THE DON JONES INDEX…	GAINS POSTED in GREEN LOSSES POSTED in RED
	9/10/19… 16,412.13 9/3/19… 16,405.76 6/27/13… 15,000.00
(THE DOW JONES INDEX: 9/10/19… 26,909.43; 9/3/19… 25,008.06; 6/27/13… 15,000.00)

LESSON for September 10, 2019 – MENTAL REVENGE!

Ten little Democrats go to the Texas debate Thursday night and so, until they are done with their lying and their testifying, let’s wrap the oddly diverse Lessons of the past two weeks up into one big, oddly, ugly-shaped package as conflusates the predelictions of some Americans to go out and shoot a bunch of strangers for reasons strange or partisan or not at all with that of corporations who, in search of higher profits, go lean and mean by bringing in machines to replace people.

What do the suddenly useless eaters of America do?

Some of them kill.

Our story for the week, as Rod Serling or Alfred Hitchcock might presume on one of their late night episodes that gambol cross the airwaves hereabouts on the off-premium broadcast channel, is one Seth Ator, a truck driver from Odessa (and putative relative to a member of the rock band Blind Melon)… some three hundred miles north of the West Texas town of El Paso, for whom the last day of August was a very bad day indeed. He woke up angry, grabbed his guns and drove to work angry, was fired and left in a huff and then was clocked by a police prowl car for failing to use a turn signal.

Hot pursuit ensued, during which he called the FBI and both Ator and his employer at Journey Oilfield Services called 911 to complain about the other person. The killer’s remarks were, “rambling, statements about some of the atrocities that he felt he had gone through,” said Christopher Combs, special agent in charge of the FBI’s office in San Antonio. "Frankly, the dispatchers, the call takers, couldn't figure out what he was talking about," Combs said, but “…he did not make a threat in that phone call.”

The shootings unfolded at 3:15 p.m. local time on Saturday, about 15 minutes after Ator called the FBI's National Tip Line, Combs said.

The first victim in the rampage was a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper who pulled the suspect over for failing to signal before making a turn, Gerke said. As the trooper approached the car, Ator allegedly opened fire with an AR-type assault rifle, wounding the trooper, he said.

Gerke said the trooper had no prior knowledge of the phone calls Ator made to law enforcement before pulling the suspect over.

Ator then allegedly drove around in his vehicle randomly firing at victims in 20 different locations, including a car dealership and outside a movie theater, police said.

One of the victims was Mary Granado, a 29-year-old U.S. Postal Service worker, who Ator allegedly shot to death during a carjacking, Gerke said.

The suspect allegedly ditched his car and stole Granado's postal service van after killing her, Gerke said. He continued driving around the Odessa area, firing at people at random, the chief said.

The alleged killer then sped toward the Cinergy center, a local entertainment complex that includes a cineplex and a laser-tag range. A cellphone video taken by a witness showed the suspect speeding toward a police roadblock outside the theater before a police officer in a marked SUV rammed the stolen postal van on the driver's side, causing it to spin out and stop. Within seconds, police opened fire on the van, killing the driver inside, Gerke said.

Gerke said the motive for the shooting may never be known because Ator is no longer alive to answer questions. The killer, unlike recent others, left no manifesto, had a minimal social media footprint and the authorities have refused to release transcripts of his conversations with local police and the FBI during his rampage – other than to state that Ator was angry about the “atrocities” committed against him.

Those who died as a result of Ator’s shooting spree ranged in age from 15 to 57 years old. A 17-month-old girl was among the injured. Police officers later shot and killed Ator at the parking lot of the Cinergi movie theater after they rammed the hijacked mail truck he was driving. “The reason that person was stopped was because of a Midland police officer and an Odessa police officer. They rammed his car, stopped him and when he got out, they shot him,” Odessa Mayor David Turner said.

Also among the dead, reported Australia’s news.com, were Edwin Peregrino, 25, who ran out of his parents’ home to see what the commotion was and 15-year-old high school student Leilah Hernandez, who was walking out of an auto dealership. Ator fired at random as he drove in the area of Odessa and Midland, two cities 482 kilometres west of Dallas.

Subsequent investigations by the authorities and the media elicited a vague, but troubling profile long before Ator —known as "El Loco" to his neighbors in Odessa, Texas — took to the highways Aug. 31 and began shooting people with an assault-style rifle.

During the spree, and before he died in a shootout with police, Ator shot and wounded a 17-month-old girl in the face. He gunned down a postal worker who was nearing the end of her shift, a father of two who was sitting in his vehicle at a traffic light, a man who walked outside his parents' home to investigate gunshots and a truck driver heading home from work. In all, seven were killed and 25 injured.

A neighbour, Rocio Gutierrez, told AP that Ator was “a violent, aggressive person” that would shoot at animals, mostly rabbits, at all hours of the night.

“We were afraid of him because you could tell what kind of person he was just by looking at him,” Gutierrez said.

“He was not nice, he was not friendly, he was not polite.”

The killer had a minimal criminal and social media profile; records from McLennan County Court in Waco, Texas, show Ator was arrested Aug. 3, 2001, for trespassing and evading arrest – both misdemeanors – to which Ator pleaded guilty in February 2002. He was sentenced to two years of “court probation.” It’s not clear what restrictions that probation entailed – there have been allegations that this crime would have put him on the “Do Not Sell” redlist for the rifle he used. Said social media channels yielded few results, leading conspiracy theorists to promulgate the theory that the government or some other “They” had scrubbed the man’s public profile prior to the public release of his name. Both left and right-partisans denied that he had been drawn to their faction, but exhibited traits associated with their enemies.

