Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Don Dechert

@dondechert.bsky.social

3.7K followers 12K following 7.3K posts

Lawyer, veteran. Ex-baby historian, current litigator, lapsed social scientist, still playing TTRPGs. Unabashedly pro-cat because cats are awesome. Various thoughts, some well articulated in 🇺🇲/🇩🇪. 📍Chicago, IL, Vereinigte Staaten, Terra

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Don Dechert @dondechert.bsky.social · Dec 27

I'm a lawyer with a lot of interests. I went to law school after getting my MA in social science from U Chicago, which I got after transitioning from active duty Army to the Reserves. I still play TTRPGs (and have soft spot for Battletech). And cats are awesome. Manchmal auch auf Deutsch.

13 6 290

Reposted by Don Dechert

Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 3h

I’ll share a lot more on this topic once the book comes out. Short version: practically all futurism is *conditional futurism.*

People tell stories about the future in order to influence behavior in the present, and make their prediction more/less likely.

2 4 34

Reposted by Don Dechert

Secretary of Defense Rock @sodrock.bsky.social · 3h

20 60 430

Don Dechert @dondechert.bsky.social · 4h

Technically, it gets assimilated into Art 134 as sort of a catch-all or whatever fits.

Look at Gallagher's charge sheet:

news.usni.org/2021/02/11/r...

His were Art 118 (murder of hors d'combat), 128 (Assault of noncombatant, 134x2(catch-all), 112a (substance use), and 92 (fail to follow order).

Record of Trial of SEAL Edward Gallagher's Court-Martial - USNI News

The following is the record of trial from the 2019 court-martial of retired Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher. The redacted record was released earlier this week by the Navy in response to a Freedom of Infor...

news.usni.org

Don Dechert @dondechert.bsky.social · 5h

That's looking well. Someone'a going to repeat "having a good day," a couple hundred times.

Kathryn Tewson @kathryntewson.bsky.social · 6h

Whooooooo.

MR. KHOJASTEH: Your Honor, with respect, do you
doubt the fact that a retainer [sic] is in place in -- a
detainer is in place?
THE COURT: I absolutely doubt the fact until I see
it. Because you know what? You all have taken a position over
and over again that you have done things lawfully, and then a
witness gets on the stand yesterday and admits you haven't done
it lawfully.
MR. KHOJASTEH: What did the witness say yesterday
that was unlawfully?
THE COURT: I'm not here to answer your questions,
sir. You're here to answer mine.

Don Dechert @dondechert.bsky.social · 5h

When I lived in a building with elevators, I sort of liked it when my son could press the button and press the correct button.

Lilah Sturges @lilahsturges.com · 5h

Admitted to my wife in the elevator that even though I’m an adult, I still want to be the one to push the elevator button. She admitted that she also feels this way. So I’m curious—do you like to be the one to push the elevator button?

Reposted by Don Dechert

Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 5h

Next up on my reading list.

…I am already regretting this choice.

IF ANYONE BUILDSIT, EVERYONE DIES
WHY
SUPERHUMAN AI
WOULD
KILLUS ALL
ELIEZER
YUDKOWSKY &
NATE SOARES

28 8 220

Reposted by Don Dechert

David Burbach 🌹 @dburbach.bsky.social · 5h

For those unfamiliar -- the term is more common w far right movements in Europe than here -- "remigrate" implies not deporting migrants here illegally, which DHS does. It implies pushing legal migrants, naturalized citizens, even people born here to give up US citizenship and go 'home' [sic]

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 6h

X post today from Homeland Security @DHSgov that says "Remigrate."
3:06 PM · Oct 14, 2025

1 86 210

Don Dechert @dondechert.bsky.social · 5h

@mikeblack114.bsky.social

Sam (ABeardedPanda) @abeardedpanda.bsky.social · 5h

Palmer Luckey is the homeschooled only son (very distinct from the only child) of a Southern California used car salesman and when you realize that everything about him makes sense

William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · 6h

recurring gripe of mine: stop talking about these people like they’re fucking supervillains, Palmer Luckey is grifter bullshit artist who is going to steal a lot of public money in exchange for buggy vaporware, he’s not Lex Luthor. they get off when breathlessl hyperventilating about them like this.

Reposted by Don Dechert

Christopher L. Bennett @clbennettauthor.bsky.social · 1d

Not getting Looney Tunes references has changed the language. Bugs Bunny sarcastically called Elmer Fudd "the little Nimrod" after the great Biblical hunter, but generations of kids didn't get the allusion and thought "nimrod" just meant "idiot" or "loser," and now that usage is in the dictionary.

3 2 26

Reposted by Don Dechert

Mike Black @mikeblack114.bsky.social · 9h

lmfao

people are gonna lose their minds over this, but reminder that grandpa just says things

they transferred unobligated FY25 RDT&E funds into nonexistent FY26 MILPERS account in direct violation of the Constitution, that's bad enough

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h

Trump: "I had a very wealthy person who called -- a donor, a great gentleman -- and he said, 'if there's any money necessary, shortfall, for the paying of the troops, then I will pay it.' Meaning he will pay it. How about that?"

