UPDATE: Reporters question Murphy's ambitious plan, veracity of Trump tell-all

Cartoonist Daryl Cagle commenting on the GOP elephant in the room, in this case a racist President Trump in the Oval Office. "You either stand with America's values of Dignity, Justice and Equality for all -- or you stand with a racist president and administration," the Democratic donkey says. "Let's do both," the elephant replies.

COLUMNIST CHALLENGES BOOK

CALLING TRUMP A MADMAN

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

Editor's note: In one of his first acts in office on Tuesday, Governor Murphy signed an executive order demanding equal pay for women in New Jersey.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Democrat Phil Murphy was sworn in on Tuesday as New Jersey's 56th governor, signaling a new direction for the Garden State and ending an 8-year reign of terror by the worst chief executive in New Jersey history.

Murphy's plan -- including legalizing marijuana, creating a state bank, raising the minimum wage to $15 and offering free community college -- only seems ambitious given all the damage conservative ogre Chris Christie did to New Jersey.

When you look at how the GOP thug wrecked state finances, mass transit, the environment and health  care, among other programs, Murphy's progressive agenda may seem impossible to achieve.

But the new governor has a Democratic majority in the state Legislature on his side, and a major ally in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who, like Murphy, has pledged to resist all of the reckless policies of President Trump.

Slanted coverage

Sadly, reporters and columnists at The Record, my local daily newspaper, have kept up a drumbeat of doubt when writing about Murphy.

A profile on Sunday's front page appeared under block letters:

"FEARLESS PHIL"

The sub-headline:

"Murphy eager to rush

into fire of politics"

Actually, during the campaign, Murphy was all about issues -- not politics -- and The Record's relentless focus on the partisan divide in Trenton and Washington doesn't bode well for readers. 

Murphy as Sisyphus

The Gannett editors running The Record can't help themselves, using more than half of Tuesday's front page to tell readers Murphy is doomed to fail.

Inexplicably, a Page 1 story on key issues Murphy will face after his inauguration uses an enormous illustration of a Sisyphus-like figure:

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was condemned to ceaselessly roll an enormous boulder to the top of a steep hill, only to watch it come back and hit him, repeating the action for eternity.

Praise for Christie

In the story -- "CHALLENGES ALL AROUND" --reporters Dustin Racioppi and Nicholas Pugliese fall all over themselves trying to praise Christie's two terms in office:

"Despite the accomplishments of his Republican predecessor Chris Christie -- an improved economy, slowed growth of property tax bills [and] pension and health benefits reforms for public workers...."

But the reporters then contradict themselves, noting New Jersey "remains mired in costly, entrenched problems," including "a strained budget [and] a pension system in crisis."

Of course, these inept reporters never explain why state workers' pensions are "in crisis" after Christie supposedly reformed the very same system.

'Liberal direction' 

Racioppi was assigned to cover Christie, and judging from his slanted reporting during and after the 2017 gubernatorial campaign, grew to admire the GOP bully and his lieutenant governor, who lost to Murphy.

Today, in The Record's lead Page 1 story, the reporter couldn't wait to slap a "liberal" label on Murphy:

"Taking control from Chris Christie" on Tuesday, Murphy pledged "to steer the state in a new, liberal direction...," Racioppi said.

50 more vetoes

Also on Tuesday's front page, The Record reports Christie signed more than 100 bills into law on Monday, but executed "pocket vetoes" on 50 more.

That would bring Christie's unofficial total to more than 650 vetoes -- a record for any New Jersey governor.

'Fire and Fury'

In an Opinion front column on Sunday, The Record's Mike Kelly cites "errors of fact and judgment" by author Michael Wolff, and concludes he doesn't "trust" the sensational Wolff book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House."

But Kelly's reporting is hardly original, appearing many days after similar criticism from CNN's Jake Tapper, Chuck Todd of "Meet the Press" and Fox News, among others.

Wolff isn't the first to report on this chaotic, divisive presidency or suggest Trump is not only incompetent, but mentally unfit for the job.

