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Joe Biden’s hugely consequential Covid isolation

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Joe Biden’s hugely consequential Covid isolation

The 2-plus weeks Biden has spent with simply his German Shepherd for firm have proved among the weightiest of his presidency, together with his once-bleak legislative fortunes having fun with a shock turnabout and his international coverage shaken by occasions throughout the globe.

Even some White Home staffers stated they felt a sure diploma of whiplash, and Biden himself has mused to confidants on the sudden flip of occasions.

“It has been a unprecedented few days for the nation,” he instructed a digital gathering of Democrats on Wednesday.

Left unsaid was how extraordinary these days had been for Biden himself, who oversaw nearly all of it from the White Home residence, isolating alone with solely a bare-bones, in-person employees.

The brutal months that got here earlier than had lent the Biden presidency a way of gloom, fueled by excessive costs, abysmal approval numbers and swirling questions concerning the President’s potential to guide. Many issues — like a rising outbreak of monkeypox, the conflict in Ukraine and shortages of child components — nonetheless persist, and a brand new disaster is rising with China. Democrats operating for workplace this yr are nonetheless placing distance between themselves and the President.
But Biden and his allies are actually enthused on the string of victories, which incorporates passage of main items of laws, a long-sought settlement on a local weather and taxation invoice, a gentle decline within the value of gasoline and a surge in hiring. A main election this week in Kansas additionally gave Democrats new hope for the midterms.
Biden, who examined unfavorable for Covid-19 on Saturday, is making ready a victory lap of types, with main White Home invoice signings scheduled for a number of days subsequent week within the Rose Backyard — the kind of ceremony that had eluded him for a lot of the previous yr — as soon as he leaves isolation, pending a second unfavorable check.

Monday, July 25

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When Biden’s prime Cupboard officers and nationwide safety advisers met with him on his fourth day of Covid isolation, the President’s nostril had largely stopped operating. His voice appeared much less raspy.

And he had some questions.

The workforce had come ready with a remaining intelligence evaluation exhibiting the chief of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was dwelling on the third flooring of a safe-house in an upscale neighborhood of Kabul. A plan was almost prepared for the CIA to take him out with a Hellfire missile when he stepped onto his balcony.

However Biden wished to know what lay behind the home windows and door to the small out of doors patio. He requested concerning the structure of the rooms close to the place his workforce was proposing Zawahiri be killed. And have been there every other choices that would cut back the potential for civilian casualties?

He’d already hung out inspecting a small-scale mannequin of the home that intelligence officers constructed and carried to the White Home Scenario Room in a worn picket field. However he nonetheless wanted to be satisfied the mission would not include collateral injury.

The assembly went on for a number of hours, one official stated. Biden “pressed at a granular degree,” one other senior administration official added.

The assembly concluded with Biden going by every of his prime advisers and asking their advice. Eleven years in the past, throughout an analogous go-around-the-table earlier than the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, Biden instructed then-President Barack Obama to carry off.

This time, Biden heard no opposition. And he licensed the strike.

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Wednesday, July 27

At 9:12 a.m. ET, Biden swiped his nostril with a cotton swab and hoped for the perfect. It was formally his sixth day isolating with Covid-19. His signs had disappeared. He’d began understanding once more within the White Home health club.

Working largely from the second-floor Treaty Room, an infinite oil portray of President William McKinley wanting on, Biden had been going stir loopy throughout his isolation. The strike he’d licensed two days earlier was nonetheless within the works as operatives waited for the correct second.

President Joe Biden removes his face mask as he arrives to speak about the economy during a meeting with CEOs in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Thursday, July 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

He’d taken to strolling out to the White Home balcony to wave at guests beneath.

Fifteen minutes later, just one pink line confirmed up on the Abbot fast Covid-19 check: unfavorable. Biden was thrilled. He joked his aides could be much less so.

“As I used to be strolling out, I believed I heard a rumbling in my employees saying, ‘Oh, he is again,’” he joked within the Rose Backyard, buoyant at efficiently weathering the virus that he’d spent greater than two years attempting to keep away from.

