Mac Margolis

Ouch

As Brazilians kick back and indulge in another Carnaval, what's that sound coursing over the web & radio? Gospel, of course. Christian devotional music is the 2d most popular genre after sertanejo. Cue the new Brrazilian songbook. bloomberg.com/news/features/…

My column on Epstein’s helpful mega-famous friends - who just didn’t care that he went to jail for soliciting minors theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

@jcorrales2011 Excellent précis

I started this thread with a picture of Franco's heir in Spain (A. Suárez) next to the leader of the opposition (F González) in 1977. Until I see Maduro's heir (Rodríguez) pacting with the opposition, I won't be persuaded that a Spain-style transition is happening.

The U.S. has offered the Spanish case as a possible model for democratization in Vzla. I agree this is a good example to keep in mind. But we may be seeing instead something else: a little of perestroika without glasnost. My explanation follows. 12 threads

Tribunal do estado da Califórnia começa a testar os limites dos oligeeks das redes sociais, para quem vale tudo em nome do algoritmo. @luciaguimaraes analisa o tema, seus protagonistas e os danos colaterais que se multiplicam. www1.folha.uol.com.br/colunas/lucia-…

Fighting organized crime, Brazilian pres. Lula insists, takes smarter policing not blunt force. Brazilians demur. With elections looming, he's now recalibrating his message for meaner times & voters spooked by the specter of lawlessness. @andrewrosati bloomberg.com/news/features/…

Scottish comedian Lewis MacLeod just did a Donald Trump impression so accurate it feels like evidence.

Gracias, maestro!

That girl from Ipanema? Now she comes with rhinestones, a Stetson, and a playlist that is turning Brazil inside out. Welcome to the land of Sertanejo. With the fabulous @photoluisadorr nationalgeographic.com/culture/articl…

Back in March, President Trump imposed the same 25% secondary tariff on countries purchasing Venezuelan oil. The tariff was impracticable and was never actually put into effect. The Venezuelan executive order, in fact, delegated the determination of which countries to impose a tariff on to the Secretary of State. China, however, continued buying Venezuelan oil, and Secretary Rubio never made the determination necessary to impose a 25% tariff on China. Taxing the trade of countries that do business with Iran or Venezuela attempts to extend the concept of secondary sanctions—that is, imposing sanctions on a foreign firm that does business with a sanctioned entity—to the level of countries. But that effectively means penalizing huge levels of trade without a clear threshold as to what levels of purchases would trigger it. It also assumes that a country has control over the foreign trade of its firms and individuals, which is generally not the case. As a result, the punishment—taxing all of a nation’s trade—is so disproportionate to the activity that it seeks to restrict, namely any purchase by someone in that country from Iran, that it makes little sense to impose it in practice. Most likely, the 25% tariff on countries trading with Iran will meet the same fate as the one imposed on Venezuela: it will never be implemented.

For the record. nobelpeaceprize.org/press/press-re…

@tunkuv @WSJFreeEx 🦉

@macmargolis @WSJFreeEx Thank you maestro

Curtis Sliwa lost the race to become New York’s mayor to Zohran Mamdani, but the Guardian Angels founder tips his red beret to the “Z Man,” writes @tunkuv on.wsj.com/4qERKp3

@tunkuv @WSJFreeEx just a footnote: I actually met the man and embedded with his crew patrolling NY underground (many more years ago than I'd care to admit). He was leaner, meaner and not nearly so funny back then. Your chat made me laugh

@macmargolis @WSJFreeEx 🙏

@WSJForero @WSJ great reporting

For three hours, Maria Corina Machado and a small crew had drifted on a skiff after the GPS fell overboard in rough seas. They'd missed the extraction team at a designated pickup point, setting off a scramble to find her. How it all went down, by @WSJ wsj.com/world/americas…

Raffish psychopaths, grifters, damaged nerds, aristocratic has-beens and overgrown underachievers who carom from ennui to meltdown... Young Brazilians can't get enough of horror fiction writer Raphael Montes. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Yes, everybody hates Maduro — but Trump should not turn drugs into Venezuela's WMD On the money, como siempre, from @TimPadgett2 wlrn.org/commentary/202…

As lideranças e a massa (falida) cinzenta: Como os governantes protagonizam a perda cognitiva política global. No texto perfeito da @luciaguimaraes . www1.folha.uol.com.br/colunas/lucia-…

It's a cult. 😳👇

People don’t realize just how much of the economy is dependent on illegal immigration. Like it or not, you would cause an absolute catastrophe deporting all illegal immigrants.