My Conversation with Peter Bebergal About How Ghost Hunters, Psychics, and Mediums Use Technology to "Hack" the Paranormal and Supernatural

Peter Bebergal writes widely on the speculative and slightly fringe. His essays and reviews have appeared in NewYorker.com, The Times Literary Supplement, Boing Boing, The Believer, and The Quietus. He is the author of Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll. His new book is Strange Frequencies: The Extraordinary Story of the Technological Quest for the Supernatural.

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL QUEST FOR THE SUPERNATURAL

 ****To support The Chauncey DeVega Show during this fundraising month you can make a donation via Paypal at chaunceydevega.com or at Patreon.**** 

During this Art Bell Coast to Coast AM inspired New Year's Eve special episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show, Peter explains how mystics, psychics, and other practitioners of the occult and magic used the early versions of the internet as a space to practice their dark arts, how the national trauma of the American Civil War fueled the practice known as "spirit photography", and how séances were a space for female empowerment through the "spiritual fluid" known as "ectoplasm". Peter also researches if yes, you can actually hear the voices of the dead speaking through radio waves and other manifestations of "electronic voice phenomena".

On this week's New Year's Eve special episode Chauncey honors Alan Naiman, a hero who worked as a humble (and very frugal) social worker, and who at the time of his passing away gave 11 million dollars to charities which help babies and children.

Chauncey also reflects on our shared trials and struggles in the Age of Trump during these last few weeks of 2018. And as we wind down 2018 and transition to 2019, Chauncey offers some critical appraisals about the progress of the podcast, his own personal successes and failures during 2018, and (hopefully) shares some wisdom about goal setting and personal progress in the new year.

This week's podcast with Peter Bebergal can be listened to or downloaded here.

My Conversation with Paul Breines About Being a Freedom Rider and What It Was Like to Risk His Life Fighting Against Jim Crow Terrorism

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. As part of the Freedom Ride Breines, along with three other students, traveled from Nashville, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi via a Greyhound bus where all four participants were arrested in the Greyhound terminal in Jackson, Mississippi on 21 July 1961. Paul Breines is also Associate Professor Emeritus of History at Boston College.

****To support The Chauncey DeVega Show during this fundraising month you can make a donation via Paypal at chaunceydevega.com or at Patreon.**** 

Professor Breines shares what it was like to challenge Jim Crow 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.

Professor Breines also reflects on one of the most important questions of the modern age: What type of White Person do I want to be? And by implication, what type of Human Being should we all want to be?

This conversation is from one of the very first episodes of The Chauncey Devega Show and has been reedited and remastered as a holiday gift and way of saying "thank you" to all of the good and kind friends, listeners, fans and other supporters of the podcast.

On this week's Christmas holiday-themed podcast Chauncey warns the public about how Frosty the Snowman is really an evil undead wizard. Chauncey also hopes that Krampus--the goat man supernatural being who punishes naughty people during the December holiday season--will take Donald Trump and his wicked voters and other supporters to the underworld as punishment for their sins.

And Chauncey also reminds the friends, supporters, and other listeners of The Chauncey DeVega Show that racism and white supremacy are often absurd but that this makes such ideologies no less dangerous. A Christmas holiday example: in the Netherlands neo-Nazis and other right-wing fiends are physically attacking people who want "Zwarte Piet" aka "Black Peter", the racist blackface minstrel assistant to "Sinterklaas" aka Saint Nicholas, removed from that country's and region's holiday celebrations.

This week's podcast with Paul Breines can be listened to or downloaded here.

A Conversation with David Blight About Frederick Douglass "The Prophet of Freedom" and How His Wisdom Can Help America Survive Donald Trump

David Blight is the Class of 1954 Professor of American History at Yale University. He is also the Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition. Professor Blight is the author of many books including his newest Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.

Professor Blight is also a contributing writer for such publications as The New York Times, Washington Post Book World, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Boston Globe.

****To support The Chauncey DeVega Show during this fundraising month you can make a donation via Paypal at chaunceydevega.com or at Patreon.**** 

Professor Blight explains how the wisdom and example of Frederick Douglass's life can help save American democracy in the Age of Trump, separating the myth and legend of Frederick Douglass from the real man, and how studying the Black Freedom Struggle and the color line can help us to better understand how the United States of today came to be.

On this week's podcast Chauncey reflects on the many interesting happenings in one recent day and what they tell us about our shared humanity and the horrible death--and the Trump regime's mocking and evil response to it--of a seven-year-old child from Guatemala who recently was stolen away from her family and this world while in the custody of the United States Border Patrol.

