Between Bunkers and Shelters: Israeli Civilians Take Cover as Israel's Defence Technology Combats Unrestrained Iranian Hatred
בס״ד
Following the attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria on April 1st, carried out by Israel in response to long-developing and consolidating Iranian strategic plans to attack it, Iran, known for its deep-seated hatred of Israel, issued a threat of retaliation. This promise was fulfilled last Saturday, the 13th, with a drone and missile strike against Israel.
This latest episode is just one chapter in a saga of rampant violence and hatred that will likely have many developments, as the Iranian regime not only insists on financing and coordinating terrorist groups in an attempt to dominate the region and undermine Israel's stability and security but also now directly attacks it. The Israeli Defense Forces have once again demonstrated their formidable preparedness and response capability in the face of threats and attacks. Equipped with advanced technology, such as the "Iron Dome" system, the Israeli forces managed to intercept most of the enemy missiles and drones, thus protecting their civilian population and ensuring the country's security.
This effectiveness is amplified by the continued support and investment from the United States and other allied nations, which recognize the strategic importance of Israel in the region. However, Iran has not hesitated to threaten and continue its attacks against Israel should the United States continue its support. Ayatollah Khamenei, with all his arrogance and spewing hatred, dared to challenge the US, warning it not to interfere in the region's affairs. Meanwhile, in Israel, the sound of air raid alerts echoes through the cities, prompting inhabitants to rush to shelters and bunkers in fear for their lives.
This constant terror is inflicted by Iran and its terrorist allies, who have no qualms about attacking innocent civilians in their relentless pursuit of Israel's elimination. In Brazil, the most outrageous scene at the moment is the ex-convict who is in charge of the misgovernment, refusing to condemn Iran and its acts of terrorism, shamefully calling the drone and missile attack a mere "dispatch," as if it were a letter sent by mail from Iran to a neighboring country. Instead of facing the problem head-on and calling things by their proper names, Lula seems to revel in such events, as he is accustomed to covering up for totalitarian and terrorist regimes, ignoring the suffering they cause to the populations living under them.
Meanwhile, we hope that the international community will become more aware of the seriousness of these confrontations and the huge potential for them to escalate to the extent of sparking a third world war, and that it will remain vigilant and united in its condemnation of Iran's actions, working to ensure peace and stability in the region. Anti-Semitism, hatred, and vengeance only serve to perpetuate the cycle of violence and must be combated not only with determination and firmness by the international community but also with our prayers and supplications for the people of Israel.
Noteworthy is the "Statement of Repudiation" issued by Senator Carlos Viana on this date, who in a brave and representative attitude of the good Brazilian citizens, expressed his indignation towards Iran's attacks on Israel, calling them by their rightful name: "a clear violation of international law" that "puts at risk the national security and stability of the region". The senator also expressed "unwavering solidarity with Israel and its people", remembering prominently that "Israel's right to self-defense is inalienable and must be fully respected by the international community." "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and prosperity within your palaces. For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, 'Peace be within you!'" (Psalms 122:6-8)
Published 15 April, 2024
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
Sons of Hamas Leader Killed in Attack; Terrorist Organization Vows to Retaliate
בס״ד
In an attack acknowledged by Tel Aviv, the Israeli military forces eliminated six close relatives of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a statement admitting to the attack, conducted in cooperation with the Israel Security Agency (ISA), which resulted in the deaths. T
he intelligence-directed attack by the IDF and ISA occurred in the Gaza Strip last Wednesday and, according to Hamas and the Israeli military spokesperson, led to the deaths of three sons and three grandsons of the terrorist leader, as well as injuries to a seventh individual identified as Haniyeh's grandson; all deceased were agents of the terrorist group.
The apparently indifferent manner in which the terrorist leader received the news of his sons' and grandsons' deaths—widely shown on social media and news broadcasts—bears no resemblance to the story of Job, who despaired upon learning that he had lost his children, an emblematic reaction of any father or grandfather who receives news of such a devastating loss.
The stoicism displayed by Haniyeh, far from reflecting resignation, instead appears to personify the adage "Revenge is a dish best served cold." In his demeanor, Haniyeh reveals much about himself, his modus operandi, and how he has handled and will continue to handle anyone who stands in his way or opposes his ideals.
According to the spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, Mr. Daniel Hagari, the attack occurred during ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire in the conflict between the State of Israel and the terrorist group Hamas. It was carried out by Israeli jets targeting the "three terrorist agents" in the central region of the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh himself confirmed the deaths during an interview with Al Jazeera, stating that his sons "were martyred on the path to the liberation of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
Despite the shocking nature of Haniyeh's reaction upon learning of his sons' deaths, it demonstrates his resolve and willingness to pay any price, however steep, to advance the terrorist ideals of Hamas. Haniyeh, who has led Hamas since 2017, even stated: "The enemy believes that by targeting the families of leaders, they will pressure us to abandon our people's demands." He added, "Anyone who believes that attacking my children will pressure Hamas to change its stance is delusional," in a threatening tone, showing no concern about the constant exposure of his family members to the dangers of war while he himself has resided safely in Qatar since 2020, away from the conflict zone. To him, the lives of his children are no more valuable than those of any other individual living in Gaza.
Despite the casualties, the terrorist leader does not even consider the possibility of ending the conflict.
Such coldness reveals a person devoid of God: he completely loses what characterizes him as such, his humanity.
Meanwhile, securing a ceasefire in the negotiations seems increasingly challenging.
Published 10 April, 2024
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
The Importance of Interpreting Celestial Signs Through the Lens of Holy Scriptures and Not Through Social Media
בס״ד
On the upcoming 8th of April, the heavens will bear witness to an extraordinary astronomical phenomenon: a total solar eclipse. This event, which will be the last of its kind visible in the 48 States of the United States until 2044, promises to be a breathtaking spectacle for those in locations where it can be fully appreciated, as well as for those observing it partially.
The Pacific coast in Mexico will also witness the beginning of this cosmic spectacle, in the city of Mazatlán and its surroundings, offering an ideal setting for observation. With a duration of just over 4 minutes, this total eclipse will traverse North America, entering Texas and moving on to Canada, before dissipating in the vast Atlantic Ocean.
According to NASA, during a total solar eclipse, the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, completely blocking the face of the Sun, casting the areas under its shadow into temporary darkness. For observers on the path of totality, the sky will darken, offering a unique view of the solar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun, which is normally obscured by its brightness.
The trajectory of this eclipse will cover a specific strip of the Earth, where totality will be visible, but many spectators around the planet who are outside this strip will still be able to witness a partial eclipse, where the Moon covers part of the Sun, but not completely. However, regardless of the observation location, it is important to take the appropriate precautions, such as using special eclipse glasses, to protect the eyes throughout the event.
What makes this eclipse so unique is not just its path, but also its connection to past events and its resonance with biblical happenings. Some Christian scholars have observed celestial patterns and identified connections between solar eclipses and significant moments in human history. However, the formation of an "X" in the skies of the USA, with this eclipse crossing over its predecessor from 2023, has sparked much speculation and fallacies about the prophetic significance of these events on social media, involving everything from political elections, possible antichrist candidates, and even an increased number of the beast.
In the face of a plethora of sensationalist, fantastical, and speculative news and ideas that appear on social media, and the creation of a frightening, fantastical scenario that many will be ashamed to have believed the next day, it is crucial to discern between what is speculation and what are truths grounded in the Bible. While some seek to interpret these signs as precursors to the apocalypse, it is important to maintain a balanced perspective anchored in Holy Scriptures.
The Bible mentions many signs in the heavens as part of the events leading up to the return of Jesus, but it also exhorts us in Matthew 24:3-6 not to be led by fear or deception. Therefore, a Christian's initiative to know the Bible in its entirety and to dedicate themselves to the study of texts related to the end times and the second coming of Christ is fundamental.
With or without an eclipse, we must remain vigilant and dedicated to God's purpose for our lives, living according to the principles of the Kingdom of God and proclaiming the gospel of salvation. So, as we observe the sky and ponder the mysteries and wonders of divine creation, let us remember the words of Jesus: "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour" (Matthew 25:13). This is the opportune time to be alert, to learn to live in constant communion with God, and to share the hope we have in Christ with a world that desperately needs the love and salvation only He can offer.
Published 8 April, 2024
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
ATTACK ON IRANIAN CONSULATE IN DAMASCUS SPURS PRO-TERRORISM TRIO INTO ACTION AGAINST ISRAEL
בס״ד
On Monday, the 1st, the Iranian Consulate situated in Damascus, the capital of Syria, was subjected to an attack that resulted in the death of thirteen individuals, seven of whom were members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. In retaliation, Iran has vowed to respond with severity, as declared by Hossein Akbari, the Iranian Ambassador to Syria, who miraculously escaped unharmed.
The Syrian and Iranian governments have attributed the assault to Israel, which led to the demise of three generals of the Guard, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, as reported by Iranian state media and confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based NGO with numerous informants in Syria.
Since the attack on the 7th of October last year, when Hamas—a terrorist group fully supported by Iran—launched a cowardly and cunning attack on Gaza, killing over a thousand people and kidnapping more than two hundred, many of whom are still held hostage, tensions in the region have been high.
Israel has been endeavouring to defend itself by targeting entities associated with Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. In one such strike, conducted on Friday (29th), the senior commander of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Ali Abed Akhsan Naim, the deputy commander of the group's rocket and missile unit responsible for planning and directing attacks against the Israeli civilian population, was killed.
The airstrike attributed to Israel not only destroyed the consular section of the Iranian embassy but also holds the potential to trigger an escalation of the war in Gaza across the region. According to Hossein Akbari, the Iranian Ambassador to Syria, six missiles were fired from F-35 fighter jets.
Through a statement to the UN Security Council, Iran has claimed it has the right (and the obligation) to retaliate against the Israeli attack and has requested an emergency meeting of the Council to address the aggression, since, as stated by Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the attack constitutes a "violation of all international conventions."
What led Israel to bomb the Iranian embassy?
Israel is in direct conflict over territorial disputes. The nation is surrounded by historical enemies due to language, culture, and monotheistic practices; nations reshaped after the fall of the Ottoman imperial peace system at the end of World War I.
Iran is determined to respond commensurately to the loss it has suffered. The conflict between Israel and the terrorist Hamas is set to reach explosive dimensions.
The attack on the consulate in Damascus and the subsequent killing of a general were, in part, the practical actions following a statement by Yoav Gallant, Israel's Defence Minister, who declared that "Israel will act anywhere in the world every day," affirming Israel's proactive stance against its enemies.
Pro-Iranian extremist militias sent drones to attack Israel from Sunday to Monday (1st) and on Tuesday (2nd), one of which fell near the Port of Eilat, another near the airport in Jordan. Thus, Israel is targeted by drones with significant potential for harm, sent by Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon—the trio supported by Russia and China, being utilized by Iran.
Israel's actions demonstrate the nation's considerable political clout, including support from the United States.
Thus, it seems the conflict will not conclude as soon as some had hoped and many desire.
Peace to Israel.
God bless the Jewish people.
Published 2 April, 2024
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
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Governors of São Paulo and Goiás Visit Netanyahu and Demonstrate Support for Israel
בס״ד
On Tuesday, 19th, Governors Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans-SP) and Ronaldo Caiado (União Brasil-GO) were received by the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Israeli President, Isaac Herzog. The governors arrived in Israel on Sunday, 17th, accepting an invitation from Netanyahu and are expected to stay until Friday, 22nd.
It is globally known that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the current Brazilian government, made an outrageous statement regarding Israel's defensive actions against Hamas terrorists. Since then, relations between Brazil and Israel have soured to the point of Lula becoming a "persona non grata" in the Israeli nation.
Brazil's situation before the nations supporting the State of Israel has become embarrassing. The country has a government led by an individual who, although speaking on behalf of the people since he occupies a high position in the nation's command, does not represent the stance of the vast majority of Brazilians. These citizens are good people who value honesty, justice, and correctness. Unfortunately, this was just another action by the (mis)government that has shamed the country in the eyes of the nations.
As absurd as Lula's comparison was, the leader refuses to apologize to the Israeli authorities. Lula knows he does not represent the Brazilian people, but he does not care about this. He continues on his political trajectory, leaving a trail of blunders and unfortunate decisions, tarnishing the country's image.
As expected, and it could not be otherwise, during a meeting with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem, Tarcísio and Caiado took on a role that should have been played by Lula and apologized to the leaders of Israel, and consequently, to the Jewish people, for the disastrous statement of Brazil's current leader. This act was a clear statement that the president's speech does not represent the country's stance towards Israel. The defensive actions of the nation against Hamas terrorists are diametrically opposed to what occurred in the terrible Holocaust committed by the Nazis under the leadership of the tyrant Hitler during the Second World War.
The Brazilian leaders also expressed solidarity with the people of Israel, making clear their wishes for the successful rescue of hostages in the Gaza Strip and for all to return safe and sound to their families. Moreover, they expressed their support and hope for a swift solution to end the nation's war against terrorism, the atrocities, and heinous crimes committed under the leadership of the terrorist organization Hamas.
Throughout the meeting, Tarcísio discussed possible cooperative actions in agriculture, innovation, and technology for public security. The governor took the opportunity to thank the Jewish community in São Paulo for their work and support, especially for their prompt response to the tragedy in São Sebastião.
Caiado posted on his social media the moment when he apologizes to Netanyahu, "on behalf of Brazilians," for Lula's outrageous statements.
In conclusion, Brazil continues its effort to demonstrate how the opinion of its people differs from that of its leader.
God bless Brazil. May there be peace in Israel.
Published 25 March, 2024
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
FREEDOM UNDER THREAT: ANATEL EMPOWERED AS A POLICE FORCE TO SHUT DOWN SITES AND APPS DEEMED ANTIDEMOCRATIC BY THE TSE
בס״ד
In a significant attack on democracy and freedom of expression, at an event hosted by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) last Tuesday (12), Carlos Baigorri, president of the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), reiterated the agency's commitment to taking down websites and applications that the TSE considers antidemocratic. The agreement entails a stringent action plan by the Agency to remove from the internet sites and apps broadcasting information that displeases the TSE's fragile ego or content deemed as “fake news” and “deepfakes”. Baigorri highlighted Anatel's round-the-clock collaboration with the TSE and other stakeholders to ensure the electoral process is conducted fairly and democratically, despite the decision being a direct assault on freedom of speech.
The technological advancements of the past decade indicate an irreversible path towards technology becoming an integral part of individuals' and organizations' lives, facilitating tasks ranging from simple to complex, from business, people, and process management to the development of essential products and tools for various fields, including cooking, medicine, home care, and the care of infants and the elderly, among others.
The latest presidential election campaign in Brazil found support and leverage on social media, using the internet to connect with voters and reach potential ones. Many candidates leveraged technology to publicize their government plans, outlining the improvements they aimed to implement for societal benefit, while those without any plans focused on critiquing the initiatives.
The left vehemently opposed such practices, attempting to discredit and tarnish the image of then-candidate Jair Messias Bolsonaro, who extensively and lawfully utilized this tool without breaching electoral laws.
Following Bolsonaro and his allies' successful social media campaign, the left, realizing it had lost influence and space, has been attempting to censor and control what can and cannot be published across various sites, apps, and even personal pages, particularly targeting conservative, right-wing individuals.
It is understood that genuine fake news should be condemned and banned. By "genuine fake news", I refer to defamation and falsehoods, not information that damages the ego or threatens the tyranny of entities, militants, politicians, and leftist organizations attempting to undermine the country and unable to tolerate their power positions being challenged by law-abiding citizens. Regulating thought and opinion expression is typical of the leftist agenda, which is incompatible with a free and democratic country.
Granting Anatel such power clearly demonstrates that we live in times of tyranny, with our freedoms slipping through our fingers. It is crucial to fight to ensure our hard-won rights remain protected. Yes, we must not falter nor allow the deterioration of our democracy to proceed unchecked, with increasingly blatant attempts to control Brazilians' lives regarding permissible speech and inquiry.
Brazil is free, and its citizens are accountable for their actions, free to speak their minds and question their leaders on relevant issues. In a free country, saying "a" or "b" is not forbidden, and if someone commits inaccuracies and/or defamation in exercising this right, they should be held accountable if necessary. However, in a country where freedoms are constitutionally guaranteed, individuals should never be deprived of the right to question anything or express opinions on any subject.
The left is neither naive nor idle. It is attempting to prepare the ground, to intimidate, to silence the people in the face of its endeavors to cling to power. But the giant has awakened; Brazilians will not give up. We will continue to fight for our freedoms, including those of expression and thought.
Published 16 March, 2024
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
Repercussions: Lula's Remarks Lead to a 263% Increase in Reports of Antisemitism
בס״ד
For a long time, a wise person stated that once words are spoken, they are like shredded paper thrown from the window of a tall building; even if the person who threw them regrets their action and wishes to retrieve them, it is impossible to collect every piece, as they have been scattered far and wide, carried away in different directions by the wind.
The aftermath of an event in Ethiopia, where the current Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, during a press conference, likened Israel's actions in Gaza to the atrocities committed by Nazis under the orders of the tyrant Hitler, continues to reverberate around the world, bringing shame to Brazilians on the international stage. With this outrageous statement and his refusal to apologize to the Israeli government, Lula has become persona non grata among the nation's leadership. The Brazilian government's statement resonated with twisted minds lacking in historical knowledge and a basic sense of humanity and empathy, leading to a frightening increase in the number of reports of antisemitism within the country.
According to data from a survey conducted by the Jewish Federation of the State of São Paulo (Fisesp), Lula's remarks have provided ammunition for a group of reckless individuals in the educational sector, striking Jewish students and/or their descendants with precise blows, subjecting them to harassment in their schools and universities.
Before Lula's speech, the number of reports made to the Community Security Department of the Jewish Federation, through social media and WhatsApp groups, was 45, increasing to 165 following the ruler's unwarranted statements. This represents a staggering 263% increase, demonstrating the power of a president's words and serving as a warning for the necessity of Lula to cease his idle talk and refrain from uttering nonsense; after all, although the vast majority of Brazilians disagree with Lula's statements, as the nation's representative, his words carry the weight of national representation.
It is not uncommon to hear Lula accuse Israel of committing genocide against Palestinian citizens living in the Gaza Strip. Thus, the statement that the current government made to the press at the event in Ethiopia was not a slip of the tongue, but a declaration that accurately reflects what he and his leftist allies think about the state of Israel. At no point, since the cowardly attack orchestrated and carried out by Hamas, has Lula even hinted at classifying the group as terrorists, which is precisely the appropriate definition for Hamas, considering how these criminals have been acting since the tragic day of October 7th last year.
There is no other possible classification for Hamas, as it steadfastly refuses to recognize the State of Israel and aims, as stated in its founding charter, to destroy Israel, which during the attack on Gaza, kidnapped numerous people, raped many others, beheaded babies, and burned several people alive. There is no other term to describe these actions other than terrorism, which is consistent with all the atrocities that the group continues to commit in the region.
For Ricardo Berkiensztat, the executive president of Fisesp, Lula's statements are directly connected to the increase in reports of antisemitism in Brazil. According to Berkiensztat, "[...] it's a matter of action and reaction. Whenever there's a statement by a popular figure, such as President Lula, where he officially uses words like genocide, there's an exponential increase in cases of antisemitism."
In conclusion, the current situation is as follows: Lula remains steadfast, refusing to apologize for the absurdity he spoke, and the Brazilian population continues to blush with shame at their leader.
May God have mercy on Brazil. Peace be upon Israel.
Published 11 March, 2024
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
The photograph of true democracy that Globo does not show, but drones reveal!
בס״ד
On Sunday, 25 February, Avenida Paulista was transformed into a striking demonstration of the Brazilian people's will. Over 700,000 citizens marched in support of former President Jair Bolsonaro and in defense of the Democratic State of Law, in a protest characterized by peace and determination to preserve the Christian and conservative values that are the essence of our nation. As this multitude gathered to reject the progressive and socialist agenda threatening our freedoms, the fervent discourse of former President Jair Bolsonaro resonated through the streets, echoing the people's demand for justice and amnesty for those unjustly detained during the protests of 8 January 2023. With words that praised his love for the country and the Brazilian people, Bolsonaro tirelessly advocated for the restoration of order and justice.
Alongside him, former First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro raised her voice in prayer, seeking divine protection for the nation and denouncing the relentless persecution faced by the presidential family before, during, and after their tenure. In a moment of reflection and faith, Michelle emphasized the importance of bringing religion back into the public sphere, challenging the forces of evil that seek to silence those who defend Judeo-Christian values.
Pastor Silas Malafaia, leader of the Assembly of God Victory in Christ Church, in his strong speech, exposed the left's hypocrisy, highlighting the difference in treatment by the Judiciary towards left-wing and right-wing demonstrations. Malafaia also defended our values, refusing to be silent in the face of injustice and, embodying the courage that characterizes him, stressed that he is not afraid of being imprisoned and that the shame lies in remaining silent in the face of abuses and arbitrariness. Furthermore, the pastor criticized the country's current administration since the return of former convict Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the presidency, questioning the conduct of the leftist in relation to the events that took place in Brasília on the fateful 8 January, and demanding clarification on the lack of government footage related to the protests of that day.
Moreover, the massive presence of Bolsonaro supporters overtly demonstrated the strength and determination of the conservative field to change the political direction of the country. With a diverse and engaged audience, including the elderly, adults, youth, and children, the demonstration not only rejected socialist and authoritarian policies but also celebrated the progress made during the Bolsonaro administration, echoed in the speech of the Governor of São Paulo and former Minister of Infrastructure, Tarcísio de Freitas.
The Bible states in Proverbs 29:2, "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." Thus, while left-wing leaders continue to relativize democracy, deplete public coffers, and propagate their globalist and diabolical ideologies, the voice of the Brazilian people rings loud and clear, calling for a Brazil free from tyranny and oppression. This demonstration on Avenida Paulista was not merely a political event; it was a living testament to resistance and hope from a people refusing to yield to threats against their freedom and faith, captured in a grand drone photograph.
Let this day be remembered as a time when the nation's true values were celebrated and reaffirmed. May the courage and determination of the Brazilian people displayed on the streets of São Paulo resonate around the world, showing that we do not condone evil, corruption, communism, authoritarianism, antisemitism, or globalism. Instead, this vast group, gathered in green and yellow on the country's main avenue, represents all over 58 million voters who supported Jair Bolsonaro and who fight for the cause of freedom and justice in our country.
May the voice of the people always be heard and respected.
God bless our nation.
Published 26 February , 2024
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
Interview with IDF Spokesperson Roni Kaplan by Agenor Duque for the Sovereign Order Uk
Discussing Security Failures and Assigning Blame
בס״ד
I am immensely grateful to God for the opportunity to share the enriching details of my recent interview with Roni Kaplan, spokesperson of the Israeli army, conducted in his office during my latest visit to Israel. Guided by Christian faith, I sought to gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of the situation and the perspectives of the Israeli people.
As our dialogue commenced, I emphasized Brazil's significance as one of the world's largest Christian countries and deepened our spiritual connection with Judaism, highlighting the respect and admiration the Brazilian people hold for Israel. Kaplan, with calm assurance, expressed gratitude for the solidarity and prayers from Brazil and Christians worldwide, noting how this support is greatly appreciated in Israel.
During the interview, I questioned Kaplan about the international reputation of the Israeli army, recognized as one of the world's finest. He explained that the strength of this institution is rooted in the history of a people who, after more than two millennia, returned to their Promised Land. We discussed the diversity among the soldiers, hailing from various regions and socioeconomic backgrounds, and how unity is essential for the defense of the State of Israel.
