Don Dechert
@dondechert.bsky.social
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
📍Chicago, IL, Vereinigte Staaten, Terra
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.
Reposted by Don Dechert
#LegalEthics Tidbit: When I leave a firm, do I have to change my contact information with the Courts or can I just assume the firm will substitute new counsel for me?
An IL attorney admitted pro hac vice in W.D. Mich. Bankruptcy Court failed to attend two ... (cont.)
lnkd.in/eXWtKQCG
#law #lawsky
An IL attorney admitted pro hac vice in W.D. Mich. Bankruptcy Court failed to attend two ... (cont.)
lnkd.in/eXWtKQCG
#law #lawsky
November 17, 2025 at 1:23 PM
#LegalEthics Tidbit: When I leave a firm, do I have to change my contact information with the Courts or can I just assume the firm will substitute new counsel for me?
An IL attorney admitted pro hac vice in W.D. Mich. Bankruptcy Court failed to attend two ... (cont.)
lnkd.in/eXWtKQCG
#law #lawsky
An IL attorney admitted pro hac vice in W.D. Mich. Bankruptcy Court failed to attend two ... (cont.)
lnkd.in/eXWtKQCG
#law #lawsky
Reposted by Don Dechert
No surprise that Mr. "We May Need to Tell the Courts 'Fuck You'" was also pushing the administration's campaign of extrajudicial killings.
www.npr.org/2025/11/17/g...
www.npr.org/2025/11/17/g...
Justice Department official told prosecutors that U.S. should 'just sink' drug boats
NPR interviews with current and former officials reveal more of the backstory around the military's strikes in the Caribbean.
www.npr.org
November 17, 2025 at 1:12 PM
No surprise that Mr. "We May Need to Tell the Courts 'Fuck You'" was also pushing the administration's campaign of extrajudicial killings.
www.npr.org/2025/11/17/g...
www.npr.org/2025/11/17/g...
I do love some social network analysis, and kudos to @thatsjustlikeyouropinionman.com for data input, which looks tremendous.
A short thread of observations using Max Andrew's tool to explore the network of relationships revealed in the Epstein estate email cache. @thatsjustlikeyouropinionman.com
🧵
1. There is a tight inner circle, densely connected. Trump is in the near outer rim.
epstein-doc-explorer-1.onrender.com
🧵
1. There is a tight inner circle, densely connected. Trump is in the near outer rim.
epstein-doc-explorer-1.onrender.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:00 PM
I do love some social network analysis, and kudos to @thatsjustlikeyouropinionman.com for data input, which looks tremendous.
Reposted by Don Dechert
💯 Pandemic drove super-rich people to new levels of bonkers, then stock market boom from 2023-onward seared it deeper into their brains, a windfall they saw as the universe confirming the fundamental rightness of their extra-broken brains.
My wildest WILDEST take
Is that the pandemic double scared these people
They found out money couldn’t protect them the way they thought, and that they weren’t that great and it’s been the Fox and the grapes ever since
Is that the pandemic double scared these people
They found out money couldn’t protect them the way they thought, and that they weren’t that great and it’s been the Fox and the grapes ever since
free link archive.ph/lpLQd
November 17, 2025 at 12:42 PM
💯 Pandemic drove super-rich people to new levels of bonkers, then stock market boom from 2023-onward seared it deeper into their brains, a windfall they saw as the universe confirming the fundamental rightness of their extra-broken brains.
Reposted by Don Dechert
A senior academic using mentoring as leverage to obtain sex is a contemptible abuser of power.
Summers conferred with Epstein frequently about how to extract sexual favors from a Harvard econ grad (AB '04, PhD '09)
The grad is from China
Epstein and Summers referred to her by the codename "Peril"
Racism and sexual exploitation in one efficient package
bit.ly/3LHpin8
The grad is from China
Epstein and Summers referred to her by the codename "Peril"
Racism and sexual exploitation in one efficient package
bit.ly/3LHpin8
As Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His ‘Wing Man’ | News | The Harvard Crimson
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: convicted sex offender Jef...
bit.ly
November 17, 2025 at 8:07 AM
A senior academic using mentoring as leverage to obtain sex is a contemptible abuser of power.
