Prayers for Pakistan...and for our Earth....

..     132 children dead and more than 100 more seriously wounded in a suicide mission school shooting in Pakistan.  God please grant this community peace somehow and help us find a way to heal our world  ...

I have not heard this - today?  Prayers. 

Yes today I believe....time difference.....the report says Tuesday evening.

I will never understand....why innocent children.. The children are mostly from ages 12 to 15.

   
My heart just aches for this community...so much loss in one place...I cant even imagine.

So sad

I hadn't heard anything about this either. It is so sad.

Yes, I can never figure out what news sources find important. Its been three days of news about a hostage situation in Australia. I dont get that...there were probably a dozen of them in America that didnt make the news.

When more than 100 children are cold bloodedly gunned down in a school...thats something the world needs to pay attention to and learn from. But I guess the media sees it different.

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I've heard plenty about it as the day went on. I think it got appropriate attention from what I saw. Earlier I said I wasn't aware - because I wasn't aware of any current news - because I was working and not privy to any news!

Well thats good...It is the front of CNN.  But Cherie posted also that she hadnt heard so I assumed it wasnt getting much coverage.  Sadly death  and murder happen too often there but this is just beyond inconcievable that any human being can do this.

This massacre and the hostage situation in Australia were both done by terrorists. Al Quada terrorists.

Maybe this will cause Pakistan to *finally* take on the terrorists instead of protecting them in their own country.

Both of these incidences were all over the news yesterday and last night.

Thanks for explaining the Australia thing, Joe. Sometimes when you miss the original news the follow up doesnt make much sense. I didnt realize it was terrorist activity. As such, it deserved the attention of coutse. I only follow cnn online...maybe I need a better news source.

I put CNN on off & on during the day to catch up on the news.  I find it to be the most reliable source and much prefer it over MSNBC and especially FOX.

The guy who held all those people hostage for 17 hours in the restaurant in Australia was under scrutiny by the Australian government, but they didn't think he would harm anyone.  Ooops.  When things finally came to an end, it was a gay man (the manager of the restaurant) and a woman who were the heroes....they acted immediately in an effort to unarm the guy but only to be murdered, bless their hearts.

Also, we all need to prepare ourselves for these types of things happening all over, including here in the U.S.  These smaller attacks vs. flying jets into buildings is what they are going to do.  They've already run down several people on the streets in Canada and some other countries.  We all must be very careful and not feel too safe anywhere.

And then there's the turmoil over the new James Franco & Seth Rogan movie that's supposed to come out on Christmas Day, "The Interview."  It is a comedy about a plot to kill Kim-Jong Un of North Korea.  So, North Korea hacked into Sony's private files and released all kinds of stuff that Sony wouldn't want anyone to know.  Now they are threatening to kill people who go to see the movie on Christmas with the admonition, "Remember the 11th of Spetember 2001?  People will live in fear."  Several theaters have stated they will not show the movie, the premiere in NYC has been cancelled, and Franco and Rogan have cancelled all their promotional interviews and I also heard they went into hiding.  

Between all this stuff and the continuous murders that go on here in Chicago (and other big cities) every single day and night, it is truly a very twisted world.

I know its a free country and all but I find it truly distasteful to make movies about assasinating live foreign leaders. If two nobodies made some Indy film Id just call them idiots but large corporations funding such inflamatory subject matter against a government that has no bounds? Really, who wants to go to war or see people blown up in movie theaters over a stupid comedy pushing the envelope... The same movie could have been made with a made up foreign country and leader. I think Sony and other companies who invested in this movie deserves whatever monetary loss they incur and I hope they can live with themselves if people get hurt. Its not like this is a sground breaking story that must be heard...its a comedy...a stupid looking one to me at that. Its not even getting good reviews from what I can see.

They should have released this movie straight to pay per view and video and removed the threat of airing it in public. T hats my opinion.



