Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST: President Trump says he wants America's schools to reopen and quickly. He's undercut guidance from the CDC, calling it impractical. He's even threatened to cut funding for schools that don't reopen. And supporting this push is Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Here she is speaking last week at a meeting of the Coronavirus Task Force. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) BETSY DEVOS: Ultimately, it's not a matter of if schools should reopen. It's simply a matter of how. They must fully open, and they must be fully operational. MCCAMMON: For more on DeVos' role in this pandemic, we're joined by NPR's Cory Turner, who's been covering her since she became secretary. Hi, Cory. CORY TURNER, BYLINE: Hello. MCCAMMON: So, Cory, let's recap. How did DeVos initially respond to this pandemic? TURNER: Yeah. So back in March, she seemed largely supportive of state and local school leaders' decision to close schools. To help, she waived

Updated at 6:34 p.m. ET In a swift reversal, the Trump administration has agreed to rescind a directive that would have barred international college students from the U.S. if their colleges offered classes entirely online in the fall semester. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement rule change , released last week, would have prohibited foreign students from entering or remaining in the country to take fully online course loads. A number of colleges and universities had already announced plans to offer online-only classes because of the coronavirus pandemic. The agency's July 6 announcement was met with immediate backlash. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sued the U.S. government in federal court two days later, calling the directive "arbitrary and capricious" and seeking to have it reversed and declared unlawful. Many colleges, universities, municipalities and tech companies expressed their support for the legal challenge in their own court

Relations between the more than 25,000 U.S. military forces on Okinawa and that Japanese island's 1.5 million residents have long been strained over pollution, crime and overcrowding associated with the 31 U.S. military bases there. Now a new outbreak of COVID-19 cases among American service members stationed on Japan's southernmost territory is fraying things further. As of Tuesday, 100 new cases of COVID-19 have been detected in the past week at five U.S. bases on Okinawa, according to Japan's independent Kyodo News agency. Beyond those bases, where only three cases had earlier been confirmed, Okinawa has had a relatively low impact from the disease, reporting 148 infections and seven deaths. At a weekend news conference, Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki called the surge of coronavirus cases among U.S. military personnel "extremely regrettable," according to the Reuters news agency. "I can't help but have strong doubts about the U.S. military's measures to prevent infections," Reuters

In Atlanta today, President Trump will announce big changes to the regulations that govern one of the nation's most significant environmental laws. The aim is to speed up approval for major projects like pipelines and highways, but critics say it could sideline the concerns of poor and minority communities impacted by those projects, and discount their impact on climate change. The 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, was signed into law by President Richard Nixon. It requires federal agencies to consider the environmental effects of proposed projects before they are approved. It also gives the public and interest groups the ability to comment on those evaluations. The administration's new regulations are expected to reduce the types and number of projects that will be subject to review under the NEPA. An earlier version of the proposed rules truncated those reviews in an effort to streamline processes that can take years to complete. It also dropped a requirement

The apostle Paul’s witness in Rome, the global center of power and commerce in his day, helped spread Christianity throughout the empire. Today, you can help advance Bible truth by placing Amazing Facts programs on a huge TV station, WLNY-TV, in New York City. From this present-day “capital of the world,” God’s message will spread around the globe and prepare hearts locally for our upcoming Prophecy Odyssey evangelistic series in the fall.

When Jocelyn discovered that her dying hospital patient was watching Amazing Facts on TV, she knew that God had miraculously opened the door of salvation to a hurting, frightened soul. Millions are facing a hopeless future without Jesus. You can bring these lost people to the Lord through your compassionate gifts. The messages you help send out may be the last words they hear. Thank you for caring!

Thomas was looking for answers to his Bible questions when friends led him to Amazing Facts. After watching our evangelistic series presented in New York City, his life was launched in a new direction. When you invest in Amazing Facts evangelism, you guide people to lasting truth. On September 20, we will present “Prophecy Odyssey” in the influential city of New York. Your gifts help win souls and are the best and most lasting investment you could ever make. Thank you for bringing truth to the world!

Joe was terrified by his church’s teaching about hellfire. But after reading a free booklet about hell that he heard about at the end of an Amazing Facts broadcast, a calm flooded his heart. Will you help more people like Joe find peace in knowing what the Bible teaches about hell? Your gifts will provide the truth about what happens at death and reveal God’s love. Thank you!

The 2024 presidential election is coming to some sort of conclusion (don't forget to vote), but 24/7 slog is making many of us anxious. Thankfully Belladonna made a post about 'How not to freak out about the US election' and plenty of people chimed with advice about how to stay somewhat calm. Hang in there everyone, an end is in sight!

Come on over for November's LinkMe thread! Share a link you think would make a good post and put it on someone's radar so they can make that post!

Photo by Chic Bee, via Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/80454089@N00/)

Signups are open for the 8th annual holiday card exchange!

video screenshot via abc.net.au

Recently besieged by dry weather and Crazy Ants, Christmas Island's Red Crabs are Back, baby. Chariot pulled by cassowaries has posted about their 100 million march to the ocean (and incidental occupation of roads, school grounds, living rooms, toilet drains, and Metafilter threads).

What's inside the box? Pain. What's inside this week's Free Thread? Your happy place. Come tell us about it, if you feel so inclined.

