'Mother, When Will You Come?'

AVIGNON ‘LEGALLY BLONDE’ ‘HOLD ON FESTIVAL TURNS 20 AND IS MORE TIGHT!’ KICKS OFF RELEVANT THAN EVER THRILL WITH NO Weekend PAGE 14 | WEEKEND SEEKERS SHORTAGE SURF ON OF BLEAK BUSES IN PLAYS BRAZIL A BETTER VIEW PAGE 18 | IRELAND’S DAYS AS A BACK PAGE | OF MARS AND ITS THEATER TRAVEL DANCING AURORAS CORPORATE TAX HAVEN MAY BE NUMBERED PAGE 12 | SCIENCE LAB PAGE 6 | BUSINESS .. INTERNATIONAL EDITION | SATURDAY-SUNDAY, JULY 10-11, 2021 Why Trump Parallels simply can’t in inflation quit Big Tech ‘Mother, when will you come?’ threat, now Kara Swisher and in past Contributing Writer The Covid orphans of India But many economists point OPINION to some crucial differences from crisis in ’60s and ’70s Really, he can’t. That might be one way of trying to BY JEANNA SMIALEK grok the stunt of a lawsuit that the AND BEN CASSELMAN former president filed Wednesday against Facebook and Twitter, as well The last time big government spending, as Google’s YouTube, for kicking him to supply chain shocks and rising wages in the curb in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack the United States threatened to keep in- on the Capitol. flation meaningfully higher, President With zero appetite for becoming Biden’s top economic adviser was in dia- handmaidens to sedition by allowing pers. Donald Trump to continue abusing the Some aspects of 2021 look a little bit rules of their powerful platforms, they like a do-over of the late 1960s and the finally made the 1970s, which many economists think His latest decision to dump him laid the groundwork for the breakaway stunt shows — Twitter perma- inflation that took hold and lasted into nently, YouTube the 1980s. At a time when prices have how badly indefinitely and popped and debate rages over how he still mis- Facebook for two quickly they will moderate, those com- understands years. parisons have become a hot topic. speech and Since then, Mr. Yet many inflation experts point out platforms. Trump has been critical differences between this era and casting around for a that one, including the decline of un- replacement: first ionization, the ascent of globalization via a lame blog that and shifting demographics, and they sputtered out and then by dribbling out say those discrepancies are part of the rumors that he was building his own PHOTOGRAPHS BY REBECCA CONWAY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES reason faster inflation is likely to be social network. As that has turned out G. Haanvi Reddy, 3, and her siblings, who live in Hyderabad, India, were orphaned when their parents died of Covid-19. About 3,000 Indian children have lost their parents to Covid. short-lived this time around. White to be complicated, his latest scheme — House officials — including Brian and it is a scheme, all right — is to file a Deese, Mr. Biden’s top economic advis- class-action lawsuit with himself as PATTAPUR, INDIA country already awash in vulnerable er, who is 43 — say they expect price lead plaintiff, alleging that Facebook, children. pressures to calm. Twitter and YouTube have violated his Indian states have announced com- “We’re looking at the implications of First Amendment rights. pensation of about $7 to $68 per month an economy that comes out of a policy- As if. Government promises aid, for each orphan, along with promises of induced coma and comes roaring back,” It’s clear that Mr. Trump’s ability to food and free education. Prime Minister Mr. Deese said at a recent event, ex- communicate the way he likes — loud, but the children’s position Narendra Modi vowed in a tweet to “en- plaining why prices have moved up. unfettered — has been hindered by his leaves them at grave risk sure a life of dignity and opportunity” Inflation concerns may already be exile, even if his most pernicious lies for the children. easing among investors. Yields on U.S. about election fraud have managed to BY SUHASINI RAJ But advocates fear that when the at- government debt rose earlier this year, crawl, like misinformation slime mold, tention inevitably fades, the orphans as investors demanded higher interest into a large part of the body politic. And In a small, colorfully painted house on will be left susceptible to neglect and ex- rates to compensate for the risk of part of me thinks he actually had gotten India’s eastern coast, G. Sonali Reddy ploitation. higher inflation, among other factors. addicted, like a lot of us, to erupting at cooks meals and feeds her younger sib- Already, the children, shellshocked in But yields have since fallen, amid signs any time, day or night, with whatever lings by day and rocks them to sleep at