What can be assumed is that Ator’s conspiracy… if conspiracy there was… was a conspiracy of one

“There are no definite answers as to motive or reasons at this point,” Michael Gerke, the police chief of Odessa, said, “but we are fairly certain that the subject did act alone.”

Investigators have released few details about the killings, but have let it be known that they are also trying to determine how Ator could have been prevented from obtaining the AR-type weapon he used in the rampage.

Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott posted a message on Twitter on Monday saying Ator not only had a criminal record, but he had also once failed a background check when he tried to purchase a gun.

"He didn’t go through a background check for the gun he used in Odessa," Abbott tweeted, adding: "We must keep guns out of criminals’ hands."

John Wester, a special agent for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, confirmed on Monday that Ator did fail a firearms background check.

"The background check was run through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The NIC system did work. He applied to get a gun. He was denied a gun," said Wester, who declined to say why Ator was rejected.

He said the investigation into how Ator got the weapon he allegedly used in the massacre remains under investigation, but the conservative National Review asserted that he had failed the requisite background check because he’d been declared mentally unfit by a local court. A nationwide criminal-background check identified the court order and prevented the purchase, according to local authorities.

“If Ator did in fact purchase the weapon through a private transaction, its seller was under no obligation to conduct a background check,” reported the NR, “but could be held criminally liable if evidence emerges that he knew his prospective customer came to him due to a previous background-check failure.

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“Partisan tensions over gun-control legislation have escalated in recent weeks following separate mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio,” the Buckley-ites added. “Congressional Democrats continue to insist on universal-background-check legislation that would apply to private sales, a version of which passed the House earlier this year. Republicans, meanwhile, remain non-committal as Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell refuses to endorse specific legislation.”

This morning, a USA Today editorial… citing Djonald Unchained’s $30 million in campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association in 2016 and subsequent denial that backbround checks would not and will not stop the slaughter… advised that “The problem with shackling your view to this kind of logic is that sooner or later, given the river of mass killings traumatizing America, there will finally be a tragedy that precisely proves this argument wrong.”

Ator, the editorial stated, never should have been able to buy a gun. He managed to obtain his AR-style rifle thanks to a loophole in the federal background-check system, anonymous law enforcement officials told The Associated Press and ABC News. A court had ruled him mentally unfit to purchase or own a firearm, so he was barred from buying a gun from a licensed dealer in 2014 after failing a federal background check. 

Ator simply purchased his rifle in a private sale not covered under federal law — “a loophole that would be closed if Congress passed universal background checks favored by nine out of 10 Americans,” asserted USA Today, since private sales, including those on the internet and at gun shows, are not covered under federal criminal background check requirements. 

They are wrong. Foreign and domestic terrorists, disgruntled workplace shooters, domestic violent perpetrators and just plain crazies would not respect the laws against illicitly purchasing guns because they do not respect the laws against robber, rape, murder and other gun-related crimes. And those who supply them would not respect the laws because… well… they’re criminals. And licensing, or even banning, the sale and possession of guns would not only require a Constitutional Amendment, it would criminalize millions of Americans – many of whom would not go lightly when the police knock on their doors at three in the morning.

“Anti-gun-rights extremists are moving swiftly to exploit the tragic shooting in Texas to bolster their demand for so-called universal background checks, which gun owners believe is actually an insidious national gun registration scheme,” declared Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation and chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in USA Today’s counter-editorial that sorta, kinda outed the paranoia of the gun lobby without exactly acknowledging it.

Though both partisans would vehemently deny it, their arguments have a common root… “Gun prohibitionists hoping to capitalize on this single exception are overlooking an important new development in the investigation. Reports claim the firearm was illegally manufactured and sold, which would preclude the effectiveness of any background check or various other gun laws,” Gottlieb averred, further snping “(b)ut facts never matter to the gun control crowd.”

Apparently mindful of the NRA stranglehold on Republican politicians quaking in their pennyloafers at the prospect of primary challengers (and mindless of the possible implications of cruising into the next general election on a platform of, for example, greenlighting weapons sales to known terrorists on the FBI, CIA or DHS no fly lists, Gottlieb even warned private enterprises like WalMart that: “In 2017, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Commission, 10,874 people died in alcohol-related crashes… (t)hat same year, according to the FBI, 403 people were killed with rifles” and then sneering “self-righteous Walmart continues to sell alcohol.”

Used to be that it was “all about the money.” Still is, sort of, but it’s also all about the tribes.

Speaking of tribalism, what photographs and criminal records have been released by the authorities to date, as reported by scallywagandvagabond.com, are already provoking partisan sentiments as to whether Ator was a left-wing, right-wing or wingnut terrorist.

The allegations that he may have been another neo-Nazi has have been made on the basis of Odessa’s population is nearly 56 percent Hispanic or Latino, according to the most recent Census data available and peanut galleries across the political spectrum were crunching their shells.

“Why the hell is white supremacist even part of this story!?” asked S. “Nothing like throwing gas on a fire!”

Various peanuts have described the shooter as white or Native American, a divorced Jewish Democrat, a Democratic Socialist, a Nazi, a scientologist. Various Internet sites also confused him with talk show host Seth Meyers (perhaps because he revealed that Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson plans to attack the President’s “Third Eye”), Seth Rogan and Seth Green, accused of being part of a pedophile ring (along with some big name Hollywood stars like Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Stephen Colbert, Bill Clinton, and Claire Grant) by one Isaac Kappy, who is reportedly now under investigation by the LAPD for allegedly choking Paris Jackson at a party.

