As you no doubt know, Sony Pictures Entertainment pulled the release of The Interview after North Korean hackers threatened to murder movie-goers. “The world will be full of fear [if you release the picture]. Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time. (If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.) Whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony Pictures Entertainment.” I’ve got one word for the Sony execs . . .

Pussies.

I know, I know…TTAG bans swears from the comments section. I’m also aware that Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America have labeled me a misogynist; trotting-out the P word will not help my rep or that of The People of the Gun. But I make the rules, I break the rules. I’m livid that Sony suits caved to foreign terrorists.

[Note: this threat was not an attack on Americans’ First Amendment right to free speech. The First Amendment prohibits our government from passing laws infringing citizens’ free speech, not North Korea. Besides, the hackers didn’t enact a law. They made a credible threat of mass murder against the populace of the United States. As such it’s an act of terrorism.]

Here’s the gun bit . . .

When James Holmes shot and killed 12 people in a Century theater in Aurora, Colorado, Americans continued to go to the movies. Many movie-goers did so thinking “well, it won’t happen to me.” Many did so after resolving to not let the threat of crazies or terrorists deter them from their normal daily life. Many of those were gun owners – who then ignored the “gun free zone” rules adopted by Century and most cinema chains.

In other words, after the Aurora massacre, a large number of American gun owners tooled-up and got on with it. They took a stand against the bad guys, just like they always do.

I’d bet dollars to donut that thousands of gun owners – and thousands of non-gun owners – would attend a screening of The Interview just to show the North Korean terrorists that a free people will not be intimidated by a foreign power. That they won’t let a terrorist state call the shots in The Land of the Free and The Home of the Brave. You did catch that last part, didn’t you Sony? Home of the Brave?

Again, I’m not saying that non-gun owners aren’t brave Americans. But I am saying that there’s a higher percentage of genuine American patriots amongst gun owner than non-gun owners. That’s a good thing, not a bad thing. Anyway, is it a coincidence that Sony Pictures – the company that cratered to the North Koreans – is based in a “gun-free zone”? I think not. [h/t DN]

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140 COMMENTS

  1. I’m disappointed that it won’t be shown, However I’m shocked that a country like N Korea can exert this kind of power over a company like Sony.

    • Isn’t Sony a Japanese based company? If so that would explain their failure to see how armed patrons would secure theaters.

      This is a perfect time for the unorganized militia to be on site and secure theaters showing the movie. I figure 20 volunteers at each theater would be adequate. And to show that we are well organized and disciplined, we could all dress the same and keep our rifles strapped on our backs at all times. And we could even have one Sheriff deputy with each group for all the Nervous Nellies who might freak out otherwise.

    • Whoa, where is the proof the N Korea is behind this attack?? I think you guys are jumping the gun here as the whole N Korean link is a real reach at this point.

        • Until I see some credible proof that NK is behind this, I’m going to stick with this being a marketing ploy by Sony to boost future streaming views on a sucky movie. The movie looks really bad, it won’t get panned in the press (does the MSM review straight-to-streaming flicks?), and Sony doesn’t have to share revenue with theaters this way.

          The whole event has been clickbait. Ooooo look! Juicy gossipy internal emails from Sony! I’ll read that….and the thousand things that are linked off of it.

          I will apologize to you all if I turn out to be wrong.

        • With all due respect, the link you provided means nothing. Just because some flak reporter says it does not qualify as proof. Nor does BH Obama making some lame comment assuming we can believe anything he says.

          Everything I’ve seen contains nothing more than assumptions that N. Korea was involved. So please, come up with some real evedence an I’ll listen.

          Frankly, I’m a ittle surprised that Robert would feed into this storyline as it smells to high heaven.

    • The real reason Sony caved and prevented the movie to be released in ALL mediums, not just theatres, is that they know the dirt that the GOP uncovered, and they want the leaks to stop. The dirty laundry that the GOP would continue to publish would be much more damaging to Sony’s business than the loss of revenue from the movie. That’s why Sony caved, IMHO

    • It’s nothing Jimmy Carter and Dennis Rodman can’t straighten out with a quick visit and a few apologies.
      Maybe we can just give Rodman as a gift if Li’ll Kim promises not to do it again.

  2. I don’t think anyone really believed that there would be a physical attack on theaters. I think it is much more likely that theater chains didn’t want to screen the film because they didn’t want to be cyber attacked as well (patron “safety” was just an excuse to try to save face). Once four of the major cinema chains pulled out, Sony didn’t want to face further damage for a film that would only play in a handful of theaters. Concealed carry can protect against a lot of threats, but not a cyber attack.

    • Sadly, we have officially entered an era of non stop cyber warfare and nothing online is safe. If a backwards nation like North Korea can pull this off or find someone to pull this off for them, then nothing on the internet is immune. The right to bear arms become more important since the internet is neither good nor bad, but a tool that can be used for good (like providing quality information such as TTAG does) or bad (cyber attacks, identity theft). Tyrants will move to exploit this for their own gains like North Korea has done. Bullies will also look to this as a weapon. No one is prepared for this because we rationalize that our fellow humans, in particular our fellow countrymen, wouldn’t engage in such actions. Given the totalitarian proclivities shown by say, the President and his Attorney General, a certain former mayor that like to tell others how to live, and just the general intolerant of gun control advocates, the time is now to prepare for their likely inevitable use of the tactic.

      • Unfortunately, a backward nation such as North Korea can become extremely adept at using the Internet – knowledge born largely of their effort to control the flow of information to their citizens slaves.