When discussing recent challenges, Kaplan shared striking details about operations to counter threats, focusing on the fight against the strategies and tunnels used by Hamas. He spoke of the complexities of hand-to-hand combat and the arduous task of confronting an enemy that uses civilians as human shields.
"We had to combat them, then we shifted the war to their territory, that is, to the Gaza Strip, and began surrounding different border cities where we are still fighting, for instance, in the central fields of the Gaza Strip. We have spent all this time fighting and initially encircling the Gaza Strip in the neighborhoods, at these Hamas gravity centers, going from tunnel to tunnel, in each residential building, mosque by mosque, school by school. There isn’t a school that doesn’t have weaponry stored in it. Subsequently, Hamas uses its civilians for military purposes. We have neutralized approximately 8000 terrorists and found over 30000 weapons in the Gaza Strip," said Roni.
Kaplan discussed education as the key to preventing terrorism in the long term in Gaza Strip communities. He stressed the need to change the content of school textbooks, replacing messages of hate with themes of peace. The shared vision is that true peace will only be achieved when organizations like Hamas cease promoting hatred in these communities, especially in training children and youths to be antisemitic and terrorists.
The spokesperson states that the only way to prevent terrorism in the long term is through education, and he discusses what he believes should be done: “First, we must change those parts of the school textbooks that incite and promote hatred, which advocate jihad, the holy war, for boys and girls. We need to replace these sections with themes related to peace, as Islam as a religion also encompasses many aspects of peace. Culturally, we must implement systems of peace instead of education in hatred. We cannot coexist with a terrorist group that instills hatred in its population, teaching children terrorism from a very young age. In summer camps, they teach children how to use weapons. If you ask them what they should do with a Jew in the Gaza Strip, they reply: you have to run over the Jew; you have to stab the Jew.”
The dialogue continued with Kaplan discussing humanitarian missions, highlighting the army's efforts to minimize civilian casualties. Field hospitals were established, and medical treatments were provided in both the Gaza Strip and Israel. He explained how distinguishing between Hamas and the civilian population is crucial for understanding the conflict.
Exploring Kaplan’s view on ending the conflict, he emphasized the need to neutralize Hamas, preventing it from operating as a terrorist army. Victory, he said, would be realized when the Israeli population feels safe within its borders and true peace is restored.
In conclusion, Roni Kaplan expressed deep gratitude for the support of the Christian community, inviting everyone to commit to the truth and combat misinformation. He shared and invited interested parties to follow his Twitter account (@CapitanKaplan).
For the full interview, please visit my YouTube Channel, Agenor Duque, or follow the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZAFSmQ2IkU
Published 16 January, 2024
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
Abortion and the Utmost Evil: Body Parts of Still-Living Babies Removed and Used in University Research
בס״ד
Allegations have surfaced, highlighting unspeakable cruelty at one of the most renowned universities in the United States. The Christian Post, a pro-life watchdog group in the USA, accuses the University of Pittsburgh of using aborted babies in their experiments, demonstrating a horrific level of human degradation. The Christian Post released documents showing that the university was under federal investigation for using fetal tissue in research practices, a story that leaked and made headlines in the American media.
It's not the first time clinics performing abortions have been accused of irregularities, including the illegal sale of aborted babies. In 2015, the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) exposed, through videos, that executives at Planned Parenthood (PP), the world's largest abortion clinic network, were involved in these practices. David Daleiden, president of CMP, expressed concerns about Planned Parenthood's illegal sale of these babies to the university.
In September 2020, the university conducted a study to develop 'humanized mice', made possible by transplanting human body parts into rodents. The most horrifying aspect of this experiment is that the transplanted tissues had to be warm, which could only be achieved by inducing labor in the abortion process, an act of violence that not only lacks justification but also amplifies the institution's terrible and cruel actions.
The Christian Post asserts that it is time for justice, as PP commits terrible atrocities against mothers and babies, covering it all up and remaining unpunished. According to CMP, the University of Pittsburgh harvests kidneys from still-living aborted babies, a practice labeled 'shocking and brutal' by David Prentice, vice-president of scientific affairs at the pro-life research group, the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
The extent of cruelty doesn't end there. According to allegations, the university uses materials acquired from the scalping of aborted babies, between 18 and 20 weeks of gestation, for their grafts in rats. Dr. Ronna Jurow, a gynecologist and obstetrician, and former employee of Planned Parenthood, confirmed that the organs used were extracted from living babies.
In its defense, the University of Pittsburgh denied the accusations, stating that its research complies with federal and state regulations and there are no irregularities related to their fetal experimentation practices.
Regardless, investigations must continue, and those fighting for justice should not lose heart. After all, in addition to the act of murder through the abortion of thousands of children, as Planned Parenthood has been perpetrating, this additional layer of cruelty cannot be allowed.
God does not leave unpunished those who mistreat the innocent. He is the defender of the vulnerable. The biblical warning states: 'Woe to him who harms one of my little ones,' says the Lord (Matthew 18:6). Surely, those who commit such evils will not escape due punishment."
Published 27 December, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
The Perverse Market of Digital Influence and the Fragility of a Generation without Christ
בס״ד
The market of "fake news", gossip, and digital influence has revealed itself to be both a lucrative and dangerous business. Companies like Banca Digital and Mynd8, which coordinate groups of gossip sites ideologically aligned to the left, become accomplices in this dirty game. By managing profiles that share distorted and politically biased content, these companies exploit the vulnerability of young people to promote their ideologies.
The tragic incident involving 22-year-old Jéssica Vitória Canedo, who committed suicide after her name was exposed through lies, is yet another example of the dark side of this multimillion-dollar market, where truth is often sacrificed for political and ideological agendas.
The gossip profile "Choquei" serves as a clear example of how the irresponsible dissemination of information can have devastating consequences. By spreading manipulated images and false news about Jéssica’s life, the profile not only violated journalistic ethics but also directly contributed to an irremediable tragedy.
The indifference of these companies to the real-life consequences of their actions is alarming. They seem more concerned with engagement and revenue than with the integrity of the lives they affect. The influence these agencies wield is colossal and, when misused, results in tragedies such as that of the young woman in question.
Raphael Sousa, one of the individuals responsible for "Choquei", appears more interested in provoking controversy than in responsible reporting. His insensitive mockery in the face of the young woman's appeal, combined with the lack of retraction after her death, reveals a shocking insensitivity, as suggested by the site's name. Sousa's connection to left-wing figures like Lula and Janja raises questions about the political influence behind these pages. "Choquei", while claiming to focus on entertainment and gossip, seems to have politics as one of its main targets.
In the wake of this incident, the opportunistic exploitation that the left will make of this terrible situation is foreseeable. They will use the young woman's death as a pretext to continue with nefarious projects, such as PL 2630, known as the Censorship Bill, and present it as a supposed solution to tragedies like this. However, in reality, it is an instrument to silence the voice of the majority of Brazilians who use social networks to express their legitimate opinions.
Proponents of this project will argue, in a biased manner, that regulating social networks is necessary to prevent tragedies like Jéssica's death from happening again. However, the real intention behind this is to silence those who dare to denounce the questionable practices of the left, the failures of Lula's (mis)government, and the judicial activism of the STF, which now includes a declared communist member who has publicly expressed his intention to "regulate" social networks, increasing concerns about freedom of expression in the country.
We must confront the nefarious influence of globalist media and its manipulators, such as progressive artists and influencers, in shaping the opinions of our young people. Their emotional fragility is often exploited by ideological agendas that promote values contrary to Christian principles. In light of this, it is evident that it is time to fight for the transformative message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to reach these young people, offering hope and solid direction for a generation at the mercy of an agenda that threatens their physical, emotional, and spiritual integrity.
Published 26 December, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
Brazilian Members of Parliament in a Mission to Denounce Abuses in Brazil
בס״ד
Contrary to the majority of society, which utilises holidays for rest and leisure, Brazilian deputies and senators travel to the United States with the aim of presenting to their American counterparts a series of alarming occurrences in Brazil that threaten the country's democracy, especially those related or somehow linked to the Supreme Federal Court, the STF.
Members of the delegation have submitted a letter condemning censorship and breaches of freedom of speech, backed by 120 congressional signatures. This document is intended for the US authorities, particularly the chairpersons of Congressional Committees, among them Jim Jordan, the head of the Judiciary Committee. Meetings are also arranged with Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the OAS, to depict the abuses that have taken place in Brazil.
The delegation, comprising Nikolas Ferreira of PL-MG; Juliana Zanatta of PL-SC; Altineu Cortês of PL-RJ; Gustavo Gayer of PL-GO; amongst others, including Magno Malta, the president of PL-ES, denounces "the persecution of citizens, journalists, and judges for their political beliefs and their exercise of free speech; the threats to press freedom; the violations of the accusatorial system, a cornerstone of Western legal principles; and a blatant disregard for legal parliamentary immunity." Also on the agenda was a list of Brazilian supporters of terrorist acts committed by the Hamas group, which is widely endorsed by the Brazilian left.
While the group exerts Herculean efforts to protect the nation, elements of the left accuse them of being a disgrace to Brazil, of spreading baseless accusations, and of a lack of more substantive occupations. According to a member of the delegation, "[...] left-wing parliamentarians were extremely disturbed" by the travellers for submitting the list to the American embassy, fearing the loss of their visas and the ability to visit parks like those of Disney. Another member ironically remarks, "one doesn't need a visa for Cuba."
Magno Malta in a statement about the committee's endeavours on behalf of Brazil, encouraged: "Fight there, as we are fighting here", echoing Eduardo Bolsonaro's remarks: "We are aware of the demonstrations taking place in Brazil", although he did not expand or specify what those demonstrations were.
The trip elicits mixed feelings. Nonetheless, the dire situation Brazil faces cannot be denied, where democracy is being fiercely attacked, and individuals are persecuted for expressing views contrary to the country's leaders.
Much is still to unfold in this scenario.
It is hoped that the giant, once awakened, will not return to slumber, even if the cradle is no longer as splendid.
Published 27 November, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
Ah, These Jews!: An Adaptation of George García Hamilton’s Text
בס״ד
It is conceivable that many have not pondered the significance of the Jewish people to the world and how life would be considerably more challenging without their existence. The Jews are a special and distinguished people who have survived many powerful realms over the centuries, such as Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Germany, Rome, and arguably, the entire world. None of these empires succeeded in annihilating the Jews.
Yet, even today, some persist in opposing them, despite repeated defeats. It is a considerable waste of energy to harbour unfounded hatred. Why do protesters, outside the Israeli embassy, believe they can overcome the Jews? The Holocaust, one of history's most heinous epochs, resulted in the deaths of over 6 million Jews. Nonetheless, a few decades after this genocide, they established a prosperous and modern nation in a territory where their neighbours grapple with poverty and barren lands. It is remarkable how often Jews receive one of the world's most coveted awards: the Nobel, with 170 awards, accounting for 25% of the total.
A brief survey of the world reveals the Jewish influence in many of the things we use and benefit from today. Those who despise the Jews should recall that Jesus, Mary, His mother, and the twelve apostles were Jewish. Perhaps they should not invest in the stock market, influenced by the theories of Markowitz, a Jew; forgo psychotherapy, as Sigmund Freud was Jewish; avoid aspirin (invented by Spiro), insulin (method by Karl Landsteiner), and vaccines against polio, cholera, and tuberculosis, as their inventors were also Jewish. And there is much more...
They should not wear jeans, created by Levi Strauss, or attire from Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, all Jews. The microphones used in anti-Jewish demonstrations were invented by Emil Berliner, a Jew. Fundamental philosophical ideas for our society came from Jews such as Durkheim, Spinoza, and Strauss. Figures like Kafka, Albert Einstein, and Anne Frank were Jewish.
Progressives of the world, half of what is globally commendable is due to the Jews. Therefore, cease using Jewish inventions and creations. Critics of Jews should not use Google, founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Jews; avoid films of Marvel Comics, MGM, Warner Bros, Fox, Universal Studios, and Columbia Pictures, all connected to Jewish creators, as well as Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Paul Newman, Kirk Douglas, Jessica Parker, Dustin Hoffman, and Barbara Streisand.
And which is the country with the highest average of university graduates per capita, the most scientific papers per capita, the developer of the first ingestible video camera, drip irrigation technology, where Einstein founded a university, the second highest in book reading per capita, and performs free heart surgeries for children, including Palestinians?
Indeed, it is Israel.
So, please, silence.
Published 13 November, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
Terror Intimidation: Hamas Displays Exquisite Cruelty in Civilian Executions
בס״ד
The conflict that erupted following an unexpected terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel last Saturday (7th) has escalated daily. The devastation in the most affected areas increases as time progresses, with little hope in sight for the cessation of bombardments.
As destruction intensifies across multiple regions, the terrorist group continues to sow fear and terror in its path. Social media platforms have been flooded with harrowing images of unparalleled cruelty. The level of violence employed by extremist groups like Hamas shocks even those who deem themselves emotionally steadfast. Yet, as horrifying as it may sound, Hamas's actions find support from various factions globally. It is unfathomable that anyone could remain unmoved by the sheer malevolence and cruelty exhibited by these terrorists.
Throughout history, thousands have fallen victim to the bloodlust that fuels terrorism. Extremist groups like Hamas have left a trail of victims in their wake, and their actions towards Israel display a cruelty that is hard to believe.Since the initial attack on October 7th, countless innocents have perished. This conflict is not merely about territorial gains; Israel has made numerous peace overtures, ceding multiple areas to end hostilities, yet none of these offerings have been accepted by the Palestinians. Their true intent appears to be the annihilation of the Jewish people. Their aim isn't just conquest but the obliteration of an entire nation.
The exquisite cruelty meted out to Israel throughout its history has escalated with each conflict. The global community was shaken by reports of Hamas's invasion during a festival near the Gaza Strip in southern Israel. The unsuspecting attendees, primarily youth, had no forewarning or signs of the imminent attack. Over 260 lives were lost, many of whom couldn't even comprehend the unfolding horror.
The shock intensified with reports of public assaults and violations of women, who were depicted being dragged by their hair, their clothes drenched in the aftermath of the atrocities committed by Hamas members. Globally, people were (and still are) horrified by the abduction of children and infants, confined as if they were animals; children executed before their parents; 40 infants were found slain, and to further heighten the outrage, many had been beheaded.
Where are the human rights advocates now?
Spreading fear and terror is a tactic Hamas has employed to intimidate and pressurise Israel into submission, which would, undoubtedly, result in the nation's annihilation. Hamas's goal, and that of Israel's adversaries (predominantly Muslim), is its eradication. Merely not acknowledging the State of Israel is insufficient for them. It's no revelation that Israel's foes desire its extinction, as it aligns with certain extremist interpretations of Muslim doctrine. Israel doesn't even appear on regional maps; where Israel should be marked, one finds labels such as "invaded territory" and others.
May God have mercy on Israel.
Let there be peace in this nation.
Published 24 October, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
NATIONAL MOURNING: ROSA WEBER INITIATES JUDGEMENT ON THE DECRIMINALISATION OF ABORTION
בס״ד
The current president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Justice Rosa Weber, seeks to leave a defining decision during her tenure, one that could be viewed by many as calamitous. Brazil's earlier withdrawal from the Geneva Consensus this year was already hinting at the subsequent steps in the ongoing battle against the conservatism championed by former President Jair Bolsonaro. Cida Gonçalves, the current Minister for Women, views the document as "a step backwards in Brazilian legislation concerning reproductive rights".
It is deemed disrespectful by many that in a country where an overwhelming majority of the population is Christian and conservative, public opinion seems to be overlooked, especially when the topics touch on issues like abortion and the right to life (at any stage of pregnancy) or any other matter involving Christian principles.
According to the G1 website, 70% of the Brazilian population is against abortion (this number rises to 85% according to other news sites). However, the voice of the majority, who disapprove of abortion, seemingly falls on deaf ears when the highest office in the country seems to have other intentions.
Nearing her 75th birthday, Weber is on the verge of mandatory retirement. If she aimed to conclude her time in the Supreme Court on a high note, her recent decisions might suggest otherwise. She is the reporting justice of the case (ADPF 442), which has now been greenlighted for judgement. This case addresses the potential decriminalisation of abortion up to, shockingly for some, the twelfth week of gestation (that's 3 months!). Weber intends to cast her vote before retiring and, given her 2016 stance, is likely to support decriminalisation.
The case, put forth by PSOL, questions whether a pregnant woman who undergoes an abortion and the individual performing the procedure should face legal consequences. It challenges two articles of the Penal Code that categorise abortion as a crime, barring instances of life risk, pregnancy due to rape, and anencephalic fetuses.
Under current law, a woman inducing her own abortion could face one to three years of imprisonment, and any individual she authorises to perform the abortion might be sentenced to one to four years. According to the party, these stipulations violate fundamental principles, including human dignity and non-discrimination, as well as the rights to life and liberty. PSOL's petition further demands the court recognise the right: a) of women: to terminate pregnancy, and b) of health professionals: to carry out the termination.
PSOL argues that valuing and protecting the foetus should be balanced with "[...] respect for human dignity, citizenship, the promotion of non-discrimination, and the fundamental rights of women". This essentially means safeguarding the rights of those who could potentially prevent pregnancy, at the expense of the foetus's rights, which didn't choose to be conceived. This all is defended with arguments suggesting it's a public health issue, predominantly involving poor, black, young, and single women. Simultaneously, there's a hypocritical uproar from activists and movements championing the right to autonomy over one's body and life.
If the Supreme Court's decision favours decriminalisation, Brazil might have to contend with this contentious chapter in its history, mirroring other countries like Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico.
r millennia will continue to do so.
Published 18 September, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
BLASPHEMY: CHINA PURSUES THE PRODUCTION OF A REVISED EDITION OF THE BIBLE, ADAPTED TO ALIGN WITH COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT IDEALS
בס״ד
Despite biblical warnings (refer Revelation 22:19) against altering the Holy Bible's content, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) remains steadfast in its initiative to re-write the sacred text, aiming to tailor it in accordance with the communist ideologies that govern the nation with an iron grasp.
The new rendition of the Bible has been underway for about five years, representing half the projected decade-long duration for the project's completion, under the direct supervision of the CCP. This endeavour is not merely a tribute to local culture but is indicative of a broader strategy termed "sinicisation" or "Chinese assimilation". The objective is to shape societal customs, values, and principles in line with Chinese totalitarianism. This includes incorporating core socialist values and excising passages that conflict with communist belief. This overarching goal is unwavering and entails the removal of anything, any individual, or any teaching that opposes it. Given the Bible's transformative power, it's seen as an impediment to communism, thus underscoring the need for a fitting translation. As Todd Nettleton, spokesperson for the Voice of the Martyrs, pointed out, the aim is the eradication of any cultural influences, perspectives, and teachings in the country.
The CCP's vision is for the text to resonate with the teachings of Confucius and Buddha, harmonising with doctrines enveloping mysticism, Eastern philosophy, and religion, whilst also showcasing the party's support. Efforts to align Christian faith with communist ideology are already prevalent in China, where religious activities are under state surveillance. Church operations are limited to those compliant with the government, which even extends its influence over sermon contents. Non-compliance is met with severe repercussions, including being deemed an enemy of the state, threats, arrests, torture, and in some instances, execution.
One of the passages earmarked for alteration is John 8, recounting the tale of the adulterous woman brought to Jesus after being caught in the act. In the original narrative, Jesus challenges her accusers, suggesting the sinless among them cast the first stone. When none do, acknowledging their own sins, Jesus pardons the woman, urging her to sin no more. In the CCP's rendition, however, after the crowd disperses, Jesus stones the woman, admitting his own sinfulness – a version already documented in a publication from September 2020, according to the Voice of the Martyrs.
Kurt Rovenstine of Bible for China cautions that the plight of the Chinese church is poised to worsen as scripture adulteration advances; this tampering might render the sacred text unrecognisable from its original gospel truth.
In light of this, Chinese Christians beseech the global church for prayers, seeking divine wisdom to "retain what He intends for us, precisely as it ought to be, so the gospel's truth might shine through the pages of the Bible."
The Bible, as the Word of God, stands indomitable. The same God who has preserved it for millennia will continue to do so.
Published 8 September, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
US BROKERS AGREEMENT FOR NORMALISATION OF RELATIONS BETWEEN SAUDI ARABIA AND ISRAEL
בס״ד
The Saudi government may recognise the State of Israel in exchange for favours from the Americans. Less than a year after Joe Biden cautioned Riyadh about consequences stemming from a reduction in its oil production, high-ranking members of Biden's cabinet were dispatched for talks with Saudi royalty. In late June, Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, flew to Saudi Arabia and stayed for three days. More recently, Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor, travelled to Jeddah to discuss the war in Ukraine. In bilateral meetings, issues such as terrorism, the current situation in Yemen (embroiled in conflict since 2014), and the normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia have been on the agenda.
US officials are cautiously optimistic about the possibility that, within a year, the details of what is expected to be the "most significant peace agreement in the Middle East" will be settled. The agreement aims for Saudi Arabia to recognise Israel and is being brokered by the US.
Initiatives for an agreement between Saudi Arabia and the US began following a meeting between Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Joe Biden's National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan. Current negotiations are focusing on the specifics of the agreement and contemplate an exchange where the Saudi government receives support from the US in developing a civil nuclear programme, is offered security guarantees, and the establishment of a Palestinian state is ensured.
The general terms of the agreement have already been drafted, and they also envisage that Saudi Arabia distances itself from China and "receives civil nuclear components," according to reports from Riyadh and Washington newspapers. US estimates predict that details of this agreement will be finalised by August 2024, which would be a feather in Biden's cap, aligning with the presidential elections set for November of the same year, where the current US leader is running for re-election.
Normalised relations between Israel and the Saudis will have a significant impact on the region's geopolitical issues and may trigger new agreements between other Arab nations, setting a precedent. Among analysts, some believe the current agreement can be compared to the 1978 accord between Egypt and Israel. It's noteworthy that former US President Donald Trump achieved the normalisation of relations between Israel and countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco, among others.
Both Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, deem the normalisation of ties between the Saudis and Israelis of utmost importance. Both leaders believe that enhancing the relationship between the two nations can benefit the Middle East, given its potential to bolster security in the area. "The better the relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours, the better for everyone," stated the US president in March this year.
According to Esham Alghannam of the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, Riyadh is keen to see if the Israelis will make tangible strides towards resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He concludes, "Now it's up to Israel, not Saudi Arabia, to demonstrate its commitment to peace with the kingdom."
Published 18 August, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM THROUGH THE LENS OF ARCHAEOLOGY, JUDAISM, AND CHRISTIANITY
בס״ד
Recent discoveries by archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority at the City of David National Park have unveiled evidence of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD by the Romans. During the excavations, remnants of buildings were found along the "Pilgrims' Road", including traces of burnt wood, decorated stone vessels, a stone weight, a crucible for melting metal, and a bronze bowl. A coin from the second year of the Great Revolt was also discovered, intentionally pierced to be worn as a memento. These findings offer insights into the lives of Jerusalem's inhabitants before the destruction in response to the Great Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire, a culmination of religious tensions and high taxes on Jews.
Within the Christian era of Israel's history, three events stand out as the most heart-wrenching for the Jewish community: 1) the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD; 2) the subsequent Jewish diaspora – the expulsion of Jews from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492; and 3) the Holocaust during World War II, the most well-known.
