Top Items:
New York Times:
U.S. Said to Find North Korea Ordered Cyberattack on Sony — WASHINGTON — American officials have concluded that North Korea ordered the attacks on Sony Pictures's computers, a determination reached as the studio decided Wednesday to cancel the release of a movie comedy about the assassination …
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Kim Zetter / Wired:
The Evidence That North Korea Hacked Sony Is Flimsy — A poster for the movie “The Interview” is taken down by a worker after being pulled from a display case at a Carmike Cinemas movie theater, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014, in Atlanta. Georgia-based Carmike Cinemas has decided to cancel …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Vox, Outside the Beltway, ABC News, Raw Story and New York Times
NY Daily News:
Terrorists 1, Hollywood 0 — Sony Pictures buckles to faceless, nameless North Koreans by yanking Seth Rogen comedy ‘The Interview’ — For the first time since 9/11, after 13 years of resolve, America — in the person of Sony Pictures Entertainment and the entire Hollywood establishment — has allowed the terrorists to win.
Mike Fleming / Deadline:
North Korea-Based Thriller With Gore Verbinski And Steve Carell Canceled — EXCLUSIVE: The chilling effect of the Sony Pictures hack and terrorist threats against The Interview are reverberating. New Regency has scrapped another project that was to be set in North Korea.
Dennis Romero / LA Weekly:
Killing The Interview Opens Studios to Terrorist Manipulation — It's a cliche, but when it comes to today's cancellation of the Sony comedy The Interview, maybe the terrorists did win. The studio caved after hackers, reportedly linked to North Korea, threatened theater violence if the Seth Rogen movie saw the light of day.
Discussion:
New York Times, CNN, Screen Rant and Power Line
NBC News:
N. Korean Hack on Sony Won't Go ‘Unanswered’: Official — U.S. officials have concluded that the North Korean government ordered the hacking attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment — a breach that led to the studio cancelling the planned release of “The Interview”.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, Deadline, The Federalist, Mashable, Raw Story, The Hill, CNNMoney.com and Towleroad News #gay
Gregg Kilday / Hollywood Reporter:
Top Five Theater Circuits Drop ‘The Interview’ After Sony Hack — The country's largest chains won't be showing the movie — The country's top five theater circuits have decided not to play Sony's The Interview, a knowledgeable source tells The Hollywood Reporter.
Discussion:
Gawker, Associated Press, WMAZ-TV, The Huffington Post, Hot Air, BBC, Boing Boing, NPR, The Dish, The Moderate Voice, National Review, Variety, Talking Points Memo, TIME, The Hill, The Verge, Guardian, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Caller, Inside Movies, Truth Revolt, AOL Article, Hit & Run, Jezebel and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »
Associated Press:
AP source: North Korea linked to Sony hacking
AP source: North Korea linked to Sony hacking
Discussion:
Associated Press, ABC News and abc11.com
Ted Bridis / Associated Press:
Sony emails show a studio ripe for hacking
Sony emails show a studio ripe for hacking
Discussion:
ABC News, Associated Press and The Seattle Times
David Auerbach / Slate:
The Sony Hackers Are Terrorists
The Sony Hackers Are Terrorists
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, The Daily Banter, Tech Times, The Verge and EW.com
Reuters:
Sony cancels North Korea movie in apparent win for Pyongyang hackers
Sony cancels North Korea movie in apparent win for Pyongyang hackers
Discussion:
The Great Debate and TalkLeft
Erin Dooley / ABC News:
Obama: Sony Hack Proves U.S. Needs to Do ‘A Lot More’ to Protect Against Cyber Threats
Obama: Sony Hack Proves U.S. Needs to Do ‘A Lot More’ to Protect Against Cyber Threats
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, Politico and abc11.com
Politico:
The Democrats' risky Cuba bet — Will Florida's changing demographics offset a backlash among older Cuban-Americans? — Barack Obama, who won the swing state of Florida in the 2012 election by 50.01 percent to 49.13 percent, knows just how many presidential candidacies have gotten bogged …
Discussion:
Washington Post and New York Times
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Lauren French / Politico:
How Republicans could stop Obama's Cuba play — Hill Republicans started making a to-do list immediately. — President Barack Obama's plan to normalize relations with Cuba has hit a familiar roadblock: Republicans on Capitol Hill. — Just hours after Obama announced that a prisoner swap …
Discussion:
Political Wire, Hot Air, The Hill and Washington Post
Facebook:
STATEMENT: Governor Jeb Bush on President Obama's Cuba Policy Announcement — The Obama Administration's decision to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba is the latest foreign policy misstep by this President, and another dramatic overreach of his executive authority.
