Global South, sympathetic to Palestinians, aligns with China as US seeks support for Israel against Hamas in Gaza

South China Morning Post
Tue, October 17, 2023 at 3:30 AM MDT·7 min read

With supporters clutching small Palestinian flags behind him and a traditional Palestinian scarf draped over his shoulders, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appeared at a public rally in Boksburg on Saturday, voicing deep concern about "the atrocities that are unfolding in the Middle East".

Ramaphosa, a former anti-apartheid activist, pledged South Africa would back Palestinians and described them as having withstood Israeli "occupation for almost 75 years".

His remarks sharply contrasted with Washington's unwavering support for Israel in defending its cities and citizens after a surprise assault by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7 led to the deaths of more than 1,300 Israelis - mostly civilians. An unknown number of people, including Americans, were taken hostage.

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Since the attack and abductions, Israeli air strikes have killed nearly 2,400 people in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Israel has cut off the flow of food, medicine, water and electricity and asked more than 1 million residents in the north of Gaza to flee south "within 24 hours" as it prepares for a ground offensive.

As the war unfolds, deep divisions have resurfaced between the Washington-led West and the Global South, a newly ascendant geopolitical entity comprising postcolonial and developing countries.

Ramaphosa's South Africa is a key member of this grouping, and has gained influence since joining Brics, an association of leading emerging markets that also includes Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Despite the Biden administration calling on the world to stand by its ally Israel, many in the Global South have criticised the Jewish state for occupying Palestinian territory and subjecting Palestinians to apartheid-like discrimination and oppression.

The defiance comes after the grouping rejected Western pressure to follow its anti-Moscow stance on Russia's invasion last year of Ukraine.

And when Washington rushed air defences and munitions to Israel, Beijing - which presents itself as an alternative to "Western hegemony" - found fault with Israel and called on "all parties to return to the negotiating table".

At the same time, Moscow, Beijing's "no-limits" partner, has squarely targeted the US for failing to deliver on the Palestinians' right to sovereignty.

Experts say the divergent positions will further isolate the West on the global stage and could prove "self-defeating" for its detractors.

Speaking to Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday portrayed China as a potential peace broker.

Wang told his Arab counterpart that Beijing remained engaged in intensive communication with all parties to push for a ceasefire.

China stood ready to work with regional players to bring the Palestinian question back to the right track of the two-state solution so that it can be resolved comprehensively, justly and permanently, Xinhua reported Wang as saying.

He added that Israel's actions have gone beyond self-defence and that its collective punishment for the people in Gaza must stop.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called the crisis a "glaring failure" in Washington's peacemaking efforts, which have paid "little attention to their fundamental issues related to statehood".

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi expressed similar sentiments during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday.

"I'm quite concerned about the reaction," said Sisi of Israel. "They just overextend the right of self-defence, and it turns into a collective punishment of 2.3 million Palestinians."

Indonesia, the most populous country in Southeast Asia, described the occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israel as the "root of the conflict" that must be resolved according to United Nations "parameters".

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Monday said Western officials had been pressuring him to condemn Hamas. "I said that we, as a policy, have a relationship with Hamas from before, and this will continue," he told his country's parliament.

Protesters attend a rally supporting the Palestinian people in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sunday. 

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who last month pitched himself as a leader of the Global South at the UN General Assembly in New York, last week called for a cessation of "the insanity of war".

His foreign minister, Mauro Vieira, on Friday said Brazil had "received with dismay the news that Israeli forces called for all civilians - more than one million - living in northern Gaza to leave within 24 hours".

India, no stranger to terrorist attacks and recently forging closer ties with Washington as Beijing's stature grows, was quick to convey its solidarity with Israel. However, New Delhi reiterated its support for a two-state solution.

Elizabeth Wishnick of the Virginia-based Centre for Naval Analyses, a federally funded research group, said the latest round of Israel-Palestine conflict would "contribute to the fracturing of the international community".

Observing that China and Russia had teamed up on various issues in opposition to the West to create their "own kind of standards", Wishnick believed the two were drawing "another line" that was "a little bit self-defeating for them".

"It isolates China further from Western countries that they want to engage, especially in Europe", she explained at an Asia Society event on China-Russia relations last week, saying that China and Russia had good ties with Israel "that will be harmed by this".

"Israel was seen as a potential mediator in the Ukraine conflict, for example, and that will be difficult now."

Not calling out Hamas by name is a problem and exposes Beijing's limits on the diplomatic stage, according to Lyle Morris of the Asia Society Policy Institute's Centre for China Analysis.

Demonstrators take part in a pro-Palestinian rally in Cotabato City, in the Philippines, on Monday. 

"It makes China look not very powerful on the world stage as far as bringing some kind of solution to the conflict," said Morris as part of the Asia Society panel.

"It's fine to say both parties need to de-escalate. But it's also important to call out aggression, which is what they were unable to do with Ukraine and Russia" as well as in the current Middle East conflict, he added.

Still others have warned it will be difficult for a politically dysfunctional and divided Washington to counter Moscow and Beijing's rising clout.

"Dysfunction has made American power erratic and unreliable, practically inviting risk-prone autocrats to place dangerous bets - with potentially catastrophic consequences," wrote Robert Gates, a former US defence secretary, in Foreign Policy, a global affairs publication, days before Hamas attacked Israel.

With further military and economic aid to Ukraine on hold amid a looming US government shutdown, along with increasing concerns over Beijing's possible invasion of Taiwan and Israel seeking American help against Hamas, the US Congress will need to dole out more money despite sharp partisan divisions over federal spending.

A stopgap budget to keep the US government open expires on November 15, and it is far from certain when a new speaker of the House will be elected.

Wishnick of CNA said Biden was "working on creative solutions".

"We keep finding errors in Pentagon accounting. And maybe there'll be an error in the State Department accounting, we'll find some money for Ukraine", she added, noting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was expected to visit Israel.

"I don't think that that these are two zero-sum conflicts ... so that's misplaced hope in Beijing and Moscow".

Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

CORPORATE GREED
Pfizer to price COVID treatment Paxlovid at $1,390 per course

Updated Wed, October 18, 2023 

Paxlovid is shown in this picture illustration

By Michael Erman

(Reuters) -Pfizer on Wednesday said it will set the U.S. price for its COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid at nearly $1,400 per five-day course when it moves to commercial sales after government stocks run out, more than double what the government currently pays for it.

The new list price, which does not include rebates and other discounts to insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, is $1,390 per course, Pfizer said in an emailed statement. The U.S. government paid around $530 per course for Paxlovid it has made available to Americans at no cost.

Paxlovid, the most commonly prescribed at home treatment for COVID-19 in the U.S., will remain available for free to patients there until the end of the year, Pfizer said.

Under an agreement with the government, the drug will also stay free of charge for patients insured under the Medicare and Medicaid programs through the end of 2024, and to uninsured and underinsured patients through 2028.

In Pfizer's clinical trial, Paxlovid was shown to reduce hospitalizations and death by around 90% for unvaccinated people at risk for serious disease. In another trial, Pfizer was not able to show benefit for those considered at standard risk, including vaccinated patients.

