Cagle.com

World could put out Ukraine invasion fire

Graeme MacKay — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 14:23:34 +0000

WORLD COULD PUT OUT UKRAINE INVASION FIRE

by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Ontario, Canada

Doug Ford statue rusts

Graeme MacKay — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 14:21:29 +0000

Platner and Talarico Blunders

Dick Wright — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:19:52 +0000

Conditions in ICE Detention

Jimmy Margulies — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:07:10 +0000

Utah Data Center

Pat Bagley — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 11:02:51 +0000

Trump Grabbed Hormuz Complicated Iran War Deal

Emad Hajjaj — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 10:59:23 +0000

TRUMP GRABBED HORMUZ COMPLICATED IRAN WAR DEAL

by Emad Hajjaj, Alaraby Aljadeed newspaper , London

Our un-empty nest

Jase Graves — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

When our youngest and quietest daughter recently graduated from high school and immediately requested we host a bonfire fueled by her notebooks, folks began congratulating my wife and me on becoming "empty nesters." Little did they know that our nest shows no signs of emptying anytime soon. If anything, it's fuller than ever – and not just because of my expanding love handles.

You see, along with our high school graduate, our happy-go-lucky middle daughter recently graduated from actual college, and she even landed a "big girl job" with a salary, benefits, and an excuse to buy more shoes.

Unfortunately for our washing machine, our youngest daughter plans to begin her higher education at a local community college, and our middle daughter's big girl job is just a few minutes from our house. This means they'll both be living at home for a while to save money – namely theirs.

Now, don't get me wrong. My wife and I are actually thrilled that our daughters can tolerate sharing the same breathable air as us, even after I've eaten a large Mexican dinner. But I have had to make a few adjustments.

First, our laundry has become exponentially more complex (and I completely missed the lesson on exponents in the sixth grade because of a distracting pair of Jordache jeans occupying the desk in front of me). Just as I was getting used to being hopelessly baffled about the ownership of two collections of women's undergarments when I put away clean clothes, my middle daughter has thrown another assortment into the mix. Now, when I’m folding, I find myself shouting out colors, sizes, and brand names like some desperate lingerie merchant peddling black-market bloomers at an open-air bazaar in Istanbul – hoping someone will claim them.

And then there are the groceries. Suddenly, our modest refrigerator, manufactured during the second Clinton administration, is crowded with exotic yogurts, gourmet pickles, artisanal cheeses, designer canned beverages with ridiculous names like "Poppi," and a variety of milk products that did not come from an udder. If I want to grab a lowly can of Diet Dr. Pepper, I have to navigate a veritable minefield of girl-dinner randomness.

And my daughters have completely sabotaged any attempt I may have made at dieting by stockpiling our pantry with irresistible snacks like Himalayan Sweetness Popcorn, Drizzilicious Birthday Cake Bites, and Seasoned Hot Buffalo Goldfish Pretzels. I’m not exactly sure what any of these delicious foodstuffs are, but I’m determined to get to the bottom of it through my own careful research and product analysis.

Finally, when my middle daughter moved back in, she brought with her an elaborate espresso machine gifted by her boyfriend. The thing looks like it might come alive at any moment and try to terminate me in the process of bringing about nuclear holocaust. But if it doesn’t, it can be satisfied by the fact that we basically have a Cadillac Escalade parked on our countertop.

Aside from these minor inconveniences, it’s nice having the nest almost full again. We’ve told all of our daughters that as long as we have a home, they do, too. But if our eldest daughter decides to move back home from Colorado, I’m officially retiring from bloomer duty.

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Copyright 2026 Jase Graves distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Graves is an award-winning humor columnist from East Texas. His columns have been featured in Texas Escapes magazine, The Shreveport Times, The Longview News Journal, and The Kilgore News Herald. Contact Graves at susanjase@sbcglobal.net.

AI and the Death of Human Creativity

Steve Sack — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 09:44:52 +0000

AI AND THE DEATH OF HUMAN CREATIVITY

by Steve Sack, Cagle.com/sack

Political discourse

Dave Whamond — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 09:11:41 +0000

POLITICAL DISCOURSE

by Dave Whamond, Canada, PoliticalCartoons.com

Trump's Reflecting Pool Renovations

Malcolm McGookin — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 08:55:36 +0000

TRUMP'S REFLECTING POOL RENOVATIONS

by Malcolm McGookin, CagleCartoons.com

Tank-driving Putin stuck in maze

Bart van Leeuwen — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 08:35:54 +0000

TANK-DRIVING PUTIN STUCK IN MAZE

by Bart van Leeuwen, PoliticalCartoons.com

Why conservatives give better graduation speeches

Tom Purcell — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Conservative graduation speakers still give better advice than speakers on the left.

