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Originally published in Inside Sources.

It sounded frightening.

Israels president thundered its a new kind of terrorism. The prime minister threatened strong action. The Israeli ambassador demanded that state governments in the United States bring the perpetrators to court.

This wasnt about a missile strike or a cyberattack. It was about ice cream.

Ben & Jerrys had announced it would be ending production and sale of their treats in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Israels response was extreme maybe, but not really surprising.

This same Israeli government defines the global civil society boycott a nonviolent pressure campaign to stop Israels violations of international law and human rights as an existential threat. Apparently, even when its about ice cream.

In 2006, Israel created its Ministry of Strategic Affairs to respond to the alleged threat posed by Irans nuclear enrichment program. (Israel, not Iran, holds the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, but thats another story.) A few years later, the same ministry got a new assignment: stop the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, known as BDS.

Its not really a nonviolent boycott of Chunky Monkey that Israel is worried about. Its bad publicity.

Boycotts are protected by our Constitution and the Supreme Court. Theyve been used forever in this country from the Boston Tea Party to the Montgomery bus boycott to the boycott of apartheid South Africa. Other citizen boycotts are underway today targeting Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, Turkey, China, and even the Tokyo Olympics.

The BDS campaign targets Israel over its occupation of Palestinian lands, discrimination against Palestinian citizens in Israel, and denial of Palestinian refugees right to return to their homes.

These human rights violations have led influential organizations includingHuman Rights Watchand the Israeli human rights organizationBtselem to determine that Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid.

Israels real fear isnt about ice cream. Its the publicity that comes with boycotts supported by wildly popular brands like Cherry Garcia.

Boycotts lead to people asking embarrassing questions. Whats the deal with Israeli settlements? If Palestinians are citizens of Israel, why dont they have the same rights as Jewish citizens? Why cant Palestinian refugees go home? The answers arent actually hard to find.

About 700,000 Israelis now live in Jewish-only settlements in the Palestinian West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. Theyre allillegal under international law.

Palestinian citizens of Israel do have the right to vote. But many rights in Israel are determined not by citizenship but by nationality. If youre not Jewish, Israeli lawsays explicitlythat many rights dont apply to you.

And despite international law and U.N. resolutionsmandating the right of Palestinian refugees like all people to return to their homes after a war, Israel refuses to allow dispossessed Palestinians to return home. But Jewish migrants from anywhere in the world whether or not they have ties to Israel are welcome to full citizenship.

Israel worries when people ask those questions. Because the answers raise more questions about the legitimacy of Israel as a democracy or our best friend in the Middle East. Questions like: How can we be such close allies with a countrywhose prime minister said, Ive killed lots of Arabs in my life, and there is no problem with that?

That leads to asking members of Congress why they send $3.8 billion of our tax money directly to the Israeli military every year. Shouldnt we condition that aid on ending human rights violations or cut it altogether?

U.S. public opinion has changed dramatically on the subject, especially among Jews and Democrats.

In a recent poll,25 percent of Jewish voters agreed that Israel is an apartheid state, and 34 percent called Israels treatment of Palestinians racist.In another poll, 66 percent of Democrats want the United States to impose economic sanctions or take other action in response to Israeli settlements.

Ben & Jerrys has a long history of social responsibility. Founded by progressive Jews, the company has supported the Black Lives Matter movement, environmental justice, and a wide range of other causes.

Pulling out of Israels illegal settlements, encouraged by a petition campaign in their home state of Vermont, is consistent with their history and U.S. public opinion.

Who knew that ice cream could be so important?

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Ben & Jerry's Is Carrying On a Proud Tradition of Boycotts for Human Rights - FPIF - Foreign Policy In Focus

The Mad Hatters tea party was amusing as fiction. But if the Administration chooses to join in, we will all pay a very high price. And thats no joke.

Sensing an opening after the Biden Administrations recent Executive Order put a hold on a pending regulation prohibiting the misuse of the march-in rights provision of the Bayh-Dole Act for price control, Congressional opponents of the law dusted off a ploy that failed in the Obama Administration to try their luck again. Theyve written to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra urging them to march in to control prices of drugs created from inventions arising from R&D their agencies supported.

We likened that aspect of the Executive Order to shooting ourselves in the foot, and it seemed as though it would be a while before we would know if the Administration would pull the trigger or not. With the recent Congressional actions, the day of reckoning may not be far off.

It initially seemed appropriate to compare the repetitious moves of the critics to the movie Groundhog Day, where the same things keep happening over and over. However, upon further reflection, its more like Alice in Wonderlandan analogy all too familiar in the patent world. Because for this ploy to succeed, as the White Queen proclaimed, wed have to believe several impossible things before breakfast.

Here are a few of them:

Unfortunately, there is a lot more at stake than an exercise in fictional allegories. The symbiotic partnership between our public and private sectors underpins both our economy and our well-being. Its nothing short of astonishing that less than a year after these partnerships created the most effective COVID-19 vaccines in the world (which the Administration touts daily as essential for preserving both our health and our economy) the system which created them is under attack from some of those who have benefitted the most.

