• Minister (Secretary) of Science, Technology, and Innovation #MarcosPontes signed Brazil's entry into the #ArtemisProgram. During US Ambassador #ToddChapman's speech, he told a curious story about aviation pioneer #SantosDumont. In his words, “IT'S WORTH REMEMBERING THAT SANTOS DUMONT NOT ONLY WAS A PIONEER IN AVIATION, BUT ALSO A PIONEER IN BRAZIL-#UNITEDSTATES COOPERATION. IN 1903, HE ALLOWED AN AMERICAN WOMAN, #AIDADEACOSTA, TO PILOT ONE OF HIS AIRSHIPS ALONE, HELPING HER BE THE FIRST WOMAN TO PILOT A POWERED AIRCRAFT.” The Artemis Program also seeks to take the first woman and the first black man to the moon.
• Facial recognition technology is starting to be tested in some airports in Brazil. According to the Ministry (Department) of Infrastructure, the Brazilian law against the collection of personal data without a person's consent (#LGPD) will guarantee freedom to those who don't wish to use this system. #privacy

• President #Bolsonaro said he will veto the vaccine certification in case it is approved in the Lower House. Guilherme #Fiuza, a commentator at #OsPingosNosIs radio and YouTube show, said, “LOOK, SOME ASK WHY SO MANY PEOPLE GO TO STREETS [IN SUPPORT] FOR THIS PRESIDENT, AND I HAVE A HYPOTHESIS. HE PRESENTS HIMSELF AS THE COSIGNER OF FREEDOM. I'M LOOKING AT THIS IN A COLD WAY. THE COSIGNER OF FREEDOM TODAY IS PRESIDENT BOLSONARO. WHEN THE LOCKDOWN WAS FOUND TO BE A GROSS MEASURE, DAMNING, AND WITHOUT EFFICACY IN KEEPING THE #PANDEMIC [FROM SPREADING], HE ROSE AGAINST THIS AND PROPOSED—I DON'T KNOW IF HE HAD AN ELABORATE PLAN, I THINK NOBODY HAS ONE—BUT, HE DENOUNCED THIS SUPPRESSION OF FREEDOM [...]. [THIS CERTIFICATION OF VACCINATION] WILL CREATE A SUBCITIZENSHIP FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T BE VACCINATED AND THOSE WHO HAVE THEIR REASONS TO DOUBT THE EFFICACY OF THE VACCINE. [...] IN OTHER WORDS, THAT ONE WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE CARICATURE OF A DICTATOR IS THE VERY ONE THAT'S COSIGNING OUR FREEDOM, AND THE POPULATION SEES THIS.” #humanrights #pandemic #covid

• In an interview to journalist Luís Ernesto #Lacombe, Minister (Secretary) of Human Rights, Family, and Women #DamaresAlves said she believes that President #Bolsonaro should not veto the vaccine certification in case it's passed in the Lower House (already passed in the Upper). He has said several times he'd be against any mandatory vaccination or the use of a vaccine certificate to be granted access to places, but Damares argued the vaccine being the most effective fight against the Chinese virus is a unanimous thinking in the science field around the world, and that the discussion hovers around its quality, not its necessity, but there's a contradiction here. If its quality is still worthy of discussion, why does she think Bolsonaro should not veto it? #humanrights #pandemic #covid

• #ABRASEL (Brazilian Association of Bars and Restaurants) started a class action in 275 cities across all Brazilian states demanding financial reparations from cities and states due to lockdowns put in place during the #pandemic. #covid

• The #Senate approved by 72 to 9 a bill called Immunization and Sanitary Safety Certification, some sort of #vaccinationpassport, which grants access to cultural and sport events, and to travel to natural parks and with companies that demand their passengers to be vaccinated, all in accordance to the guidelines of the #EuropeanUnion's #DigitalGreenCertificate, also known as #DigitalCOVIDCertificate or #EUDCC. The bill will now head to the House of Representatives. If approved, places should have signs in front of them saying that the access will only be allowed if the visitor holds the certificate. #pandemic #covid #humanrights

