National Archives and Records Administration , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, despite heroic efforts, was unable to prevent the keeper from wasting valuable nap time composing what he claims is poetry. It isn’t, of course, but then he—the keeper, is overdue for his rabies shot. “You decline vaccines and refuse …
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Month:July 2021
Kickass and ’32 Chevy
AlfvanBeem, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper’s old-car restoration phase centered around the 1932 Chevy because it took him back to high school days when he had hauled an abandoned ‘32 out from behind a neighbor’s machine shed and drove it on dates despite it having …
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Passing the Smell Test
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter While we were recently visiting the family cabin recently—which is shared by three extended families—my wife started poking through the refrigerator. It contained a variety of half-used bottles of salad dressing, hot sauce, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, and various other sundries. She was—of course—checking expiration dates. Some of the …
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Kickass Eats a Duck
Tesla Delacroix, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is not really a lot of help to the keeper as he—the keeper, tries to formulate a meaningful message to the duck that he ate in dining with Phyllis at Otto’s on a recent night. The keeper, while generally comfortable with being …
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Kickass and Brain Exercise
TapTheForwardAssist, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis opted to pass up their daily exercise class Tuesday in favor of watching the four Capital cops testify at the legislative hearing for the Jan. 6 Capitol insanity. Just what this says about them—the keeper and …
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Kickass Says Goodbye
Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes on the keeper’s appreciation for his very brief contact with Bob Wills, the Milwaukee journalism giant who spent much of his long life fighting for the public’s right to know what its government is up to. Bob was instrumental in …
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Kickass and Dinner with Daughter Pat
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis ventured down to Madison’s Willy Street for a most enjoyable Sunday dinner at Buraka restaurant in the company of Ernest Hemingway and Pat Stokes, the keeper’s beloved daughter who left behind a devastated family when she went on …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to Old Hollywood: The Legacy of James Stewart
Liberty Films, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter I was flipping around the TV dial a couple Saturdays ago, and there wasn’t much on—more ubiquitous reruns of Law & Order, even more overbearing chatter on MSNBC, and an endless line of banal reality shows. Then I happened to flip to TCM and caught the …
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Kickass and a Call for Action
Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is assisting the keeper in mounting an “insurrection” against the infuriating arrogance of the Wausau dentist and cranberry company owner who refuses to step down from his expired term on the DNR Board, thus keeping in place Walker DNR policies …
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Kickass and Vaccine Absurdity
National Gallery of Art , CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper—operating under the proviso that dealing with desperate vexations may require desperate means, is suggesting a return to public branding as a means of encouraging vaccinations. Common in 17 and 18th century colonial America, public branding of adulterers, drunks, …
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Kickass Chases His Tail
Lil Shepherd, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is with the keeper in noting that the home planet is either burning up, flooded, or poisoned to become generally unlivable; and vast numbers of residents are refusing life-saving vaccination; and others are insisting that votes do not count unless they …
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Personal Space
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter On July 11th, billionaire Richard Branson launched himself fifty-three miles into the atmosphere—to the very edge of space, taking a slight edge in a three-way race between himself and other multi-billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to establish a space tourism industry. Bezos plans to launch his self-funded …
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