This week's podcast with David Blight can be listened to or downloaded here.

A Conversation with Seth Abramson About How Donald Trump May Be the Greatest Traitor in American History

Seth Abramson is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Proof of Collusion: How Trump Betrayed America.

Abramson's work and commentary has also been featured by The Washington Post, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, The Boston Globe, Politico, The Wall Street Journal, Roll Call, USA Today, NPR, Politico, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Chicago Tribune, The New Yorker, Newsweek and many other news outlets.

To support The Chauncey DeVega Show during this fundraising month you can make a donation via Paypal at chaunceydevega.com or at Patreon. 

Abramson explains how special counsel Robert Mueller is conducting one of the most sophisticated and thorough investigations in American history into Trump's collusion with Russia and the ways that Donald Trump and his cabal have repeatedly shown that they are guilty.

Abramson also provides an insider's perspective on what it must be like to be Donald Trump's attorney as well as how Robert Mueller's team is responding to the mountains of evidence--and foolish, obvious, apparently criminal behavior--that is the Trump-Russia scandal.

Abramson makes a prediction: Robert Mueller's investigation will be successful and Donald Trump's only salvation will come from staying in the White House as long as possible to avoid being put in prison.

On this week's podcast Chauncey explains why the Trump-Russia scandal is about more than "just" collusion and treason but a fight for the soul of the country and any effort to defend the social safety net and those of us who are not members of the 1 percent from the global plutocrats and their culture of cruelty. To that end, Chauncey shares a story about the heroic women who stood up to Donald Trump by telling The New York Times about what it is like to be undocumented workers at his New Jersey golf club and where they also take care of his home there.

And of course, Chauncey shares a wonderful story about a great and brave doggie friend who guarded their human being's home and waited for them to return after the recent California inferno.

This week's podcast with Seth Abramson can be listened to or downloaded here.

How Season Three of the Hit Podcast "Serial" Explores Race, Inequality, Class and White Privilege in America's Criminal Justice System

There are three guests on this week's special December fundraising month episode of the podcast.

Julie Snyder is the co-creator and producer of the hit podcast series Serial. Emmanuel Dzotsi is the co-host and reporter for Serial's most recent season which focused on crime and punishment in America as revealed through what happens at the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas in Cleveland.

To support The Chauncey DeVega Show during this fundraising month you can make a donation via Paypal at chaunceydevega.com or at Patreon.

Julie and Emmanuel reflect on what they learned about justice and inequality in season 3 of Serial, the challenges of balancing truth-telling and narrative, and how race and class--especially white privilege--complicates the ways that different audiences respond to the "shocking" unfairness that Serial "exposed" about the country's criminal justice system.

Criminal justice reporter George Joseph is the third guest on this week's show.

George's work has appeared at The Appeal, ProPublica, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, and The Verge. His most recent story IBM Used NYPD Surveillance Footage To Develop Technology That Lets Police Search by Skin Color warns the public about how major cities such as New York are deploying facial recognition and other "artificial intelligence" programs which "learn" about the "races" of different groups in order to "teach" cameras and other surveillance technology to search and follow their human targets on command. This is Orwellian-level racial profiling enabled by "big data" and algorithms.

George also shares his reporting on police brutality and how plain clothes and other undercover cops are running amok in America and what this reveals about a larger police culture of racism and discrimination and violence.

On this week's podcast Chauncey explains how Michael Flynn's deal with Special Counsel Mueller is just one more sign that the Trump mafia crime family is encircled. The question now becomes how will Trump and his cabal lash out against the rule of law to stay in power by expanding their authoritarian regime.

And Chauncey reviews the story about how a black private school-academy in Louisiana was able to use black pathology porn and other stereotypes to hustle Ivy League and other almost all-white elite colleges and universities.

Of course, Chauncey "connects the dots" by calling out how the real issue is the ways that elite universities function as gatekeepers of privilege and social capital which will do anything to punish those individuals who dare to expose the real con job that is elite higher education and a corrupt ruling class in America.

This week's podcast with Julie Snyder, Emmanuel Dzotsi, and George Joseph can be listened to or downloaded here.

A Conversation With Sociologist James Loewen About the Lies Our Teachers Told Us About American History and the Color Line

There are two guests on this week's podcast.

James Loewen is the author of the bestselling book Lies My Teacher Told Me. He has also written award-winning books such as Sundown Towns, Teaching What Really Happened, and The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader.

