memeorandum: ‘Affluenza’ teen Ethan Couch detained in Mexico (Evan Perez/CNN)

11:25 AM ET, December 29, 2015

Top Items:

Nick Gass / Politico:

Trump expands his attacks on the Clintons — Donald Trump defended and expanded upon his attacks on the Clintons on Tuesday, asserting once more that mentioning former President Bill Clinton's past infidelities was “fair game” if Hillary Clinton kept hitting him for his own views on women …

Discussion: TODAY.com, The Daily Caller, Washington Times, Hot Air and Daily Kos

Annie Karni / Politico:

6 moments that could haunt Hillary Clinton — Hillary Clinton, her aides will tell you, is focused solely on winning the Democratic primary. Hillary Clinton, Democratic strategists with ties to the campaign will tell you, has one eye planted on the general election in everything she says and does.

Discussion: The Hill

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: ABC News, Shakesville, Washington Post and The Gateway Pundit

Erick Erickson / RedState:

Marco Rubio's Path to Victory — Dan McLaughlin has a very convincing look at how Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 94% waits out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100%'s early wins. As we move in the calendar, we get to more moderate states, and Rubio's odds go up. — What we have to consider, however, is voter psychology.

Discussion: Hot Air

Jennifer Jacobs / Des Moines Register:

Bush super PAC criticizes Rubio for missing votes in U.S. Senate — Marco Rubio has missed national security hearings and has missed more total votes than any other U.S. senator, a new television ad from the super PAC supporting rival presidential candidate Jeb Bush says.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, New Yorker, Associated Press and Politico

Lauren French / Politico:

House rebels crusade for Cruz — Not a single U.S. senator has endorsed Ted Cruz for president. But over in the House, a dozen activist conservatives are going all out to catapult the first-term Texan into the White House. — Call it the Cruz caucus: a small but committed collection …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:

How Donald Trump destroyed the Republican Party in 2015 — History will remember 2015 as the year when The Republican Party As We Knew It was destroyed by Donald Trump. An entity called the GOP will survive — but can never be the same. — Am I overstating Trump's impact, given that not a single vote has been cast?

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Hadas Gold / Politico:
Trump: Union Leader publisher a ‘lowlife’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Hill and Mediaite

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

Discussion: Politico and The Hill

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

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Daily Kos

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

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Washington Monthly

Evan Perez / CNN:

‘Affluenza’ teen Ethan Couch detained in Mexico — (CNN)Mexican authorities have detained so-called “affluenza” teen Ethan Couch and his mother near the popular Mexican Pacific beach resort town of Puerto Vallarta, officials briefed on the matter told CNN. — Couch went missing earlier this month …

Discussion: NBC News, WQAD-TV, Scared Monkeys, addictinginfo.org, Raw Story, RT, Jezebel, Mediaite, KTLA and Balloon Juice

CNN:

No indictment in Tamir Rice case, prosecutor says — (CNN)An Ohio grand jury has decided not to return an indictment in the 2014 police shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, prosecutor Tim McGinty said Monday. — Rice was holding a pellet gun when he was shot.

Discussion: The Ring of Fire, New Republic, Guardian, The Daily Caller and RedState

Teddy Cahill / Washington Post:
Calls for calm after grand jury declines to indict officers in death of Tamir Rice

Discussion: Jezebel, Associated Press, American Spectator, Mediaite, Prairie Weather and Washington Monthly

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

Reuters:

Exclusive - Islamic State ruling aims to settle who can have sex with female slaves — Islamic State theologians have issued an extremely detailed ruling on when “owners” of women enslaved by the extremist group can have sex with them, in an apparent bid to curb what they called violations in the treatment of captured females.

Discussion: Jezebel

CNN:

Dissatisfaction, anger dominate year-end reviews of Washington — President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign pledge to bring change hasn't panned out successfully in the eyes of many of his constituents — (CNN)Heading into the final year of Barack Obama's presidency, the American public …

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Post, Hot Air, myfox8.com, RedState and RT

Steven Rattner / New York Times:

2015: The Year in Charts — By the end of 2015, the economy — still leaving too many Americans behind — has regrettably almost disappeared from the news, overshadowed by the twin evils of Donald J. Trump and the Islamic State. Meanwhile, Congress continued to burnish its record of doing little …

Discussion: Mother Jones

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, New York's PIX11, Arizona Republic, addictinginfo.org and Friendly Atheist

New York Post:

Olive Garden is charging $400 a person for NYE dinner — That's a lot of bread for no breadsticks. — Dinner at the Olive Garden in Times Square on New Year's Eve will set you back $400, and that's not even the highest price among the chain restaurants that crowd the Crossroads of the World.

Discussion: Eater and KFOR-TV

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

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook, presented by NextGen Climate - 3 days till 2016, 34 days to Iowa - SIREN: Trump and RNC to share data - BEN GINSBERG's GOP convention chaos scenarios: Longer than 4 days?! — LAME DUCK TAKES FLIGHT: Obama plans year of globetrotting — By Mike Allen (@mikeallen …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Wall Street Journal and Des Moines Register

Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:

Trump given access to RNC's voter file — Donald Trump's presidential campaign, which has faced doubts about its ability to translate enthusiasm into votes, in the past few weeks quietly signed an agreement allowing it to use the Republican National Committee's massive voter file, POLITICO has learned.