        Also, as scary as is Eric Withholder, it was Alberto Gonzalez who referred to the Constitution as “a dated document.”

        No, it will not be pretty.

  3. So where are the movies about Mohammed? Pot soaked hipsters make a movie about murdering a living dictator and they think a madman won’t be upset? Wasn’t there a flick about killing W? Sony is all about liability-and Japanese. I’m a whole lot more upset by Barry Soetoro being buddies with the Castro brothers.

  4. If “The Interview” is a bad as most Hollywood comedy flops, North Korea’s threats probably saved many American lives and lots of American dollars. I think that Kim Jong-Un deserves a special Oscar, or maybe a People’s Choice Award. Or a People’s Republic Choice Award. Maybe even a nice haircut by Rodante in Beverly Hills, gratis. Or something.

    And I’d pay big money if North Korea would condemn Adam Sandler and Stallone. And the NBA.

    • Agree 100%. The trailers alone were unwatchable. We really should be thanking glorious leader Kim Jong-Un, for he is wise and powerful to stop greedy Americans from dumbing down their population with garbage. All hail supreme leader Kim Jong-Un!

  5. If it was indeed the Norks, then I agree with you, as that country has no ability to conduct a terrorist attack here. However, while we believe it likely that it was the Norks, that is still iffy. Moreover, I don’t think the threat of harm to Americans was really part of Sony’s calculus, as much as it was the major theater chains refusing to show it, guaranteeing that the movie would be a financial failure, as well as the risk of further Hack attacks on Sony, which apparently also lost the script to the next Bond film, that wold cost the studio hundreds of millions of dollars. And that risk still exists, as the manner in which the hack was effectuated has not been established.

    • Mark N., I concur with your point about jumping to conclusions about who did the hacking.

      Remember that North Korea is a client of Red China, who have MUCH more dedicated state supported military and commercial expertise in cyberwarfare. Disrupting a Japanese owned subsidiary in the US sends a message on many levels, and the pitiful response by the completely incompentent WH, ironically, just after Feinsteins pathetically partison hit on the IC over torture, is also instructive, on many levels.

      Tdiinva, I’d be interested in your take, given your past govt service.

    • It is pretty funny that someone says it was N.K. and everybody takes it as law. Oh it must be fact because I heard about it on the news… Question everything and in the mean time-CARRY… On.

  6. Please, don’t talk about this, not here. This is the internet, and “they” can hack the internet. I don’t want to get a bunch of knock-off Nikes delivered to my doorstep, already charged to my paypal account.
    This isn’t the place to discuss this (sarc/)

  7. Gun free zones man I must keep missing those signs. This is bullshit, if I was Sony exec I’d open the movie across the country for free.

  8. Anyone that actually buys the whole “North Korea” narrative is dumb enough to pay to see this movie.

    Recall the whole Libyan Ambassador assassination fiasco that was supposedly caused by an “Anti-Muslim” film which turned out to be a total lie by the White House in order to cover up arms transfers to Syrian Rebels, aka ISIS, aka ISIL, aka Al-Qeada?

    This is all being pushed in order to clamp down on internet freedom and to take away more of your rights. Like a closed-in, keep to itself country is dumb enough to start a war with the Dominant Super Power over a movie?

    Give me a break…wake up guys!

    If you flame me on this, I have a bridge I’d like to sell you.

    • IF there really is a conspiracy to be had…

      I suspect this is the work of Russians doing the Norks a solid; NK gets a movie they hate killed, Russia gets to pressure the US. But I acknowledge the Norks are fully capable of cyber warfare themselves (they have plenty of time and money to train folks, with everything they keep from their people)

      • Cyber warfare is cheap. All you need is a few tens of computer geeks to be effective. The major cyber powers have thousands of cyberwarriors which gives then ability to hit many targets. The NORKs only need to engage a small target set to accomplish what they want.

        • And by all accounts Sony’s cyber-security was so poor they could have been taken down by a 3rd grader and a copy of Internet for Dummies.

  9. I was wondering if you were going to cover this and I completely agree with your one word assessment.

    Their “we’re skeered people won’t show up to see it and then we’ll all go broke and starve!” rationale is total bullshit, too.

    I’m the last guy anyone would accuse of nationalistic jingoism, but fer f’s sake, be a goddamn American.

    Sony should be more afraid of Canada than North “we can’t launch a missile or electrify our country or feed our citizens” Korea.

    Pussies.

    • AAAAARGH! This is infuriating! A sawed-off, psychopathic despot threatens American citizens over a movie, and our limp little so-called “Commander-in-Chief” just lets it slide? Love this movie or hate it, the folks who made it had the right to, and if our president were any kind of man he would have told North Korea that if anyone even trips in the aisle while watching this movie, North Korea becomes South Kora’s parking lot. Damn, this is embarrassing.

        • @H: Not over a movie, over the death threats. Call their bluff, then see if they’re stupid enough to do anything.

          In my eyes, this has almost nothing to do with a movie and everything to do with an enemy nation threatening Americans on American soil, and a once-great country capitulating.

          When they were just threatening Sony, the ball was in Sony’s court, although you still have the fact that an enemy nation was engaging in extortion against Americans. Once they threatened violence, it became a terrorist threat.

          In short, its not just “over a movie.”

      • Benny: Pissed off Norks with crappy haircuts in an unfamiliar land, ushering decadent capitalists up and down aisles with orange-lamped flashlights because aforementioned Norks are afraid of nuclear death! LOLOLOL!!!

