Mr. Crank;
I see, today, that the President has taken on the responsibility of managing the District of Columbia. Once again this seems to be Executive overreach, since the oversight of the District falls under the purview of the Congress, per Article I, section 8, of the Constitution.
I would call upon you, and your colleagues, to slap the Presidents wrist and tell him to keep out of matters that don’t concern him. That would include setting tariffs.
Jack Heneghan
Mr Crank,
I would be interested in hearing your rationale on how the Executive Branch is allowed to set tariffs on every country in the world without the input, advice, or consent of Congress. My understanding is that imposing taxes, tariffs, imposts, excises, and the like, are within the purview of Congress, per Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, and not within the Executive (see Article II).
Jack Heneghan
I was listening to a recent Science Friday podcast about the human genome and came to the realization that our genome is basically a LLM, with lots of redundant words and blank pages. This explains so much, the slips, the gaffs, the spacing out, the hallucinations; we are AI!
Mr. Crank:
“A republic, if you can keep it.”
–Benjamin Franklin’s response to Elizabeth Willing Powel’s question: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”
Looks like we didn’t keep it. You might as well come home.
Jack Heneghan
Mr. Crank;
From what I have been reading recently our President seems to be engaging in remarkably petty temper tantrums that threaten the very integrity of our democracy. His tariff actions against Brazil, alone, leads one to question his fitness to office. His tariff actions against the EU, Canada, and the rest of the world smack of pettiness beyond belief. Please talk to your colleagues on the Hill about taking back the power of the tariff and leaving it in Congress where it belongs.
I am also concerned about his recent threats to Rosie O’Donnell, a native-born American citizen, about taking away her citizenship. Are these the ramblings of a sane President? Can you identify a more anti-American sentiment? You should also discuss with your colleagues the possibility of invoking Amendment 25.
Jack Heneghan
Mr. Crank;
I have been reading some disturbing news items about our President and was wondering if Congress is looking into these possible issues.
One, he doesn’t know that he is supposed to “to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”. Would this not count as perjury when taking the oath of office and thus be an impeachable offense per “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”?
Two, he wants to reopen Alcatraz? Is this the action of a sane person? Also, his ongoing flip-flopping on tariffs; who gets them and how much they will be, seems to indicate mental instability. Congress should investigate.
Three, this whole $Trump meme coin business smacks of bribery (see above) and emoluments. Is Congress reviewing this activity?
Jack Heneghan
Mr Crank;
I commend to you Cory Doctorow’s recent article on complex systems – https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/24/hermit-kingdom/…
He makes the point that complex systems, such as Social Security, Immigration, and indeed, the United States, cannot be completely error-free. Errors/fraud can be minimized, but not eliminated.
Please consider this as you provide oversight on the Republican Administration.
Jack Heneghan
Mr. Crank;
I commend to you Paul Krugman’s article of April 15th, 2025. https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/happy-tax-evasion-day
The article notes how the Republican Administration is undermining the ability of the IRS to collect all the revenues due from incomes and may be actively encouraging some high-income citizens to under-report their income.
Please do what you can to stop the Republican Administration from stifling the collection of revenues that fund our Government, especially collection from folks making more than a Congressman.
Jack Heneghan
April 6, 2025
Mr Crank;
I read with great trepidation that DOGE and the hackers are being unleashed on the IRS systems. I don’t know what a mere Representative can do in the face of such an onslaught from the Republican Administration, but please find the fortitude to keep them away from sensitive personal data. I can not see any reasonable reason for these parties to be rampaging through IRS data, much less the delicately-balanced systems that maintain our tax/revenue collections.
Ditto for SSA.
Jack Heneghan
March 23, 2025
Mr Crank;
I see that the Republican Administration has begun to close off public access to data that has been collected with public monies by public agencies. These include NOAA, CDC, and EPA.
These data have been used to establish historical trends and to project future trends, both by federal agencies and by interested members of the general public. All of this helps to promote the general welfare, as mandated by the founding fathers.
Even worse is the idea that these data are no longer going to be collected, thereby corrupting decades of public good, because some in the Republican Administration don’t want the data to tear down their belief system.
Please work to ensure that the data collected by our public agencies remains available to the public for future analysis and interpretation.
Jack Heneghan