I'm sure the Gambino family made much the same argument when the Genovese family got out ahead of them.

Something else to consider... Donald Trump Jr has millions of dollars in Unusual Machines stock and also has a position on the board. UM is one of the companies that stands to benefit hugely from this ban, as commercial drone users are forced to find alternative sources for their equipment.

Parents like to take care of their children when they can, or so I'm told.

Also, this isn't a ban on imports from potentially enemy states such as China, it's a ban on imports from *all* countries -- including the USA's closest allies. This is pretty clear proof that the reasons behind this ban are purely financial and that Trump's son reaps a significant amount of that benefit through is stock-holding and position on the board of Unusual Machines.

The USA has the best government money can buy I guess.

It's not just drones that are on the covered list -- its crucial parts of drones that also have other uses.

For example -- lithium polymer batteries, brushless DC motors, flight controllers, cameras and sensors as well as other stuff.

For the hobbyist who wants to fly RC planes and go drone-racing this is a disaster. I'm unaware of any (affordable) US-made lithium polymer batteries suitable for these applications and the vast majority of motors, flight controllers and cameras are imported.

This effectively shuts down the hobby because even if US companies eventually start making this stuff it will almost certainly prohibitively expensive -- beyond the reach of most hobbyists.

The reality is that this has far less to do with "national security" than it does ensuring that certain people's pockets get lined with cash. For instance -- how does a brushless motor made in the USA pose less of a security risk than one made in China, Germany or Australia? Likewise a plain, simple lithium-polymer battery without any electronics -- what's the security risk that such a product poses?

The hobby of RC model aircraft and drones was on a count-down to oblivion from the moment the Commerical Drone Alliance convinced politicians to revoke S336, a piece of law that protected the hobby from regulation. The CDA made it very clear that they wanted the skies cleared of pesky hobbyists so they could exploit it for financial gain and now those in power are using the "national security" card to disguise their true agenda. Nobody can complain about a restriction or ban if its saving the lives of American's... right?

That can be negotiated. It's not unheard of to demand certain business units to be spun off as conditions for a merger.

Much as I dislike Ellison, keeping studio stuff in studios is probably a better idea than merging a distribution network (think theaters) with producers. Too many people ended up with horses heads in their beds before the old system was disassembled.

Yes. But what about the corporate licensing violations?

Let's try to keep our priorities straight</sarcasm>

Great! I'll stop by the dealership and pick up my Aventador. Just send the bill to Visa/AI.

Network capable displays.

Gotta keep the masses entertained and uneducated about politics.

... or so children can stay idiots. Instead of learning some reponsibility.

"Drop the chips and put your hands up! This school has an exclusive contract with Cheetos."

This.

Distro maintainers need to resist the urge to include every senior class project.

You want Rust? No problem. It's on the server, right next to Smalltalk.

What do you do if your app builds just fine with one distribution but not another? Isthat the responsibility of the distribution maintainers? Or the application developers?

What do you do if Debian makes systemd a dependency but other distros say, "Fsck you! We're not including that garbage." Or Wayland. The app developers just sit back with their popcorn and watch the fight?

Enter the flatpack. Bundle everything together and create a stand-alone installation. Down side: The motivation to keep flatpacks up to date is lower. If a component utility has a susceptibility to attack, but your app doesn't use that feature, why update (and piss off your user base)?

Easier for you, perhaps. You only have to deal with what works on your distro. But think of the poor application developers. They have to build against every distro's oddball library configuration. Or build flat-paks and hope that they picked a stable one*.

*Which never happens. Because in the name of security, every other CS grad student has to sneak their new senior project language (Rust, I'm looking at you) into the standard distribution streams.

I hope you have a good DVD collection. Because when Netflix buys the last remaining studio and locks up its content, the only thing you'll be streaming is their latest episode of "Ow, my balls!"

Netflix says "No." You'll watch what they want, from their catalog, on their terms. Until they discontinue it and replace it with their new stuff. Because they know that you'll keep watching. Something.

I find it interesting that the Avatar series is still being broadcast on the TV networks. This is something that I imagine the streaming only services are eager to put a stop to.