Attribution: Revised by Reworked, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in wondering how a democracy can possibly continue to function when $50 million donations are as much a part of the election scene as standing in line to vote? With unlimited donations welcomed into the political …
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Month:June 2024
Kickass and Two Day Shopping
Attribution: © European Union, 2024, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, sympathizes with the keeper as he continues to fall even farther behind in trying to adjust to the ever-changing, all-American preoccupation with shopping. The keeper’s resistance to shopping obviously has its origin in his very first solo experience …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “The Pale Blue Eye”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo History Lessons: Review of The Pale Blue Eye By Geoff Carter ★★★ 1/2 The speculative film, alternate history, or just plain fantasy film is, at first glance, more common than one might think. The Nine Percent Solution, in which Sherlock Holmes encounters Sigmund Freud, The Man in the High Castle, which explores what …
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Kickass and The “Wombers”
Photo by Thom Milkovic on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, announces that the keeper appreciates Phyllis’s enthusiasm in joining him in celebrating the completion of a first draft of his 78,000 word novel—working title “The Wombers” which is plotted around the take-over of everything by women fed up with how it has been under male …
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Kickass and the SCOTUS
Attribution: Photo by Mr. Kjetil Ree., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, goes along with the keeper in accepting the verity that he—the keeper, has neither the patience nor the smarts to be a supreme court justice, given the “high” court’s apparent lengthy deliberation in deciding that a man …
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Kickass and Bear Hunters
Attribution: kikiciao, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper with the annual reminder that of the many things that set Wisconsin summers apart there is the July 1-Aug. 31 outrageous, inhuman, unbelievable bear hound training program. Thousands of bear hounders from all over the country gang into …
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Kickass and Rainy Day Fishing
Attribution: A farm track after rain by Stanley Howe, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes the keeper’s observation that only a former farm boy of his obsolete vintage can remember how to appreciate a summer day that dawns wet and rainy and with the kind of overcast that is …
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The Birds and the Bees
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Earlier this spring, we were heartened to see our old friend the mother robin return to her nest tucked above the heater on our front porch. Last year, she hatched three broods throughout the spring and summer, and so we were able to watch the hatchlings grow until …
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Kickass and the Windmill
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is not much help to the keeper as he—the keeper, is increasingly beset with quirky attempts to remain relevant. So the keeper has this windmill on the balcony at Vista West where he and Phyllis reside. It is a totally useless thing in that …
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Kickass and Hot Court
Attribution: Lorie Shaull from Washington, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper accepts the irrefutable evidence that the world has already gone to hell in a handbasket and the temperature will continue to increase until the MAGA cult dingbats and the SCOTUS members melt …
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Kickass and Animal Waste
Attribution: Tiia Monto, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, in his post- Father’s Day musings, recalls how his farmer father and all like him were necessarily burdened with the job of disposing of great amounts of animal waste as a major part of their earthy …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Godzilla Minus One”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter B + Movie: Review of Godzilla Minus One Godzilla has been around as long as—well, the dinosaur, and he has managed to stick around longer than the in-laws at Thanksgiving dinner. Over the years, the big green boy has entertained us by battling adversaries like King Kong, Mothra, …
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