May Day in Portland was a vivacious, uplifting, affirming affair for a few, permitted hours yesterday. That was not the case in Seattle. Deep into the evening, and well after that city's permitted march had ended, packs of youthful anti-capitalists went off script and toured downtown, sometimes with flame, sometimes getting into it with riot cops. Seattle, of course, actually had something to rage over: a deal for an eventual $15 minimum wage that's greatly disappointed the people who want the pay bump NOW.

Civil war has bloomed in Ukraine. The government in Kiev has sent its string-bean military against the separatist pro-Russian militias who've taken over key towns in the country's east.

And now Russia, calling the offensive a "criminal action," says a proposed peace deal is dead. Which means it's about time to cue up an old-fashioned arms race: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says NATO members must step up with "renewed financial commitments."

Unemployment is as low as it's been since the Bush administration—just 6.3 percent! But it ain't time to sing songs just yet. Overall workforce participation is down, minorities are still far more likely to be unemployed than whites, and millions remain firmly ensconced in the category of "long-term unemployed."

Death threats from gun nuts have scared the would-be seller of a so-called "smart gun"—a gun with a microchip that won't fire unless its owner is wearing a matching watch—into not selling said so-called "smart gun."

Tech companies have stopped secretly handing their users' data over to government spooks whenever they're asked. Now they'll warn you if someone from Uncle Sam comes sniffing around.

But if those companies do provide data, answering court orders that will replace bulk collection, the White House wants to extend them legal immunity.

Pro-pollution lobbyists working for the American Legislative Exchange Council have been working stealthily in several states to undermine a White House dream: limiting the dirty spew from America's coal plants.

Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Bush? An increasingly serious look at a presidential run by one Jeb Bush, brother and son to two presidents, has establishment Republican donors looking to spurn New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Now we learn that the bigoted billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Clippers has cancer and would have died years ago if not for his money. He's been banned from the NBA, but as the New York Post caustically notes: "This could wind up being a pretty short ban."

Live-tweeting's next frontier? Anti-prostitution stings meant to shame and humiliate johns.

THE SCREAMING AT THE END IS WHAT MAKES THIS WORTHWHILE.