Brett Brownell is the Multimedia Producer at Mother Jones, and has visited all 50 states. He also helped launch MSNBC's Up with Chris Hayes as a video and web producer, served as new media director for the employee rights organization Workplace Fairness, and founded the annual global photography event Worldwide Moment in 2007. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-T.V. and grew up in Arlington, Texas.
Last night The Daily Show with Jon Stewart presented some frightening findings after an investigation: investigative journalism is dead. All that remains are holograms on CNN, Skype conversations, and Jeff Daniels. Of course, we at Mother Jones begtodiffer. Watch their report, but please remember: Will McAvoy is fake, David Corn is real.
Bearing witness to the worst year of gun rampages in modern US history.
—By Mother Jones staff
| Fri Dec. 21, 2012 2:16 AM PST
The media coverage tends to linger on the killers. But as the nation mourns the excruciating losses in Newtown—and finally begins to confront an epidemic of mass shootings amid the worst year for them in modern US history—it is equally important to bear witness to the victims. What follows are portraits of 151 people physically wounded or killed in the rampages of 2012. In addition to the victims of this year's seven mass shootings, we've included the victims of similar but less lethal rampages in a Portland shopping mall, a Milwaukee spa, and a Cleveland high school.
The total number of lives devastated by these attacks far exceeds 151, of course, starting with survivors who narrowly escaped physical harm, such as the unidentified six-year-old girl who played dead and walked out of Sandy Hook Elementary School against all odds. Mother Jones has only included photos of those injured and killed that were shared publicly by the families or survivors themselves, or for which we were granted specific permission. For essential context and findings from our in-depth investigation, also see our guide to mass shootings in America.
Scroll down to begin, or jump directly to any of these attacks of 2012:
How do doomsday preppers feel about the re-election of Barack Obama? At the Self-Reliance Expo in Mesa, Arizona earlier this fall, purveyors of Candwiches and underground shelters viewed a second term as both catastrophe and opportunity: "There's a lot of people I talk to who say, 'Depending on what happens in the election, I'm going to buy some body armor,'" Derek Williams, president of the Salt Lake City-based Amendment II told us. The company's children's tactical vest costs $499. "If the economy falls apart, people don't have food. People who are looking for food, they're gonna have their guns with them. People want body armor so they can protect themselves."
More: Meet the preppers getting ready for the coming Obama apocalypse.
In 1961, the Pentagon ordered 150 million crushed-wheat wafers to be distributed to fallout shelters and opened in the event of nuclear war. The biscuit, the New York Times reported with some trepidation, "tastes something like a graham cracker." Since then, the selection of survival food has expanded with every end-times scare, from Y2K to 2012. A sampling of what's in the well-provisioned bug-out bag:
ENTRÉES
AmeriQual macaroni and beef in sauce Meal Ready to Eat
This vacuum-sealed staple, beloved of American soldiers with no other menu options, comes with peanut butter, crackers, raisins, a toaster pastry, and an oatmeal cookie. Want vegetables? Go nibble some grass. Shelf life: 5 years (or more)
Mountain House freeze-dried eggs with bacon
After a month of chasing squirrels, you won't mind the unnaturally yellow color, the flavor of liquid smoke, or the spongy texture. Shelf life: 7 years
A group of gun violence prevention advocates happend to be visiting Washington, D.C. the morning of the Newtown, Connecticut elementary school shooting. They were attending a training session at the New Organizing Institute (NOI) when news of the mass shooting began streaming in. At about 1:30PM EST the group decided they would organize a vigil in front of the White House.
They began connecting with progressive organizations such as CREDO, MoveOn, and Moms Rising to encourage others to join them in urging President Obama to do something about gun violence in this country. At around 4:30PM EST, shortly after the President's emotional address on the shooting, the group had assembled approximately 100 people in front of the White House.
Andy Pelosi (no relation to the former Speaker of the House) was one of the organizers-in-training. He lives about 20 minutes from Newtown and has two elementary school-age daughters. Standing in front of the White House he told reporters, "We're always told, 'Just wait, just wait, tomorrow's the day to talk about it'." Apparently the White House was listening. John Carson, the White House Director of the Office of Public Engagement, came out to talk with attendees about their concerns and requests.
Also in attendence were Barbara Elsas, a pre-school teacher, and Linda Finkel-Talvadkar, a retired principal. Since July 30, a few days after the mass shooting at an Aurora, Colorado movie theather, they've spent every Monday morning walking up and down Pennsylvania Avenue holding signs and talking to visitors about gun violence. We were also pleased to learn that they find Mother Jones' timeline of mass shootings useful. "We set this timeline out on the sidewalk and people from all over the world and all over the United States stop and look at that timeline," Finkel-Talvadkar said.
Nationwide action continues today, as organizations such as MoveOn, are calling for candlelight vigils to end gun violence. Evan Sutton of NOI told Mother Jones, "Expect more direct action in the next couple of days. On Capitol Hill and the D.C. NRA offices."
