I was living in San Diego when the attack at the McDonalds in San Ysidro occurred. There were 21 dead before the police got a clear shot and killed the shooter.

That was 1984 and the economy was in the tank. There were lay offs and out-sourcing was beginning in earnest. When the economy is bad there is always a sharp upturn in these mass killings. People believe that their worth as a person is dependent on their job. When people are out of work for an extended period they become depressed and some eventually snap.

These events are usually suicides, either by their own hand or by the police. They are often an attempt to establish the perpetrator as “somebody”, not just some faceless loser. Often the victims are chosen with revenge in the mind of the shooter, but the connection may only be obvious to the shooter, usually a white male, just like serial killers.

MSNBC has an AP article that features criminal profilers. They make the point that there isn’t a single cause that would make it possible to predict who will do this, and though the triggering event is usually unemployment, that is merely the last straw for the individual.

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The Times-Picayune has the latest not running for President fundraising events:

BATON ROUGE — Gov. Bobby Jindal is flying to Paradise Valley, Ariz., today to attend a fundraiser for his gubernatorial re-election campaign, his office announced.

The Republican governor has ventured out of state on a regular basis, putting in fundraising appearances last week in Chicago and a Kansas City suburb. He has scheduled trips to Boston and Destin, Fla., later this month.

Gee, Destin … I could wander down and watch him not running in person, although I would have to pay to get in, and almost everything is a better buy that seeing Piyush.

The BBC has comprehensive coverage of the event. The basics are: 91 150 deaths, 1,500 injured, 30,000+ homeless in and around the town of L’Aquila. Many of the small villages in the area have been leveled, while utilities have been cut off and roads blocked.

This occurred on the mountainous spine of Italy and much of the construction was centuries old unreinforced masonry. Survivors report an extended period of shaking, rather that a single, sharp snap. This type is especially damaging to old masonry construction.