Federal judges teaching Dictator Trump several valuable lessons in democracy

A cartoon from Marian Kamensky in Switzerland shows President Trump getting his ass kicked by federal judges after he signed a new travel ban targeting Muslims.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

So far, three federal judges have turned thumbs down on President Trump's revised travel ban targeting Muslims.

Isn't that rich? 

Trump's older sister is a federal judge on the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

And on Wednesday, The Record reports, that very same appeals court granted a 25-year-old Afghan man a temporary emergency stay from deportation from New Jersey (1A).

It's unlikely Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, who has been on senior status since 2011, took part in the decision, but I've yet to see The Record or any other news outlet try to interview her about her brother's attacks on the integrity of the federal judiciary.

An Associated Press story on 8A today reports judges in Hawaii and Maryland blocked Dictator Trump's latest executive order from taking effect on Thursday, "using the president's own words as evidence that the order discriminates against Muslims."

The judges agreed with civil liberties groups and refugee and immigrant advocates that the temporary ban on travel from six predominantly Muslim countries violates the First Amendment.

The Trump administration argued the ban was intended to protect the United States from terrorism.

Trump himself called the Hawaii ruling "unprecedented judicial overreach," and promised an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

By the way, today's paper was the first one Gannett delivered to my home since Monday.

Federal appeals court Judge Maryanne Trump Barry,
older sister of President Trump, will turn 80 on April 5.
This photo is from Reuters.

Spying claims

Meanwhile, the leadership of the Senate Intelligence Committee -- the Republican chairman and Democratic vice chairman -- flatly refuted Trump's claims that his New York offices were wiretapped by Barack Obama himself or anyone else in the Obama administration (9A).

Trump tweeted the charges, but provided no evidence.

Days before the intelligence panel's decision, The Record ran two Page 1 columns based on an interview with Kellyanne Conway, the serial liar who was the Trump campaign manager and now is the president's counselor. 

The neutral headline gave Conway's lies more credibility than they deserved:

"Conway extends

surveillance tale"

Snow removal

Could a photo on the front of today's Local section be The Record's first mention of the effectiveness of snow removal in Hackensack, Englewood and other towns in the circulation area after Tuesday's big storm (1L)?

A man is shown clearing snow from the roof of a building "along Route 4 in Paramus."

Of course, drivers found many streets still covered with ice on Wednesday, and uncleared crosswalks forced pedestrians to endanger themselves by walking in the street.

Meanwhile, editors and reporters at the Woodland Park daily caught up on their sleep.

Photo blooper

On March 8, a photo caption in The Record's Better Living section mistakenly identified Alexander Graham Bell as the "inventor of the light bulb and telephone."

Surely, Thomas Alva Edison turned over in his West Orange grave.