Attribution: Photo by Jonas Jaeken on Unsplash By Geoff Carter When I was about twelve years old, I used to walk home from school past a savings and loan that had a deposit envelope dispensary mounted outside its front door. It was supposed to be used for after-hours deposits. All you had to do was pull out the …
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Category:Social Commentary
Kickass and Elective Office
Attribution: Photo by Dmytro Koplyk on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, woke from his nap late Tuesday to hear the keeper comment to Phyllis that the primary election results again showed no votes for dog catcher. History shows that this was not always the case: from settlement days, a “dog catcher” was a common elective …
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Life Cycles
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter “Dedicated to the memory of Alex Pretti” Every year during the last week of July, the Milwaukee Riverwest neighborhood, an eclectic enclave of artists, musicians, families, and working folks, hosts the Riverwest 24, a twenty-four-hour bicycle race that runs along the neighborhood streets. According to the Riverwest 24 website, the …
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Dialogues on Our National Embarrassment: The Presidential Brain Drain
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., John K., Michael D., and Geoff Carter Hey bots, I’m thinking we all must be kicking back in a major way this summer. Between the weather, the Brewers, and retirement, things seem good—if we ignore the news …
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Flying the Friendly Skies
Photo by Ross Murphy By Geoff Carter Summer is season of sun, surf, festivals, picnics, family reunions, baseball, and barbecues—and the Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-in. This convention includes air shows, pilots, historical reenactments, vintage aircraft displays, and demonstrations of the latest in state-of-the-art military technology. This one-of-a-kind event takes place annually in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. According …
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Kickass and the Band Tournament
Attribution: Photo by David Trinks on Unsplash By Bill Stokes
Kickass and Old Sunburn
Attribution: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team, E. Kraaikamp (ROB), CC BY-SA IGO 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, sympathized with the keeper as VA dermatologists probed at the keeper’s damage from the hot suns of his youth. Wrapped in his Norwegian mother’s handed-off onion-paper skin, the keeper …
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Kickass and the Bad Air
Attribution: Bureau of Land Management California, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, will be barking his alarm to help the keeper and Phyllis spread the word that the polluted gray atmosphere is the result of Pete Hegseth’s efforts to adjust the testosterone levels of the military, which as he …
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The American Gestapo
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Minnesota Governor Tim Walz created a major controversy when he compared ICE agents in Minneapolis to the Gestapo. In a commencement address to the University of Minnesota Law School in May 2025, he said, “Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets. They’re in unmarked …
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Kickass, Is He Alive or Dead?
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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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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