Among the issues questioned by the board was ordering officers to fire tear gas and pepper spray at protesters demonstrating over George Floyd’s death.
An oversight board demoted Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales on Thursday,
After questioning how he handled multiple incidents, including ordering officers to fire tear gas and pepper spray at protesters demonstrating over George Floyd’s death.
The city’s Fire and Police Commission unanimously voted Thursday evening to demote Morales to captain after three-and-a-half years on the job.
The chief’s attorney, Franklyn Gimbel, says Morales’ relationship with the commission has been deteriorating,
Ever since he refused the chairman’s demand to fire an officer involved in a arrest of Milwaukee Bucks player Sterling Brown in January 2018.
Most recently the commission criticized Morales for authorizing tear gas to disperse protesters.
The board has also raised questions over how the department has policed Black communities.
MIWAUKEE BUCKS PLAYER ISSUE
Gimbel said problems began when officers arrested Bucks player Brown for parking illegally in January 2018.
Officers swarmed the Bucks guard and used a stun gun on him when he didn’t remove his hands from his pockets.
The commission’s chairman, Steven DeVougas, who is Black,
Told Morales to fire one of the officers involved but Morales refused, the attorney said.
Morales joined the Milwaukee department in 1993 and was appointed chief in February 2018.
“His conduct is unbecoming, filled with ethical lapses and flawed decisions,
Making it inconsistent with someone who has the privilege of leading the Milwaukee Police Department,” Commissioner Raymond Robakowski said.
The board named Assistant Police Chief Michael J. Brunson Sr. as acting chief.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said Thursday night he was angered by the commission’s action,
And that Morales should have been given a chance to respond to directives the panel had issued.
“The discussion surrounding this decision tonight was completely lacking in transparency.
The action taken by the commission tonight was not good government,” Barrett said.
The decision comes as Wisconsin’s largest police department grapples with a surge in gun violence,
President Donald Trump on Thursday issued executive orders that would ban the social media app TikTok and WeChat from operating in the US in 45 days
If they are not sold by their Chinese-owned parent companies.
The orders, which use similar language, do not state that a certain amount of money from the sale needs to be sent to the US Treasury Department,
which the President has been insisting on for several days.
The order regarding TikTok prohibits after 45 days “any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property,
Subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd.,” the Chinese company that owns the social media platform.
The move turns up the pressure on negotiations over the popular video app’s future through a potential sale.
The dramatic back and forth began when Trump said last Friday night that he would ban TikTok from operating in the United States using emergency economic powers or an executive order.
Failing to do so, he said, would lead him to shut down the app in the country. In an unusual declaration,
Trump also said any deal would have to include a “substantial amount of money” coming to the US Treasury.
Thursday’s order alleges that TikTok “automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users,”
LOCATION AND BROWSING DATA COMPROMISED
Such as location data and browsing and search histories, which “threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information,
Potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.”
Shortly after issuing the order regarding TikTok, Trump issued a similar order for WeChat, an group chat app owned by Tencent, a Chinese based company.
For WeChat, which allows its users to transfer funds to each other, the order states it will ban financial transactions with Tencent.
The order states “any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States,
With Tencent Holdings Ltd. (a.k.a. Téngxùn Kònggǔ Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī), Shenzhen, China, or any subsidiary of that entity,
As identified by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) under section 1(c) of this order.”
National security concerns have long fueled policymakers’ reservations surrounding the apps.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters last week at the White House,
That the US government was conducting a national security review of TikTok and was preparing to make a policy recommendation to Trump.
TRUMP BANS TIKTOK WECHAT
Prior to Trump’s threatened ban last Friday,
People working on the issue within the Trump administration expected the President to sign an order to force ByteDance to sell the US operations of TikTok,
According to a person familiar with the matter,
In a move aimed at resolving policymakers’ concerns that the foreign-owned TikTok may be a national security risk.
The order also claims that the platform censors or disseminates content in keeping with the Chinese Communist Party’s agenda,
Citing “when TikTok videos spread debunked conspiracy theories about the origins of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus.”
TikTok users across the US began livestreaming and posting videos in tribute to what they feared was the end of the app.
Others were strategizing ways to get around a ban,
Including by trying to trick servers to make it look like they’re browsing from a different country where TikTok is allowed to operate.
And TikTok has said it remains committed to its large American user base.
“TikTok is loved by 100 million Americans because it is a home for entertainment, self-expression, and connection,”
Company spokesperson Josh Gartner said in a statement.
