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.

Lack of security at public buildings, malls is really criminal

As a non-profit, Hackensack University Medical Center doesn't pay millions of dollars in property taxes. Yet, the medical complex in Hackensack gouges visitors and patients by charging $10 for valet parking, a service that is free at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. 

Editor's note: Today's post has been expanded to comment on other stories in today's paper besides the attack that killed 14 in San Bernardino, Calif.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Would metal detectors or armed guards have prevented the worse mass shooting since the 2012 attack that killed 20 first-graders and six adults in Newtown, Conn.?

Would better security at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus have prevented a man with a rifle from invading the mall and firing random shots that panicked hundreds of shopper and store employees in November 2013?

After the mall rampage and the murder of 14 in San Bernardino, Calif., the police response was immediate -- and on Wednesday, massive -- but the damage had already been done.

Why aren't those police resources devoted to providing better security at malls and public buildings?

The United States sees a mass shooting -- the death of four or more people -- every day on average, according to the news media.

Yet, the tens of millions of dollars spent on equipping local, county and state police with tactical weapons and armored vehicles after 9/11 have rarely gone to preventing mass shootings or protecting our schools and shopping centers from gunmen.

After the Paramus rampage and suicide of the rifleman, The Record didn't question security provided by Westfield Garden State Plaza, because the mall is one of North Jersey Media Group's biggest advertisers.

Dated coverage

Today, The Record's front page is dominated by wire-service stories from California that are sadly out of date, when compared to this morning's radio and TV reports.

With fast-moving events, The Record and other print media are useless, especially when they cover mass shootings in the same old way.  

For example, none of the stories say whether there is any security at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, where the killings occurred during a holiday party of county employees.

You would have to watch TV news this morning to find out the masked, heavily armed gunman was Muslim and the woman who was killed with him in a shootout with police was his wife. They had a child.

They were identified as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, a San Bernardino County employee, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, according the news reports.

Real estate news

Road Warrior John Cichowski put on his Realtor's hat today, going to bat again for three homeowners along a 1,000-foot stretch of Route 17 south in Waldwick (A-1).

That's where an out-of-control tractor-trailer crushed a patrol car on radar duty and killed Police Officer Chris Goodell in July 2014.

Cichowski criticizes state officials for not installing "horizontal steel and concrete barriers," such as those on the northbound side, to protect homes on the edge of the southbound roadway.

But the addled columnist doesn't question the wisdom of putting an officer in harm's way, when speed cameras could do the job just as well, nor the sanity of people who buy homes next to Route 17.

Basically, homeowners Jenny Ramirez Ayala, Allyson Cobin and Ed Tavitan saved tens of thousands of dollars when they bought homes no one in their right mind wanted.

Now, they couldn't give them away, so they're crying to Cichowski, the so-called commuting columnist.

Local news

Bergen County readers find Passaic County news on every page of today's Local section, making them wonder why Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza couldn't find more stories relevant to the lives (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6).

Three Paterson stories appear on L-3 alone.

Buying publicity?

What did the owners of American Cut Bar & Grill do to get Staff Writer Elisa Ung, the paper's chief restaurant critic, to write an upbeat story about their Englewood Cliffs restaurant, which is "slated to open in March" (BL-3)?

The silly headline: 

"Englewood Cliffs scores new restaurant"

The story is accompanied by a photo of rare "pastrami hanger steak," but Ung doesn't say whether the expensive restaurant will be serving naturally raised beef and other red meat.

As the chief restaurant reviewer, Ung betrays her readers by essentially rewriting a glowing press release months before she has had a chance to sample the fare and rate the service.