The Herald reports:

Authorities in northern Idaho say a 2-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his mother after he reached into her purse at a Walmart store and the concealed gun fired.

Kootenai County sheriff’s spokesman Stu Miller tells reporters that the shooting was accidental and occurred in the store in Hayden, Idaho, a town about 40 miles northeast of Spokane, Washington.

If the two year old fired the gun, I’m pretty sure it was accidental. Unless she had refused to buy him a present he wanted!

If you have a gun in your purse, you should either have a very good safety on it, or not let your children rumage through it!

Danyl McL blogs:

But two weeks of not-being-on-twitter made me realise something: somewhere along the way twitter became completely awful, and not constantly exposing myself to – and participating in – this endless cacophony of advertising soaked shrill, mean-spirited outrage is a wonderful experience. I encourage other compulsive twitter users to try it.

I’m not quite at this point, but I have to say I’m not far off. Twitter has become somewhat awful. The constant outrage is wearying. Slate even has a feature showing how on every day of 2014, there was a different thing people got outraged over on social media.

I think I’ll follow Danyl’s lead and have a break from Twitter for a couple of weeks. I suspect I’ll enjoy that.

The 2014 Fairfax predictions have been scored.

1. “National will get a lift in the polls early in the year as the economic news gets better.” 10/10
2. “John Key will reshuffle his cabinet lineup in the first two months of 2014.” 9/10
3. “At least one of the Green MPs will step down before the general election.” 5/10
4. “Two of Labour’s ‘old guard’ will go on the list to give themselves the option of quitting after the election without triggering a by-election.” 0/10
5. “Brendan Horan, Eric Roy and John Hayes will not be MPs by the end of the year.” 10/10
6. “Irrespective of the election result, David Cunliffe will stay on as Labour leader.” 3/10
7. “The Genesis Energy sale will go ahead, but for the election campaign National will call it a day on the partial privatisation programme.” 10/10
8. “Conservative leader Colin Craig will stand in the East Coast Bays seat, his party will get into Parliament but will not cross the 5 per cent threshold.” 6.66/10
9. “The economy will start to flag late in 2014 as rising interest rates start to bite.” 6/10
10. “The brawl between Judith Collins and Steven Joyce over who will inherit John Key’s crown will heat up as the election approaches.” 2/10
11. “Mr Key will give the thumbs up to talks with all of National’s potential allies: ACT, the Conservatives, the Maori Party and UnitedFuture. But he will make it clear NZ First will be his last cab off the rank if he is in a position to form a government.” 10/10
12. 12. “The Maori Party will win two seats at the election.” 10/10
13. “Key will visit the White House and host a high-profile return visit.” 5/10
14. “ACT will not get more than 1.5 per cent of the vote.” 10/10
15. “New Zealand’s push for a temporary seat on the United Nations security council will be successful.” 10/10
16. “A senior member of David Cunliffe’s office will quit.” 10/10
17. “Housing will be one of the most contentious themes of the year, prompting National to announce further measures to help low-income and first-home buyers.” 10/10
18. “There will be upsets in the seats of Napier, Mt Roskill, Te Tai Hauauru, Ohariu and Maungakiekie.” 4/10
19. “The election will be held in October.” 0/10
20. “National will form a government with at least two other parties.” 10/10

Not a bad score. Their 2015 predictions come out tomorrow.

According to WordPress, Kiwiblog in 2014 was:

• Viewed 8,616,328 times
• Top day was September 16 (day after Moment of Truth) with 54,131 views
• 3,208 posts
• 197,311 comments
• Most viewed post was It’s Time To Get Angry
• Twitter was the top referring site
• Viewers came from 222 countries
• Most commented on post was Who Killed the Crewes with 1,144 comments
• Most frequenter commenters were ShawnLH 6,721; Johnboy 4,919, mikenmild 4,814, Kea 4,139 and Redbaiter 4,136

Top of the honours list is Sir Murray Brennan. Made a Grand Knight Companion of the NZ Order of Merit for his work against cancer. Sir Murray has been chair of surgery at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, the largest cancer centre in the world. He fundraises for Otago University and cancer research in New Zealand and has written more than 1,000 research papers.

