Free Republic

Cate Blanchett's Oscar-winning role in Blue Jasmine "nothing close to the degree of difficulty" of any of the male nominees, says "The Social Network" screenwriter Female leading Hollywood film roles are "nothing close to the degree of difficulty" of male roles, one of America's leading screenwriters has said, in the latest set of leaked emails published by the "Guardians of Peace" hacker group. Aaron Sorkin, writer of The Social Network and Moneyball, singled out Cate Blanchett's 2014 Best Actress Oscar-winning performance in Blue Jasmine as significantly easier than the performances by the five male nominees that same year. “Year in...

Controversial street artist Sabo, for the first time ever, publicly revealed his face on television on the One American News Networks Rick Amato Show last night. Sabo, is his work art, or is it another form of vandalism? You be the judge. Known for his unique and in-your-face pieces, Sabo attempts to point “out the hypocrisy of liberal ideology and liberals on the left in general,” says Rick Amato. And until yesterday, Sabo had kept his face, at least on television, anonymous. But why did he choose to reveal himself now?

I’m glad he spoke up, not only because he’s right, not only because a little public shaming from an A-lister might get others to rethink, but because that tribute to Hollywood’s bravery that he gave a few years ago at the Oscars would have looked even more embarrassing in hindsight if he’d kept quiet about this.Nothing fancy about the logic of his petition: “We know that to give in to these criminals now will open the door for any group that would threaten freedom of expression, privacy and personal liberty. We hope these hackers are brought to justice but...

Sony executive at the heart of the leaked emails met with the civil rights activist to discuss battling an ‘exclusionary, almost all-white hierarchy’ in Hollywood.Amy Pascal, the embattled executive whose personal emails were exposed by the hack on Sony Pictures, has met with civil rights advocate Al Sharpton to discuss white bias in Hollywood. The meeting was prompted by leaked emails from Pascal to producer Scott Rudin, in which the pair joke about Barack Obama’s likely taste in films. “Would he like to finance some movies?” Rudin asked, ahead of Pascal meeting the president. “I doubt it. Should I ask...

<p>The body of the lone terrorist behind the attack on the Sydney, Man Haron Monis, is unlikely be receive a proper burial after Muslim funderal directors said his body should either be thrown in the sea or “chucked in the bloody sh*thouse”.</p>

The FBI said Friday that North Korea is responsible for the cyberattack on Sony Pictures that led the studio to cancel the release of a movie. Confirming what government officials were saying privately for days, the FBI announced that is months-long investigation concluded that North Korea was behind the attack, based on technical similarities to previous attacks. A statement from the FBI said investigators found “significant overlap in the infrastructure” used in the Sony hacking and in previous attacks. The agency said there were also similarities in technological tools used in this attack and an a cyberattack in March 2013...

While there are several possible good reasons to remake the Depression-set musical “Annie” in 2014, none of them seem to have informed Will Gluck’s overblown yet undernourished treatment. More of a facelift than an update, the pic dusts off some old songs, adds a few desultory stabs at new ones, and stuffs the frame with shiny upscale gadgets that scream “modern.” Featuring a multiracial all-star cast with few pretensions to dancing expertise, the film replaces choreography with metronomic editing, while one-note overstatement drowns out character development. Even without the Sony hacking scandal that caused it to leak online early, “Annie”...

President Barack Obama has broken two barriers: Being the first black president -- and becoming the first Latino president, according to Tom Perez, Obama’s labor secretary. Perez made the comment a day after Obama’s shocking shift to take steps to normalize relations with Cuba and a month after the president’s executive actions on immigration that had widespread appeal among Latinos. “When I reflect on the breadth and depth of what he has done for Latinos, it really makes him in my mind, and in the minds of so many others, the first Latino president,” Perez said Thursday, according to Politico....

The first issue of Captain America came out on December 20, 1940. It shows Cap slugging Adolph Hitler in the mouth. Good stuff, but note the date. America wouldn't enter World War II for about another year. At the time, many Americans wanted to stay out of another European war. And here was an American superhero punching the leader of a sovereign nation in the kisser. Subsequent issues kept pitting Captain America against Hitler and his goons. The angriest reaction came from the German American Bund, Hitler's stooges in the U.S. They harassed Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, the creators...

