E. MPD Unnecessarily Escalates Encounters with Children.
We have serious concerns about MPD’s treatment of children and the lasting impact of
police encounters on their wellbeing and resilience. 42 During interactions with children
regarding minor issues, MPD officers escalate the encounters with aggressive and
demeaning language and, at times, needless force.
At times, MPD aggressively escalates encounters with children who have committed no
crime or where the child is a victim. In one incident, officers handcuffed and used force
against a 16-year-old Black girl who called MPD to report she had been assaulted.
Before arriving at the precinct to give a statement, officers handcuffed the girl after she
refused to give them her phone. When she became agitated and reactive, the officers
responded with insults and threats, telling her, “When [the handcuffs] do come off . . .
Ooh, I’m itching,” “I leave my gloves on when I fight,” and “If I gotta whip your ass, I will.”
After three hours, officers removed the handcuffs to reposition them. As she complained
that her hands were hurt and swollen and tried to move her wrists, the officers grabbed
her and pushed her face down onto the ground to handcuff her again. The girl was then
arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.
MPD has escalated interactions when enforcing laws that are intended to keep children
safe. After two Black boys (ages 15 and 16) ran from an officer who was citing them for
a curfew violation, officers demeaned the boys and threatened violence. When one boy
asked if they were going to jail, the officer responded, “If it’s my decision, hell yeah . . .
I’d have so much damn fun rolling your ass down to jail. I’d love doing that shit.” Another
officer threatened to assault the boys when he worried that he may have lost his MPD
mobile device during the foot pursuit: “I am fucking these little kids up, man… I am
fucking you all up, I just wanted to let y’all know that.”
MPD officers have mistreated children in crisis, even when it is clear the child has
significant disabilities. In one incident, a CIT officer threatened to take a 14-year-old
Black boy to adult jail because the boy ran away from home. The boy was diagnosed
with autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, and developmental delays and had the intellectual
functioning of a four-year-old. The boy’s mother had called the police after the boy, who
had been released from a mental health facility that day, got upset at bedtime, threw a
garbage can and a chair, and ran from home. After the boy was found, a CIT officer
raised his Taser toward the boy, who was calm and compliant, and told him, “I don’t
want to use it on you, but if you don’t listen to me, I can.” Officers planned to take the
boy to the hospital for psychiatric treatment. But the CIT officer continued to threaten
him, saying that he would take the child to jail “with the big boys,” and “If I have to come
42 Interactions with the police can lead to damaging and lasting outcomes for children, especially Black
and Latinx teens, including post-traumatic stress, increased levels of depression, diminished academic
performance, and increased chances that a child will engage in delinquent behavior in the future.
56

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South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol has replaced his defence minister as he and his ruling party try to stave off an impeachment bid following his failed attempt to impose martial law.

Yoon on Thursday accepted the resignation of defence minister Kim Yong-hyun, who has been accused by members of his own party of being behind the president’s failed attempt to impose emergency rule. He named former general Choi Byung-hyuk to take the role.

Yoon’s declaration of martial law on Tuesday, and his subsequent climbdown, left the country in political turmoil and sparked calls for the 63-year-old former prosecutor to resign or face impeachment.

Opposition lawmakers, who have a parliamentary majority, have submitted an impeachment motion to the National Assembly and have sought a vote on Saturday.

The proceedings will probably require eight votes from Yoon’s own ruling People Power party, and pressure is building on its members to support the opposition-led motion.

However, party leader Han Dong-hoon said on Thursday that while he did not want to “defend” the president’s actions, he was working to rally his party’s members to block the impeachment motion.

“I’ll make efforts to block the impeachment motion in order to prevent any damage to the public and our supporters given the chaos it could bring,” said Han.

Opposition leaders argue that Yoon violated the constitution and other laws in his failed attempt to impose emergency rule, which included the dispatch of troops to the parliament building to block political opposition.

“He tried to exercise absolute power as the absolute ruler by controlling all national institutions, including constitutional authority,” said Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic party leader who narrowly lost the 2022 presidential election to Yoon. “In this context, Yoon must be impeached. [Ruling party lawmakers] should not become a force aligned with treason.”

