Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Pelé, the GOAT Legacy and social media are replete with people eulogizing Pelé. And they are all saying practically the same thing. It’s some version of this: Pelé, the Brazilian soccer legend who won three World Cups and became the sport’s first global icon, has died at the age of 82. … For more than… Read more.
Unfortunately, President Jair Bolsonaro seems hell-bent on living up to his reputation as the “Trump of the Tropics.” Polls have consistently shown former president Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva handily defeating him today – by double digits. Yet Bolsonaro has spent the last few weeks whipping his supporters into a frenzy with Trumpian lies about… Read more.
The comparisons between the killing of Genivaldo de Jesus Santos this week and the killing of George Floyd two years ago this week are as uncanny as they are unavoidable. Here is how Sky News reported it on Friday: _________ Videos showing a Brazilian man dying while trapped in the boot of a police car… Read more.
This is why Brazilians have far more to fear from Bolsonaro’s leadership than Americans do from Trump’s. Here is what I wrote about this Trumpian buffoon in “Covid-19 ‘Power Grabs’ Are Playing Out Just as I Feared … and Warned” on April 27: _________ President Bolsonaro of Brazil [is] dismissing the pandemic as ‘just a… Read more.
The media covered so much promotional hype for the 2018 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Russia that, by the time play got under way, the matches seemed anticlimactic. By contrast, the media covered so little of the same for this 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France that most people probably had no idea when… Read more.
American news organizations provided so much coverage of Donald Trump’s traveling circus to Mexico today, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was the most important geopolitical event of the century. But, trust me, within 24 hours his trip will be relegated to the dustbin of viral stunts. Meanwhile, they provided scant coverage of an event… Read more.
Media alarms about Zika make it easy to overlook persistent concerns about Brazil’s sewage-infested bays and lagoons, which expose locals, and will expose Olympic athletes, to MRSA and all kinds of other waterborne viruses. (“Zika Virus: God Help the Children; Save the Olympics,” The iPINIONS Journal, February 3, 2016) The stress of training for the… Read more.
The World Health Organization [WHO] declared the Zika virus and its suspected link to birth defects an international public health emergency on Monday, a rare move that signals the seriousness of the outbreak and gives countries new tools to fight it. An outbreak of the Zika virus, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, was detected in… Read more.
I should begin by reiterating that: I had no emotional or financial interest in the outcome of this game. Nigeria was my pick to win it all. But after it was kicked out in the second round, I shifted my allegiance to Argentina. (“Brazil Surrenders World Cup to Germany 1-7,” The iPINIONS Journal, July 9,… Read more.
And, trust me, even that one goal in the final (i.e., 90th) minute of the match had more to do with Germany taking pity on Brazil than with Brazil salvaging some measure of national pride. Meanwhile, Brazilians in the stands being overcome with inconsolable grief gave the impression these devout Christians were witnessing the crucifixion of… Read more.
