Eve Ensler on Righteous Anger, Forgiveness and Her New Book "The Apology"

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. Ensler's new book The Apology is a meditation on the decades of sexual abuse and other violence she endured from her father and on how she finally purged his power over her life through creative confrontation and forgiveness. 

Ensler reflects on the rise of Donald Trump and America's moral crisis, privilege and responsibility, healthy masculinity, why only certain groups in America are forced to forgive the transgressions against them, and how women who dare to publicly speak out against rapists and abusers are often made to suffer more trauma. 

Ensler also explains the power of righteous anger, her own choice to forgive her abusive father, and what she gained and sacrificed through the process of writing The Apology.

During this week's podcast Chauncey explains how the culture of violence among Trump's Border Patrol and ICE enforcers is much greater and bigger than a few "bad apples" and the ways that Michael Pence's "inspection tour" of his boss's concentration camps is an example of human evil across history. 

Chauncey also cautions people that the act of brave resistance by a freedom fighter in Tacoma, Washington who engaged in direct action against one of the Trump's regime's concentration camps on Saturday will be used to make the regime's Border Patrol and other foot soldier hooligans into "the real victims". 

And on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show our intrepid host shares some movie reviews and also a wonderful animal friend story.

A Conversation with Peter Bebergal About How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll

Peter Bebergal is the guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. He is the author of the new book Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll. 

During this week's show, Peter and Chauncey discuss the appeal of magic and the occult for musicians and artists, the moral panics about Satanism and heavy metal music during the 1980s in America, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, as well as how African trickster figures and other cultural practices influenced black music in America and across the Black Atlantic. Peter and Chauncey also talk about digital versus analog culture and the history of pen and paper as well as tabletop role-playing games.

Friend of the podcast Jared Yates Sexton, contributing writer for publications such as The New Republic as well as The New York Times, also stops by to make his predictions (and share some concerns) about this weekend's WWE Wrestlemania 33 event. 

On this week's show, Chauncey also shares his thoughts about some new data from this year's General Social Survey which shows that Republicans still believe that black people are dumb, lazy, and stupid. During this week's podcast, Chauncey also reads the obituary of Bill Minor, a journalist and a great white brother in the Black Freedom Struggle who passed away several days ago.

This episode with Peter Bebergal can be downloaded from Libysn and also listened to here.

The Chauncey DeVega Show is available on Itunes, Spotify and at Stitcher.

The Chauncey DeVega Show can now be found on iHeartRadio.

A Conversation with Political Scientist Lester Spence About Resistance, Neoliberalism, the Color Line, and Black Politics in the Age of Donald Trump

The guest, for this, the first official podcast episode of 2017, is Lester Spence. He is the author of several great books including Stare in the Darkness: The Limits of Hip-hop and Black Politics and is a frequent contributor to news outlets such as MSNBC, the BBC, and National Public Radio. Dr. Spence is also an Associate Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University.

In this far ranging and broad conversation, Lester and Chauncey talk about race and popular culture, neoliberalism and black politics, why Beyonce is not "politically resistant", social media "activism", police thuggery, and the role of "black public intellectuals" at the end of the Age of Obama and through to the nightmare that will be the Age of Trump. Lester and Chauncey also talk about analog vs. digital culture and the art of being a master of the turntables.

During this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show, Chauncey answers some questions sent in by friends and listeners of the show and also reads some hate mail.

This episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show can be downloaded from Libysn and also listened to here.

The Chauncey DeVega Show is available on Itunes and at Stitcher.

The Chauncey DeVega Show can now be found on Spotify as well.

Lesson number one in how to perform political fellatio on Donald Trump: Gerard Baker, Editor of The Wall Street Journal

I hope that you all had a restful holiday break. The new year is upon as and the doom that is Donald Trump's administration begins in several weeks.

Going forward, I am going to be documenting the many examples of how the news media, Republican cowards, and others are enabling the American Il Duce. The image that has struck me--and it is quite foul--is that of Donald Trump unzipping his pants and putting his orange penis in his supplicants' willing mouths. He plays with their hair as they kneel before him. Trump's little piggies are hungry and swallow his foul spunk and are eager for more. It tastes like garlic and old cream cheese.

The first entry in the "How to perform political fellatio on Donald Trump" file is Gerard Baker, editor of The Wall Street Journal. On last Sunday's edition of Meet the Press, Baker made obvious what observers have known for some time. The Wall Street Journal and other members of the American news media have no interest in telling the truth about the American Il Duce. Moreover, they are actively engaged in supporting his reign and the advertising money that comes from staying in his good graces.

