Joan Rivers being brought out of medically induced coma as family considers lawsuit over botched procedure: sources  —  The comedian's only child, Melissa Rivers, said in a statement Sunday that she is keeping her ‘fingers crossed.’ A source tells the Daily News that there is a concern …

The True Story Of How One Man Shut Down American Commerce To Avoid Paying His Workers A Fair Wage  —  Note: The following is adapted from the author's forthcoming book, Injustices: The Supreme Court's Nearly Unbroken History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted.

A new term for reform of schools  —  Here's Whoopi Goldberg on America's schools today: “To me, bad teachers don't do anybody any good.  So the unions need to recognize that parents are not going to stand for it anymore.”  —  Here's New York Times Columnist Frank Bruni …

Why Won't Endangered Democrat Senate Candidates Repudiate Their Todd Akin?  —  SHARES  —  There are a whole bunch of Democrats running for Senate this year, though in this case “running” seems to mean running as far away as possible from failed liberal messiah Barack Obama.

Jennifer Lawrence, Ariana Grande, Victoria Justice, More Celebs Have Alleged Nude Photos Leak In Massive Hack  —  The leak appears to have originated on 4chan's /b/ board.  This post is SFW.  Update: Representatives of Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton have confirmed the pictures' authenticity to BuzzFeed.

Florida Man At ‘Shoot Straight’ Gun Range Wounds Himself And A Friend  —  A man ended up shooting himself and his friend when he tried to unjam a 9mm semi-automatic handgun at a shooting range on Sunday, police in Florida said.  —  According to the Orlando Sentinel, the men …

Happy Labor Day.  Are Unions Dead?  —  An interview with Rich Yeselson, labor strategist and expert … Are unions dead?  —  No.  —  Explain, please.  —  Their power has declined enormously, obviously, but unions, especially the largest ten or so, are still significant American institutions.

Banning Russian-made AK-47s sets off a U.S. buying frenzy  —  Imports of the weapon were halted as part of sanctions against Moscow  —  Thirty-six hours after the Obama administration banned importation of the classic brand of AK-47 assault rifles as part of sanctions against Russia …

The Medicare Miracle  —  So, what do you think about those Medicare numbers?  What, you haven't heard about them?  Well, they haven't been front-page news.  But something remarkable has been happening on the health-spending front, and it should (but probably won't) transform a lot of our political debate.

President Obama: GOP ‘says no to everything’  —  President Barack Obama used his Labor Day speech on Monday to slam Republicans for opposing an increase in the minimum wage, equal pay for women, affordable health care and more.  —  “Republicans in Congress love to say ‘no.’ Those are just facts, they're facts of life.

Libyan militia uses vacated U.S. Embassy in Libya as swim club  —  (CNN) — Libyan militia members have apparently turned the abandoned U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, into a water park, judging by amateur video posted to YouTube on Sunday.  —  The video, which reflects the anarchy …

Ukraine Crisis: ‘If I Want, I Will Take Kiev in Two Weeks’, Putin Warns EU's Barroso  —  Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a threat to outgoing European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso that he could “take Kiev in two weeks” if he wanted, Italian media reports have said.

Chris Christie's Trip to Mexico Doubles as a Foreign Policy Test  —  A few days after Russian forces invaded Crimea, touching off a diplomatic crisis, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey was asked at a confidential meeting of Republican activists how he would have handled the situation differently from President Obama.

Uber Meets Liberalism Uber Alles  —  There are days when I wonder whether Salon is for real, or whether it's an elaborate gag, similar to the theory that all of Paul Krugman's and Tom Friedman's columns are actually written by a bunch of madcap interns at the Heritage Foundation wondering …

Anti-Labor Day  —  I'm pretty sure I've mentioned here before the profound effect of spending my most formative childhood years in a place that was sort of a monument to capital's war on labor.  LaGrange, Georgia, in the early 1960s was a textile company town ruled economically …