      • Well, the president is definitely a pussy.

        That was supposed to be a comment to Benny.

        This is a predictable and sad chain of events for our nation, which seems to be diminishing in both freedom and bravery.

      • Since when does the WH have anything to do with it? Last I checked, Sony was run out of Japan, and it was Sony that pulled the movie. Nor do I think that the WH had anything to do with the decisions of the theater chains to not show the film. Get real.

        • Is the fact that North Korean agents threatened American lives lost on you? The Sony hacking was bad enough, but they actually threatened American moviegoers with death if they went to the movie or lived near theaters showing it! That is a terrorist threat amd that is the government’s business, dang-blammit!
          Sorry about my language there. I just got carried away.

  12. Drastic times call for drastic measures. Time to call on Team America: World Police and let them handle this problem.

    Benny beat me by a nose. 🙂

  13. The law of nature is to rule or be ruled. Or, as Lenin put it more pithily, “Who? Whom?”

    I leave it as an exercise for the reader which party is the ruler and which is the party ruled.

  14. I can’t help but wonder, did anyone at any point in time during of the production of this movie ever think that maybe making a movie that was bound to piss off a powerful mad man who gets pissed off at really stupid things would maybe, just maybe, not be such a great idea.

  15. RF is certainly right about one fact: many of us who carry concealed routinely ignore “no guns allowed” signs unless metal detectors are used. Fact: concealed is concealed – how is a facility manager going to know who’s carrying and who’s not? Until a bad guy with a gun shows up, he’s clueless. Fact: in CO, carrying against building “rules” is class 5 trespass; management can request that you leave. If LEOs arrive, it’s a citation.

    • In my state those signs have no power, and my wife happens to be disabled with a free metal detector pass, and a backpack for her disability, makes an interesting method of concealment.

    • In Virginia the signs are “advisory.” If they catch you all they can do is make you leave and you can be arrested only if you refuse. I carry in the malls all the time being careful to enter through the anchor store entrances which aren’t posted. If I ever get detected I plead ignorance and ask them to show me where it is posted.

  16. And what do you suppose Sony should do about it? If NK decided to do something stupid and attack movie theaters, Sony would likely receive most of the blame! As well, James Holmes did not announce his intentions like the Koreans did; a direct threat from a terrorist organization is in a different world entirely from a seemingly spontaneous attack by a single psychopath. Honestly, I would not go to that movie; you say we should attempt to fight back, but what if they planted a bomb? Shooting an explosion doesn’t do much good, and if these people are who they claim to be, I would not assume they are stupid enough to set off the alarm and then run in guns blazing!

    • If a foreign power threatens to attack US soil and then goes and does it they have commuted an act of War. If we called KIM III’s bluff he would have done nothing about it in the US. He probably would have ordered what we euphemistically call a provocation on or near the Peninsula.

  17. Sony pictures is cowering to the pot belly dictator with a stupid haircut who is always full of hot air? The regular people of America would not have been cowards like this. I guess they figure someone will blame them if the Norcs really pull something on opening night.

    What they dont get: A lot of us non-sheeple were planning to see that movie just because we knew it would piss off his pot-bellyness. We were planning to wear a strap to the cinema without regard to the stickers of desert eagles with a red X on the door. I have been day dreaming all day about the glories of wasting some prick trying to harm moviegoers, now it wont happen.

    Their description of the destruction they will bring to the cinemas sounds like some kind of tactical nuclear strike. If the Norcs really could lob a bomb at every frakking cinema that plays The Interview, they would have been blowing up all kinds of other shit by now instead of waiting for an excuse.

    • A gun won’t do you a lot of good if the attack is a bomb. If two nut jobs could assemble some bombs out of pressure cookers and gunpowder, what do you think that a bunch of guys with a nation state’s resources could accomplish?

    • Some nut case is going to read about the threat from North Korea, see the film is playing at his local multi-plex, put a together with b and decide this is ‘his big chance’ to go f*ck some sh1t up!

      Media then goes into full histrionics because OMG something happened and we have to get it on air first!

      Every single ambulance-chasing-lawyer in the world suddenly tries to serve papers to Sony and every single person who even saw somebody who might have been possibly involved with the film.

      I kinda of agree with Sony for pulling the film. Not because of the empty threats from the hackers, but because the threat of drowning in lawyers if something, anything, happened at a screening.

      • Too damn bad. Cause this means we are letting ambulance chasing lawyers oppress us as much as that tinpot dictator. What a sorry state this country has become.

  18. In the words for the Ronald Reagan “We begin bombing in five minutes.”

    Sorry, forgot kenyan mohammadan squatting at 1500 Pn Ave. Send them a fruit basket and the keys to Los Alamos.

    • Few points of order, although from your comment I doubt it’s worth the effort to inject some sense:

      1) I assume you are referring to Obama, who has been conclusively proven to be American, not Kenyan.
      2) On a similar point, I assume that by ‘mohammadan’ [sic] you mean non-anti-Islam, which when you look properly is not a bad thing. Islam as a religion is extremely similar to Christianity (I assume that you are Christian, like many Americans and Obama himself), and the few extremists do not represent the views of the overwhelming majority. Furthermore, the historical actions of Christans are far from without extremism and violence, for examples see the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition and even the oppression of Native Americans by Christian colonists and settlers.
      3) I apologise, I missed the update in which the definition of squatting became ‘legitimately elected by the majority of the country’.
      4) 1500 Pn. Ave. is the Treasury Building. The White House is at 1600 Pn. Ave. I’m a born and bred Scot (an actual British one) who has never been to America and even I know that.
      5) Even with the questionable foreign policies of the American Gov’t over the past 20 years, I don’t think that anyone in the world is going to suggest sending North Korea a fruit basket or giving them the keys to a secure laboratory with nuclear technology.

