Crappy food from factory farms, pollution are killing all of us really slowly but surely

BEEF WITH ANTIBIOTICS: This illustration from Consumer Reports accompanied a report that only 2 out of 25 chain restaurants (Chipotle and Panera Bread) got an A for sourcing beef raised without harmful antibiotics.

National, local media fail to warn

about antibiotics, pesticides, more

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- When I look around at the hospital volunteers I work with every week, I see men and women in their 70s and 80s, and even one man who is a couple of years over 90. (I'll be 75 next week.)

Ours is a physical job, involving a lot of walking, pushing and carrying, and everyone appears to be in good health, even though some of those who are overweight can't stop eating cookies, candy and other sugary treats brought in by other volunteers.

At the same time, death is all around us, not to mention disease. 

All too often, we're notified that a longtime volunteer has passed, we learn of the death of a volunteer's spouse or a volunteer we know has an operation.

So, I often wonder, what is killing us? 

My answer: The food we eat, and the air we breathe.

No longer 'Cancer Alley'

New Jersey long ago shed the reputation of being "Cancer Alley," but our air is far from clean, and tailpipe emissions cause hundreds, if not thousands, of premature deaths in the Garden State each year. 

Even though there are fewer chemical companies and refineries lining the New Jersey Turnpike today, the number of dirty, diesel-burning trucks likely has increased, worsening our infamous air pollution.

And the junction of Routes 95 and 4 at the George Washington Bridge is now recognized as the most congested in the metropolitan area, clogged by delivery trucks for Amazon, Fresh Direct and others heading for Manhattan.

Take that, Fort Lee.

It's the food, stupid

Of course, the food we eat is the major factor in causing disease and death.

In March 2009, I launched my first blog with a post on Food bargains.

I had already started buying organic spring mix, organic carrot juice and other organics free of pesticides and genetically modified ingredients.

That blog, Do You Really Know What You're Eating?, called on readers to:

"Celebrate food, life and diversity. Join me in the search for the right ingredients: Food without human antibiotics, growth hormones and other harmful additives that have become commonplace in animals raised on factory farms."

READ: Food shopping for a sustainable diet

EATING CLEAN: When you prepare your own meals, you are in full control of what you eat. Here, I loaded my breakfast plate with organic eggs, organic pasta, organic baby spinach, organic squash and organic parsley. See recipes at Victor' Healthy Kitchen on YouTube

MYSTERY SHRIMP: When you eat out, you have less control over what you're eating. Here, at Highlawn Pavilion in West Orange, the lunch menu didn't say whether the jumbo shrimp in this trio of seafood were wild-caught or farmed. When I asked, the waiter said they were farmed, but not from any of the three countries where shrimp are raised with harmful antibiotics -- Thailand, Vietnam and India.

Emphasis on organics

In 2010, I stopped eating meat and poultry, even those without antibiotics and growth hormones that we were buying, and began a diet of wild-caught seafood, organic eggs, organic produce and as many other organics as we could afford.

My goal was made easier by the Amazon takeover of Whole Foods Market:

That led to lower prices on organics and wild-caught seafood at the Paramus store (where I shop weekly), including special discounts for Amazon Prime members like me, and 5% cash back when I use the Amazon Prime credit card.

ShopRite and Costco Wholesale, where we spend most of our food dollars, both have introduced more and more organics, and both offer antibiotic-free raw chicken.

At ShopRite, they are sold under the Wholesome Pantry label, and at Costco, private-label Kirkland Signature items are increasingly organic.

A glaring exception is Costco's wildly popular but low quality Kirkland Signature Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken.

Consumer Reports

My longtime subscription to Consumer Reports magazine has helped to educate me.

The non-profit, which doesn't accept advertising, is the nation's leading publication in reporting abuses on the nation's industrial farms, including a three-part series on the widespread use of antibiotics in raising animals. 

"The practice of giving antibiotics to food animals to prevent, rather than treat, illnesses is a main contributor to antibiotic resistance" in humans when they are sick or become infected.

