The Morality of Desperation (and the Strength of Resistance)

Desperation leads to crazy results.



Desperation leads to crazy decisions.



Desperation leads to corrupted morality.



Desperation can even lead to a deal with the devil.



Brazil has gone through political and economic hell and back, and in the undercurrents of all the insanity was the rise of a far-right candidate whose window of opportunity was able to open only because Brazil had been wrecked with arguably the biggest political scandal in the entire history of the Western Hemisphere. I’m not selling this short. Trump’s potential deals with Russia, Watergate, Reagan selling weapons to Iran (which has created consequences lasting decades, look at Nicaragua today) has nothing on Operation Car Wash.

Operation Car Wash exposed the rampant corruption amongst a massive corporation and an entire political party, and although it brought justice, it may have also drowned Brazil into an even deeper hole and into levels never before imagined. But desperate moves from other countries opened new doors and opportunities for new voices that otherwise would have never spoken before. Brazil is about to reach a unique civil war---one that is fought online, through protests, through a rising youthful resistance. But the next four years is going to be an oil and water swirl that will test the entire social and cultural infrastructure of a country that has seen it all in the past century---and this is a repeated story because another country is going through the exact same phase.





Operation Car Wash is a complex and multi-layered investigation that not only exposed political dishonesty and complete betrayal of the Brazilian public, but it even led to the imprisonment of a multitude of politicians----something the United States has never, ever, ever seen---and even with this ongoing Muller investigation we still probably won’t see because there are certain American elements that are simply too big to fail. But Operation Car Wash did the unthinkable, held powerful people accountable and even tossed them (deservedly I shall add) to prison for years. There’s a catch: the best and most feasible option for the future of Brazil was in the same political party wrapped up in the disastrous scandal, and this investigation plunged the Brazilian economy into an even darker place.



And this allowed for the far-right party to rise up.



And yes, before we drift this any further, there are definite parallels between this election and the 2016 United States election. Just like in 2016, a nation that had experienced years of drastic change, a continuing gap of understanding between generations, and of course incidents above our pay grade but nonetheless contributing to economic collapse wanted to aim towards a drastic political change in hopes that some improvement can be seen in front of their eyes.

Donald Trump was Heartland America’s answer (and via an outdated electoral college system gave him the win) and Jair Bolsonaro was Brazil’s answer.

Jair Bolsonaro is the worst candidate imaginable and in any other election would have been an afterthought. And for the longest of times, he was actually an underdog longshot afterthought, interviewed only to display how ridiculous he was as a politician. He is full of hate, full of controversial statements and actions, and has this nostalgia for a period in Brazilian history that should never be duplicated. But most of the Left in Brazil were caught laundering money during a recession and during a century that has seen a lot of economic turmoil in the beautiful country. The leading candidate to win the presidency before Bolsonaro is literally in prison for related crimes.

Jair Bolsonaro is a horrible candidate that wants to bust out the military to solve the violence of the streets, but how can you honestly solve the problem of the rising and tragic homicide rates in the country (especially in Rio)? Jair Bolsonaro is racist, sexist, homophobic, and has tons of violent tendencies, but can Brazil really look at the Left political party in the face and trust them again after all they’ve been put through? Could Brazil really look at Fernando Haddad, a political descendant of an impeached president and a jailed ex-president and choose them as their next leader? It was the hardest pill to swallow so the big question festered: how much am I willing to overlook in order to defy the political party that definitely wronged me and vote for the bitter pill of a candidate?

The same question came out towards the election eventually won by Donald Trump: how much am I willing to look past and/or accept while voting him as president? Can I look past his sketchy history, his sketchy behavior, his controversial statements, and his obvious lack of experience in order to show America that we do indeed need a massive shift? As a Christian can I forgive all of Donald Trump’s misdeeds on his way towards potential presidency? How much can the United States honestly endure with my wild card candidate? The man doesn’t even have a dog in the White House.

