Attribution: NASA and ESA, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, sympathizes with the keeper and Phyllis’s disappointment in hearing the forecast for clouds that will prevent their seeing the rare eight-planet lineup on tap for tonight. They were heartened, however, to learn that the solar system will repeat an …
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Month:February 2026
Kickass and Eating Duckers
Attribution: Photo by Ross Sokolovski on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper immersed in yet one more significant inquiry into the quality of life: what will be the results of switching from chicken to duck eggs for his breakfast? The human and rat studies go on apace, and guidance is apparently not available …
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Kickass Envies the Trash Collectors
Attribution: Photo by James Day on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper observing that the measure of social value by the very young is largely influenced by the amount of noise made and how it is made, hence the awe and respect for the trash collectors banging around with their awesome over-the- top loader …
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Tariff Tantrum
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter In a highly unusual occurrence in modern American politics, the Supreme Court of the United States made a ruling that President Trump did not like. Not at all. Like a nanny taking away a favorite toy from an extremely spoiled child, the justices removed Trump’s tariff powers, ruling …
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Kickass and Alien State of the Union Report
Attribution: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/303938034, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper having intercepted what is obviously a report from an alien observer of the State of the Union spectacle. “In yet another mystifying Earth ritual the leaders of the planet’s richest and allegedly one of the most advanced countries …
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Kickass and The State of Dog Walking
Attribution: Tony Alter from Newport News, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in doing something special to mark the reading of the “State of The Union” in the legislative chambers tonight. As suggested by Kickass himself, an arrangement will be made to treat …
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Kickass Remembers and FORGETS
Attribution: Illustration by DonkeyHotey, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis and their crowd of “seniors” working with each other and the younger establishment in memory matters. Accepting the verity that almost at birth memory begins to do wacky things in the forgetting department—Where did …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Father Mother Sister Brother”
Echoes: Film Review of Father Mother Sister Brother ★★★☆ By Geoff Carter Illustration by Michael DiMilo It’s strange and sometimes funny how patterns and motifs emerge in our experience as something more than coincidence. Last week, I wrote a review of the film Sentimental Values, a movie about an egregiously dysfunctional family. Shortly afterwards, we went …
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Kickass and Mom’s Poetry Book
Attribution: Photo by Emmanuel Phaeton on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper in his feeble efforts to “organize” the keep-safe treasures of his long life ran across his mother’s book of “One Hundred And One Famous Poems,” published in 1929 just a couple of years before the keeper was born. Mom’s small, …
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Kickass and Tax Revolt
Attribution: Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, observes Phyllis working at the computer all day to file her and the keeper’s income tax forms, after which she suggested that perhaps a tax revolt might be in order considering how the government—particularly the current one, spends so much tax money on bombs …
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Kickass and Earth’s Fate
Attribution: Photo courtesy of National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper tuning in to his Outer Space frequency to hear the following: “Attention all those millions out there observing the quaint space experiment on Earth whereby the most advanced …
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Kickass and the Sucking Goat
Attribution: Photo by Sergiu Vălenaș on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that in his tireless search for meaningful parallels in life, the keeper is convinced he has found one in the memory of “Snowball,” the useless Billie goat of his farm- boy childhood and the current occupant of the White House. Snowball, a hornless, …
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