#BRpol

[davidaugust]

"The re-election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States provided Meta [owner of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and such] with a glorious opportunity to pivot from futile co-operation with the EU to confrontation and coercion. If Meta could get the US government onside in its battles with the EU and other jurisdictions, then it would maximise its chances of success."

"In his Facebook announcement this week of changes to various policies, Zuckerberg candidly said that he wanted to 'work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world. They’re going after American companies and pushing to censor more. The US has the strongest constitutional protections for free expression in the world…The only way that we can push back on this global trend is with the support of the US government.'"

"For a corporation in the predicament of Meta this makes perfect commercial sense, even if it does violence to previously expressed sentiments. This is not an example of a company suddenly acting irrationally, but of a company rationally responding to one political development so as to facilitate defeating a regulatory challenge."

"And as the business models of most social media platforms require engagement above all — for without engagement you cannot have data mining and monetising and advertising — it really does not matter that the engagement is generated and amplified by misinformation and disinformation."

"The recent appointments at board level at Meta look like it is preparing for battle, and one in which its current commercial model requires it to defeat the aims of foreign governments. The new appointments make a lot of strategic sense."

"Nonetheless there is a fight ahead: over who shall regulate the social media platforms that in turn are influential in shaping (and contaminating) public discourse."

(Unfortunately behind a paywall: https://www.ft.com/content/917c9535-1cdb-4f6a-9a15-1a0c83663bfd )

[sol-flo]

dude if i hear anything else about politics i'm gonna pass away from low morale disco elysium style. can people with power stop actively viewing me and mine as vermin please.

[galaticrow546]

@danidonie here It is lolz

[sollilua-2]

o ovalo do carvalho tá bem calado sobre a posse do lula né

[thevorelock]

why is politics so obsessive with me??? i had stopped reading most of the news to free myself, but now i read 1 (one) and suddenly i have ten tabs open and i NEED to know

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Harvard Study Says We Could Need Bouts of Social Distancing Until 2022 

The study comes as the US enters the peak of its COVID-19 caseload and states eye an eventual easing of tough lockdown measures.

The Harvard team's computer simulation, which was published in a paper in the journal Science, assumed that COVID-19 will become seasonal, like closely related coronaviruses that cause the common cold, with higher transmission rates in colder months.

But much remains unknown, including the level of immunity acquired by previous infection and how long it lasts, the authors said.

"We found that one-time social distancing measures are likely to be insufficient to maintain the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 within the limits of critical care capacity in the United States," lead author Stephen Kissler said in a call with reporters.

"What seems to be necessary in the absence of other sorts of treatments are intermittent social distancing periods," he added.

Widespread viral testing would be required in order to determine when the thresholds to re-trigger distancing have been crossed, said the authors.

Continue reading.

[sollilua-2]

i couldn't go to the protests against bolsonaro that happened but aaaa the pictures are so pretty 🥺

(first 3 pictures' credits: Mykesio Max )

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

So, in Brazilian public security news, president Jair Bolsonaro has said the bill the introduced to expand the legal excuse for use of force and killing by authorities in Operations of Guarantee of Law and Order (when the Armed Forces act in specific moments "in cases where traditional public security forces are depleted, in serious situations of disruption of order") is a measure to prevent violent riots in Brazil. He argued that the approval of the proposal will prevent "vandalism" and "terrorism" from occurring. “If a state governor asks and the president issues a decree, people will stop committing terrorist acts.”, he said. “Protest, you can protest at will. It's in Article 5 of the Constitution. Protest is one thing, vandalism, terrorism is quite another. Setting fire to buses, putting innocent people at risk of dying, setting fire to banks, invading ministries, that is no protest. Protest is one thing. Terrorist act is another.”

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Guys, I'mma have to stop with the Brumadinho updates for a while. I'll be back tomorrow, then try and post the developments in a summarized way, or post foreign articles that resume the sitatuon. Hope you can understand.

Meanwhile, are anyone of you from the region? Are you ok?

-Mod Nise da Silveira

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Trump of the tropics: the 'dangerous' candidate leading Brazil's presidential race

Jair Bolsonaro has openly cheered dictatorship and publicly insulted women. Now he’s deploying Trump-like tactics in his race for the presidency

Jair Bolsonaro’s disciples had packed the arrivals hall of this far-flung Amazonian airport, united by their contempt for the left and an unbreakable determination to score a selfie with the man they call “the Legend”.

“He’s Brazil’s hope! A light at the end of the tunnel! A new horizon!” gushed Fernando Vieira, one of hundreds of fans there to greet a far-right firebrand who cheerleads for dictatorship but could soon become leader of the world’s fourth-largest democracy.

When flight 2020 delivered the presidential hopeful to his sun-scorched destination in the northern state of Roraima, pandemonium broke out. “Legend! Legend! Legend! Legend!” the crowd chanted, hoisting their idol into the air and outside through a crush of police officers and partisans.

There, Bolsonaro boarded a carnival float painted like a leopard and began an ear-splitting, hour-long procession through town.

“The Legend has arrived! The Legend is in Roraima! The big democracy party has begun!” bellowed an MC as the rally crept south, pursued by a honking tide of SUVs and motorbikes.

Many would question that last claim, for Bolsonaro – who has been described as “the most misogynistic, hateful elected official in the democratic world” and possibly the most repulsive politician on earth – is not known as a fan of the ballot-box.

Since the Pinochet-praising former paratrooper entered politics three decades ago, he has repeatedly called for a return to the kind of military rule Brazil endured until 1985. “I am in favour of a dictatorship,” he boasted during the first of seven terms as a congressman.

Such incendiary remarks were long dismissed as the ravings of a irreverent and irrelevant extremist – as were his equally inflammatory attacks on women, black people, gay people, foreigners and indigenous communities, for which he was last week charged by Brazil’s attorney general with inciting hate speech.

Now, however, Bolsonaro’s ideas have taken centre stage, with the father of five leading the race to become Brazil’s next president after the jailing of his nemesis and main rival, the former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Continue reading.

[sollilua-2]

if only the police were this nice when teachers and homeless workers were peacefully protesting,,, instead they throw bombs and shoot the teachers

what the actual hell,,

i leave the internet for some hours and brazilian fascists invade the national congress, the planalto palace and the supreme court to break a bunch of stuff and hurt the people who work there

[sollilua-2]

IOJIOSJUIOHDUIJFSHUIFISJ we live in a society 

context: br unified health system mascot

@danidonie here It is lolz