THE DON JONES INDEX…

GAINS POSTED in GREEN

LOSSES POSTED in RED

12/24/19… 16,571.32

12/24/19… 16,574.71

6/27/13… 15,000.00

(THE DOW JONES INDEX: 1/1/20…28,538.44; 12/24/19…28,455.09; 6/27/13… 15,000.00)

LESSON for January 1, 2020 – SING IN the NEW!

It’s a New Year, in fact, a New Decade… unless you are one of those sticklers for accuracy that accounts the new decades beginning the first of January on years ending with “1”… and Don Jones has new opportunities to embrace and new perils to face. Just this week, the Australian wildfires turned into conflagrations, leaving all the climate change denialists red in the face with rage. Proving that deeds have consequences, our abject flight from the Syrian conflict and betrayal of the Kurds came home to roost, sort of, when an embolden Iran sent its militias in Iraq to invade and torch the American embassy… repeating the Benghazi, Libya fiasco all over.

Domestically, the impeachment showdown became a slowdown as Speaker Pelosi hid the Articles from Senate Chair McConnell in an attempt to force him to actually hold a trial instead of a show trial after he had proclaimed that he would be co-ordinating the proceedings with President Trump. The solicitation… or subpoena… of witnesses is a majority, not two-thirds privilege and one republican, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski has already gone on record expressing “concern” about the railroad job. (Aside: we ask…can a suspect be “railroaded” into acquittal or exoneration, or need another term be used?)

And then, there are the elections. The field of candidates is essentially down to four, maybe four and a half… three of whom went through the motions in the December debate. The Iowa and New Hampshire primaries are fast approaching, but after that will come South Carolina and the political demise of Mister… his term as Mayor ended today… Pete, whose inability to hold even one or two percent of the black, Democratic vote is a candidacy-buster. We will also thank Mister Yang for his service and send him back to private life. Of the two billionaires, lefty Tom Steyer is catching no fire despite being included in the debates, while righty Michael Bloomberg will be pouring millions if not billions into quacking commercials that should be enough to delude a fair portion of the Democratic asses into supporting him. So it shapes up as Bloomberg and Joe Biden… who committed perhaps his biggest gaffe under the radar and over the holidays by announcing that he would “consider” a Republican running mate (Bloomberg was a Democrat, then a Republican, then an Independent before switching back to Democrat again post-Trump)… on the right versus Elizabeth Warren and her fuzzy math and declared, not purported, Socialist Bernie Sanders on the left in a no-holds-barred dogfight to the finish, after which there looms a walkout and third party or independent candidacy which will hand Mister Trump an easy victory, probably win back the House again and inspiring four more years of stress and sit-ups for the Notorious RBG.

Smiling coyly from the shadows is Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar, the shy girl hoping to be noticed if the high school quarter breaks off from the cheerleader. She’s touting her poll standings, which have risen from two percent to three percent to… at the last Fox News survey… five percent. The problem is that it’s Fox News… she’s the compromise neither faction wants to make, lacking Biden’s mojo and Bloomberg’s money.

Did we mention that, in the Chinese New Year (beginning on the 25^th) it’ll be the Year of the Rat?

Our New Years’ 2019 chart was revised, as follows…

Note: We have (finally) conformed the Index by recalculating the point value of Miscellaneous upwards (although not to the extent prior to 2016) and by divesting it of cultural developments, which will be given their own category with a 300 point start. Consequently, the entire Index will increase (in this instance, by 597.95 points). For the month of January, both the traditional and revised DJI values will be included… the increase is technical and should not be assumed to be beneficial to Mr. Jones’ status (except in relation to years prior to 2016. Consider the 1/1/19 DJI a starting point, from which his fortunes will appreciate or decline as events occur.)

This did not solve the problem, which many have pointed out, that incremental gains in categories where the Don is already high and rising (unemployment, the Dow) have less effect than those in which it has significantly fallen from its origins in 2013 (trade, debt, weather). We attempt to mitigate wide swings within the subjective categories by affording higher marks to, for example, children saved from a tornado or trainwreck, so that the value will not fall and fall and inevitably reach zero. So we are going to reset again, taking the base valuations and including the changes over time… dividing the miscellaneous into cultural and general developments,

JULY – July 2 – 26,786.68; 16.482.76 (Revised); July 9 – 26,783.45; 16.457.28, July 16 – 27,335.63; 16,444.01; July 23 – 27,349.19; 16,449.80; July 30 – 27,198.02 16,442.84

July 2, 2019 – RENT (still) too HIGH (TWO)! – The first two Democratic debates are done and won (or lost)… Joe Biden’s been tossed on the scrap heap like an old X-box and the new sexy contenders are Julian Castro and Kamala Harris. Politicians may dither and wither, but even a few traditional capitalists have begun to reassess their solidarity with the rentiers because RENTS TOO HIGH!

“What did the candidates at the divided Democratic Debateapalooza have to say about that?

Nothing!”

Kamala Harris does advocate taxing the middle class to pay the rich to house the poor. Rex Nutting of Marketwatch snickers at the prospect of rent stamps: “All Harris’s plan would do is put even more money into the hands of those “greedy” landlords, while proving yet again that good intentions often lead to predictable, bad consequences… landlords would raise the rents once they realized that their tenants could afford to spend more on housing without reducing their other expenses.”

We looked backwards to Quesnay, the founder and principle promoter of physiocracy, a sort of paleo-libertarianism which equated landlords with royalty. Somewhat better comparisons were drawn by Karl odbertus (c. 1837) and Henry George (c. 1900), as well as assorted 19^th century socialists (but not Marx and Engels) and anarchists. In the twentieth century, progressives (as opposed to liberals) flirted with rent controls, public housing and verticalization… catfish favor new cities (Asia and the MidEast are leading the way, although with complications… the nearest to a success story is the revitalization of Glasgow, Scotland.)

“Franklin Graham (Billy’s Boy) has risen up to slough off the burden of his namby-pamby father and has initiated a National Day of Prayer for Donald Trump and against His enemies.” Then, the President was off to a meet and greet with Kim on NoKo turf. Insulin prices double and experts advise eating maggots, but astronomers discover a solid gold asteroid.

July 9, 2019 – HELL and STAYerWELL! – The first Democratic debates take place in Miami and, consequently, Eric Swalwell drops out. Joining the circus is billionaire Tom Steyer who “has apparently decided to throw his hat (and most importantly, his wallet) into the charmed circle.” Looking things over: Howard (Starbucks) Schultz, Michael Bloomberg and, of course, Oprah. Meanwhile, left-wing billionaire George Soros and his conservative mirror image Charles (“Dark Money”) Koch form an anti-war think tank… Koch has been blasted as a traitor to the alt-right for supporting more immigration (because it will lower wages).

Media response is predictable. “Rolling Stone’s lefty scribes hailed the “talented trio of Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders challenging a humbled Joe Biden for the mantle of frontrunner.”

Wages were up, but so was unemployment. Women’s soccer covets some of that after winning the FIFA cup… they’re paid less than 7% of what the men get. And speaking of billionaires in politics, RIP to Ross Perot.

