Trump dismantles more of Obama's legacy as probe reveals large payments to lawyer

Cartoonist Dave Granlund captures President Trump's sole motivation: Undoing every one of Barack Obama's accomplishments, including the Iran nuclear deal. But the news media have pretty much stopped mentioning Trump's racial animus toward the former president.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Another week of dizzying events inside and outside of the White House is behind us.

As usual, commentators, opinion writers and cartoonists have been scrambling to keep up with the fast-moving events.

And, as usual, the White House press corps disappoints.

They are more interested in disseminating Trump's many lies than in confronting him. 

Meanwhile, Trump attorney and longtime fixer Michael D. Cohen set up a shell company that paid hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

That same Essential Consultants LLC received more than $1 million from an American company with ties to a Russian oligarch and several corporations with business before the Trump administration, The New York Times reported.  

"Transactions adding up to $4.4 million flowed through Essential Consultants starting shortly before ... Trump was elected president and continuing to this January," The Times said.

Bill Maher video

Today's selection of editorial cartoons from Cagle.com ends with a video of Bill Maher delivering a new rule on HBO called "Married to the Mob." 

He said on Friday night that Trump, at the head of a New York mob, is running and ruining the country, all to enrich himself and his family. 

In another Granlund cartoon, President Trump tries to fracture Michael Cohen's skull as the attorney drowns in The Swamp. 

Jimmy Margulies, former editorial cartoonist for The Record of Woodland Park, suggests attorney Michael Cohen was President Trump's bag man.

After the president pulled out of the Iran deal, cartoonist Adam Zyglis of The Buffalo News recalled Trump's claim when he was the frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race that if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, he wouldn't lose any voters.

Cartoonist Rick McKee of The Augusta Chronicle also weighed in on Trump and the Iran deal.

N.J. State Police are issuing more tickets for speeding, careless driving on highways

The end of major construction projects that slowed traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway has been cited to explain why the state police are issuing more speeding and careless driving tickets. This 2012 photo is from Wikimedia Commons.

Editor's note: Drivers who speed, tailgate or weave through slower traffic are a major quality of life issue as the state's roads become increasingly congested, but the problem is ignored by the news media.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- You're more likely to be stopped for speeding or careless driving on New Jersey's major toll roads than you were just a few years ago.

Data for 2017 show the New Jersey State Police have begun to reverse a dramatic decline in the number of speeding and careless driving summonses issued on the turnpike and parkway -- the state's busiest roads -- between 2010 and 2015.

Troop D, which patrols the New Jersey Turnpike, issued 9,981 speeding summonses in 2017, compared to 8,861 in 2015, Lt. Ted Schafer, a state police spokesman, said today.

Careless  driving summonses issued on the turnpike totaled 6,234 in 2017, compared to 5,702 in 2015, he said.

Troop E, which patrols the Garden State Parkway, issued 9,021 speeding summonses in 2017 or 3,435 more than the 5,586 issued in 2015.

Careless driving summonses issued on the parkway totaled 5,857 in 2017, compared to 5,610 in 2015.

2010 to 2015

In November 2015, I reported in Eye on The Record that the decline in the number of speeding tickets issued on the turnpike was especially stark -- 9,950 up to that point in 2015, compared to 18,193 in 2010.

On the parkway, 6,543 speeding summonses had been issued in the first 11 months or so of 2015, compared to 9,669 in 2010. See: 

Speeding tickets declined dramatically in 2010-15

At the time, the state police defended their record, explaining their main objective is to reduce the number of fatal accidents on the state's busiest roads.

Fatal accidents on the parkway had dropped to 7 at that point in 2015, compared to 25 in 2010 and 31 in 2005.

On the turnpike, which is used by both cars and big trucks, there had been 19 fatal accidents in 2015, compared to 13 in 2010 and 23 in 2005.

Shopping at new H Mart: One-car crash, red mullet, high prices, not many organics

RARE FIND: I hadn't seen whole red mullet in a fish market until I visited the new H Mart in a shopping center on Route 17 north in Paramus. My wife seasoned 10 of the small whole fish and pan-fried them for our Sunday dinner.