In 2015, after reviewing two commencement-speech anthologies featuring 18 liberal speeches and 30 conservative speeches, New York Times columnist Carlos Lozada — then a Washington Post blogger — gave five reasons why conservatives do a better job.

First, he wrote, conservatives are more likely to speak to graduates as individuals rather than as members of a movement or generation.

Whereas liberal speakers say things, such as, “you are the first generation that ...,” conservative speakers are more likely to say things, such as, “you’ll rise or fall on your own” or “take opportunities as they present themselves and work hard.”

Second, Lozada wrote, conservative speeches, on average, are shorter. Whereas conservatives tend to give speeches that push tangible, measurable performance improvements, liberals are great at sweeping generalities that are short on specifics.

This trend has only grown more pronounced over the past decade.

In May, Nancy Pelosi spoke at Notre Dame de Namur University urging graduates to become “patriots of our time” and defend democracy from alleged threats to elections, truth and the rule of law — which, of course, was a veiled partisan attack on President Trump.

Can’t the argument be made that everything she said Trump is doing is what she and her party actually did: efforts to remove Trump from ballots through legal challenges, weaponizing justice departments to attack political opponents during an election cycle and pressuring social media companies to restrict the viewpoints of political opponents?

Hey, Nancy, if you want to give an honest speech, why not explain how you used your political position to provide insider information to your stock-trading husband — enabling your investments to outperform Warren Buffett by more than double and make you insanely rich.

Left-leaning politicians, such as Congressman Jamie Raskin, declared that democracy is under attack — which is partisan code for “meany Republicans are doing things we don’t like” and “Democrats need to regain power to stop them.”

Left-leaning celebrities including Jane Fonda, Sarah Jessica Parker and others preached their go-to “believe in yourself” mantra.

Conservative speakers, however, aware that Zoomers have been taught to prioritize self-esteem over achieving real results, typically emphasize personal responsibility and character.

Victor Davis Hanson, speaking at Hillsdale College in 2025, focused on American virtues, honor, resilience, Western civilization and restoring decency.

Arthur Brooks, in recent commencement addresses, emphasized earned success, faith, family, community, practical habits for happiness and rejecting contempt.

Mike Huckabee at Yeshiva University in 2026 stressed moral courage, faith and individual character as the foundation for a meaningful life.

Liberal speeches flatter with empty praise, whereas conservatives tell graduates the world doesn’t revolve around them.

Conservatives give timeless advice about work, responsibility, character, faith and building a meaningful life by saying things, such as: You are not enough on your own. Self-control is far more important than self-esteem. And think of yourself less, not more.

Despite Lozada’s conclusion that conservatives make better commencement speakers, liberal speakers continue to vastly outnumber them at America’s top universities.

According to a 2026 analysis by “The College Fix,” Democrats or Democrat-leaning speakers made up 86% of partisan commencement addresses at the U.S. News & World Report’s Top 100 universities.

If you have plans to sit through a college commencement speech this June, prepare for sweeping generalities that are long on bluster and short on useful advice.

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Copyright 2026 Tom Purcell, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

See Tom Purcell’s syndicated column, humor books and funny videos featuring his dog, Thurber, at TomPurcell.com. Email him at Tom@TomPurcell.com.

Conservatives used to preach good morals. Now they splash in the sewer

Dick Polman — Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’m old enough to remember when conservatives routinely preached a good game about the importance of morality in politics.

This was back in the 1990s when Bill Clinton was known to… how shall I say this… fancy the ladies. His behavior prompted many on the Republican right to furrow their brows and insist our leaders possess the virtues of “good character.”

In the words of Bill Bennett, a former Reagan Cabinet secretary and vocal virtue maven, “moral anchors and moorings have never been more necessary.” In the words of Gary Bauer, an evangelical Christian leader, “Character counts – in a people, in the institutions of our society, and in our national leadership.”