Reposted by Don Dechert
I have some thoughts, but there are a lot of people who devote their lives to studying and teaching American culture, politics, and history. I would like to know what those people think of this plan--not in posts, not in confused organizational open letters, in arguments accessible to the public.
I really would like to read something long-form on the Phoenix Declaration from someone more qualified than I am to weigh in on what it means to transmit “American tradition” in schools— www.dailysignal.com/2025/11/13/f...
Florida Becomes First State to Adopt Phoenix Declaration to Renew Education
Florida just became the first state to adopt the Phoenix Declaration, a declaration that seeks to restore excellence to American schools.
www.dailysignal.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:25 AM
I have some thoughts, but there are a lot of people who devote their lives to studying and teaching American culture, politics, and history. I would like to know what those people think of this plan--not in posts, not in confused organizational open letters, in arguments accessible to the public.
Reposted by Don Dechert
You dont actually have to platform everything they say without evidence
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei thinks AI could help find cures for most cancers, prevent Alzheimer’s, and even double the human lifespan. cbsn.ws/4oRZ8Nm
November 17, 2025 at 3:29 AM
You dont actually have to platform everything they say without evidence
Reposted by Don Dechert
One thing about being a law professor who researches sexual abuse is that a lot of victims of it want to tell you there stories so that you can help make sense of them. When institutions treat them as problems, it leaves them baffled. Harvard has a cultural problem and Summers is part of it.
November 17, 2025 at 3:59 AM
One thing about being a law professor who researches sexual abuse is that a lot of victims of it want to tell you there stories so that you can help make sense of them. When institutions treat them as problems, it leaves them baffled. Harvard has a cultural problem and Summers is part of it.
Reposted by Don Dechert
Seconded.
I once again move that we rethink the whole elite thing.
gosh I wonder why they called her peril www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
November 17, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Seconded.
Reposted by Don Dechert
I'm not in the Harvard bubble, but during my 1 year there as a Radcliffe Fellow, I learned disturbing details about how the administration handled sexual harassment of younger faculty. Then, there's its past treatment of student rape victims. Larry Summers is indicative of a larger problem.
November 17, 2025 at 3:55 AM
I'm not in the Harvard bubble, but during my 1 year there as a Radcliffe Fellow, I learned disturbing details about how the administration handled sexual harassment of younger faculty. Then, there's its past treatment of student rape victims. Larry Summers is indicative of a larger problem.
Reposted by Don Dechert
Conversations with the 9yo DM:
9yo DM: I had a great time playing Magic the Gathering, and the people were really nice though a little weird.
Me: What do you mean weird?
9yo DM: Are all Magic the Gathering players just DnD min/maxers who got tired of roleplaying?
9yo DM: I had a great time playing Magic the Gathering, and the people were really nice though a little weird.
Me: What do you mean weird?
9yo DM: Are all Magic the Gathering players just DnD min/maxers who got tired of roleplaying?
November 17, 2025 at 3:28 AM
Conversations with the 9yo DM:
9yo DM: I had a great time playing Magic the Gathering, and the people were really nice though a little weird.
Me: What do you mean weird?
9yo DM: Are all Magic the Gathering players just DnD min/maxers who got tired of roleplaying?
9yo DM: I had a great time playing Magic the Gathering, and the people were really nice though a little weird.
Me: What do you mean weird?
9yo DM: Are all Magic the Gathering players just DnD min/maxers who got tired of roleplaying?
Reposted by Don Dechert
The Unitary Executive suddenly needs congressional approval for the actions of an executive agency. 🤔
Trump now says House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files “because we have nothing to hide”
November 17, 2025 at 2:48 AM
The Unitary Executive suddenly needs congressional approval for the actions of an executive agency. 🤔
Reposted by Don Dechert
Might be worth keeping track of which institutions are keeping Larry Summers on as a board director, fellow, consultant, etc.
It's a long list! Just to start – Harvard (ofc), OpenAI Foundation, CAP, Council on Foreign Relations, a weird # of credit card companies, ...
It's a long list! Just to start – Harvard (ofc), OpenAI Foundation, CAP, Council on Foreign Relations, a weird # of credit card companies, ...
November 17, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Might be worth keeping track of which institutions are keeping Larry Summers on as a board director, fellow, consultant, etc.
It's a long list! Just to start – Harvard (ofc), OpenAI Foundation, CAP, Council on Foreign Relations, a weird # of credit card companies, ...