Lacking direct, first-hand ballyhoo on the killer, the local and national media lost interest and quickly moved on to other sensational disclosures, such as whether President Trump’s adoption of an early target map of Hurricane Dorian, targeting Alabama, was evidence of some deep state conspiracy.

Their withdrawal created a void soon filled by… well… creative sorts.

“Seth's father was also a holocaust survivor, at the age of 9 where he survived the gas chambers in Auschwitz 6 times,” one particulary chewy nut posted. “He would would meet Seth's mother after his fourth time being gassed where he was being put through masturbation torture. Seth Ator (living in his trailer, mind you) is also a prominent member of the Jewish community in Odessa. He has personally supported the immigration of over 100 Somali males so they could become doctors, lawyers, and engineers. These males have now become prominent members of the Black Lives Matter movement and have taught many women the ways of the BBC in order to protect them from White Incels.”

The poster did not specify whether BBC is the media company in the U.K. or something else.

“So because there are a lot of Hispanics in that town , this guy just has to be a racist??” posted a gun lover. “What if he was Black, would he still be a racist or would it have been gang related? you Liberals just love to divide the races, keep them divided so you can keep on selling news stories!!!”

“Turns out the guys (sic) is a Democrat and ANTIFA member,” agreed B.B. “There goes your "theory" which destroys your agenda.”

Another peanut cited You Tube, proving that Ator was not only Antifa, but “high on meth”.

“Sorry, anything on twitter is not news,” tweeted a snowflake moderate, “… (t)he question should be WHY did the police let this asshole drive around shooting people?”

Was this a false flag provocation? Or did God tell him to kill the infidels? According to one N.S.:

“The War of Words is a far greater threat than an AR-15, because only fools wage war on the innocent, and once the DemoRats regain the White house, they will confiscate guns, and anyone not obeying their autocratic words will be imprisoned or eliminated, and history will validate the fact that the best way to control the masses is to disarm them and remove their ability to defend themselves against government oppression. The last weapon the righteous will have to defend themselves against the great evil of the beast of Revelation, is words, and those are now being oppressed, hidden, and distorted as well, because most still don't want to hear the Word of Truth, even though we are currently experiencing the end of 6th day of the 7 day human experiment, which only the wise will understand, Daniel 12:9-10, and most still cannot comprehend the fact that there will be a Day of Judgment, because the voices of fools can only spew ignorance, and an educated, liberal, progressive fool cannot even distinguish between good and evil, because the knowledge of fools is still ignorance to God, 1 Corinthians 1:25 and 3:18-19.

Maybe, suggested the President of the United States (amidst his testimony containing the usual thoughts and prayers), he was mentally ill.

And then, according to The Hill, advisers to former NBC Chairman Bob Wright, a friend of the president, proposed the study to discover if technology like phones and smart watches could be utilized to determine if someone is at risk to commit a violent crime, a sort of Ministry of Madness, if you will.

The reported proposal, coined SAFEHOME (Stopping Aberrant Fatal Events by Helping overcome Mental Extremes), is part of Wright's project to develop an agency to look for creative ways to solve health problems.

Wright has presented the proposed agency known as Health Advanced Research Projects Agency (HARPA) to the Trump administration, the WashPost reported. Ivanka Trump, the president's senior adviser (and daughter), reportedly asked if the team advocating for the agency could also look into methods to stop mass shootings. (Half-brothers Don Junior and Eric declined to comment on their preference of big game hunting weaponry, and whether it would be appropriate for Ator’s variety of street justice, even though neighbors reported that the gunman seldom shot anything bigger than rabbits.)

Wright’s potential study is, of course, wacko – but its adoption by a President still raging over his refusal to buy Greenland sparks public concerns regarding the invasion of privacy of those with mental illness. After the El Paso and Dayton murders last month, Djonald Unchained opined that he believed people with mental illness should be "involuntarily confined" in certain circumstances in order to prevent mass shootings.

Chuck and Nancy? The Squad? The media? If he’s considering replacing mass incarceration with mass commitment, perhaps he can pick up a few tips from his buddy Vlad (KGB) Putin.

The Australian press also reported that Trump has called to fast track the death penalty for “mentally ill monsters” who commit “hate crimes” (beware, Breitbart subscribers!) and mass shootings. In a White House address to the nation following two massacres, Mr Trump announced he was “directing the Department of Justice to propose legislation ensuring that those who commit hate crimes and mass murders face the death penalty”.

He said capital punishment in these cases of “barbaric slaughters” should be “delivered quickly, decisively, and without years of needless delay”, describing the “evil attacks” as “domestic terrorism” and “crimes against humanity”. But guns are not the problem, according to the president. Instead, he blamed video games and mental illness for the mass shootings but signaled he would oppose large-scale gun control efforts pushed by Democrats. He made no mention of more limits on the sales of actual firearms.

“Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun,” Mr Trump reiterated.

“We must recognise that the internet has provided a dangerous Ave (presumably Avenue, not Avenetti) to radicalised disturbed minds and perform demented acts.

“We must shine a light on the dark recesses of the internet and stop mass murderers before they start.

“The internet, likewise, is used for human trafficking, illegal drug distribution and so many other heinous crimes. The perils of the internet and social media cannot be ignored and they will not be ignored.”

