Trump leaves for visit to Saudi Arabia -- which gave us the 9/11 attacks on America

In an annual salute to style, Hackensack High School seniors showed off their outfits before their prom on Thursday, above and below.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Osama bin Laden -- mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on America -- was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to a construction billionaire and his 10th wife.

And 15 of the 19 hijackers also came from the oil-rich Middle Eastern country.

On Sept. 11, 2001, they hijacked four commercial airliners loaded with fuel for cross-country flights to carry out the biggest terrorist attack against the United States -- orchestrated by bin Laden, leader of al Queda.

The war on terrorism was America's response to the attacks, including the destruction of the World Trade Center, crashing a jet into the Pentagon and the death of nearly 3,000 people.

Bid Laden, 54, was killed by U.S. Special Forces on May 2, 2011, as President Obama, Hillary Clinton and others watched.

So, why is President Trump -- on his first foreign trip as commander in chief -- stopping in Saudi Arabia?

Despite its obscene wealth, Saudi Arabia also has steadfastly refused to commit military forces in the epic battle against ISIS in the Middle East. 

Meanwhile, the New York Times reports the kingdom will be pulling out all the stops for a president who has declared "Islam hates us," and who has said the U.S. is "losing a tremendous amount of money" defending the kingdom.

This photo from Robert Giroux of Getty Images shows Manhattan's Twin Towers after they were hit by hijacked commercial jets. The buildings, called the World Trade Center, collapsed.

Mistreatment of women

Women in Saudi Arabia, a deeply conservative Islamic kingdom, are unable to obtain a passport or travel abroad without the consent of their husband, father or other male relative.

The majority of women also are required to wear an abaya -- a long cloak -- and a headscarf, and they are discouraged from driving.

That means the Saudis and Trump have something in common -- mistreating women.

And if the president hopes to grab some pussy when he is there, those cloaks will make his target elusive.

More Hackensack High School students during their show off on Thursday, above and below.

A colorful couple coordinated their outfits.

The Record

Trump is claiming the investigation of Russian ties to his campaign is a "witch hunt," according to a Page 1 headline in The Record of Woodland Park. 

On 3A, the co-pilot who died in Monday's crash of a Learjet near Teterboro Airport is profiled.

Jeffrey Alino, 33, a New Jersey native, "seemed to be enjoying his life as he traveled across the country, posting social media pictures of himself" on a beach or in uniform.

The pilot remains unidentified.

Local news?

The  lead story on the Local news front reports on parking woes in Lodi "after a designated resident-only ordinance was issues" (1L).

But Ridgewood leads in terms of the sheer number of stories on the village's downtown parking problems The Record has published in the past year or so (2L).

"Residents shot down an ordinance last June that would have paid for a 325-car, 4-story garage, but support for a garage has not gone away."

Low-quality meat 

Most BBQ restaurants mask the low quality of the beef, pork and chicken they serve with smoke, charring and overpowering sauces.

That doesn't stop Food Editor and Bottom Feeder Esther Davidowitz from hailing a half-dozen places, including Fink's in Dumont, Kimchi Smoke in Westwood and Mighty Quinn's in Clifton (Better Living tabloid).

"His food is crazy good," Davidowitz says of the "pitmaster," Robert Austin Cho, at his Korean-inspired Kimchi Smoke.

According to Consumer Reports, the vast majority of beef and pork served in the United States is raised with harmful human antibiotics and growth hormones. 

In many case, cattle are fed waste from chicken houses mixed in with their grain, and pigs are confined and mistreated until they are slaughtered.

Doesn't that sound appetizing?