​A wide range of character types populated the White Nationalist movement, from the crudely exploitive Alex Jones to the sideshow barker Donald Trump to the aging David Duke. However, there is an up-and-comer in that group, Augustus Invictus, and he is slowly building a resume, a following, and could become a transformational figure in future racist and nativist politics.  Invictus aims to make a change not just in America but also for the white race worldwide.  

Writing a clickbait article presenting allegations of Invictus’s alleged paganism, sacrificing goats, drinking their blood, and carnival-of-horrors personal life might be entertaining, but there is a more nuanced and fundamental truth.  Invictus is brilliant, unorthodox, determined, radical, obsessive, and has quickly accumulated a resume and a considerable body of written work. In addition, Invictus is articulate, able to skate around the periphery of legal in his public persona, and is both articulate and cunning.
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Augustus Invictus is a formative figure in the alt-right movement, a white nationalist, and a would-be politician (he unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 2016), as well as an attorney.  Invictus was a minor figure in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Invictus changed his legal name from his birth name, Austin Mitchell Gillespie, in 2006.

The rally resulted, among other things, in a civil suit filed in the United States federal court known as Sines v. Kessler.  Nine survivors of murder using an automobile claim that the event organizers planned for violence and named Augustus Invictus one of those organizers. The court entered a default judgment against Invictus and several other defendants, as Invictus wisely ducked the enormous legal fees of credibly defending a case in federal court.  That case is currently in court.
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Invictus obtained an undergraduate degree in philosophy from South Florida University and then graduated from DePaul University College of Law in 2011 and passed the bar exam in 2012.  Invictus maintains licenses to practice law in Florida and New York, the Federal Middle District of Florida, and the United States Supreme Court.  The Invictus Law Firm, P.A., professes to perform criminal defense, post-conviction, and constitutional law and offices in Orlando, Florida.  The Florida Bar shows no disciplinary action against Invictus.

Invictus claims to coordinate a group of attorneys around the United States who attend to the rights of white nationalists, particularly as that relates to harassment by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.  He represented Marcus Faella, convicted of two counts of teaching and conducting paramilitary training in Central Florida's most significant domestic-terrorism case. 

Early in his career, Invictus self-published three books under the pen name Franco Apophis Saint-Fond.  He also wrote several others under his legal name, including one titled From Sun and God's Keep: The LSD Journals of Augustus Sol Invictus, and a set that was essentially a campaign biography for his movement called Set the World on Fire.  Invictus also published a blog for a short time, although his interest quickly waned.
 
Invictus’s primary means of outreach is his podcast ‘Crime & Punishment’ found on YouTube, with six thousand subscribers.  In this podcast, Invictus provides commentary on legal matters, all related to right-wing white nationalist and Trump-conservative grievance, but skirting invective that might cause his elimination from the forum.  

Invictus publishes a website called The Revolutionary Conservative that’s primary design motif is a Germanic-looking font on titles for its articles, lending a Third Reichish vibe.  Its content seems to dovetail with that motif.  The author attributions are almost all blatantly fictionalized pen names, which is no surprise, as few people wish public affiliation with such ideology.  It is unclear as a result whether anyone other than Invictus contributes to the website.  Regardless the website publishes new articles routinely showing constant attention.
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Invictus maintains a social media presence on Twitter with over twelve thousand followers, where he promotes his podcast and provides criticism of liberal initiatives, apparently to appeal to the Trump-following cohort of Republicanism and more Libertarian themes.  Invictus also advances his blog on Facebook, although he conceals the number of his ‘friends’ and their identities.

​Augustus has a spot of trouble with a former spouse in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and is facing criminal trial for ‘domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature,’ and ‘possession of a weapon during violent crime.’  Invictus posted a $5,000 bond for each. However, York County released Invictus from jail on bail in April 2020 after his lawyers raised health concerns due to the COVID pandemic.

Brevard County, Florida Sheriff's deputies arrested Invictus on December 28, 2020, as he was leaving a gym on a warrant issued out of York County, South Carolina, for failure to appear in court, and the authorities transported him back to Rock Hill, South Carolina.  Invictus is currently free on bail, and York County lists the case status as ‘Pending/Trial.’

