THE BRAZILIAN BOT

constitution

  • Seeking to change the tendency of human rights departments to focus only on making sure criminals don't have their rights violated, President #Bolsonaro will sign a bill creating the #NationalPolicyfortheRightsofVictimsofCrime in order to give equal or more attention and support to victims of crimes and to persons directly affected when the victim is mentally or physically disabilitated, or is murdered. This was one of Bolsonaro's campaign promises.

  • Minister of Economy #PauloGuedes is considering giving up from pushing for the #taxreform. The reason is the many changes that politicians are making in it, which, in the end, may make things worse than they already are.

  • The #GeneralProsecutorsOffice (#PGR) wants to know broad information on who is being financed, how much is being invested or received in donation, and how the money is to be spent during the rallies of September 7th. #TBBOPINION: This rally promises to be big, maybe even bigger than then last one, and President #Bolsonaro's foes are wasting no time in creating and inflating the narrative that an insurrection is imminent so that they can justify searches, arrests, seizings, and secrecy disclosures ahead of time with the intent to slow down the organization and discourage the attendance.

  • Investment company #XPInvestimentos and its biggest office, #AvelInvestimentos, are being sued in 10 million reals after the latter posted a picture where they gathered their employees for a photo on the roof terrace of the building where their office is located in #PortoAlegre, State of #RioGrandedoSul. The reason for the lawsuit is that few women and no people of color are spotted in the photo. #Brazil doesn't have any law that forces a private company to reserve positions for women and POC, but only for persons with disabilities, and it still depends on some factors, like the size of the company. The lawsuit also asks that the companies prove that they don't discriminate against women and POC by providing all sorts of documents and testimonies. But, they are open to a settlement. #TBBOPINION: According to the law, this lawsuit has no grounds, but given the fact the judges involved in labor cases tend to be less favorable to businesses, it won't be surprising if a judge at least drags this on for some time, which can keep the companies being portrayed in the media negatively, eventually leading them to want to settle, but the settlement per se is what the lawsuit seeks for, given that all the arguments used are—and we kid you not—philosophical. Once a settlement is reached, the lawsuit will open way to more lawsuits like it, which can be explored tirelessly by the “righteous” media, celebs, and politicians. Even companies will explore it in order to leap ahead in virtue signaling. The ultimate thing to happen is legistation. On the other hand, we the TBB suspect that this could even have been planned by XP itself, and why do we say this? XP has investments in organizations that support the left. One of them is the news outlet #OAntagonista, which has been antagonizing Bolsonaro since ever (and also his administration). XP has also released a statement saying that ex-president #Lula did not represent a threat to #Brazil's economy if he's elected in 2022. If one is not a foreigner or is not limited to only getting the news from liberal sources is aware that Lula's popularity is incredibly low, his reputation is bad, and his administration is a disaster when it comes to long-term plans. Based on all that, it's hard to understand how such an investment firm would defend Lula, and worse, express themselves at this point, when elections haven't even started. So, a company that takes the initiative leap so much ahead in defending a future Lula administration doesn't seem to have much awareness regarding morality and, considering this, could very well plan being caught in order to make news out of invisible racism just so they can have the spotlight and get ahead with their virtue signaling, at the same time that they pave the way for a fraud-enabled Lula presidency, and be an active actor in helping advancing their Marxist agenda by trying to legislate on forcing companies to diversify. Okay, our suspicion is a theory, maybe a wild guess, but when it comes to the left, nothing is far-fetched enough.

  • The #MilitaryClub released a statement saying that they will be attending the September 7th rallies. “THE MILITARY CLUB [...] STATES, ONCE AGAIN, THEIR SUPPORT FOR BIG NATIONAL AND DEMOCRATIC CAUSES. WE WILL BE TOGETHER ON THE HOLIDAY OF SEPTEMBER 7TH, #INDEPENDENCEDAY, AT 10AM, ON #COPACABANABEACH, NEXT TO GAS STATION 5.”

  • President #Bolsonaro, through the General Attorney's Office, requested the president of the #SupremeCourt to nullify any investigation started by a justice of the court on their own on the basis of #fakenews. According to the Article 43 of the Court's rule, a justice can only and directly start an investigation if it happened in its facilities, otherwise they have to ask the department responsible for it, which is the Public Attorneys Office or the Prosecutors Office. Bolsonaro's request also points out the Article 5, Items 4 and 9, and the Article 220, of the #Constitution, which cover the right to free speech, ruling out the possibility of prosecution of a regular citizen based on them telling a fake story. Justice #AlexandredeMoraes, the first time it happened, in 2019, argued that the house rule was justified because they could have access to a fake story from a phone or computer inside the Court, as if the author was inside the court, and yet, that it would be a permanent in flagrante delicto for as long as the content was available online. #TBBOPINION: Although the STF's argument is ridiculous, we see as even more ridiculous the time Bolsonaro has taken to react to such a blatant unconstitutional act. It's worth pointing out that this delay in taking action resulted in inumerous other problems across the country since 2019, like citizens being arrested and their businesses being closed indiscriminately, a journalist becoming paraplegic due to torture while in the hands of the federal police, and, more recently, Bolsonaro allies and supporters and rightwing media people and commentators being arrested and their income taken from them. None of them were accused of or proven guilty of any other crime besides the “crime” fake news (if there were fake news).

  • President #Bolsonaro vetoed the increase in the fund for the parties' campaigns from 1.8 billion reals in 2020 to 5.7 billion in 2022 in its entirety. This is certainly a move that hits most parties head on, but one which the majority of the population supports. This might be a signal that he's breaking up with his attempt to compromise in order to reach some tolarable level of support from both the #Congress and the #Senate after these did not approve the addition of the paper trail to the voting machines. Congressmen and senators were expeting that he was going to either sign it or veto it in part, so that a smaller increase, to 4.7 billion, could be approved. #TBBOPINION: We think that Bolsonaro lost this battle with the #BigCenter (the most numerous party coalition) regardless. Through constitutional means, Bolsonaro can't get the paper trail bill to pass without the houses, but they can still increase the electoral budget through other means by the end of the year, and, even if they don't manage to increase it all the way to the 5.7 billion, it's Bolsonaro who loses the most, since he can lose the election in 2022 if there's #electionfraud and, if that happens, the lack paper trail won't help him and, if he can't do anything now that he's in the presidency, what could he possible do out of it?

  • ? “ON THE 7TH [OF SEPTEMBER] WE'RE GOING TO START WITH A MILITARY CEREMONY AT 8, AT 10 WE'RE GOING TO BE HERE AT THE ESPLANADA. I SHOULD GIVE A SPEECH. I WON'T BE THREATENING ANYONE. I'M GOING TO BE IN #SAOPAULO DOING THE SAME. YOU REST ASSURED THAT WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A PHOTOGRAPHY FOR THE WORLD OF WHAT YOU WANT. I CAN ONLY DO SOMETHING IF YOU WANT IT.” President #Bolsonaro during his brief morning stop to talk to supporters. #TBBOPINION: Once again Bolsonaro implies he's going to take action if he feels the population wants it. In other words, and in this particular case, if the rallies are impressive enough for the world to see. He has done that before and people answered with big rallies, and he took no action. We think he should have interfered, removed #SupremeCourt Justice #AlexandreDeMoraes from power the first time he shocked the country with a blatantly multi-unconstitutional act in 2019, when he alone started an investigation out of the court's facilities (unconstitutional act 1) on the idea of #fakenews (unconstitutional act 2) and ordered, alone, search and arrest warrants (unconstitutional act 3). Other unconstitutional acts has followed. Brazilians are tired and allies and supporters are starting to fear the STF's unchecked abuse of power.