GREAT BUY: One of the best buys I saw on Sunday was a box of 16 Ataulfo or Champagne Mangoes from Mexico for $7.99 or about 50 cents each. The flesh is sweet and silken. The sign said 14, but all of the boxes I saw held 16.

KOREAN CHAIN SCREWS ENGLEWOOD,

 STARTS HOME-DELIVERY SERVICE

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

PARAMUS, N.J. -- Loud piped-in music, cramped grocery aisles, high prices for organics, and a food court that would save you only a few bucks over a full-service Korean restaurant.

Those are among my impressions after a first visit to a new H Mart that had its long-delayed grand opening on April 27 in a shopping center at Routes 17 and 4.

The 25,000-square-foot Korean supermarket would have been the seventh in Bergen County opened by the Lyndhurst-based chain, but H Mart closed its Englewood supermarket unexpectedly on April 23.

In a notice on the parking lot gates, customers were told the Englewood store had "relocated" to Paramus.

H Mart also launched home delivery of fresh produce, meat, seafood, eggs, milk and more to Englewood, as well Fort Lee, Palisades Park and Leonia.

A minimum order of $35 is required -- the service is called "H Fresh" --  and a delivery fee of $5.99 is waived for orders totaling $49 or more.

Paramus H Mart

The Paramus H Mart is not especially large, as you'll see if you try pushing a standard grocery cart down the narrow aisle with overpriced pasta sauces.

H Marts are known for their great produce, but I didn't see any organic Asian greens, and the organic salad mixes I did see were overpriced compared to Costco Wholesale.

The store was charging $5.99 for a pound of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, compared to $4.79 at Costco.

Mix-up

I also saw shelves labeled "ORGANIC" that were stocked with both organic and non-organic produce.

A highlight of the store is the seafood section, where I was surprised and delighted to find fresh, wild-caught red mullet ($5.99 a pound), a small fish  found near the South American coast and in the Mediterranean.

Among the free samples on Sunday were tiny portions of lobster salad and seared ahi tuna in a sesame dressing.

I'll likely return to shopping at the much bigger Little Ferry H Mart on Bergen Turnpike, near Route 46 -- shabbiest of the chain's Bergen County stores -- and wait for the grand opening of another new H Mart under construction and months behind schedule next door.

See: Do we really need more supermarkets?

DETAILS: The new H Mart is at 60 Route 17 north in Paramus; 1-201-708-2820. Open 7 days from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Website: H Mart is short for Han Ah Reum (One Arm Full of Groceries).

HIGHWAY DRAMA: On Sunday, I decided to use the ramp onto Route 17 north to reach the shopping center, and ran into a traffic jam caused by the cleanup of a one-car accident, above and below. The driver of a Chevy Camaro on the way to a car show across the highway lost control and took out a section of the guardrail, and in the process totaled his car.

PRODUCING PROFITS: The entrance of the new H Mart leads you to the produce section, the most profitable in this and every other supermarket. A food hall is behind the dramatically high brick arches, and the store also has a Korean bakery that serves coffee.

POKE AND SUSHI: Poke bowls, sushi rolls and fresh oysters on the half shell are available at this food stand.

SANG'S KITCHEN: The lure here is a full menu of Korean barbecue and soft tofu soup.

MISH MASH: Organic Strawberries, cheaper when they are on sale at Whole Foods Market in Paramus, and non-organic Campari Tomatoes were displayed on shelves labeled "ORGANIC."

MASH-UP: Organic Baby Romaine ($3.99 for just 5 ounces) was displayed next to non-organic Baby Kale.

FREE SEAFOOD SAMPLES: H Marts are known for their free food samples on weekends, and the Paramus store was handing out a little lobster salad, seared ahi tuna and other premium seafood samples.

WILD TIGERS: These frozen shrimp were labeled Wild Tiger Shrimp U4 (4 to the pound) for $25.99 a pound.

MORE WILD SHRIMP: Frozen Wild White Shrimp from the United States were $7.99 a pound.

