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 Trump is turning White House into his own personal and smelly shithole

The front page of the New York Daily News on Friday commenting on President Trump's "vicious slur" against immigrants.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Racist-In-Chief ... Liar-In-Chief ... Pussy Grabber-in-Chief.

How many more ways can you say it to describe President Trump, who surely is one of the lowest forms of life on earth?

He's made America not "great again," but a laughing stock around the world.

His inflated vision of himself, and his contempt for people of color have been known for years, but the news media never considered him a threat to our democracy until it was too late.

Millions of Democrats, assured by the polls Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 presidential election, didn't even bother to vote, and tens of thousands of crazy Bernie Sanders supporters actually voted for the contemptible Trump.

'Shithole countries'

During a meeting on immigration last week, Trump's description of Haiti and Ghana (and other African countries) as "shithole countries" set off a new round of condemnation from the mighty New York Times on down, but those editorials will do little good.

As he's done so many times before, Trump denied he used the slur, and grabbed headlines for his denial. Why do the media even bother printing or airing his lies?

On Friday, the front page of The Record, my local daily newspaper, refused to print Trump's exact words -- "shithole countries" -- on Page 1.

The headline referred to Trump's "vulgarity," and the second paragraph described his "contemptuous description of an entire continent [Africa]."

So now, Trump has turned the White House into his own personal shithole, retiring to his bedroom at 6:30 in the evening with a cheeseburger and his cellphone.

His choice of McDonald's is appropriate, given that many low-quality, fast-food burgers contain cow feces, which get mixed into the ground beef during the high-speed slaughtering of cattle.

Refunds for readers?

Also on Friday's front page, a story on NJ Transit delays suggested "frustrated commuters may wonder whether they should start asking for a refund."

I'm sure thousands of readers have been wondering whether they should start asking for refunds from the Gannett Co. for the crappy journalism practiced at The Record. 

On Jan. 1, Gannett raised 7-day home delivery of the print edition by $75 t0 $180 a year plus tax (I was paying $104.40).

Gannett slashed the payroll at North Jersey Media Group -- publisher of The Record, Herald News, weekly papers and (201) magazine by more than 350, and cut The Record's local news hole drastically, especially for Bergen County readers.

And The Record no longer delivers papers held during vacations or replaces wet papers.

Christie bobbleheads

As the controversy over Trump's remarks mounted, The Record ran a Mike Kelly column on Saturday's front page reporting a museum had put bobbleheads of outgoing New Jersey Governor Christie on sale.

You'd think such nonsense would be relegated to the back pages or not run at all.

So, as a Record subscriber, I'd like to know where I can apply for a refund.

In 2017, the New Jersey State Police refused repeated requests from The Sasson Report to update figures that showed a dramatic decline in speeding enforcement between 2010 and 2015 on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway. I also sought figures for Route 80.

Traffic deaths

The Record's clueless Road Warrior today throws around hundreds of mind-numbing numbers to explain why New Jersey traffic deaths (including pedestrians) rose to 635, compared to a low of 542 in 2013.

But Staff Writer John Cichowski ignores the two biggest factors: 

A drastic reduction in the enforcement of speeding laws on state highways, and light, non-criminal penalties that fail to deter drivers from killing  pedestrians in crosswalks.

I've also seen the lack of speeding enforcement on local streets like Cedar Lane in Teaneck,where police place a priority on enforcing the yield-to-a-pedestrian-in-the-crosswalk law.

See: Speeding tickets decline dramatically

UPDATE: We'll finally be able to say good riddance to Christie, N.J.'s worst governor

The defining moment in Governor Chris Christie's eight years in office was the Bridgegate scandal in September 2013, when many believe he orchestrated a five-day traffic jam at the Fort Lee end of the George Washington Bridge. That was his way of retaliating against the borough's Democratic mayor, who had refused to endorse the GOP thug's reelection bid in November 2013.

This January 2014 Daily News front page accurately predicted the impact of Bridgegate on Christie's presidential bid, which crashed and burned in February 2016. Then, he endorsed New York billionaire Donald J. Trump for the GOP nomination.

600 mean-spirited vetoes marred

conservative ogre's two terms

Editor's note: A day after The Record heaped praise on Governor Christie, NorthJersey.com fact-checked his last State of the State speech, and reported many of his claims were misleading. The report doesn't appear in today's print edition.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

After dropping out of the presidential race in February 2016, Chris Christie failed miserably to salvage his reputation as the worst governor in New Jersey history.

Despite the upbeat news media coverage of his last State of the State address on Tuesday, the GOP bully will forever be defined by the 2013 Bridgegate scandal, and his 600 vetoes of progressive legislation aimed at improving the lives of most state residents. 