      If you do care to respond, please try to avoid any foaming-at-the-mouth keyboard aggression, include a well thought out and reasoned counter-argument (as open debate is the key to progress), and try not to bring in irrelevancies based on my being British, such as The War of Independence, our tight gun control, The Empire, or being crazy British anti-American communists.

      • So much failure, too much to respond to all of it. One quick point, the Crusades were a response to much larger scale islamic expansionist aggression. That is fact. As an odd coincidence, the Christian aggressions in europe also began at similar times, mainly because of islam. Seems islam came along and mucked everything up. Of course, the quran calls for violence, the Gospel doesn’t. Yeah, not much at all in common. Oh well.

        • FIrst of all, that is an attack (I hesitate to call it a counter-argument) on one point of five. Points 1, 3 and 4, are corroborated facts, if you disagree then please say how, it could be amusing. That reduces the amount of ‘failure’ to a maximum of 40%. Point 5, whilst delivered somewhat tongue in cheek, is also fairly obviously right, further reducing F(max) to 20%. Hardly any basis for a ‘So much failure, too much to respond to all of it’ opening.

          This just leaves point 2. At that period in history, global politics and diplomacy was more or less non-existent, and many civilisations were growing, which will obviously lead to conflict in disputed areas, and as so often happens, religion got involved as an excuse and motivator. I refute your assertion that European aggression arose as a result of Islam, the various states, countries and empires of Europe had been fighting each other and neighbours (e.g. India, Africa, Middle East) almost constantly for thousands of years before the advent of Islam in approx 600AD. It is therefore absurd to suggest that Islam was the sole reason for warring by empires that followed Islam. Furthermore, if the Quran is studied in the original Arabic and in full context, it calls for violence only in self defence. This has been noted by many respected academics, and the Siege of Jerusalem in 1099 by the Crusaders could quite easily be classed as requiring measures to be taken in self defence. It is also interesting to note that Christians, Jews and Muslims had lived quite happily together in Jerusalem for the previous 400 years, and if an invasion or military action 400 years beforehand is legitimate grounds for such an assault, then by that logic Britain have an iron-clad entitlement to launch an invasion of pretty much anywhere in the world, principally France, America and Spain. However, before you jump on that, it is quite clearly an example of reductio ad absurdum, designed to point out the flaws in justifying the First Crusade on the basis of ‘Islamic expansionist aggression’.

          • None of your points are valid. I glossed over a few of them, I am at work on site and using my phone. You read like revisionist propaganda. Claiming things as factual does not make them so.

        • Likewise, claiming that something isn’t factual doesn’t make it so. Let me know which points you find fault with and I can provide evidence.

          You claim to have ‘glossed over a few of them’ when in fact you have ignored all but one, i.e. glossed over 80% whereas I would say that ‘a few’ has to be significantly less than half. Also, by claiming that none of my points are valid, that is not only not a counter-argument, being just an unreasoned denial, you are claiming that (in order):
          1) Obama isn’t American (which he is)
          2) He wasn’t elected by the majority of Americans (which he was)
          3) The White House is at 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue (which it isn’t)
          4) The US Gov’t want to send North Korea a basket of fruit and give them access to nuclear technology (which I really hope they don’t)

          Therefore, at least 80% of my points are valid. Even if you continue to dispute point 2, there are a number of valid historical facts in my second post. This has rapidly become me proposing a well reasoned argument for discussion, backed up by evidence, and you replying with a variant on ‘You’re wrong, I’m right’. This is no way for two competent adults to hold a debate.

          • I did not make the original post you pointedly replied regarding. Still, at point 1 you claimed Obama was not Kenyan. Certainly he was, as his father was Kenyan. The type or truth of any American citizenship was never ascertained, merely deflected.
            Point 2 you go to efforts to explain, yet centuries of dhimmitude, eunuchs, wives and daughters taken away for sex slaves, is not peaceful coexistence. Islam has next to nothing in common with Christianity. The nature of Christ and God, even Mary are totally at odds. Islam calls for violence and deception. Not Christianity.
            It is 1600 Pa avenue. Not Pn.
            Since Obama’s being natural born is not certain (not native born), calling his election legitimate is premature. Sadly, deflecting thaf issue seems to have worked well at burying it.

        • First of all, I know that you were not the OP, however you claimed that all my points were invalid – a de facto agreement with the OP.

          The nationality of his father accounts for at most half of his nationality, and although it may entitle him to dual-citizenship that does not seem to be the case here. Also, as his mother was American, I do believe that under US law that entitles him to US citizenship, even if he weren’t native born. However, as he was born in Hawaii in 1961, two years after it became the 50th state, he quite clearly is native born, so his election is valid on that count.

          I do not claim that Muslims and Christians have always lived in harmony, but there is significant documented evidence to show that for the most part, all three religions coexisted in harmony in Jerusalem for the four centuries prior to 1099. I despair at your refusal to change from the belief that Islam calls for violence, despite all the evidence to the contrary. If it only calls for violence, please explain the vast majority of Muslims who live peaceful, law-abiding lives, not only in the UK and US but in many countries around the world.

