• During his weekly live, President #Bolsonaro showed a piece of news where it says that #SupremeCourt [#STF] Justice #RosaWeber asked for the disclosure of the phone communication of a medication company's lawyer due to a committee investigation on the #Covaxin vaccine purchase. If you want to know more about this case, it's today's first story. Bolsonaro criticized the fact the order for a disclosure happened in a matter of days into the investigation, while the disclosure of the phone communication of the lawyer of #AdelioBispo, the guy who stabbed the president in 2018 during his campaign, has still not been asked for. Adélio was poor, but immediately after the stabbing, an expensive law firm sent a team of lawyers for his defense on a private jet, with one of them giving an infamous interview, where he speaks in a jokingly manner and even sends a kiss. #stabbing
• A judge in #RiodeJaneiro, #RicardoCyfer, accepted a request from an #LGBT group called #ArcoIrisdaCidadaniaLGBT and ordered that the #CBF ('Brazilian Soccer Confederation) explained within two days or face an 800-real daily fine the reason why there's no shirt with the number 24. This number in Brazil is associated with homosexualism. There is this illegal-since-1947 game called #JogodoBicho (#AnimalGame) where a 'veado' (deer) is number 24, and a deer is associated with homosexualism. The office room number 24 of the #Senate was never occupied for years, and they decided to skip this number, just so you have an idea how this culture is old and spread across the country. There was some backlash and the number came back. #RodrigoPacheco, current president of the Senate, accepted to occupy the room 24. The CBF doesn't use this number because the jokes, the mockery, and the laughs can take a toll on a player's psychological state and thus their performance, it doesn't matter how much they avoid taking it personally and how much they believe most fans are just joking. The teasing is simply too great not to drive one's focus away. Some people suggested that if the CBF seems itself forced to add 24 against their will, they could adopt a conservative approach to numering their shirts, a simple sequence starting from 1. Since there are two teams and 11 players each, they'd never need a 24.
• President #Bolsonaro's statement on the committee on the mismanagement of funds during the #pandemic #CPIdaCOVID (#COVIDProbe), “THEY CAN'T HIT US. IT WON'T BE THROUGH LIES OR THROUGH A COMMITTEE COMPOSED BY SEVEN THIEVES THAT WILL REMOVE US FROM HERE. WE HAVE A MISSION AHEAD OF US, [WHICH IS] TO CONDUCT THE NATION'S DESTINY AND ZEAL FOR THE WELLBEING AND PROGRESS OF OUR PEOPLE. WE STILL LIVE HARD TIMES, AND I HAVE TOLD EVERYONE THAT A NATION'S GREATEST ASSET IS THEIR FREEDOM. [FREEDOM IS] MORE VALUABLE THAN OUR OWN LIFE, BECAUSE WITHOUT THE FORMER, WE WOULDN'T HAVE THE LATTER. I ONLY HAVE PEACE AND TRANQUILITY BECAUSE I KNOW THAT NOT ONLY DO I HAVE THE PEOPLE [ON MY SIDE], BUT ALSO THE #ARMEDFORCES COMMITTED WITH DEMOCRACY AND WITH OUR FREEDOM. REST ASSURED WE HAVE A MISSION AHEAD OF US AND WE WILL ACCOMPLISH IT IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY.”
