Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter At times, it’s difficult to see what’s right under your nose, or to see change happening over time, like when you haven’t seen a niece or nephew for a few months and are amazed at how much they’ve grown or to see how much a beloved uncle has …
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Category:Politics
Independence Day
(Last published July 4th, 2025, but–unfortunately, it is as timely now as it was then) Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Our nation is celebrating The Fourth of July today. 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 …
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A Fourth of July Memorial
Attribution: Photo by Alex Martinez on Unsplash (Originally published July 4th, 2025) By Geoff Carter Every Fourth of July, we celebrate and honor an idea, a hope, and a dream which has survived two hundred and fify years. It seemed to be an impossible dream, that a nation could function as a free democracy, with lawmakers elected by …
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National Assets
Attribution: Photo by Bernd 📷 Dittrich on Unsplash By Geoff Carter America has always had a love-hate relationship with its immigrants. On the one hand, we need them. We couldn’t have built the country without them. They raised our skyscrapers, worked our sweatshops, labored in our fields, and harvested our crops. Today they care for the elderly, teach …
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Bad Sportsmanship
Attribution: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter The United States of America is approaching its semiquincentennial—its two hundred and fiftieth birthday. This is going to be quite the celebration—parts of it have already begun. The reflecting pool in Washington, D.C. has been inadvertently dyed a gangrenous shade of green—not on …
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Kickass and Mills in the Reflecting Pool
Attribution: SWinxy, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper’s connection with the beleaguered Washington reflection pool is remote and comes via the night of Oct. 4,1974 when Argentine stripper Fanne Foxe jumped out of Congressman Wilbur Mills’s limo and dove into the pool as an intoxicated Mills …
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Kickass and the Like-Me Element
Attribution: Wikideas1, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, confident in the knowledge that he is “liked” to the extent that the keeper and Phyllis tolerate his presence and would probably feed him if he had a stomach. All of which goes to make the point that all people and dogs …
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False Imprisonment
Attribution: Paul Goyette from Chicago, USA, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter We’re not supposed to be a country that imprisons innocent people. It states in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” and that “among these are Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness” and that it is the …
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Kickass and Display Letters
Attribution: Dclemens1971, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog is assisting the keeper and Phyllis with the international garage sale today as it offers the specialty item of 18 outdoor display letters with the following advertising: “For sale: 18 outdoor display letters. Lightly used in a bogus scheme to destroy …
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Kickass and Barn Talk
Attribution: DonkeyHotey, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, works with the keeper to explain “barn talk” under the terms of which the POTUS, during his recent stop in a Wisconsin barn, totally lost his cool and said he hated everybody except himself. Having grown up in a community where …
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See No Evil
Attribution: Clare Black from Morley, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter As a boomer who grew up during what was arguably America’s golden age, I still find it almost unfathomable that our country is teetering so dangerously close to a totalitarian takeover. At the time I came up in the sixties and …
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Kickass and Andy Rooney
Attribution: Stephenson Brown, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in wondering how to get a message to the late Andy Rooney regarding a job opportunity on 60-Minutes, where Andy was a fixture for a long time. That message would advise Andy to stay wherever he is …
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