It’s arguable whether Brown absorbed his violence exclusively from pop culture or whether watching his step-father beat his mother [[http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20070910005627/en/VMA-Showstopper-Chris-Brown-Opens-Album-Pain|might also have been an…

Let him come, I say, and he can hob nob with the Bishop wherever that footage was filmed....on the edge of the fiery pit.

Good god...what was that in the background?

It would have been preferable if NZ had stood up to the plate, rather than sitting on…

Outcry as Chris Brown applies for NZ visa

Tiny, I would wager. No one I know can think who it is. It feels like something they sold the judge.

Must be a meagre deal. We face stiffer penalties for going 21km/h over the speed limit.

and another one...http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11544421

Musician avoids assault...gets permanent name suppression...

The incident happened at a work Christmas party when the man's then partner began arguing…

Bitch, please. In other news, the latest round of the Serco Follies involved [[https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/transgender-community-demand-answers-following-alleged-prison-rape-q13834|the alleged serial rape of a trans woman who should never…

Oh really, Mika? Do share.

Tamaki released a video message after being asked how he felt about the "Chris Brown saga" and about his "previous abuse – violence, so-called".

He said people needed to have patience to accept others even though they had made "mistakes even if it comes to physical…

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11523716

Huh?

I was thinking yesterday that one of the problems with Twitter is that it forces you to take sides when you really want to be in the grey area in the middle.

Was chatting to someone about this the other night . Vigilante and revenge fantasies are popular across culture's entire spectrum, pop or not. Hamlet, Titus Andronicus, The Punisher, Batman, Dirty Harry, the entire premise of 'Life on Mars'.....

Not so sure about that. What I can express on Twitter, I can express here in an expanded format.

I think Twitter is great for this place because it allows people to a) form their thoughts before they're posted here (which is what I do quite a lot of the time) and b) removes a lot of noise that might be kind of unhelpful…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM5_6js19eM

Public Enemy does not currently have any concerts scheduled in New Zealand in 2015. If you’re ready for a road trip, Public Enemy, currently has 14 gigs booked in cities like Bournemouth (United Kingdom), Providence (United States), Dublin (Ireland), Leuven (Belgium).

Oh, very good. :)
Just realising how it's everywhere and not just humans. I notice the bulls dry hump all the time over the back fence and the one up front clearly not enjoying himself. Sheep, not so much.

If censorship is to be avoided then artists who have lost the boundary between violent fantasy and reality need to be rejected.

I think it is pretty gross too . Many times when I hear of something ghastly in the news that someone has done…

Yeah, it is. And you come up against absolutes very quickly.

There was a line in Andrea Vance's column…

I honestly can't watch it.…

Isn't that how Key treats all of us? Panda, Amanda...

I'd argue that this, among many other levels of nasty, is exactly why GoT…

Thanks Danielle. That is what…

Tokyo's Ueno was a surprisingly horrible zoo when I was there…

Which reminds me – why was Brownlee the man to do the Preposterous Panda Proposal delivery?
Surely Joyce, who was a zoology or veterinary major and was in China a…

Hopefully places like this will survive once people realise that not every issue can be condensed into a short sentence....even if enhanced by links or pics.

All good Danielle . I'm glad you are prepared to look at yourself. I enjoy that challenge all the time.…

And why not?Tariana is a rebel. I listened to her defiant interview with Kim Hill . The…

I can only…

Speaking of which, this is the…

Absolutely, in this context where both the attacker and the victim are pop stars, at best it’s a tangent at worst it’s downright dangerous line to pursue. Above B Jones posted a track from…

I'm not saying…

A minor point, but he’s already banned from entry. :)

For sure. They just need to pick a more deserving person to support. One who has not continued being violent would be an obvious start. A local popular figure, even moreso.

One of the Young People sat her old ma down and explained this when she was challenged on her use of the word “bitch” in relation to a male colleague

So, old peoples styles…

https://www.google.co.nz/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=bitch%20definition

the…

you are thinking of one tiny slice of it.

The whole Maori/Hip Hop thing gets me. Hip Hop used to be a kind of Hippieish form of dance culture thing, Disposable Heroes, Michael Franti, The Beatnigs. The ethos was family oriented philosophy based movement of sorts, a kind of black Grateful Dead if…

The only logical explanation is that they're naive and have been convinced by a silver-tongued promoter that it's actually a race issue.