Ben Thompson returns to the show and there’s no sports talk because there’s no sports. Instead: temperature scales, Joe Rogan and Spotify, and Dithering.

Special guest Matthew Panzarino joins the show to talk about WWDC 2020.

Special guest Christina Warren joins the show. Topics include the App Store and antitrust, the general crumminess of video streaming service UIs, and historical examples of when Apple gets something wrong.

Nilay Patel returns to the show to discuss this week’s House antitrust hearing featuring testimony from Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai, and Mark Zuckerberg.

Rene Ritchie returns to the show. Topics include Phil Schiller advancing to Apple Fellow, Microsoft’s simmering spat with Apple over Xbox Game Pass and the App Store’s ban on game streaming services, and Epic’s sizzling spat with Apple over, well, the entire concept of iOS as we know it.

Matthew Panzarino joins the show to talk about Apple's new AirPods Max headphones and the future of the Mac on Apple Silicon.

As per holiday tradition at The Talk Show, a brief chat about *Star Wars: The Mandalorian*, with a cavalcade of special guests, including, but not necessarily limited to, Guy English and John Siracusa.

The state of the Mac, with special guest John Siracusa.

Glenn Fleishman returns to the show to talk about last week’s “Spring Loaded” product announcements from Apple: subscription podcasts, AirTags, Apple TV, colorful Apple Silicon iMacs, and the M1 iPad Pros.

Special guest Rene Ritchie returns to the show to talk about the nuances of sideloading, Apple’s antitrust pressures, and a look back at the announcements from WWDC 2021.

Matthew Panzarino returns to the show. Topics include: Apple’s new MagSafe Battery Pack, the Amnesty-International-Led exposé of NSO Group’s state-sponsored phone hacking, Safari 15’s controversial new UI and Apple’s response, and a look back at year one of Apple silicon for Macs. Also: pizza.

Matthew Panzarino returns to the show to talk about the new iPhones 13 and their camera systems.

Special guest: Nilay Patel. Special topics: the iPhones 13, Apple Watch Series 7, kids today and the file system, the Lightning / USB-C debate, and, of course, our speculation about next week’s “Unleashed” Apple event.

Dithering CEO Ben Thompson returns to the show to go deep on the concept of the metaverse.

Special guest David Smith returns to the show to talk about Apple Watch Series 7 and the state of WatchOS, Apple suing NSO Group, and more.

Merlin Mann returns to the show to discuss two brief topics (with a few asides): my dream of opening a steakhouse, and Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary “Get Back”.

Emmy Award-winning Joanna Stern returns to the show. Topics include: Apple's new iCloud "legacy contact" feature, the current state and future of VR headsets, Elon Musk, and more.

Matthew Panzarino returns to the show to talk about Apple's new Mac Studio and Studio Display.

Michael Simmons returns to the show to talk about the Studio Display's camera (and this week's beta firmware update to tweak its quality), how things have gone two years into Flexibits' move to subscription pricing for Fantastical and Cardhop, and Panic's now-shipping Playdate.

Very special guest John Moltz returns to the show to talk about Center Stage, Stage Manager, and all the other stages.

Daniel Jalkut returns to the show. Topics include a serious discussion about CSAM detection at major cloud storage providers and messaging services. Also, a deep dive regarding the new iOS-UI-style rewrite of System Settings on the still-in-beta MacOS 13 Ventura, and thoughts on SwiftUI in general.

Jason Snell returns to the show to talk about the new 10th-gen iPad and M2 iPads Pro.

Special guest Dan Moren joins the show to talk about the new M2 MacBook Pros and Mac Minis, the state of Mac gaming, and the triumphant return of the full-sized HomePod.

Daniel Jalkut returns to the show to talk about AI chat, new emoji, and Apple Music Classical.

John Moltz, ace reporter from The Daily Planet, returns to the show. Topics include Apple pushing ads through its own built-in apps, car shopping, and the burgeoning Twitter alternative Bluesky.

Christian Selig, developer of the excellent apps Apollo and Pixel Pals, joins the show to talk about Reddit's Twitter-fication, along with highlights from WWDC 2023.

Matthew Panzarino returns to the show for a post-WWDC discussion about Vision Pro and VisionOS.

Flexibits co-founder Michael Simmons returns to the show to talk about his experience at Apple’s developer lab for Vision Pro, and his enthusiasm for the future of spatial computing.

Matthew Panzarino returns to the show to talk about the new iPhones 15.

Special guests Sebastiaan de With and Ben Sandofsky, co-founders of Lux, join the show to talk about their apps (Halide, Spectre, and Orion) and speculate about next week’s “Scary Fast” Apple event.

Christina Warren joins the show to talk about Apple’s “Scary Fast” event, introducing the new M3 MacBook Pros and 24-inch iMac.

Nilay Patel returns to the show. Topics include the iPhones 15, journalism in the age of AI, and what it’s like to have Barack Obama on your podcast.

Marco Arment returns to the show. Topics include the Apple-Masimo patent dispute over Apple Watch blood oxygen sensors, the new External Payment Links entitlement for the App Store, and more.

Federico Viticci returns to the show to discuss MacStories’s 15th anniversary, Apple’s upcoming “Let Loose” keynote for new iPad hardware, and more.

Nilay Patel returns to the show to consider the iPhones 16.