Raising the Floor

Ira Woodward Blue Collar Review
Labor Day Weekend, a time to acknowledge the burdens of hard work, Washington state poet Ira Woodward plays on the phrase "raising the floor"--meaning not only a moment to rest, but also time to raise the wages of working people.

Wal-Mart to Reopen Five U.S. Stores at Center of Union Complaint

Nathan Layne Reuters
In the complaint the UFCW accused Wal-Mart of using plumbing problems as an excuse to close a store in Pico Rivera, California, in retaliation against workers there who have been active in attempts to organize for better pay and benefits. The other four stores were included as cover, the union claimed.

KY County Issues Same-Sex Marriage Licenses After Kim Davis Is Jailed

Jaime Fuller New York Magazine
The Rowan County, KY, clerk's office issued a marriage license to Will Smith and James Yates this morning. Five of the six deputy clerks in the office say they will comply with the court order to give out licenses while county clerk Kim Davis is in jail. Kim Davis' husband Joe, meanwhile, remains defiant. “Just because five Supreme Court judges make a ruling, it’s not a law," he said.

Why People Keep Seeing Aliens in the Pictures from the Mars Rover

Skinny Friedman VICE
Some people have a tendency to believe more; if you have tons of experience with pictures of the Virgin Mary, there's a greater likelihood that those higher parts of your visual system are going to match up the arbitrary stuff you're seeing to the template of the Virgin Mary you have in your brain.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: This is the Difference Between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar The Washington Post
Trump's attempts to bully the press to silence criticism of him is anti-American. He's followed up this salvo on the First Amendment with a strike at the 14th Amendment, asserting that he’d like to deny those born in the country their citizenship. The biggest enemy to the principles of the Constitution right now is Trump. No one has to twist his words because what he says is twisted enough. He speaks fluent pretzel.

The GOP's Problem Is Not Donald Trump: It's Their Voters

David Corn Mother Jones
The anti-immigrant, anti-Obama, anti-establishment sentiment that Trump is tapping runs deep within the Republican electorate. Many clearly see the president as a foreign-born secret Muslim with a clandestine plan to weaken, if not ruin, the United States and they have a dark, nearly apocalyptic view of Obama’s America. Voters this dissatisfied and this detached from reality will be looking for someone who can vent for them. Trump does that.

Police Recruitment Video Features Military-style Tactics

The Portsmouth police department, whose officers have killed two black men this year, act out an operation akin to an army raid to lure new sign-ups. The force has acquired a strong military streak by targeting troops leaving a large navy base in neighboring Norfolk.

How Wolves Change Rivers

What happened when wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in 1995 -- a cascade that embraced animals, plants, birds and even the earth itself.