July 16, 2019 – X-CLUDED!– We noted the foolishness of the Democratic National Committee, whieh will broadcast the next debates only on pay cable, meaning the poor… the pur-poor-ted donkey base… will be excluded from learning what these politicians have in mind for them. Back in the Obama years, conservatives gnashed their teeth…“If you can afford beer, cigarettes, new tattoos, drugs and cable TV, then you don’t need food stamps or welfare,” was a typical concurrence. Neglected and disrespected people don’t vote… “Donald Trump’s victories in Pennsylvania (by 44,000), Michigan (by 10,000), Wisconsin (by 23,000), Ohio and Florida may have been affected by voter disenchantment… in all of these states, his margin was beneath the vote totals of third, four, fifth and tenth party aspirants.”

Unemployment continued rising, but gas prices fell and the Dow hit a record high. Why? Perhaps because Amazon is “hiring” 200,000 robots. Moonshot nostalgia finds a Nike moonshoe gets $160,000 at auction.

July 23, 2019 – GIRL POWER! – “At last the second quarter financials are in and Democratic Don Joneses are doing it his way… Republicans can roll over, go back to sleep and dream of Robert E. Lee…” because the second quarter financials arrived at the Federal Elections Commission and the DJI issued its first power grid of the 2020 season.

And we had upsets… two!

Based on polls, debate performance, media reviews and the all-important cash on hand, California Senator Kamala Harris was adjudged the front runner with Elizabeth Warren second and presumed leader Joe Biden third. Harris vaulted into the top spot by eviscerating Biden, who lived up to Donald Trump’s “Sleepy Joe” moniker. The obscure Mayor Pete Buttigieg raised the most money… those wine caves!... to finish a surprising fifth, behind Bernie Sanders.

The worst rankings belonged to newcomers Tom Steyer (who would improve) and Joe Sestak (who would not, but remains fighting on).

Over the pond, Boris Johnson was elected Prime Minister, meaning more Brexit bulldada over the coming months, while Americans celebrated spacey things with the 50^th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk and “Avengers Endgame” passing “Avatar” at the box office while Hollywood touts “Cats” as the next big thing.

July 30, 2019 – THE DEATH of COMEDY! – “In 1956, a young and ambitious publisher by the name of Hugh Hefner decided to bankroll a visionary slick magazine of satire, culture and current events.

Its title? Originally simply “X”, that was changed to…

“Trump”!

Two little noted (but to be long remembered) deaths this week were those of Mad Magazine… bible of millions of 20^th century Bart Simpsons… and one of its wretched, underpaid writers, Paul Krassner (who eventually quit to form his own seminal publication “The Realist”).

Heffner’s “Trump” lasted two issues. Mad lasted 67 years, Krassner 87.

Comedy, print or verbal, is out of fashion these days. “You can blame the shuttering of Mad on changing demographics,” scoffed Fox News’ Michael Levin, “the demise of the magazine industry and other factors. But a major reason the magazine is disappearing is simple: the left can’t take a joke.

“Never have I met a more humorless group of people than oh-so politically correct progressives. Nothing is funny to them, because everything is potentially offensive to someone. Heaven forbid that a delicate little snowflake should be triggered by a microaggression and be traumatized for a minute or two.

“I’m not talking about inappropriate humor or ethnic jokes. I’m just talking about life in general. As the expression goes, if you don’t recognize that the joke’s on you, you’re missing the whole point of human existence.”

What, me worry?

Well, we did. Religious fanatics, lone wolves and teenage Nazis rampaged… 12 shot at Brooklyn block party, 20 more at Gilroy (Ca) garlic festival and a Jayme Kloss kidnap copycat killed 4 in Wisconsin. At least there were plenty of “wallet” jokes after 100 million Capital One users were hacked.

Note: Our erroneous DJIndex was corrected

AUGUST – Aug. 6 – 26,029.52; 16,419.49; Aug. 13 –26,279.91; 16,422.15 Aug. 20 – 26,109.82; 16,412.40; Aug. 27 – 25,777.90; 16,403.23

August 6, 2019 – HAS the DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE NOT EVEN ANNOUNCED YET? – “The bells have tolled, the tombstones rolled, the jokes all told and all the Democratic candidates have flown away to Vegas to make friends and influence people. There were no dramatic developments during the second round of debates in Detroit last week (except in the proclamations of pundits); top-tier candidates consolidated their advantages, the advantage-seekers did the best they could and proclaimed it sufficient unto the day… the left-behinds, still left-behind, were left to checking their checkbook balances, their airline tickets back home and their prospects for surviving… (pundits and pollsits) now see the race as a four (or maybe five) horse contest. Despite being hit by anything and everything from cream pies to buckshot to RPGs, former Vice President Joe Biden retains a comfortable lead; (b)unched tightly behind Uncle Joe are his angriest pursuers… the “three Furies of Wokeness” (Bernie, Warren and Harris).

“The debates garnered less media attention than might have been expected for the reason that an alleged “white supremacist” who expressed hatred for Mexicans gunned down dozens, killing 22, in El Paso on Saturday morning, followed by just an ordinary teenaged loser… allegedly bitter over being rejected by girls… killing nine more in Dayton, Ohio.” Buried further under the debates and the massacres - was the imposition of Trump’s ten percent tariff on Chinese wares and the resultant stock market meltdown. (Buried even deeper was the Federal Reserve’s 0.25 interest rate cut… small, but the first since December, 2008.) And, oh yes, Trump tears up the U.S./Russia nuke treaty. Bombs away!

Mad bat invades a flight to Newark… then gets really mad when it finds out its destination.

August 13, 2019 - MANIFESTO DESTINIES! – “Some people just can’t help themselves.

“Their lives are shit, nobody will give them a job except maybe a dollar store or a fishy ride-share service, they survive in squalor or in their parents’ basements where their cries for social justice go unheard, or ridiculed; girls don’t want anything to do with them… most of the friends of the people are dudes… their clothes are worn and unwashed, they have few or no possessions (except, perhaps, for a gun, a wheezing old computer and an account on Facebook or, if they’ve been thrown off, 8Chan) and, although some are gamers, they don’t follow the local ballclubs or The Bachelorette or any of those other American distractions.”

So they go for the glory. They become active shooters, mad bombers, even purposely murderous drivers. And they write manifestoes.

Patrick Crusius, a community college student and supermarket bagger who kept pet snakes and guns and massacred twenty two people at an El Paso WalMart channeled Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, population reductionist Garrett Harden and New Zealand butcher Brenton Tarrant’s themes and ol’ Al Gore in titling “An Inconvenient Truth” = essentially advocating saving the environment by killing Mexicans.

“My name is John Earnest and I am a man of European ancestry,” begins the untitled tome of another self-described patriot ridding the world of Them… in this case, Jews.

Copycat gunmen strike Springfield, Mo, Norway and Australia. And, perhaps presciently, the UN warns of coming famines and Greta Thunberg embarks on her ocean voyage to protest climate change.

