Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

The words do not have to be perfect.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Let’s finish the job.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

This fight is for everything.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Not all heroes wear capes.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Open Thread: Five Percenter

Reader Interactions

132Comments

  9. 9.

    flukebucket

    It is because the Republicans took over the House and the Senate. At least that I what I am hearing….

  12. 12.

    beth

    @flukebucket: don’t laugh, I actually had a relative tell me that. Investors are more confident now that they know the Republicans are in charge and are going to roll back Obamacare and all those other nasty regulations he’s put in place (which would they be, I asked? crickets…)

    Confidence! it’s what’s in for 2015!

  14. 14.

    patrick II

    @feebog:

    It seems to be irrelevant news for Obama — I thought good economics helped the party in power with elections. Evidently not when Ebola and ISIS rules the headlines. What happened to those events now that the election is over anyway?

  15. 15.

    Suffern ACE

    @patrick II: They’ve been replaced by cop shootings and North Korean cyber attacks. No one cares about the economy unless its speculation about robotic cars and new ways to find a tax cab.

  16. 16.

    Spinwheel

    Gotta change that subject.

    Gotta bury that history of misogyny.

    Gotta move on to the next Obama press release.

  17. 17.

    Roger Moore

    So we’re finally getting the kind of growth you’d expect for an economy bouncing back from a recession. We could have had this 5 years ago if the Republicans hadn’t been sabotaging the recovery.

  18. 18.

    SatanicPanic

    @patrick II: The media is strongly invested in the idea that on election day voters are a tabula rasa and just decide who to vote for by looking at the morning paper.

  19. 19.

    Lavocat

    That’s excellent news, especially for us here in the Northeast. I hope we feel the full effect of it soon. The mood here seems more upbeat than usual and there does seem to be a sense that we are now out of the woods [crosses fingers].

    Kudos to Obama. I hope he uses this political capital to go out in style as a supposedly lame duck president.

    Also, and not to be morbid, if The Notorious RBG opts to retire from SCOTUS soon (health reasons?), I hope Obama replaces her with a (relatively young) African-American woman. Hey, we can dream, can’t we? And, Santa, I also want a Native American female justice and an Asian-American female justice for SCOTUS, if it’s not too much to ask.

    Happy Fesitvus!

  21. 21.

    catclub

    @rikyrah: What was that Mitch McConnell line? By any objective measure, Obama has been a disaster for the country?

    I guess if Romney had been elected it would be up 5000%.

  23. 23.

    catclub

    @Lavocat:

    if The Notorious RBG opts to retire from SCOTUS soon (health reasons?), I hope Obama replaces her with a (relatively young) African-American woman.

    The GOP majority Senate would have a say on that, and I suspect they would say NO to anyone he nominates.

  27. 27.

    Richard Mayhew

    @patrick II: The evidence is the economic situation really matters for presidential elections, and the time frame is not the month of the election but the winter/early spring before the election… Everything else economic growth being positive doesn’t hurt, but it does not help the incumbent too much

  28. 28.

    Mike in NC

    @Roger Moore: Yet I can read plenty of online comments from wingnuts who believe everything is going to blossom under the awesome leadership of Mitch McConnell.

  30. 30.

    Bill Arnold

    @beth:

    don’t laugh, I actually had a relative tell me that. Investors are more confident now that they know the Republicans are in charge…

    Do they have a theory about why the U.S. stock markets roughly doubled between 2009 spring and mid 2014?
    Also, do they have a theory about why the revisions in economic numbers are up (good up) since the 2014 election? How does it fit into the “government fudges the numbers to make Obama look good” narrative?
    (Just curious how much you pushed back beyond the fact checking. I’ve picked apart a few arguments of this sort and the response is silence.)

  31. 31.

    Mike in dc

    Just need 20 more quarters like that and I might actually be able to work full time as a practicing attorney. Maybe.

  32. 32.