Dame Adrienne Stewart is made DNZM for her work in promoting women in business, plus significant charitable and cultural contributions. She was the first female public company director in NZ, the first female chair of the Institute of Directors and was named Patron of the Year in 2009 by the Arts Foundation.

Dame Tariana Turia was and MP from 1996 to 2014. She was a Minister from 1999 to 2004 when she resigned from Labour to protest the Foreshore and Seabed Act. She was again a Minister from 2008 to 2014.

Sir Donald Rowlands has a near 50 year business career, including chief executive of Fisher & Paykel Industries, Chairman of Mainfreight and a director of Hamilton Jet. Sir Donald is also a gold medal winning rower.

Sir Neville Jordan is a technology entrepreneur and innovator. He was President of the Royal Society of NZ from 2006 to 2009. In 2012 he was awarded Wellingtonian of the Year. Born into poverty, he has a current net worth of over $60 million and founded microwave telecommunications company MAS Technology which achieved a NASDAQ listing.

Sir Paul Collins was the CEO of Brierley Investments in the 1980s. He also has been a top sports administrator as Chair of the NZ Sports Foundation, Chair of Sport NZ, a director of the Hurricanes and a director of NZ Rugby.

Sir Peter Williams QC is arguably NZ’s leading defence lawyer, having appeared in over 100 murder trials over 60 years. He is also a prominent penal reform campaigner.

Sir Ian Athfield is one of NZ’s top architects, if not the top.  He is a former president of the NZ Institute of Architects, has won over 60 national and international architecture awards and in Wellington designed the Civic Square, Wellington Library, and Chews Lane Precinct.

Justice Sir Graham Panckhurst was a High Court Judge from 1996 to 2014. He was also the chairman of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Pike River mine disaster.

Many high achieving New Zealanders there, deservedly honoured.

UPDATE: Accidentally missed out Sir Brother Pat Lynch, for a lifetime of service to Catholic education. Has had a huge positive impact on many lives.

Sideswipe reports:

A competition for atheists to rewrite the Ten Commandments has produced this list:

1. Be open-minded and be willing to alter your beliefs with new evidence.

2. Strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true.

3. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.

4. Every person has the right to control over their body.

5. God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life.

6. Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognise that you must take responsibility for them.

7. Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective.

8. We have the responsibility to consider others, including future generations.

9. There is no one right way to live.

10. Leave the world a better place than you found it.

Source: inquisitr.com

I like Nos 1, 2, 4, 5, 8 and 9 especially.

The US Supreme Court is set to have a bumper year in 2015 with four key topics up for consideration. Sam Baker from the National Journal summarizes the cases.

Obamacare

This time, the challengers want the Court to invalidate the law’s premium subsidies in states that didn’t set up their own insurance exchanges. Most states didn’t establish their own exchanges, and more than 80 percent of enrollees are getting subsidies—so a win for the challengers here would likely make insurance unaffordable for about 5 million people and could make insurance markets unstable in most of the country.

Obamacare’s supporters are nervous about this case, King v. Burwell, not only because of its implications, but because of the way the Supreme Court decided to hear it. The justices took up the Obamacare case much earlier than many observers had expected, opting not to wait for a lower-court ruling that likely would have strengthened the Obama administration’s hand.

This case could be defining moment for Obamacare.

Same-sex marriage equality

The Court hasn’t yet said whether it will act on the latest round of appeals in same-sex marriage cases, but just about everyone wants it to. When the justices meet on Jan. 9 for a private conference to decide which cases they want to consider, challenges to several states’ marriage laws will be on the schedule—and even more states have asked the judges to just settle the marriage-equality question once and for all.

The Court had tried to stay away from the issue since its landmark rulings last year that struck down a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act and opened the door to same-sex marriage in the states without mandating it.

When a federal Appeals Court upheld same-sex marriage in several states, the justices declined to hear an appeal. But then the Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld bans on same-sex marriage in Michigan and Kentucky, as well as state laws in Ohio and Tennessee.