• The tax revenue in May was the highest in 27 years and 70% higher compared to May of last year. Since the beginning of 2021, the increase is 21.42% compared to the same period of 2020. When it comes to #jobs, 280 thousand were created in May, and more than 1 million since January. #employment #bolsonaro
• Congressman #DanielSilveira, arrested by order of #SupremeCourt [#STF] Justice #AlexandredeMoraes (with the authorization of the #Congress) for recording a video harshly criticizing the justices, paid a 100-thousand-real bail. His party suspended him for two months. He could appeal the suspension, but decided not to. #censorship
• One #SupremeCourt [#STF] justice is going to retire this month, allowing President #Bolsonaro to appoint a new one, but senators from the opposition (and even some allies) are planning not to confirm his next pick until the end of the 2022 election, so that, in case he loses, a different president wouldn't be stuck with an appointed of his. Their excuse will be that they have other priorities to debate in the #Senate. The name Bolsonaro should be picking is #AndreMendonca, who was Minister of Justice from May 2020 to March 2021 and State General Attorney from January 2019 to April 2020, and again since April of 2021. Mendonça has so far proved to be a solid ally and to be able to shield himself from being pushed around and abused by the fake news media and the opposition, and this, along with the fact that he is a Christian and is widely endorsed by most of the Christian community leaders, is terrifying them.
• The presidents of 11 parties (#AVANTE, #CIDADANIA, #DEM, #MDB, #PL, #PP, #PSD, #PSDB, #PSL, #REPUBLICANOS, and #SOLIDARIEDADE) made a commitment during a video meeting to vote against the trail paper for the voting machines. This number of parties accounts for a majority needed to vote against it. The #ElectoralSupremeCourt (#TSE) even announced they already started the process of purchasing the voting machines for 2022 without the paper trail system, even before the vote, showing how confident the TSE is that the bill for the paper trail will be rejected, but this is also a way to increase the pressure on congresspeople to vote against it, since the purchase would have already been made by the time of the vote, meaning approving the paper trail would mean the money paid was wasted. In other words, the paper trail for 2022 is now out of question. #SupremeCourt [#STF] Justice #AlexandredeMoreas confined to four congressmen during a dinner last Monday that he thought they'd better make sure this issue didn't reach the STF in order to avoid further relationship deterioration between the institution and the executive power. The technology used in the current voting machines dates back to the 90's, and the fight against the voting machines without the paper trail dates back to the early 80's, when politician #LeonelBrizola won a lawsuit against an electronic vote in #RiodeJaneiro where he was able to prove there was fraud, with the company behind the voting machines recognizing it. He campaigned against voting machines until his death in 2004. This last Wednesday, De Moraes and another STF justice, #GilmarMendes, had a meeting with the leaders some those parties. Among the topics they discussed there were killing the paper trail bill early on in order to avoid it from getting to the #Senate or even the STF itself, and allowing 1000 voting machines to be audited before the elections instead of the usual 500. Bolsonaro expressed frustration during this weekly livestream on social media. He said he predicts the next election is going to be a mess, he won't allow that to happen, and urged the justices and the parties' presidents to rethink. TBB thinks Bolsonaro fails to act. Supreme Court justices interfering in politics like this seems unconstitutional, and this is just another unconstitutional act. We don't trying to convert them is the best course of action. #elections2022 #votingmachines #electronicvoting
• “BARROSO, IT IS A LIE THAT THERE WILL BE [VOTING ON] PAPER BALLOT. YOU KNOW THAT. A JUSTICE OF THE #SUPREMECOURT [#STF] IS NOT SUPPOSED TO LIE. SO LET'S TELL THE TRUTH, DAMN IT!” President #Bolsonaro commenting on #SupremeCourt's [#STF] Justice #LuisBarroso activism against the paper trail by lying when saying the change is to go back to paper voting only. #elections2022 #votingmachine #electronicvoting #paperballot
• President #Bolsonaro attended another motorcycle rally last weekend, this time in the city of #Chapeco, #SantaCatarina, and the attendance, again, was high. More than 10 thousand motorcycles.
