Christie would go to war with Russia in skies over Syria

Two images from the Aug. 6 GOP debate are said to show Sen. Paul Rand's eyeroll, right, as Governor Christie delivered "a saccharine line about how 'the hugs I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th,'" The Nation.com reported.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The first successful terrorist attack in the United States in 14 years was enough for The Record and other news media, along with Governor Christie, to strike fear into the hearts of Americans.

And Christie claimed at Tuesday's GOP debate he would shoot down Russian planes if they violated a no-fly zone he would unilaterally impose over Syria, according to The Record (A-6).

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky countered:

"If you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate," Paul said, putting the threat in the same category as Christie's poor judgment in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal (A-6).

Still, Record Columnist Charles Stile ignored much of that, eager to report in his very first, slanted paragraph that Christie "stood apart from the rest of his rivals as the lone candidate who had hunted down terrorists" (A-1).

Broken record

In his desperate bid for the White House, Christie reacted to the November terrorist attacks in Paris by talking about his experience as U.S. attorney for New Jersey after 9/11.

After the San Bernardino attack early this month -- the first successful act of terrorism since 9/11 -- he hasn't mentioned anything else, especially not how his mean-spirited budgets have struck terror into the hearts of New Jersey's middle class.

Keep Syrians out

The Record's otherwise upbeat coverage today also is the first time since Christie vowed in November to bar all Syrian refugees, even widows and orphans, from New Jersey that he is reported saying he would bar all Syrians from the rest of the country, too.

That echoes Donald Trump's wanting to bar all Muslims from crossing our borders.

Stile and The Record's editorial page haven't denounced Christie as a hate-monger or a bigot or someone who sounds exactly like all of the maniacs who have persecuted Jews throughout history. 

Instead, the paper's local editors reluctantly assign reporters to interview Syrians and other Muslims in Passaic County to show how peace-loving they are, as a front-page story by Staff Writer Hannan Adely declared on Tuesday.

Cantor murder

The guilty verdicts in the slaying of Robert Cantor of Teaneck matter most, but The Record's coverage of the love-triangle case has been filled with flawed headlines and other sloppy work, as readers can see again today (A-1).

The big, black headline is almost as bad as the one that ran on the day the jury got the case:

"Execution or puzzle?"

Today, the A-1 headline basically says a "killer" was found guilty of "murder."

"Love-triangle killer

guilty of murder"

But there is a bigger problem that was missed by six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton, aka "The Queen of Errors."

Photos on both A-1 and A-6 claim to show Cantor's relatives "reacting" or "listening" to the verdicts.

But the one on the continuation page (A-6) shows a son-in-law standing next to the victim's widow and sister instead of seated apart from them, next to Cantor's daughter (A-1).

Did the judge allow the son-in-law to stand up during the reading of the verdicts or was the second photo posed after the verdicts were read?  

Local news

In Teaneck, officials rezoned land next to railroad tracks to allow AvalonBay to seek approval for a 248-unit apartment development (L-1).

In effect, the Township Council is saying that ratables are more important than the safety of tenants.

They would be living near what The Record calls "volatile" oil trains in a building prone to the same kind of quick-spreading fire that destroyed AvalonBay's Edgewater complex in January.

And people who buy shares in AvalonBay, a real-estate investment trust, will be laughing all the way to the bank with a reported 14% return.

The Local front today carries two Passaic County stories that are of little interest to Bergen County readers (L-1).

Meanwhile, the Hackensack news embargo continues.

Editor's note: After publication, this post was edited to eliminate dated material from The Nation.com, and to correct the photo caption. The images are from the GOP debate on Aug. 6, not the one held in Las Vegas on Tuesday night.

Are Christie, legislators caving into real estate interests?

With Manhattan's Riverside Church in the distance, this is what remained of one of AvalonBay's apartment buildings in Edgewater two days after a five-alarm fire on Jan. 21 that destroyed more than half of the 408 units, above and below. Seven months later, no changes in state building codes have been made to require "sturdier material, firewalls and enhanced sprinkler systems," The Record is reporting today.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

It's hard to believe The Record could publish a long Page 1 story today on calls for a tougher state building code to prevent another devastating AvalonBay apartment fire, and not get reaction from Governor Christie.

Christie's name does appear on the front page today in a column from Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson (A-1), who reports the GOP bully leads all other presidential candidates in how much special-interest money he has raised in the Garden State.

Staff Writer Melissa Hayes and political Columnist Charles Stile have traveled with Christie on his campaign appearances in New Hampshire and Iowa, but I guess they had Sunday off.

Linh Tat and Minjae Park, the local reporters who wrote the story on long-delayed changes in the state building code, give the impression nothing is getting done in Trenton, despite a Democratic majority in the Legislature (A-1).

Big profits

AvalonBay is a real estate investment trust that returns big dividends to investors. 