    MikeBoyScout

    In other things are fk-d up and bullshit news
    Citizenfour producers sued ‘on behalf of American public’ for aiding Snowden

    A private US citizen is suing the makers of an Oscar-tipped documentary about the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden for allegedly “profiteering” from the “theft and misuse” of thousands of leaked government documents.
    Retired naval officer Horace Edwards says he is taking legal action “on behalf of the American public” against the producers of Citizenfour, director Laura Poitras and the Weinstein Company. The film is the first-person retelling of the encounter between Poitras, journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewan Macaskill and CIA officer Snowden in Hong Kong, which led to the release of thousands of classified documents showing widespread abuses of power by the US National Security Administration in June 2013.

    If you haven’t already, add Horace Edwards to your Season’s gift list. He is, after all, taking action on behalf of you and what he knows to be your best interests.

  33. 33.

    beth

    @Bill Arnold: Hey, the Republicans are in charge now! Everything’s going to be okay – they don’t need no stinking fact checking. As far as they’re concerned, all good things that have happened since January of 2009 are because the Republicans have pushed back on Obama’s agenda. The steady growth we’ve had has been because they’ve kept Obama from his crazy spending sprees by shutting down the government if necessary. If he’d just implemented their plan right from the get go we’d have had this level of growth all along. It doesn’t matter what you say to them or what facts you present, they just parrot the party line. I think even if we had another Republican president who crashed the economy and started WWIII they’d find a way to blame Democrats. It’s hopeless.

  40. 40.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I see McCain says the cyber attack on Sony is an act of war and this president doesn’t understand that. I believe McCain is taking over the Senate Armed Services Committee (or is it Foreign Relations? Somebody help). I thank the FSM every day that this man did not become president.

  41. 41.

    Archon

    @japa21:

    Like someone inferred upstream, Obama gets to vacation in the Hamptons and Hawaii while most working white folks don’t so obviously something isn’t right.

  46. 46.

    elmo

    @Iowa Old Lady:
    If the supposedly North Korean cyber attack on a Japanese corporation is an act of war against the US, I shudder to think what the Russian shootdown of a Malaysian airliner might be. A NATO invasion?

    Anyway, using Republican logic, our response to the North Korean act of war against Japanese business should probably be to invade Manchuria.

  49. 49.

    Howard Beale IV

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    I see McCain says the cyber attack on Sony is an act of war and this president doesn’t understand that.

    Then why hasn’t McCain and the GOP drawn up Articles of War?

    Moron.

  50. 50.

    ruemara

    I spent a good portion of my Christmas budget buying toiletries for the homeless shelter and baking stuff for them and the local friends. It was either that or buy cards to send to all & sundry. This was a much better plan, since everyone really needed what I got. It takes the stench of awful from the world for a bit. However, I still have to work from home for a bit.

  51. 51.

    Roger Moore

    @elmo:

    If the supposedly North Korean cyber attack on a Japanese corporation is an act of war against the US

    I’ll agree with the part about the attack being only supposedly North Korean- the evidence that they were behind it is insufficient to justify an outright attack- but Sony Pictures is actually a US company. They’re a subsidiary of a Japanese company, but they are incorporated, based, and do substantial business in the USA.

  52. 52.

    MomSense

    @ruemara:

    Wow, that is fantastic. I do my weekly food pantry drop off but I haven’t done anything extra so I’m going to pick up some toiletries. That is a great idea.

  54. 54.

    catclub

    @Roger Moore: There was a guy on the radio who was making too much sense. He said: “Suppose all these things happened to Sony, but you took out the ‘cyber’. Would that add up to an act of war?”

    The obvious answer is no. Vandalism.

  55. 55.

    Amir Khalid

    @Roger Moore:
    @elmo:
    Further to Roger More’s point: Sony Pictures is the entity formerly known as Columbia Pictures — you know, the lady tiptoeing off the pedestal at the beginning of The Mouse That Roared.

  56. 56.

    Roger Moore

    @ruemara:

    It was either that or buy cards to send to all & sundry.

    Given that you have creative talent, you should try making your own Christmas cards rather than buying them. It’s no more expensive, a lot more personal, and most people will appreciate them more.

