Trump climbs back into bed with Putin -- in a royal F.U. to probe of Nov. 8 election

Cartoonist Nate Beeler of The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio suggests that before their meeting on Friday in Hamburg, Germany, President Trump rolled out the red carpet for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, who allegedly meddled in the Nov. 8 presidential election.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

No one in their right mind should be buying a USA Today report of a "stunning" agreement between President Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin not to meddle "in each other's" future elections.

That so-called accord -- reported on Page 1 of The Record on Saturday -- is merely a distraction as a special counsel and intelligence officials continue to investigate Russian meddling in the Nov. 8 presidential election.

Before the election, Trump himself invited the Russians to hack Hillary Clinton's emails, and that country's cyber terrorists did break into the computers of the Democratic National Committee.

The intent was to injure Clinton and aid a Trump victory, The Washington Post has reported, adding President Obama didn't retaliate against the Russians until December out of concern "he might himself be seen as trying to manipulate the election."

Obama expelled 35 diplomats and closed two Russian compounds.

Old news

By today, the Trump-Putin meeting and Russia's interference in the presidential election is old news at the Woodland Park daily, which continues its hysterical front-page reporting on the impact of track repairs in New York's Penn Station.

The U.S. investigation is far from over, yet today's Opinion section doesn't carry an editorial condemning Putin for trying to hurt Clinton and help Trump.

Nor, does The Record question the positive spin put on the meeting by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, former head of Exxon Mobil, which does a tremendous amount of business in Russia.

Meanwhile, Columnist Mike Kelly's column harks back to the New Jersey government shutdown, and Governor Christie's "full manspread" a week ago on the beach in Island Beach State Park (1O).

On Friday, The New Yorker ran John Cassidy's story under this headline:

"THE TRUMP-PUTIN BROMANCE IS BACK ON"

"Putin had gotten what he wanted from the meeting: a commitment from the U.S. to move from the election controversy and normalize relations," Cassidy reported. 

In a reference to the Coppertone ad, cartoonist Steve Sack of the Minneapolis Star Tribune shows how the news media exposed Governor Christie hogging the beach all for himself, family and friends on July 2.

Lame duck Christie still can screw N.J.

Business as usual

A day after the Trump-Putin love fest, it was business as usual for The Record's Better Living editors, whose food and lifestyle stories read like advertising.

Saturday's Better Living section published a highly promotional story praising North Jersey landscape and pool designers.

The stupid headline -- "7 stunning Bergen backyards that will make you happy it's summer" -- suggests the seven backyards and pools are open to the public, which I'm sure isn't the case.

So, why would readers be "happy it's summer"? It makes no sense.

In an email, a reader of The Sasson Report said:

"What is going on -- an ad for pool designers? What reader will ever see these pools or have anything to do with them? It is only the super rich -- what a waste of space." 

Lists, not journalism

Gannett Co. bought The Record about a year ago from the Borg family, who laughed all the way to the bank to deposit more than $40 million (July 6, 2016).

Then, just as Gannett has done with its newly acquired newspapers across the country, Editor-cum-Hatchet Man Richard A. Green cut the staff to the bone.

By the end of March, more than 350 employees of North Jersey Media Group were shown the door.

Now, all readers seem to get are lists when it comes to food, lifestyle and travel stories, like Saturday's seven backyards, and today's "O Canada, 150 things to see and do up north" in the Travel section.

Friday's Better Living centerfold raved about "9 great summer date spots." 

The Record's political focus on governor's race in N.J. is turning off primary voters

Two takes on President Trump's first foreign trip, with his family in tow, from Patrick Chappatte, a Lebanese-Swiss cartoonist who draws for the International Herald Tribune and other newspapers in Europe.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Talk about deja vu all over again.

Charles Stile, The Record's burned-out political columnist, is getting a big kick out of smearing the four Democratic candidates for governor of New Jersey with a bunch of timeworn GOP labels.

In a front-page column on Monday, Stile claimed the Democrats are making a "grand lunge to the left."

He also used such labels as "progressive" and "liberal" to refer to the Democrats vying for the nomination in next Tuesday's primary (Monday's 6A).

And when will Stile and other bored reporters stop claiming every election for governor, U.S. senator and congressman is a referendum on the election of Donald J. Trump?

