Hours before he was killed, Castile and his sister were discussing their carry permits when he stopped at the family home on his way to getting his hair styled, his mother told CNN.
"They were saying to be cautious. And my daughter said, 'I don't even want to carry my gun because I'm afraid they will shoot me first and then ask questions later,'" Valerie Castile told CNN.
I'm blaming this on Grover Norquist because I have to question how much our national tax cutting fervor of the last 30 years has contributed to this problem. We have so decimated municipal tax bases that cities and towns now routinely turn their police into shakedown artists in order to raise the revenue they need to operate even at minimal service levels, and it appears that they ttend to target minority communities for this. That means a lot more traffic stops, a lot more direct interaction with an increasingly armed public, and a lot more opportunity for violent confrontation. The area where Castile was killed is a well-known speed trap (Elder Daughter lived nearby when she was at Hamline). And guess which racial groups are most targeted by Minnesota law enforcement for traffic stops? You can find some of the answers here, but it shouldn't come as a surprise.
This paragraph jumped out at me:
The greatest relative differences between actual and expected stops and searches for Blacks are found in suburban cities and central cities other than Minneapolis. In the suburban cities of Fridley, New Hope, Plymouth, Sauk Rapids, and Savage combined, Blacks were stopped about 310% more often than expected. Once stopped, officers subjected Blacks to discretionary searches at a rate 108% greater than expected even though only 11% of Blacks were found in possession of contraband compared to 18% of Whites searched. In absolute terms, approximately 1,800 fewer Blacks would have been stopped in these suburban cities if Blacks had been stopped at the same rate as other drivers. If Blacks stopped in these cities had been subjected to discretionary searches at the same rate as other drivers, 108 fewer Blacks would have been searched.
I always bristle when people spout crime rate statistics for minorities as some sort of evidence that they are inherently more criminal. It only demonstrates that minorities and their communities are more intensely policed than white communities. If I fish in Lake Calhoun for 5 hours and in Lake Harriet for 1 hour, I'm usually going to catch more fish in Lake Calhoun.
Misused statistics drive me crazy.
Just like when Mauer gets judged on RBI instead of looking at numerous other statistics that consider the success-to-opportunty ratios. Avg, ops, etc.
This is from April, but since Max Kepler is my new boyfriend I found it to be a very enjoyable read. Kepler has a great story, just don't expect to see him plie or releve.
I thanked him in German when he autographed my program at spring training
Kepler is fourth in position players in rWAR despite having half as many PAs of those ahead of him. He's 6th overall in rWAR.
That would be fourth on the Twins, of course.
If his second half is anything like his last couple of weeks, he could get some ROY consideration.
If.
.255/.328/.608 over the last 14 games. When he was called up for June 1, his slash line was .167/.286/.333. A month later it stood at .245/.319/.434. He's 13th in rookie position players this year.
Whoa, I could have sworn he was hitting much better than that the last fortnight. So he'd have to play much better and have a phenomenal second half. Another dream crushed by cold statistical reality. Thanks, Bill James.
His last two weeks have been great, at least from a power perspective. He's hit .255/.328/.608.
We just signed our lives away. (The utility company hadn't hooked up the gas, we we decided against signing until the work was completed. Still a number of things on the punch list that need to be done, but it's narrowing in on complete. Bank has requested a bunch of stuff, so I guess that's good.
I'm sure you know your lives are worth a whole lot more than the amount of a mortgage.
The bank disagrees.
Well a credit score is generally less than a mortgage.
Park is sitting due to wrist soreness, per #MNTwins farm director Brad Steil.
He's been icing his wrists for at least a month. Glad to see the Twins finally figured out there might be a problem there.
The Twins are 5 wins worse than their pythag. That's tied for the biggest negative difference in the AL with the Mariners and Angels.
On the pregame show tonight, Paul Molitor said, "We're not paying a lot of attention to the standings right now." For some reason, that struck me as hilarious.
Twins fans aren't paying a lot of attention either.
A good guy with a gun. Still dead.
I'm blaming this on Grover Norquist because I have to question how much our national tax cutting fervor of the last 30 years has contributed to this problem. We have so decimated municipal tax bases that cities and towns now routinely turn their police into shakedown artists in order to raise the revenue they need to operate even at minimal service levels, and it appears that they ttend to target minority communities for this. That means a lot more traffic stops, a lot more direct interaction with an increasingly armed public, and a lot more opportunity for violent confrontation. The area where Castile was killed is a well-known speed trap (Elder Daughter lived nearby when she was at Hamline). And guess which racial groups are most targeted by Minnesota law enforcement for traffic stops? You can find some of the answers here, but it shouldn't come as a surprise.
This paragraph jumped out at me:
I always bristle when people spout crime rate statistics for minorities as some sort of evidence that they are inherently more criminal. It only demonstrates that minorities and their communities are more intensely policed than white communities. If I fish in Lake Calhoun for 5 hours and in Lake Harriet for 1 hour, I'm usually going to catch more fish in Lake Calhoun.
Misused statistics drive me crazy.
Just like when Mauer gets judged on RBI instead of looking at numerous other statistics that consider the success-to-opportunty ratios. Avg, ops, etc.
This is from April, but since Max Kepler is my new boyfriend I found it to be a very enjoyable read. Kepler has a great story, just don't expect to see him plie or releve.
I thanked him in German when he autographed my program at spring training
Kepler is fourth in position players in rWAR despite having half as many PAs of those ahead of him. He's 6th overall in rWAR.
That would be fourth on the Twins, of course.
If his second half is anything like his last couple of weeks, he could get some ROY consideration.
If.
.255/.328/.608 over the last 14 games. When he was called up for June 1, his slash line was .167/.286/.333. A month later it stood at .245/.319/.434. He's 13th in rookie position players this year.
Whoa, I could have sworn he was hitting much better than that the last fortnight. So he'd have to play much better and have a phenomenal second half. Another dream crushed by cold statistical reality. Thanks, Bill James.
His last two weeks have been great, at least from a power perspective. He's hit .255/.328/.608.
We just signed our lives away. (The utility company hadn't hooked up the gas, we we decided against signing until the work was completed. Still a number of things on the punch list that need to be done, but it's narrowing in on complete. Bank has requested a bunch of stuff, so I guess that's good.
I'm sure you know your lives are worth a whole lot more than the amount of a mortgage.
The bank disagrees.
Well a credit score is generally less than a mortgage.
Of course he is.
He's been icing his wrists for at least a month. Glad to see the Twins finally figured out there might be a problem there.
The Twins are 5 wins worse than their pythag. That's tied for the biggest negative difference in the AL with the Mariners and Angels.
On the pregame show tonight, Paul Molitor said, "We're not paying a lot of attention to the standings right now." For some reason, that struck me as hilarious.
Twins fans aren't paying a lot of attention either.