Social Breakdown: Violence in the US
The Austin airplane suicide and the political crisis in the US
By David Walsh, February 23, 2010
The suicide of software engineer Andrew Joseph Stack, who flew his small airplane into the seven-story building in Austin, Texas that houses the local offices of the Internal Revenue Service, was both shocking and tragic.
US: Software engineer crashes plane into IRS office
By Jerry White, February 20, 2010
On Thursday, 53-year-old software engineer Andrew Joseph Stack III flew his private airplane into a seven-story Austin, Texas building that houses the local offices of the Internal Revenue Service.
New York City: Police shooting of vendor underscores deep social tensions
By Sandy English, December 18, 2009
The fatal December 10 police shooting of street peddler Raymond Martinez in Times Square, the hub of the New York City’s tourist industry, has highlighted the acute social tensions gripping America’s largest city.
US military suicides reach new high
By James Cogan, December 2, 2009
The figures are an indicator of the immense psychological harm that the neo-colonial wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have done to members of the armed forces.
Mass shooting at Fort Hood: collateral damage from Iraq and Afghanistan wars
By David Walsh, November 7, 2009
The mayhem at Fort Hood in Texas, which has left 13 individuals dead and 30 injured, is a byproduct of the brutal wars in the Middle East and Central Asia. It is a form of “collateral damage.”
Arizona: Man killed in police shooting following home foreclosure
By Josué Olmos, October 6, 2009
Arizona police killed Kurt Aho last week in a shootout sparked by the foreclosure of his home.
Prison riot in California
Budget crisis to make inhumane conditions worse
By Niall Green, August 13, 2009
On Saturday night, August 8, hundreds of inmates of the medium-security Chino Institute for Men in southern California took part in a riot that wrecked part of the prison. Gross overcrowding in the state's prisons was a major contributing factor to the violence.
Ten years since the mass killings in Colorado
The Columbine High School Massacre: American Pastoral...American Berserk
By David North, April 20, 2009
Ten years ago today two students at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colorado, near Denver, killed 12 fellow students and one teacher, and wounded 23 others, before committing suicide. We are reposting the WSWS comment at the time on the tragedy.
California father, despondent over financial losses, kills family and himself
By Kate Randall, October 8, 2008
According to a new study by the American Psychological Association (APA), close to half of those surveyed say they are increasingly stressed about their ability to provide for their basic needs and those of their family.
Finland: Second school shooting in less than a year
Striking similarity
By Jordan Shilton, September 29, 2008
On Tuesday, September 23, at approximately 11a.m., Finland was hit by the second mass shooting episode in less than 12 months, this time at a college in the town of Kauhajoki.
Hostage siege in Baltimore--another American nightmare
By Patrick Martin, March 29, 2000
The bloody events of the past several weeks in a working class neighborhood on the east side of Baltimore raise important social issues. After an initial murderous rampage in which Joseph Palczynski kidnapped his ex-girlfriend and killed four people, the 31-year-old former mental patient took his girlfriend
A new round of shootings in the US
By Kate Randall, March 16, 2000
The latest in the seemingly unending rash of shootings in the US took place last weekend.
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