  • #SupremeCourt (#STF) Justice #AlexandredeMoraes, continuing with his aggressive offensive against President #Bolsonaro's allies and supporters, issued on Friday 20th arrest warrants (police did 13), and, among the ones that were a target were Congressman #OtonidePaula, singer #SergioReis, and truck driver organizer #ZeTrovao. The crime is “INCITING THE POPULATION AGAINST DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS” [similar argument used in the US against Trump supporters on January 6th; insurrection]. This is because of their harsh criticism towards the STF for their unconstitutional acts. None of them has a history of crime, except for their harsh ranting and for encouraging people to go to the streets on September 7th. Reis is a famous singer, well liked by most Brazilians, and never took any political instance publicly, except now. De Paula is a close and solid ally #Bolsonaro ally, constantly accompanying and travelling with him, and always voting as expected. His office in the #Congress was searched. Some of the subjects of the warrants are involved in organizing groups to attend the upcoming September 7th rallies, and they were ordered to stay 3,000 feet from the rallies, and the PIX number (a fast and simple Brazilian transfer system) of the #CoalizacaoProCivilizacao (Pro-citizen Coalition) movement, which was receiving donations to help spread word about the rallies and to help organize them, was blocked. “I USED TO SAY TO MY CHILDREN THAT THEY WOULD NEVER SEE THE FEDERAL POLICE, AT 6 IN THE MORNING, CALLING HIS DAD THROUGH THE INTERCOM OF HIS HOME. I PROMISED THAT TO MY CHILDREN AND I HAD A CLEAR MIND THAT IT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN TO ME, BECAUSE [I TOLD THEM] THAT THIS ONLY HAPPENS TO CROOKED POLITICIANS, BUT TODAY, AT 6AM, I HAD TO WAKE UP MY DAUGHTER AND SHE, SCARED, SAID 'WHAT'S GOING ON, DAD?' I SAID 'POLICE IS HERE AND YOU HAVE TO GO CHANGE.' YOU CAN'T IMAGINE THE EMBARRASSMENT OF HAVING YOUR CHILDREN AND WIFE IN SLEEPING CLOTHING AND THE POLICE ENTERING YOUR HOME, TRYING TO FIND ANYTHING ILLEGAL AND FINDING NOTHING, ALL IN THE NAME OF SOMEONE [Justice De Moraes] WHO DOESN'T WANT THIS COUNTRY TO BE WHAT WE ALL WANT IT TO BE,” said De Paula in an interview to #OsPingosNosIs. Twitter suspended Congressman De Paula's account citing “A LEGAL DEMAND,” likely an order from Justice De Moraes as well. #TBBOPINION: More blatant unconstitutional actions by De Moraes, and President Bolsonaro appeals to the president of the Senate, who's up to his neck in lawsuits in the hands of the STF, ready to be judged, to consider analyzing De Moraes impeachment. Ridiculous.

  • Something unusual was seen on the streets of #RiodeJaneiro. Although DVD is long gone for most people, a lot of Brazilians are poor and still rely on the practicity and simplicity of a DVD player connected to a TV set, or have some kind of internet limitation that lead them to use DVD's instead of going for a videostreaming service, and because of this, it's still possible to see street vendors selling pirate DVD's of movies and TV shows. Among the DVD's found with a street vendor was #BrasilParalelo, which is a conservative content producer focused on Brazilian history, and they had a good reaction when they learned about it. “WE JUST RECEIVED THIS PHOTO TAKEN IN RIO, AND YES, WE ARE VERY HAPPY.” Brasil Paralelo has reached dozens of millions of people in recent years with their well elaborated productions on Brazilian politics from a rightwing perspective. A lot of their content is available for free, so they believe that the content being sold is the free one (although they don't know for sure), and are glad that someone cares for poverty-stricken Brazilians learning a thing or two on politics.

  • The #CaixaEconomicaFederal (#Caixa, or #CEF), a state-run bank, showed the highest profitability during the first two years of the #Bolsonaro administration than all the 12 years of the left in power, even though it has had the lowest interest rate during Bolsonaro. Caixa has also stopped sponsoring a lot of things it did in the past, and it has limited the total amount of a single loan to 100 thousand reals in order to reach many more smaller companies and to diminish the possibility of bribery, since the amount to be paid in interest is too small for a public servant to risk. Before Bolsonaro, Caixa would give loans of hundreds of million of reals to a single company. During the first half of 2021, Caixa's profitability has already surpassed the entire year of 2020 and is the highest ever recorded by the bank.

  • “I DON'T WANT TO COME TO MY DAUGHTER LATER AND SAY THAT I HAVEN'T DONE ALL I COULD IN ORDER TO STOP A DICTATORSHIP. I BELIEVE THAT WE ALREADY ARE IN A DICTATORSHIP, BUT IT'S GETTING WORSE. I DON'T WANT TO TELL MY DAUGHTER, 'LOOK, I TRIED TO TALK, I TRIED TO REASON WITH PEOPLE WHO DID ATROCITIES.'” President #Bolsonaro's son #EduardoBolsonaro to a group of allies and #PTBParty people in a hotel in #Brasilia, referring to #SupremeCourt (#STF) Minister #AlexandredeMoraes, who has committed several unconstitutional acts since Bolsonaro took office, but also, in a lesser high degree, to STF Justice #LuisBarroso (also president and justice of the #ElectoralSupremeCourt [#TSE]). #TBBOPINION: We and most Brazilians don't see this endless hints of Bolsonaro using the 'moderate power' (the military) to change one, some, or the whole STF with good eyes, and this, along with no action before one abuse of power after the other by the STF, is only giving the left time to keep organizing, planning, encouraging each other, and intimidating Bolsonaro's allies and supporters. Differently from a company that could just do better and gets a new president whose role should be getting employees' sympathy and trust in order to make them do more, Brazil was like an unprofitable company run by thugs whose new president's role was NOT to get employees' sympathy and trust, but to crush and to kick the bad ones so that new people could get in. There is where Bolsonaro has been failing. He has managed to renew a lot personnel at the ministries' level, but the legislative and judiciary remain nearly intact. Of course, any intervention at the legislative power would be hard because there are hardly any constitutional grounds for that, but when it comes to the judiciary, he's more than justified to intervene. Several rulings that came out of the STF were considered unconstitutional nearly unanimously by law scholers, lawyers, and justices from across the country (let alone regular citizens). It's been three years, and it seems that Bolsonaro is trusting Brazil's economic prosperity, great financial health, no corruption scandals, and high insfrastructure development to guarantee his reelection, but just as happened in the US, people in charge of key positions of power were not dealt with with a big blow, and the electoral system, despite the huge amount of fraud evidence, continues to be in the hands of the people Bolsonaro should have already dealt with. Several times Bolsonaro has appealed for these people to check their conscience, has showed hope for their 'conversion' to morality, but we believe it's a waste of time and a mistake that might cost Brazilians a high price. It's the same mistake Trump made, but Bolsonaro has Trump and Republicans as examples to see where they failed, and has also had philosopher #OlavodeCarvalho giving him essential warnings. We don't see any option besides an intervention, and the more he waits, the more allies and supporters have their constitutional rights hurt and the less he does for the country. As this same Bolsonaro's son said in 2020, “IT'S NOT A MATTER OF IF [A RUPTURE AND SOME FORM OF INTERVENTION WILL HAPPEN], BUT WHEN.” One of the reasons Bolsonaro still haven't taken action, at least to remove Justice De Moraes, is that he doesn't want to be called an authoritarian, a dictator. But, the problem is that the ones calling him are the liberal media, which will do that regardless. They keep labeling him and prejudging him for future actions, and by doing so they make Bolsonaro try to do the opposite in order not to justify what they tell about him. It's a mistake. The liberal media is not what most Brazilians think, just as the American liberal media are not what most Americans think, so if we surrender to them, live to defend ourselves from their defaming and calumnious narrative; we are playing the losers even before losing.

  • President and vice-president of the #PTBParty in #SaoPaulo denounced #SupremeCourt (#STF) Justice #AlexandredeMoraes to the #InterAmericanCourtofHumanRights for the unconstitutional arrest of #PTBParty President #RobertoJefferson. An #IACHR rule can take too long of a time to come out. Jefferson is the third Brazilian that appealed to them due to an unconstitutional act by the STF. Before him there were journalist #OswaldoEustaquio in early 2021 (who end up paraplegic while in jail) and ex-Minister of Education (first President #Bolsonaro's) #AbrahamWeintraub in 2019 (who had to “flee” to the #UnitedStates), and there has been no ruling on their cases yet.

  • #SupremeCourt (#STF) Justice #CarmenLucia asked General Attorneys Office Minister #AugustoAras to say if he agrees on starting an investigation on President #Bolsonaro (for #fakenews, illegal access to documents, and “attacks” on the #ElectoralSupremeCourt [#STE]). The #Senate, which had already decided to keep postponing scrutinizing Bolsonaro's appointee for the space opened in the STF, #AndreMendonca, so that it keeps vacated for longer (thus, keeping Bolsonaro from growing in support in the STF), is pressuring Aras to give the green light for the STF to investigate Bolsonaro otherwise they will vote to remove him (Aras) out of the GAO Ministry. Aras was appointed by Bolsonaro in late 2019.

  • The #FederalPolice has started an operation to carry out 95 arrest warrants in 8 states. 400 agents are involved in it. The purpose of it is to produce hearings and collect evidence in order to investigate embezzlement and misuse of gov't funding during the #pandemic.

  • After finishing an interview, #SaoPaulo Governor João #Doria made a thumbs-up gesture as if saying, finished?, good?, and when confirmed, he punched one hand with the other while enthusiastically and childishly saying “TAKE IT, #BOLSONARO!” This part was cut off from the original interview, but the part with the reaction was leaked.

  • #SaoPaulo Governor João #Doria spent 1 billion reals on budget proposals by all 94 SP's state representatives without his administration adding any information related to that on the transparency website as they're supposed to.

