No menu items!

Michael Royster

The Curmudgeon moved to Rio over forty years ago, and remained there until late 2018. He's been writing political commentary for The Rio Times for nine years. He once referred to himself as a WASP (look it up) but doesn't any more because it embarrasses him.

Opinion: Bolsonaro impeachment? Be careful what you wish for

  RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Opinion) – On May 11 and 12, a Datafolha poll asked over 2,000 people throughout Brazil: “Should Congress open...

Opinion: “Law enforcement” in Rio’s favelas is largely non-existent

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - (Opinion) Many people (including this writer) are shocked (but not surprised) by the Rio de Janeiro police killing 27...

Opinion: Happiness rediscovered!

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Opinion) Last week, my fellow columnist, codename This Gringo, said it was hard to be happy about anything at...

Opinion: Brazil’s Theater of the Absurd: Bolsonaro says “our” Army will hit the streets

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Opinion) Last week and this, while railing against the “cowardly” restrictions on people’s movements by local governments during the...

Analysis: Lula, Moro and Lava Jato, as Brazil’s Supreme Court enters the political thicket

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - On April 14, Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF), in plenary session, began hearing the appeals from the decision by Justice...

Opinion: Brazil’s “Covid CPI” – a “tempest in a teapot”, “terminating in pizza”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Opinion) Under Article 58 §3 of Brazil’s 1988 Constitution, either house of Congress can create an investigative committee called...

Opinion: Brazilian states and cities can, and should, ban religious services during the pandemic

  RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Opinion) Today, March 7, Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF) will hear cases involving the controversial question of whether states and...

Analysis: Why has Brazil’s new STF Justice forbidden the prohibition of religious services during pandemic?

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Saturday, April 3, just before Easter Sunday, Justice Kassio Nunes Marques, President Bolsonaro’s most recent appointee to Brazil’s...

Opinion: AMANuensis, or how to “commemorate” March 31st

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Opinion) Fifty-seven years ago today, on the evening of March 31, 1964, the Brazilian military high command carried out...

Lula’s Lava-Jato lawsuits: The “suspeição” of Judge Sérgio Moro – what is it and where is it going?

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Second Panel of the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) is hearing a case in which counsel for ex-President Luiz...

Opinion: Fachin’s Gambit – How a judge turned the Lava-Jato legal scene upside down

RIBEIRÃO PRETO – (Opinion) The most talked-about television show of the late pandemic is “The Queen’s Gambit”. Decades ago, William Faulkner published “Knight’s Gambit”....

Opinion: Three “neat, plausible” solutions to finance Brazil’s emergency aid

Ribeirão Preto, SP – (Opinion) As Brazil’s Executive and Legislative branches debate how much to give to needy citizens, and for how long, the...

Opinion: Rethinking the Unthinkable – Trump’s Resignation, Ouster, or Impeachment

Ribeirão Preto, SP - (Opinion) In our “Unthinking the Unthinkable” essay, published early on January 6th, a few hours before the truly unthinkable occurred...

Opinion: Thinking the Unthinkable – Is “Loser” Trump Truly Deranged?

RIBEIRÃO PRETO, SP -  (Opinion) The most concise definition of Trump Derangement Syndrome, abbreviated TDS, is a "hatred of President Trump so intense that...

Follow us