Free Republic

Today, America gets a new First Lady. She’s beautiful – a former model! – with an impeccable wardrobe and the money to buy all the couture she wants. So why, when President Trump and his family are long out of the White House, and his administration is enshrined in the annals of history, will Michelle Obama – a woman with no connection to the fashion industry before she came into public view – be remembered as the more iconic of the two?It’s simple. Becoming an icon is about more than just a pretty face and an international platform. ------ SNIP ------

From his campaign fist bump to his theatrical mic drop at the last White House correspondents’ dinner, Barack Obama ruled as America’s pop culture president. […] And, months before the end of his term, he delivered what could be his with-it farewell line as he ended his remarks at the correspondents’ dinner by embracing a gesture popularized by rappers and comedians. “Obama out,” he deadpanned, as he dropped his microphone and left the lectern. […] For all the fascination with Obama’s pop culture finesse, there was a downside. Eric Dezenhall, a Washington crisis management consultant and former Reagan administration official,...

Words... The purpose of giving us the “right” words to say is really to eliminate “other” things we might say. Things not approved by the pop culture and the State January 13, 2016, FoxNews.com: “An email sent last week to Tinseltown’s A-listers by Associate Director of Public Engagement at the White House Jesse Moore – titled ‘Artists & Entertainers Unite to #StopGunViolence’ and addressed to ‘Family’ – offered Twitter-ready talking points for showing support for President Obama’s gun control agenda. FoxNews.com, which obtained a copy of the email, compared it to tweets sent by such stars as Ashton Kutcher, and...

STILLWATER — On the corner of Knoblock and Mathews, the southeast exterior of Gallagher-Iba Arena had turned into an impromptu Central Michigan pep rally Saturday. Players, parents and fans partying in the golden Oklahoma afternoon. Chippewas coach John Bonamego, smoking a victory cigar that seemed bigger than the football Corey Willis carried across the goal line on the play that shouldn't have existed, smiled from ear to ear. The coach who beat cancer last year had now beaten the 22nd-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys, 30-27. The Chippewas' first victory over a ranked team in a quarter century. Maybe the greatest Central...

Bob Dylan ain't talkin', just walkin' down this thing called life and today is one of his milestones. We aren't sure how he is celebrating, but the internet is showing him a bunch of love Tuesday in honor of his 75th birthday.

Hollywood A-listers will be supporting more than their favorite films on Sunday at the Academy Awards. Patricia Arquette, Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston and others will add a specific piece of jewelry to their wardrobes for the night, as they promote a campaign against gun violence in the United States. "This awards season, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is teaming up with Hollywood to lift up the stories of the 90 Americans killed every day by gun violence," a press release from the campaign states. "On the red carpet, high-profile celebrities … will join the effort to shed light...

Conservatives like to talk big about taking back the culture, but generally they suck at selling freedom. Having ruled pop culture for years, liberals tell their story by infusing everything from movies to visual art and music with their propaganda. Then, this happened: Created in 2012 by the Republican street artist, Sabo, the “Ted Cruz with Tattoos” poster became culturally iconic for its frank and sexy message, and the fact that the liberal media tripped all over itself to promote it before they figured out that conservatives actually loved the image. Shortly after, a secret confederacy of right-of-center marketing professionals...

HBO's Game of Thrones won the Emmy Award last Sunday for Best Drama. What does its popularity say about us? Writing for The Atlantic, Christopher Orr recently asked, "Why does the show feature so much sexual violence?" (his italics). Fans claim that Game of Thrones merely reflects the novels on which it is based. But Orr notes that the show's writers "have gone out of their way, time and time again, to ramp up the sexual violence well beyond their source material." Why? What do the show's producers know about our society? Pornography sites receive more regular traffic than Twitter,...

Video number eight from the Center for Medical Progress has been released, containing segments of material from its previous seven videos, depicting Planned Parenthood's gruesome commerce in infant body parts. This includes commerce in intact cadavers. One segment shows an executive of one of its client firms laughing about it. This latest video has provoked a new round of demonstrations by thousands across the nation to continue to raise awareness about the sickening, inhumane, and yes, uncivilized behavior that is tolerated in our nation. And even more unbelievably, that taxpayer funds (more than $500 million dollars annually) are funneled...

One day in the 1970s, George Lucas screened a rough cut of his new movie, Star Wars, for his influential Hollywood friends. And almost none of them liked it. The plot seemed incomprehensible, the made-up fantasy names absurd. Director Brian De Palma, who had just had a big hit with Carrie, made fun of everything about the film, including Princess Leia’s hairstyle: “Hey, George, what were those Danish rolls doing in the princess’s ears?” Almost 40 years later, De Palma is mostly making low-budget movies, and the most-anticipated film of the year is Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the first...

Music-festival season is underway, and it’s important to make sure to dress appropriately — not just for the weather, but for cultural sensitivity as well. If you’re not sure what I mean, that’s okay! I spent some time on Social Justice Internet today finding some helpful tips so that you can understand what I mean and why it’s so important: Aside from obvious no-nos like Native-American headdresses or Indian bindis, you also need to make sure that the patterns on your clothes aren’t offensive. That’s right — it’s not enough to simply make sure your shirt is clean and doesn’t...

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...