If Ruskies did help elect Trump, then now is the time to 'Lock him up! Lock him up!'

A cartoon from Jeff Darcy of Cleveland.com portrays the warped mind of President Trump, who is shown equating Nordstrom "killing" daughter Ivanka's fashion line to President Putin killing thousands of civilians in Aleppo during the Syrian civil war and in Ukraine.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The New York Times is reminding readers that President Trump "has still refused to answer questions about contact between his campaign and Russia," and an Op-Ed columnist called that "an unacceptable silence."

Meanwhile, a Times editorial notes:

"President Trump may have thought the departure of his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, would end the controversy over his administration's involvement with Russia, but the damning revelations keep on coming.

"The whole fiasco underscores the dysfunction and dishonesty of his White House and how ill prepared it is to lead the nation."

The New York newspaper has taken the lead in reporting Trump-Russia contacts, as is evident on the front page of The Record, where a USA Today story quotes The Times:

"The New York Times reported that law enforcement and intelligence agencies intercepted calls and phone records showing Donald Trump's presidential campaign aides, as well as other associates, having repeated contact with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the [Nov. 8] election" (1A).

As evidence mounts of Russia's role in electing Trump, many recall how The Record of Woodland Park and news outlets across the country demonized his opponent, Hillary Clinton, without any evidence her private email server endangered national security or broke the law, as Republicans claimed.

They also recall how our very own GOP thug, Governor Christie, whipped the Republican National Convention into a frenzy of calls to "Lock her up! Lock her up!"

So, now may be the time for Trump critics to start chanting, "Lock him up! Lock him up!"

The FBI is calling

Also on Page 1 today, Staff Writer Hannan Adely reports:

"FBI agents have been calling Syrian refugees in New Jersey and asking to meet -- alarming advocates who say they fear the visits could be a first step toward surveillance at a time when refugees have been cast as a suspect group" (1A).

Christie was the first, in November 2015, to advocate barring Syrian refugees, including children, from New Jersey and the rest of the country.

Then Trump incorporated that Syrian refugee phobia into his controversial travel ban, which has been suspended by a federal appeals court.

Local news?

Gannett's editors have put readers of local news on a starvation diet.

That's the only conclusion you can reach after looking at today's Local front and seeing a story on who will pay for replacing "the high school's aging synthetic turf field" in tiny Waldwick, population 9,839 in 2013 (1L).

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.