Sambodian Election Season: “Cops Go To War With Cops”

Ricardo Noblat of O Globo Online reports: Striking São Paulo state judicial police are gassed, shot and beaten the snot out of by São Paulo state military police, a couple of whom reportedly get shot for their troubles.
Yes, one police force is on strike here, while the other is being used as a strike-busting [...]

Dantas’ Inferno: The Bicho, the Leaker, the Barrister and the Banker

Josias de Souza ofthe Folha de S. Paulo noted on September 7 that Nélio Machado, lead attorney for Daniel “The Quiet Brazilian” Dantas, faces possible charges stemming from his representation of Rio bicho banker [numbers rackeeteer] “Captain” Guimarães in the Operation Hurricane case.
On the good Captain and the jolly old jogo do bicho, see also

Carnage [...]

Sambodian Campaign Season: Será Que Ele É?

Olha a cabeleira do Zezé
Será que ele é?
Será que ele é?
Olha a cabeleira do Zezé
Será que ele é?
Será que ele é?
Será que ele é bossa nova?
Será que ele é Maomé?
Parece que é transviado
Mas isso eu não sei se ele é.
… when there are suspicions that a mayor has created a special Secretariate of De-Bureaucratization for [...]

Mexico: The Political Uses of Poster-Child Panic

Astillero, the eloquent political columnist of Mexico’s La Jornada, has an interesting case study in the political uses of “moral panic” journalism, which is a particular interest of mine. One of these days I am going to finish my book proposal on the subject.
The problem: Demonstrations against the proposed reforms at Pemex, dubbed “privatization” by [...]

Mexico: “The Teacher Gives a HMMVV Job”

Las Hummer’s [sic] de la Gordillo: Milenio (Mexico) reports on a widely commented incident in which Elba Ester “The Teacher” Gordillo, dictator for life of the SNTE national education union, presented each and every one of her regional section chiefs with a brand new HMMVV at a recent union congress.
(I wonder if the head of [...]

Dollar Futures and FX Swaps for Dummies Who Read O Globo

Perdas com câmbio podem passar de R$30 bi: Losses from exchange-rate swaps could total R$30 billion and affect 200 Brazilian companies, reports O Globo.
You are starting to hear people saying stupid things like “exchange-rate derivatives are the Brazilian version of securitized subprime mortages.”
This, it seems to me, is not just comparing apples to oranges: It’s [...]