Attribution: Eugène Delacroix , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper’s life-long amicable relationship with chickens keeps forcing him to consider the price of eggs as the issue most needing his expert attention, even exceeding the obvious ongoing coup of the US government. The coup, by single …
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Dialogues on LA Noir: Ashes to Ashes
Attribution: Pacific Southwest Forest Service, USDA from USA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Mark M., Dave S., Mark O., Dennis C., and Geoff Carter What do the ‘bots think about Hotel California blazing away? Let’s be honest. Human casualty has been minimal. I reckon, in terms of the ratio of $$$$ …
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Kickass 2/4/25
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in appreciating one of life’s truly great moments as the keeper’s granddaughter Natalie hears her and Elliot’s first-born Augie babble “Ma-ma Da-da” for the first time. In keeping with the keeper’s clan members’ inclination to be talkers as opposed …
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Kickass and Not Funny Posts
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper at a loss in attempting to compose some light-hearted Facebook post in the face of the global catastrophe now being dictated by the new administration. Like jokes for grieving survivors at a crash site, anything humorous the keeper attempts to do …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Conclave”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Mysterious Ways: Film Review of Conclave ★★★★☆ By Geoff Carter There is probably no more of a secretive or insular institution than the Catholic Church. Steeped in centuries of tradition, rituals, dogma, and mystery, the Catholic Church is like a dinosaur mired in the tarpit of its past. Nearly alone amongst …
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Kickass and Groundhog Day 2025
Attribution: EleetCanoe, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, using his rare ability to know almost everything before it happens, reports on the latest executive order from the current POTUS: “Executive Order # 365: Starting right now–this very minute, all groundhogs are hereby notified to turn …
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Kickass and Dumbest Politico
Attribution: U.S. Department of Transportation, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is working with the keeper to reassign the title of dumbest Wisconsin politician from long term champion MAGA-loving Sen. Johnson to former Rep. Sean Duffy who is the new secretary of transportation and made the following statement about …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo ★★★★1/2 Musical History: Review of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg By Geoff Carter The big-budget Hollywood movie musical, probably the gold standard by which the genre is measured, was notoriously and unabashedly larger than life. An American in Paris, Singin’ in the Rain, Gigi, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and of course The Wizard …
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Kickass and Blame
Attribution: Vector Portal, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper is admittedly slow to catch on, but is finally recognizing the importance of “blame” in maintaining relevance in today’s Land of Oz. Under the precepts of the “blame” culture when something bad happens, such as an …
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Registered Offenders
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter They are living amongst us. They might be your co-worker, your neighbor, your teammate in the volleyball league, or the housewife standing in line at the grocery store staring at the tabloid headlines. Hundreds—more than a thousand—of them were just released from their prisons and are once again …
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Kickass and Old Haircuts
Attribution: François GOGLINS, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, was not involved as the keeper and Phyllis both visited Cheryl at the Vista West hair salon for the usual professional treatment that made them both young and beautiful, more so perhaps in Phyllis’s case. But as it happens with …
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Kickass and Wisconsin Name
Attribution: USFWS Mountain-Prairie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, cautions the keeper to remain calm in the face of rumors that the MEGA efforts to rename things includes an attempt to rename WISCONSIN to eliminate the last three letters “sin” in its name. A POTUS staffer told the Fox …
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