Attribution: Photo by FETHI BOUHAOUCHINE on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper, in his efforts to use diversion to help with deodorizing the Trump zoo stench, shares a boyhood memory of spending two days to buy BBs when the clerk at the Farmers’ Store apparently thought the kid standing by the peanut barrel …
Read
Kickass and Double-Breasted Suit
Attribution: Marcus Kaiser 【 MqaTalk 】, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reminds the keeper of his responsibility in guiding the Easter style dress parade, an honor which he earned many years ago by purchasing the very last double-breasted men’s suit in the Midwest, maybe the entire country. Double …
Read
Breathe
Attribution: Photo by Geoff Carter By Geoff Carter To say we are living in a tumultuous time is a bit of an understatement. While this may not be the very worst of times, it’s getting there. First of all, we live in one of the least equitable societies in our history, where according to the Congressional …
Read
Kickass and the Big April Fool
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, agrees with the keeper and Phyllis that the fun went out of April Fool’s Day when you could no longer tell Mom there was an elephant out on the lawn or a mouse in the cereal box. And, of course, in this day and …
Read
Kickass and White House Dogs
Attribution: Maarten Honnebier, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper in possession of a secret White House memo that seeks the services of guard dogs to accompany ICE agents on their visits to schools and parking lots where very dangerous little foreign felons lurk. The secret document …
Read
Kickass and Dumb Legislators
Attribution: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the Keeper and Phyllis and the rest of Wisconsin in wondering just what the hell it is that puts utter fools in too many of its Washington legislative posts, and can anything …
Read
The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Nuremberg”
★★★ History 101: Review of Nuremberg Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter We all know the famous Santayana quote, “”Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”, yet we continue to stupidly ignore—and thereby repeat—our past mistakes. War, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and human trafficking have not only continued to exist—they have …
Read
Kickass and Migration Oddities
Photo by Geoff Carter By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in looking to Nature for information on yesterday’s national “migration” to the sidewalks and streets across the country and then back home to weekend chores, pleasures and malcontent. In addition to the well-known migrations of caribou and monarchs and …
Read
Kickass and Old Kids
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper pretty much denying birthdays, especially his own, but also those of his children who have somehow gotten so old they creak and limp. Even the youngest—Mike, who reportedly is now 70 years old and does not have the decency to lie …
Read
Kickass and Birds and Frogs
Attribution: Photo by Elisa Stone on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports a major shift in the keeper’s area of interest this spring from “birding” to “frogging” based on DNR information suggesting that he is less likely to be comfortable in the company of millions of migrating warblers and more at ease consorting with emerging …
Read
Kickass and Surviving High Tech
Attribution: Photo by Ilya Pavlov on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper as Phyllis does her best to keep him precariously balanced on the gangplank of today’s high-tech ship as it sails into the seas of push-button wars, in-house thievery and unopenable plastic containers. The keeper lived most of his life when going …
Read
Shame on Us
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, three times, four, more… and shame on us. All of us. Over the past fifty years, the American people have been screwed over so thoroughly and completely that we can’t tell up from down anymore. We’ve been screwed from …
Read