Influential U.S. drug pricing watchdog the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) said last year that its suggested price range for Paxlovid based on the benefits and value to patients was between $563 to $906 per course.

The United States purchased around 24 million courses of the oral two-drug treatment from Pfizer, and still had a large supply, but arranged to return 7.9 million courses last week. The company also slashed its full-year revenue forecast due to lower-than-expected sales of its COVID-19 products.

Under that deal, a credit for the returned Paxlovid doses will pay for the supply to Medicare, Medicaid, underinsured and uninsured patients.

Demand for the drug has fallen since last year. In 2022, patients were given around 7 million courses of the drug, according to U.S. government data. Through Oct. 1, around 3.4 million courses had been administered in 2023.

The new list price was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

(Reporting by Michael Erman in Maplewood, N.J.; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Tesla joins GM, Ford in slowing EV factory ramp as demand fears spread

Wed, October 18, 2023 

 Tesla China-made Model 3 vehicles are seen during a delivery event at its factory in Shanghai

By Abhirup Roy and Ben Klayman

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tesla on Wednesday joined General Motors and Ford in being cautious about expanding electric vehicle production capacity, citing economic uncertainties and underscoring fears of a slowdown in demand.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he was worried that higher borrowing costs would prevent potential customers from affording its vehicles despite substantial price cuts, and that he would wait for clarity on the economy before ramping up its planned factory in Mexico.

"People hesitate to buy a new car if there's uncertainty in the economy," Musk said on a post-earnings call where he also talked about "paycheck-to-paycheck" pressures on American workers. "I don't want to be going into top speed into uncertainty."

Musk's comments, which sent Tesla shares down more than 4% in after-market trading, come after warning bells from other automakers and EV startups.

GM said on Tuesday it would delay production by a year of Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra electric pickup trucks at a plant in Michigan, citing flattening demand for EVs.

Detroit peer Ford said last week it would temporarily cut one of three shifts at the plant that builds its electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck. The automaker in July slowed its EV ramp-up, shifting investment to commercial vehicles and hybrids.

EV startup Lucid on Tuesday reported a near 30% plunge in third-quarter production and only a marginal increase in deliveries despite big discounts, raising worries about demand for its Air luxury sedan.

Amazon-backed Rivian, which makes electric pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, also disappointed investors this month when it shied away from raising its full-year production forecast despite stronger-than-expected third-quarter numbers.

"It does highlight that there could be a slowdown in EV (demand) in the near term," said Tom Narayan, global autos analyst at RBC Capital Markets. "But it has more to do with pricing and affordability than a rejection of EVs."

Narayan said he expected this to be a "dip" that improves as prices of EVs fall and lower-priced variants are available.

Automakers have billions of dollars in EV-related investments riding on how the next several quarters play out. Worries about slowing demand have been rising just as companies come to grips with supply chain constraints that wrecked production plans.

Reuters reported in July that the U.S. market was not growing fast enough to prevent unsold EVs from stacking up at some auto dealerships.

To prevent demand from waning, market leader Tesla, with industry-leading profit margins, has been the first and most aggressive in slashing prices, forcing others to follow suit and squeezing margins.

But Musk said higher financing costs due to rising interest rates meant to fight stubbornly high inflation in some cases almost entirely offset the price reductions, making consumers looking to shift away from gas-guzzling vehicles wary.

"If interest rates remain high ... it's that much harder for people to buy the car. They simply can't afford it," Musk said, adding he would "accelerate" expansion of the Mexico factory if interest rates come down.

That is not expected in the United States until June 2024, based on current market estimates, with recent robust economic data suggesting the central bank might leave interest rates higher for longer.

(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco and Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Jamie Freed)

Tesla CEO Musk raises alarm on interest rates, hesitates on Mexico factory
Hyunjoo Jin, Akash Sriram and Joseph White
Updated Wed, October 18, 2023 


By Hyunjoo Jin, Akash Sriram and Joseph White

(Reuters) -Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday that he was concerned about the impact of high interest rates on car buyers, adding the electric vehicle maker was hesitating on its plans for a factory in Mexico as it gauges the economic outlook.

After the company missed Wall Street expectations on third-quarter gross margin, profit and revenue, Musk said he was cautious about going "full tilt" on the Mexico factory.

"If the macroeconomic conditions are stormy, even the best ship is still going to have tough times," he said in a shift in tone from a year ago, when he said Tesla was "recession resilient."

Shares in the company fell more than 4% in after-hours trading on Wednesday. They had closed down 4.8%.

Tesla has managed to maintain demand with a series of price cuts, but Musk spent much of the call voicing concerns about further expansion, saying that he was afraid rising interest rates would make cars unaffordable.

The price of the popular Model Y SUV was "almost unchanged" for consumers even after Tesla's price cuts, Musk said, accounting for higher financing costs.

The automaker in March announced plans for a new factory in Mexico's northern state of Nuevo Leon that the state government estimated would cost more than $5 billion, though Tesla has yet to share a capital cost forecast.

Pressed for details on the factory, Musk said: "I am scarred by 2009 when General Motors and Chrysler went bankrupt."

He also said there would be "enormous challenges" in reaching volume production for Tesla's long delayed Cybertruck pickup and making it cash flow positive.

PRICE CUTS

Tesla's aggressive price cuts this year have battered its gross margin, particularly in China where it faces stiff competition from local automakers.

The company is trying to survive the price war it started, mopping up any global demand for electric cars even as high interest rates and lower price tags at some rivals mute EV sales. Some analysts have said it may need to cut prices further to achieve its annual production target.

In the third quarter ended September, gross margin fell to a more-than four-year low and the company signaled it would keep cutting production costs to boost profits.

Still, it stuck to its annual production target of 1.8 million cars, a sign that the price cuts were buoying demand to an extent.

"The big question is if this is just a blip, or signs of a bigger shift among consumers as rising interest rates and a weaker economic backdrop discourage consumers from making big-ticket purchases," said Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com.

Its stock has more than doubled this year after a slump last year as investors bet the company will fare better than rivals in an uncertain economy and get a long-term margin boost from its self-driving software. But the shares are still about 40% lower than its record high reached in 2021.

MARGIN FALLS

Tesla's gross margin dropped to 17.9% in the quarter ended September, compared with 25.1% a year earlier, when it had yet to start cutting prices. In the second quarter, Tesla had posted a gross margin of 18.2%.

Wall Street had on average expected Tesla to post a margin of 18.02%, according to 21 analysts polled by Visible Alpha. According to LSEG data, an average of 17 analysts polled expected 18.25%.

Automotive gross margin, excluding regulatory credits - a closely-watched figure - fell to 16.3% in the third quarter from 18.1% in the second quarter.

Margins fell despite a roughly $2,000 per vehicle reduction in raw material costs in the past quarter.

Tesla said its margin had taken a hit from the underutilization of new factories and an increase in operating expenses driven by its upcoming Cybertruck model as well as spending on artificial intelligence and other projects.

Revenue in the third quarter rose 9% to $23.35 billion, compared with analysts' estimates of $24.1 billion. That marked the slowest pace of growth in more than three years.

Its average revenue per unit declined by nearly 11% from a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, Tesla earned 66 cents per share. Analysts had expected a profit of 73 cents per share, according to LSEG data. It was not immediately clear if the numbers were comparable.

