REPORT: Conservative Colorado judge emerges as a top contender to fill Scalia’s Supreme Court seat.

Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, a highly regarded conservative jurist best known for upholding religious liberty rights in the legal battles over Obamacare, has emerged as a leading contender for President Trump’s first Supreme Court nomination.

Gorsuch, 49, was among 21 potential high court candidates circulated by Trump’s team during the campaign, but his stock has been rising lately as several admirers and supporters have been named to positions in the Trump administration.

He currently serves on the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. A former clerk for Justice Byron White, also a Colorado native, and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, he served in the George W. Bush administration’s Justice Department.

In Gorsuch, supporters see a jurist who has strong academic credentials, a gift for clear writing and a devotion to deciding cases based on the original meaning of the Constitution and the text of statutes, as did the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

Just as importantly, Gorsuch is seen as someone who might be more easily confirmed in the Senate. Unlike other appointees of President George W. Bush, Gorsuch won an easy Senate confirmation on a voice vote in 2006.

His relatively young age would be another plus.

But Gorsuch’s easy confirmation in 2006 is no guarantee of future results. Democrats are perfectly willing to go to the mattresses against a nominee for a high position they once supported for a lower position.

IT WASN’T EXACTLY A TEA PARTY EVENT: DisruptJ20 Anarchists Torched Muslim Immigrant’s Limo, Costing Him $70,000 in Damage.

Why are self-styled “Progressives” so hostile to immigrants and Muslims?

FORMER OBAMA AIR FORCE SECRETARY: Intensifying ISIS War Would Kill More Innocents.

Presumably ISIS just leaves innocents alone?

FORGET IT, JAKE — IT’S SACRAMENTO: Court appeal argues California emissions trading plan akin to ‘illegal tax’

California’s cap-and-trade program sets an overall limit on greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and either hands out or sells a declining number of state-issued permits, which large manufacturers and oil refineries are required to turn in annually.

The lawsuit by business group CalChamber argues that the state legislature never authorized the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to collect revenue from the program when it passed AB 32, its landmark climate change law.

Revenue from the program funds clean energy programs, especially in poorer communities, and helps finance the state’s ambitious high speed rail project.

“The lawsuit does not challenge any of the provisions of AB 32, including cap-and-trade authority, nor the merits of climate change science,” said Denise Davis of the CalChamber.

It just argues that the state has no right to sell permits and generate revenue, she said.

You can’t let little things like constitutional law stand in the way of progress.

CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN: Trump Plans Orders Approving Keystone, Dakota Pipelines.

THEY’LL COME HERE. TO SIGN TRADE BILATERAL DEALS WITH US, THE WORLD’S MOST PROLIFIC CONSUMERS. TPP unravels: Where the 11 other countries go from here.

PRODUCT SAFETY: Samsung Announces Cause of Galaxy Note 7 Fires, Apologizes to Customers.

After several months of investigations, Samsung announced Sunday in a Korean press conference the cause. DJ Koh, president of Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics, shared detailed results of the company’s investigation and apologized profusely to Galaxy Note7 customers, mobile operators, retail and distribution partners and business partners.

After their internal investigation, Samsung determined that the fires — Samsung calls them “incidents” — were caused by defectively constructed batteries from two suppliers that resulted in a short circuit in the batteries. The short circuit allowed the positive and negative electrodes to touch. While the defects from each of the two battery manufactures were different, each was sufficient to cause the batteries to heat and burst into flames.

I’d be wary of any explanation placing full blame on two different defects in the same product from two different suppliers. Samsung’s reported rush to get the Note 7 to market and perhaps a flaw with the company’s design specs for the battery (as opposed to only manufacturing defects) also seem like obvious and likely culprits.

WELL, GOOD: FCC’s new chairman no fan of net neutrality.

“Net neutrality” forbids pricing bandwidth by its value, which is how shortages are created.

MEN NOT WELCOME: The Future of the Left Is Female.

BAD ACTORS ACTING TO PRESERVE BAD ACTOR: Iran, Russia, Turkey say will jointly enforce Syria ceasefire.

We’ve gone from the Middle East’s power-broker to power-broke.

TRIGGERED: Illegal Immigrant Bites Ear Off of Roommate in Drunken Anti-Trump Rage Attack.

WHITE-BASHING IS JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR THE THINGS WE DO TOGETHER: DNC Chair Candidates Bash White People in Racially-Charged Forum.

“We have to stop, particularly with the consultants,” said the chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, Jaime Harrison. “You cannot come to the DNC and get a contract and the only minority face you have is the person answering the phone.”

Minority consultants “need to get the same resources that the white consultants have gotten,” said a Fox News analyst and candidate for the chairmanship, Jehmu Greene. “The DNC did a piss poor, pathetic job” attracting minorities, she said.

Democrats must provide “training” that focuses in part on teaching Americans “how to be sensitive and how to shut their mouths if they are white,” urged the executive director of Idaho’s Democratic Party, Sally Boynton Brown, who is white.

Democrats act as though they want another four years of Trump.

OF COURSE WE DID: U.S. quietly sent $221M to Palestinians in Obama’s last hours.

Officials said Monday that the Obama administration– in its waning hours– defied Republican opposition and quietly released $221 million to the Palestinian Authority that GOP members of Congress had been blocking.

A State Department official and several congressional aides told The Associated Press that the outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning.

The official said former Secretary of State John Kerry had informed some lawmakers of the move shortly before he left the State Department for the last time Thursday.

