The ghastly transaction that freed Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl  —  (Uncredited/AP) - In this image taken from video obtained from Voice Of Jihad Website, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, A Taliban fighter speaks to Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, in eastern Afghanistan.

McDaniel rep, others locked in courthouse  —  An official investigation has been opened into three people who were found locked in the Hinds County Courthouse hours after it was closed by election officials Tuesday after returns had been counted in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.  —  CONNECT

Inside look at what NYT's Dowd was told about edibles  —  When Pulitzer-winning New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd came to Denver in January 2014 to report on the newly legal recreational marijuana sales that had just begun throughout Colorado — the same trip where she overdosed …

Brian Schweitzer Isn't Holding Much Back as 2016 Approaches  —  Would he be a better president than Hillary Clinton?  He thinks so  —  To get rid of the trash, former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer either has to drive it away in a pickup from his remote lake house or burn it in a rusty oil barrel.

Really, Dr. Carson?  Obamacare Is Worse Than 9/11?  —  The Republican presidential hopeful thinks that Obamacare has caused Americans more pain than jetliners crashing into the World Trade Center and two costly wars.  —  Dr. Ben Carson, the Republican right's favorite African-American neurosurgeon …

Obama the Velcro President  —  They said that Ronald Reagan was the Teflon President.  Nothing, not even Iran-Contra, could stick to him.  —  Barack Obama is the Velcro President.  Everything is sticking to him.  —  He probably thought he could get some major political mileage …

The Message of D-Day  —  Twenty years ago, as a speechwriter for President Clinton, I traveled to Normandy for the 50th anniversary of D-Day.  This week I'm returning for the first time, with my fellow former speechwriter Jeremy Rosner and our spouses, to be present for the 70th-anniversary commemoration.

Hillary to New York Times: Back Off  —  Some of Hillary Clinton's closest aides blasted the New York Times for what they said was unfair coverage of the former first lady during a recent secret meeting with the paper's Washington bureau, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Big Brother: Meet the Parents  —  This story is part of a POLITICO series examining the unchecked expansion of private-sector data collection and the implications for consumer privacy.  —  You've heard of Big Oil and Big Tobacco.  Now get ready for Big Parent.

Three in Four in U.S. Still See the Bible as Word of God  —  But 21%, near the 40-year high, consider it fables and history  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Twenty-eight percent of Americans believe the Bible is the actual word of God and that it should be taken literally.

Don Zimmer, Who Spent 60 Eventful Years in Baseball, Dies at 83  —  Don Zimmer, the stubby, Popeye-muscled baseball lifer with the unforgettable jowls whose passion for the game endured through more than 60 years as a player, manager, coach and adviser, died on Wednesday in Dunedin, Fla. He was 83.

Caveat Lecter  —  Good news for fans of anthropodermic bibliopegy, bibliomaniacs and cannibals alike: tests have revealed that Houghton Library's copy of Arsène Houssaye's Des destinées de l'ame (FC8.H8177.879dc) is without a doubt bound in human skin.

Senate Democrats go back to student loans in populist push  —  Senate Democrats are preparing a populist push next week, when they bring up legislation that would enable borrowers to refinance their student loans.  —  The bill would help the pocketbooks of those Americans struggling …

The VICE Reader: The Con-Artist Wing of the Democratic Party  —  Former US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (left) yucking it up at a meeting of global elites in 2009.  Photo via Flickr user IMF  —  The most consequential event of this young century has been the financial crisis.