Invictus filed a civil rights lawsuit in the Middle District of Florida in February of 2021, naming York County and virtually every conceivable South Carolina governmental agent as defendants. Additionally, Invictus filed an Affidavit of Indigency attesting his lack of funds in conjunction with that lawsuit.  The case is pending.
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Invictus filed a civil rights lawsuit against Family Ties, a court-sponsored child visitation agency, in March 2021 in the Middle District of Florida Federal Court, alleging the agency violated his civil rights related to child visitation, once again with an Affidavit of Indigency.  The court dismissed the case in September 2021.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced in April 2020  the arrest of Invictus’s father John Gillespie, also an attorney, for human trafficking a minor and exchanging legal representation for sex with victims as young as 15-years-old. Gillespie ultimately admitted to having sex with and impregnating a client, and the court referred him to the Florida Bar for discipline.
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Many villains and otherwise oddballs packed the Donald Trump clown car, hoping to join the ride to supposed fame and riches.  Invictus is not of that ilk, rather a true believer in a cause he created that molds Libertarian antigovernmental tropes with old-school anti-Semitism and outright white supremacy. Nevertheless, Invictus forms a unique entity, articulate, well-schooled in legal machinations, incredibly productive, and his publications have produced a small following.  It is unknown whether Invictus can transcend the fringe and become a cultural figure and leader, but he certainly bears watching. 

Profits drive corporate media, and profits are a function of advertising revenues, so if an article draws clicks or views, corporate media is happy to publish it even if it is misleading.  While the ‘if it bleeds it leads’ motto is likely as old as journalism, such sensationalistic coverage obscure and often papers over the facts.  Such is valid with press coverage of sexually transmitted infection (STI), as rates vary considerably among demographics.  Arguably the health effects correlated with not having sex are much more significant than the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease for older people.

​This platform intends to inform through the presentation of facts rather than convince, and this investigation presents the case that intelligent assessment of the data is necessary to assess the risk of STI infection. Unfortunately, media reports tend to be hyperbolic by design, and such messages like to use terms like ‘epidemic’ and ‘soaring’ in blaring headlines, but the occurrence of STIs are highly dependent on age group and demographic.  Despite corporate media’s clickbait headlines, STIs are almost unknown among older American populations. Fortunately, the facts are available through the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) Atlas Plus data tool, which provided the STI data presented in this investigation.

A particular case in point is chlamydia.  Chlamydia, a foul form of crotch rot, is the most common STI, with about 1.8 million chlamydial infections in 2019, and is the most common STI in the United States.  While it is severe, as are all STIs, it’s not permanent, as antibiotics can cure it.

In 2019, the most recent year of data publication, chlamydia, occurred in only about 16,700 Americans above age 55 and only 5,368 white Americans over 55, out of a population of about 95.5 million, or in other words, a minuscule rate for both people.  About 0.02% of Americans over the age of 55 had chlamydia in 2019 or a rate of 17.5 per 100,000 population. Thus, the risk of getting chlamydia appears to be very low if one has sex with someone over the age of 55, contrary to inflammatory articles.

​Gonorrhea is the second-most prevalent STI in the United States, with about 616,000 cases in 2019, but it follows similar patterns in older American populations.  In 2019, 16,333 cases occurred in Americans over age 55, with 5,801 occurring in white Americans over age 55. Thus, about 0.02% of Americans over the age of 55 had gonorrhea in 2019 or a rate of 17.1 per 100,000 population.

Syphilis follows the same patterns as chlamydia.  Once feared as a sure death from insanity before the advent of sulfa and antibiotic drugs, syphilis now enjoys popularity in some populations, but it is almost unknown in older Americans.  In 2019 there were 2,927 cases of syphilis in people over 55 and 1,571 in white Americans over 55.  Only about 0.003% of Americans over the age of 55 had syphilis in 2019 or a rate of 3.06 per 100,000 population.

Interesting facts about other hepatitis and HIV reported to the CDC in 2019:

• There were 4,136 cases of acute viral hepatitis C.
• There were 3,192 cases of acute viral hepatitis B.
• There were 36,337 HIV diagnoses.