South Korea’s presidential office on Thursday described the martial law declaration as a “warning” to opposition parties and said Yoon was not expected to make a public apology.

Kim said in submitting his resignation as defence minister that he was responsible for orders to soldiers to enact martial law. Still, the role of other military leaders is also under increasing scrutiny.

At the parliamentary hearing on Thursday, senior defence officials including Park Ahn-soo, the martial law commander and army general, and Kim Sun-ho, the vice-defence minister, said they were informed of the president’s plans after Yoon’s television statement on Tuesday evening. They blamed Kim, the defence minister, for the decision to dispatch troops.

More than 70 per cent support impeaching Yoon in a survey of more than 500 South Koreans by Realmeter, according to the state news agency Yonhap.

Thousands of South Koreans have braved sub-zero temperatures over the past two nights to call for Yoon to stand down. Further protests and industrial action are planned ahead of Saturday’s vote.

“Some of the ruling party lawmakers will vote for his impeachment for their own political survival,” predicted Choi Young-taek, a 57-year-old insurance worker at a protest on Wednesday night. “Otherwise, they will all be destroyed. If he doesn’t get impeached, all Koreans will take to the streets to protest.”

Kim Hana, a 42-year-old pastor, said “everyone, regardless of their age and gender” believed it was crucial for the future of South Korea for Yoon to be removed from office. “I’ll keep attending these rallies because we have to unite to put pressure on parliament,” she added.

John Delury, an expert on Asian politics and visiting professor at Luiss University in Rome, said it was unclear how the country’s security agencies would respond to public anger and further protests ahead of the impeachment vote.

“That’s really critical in how the next few days play out, assuming that there are large-scale protests and demonstrations, that the police and soldiers are clearly there with orders to protect the crowd, not protect themselves,” he said.

CNN
 — 

Pete Hegseth’s bid to lead the Pentagon is stuck in limbo, as he fiercely battles allegations of drinking and sexual misconduct and can’t be sure if President-elect Donald Trump really has his back.

A top Trump transition source had described Wednesday as “absolutely critical” for the former Fox News anchor’s confirmation hopes. And Hegseth threw himself into his task, meeting Republican senators, offering to quit alcohol if he’s confirmed, and mounting fiery rearguards on the Megyn Kelly radio show and in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Yet his position seems as tenuous Thursday morning as it was 24 hours earlier.

But Sen. Josh Hawley summed up the doubts surrounding the Hegseth pick when he said he didn’t know if the selection should be withdrawn. The Missouri Republican said he’d support whomever Trump wanted in his Cabinet but added: “It’s not 100% clear who he wants as secretary of defense right now.”

Hegseth, an Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran, can afford to lose no more than three Republican senators and still be confirmed in the Senate, assuming all Democrats vote against. So, his window was narrow to begin with. And it’s hardly being helped by uncertainty over how much political capital Trump is willing to spend to see him confirmed.

But Sen. Markwayne Mullin said he’d spoken to both Trump and Hegseth and that the president-elect was still committed to his pick.

“They are still both all in the fight,” the Oklahoma Republican told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source.”

“President Trump personally told me he wants to see Pete get confirmed and I think there’s a … path to get there. It may be a little narrow, but I believe we can get him confirmed,” he added.

The reticence of some senators to throw full public support behind Hegseth may be a hint that while they would prefer not to break with the president-elect early, they might also be keen to avoid a hearing that could turn into a public circus around the time of the inauguration.

One of Hegseth’s meetings on Wednesday was with West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who said she’d gotten into his “personal issues” and that their chat went well. But she said she has not yet decided whether she will vote to confirm him.

Growing talk about Ernst and DeSantis as possible replacements may also be bad news for Hegseth, because it’s likely that some senators will view the Iowa senator and Florida governor as potentially superior defense secretaries. A number of Republican senators have told reporters they hold Ernst in high regard. And she and DeSantis would have a far clearer path to confirmation than Hegseth. Still, it’s not clear whether Ernst would fit Trump’s bill for an ultra-loyalist who’d do whatever he wants at the Pentagon or whether the president-elect would be willing to elevate a former primary rival with whom he traded sharp words.

