Robert Macdonald, the mayor of Lewiston, Maine, wrote an op-ed in his local paper, the Twin City Times, on Thursday saying he wants to publish all the personal details of people on welfare. Macdonald wrote that in the next legislative session, he and his colleagues will submit a bill "asking that a website be created containing the names, addresses, length of time on assistance and the benefits being collected by every individual on the dole."
Macdonald argued that given the existence of a website that issues information on those receiving pensions from the state of Maine, the same should exist for welfare recipients.
"The answer: Our liberal, progressive legislators and their social-service allies have made them a victimized, protected class. It&apos;s none of your business how much of your money they get and spend. Who are you to question it? Just shut up and pay!"
Macdonald said he would also submit bills limiting the total time allowed in assistance to 60 months and prevent people from receiving benefits for any children born to someone after they went on General Assistance. Given the mayor is not guaranteed to stay in office (with an attempt at re-election in November), his bills would need to be endorsed by a state lawmaker.
"We&apos;re not going to be known as a welfare town anymore," Macdonald said in 2013, according to the Bangor Daily News. "If you want to come here, don&apos;t come here for welfare because if we catch you, you will be prosecuted."
Other states have made attempts to target welfare recipients, such as in Arizona: New recipients suspected of drug use in Arizona have been required to enter a screening program as of 2009. From 2009-2012, of more than 87,000 recipients drug tested in Arizona, there was only one positive result — uncovering this drug user saved Arizona $560. Another two failed the test between 2012 and 2014, amounting to three drug users in five years. Officials promised the state near $2 million in savings when the program was first launched.
While Macdonald&apos;s proposal is somewhat different, at its root, it seeks to treat welfare recipients differently from the rest of the population. This is not the first time he has been known for singling out minorities. Macdonald received backlash in the past for insensitive remarks regarding Somalis in the United States.
"If you want to come in here and you want to celebrate your holidays, I don&apos;t care. I don&apos;t care. Just don&apos;t try to insert your culture, which obviously isn&apos;t working, into ours, which does," he said on the matter of Somalian diaspora living in Maine.
For now, Macdonald will focus on seeking out welfare defrauders. Next, he&apos;ll protect old people. "Next week, we will talk about our progressive liberal friends&apos; war on the elderly," Macdonald concluded in his op-ed.
This morning, in that magical half-world between sleep and waking, I imagined that Frida, accompanied by Benny, would perform “Andante, Andante” at the ABBA Day in Sweden this year. Then I imagined all four of them would be there and perform “The Way Old Friend Do”. I also dreamed that I was up in the country at my grandparents’ house for school holidays in the 1970’s… where I received my very first ABBA tape!
Then I heard the news and I immediately thought it was 1st April… an April Fools joke… but it’s 28th April 2018 and it is OFFICIAL news… ABBA HAVE RECORDED TWO NEW SONGS: “I Still Have Faith In You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down”. At least one to be released in December and the video will be performed by the new Avatars from the upcoming “Live” stage shows.
To top that off, a little later, my partner puts his phone down in front of me and starts playing a new track… FRIDA’S new version of “Andante, Andante” which proves that her voice is as beautiful as ever. Of course, it was a little disappointing that it was sung in Spanish but the other news completely removed all the sting from that.
ABBA’s return to the recording studio is one of the most long-awaited, surprising band reunions in music history – and here’s what to expect from their “magical” reconciliation and their first song in 35 years.
In an exclusive Australian interview with Fairfax Media, long-time ABBA business partner and confidante Gorel Hanser, who was in the studio for the reunion recording session, reveals: It’s a ballad.
The song, I Still Have Faith In You, was specifically written for this reunion by the ABBA men – Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson – and is not a dusty composition pulled from the bottom drawer from the 1970s.
It’s sung together by the ABBA women, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, re-igniting their instantly recognisable vocal duel but with neither taking a solo lead.
And the making-of story behind this reunion was a warm, emotional affair when the four band members – two pairs of former spouses – finally came together again to record their first music since 1982.
“It was wonderful,” Hanser says. “It was magical. It was a very warm, relaxed, happy atmosphere, no hard feelings, no stress… it was like 35 years hadn’t passed. Like back in the old days. It was very emotional.”
In a statement, the ABBA members said: “We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go in to the recording studio. So we did. And it was like time had stood still and that we only had been away on a short holiday. We may have come of age, but the song is new. And it feels good.”
The recording session was driven by a semi-reunion project flagged two years ago, a vaguely defined show involving ABBA reproduced as digital avatars. That ABBA-avatar project is still going ahead but now with this new original music attached, Hanser says.
“Along the way, Bjorn and Benny talked about maybe it would be good to have a couple of new songs included in this show… and then they wrote some new songs for this show. This was something that gave them the idea of writing something new for ABBA, for a special cause, for a special project.”
The band has recorded two new songs: I Still Have Faith In You, which the world will hear for the first time when the avatar show is revealed in a TV special in December, and another song, Don’t Shut Me Down, that is likely to follow as a single release when it premieres on the avatar tour.