August 20, 2019 - HO! HO! HO!… MERRY CHRISTMAS! – “On Monday last, Djonald Unchained proclaimed that Chinese imports would henceforth be slapped with tariffs of ten percent… or maybe twenty-five, his tweetings on the subject were somewhat incoherent, let alone inconsistent. On Tuesday, a week ago, some kindly or, at least, sensible angel usually bumped off his shoulder soldiered back on and whispered to POTUS that raising the prices on cheap Chinese junk for the kiddies… plastic action figures from the movies and stuffed rabbits and socks that fall apart during the first wash… would destroy Christmas for at least half the country and perhaps three-quarters of his base.”

Toymaker Hasbro (HAS) has already announced that it will slowly move its production out to India and Vietnam from China. It currently makes about two-thirds of its products in China and wants to cut that in half by 2020.

Until World War I, tariffs were a large source of revenue for the U.S. government. Then came the income tax. Now they are mostly used to reward or punish other nations. While Trump’s supporters claim tariffs are saving and creating American jobs, economists say the benefits are going to Communist Vietnam. Ho! Ho! Ho Chi Minh!

50^th anniversary of Woodstock goes mostly uncelebrated. Tonya Harding and Johnny (Football) Manziell found selling insurance – soon joined by alt-right’s Sebastian Gorka.

August 27, 2019 - LET LYIN’ DOGS SLEEP! – “These are the dog days of summer – the dogs too tired to bark, donkeys too tired to bray (but they still do, anyway) and the elephants turn on their keepers.”

The DNC in its infinite and pecuniary wisdom chose not to hold debates in August, so the next bray-fest will be on September 12^th, maybe 13^th too, deep in the heart of Texas. Tomorrow will be the deadline for the still twenty-something candidates to qualify. We posted thumbnail sketches of the applicants as well as our second poll of polls, in which Joe Biden rallied to knock Kamala Harris back to fourth behind Bernie and Pocahontas.

The President, meanwhile, declared himself “The Chosen One”, then went to France to praise Russia and damn Denmark for not selling Greenland. Amazon (the jungle, not the company) burns as do Tesla solar panels at WalMart. On the positive side, the notorious RBG beats cancer – again.

SEPTEMBER – September 3 – 26,008.06; 16,405.76; September 10 – 25,909.43; 16,412.13 September 17 –27,054.58 16,372.41; September 24 – 26,807.77; 16,406.71

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 – FLOWERS for UNION FUNERALS! – “Dawn broke over Black Lake on Wednesday morning, less than a week before the 2019 Labor Day holiday, shining down upon Federal agents armed with sealed search warrants, brown boxes and weapons of mob destruction” descending upon the Canton Township, Michigan mansion of UAW President Gary Jones to seize a cache of cash, secret documents and union records.

The UAW is in the middle of negotiating its next set of four-year contracts with the Detroit Three.

As (choose one) robots or immigrants hoover up jobs, union workers are turning bitter and nihilist… life expectancy is down due to murder, suicide, overdoses and obesity, corruption still decimates their leadership and… look who they elected President! Laid off machinists, engineers and assemblers find work as temporary salesclerks or “independent contractors” at sub-minimum wages. They endure it due to a longstanding near-appreciation for suffering; the real man is able to take (not give) a beating and support and vote for their oppressors.

“Marc Linder, this Iowa law professor, even wrote an effin' book on employers as feed their macho by making employees crap themselves, calling it... and I kid you not... "Void Where Prohibited". The problem, Linder says, is "much more widespread than we had originally believed."

Government revenues were up significantly, significantly enough to ensure the DJI a slight weekly gain. And the National Debt dropped… only a smidgen, but still significant in that it has otherwise been rising almost consistently, week to week. A fired truck driver shoots 25 in Texas, seven die, and Texas responds to another mass shooting at Sunday Mass by loosening gun laws. Hurricane Dorian misses Puerto Rico but slams Bahamas, Pope Francis gets stuck in an elevator after Vatican power outage and armed mobs storm Texas Popeye’s that runs out of chicken sandwiches,

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 – MENTAL REVENGE! – “(O)ne 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.”

Thereafter, he drove to work with the police in hot pursuit, killing the trooper and a postwoman, whose vehicle he jacked, driving to a movie theatre where he gunned down a few more people, several fatally, wounded a 17 month old girl in the face, and was killed, himself.

He left no manifesto or social media footsteps and had only a minor criminal record but was ruled too mentally disturbed to buy firearms; nonetheless the man dubbed El Loco by neighbors assembled his arsenal and contented himself with shooting small animals until his bad day.

Afterwards, left and right wing partisans and freelance conspiracy theorists claimed he was part of the Other side. Lacking direct, first-hand ballyhoo on the killer, the local and national media lost interest and quickly moved on to other sensational disclosures. Intellectuals drew up proposals for studies to be subsidized by private or public benefactors.

A Quora peanut posted: “The only two things we know are the most mass murders are committed by unemployed males under the age of 40.”

Another mass murderer, Hurricane Dorian, rattled the Bahamas (and were kicked off rescue ferryboats by ICE because their papers had been washed away) but Trump fired his gung-ho, guns-a-blazin’ National Security Advisor Bolton. Former Mayor (and future candidate) Bloomberg calls gentrification “fake news”.

SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 – WATCH OUT for WAYNE! – Florida Mayor Wayne (Messam) was again excluded from the Democratic debate in Texas, despite rising to a favorite son tally of three percent in the Florida primary… on the way to winning maybe a handful of delegates that could prove crucial if Biden, Warren and Bernie send the race into a brokered settlement.

This third debate lacked, with the one notable exception above, the passion and the panache of the first two, but did afford a few moments of low comedy… Andrew Yang reiterated and upgraded his grand a month offer despite the examples of George McGovern and Richard Nixon. Julian Castro called Uncle Joe senile and Beto promised to take away Texans’ guns, ensuring that neither will be able to run for lower office in that state when they drop out. Parents at a high school football game responded by a shootout.

Elsewhere, gas prices were down despite an Iranian attack on Saudi oil refineries (flexing their macho after Bolton’s firing?) RIP journalist Cokie Roberts.

SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 – WOKE TV! – “There’s a new television season that opened last night, but first the crumbs of the 2018-19 season had to be swept off the red carpet at Sunday night’s Emmy Awards which… speaking of partisanship… was torn up and replaced by a deep purple rug. According to “Good Day LA” anchor Rita Garcia, the Television Academy chose the color to specifically evoke royalty… but could the color change have been a subtle dis on the President’s red state America?”

But if so, why not a royal blue to underscore the resistance, or a nice, lush green as a protest against climate change and the President’s weaponizing of the Environmental Protection Agency as a force upholding the fossil fuel and toxic chemical industries? Or black, because black carpets matter? Or pink, to show Hollywood cares… really, really cares… about fighting cancer. Or anything but the sickly hue of orange-yellow as stands-in for Donald Trump.

This was the least watched Emmy broadcast ever and second straight no-host ceremony after Kevin Hart’s Oscar meltdown. Television recalls, portrays, predicts and sometimes reflects the larger timbre of the times, so what sort of ethos does the new season portend?

Aside from the no-war with Iran, we have the astonishing (astonishing!) revelation that our American President twisted the arm of Ukraine’s comedian-leader to dig up and hand over dirt on Joe Biden’s surviving son. John Bolton (subsequently Barr-ed from impeachment testimony) began leaking stories that he opposed the President’s Ukraine strategy, and will probably have a book out… oh, around… Halloween, 2020?

