Friday, September 18, 2026
Good morning, and welcome to RedState's "Morning Minute" — a brief glimpse at which stories are trending at the moment and a look ahead at what the day may bring. Consider this your one-stop shop for news to kickstart your day.
TOP O' THE MORNIN'
Red-Hot at RedState
Holdout Clancy Juror Breaks Silence. What He Says About 'Activist' Jurors Makes Them Look Worse.
Only one man stood up to the 11-person mob. America owes him a debt of gratitude for sticking to what he believed was right.
Insanity: Female Jurors Teamed Up During Lindsay Clancy Trial and Lined Up Media Tour
The shameless jurors' self-absorbed media tour is doing tremendous damage to our justice system.
‘Playing With Fire’: Dems Are Turning on Each Other Again, As Glorious Internal Chaos Continues
Most of this is just posturing and backroom soap opera stuff. But for a party known to keep all of its members in line no matter how extreme or ridiculous the stance they're voting on, seeing a couple walk off the Democrat plantation is eye-catching.
Trending Across Townhall Media
We can expect to see Republican candidates pressed on their position about "allowing unfettered access to silencers and sawed-off shotguns," even if that's not remotely accurate, and expect Democrats to pounce on this news in order to call Republicans and the Trump administration soft on violent crime and eager to arm gangsters.
HotAir — The Lindsay Clancy Frenzy Won't Die, and It Keeps Getting More Depressing
This psychiatrist seems to have captured the group dynamic involved; it had nothing to do with the case, but with the group dynamics that led everybody to conform to the group. It reminds me of the COVID hysteria, where conformity was the measure of morality.
PJ Media — Washington Finally Connected the Dots on Fraud Cases Across the Country
For years, Americans have been told federal programs are simply too large and complicated to police perfectly.
Maybe the better question is how much fraud survived because Washington built enormous databases and never made them work together.
Townhall — The Fantasy House of Mark Carney
But should Carney seek to renew negotiations immediately after the Canadian provincial elections and the U.S. midterms, he will be exposed as a disingenuous politico who ginned up the fight to manipulate both Canadian and American balloting to benefit himself and his party.
The Democrats' devotion to transgender ideology is anti-women. If they truly cared about female athletes, they would be fully focused on keeping male bodies out of female spaces, instead of railing against Sweeney’s provocative body of work.
WHAT'S ON TAP?
Today on Capitol Hill...
The House is out until after the midterms, but that's not preventing them from holding a field hearing at Eastern Kentucky University today:
- House Financial Services, Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy Subcommittee — Main Street Capital Access Act: Empowering Community Banks to Drive Economic Growth
And things are definitely heating up in those midterm races:
47 Days and Counting to Midterms, GOP's Tafoya Makes a Compelling Case for Winning MN
Talarico 'Outed' by His Own Pastor. The Undercover Video Is Damning.
White House What's Up
President Trump’s Friday schedule includes:
- 8:00 AM — THE PRESIDENT participates in Executive Time — The White House
- 11:00 AM — THE PRESIDENT participates in a Policy Meeting — Oval Office
- 1:30 PM — THE PRESIDENT greets the Million Dollar Pitch Competition Finalists — Oval Office
- 2:30 PM — THE PRESIDENT makes an Announcement on Healthcare — Oval Office
- 4:00 PM — THE PRESIDENT participates in a Photo Opportunity — Oval Office
- 4:30 PM — THE PRESIDENT participates in a Signing Time — Oval Office
- 6:30 PM — THE PRESIDENT departs the White House en route to Sterling, Virginia — The White House
- — THE PRESIDENT arrives in Sterling, Virginia — Sterling, Virginia
- — THE PRESIDENT participates in a MAGA Inc. Meeting — Sterling, Virginia
- 7:15 PM — THE PRESIDENT participates in a MAGA Inc. Dinner — Sterling, Virginia
- — THE PRESIDENT departs Sterling, Virginia en route to Camp David — Sterling, Virginia
- — THE PRESIDENT arrives at Camp David — Camp David
As indicated, the President will be spending the weekend at Camp David.
Keeping Up With the Cabinet
Sec. Treasury - Scott Bessent — Bessent's been busy!
Today’s designations of Iranian digital asset infrastructure make perfectly clear that efforts to finance the Iranian regime using cryptocurrencies are not beyond OFAC’s reach. If you support the Iranian regime, the Department of the Treasury will sanction you. https://t.co/lM73Do5HZ8
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) September 17, 2026
'Reclaiming My Time!' Maxine Waters Loses It and Embarrasses Herself in Exchange With Scott Bessent
Full Court Press...
We had a couple of notable court decisions on Thursday:
- ✅ In S.D. v. Reese(transgender inmates), 9th Circuit Court of Appeals VACATES class-wide preliminary injunction requiring Oregon to presumptively place transgender women inmates in women's prison absent security justification; ORDERS class decertified, finding no evidence of alleged default housing policy or class-wide Eighth Amendment violation.
- ❌ In U.S. v. Hanzas (voter rolls), Judge Mary Kay Lanthier (Vermont) GRANTS defendants' motion to dismiss.
Nothing out of the 8th Circuit on the Missouri congressional map dispute just yet, but...
COMING ATTRACTIONS
During oral argument before the 8th Circuit yesterday, Judge James Loken acknowledged the urgency of a decision, so I would anticipate one landing this morning, long about 11:00 AM Eastern.
Next week, President Trump will welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House.
MORNING MUSING
I saw the buzz on Thursday regarding Republican Rep. Maria Salazar's (FL-27) provocative campaign ad, but I hadn't actually heard the ad until this morning. Now, the fact that Salazar opted to take an oppositional stance on immigration didn't come as a complete shock to me — she was, after all, one of the Republicans who voted with Democrats in April to extend temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians.
No, what struck me was what she said right at the end there: "I’m not talking about giving them amnesty. I’m talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land."
To which I can only ask, "Congresswoman, how exactly do you define 'amnesty'?"
LIGHTER FARE
😂 Seems about right — though, in my observation, it has more to do with the dog's personality than age. I've definitely seen ones who get that excited for their food — we use slowfeeders for them!
Feeding an old dog vs feeding a young dog. pic.twitter.com/9Axia5Q2Vy
— B&S (@_B___S) September 17, 2026
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