Turns out the whole Sony hack and hubbub surrounding it was as many bloggers suspected: a public relations stunt to get you to go see the movie. The cavalier attitude surrounding the release on schedule proves it.
You've been HAD, America!!!
"In reversal, ‘The Interview’ to play in US, Boston; Move to release film follows outcry on free speech" by Maura Johnston, Globe Correspondent December 23, 2014
“The Interview” is back on, in the Boston area and across the country, as Sony Pictures on Tuesday reversed an earlier decision to scrap showings of the controversial movie entirely.
Sony announced that the James Franco/Seth Rogen comedy — in which the pair play American newsmen who become involved in a plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — will be screened in a limited number of theaters on Christmas Day. Screenings had been canceled last week after threats suggesting 9/11-like violence.
So either a monstrous false flag will take place somewhere or this was all a public relations stunt to gin up hype for the movie.
“We have never given up on releasing ‘The Interview,’ ” Sony Pictures chief executive Michael Lynton said in a statement announcing the film’s release. “While we hope this is only the first step of the film’s release, we are proud to make it available to the public and to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech.” Sony did not publicly state why it changed course, and Sony representatives did not return calls asking for comment.
At the stood up part was the turn-in from this above-the-fold lead feature; however, I also took the time to note "pub stunt, GOP" (Guardians of Peace!).
Yeah, this is funny.
Apple Cinemas in Cambridge will be the only theater in the Boston area screening “The Interview” on its scheduled Christmas Day opening.
The Somerville Theatre in Davis Square also plans to show the movie but not right away.
I really can't say what I'm thinking at this stage of the anal rape propaganda.
Sony’s initial decision to cancel the Dec. 25 release of “The Interview” came after increasingly hostile threats from Guardians of Peace, a group that had earlier claimed responsibility for hacking the company’s servers. Last week, federal authorities attributed the hacking to the North Korean government.
President Obama on Friday had called Sony’s decision to cancel the opening “a mistake,” unfavorably comparing the company’s actions with Boston’s resilience after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.
“We can’t start changing our patterns of behavior any more than we stop going to a football game because there might be the possibility of a terrorist attack, any more than Boston didn’t run its marathon this year because of the possibility that somebody might try to cause harm,” Obama said.
Sony’s decision to release the film after all met with approval from Obama.
If the dictator, 'er, president is happy this Xmas, then fine. I hope he's having a good golf game.
This whole thing has been strange from the start, and now it just stinks.
“The president applauds Sony’s decision to authorize screenings of the film,” a statement released by the White House said Tuesday. “As the president made clear, we are a country that believes in free speech and the right of artistic expression. The decision made by Sony and participating theaters allows people to make their own choices about the film, and we welcome that outcome.”
Then this blog will also always be here, right -- even if I am not?
I must confess, many times I sit here typing or working and think my job is done. There is no need to do anymore except sit back and watch the ruling and political class destroy themselves.
After a while, intervention is no longer preferred and you must stand aside and let some fall -- be they governments or individuals -- like a WTC tower into a rubble of their own creation.
I tried to save them from themselves, but they didn't want to hear me.
And if anything, anything at all, happens at an AmeriKan movie theater then I will hold him personally responsible.
************
Meanwhile on Tuesday, Franco and Rogen celebrated the film’s release via social media.
“The people have spoken!” Rogen, who codirected and cowrote the movie, tweeted Tuesday afternoon. “Freedom has prevailed!”
We won the war, and is this really smelling like stink now!
Franco posted a picture of himself and his costar on Instagram captioned, “VICTORY!!!!!!! The PEOPLE and THE PRESIDENT have spoken!!!”
That last part should be first.
--more--"
And North Korea heard 'em loud and clear:
"Key N. Korean websites suffer short outages after shutdown" by Foster Klug and Hyung-Jin Kim, Associated Press December 24, 2014
SEOUL — Key North Korean websites suffered intermittent outages Tuesday after a nearly 10-hour shutdown that followed a US vow to respond to a crippling cyberattack on Sony Pictures, which Washington blames on Pyongyang.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the Internet stoppage in one of the least-wired and poorest countries in the world, but outside experts said it could be anything from a cyberattack to a simple power failure. The White House and the State Department declined to say whether the US government was responsible.
Oh, man, this is such rank rot propaganda it does make one sick.
Even if a cyberattack had caused the shutdown, analysts said, it would largely be symbolic since only a tiny number of North Koreans are allowed on the Internet — a fraction of Pyongyang’s staunchly loyal elite, as well as foreigners.
You juxtapose all this with the sureness of charges the other way and this just stinks of complete propaganda.
Though it denies responsibility for the Sony hack, North Korea’s government has called it a ‘‘righteous deed’’ and made clear its fury over Sony’s film ‘‘The Interview,’’ a comedy that depicts the assassination of the North’s authoritarian leader, Kim Jong Un, the head of a 1.2 million-man army and the focus of an intense cult of personality.
I'm thinking we have the same problem over here, what with the celebrity culture and all.