Tesla said its energy business, which sells solar panels and batteries, as well as its services business, had become a meaningful contributor to profit with more than $500 million in combined gross profit in the quarter.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru, Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco and Joe White in Detroit; additional reporting by Abhirup Roy; Writing by Sayantani Ghosh; Editing by Sriraj Kaluvilla, Deepa Babington and Jamie Freed)

Tesla’s electric vehicle factory in Mexico could be delayed
Noi Mahoney
Wed, October 18, 2023 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said high U.S. interest rates are hurting car sales and could cause longer lead times for the company’s planned factory in Monterrey, Mexico. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company’s Gigafactory Mexico project is facing pressure from interest rates and the global economy.

During the company’s third-quarter earnings call with analysts Wednesday, Musk said the company is currently laying the groundwork for construction of the factory near Monterrey, Mexico.

In March, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) announced plans to build a $5 billion assembly plant near Monterrey, where the company will produce a new line of electric vehicles. Musk previously said the EV plant would start production in 2025.

“For Mexico, we’re working on infrastructure and factory design in parallel with the engineering development of the new production [line] that we will be manufacturing there,” Musk said. “I think we want to just get a sense for what the global economy is like before we go full tilt on the Mexico factory. I’m worried about the high interest rate environment that we’re in.”

Aiming to keep inflation under control, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates 11 times since March 2022, from 0.25% to the current rate of 5.5%.

Musk said high U.S. interest rates are affecting vehicle sales across the country.

“For the vast majority of people buying a car, it’s about the monthly payment, and as interest rates rise, the proportion of that monthly payment that’s interest increases naturally,” Musk said. “If interest rates remain high, or if they go even higher, it’s that much harder for people to buy a car, they simply can’t afford it.”

Austin, Texas-based Tesla reported third-quarter total revenue of $23.4 billion, missing analysts’ estimates of $24.06 billion. The company also reported adjusted earnings per share of 66 cents, versus analysts’ estimates of 74 cents.

A Wells Fargo analyst asked Musk for clarification about Tesla not going “full tilt” on Gigafactory Mexico unless the economy is strong and whether the company could achieve it s projected 50% compound annual growth rate without the plant.

“We’re definitely making the factory in Mexico. We feel very good about that, we put a lot of effort into looking at different locations and we feel very good about that location. And we’re going to build it and it’s going be great,” Musk said. “The pressure is really just about the timing …and I’m going to be a broken record on the financial front, it’s just that the interest rates have to come down.”

Musk said he still has “PTSD” from 2007-08, when Tesla was on the brink of financial collapse.

“I apologize if I’m perhaps more paranoid than I should be,” Musk said, “because that might also be the case because I am. I have PTSD from 2008 — 2017 through 2019 are not perfect either. That was very tough going. So you know, the auto industry is also sort of cyclic. It’s because people tend to hesitate to buy a new car if there’s uncertainty in the economy.”

Click for more FreightWaves articles by Noi Mahoney.

SpaceX slams regulatory ‘headwinds’ for holding up Starship, risking US dominance in space
Jackie Wattles and Kristin Fisher, CNN
Wed, October 18, 2023 

From SpaceX


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A top SpaceX executive is accusing government regulators of stifling the company’s progress on its Starship megarocket — potentially opening the door for China to beat US astronauts back to the moon.

William Gerstenmaier — SpaceX’s vice president for build and reliability who previously served as NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration — delivered the warning Wednesday to the Senate subcommittee on space and science at a hearing on commercial space regulations.


The remarks come as SpaceX is facing an environmental review by the Fish and Wildlife Service and a safety review by the Federal Aviation Administration of plans to launch its massive moon rocket again at the company’s facility in South Texas.

Starship — the rocket and spacecraft system the company is developing in part to land astronauts on the moon for NASA’s Artemis program — exploded after its first test flight in Texas earlier this year.

“It’s a shame when our hardware is ready to fly, and we’re not able to go fly because of regulations or review,” Gerstenmaier said, noting that SpaceX has been ready for a month to launch the next Starship test flight. “Licensing, including environmental (review), often takes longer than rocket development. This should never happen. And it’s only getting worse.”

He also claimed the regulatory delays have “nothing to do with public safety.”
Race to the moon

Gerstenmaier said the discussions about the regulatory environment are critical “in the face of strategic competition from state actors like China.”

“These delays may seem small in the big scheme of things but…. delays in each and every test flight adds up. And eventually we will lose our lead and we will see China land on the moon before we do,” Gerstenmaier said.

The FAA, which was not represented at the hearing, said in a statement Wednesday, “Keeping pace with industry demand is a priority and is important for several reasons, including meeting our national security and civil exploration needs.”

NASA’s Artemis program aims to return humans to the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years, racing against China’s own plans to develop a moon base.

SpaceX faced pushback over its first test flight. A group of environmental advocates sued the FAA over the incident, alleging the agency did not comply with environmental law by allowing the launch to move forward.

SpaceX, for its part, has frequently said explosions of its rockets are welcome in the early stages of development, claiming it helps inform design quicker than ground tests.

Gerstenmaier did acknowledge that in addition to regulatory hurdles, SpaceX continues to face technological challenges with Starship development. It still is not clear whether SpaceX can meet NASA’s goal of having Starship ready for a lunar landing by late 2025.

“We’ve got a lot of challenges in front of us to meet the requirements that we received from NASA,” he told CNN in brief remarks after the hearing.

“The only way we can get there is by flying,” Gerstenmaier said.

He added that SpaceX has had a hard time allocating resources amid uncertainty about when the launch license will arrive.

“We had people work extra shifts … We got the vehicle ready, then we couldn’t fly,” Gerstenmaier said, adding that SpaceX will likely carry out more ground tests, such as a wet dress rehearsal, as it awaits the license, but that the regulatory uncertainty prevents them from establishing a more productive schedule.
Regulatory response

The FAA said in a September statement that SpaceX must “obtain a modified license from the FAA that addresses all safety, environmental, and other regulatory requirements prior to the next Starship launch.”

The US Fish and Wildlife Service, which is tasked with evaluating the environmental impacts of SpaceX’s test flight, told CNN on Wednesday that it’s working to begin an official consultation with the FAA. After that, the Service will have up to 135 days to deliver an opinion.

That could delay the next launch of Starship into 2024.

Gerstenmaier attributed regulatory hangups in part to a lack of staffing, saying the FAA’s licensing department is in “great distress” and “needs twice the resources it has today.”

In its statement Wednesday, the FAA said it is “working diligently to attract, hire and retain additional staff.”

In a statement issued Wednesday evening, Deputy NASA Administrator Pam Melroy said properly funding the federal agencies that regulate launches is essential to NASA’s goals.

“As global interest and capabilities in space exploration continue to expand at a rapid rate, America must continue to lead in human exploration with the return to the Moon under Artemis and the first human mission to Mars to search for life farther in the solar system,” Melroy said. “To be successful in achieving NASA’s goals, it’s important our regulatory partners have the resources they need to carry out their oversight duties and keep pace with commercial industry progress.”
Unity amid deep division

Alongside SpaceX at the hearing were representatives from two other commercial space companies: Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, both of which send wealthy tourists to the edge of space on suborbital rockets.