  • During a videoconference broadcast online by the #SupremeCourt (#STF), Justice #LuisBarroso (also president of the #ElectoralSupremeCourt [#TSE]) was caught on a hot mic saying, “GOOD AFTERNOON, GENERAL; HOW ARE YOU?” when, immediately to hearing this, Justice #DiasToffoli is seen frawning and squinting at his laptop, and Justice #AlexandredeMoraes says, “MINISTER [LUÍS] ROBERTO [BARROSO], YOUR MICROPHONE IS OPEN.” The STF released a statement to clarify whose general Barroso was talking to and what. The statement says it was General #BragaNetto (current Minister of Defense), and Barroso was asking him to refer to him some military personnel to be part of a committee to oversee the security of the election process next year.

  • The #ElectoralSupremeCourt (#TSE) Justice #LuisFelipeSalomao ordered that #socialplatforms suspend the payment of the monetization to the recipients of channels and accounts that spread #fakenews on election-related topics. The TSE is Ok with the channels and accounts being monetized, but it wants the money to be sent to the institution's bank account instead. According to the law, one cannot have their income taken away unless they have committed a crime, and #fakenews (IF they are reporting fake news) is currently not a crime in #Brazil. The order also demands that the platforms disable the algorithm that recommends other political channels and accounts based on the targeted ones. The TSE already sent the platforms a list of channels and accounts they view as spreading fake news. 250 lawyers signed a petition against this order. #abuseofpower #socialmedia #freedomofspeech #censorship

  • A geography teacher in the city of #Fortaleza, state of #Ceara, assigned his students a test that contained three strange questions and unrelated to the subject. One was, WHAT IS #COVID? One of the options was, “JUST A LITTLE COLD AND A LITTLE FLU AS PRESIDENT #BOLSONARO SAID?” (this is the right option). Bolsonaro actually quoted a famous doctor the left has always praised. The second one, “WHO'S REPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATH OF 550,000 PEOPLE FOR NOT TAKING THE ADQUATE MEASURES NEEDED TO SAVE LIVES?” One of the options was “BOLSONARO” (this is the right option). The #SupremeCourt (#STF) ruled early on in 2020 that the responsibility would be mayors' and governors,' and this rule's still held. And, the last of this kind of question was, “PRESIDENT BOLSONARO WAS PRESCRIBING MEDICATION EVEN THOUGH HE WAS NOT AN EXPERT AND HAD NO EDUCATION IN HEALTH. WHAT ARE THE NAMES OF THE MEDICATIONS?” There are three answers with medication names (#chloroquine, #ivermectin, #hydroxychloroquine) and the fourth one saying all the above (the fourth is the right option). He never recommended chloroquine, but mentioned it as a structure of hydroxychloroquine, not as an alternative medication to the latter, and Bolsonaro never claimed he had any qualifications in health care, but cited facts related to the use of those medications based on his experience in the military and in reports from people and doctors that have taken them during the #pandemic. City Councilor #AndreFernandes is pressing charges against the teacher and the school for misleading propaganda and for harassment.

  • The State of #Maranhao Governor #FlavioDino threatened to use his state's police force against the #NationalGuard in case there is any federal intervention. He stated, “A UNIFORM MEANS COMMITMENT TO THE NATION, NOT TO A PARTY OR A FACTION.” Dino is a leftist and a strong (and vocal) oppositor to the #Bolsonaro administration. 13 other governors share the same feeling, but without being as explicit as Dino is. #SaoPaulo Governor João #Doria is one of those governors, but the president of the Association of Commissioners released a statement saying, “IF NEEDED, THE POLICE WILL [DEFEND THE STATE] DUE TO ITS COMMITMENT TO THE FEDERAL #CONSTITUTION, NOT BY THE WISH OF THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE [OF SP] WHO SITS ON HIS CHAIR TEMPORARILY, AND DOESN'T HAVE SUCH A POWER TO TELL HOW THE POLICE SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT CARRY OUT THEIR DUTY.” #OPINIONTBB: Although the Northeastern region of #Brazil tends to yield more votes for leftist politicians (due to how news is even more controlled and manipulated there), Bolsonaro's visit to the State of Maranhao (and other states) since he took office has brought huge crowds to see him, and a good deal of infrastructure projects are already being noticed by the population in those states, so it doesn't seem to us that there would be enough agreement among police officers to engage in such a conflict. Governors can end up provoking internal conflicts as well. Actually, TBB still doesn't know where this fear of a national intervention comes from. Maybe they themselves know they're up to something (or know who are) that may lead to that?

  • 493 cities in #Brazil allegedly have more registered voters than inhabitants. This could be the result of fake addresses in order to help elect politicians. This is particularly effective when it comes to electing city councilors, since, in certain cities, one can be elected with less than 300 votes. #electionfraud

  • Brazilians are preparing for another nationwide demonstration across the country on September 7th in support for President #Bolsonaro and some kind of intervention, the most commonly agreed among them, the removal of all #SupremeCourt (#STF) Justices (or, at least two of them, #AlexandredeMoraes and #LuisBarroso, the latter who's also the president of the #ElectoralSupremeCourt [#STE]). September 7th is #IndependenceDay. The last one was already considered among the biggest ever made by the right, but this next one promises to be even bigger, because several high profile people already started promoting it and encouraging attendance, which didn't happen nowhere nearly as much prior to the previous demonstrations. Truck drivers are also planning to stop the country in support for the demonstrations, but there have been some mixed signals here. Also, since around mid 2020, justice has decided to prohibit antagonistic demonstrations and that they should take turns in case a same date is claimed by both sides. The left claimed September 7th as well, saying the last demonstrations were pro-Bolsonaro, but this is not exactly true. The left has not made any big demonstrations since then, but they did do several smaller ones across Brazil since then, incluing strikes. The issue is that their attendance is very low and their own media kind of ignore a good deal of them, so they claim they haven't done any big and coordinated one.

  • #PTBParty's president, #RobertoJefferson, received a jail warrant issued by #SupremeCourt (#STF) Justice #AlexandredeMoraes. The reason is that he was included in a new investigation on people allegedly involved in a “DIGITAL CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION AGAINST DEMOCRACY” (in which President #Bolsonaro is also included). Jefferson was the one responsible for exposing the corruption scandal #Mensalao in 2005, which, since then, greatly destabilized the leftist gov't that would still be in power for 11 more years. He paid jail time, got very sick, and is back to presiding over his party. Jefferson is a rare politican when it comes to his rhetoric, capable of turning everyone's attention at every single interview he gives, and he has been a strong critic of how the STF has been acting since Bolsonaro was elected—as strong as very few has dared; harsh and charming at the same time. Many, including us TBB, wondered why the STF hadn't turned on him yet. De Moraes considered Jefferson a threat to democracy due of his razorblade criticism and capacity to move people and attract allies. The #FederalPolice went to look for him at his ex-wife's home, who divorced him 20 years ago, before going to the right address, which Jefferson believes was with the purpose of terrorizing his family and making psychological pressuring on him. Outrageously, the Embassador of #China, #YangWenming, tweeted, “[NINE CLAP EMOJIS] BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR EVERYONE.” He was referring to Jefferson's arrest, an attitude considered undiplomatic, and there have been talks to demand #China to change him because this was not the first time he behaves undiplomatically. A couple of minutes before being arrested, Jefferson recorded and published a short audio message talking about it, and during the recording he mentions “MENSALÃO CHINÊS” ('Chinese monthly allowance'), implying the Chinese gov't would be influencing politics through bribery and funding. The item IV and XII of the Article 166 of the Law 8112 of the #CivilCode says, “[ABOUT THE DISCIPLINARY REGIME; THE DUTIES;] IT'S THE [PUBLIC] SERVANT'S DUTY; TO CARRY OUT SUPERIOR ORDERS, EXCEPT WHEN BLATANTLY ILLEGAL; TO STAND UP AGAINST ILLEGALITY, OMISSION, OR ABUSE OF POWER.” Some experts in law have criticized the #FederalPolice for carrying out this arrest (as they did others) in blatant violation of the Civil Code and the #Constitution laws. This time, De Moraes consulted General Attorneys Office Minister #AugustoAras about issuing an arrest warrant against Jefferson, and Aras answered against the warrant. De Moraes said that Aras' didn't give him any answer, so he decided to issue it anyway. Aras released a statement saying that he did issue a response (7 days later than the deadline De Moraes gave him but still in the night before Jefferson's arrest) and it was against Jefferson's arrest because it violated his constitutional rights and he did not present any threat or danger to democracy. Jefferson will appeal to De Moraes himself for him to review his order. If De Moreas doesn't reverse it, Jefferson will appeal to the STF so that the other justices vote on it. The odds can be on Jefferson in two ways if it gets to the STF, by the justices voting to keep the order, or by simply delaying the vote indefinitely. #Bolsonaro has requested that the president of the #Senate, #RodrigoPacheco, start an #impeachment process against Justice De Moraes for unconstitutional acts. If this impeachment process goes ahead and De Moraes is impeached, he should not be able to work as a public servant for 8 years. Pacheco, though, has 23 lawsuits against him in the hands of the STF, and said “I'M GOING TO [SEE THE POSSIBILITY OF TAKING THE REQUEST FOR THE IMPEACHMENT OF DE MORAES TO BE ANALYZED BY THE SENATE], BUT I DON'T FORESEE ANY TECHNICAL, JUDICIAL, AND POLITICAL BASIS FOR HIS IMPEACHMENT. IMPEACHMENT IS SOMETHING SERIOUS, AN EXCEPTION, AND SHOULDN'T BE BANALIZED.” Bolsonaro initially considered handing the request to Pacheco in person accompanied by his ministers in order to show the importance of it being analyzed by the house, but he was talked out of it and the request was not handed by him. Jefferson's claim that the Chinese Gov't is regularly paying money to key people in the private and public sector, including gov't'l agencies in Brazil and other South American countries, was confirmed by American Southern Command Admiral #CraigFeller.