Discussion:
New York Times, Bloomberg Politics, Hot Air, OnPolitics and Associated Press
Rich Lowry / Politico:
The Castros finally hit the jackpot — Even if you oppose the isolation of Cuba, this is not a good trade. — Candidate Barack Obama said that, as president, he would talk to anti-American dictators without precondition. He didn't mention that he would also given them historic policy concessions without precondition.
Washington Post:
Obama gives the Castro regime in Cuba an undeserved bailout
Obama gives the Castro regime in Cuba an undeserved bailout
Discussion:
Power Line, NBC News, RedState, Slantpoint, Daily Signal, Vox Popoli and Outside the Beltway
Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Jeb Bush Paid By Bank That Violated Cuba Sanctions
Eli Lake / Bloomberg View:
Obama Gives Rubio a Gift From Cuba
Obama Gives Rubio a Gift From Cuba
Discussion:
New York Times, Daily Kos, Washington Post, BREITBART.COM and ABC News
Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Marco Rubio Challenges The Pope On Obama's New Cuba Policy
Marco Rubio Challenges The Pope On Obama's New Cuba Policy
Discussion:
The Hill, Hinterland Gazette, Balloon Juice, Associated Press, Hot Air, Washington Monthly and Daily Kos
City Journal:
The Last Communist City — A visit to the dystopian Havana that tourists never see
The Last Communist City — A visit to the dystopian Havana that tourists never see
Discussion:
Hot Air and Slantpoint
Eyder Peralta / NPR:
Polls Show Cuban-American Views On U.S.-Cuba Relations Are Nuanced
Polls Show Cuban-American Views On U.S.-Cuba Relations Are Nuanced
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Politico, Wall Street Journal, Religion Dispatches, Hullabaloo and No More Mister Nice Blog
Robert Schmidt / Bloomberg Politics:
Lawrence Summers' $28 Million Payday, Courtesy of Elizabeth Warren — Senator Elizabeth Warren famously declared “there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own.” — That truism presumably includes President Barack Obama's former economic chief Lawrence Summers …
Sarah Wheaton / Politico:
Vermont bails on single-payer health care — Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin on Wednesday dropped his plan to enact a single-payer health care system in his state — a plan that had won praise from liberals but never really got much past the framework stage. — “This is not the right time” …
Discussion:
Viking Pundit
Nick Anderson / Washington Post:
Johns Hopkins mistakenly says ‘yes’ to hundreds of rejected applicants — Sam Stephenson was steeling himself for another round of college applications after his first choice, Johns Hopkins University, turned him down. Then the 17-year-old from Culpeper County in Virginia received an e-mail …
Discussion:
CNN, 6abc.com, Inside Higher Ed, New York Magazine and ABC News
Joe Arnold / WHAS-TV:
Grimes pledges legal challenge if Paul attempts simultaneous races — Alison Lundergan Grimes says she will challenge Senator Rand Paul if he tries to get on the ballot for both Senate re-election and president — FRANKFORT, Ky. (WHAS11) — Six weeks after she lost her own bid for the U-S Senate …
Discussion:
Politico
Chris Davis / KCEN-TV:
Words Exchanged Before KCEN Employee Shot in Station Parking Lot — (KCEN) - Law enforcement officials have taken a man who was hold up inside of a house into custody. They are calling him a person of interest in the shooting of Patrick Crawford. But they are not saying whether or not he is the shooter.
Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
Executions, new death sentences continue to fall — WASHINGTON (AP) — Executions and new death sentences dropped to their lowest numbers in decades in 2014, an anti-death penalty group said in a new report. — The Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit organization that opposes executions …
Tim Alberta / National Journal:
Return of the Kingmaker: Jim DeMint Is Getting Back in the Game — “It's a mix of excitement and dread.” — When Ted Cruz stepped to the lectern last week inside the Heritage Foundation's auditorium, he took a moment to acknowledge the conservative think tank's president, “my good friend …
Discussion:
Political Wire