In a remarkable display of unity on a day of deep divisions elsewhere on Capitol Hill, all witnesses and the subcommittee members that spoke Wednesday were in agreement that the regulatory framework facing commercial space companies needs change and warned against rulemaking that could hamper progress.

The witnesses also called on Congress to streamline regulations and pinpoint a single federal agency to serve as a one-stop-shop for commercial space licensing.

They also advocated that Congress should not allow the FAA to implement new regulations focused on protecting the safety of commercial spaceflight passengers. (A moratorium on such regulations has been in place for two decades but is set to expire on January 1.)

The top Republican on the subcommittee, Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri, and ranking member Kyrsten Sinema, an independent from Arizona, both agreed the moratorium should be extended.

They each also acknowledged that existing regulations — such as those that outline the process for obtaining human spaceflight launch licenses, as well as satellite licenses — need to be improved.

SpaceX Blames Understaffed FAA for Starship Regulatory Delays

Passant Rabie
Wed, October 18, 2023 

SpaceX recently shared images of a fully stacked Starship awaiting its FAA license to launch once again.

With a fully stacked Starship on the pad awaiting a license to launch, SpaceX has seemingly lost its patience with the regulatory process governing its rockets. The company is calling on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to increase its efficiency in issuing launch licenses, according to media reports.

On Wednesday, SpaceX is meeting before the U.S. Subcommittee on Space and Science, and company officials will urge that the FAA double the staff in charge of issuing space launch licenses, and to also prioritize programs that serve national interests, Ars Technica reported. SpaceX also suggested that parties applying for licenses with the FAA should be given the option to help pay for independent third-party technical support during upcoming surge times while the agency goes through its hiring process.

“With the flight rates that are increasing, with the other players that are coming on board, we see there’s potentially a big industry problem coming where the pace of government is not going to be able to keep up with the pace of development on the private-sector side,” SpaceX executive William Gerstenmaier told The Washington Post in an interview published Tuesday.

Earlier this week, SpaceX shared photos on X (formerly Twitter) that showed its Starship rocket fully stacked atop its launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas, with the company writing: “Starship fully stacked while team prepares for a launch rehearsal. We continue to work with the FAA on a launch license.” The rocket was destacked later the same day.



The FAA closed its investigation into the inaugural launch of Starship and gave SpaceX a list of 63 corrective actions to implement before it can fly its megarocket again. These actions entail a redesign of the vehicle’s hardware to prevent leaks and fires and a modification of the launch pad to boost its resilience, after which the FAA will likely want to conduct a subsequent review before granting SpaceX its launch license.

Starship’s maiden launch, which took place on April 20, ended abruptly when the rocket was forced to self-destruct nearly four minutes after liftoff. The self-destruct sequence did not immediately result in the disintegration of the Starship prototype, while the launch caused excessive damage to the launch mount and scattered huge amounts of dust and debris to the surrounding area.

Despite its flawed test flight, SpaceX has been eager to see Starship launch again. Starship stands at the forefront of SpaceX’s spaceflight ambitions, which it plans to use to launch its next generation Starlink satellites, as well as land astronauts on the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program. And of course, SpaceX founder Elon Musk wants to use the megarocket to transport thousands of colonists to Mars.

SpaceX has been known to adopt an aggressive approach when it comes to the development of its rockets, and the company is not afraid to watch its prototypes explode one after the other until it finally gets it right. It seems that SpaceX is asking the regulatory body of the FAA to catch up with its aggressive pace.

“We’ve been ready to fly for a few weeks now,” Tim Hughes, SpaceX senior vice president, told The Washington Post. “And we’d very much like the government to be able to move as quickly as we are. If you’re able to build a rocket faster than the government can regulate it, that’s upside down, and that needs to be addressed. So we think some regulatory reforms are needed.”

SpaceX is highlighting the national significance of its Starship rocket, given its vital role in NASA’s mission to send humans back to the Moon in 2025. “There should be some sort of prioritization relative to programs of national importance,” Hughes added. “For instance, launches that serve the Artemis program. One would think that those would be treated with the utmost efficiency, all within the context of protecting public safety.”

As the space industry rapidly grows, it’s possible that the FAA might not be able to meet all its demands at once. SpaceX, on the other hand, may be feeling the heat from delays in its development of Starship as NASA expresses concern that the company may be responsible for a later touchdown on the lunar surface.

The FAA is primarily and understandably concerned with the safety of those on the ground. During the interviews, SpaceX officials did mention public safety, but the greater emphasis seemed to be on the speed at which the company can launch its rockets. “I want to stress we’re not saying we want to put public safety at risk in any way, shape or form. We want to protect public safety. But we want to move as fast as we can move within that framework,” Gerstenmaier said.

 Gizmodo

SpaceX: FAA Is Slowing Progress to the Moon
Natalie Dowzicky
Wed, October 18, 2023 

Illustration: Lex Villena; Ron Sachs CNP MEGA Newscom RSSIL Newscom, SPACEX UPI

Most Americans want astronauts to get back to the moon and eventually to Mars, but those expeditions will keep getting pushed back unless the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) can get its act together. Every rocket—regardless of who makes it—that soars into space must get licensing and approval from the FAA, but SpaceX claims that the government agency is both understaffed and too slow-moving.

SpaceX launches Falcon rockets roughly every four days, they are the industry leader by far. But as SpaceX and their competition—Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance, and other smaller companies—increase their flight rates, the industry is witnessing firsthand how the government agency is hindering NASA's ability to get back to the moon.

Back in April, SpaceX did the first test launch of Starship, which is the vehicle that NASA is relying on for the later stages of its Artemis program, which seeks to explore the lunar surface. Starship successfully made it airborne but then started shifting uncontrollably, forcing SpaceX to use the onboard flight termination system. This resulted in the destruction of the launch pad in addition to debris flying nearby to the South Texas launch facility. After assessing the destruction, the FAA then required the company to address a multitude of issues before SpaceX would be permitted to launch Starship again.

Elon Musk now claims that all of those concerns were addressed, but the FAA has still failed to approve another Starship launch. It took more than two years to get the first launch of Starship approved and there is no telling how long it could take to get the second one through. Not only is this making SpaceX rethink trying to get other rockets approved for takeoff at the moment, but it is also delaying the Artemis program. Ultimately, Artemis III will not happen without Starship—which means the hope of getting back to the moon by the end of 2025 is looking more and more unlikely.

Tim Hughes, senior vice president at SpaceX, told the Washington Post, "We'd very much like the government to be able to move as quickly as we are. If you're able to build a rocket faster than the government can regulate it, that's upside down, and that needs to be addressed. So we think some regulatory reforms are needed."

Regulatory reform of the FAA could take on a few different forms, but SpaceX suggests that the government agency double its licensing staff. Anything that would streamline the cumbersome approval process at this point would help—even if that means throwing the process out and starting from scratch.

The snail pace at which the FAA gets launch licenses approved is putting the private space industry in jeopardy. Of course, launches should be reviewed for safety, but there's no excuse for why that assessment takes years. "Next year could be a pretty dynamic time with lots of providers in spaceflight," a SpaceX official told ArsTechnica, so let's hope that the FAA speeds up its process or just gets out of the way entirely.