  • An electoral bill approved in a preliminary vote in the #Congress aimed to bring some “improvement” to the electoral system has among its proposals one that makes a woman or a black person be worth twice as much government campaign fund for the party to use in the following elections. #reverseracism #reversediscrimination #reverseprejudice

  • Famous actor #TarcisioMeira died from #COVID after getting the 2nd shot of the #CoronaVac vaccine, the one made in #China and considered the least effective in #Brazil by the gov't's health agency #ANVISA (approved nevertheless). It was promoted as 100% effective in #SaoPaulo, the state that defended and promoted its use, but it's available nationwide now. His wife also got the second shot, was reinfected, had to go to hospital, but is recovering. He posted a picture going to get the shot and praising the #SUS, #Brazil's public health system—his son did the same—but when he got reinfected and got ill, he went to #AlbertEinste in, a private and expensive hospital. There is where his wife went as well. Another famous Brazilian who got the second shot in March (same month the Meiras' got theirs) also had to spend some days in hospital recently due to a reinfection. It was #SilvioSantos, owner of TV network #SBT and of several other businesses. #pandemic

  • The #Senate approved a new #NationalSecurityLaw bill. It had already been approved in the #Congress. The previous version of the law was created during the military regime and was considered ineffective in preventing new kinds of threats. During the adoption of the current #Constitution, in 1988, the law was kept. The left never liked the idea of it, especially because it was created to prevent threats of marxist nature, but it had never really been used (most regular citizens of the time didn't even remember it existed, much less later generations) until the #SupremeCourt (#STF) dusted it off and started making use of it in 2019 by starting an investigation aiming to go after and squash President #Bolsonaro's allies and supporters by framing them as financers and disseminators of #fakenews, and also as a threat of the institutional stability. The revised one, intended to address shortcomings related to the mordern time, kept the same items, but presents some new controversial ones. For instance, “INTERRUPTION OF THE ELECTORAL PROCESS,” “MISLEADING MASS COMMUNICATION [THAT CAN INTERFERE WITH THE ELECTORAL PROCESS; Here, the law is taking issue at #socialplatforms, which can be punished if enough evidence is found that a politician benefitted {or was disgraced} due to a high amoung of information being shared on a specific platform, which in turn can lead the companies to restrict groups and perhaps even scan chats for key words],” “POLITICAL VIOLENCE [the issue here is that they added “psychological violence;” for instance, persuading someone to change their political point-of-view could be considered psychological violence depending on how the persuaded person reacts and a judge interprets it; political debates can get harder, and there can be total submission to authorities due to an unwillingness to confront them for fear of being accused of being threatening or aggressive, which could also be interpreted as a form of psychological violence].”

  • Minister of Health #MarceloQueiroga promises to end the mask mandate by the end of the year, when he believes the whole population will be fully vaccinated. #TBBOPINION: It's quite obvious the whole population won't be fully vaccinated by the end of the year, so this kind of statement raises questions. One of them is, could he be just avoiding controversy from the left and hoping that time will make their buzz on the unvaccinated die out?

  • President #Bolsonaro signed a bill that will allow gas stations to sell fuel from a different brand other than the one they represent, but the consumer has to be informed about the name of the other brand if the gas station is using a different one. The bill also allow for gas stations to buy ethanol without a distributor, directly from a producer if they prefer and there is direct transportion available (which can also be provided by the gas station itself). These changes seek to increase competition among brands, and increase gas stations' options, which can possibly result in fewer cartels and in lower prices. The changes will get into effect in four months so that all involved in the production, distribution, and selling of fuel can get prepared for the changes.

  • The #Congress rejected an impeachment process against President #Bolsonaro.

  • The vote in the #Congress for the addition of the paper trail to the voting machines for the elections of 2022 won against it. Most Brazilians wanted it to be approved, and the last demonstrations (three Sundays ago) were some of the biggest in recent years, attesting to the popular wish, but its rejection was expected. Several congresspeople reported problems during the vote, which was electronic, citing, for instance, the inability to rectify a vote. The president of the #Senate, #RodrigoPacheco, said that the house will no longer analyze any future bills related to the addition of the paper trail to the voting machines, that this is a matter to rest. #electionfraud

  • A video from about two months ago showing the #ElectoralSupremeCourt (#TSE) President #LuisBarroso (also a #SupremeCourt [#STF] justice) walking through a hallway of the #Congress along with other people during a visit to the House of Reps' president #ArthurLira and saying “AND I JOKED WITH HIM [Lira], 'ELECTIONS, YOU DON'T WIN THEM, YOU TAKE 'EM'” became viral. He and many around him laugh, and then he goes, “IS IT RECORDING SOUND?,” and a guy next to him says, “MAYBE IT IS, MAYBE IT'S NOT.” #electionfraud

  • President #Bolsonaro is preparing a bill that will help make sure #freedomofexpression is protected against #socialmedia #censorship. According to what's already known about the bill, #socialplatforms could only censor content under a court rule and based on the #CivilCode (which does not rule on fake news, but allow actions to be taken in case of calumny and defamation).

  • The #ElectoralSupremeCourt (#TSE) went to the #SupremeCourt (#STF) against President #Bolsonaro because he allegedly showed during his livestreams on #electionfraud confidential information on the investigation on a hacker that accessed the electoral system. One of the STF's justices, #LuisBarroso, is TSE's president.

  • September 7th is #IndependenceDay in #Brazil, and it's common for a military parade to take place in #Brasilia, but this time, leftist Senator #AlessandroVieira took issue and went to court to keep heavy machinery from being displayed, like tanks. Nothing has been ruled yet.

  • #Cuba and #Venezuela is more than 600 million dollars in default with #Brazil. This money was borrowed from #BNDES ('National Bank for Social Development') during leftist governments #Lula and #Dilma with the excuse of promoting Brazilian businesses in those places. The time for them to pay back is 25 years, and the collateral Brazil accepted from Cuba was payment in cigars. The interest rate was 90% lower than the average. Other countries, like #Argentina and #Angola (among others) also benefitted from unjustified loans from Brazil.

  • The privatization of the state-run mail company #Correios was approved in the #Congress. It now needs the approval of the #Senate and of the #SupremeCourt (#STF).

  • #Congress approved a moratorium for home rent in #Brazil, but president #Bolsonaro vetoed it. Congress can still vote to take the veto down by a super majority, but has not moved toward that attempt yet.

  • #SupremeCourt (#STF) Justice #AlexandredeMoraes accepted a request to investigate President #Bolsonaro because of the livestreams he has made exposing evidences of #electionfraud. The investigation, approved unanimously by the STF, will also add him into an investigation about #fakenews that started in 2019 and is ongoing. #TBBOPINION: The investigation on fake news is political. Nothing has been proved against anybody in the investigation yet, but the STF was able to warrant searches and arrests, and to get people to be censured and lose their bank accounts. The investigation is considered unconstitutional because De Morais himself is the one who has been accusing, judging, issuing warranties, and he is also not letting the whole content of the investigation to be released to the defendants' lawyers. Although unconstitutional, Bolsonaro, perhaps for not wanting to justify the liberal media's pre-accusation that he's an authoritarian and wishes to carry out a military intervention, has still not done anything.

