Alabama: 5 Years In Prison For Voting The Wrong Way

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Voting the wrong way might lead to a five-year prison term in Alabama.

Secretary of State John Merrill, a Republican, wants the 674 people who crossed parties to vote in a recent runoff election prosecuted.

“If these people knowingly and willfully voted because they didn’t like the law, they thought the law was wrong, they thought the law was stupid, they didn’t think the law should be enforced, our intentions are to identify those people, fully investigate them, if it’s warranted to have them indicted, to have them prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said Merrill, according to Think Progress. “I want every one of them that meets that criteria to be sentenced to five years in the penitentiary and to pay a $15,000 fine for restitution. That’s what I want.”

Put God Back Into History And Teach Your Kids What They Won’t Learn Anywhere Else!

A new law prohibits crossover voting – that is, voting in a Republican primary when someone is registered as a Democrat, and vice versa. Upwards of 674 voted in both the August Democratic primary and then a September GOP runoff. Although that previously was legal, the legislature passed a vote in the previous session banning it. Crossover voting still is allowed in a handful of other states.

Roy Moore defeated U.S. Sen. Luther Strange in the September GOP runoff.

Randall Marshall of the ACLU of Alabama said he was “stunned” by Merrill’s threat.

“This is a brand new law,” he told Think Progress. “People have been allowed in Alabama to crossover vote prior to this special election.”

Further, Marshall said, anyone who tried to vote in both primaries – accident or no accidentally — should have been stopped from doing so by poll officials.

“Crossover voting should not have been permitted to even occur,” Marshall told the website. “Instead of putting it on the backs of voters and effectively chilling the right to vote going forward for fear of doing something that gets you put in prison for five years, this is a strong message from the state that we don’t care about your right to vote.”

The state asserted that there were signs notifying people of the new law.

Said Marshall, “When I got to the polls, I don’t read the stuff that’s on the wall. The notion that, there is signage here and that takes care of the state’s obligation I think is pretty small-minded.”

What do you think? Should voters who violated the law be prosecuted? Share your thoughts in the section below:

Carmageddon Continues - Dealers "Wildly Overweight" SUVs As Sales Slow

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

The auto boom, one of the key components propping up consumer spending, has come to an end.

Dealers are wildly overweight SUVs just as the market turned.

As auto-industry growth stalls and family sedans go the way of the flip phone, one silver lining had been the trusty “crossover” SUV. Sales in the category boomed amid lower gasoline prices and higher demand for spacious wagons with all-wheel drive.

But more clouds seem to be gathering as the summer car-selling season comes to an end. Incentives on SUVs are skyrocketing amid rising inventories, a trend that promises to dent the fat profits the segment has long returned.

Auto makers report sales on Friday, and August volume is expected to rise 2% compared with the same month in 2016, but only because dealers have an extra selling day this year. On an adjusted basis, the rate of retail sales—stripping out deliveries to fleet buyers—will hit the lowest point of 2017, according to J.D. Power, despite hefty sales incentives and new model offerings.

The U.S. auto market’s slowdown isn’t a new story, as analysts widely expected a seven-year growth streak to end and for sales to plateau at roughly 17 million a year for the foreseeable future. Red flags for the crossover market, however, represent a whole new set of headaches, particularly for companies like General Motors Co.

“The industry is wildly overweight on crossovers,” John Murphy, an auto analyst for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in a recent presentation. The number of crossover models sold in U.S. dealerships is expected to rise to 110 nameplates by late 2020, up from 78 today, he estimated.

Auto makers like GM—long dominant in the SUV market—have relied on bigger or heavier vehicles with higher price tags to drive profits, and offset the losses that result from sales of family sedans or compact cars. But in the first half of 2017, incentives for SUVs shot up 33%, according to research website Edmunds.com, with the average discount or rebate in the segment reaching $3,200.

Ford Motor Co. is currently offering a $3,500 cash rebate on the Ford Escape, along with 0% financing for 72 months. A Ford spokesman said the SUV market is “increasingly competitive,” noting average transaction prices last month fell $400 compared to a year earlier.

Economists Expect Plateau

At every peak, economists expect a “plateau”, be it the stock market, the housing market, or cars.

Reasons to Expect a Crash

• Self-driving features are on the way and many people will wait for them


• Lots of retiring boomers purchased their last car


• Anyone who bought with long-term financing in the past few years is deeply underwater, making trade-ins difficult


• Auto sales are increasingly subprime


• After years of record sales, who needs a newer car away?

Vehicles account for 20% of retail spending. A crash or even a significant slowdown will impact retail sales and thus GDP.