What does the Black Lives Matter movement want? Radley Balko explains. It sounds like a lot of sane policies that no one could really argue with…though some will anyway. The other night on The Nightly Show though, Mike Yard explained it a little simpler. He said, "I'd like not to be shot."

Since I like you, I'll warn you about this stuff. It's Cheez-It Snack Mix and it's really, really addictive. Do yourself a favor and don't try it because you may never eat anything else the rest of your life.

I'm talking here about their Classic variety. The Cheez-It people make several different kinds of Snack Mix like their Double Cheese version or their Cheddar & Barbecue. I haven't tried any of these. I dare not for fear I'll like one of them even more than I like the Classic variety.

The Classic, which is sometimes labelled as such or sometimes just says Cheez-It Snack Mix, consists of the following: Two different sizes of pretzels, Cheez-It crackers, teensy non-cheese crackers which they call "bread slices," cheese-flavored rice balls, some kind of not-great Wheat Chex knock-off and various seasonings including garlic powder and Worcestershire Sauce. Even with mediocre Wheat Chex replicas, it makes for a wicked, impossible-to-resist concoction.

I don't know much about how heroin is trafficked in this world but I'm guessing that if you could somehow corner the market on Cheez-It Snack Mix, you could follow the same business model and annually make an amount somewhere between what Donald Trump claims to be worth and what he actually is worth. This would involve giving unsuspecting people their first hit for free and then making them pay, pay, pay for more as they desperately struggle to recapture the feeling of that first high.

In truth, someone is already doing this. Costco is doing this.

I had my first taste via a free sample handed to me by a lady there wearing a hairnet. Since it didn't seem to be cole slaw, I ate it and I was hooked. I had to have more.

I circled back and hoped she wouldn't notice I was helping myself to seconds and then thirds, fourths and eventually ninths. But she knew what I was doing and she knew she'd succeeded in her goal. She had me.

I had a monkey on my back.  I don't mean that literally.  There was no actual monkey on my back but if there had been, he would have been eating Cheez-It Snack Mix.

Facing the inevitable, I pushed my cart to the part of the store where Costco displays the stuff and discovered that they only carry it in three-pound bags. That's a lot of Snack Mix. I didn't buy one because I knew my only hope was to slowly wean myself off the junk with smaller and smaller portions. That's hard to do when you have three pounds of the stuff on the premises.

So I forced myself to leave Costco without any…though on my way to the register, I spotted above-ground wading pools and briefly wondered how many three-pound bags of Cheez-It Snack Mix it would take to fill one of them. En route to my home, I stopped at a Ralphs and bought a normal-sized box of it. It took about a week but I've managed to eat less and less of it each day to the point where my consumption is now limited and mostly voluntary…

…although since I had to go back to Costco for someone else, I did buy one three-pound bag. But I ate it at a semi-normal rate.

I'd like to think I have my addiction to Cheez-It Snack Mix under control but it has not been easy. I thought about it more than seemed sane, devoting way too much time to pondering why it includes two different sizes of pretzels instead of just more of one. I also fantasized about how much more delicious it would be if they replaced their counterfeit Wheat Chex with genuine Wheat Chex. Perhaps it's better for all of us that they don't.

You may have read articles about how well Costco treats its employees and how it pays them better than chains like Walmart and Target. Costco also has very reasonable prices and all that makes some wonder how they're able to do it; how they're able to show a profit. I think I have the answer. I think all of that stuff — the cheap office supplies and electronics and tires and half-ton tubs of margarine — are just a Loss Leader. I think they make their money by getting people hooked on Cheez-It Snack Mix.

I'm convinced that discussing the presidential race at this point in time is largely a waste of time. Nevertheless, I do it, mostly with fellow Democrats. The ones I know seem to be divided on the issue of Donald Trump. About half of them are afraid he'll get the Republican nomination and have a shot at winning the presidency. The other half of them are afraid he won't get the nomination and that it will go to someone who won't be as easy for the Democratic nominee to defeat.

That's always a conundrum for those who want their party to win: Do you want the opposition party to nominate someone who'd make a decent president in case they win? Or someone who wouldn't and therefore is more likely to lose? I'm not sure how I feel about this. I guess I don't trust the electorate to recognize that the worst guy is the worst guy.