50 million plus were willing to swallow the pill and do it; whether it’s because they want a successful businessman as president, or because Hillary Clinton is the embodiment of everything they dislike, or because they have to vote Republican no matter what, or because they felt betrayed by the Obama years, or because (and this is true whether you like it or not), White America is under attack from minorities and it’s time to gain the power back. The range of people that voted for Trump included the Heartland, the businessmen of NYC and Miami, prominent Republicans, and all the way to the far-far right which includes KKK members and white supremacists.

Half of America didn’t want a calm charismatic figure’s understudy running the country (despite her accomplishments, much of America did view Hillary as Obama’s understudy), they wanted someone who appears strong, who appears to be bigger than them, like a God. After the Obama years, Donald Trump became the God of the niche Republican Party. Jair Bolsonaro out of nowhere became a God because in many peoples’ eyes he fears nobody, he hates things he perceives as weakness, and he wants Brazil to stand strong like it used to, and not be tainted and hampered by people secretly absorbing money from underneath.

And if it means neglecting the pleas from women, minorities, and the LGBT community, then so fucking be it. Jair wants to make Brazil Great Again, under the guise of God of course.

United States and Brazil produced similar results in their elections but through wildly different circumstances. The United States wasn’t in economic crisis at the time of the election, but was at a morality war with gay marriage being legal, abortion ban being out of reach, and the melting pot of the United States receiving more ingredients than what most of America wanted to see. A United States that admires consistency just experienced eight years of what is easily the most unique president in the history of the United States---from background to demeanor to behavior to decisions he made. And it was a president that presided over a nation thriving in the coasts while the Middle America wasn’t quite growing as vibrantly.

Brazil on the other hand is a beautiful country with so much going on. Brazil is like a beautiful red rose with dozens of thorns; beautiful to look at, hard to touch without getting hurt. Unemployment is at 20%, entire cities were decimated by Operation Car Wash, crime has risen significantly since the World Cup and Olympics ended and the emphasis on crime fighting dipped, Sao Paulo is a megacity growing way too fast, the favelas continue to drift away from government support leading to rampant activity that usually seeps into where the money and tourism is, and the country is getting more expensive but the money isn’t flowing into the hands of the public. Brazil celebrates its culture constantly while simultaneously fearing its future. Hence the desperation.

Desperation gave us Donald Trump. Desperation gave us Jair Bolsonaro. But a funny thing happened in the United States after Trump got elected: the dissident yells became louder, and louder. The marches became larger and larger. The protests became more and more successful. The rebellion in America has reached unfathomable levels to a point in which the approval rating of Donald Trump is absolutely pointless. Five million people marched on the streets in the United States back in January 2017. March For Our Lives, another organized event battling gun control issues, delivered hundreds of thousands of people, and students even walked out of class as a display of how change is needed. And even though technically if all these millions had done their job in the first place, the election would have gone to Hillary Clinton---but that’s another subject for another day.

Long gone are the failure days of Occupy Wall Street, a movement that had the right idea but yielded sad results. A new wave of political revolution has begun, and its starting from teenagers in college all the way to the older supporters of the Bernie Sanders’ infamous Bernie Bros gang (which, not gonna lie, has caused a few problems sometimes). This time, the presidency wasn’t going to be accepted without a vicious and well-organized fight.

And not every major protest and battle against Trump and the current administration has garnished a win, but it has gotten the attention of the rest of the world. Gun control is still a problem but universal health care is becoming a widely accepted idea. Ridiculous tax cuts benefiting the rich still happened, but Amazon and Disney have caved in and will start paying their employees fairer wages, with major cities even following suit. Sexual assault victims from members of the administration may never see justice, but we’ve seen a grandiose sweep of troublesome personalities from Hollywood lose everything they’ve earned as justice for their terrible behavior, from Harvey to Spacey to Cosby. The rise of racist and hate groups is quite alarming, but voting might hit record numbers in the coming weeks as midterms are arriving and the Republican Party has to ponder its future with Trump at the helm.

