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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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Heretic”
House of God: Review of Heretic Illustration by Michael DiMilo ★★★★1/2 By Geoff Carter “Two young women working as missionaries for the Church of Latter-Day Saints—the Mormons—enter the home of a charming middle-aged man and soon find they have walked into the devious puzzle box of a religious fanatic, that they are prisoners of a …
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Kickass and the Hodag
Attribution: The Wide World Magazine, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in celebrating the capture of what was first thought to be the Rhinelander Hodag but turns out to be Elon Musk who was nabbed while trying to stuff currency into the personal body …
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Kickass and ICE
Attribution: Cgoodall, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, agrees with the keeper that it is only a matter of time until he and Phyllis are accosted by black clad masked young men who demand that they come along peacefully as the deportation process has advanced to their category—that being “elderly …
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Kickass and Mike’s Birthday
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in wishing a belated happy birthday to the keeper’s son Mike and reminding him once again that his birth was not a big enough deal to interfere with the keeper’s fishing. On the way home from the birthing hospital …
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Kickass and Founders Day
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, napped as the keeper and Phyllis joined a community room full of Vista West residents at a “Founders Day” dinner, a very nice white tablecloth, wine and rose affair put on by director Jeanne and her capable staff. It all required Phyllis to dress …
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Altered States
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter In the late 1970s, when I was still in college, a movie named King of Hearts was the popular midnight movie (before it was preempted by Eraserhead and the ubiquitous The Rocky Horror Picture Show). The film was about a French town taken over by inmates of an insane asylum during World War I. The …
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