Things to Keep an Eye On
Events in Rome, Fuyao staffing forfeiture claim, Walgreens settles opiates case, Sen. Durbin to retire, European governments speak out on Gaza aid
The pope’s death and upcoming conclave
Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, with one last Pascha in the books. The conclave will begin the week after this coming one. It will be very important, as any conclave is. Predicting the outcome is a good way to make a fool of yourself, and there are more factors of uncertainty in this one than in the past. The College of Cardinals is unusually large at the moment, and a number of cardinals were within a few months of no longer being eligible to vote in a conclave.
One thing I’ve been thinking about amid all the ceremony is that the conventional thinking for popes is the same as it is for kings, that it’s good for them to reign as long as possible. The more continuity you can get, the better. In this day and age I wonder if that’s still the case. On the one hand, the Vatican’s government is almost entirely vacated upon the death of a pope, so there is minimal continuity of government, but on the other hand, the acts associated with selecting a new one are themselves so momentous that it may be good for the Church for them to happen more often. This would militate in favor of an older cardinal.
Both the Carlo Acutis canonization and the new statutes governing Opus Dei have been put on hold for the moment.
There were more scandals in Francis’s pontificate than most in the media tend to mention, as was the case for John Paul II. But the outpouring of affection for the man across the entire world is very hard to deny.
The underrated contender for the next pope is probably Cardinal Zuppi, a choice that would mean, ‘like Francis, but less chaos.’ He has strong diplomatic experience and is the head of the Italian bishops’ conference, and we haven’t had an Italian pope since 1978. He is seen as a liberal but not hostile to the Extraordinary Form.
Illegal staffing forfeiture claim filed at Fuyao Glass factory
This was the factory Obama profiled for Netflix:
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) announced today that the United States filed a civil forfeiture complaint against assets related to an investigation into a potential $126 million illegal staffing and money laundering operation.
In July 2024, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents, in collaboration with IRS Criminal Investigations and other law enforcement agencies, executed federal search warrants at Fuyao Glass America (“FGA”) in Moraine, Ohio, and 27 other locations in the Dayton area.
The civil complaint alleges that multiple suspects created roughly 40 entities (the “target entities”) that facilitate the harboring, transportation and employment of illegal aliens at various factories. The suspects used these target entities to augment the workforces of several factories with individuals who illegally entered the United States, who are unlawfully present in the United States and/or who are working without required employment authorizations. One of these factories is FGA in Moraine.
Walgreens settles false opiates claim case
The Justice Department, together with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), today announced a $300 million settlement with Walgreens Boots Alliance, Walgreen Co., and various subsidiaries (collectively, Walgreens) to resolve allegations that the national chain pharmacy illegally filled millions of invalid prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances in violation of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and then sought payment for many of those invalid prescriptions by Medicare and other federal health care programs in violation of the False Claims Act (FCA). The settlement amount is based on Walgreens’s ability to pay. Walgreens will owe the United States an additional $50 million if the company is sold, merged, or transferred prior to fiscal year 2032.
Sen. Durbin to retire
It’s not clear to me that there’s really a future for the Democratic Party. They’ve taken too many shortcuts, and relied upon the ability to buffalo their opponents for so long, that when they lose an election as badly as they did in November, it’s catastrophic. Their main argument against their opponents in the Trump era was that they are undemocratic and fascistic, which doesn’t work so well when they soundly lose an election after doing nothing about an ethnic cleansing. Moreover, if there’s serious immigration enforcement, or the issue of congressional apportionment in view of the tally of illegal immigrants, that could pose serious problems for their ability to gain a majority.
Sen. Durbin is one of the last of the machine Democrats, who knows what comes after him:
Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin will not seek a sixth term next year, confirming to WBEZ in an Illinois exclusive that he will leave office in 2027 in a long-awaited move certain to set off a massive, intraparty succession fight.
European governments speak out against denial of food aid to Gaza
Mike Huckabee admitted this week that Israel was using starvation as a method of war in Gaza, which is a war crime. He’s not very deft because he’s a po-faced evangelical. The French and German governments both put out statements this week condemning the denial of humanitarian aid.
Leader of The Base is alleged to be a Russian spy
This looks like confirmation of some of Jason Wilson’s best reporting in the last few years:
Alleged former members of an international neo-Nazi terrorist organization are claiming its Russia-based and American leader is a Kremlin spy, according to online records reviewed by the Guardian.
The allegation that Rinaldo Nazzaro, a former Pentagon contractor and founder of the Base, listed as a designated terrorist organization all over the world, is an alleged Russian intelligence asset could bring new meaning to his group’s latest effort: sabotage and assassination missions inside Ukraine to weaken the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Tesla explodes into flames after hitting a tree in Northern Virginia
Cars aren’t supposed to do this:
A couple from Falls Church, Virginia, died after their car went off the road, crashed into a tree and caught fire on Sunday, police say.
Ashraf Bhagat, 75, died at the scene of the crash on Lakeview Drive in Lake Barcroft about 6:30 p.m., Fairfax County police said in a release on Monday.
New York private equity executive charged with lurid sexual abuse
A major story:
A wealthy New York City private equity executive raped and tortured at least six women over a five-month period and prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney's office said Thursday they fear those women are only the "tip of the iceberg."
Ryan Hemphill was charged in a 116-count indictment with multiple counts of predatory sexual assault, rape and other offenses that accused him of subjecting women to a "multi-hour ordeal of grotesque physical and sexual violence," including electric torture with shock collars and cattle prods, psychological torture and forcing women to ingest various controlled substances.
Judge denies Idaho shooting defendants’ claim of autism spectrum disorder in mitigation of death penalty
This is probably the right decision, autism spectrum disorder is a vague diagnosis:
The trial for the man accused of killing four Idaho college students in their beds will continue as a death penalty case, despite the fact that suspect Bryan Kohberger was recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, an Idaho judge ruled late Thursday.