I hardly need remind you of what has since transpired at the national level – namely, the 2024 hiring of a convicted felon, adjudicated rapist and proven financial fraudster, thanks in no small part to a conservative base that once lauded the virtues of moral character. Therefore, it's no surprise a Trump mini-me, a poster child for moral and financial depravity, has romped to a Senate Republican nomination down in Texas.

The rise of Ken Paxton is the latest symptom of our national decline, and it would not shock me one iota if he triumphs in November and helps to cement the party’s Senate majority.

Is it possible that Democrat James Talarico, the Bible-quoting Presbyterian seminarian, can turn the seat blue? Theoretically, sure. But this is Texas we’re talking about. The last time a Texas Democrat won an open Senate seat, it was so long ago that the Jackson 5 topped the Billboard charts with “I’ll Be There.” That was November of 1970. As Casey Stengel liked to say, “You can look it up.”

So any Republican candidate starts with an enormous advantage – even a lowlife like Paxton, the state attorney general, who was impeached by his own party in the Texas state House, indicted on felony securities fraud charges, and dimed out to the FBI by his own staffers. He wife has filed for divorce, citing “biblical grounds,” namely adultery. Despite all that, Republican primary voters decided he's precisely the kind of guy they want in Washington.

Trump endorsed Paxton and that’s all they needed to know. They want the vice. They want the criminality. They want the reverse of what they worship on Sundays and preach to their kids.

The grim truth these days is mindless tribalism usually trumps any notion of right and wrong. The acquisition and retention of power takes holy precedence. That’s how it works in a cult. Moral values are a luxury, as worthless as yesterday’s soiled Kleenex.

Which is why Paxton is already doing what MAGAts do best, smearing the opposition 24/7. Cue the garbage: “Some people know him as tofu Talarico. Some people call him six-gender Jimmy. I've even heard some people call him James Talafreako.” (Talarico has referred to himself as “cis gender,” which literally means he knows he’s a male. Paxton and Trump have twisted “cis” into “six.”)

Some pro-Talarico optimists insist these scurrilous attacks are proof Paxton and his MAGA overlord are “terrified.” I disagree. I think they’re emboldened. They’re just doing what has worked so well so often these last 10 years. And even if Paxton is pond scum, he’s their pond scum – and that’s better than a guy who will team up with Chuck Schumer and the rest of those “woke” libs.

So it’s no surprise that the Republicans in Washington have duly fallen in goosestep.

Before the Texas primary, they pledged fealty to their brother in arms, John Cornyn. They hammered away at Paxton, citing the “20 articles of impeachment…over alleged bribery, abuse of power and obstruction of justice.” They spotlighted Paxton’s adulterous behavior, “using secret emails and burner phones to try and cover his tracks,” and inventing an alias “for a fake Uber account that he used to secretly see his mistress.”

Those quotes, and more, were emblazoned on the website of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The other day they were all deleted, flushed down the Orwellian memory hole.

There shall be no more talk of Paxton’s moral failings. And for sure there shall be no further talk of Paxton’s recent decision to go easy on a Republican attorney who’d been charged with repeated sexual abuse of a boy. Paxton brokered a plea deal. The offender served 30 days in jail, with no need to register as a sex offender.

Cornyn had highlighted this pedophilia case during the primary campaign, but don’t expect Republicans – who once prided themselves as the champions of moral values – to mention the case again.

And rest assured if Paxton lands in the Senate, he will join his colleagues every October in proclaiming National Character Counts Week – an annual chamber tradition since the 1990s. Last year’s version lauded the importance of “trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.” Wow. The hypocrisy is so thick you can’t cut it with a chainsaw.

Six years without Paxton’s signature would be a small blessing.

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Copyright 2026 Dick Polman, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Dick Polman, a veteran national political columnist based in Philadelphia and a Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania, writes the Subject to Change newsletter. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com

Tale of a man caught up in unjust voter fraud prosecution

Christine Flowers — Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve heard a lot about voter fraud over the past few years, particularly after the 2020 election.

There are still people who falsely believe Democrats stole the election from Donald Trump. Most of us, even those of us who voted for him in 2020, don't feel that way, but it’s wooder under the bridge, as Philadelphians would say.

However, the perception our system is infected with voter fraud persists, with many blaming immigrants for a supposed vast conspiracy of fraud.

I know a man who got his green card in the regular, unexceptional, lawful way millions before him have legalized: marrying a U.S. citizen.

