Attribution: Commonists, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that as the keeper and Phyllis and a roomful of other Vista West residents were gathered for a “Happy hour” meeting Tuesday afternoon there was an attempt by an outsider to invade the premises via a backdoor. Approaching through the …
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Kickass and Ambulance Call
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes that the keeper and Phyllis live five floors over the entrance of Vista West where they look down at the parking circle used by the frequent emergency vehicles. There is one there now, an ambulance that came howling off Gilbert Road with red …
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Kickass and the Raging Grannies
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, celebrates with the keeper and Phyllis their good fortune in having as a Vista West neighbor Donna who is a member of the local chapter of the “Raging Grannies,” an activist singing group with chapters in both Canada and the US. The Raging Grannies …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Civil War”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Life During Wartime: Review of Civil War ★★★☆☆ By Geoff Carter Civil War is a hard film—although not as hard as some—to pigeonhole. It’s a war movie, it’s a road movie, it’s a political thriller, it’s a journalism movie, and a (sort of) post-apocalyptic film. It also might be argued that it …
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Kickass and POTUS Eviction
Photo by Geoff Carter By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes, along with the keeper, Phyllis and thousands of Sunday’s “Hands Off” demonstrators, that having made their feelings known they will now demand that the most recent POTUS election be declared null and void on the grounds of illegal vote buying, easily proven by …
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Kickass and No First Dog
Attribution: Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis and the entire citizenry on this April 5, 2025 to message the demented chief herding mutt that he is not qualified to take the herd down the road to greener pastures and he needs to turn himself in to the …
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Kickass and Bill Veeck
Attribution: US Marine Corps, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reminds the keeper that the baseball season is off and running and it is time for his annual lament about the editor who, to the keeper’s consternation, cut Bill Veeck’s wooden leg out of one of the keeper’s Tribune …
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Kickass and Tariffs
Attribution: Michael Coghlan from Adelaide, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, bypasses the keeper and Phyllis in offering his own canine explanation of just how the orange poodle’s tariff system works: “First, consider the world to be a big tree which all of the male dogs have been …
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A Man of Little Consequence
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter We watch Law and Order reruns a lot at our house. It’s kind of the default viewing choice when nothing else is on. It’s a great show; the writing, acting, and direction are top-notch. It’s realistic—or as realistic as TV can get (how can so many beautiful Assistant DAs could …
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Kickass Thanks Elon
Attribution: DonkeyHotey, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, having forever marked Wisconsin as his territory, joins the keeper and Phyllis in sending a thank-you note to Elon for his generous participation in the recent state supreme court election won by Susan Crawford: “Elon: “Thank you so much for helping …
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Kickass and the April Fool
Attribution: Osmar Schindler (German, 1869–1927), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, turns this April Fools Day over to the keeper: THE APRIL FOOL “Who’s the biggest April fool? “Not me, not you, we’re cool. “Is it Elon Musk as the loan arranger “Buying votes as the foreign stranger? “Is …
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Kickass and Mr. Whipple
Attribution: Photo by Colourblind Kevin on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the word that if you are old enough to know that Mr. Whipple was a TV celebrity as a result of his “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin” toilet tissue ads, then you might remember when he visited the Green Bay area and …
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