  58. 58.

    WereBear

    @ruemara: Blessings on you: that is a far better option than cards.

    At the beginning of our relationship, Mr WereBear and I debated the “cards question” and it came up “No.” People we care about get a call or a letter, sometimes enclosed in an appropriate wrapper. But wholesale card swapping: Nay.

  59. 59.

    goblue72

    @Roger Moore: Who gives a flying fart?

    The appropriate response is – A corporate conglomerate that sends its profits overseas to the Japanese got pantsed in prime time by a country too messed up to even afford enough Uncle Bens. And the American taxpayer should give precisely two shits exactly why?

  62. 62.

    burnspbesq

    @elmo:

    North Korean cyber attack on a Japanese corporation is an act of war against the US

    Not that shit again. We covered this yesterday. Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc., the target of the cyber attack, is a Delaware corporation with its principal office in Culver City, California. It’s every bit as American as The Walt Disney Company, a Delaware corporation with its principal office in Burbank, California.

    Do try to keep up.

  63. 63.

    Roger Moore

    @catclub:

    The obvious answer is no. Vandalism.

    What’s happened to Sony is a hell of a lot more than simple vandalism. Stealing somebody’s secrets and broadcasting them to all and sundry would at least count as burglary and larceny on a truly epic scale. It would more likely count as economic espionage, which has quite severe penalties and has caused serious international incidents in the past.

  64. 64.

    burnspbesq

    @goblue72:

    sends its profits overseas to the Japanese

    If you had half a clue about anything, you would know that Japanese parent companies don’t repatriate profits earned outside Japan, for the same reason that US-based multinationals don’t do so. Japanese accounting principles include substantially similar rules about having to provide for taxes on profits earned offshore unless they are indefinitely reinvested offshore, and Sony makes the same representation to its auditors that Microsoft makes.

    Japanese manufacturing companies have a long tradition of in effect smuggling profit back to Japan by over-charging their offshore distribution subsidiaries for products and/or charging exorbitant royalties, but those options are not available to Sony with respect to SPE’s business.

  66. 66.

    elmo

    @burnspbesq:

    Do try to keep up.

    When I’m serious, sure. When I’m clearly tossing off snark (“NATO invasion,” “invade Manchuria,”) then factual distortion is part of the process.

    I don’t consider random shoplifters at Walmart to be engaged in terrorism; I don’t consider random hackers raiding Bank of America to be conducting an invasion; and I sure as hell don’t consider stealing emails and making absurd threats against the Walt Disney Company, Sony, Columbia Pictures, or Metro Goldwyn Mayer to be an act of war.

    Even if you did cover it yesterday.

  68. 68.

    goblue72

    @burnspbesq: For someone so in love with the smell of his own farts, you really are completely utterly clueless about politics. Your immediate knee-jerk response to all this is to immediately bend over backwards up your own arsehole in order to defend a corporate behemoth – as opposed to using it as an opportunity to step back and laugh at said corporate behemoth getting pantsed.

    And THAT is precisely why Democrats lose – because they’ve surrendered their megaphone to corporate apologists like burnsie who is so in love with himself that he has literally put the word “esq” in his online nym. You know, just in case you missed that he’s a lawyer.

    So on one side we got right-wing corporatists screaming “THIS IS WAR, MOTHAFUKAS!!!”. And on the other, mealy mouthed stooges going “Well, you see, *sniff*, that they are actually technically, *sniff*, an American company, because *sniff* under the Code of Federal Regulations, subsection B, subpart 12….”

  69. 69.

    Roger Moore

    @goblue72:

    A corporate conglomerate that sends its profits overseas to the Japanese got pantsed in prime time by a country too messed up to even afford enough Uncle Bens.

    No. An American corporation that employs many thousands of Americans and brings large amounts of money into the US economy was attacked because it made a dumb comedy that made fun of the leader of a foreign power. What happened to Sony Pictures is far worse than “getting pantsed”; it involves deliberate attempts to destroy their business and vile attacks on their employees. It sure as hell is more than a public embarrassment that should be laughed off by people not directly involved.