Meanwhile the group "Duty to Warn," founded by influential psychotherapist Dr. John Gartner, has gathered 70,000 signatures on a petition calling for the removal of Donald Trump from office due to "serious mental illness that renders him psychologically incapable of competently discharging the duties of President of the United States."

So, conspiracy theories aside, what do we actually know about the killer?

Birth records indicate that Seth Aaron Ator was born to Debra Sue Warren and Denis Keith Ator on Sept. 17, 1982, in Potter County, which is near Amarillo. Public records list Ator's address as being in Lorena, Texas — a small city with a population of roughly 1,800 people, according to census data. The city is approximately 300 miles east of Odessa-Midland.

Records also suggest Ator attended Texas State Technical College in Waco, Texas in 2005. Ator also appears to have attended McLennan Community College — also in Waco — between 2007 and 2013.

At the house listed in public records for the shooter’s father, Denis Keith Ator, a person who came to the door Sunday afternoon declined to comment.

"No comment, no trespassing, go away," the unidentified person said without opening the front door.

Another hint that Ator may have been in a fragile mental state was his home, described by Combs as a “corrugated metal shack along a dirt road surrounded by trailers, mobile homes and oil pump jacks.” A small tan dog was the killer’s only known companion. One of the last things he did before the shooting was return home to feed the pup. On Monday, a green car without a rear windshield was parked out front, the entire residence cordoned off by police tape.

It was “a very strange residence” that reflected “what his mental state was going into this,” Combs said without elaborating. “He was on a long spiral of going down,” Combs added, saying that Ator went to work “in trouble” that day. “This did not happen because he was fired. He showed up to work enraged,” Combs said.

The Febbie described it as a "strange residence" that reflected "what his mental state was going into this." Combs said he did not know whether Ator had been diagnosed with any prior mental health problems.

Another of the many things that we will never know is whether Seth Ator would have melted down had he not been fired. Our sources from last week’s Lesson, Jennifer Silva and Andres Oppenheimer, concur that unemployment, mental distress and the availability of assault weapons are, themselves, a toxic cocktail.

Let’s consider a closer look at these factors, suggests Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ Heritage Foundation newsletter (which, true to its right-wing agenda, replaces the availability of guns with the also viable “Family Dysfuntion”, which proof… pro or con… has not yet been confirmed or denied in the case of Mr. Ator.

1. Mental Illness

Even when serious mental illness is not present, school attackers almost always exhibit common traits of extreme resentfulness, anger, and a desire for revenge because of perceived social alienation.

It is not uncommon for a school attacker to have acted in increasingly disruptive and violent ways before the shooting. But for a variety of reasons, these individuals are often not involuntarily committed to a mental health institution or ordered by a court to receive mental health treatment.

This does not mean that mental health disorders are synonymous with violence—the vast majority of individuals suffering from mental health disorders will never commit violent acts.

It does mean, however, that the early identification and treatment of students with mental health disorders is of particular importance in reducing large-scale violent attacks at schools.

School attackers often “leak” their intentions to their peers, whether in person or via social media.

One of the Columbine attackers wrote online blogs that included statements about his desire to kill those who annoyed him, as well as specific violent threats directed against his classmates and teachers.

Before gunning down 17 students in Florida, the Parkland attacker was reported to the FBI for a YouTube posting in which he bragged about becoming a “professional school shooter.” He also reportedly joked to classmates on numerous occasions that he would be the one to “shoot up a school.”

It is also not uncommon for school attackers to show more indirect warning signs, such as an unhealthy fixation on firearms, writing projects focused on grotesque violence, or praising other infamous school attackers.

It is essential that teachers and other school professionals be attuned to these warning signs and take appropriate action up to and including engaging with outside mental health professionals and local law enforcement officials.

2. Broken Homes

Familial dynamics may also play a role in the early detection of students on the verge of committing catastrophic acts of violence.

Sadly, a majority of school attackers come from broken homes, often growing up with absent fathers or in the midst of divorce or domestic violence.

The Parkland attacker, who was raised alone by his adoptive mother since the age of six, was merely the latest in a long line of troubled young men who grew up in less than ideal family situations.

The gunmen at Sandy Hook, Chadron High School, Isla Vista, SuccessTech Academy, Northern Illinois University, and Santana High School (just to name a few) all had divorced parents.

The young man who killed his grandfather before murdering seven of his classmates at Red Lake Senior High School had parents who never married, a father who shot himself, and a mother and stepfather who divorced. He also lived with a grandmother who was separated from her husband.

This does not mean that all students with difficult home lives should be considered potential school attackers or that students with intact, stable families should have troubling behaviors overlooked or dismissed.

It may mean, however, that holistic approaches to school safety should include an appreciation of the impact that a chaotic family life can have on a student’s feelings of desperation and violent actions.

The unfortunate fact that broken family relationships are often associated with greater risk factors for youths is nothing new. For decades, study after study has shown that stable, intact families play a vital role in developing thriving children and adolescents.

Adolescents living in intact families are less likely to exhibit violent behaviors or engage in physical fighting, and youths in fatherless homes are significantly more likely to be incarcerated than are those from two-parent homes.

Several studies have found that adolescents from intact families tend to report lower levels of emotional and psychological stress, while those who do not live with both biological parents are more likely to exhibit psychological affective disorders such as hyperactivity, irritability, and depression as adults.

The importance of having actively involved fathers and father figures cannot be overstated when it comes to the mental and emotional development of children. Fathers are important role models for sons. They play a key role in helping to maintain authority and discipline in the home. They help with self-control and feelings of empathy toward others—key character traits violent youth often lack.