How secret negotiations revived Joe Biden's agenda and shocked Washington

It turned out beating Covid — or no less than the preliminary bout — was not the largest shock that Wednesday. As Biden was returning to work within the Oval Workplace, a plan was being finalized on Capitol Hill that would quantity to a dramatic reversal of fortune for a home agenda many had left for useless.

Struck in complete secret between Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, the chamber’s most reasonable Democrat, the local weather and taxation invoice got here as a shock to many contained in the White Home, although some officers had a common consciousness the 2 males had restarted talks.

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“They have been principally stored apprised of what was happening to a sure extent,” Manchin would inform reporters.

When Biden realized the boys had struck an settlement that afternoon, he positioned a cellphone name to Manchin — who was isolating himself within the mountains of West Virginia following a Covid prognosis — for his or her first formal talks concerning the President’s agenda since December.

Gathered within the eating room adjoining to the Oval Workplace for the primary time in seven days with members of his employees — all masked simply in case Biden’s Covid got here again — the President turned on the tv to observe one other long-stalled piece of laws go the Senate. The invoice investing in home pc chip manufacturing and scientific analysis was meant to bolster competitiveness with China.

It was China that was rapidly turning into Biden’s subsequent downside.

Thursday, July 28

Sitting behind the Resolute Desk within the Oval Workplace, an open binder and stacks of unfastened briefing playing cards strewn in entrance of him, Biden had a message for Chinese language President Xi Jinping: Nancy Pelosi would determine on her personal whether or not to go to Taiwan.

Already, her potential go to was drawing fierce recrimination from Beijing and warnings from Chinese language officers to different members of Congress to not be a part of her.

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A day earlier than he examined optimistic for Covid, Biden had knowledgeable reporters the army did not suppose it was a very good second for the girl who’s second in line to the US presidency to go to the self-governing island.

His protection secretary had spoken personally to the speaker to supply his evaluation of the safety state of affairs.

And two weeks earlier, the prospect of Pelosi’s go to arose in a gathering between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Chinese language counterpart in Bali, in accordance with a senior State Division official.

Sitting within the Oval Workplace for the marathon two-hour 17-minute cellphone name, Biden listened rigorously as an interpreter translated a warning from Xi: “Should you play with hearth, you get burned.”

Members of his workforce contained in the room — Blinken, nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan, deputy nationwide safety adviser Jon Finer, the NSC Asia Coordinator Kurt Campbell and Senior Director Laura Rosenberger — weren’t stunned on the rhetoric. Xi had used comparable turns of phrase on earlier cellphone calls.

As the decision was concluding, Biden and Xi remarked at how a lot work they’d created for his or her groups, a senior administration official stated.

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Saturday, July 30

After 11 days with out leaving the White Home, Biden was prepared to interrupt free. His residence in Delaware — and his spouse, whom he hadn’t seen in additional than every week — have been beckoning.

Joe and Jill's long summer

The fast checks he’d been taking each day had all come again unfavorable. He was again to his common schedule within the health club. And he was planning a shock go to to Capitol Hill, the place protesters had been gathering after Republicans blocked a invoice that might dramatically increase authorities advantages for veterans uncovered to poisonous burn pits.

So, the information delivered by the White Home medical workforce was lower than welcome: “By the way in which,” Biden recounted being instructed, “it is again.”
A rebound an infection was all the time considered by Biden’s doctor as a chance, given comparable incidents amongst those that took the antiviral drug Paxlovid. Past a cough, Biden’s signs by no means returned.

However it foiled his plans to flee the White Home, a constructing he’d already come to view as a gilded cage, even earlier than he was caught there alone for greater than two weeks.

Biden dispatched his Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough with pizzas for the protesters on the Capitol and spoke to them on FaceTime.

“I will let you know what, so long as I’ve a breath in me, I will struggle to get this achieved. So long as I’ve a breath in me,” he instructed them.

