THE BRAZILIAN BOT

DaniloGentili

  • #Congress voted 232-232 against the urgency of the bill that would allow the implementation of a vaccination passport. 257 votes were needed for it to be approved. When it was presented in the #Senate, in the beginning on June, the bill was approved 72-0. It is inspired on the one approved in the #EuropeanUnion. The vote was against the urgency for creating it, not against creating it. #pandemic #covid
  • President #Bolsonaro's ex-sister-in-law, #AndreaSiqueiraValle, disclosed an audio where she says that ex-office assistants paid part of their salaries back to Bolsonaro in return for the favor of giving them a job. This is a common crime pratice among Brazilian politicians. This allegedly happened during all his terms as congressman, from 1991 to 2018. The opposition is trying to form a committee to investigate the accusation. Senator #RenanCalheiros wants her to be heard on the #COVIDProbe ('#CPIdaCOVID') in order to know if this alleged scheme continued during the presidency. Evidence of this scheme prior to Bolsonaro becoming president is yet to be shown, so Calheiros subpoening her is, as of now, based on assumption rather than evidence.
  • President #Bolsonaro expressed his wish that the party he's going to choose to run in 2022 be composed of rightwing #Christians as most as possible, but the #PatriotParty, the one he's more inclined to join, is resistant to the idea. The #AliancapeloBrasil Party, the one that was conceived to embrace this formula, won't be legally ready in time. “THE PATRIOT IS A CENTER PARTY AND IT WILL ALWAYS BE,” stated its General-Secretary #JorcelinoBraga. The #BigCenter (#Centrao), an alliance of parties that claim not to be left or right, has shown to align themselves more with the left, based on the policies they defend, bills they propose and back, their politics, and their statements, so the 'center' claim is highly debatable. The Patriot Party's president, #AdilsonBarroso, stated, “IT'S A CENTER-RIGHT PARTY. IT'S NOT A RIGHTWING PARTY SO THAT NO ONE CAN SAY IT'S AN EXTREME RIGHTWING PARTY. NOBODY CAN SAY IT'S A RADICAL PARTY.” This statement seems to tell there's a mentality from top down that implies Bolsonaro and his allies and supporters are radicals, extremists. He goes on, “IT'S A PARTY ALSO COMPOSED BY PEOPLE WHO DOESN'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING ABOUT RIGHT AND LEFT. IT'S A PARTY THAT RECEIVES EVERYBODY.” This other one kind of nullifies the previous one, giving Bolsonaro no assurance he's going to have a party any better than the one he joined to ran in 2018, the #PSL, which got very devided right after he was elected, forcing him to leave it. The reason for the PSL's fiasco was the same lack of clarity on who they would allow to join them, but they can't be blamed fully because everything happened in a hurry. This time, Bolsonaro had more time to plan better what to demand from the party he's going to join, but although the situation now is better than in 2018, it's far from good enough as of this moment.
  • #SupremeCourt (#STF) Justice #RosaWeber authorized an investigation into if President #Bolsonaro prevaricated in the case of the #Covaxin vaccine (we covered this case on a previous date). According to lawyer, professor, and state congresswoman #JanainaPaschoal, Justice Weber is abusing of her power, since an investigation into prevarication could only take place if Bolsonaro had been criminalized for a wrongdoing, which he hasn't.
  • #SupremeCourt (#STF) Justice #CarmenLucia will decide if the president of the #Congress, Rep #ArthurLira, can be forced to “at least” analyze one of the impeachment requests against President #Bolsonaro.
  • The Federal Police indicted Senator #RenanCalheiros for receiving 1 million reals from the builder #Odebrecht during the time he was the president of the #Senate in order to help approve a bill that would benefit the company. The charges are passive corruption and money laundering. Calheiros is one of the members of the committee on the mismanagement of money during the #pandemic (#CPIdaCOVID, #COVIDProbe). People joke about Calheiros by saying he is a record breaker for number of dismissed charges. Will these latest two be?
