Daily Haiku / Senryu : Irrelevant

irrelevant Trump
corporations jumping ship
none like a bully

Note on Senryu: Senryu actually has a long history of political activism — one of the reasons it was published anonymously because some of the things the poems reported could get you imprisoned or your head chopped off.  This is a nod to those antecedents.

Some people think a big mouth and stick is effective. Most people grow out of it. What happens when bullying works for you, makes you a reality tv star, and gets you a presidency? You think you can say anything, do anything? This is Trump. But people can turn away, groups follow, then the money recedes.

In the old days, when they didn’t stone a person for their sins, they ostercized them, turned away in a communal shunning. The person loses power, becomes invisible. One article tells of how corporations are turning away from Trump, finding his public statements abhorrent. So they are ignoring him to work with other Republicans to try to push their policies through. Hopefully this means they will pull their money away from Trump as well. If business America finds you irrelevant, can you last?

Uh-oh, Trump’s sly co-opting of the federal judiciary branch: a lasting heritage

Still Trump’s actions are designed to keep him in power. We have a 3-part system: President, Congress and the Judiciary in order to supply checks and balances. Problem is this president is already moving pieces to create a judiciary that backs him. Think about this in their first six months as president, Bush chose 4 lower-court nominees; Clinton named Ginsberg to the high court but no lower-court ones; and Barack named Sotomayor to the Supreme court and 9 lower court judges. In his first 6 months, Trump named Gorsuch to the Supreme Court and 27 lower court judges. That is more than Bush, Clinton and Barack together. And he chose people who share his ideology. Republicans in the judiciary committee are arguing that the nominees’ previous writing and public statements are irrelevant to confirmation. However, how a person thinks — revealed through their writing — is very relevant to their becoming a lifetime judge. These appointments are not for a short-term. They are life-time.

Groups with misleading names such as Judicial Crisis Network, Tea Party Patriots, Concerned Veterans for America, Susan B. Anthony List, and Concerned Women for America are working to streamline the nomination process so it’s faster to push candidates through and harder for candidates to be stopped at the state level. Currently the Senate has only time to vote on 1 or 2 candidates a week since they can debate a candidate for up to 30 hours. News can cover one or two candidates fairly easily if something hinky shows up. If the debate time is limited as they propose to less than one third, it’ll be easier to slip people through and harder for journalists to dig into their history. And the constituents — us — will lose the time it takes to write and call in to our senator if we find out something is hinky in the candidate.

Judges protect our freedoms within the USA

People forget the judges but often they are the ones to protect or restrict our freedoms — using law to expand and constrict freedoms from speech to imprisonment depending on the tenor of our time and their own personal politics. We need to be careful of the legacy Trump leaves us with when he steps down.

These are the last two rounds of nominations recommended by Trump’s folks. If you agree with them, that’s fine. It’s a free country still. If you don’t, it’s up to you to find ways to move against them writing to your Senator and the ones on the Judiciary committee and whatnot. I’m not an activist so honestly have no clue what to suggest. I figure if it’s important to you, you’ll figure it out or find someone who knows more than I. I just know this. We need a balanced judiciary — not one ruled by any ideology nor ruled by any prejudice against or for any particular group of people or economic status — if we want to keep the freedoms we have. You think your freedom is written in stone? It’s not.

The following is copied from List of federal judges appointed by Donald Trump, Wikipedia.  Since it is on Wikipedia, if you are viewing this after 9/24/2017, go to that link for the most up-to-date information.  They are constantly updating. The ones in olive and peach are pending before their respective committees. How long do you want Trump’s influence to last?

Trump’s Judicial Nominees List as of 9/23/2017: successful and pending

United States Supreme Court

# Justice Seat State Former Justice Nomination
date
Confirmation
date
Confirmation
vote
Began
service
Ended
service
1 Neil Gorsuch Seat 9 Colorado Antonin Scalia February 1, 2017 April 7, 2017 54–45 April 8, 2017 Incumbent

Note on the following charts:

Grey Denotes nomination reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee
Olive Denotes nomination pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee

United States Courts of Appeals

# Judge Circuit Nomination
date
Confirmation
date
Confirmation
vote
Began active
service
Ended active
service
Ended senior
status
1 Amul Thapar Sixth March 21, 2017 May 25, 2017 52–44 May 25, 2017 Incumbent
2 John K. Bush Sixth May 8, 2017 July 20, 2017 51–47 July 21, 2017 Incumbent
3 Kevin Newsom Eleventh May 8, 2017 August 1, 2017 66–31 August 2, 2017 Incumbent
Ralph R. Erickson Eighth June 7, 2017
Amy Coney Barrett Seventh May 8, 2017
Joan Larsen Sixth May 8, 2017
David Stras Eighth May 8, 2017
Allison H. Eid Tenth June 7, 2017
Stephanos Bibas Third June 19, 2017
Michael B. Brennan Seventh August 3, 2017
L. Steven Grasz Eighth August 3, 2017
Ryan Wesley Bounds Ninth September 7, 2017
Elizabeth L. Branch Eleventh September 7, 2017
Gregory G. Katsas D.C. September 7, 2017