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Whereas he was on FaceTime on the Truman Balcony, his workforce within the Scenario Room was figuring out circumstances have been proper for the strike on Zawahiri. Biden was knowledgeable because the solar was setting that the mission was underway. Twelve minutes earlier than 10 p.m. ET, Zawahiri was useless.

Monday, August 1

The dry cough was again. And Biden was staring down the potential of a brand-new disaster.

Pelosi was hours from arriving in Taiwan, the place the island’s management was making ready a lavish welcome. China had performed live-fire workouts over the weekend on brief discover, an indication of their excessive displeasure.

On the White Home, nationwide safety officers noticed indications that Beijing was positioning itself for additional provocations, together with firing missiles and sending fighter jets throughout the Taiwan Strait.

Questions mount over whether Pelosi's Taiwan trip is worth the consequences

After working over the earlier weeks to apprise Pelosi of the dangers of visiting Taiwan, together with in briefings from Pentagon and different administration officers, there was a recognition by Monday she would not be scrapping the cease.

Biden didn’t consider it was his place to inform Pelosi she mustn’t go, and the 2 by no means spoke about it. He had averted commenting publicly about her journey in any respect since his preliminary assertion on July 21. At a sure level, administration officers decided it could be extra damaging to be seen as towards the journey than to have her go, no matter dangers that entailed.

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In any case, Biden was targeted on one other matter: saying the demise of Zawahiri. By Monday, officers have been sure the person struck by two Hellfire missiles in Kabul on Saturday evening was, the truth is, the fear chief.

They did not have DNA check outcomes, as an alternative counting on visible affirmation. One official stated they’d by no means have Biden deal with the nation except the identification was 100% sure.

President Joe Biden speaks from the Blue Room Balcony of the White House Monday, Aug. 1, 2022, in Washington, as he announces that a U.S. airstrike killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri in Afghanistan. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP)

Talking from the Blue Room Balcony, with reporters watching by an open window at a Covid-safe distance, Biden stated in his seven-minute speech: “Regardless of how lengthy it takes, irrespective of the place you cover, if you’re a menace to our individuals, america will discover you and take you out.”

Tuesday, August 2

A string of legislative victories had led to an uncommon feeling within the West Wing: Momentum. Biden as soon as hoped to harness it in Michigan, planning a go to there for Tuesday to signal the China competitiveness invoice.

President Joe Biden appears on screen as he listens to SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, fourth from right, speak during a virtual meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, July 26, 2022. The meeting comes as the Biden administration is seeking the cooperation of Asian allies such as South Korea to reinforce supply chains for critical components such as semiconductors. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The journey received pulled down when Biden’s rebound case emerged. And whereas he met with semiconductor producers nearly as an alternative, there may be open fretting amongst some Democrats that his persistent wrestle in promoting his accomplishments will hamper any upside to his latest victories.

Democrats anxiously awaiting their destiny in November’s midterms noticed a glimmer of optimism that evening when Kansas voters overwhelming rejected a measure that might have eliminated abortion proper protections from the state structure. Biden, whom activists accused of being caught flat-footed by the US Supreme Courtroom’s resolution to reverse Roe v. Wade, seized on the outcome nearly instantly.

But of all the problems pending in Washington, it was the veterans invoice that was probably the most private to the President. He has lengthy suspected his son Beau’s deadly most cancers was linked to burn pit publicity in Iraq.

When he watched the vote lastly go the Senate on Tuesday night from the Treaty Room, Beau’s reminiscence was palpable. Household pictures, together with from Beau’s childhood, line the picket cabinets the place the tv sits.

As Biden watched the vote go, he pumped his proper fist. In his left hand, he was clutching a baseball cap from the Beau Biden Basis.

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Thursday, August 4

The lengthy huddle on the Senate flooring was drawing consideration. Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema — the Arizona Democrat who was a final remaining holdout on the local weather and tax invoice — sat and talked at size, Manchin gesturing and laughing as Sinema spoke.

Neither revealed particulars of their discuss. However a number of hours later, as a thunderstorm ranged exterior the White Home, Sinema broke her week-long silence on the invoice: She would help it after tweaks to among the tax provisions.