Looks like despite their apparent reluctance SCOTUS will have to get involved to bring some clarity to the law(s).

Religious freedom

The Court has already heard oral arguments in a suit filed by an Arkansas inmate who wants to grow a beard, in accordance with his Muslim faith but in violation of prison rules. During oral arguments, the justices reportedly seemed to be siding with the inmate, questioning whether the prison system could ensure inmates’ safety without such strict rules against beards.

The Court has agreed to hear a second, similar case, but hasn’t yet scheduled oral arguments. This one concerns a woman who was denied a job at an Abercrombie & Fitch store because the head scarf she wore, as a practicing Muslim, wasn’t consistent with the company’s “Look Policy.” The question in the case is whether a business can discriminate against someone’s religion if it didn’t know that a religious accommodation was needed.

In 2014 SCOTUS heard the Hobby Lobby religious freedom case which was about the contraception mandate in Obamacare. So in 2015 the issue is back with these two cases likely to be fiercely debated.

Freedom of Speech

The first, in which the justices have already heard oral arguments, concerns social-networking sites and asks what type of messages constitute a “threat.” The case concerns a man, Anthony Elonis, who posted violent Facebook messages about an ex-wife, including some that discussed killing her. But the question is whether those messages meet the legal standard for a “threat,” which says that a “reasonable person” must conclude that the person making the statement is actually expressing an intent to commit violence.

This case was covered here at Kiwiblog in a previous post.

The second free-speech case the Court has agreed to hear deals with a Florida law that prohibits judicial candidates from personally soliciting campaign contributions—they have to set up a fundraising committee, to avoid situations in which a person wins and becomes a judge, then has to try to remain impartial while deciding a case that involves a major donor. The Roberts Court hasn’t found many campaign finance laws it likes.

Critics fear if SCOTUS rules against the fundraising ban judges independence could be under threat.

Finally, there’s the free-speech issue that never dies: the Confederate flag. Officials in Texas rejected a proposed license-plate design from a group called Sons of Confederate Veterans, which, unsurprisingly, included the Confederate flag.

There have been numerous cases in the US courts before this one so SCOTUS will have to provide a clear answer to the issue.

All four topics have been hot topics in the US recently so whatever the court’s decisions there will no doubt fuel further heated debates.

I blogged back in April on a disgraceful front page story in the Waikato Times that published an allegation from Curwen Rolinson (NZ First Youth Leader) on Facebook that the Waikato Young Nationals had purchased 202 copies of Dirty Politics to do a Nazi style book burning.

As you can see the Waikato Times didn’t only make it their front page lead, they even commissioned a graphic of the book burning.

They were told the story was false. They decided to run it as a front page lead, and now the Press Council has slammed them for it in one of the harsher rulings I have seen.

The Press Council has said:

The Press Council recognises that social media are a frequent source of information that can be checked and developed into stories capable of meeting the standards of accuracy, fairness and balance expected by readers of a reliable newspaper.

In this case the Council does not believe the newspaper had sufficient corroboration of the claim on Facebook. The Times’ additional source, a student who would not be named, claimed to have seen Mr Letcher with more than 200 books. If that statement were true, it does not establish that Mr Letcher intended to burn them.

The Facebook posting as reported by the Times, said, “So apparently the CNI Young Nats (and presumably the NZ Young Nats) are buying up copies of Nicky Hager’s # Dirty Politics….and burning them.” The word “apparently” should be noted. It suggests the information was at best hearsay, at worst an assumption by a person associated with a rival political party.

The Times called it “rumour” but its report also claimed to have confirmed part of the rumour. It is therefore difficult to accept the Regional Editor’s response that the paper was merely reporting an allegation. Its confidence in its own source and its decision to splash the book burning allegation across its front page would have given the story credibility in the minds of some readers. 