Most vetoes ever

After nearly eight years of Chris Christie, the November election for governor will be nothing more than a desperate electorate trying to salvage their state from complete ruin. 

The GOP bully set a record for vetoes by a New Jersey governor, giving a lie to his claim of being a "bipartisan compromiser" -- a lie Stile regurgitated in column after column.

He is the most anti-environment and anti-mass transit governor in the state's history, and he vetoed a phase-in of the $15 minimum wage as well as a tax surcharge on millionaires.

Stile's boring columns, and other coverage exploiting the deep partisan divisions in Trenton and Washington, D.C., are big turnoffs to readers and voters.

In New Jersey, those voters are desperately seeking information on such issues as property taxes, and state aid to schools and mass transit.

Voter apathy was one of the factors cited in the election of Trump on Nov. 8. And Christie won his last election in 2013 with the lowest turnout ever in a gubernatorial contest.

Memorial Day

The annual salute to service members from North Jersey killed since 9/11 ran on the Local news front on Memorial Day.

This year, the payroll-slashing Gannett Co. ran an ad from an Englewood car dealer along the bottom of the page, screaming, "We want your current lease!"

How patriotic.

Today's Local front carries this headline:

"A little rain doesn't

stop Memorial Day"

That turns out to be inaccurate, because the weather was cited when the Memorial Day Parade along Palisade Avenue in Englewood was cancelled.

Trump brings his 'America First' campaign to heart of Europe, shaking other leaders

Cartoons by Steve Sack of the Minneapolis Tribune, above, and R.J. Matson of Roll Call, below, comment on President Trump's visits to Saudi Arabia and Israel, where he failed to advance the Mideast peace process.

For more political cartoons, go to Cagle.com.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

"A stern lecture. A white-knuckled handshake. Jostling at the group picture. President Trump's day with NATO leaders had its moments."

This is how The New York Times' Top Stories email summed up Trump's confrontational meeting with European leaders at a new NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium:

"President Trump on Thursday punctured any illusions that he was on a fence-mending tour of Europe, declining to explicitly endorse NATO’s mutual defense pledge and lashing out at fellow members for what he called their 'chronic underpayments' to the alliance.

"On a tense day when Mr. Trump brought the 'America first' themes of his presidential campaign to the very heart of Europe, he left European leaders visibly unsettled, with some openly lamenting divisions with the United States on trade, climate and the best way to confront Russia.

"The discord was palpable even in the body language. When Mr. Trump greeted Emmanuel Macron, France’s new president, the two leaders, jaws clenched, grabbed each other’s hands in an extended grip that turned Mr. Trump’s knuckles white. When the leaders lined up to pose for the traditional photograph of leaders at NATO headquarters, Mr. Trump appeared to push aside the Montenegrin prime minister, Dusko Markovic, to get to his assigned place in the front."

The Record

Page 1 of The Record reported Trump's son-in-law and close adviser Jared Kushner "has caught the attention of federal investigators for his contacts with Russian officials" (1A).

But news of Trump's meeting with NATO leaders and related stories are relegated to 9A and 10A.

French kissing

Food Editor Esther Davidowitz developed a convenient case of amnesia in a bid to promote a new French bakery in Elmwood Park.

On Tuesday, Davidowitz plastered the front of Better Living with a photo and story about a couple of transplanted French pastry chefs who say they are bringing "a little taste of Paris to New Jersey."

Of course, in a January story in Better Living, Davidowitz described Balthazar in Englewood as "the highly venerated French bakery." 

In fact, she quoted Armel Joly, a Parisian who lives in River Edge and owns a French restaurant in Manhattan, on Balthazar's signature baguette:

"Their [Bathazar's] baguettes are the closest thing we have to a French baguette from Paris."

Conveniently, there was no mention in Tuesday's story of Balthazar providing "a little taste of Paris" since its retail store opened in late November 2002.

Fast food

In today's Better Living tab, Davidowitz explores a food phenomena that is the polar opposite of a high-quality baguette: low-quality hot-dog joints in North Jersey.

Diets high in such processed meats as hot dogs have been linked to cancer, especially colorectal cancer, but that doesn't concern Davidowitz.

This latest "food crawl" is among the scraps Gannett editors at The Record have been throwing to readers since November, when the weekly restaurant review was eliminated in an economy move.