  • President #Bolsonaro made public a 200-plus investigation document that the #ElectoralSupremeCourt [#STE] sent to the #FederalPolice where it contains evidence of system breach during the 2018 elections, where a hacker had access to the system's password of one of the court's justice, had access to the source code of the election software, and was able to change name of candidade or delete it or change the vote count. Everything started when a hacker sent an email to computer website #TecMundo (literally 'TecWorld') reporting his experience getting access to the STE system and his curiosity to know how the system worked, ending up in him getting access to nearly everything related to the voting system. The Federal Police asked the TSE to provide them with further information, and the TSE disclosed that they had been invaded since April 2018 (the hacker email TecMundo in November). The first time, the hacker had access to the #ElectoralRegionalCourt (#TRE) of the State of #Pernambuco through an outsourced company that also worked for other states' TRE's. By doing this, he eventually got the password of the coordinator of the system of several states, and from there on, he got the passwork the coordinator used to have access to the national system. The hacker revealed that the main system where the source code of the voting machine was stored had no form of authentication whatsoever. When the Federal Police asked the TSE to grant them access to the files that the hacker had access to so that they could find out if any file had been changed and any candidate vote count had been affected, the TSE said that they no longer had the files because an outsourced management company had to do some maintenance and, due to lack of proper care, they deleted all the files, which amounted to 80 gigabytes of data, a quantity that's not big enough to justify the lack of a backup system. The TSE never disclosed this investigation and there is no record that they took any action to improve security for the the 2020 elections. Congressman #EduardoBolsonaro, one of the Bolsonaro's son, is requesting the launch of a probe into the electoral system and try to find out why the court never took any actions to improve security.

  • The hashtag BarrosoNaCadeia ([Justice Luis] BarrosoForJail] was trending on #Twitter, with 181 thousand retweets on August 4th.

  • The Minister of Defense, General #BragaNetto, was subpoened to go to the #Congress to explain his threats related to the electoral system.

  • The population went to the streets in several cities across the country last Sunday to ask for the addition of paper trail to the voting machines. The attendance was one of the biggest a nationwide rightwing rally has ever had. A journalist from leftist news outlet #FolhadeSaoPaulo, #PaulaSchmitt, retweeted a tweet from rightwing news outlet #BrasilSemMedo showing the rally in #SaoPaulo and wrote, “[WOW...] IS THIS PHOTO GENUINE?” There were no acts of violence, but a couple #AntiFa groups tried to provoke major fights by harassing some demonstrators, but they weren't successful.

  • “SOCIETY DOESN'T EXPECT FROM YOU [JUSTICES] A BEHAVIOR TYPICAL OF POLITICAL ACTORS. A GOOD JUSTICE HAS, AMONG OTHER QUALITIES, TO AVOID BEING PASSIONATE AND HAS TO HAVE A SILENT TONGUE. THEY KNOW THE TIME TO SPEAK AND THEIR PROPER VOCABULARY. ALSO, JUSTICE'S TIME IS NOT POLITICS' TIME.” #SupremeCourt (#STF) President #LuizFux.

  • The #ElectoralSupremeCourt [#STE] started an investigation on President #Bolsonaro for his accusations that the electoral system is highly prone to fraud. Justice #LuisBarroso, STE's president, requested that the #SupremeCourt (#STF), where he's also a justice, starts a parallel investigation for #fakenews on any “AUTHORITIES” [he means Bolsonaro] who attack the electoral system, and that they be subjected to search and seizing warranties and to restraining orders. If the STF does that, they'll be, once again, going against the #Constitution, since its Article 144 says that they can't start an investigation by themselves. The plan seems to render Bolsonaro incapable of running for president in 2022. But, it doesn't stop there. The STE expects that everybody who reposts any text, audios, or videos originally shared from (even if not made by) Bolsonaro's account to be subjected to search and seizing warranties and restraining orders as well.

  • “SUPREME COURTS AND CONSTITUTIONAL COURTS HAVE THREE MAJOR ROLES: [...] AND ILLUMINIST, WHEN THEY PROMOTE CIVIL ADVANCES REGARDLESS OF THE CIRCUMSTANTIAL POLITICAL MAJORITIES. THIS LAST ROLE, INTUITIVELY, MUST BE UNDERTAKE DURING EXCEPTIONAL MOMENTS AND WITH GREAT CAUTION, DUE TO THE RISK IT INVOLVES, MAS THE PROTECTION OF BLACKS, WOMEN, HOMOSSEXUALS AND MINORITIES IN GENERAL REALLY CAN'T BE DEPENDENT ON A MAJORITY VOTE OR OPINION POLL.” Justice #LuisBarroso.

  • Party presidents said that the rallies “had zero” effect on their decision and that they'd proceed to vote the voting machines paper trail bill down.

  • A judge in the city of #Franca, state of #SaoPaulo, issued an injunction where he says it is unconstitutional for a mayor or governor to order a #lockdown or a curfew (or both). He wrote, “[...] I NOTE THAT, AS OF NOW, THERE'S NO INFORMATION ABOUT A CALLING FOR A STATE OF DEFENSE OR OF EMERGENCY BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, THE ONLY AUTHORITY WITH A SUCH POWER—AFTER CONSULTING THE REPUBLIC COUNCIL AND WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE #CONGRESS [...] IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE [...] #CONSTITUTION OF 1988.” This is the first rule of its kind and it might encourage other judges to take heart and follow suit. The fact that this city is located in São Paulo makes the injunction look even more important, since Governor #Doria has shown the strongest opposition to the #Bolsonaro administration and has used all his power to set SP as an example of antagonism in the hopes of destabilizing the gov't and encouraging other governors to do the same. Just last week, the mayor of #Aparecida, another city in SP that is highly dependent on tourism, gave a touching interview where he calls for food donations, says the unemployment rate is in 70%, and breaks down in front of the camera. #covid #pandemic

  • About 500 people marched in front of #RioGrandedoSul's gov't building in protest against the lockdown measures. #covid #pandemic
  • Due to the controversial nullification of former president #Lula's sentence, General Luiz Eduardo Rocha Paiva, member of the gov't's Amnesty Commission, wrote and published a letter on the Military Club's website condemning the action, but although the Armed Forces expressing their disapproval is welcome and help the people feel that they are paying attention and are sharing the same outrage—better late than never—, two parts of the text sound disheartening. In one he wrote, “THE #STF (#SupremeCourt) GAVE A FATAL BLOW TO THE BALANCE OF POWERS, ONE OF THE PILLARS OF THE DEMOCRATIC REGIME AND OF THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL PEACE.” What does 'fatal blow' means here if the military hasn't done anything? Ok, he may be referring to the next one. There should be some action on the next one or the phrase 'fatal blow' will have meant nothing. In another part, in the very beginning, he wrote, “[JUDGE-]MINISTER FACHIN'S DECISION, FREEING LULA FROM HIS SENTENCE, WAS A SLAP ON THE FACE (FORGIVE ME THE EXPRESSION) OF THE BRAZILIAN NATION.” Yes, he apologized for using the expression bofetada, which is a synonym of tapa ('slap'), and which in no way sounds rude or too strong. It's worth remembering Judge-Minister #AlexandredeMoraes hurt the #Constitution badly twice between 2019 and last month, when he, also monocratically, accused, investigated, arrested, judged, and sentenced; first a journalist, and then a congressman. According to the Constitution, #Moraes could have been arrested by President #Bolsonaro, who chose not to.
  • The population of #AngradosReis, in #RiodeJaneiro, invaded City Hall. They are outraged by the mayor's decision to put a lockdown in place, after he ran in 2020 promising alignment with #Bolsonaro and no more strong restriction measures. A video shows people forcing their way in and one guard trying to keep them out. As they are entering they chant “WE WANT TO WORK!” Angra dos Reis does not have a high #COVID infection or death rate and the excuse the mayor gave was that the country is going through a hard time. #pandemic #lockdown
  • #JanainaPaschoal, coauthor of former president #DilmaRousseff's impeachment, believes the reason behind judge-minister #Fachin's decision to nullify #Lula's sentence is the fear that even more damning messages leaked from #LavaJato become public. If Fachin's intention was to halt the investigations on the illegal practices in the operation, this was still not fully accomplished as the Superior Justice Court (#STJ) is still willing to proceed with the investigation. #dilma #moro #dallagnol
  • The republican-like Congresswoman #BiaKicis was elected as president of the Constitution and Justice Commission in Congress. This is a big win for the #Bolsonaro administration. With her and a less partisan president in Congress, #Bolsonaro should see most of his projects at least go for a vote.
  • After the Department (Ministry) of Culture announced that it will no longer approve money for events that can't happen under a regular planning schedule for any reason, like lockdown or renovation, the Brazilian Lawyers Association (#OAB) issued a letter criticizing the decision, claiming it to contribute for the destruction of culture. Secretary (Minister) #MarioFrias tweeted, “I HAVE A QUESTION: IS OAB DEFENDING OUR CULTURE OR THE PERCENTAGE LAW FIRMS RECEIVE FOR EVERY SINGLE PROJECT THAT'S APPROVED UNDER THE ROUANET LAW?” Law firms receive 15% of the money. OAB has been criticized for it's open leftist political activism. Many people consider it a disgrace for the country, not only for the activism per se, but for the fact that lawyers can't work without their approval and without paying them, even though a lawyer is graduated. OAB seems to be a union disguised as an association, and as with the majority of unions you are forced to pay, they don't need to convince you that it's worth paying them.