          On the Pn/Pa issue, I apologise for not having an encyclopaedic knowledge of the state abbreviations of a country 4000 miles away from me. Pn was used in the OP and I assumed that it was correct, and as I used the full spelling in a subsequent post I think my meaning was quite clear.

          • The president must be a natural born citizen. This has always previously been held to mean a child of 2 citizen parents. Thus, even accepting his birthplace as Hawaii, his dad would disqualify him.
            Your claim of significant evidence regarding Jerusalem falls flat. One need only review the legal code in force there to see that.
            Maybe you nust have blinders on. Islamic aggression subsided for a while, predominantly for economic reasons. Apparently you have also never actually read a quran.
            Remember, just because my wife is comfortable at home, and I am a civilian today, one cannot conclude that America is not engaging in hostilities.. Read the quran, learn it’S

        • “There is no provision in the Constitution and no controlling American case law to support a contention that the citizenship of one’s parents governs the eligibility of a native born U.S. citizen to be President. The weight of legal and historical authority indicates that the term “natural born” citizen would mean a person who is entitled to U.S. citizenship “by birth” or “at birth,” either by being born “in” the United States and under its jurisdiction, even those born to alien parents; by being born abroad to U.S. citizen-parents; or by being born in other situations meeting legal requirements for U.S. citizenship “at birth.””
          Maskell, J. (2014). CRS Report for Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Qualifications for President and the “Natural Born” Citizenship Eligibility Requirement. Congressional Research Service.
          Therefore, Obama is natural born and eligible to hold the office of president.

          Incidentally, I have read both the Quran (English translation obviously) and the Bible, despite being atheist, and came to much the same views on both from an unbiased view. (On a separate note, how much simpler a secular world would be).

          On the accusing me of wearing blinders, I direct you to your refusal to sway from blatant Islamophobia, your refusal in the face of overwhelming evidence to accept that Obama is American, and your denial of anything that does not fit your xenophobic, bigoted world view.

          • Sorry, wrong again. That so-called committee report has zero validity. Get the supreme court to rule on it. As a matter of fact, whenever the issue has been raised collaterally in the supreme court in the past, they have held that it is 2 citizen parents that create natural born status. Precedent means much more than the equivalent of a term paper. Also, since the source of the definition is “Laws of Nations”, we can easily check what that tome states. Wanna hazard a guess? Now you know why the issue was deflected and buried politically.
            Islamophobia….such an inane liberal buzzword.
            I also call bullshit on your having read the quran, since you keep asking where the violent verses I keep mentioning are located, You cannot miss them if you read the quran. Also, for the record, the quran is not written chronologically, so without knowledge of the history of islam, one cannot know which verses override the others. With that knowledge, it is impossible to not understand that the peaceful verses were from the earliest development of islam (Meccan period), and are completely over-ridden by the later violent verses (Medinan period). It is not islamophobia to actually know what one is talking about. You obviously have no clue.
            Also, if you had read either or both the quran and the bible, you could not come to the conclusion that islam and Christianity have anything in common. In islam they call Jesus a great prophet, yet he is a liar and deceiver in their words as well. Such a man cannot be a prophet in Judeo-Christian circles, let alone the Son of God. No, anyone seeing similarities cannot have done more than the a cursory examination, if any. Again, facts betray your bullshit.
            It seems perhaps you are suffering from factophobia. I accept that Obama is America, just not natural born. Thus, ineligible to the office he holds. Because I rely on facts, not sound bites from CNN.
            I know islam, you denounce knowing about islam and its commands to unbelievers as islamophobic. Facts, not cutesy opinions.

          • http://www.colony14.net/id490.html
            http://birthers.org/USC/Vattel.html
            http://www.mrctv.org/videos/bill-warner-islam-1400-years-fear-english-titles
            http://counterjihadreport.com/2014/08/20/new-bill-warner-video-jihad-vs-crusades/
            http://counterjihadreport.com/islamic-texts/
            http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2007/10/if-islam-is-violent-why-are-so-many.html
            http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2007/10/islam-101.html
            http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2005/11/the_truth_about_islamic_crusad.html
            http://www.politicalislam.com/
            http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2009/05/terrifying-brilliance-of-islam.html

            I think even one who must attempt to give himself false credibility, by assuming the name of someone who actually had an intellect, likely has enough brains to muddle through these basic sources of information. Unless of course, you are liable to contempt prior to investigation.

          • How in the world do you lay claim to my being bigoted or xenophobic? First, islam is not a race. Next, I did not claim to hate or fear anyone. You are projecting. I merely take people as being representative of what they claim to be. By knowing the tenets of a given religion, I can know what the expectation is for it’s adherents. Far be it for me to tell a member of a given religion that they do not take their beliefs seriously. It seems you are the one jumping to conclusions about people. Shame on you.

  19. Part of me thinks there was A LOT more damming information inside the hacked information that the Norks were threatening to release. This cancellation might have been a trade off to keep more “stuff” from coming out.

  20. Couldn’t agree more. And besides, North Korea has been threatening to nuke us for decades. It’s a completely backwards, third world country, and it’s ruled by people with less maturity and less intelligence than the average 3 year old. This is nothing new, North Korea screaming about how they will destroy the west.

    And I agree, I’m furious that major theater chains refused to show it (I don’t blame Sony; their decision not to release it yet was a smart business one; made after they learned that the vast majority of theaters wouldn’t show it). It’s North Korea. Even if they did actually make good on their threat, we would go in and reduce their entire country to rubble in a matter of weeks. Our military is so far ahead of their that they would need a telescope to see it. If they were to actually attack us, we would utterly destroy them without even breaking a sweat.

