MICHELLE MALKIN provides a history refresher about Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. I remember seeing the Rose Garden ceremony and thinking "something's really wrong here" immediately upon hearing his father speak...

Subsequent events have clearly shown that I wasn't nearly cynical enough. Bergdahl is merely a coward and deserter; Obama has clearly shown himself to be a thug and a liar who will do anything -- anything, including releasing terrorists, to distract, dissuade, deter, and maintain his political office.

UPDATE: On Fox News' Justice tonight, Judge Jeanine Pirro called for Obama to be impeached. I believe that after the 2014 mid-terms, impeachment is a real possibility.

THANK AN ENVIRONMENTALIST: Scooters are more toxic than trucks.

RAMESH PONNURU: The World According to Obama: Since I know I'm right, just shut up and do as you're told.

JIM CROW IS ALIVE AND WELL, and living in paradise. Racism is okay, as long as it disenfranchises only whites....

POLITICO: The Veterans' Administration is a socialist paradise.

A SIGN THAT THE ECONOMY MAY BE BEGINNING TO IMPROVE? Cities slowing; suburbs growing.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES, arms for hostages edition. This week I couldn't pick just one favorite, so here are two:

Go, and see the rest.

WHAT THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA has missed about the Tea Party movement. I think this is correct; the major impact of the Tea Party has not been the candidates it has fielded (although I believe it should continue to field them), it has been to drive the establishment Republicans back to foundational principles.

WHY 'COMMON CORE' IS DOOMED: 'social justice is not a core value.

UPDATE: I told you so.

I CHECKED MY PRIVILEGE, and it’s doing just fine thank-you-very-much. Now get your sorry ass to work and earn some 'privilege' for yourself.

Equally offensive, to me at least, is the "now it's time to give back" trope. based at least in part on Obama's "at some point you've earned enough" bull... nonsense. I'm the earner; I'm the one who gets to decide how much is enough, and whether or not to part with some of my earnings.

I do find it at least somewhat amusing that those who believe that "at some point I've earned enough" are several rungs above me on the ladder of success and busily lopping off the steps beneath them while those who want me to 'give back' are at the bottom of the ladder not willing to take the first step up.

Here's the article in the Princeton Tory that started this discussion. And here's more from a liberal who shows at least a glimmer of realism in her writing.

YES, Let's have a conversation about racism.

Be sure to read the update to see how the conversation ended.

NEW YORK TIMES: Can the Kochs hold back history? No, but perhaps they can staunch the flow of nonsense from enviro-idiots like Timothy Egan. His narcissistic arrogance (and ignorance) is astonishing. Here's but one example:

About 44 percent of Republicans and 70 percent of Tea Party-leaning voters believe there is no solid evidence that the earth is getting warmer, according to the Pew Research Center.

Now, this is not 70 percent who think Donald Duck is really a platypus, though in a way it is. This is 70 percent who have been convinced that the actual hard numbers, that 9 of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred in this century, are a hoax. It’s like saying, No, it was not 75 degrees in Atlanta yesterday — that’s just your view.

He must have forgotten the Midieval Warm Period or not noticed that there has been no statistically significant global warming for the past 17 (yes, seventeen) years.

What a doofus.

ROBOTICS: Here's that extra pair of arms you always wanted. Sure would be handy installing ceiling drywall....

THE WASHINGTON POST editorial board has a flair for always getting it wrong, and here's another example: New Jersey should begin enforcement of its smart gun mandate.

There are clearly places where personalized (smart) weapons are appropriate, and equally clearly places where they are not.

Feel-good, one-size-fits-all mandates are not an answer; they never have been (Prohibition, the Affordable Care Act, wind and solar power, ad nauseum) and never will be.

The NRA is correct to vigorously oppose the New Jersey law and sadly, Second Amendment advocates are probably correct to oppose the sale of such weapons until the mandate is completely and unambiguously repealed.

OUTRAGEOUS:

The labor union representing employees at the National Weather Service is demanding major upgrades to a new water resources facility at the University of Alabama, including that each employee have a soundproof office, receive a pay increase, and have access to a community garden.

And that's only the tip of the iceberg.

Government employees should never have been allowed to unionize in the first place.