{"id":390113,"date":"2026-09-04T08:32:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T08:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/390113\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T08:32:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T08:32:27","slug":"rays-hell-wmnf-88-5-fm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/390113\/","title":{"rendered":"Rays hell &#8211; WMNF 88.5 FM"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1482\" height=\"1164\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/RaysHell-political-cartoon-by-Bob-Whitmore-Rays-WMNFcr.jpg\" class=\"attachment-265786 size-265786 wp-post-image\" alt=\"Rays Hell political cartoon by Bob Whitmore WMNF Tampa Bay Rays stadium\" large=\"\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A political cartoon by Bob Whitmore.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"964\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/RaysHell-political-cartoon-by-Bob-Whitmore-WMNF-964x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Rays Hell political cartoon by Bob Whitmore WMNF\" class=\"wp-image-265785\"  \/>Rays hell. By Bob Whitmore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bob Whitmore produces a weekly political cartoon and shares it with WMNF. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This week\u2019s cartoon is \u201cRays hell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also created a design for a WMNF t-shirt and poster. You can find out more about that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wmnf.org\/bob-whitmore-the-cartoonist-who-captures-tampas-soul\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>, where it also says:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBob brings a sharp eye, quick wit, and unmistakable style to the issues shaping our city. His work blends humor and commentary, often shining a light on local politics, culture, and the wonderfully quirky personalities that make Tampa, well\u2026 Tampa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd while his weekly cartoons lean into political commentary, Bob also knows how to celebrate community. For the 2026\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wmnf.org\/wmnf-spring-2026-fund-drive-rooted-in-community-growing-together\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Spring Fund Drive (Feb. 18\u201325)<\/a>, he created a lively illustration featuring WMNF volunteers, staff, and programmers, past and present, capturing the energy, diversity, and heart of the station in his signature playful style.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bob\u2019s cartoons were the subject of controversy in 2025, which you can read more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wmnf.org\/corporate-owners-creative-loafing-fire-political-cartoonist-over-this-piece\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>. Here\u2019s part of the story:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A political cartoonist at\u00a0Creative Loafing\u00a0is out of a job because of criticisms the paper got after it published his cartoon of a starving child in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bob Whitmore tells WMNF that even though the cartoon seems to be a political statement about the famine and war in Gaza, the corporate parent company of\u00a0CL\u00a0considers it to be antisemitic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe cartoon was in reference to the starvation that is happening to children in Gaza at the moment. It depicted a small child standing at one of the walls of Gaza. There\u2019s barbed wire at the top, strung across the top. And in the distance, the Israeli flag is fluttering. And then the caption says, \u201dWailing wall.\u2019 The child is crying out, \u2018Please give me food.\u2019 And that is it in a nutshell,\u201d Whitmore said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whitmore continued, \u201cDissent against Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza should not be considered antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A political cartoon by Bob Whitmore. Rays hell. By Bob Whitmore. Bob Whitmore produces a weekly political cartoon&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[75973,16665,30415,156034,29208,135,3815,137,136],"class_list":["post-390113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-bob-whitmore","tag-local-government","tag-news-and-public-affairs","tag-political-cartoonist","tag-rays-stadium","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}