SEAFOOD SECTION: The fresh and frozen seafood section in Paramus isn't as large as in some other H Marts, but the limited selection is all a seafood lover could ask for, above and below.

TUNA LOIN: Seared Ahi or Yellowfin Tuna Loin was $15.99 a pound.

ORGANICS? The absence of organic Asian greens, such as Chinese Broccoli, was a major disappointment.

SPLISH SPLASH: At home, pan-fried red mullet from H Mart needed only a splash of fresh lemon juice.

Trump, Giuliani and other supporters spin web of lies that will bring down president

TRUMP REWRITES COMMANDMENTS: "THOU SHALT NOT LIE down and take it from the Fake News Media" and "THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY with anyone who's not a Ten!" are two of the commandments President Trump follows, says editorial cartoonist Adam Zyglis of The Buffalo News.

WOLF AT THE DOOR: Comedian Michelle Wolf killed it at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C., where she blasted Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders -- who was sitting on the dais -- for telling lies to the news media. This is another Zyglis cartoon.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The Washington Post, the great daily newspaper President Trump loves to hate, is reporting the Liar-In-Chief has surpassed 3,000 false or misleading claims.

"Our latest update includes 3,001 false or misleading claims Trump made since the day he took office to the end of April," the newspaper said.

"That's an average of nearly 6.5 [bogus] claims a day" for a total of 466 days, the Fact Checker said, up from an average of 4.9 such claims in his first 100 days.

Some of the lies are explored in today's roundup of editorial cartoons from Cagle.com, which brings together artists from the United States and Europe.

JUMPING SHIP: A third Zyglis cartoon shows lawyers, White House aides and others abandoning Trump at a rapid clip.

SELF-PORTRAIT: Adam Zyglis of The Buffalo News.

DRIVING LIBRULS CRAZY: Trump supporters don't take Trumps' lies personally, says cartoonist Pat Bagley of The Salt Lake Tribune. "Love how that drives libruls crazy," a man says after the president admits, "I lie all the time about everything and spent a lifetime ripping off people just like you!"

CARTOONIST KEVIN SIERS: Trump hired attorney Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, but that backfired when the loose cannon claimed in an appearance on Fox that the president repaid the $130,000 in hush money meant to silence adult film star Stormy Daniels about their sexual encounter. Previously, the president said he knew nothing about the payment. "He'll get his facts straight," the cartoonist for The Charlotte Observer says, quoting Trump.

WE CAN'T WAIT: In a second cartoon, Siers shows Trump in prison as Giuliani says, "Trust me, so far so good! Now on to step two...."

KENNEDY V. TRUMP: Cartoonist Randy Bish of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review contrasts John F. Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you" and Trump's "Ask how much money it will take for her to never talk about that night in the hotel." 

Chef at farm-to-table restaurant in Wayne shows his sweet tooth in salad and seafood

My wife ordered a Tri-Color Insalata at Viaggio, a farm-to-table restaurant in Wayne, and it looked like no tri-color salad we've ever had in an Italian-American restaurant. She also found a couple of surprises -- a dome of salty ricotta salata and candied hazelnuts hidden inside.

Another surprise was awaiting me in an entree of Barnegat Bay Scallops served with what tasted like sweet lemon orzo, asparagus, marcona almonds and miners lettuce.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

WAYNE, N.J. -- The prices at Viaggio Ristorante say fine dining, but the setting couldn't more informal.

I imagined the farm-to-table restaurant with a Tuscan accent would be in a free-standing building with valet parking, but my car's navigation system led me to one of the many strip malls on Hamburg Turnpike.

And there it was -- a small sign next to Wayne Hot Bagels and Cafe.

Last Sunday evening, we were seated at a bare wood table, where bar wipes stood in for napkins, and we saw an open kitchen in the back of the dining room. 

A large wagon wheel on the wall loomed over our table.

The young woman who was our server launched into an overlong explanation of the four-course, price-fixed menu ($53), another list of  la carte dishes and a couple of specials.

We loved all of our food, and the service, though informal, couldn't be faulted. 