Therefore, archaeological discoveries related to any of these events are always deeply significant for a Jew. The destruction of Jerusalem marks the beginning of a profound phase for them, a nation without a homeland that had to become nomadic, global citizens wandering the East and the West, striving to maintain their identity. They faced persecution, misunderstandings, and due to the diaspora and constant insecurity, developed resilience that made them significant historical figures, especially in modern times. Many great Jewish thinkers, in their writings, combined religious concepts from the Torah, Mishnah, Talmud, and Zohar with the painful experiences of exile and diaspora, producing ideas that revolutionised the world.
From a Christian perspective, finding remains from the temple's destruction reinforces the accounts given by the historian Flavius Josephus (37-100) and the accuracy of Christ's prophecies, where he mentioned that not one stone would be left upon another. Moreover, in Luke 21, there is a prophecy deeply linked to the destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus first foretells its devastation and later prophesises what was fulfilled in the last century: "Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." This profound eschatological statement implies that God's people would wander the world, and this diaspora would end when Jerusalem is reclaimed by the Jews. This prophecy has been partially realised; since the years 1948-1949, the Jews have retaken Jerusalem, although not in its entirety. Today, it is under Jewish control, but not fully.
Regarding the destruction of Jerusalem, there are three perspectives: 1) from an archaeological standpoint, it is something that, through discoveries, becomes increasingly clarified, connecting ancient accounts to new findings, affirming its historical reality; 2) for a Jew, it serves as a painful reminder of death, enslavement, destruction, and nearly two millennia of diaspora; 3) for a Christian, however, the destruction of Jerusalem signifies an event linked to the fulfilment of end-time prophecies, pointing to the hope of Christ's second coming.
Published 10 August, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
CHRISTIANS' RIGHTS GRANTED IN THE CONSTITUTION: FREEDOM OF BELIEF, WORSHIP, AND RELIGIOUS ORGANISATION. THE TIME HAS COME TO DEMAND THEM
בס״ד
Religious freedom is considered a fundamental legal principle, guaranteed by the Federal Constitution in Article 5, which regulates the relationship between the State and the Church, in harmony with the fundamental rights of individuals and groups to express, advocate, and propagate their religious beliefs. In this context, other freedoms, such as teaching, conscience, thought, press, and preaching, are interrelated with religious freedom.
The Federal Constitution contains various provisions related to religion and encompasses three intrinsically related aspects: freedom of belief, freedom of worship, and freedom of religious organisation.
Freedom of belief includes the choice of a religion, affiliation or non-affiliation with a religious institution, as well as the freedom to change religion or not adhere to any. Freedom of worship pertains to the practice of rites and religious acts, both in private and public environments. Meanwhile, freedom of religious organisation covers the establishment and organisation of churches, as well as their relations with the State.
Inaugurated in March 2023, the Evangelical Parliamentary Front led by senators Carlos Viana, Damares Alves, Zequinha Marinho, Alan Rick, Magno Malta, and Eduardo Girão, aims to propose measures and changes in legislation that ensure religious freedom and creed. Furthermore, it seeks to monitor welfare actions promoted by the Executive Branch and discuss proposals to expand welfare benefits and sources of funds for people in vulnerable situations.
Carlos Viana, senator and current president of the Parliamentary Front, commented at a recent meeting with leaders and pastors in Brasília about the numerous persecutions faced by Christians, primarily from the Brazilian media, in relation to Biblical teachings about homosexuality preached in their churches. He also emphasised that pastors have the role and right to speak about sin, but that does not imply hatred or a death wish for homosexuals. On the contrary, they pray for them, wish them a full life and that they too may know the truths contained in the Holy Scriptures.
The senator shared a decision from the Federal Supreme Court, dated 2019, which ensures the exercise of religious freedom without restrictions. This decision guarantees that religious leaders have the right to preach, propagate, and express their convictions freely, according to what is contained in their holy books and codes of faith. Moreover, they can teach according to their doctrinal and/or theological orientation, as well as practice acts of worship and liturgy in public or private spaces. The document can be accessed via the STF website https://portal.stf.jus.br/
Therefore, any religious leader, regardless of the confessional denomination professed, can and should continue preaching and ministering in their local churches and congregations, as well as sharing this decision that ensures the right to freely exercise faith, regardless of the attacks coming from the media and progressive militants who create narratives and spread "fake news" in order to assassinate the reputations of those who dare to disagree with their anti-Christian agendas.
The State has an obligation to protect religious pluralism, providing the necessary conditions for the free exercise of religious practices and ensuring equality among all religions. And the Christian Parliamentary Front in the Senate has vigorously defended the full right to preaching, reinforcing the importance of religious freedom and the defence of Christian and conservative values in Brazilian society."
Published 14 July, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
ITALY DECLARES ITSELF A NEW ALLY IN THE STRUGGLE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
בס״ד
It is not a recent phenomenon that totalitarian governments attempt to dictate how and whether the church should exist, what Christians may or may not believe in, and what they may or may not articulate (including in their congregations). Freedom, from a socialist/communist viewpoint, signifies their entitlement to omnipotence (regardless of the means employed to achieve this) while the populace is rendered powerless (save for the scant privileges sanctioned by the system).
To live in consonance with the Gospel of Jesus has increasingly become an exercise in faith. Gone are the days when being associated with the term “gospel” was a desirable attribute, one which even the affluent and celebrated would be willing to pay for in order to flaunt on social media and at illustrious events. Being a Christian today demands an ample additional measure of faith, resilience, and detachment, all compounded with an added measure of suffering, encompassing various types and degrees of persecution.
In times of prejudice and persecution against Christianity in countries such as China, Nicaragua, Venezuela and many others, the speech of the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, comes as a breath of fresh air in the scorching desert.
In a recent statement, Meloni asserted that Italy will exert efforts to become exemplary in providing assistance to persecuted Christians worldwide, striving to set a benchmark in this regard. She emphasized the importance of acknowledging that “religious freedom is not a second-class right,” but a fundamental and primary entitlement of every citizen.
Giorgia Meloni’s declaration stands in stark contrast to statements made by Victor Madrigal-Borloz, before the United Nations Human Rights Council, at an event held in Geneva on June 21st, where he posited that religious freedom should be relinquished whenever it conflicts with the rights claimed by the LGBTQIA+ community. For Victor, freedom of religion is congruent with equality pertaining to LGBT individuals, as long as religious groups adopt the demands of homosexuals and transgender individuals, a notion which is irreconcilable as it contravenes one of the core beliefs of Christian faith: “God created them male and female” and, thus, according to the Bible, considers homosexuality a sin. The Holy Scripture does not, however, advocate or encourage discrimination or hate speech, regardless of the life choices and practices one might adopt. It does, however, reserve the right to, in love, convey the truth of the Gospel of Jesus which embraces and welcomes all who draw near to Him, facilitating the restoration of the identity bestowed by God, and enabling individuals to become whole in everything God had envisioned when creating them.
In response to Madrigal-Borloz’s claim that religious narratives conflicting with the beliefs and lifestyle choices of LGBT individuals are “beyond the scope of freedom of religion or belief”, the Italian Prime Minister issued a statement, via video, firmly asserting that: “One point is very clear: Religious freedom is not a second-class right; it is not a freedom that comes after others or can even be cast aside in favour of new so-called freedoms or rights.” For Meloni, freedom in practicing one’s religion is a fundamental tenet enshrined in Universal Human Rights, which no man-made law can ever deny. She concluded: “Religious freedom is a natural right and precedes all legal formulations because it is inscribed in the human heart. It is a right proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights[...].”
Published 30 June, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
THE HYPOCRISY OF THIS GENERATION: THE BIBLE REMOVED FROM AMERICAN SCHOOLS
בס״ד
Implementing measures that deprive individuals of access to the good news of Jesus Christ’s gospel has long been a strategy employed by the dark forces to keep people on a path towards eternal separation from God and their subsequent eternal damnation.
One of the most talked-about stories in the media is that certain American states have initiated actions to ban the Bible from school environments, making the unfounded claim that it contains violent, vulgar, pornographic content that is inappropriate for children. It seems to have all started with a complaint by a pupil's father who labelled the Bible as "pornographic," basing his claim on the controversial state law in Utah that allows for the removal from schools of books considered unsuitable for students.
Modern society and its leaders, who are immersed in relativism and ideologies, and are moving in a direction opposite to the divine and the sacred, have shown themselves to be hypocritical and contradictory, to say the least. Children have access to cartoons and films with universal ratings that promote gender ideology, discuss abortion and homosexuality; they entertain themselves with bloody games on their video games consoles; many live in families that are more hostile, violent, and destructive than many war zones; they can engage in provocative dances, wear vulgar clothing or walk around almost naked, and even become pregnant at the age of 12. They can even decide on their gender and undergo sex-change surgery. As for these things, they are seemingly acceptable, but ah, reading the Bible, that is not. It's inappropriate.
What kind of world are we living in? What is happening to people's sense and character? What we witness daily is an astounding lack of human judgment. The situation is chaotic.
Efforts to destroy the Bible and deprive people of access to it have been made for a long time. The most recent and severe incident was when the Chinese dictator Kim Jong-Un sentenced a Korean family, including a 2-year-old child, to life imprisonment simply for owning a copy of the Bible. Around 167 B.C., King Antiochus Epiphanes attempted to force Jews to convert to the Greek religion, and as an initial action, ordered the destruction of all copies of what we now know as the Old Testament. In the Middle Ages, Catholic leaders, aggravated by common people's access to the Bible and their preaching of it instead of teaching Catholic doctrines, labeled such individuals as heretics or rebels.
Despite these and many other attempts at destruction, the Bible was preserved by Jews living outside Antiochus' domains, who kept copies of the Scriptures in their synagogues. Bible enthusiasts were persecuted during the Middle Ages, but continued translating and making copies of it.
The Bible is the truth! It is God's Word, unique, exclusive, complete. To know it and allow the Holy Spirit to apply it to one's heart brings liberation, rescues identity, grants peace and direction, provides wisdom and discernment... It offers abundant life. It completely changes life and worldview. Hence the effort to make the Bible a forbidden book; this is the goal of leaders and totalitarian governments, enslaved by the leftist agenda, as it is convenient for them that society remains on the fringes, ignorant, confused about their identity, without prospects, and complacent, immersed in ignorance and mediocrity.
The noose is tightening. May God continue to help us.
Published 21 June, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
President Lula Absent at the Walk for Jesus 2023
בס״ד
Major media outlets have been prominently reporting on President Lula’s absence at one of the most significant evangelical events in São Paulo, Brazil. The Walk for Jesus is a large-scale Christian event, organised by the Renascer em Cristo Church, that annually assembles thousands of Christians from a myriad of denominations.
The Walk transpired on Thursday, 8th June, coinciding with the Corpus Christi holiday. Although the event boasted an abundance of attractions, one particular absence was conspicuously noted: that of the incumbent President, Lula da Silva. In a letter addressed to Apostle Estevam Hernandes, President Lula expressed his gratitude for what he referred to as an “honourable invitation,” but regretfully informed that he could not participate this year, though he committed to sending his representatives. Some have speculated that the President lacked the fortitude to attend the Walk for Jesus, which they perceive as consistent, given that his life, conduct, and character seem to be in stark contrast to the teachings of Jesus.
As the Walk for Jesus is an event of national significance, it is opined that President Lula should have made an appearance, albeit brief, to acknowledge its importance. However, President Lula opted not to attend. Events of such magnitude as the Walk for Jesus ought to be pencilled into the presidential diary, regardless of who holds office or whether there is any affinity between the President and the organisers or participants. It is widely acknowledged that President Lula's presence might not be well-received among conservative evangelical Christians, as his left-leaning political stance is often viewed as antithetical to the values and principles that are held in high regard by this group. This includes issues such as abortion, gender ideology, drug legalisation, child exploitation, and other matters that have been controversially supported by his government through various projects and proposals in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
The President is cognisant of the principles and values upheld by Christians and is aware that his policies are often incongruous with these beliefs. He knows that the evangelical community takes a dim view of communism, corruption, the wrongful conviction of innocents, the exoneration of the guilty, and collusion in criminal activities. Moreover, he is aware that the Brazilian populace, by and large, is concerned and wary of the nation’s President establishing relationships with the totalitarian, communist, and tyrannical leaders of other countries, such as China and Venezuela.
In the absence of President Lula on the stage, the mantle fell to his representatives, including Benedita da Silva, who, much like Lula, does not enjoy the support of conservative evangelicals, and the Minister of the Attorney General's Office, whose speech began positively but was met with boos when he mentioned that he was representing the President.
There are those who suggest that President Lula prudently declined the invitation due to the high likelihood of facing hostility and jeers. Conversely, some consider his absence as an act of cowardice. Nonetheless, President Lula’s nonappearance should not be entirely unexpected. Upon his release from prison, in his first interview, he avowed that he would "put pastors in their place", signalling an impending ideological struggle. This sentiment was echoed by the former Chief Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Gilberto Carvalho, who affirmed that the ideological battle would target “these empty-headed evangelicals”.
Published 12 June, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
THE COMMUNIST REGIME OF NORTH KOREA: A NIGHTMARE FOR ANY CHRISTIAN
בס״ד
Since Kim Jong-Un's ascension to power, North Korea has transformed into a veritable nightmare for religious freedom, with Christians bearing the brunt of this harsh reality. This oppressive communist regime, under the thumb of an unyielding dictatorial leader, has morphed the country into a hostile territory where the Christian faith is persecuted in an exceedingly brutal and savage manner.
One of the stark illustrations of this horrifying reality is the case of a family sentenced to life imprisonment merely for possessing a Bible. Visualise, dear readers, a scenario where an innocent 2-year-old child is condemned to life-long incarceration along with their parents, the crime being nothing more than having in their possession a copy of the Word of God. This extends beyond the violation of human rights; it stands as a direct affront to the Lord of Hosts!
The United Nations (UN), often criticised for its indifferent attitude towards global Christian persecution, has been compelled to recognise the terrible reality in North Korea. UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, conceded that the fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is systematically denied in the country. Any belief not aligned with a blind loyalty to the ruling family is brutally suppressed.
North Korea has become a ghastly "chamber of horrors" for Christians. Possessing a Bible is viewed as a capital crime, with the potential to sentence their families to life imprisonment. Christians find themselves dispatched to forced labour camps, subjected to inhumane torture, and confronting violence and oppression for their faith in Jesus Christ. The boundaries of this persecution are non-existent: Christian women and girls face abhorrent acts of violence and cruel retaliation for their beliefs, including rape and forced abortions.
Leaders of this communist regime, drenched in the blood of innocent victims, remain oblivious to the fundamental tenets of Jesus's teachings: love and respect for all, especially the most vulnerable. It is unfathomable that in the 21st century we continue to bear witness to an regime as heartless and savage as North Korea's. The ruling elite fears Christianity, acknowledging its transformative power that aided the collapse of the Iron Curtain in Europe. They are aware that the illuminating light of the Gospel has the potential to unveil the darkness of their dictatorship and weaken their control over the populace.
The UN, by its very mandate, is obligated to defend our North Korean brethren and the missionaries who suffer daily due to their unwavering faith. However, our responsibility doesn't end with them. Silence amounts to complicity, and as Christians, we bear the onus of upholding justice, freedom, and dignity for all, especially those oppressed and persecuted for their faith.
Our voice must resonate in defence of the persecuted. We are called to support organisations like Open Doors, which offer aid and encouragement to North Korean Christians, despite the inherent dangers and difficulties. North Korea must be confronted with truth and justice. Religious persecution demands exposure and condemnation. North Korean Christians must be reassured that they are not alone; that believers worldwide stand with them in solidarity, in prayer and in action, battling for their liberation and the transformation of North Korea.
Let our voice be one of outrage and indictment, seeking justice and freedom for our persecuted brothers and sisters. Let our prayers be unceasing, imploring God to bring about transformation and freedom in this troubled nation. And may our hope remain rooted in Jesus, the Prince of Peace, capable of shining light into the darkest corners and offering freedom to the oppressed.
Published 5 June, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
JUDAISM, AFRICAN DESCENT JEWS, AND RACISM
בס״ד
Racism against Jews has a long and deeply entrenched history in many parts of the world. Known as antisemitism, this phenomenon originated in antiquity but reached its extreme in the 20th century with the Holocaust, the most brutal massacre in history, during World War II. However, some argue that Judaism, and consequently Jews, regard black people as cursed. To make such a statement would be to claim that the religion is prejudiced against its own people. History not only accounts for the existence of black Jews but also counters the stereotype of a typical Jew as a Middle Eastern man who is far from being white and blue-eyed.
While it's impossible to generalise about all Jewish people and communities, there are evidences that show the inclusive approach and rejection of prejudice within Judaism, starting with religious foundations. Judaism upholds the principle that all humans are created in God's image and possess intrinsic dignity and value. The Torah, Judaism's sacred book, underscores the importance of treating others with kindness, fairness, and respect, regardless of their ethnic background.
Secondly, Jewish history, throughout which Jews faced discrimination and persecution, has sensitised many to the importance of combating prejudice and advocating for equal rights. Many Jews were actively involved in civil rights movements and anti-racism efforts.
The third point is about the stance of many contemporary Jewish leaders and scholars who have positioned themselves against racism and prejudice, defending equal rights and the appreciation of diversity as fundamental principles of Judaism.
The final topic discussed here relates to the existence of diverse Jewish communities. Judaism is a religion that encompasses a broad range of communities worldwide, with different cultural, ethnic, and racial traditions. Jewish communities exist on every continent, including Jews of African origin, showing that Judaism welcomes people from various racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Looking at the history of the Jewish people, it is apparent that the black ethnicity has been part of it since the beginning. As one of the world's oldest religions, with historical and cultural roots dating back to ancient times, Judaism is a religion based on Abraham's teachings. It arrived in Ethiopia around 3,000 years ago and is associated with the lost tribe of Dan.
The Ethiopian Jewish Community, called Beta Israel ["House of Israel"], whose name is linked to this people's life in the Kingdom of Israel before its invasion by Assyria, which destroyed the kingdom and deported the ten tribes into exile. With the exile, these tribes were sent to the region now known as Ethiopia and joined the small Jewish community already there, thanks to the Queen of Sheba who had visited Jerusalem 300 years earlier to personally experience King Solomon's wisdom; thus, according to Ethiopian tradition, Judaism arrived in Ethiopia.
With the Queen of Sheba's family and the arrival of the exiled tribe of Dan, the community of Beta Israel was founded, which maintained biblical Jewish practices such as circumcision, abstaining from foods prohibited in the Bible like pork, and observing Shabbat [Sabbath]. Isolated there, they believed they were the only Jews in the world and prayed daily to return to their homeland. They awaited the fulfilment of the prophecy that they would return to their land, as described in Isaiah 11.11: "In that day, the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant of his people, those that remain in Assyria and the north of Egypt, in the south of Egypt, in Ethiopia, and in Elam, in Babylon, in Hamath, and in the distant coastal lands [...]" (New Living Translation, online version; emphasis added).
It was only in the 19th century that this group learned about other Jews and the community of Beta Israel. In the early 1970s, with the onset of the Ethiopian Civil War, which resulted in thousands of deaths from conflict and famine, the local Jewish Community came under frequent attack, making life there untenable. Thanks to the operation by Mossad, Israel's Secret Service, the cooperation of Sudan, Operation Moses, and finally, Operation Solomon, thousands of Beta Israel witnessed the fulfilment of the prophecy, being taken to their beloved homeland after over 2,700 years of exile.
Today, more than one hundred and fifty thousand Beta Israel live in Israel, a feat that came at a great cost: over 4,000 people lost their lives in this struggle. It would, therefore, be absurd to suggest that a nation that has suffered so much prejudice could perpetrate it.
Published 30 May, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
THE CORONATION OF KING CHARLES: FACTS AND PICTURES
בס״ד
After many years of anticipation, on Saturday morning (6th), the 74-year-old Charles III was crowned king, swiftly becoming the foremost topic of conversation on global social media. The solemn ceremony was conducted at Westminster Abbey in London, with the Royal Chapel's chorister, Samuel Strach, offering a warm reception.
In his oath, King Charles solemnly pledged to uphold the law and the Church of England, affirming his stance as a "loyal Protestant". Notably, a unique goat-skin-covered Bible, with pages gilded in gold, had been crafted for the coronation and received approval from the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The ceremony underscored themes of diversity and inclusion and featured elements from a wide range of religions, including representations from Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist communities, among others. The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, a Hindu, recited a biblical passage, while a hymn was sung in Welsh, Scottish, and Irish Gaelic. Simultaneously, republicans protested on the streets of London, displaying placards expressing their refusal to acknowledge the newly inaugurated monarch as their king.
At the end of the ceremony, which took place almost eight months after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the king and queen consort partook in Holy Communion, the primary act of worship in the Christian church.
Whilst the world's attention was fixed on the coronation itself, and speculation was rife regarding the strained relationship between Princes Harry and William, a seemingly unrelated occurrence caught the eyes of many spectators. The appearance of a shadowy, hooded figure, later referred to by some as the 'Grim Reaper', was noticed outside the chapel, as military personnel entered the ceremony. This gave rise to a plethora of theories, some of distasteful nature, including one which suggested the figure was the apparition of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Westminster Abbey later clarified the matter, stating that the figure was a sacristan, a member of the abbey community assisting with religious services; a clarification that some found amusing.
When we speak of the King of England, his coronation is of worldwide significance. Some perceive it as spiritual or symbolic, a message to the world. Notably, one of the most controversial British royal jewels, the Koh-i-Noor diamond, has found a new owner in the queen consort. The stone, which can only be worn by women, is considered cursed due to its bloody history. Legend says, "He who owns this diamond will own the world, but will also endure all its misfortunes. Only God, or a woman, can carry it with impunity", a belief some extend to the world, given the British Empire's historical conquests, which have greatly shaped our world.
Certainly, it is God who appoints kings and brings them down, as the Bible says. If the world stopped to watch the coronation of a mortal, fallible human being, one can only imagine the awe-inspiring spectacle when King Jesus, the King of Kings, eternal and infallible, returns. The Bible says every eye will see Him. He will come with all the glory and majesty inherent to Him, and not a single eye will be spared His sight.
Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!
Published 6 May, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
RELIGIOUS RESPECT AND FREEDOM: RIGHT OR UTOPIA?
בס״ד
According to the Pew Research Center in the United States, Christianity is one of the largest religions in the world, with approximately 2.6 billion followers, which is almost 32% of the global population. Regrettably, there are countries where Christians face intolerance and discrimination due to their faith, and in others, they are, quite literally, persecuted.
In some cases, this discrimination manifests as the prohibition of religious practices in public spaces. For instance, in Canada, a recent legislative proposal seeks to ban prayer rooms in schools within the province of Quebec. This means students cannot have a space to pray nor can they do so verbally – only in silence. Shockingly, this absurdity is defended by Quebec's Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville. What is even more outrageous is that the decision is justified with arguments such as "this is a way to combat religious discrimination", when in reality, it is the exact opposite, as this measure deliberately infringes upon the freedom and rights of citizens to profess their faith publicly.
In Brazil, religious freedom is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Brazilian Constitution in Article 5, Clause VI, which ensures freedom of belief and the free exercise of religious worship. Unfortunately, this right is often disrespected, as Christians still face discrimination, intolerance, and insults because of their faith, sometimes accompanied by violence. This was exemplified in a case in the Federal District involving Ricardo Molina, a retired forensic expert from the Institute of Legal Medicine (IML), and his ex-wife, Janinne Jasem. In a video that went viral on the internet, Molina is seen urinating and stepping on a Bible, his hands covered in blood, while uttering offensive words against Janinne. This type of behaviour is unacceptable and demonstrates the extent to which religious intolerance can reach.
