Latest / The Bill Handel Show / California Soft on DUIs | NEW Citizenship Test
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from kf I
- 0:04Speaker 1: am six forty.
- 0:06Speaker 2: That is SOFI am six forty Bill Handle here. Good
- 0:12Speaker 2: morning everybody. You betcha. It is a Thursday morning, November twentieth.
- 0:19Speaker 2: Neil is going to be out this weekend at the
- 0:25Speaker 2: Wendy's in I think Mission via Ho.
- 0:28Speaker 3: I just write that down someplace.
- 0:30Speaker 1: Two three zero two two Alicia Parkway in Mission via Ho.
- 0:34Speaker 3: Come on out. We'll be there from two to five.
- 0:36Speaker 3: We'll have a good time. Hens. I'll be there. I'll
- 0:39Speaker 3: be there. Come out. Scream at me.
- 0:41Speaker 2: Yo politics and call me a left wing radical hoaster,
- 0:46Speaker 2: or you can go the other way and call me
- 0:48Speaker 2: a super conservative fundamentalist. Either way, and I have both,
- 0:54Speaker 2: and I'm assuming Neil. Now, Neil doesn't do a lot
- 0:57Speaker 2: of politics.
- 0:58Speaker 3: So let's go.
- 1:00Speaker 1: You think I'm both all the time? Something fair enough,
- 1:02Speaker 1: I'm liberal? Someone think some conservative?
- 1:05Speaker 3: Both wrong right, no left.
- 1:10Speaker 2: Let's talk about something that we just discovered or just
- 1:14Speaker 2: came out. According to data from the US, Mexico is
- 1:20Speaker 2: now the world's top buyer of US goods, not China,
- 1:25Speaker 2: not Canada, which for years has been Mexico.
- 1:31Speaker 3: And there are a few reasons for that.
- 1:33Speaker 2: Some of the reasons make a lot of sense, and
- 1:36Speaker 2: some of the reasons are politically.
- 1:39Speaker 3: Insane, I will even say stupid.
- 1:42Speaker 2: So even despite periodic political tensions, you know, between Mexico
- 1:47Speaker 2: and the US, we're still very entwined with Mexico and
- 1:53Speaker 2: the global trade. The entire entire pattern of global trade
- 1:57Speaker 2: has shifted in literally a couple of years. And so
- 2:01Speaker 2: number one is now Mexico. China used to be number one,
- 2:05Speaker 2: but now China is number two. This was released by
- 2:09Speaker 2: the US Commerce Department, and it showed how the President's
- 2:14Speaker 2: global tariffs really took a toll on overall trade in August.
- 2:19Speaker 2: Why because the tariffs about from about ninety countries went
- 2:25Speaker 2: into effect.
- 2:26Speaker 3: Okay, so why is Canada dropping.
- 2:31Speaker 2: And why is Mexico increasing its trade with the US. Well,
- 2:36Speaker 2: let's start with the tariffs on exports, both in China
- 2:43Speaker 2: and in Canada. The President has nailed Canada with tariffs.
- 2:50Speaker 2: And why is that? Well, do you remember the commercial
- 2:53Speaker 2: that Ontario did ripping into President Trump.
- 2:58Speaker 3: Okay, I'll show you.
- 3:01Speaker 2: You don't make commercials against me, you don't attack me personally.
- 3:05Speaker 2: Here's some tariffs you can deal with Mexico. Shine bomb
- 3:10Speaker 2: the president of Mexico. Well, let's put it this way.
- 3:14Speaker 2: You hear Shine Bob when she talks, she talks like
- 3:18Speaker 2: this and you can't really listen to what she says.
- 3:21Speaker 3: Because her head is so far up Trump's.
- 3:25Speaker 2: But that we're gonna make damn sure that Mexico is exempt. Also,
- 3:34Speaker 2: there are issues in terms of tariffs in general that
- 3:39Speaker 2: even low tariffs I have caused prices to go up.
