Angie Zapata

We are a bit late in responding to this trajedy. Angie Zapata was an 18 year old Latina transgender women. She was beaten to death by a man to whom she”d given oral sex.

I strongly recommend you not go to youtube to see the comments on this clip. Too many people seem to think murderous rage is a justifiable response.

From Brownfemipower:

An arrest was made in the murder of teenager Angie Zapata. Allen Ray Andrade admitted that he beat Angie with a fire hydrant after he discovered she was transgender. Allegedly, he admitted to police that after he beat Zapata, he thought he “killed it.”

One expects it was a fire extinguisher – jj.

“I’ve Never Been To Me”

Wow. I’d never actually listened to the lyrics of this song. Certainly didn’t know it was about how we chicks all need babies to make us complete, and how bad sexual freedom is. And now it’s gonna be stuck in my head all day. Damn.

The importance of actually looking at statistics

Pretty much everyone in the UK thinks that youth violence is on the rise, and that knife crime* in particular is reaching newly epidemic proportions and requires a crack-down. But guess what? Looks like that might be totally wrong. Apparently 40 years ago, kids were far more likely to carry knives, and also far more likely to be victims of violent assaults. They also used more drugs. The only “moral panic” issue on which today’s kids rate higher is having sex. (A note: I’ve never heard to the publication that the article is in, and there are many things about the article that would have made me distrust the source. However, it was cited on the BBC’s Broadcasting House radio programme, so that’s at least some reason to trust it.)

*Yes, knife crime, you culture-shocked Americans! We’ve got serious gun control laws here.