While Mr Letcher’s denial was also reported prominently, this does not redeem the report. Newspapers need to be careful when dealing with rumour that is denied. A false accusation can easily be made for the purpose of forcing a political opponent to deny it publicly. That indeed is said to be a device of “dirty politics”. Newspapers should take care to ensure they are not unwitting instruments of it.

Basically the Press Council has said that the Waikato Times was part of Dirty Politics themselves.  They smeared Aaron Letcher on the basis of a Facebook post by a political opponent and an anonymous source.

They refused to admit they did anything wrong:

The Times did not base stories solely on social media but those media often provided tips or starting points for stories. In this case the allegation on social media was supported by a source the Times considered credible and agreed not to name, which is standard practice for news organisations.

Their anonymous source lied to them, as there were not 202 books purchased or in Letcher’s possession. You only have to protect sources that tell you the truth.

The WaikatoTimes could not substantiate this rumour to a standard that meets the Press Council’s principles of accuracy and fairness. Mr Letcher’s complaint is upheld.

The Press Council has upheld, by a majority of 8:3, a complaint against the Waikato Times over a front page report of a claim that Young Nationals had bought hundreds of copies of the book Dirty Politics, intending to burn them.

What I find amazing is that it was  only an 8:3 decision, not 11:0. I can’t think of a more clear cut example, especially when you consider how it was made a front page lead. Of interest the three who said it were fine are all members meant to be representing the public, while all the members representing newspapers, magazines and journalists condemned it.

I hope the  Waikato Times runs the decision of the Press Council with the same prominence as they did the original story, and they finally apologise to Aaron Letcher for the outrageous smear they published as a front page lead, linking him to a purported Nazi style book burning.

UPDATE: The Waikato Times has not mentioned the ruling on their front page, but have it on an inside page. The front page is devoted to the worthy talents of Miss Whangamata.

The Herald looks at some MPs worth following on Twitter.

1. @jacindaardern. 25,200 followers
2. @AndrewLittleMP. Followers: 4840
3. @cjsbishop. Followers: 1850
4. @grantrobertson1. Followers: 10,400
5. @jamespeshaw. Followers: 2220
6. @paulabennettmp. Followers: 3853
7. @TrevorMallard. Followers: 7391
8. @winstonpeters. Followers: 9257
9. @PeterDunneMP. Followers: 5698
10. @tauhenare. Followers: 6061 (Tau is there as honorary Minister of Twitter outside Parliament).

Some amusing extracts:

Most memorable exchange this year was after someone proposed a sitcom starring Judith Collins and Robertson. Robertson suggested George and Mildred “but with weapons”. Collins replied he was being hard on himself given George was “a lazy, do nothing, gambling moaner”. Robertson replied: “Who said I was George?” Is also humble – of his low ranking on a blog’s “hottest MPs” list: “my hotness is so powerful it is not necessary to talk of it.”

Heh.

After Samoa’s Prime Minister urged women MPs not to forget their housewifely duties, Bennett tweeted: “can’t read the full story, rushing home to cook husband dinner.”

Excellent.

Tim Blair blogs:

To a certain extent, Australia’s jihadist contribution to the Islamic State cause in Syria and Iraq is a self-solving problem. Our brave soldiers of Allah are evidently such incompetent warriors that they are being killed at almost the same rate as they arrive.

“The overall number of Australians currently fighting with or supporting Islamic extremist groups in Syria and Iraq has remained consistent over recent months,” ASIO deputy director-general Kerri Hartland told a Senate hearing earlier this month.

“However, this does not reflect a reduction in the number of Australian travellers. Instead it reflects the relatively high casualty rate for Australians, with the numbers of new arrivals roughly keeping pace with the fatalities.”

Maybe we shouldn’t confiscate the passports of New Zealanders wanting to go to Syria or Iraq to join the Islamic State and its jihad? Let nature solve the problem!

The Guardian reports:

After 13 years of war, Nato formally ended its combat operations in Afghanistan on Sunday, leaving the Afghan army and police in charge of security in a country plagued by continued fighting, a ferocious insurgency and a rising tide of both military and civilian casualties.