Psychologist Marsha Kline Pruett notes that “[f]athers tend to be more willing than mothers to confront their children and enforce discipline, leaving their children with the impression that they in fact have more authority.”

3. Economic Insecurity

Socioeconomic trends may provide clues to identify further risk factors related to school violence.

A major study by criminologists at Northwestern University looked at the effect of economic conditions on the prevalence of school shootings and concluded that there is a significant correlation between periods of increased economic insecurity and periods of increased gun violence at schools.

The findings are particularly robust in that the effects are seen across several different economic indicators, and the relationship remains even when analyzing the data on national, regional, and city levels.

The researchers noted that the results of this study are in line with other evidence that joblessness is related to low self-esteem and detrimental behavior, that minors are responsive to the unemployment of their parents, and that the attitudes of youths have a significant impact on their future economic outcomes.

They further posited that “gun violence at schools is a response, in part, to the breakdown of the expectation that sustained participation in the educational system will improve economic opportunities and outcomes.”

This suggestion is profound in the context of the backgrounds of many individuals who commit violent attacks at schools and were either struggling to finish or failed to finish their educations, and had limited future economic opportunities.

For example, the Sandy Hook attacker was removed from high school by his parents due to sensory-integration disorder, failed to obtain a degree after attending classes at Western Connecticut State University, and was unemployed without any likelihood of holding a job in the near future.

The Parkland attacker had been expelled from high school for disciplinary problems, was taking adult education classes to get his GED, and worked at a Dollar Store.

The Isla Vista attacker graduated high school but dropped out of a local college within a year and was investigated by local law enforcement because of concerns about the state of his mental health.

We have no reason to dispute Agent Combs contention that Ator was on a long spiral down, or that he did not set off for his workplace with the intent of at least provoking his discharge. Nonetheless, as suggested by B.A., a contributor to the Quora forum: “The only two things we know are the most mass murders are committed by unemployed males under the age of 40. Other than that the race, politics, education, mental illness and religious affiliation all occur at rates that agree with the general population. From this we can infer that approximately 42% of mass shooters are independents, 30% democrat and 24% are republican just like the general public.

A Northwestern University study of a quarter-century of data has found that economic insecurity is related to the rate of gun violence at K-12 and postsecondary schools in the United States. When it becomes more difficult for people coming out of school to find jobs, the rate of gun violence at schools increases.

The interdisciplinary study by data scientists Adam R. Pah and Luís Amaral and sociologist John L. Hagan reveals a persistent connection over time between unemployment and the occurrence of school shootings in the country as a whole, across various regions of the country and within affected cities, including Chicago and New York City.

“The link between education and work is central to our expectations about economic opportunity and upward mobility in America,” said Hagan, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Sociology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. “Our study indicates that increases in gun violence in our schools can result from disappointment and despair during periods of increased unemployment, when getting an education does not necessarily lead to finding work.”

Frequent school shootings have been a major concern in American society for decades, but the causes have defied understanding. The Northwestern researchers used data from 1990 to 2013 on both gun violence in U.S. schools and economic metrics, including unemployment, to get some answers. 

“Our findings highlight the importance of economic opportunity for the next generation and suggest there are proactive actions we could take as a society to help decrease the frequency of gun violence,” said Pah, clinical assistant professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School of Management.

 Other key findings include:

· While Chicago is singled out in the study as one of the six cities with the most incidents from 1990 to 2013, Chicago schools are not any more dangerous than schools in other large cities.

· Gun violence at schools has not become more deadly over time.

· Most shootings are targeted, with the shooter intending to harm a specific person.

· Gang-related violence and lone mass shooters comprise only small fractions of the gun violence that occurs at U.S. schools. Gang-related violence constitutes 6.6% of all incidents.

· The results suggest that during periods of heightened unemployment, increased gun violence may be a growing risk in American college and university settings.

Silva cites a 50’s era study by the political scientist Robert Lane who concluded that most working-class Americans of the day believed that the system was working for them; chronicling a “vibrant, robust sense of ‘We the People’ – although they might be powerless on an individual level, knowing that there were ‘millions like me’ served to transmute them into ‘someone worth caring about’ as a source of collective pride.” Those that she interviewed, on the other hand, had lost this sense of worth, the younger ones cynical, their elders embittered and nostalgic… both clinging to their racial and sexual identities, their belief in conspiracies and, when they had then, their jobs.

And, for some, their guns.

When Seth Ator lost his job and the traffic cop pulled him over on one of the usual bullshit charges with which authority bullies and keeps the little people in line, it would probably be correct to say that he just snapped. Ator was already looking down that road to perdition; he had had frequent episodes of what the Squeamish call anger management issues… “He didn’t wake up Saturday morning and walk into his company and then it happened,” said Combs. “He went to that company in trouble.”

Several of Silva’s subjects echoed President Trump in expressing a wish that more mental health services were available… on a voluntary basis, we presume, the good people of Coal Brook would probably have responded to government men with butterfly nets the way they would have greeted invading police or armies… with bullets. But those who were willing to tell the truth, especially the victims of childhood abuse or military acquired PTSD are not asking for counseling, for pills, for a padded cell. What they want is recognition that they exist.

Governor Abbott tweeted Monday that “we must keep guns out of criminals’ hands” — words similar to his remarks that followed the El Paso shooting on August 3, when he said firearms must be kept from “deranged killers.”

I have been to too many of these events," Abbott said. "Too many Texans are in mourning. Too many Texans have lost their lives. The status quo in Texas is unacceptable, and action is needed."