In every year of his two four-year terms, Christie made major decisions that brought New Jersey to its knees.

They ranged from killing a major expansion of mass transit to bungling the recovery from Superstorm Sandy to trying the sabotage the Affordable Care Act to wrecking the state's finances.

Crappy coverage

Wednesday's coverage of his speech in The Record, my local daily newspaper, is yet another example of the crappy journalism readers have had to endure since Gannett bought its publisher, North Jersey Media Group, in July 2016.

Political Columnist Charles Stile and Trenton reporter Dustin Racioppi, who is assigned to cover Christie, filed reports that treat the conservative ogre much too kindly.

The sub-headline over Stile's Page 1 column called the speech a "praise-filled swan song."

"Swan song"? For Christie, it's more like a "gorilla song." 

A front-page box labeled "Highlights" refers to Christie boasting "about his proudest moments over eight years in power."

The box also refered to the speech as a "90-minute victory lap," and his many failures were called "challenges."

Christie and Trump 

No surprise, given that The Record was the only major New Jersey daily that failed to call for Christie's resignation after he threw his weight behind Donald J. Trump's White House bid.

Nor did The Record even report the Star-Ledger and six Gannett papers had demanded Christie step down after endorsing Trump, a racist, con man and serial liar.

Stile was Christie's chief booster in his first term, portraying the governor as a "bipartisan reformer" despite liberal use of the veto pen to control the majority Democrats in the State Legislature.

And after writing an expose when Christie's vetoes numbered in the 300s, Racioppi never bothered to tally them again, even when they sailed past 500.

Wednesday's editorial in The Record contained a far more honest assessment of Christie's reign, noting "he ran to win," but that "his failure is that he did not run to govern for eight years" (10A).

Vetoes go missing 

Nowhere in The Record's nearly two full newspaper pages of text and photos on Wednesday is there any mention of Christie's veto of a $15 minimum wage or a tax surcharge on millionaires (1A and 6A).

Nor are there references to his voodoo finances, which robbed funds from women's health initiatives, environmental cleanup, mass transit and other programs to balance the revenue-starved state budget year after year. 

And his massive 90%-plus cut in state subsidies to NJ Transit effectively put the state's commuter rail and bus operator on the road to ruin.

That has given Record transportation reporter Curtis Tate the chance to write a long series of critical stories that usually fail to mention Christie's role in trying to destroy the agency.

New rail tunnels

In 2010, his first year in office, Christie signaled his war on mass transit by cancelling new Hudson River rail tunnels, then grabbing nearly a billion dollars in leftover funds from NJ Transit and the Port Authority to fix roads and bridges.

That allowed the conservative ogre to delay hiking the state's second-lowest-in-the-nation gas tax until November 2016, rescuing a Transportation Trust Fund for road and rail improvements he nearly drove into bankruptcy.

Good riddance

Next Tuesday, Christie will finally leave office, and he'll be succeeded by Democrat Phil Murphy, who has the unenviable job of repairing all the damage the GOP bully did.

Even Christie's so-called 2% cap on local budgets hasn't failed to stem the rise of property taxes, highest in the nation.

So, all together now, Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Donald J. Trump after NBC fired him for calling Mexicans rapists and drug runners. After Governor Christie dropped out of the presidential race in early 2016, he endorsed Trump for the GOP presidential nomination.

In this 2010 photo, real estate mogul Jon Hanson, left, a major fundraiser for Christie, is shown with the governor. Hanson also was a close friend of Malcolm A. Borg, then chairman of North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record. Hanson and Borg once jointly owned a private jet based at Teterboro Airport. Before the Borgs sold NJMG to Gannett, did the friendship color The Record's news coverage of Christie and Hanson, who also served as an adviser to the governor? 

When reporters asked Governor Christie whether he had any role in the September 2013 closure of access lanes to the upper level of the George Washington Bridge, he joked he moved the traffic cones to block two of the three lanes, below.

Christie was never charged in the scandal, but he spent more than $10 million in taxpayer funds so his legal team could write a whitewash report about his so-called lack of involvement. In the court of public opinion, he was found guilty of directing aide Bridget Anne Kelly to declare that it was "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

  

Trump-Kim cock fight, Ivanka is 'dumb as a brick' and much more hilarity from D.C.

"President Trumped holed up in his White House bedroom in February 2017," according to New York magazine, which printed excerpts from "Fire and Fury: Inside Trump's White House," the explosive new book by Michael Wolff, who portrays the billionaire as a petulant idiot. Trump is shown in this illustration by Jeffrey Smith holding a Mcdonald's cheeseburger and his cellphone.