• The #ElectoralSupremeCourt (#TSE) is trying to contact the people responsible for the messaging app #Telegram to talk to them about the next elections. They say Telegram is a problem and it's being difficult to reach them. TSE considers them a threat for the next elections. They were able to get cooperation from #WhatsApp, that vastly limited the number of people one can share a message with, limited the size of groups, and censured content. TSE hopes to achieve the same kind of cooperation from Telegram, but they are already considering pushing for the approval of new legislation to limit Telegram's operation in Brazil unless they follow the TSE's rules. #electionprocess

• The #SupremeCourt Justice Luís Roberto #Barroso have recorded videos defending the voting machines and criticizing the government's push for passing the addition of paper trail to the voting machines. The mixing of the systems are ignored by Justice Barroso and other critics, who only say the gov't wants to get back to paper, giving the impression they want to get rid of the machines. The idea defendended by supporters is to let the voter see (through a glass panel) their vote printed on paper, and once they confirm that the vote on paper reflects what they pressed on the machine, the voter confirms and the paper is released into a ballot box. If a result is contested and there's strong evidence to support it, a recount can happen, but this recount is not immediate (can take days or weeks or even months to happen) and doesn't keep the result from being made public by electronic means only. The winners are going to be confirmed as soon as the eletronic data is available. Manual counting can happen while incurring no problems to the one currently in office. Barroso's activism doesn't stop there. Not only is he recording videos in Portuguese but also in English, in French, and in Spanish. What would he be recording them in those languages for? And things get worse. He has already talked with the leaders of ten parties. You didn't read wrong. One of our Supreme Court judge-ministers is recording videos and giving interviews defending the voting machine and criticizing (and lying about) the addition of the paper trail, and also looking to strengthen the opposition parties to vote against this change by talking to them in person. These meetings are not a secret, many news outlets are writing about this, and you can find the videos on TSE's channel on YouTube under the name 'justicaeleitoral.' #electoralprocess #votingsystem

• In the State of #Alagoas, the Military Police removed Lieutenant-colonel #MarcosVanderlei from the position of subcommander of the Capital Patrolling Command after he posted a picture on social media posing next to President #Bolsonaro (with this one hugging him) while the president was visiting this Northeastern state. According to the general-commander of the Military Police, Vanderlei's dismissal was an order from #PalmaresPalace, Alagoas' administrative headquarters, and according to Vanderlei himself, his dismissal was due to his online criticism of the governor's administration, #RenanFilho, and of #RenanCalheiros, Filho's father and senator.

• #SaoPaulo Mayor João #Doria announced his plan to have the whole population of the state vaccinated by September 15th. #RiodeJaneiro Mayor #EduardoPaes also said that he expects 'everybody' to be vaccinated by September. It's not clear what they mean by everybody, if they mean everybody who needs the vaccine. #covid #pandemic

• President #Bolsonaro helped organize and attended a third motorcycle rally in a span of about a month. This time it took place on Saturday in #SaoPaulo. The rally took off at #Sambodromo, SP, passed by the city of #Jundiai, and went back to SP stopping at #IbirapueraPark—an about 65-mile ride—where he spoke. Bolsonaro, his son #EduardoBolsonaro, Secretary (Minister) of the Environment #RicardoSalles, of Science, Technology, and Innovation #MarcosPontes, of Infrastructure #TarcisiodeFreitas, Congresswoman #CarlaZambelli, and Congressman #GilDiniz were among the attendees. At least 12 thousand motorcyclists attended the rally.

