Across Nepal’s Countryside, Desperate Journeys to Ruined Homes After Quake

Abstract: RAMCHE, Nepal — Madhu Badu had been on the road for the better part of three days, trying to get back to his native village, back to his wife and children, near the epicenter of Nepal ’s devastating earthquake northwest of Katmandu. His journey had begun on a bus, but the roads had become impassable and now he was on foot. As he climbed a dirt path strewn with boulders and the muddy debris of landslides, hints of the devastation that awaited him in Ramche greeted him like ominous signposts: an elderly woman, groaning in pain, draped on the back of a man who was carrying her down the mountain; a hamlet where residents were burying the dead; piles of stone rubble where farmhouses once stood. Desperate residents appeared from the forests, pleading for help from Mr. Badu and a journalist. “We lost everything!” cried one, Baldev Bhatta, his eyes bloodshot. “You are the first outsiders to come here. We have no grain. We have no money. We cannot rebuild on our own. You need to send this news to the world.” At each stop on the way up the mountain, farmers offered to show Mr. Badu the ruins of their houses. He pressed forward instead. He knew his own family was safe — he had tried calling his wife for four hours Saturday before he finally got through — but she said the village had been badly damaged and he was anxious to help. Across the countryside outside Katmandu, tens if not hundreds of thousands of people are making similar desperate journeys, abandoning the jobs that had drawn them from home in better times and traveling through difficult terrain to get back to isolated villages like Ramche that have been all but cut off from the world. Photographs of Earthquake Devastation in Nepal When Nepal was hit with a powerful earthquake the tremor shattered lives, landmarks and the very landscape of the country. The scope of the disaster in photographs. Three days after Nepal’s worst earthquake in 80 years hit on Saturday, the official death toll climbed past 5,000 and the prime minister, Sushil Koirala, said it could reach 10,000. But the extent of the destruction and loss of life in the countryside remained largely unknown. Here in the Gorkha district, the epicenter of the magnitude 7.8 quake, roads that are repaired or cleared during the day are often blocked before the next morning by landslides, making it difficult to reach communities where hundreds are feared dead. In a sign of progress, though, convoys of aid workers, some bearing the banners of Nepalese companies, could be seen driving through the region on Tuesday. Helicopters have also been ferrying the wounded out of the area. When the quake struck, Mr. Badu, 51, was in Solukhumbu, about 100 miles northeast of here, at a trekking station at the base of Mount Everest where he works in construction. He spent the next two days on buses before beginning his trek at dawn on Tuesday by foot. He carried two plastic tarpaulins, a down jacket and a bag filled with apples and grapes. It was part care package, part aid delivery. Before the earthquake, he said, life in the villages in this impoverished region had improved. They had electricity and cellphone coverage, and the dirt roads were more or less acceptable. But now there was no power, and communications were spotty. Image Rescue crews in Katmandu on Tuesday, three days after Nepal's worst earthquake in 80 years. The prime minister said the official death toll could reach 10,000. Credit Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times In almost every hamlet on the way up to Ramche, residents reported deaths from the quake. At least in those places, none appeared to have suffered mass casualties. Finally, as Mr. Badu approached Ramche, a vista of destruction came into focus. The village where he had grown up had been almost completely leveled. On a bluff with sweeping views of the verdant valleys below, all that was left of the high school was a huge jumble of timber beams, slate roof tiles and broken stone walls. Almost every house had collapsed. Most people in the village of several hundred survived, but they were living under makeshift tents, much of their food supplies unreachable in their collapsed homes. Two seriously wounded women lay in a stable with the water buffaloes. Mr. Badu’s home was one of the few left standing. “I imagined that my house was completely destroyed,” he said. “I have food to eat. The others have nothing.” While the conditions in remote Ramche were particularly dire, even in the capital of Katmandu, the scale of suffering was breathtaking, and a growing sense of frustration with the government was palpable. Nepal’s Historic Sites, Before and After the Earthquake The earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25 flattened sections of Katmandu’s historic center, where many structures were made with bricks. Although the government has established 16 large camps in the city, many other residents are making do by sleeping on the street or in open spaces away from damaged buildings and walls. Even in the tent camps, residents have complained that help is not reaching them or is arriving too slowly. Many accuse government officials of incompetence and neglect, and residents voice suspicions that officials are hoarding the aid supplies for themselves. “Only this tent was provided by the government, but for everything else, we have had to rely on our own labors,” said Sudesh Tulachan, a building worker and shop owner sheltering from the rain under a large canopy. “You can see how many humans are in need.” One of the biggest worries is that supplies of clean drinking water will run out, and that with many water pipes likely cracked, any water running from taps could be contaminated. The government defended itself, saying that there are pressing needs everywhere, and that trying to get to villages that have had no government help was a priority. And Jamie McGoldrick, the United Nations resident coordinator for Nepal , said in a telephone interview that “the bureaucracy has been a bit slow, but they did seem to get organized in the past 24 hours.” Some relief organization workers also said that delivering help to villages was a physical challenge that would test any government. Mr. McGoldrick’s office on Monday cited estimates that the earthquake had affected eight million people in the country, including two million in the 11 worst affected districts. Video Since Saturday’s earthquake, tens of thousands in Katmandu have slept outside, wary of aftershocks and the threat of collapsing buildings. “The geography is very, very difficult,” Peter Oyloe, the director for nutrition for Save the Children in Nepal , said in a telephone interview. In the devastated village of Ramche, Mr. Badu, visibly shaken, stopped in what used to be the courtyard of the high school, considering what might have happened if the earthquake had not struck on a Saturday when its 500 students were off. Protruding from the rubble was a partly rolled-up map, the kind used in geography classes, titled “America — political.” The only people in the building when the quake struck were 18 teachers in a training session. One of them, Netra Prasad Devkota, now stood in the courtyard holding a muddied copy of the materials they had been studying when the school “started to crack into pieces.” “I shouted, ‘Earthquake!’ ” he recalled. “We all ran.” Mr. Devkota and several others managed to escape from the school amid a huge cloud of dust. But eight of the teachers were buried in the rubble. Four were killed, and four were later pulled alive from the debris. A resident called a friend who is a helicopter pilot in the Nepalese armed forces. The pilot reached the village on Sunday and evacuated the wounded teachers. “The pilot came out of friendship,” said Bumi Nanda Devkota, another native of Ramche who had also rushed home. “There has been no help from the government since.” Many residents survived the quake because they were working in the fields where they grow wheat and rice. Jhyali Maya Devkota, 63, said she was inside her house, but lunged toward the door when the tremors began. Maps of the Damage From the Nepal Earthquakes Maps show the landscape of temporary shelters, the epicenter of the earthquake and its aftershocks. “We were told to stand in the door frame,” she said. “Those were the instructions they always gave on television. That is how I survived.” Residents said no doctors had come to see their wounded, not even the women in the stable, the two most seriously injured people still in the village. One of those women moaned miserably, her leg swollen and her foot wrapped in gauze. “The voice of poor people like us is not heard,” said Tejnath Puddasin, her son. . Mr. Badu said he felt very fortunate that his house survived. The village had clean water, but grain from the last harvest had been largely in the ruins of the houses that collapsed. Residents still had vegetables and livestock, but were worried that they would not last long. Mr. Badu’s wife, Bishnu, returned home from the fields in the late morning to find her husband waiting for her. “This is big happiness for me,” she said. Despite the reunion, though, she said she remained nervous. “The school collapsed, four teachers died, and I fear there will be more earthquakes,” she said. “I don’t feel lucky.”


