Coined by civil rights leader Congressman John Lewis, “Good Trouble” is the action of coming together to take peaceful, non-violent action to challenge injustice and create meaningful change.

The civil rights leaders of the past have shown us the power of collective action. That’s why on Thursday, July 17, five years since the passing of Congressman John Lewis, communities across the country will take to the streets, courthouses, and community spaces to carry forward his fight for justice, voting rights, and dignity for all.

Nearby events will be held in Bartlett, Naperville, Glen Ellyn, Bolingbrook, Des Plaines,  and Schaumburg. More information is available at mobilize.us/john-lewis-action. The Naperville event will be held from 5 to 6:30 pm. Get more information and sign up for this event at mobilize.us/john-lewis-actions/event/809279.

Our July Membership meeting will be held Monday, July 14th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Naperville Municipal Center (go.ltdo.org/muni).

We have confirmed Anne Stava Murray, Terra Costa Howard, Janet Yang Rohr, Dagmara Avelar, Rachel Ventura, and Laura Ellman for the State Legislative Forum. If you’d like to submit questions for this forum, please use this form: forms.gle/FG7CVYCnAtEAPdcf8.

A small addition to the budget bill House GOPers are pushing upends the traditional balance of power by forbidding courts to charge Trump and other government officials with contempt for defying court orders.

The bill also blocks court-ordered national injunctions to prevent potential illegal acts posing imminent harm.

With the SCOTUS ruling giving Trump immunity, this small part of the bill completes his quest to become America’s first dictator.

It must be stopped!!

ThirdAct provides advice for contacting our Senators. You can

• Email Dick Durbin at durbin.senate.gov/contact/email
• Email Tammy Duckworth at duckworth.senate.gov/connect/email-tammy
• Or use the 5Calls app to phone them.

The images below are AI-generated “deep fakes”. These are photographs, but deep fake videos are also being made. We will undoubtedly be seeing more and more disinformation via this route. The moral is: don’t believe any media product unless you know where it came from and trust the source. Or as your mother might have told you, “Don’t put that in your head; you don’t know where it’s been.”

I have been surprised in recent conversations how many people are unaware of Project 2025. One thing that saved us from even worse consequences of President Donald Trump (I know that’s a brain-stretcher) was his general incompetence and disinterest in doing anything that involved actual work. The Right has realized this and wants to “hit the ground running” if Trump is elected again. To quote Wikipedia, Project 2025 is (bolding is mine)

a plan to reshape the Executive Branch of the U.S. federal government in the event of a Republican victory in the 2024 United States presidential election. Established in 2022, the project seeks to recruit thousands to come to Washington, D.C., to replace existing employees to restructure the Executive Branch of the federal government as to further the agenda and policies of Donald Trump. The plan would perform a quick takeover of the entire U.S. federal government under a maximalist version of the unitary executive theory – a theory proposing the president of the United States have absolute power of the executive branch – upon inauguration.

This is terrifying, and while it’s exhausting to think of each succeeding general election as “existential,” it’s accurate. We are genuinely tasked with rescuing our democracy; there might be no “next time” to do better.