• SUPER SHORT: 1/13: The Minister of Citizenship #JoaoRoma announced the launch of a new welfare program in November. The ideia behind it is to provide with more “TOOLS” for the recipient to get out of it. 2/13: Brazil's #GDP growth and the #inflation in 2021, at this moment, is predicted to be 5.3 and 5.9 percent respectively. In May, the GDP was predicted at 3.5%. 3/13: The gov't is testing the delivery of educational material to some cities by ships and boats, 430 tons, and is expecting to save costs and reach places faster. 4/13: #Highschool in Brazil should start changing in 2022 by offering four sets of curriculums for the student to choose from depending on the area of interest. This will be implemented in three 1-per-year phases in 4 out of 176 thousand public schools. 5/13: President #Bolsonaro's next motorcycle ride should be in the State of #Amazon. 6/13: We don't know if #China took the opportunity of the attention the protests in #Cuba brought to their Marxism-based economic/political system, but their Embassy in Brazil tweeted, “THE #SOCIALISM WITH CHINESE FEATURES PROVED TO BE A SUCCESS, FITTING CHINA'S NATIONAL INSTERESTS AND THE TIMES. OCCIDENTAL POLLS SHOW THAT 90% PLUS [OF THE POPULATION] HAVE SHOWN TO BE PLEASED AND SUPPORT THE #CCP AND THE GOVERNMENT, THE HIGHEST RATE IN THE WORLD.” 7/13: General #BragaNeto was summoned to give explanations to the #Congress for a note released by the #ArmedForces criticizing the #COVIDProbe (#CPIdaCOVID) committee for them wanting to hear him without any formal accusation, stating, “THE ARMED FORCES WON'T ACCEPT AN UNGROUNDED ATTACK ON INSTITUTIONS THAT DEFEND DEMOCRACY AND THE FREEDOM OF THE BRAZILIAN PEOPLE.” 8/13: #Congress approved nearly tripling the public funding for the political parties' general expenses and for their campaigns in 2022. The proposed nearly-6-billion-real funding bill now heads to the #Senate. 9/13: The minimum salary in #Brazil should increase from the current 1,100 to 1,147 reals in 2022. Since the beginning of the #Bolsonaro administration until this year, it rose 10.2%. In the previous 3 years it rose 13.4%. 10/13: The #PTParty of #SantaCatarina appealed to the #SupremeCourt (#STF) for the end of a state ban on the use of made-up neutral language. 11/13: #Congress was going to vote on the bill for the addition of paper trail to the voting machines Friday, but due to lack of quorum, only 2 to go, it was postponed for August 5th. 12/13: Last Sunday, President #Bolsonaro attended another motorcycle rally, this time in #PortoAlegre. The attendance was very good. 13/13: President #Bolsonaro confirmed #AndreMendonca as his choice to take #MarcoAurelio's seat as #SupremeCourt justice. Aurelio left his position last Monday after 31 years of service. Mendonça has now to speak in the #Senate.
• Congresswoman #PaulaBelmonte, DF, saw her bill for lowering congresspeople's salary benefits be approved in #Congress. It's now heading to the #Senate. A bill like this to pass is unthinkable, but it's explained due to its limited and timid effects, since it will only limit the benefits of what is called 'super salaries,' affecting a tiny percentage of government officials, but this is positive step in the right direction nevertheless.
• Marcos Roberto Correia da Silva (we will refer to him as #MRCS) is a hacker and worked with the hacking group #VandaTheGod. He and his team, composed of 6 others, some from other countries, were able to invade several government websites and break into systems. According to him, it was all with the purpose of protesting, never to steal data. Among the websites they hacked were the #ArmedForces', the #MinasGerais Police Force's, the #Senate's, and the SupremeJusticeCourt's (#STJ's, not to be confused with the #SupremeCourt [#STF]). He was in jail for some time and, as soon as he left jail in August last year, he reengaged in hacking, and since 2020 was city elections, he and his team took the chance to hack the #ElectoralSupremeCourt (#STE) website in order to get access to the voting system, and they did, resulting in the vote count to be interrupted for a couple of hours. He was identified by an American-Israeli technology company called #CheckPoint, arrested and is currently in jail. Congressman #FilipeBarros, who is the reviewer of the paper trail bill, interviewed him. MRCS stated that many of the hackers that he had contact with are Iranians, and also that the vulnerabilities on government websites are big and the consequent invasion into systems is not hard. He said that changing the final result of an electronic voting electoral system like ours is not easy, but it is relatively easy to change the vote that's being transmitted from the voting stations to the #TSE, since the system has to go online at some point to collect the data from across the country.
