by Jack
This story has me truly angry. How dare some pot bellied dictator tell me what I can watch at the movies?! Unfortunately, this places me in the same camp as Rev. Al Sharpton who claims he severely chastised Sony for pulling “The Interview” because of North Korea’s threats. Geez, what a week, first I find myself agreeing with Obama over Cuba and now Sharpton over Sony. Hmmm… I wonder if they are renting ice skates in Hades now?
Yes, in general terms, I think Obama made the right call (uh, that would be one in a row). For over 50 years our sanctions have not brought down Cuba’s Communist Party, so I think it is time for a change, don’t you? The exposure to the benefits of capitalism made a huge improvement in living conditions (and freedom) in every country that adopted it. It changed East Berlin, then the USSR and now its transforming China and I have no doubt it will have the same effect in Cuba. Too bad we seem to be going the other way, towards communism.
Trying to isolate Cuba from American influence and capitalism only worked to prop-up Castro. American sanctions gave the Cuban people somebody to blame for their misery other than Castro. I guess this is why 2/3rds of Cuban-Americans support Obama’s move to normalize relations with Cuba? If you trust that democracy and capitalism is the way to go, then we ought to jump at the chance to introduce it into one of the last Communist bastions still standing… and only 90 miles from our coast!
Yesterday, Al Sharpton met with Sony’s VP, Amy Pascal, for several [overt] reasons. The first public reason was allegedly to determine if Sony executives were being racially insensitive in an exchange of emails. Sharpton said the jury is still out on that. Previously, the North Korean’s leaked some embarrassing Sony emails they had stolen. The racist emails Sony want kept secret probably had more to do with their decision to pull their movie than any danger to the public. In Hollywood PR is everything.
The other reason, Sharpton’s claim that he wanted rip on Sony for pulling the picture “The Interview.” That sort of extortion by North Korea can’t be tolerated, especially by Sharpton. So, he railed on Sony for knuckling under to PRNK Supreme Leader for Life, Kim Jung Un. Maybe Sharpton doesn’t like the competition?
Personally I think that was Sharpton’s hidden motive. In the past Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have had a virtual monopoly on race based extortion. They’ve done very well extorting money from companies and I’ll bet they don’t like Kim Jung Un muscling in on their turf! Don’t be surprised if the jury doesn’t come back in Sony’s favor and Sharpton gets a fat check.
So, what does the White House have to say about all this, about North Korean’s hacking into Sony and forcing them to pull their movie? Well, today the WH spokesperson said the hacking and threats demands a measured response, something equal to the offense committed against America. Obama is deciding exactly what that measured response ought to be, so stay tuned. Maybe we’ll hack into the North Korean’s Peoples movie company and steal their next propaganda script?
My idea of a measured response would be to launch a couple of cruise missiles into the captured USS Pueblo and sink her where she sits, right in her North Korean birth and then I would instruct one of our stealthy nuke subs to put a torpedo into a North Korean sub, then deny we had anything to do with their missing boat. The latter would be a extra little payback for the Pueblo crew and the South Korean patrol boat that North Korea torpedoed a few years back.
Sharpton coiuldn’t forgive Pascal since she didn’t bring enough ca$h with her so Al could pay his back taxes.
And the only response from the white house will be an outbreak of chapped hands from all the hand-wringing.
And the new Clowngress can defund the orders for Excutive Branch hand lotion . . . .
J. Soden, kinda what I thought too. Maybe if Sony coughs up enough for Sharpton to pay the IRS they’ll get a good verdict?
I’m curious how the Administration was blind sided by this hacking? Didn’t anyone, Obama, CIA, Sony, etc., consider the possibility that making fun of North Korea’s crazy dictator might result in some kind of cyber-attack? China has been hitting us for years, so has Russia, why not NK? I don’t expect them to predict the hour, but surely they could have had a plan in place to minimize such an attack, right? Like I said earlier Sony has been severely hacked before and they have done virtually nothing to upgrade their security. Prior to the attack Sony and the State Dept. did have a conversation about the movie and if it might cause a problem, State said not to worry?
One would think that Sony the parent organization of Sony Entertainment, which is a Japanese corporation would have provided the most advanced anti virus programs for all of their companies. Especially since NK hates Japan more than they do the US.
Sony’s CEO claimed their security experts hired after the hacking said that 90% of America’s businesses would have failed. He said they were very well prepared for convention hackers…again, I don’t know if that’s true, I’ve heard otherwise. However, if that’s true, that’s pretty scary. North Korea could do a lot of damage to us in a matter of hours if they launched a full on cyber attack on business.
I doubt they were blindsided. We know these types of attack have been planned for some time.
Before we get thrilled over the capitalism going on in Russia, China, and now…hope, hope, Cuba, let’s not forget that communism is not exactly dead in any of these countries. Leadership in both Russia and China talk a good game but actions speak louder than words. Both have been moving toward tighter central control and greater military power.
Our foreign policy makes us appear very weak and that makes us a prime target. We reward bad actors even when we see what they do!!!
Gordon G. Chang’s blog, December 11th entry:
Some believe China was behind NK in this Sony attack.
This is a big blow to freedom and our response has been very weak so far.
In all of the years since the Cuban Missle crisis have we learned nothing about the tactics of committed Marxists? The only thing that’s different now is they have realized they NEED capitalism as a producer of revenue. But central planners will decide how and when business will be done and which will be winners and which losers.
President Obama has been true to his own radical beliefs that government is the answer to everything and should control production and services. He believes none of us built our businesses or produced the prosperity Americans have enjoyed. I not only don;t believe we were blindsided; I’m not sure we care all that much from a foreign policy point of view. (Does the big “imperialist America” deserve to be taken down?) It’s getting harder and harder to shrug the thought off.
CNN:
Jack, I kind of agree on Cuba. The thing about Obama is even a broken clock is right twice a day and he’s still only right once in a blue moon.
As for N Korea, it’s scary when you think about it. We have a psycho dictator with weapons of mass destruction. Eventually he’s going to flip his lid and hurt a lot of people, and we will have to deal with it sooner or later. That said, liberal Hollywood just caved on freedom of speech due to what amounts to terrorist threats. But, when we chastise Sony execs, we have to remember that they probably don’t feel very confident in our current Commander in Chief to back them up. Bottom line is, whether we’re dealing with Cuba or North Korea or any other of these crazy places, we need a real president who knows how to deal with these situations.
Steve, you expressed my feelings exactly. It turns out that theater owners like AMC and Cinemark were the one’s who refused to play the movie or so says Sony. But, whoever was at fault, one thing is obvious it didn’t take but a few hours to have them all running scared and ready to dump the movie. That’s embarrassing…what have we become anyway?
I would have felt so much more secure with Romney in the White House, Obama isn’t cutting it for me.
“This story has me truly angry. How dare some pot bellied dictator tell me what I can watch at the movies?!”
He didn’t. Sony did.
Sony now stands for stoopid. First, with putting things in emails that should not appear in print. Second – their lack of security (almost as bad as the Obumblecare website). Thirdly, caving in to a tin-pot dictator. Fourth by calling the white house, only to receive a brush-off. And finally – allowing professional race-hustler Sharpton to get his nose into their business.
Shocking photo reveals where Kim Jong-un got idea to target, intimidate filmmakers:
http://twitchy.com/2014/12/19/shocking-photo-reveals-where-kim-jong-un-got-idea-to-target-intimidate-filmmakers/