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By gum, he sounds like presidential material to me. Your move, Jeb. .@SonyPictures don’t cave, fight: release @TheInterview free online globally. Ask viewers for voluntary $5 contribution to fight #Ebola.— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) December 18, 2014 More than 13,000 retweets as I write this. Clearly there’s a demand for countermeasures among an American public that doesn’t like the idea of foreigners, especially savages like the Kim cabal, holding veto power over their culture. (Too bad China, Kim’s chief patron, already sort of does.) Am I right, though, in thinking that no major Republican pol aside from Romney has said anything...

Snapchat CEO lashes out after Sony leaks By Cory Bennett - 12/17/14 05:25 PM EST Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel said Wednesday that he was “angry” and “devastated” at the information leaked about his disappearing messaging app as a result of the Sony hack. Good chunks of Snapchat’s business plans were revealed Tuesday when the cyberattackers that hit Sony dumped Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton's email catalogue. Lynton sits on Snapchat’s board of directors and had numerous candid email exchanges with Spiegel about hiring practices, possible acquisitions and potential future products. “I felt like I was going to cry all morning,”...

Yesterday, moments before the North Korea "hacking" tragicomedy escalated into full retard mode with Sony pulling The Interview, or a movie that absent the attention would certainly be a flop, Wired released an article titled: "North Korea Almost Certainly Did Not Hack Sony" (title subsequently changed to the one below as can be seen in the URL alias "http://www.wired.com/2014/12/north-korea-did-not-hack-sony-probs"), which however, and for the better, retains its content as it is quite critical in debunking the latest government "certainty."

Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal, who last week apologized over racially insensitive comments she made in leaked emails posted online, just finished a 90-minute meeting with Rev. Al Sharpton in NYC where the two discussed diversity in Hollywood. Here is Sharpton’s take:

Hollywood star George Clooney said fellow celebrities and industry figures did not want to sign a petition supporting 'The Interview' film featuring the assassination of Kim Jong-un as they were afraid of the consequences. Clooney said he wanted to see the film released on-line to undermine the threats of the hacking gang, who are believed to be supported by North Korean agents. Sony's computer systems were breached following a major hacking attack last month, which saw highly confidential material released as well as a string of embarrassing emails.

Cyberwar: Like a bomb detonating in slow motion, the scale and destructiveness of the Sony hack has only now become fully apparent. Telling Americans to go to the movies doesn't cut it as a government response. At first, it seemed as if Sony was the latest victim of hackers who delight in stealing confidential information and sending it along to WikiLeaks. The hackers called themselves "Guardians of Peace" and claimed, "We want equality. Sony doesn't." Sony initially labeled the event as "an IT matter." For a while, the hack seemed to threaten only the reputations of some Hollywood big shots,...

A Sony employee has described the company as being “stuck in 1992″ following the massive hacks, with employees desperately trying to avoid using any technology that could be compromised, reports TechCrunch. There has, though, been one exception to the ban on modern technology: Apple kit. “People using Macs were fine,” she said. She said most work is done on iPads and iPhones. Sony may need to buy a few extra Macs, with some departments having only one or two computers for the entire office. It is, she said, like “living in an office from ten years ago.”

Five commando units trained for strikes, sabotage North Korea dispatched covert commando teams to the United States in the 1990s to attack nuclear power plants and major cities in a conflict, according to a declassified Defense Intelligence Agency report. The DIA report, dated Sept. 13, 2004, reveals that five units of covert commandos were trained for the attacks inside the country. According to the report, the “Reconnaissance Bureau, North Korea, had agents in place to attack American nuclear power plants.” The document states that the North Korean Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, the ministry in charge of the military, “established...

As Newt Gingrich noted yesterday, the surrender by Sony Pictures to a shadowy group of North Korean hackers has set a chilling precedent... just wait 'til they grab hold of one of our nuclear plants(like the Israelis already did  to Iran)... BIG defeat for the US and Japan here, and a terrifying incident, to be sure (that's why they call it 'terrorism')- so now this little tinpot-nothing-of-a-country has substantial unchecked power/influence right inside the United States of America? Can you imagine Ronald Reagan/Cap Weinberger letting this go down without KJU being made to seriously regret it? Of course, Obama...