South Korean officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of office rules, said the North’s official Korean Central News Agency and the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, which are the main channels for official North Korean news, had both gone down. But the websites were back up later Tuesday. Among the posts glorifying the ruling Kim family was one about Kim Jong Un visiting a catfish farm.
Mine's out on the golf course in Hawaii.
US computer experts described Monday’s Internet outages in the North as sweeping and progressively worse. Jim Cowie, chief scientist at Dyn Research, an Internet performance company, said in an online post that the North came back online after a 9½-hour outage. But the company said the North later suffered two outages, one lasting half an hour.
Possible causes for the shutdown include an external attack on its fragile network or even just power problems, Cowie wrote. But, he added, ‘‘We can only guess.’’
Yup.
The outage was probably more inconvenient to foreigners, who can access the Internet through 3G networks, than to North Korean residents, most of whom have never gone online. There are only about 1,000 Internet Protocol addresses in North Korea for a population of 25 million, South Korean analysts say.
Good move, U.S.
North Korea did not immediately release a response to the shutdown. But a commentary carried in state media Tuesday was filled with characteristic rhetoric, criticizing what it called a failed US policy on Pyongyang and comparing the United States to the Roman Empire, which, it said, ‘‘was thrown into a dumping ground of history as it collapsed while seeking prosperity through aggression and war.’’
Wow, not far off there and why is it most of the time the "enemy" statements are the most truthful in my new$paper?
Last year, North Korea suffered similar brief Internet shutdowns of websites at a time of nuclear tensions with the United States, South Korea, and other countries. North Korea blamed Seoul and Washington for the outages.
President Obama has said the US government expects to respond to the Sony hack, which he described as an expensive act of ‘‘cyber vandalism’’ by North Korea.
Others are calling it an act of war.
Obama did not discuss details, and it was not immediately clear whether the Internet connectivity problems represented the retribution. The US government regards its offensive cyber operations as highly classified.
Meaning WE ARE NOT TOLD OF THEM!
--more--"
Btw, I survived the trip the the theater and there’s this, too:
Maybe the time for such nonsense is past. When “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy came out at the dawn of the millennium, we weren’t yet wholly sunk in our current misadventures abroad. The films, at their best, seemed like the culmination of the cinema’s new technical ability to realize other worlds and alternate mythologies. But while history and the culture move on, Jackson hasn’t, and his “Hobbit” movies seem increasingly out of touch with what moves us or what matters. He might have mined “The Battle of the Five Armies” for echoes of our real-world gridlocks, international conflicts, moral conundrums, lusts for war. But he hasn’t. He’d rather hide away in Middle-earth.
This is hardly Jackson’s issue alone. He just wanted to make a movie out of a book, one he loves so deeply he nearly kills it. Maybe it’s everything we’ve been through during this year of disease and disaster, but the problems of a Hobbit, a wizard, and 13 Dwarves don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. If you can convince yourself they do, by all means sign up for Jackson’s vision in all its endless, pointless glory. The rest of us have more important matters to attend to.
His employers and those they serve who have created and constructed this hell around us and he has the nerve to say that?
After more than a decade of concern for those matters voiced here, welcome to the boat. Now get out.
Look, I'm not surprised the Globe didn't like it. I'm not even a fan, and I thought it was the best of the last three. (Btw, I know it was a Tuesday afternoon, but there could not have been more than 25 people in a theater fit for 200. No one is going after opening week, no matter what the movie).
You know, maybe he's right. The time for such non$en$e has pa$t (talk about a Christmas gift!).
Related:
NY mayor and wife visit scene of police officers’ killings
Bowdoin College waives tuition for slain NYPD officer’s son
NYPD Assassination a Psyop?
There are gunmen and mass-murderers everywhere.
New Haven police paired up following NYC killings
Houston grand jury doesn’t indict officer in shooting
But it's the pot-smokers who are the threat out there.
I mean, haven't you heard? Cops are the good guys!
Maybe you should smoke an e-cigarette instead (after going to school, of course. Make sure you pick out a better outfit than that kid).
For Auld Lang Syne, my friends. I saw my one movie for the year, and I also am glad the road is over -- or $oon will be:
"Harassment via Internet a crime, SJC rules; Decision upholds convictions of pair who targeted neighbors in Andover" by John R. Ellement and Travis Andersen, Globe Staff December 23, 2014
The state’s highest court ruled Tuesday that people who use the Internet to harass someone can be prosecuted under existing state law, a decision that upheld the conviction of an Andover couple who were linked to false ads on Craigslist and who filed a fake claim of child abuse against a neighbor.
Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett, whose office prosecuted the case, said the ruling from the Supreme Judicial Court was the first time the panel clearly authorized law enforcement to use the state’s antiharassment statute in cybercrimes.
“Cyberharassment is becoming more prevalent in today’s society and the victims in this case were tormented by the defendants,’’ Blodgett said. “This case sends the right message that it is a crime, and a serious one.”
I saw what they say the case was about, but this is a slippery slope.
Say goodbye to free speech.
Only in Massachusetts!
They didn't get the president's memo?
