Happy Sambodian Holidays

We all live in a yellow submarine (above): Escaping a São Paulo ponto de alagamento. Source: Forgot, sorry, a local paper.
As for us, we are heading to the seashore, where the water, rather than pooling and reeking of human excrement, cascades down the mountainside and is swallowed up by the briny green vastness.
Hopefully, we are [...]

Dantas’ Inferno: “Minocarthismo”

Reinaldo Azevedo and Márcio Chaer, in their attempt to misuse the program as a personal platform in the face of such delicate issues and such a controversial interviewee, conspired against the journalistic quality and balance of this edition of Roda Viva. The program’s directors should reflect on their criteria for selecting interviewers in the future.
Consultor [...]

Doleiros Said To Discredit Suisse

Doleiros ficavam no Credit Suisse, dizem testemunhas: Black-market currency dealers worked inside Credit Suisse offices right over here on the Av. Faria Lima in aid of tax-avoidance schemes engaged in by the bank, according to witness statements cited by the Estado de S. Paulo today.
The report is a little thin, and for that reason repetitious.
Documentos, [...]

Dueling Bolivian Media Scandals: Death Squads and Pokemon Smugglers

Evo Morales of Bolivia is at war with the daily La Razón, and vice versa.
As far as I can tell, the government is accusing La Razón of printing lies about the Quintana case and refusing to talk to any but the international press, which it says is “more responsible.”
In a story [...]

TV Cultura Ombudsman on Roda Viva: Chaer and Azevedo Stunk Up The Show

Reinaldo Azevedo and Márcio Chaer, in their attempt to misuse the program as a personal platform in the face of such delicate issues and such a controversial interviewee, conspired against the journalistic quality and balance of this edition of Roda Viva. The program’s directors should reflect on their criteria for selecting [...]

You Know Whose Inferno: “FENAJ Wants To Out Dantas Touts”

Daniel Valente Dantas. Graphic: Veja magazine, May 2006, when it reported: “Daniel Dantas has a list that may show illegal offshore bank accounts controlled by the president and party bigwigs.” Veja had plenty of evidence that “almost certainly does not” was the word to use instead of “may.” Ecce Veja.

Comunique-se (Brazil), an online trade publication [...]

Siemens in Sambodia: Numbers That Don’t Jibe Suggestive of Bribe?

The documentation collected in Germany does not cite business conducted in Brazil, according to Munich prosecutor Schmidt-Sommerfeld. Even so, São Paulo prosecutor Antônio Celso Faria said he will ask the Ministry of Justice to request the German documents.
First there was the Alstom affair — French and Swiss prosecutors accusing the multinational rail transport contractor of [...]

Brazil: “The Threat to Habeas Corpus is a Phantom Menace”

… the ill-will caused by the Chief Justice’s outspoken aversion to federal police operations that have resulted in the arrest of well-to-do suspects has been transformed into a plot against habeas corpus, and the Chief Justice presents himself as the lonely defender of constitutional rights and guarantees. –Maria Inês Nassif

When Chief [...]

Veja’s Designated Blogger: The Chief Justice And I (And Especially I) Were Superb on Roda Viva!

Veja’s Reinaldo “Mr. Hat” Azevedo: Veja’s designated blogger

Reinaldo Azevedo, former editor of (the failed) Primeira Leitura and now Veja magazine’s designated blogger, offers his own view of Monday’s interview with Chief Justice Mendes on TV Cultura’s Roda Viva.
Azevedo apparently spent more time listening to the sound of his own voice than listening to the subject [...]

The Apostheosis of Gilmar Mendes: Nassif, In Disbelief

Today’s economic column from online journalist Luis Nassif follows up on the flap over an appearance by Supreme Court Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes on last night’s Roda Viva, the venerable live interview program on TV Cultura here in Sambodia.
See also

Roda Viva: VTV for the PSDB?

From my own observations, I tend to [...]