The post SpaceX: FAA Is Slowing Progress to the Moon appeared first on Reason.com.

SpaceX Seeks to Head Off New Human Spaceflight Safety Rules

Loren Grush
Tue, October 17, 2023



(Bloomberg) -- Space Exploration Technologies Corp. plans to advocate to the US Congress on Wednesday for a multiyear extension of a ban on imposing safety regulations on commercial human spaceflight.

An executive at Elon Musk’s rocket company who is scheduled to testify at a Senate subcommittee hearing plans to argue that the Federal Aviation Administration already is struggling to keep pace with a rapidly shifting rocket launch industry.

“We want to keep moving as fast paced as we can,” William Gerstenmaier, vice president of build and flight reliability at SpaceX, said Monday in an interview with Bloomberg News. “And we don’t want to be held up where we don’t need to be held up.”

Even under its traditional regulatory mandate, the FAA needs more staffing to carry out its oversight duties, Gerstenmaier said. SpaceX alone has launched 73 missions so far in 2023, with its 74th scheduled as early as Tuesday evening — the most it has launched in a single year.

“They’ve been supportive to us, but we think they’re just getting buried, and we just see them getting more and more busy in the future,” he said.

The FAA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Since 2004, there’s been a moratorium on the FAA setting safety rules for spacecraft that take humans to and from space. People who fly to space on commercial vehicles do so under an “informed consent” framework, where they must acknowledge that the spacecraft they’ll be riding on has not been certified by the government.

Those who support the ban say the commercial space industry is still in a “learning period” and premature regulations could stifle innovation.

The nearly 20-year moratorium was set to come to an end on Oct. 1. However, Congress extended the ban three months to Jan. 1 in a stopgap measure to fund the federal government. It’s unclear if another extension will occur.

The subject will be discussed during a hearing of the Senate subcommittee on space and science on Wednesday. Representatives from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic will join Gerstenmaier as witnesses.

Speedup Ideas

SpaceX also plans to make recommendations Wednesday for how to speed up the FAA’s work.

For example, SpaceX had to wait for the FAA to close its mishap investigation from the first Starship test launch before the company could reapply for a license to relaunch the vehicle. It’s better for those things to happen in parallel, Gerstenmaier said.

The company is a critic of the rules and regulations surrounding the licensing process for rocket launches and spacecraft re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, what is known as Part 450 of FAA’s licensing procedure. Part 450 was created to streamline rocket licensing by creating performance-based requirements.

SpaceX argues the FAA has struggled to implement those regulations effectively since companies have different methods for proving similar requirements.

“I think part of the 450 problem was we might have jumped to regulations too fast,” Gerstenmaier said. “They were well meaning and well intentioned, they were supposed to streamline things, but then the devil is in the details and it actually slowed us down.”

In July, the FAA announced plans to create a rulemaking committee to determine potential new safety standards that could be put in place when the moratorium ends. The rulemaking committee plans to gather recommendations on what those standards should be from members of the space industry.

However, the company would prefer to extend the moratorium while potential regulations are debated at the FAA. The informed consent framework already gives the FAA the ability to step in if a major accident occurs with humans on board.

“They have a tremendous amount of authority in today’s world,” Gerstenmaier said.

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.

Haiti democratic transition council says secretary-general kidnapped

Reuters
Wed, October 18, 2023 

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) -The Secretary-General of Haiti's High Transition Council (HCT), Anthony Virginie Saint-Pierre, has been kidnapped according to the head of the committee which has been tasked with creating a roadmap for elections which have been penciled in for next year.

Haiti, which last had elections in 2016 and has been without elected representatives since January, is facing a humanitarian crisis driven by powerful gangs who control large parts of the capital and have kidnapped hundreds of people.

Local media reported, citing HCT head Mirlande Manigat, that Saint-Pierre was kidnapped around noon in the Debussy neighborhood of the capital Port-au-Prince by heavily armed men dressed as police officers.

In nearby Petion-Ville, local media said clashes had taken place between Haiti's national police and members of the Kraze Barye gang.

A year ago, the government of Prime Minister Ariel Henry requested urgent help from an international armed force to help under-resourced police fight gangs. Despite a U.N. ratification earlier this month, such a force has yet to materialize.

Henry came to power after the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, which created a political vacuum allowing gangs to expand their territories. He has pledged to hold elections once security conditions are re-established.

The U.N. estimated in early September at least 970 Haitians have been kidnapped this year.

(Reporting by Harold Isaac; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Valentine Hilaire and Anthony Esposito)

 FBI: Murders and rapes dropped in 2022, most hate crimes were targeted to Blacks and Jews

Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY
Updated Tue, October 17, 2023 

WASHINGTON — The number of murders and rapes dropped nationally in 2022 after surging during the early stages of the pandemic, according to crime statistics the FBI released Monday.

Black people were the most common targets of hate crimes motivated by bias toward race, ethnicity, or ancestry, according to the report. Crimes based on religious bias most often targeted Jewish people.

President Joe Biden issued a statement following the release of the data, noting antisemitic hate crimes went up 25% from 2021 to 2022 in the report.

"To those Americans worried about violence at home, as a result of the evil acts of terror perpetrated by Hamas in Israel, we see you. We hear you," Biden said. He added that he has asked Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland to prioritize preventing "any emerging threats" to Jewish, Muslim, Arab American, or other communities.


The statistics, which reflect local law enforcement reporting to the federal government, showed about a 1.7% drop in national violent crime compared to 2021. Murders and non-negligent manslaughters went down 6.1%, while the estimated number of rapes went down by 5.4%.

The hate crime trends echo a revised FBI report released in March, which also showed anti-Black bias driving the most common racial hate crime and anti-Jewish bias as leading in hate crimes based on faith.

The data reflect an increase in hate crime reporting by law enforcement agencies, with reporting agencies covering 91.7% of the nation's population, according to the FBI. The bureau previously complained of a drop in hate crime reporting by agencies from 93% in 2020 to about 65% in 2021 as a result of a move to a different reporting system.

Although violent crime declined overall, there was a 1.3% uptick in robberies from 2021 to 2022.

More: Stabbing death of 6-year-old Muslim boy in Illinois to be investigated as hate crime

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FBI: Number of murders and rapes dropped in 2022

'Fight' against anti-Jewish and Muslim hate 'is often one that is together,' says ADL official

ABC NEWS
Tue, October 17, 2023 

Members of the American Jewish community are sounding the alarm about rising antisemitic sentiment following Hamas’ attack on Israel last weekend.

Even before the crisis, reports of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. had reached an all-time high in 2022, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The FBI also released data on Monday showing that anti-Jewish hate crimes increased by more than 37% in 2022 – the second-highest number on record and the highest number in almost three decades. There were a total of 11,634 criminal hate crime incidents motivated by bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity in 2022, according to the data.

There are also fears of rising Islamophobia amid the conflict, which was underscored over the weekend when an Illinois man allegedly stabbed a 6-year-old Palestinian Muslim boy to death and seriously injured his mother. The Justice Department opened a federal hate crimes investigation into the alleged murder of the boy.

