2015: The Year In The News

We look back on 2015. Same -sex marriage. ISIS. Campus protests. A campaign like no other. The big news issues of 2015, and where they’re headed.

Two thousand and fifteen is not over, but there's been enough news for more than a year. Before people scatter to the court winds for the holiday and New Year's, we are looking back today. On the year of ISIS and Black Lives matter and mass shootings. Of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Of gay marriage made legal in all 50 states, and refugees piling out of Syria and into Europe. We saw climate change hope and terrorist carnage in Paris. Acts of charity, acts of fear. This hour On Point, David Sanger of the New York Times, Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post, Jack Beatty — and a year in the news, 2015.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Karen Tumulty, national political correspondent for the Washington Post. (@ktumulty)

David Sanger, national security correspondent for the New York Times. (@SangerNYT)

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst. (@JackBeattyNPR)

Washington Post: Will Trump eventually cross a line — or do the lines no longer exist? — "Donald Trump’s offensive comments and flat-out falsehoods just keep coming. Yet the celebrity billionaire continues his unlikely reign as the front-runner of the 2016 GOP presidential field. Which raises the question: Will Trump eventually cross the line — or is he proof that lines no longer exist?"

New York Times: Obama’s Speech on Terrorist Threat Is a Plea for Patience and National Unity — "President Obama’s speech to reassure the nation on Sunday night included no new strategy to contain or defeat the Islamic State. In fact, it was not intended to. Instead, Mr. Obama used the rare Oval Office address to make the case that his administration was ahead of the problem, not playing catch-up — contrary to the critiques presented by many of his former counterterrorism advisers."

Associated Press: Islamic State conflict voted top news story of 2015 — "The far-flung attacks claimed by Islamic State militants and the intensifying global effort to crush them added up to a grim, gripping yearlong saga that was voted the top news story of 2015, according to The Associated Press' annual poll of U.S. editors and news directors."