The 7-0 ruling left intact the harassment convictions for William P. Johnson and his wife, Gail M. Johnson, who wanted to subdivide and develop land in Andover, but were opposed by an abutting neighbor, James J. Lyons Jr., and his wife, Bernadette, along with other neighbors.
That dispute preceded the harassment campaign by the Johnsons, the high court said.
So often disputes are about LAND (and what's usually under it), and yet so many other excuses -- religion, ethnicity, what have you -- are tossed before us by the propaganda pre$$.
As part of the harassment, William Johnson called in a false allegation of child abuse against James Lyons with the state Department of Children and Families, according to the SJC.
When are newspapers and government officials and authority going to answer for that?
“They literally tried to have our kids taken away from us,’’ James Lyons, who is now a state representative, said in a telephone interview. “These people invested time and money to torture my wife, my boys, and myself.’’
Well, let's not get carried away here. I mean, were you waterboarded? Did you have your genitalia cut?
Robert S. Sinsheimer, an attorney for the Johnsons, said in a statement that they were disappointed by the SJC’s decision and were considering their legal options. The Johnsons lived on the same street as the Lyons family.
Hey, neighbor.
“Where the sole purpose of the defendants’ speech was to further their endeavor to intentionally harass the Lyonses, such speech is not protected by the First Amendment,” Justice Robert Cordy wrote in the ruling.
According to the SJC ruling, during a 35-day period in 2008 the Johnsons enlisted a longtime friend and handyman, Gerald Colton, who sent the Lyonses an e-mail falsely claiming that James Lyons “stole the innocence of a young man,” and posted fake ads on Craigslist.
One of those ads said that the Lyonses were giving away golf carts for free, prompting dozens of people to show up outside the couple’s home.
“The Craigslist postings were the equivalent of the defendants recruiting others to harass the victims and the victims alone,” Cordy wrote. “The defendants cannot launder their harassment of the Lyons family through the Internet to escape liability.”
Another ad said the family was selling a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and told interested parties to call after 10 p.m., generating many nighttime calls that continued for months, the ruling said.
One e-mail that Colton sent to the Lyons family from a fake account, the SJC said, read, “Remember, if you aren’t miserable, I ain’t happy! Let’s Play.”
Colton had testified for the prosecution and said that William Johnson had told him he had sent James Lyons a letter accusing him of molesting a teenager, which was false. The Johnsons were convicted in Lawrence District Court in late 2011. William Johnson was sentenced to 18 months behind bars; his wife was given a six-month sentence to serve.
Alan M. Dershowitz, a prominent attorney and retired Harvard Law professor, said it is rare for defendants to receive jail time for such conduct, adding that the Johnsons’ behavior was particularly egregious.
I no longer listen, sorry.
“Was the [SJC] opinion too broad? I think time will tell,” Dershowitz said. “I would hope it would be applied in a very narrow way.”
The ruling does not appear to encroach on the free speech rights of Internet users, according to Harvey A. Silverglate, a criminal defense lawyer and civil libertarian who has written extensively on First Amendment issues.
“I don’t think this opinion imposes a risk of squelching protected speech on the Internet,” Silverglate said. “It isn’t very hard to figure out that what these people were doing is very threatening, and it’s not the kind of speech that a civilized society wants to tolerate.”
My head sunk as I read that from a lawyer who is supposed to be defending it say that.
Free Speech is inviolate. It's not something to be picked and choosed at. I know, fire in a movie theater, but other than that.... you are only in favor of free speech if you are for speech you are against, and I will address that shortly.
Sameer Hinduja, a criminology professor at Florida Atlantic University and codirector of the Cyberbullying Research Center, said online harassment is not confined to young children and adolescents.
Hinduja pointed to a recent Pew Research Internet Project study that found that 40 percent of adult Internet users have experienced online harassment.
“I agree with the court’s decision, absolutely,” Hinduja said.
“You have really crazy sorts of things being done [in the case]. It’s really willful, it’s really intentional. . . . I like that [the SJC] labeled it criminal conduct.”
Hinduja said laws barring online harassment are necessary, even if they do not always deter offenders. “We do need to have laws for egregious situations to send a message in our society, with the social contract that we all agree to, that this is unacceptable,” he said.
Martin G. Weinberg, a Boston defense lawyer who has litigated cybercrime cases, said in an e-mail that the ruling helps define criminal conduct in the realm of Internet communications.
You can almost feel Free Speech slip slidin' away in Massachusetts.....
“Judges nationwide, from the Supreme Court to the state courts, have an historic challenge of taking a Bill of Rights written in the 18th century and making it meaningful in a very different world of computers and technology,” Weinberg wrote.
He's supposed to be a defender, and yet he's collaborating in its destruction through the back door.
--more--"
Could even cost you your job.
Now about free speech. I'm also for that pos link and propaganda piece called the Boston Globe. It has the right to put out its slop, too, we all do! That's what free speech is! It's up to the reader to decide what the truth is. I'm only a guide and giving it from my inquisitive perspective. It's up to you, reader, to decide your own truths.
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Related: Anonymous For Not Much Longer
Remember last year's Xmas?