10 things you need to know today: December 8, 2015

Trump proposes banning all Muslim immigration.

(Image credit: (AP Photo/Mic Smith))

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1. Trump says the U.S. should stop letting Muslims enter the country
2. Supreme Court lets local assault weapon ban stand
3. Ted Cruz jumps to Iowa lead in new GOP poll
4. No charges against Chicago officer for fatal 2014 shooting of Ronald Johnson
5. FBI says suspected San Bernardino shooters had been radicalized for a long time
6. Oscar Pistorius released to house arrest on $692 bail
7. Pentagon says Russia, not the U.S., bombed Syrian military camp
8. Beijing issues its first red alert over smog
9. LeBron James strikes lifetime Nike endorsement deal
10. Rapper Kendrick Lamar leads Grammy nominations

published 8 December 2015

1. Trump says the U.S. should stop letting Muslims enter the country

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump on Monday called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" until authorities "figure out what is going on" following terrorist attacks in San Bernardino and Paris blamed on the Islamic State and its sympathizers. Trump had previously proposed monitoring mosques. Trump's rivals for the GOP nomination were quick to condemn his remarks. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called Trump's rhetoric "downright dangerous."

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a lower court ruling affirming the ability of local and state governments to ban semiautomatic high-capacity assault weapons. Seven states — Maryland, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — have such laws against the guns, which have been used in several high-profile mass shootings. Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia said the local ban in a Chicago suburb "flouts" precedents on Second Amendment gun rights and should be reviewed.

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has surged past national frontrunner Donald Trump in Iowa, according to a Monmouth University survey released on Monday. Cruz has been gaining in recent polls, but the new survey was the first to put him in the lead in an early voting state. Cruz had the support of 24 percent of likely Iowa caucusgoers, followed by Trump with 19 percent and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) with 17 percent. In a different CNN/ORC poll of likely Iowa caucus voters, Trump led Cruz 33 percent to 20 percent. Both polls showed Ben Carson falling after a recent surge.

Prosecutors on Monday said they would not file charges against a Chicago police officer for fatally shooting Ronald Johnson III. The shooting occurred in October 2014, days before another officer shot and killed another young black man, Laquan McDonald. Police said Johnson was carrying a loaded gun when Detective George Hernandez fired. Johnson's family said in a wrongful death suit the gun was planted. The news came as the Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation into the use of force by Chicago police.

The couple blamed for last week's San Bernardino massacre supported the Islamic State's ideology and had been radicalized "for quite some time," the FBI said Monday. Both of the alleged shooters — Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik — had been to a range for target practice days before the mass shooting, in which 14 people died, said David Bowdich, assistant director at the FBI's Los Angeles bureau. The couple died in a shootout with police nearby.

A South African judge on Tuesday granted bail to double-amputee Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius. Bail was set at $692. Pistorius will remain under house arrest at his uncle's mansion until sentencing on April 18. He was originally convicted of the equivalent of manslaughter for fatally shooting his girlfriend, law graduate and model Reeva Steenkamp, through a bathroom door on Valentine's Day 2013. Pistorius said he thought she was an intruder. Last week the Supreme Court of Appeals convicted him of murder, saying he should have known he might kill the person inside, no matter who it was.

The Pentagon on Monday countered a Syrian government charge that an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition hit a Syrian military base, saying the strike was launched by Russian warplanes, not American ones. Syria's allegation was the first time it had blamed such an attack on the U.S.-led coalition, which began launching airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria 14 months ago. Syria says three soldiers were killed in the strike.

Beijing posted its first-ever red smog alert for Tuesday morning until Thursday. The red alert is the highest in a four-tier system. It comes as China, the world's largest polluter, and other nations are participating in a Paris summit aiming to reduce carbon emissions blamed for climate change. Pollution levels in the city were 10 times what is considered safe on Monday. Under the alert, schools were closed, factories suspended operations, and half of the city's vehicles were ordered off the streets.

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James has signed a lifetime endorsement deal with Nike. The relationship is believed to be the first of its kind in Nike's 44-year history. The company did not say how much the deal is worth, but a source told ESPN it is bigger than the $300 million, 10-year deal Nike signed with Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant last summer. Nike and James sealed their first deal — worth $90 million over seven years — in 2003 as James was about to enter the NBA lottery.

Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift, and the Weeknd led the list of Grammy nominees released Monday. Compton rapper Lamar took the most nominations by far, with 11 nods in nine categories for his third album, To Pimp a Butterfly. Taylor Swift and the Weeknd got seven nods each, and Alabama Shakes followed with six. To Pimp a Butterfly is joined by Swift's 1989, the Weeknd's Beauty Behind the Madness, Chris Stapleton's Traveller, and Alabama Shakes' Sound and Color in the race for Album of the Year. The 58th Annual Grammy Awards show is slated for Feb. 15.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.