Although these two topics discussed above may seem different, they both reflect a central issue in common: the lack of respect and tolerance for Christianity. This is not only harmful to the Christian community but also to society as a whole. The Bible, in addition to being the best-selling book in history, teaches us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that "all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching", which makes it clear that the Bible is the sacred book of Christians and, therefore, deserves our utmost respect and reverence. Thus, to ridicule and scorn this sacred scripture is to worsen society in every sense.
Furthermore, the Bible teaches that violence against women is unacceptable. In Genesis 1:27, it is written: "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." Therefore, men and women were created in the image of God and must be treated with equality and respect. In Matthew 7:12, Jesus teaches: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you [...]". This principle applies to all human relationships.
Religious intolerance and disrespect for the Bible and/or prayer negatively impact Christians worldwide. The fight against such prejudiced attitudes must not cease. We must indeed denounce and defend the rights established in the Constitution so that they are never taken away from us. After all, the Bible is the manual of faith and Christian practice, and if its principles and rules are followed, it benefits all of humanity extensively.
Published 24 April, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
GAMBLING LEGALISATION: THREAT TO FINANCIAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SOCIETY AND FAMILIES
בס״ד
On 24th February 2022, the Plenary of the Chamber of Deputies concluded the voting on the bill that legalises gambling in Brazil, PL 442/91, which includes casinos, bingos, animal game and sports betting. The decision upholds Felipe Carreras' opinion, granting permanent and/or temporary licences to operate such activities. The proposal is for each state of the Federation to be allowed to have one casino, with the exception of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, which may have two, and São Paulo, with a limit of three.
Months after being approved in the Chamber, the bill, which had been stalled in the Senate, seemingly buried, has returned to the agenda and is set to be voted on, even though there is no consensus regarding the controversial matter.
Some argue in favour of legalising the practice, considering it unfair for it to freely occur in the country without the state benefiting from it. The bill provides for the Cide-gambling tax, which will collect 17% of the gross revenue from industry entrepreneurs and a 20% Income Tax on the net value that winners will pocket; resources that already have a specific purpose, according to supporters of legalisation: tourism, environment, culture, public security, and natural disasters.
At the time of approval in the Chamber, the government leader in the house, Ricardo Barros, admitted that legalisation would generate revenue. Furthermore, according to him, if approved by the Senate, the project would lead to the regularisation of over 400,000 informal employees, without any labour rights. For Senator Ângelo Coronel, the federal government would lose 50 billion reais per year in revenue collection if the project is not approved by the Senate. And, of course, raising revenue is of utmost importance, even at the expense of those who are at real risk of being greatly harmed in this whole story, should the Senate approve the project.
There are those who vehemently oppose legalisation, understanding that even if the gains are substantial, the losses will be equally so. Such individuals take into account the consumers of these services and the addictive potential of these games.
It is necessary to recognise the real risk of social phenomena arising from the abuse and dependence on gambling, such as compulsion, uncontrolled spending that leads to using money earmarked for a family's basic needs on gambling, increased marital disputes and, consequently, domestic violence; a decline in food quality and even deprivation; and potentially driving families and society into debt and subsequent increase in poverty and begging.
Gambling is addictive because it elicits pleasure, adrenaline, and when an individual wins, they experience relief and a feeling of victory; when they lose, the temptation is to play more rounds, as eventually, luck will change.
Gambling activates many parts of the brain, and compulsive gamblers achieve positive results, as the brain's reward system, which provides a sense of pleasure, is activated. With each bet, the compulsive individual becomes increasingly attached to the stakes and invests more and more resources in them, potentially sinking into debt, as often happens, and becoming entangled in severe problems, jeopardising their own life and that of their family. And these reasons are sufficient for any responsible and conscientious citizen to fight to banish these games from society, rather than seeking to legalise their practice.
Among the opponents, Eduardo Girão is working against the project, even creating a Front Against Gambling in the Senate, with the support of senators Luiz do Carmo (MDB-GO) and Carlos Viana (PL-MG).
Published 12 April, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
DON'T MESS WITH OUR CHILDREN!
בס״ד
When we analyze the speed at which the gender ideology agenda is being imposed totally on our children, promoting the deconstruction of traditional family and social values, we realize that the situation becomes more worrisome every day. It is important to emphasize that, for us Christians, the Bible is the source of ultimate authority in all areas of life, including sexuality and gender identity. According to the Bible, God created human beings, male and female (Genesis 1:27) and this is the basis of our identity.
In the United Kingdom, a country that was once the cradle of great preachers and has experienced great revivals, Christian values have been increasingly abandoned and the country finds itself in a serious spiritual crisis, similar to most countries, including Brazil. A booklet elaborated in partnership with Wales is being presented as didactic material for children up to 7 years old and, according to it, there are not only two genders: male and female, but more than 100 different genders! A complete denial of biological reality which clearly states that humanity is divided into two distinct biological sexes, but gender ideology tries to challenge this reality by imposing a radical agenda that puts a person's will and foolishness, above biology itself.
In the case of children, we know that they still don't have their own conscience on the subject, to make any decision about their body, so there will always be an irresponsible adult who will lead them to this, damaging their identity formation. This booklet is promoting an ideological agenda that aims to deconstruct the sexual and gender identity of children, based on a concept that gender is a social construction and not a biological reality, which is totally contrary to the biblical view that sexual identity is a creation of God. Moreover, it instigates children to explore the so-called "gender fluidity", that is, the idea that a person can change gender at will. This is very worrying, because children are easily influenced and, when led to question their own gender identity, can have irreparable mental health problems.
The fact that this booklet is aimed at 7-year-old children is very serious, because this is a crucial phase of human development, in which the child is forming its identity and learning to deal with its emotions and feelings. In this phase, it is important that children have a safe and stable environment that allows them to grow and develop as healthily as possible.
The way God created each human being (man or woman) cannot be changed by human will, and gender ideology conflicts directly with this vision; in the name of a false freedom, it denies the reality of divine creation. It is up to parents to be aware of the ideological agenda inserted in schools and the imposition for teachers to use its content. We cannot give in (or allow our children to do so) to society's pressures for us to adapt to its standards, to a distorted vision of reality.
The acceptance of gender fluidity is a clear example of the inversion of values in society, in which relativism and personal will are placed above the order created by God, and this ideology, with all its variants, is a great threat to the mental and spiritual health of children and adolescents. Let us guard the Word of God, teach our children to reject any attempts to deconstruct biblical truth, reminding them that our struggle is the spiritual forces of evil hidden in all ideologies contrary to the will of God.
Published 24 March, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
SUDDENLY: WHEN THE ORDINARY BECOMES EXTRAORDINARY
בס״ד
For years, the Church of Jesus in Brazil and in the world has been crying out to God for a revival. Much has been preached about the presence of God manifested in the midst of his people and the need to seek the Lord and hunger for him more.
In recent days, a news story has been spreading on social networks and has been highlighted in Christian circles: a service held weekly by young students, in the chapel of Asbury University, began on the 8th and continued, uninterrupted, for 13 days. Over 50 me people were impacted by the power of God in the city of Kentucky in a 13 day period. The local newspaper, The Asbury Collegian, has a report from a journalist who said she was touched by the prayers and preaching she witnessed while covering the event.
Many revivals have taken place in the history of the Christian church. According to Ranieri Costa, journalist and theologian, revivals have three marks: repentance, the presence of God and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and have as a consequence practical actions that generate a commitment to the cause of the most vulnerable.
Asbury University itself has experienced revivals at other times in its history, notably the one that took place in 1970, whose consequences were far-reaching, including in North American culture and in the creation of the Jesus Movement, a Christian movement that aimed to bring revival to the USA and win lives for Christ in a scenario of change as a consequence of the hippie movement.
There are many different opinions, and there is much speculation as to whether or not what is happening in Asbury is a revival. However, regardless of these questions, the reports that we have are that thousands of people have passed through the place, many of them stayed there for several hours, in an attitude of prayer, worshipping the Lord and singing praises to Him, listening to the ministrations of the Word of God, praying for one another; all, or at least the vast majority of those present remained completely enveloped by the presence of God. We hear from people who have been healed, people who have surrendered their lives to Christ, people who are being filled with God and renewed by the Holy Spirit.
Obviously, opportunistic people tried to take advantage of the movement in Asbury, as a way to boost their social networks. There were some who didn't even know what was happening, but saw the popularity of the event as a form of self-promotion. But each one will give an account of themselves to God.
Only time will be able to hammer the hammer on these events in Asbury. The fruits will tell. But what cannot be denied is that there is in that place an atmosphere permeated with the sweet presence of God, before which it is impossible not to surrender.
From this Wednesday (23), the service will be restricted to students, and will be closed on Friday (25) due to logistical problems due to the large number of participants. Moreover, according to the leadership of the university, the Bible states that the believers of the early church did not remain in the Cenacle after the descent of the Holy Spirit, but went out and spread the good news of the gospel to various locations, although they were also motivated by persecution. "The service started on the 8th will be closed, but the moving of the Spirit will not," the leadership adds.
What is hoped is that the move experienced in Asbury continues to impact people and cause change in the lives of each person who participated in it or was influenced by it in some way. That each one evidences God's action in their lives, testifying the gospel to the world.
Asbury received people from several parts of the USA and other countries, among them Brazil. The legacy, started by those few students, who remained praying and worshipping the Lord after the service, and which culminated in a grand event, is impressive and impossible to be accomplished by mere students. Only God, through the Holy Spirit, is able to produce brokenness and worship such as those that occurred in the last few days at Asbury.
The desire that cries out from the hearts of disciples of Jesus all over the world is: Do it again, Lord! Revive us. Send your Holy Spirit. Renew your work in the midst of the years.
Published 27 February, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
IT IS A TIME OF WAR: SATAN IS PLAYING
בס״ד
The fight for the liberation of abortion practice has gained a new ally in the United States, and it is big and heavy. It is a statue of a woman with horns, measuring 2.5 meters, which was placed in front of the New York courthouse. The figure, classified as "demonic" by Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, draws attention not only for its visible features, but also, and mainly, for what it symbolises.
In 1900, the New York City Courthouse began temporarily hosting statues of male personalities considered relevant to the development of the law, among them, Moses (the religious leader, judge, lawgiver and prophet recognized in the three major world religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam); Justinian (the emperor) and Confucius (thinker and philosopher).
This time, however, breaking custom, the court displays a statue of a woman, golden and imposing, symbolizing female empowerment and an open declaration of support for the practice of abortion.
The news obtained prominence, even guaranteeing the right to an article dedicated to it, under the title: "Surpass Moses and Zoroaster: Manhattan has a new legislator", in one of the best known American newspapers, The New York Times.
The sculpture was named "Now", symbolizing the social mores of the 21st century, as well as representing a fierce woman, a form of fierce female resistance, considered so necessary by the feminist and pre-abortion movements, after the Roe vs. Wade decision, which liberalized abortion in the Land of Uncle Sam in 1973, was overturned in June 2022.
The parts of the sculpture were not conceived at random, but were designed to convey a message: the braids, which form horns, symbolize sovereignty and autonomy; the horns refer to an image used in the Satanic Temple; the lace necklace recalls one worn by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Supreme Court justice seen as a symbol of female empowerment and abortion. The image being naked also has significance. According to the sculptor, "the body is a powerful tool that carries its social construction. It can also function as a site of resistance."
The statue has been nicknamed the "Satanic Golden Jellyfish", which is not surprising, as Satanic Temple satanists have long been in favour of abortion, claiming that abortion should be considered a "religious practice" and an integral part of religious rituals.
Satanic Temple leaders have asked the US government that, in states where abortion is banned or restricted, they be granted "religious exception" for the practice of what they call "religious abortion rituals" and "unrestricted access to abortion drugs", as published by Guiame.
The organisation, which has a clinic in New Mexico (USA) where it performs abortions free of charge, intends to expand its operations to other locations; in recent years it has even sued several States where there are significant restrictions on abortion, on the grounds that their laws violate the group's "religious right" to perform the "ritual abortion", and has protested against the holding of prayer in schools and the presence of Christian images in public spaces. It has also started "satanic clubs" after school, which has caused outrage among American families.
According to former Satanist John Ramirez, Satanists have spread their temples in several cities so that "demons and spirits can work in the atmosphere of these regions and lead people to destruction". He points out that demonic influence is increasingly evident in North American culture, and this is at such a level that it makes Sodom and Gomorrah look like kindergarten. And the scenario does not seem so different in Tupiniquim lands, since Brazil drinks, sparingly, of North-American culture.
As we can see, we are at war, a spiritual war. Satan is not strolling in this world; he came to kill, steal and destroy. It is urgent that the Church of Jesus take a stand, take up the spiritual weapons and seek, from God, wisdom and discernment to battle, because we already know the end of this story, for all those who are in Christ. Victory is certain! There is no need to fear, for our Commander is ahead of us, mighty to win.
Published 17 February, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
BRAZILIAN COALITION WITH LEFT-WING GOVERNMENTS AGAINST ISRAEL
בס״ד
The history of Israel is marked by persecutions and attacks by various nations to destroy it. Since Biblical times, the nation chosen by God to fulfil the special purpose of revealing Him to all nations has been the target of prejudice and hatred.
After being expelled from the Iberian Peninsula, from the Modern Age onwards, Jewish communities settled in Northern Europe, in Protestant regions, enjoying a certain religious freedom and developing in several areas, after the advent of the Universal Rights of Man, on the occasion of the French Revolution. With this, in the 19th century, they rose economically and intellectually, and began to be accused by various countries of wanting to dominate them, and this was the context of the emergence of aversion and prejudice against Jews, known as anti-Semitism. In the midst of persecution, Jews began to wish to return to Palestine and found a Jewish State there.
The 20th century was marked by one of the greatest atrocities in history: the Holocaust, instituted by the malignant mind of Adolf Hitler during the Second World War, where at least six million Jews were murdered with great cruelty. With the end of the war, in 1948, the State of Israel was founded, even under protest from Palestinians and Arabs. Since then the conflicts have not ceased.
As of the last hundred years, Israel and Palestine have been in conflict for more than seventy years, and the war scenario is constant and has as its main motive the dispute over Palestinian territory. Between 2019 and 2020, the conflict increased, but in 2022 it began to diminish, after a truce agreement.
During its mandate, the Bolsonaro government has repeatedly highlighted the importance of Israel for Brazil and strengthened ties with the country's government. However, following the line of opposing everything that could, even minimally, refer to the figure of former president Jair Bolsonaro, the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, released on Friday (17) a statement condemning the decision of the State of Israel for the legalisation of nine settlements in the West Bank region, a territory administered by the country since 1967 and object of the claim by the Palestinians.
The decision by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in joint action with the Argentine, Chilean and Mexican governments, all of which have leftist mandates, is a reversal in diplomacy and runs counter to the position adopted by Brazil over the last four years, given that under the Bolsonaro administration, Itamaraty was in favour of Israel on the international stage.
The settlements were legalized as a reaction to recent Palestinian attacks. With this action, Netanyahu is coherent with the promises he made at the time of his election to "establish respect for Israeli sovereignty".
The joint communiqué issued by Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Argentina, countries allied against Israel states:
Our governments express opposition to any action that undermines the viability of the two-state solution, in which Israel and Palestine can share secure and internationally recognized borders, respecting the legitimate aspirations of both peoples to live in peace.
Despite the onslaughts against Israel throughout history, the country stands firm, even if not without pain. For this very reason, among others, it cannot be denied that the nation is indeed special to God, not from the point of view of blind privilege, but because of the divine purpose for the nation, since ancient times, when the Hebrew people were freed from slavery in Egypt and headed for the promised land, all aiming at the fulfillment of God's great plan: the coming of the Messiah into the world, to save sinners and promote peace between them and the holy God. Israel was first chosen to take this message to the ends of the earth, a mission that today is carried out in partnership with the church formed by Gentiles who have been graciously included in God's eternal plan.
The Bible declares that the Lord's plans cannot be frustrated and that all that he has determined will be fulfilled. In this way, even if the most effective efforts are applied to destroy Israel, all will succumb and, in the end, the divine purpose will remain intact, unharmed and totally fulfilled.
Published 17 February, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
MARBURG VIRUS: WHO CONFIRMS NEW THREAT TO HUMAN HEALTH
בס״ד
After the coronavirus pandemic and all the controversies involving immunizers for the disease and the procedures of health and political authorities involving social isolation and lockdown, a new threat to human health emerges.
Before the world population has even recovered and can breathe a sigh of relief, indeed, with respect to covid-19, it is hit by another blow, this time from the African continent. The Marburg virus (named after a small town in Germany where the virus was first recorded) has infected several people in the Republic of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
In a meeting last Tuesday (14), the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the existence of an outbreak of the new virus, initially in the Equatorial Guinea region. The virus is a relative of Ebola, highly infectious and has an average mortality rate of 55%, but can reach 88%, warns the WHO; the variation depends on the strain of the virus and the capacity for case management.
A state of alert has been installed in the African country, especially because there are still no immunisers or approved treatment against the virus. Despite this, care such as rehydration with oral and/or intravenous fluids and the treatment of specific symptoms (maintenance of the oxygen level and control of blood pressure) have reduced the risks of those infected dying. The good news is that treatments are being evaluated, including blood products, immunological and drug therapies, and vaccine candidates.
Current figures on the disease indicate that there are 9 deaths and 16 suspected cases of the disease (14 of them did not show any symptoms, 2 have mild symptoms). Currently there are 21 people in isolation and under surveillance due to contact they have had with people who have died as a result of the virus. There are still over 4,000 people in quarantine in their homes.
The Cameroonian government has notified two suspected cases of the disease in the country, which borders Guinea to the south, involving 16-year-old adolescents who travelled to Equatorial Guinea, where the outbreak is confirmed.
The disease takes hold abruptly and has an incubation period of 2 to 21 days, with patients showing signs of severe haemorrhage, generally within seven days. The virus, initially transmitted by bats, among humans is spread through infected body fluids or surfaces, including patients' bedding, needles and medical equipment. Among the most common symptoms, those infected have haemorrhagic fever, headache, abdominal pain, vomiting (including bloody vomiting), fatigue, diarrhoea, and respiratory problems.
Among the population at risk are family members of infected persons, health care workers who do not adequately attend to protection and prevention measures, as well as veterinarians and laboratory and research workers.
Health authorities of Equatorial Guinea sent eight samples to the Institut Pasteur to be analyzed, after alert of district health official; the result was positive for Murburg.
In Brazil we have no records of cases of contamination, but every care is needed when it comes to a country that welcomes tourists from all over the world and great diversity. Thus, the recommendation is that anyone who has contact with individuals who have been in Cameroon or Equatorial Guinea, or have been on a trip to one of these locations, should be alert to any signs, including nausea and vomiting; chest, throat or abdominal pain; diarrhea. In cases of worsening, the disease presents signs such as jaundice, significant weight loss, liver failure.
Being attentive to the signs is essential, especially those associated with exposure to the virus. Therefore, these cases point to the need for isolation of the suspect and immediate notification of the health authorities, remembering that early detection is a determining factor for full recovery of the patient, and the diagnosis is made in the laboratory, from samples of the patient, and includes molecular diagnosis and antigen tests.
Prevention is better than treatment. Thus, trips to the countries mentioned should be avoided, as well as areas where there are bats that feed on fruits and contact with patients.
Published 15 February, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
PERSECUTION OR NOT...THAT'S THE QUESTION!
בס״ד
The troubled relationship (for obvious reasons) between the former prisoner and now president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Brazil's evangelicals, is back in the "trend topics". This time, Lula directly attacked the Church with a polemic and at the same time threatening statement in a meeting with several representatives of the health area, saying that he will demand support from churches in vaccination campaigns and that, if they do not cooperate, they will be held responsible for the deaths that occur: "I intend to look for several evangelical churches and discuss with their leaders: 'Look, what is your behaviour in this issue of vaccines?' Or we will hold you responsible for the death of people", said Lula.
The question that remains is: Could the declaration by the most corrupt leftist leader in the history of this country be framed within what we know as religious persecution? Many would certainly have some doubts, since the historical memory of the great majority of the population preserves the idea of persecution in the ancient world, where the traditional authoritarian systems, such as the Roman Empire, for example, exercised arbitrary and authoritarian acts of extreme physical violence against Christians of the time.
In the modern world it was not very different, since the great totalitarianisms of that period persecuted inhumanely, not only Christians, but any group, institution or person who opposed the project of power exercised by them. Among these totalitarian groups, we can cite the Italian and Spanish Fascisms, and Nazism. In the contemporary world, many still think that religious persecution is a topic that has remained in the past, that we live in full and complete freedom, however it is necessary to inform the dear reader that it is not quite like that. Here in the West, where we call the liberal states, what happens is a subtle persecution, which acts in a disguised manner, very different, but no less dangerous, from the ancient and modern persecutions with all their violence.
The subtle persecution, hidden, disguised, disguised or whatever you want to call it, can harm the church as much as the barbarities of the ancient world, and can be exercised in the following ways: as economic persecution, legal persecution, social death or media persecution.
But... why only the evangelicals? What is hat is so special about this religious group that makes the left invest its time and forces in persecuting it? Why do their leaders, commanded by the ex-prisoner Lula da Silva, launch all their artillery of provocations, threats, criticism, discussions, implication and fallacies against this group specifically?
The answer varies according to the different parameters and points of view we can use to get it. If we use the political parameter, we understand that the evangelical church is a frequent target of the intentional onslaughts of the left, because most politicians who belong to this religious group, do not yield to political calculation, read alliances. However, other groups supposedly adversaries of the left are easily "bought" by ministerial positions, becoming new allies who quickly align themselves to the leftist ideology and its project of power. However, in the case of evangelicals, the ideological antagonism with the left is so blatant that there is no possibility of building alliances with it, without deviating from the principles which guide Christian life. Therefore, by not selling out to the left, an arbitrary, authoritarian and unscrupulous persecution against Christians begins, strategically seeking to destroy the "opposing enemy" and for this, the left uses various means to weaken it, such as restrictions, imposing behaviours and actions, blackmail, boycotts, fines, censorship and fallacies.
If we observe the strategy in detail, it is clear that the issue of imposing the support for vaccines is only one of the arguments that Lula and his cronies are using as a form of retaliation to the religious group that is mostly, Bolsonarist and conservative right. And with such an attitude, Lula already demonstrates what he came and what he is willing to do to get the largest number of allies / accomplices, even before climbing the presidential ramp (act that I and certainly you too, dear reader, sincerely do not want to happen).
It is important to mention that, contrary to what was said by Lula, the majority of evangelical Christians did not manifest themselves against the Covid-19 vaccine, but to the possible compulsory measures for its use, demanded by those who strive to exercise dictatorial powers in a supposedly democratic country. There were, yes, by the most varied religious groups and not only evangelicals, several questions about the efficacy and safety of this vaccine that until then is still considered experimental. However, even with all the questioning, the vast majority of evangelicals got vaccinated without showing much resistance. However, the group of evangelicals who chose not to receive the vaccine for different reasons is a minority.
The fact that there are people who are openly against vaccines is true, but we must take into account that this opposition group is composed not only by evangelicals, but also by Catholics, Spiritists, Umbandaists, Atheists and many others, because the determining factor to oppose is not only religious, but also the fear of the sequelae caused by a vaccine that is still in its experimental stage. And when using the expression "opposition to vaccines", we cannot generalize. Opposition to immunizers is much more inclined to oppose the Covid-19 vaccines than other vaccines such as the polio vaccine, for example, which already has decades of studies and laboratory analysis, making it much more reliable than Covid-19.