Obama Begins 60-Day Campaign to Win Over Iran Deal Skeptics at Home and Abroad

Abstract: WASHINGTON — President Obama eagerly took on critics of the Iran nuclear deal on Wednesday, inviting question after question on an agreement he suggested that many of his political adversaries had not even read. Mr. Obama used a formal East Room news conference to begin what White House officials said would be an aggressive effort by the president and his top advisers over the next 60 days to combat critics in both parties and to sell the Iran deal to members of Congress, the public and allies in the region. While Mr. Obama is expected to win enough votes to sustain a veto of any legislation rejecting the deal, his goal over the next two months is to persuade enough Democrats to support the accord so that he can paint opponents as driven by politics rather than diplomacy. He appeared to relish the fight as he adopted a bring-it-on demeanor and invited reporters to ask him more about the deal. “Have we exhausted Iran questions here?” he asked at one point. “I think there’s a helicopter that’s coming, but I really am enjoying this Iran debate.” He then disregarded a prepared list of reporters to call on and, like a boxer beckoning someone to throw a punch, asked for more questions on Iran from the room. Image President Obama strayed from a prepared list of reporters and called for questions from the room during a news conference Wednesday at the White House. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times “I just want to make sure that we’re not leaving any stones unturned here,” he said. As Mr. Obama spoke, his critics continued to hammer against it. Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, one of the deal’s most ardent critics, said it represented a “nuclear agreement with an outlaw regime” and predicted that “the American people will repudiate this deal and Congress will kill the deal with a veto-proof majority.” Most American Jewish groups were also mobilizing strongly against the accord. The pro-Israel lobby Aipac denounced the deal as one that “would facilitate rather than prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and would further entrench and empower the leading state sponsor of terror.” “Proponents of the proposed agreement will argue that the only alternative to this agreement is military conflict,” Aipac said in a statement calling on Congress to reject the deal and to insist on a better one. “In fact, the reverse is true. A bad agreement such as this will invite instability and nuclear proliferation. It will embolden Iran and may encourage regional conflict.” The Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America issued a joint statement saying they had scrutinized the pact and found it “seriously wanting,” calling the inspection regime insufficient and the billions of dollars in sanctions for relief for Iran unacceptable. They said they would be mobilizing rabbis and synagogues across the nation to oppose the measure and urge lawmakers to reject it. In the past, Mr. Obama has often appeared defensive or defeated as he faced questions about the failure of his health care website or other foreign policy challenges. But in this case he avidly raised and dismissed many objections without even being asked. For those who argue that the administration could have forced the Iranians to agree to a deal that would leave Iran with no nuclear capacity, “there is nobody who thinks that Iran would or could ever accept that,” he said. And for those who say that the current sanctions on Iran are better than the negotiated deal, Mr. Obama said that without a diplomatic agreement the present sanctions regime would break down. “Without a deal, the international sanctions regime will unravel with little ability to reimpose them,” he said. The Iran Nuclear Deal – A Simple Guide A guide to help you navigate the deal between global powers and Tehran. The president did concede that the people of Israel — where the deal has been met with hostility and skepticism from across the political spectrum — have “legitimate concerns” about whether Iran emerges with a greater ability to back terrorism and disrupt its neighbors. “You have a large country, with a significant military, that has proclaimed that Israel shouldn’t exist, that has denied the Holocaust, that has financed Hezbollah,” Mr. Obama said, speaking of Iran. “There are very good reasons why Israelis are nervous about Iran’s position in the world, generally.” But Mr. Obama insisted that “those threats are compounded if Iran gets a nuclear weapon.” With a better deal impossible, Mr. Obama said that the only viable alternative to the negotiated settlement his administration had presented was war. And he challenged critics of the deal to acknowledge that what they really wanted was a military solution. “And if the alternative is that we should bring Iran to heel through military force, then those critics should say so, and that will be an honest debate,” Mr. Obama said. Mr. Obama said he hoped the agreement would pave the way to a more constructive relationship with Iran. But he rejected the idea that the deal deserved to be opposed because it failed to address Iran’s support for terrorism or its destabilizing activities in the Middle East. “My hope is that building on this deal, we can continue to have conversations with Iran that incentivizes them to behave differently in the region, to be less aggressive, less hostile, more cooperative,” Mr. Obama said. “But we’re not counting on it.” The agreement, he said, “solves one particular problem,” which is the risk of Iran developing a nuclear weapon. He finally said he had to go, but promised to return to the subject of the Iran deal. “I think we’ve hit the big themes, but I — but I promise you I will — I will address this again, all right?” he said. “I suspect this is not the last that we’ve heard of this debate.”

Iran
Nuclear weapon
Barack Obama
US Politics
International relations


Cano Has Promise, and Pedroia Has Prowess

Abstract: If Robinson Cano and Dustin Pedroia were unknown players at a tryout camp instead of the starting second basemen for the Yankees and the Red Sox , the Mets’ Alex Cora said, most scouts would salivate over Cano. Cano is more smooth and more athletic and looks like the superior player. But Pedroia, not Cano, has been the more accomplished player at the start of their careers. Pedroia snared the Most Valuable Player award last season, he won the Rookie of the Year award in 2007 and he already has a World Series ring. Cano has none of the above since making his debut in 2005. Still, Cano has seemingly matured, has been the better player this season and may be the better player in the future. When Cora, who could be a manager or general manager once he is done playing, was asked which player he preferred, he reclined in his chair and envisioned that hypothetical tryout. “Let’s make it fair for me,” Cora said. “If I’m a general manager, you’re going to ask people around the game, and at the end of the day, people are going to say this kid is going to show up every day and this kid might not. That’s where you got to make a decision.” Cora meant that Pedroia, the feisty second baseman, would play hard all the time and Cano, the smooth second baseman, might not. Does a team want the player who always hustles or the equally talented player who might blossom even more, but who might occasionally vanish? “Talent-wise, I think Cano is ahead,” Cora said. “If you go to a tryout, you probably wouldn’t even notice Pedroia. You’re like, is he the bat boy or something?” Pedroia, 26, is not the bat boy, even if he is shorter than the young man who handled that chore on Friday night. In an overpowering display, the Yankees made the Red Sox look like overmatched bat boys while thumping them, 20-11, at Fenway Park. Pedroia had two doubles, but they were hidden under an avalanche of Yankee offense. Eleven months after Manager Joe Girardi benched Cano, 26, for not hustling, an energetic Cano has been as reliable as any Yankee. Cano, who had one of the Yankees’ 23 hits, is batting .311 with 18 homers and 61 runs batted in; Pedroia is at .296, with 10 homers and 53 R.B.I. Both are .300 hitters for their careers. Because Cora was Pedroia’s teammate in Boston, Cora acknowledged that he liked teasing him. After Cora called the 5-foot-9 Pedroia a bat boy, he lauded him by mentioning how Cano’s lack of hustle forced Girardi to reprimand him. “That hasn’t happened to the other guy,” Cora said. “It will never happen.” If Cora could combine the best talents of Cano and Pedroia and toss them into a blender, he said, they would produce a player like Roberto Alomar . Alomar, a 12-time All-Star second baseman, is a probable Hall of Famer. Cora said Pedroia has Alomar’s instincts and Cano has Alomar’s sweet swing. When Alomar analyzed Cano, he called him a second baseman “who could be one of the best players of this era” and someone who “could do it all.” Alomar said Pedroia was “a hustle guy who has taken his talent to another level.” Cora and Alomar predicted Cano would win at least one batting title. Cano has shown more range, particularly to his right, and has been more engaged on defense. Girardi said that Cano’s smoothness could be misconstrued as a lack of effort. Alomar said: “Sometimes, you have so much talent, you look like you’re slacking off. That’s how Cano plays.” While Pedroia is the reigning M.V.P. and a steady defensive player, he is not always given the credit that he deserves. Maybe it is because of Pedroia’s size or his workmanlike style. Alomar theorized that “most people didn’t expect Pedroia to be this good,” but he would not be surprised if Pedroia won another M.V.P. award. Derek Jeter has played beside Cano with the Yankees and has played beside Pedroia in the World Baseball Classic and in All-Star Games. “The only similarity,” Jeter said, “is that they both play second base.” While Alex Rodriguez would not rate Cano and Pedroia, he complimented both. If Rodriguez had a son, he said, he would tell him to “watch Pedroia because he plays the right way.” Rodriguez said Cano “has only touched the tip of the iceberg with how talented he can be.” Alomar, who is not working in baseball, was asked to imagine that he was a general manager. If Pedroia and Cano were both available, whom would Alomar select? “I’d pick them both,” Alomar said. “I’d put one at shortstop and one at second base. I respect them both too much to pick one. They’re going to battle at second base for a long time.”

Baseball
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Pedroia Dustin
Cora Alex
Francona Terry
Girardi Joe
Alomar Roberto
Jeter Derek
Rodriguez Alex


Pharmacies in Venezuela Are Accused of ‘Sabotage’

Abstract: CARACAS, Venezuela — The authorities detained several executives of the country’s top pharmacy chain over the weekend amid accusations that retailers were seeking to maintain long lines outside stores as part of what President Nicolás Maduro called a “guerrilla tactic” to sow discontent in the economically beleaguered nation. “I’ve got some conspirators, owners of a chain of stores, jailed by the Sebin,” Mr. Maduro said Sunday in a television appearance, referring to the country’s intelligence police. “I have asked the national prosecutor’s office to speed up the charges so that they are well jailed for sabotaging the Venezuelan people with their chain of stores.” He did not identify the company, but he appeared to be referring to the Farmatodo drugstore chain. He said inspectors had visited a store and found irregularities. “Where there are 10 cash registers, they have three cashiers, and the three cashiers they have, they put to work unloading a truck, and that way they sabotage the whole chain because their goal is to irritate people,” Mr. Maduro said. Farmatodo released a statement saying that it had been visited by the intelligence police and government inspectors and that “company executives were invited to make declarations to the Sebin.” On Sunday night, the head of propaganda and communication for the government’s United Socialist Party, Ernesto Villegas, posted photographs of a Farmatodo store on Twitter and said “they should explain why they foster lines in the entrances to their stores.” Venezuela has been among the countries hardest hit by the steep plunge in the price of oil, its only major export. Shortages of basic products , including disposable diapers, medicine and cooking oil, have become acute, leading to long lines at many stores, including those run by the government. Mr. Maduro says scheming capitalists are waging an economic campaign against his socialist-inspired government, but many economists blame his policies, including rigid controls over prices and access to hard currency needed for imports. On Monday night, Mr. Maduro again went on television and said that he had ordered the arrest of the executives of a supermarket chain and that the military would occupy the chain’s 36 stores. Víctor Maldonado, the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce of Caracas, said that several Farmatodo executives had been released and that two remained in detention, including the company’s executive president and the vice president for operations. “The government continues to point the finger at people who aren’t guilty,” Mr. Maldonado said. “The cause of the long lines is the same as the cause of the shortages, and that is bad economic policy.” At the Farmatodo store visited by inspectors over the weekend, neighbors said that people typically begin lining up outside in the early morning, waiting for a truck carrying basic products to arrive in the afternoon, and that many shoppers buy goods sold at regulated prices in order to resell them later at a steep markup. On Monday, a manager warned shoppers not to line up outside. But when the truck arrived in the afternoon, a line of about 50 people quickly formed, although they remained inside, where they were less visible. All five registers had cashiers. Calls to Farmatodo’s offices went unanswered on Monday. The company has 167 stores in Venezuela and about 29 in Colombia, selling medicine and consumer goods. In Washington on Monday, the State Department announced it had imposed visa restrictions on some current and former Venezuelan government officials believed to be linked to human rights abuses or corruption. It did not name the officials or say how many were being penalized. “We are sending a clear message that human rights abusers, those who profit from public corruption, and their families are not welcome in the United States,” Jen Psaki, a department spokeswoman, said in a statement . The office of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. responded on Monday to comments by Mr. Maduro, who accused him in a speech on Friday of telling a recent meeting of Caribbean leaders “that the government of Venezuela was going to be overthrown, was going to fall.” Mr. Maduro spoke as if he were addressing Mr. Biden: “You say it is a new era for relations with Latin America. And to go and conspire, and with brother governments of the Caribbean!” Mr. Biden’s office said in a statement that “President Maduro’s accusations are patently false and are clearly part of an effort to distract from the concerning situation in Venezuela.”

