Twenty-seven victims in Connecticut with 27 stories—and so continues the terrible and bittersweet work of collecting them, and remembering them. Newtown remains locked in a fugue of mourning that grows darker with every new detail about a massacre that left 20 first-graders dead. And, lucky them, that mourning will soon happen under the watchful eye of the Secret Service.

Across the country, a gunman shot up a mall parking lot in Southern California—50 bullets or so, amazingly no injuries—reportedly because he was "unhappy with his life."

In Indiana, a 60-year-old man was threatening to "kill as many people as he could" at his local elementary school—and had to give up his 47 guns and massive cache of ammunition. He previously threatened to burn his wife alive.

In Alabama, a gunman with an AK-47 stalking a hospital's cardiac ward died after firing at the cops who showed up to arrest him.

Yes, there's a pattern here. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, says she'll take the plunge on pushing new gun control legislation that will certainly be killed/watered down by craven colleagues beholden to the free-for-all gun lobby.

Sane gun policy has been so politically toxic that even the near-assassination of a US congresswoman, Gabby Giffords, couldn't give the Justice Department enough cover to make sweeping changes. The feds gave up on pushing for tighter background checks because of the 2012 elections.

What's even more important than gun control? Understanding, learning about, and patiently doing our best to handle, without judgment and stigma, the many people in crisis or persistently ill all around us. Even our own children. Read every last word of this piece. "I live with a son who is mentally ill. I love my son. But he terrifies me. A few weeks ago, Michael pulled a knife and threatened to kill me and then himself after I asked him to return his overdue library books."

Firefighters in Portland had to watch as cops Tasered a man guarding his flaming house with a sword and shield.

The immediate future of the United States economy is in the hands of two men, Barack Obama and John Boehner, who have no respect for each other, at best, and despise one another at worst. That said, millionaires can probably expect some kind of tax increase next month.

Secret Scooby-Doo villain John Kerry is going to be the next Secretary of State. And something about how he would've gotten away with something involving a mask if not for you motherfucking meddling kids.