Any changes in state building codes -- such as banning the use of cheap-wood construction -- to improve the fire resistance of AvanlonBay's proposed residential projects in Wayne, Teaneck and other communities would cut heavily into those profits. 

And today's story doesn't mention any improvements to existing AvalonBay buildings, such as those in Hackensack, where tenants have been losing sleep since seeing media images of the fast-moving fire that destroyed the Edgewater complex. 

Local news?

What a soft Local front today -- deer, dogs and parkland dominate the section.

For the second day in a row, The Record covered a demonstration for Kevin Allen, a black Passaic city resident who was shot by police outside the Lyndhurst Public Library on May 29 (L-1).

The education stories from Paterson (L-2) and Butler (L-3) contrast with the embargo on school and Board of Education news from Hackensack.

'O Canada'

Travel Editor Jill Schensul publishes a belated column on eastern Canada, including Montreal, where a strong U.S. dollar means big discounts for Americans (BL-1).

And in contrast to detailed reports from restaurant critic Elisa Ung on all of the artery clogging desserts she has sampled, today's Better Living cover story explores restaurant owner Lisa Mayisoglu's fitness and healthy food regimen (BL-1).

Going all out to promote unhealthy food

This old bank building on State Street in Hackensack has been empty for years, and the parking lot next to it isn't being used. Meanwhile, customers going to the post office down the block have to fight over the four metered spaces out front, below.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Love unhealthy food? Fattening cookie dough? Salty, teeth-corroding potato chips? Artery clogging cakes?

Then, you'll be eager to patronize the three "food" company owners shown on the front of The Record's Better Living section today (BL-1).

Esther Davidowitz, the new food editor, actually has the nerve to call Joel Ansh, Marisa Iapicco and the trio of Adam Horvath, Camille Beck and Jared Levine "epicures." 

Davidowitz demotes to BL-2 in Better Living news of the opening of a healthy food place, Dosateria at the Whole Foods Market in Edgewater.

Staff Writer Sachi Fujimori has been writing so enthusiastically about Dosateria in recent weeks you'd think she had discovered a new aphrodisiac.

Bottom feeding

The editors of Better Living and Business are bottom feeders.

The major story on the Business front today is all about the titanic battle among franchises selling hamburgers and cupcakes, among other items (B-1).

Even today's front page is wrapped in the Summer Can Can flier from ShopRite, which is selling obesity fueling 12-packs of sugary Pepsi at half price (when you buy 4).

Hackensack police reported two editors from The Record, Deirdre Sykes and Tim Nostrand, had spent the night in big-and-tall sleeping bags in front of the ShopRite on South River Street in hopes of raiding the store's Pepsi aisle.

Racist verdict?

Readers likely were surprised by the lead story on Page 1, reporting that a civilian had been found not guilty of all charges in the slaying of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager (A-1).

That's because Record readers are so accustomed to seeing police officers cleared in the shootings of blacks -- in Garfield, Leonia and other towns.

Anyone who was stunned into senselessness by media coverage of the trial might wonder why Florida requires only 6 people on a jury hearing a criminal case, compared with 12 here in New Jersey and many other states.

They won't find the answer in today's story from The Associated Press (or Mess) wire service (A-1 and A-6) nor do I think I saw an explanation on CNN, which went "live" for closing arguments in the case.

Mind the gap
 
The entire Road Warrior column today is devoted to a gap in a Route 3 noise wall (L-1), leaving readers wondering when The Record will fill in the gap in coverage of real commuting problems.

Tens of thousands of words have been written about NJ Transit, especially since Superstorm Sandy, but no reporter or editor seems ready to explain why rush-hour seats on trains and buses are so scarce (see today's restroom editorial on O-2).

More errors

In his Road Warrior column on Friday, Cichowski reported incorrectly that passing a slower car on the right is illegal, according to a concerned reader: 

"Road Warrior tries to repeatedly endanger his readers in believing his lie that passing on the right is a violation, even though I have repeatedly indicated to him that New Jersey law (39:4-85) states it is not a violation when drivers pass vehicles on the right if done under safe conditions."

To read the full e-mail to editors and management, click on the following link to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Pass on Road Warrior misinformation 
 
Rent-an-editor

I saw two problems in today's Real Estate cover story on apartment rentals -- one of them so sloppy it could only have been inserted by an editor (R-1).

In only the third paragraph, readers encounter this ridiculous sentence:

"The recent housing bust ... pushed many more people out of single-family homes and into leasing offices ...."
  
Offices? That can't be right.

Working or renting?

On the continuation page, the story says Virginia-based AvalonBay is "working on projects" in Wood Ridge, Hackensack and Bloomingdale.

Avalon at Hackensack, shown on the cover, has been leasing for at least a couple of months.

Where was Production Editor Liz Houlton, who supervises the copy desk?

Out shopping for a new wardrobe at the Salvation Army?