• Now and then, some famous Brazilian artists engage in a campaign against the #Bolsonaro administration. The reason is the change the Ministry of Culture is bringing to the #RouanetLaw, a law that was created with the purpose of subsidizing small artists. Over time, the left started to use this law to fund big artists, artists that don't need its money to make money, since they are good and famous enough to attract a good audience. It seems to have paid off. Despite the gov't wanting to give the money to those who have little to no means, some artists engaged in another round of criticism, even recording a song that was mostly disliked. Absolutely nothing he's doing is good for them, corruption is as big as before he was elected, and he is committing a genocide. #PauloCoelho, one of these it-doesn't-matter-what never-Bolsonaro artists, quite famous worldwide and whose wealth allowed him to live away from Brazil since 2007, tweeted in 2016, “IF IT WERE UP TO ME, THEY COULD END THE ROUANET LAW, BECAUSE IT'S ALL ABOUT THE WEALTHY HELPING OUT THE WEALTHY. WE NEED A DIFFERENT LAW. THE CURRENT ONE IS FULL OF LOOPHOLES.” The law prohibits the funding of political projects, but this restriction was never followed to the letter. Coelho himself applied to get funding for a jazz festival in #Bahia recently, but the first time the name of the project was announced it read “FOR DEMOCRACY ANTIFASCIST FESTIVAL,” name that was soon dropped, but the nature of the project had already exposed. Coelho was denied the subsidy. Coelho didn't make his material fortune with the help of this law, his works brings him money from all around the world, and he's been living away from Brazil for quite a while, meaning he could look at and critize his home country without any pressure, so much so that he wrote that tweet. What could possibly have made him give up his freedom to speak honestly and engage in the it-doesn't-matter-what never-Bolsonaro campaigning? Some people believe him not receiving money from the Rouanet Law for this festival is not the only reason.
• Minister of Health #MarceloQueiroga made a statement that displeased rightwingers. “#FAKENEWS HAVE BEEN USED IN EVERY POSSIBLE WAY TO MANIPULATE, TO MISINFORM, AND TO HARM. REGARDING THE #VACCINE, IT'S EVEN MORE SERIOUS, BECAUSE FAKE NEWS CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THE PEOPLE'S DISBELIEF IN IT AND THUS MAKING THEM NOT WANTING TO GET THE SHOT AND NOT LETTING THEIR CHILDREN GET IT.” This is not the first time Queiroga implies he wishes that 100% of the population be vaccinated, but this latest statement is more troubling because, although it's the left that usually spreads fake news about the vaccine, he seems to be criticizing the right.
• #SaoPaulo governor, João #Doria, announced that he got #COVID for the second time, the first time was before he got the two doses of the Chinese #CoronaVac. He's working from home and claims he's not bad because of the vaccine. His doctor is #DrUip, who tried to hide from the public he (the doctor) took #hydroxychloroquine in 2020, but he eventually admitted to taking it. Dória has always been against it. Everything involving Dória's claims sounds suspicious to a lot of people. Many doubt he's never taken that medicine, many doubt he's ever got the CoronaVac shots. Many doubt he's ever telling the truth or all of it when it comes to this subject. #pandemic
• After the #ElectoralSupremeCourt (#STE) started trying to contact people in charge of #Telegram to demand them to disclose users' information and messages and also to demand that they limit the number of contacts a group can have and the number of people a message can by share with, the #COVIDProbe (#CPIdaCOVID) is also trying to reach out to them. The real reason behind these attempts is to limit its operation in #Brazil, given it was the large sharing of information on WhatsApp that greatly helped Bolsonaro get elected. Telegram allows a group to have 200 thousand members, WhatsApp only 256 members. WhatsApp's unsafe environment for rightwingers makes them vulnerable to being quickly censored and informed on because of a Supreme Court order.