On Sunday, action transpired when a number of looser gun laws that Abbott signed this year took effect on the first day of September, including one that would arm more teachers in Texas schools.

"This is f***ed up," 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke said live on CNN. His rival… not only for the Presidency but probably for the Governor’s office down the line… Julian Castro told NBC if he were president he would "maximize executive authority" to combat gun violence, and push Congress to pass "common sense gun safety legislation." But Americans need more Federal marshals going door-to-door to confiscate their (clearly phallic) weaponry as much as they need padded cells in which to be poked and prodded and observed.

In another editorial for USA Today, a physician called gun violence “an epidemic” and stating that solutions, should involve “empowering health professionals to engage in respectful conversations about safe gun ownership — or “lethal means counseling,” as it is known — to mitigate the risk of impulsive suicides (or murders)” and supporting “robust access to mental health services.”

The physician, Dr. David J. Skorton, acknowledged that “political decisions are adversely affecting the health care community’s ability to focus on prevention, the most effective approach to any medical challenge,” adding that “an epidemic is not political.” He is wrong, of course… but not only in the realpolitik of guns and money and the culture wars, the epidemic is also psychological and sexual, as Silva has determined.

The common thread binding most mass shooters (the jihadis as want their tickets to Paradise punched aside) is that they tend to be angry and embittered American losers. So long as their country licenses and supports human irrelevancy, whether in regard to the robotization of private industry or the abandonment of whole swaths of the country as superfluous (except as consumers, so long as their credit cards still work), there will be mass shootings, amidst the more numerous smaller kill-scores racked up out of greed, desperation and fraying domestic and social ties.

Imagine what might happen if China had a Second Amendment!

Fewer jobs were created than expected according to the latest findings of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but unemployment remained at a steady, manageable 3.7% and wages continued their slow increase. For those with the wherewithal, the Dow bounced around according to the latest news from China and, there being no developments of note from that quarter, finished Tuesday, inching closer to its record high of 27,359.16, set on July 15, and overpowering a sharp increase in job searchers giving up their quests and going off the grid.

After devastating the Bahamas, Hurricane Dorian followed the East Coast upwards from Mar-a-Lago to Maine, onwards into Canada (and presumably, thereafter, to rattle Santa’s bones at the North Pole). But the week ended with the inspirational rescue of four Korean sailors from an overturned oil tanker, as well as the massive public and private hurricane relief efforts that keep most Don Joneses sane, no matter what outside circumstances menace his sanity.

(Speaking of which, as mentioned above, ten Democrats are going to talk at Don, and us, on Thursday. God protect us all!)

THE DON JONES INDEX

CHART of CATEGORIES w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000

(REFLECTING… approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013)