• On International Day of Families, President #Bolsonaro received tens of thousands of supporters in front of the Planalto Palace. People going by themselves and them wearing the Brazilian colors and waving the Brazilian flag were in a stark contrast to when ex-president #Lula gathered people there, wearing red and waving red flags, and many of them being paid and fed, and given a ride in order to attend it.
• #SaoPaulo Mayor #BrunoCovas died today. He was in the ICU and the hospital had released a statement a couple of days ago saying his condition was irreversible. He had adenocarcinoma. Covas started having problems in 2019, but was able to keep working during his treatment. He was much criticized for his opposition to President #Bolsonaro, for his strong lockdown measures, and also for not obeying his own orders. #covid #pandemic
• According to the opinion poll #Datafolha, the infamous Marxist and ex-president #Lula, whose charges of corruption were nullified by the #SupremeCourt (#STF) recently, wins over #Bolsonaro in the first round and with a good margin. This is the same push #Biden got by a large part of the media and of opinion polls. If Bolsonaro doesn't get paper trail to be approved and added to the voting machines to avoid election fraud, nobody will be able to prove the contrary if Lula's elected (because it's inconceivable that he wins if the Bolsonaro administration keeps going as it's been).
• The Ministry (Department) of Economy, whose minister is #PauloGuedes, was able to get passed a law that will help companies save thousands of reals a year with newspapers. Until then, companies listed in the stock market were forced to pay the printing press to publish their annual balance. With the internet, social media, and cell phones, there's no need for this. The printing press should lose 150 million reals per year, but some kinds of companies still have to pay for that. The gov't will try to extend this change to all companies.
• The #SupremeCourt (#STF) voted 8-3 to limit in 20 years the time for medical patents to expire, and this is not for new patents only, but any patent that has already exceeded 20 years. Some say this could be a bad move as it could drive labs away or keep labs from being installed in Brazil. In the #UnitedStates, it's 20 years.
• A consortium composed of 9 governors from the Northeast of Brazil ordered nearly 49 million reals in ventilators from a company called #HempcarePharma (specialized in selling products related to the cannabis). The ventilators were never delivered and some people have already been arrested, including the owner, #CristianaPrestes, and her business partner, #LuizHenriqueRamos, but they were released after being heard by the police. She said they'd bring the ventilators from #China but noticed there was some issue with them only later. They then offered Brazilian-made ventilators instead and for a cheaper price, primising to deliver 480 units instead of 300. Problem is, the Brazilian ones were never approved by the regularoty agency (#Anvisa). #BrunoDauster, then secretary of the house staff in #Bahia, tried to solve the problem by convincing Prestes to increase the value of the contract in 52%, to which she refused, saying she didn't want to “RAPE THE STATE.” Prestes said she was surprised to receive all the money up front and so quickly (not common in this kind of contract in #Brazil), two days after the contract was signed. Also, Prestes was surprised when she received an order from a judge in #Araraquara, State of #SaoPaulo, to sign a donation document, since the mayor, #EdinhoSilva, informed he had ordered 30 ventilators and had not received any, and that they'd be paid by the consortium. #CarlosGarbas was assigned executive secretary of the consortium and was the person behind all the negotiations and contacts. Garbas has been involved in several corrupt cases, and his ascension to power came while he was ex-President #Dilma's driver, when he got a temporary employement in government as a senator's assistant making a lot more money. From then on, he kept moving up and growing in influence, became minister more than once. It's Garbas who made this deal with Araraquaras' mayor, which Prestes was not aware of. In other words, this #COVID committee, if going in the right direction, will reveal and clarify a myriad of intricate corruption like this one case seems to be.
• The #PDT Party sent a request to the #SupremeCourt (#STF) to charge President #Bolsonaro for the crime of “excessively promoting” the preventive use of #hydroxychloroquine and other medications during the #pandemic.