By generalizing decisions, ignoring the plurality of opinions existing in the evangelical environment regarding immunizers, specifically about Covid-19 vaccines, and blaming it for the deaths of all those who died from this disease, Lula commits a serious mistake and increases even more the barrier for dialogue and for a rapprochement that, in reality, we, convinced Christians, don't even want.
However, contrary to what Lula said in his statements, several evangelical churches not only supported the vaccines, but also collaborated with the campaigns made by the government, giving up their temples and recreational areas, for the application of the same during the period of the pandemic, as is the case of the Igreja Cristã Maranata in Vitória (ES), the Igreja Presbiteriana Independente de Ibiporã (PR) and the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus from several locations.
Therefore, to make such a statement with a tone of threat, Lula not only unduly exposes a religious group to the scorn of the rest of the population, blaming them for deaths that do not correspond to him, but also lightly disregards the numerous social contributions that the church has provided and still provides to society in general, including in the pandemic. Remembering that today the excuse to persecute the church in a subtle way is vaccines. Tomorrow it may be imposed on tithes, imposition on acceptance of gay marriages, determination of censorship of what can or cannot be said in a cult ... finally, only God knows what they will decide to use as a bargaining chip to leave Christians in peace in the very near future.
Published 15 January, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
International Journalist
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
BRAZIL: IN TIMES OF THE WORLD CUP, WHAT REALLY MATTERS? OR IT'S GOOOOOOOOOOL!
בס״ד
The Canarinha national team debuts at the 2022 World Cup with a 2-0 win against Serbia. Both goals were scored by Richarlison, with a spectacular volley. With the result, the Brazilian team leads Group G and remains optimistic in pursuit of the hexachampionship title.
Despite the beautiful debut of Brazil in the world games, what good citizens want to know is if after the World Cup we will still have a free and democratic country in which the interests of the people are above the interests of corrupt rulers, of proven past and morals tainted by illicit acts.
The issue of irregularities in the 2022 campaign and electoral vote is far from being finalised. The people have taken to the streets as a sign that they will not accept things being conducted the way they are, and a few honest jurists and politicians are fighting fiercely, but legally and legitimately, for the truth to come to light.
The PL (Liberal Party) filed a complaint to annul the votes cast by the UE2009, UE2010, UE2011, UE2013 and UE2015 ballot boxes, on the grounds that its auditing firm had identified serious inconsistencies that could not be resolved regarding the operation of the ballot boxes used in the October 2022 elections, on the occasion of the second round of voting. In response, Alexandre de Moraes dismissed the request and, in the dictatorial tone that is peculiar to him, demanded that the manifestation should contain ballot boxes from both rounds and the additional data presented within 24 hours.
The threatening tone of Moraes, congruent with his folly, was crowned by establishing, who knows on what basis, a fine of almost 23 million, alleging, on the part of the PL, "bad faith litigation", which does not hold water, since there is no provocative tone / irresponsible to Justice. In addition, he ordered the immediate blocking of the coalition's party fund until the fine is paid, with a determination that an investigation of misuse of purpose be opened and the inclusion of the president of the PL, Valdemar da Costa Neto, and the president of the Instituto Voto Legal, Carlos Rocha, in investigation 4.874, responsible for investigating the existence of digital militias that threaten the democratic rule of law. Information from the PL says that the party reiterates that it only followed the provisions of article 51 of the Electoral Law, which aims to oblige legends to supervise electoral processes.
Valdemar da Costa Neto, president of PL, says TSE has the obligation to solve problems pointed out by the party audit and clarify doubts. For him, adding the new ballot boxes has a victory for the current President, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, of 1 million, if the ballot boxes are not considered free of evidence; "[...] the vote has to be safe and that's why we did this survey. And if this is a stain on our democracy, we have to solve it now", adds Costa Neto, for whom this year's elections are configured in the Brazilian scenario as a "ghost".
Commenting on the deadline set by Moraes for the inclusion of the fault also in the first round of the election, Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, TSE vice-president, said that if the allegations of faults in the electronic ballot boxes are confirmed, all the results of the 2022 election would have to be annulled, including those that elected state and federal deputies, senators, and governors.
It is clear that there was no fairness in the electoral process and in the 2022 election. What was seen during the electoral campaign and in the elections would be comical if it were not tragic: blatant favouritism of the leftist media, inequalities regarding rights during the campaign, cities with zero votes for the right-wing candidate, unreliable ballot boxes, and this is just to start. The 2022 elections are the portrait of shameless and complete fraud by the left and its malignant agenda to put a condemned man and his gang in the highest office of the country, not only to regain power, but also to perpetuate it.
Thus, despite the beautiful second goal scored by the number 9 of our national team, whom we congratulate, what really matters is to ensure that we will not be a nation dominated by communism or socialism; that we will not have the left with its destructive agenda governing our nation.
What matters, even in times of the World Cup, is that our "Beloved Land, Brazil" remains free, democratic and safe from the clutches of totalitarian governments, of unscrupulous and broad-backed ETS presidents. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Alexandre de Moraes has a very broad back. There are big people supporting the stupidities and unconstitutionalities of this citizen, otherwise, he would have already fallen.
Yes, the giant is awake! Bread and circuses are no longer enough to intoxicate the people, distracting them from what really matters: the future of their beloved nation called Brazil.
It's goooooooool!!!! For freedom, for justice, for the future of the Brazilian nation
Published 14 January, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
PAYING WELL, WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT?
בס״ד
In the relations between East and West, especially the one under Muslim influence, there is an irreconcilable worldview. If one listens to an Eastern Muslim referring to the Western world, one will realise that he or she unanimously describes it as hypocritical.
The reasons are simple and one could adhere to them without much difficulty. This view criticises the double standards with which the West treats the countries of that region.
One of the criticisms made is that what interests the West is not values, human rights, democracy or anything similar. If that were the case, they would act coherently. But what really matters to them is geopolitics and economic and financial interests, whether for internal agenda or for international trade issues. Values, human rights and democracy are almost always media excuses to convince the crowds and hide the geopolitical and economic interests of the Western oligarchies.
When we hear the word West, we must always ask ourselves: Which West? For there has basically been an internal war within this side of the world since the 18th century: a war between that nihilistic, believe-nothing, hedonistic, progressive, French-style secularist, pluralist, secularist, globalist and warmongering West; with that Christian-inspired West.
As we know, the former has prevailed over the latter, especially among the economic and intellectual oligarchies of Europe and North America. Their purpose is money, power and the disintegration of all that remains of Christianity: the last barrier to their project of society.
Understanding this brief background will make us realise the double standard that the West uses to relate to countries where human rights and values are trampled on with treachery.
The nihilistic West, which believes in nothing except the present moment, in the "here and now", resembles Rome close to its decadence. At that time, a spy was sent to the capital of the Empire and on his return was asked: What is Rome's weakness? They expected an answer like: "Its weakness is in the fifth legion". The spy's answer was surprising: "Rome is for sale to the highest bidder". The same can be said of the West today: the highest bidder takes it, values don't matter.
Companies are making fortunes in Qatar. Globo, which defends gays so much, doesn't even mention their rights in Qatar. Which is to be expected, since what matters to it is to swim in advertising money. The same goes for big media conglomerates, sponsors, etc. And what about human rights? The question hangs in the air, since everything is for sale, available to the highest bidder, as in decadent Rome. And the same absurdity occurs in Qatar, China, Saudi Arabia, etc.
Therefore, every time you, dear reader, hear about persecuted Christians in totalitarian countries, oppressed gays as in Qatar or Saudi Arabia; Uighurs in concentration camps in China, discriminated Israelis, degraded and humiliated women, treated as second class beings, do not expect much from this decadent and nihilistic West. It will always be on the side of whoever brings it the most profit and will be willing to overlook even the greatest atrocities if it has something to boot
You will see all kinds of attacks on patriarchies in this side of the world of Christian influence and you will also hear about "structural racism", among many other progressive deliriums, but you will never hear these mute prophets of progressism say anything about the real dramas of women, gays, Christians, Uighurs and Jews in other parts of the world. The issue is very old, already denounced by the classical prophet Micah, who said of the false moralistic prophets, similar to the prophets of modern progressivism, the following: "They say peace to those who give them something to bite at, but declare war against those who have nothing to give."
Nihilistic West and its so-called democratic institutions, turn their faces to the reports of the thousands of immigrants killed in the construction of stadiums in Qatar, play truant in collusion with FIFA and the big leagues under the excuse of not "disrespecting" the Qatari culture with the LGBT banner and other customs, but do not think twice about fining Real Madrid for not hoisting the same flag at the Bernabeu stadium in Spain.
The excuse to omit in the face of this reality that flagrantly violates human rights is that "we must respect the culture of others". We can agree with that, but if we dare to apply that same principle to Muslim immigrants arriving in Europe, demanding from them respect for European culture, immediately the progressive European multiculturalists will treat us as xenophobes, racists, fascists, Nazis and all sorts of insults. But they can...They can because they are hypocrites.
However, in all of this one warning remains: When the nihilistic, progressive West acts in this way, ignoring values dear to its millennial conscience in exchange for a few silver coins, it can only be indicating that its hour of decay is closer than we imagine. It is a clear indication that the Western consciousness has been emptied and that its spiritual culture, with the values that give shape to our life in this world, no longer exists to sustain that which, without such values, will disintegrate.
Published 13 January, 2023
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
THE ARREST OF ROBERTO JEFFERSON AND THE LEFT'S UNSCRUPULOUS ATTEMPT TO HARM JAIR BOLSONARO IN THE SECOND ROUND OF THE 2022 ELECTIONS.
בס״ד
In the final stretch of the 2022 elections, the Roberto Jefferson case should be used by the leftist candidate's campaign team in an attempt to tarnish Jair Bolsonaro's image and increase his rejection in the last days before the second round and the march toward reelection.
The former PTB federal deputy, under house arrest since August (2021), had the benefit revoked and was returned to the closed regime after eight hours of resisting arrest and attacking the Federal Police who were complying with the STF determination. The minister of the Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes, issued two arrest warrants against Jefferson: one for verbally attacking the minister Carmen Lucia and the other for double attempted murder, after he attacked police officers in the line of duty and injured two agents.
The fact was treated by Jair Bolsonaro with the rigor it deserves. The head of the Brazilian nation recorded a video in which he showed solidarity with the injured police officers and said that Jefferson acted like a bandit and should be treated as such.
The occurrence presents itself as an item to be exploited by Lula's campaign team, which, as always, under brazenly lying allegations, intends to link the image of Jefferson to Bolsonaro, making available in the media a photo in which both appear together, under allegation that there is a bond of friendship between them, and will fraudulently exploit that the victory of the former prisoner will end the atmosphere of hatred implemented in the current government.
The impudence and desperation of the left is so great that, without any scruple and shamefully low, even declared that, besides being a friend of the current president, Jefferson was also part of the campaign team of Bolsonaro, which was denied by the Minister of Communications, Fábio Faria, on Sunday (23), and by the President of the Republic himself, who said in a statement that he had no connection with the former deputy, besides not seeing him for at least six months; and highlighted, including that, last September, Roberto Jefferson filed a criminal complaint against him in the Superior Military Court (STM).
In a statement to the press, the president expressed total repudiation of the wave of hatred expressed in the way Jefferson referred to Minister Carmen Lúcia and took the opportunity to demonstrate his indignation due to two other episodes that occurred recently against members of his family: 1) Barbara Gansa's post in which the journalist called his youngest daughter a "p***" (remembering that "she is only 12 years old") and 2) an attack on Michelle Bolsonaro by the attorney general of Alagoas, Samya Suruagy, who, in a social network, called the first lady a "slut".
Jair Bolsonaro stresses, in other words, that his "business" is with peace, with truth, with progress, with caring for the citizens of his beloved country and that he and his team have no ties whatsoever with lies, with hate, with corruption, with exploitation and with whoever practices such things.
The truth about Bolsonaro's smoothness, integrity, honesty and actions towards Brazil are more than evident and can be proven by all that he and his government team have been accomplishing and demonstrating in these almost four years of government, even in the midst of the pandemic; and only those who do not want to see it do not see it.
It is as clear as sunlight that the left and its candidate are related to and have a part in everything that is dubious; that has to do with lies and disrespect for Brazilians; that promotes hatred, division between people and the destruction of Christian values and principles; that seeks to destroy the family and considers it retrograde; that has to do with false accusations and the most shameless lies; that promotes violence and defends criminals; that wants power at any cost in order to continue stealing from the country and destroying it as dictators have done in our neighbouring countries.
Bolsonaro does not join these types of people. The friends of the "captain of the people" are good people like you and me, not the corrupt or the bosses and members of criminal factions, even the "white collar" ones. The principles that guide Jair Messias Bolsonaro are totally opposite to those that govern and direct the left, their mob and everything associated with them.
Bolsonaro is for politics with honesty, which aims to benefit Brazil, which invests the resources in the country and does not direct them to finance dictatorships abroad.
Bolsonaro is a good man, whose actions and the ties he establishes are always thinking about how to make Brazil a country of which one is increasingly proud to belong. He is a citizen who fights for justice, for freedom, for peace, for the rights available to all without distinction. Yes! Jair Messias Bolsonaro has fought since he entered public life to protect the country from the petista and his gang.
Bolsonaro is: for life, for freedom, for peace, for progress. He is the president of every Brazilian who wishes and has worked hard for a better life and to have an environment of autonomy to work, undertake and grow.
On the 30th, it's 22 at your fingertips. It's Bolsonaro president.
Forward, Brazil! Onward, Captain,
Published 25 October, 2022
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
DON'T PAY TO SEE. IF YOU "TURN YELLOW"...
בס״ד
There are things one should not flirt with. Irresponsibility and levity are just some of them.
Electing leaders is not a task that we can do at any time, thoughtlessly, without considering everything that is at stake. To choose the head of a nation is to give this person the legal authorization to represent us, to do what we would do, to make decisions for the common good. That is why we cannot "go soft".
The day of the second round of voting is coming and this will define much more than who will lead the country for the next four years. The future of a nation, in the medium and long term, is what is at stake. Yes, at stake is the deconstruction and loss of everything we have built and won with hard work: freedom to come and go, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to defend oneself, freedom to democratically choose political representatives, to teach our children what we believe in. What's more, at stake is the implementation of ideologies and an agenda filled with destructive standards.
At stake is to ensure that our resources are invested in our country and are not used to finance dictators and communist governments like those of our neighbouring countries. At stake is whether, as a nation, we will wash our hands and allow the looters to return to the spoils to continue to mine the country of its riches while enriching themselves at the expense of resources that should be allocated to security, health, education.
Voting for the left on the 30th is like shooting yourself in the foot. It is like taking the hand of a bandit and taking him to the scene of the crime he has just committed, so that he can continue stealing, now with our backing, since we will have fallen for his litanies. It is taking too great a risk, and that, dear reader, is not worth it.
To vote for Lula is to sign the authorization to maintain leftist indoctrination in schools and universities (including, and mainly, the public ones, which are paid for with our tax money). It is to give a resounding "yes" to the deconstruction of the family, to the devaluation of the father figure (cooperating with the "divide and rule"); it is to say "yes" to the legalization of drugs and to the destruction of the life of the defenseless, as occurs in the practice of abortion.
To vote for the left is to put the noose around your own neck, bowing to an agenda that promotes licentiousness, the continuity of the stealing that has reigned for years in the country, the illicit enrichment of shameless rulers who have no interest in the people they should care for; it is to say "yes" to gender ideology and immorality.
To vote for the left is to close your eyes in an insane refusal to see that the Amazon is ours and that deforestation has decreased by almost 50% under the government of Jair Bolsonaro, if compared to the time of Lula and his partners. It is refusing to see that Brazil is the country with the growing economy and that it is among the nations in the best post-pandemic conditions. It is to turn a blind eye to the actions of Bolsonaro who has invested in his people, granting them decent financial aid to help them get through these challenging times with dignity. It is refusing to see the GDP growth that recently had its fourth consecutive high, growing an amazing 1.2%, exceeding the expected 0.9%, setting it as the 7th highest growth in the world, which represents R$ 2.4 trillion.
To vote for the left is to open the door to everything we reject. It is to say "no" to the principles and values that we hold so dear. It is to reject morals and good customs. It is opening yourself up to lose everything we have built up over the years.
Yes! We are conservatives! Yes! we cherish the family, protect life and look after the defenseless. Yes! We have Christian values and they are what we will teach our children!
No! We do not want the left in power. No! We don't want socialism or communism. Out with totalitarianism and tyranny. Far be it from us to be the next Venezuela, Argentina...
We want freedom! We want to continue having the right to practice our faith! Yes! We believe, cherish and will fight to protect the family. Yes! We believe that God created the human being, and created them "man and woman"! Yes! We want to continue to be able to propagate what we believe in.
Yes! we voted for the right! We voted for conservatism! We voted for the good of Brazil! We voted Bolsonaro! We are Brazilians and that is how we will remain.
We will thicken the trenches of the right. We will unite to prevent Lula's return to power. Don't wash your hands. It is for a time like this that you are alive. Don't be irresponsible.
If you turn yellow, everything will turn red. And do you know what that means? The end. The end of everything you believe in and for which you and so many other good citizens before you have fought so hard. Don't pay to see it! The price will be too high.
Published 24 October, 2022
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
THE CHRISTIAN AND THE 2022 ELECTIONS: WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ME?
בס״ד
In times of electoral campaign in Brazil, tempers continue to run high and in the last days leading up to the election, the climate has intensified even more, as the candidates, in their overwhelming majority, continue to use any means to win the elector's vote.
This is a decisive week. It is the hour of truth. And the Christian cannot simply decide not to get involved, to let it go. It is necessary that, following the example of Queen Esther - a character from the Bible who defended her people, even at the risk of losing her own life - we position ourselves, voting responsibly, because the lack of assertive positioning today will have dire consequences tomorrow, when the Christian society will have to face a ruler whose life, career and mission are totally opposite to everything he believes as a disciple of Jesus in this world.
One has been hearing, especially on social media, speeches such as:
- God is in control of all things and will stay there;
- No election result will stop God's purpose from being fulfilled;
- The Christian's hope is not in this or that ruler;
- Governments will never solve the country's problems in their entirety;
- No candidate represents the totality of what justice means nor is capable of meeting all the needs of a society;
- We Christians do not belong to this world, but to the Kingdom of God, and we are here only in transit.
Obviously, these statements are true; however, believing in this way does not exempt any citizen from the responsibility given to him/her by acquiring the right to vote; nor does it mean that he/she can vote without due reflection on the importance of this act for this and future generations. The fact of washing one's hands, repeating the action of Herod when he "handed over" Jesus to be crucified, will not exempt anyone from having their hands stained, and the blood of irresponsibility, frivolity, and of what escapes one's role and duty, does not easily come off the hands of those who carry out their acts in a frivolous manner.
To vote is to give a candidate the power, when elected, to represent you, and here is why it is so important to vote with a high level of responsibility; Christians, especially, must also do so in prayer and submission to the Lord.
Election day is coming up, but it is still not too late to take the right position. There is still time to prepare yourself to vote responsibly, which can be done with some simple, but time-consuming actions:
- Seek to know about the party, the candidate and who he supports;
- Find out about their proposals, if they violate, in any way, what you believe in;
- Investigate as much as possible whether the candidate is honest and upright;
- Seek information that will tell you if he defends the same values and principles that you do.
If you do not do so, you may make the mistake of approving representatives who defend what you repudiate and who, when elected, will defend causes that are at odds with what you believe in.
This is a decisive week. The time is now. Don't be fooled by words that are sweet, sycophantic, or that demonstrate a false revolt. Whether veiled or openly there are candidates who:
- reject the Judeo-Christian faith;
- defend abortion and drug decriminalization;
- support immorality in its most diverse varieties;
- depreciate and devalue the family conceived by God;
- defend gender ideology;
- support the dissolution of marriage, polyamory, open relationships;
- denigrate the figure of man.
Voting is not just pressing a key on an electronic ballot box or writing down the number of a candidate on a paper ballot and depositing it in a ballot box. Voting is to put someone in charge of the nation, invested with the power delegated to him by you; and from the act of voting, there is no turning back and it will be useless to complain and/or disagree with the initiatives and actions of this individual, because the opportunity to do the right thing in the right way will have passed.
Before voting, ask yourself: Who is this candidate? Which party does he belong to and what does this party stand for? What issues does he or she defend? What causes is he or she involved in? What are their values and principles under which they conduct their lives? Is he someone who will work to include laws that aim to deconstruct the values and principles that I hold so dear?
To vote conscientiously is to value your vote by casting it for someone who can best represent you and whose ideas best represent your values and principles. Therefore, do not be frivolous or simplistic when voting. Vote conscientiously! Vote with knowledge.
This is the time! You and I are being called to responsibility. We are in a war where values and principles are in danger of being violated. This is your time. This is your time to stand up for what you believe in as a son and daughter of God.
Choose wisely. Do not negotiate what you believe in.
Published 30 September, 2022
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
ELECTIONS 2022: THE FIGHT TO UPHOLD GOOD PRINCIPLES AND END CORRUPTION
בס״ד
The pre-election period has always been marked by heated discussions not only between the candidates, but also in the most varied groups in society. The scenario, generally divided into two large blocks - right-wing and left-wing; conservative and liberal - has been quite busy, especially due to the barbs exchanged between the two main candidates for the presidency of the country and their respective voters.
Polls, which are far from reflecting the reality on the streets, circulate on a large scale in the most varied means of communication, facts are distorted all the time in an attempt to win the trust of the voter, who, if distracted, will be easy prey for "lefties" who are relentless in their fight against the family, Jewish and Christian principles, morals, good customs, and the success of the Brazilian nation. And the attacks come from all sides. The "lefties" are unrelenting in their endeavour to demoralise the current government and candidate for re-election, Jair Bolsonaro. From personal attacks to distorted news about his government and even his way of speaking, everything counts in the struggle for power led by the opponent who has no limits when it comes to being elected.
The ball of the moment is the country's GDP which, impacted mainly by the industrial and services sectors, in the last quarter had its fourth consecutive high, growing an astonishing 1.2%, above the 0.4% to 0.9% expected, configuring the 7th highest growth worldwide; which represents R$ 2.4 trillion against R$ 2.249 trillion in the previous quarter. Growth was the highest since the 4th quarter of 2020, surprising even the Government and the economic team. The government projection is for GDP to advance 2.1% per year. When speaking on the subject, media outlets defending the "left-handedness" make pessimistic projections regarding the economy for 2023, under the allegation that there are uncertainties produced by the 2022 election, and it is not possible to know for sure what the economic policy will be in the future management, not to mention the obstacles that can be glimpsed in the internal and external scenarios. Among the main challenges for the economy are the rise in interest rates (with a basic rate of 13.75%/year), forecasts of lower growth in the global economy and the lack of space in the public accounts (little room for maneuver to stimulate the economy in a scenario of increased spending).
It is understood that these elections represent a battle that goes beyond physical reality and economic issues, and it is not just about candidate "A" or "B". It is a spiritual battle that is being fought. What is at stake is not simply who will win or lose, but what the winner will represent for the country and how and where he will lead it. Here, one cannot avoid talking about the importance of the Christian population in the electoral scenario.
The 2022 elections are, above anything, about the fulfillment of an agenda; of agendas in defense of the breaking of Judeo-Christian principles and values; agendas contrary to freedom of the press and of expression and to the Christian God; agendas in favor of corruption, impunity (as mentioned by the Petist candidate when signaling for the freedom of the "boys", as he referred to the kidnappers of businessman Abilio Diniz ), libertinism, and sexual liberation ("[. ...] each one of us dances as he wants, each one of us takes care of his body as he wants, because after all our body wants freedom. We want it to have freedom to do what we are interested in"). Hence the importance of Christians as a whole, especially Protestants, not slackening their hands or wobbling their legs, but taking an increasingly firm stance and going to the polls as if they were going into battle; not with swords and shields or bullets, bombs and cannons, but armed with the conviction that their vote will define who will represent them and will work on their behalf to build a country of which all can be proud.
Thus, who wants a country increasingly fair, more free of corruption, defends the minimum state and the responsible autonomy of the citizen, but also, wants to keep the freedom of expression, the non-regulation of the media, the maintenance of Jewish and Christian principles and is positioned completely contrary to libertinism, sexual liberation, decriminalization of drugs, legalization of abortion, gender ideology (especially regarding its teaching to children), among other guidelines advocated by the "left", in the person of the candidate petista, and their associates. Who wants a better country and with freedom to continue worshipping the Christian God, will vote consciously, electing as his representative the current president, now candidate for reelection, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, not because he is the saviour of the Homeland, but because he is who best represents the values of a decent society, which is guided by good principles.
And fears God.
Published 19 September, 2022
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
"PARDON" GRANTED TO DANIEL SILVEIRA: THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THIS ACTION
בס״ד
Congressman Daniel Silveira was sentenced on Wednesday (19), by 10 of the 11 ministers of the Supreme Court (STF), to 8 years and 9 months imprisonment, for encouraging acts against democracy and attacking ministers of the Court. The conviction implies loss of mandate and political rights, and payment of a fine of R$200,000.
However, even before the deputy took the initiative to appeal the decision, he was benefited, on Thursday (21), with the so-called "individual pardon" or "constitutional grace", by President Jair Bolsonaro.
The benefit, which pardons sentences handed down by the Supreme Court, has been causing fervour in Brazil's political and legal scenes, displeasing especially the Supreme Court.
Among the six reasons provided by Bolsonaro for granting the pardon, we highlight:
1) Freedom of expression as an essential pillar of society in all its manifestations;
2) The President of the Republic has the mission of watching over the public interest, a mission democratically received;
3) The social commotion in the face of the conviction of the parliamentarian.
Despite the displeasure of the Supreme, according to the jurist and lawyer Ives Gandra Martins, the action is a prerogative of the President of the Republic, granted by decree, and can not be overturned, since it is supported by Article 84, item 12 of the Constitution. Gandra also recalls a similar situation that occurred in 2019, starring then-President Michel Temer, who pardoned sentences of convicts under Operation Lava Jato, highlighting that the Supreme recognized as constitutional the attitude, thus claiming that the Supreme is not allowed to decide contrary to what was previously established.
In the situation at the time, the Supreme considered the initiative to suspend the decree of the then head of state that authorised those convicted of crimes against public administration to enjoy Christmas pardon. Put to a vote, by 7 votes to 4, the STF considered the presidential act constitutional, understanding that they could not interfere in a decision that is the exclusive prerogative of the president.
Even if begrudgingly, the Supreme Court will have to admit that, from a legal point of view, it will be practically impossible to overturn or annul the decision, and this on the basis of its own jurisprudence. In fact, the minister of the STF, Alexandre de Moraes, has expressed his support for the presidential decision.
According to President Bolsonaro, the pardon will be granted regardless of the transit in res judicata of the criminal conviction (procedural phase in which no more appeals are possible) and the sentence will have to be executed. And in his weekly live broadcast, held every Thursday, referring to the decree he had just signed, he added: "Thus, in order to honor the value of justice and social pacification so dear to Brazil, presidential clemency is not only appropriate but necessary for the nation to move towards the goals outlined in the Constitution of the Republic, the foundations that support the promulgation of this decree.
Published 27 April, 2022
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
VACCINATION PROGRESS AND RESUMPTION OF ACTIVITIES IN TWO MAJOR BRAZILIAN CAPITALS
בס״ד
In December 2019, the world could not have imagined that it was on the verge of facing one of the worst health crises of all time. Since the disclosure of the first case of contamination by the coronavirus, the world population involuntarily plunged into a dark sea of fear, uncertainty and mourning. The misinformation, the political clashes and the corruption surrounding the issue have been highlighted in the media and have occupied first place among the main news items most of the time during these almost two years of the pandemic.
The virus has spread around the world, triggering isolation and lockdown in many countries and Brazilian cities. The number of deaths attributed to Covid-19 exceeded, last Monday (01), the mark of 5 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Fortunately, after the storm comes the bonanza and life is not only about chaos. After facing critical moments, with thousands of infected people, lack of beds in hospitals all over the world, crowded ICUs, corruption in the purchase of respirators and controversy over vaccines, we have reached a moment in which the situation all over the world shows an acceptable level of control. Not everything is known about the virus, but there has been considerable worldwide progress in research on important themes, such as treatment.
The good news also comes from the national territory.
In Brazil, the situation continues to improve considerably. Compared to March/21, at the peak of the second wave of the pandemic, there was a 90% decrease in admissions in the State of São Paulo, where there are less than a thousand people admitted to ICUs in Greater São Paulo, Baixada Santista and the interior. At the critical moment of the pandemic, there were 7,500 people hospitalized in ICUs in Greater São Paulo, and the interior of the State and Baixada Santista had 5,600 hospitalized. Currently, the occupation rate of intensive care beds in São Paulo is 26% in the State and 36% in the capital.
In an interview on Jovem Pan radio on Tuesday (12), President Jair Bolsonaro had said he would not take the vaccine against covid-19, despite this, the significant reduction in contagion, hospitalisations and deaths from covid-19 is due to the success and advancement of the vaccination campaign, not only in the state of São Paulo, but in several other localities.
In Rio de Janeiro, where more than 2 million remain unimmunized, the expectation is to apply the third dose of the vaccine in people aged 63 and 64 years and continue immunizing teenagers from 12 years. The state received 162 thousand doses of vaccine and resumes vaccination on Wednesday (03). The state government decreed last week, the end of compulsory use of masks in open spaces. Even having kept the requirement in closed places and public transport, the decision was considered hasty by authorities and professionals at Fiocruz, since the state was the epicenter of variants such as Delta and Mu.
Meanwhile, in other countries, a record increase in infections and death by the virus has been registered since August, with 2.9 million newly infected. For the infectious disease specialist Raquel Murrek (from Rede D'or), this is due to the fact that there is still transmission of the virus, combined with the return of crowds and the relaxation of sanitary protocols.
The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, called on world leaders to maintain the use of masks and encourage social distancing, after all, he added: "It would be a mistake to think that the pandemic is over [...] we have to combine vaccination with vigilance".
This weekend, the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom, in conversation with President Jair Bolsonaro, made praise for the progress of vaccination in Brazil and highlighted the need to use a mask, as a condition for avoiding new cases of contamination and a new wave of restrictions. The secretary spoke about the importance of vaccination and stressed that, with respect to the vaccination of children, more evidence is needed and that, as soon as WHO has additional data, it will inform them.
The repercussions of the fall in covid-19 indices in Brazil is reflected in the economy which, despite the forecast that inflation will continue to rise until December, signals balance in 2022. Maílson da Nóbrega, former Minister of Finance, forecasts growth of around 5% in 2021; he states that the recovery will be led by the services sector and criticises the lack of reforms, pointing to it as a risk factor for the failure to sustain this recovery.
The return of Brazilians to tourism and events, the resumption of face-to-face activities (such as services and classes), the continued recovery of civil construction are indicators that, although we cannot relax, life is picking up its pace. The indication is that the resumption will continue, obviously maintaining the due care. The truth is that, despite the political clashes around the issue, it is in everyone's interest that things return to normality and the time comes when the pandemic is a thing of the past, leaving behind only the great lessons that we all learned... or should have learned.
Published 6 November 2021
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
ISRAEL: CHANGE OF POWER AFTER TWELVE YEARS OF NETANYAHU GOVERNMENT
בס״ד
Last March 23, Israel held its fourth consecutive election in the span of just 2 years. The country went through elections in April and September 2019, in March 2020 and in March 2021. There were 39 parties participating in the contest that had as central characters two of the biggest political rivals in the country's electoral history in 2019 and 2020: the Likud and Blue and White parties, led respectively by Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, who dance to the rhythm dictated by maintaining power, as the governing coalition agreement provided for these rulers to take turns in the post of prime minister.
Of the 120 seats available in the Knesset (the Hebrew name for the Israeli Parliament), 52 were won by Netanyahu and his allies and 57 by his opponents who remain in the fight to take power away from him. The result had no significant impact for anyone, as the situation looks even worse than before.
Netanyahu, the longest serving prime minister in Israeli history, governed from 1996 to 1999 and returned to power a decade later, where he remains thanks to nationalist positions that appealed to various areas from the centre to the right in Israel, having as part of his governmental base orthodox Jews and secular militarists, for defending the Jewish state and the Israeli occupations in the Palestinian territories, besides being tough in his attacks on Hamas.
The crisis installed in the country, which gave its first signs at the end of 2018, when there was a split in the pro-Netanyahu alliance and which worsened with the departure of the then Defence Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, a "right-wing" politician and great supporter of Netanyahu. With this, new elections were called, which demonstrated how fragmented politics in the country was.
In the elections that took place between 2019 and March 2020 no party gained control of parliament, as none of them achieved individually winning the 61 seats needed to gain that level of control. Despite Israel's president calling on Netanyahu to form coalitions, the prime minister failed to strike deals and missed deadlines, entailing new elections.
Without Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu is left without sufficient support, resulting in new elections. In March 2020, Gantz, Netanyahu's biggest opponent, eventually agreed to ally with his opponent in order to temporarily resolve the situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The partnership was short-lived and resulted in yet another electoral process and a fall in Gantz's popularity among those opposed to the current prime minister.
Summoned to form a new coalition, Netanyahu repeated the previous performance, which made President Reuven Rivlin summon Yair Lapid, the runner-up in the polls, for a new attempt. The picture seemed to announce that a fifth election was on the horizon, but the scenario changed a few days before the deadline, with the announcement of an alliance between Lapid and Bennet, in opposition to Netanyahu, who, in a trial resumed in April, is facing charges of bribery, for accepting a $264,000 gift from tycoons; fraud, for negotiating with a newspaper coverage favourable to the government while slowing the growth of another; and breach of trust.
The population took to the streets, demonstrating against Netanyahu, while opponents took advantage of the situation to discredit the prime minister, using the accusations as a reason for the rupture of the alliance months earlier.
With the coalition's approval, Netanyahu left office, after twelve years of consecutive terms, migrating to the opposition, and the relay alliance is already in place between Naftali Bennett, who takes over as prime minister for the initial two-year term, and Lapid, who takes Bennett's place and becomes prime minister for the final two-year term.
The new prime minister arrived showing what he came for, by announcing that he will toughen up against Iran, preventing it from seizing an atomic weapon and warned Hamas not to test it. Even so, he retains the line that "he will work united for religious, secular, ultra orthodox and Arab Israelis. For all, without exception", in an attempt to undermine doubts about a political consensus.
Whether this alliance will sustain itself over time, and whether the rulers will be able to maintain unity despite divergent points, is not possible to know, as internal disagreements on key issues have torn apart previous alliances in Israel's government. Moreover, the moment is tense in the country, which has clashes resulting in many deaths.
Published 16 July 2021
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
ATTACKS ON ISRAEL: WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE HOLY LAND
בס״ד
Sounds of gunfire and running for shelters under the constant sound of sirens have marked the routine of Israelis in recent days, especially residents in the city of Ashkelon. The Israeli army confirms over 450 rocket launches from Gaza towards southern Israel, 200 of them shot down by the Kipat Barzel air defence system, resulting in 2 confirmed deaths and over 50 Israelis injured. The launches targeted some of the capital Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Ashkelon and Sderot, and promise to last for a few days.
As I write this article, fires have been set in Jewish plantations, started by balloons released by Palestinian terrorists from Gaza towards Jewish-owned fields.
Warning bells sounded again in Jerusalem, which was the scene of another act of violence, this time on the Esplanade of Mosques. The conflict occurred on Monday (10), in front of the Al-Aqsa mosque, on the day that commemorates the conquest of Jerusalem and the walled Old City, in the Six Day War, fifty years ago. The date, which this year coincides with the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, is marked with more than 300 people injured. The tension began after a determination by Israel's Supreme Court ordering the eviction of Palestinian families from land, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. The conflict has been considered, by experts, the most violent since the year 2017.
Credit for this wave of violence is also given to a video posted on a famous app. The images showed a rabbi being beaten by Arab youths and it went viral on the net, sparking the revolt of Jewish youth who took to the streets to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the way Jews have been treated by Arabs on the streets, in transport etc.
The elderly man was driving in the northern region of the country, as it was his way home, when he was attacked by local residents, and was only not lynched thanks to the intervention of other people, among them, a man named Jamal. After this video, which spread quickly, many others with similar content were posted: a Palestinian pulls a knife and tries to attack a policeman controlling the traffic; a woman pulls a knife and tries to hit soldiers; a vehicle passes in front of a bus stop and shoots at people waiting for transportation, leaving some in serious condition; Arabs try to lynch a Jewish family near the Old City of Jerusalem, but flee when an Israeli policeman shoots in the air. Just to name a few.
Tension is high, and the attacks represent an attitude of intimidation and threat against Israelis due to clashes with Palestinians in the streets of the Holy City. In several places, Jews are being attacked and beaten with stones and sticks, generating demonstrations of discontent with the situation, especially by the youth.
Israel responded to the attacks from the Gaza Strip by launching rockets in the direction of the Gaza Strip and bringing down a building in the area, according to a warning issued half an hour before. Officials said the attack was aimed at eliminating a key Hamas member in charge of the Gaza missile unit, a successful operation that was aided by the internal intelligence service, the Shabak, and resulted in the elimination of three key members of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group. The army reinforced its presence on the Gaza border on Tuesday (11), sending tanks, and blocked roads in the south of the country.
The wave of Arab violence also left its mark in the cities of Lod, Ramla and Ashdod, where hundreds of Arabs set fire to and destroyed synagogues, study houses, shops, vehicles and public buildings overnight; only hours later there was police intervention.
Israel's situation has drawn the attention of other countries and caused concern for the Middle East Quartet, formed by the US, the European Union, Russia and the UN. The United States is monitoring the situation. In contact with Israel, on Sunday (09), Jake Sullivan, the country's National Security Adviser, reiterated his commitment to reduce situations of tension in Jerusalem and its surroundings. Representatives of Qatar and Egypt are talking to Hamas in an attempt to halt and reverse the advance of violence.
Many waters will still pass under this bridge, and we hope they will be waters of peace.
"Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God..."
Published 14 May 2021
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
IN A DISASTROUS DECISION, THE UN GOES BEYOND AND CHOOSES IRAN TO BE PART OF THE COMMISSION FOR THE DEFENCE OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS
בס״ד
When we think we have seen it all, something unexpected happens: on Thursday (22), the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (UN) took a decision that aroused concern and caused astonishment around the world, as well as criticism on social networks: it elected Iran to the Commission on the Status of Women.
The UN was created in 1945 and, according to Dag Hammarskjold, secretary-general of the institution in 1954, its goal was not "to take people to paradise, but [...] to save humanity from hell". It seems, however, in relation to women - especially Iranian women - to be doing neither one thing nor the other, since protecting the rights of women, especially Christian women, is at the opposite of the practice and laws in force in this Middle Eastern country.
Including Iran in the composition of the most important global intergovernmental body that works exclusively on promoting gender equality and women's empowerment resembles the attitude of putting the wolf to look after the sheep and transforming an arsonist into the head of the city's fire brigade, and, as Masih Alinejad, Iranian journalist and activist, says, is "surreal".
The choice of the country by the UN, for a four-year term beginning in 2022, on the occasion of the first meeting of the 67th session, was seen as an "insult" to Iranian women and denounced by the Association of Iranian Women in France (AFIF), the Associazione delle Donne Democratiche Iraniane (ADDI) in Italy and the association Iranska kvinnosamfundet i sverige in Sweden:
We, the undersigned women's associations, consider the election of Iran's extremely misogynistic regime as a member of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) an insult to all Iranian women, the main victims of this regime over the last four decades.
For these and other entities that defend women's rights, the UN decision does not make the slightest sense, to say the least, since the country has a proven history of oppression and discrimination against its citizens, depriving them of basic rights. The three associations call on governments, institutions and other associations to condemn the "decision that goes against the promotion of gender equality and women empowerment in Iran".
The country has laws that consider women legally inferior to men, require them to wear veils in public places; many are stoned for adultery even today. An August 2020 report presented by the UN secretary-general, accuses the country of "persistent discrimination against women, girls and minorities" and "continued gender-based discrimination in law and practice, including with regard to family matters, freedom of movement" including work and studies, playing sports, access to political and judicial functions etc., in clear violation of women's right.
In a critique on Twitter, Masih Alinejad states that in the country, women are considered "second-class citizens", are arrested and can be sentenced to fines and floggings if they are not wearing the mandatory hijab (Islamic veil), are forbidden to sing and need express permission from their husband to make international trips, and adds: "In the eyes of the Iranian regime, any woman who fights for her fundamental rights is a criminal.
The French, Swedish and Italian associations point out that Javaid Rehman, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, stated in his report dated March 2021 that he was "deeply concerned by the persistent discrimination against women and girls in the public and private spheres, which is guaranteed in the Constitution of the Republic of Iran as well as by law, as well as by practice" and found it regrettable that Iranian authorities had rejected fourteen recommendations concerning the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, highlighting how "patriarchal values and misogynistic behaviour permeate many aspects" of family life in Iranian homes.
The records attest to Iran's appalling actions when it comes to the violation of women's rights: they have little individual legal protection; Christian women are detained for their faith, running serious risks of being sexually harassed by authorities during interrogation and arrest; 13-year-old girls have judicial and paternal permission to marry; women receive death penalty for adultery; Ayatollah Khamenei's regime arrests activists on charges of peacefully demanding their human dignity; although rape is illegal, the victim has to present four male and two female witnesses to report the crime; and much more.
By occupying one of the 45 seats of the Commission on the Status of Women, one would expect any country to be willing to employ all efforts and work hard to uphold the rights of the Commission and espouse its cause, which Iran seems unlikely to do, given the history of violence and disenfranchisement of women it has accumulated over the years. Expecting a 180-degree turnaround from the country, in a change of course from oppressor to defender of those who have always been the target of its oppression, seems too much to hope for.
Against the decision, UN Watch - a human rights group based in Geneva - called on Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the American ambassador, and the European Union states to condemn the election. The executive director of the UN, Hillel Neuer, considers the decision absurd and says that last Thursday (22) is a day of darkness for "women's rights and for all human rights".
Published 30 April 2021
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
FORBIDDEN THE OPENING OF CHURCHES IN SÃO PAULO: ONCE UPON A TIME THE BRAZILIAN CONSTITUTION
בס״ד
Contrary to the minister Nunes Marques, who banned the closure of temples across the country, on Monday (05/04), in opposition to what the Brazilian Constitution dictates, as to the inviolability of religious freedom and the guarantee of free exercise of religious worship (Art. 5, item VI), the minister of the STF, Gilmar Mendes, denied the request of the National Council of Pastors of Brazil, keeping prohibited the opening of churches in São Paulo, even if these institutions have met all the recommendations of hygiene and social distancing in their meetings and gatherings. The decision confirms the decree of the governor of São Paulo, João Doria, and has the support of the minister Marco Aurélio, who in a sarcastic tone fired: "What haste was this?", and without sparing irony says that the fellow magistrate is "very religious", in reference to the decision of Nunes Marques to release cults and masses.
Given this divergence, by order of the president of the STF, Luiz Fux, who defends a unified decision on the issue, the case was taken to the plenary session that, last Wednesday (07) and Thursday (08), met to judge the issue.
At the end of the session, by 9 votes to 2, it was decided that states and municipalities have the decision to impose or not restrictions on in-person religious celebrations during the pandemic. With this, São Paulo continues to keep the doors of its temples closed. This decision displeased the National Association of Evangelical Jurists (Anajure), which advocates that it is up to pastors and church leaders to decide on the issue, using common sense and ensuring the welfare of believers.
Augusto Aras, Attorney General of the Republic, says that although states and municipalities are competent to establish rules and have autonomy to do so, "religious freedom is a fundamental clause" and states that, when it comes to religious freedom, the "Constitution ensures free exercise of religious worship" and asks: "Decrees and acts, even if arising from an ordinary law, can have the force to subtract fundamental rights set out in the higher law? It seems not to us".
Looking back at the old Brazilian constitutions, we see that many of the rights we have today represent a great victory. Last October our Constitution celebrated the 32nd anniversary of its promulgation, which took place under a speech by Ulysses Guimarães, who summed it up as a cry of "Change to win! Change, Brazil!
The Constitution is the Magna Carta, a set of fundamental principles that govern the laws of a country. It is the maximum law "that traces the parameters of the legal system and defines the principles and guidelines that govern a society [...]", the "Fundamental Law of the State or the law that a people imposes on those who govern it, to avoid the despotism of rulers"; it structures the organisation of the State and disciplines the exercise of political power. It is therefore inconceivable that it should be violated so blatantly before our very eyes.
Regarding the issue, at the beginning of the session, André Mendonça (attorney-general of the Union), positioned himself in defense of the cults, affirming that Christianity does not exist apart from life in community. Augusto Aras, also expressed his support for the concession of permission to hold services and masses, as long as the preventive measures already recommended are taken, and also said that
"it is necessary to remember the place of religion in a democratic state of law and to bear in mind that the state is secular, but people are not". "Science saves lives, so does faith. There is no opposition between faith and reason. Where science does not explain, faith brings the justification that is inherent to it."
When did the Brazilian Constitution lose its status? When was it that those who should follow its parameters for the exercise of service to the people and enforce it, stampeded to the "dark side" of force, depriving the Brazilian citizen of what is his right?
These questions are pertinent and the discussion around these and other issues involving guaranteed rights becomes more important every day, since recently, with frightening frequency, we have seen the most powerful leaders of the nation disregarding the rights of the people and figuratively tearing up the Constitution before our astonished gaze. They blatantly disrespect it, and make equivocal and unilateral decisions, based on a biased interpretation, according to what best suits them, in a clear disrespect to this document that points out duties, but also presents and guarantees the rights of the citizen.
Decisions that violate the provisions of the Constitution have been common in recent times. Who does not remember when Alexandre de Moraes (Minister of STF) determines the arrest of Daniel Silveira (Deputy) for expressing ideas in his social network, even if the act has several obscure points, contrary to what is stated in the Constitution? And of Fachin, also a minister of the STF, who overturns convictions of the demonstrably criminal former president Lula by the Federal Court of Paraná, making him eligible in 2022?
The STF decided to deprive the people of the benefit of faith in such troubled times, when people are without hope and increasingly emotionally shaken and, unfortunately, many have taken their own lives.
As church, we need to be non-conformist and show this "holy indignation", perhaps taking up again the cry of that day in October 1988, when our Constitution was promulgated, this time, crying out: "Wake up church. Wake up, people of God, and go fight!", because our political leaders debauch our faith, they are trying to silence us, leaving the people, who are already so vulnerable in the face of this pandemic, even more helpless, without the support of faith.
In closing, we have recorded the ministers who were against the opening of the temples. Keep these names. 1)Gilmar Mendes, 2)Alexandre Moraes, 3)Edson Fachin, 4)Luís Roberto Barroso, 5)Rosa Weber, 6)Carmen Lúcia, 7)Ricardo Lewandowski, 8)Marco Aurélio Mello and 9)Luiz Fux.
