Yeah, I know, our founders were just a bunch of rich old white men who were dumber than a mud fence.

V****g in e******ns doesn't necessarily a democracy make.
Look at Iran under the Ayatollah, Iraq under Saddam, Germany under Hitler, for example.
Iranians v**ed, Iraqis v**ed, Germans v**ed,
and if they didn't v**e for the party in power,
they might get hung, shot or beheaded.

"The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average v**er."
Winston Churchill

"Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death."
James Madison

"Those who v**e decide nothing, those who count the v**es decide everything."
Joseph Stalin.

James Madison, Property
29 Mar. 1792
Papers 14:266--68

This term in its particular application means "that d******n which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in exclusion of every other individual."

In its larger and juster meaning, it embraces every thing to which a man may attach a value and have a right; and which leaves to every one else the like advantage.

In the former sense, a man's land, or merchandize, or money is called his property.

In the latter sense, a man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them.

He has a property of peculiar value in his religious opinions, and in the profession and practice dictated by them.

He has a property very dear to him in the safety and liberty of his person.

He has an equal property in the free use of his faculties and free choice of the objects on which to employ them.

In a word, as a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.

Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.

Where there is an excess of liberty, the effect is the same, tho' from an opposite cause.

Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses. This being the end of government, that alone is a just government, which impartially secures to every man, wh**ever is his own.

According to this standard of merit, the praise of affording a just securing to property, should be sparingly bestowed on a government which, however scrupulously guarding the possessions of individuals, does not protect them in the enjoyment and communication of their opinions, in which they have an equal, and in the estimation of some, a more valuable property.

More sparingly should this praise be allowed to a government, where a man's religious rights are violated by penalties, or fettered by tests, or taxed by a hierarchy. Conscience is the most sacred of all property; other property depending in part on positive law, the exercise of that, being a natural and unalienable right. To guard a man's house as his castle, to pay public and enforce private debts with the most exact faith, can give no title to invade a man's conscience which is more sacred than his castle, or to withhold from it that debt of protection, for which the public faith is pledged, by the very nature and original conditions of the social pact.

That is not a just government, nor is property secure under it, where the property which a man has in his personal safety and personal liberty, is violated by arbitrary seizures of one class of citizens for the service of the rest. A magistrate issuing his warrants to a press gang, would be in his proper functions in Turkey or Indostan, under appellations proverbial of the most compleat despotism.

That is not a just government, nor is property secure under it, where arbitrary restrictions, exemptions, and monopolies deny to part of its citizens that free use of their faculties, and free choice of their occupations, which not only constitute their property in the general sense of the word; but are the means of acquiring property strictly so called. What must be the spirit of legislation where a manufacturer of linen cloth is forbidden to bury his own child in a linen shroud, in order to favour his neighbour who manufactures woolen cloth; where the manufacturer and wearer of woolen cloth are again forbidden the economical use of buttons of that material, in favor of the manufacturer of buttons of other materials!

A just security to property is not afforded by that government, under which unequal taxes oppress one species of property and reward another species: where arbitrary taxes invade the domestic sanctuaries of the rich, and excessive taxes grind the faces of the poor; where the keenness and competitions of want are deemed an insufficient spur to labor, and taxes are again applied, by an unfeeling policy, as another spur; in violation of that sacred property, which Heaven, in decreeing man to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow, kindly reserved to him, in the small repose that could be spared from the supply of his necessities.

If there be a government then which p***es itself in maintaining the inviolability of property; which provides that none shall be taken directly even for public use without indemnification to the owner, and yet directly violates the property which individuals have in their opinions, their religion, their persons, and their faculties; nay more, which indirectly violates their property, in their actual possessions, in the labor that acquires their daily subsistence, and in the hallowed remnant of time which ought to relieve their fatigues and soothe their cares, the influence [inference?] will have been anticipated, that such a government is not a pattern for the United States.

If the United States mean to obtain or deserve the full praise due to wise and just governments, they will equally respect the rights of property, and the property in rights: they will rival the government that most sacredly guards the former; and by repelling its example in violating the latter, will make themselves a pattern to that and all other governments.

I understand Russia supplies more than a third of Europe's gas…

Germany says it's ready to stop buying Russian oil, paving the way for the EU to impose a full embargo… It is an attempt to circumvent European sanctions and to blackmail the European Union…It is or its shrewd strategy. Russia needs the money from its energy exports more than ever, given the havoc sanctions have wreaked on others parts of its economy... What better way???

I think Russia has to honor their decree and Existing contracts that do not include an obligation to pay in rubles which has to be honored? Yet its war so everythibg changes… Those purchasing gas and oil from Russia are certainly taking note of the hostage situation they find themselves in and while they impact need Russias’ gas and oil you can bet they’re working on alternatives as well…

I read that Russian gas was still flowing westwards on two of the three main pipelines noting Germany had cut off Nord Stream project.... China not so happy about that either.. Forget there’s still these Iberia natural gas pipeline going full function. Supposedly the Kremlin said payments for gas being delivered now would fall due towards the end of the month or the beginning of May, which is why Russia hadn't immediately shut off the flow of gas to Europe…

I honestly don’t know if Germany is still getting gas from Russia, in the future at least.. Based on what’s going on with the rejection of the ruble payment that was made., who knows??? I haven’t read anything that say Germany has been cut off, to the contrary supposedly they were working on “talks “ to rectified wh**ever ??