Venezuela
Nicolas Maduro
Farmatodo
Oil and Gasoline
Shortages
Retail
Pharmaceuticals
Drugstore
Sabotage
State Department


Lack of Capital to Lead Law Firms to Seek Help, Survey Finds

Abstract: For law firms, a lack of capital, largely because of the cash flow of a typical partnership structure, is a major competitive obstacle, according to a survey of firms and in-house lawyers released Tuesday. As a result, more firms and companies are expected to turn to outside financing to fuel growth, according to the 2016 Litigation Finance Survey by Burford Capital, a litigation lender. In the survey, 81 percent of lawyers said lack of capital inhibited growth. More than nine out of 10 clients, or 94 percent, reported increased pressure on legal budgets, staffing and spending, up from 80 percent in 2014 and 73 percent in 2013. Litigation finance makes money available for upgrades like improving technology or data security, or taking on big cost-intensive cases. According to the survey, which had responses from 60 large law firms, 28 percent of lawyers in private practice have used litigation financing since 2013. Nearly three times as many, or 75 percent, of outside counsel predicted that litigation financing would grow in the next five years, the survey said. In January, Burford announced it was committing $100 million in financing for a group of cases at a large, unnamed law firm. In December, the firm announced an agreement to provide $45 million in litigation financing to a major telecommunications company with a portfolio of pending litigation. At the company, which declined to be named, legal fees and expenses had eaten into operating revenue. Last year, Burford, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, committed $30 million to the Hausfeld law firm to expand its presence in Germany, including opening an office in Berlin. Burford is not the only firm in the sector. Gerchen Keller Capital LLC, a Chicago-based litigation lender, has $1.4 billion in assets. Burford recently added capital, bringing its investment total to $1 billion. Others include Bentham IMF, which has funded more than a half-dozen litigation portfolios. The field is likely to grow as pressure from costs incurred by litigation continues. “Finance is increasingly used by firms and clients as an innovative and flexible means of accessing capital that can be invested back into the business,” said Christopher P. Bogart, Burford’s chief executive and a former general counsel at Time Warner. Burford, which was co-founded by Mr. Bogart in 2009, reported revenues last year of $103 million, up from $82 million in 2014. Its pretax profit rose to $67 million last year, from $57 million in 2014. Mr. Bogart, who is also a former associateat the law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, said Burford’s clients often do not want to be identified. “No one likes to talk about litigation,” he said, even though litigation “has moved from aggravating and immaterial to being a very significant matter” for many companies. Burford has more than $600 million invested in litigation, though only 13 percent of its financing arrangements support single lawsuits, he said. Financing helps firms be more flexible in responding to client demands for alternatives to the traditional hourly billing model as well as to curb litigation costs. Typically law firm partners are reluctant to invest long-term because their pay is tied to current profitability, not to future payouts. Financing litigation allows firms to absorb costs in the short term and compete by offering clients alternative fee arrangements.

Lawyers
Burford Capital
Cravath Swaine & Moore
Time Warner


Moths Traveled Far for Taste of Italian Grapevines

Abstract: A few years ago, Italian winemakers noticed a new moth that was infesting the leaves of grapevines (it showed partiality to chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and muscat grapes). A new study reports that the insect, black with shiny spots on its wings, actually originated in North America and somehow made its way across the Atlantic in the past decade. Writing in the journal ZooKeys, Erik J. van Nieukerken , an entomologist at the Netherlands Center for Biodiversity Naturalis, reports that the moth had not been studied in many decades and that it was long misclassified as another type of moth. He and his colleagues found that the moths were identical to a species of black moth with shiny metallic spots found in eastern North America. They named it Antispila oinophylla. (The resemblance to “oenophilia” is not accidental.) “It is found at least from Georgia up to Ontario,” he said. It isn’t clear how the tiny moth (a wingspan of just two-tenths of an inch) managed to travel to Europe from America, but Dr. van Nieukerken said it might not have been too difficult. “The pupae could be anyplace — it could have been on a crate,” he said. “And these moths can even fly into an airplane and survive.” The moths do comparatively little damage in North America. In a globalized society, the movement of small pests from one region to another is becoming all too common, he said, making it important to study the taxonomy of as many insects as possible — not just those that are currently considered a nuisance. “These things simply happen today,” he said. “Just yesterday someone called me about a species that was probably introduced from Europe into South Africa.”

Butterflies and Moths
Grapes
Italy
Science and Technology
Wines
ZooKeys (Journal)


MSNBC Pulls the Plug on Donny Deutsch’s Show

Abstract: A television segment about angry media commentators created a furor inside MSNBC this week, one that extended outside the cable news channel after the segment’s host, Donny Deutsch , found himself dismissed as a guest anchor Wednesday. Four people briefed on the matter said the cancellation of Mr. Deutsch’s weeklong show, called “America the Angry,” was the result of an unflattering mention of MSNBC’s No. 1 anchor, Keith Olbermann , on Tuesday. On that day, in what was supposed to be the second day of a weeklong series, Mr. Deutsch included a segment about the role that the media plays in fomenting the public’s anger. Mr. Olbermann was mentioned briefly and shown in a series of clips of media figures. MSNBC executives were said to be unhappy with the segment, and informed Mr. Deutsch on Wednesday morning that his show had been canceled for the rest of the week. The incident led to charges that MSNBC, a unit of NBC Universal, had stifled criticism of itself on its own channel. “The segment did not go unnoticed and we’re dealing with it internally,” Jeremy Gaines, an MSNBC spokesman, said Wednesday. Four people briefed on MSNBC’s decision said that Mr. Olbermann was angered by the segment, and that his displeasure prompted the cancellation of the “America the Angry” series. But in an e-mail message Mr. Olbermann said that account was untrue; he wrote that Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, “phoned me yesterday enraged at what was on that show and I didn’t disagree with him.” Mr. Deutsch, the well-known advertising executive, declined to comment on either version of events Wednesday afternoon, but said that “for whatever reason they decided they didn’t want to go with it the rest of the week.” Mr. Deutsch, the chairman of the advertising agency Deutsch Inc., had a prime-time show on MSNBC’s sister network CNBC for several years. He was scheduled to anchor the 3 p.m. hour on MSNBC for the full week, and had chosen the theme “America the Angry” because, he said, “I, like most Americans, am very concerned about the anger out there.” “I think it’s time for, not a red voice or a blue voice, but a passionate purple voice in the middle,” he added Wednesday. Tuesday’s attention-grabbing segment about the media included clips of Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck alongside Mr. Olbermann. One of Mr. Deutsch’s guests, the radio host Hugh Hewitt, said that Mr. Olbermann and Ed Schultz, another MSNBC host, are “the biggest hate-mongers in television,” while Mr. Deutsch stayed above the fray. The four people briefed on MSNBC’s decision to drop Mr. Deutsch’s show also said that the executive producer for the hour, Gresham Striegel, was sent home Wednesday. Reached by telephone, Mr. Striegel declined to comment on any of the claims. The people who were briefed would not speak on the record because they feared retaliation by the network. Mr. Olbermann’s outsize role at MSNBC has long been a topic of conversation in the halls of the news channel. After another MSNBC host, Joe Scarborough, criticized Mr. Olbermann in January, Mr. Griffin wrote in a memorandum to staff members, “I want to reiterate my long-standing policy: We do not publicly criticize our colleagues. This kind of behavior is unprofessional and will not be tolerated.” MSNBC’s chief competitors, CNN and the Fox News Channel, show media criticism programs each weekend.