• President #Bolsonaro found himself again in the middle of another nothing-burger scandal in the last week. He's accused of letting gov't officials to accept bribery during the purchase of the Indian vaccine #Covaxin, made by #BharatBiotech. This bribery was denounced by Congressman #LuisMiranda. He gave interviews showing an invoice where the amount for the purchase of the vaccine was much above what has been paid to other makers. It had 300,000 doses for the total amount of 45,000,000 reals, or 150 reals each dose (about 29 dollars). Comparatively, the #SputnikV, #Coronavac, #Pfizer, #Janssen, and #AstraZeneca/#Oxford, cost 13, 11, 10, 10, and 3.16 dollars respectively. Miranda's brother is Chief of Importation of the Logistics Department of the Ministry of Health, and he was allegedly pressed to overlook and to sign the invoice. Miranda was summoned to speak at the committee on mismanagement of funds during the #pandemic, called #CPIdaCOVID (#COVIDProbe). On this day, Miranda showed up wearing body armor and holding a Bible. During his hearing, no other name was mentioned besides his brother's, #RicardoMiranda (which we will refer to by his first name to avoid confusion). After the hearing, Miranda left the building without the body armor and without the Bible. Soon, he had to appear again now accompanied by his brother so that the latter could give the name of the person who pressured him to overlook and authorize the invoice. Not only did Ricardo gave no names, but he also made revelations that implicated his brother. He didn't authorize the invoice, it was corrected three days later, and the purchase of Covaxin was never made. One senator asked Ricardo if he had informed his brother about the correction and he said, “THE [VACCINE] COMPANY AND THE ADMINISTRATIVE [DEPARTMENT OF THE MINISTRY], YES [, I INFORMED THEM], BUT I DIDN'T INFORM MY BROTHER.” Another senator said that, by not letting his brother know that the invoice had been corrected, he led him to make a calumnious accusation. Ricardo responded, “I DON'T ANSWER FOR HIM.” Another senator asked him, “WERE YOU PRESSED TO ACCEPT THE [IRREGULAR] INVOICE?” Ricardo, “NO.” Senator, “DID ANYONE OFFER ANY ADVANTAGE OF ANY SORTS FOR YOU TO IGNORE POLICIES OR LOOSEN REQUIREMENTS NEEDED FOR THE IMPORTATION OF THE COVAXIN VACCINE?” Ricardo, “NO. THE ONLY DEMAND WAS THAT THE DOCUMENTATION SENT BY THE COMPANY HAD TO RECEIVE ALL THE PROTOCOLS BY #ANVISA [the Brazilian health regulatory agency].” Then, another senator, #OmarAziz, asked, “ARE YOU [Miranda] SAYING THE PRESIDENT KNOWS WHO WAS THE PERSON BEHIND THIS [PRESSURE FOR BRIBERY]?” Miranda, “YES.” Aziz, “WHO IS THE PERSON?” Miranda, “I DON'T REMEMBER THE NAME OF THE CONGRESSPERSON, THE NAME WAS LOOSELY MENTIONED IN A CONVERSATION.” Aziz, “IF WE GAVE YOU SOME NAMES, WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO REMEMBER?” Miranda, “I DON'T REMEMBER, SIR.” Senator #RenanCalheiros asked Ricardo, “[DID] #PRECISAMEDICAMENTOS [Covaxin's representant in Brazil] TRY TO PUSH FOR THE PAYMENT [OF THAT AMOUNT FOR THAT QUANTITY] FOR THE COVAXIN?” Ricardo, “NO, NO.” Ricardo still tried to save Miranda's skin by saying that a colleague of his told him someone from the government asked for a bribe, but this friend never told him who this gov't person is and Ricardo didn't say who his colleague is so that the committee could summon him to get the gov't person's name. In a disclosed private conversation between Miranda and Bolsonaro on March 20th, where he tells the president about the invoice, Miranda says, “THE GOVERNMENT SPEAKS WITH MUCH TRANQUILITY—AND WHEN I SAY GOV'T I MEAN ONYX [#LORENZONI, President Bolsonaro's Chief of Staff]—THAT THE DOCUMENT WAS QUICKLY CORRECTED. IT WAS QUICKLY CORRECTED AFTER SEEING THE PRESIDENT.” In other words, Miranda was part of plan to try to get Bolsonaro accused of knowing about the invoice mistake, so that there could be grounds for an impeachment process, but the invoice was corrected 3 days later for the amount of 3,000,000 dollars, which then made the price per dose correct and the same as in 13 other countries, but still above all the other