Stories to Watch: 8/13/13

I've been keeping an eye on the uproar over the "stop and frisk" ruling and I have to say, conservatives always seem eager to pile on African-Americans. As with the Trayvon Martin story, the consensus on the right seems to be that black people are scary criminals who deserve especially close policing. These pundits and politicians make arguments like this over and over, but when black people decide they aren't going to vote for conservatives, they think it's because of a combination Democrats having bought their votes with welfare and "reverse racism," not because conservatives constantly parade around their racism -- even in their excuses. Just break out the freakin' white hoods already. (Wonkblog has a good "stop and frisk" fact-sheet, BTW)


Also in news from the rightwing hate front: Pat Buchanan is a really big fan of Russia's anti-gay law. I'm sure you're appropriately surprised.


A 92-year-old woman sues North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory over that state's newly-minted voter suppression law.


Well away from cameras and microphones, some Republicans are worried that continued Tea Party-inspired extremism could actually cost them the House of Representatives, possibly giving dems both houses of congress and the White House. "The majority is at risk," a "well-connected Republican strategist" is quoted as saying. It's a longshot, but if they're worried about it, it's worth watching.


"Hyperloop" looks like hyper-hype.


Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell tells an audience at a Kentucky health care forum, "shutting down the government will not stop Obamacare." True enough, but it's not what the base wants to hear and Mitch is up for reelection. Greg Sargent gets the skinny from Mitch's office, who explain he's not necessarily against a shutdown (he's straddling the fence "not taking sides"), he just thinks it's not going to work. Still, it seems like the sort of quote that could haunt a candidate facing a Tea Party challenger in the primary.


The San Diego Hooters says serial sexual harrasser and Mayor Bob Filner is no longer welcome in their establishment. "Basically when a business based on ogling and being semi-inappropriate to women on the job bans you, you’ve really kind of hit a low, " writes Josh Marshall.


Following the Weiner implosion, liberal Bill de Blasio rockets to the lead in the NYC mayoral race. This comes as something as a surprise, because the expected beneficiary was Christine Quinn.


Abortion protesters argue that a Kansas clinic they've been protesting should be rezoned -- on account of all the protesting, which makes it too noisy for the neighborhood.


Example no. 7,342,463,597 of how Republicans suck at math.


Finally, remember Pres. Obama's promise to review NSA domestic surveillance? Yeah, that turned out to be a joke.


[cartoon via Generation Progress]