A BBC investigation for Panorama has exposed poor working conditions in factories making Apple products in China. The undercover team secretly filmed the iPhone production line and found Apple's promises to protect workers were routinely broken. One undercover reporter - making parts for Apple computers - had to work 18 days without a day off. Other workers were filmed falling asleep. Apple say they will investigate any concerns brought to them. The BBC's Richard Bilton reports from Shanghai. [VIDEO]

A BBC investigation for Panorama has exposed poor working conditions in factories making Apple products in China. The undercover team secretly filmed the iPhone production line and found Apple's promises to protect workers were routinely broken. One undercover reporter - making parts for Apple computers - had to work 18 days without a day off. Other workers were filmed falling asleep. Apple say they will investigate any concerns brought to them. The BBC's Richard Bilton reports from Shanghai. [VIDEO]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Russia's suddenly escalating financial crisis risks spilling beyond its borders and endangering parts of the global economy. With economies in Europe, Japan, China and Latin America already ailing, fresh threats have emerged from Russia's shriveled currency, its move to dramatically boost interest rates, the damage from plummeting oil prices and Western sanctions over Russia's action in Ukraine. The alarming 10 percent drop in the ruble over the past two days has amplified the economic turmoil in Russia. Investors fear that Russia may default on its foreign debt obligations - a move that would inflict hundreds of billions...

When a unit of North Carolina’s Curtiss-Wright Corp. won a roughly $300 million deal in 2007 to supply components for new reactors in China, industry officials trumpeted China’s nuclear boom as good for U.S. business. Today, Chinese companies are competing for that business—and foreign companies risk getting left out. Meanwhile, Curtiss-Wright’s contract is caught up in a legal dispute, while Chinese authorities blame the company in part for the delay of a landmark nuclear project. U.S. and other foreign companies are now struggling to keep their hold in China, the industry’s biggest growth market and a rare bright spot more...

Your prerequisite in all things is to first acquire My Presence for in My courts there are libraries of scrolls providing the wisdom and knowledge in first acquiring the understanding to decipher and illuminate My Word in Spirit and Truth and it is in the interpretation of your heavenly languages, "that exist even now in the alcoves of your wellspring" but these can only rise up into reality and understanding as you manifest and operate totally in the Menorah of light " The Manifold Wisdom of God " My very fullness indwelling you as "an eternal light of My Kingdom...

I am deeply disappointed that Greenpeace engaged in an action at the sacred Nazca Lines in Peru. We have been hearing from many of you and I share your frustration and anger about this situation. The decision to engage in this activity shows a complete disregard for the culture of Peru and the importance of protecting sacred sites everywhere. There is no apology sufficient enough to make up for this serious lack of judgment. I know my international colleagues who engaged in this activity did not do so with malice, but that doesn’t mitigate the result. It is a shame...

Just when shippers thought things could not get any worse with the West Coast port labor “slowdown,” dockworkers proved them wrong. The latest tactic employed by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has been to cease contract negotiations for next 12 days. “We have made it abundantly clear that we believe these negotiations are of the utmost importance and should continue at full strength until the Thanksgiving holiday,” said Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) spokesman Wade Gates. “We are disappointed the Union is not showing the same urgency to resolve the issues between us.” Three weeks after initiating a coordinated...

The power plant in Luoyang, central Henan Province, is burning old and damaged banknotes instead of coal - the first time this has been done in China, the official Xinhua news agency reports. The plant says one tonne of notes can generate more than 600 kWh of electricity, and is better for the environment than burning coal. The country's central bank, the People's Bank of China, has given permission for the notes to be burned, and says it's an efficient way to make electricity. With the province's unused paper money the company "can help generate 1.32 million kWh of electricity...

Turkey could scrap a controversial plan to buy missile defense systems from China that alarmed the United States and its Western allies, Turkish and European sources said on Nov. 12. Key NATO member Turkey said in September last year that it was entering negotiations with the China Precision Machinery Export-Import Corporation (CPMIEC) to acquire its first long-range anti-missile systems. However, the plan has deeply concerned the United States, which has already imposed sanctions on the Chinese company for supplying arms to Iran and Syria in defiance of an embargo. "Several options are on the table, including a cancellation of the...

Just thought it was worth posting, since it now appears we are about to break the bad record we had established: The US / China trade balance appears to be heading for setting, another (bad) record this year. Go into any store. Pick up anything. Anywhere. Odds are it is imported, from China. Just saying.

OPEC won't rush to cut oil production even if prices fall as low as $40 per barrel, one of the cartel's members said Sunday. The energy minister for the United Arab Emirates told Bloomberg at a Dubai conference that the middle eastern oil producers believe "the market will stabilize itself." "We are not going to change our minds because the prices went to $60 or to $40," Suhail Al-Mazrouei said. Even as it has watched prices dip, OPEC declined to cut back on production at its November meeting. Some observers had expected a production cut to boost the price of...