Electronic news media are letting Trump get away with murdering our democracy

After President Trump forgot the words to "God Bless America" at a White House event, Cartoonist Kevin Siers of The Charlotte Observer in North Carolina has him making up words, including "God bless America, land that I rule" and concluding with, "It's all about me!"

TV & RADIO LAP UP EVERY LIE,

 SPREAD THEM 'ROUND WORLD

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The Liar-In-Chief of the United States left the G7 summit early and flew to Singapore on Saturday.

He is scheduled to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un on the night of June 11 -- a date that might live in infamy.

Last week, President Trump forgot the words to "God Bless America" at a White House event he staged after the Philadelphia Eagles stood him up.

In his first 500-plus days in the Oval Office, he's fulfilled few of the promises he made on the campaign trail in 2016, except for an enormous tax break for the rich and wealthy corporations that will saddle all of us with a $1.5 trillion in debt.

The massive giveaway will keep millions in campaign funds flowing to Trump and Republicans in Congress as they try to hold onto control of the House and Senate in the November midterm elections.

Endless lies

I'm still waiting for the courageous White House reporter who will tell Trump to his face, "Please stop lying to the American people."

Or, when the president starts making it up as he goes along or takes credit for the 9-year economic recovery, simply confront him or refuse to quote him in their stories.

Trump and his corrupt Cabinet have spent most of their time and energy trying to undo every one of predecessor Barack Obama's major accomplishments in office.

Unfortunately, the electronic news media can't resist capturing every lie, false claim and preposterous tweet in those annoying sound bites, and sending them winging around the world with no pushback or rebuttal.

On HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" on Friday night, the satirist discussed the merger of Bayer, a German company, and Monsanto, noting the former manufactured Zyklon B, a cyanide-based pesticide that was the preferred killing tool of the Nazis for use in extermination camps during the Holocaust.

Print media

I'm so tired of The Washington Post's Fact Checker or the thunderous editorials from The New York Times.

The damage of those TV and radio sound bites can't be undone. 

They have to be addressed on the spot by reporters confronting Trump.

Until that happens, the president controls the discussion and damages our democracy in so many ways.

He's the fake

When Trump shouts "fake news," the reporters should shout back, "You're the ultimate fake."

I just came across a site called PolitiFact.com, which summarizes "all false statements concerning Donald Trump."

Here are a couple of recent ones:

On June 5, Trump claimed Philadelphia Eagle players "stayed in the locker room for the playing of our National Anthem" or "were kneeling."

"No. The Eagles didn't kneel,"says PolitiFact.

On May 31, Trump claimed, "We got $6 billion for opioid and getting rid of that scourge that's taking over our country. And the numbers are way down."

"Deaths are up," PolitiFact says.

Cute. 

But unless reporters confront him on the spot or simply refuse to include his lies, half-truths and outrageously false claims in their stories, Trump will get away with murdering our democracy, our free press and other institutions.

Pardons, etc.

Trump claims he can pardon himself, if he is charged and convicted in the Russia investigation, or appoint himself president for life or call off the November elections.

I've heard these claims many times, but, of course, they are nonsense.

No one, not even the president, is above the law.

Cartoonist Joe Heller commenting on the suicides by hanging last week of celebrities Kate Spade, the fashion designer, and Anthony Bourdain, the chef and CNN host, who grew up on Orchard Place in Leonia, a suburb near the George Washington Bridge. You can find this and other cartoons on The Cagle Post.

Gannett raises 7-day home-delivery price by $75 after big cuts to staff and local news

Two views of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand calling on President Trump to resign over sexual misconduct. Above, Jimmy Margulies, former editorial cartoonist at The Record of Woodland Park. Below, Adam Zyglis, staff cartoonist at The Buffalo News.

Trump is exposed as a male chauvinist pig. His tweet about Gillibrand was widely interpreted to imply she would trade sexual favors for campaign contributions.

WASHINGTON POST: TRUMP LEAVES

 RUSSIAN THREAT UNCHECKED

 -- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

A hashtag I've seen on Twitter -- #gannettruinedmypaper -- came to mind when I read a letter raising 7-day home delivery of The Record of Woodland Park to $180 a year.

That's about $75 more than the $1o4.40 I pay now (the new price is $15 a month, compared to $8.70 a month).

Rubbing salt into my wounds, the letter assumed I haven't noticed how much The Record has changed for the worse since the payroll-slashing Gannett Co. bought its publisher, North Jersey Media Group, in July 2016.

"Dear Victor,

"We know how much you appreciate receiving your subscription to The Record and the enjoyable reading experience it provides you every day.

"We are committed to providing you the daily printed reading experience you have enjoyed over the years, but we need your support.

"As of 1/1/2018, the rate for your subscription to The Record will be $15.00 per month (plus applicable taxes)."

The claim that "We need your support ..." sounds like all of those year-end appeals from charities flooding my mailbox.

Keep in mind that Gannett long ago ended the practice of replacing wet and undelivered papers, and no longer delivers papers held during a vacation.

And early this year, Gannett already raised the price of 7-day home delivery substantially.

This latest price hike is expected to result in numerous cancellations.

See: Readers denounce Gannett's corporate greed

Fewer staff, less news

Gannett laid off more than 350 employees of NJMG; reduced the news hole, especially in the Local section; and moved production out of state, resulting in numerous typos and other errors.

Meanwhile, readers still are burdened with three veteran columnists, Charles Stile, Mike Kelly and John Cichowski, who are nothing more than glorified, overpaid space fillers droning on and on and on like broken records.

For example, Kelly's front-page column today quotes Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., calling on President Trump to resign, citing numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against him before he became president.

Any journalist can quote a resignation call from Booker, a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, but I have to wonder why Kelly isn't using his own bully pulpit as a columnist to ask Trump to step down.

The likely reason is Kelly has been a persistent critic of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and can't see beyond politics.

Local news

In an economy move instituted by former Publisher Stephen A. Borg, The Record's combined Bergen County stories and features with those from Passaic and Morris counties into one local-news section.

After Gannett took over, the space for local news and feature stories was reduced even further.

In Saturday's Local section, Bergen readers saw no less than six Paterson stories, and a seventh from Wanaque.

There even was a long account from Morristown of all places.

Cartoonist Adam Zyglis commenting on the GOP tax-cut plan -- a $1.5 trillion giveaway to the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. When will Congress try to cut Medicare and Medicaid to pay for giving tax breaks to the super rich? 

Cartoonist Jimmy Margulies showing Russian dictator and Syrian war criminal Vladimir Putin shrugging off the 2018 Olympics ban. Putin says, "We still won the contest that really counts," a reference to the 2016 presidential election that put Trump in the White House.

'Hacking Democracy'

The Washington Post has published an investigation into Trump and Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election that concluded:

"Nearly a year into his presidency, Trump continues to reject the evidence that Russia waged an assault on a pillar of American democracy and supported his run for the White House.

"The result is without obvious parallel in U.S. history, a situation in which the personal insecurities of the president -- and his refusal to accept what many in his administration regard as objective reality -- have impaired the government's response to a national security threat.

"The repercussions radiate across the government."

See the full story: Hacking Democracy

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."