Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Republican Vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance has just recently stepped (or rather stumbled) into the national spotlight—no small feat for a man whose foot is constantly in his mouth. Even though in many ways he is a mini-Trump, some of Vance’s views are much more extreme than the former …
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Category:Social Commentary
Kickass Stays Up Late
Attribution: See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis stayed up past their bedtime to watch Biden and Kamala greet the return of the former Russian prisoners, agreeing that the airport blend of show biz., politics and basic humanity was worth …
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Kickass and Davis Review
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, occasionally chews on one of the keeper’s books, and he seems to appreciate the attention. Authors, with their egos in tow, appreciate any attention, but it does not often come with the thoroughness and depth of a recent review from Jerry Davis, who read …
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Blue Skies
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter This is the twenty-first century. Miracles just don’t happen. We know water can’t be changed into wine and that people can’t walk on water and that two fish and five loaves will not feed the multitudes. Science tells us otherwise. Still, a lot of people still believe in …
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Yearly Cycle
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter 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 event came about because of efforts by …
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Kickass and the Cellular Cycle
Attribution: Photo by Gabriel Jimenez on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis were both impressed by information posted by Scott Marrese-Wheeler that each human is composed of 84 minerals, 23 elements, 8 gallons of water divided among 38 billion cells, and these cells will inevitably be recycled in some other …
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Stranger than Fiction
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter When I was kid, we used to be able to order paperback books in school from The Arrow Book Club, a division of Scholastic Books. I remember eagerly looking through the order form at titles like 13 Spooky Stories, A Wonderful Trip to the Mushroom Planet, The Forgotten Door, or …
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Kickass and the Weinermobile
Attribution: connect the dots from Washington, DC, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, pitifully unable to turn in all of his “PRESS” credentials, will be working the top story of the day, that being that one of the Oscar Meyer wienermobiles tipped over on …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Bad Faith”
Godless: Film Review of the Documentary Bad Faith ★★★★★ Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Documentary film is a versatile beast. It can be used, as in Harvest of Shame or Sicko, as an expose; or, as in Steve Van Zandt: Disciple or American Movie as a profile or biography; or also; like Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth or Supersize Me, a cautionary tale. Or, …
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Kickass Gets Wrong Day
Attribution: Photo by Waldemar on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in asking how long does it take for a misidentified day—thinking Saturday is Friday, before there is an appropriate adjustment by the rest of the world and Saturday actually becomes Friday? There is an ongoing experiment in progress, which of course has …
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Kickass and Dog at RNC Convo
Attribution: Governor Jim Justice, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, was excited along with the keeper and Phyllis to see a dog on the stage at the RNC Convo in Milwaukee as the Repubs passed around and praised their leader’s version of America as his kingdom. “Babydog” an English …
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Kickass and July 14th Notes
Attribution: Bidgee, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, looks over the keeper’s mish-mash mental notes from June 14, 2024 to see the following: *Sunrise obliterated by rumbling thunderstorm. *Assassination attempt missed by an inch. *400 million guns. *Second graders. *Reagan and JFK and Bobby. *“Just get over it!” *Secret …
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