CMYK

Yxxx,2015-12-05,A,001,Bs-4C,E1

VOL. CLXV . . . . No. 57,071

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2015

2015 The New York Times

F.B.I. IS TREATING RAMPAGE AS ACT OF TERRORISM

NEW CLUES FOUND

EDITORIAL

The Gun Epidemic

Woman Said to Have

Posted a Facebook
Pledge to ISIS

All decent people feel sorrow and righteous fury

about the latest slaughter of innocents, in California. Law
enforcement and intelligence agencies are searching for
motivations, including the vital question of how the murderers might have been connected to international terrorism. That is right and proper.

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
and RICHARD PREZ-PEA

But motives do not matter to the dead in California,

nor did they in Colorado, Oregon, South Carolina, Virginia, Connecticut and far too many other places. The attention and anger of Americans also should be directed at
the elected leaders whose job is to keep us safe but who
place a higher premium on the money and political power
of an industry dedicated to profiting from the unfettered
spread of ever more powerful firearms.
It is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that
people can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill with brutal speed and efficiency. These are
weapons of war, barely modified and deliberately marketed as tools of macho vigilantism and even insurrection. Americas elected leaders offer prayers for gun victims and then, callously and without fear of consequence,
reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of mass killing, as they did on Thursday. They distract us with arguments about the word terrorism. Lets be clear: These
spree killings are all, in their own ways, acts of terrorism.
Opponents of gun control are saying, as they do after
every killing, that no law can unfailingly forestall a specific criminal. That is true. They are talking, many with
sincerity, about the constitutional challenges to effective
gun regulation. Those challenges exist. They point out
that determined killers obtained weapons illegally in
places like France, England and Norway that have strict
gun laws. Yes, they did.
But at least those countries are trying. The United
States is not. Worse, politicians abet would-be killers by
creating gun markets for them, and voters allow those
politicians to keep their jobs. It is past time to stop talking
about halting the spread of firearms, and instead to reduce their number drastically eliminating some large
categories of weapons and ammunition.
It is not necessary to debate the peculiar wording of
the Second Amendment. No right is unlimited and immune from reasonable regulation.
Certain kinds of weapons, like the slightly modified
combat rifles used in California, and certain kinds of
ammunition must be outlawed for civilian ownership. It
is possible to define those guns in a clear and effective
way and, yes, it would require Americans who own those
kinds of weapons to give them up for the good of their
fellow citizens.
What better time than during a presidential election
to show, at long last, that our nation has retained its sense
of decency?

TOP AND BOTTOM RIGHT, JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES; BOTTOM LEFT, JIM WILSON/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Images of the residence of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik in Redlands, Calif. Reporters and photographers crammed into the townhouse on Friday. Page A15.
A HOME REVEALED.

Shootings in California Reshape the Campaigns

By MICHAEL BARBARO
and TRIP GABRIEL

The Republican candidates for

president angrily demanded on
Friday that the United States face
up to a new world war, one that
has breached its borders, threatens the safety of Americans and
has brought the menace of Islamic terrorism deep into the
homeland.
With striking unanimity, they
accused the president and his fellow Democrats of shrinking from
a long-overdue assault on the Islamic State and its frighteningly
effective tools of global recruitment.
Their aggression reflected the

Aggressive Warnings
From Republicans
on Terror Threat
degree to which the diffuse and
chaotic campaign is being reordered as the threat of terrorism
moves from the capitals of foreign lands to San Bernardino,
Calif., a working class city outside Los Angeles.
Our nation is under siege,
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey
said at a cafe in rural Iowa.
What I believe were facing is
the next world war. This is what

were in right now, already.