There was no asylum claim, no crossing the border surreptitiously behind a coyote, no misrepresentation, no omission of facts on his application, nothing.

A straightforward case of, I meet you, I fall in love with you, we get married, we fill out forms, we sit down for an interview, and the government sends me my card.

This particular Italian paid his taxes, ran a business that employed U.S. citizens, was a valued member of his community, never even got a speeding ticket. A man of good character, “un uomo di grande qualita’” as the Italians would say.

It was precisely because he was a man of good character that he is now detained in a prison somewhere in northern New Jersey.

Back in 2024, he was registered to vote in the upcoming elections by someone who assured him he was eligible. When he got his voter registration card, he assumed the government knew what it was doing, and he went to the polls on election day.

The woman at the polling site asked for his ID, and he gave her his green card. The green card clearly showed he was not a U.S. citizen. The poll worker looked at it, asked someone else if this was sufficient ID to vote. She was assured that it was, and she directed the Italian to a voting booth.

And he voted. Not for Kamala. You do the math.

Fast forward two years. The Italian comes back from a visit to his beloved native country, after multiple previous and uneventful trips, and is detained by officers at Newark International Airport.

They ask him, “Did you vote?” He answered, truthfully, “Yes.”

They then held him for 30 more hours, without allowing him to speak to a lawyer. During this time, he was also unable to speak with family, including his elderly mother in Italy who was desperate for information.

Finally, they sent him to an immigration prison as Public Enemy No. 1, without even considering the possibility of letting him go on his own recognizance.

However, they thought he would be comforted by the fact that where he was going, there weren’t any gang members.

Suffice it to say, he wasn’t comforted. And there he sits.

The law against noncitizens voting is so draconian it does not even make an exception for cases where a person reasonably believed they were entitled to vote because — take a deep breath — a public official told them it was okay. It is what lawyers call a “strict liability” offense.

You only needed to have “intended” to vote. You didn’t need to “intend to vote fraudulently.”

That is where we come in. My office has filed a habeas petition on the grounds this gentleman is being held without regard to his due process rights. He was not given an opportunity to prove he poses no public danger and isn’t a flight risk.

He has a business, a family, and has lived in the U.S. since 2020. He has made multiple prior trips home with no problem. Not the kind of guy whose picture ends up on a post office wall.

The point of this column is to expose how ridiculous this idea of “immigrant voter fraud” is. The number of immigrants who have voted unlawfully is a tiny percentage of the immigrant population, let alone the voting population.

Most have found themselves caught up in well-meaning attempts to make voting easier for everyone, including the dreaded motor-voter laws, which allow you to register to vote on the same day that you get a license.

I’m still trying to figure out how driving and voting have anything in common, except for the fact that they can both have catastrophic results.

I am sure there will be people reading this column who will write me off as a crazy liberal, and those would be the people who have never read my columns on abortion, same sex marriage, antisemitism, and a host of other topics that expose my radicalism.

But I really don’t care. There is a man of good character who has been caught up in a system that ignores human error, that being the error of a certain American poll worker, and exacts an incredibly harsh penalty from someone who simply wanted to do hiscivic duty.

And didn’t vote for Kamala.

If you think that’s fair, you don’t understand anything about this country.

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Copyright 2026 Christine Flowers, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Christine Flowers is an attorney and a columnist for the Delaware County Daily Times, and can be reached at cflowers1961@gmail.com.

Why teachers are walking away

Joe Gandelman — Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The near legendary elementary school teacher sighed.

“I’ve been teaching more than 23 years and I love the kids,” he said. “But it’s getting harder and harder and I think I’m going to hang it up at the end of this year.”

What’s getting harder?

“There’s so little support at home when the kids act up. There’s so much stress in the classroom. There are some nights when I can’t get to sleep. I love what I do but I think it’s time. I have to take care of myself.”

This teacher isn’t alone. There is a teacher shortage and it isn’t just a number problem, it’s a working-conditions problem. Teachers are not merely leaving because they found better jobs. Many are leaving because the classroom has become a pressure-cooker: more disruptive behavior, more student anxiety, more parental hostility or absence, more political second-guessing, and less backup from administrators who fear complaints, lawsuits or bad publicity.

The result: a profession built on idealism now running on fumes. The facts give a clue why.

