The Chauncey DeVega Show

Jonathan Eig is an award-winning author and journalist whose books include Ali: A Life and Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig.

His new book is King: A Life.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Jonathan emphasizes the real and complex Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as opposed to the man who has been made into a secular saint, what it was like to be a trustee of such a legacy and life, and how the real and complex and flawed man who did amazing things is so much more interesting and inspiring than the 2-dimensional version of Dr. King that too many people robotically worship.

Jonathan also explains how we should not overlook or otherwise ignore Dr. King's very human imperfections such as his womanizing, plagiarizing, as well as emotional vulnerabilities and struggles that included serious depression and suicide attempts, because to do so is to take away King's ability to inspire we regular folks to achieve great things in very difficult times.

On this Memorial Day weekend episode of the podcast, Chauncey DeVega shares a story about King MAGA Uncle Trump CHUD's unbelievable adventures in love. Chauncey has also found himself immersed in a high-profile animal bird country law case involving a young crow delinquent who attacked a man in a local park.

And in a special segment of the show, Chauncey DeVega honors the life and legacy of the great and underappreciated professional wrestler "Superstar" Billy Graham who passed away last week.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow

This is a sneak preview of this week's installment of The Truth Report:

https://thetruthreportwithchaunceydevega.libsyn.com/ep-126-mark-jacob-explains-how-americas-mainstream-news-media-surrendered-to-donald-trump-and-the-republican-fascist-movement

Mark Jacob is a media critic and a former Metro Editor at the Chicago Tribune and Sunday Editor at the Chicago Sun-Times.

He reflects on his decades-long career in the news media and what he learned about that institution's failings and how it helped to birth the Age of Trump and American neofascism.

Mark Jacob warns that obsolete habits and cultural norms such as "fairness", "objectivity", "bothsidesism", "access journalism", and "horse race coverage" by the mainstream corporate news media are acts of cowardice and surrender to the Republican fascists and other malign actors.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow

In honor of Star Wars and the 40th anniversary of Return of the Jedi, friend of the podcast and fellow traveler Mr. Bill is the special guest on this eclectic episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show.

Chauncey DeVega and Mr. Bill reflect on their four-decade-long relationship with all things Star Wars and how they feel as men of a certain vintage about George Lucas's great gift to the world, why they love it so much, and how that love and relationship went so wrong with Disney's takeover.

They also discuss what it was like to see Return of the Jedi in the theater last week, the perils of nostalgia, and what the future direction of the Star Wars Universe should be – and if it can be salvaged.

And Chauncey DeVega and Bill the Lizard also try to make sense of how Season Three of The Mandalorian went so wrong and why Grogu should be very upset at how he has been treated.

On this special eclectic episode, Chauncey DeVega honors the now departed Jerry Springer, shares the lessons about our common humanity that he learned in his neighborhood these last two weeks, and goes to the movies (and has yet another titillating experience while there).

At the end of this eclectic episode, Chauncey shares two heartwarming stories about our beloved animal friends.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow

Jason Van Tatenhove is former national media director of the right-wing militia group the Oath Keepers. Mr. Tatenhove testified about the escalating dangers of right-wing radicalization and neofascism before the House Jan. 6 Committee.

His new book is The Perils of Extremism: How I Left the Oath Keepers and Why We Should be Concerned about a Future Civil War.

In this wide-ranging conversation Jason reflects on his life decisions and mistakes and how he found himself radicalized by the Oath Keepers. He also explains why the Republican-fascists and the larger right-wing media propaganda machine is so effective, and how economic precarity and loneliness are powerful forces that suck too many white people into right-wing paramilitary and other fascist organizations.

Chauncey DeVega continues to tell some helpful stories about how you and we can all be heroes in our own neighborhoods and larger communities.

Chauncey also explains how America is sick with negrophobia as seen, again, by how another innocent young Black person was almost killed by an older white man (this time in Kansas City) who was high on Fox News and other right-wing hate poison.

And in a special bonus segment of the show, Chauncey DeVega updates all the good members of the podcast family as to his whereabouts these last few weeks and how he had an Iron Chef inspired accident in the kitchen that sent him to the hospital emergency room.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow

Nate Powell is a graphic novelist and musician. He is also the first cartoonist to win the National Book Award. Nate Powell has also won four Eisner Awards.

