memeorandum: Hundreds of fighters and civilians escape besieged Syrian areas under U.N. deal (Suleiman Al-Khalidi/Reuters)

10:35 PM ET, December 28, 2015

Top Items:

Howard Kurtz / Fox News:

Trump plots big TV ad blitz that could change campaign landscape — When Donald Trump and his team were planning his presidential campaign, they drew up a budget of $25 million for television advertising in the third quarter of this year. — They wound up spending zero for the rest of 2015.

Discussion: Political Wire, Talking Points Memo, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Yahoo Politics and The Gateway Pundit

Hadas Gold / Politico:

Trump: Union Leader publisher a ‘lowlife’ — Donald Trump took aim at his latest target in the media world — this time, Joe McQuaid, publisher of the New Hampshire Union Leader. — “He's a real lowlife, there's no question about it,” Trump said on New Hampshire television station WMUR …

Discussion: Mediaite and Political Wire

Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:
Trump given access to RNC's voter file

Discussion: Bloomberg.com news, Washington Post and American Spectator

Kevin Cirilli / Bloomberg.com news:
‘Get Out and Vote,’ Donald Trump Tells Supporters

Discussion: Politico

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Bush challenges Trump to one-on-one debate

Discussion: Daily Kos

Benjy Sarlin / MSNBC:
2015: The year everyone was wrong about the GOP race

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Mother Jones

Bradford Richardson / The Hill: Colbert: Trump is playing my old character better than I could

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Clinton Most Admired Woman for Record 20th Time — PRINCETON, N.J. — Americans again name Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama the woman and man living anywhere in the world they admire most. Both win by wide margins over the next-closest finishers, Malala Yousafzai for women and Pope Francis and Donald Trump for men.

Mark Hensch / The Hill:

Fiorina defends Trump: ‘Bill Clinton is fair game’ — GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said Monday that Donald Trump is justified in publicly targeting former President Bill Clinton in connection with his wife's campaign for the White House. — “Of course Bill Clinton is fair game,” she said on Fox News's “Fox and Friends.”

Discussion: Political Wire and The Gateway Pundit

Brendan O'Connor / Gawker:
Trump Flip-Flops on Wages After Sanders Makes a Pass at His Supporters

Discussion: Guardian

CBS News:
Why Sanders thinks he can win Trump's supporters

Discussion: Raw Story, Guardian, alan.com, Hot Air, Daily Mail, addictinginfo.org, Common Dreams and Talking Points Memo

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Rick Santorum: Trump Wasn't In ISIS Propaganda, I Was

Discussion: Washington Post

Nick Gass / Politico:
Trump ties with Pope Francis in U.S. poll for second most-admired man in the world

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, Slantpoint, ABC News, PoliticusUSA, The Hill, addictinginfo.org, Shakesville, Outside the Beltway, NBC News, Bloomberg.com news, New York Times and Althouse

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Trump: ‘Sexist’ Bill Clinton won't help Hillary

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, Fox News Insider and Taylor Marsh

Wesley Lowery / Washington Post:

No charges for Cleveland police officers in shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice — After more than a year of investigation, a Cleveland grand jury declined to bring charges against either of the two police officers involved in the November 2014 shooting of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy who was playing with a toy weapon in a park.

Discussion: Associated Press, Jezebel, Business Insider, Washington Monthly, National Review, American Spectator and Mediaite

Mitch Smith / New York Times:
Cleveland Officer Will Not Face Charges in Tamir Rice Shooting Death

Discussion: Business Insider, Hot Air, twitchy.com and Balloon Juice

Emily Shapiro / ABC News:
Grand Jury Declines to Indict Officers in Tamir Rice Case, Prosecutor Says

Discussion: Breitbart, ThinkProgress, Jezebel, Common Dreams, abc7chicago.com and The Last Refuge

Scott Feinberg / Hollywood Reporter:

‘Awards Chatter’ Podcast — Samuel L. Jackson ('The Hateful Eight') — The 67-year-old, whose films have grossed more than any other actor's in history, opens up about reuniting with Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee, Oscars “bulls**t,” his stutter, the N-word, cops and the “hate” of his golfing buddy Donald Trump.

Discussion: Power Line, Daily News Bin, The Daily Caller, Washington Times, Red Alert Politics, Mediaite, The Last Refuge, National Review and BizPac Review

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:

Obama's Economic Performance Is Even Better Than It Looks — Paul Krugman presents us today with an updated version of his chart showing private employment gains during the Obama administration compared to the Bush administration: — But Obama's performance is even better than it looks.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and New York Times

Daily Mail:

Sixty thousand New Yorkers sign up for ‘tiny house’ development: 265 square foot apartments with retractable beds attract huge wave of interest... but would you pay up to $3,000 a month for this? — More than 60,000 people have applied to live in new apartments the size of garages in Manhattan.

Discussion: Althouse

CNN:

Creature from the deep surfaces in Japanese harbor — Tokyo (CNN)It isn't every day that a mystery from the deep swims into plain sight. But on Christmas Eve, spectators on a pier in Toyama Bay in central Japan were treated to a rare sighting of a giant squid.

Discussion: Washington Post and Mashable

Steven Ginsberg / Washington Post:

Ben Carson on the brink: ‘A process like this is pretty brutal’ — Two days before Christmas, with his presidential campaign fading fast, Ben Carson sought to take control at his manse in the countryside west of Baltimore. — A video crew was in the front living room preparing to film a campaign ad.

Discussion: Daily Mail, Daily News Bin, Business Insider, Mediaite, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, Young Conservatives, alan.com, Daily Kos, Erick on the Radio and Politico

Office of Inadequate Security:

191 million voters' personal info exposed by misconfigured database (UPDATED) — A misconfigured database leaking the personal information of over 191 million voters was reported to DataBreaches.net by researcher Chris Vickery. This report includes some of the results of an investigation by Vickery …

Discussion: RT, Forbes, Gizmodo, Engadget, Politico and NationBuilder Blog

Eliza Collins / Politico:

State Dept. counts ‘bringing peace’ to Syria as a 2015 win — The State Department is counting “bringing peace” to Syria as one of its wins in 2015. — A boastful recap of the State Department's accomplishments, written by spokesman John Kirby, includes the bold subheadline of “Bringing Peace …

Discussion: Foreign Policy, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, RedState and The Daily Beast

Matt Friedman / Politico:

Public document complicates Christie's pro-life conversion story — The story of how Gov. Chris Christie converted from being pro-choice to pro-life 20 years ago is touching and deeply personal, and he tells it frequently at town hall meetings. — It goes like this: In 1995 …

Discussion: alan.com, Drudge Retort and Daily Kos

Brent Corrado / KSAZ:

Police: Woman killed victim, left body on couch for days — PHOENIX (KSAZ) - A valley woman says the body of a victim found by police on her couch was a “shrine from God.” — The Phoenix Police Department tells Fox 10 that 39-year-old Anitra Braxton has been charged with murder …

Discussion: Raw Story, Arizona Republic, addictinginfo.org and Friendly Atheist

Bruce Weber / New York Times:

Meadowlark Lemon, Harlem Globetrotters' Dazzling Court Jester, Dies at 83 — Meadowlark Lemon, whose halfcourt hook shots, no-look behind-the-back passes and vivid clowning were marquee features of the feel-good traveling basketball show known as the Harlem Globetrotters for nearly a quarter-century …