Other risk data provides good reference context:

• In 2020 there were 33 shark attacks in the United States, and three were fatal.
• The United States averages 43 reported lightning fatalities per year, and about 430 are struck by lightning.
• Poisonous snakes bite between 7,000 and 8,000 people each year in the United States, and about 5 of those people die.
• There were about 33,000 fatal motor vehicle crashes in the United States in 2019, with 36,096 deaths, resulting in 11.0 deaths per 100,000 people and 1.11 deaths per 100 million miles traveled.
• There were about 39,700 gunshot deaths in the United States, with a death rate of about 12.1 per 100,000 population.
• Suicide was the tenth leading cause of death overall in the United States, with about 47,500 dead from suicide in 2019, or 13.0 suicides per 100,000 people, the highest rate recorded in 28 years.
• In 2019, about 70,600 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States, with a rate of overdose deaths of 21.6 per 100,000 population.

Although out of the scope of this investigation, likely the lower STI rates among older Americans are simply due to infrequent sexual activity and lower numbers of individual sexual partners.  As discussed in a previous investigation, sexual activity, particularly in older populations, is correlated with good physical and mental health, so the risks from not having sex are arguably more significant than the risks of contracting an STI.

Regardless, reports of ‘epidemic’ and ‘soaring’ STI rates among older populations are simply nonsense and are irresponsible journalism.

​Network news Infotainment, more appropriately known as Hate, Inc., is the metaphoric unindicted co-conspirator in the political division in the United States.  Fox News wears the collar as the arch-villain, but the other networks are as despicable and predictable.  As predicted in an earlier investigation, the Infotainment industry is in trouble as the glory years of Donald Trump fade.  An analysis of the third-quarter 2021 results confirms that prediction and provides intriguing thoughts about the future

​Fox News is doing a victory lap in its 25th anniversary with a monstrous win as it trounced its cable competition in total third-quarter ratings compiled by Nielsen, with an average total prime time audience of about 2.4 million viewers, well ahead of MSNBC with about 1.3 million, and CNN with about 0.8 million. All three networks were down from the third quarter of 2020, with Fox News dropping 32% in prime time, the smallest decline overall, compared to MSNBC, down 40%, and CNN down 46%.  

The language of ratings is basic.  Nielsen is a national firm that has long-rated television viewership and many other consumer items, primarily to benchmark for pricing advertising.  Viewers is a term often used, and the meaning of viewers is the average number of people watching a program in any given minute while it airs.  Infotainment is media content intended to both entertain and inform, but in its current iteration, Infotainment inflames more than reports.  It is impossible to imagine a person tuning into both The Rachel Maddow Show and The Ingraham Angle.  Both liberal conservative Infotainment are echo chambers that reinforce viewpoints and do not challenge them.    

For Fox, the third quarter win marks 79 straight quarters as the most-watched network in cable news among total viewers, and the seventh quarter in a row, Fox was the number one network.  But all the networks are seeing a decline in viewers as the Infotainment salad days of the Trump administration, with its daily scandals and social affronts providing hellishly good stories for audiences, are over, and the networks are struggling in the doldrums of the Biden administration. 

Network news is about money, not news, and as ratings decline, revenues decline.  In the era of shareholder value mantras, shareholders demand their value, so changes are coming, although they are difficult to predict.  

The highest-rated shows on cable news in total average viewers for the third quarter were:

• Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight with about 3.3 million.
• Fox’s The Five with about 3 million.
• Fox’s Hannity with about 3 million.
• Fox’s The Ingraham Angle with about 2.3 million.
• MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show with about 2.2 million.

In the most lucrative 25- to 54-year-old demographic, the top 5 in average viewers were all on Fox:

• Tucker Carlson Tonight - 549,000.
• Hannity - 478,000.
• The Five - 434,000.
• The Ingraham Angle - 400,000 viewers.
• Special Report with Bret Baier - 335,000 viewers.

​Among the coveted and lucrative demographic of viewers of ages 25- to 54-years-old, Fox finished first with an average prime time audience of 377,000 viewers, down 37% from the same quarter one year ago, followed by CNN with an average of 188,000, and down the most of the cable news networks at 52%, and them MSNBC with an average of 151,000 viewers, down 51%.