  • A video of a street vendor being approach by the military police and being put into the trunk of a police car Thursday night in #Bahia went viral. He was not supposed to be out at that time due to the #curfew. He said he lost the last bus and no more buses had come since then. At a certain moment, one of the officers forcibly approaches him and puts him in the trunk of the police vehicle while the vendor says, “DON'T HURT ME!” What's shocking about the video is that the officer's approach is nearly the same as if approaching a criminal, which very much makes you believe the guy is a criminal (if you didn't know the context). Another thing that worries is the fact that another officer, when he realizes there's someone recording it, approaches the person and says, “IF THIS GENTLEMAN IS BEING FILMED [BY YOU] YOU'RE GOING TO BE A WITNESS. COME ON [WITH US].” #covid #covid19 #coronavirus #abuseofpower
  • The #Senate approved a bill that authorizes private companies to buy vaccines. It's now headed to the #Congress. If it passes, President #Bolsonaro may veto it because the bill removes the responsibility for side effects of the #vaccine from the makers and put it in the government. #covid #covid19 #coronavirus
  • Some residents of the city of #Araraquara in the State of #SaoPaulo, which is under a full #lockdown period, have reported some food shortage and some price hike. #covid #covid19 #coronavirus #brazil
  • Keeping the annoying and uncalled-for habit of giving interviews nonstop, one of the judge-ministers of the #SupremeCourt (#STF), #EdsonFachin, listed the seven symptoms of a corrupt democracy during an interview for the leftist, liberal, progressive, #FolhadeSaoPaulo (#Folha). They are [with comments], “REMILITARIZATION OF A CIVIL GOVERNMENT” [the military regime was the most stable and orderly period #Brazil had ever experienced in a long time, failed by the 'positivist' mindset and old-anti-#communism combat tactics, while the “civil” government that started in 1988 never made the country any better, so this argument per se doesn't say much], “INTIMIDATION [BY CALLS TO SHUT DOWN THE OTHER POWERS—#CONGRESS, #SENATE, AND #STF” [there was never a direct call to shut them down, but to the possibility of them being shut down due to their unconstitutional behavior, and since #Bolsonaro was elected, no actual attempt has been made and no plan to do so has ever been exposed], “MINIMIZATION OF THE VALUE OF VOTING” [the judge-ministers have been reacting positively to making the voting process even more digital, like voting by phone, which makes it even more prone to fraud, while #Bolsonaro, his allies, and his supporters support the opposite, walking toward more auditability, even if it means partially using paper], “ATTACKS AGAINST THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS” [it was the STF who censored a news outlet back on 2019, who ordered the arrest of a journalist twice in 2019 and 2020, who ordered the conservative site #TercaLivre to be mass suspended on social media platforms in 2021, who ordered the arrest of a congressman for a thought crime and also demanded all his social media accounts to be suspended in 2021; no such restricting actions were ever taken by the President #Bolsonaro; the most he has done was to harshly criticize the big old media, call them corrupt, unfair, evil, disgraceful], “ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SALES OF WEAPONS AND THUS OF VIOLENCE” [violence in Brazil increased after the gun ban in 2005, and since #Bolsonaro was elected and a few of his pro-guns decrees passed, along with other measures, violence has decreased; also, violence numbers in countries were fire weapons are allowed don't support the judge-minister's reasoning], “NORMALIZING ADMINISTRATIVE AGENTS' CORRUPTION” [one of his administration's hallmark is the nearly total elimination of corruption, at least at the highest level] and “REFUSAL TO ACCEPT ELECTION RESULTS” [the president never refused to accept the elections' results, but expressed that if the vote can't be audited, fraud is possible].
  • The tax over imported #fireweapons was going to be zero this year, but the judge-minister of the #SupremeCourt (#STF) #EdsonFachin issued an injunction order halting the decree. Another judge-minister commented that zeroing the tax and thus increasing the sales of fire weapons in #Brazil is a “RISK FOR THE STABILITY OF DEMOCRACY.” Once again, the STF ruling over things it shouldn't. #guns #gunsales #gunban #disarmament #selfdefense #fachin
  • As of February 26th, the states that were imposing the lockdown were #Bahia, #DistritoFederal, #Maranhao, #Paraiba, #Pernambuco, #Piaui, #RioGrandedoSul, #Rondonia, and #SaoPaulo. Aside from the lockdown, these states' governors have another thing in common: They strongly oppose #Bolsonaro. #covid #covid19 #coronavirus
  • During a speech and while he was talking about the stronger #lockdown measures imposed by some governors, President #Bolsonaro said, “THE RELIEF CHECK WILL BE COMING FOR A COUPLE MORE MONTHS. THE GOVERNOR THAT DESTROYS JOBS SHOULD PAY FOR THE RELIEF CHECK. [...] THOSE WHO CLOSE EVERYTHING AND DESTROY JOBS ARE GOING AGAINST THE WISH OF THEIR PEOPLE.” #covid #covid19 #coronavirus
  • Writer and philosopher #OlavodeCarvalho is in hospital in the US with #pneumonia.
  • Leaked messages exchanged by #LavaJato Operation prosecutors show that they had illegal access to the President #Bolsonaro family's personal information, including fiscal, right after he was elected. They laugh in several moments. The data was accessed by the COAF ('Council for Financial Activities Control') and the MP ('Public Ministry' or 'Prosecution Office'). #RobertoLeonel was in control of the COAF back then, he was assigned by #SergioMoro, and the latter got very upset when COAF was taken out of the control of his ministry by President Bolsonaro. #Leonel is behind the leaks from COAF, and he is referred in one of the messages by one prosecutor as “HE IS 1000.” 'To be 1000' is an expression that means a person helped someone else greatly; it's like saying, “He was so helpful that saying he was 100% helpful is not enough. Maybe 1000%?#carwash #deltandallagnol #moro
  • The city of #Buzios, in the State of #RiodeJaneiro, reached zero hospitalizations for #COVID. They bet strongly on prevention, not withholding themselves from making use of several medications that can possibly help avoid cases from getting too serious, like #ivermectin #hydroxychloroquine, vitamin D, zinc, etc. This example contrasts with other cities, where the number of too serious cases surpassed the number of hospital rooms. #covid19 #coronavirus
  • Some #Brazil(ian) states and some cities in some states are going for a #curfew in order to stop or slow down the spread of the virus. According to the #Constitution, the curfew can only be allowed in two situations: State of Defense and State of Emergency. The State of Defense allows for the curfew in isolated areas, as long as there is a social unrest or a natural disaster that's big enough to result in lack of control by the local authorities. It can last 30 days and be extended for 30 more days. If the lack of control persists, then the State of Emergency is the next step. In this case, it allows for the curfew to be extended to areas where everything is apparently calm, and several constitutional rights are suspended, but in order for a curfew to start, the president (not a mayor or a governor) needs the #Congress' approval—this is to show you how extreme a curfew is. Beyond this point, the military intervention is the call. The virus and the rulings it has caused to be issued have resulted in all the rules regarding curfews being broken, in cities and states making decisions about putting it in place regardless of the government's direction. In other words, mayors and governors are breaking the Constitution, paving the way for a federal intervention; but, will there be? And, how long will unconstitutional actions continue to be taken for? #covid #covid19 #coronavirus
  • The #Congress is discussing a bill called [Speech] Immunity Bill. It has the purpose of clarifying where the limit of the #SupremeCourt (#STF) is when it comes to its power to warrant the arrest of a congressperson for a thought crime. In its original form, the bill made it clear only the Congress Ethical Counsel could apply a punishment, but some parties, like #PT, leftist, is critical of the bill for totally leaving the judiciary out of it. At least one congressman, the infamous and often ridiculed #KimKataguiri (another politician who did a great job pre-#Bolsonaro, campaigned for him and was elected in great part because of him, but ultimately flipped 180°), came to the point of asking the STF to interfere in the Congress' affairs by ordering that this bill be prohibited from even being discussed, and one judge-minister was already chosen to analyze this possibility. #freedomofspeech

  • The #Bolsonaro administration is presenting the privatization bill for the state-run mail company #Correios to the #Congress between today and tomorrow.
  • The far left and disgraced party of #PT (the party of ex-presidents #Dilma—impeached for fiscal irresponsibility—and #Lula—jailed for corruption) got two important chairs in the #Senate; the chair of the #environment commission and of the #humanrights commission, meaning both these areas' ministers are going to have a hard time getting legislation changed, removed, or passed. The chair of the #Constitution and justice commission (of the #Senate as well) also went to a #Bolsonaro administration oppositor.
  • Due to the financial crisis businesses have been going through due to the #pandemic, two big educational institutions, #Pitagoras and #pH, were sold to #Eleva, a group that belongs to the #LemmanGroup, a pusher of the globalist agenda. #covid19 #coronavirus
  • #LavaJato operation prosecutor Dalagnol tried to virtual signal by tweeting that the operation was able to reach an agreement for #Samsung Heavy Industries to pay back 15.8 billion reals from corruption, but didn't mention that this negotiation started after President #Bolsonaro assigned the new attorney-general #AugustoAras to overlook the operation through a new agency called GAECO ('Especial Action Group for Combating Organized Crime'). #carwash
  • The most important prosecutors in the #LavaJato operation, #SergioMoro and #DeltanDalagnol, are believed to be close to get an arrest warranty against them any of these days due to illegalities committed during the operation. The illegality would be that a prosecutor who's been part of the Lava Jato operation testified defending a black-market dollar dealer called #Messer, as a favor from money this prosecutor received (50 thousand dollars per month) in 2005 in order to protect him (Messer) during a bank investigation in that year. #Moro and #Dalagnol supposedly have known about their colleague's involvement in corruption, didn't do anything, and let him participate in hearings with the guy that bribed him a little more than a decade ago. To make things worse, one of the hearings didn't even happen, but the Lava Jato investigators said it did, but then the media found out about it, and then the investigators said it wasn't recorded. The person who testified said he never remembered speaking, and investigators stated that the fact he didn't remember didn't matter. Another accusation is the fact that the Lava Jato operation had full access to ministers' financial records without proper reason. 95 people had their personal records accessed without any description of the reason why in the order. #carwash

