World Politics

[In2ition]

I was listening to a Space on Twitter(X) yesterday and even one of the Krassensteins(I think it was Brian, but could have been Ed) agreed that Brazil's Supreme Court Justice was going way over the top and turning them into a Dictatorship from the courts. I couldn't believe it, I nearly fell out of my seat when he said that.

[Nodack]

I was under the impression that the last Brazilian leader was the guy trying to be an authoritarian. He was a Trump wannabe. His supporters even stormed the capital and broke things just like Maga after he lost and claimed everything was fake. He was a right winger with Trumps full support.

[In2ition]

I was under the impression that the last Brazilian leader was the guy trying to be an authoritarian. He was a Trump wannabe. His supporters even stormed the capital and broke things just like Maga after he lost and claimed everything was fake. He was a right winger with Trumps full support.

Idk what to tell you. Talk to the Brazilians that were there, and you will get a much different impression.

[Nodack]

Talk to which Brazilians? That’s like saying talk to Americans about politics. Depending on who you talk to you get a wildly different answer. Anyone that voted for the guy that lost is going to say the election was fake and the new government is all made up of Nazi’s.

[Mori Chu]

I haven't really kept up. Bolsanaro is awful, but the other guys might also be bad.

[In2ition]

Honestly, it's the vast majority of the Brazilian people. I've talked to many of my friends from Brazil and they all say that no one knows anyone that voted for Lulu. Bolsonaro was wildly popular, and no one thinks that the election was on the level, and this quick authoritarian turn by the government and Supreme Court justice only confirms what they believe.

[In2ition]

Now they are demanding $200 million in fines? If I was Elon I would send the GFY meme.

[Mori Chu]

I don't read Mario.

[Charlie Smithy!]

What about luigi?

[Superbone]

What about luigi?

Interestingly enough, their politics differ greatly. It's like red and green.

[In2ition]

I don't read Mario.

Yeah, yeah, you refuse to wipe your a$$ with anything less than Charmin. Just don't know why you always have to announce it with your nose in the air.

[In2ition]

More testimony by Brazilians on what is happening in Brazil.

[Nodack]

Brazil Supreme Court strikes down military intervention thesis in symbolic vote for democracy
https://apnews.com/article/brazil-supre ... afd7aeae0d
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court unanimously voted Monday that the armed forces have no constitutional power to intervene in disputes between government branches, a largely symbolic decision aimed at bolstering democracy after years of increasing threat of military intervention.

The court’s decision came in response to an argument that right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro and his allies deployed in recent years. They have claimed that Article 142 of Brazil’s Constitution affords the military so-called “moderating power” between the executive, legislative and judicial branches.

Bolsonaro presented this interpretation in an April 2020 meeting with his ministers, telling them that any of the three powers can request the armed forces take action to restore order in Brazil. In the years since, posters invoking Article 142 became a fixture at rallies calling for military takeover – and culminated in an uprising by Bolsonaro supporters seeking to summon the military to oust his successor from power.

All of the 11 justices — including both justices appointed by Bolsonaro — rejected that thesis.

Bolsonaro’s 2018 election in a sense marked the return of the armed forces to power. The former army captain who openly waxed nostalgic for the dictatorship era appointed high-ranking officers to his Cabinet and thousands of active-duty service members and reservists to civilian positions throughout his administration.

For his 2022 reelection bid, he tapped a general as his running mate and tasked the military with auditing electronic voting machines whose reliability he cast doubt upon, without ever providing evidence. Following his defeat to leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his supporters set up camp outside military barracks for months to demand military intervention.

Bolsonaro never conceded defeat nor asked them to demobilize, and on Jan. 8, 2023 they stormed the capital, Brasilia, invading and vandalizing the Supreme Court, Congress and the presidential palace.

[In2ition]

I believe that there are a lot of truths in that AP article, mixed in with a narrative of falsehoods. No one wants to go back to having the military constantly deciding things and therefore keep creating or recreating a military dictatorship.

Unfortunately, the framing of what happened in Brazil after the election as some violent coup attempt is completely false. No officials were in any of those buildings at the time. Bolsonaro wasn't even in the country during these happenings. And Bolsonaro himself read out the results of the election, even if he didn't concede and accept what he saw as a rigged election. He's been punished for the perceived indiscretion, to the point that he isn't even allowed to run for office for at least 2 election cycles. Also a faulty decision by the Supreme courts dictatorship.

It also is glossing over or just outright trying to whitewash what is currently occurring. There was A LOT of shenanigans and questionable results in the election, but the Supreme court chief justice immediately said, "F U, the results are the results and no one is going to be allowed to look at them." And now, if you even question anything to do with how things are being done, you are targeted as an enemy of the state. That includes journalists. They have introduced Cuban style censorship and the Justice has been making up laws, like he has executive authority. Things are going to get pretty nasty, as this seems to be a bolshevik style communist coup and take over.

Now, they are going after Elon and are involving the Police into investigating him. What's next? Are they going to find him guilty of some high crime and demand that the US extridite him to Brazil for sentencing and punishment?

[Nodack]

It sounds almost exactly like what happened in the US with Trump and Maga to me. Bolsonaro lost the election and claimed they stole the election. His supporters stormed the capital and broke in. Now they claim everything is fake and fraudulent and that the new government is an evil dictatorship.

[In2ition]

It sounds almost exactly like what happened in the US with Trump and Maga to me. Bolsonaro lost the election and claimed they stole the election. His supporters stormed the capital and broke in. Now they claim everything is fake and fraudulent and that the new government is an evil dictatorship.

I wouldn't call it the same, even though it sounds like the same. The claim that the election was fake and fraudulent has merit, but it's irrelevant. Can you provide evidence to refute that the new government is not becoming an evil dictatorship? From everything that you've read or heard, are you convinced it's all fine?

[Nodack]

I am convinced that the ousted party is going to act like Maga and claim everything is fake fraudulent and turning into Nazi Germany because they aren’t in power and the only way to save the country is to vote the last guy back in power.

[In2ition]

It's a sad state of affairs, when you are convinced of this. Does this mean you also ignore what the current government is doing?

[In2ition]

The censorship framework in Brazil mirrors tactics employed by the US government to suppress dissenting voices under the guise of combating disinformation.

"Any criticism of this judge that offends him will result in punishment, no trial, no due process, and that's what they've done now to Elon Musk."

"This censorship regime has no basis in law. They actually tried to pass a law several months ago that would democratically enact this censorship regime to formally define the powers and the responsibilities of big tech. But they could not get the votes in Congress to pass it."

Thus, Judge Alexandre de Moraes was given unilateral authority to dictate permissible online speech.

"When they issue these orders to these platforms, they say, we want this member of Congress banned, we want this journalist banned, we want this activist banned. They provide no due process. They provide no explanation. And these orders are never sent to the individuals who are being censored."

"There is no judicial process for contesting the order. If you do try to contest it, you go right to the judge who issued it, and obviously, you have no chance of being heard."

"It's not just censorship. It's censorship with no due process in the most Kafkaesque way; there's not even a legal framework for it."

"They're not even allowed to inform their users that they received a judicial order. Let alone disclose to the public or their users what the content of the order is. They just have to obey and ban the individuals named in the order, and if they don't do so within two hours of receipt, they will face daily fines of $20,000 for every account they fail to ban."

In January 2023, Greenwald obtained one of these judicial orders that revealed arbitrary bans on democratically elected congress members of the House and Senate, including 25-year-old politician Nikolas Ferreira, who garnered record-breaking support.

Ferreira not only secured a historic victory by amassing the largest vote total of any congressional candidate in Brazil's history but also garnered over a million votes in his state, surpassing all other candidates in the 2022 election.

However, despite his widespread support, the judge overseeing the censorship regime arbitrarily banned Ferreira from all online platforms, silenced him, and deprived him of his online presence without any explanation or opportunity for due process.

Senators, journalists, and activists who express dissenting opinions or criticize this censorship are similarly targeted for censorship by the same judge, highlighting the authoritarian nature of these actions.

"Needless to say, Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, which is by far the most popular chat platform in Brazil, have always just meekly complied with every censorship order they got from Brazil, but Elon Musk decided he had enough."

[In2ition]

So guess who the leader of the TSE is?