The Glock 19 semiautomatic pistol that Jared Loughner is accused of using in his rampage in Tucson, Arizona, is, according to Glock's website, "ideal for versatile use through reduced dimensions" and is "suitable for concealed carry." The site continues, "Compact and subcompact Glock pistol model magazines can be loaded with a convincing number of rounds," from the standard 15 up to 33. The shooter was able to kill and wound to the extent that he did, with six dead and 13 injured, because he had a semiautomatic, concealed weapon, along with the "extended magazine." He was attempting to reload the weapon with another extended magazine when a brave, unarmed woman knocked his next clip from his hand.
American culture
The Nomadia Project: A positive re-evaluation of poverty and transience
Before the interview starts, Chris Urquhart is showing me a bunch of white splotches on her chest. "It's a fungal infection," she says. "My doctor says it's just from being dirty."
Urquhart, 23, is also recovering from lice and fleas, and was recently tested for parasites. She and award-winning photographer Kitra Cahana, 22, wear these afflictions with pride; they were earned in a summer spent travelling with self-proclaimed "dirty kids," a group of modern-day nomads criss-crossing America, homeless and living off the generosity and excess of the American people.
Canada as the India of the new world
Columbus made history's most famous mistake when he called the people his lookout had sighted Indians, and thought he'd arrived on the outskirts of India. The late Vancouver humorist Eric Nicol caught the jumble nicely. When Columbus heard the cry "Indians!", wrote Nicol, he ordered his three ships to form a circle with the women and children in the middle, like a wagon train in a Hollywood western. So the women and children all started drowning.
Screening social justice at the Sundance Film Festival
Park City, Utah -- This small, alpine mountain town is transformed every winter during the Sundance Film Festival into a buzzing hive of the movie industry. While much of the attention is focused on the celebrities, Sundance has actually become a key intersection of art, film, politics and dissent. It is where many of the most powerful documentaries premiere, films about genuine grass-roots struggles, covering the sweep of social justice history and the burning issues of today. They educate and inspire a growing audience about the true nature, and cost, of direct democracy.
Pete Seeger carries us on
It was some garden party. Eighteen-thousand people packed into Madison Square Garden Sunday night to celebrate the first 90 years of Pete Seeger's life.
The legendary folk singer is a living history of the 20th century's grass-roots struggles for worker rights, civil rights, the environment and peace. Powerful, passionate performances and tributes rang out from the stage, highlighting Seeger's enduring imprint on our society.