And not a single one of them bothered to do their homework before issuing a public statement. Not one. Shame on them…

Why are they doing this?
Why?

Also reported by Radio NZ.

Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing for Labour to lose Tariana Turia after all.

You'd hope.

https://youtu.be/J3UjJ4wKLkg

That was a strange interview. Kim Hill grilled her on due diligence and really just showed that Tariana Turia didn’t have a clue about the ongoing record. First she was claiming they’d done some investigation and believed claims had been made up, then when Kim Hill started…

Perhaps, and maybe they’ve taken this at face value:

US singer Chris Brown says he wants to go to Australia to use his influence as an entertainer to raise awareness about…

And it's ironic that Australia, originally settled as a dumping ground for British convicts, is itself now exporting them.

I'd say she has been misled and had her beliefs taken advantage of. Redemption requires changed behaviour, not smooth claims from a PR guy.

(Their mother had (and still does) a loathing for commercial radio, and the cassette player in the van was always on the fritz, so such rhymes served for entertainment.)

Neither…

And Mr Goulter's breathless claims to Morning Report that Brown has been doing 'numerous' engagements with 'a number of' anti-violence charities because he really has changed, y'all.

While writing lyrics like that? #yeahright

You need to be careful. That's how I ended up with a potato-shaped head.

I found myself muttering "I think I can, I think I can..." as my old Bus was chugging her way up the hill from Gulf Harbour the other week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx9xO98kcBU

Not a favourite of mine, or my now grown…

Same. That Jevan chap sure knows how to charm the aunties.

I sincerely hope that holds true for the wee 5 year old having a cool (school ) day out with his Dad and his mates. You know, a few beers, couple of joints a…

That’s a very good question. I initially thought it must have come down to this:

The women also hinted that there were racial elements at play

For example was there a whisper when Mark Wahlberg was here shooting The Lovely Bones? Though…

Headline...

"Rapper Brown Demonstrates New Found Respect For Women By Removing All Works Using "Fucking", "Bitch" and "Hoes" from Public Domain!"

I’m not trendy enough to know where the forums are.

Raukawa-Tait said on Thursday she had not heard Brown's music but ...

Merepeka...trust me, the young man's a poet. Maybe not a Tuwhare, but a poet nonetheless. In his own mind...

Seriously...this is bullshit.

Shame on these so- called leaders.

Cast your net closer to home ladies for…

Dame Tariana Turia, former co-leader of the Maori Party, also said she would support Brown's visa application. She said young people needed to relate to other young people and Maori youth would be more likely to listen…

WTF?
The statistics mean Maori are really good at violence, they must enjoy it then...
Can't think of any other reason their leaders seem to encourage it.
[[https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/journals-and-magazines/social-policy-journal/spj33/33-ethnic-identity-and-intimate-partner-violence-in-a-new-zealand-birth-cohort-p126-145.html |…

I'd challenge anyone to explain why it's "important".

Maori dames have spoken out in favour of rapper Chris Brown's visit to New Zealand in spite of his assault convictions.

Dame June Mariu, Dame June Jackson, Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi, Lady Tureiti-Moxon, and former New Zealand's…

NUMA's chair is Willie Jackson, who also supported the entry of Mike Tyson on the…

Wellll. I don't think I'd risk that, in the case of the USA. Goodness knows what they've got on us all.

To be charitable, Tony Veitch is…

To be fair, the article states "Chris Brown is about to get new high-powered support for his bid to enter New Zealand – this time from three Maori Dames, a Lady and a former Women's Refuge boss."
But says "Promoters…

I know the feeling.

It seems like the supporters are taking advantage of the publicity but in a naiive way. A quick look…

For many of those questions that is not the point. The point is should they need to throw you in jail, they can do so for lying on an official document this is then used to allow the authorities time…

There are even people in the comments of the police report article Russell links to doing just that, which boggles…

Chris Brown is about to get new high-powered support for his bid to enter New Zealand – this time from three Maori Dames, a Lady and a former Women’s Refuge boss.

The support of…

Aspie speaking here.

I must have taken your post literally. I am struggling with the nuance.

On a more personal level, I…

No. One thing I remember from the Chris Brown/Rhianna assault is the thousands of fans who were not only willing to turn a blind eye, but who were actively justifying his actions, and seeking to shout down and suppress dissenting voices. Similarly Veitch, alhough to a lesser extent.…

In retrospect I'm also surprised. I wasn't paying full attention in 2004, but the main focus of publicity I remember was on…

Aspergers, then.