FILE - Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., arrives for a meeting of the Senate Homeland Security Committee at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. Sen. Joe Manchin sealed the deal reviving President Joe Biden's big economic, health care and climate bill. But it was Sinema who intently, quietly and deliberately shaped the final product. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The long-stalled plan was lastly headed for votes. But if the year-long saga of Biden’s agenda appeared to be resolving itself, the standoff with China prompted by Pelosi’s 17-hour go to to Taiwan was worsening.

Beijing had despatched extra of its warships and planes close to Taiwan. And on the White Home, the Chinese language ambassador to Washington had been introduced in for a proper protest. Campbell, the NSC Asia coordinator, condemned the escalations throughout a tense assembly.

Friday, August 5

The cough was largely gone. The five-day isolation interval was up. And after 16 days with out leaving the White Home, Biden hoped a surprisingly robust employment report — 528,000 jobs added in July — could be the proper alternative to lastly break his isolation.

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In spite of everything, robust hiring has been the White Home’s strongest bulwark towards recession fears. Aides made preliminary preparations to show a digital occasion within the afternoon into an in-person affair.

However the check was nonetheless optimistic.

Saturday, August 6

Because the Senate appeared on monitor to advance Democrats’ local weather and tax invoice, the White Home introduced that Biden had examined unfavorable for Covid-19.
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Meta wins artificial intelligence copyright case in blow to authors

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Meta wins artificial intelligence copyright case in blow to authors

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Meta’s use of millions of books to train its artificial intelligence models has been judged “fair” by a federal court on Wednesday, in a win for tech companies that use copyrighted materials to develop AI.

The case, brought by about a dozen authors, including Ta-Nehisi Coates and Richard Kadrey, challenged how the $1.4tn social media giant used a library of millions of online books, academic articles and comics to train its Llama AI models.

Meta’s use of these titles is protected under copyright law’s fair use provision, San Francisco district judge Vince Chhabria ruled. The Big Tech firm had argued that the works had been used to develop a transformative technology, which was fair “irrespective” of how it acquired the works.

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This case is among dozens of legal battles working their way through the courts, as creators seek greater financial rights when their works are used to train AI models that may disrupt their livelihoods — while companies profit from the technology.

However, Chhabria warned that his decision reflected the authors’ failure to properly make their case.

“This ruling does not stand for the proposition that Meta’s use of copyrighted materials to train its language models is lawful,” he said. “It stands only for the proposition that these plaintiffs made the wrong arguments and failed to develop a record in support of the right one.”

It is the second victory in a week for tech groups that develop AI, after a federal judge on Monday ruled in favour of San Francisco start-up Anthropic in a similar case.

Anthropic had trained its Claude models on legally purchased physical books that were cut up and manually scanned, which the ruling said constituted “fair use”. However, the judge added that there would need to be a separate trial for claims that it pirated millions of books digitally for training.

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The Meta case dealt with LibGen, a so-called online shadow library that hosts much of its content without permission from the rights holders.

Chhabria suggested a “potentially winning argument” in the Meta case would be market dilution, referring to the damage caused to copyright holders by AI products that could “flood the market with endless amounts of images, songs, articles, books, and more”.

“People can prompt generative AI models to produce these outputs using a tiny fraction of the time and creativity that would otherwise be required,” Chhabria added. He warned AI could “dramatically undermine the incentive for human beings to create things the old-fashioned way”.

Meta and legal representatives for the authors did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

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We're not built for this heat : Consider This from NPR

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We're not built for this heat : Consider This from NPR

New York City and other parts of the US are experiencing a punishing heat wave.

Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images


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Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images


New York City and other parts of the US are experiencing a punishing heat wave.

Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

Tens of millions of people across the US are currently under a heat advisory. And the extreme heat isn’t just affecting people.

You may have seen videos online of the heat causing asphalt roads to buckle. It is impacting rail travel too. Amtrak has been running some trains more slowly, as have the public transit systems of Washington and Philadelphia.