​The ascendency of The Five is intriguing.  Fox broadcasts The Five at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time, opposite The Lead with Jake Tapper on CNN, and MSNBC’s two-hour program Deadline: White House on MSNBC starting at 4:00 p.m.   The Five overpowers its competition, seemingly conceded by MSNBC, although Jake Tapper appears to be more than adept at CNN.  The Five has accounted for about 5% of all the ad spending on Fox News Channel in 2021. In 2020, The Five generated about $48 million in advertising, compared with nearly $33 million in 2019.  Viewers are up, so revenue is up.

The programming concept for The Five follows the playbook for formula panel programs going back to the 1960s.  Five panelists kick around the news of the day and parrot conservative talking points except for the one liberal panelist, who is essentially a punching bag paid to lose the argument.  The incumbent liberal designated loser Juan Williams announced his resignation in May 2021, and Fox has since filled the spot with a series of liberal has-beens or never-wases. However, Fox kept Williams as a senior political analyst, likely meaning they had tired of him and looked for a livelier presence.

Fox has been searching for a permanent replacement but finding the right fit can be difficult.  The qualifications appear to be willing to sacrifice any future hopes at reputation, be neither too bright nor informed or energetic, and parrot standard liberal lines poorly.  Although the network has been auditioning several candidates, such people are difficult to find, and indeed, the money will lure a liberal bench player who desires some coins in their bank account.
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The Five features a rotating cast of co-hosts but likes to feature Dana Perino, Greg Gutfeld, and Jesse Watters.  Dana Perino, age 48, who was the 26th White House Press Secretary under President George W. Bush from late 2007 to early 2009, is an executive with Random House, and has the most potent political background.  Greg Gutfeld, age 57, has fewer formal credentials and is also the late-night talk show Gutfeld!  Jesse Waters’, age 43, political credentials are even sparer as his biggest claim to previous fame were his frequent appearances on the Fox Infotainment program The O'Reilly Factor.

Perino appears on the show tarted up in traditional Fox heavy makeup and tight, short skirts and high heels wardrobe style, as are all the other female panelists who appear on the show.  A ‘gentleman’s club’ would demand such apparel.  One might surmise that with the end of the Roger Ailes era at Fox, those archaic and iconic female looks might have toned down, but they remain in place.  Other leading networks provide similar visual styles.

The Five panelists provide information about a news event, then banter about the topic in a contrived witty manner, mock the liberals, and overwhelm the nominally liberal panelist, often ending in a shouting match.  The seeming intent is to hypercharge conservative viewers with emotional invective as they imagine a debate where they ‘own the libs’ with talking points provided by The Five.

Trailing is a sampling of recent storylines from The Five from the past 10 days:

• Biden makes habit of walking away from reporters' questions.
• 'The Five' react to Biden supply chain meltdown
• 'The Five' agree Americans are right to be 'fed up' with government.
• 'The Five' slam Biden's 'misplaced priorities' in the US education system.
• The Five debate Kyrie Irving's decision to sit out.
• ‘The Five’ reacts to the deep hole Biden has dug.
• 'The Five' react to Pelosi slamming media for not selling Biden agenda.
• 'The Five' knocks Janet Yellen for 'lying' about IRS spying.
• 'The Five' knocks Biden spinning worst jobs report of presidency.

The development of The Five is exciting as the remainder of the results seem predictable in the Biden era presidency that resembles the Eisenhower administration in its absolute lack of controversy, intrigue, or scandal. However, the Five does provide some flare and debate less predictably than Sean Hannity or Tucker Carlson, which could be an attraction.
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Analysis of the third quarter results drive one to some intriguing questions:

• Does the markedly lower liberal Infotainment viewership mean lower enthusiasm, presaging tepid Democratic voting turnout in the mid-term elections?
• Is the lower liberal viewership driven by cord-cutting leading to other Infotainment sources?
• Will the lower viewership, particularly in the desirable demographic, compel the networks to move to a more critical stance in coverage of the Biden administration?