In other words: from the heaps of desperation and shocking results emerges a nation of voices that once silent, are speaking louder than ever anticipated. Brazil is a young country run by older people with older mindsets and scary nostalgia. Brazil nonetheless remains a diverse country full of strong independent minds who have spoken up about the chaotic election, and if they continue to shout into the heavens about the mistakes they’ve committed then change just might happen. We go back to Operation Car Wash: would this have ever been a successful investigation under a military-led Brazil back in the 80s? Would an investigation of this magnitude even existed and succeeded back in the 1960s? No way. But a new generation of Brazilians are ensuring that no awful nation-crippling deed goes unpunished.

So if there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, it comes in the form of a country that succeeded in doing something that not one major nation on this entire hemisphere has been able to pull off---not even the United States. They assassinated an entire political party and made sure to remind them not to damage Brazil in such a way ever again. Honduras and Nicaragua remain under the government’s thumbs, Chile had to survive a horrendous dictatorship before they could recover. But Brazil, they single-handedly fought a seemingly invincible political party, and actually won. So why couldn't it happen again? Why couldn't Brazil face off against politicians and defeat the crappiness again?

But the Resistance, the Rebellion, the Elenao will not be easy. For every Leia Skywalker there is a Stormtrooper battling for Darth Vader. There’s still half of a country that under similar desperate measures launched a political hail mary and voted for a president that’s pro-torture and wished that the Chilean dictator had killed more people. This level of forgiveness for such words shows how angry, how hurt, and how desperate the Brazilian public has become. And unlike the United States’ ghoulish fears about immigrants taking over a country of 300 million (seriously guys), Brazil’s current broken status is legitimate. Brazil is mostly poorer and in need of change, this is true.

The people that voted for him (for the most part) didn’t do it out of spite, didn’t do it to kill their neighbor, they did it because they didn’t see a better solution, even if there DEFINITELY were better options—they just happen to wear the political clothing of those that betrayed them in the first place. The Rebellion shouldn’t fight with guns, they should fight with words, facts, movements, ideas, and receipts of statements and decisions made by the trigger-happy upcoming president. March, organize, plan, yell, scream, and prepare for the next election. And the election after that. And after that one too. No nation has ever risen from the ashes with just half a country invested. It takes everyone, at the very least a majority. So you have to stamp out the sexism, stamp out the racism, stamp out the immoral disgust towards immigrants.

The United States has endured and suffered a lot lately, but there remains a hopeful future. Puerto Rico may have been devastated by the lack of response from a racist regime, but Florida is well on its way to becoming one of the most important states in the nation economically and socially---and this is mostly because of the wave of Hispanic immigrants led by Puerto Ricans. Trump and his friends may not care about the environment but we are seeing states like California and Washington make strides in environmental protection. Even Disney is joining in by soon banning lids and straws in the near future. There’s been ugly yins that’s been countered by productive and good yangs.

Brazil, you are going through a tough time, and in the midst of the devastation placed your trust in a man with dangerous ideals. Whatever ideas he decides to go through with is all up to him beginning in January 2019. But this isn’t the end. United States survived Bush’s two terms, the Dominican Republic survived Trujillo, Germany survived (barely) Hitler, Italy survived Mussolini, and Colombia survived a government that worked with the drug cartels. Brazil can and should survive Bolsonaro and with the proper resistance will allow Brazil to enter a new era of fresh ideas, fresh ideals, and more separation from its ugly past.



So go out there and fight. Bust out some Rage Against the Machine and fight.

For your county, for your neighbor, and for your future.



The truth is it will truly be impossible for Brazil to fall apart if there are millions willing to stand up and keep her elevated.

Welcome to the White (Animal) House

Even before the hearings were going to take place, I knew that Kavanaugh was going to get the Supreme Court seat.