It's a long list! Just to start – Harvard (ofc), OpenAI Foundation, CAP, Council on Foreign Relations, a weird # of credit card companies, ...
Reposted by Don Dechert
Remember he's not a political appointee, he's a civil servant
He's gonna hit mandatory retirement in a couple years, but a thing the next dem admin needs to accept and act appropriately on is DHS generally and the Border Patrol specifically is full of (younger) cretins just like him
He's gonna hit mandatory retirement in a couple years, but a thing the next dem admin needs to accept and act appropriately on is DHS generally and the Border Patrol specifically is full of (younger) cretins just like him
I like how this employee of the federal government, a public servant, posts obnoxious replies to people that are replete with right-wing misinformation.
Greg Bovino’s response to someone saying he’ll eventually be charged for his crimes: “triggered much?”
November 17, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Remember he's not a political appointee, he's a civil servant
He's gonna hit mandatory retirement in a couple years, but a thing the next dem admin needs to accept and act appropriately on is DHS generally and the Border Patrol specifically is full of (younger) cretins just like him
He's gonna hit mandatory retirement in a couple years, but a thing the next dem admin needs to accept and act appropriately on is DHS generally and the Border Patrol specifically is full of (younger) cretins just like him
Reposted by Don Dechert
truly revolting, but also incredible that the “invaluable and interesting” mind in question is larry fucking summers!
it’s like the dersh believing that women will sleep with him to access his legal services
it’s like the dersh believing that women will sleep with him to access his legal services
It’s sort of clarifying to see him describe this dynamic so directly www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
November 17, 2025 at 2:56 AM
truly revolting, but also incredible that the “invaluable and interesting” mind in question is larry fucking summers!
it’s like the dersh believing that women will sleep with him to access his legal services
it’s like the dersh believing that women will sleep with him to access his legal services
Reposted by Don Dechert
I confess - I reposted this, then watched the segment. Take 16 minutes to watch this. You will be gutted.
"Could you work any harder?"
"If I could, I would."
"Could you work any harder?"
"If I could, I would."
It's hard to express what it meant to watch Maurice, Natalia, Celeste, and Rhea tell their stories—in their own voices—this morning.
The segment revealed a brutal reality: homelessness at this scale isn't about personal failure. It's the result of policy choices and systems built to exploit people.
The segment revealed a brutal reality: homelessness at this scale isn't about personal failure. It's the result of policy choices and systems built to exploit people.
November 16, 2025 at 5:51 PM
I confess - I reposted this, then watched the segment. Take 16 minutes to watch this. You will be gutted.
"Could you work any harder?"
"If I could, I would."
"Could you work any harder?"
"If I could, I would."
Reposted by Don Dechert
I just need everyone to experience this: walk with me into my kids’ bedroom in our hotel room this weekend
November 17, 2025 at 2:48 AM
I just need everyone to experience this: walk with me into my kids’ bedroom in our hotel room this weekend
Reposted by Don Dechert
The legal profession is chock full of women who interviewed with lots of law firms in hotel rooms as first or second year law students
If you are not in academia, you might not know this, but job interviews used to be held at conferences IN HOTEL ROOMS. Women candidates in a hotel room alone with often all-male committees. People sitting on beds! The horror stories I've heard.
I thing I sometimes thing about is that university departments were still doing job interviews in hotel rooms in the mid aughts
November 17, 2025 at 1:51 AM
The legal profession is chock full of women who interviewed with lots of law firms in hotel rooms as first or second year law students
Reposted by Don Dechert
Thor was quite interested.
I muted the video chat b/c I can't hear it and the doc at the same time. The chat is not as nice as doing it in BSKY where we can reply to each other but we still have a good conversation going. #HATM Th
I muted the video chat b/c I can't hear it and the doc at the same time. The chat is not as nice as doing it in BSKY where we can reply to each other but we still have a good conversation going. #HATM Th
November 17, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Thor was quite interested.
I muted the video chat b/c I can't hear it and the doc at the same time. The chat is not as nice as doing it in BSKY where we can reply to each other but we still have a good conversation going. #HATM Th
I muted the video chat b/c I can't hear it and the doc at the same time. The chat is not as nice as doing it in BSKY where we can reply to each other but we still have a good conversation going. #HATM Th
Reposted by Don Dechert
Okay, let's try this. One like, one good tax reform idea. Popular or not, but one I think will improve our country and strengthen our democracy.