The Biden Administrations actions supporting the giveaway of our COVID-19 inventions and know-how to our rivals, coupled with the language in the recent Executive Order on march-in rights, makes it appear these hard-won lessons are in real jeopardy of being ignored.

Up until now, every Administration for the last 20 years (including the Obama-Biden Administration) has rejected attempts to misuse march-in rights for price control as unauthorized under the law.

How ironic (and tragic) would it be if President Biden, who supported Bayh-Dole when he was a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, chose to go down the rabbit hole with the critics. The Mad Hatters tea party was amusing as fiction. But if the Administration chooses to join in, we will all pay a very high price. And thats no joke.

Public DomainFile:John Tenniel- Alices mad tea party, colour.jpgCreated: 1 January 1865

Joseph Allen is a Featured Contributor on IPWatchdog.com, and a 30-year veteran of national efforts to foster public/private sector commercialization partnerships, and author of numerous articles on technology management for national publications.

Joe served as a Professional Staff Member on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee with former Senator Birch Bayh (D-IN), and was instrumental in working behind the scenes to ensure passage of the historic Bayh-Dole Act. He is our resident Bayh-Dole expert, and will write frequently about Bayh-Dole and issues surrounding the commercialization of university research.

In 2008, Joe founded Allen & Associates, through which he offers consulting services assisting clients in technology transfer issues, including developing effective communication strategies with national policy makers.

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Don't Go Down the Rabbit Hole with the Foes of Bayh-Dole - IPWatchdog.com

Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World opened to Guests this morning, without the operation of a popular coaster Space Mountain.

Related: Iconic Element Went Missing From Space Mountain, Fans Upset

Per WDW Stats on Twitter, the fan-favorite coaster has been closed since 8 a.m., which is when Magic Kingdom opened to Guests:

Space Mountain has been temporarily interrupted. On average, an interruption takes 118 minutes. http://wdwst.at/detail/80010190 #SpaceMountain #MagicKingdom #WDW #WaltDisneyWorld #DisneyWorld

Related:Disney Fans Ask For Space Mountain to Be Refurbed Next

When checking the My Disney Experience one hour after Park opening, we can see that Space Mountain is still not operating.

At this time, we do not know the cause of the temporary closure, but Inside the Magic will update you as we get information.

In the meantime, Guests can still enjoy other Magic Kingdom attractions including Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin, Mad Tea Party, Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, its a small world, and more!

Space Mountain is one of the most popular rides in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Located in Tomorrowland, this indoor roller coaster takes Guests on a journey into space as they zoom past stars, planets, and more.

Walt Disney World describes this Tomorrowland attractionas:

Blast off on a rip-roaring rocket into the furthest reaches of outer space on this roller-coaster ride in the dark.

Dip and careen into the inky blackness as a futuristic soundtrack echoes all around you. Fly past shooting stars and celestial satellites. Roar past streaking orbs of light, wayward comets and migrant meteors. Feel the pull of gravity as youre drawn into a swirling wormhole!

Are you visiting Magic Kingdom today? Is this temporary closure affecting your plans? Let us know in the comments below.

Visit link:
Magic Kingdom Opens Without Fan-Favorite Attraction Inside the Magic - Inside the Magic

In early July, I found myself trucking down Interstate 35 in an aging Ford with our dippy, big-eared hound dog in the extended cab. Months ago, my husband and I had bought our 95 F-150 with the aim of being analog on purpose, a result of our households pandemic- and deep freeze-inspired, light, liberal Austin prepperism. If we were going to be the kind of people who drive an electric car, wed better also have a gas-powered vehicle in which to haul ass out of town. Without a CD player or a Bluetooth connection, we enjoyed the drive back to Austin from East Texas rolling the radio dial to the next available twang whenever the music got fuzzy.

It was the first proper road trip Id taken since the Before Times. We spent the weekend with my folks in Franklin County, playing card games and trying out my new stand-up (or fall-down) paddleboard. Tired and happy and blessedly not-sunburned, I flipped through country stations on the sunny Sunday evening, ready to be back home but relishing finally, finally, not being at home.

The truck, the dog, Waylon and Willie on the radioit was all just so Texan! And it was the first time in a long time I felt safe and optimistic and unafraid.

Until Don Huffines face rose over the horizon. Suddenly, the Dallas real estate baron lorded over the highway on a black, white, and red billboard decrying immigrantsthe sign used a dehumanizing epithetas coming for our rightful, hard-earned money. (I know you know who our is.) We were ushered home by Huffines every few miles urging us to fear our fellow Texans, or else.