  • The left went to the streets across the country to protest against the #Bolsonaro administration. The attendance was low in most places, but it was not bad in #SaoPaulo. There were acts of vandalism and violence. So much so that some of the big leftist media couldn't ignore, but they still found some way to minimize them. They avoided mentioning the rallies were in favor of the left and antigovernment, even though the images spoke for themselves (no Brazilian flags, a lot red, pro-#Lula's signs and Bolsonaro-as-a-genocide banners, hammer and sickle paintings, #BLM and #Antifa groups), kind of leaving for the reader that hadn't seen enough images to guess who these people were and, if they were a group, what group was. It couldn't be ignored as is usual because the Military Police of São Paulo tweeted updates on the rally constantly, and they showed the acts of vandalism, among them, spreading trash on the street, setting fire blockades, doing graffiti on bus stops, breaking windows and setting bank agencies on fire, breaking the windows of a #Hyundai car dealer. When it comes violence, subway guards were harassed, some police officers were attacked with molotov cocktails, one picture shows three to five police officers (the picture is not so clear) standing together and holding their shields to protect themselves from stones and garbage thrown at them, fireworks also thrown at them, a big rock thrown and hitting a police officer who had to receive help, protesters swinging bars at them. #PSDB, one of Brazil's biggest parties, condemned the violence and the vandalism, and stated that they reprove both extremisms. PSDB was the stablished opposition to the left between the re-democratization process in 1988 until Bolsonaro's election. In the last 3 years prior to him running, it started to become clear and to spread fast that PSDB has always been what #RINOs have in the #UnitedStates, so they took advantage of these violent rallies to claim they are moderate. We don't think many Brazilians are buying that. #DaniloGentili, a Brazilian comedian that supports the left, tweeted, “CONGRATS TO THE PROTESTERS FOR MAKING PRO-BOLSONARO PROPAGANDA,” referring to the fact that the violence and vandalism didn't weaken the public perception of him, but strengthened it. Bolsonaro tweeted, “NO ESCALATION OF [THE INTENT TO] AUTHORITARIANISM OR 'ANTIDEMOCRATIC' ACT WILL BE MENTIONED. NO ALERT TO A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY WILL BE MADE. NO SEARCHES AND NO ARRESTS WILL BE MADE. NO SECRECY WILL BE DISCLOSED. REMEMBER: IT HAS NEVER BEEN ABOUT HEALTH OR DEMOCRACY. IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT POWER!” The protesters never did any social distancing. A news host on #GloboTV, the biggest TV network in Brazil, said on Sunday, “THE RALLIES WERE PEACEFUL ALL ACROSS BRAZIL. THERE ARE NO REPORTS OF CONFLICTS.” The #UniversityofMackenzie, in SP, a private institution known for provinding a good quantity of scholarships to people with no means, was also vandalized by the people who say they defend the disadvantaged. #CNNBrasil was criticized for their hypocrisy for posting about people not respecting social distancing in bars and restaurants in #RiodeJaneiro after spending a good deal of the Saturday until Sunday evening posting dozens of material about the rallies without ever criticizing their attendees for not doing social distancing.

  • In #SaoPaulo there is this area were many crack addicts get together to use this and other drugs. It's a skid row, it's called #Cracolandia ('Crackoland'). Despite all the governor's and mayor's virtual signaling, nothing's been done there to prevent agglomeration. You see no police officers dispersing or arresting people there; no social workers, no volunteer doctors and nurses,... #covid #doria
  • The #SupremeCourt (#STF) already got the majority of the judge-ministers to agree on renewing the power of the states to decide over their health measures regardless of the gov't recommendations. Only one judge-minister hasn't declared his side yet, #KassioNunes, appointed by #Bolsonaro. The president was hopeful that the STF would not renew the states' autonomy. #pandemic
  • A city called #Guaraciaba, #SantaCatarina, is considering mandating #COVID infected (or suspected) people to wear a wrist band so they can be easily identified and kept from crowding places. If this idea goes ahead, citizens will also be encouraged to inform on people who go out without their wrist band.
  • The State of #RioGrandedoSul entered phase black until the 21st, and during this time only essential products can be sold on supermarkets. Some widely circulated photos show a supermarket with carts and barricade tapes blocking certain aisles. #covid
  • #RiodeJaneiro's mayor #EduardoPaes is going for a new #lockdown, and now his order says that bars and restaurants must be closed after 5pm. The association of this kind of business predicts 1 thousand people will be losing their jobs for every week they are closed.
  • “ESSENTIAL SERVICE IS ANY ONE THAT'S NEEDED FOR THE BREADWINNER OF THE FAMILY TO PUT FOOD ON THE TABLE!” President #Bolsonaro on #Twitter.
  • The Dept (Ministry) of Education sent a letter to universities saying that political manifestations by professors will result in notifications and can lead to punishments. In response, 25 regional attorneys offices sent a letter to the Citizen Rights' Attorneys Office asking it to reinforce and clarify the need to respect #freedomofexpression, even inside educational institutions and when expressed by faculty members.
  • The #COVID relief bill was approved by the #Senate, and if the spending doesn't surpass 44 billion reals, it won't be subjected to strict fiscal rules. On the other hand, the gov't was able to add new fiscal regulations for future general spending in this bill. Apparently, the strategy was, “here's 44 billion for you to make your party, as long as this is the last one.” Will it work?