    • “Even if they did actually make good on their threat, we would go in and reduce their entire country to rubble in a matter of weeks. Our military is so far ahead of their that they would need a telescope to see it. If they were to actually attack us, we would utterly destroy them without even breaking a sweat.”

      Sure – we could do this, but we’d have to kiss goodbye to South Korea and much of Japan. Plus, we might find the Chinese rather objectionable to the whole thing. Keep in mind that we tried beating them in the 1950’s and that was not exactly a knockout (again largely due to the Chinese).

      • The current PRC leadership loathes the Kim Il Song’s successors. They keep North Korea afloat because they fear instability on their borders. There is a declining amount of residual fraternalness between the North Korean Army and the PLA but as the Chinese military continues to modernize and the old Generals retire and die off the fraternity is dying with it. If the Chinese could get rid of Kim without sending millions of Korean refuges in the adjoining PRC provinces they would go shoot him themselves.

        • tdi, thank you. That fits implications from open source info elsewhere.

          Cyber warfare talent offered to run an operation that so obviously implicates the Norks would serve Chinese interests as a false flag, and a deceptive attack tests responses on many levels in the US, including political.

          http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cia/think_cog_bias.htm

          “All warfare is deceptioon” ~ Sun Tsu

        • Got it in one.

          Modern China is quite aware of appearances, and they seem to be regretting any involvement with the Kims and Best Korea. They would be obligated by treaty to defend NK if they were attacked, but if NorKor was the aggressor and suffered retaliation they’d wash their hands of it.

      • Although the Nork army is in a sad state of affairs, equipment wise, it is the one part of the population that eats regularly, and there are a million of them, with tens of thousands of heavy artillery pieces, and a massive amount of materiale hidden in underground bunkers. Absent a lightening strike that would drive them back at least fifty miles, South Korea would be pummeled.

        • Something I recall from briefings to CTF76 at UlchiFocus94 was that Nork had enough artillery indeep tunnels along the DMZ within range of Seoul that they could drop the equivalent of all the tonnage used in WW2 in something like 18 hours. The consensus was that the South Koreans and any US mil would die in place to be even close to holding a line 30 miles south of the border.

          I’m sure thats changed some since then, but its why the South Koreans are careful not to escalate rashly.e

  21. While I am disappointed the movie has been pulled, I’m not all that surprised. I’m not sure I agree with the analogy to the Aurora movie event. In that case, it was a lone crackpot and the gun owners who tooled up and went to the movies after that likely faced a threat no more significant than another lone whack job who could very easily have been dealt with by a couple of armed citizens.

    The North Korea thing is a whole other kettle of fish. While many of us may not be impressed by them, the fact is that they are a Nation State and as such represent a far more credible threat than a Joker wannabe. While the nation as a whole is poor, they follow a “military first” doctrine meaning that the military gets the best of everything. They also have the fourth largest standing army in the world (after China, America, and Russia) and they are a nuclear power. They do need to be respected to some degree for this reason alone. Furthermore, while it is true that the U.S. could wipe them from the planet if we chose to, that is not going to happen for a couple of reasons. First of all, China would object. Rather strenuously. Even if they did not, we would have to accept the obliteration of Seoul and a good portion of Japan in exchange.

    Was North Korea’s reaction to this stupid movie over the top? To us, yes, but consider the cult of personality that surrounds the Kim family. Most North Koreans believe that DPRK scientists invented most of today’s technologies and the Kim family, while not revered as gods, are certainly held in much higher regard than any other world leader is by their people. A movie that speaks of assassinating one of them was sure to draw a reaction, particularly when made by Japanese, a people for whom the DPRK has little love.

    The simple fact is that Sony pissed off a nation state not known for its restraint and they have chosen to avoid potential fallout by giving in and shelving the flick. I’m sure it will be released through other channels and in the end, the DPRK probably has done itself no favors as more people will likely want to see this movie than would have otherwise. What will be interesting will be to see how they address the releases through those alternative channels.

    As for their reach, the DPRK is no slouch in the computer hacking field. I would suspect that they have some very good people working for them backed by the kind of budget only a nation state can provide. Furthermore, North Korea does indeed have agents all over the world, both overt ones in their international embassies as well as many sympathizers. It would be foolish to assume that every single defector is genuine. Furthermore, many former North Koreans who live abroad still have family in North Korea, family members whose personal fates are totally controlled by the DPRK government. I suspect that some of these people would do what they were told to do if it meant keeping their relatives out of a labor camp.

    It’s also worth noting that this is one of the few films I’m aware of that has the killing of an actual living head of state as the plot line. In most other films I can think of where the bad guys were the Russians or the Chinese, the head of the government was always a fictional character. I can’t think of any movie where Putin for example is the guy who winds up dead.

    Not saying I agree with or approve of the course Sony and the theater companies decided to take – only that I understand it.

  22. Unfortunately, the Sony response makes a horrid kind of sense.

    The U.S. is (mostly) open and welcoming, opening us up to more “varietal” trouble than would xenophobia and padlocked borders.

    Until we’ve real cybersecurity and the Grid doesn’t crawl on Wondoze, we’re extremely vulnerable.

    Further, imagine the liability were Sony to release that pic and a cinema to become an abattoir; they’d be in court for the next century and a half. Noone willingly invites such exposure.

    Maybe we should ask China to annex the troublesome little sh¡thole…?

