*Annual Global Index Rates U.S. 128th Most Peaceful Nation on Earth:
The world has gotten a little more peaceful, according to the 13th annual Global Peace Index, a complex study that ranks 163 nations around the world based on factors ranging from rates of homicide and incarceration to the presence of small arms, military expenditures, ongoing conflicts, terrorism, the overall economic impact of violence and even climate change “The average level of global peacefulness improved for the first time in five years,” the index said, noting that Iceland is the most peaceful nation on earth, a spot it has held for 11 years.
New Zealand is in second place, followed by Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Canada, Singapore, Slovenia, Japan and Czech Republic, to round out the top 10. The U.S. is ranked 128th on the list. Among Western allies, Australia is 13th, Germany 22nd, Britain 45th and France 60th. Certain Central American nations had a better rating than America; El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, for instance, were rated 113, 114 and 123 respectively — though Mexico came in at 140. Afghanistan is the least peaceful nation — with Syria as runner-up, followed by South Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, Central African Republic, Libya, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Russia.
*‘Sugar Daddy’ Website Founder Pledges to Donate Up to $1 Million to Fund Abortions:
The founder of the SeekingArrangement.com website, which pairs rich, older men (“sugar daddies”) with attractive younger women for “mutually beneficial relationships,” is creating an organization to pay for the abortions of women who can’t afford to travel to a state where abortions are legal. Brandon Wade, the website’s founder, says his new non-profit will donate up to a million dollars to cover the expenses incurred obtaining abortions, Fox 46 in Charlotte, N.C. reports: “Wade says he is in the process of registering a 501(c)(3) non-profit called ‘Let’s End Poverty.’ Wade pledged to donate ‘up to $1 million’ to pay for out-of-state abortions, medical care and travel costs for women in the US, age 18 or older, in financial need. Additional money would be raised through a GoFundMe account, a spokeswoman said.” Wade says his new program will launch sometime in the next three months.
*Nikki Haley: Don’t Call Political Opponents ‘Evil;’ ‘I’ve Seen Evil’:
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former Governor Nikki Haley (R-S.C.) told attendees at Turning Point USA’s Young Women’s Leadership (TPUSA) Summit that American politics are “reaching the point of hate” now that politicians are calling each other “evil,” simply for having policy differences. Politicians’ passions have become toxic, Haley said Friday during a question and answer session with TPUSA President Charlie Kirk, The Daily Caller reports: “I believe in being passionate, I do. But when it gets toxic and I say that now it’s getting to where people are calling each other evil. They’re hiding behind anonymous things and they’re saying things that are really reaching the point of hate.”
Haley said it’s wrong to call political opponents evil when they’re just expressing different ideas, because she has seen true evil during her travels with the United Nation: “When I hear them call each other evil, it bothers me because I’ve seen evil. I’ve been to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they use rape as a weapon of war. I’ve been to South Sudan where they’ve taken babies from women’s arms and thrown them into fires. … That’s evil. What we’re having in our country is a debate of ideas. That’s it.”
*Congress Is Doing So Well, It’s Trying To Vote Itself A Pay Raise:
Congress is doing such a bang-up job managing the country that it’s considering asking itself for a pay raise. Democrats in the House are beginning to put together budget requests for 2020, Politico reports, and they’re considering breaking the “decade-long” Congressional pay freeze, which has kept Congressional salaries at a modest $174,000 since the time of President Barack Obama‘s tenure. The request would end the pay freeze and give Members of Congress a $4,700-per-year boost in pay to keep their salaries “current” with what the market apparently demands for legislators.
Members of Congress say the pay bump is only fair, and that they’ve been forgoing cost-of-living increases for a decade, even though they are guaranteed regular bumps in pay to coincide with “inflation” and hikes in “cost of living” expenses. The team authoring the measure calls the raise “modest.” “There is strong bipartisan support for these modest inflation adjustments,” a spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee told Politico, adding that if other Members of Congress feel the raise is unfair or untoward, there are avenues to block the pay increase. “If members want to alter or eliminate the [cost-of-living adjustment], they should do so through the authorizing process — not appropriations bills,” he said.
*Mary Max, Wife of Famed Artist Peter Max, Kills Herself in Upper West
Side Apartment:
Mary Max, the wife of world-renowned psychedelic artist Peter Max, killed herself in her Upper West Side (NYC) apartment, police said last week. Mary Max, 52, died of nitrogen asphyxiation and was discovered in her apartment on Riverside Drive near West 84th Street, cops said. She had been involved in an ugly legal battle with other members of the family over her dementia-afflicted, 81-year-old husband’s artwork.
In a 2015 lawsuit, Max’s stepson, Adam Max, accused Mary of attempting to kill her husband so she could take control of his multimillion-dollar art collection. In response, Mary accused her stepson — who is three years younger than she is — of stealing $4.3 million worth of artwork that her husband gave her in a prenuptial agreement.
*MORE! MORE! MORE! California Gov. Gavin Newsom Pushes for $2 Billion in New Taxes and Fees:
As California enjoys a historic budget surplus of more than $21.5 billion, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing for more than $2 billion in new taxes and fees. His plan calls for instituting a water tax, phone tax, and health care penalty known as the “individual mandate.” “Without the mandate, everybody’s premiums go up,” Newsom said when pitching his plan. Citizens would begin to be penalized in 2020 for not having health insurance in order to provide further subsidies for Covered California, the state insurance exchange. Within three years, the revenue is expected to top over $1 billion.
“We’re talking about close to $2.4 billion in new taxes,” said Republican state Sen. Patricia Bates, who represents both parts of Orange and San Diego counties. “Everything in California is costing more and incomes are less.” Many in the state legislature remain cautious to raising taxes after former Gov. Jerry Brown pushed through a controversial 2017 transportation package that levied a 40% tax hike on the state’s excise gas tax and increased yearly vehicle registration fees. While the campaign to repeal the gas tax, known as Prop. 6, failed at the ballot box by a margin of 56 to 43 percent, many Democrats in the Assembly remain hesitant to again raise taxes after Republicans successfully recalled Sen. John Newman (D-Orange) after connecting him to the unpopular gas tax hike last June.
*Feds: Only 11 Employers Prosecuted for Hiring Illegal Aliens in Last Year:
Only 11 employers and no businesses were prosecuted for hiring illegal aliens over American citizens for U.S. jobs last year, federal data finds. Although President Donald Trump’s administration has increased interior immigration enforcement by increasing the total number of arrests and deportations of illegal aliens — results that have lifted the wages of millions of working and middle-class Americans — little-to-no progress has been made in terms of increasing the prosecution of businesses and employers that knowingly hire illegal aliens over American citizens.
Federal data obtained by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University reveals that while Trump has tightened the labor market via more arrests and deportations of illegal immigrants, U.S. employers and businesses continue to largely get away with illegal hiring practices. Between April 2018 through March 2019, for instance, only 11 employers were prosecuted for hiring illegal aliens over Americans. In the last year, no businesses were prosecuted for hiring illegal aliens.
Of those 11 employers prosecuted, only three of them received prison time. “Not only are few employers prosecuted, fewer who are convicted receive sentences that amount to more than token punishment,” TRAC analysts explained. “Prison sentences are rare.”
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