White House braced for Bowe Bergdahl backlash  —  President Barack Obama's Rose Garden appearance Saturday afternoon with Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's parents was an attempt to humanize the prisoner swap to deflect potential criticism of letting five Taliban leaders out of Guantanamo Bay, White House aides say.

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

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

Poll: Obama administration less competent than Bush's or Clinton's, more Americans say  —  A majority of voters say the Obama administration is less competent than Bill Clinton's and a plurality say it is less competent than George W. Bush's according to a new Fox News poll released Wednesday.

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.

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.

2014 Senate landscape tilts in GOP's favor  —  WASHINGTON — Contests are set in nearly half the states for November's elections, and with few contested primary elections remaining on the calendar, Republicans are enjoying clear advantages in their quest for a Senate takeover.

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.

City Council members rip Walmart's charity of ‘dangerous dollars’  —  More than half the members of the City Council have fired off a letter to Walmart demanding that it stop making millions in charitable contributions to local groups here.  —  Twenty-six of the 51 members of the Council charged …

The Republican Case Against Republican Economics  —  After the 2012 presidential election, key Republicans began to criticize their party's opposition to immigration reform and gay rights.  But now party reformers are questioning something much more central: free-market orthodoxy.

School District's Use of Worker Visa Program Draws Scrutiny  —  Texas District Allegedly Exploited H-1B Program in Recruiting Teachers From Overseas.  —  GARLAND, Texas—As this city outside Dallas turned heavily Hispanic over the past decade, its school district hired foreign teachers …