Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper is thinking of dropping out of the bird photo competition as it is too tough for his obvious limited talents. Photo friends Harry and Jerry and Jim and many others will understand and maybe cheer for a less cluttered display …
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The Fascist Cookbook
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter (Originally published September 26, 2024) A refresher course on Project 2025. This is where our country is presently headed. I grew up during the late sixties and early seventies when youth counterculture was king. Rock and roll, pot, LSD, free love, and political activism were all part of …
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Kickass and Super Bore Fans
Attribution: Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper staying in contrary character on this Super Bore Sunday by passing along a portion of the lead from a cover story he did for the Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine issue of Apr. 4, …
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Kickass and Old Cousin Photo
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in appreciating cousins, the keeper being motivated by a wonderful old family photo sent along from Barron, WI. by his cousin Pat Turgeson. The photo, taken at Vermillion Lake where the clan frequently gathered for Sunday picnics, produced such …
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Kickass and Talking Plant
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in appreciating recent research reports having to do with the seemingly limitless communication capabilities of plants, particularly since it could explain the mysterious relationship between the keeper and the frozen geranium out on the keeper and Phyllis’s balcony deck. *Keeper steps …
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Kickass and Liberty or Death
Attribution: Peter F. Rothermel (1812–1895), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, identifies with the keeper’s question of just when does extreme old age become a noteworthy plus by putting a statistical limit on the amount of time a nonagenarian will have to witness narcissistic fools stripping basic human decency …
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Train Wreck
Illustration by Micheal DiMilo By Geoff Carter Watching the confirmation hearings for some of Donald Trump’s new cabinet appointees has run the gamut from unbelievable to harrowing to downright frightening, like a giant runaway locomotive barreling down the track towards a school bus stuck on the tracks. Some of his nominees seem to have no …
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Kickass and the Price of Eggs
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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