Against a backdrop of violent clashes in a number of provinces and several weeks of deadly attacks on the capital, military leaders lowered the flag of a mission conceived in 2001, and hoisted the colours of a new one under which Nato’s role will largely be restricted to training, advising and assisting the local army and police.

“Our Afghan partners can and will take the fight from here,” said General John F Campbell, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) at a ceremony in the capital.

13 years is more than long enough.

As insurgent attacks have increased in many parts of the country in 2014, Afghan forces have already been leading the fight in recent months – but at a high price.

More than 5,000 local security forces have been killed this year alone, the highest toll since the war began. In comparison, the international coalition has suffered a total of 3,485 deaths since 2001.

Ouch, that’s a high death rate. But to be blunt, the outcome in Afghanistan of what is a sort of civil war is no longer of global importance.

The new President of Afghanistan seems to be of higher calibre than his predecessor. He may be able to secure a peace deal and help rebuild the state.

Andrea Vance details some MPs to look out for in 2015, who may make headlines. They are:

• Andrew Little, Labour Leader
• Todd McClay, MP for Rotorua and Revenue Minister
• Alfred Ngaro, National List MP
• Chris Bishop, National List MP
• Phil Twyford, MP for Te Atatu
• Kelvin Davis, MP for Te Tai Tokerau
• Stuart Nash, MP for Napier
• Peeni Henare, MP for Tamaki Makaurau
• Megan Woods, MP for Wigram
• James Shaw, Greens List MP
• Fletcher Tabateau, NZ First List MP
• Ron Mark, NZ First List MP
• Judith Collins, MP for Papakura
• Maurice Williamson, MP for Pakuranga

In emulation of the excellent Fairfax annual predictions, here are my political predictions for 2015. Some serious, and some less so.

1. There will be a by-election in 2015
2. There will be no changes to the composition of the Key Ministry in 2015
3. Two Labour List MPs will leave Parliament in 2015
4. The Government will post a small surplus for the 2014/15 fiscal year
5. Andrew Little will remain Labour Party Leader
6. Jacinda Ardern will be annointed Labour Party Deputy Leader
7. Four of the original five charter schools will get good reviews, but one will close
8. Not a single members’ bill will pass into law in 2015
9. At least one person on Labour’s list, will waive taking up their spot in Parliament, when vacancies occur
10. An MP will announce their engagement
11. Helen Clark will not stand for UN Secretary-General
12. Labour will reach 30% in at least one poll in 2015
13. Trevor Mallard will throw Winston Peters out of the House for disorderly conduct
14. An MP will get pregnant in 2015
15. Whatever decision the Government makes on helping combat the Islamic State, it will be condemned by the Greens
16. No ACT MP will be charged with a crime in 2015
17. A visit to NZ by David Cameron will be announced in 2015
18. The winning design in the first flag referendum (to decide which goes off against the current one) will have a Silver Fern on it
19. Claire Trevett will hold onto power as Chair of the Press Gallery, defeating the ABT faction once again
20. The Government will not give a cent to Sky City for the convention centre

Stuff reports:

Search and rescue operations are underway after an AirAsia flight from Indonesian to Singapore with more than a hundred people on board lost contact with air traffic control.

Indonesian transport officials said the aircraft lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control tower at 6.17am local time (11.17am NZT).

There were reports wreckage of the plane had been found east of Belitung Island in Indonesia.

AirAsia is a Malaysian airline. They say troubles always strike in threes. Very sad for the family and friends of the crew and passengers.

AirAsia were ranked the best low cost airline in the world in 2012. I think this is their first crash.

The NY Post editorial:

The Rev. Al Sharpton’s march today in Staten Island is meant to slam New York’s Finest. We’ll say it flat out: We support the cops.

Unequivocally.

Better The Rev & Co. turn their march into a parade to celebrate the NYPD — and how the department, almost single-handedly, turned this city around. (Notwithstanding efforts to the contrary by rabble-rousing self-promoters like Sharpton.)

How ironic that the reverend titled his bit of street theater a “We Will Not Go Back” march. Because that’s precisely what he wants the city to do: return to the ugly days when cops failed to control crime, chaos ruled and the city was barely livable.