From Politico:

Wall Street Journal editor Gerard Baker said that despite the fact Trump often makes “questionable” and “challengeable” statements, he’s instructed his staff to keep their social media postings straight laced in order to maintain the trust of the readers.\ 

Asked by host Chuck Todd whether he’d be willing to call out a falsehood as a “lie” like some other news outlets have done, Baker demurred, saying it was up to the newspaper to just present the set of facts and let the reader determine how to classify a statement.
"I'd be careful about using the word, ‘lie.’ ‘Lie' implies much more than just saying something that's false. It implies a deliberate intent to mislead,” Baker said, noting that when Trump claimed “thousands” of Muslims were celebrating on rooftops in New Jersey on 9/11, the Journal investigated and reported that they found no evidence of a claim. 

"I think it's then up to the reader to make up their own mind to say, 'This is what Donald Trump says. This is what a reliable, trustworthy news organization reports. And you know what? I don't think that's true.’ I think if you start ascribing a moral intent, as it were, to someone by saying that they've lied, I think you run the risk that you look like you are, like you’re not being objective,” he said.

Gobble gobble Mr. Baker. Is it all over your face? It is pretty clear that you enjoyed servicing Donald Trump. I hope your knees do not hurt.

2016 Needs to Stop Being So Cruel: Goodbye George Michael, Goodbye Carrie Fisher

God kills puppies. God also allowed Donald Trump to be elected President of the United States. What type of God does such things? It would seem that theodicy remains a problem in the twenty-first century.

I offer the obligatory, "I hope your holidays were restful, productive, and merry". In all honesty, I ain't got much to say beyond that right now.

Carrie Fisher, Princess Leia, reformed and honest alcoholic and coke head, daughter of Hollywood royalty, lover of animals and humans, great actress, sexy Jabba the Hutt slave girl, and all around cool people, has passed away. She was only 60-years-old.

Several days before, George Michael, the amazing singer, songwriter, all around talent, fashion maven, masculinity expanding, and gift to the world also passed away on Christmas Day. He was only 53-years-old.

Thoughts, impressions, feelings, or the like? Should we start a dead pool?

What should the soundtrack for this year be?

Whiteness, Nostalgia, and "A Christmas Story"

In America, the Christmas season is a time of rituals. Consumerism is worshiped. Family and friends gather to eat copious amounts of unhealthy food. Twice-a-year Christians (if you include Easter) dress up and attend church so that they can lord their supposed piety over other people during the upcoming year. There is football. And an estimated 40 million people will watch the annual 24-hour marathon of “A Christmas Story” that is shown on both TBS and TNT.

(In the interest of full disclosure: I will be switching back and forth between the “Kaiju Christmas” Godzilla marathon on the El Rey network and “A Christmas Story.”)

Film and TV are not perfect ciphers or mirrors for society. But they do reveal a great deal about ourselves and the broader community in which we live: what stories are told and which ones are not? Who gets to speak? Who is silenced? What groups are placed front and center in American — and global — popular culture? Which groups are marginalized or at the periphery? Whose experiences are erased? Likewise, whose experiences and perspectives are depicted as“normal” and “universal?” Perhaps most important, how do popular media (and pop culture more generally) help to inform how we think about our identities as human beings?

When cultural critics debate the merits of “representation,” these are the fundamental questions they focus on. But such conversations are ultimately about much more than the role of gender in the uneven, not very funny and unsatisfying “Ghostbusters” remake or how racial and ethnic diversity (and perhaps even sexual orientation) helps make the excellent new “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story“ a compelling depiction of George Lucas’ wondrous film universe. On a fundamental level, questions of representation are always debates about social and political power.

“A Christmas Story,” co-written and directed by Bob Clark of “Porky’s” fame, was released in 1983. It’s a dark comedy based on the semi-autobiographical short stories of Jean Shepherd, as originally collected in the book “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.” While the interior scenes were mostly filmed in Cleveland, “A Christmas Story” is set in the fictional community of Hohman, Indiana, circa 1939. (Shepherd was in fact raised in Hammond, Indiana, which only sounds fictional).

The plot is straightforward: A 9-year-old boy named Ralphie is obsessed with getting a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. He engages in a deliberate and elaborate campaign to convince his parents to buy him that prized Red Ryder BB gun. Along the way, Ralphie negotiates with Santa Claus and his teacher, fights off a horrible bully and partakes in episodes of fantasy, melodrama and adventure.

