memeorandum: Chris Kyle's Iraqi Interpreter on Temporary Refugee Ban: Trump is Cleaning Up Obama's Trash (Katie Pavlich/Townhall.com)

3:20 PM ET, February 1, 2017

Top Items:

Neil Gorsuch, the Nominee for a Stolen Seat — It's been almost a year since Senate Republicans took an empty Supreme Court seat hostage, discarding a constitutional duty that both parties have honored throughout American history and hobbling an entire branch of government for partisan gain.

Neal K. Katyal / New York Times:

Why Liberals Should Back Neil Gorsuch — I am hard-pressed to think of one thing President Trump has done right in the last 11 days since his inauguration. Until Tuesday, when he nominated an extraordinary judge and man, Neil Gorsuch, to be a justice on the Supreme Court.

President Trump had the chance to select:

President Trump had the chance to select a consensus nominee to the Supreme Court. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, he failed that test. — Instead, he carried out his public promise to select a nominee from a list drawn up by far right activist groups that were financed by big business interests.

Discussion: NARAL Pro-Choice America, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley …, Little Green Footballs, Townhall.com, The Hill, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, NPR, The Week, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh and ThinkProgress

Politico:

What Could Gorsuch Mean for the Supreme Court? — On Tuesday, Donald Trump nominated conservative federal appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. After 11 days packed full of executive actions—on everything from immigration to military spending to trade …

Discussion: National Review, Josh Blackman's Blog, IPWatchdog.com, NPR, LifeNews.com, The Daily Signal, Bleeding Heartland, Common Dreams, Guns.com, New York Times, Mediaite, Mother Jones, Forbes, LGBTQ Nation and Rewire

Christina Cauterucci / Slate:
What Neil Gorsuch, Trump's SCOTUS Pick, Means for American Women

Discussion: Washington Post, NPR, Politico, Bloomberg, Hot Air, Denver Post, Longreads, Talking Points Memo, Vox, Hit & Run, Instapundit and SCOTUSblog

Jonathan Turley / The Hill:
Gorsuch is perfect choice for Supreme Court, fulfills a Trump promise

Discussion: New York Times, Bloomberg, Outside the Beltway and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Trump to McConnell: Go nuclear if necessary

Discussion: CNN, Political Wire, Axios, Vox and New York's PIX11

Nikita Vladimirov / The Hill:
Warren says she'll oppose Trump's Supreme Court nominee

Discussion: American Greatness, USA Today, alan.com, The Week and Raw Story

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Make Republicans Nuke the Filibuster to Confirm Neil Gorsuch

Discussion: Vox, TheBlaze, Infowars, Mother Jones, electionlawblog.org, New York Times, Washington Post, NBC News, Townhall.com, CNN, The Week, DCist, Daily Kos, New Republic and ThinkProgress

Brady Dennis / Washington Post:
Neil Gorsuch's mother once ran the EPA. It didn't go well.

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Daniel Lippman / Politico:
THE BACKSTORY: How Trump got to yes on Gorusch …

Discussion: RedState

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:

GOP changes rules to push through nominees after Dem boycott — Senate Republicans pushed through a pair of President Trump's Cabinet nominees Wednesday, upending standard committee rules to circumvent a Democratic boycott. — The Senate Finance Committee advanced a pair of Trump's nominees …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, Common Dreams, Politicus USA, Discourse.net and Gothamist

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

‘Idiots’ — Senate tensions boil over — The Senate has become embroiled in bitterness and name-calling less than two weeks after Inauguration Day. — The usually genteel chamber of Congress has been anything but recently amid controversial directives from the White House …

Discussion: ABC News and alan.com

CNN:

Republicans vote to suspend committee rules, advance Mnuchin, Price nominations — (CNN)Senate Republicans took an extraordinary step Wednesday to move forward with two of President Donald Trump's top Cabinet nominees after confronting a boycott from Democrats across the aisle.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, TheBlaze, Political Wire, KTLA, Lawyers, Guns & Money and electionlawblog.org

Lydia Wheeler / The Hill:

Sessions approved by Senate committee — A Senate committee voted to confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions — (R-Ala.) to be attorney general on Wednesday, two days after the growing controversy surrounding President Trump's travel ban on seven Muslim nations led to the firing of an acting attorney general for insubordination.

Discussion: RedState, TalkLeft and Joe.My.God.

Ann Althouse / Althouse:
“I don't care what they want at this point,” said Orrin Hatch.

