A powerful winter storm is forecasted “to intensify explosively” in the southwest US on Tuesday into Wednesday, unleashing a wide array of life-threatening weather hazards for tens of millions of Americans, reported Axios.
The impact area is expected from North Texas through the Dakotas and Minnesota is expected to be hit the hardest. The storm will likely qualify as a meteorological “bomb” — short for bombogenesis, which describes storms whose central pressure drops 24 millibars in 24 hours. The lower the pressure and the quicker it drops, the more powerful the storm. This could be one for the record books.
“A strong storm is poised to rapidly develop across the Plains this week, meeting “bomb” criteria (deepening of 24mb or more in 24 hours).
This will spread heavy rains, thunderstorms, and flooding risks into the central Plains into Wednesday, then spread snow into the Dakotas later Wednesday into Wednesday night.
This storm is particularly strong for this time of year in this part of the world. Data suggests this storm will be the strongest (via minimum central pressure) storm since at least 1979 to impact the central Plains. With a central pressure equivalent to that of a category 2 hurricane, wind, rain, and snow will all be threats.
This will spark heightened wind generation in the southern Plains, and combined with melting snowpack, offer significant flooding risks across the northern Plains and Upper Midwest. This will halt any progress farmers were making toward fieldwork in this part of the country,” Meteorologist and owner of Empire Weather LLC., Ed Vallee.
The bombogenesis will detonate over Central Plains and bring almost every weather hazard possible at once. Severe thunderstorms are expected to hit south Texas to eastern Nebraska on Wednesday, which includes the potential for tornadoes.
Meanwhile, in the plains of eastern Colorado and parts of Nebraska and Kansas, rain, freezing rain, sleet and heavy snow are forecast as the storm intensifies. Some areas may pick up more than a foot of snow as wind gusts to 70 miles per hour lead to blizzard conditions. The closures of entire interstates, including I-70 in Colorado, is possible.
Blizzard warnings have been posted from northeastern Colorado into southeastern Wyoming, as well as Nebraska and southwest South Dakota.
As the storm spins northeastward, it’s predicted to bring heavy rain on top of a deep snowpack in the Upper Midwest, with the potential for severe flooding in some areas.
Because of the storm’s low air pressure, it will generate a huge and powerful wind field as air rushes toward the storm center. High wind watches cover a vast region from South Texas to Iowa, and wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour are possible in the hardest-hit regions, the National Weather Service warns.
The storm will affect the entire Central Plains, from the U.S.-Mexico border to the U.S.-Canadian border. Axios notes that it’s highly unusual to see a low-pressure system intensify so rapidly over land, since these type of storms are more common over tropical oceans.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2u6ZGos Tyler Durden
Jeremy Grantham, a market investor who is credited with predicting the 2000 and 2008 downturns, said that other investors should get used to more lackluster returns in the stock market in the next 20 years. Grantham says that the poor returns will “break a lot of hearts.”
Grantham told CNBC that after a century of handsome gains investors should get inured to lackluster returns in the stock market for the next two decades, according to Market Watch.
“In the last 100 years, we’re used to delivering perhaps 6%, but the United States’ market will be delivering real returns of about 2% or 3% on average over next 20 years,” the value investor and co-founder of Boston-based asset manager GMO told CNBC in a rare interview.
In spite of the stock market’s plunge in the latter portion of 2018, Grantham believes his prediction is correct because he views the market as still pricey.
“This is not incredibly painful, but it’s going to break a lot of hearts when we’re right,” Grantham was quoted as saying.
Grantham has been predicting a meltdown in stocks since last year. He has even said that not even the recent go-slow reversal by the Federal Reserve on rate increases and the European Central Bank’s decision to roll out a fresh batch of bank stimulus will push stocks significantly higher.
“You can’t get blood out of a stone,” he told the network.
“This will be limping along; three steps down, two steps back. It’s not a typical experience,” Grantham, who is famous for calling the last two major bubbles in the market, told CNBC’s Wilfred Frost.
“I was really hoping there would be a magnificent bubble ending to this, as there had been to the three great recent experiences,” he said. “It doesn’t look like it will and, therefore, you’re going to have a decline of a different nature.”
This is not great news for those who have a lot of faith in the current economy.