Germany gets 55 percent of its natural gas and 35 percent of its oil and about half its coal from Russia. But they have also been working on reducing those percentages last year??

The problem with an embargo, from Germany’s perspective, is that it would not last for days, it would last months or even years while the war continues with no offsets in sight.

“Even without an embargo, Title T***sfer Facility (TTF) natural gas prices in the Netherlands are already up to $41.06 per 1,000 cubic feet as Russia’s invasion wears on, compared to $4.80 per 1,000 cubic feet for U.S.-produced natural gas here. Prices would be even higher in Europe with the embargo… “Just may bring more countries to us for our natural gas supply which I understand is plentiful... This is what I meant about the world is changing as are the allies with all recognizing their need for more self sufficiency and self dependency. As if that wasn’t obvious to begin with but apparently not????

An interesting article~

Wang for Russia-China-India gas pipeline
Monday, 21 March 2022 | Rakesh K Singh | New Delhi


In the shifting geopolitical landscape post the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi is likely to propose a Russia-China-India (RCI) oil/gas pipeline project during his upcoming New Delhi visit later this month.

The move is said to have been formulated in response to the US sanctions against Moscow not only hitting the economic interests and businesses of Russia but also hitting India and China hard, top sources privy to the development said.

The possible proposition of the RCI Pipeline project comes in the backdrop of the Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Pipeline not taking off due to security risks posed by a destabilised Kabul and the perennial anti-India stance of Islamabad.

The TAPI has been under discussion for nearly three decades. However, India is unlikely to go ahead with any such proposal without gaugi..

https://www.dailypioneer.com/2022/india/wang-for

Republic vs Democracy Video.

Democracy vs a Republic Perfectly Explained For Dummies
There’s a reason why the American founders created a republic, and not a democracy. Republics are the best form of government for protecting the individual from the tyranny of the majority. And there most certainly is a tyranny of the majority that always manifests in democratic style systems.

Here’s how it works: in democratic or republican systems, there is a kind of majority rule. In democracies, the 51% rules over the 49% and has total control. The 51% can do wh**ever it wants, because in democracies there are not structures in place to protect individual rights.

If 51% v**e to steal your bike, you are without a bike. If 51% v**e to k**l you, you are out of a life. It does not matter if it is right or not, what the majority says is what happens.

A republic is different though, and it operates for the protection of the individual against the majority when they get out of control. It is very important to protect the rights of the individual in a political system, for that is how governments are limited in their power and scope.

Democracies provide arbitrary power to governments, giving them prerogative to do anything as long as “it’s what the people want.” In a free society, this is unacceptable.

Republican governments operate by electing officers who represent the interests of the people, and who are supposed to have more knowledge about politics than the average person. These people are effectively trustees of the citizenry.

In republican governments, the polity is governed by a written constitution that safeguards certain rights against tyrannical majorities. There are separations of power, courts, and layers of government to ensure that knee-jerk reactions do not become law.

This is the fundamental difference between a republic and a democracy: a republic protects you from arbitrary power, a democracy is nothing but arbitrary power.

Elon Musk is heavily invested in China.

QUICK FACTS:
• Elon Musk opened a Tesla factory in Shanghai in 2019, as the Chinese government welcomed him with billions of dollars worth of cheap land, loans, tax breaks, and subsidies. “I really think China is the future,” Musk said at the time.
• A quarter of Tesla’s 2021 revenue came from China.
• Batteries for Tesla vehicles come from Chinese electric vehicle battery maker Contemporary Amprex Technology (CATL), which in June of 2021 extended a battery supply deal with Tesla that will last through December 2025. CATL is owned by Bohai Harvest RST, the Chinese fund manager in which H****r B***n holds a 10% stake through his business, Skaneateles.
• On the 100th anniversary of China’s C*******t Party last year, Musk tweeted that the “economic prosperity that China has achieved is truly amazing, especially in infrastructure!”
• “China rocks in my opinion,” Musk said in a July 2020 podcast from Automotive News. “People there—there’s a lot of smart, hardworking people, whereas I see in the United States increasingly much more complacency and entitlement.” Former Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) described Musk’s comment as “tone deaf to the legitimate national security concerns that members of Congress have.”
• Responding to Musk’s opening of a showroom in China’s Xinjiang region, where the Chinese govt. is reportedly committing genocide on the Uyghur people, Representative Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) office tweeted, “Nationless corporations are helping the Chinese C*******t Party cover up genocide and s***e labor in the region.”

