Kickass and Dark Memory

Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, steps aside as the keeper notes that a dark memory can remain buried forever, like a seed planted too deep, and then one day sprout up as a mental weed: and it is so that the images emerge of the bloody …
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Kickass and the Weinermobile

WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, laments, along with the keeper, that of the countless issues thar require lamenting, near the top of the list has to be the renaming of the Oscar Mayer advertising vehicle from “Weinermobile” to “Frankmobile.” Is nothing sacred!!! This uncalled-for corporate move obviously …
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Kickass and Memorial Day 2023

Photo by Brittany Colette on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog and the keeper, on this 2023 Memorial Day, salutes all of those who dodged bullets in the cause of preserving respectability at home and abroad through the years.  As usual in the keeper’s experience he is moved to remember the two platoon members from Michigan …
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Full Measure

Artwork by Michael DiMilo (Originally posted on May 31, 2019 in Honor of our Veterans) By Geoff Carter Ah, Memorial Day: the harbinger of summer, the first family picnic, and the grill master’s opening day. Memorial Day also happens to be the holiday recognizing and honoring those who have made the ultimate sacrifice defending our …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: The Perverse Appeal of “Succession”

Maklay62, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Absolutely Corrupt: The Perverse Appeal of “Succession” At first glance, HBO’s Succession is a series that seems to have it all. It features a hideously wealthy family whose grown children are struggling for control of a multi-national media conglomerate after the upcoming retirement—or demise—of their father, corporate patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox), …
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Kickass and Farm Stench

Attribution: Julian P Guffogg / Manure Heaps in field; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manure_Heaps_in_field_-geograph.org.uk-_1217127.jpg By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, with a keener sense of smell than the keeper, agrees that there are sensory shocks to be had now in traveling across the glory of spring in Wisconsin. All can be sweetness and beauty when all of a sudden the …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to Going Above and Beyond the Call of Duty

Capt. Saska Ball, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (Originally published in June, 2019) By Geoff Carter “…that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain… –Abraham Lincoln, …
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Kickass Writes Ode to Trees

Attribution: Joshua Ganderson from Austin, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, steps back from his efforts to promote the keeper’s book “Treeson: an APOLOGIA to Trees,” and offers the following: ODE FROM A DOG TO THE TREES Now that you are all leafed out,          You’re glorious things, no …
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Kickass and Dumbing it Forward

Shakib khan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in suggesting that the U.S. as a leader in global dumbing-down, needs to share some of its more successful dumbing-down techniques: 1.   Give unlimited media attention to performing idiots spouting sheer inanity. 2.   Stick with malfunctioning governmental structures until they …
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Kickass and Older Drivers

Mick Tinbergen tintels, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along information that the keeper’s campaign to have a driver’s age shown in big numbers on the side of his or her vehicle is not finding a lot of traction, perhaps due to resistance from his own age group. The …
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Kickass Talks to Doug re: Treeson

Graphic by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis are on the road again as the keeper joins Doug Moe at “Mystery to Me” book store on Monroe street tonight at 6 p.m to discuss the international implications of the keeper’s recent book “Treeson: an APOLOGIA to …
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