ABC News’ Linsey Davis spoke with Oren Segal, the vice president of the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism, about the new hate crime data and the Jewish community’s concerns amid the war.

MORE: Groups work to protect Jewish Americans following Hamas attack on Israel

LINSEY DAVIS: Joining us now for more on the heightened tensions both abroad and right here at home is Oren Segal, the vice president of the Center on Extremism with the Anti-Defamation League. Oren, thank you so much for coming on the show. Today, the FBI released new hate crime data that showed anti-Jewish hate crimes increased by more than 37% in 2022. That's the highest in almost three decades. Is there a concern that the current state of things will only exacerbate that?

OREN SEGAL: We're very concerned that the rhetoric that we're seeing in our public discussion at rallies around the country in the aftermath of the massacre that we saw in Israel will only make people engage in more of that activity. In fact, we've already seen spikes in antisemitic incidents reported to us at ADL, and this is a trailing indicator. We know that in the weeks and and months ahead, there's going to be even more reporting for this moment in time. So the Jewish community is feeling vulnerable and the incidents that are happening are backing that up.

DAVIS: And we're seeing increased police presence at synagogues already. What are some of the biggest concerns you're hearing from the Jewish community right now?

SEGAL: Some of the biggest concerns that I'm hearing are the over 250 rallies that have occurred throughout the country and in major cities and smaller towns that have essentially included language that celebrates, glorifies and legitimizes these Hamas terrorist attacks. Nothing will make people feel less vulnerable than knowing the people in their community are celebrating the murder and abduction of children and the elderly, even if it's 10,000 miles away.

MORE: Reported antisemitic incidents reached all-time high in 2022, ADL says

DAVIS: The ADL also tweeted out that they were disgusted and horrified that a young boy was murdered, allegedly, for being Muslim. We just had Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on, who is also the first Muslim-American ever elected to Congress. Explain to our viewers why it's important for this organization to speak out about suspected Islamophobia as well.

SEGAL: I mean, this is part of what we do at ADL. In order to fight antisemitism, you have to fight Islamophobia, racism, misogyny and other forms of hatred. And in order to fight those hatreds, you have to stand up against the antisemitism. Unfortunately, as the FBI has already indicated, is that synagogues and mosques are, in particular, vulnerable right now to potential attacks based on what we're seeing around the world. Our fight is often one that is together, even though much of the public discussion tries to divide us.
DAVIS: Oren Segal, vice president of the Center on Extremism with the Anti-Defamation League, we thank you so much for coming on.

SEGAL: Thank you.

'Fight' against anti-Jewish and Muslim hate 'is often one that is together,' says ADL official originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

FBI crime statistics show anti-LGBTQ hate crimes on the rise

Brooke Migdon
Wed, October 18, 2023 


(The Hill) — Anti-LGBTQ hate crimes rose sharply in 2022, jumping more than 19 percent over 2021, according to the FBI’s annual crime report released Monday.

More than 11,600 hate crime incidents were reported to the FBI in 2022, the highest number recorded since the agency began tracking them in 1991. A majority of hate crimes recorded last year targeted Black people, according to the report.

Hate crimes targeting LGBTQ people were up significantly compared to 2021, with 622 reported single-bias anti-LGBTQ hate crimes. Hate crimes motivated by an anti-transgender bias rose more than 35 percent year-over-year, reaching 338 incidents.


Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ civil rights group, described the increase in hate crimes as “both shocking and heartbreaking, yet sadly, not unexpected.”

Is crime going up in America? Some types are, new FBI data shows

“The constant stream of hostile rhetoric from fringe anti-equality figures, alongside the relentless passage of discriminatory bills, particularly those targeting transgender individuals, in state legislatures, created an environment where it was sadly foreseeable that individuals with violent tendencies might respond to this rhetoric,” Robinson said Monday in a statement.

Robinson, who testified before Congress last year during a first-of-its-kind hearing on surging anti-LGBTQ violence and hate speech, added that Monday’s FBI data “serves as another alarming indicator of the state of emergency our community finds itself in.”

The Human Rights Campaign in June declared a national state of emergency for LGBTQ people in the U.S. for the first time in its 40-year history, citing the passage of laws that target the community. More than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced in state legislatures this year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and at least 84 became law. Most measures threaten to roll back the rights of transgender young people.

President Biden denounced laws that target LGBTQ people as “hateful” and “dangerous” during a speech on Saturday at the Human Rights Campaign national dinner in Washington.

“Families across the country now face excruciating decisions to move to a different state to protect their child from dangerous anti-LGBTQ laws,” he said.

Biden recognized several LGBTQ people and allies who lost their lives to anti-LGBTQ violence this year, including O’Shae Sibley, who was fatally stabbed while dancing at Brooklyn gas station; Colin Smith, who was killed while defending a friend from anti-LGBTQ harassment; and Laura Ann Carleton, who was shot and killed by a man who made “disparaging remarks” about a rainbow Pride flag displayed outside her clothing store in Lake Arrowhead, Calif.

Biden similarly warned of increasing anti-LGBTQ violence last week in a statement marking the 25th anniversary of the killing of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming who was brutally attacked and later died of his injuries in one of the most notorious anti-gay hate crimes in U.S. history.

“Today, as threats and violence targeting the LGBTQI+ community continue to rise, our work is far from finished,” Biden said in the Oct. 12 statement. “No American should face hate or violence for who they are or who they love.”

Hate Crimes Against LGBTQ+ People Surge, FBI Reports

Christopher Wiggins

THE ADVOCATE
Tue, October 17, 2023 



The FBI has found an alarming rise in hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community, according to its annual crime report for 2022.

The FBI data reveals a 13.8 percent increase in hate crimes based on sexual orientation and a striking 32.9 percent surge in those targeting gender identity compared to the previous year. Specifically, the report documented 1,947 incidents relating to sexual orientation in 2022, up from 1,711 in 2021.

Additionally, incidents concerning gender identity rose to 469 from 353. Within the gender identity category, 338 instances were specifically anti-transgender, and 131 targeted individuals who were gender-nonconforming.

The Human Rights Campaign, a leading LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, expressed grave concern over these statistics, emphasizing the situation’s urgency.

“The rise in hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community is both shocking and heartbreaking, yet sadly, not unexpected,” Kelley Robinson, HRC's president, said in a statement.

She pointed to a “constant stream of hostile rhetoric from fringe anti-equality figures” and a wave of discriminatory bills, especially those aimed at transgender individuals, contributing to this dangerous climate.

Robinson also shed light on the incompleteness of the data, indicating that numerous cities and states have been reporting either incomplete or no data on anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes. She stressed the need for a comprehensive account of such crimes to counteract this escalating violence effectively.

Related: LGBTQ+ Americans Are in 'State of Emergency,' Declares Human Rights Campaign

The FBI's report also outlined that race- and ethnicity-motivated hate crimes continue to constitute the largest category, accounting for 56 percent of all hate crimes, followed by religion-based hate crimes and those targeting sexual orientation. Notably, more than one in five hate crimes now stems from anti-LGBTQ+ bias.