  • After #DanielSilveira's arrest, #ClaudiaPiovezan's book 'Inquérito do Fim do Mundo' ('End of the World's Inquiry'), about the #SupremeCourt's (#STF's) post-#Bolsonaro adm's unconstitutional rulings, became a number 1 best seller on Amazon as of today.
  • During an interview of #Judge-Minister #MarcoAurelio to #RadioGaucha [from #RioGrandedoSul]—yes, Brazilian judge-ministers give interviews all the time—one of the hosts asks him, “HOW DOES A #SUPREMECOURT (#STF) [JUDGE-]MINISTER SEPARATE THEMSELVES FROM A [JUDGE-]MINISTER AND A CITIZEN, BECAUSE—I'M GOING TO BE CAREFUL WITH MY WORDS—AN STF [JUDGE-]MINISTER, WITH THE LAW IN THEIR HANDS AND THEIR INTERPRETATIONS, CAN ATTACK WHO ATTACKS THEM USING THE POWER OF BEING A [JUDGE-]MINISTER—HOW MUCH CAN THIS GET CONFUSING [TO PEOPLE]? HOW DANGEROUS IS THIS?” The carefulness to use the right words kind of made the question not that clear, but it definitely doesn't sound (nor did his tone) disrespectful or anything—we think. Judge Aurélio responded, “THIS DOESN'T EXIST. THE JUDGE'S ROLE IS BASED ON FACTS AND ON THE RIGHTS GRANTED BY THE #CONGRESS.” So far so good, but then..., “WE NEED TO RESPECT JUSTICE A LITTLE MORE, AND I THINK THAT THE WAY YOU PUT IT IS CLEARLY UNSUITABLE, BORDERING DEFAMATION [oops].” The host, “NO, THIS IS JUST A QUESTION. I'M ASKING THIS SO YOU CAN CLARIFY...” [Judge Aurélio interrupts] “WHAT ANSWER DO YOU WANT ME TO GIVE YOU? THAT WE CAN HARM THE CITIZENS? LOOK, I THINK WE HAD BETTER END OUR INTERVIEW HERE.” It doesn't end there, but this part shows how the STF judges are clearly trying to intimidate journalists, making it very hard to even ask them relevant questions. #freespeech #freedomofspeech #authoritarianism #alexandredemoraes #moraes #danielsilveira #silveira
  • The #Congress is to discuss this next Wednesday some changes to the #Constitution aiming to more clearly restrict the role of the Judiciary. Among them, one that says a video cannot be used as a permanent flagrant (making this clear is important, but this is a consensus in the law world, and having to put this in the Constitution is absurd), and another one that says a judge can't make a monocratic decision to arrest a congressperson (the Constitution is already clear about parliament immunity for free speech, it doesn't matter how bad it sounds, and that an arrest for order of the STF can only be made after the Congress vote, except in case of a real crime). #alexandredemoraes #danielsilveira #freespeech #freedomofspeech
  • Senators subpoenaed #SupremeCourt (#STF) Judge-Minister #AlexandredeMoraes to explain to them where the line that separates parliament immunity from a crime, when it comes to speech, is.
  • #AlexandredeMoraes opened an investigation to know if Representative #DanielSilveira disrestected a female public servant at the #IML (coroner's office) when he refused to wear a mask. Well, “refused to wear a mask” is how it's being reported. He entered the reception area without a mask and didn't mind to wear one. According to the video, she never addresses him in advance, but asks someone else to approach him and give him a mask. He was a little reluctant to wear it and started making comments, engaging the servant. So far, the exchange between them was calm. About a minute later, he starts to unpack the mask in order to put it on. During this process, the receptionist kept shooting back at every one of his comments, which made him angry. He raised his voice, but ultimately put the mask on. The video is clear in showing that the servant highly contributed to escalating the exchange. You can hear there were some seconds of silence from his part while he was opening the package and fixing the band in order to put it on, when she reengaged by making comments. The video shows an event that in no way would need an investigation by the #SupremeCourt (#STF), but #Moraes is willing to crush #Silveira as much as possible in order to send a message to #Bolsonaro, the #military, allies, and supporters; just as he sent a message to journalists with all the abused committed against journalist #OswaldoEustaquio and that resulted in him having his career destroyed and also him getting paralyzed from waist down.

Summary of illegalities committed by the Judge-Minister #AlexandredeMorais by arresting Representative #DanielSilveira:

  • Judge Morais attached #Silveira's arrest to a case called #fakenews lawsuit, where he was the victim, he made the accusations, he made the arrests, and he gave sentences. He did all the process himself, and the same judge doing all the four things is unconstitutional. Many people were expecting that President #Bolsonaro was going to arrest Morais for that, but it never happened, and Journalist #OswaldEustaquio's career was destroyed. He was arrested several times between 2019 and 2020, ultimately suffering a fall in jail in 2021 and getting paralyzed.

  • As a congressperson, according to the #Constitution, Silveira has parliament immunity, and could not be arrested for thought crime, or absolutely any words he says or vows he wishes. For these, only #Congress could do something, like voting for a disciplinary punishment.

  • Another argument of Judge Morais is that Silveira's words directly (but not clearly about how) “threatening” the judges were an indication that violence could happen, and it justified his arrest. In other words, Silveira was arrested; not questioned, not asked for clarifications; based on a crime or crimes he would, maybe, commit.

  • Judge Morais used a prerecorded video to justify a flagrant, because, as long as the video is online, even if in clips, it's proof of a continuous flagrant, since the threat to national security is still there, so Silveira could be arrested and judged for as long as the video exists.

  • Judge Morais ordered that all Silveira's social media pages were taken down, not only the video.

Judge Moraes arguments and actions might seem absurd to you, hard to believe coming from a member of the highest level of the judiciary system and with the support of his colleagues, but it's real.


UPDATE ON #DANIELSILVEIRA'S CASE

We didn't explain in our first post about #Silveira's case the reason why he had that outburst. He was speaking in behalf of General #VillasBoas, who tweeted about the possibility of Judge-Minister #Fachin freeing the ex-president and convict criminal #Lula. He tweeted, “IN SUCH A MOMENT #BRAZIL IS GOING THROUGH, WE CAN ONLY ASK THE PEOPLE AND THE INSTITUTIONS, WHO REALLY CARES ABOUT OUR COUNTRY AND ALL THE FUTURE GENERATIONS, AND WHO'S ONLY INTERESTED IN THEIR PERSONAL GAIN?” “I CAN ASSURE THE NATION THAT THE ARMED FORCES SHARE THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE BRAZILIAN PEOPLE, THEIR DISGUST FOR IMPUNITY AND FOR THE DISREGARD FOR DEMOCRACY, FOR THE #CONSTITUTION, AND FOR THE SOCIAL PEACE. WE REMAIN READY TO TAKE ON OUR INSTITUTIONAL MISSION.”

General Villas-Boas hasn't said a word about Silveira's arrest, and the Military Club issued a statement called “THOUGHTS OF THE MILITARY CLUB,” containing 9 questions for reflection. The questions ask about innumerous moments the #SupremeCourt (#STF) didn't act anywhere as strong when the offenses came from the left.