- 3:42Speaker 2: Especially food prices have gone up dramatically, and food comes
- 3:47Speaker 2: from Mexico in a major way. And the prices for
- 3:50Speaker 2: food has exploded, probably more so than other products, more
- 3:56Speaker 2: so than cars. Housing probably has gone up more. But
- 4:00Speaker 2: that's very long term. So the President has now exempted
- 4:05Speaker 2: many many food stuff of which Mexico produces. And so
- 4:12Speaker 2: the tariffs have really helped Mexico. Not the tariffs against Mexico,
- 4:17Speaker 2: the tariffs against everyone else. So why is Mexico such
- 4:23Speaker 2: a big player and has become number one? Okay, let's
- 4:26Speaker 2: talk about logistics. It's right next to the United States.
- 4:30Speaker 2: It has a decent infrastructure, labor costs are a fraction
- 4:36Speaker 2: of what they are, and there's a skilled workforce that
- 4:41Speaker 2: is being created. So what are the leading exports to
- 4:44Speaker 2: the US cars. These are mainly US and European countries.
- 4:50Speaker 2: The cars are assembled in Mexico. Machinery, electronics, medical devices,
- 4:56Speaker 2: and what's indigenous to Mexico.
- 4:59Speaker 3: And this is a bit one.
- 5:00Speaker 2: Fruits and vegetables have become a huge, huge part. For example, avocados.
- 5:09Speaker 2: We don't grow many avocados here, certainly not enough to
- 5:15Speaker 2: fulfill our need, our love of guacamole, for example, so
- 5:20Speaker 2: we import those from Mexico. Well, if you have a
- 5:24Speaker 2: major tariff, they get really expensive. If they have, the
- 5:28Speaker 2: prices of avocados go through the roof, which how much
- 5:31Speaker 2: is an avocado? Now the price of avocados has gone
- 5:34Speaker 2: absolutely crazy. I remember they used to be three for
- 5:38Speaker 2: two dollars.
- 5:42Speaker 3: Now what are they are?
- 5:43Speaker 2: Twelve eighteen dollars a piece, twenty seven dollars a piece.
- 5:47Speaker 2: I mean, you go to Mexican restaurant and guacamole is
- 5:50Speaker 2: I'll take one order of guacamole. Yeah, that's sixty dollars.
- 5:54Speaker 2: It's pretty expensive. So what happens now we have reasons
- 6:00Speaker 2: prices and just that that's just one, just one example,
- 6:04Speaker 2: and when you look at examples of other food stuffs.
- 6:07Speaker 2: The President is exempted about one hundred different food stuffs
- 6:11Speaker 2: in terms of tariffs.
- 6:14Speaker 3: So Mexico has become the.
- 6:17Speaker 2: Biggest player and it's over three hundred and sixty billion dollars. Also,
- 6:26Speaker 2: the US is purchased from the Mexo's purchase from the
- 6:31Speaker 2: US meat and cereals like corn, both for animals and
- 6:36Speaker 2: human fuel, and it just helped Mexico increase its economy.
- 6:42Speaker 2: So those are the reasons, and a lot of them
- 6:46Speaker 2: just personal, just the president like Brazil. It's straight personal,
- 6:51Speaker 2: has nothing to do with the balance of trade. As
- 6:53Speaker 2: a matter of fact, we sell more to Brazil than
- 6:57Speaker 2: we buy. It's a positive balance of te Why you
- 7:00Speaker 2: need tariffs, Well, because Trump loves Bolsonario boll scenario, the
- 7:06Speaker 2: previous very right wing Trump ally who was president of Mexico.
- 7:14Speaker 2: Our president has actually interfered in the foreign affairs or
- 7:19Speaker 2: in the internal affairs of Brazil, saying drop the case
- 7:24Speaker 2: against Bolsonnaro, drop the case. Why why an outsider telling
- 7:32Speaker 2: us internally what we're gonna do. Well, I'm also going
- 7:34Speaker 2: to hit you with a fifty percent terraff from what
- 7:37Speaker 2: we buy from Brazil. Okay, California has always been at
- 7:42Speaker 2: the forefront of dealing with the UIs. I mean, that's
- 7:46Speaker 2: the reputation we had had noticed I use that word.
- 7:51Speaker 2: I was kind of shocked that this story came out.