Over the past five years, the S&P 500 index has produced a compound annual growth rate of 8.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has boasted a CAGR of 9.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index has registered a compound return of 11.4% over the same period, according to FactSet data. –Market Watch
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2EU2EBN Tyler Durden
Today at 4:15pm EDT, DoubleLine founder Jeff Gundlach is holding his latest live webcast open to investors and casual listeners, titled enticingly ‘Highway to Hell’, and which we assume will discuss either Brexit, the US-China trade deal, the long-term US debt picture or how this, latest asset bubble finally ends.
Readers can register and follow it live at this address, or clicking on the image below
As usual, we will grab and highlight the most interesting charts from Gundlach’s presentation as they come in.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2VO2Olc Tyler Durden
Here’s the most important chart in the world this week…
Who is right? Bonds of course!!
* * *
China had yet another National Team inspired buying-panic in the afternoon session to rescue stocks into the green…
FTSE outperformed ahead of the Brexit vote but EU markets were broadly lower today…
US markets were divergent once again with Dow (and Transports) lower but Nasdaq and S&P higher… (A weak close dragged small caps down to unch)…
Futures show the excitement once again at the cash open…
But Boeing’s dead-cat-bounce from yesterday’s cash session has well and truly died…(Boeing accounted for -160 points of the Dow’s 100 point loss)
Once again a dramatic short-squeeze dragged stocks higher…
Credit and VIX compressed further…
Treasury Yields tumbled dramatically on the day – completely ignoring the equity market gains…
With 30Y Yields breaking back below 3.00% (and 10Y < 2.60% - see top chart)
The Dollar Index tumbled for the 3rd day back below the 97.00 level…
Of course, all eyes were on Cable as the “meaningful vote” on Brexit…
The weak dollar provided support for commodities broadly, but silver outperformed on the day…
Gold jumped back above $1300…
Finally, we reflect on the sudden panic bid that has occurred in Nasdaq stocks in recent days. With Nasdaq earnings plunging to their lowest since July 2018, we wonder what magic hockey-stick these so-called investors are seeing…
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2NZ7Ok9 Tyler Durden
Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago Mayor warned the Democrats that they might be in danger of self-destructing if they continue to push socialist ideals and go after green deals and medicare for all.
“Earth to Democrats: Republicans are telling you something when they gleefully schedule votes on proposals like the Green New Deal, Medicare for all, and a 70 percent marginal tax rate.
When they’re more eager to vote on the Democratic agenda than we are, we should take a step back and ask ourselves whether we’re inadvertently letting the political battle play out on their turf rather than our own.
If Trump’s only hope for winning a second term turns on his ability to paint us as socialists, we shouldn’t play to type.”
Rahm Emanuel seem to be very concerned of the ideas that some of the Democrat stars and presidential contenders are pushing these days, here are few of them:
On December 23, with the S&P points away from a bear market, Steve Mnuchin called the Plunge Protection Team, i.e. President’s Working Group on capital markets, with one clear message – stop the plunge.
On December 25, Trump pulled an Obama, and told Americans to buy stocks: “We have companies, the greatest in the world, and they’re doing really well,” the president told reporters at the White House on Christmas Day. “They have record kinds of numbers. So I think it’s a tremendous opportunity to buy. Really a great opportunity to buy.” (Pension funds heard him loud and clear, unleashing the biggest stock buying spree in history the very next day).
On January 4, just two weeks after Fed Chair Powell hiked rates by 25bps and said the Fed’s balance sheet was on “autopilot”, and tightening would continue, the former Carlyle lawyer, sitting between Bernanke and Yellen capitulated, and for the first time said that the Fed would be patient, effectively ending the Fed’s rate hike posture.
What transpired since then is nothing short of breathtaking, with the S&P rebounding from the mid-2,300 to 2,800 (a level it has so far failed to breach decisively) in what Goldman last week dubbed “one of the sharpest rallies in history.” Indeed, as shown below, the rolling 67-day price return of the S&P is the 3rd fastest rally this century, perhaps ever. In other words, there are bear market rallies and then there are bear market rallies, and what we have just experienced was, according to Goldman, “the sharpest rally since the global financial crisis recovery, and sharp valuation re-rating alongside negative earnings revisions”…
… one which was accompanied by one of the largest declines in realized vol since 1928.
Now, thanks to Bank of America, we present yet another perspective on what has effectively been a bear market rally – because even though the S&P closed -19.8% from its Sept 20 all time highs on Dec 24, it did dip below the critical -20% level intraday.