    • The Chinese hate Koreans and are quite racist towards other Asians. The only reason they still give money to North Korea is the fear of mass immigration over their border if the government were to collapse.

      They would much rather have Seoul be in charge of the Korean peninsula since both countries opened up trade together and the South is more reasonable to deal with.

      North Korea to China is a damned if we do, damned if we don’t situation.

      • You are right, Asians, not just Chinese, can be quite racist, mainly because they can afford to be. They don’t suffer any political fallout unlike the delicate snow flowers that permeate our political landscape. Heck I was referred a Banana when I did work in China years ago: yellow on the outside, white on the inside.

        “There are two things I hate the most in the world, Racists and black people.” -Anonymous Chinese Blogger

        • A good friend of mine spent two years teaching English to the Chinese military. On return to this country, after having been screwed out of all of his money by a Chinese government prohibition of transferring funds overseas, he described them as extraordinarily xenophobic. Strangely enough, the Japanese are no different. My brother was dispatched to Gulf I from Tokyo, leaving his wife behind. she says that the smiles and perceived warmth of the Japanese people is nothing but good manners. After living there for two years, she could see behind the mask, and realized that they were inherently racist and hated anyone but other Japanese.

        • “A good friend of mine spent two years teaching English to the Chinese military. On return to this country, after having been screwed out of all of his money by a Chinese government prohibition of transferring funds overseas, he described them as extraordinarily xenophobic.”

          What kept him from taking his Yuan/Renminbi and buying gold chains and wearing his pay out of the Middle Kingdom?

  23. Sony wins anyway. “The banned movie is available in other formats people will run not walk.”

    Besides Sony is protecting American lives. That popcorn machine can be hacked to put out more fat than it already does so when the N Koreans get here there will be American flesh balls rolling around wishing we were lean.

  24. I get that Sony doesn’t want any more of their racist emails revealed.

    Whatever.

    Some theaters planned to show Team America, but Paramount pussed out. That would’ve been a fun evening at the Alamo Drafthouse.

    The official Nork threat reads like the scene from the movie where Kim yells at Hans Brix.

    This is a different scene, but a family favorite:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQOWp3tLb2s

  26. Allow me to quote some poetry, an act which I’m usually loathe to do. This from Rudyard Kipling:


    It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
    To call upon a neighbour and to say: —
    “We invaded you last night–we are quite prepared to fight,
    Unless you pay us cash to go away.”

    And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
    And the people who ask it explain
    That you’ve only to pay ’em the Dane-geld
    And then you’ll get rid of the Dane!

    It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
    To puff and look important and to say: —
    “Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
    We will therefore pay you cash to go away.”

    And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
    But we’ve proved it again and again,
    That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
    You never get rid of the Dane.

    It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
    For fear they should succumb and go astray;
    So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
    You will find it better policy to say: —

    “We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
    No matter how trifling the cost;
    For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
    And the nation that pays it is lost!”

    • Spot on Kipling reference. The Dane Geld began when Clinton backed down on the nuke plant in “negotiations” with Norks in early nineties. Obama repeats the mistake in Iran, today, in the nukes in Iran. And kowtows to the Red Army, which runs China, turning a blind eye to suppression of democracy in Hong Kong today, just as he ignored the Green Spring students in Iran in 2009.

    • I’ve always been fond of:

      “When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your gawd like a soldier.”

  29. I happen to own the DVD of “Team America: World Police”. We’re showing it for all and sundry this Saturday eve.

    I will say one word to Sony’s execs: Pussies!

  30. I officially have reached “ashamed” to be an american today. Cowering to these threats; our cajones are but a memory.

  31. “Sony Pictures Entertainment pulled the release of The Interview after North Korean hackers threatened to murder movie-goers…”

    Correction: They pulled the release after North Korean hackers released a bunch of really embarrassing emails exposing Sony employees as shallow backstabbing hypocrites. Then they claimed it was because of threats of violence because that sounds better.

    “They made a credible threat of mass murder against the populace of the United States. As such it’s an act of terrorism…”

    1) No threats from North Korea are credible, much less this one.
    2) Is the NSA (et al) not powerful enough already that we have to redefine threats on the interwebz as “acts of terrorism”???

  34. A couple things:

    First, Imagine the opposite. Say they released the movie, despite the threats, and people were hurt or killed. They would be labeled as putting profits above people, that a good opening box office is worth more than human life, etc. etc.

    Second, wouldn’t be surprised Sony’s shifting the blame to DPNK, hyping up the movie for it’s eventual “leak” or release.

    Third, release it online, have an ad in it suggesting that instead of giving money to sony, donate to UNCF or NAACP. Those racist/bad taste Exec e-mails floating around are not exactly helping their brand.

  35. All you people believing it’s about safety or even a lawsuit… hahaha. No, the Sony execs were about to get even more stuff leaked that would have cost them, personally, a ton of money. Think emails you don’t want your California based, ex wife’s divorce attorney to see.

    • I had pretty much the same thought with a slightly different twist …

      While the North Koreans lack the ability to cause widespread destruction at movie theaters across the United States, they do have the ability to assassinate Sony executives or their family members. I think that is the primary threat to Sony. The comments about Sony’s concern over lawsuits and for the safety of theater patrons are bologna.

  36. The N. Korean dictator, Kim Chee Peeyu, deserves all this ridicule. I remember when ‘The Onion’ labeled him “The Sexiest Man Alive” and the government press didn’t realize it was satire.