WHAT THE F? KEN ZISA RESTORED

 AS POLICE CHIEF IN HACKENSACK

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

President Trump boasting that he has a "bigger, more powerful" nuclear button than North Korea's dictator seems like a distant memory, even though that tweet appeared only 5 days ago.

Comparisons of "button" to "penis" were drowned out by excerpts in New York magazine and then publication of "Fire and Fury," an explosive new book by Michael Wolff.

Wolff, based on conversations with Trump and others, provides an inside look at this chaotic presidency, and at potentially treasonous meetings with Russians in Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.

The headlines in New York magazine:

"Donald Trump Didn't

 Want to Be President"

"The plan to lose, and the

administration's shocked first days"

On Election Night, when Trump's actual victory seemed confirmed, Don Jr. told a friend his father "looked as if he had seen a ghost," Wolff reported. "There was, in the space of little more than an hour, in Steve Bannon's not unamused observation," when a "befuddled," "disbelieving" and "horrified" Trump "became a man who believed that he deserved to be, and was wholly capable of being president of the United States" (illustration by Jeffrey Smith).

Trump berating Jared Kushner on Jan. 29, 2017 (illustration by Jeffrey Smith).

A Trump network?

As the 2016 presidential campaign came to an end, Wolff says, "Trump himself was sanguine.

"His ultimate goal, after all, had never been to win. 'I can be the most famous man in the world,' he had told his aide Sam Nunberg at the outset of the race.... "Now Trump ... was floating rumors about a Trump network."

Steve Bannon, who became chief executive of Trump's team in August, called it "the broke-dick campaign."

Bannon also called first daughter Ivanka "dumb as a brick."

"Not only did Trump disregard the potential conflicts of his own business deals and real estate holdings, he audaciously refused to release his tax returns," Wolff reports.

"Why should he? Once he lost, Trump would be both insanely famous and a martyr to Crooked Hillary. His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared would be international celebrities."

Electoral College

Although Trump lost the popular vote, he was elected president in the antiquated Electoral College.

"The decisions that Trump and his top advisers made in the first few months -- from the slapdash transition to the disarray in the West Wing -- set the chaos and dysfunction that have persisted throughout his first year in office."

Read about Trump's executive order excluding Muslims from the United States, his scalp-reduction surgery and use of Just for Men, his longtime fear of being poisoned (one reason why he likes to eat at McDonald's, where they don't know he is coming and the food is premade), and much more:

'Fire and Fury' excerpts in New York magazine

Ken Zisa

Ken Zisa has been reinstated as Hackensack police chief in name only, and he plans to officially retire on Feb. 1 and collect his pension.

Zisa, part of a family based political dynasty that ruled the city for decades, was charged with official misconduct and insurance fraud in 2009, and fired from his post as police chief in 2010.

He had held the job since December 1995 after serving as acting chief for about 6 months.

A jury found him guilty in 2012, but the verdicts were overturned by appeals court judges, who cited prosecutorial misconduct and missteps by the trial judge.

But after Zisa sued to get his job back, city officials insisted no judge had ever ruled that Zisa didn't commit the crimes originally alleged in the grand jury indictment.

Today, in a long column in The Record, my local daily newspaper, Mike Kelly writes about the "last gasp of the 'Zisaville' political machine" (Opinion front).

You can search the column in vain for Kelly's opinion, but all he does here is pad his column with endless background information.

The strongest thing he says is this:

"... In Zisaville, the Zisas often tried to write their own rules."

See:

When the Zisas ruled Hackensack,

 greed, nepotism and partisan politics were king

Local news?

Today's Local section is dominated by town reorganization meetings, where new members of councils were sworn in (1L, 3L and 7L).

The Glen Rock Council swore in "its first woman of color," Arati Kreibich (3L).

But the Local front carries real breaking news:

"Ponds open for skating

thanks to the deep freeze"

Restaurants

Wednesday's Better Living cover promoted "7 MOST ANTICIPATED RESTAURANTS."

But Food Editor Esther Davidowitz neglects to say whether two of them, Mighty Quinn's Barbecue and Delaney Chicken, both in Paramus, will serve anything but mystery beef, pork or poultry raised on harmful antibiotics.

Eating Out + Eating In: At Rosa Mexicano, BCD Tofu House, why I 'cook ahead,' more

VIVA MEXICO! A delicious pan-seared Striped Bass Filet with crisped skin and Roasted Asparagus, above, and crunchy Wild Jumbo Shrimp swimming in a spicy green salsa, below, were two of our entrees from a fixed-price New Year's Eve menu at Rosa Mexicano. The fine-dining restaurant in Hackensack makes just about everything from scratch.