In his several decades of teaching and scholarship Professor Loewen has traveled around the United States and world giving lectures and offering training sessions to educators and activists and the general public. He has also won prestigious awards for his scholarship and other work from the American Sociological Association and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

Professor Loewen shares his thoughts on the resurrection of the Confederacy in the South and the Republican Party, the Charlottesville white supremacist riot, history memory, "sundown towns" and racial segregation, and resurgent anti-Semitism in the Age of Trump. In addition, Professor Loewen also reflects on the need to tell the truth about American history in the classroom and the struggles over how textbooks should discuss (or not) white on black chattel slavery and other crimes in the country's history.

Professor John Terrell is the second guest on this week's show.

He is the Regenstein curator of Pacific anthropology at the Field Museum in Chicago, a professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, an adjunct professor of anthropology at Northwestern University, and an honorary fellow in anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Professor Terrell explains why so-called "DNA tests" such as "23 and Me" help to perpetuate incorrect and dangerously outdated ideas about "race", geography, and human ancestry, how new age eugenics and "race science" tries to erroneously connect "intelligence" to "heredity" and "populations", and why having these discussions with the public about science and society is so difficult

On this week's podcast Chauncey reviews how Donald Trump's assault on democracy and human dignity and even the survival of the human race continued over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

And Chauncey shares his thoughts about  the new movies Creed 2 (which was horrible) and Green Book (which was a pleasant surprise). Plus, Chauncey reminds all of the good, kind, and generous friends, listeners and other supporters that next month, December 2018, is fundraising month to support The Chauncey DeVega Show and his other projects and work.

This week's podcast with James Loewen and John Terrell can be listened to or downloaded here.

A Conversation with James Hansen About His Biography and the New Movie "First Man: The Life of Neil Armstrong"

There are two guests on this week's podcast.

James Hansen is a professor of history at Auburn University in Alabama and the author of the acclaimed biography First Man: The Life of Neil Armstrong. Dr. Hansen has also served on the Research Advisory Board of the National Air and Space Museum and the Editorial Advisory Board of the Smithsonian Institution Press.

Hansen shares his thoughts on the new movie First Man starring Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong, what it was like to advise Gosling on the role, consulting on the script, and how different audiences have imposed their own political views onto the movie.

In addition, Hansen reflects on how fame impacted Neil Armstrong and what it was like to get to know Armstrong over the course of the many years it took to write such a definitive biography. Hansen also offers some insights into the relationship between NASA and the color line through such notables as the black women who were the "human computers" that helped to make the moon mission possible.

Reed Tucker is the second guest. He is a journalist and author whose writing on entertainment and popular culture has appeared in the New York Post, Esquire, Fortune, USA Today and elsewhere.

His most recent book is Slugfest: Inside the Epic 50-year Battle between Marvel and DC.

Reed and Chauncey discuss the life and legend of the now departed Stan Lee. What is true about Stan Lee's life and what was fantasy and myth? Who were Stan Lee's friends and enemies? How can we view Stan Lee's life as a type of roadmap and barometer for the past, present and future of comic books and graphic novels?

On this week's podcast Chauncey sounds the alarm about all of the animals hurt and in need of help because of the California inferno. Chauncey also makes some Thanksgiving week movie recommendations and then shares some "entertaining" stories about Donald Trump's corrupt new acting Attorney General and the latter's involvement with "inventions" such as a toilet for "well-endowed" men, Big Foot DNA, and money for time travelers.

And of course, Chauncey has to shine a light on how Paul Manafort--one of Trump's henchmen--is apparently very much into "interracial" cuckolding and sex parties.

This week's podcast with Dr. James Hansen and Reed Tucker can be listened to or downloaded here.

A Conversation with Psychiatrist Justin Frank About How Donald Trump Believes That He is God and Why His Supporters Worship Him

There are two guests on this week's podcast.

Psychiatrist Justin Frank returns to The Chauncey DeVega Show. He is a former clinical professor of psychiatry at the George Washington University Medical Center and a physician with more than 40 years of experience in psychoanalysis. He is the author of the bestselling books Bush on the Couch and Obama on the Couch. His newest book is Trump on the Couch. Dr. Frank's work has appeared in Time magazine and the Daily Beast and he has appeared as an expert commentator and guest on MSNBC, CNN, PBS and other outlets.

Dr. Frank explains how Donald Trump has a thought disorder and believes that he is God, why Trump's supporters are in love with him, and how Trump's loyalists such as the "MAGA bomber" and others who have disorganized minds seek affirmation and security from their cult leader Donald Trump.