- 7:56Speaker 2: For example, there was a thirteen year old kid here
- 8:00Speaker 2: in southern California on his way to school was hit
- 8:03Speaker 2: by a hit and run driver and was killed, and
- 8:07Speaker 2: the driver was booked for fell any DUI fell any
- 8:12Speaker 2: hit and run and murder.
- 8:15Speaker 3: Well, that is really rare.
- 8:19Speaker 2: Why because it's how the state handles the UI. Now,
- 8:23Speaker 2: we were the birthplace of the modern movement against trunk
- 8:26Speaker 2: driving in the nineteen eighties, but over the past decade
- 8:30Speaker 2: roadway deaths, alcohol related roadway deaths have shot up more
- 8:35Speaker 2: than fifty percent, that's for starters, which is more than
- 8:40Speaker 2: twice as much as the rest of the country, and
- 8:44Speaker 2: the penalties have dropped. Cal Matters looked at manslaughter and
- 8:50Speaker 2: homicide rates from twenty nineteen through twenty twenty four and
- 8:54Speaker 2: a bunch of other states laws about intoxicated driving, etc.
- 9:00Speaker 3: And what the.
- 9:00Speaker 2: Records show about California is way too often we fail.
- 9:05Speaker 2: California fails to differentiate between drivers who made quote a
- 9:09Speaker 2: dangerous mistake, but learn.
- 9:12Speaker 3: From it.
- 9:14Speaker 2: From those who refuse to stop endangering lives. Drunk and
- 9:20Speaker 2: drugged driving is so common in California now that drivers
- 9:24Speaker 2: routinely rack up four to five sixty UIs. How do
- 9:28Speaker 2: you let someone with six DUIs drive? I would think
- 9:35Speaker 2: that theybe arrested the first one out.
- 9:37Speaker 3: How do you get six.
- 9:40Speaker 2: And so? And one woman got her sixteenth? I don't
- 9:43Speaker 2: know why she isn't in prison for twenty years. So
- 9:48Speaker 2: here in California, which now has the weakest UI laws
- 9:52Speaker 2: in the country, drivers can't be charged with the felony
- 9:56Speaker 2: until their fourth DUI within ten years unless they injure someone.
- 10:02Speaker 2: In some states, a second UI as a felony. Okay,
- 10:07Speaker 2: By the way, that there's a kid, a young lady
- 10:11Speaker 2: Sarah of Dulaar who was walking with her fiance and
- 10:15Speaker 2: was hit by someone and the driver had drunk driving
- 10:20Speaker 2: Rutgers twenty eighteen twenty nineteen, twenty twenty all misdemeanors and
- 10:26Speaker 2: he served a couple of weeks before the crash. Her
- 10:30Speaker 2: parents buried her in her wedding dress. And we give
- 10:37Speaker 2: drunk drivers their licenses back faster than any state in
- 10:42Speaker 2: the Union.
- 10:45Speaker 3: It is crazy.
- 10:46Speaker 2: Drivers were found to have as many sixty UIs and
- 10:51Speaker 2: were still able to get a license.
- 10:54Speaker 3: Wow.
- 10:57Speaker 2: Even when the state does take away a license, drivers
- 11:01Speaker 2: stay on the road for years, racking up more tickets,
- 11:04Speaker 2: new DUIs and few consequences. Untially kills someone. That's when
- 11:09Speaker 2: it gets serious. I mean that is completely crazy. Drunk
- 11:14Speaker 2: vehicular manslaughter is not considered a violent felony. Now a
- 11:21Speaker 2: DUI that causes great bodily injury. Great bodily injury means
- 11:27Speaker 2: that a drunk driver who breaks someone's leg faces more
- 11:32Speaker 2: time behind bars as if they killed, more time than
- 11:35Speaker 2: with they killed someone, according to the law in California.
- 11:40Speaker 3: And it's really easy answer.
- 11:42Speaker 2: And that is these ignition interlock devices in car breathalyzers,
- 11:49Speaker 2: which so many states have, we don't have them. For
- 11:53Speaker 2: the most part, we don't have him. And well, there's
- 11:57Speaker 2: a couple of stats I'm not going to share with you.