some cases from the loss of their entire that the economic recovery is proceed- message popped into his manic mind. night, hoping to assuage their fears, just families, have found it difficult to pro- ing more slowly than initially expected. But the lawsuit is most obviously a as her mother would. cure death certificates to qualify for gov- The main certainty that emerges from feint aimed at fund-raising — texts Sonali, herself still a child at 14, is her ernment benefits. Some will also find it the debate is this: As happened half a asking for donations went out as soon family’s caretaker. Several years ago, hard to return to school. century ago, the American economy is as Mr. Trump’s news conference started her father took his own life after the fail- In the longer term, the many orphans being rocked by big and unusual — and to up the grievance knob on his ure of the family’s business selling spare from poor families in remote areas face changes that have hit all at once. But base of supporters, who have come to trolley parts. Then in May, her mother, the risk of human trafficking and child those trends make it hard for analysts to believe that social media platforms are Sabita, contracted Covid-19 as a calami- A diary belonging to G. Sonali Reddy, 14 (no relation to Haanvi, top), contains marriage. Trafficking of children is guess what will happen, since their tools our new public squares. tous wave of infections swept across In- poetry and images of her parents. Her mother died of Covid-19 in May. rampant in India, where they are en- use the past to predict the future — and Unfortunately for Mr. Trump’s legal dia. Within hours of reaching the closest slaved for work or sex. And the country there’s no precedent for reopening after case, they are not. Only public squares city hospital with medical oxygen, Ms. has the largest number of child brides in a global pandemic. This won’t be 1969 or SWISHER, PAGE 9 Reddy was dead. Sonali and her siblings are among the coronavirus has erased hundreds of the world, according to Unicef. 1978 again, but what it will look like is “My mother kept us safe like an um- more than 3,000 Indian children who thousands of lives across the country. Adoption is not an option for many of difficult to foresee. The New York Times publishes opinion brella does, from the heat and rain of have been orphaned during the pan- Even with all that has been lost, the the orphans, given cultural taboos “History doesn’t repeat itself,” said from a wide range of perspectives in life,” said Sonali, holding back tears. “I demic, according to state governments. orphans’ plight has punctured the pub- against the practice. Older children, in Rebecca L. Spang, a historian at Indiana hopes of promoting constructive debate imagine her being close to me. That’s They are a heart-rending testament to lic consciousness, an acknowledgment particular, often cannot be matched. University who has studied money and about consequential questions. what keeps me going.” the devastation wreaked on families as of the profound challenges they face in a INDIA, PAGE 4 INFLATION, PAGE 7 The robotic playlist is catchy, if glitchy LONDON lyrics of “Daisy Bell,” Harry Dacre’s tune from 1892 that became, in 1961, the first to be sung using computer speech synthesis. The result in “Listen to Your Songwriting contest shows Body Choir” is a track that sounds both human and machine-made. that A.I. technology has its The A.I. Song Contest, which started limits when creating music last year and uses the Eurovision Song Contest’s format for inspiration, is an in- BY MALCOLM JACK ternational competition exploring the use of A.I. in songwriting. After an on- For its first 30 seconds, the song “Listen line ceremony broadcast a few days ago to Your Body Choir” is a lilting pop tune, from Liège in Belgium, a judging panel with a female voice singing over gentle led by the musician Imogen Heap and piano. Then, everything starts to frac- including academics, scientists and ture, as twitchy beats and samples fuse songwriters praised “Listen to Your with bizarre lyrics like “Do the cars Body Choir” for its “rich and creative come with push-ups?” and a robotic use of A.I. throughout the song.” voice intertwines with the human In a message for viewers of the online sound. broadcast, read out by a member of The transition is intended to evoke the M.O.G.I.I.7.E.D., the A.I. used to produce song’s co-writer: artificial intelligence. the song said that it was “super stoked” Wordplay, every day. “Listen to Your Body Choir,” which to have been part of the winning team.

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