Thursday Morning Minute

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'

The Left's Favorite Military 'Expert' Malcolm Nance Has Painted Himself Into a Corner

I can’t wait for Nance to participate in a long-form interview. No softballs. Maybe he and Parke can arrange for Joe Rogan to do the interview.

Authorities Think They Know Who Burglarized KC Chiefs Stars' Houses—Their Theory Won't Come As a Surprise

Back to seriousness now, though: gangs from South America have clearly become a major problem in the United States, and the time to deal with it is now.

North Carolina Whistleblower: FEMA Has Housing Units but Has No Timeline to 'Release' Them

Everyone recalls what happened in New Orleans, and a lot of the stories turned out to be myth. Here is actual evidence of people in desperate need and FEMA is sitting on its hands.

WHAT'S ON TAP?

Today on Capitol Hill...

There are only two meetings/hearings set for Thursday on the Hill, both in the Senate:

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs — Hearings to examine threats to the homeland
Senate Judiciary — Business meeting to consider S.1306, to reauthorize the COPS ON THE BEAT grant program, S.2220, to amend title 35, United States Code, to invest in inventors in the United States, maintain the United States as the leading innovation economy in the world, and protect the property rights of the inventors that grow the economy of the United States, S.2082, to make technical corrections relating to the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, and multiple nominations

White House What's Up

I messed up yesterday. I completely forgot to note that it was President Joe Biden's 82nd birthday. Happy belated, old fella! Today, he's got a bill signing at noon (the Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act of 2024), and then he'll welcome 2024 NBA champs, the Boston Celtics, to the White House later in the afternoon to celebrate their win.

Full Court Press...

Things to look for on the Trump front today: Will Judge Merchan postpone sentencing (again) as requested by both Trump's attorneys and the prosecution? Will the New York appellate court issue its ruling on the civil fraud appeal? We'll keep you posted on both counts.

Yesterday, the judge in the Laken Riley murder case issued his verdict as to Jose Ibarra (guilty on all 10 counts) and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Daniel Penny trial continues in New York.

Also in New York, there's been a semi-interesting development in the criminal case against Sean "Diddy" Combs involving jail cell notes that were swept up in a raid of the jail facility. For now, prosecutors have been ordered to destroy their copies of the notes...but there may be more to this story than meets the eye.

MORNING MUSING

Are we there yet? That's what I keep wondering as we make the (seemingly slow) transition from 46 to 47. There's so much going on, and the instinct is that if President-elect Trump were already in office, he'd be addressing critical issues that the lamest of lame-duck administrations appears to just be hand-waving away in its closing months. A word of caution about that: While I expect Trump to get most of it right, he's not infallible, nor is he a wizard who can just right the world with a magic wand. And he'll undoubtedly be facing resistance from the entrenched bureaucracy. It's important to keep expectations reasonable, even while remaining optimistic. And I know I alluded to this earlier in the week, but I'm very wary of Trump and those he's selected to be part of his second administration getting Flynned. I just hope they're all keeping their heads on a swivel.