According to BofA’s equity derivative research team headed by Benjamin Bowler, in the 50 days since the bottom of the Q4 selloff (when SPX dropped 19.8% from peak to trough on 24-Dec), the S&P has recovered 16.7% and is still about 6.4% below the last peak. To BofA, this – as Goldman first noted last week – “is indeed a sharp recovery, and the rebound is faster than other “draw ups” following similar-sized selloffs.”
Putting the move in context, BofA plotted the path of SPX recoveries from the 5 historical drawdowns of ~20% since 1928 (the last three months have come following a 19.8% drawdown on a closing basis). After 50 days, the SPX was ~10.7% from the last peak on average (compared to 6.4% today). In comparison, the fastest recovery was from the Aug-98 trough (was only 4.3% below the peak after 50 days and fully recovered in 60 days) while the slowest was from the Oct-57 trough (was still 18.2% below the peak after 50 days and didn’t fully recover for 223 days).
Interestingly, the Aug-98 event was one of the early scenarios when the Fed cut rates to fight market weakness. It is worth noting that while the Fed has not cut rates – yet – in the most recent bear market rally, the catalyst for the rally was the Fed’s reversal from a hawkish tightening bias to a dovish one, where the Fed said it would adjust the shrinking of its balance sheet and would be “patient” about future rate hikes. In other words, the two fastest bear market rebounds in history were both the result of direct Fed intervention. It goes without saying that while the 1998 rally persisted for several years, it eventually culminated in the dot com bubble and the first Fed-induced bubble burst.
How and when the current bear market rally (and bubble) ends, is still unknown.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2XUo3U8 Tyler Durden
The Illinois Gov. seeks a constitutional amendment to change the tax code. He calls it a “fair tax”. Don’t be fooled.
New Illinois J. B. Governor Pritzker (D) has proposed sweeping changes to Illinois’ tax code, advocating a constitutional amendment to permit a graduated-rate income tax and proposing a new rate and bracket structure.
Pritzker’s plan which he labels a “fair tax” will encourage still more flight out of Illinois.
Under the proposal, corporate income would be taxed at 10.45 percent, the third-highest rate in the nation, while pass-through business income would be taxed at a top rate of 9.45 percent, the fourth highest such rate nationwide.
The proposal diverges sharply from ideal—or even typical—income tax structure. It omits inflation indexing (resulting in “bracket creep”), creates a marriage penalty, and includes a recapture provision which subjects the entirety of a taxpayer’s income to the top marginal rate once they reach that bracket.
The neighboring states of Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, and Missouri have all cut income taxes in recent years, while Illinois may be headed in the opposite direction.
The governor’s proposed tax rates are merely notional; should voters permit a graduated-rate income tax, there are compelling reasons to believe that rates may climb even higher, and that more taxpayers would be subjected to higher rates.
Were the proposal implemented, Illinois is projected to decline from 36th to 48th on the State Business Tax Climate Index, which measures tax structure.
Introduction
The new governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker (D), has one campaign behind him, but an even bigger one lies ahead: convincing the legislature—and Illinois voters—to scrap a key constitutional feature of Illinois’ system of taxation.
A provision in the state constitution which prohibits a graduated-rate income tax has long been a source of controversy. In a state where taxes tend to be high, it has also been crucial to keeping one tax (the individual income tax) highly competitive, because there are practical and political limits on just how high a rate can go when it is applied uniformly.
The constitutional amendment Gov. Pritzker is championing would change all that, and under the rates and brackets he has proposed, would give Illinois some of country’s highest income taxes (individual and corporate), particularly on businesses. That’s of particular concern in a state that has struggled to stem the tide of business departures, as the governor noted in remarks this week, but it’s only one of many issues raised by the proposal.
All told, the governor’s “Fair Tax for Illinois” proposal would result in a 10.45 percent combined rate on corporate income, and a 9.45 percent rate on about half the state’s pass-through income, including the “personal property replacement taxes” the state tacks onto rates.
Among the Highest Rates in the Country
When Illinois lawmakers repealed the state’s taxes on tangible personal property forty years ago, they paid for the repeal by creating a second set of taxes on both pass-through and corporate income, confusingly termed “personal property replacement taxes” (PPRTs). The name references the tax they replaced rather than the nature of the taxes themselves, which are nothing more than additional income tax levies of 2.5 percent on corporate income and 1.5 percent on the income of pass-through businesses, with revenue devoted to local government. The income of pass-through businesses (S Corps, partnerships, LLCs, and sole proprietorships) “passes through” to their owners’ individual income tax returns (hence the name). Including these taxes, the top rate on pass-through businesses would be 9.45 percent and the new rate on corporate income would be 10.45 percent.