This alarming data comes against an unprecedented influx in anti-LGBTQ+ state legislation. Over 550 bills have been introduced across 43 states, with more than 80 being passed into law — more than double the number from the previous year, marking a disturbing upward trend. Some of this legislation has been propelled by extremist Republican candidates eyeing the presidency, accompanied by increased anti-transgender rhetoric and violence.

In June, responding to the hazardous legislative environment and rising violence, HRC declared a national state of emergency for LGBTQ+ individuals for the first time in its over 40-year history.

The organization had earlier, in November 2020, released a “Blueprint for Positive Change,” urging the Department of Justice to bolster efforts to ensure local law enforcement agencies report hate crime statistics annually.

Despite some advancements made by the Biden-Harris administration to enhance reporting compliance, HRC says that further action is essential for a more accurate and exhaustive accounting of hate crimes.

Robinson emphasized the need for collective action to combat this trend.

“If we’re going to bring a stop to that violence, we need a full accounting of just how many hate crimes are taking place – and that requires every jurisdiction stepping up,” she said.

SELF CENSORING BOOK FAIRS U$A

For children's books on LGBTQ, race, Scholastic had a solution. Librarians weren't happy

Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY
Updated Wed, October 18, 2023 at 2:04 PM MDT·4 min read

Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books, is separating some books with LGBTQ themes and discussions of race in a special book fair collection, which elementary schools can opt into – or out of.

It’s not going over well.

The collection – called “Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice” – was originally curated, the company said, to protect teachers and librarians in the dozens of states and districts that have passed laws or policies prohibiting specific types of books from being in schools.

“These laws create an almost impossible dilemma: back away from these titles or risk making teachers, librarians, and volunteers vulnerable to being fired, sued, or prosecuted,” the publisher wrote in a public statement Friday.

"We don’t pretend this solution is perfect – but the other option would be to not offer these books at all – which is not something we’d consider," the statement said.

Scholastic pulls controversial book: "A birthday cake for George Washington" yanked over portrayal of slavery

But the effort has dismayed some authors and librarians. One middle school librarian in Louisiana told the School Library Journal she is canceling her book fair this year over the controversy. Some bestselling authors urged schools in recent days to look elsewhere for book fairs.

“So @Scholastic has a No Diversity Option and Librarians have to Opt In to get diverse books now,” wrote Jacqueline Woodson, the award-winning author of the novel “Brown Girl Dreaming,” in a social media post Friday. “Other Options for Book Fairs?”
'Easing the way for book banning extremists'

The controversy demonstrates yet another seemingly rote custom in American society becoming a casualty of culture-war politics. For decades, Scholastic's popular book fairs have been a fall staple of many libraries, especially in public elementary schools, where children near the start of every school year eagerly await the arrival of new books.

In a statement Tuesday, the free speech and literary organization PEN America called on Scholastic to reject any role in accommodating “nefarious laws and local pressures,” or risk being an “accessory to government censorship.”

“What we understand was conceived as a practical adaptation to keep book fairs going in a fraught legal and political climate is clearly at risk of being twisted to accomplish censorious ends,” the group said.

A petition circulating online from Red Wine and Blue, a political group of liberal mothers that is something of an anti-Moms for Liberty, says Scholastic has "eased the way for book banning extremists."

What's behind the surge in book bans? A low-tech website tied to Moms for Liberty
'Diverse' titles in every book fair

Scholastic stressed it provides diverse titles to every book fair. It blamed much of the reproval on misconceptions.

“The biggest misconception is that Scholastic Book Fairs is putting all diverse titles into one optional case,” the company said. “This is not true, in any school, in any location we serve.”

According to a list provided to USA TODAY by Scholastic, some of the roughly 60 titles in the collection include “All Are Welcome,” a children’s book by Alexandra Penfold, which features same-sex and interracial parents. Another is “Justice Ketanji,” by author Denise Lewis Patrick, who charts the path of Ketanji Brown Jackson to becoming the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

Another on the Scholastic list is "Alma and How She Got Her Name" by Juana Martinez-Neal. It's a picture book that has won a Caldecott Medal.

"The little girl, Alma, as well as all of her family are rendered in pencil with the color of their skin being the paper itself, to encourage all children to more easily see themselves in them," Martinez-Neal told USA TODAY in her first comments about challenges to her book.

"Until today, I made no comments. I needed to understand the reasoning behind the banning. I have yet to find out the reasons. I tried so hard to make a book for all young readers, I can only ask why?" Martinez-Neal said. "What is it about the story of a little girl’s name and her family that they want to keep from children? More so, who is deciding to exclude this book?"

Book fair hosts in every state have included the new collection in their fairs, Scholastic spokesperson Anne Sparkman said in an email to USA TODAY. When local laws or policies create content restrictions, many fairs make the collection available during a special time when parents can come, too, she said.

The American Library Association released preliminary data in September showing public libraries have seen a record surge in book banning efforts this year. The organization compiled nearly 2,000 challenges to unique books between January 1 and Aug. 31 of this year. That number is up 20% from the same period last year, ALA said.

"Book fairs are a celebration of reading and a moment that students look forward to each year − their faces light up every time they crack open the pages of a new book," said Brandon Wolf, national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign. "All students − no matter their background, sexual orientation, or gender identity − deserve that joy, to feel safe and welcomed in schools, and to see their lives reflected in the stories they read."

Zachary Schermele is a breaking news and education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Scholastic siloed children's books on LGBTQ and race, librarians say

Scholastic to separate books on race, gender and sexuality for book fairs

Adrian Horton
Wed, October 18, 2023 

Photograph: Amy Sussman/WireImage

The children’s book publisher Scholastic said it will separate titles in its elementary school book fairs by race, gender and sexuality, allowing school districts to include or exclude the list.

The decision is a response to dozens of state laws restricting how the topics are discussed in schools, which Scholastic has opposed. Districts can now opt out of the new list, called the Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice catalog, or choose specific titles from it.

Related: ‘Criminal liability for librarians’: the fight against US rightwing book bans

The new catalog of 64 titles includes biographies of the supreme court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and the civil rights icon John Lewis; the memoir I Am Ruby Bridges, on the experience of desegregating schools; the picture book Change Sings by the poet Amanda Gorman; The Storyteller, a middle grade novel about a Cherokee boy; and the disability-positive titles You Are Enough and You Are Loved.

In a statement last week, Scholastic said it created the separate catalog to continue offering diverse books in a hostile legislative environment that could threaten school districts, teachers or librarians. “There is now enacted or pending legislation in more than 30 US states prohibiting certain kinds of books from being in schools – mostly LGBTQIA+ titles and books that engage with the presence of racism in our country,” it said. “Because Scholastic Book Fairs are invited into schools, where books can be purchased by kids on their own, these laws create an almost impossible dilemma: back away from these titles or risk making teachers, librarians and volunteers vulnerable to being fired, sued or prosecuted.

“We cannot make a decision for our school partners around what risks they are willing to take, based on the state and local laws that apply to their district,” the statement added, “so these topics and this collection have been part of many planning calls that happen in advance of shipping a fair.

“We don’t pretend this solution is perfect – but the other option would be to not offer these books at all – which is not something we’d consider.”

