position:counselor

Hacked Emails Show Top UAE Diplomat Coordinating With Pro-Israel Think Tank Against Iran
▻https://theintercept.com/2017/06/03/hacked-emails-show-top-uae-diplomat-coordinating-with-pro-israel-neoco

THE EMAILS PROVIDED so far to the The Intercept show a growing relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the pro-Israel, neoconservative think tank called the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).

On the surface, the alliance should be surprising, as the UAE does not even recognize Israel. But the two countries have worked together in the past against their common adversary, Iran.

On March 10 of this year, FDD CEO Mark Dubowitz authored an email to both the UAE’s ambassador to the United States, Yousef Al-Otaiba, and FDD Senior Counselor John Hannah — a former deputy national security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney — with the subject line “Target list of companies investing in Iran, UAE and Saudi Arabia.”

“Dear, Mr. Ambassador,” Dubowitz wrote. “The attached memorandum details companies listed by country which are doing business with Iran and also have business with the UAE and Saudi Arabia. This is a target list for putting these companies to a choice, as we have discussed.”

Mississippi Lawmakers on Brink of Passing Georgia-Style Anti-LGBT ’Religious Freedom’ Bill - The New Civil Rights Movement
▻http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/is_mississippi_about_to_join_north_carolina_by_passing_a_

http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/thenewcivilrightsmovement/pages/16144/meta_images/original/mississippi_2.jpg?1459344781

According to Protect Thy Neighbor, a project of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, here are a few other potential consequences of HB 1523:

a government clerk could refuse to issue a marriage license to a couple because one person had been previously divorced;
a taxpayer-funded adoption agency could refuse to place a child with a happy and loving family because the parents lived together before they were married;
a taxpayer-funded organization that provides shelter to kids who have suffered child abuse could turn away a pregnant teenager;
a counseling group practice could refuse to see a mother and her teen who is experiencing severe depression because the woman is unmarried;
a counselor could refuse to help an LGBT person who called a suicide hotline;
a fertility clinic could refuse to treat a veteran and his partner because they are not married;
a car rental agency could refuse to rent a car to a same-sex couple on their honeymoon; and
a corporation could fire a woman for wearing pants.

After the bill cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, the Human Rights Campaign noted that it would also allow foster parents to subject LGBT children to “conversion therapy,” in addition to legalizing “Kim Davis-like discrimination” on the part of government employees.

HB 1523 passed the House 80-39, and today is the last day for the Senate to take it up.

▻http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/tags/North_Carolina

In Texting Era, Crisis Hotlines Put Help at Youths’ Fingertips - NYTimes.com
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/us/in-texting-era-crisis-hotlines-put-help-at-youths-fingertips.html?nl=todays

The conversation began abruptly, with the anonymous teenager getting straight to the point: She had just told her family that she was really a boy trapped in a female body. “Now my family hates me,” she told a crisis counselor.

The counselor was empathetic. She asked for more detail about the family, offered encouragement and provided the name of a local support group.

It was in many ways a typical exchange on a crisis hotline, except it took place entirely by texting.

Il est temps de prendre ne compte l’aptitude aux SMS des ados. Excellente initiative.

Mortar strikes Vatican embassy in Damascus
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/mortar-strikes-vatican-embassy-damascus

A mortar round hit the Vatican embassy in Damascus on Tuesday morning, damaging the building but causing no casualties, a diplomat told AFP. “A mortar round fell this morning at 6:30 am (0430 GMT) on the embassy rooftop, causing only material damage,” said Giorgio Ghezza, counselor at the papal nunciature. Rebel-fired mortar rounds have frequently hit areas of central Damascus. (...)

#syria #Top_News