• During the police operation in #Jacarezinho Favela which resulted in one police officer and 27 criminals dead (and some others injured, including citizens) police found documents about the operation, suggesting someone in the department is leaking information.
• The #PCC (Capital's First Command, one of Brazil's criminal organizations) is accused of laundering money diverted from the #pandemic help sent to #RiodeJaneiro.
• #Twitter was not allowing a video to play where it shows the ex-president of the Senate and now president of a suspicious committee to investigate irregularities committed during the #pandemic #RenanCalheiros (one the perfect stereotypes of the “successful” Brazilian corrupt) throwing a tantrum when a senator suggests that they invite the federal police director to attend and help with the committee. #covid
• Ex-president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, commonly referred to by Brazilians as #FHC, said in a recent interview about ex-president #Lula running in 2022 “MAKE DO WITH WHAT YOU HAVE” (or literally, “IF YOU CAN'T HUNT WITH A DOG, HUNT WITH A CAT), only confirming (once more) that he and his party, the #PSDB, differs nothing from the infamous leftwing #PT, except in the manners, being more diplomatic and keeping a profile low when it comes to pushing their Marxist agenda. #marxism
• During President #Bolsonaro's daily stop to talk to supporters last week, a woman said “IN #FOZDOIGUACU, THEY ARE ALREADY TALKING ABOUT LOCKING PEOPLE DOWN AGAIN,” to which he replied “I ALREADY SENT THE MESSAGE I WANTED TO. FROM NOW ON, I'M GOING TO TAKE ACTION.” What he means by this is that he will take action against any mayor or governor that imposes a lockdown from now on, since, under the current circumstances, it's nearly unanimously considered to be unconstitutional.
• The #SupremeCourt (#STF) Judge-Minister #Barroso, who said “WE DON'T FIX WHAT'S NOT BROKEN” referring to the wish of #conservatives and President #Bolsonaro to add paper trail to the voting machines, has started a campaign to push back in the hopes of getting enough votes in #Congress to block this change. He already posted three videos on YouTube. Among many things, he says “[THIS CAMPAIGN] IS ABOUT THE SECURITY, THE TRANSPARENCY, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF AUDIT OF THE BRAZILIAN PROCESS,” and also “IN THE VOTING MACHINES AND IN THE BRAZILIAN PROCESS YOU CAN TRUST.” The proposed system will allow the machine to print the vote so the voter can see it, but the voter won't be able to touch it; they will see it through a glass window. If the number and name on the paper is correct, the voter confirms it and the machine deposits the paper into a ballot box. It's two ways of auditing against one; but Barroso, who has been having a shameful role in the STF, is all in for pushing back on this change. The first video of the justice Barroso got 10,000 views and 95% dislikes, his second one got 38,000 views and 94% dislikes, and his third and latest one got 44,000 views and 89% dislike (as of May 15th). The comments are overwhelmingly negative and hostile to Barroso and the STF, showing how infamous and unpopular the Supreme Court is to the eyes of Brazilians. Unfortunately, even if #Congress approves the paper trail, the STF has the authority to block it, and the chances of them blocking it is high.

The Brazilian #SupremeCourt judge (called 'minister' or 'minister-judge' in #Brazil) #LuísRobertoBarroso just released a book called 'Sem data venia: Um olhar sobre o Brasil e o mundo,' or 'No data venia: An overview about Brazil and the world,' and it contains a passage that prompted Senator #LasierMartins (#Podemos-RS) to resquest that the #Senate #Constitution and Justice Committee summons #Barroso to clarify said passage. It says:

“THE ARTICULATION TO TAKE DOWN THE POSSIBILITY FOR CRIMINAL RULINGS BE CARRIED OUT AT THE SECOND INSTANCE OF JUSTICE WAS THE STRONGEST OF THE REACTIONS, SEEKING TO CHANGE THE VOTE OF TWO JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT THAT, UNTIL THEN, WERE EMPHATICALLY FAVORABLE TO THE RULING.”

He is basically saying that he knows that two judges changed their votes due to political pressure. Now he has to explain how he knows it was political pressure, and the two judges will have to say who pressured them. This is serious stuff. Another question is, if he knew about something so serious, why did he not say anything, but just mentioned it in a book as if it were nothing?

#ccj #riograndedosul