According to Learning Policy Institute, about 1 in 7 public school teachers either moved to other schools or left teaching between 2020-21 and 2022. About 7.1% left the profession entirely. Rand Corporation says turnover stabilized after the pandemic, but there’s still a big problem, especially in high-poverty, urban, special education, math, science and rural positions.

A 2025 national scan estimated 1 in 8 teaching positions is either vacant or filled by someone not fully certified, affecting more than 6 million students. Another estimated 56,000 vacant positions and 350,000 unqualified teachers for 2025-2026.

What’s going on? The core issue is attrition. Learning Policy Institute says it accounts for some 90% of annual teacher demand, and less than one-fifth of those leaving are simply retiring. Many cite other careers, low salary and dissatisfaction.

Behavior and support are key reasons why some teachers are heading for the exits. The National Education found Association found more than 75% of educators surveyed cited lack of parental support in student discipline, and 60% cited lack of administrator support. Rand found 44% named behavior as their top job stressor while Pew found 80% of teachers deal with behavioral problems at least a few times a week.

In the past, when a teacher called home, parents often asked, "what did my child do?" Today, the questions at times would be “What did you to my child?…My child couldn’t have done that!...Well, he says he didn’t do it so you’re wrong.”

At first glance, it would seem kids are more violent. From 2019 to 2026 there are several incidents of kids in middle schools who were either in fights or sucker punched, fell, hit their heads and died. But it’s risky to claim that school violence is statically “worse than ever” because data are mixed.

However, it isn’t risky to say teachers’ experience schools as more volatile. The smartphone age has turned hallway fights into viral entertainment, and isolated brutal incidents – body slams, stabbings, knockout punches—now ricochet across TikTok, You Tube and X before the school district can issue its first statement. That magnifies fear, but it also reflects something real: many educators feel they’re being asked to teach, parent, counsel and police and absorb abuse — all at once.

Teachers can change lives, and I was fortunate to have two great ones. Seymour Schonberger at Amity High School in Woodridge, Ct. and Professor Marcus Franda at Colgate University totally changed my life. They gave me confidence, encouragement, and motivation that still fuels me. They also became surrogate fathers.

Somewhere tonight, an exhausted teacher is sitting at a kitchen table, thinking back to why he or she went into teaching, and wondering whether this is the year to quit. That should alarm all of us — because long after students forget test scores and homework, they remember the teachers who believed in them, challenged them, rescued them, or changed the direction of their lives.

America doesn’t just have a teacher shortage. It has a shortage of grown-ups willing to let teachers teach.

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Copyright 2026 Joe Gandelman, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Joe Gandelman is a former journalist who wrote for newspapers overseas and in the United States. He has appeared on cable news political panels and is Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning blog The Moderate Voice. He can be reached at jgandelman@themoderatevoice. Follow Joe Gandelman on X @joegandelman.

Trump's FTC puts Biden's legacy in rear view mirror

Charles Sauer — Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Federal Trade Commission recently released its Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2026-2030, a five-year plan mandated by the 1998 Government Performance Results Act.

The FTC’s plan is divided into three parts. Part one is “Protect Americans from Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices in the Marketplace,” which details how the agency will protect consumers from “unfair and deceptive practices.” Part two is “Protect Americans from Unfair Methods of Competition,” which details how the agency will enforce antitrust laws. The third section, “Protect Americans and Maximize Mission Outcomes through Operational Excellence and Efficiency,” details how the FTC will efficiently use its resources in order to get the most bang for the buck.

The strategic plan represents a clean break with the legacy of Biden administration FTC Chair Lina Khan. The break with Khan is symbolized by the restoration of the words "without unduly burdening legitimate business activity" in the FTC’s mission statement. These words were removed from the mission statement during Lina Khan’s tenure.

The removal reflected Khan’s view the FTC should use antitrust and consumer protection laws to assert vast regulatory powers over the economy. In contrast, Chair Ferguson’s goal is “to end overregulation of American businesses that compete fairly and deal honestly with consumers.”

Toward that end, the strategic plan reaffirms Ferguson’s commitment to resolving antitrust disputes via settlements, rather than through litigation.

Settlements allow mergers and acquisitions to continue, as long as the business (or businesses) agree to certain terms before they complete the transaction. A common settlement involves a business agreeing to divest itself of some of its subsidiaries (often ones acquired through previous acquisitions) as a condition of obtaining approval for the transaction. Settlements are far from the free-market ideal, but they are superior to making companies go through a lengthy and costly trial that they may not win. The strategic plan says that the FTC should, “be prepared to litigate matters when the parties propose ineffective or unenforceable remedies to resolve likely anticompetitive effects.” This implies that the FTC now views litigation as a last resort.