See a further explanation of categories here…

ECONOMIC INDICES (60%)
DON JONES’ PERSONAL ECONOMIC INDEX (45% of TOTAL INDEX POINTS)
CATEGORY	VALUE	BASE		RESULTS		SCORE	SCORE	OUR SOURCE(S) and COMMENTS
INCOME	(24%)	6/27/13	LAST	CHANGE	NEXT	9/3/19	9/10/19
Wages (hourly, per capita)	9%	1350 pts.	7/2/19	+0.55%	Sep. 2019	1,531.36	1,539.85	http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/wages 23.59
Median Income (yearly)	4%	600	9/3/19	+0.05%	9/24/19	708.52	708.88	debtclock.org/ 33,321
Unempl. (BLS – in millions	4%	600	7/2/19	-2.70%	Sep. 2019	1,230.21	1,230.21	http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000 3.7 nc
Official (DC - in millions)	2%	300	9/3/19	-0.10%	9/24/19	558.53	559.08	http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 6,040
Unofficl. (DC - in millions)	2%	300	9/3/19	+3.82%	9/24/19	586.50	564.08	http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 11,798
Workforce Participation Number (in millions) Percentage (DC)	2%	300	9/3/19	-0.33% -0.29%	9/24/19	284.29	285.23	Americans in/not in workforce (mil.) In 157,933 Out 95,492 Total: 253,425 http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 62.32%
WP Percentage (ycharts)*	1%	150	7/31/19	+0.32%	Sep. 2019	151.78	152.26	http://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate 63.20
OUTGO	(15%)
Total Inflation	7%	1050	7/2/19	+0.3%	9/12/19	955.85	952.98	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.3
Food	2%	300	7/2/19	nc	9/12/19	273.40	273.40	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm 0.0
Gasoline	2%	300	7/2/19	+2.5%	9/12/19	259.88	253.38	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +2.5
Medical Costs	2%	300	7/2/19	+0.5%	9/12/19	257.57	256.28	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.5
Shelter	2%	300	7/2/19	+0.3%	9/12/19	273.64	272.82	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.3
WEALTH	(6%)
Dow Jones Index	2%	300	9/3/19	+4.29%	9/24/19	447.07	466.25	https://quotes.wsj.com/index/DJIA –26,909.43
Sales (homes) Valuation (homes)	1% 1%	150 150	9/3/19	+2.85% +1.72%	Sep. 2019 Sep. 2019	198.43 249.53	198.43 249.53	http://www.realtor.org/research-and-statistics Sales (M): 5.42 Valuations (K): 280.8
Debt (Personal)	2%	300	9/3/19	-0.03%	9/24/19	248.75	248.68	http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 60,102
	AMERICAN ECONOMIC INDEX (15% of TOTAL INDEX POINTS)
NATIONAL	(10%)
Revenues (in trillions)	2%	300	9/3/19	-0.06%	9/24/19	405.05	405.28	debtclock.org/ 3,511
Expenditures (in tr.)	2%	300	9/3/19	+0.13%	9/24/19	233.29	232.98	debtclock.org/ 4,517
National Debt (tr.)	3%	450	9/3/19	-0.07%	9/24/19	324.78	324.55	http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 22,549
Aggregate Debt (tr.)	3%	450	9/3/19	+0.06%	9/24/19	343.15	342.94	http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 74.189
GLOBAL	(5%)
Foreign Debt (tr.)	2%	300	9/3/19	+0.10%	9/24/19	293.32	293.03	http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 6,716
Exports (in billions – bl.)	1%	150	9/3/19	+0.53%	Sep. 2019	160.46	161.32	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/ 207.4
Imports (bl.)	1%	150	9/3/19	-0.04%	Sep. 2019	126.04	126.09	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/ 261.4
Trade Deficit (bl.)	1%	150	9/3/19	-2.22%	Sep. 2019	90.56	92.57	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/ 54.0
SOCIAL INDICES (40%)
ACTS of MAN	(12%)
World Peace	3%	450	9/3/19	-0.2%	9/24/19	415.57	414.74	Trump cancels secret 9/11 Taliban summit at Camp David saying “They’re dead!” without specifying whether it’s the talks or the Taliban. Then he goes and fires war hawk National Security Advisor Bolton for disrespecting his li’l buddy Kim as Iran ramps up its march towards nuclear weaponry. Boris Johnsonov declares that the Queen’s Dictatorship will last five weeks.
Terrorism	2%	300	9/3/19	-0.4%	9/24/19	206.62	207.45	Camp David cancellation blamed on Taliban murder of ten more (including one American) in Kabul. Domestic terror copycat foiled in Missouri and Mississippi.
Politics	3%	450	9/3/19	nc	9/24/19	440.22	440.22	Democrats hit Houston on Thursday waxing wrathful as Trump uses an old and Sharpie-doctored map implying Dorian would go to Alabama. Congress returns from vacation and promptly takes a nap.
Economics	3%	450	9/3/19	+0.2%	9/24/19	427.93	428.79	Normal unemployment rate and less than normal job growth as Fed prepares for another rate cut (17^th) and Budget Deadline! Looms (30^th). Amazon, UPS, FedEx, Target and other Christ-mass exploiters gear up for holidays. Shoppers will do without bankrupt Fred’s Discount chain and Purdue Pharma’s oxy-contin concoctions. But Legos opening more stores and CVS buys Aetna Insurance.
Crime	1%	150	9/3/19	+0.1%	9/24/19	229.74	229.51	Alabama teen kills 5 family members, including 3 small children. ASAP Rocky’s lawyer shot in Stockholm. Busted – greedy $700K lottery winners for burglary and baby smuggler at Philippine airport.
ACTS of GOD	(6%)	(with, in some cases, a little… or lots of… help from men, and a few women)
Environment/Weather	3%	450	9/3/19	-0.3%	9/24/19	293.22	292.34	Dorian smashes Bahamas and then embarks on a tour of destruction from Mar-a-Lago to Maine… then beyond to Canada and, presumably, the North Pole. (Santa is distraught!) Alabama remains safe. Trump smashes energy efficient lightbulbs as anti-American. And it’s hot!
Natural/Unnatural Disaster	3%	450	9/3/19	+0.2%	9/24/19	343.32	342.63	How hot? Hot! Not as hot as France, where 1,500 die of heatstroke. Mechanic sabotages American Airlines plane in alleged labor dispute (politically incorrect persons note he’s a Muslim). Cargo ship overturns off Georgia coast – four Korean sailors trapped belowdeck.
LIFESTYLE and JUSTICE INDEX (15%)
Science, Tech, Education	4%	600	9/3/19	-0.2%	9/24/19	652.37	651.06	Big Tech opens a Christmas sack of expensive new toys for sale. Indian moonshot fails. DNA analytics say that the Loch Ness monster is a giant Eel.
Equality (econ./social)	4%	600	9/3/19	-0.2%	9/24/19	685.74	684.36	Dorian refugees from Bahamas kicked off rescue ferryboats by ICE because their visas and other documentation were washed away. Sisters become first sister-Generals. Charity barber attacked for cutting evil dreadlocks off blacks. Woody Allen finds a friend. Placido Domingo does not.
Health	4%	600	9/3/19	+0.1%	9/24/19	513.40	512.89	Bloomberg hails rising New York life expectancy, denies that rich old people are gentrifying the poor and sick out of town. CDC and FDA and Melania Trump warn: vaping Kills. And, also, Vitamin E KILLS! And two cans of soda per day also KILLS.
Freedom and Justice	3%	450	9/3/19	nc	9/24/19	540.45	540.45	Michigan bans flavored vapes sold to kids. Google and You Tomb fined $170 M for exploiting children. NRA sues San Francisco for hurting their feelings by calling them Terrorists, T-Mobile sues everybody for something and jury hangs in case of Ghost Ship warehouse fire trial.
MISCELLANEOUS and TRANSIENT INDEX (7%)
Cultural incidents	3%	450	9/3/19	+0.1%	9/24/19	444.08	444.52	Doctor Sebastian Gorka joins Johnny Manziell and Tanya Harding as TV pitchpersons. Nicki Minaj retires. Really? Serena loses to a Canadian at US Open, Nadal wins men’s title. Pro, college and highschool football seasons begin – Purdue (the university, not the pharma) celebrates a Superfan with cancer.
Miscellaneous incidents	4%	450	9/3/19	+0.1%	9/24/19	451.76	452.21	WalMart and other stores incur NRA wrath by halting sales of guns and ammo. Other big box stores politely request concealed carry partisans to leave their guns outside. Gunfire survivor Big Papi Ortiz throws out first pitch at Red Sox game. Navy SEALS accused of drining, doping and rape. Atlantic polls find millennials are “anti-affiliation”. Elmo gropes teen in Times Square. Sarah Palin divorcing. Rest in, well, somewhere to liberator turned dictator Robert Mugabe, hello to the world: twins born to 74 year old mother.
The Don Jones Index for the week of September 3rd, through September 9th, 2019 was UP 6.37 points. The Don Jones Index is sponsored by the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and Independent Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan, Administrator/Editor. The CNC denies, emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as any of its officers (including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America-Firster Austin Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works, “Entropy and Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-Off” are fictitious or, at best, mere pawns in the web-serial “Black Helicopters” – and promise swift, effective legal action against parties promulgating this and/or other such slanders. Comments, complaints, donations (especially SUPERPAC donations) always welcome at feedme@generisis.com or: speak@donjonesindex.com BACK