And… the Fed cut interest rates 0.25%, Trump declared war on that 15 year old Swedish girl as International climate Change protests proliferate in NY and scientists reported that the birds and the bees are disappearing, and Canadian PM Justin (boytoy) Trudeau was called a racist after old photos surfaced of him in blackface pretending to be Aladdin. Don’t expect help from Batman… he’s turned 80.

OCTOBER – October 1 – 26,573.04; 16,402.79; October 8 – 26,164.04; 16,454.66; October 15 – 27,024.80; 16,459.18; October 22 – 26,788.10; 16,442.36; October 29 – 27,073.77; 16.446.97

October 1, 2019 – UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES! “Speaker Nancy Pelosi finally capitulated to The Squad (and two hundred other vigilantes on the Democratic side of the House) and greenlighted an issuance of Articles of Impeachment against President Trump.

“The straw that broke (or, some would say, stiffened) the donkey’s backbone was the transcript of a telephonic conversation between POTUS and Volodymyr Zelensky (or Zelenskyy), the comedian-President of Ukraine in which the former threatened to withhold badly needed funding and military supplies that Kiev needs to put down an insurrection by Russian-speaking terrorists all over the country unless the Z-Man provided (or created) sufficient dirt on former American Veep and leading Democratic politician Joe Biden’s surviving son, Hunter.”

The House greenlighted “(s)ix effin’ Committees. Six! MAGA-men tweeted “Overkill!” while comedians and commentators sharpened their… pencils.” A whistle was blown for the mysterious Whistleblower, the President lashed out against evil Nancy and “Liddle Adam Schiff”. Rudy Giuliani hit the talkshow circuit with some… interesting… conspiracy theories. Democratic poodles yapped. Republican poodles sat up and begged and the prognosticators prognosticated. “But in our land of unintended consequences, if Hunter’s wild ride rebounds against his father and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma) prevails in the nomination process and general election, Republicans might well have cause to regret their character assassination of Sleepy Joe.”

(Warren is mentioned, not Sanders, because the Bern had a heart attack – prognosis unknown.) While waiting for their impeachment moment, the Senate kicked the budget can down the road and a Japanese billionaire hired Elon Musk to send him to the moon!

October 8, 2019 – EIGHT CRAZY MONTHS! – “Consider a nation wracked by election fever. Divided almost equally among parties, among factions… divided by race and religion and equality (or its lack). Partisan mobs marching and fighting in the streets… slogans, recriminations, blood. The burden of history. An incumbent President, swept into office due to a complex and (some would say) corrupt electoral system beset on all sides by litigious prosecutors and politicians, fighting charges that could whisk him from the Presidential palace to prison… charges that he defiantly castigates as “a witch hunt”.”

No, not America. Israel!

We did note differences between Trump and Netanyahu… the Israeli PM is considered competent (though their proportional electoral system is engineered for chaos – the major parties having to scratch for partners among the ultra-religious and secular fanatics). And the Palestinian problem seems insoluble… like Djonald playing to his base… left and right being less about taxes and equality than race and religion and whether, even, the Palestinians merit a designation as human beings.

And the American President has, if possible, worsened the MidEast cauldron by pulling troops out of Syria, leading to a Turkish massacre of Kurds and 10,000 ISIS maniacs escaping from prisons. Police say “The Joker” will inspire more school shooters.

October 15, 2019 – A DATE that will LIVE in INFAMY! – “October 8, 2019. Another day that will dwell in infamy, even if the President does not say so… in fact, Donald Trump precipitated this catastrophe wholly on his own, and even against the advice of some of his most loyal advisors. No Americans died in Syria that day, but the damage done was to the aura of the United States… the President wiping his behind on the (largely unwritten) Contract With America that has guided our foreign policy for well over a century: That Americans, in fact, keep their promises.

“That they support their allies and punish their enemies.

“No longer.”

Long before Wednesday’s debacle, the impeachable Trump had chucked children into cages, sneered at NATO while embracing Kim and Putin and the Nazis at Charlottesville, even taunted his white, downwardly-mobile working class base by cutting taxes for billionaires Only dumb luck or the perversity of God has kept him from starting a major war or crashing the economy, but for how long? Even the rightest of righteous evangelicals are losing faith…

Even his Number One bootboy Mitch McConnell professed to be ‘gravely concerned’. Will Erdogan confiscate the nukes slated to be left behind at U.S. bases on Turkish soil? Will NATO… with or without American input, give the Turks the heave-ho?

Will it take another Abraham Lincoln Brigade to protect our interests in the MidEast?

So far, the terror has been domestic… a gunman shooting up a New Hampshire wedding, a Texas cop butchering a (black) woman during a welfare check, “Day of the Locust” wildfires menace L.A. and a Carolina nursing home staging Fight Club fun between Alzheimers’ patients. The upsides? Simone (gymnastics) and Coco (tennis) and a roaring stock market… perhaps salivating over replacement of all that military gear abandoned to the Turks and Russians.

October 22, 2019 - DOG’S DAY AFTERNOON! – “Today, so the persons on the television inform me, is National Dog’s Day. Don Jones finds it an admirable and useful holiday… even if there’s no paid day off… it’s a marketing ploy to sell more stuff (kibble, bits, leashes or, of all things, cars) but it also gives a shout-out to the rescue dog adoption folks down at your local pound”… and why not a dogs’ day?

“So the dogs come out once a year to be recognized just as the candidates… Democrats only, our imperial President has ordained no Republican may speak against him and apparently about 95% of the party faithful agree… wheel round like the hands of a demented grandfather clock.” An economically bad week, dogged by a Brexit n’ China drop in the Dow and a skyrocketing balance of trade deficit elicited apologies and rationalizations from lapdog economists, who equate deficits with a strong dollar.

The Joneses did, however, consider the money well spent on the first all-girl spacewalk and law enforcement who rounded up a dozen neo-Nazis and foiled a synagogue massacre plot. Someone also exposed Mitt Romney as social media swashbuckler Pierre Delecto.

October 29, 2019 – HEY, BOZE, GET OFFA MY CLOUD – “Defensters awarded the ten year, ten billion dollar contract for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, known as JEDI, to Microsoft in a space chase race, which set off a Royal Rumble of very, very wealthy people. Amazon had been considered the front-runner, in part because it had built cloud services for the Central Intelligence Agency, but its balding, divorcing, Libertariush sultan Jeff Bezos had bought the WashPost and used it to tweak Trump’s snout.

Nick Wakeman of the Government Cloud Insider predicted litigation, and so it has come to pass. Komrade Putin is pleased, military brass are… nobody cares, apparantly, least of all the President who has cashiered military commanders like Mattis, Kelly, Dunford, Amos, Allen, Paxton, McMaster and the ill-starred Mike Flynn from his inner circle; “he just whispered a hint to his latest DefSec, Mark T. Esper, that nepotism is a horrible, horrible evil and Esper… whose son worked for IBM, one of the competitors for the contract… said he wanted to take several months to review the issue and then recused himself from the bidding, leaving the final decision to more pliable acting acting actors in the bowels beneath the secret tunnels winding from 1600 Pennsy to the Pentagon. Only a few tech=savvy civil liberties Cassandras among the Microserfs are complaining about JEDI’s darkside apps in the domestic surveillance and suppression arena.