The rising confrontational tone
gripped the Republican presidential field, as the initial restraint
and calls for prayers that followed the shootings gave way to
revelations that the massacre
may have been inspired by the Islamic State.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas
seethed with disgust for Democrats, declaring, This nation
needs a wartime president.
Whether or not the current
administration realizes it, or is
willing to acknowledge it, he
added, our enemies are at war
with us.
Their language was almost
Continued on Page A17

WASHINGTON On the day

she and her husband killed 14
people and injured 21 others in
San Bernardino, Calif., a woman
pledged allegiance to the Islamic
State in a Facebook post, officials
said Friday, as the F.B.I. announced that it was treating the
massacre as an act of terrorism.
The investigation so far has
developed indications of radicalization by the
killers, and of
potential inspiration by foreign
terrorist
organizations,
the F.B.I. direc- Tashfeen
tor, James B. Malik
Comey, said at a
news
conference here. But he said that investigators had not found evidence that the killers were part of
a larger group or terrorist cell.
The couple died in a shootout
with police on Wednesday.
Theres no indication that
they are part of a network, he
said.
The woman, Tashfeen Malik,
declared allegiance to the Islamic
State on Facebook at roughly the
time of the shooting on Wednesday, according to a Facebook
spokesman. At a news conference in San Bernardino, David
Bowdich, the F.B.I. assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles office, said he was aware of
the post, which was taken down
by Facebook on Wednesday, but
would not elaborate.
Theres a number of pieces of
Continued on Page A14

AUSTRALIAS ACTION The country

has had no mass killings since a
1996 rampage spurred a tightening of gun laws. PAGE A16
ESCALATION OF HATE Muslims
say they are experiencing a wave
of threats. PAGE A17

DAmato in Rare Role: Testifying Against Friend A Rare Protest

Beijings Rival to World Bank

In Russia Hints
Moves Forward Without U.S.

By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
and VIVIAN YEE

In his three terms as a United

States senator from New York
and his decades of influence as a
Republican
power
broker,
Alfonse M. DAmato has seen
and done just about everything.
Go undercover to buy two vials
of crack cocaine in Washington
Heights? Check. Shut down parts
of the government while conducting a nearly 24-hour filibuster to
protect financing for a Long Island interest? Been there, done
that.
But Mr. DAmato, 78, has seldom crossed the line that he did
on Friday: Senator Pothole as a
government witness, testifying
against a fellow Republican and
friend.
Mr. DAmato took a star turn at
the federal corruption trial of
Dean G. Skelos, the former majority leader of the New York
Senate, and his son, Adam B.
Skelos, recounting on Friday how
he decided to personally warn
Senator Skelos that his son was
often a no-show at work, in a position that prosecutors said he
had gotten through his father.
And when Adam Skelos did show
up, his presence was disruptive.
Mr. DAmato testified that he
drove to meet with the state senator at his district office in Rockville Centre, on Long Island, in

At Deeper Ire
By JANE PERLEZ
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

BRYAN R. SMITH FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Alfonse M. DAmato on Friday after appearing at the trial of

State Senator Dean G. Skelos and Adam B. Skelos in New York.
the hopes of helping Mr. Skelos
understand what was taking
place, so that he might be able to
remedy it, speak to his son.
Mr. DAmato, who has long
been a supporter of Mr. Skelos,
has headed an influential lobbying firm since he left Congress in
1999. The firm, Park Strategies,
had nearly $8 million in billings in
New York State in 2014, according to the Joint Commission on
Public Ethics.
During his hour on the witness
stand, Mr. DAmato displayed a

mix of charm and command, answering questions in his familiar

Long Island accent. His testimony centered on what prosecutors
have called a no-show job for
Adam Skelos, 33, at a medical
malpractice insurance company
that was represented by Park
Strategies. A partner at the firm,
Gregory V. Serio, who worked
with the insurance company,
Physicians Reciprocal Insurers,
told Mr. DAmato in 2013 that
Adam Skelos had been hired by
Continued on Page A20

