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Facts Matter
9,500 Truckers Booted for Not Speaking English; $30M Awarded to Estate of Teen Killed in Seattle CHOP Zone
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Good evening. And today let's do a bit of a roundup of some of the most important and yet underreported stories happening across the whole country, starting with a new form of immigration crackdown. Specifically, I'm talking about the State of Florida announcing that they will be only offering driver's license tests in the English language, meaning that they are eliminating the option for people to be able to choose a foreign language when taking either a CDL or a normal driver's license test. And I personally had no idea that that was even an option, but apparently it was. Up until this month you could have taken a driver's license test in Arabic, Chinese, Creole, Spanish, as well as Russian. I guess the thinking was that if you could identify the shape of a stop sign, you didn't really need to know what those words actually said. However, that whole setup is coming to an end. Following in the footsteps of the federal government, especially after some high profile cases of CDL drivers who could not speak English, causing deadly crashes on the road, the State of Florida is eliminating this non English option. According to an announcement from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, their equivalent of the DMV, starting on February 6th, English will be the only language option for both commercial as well as non commercial driver's license test. Here's specifically what the agency said in their beginning Friday, February 6th, all driver's license knowledge and skills examinations will be administered exclusively in English. This change applies to all driver's license classifications, including exams administered orally. Language translation services will no longer be permitted for knowledge or skills examinations, and any printed exams in languages other than English will will be removed for use. Now, as I alluded to a moment ago, this change in Florida mirrors the change happening at the federal level. In March of last year, President Trump, he signed an executive order designating English as the official language of the United States. And then in the subsequent month in April, he signed another executive order, this one directing the Secretary of Transportation to ensure that commercial truck drivers here in America, the ones who fail to meet English language proficiency standards, are immediately taken out of service. In that second order, here was what Trump my administration will enforce the law to protect the safety of American truckers, drivers, passengers and others, including by upholding the safety enforcement regulations that ensure that anyone behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle is properly qualified and proficient in our national language, English. This is common sense. Just for your reference, this order from President Trump, it actually had the effect of scrapping the rule that was in place ever since President Barack Obama, under the Obama rule. If highway inspectors found a truck driver who couldn't speak English, that driver could be given a citation, but they were not allowed to remove that driver from service. They basically would just write them a ticket right there on the spot for not speaking English and that was that. This lacks Obama era system, it led to things like this. In one Florida case, Indian national Harjinder Singh was accused of killing three people after making an illegal U turn in a semi truck. Officials said Singh, who was in the United States illegally failed an English exam, answered only two of 12 questions correctly and could identify just one of four road signs. Despite that, Washington state issued him a full term commercial driver's license, a CDL license, and in 2023 and California issued a second CDL license in 2024. Singh pleaded not guilty in September. Federal reviews have identified similar cases in California, New York, Pennsylvania and other states. And so basically starting in April of last year, they began testing drivers on the road. I've even heard, well, I've read anecdotal reports of federal authorities doing stop checks at weigh stations where they would literally take the truck drivers out of the truck and, and forced them to read a Dr. Seuss book right there on the spot to prove that they could actually speak and read English. And this crackdown was effective. Between May and December of last year, 9,500 commercial truck drivers wound up getting booted from service because they failed one of these English tests. Quote, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that more than 9,500 commercial truckers have been taken out of service for failing English language proficiency checks. Now just to be fair, there are something like 2 million truck drivers in America. So 9,500 isn't that much. But on the flip side, 9,500 drivers who don't speak English operating a 20 ton truck on American highways is a lot. Also on top these English speaking drivers getting the boot, there is actually a parallel effort to catch illegal alien truck drivers. Quote the language crackdown coincides with heightened immigration enforcement targeting commercial drivers who are in the country illegally. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in October that 146 illegal immigrants operating semi trucks were arrested during a joint ICE Indiana State Police operation near the Illinois border. More than 40 drivers held CDLs issued by states including California, Illinois and New York. And actually to that last point, regarding those several states that are issuing Most of the CDLs, the Department of Transportation they went on to announce possible penalties for these states if they continue to give these CDL licenses to illegal aliens. Quote, the Transportation Department has since threatened to withhold tens of millions of dollars in federal highway safety funds from California, Washington and New Mexico unless they fully enforce English language rules and revoke improperly issued licenses. Unclear why Illinois and New York are not on this list, but there you have it. If you would like to read more about the current state of these CDLs in including the effort by the Feds to enforce English language proficiency across the whole country and the parallel effort in Florida, I'll throw my research links. You can