Lisle Township Democratic Organization

Dear LTDO PCs and Members,

We are so sorry to report that Joe Heneghan’s wife of many years, Barbara, passed away on Wednesday, May 28th after a long and very difficult health struggle.

Joe is a loyal, valued, long-time member and PC with LTDO, who has done much to help make LTDO the success it has become. Joe stepped in when necessary to complete the LTDO Chair’s term during the 2012/2014 cycle. Then Joe was elected as LTDO Chair for the 2014/2016 cycle.

Our thoughts and our prayers go with Joe and the whole Heneghan Family in this very difficult time, and may Barbara rest in peace.

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.

State Rep. Janet Yang Rohr, LTDO member and PC, has once again stepped up to advocate for the disability community. The issue at hand is a proposed move by the state to drastically cut hours and funding for services that benefit individuals with developmental disabilities residing in group homes. Rep. Yang Rohr joined with other members of the General Assembly to lobby the Governor’s office to rethink this decision. Thanks to this action, the state announced last week that it has postponed these proposed cuts indefinitely. We thank Rep. Yang Rohr for her continued advocacy for, and friendship shown to, the disability community.

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.