makers' vaccines; 15 dollars; and the purchase was never made. The plan to frame Bolsonaro was so bad that they didn't practice what his brother had to say during his hearing, and it did the opposite effect, botching the plan and making a fool out of Miranda. Precisa Medicamentos released a statement saying the negotiation process (which, again, was not approved) was entirely legal. The fake scandal was exposed, but Miranda still said there's something much bigger than [the scandal] that he can reveal, but many believe he's trying to drive the focus away from the mess he put himself into. 27 senators, though, still signed a resquest for the investigation on this nothing-burger scandal to extend for 90 more days, and they also want the #SupremeCourt (#STF) to get involved. All this noise about a documentation illegality that never happened for a purchase that never happened either. In February, Senator Aziz proposed a bill that would allow for states to be able to buy vaccines without a bid and ANVISA's approval of efficacy, and Miranda, during a radio interview not long ago, June 7th, said the #COVID Probe was all a farce, it was highly politicized, all about a political plan to take Bolsonaro down before 2022. Later this last week, while the two leaders of the committee had another person being heard, Miranda showed up out of nowhere and spoke to the ear of each of them both in front of everybody, which made some senators laugh in astonishment. Miranda was not even dressed properly and the security still let him be in the area and having access to the presidents, and the presidents didn't react badly, didn't reprimand Miranda, but rather listened patiently to what he was saying. He and Calheiros even shook hands.

• The city of #Paqueta, #RiodeJaneiro, is the first Brazilian city to vaccinate every single one of its citizens above 18 years of age. The current secretary (minister) of health, #MarceloQueiroga, said the vaccination is the hope against the Chinese virus. It's not clear what he means by “the hope,” if he means it is the hope for the ones who need or ask for it, or if he means for everybody regardless. If it's the former, he's being wise in the sense his words don't provide fuel for the leftist media to want to pressure and eventually destroy him. Which one could that be? #covid #pandemic
• Former Secretary (Minister) of Foreign Affairs #ErnestoAraujo is being investigated by the commission probe into financial mismanagement during the #pandemic. The commission asked for the disclosure of his phone communications. Besides the probe being related to the pandemic, #SupremeCourt (#STF) Justice #AlexandredeMorais denied a resquest to limit the disclosure to the time of the pandemic, meaning everything should be disclosed, ever since he was appointed minister in the very beginnig of the #Bolsonaro administration. Nearly everything that's disclosed from a gov't official ends up published by the leftist media, it's the incredible “anonymous” sources' capacity to get access to anything ruled by the STF, and the access (or leak) is likely to happen here, which can greatly damage Brazil's diplomatic image. #covid #diplomacy
• #SupremeCourt (#STF) Justice #RosaWeber ruled that the commission probe into mismanagement of financial help during the #pandemic cannot summon governors for a hearing. The other ministers will analyze her rule this Thursday, but there's not much hope for a reversal. #covid
• The biggest (and infamous) TV network #Globo and doctor #DrauzioVarella (whose statement “[#COVID] IS JUST A LITTLE FLU” and later attributed to President #Bolsonaro for quoting it, with the opposition using it to try to incriminate him) will have to pay 150,000 reals in reparations to the father of a child that was killed by a transexual. In one of his shows on Globo on March last year, Dr Varella interviewed a transexual called Suzy from inside a prison. The purpose of the interview was to humanize and bring awareness to this population. Suzy said he hadn't receive a visit in 8 years, not even from family members, he cried, and they hugged each other. This led to a nationwide commotion and