JOE PAPPALARDO: Is the Relationship Between NASA and Private Space About to Sour? It’s always been iffier than the press releases suggest. NASA still looks wistfully back at its monopoly.

TURNING THE TESLA MODEL S INTO “an electric supercar.”

I HAVE A COUNTEREXAMPLE SITTING IN THE WHITE HOUSE. Elizabeth Price Foley: Presidents Cannot Ignore Laws As Written. But this is right: “When the president fails to execute a law as written, he not only erodes the separation of powers, he breeds disrespect for the rule of law and increases political polarization.”

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 268.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Thailand’s Looming Crisis.

The king, the army and the Thai business elite stood together and with the United States during the Cold War. Thailand was the last domino standing when Indochina fell to the communists in the 1970s, and the ties between Thailand and the United States strengthened afterwards as Thailand’s booming economy tied it more closely into the US-based international system.

King Bhumibol, now 86 years old and said to be in poor health, has been on the throne for more than 60 years. Even his critics (and despite Thailand’s very tough laws that make criticizing the King a criminal offense, he has them) concede that his reputation for personal incorruptibility, concern for the poor, and dedication to the Thai people and nation give him a unique stature. No other figure is trusted by as many people to work out compromise solutions and despite the constitutional limits on monarchical power, the king’s soft power (combined with the army’s unswerving loyalty) give him a uniquely powerful role.

Today, the survival of the Thai monarchy is again in jeopardy. The 86-year-old Bhumibol is unique and his personal popularity is far greater than other members of the royal family. His son is widely disliked, said to be cruel and a womanizer, disengaged from the country he will one day rule. Bhumibol has been estranged from his wife, Queen Sirikit, whom Thais tend to fear and mistrust, for twenty years. His daughter is a favorite to succeed him but that would violate centuries of tradition. The coming succession crisis, which will pit different Palace factions against populists like former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, powerful elite businessmen and politicians, and the military, will threaten to tear the country apart.

Read the whole thing.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Franklin Pierce University to cut six academic programs. “The university will no longer offer majors or minors in American studies, theater and dance, graphic communications, fine arts, math, and arts management.”

BARACK OBAMA’S weaponization of government.

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IRS SCANDAL UPDATE: House panel asks to hear from Obama donor involved in IRS investigation. “Republican lawmakers have questioned whether Bosserman can remain impartial in the IRS case despite supporting Obama and the Democratic party.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Don’t Know the Party of a Politician Caught in a Scandal? He’s Probably a Democrat. “Within the span of 40 seconds, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams reported on two politicians caught in scandals, one a Republican the other a Democrat, but he gave the party affiliation of only one of the troubled politicians. Can you guess which one?”

JAMES TARANTO: The Choom Corp.: Obama raises a strange objection to pot legalization.

In November 2012 voters in two of those states, Colorado and Washington, approved ballot initiatives formally legalizing recreational marijuana. (We say “formally” because in at least some medical-marijuana states, the stuff is already easy enough to get that the limitation to “medical” use is something of a fig leaf.) The Colorado measure took effect this Jan. 1, the Washington one a month earlier.

Under federal law, however, marijuana remains a Schedule I controlled substance, so that in theory anyone who grows, sells, uses or possesses pot can still be prosecuted by the feds. That led to a landmark 2005 Supreme Court case, Gonzales v. Raich, in which the justices held 6-3 that federal enforcement of the ban on marijuana cultivation is a legitimate exercise of Congress’s authority to regulate interstate commerce, even when the defendant is growing the stuff for noncommercial use within the state and in compliance with state law. (We guess they do call it the high court for nothing.)

“What is and isn’t a Schedule I narcotic is a job for Congress,” President Obama told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview that aired today and is reported at Time.com. Obama disclaimed any view as to whether the law should change. But in practice he and his attorney general have adopted a far more permissive attitude than prevailed under the previous administration. . . .

