ZURICH, June 14 (Reuters) -

Switzerland on Sunday rejected a proposal to cap its population at 10 million as voters prioritised economic stability and ties with the European Union over worries immigration was stretching public services and pushing up rents.

A preliminary tally of a nationwide referendum showed almost 55% of Swiss voters came out against the proposal, and 45% in favour.

Championed by the right-wing Swiss People's Party, the proposal stipulated that the population must not exceed 10 million before 2050, and that if it did so for two years, Switzerland should end freedom of movement with the EU.

The government had urged voters to reject the cap. Swiss Justice Minister Beat Jans welcomed the result but pledged to analyse what further steps could be taken to satisfy voter concerns about housing and immigration.

"With today's decision, the electorate has sent out a signal of stability, openness, and reliability," Jans told a press conference alongside Swiss President Guy Parmelin."

"On the Triumph Gulf Coast board, Gaetz would be responsible for overseeing the administering of 75 percent of the $2 billion that British Petroleum has been paying the state since 2016 as part of a settlement agreement between the two parties.

Those payments, just over $100 million each year, are expected to continue through 2033.

The cash is meant to be directed to the eight Northwest Florida counties that were most affected by the oil spill, according to the organization's website.

The group was created in 2013 through the state Legislature, with Gaetz's father, then-state Senate President Don Gaetz, as a supporter.

The elder Gaetz chaired the organization from 2018 to 2022, after the nonprofit was formally incorporated and the first payment from BP was received."

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What could possibly go wrong?

At least we see that Corrupt Nepotism is still alive and well in Floriduh.

"But the measure is largely symbolic because the resolution, even after passing both chambers of Congress, will not be sent to Trump for his consideration and does not carry the force of the law.

It could, however, be subject to a legal challenge.

The vote marks the first time that both chambers of Congress have approved a concurrent resolution instructing a president to end a military action since the War Powers Resolution of 1973 was enacted.

Its passing is significant because it adds to the pressure the White House is facing to find an end to the Iran war, as petrol prices have spiked and public opposition to the war has increased."

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Trumpy says there's no war now to stop... so there!

- a small life preserver for my psyche then.

Sitting in a park in Paris France
Reading the news and it sure looks bad
They won't give peace a chance
That was just a dream some of us had

- Joni Mitchell, California

- about six weeks before the draft lottery drawing

My number was 32!

I started college not long after; I had taken the Army physical and tests, scored well enough for Officer training... but I got a 6 mo Deferment because of an ulnar nerve problem; apparently they were afraid I couldn't hold up a rifle.

After that, they never contacted me again, and sure as F didn't contact them!

Officer training was 6 weeks, then being dropped into the front lines to lead experienced Units who were just as likely to shoot the inexperienced Officer than the were the Viet Cong.

Muhamad Ali, who had been a boxing hero of mine, became an antiwar hero to me, too:

- Why didn't Biden release them?

One of the best Cult Tells out there, lol.

If they have to ask, they're definitely Cultified.

#3

You are!

I was expecting the first post to be one of the, "I hate her voice!" posts ;)

Here's a performance at the BBC a year before Blue came out... including the solo piano version of her song Woodstock before CSNY made it famous, and several that were on Blue:

"On this day (June 22) in 1971, Joni Mitchell released Blue. It was an intensely honest and emotional release in which Mitchell bared her soul to the world. Songs like "Case of You," "Carey," "California," and "This Flight Tonight" have become cornerstones of her discography."

"In the decades since its release, it has been hailed by multiple critics as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Several life events inspired songs from the Blue. The end of Mitchell's relationship with Graham Nash, her ongoing relationship with James Taylor, and putting her daughter up for adoption in 1965 were the major contributors, though.

"Why I wrote the songs on Blue, the point is that soon after I'd given up my daughter for adoption, I had a house and a car and I had the means and I'd become a public figure," she recalled.

"The combination of those situations did not sit well. So, I kind of withdrew from music, began to go inside, and question who I was. Out of that, Blue evolved.

"We had to close the doors and lock them while I recorded Blue," Joni Mitchell recalled in a 1996 interview.

"I was in a state of mind that, in this culture, would be called a nervous breakdown. In pockets of the Orient, it would be considered a shamanic conversion," she added.

She recalled playing Blue for Kris Kristofferson. "God, Joan, save something of yourself," he exclaimed upon hearing it.

"He was embarrassed by it," she reflected. "I think, generally, at first that people were embarrassed by it, that in a certain way it was shocking, especially in the pop arena."
(excerpts)

"Along with its romantic melancholy, Blue was the sound of a woman availing herself of the romantic and sexual freedom that was, until then, an exclusively male province in rock," the outlet added.

Mitchell herself has acknowledged the quality and impact of Blue, telling Rolling Stone in 1979 that "there's hardly a dishonest note in the vocals."

"At that period of my life, I had no personal defenses. I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes. I felt like I had absolutely no secrets from the world, and I couldn't pretend in my life to be strong. Or to be happy. But the advantage of it in the music was that there were no defenses there either," Mitchell added.

Full Album
Joni Mitchell channel