Bezos, unfortunately, has a paucity of friends among liberals… the President and Senator/Candidate Elizabeth Warren don’t agree on much, but the Massachusetts Madam also has a grudge against Amazon for its avoidance of taxes, monopolistic lusts and vicious treatment of employees. She has called for antitrust action against Amazon, Google and Facebook (but not Microsoft!) while Mr. T. has been hawking campaign novelties like inflatable pool floats, MAGA hats and “I DON’T KNEEL” hoodies here.

High tech dronery… and a hero dog… ran down ISOID dictator al-Baghdadi, who blew up himself and his children, thus delighting Djonald Unchained. Not delightful… impeachment hearings began on Halloween. California wildfires create 200,000 refugees in Sonoma and Los Angeles counties. Sexy spy Maria Butina and college cheat Felicity Huffman freed, the latter getting three days grace for good behavior in her bad-looking prison jumpsuit. Police officer wins lawsuit after being told to “tone down his gayness”. Students train rats to drive tiny cars. Spanish dictator Franco exhumed, found to be still dead.

NOVEMBER – November 5 – 27,492.63; 16.469.88 November 12 – 27,691.49; 16.466.95 November 19 – 27,934.02; 16.455.99 November 26 – 28,121.69; 16.471.51

November 5, 2019 – AN OPEN LETTER to ELIOT ENGEL and NANCY PELOSI! – ”We implore the august Congresspersons to include, as one of their articles of impeachment, President Trump’s craven and short-sighted abandonment of our Kurdish allies to the untender unmercies of Turkish dictator Erdogan who has already begun a Fourth Reich-like ethnic cleansing, murdering thousands and displacing tens of thousands of civilian refugees, including children. The damage to America’s reputation as a bastion of hope and freedom has been catastrophic…”

“The Syrian pullout has angered many of Trump's friends in low places… Gulf War veterans, evangelical Christians, even the sycophants in his pet media. Like hen in the Foxhouse Judith Miller, who called the American rout a "betrayal" of the Kurds, reproaching: "Shame on President Trump. For while Washington has repeatedly abandoned the Kurds for what the French call “raison d’état” – or, presumed short-term national security gains -- never has the betrayal felt so naked – or unwise."

With Senate majority leader McConnell boasting that he is co-ordinating with the accused and Attorney General Barr’s willingness to refuse to enforce ignored subpoenas (it’s even possible that he will order the arrest of one or both Bidens should they follow suit) the playing field will be the 2020 elections and emotion, not the law, will win or lose the day. With only the Ukraine scandal in hand, sleazy and illegal as it is, the Senate will brush the charges aside, pronounce exoneration and Trump will win his second term. If, however, Syria is added as an Article, Senate Democrats can bring administration hostiles to the floor… the military in the field, political and economic experts cognizant of the result of this action, and victims of Turkey’s ethnic cleansing. Federal interest rate cuts mean the economy may be percolating… stocks were up this week as was the balance of trade and employment (according to DebtClock but not the BLS)… but what will be the impact on Trump’s base of testimony by (or, worse, McConell’s expelling from the Senate of) mutilated, orphaned children? Not positive.

We included, as attachments, denunciations from General (and former Defense Secretary) James Mattis and from Admiral William McRaven. Elsewhere, Bolton flipped on flipping the President, Michigan’s UAW and Chicago teachers’ strikes settled and the Nationals bring a World Series title to Washington after 95 years.

November 12, 2019 – FROZEN, TOO! – Bye Bye Beto… after promising to take Texans’ guns away his political career is over and he’ll have to get his punk-rock band back together. And hello Michael Bloomberg… former Gotham mayor, Coca-Cola hater and billionaire richer than Tom Steyer.

He brings America together… “Soros, Steyer, Bezos and Bloomberg — the big four archenemies of Liberty — share an insatiable narcissistic quest for power,” warned the right-wing Patriot Post, from the left, Prospect.org called the billionaire candidacies “almost surgically designed to repel practically every American voter on some level.”

Don’t look to the Greens; Ralph Nader is cheerleading for Bloomberg, their new Messiah, Mad Vlad Putin, can’t vote and their bench is burdened with censorious non-entities. The Libertarian convention, occuring May 22^nd to 25^th in Austin, will feature a bunch of dour, sour bananas in off-the-rack business suits, monochrome ties and sensible shoes wielding Ayn Rand paperbacks unless God takes pity on America and they nominate a wild card… either boot-hatted, toothbrush wielding Vermin Supreme or software tycoon and murder fugitive (in Cuba, yet!) John McAfee who charmed the Cuban version of ICE with his paeans to Che Guevara.

"Go ahead and get upset" was McAfee's message to Libtards unhappy with tweeted support for a bloody Communist revolutionary. "I'm for revolutionary people.”

A January deep freeze and blizzard swooped down from Canada like a vengeful Justin Trudeau this week after Halloween and froze Don Jones and everything and everybody he cared for. Climate change also blamed for lower Maine lobster harvest and Trump will invite Turkish butcher Erdogan to the White House tomorrow. PC version of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” wins bipartisan derision.

November 19, 2019 – BOOK ‘EM… uh… WHOMEVER! – ”If Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian dictator responsible for burning down the Amazon rainforest, and Pacific Gas and Electric, the California utility whose shoddy grid has been blamed for inciting most of that state’s wildfires, are the numbers one and two culprits in the destruction of the world’s forests, then the third villain would have to be the insatiable publishing industry, churning out record quantities of partisan books in this political silly season a year before the 2020 elections.”

Everybody has a book to peddle. Joe Biden is the author of “Promise Me, Dad” about the death of son Beau (the good one) by cancer. “Where We Go From Here” asks the Bern’s manifesto, Cory Booker penned “United”… a “message of hope, optimism, and love”. From Mayor Pete comes “Shortest Way Home”, Andrew Yang’s new epic is “The War on Normal People” and Julian Castro contributes “An Unlikely Journey” (Beto self-published “Dealing Death and Drugs”, then self-destructed). From the ladies come Warren’s “This Fight is Our Fight”. “Smart on Crime” (Kamala Harris), “The Senator Next Door” (Amy Klobuchar) and Tulsi Gabbard’s “Is Today the Day?”

Fewer G.O.P. candidates mean fewer trees destroyed, but Vice President Mike Pence has written a children’s book about his bunny; former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley checks in with “With All Due Respect”. The Trump family is represented by Junior “Triggered”, Erik (“The Politics of Zoos”) and Ivanka’s “Trump Card” can be had on Amazon for seventy-nine cents. Donald himself seems to be coveting the green vote – saving paper by issuing tweets by the thousand.

We haven’t even listed Michael Bloomberg’s outpourings yet, nor Tom Steyer’s. There are a lot of them.