A cynic would say Obama is trying to have it both ways, as with same-sex marriage, which he favored early in his career, then said he opposed when he became a national figure, then favored when the political winds had shifted to the extent that it was politically beneficial, or perhaps necessary, for him to do so.

The cynics are usually right. But read on for Obama’s big fear, and why it’s silly.

CASTAWAY: Man washed up on boat on Marshall Islands says he’s been adrift 16 months, report says. “An emaciated man whose boat washed up on the shores of the Pacific’s Marshall Islands is reportedly telling a harrowing tale of being adrift for 16 months, surviving on fish, birds, and turtle blood. The man—who only speaks Spanish—says he drifted more than 8,000 miles in his 24-foot fiberglass boat, after leaving Mexico for El Salvador in September 2012, the AFP reports. He had been traveling with a companion who he says died at sea several months ago.”

THE HILL: Obama To Huddle With House Dems. “The meetings come as the party gears up for what is likely to be a tough midterm election fight. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he planned to discuss electoral strategy next week with the president. Reid also said he would encourage vulnerable Democrats to campaign with the president.” So would I.

U.S. NEWS: There Is a War on Women, But Not From Republicans. “It seems that it’s perfectly acceptable to attack candidates like Palin, Sharron Angle, Michele Bachmann – call them crazy, stupid, you name it – those are just facts, right? When it’s Wendy Davis or Elizabeth Warren, it’s politics at its worst – it’s the GOP demonizing women once again. A story questioning the authenticity of Sarah Palin’s pregnancy is fair game; she made a choice to run for office. But, when Wendy Davis is questioned about whether the dates of her marriage that she publicly disclosed are accurate, it’s an attack on single women trying to move up in the world.”

It’s almost as if the press is made up of Democratic operatives with bylines.

VIRGINIA POSTREL: Obama Fails Art History and Economics.

It was the cheapest of cheap shots because, as I noted in a column two years ago, almost no one majors in art history. Art history majors account for less than 0.2 percent of working adults with college degrees.

It was also a cheap shot because art history isn’t a major naive kids fall into because they’ve heard a college degree — any college degree — will get you a good job. It’s an intellectually demanding major, requiring the memorization and mastery of a large body of visual material, a facility for foreign languages, and the ability to write clearly and persuasively. And it’s famously elitist. . . .

If the president had been serious about his message, he would have compared learning a skilled trade to majors that are actually popular, such as communications and psychology. It would have been much braver and more serious to take on the less-rigorous majors that attract lots of students. But it wouldn’t have gotten a laugh.

Bravery is not one of President Obama’s hallmarks.

UPDATE: From the comments:

First he snubs Mike Rowe as a candidate.

Now he is making Mike Rowe’s point as a lame duck.

Mike Rowe for President: it is a dirty job and someone has to do it.

I’d vote for him, I think.

FROM SARAH HOYT AND CHARLIE MARTIN: Book Plug Friday!

INTERBREEDING WITH NEANDERTHALS: “This suggests that when ancient humans met and mixed with Neanderthals, the two species were at the edge of biological incompatibility.”

ANTI-BIGOTRY: Standing Up Against Wealth-Shaming. It’s crony-wealth that should be shamed. You know, Obamism. Or Immeltism.

THAT SEEMS ABOUT RIGHT: Montenegro church depicts Tito, Marx and Engels in Hell.

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DANA LOESCH RESPONDS TO ABC’S DUMB ANTI-GUN SPECIAL TONIGHT.

DON SURBER ON the seeds sown by Stalin.

S.E. CUPP: MSNBC Has a Problem That’s ‘Spiraling Out of Control.’

STEPHEN L. CARTER: Climate-Change Skeptics Have a Right to Free Speech, Too. “I am old-fashioned enough to believe that the cure for bad speech is good speech. Yes, it’s a cliche. But it’s also a useful reminder. Nobody is forced to enter public debate. Once you’re there, it’s rough and tumble. Unfair attacks are as common as dew and sunshine, and everybody’s reputation takes a beating. That’s the price of freedom.”