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--:-- Katherine Porter: From the New York Times, it's the headlines. Today's Friday, April 25th.
--:-- Katherine Porter: Here's what we're covering. Today in New York, George Santos, the disgraced former congressman with a reputation for lying, will be sentenced.
--:-- James Wagner: Santos pleaded guilty last year to charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft after stealing campaign funds from donors.
--:-- Katherine Porter: His actions first came under scrutiny after the Times revealed he'd fabricated almost his whole life story, lying about everything from his education to his work history and even claiming to be of Jewish descent.
--:-- James Wagner: He's one of only six congressmen in the country's history to have been expelled. His colleagues voted him out as damning accusations piled up, including that he used some of the stolen funds to buy himself Botox and designer clothes.
--:-- Katherine Porter: Santos faces a minimum of two years in prison. though prosecutors are asking for just over seven years, saying that's necessary to protect the public from being defrauded by Santos again.
--:-- James Wagner: Since being kicked out of office, Santos tried to capitalize on his infamous name, selling personalized videos on the website Cameo, working on a documentary about himself, and starting a podcast called Pants on Fire.
--:-- Katherine Porter: I honestly don't know how to not be myself. I have a larger-than-life personality.
--:-- James Wagner: Although Santos previously said he took full responsibility for his actions, calling them, quote, unethical and guilty, he has sounded less apologetic on his podcast.
--:-- Katherine Porter: And then people say, oh, he doesn't atone. What does that even mean? Should I, like, curl up in a ball and stay in that fetal position forever because that's what atoning is expected?
--:-- James Wagner: As Elon Musk prepares to take a step back from his work slashing the federal budget, he's been updating his estimate of how much money the Department of Government efficiency will save taxpayers.
--:-- Katherine Porter: He started by claiming he'd save a trillion, then it was a trillion. Most recently Musk has said it will be about a billion, a fraction of his original goal.
--:-- James Wagner: But what he hasn't discussed is that his effort will actually cost the federal government money.
--:-- Katherine Porter: The Partnership for Public Service, a non-profit that studies the federal workforce, says the firings, rehirings, and lost productivity that came with Doge's chaotic and aggressive tactics will add up to more than $135 billion this fiscal year, almost as much money as Musk has said he saved.
--:-- James Wagner: In the months and years to come, taxpayers will also bear the cost of defending Doge's cuts in court. At least 30 lawsuits have been filed involving Musk's team.
--:-- Katherine Porter: The Times has found new details about just how vulnerable Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's communications have been.
--:-- James Wagner: Last month, Hegseth came under fire for sharing highly sensitive information about military strikes in the messaging app Signal, which was connected to his personal cell phone.
--:-- Katherine Porter: While it's not unusual for government officials to keep their personal cell phones when they enter office, they are not supposed to use them for official business.
--:-- James Wagner: And even as Hegseth was messaging about the strikes, his phone number was easy to find online. It was linked to his accounts on Airbnb, Facebook, and sleeper.com, a fantasy sports site.
--:-- Katherine Porter: Cybersecurity experts say that it's a clear opportunity for hackers. They say it's like publicly sharing your street address.
--:-- James Wagner: Someone would still need the right tools to break into your house, but they would know exactly where to find you and start trying.
--:-- Katherine Porter: And when it comes to the Secretary of Defense, the experts say there's no way people aren't trying to get access to his phone.
--:-- James Wagner: One former top intelligence official told The Times, Hegseth is likely one of the five most targeted people in the world for espionage.
--:-- Katherine Porter: He said there's, quote, a 0% chance that someone hasn't tried to install spyware on his phone.
--:-- James Wagner: At the Vatican, tens of thousands of mourners have been filing through St Peter Basilica to pay their respects to the late Pope Francis before his funeral tomorrow.
--:-- Katherine Porter: Dozens of heads of state and monarchs from around the world are expected to attend the elaborate ceremony, including President Trump, Keir Starmer, and Vladimir Selinsky.
--:-- James Wagner: Most of the funeral mass, which will begin at 4 a.m. Eastern, will be celebrated in Latin as a centuries-old tradition unfolds with hymns, Gregorian chants, and incense.
--:-- Katherine Porter: Once the pope is buried, the cardinals of the Catholic Church will gather to elect a new pope, in a process that so underwraps the Sistine Chapel, where they take the vote, will be swept for recording devices, and even the cooks and secretaries on staff will have to take an oath of secrecy.
--:-- James Wagner: The ritual is called a conclave.
--:-- Katherine Porter: I would like you to withdraw your name from the next ballot.
--:-- James Wagner: Which an Oscar-winning movie broke down last year in detail, portraying a fictional version of the day's long vote.
--:-- Katherine Porter: You should be careful, Thomas. Your own ambition has not gone unnoticed.
--:-- James Wagner: This week, maybe no surprise, people have been rushing to watch the film.
--:-- Katherine Porter: According to one tracking company, viewership jumped by 3,200% on streaming platforms.
--:-- James Wagner: Papal experts say the film is actually fairly accurate, though one American cardinal who participated in the last conclave said that the Hollywood thriller is not the, quote, spiritual reality of what a conclave is.
--:-- Katherine Porter: And finally...
--:-- James Wagner: In Mexico, there's this decades-long tradition of music called narco corridos, which is a spin on traditional Mexican ballads, but specifically about drug cartels, drug figures, and narco culture.
--:-- Katherine Porter: James Wagner covers Mexico for The Times.
--:-- James Wagner: They're talking about the glitz and glamour of it from cars to women to the fast life of being a narco leader.
--:-- Katherine Porter: In some of the songs that people are singing literally about violence, you know, killing people.
--:-- James Wagner: In Mexico, the songs are very popular.
--:-- Katherine Porter: But what's happened in the last few months is politicians across the country have really started clamping down on this type of music, arguing that it incites violence in other people or supports the drug culture.
--:-- James Wagner: or drug trafficking.
--:-- Katherine Porter: James says that as part of the crackdown, authorities have threatened fines or even jail time for any musician who performs songs that glorify criminal activity.
--:-- James Wagner: And Mexico's president has also publicly come out against narco-corritos and announced a national song contest with rewards for ballads that don't celebrate the cartels.
--:-- Katherine Porter: It's been almost a referendum on free speech in the country.
--:-- James Wagner: What you can sing, what incites violence, and what is simply art.
--:-- Katherine Porter: Some artists I've been talking to and people in the music industry have been torn by this.
--:-- James Wagner: Some agree that violence is a major problem in the country, have actually changed their lyrics and are okay with some level of regulation.
--:-- Katherine Porter: But some people that listen to this genre and have grown up listening to it their entire lives and still like it now say that they're not the problem, that listening to a corrido doesn't make you a bad person.
--:-- James Wagner: And those people feel that banning songs or regulating them isn't going to be the solution to eradicating violence and drug trafficking and cartels in the country.
--:-- Katherine Porter: Those are the headlines.
--:-- Katherine Porter: Today on The Daily, how a case before the Supreme Court could expand the rights parents have over what their children learn in schools.
--:-- James Wagner: That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Katherine Porter: This show is made by Will Jarvis, Jessica Metzger, Tracy Mumford, and Jan Stewart.
--:-- James Wagner: Original theme music by Dan Powell.
--:-- Katherine Porter: Special thanks to Isabella Anderson, Larissa Anderson, Jake Lucas, Zoe Murphy, Paula Schumann, and Chris Wood.
--:-- Katherine Porter: I'm Katherine Porter. The headlines will be back on Monday with Tracy Mumford.