“But, at the moment, the king of all tree mulching tomes is the simply titled and starkly jacketed “A Warning”, written by that ever-active citizen of trolldom and panegyrics, Anonymous.” Trump and BilBarr have mobilized lawyers to suppress publication which, of course, only increases sales, the basest of the base… alt-right to neo-Nazi to just plain Nazi are promoting rallies in the Presidents support.

“The freaks flocking to Djonald’s defense are even being disrespected by orthodox hate groups like Veterans Today which slams “these gun-toting morons in the militia movement” and avers that he’s “a complete fraud, a creation of Judeo-Zionist organised crime that should be in a jail cell rather than the oval office.”

The best that the outmanned, outgunned leftists in AntiFa could raise up against this swastikanado was a blast from the past… the aging “Revolutionary Communist” Bob Avakian, notorious for posting thousands of posters of his own face on walls across America in the 70’s.

A newspaper in Texas, of all places, declared that “America has entered into Alex Jones’ wheelhouse”.

Gas prices drop a little bit, Venice (Italy) suffers 50-year flood, Venice (Cal.) hits 90 degrees. Men who own Taylor Swift songs relent on performance ban. Sean Spicer eliminated from Dancing. Mega=Maga=Pedo Jeffrey Epstein hangs himself; Prince Andrew denies joining him on his nocturnal missions. Men who own Taylor Swift songs relent on performance ban. Sean Spicer eliminated from Dancing.

November 26, 2019 – COOK ‘EM and EAT ‘EM! – “President Trump set before America a reality-show feast, a popular vote featuring the pair of turkeys, Bread and Butter (replacing last year’s finalists, Peas and Carrots). Housed for the previous two days at the $449 per night Willard Inter-Continental Hotel (where they soiled the carpet and mean-eyeballed photographers), the winner, Butter, was duly pardoned” (and Bread was pardoned, too).

POTUS welcomed another Turkey (in the form of its bloody “President” Erdogan) to the White House where he was presumably served a meal of… something else. Maybe some maybe-ish sanctions?

Congress issued a pardon, of sorts, too to Djonald Unindicted… impeachment testimony centering solely upon the Ukrainian bribery and quid pro quo low misdemeanors, Ms. Pelosi and Co. choosing to ignore the Syrian/Kurdish covfefe. Instead, they heard Gordon Sondland (Ambassador to the EU) testify on Wednesday (20^th) that Rudy G. was at the center of the whole Ukrainian mess, Pence was in the loop, also Pompeo and Perry, Mulvaney and Bolton... on Thursday Fiona Hill, a British Boltonette, confirmed that her boss called Rudy a “hand grenade” and the Burisma adventure “a drug deal.” One David Holmes, a fly on the wall at Sondland’s Kiev restaurant meeting with a Zelenskyy-man testified that Trump’s loud voice audibly confirmed the poison-pen July 25^th letter, to which Sondland replied that the Z-man “loved his ass.” Then, the networks cut away from coverage… CBS going back to “The Price is Right”

ABC’s George Stephanopolous admired how calm and collected Sondland was. “It’s all about Sondland now, it’s all about him,” said Georgie. “Everyone’s hair was on fire.”

The crankling, ruttering impeachment tumbrel managed to suck all the air out of the fifth Democratic Presidential Debate, which earned MSNBC the lowest rating of the five to date. In our poll-of-polls, Sanders took over the top slot, followed by Warren and Biden. Harris slid to 6^th, behind Mayor Pete and even Andrew Yang, presaging… you know!

After pardoning Butter, Trump gave Conan, the Baghdadi-biting dog, a certificate of heroism (but no food, not even a piece of Bread). Roger Stone sought a pardon too, not delivered. Movie moguls accused of promoting Julia Roberts (!!?!) as Harriet Tubman.

DECEMBER – December 3 - 27,502.81; 16,449.39 December 10 - 27,881.72; 16.580.70 December 17 – 28,267.16; 16.578.79 December 24 – 28,455.09; 16,574,71

DECEMBER 3, 2019 – THANKS for the MUMMERIES; YANKS chase the MAMMERIES?! – “Thanksgiving is done and Christmas on the way. Bellies are full (well, many of them) and black Black Friday deals flatter the dreams of the young, the young at heart, and the juvenile minds of all ages; emoluments, favors and sugarplums tossed from the bowers of fairies with holiday hearts and sharp teeth.

“Everybody has something to be thankful for… the rich as the poor, the black as the white, immigrant or native. And they also have something to covet… the farmer or banker or toddler, the Americans, Brits or the little wogs in far off, hot places; the Christian or heathen (whether or not they believe Jesus, God, Satan or Santa… everybody likes free stuff).”

Swamp creatures, candidates… even The Fallen… everybody has something to be grateful for and something to wish for. Donald Trump can thank the roaring economy and the appreciation bestowed upon him, even by skeptics, after he signs a resolution praising the freedom fighters in Hong Kong (if not Syria). And he can covet a divided Democratic convention, perhaps even a walkout and independent split, and also… per the title… a secret night out with BFF Prince Andrew at Jeff Epstein’s townhouse, just for auld lang syne.

Melania can hope for an honorable 2020 defeat, followed by an honorable (and lucrative) divorce. Rudy G. can be thankful for “that delicious rat he caught in the attic last night.” Joe Biden looks forward to the South Carolina primary and, maybe, a kind word from his old boss, Obama. Kamala Harris, though feeling rather ungrateful for now, looks forward to a maybe appointment as America’s Attorney General in 2021 and a fistful of indictments for Team Trump. And so on.

Back in real time, Team Trump slapped tariffs on French wine and cheese, limousine liberals exclaimed “Mon Dieu!” Macy’s Parade balloons survive high winds (but Ronald McDonald suffers deflation in one leg, forcing him to crawl like a demented spider). Chicago’s Police Chief is fired for sleeping on the job.

DECEMBER 10, 2019 – WORLD WAR Z(elensky)! –

“Well, they dooded it…

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS:

House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump that will serve as the basis for action by the House Judiciary Committee. One accuses Trump of abuse of power, and the other accuses him of obstruction of Congress.”

Article One, in short, interpreted the phrase “do us a favor” in the President’s letter of July 25^th, subsequently bolstered by his telephone conversation with Sondlund, as meaning the offer of a quid pro quo… $391 million in Congressional approved military aid to Ukraine in exchange for an announcement by President Zelenskyy that they were investigating the appointment of Joseph Biden’s son, Hunter, to a $30,000 per month “job” at the Burisima Gasworks. Not necessarily a finding of extortion or corruption, not even a real investigation… just an announcement. Z-man allegedly told Sondland that he “loved” Trump’s ass, but delayed and deferred said announcement until Trump gave him the money anyway, thus calling into question whether an attempted crime (if, indeed, such was a crime) failed, could the President be impeached? Article Two, the coverup, has been more flagrant… Attorney General BilBarr has refused to issue subpoenas to witnesses like Treasury Secretary cum Chief of Staff Mulvaney, National Securitor Bolton or, of course, man about Kiyev Rudy Giuliani and Senate Chair Mitch McCee has openly stated that he would not permit witnesses of any soft, and work with the accused, Trump, in the course of the trial.