That is the message in an Oct. 31 report on ConsumerReports.org, "Most Fast-Food Chains Still Serve Beef Raised with Antibiotics."

Infected by superbugs

In 2017, Consumer Reports said:

"Overabusing antibiotics accelerates the process of antibiotic resistance. Already, more than 23,000 people die each year from antibiotic-resistant superbugs."

You won't find reporting like that in The New York Times, where the cooking editor promotes recipe after recipe for preparing mystery meat and poultry, and others filled with artery clogging butter and cream.

Nor will you find much guidance in The Record of Woodland Park and its affiliated (201) magazine, which churn out article after article on the 5, 10 or 15 "best" burgers or hot dogs, usually made with mystery meat raised on harmful antibiotics and growth hormones.

Read: From shit to ritz, are these really

 the best burgers in all of Bergen County?

Advice for diabetics

On Oct. 23, The Record's print edition ignored all of the diabetics in its audience of older readers, urging North Jersey readers to jump into their cars and drive to a "new sweets company" in historic Mullica Hill.

There -- more than 112 miles from Hackensack on the insanely crowded New Jersey Turnpike -- you could buy as many marshmallows as your car could carry.

A second article on the Better Living front that day listed the "7 NJ places to treat yourself" to sugary s'mores, but none of them were in Bergen or Passaic counties, the heart of the circulation area.

I guess the thinking of Esther Davidowitz, the food editor of The Record, is that in consuming s'mores, diabetics can overdose on sugar with a smile on their faces.

Other resources

To learn more about what we're eating and how our food is raised or grown, visit these other non-profits, and consider becoming a monthly contributor to support their work:

Environmental Defense Fund

Food and Water Watch

Institute for Responsible Technology

News media do another awful job, wasting our time in trying to call midterm elections

A voter entering the Fairmount School in Hackensack around 2 this afternoon to vote in the 2018 midterm congressional elections, as well as on county races and two ballot questions. Voting machines were set up in the cafeteria. Hackensack schools were dismissed after a half day.

A voter using a cane as he approached the doors to the Hackensack High School gymnasium, another polling place where voting machines were set up.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Nearly 2 years into the presidency of Donald J. Trump, not a single reporter has had the courage to confront him and say, "Mr. President, please stop lying to the American people."

Instead, they've covered every one of his partisan rallies, and spread his lies around the world with no fact-checking.

Then, days or weeks later, The Washington Post or New York Times thunder about all of the lies Trump has told.

Who will win?

Today is Election Day across America, and the news media have spent the past few weeks obsessing over who will win, and whether Democrats will be able to take control of the House and Senate.

Why not just wait for the results to come in after the polls close, and devote all that energy to laying out the issues instead of relentlessly focusing on politics?

Polls are notoriously inaccurate, yet their reports are filled with them, and updated every day, it seems.

Sensational ads

NBC, CBS and other networks accept the most sensational, deceptive or inaccurate campaign ads, signaling to viewers that only the bottom line matters.

It's no surprise there are so many apathetic voters in Hackensack and elsewhere across the nation.

The blame rests squarely on the news media, who seem cowed by Trump's campaign to portray them as the enemy of the people.

It's another sad day for the Fourth Estate.

Hackensack Councilman Leo Battaglia, in dark top and cap, in the Fairmount School cafeteria this afternoon.

Trump wages campaign to make America white again in image of his beloved Russia

From cartoonist Ed Wexler. See more at PoliticalCartoons.com.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Thanks to satirist Bill Maher for reminding us how firmly President Trump has rejected the melting pot in favor of the despot, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

In fact, a popular drink in Putin's realm is the White Russian, made with vodka, coffee liqueur, cream or milk, the acerbic comic noted on his HBO show, "Real Time with Bill Maher."

Trump and other white Republicans are waging war on people of color, whether they live in the United States or just want to come here.

Nearly all of Trump's official actions have been to roll back laws and regulations enacted or adopted during the administration of Barack Obama, our first black president, many of which helped minorities.

