Just out. A 541-page report by the US House of Representatives' Committee on the Judiciary and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government showing how the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) is illegally censoring opinion, political and otherwise. It is the corollary of the current dispute between the STF and "X" (former Twitter).
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/glo4rpru ... &s=08&dl=0
In 2019, Brazil’s Supreme Court granted itself new powers to “act as an investigator, prosecutor and judge all at once in some cases.” Rather than relying on a prosecutor or a law enforcement officer to open an investigation, the president of Brazil’s Supreme Court, José Antonio Dias Toffoli, “issued an order granting the Supreme Court itself the authority to open an investigation.” Former Brazilian Supreme Court justices openly criticized the move as unprecedented and in violation of Brazil’s constitution.
[...]
This interim report exposes Brazil’s censorship campaign and presents a startling case study of how a government can justify censorship in the name of stopping so-called “hate” speech and the “subversion” of “order.” This report includes the following documents:
• Two copies each of 28 orders, in Portuguese and in English translation, issued by Justice Alexandre de Moraes to X Corp.
• An additional 23 orders issued by Justice Alexandre de Moraes for which X Corp.
does not have an English translation;
• 37 orders issued by the Superior Electoral Court of Brazil.
The so-called ministers of the Supreme Court (many of whom are not even real judges) now allow themselves to play multiple roles in the same cases. They are the "victims" (as when criticized), they open and conduct investigations, they prosecute, they try and they convict. All such illegal cases are kept under secrecy. The defendants and their lawyers are not given access to the case files so it is not clear what the accusations are, but their homes are searched and they can be imprisoned anyway, indefinitely.
Congressmen with inconvenient opinions have been divested of their mandates and political rights (Pablo Marçal, Deltan Dallagnol, Jair Bolsonaro) for no justifiable reason, and many have been imprisoned, including Anderson Torres (former minister of justice), Daniel Silveira (former congressman), Bismark (comedian), Serere (Indian chief), Allan Frutuozo (reporter), Mauro Cid (one of many arrested aides of Pres. Bolsonaro), and so forth. In addition, an endless list of high-profile criminals (drug dealers and public coffer plunderers) have been promptly released from prison, including André do Rap, José Dirceu, Sergio Cabral, Lula, Flordelis, Chico Rodrigues, Renato Duque, Delúbio Soares, João Santana, Paulo Roberto Costa, André Vargas, Léo Pinheiro, Pedro Corrêa, Geddel, Jacob Barata Filho, Chaaya Moghrabi, Anthony Garotinho, Daurio Speranzini Jr, Flávio Godinho, Eike Batista, Lélis Teixeira, Octacilio de Monteiro, Claudio de Freitas, Marcelo Traça, Eneas Bueno, Dayse Neves, Rogério Onofre, David Augusto, Miguel Iskin, Gustavo Estellita, Marco Antônio de Luca, Sérgio Côrtes, Orlando Diniz, Milton Lyra, Ricardo Rodrigues, Marcelo Sereno, Carlos Pereira, Adeilson Telles, Marcelo Martins, Arthur Pinheiro Machado, Marcos Lips, Carlos Martins, Sandro Lahmann, Cesar Monteiro, Sergio da Silva, Hudson Braga, Paulo Sergio Vaz, Athos Albernaz, Rony Hamoui, Oswaldo Prado Sanches, Antonio Albernaz, Roberta Prata, Marcelo Rzezinski, Daurio Júnior, and so forth.
Moreover, the following high-profile political hucksters have had long-standing investigations against them closed and archived at the stroke of a pen: Renan Calheiros, Aécio Neves, José Serra, Michel Temer, Geraldo Alckmin, Guido Mantega, Rodrigo Maia, Gleisi Hoffmann, Eunício Oliveira, Padilha, Moreira Franco and Jaques Wagner.
Regardless of what one thinks of "X" and the other platforms mentioned in the Subcommittee report, it is a fact that Brazil is quickly sinking into a Venezuela-like dictatorship.