The widespread reporting on hacked emails from Sony Pictures -- spurred by the upcoming release of an allegedly funny movie about assassinating North Korean despot Kim Jong Un -- might encourage some gloating from people who would like to bring Hollywood down a peg. But hold the schadenfreude. The media's ethics -- or seeming lack of ethics -- are troubling. Take CNN "Reliable Sources" host Brian Stelter in an interview with the program "Access Hollywood." His ethical position? Anything goes, as long as the journalists aren't the hackers. "It would be wrong and it would be illegal for the journalists...

Katie and Sam’s engagement story is a lot like most couples. There was a bended knee, a ring pulled from a pocket, an impromptu celebration with friends—but with one key difference: Katie was the one doing the asking. “We had been together almost two years and I was confident in our relationship and in doing it,” says Katie, 26, who proposed to Sam at a friend’s party. “We had discussed marriage before, and the time just felt right. He was surprised, but very happy and said yes.”

Voluntary guidelines for post-abortion mental health evaluations during the month following an abortion have failed to significantly decrease the rate of suicide after abortion in Finland, according to a new study.Finland adopted the guidelines after a large-scale study of women’s health records, published in 1997, found that the suicide rate among women who had undergone abortions in the prior year was three times higher compared to women in the general population and six times higher compared to women who gave birth.Mika Gissler of the National Institute for Health and Welfare, who was the lead author of the 1997 study, led...

On Thursday’s Hugh Hewitt radio show, conservative commentator Mark Steyn, author of “The Undocumented Mark Steyn,” said the actions by Sony Corporation not to face down apparent threats from North Koreans was a bad sign for the so-called power of American pop culture in its current state.

Obama's amnesty has fueled much debate in America. Those who support the immigration laws of our nation have been dubbed as "having hatred toward immigrants" by none other than some George Washington University students who signed a fake petition urging the deportation of one American citizen for one undocumented (illegal) immigrant. The Campus Reform news outlet hit the campus of the university with a fake petition that read: Please sign our petition for President Obama to deport one American citizen, in exchange for one undocumented immigrant. Everyone must be allowed a shot at the "American Dream." Americans should not be...

Rockslides on Ararat by John D. Morris, Ph.D. * Mt. Ararat is a volcano, erupting numerous times since the Flood. Its ice cap continually erodes the hardened basaltic rock underneath. As the ice sheets move along, they push the loosened rock over the edges of the mountain, causing high-speed avalanches. On my first expedition I was warned about the “crumbly rock” but was not prepared for the enormity of the dangers. Thursday, August 3, 1972 I heard a noise up above us on the slope. I looked up just in time to see a rock bigger than my head hurtling...

The Pope 'played a very important role' in opening up a dialogue between the United States and Cuba, says President Barack Obama. 'The Pope doesn't wield armies. He can't impose sanctions, but he can speak with great moral authority, and that makes a difference,' the U.S. president said in an interview that aired today on Good Morning America. 'And it certainly made a difference in this case,' he added.

Without North Korea, Hollywood Is Running Out of Politically Correct Villains by Ben Shapiro 18 Dec 2014 With Sony’s decision to pull the Seth Rogen/James Franco starrer The Interview from circulation following a brutal hack attack by the North Korean regime, Hollywood finds its list of acceptable villains growing shorter and shorter. Not only did Sony pull The Interview thanks to intimidation at the hands of Kim Jung Un – the film was about reporters trying to kill the evil dictator – they also pulled a slated Steve Carrell movie, Pyongyang, about the regime.

Think you've got a hard-knock life? Try sitting through the new "Annie." A rewritten, re-orchestrated but far from revitalized version of the old Broadway musical, this latest edition moves it out of the Depression and into a modern, tech-driven New York..... Where's the excitement? They're not very apparent here, judging by the kids I saw at my screening. The row in front of me spent most of the movie talking....

If black lives matter, and we all know they do, we need to work to end the unnecessary and early deaths of black people.  It’s not enough to look at one minor source of black mortality – shootings by law enforcement officers – and ignore the reasons for the vast majority of black deaths. While hard numbers are not readily available, the best estimates available put the total number of people killed by the police across the country in any given year at significantly less than 1,000.  For example, the best estimate for 2011 shows that the police killed...

The U.S. Justice Department and the Obama administration have lost their first battle in the war over the president’s plan to provide “deferred action,” or amnesty, to almost 5 million illegal aliens. When the judge for a Pennsylvania federal district court held on December 16 that President Obama’s “Executive Action is unconstitutional because it violates the separation of powers and the Take Care Clause of the Constitution,” it must have felt like it came from left field, since the case didn’t involve a general attack on the immigration amnesty plan. No, U.S. v. Elionardo Juarez-Escobar is a criminal prosecution...