- 12:00Speaker 2: But unlike most states, California does not require first time
- 12:04Speaker 2: drunk drivers to use these breathalyzers. Which unless you blow
- 12:09Speaker 2: into a breathalyzer and blow a zero, that car won't start. Now,
- 12:15Speaker 2: you can have a friend start your car. But let's
- 12:20Speaker 2: say you're drunk in a bar. Who's going to go
- 12:23Speaker 2: out and blow a breathalyzer for you. Nobody that's rational?
- 12:30Speaker 2: So would that help? Oh yeah, here's the other thing.
- 12:35Speaker 2: Even though state law does require the devices for repeat
- 12:38Speaker 2: offenders five six seven DUIs, those laws aren't even being enforced.
- 12:46Speaker 2: Judges in more than a dozen counties here in California
- 12:49Speaker 2: ordered breathalyzers for less than ten percent of drivers convicted
- 12:53Speaker 2: of a second DUI. There are states in a first
- 12:57Speaker 2: DUI you get a breathalyzer. So this fall, California lawmakers
- 13:04Speaker 2: introduced a bill that would require anybody convicted of a
- 13:08Speaker 2: DUI to use a breathalyzer. It was gutted by Sacramento.
- 13:15Speaker 2: There were enough votes that didn't where the law.
- 13:19Speaker 3: Didn't come to fruition.
- 13:21Speaker 2: So we've gone from the most stringent strict laws and
- 13:27Speaker 2: procedures against the UI and mad mothers against truck drivers.
- 13:31Speaker 3: Actually started here in California.
- 13:34Speaker 2: And we're at the forefront, and now we are dead last.
- 13:39Speaker 3: It's a shanda. It is a shame, okay.
- 13:45Speaker 2: In September, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a
- 13:50Speaker 2: new test, a civics test for immigrants when applying for citizenship.
- 13:55Speaker 3: It's new, it's harder.
- 13:57Speaker 2: Now there's an article in The New York Times where
- 13:59Speaker 2: this author spent a year sitting in social studies, government
- 14:04Speaker 2: history classes, and public schools across the country, and she
- 14:09Speaker 2: said very few of those students she met of any
- 14:12Speaker 2: age could pass the new citizenship test.
- 14:16Speaker 3: Second of all, very.
- 14:17Speaker 2: Few of the schools would even the schools would even
- 14:19Speaker 2: administer it. And the requirement to commit dates and names
- 14:23Speaker 2: and places is completely at ads with the curriculum that's
- 14:28Speaker 2: become standard in school and even among progressive teachers and
- 14:32Speaker 2: school officials. No, in the history test administered in twenty
- 14:37Speaker 2: twenty two by NEEP the National Assessment of Educational Progress,
- 14:42Speaker 2: which is widely cited as the federal exam, fourteen percent
- 14:47Speaker 2: of eighth graders got a proficient level. At least forty
- 14:52Speaker 2: percent fell below basic. I mean, they're just not classing,
- 14:58Speaker 2: So what's going on. Numbers have been dismal for a
- 15:01Speaker 2: very long time. And look at this, most students didn't
- 15:07Speaker 2: know anything about the Jim Crow Laws when the Civil
- 15:11Speaker 2: War was actually fought, and they were taking American history
- 15:14Speaker 2: classes at the time.
- 15:17Speaker 3: So why does the US even administer these tests?
- 15:20Speaker 2: Well, it assumes that you need to know some history
- 15:24Speaker 2: and background on how our government works in order to
- 15:27Speaker 2: be an engaged citizen. So Illinois, just give you an example.
- 15:33Speaker 2: Illinois high school history and civic standards take up oh wow,
- 15:38Speaker 2: three quarters of one page and have no dates at all.
- 15:46Speaker 2: So here is and by the way, I'm going to
- 15:48Speaker 2: have fun the next segment. But here is a question
- 15:52Speaker 2: I want to ask you, and this one is no
- 15:54Speaker 2: one would be able to answer. The Naturalization Act required
- 16:01Speaker 2: prospective citizens to demonstrate their attachment to the principles of
- 16:06Speaker 2: the Constitution when you are trying to become a citizen.
- 16:11Speaker 2: When was the natural Act Naturalization Act past?