  70. 70.

    ruemara

    @Roger Moore: Oh I always make my cards. But I’ve been pouring myself into this job. I had to pull some of my leftover cards from years ago just to have something to send out. I mean, storebought, trés gauche. Unfortunately, you see the conundrum if you’ve failed to put something into the holidays a few days out. derp. I’ll do graphic before then. I hope.

  75. 75.

    Gravenstone

    @beth: I’m sure your relative was quick to explain how the Congress was going to be able to override the guaranteed presidential veto on all those “roll backs”, right?

  76. 76.

    Amir Khalid

    @goblue72:
    I’m not sure how burnspbesq’s reply to you is an attempt to “defend a corporate behemoth”. I read it as an explanation of where the bulk of a foreign-owned subsidiary’s income actually goes: not back to the parent company’s country, as many might think.

  79. 79.

    Mike in NC

    @goblue72: The theatrical trailer looked just awful since the movie goes way overboard on toilet ‘humor’. This thing looked like it would rival James Franco’s “Spring Breakers” and Seth Rogen’s “Neighbors” in being unfunny. So, yes.

  81. 81.

    Cervantes

    @Roger Moore:

    Sony Pictures is actually a US company. They’re a subsidiary of a Japanese company, but they are incorporated, based, and do substantial business in the USA.

    I agree — but so what if it is “a US company”?

    Should we tax-payers spend money defending any and all US corporations? Is there some minimal quid pro quo they owe us? Or are they free to keep pointing out that, under law, their primary responsibility is not our welfare but that of their owners?

    Or is it just vaguely and incalculably in the national interest for tax-payers to spend money defending corporations they do not own?

    You may have addressed this question already, in which case just a pointer will do, thanks.

  82. 82.

    feebog

    I’m beginning to develop an entirely new theory on this whole business. Here tis: The Sony hack was an inside job by a disgruntled (possibly former) employee(s). North Korea decided to take advantage and issued the threat about the interview. This would explain why there was no immediate mention of the movie in the initial few days of the hack.

  83. 83.

    goblue72

    @Josie: So let’s just get this straight. We start off with a fairly middling comedy from the team that caught fire with Superbad and Pineapple Express, but that has a more recent bomb on their resume (Green Hornet). Said movie that may in fact feel like more a retread than something fresh at this point (how many man-boy Seth Rogen – James Franco movies does the American movie-going public have an appetite for.). Did well enough in test screenings, but the studio (Sony) still has some angina over it possibly being not so hot.

    Said movie was heading into the blockbuster Christmas release season going head to head against: Into the Woods, the final Hobbit movie, the latest Tim Burton movie (Big Eyes, starring Amy Adams), the new Annie movie, the latest Night at the Museum, some Oscar bait (Unbroken, Leivathan, A Most Violent Year) and some decent foreign art-house stuff.

    That’s the kind of headwind that could kill a middling stoner comedy.

    But lo, from afar, North Korea arrives. And lands the name “Interview” on the front page of every major newspaper and media outlet, as well as the lips of the President. Its a triple Hat Trick of free media.

    I fully expect a limited release to keep the availability of the movie under-supplied. Enough folks curious about it having heard all the ruckus will fill those seats. It appears to be a more bankable product than it was 4 – 6 weeks ago and gets a more broader release in January after everyone has seen all those other Xmas blockbusters.

  87. 87.

    mdblanche

    @Roger Moore: And yet when I look at the economic news from abroad it makes for grim reading. Somehow we’re finally doing better despite our crazy elephant sized anchor. Almost everybody else is stagnant or worse. What’s their excuse?

  88. 88.

    Bill Arnold

    @goblue72:

    And lands the name “Interview” on the front page of every major newspaper and media outlet, as well as the lips of the President. Its a triple Hat Trick of free media.

    There has been some damage to Sony Pictures, hard to quantify but real, so the viral marketing theory (for lack of a better term) hasn’t gotten much play. Is there any evidence for the theory, other than it being delicious?