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Several theaters here have decided not to play The Interview.

http://www.toledofreepress.com/2014/12/17/local-cinemark-theaters-wont-show-the-interview/

Breaking News: Sony is scrapping the Dec. 25 release:

http://www.toledonewsnow.com/story/27647688/sony-decides-to-scrap-plans-to-premier-the-interview?clienttype=generic

I'm truly shocked by this decision. Now I just read that another movie is being cancelled because the setting is North Korea.

I have to remind myself that this is all Sony's doing.

I've been very anxious for this movie. I hope it comes out. I love James Franco and have a whole bunch of his movies.

Im sure Sony's lawyers leaned heavily on them to scrap this opeming....especially on Christmas day when children will fill the theaters for other showings.

If something did happen and they had previous knowledge of the possibility...which of course they do....that would weigh heavily on any law suit that came from an injury or even from a trauma. I dont think they had much choice here.

Im sure they will attemp to recoup losses by sending it to pay per view pretty quickly. Certainly people will want to see it even more now after all the news about it. Im glad they made this decision. Im sure the theater owners are too. I suspect they would also be open to huge law suits without a chance of winning if anyone got hurt.

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The reason I hadn't heard anything about it was my own fault. I'm sure it's been on the news here but I hardly ever watch the news so that's why I didn't know anything about it.

I used to never watch the news and life was so much more comfortable then. Im not sure when I started reading news pages again. I think I just like to read....I need to get some books.

Why in the world did they make such a controversial movie anyway. Did they not anticipate a backlash from Korea? Maybe they did all this for the shock value and hope that it will make big in the box offices. But the innocent always pay the price. Those executives will probably not go to a public showing. The will have a private viewing while the public risks their lives in the common movie houses.

Not that this excuses everything, but the movie is a comedy.  While the focus is on North Korea and it's leader (in the movie), it isn't from my understanding written as a drama - it WAS meant to be funny.  I still think it would be bad time for a release.  And the executives won't be going to a public showing because there will not be one now!

Here's a brief synopsis of the movie:
Dave Skylark and producer Aaron Rapoport run the celebrity tabloid show "Skylark Tonight." When they land an interview with a surprise fan, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, they are recruited by the CIA to turn their trip to Pyongyang into an assassination mission.

There have been recent movies about killing Obama and other presidents.  Also, Queen Eilizabeth and George and Barbara Bush were all skewered quite a lot in the Naked Gun movies.

The Interview is a comedy, and North Korea has ZERO sense of humor.

They interviewed people on the street here yesterday about what they thought.  Some people said it would be better to be safe than sorry, but most people said they were disgusted with Sony for caving in to threats.  One woman said that it made her want to see the movie even more so she plans to go on Christmas Day, and she isn't one bit scared.

When threats are made and people here begin to give in to those threats, it sets a very bad precedent for the future.

I do agree about not caving into threats when its an important issue...but its just a movie..a comedy about a not so funny assasination.  Its not like we released prisoners.

Everyone knows that North Korea is volital and dangerous.  You simply cant poke a sleeping lion and then be surprised by the results.  What next?   A comedy disrespecting  the prophet Muhammad and then being surprised aboit the violent results?   Its a shame this all had to happen.  There are enough reasons out there for terrorism...why invite them for entertainment?

Other countries can make movies about killing our president...we arent a violent dictatorship that kills people for even thinking it. We arent North Korea.

Well, I still want to see the movie and I hope it is released in theaters.

Im sure it will be released in some form and after all this commotion it ought to make a ton of money. I read that the studio is looking at reshooting and making it about a fictitious leader. I think thats a good move on their part. I cant imagine North Korea being the part that makes it funny.

I hope you get to see it eventually, Joe. This might be a good thing for the movie. They have a chance now to make it better cause the early reviews were weak.

So now Obama says SONY made a mistake pulling the movie and SONY says hey, wait a minute, we dont own theaters...we had to pull it because the theaters wouldnt show it.

And round and round it goes.

All this over a comedy that could have been set anywhere at all...to make it worse, the movie was headed to be a flop anyway...the reviews are terrible!

Isnt there something more important for world leaders to fight about? Geesh



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