7 17 97

Reposted by Don Dechert

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy @profciara.bsky.social · 6h

Just toying with your career on accident. What a bunch of dolts. #hhs #firings

Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 6h

BREAKING: HHS official says in a court filing:
"As a result of data discrepancies and processing errors, RIF notices were issued on October 10, 2025, to approximately 1,760 employees instead of to the 982 employees who were intended to receive RIF notices.” 1/3

3 9 23

Reposted by Don Dechert

gamera obscura @ohrobin.bsky.social · 8h

Happy Anita Bryant Humiliation Day

A four-panel image of Anita Bryant being pied in her sanctimonious face by gay rights activist Thom Higgins, 1977.

58 1.1K 4K

Don Dechert @dondechert.bsky.social · 6h

Probably, but there's a tendency to take path of least resistance rather than do the right (hard) thing. It's how we saw white papers in US govt go extinct because of wanting to (and failing to) keep the Al-Awlaki white paper secret.

Reposted by Don Dechert

Pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings.bsky.social · 6h

This is my position. Any public use of force by the state, in my view, should be announced alongside a public statement of the domestic and foreign legal authorities invoked to conduct it. Democratic states and the international community should demand and expect nothing less

2 5 44

Don Dechert @dondechert.bsky.social · 6h

I foresee a lot of forced retirements if a Dem Admin takes office, because an apolitic military doing "can-do" for horrendous policies aren't going to restore lost trust. Whether it's possible is another story.

Mike Black @mikeblack114.bsky.social · 7h

And every JAG who's kept their head down while concocting excuses instead of stating this should resign their commission in shame and be disbarred; absent that they need to be on the list for housecleaning when the next Dem Admin takes office

Reposted by Don Dechert

CJ Ciaramella @cjciaramella.bsky.social · 7h

Over at Reason we have a "puppycide" tag for cop-shoots-dog stories going back to 2012. Easiest way to get a normie 4th Amendment-pilled against the cops is to show them this stuff reason.com/tag/puppycide/

6 110 240

Don Dechert @dondechert.bsky.social · 7h

Do magnetic bookmarks fall under true neutral? (A fellow student in law school used them for her textbools, and I thought it right clever.) Also used reciepts.

Ryan Turnbull @ryankturnbull.bsky.social · 15h

All of them.

Don Dechert @dondechert.bsky.social · 7h

Instances like this just serve to increase my general wariness about AI in legal services and in general.

I'm surprised we haven't had a law review Note scandal yet about a Note written via AI.

Reposted by Don Dechert

Sam Brunson @smbrnsn.bsky.social · 7h

Freaking hell, man.

404 Media @404media.co · 13h

An attorney in a New York Supreme Court commercial case got caught using AI in his filings, and then got caught using AI again in the brief where he had to explain why he used AI, according to court documents filed earlier this month.

🔗 www.404media.co/lawyer-using...

Lawyer Caught Using AI While Explaining to Court Why He Used AI

The attorney not only submitted AI-generated fake citations in a brief for his clients, but also included “multiple new AI-hallucinated citations and quotations” in the process of opposing a motion fo...

www.404media.co

2 1 19

Reposted by Don Dechert

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 7h

2. A misguided soul wondering if THIS shooting will be the one to bring about sensible gun control.

3 4 23

Don Dechert @dondechert.bsky.social · 8h

I've not seen if a legal annex in orders counts or covers advice of counsel as one would think in the civilian world. That's another hole in what we know, namely lawyer involvement in the go order and execution. Also, echelons below don't really do legal analysis on orders coming down.

Don Dechert @dondechert.bsky.social · 8h

UCMJ defines it differently.

Any person subject to this chapter who, without justification or excuse, unlawfully kills a human being, when such person—
(1)has a premeditated design to kill;

10 U.S. Code § 918 - Art. 118. Murder

www.law.cornell.edu

1 5

Reposted by Don Dechert

Arin Arcady @rnrkd.bsky.social · 10h

The other reason I've heard is that ic e doesn't have independent capacity to deal with citizen arrestees and so would rely on the US Atty for that district. Here is a profile from Bloomberg of the new US Atty for the Northern District of Illinois.

3 8

Reposted by Don Dechert

Cheryl Rofer @cherylrofer.bsky.social · 8h

If I were a journalist, I would be trying to find the names of people in the chain of command.

Amarnath Amarasingam @amaramarasingam.bsky.social · 9h

The military has now killed 27 people as if they were enemy soldiers in a war zone and not criminal suspects. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/u...

U.S. Military Kills Another 6 People in 5th Caribbean Strike, Trump Says

www.nytimes.com

5 51 200