In any case, this is for those who are worried about Trump getting the nomination. Larry Sabato, who has a pretty good track record of forecasting elections, calls Trump "The Un-Nominatable Frontrunner." You can read the article, see why and decide if you want to believe him. Sabato thinks the race is now down to Bush, Rubio and Walker.

This is an entry to Mark Evanier's list of the twenty top voice actors in American animated cartoons between 1928 and 1968. For more on this list, read this. To see all the listings posted to date, click here.

Most Famous Roles: (Tie:) Betty Boop, Olive Oyl

Other Notable Roles:  Little Audrey, Casper the Friendly Ghost (at times), many supporting parts in Popeye cartoons including Swee'Pea.

What She Did Besides Cartoon Voices: Lots of character roles in movies and television, including a part in the film, Funny Girl.  But where you really saw her face was in commercials.  She did hundreds of them including a long-running series for Scott Towels as "Aunt Bluebell."

Why She's On This List: A lot of the personality of Betty Boop came from Ms. Questel, who was hired to do an impression of the popular singer Helen Kane but who turned the role into a unique and adorable performance.  And acting in those cartoons wasn't easy because at the Fleischer Studio, they did the animation first and the actors had to perform with personality while matching already-animated lip movements and gestures.  She wasn't the only person who did Betty or Olive Oyl either but after her, when anyone else did those characters, they were trying to replicate Mae Questel.

Fun Fact: A number of actors filled in as Popeye for his main voice, Jack Mercer, while Mercer was in the service.  Ms. Questel claimed that one of the fill-ins was her and she often accompanied this claim with a credible Popeye impression.  No one however has identified an actual cartoon which featured her speaking for the Sailor Man…which doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Late Breaking Joyous Panda News…

So here's the deal: The Chick-Fil-A chain wants to open an outlet in Denver Airport. The Denver City Council, which for some reason can approve or block this, has blocked it because of the fast food company's history of opposing Gay Rights. At the moment, it's on hold while the issue is being debated.

I am totally in favor of Gay Rights but that should have nothing to do with this. The company's politics shouldn't even be considered. I could maybe — and this is a stretch — defend the City Council's actions if their logic went like this: "The airport operates seven days a week. Chick-Fil-A has a corporate policy of being closed on Sunday. We don't want one of those spaces at the airport to go to a business that won't be there to serve hungry travelers one day a week."

But that doesn't seem to be the justification for maybe not letting Chick-Fil-A into Denver International. And if it was, it's not a good enough reason. As the linked news report notes, a 2013 survey of airport users said Chick-Fil-A was the most desired new addition to the food service there. Even given the Sunday situation, most travelers would probably prefer to have Chick-Fil-A in that space over something else that would be there seven days a week…and they oughta get it.

I don't patronize Chick-Fil-A not because of its stance on gay rights but because none of its outlets are particularly convenient to me. The only one I pass often is at Sunset and Highland where the traffic is a mess and their parking lot looks like a bumper car ride at an amusement park. If and when it's lunchtime and I'm near an accessible Chick-Fil-A, I'll have to decide how I feel about patronizing a place that donates to causes I find inhumane. My decision will probably have a lot to do with how hungry I am and how far it is to the nearest Five Guys.

My friend and editor (at Abrams Books) Charles Kochman was in town last week and on Friday, I took him to lunch at the Magic Castle. By one of those great coincidences, I found four friends at the next table and someone took this pic for us before we dispersed. Charlie's the guy on the left. Writer Larry DiTillio is the guy on the right. Larry wrote on any number of popular animated shows including Masters of the Universe and The Transformers.

The gent in the center is Brooks Wachtel, magician and animation writer. His cartoon credits include Tutenstein and Clifford the Big Red Dog. The lady at left is Christy Marx, who was the main writer on the Jem cartoon series and she worked on Conan the Adventurer and many more. The lady at right is Wendy Pini, who along with Richard Pini, gave us the wonderful Elfquest graphic novel series and the more recent Masque of the Red Death series.

And I'm the tall guy in back. That halo over my head is not, as you might think, a reflection of a chandelier in that room. I really am that angelic though the camera doesn't always catch it.