And the deeply conservative Kelly had readers rolling their eyes when he claimed, "I'm hardly a Trump fan...."

Really? I can't recall Kelly blasting Trump as a racist, con man, serial liar and tax dodger who has divided the country more than at any time since the Civil War. 

But I do recall Kelly's reports during the 2016 presidential campaign, and his repeated pot shots at the record of Barack Obama, our first black president. 

Martin Luther King

On Monday, The Record's coverage of Martin Luther King's birthday completely missed the point.

The sub-headline said:

"Nearly 50 years after his death, Martin

 Luther King Jr.'s message

 still rings true."

But the real lesson is that nearly 50 years after his death, King's dream of racial equality is even farther away from being realized now that we have a racist president and a GOP-controlled Congress in power.

Bannon subpoenaed

Stephen K. Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist, has been subpoenaed by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

Bannon is expected to testify before a grand jury as part of the investigation into possible links between Trump associates and Russia.

This is the first subpoena served on a member of Trump's inner circle in the probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, The Times said.

President (Fake News) Trump apparently is winning a titanic battle with the media

Cartoonists Nate Beeler of The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio, above, and Daryl Cagle commenting on the news media's seemingly insatiable appetite for President Trump's tweets, most of which are filled with lies, exaggerations and empty boasts.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Almost every day in our long national nightmare, President Trump attacks or tries to dismantle another accomplishment of the Obama administration.

On Monday, Trump sharply reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah, hoping to open the land to more development.

Now, his commerce secretary is recommending three marine national monuments should be reopened to fishing.

Meanwhile, the Senate version of Trump's tax break for the super rich would end health insurance for 13 million Americans under the Affordable Care Act.

One estimate said Trump personally could save more than $1 billion, if the GOP tax plan becomes law.

Tweet storm

However, the news media haven't confronted Trump, and asked him whether he stands for anything except targeting the legacy of our first black president.

Instead, they parse or broadcast every single idiotic tweet from the Liar-In-Chief, even though, as far as I can tell, they have absolutely no obligation to do so.

In a letter to The Record, my local daily newspaper, Michael Konsevick of Vernon says of Trump's offensive tweets:

"The true danger of the ... Trump presidency is the tendency of much of the media to accept his aberrant and irrational behavior as somehow the new norm.

"Although he constantly harangues the mainstream media, Trump's free exposure through that same media helped him vanquish his many Republican opponents during the 2016 election cycle." 

Cartoonist Nate Beeler on Trump's controversial move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Fake news?

In the past year, Trump has tweeted about "fake news" more than 150 times, and on one day in September, he did so eight times, in apparent frustration over coverage of his administration's response to the hurricane devastating Puerto Rico, The New Yorker says.

"And, of course, Trump regularly invokes 'the fake-news, Russian-collusion story,' as he named it last summer," one of the dozen-plus times he has attacked coverage of the Russia investigation on Twitter, Steve Coll reports.

Trump boasted on Mike Huckabee's talk in show in October that "one of the greatest terms I've come up with is 'fake,'" Coll notes, but the phrase "fake news" has been around for more than a century.

Hackensack news?

Three cheers for Deputy Mayor Kathy Canestrino and Councilman Leo Battaglia, who voted against paying $775,000 to settle a lawsuit by former Hackensack City Clerk Debra Heck, a longtime political foe of the reformers elected in 2013 and again this year.

But the council OK'd the settlement in a 3-2 vote on Tuesday night, Staff Writer Rodrigo Torrejon of The Record says today (1L).

On Wednesday, Torrejon reported the City Council approved $142,382 in retirement payouts to Vincent Riotto, the former commander of a police narcotics unit whose misconduct led to the dismissal of eight criminal cases.

Pearl Harbor

In a Page 1 column today on the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Mike Kelly writes about a Maryland trucker who stopped at the Richard Stockton Service Plaza on the New Jersey Turnpike.

Outside a building with food concessions and restrooms, a plaque memorializes the 2,403 service members who died that day.

Is this any reason to write a front-page column that continues on 9A and 11A?

