Episode 047: Terminator Xcessive

How many ways can we be terminally excessive? We live in a world where the Terminator actor was rewarded with a governorship, yet people who rap about violence take the bulk of the blame for the world being more violent. Actions intended to terminate the problem often result in the the failure to fix what’s broken. Police are here supposedly to fix the crimes, yet they are far too often criminals themselves–using excessive force to gain submission and compliance. Heit & Cheri begin this episode of The Axiom Amnesia Theory with a discussion on technological enhancements to human bodies and environments, but quickly delve into all topics “terminator xcessive.”

Topics discussed include colonizing Mars and space exploration, challenges of building a new civilization, Chavis Carter case update, Trayvon Martin / George Zimmerman case update, Dane Scott Jr. case update, $2 million expedition to find Amelia Earhart, 33 year-old search for Etan Patz, Rio De Janeiro drug dealers refusing to sell crack, Australia’s law about cigarette packages, discussion of the song of the week: Z-Ro’s “Continue 2 Roll,” May 2010 Dow Jones crash, woman held in jail as illegal because police too lazy to check her birth certificate, Condi Rice’s admission to Augusta National, Jay-Z’s small amount of Nets ownership, Skip Bayless’ comment that whites will root for whites in sports, a study that attributes sleep problems to race, and more!

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Segment 1

• Discussion about using technology to enhance our lives, both biologically and mechanically–and the environment too! Some people predict that we will expand into the entire universe. The question is where will we go once we run out of materials on earth? This leads to a discussion about colonizing Mars and other planets.
• Discussion about how colonizing other planets will be for the rich only. If you’re a regular person, you might be able to go as a servant to the rich.
• When you think about building a whole new civilization, it brings up the idea of what skill sets you’ll need in various people.
• Mention of the BBC show, Survivors as an example of rebuilding civilization. In the series, the government sent invitations to get help from people who have specific skills.
• Mention of the movie 2012, as another example of disaster movies that are faced with what and whom to save from the current civilization.
• Continued discussion about what it would be like to start a new civilization.
• Discussion about NASA and the private corporations that are working on the Mars rover projects.
• Comparison of the show Heroes with Alphas. Heit thinks Alphas is better.
• Discussion of the Chavis Carter case–the 21 year-old who Jonesoro police say shot himself in the head while handcuffed in the back of a police car. His death was recently ruled a suicide by the medical examiner’s office.
• The Arkansas State Crime Laboratory works for law enforcement agencies, so how can this report be trusted? There are discrepancies, even within their report. They say he was shot in the right temple at an angle from the front to back, and top down. How could he accomplish this with handcuffs on?
• Continued discussion about the apparent coverup in the Chavis Carter case. Hopefully there will be continued pressure to push for further investigation.
• Discussion of the video that was supposed to demonstrate how a person can shoot himself while handcuffed in the back of a police car.
• Jonesboro Police also released the dash cam videos of the incident, which fail to depict video or sound from the actual incident.
• Discussion of how the two police cars from the video parked trunk-to-trunk, so that the cameras couldn’t pick up activity behind the cars.
• Discussion about the recorded witness interviews, and the discrepancies in their accounts.
• The first witness said that he saw the police find marijuana on Chavis Carter. They were not close to the incident and it was pitch dark. Another witness said they identified the sound they heard as a shot, but a different witness recounted the same line as the police–he didn’t identify the sound as a shot, and thought a car had hit something in the road.
• The whole reason the police were there in the first place is because one of the witnesses called them because they saw the car outside.
• Discussion about the issues with the traffic stop. They took Chavis out of the car first, even though he wasn’t the driver.
• There is no report released that shows any gunshot residue on Chavis Carter’s hands.
• George Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark O’Mara, has filed a notice of objection to subpoena his medical records. They stated the following in a statement:
  

  “We object to the State’s request for additional medical records, as there has been no showing of relevance, or that these records would lead to discoverable, relevant information. We have agreed to review the records and voluntarily disclose what may be relevant.”

