Attribution: TV studio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper’s experience with the question of “Is he dead or alive?” as the blunt inquiry was recently asked about the invisible Senator McConnelly. The keeper’s occasion was part of his news reporting on the climax of the two-day …
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Category:Social Commentary
Kickass Greets the Day
Attribution: Photo by alex lauzon on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis and the multitudes in greeting this sunny Monday, July 13, 2026 with enthusiasm and the irrefutable knowledge that the possibility of being shot and killed by an unidentified POTUS gestapo agent is as real as more ICE raids at …
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Kickass Talks to Fish
Attribution: Paul Nute, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, having no regrets about anything in his wayward life, is at a loss to understand the keeper’s ambition to balance his account with the fish that shared his bounty of years. Those fish were mostly trout that the keeper met in …
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Kickass and Wolves in Charge
Photo by Geoff Carter By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper on one of his “trips,” imagining how it might have turned out if, back when the earliest wolves and humans first began hanging out around the same campfires, just how it would have evolved if the wolves instead of the humans …
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Kickass and The Silver Badgers
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper announces to the world that living with Phyllis adds many dimensions to his life, and most recently he has been basking in the reflected energy of Phyllis’s identity as a founding member of the Silver Badgers, the lively protest group …
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Happy Fourth of July from The Pen in Hand Blog!!
Attribution: National Portrait Gallery, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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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Kickass and the Lost Wedding Note
Attribution: makaiyla willis, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis found the following note lying on the floor near the elevator. “Dear Gert: “Well, Louie has done it again, we are on our way to the Taylor Swift wedding and of course we do …
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Kickass and Cousin Ed’s Reflecting Pool
Attribution: Photo by Johann Noby on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper unable to move on from the reflecting pool fiasco because it allows him to wallow in one of his favorite older-cousin memories. It was when cousin Ed bought the “go anywhere” surplus Army Jeep just after WWII and offered the keeper …
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Kickass and “Ah, The Women!”
Attribution: Image by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, will be napping today as the keeper and Phyllis conduct a book launch in the Vista West community room for Ah, the Women!, Bill’s latest novel about women taking over the world to save it from the outrageousness of the male libido. 1:30 …
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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 Message to Bob Shepherd
Attribution: Pete Souza, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper will be sending a message today to his old friend Bob Shepard on the occasion of the opening of the Obama Presidential Library in Chicago. Bob would have a typical Chicago comment of ironic Black pride …
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