The American public is aware of Agent Orange through scarifying accounts of child deformities in Viet Nam because of known results of the United States military’s use of the compound during the Viet Nam War and war veteran’s ailments; they are much less aware of the widespread use of the component compounds throughout the United States.  People sprayed these compounds for weed control in agricultural, governmental, commercial, and residential settings.  While there is data on industrial dumping of these compounds, there is very little data on ambient levels of these compounds and resultant health effects due to historic domestic uses, despite its toxicity.

2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxy) is an herbicide developed in the 1940s. 2,4-D was the first widely used herbicide to control broadleaf plants, and it has significantly contributed to modern weed control in agriculture.  One of the impurities in the manufacturing process was the production of TCDD, only one of a family of substances called dioxins, but it is the one that has gained the greatest infamy, henceforth called dioxin.
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In 1945, Dow Chemical found that combining an equal mixture of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T created a synergistic effect.  The United States Department of Agriculture registered 2,4,5-T as an herbicide in 1948, and farmers recognized its usefulness for killing broadleaf plants and controlling weeds in pasturelands to enable desirable grasses to grow.  Foresters also used the herbicide to control weeds, underbrush, and shrubs. 

​TCDD is one of the most toxic substances:

• Mutagenic (changes to DNA causing deformities). The United States National Cancer Institute established that the dioxin, present in 2,4,5-T at concentrations of only 10-30 parts per million (ppm), was responsible for producing malformations in mammalian babies. These included a greater incidence than usual of malformed babies in Viet Nam villages close to zones the United States sprayed with Agent Orange.
• Carcinogenic (causes cancer).
• Immunological (suppresses the immune system).
• May suppress sperm counts.
• Studies in Midwest wheat-growing areas (high use for agriculture) have shown increased rates of congenital disabilities, especially in male children, and lower sperm counts in adults.

The level of usage for military operations was 20 to 40 times greater than for normal agricultural usages. Fixed-wing aircraft and ground troops sprayed the material, and a C-123 could dump 11,000 lbs. of Agent Orange over 300 acres in four minutes, sprayed to defoliate trees that might hide the enemy.
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The dirtiest little secret is that 37 United States chemical companies made 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D and many farmers and other people used these herbicides.  The compounds are present under and near former manufacturing facilities, and people sprayed these compounds along railroads and power lines, in agriculture, on lawns, and to control undergrowth in forests.

Trade names products sold that contained 2,4,5-T were Dacamine, Ded-Weed, Farmco Fence Rider, Forron, Inverton 245, Line Rider, T-Nox, Transamine, Brushwood Killer, Brush-Rhap, Brushtox, Esterone, Fruitone A, Reddon, Spontox, Tormona, Tributon, Veon 245, Verton 2T, Visko Rhap Low Volatile Ester, Amine 2,4,5-T for Rice, Super D Weedone, Trinoxol, Weedar, Weedone.
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In 1970 the United States Surgeon General reported that the use of 2,4,5-T could be hazardous to human health, and the Department of Agriculture suspended the use of 2,4,5-T around homes, recreation areas, lakes, and ponds, and canceled registration for the domestic use of 2,4,5-T, except for pastures and rangelands. The EPA finally banned the use of 2,4,5-T in the United States in 1979.

The Dow Chemical Company announced in 1983 that it was abandoning its efforts to have 2,4,5-T certified as safe for use as an agricultural chemical. Dow had been contending that 2,4,5-T was safe for use, despite an emergency decision by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979 to ban most applications in forests and on croplands.

The litigation history behind these compounds is intriguing but boring as it follows the same playbook industry has used to protect itself from liability and maximize shareholder value, similar, say, to that used by tobacco giants, opioid manufacturers, and the like. Thus, they obscure, obfuscate, delay, outspend litigants, and keep settlements silent through out-of-court agreements. 

There is no doubt these companies knew very well these were toxic compounds.  For instance, Monsanto chief medical officer George Roush admitted under oath to knowing that Monsanto studies into the health effects of dioxins on workers intentionally untruthful for the scientific literature such as to obscure health effects.