I was about 10 years old myself when I first watched “A Christmas Story.” I laughed a lot and found it a sophisticated antidote to Christmas classics like “Miracle on 34th Street” or “It’s a Wonderful Life.” But as I grew older I realized that something was not quite right about the movie. I began to wonder — as I did while watching “Star Wars: A New Hope” when it was first released — where were the black and brown people? Where were the people who looked like me?

A Conversation With Ben Winters About His New Book "Underground Airlines"

It is time for the annual fundraiser that occurs during the month of December at which point I put on my gentle NPR fundraising voice and push out the old begging bowl which can be found by clicking on the Paypal link on the right side of the screen at ChaunceyDevega.com.

As longtime readers of this site and listeners to my podcast know, I do not accept advertising or paid sponsorships. We are at the end of the second week of fundraiser and are approximately 190 dollars short of our goal. If you can include the podcast and my other work in your holiday gift giving the positive energy will be greatly appreciated. 

This week's special fundraising podcast guest is Ben Winters, author of the New York Times bestselling book "Underground Airlines". In this expansive conversation, Ben and Chauncey talk about the "what if?" scenario of how white on black chattel slavery continues into present-day America that drives "Underground Airlines", writing race and the color line as a white author, as well as the rise of Donald Trump and what the popularity of his bigotry says about America. Ben and Chauncey also discuss their mutual love of comedy, Ben's time trying to be a stand up comedian, and of course, the nuts and bolts about the craft of writing. 

During this week's Christmas and holiday season episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show, per the tradition of Festivus, Chauncey airs his grievances, talks about the Christmas Card industrial complex, and shares a clip of what happens when Jean Shepherd of "A Christmas Story" fame meets the Ku Klux Klan.

This episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show can be downloaded from Libysn and also listened to here.

The Chauncey DeVega Show is available on Itunes and at Stitcher. 

The Chauncey DeVega Show can now be found on Spotify as well.

A Conversation with Newsweek's Zach Schonfeld About All Things Andy Kaufman and Donald Trump

This week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show features two great guests.

Documentary filmmaker Steven Okazaki stops by to discuss his new documentary 'Mifune: The Last Samurai' and to also share what his documentary about drug addiction in America's rural and suburban communities can tell us about the election of the American Il Duce Donald Trump.
Zach Schonfeld is the second guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. He is a culture and politics writer for Newsweek Magazine.

In this week's episode of the podcast, Zach and Chauncey talk about the genius of Andy Kaufman, Donald Trump and political performance art, how best to fake one's own death, and "political correctness", and the business that is writing about culture and politics for a living.

During this week's podcast Chauncey explains why he was "thankful" on Thanksgiving for Donald Trump's victory, gives a soft start to the December fundraiser for the podcast and his other online work, and previews his conversation with Van Jones and the other great guests he has spoken to for the show this month. Chauncey also tells the truth about the stupid mouth breathers in places like Kentucky who hate Obama so much that they voted for Donald Trump and other Republicans who will take away their health insurance.

This episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show can be downloaded from Libysn and also listened to here.

The Chauncey DeVega Show is available on Itunes and at Stitcher.

The Chauncey DeVega Show can now be found on Spotify as well.

The Sociopath Mike Pence Defeated Tim Kaine at Last Night's Vice Presidential Debate

The first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was a heavyweight championship bout. By comparison, last night's vice presidential debate was an undercard fight, and like most undercard fights it served more as a preview of future talent than as a featured attraction.

Pence beat Kaine on style points. Pence refused to engage but made sure to look good doing it. Kaine was nervous at first. He would eventually hit some very good shots, but Pence acted as though nothing had happened. In all, the vice presidential debate was a tedious slog--one not helped by the piss poor moderator who seemed quite out of her depth and obsessed with following a script as opposed to letting anything worthwhile develop organically.

As I suggested  several weeks ago, Mike Pence is far more dangerous than Donald Trump. He is a polished liar who "looks" presidential. As Jamelle Bouie at Slate pointed out, Pence "gaslighted" the nation last night as he created an alternative reality where Donald Trump is a victim, he and Trump apparently never said the things they have actually been recorded on video saying, facts are "insulting," and recycled disproved and tired Right-wing talking points about taxes, Hillary Clinton, international relations, and police thuggery are the lengua franca 

And of course, both candidates had to make an obligatory statement about their "faith" and "god"--where Pence showed himself to be a Christian theocrat with little regard for the Constitution or women's agency, intelligence, or freedom.