Has nothing to do with the validity of the hearing (it was quite credible), has nothing to do with how he would perform (poorly, ultimately), has nothing to do with anything else except for one thing and one thing only:



The frat house known as the Republican Party.

The Republican higher ups, the movers and shakers, those in the White House or damn near close to it; this is all a fraternity. This is the same group of guys that backed an inexperienced dictator-wannabe three elections after backing a man whose administration took us to two wars that to this day still aren’t technically finished. This is the same group of guys that celebrated the temporary Obamacare repeal victory by bringing in cases of beer to the White House---despite the repeal, you know, stripping health care from millions of people.

And now, despite his obvious demeanor, despite him lying about his past (not even discussing the potential sexual assault), Kavanaugh is going to get the go-ahead simply because this fraternity wants to stick it to the Democrats and their opponents. The level of frat behavior has increased since a black man crashed their system and became president, and now we’ve seen people, cultures, entire regions of the country having to pay the price because politics has become a little college game to people that are responsible for the lives of everyone within the American borders.

This fraternity has been very successful with their marketing campaign of caring for the American people while simultaneously doing nothing to actually help them and instead focus on themselves. Whether it’s riding on the coattails of Tradition, Freedom, Family, or God, the Fraternity focuses on these specific elements to appeal to a wide audience while making their decisions and continuing to run the tables on the American government. They protest progression because any type of actual progress and major change could potentially drain a little more from their pool of success.

They will battle to make abortion illegal, while continuing to do next to nothing to ensure the children once they are born have a decent childhood (Cue: George Carlin). The Fraternity will always fight for your right to freely own whatever gun you want, despite American violence reaching a point in which an incredible 99% of Americans will know a victim of gun violence. Of course, they will defend God---well, Christian God. Freedom of religion extends solely to whichever God the Fraternity and their fanbase believes in. But that Freedom part, this Manifest Destiny aura, is the big seller, and probably the biggest con of all. Because when they are discussing American freedom, they just mean themselves. They sell you core values while trying to eliminate the changes that has improved America and has allowed the scales to tip ever so slightly towards equality. But hey, “freedom.”

Freedom to evade taxes, like what the corporations and the one-percenters yearly enjoy doing, leaving the rest of country to foot the bill. Freedom to do whatever they want with their money, even if they can slice 25% of their overall income to help others and still be able to live comfortably for life. Freedom to accept money from whomever, which is why lobbyists do a better job shaping the country than politicians nowadays. Freedom to become absolute pricks while growing up, live the life they want without resistance or consequence, and ultimately land their dream cushy jobs. Donald Trump was a millionaire on his bank account alone by age 8, and the Fraternity is trying to sell the notion that HE knows what YOU are going through. And when the resistance emerges and becomes a bit louder (especially nowadays under the Obama/Post-Obama Era), the Fraternity steps its game up.

2015-2016 saw a lot of resistance towards Trump from the Republican Party not because he didn’t share their ideals, but because his brash ways was damaging the illusion the Fraternity has spent this millennium creating. The Fraternity was under attack when Barack Obama not only successfully fixed Bush Administration’s wrongdoings despite being surrounded by brash racist opponents, but pretty laid out a blue carpet for Hillary Clinton to walk towards her presidency. They needed a strong opponent—even if it’s smoke and mirrors. By the time the election rolled around, the Fraternity learned to accept Donald Trump and tried to salvage him to save themselves and keep the gravy train going. The strategy worked. From Ted Cruz to Lindsey Graham to Marco Rubio, the former vocal opponents of The Don became staunch supporters, and pretended like their vicious words of the past were never actually said.

