Editors: America is under attack! America is under attack!

An image from the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Facebook page shows the garbage pail torn apart by an explosive device that discharged before thousands of runners were due to participate in a charity race on Saturday in Seaside Park to benefit Marines and sailors.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The potential for many injuries and deaths from weekend bombings in Manhattan and New Jersey can't be denied.

But the overwrought coverage in The Record since Sunday exaggerates the danger of the lone suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, and feeds into the demonization of Muslims by wacko racist Donald J. Trump, the GOP presidential nominee.

Today's front page is dominated by a photo of the bearded Elizabeth man, who "fought violently with a family member, had a court battle over child custody and support, and struggled with joblessness," according to the melodramatic lead paragraph.

That could also describe thousands of people living in the metropolitan area.

On Tuesday, Record Staff Writer Mike Kelly wrung his hands and gnashed his teeth over law enforcement being powerless to detect "the enemy disguised as neighbor and friend," as the headline over his column put it.

Kelly was too quick to compare the killing of 49 people in an Orlando, Fla., gay nightclub to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in which nearly 3,000 died. 

I haven't seen any Kelly columns on how, summer after summer, Paterson police have been powerless to stop the gang violence that results in the killing of innocent bystanders.

Fort Lee favors

In Bridgegate trial testimony on Tuesday, Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, described many enticements from Republican Governor Christie, but testified he ultimately refused to endorse him for reelection in November 2013.

And the borough's police chief said that he recommended relatives of anyone who died as the result of the September 2013 traffic jams caused by closing access lanes to the George Washington Bridge sue the bridge owner and operator, the Port Authority.

Two of the governor's former allies, Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, are accused of causing the traffic jams for five days to punish Sokolich.

Local news?

The local editors' fascination with photos of cars that flip or roll over continues (L-3).

A rare story about Hackensack, the biggest community in Bergen County, appears on L-6 today.

Staff Writer John Seasly reports the city has dropped plans to privatize sanitation pickups, citing "minimal savings," according to a press release from Mayor John Labrosse, whose name is misspelled "Lacrosse" throughout the story.

The last name of City Manager David Troast is misspelled "Toast," and the last name of Chief Financial Officer James Mangin is misspelled "Margin."

Seasly, who was assigned to cover Hackensack in February, spells only one of the names correctly, that of Bergen County NAACP President Anthony Cureton, who denounced the plan because most of the sanitation workers are black and Hispanic.

Since Seasly took over the beat, he has covered only the City Council, Police Department and downtown redevelopment.

As far as readers know, he hasn't covered a single Board of Education meeting. Nor did he cover the campaign of nine candidates for three seats in the April school election.

The school budget, which was approved by a tiny minority of registered voters, accounts for 44% of the property tax bill in Hackensack.

Unhealthy recipes

If I didn't know better, I'd accuse Food Editor Esther Davidowitz and freelancer Kate Morgan Jackson of Upper Saddle River of trying to kill older readers with recipes that use sugar, butter or full-fat cheese, none of which is good for your heart (BL-2).

Today, the clueless Jackson promotes a Brown Sugar Poundcake with 2 whole sticks of butter, 1 cup of brown sugar and 4 whole eggs.

Yuck!