Trump plans a ban, Chicago preps for a probe and Pistorius bails out. It’s Tuesday, and here are the five things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
DONALD TRUMP
Hit list: Mexicans. Women. Blacks. The disabled. Name a group, Donald Trump’s probably found a way to tick them off. Yesterday, you could solidly add Muslims to the list. That’s because The Donald said there should be a travel ban on Muslims to the U.S. The other GOP candidates howled. So did the White House, CAIR and Hillary Clinton. Trump’s reaction to the reaction? “I don’t care.” Hey Trump, here’s a Muslim-American 101 for you.
ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN
Gun wars: The Supreme Court sniffed around an Illinois assault weapons ban case and said “no thanks.” The court yesterday decided not to take up a challenge to a Chicago suburb’s ban on the weapons, a move cheered by gun control advocates and booed by gun rights backers.
SAN BERNARDINO TERROR ATTACK
Really radical: Last week’s massacre wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment thing. The husband-wife shooters had planned their attack, and even went for target practice just days before. And the FBI said yesterday that the pair had been radicalized for “quite some time.” But for how long and by whom are the unanswered questions.
CHICAGO POLICE
Law and order: The feds are now involved in Chicago, where hostility between the streets and police is at a all-time high. The Justice Department wants to know if Chicago police make a habit of violating the law or the Constitution. Embattled Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he welcomes the investigation, but then again, he doesn’t really have a choice, does he?
OSCAR PISTORIUS
Oscar’s out: A South African court granted Oscar Pistorius bail today as he preps to appeal his recent murder conviction. At the hearing, prosecutors said Pistorius would flee to Italy or Mozambique if he got out, but the judge didn’t believe that. He’s still under restrictions, including having to wear a monitoring device.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
People are talking about these. Read up. Join in.
Quote of the day: “They were robbed of their stage three weeks ago, and we would like to offer them ours tonight.”
U2 frontman Bono, who introduced Eagles of Death Metal as the rockers took the stage for the first time since terrorists killed 90 people at their concert last month.
No direction
Twitter desperately wanted Kim and Kanye’s new baby boy to have a directional name, like big sister North West. Heck, even Southwest Airlines lobbied for South West (get it?). But alas, the hip hop/reality TV show power couple went for a holier name: Saint.
From Russia, with love
Paris mourned more than just human loss after last month’s terrorist attacks. The city also grieved the loss of Diesel, a police dog killed in a terror raid. Yesterday Russia gave France a puppy named Dobrynya as a replacement.
WHAT FOR LUNCH
Here’s what’s coming up later.
Visa vote
The House votes on visa waiver revamp today that — in light of recent terror attacks — would make it harder for folks from certain countries to travel to the United States. Surprise! It has bipartisan support and is expected to pass easily.
Look back at Lennon
It may be hard to imagine, but today is the 35th anniversary of John Lennon’s untimely death.
Number of the day: 11
The number of Grammy nominations for rapper Kendrick Lamar. He got more nods than any other nominee.
AND FINALLY …
Santa’s little helpers
Cat and dog elves — with human hands — make toys.