His work includes Ozark horror tale Come Again, civil rights icon John Lewis' March trilogy and its follow-up Run, comics essay About Face, and graphic novels Two Dead, Any Empire, and Swallow Me Whole. Nate's new book is Save It For Later.

He reflects on how America's culture of the 1980s with the rise of Reaganism, toys like GI Joe, the Punisher comic books, and other celebrations of militant nationalism and violence across American popular culture gave rise to the Trump's MAGAites and American neofascism these decades later.

Nate explores questions of "selling out" and his relationship as a younger man to punk music and counter culture and what is lost (or perhaps gained) when subcultures become more mainstreamed and their audiences and artists age with them.

Nate also shares what he learned about resistance, struggle, and justice along the color line from the process of working with the titan civil rights hope warrior Rep. John Lewis on the award-winning March graphic novels.

And Chauncey and Nate dialogue about being men of a certain vintage, coming of age in the 1980s, and what it means to be creative for a living.

Chauncey continues to share how you can be a hero in your own neighborhood by being attentive to all of the good people and life lessons around you while also be cautious of the evil that may be stalking you at the same time.

Chauncey also shares how Donald Trump's MAGAite cultists are so deranged that they actually believe that Trump's pending indictments mean that he is a prophetic figure who is being punished like Jesus Christ.

On this week's podcast, Chauncey answers some questions sent in by the listeners to the show.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow

"V" formerly known as Eve Ensler is an author, Tony Award-winner, playwright and activist. Her award-winning play The Vagina Monologues ran for more than 10 years and has been performed in more than 140 countries.

"V"s new book is Reckoning.

"V" warns that the United States is sick with a type of pathological amnesia that facilitates evil and cruelty. "V" also reflects on how we must use specific and correct moral language about sexism, white supremacy, misogyny, patriarchy, and other antihuman political values and movements if we want to vanquish them.

"V" and Chauncey also ponder why so many people remain in denial about the great and obvious disaster that is The Age of Trump and ascendant neofascism. They also dialogue about mental health, well-being, relationships, and finding peace in these troubled and challenging times.

On this episode of the podcast, Chauncey DeVega explains his late-night Twitter messages that recently went "viral" where he warned that the Republican-fascists and MAGAites actually won on Jan 6 and that the threat to American democracy is getting worse and in no way deterred or stopped despite how much the hope peddlers and wish-casters in the mainstream news media keep saying that it is.

He also shares some quick thoughts on the new seasons of Star Trek: Picard and The Mandalorian.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow

Nicholas Dawidoff is a journalist and author whose books include The Fly Swatter, In the Country of Country, and The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg. His new book is The Other Side of Prospect: A Story of Violence, Injustice, and the American City, which is about gun violence and life chances in New Haven, Connecticut.

New Haven is now considered a type of demographically representative city that social scientists study to understand trends across America.

Nicholas Dawidoff and Chauncey are both from New Haven, CT and came of age there, more or less, during the same decade(s) and in neighborhoods that were too far away from one another.

Nicholas and Chauncey reflect on how New Haven has changed over the years, the neoliberal gangster capitalist onslaught and how it has hurt local communities, gun violence, justice, the color line, life, nostalgia, local history, and the meaning of home.

On this episode of the podcast, Chauncey DeVega shares a recent personal experience that shows, again, how you can be a hero in your local community. He also shares some positive and uplifting emails from the good kind members of The Chauncey DeVega Show Secular Church Family – and of course an obligatory hate mail.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow

Chris Hedges is the guest on this special February 2023 fundraising episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show.

He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, bestselling author, and social critic. His two most recent books are Our Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison and The Greatest Evil is War.

***Your generosity and support help to sustain the podcast and to keep it free, not behind a paywall and available to all listeners.***

Chris Hedges reflects on the lessons he learned during his long career as a journalist about the "business" that is the news business, how the "truth" is manufactured, why it pays very well to be a careerist who does not care about confronting Power, and the ways that the limits of the approved public discourse are shaped to serve the interests of the rich and the powerful.

He also offers counsel and advice to Chauncey DeVega about enduring difficult times and navigating the personal cost to one's physical, mental, and emotional health that comes from being a serious journalist who is committed to telling uncomfortable and unpopular truths in dangerous times.