Donald Trump is a test of concept for the reactionary Right-wing and the Republican Party. Mike Pence is going to be the mass produced model for 2020. You have been warned. 

Who do you think won last night's debate? Will Donald Trump be able to learn something from Pence's debate style and then apply it in Sunday night's rematch?

"Down Goes Trump! Down Goes Trump!" Burdened by his basket of deplorables, Donald Trump was easily knocked out by Hillary Clinton

Watched by more than 80 million people, last night’s first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump had the feel of a heavyweight title fight. Donald Trump the boisterous, blustery, mean, undisciplined, heavy-hitting and much-hyped brawler has destroyed all his previous foes.

He is a bully who embraces his role as a destroyer of men. Across from him stood Clinton, an uninspiring, uninteresting and yet undeniably talented pugilist. Trump is a political bar fighter. Clinton is the measured political technician. Styles make fights.

The introductions would be made and the bell would ring. Trump threw haymakers and huge lazy punches. Clinton dodged and counterpunched. Trump became frustrated and angry. He desperately clinched. Clinton toyed with him. Trump looked to Lester Holt, the referee, for help. Little assistance would be forthcoming. Trump became increasingly flustered and angry that Clinton would not do him the kind favor of allowing herself to be hit.

Clinton would score punch after punch on the flummoxed Trump. She smiled and grinned. He sniffled; his skin possessed an unhealthy pallor. At a certain point in the 90-minute bout one could almost hear Howard Cosell bellowing from another time, not about Smokin’ Joe Frazier but the Donald: “Down goes Trump! Down goes Trump!”

Watching Trump stammer and in a discombobulated state, I was reminded of the following passage in Richard Hoffer’s great book “Bouts of Mania: Ali, Frazier, and Foreman — and an America on the Ropes”:

There were two more knockdowns — six in all — before the fight was finally called at 1:35 of the second round. None of the knockdowns was conclusive in itself; none showed the neural disconnect, a man going suddenly vacant, as if a switch had been flipped. But each showed a steady degradation of the nervous system, Frazier in less and less control of his body, his legs almost palsied, wobbling, as he attempted to keep his ground, assault after assault. Knockdown by knockdown, he was being reduced from heavyweight champion to a clumsy and helpless husk. It is a sad corollary. A fallen fighter is not simply defeated; he must look ridiculous as well. “A pitiful sight,” the local paper proclaimed. It was only after the sixth that Foreman, forever wary of Frazier, a kind of undead the way he kept getting up, allowed himself to believe he’d won. It was only after the sixth that Mercante stopped it.

Lester Holt did not possess the authority to stop Clinton from thrashing Trump. Nor did Trump have a corner man to throw in the towel. Neither Gennifer Flowers nor Corey Lewandowski would be so kind as to volunteer themselves as human shields for Trump’s benefit.

Trump would be defeated, and the end of the contest was a merciful thing that stopped the bloody beating.

Donald Trump Turns into the Gobbledy Gooker During the First Presidential Debate Against Hillary Clinton

Last night Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump met in their first presidential debate of 2016. I predicted that Trump, the madman carnival barker professional wrestling villain would defeat Clinton. I was wrong. Moreover, I am very happy and pleased to have been incorrect in my prediction. Hillary Clinton destroyed Donald Trump.

In keeping with how politics is professional wrestling, Trump's first debate--and his obvious lack of preparation and political knowledge--reminded me of the epic fail known as the Gobbledy Gooker. 

For the uninitiated, the Gobbledy Gooker, was a character and storyline dreamed up by the (then) World Wrestling Federation in 1990. Over the course of several weeks, a large amount of anticipation was generated in response to a mysterious egg that would hatch at that year's Survivor Series pay-per-view event. Children waited with anticipation. Adult fans were confused but intrigued. The egg would hatch and a man dressed as a turkey would emerge. It was a horrific moment that highlighted everything wrong with the WWF's product at the time. The Gobbledy Gooker remains a source of self-loathing humor among serious fans of professional wrestling to this day.

In this bizarre election season I am very suspicious of initial takes which suggest that Trump has somehow been defanged. Who knows how the polling numbers will play out over the next few days and weeks? But for now, and once and again, Trump has been exposed as the Emperor without clothes. But will it have any great impact on what is already a presidential race that against all odds and commonsense is entirely too close for comfort? I worry that it will not. 

A Bigger Question Inspired by Colin Kaepernick: Should Black Americans Ever Stand Up for the Star Spangled Banner?

