Politico reports:

On the first day of Congress’ freshman orientation, four incoming GOP members realized they shared a special connection: All had first- or second-hand experience living in communist or socialist countries.

The crew quipped that their family histories with brutal dictatorships and their aversion to Big Government basically made them the opposite of the liberal “Squad” that has surged to political stardom in the House.

Taking a page from their social media savvy rivals, they took to Twitter to share the name of their own counterrevolution. And the Republican “Force” was born.

This is a great move. The squad are basically four female Congresswomen who want to turn America into a socialist country and the force are Congresspersons who have (or parents have) actually grown up in (or next to) socialist countries and know how awful they are.

The members are:

• Nicole Malliotakis. Mother from Cuba.
• Carlos Gimenz. Born in Cuba, left at age six.
• Maria Elvira Salazar. Parents are Cuban exiles
• Victoria Spartz. Born in Ukraine, under Soviet rule for first 13 years
• Young Kim. Born in South Korea.
• Michelle Steel. Born in South Korea.

TVNZ reports:

Monty Python’s Life of Brian is a cult comedy classic, but the film’s humour is so controversial, it was banned in some countries.

The 1979 film, which had an R16 rating in New Zealand, is 13-year-old Arlo Scholes’ favourite movie.

“My favourite scene is where people start arguing and then they get into a fight,” Arlo said.

However, it was only after watching the British hit that his family realised he wasn’t old enough to view it.

“Some of it is a bit adult, it still can be suitable for my age,” he said.

“There’s no explanation for why it’s rated R16. We think it should’ve been rated M because there are some adult themes, but not a lot of violence or sexual content or drug use or other concerning elements.”

Arlo proceeded to email Chief Censor David Shanks to have it changed.

“We agreed with Arlo. It was time for another look and a reclassification of the movie,” Shanks said.

Arlo filed an application – with help from the Chief Censor – to review the movie’s rating.

Its rating has since been changed to M, meaning the film is suitable for mature audiences 16 years of age and over. 

I’m astonished Life of Brian was an R16. It should be compulsory viewing for all children when they turn 13.

The NY Post endorsed Donald Trump for re-election in 2020. It was founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1801 and has been owned by Rupert Murdoch for the 40 years or so. It has been described as Trump’s favourite newspaper.

So that makes their editorial all the more powerful:

Mr. President, it’s time to end this dark charade.

We’re one week away from an enormously important moment for the next four years of our country.

On Jan. 5, two runoff races in Georgia will determine which party will control the Senate — whether Joe Biden will have a rubber stamp or a much-needed check on his agenda.

Unfortunately, you’re obsessed with the next day, Jan. 6, when Congress will, in a pro forma action, certify the Electoral College vote. You have tweeted that, as long as Republicans have “courage,” they can overturn the results and give you four more years in office.

In other words, you’re cheering for an undemocratic coup.

Calling it straight. The Electoral College has voted and Biden has won. The role of Congress is to count the votes, not change the votes.

You had every right to investigate the election. But let’s be clear: Those efforts have found nothing. To take just two examples: Your campaign paid $3 million for a recount in two Wisconsin counties, and you lost by 87 more votes. Georgia did two recounts of the state, each time affirming Biden’s win. These ballots were counted by hand, which alone debunks the claims of a Venezuelan vote-manipulating Kraken conspiracy.

Yep hand recounts which found the same result.

Sidney Powell is a crazy person. Michael Flynn suggesting martial law is tantamount to treason. It is shameful.

We tend to use the label crazy too often but in the case of Sidney Powell, I think it is clinically correct.

We understand, Mr. President, that you’re angry that you lost. But to continue down this road is ruinous. We offer this as a newspaper that endorsed you, that supported you: If you want to cement your influence, even set the stage for a future return, you must channel your fury into something more productive.

He won’t listen.

If Georgia falls, all that is threatened. You will leave your party out of power, less likely to listen to what you have to say or to capitalize on your successes, such as expanding the Hispanic voting bloc for the GOP.

Democrats will try to write you off as a one-term aberration and, frankly, you’re helping them do it. The King Lear of Mar-a-Lago, ranting about the corruption of the world.

Great analogy.

I think the one on the left is marginally worse but it is very close.

TVNZ report:

Police believe almost 900 people joined a gang this year, a 13 percent increase on the year before.

Can’t think of any other industry growing as quickly as 13% a year.

Stuff reports:

Taxpayers have stumped up an extra $550 million to pay public-sector employees in the last year.

That was a 13 per cent rise in just one year.

In the last financial year a further 62 public service staff were paid salaries of more than $200,000, representing a 5 per cent increase.

