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'

NEW: Madison Shooting Suspect Identified As 15-Year-Old Student

Now, we have more information about the suspected shooter. She is identified as 15-year-old Natalie Lynn Rupnow. Andy Ngo is reporting details regarding the suspected shooter on X.

James O’Keefe Releases Shocking Video of NSC Advisor Admitting Biden Is Far Worse Off Than We Know

This situation should never again happen with a sitting president. Heads should roll for it happening at this time, and legislation or a constitutional amendment should be passed to ensure that it doesn't.

Pure Gold: Trump Deftly Puts Reporter in His Place for Ridiculous Question During Presser

It's going to be so nice having someone competent in charge again. 

WHAT'S ON TAP?

Today on Capitol Hill...

There are several meetings/hearings set for Tuesday on the Hill, including:

• House Judiciary Committee, Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee — “Oversight of the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division”
• Senate Judiciary — Hearings to examine legalized sports gambling
• Senate Judiciary, Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights Subcommittee — Hearings to examine a bipartisan path forward for antitrust enforcement and reform

Meanwhile, Senate Dems are angling to axe the Electoral College, which, by the way, meets Tuesday to officially cast their votes for president and vice president. 

As the House works on getting its committee assignments set for the 119th Congress, Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) was reelected to chair the Freedom Caucus, while Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) lost the first round of her bid to lead Democrats on the Oversight and Accountability Committee to Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA). But round two (a vote by the full caucus) is yet to come. 

And, of course, the biggest elephant in the room: the funding package — which has a midnight Friday deadline and the text of which was due Sunday. Expect to hear loads of trumpeting over it. 

White House What's Up

It's a very quiet day for President Joe Biden. He'll receive his Daily Brief in the afternoon before he and First Lady Jill depart for Wilmington, Delaware. The reason for the trek is not specified. There is nothing on the president's schedule for Wednesday at present, and the president and first lady are set to return to the White House on Thursday. 

Full Court Press...

Well, we got one ruling we'd been waiting on: Judge Juan Merchan gave a big NOPE to President-elect Donald Trump's bid to have the guilty verdict from his Manhattan trial set aside due to presidential immunity. 

TikTok has petitioned the Supreme Court to issue an emergency order blocking the US ban of the app. 

Hunter Biden has a new trial date. No — not for any criminal matters. It's one of his several civil suits — this one being his suit against the Marco Polo account/entity for publishing laptop content attributed to him. That one is now set for trial beginning September 9, 2025. 

I neglected to mention the big over-the-weekend court-related news: Trump's significant settlement with ABC News for defamation. 

MORNING MUSING

Perhaps the Battle of Daylight Savings is an intended distraction — even a welcome one. On some level, it amuses me — the absolute muddle prompted by the enduring misunderstanding of which is Standard and which is Daylight and which will win the day. And how do those who don't fall back or spring forward handle the rest of us doing so? I know I'm not alone in my confusion over it. I always have to stop and think about which time we're in/on and what the proper acronym is. (Yes, yes, I know — right now, we here in Missouri are on Central Standard Time. It just takes a moment to sort it out.) So, I'm on board with the concept of ending the flippity-flopping of time twice a year. But the notion of lopping off Summer's late evening sunsets by embracing permanent Standard Time doesn't sit right with me. 

I looked into this, and under permanent Standard Time, sunset in St. Louis on June 21 would be at 7:28 p.m. That's SO early. Do not like. Conversely, under permanent Daylight Time, sunrise in St. Louis on December 21 would be at 8:15 a.m. That's awfully late, and I know people point to this placing school kids at the bus stop and/or arriving at school when it's still dark, though I'll note that I've also, for years, been hearing grumbling about how early we have schools starting and how that's bad for kids' circadian rhythms. I've even seen some suggest we simply split the difference, which could really make things wonky as to the rest of the world. I don't hear too many clamoring to keep it the way it is, though. 

So, which would you prefer? Let me know in the comments. 

LIGHTER FARE 

Mmmmmmmooooooooo!

His little footsteps crunching in the snow!! And the little moo 🥰 pic.twitter.com/vjIkycikY9

— why you should have an animal (@shouldhaveanima) December 16, 2024