Acting Brazil leader rebuffed by 2 unions post-impeachment

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Acting Brazil leader rebuffed by 2 unions post-impeachment
May 16, 3:04 PM EDT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Two large unions in Brazil are refusing an invitation to meet with acting President Michel Temer, underscoring the challenges facing the new leader of Latin America's largest nation amid a divisive impeachment process.

Temer assumed the presidency last week after President Dilma Rousseff was impeached and suspended for allegedly employing accounting tricks to hide gaping deficits in the federal budget.

Temer called for the unions to meet Monday to discuss reforms to the country's pension system, something that analysts say is necessary to begin pulling Brazil from its worst recession since the 1930s.

Several unions say they'll attend Monday's meeting, but two major groups are holding out. One of them is the Central Workers union. It says it "won't recognize putschists as governors" and it calls for Rousseff's return.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_BRAZIL_POLITICAL_CRISIS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-16-15-04-22

[forest444]

1. Our GOP is definitely taking notes.

And if Hillary in fact becomes our next president, it'll be all too easy for them to pull a parliamentary coup not unlike this one in Brazil and the one in Paraguay against Father Lugo in 2012.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Like trying various plays out of town before bringing them to New York, right?

I'm sure you've got a point, forest444.

They can judge what to leave in or take out while customizing it to US conditions.

[forest444]

5. And it almost worked with Bill Clinton in 1999.

I'm not Bubba's biggest fan; but I felt at the time, and still do, that he certainly didn't deserve impeachment for what were after all personal indiscretions - least of from the likes of Larry Craig, Henry Hide-my-secret-family, and Hastert the bastard.

Unfortunately, while the attempt failed it did create a powerful precedent - and Dilma certainly won't be the last of its victims.

I love your Broadway metaphor, Judi. Were you ever in the theater? You certainly have the wit for it, let me tell you!

[Judi Lynn]

6. Yes, it did almost work with Bill Clinton, didn't it? They were after him the first day in office.

Bob Barr, that nasty little creep from Georgia, claimed he should be impeached as soon as he took office.

It was shocking to see that relentless assault on the man, trying one charge after another for all of his days. I always felt he made a host of mistakes simply because of the unbelievable, incessant assault on every move he made. At the time, it seemed as brutal and nasty as the treatment they've given President Obama, in a way. Of course they didn't have the vicious angle of racism to attach to their hatred, they just rode their pompous hypocrisy, instead, in labeling Clinton an "adulterer" while so many of them were leading the same kinds of lives, or even worse, like Henry Hyde, Bob Livingston, Newt Gingrich, another pervert from Louisiana, David Vitter, who replaced Livingston when Livingston got on his high horse and claimed he was leaving as others who fornicated should do, if we knew who he meant, nudge, nudge, long angry scowl at Clinton. (That was a moment of levity. What a jerk.) There were so many of them all whanging away, while wearing their little Easter bonnets and sitting with their little hands folded in Congress as they shouted for the fires of hell to consume Clinton for his sins.

We must have all gone insane to believe they were going to let Latin America finally become democratic, and stop butting into business which actually shouldn't concern us.

They have to be crazy to think Latin American people are going to like having dictatorships again, after they worked so hard to remove them the last time, and pry them out of government, and repair the damage they had done.

[cpwm17]

2. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Your link is outstanding. Here's hoping many, many more people will see it. Thank you. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

7. Over 800 Intellectuals and Academics Condemn Coup in Brazil

Over 800 Intellectuals and Academics Condemn Coup in Brazil
Published 16 May 2016 (4 hours 1 minutes ago)

Humanity Against the Coup in Brazil has said that the government of Michel Temer is illegitimate, and calls on UNASUR to suspend the coup against Dilma.


A group of over 800 international academics and intellectuals calling itself "Humanity Against the Coup in Brazil" released a statement Monday that condemns the ouster of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff by right-wing elements.
The statement says that Rousseff's ouster on May 11 is an "imposed coup d’etat by a questionable and corrupt Congress."

Many members of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, to which acting President Michel Temer belongs, have been involved in the most serious corruption scandal in Brazil's history, Operation Car Wash. The scandal involves hundreds of millions of dollars of money laundering and bribery surrounding the state-run Petrobras oil company.

Eduardo Cunha, the former speaker of Brazil's lower house, is one such member. He was charged with receiving over US$$40 million in bribes and obstructing an investigation into these allegations. Cunha was suspended on May 5, but not before providing leadership to the anti-Rousseff coup movement.

Rousseff was not implicated in the scandal, but suspended for allegedly using public funds to hide deficits in certain ministries.

More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Over-800-Intellectuals-and-Academics-Condemn-Coup-in-Brazil-20160516-0033.html