many people volunteered to help Suzy fiancianlly and in other ways. Even children wrote him letters of support. Problem is, Suzy was the one who killed that father's boy and nowhere in the show Dr Varella let people know what took him to jail. The truth spread fast and the outrage was set. The father was enraged by how the killer of his son was being portrayed on TV, as a sensible, mistreated, and misunderstood person. The dad had to go through the pain of reviving his son's death, but now with the addition to having to swallow his son's murderer being treated so well on national TV. Dr Varella tried to defend himself by saying he didn't know about Suzy's crime, it was up to the show's staff to check that, and him not knowing about it was on purpose in order to avoid any bias or making him not get honestly involved with the criminal. Even if he was honest, the lack of awareness from his staff about the possibility of the public getting that information and their subsequent reaction was too great. By the way, Suzy also raped the boy before killing him. #transexuality #transexualism #lgbt
• President #Bolsonaro lost his cool during a visit to the city of #Guaratingueta, #SaoPaulo, to attend an #airforce graduation ceremony. Before arriving at the air force base, he stopped on the way, on the street, to talk to some supporters and take pictures with them. At this time, he was not wearing a mask. At the air force base, though, he was wearing it at all times he was filmed, indoors and outdoors. After that, he visited a public clinic that received federal fund to be transformed into a temporary space for treating #COVID patients. He was wearing his mask at all times there as well. At a certain moment during him taking questions from journalists about his visit and things related to it, though, a #CNN reporter interrupted him prompting him to say, “CAN I FINISH? ARE WE GOING TO HAVE TO INTERRUPT [THE INTERVIEW]? CNN, HUH? YOU PRAISED THE LEFTIST RALLY, THEY THREW FIREWORKS AT YOU AND YOU CALLED IT A PEACEFUL PROTEST.” He then proceeded to talk about freedom of choice for patients and doctors. Then, a #Globo reporter asked him, “YOU WERE ALREADY FINED IN THE STATE OF #SAOPAULO FOR NOT WEARING A MASK?” He goes, “WILL YOU WANT TO MAKE A DECENT QUESTION? ARE YOU FROM GLOBO? I WANT NO TALK WITH GLOBO.” He proceeded to be asked questions from another reporter about the investiment in Guaratinguetá and all was going well when the Globo reporter asked another question. “YOU GOT HERE WITHOUT A MASK” [before the commitments and while he was on the street to talk and take pictures with supporters, yes, but then never more.] This was enough to derail the interview. His expression of frustration was clear. He went, “I ARRIVE HOWEVER I WISH, I TAKE CARE OF MY LIFE. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO WEAR A MASK, DON'T WEAR IT. EVERYTHING I SAID ABOUT THE VIRUS, UNFORTUNATELY FOR YOU, WAS RIGHT. THE PREVENTIVE TREATMENT SAVED MY LIFE AND 200 MORE LIVES IN MY BUILDING. MANY JOURNALISTS CONFIDED TO ME THEY TOOK #HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE, #IVERMECTIN. WHY DON'T YOU ADMIT THAT? DO YOU THINK I'M GOING TO FOLLOW BONNER'S [a Globo editor and anchor] OR #MIRIAMLEITAO'S [a Globo's economy expert] OPINIONS? YOU WANT SOMETHING TO COVER? I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU ONE.” [He takes his mask off.] “I'M IN GUARATINGUETÁ WITHOUT A MASK. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW? THIS GLOBO IS A PIECE OF SH*T OF PRESS! YOU ALL ARE A TRASH OF A PRESS! YOU ARE EVIL JOURNALISM, AND YOU HELP NOTHING! YOU DESTROY THE BRAZILIAN FAMILY, DESTROY THE BRAZILIAN RELIGION [CULTURE], YOU ARE WORTHLESS! GLOBO IS WORTHLESS! GLOBO IS A TERRIBLE SOURCE OF INFORMATION! IF YOU DON'T WATCH GLOBO YOU DON'T HAVE THE INFORMATION, IF YOU WATCH GLOBO YOU HAVE #DISINFORMATION.” At this point, Congresswoman #CarlaZambelli, who was following him among others and is seen in the video at his left, started to take her mask off in a display of support. He goes on, “YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF FOR ACCEPTING TO DO GLOBO'S DISGRACEFUL JOB.”