My longtime buddy Paul Levitz has written a new book on Will Eisner. Its title? Will Eisner: Champion of the Graphic Novel. I haven't read it yet but I'll bet it lives up to this description that I just cribbed from Amazon…

Will Eisner (1917–2005) is universally considered the master of comics storytelling, best known for The Spirit, his iconic newspaper comic strip, and A Contract With God, the first significant graphic novel. This seminal work from 1978 ushered in a new era of personal stories in comics form that touched every adult topic from mortality to religion and sexuality, forever changing the way writers and artists approached comics storytelling. Noted historian Paul Levitz celebrates Eisner by showcasing his most famous work along­side unpublished and rare materials from the family archives. Also included are original interviews with creators such as Jules Feiffer, Art Spiegelman, Scott McCloud, Jeff Smith, Denis Kitchen, and Neil Gaiman — all of whom knew Eisner and were inspired by his work to create their own graphic novels for a new generation of readers.

I like that they called A Contract With God "the first significant graphic novel." There are several contenders for the title of first graphic novel and depending on how you define a "graphic novel," several might qualify. But Will's inarguably was one and it was a game-changing one in that you can credit most of those that soon followed as following the lead of Eisner's. Will was a fascinating, brilliant man — and not just brilliant at writing and drawing comics, either. So I'm looking forward to Paul's book.

Why am I plugging it now when it won't be out until November 10? Because Amazon is offering it at a pre-order price! It's a $40 book but if you order now — which you can do by clicking this link — you can get it for $20. That's half-off on a book that's probably worth twice the price. Act soon.

A few months ago, I purchased a copy of The Annotated Marx Brothers: A Filmgoer's Guide to In-Jokes, Obscure References and Sly Details by Matthew Coniam. It's an in-depth look at the brothers' films telling you every little detail you could possibly want to know about the making of the movies and, more significantly, all the cultural references and little mentions that are now historically obscure. Like in A Night at the Opera, there's an exchange that goes…

GROUCHO: Don't you know what duplicates are?

CHICO: Sure! Those five kids up in Canada!

If things like that mystify you — if you didn't know it was a reference to the Dionne Quintuplets born in Ontario in 1934 — then you need this book. It puts a lot of what's in those films into proper historical context and clues you in as to what some of the obscure lines mean.

It's one of those "must-get" items for anyone interested in Groucho, Harpo, Chico and even — and yes, some people are interested in him — Zeppo. When I can read a book about the Marx Brothers and learn stuff, that's got to be a great book.

I meant to tell you this and to post a link to order when I first got it and started reading but I somehow never got around to that. Thanks to Marx Fan extraordinaire Bob Gassel (who assisted with some research, I believe) for reminding me I wanted to remind you that you want this.

From the 1970 Academy Awards telecast: Fred Astaire and Bob Hope present two Oscars for documentaries and in between them, Fred (age 71 then) does some fancy hoofing. Skip the envelope-opening and watch Fred dance like Fred Astaire…

Matt Taibbi thinks Donald Trump just stopped being funny. I never thought Donald Trump was particularly funny but I thought (and still think) a lot of this country finds him entertaining. Car chases aren't funny either but most of us watch them.

I continue to think that very little of what happens in current political news has much to do with who will be the Republican nominee or the next President of the United States except that as we go along, certain people become a little more or less likely than others. For instance, Chris Christie is more likely than Lindsey Graham. Then again, the Geico gecko is more likely than Lindsey Graham — and that gecko probably wasn't even born in this country.

Is Trump inevitable? Last I heard, Nate Silver was still pegging the guy's chances at the nomination as between two and four percent. Silver, who looks at polling not at domination of news cycles, would have to up that number a lot before I'd think Trump was possible.

One thing that may impact the election is the new dynamic of the G.O.P. as increasingly hostile to illegal immigrants. Weren't Republican leaders saying just a few months ago that the party had to do a better job of attracting racial minorities and women voters? The assaults on Planned Parenthood are probably not winning over a lot of ladies, either.