Colin Kaepernick is now part of a long and honorable tradition in which black athletes use their high visibility to stand up (or in this case sit down) in protest of racial justice and equality. On his much-discussed decision to not stand for the national anthem, Kaepernick explained:

I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

The reactions to this truth-telling have been predictable.

[Slate has a nice roundup here.]

Sports talk radio and Right-wing hate talk radio have an amazingly high level of overlap between their audiences. Thus, the howls of complaint about a black ingrate who is not a real patriot but takes the white man's money were loud and extreme. Those people who understand how the lives of black and brown people are imperiled in America--and have been since before the Founding--are largely in agreement with Colin Kaepernick's act of silent protest.

But, I have been pondering a more basic and fundamental question. Should African-Americans (or any person of conscience) stand or otherwise show respect for The Star Spangled Banner?

Francis Scott Key, who wrote the national anthem, was a rabid and unrepentant slaver who fought to protect that cruel business and his profits from the blood and misery and labor of black human property. The song itself celebrates the deaths of the African-American self-manumitted slaves who fought on the side of the British.

Or, as Christopher Wilson suggests at The Smithsonian Magazine, have black Americans and others taken the song back from its racist origins and, as they have done in some many other areas of American life, somehow forced it to live up to its best and most democratic possibilities?

The Star Spangled Banner is a horrible song--difficult to sing, not very pleasing to the ear, and long overdue to be jettisoned from the American patriotic canon. What song do you think should replace it?

A Special Bonus 100th Episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show: The Black Israelites and International Mr. Leather

This week's installment of The Chauncey DeVega Show is part 2 of our special 100th episode.

It is good fun, something random, and features the good, interesting, and smart people of Chicago.

This week's podcast was recorded on Michigan Avenue during Memorial Day weekend.

In the first conversation, Chauncey talks with a brother from the "Black Israelites" about race, politics, life, history, and yes...space aliens. This was something cool and our guest Black Israelite/Hebrew brother was smart, kind, and generous with his time.

In the second conversation, Chauncey spends some time at the International Mr. Leather competition and is fortunate enough to talk with two gentleman about leather, the kink lifestyle, love, and why Batman and Robin capture the spirit of their love.

During this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show, Chauncey can't help but call out Bill O'Reilly's racist comments about "well-fed" slaves who built the White House and as a rebuttal to O'Reilly's happy slave fantasies reads a letter from a former slave named Brother Jordan Anderson to his former white slave owner Colonel Patrick Henry Anderson.

This week's special bonus 100th episode can be downloaded from Libysn and also listened to here.

The Chauncey DeVega Show is available on Itunes and at Stitcher. The Chauncey DeVega Show can now be found on Spotify as well.

A Conversation with Writer, Actor, and Producer Kevin Willmott About "Chi-Raq," "Destination Planet Negro," and "C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America"

This week's episode special 100th episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show features film scholar, actor, writer, and professor Kevin Willmott.

Professor Willmott is a co-writer and producer of Spike Lee's film Chi-Raq as well as the recent film Destination Planet Negro. In addition to many other projects, Kevin also wrote and directed the amazing "documentary"/counterfactual film C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America.

In this week's installment of the podcast, Professor Willmott and Chauncey talk about how Donald Trump is a character in a satirical film, Hollywood's recent "obsession" with movies about slavery and the "black experience," the reception of the movie Chi-Raq, and the importance of talking honestly and critically about the color line and black history in America.

Kevin and Chauncey also have a moment of shared life experience as they reflect on what it was like to grow up with an older father and what having learned elders taught them about appreciating life and history.

During this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show, Chauncey talks about Donald Trump's genius speech at the RNC convention, what it has in common with Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars, and offers his thanks to the listeners to the podcast for helping it get to the 100th show.

Chauncey also offers up some thoughts on the four new movies that he saw while trying to escape Chicago's heat wave, talks about the horrible new Ghostbusters movie, and calls out the Republican sex freak hypocrites in Cleveland who hate on gay people and Muslims but apparently are watching all sorts of porn which features them.

This episode with Kevin Willmott can be downloaded from Libysn and also listened to here.

The Chauncey DeVega Show is available on Itunes and at Stitcher. The Chauncey DeVega Show can now be found on Spotify as well.