This loud and brash anti-Trump campaign led to a vicious election that we would all rather forget, which saw Donald Trump etch out his dictatorship skills and pretty much lash out at anyone not following in line. He praises dictators while constantly criticizing free world leaders (even freakin’ Canada..). Why a dictatorship you ask? Because when you are a dictator or related to one, nobody can say no to you, nobody can challenge you, or make things difficult without consequences. Donald Trump has lived an entire life with a golden spoon in his mouth, and a security blanket richer than most countries for when he made one of many business mistakes. Although the brand name was strong, the money itself didn’t always develop, and this led to relying on the leftover money of his father. Post-Note: notice that countries that didn’t accept Trumpian businesses remain under his critical microscope---which includes Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.



Insert: Kavanaugh.



This man went to a high school that had a full golf course in the backyard. The man was born with connections to the White House from the very beginning. His grandfather is buried in one of the universities, which let’s be honest, never happens to a regular American. He lived his full life, he drank at 17 without worry, he partied so hard that his stories became notorious with his upper class social circles. And then after he was done, was able to get his job and raise a family without any setbacks. So with these hearings, it was the first time that his actions, his past, his demeanor, had actually been challenged.


Side-Note: Partying hard during your college years should not disqualify you for the nomination. If THIS was what we are being upset about, then I’d be a little uneasy about creating such an outrage over a life period in which most of Americans experience as well. But if you were willing to lie and hide your past, then how can I believe you when you say no sexual assault ever took place? You commit enough lies, and none of your words can ever be considered believable.



Between your Paul Ryans, Donald Trumps, Mitch McConnells, people that sleazed their way into politics and constantly take bribes from companies in similar levels of stature, Kavanaugh was another member in the Fraternity. And he couldn’t handle the fact that he was allowed to just waltz into the Supreme Court without the opponents raising red flags. And it wasn’t even that the opponents were going to aim for the jugular towards whichever potential pick Trump makes, it was that we are seeing a person with a sketchy history being selected for the purpose to not cater and serve the country, but to cater and serve the people that selected him. With Kavanaugh’s connections and beliefs, he was another part of a long line of security blankets for the Republican Party, Donald Trump (for when the investigation about Russia is over), and of course, The Fraternity.

The Fraternity is a collection of millionaires and billionaires, public and secret, that will do whatever it takes to maintain its power. It’s no conspiracy, they do it openly and right in front of your face. The tax cuts and health care rollbacks weren’t secret, and neither was the travel ban or ever-growing prejudices against Hispanics (who are usually predominantly progressive, Democrat, and work harder for less money than anyone on that Frat). This Fraternity promises you money, promises you an easy living. This is why slimy Susan Collins more than likely believes the accuser, believes Ford, but the protection of the Fraternity remains key. Step out of line, and you’ll lose your cushy position in the White House.

I knew Kavanaugh’s nomination was going to happen. It was stupid to think otherwise. But for as long as people don’t show up to vote, or people buy into the scheme the Fraternity is selling, then the cycle will continue, as we’ll continue seeing events that shape American history in a way that negatively affects minorities, women, and people that are on the less fortunate spectrum.
The movie Hell or High Water has a spectacular quote about poverty, which is
“I’ve been poor my whole life. So were my parents, their parents before them. It’s like a disease passing from generation to generation, becomes a sickness, that’s what it is. Infects every person you know, but not my boys, not anymore.”

The main character was robbing banks and this was his explanation to the sheriff when confronted about the reasoning behind the violence. And this is very true, as poverty can and does affect generations of families, and as long as these selfish groups like this Republican Fraternity exists and continue to exist via elections, then the wealth gap will continue to increase, as will the homeless rate, and the impoverished rate.

The United States should have woken up a long, long time ago to this, for the Fraternity even extends to people in the Democratic party. But seeing the entitled Kavanaugh angrily respond to the resistance, to see an entire core of White House politicians disprove credible testimony just because it doesn’t help their cause, this should be the nail in the coffin towards the façade.


November 2018 is approaching, and it is truly time to completely shuffle the political deck.



Or, we are just going to continue seeing more of the same.