Attribution: archivesnews, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the door stop dog, notes there are similar results in sniffing up those masked ICE guys with their disguises and hostility, and the scents given off by those with their street signs and chants protesting the emergence of Nazism to replace Democracy: They all have …
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Month:August 2025
Kickass and Badass Badger
Attribution: USFWS Mountain-Prairie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports receiving a message from Badass Badger who provides security for the keeper and Phyllis from his post on their 5th floor Vista West balcony. That message, when its language was cleaned up for public consumption, was: “On this Wisconsin Badger …
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Kickass and School Walk
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that during a recent visit to youthful haunts the keeper, retraced the mile and a half of country roads that he and his sister and brother walked to the one-room country school up in Barron County. The retracing was done by car in …
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Kickass and the Story of an Hour
Attribution: Meena Yarlagadda, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper in an attempt to manipulate time, designated one specific hour yesterday during which he isolated himself in a comfortable outdoor chair with a view of little else but a parade of pillow clouds across a beautiful blue …
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Cornered
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter We’re in deep trouble and there doesn’t seem to be anything anybody can do about it. Our rights, our way of life, and our democracy are under attack from within. Armed soldiers are patrolling the streets of our greatest cities, U.S. citizens are being arrested, detained, and deported …
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Kickass and Evening News
Attribution: U.S. News & World Report photographer Thomas J. O’Halloran, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper watching the evening NBC news program of 8/26/25 when one of the lead stories was the engagement of Taylor and Travis the celebrity show biz-sports couple. The story went on …
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Kickass and Cousins
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper immersed in cousin matters as a result of a recent meeting with cousins Pat and Barbara and Ron, and then remembering what an incredible adventurous pleasure it was to have grown up with a raft of cousins almost within shouting distance. …
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Kickass and the Coup
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper ready to pack his original Army duffle bag that somehow survived the years, and his mess kit of course, for the inevitable military coup required to stop the dictatorial vermin from doing their Hitler-like number on the US and buying the …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Parthenope”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Skin Deep: Review of Parthenope ★★★☆☆ By Geoff Carter The beginning sequences of Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope are nothing short of breathtaking. Set in the beautiful coastline of Posillipo in Naples, Sorrentino’s loving and perfectly framed shots of the Mediterranean coast, the sea, and the quaint streets are suitable for framing. But like framed …
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Kickass Relates to Water
Attribution: Video by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis spend considerable time and energy relating to the land areas of their past while giving the waters–creeks, lakes and rivers—only passing mention. Such was the case with a recent visit to the keeper’s boyhood haunts when water …
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Kickass and Cows Over Turkeys
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, by enlisting in the Army and leaving Barron County haunts as a teenager, missed out on the revolution of county agricultural from cows to turkeys, and he is happy about that. A recent visit showed vast former fields and pastures …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Magic Under the Stars
RoyBuchanan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:112_Drive-In.jpg By Geoff Carter (Originally published in May, 2023) Whenever I’m near my hometown, I go past the site of the old Starlite Drive-in, which they torn down a while ago. I still miss the sight of the titanic blue structure towering on the horizon, and always remember the …
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