See further indicators at Economist - https://www.economist.com/economic-and financialndicators/2019/02/02/economic-data-commodities-and-markets

ATTACHMENT ONE

The third round of Democratic presidential debates will be held at Texas Southern University, a historically black public university, on September 12 and 13, the university announced Sunday.

The event will be hosted by ABC News and Univision.

In order to qualify for the September and October debates, the DNC requires candidates to meet both polling and grassroots funding criteria, and have doubled the thresholds: a candidate must receive 2% or more support in at least four national polls or polls out of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and/or Nevada, and candidates must have received donations from at least 130,000 unique donors over the course of the election cycle, with a minimum of 400 unique donors per state in at least 20 states.

The new qualifying rules ramp up the pressure on many in the crowded Democratic field, which remains at two dozen. We’ll see if any more dropouts drop out before Thursday.

TIMELINE

Sept. 12 Houston	Third Democratic primary debate The third Democratic Party primary debate is scheduled to be held at Texas Southern University. Since only 10 candidates qualified to participate, the debate will take place on Thursday night only. Participants each garnered more than 130,000 unique donors, with a minimum of 400 unique donors per state in at least 20 states. They also scored at least 2% support in four media or university polls of voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina or nationwide. George Stephanopoulos, David Muir, Linsey Davis and Jorge Ramos will moderate. The debate will be broadcast on ABC and on Univision with a Spanish translation. It will be streamed on ABC News Live.
October TBD	Fourth Democratic primary debate
November TBD	Fifth Democratic primary debate
December TBD	Sixth Democratic primary debate
		2020
Feb. 3	Early voting begins in California Registered voters in California can begin casting their ballots today. And those who have signed up to receive vote-by-mail ballots should start receiving them today. Early-voting centers will be open through Feb 25.
Feb. 3	Iowa caucuses*
Feb. 11	New Hampshire primaries*
Feb. 15	South Carolina primary*
Feb. 22	Nevada caucus
Feb. 25	Nevada caucus*
Feb. 29	South Carolina primary
March 3	Alabama primaries
	Alaska convention*
	American Samoa caucus*
	Arkansas primaries*
	California primaries
	Colorado primaries
	Democrats Abroad primary
	Massachusetts primaries*
	Minnesota primaries
	North Carolina primaries*
	Oklahoma primaries
	Tennessee primaries*
	Texas primaries*
	Utah primary*
	Vermont primaries*
	Virginia primaries
March 7	Kansas caucus*
	Kentucky caucus*
	Maine caucus*
March 8	Maine caucus
March 8	Puerto Rico primary*
March 10	Hawaii caucus*
	Idaho primaries*
	Michigan primaries*
	Mississippi primaries
	Missouri primaries
	North Dakota caucus
	Ohio primaries
	Washington primaries*
March 12	Virgin Islands caucus*
March 14	District of Columbia convention
	Guam caucus*
	Northern Marianas convention*
	Wyoming county conventions*
March 17	Arizona primaries
	Florida primaries
	Illinois primaries*
	Northern Marianas convention*
March 24	American Samoa caucus*
	Georgia primaries
	Utah precinct caucus*
March 30	Wyoming caucus
April 3	North Dakota convention*
April 4	Alaska primary*
	Hawaii primary
	Louisiana primaries
April 7	Wisconsin primaries
April 16	Wyoming state convention*
April 21	New York primary
April 28	Connecticut primaries*
	Delaware primaries*
	Maryland primaries
	New York primary
	Pennsylvania primaries*
	Rhode Island primaries*
May 2	Guam caucus*
	Kansas primary
May 5	Indiana primaries*
May 12	Nebraska primaries*
	West Virginia primaries
May 19	Kentucky primary
	Oregon primaries
June 2	District of Columbia primary
	Montana primaries*
	New Jersey primaries*
	New Mexico primaries*
	South Dakota primaries*
June 6	Virgin Islands caucus*
June 7	Puerto Rico primary
July 13-16 Milwaukee	Democratic National Convention The Democrats would like to get Wisconsin back in their column in 2020, one reason for holding the nominating convention in Milwaukee.
Aug. 24-27 Charlotte, N.C.	Republican National Convention The GOP plans to hold its nominating convention in a state that President Trump won by 3 points in the 2016 election.
Nov. 3	Election day

* Date subject to change.