Morning Open Thread is an open discussion forum for human interest news of the day.

It would be hard to guess if one tries to follow TV news, but other things actually occur in the world besides election primaries.

British Transport Minister Robert Goodwill says an unidentified object that either hit or nearly hit a British Airways Airbus A320 last week was likely to have been a plastic bag. The incident occurred at 1,700 feet over southwest London. Radio controlled quadricopters, commonly called “drones,” are limited to flying no higher than 400 feet. A wind blown plastic bag and other light objects can sometimes be seen floating on the wind far higher than that. Many pilots are able to report seeing plastic shopping bags and the like several hundred feet above the ground. They can easily be picked up by strong rising air currents called ‘thermals.’  It is thermal activity that causes dust devils when loose dusty soil is sucked hundreds–or even thousands–of feet into the air.

More over the fold.

As it turns out, many so-called “drone” sightings may be objects other than model aircraft. Hysteria is a peculiar thing. I am waiting for aliens to come down in drones and kidnap somebody.

News story from The Telegraph: “Drone believed to have hit British Airways flight ‘may have been a plastic bag'”

On Wednesday, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam signed a rather peculiar bill into law. Seems the Tennessee state legislature, not to be outdone by North Carolina, Mississippi and Indiana, passed HB1840 which protects mental health counselors from having to provide mental health services if the client or patient has a problem that conflicts with the belief system of the counselor. In other words, and although it does not say so explicitly, counselors are now protected from having to give mental health services to people with icky sexual orientation issues. That might include being gay, lesbian or transgender….or anything else that offends the counselors sincerely held beliefs.

This puzzles me, since the Counselor’s professional organization opposed said law.  In fact, it puts the Tennessee state legislature squarely between counselors and their code of ethics.  To illustrate why this bill is a non-starter, every mental health profession’s ethical code requires the professional to avoid conflicts of interest, counter-transference issues, or any other matter that may make it difficult or impossible for a counselor to provide impartial and non-judgmental services. In those cases, the counselor is ethically required to refer the patient or client. The exception being that a counselor cannot abandon a client if there is an immediate danger of harm to self or others. In those cases, referral to a competent colleague may be made once the crisis is resolved.

Well, gee whiz!

That is more or less what this new Tennessee law says. The problem rearing its ugly head is that if there are instances of open bigotry or other personal problems between a counselor and client, state mental health licensing boards now appear to have their hands tied if ethical sanctions are indicated. Having learned little or nothing from the experience of other states who are losing millions of dollars in tourist business, new jobs and and conventions, Tennessee is now at risk for some expensive lawsuits they don’t need, and which they are likely to lose.

Somebody once told me a good test to see if you are a bigot is, “If your God hates the same people you do.”

News aggregation site BuzzFeed has the story: Tennessee Governor Signs Bill Letting Counselors Refuse Service

—oooOooo–

This is a daily open thread. There are several hosts, each host being responsible for picking a “theme of the day” and starting the discussion. However, there is no hard and fast rule about staying on topic, especially if you have a personal story burning a hole in your pocket trying to escape.

Pictures and videos are welcome in the comments.  If photos are used, please be sure you own the copyright. We would rather see your personal photos anyway, rather than random stuff copied from the internet.  Our only request is that if you use pictures or videos, take pity on those who don’t have broadband, and don’t post more than two or three in a single comment.

This is an open thread. What’s on your mind today?