NC Renegades

No doubt at some time in the future the United States will have a female head of state. Margaret Thatcher was an excellent prime minister of Great Britain. Angela Merkel the current chancellor of Germany seems competent enough — but is Hillary Clinton the best that we can do in the United States?

Hillary Clinton was asked by a reporter to relate her greatest achievement as Secretary of State. Her response: “My accomplishments as Secretary of State? Well, I’m glad you asked! My proudest accomplishment in which I take the most pride, mostly because of the opposition it faced early on, you know… the remnants of prior situations and mindsets that were too narrowly focused in a manner whereby they may have overlooked the bigger picture and we didn’t do that and I’m proud of that. Very proud. I would say that’s a major accomplishment.” — Hillary Clinton, 11 March 2014

If anyone can explain what the heck Hillary said – I’m listening! This is the biggest load of gobbledygook that could possibly come out of anyone’s mouth. It makes entirely no sense on any level. And this is the smartest woman in America? I can see her campaign slogan now: It takes a village idiot!

Carly Fiorina clarified Mrs. Clinton’s accomplishments on her behalf: Flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Granted, Mrs. Clinton did log a great many frequent flyer miles during her four years as Secretary of State but I can think of nothing of note that she accomplished during her tenure — judging by her muddled attempt to explain what she accomplished, apparently she has the same problem.

Now Hillary has succumbed to another unforced error in setting up a personal email server, using a personal email address while Secretary of State, delete emails that she did not want reviewed, and archiving her State Department emails for about two years. If guilty of nothing else this violated US Code, Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 101, Section 2071, part b which states that any person who willfully destroys a public document may be fined and imprisoned for up to three years —and shall be disqualified from holding future office. Hillary’s poor judgment and spirit of entitlement take us back to the gaggle of scandals which plagued the Clintons: White Water, Rose Law Firm records that disappeared, the Monica scandal, a right-wing conspiracy, and allegations of sexual abuse and rape, and on and on. Do we really want four more years of this type of sleazy behavior?

Liberals just love Hillary — but then again, they love tofu, so they are no difficult to persuade. More moderate Democrats are wringing their hands and wondering what Wonder Woman will do next that will stink. Former Senator Jim Webb may run for president – I don’t like everything about him, but on the other hand, I don’t like everything about me. He seems to have some common sense and he has exhibited some capabilities.

Other than Webb, the only other Democrat that has been mentioned is the Indian Princess Elizabeth Warren. In all honesty she is probably at least as capable of running America as Hillary – that is to say “not at all.”

The Republicans seem determined to get Jeb Bush into the presidential picture. Given the choice of continuing either the Clinton or Bush dynasties – think I would rather go out and puke. There doesn’t seem to be a Cinderella in the Republican field. Bush or Christie doesn’t really give one much of a choice and the rest of the field hasn’t gained any traction so far. Rubio is the best speaker of the group and Paul has “some” of the best ideas. Lindsey Graham is a joke – he just has yet to understand the punch line. Carson is an intelligent guy, but I doubt that he can get the money he would need. Scott Walker has shown the most intestinal fortitude of any of the candidates. And so the list goes on, and on, and on.

What all the Republicans and Senator Webb have in common is that they are all more qualified to be president than Mrs. Clinton. In reality Mrs. Clinton would be a sleazy lawyer, or a disbarred lawyer, in Chicago were it not for her riding on the coattails of her husband — which she no doubt feels is her due for enduring his dalliances.

The best thing that Ms. Clinton could do for America is to go home and learn how to bake cookies!

Have a good week. Bill Shuey is a freelance writer from North Carolina.

DEBKA’s exclusive Iranian sources report that the delegation to the nuclear talks taking place in Lausanne received orders from Tehran Friday, March 20, to break off negotiations and return home for consultations. Foreign Minister Mohammed Jawad Zarif and Iran’s national security chief Ali Akhbar Salehi used the funeral of President Hassan Rouhani’s 90-year-old mother as a pretext for packing their bags and leaving the deadlocked talks behind them in Lausanne. This followed the sixth round of talks in the Swiss city with  US Secretary of State John Kerry that failed to break the impasse on a nuclear accord.

The Iranians said they would return to resume the talks next week but set no date, although other sources mentioned Wednesday, March 25. Another sign of a crisis was the cancellation of briefing Friday in Brussels of British, German, French and European Union leaders on progress in the negotiations that was supposed to reflect progress toward a deal by the March 31 deadline.

More…

Bureaucrats from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will weigh and measure children in daycare as part of a study mandated by First Lady Michelle Obama’s Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.

The agency published a notice in the Federal Register on Friday proposing data collection on what meals are served in professional and home daycare facilities and how much physical activity children perform.

Aside from assessing how healthy the food in daycare is, the USDA will also check the weight and height of roughly 3,000 children.

“Children will be asked to cooperate with study staff who will weigh and measure them for the Standing Height and Weight Form,” the notice said.

The study is required by section 223 of Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which was championed by Mrs. Obama and passed in 2010. The main aspect of the law implemented new standards for school lunches.

A lesser-known requirement of the law is the “Study on Nutrition and Wellness Quality in Childcare Settings (SNAQCS),” which the USDA announced Friday. The public will have 60 days to comment.