In addition, Dr. Frank sounds the alarm about how Donald Trump encourages and gives permission for violence and how Trump's regalia such as the "MAGA" hat is a way for his supporters to live inside of their leader and to become him proxy. Dr. Frank also shares how he would counsel Donald Trump if he came to him seeking treatment.

Daniel Block is the second guest. He is the editor of The Washington Monthly in addition to being one of that publication's writers and reporters.

Daniel and Chauncey discuss "The Democrats of Trump Country" and what it is like for liberals and progressives and other people of conscience who are living behind enemy lines in Trumplandia, the types of political organizing they are doing in those spaces, and how "Culture War" issues--and especially radical right-wing Christianity--have created two Americas, separate and hostile from one another and living in their own realities.

During this week's podcast Chauncey conducts a postmortem for the 2018 midterm elections and what the victories by the Democrats do and do not mean for resisting Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

Chauncey also warns that the 2018 midterms were a type of perverse mandate and encouragement for Donald Trump and the Republican Party's continued assault on American democracy and vile campaign of hatred and bigotry.

And to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, Chauncey reads the epic poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade".

This week's podcast with Dr. Justin Frank and Daniel Block can be listened to or downloaded here.

A Conversation with Ian Haney Lopez About How the Republican Party Uses Racial Demagoguery and Dog Whistle Politics to Destroy the Middle Class and Hurt All Americans

Ian Haney Lopez is The Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley and author many articles and numerous books including White by Law and his most recent Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class. Lopez is also a Senior Fellow at Demos in addition to being the Director of The Haas Institute's Racial Politics project.

Professor Lopez and Chauncey discuss how racial demagoguery dominates the Republican Party, the many ways that racism hurts white folks, and ways that the very rich and other plutocrats use racism as a tool to divide and distract so that they can steal from the American people. Professor Lopez also shares a new way of thinking about the relationship between race and class in America--one which he thinks can help create a better and more healthy democracy...and yes, help the Democrats defeat the Republican Party and Donald Trump.

The second guest on this week's episode is James Stern. He is the producer of the new film Old Man and the Gun which stars Sissy Spacek and Robert Redford. Stern is also the producer and director of the new documentary American Chaos where he traveled throughout Trumplandia talking to the Great Leader's political cult members. Stern shares his thoughts on why Trump's supporters are so devoted to him, the strategic errors that the Democrats keep making, and how apathy and disgust with American democracy is the long-term threat posed by Trumpism.

During this week's podcast Chauncey urges caution about the so-called "blue wave" that many Democrats are expecting in tomorrow's midterm elections. Chauncey is also very concerned that through trickery and other means that the Republicans may actually end up winning many more contests during the midterms than most observers expect and how that will leave the Democrats even more disheartened and discombobulated. And to find some perspective Chauncey shares the wisdom of Brother Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his much overlooked speech he delivered at the "Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom" on May 17, 1957.

This week's podcast with Ian Haney Lopez can be listened to or downloaded here.

A Conversation with David Neiwert About Donald Trump, the "Alt-Right" and the Tree of Life Synagogue Massacre in Pittsburgh

David Neiwert is an investigative journalist based in Seattle and a contributing writer for the Southern Poverty Law Center. He is the author of numerous books including the new Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump, The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right, Of Orcas and Men: What Killer Whales Can Teach Us, and Over the Cliff: How Obama's Election Drove the American Right Insane.

David and Chauncey discuss how Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and the right-wing hate media instigate violence such as what took place last week in Pittsburgh, the "MAGA Bomber", and the hate crime killing of 2 elderly black people in Louisville. David also details the various elements of the so-called "alt-right" and how its white supremacist politics are central to the violence inspired by Donald Trump. In addition, David explains the role (and dangers) of "scripted violence" and "eliminationist" language used by today's conservatives against their fellow Americans and the intentional violence which occurs as a result.

David and Chauncey also issue a warning: there will only be more violence as directed and encouraged by Donald Trump and his allies if the Democrats win control of the House of Representatives in next week's midterm elections.

During this week's podcast Chauncey "connects the dots" about the sensationalistic violence of Trump's "MAGA Bomber" to the barbarism of the mass murder which took place at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Chauncey also offers a new concept for listeners of the podcast: America is a "pathocracy".

Chauncey again asks, "what are the American people going to do" in the face of Donald Trump and the right-wing movement's fascist violence against them. 

This week's podcast with David Neiwert can be listened to or downloaded here.