Category: Politics, Religion & Money

License to License

Unlike Comics Kingdom, GoComics cartoons can be licensed for various purposes, including blog posts. It’s $35 for a non-commercial license, with another $10 for a service fee.

I already had a problem with licensing strips. The latest credit card expiration year they provide is 2028, and only one of my cards has that date. The others are later. Without that card it wouldn’t be possible for me to license a comic strip for display here.

But now it’s a moot point, because even using the 2028 card, my latest order didn’t work. I’ve been charged only the $10 service fee. They’re breaking the #1 rule of business — don’t make it difficult for people to give you money.

I’ll tell ya what. Here’s a link to the comic strip I wanted to have here.

https://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/2025/07/11

Assuming they can fix their problems I’ll get a license, download my copy, and either update this post or publish a new one.

Art Spiegelman will be attending the NCS conference in Boston in August, and so will I. If I continue to be frustrated in my attempts to license comic strips, I’m sure someone from Andrews/McMeel will be there.

https://nationalcartoonists.com/2025-caniff-art-spiegelman/

Colbert Cancel Culture!

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” will end in May 2026, Colbert and CBS announced on Thursday. The company said it will retire “The Late Show” franchise, and called it “purely a financial decision.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-late-show-stephen-colbert-end-may-2026/

This decision is Shari Redstone trying to further influence Trump to approve the Paramount buyout. That’s how this is financial. Before the shocker announcement, I was intending to post last night’s opening monologue.

If Colbert is being canceled, then I’ll self-cancel. “Prattling Before the Pratfall” will end on its 20th anniversary, September 5, 2026.

It Depends on Your Level of Interest

David Wessel provides a sane counterpoint to Trump’s idiotic name-calling of Jay Powell. Donald is perpetually stuck in “you’re fired!” mode.

Two additional points I think Wessel should have made are these:

  • The government’s cost of borrowing is a function of the bond market more than it is the federal funds rate. The connection becomes more acute if investors lose confidence in the Federal Reserve, which will be the result if Trump has his way. This will force Treasury bond rates higher to entice investors. So it will cost the government more, not less, to borrow money.
  • The cost of the Fed’s building renovations isn’t paid with taxes, the money comes from the Fed’s own investments.

Two From the Failing NYTimes

The New York Times, which apparently isn’t failing, has a couple of guest essays from smart, thoughtful Massachusetts people. They reinforce how pointless all of the fabricated culture war nonsense is, when there are real problems to confront and manage. I’m using my Times subscription to share these without the paywall getting in the way.

It’s already been a couple of years since I read Rough Sleepers by Tracy Kidder, about homelessness in Boston.

Today, Kidder writes about food banks and the limits of what they can do under Trump II.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/opinion/america-safety-net.html?unlocked_article_code=1.WU8.lwph.6Jnq91N4LnYs&smid=url-share

Republican leaders who dislike Harvard and MIT know-it-alls will ignore this piece about China’s economy at their own peril.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/opinion/china-shock-economy-manufacturing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.WU8.MUwY.h8BkD6JUR5cm&smid=url-share

Edict Bunker

For all of Trump’s success domestically, he can’t force other nations to do what he wants with a wave of his Sharpie. If Trump’s actual goal is to bring manufacturing back to the United States, why bother with all of this tariff nonsense? He should issue an executive order requiring American companies to bring the jobs back, while prohibiting them from sending their profits overseas.