  89. 89.

    Cervantes

    @goblue72:

    Well, maybe, but an obvious response is that Corporation X pays US taxes, too (in theory, at least) — and yes, it receives all sorts of benefits in return — and shouldn’t those benefits include “police protection,” as it were?

  90. 90.

    goblue72

    @Cervantes: From the United States Armed Forces? For an act of cyber vandalism? Or at worst, cyber theft?

    I’d think reporting to their local cyber-crimes unit for their local police force (or at most, the FBI), would be the appropriate response.

  91. 91.

    Josie

    @goblue72: I’ve never been to an Alamo Drafthouse, but I understand the clientele can be a bit unruly, shouting stuff at the screen and laughing at inappropriate moments. It sounds as though it would be a perfect venue for such a movie. My son and his wife go to enjoy screenings of old scifi movies and really enjoy the ambiance of the place.

  92. 92.

    goblue72

    @Bill Arnold: Oh, I am not alleging some grand conspiracy. Reality is usually a lot more boring than that. Just that, for Sony, its not the absolutely worst thing in the world, when faced with a potential movie bomb. It started out as lemons for them, but they have a solid opportunity to make lemonade from it. They take a short term reputation hit, but nobody loves Big Business anyway, so how much can the negative publicity in the short term hurt them. Plus, now they get to look like heroes by slowly releasing the movie in select markets as they “stand up” against those dastardly North Koreans, this week’s current stand-in for the Nazis.

    Again, I think they pulled the movie in a fit of the type of cowardice that is endemic to senior management at most large corporations. But that’s not to stop them from taking advantage of all the over-wrought hoopla to their benefit – and thus why we shouldn’t be buying into the hoopla in the first place.

  93. 93.

    Cervantes

    @goblue72:

    Is it an open question? Is Sony a tax-payer and what does (or should) it get from the government in return?

    [I see you’ve already addressed the question, thanks.]

  94. 94.

    WereBear

    By all the noodley appendages of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the “Gift an App” function was in my App Store two days ago. When I checked to see if it was simple to send a particular app to a friend’s iPad as a gift.

    It was simple.

    Now, two days later, it is not. The buttons are gone from three different device outlets, Apple Help is claiming such a thing is not possible, and I’m waiting on hold.

    The only thing that moderates my frustration is the sure and certain knowledge that Microsoft is far, far, worse.

  96. 96.

    tazj

    @beth: This is exactly what my conservative relatives tell me.

    In fact, in 2010-2011 when the President was going around the country talking about an infrastructure/jobs bill I asked these relatives what they thought of the bill to reduce unemployment. The response was “People need confidence and hope, I don’t think more spending is the answer.

  97. 97.

    Amir Khalid

    @goblue72

    its completely and utterly besides the point in terms of big picture.

    Yet you brought it up. One would also think that The Interview‘s rumoured lack of artistic merit is irrelevant, as George R.R. Martin and others have pointed out, this being rather an issue of censorship by what appears to be criminal action; yet you brought that up too.

    As for the suggestion that this has all been a charade to promote The Interview — come on, man. Does it make sense that a studio would do itself so much public damage to promote one movie?

    I have no opinion on the merits of the movie, which has not yet come to Malaysia. Or a favourite suspect for who did this to Sony Pictures: some knowledgeable people are skeptical of the FBI’s claim that it was North Korea or someone acting for them, but no one is touting a likelier perpetrator.

  99. 99.

    Goblue72

    @Amir Khalid: I’m not alleging some conspiracy as I noted above.

    Merely that the way this has unraveled is not without benefit to Sony in the end and all the histrionics over this are just that – histrionics.

    Also too – there was no censorship. No government with jurisdiction over Sony forced them to do this. This is a case of corporate stooges peeing their pants over some hackers.

  100. 100.