find them down in the description box below, which is that description box right below those like and subscribe buttons. Both of which I hope you take a quick moment to smash so this video can be picked up by the YouTube algorithm and shared with ever more people. Thank you so much for that. Moving along though, to another story. Six years after that autonomous zone was set up in Seattle, a jury has found that the city must pay over $30 million to to the family of a teenager who was killed in that zone. Now a little bit of background here. In case you don't remember, in the year 2020 following the death of George Floyd, you had protests erupt in cities across the whole country. Now most of them were actually normal protests, but as you likely remember, many of them spiraled out of control. Seattle was one of those places where it spiraled during what the mayor of Seattle at the time the dubbed the Summer of Love. You had left wing protesters force the Seattle police to literally abandon their east precinct building. And then those protesters, they took over eight square blocks of Capitol Hill. And for three full weeks these protesters, they set up an autonomous zone within the city. They first called it Chaz the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, but then later it got renamed to CHOP C H O P the Capitol Hill Occupy Protest. And and in short, it was basically a no go zone. It was an anarchist style enclave where police and paramedics could not enter. They literally had checkpoints set up with armed security guards of their own. And the city government at the time, they essentially let it happen. After the police were chased out of their own precinct building for three full weeks, the city government offered tacit support to the protesters, refusing to send in the police to restore order. And it was only after a 16 year old boy was killed in this chop zone that the then mayor of Seattle, Ms. Jenny Durkin, issued an executive order declaring that the protest was an illegal assembly. And by the next morning the police were able to re enter the zone, clear out the encampments and they wound up arresting more than 40 people who failed to disperse Meaning looking back on it in a very practical sense, that the reason that this autonomous zone was able to last for three full weeks was, was because the mayor refused to do anything about it. The moment that she signed an executive order, it was basically gone within 24 hours. Now, the teenager who was killed, let me briefly tell you his story. Quote, Sixteen year old Antonio Mays Jr. Lived with his family in Southern California. Mays had traveled to Seattle to join the protest after leaving a note for his father explaining he had left their home to join in the civil rights movement. He did not tell his father where he was going, only that he wanted to make him proud. Less than 10 days later, Mays was dead after being fatally shot in a stolen white Jeep that crashed into chopped barricades just outside of the abandoned east precinct. After he was shot alongside 14 year old Robert west, who survived, volunteer protest medics attempted to treat the boy's wounds. Witnesses called 911, but because first responders wouldn't come to the zone, they decided to transport the boys via private vehicles. And just for your general reference, the police, they failed to respond for five full hours due to the limits they had on being able to enter this chop zone. And unfortunately, Antonio Mays Jr. Did not survive his wounds. And as I mentioned earlier, after his death, the mayor issued her executive order and the autonomous zone was cleared away by the next morning. However, and this next part was so surprising to me, I actually had to triple check that it was true in making this episode. And it is true, the city never arrested nor charged anyone with the murder. Despite there being witnesses who said that Antonio was shot by one of those armed CHOP security guards. Nobody was held criminally liable. And so really take the whole situation in for a moment. The city government allowed what can rightfully be called an actual insurrection to take place. They allowed left wing protesters to literally chase a chase the police away from their building, take up eight square blocks of the city, set up their own administration, set up their own armed security checkpoints. Cops and paramedics were not allowed inside. And then after a teenager was killed in the zone, the city never arrested or charged anyone. And so given all that, in 2023, three years later, the boy's father filed a lawsuit against the city, basically trying to hold him accountable. Quote, Mays Senior s lawsuit filed in 2023 originally sought to hold the city accountable for allowing CHOP to form and persist for three weeks, taking aim at former Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkin, former Police Chief Carmen Best and other officials. However, before the case got to trial, the judge threw out those arguments and removed those defendants, narrowing the case to a question of whether the city failed in its emergency response. And indeed, with that much more narrow question being asked, the case was allowed to move forward. And after three years in the legal system, it finally got to a jury. And after deliberating for 12 days, the jury found that the city of Seattle was indeed negligent in their emergency response and must therefore pay $30 million in damages to the family. Quote, the jury awarded about $4 million to the estate of Antonio Mays Jr. And about $26 million to Antonio Mays Sr. The teen's father. Jurors answered yes to two questions the court posed, whether the city was negligent in its response to the shooting and if so, whether the negligence caused Antonio Mays Jr's death. The city of Seattle will have to pay Antonio May Sr. More than $30.5 million in damages. And for his part, Mr. Antonio Sr. Said that this was a bittersweet victory. Here was what he was quoted as saying by the Seattle Times following the verdict. Quote, antonio May Sr. Said that the verdict represents some justice, but but he continues to live with the loss of his son and unanswered questions around his death. I can say that it feels good, he said at a news conference following the decision. I can't say that it feels complete, because it doesn't. I'm thankful for the verdict. I'm thankful for the success, but it doesn't feel like a resolve the words of a father who has lost a son. If you'd like to read the specific