Kelly is so desperate to fill space, his column rambles all over the place:

"As he got out of his truck," Kelly writes of Ray Malone, "a wind blew across the parking lot and the smell of manure wafted off of a nearby farm."

How appropriate. Kelly has been churning out shit for more years than readers care to remember.

Restaurant review?

On Page 2 of Wednesday's Better Living section, an over-the-top appraisal of Trattoria Giotto is labeled "Restaurant Review," but it's missing a rating, prices, a telephone number or even the town where the Italian-American restaurant is located.

The writer is Joyce Venezia Suss, who has been stuffing her face on North Jersey Media Group's dime for many years.

On Twitter, @joycevsuss calls herself a "communicator extraordinaire."

What a joke. I'd call her a B.S. artist extraordinaire.

On the cover of the section, a four-course winemaker dinner at the Saddle River Inn is described in great detail, but the story doesn't say if or when it is being served, and how much it would cost.

Finally, the Better Living cover story on Wednesday urges Jewish readers to throw a latke-vodka party to celebrate Hanukkah. 

Throughout the paper, Gannett Co. editors have bylines appearing over a fictitious publication, "North Jersey Record."

Can't cancel

On NorthJersey.com, readers of The Record complain they've tried unsuccessfully to cancel their subscriptions:

"They have the worst customer service. All I want to do is cancel my subscription and on hold on phone for 30 minutes, then on hold for chat. Then they won't take cancellation over the chat but will take new subscriptions just horrible." -- Sharon Gorey Fanning

Racism is rearing its ugly head as Trump dismantles all that Obama accomplished

Cartoonist R.J. Matson of Roll Call captures the turmoil over President Trump's intention to scrap DACA, the federal government program created in 2012 by Barack Obama to give temporary legal immigration status to people who were brought to the United States illegally as children.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

President Trump's assault on so-called Dreamers is seen as more evidence of his virulent racism, because most of them are Hispanic (nearly 70% are from Mexico).

This is Trump's latest attempt to dismantle all that President Barack Obama accomplished -- from health care to trade agreements to equal pay for women to the Paris climate accord and far more.

The Washington Post's Catherine Rampell says the guiding principle seems to be, "Undo everything the previous guy did," according to the Morning Brief from WNYC-FM.

Except when the "previous guy" is our first black president, Trump's motives appear to be racially inspired, continuing his demonization of Obama, whom he alleged is a Muslim who wasn't born in the United States.

The New York billionaire didn't give up that fiction until September 2016, CNN says.

It would be no surprise that Trump is practicing racial politics; it's what he did during his ultimately successful campaign -- as the national news media stood by and celebrated him as a "newcomer" and an "outsider" determined to shake up the Washington establishment.

And it's no surprise Trump continues to play the race card to his adoring supporters, who are overwhelmingly angry white men, many of them members of alt-right groups, neo-Nazi cells, the Klan and other cesspools.

What are they angry about? Eight years of chafing under a black president who tried to even the playing field for the nation's minorities.

Desperation

In a sure sign of desperation, the defense attorney for U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez's co-defendant claims the charges being heard by a federal jury are an "attack" on successful members of the Hispanic-American community (1 A in The Record).

And the Woodland Park daily's decision to put that BS story on Page 1 today is a sure sign Gannett Co. is desperate for readers.

Federal prosecutors told the jury on Wednesday Menendez was co-defendant Salomon Melgen's "personal senator."

They described a "bribery scheme involving 'a corrupt politician who sold his senate office for a life of luxury he couldn't afford, and a greedy doctor who put that politician on his payroll for when he needed the services of a United States senator'" (7A in The Record).

See: Bob Menendez is unfit to serve in U.S. Senate

Elaine D'Aurizio

Elaine D'Aurizio, who became The Record's only female news columnist in a career that spanned more than 30 years, died on Wednesday. She was 76.

Visiting hours are today from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Moore's Home for Funerals, 1591 Alps Road, Wayne. 

A death notice ran in The Record on Thursday.