The strategic plan recognizes that, “law enforcement and business guidance… cannot protect Americans from anticompetitive government regulation, which can reduce competition, entrepreneurship, and innovation.” That is why the FTC works to dissuade government entities from adopting (and encourages them to repeal) laws and regulations that create unnecessary barriers to entry, limit competition, or impose anticompetitive restraints or distortions on the operations of the free market economy.

Last April, President Trump issued an executive order instructing Chair Ferguson to work with the attorney general and other agency heads to identify regulations making America less competitive. In response to this order, Ferguson prepared a report identifying over 125 anti-competitive regulations that should be repealed or modified. The FTC should work with the administration and Congress to repeal these and other federal regulations that block new businesses from entering a market.

The FTC should also work with state governments to reform anti-competitive laws, such as occupational licensing, which is sold as a means of protecting consumers from unqualified providers. In reality, it's usually a way for existing providers to restrict the number of competitors that can enter the market.

According to the FTC’s website, the average time for someone to be licensed as an Emergency Medical Technician is 33 days. Yet, the average time for someone to receive a cosmetology license is 372 days, and the average time for someone to become a government-licensed interior designer is six years. While the FTC has no direct authority over occupational licensing, it can publicize how burdensome licensing requirements harm consumers and limit economic opportunities.

The agency can also submit testimony to state legislators considering reforming or (better yet) eliminating occupational licensing requirements. The FTC has already weighed in on legislation that would repeal Nebraska’s licensure requirement for potato shippers, and legislation considered by Louisiana legislators restricting who can serve as an online auction trading assistant.

The FTC’s strategic plan should have repudiated Ferguson’s efforts to charge companies for taking part in boycotts, which are an activity protected by the First Amendment. Aside from that oversight, the strategic plan’s emphasis on settlements and education over regulation and litigation is a welcomed change from the era (and errors) of Lina Khan.

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Copyright 2026 Charles Sauer, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Charles Sauer is the president of the Market Institute and the author of “Profit Motive” Sauer can be reached at charles@marketinstitute.org.

Pain in the wallet: Top ten cartoons of the week

Daryl Cagle — Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The cost of everything remains the top story for most people, with Trump's war in Iran causing prices to rise at the fastest pace in three years.

It's not just gas and groceries. As Dave Granlund highlighted in our most-reprinted cartoon of the week, home prices are also rising to unaffordable levels, as are the interest rates people are being forced to pay. With inflation rising, don't expect that to change anytime soon.

I chuckled at Dave Whamond's cartoon about a family's credit cards being maxed out. The solution? Be like Trump and put in a reflecting pool. Why not add an arch over your driveway while you're at it?

Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:

#1. Dave Granlund

#2. Gary McCoy

#3. John Darkow

#4. Dave Whamond

#5. Chris Weyant

#6. Pat Bagley

#7. Dave Granlund

#8. John Darkow

#9. Jonathon Brown

#10. Dave Whamond

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Daryl Cagle is the publisher of Cagle.com and owner of CagleCartoons.com, a syndicate that distributes editorial cartoons and columns to over 500 subscribing newspapers. See Daryl’s blog at DarylCagle.com and watch his video podcast about editorial cartoons at Caglecast.com

Dearest Watson

Alexandra Paskhaver — Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It’s been a year since Watson died.

Somehow the sun still comes up each morning. Somehow it’s warm again, like it was on his last day: May 27, 2025.

Our golden retriever had cancer. Hemangiosarcoma. It’s fast and aggressive, and often doesn’t show any signs until the end.

It took less than a month from the time he was diagnosed to the moment he slipped away.

In his last week, I recited Psalm 91, the special psalm for dogs. I prayed and begged and wished.

I hoped love could save him.

It didn’t.

I wasn’t with him in the end. I had been ill, and my mother worried that seeing him die would make me sick again.

I regret it. I lost precious time with my friend. I would gladly be sick again, gladly bear it, if I could have even one minute back.

Watson was so good to us.

He smiled at us on his last day. He didn’t know we’d take him to the vet for his final shot in the evening.

He wagged his tail and barked and lived. He lived with the cancer clinging to his liver and spleen, bleeding inside.