This would represent the third-highest corporate rate in the country, after Iowa (12 percent) and New Jersey (11.5 percent), and Iowa is scheduled to reduce its top corporate rate to 9.8 percent in a few years. It also represents the fourth-highest rate on pass-through income nationwide, after California (13.3 percent), Oregon (9.9 percent), and Minnesota (9.85 percent). The 7.95 percent rate on non-business income would be the eighth-highest state rate in the country.
Neighboring States
Indiana has reduced its top corporate income tax rate from 8 to 5.75 percent and is on track to bring it down to 4.9 percent in a few years, while its individual income tax rate has gone from a flat 3.4 percent to 3.23 percent over five years. Policymakers in Indiana have consciously positioned themselves as a more competitive alternative to Illinois, and they aren’t alone.
In Missouri, a set of bills in 2018 reduced the top income tax rate from 5.9 to 5.5 percent, with a further phasedown to 5.1 percent in the works, while the corporate rate is set to fall from 6.5 to 4 percent in 2020.
Meanwhile in Iowa, a package of reforms adopted last year will ultimately bring the top individual income tax rate to 6.5 percent (from 8.98 percent) and the corporate rate to 9.8 percent (from 12 percent),
Kentucky just replaced its graduated-rate individual and corporate income taxes with single-rate taxes of 5 percent. Even in Minnesota, legislators are contemplating tax cuts to offset additional revenue from tax conformity.
In short, Illinois would be raisings its tax rates at a time when its neighbors are headed in the opposite direction.
Tax Cliff
Tax rates are typically marginal, which is to say that they are imposed on marginal income. For instance, under the governor’s proposal, the first $10,000 in taxable income would be taxed at a rate of 4.7 percent, and someone earning $11,000 would only pay the higher rate of 4.9 percent on the additional $1,000, not the whole $11,000. According to handouts outlining Gov. Pritzker’s proposal, however, “[o]nce income reaches $1.0 million, entire income is taxed at 7.95 [percent] rate” (emphasis in original).
This creates a significant tax cliff, where a person making $1,000,000 pays $70,935 in taxes, while someone earning one dollar more pays $79,500, a difference of $8,565 on a single dollar of income.
Marriage Penalty
A marriage penalty exists whenever two earners owe more tax filing jointly than they would if they filed separately. The penalty can emerge when any part of the tax code—brackets, deductions, or exemptions—do not increase for joint filers, but bracket widths under a graduated-rate income tax are particularly important. Many states double their bracket widths for married couples to avoid the penalty, but the Illinois proposal envisions the same brackets for single and joint filers.
Bracket Creep
Within a graduated rate structure, inflation can impose a hidden tax, increasing the taxpayer’s liability as a greater share of their income is taxed even if that income has not increased in real terms, since bracket kick-in thresholds are fixed. To avoid this “bracket creep,” most states with graduated-rate structures index bracket widths and other features of the income tax to inflation. Pritzker’s proposal gives no indication of this, meaning that over time, taxpayers will pay an increasing amount of taxes as a percentage of income—even if their income has not increased in real terms.
Decline in Illinois’ Business Competitiveness
Every year, the Tax Foundation publishes a new edition of the State Business Tax Climate Index, a measure of state tax structure. Illinois currently ranks 36th overall, with its competitive income tax balancing out poor tax structure elsewhere. If, however, the state were to adopt the graduated rate structure Pritzker proposes, with top rates of 9.45 percent on pass-through income and 10.45 percent on corporate income, while creating a marriage penalty and forgoing inflation indexing, the state’s overall rank would plummet from 36th to 48th, ahead of only California and New Jersey.
Current vs Projected Illinois Tax Ranking
States should care about their Index ranking because it is measuring something real and economically meaningful—the competitiveness, or lack thereof, of the state’s overall tax structure. Were Pritzker’s proposal adopted, Illinois would trail its peers in just about every aspect of its tax code. If businesses and individuals are leaving the state now, these policies can only make the problem worse.
End Jared Walczak – Mish Comments
Progressives in Illinois have all but ruined the state. Pritzker seems bound and determined to finish off the job.
