Binge-watching Netflix, Trump touching his face, other precious Covid-19 moments

Cartoonist Dave Whamond of Cagle.com says most of us "have been training for this our entire lives," referring to coronavirus pandemic measures, including binge-watching Netflix.

"When D.J. Trump talks, people listen" (and the stock market takes a dive) is yet another timely cartoon from Whamond, whose work has appeared in magazines and newspapers.

On Feb. 28, the president labeled 

the new coronavirus 'a hoax,'

but just 2 weeks later -- on a Friday the 13th -- declared
 a 'national emergency'

Cartoonist Daryl Cagle of DarylCagle.com has President Trump violating the first rule of personal hygiene during the coronavirus pandemic, touching his face, in a variation on the "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil" cartoon.

From Adam Zyglis, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for The Buffalo News, on the need for social distancing during the pandemic.

The panic buying and rationing of toilet paper by Americans who were "scared shitless" of the coronavirus, in the words of political satirist Bill Maher, was illustrated by cartoonist Steve Sack of the Star Tribune in Minnesota.

Cartoons by Jimmy Margulies, above and below, illustrate the sad state of our health-care system, and the danger posed to workers' pensions during the coronavirus pandemic.

Margulies cartoons also can be seen on his Facebook page.

Cartoonist Joe Heller of Cagle.com illustrates the dilemma of Americans who were urged to stay at home just as gasoline prices fell. Heller is the editorial cartoonist for the Green Bay Press Gazette in Wisconsin.

Auto press group solicits ideas for ethics policy, but at least one member is skeptical

This week, President Emeritus Scotty Reiss asked members of the International Motor Press Association to submit ideas for the group's first ethics policy.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Members of the International Motor Press Association and Washington Automotive Press Association met this week for a free technical conference to improve their content and hone their social-media skills.

Five automakers sponsored the event, held at Volvo Cars Manhattan, including a light breakfast and lunch, and an evening cocktail party on the roof of a hotel called Ink 48.

The party, featuring $29 glasses of French champagne and light snacks, was paid for by Drive Shop, which manages new press and marketing vehicles many members can borrow free for "test drives."

In fact, many IMPA members have such a cozy relationship with auto companies and dealers I was surprised to hear President Emeritus Scotty Reiss solicit ideas for the press group's first ethics policy. 

I didn't get a chance to ask her at the conference on Tuesday why she thought the group needed an ethics policy, and she hasn't responded to my emails.

Freebies galore

I'm not sure IMPA is ready for an ethics policy.

"Free" is the operative word at IMPA, which calls itself the country's "oldest organization of automotive journalists and public relations professionals."

Members come from all media -- print, broadcast and Internet -- and include public relations representatives of all the world's automotive manufacturers and suppliers.

In addition to free cars and SUVs to borrow for a weekend or a week, some members have all their expenses paid when they travel to auto shows to report on new models or attend a "reveal" of a new car or SUV.

Few IMPA members disclose these freebies -- including airfare, hotel rooms and fine dining -- and many of their reports are indistinguishable from the advertising and promotion paid for by the automakers and dealers themselves.

Convivial lunches

I joined IMPA in the 1980s, when I wrote a monthly road-test column on new cars for The Record, then in Hackensack, N.J.

After I left the paper in 2008, I let my membership lapse, but rejoined when I began writing a blog, Shocking Car News, which focused on all-electric and hybrid cars, including my 2015 Tesla Model S.

Later, I folded that blog into The Sasson Report, which covers EVs, food, politics, news of Hackensack, where I live, and other topics.

I enjoy the free monthly IMPA lunches in Manhattan, convivial gatherings of writers, public relations people and auto company executives.

But given IMPA's emphasis on members monetizing their content, and the group's distaste for criticizing the industry and dealers, I can't imagine an ethics policy with any teeth.

Climate change 

For example, I don't see IMPA acknowledging how the auto industry damaged the environment in the past century or how auto emissions cause tens of thousands of premature deaths every year.

Few auto writers in the group focus exclusively on all-electric cars and gas-electric hybrids or ever discuss the environmental advantages of owning such a vehicle.

Good luck, Scotty. I sent you my ideas for an ethics policy. But I'm not holding my breath.

See: World automakers try to improve

 mileage of deadly gas engines

See: Writers just want to have fun

 at annual track event

See: Years late, Consumer Reports

 puts EV on Top 10 list

See: Maserati says 'vaffanculo'

 to climate regulators 

At Tuesday's tech conference, IMPA members heard from representatives of Facebook, Volvo and Drive Shop on how they can increase their presence on social media.

Katz's Deli delivered a light lunch, but servers didn't know what was in some of the sandwiches, which is how I ended up eating a chicken-salad sandwich, below, when I thought I was getting tuna fish. (I don't eat poultry or meat).

During the cocktail party atop Ink 48, I asked for a glass of French champagne, which was listed on the bar menu for $29. Delicious.

If anti-gun teens really turn out and vote, we'll witness a new American Revolution

The size of the March For Our Lives demonstration in Washington, D.C., on Saturday was estimated as high as 800,000, and if crowds in other cities are included, more than 1 million people turned out to demand action on banning assault-style rifles and taking measures to end mass shootings (Associated Press photo).

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Florida high school massacre survivors warned NRA-endorsed politicians to prepare for defeat at the polls in November by a new wave of teenage voters.

In Saturday demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and other cities in America and around the world, protesters called for a ban on assault-style rifles and passage of other gun-control laws in a bid to end mass shootings.

If they register and go to the polls, the anti-gun teens who organized the March For Our Lives could ease one of the most corrosive influences in our democracy:

Voter apathy in national, state and local elections.

Millions of new voters would be nothing less than a new American Revolution -- despite the best efforts of Republicans to suppress the vote, and the news media to divide us by reporting almost exclusively on politics.

Clinton defeat

Registered Democrats who sat out the 2016 presidential election were a major factor in the defeat of Hillary Clinton and the Electoral College victory of serial liar Donald J. Trump.

In 2013, voter indifference to the Democratic candidate in New Jersey led to the reelection of Chris Christie, even though his first term showed him to be the worst governor in state history.

And in Hackensack's April 2017 school election, only 642 out of 21,397 registered voters -- that's 3% -- weighed in on the $109 million budget, and elected three members to the nine-member school board.

Thus, the discredited Zisa family political dynasty retained control of the city's Board of Education after their candidates had been trounced by City Council reformers in 2013.

Trump in Florida

President Trump, who fled the White House and spent the weekend at his Florida golf resort, was silent on the extraordinary turnout to remember the 17 students or staffers killed on Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

At The Record of Woodland Park, my local daily newspaper, Columnist Mike Kelly didn't bother working on Saturday to cover similar demonstrations in Montclair, Newark and other New Jersey communities.

His Sunday column demanded an apology -- but not from Trump, who caved into the National Rifle Association after the Parkland shooting, and didn't call for new gun-control measures.

Instead, Kelly had readers eyes rolling with his column on Facebook's vulnerability to a data-mining firm working for Trump -- a story broken last week by The New York Times.

The major piece on The Record's Opinion front today -- pushing Kelly's column below the fold -- is about professional baseball (1O).

Give me a break.