Plausibly Live! - The Official Podcast Of The Dave Bowman Show

By the middle of November, speeches were being made and response were being written. James Wilson’s speech in Pennsylvania had caused a great stir, and Cato’s letter was still starting debates in New York. But not everybody was in agreement with Cato’s concerns. As we have seen Cæsar was rather snarky in his idea that Cato should just shut up and go along with the Constitution, lest the “American Fabius” be compelled to shove tit down his throat. Another federalist writer took deep exception to Cato’s arguments in favor of the Montesquieuian view of the size of republics. As you know Montesquieu was adamant that in order to be successful, republics had to be small. Very small. Like half the size of the City of New York in those days. To say that it was an Article of Faith among the Anti-Federalists that the proposed national government would fail simple on the grounds that it was too physically large, would be an understatement. As we have also said, the Federalists seemed to lack a basic understanding o

Back in August when we left the story, the US Navy had just suffered its worst ever blue water defeat. More than a thousand Allied sailors were dead. Four Heavy Cruisers had been lost, with a fifth disabled. The Navy, along with the American public, had been stunned by the loss, less than a year after the disaster at Pearl Harbor. Just three months later, on the night of November 13/14, 1942, the Navy once again was shocked when a Japanese submarine torpedoed one of the heavily damaged survivors of yet another pitched night battle off of Guadalcanal, the USS Juneau. Of her crew of six hundred and seventy-three men,. a mere ten survived after spending eight days afloat on life rafts and flotsam. Americans mourned as five of the dead turned out to be the five Sullivan Brothers of Waterloo, Iowa. They were serving together and remain one of the two cases that led the US Military to adopt a policy of not allowing siblings to serve together in war time. On the evening of November 14, 1942, it would have been eas

Welcome to Day Six of the 2022 Midterm elections! It turns out that there is a scientific reason, if not a theological one, that the Neanderthal’s didn’t survive. It has to do with who was loving who. Rabbi Dave told you six months ago that there would be no “Red Tsunami.” The question is why did so many people believe that there would be? Was it the as simple as the polls were “wrong?” Or is there an issue with the quality of candidates? And what if the real conspiracy about election counting was in the 60’s through the 80’s, not now? Despite the long week of more or less bad news (including more threats by the Russians to nuke) there is at least one good story this week. It will make you say “WTF?” And it’s the best time of year for Dave. His favorite holiday snackage is now available!

In our modern society, you will often hear the cry, "What happened? How did things come to this?" I never expected to find an answer to that question. A few weeks back I decided to delve into the Anti-Federalists and their arguments against the Constitution. What inspired their thinking and debates? Little did I know where the whole thing would take me. So I was a little surprised when I landed on a road on an April day walking along with two older gentlemen who were not ready to go gently into that good night...

Happy Election Day! Although it is a midterm election, which are every bit as important as the Presidential Elections, we're going to take a look at the Top 5 Most Heated Presidential Elections in the history of our country.

Dave joins you to talk about the latest update on Eric's knee replacement surgery and follow on issues, as well as his own Dental misadventures.

Thank the gods that it is almost over... for now... What is it? why... It's THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION EVER!!!!!! It's not, but that isn't stopping Chelsea Handler from once again exposing herself to convince you that it IS the most important election ever AND that Daylight Savings Time is a MEGA MAGA Republican conspiracy to keep you from voting. The simple and unarguable FACT is that this is not only NOT the most important election ever, there are a lot of reasons to believe that literally NOTHING will change whichever way it goes. The Supreme Court has decided to wade into the Section 230 waters. Ultimately it's about WHO gets to decide what speech is allowed and not allowed on the interwebs. The Trashtros cheated to win another World Series, while the World Corn Hole Championships suffered their own cheating scandal. All that and more on this weeks episode of "What The Frock?"

Look, I said this the other day on Bill Mick’s Show, I am a free speech advocate. In point of fact, I am a free speech radical. I personally do not believe that there should be ANY limits on speech. The absolute answer to bad speech is more good speech. A bad argument should be countered by a good argument, not censorship. But… and you know what that means… there is some speech that is so offensive, so outrageous, so abusive that it outrages certain members of the society. The calls quickly come for silencing of that speech, and they become loud and because of the nature of the speech, they are generally unopposed. And when those calls come, the slippery slope gets steeper. Should we censor some speech simply because it crosses a sanctified cultural ideal and we don’t like it? Especially when that speech is so outrageous, so offensive, so… wrong… that it simply must be punished?