More…

by Bill Gertz

Russia is developing a long-range cruise missile that poses a new threat to the United States, the commander of the U.S. Northern Command warned this week.

“Russia is progressing toward its goal of deploying long-range, conventionally-armed cruise missiles with ever increasing stand-off launch distances on its heavy bombers, submarines, and surface combatants, augmenting the Kremlin’s toolkit of flexible deterrent options short of the nuclear threshold,” Adm. William Gortney, Northcom chief who heads the U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said Thursday.

“Should these trends continue, over time NORAD will face increased risk in our ability to defend North America against Russian cruise missile threats,” he said in prepared testimony to the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces.

A defense official said the missile that concerns the Northcom commander is the Russian KH-101 cruise missile which Russia has developed as a weapon to attack critical infrastructure in the United States, such as the electrical grid.

More…

Imagine going to the bank to withdraw some cash.

Having some cash on hand is always a prudent strategy, and especially today when more and more bank deposits are creeping into negative territory, meaning that you have to pay the banks for the privilege that they gamble with your money.

You tell the teller that you’d like to withdraw $5,000 from your account. She hesitates nervously and wants to know why.

You try to politely let her know that that’s none of the bank’s business as it’s your money.

The teller disappears for a few minutes, leaving you waiting.

When she returns she tells you that you can collect your money in a few days as they don’t have it on hand at the moment.

Slightly irritated because of the inconvenience, you head home.

But as you pull into your driveway later there’s an unexpected surprise waiting for you: two police officers would like to have a word with you about your intended withdrawal earlier…

If this sounds far-fetched, think again. Because it could very well become a reality in the Land of the Free if the Justice Department gets its way.

More…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why do we continue to call it the Justice Department? We all know what it really is. If you cannot assign the proper name to a person or group, how can you deal with it effectively? But isn’t that the point of propaganda and control?

David DeGerolamo

I will speak on the deadly danger of an Article V convention, and of the two remedies our Framers actually told us to use when the federal government usurps power, at the following events:

Date: Thursday, March 19, 2015 in Union, Kentucky.
Host: John Birch Society – Kentucky
Location: Triple Crown Country Club, 1 Triple Crown Blvd, Union, KY 41091
Time: Noon to 2:00 p.m.  Eastern Standard Time.
This is a lunch event – lunch is $16.00

Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Host: Conservatives for Guilford County (C4GC)
Location: The Oakbranch Conference Center, 23 Oak Branch Drive, Greensboro, NC 27407
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., Eastern Time.

See flyer here

Date:  Saturday, March 28, 2015 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Host:  The Rightful Remedy Conference
Location: University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd, Fretwell Building, Room 100
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time

On internet

On FaceBook

South Korea will be the next “ally” after Japan (see article below) to abandon the dollar after this weekend’s talks with China. This opportunity to destroy the dollar as the world’s reserve currency did not even take that much effort. With a foreign affairs policy in shambles that has alienated the world, an financial attack to destroy the Great Experiment was only a matter of time. And time has now run out. The consequences will be felt over a short time frame and it now appears that 2015 will actually be the year that has been foreseen as the collapse.

David DeGerolamo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

US “Isolated” As Key Ally Japan Considers Joining China-Led Bank

Well, that escalated quickly.

Just a week ago it appeared Washington had managed (for the time being at least) to convince the US’ closest allies to refrain from joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a sinocentric institution aimed at promoting development across Asia that is meant to rival the US/Japanese-led ADB and begin a seismic shift away from the world’s traditionally US-dominated institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF. Then, much to the chagrin of Washington, the UK joined as a founding member calling it an “unrivaled opportunity.”

As we and many other observers correctly noted at the time, the move by Britain could well embolden other countries who had expressed an interest initially but been deterred by pressure from Washington to reconsider their bids for membership. In (very) short order, everyone from Germany to Australia to Luxembourg was suddenly ready to cast their lot with the Chinese despite US warnings that the bank won’t adopt the proper operational standards. As we said yesterday, the world is now wise to the fact that US criticism of the new venture is very likely nothing more than an attempt by The White House to undermine Chinese regional ambition:

…and that means in short order Australia and South Korea will likely be on board and at that point, the stigma the US has created around membership will have completely disappeared (if it hasn’t already), opening the door for other US “allies” to join despite the bank’s alleged “low” standards.

Now, it appears the last valuable friend the US has in the bid to keep China from undercutting the ADB is beginning to consider a bid to join up. Here’s more from Reuters:

Japan’s foreign minister signaled cautious approval of the institution that the United States has warned against…

The opposition to the AIIB began crumbling after Britain said earlier this month that it would join the institution, saying it was in its national interest. France, Germany and Italy swiftly followed suit.

Australia now appears close to joining, although no formal decision has been made, and Beijing said Japan and South Korea were also considering the possibility. Asked about the three countries joining the bank, China’s Foreign Ministry said it was “open” to it.

“They have all already expressed that they are contemplating the issue at hand,” ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily briefing. “We are open to them making the relevant decision.”

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said Tokyo could consider joining the China-led bank if it could guarantee a credible mechanism for providing loans.

More…

Published at Hope n’ Change