MOSCOW Hundreds of longdistance truckers blocked a

lengthy section of the ring road
circling the capital on Friday to
protest a new national toll, in the
first sign that Russias economic
woes might be eroding the broad
support for President Vladimir V.
Putins government.
The direct object of their ire
was Igor Rotenberg, the scion of
a billionaire oligarch clan close to
Mr. Putin, who owns half of a
new, GPS-based system that,
when fully operational, will
charge truckers fees on all federal highways.
Their larger anger, however,
was reserved for what they
called the governments failure to
alleviate the devastating effects
of inflation and recession over
the past year, prompted by the
steep drop in oil prices, sanctions
the West imposed over Ukraine
and retaliatory sanctions the
Kremlin imposed on Western
food imports.
There is no economic program at all where is all the
money? said Vladimir Romanov, 65, the part-owner of a small
Continued on Page A10

BEIJING As top leaders met

at a lush Bali resort in October
2013, President Xi Jinping of China described his vision for a new
multinational, multibillion-dollar
bank to finance roads, rails and
THE CHINA FACTOR
Aspirations in Finance

power grids across Asia. Under

Chinese stewardship, the bank
would tackle the slow development in poor countries that was
holding the region back from becoming the wealth center of the
world.
Afterward, the United States
secretary of state, John Kerry,
caught up with Mr. Xi in the corridor. Thats a great idea, Mr.
Kerry said of the bank, according
to Chinese and American aides
briefed on the encounter.
The enthusiasm didnt last
long, as the Obama administration began a rear-guard battle to
minimize the banks influence.
The United States worries that
China will use the bank to set the
global economic agenda on its
own terms, forgoing the environmental
protections,
human

ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/A.P.

President Xi Jinping wants to

expand Beijings global role.
rights, anticorruption measures
and other governance standards
long promoted by its Western
counterparts. American officials
point to Chinas existing record of
loans to unstable governments,
construction deals for unnecessary infrastructure, and villagers
abruptly uprooted with little compensation.
But the administration suffered a humiliating diplomatic
defeat last spring when most of
Continued on Page B8

INTERNATIONAL A3-10

BUSINESS DAY B1-9

TRAVEL

Venezuelans Prepare to Vote

Jobs Report Lifts Uncertainty

The Footlights of London

Economic woes are souring many voters on President Nicols Maduros government and lifting the oppositions
chances in elections on Sunday. PAGE A9

The United States economy added

211,000 jobs in November, all but guaranteeing that policy makers at the Fed
PAGE B1
will increase interest rates.

NEW YORK A19-20

U.S.-Cuba Talks Are Planned

OPEC Vows to Churn Away

ARTS C1-8

New Rikers Guards Bring Hope

Next week, Cuba and the United States

will discuss American claims for assets
seized in the Cuban revolution. PAGE A4

OPEC said it would keep producing oil

at high levels, even as world leaders disPAGE B1
cuss how to rely less on oil.

A Troupes New Direction

Theater isnt necessarily better in London than it is in New York, but its distinct pleasures and surprises can be
thrilling, not least all of the acting royalty. Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh
are rarities in New York, and they alone
are worth the price of admission to The
THIS WEEKEND
Winters Tale.

New York City officials are looking to a

new wave of correction officers to help
clear out a culture of brutality. PAGE A19

Under Benjamin Millepied, the Paris

Opera Ballet, above, seems to have
PAGE C1
found a fresh style. A review.

NATIONAL A12-18

SPORTSSATURDAY B10-15

Hospital Sheds a Famous Name

Evangelicals Hesitant on Rubio

The Rights of Coaches

Applause for Cowardly Lion

A New York hospital formed in 1869 will

no longer include Roosevelt in its name.
PAGE A19
It is now Mount Sinai West.

Some potential supporters are troubled

by Marco Rubios backing by a major
PAGE A18
donor to gay rights causes.

A firing at Purdue raises questions about

whether coaches can support athletes
PAGE B10
rights, Joe Nocera writes.

David Alan Griers character was a

highlight of The Wiz Live! on NBC. A
PAGE C1
Critics Notebook.

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

Gail Collins

PAGE A23

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