I don't know where all this talk about "anchor babies" is going except that a lot of people out there seem to think that if two illegal aliens have a baby in this country, mother and father automatically become American citizens. I wish someone they'd trust would explain to them that is not so. An illegal couple might become less likely to be deported because of the kid but the parents don't instantly get citizenship. The child, when he or she reaches the age of 21 can sponsor them for that but even after that, it takes a long, long time to qualify.

I do know that the current yelling is not going to result in a constitutional amendment to rescind the 14th and do away with Birthright Citizenship. We have an ongoing position of this blog: Constitutional amendments do not happen in this country unless at least 80% of the nation is in agreement on the issue. It pretty much has to be a proposal that has no organized opposition.

Something like 90% of the time when someone calls for one, they don't even bother to take the first step to make it happen. The other 10%, they get it introduced just so they can say they tried, and it gets quickly defeated and that's the end of it. We will never see an amendment passed that outlaws abortion or Gay Marriage or overturns Citizens United or institutes a mandatory death penalty for the making of cole slaw or any of those. My cole slaw one is about as likely as any of the others.

Calling for a constitutional amendment is apparently great for fund-raising. Also in this country, a lot of voters don't want their candidates to ever admit a cause is lost so they cheer his or her determination to fight, fight, fight. Instead of admitting that you've lost on an issue like Gay Marriage, you pledge to fight for a constitutional amendment that overturns the Supreme Court or whatever. You don't actually do anything but make that pledge and maybe introduce a bill that is quickly shot down but it still impresses people that you said you'd fight for it. I don't get why.

Music from Star Wars as performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra…

Cedric Hohnstadt has been a freelance illustrator for almost twenty years. After reading my tips about pricing your work, he wrote in to say…

I still dislike talking money with clients, but it's a necessary evil and there's no avoiding it, so a few years ago I decided might as well educate myself and try to make the best of it. For whatever it's worth here's a few pricing tips that, for the most part, have kept me from underselling myself:

1. You should lose about 1/3 of the jobs that come your way because your prices are just too high. If you rarely or never get push back on your pricing, you aren't charging enough.

2. Never give a price off the top of your head. It will almost always wind up being too low or too high. Instead, just tell them you need a few minutes to run some numbers and then you'll call them back. That will take the pressure off and give you time to think it through properly. A good client should have absolutely no problem with this.

3. Sometimes it's OK to lower your price if the client asks, but don't do it "just because." It can make you look desperate and unprofessional, or worse, greedy and dishonest (as if your pricing is purely arbitrary and you just want to fleece your client for as much as you can). Instead, offer them some sort of trade off. Maybe the client gets less of something (in my case fewer sketches; simpler artwork; less rights to the work; etc.) or you get more of something (better payment terms; longer deadline; more samples of the final product; an in-kind trade; etc.) Whatever you trade off doesn't necessarily have to have the same monetary value as the discount, but that's not really the point. The idea is to show the client you want to help them and be flexible while, at the same time, not undermining the value of your work.

Thanks, Cedric. To that last point: One of the tricks that good agents know how to do is how to back off a firm price without admitting that they're backing off a firm price. They say, "You will pay my client $5000 or he won't do it. He has a firm, established price for this kind of thing and there's no way in hell he will accept a nickel less. If you were holding his grandmother hostage and threatening to kill her, he would not do it for less than five thousand dollars!"

Sometimes, that kind of demand yields the five thousand dollars. Sometimes, it doesn't. When it doesn't, the client might decide, "Well, four thousand is still good money for this and I'd still like to do it. Can you find some way to agree to that?" That's when the agent has to go back and say…

"You know, my client likes you and he wants to work with you and he believes in your project. Now, he wouldn't do this for anyone else but if you'll send him some free samples of your product, he'll knock a thousand dollars off his price just this once. I advised him not to do this and I"ve never known him to do it for anyone else…but he really likes you."

That way, the client can get the job and the agent can still say, "He is a firm, established price of five thousand." The trick is not to make things precedential and to find an excuse for budging off that firm price just this once. Some people do that all the time and their price remains firm even though they never actually get it.

My pal James H. Burns has a fun article online about going to the beach as a kid. One of these days, I'll have to write my own article about going to the beach when I was a kid. SPOILER ALERT: I hated it. So read his.

A brief moment with Johnny…