Chris Hedges also shares his worries about how Russia's war against Ukraine, and America and NATO's response to it, could potentially spiral out of control into a wider war and even worse disaster.

Given all of the recent excitement about "UFOs" and an "alien invasion" of the United States (meaning balloons and/or drones) these last few days and weeks, there are two special bonus segments on this episode featuring professional skeptic and author Jason Colavito.

The first segment is from 2021 where Jason Colavito explains why today's America is so sick with conspiracy theories and other anti-truth beliefs. He also outlines how right-wing extremists are using the public's interest in ancient aliens, UFOs, and other conspiracy theories to recruit new members (especially insecure white men) online.

The second segment is from 2014 where Jason discusses a wide-range of topics including the ancient aliens hypothesis, why white supremacists are obsessed with UFOs, the faux rigor and "scientific" approaches used by the fringe history community, and the case of Betty and Barney Hill, an interracial couple who were supposedly kidnapped by extraterrestrials in the 1960s.

And on this episode of the podcast, Chauncey DeVega shares a very special Valentine's Day review of the new movie Magic Mike's Last Dance.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow

There are two guests on this special January 2023 fundraising episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show.

***Your generosity and support help to sustain the podcast and to keep it free, not behind a paywall and available to all listeners.***

Ruha Benjamin is a sociologist and a Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. She is the author of several books including Race After Technology and Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want.

She explains how technology is not socially or politically neutral and actually does the work of power and maintaining inequality along the color line through what she has termed "the new Jim Code".

Benjamin also highlights the ways that technologies such as search engines, algorithms, "big data", the surveillance society and other digital tools have disproportionately negative impacts on black and brown and other marginalized communities.

She also encourages us to take back our agency by finding ways to use these new technologies to do the work of creating a more humane and just society.

Christoph Bartneck is an associate professor in the department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Canterbury where his research focuses on human-computer interaction, science and technology Studies, and visual design.

He explains how racism and other forms of animus influence how human beings treat "black" and "brown" robots much worse than "white" robots.

Bartneck also reflects on the human-machine interface and how algorithms and other technologies inevitably reflect the biases of their designers, engineers, and programmers. He also shares his thoughts on artificial intelligence, "the Singularity", and the exaggerated and fantastical claims that are made by many futurists and technologists.

On this episode of the podcast, Chauncey DeVega honors two people who recently passed away and who meant, albeit in very different ways, a great deal to him.

Professional wrestling star and ROH World Tag Team Champion "Jay Briscoe" (Jamin Dale Pugh) was killed in a car accident on Tuesday Jan 17 in Laurel, Delaware.

Chauncey's cat nephew Stoli passed away last week on Monday Jan 23.

Episode 378 of The Chauncey DeVega Show is dedicated to both of their memories.

Chauncey reflects on grieving, emotional ups and down, and how he is being weathered and assaulted by dark and other unjust forces during these last two weeks – and how he will overcome them and get his bounce back.

As part of that effort Chauncey shares an animal friend story about a turkey person who is being unfairly maligned and harassed by the humans in her neighborhood.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow

Brian K. Vaughan is the guest on this special January 2023 fundraising episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show.

He is the writer of such award-winning comic books and graphic novels as Saga, Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina and Paper Girls.

***Your generosity and support help to sustain the podcast and to keep it free, not behind a paywall and available to all listeners.***

Brian reflects on the return of Saga after an extended hiatus and the great and painful changes that have befallen the beloved characters in the series. He also shares how Saga and its main character Hazel have grown in parallel with his own life and family.

Brian offers his thoughts and wisdom on navigating the challenging times in this world, artistic integrity, and managing life, stress, joy, and other emotions and ups and downs as someone who is creative for a living.

In honor of Brother Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Chauncey highlights the differences between the real radical truth-teller and pro-democracy hope warrior Dr. King and how his legacy and struggle and sacrifice have been distorted by the American mythmaking machine and colorblind racism and white supremacy.

There is also a bonus segment on this episode of the podcast in honor of Dr. King.

Paul Breines was a student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin and a member of the Student Council on Civil Rights when he was arrested for his participation in the Freedom Rides during the summer of 1961.

He shares what it was like to challenge Jim Crow racial terrorism--with his life--as a Freedom Rider during the Civil Rights Movement, how he as a white person made the decision while in college to confront white supremacy, and the rules of living a principled life that he learned from his mother.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow