THE BRAZILIAN BOT

freedomofexpression

  • 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.

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