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal might not be a disinterested observer, but he suggested on Wednesday that the Hegseth nomination was already doomed. “I’ve talked to 5 to 10 Republicans who have said to me they’re just waiting for the right moment to say no to Pete Hegseth,” Blumenthal, who sits on the Armed Services Committee, told reporters.

Among the issues clouding Hegseth’s candidacy is a sexual assault allegation from 2017 — which he has denied, claiming the encounter was consensual, and in which no charges were filed.

The question of Hegseth’s alcohol use, which could be a concern given the grave responsibilities of the secretary of defense, was underscored by reporting from The New Yorker over the weekend about his tenure leading veterans’ advocacy groups. Other reports have also emerged about Hegseth’s conduct while employed at Fox News.

On Kelly’s radio show, he addressed reports of excessive drinking, complained that many of the allegations were made anonymously and suggested that some people in the Pentagon didn’t want him to get the job. “I’ve never had a drinking problem. I don’t – no one’s ever approached me and said, ‘Oh, you should really look at getting help,’” Hegseth told Kelly. He said that, like other service personnel who came home from wars, he had had some beers. “You know, how do you deal with the demons you’ve seen on the battlefield? Sometimes it’s with a bottle.” But he said that his wife Jennifer and embracing Christianity had saved his life and that he was now changed. Moreover, Hegseth said that he would treat serving as the secretary of defense like being sent to a war zone where alcohol was not allowed. “This is the biggest deployment of my life, and there won’t be a drop of alcohol on my lips while I’m doing it.”

Hegseth’s vow of temperance was welcomed by North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer, one of several Republican senators who have said that Trump’s pick would have to answer questions about allegations against him. “The drinking thing is a pretty significant issue – whether you have a problem or don’t have a problem, or you think you have a problem, or you think you don’t have a problem,” Cramer said. “And he said, ‘My commitment is to not touch alcohol while I’d have this position.’” Given that undertaking, Cramer said that he would be ready to give him the benefit of the doubt and put Hegseth before the Armed Services Committee and signaled he may be ready to eventually support his confirmation.

Hegseth’s chances hinge on winning over more senators like Cramer, which may require lowering the heat around his candidacy. Any fresh allegations against him might begin to throw his prospects even more into question. And while he says he has Trump’s support now, there’s no guarantee that he can retain it if he becomes even more of a distraction from the president-elect’s efforts to fill out his government.

Ironically, any new revelations about some of Trump’s other provocative choices — like Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the Health and Human Services Department – could help Hegseth return to the shadows and might help his aspirations. Gabbard and Kennedy have so far largely avoided the scrutiny that’s confronted Hegseth and Trump’s short-lived first pick for attorney general, former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.

The president-elect is notoriously prone to change his mind about candidates — one reason why talk of his interest in DeSantis for the defense job should be taken with appropriate caution.

Still, sources told CNN that the Florida governor and former US military lawyer would be interested in the position if asked. On the face of it, DeSantis would be a popular choice among Republicans, and he has the experience of running a massive government in Florida that could help prepare him for the task of leading the Pentagon bureaucracy. DeSantis also has the kind of culture war credentials that Trump wants for the Pentagon; he built his political brand partly on attacking diversity and inclusion programs, for example.

Swapping Florida for the Pentagon in Virginia could make smart political sense for DeSantis, as it would give him vital national security experience that could lift any future presidential campaign. If he were chosen, it would set up a fascinating triumvirate of at least three potential future primary foes — along with Vice President-elect JD Vance and secretary of state pick Marco Rubio — in Trump’s administration.

Still, DeSantis was scathing about Trump during their primary duel and was especially acerbic about the president-elect’s refusal to take part in the Republican debates. He suggested that Trump had “lost the zip” on his “fastball” and said that he’d be a far more effective implementor of MAGA policies. Unlike Rubio, who has had eight years to leaven his campaign trail critiques of Trump with praise, DeSantis’ insults may be far fresher in the president-elect’s mind.