Beets, pasta, scallops

I chose the price-fixed menu -- Roasted Beets, Linguine with Clams but without pancetta, Barnegat Bay Scallops over orzo, and a small scoop of gelato.

My wife ordered a la carte: Tri-Color Insalata ($12) and Pappardelle alla Mema with small meatballs and sweet sausage in a red sauce ($20).

The young chef, Robbie Felice, expresses his sweet tooth freely -- in candied hazelnuts hidden in my wife's salad, and an unexpected sweet lemon accent for the orzo with my large scallops.

We decided to have dinner at Viaggio because we had tickets for a 4 p.m. jazz concert at William Paterson University in Wayne.

Singer Alexis Cole and her trio stuck to the standards in a swinging set, but members of a student group that kicked off the evening have a lot to learn.

My starter of savory Roasted Beets with Pistachio and Mint had four wonderful cheese crisps.

My wife loved her entree of wide noodles, small meatballs and sweet sausage under a blanket of cheese.

The briny sauce with my half portion of al dente linguine was terrific, as were the dozen or so small clams. But I wonder why Viaggio doesn't serve organic pasta.

I don't eat dessert so I asked the server to give my wife the small scoop of gelato that came with my fixed-price meal, and ordered a cup of black coffee. Don't you hate it when a restaurant charges you $4 for a cup of coffee that can't compare to the cup you brew at home from organic beans you buy and grind Turkish at Costco Wholesale?

DETAILS: Viaggio Ristorante, 1055 Hamburg Turnpike, in the Wedgewood Plaza strip mall, Wayne; 1-973-706-7277. BYO, open for lunch Tuesdays to Fridays; dinner Tuesdays through Sundays; closed Mondays. Dinner for two was about $112, including a 20% tip and tax.

The stylish Viaggio sign is not that easy to spot.

Many readers say editors from Gannett have turned once-great Record into a rag

For news of the extensive downtown rehabilitation in Hackensack, you'll have to do your own reporting. After The Record abandoned Hackensack for Woodland Park in 2009, stories about the city have been few and far between. The project shown above is on Atlantic Street, near Main.

The pavement of Main Street in Hackensack, above and below, has been left in disrepair in anticipation of the conversion of Main to two-way traffic sometime this year. State Street was converted to two-way traffic last year.

For drivers, Main Street is a rough ride.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- I've dropped The Record of Woodland Park, the once-great local daily newspaper I read for nearly 40 years.

I refused to subscribe to the Gannett Co. strategy of offering less local news coverage for a lot more money, and stopped paying for 7-day home delivery in December (now about $180 a year).

When I tried to call about renewing for weekend delivery only, I could never get through.

So, Gannett kept on delivering the paper every day for three more months, finally cutting me off in March.

On Monday, a front page story from Dustin Racioppi of The Record, above and below, tried hard to mislead readers into thinking Governor Murphy planned to raise taxes on the middle class, but has now changed his mind.

A few months ago, Gannett editors changed bylines in The Record to read "North Jersey Record," a publication that doesn't exist.

#gannettruinedmypaper

Many readers now refer to The Record as "a rag."

The biggest losers in the July 2016 takeover of The Record were the 350 employees of the publishing company, North Jersey  Media Group, who were laid off in the next eight months or so.

Close behind were the vast majority of older readers who found most of Gannett's resources were poured into the paper's website, NorthJersey.com, even as editors cut space for local news in the print edition.

That also was troubling, because the tens of thousands of older readers were less likely to use the computers or smartphones they need to take advantage of the digital platform, with its annoying pop-up ads.

And the layoffs in March 2017 included a veteran reporter who wrote expanded obituaries of prominent local residents and had started an aging beat, so many of the concerns of older readers are no longer being addressed. 

See: Readers slam The Record as 'junk'

See: Readers hit corporate greed, price hike

See: Dated columns, chest thumping, errors

See: Abandoning River City

Hackensack news?

There is far more news of Paterson in Local -- the single section that purports to cover the 90 or so towns in The Record's circulation area -- than of Hackensack.