Alongside PEN America, Scholastic has signed an open letter condemning book bans on the state and local level. But the Share Every Story catalog demonstrates the difficulty of continuing to do business in states in which restrictions on diverse titles could put schools and teachers in jeopardy.

Florida, for example, recently passed a law that would allow educators to be fired, and school districts to be sued or fined, for teaching banned material on race, gender or sexuality. Some school districts in the state are now requiring parents to fill out permission slips for their children to attend book fairs.

In a Tuesday statement, PEN America called Scholastic a “valued partner”, but said it disagreed with the publisher’s decision to create the Share Every Story catalog. “We call on Scholastic to explore other solutions so they can reject any role in accommodating these nefarious laws,” the organization said.

“To be clear, it is essential to lay blame on the legislators and activists who are putting Scholastic and other publishers in an impossible bind when it comes to the distribution of a diverse range of books,” the PEN statement continued, noting the “climate of fear” at work in schools and libraries.

But “sequestering books on these topics risks depriving students and families of books that speak to them. It will deny the opportunity for all students to encounter diverse stories that increase empathy, understanding, and reflect the range of human experiences and identities which are essential underpinnings of a pluralistic, democratic society.”

Scholastic hosts about 120,000 book fairs annually, according to the publisher, which began the practice in 1981. The fairs, which generate about $200m in profits shared with schools, reaches about 35 million children annually in all 50 states and internationally.


Why Everyone Is So Mad at … the Scholastic Book Fair?
Rebecca Onion

SLATE
Tue, October 17, 2023 

Yung Wing School, P.S. 124, in New York City. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

The Scholastic Book Fair, the still-trucking darling of the nostalgic internet, is in trouble. For weeks, librarians have been reporting an odd experience: When they went to order books for this fall’s book fairs, they were given the option to “opt in” to offer books with LGBTQ+ themes and “diverse” storylines. On Reddit almost a month ago, many librarians corroborated a poster’s firsthand report of this phenomenon unfolding at their school. In a series of TikToks from late September, a librarian told the story of being asked to opt in and saying yes. She followed up with a video of an unboxing of all the books that came in that opt-in collection: Lincoln Peirce’s graphic novel Big Nate: Payback Time!, an installment in a series that has previously been dinged for being too “sexual” (“That would sell like hotcakes,” the librarian remarked); Picture Day, by Sarah Sax, another graphic novel in which a middle-school girl asks another girl on a date; Chris “Ludacris” Bridges’ picture book Daddy and Me and the Rhyme to Be; a John Lewis bio; and a Ketanji Brown Jackson bio, because what’s more controversial than that?

After news of the checkbox spread, Scholastic finally issued a press release in response on Friday. The company called the idea that the fairs “put all diverse titles into one optional case” a “misconception.” Instead, Scholastic said, in order to protect “teachers, librarians, and volunteers” who work in states with laws about critical race theory and discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in schools from being “fired, sued, or prosecuted,” it had created an “additional collection”—called “Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice”—while maintaining that there are still “diverse titles throughout every book fair, for every age level.”

Though the statement is mealy-mouthed, Scholastic is not inventing a threat here. A teacher in Georgia was fired over the summer after a parent complained about her reading to her fifth-grade class Scott Stuart’s My Shadow Is Purple, a book about gender identity that the teacher says she purchased at the school’s book fair. (The teacher is appealing the termination to the state’s board of education.) Last year, one Texas school canceled its Scholastic book fairs, alleging that two students had purchased “adult” books inappropriate for their age at the fairs in the spring. These cases weren’t mentioned in the press release, but they seem to offer a good example of this kind of risk.

Scholastic, a brand name that doesn’t quite rival Disney but comes close in its particular realm, is a great target for right-wing culture warriors: a beloved purveyor of American children’s content that has long been perceived as a giant of the monoculture. The right-wing publisher Brave Books (“Pro-God, Pro-America children’s books”) ran an anti-Scholastic campaign earlier this year, promoting its own right-wing “book fair” by targeting Scholastic directly. If you put your email address into its website, Brave will send you a PDF with images from specific Scholastic books alongside some pronoun-specifying social media bios and personal photos of Scholastic authors. It mentions that Scholastic’s “largest shareholders include BlackRock and Vanguard” (boogeymen of the populist right) and calls the fair’s books “sick.”

“We all remember the Scholastic Book Fairs of our childhood, with the colorful book displays and the wish-list flyers,” Brave’s anti-Scholastic PDF says. “Scholastic’s iconic Book Fairs have been the primary mode of getting these books into children’s hands.” But the company, Brave warns darkly, is not the same as you remember, and “has had a dramatic shift in its mission and principles.”

On this, people on either side of the political spectrum may now agree. Anti–book banners online thought Friday’s Scholastic press release was far from sufficient, calling the company’s position “craven,” “disgusting,” and “gutless.” “I understand if a librarian needs to separate out certain books because displaying them will put them in danger,” wrote graphic novelist and Scholastic author Molly Knox Ostertag, in a much more understanding response than most. “But I fundamentally don’t think that is a call the publisher should be making for them.”

Scholastic’s down-the-middle response had such a harsh reception in part because its internet audience is made up of bookish people for whom loving the Scholastic Book Fair is a marker of identity and tribe. YouTube is full of Scholastic Book Fair nostalgia videos made by happy nerds who seem to get good viewership simply by remembering how it was. Back in 2017, Vox ran an explainer on the “nostalgic joys of the Scholastic book fair,” citing a since-deleted tweet: “Marry someone who makes you feel the way you felt during scholastic book fair week in grade school.”

Many of these people, I might gently suggest, have no memory of what a toy store the book fair actually can be. I took a photo of my kindergartner’s book fair “wish list” last spring because it was so amazing. In careful handwriting, the aide who accompanied my 5-year-old around the fair preview filled out the list of “titles” she earmarked for purchase: “1. Mini backpack. 2. Bear highlighter pen. 3. Rainbow bookmark. 4. Jelly fish pen.” The litany of tchotchkes continued onto the back for 20 entries, containing not one single book. (She ended up with a book with a mermaid necklace embedded on the cover.) In other words, the Scholastic Book Fair may be iconic, but for many reasons, it was already far from perfect.

Before Scholastic consolidated the national school book-fair market in the 1990s, there were other choices. Will the politics of the book-banning era provoke an undoing of its chokehold on the category? After author Jacqueline Woodson tweeted about Scholastic’s press release, asking for “other options for book fairs,” many replies mentioned collaborations with local indie bookstores, as well as a startup called Literati. (Literati touts its fairs’ lack of trinkets as a selling point.) But while profits from Scholastic’s book fairs fell, for obvious reasons, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company says, the business has now recovered. In September, Scholastic CEO Peter Warwick described the spending at Scholastic book fairs as now “very strong.”

On Monday morning, Scholastic’s official account on X posted a meme-ified viral tweet from 2017. Back then, @emsenesac wrote: “U ever smell the air and it smells like the fourth grade scholastic book fair on a chilly Tuesday in October of 2007”? The replies were not positive. “Cowards!” tweeted one. “Go hug a book burner,” added another. The dreaded “opt-in” box may not be the death of the Scholastic Book Fair this time, but it’s clear the company has so far only found a solution that will make no one happy.