News and News Media
MSNBC
Deutsch Donny
Olbermann Keith
Cable Television


A Rescue Hindered by Politics

Abstract: Plans. Have I ever been inundated with plans. Deluged with them, actually. Two weeks ago in this space, I trumpeted an idea to help struggling homeowners stay in their homes from Daniel Alpert, a founding partner of Westwood Capital, a small investment bank. He had no personal stake in stemming the rising tide of foreclosures, but as someone who has spent his career in and around securitization and structured finance, he felt he had something useful to offer. Mr. Alpert devised what he called his Freedom Recovery Plan because he wanted to try to help ease the terrible financial crisis we’re in. In publicizing his plan, however, I opened a spigot I hadn’t known existed. It turns out that Mr. Alpert isn’t the only smart guy who has been thinking hard about how to keep people from getting tossed out of their homes. It is a problem that is getting worse by the day, with more than 107,000 foreclosures in September alone, and one of every five mortgages underwater, by some estimates, meaning the homes are worth less — often substantially less — than the mortgage. (A quick refresher: the reasons it is important to tackle this problem are, 1. foreclosures hurt not only individual homeowners but entire neighborhoods and the American economy; 2. until housing prices stabilize, the financial crisis won’t end, because housing is at the root of it; and 3. keeping people in their homes is the quickest, most compassionate way to begin stabilizing home prices.) I heard, for instance, from William R. Hambrecht, the innovative founder of a firm that takes companies public through Dutch auctions, who believes that lenders should get equity in homes in return for reworking their mortgages, thus giving them some potential upside. Thomas Peterffy, the chief executive of the Interactive Brokers Group, believes the government should simply give every American homeowner $250 a month for five years to help pay the mortgage on their primary residence. James Grosfeld, the former chief executive of Pulte Homes, walked me through his smart, interesting proposal for the government to buy up pools of mortgages at a discount and refinance them through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. If his plan works — and his argument is very compelling — the government could even make a profit in the process. (The details of all the plans discussed here can be found on my blog at nytimes.com/executivesuite .) I found examples of nonprofit organizations, like American Homeowner Preservation, based in Cincinnati, that use tax-exempt bonds to buy homes and then lease them back to the former owners. I even discovered that the guy Barney Frank is planning to rake over the coals at a House Financial Services hearing he’ll be presiding over in a few weeks has a plan. The guy, William Frey, a broker-dealer in Greenwich, Conn., invested in a pool of toxic mortgages, along with hundreds of other investors. His big point is that because the contracts are so ironclad, and the interests of the various investors are diverse and often in conflict, there is no legal way to modify mortgages in those pools. He wrote a letter threatening to take action against any mortgage servicers who took steps to prevent foreclosures — thus raising Mr. Frank’s ire. Turns out that Mr. Frey had sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, seven months ago predicting that the government would have to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but adding that the takeover offered the best way to help homeowners. Under his plan, which he outlined in the letter, the government would buy mortgages at face value, and then use Fannie and Freddie to write homeowners new, more affordable mortgages that reflected the current value of the homes. The government would have to absorb the difference between the original mortgages and the new ones. Mr. Frey acknowledged that it wasn’t fair that both borrower and lender were made whole, while the taxpayer had to take the loss. But he believes that the securitization contracts make it impossible to solve the problem any other way. “Theoretically, morally and logically, the investor should absorb the loss,” he said. “But how do you get the loss to them? I don’t see a way.” So yes, I’m swimming in plans — serious, smart, well-meaning plans that deserve consideration. And yet one plan is still missing. Where, oh, where is the government’s plan?  It has been over a week since the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chairman, Sheila Bair, testified before the Senate Banking Committee, where she promised that a plan was on the way. “Everyone agrees that more needs to be done for homeowners,” she said, adding that the F.D.I.C. was in discussions with the Treasury and the White House about a plan. “There is a policy process under way,” she said. “We hope to be able to make some announcements soon.” In fact, Ms. Bair had hoped to be able to make the announcement that morning, in front of the committee. But the plan she has devised — and make no mistake, she is the driving force within the administration pushing to do something for homeowners — has been held up in endless wrangling with the Treasury and the White House. According to an article by Vikas Bajaj and Eric Dash in The New York Times on Wednesday, Ms. Bair’s plan would have the government absorbing half the losses on home mortgages when lenders agreed to lower the borrower’s monthly payment for at least five years. The government would also guarantee mortgages that were renegotiated at a lower rate, so that the lender would not have to take additional losses if the homeowner later defaulted. The F.D.I.C. hopes to guarantee up to three million mortgages, at a cost that is estimated at around $50 billion. As I understand it, the money is not the hang-up. Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke have shown themselves more than willing to use many, many billions of dollars to keep the financial system afloat. Indeed, The Times estimates that the federal government has committed an astonishing $1.5 trillion so far in loans, investments and guarantees to the banking system. No, the hang-up, apparently, is that aid is going to homeowners, not giant financial institutions, with the negotiations revolving around who will be eligible for the program and what will constitute an affordable new mortgage. Ms. Bair is arguing for a broad definition; the Treasury wants something narrow, which of course will mean fewer people will get help. This is hardly a surprise. One of the reasons previous efforts at helping homeowners have had such little success is precisely because the Treasury has insisted on defining the number of eligible homeowners as narrowly as possible. It is also, of course, maddening. When it comes to the nation’s financial institutions, the Treasury is willing to hand billions of dollars to healthy banks, like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, that don’t even want the money. (It did so to disguise the fact that other, weaker banks, like Citigroup, do need the money.) Yet, inexplicably, it seems to feel that homeowners have to be treated much more severely. The only legitimate reason for this is the one that my colleague David Leonhardt has put forth — that if the government says it is going to help homeowners in danger of foreclosing, it will create an incentive for a lot more homeowners to decide that they’re in danger of foreclosing. But I would argue that the country is far better served at this late date by erring on the side of generosity. Isn’t it better to let a few homeowners get relief who might not need it (just like JPMorgan!) than restricting the eligibility so narrowly that people in real trouble will not be able get their mortgages modified? Yet the Treasury instinctively prefers the latter. It is also deeply aggravating that the urgency the government showed a month ago, when the banking system seemed at risk, seems absent now that the issue is homeowners. It took the Treasury and the Fed all of 36 hours to put forth a plan for a systemic bailout of the financial system. Yet they still can’t agree on a plan to help homeowners; in fact, I hear that the Treasury is furious at Ms. Bair for getting out front of it on this issue, which may be another reason it won’t sign off on her plan. More and more, it seems as if Treasury is acting like the Federal Emergency Management Agency after Hurricane Katrina . I can’t say with any certainty that the F.D.I.C. plan is demonstrably better than the plans that have been sent to me over the transom these last few weeks. Like any complicated plan, the devil will be in the details. What I do know is that the F.D.I.C. has a deeper understanding of the mortgage and foreclosure problem — and a greater sense of urgency — than any other agency of government. In July, the F.D.I.C. became the conservator of a failing bank in California, IndyMac Federal. For the last few months, it has used the bank as a petri dish to see whether it could make mortgage modifications on a broad scale. Although the process is still in the early stages, the answer appears to be yes. So far, more than 3,500 homeowners have accepted the F.D.I.C.’s offer of mortgage modification, with thousands more lined up behind them. What’s more, many of those mortgages were ones trapped in securitization pools. In fact, the F.D.I.C. told me that it had sent out notices to 9,000 homeowners with securitized mortgages, offering to modify them. “We can do this on securitizations,” said Michael Krimminger, the F.D.I.C.’s special adviser to the chairman for policy. “We can do it on a streamlined basis because we are applying a model.” The notion that securitization contracts would prevent mortgages from being modified was “a red herring.” If the F.D.I.C. can help IndyMac borrowers, then presumably it can help borrowers all over the country. So enough with “the policy process,” as Ms. Bair so politely calls it. The time has come for the Treasury to swallow hard, sign off on the F.D.I.C. plan and let Ms. Bair begin carrying it out as quickly as possible. To delay any longer isn’t just short-sighted. It’s inexcusable.

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (2008)


M.T.A. Plans Full Metro-North Rail Service for Wednesday

Abstract: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said on Monday that it expected full commuter rail service to return by Wednesday morning, less than a week after a collision near Fairfield, Conn., involving two Metro-North Railroad trains injured more than 70 people and jammed a crucial transit corridor for much of the Northeast. “We are confident that the reconstruction work, inspection and testing will be completed in time for a normal rush hour on Wednesday,” said Howard Permut, the president of Metro-North Railroad, who had estimated as recently as Sunday morning that service would be disrupted “well into the coming week.” On Tuesday, for the second straight day, the authority plans to operate train and bus shuttles in the areas where service was interrupted. The authority said its makeshift arrangements had operated as well as could be expected on Monday, but acknowledged that many riders were experiencing protracted commutes. Some travelers braved the patchwork shuttle system — boarding a train, then a bus, then another train in a bid to complete what was last week a breezy one-seat ride. Others set out alone on the highways, where slick roads and gridlock often greeted them, or car-pooled as Connecticut state officials had urged. The authority ran express buses between South Norwalk and Bridgeport for the Monday evening rush. (Trains were operating from Grand Central Terminal to Westport and as a shuttle service from Bridgeport to New Haven.) The railroad also cross-honored tickets from Amtrak, which runs on the same tracks and has not offered service between New York and New Haven since the crash. Amtrak said its service would also resume Wednesday. On Monday, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy praised Metro-North for its quick return to normal service as “something that we did not think could be accomplished.” Megan Keating, 28, from Milford, Conn., faced her first weekday commute since Friday, when she was aboard the eastbound train that derailed after leaving the Fairfield Metro station. On Monday, Ms. Keating decided to drive. She left around 6:20 a.m., she said, and arrived at her job in Darien, Conn., about two hours later. Her typical commute is about 35 minutes, she said. “Normally I feel completely safe on the train; I was a little wary this morning,” she said. “I didn’t want to be on a vehicle that someone else was driving.” Scott Persson, 44, a resident of the Southport section of Fairfield, who works as a sound engineer in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, chose to avoid the fray completely. He stayed home. “I didn’t feel like being part of the experiment,” he said. For regular Amtrak riders exposed to an uncommon trip on Metro-North, some early impressions were discouraging. Chris Dunphy, 40, and Cherie Ve Ard, 39, who had planned to travel by Amtrak to New York after a visit to New London, Conn., instead took Amtrak to New Haven, boarded a Metro-North train to Bridgeport, then used the shuttle bus to get to South Norwalk. On the final leg of the trip, on a Metro-North train from South Norwalk to Grand Central, Mr. Dunphy noticed a “tidal wave of water” at his feet, surging from the bathroom as passengers scrambled to lift their belongings from the floor. Moments later, the conductor announced that he had shut off the water system. “People were asking if it was fresh water,” Mr. Dunphy recalled. “He said, ‘It’s water from a tank, and that’s all I can say.’ ” Some of the regular Metro-North riders found in their new traveling companions yet another reason to dislike the commute Monday. “Apparently all previous Amtrak passengers are also taking Metro-North this morning,” one traveler groused on Twitter. “Get your bag off my seat!” The authority reported a decrease of about 20 percent in Monday morning ridership on the New Haven Line, though there was a 6 percent increase on the Harlem Line, suggesting that some commuters had driven to less familiar stations. But as service is set to return this week, officials have shed little light on the cause of the derailment that spurred the collision on Friday evening. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, has said it identified a fractured section of rail that is “of interest to investigators.” But it is unclear if the fracture was a cause of the derailment or a consequence of it. On Monday, the authority trumpeted its rail inspection procedures. A spokeswoman, Marjorie Anders, said that “every inch of railroad” is inspected visually twice a week. Twice a year, she added, a special rail car is dispatched that uses ultrasound and other technology to detect internal rail defects that are imperceptible to the naked eye. Another vehicle is also used to ensure that tracks are properly aligned. Though the authority called the crash the most significant on the railroad in more than 20 years, derailments are not uncommon. A preliminary report from the Federal Railroad Administration found that there were 1,261 derailments last year, including 20 in New York State.

