Kickass and Walking on the Moon

Attribution: Illustration by w:en:William Wallace Denslow, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in noting that it has been 54 years since Neal Armstrong walked in the moon, one of those where-was-I-at-the-time remembering events: Phyllis was raising kids and working in a Wisconsin Rapids bank. The keeper was …
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Kickass and Off-Leash Comments

Dwayne Reilander, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is often uneasy about the keeper being “off leash” but cannot always prevent it. The following recent examples illustrate the risks of his “at large” status:          *The outrageous summer bear hound training now being allowed ONLY in Wisconsin has no comparable …
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Faded Glory

Photo by Alex Martinez on Unsplash By Geoff Carter A couple of weeks ago, we went up to the family cabin in Northern Wisconsin for a short vacation. Our family has had the place there for years, since I was a boy. It’s an area that has been slowly changing, turning older and more politically conservative as more …
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Kickass and All-Star Trade

Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, with his unique lines of communication, has intercepted the following press message:          “In a major trade prior to the annual All-Stupid Washington DC Allstar game–next Tuesday, the Dem Wokes will …
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Kickass and Dash Veto

Lisacheese, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in celebrating the “dash” that Gov. Evers vetoed in the state budget to save public school funding   for the next 400 years. By changing “2024-25” to “2425” the former educator did something decent for Wisconsin kids on into an uncertain …
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All Too Real

Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter I’ve never had the experience of attending a Comic-Con, and I’ve never—except maybe for Halloween—engaged in cosplay, dressing up like a character from a movie or novel, but it is amazing to see the detail and craftmanship that goes into some of the cosplay costumes and accessories at …
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Independence Day

(Originally published July 8th, 2021, but–unfortunately, still as timely now as it was then) Artwork by Michael DiMilo Article by Geoff Carter Our nation just celebrated The Fourth of July. Any American can—hopefully—tell you what this holiday is all about. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, severing all …
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Fool Me Once….

Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter The United States has an impressive legacy of leadership, boasting war leaders like Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and FDR, and nation builders like Jack Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower. We have also elected notable scholars like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, ferocious defenders of democracy like John Adams …
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Dialogues on the Redder the Better: The Ron and Don Show

The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter Bots, Now that perfect weather is secure here in the upper Midwest…and… Mark M. is busy doing field work–his longitudinal cross-section study of Americana, I thought I’d …
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