The United States government was complicit in concealing information, as the EPA concealed and falsely discredited its studies that found high levels of dioxin in environmental samples and human breast milk following routine use of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T by the United States Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

Dow Chemical Company, Monsanto, Diamond Shamrock Corporation, Hercules, Inc., Uniroyal Inc., H Agricultural & Nutrition Company, and Thompson Chemicals Corporation, the manufacturers of Agent Orange, agreed in 1984 to create a $180 million fund for thousands of Vietnam veterans and their families who said the herbicide had harmed them.

A federal jury found in 1985 that the Monsanto Company was not responsible for the illness of seven retired employees who said they suffered poisoning on the job by dioxin. After three and a half years, one of the longest trials in United States history ended in 1987 with a jury ordering Monsanto to pay about $16 million for failing to warn Sturgeon, Missouri residents of the risks of a dioxin-tainted chemical spill.  Monsanto paid $1.2 million to six former workers in 1988 who claim their exposure to a rubber additive at the Monsanto’s Nitro, West Virginia plant gave them a rare form of bladder cancer.

Monsanto settled a class-action lawsuit in 2012 filed on behalf of people who lived, worked, and went to school in the small town of Nitro, West Virginia. For about two decades ending in 1971, Monsanto produced the herbicide 2,4,5-T there. The lawsuit claimed Monsanto polluted the city with toxic substances, including dioxins, and asked the court to award medical monitoring for residents. The settlement agreement required secrecy on the details and sealed the documents associated with the case.

The remaining entities that manufactured the compounds remain quiet about the compounds to minimize liability, a tidy term for avoiding responsibility.
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The 2020 Dow Chemical SEC 10k form, while absent the words dioxin or 2,4,5-T, presents their settlement of historic dioxin liability claims for their Midland, Michigan 2,4,5-T manufacturing facility where Dow paid $15 million cash settlement paid to trustee-selected remediation projects and $6.75 million to specified local projects managed by third parties in December 2020. The consent decree further requires the Company to complete 13 additional environmental restoration projects valued at about $77 million.

After a tough buyout battle and intense antitrust scrutiny, Bayer Chemical acquired Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018. The 2020 Bayer Chemical Annual Report is also silent on dioxin.

One might surmise sampling the chemical companies who manufactured the compounds, like Dow Chemical and Monsanto, conducted soil and water sampling to evaluate potential financial exposure, but that likely used confidentiality agreements and nondisclosure agreements to mitigate liability.
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Merchants of death find time is their ally as potential claimants die and memories fade.  The half-life of TCDD in animals ranges from weeks to years; its half-life on the soil surface ranges between 9–15 years, while the half-life in subsurface soil may range from 25 to 100 years. 
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Regardless of half-lives, there are conclusions:

• Confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements are inimical to public health.
• Shareholder value mantras, in this case, and in general, enrich shareholders and hurt the public.
• Aggressive regulatory enforcement is necessary to counter the legal strategies of large chemical manufacturing companies.

​The Catholic Church is well-schooled in how to handle the most recent ‘crisis in the priesthood.’  Prominent clergy wring their hands about the victims, commit to reform, and move on with business as usual. Of course, business as usual includes sheltering assets from lawsuits from victims.  But there is a new sheriff in town, the United States Department of Justice, and there is a possibility of severe action, including criminal indictments.  

Credible abuse is a term meaning an accusation against a priest has some merit. Authoritative sources document there are about 5,800 priests credibly accused of sexual abuse in the United States alone. Unfortunately, there is no way of accurately gauging the number of people those priests abused.

Meta studies provide clear evidence confirming the link between childhood sexual abuse and subsequent adverse short- and long-term effects on development. Effects include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, suicide, sexual promiscuity, victim-perpetrator cycle, and poor academic performance. 

Cover-ups worked when the church could intimidate or shame the victims into silence. The most recent ‘crisis in the priesthood’ occurred in the 1980s and 1990s when abuse victims started filing civil lawsuits against the dioceses where the alleged incidents took place. The Catholic Church shushed these suits with out-of-court settlements with nondisclosure agreements and paid about $750 million from the early 1980s through 2002.

Eight states and the District of Columbia passed laws in 2019 that suspend the statute of limitations on civil sex abuse suits.  Legislatures enacted these ‘lookback window statutes’ because of political pressure from public outrage over abuse by men in power.
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Survivors of child sexual abuse are filing new lawsuits against Roman Catholic dioceses across the country.  29 U.S. Catholic dioceses and three religious orders have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection during this most recent ‘crisis in the priesthood.’

