The Record, other media failed miserably to report support for U.S. health-care law

A cartoon by Dave Granlund, above, explores charges that President Trump is acting like a dictator. 

Cartoonist Ed Wexler's "Donny's Daddy?" suggests Trump is in awe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who allegedly helped elect the tax-dodging New York billionaire on Nov. 8.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The groundswell of support for President Obama's Affordable Care Act seems to have come out of nowhere.

That's because until a month or so ago, when Donald J. Trump moved to repeal the 2010 law, all The Record did was channel Republicans' racially motivated attacks on what they cursed as "Obamacare," a word newspaper headline writers came to love despite the bias it reflects.

Today, Staff Writer Lindy Washburn reports repeal of the law may expose 810,000 New Jersey seniors on Medicare to "higher out-of-pocket costs," end $4 billion in federal spending in the state and cut 86,000 jobs (1A).

On another issue dominating the front page -- Trump's crackdown on all illegal immigrants, even those who haven't committed crimes -- when will the Woodland Park daily finally investigate the glacial legal immigration system (1A)?

The path from Green Card to citizenship often takes up to 5 years, and the system is so complex many legal immigrants hire lawyers they can't afford to help them navigate the forms, and repeated requests for information. 

In fact, the bureaucratic legal immigration system is believed to be a major cause of illegal immigration.

Old man Trump

Trump turned 70 last June and became the oldest person to hold the office of president about a month ago, so some commentators are blaming his age for all of the crazy things he says.

Black History Month began Feb. 1, but the president only visited the National Museum of African-American History and Culture on Tuesday.

USA Today reports Trump denounced anti-Semitism, even though his campaign attracted "an unusually high number of anti-Semites and white nationalists" (9A).

And in the annual proclamation on International Holocaust Day this month , Trump forgot to mention the 6 million Jews who died.

Jet-set food

Food Editor Esther Davidowitz should be ashamed of Tuesday's front-page promo and her breathless report on Gourmet Inflight Catering of Wood-Ridge.

The Better Living cover showed CEO Harry Purut holding the "smoked salmon tray" served to celebrities and "other multi-millionaires" who fly on private jets.

Big deal. Don't we eat much of the same food? What's the point of the story, except to give the caterer free advertising?

Davidowitz even managed to get in a plug for the Italian-American restaurant run by Purut's partner and chef brother-in-law.

Gannett editors ban African-American achievement from The Record's front page

Actress Melissa McCarthy made a surprise appearance on "Saturday Night Live" to deliver a hilarious send-up of White House press secretary Sean Spicer losing it time and again, above and below.

Here, McCarthy as Spicer uses a lectern to assault a reporter at the press briefing.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Before Gannett Co. bought The Record last July, African-American readers could expect Page 1 coverage of their achievements every February.

But five days into Black History Month, I haven't seen any mention of the annual observance on the front page or any page of the Woodland Park daily.

Instead, today's Sunday edition squanders precious Page 1 space on "sexting" and a column on one of the coaches in the Super Toilet Bowl.

With Gannett, as with former Publisher Stephen A. Borg in any month but February, one of the few ways blacks get on the front page is to be elected president, kill someone or commit some other horrible crime.

Court stops Trump

A federal appeals court early today denied a Trump administration request to immediately restore the travel and refugee ban after a Seattle judge blocked it (1A).

The State Department said it was restoring tens of thousands of canceled visas for travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, while the Department of Homeland Security "suspended" all actions for enforcing the ban, a front page story reports.

The Record's story refers to people who were affected by the ban as "foreigners" (1A).

Dictator Trump's many executive orders in his first two weeks have been greeted with horror, but they were also lampooned on "Saturday Night Live," "Real Time with Bill Maher" and other programs.

Maher said he believes Trump is "mentally ill," and that only the "sane Republicans" who control Congress can save the country.

On Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jews were stunned when Trump neglected to mention 6 million of their ancestors were slaughtered.

In the opening sketch on "Saturday Night Live," a cast member played White House senior counselor Stephen K. Bannon as the Grim Reaper, who is called "president." Actor Alex Baldwin, right, did his usual send-up of President Trump.

Terrorism debate

See Columnist Mike Kelly on the Opinion front today for a tedious discussion of the debate over whether Trump's travel ban was effective in keeping terrorists out of the country or unfair to refugees and other immigrants (1O).

The opening paragraphs scream "me, me, me" as the veteran reporter hits readers over the head with his credentials -- he researched a book on terrorism and studied "suicide bombing."

Isn't that impressive?

Food coverage

Food Editor Esther Davidowitz doesn't spend much time discussing heart disease, obesity and healthy food.

So, you might want to read a seven-paragraph story on 3L in Local today about Ridgewood firefighters who are shopping and cooking healthy with a grim statistic in mind:

Cardiovascular disease is cited in 45 percent of on-duty deaths of firefighters and, as one said, "diet can help that."

More typical was the Better Living cover story on Friday.

In place of a weekly restaurant review, editors ran a story on the Dumont Crystal diner, and a dish called "Dumont Police Sandwich" (Friday's 1BL and 10BL).

The ingredients are described as "hot roast beef, brown gravy, sauteed mushrooms, onions and fresh mozzarella," but the story doesn't warn readers all of that saturated fat from the cheese and the mystery meat is really bad for your heart.