On Tuesday William Montgomery became the fourth white man to plead guilty to a hate crime charge in the death of James Craig Anderson, a black man who was run over by a pickup truck in Mississippi, NBC News reports. The incident occurred last year after a group of teens spent time partying in Puckett,…

A Vermont judge has blocked a birther lawsuit to disqualify President Barack Obama from the state’s ballot, which would have given failed Republican challenger Mitt Romney its three electoral votes, the Huffington Post reports. Vermont Superior Court Judge Robert Bent ruled Wednesday that H. Brooke Paige’s suit to remove Obama from Vermont’s presidential ballot in…

Several cast members of Basketball Wives reportedly are threatening to walk off the set if they do not receive salary increases, sources connected to the show tell TMZ. The site says that calls to VH1 were not returned. We’re told filming began last week for the 5th season … but Shaunie O’Neal, Evelyn Lozada, Tami Roman and Suzie Ketcham do NOT…

Longtime Washington observers question if President Barack Obama would risk engaging in a battle over appointing U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as secretary of state at a time when he needs to cut a deal with GOP leaders on the budget and taxes, according to the New York Times. WASHINGTON — Susan E. Rice was playing stand-in on…

Theology professor and noted scholar Cornel West’s repeated and unrepentant attacks on President Barack Obama cloud his central critique that the president hasn’t done enough to impact poverty, Touré writes in a piece at Time magazine. It’s becoming less and less fashionable to say it, but I still love Cornel West. We’ve been friends for…

GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has been making the media rounds recently to chastise Mitt Romney for his “gifts” comment after his failed presidential bid and to call on his party to reach out to a broader base. But Melissa Harris-Perry takes the governor of her home state to task and issues him an open…

A dozen female members of the House said Friday that Republican senators’ repeated and angry criticism of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s handling of the deadly Sept. 11 attack in Libya reeks of sexism and racism, according to the Associated Press. In unusually personal terms, the Democratic women lashed out at Sens. John McCain and Lindsey…

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that following a prolonged absence from Congress for medical reasons and mushrooming legal battles, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. may not return to his position. Congress met Tuesday but U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was a no-show, a continued absence from his official duties that began June 10. Several political sources…

In an effort to avoid year-end “fiscal cliff” tax increases and spending cuts that would hurt the middle class and potentially plunge the nation back into an economic recession, President Barack Obama told congressional leaders that “we have urgent business to do,” the Huffington Post reports. The remarks came Friday during the first meeting with…