Only two decades ago, the city saw 2,245 people murdered in a single year. That’s more than six lives a day — and most of those were the lives of blacks and Hispanics. Moms and dads had their kids sleep in bathtubs to avoid stray bullets.

Today, thanks to the men and women in blue, this year the average is less than one murder a day. Think of all the lives, minority lives, that have been saved.

There were just 333 homicides in 2013 – a 50 year low. And 2014 is looking to be even smaller.

Even beyond that, New York’s Police Department made the city livable. It has made it possible for people to run businesses here and live their lives without daily dread.

Are there some bad cops? No question. Are there police-related tragedies in a city where 35,000 uniformed officers interact with 8.5 million residents 23 million times a year? Who would expect otherwise?

But think about what the city asks of these men and women: To walk up a dark flight of stairs in some seedy building searching for armed bandits who might shoot at any moment. To break up gang violence and get weapons off the street from thugs who’d rather not give them up.

And, yes, to improve the quality of life for average New Yorkers.

The war between Mayor De Blasio and the NYPD has continued, with thousands of officers turning their back on him at the funeral of a slain officer.

Rodney Hide does the calculations:

Overtaking on the road safely and within the law is now all but impossible.

The speed limit on the open road is 100km/h. The police are applying zero tolerance. You can now be ticketed at 101km/h. The speed limit for heavy vehicles and cars pulling caravans, boats or trailers is 90km/h.

Do the maths. In good driving conditions we are advised to apply the “two-second rule”. At 90km/h that’s 50m. So you pull out 50m behind a truck and trailer, the truck and trailer is 20m long and you pull in once safely 50m past. You have to make 120m to pass safely.

If the truck is doing 90km/h and you stick to 100km/h it takes 43 seconds to gain that 120m.

At 100km/h you will have travelled 1.2km. You must allow for a car coming towards you at 100km/h. To pass safely you need 2.4km of clear road.

This is why there is a tolerance – to allow for situations where it is sensible to temporarily exceed the speed limit.

NDTV report on how Kim Dotcom stopped a denial of service attack on Sony Playstation and Microsoft Xbox by giving the hackers 3,000 lifetime vouchers for Mega’s premium service.

While the intention may have been just to be able to play his games (or to get some publicity painting him as a saviour) I think it is a bad precedent to reward hackers – ether for hacking, or for stopping hacking. Either way it incentivises them to do more hacking in future.

Also of interest is that Dotcom claims he is broke, and can’t afford anything – yet gave away 3,000 lifetime premium subscriptions to Mega.

An annual premium subscription is around 100 Euros so NZ$150. A lifetime one would probably be valued at around $2,000 using a modest discount rate. 3,000 x $2,000 is $6 million.

It’s tough being broke.

Dan Balz from the Washington Post reports on the debate underway amongst Democrats prior to the 2015-16 presidential primaries.

That there is such a debate over the direction of the Democratic Party is without question, and the differences have become louder in the wake of the drubbing the Democrats suffered in the midterm elections.

What is in question is the degree to which the rising populist movement on the left can materially shape the party’s future. More specifically, absent some sign from Warren that she is going to run, can these Democrats successfully pressure Hillary Rodham Clinton, the party’s dominant prospective presidential candidate, to adopt much of their agenda?

It is well known that Hillary Clinton is seriously considering running for the nomination and would be a potentially strong establishment candidate for the Democrats. But further to the left of Clinton is Elisabeth Warren the Senator from Massachusetts. Warren has been building a higher profile in US politics at the national level. Her supporters have already been stating clearly where they stand.

Those trying to encourage Warren to run in 2016 argue a different case. Anna Galland, executive director of MoveOn.Org Civic Action, said there are important policy differences that need to be aired before Democrats pick their 2016 nominee.

She cited issues such as how the party should address income inequality, who holds positions of power in the executive branch — a cause taken up by Warren when she opposed Obama’s nomination of investment banker Antonio Weiss as treasury undersecretary — and whether it is even possible for Democrats to have a discussion about expanding, rather than constraining, Social Security benefits. “We are not debating style here,” she said. “We are debating substance.”