United States District Courts

# Judge Court
[Note 1]
Nomination
date
Confirmation
date
Confirmation
vote
Began active
service
Ended active
service
Ended senior
status
1 David Nye D. Idaho May 8, 2017 July 12, 2017 100–0 August 1, 2017 Incumbent
2 Timothy J. Kelly D.D.C. June 7, 2017 September 5, 2017 94–2 September 8, 2017 Incumbent
Scott L. Palk W.D. Okla. May 8, 2017
Dabney L. Friedrich D.D.C. June 7, 2017
Trevor N. McFadden D.D.C. June 7, 2017
Donald C. Coggins Jr. D. S.C. August 3, 2017
Claria Horn Boom E.D. Ky.
W.D. Ky.
June 12, 2017
Michael Lawrence Brown N.D. Ga. July 13, 2017
William L. Campbell Jr. M.D. Tenn. July 13, 2017
Thomas Farr E.D. N.C. July 13, 2017
Charles Barnes Goodwin W.D. Okla. July 13, 2017
Mark Norris W.D. Tenn. July 13, 2017
Tommy Parker W.D. Tenn. July 13, 2017
William McCrary Ray II N.D. Ga. July 13, 2017
Eli J. Richardson M.D. Tenn. July 13, 2017
Tripp Self M.D. Ga. July 13, 2017
Annemarie Carney Axon N.D. Ala. July 19, 2017
Liles C. Burke N.D. Ala. July 19, 2017
Terry A. Doughty W.D. La. August 3, 2017
Michael J. Juneau W.D. La. August 3, 2017
A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. D. S.C. August 3, 2017
Holly Lou Teeter D. Kan. August 3, 2017
Robert E. Wier E.D. Ky. August 3, 2017
R. Stan Baker S.D. Ga. September 7, 2017
Jeffrey Uhlman Beaverstock S.D. Ala. September 7, 2017
John W. Broomes D. Kan. September 7, 2017
Rebecca Grady Jennings W.D. Ky. September 7, 2017
Matthew J. Kacsmaryk N.D. Tex. September 7, 2017
Emily Coody Marks M.D. Ala. September 7, 2017
Jeffrey C. Mateer E.D. Tex. September 7, 2017
Terry F. Moorer S.D. Ala. September 7, 2017
Fernando Rodriguez Jr. S.D. Tex. September 7, 2017
Karen Gren Scholer N.D. Tex. September 7, 2017
Brett Joseph Talley M.D. Ala. September 7, 2017
Walter David Counts III W.D. Tex. September 11, 2017
Matthew S. Petersen D.D.C. September 11, 2017

United States Court of Federal Claims

# Judge Nomination
date
Confirmation
date
Confirmation
vote
Began active
service
Ended active
service
Ended senior
status
Damien M. Schiff May 8, 2017
Stephen S. Schwartz June 7, 2017

United States Tax Court

Peach Denotes nomination pending before the Senate Finance Committee

# Judge Nomination
date
Confirmation
date
Confirmation
vote
Began active
service
Ended active
service
Ended senior
status
Elizabeth Ann Copeland August 3, 2017
Patrick Urda August 3, 2017

United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims

# Judge Nomination
date
Confirmation
date
Confirmation
vote
Began active
service
Ended active
service
Ended senior
status
1 Michael P. Allen June 7, 2017 August 3, 2017 voice vote August 9, 2017 Incumbent
2 Amanda L. Meredith June 7, 2017 August 3, 2017 voice vote August 9, 2017 Incumbent
3 Joseph L. Toth June 7, 2017 August 3, 2017 voice vote August 9, 2017 Incumbent

Reference:

Irrelevant
Daily Prompts
The Daily Post

Donald Trump Is Irrelevant to Corporate America by William Cohan, The New Yorker, 9/7/2017

President Donald J. Trump Announces Sixth Wave of Judicial Candidates and Fifth Wave of U.S. Attorney Candidates, White House Press Office, 8/3/2017

President Donald J. Trump Announces Seventh Wave of Judicial Candidates, White House Press Office, 9/7/2017

Judicial Nominations, Committee of the Judiciary

List of federal judges appointed by Donald Trump, Wikipedia

Conservatives Push for Democrats to Stop Obstructing Trump Judicial Nominees, by Rachel del Guidice, The Daily Signal, 8/25/2017

The one area where Trump has been wildly successful, by Ronald A. Klain, The Washington Post, July 19, 2017