CONGRESS DOESN’T HAVE “GOOD EYES” ON MUSK’S “FINANCIAL ENTANGLEMENTS WITH CHINA”:
• Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) is pursuing confidential briefings in Washington, D.C. with officials from agencies including the National Reconnaissance Office (which coordinates the launch of intelligence satellites) to find out whether the Chinese government has any direct or indirect links to SpaceX.
• Stewart also wants to determine whether any companies with Chinese ties have invested in privately-traded SpaceX.
• “I am a fan of Elon Musk and SpaceX, but anyone would be concerned if there are financial entanglements with China,” said Rep. Stewart, a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee. “Congress doesn’t have good eyes on this.”

BACKGROUND:
• China is one of Tesla’s biggest markets, as Musk’s company is supported by China’s C*******t Party and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Chinese authorities gave Musk “low-interest loans, cheap land and other incentives” for Tesla’s Shanghai facility, The Wall Street Journal reports.
• In 2018 and early 2019, Tesla was confronting financial problems as its U.S. manufacturing plant couldn’t produce enough cars to meet expectations, causing the company to run low on funds. But in 2019 and 2020, Tesla “received two loans from Chinese banks, according to the company’s 2021 annual report, including a $1.4 billion facility to help with construction of its factory in Shanghai,” WSJ also notes.
• Musk’s advocacy for a pro-China future echoes calls from the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on China to “make recommendations for building trust between China and the rest of the world.” The WEF claims that “China is taking an increasingly active role in reshaping the international system of c*****e c****e, digital t***sformation and economic development while simultaneously grappling with the local implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” The Global Future Council on China promises it “will explore emerging models of Chinese leadership adapted to a new norm of globalization” as well as “illustrate how business leaders both inside and outside China can navigate this changing landscape to bring an entrepreneurial approach to solving global challenges.”

Would-Be Carjacker Shot Multiple Times By Car Owner In Texas

SAN ANTONIO, TX – A would-be carjacker is in critical condition at a local hospital after being shot multiple times by the man whose Honda Accord he was trying to steal. The intended victim was filling up at a gas station on Tuesday.

The incident, which occurred around 10 a.m. Tuesday at a QuikTrip on San Antonio’s northwest side according to KENS-TV, began when the carjacker pulled up in a grey truck next to the man filling up his car, jumped out and attempted to drive off with his car.

“The car owner got in the passenger side and fought with the man as the suspect put the car in reverse and hit the gas, driving over a sidewalk,” KSAT-TV reported.

“That’s when the car owner pulled out a gun and shot the suspect multiple times, police said.”

Police did not release the names of either man but said that the carjacker was listed as being in critical condition.

You should learn more about the atrocities against the minorities of China!

https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/19/break-their-lineage-break-their-roots/chinas-crimes-against-humanity-targeting#

“Break their lineage, break their roots, break their connections, and break their origins. Completely shovel up the roots of “two-faced people,” dig them out, and vow to fight these two-faced people until the end.”

—Maisumujiang Maimuer, Chinese religious affairs official, August 10, 2017, on a Xinhua Weibo page


In May 2014, the Chinese government launched the “Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism” (严厉打击暴力恐怖活动专项行动) in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang or XUAR) against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims.[1] Research by Stanford Law School’s Human Rights & Conflict Resolution Clinic and Human Rights Watch, along with reports by human rights organizations, the media, activist groups, and others, and internal Chinese C*******t Party (CCP) documents, show that the Chinese government has committed—and continues to commit—crimes against humanity against the Turkic Muslim population.[2]

This report sets forth the factual basis for that conclusion, assessing available information about Chinese government actions in Xinjiang within the international legal framework.

Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), crimes against humanity are serious specified offenses that are knowingly committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population. “Widespread” refers to the scale of the acts or number of victims. A “systematic” attack indicates a pattern or methodical plan. Crimes against humanity can be committed during peace time as well as during armed conflict, so long as they are directed against a civilian population.

Crimes against humanity are considered among the gravest human rights abuses under international law. The specific crimes against humanity documented in this report include imprisonment or other deprivation of liberty in violation of international law; persecution of an identifiable ethnic or religious group; enforced disappearance; torture; murder; and alleged inhumane acts intentionally causing great suffering or serious injury to mental or physical health, notably forced labor and sexual violence.

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, located in China’s northwest, is the only region in China with a majority Muslim population. The Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other communities in the region are ethnically Turkic. Unlike the majority Han Chinese, who are primarily Chinese speakers, the Turkic population is predominantly Muslim and have their own languages. According to the 2010 census, Uyghurs made up 46 percent and Kazakhs 7 percent of the Xinjiang population.

The Chinese government’s oppression of Turkic Muslims is not a new phenomenon, but in recent years has reached unprecedented levels. As many as a million people have been arbitrarily detained in 300 to 400 facilities,[3] which include “political education” camps, pretrial detention centers, and prisons.[4] Courts have handed down harsh prison sentences without due process, sentencing Turkic Muslims to years in prison merely for sending an Islamic religious recording to a family member or downloading e-books in Uyghur. Detainees and prisoners are subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, cultural and political indoctrination, and forced labor. The oppression continues outside the detention facilities: the Chinese authorities impose on Turkic Muslims a pervasive system of mass surveillance, controls on movement, arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance, cultural and religious erasure, and family separation.