Altogether, 1247 staff now earn above that amount.

No wonder Labour does so well in Wellington.

The common belief was that it would be impossible to get a withdrawal agreement between the UK and EU but Boris delivered one on 23 January 2020.

The common belief was that Brexit would never actually occur, but Boris delivered Brexit on 31 January of this year.

The common belief was that there would be no trade agreement between the UK and EU but Boris delivered one on Christmas Eve.

I wonder if one day people will stop underestimating him.

The part of the headline the Green MP is labelling ableist is “adopted country has many blind spots”.

So now the woke have decided that the term blind spot is ableist and hurts people feelings.

No doubt once the new hate speech laws have been passed, using the term “blind spot” will attract a $10,000 fine or up to six months in prison.

Eedookh Breekha everyone.

Stuff has made their annual predictions. I’ve copied them below, along with my comments on them.

1. Facing serious pressure on housing prices, Labour will extend the Bright Line Test, arguing this doesn’t qualify as a new tax – just a new way to crack down on people avoiding paying their fair share. DPF: agree they will break their promise and do this.
2. An electorate MP will leave Parliament, sparking a by-election. DPF: Disagree. Unlikely.
3. Congestion charging will be announced – or at least consulted on – for Auckland. National will struggle with whether or not to oppose it. DPF: Consulted on but not announced.
4. Local governments will continue to screw up, necessitating the appointment of at least one commissioner. The threat of an observer in Wellington will linger but not eventuate. DPF: Agree re screw up and a commissioner for Invercargill is possible.
5. The Government will implement a clean car emissions standard, but the EV fleet will remain below 30,000 by the end of the year, a tiny fraction of the overall fleet. DPF: AGree
6. Barring an outbreak, the trans-tasman bubble will open before the start of March. DPF: Disagree. 2nd quarter.
7. No one will resign from Cabinet in scandal or under pressure. DPF: Agree for 2021.
8. New Cabinet minister Peeni Henare will say something that he will live to regret. DPF: Pretty likely.
9. A new MP from the class of 2020 will greatly embarrass themselves on behavioural grounds. DPF: Fairly safe prediction.
10. A decision will be made on the future of light rail in Auckland, although don’t expect shovels in the ground. DPF: Is this a prediction? Saying there will be a decision but not what it is.
11. The drive towards a four year term will continue – but Labour will eventually concede that a referendum would be needed to make this change. DPF: Again not really a prediction.
12. New Zealand will sign up to a much tougher NDC under the Paris Agreement after the Climate Change Commission recommends it. National struggles to bring itself behind the Commission’s first emissions budgets, igniting a quiet civil war within the party. DPF: Agree re NDC.
13. The REINZ median house price in Wellington will hit $1m and prices will rise throughout the country. DPF: Agree and quite soon.
14. The Government’s books will be in better shape than feared with a deficit $10b-15b lower than what’s currently forecast. Unemployment will continue to rise, but it will peak below 7 per cent. DPF: Agree
15. The work towards a new intelligence agency, as recommended by the Royal Commission’s inquiry into March 15, is slow and unfinished by the end of the year. Incumbents within the system generally resist the change. DPF: Agree
16. The country will hear extremely little from Winston Peters or from the husk of a party that is NZ First. DPF: Hopefully
17. Oranga Tamariki will have a new chief executive before the year is out. DPF: Probable
18. The rollout of the Covid vaccine will be patchy and messy. By the end of 2021 there will still be people who want it who haven’t got it. DPF: Highly likely
19. The Government will come under serious pressure to open the borders widely as other countries get their vaccines fully rolled out. DPF: Of course

Stuff reports:

Queenstown hotel owners are distressed to learn that a proposed bed tax is being considered by the tourism minister while they struggle to survive.

In a letter to Queenstown hotel operator Nik Kiddle​, new Tourism Minister Stuart Nash confirmed he had spoken to Queenstown Lakes District mayor Jim Boult about the proposed visitor levy, which Nash understood was put on hold due to Covid-19.

The international tourism sector is almost dead but the Government still wants to impose an additional tax on them.

Stuff reports:

The man who murdered British backpacker Grace Millane can now be named as Jesse Shane Kempson.

It can now also be revealed that since being jailed for Grace’s murder, he has been convicted of raping a woman in a motel room – an incident that happened just months before he met Grace.

In October, Kempson was also found guilty of seriously assaulting and sexually violating a former girlfriend.

These were three different crimes carried out at different times with different victims.

But sadly for the victims of the rape and sexual assault he gets no extra jail time.