“The first song is more of a ballad, the second song is more of an up-tempo song,” Hanser told Fairfax Media.
“I think you do it the same way as you have always done it – the best you possibly can,” Hanser said.
“They have always done it their own way. They did it today the way they always did. The way Benny writes music. And the lyrics are more mature… the way they are today.”
As to the question fans worldwide now want answered: Does this mean a possible on-stage reunion? Hanser has bad news.
ABBA famously knocked back an offer of $1billion to reunite for a world tour and apparently it’s the same response now.
That leaves the avatar tour as the only live hope for the ABBA faithful, and that tour is certain to include Australia, where the band first exploded as a music force in 1975.
Two days ago it was announced the government would be investing £128m in mental health services. The next piece of news identified the government are making cuts to mental health nursing? Contradiction me thinks!!!
As an individual trying to live with a mental health illness where even just the other day it took a lot of prep for me to be able to go out to B and Q. I had been wanting to go for days but I just never made it. However I had to go if I needed to finish some DIY I psyched myself up, went as early as possible and walked around with headphones in. Sufferring this sort of anxiety completely hinders my life. Tomorrow will be the first time I will have the opportunity of a session with a mental health nurse since May. Cutting jobs in the mental health arena whilst investing lots of money into the ‘service’ really makes sense doesn’t it?! I wonder where the money is going? Infrastructure no doubt!! No point having a lovely building with amazing facilities if you cannot provide the staff and care which goes with it! Especially as there is a massive shortfall in treatment and huge waiting list for support. Yet 1 in 4 suffer from many forms of mental health illnesses. I’m not sure what the government intend to change with the extra influx of cash if they will not have the nurses available to assist. More and more we are becoming more reliant on generous people and self funded groups/charities such as SSAFA and the Veterans Council who sourced my community psychiatric nurse.
The state of mental health services in this country is appalling with politicians only interested when an election is looming. It’s interesting that Nick Clegg decides to have a half hour online Q and A sessions on Facebook yet questions posed remained unanswered. I still remember his ‘promises’ during the previous election and indeed reverted to type and has gone against everything!
Having someone to talk to is great but just sometimes it isn’t enough. It is professional help that is required by a qualified clinician in the subject. When I worked on the ambulances we had been constantly called to people trying to committ suicide or to someone who needed sectioning. I noticed that actually no one agency really took responsibility. The police would sometimes take them away because ‘they were causing a nuisance’. We would receive a call and one of the guys on shift would say ‘oh no it’s her/him again ‘one of our regulars, I’m glad you got the call’. They would then proceed to have a conversation and a laugh about previous call – outs which I thought was very sad.
We would take people to hospital because due to having taken an overdose and certain individuals would roll their eyes and say ‘not again’ then speak to them as if they were wasting precious time!! They would then be discharged at ridiculous times somtimes without any way of getting home. Why are they being discharged from the hospital when they know full well that they will be back. Surely it will be more cost effective to provide the right care to begin with. The way these patients used to be treated by certain ‘clinicians’ saddened me. What angers me more is that they should not be at the stage where they are making repeated attempts at ending their life. Care should have been provided to them well before now instead of being dismissed as a lost cause and a drain on the NHS emergency department which is how it was perceived. Services designed to prevent mental health deteriorating should be easily available to try to stop most people crisis point before people stand up and take notice! Community support does exist in certain regions but even then it is not on a long-term basis; and mostly provided by volunteers.
I was watching the news yesterday and a girl called Lauren committed suicide by jumping off the top of the Arndale Shopping Centre car park. She was only 16 but she was battling with anxiety disorder. She had been sectioned at some point but then let out let out again. Where was the follow-up care for this young lady?
What also angers me is the lack of continuity in treatment. I have mentioned this in a previous post about myself and 3 other colleagues all being treated differently for the same illness. How can that be? I have also taken note that within the NHS a lot is dependant on your postcode, this should not be the case. Everyone is entitled to the same basic level of care regardless of class or status.
On Coronation Street (yes I watch it) Steve has been struggling and saw a GP. He asked the GP if he was ill and she she stated it a mental health ‘issue’. It is not an ‘issue’ as she called it, it’s an illness. Steve did not feel he could open up to anyone and lost his wife due to this. Yes I know it’s a soap but this is happening in real life peeps and people are losing their loved ones because of it. Stigma plays a massive part in this but also individuals being too ashamed. It’s a vicious circle which is not helped by comments made by Cheryl Cole on x-factor choosing to put her dancers in straight jackets for the song ‘crazy’!! Or supermarkets selling mental patient fancy dress outfits! It needs to stop and mental health needs to be taken as seriously as any physical illness, end of!!
MNN is pleased to announce that it is now syndicating two further sources of micronational news. Firstly, we welcome the …
MNN has added two more micronational news services to its headlines, based in Nemkhavia: The Nemkhav Star, the official news …