Stats on Mass Shootings, Teacher Strikes and a Nuke Game Changer

Mass Shooting Numbers/Percentages
100 - Number of mass shooters (defined as individuals who indiscriminately kill three or more victims in a public place) in the United States since 1982, according to "Mother Jones."

97% - Percentage of mass shooters who have been male.

57% - Percentage of mass shooters who have been white and male.

69% - Minimum percentage of guns used by these shooters that were purchased legally.

816 - Number of people killed by mass shooters since 1982.

1,275 - Estimated number of people injured by mass shooters since 1982. (Source: The Nation, April 2, 2018).

Striking Teachers' Numbers/Percentages
34,000 - Approximate number of public-school employees who went on strike for nine days in West Virginia.

+5% - Amount by which teachers' pay will increase a a result of the strike (in addition to a freeze on health-insurance costs).

-8.6% - Amount by which, prior to the strike, teachers' pay in West Virginia had decreased over the past 15 years.

-3% - Amount by which teacher pay has fallen nationwide over the same 15 years.

29 - Number of states that now provide less school funding per student than they did before the 2008 recession, according to 2015 data. (Source: The Nation, April 9, 2018).

President Trump's Nuclear Posture Review as Game Changer
Trump's Nuclear Posture Review is a game changer because it repudiates the logic that had governed nuclear weapons under President Obama -- whose stated goal was to limit their use to retaliation for an enemy's nuclear assault -- and instead envisions their use for a wide range of purposes, including to blunt a Russian advance on NATO forces or to retaliate against a cyber assault on critical U.S. infrastructure.

President Vladimir Putin has signaled Russian determination to counter U.S. attempts to incapacitate Russia's retaliatory capacity by installing antimissile systems, deploying nuclear-powered cruise missiles and unmanned submarines.

This tit-for-tat assertions of weapons development "inevitably [sparks] reciprocal action in a perpetual arms race."

Michael T. Klare tells readers that they can help forestall precipitous action by urging their members in Congress to support the No Unconstitutional Strike Against North Korea Act. (Source: Michael T. Klare, "The New Cold War," The Nation, April 2, 2018).