Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Mark Zuckerberg, the kingpin of Facebook, joined the other subservient members of the royal court last week, bowing down to the new American despot, Donald Trump, while proclaiming that Facebook will no longer fact-check content on the popular social media page, opening the door (even wider) for any …
Read
Category:Media
Kickass and the Truth
Attribution: Carlo Chiostri, User:Mbz1, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper is in something of a dilemma in adjusting to the demise of truth as a communications requirement, from pronouncements from political narcissists to now here on Facebook with the announcement that posts will no longer be …
Read
The Pen in Hand Guide to Spinning Classic Christmas Vinyl
Photo by The Retro Store on Unsplash By Geoff Carter While those of us at The Pen in Hand will always be slavishly devoted to his TV home entertainment center, this week he will be putting down the universal remote in order to turn his focus solely on another entertainment form—music. Part of the reason for this departure …
Read
The New Normal
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter We once had a dog, a cute little schnoodle named Lucy. We got her as a puppy and raised her as a member of our family. Our daughter grew up alongside her. As Lucy grew older, we noticed normal signs of aging: lower mobility, hearing and sight issues, …
Read
Kickass and Sleeping Fish
Attribution: Pos, Robert H, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog reports that on one of his “past patrols” the keeper recalled the days when newspaper make-up was done by hand, by linotype operators who used innocuous filler items to lock in a page for …
Read
Kickass and Republican Milwaukee Convo
Attribution: Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. Naval Photographic Center, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper’s fond memories of the decade or so that he spent roaming Wisconsin as a columnist/reporter for the Milwaukee Journal back in the days—1970s– when it was still one helluva …
Read
Local Anesthetic
Attribution: Melvinmazel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter Traditional print and broadcast media are under fire from political forces seeking to create—and disseminate—their own separate realities. Masters of disinformation and proponents of downright lies, including the myth of the stolen 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican followers regard traditional journalists …
Read
Kickass and Phyllis’s Show
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, shares the keeper’s enthusiastic support of Phyllis’s “showbiz” debut with her slide show presentation of her three-month stint as a volunteer at the Mojave Preserve on the California-Nevada border. Her work as an assistant to an archeologist finding and marking historic points was most …
Read
The Pen in Hand Guide to Spinning Classic Christmas Vinyl
Photo by The Retro Store on Unsplash By Geoff Carter (Originally posted in December 2019) While the Couch Potato will always be slavishly devoted to his TV home entertainment center, this week he will be putting down the universal remote in order to turn his focus solely on another entertainment form—music. Part of the reason for this departure …
Read
Kickass and Tribune Tower Space
Attribution: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, unable to do much about the keeper’s thought process, is helpless now as the keeper considers the makeover of Chicago’s Tribune Tower into apartments and wonders who is now sleeping and living in his old office …
Read
Kickass and Grandfather Embarrassment
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, assists the keeper in sending a message to his grandsons in the mode of the one that JFK’s grandson recently sent in which he said his grandfather was an embarrassment due in part for spreading utterly harmful bull—-. So listen up here Nick and …
Read
Kickass and Tucker as Dog
U.S. Air Force Photo by Josh Plueger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Military_dog_barking.JPG By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the keeper’ s observation that If Tucker Carlson were a dog and had been returned to the shelter for snarling and biting and barking at pizza deliverers, his adoption promo might include “Big, …
Read