    Howard Beale IV

    @goblue72: IANAL, but SPE is a victim of any number of US Codes related to unauthorized computer accesses, and also to applicable California state cybercrime laws (and potentially other states as well, depending on the location of said compromised servers.) By the same token, SPE will also be on the hook for failing to protect personally identifiable data at both state and Federal levels. That’s just from the hacking incident itself-the reputational damage may be so great that Sony may have no option but unload SPE at fire-sale prices in order to protect Sony as a whole.

  101. 101.

    Roger Moore

    @mdblanche:
    Those other countries may not have our particular pathologies, but they have pathologies of their own. The EU economic establishment is dominated by a country that has been least hurt by the Great Recession and is even more paranoid about inflation than the GOP, which has led to them adopting counterproductive macroeconomic policies. Japan has been stagnating for well over a decade, has a problem with a steeply declining working age population and its own economic stupidity.

  102. 102.

    Roger Moore

    @goblue72:

    I’d think reporting to their local cyber-crimes unit for their local police force (or at most, the FBI), would be the appropriate response.

    If it’s carried out by a foreign government, it is absolutely the job of the federal government to get involved. If it’s the work of a foreign military, it’s reasonable for the US military to be at least considered as part of our response.

  104. 104.

    goblue72

    @Roger Moore: You and burnsie need to get a grip. Or a clue.

    I will gladly come back in six months to compare notes on exactly how much a non-event this was, and how little it affected Sony.

  105. 105.

    Roger Moore

    @Amir Khalid:

    As for the suggestion that this has all been a charade to promote The Interview — come on, man. Does it make sense that a studio would do itself so much public damage to promote one movie?

    It’s ludicrous on its face. If it comes out that Sony actually released this information, their current and former employees will sue them into bankruptcy for releasing their personally identifying information. That alone is sufficient reason that no sane company would try it.

  107. 107.

    Howard Beale IV

    @goblue72: We’ll have to wait and see now, won’t we? As Yogi Berra is fond of saying: “It ain’t over ’till it’s over”. The rest of Sony isn’t in real good shape either, BTW.

    I will gladly come back in six months to compare notes on exactly how much a non-event this was, and how little it affected Sony.

    Indeed. A lot can happen in six months. But it usually takes a year for entropy to settle things into a stable state.

  110. 110.

    goblue72

    @Roger Moore: To which, as I have noted repeatedly above, I was not suggesting in the least, that is was some grand conspiracy on Sony’s part.

    Merely, that as it has unfolded, Sony is able to make lemonade out of lemons of its own doing (both for producing a potential bomb of a movie, and for its own corporate cowardice), such that no one should be crying any tears over poor, poor Sony.

  111. 111.

    Howard Beale IV

    @feebog:

    The Sony hack was an inside job by a disgruntled (possibly former) employee(s).

    Right now this is about the only thing that makes any sense. The fact that someone was able to burrow so deep and so quick it screams ‘inside job’-and the burying of North Korean IP addresses in the hacking software payload is nothing more than a red herring.

  116. 116.

    Howard Beale IV

    @lol: There’s still a metric shit-ton of emails that haven’t been analyzed yet. Time to invest in popcorn futures.

  117. 117.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @goblue72:

    So all of the Sony Pictures employees who had their Social Security numbers and other personal information stolen deserved that because they work for Sony?

    I agree that it’s stupid to call this an act of war, but I would be pretty pissed if the US government ignored the theft of my PII (possibly) by a foreign government and told me I was on my own when it came to the upcoming identity theft nightmare I was going to have to deal with.

  119. 119.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @Howard Beale IV:

    It’s probably not going to affect Sony Corporation very much. Sony Pictures Entertainment is a totally different question.

    I actually wouldn’t be surprised if the animation division gets spun off to protect it (as Dreamworks Animation was spun off when Dreamworks live action started tanking) because it’s the only profitable thing Sony has going. “Annie” made $16 million its opening weekend.

  121. 121.

    mai naem mobile

    I’m sure Ken Langone,John Paulson, Steve Cohen and Jamie Dimon are whining about how Obama hurt their feefees and used class warfare rhetoric etc etc etc. I guess Denis McDonough can call the wahhhambulance for these poor poor baybeeeeees.

