Jul 14
2025
Zyglis cartoon: Much ado about nothing
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Adam Zyglis has exhibited his work at the Buffalo History Museum since the spring. Early on I attended and found most interesting a display of the hate mail he’s received over the years.
Pretty vile stuff from assorted wing-nuts, although nothing that compares to what came out of the woodwork last week when The Buffalo News published a Zyglist cartoon on the flooding in Texas.
I’m talking death threats against Zyglis and his wife and children. Over a cartoon.
Michael Kracker, chairman of the Erie County Republican Committee, kicked things off with a tweet that characterized the cartoon as “filth …twisted, vile, and shameful [and] mocking Texas families who lost loved ones in a tragedy, just because they might’ve voted Republican.”
One respondent to Kracker’s tweet, whose profile describes him as “MAGA. Conservative, committed to removing RINOs and leftists” said of Zyglis: “We can only hope he and his family go through similar tragedies.”
That guy is from Missouri. Closer to home, Rob Ortt, who represents Niagara County in the state Senate and serves as minority leader, had this to say on Twitter:
“If there were any lingering doubts as to the character or the bias of the people who run the carcass of a newspaper known as @thebuffalonews or @adamzyglis – there can be none now.”
Then there was talk radio, with Michael Caputo, a Roger Stone sidekick and former campaign manager for Carl Paladino when he ran for governor, joining David Bellavia to rant on WBEN.
It’s all phony outrage.
The cartoon was a commentary on the cuts in essential government services that have been enacted by Trump and Congressional Republicans. Any suggestion Zyglis was mocking the victims is nonsense – simply provocation.
Reaction to the cartoon has generated a fair amount of press coverage, although strangely, nothing from The News as of this writing. Here’s a statement from the Buffalo Newspaper Guild and a story from WBFO.
Zyglis has won a Pulitzer Prize and follows a long line of News editorial cartoonists who have won journalism’s highest honor, including Tom Toles and Bruce Shanks. For my money, Zyglis is the best thing about The News these days. He has nothing to apologize for.
Buy your tickets now for our July 31 benefit concert
The so-called Big Beautiful Bill is going to hit New York State hard.
The New York Times reports up to 1.5 million state residents could lose their health insurance and New York Focus details how it will otherwise stress the state’s safety net.
Wrote The Times:
Overall, the state could absorb a $10 billion hit annually because of the policy law. That reflects a combination of increased state expenditures and cuts in federal subsidies that support health insurance and health care for people with lower incomes. Those cuts will reduce revenue for hospitals, with some responding by charging higher prices to middle-class and wealthy patients, who are covered by private insurance, according to the president of the hospital industry’s main trade association in New York. Other hospitals might close.
Added New York Focus:
New York would lose over $15 billion annually for Medicaid and SNAP, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. Over 1.5 million New Yorkers could lose their coverage and up to a million could lose their SNAP benefits, likely resulting in foregone medical care and increased food insecurity.
Elsewhere, Politico reports the state “is expected to see virtually every facet of spending face the brunt of deep federal aid cuts.”
The New York Times has an exhaustive list of what it calls “Nearly Everything In the G.O.P. Bills, And How Much It Will Cost Or Save.” Take a look at this gift link.
The cost of personal seat licenses at the new Bills stadium continues to drop. PSL’s for the upper level can now be had for as little as $1,000. That’s a far cry from price tags as high as $50,000 for premium seats.
The Empire Center’s latest look at state pensions finds 97 new retirees pulling down at least $200,000 a year. The top five includes two from Western New York:
- Dr. Shashikant B. Lele, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, $438,102.
- Brian M. Murray, Erie County Medical Center Corp., $327,322.
The Marshall Project assessed the Supreme Court’s recently completed term that can be summed up by a quote from Justice Sonia Sotomayor: “No right is safe in the new legal regime the Court creates.”
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomNearly 800 people have died, many shot by Israeli troops, while seeking food in Gaza. Authorities report “a sharp and unprecedented rise in acute malnutrition” as a result of the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Tom Toles and Junkman’s Choir are rehearsing for their July 31 show at Sportsmen’s Tavern to benefit Investigative Post. They alone decide what to play; my only request of them is a Kinks song. Here’s my favorite from Ray and Dave.
