Earlier today we reported that a Muslim cabdriver was stabbed last night by a passenger in an apparent hate crime. The suspect is Michael Enright, a 21-year-old film student at the School of Visual Arts, originally from Brewster, NY. Mediaite has obtained videos that he made about a veteran suffering Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Prominent gay (and Catholic) blogger Andrew Sullivan seems to think the Pope might be gay. Why does he think the notoriously homophobic Benedict XVI plays for his team? He writes: “At times, it seems to me, his gayness is almost wince-inducing. The prissy fastidiousness, the effeminate voice, the fixation on liturgy and ritual, and the over-the-top clothing accessories…” There’s more.

Perhaps you have already read the article in the New York Times World section today about the enormous amount of violence in the Philippines that seems to be caused by karaoke renditions of Frank Sinatra‘s “My Way.” Things have apparently gotten so bad that the Filipino media records the crimes under the subcategory of “My Way Killings.” But the reporter on this story, Norimitsu Onishi, is notable himself, consistently getting American audiences interested in Asian news.

Sometime Friday, Amazon stopped directly selling all books put out by the publisher Macmillan, due to a disagreement over future pricing of e-books. Let’s be clear, it’s not just that Amazon wasn’t selling Macmillan books on the Kindle. Amazon was no longer directly selling any books from this publisher, though one can still buy them new and used on the website through third-party vendors. This is a dispute with massive consequences for publishers — and it’s not great for Amazon, either. So why did both companies find themselves in this mutually destructive game of chicken?

Dave Itzkoff of the New York Times reports that MTV emailed out a press release at 1:33 am Friday night announcing that the full cast Jersey Shore will be returning for a second season. The second season is planned to air this summer, but the press release warns that the cast will “escape the cold Northeast and find themselves in a new destination.” This does raise the question of why the show should even be called Jersey Shore any more.

Last night’s 20/20 featured an exclusive interview by Bob Woodruff with Andrew Young, a former John Edwards aide and author of the upcoming tell-all The Politician. 8.1 million people watched, the highest-rated 20/20 in nearly three months. If you missed it, we’ve got a clip from the show, detailing Edwards’ reaction immediately after the National Enquirer caught him at the Beverly Hilton visiting Rielle Hunter and their child.

It’s with some trepidation that I continue to report on the sick, sad, can’t-make-this-up story surrounding John Edwards. I never liked the guy, he’s no longer a public figure, he’ll never be a public figure, and all of this ugliness occurred when he was a private citizen, albeit one running for the most powerful position in the world. Nevertheless, I know I’m not the only one who can’t look away from this story. So here’s what’s breaking in our Tar Heel Soap Opera:

Boy, when you’re dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. [...]

Now that Air America has folded, Ana Marie Cox is suddenly available. MSNBC should take note, and pick up the blogger-author-pundit to host a late-night show, and join MSNBC’s younger, hipper lineup somewhere between Rachel Maddow and Willie Geist.

Game Change, the dishy, exhaustively researched, and occasionally overwritten new book on the 2008 election by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, has dominated both political gossip and book publicity for the past week. It’s produced a small political scandal, a New York magazine cover story, and innumerable blog chatter. The book has been number one on Amazon since the day before its release, and the print run has reportedly already been increased twice. But it’s long — so if you’re busy, here’s the good stuff to tide you over.