He got seven years and six months for the sexual assaults.

He got three and a half years for the rape.

And he already had the sentence of life for the murder with 17 years non parole.

The non parole period doesn’t get extended because of the rape and sexual assault convictions due to concurrent sentencing.

This seems wrong to me. I understand concurrent sentencing when it is say a string of burglaries – you don’t get six months per burglary. But for three such terrible crimes it seems wrong he gets no extra jail time.

The NY Post reports:

One of NYC’s poshest private schools is in an uproar over an anti-racist manifesto signed by dozens of faculty members with a sweeping list of demands.

They include:

• Hiring 12 full-time diversity officers, and multiple  psychologists to support students “coping with race-based traumatic stress.” 
• Assigning a staffer dedicated to black students who have “complaints or face disciplinary action,” and a full-time advocate to help black kids “navigate a predominantly white institution.”
• Paying the student debt of black staffers upon hiring them.
• Requiring courses that focus on “Black liberation” and “challenges to white supremacy.”
• Compensating any student of color who appears in Dalton promotional material.
• Abolishing high-level academic courses by 2023 if the performance of black students is not on par with non-blacks. 
• Requiring “anti-racism” statements from all staffers.
• Overhauling the entire curriculum, reading lists and student plays to reflect diversity and social justice themes.
• Divesting from companies that “criminalize or dehumanize” black people, including private prisons and tech firms that manufacture police equipment or weapons.
• Donating 50 percent of all fundraising dollars to NYC public schools if Dalton is not representative of the city in terms of gender, race, socioeconomic background, and immigration status by 2025.

Future policy for New Zealand schools?

My Daily News reports:

President Trump has ratcheted up his efforts to overturn the results of the election as right-wing conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell returned to the White House.

Powell, who was ousted just days ago from Trump’s legal team, is pitching extremist ideas like seizing voting machines or even declaring martial law.

After bending Trump’s ear Friday in the Oval Office along with disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Powell was back at the White House lobbying aides to join her quixotic push.

Powell and Flynn, who needed a presidential pardon to avoid prison for lying to the FBI, are vociferously urging Trump to issue an executive order or take other action to seize voting machines in swing states won by President-elect Joe Biden.

Flynn has openly called for Trump to proclaim martial law to order a rerun of the election in some states that Trump lost.

I never thought I would read stories about how a US President who lost an election would have people in the Oval Office advocating he declare martial law as a way of avoiding leaving office.

A year ago I did my annual predictions for the forthcoming year. So it is time to score them!

1. NZ First will not make 5% in the 2020 election – correct 1/1
2. ACT will gain at least a second MP – overachieved 1/1
3. By the end of 2020 (after three years) the Government will not have achieved even 5% of its ten year targets for houses or trees – correct as they were under 1% and under 3% respectively – 1/1
4. National will win more electorate seats in 2020 than 2017 – massively wrong 0/1
5. The End of Life Choice Bill referendum will pass – correct 1/1
6. The Cannabis legalisation referendum will fail – correct 1/1
7. No new political party will enter Parliament in 2020 – could have been worded clearer as I meant party not previously won seats. Morally 1/1 but give myself 0.5/1 for being unclear
8. The Government’s 2019/20 accounts will breach their Fiscal Responsibility Rules – massively so 1/1
9. The Government will scrap the Fiscal Responsibility Rules – sadly yes 1/1
10. Brexit will occur on 31 January 2020 – it did 1/1
11. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for September 2020 will be the same or higher than September 2019 – up up from 4.2% to 5.3% so 1/1
12. James Shaw will have a leadership challenge but win – no challenge so 0/1
13. Pete Buttigieg will win the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary – he beat Sanders by 0.1% in Iowa but lost by 1.2% in New Hampshire so 0.5/1
14. Donald Trump will win re-election if the nominee is Warren or Sanders but lose to Biden or Buttigieg or Bloomberg – correct 1/1
15. Rebecca Long-Bailey will replace Jeremy Corbyn as UK Labour Leader – wrong thankfully for Labour 0/1
16. There won’t be a firm commitment to shift the Ports of Auckland to Northland, even though NZ First will pretend there is. Correct 1/1
17. Shane Jones will stand in Northland and lose. Correct 1/1
18. Jacinda Ardern will get married before the general election – wrong, maybe this summer. 0/1
19. The Government will back the proposed NZME/Stuff merger to the Commerce Commission – wrong 0/1
20. Parliament will not vote to restore voting rights to some prisoners before the 2020 election – also wrong 0/1

Overall score: 13/20. I got 14/20 in 2019 and 12/20 in 2018.