The Record's readers hit 'corporate greed' at Gannett, pig-racing news and price hike

This cartoon from Daryl Cagle illustrates President Trump's "impulsive Tweeting," such as accusing Barack Obama "of wire-tapping his phones in a series of tweets that blew back to bite him."

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Long-time readers of The Record continue to express shock, outrage and dismay over changes to their local daily newspaper as Gannett again moves to slash the payroll.

In a review posted on NorthJersey.com's Facebook page, Michael Esposito slams "corporate greed" at what he called a "once legendary paper."

Esposito also includes mention of The Record's "Radio Waves" column, which will end with the March 25 departure of veteran staffer Raymond A. Edel, one of the 141 North Jersey Media Group employees who were given layoff notices at the end of January.

"Concerning what's going on at The Record:

 "Congratulations Gannett Publishing. If your goal was to gut a once legendary paper and turn it into USA Today Version 2, you're succeeding. And you should be ashamed of yourselves because of it. Corporate greed is king. Or so they think.

"Breaking news from the New York Radio message board: Last of the newspaper radio columns ending.

"Posted by Ken Lamb on March 05, 2017:

"Quick. Name a newspaper still featuring a weekly column on radio. Answer. The Record in Bergen County. The long-time family owned publication was sold to Gannett last July, killing off one of the last independents in this area. And you know what is now happening. Gannett is doing what it does best. Cut, chop, eliminate.

"And one of the victims is 'Radio Waves' by Raymond A. Edel which appeared most every Friday. Yes, it was mostly rehashed releases from public stations where they must still have staff dedicated to writing releases. But I don't want to be too critical of Edel's efforts where now and again he would dig up a good story.

"Now, Edel reports that after 33 years he got a pink slip. He leaves the building on March 25 probably meaning his last column will appear on Friday, March 24. So unless Edel can find a new home, the last of the weekly radio columns is gone!

"Good luck Ray and thanks for all your many years of columns about radio. Hat tip to Ed Salvas who picked up this story from a notation on Edel's Linked In page."

On March 6, Dawn Thumudo-McPartland said she would give The Record the lowest rating possible:

"Wish I could give it 0 stars. This publication has gone downhill quickly! There is little to no news and 90% is advertisement. The news that is in there is drivel and contains no news at all.

"Seriously, an article about a petition to ban pig racing at the Meadowlands when there is so many more important things going on in the county?

"How about the debacle that is Affordable Housing, and maybe an expose about who exactly funds the Fair Share Housing Coalition? Get back to printing real news and not National Enquirer bologna."

Carol de Lyon slammed the substantial hike in the cost of home delivery for a paper as "flimsy" as its parent, USA Today.

She complained about huge headlines, and "far too much banal reporting in articles simply to use up space without substantive reporting."

"We used to read every word of the old Record, Now it takes less than five minutes. Tabloid journalism at its worst."

Today's paper

On Page 1 today, a staff-written story reports President Trump is creating a new office to help victims of illegal aliens and "has pledged to publish weekly lists" of crimes committed by those undocumented immigrants (1A).

Critics say the initiative "could inflame bias."

The headline:

"President
shifts his
focus to
criminals"

But typical of staff-written stories in The Record, there is no background about the policies of President Obama and others.

"Barack Obama was the most anti-immigrant president since Dwight Eisenhower, who loaded more than 1 million Mexicans onto railroad cars in 1954's 'Operation Wetback,' syndicated Columnist Ruben Navarrette wrote on The Record's Opinion page this month.

Obama deported "roughly 3 million people," divided hundreds of thousands of families and dumped thousands of abandoned U.S.-born kids into foster care, Navarrette reported.

He said his administration was "removing people 'who are dangerous, people who are gang-bangers or criminals.'"

"Meanwhile, the same conservatives who charged Obama wasn't doing enough are now applauding Trump for going above and beyond -- when, in reality, the new president is mimicking the old one."

Local news

In Local today, there are stories from only a handful of the 90 or so towns in the circulation area.

