds from now on. This Round takes the top 6 songs of each year of the '80s, and pairs them in brackets along with the best #7s as voted in Round 1.

OK, FREEPERS, LET'S START THIS CONTEST FOR THE GREATEST SONG OF THE '80S. The baseline for the contest is the top 7 hits of each year of the '80s, as compiled by BILLBOARD. This is not based on personal preferences, biases, prejudices, or counter-culture reactivity. The rules in general will be to vote for everything shown. No equivocating, ties, or omissions. Votes will only be counted if the "ballot" is complete. ROUND 1 We begin by using the #7 songs of each year and paring them from 10 songs to 4 (to set up brackets for the rest of the...

What does everyone think of a music play-off bracket-type poll for best songs of the '80s?

Even though Harry Potter has graduated Hogwarts and moved onto bigger and brighter things (with decidedly less peril), J.K. Rowling is still creating magic with her words. As evidenced by her stunning takedown of Rupert Murdoch’s ignorant comments about the recent events in Paris. On Friday, the News Corp chairman had some stunningly misguided words for the Muslim people of the world in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, calling for the “Moslems” of the world to take the blame. Terrorism, you see, is their problem and they’ll have to either fix it for the rest of...

The First Lady had a pretty special first date with the man who would go on to become both her husband and the president of the United States — and now, Michelle and Barack Obama’s romance is about to get its own movie. Entitled “Southside With You,” the indie film will follow the young couple on their first date in Chicago’s South Side.

Back in the 1950s, C.S. Lewis saw chastity as under attack with "all the contemporary propaganda for lust that makes people "feel that the desires we are resisting are so 'natural,' so 'healthy,' and so reasonable, that it is almost perverse and abnormal to resist them." You can now safely delete the word "almost." Today virginity isn't a virtue but a burden. Chastity is a freak show and anyone who chooses to keep it is a carnival barker. In today's entertainment world, weirdos -- especially sexual weirdos -- drive a juicy plot, so virgins are in vogue, as a...

Kind of a forgotten little hit from the early 1980s.

On this day in 1981, MTV: Music Television goes on the air for the first time ever, with the words (spoken by one of MTV’s creators, John Lack): “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll.” The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” was the first music video to air on the new cable television channel, which initially was available only to households in parts of New Jersey. MTV went on to revolutionize the music industry and become an influential source of pop culture and entertainment in the United States and other parts of the world, including Europe, Asia and Latin America,...

Kinda course but truthfully funny

A MTV survey found something shocking about Millennials: 88% think affirmative action policies are unfair. Translation: 88% of Millennials are racist, or something. Well, at least that’s probably how the folks at MSNBC will take it. […] The survey found that 88% oppose such programs because they “believe that favoring one race over another is unfair, because of their belief in equality.” …

Jenelle Evans, 22, had an abortion this year. Originally featured on MTV four years ago as a pregnant teenager, Evans, who loves to party, had a son, gave the son to her mother to raise, got into heroin, got married and went to jail; her husband ended up in jail as well on drug charges. They got divorced. He didn't know that Evans was pregnant. She got an abortion. He found out about it on the commercials for "Teen Mom 2." Now she's pregnant again. With a third guy. Who may or may not be seeing another woman on the...

As LifeNews reported earlier this month, MTV is filming one of its reality show stars having an abortion. Teen Mom 2′s trouble-plagued star Jenelle Evans got pregnant and had an abortion. However, her husband had no idea she was pregnant or aborted his baby — until he found out from commercials for the show. From TruthRevolt: jenelleevans2The husband of the child, Courtland Rogers, recently released from jail where he served on drug charges, found out about the abortion of his child from a commercial for the the show. As reported by the Mirror, Rogers told RadarOnline.com: “Nobody told me anything...