The Catholic Church designates geographic areas, known as a diocese, with a headquarters that organizes and directs churches within its districts.  Each diocese has a bishop, and all the priests within the diocese swear an oath of obedience to him binding him to obey the bishop’s directions.  The bishop assigns priests to churches known as parishes and routinely rotated at the bishop’s order.

Struggling businesses use Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a legal process to evaluate and reorganize their assets, allowing them to pay off debts while maintaining enough capital to continue operating.  There is a huge advantage when a diocese files for bankruptcy as the court then suspends all civil lawsuits against the diocese, including clergy abuse lawsuits, and partially freezes the diocese’s assets. In addition, the process allows the diocese to amalgamate claims and then limit later claims, limiting financial liability.

Lawsuits and trials lead to testimony and publicity. Bankruptcy ensures a quieter mass settlement that forces an end to existing cases and blocks new ones. A diocese in bankruptcy typically settles clergy abuse victims for about half the value of its assets.

The church leaders incorporate each parish as is the diocese, and despite the direction and supervision by the bishop, lawyers have cleverly argued the parish are discreet entities, thereby shielding the assets of the parishes from civil abuse lawsuits.  While the legal mechanism appears to hold, it also seems fictive and is morally bankrupt.
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But wait, there’s more.  The Catholic Church transfers and reclassifies assets to shrink the assets available to clergy abuse victims. That and Chapter 11’s universal settlements and protections from further claims have effectively limited payouts.  Using these methods, the United States Catholic Church has shielded more than $2 billion in assets from abuse victims in bankruptcies.

The Department of Justice opened an investigation in 2018 of child sex abuse within Pennsylvania's Catholic Church, sending subpoenas to dioceses across the state seeking private files and records to explore the possibility that priests and bishops violated federal law for decades.  Bishops and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania covered up child sexual abuse by more than 300 priests over a period of 70 years, persuading victims not to report the abuse and law enforcement not to investigate it.

The Department of Justice then sent a request to every Roman Catholic diocese in the United States, commanding them not to destroy documents related to the handling of child sexual abuse.  The order includes documents contained in ‘secret archives,’ the confidential files each diocese maintains.  The nationwide order instructs them ‘to not destroy, discard, dispose of, delete, or alter’ personnel records in general, and particularly abuse.

The Department of Justice is contemplating criminal charges under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute, also known as RICO.  Passed in 1970, RICO is a federal law designed to combat organized crime in the United States and allows prosecution and civil penalties for racketeering activity performed as part of an ongoing criminal enterprise. Such action may include illegal gambling, bribery, kidnapping, murder, money laundering, counterfeiting, embezzlement, drug trafficking, slavery, and a host of other unsavory business practices.

To convict a defendant under RICO, the government must prove that the defendant engaged in two or more instances of racketeering activity and that the defendant directly invested in, maintained an interest in, or participated in a criminal enterprise affecting interstate or foreign commerce. The United States has used the law to prosecute mafia members, the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, and Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group, among many others.

That the United States Catholic Church enabled and covered up child rape is indisputable.  Whether the United States Department of Justice has the fortitude to prosecute it is unknown. 
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The iterative pattern of these ‘crises in the priesthood’ and the successful and predictable management and response concludes that only disrupting the Catholic Church’s playbook will solve the problem.  The hierarchal structure of the church, the vow of obedience tradition, the lack of involvement by the laity, and the fact that all priests and bishops are men and mostly older men lead one to the inference that only fundamental change will solve the problem and allow the generational wounds to victims to start to heal. 

Criminal charges and severe penalties might do some good.  The government could use funds derived from these actions to help provide medical care and support to those so profoundly impacted by the abuse.  Criminal prosecutions could remove those responsible for enabling and performing these acts and help establish a new culture of compliance and real ‘zero tolerance.’  A consent agreement with the Catholic Church could allow independent oversight of personnel management which could help put the organization on a proper track and help eliminate child rape and its awful consequences in human misery and suffering.