  122. 122.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, too, I realize that there is a limited audience interested in this, so I’ll try not to belabor it too much, but you should be looking at Variety or the Hollywood Reporter to see why we keep saying Sony Pictures is in trouble, not Asian stock market predictions:

    ‘The Interview’ Release to Deepen Rift Between Sony, Major Exhibitors

    Sony’s strategy was that they would have two holiday releases: Annie was their big family blockbuster, and The Interview was their Christmas Day counter-programming. Unfortunately for them, Annie is tanking because people expected to see a musical and, while Quvenzhané Wallis is a charming actress, she can’t sing, or at least doesn’t have the “little girl with a big voice” type of singing voice you need to carry off “Tomorrow.”

    This is why Sony is desperate to get some — any! — revenue on the books for The Interview before 2014 ends, even if it means breaking all kinds of gentlemen’s agreements to not do day-and-date VOD releases. They literally can’t afford to lose a dime of that revenue by delaying the release to next year.

  124. 124.

    goblue72

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): As I noted quite clearly above (in my response to Cervantes), it should be left to local police agencies or the FBI to deal with. Just like any other theft of personal data.

    But please proceed with the hair on fire histrionics. Its quite entertaining.

  126. 126.

    samiam

    So the wingnut wulitzer is apparently saying it’s a card trick because of last quarters downward revision. I don’t know or care if that is true and if it is then it’s not anything unusual. Of course that just won’t do in wingnut land. See the downward revision last quarter was like totally because ObamaCare and Benghzaiiiiii…and whatever. This upward tick. Just a card trick to hide Obamacares evil plan to insure people in case they get sick.

  127. 127.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @goblue72:

    I thought you were bitching because the FBI (aka the federal government) was involved in the investigation. After all, it was merely the PII of several thousand people that was revealed — no big deal, nothing to see here, let them all deal with it individually. That was how you reacted when the Home Depot and Target breaches happened, right?

    Again, I don’t think anyone is disagreeing with you that it’s stupid for McCain to be running around claiming this was “an act of war,” but it’s equally dumb to pretend it’s no big deal as far as people’s personal information being spread all over the internet goes.

  128. 128.

    Goblue72

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): the histrionics over this are unwarranted. How much personal info has been hacked in the last year alone from umpteen national retail chains and credit card companies?

  130. 130.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @Goblue72:

    You’re getting histrionics from the media because they’re part of the entertainment industry, and a breach of security at, say, Time Warner (CNN), NBC Universal (MSNBC) or 20th Century Fox (Fox News) would affect them personally. That’s why the media is freaked the fuck out. It’s a story about their industry that affects people they know personally.

    Republicans are screeching because (A) they’re Republicans and (B) many of them are commentators on the above networks and get a paycheck from them, which means they also could be personally affected by another entertainment breach.

    I’m interested in this story because I work for a studio (not Sony) and it could potentially affect me.

    IMO, the administration is acting appropriately to investigate what happened and it’s not their fault that the freaked-out media is freaking out.

    As I’ve said several times before, my suspicion is that the hackers are disgruntled ex-Sony Pictures employees and not NK, but I suppose we’ll find out eventually.

  131. 131.

    J R in WV

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Obviously the North Koreans attacked, but McCain has the country wrong. They attacked Japan, not the USA. While we do have some responsibility for Japan’s defense, surely we don’t have to counter-attack North Korea until Japan asks us for assistance?

    Or maybe since they really attacked a stupid movie, we should counter-atttack by beaming stupid movies into their nation?? Caddy-Shack? Airplane? Poseidon?

    ETA: Yes, I know Sony the movie company is an American company, but the whole thing is so stupid I thought jokes were appropriate. So ;-) and a Merry Xmas!!

  132. 132.

    J R in WV

    @Amir Khalid:

    Actually he confessed that these corporate monsters use fraudulent accounting tricks – like overpricing internal transactions – to move money back to their home countries without being taxed. Which isn’t the same as never moving offshore profits back home, is it?

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