details of this case, I'll throw the links to the court documents. You'll be able to find them down in that description box below. Moving along, though, in another case of basically reaping what you sow, Mr. Ryan Ruth, the second attempted Trump assassin. He was recently sentenced to life behind bars. Or in other words, he was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Now, given the fact that the book has pretty much been closed on Mr. Ruth, and we probably will not do any more coverage of him moving forward, I wanted to pull out four interesting tidbits regarding his case that came out in trial. The first, and this was something that I didn't really catch at the time, was that he was apparently ready to flee the country on the same day that he was perched up at the golf course. Quote, investigators searching Ruth's vehicle recovered multiple cell phones, a list of international flights scheduled for the afternoon and evening of the attack, and directions to Miami International Airport, which was interesting because if you remember, after he was discovered at the golf course, he got into his car, fled the scene, drove away, and he was only arrested later on the highway. Perhaps if he wasn't arrested, he might have actually been able to slip away out of the country. Now, secondly, during the trial, Mr. Ruth, he introduced a medical report claiming that he had mental issues and should not be able to stand trial. Quote, Dr. Heather Holmes wrote a report for the defense, which is high, unavailable to the public, that Ruth suffers from narcissistic personality disorder and bipolar too. However, prosecutors argue that these diagnoses do not provide a basis to claim incompetence, insanity or diminished capacity. Additionally, the disorders are not corroborated by the defendant's prior medical or psychiatric records. There was also a separate psychiatric evaluation that concluded that Mr. Ryan Ruth was competent enough to stand trial. Thirdly, back in October, when he was found guilty on all five counts, Mr. Ryan Ruth, he in court grabbed a pen and tried to stab himself in the neck with it. He was unsuccessful, though, given the fact that U.S. marshals restrained him right then and there. That's nothing else to say there. That was just interesting. However, despite that, during the trial, Mr. Ruth attempted to portray himself as being both a gentle as well as a non violent soul. Quote, during the trial, Ruth attempted to portray himself as gentle and nonviolent, a characterization prosecutor sharply disputed, arguing that his planning showed clear intent to kill Trump. The prosecution argued in a memo that Ruth, for all his protestations of peacefulness, is a dangerous man, at least when it comes to individuals who stand in his way. Which just as an aside to me, really shows how people view public figures. They can think of themselves as being gentle and peaceful and you wouldn't hurt a fly. But you're willing to kill a public figure because you don't think of them as a human being. You just think of them as an idea. Also undercutting the portrayal of him being a gentle and non violent soul was a witness testimony that the prosecution introduced at trial. During the trial, a witness testified that he contacted law enforcement after Ruth dropped off a box at his home in April following a visit to the area near the golf course. Inside the box was a handwritten letter from Ruth that read in part, dear world, this was the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I am so sorry I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job. That same note, by the way, it went on to offer $150,000 to anyone who could finish the job. And so in its totality, the whole thing was pretty much an open and shut case. The prosecutors argued that a life sentence in this case was appropriate given the months of deliberate planning that went into it, the clear intention to kill, the lack of remorse or regret after the fact that as well as basically the necessity for this case to send a clear message to any other would be assassins. And indeed, Judge Eileen Cannon, she agreed with the prosecution and she sentenced Mr. Reinreuth to life in prison for attempting to assassinate President Trump. She also gave him seven years for the gun charge, and she ordered him to pay a $500 fine. It's unclear what'll happen if he doesn't pay that fine. Regardless, that's the end of Mr. Ryan Routh's story, at least for now. You never know what'll happen in the future. If you'd like to read more about his case, I will throw some resources, including the court documents. You'll be able to find them down in the description box, below that same description box, right below those like and subscribe buttons, which I'm sure you've already smashed. But if you haven't, now is another opportunity for you to do so. And then lastly, on a totally unrelated topic, I mentioned in the last episode as well, we here at the Epoch Times, we recently published a mini documentary on the life of Charlie Kirk. In my opinion, it's a good documentary. It serves as both a memorial to him as well as sort of a textbook study of how the extremist label was slapped on him, grew, grew, grew by the media, by social media, and then spiraled out of control into a monster that took on a life of its own and wound up in the mind of some deranged individual who pulled the trigger and killed Charlie Kirk in front of the whole world. It's a good documentary. It traces his life. It traces his impact on the world as well as America, America rather, and also the world. And then it traces the extremist label and how the label on Kirk, but also by examining the label on Kirk, it traces how the labels in general are used to attack people who go against the official narrative. It's a good documentary. Hope you check it out. I'll throw a link to it. It'll be there at the top of the description box below. You can just click on it, check it out. You also, by the way, with the documentary access, you'll get a subscription to the Epic Time, so you get kind of a whole bundle. You can check out all the other documentaries we have on there, the shows, the infographics, the articles, everything on there. Plus you get the Charlie Kirk documentary. So check it out. The link will be right there at the top of the description box below. And until next time, I'm your host Roman from the Epoch Times. Stay informed and most importantly, stay free. Foreign. 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