normm

The only part of Apple's argument I disagree with is "now they're leveraging their scale to avoid contributing to maintaining that ecosystem for the next generation of app entrepreneurs".  As a service becomes big, it should pay a smaller and smaller percentage, since its value in making iOS device attractive grows.  For example, Amazon should pay only a tiny charge to sell a book directly in their app .  Making the charge large enough that they simply avoid selling directly just loses revenue for Apple, and inconveniences the users.  The only sane rationale for Apple doing it the way they do is that it makes extra money for their Books App.  But this really is improper use of market power.  It's like internet providers selling their own streaming services, and slowing down the competition that uses their pipes.

It's pointless to make everyone insecure for the illusion of stopping bad guys.  The smart bad guys will just use their own encryption apps.  The only way to stop them involves the same human intelligence techniques it's always taken, such as gaining physical access to their surroundings and/or devices, infiltrating groups, etc.  This whole "going dark" trope is bullshit.

Because China is so integral to the world economy, and the US is such a big part of that economy, the US has tremendous leverage in China.  Disputes need to be resolved by diplomacy, not by wars, trade or otherwise.  We should have actual experts who have spent their lives understanding these issues running our international relations, not a bunch of bloviating pundits who've been wrong about everything but look good on TV.

Ridley Scott did a very literal translation of the storyboard.  I always assumed he had more input than that.

The US shouldn't be imposing sanctions on Iran--it's our most counterproductive foreign policy move in decades. And we should be fixing problems we have with China, not starting a war (trade or otherwise).