This is urging the Democrats to move to the left. Which leads to the obvious question how will Clinton respond? So far there haven’t been a lot of specifics from Clinton and as yet it remains uncertain what her strategy will be.

Balz goes on to cite examples of the debate within the Democrats and observes that not all within the party are as yet convinced of the populist message Warren is pushing.

Populist energy pulsates within the party to the point that Democrats cannot agree on whether it has become its dominant ideological strain. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who has championed a populist message as much as Warren, said: “It’s a good, strong message, and it’s a message that she’s carried very well, and it’s a message that a number of us have put out there for a number of years, and it’s catching on. . . . I don’t think it’s there yet.”

But Gov. Jack Markell of Delaware, who comes out of the centrist Democratic tradition, said he believes the party has tipped in favor of Warren’s anti-Wall Street, populist message. “I don’t think there’s any question,” he said of a shift that he finds worrisome for the party’s future hopes of winning over independents and swing voters.

Relating to and winning over independents and swing voters is a key issue not just for Democrats but also the GOP. Also the Republicans would probably welcome a presidential nominee such as Warren with her big government style agenda. Whether they would be good enough to defeat her populist message in a presidential campaign is yet to seen. They haven’t won the Presidency since 2004.

Debates such as the current one inside the Democratic Party can be very healthy in any political movement and shouldn’t be automatically categorised as a split.

The Herald is profiling some backbenchers. Today is Mark Mitchell, MP for Rodney:

You’ve been in Parliament three years, so what’s the best advice you can give to a new MP?
The best advice I got – and I applied it throughout my whole life – was that when you are embarking on a new job or a new challenge, it is really important to listen, to watch and listen and pick up as much as you can and then start applying what you’ve learned and do the best that you can.

What would be your dream portfolio if you were ever in Cabinet?
My dream portfolio would be trade. I’m deeply passionate about trade and that’s really what drove me back home to get involved in politics. I see the future of our country is tied directly to how well we can continue to trade with the rest of the world.

What do you mean “drove me back home?”
I had my own company when I lived in the Middle East. My company was operating in a lot of emerging markets that are fairly important for New Zealand and I felt we could have been doing better. We were living in Kuwait and basically my wife said to me one day, ‘stop moaning about it and do something about it’. I reflected on it and thought the contribution I could make would be to return home and get involved in politics.

What sort of company was it?
There were two parts to it. I was involved on the management board of a global logistics company, one of the top 10. It was in about 120 countries with about 500 offices with about 30,000 employees. The second part was a security risk management company I formed myself, which was in about 14 countries, and had about 3000 employees which I was the chairman and CEO of. In 2010, when I decided to come back, the company was sold.

So Mark formed and ran a company with 3,000 employees. Very impressive.

Have you got a goal for 2015?
A goal in terms of my electorate is to continue to advance Penlink, which is an important infrastructure project that links the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, back into State Highway One. Locally, I’ve also begun a holistic review of what investment is required to keep our services in line with the amount of growth we are expected to absorb. About a third of all current residential building consents lodged at the Auckland Council are for Rodney. In terms of personal goals politically, I would like to obviously pick up a ministerial portfolio, so I will continue to work hard and show I am capable of taking on that responsibility. And in terms of personal goals, we are defending the Parliamentary Rugby World Cup title in the UK in 2015 and I’m the co-captain, with Damien O’Connor [Labour, West Coast-Tasman].

Mark’s majority in Rodney is 20,230.  He got 24,519 votes and the Labour candidate 4,289!

The Herald reports:

Pakistani troops have killed the Taliban leader who planned the massacre of 132 children at a Peshawar school earlier this month, a senior government official claimed.

Saddam Jan, commander of one of the most militant Taliban factions waging war against Pakistan, was killed on Christmas Day in a shoot out with army forces in Khyber agency, a remote tribal area close to the Afghanistan border.

That’s a good Christmas present.