That’s it. Democratic-leaning lawyers at the six impeachment hearings said crimes were committed, rebuttal Republicans replied “not so.” Partisans in politics, the media, the law schools and the street responded according to their prejudices. Five hundred pointyheads from leading universities and law schools, signed an open letter concluding “President Trump engaged in impeachable conduct,” while we reported that “Uncle Joe exploded when a fat Iowa farmer asked how the boy secured that gas gig at a monthly salary that would look sweet as a yearly income to many Iowans, screaming back “You’re a damn liar!”

Trump could take solace in the still-booming economy with wages, employment and the trade balance up, up, up and the stock market spinning off to higher and higher heights. 800,000 Hong Kong democracy protestors overwhelmed police, a Son-of-NAFTA deal was cut. Santa’s reindeer were starving due to Arctic warming, so Finland elected a 34 year old female Prime Minister. Down under, wildfires menaced the kangaroos and the koalas and a New Zealand volcano full of careless tourists blew its top. “Big Bird” died, and a $120,000 banana duct taped to an art gallery wall was removed and eaten by a perpetrator.

The Don hit its 2019 high (see above).

DECEMBER 17, 2019 – SPIN CYCLE! – With impeachment tomorrow all but certain and conviction next to impossible, we took a look at how the media… print, social and anti-social, skew their editorials and, sometimes, facts to fit their prejudices. “To do so, we located and compiled reports from a dozen mixed sources… austere, esteemed (and presumably well-financed) arbiters of propaganda and the press, as well as a few lonely, personal blogs by critics with apparently enough time to sort through an enormous slushpile of journals and websites – many of which were of interest only to the most rabid partisans.”

The DJI found Trump’s beloved Breitbart and an extreme fundamentalist World News Daily to be the most right-wing outlets, while Mother Jones and Salon were favored by the leftists. Our award to the least-biased source was the much-employed Real Clear Politics poll directory, slightly to the left were a couple of Brits… Reuters and The Economist… slightly rightly were The Hill and Business Insider. Many interesting but obscure sites were rated – news junkies might do well to revisit that Lesson and try out a few that fit your beliefs. Or not.

After their pre-holiday orgy of fiscal gluttony, the Dow and the Don returned to normalcy. As usual, inflation (including gas prices) was up, but not to the extent of holiday gouging and grinding. Nor was “Peace on Earth” much observed… Don Junior went to Mongolia and killed a lamb to spare a turkey, there were riots in all the usual and a few new places (India, Italy, Thailand), “Black Israelites” killed six Jersey City Jews and the outgoing Kentucky Governor pardoned a thousand prisoners, including the “killer spawn of contributors”.

Madrid’s America-boycotted climate change summit ended in failure as boat person. Greta Thunberg was named Time’s Person of the Year and numerous other awards were doled out to the deserving and undeserving. Los Angelenos cheered the termination of the evil mountain lion who’d been eating their pets.

DECEMBER 24, 2019 – RING OUT the OLD! – We rang out the first six months of 2018... the momentous and the absurd, the troublesome and the tasty, the quick and the dead, the Dow and the Don... as Attachment Two. To nobody’s surprise, President Donald J. Trump was impeached on a near-total party-line vote (one Democrat voted “no”, jumped to the Republicans and his staff promptly quit). Senate Majority Leader McConnell declared that he would be working with the President on the trial and Trump retaliated with a nasty letter to Speaker Pelosi (text in Attachment Three), then told his base that her teeth were falling out. Pelosi, for her part, said she would not give Mac the articles until he promised to call witnesses – he refused, so now we have a cop/spy/chase movie scenario at hand.

The economy gentled down to a mild, rising hum (although Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, angry over losing his JEDI deal, is now trying to run Federal Express off the road and monopolize dronal package delivery). The same riots continued in the same places, but domestic terror arose only in Russia where somebody (a hero? an idiot?) stormed the headquarters of the FSB/GRU (formerly known as KGB) and assassinated various Boris Badenovs. Just ordinary bad will towards men here… numerous incidents of holiday violence included multiple mall murders over Black Friday discounts, wedding crashers beating a groom to death with baseball bats and Dad shot the barber for giving Junior a devil’s haircut.

The USDA hailed “Wakanda” as its newest trade partner, sick puppies infected people in 13 states, and the Star Wars finale drowned “Cats” at the box office.

New Year’s Eve/Day here again. Don Jones drew down 2019 with another record stock market closing, although the Iranian-supported attack against the Baghdad embassy sent the Dow tumbling from its December 10^th apex. A flurry of state and local minimum wage and overtime changes made the Joneses smile, looking forward into 2020.

And, on the politico-religious front, the influential evangelical journal “Christianity Today” broke with Donald Trump, citing his “gross immorality and ethical incompetence.” (See Attachment Four) This was notable in that CT was founded by Billy Graham, (although Franklin does not share the dis-endorsement). From above:

July 2^nd – “Franklin Graham (Billy’s Boy) has risen up to slough off the burden of his namby-pamby father and has initiated a National Day of Prayer for Donald Trump and against His enemies.”

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

OUR SOURCE(S) and COMMENTS

INCOME

(24%)

6/27/13

LAST

CHANGE

NEXT

12/17/19

12/24/19

SOURCE

Wages (hourly, per capita)

1350 pts.

12/17/19

+0.55%

Jan. 2020

1,554.15

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/wages 23.83

Median Income (yearly)

600

12/17/19

+0.07%

1/1/20

714.69

715.18

debtclock.org/ 33,640

Unempl. (BLS – in millions

600

12/17/19

-2.86%

Jan. 2020

1,337.66

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000 3.5

Official (DC – in millions)

300

12/17/19

-0.09%

1/1/20

583.21

583.71

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 5,777

Unofficl. (DC – in millions)

300

12/17/19

-0.21%

1/1/20

630.22

631.59

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 10,517

Workforce Participation

Number (in millions)

Percentage (DC)

300

12/17/19

+0.026%

+0.006%

1/1/20

285.56

285.58

In 158,739 Out 95,594 Total: 254,333

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 62.41%

WP Percentage (ycharts)*

150

12/24/19

+0.16%

Jan. 2020

152.26

152.02

http://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate 63.20

OUTGO

(15%)

Total Inflation

1050

12/24/19

+0.3%

Jan. 2020

945.38

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.3

Food

300

12/24/19

+0.1%

Jan. 2020

272.31

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm 0.1

Gasoline

300

12/24/19

+1.1%

Jan. 2020

255.76

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +1.1

Medical Costs

300

12/24/19

+0.4%

Jan. 2020

249.67

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.4

Shelter

300

12/24/19

+0.3%

Jan. 2020

270.37

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.3

WEALTH

(6%)

Dow Jones Index

300

12/24/19

+0.29%

1/8/20

482.89

483.90

https://quotes.wsj.com/index/DJIA – 28,455.09 462.14

Sales (homes)

Valuation (homes)

150

11/26/19

-2.06%

+0.15%

Jan. 2020

195.69

241.09

195.69

241.09

http://www.realtor.org/research-and-statistics

Sales (M): 5.35 Valuations (K): 271.3

Debt (Personal)

300

12/24/19

+0.14%

Jan. 2020

239.28

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 61,190

AMERICAN ECONOMIC INDEX (15% of TOTAL INDEX POINTS)

NATIONAL

(10%)

Revenues (in trillions)

300

12/24/19

+0.06%

1/8/20

404.25

404.48

debtclock.org/ 3,504 506

Expenditures (in tr.)