Sources:
<https://congressoemfoco.uol.com.br/opiniao/colunas/o-que-e-e-para-que-serve-a-constituicao/>. Accessed at 12/04/21.
<https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2021/04/07/supremo-julgamento-cultos-pandemia.ghtml>. Accessed at 12/04/21.
God bless Brazil.
Published 16 April 2021
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION - GUARANTEEING A GUARANTEED RIGHT
בס״ד
The arrest of Deputy Daniel Silveira, in Rio de Janeiro, last Tuesday (16), by order of the Minister of the Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes, has caused heated manifestations from all sides.
In a trial that lasted about 45 minutes, the plenary of the Supreme Court unanimously approved the decision of Moraes, a decision that caused a split in the legal community; three of the five directors who make up the Federal Council of the OAB are against the decision to arrest the parliamentarian.
The deputy was arrested after posting on social networks a video in a tone considered offensive in reference to the ministers of the STF, suggesting their dismissal, and defending AI-5 (the most radical instrument of repression of the military dictatorship). Speaking about his decision, Alexandre de Moraes said social networks cannot continue as a territory without owner where "hate speech" and "...antidemocratic speeches have been manipulating people" and said the decision represents a "milestone in the fight against extremism".
The post, whose content coincides in several points with what society thinks about the highest instance of the Brazilian judiciary, shook the Brazilian and international press, resulting in heated manifestations in favour and against, as well as sparking international speculation about the practice of political imprisonment in the country.
For Maurizio R. Spinelli, Silveira's lawyer, "Everything, absolutely everything, in the arrest of the parliamentarian was unconstitutional". Spinelli bases his argument on the fact that the "flagrant" factor is questionable and that there was a clear disregard for parliamentary immunity, since "... deputies and senators" are inviolable "civilly and criminally, for any of their opinions, words and votes", according to Article 53 of the Constitution.
Endorsing the decision of the STF, the Plenary of the Chamber of Deputies met for a vote on Friday (19) and, with 364 votes in favour, 130 against and 03 abstentions, decided to keep the deputy detained, who will have to answer for "crimes against the honour of the Judiciary and the ministers of the Supreme Court", framed in the National Security Law and risks being expelled from the party to which he is affiliated.
For prosecutor and professor Thaméa Danelon, in an interview with Pingo nos Isis on Thursday (18), the arrest of the parliamentarian has several questionable points, since the case is being judged in the context of fake news. She cited Article 53 of the Constitution, with regard to the inviolability assured to senators and deputies, also stating the impossibility of, in the investigative phase, a judge decrees "arrest ex officio" without a request from the Public Ministry or the police.
Finally, many shadows are still to be dispelled as to the motivations involved in the case in question, in which it is evident the distortion of the law in order to characterize a flagrant in benefit of some.
In addition, there is another factor that causes astonishment and embarrassment: 34 of the 364 votes in affirmative of maintaining the deputy's imprisonment came from members of parliament who call themselves evangelicals, among them some members of the Assembly of God and Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. The votes of members of the UCKG were a shot in the foot, as they seem to have forgotten a certain moment in the history of the denomination when its leader and founder, Bishop Edir Macedo, was unjustly imprisoned for political-religious persecution.
The maintenance of the arrest of the "fascist and Bolsonarist deputy", as the left dubbed Daniel Silveira, making a mockery and in a clear attack on the President of the Republic, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, was only possible thanks to the many parliamentarians who have "stuck tail" and seek to get away with their scams, besides representing a leftist attack, aiming to deconstruct the present society that is still guided by Christian principles and family, which they consider a delay for the progress of the institution of new values and way of thinking.
The form and the words used by the deputy could have been better chosen, but freedom of expression is a citizen's right. Obviously, expressing oneself in a rude way can lead the speaker to lose reason, but one can never deprive the individual of an acquired right. Afterwards, if the offence is verified, the individual may be called to account for his words and, if necessary, answer for libel, slander or defamation. Before that, the right is maintained.
It is time for serious reflection. Until when will the democratic rule of law continue to suffer such violent blows from those who should defend it at all costs? Will the law continue to be interpreted at the whim of "A" or "B" for their own benefit and that of "C" or "D"? Will those in power continue to flatten their differences under the pretext of a pseudo-patriotism that hides controlling and dangerous ideologies?
It is time to intensify prayer too. It is necessary to pray for our leaders; this is a Biblical commandment. And as urgent as praying is to act, to manifest in defence of what is right, after all, what worries us most is not the tireless and unscrupulous action of the wicked, but the silence and omission of good citizens.
God bless Brazil.
Published 8 March 2021
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
DISCERNING THE TIMES - Biden Management: Steps towards the New World Order
בס״ד
The new president of the United States "has arrived". Biden's first days in command of the most powerful nation in the world were marked by unrest.
The country that was degrading, downhill, into leftist tendencies, moral licentiousness, destruction of family values and individual freedoms, and had in the Trump government the radical turn that started a gradual destruction of the achievements of liberals planned and in execution for years, now, under Biden's leadership gives clear signs that it is resuming at large the left agenda.
Elected on Wednesday, January 20, 2021, the new president has already signed more than a dozen decrees, some of them defending causes that go against the teachings of the Bible on which he laid his hand on the day of his inauguration and reveal not only his stance of clear opposition to the disposition of former president Donald Trump, but also - and above all - a declared attack on Christian and family principles.
Among the decrees signed so far, some divide opinions and cause discomfort and repudiation on the part of many, and Biden, a declared Catholic, demonstrates a wide departure from the stance of his church on crucial issues.
The withdrawal of the United States from the World Abortion Alliance and the release of more than 9 billion dollars to fund "health" procedures - among them abortion; yes, amazingly, Biden considers abortion a health procedure - has generated heated comments; some consider it the Herod of modern times.
It is no secret that Biden and Planned Parenthood have been going hand in hand for some time and that the organization has made clear its support for the current president since the time of the election campaign for the presidency of the nation that still inspires many "the American dream". The largest abortion network in the US, the leftist organisation demonstrated on Twitter, congratulating Biden on the victory and declared: "The work is just beginning". According to the president of the institution, Biden "is fully committed to protecting access to sexual and reproductive health care - including access to abortion".
As president, Biden will work to codify Roe v. Wade (a case in which the US Supreme Court has recognised the right to abortion or voluntary termination of pregnancy in the United States) and, through its Justice Department, will do everything possible to prevent the emergence of laws that violate the constitutional right to an abortion, including parental notification requirements, mandatory waiting time and ultrasound requirements.
Another decision that created discomfort was the executive order directed at federally funded schools. Biden's determination obliges these institutions to allow the participation in women's teams of biological boys who identify themselves as girls, or face administrative action by the Department of Education.
Linda Blade, Olympic athletics coach, considers the action a step backwards. She commented: "The leadership skills, all the benefits that society derives from allowing girls to have their category protected so that competition is fair, all the advances in women's rights - this is going to be reduced," and she added: "The parents of girls [...] are not willing to see their daughters demoralized by such blatant injustice in a fraudulent competition.
The order is much broader, allowing the toilets in these schools to be used by the students according to the gender with which they identify; a decision that shows clear moral relaxation, not to mention embarrassment for boys and girls, many of them still in early pre-adolescence.
Biden has an ambitious LGBTQ agenda, which places him as the most pro-equity president in American history. His link with the community dates back to 2012, when he declared support for same-sex marriage and then partnered with other advocates of the cause, initiating the As You Are campaign, in defense of the acceptance [read, support] by the families of his transgender children, claiming improved self-esteem for them and decreased probability of suffering depression or suicidal ideation.
The current president has pledged to overturn rules in the Trump administration on the issue and made it clear that he intends to turn the law into a weapon to crush dissidents, and thus implement an extreme left-wing agenda, said Kristen Wagoner, general counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative organization for the protection of religious and moral beliefs and freedom of expression. For her, "this affects not only people of faith, but all Americans who wish to live life according to their convictions...".
Actions such as Biden's are a sample of the effort of world leaders to "eliminate" the existing civilization, with its Christian values and principles, and to implement a new one, with a completely new code of values, with a unique government, religion, and economic system, in which it is possible to easily instill fundamental pillars, such as moral relativism, secularism, gender ideology, abortion, euthanasia.
Before that, however, it is necessary to format the existing human being and "generate" a new one that fits perfectly into this new reality. This demands, among other things, compliance with the Global Agenda 2030, which, despite the sweet tone of its text and the apparent altruism aimed at a better and fairer world, conceals bolder plans of a system, a thoroughly planned and perfectly implemented social engineering, which begins with ideology, with a view to destabilising and demoralising, to incite hatred of Christian culture, of our biology and biological reality of man or woman, confusing the population, leaving it vulnerable and easy to be led to a new point, in a herd mentality. Once this stage is over, the others (social, economic, political, etc.) can be initiated and will naturally be accepted.
It is urgent that we pay attention to the signs of the times... Humanity is moving in great strides towards the consummation of all things. As the Scriptures affirm, "... the heart of the wise will discern the time and the way" (Ecclesiastes 8:5; Almeida Revised and Corrected).
Published 8 January 2021
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
2020 in focus - Lessons to never forget
בס״ד
The year 2020 was an atypical year that printed on everyone the feeling that everything was frozen, like a scene captured in a photo. It was twelve months of almost unbelievable events, including the open attacks on life, the family and Christian principles that left a strange taste in the mouth. It all had a bit and a lot of some things.
The year began with the fear that a war might start at any moment after the death of the Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in an attack by the United States in Iraq, especially after Iran brought down a plane from the Ukraine carrying 176 people on board.
He received the tragic news of the death of former basketball player Kobe Bryant, just 41, in an air crash in the city of Calabasas, California, and with his chin down with the news that Prince Harry and his wife Maghan Markle were giving up their royal titles.
When everything seemed to settle down, nature decided to show its face: Earthquakes leave 6 dead in Mexico and 38 in Turkey, a cyclone hits the southern region of Brazil, causing storms that resulted in at least 10 deaths in the states of Paraná and Santa Catarina and a cloud of locusts, which has Brazil as a possible next destination, invades Argentina causing serious damage to crops.
The city of São Paulo is plunged into a dense cloud of smoke from the wildfires in the Pantanal, compromising visibility and air quality. Twenty-eight people died as a result of a major fire on Australian land, a flood in Indonesia left 60 dead, rains in the state of Minas Gerais fatally killed 45 people in Belo Horizonte.
China registers the first of many deaths that would come as a result of the new coronavirus. The number of infected reaches 10,000 and the death toll is 200 in a few weeks. In Brazil, the first case of contamination has been recorded, and the disease spreads more rapidly than expected.
Biased and sensationalist media have gone to great lengths to spread terror among the unsuspecting population, reporting only the deaths and omitting the cases of people who recovered despite being part of the so-called risk group, while society experiences a mixed feeling of weeping for the losses counted and smiling for the many recovered.
Immersed in conflicting information and based on assumptions and inconclusive positions on the part of the relevant bodies, several Brazilian cities have joined in quarantine and social isolation.
For the first time in history, the Olympic Games, scheduled to take place this year in Tokyo/Japan, have been postponed and are not due to take place until 2021.
In the United States, the death of George Floyd, a black citizen, caused by white policemen, shook the world and prompted worldwide protests, with the shouts and hashtags "I can't breathe" and "Black lives matter". In Brazil, the possible neglect of Sari Corte Real, a white woman, led to the death of the 5-year-old black boy Miguel, the son of the family employee. After paying bail, Sari responded to the accusation in freedom, which generated revolt and questioning as to the attitude of Brazilian justice, if the news were: "By negligence of the black maid, the white son of the white mistress falls from a building".
In the midst of the pandemic and possible fraud, elections for mayor and councilman were held in Brazil and for president in the US. Meanwhile, the Brazilian government continues to try to lead a country as complex as the number of its inhabitants, which remains under the weight of corruption, avoiding being swallowed up by corrupt, corrupting and corruptible people who have no interest in the good of the nation.
Many occurrences, not a few tragedies and challenges have passed from the account, but certainly the wave of the new coronavirus is worthy of note, not least because the situation has not yet been overcome, and its advent has changed everyone's life.
Despite everything that has happened, 2020 has been an incredible year of learning, because it has given us precious lessons that we can never forget:
1) We have no control over anything: we are finite, limited and vulnerable. God continues to reign supreme;
2) Life is brief as a breath, so we need to hand it over to Jesus, the only one powerful enough to keep it; after all, it is foolish to try to hold on to what we cannot keep;
3) People are more important than things, they must be loved unused and discarded. Regardless of their age, nationality, the colour of their skin and how much money and goods they possess, lives are important.
4) We can make plans, and it is wise to plan, but God has the answer and the final word.
5) We need to lead a balanced life. Our existence maintains balance on a tripod. We need to take care of our physical health, but also our emotional and spiritual health, and without this balance, an hour "the house falls".
Looking at 2021, it is possible to see that the challenges continue... they will always present themselves before us, and we must move forward. To give up is not an option. We have no other way out.
Let us move forward, in the certainty that God is with us, and for this reason we will continue to move forward and win, after all, this is our only option, and we are very well accompanied in this trajectory.
So far God has helped us.
Merry Christmas and a blessed and promising 2021.
Published 25 December 2020
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
The controversy surrounding Sérgio Moro's new employment relationship
בס״ד
The headlines of the country's and the world's most important news media focused much of their attention on the controversy surrounding the hiring of the former judge and former minister of justice and public security, Sérgio Moro, on 29 February.
Sérgio Moro has just become a partner and director of Alvarez & Marsal, a consulting firm that manages the billionaire Odebrecht, which, according to commentator Guilherme Fiuza, was "at the heart of the cartel that he [Moro] helped to overthrow.
Acclaimed for his role in the operation that became known worldwide as Lava Jato, he investigated private companies and public bodies, gathering overwhelming evidence of the existence of a billionaire scheme, led by the Workers' Party (PT), and led to the conviction and imprisonment of major Odebrecht executives who, in an award-winning indictment, provided crucial information, Among them a scheme of corruption in Petrobrás that perhaps would never be discovered otherwise, and other data that triggered the conviction, leading to the arrest of so many others involved up to the neck with the payment of a bribe, various blows and the elaboration of the largest scheme of corruption in the country, among them former President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva.
Moro's hiring seems to be far from being a common hire, of an ordinary citizen with unusual abilities, the attachment of the former minister to the renowned American company has caused controversy and provoked an avalanche of opinions that has been disseminated in the various social networks. Figures from various segments have expressed opinions about the fact and heated up the universe of news.
Experts defend that, as a citizen, Sérgio Moro has total freedom to work with whoever he considers most convenient. Others argue that the former minister is nothing more than a "smart-ass" who enters private life concerned only with increasing his assets. There are also those for whom the "sacred hero" of the fight against corruption has scattered to the "other side", becoming a traitor of the Homeland, someone who possesses the best and most efficient ammunition, including the information he had access to as a minister, will work in his own cause, in order to take his employer to even higher levels, as he will be a managing partner of the mega company that has on its team a former US Department of Justice promoter, a retired special agent of the FBI, a former employee of the National Security Agency (the NSA) and now a former Justice Minister.
It is true that Sérgio Moro was hired even for his governmental experience and, having been part of the government, holds information that gives him a privileged position and can use it to defend and help rebuild companies that he contributed to "knock down" in times of Lava Jato Operation, such as the giant Odebrecht, Sete Brasil and the construction contractor Queiroz Galvão, all A&M clients.
In his defense and in order to legitimize his recent choice, the former judge has said that advocating is not part of the activities arising from the position for which he was hired and that, thinking about possible future events, a clause was included in the contract signed between the employer and employee that vetoes his participation in cases where possible conflicts of interest may occur. The OAB itself expressed its opinion on the matter, notifying Moro about the case so that he would not take up the new job, while Alvarez & Marsal said, in a note, that Moro will act exclusively "in the area of disputes and investigations and compliance issues".
It seems that the expression "Traitor of the Fatherland", used by many lately, has been configured as an adjective that accurately defines the latest attitudes of Sergio Moro since he was fired by President Jair Bolsonaro and launched defamatory arrows about the government, accusing him of politically interfering with the Federal Police and presenting evidence against him that later proved inconsistent.
Well, in a country where contract breaks and breaches of contract occur all too often, the suspicion hangs in the air that the inclusion of a certain clause in a contract is far from being an impediment for the parties to do exactly the opposite.
The situation is a tremendous skirt. The hope is that the performance of the former judge in A&M will not further tarnish the image of the country that has been suffering for years from the consequences of an administration wrapped up in personal interests, tax peddling and corruption of many of its rulers, including those of the highest levels. Add to that, the brazenness of other prominent leaders, businessmen and executives of large corporations, in addition to a Federal Supreme Court (STF) that corrupts itself every day, acting as a sort of dispatcher at the service of renowned law firms, among them those responsible for defending former President Lula, and selling itself to guarantee its own interests.
Looking a little further ahead, the one who should be quite satisfied with all this is the governor of São Paulo, João Doria, who sees Moro's hiring as an excellent partner, since he has taken out of his way a great opponent for the 2022 elections.
Is the beloved Fatherland really seeing another son of his fleeing from the struggle?
May God have mercy on our Brazil.
Published 11 December 2020
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
JUDICIAL ZEAL OR ABUSE OF AUTHORITY?
בס״ד
Brazil has experienced like never before a judicial activism by the Supreme Court. It is an institution of the highest importance in the democratic scenario and is composed of highly experienced and trained figures in law. However, we must remember that, regardless of the excellent technical preparation of the members of the Supreme Court, we are faced with human beings who are doomed to misjudgments and subject to revision. Jewish authorities also make mistakes and are subject to abuse, even authority. This demonstrates that we cannot simply waive our inalienable right to criticize certain decisions made by the judiciary, even if it is the highest court of judgment in the nation.
The recent arrest of journalist Oswaldo Eustáquio Filho, whom many media outlets insist on calling "scholarship blogger", is a tacit example of this abuse of authority by one of the STF members, Minister Alexandre de Moraes. Eustaquio was arrested on June 26 in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, under the alleged fomentation and participation of antidemocratic acts that encouraged actions against institutions like the STF and the National Congress. The journalist, who specializes in investigative reporting, had to testify to the Federal Police, in the superintendency of Brasília, when he claimed innocence and non-participation in the acts attributed to him. On July 5, Minister Moraes ordered his release from temporary prison and imposed heavy restrictions on him, such as ceasing to frequent social networks, which is, in fact, the means by which he keeps himself and his family.
All this should lead us to reflect seriously on whether we are facing judicial zeal or abuse of authority. I fear that the second option is the most appropriate for the current moment that we are witnessing in Brazil, and I say this with a certain sadness in my heart.
Of course, I don't want to defend the commission of crimes here. Get away from me! Any incitement to break the institutional order must be duly repressed. Crime is a crime and must be punished with the full force of the law. But it seems that certain men of the law are judging themselves above it by putting on a robe and sitting in the chair of the judge. In the name of the "defense of democracy" they use the honorable position in order to muzzle justice and intimidate energetic critics. This strikes me as a clear outrage to the very notion of democracy, for this disproportionate measure is nothing more than violence to the citizen, who has the inalienable right to express himself, even if he says things that displease the properly constituted authorities. Being vigorous or categorical in criticism does not make a person a criminal.
Journalist Eustáquio presents himself on his Twitter as "passionate about the truth, enemy of corruption and conservative". The more than 119,000 who follow him certainly share this worldview. How can someone "passionate about the truth, enemy of corruption and conservative" be taken as a delinquent and be forbidden to practice his profession? Why didn't your professional category defend you? How does a Republican power attack a journalist in the exercise of his function and the journalism associations keep silent? If you were a journalist on a famous TV or a large circulation newspaper, would you stay for that? To avoid this skirt-justify, the major media corporations resolved the issue simply by calling Eustace a "blogger," and even adjectivating him as a "scholarship" blogger. It seems to me that perhaps that is where the resistance to Eustace and so many others lies.
What we have seen in recent months in Brazil has been a flood of criticism of the conservatism defended by Eustatius and so many others who preach values as expensive as God - who is above all - the family, the Fatherland, good customs. Those who defend these values, fight against militant atheism - which wants to banish God and his values from the Western world - the dismantling of the family, the lack of patriotism and an incessant battle against abortion, the legalization of drugs, homonormativity, feminism, gender ideology, the victimization of minorities that serve as a mass of maneuvering old political parties committed to Marxism, this evil that needs to be banished from civilization.
For years, Brazil has been dominated by a left-wing ideology, which despises everything that is dear and sacred to the Christian people; a people who, incidentally, are in the majority in Brazil. When the voices against this were raised, that is, the conservative voices, the world then began to preach the criminalization of "conservatism". Unfortunately, the imprisonment of the conservative journalist Eustace seems to reflect this ideological war to which we are subjected in this political and legal scenario.
I call upon the people of God to pray to the Supreme Judge that he inculcate in the human judges the application of correct justice, without any kind of ideological or party-political bias; that the togados place themselves under the authority of God, that they judge for good, and not for evil; that they be zealous in the application of the Law, and do not abuse the authority granted them by God, for, as the apostle Paul said, "there is no authority except from God" (Romans 13:1).
Published 8 November 2020
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
CAN'T BREATHE
בס״ד
The suffocation in Minneapolis, a city in the state of Minnesota, USA, which led to the death of George Floyd, 46, on the 26th, caused sadness, commotion and revolt throughout the world. The cowardly act of Derek Chauvin, a white policeman, to an unarmed and already surrendered black man, who did not resist the police approach or offer any risk, has raised the spirits and motivated demonstrations in several parts, involving Uncle Sam's country in one of the most serious waves of protest since the murder of the civil rights leader, Martin Luther Kink Jr. (1968) and young Michael Brown (2014), also black, killed with at least 06 shots fired by Darren Wilson, a white policeman.
George Floyd was a Christian, a good and honorable citizen, tireless in his good deeds on behalf of others. He found his purpose: to work to lead young people to a dignified life, to be good citizens, and especially to have a personal relationship with Jesus.
Any stain on his reputation? For many, yes! The simple fact of being black.
Brazil is not free of guilt when the issue revolves around the violence that black victims and the practice of "double standards" in which there are differences in the treatment given to them in different situations. Although the group represents about 55% of the population, the abyss that separates blacks and whites is perceptible in the conditions of housing and health, in the rate of employment and per capita income, in education, in security, in the representativeness in the congress and executive of the country.
The number of occurrences in which there is evidence of a racist and prejudiced attitude does not stop increasing. Although few of them get the proper repercussion and only one or other "popcorn" in the media, the differences in the way blacks and whites are seen and treated are striking. There have been many cases of racial insult in recent years, and they are everywhere and in the most diverse segments - from soccer stadiums to corporations, commerce, media and institutions in general - revealing that society has not progressed sufficiently since the signing of the Golden Law (1888), which declared slavery extinct in the country.
Cases like that of the 8-year-old black boy expelled from the sidewalk of a store on Oscar Freire street, in SP, and the students of a private school in the southern area of Rio de Janeiro who wrote offensive sentences about a black colleague, also a student from the same institution, show how far society is from getting rid of this plague called racism. The tragedy that took place last Tuesday (02), has been generating indignation and has motivated protests: the 5-year-old boy Miguel, taken by his mother to work in the house of the mayor of Tamandaré, falls from the 9th floor of a luxury residential building in the city of Recife, while he was under the care of his mother's boss and first lady, Sari Corte Real. She was arrested in the act, on suspicion of manslaughter, in which there is no intent to kill, she was released after posting bail of 20,000, and will answer the case in freedom.
