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- President #Bolsonaro and the state attorney-general requested the #SupremeCourt (#STF) to rule on the unconstitutionality of lockdown and curfew measures that cities and states are putting up again. A similar request, but directed to other states in March, was rejected by the STF, and this makes many believe they will reject this new one too. But, a lot of other people are expecting that the STF is going to rule against the measures this time because the request is better formulated—an observation made by a judge-minister—and also because Bolsonaro said a couple of weeks ago that he has a decree ready to be signed that would force a military action against any city or state administrator that puts a curfew or lockdown in action. #pandemic #covid #lockdown
- #MarcoAurelio de Melo, one of the #SupremeCourt's (#STF) judge-ministers, expressed opposition to the Senate #pandemic commission hearing some governors due to accusations of federal money misuse. His opinion (which he isn't supposed to be giving) is based on the idea that the responsability to form commissions to investigate their administration is of the local houses. On the other side, the argument is that the local houses seem to be under total control of their administrators, either a governor or a mayor, and not a single commission to investigate any misuse of money was formed in any of the 27 states or in any of the 5,000 plus cities across the country. #covid
- The #SupremeCourt (#STF) voted 7-4 to deny the federal police the request to investigate the STF Judge-Minister and President Dias #Toffoli for receiving 4 million reals to help politicians in election processes while he was the president of the #SupremeElectoralCourt (#STE). No one is surprised by this decision.
- The #Bolsonaro administration is trying to pass a bill that forces fuel taxes to be shown separately on the consumers' receipt, and not just that, but also which entity is charging that amount, if it is the distributor, the gov't, or the state. The bill has been facing difficulty to go for a vote due to pressure from governors (the #SupremeCourt (#STF) has also been making it difficult) since they are charging their taxes on top of the final price and based on the final price, which is considered unconstitutional.
- It is believed President #Bolsonaro's last motorcycle rally in #RiodeJaneiro reached 2.6 miles in length.
- The president of the #Senate commission to investigate money misuse during the #pandemic, Senator #OmarAziz, presented a bill that would give doctors 3 years of jail time if they ever prescribed any medicine for #COVID except the vaccine. President #Bolsonaro decided to make it public on his social media, and the backlash was so intense that Aziz requested its permanent dismissal just 30 minutes later.
- The governor of #SaoPaulo, João #Doria, decided to extent the business reopening transition from May 31st to June 14th, and in some cities, even essential businesses, like, pharmacies and supermarkets, are closed. #RibeiraoPreto is one of these cities. Just a reminder, cities in the State of São Paulo, the City of São Paulo mainly, allowed the public transportation, buses and trains, to operate at a lower capacity and thus crowded for over a year. #pandemic #covid
- A movement that seeks to sue the City of #SaoPaulo for keeping schools closed, called 'Portas Abertas' ('Open Doors'), has encouraged a broader demand for other mayors and for governors to be called into accountability for not letting cities open their schools. The argument for this is that there are studies worldwide suggesting that opening schools, even if partially, does not represent a considerable risk, especially the earlier education. They claim that businesses that do not have the same kind of comprehensive study and that serve others than children were allowed to open. 10 out of the 27 states (one is not a state, but a federal district, #DistritoFederal, just like #Washington DC) have partially opened schools, but Open Doors claims this opening is too restrictive to be considered adequate. For instance, they are letting children of health workers and children in serious circumstances (for instance, homeless or abused) to attend it. In #Brazil, there is this Law of Accountability, which was the one on which ex-President #Dilma's impeachment was based. Among the reasons for a public administrator to break this law is abuse of power, and keeping schools closed when there has been neither consensus for that nor a single standard being applied can be considered abuse of power. #covid #pandemic #lockdown
- The #Congress probe into #COVID-related actions approved the hearing of 9 governors; from #Amapa, #Amazon, #DistritoFederal, #Para, #Piaui, #Rondonia, #Roraima, #SantaCatarina, and #Tocantins. #WilsonWitzel, the impeached ex-governor of #RiodeJaneiro, will be heard too. Other people are going to be heard as well. The governor of Piaui is a member of a consortium composed by some Northeastern states, and there is a separate probe into this consortium. Some representatives wanted mayors to be heard, but none was included. #pandemic
- The #Bolsonaro administration is following the steps of #Florida Governor #DeSantis and has already prepared a bill that prohibits social media platforms from removing accounts and posts solely based on their terms of use. The bill was written by a team in the Ministry (Department) of Culture, and a subsecretary called National Secretary of Copyrights and Intellectual Property would be in charge of its effectiveness. If it's signed, social media platforms can receive from a warning up to a fine of up to 10% of the company's revenue in Brazil in the year prior to the offense. #socialmedia #censorship #bigtech