Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes with the keeper that the gerrymandered chokehold the narcissistic Republicans have on the democratic political system will be its downfall: a kennel operating for the benefit of only a few tall dogs with no meaningful sustenance for the hordes of mutts cannot endure. …
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Category:Politics
Qualified Immunity: There’s a Catch
Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels By Mark Mamerow “That’s some catch, that Catch-22,’ Yossarian observed. “It’s the best there is,” Doc Daneeka agreed. —Catch-22, by Joseph Heller Readers of Joseph Heller’s brilliant World War II black comedy Catch-22 see the war from the bemused and frustrated perspective of Captain Yossarian, a bombardier. Throughout the novel, Yossarian’s desire …
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Living in the Past
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. –Thomas Jefferson We’ve been taught to respect and believe these hallowed words since we were children. Of course, after a close examination of U.S. history, no one—except perhaps a child—is naïve enough to believe them. Shortly …
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Kickass and “Weather Through Filibuster”
Ralf Roletschek (GFDL 1.2 or FAL), via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is assisting the keeper in deciphering a Repub-designed program to deal with rotten weather over the Memorial Day weekend. Called “Weather Through Filibuster” or WTF for short, the program is based on the Repub held contention that warm sunshine is the …
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Kickass and Homeless Cricket
“North Portland Homeless Tent Camp”Graywalls, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis, while driving through Madison ‘s Reindahl park–named after a shirt-tail predecessor of the keeper’s, happened upon a couple of puzzling scenes: men playing cricket and, not far away, the remains of a …
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Kickass and Repub Revisionists
United States Library of Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in noting yet another instance of modifying the record as the 100th anniversary—May 31, of the Tulsa massacre approaches. Despite the recent eye-witness account of 107-year-old Viola Fletcher before congress, in which she recounted details of …
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The High Road
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Sometimes we find our greatest strengths in the strangest places. One of our most fierce advocates for fighting climate change is an eighteen-year-old Swedish high school student. An outspoken advocate for woman’s rights is a twenty-three-year-old Pakistani who nearly died in an assassination attempt. That didn’t frighten her; …
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Kickass and McViewitis
TapTheForwardAssist, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper’s recent preoccupation with vision issues may have been misguided in that he apparently didn’t see what he saw. In comparing notes with others who did not see what they saw, the keeper refers to an apparent new affliction …
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Kickass Does a Recount
Foley, Mark T., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, using the technique of the know-nothing Arizona vote counters, is pawing through cultural records in search of evolutionary advances. So far, he has found: *Money in politics carries the day in white male millionaire briefcases. *If a …
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Too Far Gone
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Perseverance is usually a virtue. The determination to keep going—no matter what the odds—until a goal is reached, a task completed, or a dream attained is usually a noble aspiration. But when determination swells into blind ambition or becomes nothing more than a single-minded fixation, it can result …
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Kickass and the Good Dog
By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, says if Liz Cheney were a dog in a kennel and she was up for adoption, the keeper might give her a look, even though he—the keeper, already has what he considers the perfect dog—made of cast iron and forever tuned in to “sit and stay.” It is …
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Kickass Goes Republican Birding
By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, watches as the keeper applies the Republican version of truth to his bird feeding efforts by identifying visiting starlings as orioles, sparrows as goldfinches, and chickadees as eagles. Though he can see with his own eyes what plainly plumed birds are visiting his balcony feeders, the keeper sees …
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