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Just some stories that may have escaped your notice this week:

• R.I.P. Aaron Swartz, 26. He changed our lives in ways you don't even realize. And our government helped push him over the edge.

• Oh, goody. Once again, Paul Ryan's fetal personhood bill makes it possible for rapists to sue victims to keep them from having abortions.

• We have a national flu epidemic, but I've seen more urgent coverage about a three-inch snowstorm.

• Why are so many Jesus-y extremists actually secret perverts?

• Wall Street never, ever really pays for its sins.

• "Barack Obama is one of the most ideological presidents we've ever had." Discuss!

• So it was the DEA who bought those hookers for the Secret Service.

• Mayor Bloomberg wants to cut off painkillers for the poor. Yes, there is a problem with junkies. There is also a problem with people in pain who use the ER as their primary source of medical care.

• I thought North Carolina was the sane(r) one.

• Twenty dead kids continue to be a terrible inconvenience to the NRA lifestyle.

• Ed Rendell as mayor of New York City? I'm not seeing it.