With House leader Michael Madigan fully in charge of legislation, Pritzker is poised to do just that.
Dictator of Illinois
The Illinois Policy Institute notes that Madigan has already broken the record for longest-serving state legislative speaker in U.S. history. No American has led a state House of Representatives longer than Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan. He has held the speakership for all but two years since 1983.
Democrats are responsible for this mess. No legislation passes without Madigan’s stamp of approval
Only One Thing in the Way
This proposal would easily succeed were it not for one simple fact. It requires a change in the Illinois constitution.
The constitution needs changing for sure but not in this direction.
Illinois desperately needs pension reform and bankruptcy reform. Instead, we have garbage proposals like this disguised under a “fair tax” label.
Constitutional Amendment
The Illinois Constitution can be amended either by Constitutional Convention (if 3/5 of the members in each House of the General Assembly agree to it, which voters can approve or disapprove) or by the General Assembly (if 3/5 of each house of the General Assembly approve the amendment, which is then submitted to the voters at the next general election).
The former won’t happen. It would open the door to genuine reform that Illinois needs.
Five Certainties
The amount the tax will cost each individual depends on personal finances. But here are five certainties.
The tax hike would depress job growth
The tax hike would raise taxes on the middle class
The tax hikes would encourage business flight
The tax hike would encourage flight of wealthy individuals
Since revenue projections won’t happen, Illinois progressives would seek still more tax hikes once the constitution allows for it.
Don’t Be Stupid
Here’s my message to Illinoisans: Don’t be stupid.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2TEo5jS Tyler Durden
Britain’s parliament is about to vote on Prime Minister Theresa May’s revised Brexit deal with the EU after rejecting her previous plan by a record margin in January.
Heading into the vote, cable is leaking back lower…
Here is Ransquawk‘s detailed layout of what to expect (and what happens next)
VOTE TIME:
Expected to begin at around 1900 GMT (1500 EDT, 2000 CET).
AMENDMENTS:
There are no amendments tabled, and as such, it will be a ‘clean’ vote on May’s Brexit plan.
VOTING MATHS:
There are 650 members of the UK House of Commons, seven Sinn Fein MPs do not vote, four speakers do not vote, and four MPs who count the votes do not vote themselves. PM May needs 318 votes to pass her deal, assuming all lawmakers (who are able to) vote, including: 10 DUP votes, up to 65 ERG votes (from a total of 110), up to 40 Labour leave votes, and 4 Independent votes.
VOTE MARGIN:
May’s Brexit bill was rejected overwhelmingly in January, by a margin of 230 votes (432 against vs 202 in favour). One theory is that if the margin of defeat is small, it may give May scope to make changes after the 21 March EU Summit, so the deal could be voted on again. However, ITV’s political editor suggested that the vote would be lost by more than 100, leaving little scope for May to introduce a third meaningful vote. Sky News analysis suggests UK PM May will lose tonight’s vote by more than 100 votes (projects 345 to vote against deal, 220 will vote for deal, 72 unknown).
AG COX:
UK AG Cox noted that while the path to exit the backstop is clear and binding, and the likelihood of a EU/UK disagreement in the arbitration process is low, and a unilateral right to exit the backstop was not achieved. NOTE: a unilateral right to leave was a key red-line for the ERG and DUP, the likely king-makers in the upcoming meaningful vote. The ERG and DUP have both therefore said that they will not back the deal; the DUP will directly vote against, but some members of the ERG may abstain from the vote (the latter is likely to be more beneficial to UK PM May).
* CHANCES OF PASSING TODAY:
Betting markets price in defeat for PM May. The implied probability of her deal passing fell to around 11% (vs 25-30% before the AG’s opinion was published. Accordingly, many desks say the base case is still for the deal to be rejected on Tuesday, a no-deal Brexit ruled out on Wednesday, and lawmakers will vote for the Article 50 process to be extended on Thursday.
* GBP SCENARIO 1:Meaningful Vote fails (Tue)/no-deal blocked (Wed/Thu)/vote to extend A50 passes (Wed/Thu) (likely). Barclays says initial GBP reaction would be negative. Focus will then shift to 21 March summit, where any signs of a longer extension could lead to a rally.
* GBP SCENARIO 2:Meaningful Vote passes (somewhat likely). Barclays says it could open the door for new post-referendum highs.