  37. With all the inter-connectivity, companies inexplicable need to retain customer data for eons, various .gov’s recording everything commercial enterprise isn’t and the absolute failure of anyone to take security seriously it’s essentially a given that anyone will be “hacked” at anytime and your personal data is up for grabs.

    If we approach the digital-age with this reality in mind all cyber-actions lose their bite.

    Either we accept that hoarding data is the new way and allow that data to become worthless or we hold on to this notion that the data is of value and we stop hoarding it. It is impossible to both hoard it and have it retain value.

  39. I completely swore off going to the movies to see something for “me” years ago. I do, however, escort my wife and/or daughter upon request. My most recent movie was “Big Hero”. BTW, I am armed to the teeth no matter what the sign on the door says.

    Appeasement = weakness outside of Western culture. Sad state of affairs in our country these days.

  41. I don’t know how to go about it but I would love to see us bombard the Norks with technology to get past the information firewall they have set up. Then unleash a never ending stream of this movie and The Matrix. But then most of their people don’t even know the internet exists. It would be nice to find a way to let them know just how much their lives suck.

  44. I think North Korea missed a golden opportunity. First, they started this with their video depicting them Nuking the U.S.. SPOILER ALERT! CONSPIRACY THEORY FOLLOWING! So. SONY conceived and made “The Interview” and got the Obama-controlled State Department to “approve” it in retaliation for the “Nuke the U.S.” video.

    Instead of throwing a tantrum, NK should have made a retaliatory film where they assassinated Obama and Al Sharpton (for good measure). Heck, Kim Jong-un could have played himself heroically conceiving and directing the Operation from start to finish. Only problem NK would have had is that it probably would have been a Box Office Blockbuster in the U.S. causing an influx of hundreds of millions of dollars to their piss-poor economy…and think of the DVD sales and Merchandise Spin-offs! But no, they were their typically unimaginative, thin-skinned selves and hacked SONY, released Obama bashing e-mails and had some spectral hacker group level dire (probably unsubstantial) threats against SONY and American Movie-goers wasting their time and money to see a film reputed to be totally unfunny and dull-witted. Just goes to show how Communism truly kills creativity and imaginative thinking.

    So, NK may have “won” the fight to keep “The Interview” from ever seeing the legal light of day, but totally blew a chance to make millions of dollars, score a major propaganda win and prove they really are a force to be reckoned with on the World Stage. Oh…and their buddies the Chinese could have made millions, as well, pirating DVDs and manufacturing the spin-off Merchandise. What a bunch of macaroons!

    (/sarcasm)

  46. Smells fishy. Are we sure these hackers are from North Korea? From my understanding, pretty much all of the populace of North Korea would like to defect to South Korea. Also, I didn’t know North Korea had “hackers.” If they did, I’d imagine they would prefer to defect. There isn’t even enough food to go around. People are starving. Who has time to hack? Also, why does the criminal acts of a person or small group of people (whom we can’t guarantee are North Korean government employed) require a statement to be made by Obama?

    I’m a little skeptical here on the “origins” of these hackers.

    • It’s not that simple. Although North Koreans flee there own country on a daily basis, most of the population is basically brainwashed or placed in such fear to the point they are unyielding in their devotion to the leader, the system and the nation. In that order. Although internet is highly regulated and borderline nonexistent to the common people, it is still available to the military and upper echelons of government. Kim Jong Ill was supposedly a big fan of western movies, even though he made it illegal for the general population. Like IEDs in asymmetric warfare, It doesn’t take much resources to cause much trouble with hacking, so it’s not unreasonable to think NK is capable of pulling such feat off, whether directly or indirectly.

      Obama was waffling through that portion of his press conference. My eyes were glazing over. Guess that’s what happens when he doesn’t prepare for a speech.

      • Doesn’t make any sense.

        If a Kim Jong Un supporter performed these hacks, it draws great attention to the film when they make demands against it. Now, instead of the film receiving mediocre reception and a small audience. Everyone on planet earth is ready to watch it. That action was not beneficial to a Kim Jong Un supporter.

  47. I had absolutely no interest in seeing this movie– until this B.S. went down. I don’t care who the group is, seven if these were a group of kids in a basement somewhere, Sony made a big mistake in caving- if they’d framed this as a we won’t be intimidated- I’d have gone to see it.

  48. I really don’t care, that’s Sony Pictures choice to let N. Korea bully them and shouldn’t be viewed as an American concession to terrorist threats. The Interview was slated to be another Rogen/Franco bomb anyway, and I think they knew it, and saw this as a better PR move than releasing it.

    After seeing National Geographic’s “Inside North Korea”, I can only imagine how the N. Korean propaganda machine is going to spin this as a personal victory for their fearless leader, complete with stories and bad CGI propaganda movies of K. Jong himself parachuting into L.A. and storming Sony studios with a N. Korean flag in tow.

  50. Remember Sony is a Japanese company. Not only would the threat be towards American citizens here in the US, but Japan and its citizens as well.

    Not to mention American and Japanese citizens in other countries. I’m sure that played a part in their decision as well.

    Not defending it, but just adding some more food for thought.

  51. Whether it was in response to info leaks or terror threats, Sony and Paramount caved like cowards. But good news! This is going to save me a ton of cash! Neither company will get a dime from me, but I’ll still be watching them…

  52. Anonymous should handle the response:

    1. Hack Sony and get the entire movie.
    2. Attach the movie to a virus that will take over a target computer and play the movie.
    3. Hack North Korea and get access to their entire system.
    4. Deliver the virus/movie to every computer in North Korea.

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