The Money Badger

By Geoffrey Carter Wisconsin has a long and storied tradition of perseverance and courage that is reflected in our state animal, the badger. For decades, he’s been the symbol of Wisconsin toughness, integrity, and grit. In a state that has boasted leaders of courage and integrity like Bob LaFollette, Bill Proxmire, Gaylord Nelson, and Vel …
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MAGA Land

Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoffrey Carter American culture has entered what might be called a fractured state, divided along splintered planes of competing realities. A majority of us are still living in the real world, but a substantial portion of our population is living in a carefully manipulated alternative existence—a sort of ideological twilight …
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Kickass and Margaret’s War

By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes that Mondays can be problematic, particularly this one that has everyone waiting—for the vaccine, for crucial stimulus help and for the narcissistic king to get the hell out of the White House. With this in mind, Kickass stands aside today as the keeper announces that those who …
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Kickass Climbs a Mountain

Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that on that beautiful Saturday when the world celebrated freedom from the clutches of sadistic narcissism, the keeper and Phyllis escaped the confines of their coronavirus exposed-facility and more or less climbed a mountain. The “mountain” was an old one—at least 500 million …
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Kickass and Butterfly Wasp Photo

By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, often called upon to console the keeper over his shortcomings, steps up now to moderate his—the keeper’s excesses in claiming a camera coup in the area of nature photography. Having long been intimidated by photo friends who consistently produce sensational shots of scenes and sunsets and wild critters …
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Cool Beans

Kudos for Michael DiMilo Congratulations to Michael DiMilo for his award-winning short animated film Cool Beans. We are incredibly lucky to have Michael provide many of the outstanding illustrations for this blog and now you can see his outstanding animated work, too. If you haven’t yet seen it, check out coming attractions for this delightful …
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Whistling In the Graveyard

Photos by Geoff Carter By Geoff Carter While driving around running errands this last Sunday, my wife and I found ourselves in the somewhat unusual position of having some time to kill, a strange situation for us. It was a beautiful October afternoon, sunny and seasonably mild. The leaves were nearly at their peak and …
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Civil Obedience

CIVIL OBEDIENCE             I heard a great story the other day at my barbershop, that time-honored venue for a good conversation and the occasional bawdy tale. Things have changed, of course, and the barbershop is now not always a stronghold for the masculine sensibility. And that can be a good thing.             The story I heard concerns …
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