Metro North
MTA
Commuting
Train wreck
Fairfield CT
Delays


Iraq War Logs Show Grim Portrait of Civilian Deaths – Iraq War Logs - Wikileaks Documents

Abstract: The reports in the archive disclosed by WikiLeaks offer an incomplete, yet startlingly graphic portrait of one of the most contentious issues in the Iraq war — how many Iraqi civilians have been killed and by whom. The reports make it clear that most civilians, by far, were killed by other Iraqis. Two of the worst days of the war came on Aug. 31, 2005, when a stampede on a bridge in Baghdad killed more than 950 people after several earlier attacks panicked a huge crowd, and on Aug. 14, 2007, when truck bombs killed more than 500 people in a rural area near the border with Syria. But it was systematic sectarian cleansing that drove the killing to its most frenzied point, making December 2006 the worst month of the war, according to the reports, with about 3,800 civilians killed, roughly equal to the past seven years of murders in New York City. A total of about 1,300 police officers, insurgents and coalition soldiers were also killed in that month. The documents also reveal many previously unreported instances in which American soldiers killed civilians — at checkpoints, from helicopters, in operations. Such killings are a central reason Iraqis turned against the American presence in their country, a situation that is now being repeated in Afghanistan. The archive contains reports on at least four cases of lethal shootings from helicopters. In the bloodiest, on July 16, 2007, as many as 26 Iraqis were killed, about half of them civilians. However, the tally was called in by two different people, and it is possible that the deaths were counted twice. Read the Document » In another case, in February 2007, an Apache helicopter shot and killed two Iraqi men believed to have been firing mortars, even though they made surrendering motions, because, according to a military lawyer cited in the report, “they cannot surrender to aircraft, and are still valid targets.” Read the Document » The shooting was unusual. In at least three other instances reported in the archive, Iraqis surrendered to helicopter crews without being shot. The Pentagon did not respond to questions from The Times about the rules of engagement for the helicopter strike. The pace of civilian deaths served as a kind of pulse, whose steady beat told of the success, or failure, of America’s war effort. Americans on both sides of the war debate argued bitterly over facts that grew hazier as the war deepened. The archive does not put that argument to rest by giving a precise count. As a 2008 report to Congress on the topic makes clear, the figures serve as “guideposts,’ not hard totals. But it does seem to suggest numbers that are roughly in line with those compiled by several sources, including Iraq Body Count , an organization that tracked civilian deaths using press reports, a method the Bush administration repeatedly derided as unreliable and producing inflated numbers. In all, the five-year archive lists more than 100,000 dead from 2004 to 2009, though some deaths are reported more than once, and some reports have inconsistent casualty figures. A 2008 Congressional report warned that record keeping in the war had been so problematic that such statistics should be looked at only as “guideposts.” In a statement on Friday, Iraq Body Count, which did a preliminary analysis of the archive, estimated that it listed 15,000 deaths that had not been previously disclosed anywhere. The archive tells thousands of individual stories of loss whose consequences are still being felt in Iraqi families today. Misunderstandings at checkpoints were often lethal. At one Marine checkpoint, sunlight glinting off a windshield of a car that did not slow down led to the shooting death of a mother and the wounding of three of her daughters and her husband. Hand signals flashed to stop vehicles were often not understood, and soldiers and Marines, who without interpreters were unable to speak to the survivors, were left to wonder why. Read the Document » According to one particularly painful entry from 2006, an Iraqi wearing a tracksuit was killed by an American sniper who later discovered that the victim was the platoon’s interpreter. Read the Document » The archive’s data is incomplete. The documents were compiled with an emphasis on speed rather than accuracy; the goal was to spread information as quickly as possible among units. American soldiers did not respond to every incident. And even when Americans were at the center of the action, as in the western city of Falluja in 2004, none of the Iraqis they killed were categorized as civilians. In the early years of the war, the Pentagon maintained that it did not track Iraqi civilian deaths, but it began releasing rough counts in 2005, after members of Congress demanded a more detailed accounting on the state of the war. In one instance in 2008, the Pentagon used reports similar to the newly released documents to tabulate the war dead. This month, The Associated Press reported that the Pentagon in July had quietly posted its fullest tally of the death toll of Iraqi civilians and security forces ever, numbers that were first requested in 2005 through the Freedom of Information Act. It was not clear why the total — 76,939 Iraqi civilians and members of the security forces killed between January 2004 and August 2008 — was significantly less than the sum of the archive’s death count. The archive does not have a category for the main causes of Iraqi deaths inflicted by Americans. Compared with the situation in Afghanistan, in Iraq aerial bombings seemed to be less frequently a cause of civilian deaths, after the initial invasion. The reports were only as good as the soldiers calling them in. One of the most infamous episodes of killings by American soldiers, the shootings of at least 15 Iraqi civilians, including women and children in the western city of Haditha, is misrepresented in the archives. The report stated that the civilians were killed by militants in a bomb attack, the same false version of the episode that was given to the news media. Civilians have borne the brunt of modern warfare, with 10 civilians dying for every soldier in wars fought since the mid-20th century, compared with 9 soldiers killed for every civilian in World War I, according to a 2001 study by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Classified Information and State Secrets


Joint Base Andrews Locked Down After Unfounded Gunman Report

Abstract: The word ricocheted around the world at internet speed Thursday morning: Joint Base Andrews, best known as home to Air Force One, was on lockdown because of reports of an active shooter. Security forces scrambled, cable news zeroed in, a flight by the vice president was put off, and Twitter users repeated thirdhand reports of a gunman holed up in a bathroom. It turned out to be a misunderstanding; there was no gunman. But for more than an hour, one of the most prominent military installations in the world, in the Maryland suburbs a few miles outside the nation’s capital, was paralyzed by a false alarm. The episode came on a day when Andrews had planned to hold a drill on how to respond to an active shooter — a coincidence that showed how primed institutions around the country are to react to terrorism. “ ‘See something, say something’ produces useful information in a flood of irrelevant information,” said Anthony C. Roman , who heads Roman & Associates, a security and investigations consulting firm. “A false alarm is part of the inherent downside,” but it is a price worth paying, he said. The episode at Andrews began about 9 a.m. with a report of a gunman in or near the Malcolm Grow Medical Clinic, near the western edge of the base. Base security personnel and the Prince George’s County police responded, the base was placed on lockdown, and people there were instructed to shelter in place. There were no reports of shots fired, either from base officials or from people at Andrews who posted to social media about the alert and lockdown. Then Andrews released a statement that the base had planned to hold a security drill on Thursday, simulating an active shooter emergency, leading to speculation that someone had mistaken the exercise for the real thing. Later, base officials discounted that idea, saying that the drill was to take place later, on the other side of the base, and in any case never got underway. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was scheduled to fly out of Andrews in the morning for a trip to Ohio, but he stayed at his residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington until officials at Andrews gave the all-clear signal, said Meghan Dubyak, a spokeswoman for the vice president. About 10:30 a.m., the base gave the all-clear signal, and the lockdown was lifted. Mr. Biden’s flight later left. “We take all threats seriously and reacted to ensure the security of those on the base,” Col. Brad Hoagland, the base commander, said in a statement. As for the initial, erroneous report of a gunman, a statement released by Andrews indicated that it was a case of mistaken identity. “There was a misidentification of the security forces emergency services team who were conducting a routine inspection of the medical facility, which caused the distress call to the base defense operations center,” it said.


Bloomberg and Others Begin Talks on a Nonpartisan Path

Abstract: NORMAN, Okla. — Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and a dozen current and former elected officials from both parties arrived in this college town Sunday evening with little fanfare but grand ambitions. Over a Sunday dinner, Mr. Bloomberg and other participants in the conference were to begin discussing ways to end “partisan polarization” in Washington, according to the invitation sent last month. The conference was organized by two former Democratic senators, David L. Boren of Oklahoma , now president of the University of Oklahoma here, and Sam Nunn of Georgia. Last month, the former senators suggested that they would consider urging Mr. Bloomberg to mount an independent presidential campaign if the major-party nominees do not formally embrace bipartisanship to address the nation’s problems. “Today, we are a house divided,” the two men explained in their invitation. “We believe that the next president must be able to call for a unity of effort by choosing the best talent available — without regard to political party — to help lead the nation.” Mr. Bloomberg and his aides have toyed for months with the idea of such a campaign, though officially he says he plans to complete his second term as New York City’s mayor, which ends next year. He is a repeat guest of Mr. Boren’s, having delivered the commencement address at the university last year. Other participants in the conference include Christie Whitman, a Republican and the former governor of New Jersey; Senator Chuck Hagel, the Republican senator from Nebraska; and the former senators Charles S. Robb of Virginia and Gary Hart of Colorado. The private meetings on Sunday will be followed by a private breakfast on Monday and a public panel discussion, after which the participants may issue a brief statement of shared principles. Arriving for dinner at Mr. Boren’s residence, Mr. Bloomberg brought gifts: three cheesecakes — one plain, one chocolate swirl, one raspberry swirl — from Junior’s, the famed Brooklyn outpost of pickles, pastrami and pastries. Mr. Boren asked the mayor, who has taken a variety of actions to encourage a more healthy lifestyle among city residents, if there were any trans fats in the cheesecakes. Mr. Bloomberg responded: “No trans fats whatsoever.”