- 16:16Speaker 3: Any idea? Holy hell? Seriously, Yeah, I know it's I'm
- 16:20Speaker 3: not asking you to know that.
- 16:21Speaker 2: I'm just giving you it's a factoid because no one
- 16:23Speaker 2: would know this. I don't know it, you know, one
- 16:26Speaker 2: out of one hundred, one out of a thousand would know.
- 16:28Speaker 2: But this is just a fun factoid.
- 16:30Speaker 3: One. When was the Naturalization Act past?
- 16:35Speaker 2: Seventeen ninety exactly correct, seventeen ninety five. You yeah, of
- 16:41Speaker 2: course he googled it. Don't do that again. It was
- 16:46Speaker 2: a great bit that I was doing.
- 16:48Speaker 1: Uh, they just say Google, They just just take it will.
- 16:54Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 16:55Speaker 1: Wow, who became natural Okay, all right, I'm over some
- 16:59Speaker 1: of the questions and there's no way I would have
- 17:01Speaker 1: been able to answer them.
- 17:02Speaker 2: No, I know that is something and no one be
- 17:04Speaker 2: able to ask unless you googled it like Will did,
- 17:07Speaker 2: and even then he got it wrong. It wasn't the
- 17:09Speaker 2: seventeen ninety it was seventeen ninety five. So you're half blind, okay,
- 17:14Speaker 2: And I gotta tell you, I don't know how anybody.
- 17:17Speaker 3: Can fail it.
- 17:18Speaker 2: First of all, you have to answer twelve out of
- 17:21Speaker 2: twenty correct instead of the old six out of ten.
- 17:25Speaker 2: It includes a larger pool of questions one hundred and
- 17:28Speaker 2: twenty eight as an increase from previous.
- 17:31Speaker 3: One hundred, a broader range of topics.
- 17:34Speaker 2: And I'm looking at these questions and I'm going, oh,
- 17:38Speaker 2: come on, how do you well? A few of these
- 17:41Speaker 2: questions are difficult, but all you have to do is
- 17:45Speaker 2: answer twelve.
- 17:46Speaker 3: Out of twenty.
- 17:47Speaker 2: And so as I look at these questions, you have
- 17:52Speaker 2: four different ways of answering this, which is kind of interesting,
- 17:59Speaker 2: and some are pretty close. You know. For example, the
- 18:04Speaker 2: US Constitution starts with the words we the People. Who
- 18:08Speaker 2: is we the people? Anybody want to that would be
- 18:12Speaker 2: we the people? Actually, yes, we the people. Does that
- 18:17Speaker 2: mean self government? Popular sovereignty, consent of the govern people
- 18:21Speaker 2: should govern themselves?
- 18:23Speaker 3: A social contract? Pick one? A good I think they're good.
- 18:30Speaker 3: All right? How many amendments the Constitution? Twenty seven?
- 18:34Speaker 4: Okay, good for you.
- 18:37Speaker 3: No kidding? How many people do that? Okay?
- 18:40Speaker 2: Life, liberty in the pursuit of happiness? Where is that
- 18:42Speaker 2: written declaration of independence? Absolutely?
- 18:49Speaker 3: All right? The US Constitution? The US Constitution.
- 18:54Speaker 2: Name name one document that influenced the Constitution?
- 19:03Speaker 3: Oh?
- 19:03Speaker 4: Those letters?
- 19:05Speaker 3: Oh the right that was that's one of them.
- 19:07Speaker 2: That's the Federalist papers that were written.
- 19:11Speaker 3: Yep, that's good.
- 19:12Speaker 2: But would the test Yeah, it would as well.
- 19:18Speaker 3: No, you sound like I'm more on fair enough? And
- 19:21Speaker 3: then there easy one.
- 19:22Speaker 2: How much How many senators are there?
- 19:26Speaker 3: Yep? How long is the term for a senator?
- 19:29Speaker 4: Six years?
- 19:30Speaker 3: That's correct? Name your senators?
- 19:33Speaker 4: No idea correct name?
- 19:36Speaker 2: You're congress person in your district? No, that's correct. We
- 19:43Speaker 2: keep ongoing. The President of the United States can only
- 19:46Speaker 2: serve two terms? Why and what gives him? Why is
- 19:51Speaker 2: he limited? And what's a little bit of history of it?