300

12/24/19

+0.09%

1/8/20

228.80

228.60

debtclock.org/ 4,547 551

National Debt (tr.)

450

12/24/19

+0.09%

1/8/20

316.28

315.99

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 23,142 163

Aggregate Debt (tr.)

450

12/24/19

- 0.38%

1/8/20

340.52

339.23

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 74,356 638

GLOBAL

(5%)

Foreign Debt (tr.)

300

12/24/19

+0.17%

1/8/20

286.47

285.60

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 6,902 914

Exports (in billions – bl.)

150

12/3/19

+0.24%

Jan. 2020

161.09

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/ 207.1

Imports (bl.)

150

12/3/19

-1.70%

Jan. 2020

129.62

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/ 254.3

Trade Deficit (bl.)

150

12/3/19

-4.77%

Jan. 2020

105.90

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/ 47.2

SOCIAL INDICES (40%)

ACTS of MAN

(12%)

World Peace

450

12/24/19

=1.5%

1/8/20

391.15

385.28

In tit-for-tat-for-tit war with Iran, drones kill Iraq terrorists, terrorists storm (but fail to destroy) US Embassy. Syria pullout blowback? Bolton calls Trump a pussy on NoKo, whose surprise is… no surprise. Hong Kong celebrates Christmas ceasefire – for about five minutes.

Terrorism

300

12/24/19

+0.8%

1/8/20

210.53

208.85

Neither peace nor goodwill as another Black Israelite slashes NY Jews with machete and beggar given food, but not the cash he demanded from a White Settlement (!) Christian church, shoots up services. Somali truck bomb kills 76.

Politics

450

12/24/19

+0.3%

1/8/20

436.93

438.24

McConnell-Pelosi chicken game over articles of impeachment and Senate witness calling. West Virginia Governor purges Nazi saluters from prison guard academy. Bloomberg stops using prison labor to call voters. 77 year old Biden says he’d choose a Republican Veep… what could go wrong with that? Jimmy Carter, 95, becomes oldest-ever President. Twitter and Spotify ban political ads.

Economics

450

12/24/19

+0.5%

1/8/20

433.51

435.68

Minimum wage raised in 24 states – some also reform overtime laws. Out with the old… failed CEOs bounced, boing boing, from Boeing and Uber and, over in Japan, Nissan CEO flees to Lebanon to escape the law, Die Hard dies hard at Sears… sold to Advance.

Crime

150

12/24/19

-0.1%

1/8/20

224.36

224.58

Evil teenage killers rounded up, including shooter of a 7 year old girl on Christmas Eve in… where else?... Chicago. Mall maulings proliferate, but final tally is only one dead.

ACTS of GOD

(6%)

(with, in some cases, a little… or lots of… help from men, and a few women)

Environment/Weather

450

12/24/19

+0.5%

1/8/20

285.22

286.65

Chicago has a balmy Christmas and Denver gets its first snowfall on New Years Eve. Tornadoes plague Mississippi. Prince Phillip announces a 5 mil. prize for green pollution-solutions.

Natural/Unnatural Disaster

450

12/24/19

-0.2%

1/8/20

330.81

331.47

Five year old survives being run over by a school bus. A hundred or so survive Kazakh plane crash, 12 die… 7 more die in Hawaii chopper crash. Holiday air travel beset by fog and measles. Australian wildfires killing off koalas and kangaroos.

LIFESTYLE/JUSTICE INDEX (15%)

Science, Tech, Education

600

12/24/19

-0.3%

1/8/20

654.95

655.60

FAA proposes better drone tracking as China replaces the fireworks invented there with drones spelling out happy messages. They also sentence the CRISPR gene genie to 3 years in jail. Christina Koch sets female space endurance record.

Equality (econ./social)

600

12/24/19

-0.1%

1/8/20

683.67

680.94

Anti-Semitism is the new normal. Frontier Airways denounced as a rape pit. Black ballerina stars in Nutcracker, dancer with no left hand joins Rockettes.

Health

600

12/24/19

+0.2%

1/8/20

509.82

509.31

RSV baby killing virus goes viral. Cheap eats suffer as listeria infects ramen. The usual Resolutioners praise diets, fasting and exercise but some also say that coffee is good for you. Ohios”Doctor Death” responsible for 25 ODs, re-raises right to die issue.

Freedom and Justice

450

12/24/19

+0.1%

1/8/20

545.33

Lawyers for stabbing suspects say anyone who presumes them guilty is a racist. More lawyers for Ring and Amazon hackees initiate class action suits. Even more lawyers suing Pop Warner football for kiddie concussions. And states and localities pass hundreds of new laws to be litigated! Comrades denounce war-crimes pardoned SEAL

MISCELLANEOUS and TRANSIENT INDEX (7%)

Cultural incidents

450

12/24/19

+0.1%

1/8/20

452.12

452.57

Awards fly out of the aether towards athletes… Lebron and Serena… people (Trump, Obama) tie for Time Man of the Year, and best/worst lists too numerous to mention. A TV doctor pronounces that uncommon things happen uncommonly”. RIP to Neal (Monte Python) Innes, songwriter Allee Willis (“Friends” theme, “Boogie Wonderland”), ESPN reporter Edward Aschoff, shock jock Don Imus and Broadway producer Jerry Herman (Mame”) Long-running San Francisco camp classic Beach Blanket Babylon also closes. Star Wars makes 380M and causes seizures… Cats loses 100M and causes nausea. LSU and Clemson are last NCAA teams standing. Sharon Stone kicked off the Bumble dating site (hint: longer skirt),

Miscellaneous incidents

450

12/24/19

+0.1%

1/8/20

456.55

456.09

Pope Francis proclaims “God Loves Everyone” and then slaps a grabby pilgrim. Kevin Spacey’s yuletide gift is a creepy video, Business Insider names New York the rudest city. Sydney scoffs at fires, sets off first in the world fireworks. Florida man argues with girlfriend, then punches a gas pump. Jussie-ish cop fakes coffee cup slur. Prince Phillip (98( is out of the hospital. Good Samaritans celebrate the holidays by paying off layaway and medical debts for strangers, aiding the elderly, sick children, rescue animals, the homeless and immigrants.

The Don Jones Index for the week of December 24th through December 31st, 2019 was DOWN 3.39 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

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

Attachment One – from various

TIMELINE – Debates

January, 2020

Seventh Democratic Primary Debate

Candidates have until January 10 to qualify. They need 225,000 unique contributors and at least 5 percent support in four eligible polls or 7 percent support in two eligible state-level polls. For the full list of requirements, click here.

Five candidates have qualified for the debate so far:

•Joe Biden

•Pete Buttigieg

•Amy Klobuchar

•Bernie Sanders

•Elizabeth Warren

HIGHLIGHTS

•Date: January 14, 2020

•Location: Des Moines, Iowa

•Venue: Drake University

•Partners: CNN and The Des Moines Register (ie: again those without cable are X-cluded

•Moderators: TBA