Bloomberg Michael R
Third-Party Moves (US)
Oklahoma


Golfweek Fires Editor Over Noose Cover

Abstract: The parent company of Golfweek magazine on Friday fired the editor who approved this week’s cover image of a noose for an article about the Golf Channel host Kelly Tilghman’s use of the word “lynch” to describe how young players could challenge Tiger Woods . “We apologize for creating this graphic cover that received extreme negative reaction from consumers, subscribers and advertisers around the country,” William P. Kupper Jr., president of Turnstile Publishing, Golfweek’s owner, said in a statement. Dave Seanor, the fired editor, who on Thursday defended the cover choice as one that was not intended to be “racially provocative,” was subdued Friday. “Sitting in the editor’s chair in this day and age is sort of like walking a tightrope,” he said in a telephone interview. “I lost my balance and slipped off.” He and his successor, Jeff Babineau, said one alternative to using the noose on the cover was to illustrate an article about the 20-year-old Australian golfer Jason Day. “That was our original cover,” Babineau said from Orlando, Fla., but Tilghman was “the news of the day” and the noose replaced Day on the cover. There was in-house debate about using the noose. “We had a dialogue about it,” said Babineau, a veteran Golfweek editor and writer, “and we knew that if people saw the word lynch as offensive, they could also the view the noose as offensive. We were trying to illustrate a story. It was Dave’s call, but he did it with the dialogue with the staff. In the end we went with the cover we regret.” He added: “We also talked about putting Kelly Tilghman’s face on the cover, with strong verbiage; we weren’t linking the symbol to racial overtones. It was an attempt, and a poor one, to link it to the situation the Golf Channel is in.” The cover line read: “Caught in a Noose: Tilghman slips up, and Golf Channel can’t wriggle free.” Scott Hamilton, who wrote the cover story on Tilghman, said Thursday on ESPN that the internal debate “was very, very vigorous.” “It was very deliberate as well, and it was a painstaking process for our editorial staff to go with this image,” he said. Babineau said no one above Seanor at Turnstile saw the cover before its publication. Tilghman will return from an unpaid two-week suspension in time to host the Golf Channel’s Buick Invitational coverage Thursday. There are no African-Americans on Golfweek’s staff, Babineau said, but two African-Americans who work elsewhere for Turnstile saw mock-ups of the cover. Babineau said he did not know their reactions. “Diversity is always a conversation here,” he said. “It is across the board in golf.” He added: “Race is a tough discussion in this game. It raises sensitivities.” Babineau said he had not heard of any advertisers threatening to pull out because of the cover. “I’ve spent the day talking to advertisers, telling them we want to get things right,” he said. “I didn’t experience any strong anger. We have a publication with a 30-year body of work we’re proud of and we hope we’re not judged by one day. Advertisers here for a long time know that; we’re respected within the golf community.” Tim Finchem, the PGA Tour commissioner, who earlier in the week called the imagery “outrageous and irresponsible,” said Friday in a statement that his pique at Golfweek “was not a call to action,” a reference he did not elaborate on. He said the Tour “views Golfweek’s decision around its editorial leadership to be purely an internal Golfweek matter.” D. J. Trahan, who is tied for second after three rounds at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, said that Woods’s forgiving reaction to Tilghman’s comment — his agent called it a “nonissue” — should have settled the situation. “For Golfweek to do something drastic like that, and put that on the cover, it’s ridiculous,” he said.

Tilghman Kelly
Golf
Woods Tiger
Seanor Dave
Golfweek Magazine
Golf Channel


Buck Gives Mets Pitchers a Mentor Behind the Plate

Abstract: PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Catcher John Buck meant no offense, but his sense of plain-spoken realism had developed over nearly a decade as a major leaguer. And so, while acknowledging that his performance last season for the Miami Marlins was one of his worst as a professional, he added that his worst would still be an improvement for his new team, the Mets. “It was a bad year for me,” said Buck, who batted 49 points below his career average . “But I feel like that was still better than what they had last year. It’s not a knock on the other guys. But the way I’m trying to approach it is, if I just go be me, that’s enough.” Few teams received less offensive production from their catchers than the Mets did last year. As a group, Mets catchers batted .219, which was tied for 22nd in the major leagues. Their on-base plus slugging percentage (.567) and home run total (5) were the lowest among the 30 teams, and they were next to last in runs batted in (48). None of the Mets’ catchers from last year have returned. The team hopes Buck, 32, can lead a move toward productivity. His arrival here capped a hectic personal period. He batted .192 last season for the Marlins with 12 home runs, then was traded in November to the Toronto Blue Jays, for whom he produced his best pro season in 2010. Less than a month later, he was traded to the Mets as part of the package for R. A. Dickey. But Buck found a silver lining for his struggles at the plate last year. Although he has always been known for his hitting, he considers himself a catcher first; during his slump, he realized his teammates did, too. “Up until last year, it was always that I was hitting homers and batting .240 or .250, so nobody would question me playing,” Buck said. “Last year, when I hit what I hit, that put it to the test. But guys wanted to throw to me, and they wanted me to play. They didn’t care what I was hitting.” Image John Buck enters the season as the Mets’ No. 1 catcher. He batted .192 last season for the Marlins, with 12 homers. Credit Jeff Roberson/Associated Press The Mets pitchers have begun to grasp how much more Buck will provide beyond his bat. “He’s so locked in behind the plate, and that spills over to the pitchers,” the right-hander Dillon Gee said. “You can tell he’s been around a long time, and you don’t second-guess him.” Buck was drafted out of high school and made his debut for the Kansas City Royals during the 2004 season. Gee said Buck’s years of experience afforded him a toolbox of tricks to aid pitchers. He recounted one game in which he kept missing with his fastball up and away. Buck called for a series of sliders to coax his release point back to the appropriate spot, and Gee’s fastball began hitting its mark. Buck then explained to Gee what he had done. Like Gee, more pitchers are coming to understand that Buck’s easygoing demeanor belies a mind and eyes that are continually searching for details. Reliever Greg Burke said he developed an immediate appreciation for Buck during their only instance working together in this camp. After the third out of an inning, Buck provided immediate feedback about his observations. Among other things, he had noticed that a base runner was timing Burke’s delivery, which led to a stolen base. That was a simple act, but one Burke said was less common than people might think. Spring training games are known to be a carousel of pitchers and catchers trying to get their work done. Burke appreciated that Buck had taken the time to stop what he was doing to offer tips, and he has since noticed that Buck has done the same for other pitchers, too. “If he sees something, whether you want to hear it or not, he’s going to tell you,” said reliever Brandon Lyon, who has known Buck since they were about 9. Buck seemed as excited about working with young Mets pitchers like Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler as he did about trading notes with veteran players like LaTroy Hawkins. And he has embraced the chance to provide a solid example for Travis d’Arnaud, whom the Mets also acquired in the Dickey deal. The team hopes d’Arnaud, who will start the year at Class AAA, will supplant Buck as the starting catcher sometime this season. After his struggles last year, Buck has come to realize that he can influence the outcome of a game in various ways beyond producing with his bat. “Hitting is icing,” he said. “Now, the icing might be a little thicker and better if you can hit the ball out of the park.”


No Pockets, No Problem

Abstract: Space Billiards is a pool hall of the sort that feels nocturnal on even a bright day. But it is not a dour place, and it isn’t filled with unsavory hustlers. In its slightly manic, neon-noir way, it exudes a quirky sense of cheer. Simple strobe lights jitter across walls. A seemingly endless string of dance hits plays. The wall behind the red couch is covered with small mirrors. At some tables you’ll find cheap American beer; at other tables, bottles of OB Lager and soju, the beer and liquor of South Korea. Most tables are the standard six-pocket variety, but those without holes are for four-ball billiards, a preferred game in South Korea, in which balls are hit against one another, rather than into pockets, to score points. The hall is on the 12th floor of a tattered building that appears to gasp for air, crammed as it is on the hyper single-block strip of Manhattan’s Koreatown, where businesses have developed vertically, and you can now find on upper floors an Internet cafe, a museum and a church. For years after its opening in 2006, Space Billiards, at 34 West 32nd Street, was open 24 hours, like many of the other businesses on the block, but since last summer, it has been closing at 5 a.m. Patrons tend to be Koreatown regulars, businessmen and students, who do not need the hard-to-notice sign outside the building’s entrance to know where to go. Regulars explain that South Korea’s adoration for pool can verge on fanatical. “In Korea you will naturally come across two things: a pool table or karaoke,” said Ray Ryoo, 18. (Space Billiards offers both.) “When I came to the States I just knew there had to be a place like this,” he said. But he emphasized differences. “We don’t ever play music,” he said. “And a liquor bar? You’d never think about it. Players need to concentrate.” This nationalistic urge to hit billiard balls against one another with a wooden cue was a guiding reason the pool hall’s owner, Dae Un Kim, opened it. He says he works every day and has not taken a vacation in years. “When I first arrived, I was surprised there was no billiards hall in Koreatown,” he said. “In Korea they have billiards on every block.” One recent night, Greg Haas, 57, sank shots at a table alone. He became a regular after more traditional venues, like SoHo Billiards, started closing. “So many real pool halls are closing like flies,” he said. “I like it here, but I could do without all the disco lights,” Mr. Haas added. “They distract me. But that could be a good thing for my game.” A few nights later, a group of young men who entered as four-ball novices had gotten the hang of the game, taught by a Korean friend. At first, the game baffled them. No pockets! Only four balls! But they picked it up quickly. “Nobody else is playing this except us,” said Damir Siljkovic, 22, before he struck a ball. “It’s too advanced for everyone.” Joe Lee, the Korean friend, was on the opposing team. “In Korea that is played by little children for practice,” he said of regular pool. “When they get older, they prefer this. It requires more thinking.” The match grew intense. Shots were missed, expletives thrown. To Mr. Lee’s surprise, his two friends beat his team, by just one point. He shrugged it off. “Beginner’s luck,” he said.