- 19:56Speaker 2: Twenty second is good? Are you guys looking this up?
- 20:02Speaker 2: I don't know, Yeah, I see you looking down and
- 20:05Speaker 2: your fingers are flying. Okay, the twenty second Amendment which
- 20:09Speaker 2: limits it for two terms, and it doesn't ask why. Okay,
- 20:15Speaker 2: who appoints the federal judges? What do you mean the
- 20:19Speaker 2: president who appoints federal judges?
- 20:21Speaker 4: Well, the president appoints them. The conquerors has to.
- 20:23Speaker 2: Okay, the president does appoint them. That is correct, that's
- 20:26Speaker 2: all it asks. But you're right, it's the president appoints.
- 20:29Speaker 2: What does the cabinet do?
- 20:32Speaker 1: It opens and closes so you can get snacks.
- 20:34Speaker 3: That is also correct.
- 20:36Speaker 2: Yes, okay, So assuming if that's the first answer, which
- 20:40Speaker 2: is correct, let's.
- 20:40Speaker 3: Go to what does the cabinet do? They enforce laws?
- 20:45Speaker 3: And Nope, they certainly do not. They just advise.
- 20:49Speaker 2: They advise, that's it advises. They do not support the law.
- 20:56Speaker 2: We have more and more.
- 20:57Speaker 1: Wait a second, if the executive branch enforces law and
- 21:00Speaker 1: it's headed by the president, wouldn't they.
- 21:04Speaker 3: They do not enforce. No, they don't have enforcement powers.
- 21:07Speaker 4: The Department of Justice can right.
- 21:09Speaker 2: Justice is enforced yeah, uh, and not a cabinet position.
- 21:14Speaker 2: That's not a capital Well, the Department of Justice is,
- 21:17Speaker 2: but they don't enforce the laws.
- 21:19Speaker 3: They arrest people.
- 21:21Speaker 2: But it's the courts that actually enforce all right, Uh,
- 21:24Speaker 2: what are the uh?
- 21:26Speaker 3: Oh, who can be a citizen of the United States?
- 21:30Speaker 4: Anybody?
- 21:30Speaker 3: How many ways can you be a citizen? How many
- 21:32Speaker 3: ways can you be a citizen? Born here? Born is one? Uh?
- 21:38Speaker 3: You could be a uh Mary? No, no, nope, nope, nope, nope.
- 21:44Speaker 3: Take a test, nope.
- 21:48Speaker 4: Do you become a citizen?
- 21:50Speaker 3: To become a citizen? Uh?
- 21:52Speaker 2: If you are naturalized, you have to take a test
- 21:56Speaker 2: to become a citizen. You are born here, You're already
- 21:59Speaker 2: a citizen. How old and this is not in the test.
- 22:04Speaker 2: I'm just throwing this at you. How old does someone
- 22:06Speaker 2: have to be to become president of the United States?
- 22:09Speaker 4: Forty five?
- 22:09Speaker 3: Thirty seven? Thirty five thirty? That's close.
- 22:12Speaker 4: Wait, what's the what's Congress then? Because there that threshold.
- 22:15Speaker 2: Onrest I think is thirty. I believe Congress is thirty.
- 22:20Speaker 4: A thirty five year old president?
- 22:22Speaker 3: Wow, you can end that.
- 22:23Speaker 2: Well, the youngest was forty two, which isn't far off.
- 22:26Speaker 2: We had forty to forty two year old presidents. Teddy
- 22:28Speaker 2: Roosevelt became president by assassination William McKinley and the first
- 22:33Speaker 2: the only elected president at forty two was jfk Okay.
- 22:38Speaker 2: I mean, we can go on forever, but that's it.
- 22:40Speaker 2: You guys would basically pass what guys's pass twelve out
- 22:46Speaker 2: of twenty. Yeah, and you guys have it, okay, KFI
- 22:51Speaker 2: AM six forty seven.
- 22:54Speaker 3: You've been listening to The Bill Handle Show.
- 22:56Speaker 2: Catch my Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
- 22:59Speaker 2: and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app