So what? So that the mother of the deceased child is black, poor, living on the outskirts. And then, that if the roles were reversed, putting the boss in the place of the maid and vice-versa, and attributing the negligence of the blonde and rich boss to the black and poor mother, the treatment would tend to be quite different. If a poor black woman had put the rich blonde's little son alone in an elevator and the child had died, it is quite likely that the procedure would have been different; she would have been imprisoned, thrown to the bottom of a cell, since blacks, poor and peripheral residents generally do not have a good academic background, leaving them to carry out activities with low pay, thus not being able to afford to invest 20,000 reais in the payment of their bail.
It is incredible that in the 21st century, speeches still echo and such retrograde postures of superiority of one race to the detriment of another are adopted. It is unacceptable to consider the white man as a good man and the black man as a criminal, without even giving him the benefit of the doubt; that the white man driving a car is always considered as an honest and hardworking citizen enjoying the fruit of his labor, while a black man driving a luxury car is considered a trafficker or bandit, enjoying something stolen or acquired illegally; that a white man carrying an umbrella is to protect himself from climatic surprises, while a black man carrying the same object is a man of doubtful character and can only be carrying an AR-15 rifle. It seems unbelievable that in a country characterized by miscegenation, blacks still serve as targets for such prejudiced attitudes and there are citizens who consider them citizens of lesser or no value.
What is this world? What country is this? What are these times when a person's value and character are defined by the color of their skin? What has the human race been transformed into? It is a great lack of humanity!
Society cannot get used to the domination of evil. It cannot accommodate the evil within itself, considering such attitudes and postures as normal, because they are not! That is misrepresentation. It is a deviation, an unnatural movement, unsuited to the essence of what it means to be "human".
Being human has to do with interaction, cooperation, partnership, embracing, sharing, welcoming and celebrating the divine creativity in making us different and codependent, allies. It has nothing to do with exclusion, division, estrangement, extermination, enmity, production line. Being human is about doing good and not evil, considering the other superior to oneself, loving the enemy, treating well those who offend them? But, after all, each one gives what they have, and it seems that there are many people harbouring a lot of evil within themselves - at least that's what cases like the many Floyds, Miguel's countless mothers and so many anonymous victims of racism reveal. And so, we have a society where many follow life in the diametrically opposite direction of what it means to be human, in its thirst for superiority and power, increasingly devoid of humanity, using the other as a step towards its own ascension.
Does someone's skin color make it better or worse than the other? Is a black man's life worth less than a white man's?
To consider oneself superior to anyone, especially by the color of one's skin, reveals the worst possible level of degradation to be achieved by a human being. The value of each person has nothing to do with external factors, but with their intrinsic value. People are worth for who they are, regardless of their appearance. People are worth because, although they are affected by God's detachment, they carry within them traces of resemblance to Him. People are worth because, in spite of the circumstances in which they came into existence - of having been desired or rejected - each one is part of God's plan, a loving plan, especially drawn for each one, aiming at good, at a promising future full of hope.
Even if many are sold, human beings have no price. People are valuable and are, for God, an invaluable treasure. Lives matter, no matter what color they are. Lives have value.
Published 6 October 2020
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
PANDEMIC OR CORRUPTION - WHO IS THE REAL ENEMY OF BRAZIL?
בס״ד
The situation is complex. The crisis that surrounds us is health and social, affecting politics and the economy, so the chaos is not exclusive to public health, but this reality remained invisible until the arrival of a new character.
The information we have access to in Brazil is almost unbelievable. It is possible to hear that the same dictator China that in partnership with WHO omitted information about the gravity of the virus that had reached it and only released relevant data when the situation was already critical, and this under strong affirmation of having everything totally under control, which threatened and punished those few who tried to bring to light the truth and alert the world about the dimensions of imminent danger, going from one hour to another, from villain to benefactor. All this with the right to a meeting of the governor of São Paulo, João Doria, with the Chinese ambassador, Yang Wanming, accompanied by others, also governors, Romeu Zema (MG), Eduardo Leite (RS), Ronaldo Caiado (GO) and Elder Barbalho (PA), which Doria vehemently denies to have happened, Despite the images in the media and the existence of a note from the embassy thanking the country for sharing information about the virus and weaving praise to the Chinese authorities for their exemplary actions and the results they have obtained in combating the new corona virus.
It is also noted that the governor of São Paulo is following his race for the next elections, strategically exchanging the "Bolsodoria" t-shirt, so used in his times of electoral campaign to take the megalopolis' command chair for the "Bolsominions", and then not saving verbal aggressions against Jair Bolsonaro, the one whose popularity served him as a ride in a luxury car to get elected.
In a similar way to those who seem to take pleasure in accounting for tragedies and omit the good results, with the cooperation of those who mask numbers and falsify causa mortis, the mayor Bruno Covas, from São Paulo, who reported the purchase of 38,000 funerary urns, 3,000 PPEs for employees of municipal cemeteries, 15 thousand reinforced bags for displacement of corpses and the acquisition of 8 chambers with storage capacity of up to a thousand bodies, in addition to a logistics center in the largest cemetery in Latin America, Vila Formosa, although the number of burials is within normal limits.
All this, not to mention that this apex of contamination and critical period of COVID-19 seems to play with the feelings, nerves and intelligence of the population, changing dates constantly, driven by the gigantic wave of political opportunism and continuity of corruption.
What emerges from facts like these is that as long as there is room for corruption and high illicit gains, the series "Stay Home" will have new episodes under the same theme: "Stay Home While I Pass the Hands on Health Funds".
The shameless robbery of recent years by the government continues to devastate and delapidate the country, while Brazilian politicians are, in the words of Augusto Nunes, "... under suspicion of favoring electoral sponsors, petty thugs and hidden partners, all alleging a state of calamity" and continue to take possession of the resources provided by the collection of countless and abusive taxes paid by the population, by generous donations that reach the hills and the billions recovered by anti-corruption actions, which will end up having the largest portion embezzled and pocketed under the guise of provision of PPEs and other items essential to combating the pandemic, with acquisitions made apart from bids in negotiations with companies of dubious origin.
Even with the seriousness and complexity of the health situation, Brazil's enemy number one is far from being the pandemic, but the corruption practiced by the greedy and power-hungry. Men who love themselves, who play with the physical and emotional health of the population, offending it with their unbridled brazenness. Attitudes like this led to the arrest, at the request of the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office and the Public Prosecutor's Office of the State of Pará, authorized by Federal Judge Rubens Rollo, on the last Thursday (07), in Rio de Janeiro, of the former undersecretary of health and 3 businessmen. On the 14th, in Brasília, the former sports secretary of the Federal District, André Felipe de Oliveira, suspected of participation in a scheme to sell defective respirators, was also arrested, according to the MPF, "... in addition to not being used in ICUs, the lung ventilators would put the patients at real risk, for not having the necessary functions". Both are representatives of a company that received 25 million from the Para government for the purchase of 200 "Aeonmed" respirators, manufactured in China. São Paulo does not escape the tide of corruption, with those responsible for acquiring materials to supply hospitals becoming a police case.
Thus, the tribe of "the worse the better" follows its devastating trajectory, fighting for the victory of the virus and not of those fighting the pandemic, no matter how many more have to die, by COVID-19 as well, but mainly by the corruption of the powerful. For this reason, we can no longer, as Brazilian citizens, lie in splendid cradles while they rob us of our rights, financial resources, truth and dignity in the light of day.
Stealing money from health is murderous and whoever does it is murderous, and that is how it should be treated and properly punished.
Corruption and attempts to overthrow the government are our real enemies. Not the pandemic.
Wake up, Brazil!
Published 20 September 2020
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
בס״ד
We are living through one of the greatest pandemics ever experienced and we are probably about to experience one of the worst economic crises in the history of capitalism. The situation is extremely sad, as are the messages and news that reach us all the time. We see, with regret, people facing situations of social discomfort that, until recently, they would never consider facing, considering their qualifications and the stability they enjoyed in their jobs.
The discourse "life is more important than economics" may sound pleasant, but it is wrong; both are important, and the reason is obvious. The economy has direct impacts on life and quality of life, on employability, on the provision of what is indispensable for subsistence, in addition to providing the government with the necessary resources to provide everything related to assisting citizens in times of pandemic, from the care of those affected by covid-19, to the purchase of protective equipment for professionals who cannot stop their activities, reaching the society that, at the mercy of the new coronavirus, finds itself incapable of touching life and needs extra help in order to acquire the basic resources it needs.
We are now living in a period of fear and uncertainty. A significant portion of the Brazilian population is baffled, not knowing if they will be able to make their purchases next week, because only 6% of the Brazilian population has a financial reserve and 27 days is the average time of cash of the small and medium Brazilian companies that employ it. Eighty percent of jobs in Brazil come from small and medium entrepreneurs who will break in less than a month if there are no changes.
It is said that the unemployment rate in the United States is 3 percent, and can reach 30 percent due to the pandemic. If the American giant with so many resources, whose average income is high, where people have the habit of investing and the population is much more financially educated than many Brazilians, imagine what will happen in Brazil. Imagine the effects in terms of violence, since we will have people unemployed and going hungry. Imagine the general breakdown that could happen if we continue with the same policies adopted so far.
Today we live in horizontal isolation, but this position urgently needs to be reviewed. Life needs to be preserved, but so does the economy. In the midst of the difficult situation we face, there is no room for measuring strength, ego battles or political wars.
In his speech on Tuesday, April 24, the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, favored vertical isolation in order to protect the elderly and chronically ill and, at the same time, to move the internal market and keep the economy healthy. The idea is to promote the safety of the elderly and chronically ill, as well as those who live with them, but to release the others, with the proper care, to resume their activities.
Brazil has no structure to maintain a horizontal isolation in which everything for and people are enclosed in their homes. We do not have a system that allows this. If we persist in it, half of the Brazilian companies, or more, will break down; half of the population, or more, will lose their jobs. We will enter an era of street violence like never before seen in the history of this country. Horizontal isolation is already making its mark, as in a domino effect, whose damage is exponential for the economy and for the lives of many. It is fully applicable to say that the remedy is killing so much, or more, that disease, and death will continue in a macabre way, affecting many others through hunger, murder, assault and violence in general.
We need to revive the country's economy, because Brazil will not be able to endure more days of closed businesses and commerce and inactive people at home, at imminent risk of succumbing to hunger. We are a weakened economy, driven by small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, and it is for them that, in a joint action, there is an urgent need to verticalize isolation, in a coordinated and intelligent way to cross this river, otherwise we will all drown.
I am very concerned about the way some governments have conducted this crisis, making politics about people's lives and the future of an entire nation, in a shameless attitude hidden behind beautiful words and carefully elaborated speeches.
It's time for a change. If not, at the end of this whole pandemic, there will not be enough from where to start again. Vertical isolation is vital and needs to be done in an organized and responsible way, which will require, especially from the population, the understanding that this does not mean returning to life as it was before, receiving friends at home, giving parties and forming clusters for whatever purpose. It is necessary to take precautions, taking into account the hygiene measures and other care recommended by the competent bodies. Only in this way will it be possible to guarantee that, at the end of all this crisis, we will still have a country in which to live, with the routine of companies and commerce being resumed, citizens resuming their jobs, new job opportunities being opened and counting many Covid-19 winners.
It is time to change, so that we have somewhere to start again.
Published 16 August 2020
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
VERTICALISE TO START AGAIN
בס״ד
Long ago, in the late 1980s, there was a soap opera that satiated the Brazilian political situation with the title "What King Am I?". From fiction to real life, today we watch the soap opera dubbed "Meghanxit", a junction of the name "Meghan" - the former American actress and commoner who became a member of the British royal family by marriage to Prince Harry, the sixth in the line of succession to the British throne - plus the suffix "Brexit", a name that gives the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union (the name "Brexit" results from the junction of the words "British" [allusion to the United Kingdom] and "exit").
The news that Harry and Maghan Markle would leave their duties as members of the royal family shook England and the world. No one expected it. Everyone was taken by surprise, even Queen Elizabeth II, Harry's grandmother, who learned of the unusual news in the English papers. It must have been a heavy blow for Harry's monarch and grandmother not to have heard it directly from her grandson and sixth successor to the throne.
Many wondered why such a socially and economically privileged couple would renounce the obligations of royalty, as well as the monthly octopus earnings, in order to venture between Canada, the United States and England, with the aim of earning a living by the sweat of their own faces. That seems insane at first sight. But it just does. This story of earning one's own living does not make much sense, since Prince Harry has a personal fortune estimated at £70 million, which is equivalent in current prices to over £380 million. Meghan, for her part, has amassed a fortune as an actress of 4.5 million euros (just over 20 million reals). We are not talking about a couple who, in April, gave up royalty to live a life of begging.
As senior members of the royal family, Harry and Maghan had obligations to fulfill. As Duke and Duchess of Sussex, they represented the British Realiza and fulfilled commitments proper to their function as direct representatives of Monarch Elizabeth II. With the resignation, Harry and Meghan will no longer use royal titles and will no longer receive public funds to support their private lives and activities. Furthermore, they will no longer be considered representatives of the Queen and will no longer be able to subscribe to the expression "Her Royal Majesty", "Her Royal Highness" in their signatures. In spite of these reservations, both will retain the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
For many people, what Harry and Meghan did was crazy; others, like Oprah Winfrey, famous American presenter and businesswoman, fully supported the couple's decision. Particularly, contrary to Oprah Winfrey and so many other famous people, I am against the couple's decision. My modest opinion is based on the Holy Scriptures.
Harry was not born by chance into the British royal family. The Bible makes it clear that God "removes kings and establishes kings" (Daniel 2:21). The apostle Paul states that "there is no authority that does not come from God; and those that do exist have been ordained by God" (Romans 13:1). Thus, when Harry ceases to fulfill his royal duties, he is attacking a divine arrangement. His place is where God placed him. To renounce it is to thwart the divine intent. Harry needs to learn to deal with the responsibilities proper to his real condition, and that means not letting himself be influenced either by his wife, who, it seems, has been bombarded by the British sensationalist press, or by events of the past - it is speculated that he has not yet overcome the events surrounding the death of his mother, Princess Diana, killed in 1997 in Paris in a car accident after a frustrated attempt to escape from the paparazzi who were chasing her.
Harry is no longer a "young prince" but a 35-year-old man. It's time to take his place in the world as God intended. Although he is sixth in succession to the British throne, we do not know what the future holds for him, but we do know that if God has placed him in the royal family, it is in this condition that he should remain, learning to deal with his own problems arising from his royal position. Running away from his rights and duties does not seem to me the best of options.
I don't think the British royal life soap opera should be called "Meghanxit", but "What prince am I?". Although Meghan must have played a major role in influencing Prince Harry's decision (perhaps he was afraid of losing her just as he tragically lost his mother), the fact is that he, who was born as a member of royalty, should remember Romans 13:1 and ask himself, "What prince am I? This reflection should lead him to take seriously his responsibility as a prince and fulfill the plan for which God established him in this world. It is never right to go against the wishes of the King of kings and Lord of lords. My prayer is that the prince will reclaim his royal sanity and fulfill his duties as a privileged of God, who has placed him in a family of power and authority, and that he will use that privilege for noble causes in this world so lacking in strong and courageous leadership.
Published 13 July 2020
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
"WHAT PRINCE AM I?" THE NOVEL OF BRITISH ROYALTY
EXAMINATION EVERYTHING
בס״ד
There's a lot of talk out there about conspiracy theories. It's all very mysterious and crazy hypotheses. There is a lot of cheap speculation that is intended to create confusion, panic and the feeling that some Machiavellian plan is underway to destabilize society as a whole.
Those in power are always the target of conspiracy theories. In this tangle of speculations, it is up to each one of us to carefully evaluate all the data presented in order to reach a plausible conclusion that really deserves our attention.
In fact, the advice of the apostle Paul, which is emblazoned in the title of this article, is very timely: "Examine everything...". And the end says, "Hold on to the good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). A paraphrasing variation of this phrase would be: "Examine all the data and 'evidence' presented to you. Put all the options on the table. Do not discard anything. Analyze everything very carefully and only then draw your own conclusions and retain what is actually feasible and verifiable.
It is with this advice outstretched in our hands that we are going to look at a very controversial issue, and I am not the kind of person who runs away from confronting thorny issues. I have to face everything with sobriety and wisdom in order to get to the truth of the facts. After all, as they say: there are no arguments against facts.
Recently, on November 28th, during one of his lives, President Jair Bolsonaro affirmed that NGOs would not only be taking advantage of the fires in the Amazon, but also fomenting the fires in a criminal way, and he cited the WWF, which would be one of the NGOs awarded international funding, including donations from the Hollywood actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio.
Would it be one of the great conspiracy theories against the Bolsonaro government? Or is there some background of truth in this whole story?
The fact is that the Civil Police of Alter do Chão, Pará, requested the preventive arrest of four brigadists linked to the Alter do Chão Aquifer Institute, on charges of promoting criminal fires in this region of Pará in order to gain notoriety to raise financial resources. Initially, there were only rumors. Afterwards, PC was able to get the suspects to intercept the phone calls and break their banking secrecy in court. And what did the police find out? That after the fires, the Institute got a contract with WWF-Brazil, an NGO created in 1996, which, according to the group itself, "has 137 employees working on 67 projects in the Amazon, Cerrado, Pantanal, Atlantic Forest and Caatinga, in addition to the marine ecosystems, on the Brazilian coast", and this NGO is the beneficiary of donations from the environmentalist actor DiCaprio.
WWF-Brazil would have bought some forty photos of the Alter do Chão Aquifer Institute for exclusive use at a cost of 70 thousand reais. These photos would be used to raise more funds for the WWF, and according to PC do Pará, the WWF was able to receive R$500,000 in donations from DiCaprio under the pretext of helping to fight the fires in the Amazon. It is clear that when a great media figure makes such a large donation, it encourages others to donate. Thus, the investment of 70,000 reais in 40 photos becomes a highly profitable business. In addition, the Bolsonaro government has been attacked, blaming it for the promotion of forest fires in the region. The action would have yielded economic and political capital for those involved.
The case had international repercussions. The four brigadists ended up receiving provisional freedom from the Pará justice system, and will respond to the enquiry in freedom. The four environmentalists denounced land grabbers and plotters in the region for the fires, and deny that they set fire to produce photos that would then be sold to the WWF or another interested organization. Leonardo DiCaprio was outraged at the involvement of his name in this whole story, especially coming from the highest authority of the nation.
It is up to us, poor mortals, who do not have the investigative power of the police, whether military or civilian, to filter everything we read, see and hear. We cannot enter into the paranoia of conspiracy theories, but we cannot call everything "conspiracy theory" and fail to see there a harmful involvement of economic and political interests of certain NGOs. We cannot consider NGOs in general as above suspicion. In fact, no one should be in this position. Everyone must be examined in depth, and the truth, no matter how painful it may be, must come to light, and the guilty must be punished in an exemplary manner in the form of the law.
It is a fact that President Jair Bolsonaro not only has admirers; he also has antagonists. The question is: to what extent are his antagonists willing to go in order to try to overthrow him from power, to which he was legitimately elected by the popular vote of 57,796,986 Brazilians? Not everything is conspiracy theory, but we cannot deny that there are conspirators trying to make Brazil go wrong.
In this battle of narratives, the advice of the apostle Paul is more than urgent and necessary: let us examine everything and retain the good, that is, the truth, nothing more than the truth.
Published 17 June 2020
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
Goodwill Ambassador / International Journalist
Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Kentucky - United States of America
Honorable Kentucky Colonel - Honorary "Colonel Aide-de-Camp" to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highest honour of the U.S. state of Kentucky is "Colonel Aide-de-Camp." These colonels serve as the personal aides-de-camp to the Governor of Kentucky, and their appointments are recorded by the Secretary of State of Kentucky.
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.
HOPE IN THE MIDST OF CHAOS
THE ISSUE OF CIVIL AVIATION
בס״ד
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the human being on the moon. This is a small step for man, but a great leap for humanity. This phrase, uttered on July 20, 1969 by American astronaut Neil Armstrong after disembarking from the lunar module of Apollo 11, attests well to the advance that was that event in history. But the Moon is practically a thing of the past. Preparations are now being made to take humans to Mars, the Red Planet. How much progress, isn't it?
Meanwhile, here in Brazil, we are still skating in the field of civil aviation. We have not yet taken great steps to advance and become an example of good management and efficiency in this area, which is so vital for the country's economic growth. Our airports still live in chaos. It is a state-of-the-art company, breaking down, like Avianca, which has gone into judicial reorganization, bringing chaos to the lives of thousands of passengers, and so many others struggling to survive; it is the very high fees charged and which are not properly monitored by the counterpart of a service provided at the height (the consumer defense agencies are full of complaints in this sense, especially those affecting luggage and the early choice of seats). Recently, on July 25th, we had the theft of almost 720 kilos of gold (one of the biggest crimes against property that has been reported) showing how much security is lacking in our airports. How far back, isn't it?
Fortunately, not all is lost. We have to be realistic and optimistic. As realists, we see chaos, but as optimists, we hope for a promising future. U.S. President Donald Trump said we are "a good country. We do have the potential to improve, and a President with the will to make Brazil a prosperous country, like the United States of America. The old saying goes: "Tell me who you're seeing, and I'll tell you who you are". Allow yourselves to change the saying to: "Tell me who you go out with, and I'll tell you who you will be. Brazil will be great and will overcome the chaos that was installed in years of corrupt governments and that went hand in hand with countries like Cuba and Venezuela. Walking with the right people, I have no doubt that we will become a great nation.
As I write this article, I have just seen in the newspapers that Brazil and China are exchanging experiences in the aviation sector. China, a giant in this area that has a lot to teach us, has almost 3,700 large aircraft and 2,700 medium and small aircraft. There are more than 60 airlines and 180 foreign companies operating in the country. What a great opportunity to learn from the Chinese the operation of their regulatory agencies and the operation that operates in a similar way to that practiced in the United States! We also have something to cooperate with. I saw in a report that the Chinese delegation informed that there are about 200 Brazilian pilots of high technical quality are flying in China.
The Federal Government, through the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac), has been taking measures to put order in the chaos that has taken over our aviation. It is not an easy task. But who said that organizing the chaos is easy? The book of Genesis states that "the earth was formless and empty; and there was darkness on the face of the abyss" (Genesis 1.2), that is, chaos. It took God seven days to put order in the house. This takes time. Let us therefore have patience and pray for our President and his ministers. Not everything will be settled overnight. But the important thing is that measures are being taken to improve this sector.
Jair Bolsonaro's government is investing in airport reform and seeking measures to leverage the sector. We already see a good result. Since 2013, the National Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SAC) has conducted the "Passenger Satisfaction and Airport Performance Survey," which assesses the passenger's experience in various items of infrastructure, service and services, as well as monitoring the performance of various airport processes such as check-in, security inspection, luggage restitution, among others, at major airports in the country. Today, August 1, was the evaluation made from April to June, in which more than 24 thousand users were heard. For the first time, all the evaluated airports exceeded the target set by the Government. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, 90% of passengers evaluate airports as "good" or "very good. We are on the right track. Let's move forward. Maybe someday we will have a Brazil-Mars air bridge? Dreaming is never too much, isn't it? Up and ahead!
Published 10 December 2019
Apostle Agenor D. Medeiros
International Journalist
Registered with the International Federation of Journalists - IFJ
Registered with the National Federation of Journalists - FENAJ / Under number 67866/SP
Registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil - Press.