A Genius Speech: Donald Trump goes Full Emperor Palpatine at the Republican National Convention

I will be posting the 100th episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show later tonight or tomorrow. I almost always keep the show's schedule of airing late Wednesday/early Thursday. It was delayed because 1) I wanted to include some thoughts on Trump's speech at the convention and 2) it was so damn hot here in Chicago and I record my segments without the air conditioning on, thus a "heat delay" was in effect. Is that a first? A podcast delayed because of ungodly heat? The Chauncey DeVega Show is unique in so many ways.

Some quick thoughts on the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

1. It was an alternate reality and an example of a shared psychotic disorder. Folks who are outside of the cult and "madness of the many" that is today's Republican Party and Right-wing news media are incapable of sharing the delusion. It all seems crazy to us...because it is. I have a new piece over at Salon that develops these claims in more detail.

2. You can dislike a thing, even hate it, but you should also be able to admire it too:

Donald Trump is a proto fascist racist political wrestling performance artist. On those grounds his speech on Thursday was epic, just an amazing piece of work. I would give Trump's speech, and how he delivered it, a solid "A." Too many liberals, progressives, centrists, and others are dismissing its power because they fundamentally disagree with Trump's politics. This is piss poor lazy thinking folks. Hillary Clinton should be very concerned right now about her chances of victory in November.

3. Despite what folks who are paid the big bucks to write the "hot takes" are suggesting--see people's exhibit number one: David Brooks at The New York Times--Donald Trump is not Batman, a billionaire who promises to bring order to the streets. Trump is more like Superman in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns or Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars.

Donald Trump is the real 'snake' in the 2016 presidential race

We are now at the begging of the third week of the June fundraiser here at Indomitable/WARN/We are Respectable Negroes. It is one of two fundraisers that I conduct annually. The other is in December.

I would like to thank all of the kind folks who have thrown some money into the virtual collection bowl. Thank you letters are forthcoming. All of your assistance and kindness is very much appreciated.

As you know, I am not compensated for my online writing here at the site or for the podcast. Both are labors of love, labors that I learn and benefit from in ways that I cannot easily express. They are also time intensive. I have been offered opportunities to advertise here at ChaunceyDeVega.com and have always refused them because I want to maintain an independent voice. Your help during the fundraising drive makes that possible.

As compared to last year, we are a bit behind the pace necessary to meet this June's goal. If you can, are able, and willing please do throw some pennies, gold, silver, into the virtual begging bowl which can be accessed via the Paypal logo at the top of the screen on the right hand side bar.

****

In the aftermath of the Orlando Massacre, presumed Republican 2016 presidential nominee Donald Trump has doubled down on his nativism, racism, fear-mongering, and bigotry against Muslims and his other political enemies. Last Monday, Trump made sinister threats against Muslim-Americans. The following day, Trump continued his political rodeo and barnstorming tour of hatred with a stop in Greensboro, North Carolina. There, Trump ginned up his foot soldiers to a fever pitch as he railed against Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, the news media, and of course, Muslims.

As reported by Jared Sexton in the New Republic, the Trumpthuglicans were fully receptive to their leader’s message of fear, intolerance, authoritarianism, and strongman politics:

By the end of Trump’s speech, everything had been touched: His successes in the polls. ISIS and illegal immigrants in the same breath. Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren. The “dishonest” media and Trump’s revocation of the Washington Post’s press credentials, during which my section chanted “Kill them all / kill them all.” 

He’d rambled until he couldn’t ramble anymore and seemed spent. He’d exhausted yelling “Shut up, you SILLY WOMAN!” during an odd, misplaced poem that compared immigrants to snakes. At another point, a boy interrupted with “We all bleed red” and was dragged out by security as Trump sarcastically called, “Don’t hurt him! Please don’t hurt that person!” and the crowd replied, “Hurt him! / Hurt him!” As he was led to the doors, a small pack of supporters broke off from the throng and followed as if they meant to pummel him just past the exit. 

Outside, the lot was filled with more vendors and beyond them cars and trucks with Confederate Flag bumper stickers, decals, license plates, and actual Confederate Flags. In the shadow of one I watched a dad spank his child heatedly, as if the man needed somewhere to focus all his anger. 

On everybody’s lips were strange non-sequiturs of hate.
“You can’t trust Latinos. Some maybe, but not most.”
“Immigrants aren’t people, honey.”
“You know them crazy black girls, how they are.”

Donald Trump’s performance style leverages emotion and impulse over facts and intellect. Influenced by professional wrestling, Trump is selling “the sizzle and not the steak.” Consequently, his ability to manipulate an audience is made possible by simple narratives and emotional appeals. To that end, Donald Trump has repeatedly referenced a parable and song about a snake who betrays the confidence of a Good Samaritan, biting him, and then leaving the kind helper to die. In Trump’s telling “real Americans” (read: white, Christian, conservatives) are taken advantage of and ultimately killed by “snakes,” i.e. “Muslims,” “immigrants,” or whatever group has earned his ire on a given day.