Manhattan
Billiards
Space Billiards
Korean American
Midtown Area Manhattan


David Berley, a Lifelong Passion for Real Estate

Abstract: David Berley, 69, is chairman of Walter & Samuels Inc., a real estate firm he has been with for 40 years. He specializes in converting commercial space to residential, having completed about 30 such projects in the past 30 years. First business card: David Berley of Berley & Company to me sounded very prestigious. I syndicated my first building when I was 24 years old, when we built lofts at 500 Eighth Avenue. I got a $5,000 commission. In the last two years, we purchased around $1 billion worth of real estate. Until this recent bailout, that seemed like a decent number. Residence: I have a house in Bedford, N.Y., that’s my legal address. I’ve always lived in New York City , in buildings I’ve converted, to prove that converters are not evil. What drew him to buying 80-88 West End Avenue: They made Sherman tanks there. It had very strong floors. I’ll be honest with you — I saw Lincoln Center and all that going on, the Trump buildings and the water and the view. This building is a gem. It’s like buying the cheapest house on the block in Scarsdale. Shoes du jour: Ostrich-skin penny loafers. The one that got away: 500 Eighth Avenue. I bought that in 1964. The State of New York had the top six floors. I was very proud, until when they decided to build the twin towers, and the state told the Department of Labor they had to move there. I lost the building. How he got it back: The building was owned by a client of General Electric, and they were in default on the loan. They called me in to see if I would be partners again. Wow, it was a dream come true. For 30 years I was upset that I lost that building. Today I run it again. Even more stressful than that: As a 65-year-old, when I was faced with getting my son into a preschool. I never had more pressure on me. When I had to take my 3- or 4-year-old son to be tested, I almost cried. Number of buildings he has ownership in: 50 His favorite: The Leonori is one of my favorites aesthetically. It reeks of Art Deco. Number of antique cars he owns: 130. It’s kept me out of the stock market; that’s all I can say. Favorite: 1951 Chrysler Imperial; it has 12,000 miles on it, and the radio works. Plans: Seeing my 6-year-old graduate from college. When he decided on a career: I knew when I was 6 and my father worked on Saturdays and would take me in from Brooklyn on the train to 11 East 36th Street. The elevator was not automated, and the man on the elevator — since I was the manager’s son, I’d be “running the elevator” with his hand over mine. At show and tell, all the kids wanted to be in the Fire Department or Police Department. I wanted to be in real estate.


Many Ask, Why Not Call Church Shooting Terrorism?

Abstract: The massacre of nine African-Americans in Charleston has been classified as a possible hate crime, apparently carried out by a 21-year-old white man who once wore an apartheid badge and other symbols of white supremacy. But many civil rights advocates are asking why the attack has not officially been called terrorism. Against the backdrop of rising worries about violent Muslim extremism in the United States, advocates see hypocrisy in the way the attack and the man under arrest in the shooting have been described by law enforcement officials and the news media. Assaults like the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and the attack on an anti-Islamic gathering in Garland, Tex., last month have been widely portrayed as acts of terrorism carried out by Islamic extremists. Critics say, however, that assaults against African-Americans and Muslim Americans are rarely if ever called terrorism. Moreover, they argue, assailants who are white are far less likely to be described by the authorities as terrorists. “We have been conditioned to accept that if the violence is committed by a Muslim, then it is terrorism,” Nihad Awad , executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights advocacy group in Washington, said Thursday in a telephone interview. Image A scene from a vigil at Morris Brown African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., for the victims. Credit Travis Dove for The New York Times “If the same violence is committed by a white supremacist or apartheid sympathizer and is not a Muslim, we start to look for excuses — he might be insane, maybe he was pushed too hard,” Mr. Awad said. Dean Obeidallah, a Muslim American radio show host and commentator, said it should be obvious that the Charleston killer was a terrorist. “We have a man who intentionally went to a black church, had animus toward black people and assassinated an elected official and eight other people,” he said. “It seems he was motivated by a desire to terrorize and kill black people.” While Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and South Carolina officials said the shooting on Wednesday night was under investigation as a hate crime, much of the reaction on social media Thursday was caustic, with commentators saying they saw a double standard in such terminology. “A white supremacist massacres 9 black people in Charleston. It is a hate crime, it is terrorism, it is America 2015,” Remi Kanazi, a Palestinian -American activist and poet, said on Twitter . Samuel Sinyangwe, a civil rights activist who has helped chronicle violence against African-Americans, wrote on Twitter: “#CharlestonShooting terrorist wore an Apartheid flag on his jacket. If a Muslim man wore an ISIS flag, he wouldn’t get past mall security.” Video Greg Mullen, the police chief of Charleston, S.C., says that a shooting on Wednesday at a historic African-American church that left nine dead was “unfathomable.” Credit Credit David Goldman/Associated Press The definition of terrorism is a shifting and contentious subject, usually with political overtones. The antagonists in the Syrian war and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for example, routinely accuse each other of terrorism. Militant organizations such as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, which consider themselves liberators, are officially regarded by the United Nations, among others, as terrorist groups. Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines terrorism as “the use of force or threats to demoralize, intimidate and subjugate, especially such use as a political weapon or policy.” Civil rights advocates said the Charleston attack not only fit the dictionary definition of terrorism but reflected a history of attempts by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups to terrorize African-Americans. “The first antiterrorism law in U.S. history was the Klan Control Act, so really, this has been the definition of terrorism,” William Jelani Cobb, a writer and director of the Africana Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut, said in a Twitter post. Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, a venerable civil rights group, said the Charleston massacre looked like terrorism to him. “While the terrorist label is often applied to attacks, plots and conspiracies carried out on behalf of designated terrorist organizations such as ISIS and Al Qaeda, politically motivated violence is not the sole domain of supporters of designated terrorist groups,” Mr. Foxman said in a statement.

Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church


Missile Defense Interceptor Misses Target in Test

Abstract: WASHINGTON — A test launching of an advanced missile-defense interceptor failed to hit its target high over the Pacific Ocean, the Pentagon said on Friday, four months after the Obama administration announced that it would spend $1 billion to increase the number of interceptors along the West Coast in response to verbal threats from North Korea. A brief Defense Department statement issued Friday said a long-range ballistic missile target had been launched from an Army test range in the Marshall Islands, and that an interceptor had been launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to destroy it. “An intercept was not achieved,” the statement said. “Program officials will conduct an extensive review to determine the cause or causes of any anomalies which may have prevented a successful intercept.” Some skeptics of the missile-defense program saw the failure as additional evidence that the technology was unreliable and might not be worth the expense. Philip E. Coyle III, who once ran the Pentagon’s weapons-testing program and is with the Center for Arms Control, said in a statement that the system “is something the U.S. military, and the American people, cannot depend upon.” Mr. Coyle said there had been no successful tests of the ground-based, midcourse missile-defense system, like the one launched Friday, in five years. Pentagon officials acknowledge that the interceptors had a mixed record, hitting dummy targets just 50 percent of the time. In March, as tensions mounted on the Korean Peninsula, the administration announced that it would increase ground-based interceptors in California and Alaska to 44 from 30 by 2017. All 14 of the new interceptors are to be placed in silos at Fort Greely, Alaska, where there are already 26 interceptors. Four others are at Vandenberg. The increase in interceptors was intended not merely to present a credible deterrent to North Korea’s limited intercontinental ballistic missile arsenal, but also to show South Korea and Japan that the United States was willing to commit resources to deterring the North. At the same time, American officials warned China that it must restrain its ally or face an expanding American military focus on Asia.