He hadn’t been eating much in his last few weeks. A few months earlier, he would devour bowls of kibble if we let the bag fall over.

But on his final day, we baked spanakopita. It’s a Greek pastry with spinach and cheese. And he circled the kitchen, waiting, eyes shining, just like he did when he was healthy.

We fed him three pieces of spanakopita. He munched them with relish, licked his chops, and looked utterly content.

In the hour before the appointment, we took him to the park, his favorite place. He pulled us around the grass, doing circles.

He didn’t cross the bridge into the main part of the park. I thought he would. I thought that no matter how far he went, I’d go with him, but he didn’t go.

He just stayed in the grass at the start of the park with a big goofy grin on his face. Then he scrambled into the car, and I told him, “I love you. Be brave.”

Mom kissed his nose.

My sister and Dad drove him to the vet. They came home without him.

A few weeks later, we scattered his ashes in the park he so loved. Then it rained. Rain used to scare him. It didn’t anymore.

Somehow, a year passed.

His leash still lies on the shelf near our door. I still find strands of his fur in books, on clothes, on the doormat.

He’s still gone.

For a year, I prayed and begged and wished. I talked to him. I petted the air. But he’s still gone.

I want him back. More than anything I’ve ever wanted, ever needed.

Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, thinking he’ll bark from downstairs. I wait. There’s silence.

Sometimes I unlock the door, or round a corner, and think I’ll see him. A heartbeat passes. He’s not there.

He’ll never be there again.

If you have a dog, give them an extra pat. An extra walk. An extra kiss. They add up, and they’re finite.

People live long lives so they can learn what it means to be good. It takes them decades.

Dogs are born knowing that, so they don’t need to stay as long.

But it doesn’t make the pain of losing them any less.

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Copyright 2026 Alexandra Paskhaver, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Alexandra Paskhaver is a software engineer and writer. Both jobs require knowing where to stick semicolons, but she’s never quite; figured; it; out. For more information, check out her website at https://apaskhaver.github.io.

Good money should center Trump’s economic universe

Jon Decker — Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It’s common for the media to dismiss those extolling the virtues of the classical gold standard by pointing out most mainstream academic economists hate that idea.

That skepticism is reminiscent of a time when the academic consensus was also wrong — when we believed the sun and planets revolved around the Earth. Just as the famed polymath Nicolaus Copernicus changed how we view our solar system by revealing that the Earth revolves around the sun, his less famous economics tract could revolutionize the world economy today.

In 1526, Copernicus authored an underappreciated essay titled On the Minting of Money — essentially a 500-year-old argument not to debase your currency (back then, gold and silver coins were being adulterated with base metals by the government). Ralph Benko, an "OG" Reagan-Kemp supply-sider, teamed up with Latin scholar Gerald Malsbary to publish a definitive new translation with modern commentary. Full disclosure: Benko is a longtime mentor of mine, and the book includes a piece I wrote for Forbes in 2013. But … you should read it for reasons unrelated to my vanity.

It’s been said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. This rings true when one realizes that the monetary degradation Copernicus observed in the Kingdom of Prussia is little different from what we see today. As Copernicus wrote:

“We see countries that have good money flourishing most of all, and those with poor money declining and perishing. ... [S]ince then our money has been cheapening more and more every day, and our country through this pestilence has been nearly brought to ruin… now that the currency is debased, we are experiencing a rise in the price of everything useful for human life. And therefore it is clear that cheap money encourages laziness rather than helps anyone’s poverty.”

Copernicus’ arguments should be given more thought now that monetary policy is enjoying a rare moment in the limelight due to the confirmation of Kevin Warsh to the Federal Reserve. There is much speculation as to how he will chair the Fed; but that said, historically, the president tends to get the dollar he wants.

Gold has historically served as a ‘thermostat’ for a currency’s health. Given its universal quality as a store of value dating back thousands of years, its value fluctuates less than any other commodity or the "paper money" around it. Therefore, when the price of gold rises — requiring more dollars to obtain the same amount of metal — it is less a symptom of gold increasing in value, but more a reflection of the declining purchasing power of the dollar itself.