• The Department (Ministry) of Health plans to ban the use of the Chinese #COVID vaccine #CoronaVac due to low efficacy. This was the vaccine the biggest advocate for lockdowns and social distancing and mass vaccination (and governor of #SaoPaulo) João #Doria was promoting. Its efficacy is so bad that even celebrities that are his supporters and open critics of President #Bolsonaro were reported trying to find for a hospital that was offering a brand other than the CoronaVac. #pandemic
• #NiceYamaguchi, a doctor who gave her testimony during a hearing in the probe commission on mismanagement during the #pandemic, is suing Senators #OmarAziz and #OttoAlencar for moral damages for how they treated her during her hearing on June 1st. It was really bad. Even some leftists, who are against her for her defending the use of hydroxychloroquine, cheered when she lost her job at #AlbertEinstein Hospital, and wish her to be investigated and punished, recognized the treatment was that bad. Yamaguchi is asking for 320 thousand reals in reparation and said she'll donate everything to cancer treatment hospitals if she wins. #covid
• #Folha is one of the biggest (leftist) news outlets in Brazil, and they reported that, according to leftist organization movements, a total of 750 thousand people distributed in 427 rallies, 366 cities (including 27 capitals), and 42 cities abroad in 17 countries are their numbers for last weekend's anti-President #Bolsonaro's rallies. They also reported that the rallies were peaceful. Anyone who's been following the right and the left rallies closely, either attending them or checking many sources for videos and photos, knows that this is tremendous fake news. It's not like manipulating small differences, but just gross misinformation. One of the headlines of an article of same news outlet reads, “FIRE SPOTS DON'T SPREAD, AND A PEACEFUL PROTEST CARRIES ON.” A Twitter user called #DiegoGarcia (user dimacgarcia) posted a thread on June 20th with 50 posts exposing all sorts of violence carried out by protesters in many different locations. One specific picture that was shared by leftist Congressman #PauloPimentel shows people packing an avenue in the city of #BeloHorizonte, but the picture is from 2016. To make things more outrageous, the leftist miniscule protests were given plenty of space in several other news outlets and on TV, with them saying the protestors were only concerned about sanitary issues and democracy issues. In reality, many fights, depredation, and littering were reported, and the attendee number was small. The rallies had many groups and big banners, which raised the suspicion that, as usual in the left, a great deal of them were financed and organized by political groups, organizations, and parties. In #RiodeJaneiro, besides the number of attendees not surpassing 3 thousand, based on an aerial picture, they are holding a massive banner, nearly a block long. This is unusual when a rally is truly an organic one, truly popular, because it's less coordinated, unless it's something big in the middle of an equally big rally. The disinformation media network is international, and several international news outlets spread the lies. And, there were the “stay home” and “wear a mask” and “don't agglomerate” that, during their protests, were mere recommendations, differently from a life-and-genocide matter when talking about the rallies attended by rightwingers. #pandemic
• After 900 days of presidency, the #Bolsonaro administration, seeking to diminish bureaucracy, mirroring #Trump, has already revoked more than 4,500 decrees.
• Due to the fact that President #Bolsonaro is very likely to drop current Vice-president #Mourao in the next run, this one is already in the talks to join a party and run for the #Senate for #RioGrandedoSul or for governor of #RiodeJaneiro. Bolsonaro and Mourão's relationship started to worn out early in the presidency due to Mourão's disastrous interviews, almost always expressing disagreeing views on Bolsonaro's key campaign promises, like bring guns back into the hands of law-abiding citizens, and on several other matters. Bolsonaro called him out several times. Mourão diminished the number of his interviews, but the few he does, the disagreement is still there. In spite of being a friend from decades, Mourão was called to be his vice at the last minute because the person Bolsonaro had in mind and everybody believed was going to accept, #JanainaPaschoal (a key figure in #DilmaRousseff's impeachment), refused to. After the elections, Paschoal turned against Bolsonaro, now making many people believe the change was good, but then, further on, she diminished her criticism and even praised the government.