US Military
Missiles and Missile Defense
Pentagon
North Korea
US Foreign Policy


Meredith Whitney’s Muni Bond Prediction Draws Scrutiny

Abstract: If one stock-picker emerged intact from the wreckage of the financial crisis, it was Meredith Whitney. With a prescient warning about bank stocks in 2007 — as well as a gift for the perfect sound bite — she became a media darling, celebrated in a Fortune cover article and in frequent television appearances as a market seer. Until now, that is. These days, Ms. Whitney, 41, finds herself pilloried in the news media and by colleagues for predicting a calamity in municipal bonds . Critics say the call is overstated, but it has alarmed investors in that usually sleepy market. Ms. Whitney is also drawing scrutiny from Washington, where a Congressional panel will meet on Wednesday to examine the turmoil in the muni bond market, including whether Ms. Whitney’s call has fed the volatility and allowed some investors to profit unfairly. Citing scheduling conflicts, Ms. Whitney has declined an invitation to appear before the panel of the House Oversight and Government Reform. But the subcommittee’s chairman, Representative Patrick T. McHenry, Republican of North Carolina, said that would not dissuade him from investigating her record. “This isn’t a gotcha thing, but she’s going to be part of the hearing, whether or not she participates,” he said. “If she doesn’t want to come forward in a venue like this, that makes a statement.” Ms. Whitney has not been shy about making statements in the past, whether it was delivering bold predictions about unemployment or dressing up as Paris Hilton for her firm’s Halloween party. But her scathing report on deteriorating state finances in September, followed by an appearance on “60 Minutes” in December, has been catnip to her critics. “There’s not a doubt in my mind that you will see a spate of municipal bond defaults,” she said in the “60 Minutes” interview. “You could see 50 sizable defaults, 50 to 100 sizable defaults, more. This will amount to hundreds of billions of dollars worth of defaults.” Normally, Wall Street analysts are loath to criticize one another, at least on the record. But since then, even fellow analysts are calling her out for stepping beyond what she knows, bank stocks, into less familiar territory. Others, especially municipal bond market players, have gone on the warpath. “I’ve seen a copy of the report, and frankly, I’ve seen better papers from graduate students in finance,” said Richard P. Larkin, director of credit analysis at Herbert J. Sims & Company, a municipal bond broker and underwriter. “It’s ludicrous, reckless and irresponsible, and it’s being done without any regard for the consequences.” Investors were pulling money out of municipal bond funds even before Ms. Whitney’s appearance on Dec. 19, but in the weeks since, the pace of withdrawals has accelerated, with more than $14 billion coming out between Dec. 22 and Feb. 2. Ms. Whitney declined to comment for this article. But a number of academics and others who have studied pension, health care and other obligations of states and municipalities say bigger problems loom than just short-term budget deficits that stem from the recession. They see structural problems that may require decisive, painful action in the most indebted places. But it is Ms. Whitney’s contention that hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of defaults could come to pass that has aroused a firestorm. “Meredith’s analysis highlighted problems in the muni market that have been known for years,” said Josh Rosner, a structured finance analyst at Graham Fisher & Company. Still, she has gone too far in his view. “She drove a rush to the exits,” he said, “which wasn’t about the fundamentals, but about a momentum trade.” To be sure, few market oracles have been able to repeat the brilliance of their first call. A timely warning shortly before the crash of 1987 made Elaine Garzarelli into a guru, but her star faded after she left her Wall Street perch and started her own firm in 1995. The technology bull Henry Blodget became famous when the tech bubble inflated and infamous after it burst. Indeed, some fund managers say Ms. Whitney’s recent stock picks have not been money-makers. “She missed the huge recovery in financial stocks after correctly calling the downturn,” said Michael Scanlon, senior investment analyst at John Hancock Asset Management. “The history of Wall Street is littered with people who got one big call right.” Ms. Whitney’s latest call has left observers like him puzzled: “She has no experience in the municipal bond market, so she’s got an uphill battle to establish credibility with the experts.” Plenty of critics howled when she warned of the coming flood in 2007 and told clients to stay away from stocks like Citigroup. This time, people are listening again, but the critics are also going further, questioning her timing — and motivation. That is because even as she roils the muni bond market, Ms. Whitney is trying to expand her firm, the Meredith Whitney Advisory Group, and get into the business of rating municipal debt. “I think it was self-interest to go on prime time to pump up her future business,” said Matthew McCall, president of the Penn Financial Group, an investment advisory firm that holds muni bonds. “We know municipalities are in trouble. To say they will go belly up is uncalled for. She did this purely to market her firm.” Ms. Whitney has refused to release her September report or provide it to Congressional staff. Copies have leaked out, however, and as Bloomberg News and Charles Gasparino of Fox Business Network have pointed out, the tone of the report is much more measured than Ms. Whitney herself was in the “60 Minutes” appearance. Not that Ms. Whitney was shy about drawing comparisons between financial problems in the states and the financial collapse that made her famous. “We believe the financial challenges facing states could be the next systemic risk within the U.S. financial markets,” she wrote in the report, a copy of which was provided to The New York Times. Ms. Whitney also draws comparisons between the risk-taking on Wall Street and the budget practices at many state governments. In fact, there are important differences between the problems facing states and municipal governments, bad as they may be, and those the banks encountered during the financial crisis. For starters, states have the power to raise taxes — something private companies with a shortfall cannot do, Mr. Rosner of Graham Fisher said. They can also try to force concessions from their workers in terms of reduced pay and benefits, in some cases. Even if municipal issuers run into distress, a financial control board can shield bondholders from a default, as happened recently in Nassau County. These boards usually create a so-called intercept, or a structure that can grab new tax dollars as they come in, before they can go into the locality’s general fund. The money goes into a special fund to pay the bondholders their interest and principal, a system that prevents elected officials from spending it on other things. In cases where financial control boards cannot prevent a default, the bondholders may not notice because the bonds are insured. When Vallejo, Calif., went into Chapter 9 bankruptcy a few years ago, for instance, the bondholders continued to be paid, at least at first, by an insurance company. Ms. Whitney’s defenders say she is doing what she has always done — provoking investors into asking uncomfortable questions. “Like you or hate you, if you force investors to think, then you’ve done your job as an analyst,” said Richard X. Bove, a banking analyst at Rochdale Securities. “She’s separated herself from the pack and made herself distinctive and unique.”

Whitney Meredith A
Government Bonds
Stocks and Bonds
Banking and Financial Institutions


Jury Begins Deliberating Moussaoui's Fate

Abstract: ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 24 — The jury in the Zacarias Moussaoui sentencing trial began deliberating his fate on Monday afternoon after hearing prosecutors demand that he be put to death for contributing to the vast suffering on Sept. 11, 2001. "There is no place on this earth for Zacarias Moussaoui," David Raskin, a federal prosecutor, told the jurors, saying they should order his execution to "put an end to his hatred and venom." A court-appointed defense lawyer then urged the jury of nine men and three women to spare Mr. Moussaoui's life, saying that would deny him the martyrdom he craved. Gerald T. Zerkin, a federal public defender, told the jurors that they would have to "show some courage" to sentence Mr. Moussaoui to life in prison, but that they should do so because the trial "is more about us than it is about him." Mr. Moussaoui sat silently at the side of the courtroom as each side made its final arguments, sometimes making faces and grinning broadly. When the prosecutor pointed to him and said he would like to avoid the death penalty in order to kill more Americans, he nodded in agreement. Mr. Moussaoui has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks, and the jury ruled in the first phase of the trial that he was eligible for the death penalty. Mr. Moussaoui was in jail at the time of the attacks, but the jury unanimously agreed with prosecutors that he was responsible for some of the deaths because he willfully concealed his knowledge of Al Qaeda's plans to fly planes into buildings, allowing the plot to go forward. Now the jurors are to weigh a complicated series of factors to calculate the impact and heinousness of the crime against any mitigating factors like Mr. Moussaoui's mental instability. To decide between execution or life in prison, the jurors will navigate a 42-page verdict form. The form resembles a flow chart in which the jurors must reach unanimous agreement on certain questions — like whether Mr. Moussaoui meant to cause "a grave risk of death to more than one person" — before moving on. Prosecutors have listed 26 additional aggravating factors to be considered beyond the three listed in the federal death penalty statute. Those factors largely describe the deaths and destruction at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. To balance those, the defense presented 23 mitigating factors. They include an assertion that Mr. Moussaoui's "unstable early childhood and dysfunctional family resulted in being placed in orphanages" in France and that he was subject to racism in France because of his Muslim background. Judge Leonie M. Brinkema, who spent nearly an hour trying to explain the form to jurors, told them that she was required to impose the death sentence if they recommended it. If they are not unanimous, Judge Brinkema will sentence Mr. Moussaoui to life in prison without the possibility of release. Mr. Raskin, the prosecutor, reminded the jurors of the emotional testimony over the last two weeks by people who barely survived and by relatives of many who were killed. "The defendant loved every minute of it," Mr. Raskin said, recalling Mr. Moussaoui's telling the jury that he was sorry only that more people were not killed. The government's case was accompanied by photographs of people who died that day and of the many children who lost a parent. In one picture, the jury was shown a charred and bloody body still lying in the destruction of the Pentagon while another showed a bloody torso that fell from one of the World Trade Center towers onto West Street in New York City. In arguing for the death penalty, Mr. Raskin recalled a recording that the jury heard of Melissa Doi speaking to an emergency operator from one of the World Trade Center towers. "You heard her say, 'I'm very hot, I'm going to die, I'm burning up,' " Mr. Raskin said. He also showed video of people jumping from the towers and asked the jurors to consider their agony in deciding whether to die that way or by remaining in the burning building. Mr. Zerkin told the jurors to resist the temptation to make Mr. Moussaoui a martyr. "He's baiting you into it," he told the jury. "He came to America to die, and you are his last chance." Mr. Zerkin argued that sentencing Mr. Moussaoui to life in prison would not be merciful but would subject him to "the long, slow death of a common criminal." He said the government was trying to make "a sacrificial lamb" of Mr. Moussaoui, a 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan heritage who is the only person to be tried in an American courtroom in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks. Mr. Zerkin said that while the government was seeking Mr. Moussaoui's execution, it was not bringing to justice a handful of senior members of Al Qaeda in United States custody whose participation in planning the attacks is not in doubt. He noted that some of those people, like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, regarded as the chief planner of Sept. 11, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, one of the plot's financiers, have even given statements in the Moussaoui trial from where they are being held overseas in the Central Intelligence Agency's secret prison system. In his remarks, Mr. Raskin, the prosecutor, told the jury not to be diverted by that argument and said people like Mr. Mohammed were being kept in custody to obtain information from them.