Not having an acceptable level of charm/charisma, and the secondary associated entertainment value that goes with that.

You can get away with an awful lot if you're silver-tongued and reasonably easy on the eye. Not so much if…

It does appear to be time for this discussion though and I think most here are capable…

The Clean Slate Act says nothing in the act allows you to answer no criminal convictions if another country asks, and that it's ok to disclose to other countries' law enforcement.

I would expect more international…

On a…

Not that it answers your question but he probably would have been given diversion for the Rihanna attack (I can’t find any priors). Given the…

Although I'm not B Jones, I think we should be allowed to make a mistake and be given a clean slate. Especially when I disagree that marijuana is bad for me.…

Yes.

Very, very frustrating.

The message gets shot down because of the messenger.

Thanks for saying that, because prudence made me delete my response to that line of spin. Yes, I'm perfectly happy with Collins being held accountable to her…

Here's a tangential…

Agree entirely that Brown is not entitled to any special status, and his crimes are horrific. Some of the commentary online seems to be "Judith Collins must be wrong, ergo Brown not that bad" – which is cock-eyed nonsense.

Clean Slate doesn't help international travel -…

No, true. They're removed from the public record, you don't have to declare them to anyone and it's an offence for anyone to reveal them from the record. You can't even find out about your own convictions.

Genuine question: have you always held that view of the Clean Slate Act? Do you think no one should be allowed to move on…

Also, Tamihere, Jackson and Henry haven't savagely assaulted anyone. And they're not seeking an immigration waiver.

I would like to have heard a few sports people – and indeed, the Prime Minister – say that while Veitch absolutely…

It's not the state's job to forgive anyone – it's their job to either punish someone or stop punishing someone. Forgiveness is a totally…

The BSA rulings against Paul Holmes…

"This is the woman who as Justice Minister defended Maurice Williamson's intervention to the police on behalf of a man accused of domestic violence."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPtjcT1t64I

We literally do. The Criminal…

Well, we actually do. A jail sentence will finish at some point and once such likes as parole are completed, an ex inmate will head out into society having paid their dues. Community work as a sentence is…

What’s weird about this is that both of these cases were particularly egregious (Brown’s police report –…

yet another failure to prosecute. Recall this at the time.

It is. I'm a lawyer by training, if not by profession, and it's a really important distinction for me, the difference between how a state addresses a crime, and how…

Wow. Bet Hoskings was hiding under his bed terrified that an unfavourable decision was published.
If the BSA wanted to put up a big sign saying "WE ARE USELESS; SERVE NO…

I think there must be a distinction between how I feel as a person about Veitch and his actions and the way society as…

Tony Veitch's public rehabilitation isn't a danger to public safety as far as I'm aware, but it is a statement of how the public…

One of the principles of our justice system is that people can fuck up and then change. They get punished and then they are given the chance to become members of society again. I think…

For sure. His media rep was talking up the guy's changed ways on Morning Report. Sick-making.

Veitch pled guilty to the most serious charge, of injuring with reckless…

Half the ticket price please, because it's all too easy to fudge the numbers so the show make no profit.

Of course that would almost certainly cause the shows to make a huge loss – which might indicate some genuine remorse.

Veitch was charged, pleaded guilty, convicted and sentenced to nine months' supervision.

Because victims deserve the right to be left alone forever

I'm going to have to argue about that one as well. Sometimes it is just, especially when we're talking about soft punishments like shunning rather than imprisonment. How would we feel about Rolf Harris touring…

I think neither Veitch or Osbourne were not charged in…

However, the main purpose in putting criminals in the pillory was to publicly humiliate them. On discovering that the pillory was occupied, people would excitedly gather in the marketplace to taunt, tease and laugh at the offender on display.

Surely Hoskings subjects himself to public…

Let us hope that one Mr Hosking will be seeking employment soon.
BSA complaints upheld over Mike Hosking's ponytail comments
The authority concluded the publication of the decision was sufficient to mark the breach and no…

Let's put it this way, then: he has a right to seek employment.

Veitch's employers have a right to employ him if they want, but he doesn't have…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYjkDTzvDXQ

I suspect you're correct.

True. Although I think just a little opprobrium can also be expressed towards those who listen to him who happen to also be cognizant of the facts. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a little overlap between those who oppose…

Whilst this is true (insofar as people have right to some kind of employment),…