• The #SupremeElectoralCourt (#TSE) will judge a request for the nullification of the election of President #Bolsonaro due to irregularities during his campaign. The argument is that the Bolsonaro campaign team was financing mass sharing of messages on #WhatsApp. An investigation on this has been ongoing since his election, but nothing has been proven, but on the contrary, the opposition was doing this. The name of the investigation is #InqueritodasFakeNews (#FakeNewsProbe). The #SupremeCourt (#STF) is responsible for the investigation and nobody (including lawyers/attorneys) has had access to the content of the process in order to provide the accused parties with a proper defense. Regardless, TSE's still seeking to give #Congress grounds for an #impeachment process based on this messy investigation by the STF.
• President #Bolsonaro went to hospital on the 14th after he didn't feel well in the morning. He was first taken to a military hospital. Bolsonaro was presenting a persistent hiccup in his videos. His doctor said this was due to complications from the surgeries he went through because of his stabbing, resulting in some obstruction in his intestine due to kinking. He needed further exams and maybe undergo another surgery. Because of this he had to go to #SaoPaulo where he was taken to the ICU, and he was breathing and being fed through tubes as a precautionary measure to avoid liquid from accumulating in his stomach and go up and get into his lungs. His intesting got unobstructed without the need for surgery and the tubes were removed on Friday. Ex-congressman and now president of the #PTBParty (and notoriously loved and hated by the right), #RobertoJefferson, tweeted, “LEAD. HIGH DOSES OF LEAD IN PRESIDENT #BOLSONARO'S BLOOD. HOW DID IT GET THERE? FOOD. THE SCOUNDRELS TRIED [TO KILL HIM] AGAIN. [...]” Bolsonaro's doctor hasn't confirmed the information and nobody knows yet where Jefferson got this from. It's worth mentioning that Bolsonaro said he was going to show proof this last Thursday during his weekly live that #electionfraud exists, but didn't do it due to this health problem, fueling the belief of food poisoning with the purpose of stopping him from doing so. On Friday Bolsonaro was better and taking walks in the hospital. Yesterday, he was eating without the tube―soft food. Today he was released from hospital.
• President #Bolsonaro's possibility of running in 2022 as a #PatriotaParty member seems to be over. The party was divided and its president was reluctant to let Bolsonaro take control of it, which is one thing he demands. Now there are the #PTBParty, the #PPParty, the PLParty, and the #MulherBrasileiraParty ('#BrazilianWomanParty') left for him to reach a deal.
• The rules for the bid for the #5Gtechnology will be voted in mid August. When questioned about Chinese companies participating in the bidding process due to security concerns, Minister of Communications #FabioFaria said it's telecommunication companies that will bid, not equipment makers, meaning they will be the ones to answer for using equipment that fails to comply with privacy regulations. This means #Huawei and/or other Chinese companies will very likely operate in Brazil in large scale. He said that the 5G network used by essential governmental agencies and institutions will be isolated from other 5G networks. Brazil is part of a group of countries who signed an agreement with the US in order to better protect their gov't'l communication network systems from #China. The 5G technology is expected to be working in some cities by the end of this year and in all 27 states by July next year.
• President #Bolsonaro was supposed to have had a meeting with the presidents of the other powers, #SupremeCourt (#STF), #Congress, and #Senate, to discuss power interference so that no one crosses the constitutional line. The STF has been criticizing the way Bolsonaro addresses them, and he criticizes the STF's explicit political activism. The presidents of Congress and Senate avoid explicitly taking sides, but since Bolsonaro's criticism is about words and the STF's activism is about rulings, their “neutrality” only favors the STF.
• A lawyer called #PauloFaria requested the General Attorney's Office that #SupremeCourt (#STF) Justice #AlexandredeMoraes be arrested for in flagrante offense under the charge of ongoing psychological torture against Congressman #DanielSilveira since February, the only kind of offense a Justice-Minister can be immediatly arrested by a different power. If you are not familiar with his case, Silveira was arrested by Justice De Moraes after he posted a video harshly criticizing the #SupremeCourt. When Silveira was arrested, his bail was set to 100,000 reals. He didn't have the money, but supporters and friends quickly raised his bail. When De Moraes learned the money had been raised, he ordered the bank account where the money was to be closed and his bail could no longer be paid. Silveira has never been judged, which means the closed account, the impossibility of his bail being paid, and his continued arrest are being considered a (psychological) torture provoked by Justice De Moraes. For as long as Silveira is not judged, the bail is supposed to be acceptable, but De Moraes changed the accusation to non-bailable based on the argument that his video being online (it doesn't matter where) is proof of an ongoing in flagrante and thus he can't be freed. De Moraes ordered that the president of the Association of Brazilian Lawyers/Attorneys opened a disciplinary process against Faria. Another crime De Moraes allegedly committed was putting Silveira in prison right from the start, which could not have happened until #Congress had voted for punishing him. Another alleged crime was the fact that De Moraes could not have him arrested without a warranty from the Public Prosecutors' Office.