  • Last year, #Bolsonaro's first reaction to the news of cities and states and companies forcing the vaccination was, “MANDATORY VACCINATION, ONLY OVER MY DEAD BODY!” Now, the gov't is buying a lot of vaccine doses, and it won't take longer until there are enough vaccines for the whole population. Will Bolsonaro still do anything to prevent people from being forced to take the vaccine? #covid
  • The Attorneys Office of the State of #Goias issued a letter saying that they are for the use of #hydroxychloroquine and #ivermectin for #COVID prevention. Attorneys Offices have been criticized for not expressing or taking too long to express their position regarding this and governors' and mayors' #abuseofpower by sending the police to arrest law-abiding citizens and to shut down businesses.
  • #SaoPaulo governor #Doria ordered 14 more days of lockdown. His #COVID Contingency Center secretary said that it should be “at least” that number. São Paulo's secretary of health, on the other hand, is not in agreement with Dória's decision and said, “WITH THE LOCKDOWN, PEOPLE WILL DIE OF HUNGER.” In #Bahia, the governor extended the lockdown (and curfew) till April 1st. Regarding to new and to the extending of lockdowns and curfews, #Bolsonaro said, “IF I HAVE THE POWER TO DECIDE, I HAVE MY OWN PLAN AND IT'S READY TO BE PUT IN PLACE, BUT I NEED TO HAVE THIS AUTHORITY. [...] IF THE #SUPREMECOURT (#STF) UNDERSTANDS THAT THE MANAGEMENT OF THIS CAN FALL INTO THE GOV'T'S HANDS, [...] I AM READY TO PUT MY PLAN IN PLACE.” Curiously (and tragically), São Paulo is not increasing the quantity of buses, and train and subway cars in order to allow for proper social distancing.
  • #Brazil's GDP fell 4.1% during the #pandemic, being the most negative since 1996. The result, though, was better than what the #IPEA predicted (5%), #XPInvestments predicted (6%), the #OECD predicted (6%), and the #IMF predicted (9.1%). Compared to some other countries, Brazil did worse than the #UnitedStates (3.5%), for instance, but less worse than #Japan (4.8%), #Germany (5%), #France (8.2%), the #UnitedKingdom (9.9%), and #Spain (11%). Considering that Brazil has quite a precarious health system, that the #SupremeCourt (#STF) granted the states power to put health measures in place regardless of the gov't'l recommendations—thus leading many states and cities to go for lockdowns—and that many mayors and governors have been antagonizing the president by just doing to opposite in order to wear off #Bolsonaro's image, it did not do that bad. A poll by the media company #JovemPan asking who was the main responsible for this GDP fall—and got 35 thousand votes—shows that 96.8% believe it was mayors' and governors'. #covid #coronavirus
  • Leftist comedian #DaniloGentili wrote in a tweet, “I WOULD ONLY BELIEVE THIS COUNTRY CAN BE SAVED IF THE POPULATION GOT INTO THE CONGRESS RIGHT NOW AND PUNCHED EVERY CONGRESSPERSON THAT'S DISCUSSING [IN FAVOR OF] THE [SPEECH] IMMUNITY BILL.” Some congresspeople, seeing the chance to put the #SupremeCourt (#STF) on the wall due to its decision to arrest Congressperson #DanielSilveira for a #thoughtcrime, are demanding the STF orders Gentili's arrest. Judge-minister #AlexandredeMoraes, who alone decided for Silveira's arrest, asked the Attorney-General #AugustoAras (appointed by #Bolsonaro) for his word on this matter. Moraes might be trying to dilute his responsibility and raise animosity in Congress, since Aras' support for Gentili's arrest will please some groups in Congress and angry others, and if he goes against it, it will please and anger opposite sides.
  • A police commissioner who cooperated with the #LavaJato operation was processed and eventually punished when he denounced that some of the Lava Jato investigative tactics were illegal. This commissioner, #MarioFanton, accused the operation of illegally wiretapping and of covering another Lava Jato commissioner, ErikaMarena, who forged a testimony. Marena is one of the responsibles for ordering the illegal wiretappings. And, #DeltanDallagnol, impressed and excited with the popularity #LavaJato commissioners and prosecutors were having, started discussing opening a company to make money giving lectures. In one of the leaked messages he wrote, “LET'S ORGANIZE CONFERENCES AND EVENTS, OK? THIS IS A GOOD WAY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR NETWORKING AND VISIBILITY.” [...] “BEFORE TAKING STEPS TO OPEN THIS COMPANY, WE SHOULD HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN AND A CLEAR VIEW OF EACH ONE'S EXPECTATIONS. FOR THE BUSINESS PLAN, WE SHOULD LOOK UP FOR THE LATEST EVENTS AND PRICES.” In another part, he explains that they'd better set up their company as an NGO institution and have a professional company organize the events and charge for the lectures, so they could receive the money in a different way, thus avoiding legal questionings and the negative repercussion with the public.