Attribution: Photo by Omar Ramadan on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis were invited by Bonnie and Ed to visit with one of their granddaughters–Laila, who had expressed an interest in writing. Ever willing to talk about himself, the keeper told his story of how Ed Gein, the Plainfield grave-robbing …
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Month:July 2026
Dialogues on Our National Embarrassment: The Presidential Brain Drain
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., John K., Michael D., and Geoff Carter Hey bots, I’m thinking we all must be kicking back in a major way this summer. Between the weather, the Brewers, and retirement, things seem good—if we ignore the news …
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Kickass and Brain Protection
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes the keeper’s advice to not assume that simply because your brain is kicked around like a deflated soccer ball by out-of-bounds White House scrubs that it is ready to process the likes of the recent legislative hearing conducted by Senator Paul and his …
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Flying the Friendly Skies
Photo by Ross Murphy By Geoff Carter Summer is season of sun, surf, festivals, picnics, family reunions, baseball, and barbecues—and the Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-in. This convention includes air shows, pilots, historical reenactments, vintage aircraft displays, and demonstrations of the latest in state-of-the-art military technology. This one-of-a-kind event takes place annually in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. According …
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Kickass Runs for Dogcatcher
Attribution: Morning Oregonian, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, napped as the keeper and Phyllis listened to the televised debate among the five candidates competing to represent the Democrats in the coming gubernatorial election. As he napped, Kickass dreamed that he was a candidate for dog catcher and was …
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Kickass and Surviving the Tornado
Attribution: Quincy Gordon, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Kickass and The Correspondents Dinner
Attribution: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, wonders at the keeper’s insistence that if he had been at the recent Correspondent’s Dinner, he would have led a mid-speech walkout that would have left the orange POTUS spouting his garbage to an empty house. There is something …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “The Odyssey”
Lost: Film Review of The Odyssey ★★★★ Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Film versions of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, and most other Greek and Roman myths, are often framed as epic tales of mortal men struggling to control their own lives. In movies like Jason and the Argonauts or Clash of the Titans, the gods are …
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Kickass and the Band Tournament
Attribution: Photo by David Trinks on Unsplash By Bill Stokes
Kickass and the Sunrise
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper fell asleep during the Correspondents’ Dinner program just as awards were given to the reporters who wrote about the Epstein/POTUS connection. This prompting the keeper to dream about efforts to remove the wolf from grandma’s bed and caused him to …
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Kickass and Old Sunburn
Attribution: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team, E. Kraaikamp (ROB), CC BY-SA IGO 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, sympathized with the keeper as VA dermatologists probed at the keeper’s damage from the hot suns of his youth. Wrapped in his Norwegian mother’s handed-off onion-paper skin, the keeper …
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Kickass and the National Bird
Attribution: Photo by Pete Godfrey on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, noting the keeper’s reference to an old Kickass post, advises the bald eagle that its days as the national bird are as much as over and it should look for a new job, perhaps in recycling. The historical item is from July 24, 2018 …
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