But fans of light-bulb news will find two stories to interest them on 3L:

One is a pledge by PSE&G to replace streetlight bulbs in Hasbrouck Heights.

And in Allendale, Northern Highlands Regional High School will install all LED light poles at its sports field at a cost of $400,000.

Saturday's paper

In The Record on Saturday, a photo caption on 7A said:

"Commuters dodging traffic on East Ridgewood Avenue [in Paramus] as they try to reach a bus stop from a park-and-ride lot."

But the photo shows only two vehicles, and both are in the distance, traveling away from the half-dozen commuters jaywalking across the street.

The photo was taken by Staff Writer John Cichowski to illustrate his front-page Road Warrior column, which carried this headline:

"Risking life
and limb to 
catch a bus"

So, I guess readers can assume that judging from the photo, Cichowski is again employing his usual exaggeration and hype to sell his boring column.

That's more of the trademark dishonest reporting he's employed since he began writing the so-called commuting column in September 2003.

The Record can't keep up with bizarre twists and turns of lying Trump regime

Freelance cartoonist Bob Englehart on President Trump's slow response to the wave of anti-Semitic bomb threats. Forgotten for the moment are Trump supporters' attacks against Jewish reporters covering the 2016 presidential campaign.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Now President Trump is calling for a congressional inquiry into whether Barack Obama tapped his phones, according to a New York Times breaking news alert sent to my smartphone this morning. 

"He still offered no proof of the charge," The Times added.

The USA Today story on Page 1 of The Record reports:

"Trump, in a Saturday morning tweetstorm, responded to the mounting questions over his ties to Russia by accusing ... Obama of wiretapping him ... just before the November election...."

USA Today labeled Trump's charge an "unsubstantiated outburst," and an Obama spokesman called it "simply false" (1A).

Although Trump has been in office for only six weeks, the number of investigations -- or calls for them -- seems to be unprecedented.

Paterson news

Most  of today's front page is devoted to an upbeat story on the homes built in one of Paterson's worst neighborhoods by Habitat for Humanity (1A).

A second story discusses rumors that police departments in North Jersey are rounding up illegal immigrants in Paterson, Newark and other communities (1A).

In Local, a story reports protesters pushed for a $15 minimum wage on Saturday at the Teterboro Landing Shopping Center in Teterboro (3L).

Their demonstration was aimed at Governor Christie, who vetoed a phase-in of the $15-an-hour minimum.

Thin edition

Once you recycle the useless Real Estate and Sports sections, there are only 40 pages of news and advertising in today's so-called Sunday edition.

In about 20 days, Gannett will lay off about 50 reporters and editors, who are among a total of 141 North Jersey Media Group employees the company is letting go.

Trump sworn in, Obamas leaving White House in transition from class to crass

This morning, New York's tabloids, the Post and Daily News, ran identical headlines and photos of President-elect Donald J. Trump and first lady-in-waiting Melania Trump, a former model whose nude photos with another woman both papers delighted in publishing.  The play on "Dawn of a new day" seems trite.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

It's official.

New York billionaire businessman Donald John Trump, once denounced as a wacko and racist, has been sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.

As Barack Obama leaves Washington today, it's useful to review what he has accomplished, and ask whether President Trump can possibly match his actions to the magic-wand promises he made during a long, bitter campaign that was designed to divide the nation.

Vice President Mike Pence was sworn in by Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, whose 1991 confirmation hearing was marked by accusations of sexual harassment, similar to those made against Trump.

From AMERICAblog:

Among the things President Obama has accomplished these past eight years, despite racially motivated opposition from Republicans in Congress:

1. Obama saved the economy from imminent collapse. 

2. Passed health-care reform, giving 20 million people insurance.

3. Passed Wall Street Reform. 

4. Negotiated the Iran nuclear deal. 

5. Got the Paris climate deal signed.

6. Killed Osama bin Laden. 

7. Ended combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

8. Bailed out the auto industry.

9. Repealed Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and put the full force of the U.S. government behind marriage equality.

And it's useful to review how poorly the tabloids treated Trump and his wife during the campaign: