Leading presidential candidate Donald Trump criticized Republicans in Virginia over the weekend for their proposal to ask 2016 primary voters to sign a statement pledging loyalty to the party. Trump said that the oath could discourage independent and first-time voters from casting ballots. “It begins, Republican Party of Virginia, controlled by the RNC, is working hard to disallow independent, unaffiliated and new voters. BAD!” Trump tweeted. The Virginia GOP declined to respond. The executive committee voted to require the pledge in the state’s March 1 primary. The statement reads, “My signature below indicates that I am Republican.” Some experts believe a loyalty pledge could be detrimental to Trump, who has attracted voters who may not align with the GOP’s traditional party politics.
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Japan and South Korea announced yesterday that the two nations have reached a landmark deal in their longstanding dispute over Korean women who were forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II. Japan extended an apology and plans to compensate now-elderly victims with 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) from a fund administered by the South Korean government. Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters in Seoul that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offered a heartfelt apology. Following Kishida’s meeting with his counterpart, Yun Byung-se, South Korea said it would consider the dispute resolved “finally and irreversibly” as long as Japan fulfills its pledge. As many as 200,000 women were estimated to have been forced into working at Japanese brothels during the war.
Two people from Chicago’s West Side are dead after police responded to a domestic disturbance early yesterday morning. NBC Chicago reports that family members have identified the deceased as 57-year-old Bettie Jones, a mother of five, and 19-year-old Quintonio Legrier, an engineering student at Northern Illinois University. Police say that when officers arrived, they were “confronted by a combative individual, resulting in an officer firing shots, fatally wounding two individuals.” Witnesses said that the domestic disturbance reported was caused by Legrier, who was threatening his father with a baseball bat. They told NBC Chicago that Jones opened the door for the police and was shot soon after.
A document taken in a recent American raid shows that ISIS has sanctioned the harvesting of human organs. ISIS Islamic scholars allegedly ruled that taking organs from a living captive to save a Muslim's life, even if it is fatal, is permissible, according to a document obtained Jan. 31, 2015. Reuters could not independently confirm the authenticity of the document, but U.S. officials say it was among a trove of information obtained by special forces in a raid in eastern Syria. Though the document does not suggest that ISIS militants engage in organ harvesting or trafficking, it does provide religious sanction to do so under the group's interpretation of Islam. This matches with earlier reports suggesting ISIS was doing so.
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump knocked Hillary Clinton yesterday for not returning to the stage on time in Saturday night’s Democratic debate and getting “schlonged” by Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential race. “Even a race to Obama, she was gonna beat Obama. I don’t know who would be worse, I don’t know, how could it be worse? But she was going to beat—she was favored to win—and she got schlonged, she lost, I mean she lost,” Trump said. The real-estate mogul also criticized Clinton for her late return to the debate stage because of a bathroom break, calling it “disgusting.” Unprompted, Trump said, “I know where she went. It’s disgusting. I don’t want to talk about it, it’s disgusting.”
New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez has apologized after an audio recording of her trying to quash a noise complaint about her office holiday party became public late Firday. In the audio of a call to dispatchers, which was obtained by NM Political Report, a woman who identifies herself as "Governor Susana Martinez" demands to know who called the cops on her party when "we're in a room eating pizza." After the woman is transferred to a dispatch supervisor, she asks what the call specifically complained about. The supervisor answers that the complaint said “there was a party and people were throwing bottles off the balcony.” The woman who identified herself as the governor says that there was no one on the balcony throwing bottles and that “and if there were, it was about six hours ago.” In an interview on Friday with a local TV news station, Martinez said, "I just wanted to know, what was the situation, how could we resolve it."
International Monetary Fund Chief Christine Lagarde was ordered yesterday to stand trial in France for alleged negligence in a $432 million payment to a businessman while she was the French finance minister. The order was made by France’s Court of Justice of the Republic, which is responsible for investigating current and former ministers. While Lagarde was finance minister under then-President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007, she awarded $432 million to Bernard Tapie, who sold his stake in Adidas to investment bank Credit Lyonnais. Tapie later alleged fraud in the process that the bank valued the company. Investigators suspect Tapie was awarded compensation in return for his support of Sarkozy. This month, the court ordered him to pay back the money and have now ruled Lagarde should be tried. If convicted, she could be sentenced to one year in prison.
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump again said he would not run as an independent candidate if he fails to secure the GOP nomination next year. During this week's CNN debate, the real-estate mogul said he would not break his pledge to the Republican National Committee to leave the party to make an independent run, “I really am. I’ll be honest, I really am,” he said. Trump has previously warned he could revoke his promise if he felt he was treated unfairly.
Donald Trump tussled with rivals at the fifth GOP debate last night, with Jeb Bush questioning whether the real-estate mogul was tough enough to handle the threat of terrorist attacks. The debate was mainly focused on national-security concerns and ISIS, as it was colored by the Paris attacks and the San Bernardino, California, shootings. The former Florida governor attacked Trump and Senator Ted Cruz on their strategy against ISIS, while Cruz clashed with Florida Senator Marco Rubio on government surveillance and immigration. “You’re not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency,” Bush said to Trump after a heated exchange. “Leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy, to deal with the threat of our time.”
According to a new USA Today/Suffolk University poll, a clear majority of Donald Trump's supporters say they would vote for him if he bolted the Republican Party for an independent run. Not only does Trump continue to lead the GOP field, says the poll, but 68% of his backers would vote for him as an independent; just 18% say they wouldn't. All others were undecided. Trump boasted of the results with a Facebook post on earlier this week.
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Last night, the Trump campaign called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on." Trump, who has previously called for surveillance against mosques and said he was open to establishing a database for all Muslims living in the U.S., made his latest controversial call in a news release. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan has roundly denounced his proposal, however. "This is not conservatism. What was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for, and, more importantly, it's not what this country stands for," Ryan said early today in D.C. "Not only are there many Muslims serving in our armed forces dying for this country, there are Muslims serving right here in the House working every day to uphold and to defend the Constitution." Many others, including the White House, have joined in Ryan's sentiments.
On Saturday, members of the media entered the apartment of the San Bernardino shooters and began rummaging through their personal belongings after the FBI cleared the site. While the inside look undoubtedly captivated many Americans that watched, numerous questions arose regarding the appropriateness of what media members were showing live on television. More importantly, the landlord at the apartment complex has conflicted media reports that he allowed them in, instead claiming he was rushed when attempting to open the door and immediately lost control.
Police have identified the second suspect in the San Bernardino shooting as 27-year-old woman Tashfeen Malik. Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said early today that only two suspects—both deceased—are believed to have been involved in the Inland Regional Center shooting that left at least 14 people dead and 17 wounded. Police said Malik was in a relationship with the other suspected shooter, 28-year-old Syed Rizwan Farook, but it’s unclear if they were married or engaged. Burguan added that, based on the armor and level of preparation, “there had to be some degree of planning in this.” Authorities have yet to determine a motive, and police have not ruled out terrorism.
Donald Trump floated the idea last night of skipping the next Republican presidential debate unless CNN pays him $5 million. Speaking at a rally in Macon, Georgia, Trump proposed a boycott of the December 15 debate because CNN "doesn't treat me properly" and he felt he was responsible for the network's high ratings during the debate it hosted in September. After proposing the idea to the crowd, Trump continued, "I won’t do the debate unless they pay me $5 million, all of which money goes to the Wounded Warriors or to vets." CNN appears unlikely to agree to these terms.