As prominent Black Lives Matter activists, including DeRay McKesson, Johnetta Elzie, and Cornel West, were being arrested outside the St. Louis federal courthouse, the executive of St. Louis County declared an emergency in Ferguson. The St. Louis County police department, who last night exchanged gunfire with and wounded an alleged gunman, will now take over all policing in Ferguson.

Back in August, talk show host Tavis Smiley and Princeton professor Cornel West embarked on an 11-state "poverty tour," footage from which is airing this week on Smiley's PBS program. The two men appeared on tonight's Factor (broadcast from Boston in front of an audience) for what was supposed to be a poverty-themed debate about everything from Occupy Wall Street to Herman Cain. But as you might expect given this is Bill O'Reilly's show we're talking about, the audience was treated to lots of finger-pointing and shouting instead. Here's video of the debate's meatiest moments.

Ashton Kutcher's maybe-mistress milks her 15 minutes. The Baldwin family Christmas will be argumentative. "Taylor Momsen offends Scottish crowd," but not for the reason you think. Tuesday gossip will soon be naked.

Dating Drew Barrymore isn't the only thing that Fabrizio Moretti and Justin Long have in common. They also share a birthday. Fabrizio is turning 29 today, while Justin is turning 31. Others celebrating: Times columnist Frank Rich is turning 60. American Express CEO Ken Chenault turns 58. Princeton professor Cornel West is 56. Westchester DA-turned-TV judge Jeanine Pirro turns 58. Hairdresser-turned-movie producer Jon Peters is 64. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is 57. Dana Carvey is turning 54. Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts turns 68. Dennis Haysbert is 55. Nikki Cox turns 31. And comedian Wayne Brady is 37 today.

The Strokes' Fabrizio Moretti is 28 today. Scandal-plagued district attorney-turned-TV talking head Jeanine Pirro is 57, as is American Express CEO Ken Chenault. Afro-lovin' Princeton professor Cornel West is 55. And New York Times columnist (and now HBO consultant) Frank Rich is 59.

A professor of religion at Princeton University, West is one of the foremost—and most controversial—African-American scholars in the country.

[Scholar and activist Cornel West at this past weekend's BET Awards in Washington; image via AP]

Cornel West takes time away from his busy teaching schedule to discuss his new record, Never Forget: "50 Cent, Snoop, Game, Nelly. On one level, I love those brothers, because their artistic and aesthetic work is a part of who I am... On the other hand, I challenge those brothers because I'm just against misogyny. I'm against homophobia. So somebody can be in my house and in my community and I still have to present a moral critique, because I'm just against those things. I just think they're wrong. So the question is, how do I deal with the love and embrace of them as artists and at the same time respectfully challenge them? So in that sense, I'm not really with the crowd that trashes hip-hop. I can't stand that. That's ridiculous. And I'm not with the crowd that somehow tries to give some justification for misogyny or homophobia. I just think the critique of homophobia has to be more explicit on hip-hop records—that's why I've addressed it on my album. Including the domestic violence and the misogyny and the sexism and so forth—it goes hand in hand with that. That's true with anything—anti-Semitism, it could be racism, any form of bigotry. I just have to take a stand against that. It's just who I am. Now that's a little different from this post-Imus trashing of Snoop. Because I'm not part of that crowd. At all." Okay then! [VV]