A Conversation with Randy Roberts about the Life and Legacy of Muhammad Ali

We are now at the end of the second week of the June fundraiser here at Indomitable/WARN/We are Respectable Negroes. It is one of two fundraisers that I conduct annually. The other is in December.

I would like to thank all of the kind folks who have thrown some money into the virtual collection bowl. It is much appreciated. As you know, I am not compensated for my work here or the podcast. Both are labors of love, labors that I learn and benefit from in ways that I cannot easily express. As of the end of the second week of the fundraiser, we are a bit behind the pace necessary to meet this June's goal. If you can, are able, and will please do throw some pennies, gold, silver, into the Paypal logo at the top of the screen on the right hand side bar.

****

This week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show honors Muhammad Ali. To that end, Professor Randy Roberts is the guest on this week's podcast. He is the author of the new book Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X. 

Dr. Roberts is an expert on social history and American culture whose other works include Joe Louis: Hard Times Man, Jack Dempsey: The Manassa Mauler, Papa Jack: Jack Johnson and the Era of White Hopes and Heavy Justice: The State of Indiana v. Michael G. Tyson.

In this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show, Chauncey and Dr. Roberts discuss Donald Trump the showman and professional wrestler wannabe, the color line and sports, the importance of Muhammad Ali to how we think about social change and struggle in the 1960s and beyond, Ali and the Nation of Islam, and the importance of legendary boxer Jack Johnson. Chauncey and Randy also do some fantasy booking and work through if Mike Tyson would have stood a chance in the boxing ring against Muhammad Ali.

During this week's installment of The Chauncey DeVega Show, Chauncey discusses the stranglehold that the NRA and ammosexuals have over the Common Good in the aftermath of the Orlando massacre. Chauncey also ponders what happens when Donald Trump loses in November and his Trumpthuglicans are left leaderless.

To close out this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show, Chauncey also tells a story about his high blood pressure fantastical journey from CVS to the local emergency room.

This great episode with Professor Randy Roberts can be downloaded from Libysn and also listened to here.

The Chauncey DeVega Show is available on Itunes and at Stitcher. The Chauncey DeVega Show can now be found on Spotify as well.

A Celebrating the Life of Muhammad Ali Semi-Open Weekend Thread

As is our habit and tradition, do consider this a semi-open weekend thread.

Muhammad Ali passed away yesterday. I am no fan of hagiographies. I do not count many people as personal heroes. I also know that America celebrates great men and women of color who are radical freedom fighters and truth-tellers only when they are dead, dying, infirm, and/or many years after their passing. The Muhammad Ali I celebrate and honor was and is smart, witty, mean, mercurial, entrepreneurial, artistic, creative, a trickster, humane, a liar, complicated, afraid, womanizing, a narcissist, ego maniacal, and a warrior.

Does listing such traits constitute a hagiography? I am unsure.

There is so much that has been written about Muhammad Ali. Many of the books are excellent. I am particularly fond of King of the World, The Fight, and The Complete Muhammad Ali. Slate has a nice list of some of the great essays and shorter reflections on "The Greatest". Norman Mailer's "Ego" contains this wonderful writing:

Muhammad Ali begins with the most unsettling ego of all. Having commanded the stage, he never pretends to step back and relinquish his place to other actors—like a six-foot parrot, he keeps screaming at you that he is the center of the stage. “Come here and get me, fool.” he says. “You can’t, ‘cause you don’t know who I am. You don’t know where I am. I’m human intelligence and you don’t even know if I’m good or evil.” This has been his essential message to America all these years. It is intolerable to our American mentality that the figure who is probably most prominent to us after the President is simply not comprehensible, for he could be a demon or a saint. Or both! Richard Nixon, at least, appears comprehensible. We can hate him or we can vote for him, but at least we disagree with each other about him. What kills us about a.k.a. Cassius Clay is that the disagreement is inside us. He is fascinating—attraction and repulsion must be in the same package. So, he is obsessive. The more we don’t want to think about him, the more we are obliged to. There is a reason for it. He is America’s Greatest Ego. He is also, as I am going to try to show, the swiftest embodiment of human intelligence we have had yet, he is the very spirit of the 20th Century, he is the prince of mass man and the media. Now, perhaps temporarily, he is the fallen prince. But there still may be one holocaust of an urge to understand him, or try to, for obsession is a disease. Twenty little obsessions are 20 leeches on the mind, and one big obsession can become one big operation if we refuse to live with it. If Muhammad All defeats Frazier in the return bout, then he’ll become the national obsession and we’ll elect him President yet—you may indeed have to vote for any man who could defeat a fighter as great as Joe Frazier and still be Muhammad Ali. That’s a combination!