* GBP SCENARIO 3: All votes fail (unlikely). Barclays sees GBP real effective exchange rate -2.5% as markets price higher probability of no-deal Brexit. Focus then shifts to 21 March summit where GBP will be almost entirely sensitive to Brexit newsflow.
* GBP SCENARIO 4:meaningful vote fails/MPs vote for no-deal (highly unlikely): Barclays says GBP REER -5%.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? POSSIBLE ARTICLE 50 EXTENSION – 18/APR? 23/MAY? 23/Jun?:
If MPs vote to extend the Article 50 process, in addition to the UK’s approval, every EU member would be required to agree. The message from the EU has been mixed; while some think it is a sensible idea, others say the process should only be extended if there is a good reason for it.
Assuming that the EU agrees, the process could be pushed from the UK’s current Brexit leave date 29 March, to 18 April – the last day that the European Parliament can vote before breaking up ahead of May’s elections; the European Parliament has yet to even debate the Brexit deal, and has therefore not yet voted on it.
It is likely, however, that if the UK votes for what is available, EU lawmakers will likely follow suit. The current exit date is enshrined into UK law, and that would need to be changed; BBC says a push to 23 May has emerged as a possible new Brexit day to allow the UK two months to fully prepare itself for leaving, and this would also mean the UK departs ahead of the 23-26 May European Parliament elections.
IF no agreement between the UK and EU on the backstop is seen, a longer delay to exit become possible. A push to the end of June – 23rd is capturing imagines since it would coincide with the Brexit referendum anniversary – would be an admission that more time is needed, though new MEPs take their place in Parliament in early July, suggesting that nothing could be voted on until then at the very earliest, a scenario that not be ideal for either UK or EU.
If the process cannot be wrapped up by July, then scenarios of 2021 come into focus (EU officials are said to have mulled a delay until then, BBC reported), though this may not be palatable for Brexiteers, and thus, may split the government and lead to another strategy before then.
And if that wasn’t depressing enough for you, here are the thoughts of EU diplomats (via BBC’s Katya Adler):
“We’ve run out of ideas” EU diplomat tells me what EU could do if/when deal rejected tonight.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2F8gPEM Tyler Durden
The Army has completed a significant overhaul of its Interceptor Multi-Threat Body Armor System in the last several years and will field the first batch of next-generation helmets and protective gear beginning with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division this month, according to a new report from Military.com.
“Our next-generation helmet — the [Integrated] Head Protection System — it has a 100% greater blunt impact protection over the … Enhanced Combat Helmet,” Lt. Col. Ginger Whitehead, product manager for Soldier Protective Equipment, said.
The infantryman from the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, an infantry brigade based at Fort Knox, Kentucky, will receive the new Integrated Head Protection System (IHPS), along with the Soldier Protection System, such as the Modular Scalable Vest and Blast Pelvic Protector, said Col. Steven Thomas, project manager for Soldier Protection and Individual Equipment.
The new helmet, manufactured by Ceradyne Inc., utilizes advanced thermoplastic aramid and glass fabric composites, which provides better protection against a 7.62 Russian rifle round than legacy helmets and increases the amount of protection against high impact or trauma to a soldier’s head, according to Alex DeGroot, lead engineer for head protection.
“It’s less force on the brain; it’s a tremendous increase for us,” DeGroot said. “It’s actually one of the things that makes this helmet considerably better than the current [helmet].”
Whitehead said the fewer holes drilled into the helmet means better overall protection from high impacts.
The new helmet features a boltless retention system, which eliminates two holes on either side of the helmet, that the chin-strap assembly would be attached with special bolts, Whitehead said. The new helmet has just one hole in the front to attach the night-vision mount.
“The challenge with drilling holes in the helmet is that you weaken the material,” she said. “With this new helmet, we have gotten rid of the four holes drilled in the side.”
Whitehead added that each side of the helmet features removable side rails so that infantryman can mount tactical lights and headsets.
“You need the flexibility to have accessories on the helmet, particularly at night,” Whitehead said.
In addition to the IHPS, infantryman will receive the new Modular Scalable Vest and the Blast Pelvic Protector.
The Modular Scalable Vest weighs 11 pounds, based on a medium-size vest without ballistic plates. Fully equipped, the vest weighs 25 pounds, which is about five pounds lighter than current vests.