• Demonstrators gathered in #Brasilia last Friday in support for lifting the ban on possessing and carrying guns. The event was called 'Second #ProGunsforFreedomAct' ('Segundo #AtoProArmaspelaLiberdade'). Among other politicians, Congressman #EduardoBolsonaro was present. The attendance was good.
• “THE FRAUD IS AT THE #TSE (#ElectoralSupremeCourt), JUST SO IT'S CLEAR. THIS HAPPENED IN 2014. WE [CONGRESSPEOPLE] WERE ALLOWED TO SEE THE STATISTICS MINUTE BY MINUTE. OBVIOUSLY, YOU [THE PEOPLE] DIDN'T HAVE ACCESS [TO THAT]. DURING THE SECOND ROUND, #AECIONEVES WAS UP THERE AND #DILMAROUSSEFF [WAS] WAY BEHIND. AS TIME PASSED, THEY STARTED TO GET CLOSER UNTIL THEY HIT EACH OTHER. [AT THIS MOMENT, WHEN THEY HIT EACH OTHER] WE HAD 271 MINUTE-BY-MINUTE OF UPDATES SAYING 'DILMA AHEAD,' 'AÉCIO AHEAD,' 'DILMA AHEAD,' 'AECIO AHEAD.' IT WAS LIKE FLIPPING A COIN AND GETTING HEADS THIS TIME AND TAILS THE NEXT ONE EVERY SINGLE TIME FOR 271 FLIPPINGS. [...] THE POLLING COMPANIES, ALSO FRAUDULENT, [IS] SHOWING THE NINE FINGERS [#LULA] AHEAD [IN A SIMULATION]. WHAT FOR? SO THAT HE CAN BE CONFIRMED BY A FRAUD BY THE TSE. [...] IF WE WANT ONE MORE WAY TO GIVE TRANSPARENCY [BY ADOPTING THE PAPER TRAIL], WHY IS JUSTICE #LUISBARROSO AGAINST IT? A #SUPREMECOURT JUSTICE; THIS IS A SHAME! THIS IS NOT ABOUT THE FACT THAT HE DEFENDS THE #ABORTION, THE FACT THAT HE WANTS TO LOWER THE AGE OF SEX CONSENT TO 12 YEARS OLD. A MAN WHO WANTS TO DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS, WHO DEFENDED THE ITALIAN MURDERER #CESAREBATTISTI. THIS IS THE MAN WHO'S IN CHARGE OF THE ELECTIONS. A GUY LIKE HIM SHOULD BE AT HOME OR SOMEWHERE ELSE. IF [FULLY] ELECTRONIC ELECTIONS ARE SAFE, WHY DON'T #JAPAN OR #SOUTHKOREA DO THE SAME? WHY DOESN'T THE WORLD DO THE SAME? IS IT BECAUSE WE ARE THE BEST IN TECHNOLOGY? IT'S OBVIOUS THEY WANT TO PUT BACK IN POWER THE SAME CRIME GANG OF ALWAYS.” President #Bolsonaro speaking to supporters on his daily stop between home and the #PlanaltoPalace last Monday.

• 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.

A news media outlet called #VEJA, known for its leftwing position, posting #fakenews and #misinformation more often than not, posted an article saying that the biggest criminal faction in #Rio, #ComandoVermelho, has been sheltering mercenaries with military experience from #Africa and #EastEurope to help train CV members in #Brazil.

The article says CV has over 5,000 rifles, 30,000 members, currently controls most of the drug business, and has dangerously grown in the neighboring states of #Acre (which borders #Bolivia and #Peru) and #Amazonas (#Colombia, #Peru, and #Venezuela).

One controversial thing about this article is the fact that it was based on information provided in a #WhatsApp group, and this group exposed personal information from an American, claiming that he's been involved in training CV members. He posted a video saying he's not doing that, that he's married to a Brazilian, also that he filed a report at the police, and finally he made an appeal to #Bolsonaro by offering military and #lawenforcement personnel training for free.

#riodejaneiro #cvermelho #unitedstates #americans #drugs