Discussion: Power Line and Associated Press

Elana Schor / Politico:
GOP breaks Dem blockade on Mnuchin and Price

Discussion: Hot Air

Us Weekly:

First Lady Melania Trump May Stay in NYC Permanently and Never Move Into the White House — President Donald Trump may have 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue all to himself. — Though Donald, 70, and his wife Melania announced in November that the first lady would relocate from New York City …

Discussion: alan.com, Gothamist, IJR, Althouse, Raw Story and AOL

J.D. Durkin / Mediaite:
REPORT: Melania Trump ‘Will Reevaluate’ Plans, May Not End Up Moving Into White House After All

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Joe.My.God.

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Two GOP senators to vote ‘no’ on Betsy DeVos — in back-to-back speeches on the Senate floor announced Wednesday that they would oppose Betsy DeVos's nomination to be Education secretary. — They are the first two Republicans to break with Trump on any of his Cabinet picks …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Daily Kos

John Bresnahan / Politico:
DeVos in trouble — Republican Sens. Susan Collins …

Discussion: Townhall.com, Hot Air and Washington Post

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

DNC boots candidate from chairmanship race for criticizing Ellison's Islamic faith — The Democratic National Committee is kicking a candidate out of the chairmanship race after he told The Hill that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) should not be the party's next leader because he is a Muslim.

Discussion: Politico, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, Power Line, The Daily Caller, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Times and Instapundit

Sarah D / Los Angeles Times:

Trump administration is radicalizing Democratic voters, creating a challenge for the party, Rep. Adam Schiff says — As protests spread over policy announcements from the Trump administration, Democrats must work to encourage participation in politics, but face a danger of the party becoming too radicalized …

Discussion: Shakesville

Michael Goodwin / New York Post:
Democrats are becoming the party of secession

Discussion: Raw Story

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:

Bannon in 2010: ‘Islam is not a religion of peace’ — President's Trump's chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, in 2010 said he does not think Islam is a religion of peace, CNN reported. — Bannon made the comment during an online radio interview with “Western Word Radio with Avi Davis,” …

Discussion: alan.com

Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:
Steve Bannon in 2010: ‘Islam is not a religion of peace. Islam is a religion of submission’

Discussion: Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress and The Gateway Pundit

Bethany Mandel / The Federalist:

Facebook Dead At 12, A Victim Of 2016 — If I were to write an obituary for Facebook, it might look something like this: … The Facebook, known as Facebook or FB for short, was invented as a tool to connect users with friends, family, and occasionally brands.

Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:

Trump's campaign paid his businesses millions over course of campaign — The final bill is in: Donald Trump's campaign paid his companies $12.8 million from the time he launched his improbable presidential bid in the lobby of his company's flagship Trump Tower property through the end of last year …

Discussion: The Week and Eater

Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:
Trump security's use of force questioned

Discussion: New York Daily News and The Crime Report

Steven Mufson / Washington Post:

Trump transition email shows initial effort to oust all inspectors general — An email from the Trump transition team on the evening of Jan. 13 instructed all transition team leaders to “reach out tonight and inform” the inspectors general in their agencies “that they are being held over on a temporary basis.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Committee on Oversight … and Mediaite

Lydia Wheeler / The Hill:

Franken slams Cruz for ‘trying to impugn’ his record — (R-Texas) Wednesday for accusing him of trying to disparage Sen. Jeff Sessions — (R-Ala.) during committee hearings on his nomination to be attorney general. — “Let's talk about who is trying to impugn the record of another senator …

Discussion: RedState

Cameron Knight / USA Today:

Nation's bacon reserves hit 50-year low as prices rise — The country's bacon reserves are at the lowest levels in half a century. — In other words, pig farmers can't keep up with the world's sizzling appetite for those fatty, smoky strips of sheer eating pleasure.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Week, NBC News and WCCO | CBS Minnesota

Goldie Blumenstyk / Chronicle of Higher Education:

Jerry Falwell Jr. Says He Will Lead Federal Task Force on Higher-Ed Policy — Jerry L. Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, has been asked by President Trump to head up a new task force that will identify changes that should be made to the U.S. Department of Education's policies and procedures …

Discussion: The Atlantic, LGBTQ Nation, Shakesville, NBC News, Washington Post, TheBlaze, Talking Points Memo, Right Wing Watch and CANNONFIRE

David Edwards / Raw Story:

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse shreds Trump's first week at AG hearing: ‘A gong show with a nuclear button’ — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) used his time at confirmation hearing for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) on Wednesday to lash out at President Donald Trump's “gong show” administration.