• Once again, a #military makes one of those statements that make some Brazilians yawn. Minister-General #LuisCarlosMattos said during an interview for left-leaning news outlet #Veja that “THE OPPOSITION IS STRETCHING THE ROPE TOO MUCH.” He's referring to a possible military intervention. We say that some Brazilians yawn because this is not the first time a military officer releases a statement implying that some high power institution, the #Congress or the #Senate or the #SupremeCourt, is using their political and authority power to work against the wish of the people and to destabilize the government, and that this could result in a military action. We from TBB think that these statements are somehow disrespectful, especially after so much unconstitutionalities have taken place and nothing has happened. The military shouldn't be saying things gratuitiously or making repeated threats (like politicians do).
• Leftist Senator #RandolfeRodrigues, vice-chair of the pandemic probe wants summon representants of #Facebook and #YouTube to go to the hearing to explain why President #Bolsonaro was still not banned from their platforms, arguing that “#TRUMP WAS BANNED FOR MUCH LESS.” #pandemic #covid #socialmedia #censorship #bigtech
• The State General Attorney's Office requested the release of activist #SaraWinter and journalist #OswaldoEustaquio (among others), both of which had what many consider an unconstitutional arrest, since all the process related to their arrest, the accusation, the investigation, the arrest, the judgement, were all conducted by one single man, #SupremeCourt Justice #AlexandredeMoraes. The office also requested that the investigation on Congressman #DanielSilveira, also unconstitutionally arrested by De Moraes, be archived.
• By 42-37, the #Senate approved a bill for the privatization of #Eletrobras, but the bill is undergoing further changes in the Senate, so it should head back to the Lower House for the approval of the bill with the changes. Eletrobras is a state-run electric utilities company. Government allies fear these changes will diminish the effectiveness of the privatization bill, just as has happened to the #AdministrativeReform bill, where numerous changes and demands for sparing specific groups of public servants is rendering the scope of the reform narrower since most of the problem lies just on those who have the lobby power of thousands of unions across the country: public servants themselves.
• Former Governor of #RiodeJaneiro #WilsonWitzel was summoned to speak at the commission to probe politicians' actions during the #pandemic but he got an order from #SupremeCourt Justice #KassioNunes, appointed by President #Bolsonaro, to skip the hearing or, if he attended it, that he would be able to leave it at any time and he would also be exempt from making an oath. He decided to go, but before Senator #EduardoGirao finished asking him about the purchase of ventilators, the speaker interrupted him to say that Witzel was leaving the hearing. Later it was known that he decided to leave the hearing not because of that question, but because his staff told him during the hearing that he had been charged by a judge on this purchase. #covid
• #ANEEL (Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency) delayed the end of the protection against local energy companies cutting the power of residents due to late payment of energy bill by families whose members make half the minimum wage or less. 12 million Brazilians are eligible. #pandemic #covid
• “[THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL] IS OFFICIAL. WE DEFEND THE VACCINATION NOT TO BE MANDATORY. PEOPLE HAVE TO HAVE THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE WHAT IS THE BEST CHOICE ACCORDING TO WHAT THEY BELIEVE IS THE BEST FOR THEIR HEALTH, SO THE COUNCIL'S DECISION DOESN'T CHANGE AFTER THE #SENATE [VOTED IN FAVOR OF A #VACCINATIONPASSPORT],” said President of the Federal Medicine Council #MauroRibeiro. About the use of mask, though, he's in favor that it continues to be mandatory. #covid #pandemic