Veracruz-style Alambre de Camarones are Wild Jumbo Shrimp, which were marinated in garlic vinaigrette, and grilled with onions and serrano chiles. They were served with achiote rice, and salsa verde picante.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

I have a special place in my heart for Rosa Mexicano, the Mexican restaurant that is approaching its 10th anniversary in Hackensack's premier shopping center.

When the fine-dining restaurant first opened, I attended demonstrations by the chef, who showed how salsas, moles, tortillas and other items were made from scratch.

A complimentary Mexican breakfast usually was served.

On New Year's Eve, three of us had a special four-course dinner there ($44 each), and I still think the two-tiered dining room -- decorated with wood carvings, textiles and folk masks -- is one of the most beautiful around.

Our delicious dinner showed once again that Rosa Mexicano, which serves food that reflects the sophistication of authentic Mexican cuisine, could never be confused with a typical mall restaurant.

The four-course, $44-per-person menu included Rosa Mexicano's signature Guacamole, made "spicy" in a molcajete at our tableside, above and below, with avocado, jalapeno, tomato, onion and cilantro.

Although only one avocado is used, the guacamole was thick and chunky. I like to eat mine in one of the restaurant's handmade corn tortillas.

Our appetizers were Flautas de Pollo or crispy corn tortillas filled with shredded chicken in a chili sauce, above, and vegetarian Empanadas stuffed with Huitlacoche or corn truffles, below.

The restaurant's handmade corn tortillas come to the table still warm, and prove addictive.

I toasted the new year with a bottle of Negra Modelo ($7), one of Mexico's great dark beers.

Our son's entree was a Grilled Skirt Steak marinated in guajillo chiles and tequila.

We shared one of the desserts, Churros, above, but couldn't finish them. And the huge slice of Tres Leches Cake (for two) we took home languished in the fridge for a couple of days before I threw it out.

The dining room was packed on Sunday evening, but the food and service were as good as always, and our waiter quickly replaced my cup of coffee, which I complained was lukewarm.

AT BCD TOFU HOUSE: I once read that the red-pepper powder and flakes used so widely in Korean cuisine originally came from sun-dried chili peppers grown in Mexico, but whether that is true or not, another one of our favorite restaurants is BCD Tofu House in Fort Lee. A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a winter special, Oyster Rice with whole soybeans and a small Soft Tofu Soup with Seafood ($17.99, plus $1 for seafood tofu soup). I poached my egg yolk in the bubbling tofu soup, and ate it over the Oyster Rice, above.

When a server at the Korean restaurant set down my rice, oysters and soybeans, he also put down an hourglass timer, and told me to wait five minutes for the dish to finish cooking in the covered stone bowl.

A small whole croaker, dipped in batter and fried; cabbage kimchi and other side dishes are included with the meal, and if you finish them, they'll be replenished on request (but not the small fried fish).

Details

Rosa Mexicano is in The Shops at Riverside, formerly Riverside Square, in Hackensack. Website: Viva Mexico!

BCD Tofu House, 1640 Schlosser St., Fort Lee; 1-201-944-2340. Website: Some Like It Hot

COOKING AHEAD: Preparing food in large quantities is what I like to call "cooking ahead." That means leftovers are available for several other meals, cutting down on the time I need to spend slaving over a hot stove. Above, a dinner of leftovers -- a wedge of sweet-potato frittata, cod, and oven-baked scallops and lobster tail -- was ready in minutes. See how-to videos: VICTOR'S HEALTHY KITCHEN

A pound of organic whole wheat fusilli prepared in a red sauce with sardines and anchovies provided plenty of leftovers, including this breakfast topped with an egg-white omelet stuffed with smoked wild salmon and pesto.

This breakfast of cabbage with salted codfish helped me weather today's snowstorm. Leftover organic quinoa and sauteed organic spinach completed the meal.

PRE CAN CAN SALE: In a preview of the winter Can Can Sale,  which starts on Sunday, 12-ounce and 16-ounce boxes of Ronzoni Whole Grain Pasta (whole wheat) were only 59 cents each with a store card on Tuesday at ShopRite, Forest Avenue and Route 4, Paramus.

Twenty-four ounce jars of Botticelli Pasta Sauce from Italy were $1.99 each, a discount of $2. They contain no added sugar.

In a search for yogurt that has less sugar, I stopped at this display of Dannon Activa, sold in packs of four 4-ounce cups. Normally $2.85, they were reduced to $1.99, but you could save another 50 cents per 4-pack, if you bought 5 or 20 cups. I grabbed two 4-packs, and raced for the checkout counter.