As part of a sweeping downtown rehabilitation project, hundreds of apartments are under construction in Hackensack, the county seat and the most populous town in Bergen County.

But no stories have appeared on the delays plaguing the biggest project, at Main and Mercer streets; to provide a timeline for conversion of Main to two-way traffic, and other redevelopment news.  

Food news?

Gannett's decision in 2016 to drop the weekly restaurant review removed the last piece of critical food reporting.

Now, coverage of the best dishes the food writers ate in the last month or a roundup of places where chefs eat is so totally promotional they sound like advertising.

In the latter article on April 11, The Record not only misspelled Restaurant Serenade in Chatham as "Seranade," but got James Laird, owner and chef of the fine-dining restaurant, to admit one reason he likes the cheap, low-quality burger at Five Guys is "I can eat it as I drive."

By the way, a cheeseburger is listed on Laird's lunch menu at $20, though the beef isn't described; at Five Guys, mystery beef cheeseburgers are $8.69 and $5.69.

Last Wednesday, an article in The Record's Better Living section listed 10 restaurants where you can eat outside, none of them in Bergen County, where the majority of readers live.

Antibiotics in food

The Record has never covered controversial food news, such as the use of harmful antibiotics and growth hormones to raise animals or the large amounts of pesticides needed to grow vegetables and feed crops.

On the March 25 Better Living front, Food Editor Esther Davidowitz did announce a major project:

"Over the next few months, The Record and NorthJersey.com will be presenting a slew of features on ... pizza," Davidowitz said.

"Consider this the ultimate guide to everything you need to know about pizza in North Jersey."

I didn't know I needed a guide to pizza, let alone an "ultimate" one.

Also on March 25, a story from USA Today on the Business front discussed extra-cost grocery delivery services.

A quote from a consultant was enlarged and used next to the headline:

"As more people get used to it, it's become more popular."

Gee. How enlightening.

Headlines

The art of headline writing -- which I practiced as a copy editor at The Record of Hackensack -- no longer exists at the Gannett-owned paper.

On April 27, the front-page headline on the tabloid Hackensack Chronicle declared:

"New school board

may help mend bridges"

I'm pretty sure the headline writer meant to say "mend fences" or maybe "build bridges."

Veteran reporters

Some of the veteran reporters kept on by Gannett also are among the least productive.

On March 25, in the lead position on the front page of the Sunday edition, I was shocked to see the rare byline of Jean Rimbach, who continues her nearly decade-long coverage of a lawsuit filed against the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.

The big news? 

"The family of a reputed mobster slain execution-style in 2007 moved a giant step closer on Tuesday to obtaining sealed records from a more than decade-old organized crime gambling investigation at the heart of its claims of corruption" in the prosecutor's office.

Columnists

Four veteran columnists -- Mike Kelly, Charles Stile, John Cichowski and Bill Ervolino -- apparently have been told there is no limit on how much they can write -- as Gannett editors desperately try to fill the space once taken up by state and local news.

Cichowski, the so-called commuting reporter, largely avoids covering the biggest story on his beat: 

The decline of mass transit, and growing traffic congestion and pollution at the Hudson River crossings.

Instead, he writes column after column about pedestrian bridges being in disrepair and other obscure transportation subjects.

As for Kelly, an opinion columnist, loyal readers often slog their way through his overwrought verbiage, only to exclaim they don't know where he stands on an issue.

Nepotism

Another veteran, Staff Writer Deena Yellin, tackled a subject rarely discussed in The Record:

Home-rule communities trying to limit nepotism -- the hiring or appointing of family members to town or school district positions.

But she didn't mention Hackensack, once derided as "Zisaville" for the large number of Zisa family members, cousins and other relatives in city positions.

Nor was Englewood Cliffs discussed.

Another sign that her story was less than exhaustive is Yellin admitting she called the New Jersey League of Municipalities, but could not come up with a "precise count of towns with anti-nepotism ordinances."

For another perspective on the decline of The Record, see the discussion on Hackensack's Community Message Boards:

My favorite paper is not having a good day