Payback for tax cut

His one big legislative accomplishment -- the Trump tax cut -- is helping the GOP by "unlocking tens of millions of dollars in campaign donations from the wealthy conservatives and corporate interests that benefited handsomely from it," The New York Times reports.

"Billionaires and corporations that reaped millions of dollars in tax cuts are pumping some of that windfall into the Congressional Leadership Fund, a 'super PAC' ... that is flooding the airwaves ... with increasingly sharp attacks on the Democratic candidates vying to wrest control of the House [in the Nov. 8 elections]," according to today's Page 1 story.

For example, casino magnate Sheldon Anderson gave $30 million to the PAC after his company, Las Vegas Sands, reported a nearly $700 million windfall from the tax law this year, The Times says.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with Russian athletes -- all white -- who won medals in the 2018 Winter Olympics (Russian government photo).

From Steve Sack, editorial cartoonist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

From cartoonist Milt Priggee, a native of Anchorage, Alaska. The news media appear to be losing their titanic struggle with President Trump, who calls them the "enemy of the people." Despite the attacks, reporters are falling all over themselves to be the first to disseminate the president's latest lies, whether contained in a tweet or shouted over the roar of his helicopter. It's a sad day for the Fourth Estate.

'Trump drops dead and the nation rejoices' is the headline I can't wait to write for real

In this cartoon from Pat Bagley of The Salt Lake Tribune, the people of Puerto Rico are still waiting for real relief, but GOP leaders rushed to approve a tax plan that is little more than a $1.5 trillion giveaway to the super rich, including all those big corporations that threatened to withhold millions of dollars in campaign funds.

Cartoonist Jimmy Margulies, formerly of The Record of Woodland Park, my local daily newspaper, says the GOP tax plan means smaller deductions for homes and bigger deductions for Trump Hotels.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

Editor's note: This post has been updated with a link to the "Mueller Baby" impeachment carol.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

New York billionaire, con man, racist and tax dodger Donald J. Trump has held the office of president of the United States for only 11 months, but I long ago tired of hearing his voice.

His tweets -- taking credit for a robust economy and stock market records -- are filled with lies.

They are painful to read, and have me wondering why the news media keep on quoting and analyzing them, and seeking reaction to every idiotic word.

I probably wrote thousands of headlines on the night copy desk of The Record, when that once-great local daily newspaper was headquartered in Hackensack.

But the headline I'm itching to write still eludes me:

"TRUMP DROPS DEAD

 AND THE NATION REJOICES"

You'd think all that low-quality McDonald's food and steaks and Diet Coke would have done in the 71-year-old moron by now.

Instead, it looks like Trump will be bounced from office by the special counsel investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election or impeached by Congress when control swings to the Democrats after the November 2018 midterm elections.

Of course, the latter can only happen, if the tens of millions of Democrats who didn't bother to vote in November 2016 go to the polls next year.

See: 'Mueller Baby' impeachment carol

Cartoonist Dave Grandlund calls House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell liars after they claimed the tax overhaul would benefit "everyone ... even the middle class." But the pair were quoted endlessly by newspapers on the positive effects of the tax plan on the middle class, and their sound bites dominated TV news.

GOP tax overhaul

The tax overhaul pushed by the president and approved by Republicans in Congress was panned by the news media, including The New York Times:

"G.O.P Wins on

Tax Cuts, but

Faces a Brutal

Election Year"

News media, voter apathy

Let's hope that in 2018, we don't see the kind of voter apathy that sidelined millions of Democrats in the 2016 presidential election.

Voter apathy can be traced directly to the media, including TV and radio news, and newspapers big and small.

For more years than I care to remember, the media have been relentless in their political focus when covering elections. 

Everything is reported in terms of Republicans and Democrats, and reporters and editors seem unable to grasp the importance of exploring issues, and reporting what would be good for the country.

This is essentially "he said, she said" journalism that is of little help to readers.

Turnout falls

On Monday, a front-page story in The Record disclosed turnout in the Nov. 7 election for New Jersey governor "hit an all-time low" after steadily declining since 2001, even though more people have been registering to vote.