The new helmet and vest have undergone thorough testing among Army units over the last several years. This is all part of a modernization effort by the Pentagon to field infantryman with new body armor that can withstand a 7.62 round, traditionally used by Russia and China.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2O0t0WQ Tyler Durden
The Democratic Party does not want to close the door to voting on migrants who broke our laws to get here and do not belong here, as these illegals would likely vote for pro-amnesty Democrats.
In all but one of the last seven presidential elections, Republicans lost the popular vote. George W. Bush and Donald Trump won only by capturing narrow majorities in the Electoral College.
Hence the grand strategy of the left: to enlarge and alter the U.S. electorate so as to put victory as far out of reach for national Republicans as it is today for California Republicans, and to convert the GOP into America’s permanent minority party.
In the Golden State, Democrats control the governors’ chair, every elective state office, both U.S. Senate seats, 46 of 53 U.S. House seats and three-fourths of each house of the state legislature in Sacramento.
How does the left expect to permanently dispossess Middle America?
Let us count the ways.
In 2018, over 60 percent of Floridians voted to expand the electorate by restoring voting rights to 1.5 million ex-cons, all of Florida’s felons except those convicted of sex crimes and murder.
Florida gave Bush his razor-thin victory over Al Gore. Should Trump lose Florida in 2020, he is a one-term president. If the GOP loses Florida indefinitely, the presidency is probably out of reach indefinitely.
Florida’s Amendment 4 is thus a great leap forward in the direction in which the republic is being taken. Gov. Terry McAuliffe of the swing state of Virginia restored voting rights to 156,000 felons by executive order in 2016, calling it his “proudest achievement.”
In California and Oregon, moves are afoot to reduce the voting age to 17 or 16. Understandable, as high schoolers are more enthusiastic about socialism.
Last week, a bold attempt was made by House Democrats to lower the U.S. voting age to 16. It failed — this time.
Some House Democrats apparently feel that with “Medicare-for-all” and the Green New Deal of Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez on the table, they have enough progressive legislation to satisfy the socialist base.
Thanks to Gov. Jerry Brown, every adult citizen in California who gets or renews a driver’s license, gets a state ID card, or fills out a change of address form with the Department of Motor Vehicles is automatically registered to vote. Purpose: expand voter rolls to include those who have shown no interest in politics, so they can be located on Election Day and bused to the polls.
Ari Berman of Mother Jones writes that Nancy Pelosi’s 700-page For the People Act that did pass the House contains “a slew of measures designed to expand voting rights, which … include nationwide automatic voter registration, Election Day registration, two weeks of early voting in every state … restoration of voting rights for ex-felons, and declaring Election Day a federal holiday.”
House Republicans offered an amendment to the bill with language that said, “allowing illegal immigrants the right to vote devalues the franchise and diminishes the voting power of United States citizens.”
All but six Democrats voted against the GOP proposal.
The Democratic Party does not want to close the door to voting on migrants who broke our laws to get here and do not belong here, as these illegals would likely vote for pro-amnesty Democrats.
If the new U.S. electorate of, say, 2024, includes tens of millions of new voters — 16- and 17-year-olds; illegal migrants; ex-cons; new legal immigrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America who vote 70 to 90 percent Democratic, the political future of America has already been determined.
California, here we come.
As a Democratic insurance policy, Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen has introduced a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College.
Some Republicans support statehood for Puerto Rico, which would add six electoral votes that would go Democratic in presidential elections about as often as Washington, D.C.’s three have, which is always.
Ben Franklin told the lady in Philadelphia, “We have a republic, if you can keep it.” Our elites today, however, ceaselessly celebrate “our democracy.”
Yet John Adams was not optimistic about such a political system: “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes exhausts and murders itself. There never was a Democracy yet, that did not commit suicide.”
Thomas Jefferson, a lifelong believer in a “natural aristocracy” among men, was contemptuous: “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51 percent of the people may take away the rights of the other 49.”
Madison wrote in Federalist 10, “democracies … have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”
If one day not far off, as seems probable, tax consumers achieve a permanent hegemony over the nation’s taxpayers, and begin to impose an equality of result that freedom rarely delivers, the question of who should choose the nation’s rulers will be tabled anew.
We do not select NFL coaches or corporate executives or college professors or generals or admirals by plebiscite. What is the empirical evidence that this is the best way to choose a president or commander in chief?
Peoples are wondering that the world over, as our democracy does not appear to be an especially attractive stock.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2Ji9GFQ Tyler Durden