November 16, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Okay, let's try this. One like, one good tax reform idea. Popular or not, but one I think will improve our country and strengthen our democracy.
It's another symptom of the admin's magical thinking, but it's magical thinking more situated to the unipolar moment, which is in the rear view. Boat strikes, wacky tariffs, shuttering USAID are all actions when there's no push back and solid foundations.
It's magical thinking that won't end well.
It's magical thinking that won't end well.
The end of dollar hegemony will transform U.S. debt from a fiscal drag into a high-yield fusion bomb.
For decades dollarization has generated structural demand for U.S. treasuries, depressing the interest rates the U.S. needs to offer to service its debt.
For decades dollarization has generated structural demand for U.S. treasuries, depressing the interest rates the U.S. needs to offer to service its debt.
one thing that I think we really don't think about is if Trump fucks up America's macro privileges or role in the international system and Americans are forced to end up dealing with a economic system that doesn't allow for the same old fiscal fixes as before
November 16, 2025 at 8:38 PM
It's another symptom of the admin's magical thinking, but it's magical thinking more situated to the unipolar moment, which is in the rear view. Boat strikes, wacky tariffs, shuttering USAID are all actions when there's no push back and solid foundations.
It's magical thinking that won't end well.
It's magical thinking that won't end well.
Reposted by Don Dechert
That’s created a de facto soft-budget constraint.
U.S. policymakers have been able to run deficits rather than make tough fiscal choices.
If that goes away — especially if it happens quickly because the idiots running our government destroy the foundations of 💵 dominance — we’re truly fucked.
U.S. policymakers have been able to run deficits rather than make tough fiscal choices.
If that goes away — especially if it happens quickly because the idiots running our government destroy the foundations of 💵 dominance — we’re truly fucked.
November 16, 2025 at 7:22 PM
That’s created a de facto soft-budget constraint.
U.S. policymakers have been able to run deficits rather than make tough fiscal choices.
If that goes away — especially if it happens quickly because the idiots running our government destroy the foundations of 💵 dominance — we’re truly fucked.
U.S. policymakers have been able to run deficits rather than make tough fiscal choices.
If that goes away — especially if it happens quickly because the idiots running our government destroy the foundations of 💵 dominance — we’re truly fucked.
Reposted by Don Dechert
The end of dollar hegemony will transform U.S. debt from a fiscal drag into a high-yield fusion bomb.
For decades dollarization has generated structural demand for U.S. treasuries, depressing the interest rates the U.S. needs to offer to service its debt.
For decades dollarization has generated structural demand for U.S. treasuries, depressing the interest rates the U.S. needs to offer to service its debt.
one thing that I think we really don't think about is if Trump fucks up America's macro privileges or role in the international system and Americans are forced to end up dealing with a economic system that doesn't allow for the same old fiscal fixes as before
god I remember the fandom Russian zoomers on Twitter during the start of the war who were either "what can I do, I can't be held responsible" or "wow it's so mean that the West sanctioned us from our favourite fandoms"
November 16, 2025 at 7:22 PM
The end of dollar hegemony will transform U.S. debt from a fiscal drag into a high-yield fusion bomb.
For decades dollarization has generated structural demand for U.S. treasuries, depressing the interest rates the U.S. needs to offer to service its debt.
For decades dollarization has generated structural demand for U.S. treasuries, depressing the interest rates the U.S. needs to offer to service its debt.
I blame law school, but I'm curious about the contracts for this & what the companies are & normally sell non-Trump.This parallels when a celebrity has a cigar company roll a line of cigars for them, which then get the celebrity branding; hell, that's how there's a Rocky Patel (I think?).
This alone would've gotten a previous president laughed out of office so fast there wasn't time to impeach him.
gettrumpfragrances.com
gettrumpfragrances.com
Trump Fragrances
Trump Fragrances
gettrumpfragrances.com
November 16, 2025 at 7:10 PM
I blame law school, but I'm curious about the contracts for this & what the companies are & normally sell non-Trump.This parallels when a celebrity has a cigar company roll a line of cigars for them, which then get the celebrity branding; hell, that's how there's a Rocky Patel (I think?).