"A left wing Dutch vegan who has lived in Switzerland since she was a child has been denied a Swiss passport because locals in her adoptive town find her too annoying.
Nancy Holten, 42, is a self-described animal rights activist who has campaigned against the Swiss tradition of cow bells, calling them cruel.
Despite living in the country since the age of eight, and speaking fluent Swiss German, local residents vetoed her application of citizenship, saying they were “fed up” with her challenging their traditions.
The Dutchwoman explained her views: “The sound that cow bells make is a hundred decibels. It is comparable with a pneumatic drill. We also would not want such a thing hanging close to our ears?”
“The bells, which the cows have to wear when they walk to and from the pasture, are especially heavy.
“The animals carry around five kilograms around their neck. It causes friction and burns to their skin.”
Aargauer Zeitung says that as well as cow bells, she has also campaigned against other Swiss traditions including hunting, pig racing, and even loud church bells.
Local politician Tanja Suter said Ms. Holten had a “big mouth” and she does not deserve a Swiss passport “if she irritates us and does not respect our traditions”.
Ms Holten herself admits: “I think I spoke my mind too often, and I say it out too loud.”
Under Switzerland’s highly decentralised constitution, local towns and regions grant citizenship rather than the central government, and some give citizens a vote on who gets a passport.
Villagers in Gipf-Oberfrick in the canton of Aargau voted by 206 to 144 to reject Ms. Holten’s application for citizenship in 2015, and have now rejected that application a second time.
The case will now go to the regional government, which can overrule the vote and grant her citizenship anyway.
Switzerland has some of the tightest citizenship laws in the world, and being born in the country often does not grant the children of immigrants an automatic right to a passport."
Note: Bill Stanley forwarded this to us from Breitbart.
Note: Bill Stanley forwarded this to us from Breitbart.
I have been in Switzerland a few times with the most notable in 1972 when I arrived in my new VW Kampmobile with a factory Porsche engine modification that would take it up to over 80 mph. Unfortunately I came in from Genoa, Italy on a route frequented by drug runners. The road snaked around mountains going in and out of the country with a border station every time. I spent more time explaining my laxative pills than driving as I go from "bound" to "free flowing" on trips where the water changes much. Herds of helmets poured over, under and into my "bus" while I explained my innards to several stoic, uniformed officials. The Swiss sense of humor is a myth so I can believe the above story.
Switzerland is nation that fell in love with cowbells, chocolate and machine guns. Every able-bodied man from 18 to 55 must keep a fully automatic NATO cartridge firing machine gun to defend the realm. There is not a war general alive who would march an army into Switzerland as they would be outnumbered 50 to 1 and picked off in formation one-by-one. They learned the lesson we taught the world in 1776 and 1812. While our battles were important the untold story of our revolution, but one well known and taught in our "war colleges," is that our citizens, armed with extremely accurate "squirrel guns" were used to put one bullet into a leg of a redcoat and then four men would have to carry the wounded man on a stretcher. Do that to 15% of those marching and you have destroyed their combat capability. Our boys could hide in bushes, pick one off and scurry away into the brush. The largest and most effective army in the world is the American hunter with most of them living in flyover country. So remember that, Democrats, when you complain about the Electoral College. You owe your life to it.
Adrian Vance

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