Deadspin's Daniel Roberts also offers up this smart and beautiful observation:

Memorial Day Weekend Semi-Open Thread: The New York Times Discovers the Relationship Between Professional Wrestling and Society

It seems that the relationship between professional wrestling and politics is now officially part of the zeitgeist and has been discovered by the so-called smart folks in our establishment media and "journals of record".

The New York Times has a feature in its weekend magazine which asks, "Is Everything Wrestling?"

It is a bit broad, but well-worth the read. Again, as I tell folks during our fundraisers (hint: next month is the first of our two pledge drives for 2016) we are often way ahead of the curve here at Indomitable aka WARN aka We Are Respectable Negroes--and have been so for a good number of years.

It would be nice to be included in the NY Times feature, but ideas have many parents and I am glad that professional wrestling is the topic of more serious analysis in this, the era of "Trumpmania" and the march of the Trumpthuglicans.

As is our habit and tradition, please do share any matters of personal or public concern that you feel are of interest. What are your Memorial Day weekend plans? Eating the innards and other parts of animals put inside of stomach linings or other organs?

I have included the NY Times article on professional wrestling below for those interested and so inclined.

*****

The charms of professional wrestling — half Shakespeare, half steel-chair shots — may never be universally understood. Every adult fan of the sport has encountered those skeptics who cock their heads and ask, “You do know it’s fake, right?”

Well, sure, but that hasn’t stopped pro wrestling from inching closer and closer to the respectable mainstream. Last year, World Wrestling Entertainment announced a partnership with ESPN, leading to straight-faced wrestling coverage on “SportsCenter.” The biggest action star in the world, Dwayne Johnson, known as the Rock, got his start as an eyebrow-waggling wrestler. When the “Today” show needs a guest host, it enlists the WWE star John Cena to don a suit and crack jokes. No less an emblem of cultivated liberal intelligentsia than Jon Stewart recently hosted wrestling’s annual Summerslam, his first major gig since leaving “The Daily Show.” Wrestling may never be cool, but it is, at the very least, no longer seen as the exclusive province of the unwashed hoi polloi.

This is partly because the rest of the world has caught up to wrestling’s ethos. With each passing year, more and more facets of popular culture become something like wrestling: a stage-managed “reality” in which scripted stories bleed freely into real events, with the blurry line between truth and untruth seeming to heighten, not lessen, the audience’s addiction to the melodrama. The modern media landscape is littered with “reality” shows that audiences happily accept aren’t actually real; that, in essence, is wrestling. (“WWE Raw” leads to “The Real World,” which leads to “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” and so forth.) The way Beyoncé teased at marital problems in “Lemonade” — writing lyrics people were happy to interpret as literal accusations of her famous husband’s unfaithfulness — is wrestling. The question of whether Steve Harvey meant to announce the wrong Miss Universe winner is wrestling. Did Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj authentically snap at each other at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards? The surrounding confusion was straight out of a wrestling playbook.

A Conversation with Sociologist Laurie Essig about Neoliberalism, Emotions, and the Color Line

This week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show features Professor Laurie Essig. She is the author of several books including American Plastic: Boob Jobs, Credit Cards, and Our Quest for Perfection. Dr. Essig is also a contributing writer for Psychology Today.

In this week's installment of the podcast, Laurie does some great sharing and teaching about how neoliberalism has distorted love, marriage, and other human relationships. Chauncey and Laurie also talk about race and "white" weddings, the dangers of consumerism, and of course, their mutual interest in the "human zoos" and "freak shows" that are reality TV.

During this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show, Chauncey gives his thoughts on WWE's Extreme Rules pay-per-view, the new movie The Nice Guys, and explains his decision about attending a White House summit event in June. Chauncey also does some truth-telling about Republican toilet sex deviant potty politics, and of course, the now fallen and disgraced Bill Cosby.

This episode with Laurie Essig can be downloaded from Libysn and also listened to here.

The Chauncey DeVega Show is available on Itunes and at Stitcher. The Chauncey DeVega Show can now be found on Spotify as well.