Nice Economy You’ve Got Here . . .


The technical, linguistic term for it is a Gricean Implicature.1 You know, the Mafia thug walks into the store and says, “Nice place you’ve got here. Be a shame if something bad happened to it.” Or, if you prefer, U.S. House Speaker Kevin “You’ve Sold Out” McCarthy2 looks around at the U.S. economy and says,…

How ‘Bout Those Phillies?


There was a lawyer WC knew back in the day. When you asked her a difficult question she didn’t want to answer, she’d respond, “How ’bout those Phillies?” It’s an evasion and a not very clever way of ducking an issue, attempting to change the subject. It’s now the Republican Party’s go-to solution to the…

WC’s Advice to Ron DeSantis: Settle Immediately


Florida Governor Ron “Pander” DeSantis has picked a fight with the Disney Company. As Jimmy Buffet noted many years ago, “You don’t mess with the mouse in Orlando,” although he was putting words in the mouth of the fictional Skip Wylie at the time. The Disney Company employs 75,000 people in Florida, brings some 50…

WC Dons a Coat and Tie


WC wore a coat and tie most of his professional career. Perhaps in an over-reaction to that long costuming requirement, WC mostly wears shorts and a hoody these days. But occasionally Mrs. WC can persuade WC to put on slacks, a dress shirt, one of his elderly tacky ties and a blazer and pretend to…

Sam Mudd Slept Here


For those who aren’t familiar with the Lincoln Assassination and its various players, Dr. Samuel Mudd was the physician who treated John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s assassin. Booth broke his leg jumping from Lincoln’s presidential box at Ford’s Theater. It was never clear whether Mudd knew of Booth’s plans in advance, whether he was a part…

And Now for a Few Words on Theocrats


The thing to remember about the Founding Fathers is that the country they rebelled against had a state religion. That state religion served the myth of the divine right of kings, defending and justifying the British monarchy. The American Revolution was as much against the state religion as the monarchy that religion justified. The separation…

The Crash Test Dummies Scandal


(WC’s family tree doesn’t include even a trace of Irish blood. Besides that, in law school, WC’s apartment was across the street from the biggest, loudest Irish pub in the city. So WC generally takes a pass on all things St. Patrick. You can doubtlessly find abundant Irish content elsewhere on the Web.) Yes, there…

In Which WC Becomes a Criminal


There are folks who would argue that WC, as a lawyer, has been a criminal for decades. The public’s opinion of lawyers holds them in something considerably less than esteem. But this time, WC is deliberately setting out to violate a law, in fact, a law that hasn’t even been formally adopted yet. You see,…

Department of Rhetorical Questions, Issue #1


WC is starting a new sometime series of blog posts that ask rhetorical – and usually unanswerable – questions. When did compulsive lying about your credentials become a Republican qualification? Did it start when Donald Trump, when in one of his first public comments after being sworn in as President, claimed to have had the…

The Trump Administration: Durham’s Coda


Coda: (figuratively) A conclusion (of a statement or event, for example), final portion, tail end.  Wiktionary, “Coda“ The thing about Donald Trump is that it is always about Donald Trump. Not the country that, as President, he swore to defend. Not the voters who made him president. Not the political party he was supposed to lead.…

The Right’s War on Citizens


One of the more troubling aspects of the political right’s recent actions is its war against citizens. WC will draw on three specific examples from his former home state of Alaska, but the same case can be shown for other states where the political right has control of the government. The Two Rivers Fire DistrictAs…

When the State AG’s First Act Is Corrupt


Idaho voters selected Raúl Labrador as the next state attorney general. Labrador, a singularly ineffective former Congressman and failed gubernatorial candidate, ran for state attorney general as a stepping stone for another run at the governorship. Or maybe he’s just polishing his resumé. In his campaign, he spoke only in generalities, although he wears his…

The Benefits of Republican Hypocrisy


In a sad, sick way, George Santos is understandable. He’s an abject failure as a human being, a former call center employee for the Dish Network, former employee of a Ponzi scheme operator, living in his mother’s basement, a college drop out and a deadbeat. So Santos invented an imaginary version of himself, a guy…

Of Course George Santos


The media was shocked – shocked! – to learn that pretty much everything about Representative-elect George Santos was a lie. But WC thinks that George Santos is merely the logical extension of a Republican Party increasingly removed from reality. Let’s consider the record. We had a Republican U.S. President who, according to the Washington Post’s…

Donald Trump in the Cabinet Room at the White House, Washington, U.S., November 22, 2019. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

2022 in Review: Politics


In what passes for tradition here at Wickersham’s Conscience, we spend the last week of each year thinking about the year that is ending, and making our wishes for the coming year. This blog post is firmly in that tradition: a look back at the kidney stone that was 2022 and a look forward to…

Or Maybe It Was Humble Pie?


The Alaska Republican Party Central Committee met earlier this month, the first meeting since the November 2022 election. We don’t know what they had for dessert, but we know what the main entrée was: crow. Great big servings of crow. Mmm. Tastes just like chicken.1 You see, the Alaska Republican Party Central Committee had censured…

Poor Tom Cotton is So Confused


Anyone who has lived in Alaska for very long knows that those poor folks in Arkansas get confused about the official abbreviation for their state and the official abbreviation for Alaska. All those “As,” Ks” and “Ss,” WC supposes. Of course, Arkansas is “AR,” and Alaska is “AK.” That kind of confusion is the only…

Notes on Alaska’s 2022 General Election


Alaska has brought off its first, full general election using the ranked voting system adopted by citizen initiative back in 2020. WC has some thoughts. For good and sufficient reasons, WC doesn’t write much about The Quitter, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. But WC will make a small exception here and note that Palin has…

VOTE! The Future of Our Country Depends Upon It


Get out and vote today, if you haven’t already. If you don’t, you are giving the 40-50% of voters who do vote in mid-term elections an out-sized amount of influence. Don’t argue that your vote won’t make a difference; races are sometimes decided by a mere handful of votes. Don’t be intimidated by firearm-packing “poll…