“TikTok will be here for many years to come.”
TRUMP ACCUSED OF PERSONAL MOTIVES
The President’s threat to shut down the platform also comes a month after a stunt organized mainly through TikTok,
May have led to a sparsely-attended Trump campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
In the days leading up to the June 20 rally,
A coordinated effort was underway on TikTok encouraging people to register online for the free event and not show up.
FROM THE LA TIMES:
TRUMP BANS TIKTOK WECHAT
President Trump made good on his threat to ban TikTok on Thursday,
IUssuing an executive order that will bar the wildly popular video app’s parent company,
ByteDance, from conducting business transactions with other American companies beginning in 45 days.
A separate order bans business transactions involving WeChat,
A popular communications and commerce app owned by the Chinese internet giant Tencent.
TRUMP DECLARES APPS SECURITY ISSUES
The orders come after the Trump administration deemed apps from Chinese software companies national security threats,
Warning that they could put Americans’ privacy in danger.
“This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information
Potentially allowing China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors,
Build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage,” reads the text of the TikTok order.
TikTok has said it has not and will not give information to the Chinese government.
TikTok said its U.S. user information is stored in the U.S. and backed up in Singapore.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing Thursday, August 6, 2020,
TRUMP BANS TIKTOK WECHAT
That the Trump administration’s actions against Chinese apps were “typical hegemonic behavior,
That runs against market principles and international trade rules” and an attempt to maintain high-tech monopoly.
The executive order is a blow to TikTok,
Which has achieved massive global growth as people looked for ways to be entertained at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
WIDELY USED BY ARTISTS
Music artists have used TikTok to promote their songs; talent agencies check out the videos for rising talent;
And young video creators in L.A. have made tens of thousands of dollars each month through brand deals on TikTok.
TikTok is in the process of exploring a deal to sell its U.S. operations to Microsoft.
Trump has said he is open to such a deal as long as some of the proceeds go to the U.S. Treasury, a condition that raises legal questions.
“There’s nothing specific that says you can do this,” said Will Delgado, a founding partner at DTO Law.
“You do have a president that has a different type of mind-set than previous presidents and maybe it just hadn’t occurred to other presidents in the past.”
TRUMP BANS TIKTOK WECHAT
The purchaser, who would have legal standing to challenge such a requirement, in this case has already signaled it may acquiesce.
Microsoft in a statement Sunday said it is “committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review,
And providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury.”
But if such a deal goes through, it could deter similar acquisitions in the future.
“One wonders about the chilling effect at a very practical level of what might happen in a future transaction, if somebody is fearful of having to pay such a fee and they don’t want to.
Might that discourage a transaction from … even coming up?” Delgado said.
TIKTOK IS A MAJOR EMPLOYER
TikTok employs about 1,500 people in the U.S. and plans to add 10,000 more over the next three years.
Its largest U.S. office is in Culver City. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Responding to the Trump administration’s intensifying rhetoric,
The company recently said it will open a transparency and accountability in Culver City later this year,
Where outside experts can view its content moderation policies and see the code that powers its algorithms.
“With our success comes responsibility and accountability,” wrote CEO Kevin Mayer last month.
“The entire industry has received scrutiny, and rightly so.
Yet, we have received even more scrutiny due to the company’s Chinese origins.
We accept this and embrace the challenge of giving peace of mind through greater transparency and accountability.”
TRUMP BANS TIKTOK WECHAT
There are signs the U.S. government’s threats to ban TikTok and a ban recently enacted in India are having an effect on its popularity.
Last month, the TikTok app was installed 65.3 million times on mobile devices,
Down 25% from June, according to San Francisco mobile research firm Sensor Tower.
Seeking to defend its dominance in social media, Facebook’s Instagram unit this week launched Reels,
A TikTok lookalike feature within its app that allows users to upload videos of up to 15 seconds,
And add music from tens of millions of songs in its library.
Instagram has a built in audience of more than 1 billion monthly active users.
The action against WeChat and its parent company Tencent comes less than a month after White House adviser Peter Navarro,
First mentioned the app as a potential target for executive action.
WeCHAT HAS MASSIVE FOLLOWING
WeChat is the most-used messaging system in the world with over a billion users,
And operates as an operating system unto itself in the Chinese market,
Where nearly 99% of smartphone owners use the app.
WeChat users can pay for lunch, watch a video broadcast,
Apply for a loan,
And call a cab from the Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing without leaving the app.
