memeorandum: Bernienomics 101 — The day after Christmas, Bernie Sanders asked … (Megan McArdle/Bloomberg View)

12:30 PM 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, The Huffington Post, Washington Post and The Gateway Pundit

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

Discussion: rubber hose and Washington Post

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

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg Business:

Six Factors That Could Make a Difference for Republicans in 2016 — Will next year's dynamics be a continuation of this one's—or a return to politics as usual? — Just four weeks before the first votes of the 2016 presidential contest are cast in Iowa's caucuses, a bizarre …

Discussion: Politico

Jennifer Jacobs / Des Moines Register:
Bush super PAC criticizes Rubio for missing votes in U.S. Senate

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, New Yorker, Business Insider and Politico

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

ABC News:
‘Affluenza’ Teen Ethan Couch Detained in Mexico, Officials Say

Discussion: Washington Post, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Ring of Fire, Crime and Consequences Blog, abc13.com, New York Times and WFAA-TV

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

Megan McArdle / Bloomberg View:

Bernienomics 101 — The day after Christmas, Bernie Sanders asked a question on Twitter: “You have families out there paying 6, 8, 10 percent on student debt but you can refinance your homes at 3 percent. What sense is that?” — Finance types may snicker.

Discussion: Hot Air

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

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, MichelleMalkin.com, Washington Post, Hot Air, myfox8.com, RedState and RT

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

Ashe Schow / Washington Examiner:

Harvard Law dean compares microaggressions to violence, sexual assault — Share Tweet Reddit Digg Mail Print SMS More — In a move that should surprise no one who has been watching the utter meltdown of privileged college students this year, a Harvard Law School dean has compared “microaggressions” to sexual assault and violence.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

WRGT-TV FOX 45 News:

Woman Shoots, Kills Home Invasion Suspect In Trotwood — TROTWOOD — A home invasion turns deadly when the homeowner takes the safety of her family into her own hands. — One of three home invasion suspect was shot and killed during the incident, and has been identified …

Discussion: Bearing Arms, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and The Jawa Report

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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: Talking Points Memo, The Hill and Mediaite