• The #Senate commission to probe the handling of the #pandemic heard the former Secretary of Health of the State of #Amazon #MarcellusCampelo. He left his position on June 7th after he was arrested by the federal police on the 2nd and his house was searched. The police was carrying out arrest and search warranties over the collapse of the health care system, with the state running out of rooms and ventilators, even with the state receiving financial help from the government. This is the first time someone related to a state is heard by the commission since it started about one and half months ago. The Governor of Amazon #WilsonLima was supposed to have spoken before him, but he was able to get an order from the #SupremeCourt (#STF) to avoid it. Campêlo's answers were evasive and he tried to blame the government. It's hard to believe, but the whole state of Amazon had one room prepared to receive #COVID patients when the pandemic started. Yes, only one. According to Campêlo, Lima was informed in July 2020 that there was going to be a shortage of oxygen, but Lima only signed a contract to buy more ventilators in November. In December 2019, Amazon had 319 million reals available for investment, in August of 2020 it reached 459 million, in December it was 478 million, and in March this year, 553. The probe is trying to find out why the state had a positive balance throughout all 2020 (and still has) and still spired into having the worse health crisis among all Brazilian states. #CarlosGabas, middleman for a deal made between a consortium composed of several Northeastern states and a company specialized in products made out of cannabis to sell #ventilators and never did, is someone the gov't allies want very much to speak at the hearing, but so far the commission is resisting to summon him. A contract Gabas intermediated with the state of #Alagoas and related to the pandemic also caused a multi-million real issue. Alagoas is governed by #RenanFilho, Senator #RenanCalheiros' son. Calheiros is the speaker of the commission, and even though one of Gabas' suspicious dealings involving money directed to fight the pandemic smells right in front of his son's office door, he has not summoned. The pressure from the people for Gabas to be heard has been good. Senate technicians reported overwhelming number of emails and calls in a short period of time asking for his hearing. It was more than 6,000 emails. So far, to no avail. #covid

#Bolsonaro just had his first chance to appoint a #SupremeCourt judge, but the choice wasn't so outright pleasing to his electoral base as was #AmyConeyBarrett in the #UnitedStates. They were waiting for a clearly conservative name, but the one he chose, #KassioMarques, was involved in some controversial rulings and has also had some connection to leftwing people, groups, and politicians. Many people on the right side reacted aggressively and showed strong disappointment.

The president goes live every Thursday night and on the last one he explained that many of the bad things rightwing people are accusing the judge of were not well explained and that the media was talking advantage of that to provoke discord. He also said that he knows Kassio and has had some interactions with him, and that contributed to his choice.

Three of the rulings that angered rightwingers: 👉 #CesareBattisti, an Italian that was hiding in #Brazil accused of killing 4 people back in #Italy, was denied deportation by the #STF (Supreme Court) back to Italy to pay jail time, and Kassio had a role in this, but Bolsonaro also explained that there was something to it, and that the truth is that Kassio didn't vote against his deportation; 👉 Another ruling that angered rightwingers was that he voted against a City Hall ruling against something related to the #LGBT agenda. In fact he did, but he did so so that there wouldn't be a precedent for cities to rule over anything independently of the gov't, because just as that city was voting against something from the LGBT agenda, other cities could do the opposite and the gov't wouldn't be able to do anything; 👉 He was against the #LavaJato ( #CarWash ) operation; 👉 He was against going to jail after judgement in the equivalent to the circuit court in the #UnitedStates, allowing the defendant to remain free until their case is judged by the Supreme Court.

One final factor that contributed to Bolsonaro choosing Kassio is the fact that he's a name that has more chances to be approved by the Senate. This one, actually, is the biggest factor. The president said that a name that is largely approved by his base wouldn't stand a chance given how dominated by the left the Senate still is.

There's one curious thing. Many on the left are not happy with Kassio's nomination, which could be proof that Bolsonaro's choice might have been a proper move at this moment.

#JairBolsonaro #USA