• The defense in this case is ridiculous–of course his medical history is important when he killed a young, unarmed boy.
• It seems as if Zimmerman has something to hide in those records.
• Discussion on the Dane Scott Jr. case. He was killed by Dell City Police Captain Randy Harrison, while trying to run away after a car chase.
• The officer who killed Dane Scott Jr. is now facing manslaughter charges.
• One of the other officers on the scene said that he used a taser because he didn’t see Scott as a threat. The defense tried to discredit the officer by suggesting that he would get the other officer’s position if Harrison lost his job.
• Discussion about how people seem to feel that a person deserves to die if they are involved in “criminal” activity. Why should the police officer get to determine whether a person lives or dies?
• It seems as if race is a factor in the way people interpret the events of this case. It makes no sense that people are being instantly criminalized because of what they look like.
• Discussion about spending $2 million for an expedition to try to find out what happened to Amelia Earhart 75 years ago. What else could that money have been spent on?
• Discussion about Etan Patz, a young boy who went missing in 1979, and is believed to have been murdered. NYPD continues to try to break the case, but is the expenditure of funds worth it after all this time?
• Discussion about two missing Black girls, Diamond and Tionda Bradley, and how the interest in their case faded after a few weeks.
• Discussion about how the drug dealers in Rio de Janeiro refuse to sell crack. They chose to forgo the quick sales and money of crack, in favor of the social benefits of ridding the community of crack.
• Discussion of how just because a person is involved in criminal activity in the community, the assumption is that they must not care about people. The movie Belly is an example of a drug dealer doing work for the community–not just taking everything from the community without giving back.
• Discussion about Australia’s law that cigarette packages must be blank to reserve space for them to add graphic photos of the consequences smoking. What do you think about the idea of posting gruesome pictures of the long-term consequences of smoking on cigarette packages? The issue here is that this is like brainwashing–constantly bombarding people with images to change or influence their behavior.

Segment 2

• Discussion of the song of the week, Z-Ro’s “Continue 2 Roll.”
• The song touched on so many different issues, such as violence in films and music, relationships, promiscuity, betrayal, and more.
• Cheri’s favorite lines were:
  

  Before you know it you a felon, waiting on a release
  Thinking revenge, cause a friend got you took off the streets
  And then they wonder, why I roll solo
  When I’m in the hood, don’t consider Z-Ro as your homie no mo’

• Discussion of how Z-Ro expresses the vacillating between extremes of emotions about people he feels close to.
• It seems like he feels like he can only trust himself. This stems from the issue that people face when they are all trying to fight for limited resources.
• Heit’s favorite line was, “People that work hard get robbed, for every penny they save.” This speaks to the corporation and Wall Street culture. The idea of working all of your life for something, but you never actually get it–whether you worked “legitimately” or not.
• People often live for the future, with no balance between living for today and preparing for what is to come.
• Discussion of how the Dow Jones dropped 1000 points a couple of years ago in May 2010, and they decided to have a do-over. They just rolled back all the sales and losses to correct the error. This should be enough to let you know that it’s not even reality. Only Wall Street are there do-overs like that.

Segment 3

• Discussion about Briseira Torres, who was locked up for four and a half months as a suspected illegal immigrant. The “authorities” didn’t bother to look at her long form birth certificate, which would have cleared up any doubt about her nationality.
• Discussion of how Arizona refuses to follow Obama’s new immigration policy.
• Discussion about whether young undocumented immigrants should apply for deferred action. There is reason to be skeptical about whether the information provided in these applications might be used against the applicant at some point in the future.
• Discussion about the best chance for resident status approval is for the person to apply from their home country.
• Discussion about the negative responses of some Blacks regarding establishing citizenship and legal status for undocumented immigrants.

Segment 4

• Listening to “Who’s Illegal?” by Jasiri X Ft Rhymefest.
• Augusta National, an exclusive golf club, finally admitted their first women to the club.
• Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and business woman Darla Moore were the two women given admission.
• People are all excited about this step. This is a story about rich men letting rich women into their club. It wasn’t that long ago that they let Black men join the club. Pretty much they just have token minorities and women in the club now. This is no real step toward diversity.
• The protesters should focus on things that will have a broader impact on the majority of people.
• For these women who accepted the invitation, it is like a validation of the club’s previous BS.
• They invited these women in order to use them to make it seem like they are diverse. Foolishness!
• Dr. Boyce Watkins wrote an article about how Jay-Z, only owns a small slice of the Nets basketball team.
• Jay-Z only owns one-fifteenth of one percent of the team. The whole purpose of his involvement is to bring more people–especially Black and brown people–to the games.
• Discussion of the Skip Bayless clip where he says that whites root for whites, and Blacks root for Blacks in sports. He said it is natural to do so. This is pretty much true, so why are people so up in arms about his comments?
• Heit & Cheri give real-world examples of how people do this all the time.
• Heit confesses that his favorite Olympian is Zoe Smith. He mentions a funny clip, where she tried to lift the weight and runs off the screen with it.
• Heit gives a demonstration of his unique skill set–the ability to make acronyms out of words.
• Discussion about a recent study that attributes sleeping problems to race. Balderdash! What a horrible conclusion for them to come up with.

Audio Credits:

“Continue 2 Roll” – Z-Ro featuring Tanya Herron
“Who’s Illegal?” – Jasiri X Ft Rhymefest
“Skip Bayless Says White Redskins Fans Will Support Kirk Cousins Over Robert Griffin III” – ESPN via YouTube

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