A couple of other facts about Silveira's arrest: – The Judge-Minister #AlexandredeMorais ordered all #Silveira's #socialmedia accounts, even accounts as congressman (when he's still a congressman), be suspended and they were all taken down in a heartbeat; – Silveira took 2 phones with him to jail and kept using them. He's a ex-military and some people wonder why he did that. Not only this prompted them being seized, but also Judge Morais ordering a thorough investigation of the phones calls and messages; – Silveira's 180° turn from courage and determination and confidence to a pitiful and weak and self-blaming attitude (almost like begging for forgiveness, like a baby crying), considering he's an ex-military and he committed no crime, is hard to understand; – Silveira told a couple of colleagues (quantity and names not informed) that he knew he'd be arrested. His lawyer said in a video, “THERE ARE WAYS OF DOING THINGS AND THIS IS HIS WAY. HE DOESN'T DENY IT. HE SAID TO US, 'LOOK, I'M GOING TO BE ARRESTED, NO PROBLEM WITH THAT. THAT'S HOW I AM.' BUT, THE PROBLEM IS GETTING BIGGER THAN WHAT WE HAD IMAGINED. THE SITUATION IS NOT EASY;” – During his statements to Congress, Silveira said, “DUE TO POPULAR PRESSURE, AND ACTIVISTS' AND POLITICAL GROUPS' PRESSURE, WE ARE LED TO EXAGGERATE, TO BE MOVED BY AN IDEA. IT'S LIKE THAT LITTLE DEVIL THAT COMES TO YOUR EAR AND SAYS, 'GO THERE AND DO IT,' AND YOU DO IT BASED ON FEELINGS.” Who are them?

Silveira had an important role for the right. He wrote a law bill that punishes #censorship, another one to reinforce #freedomofspeech, he requested an investigation into the #votingmachines, and cowrote/cosigned several other positive bills.

As other particularities about Brazil, don't expect much to happen on the weekend, (even during a constitutional crisis).

JUDGE ALEXANDRE DE MORAIS VS CONGRESSMAN DANIEL SILVEIRA

#SupremeCourt (#STF) Judge #AlexandredeMorais issued an arrest warranty against conservative representative #DanielSilveira. Morais is infamously known (among other things) for ordering the arrest of a journalist twice, whose title of 'journalist' was ignored by him in official documents, being called a 'blogger' instead, and who got paralyzed from waist down during prison the second time.

Silveira posted a video where he says, “BE A MAN ONCE IN YOUR LIFE” [...] “YOU [JUDGE #FACHIN], [JUDGE] ALEXANDRE DE MORAIS, [JUDGE] #MARCOAURELIO, [JUDGE] #GILMARMENDES, THE ONE THAT FREES CRIMINALS ALL THE TIME, GIVES HABEAS CORPUS ALL THE TIME, SELLS HABEAS CORPUS, SELLS SENTENCINGS. 'HEY THERE! HE WAS ARRESTED? HERE, SEND HIM TO ME!' YOU DISRESPECT THE INTERNAL RULES; THIS LITTLE SUPREME COURT, WHICH IS NO SUPREME. THE REQUIREMENTS FOR YOU TO BECOME A JUDGE-MINISTER IS IN THE ARTICLE 101 OF THE #CONSTITUTION; BUT YOU ALL ARE EMPTY, INNOCUOUS, RETARDED, THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE. ESPECIALLY YOU, FACHIN. YOU ARE PART OF THE VERY SHIT THAT [THE STF] IS.”

“HERE'S THE THING, FACHIN. EVERYBODY IS FULL OF YOUR SON-OF-B***H'S FACE, THIS VAGABOND'S FACE” [...] “SEVERAL TIMES I VISUALIZED YOU BEING BEATEN UP. NOT ONLY YOU, BUT ALL THIS COURT'S MEMBERS” [...] “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO SAY? THAT I AM ENCOURAGING VIOLENCE? NO, I JUST IMAGINED, AND ME IMAGINING MYSELF DOING SUCH A THING, YOU KNOW IT'S” [imagining hurting someone in advance, speaking about it, but not doing it] “NOT A CRIME” [because he has an extra constitutional protection when it comes to free speech compared to a regular citizen, where he can only be punish for his speech, it doesn't matter what he says, literally, by the Congress].

“I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO DO WITH THE GENERALS” [...] “THE LITTLE MEN OF THE GOLDEN BUTTONS [one way leftists sarcastically refer to the military], DO YOU REMEMBER? I KNOW YOU REMEMBER; INSTITUTIONAL ACT N° 5 [#AI5]; YOU WERE A PT MILITANT, FROM A COMMUNIST PARTY, FROM THE COMMUNIST ALLIANCE OF #BRAZIL” [the AI5 was the fifth of seventeen institutional acts written during the military regime that defined the actions taken in order to reorganize the government. The AI number 5 was the most polemic, as it allowed for the dissolve of the Congress and the Senate.]

“I TOTALLY AGREE WITH [THE EX-MINISTER OF EDUCATION] #ABRAHAMWEINTRAUB WHEN HE SAID [during a ministerial meeting] 'IF IT WAS UP TO ME, I'D PUT ALL THESE VAGABONDS IN JAIL.'” [...] “I'M GOING TO GO AFTER YOU. I'M NOT AFRAID OF VAGABONDS, OF DRUG DEALERS, OF MURDERS; I'M GOING TO BE AFRAID OF 11 THAT ARE OF NO USE FOR OUR COUNTRY? NO, I WON'T. I KNOW WHO YOU WALK ALONG, WHAT YOU DO.”

After he was notified of his arrest, he recorded another video while he waited for the arrival of the federal police, in which, in part, he says, “FROM THIS POINT ON, THE LEVEL OF THE GAME IS A LITTLE HIGHER. I'M GOING TO DEDICATE EACH AND EVERY MINUTE OF MY TERM TO SHOW WHO ALEXANDRE DE MORAIS, FACHIN, MARCO AURÉLIO DE MELO, GILMAR MENDES, #TOFFOLI, #LEWANDOWSKI ARE. I'M GOING TO PUT EACH ONE OF YOU IN YOUR PLACE. I DON'T CARE. FOR MY COUNTRY, I'M WILLING TO KILL, TO DIE, TO BE ARRESTED, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT. YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO MAKE ME FEAR YOU. IT'S THE CONGRESS WHO WILL DECIDE OVER KEEPING ME ARRESTED. YOU JUST RIPPED UP THE CONSTITUTION ONCE AGAIN. I'M LETTING EVERYONE KNOW SO THAT THEY KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON, SO THAT I CAN SHOW BRAZIL WHO'S ITS ENEMY. OTHER THAN THAT, I'M GOING TO SLEEP IN JAIL, AND LET'S SEE WHAT'S NEXT. LET'S SEE WHO'S WHO. [LET'S SEE IF] IT'S [ABOUT] YOU OR [ABOUT] ME AND THE PEOPLE.

Some hours after his arrest, there was a vote in the STF to know if there was majority support, and all of them voted to keep Daniel Silveira arrested, including the vote of #Bolsonaro's appointee #KassioNunes.

We don't know if Silveira's seemingly unconstitutional arrest has anything to do with prompting this, but Bolsonaro just nominated four names for the #RepublicCouncil, among them, two military, one of them a very solid conservative, General #AugustoHeleno, currently the secretary (minister) of the Department of Institutional Security. The Republic Council is responsible for giving a final opinion on the need for a political intervention, a national defense law, or a martial law, and also for matters related to the balanced relationship of the institutions.

Dozens of big politicians and many celebrities from the left already said and expressed themselves publicly against Bolsonaro in a threatening, disrespectful, and defamatory way innumerous times and neither the STF nor any of its judges ever at least said a word condemning the acts, so Silveira's arrest seems to be one more attempt to input fear into conservatives and to pressure Bolsonaro into losing it and thus give the STF and the Congress a reason to impeach him. Judge-minister Mendes came to the point of saying in a live last year that Bolsonaro was responsible for a genocide when referring to the #pandemic. Absolutely nothing happened to him and none of his colleagues made any comments.

The document containing the order for the arrest says that the video justifies an arrest warranty for a flagrant act, since the video is still circulating. We, the TBB, had a lot of difficulty to find the original video. We could only find clips and read transcripts in order to write this post. Even the channel where it was posted no longer exists. According to the Article 53 of Section V of the Constitution, the STF is responsible for ultimately certifying congresspeople's and senators' election. After that, the STF no longer has power over them. If they are caught committing an unbailable crime, then the most the STF can do is to ask the Congress to act.

The Congress is supposed to receive from the STF the formal accusation within 24 hours so that it can be taken to a vote in order to be decided if the arrest is acceptable. Some are citing the Articles 22 and 23 of the National Security Law, which say that one can be arrested for inciting violence, instability among institutions, or threatening animosity between the people and government institutions, punishable with 1 to 4 years in jail.

In the 2005 edition of Alexandre de Morais' own book 'Constitutional Rights' he quotes the words of another person to illustrate how congresspeople have their speech protected, where it says they can't be arrested for “THOUGHT OR WORD CRIMES, SUCH AS CRIME AGAINST THE HONOR, CRIME INCITEMENT, ORAL DISRESPECT FOR RELIGION, ETC.”

The judge-minister Marco Aurélio stated, referring to the Congress vote, “CONGRESSPEOPLE WILL BE ACCOUNTED FOR IN 2022 IF THEY FREE A RIGHTWING FANATIC AND POPULIST [COLLEAGUE].”

All Daniel Silveira's social media pages were shut down on the day of his arrest.