The Record has done a poor job of keeping up with Governor Christie's nearly 600 vetoes, but Monday's story reported that in 2015, the GOP bully vetoed a bill that would have made voting "more convenient."

The story didn't note that Christie and other Republicans are synonymous with voter suppression while Democrats want to widen voting.  

"Dubbed the Democracy Act, it would allow for early voting, including extended and weekend hours up to two weeks before a Tuesday election.

"Online, automatic and same-day voter registration. among other initiatives, were also proposed, under the bill sponsored by outgoing Assembly speaker Vincent Prieto," a Democrat.

The bill has been reintroduced, and action is expected after Democrat Phil Murphy takes office as governor on Jan. 16, replacing Christie, whose two terms of mean-spirited rule brought the state to its knees.

The Record: A letter contains sticker shock about my 7-day home delivery subsciption

A cartoon from Pat Bagley of the Salt Lake Tribune compares President Trump to a docile breed entered in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show by shirtless Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Until I received a letter from The Record, I wasn't aware I am paying more than $100 a year for 7-day home delivery of the once-great daily newspaper I worked for until 2008.

That's $104 or 28 cents an issue, said a woman who took my call this morning after I was put on hold for more than 15 minutes and listened to music from the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra.

After June 4, my home delivery subscription will go up only 40 cents, to $104.40 (charged to my credit card at $8.70 a month), she said.

And there is no charge for access to NorthJersey.com, which is even more poorly edited than the print edition, if you can imagine that.

That's double the $51.48 a year I paid in 2010, when I still received a discount for being a former employee.

But the woman hastened to add the "regular rate" for 7-day home delivery is $457.60.

Why didn't I know how much I paid for the Woodland Park daily?

My account is enrolled in auto pay, and renews automatically.

The letter also informed me I "will receive 4 premium editions throughout the year, which will be charged at $1 each."

Idle boasts

While I was on hold, a recorded message played over and over again, touting The Record's "restaurant reviews," which ended last November with the departure of critic Elisa Ung.

Today's Better Living section contains not a restaurant review, but a story on "North Jersey's Best Chicken Sandwiches" (1BL, 10BL and 11BL).

If you don't eat poultry or meat, screw you, Food Editor Esther Davidowitz seems to be saying.

The message also boasted of "the best local news coverage anywhere" -- a patently ridiculous statement even when the Borg family owned the paper.

Today's paper

President Trump continues his assault on the news media and "fake news" after former Gen. Michael Flynn resigned as national security adviser (1A).

A long Page 1 story on the suspensions of the high school principal and nine other high-level district employees in Englewood never explains what is wrong with "more than 3,000 graduation credit and grade changes in the previous year" (1A).

Paul Berger, a transportation reporter who covers the Port Authority, continues to spend more time reporting on the woes of unarmed guards at the George Washington Bridge than he does on the commuters who are caught in horrendous traffic jams at the bridge and other Hudson River crossings (1A).

He also has ignored reporting on a quick fix for a lack of rush-hour seats on NJ Transit buses and afternoon delays at the midtown-Manhattan bus terminal:

More exclusive Lincoln Tunnel bus lanes (both in the morning and afternoon) on Route 495.

About one-third of the first Business page in the L-section was missing when we found our copy of The Record, which was tossed far from the familiar spot in our driveway today. The missing third of the page ended up in the A-section, next to the editorials.

Local news 

Governor Christie's White House dreams were dashed by the Bridgegate scandal, and now a Bergen County judge has cleared the way for an official misconduct complaint against him to proceed to trial (1L).

The GOP thug has tried to put Bridgegate behind him by launching a number of initiatives to address "the epidemic of addition" to prescription drugs (Thursday's front page).

Also on the Local front, Staff Writer John Cichowski continues to base his so-called commuting column on a small number of wackos who email him incessantly so they can see their names in print (1L).

Today's Road Warrior column celebrates Neanderthal drivers who disable such collision-avoidance systems as backup cameras, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring and lane-departure warnings.