The aides said written notification dated Jan. 20 was sent to Congress just hours before Donald Trump took the oath of office.

The money had been previously approved by Congress, but members of the House Appropriations Committee had placed a hold on it, a request which the executive branch usually respects.

IT’S OFFICIAL: Trump orders hiring freeze for much of Federal government.

Trump had raised the possibility of a hiring freeze during the campaign. At a news conference Monday, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the freeze ensures taxpayers get effective and efficient government and said it “counters the dramatic expansion of the federal workforce in recent years.”

“Some people are working two, three jobs just to get by. And to see money get wasted in Washington on a job that is duplicative is insulting to the hard work that they do to pay their taxes,” Spicer said.

The New York Times reported that Trump called it a stopgap way to control the growth of government until his administration comes up with a long-term solution.

“In carrying out this memorandum, I ask that you seek efficient use of existing personnel and funds to improve public services and the delivery of these services,” Trump wrote in the memorandum, according to the paper.

The story notes that “the number of executive branch employees hasn’t been this low since 1965, and that the number of employees has stayed more or less steady in the last 15 years.” But it’s unclear if that includes the military, which has seen an almost-radical shrinkage since victory in the Cold War. If the report does include the armed forces, then civilian numbers have swelled almost enough to match what the military has shed.

In either case, the public’s frustration isn’t (entirely) with the sheer numbers of federal workers, but with their unaccountability, and the high pay and benefits they enjoy compared to the private sector workforce, and generally making life more expensive and difficult for the rest of us.

But a hiring freeze is a good first step.

MAYBE IT ISN’T SUCH A HARSH MISTRESS AFTER ALL: Can beer be brewed on the MOON? Lunar mission to launch at the end of this year could find out.

KIDS ARE OFF-LIMITS. PERIOD. Katie Rich of ‘S.N.L.’ Is Suspended for Tweet Mocking Barron Trump.

GOP staffer Elizabeth Lauten resigned permanently from Congressman Steve Fincher’s staff after making fun of the Obamas’ daughters.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: These 5 Classic ’80s Shows Deserve a Reboot.

SHOCKER: Iran Caught Importing Missile Technology.

The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, or DPSU, announced late last week that it had seized at least 17 boxes filled with missile components bound for Iran, according to IHS Jane’s.

“The DPSU said that, during an inspection of the aircraft on 19 January, its personnel had found 17 boxes with no accompanying documents, which the aircraft’s crew said contained an aircraft repair kit,” according to the report. “Three boxes contained components that were believed to be for a Fagot anti-tank guided missile system, the rest contained aircraft parts.”

Days after this finding, the DPSU said that it had confirmed the missile components were destined for Iran’s Fagot system.

Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon adviser and expert on rogue regimes, said that Iran has been illicitly moving such weapons for quite some time.

Where’d they get the money for all that illicit stuff?

FUNDAMENTALLY DE-TRANSFORMED? Glad to see Obama go, Gulf Arabs expect Trump to counter Iran.

RED STATE BLUES: Albany, Georgia, Had Two Horrific Storms This Month. Trump Offered Aid, Obama Didn’t.

SIZE MATTERS NOT: Morning Joe Crew Says Crowd Size Doesn’t Matter; Discusses For Entire Show.

Judge them by their actions, not by their words.

FAKE NEWS YOU CAN BELIEVE IN? Buzzfeed: Covering Trump may require publishing ‘unverified information’

To regain its credibility, all the mainstream media needs to is its job. A good start to that would be to ask, “What would BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith do?” and then do the opposite of that.

CIVILITY FOR ME BUT NOT FOR THEE: NBC won’t comment on ‘SNL’ writer’s controversial Barron Trump tweet.

Katie Rich said Friday in a now-deleted tweet that Barron Trump “will be this country’s first homeschool shooter.”

Rich was immediately faced with a slew of comments criticizing her for taking aim at the 10-year-old. She has since taken down her website and social media pages.

While a rep for “SNL” told us “NBC will not be commenting,” Rich’s name was not listed as a writer for the show’s latest episode which aired one day after Rich’s tweet. She has been a writer for “SNL” since 2013.

Has she been fired or suspended — or merely left off the credits to make it appear she’d been punished somehow?

SLATE: The Trump Resistance Will Be Led by Angry Women.

“Angry white men” was a term of derision. “Angry women” is the new status symbol.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Senior Israeli Diplomat Dore Gold Says Obama’s Arrogance Hurt Relationship with Israel.

The interview (in Hebrew) started with Gold relating a story from the funeral of Shimon Peres four months ago. He spoke of Prime Minister Netanyahu greeting each world leader who came to the funeral individually. As each leader left, Netanyahu shook their hands and exchanged a few niceties. Suddenly there was a phone call from Air Force One which along with the crew carried President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton, and Secretary of State [never will be president] John Kerry.

Yoav Horowitz, Netanyahu’s chief of staff, answered the phone because the Prime Minister was trying to see off the other leaders

“Tell your boss that if he wants a funeral like Peres’, he should begin to move, to go forward.” the American voice on the other end said. Horowitz passed on the message immediately. “Tell him,” Netanyahu responded, “that I give up the honor, because I have no intention of participating in the funeral of my country.”

So what Obama was trying to say to Netanyahu in his crass manner, If you “move forward” then you will be world-famous and admired and you will have a splendid funeral like Peres with dozens of world leaders coming to pay tribute.

Can you imagine the chutzpah it must take to tell an elected foreign leader what kind of funeral he’s going to get?