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Mikhail Chester, an engineering professor at Arizona State University, talks through the intersection of extreme heat and transportation.

And NPR’s Julia Simon shares advice on how people can keep themselves cool.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

This episode was produced by Jeffrey Pierre, Mia Venkat, and Connor Donevan. It was edited by Tinbete Ermyas, Sadie Babits and Neela Banerjee. Additional reporting from Adam Bearne.

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Zohran Mamdani stuns Democratic establishment in New York mayor race

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Zohran Mamdani stuns Democratic establishment in New York mayor race

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Zohran Mamdani, the leftwing Democrat feared by Wall Street, is on course to win the party’s mayoral primary for New York City, sending shockwaves across US politics.

Mamdani, a democratic socialist who has called for higher taxes on the rich and assailed US support for Israel in Gaza, stunned Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York state, in the Democratic primary race on Tuesday.

His success will reverberate across Wall Street and among the billionaire donors, including hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who backed his rival. It will also intensify the debate among Democrats as they seek a convincing political strategy to take on Donald Trump.

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“Tonight, we made history,” Mamdani told hundreds of jubilant supporters in Queens on Tuesday night. “I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City.

“When we no longer believe in our democracy, it only becomes easier for people like Donald Trump to convince us of his worth, for billionaires to convince us that they must always lead,” he said.

New York leans towards Democrats, and Mamdani’s victory gives the 33-year-old a major advantage in the election later this year to replace Eric Adams as the city’s mayor — one of the most powerful positions in US domestic politics.

Cuomo conceded defeat late on Tuesday in a contest that is widely seen as a referendum on the future of the party.

“Tonight was not our night, tonight. It was Assemblyman Mamdani’s night,” Cuomo told supporters at a post-election party, adding that he had called Mamdani to congratulate him.

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Unofficial results on Tuesday night showed Mamdani with a seven-point lead over Cuomo, with more than 90 per cent of the vote counted.

The final result will depend on the tally in the city’s ranked-choice system, which allows people to pick up to five candidates in order of preference. The winner will be officially declared on July 1, at the earliest, after all other candidates’ votes have been reallocated.

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Following Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election, the Democrats have been riven between a progressive wing exemplified by New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and moderates such as Pennsylvania US Senator John Fetterman, who has praised Trump.

Mamdani ran his campaign on a pledge to make life more affordable for New Yorkers, whose cost of living has soared since the Covid-19 pandemic. If elected, he says he will raise taxes on the rich to fund free buses and childcare, as well as city-owned grocery stores.

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The progressive candidate tapped into a groundswell of support among younger voters — an electoral strategy that will be studied by Democrats nationally as they try to win back youthful voters who backed Trump in November.

“In the words of Nelson Mandela: it always seems impossible until it’s done,” Mamdani said on X following the result.

Ocasio-Cortez, who has tapped into a similar voter base, congratulated Mamdani on Tuesday night, saying in a social media post, “billionaires and lobbyists poured millions against you and our public finance system. And you won.”

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Cuomo, a fixture of New York state politics for more than four decades, was long seen as the frontrunner. But the centrist found himself fighting an increasingly serious challenge from the upstart Mamdani, who has a huge following on social media.

After resigning as governor four years ago amid accusations of sexual harassment, which he denies, Cuomo entered the mayoral race in March.

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Cuomo committed to restoring the Democratic party’s appeal among working class voters, promising to hire more police officers, improve safety on the subway and remove red tape to build more affordable housing.

His campaign was built on the thesis that the Democratic party had been “hijacked”, and that it “doesn’t fight for working people anymore”.

Cuomo’s campaign enjoyed a big fundraising advantage over rivals in the final weeks of the race, buoyed by large contributions, including from former mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Combined, outside fundraising groups spent more than $20mn. Mamdani’s campaign relied on small contributions, with more than 21,000 donors, roughly 75 per cent of whom gave less than $100.

Eric Adams, the incumbent mayor, will run in the November general election as an independent. His approval rating stands at just 20 per cent after he was indicted last year on charges of bribery and fraud in a case that was later dismissed.

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