When measured against the price of gold, the dollar has endured a brutal devaluation since the pandemic. While an ounce of gold could be purchased for $1,500 in January 2020, prices recently soared briefly to nearly $5,500/ounce before retreating to the $4,500 level. Even at $4,500 an ounce, this tripling in the gold price (or more aptly, decline in the dollar’s value) since 2020 cannot safely be ignored. It’s the "canary in the coal mine" for the affordability crisis - higher prices consumers now face across-the-board.

This isn’t to dismiss the fact that some of the price increases we see today, such as higher gasoline costs, are resulting from the current war with Iran. However, the trend of a sinking dollar was evident long before these factors entered the picture. As both political parties seek to solidify themselves as champions combatting the affordability crisis ahead of the election, either party would be wise to grab Copernicus’ golden torch, which holds the proven cure for our current inflation woes.

Remember, presidents get the dollar they want. President Trump needs to follow Copernicus, and put a dollar as good as gold at the center of his economic policy universe and his promised golden age.

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Copyright 2026 Jon Decker, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Jon Decker is the executive director of American Commitment and a senior fellow at the Parkview Institute.

Has fishing gotten too high-tech for its own good? 

Danny Tyree — Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Tyrades! by Danny Tyree

“You get a line and I’ll get a drone, honey / You get a line and I’ll get an app, babe…”

Or something like that.

I haven’t been fishing since 1972 (although my lunch has to share shelf space with bait worms in the company break room refrigerator), so I didn’t realize just how controversial the once-tranquil sport has become.

According to the Wall Street Journal (“News, analysis, fish-wrapping material – who could ask for anything more?”), tournament innovations such as Forward-Facing Sonar (which provides a large, high-resolution image of the elusive bass and bluegills) level the playing field and give even the most inexperienced anglers the ability to spot game fish.

(Hearing baby-faced newbies play out the “I spy with my little eye” routine does bring the word “overcorrecting” to mind, though.)

And scandalized traditionalists are practically putting the newfangled techniques in the same uncouth category as fishing with dynamite. (“Hmmm…one good stick of dynamite in the middle of Honeybunch’s book club would mean I wouldn’t have to spend so many Saturdays hiding on the lake in the first place.”)

Other trendy affronts to The Way We Used To Do It include underwater cameras, chartplotters, electric trolling motors with GPS features and “smart” lures. (“Hmph! The ‘smart’ lures don’t even know how to wiggle across the sidewalk after it rains. And they call that progress!”)

Grassroots anglers fear that modern participants have fallen hook, line and sinker for the Siren call of shortcuts and data-based optimization. In this new world, manual boat control skills, generational knowledge, intuition and trial-and-error exploration all have to take a back seat (and, adding insult to injury, aren’t even allowed to peek in the beer cooler in the back seat).

Fishing, they say, has lost its mystery (“How come Mensa hasn’t offered me membership yet? I notified them I outwitted a bottom feeder”) and magic.

But to put things into perspective, the AI chatbot I used for research pointed out that, historically, purists have even resisted basic innovations (outboard motors, depth finders, artificial lures) that are now mainstream. (“A hook made of steel? Are you too uppity for bronze, you whippersnapper? And why doesn’t this scale have a measurement for shekels?”) Hobbies evolve.

Tournaments have ostensibly Changed with the Times for the sake of attracting younger contestants to the sport. Truth be told, they could probably achieve the same results with fishing jackets that make flatulence sounds and steering wheels that randomly bop some poor loser in the groin. (“Dude, where’s my boat?”)

Advocates of high-tech point out that spotting the fish is only part of the battle. Fishermen still need skill and endurance, and two out of three fish you pitch to ignore the lure. (Bassmaster scientists are working on that, though. If streaming Cheech & Chong movies underwater can’t give catfish the munchies, I don’t know what will.)

Some tournaments have grudgingly tried straddling the fence with compromises such as a limit of one transducer, smaller sonar screens, a limited number of hours for sonar use, letting the crappie keep a small amount of uranium as long as it’s not weapons-grade…

Yeah, yeah. I hear you mumbling, “This week’s Tyree column is ‘the one I WISH got away.’”

I won’t let such impudence ruin my lunch.

Um… unless Chef Boyardee has patented spaghetti that wiggles, I think I’m about to be sick.

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Copyright 2026 Danny Tyree, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Danny Tyree welcomes email responses at tyreetyrades@aol.com and visits to his Facebook fan page “Tyree’s Tyrades.”

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Has fishing gotten too high-tech for its own good?

Has fishing gotten too high-tech for its own good? 