A former Republican state senator, Huffines is now running for governor, selling himself as a right-of-right primary challenger to Greg Abbott. His billboards make it look more like hes running for Big Brother. Or executioner. His campaigns fear-mongering aesthetic is obvious and effective, though not as intended. I certainly felt fearful: not of immigrants, but of the bare hatred on display. Abbotts other Republican challenger is Allen West, a Tea Party politician from Florida who was forced to retire from the military and fined $5,000 for torturing an Iraqi police officer in 2003. His campaign promises to put Texas firsta slogan ripped from Donald Trumps America First campaign, which was rooted in Nazi sympathy of yesterday and, evidently, today. Meanwhile, Abbott and other Texas Republicans have ramped up attacks on transgender people, especially trans kids, and attempts to whitewash history by barring educators from teaching curricula that covers racial injustice and racism. You know, history and current events.

Fear is old, old political currency. The manufacture of the otherimmigrants and people of color, queer folks and poor folks, people who are many or all of those thingsis as old as old gets.

The messaging might have been a little different in the pastsee, compassionate conservatismbut conservative American politicians have been manufacturing, packaging, and selling this kind of panic for decades. What is different now in Texas is not that this fear-mongering is any louder or wronger, but that its enforcement and dissemination at the political level has moved from the institutional to the interpersonal, and in a state with tremendous economic and political influence. This is the inevitable next step in a fear-based politic that takes as a foundational premise the condemnation of democratic governance. Witness drain the swamp, or 40 years ago, Ronald Reagans inaugural salvo: Government is not the solution to our problem, government is our problem.

Two pieces of legislation passed this year in Texas distill this inexorable shift into its purest form: our new permitless carry law, which allows almost anyone to wield a handgun without a license or training, and our latest abortion ban, set to be enforced not by the state but by private citizens encouraged to sue for cash if someone, anyone, ends a pregnancy after about six weeks.

If thats meant to rattle me, consider me rattled.

Tacit approval for the extrajudicial enforcement of white supremacy and patriarchy has a long history in this country; it is, in many ways, the history of this country. But a legislated mandate to surveil your neighbors, with the statutory encouragement to do so with a gun in hand? That doesnt just make Don Huffines billboard about them coming for our jobs and our money scary. It aggravates and intensifies political views that were already violent, destructive, and deadly.

I have seen these new lawsalong with everything from Ted Cruz championing the willfully unvaccinated as freedom fighters, to Abbotts call for a border wall that border communities dont wantdecried as cynical, wrong-headed, and ignorant.

But is it cynical to demonize immigrants for trying to make a living? Is it wrong-headed to eschew a mask or a vaccine that saves lives? Is it ignorant to ban health care for trans kids, or drag a doctor to court for providing abortions?

Or is it greedy, white supremacist, patriarchal bigotry pasted over with an Infowars sticker? I think it is something much deeper and dirtier than good ole boys being good ole boys. It is mandated, legislated hate. We must name that and rebuke it, and instead assert a Texanness that is rooted in generosity and progress and kindness. Otherwise, we will continue to be pulled ever backward by those clamoring for the Texas pre-Voting Rights Act and Roe v. Wade, idealizing the not-so-good-old-days of a state founded on land stolen from Native and Indigenous people and built through the exploitation and oppression of enslaved people and immigrants. We will go down, deep into a place that will consume us with fear and rage and suspicionby design, and to the enrichment of the very worst among us.

Don Huffines and his ilk claim to stand for real Texas values. Are the things I valuejustice, equality, redress and reparation, mutual aid, education, and critical thinkingnot Texas values? Huffines claims to be a fifth-generation Texan; I am at least that, and also, what the hell does it matter? I am here today, and my values are Texas values.

I believe access to abortion is a Texas value. I believe being free from the terrors of racist policing and institutionalized xenophobia are Texas values. I believe letting trans kids get the health care they need is a Texas value. I believe getting vaccinated against a deadly disease is a Texas value. I believe resisting the greed of industry is a Texas value. I could go on. My Texas values are bigger and more enduring than some bigots racist billboard.

Read more:
Opinion: From 'Friendly' State to Enmity State - The Texas Observer

In 2022, longtime Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski is up for re-election. Murkowski managed to pull off a rare feat in Alaska in 2010 when she ran as a write-in candidate and won after she lost her primary to Tea Party candidate Joe Miller (via The New York Times). She won the general election and served another term in 2016. Now, Sarah Palin is thinking of taking her on, but she'd have to beat her in the primary first.

"If God wants me to do it, I will," Palin said when speaking with New Apostolic Reformation leader Ch Ahn, according to USA Today.

Calling Washington, D.C. a bubble, Palin said it would be a "sacrifice" to have to live there, but she would do it. However, she also stipulated that religious groups that didn't defend her in 2008 would have to come through. "If I were going to announce, what I would do is say 'OK, you guys better really be there for me this time," she said.

Palin also acknowledged that the primary would be crowded, with Murkowski trying to keep her seat and Donald Trump-backed candidate Kelly Tshibaka already in the race. "You know, there's a female Republican who's already jumped in the race. Kind of the scary thing is that I've been in politics all my life, up in Alaska, and I'd never heard of her, so that made me hesitant," Palin added (via USA Today).

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Could Sarah Palin Really Be Returning To A Career In Politics? - The List