If you happen to have Netflix, there is an interesting documentary series called "How To Become a Tyrant," which I give a pretty good rating to overall. The only drawback is that it relies entirely on a modern era understanding of who is a tyrant and how they obtained that position. There are some really applicable lessons in this show, and they're not wrong about these men who became tyrants, but it lacks the historical long view. The American of the late 1780's had a specific understanding of what tyrannies are, and what kind of person manages to become a tyrant. Our own Declaration of Independence has a rather strange thing to say about a tyrant which seems counter-intuitive at first. Of course a tyrant is not fit to rule over a free people. And outside of the thirteen American Colonies, George III is not only not called or seen as a tyrant, but is beloved and held in high esteem for being a man who held his peoples best interest at heart. What made us see him differently? Were we correct about him? And

One November 1, 1765, the Stamp Act, passed by Parliament and given assent by King George III, took effect in Colonial America. For most Americans of that day, it was an intolerable action that violated the basic principle of "No taxation without representation." Americans really weren't as upset by the tax as they were about the the control over it. They were being compelled by Britain to pay for a war - in the mind of most Americans - for which they had already paid in numerous ways. In Britain, the tax was seen as being implemented in the "easiest and least objectionable way," which was, of course, a big part of the problem. It seemed that Parliament had more or less forgotten why there were colonies in America to begin with. It wasn't because British loved anglophiles had braved the stormy Atlantic ocean to show their love and devotion to the Crown. For all of that though... there is actually a even bigger issue with the Stamp Act Tax and it was one that would be repeated by Americans themselves in lat

Rabbi Dave is having a tough time of things. Some of you... and you know who you are... have hurt his feelings. Meanwhile the Vice President of the United States has a weird sexual inclination. And she's willing to openly discuss it, while cackling and clearly thinking about pushing the old guy off the stage. The Paul Pelosi story is weird. I think that we can all agree on that, even if you actually believe that some random undocumented Canadian nudist broke in and just whacked him with a hammer without any reason whatsoever. Meanwhile, Friar Rod's bird is finally free! Twitter is now a fully owned subsidiary of Elon Musk who is busy firing a bunch of Data Engineers. Halloween is bringing out the attention whores, including one who is entertaining dead people, while Russia is having major problems with its entertainment industry, specifically comedy. Which might be an opening for Rabbi Dave? And while the airlines are going to make the seats even smaller, a discussion ensues as to exactly and specifically w

From time immemorial, elections have been a mess. There has been "ritualized bribery" to outright rigging of them, elections have always been a fiasco.  And, of course, they are still rigged today. Just not the way you are being told that they are rigged. Meanwhile, we need to figured out what to do about it, if anything even can be done. The lessons of history are NOT encouraging...

At 2:30am on October 25, 1944, USS Tang, one of the highest scoring US Submarines in the war, launched the final torpedo of her patrol. After attacking a convoy all through the previous evening, she was hoping to finish off one last ship before turning for home with a broom lashed to her periscopes. The real horror of war is how many things can go wrong. Usually with deadly consequences. As that last torpedo sped away from Tang, it held in its circuits and parts, flaws that had not yet been overcome, even as it had been rushed into production. As it cleared the tube of the vaunted Balao Class submarine, things immediately began to go wrong. The crew, led by one of the greatest submarine commanders ever, knew what to do and leapt into instant action. Would it be enough to save their ship from the threat of a rogue weapon?

Are you easily offended (or don't like Monty Python)? Then you most definitely do not want to listen to the most offensive and sacrilegious episode ever of What the Frock... which was definitely - no doubt about it - not recorded on an Saturday evening, but rather a usual Sunday morning even though the boys are drinking really early on a Sunday morning, not a Saturday night.

Producers Note: The air quality in the Puget Sound Region today is the worst in the world. Dave's voice is raw, he has a massive headache and his eyes are burning. So please excuse the smokers voice sound of things today... In mid-October of 1787, James Wilson, the man who invented the Presidency, gave a speech encouraging the voters of Pennsylvania to approve the proposed Constitution. While not as much of a hot-bed of anti-Federalism as New York, Pennsylvania nonetheless had its share of men who opposed it on several grounds. A few days after the speech, a letter appeared n the Freeman's Journal which took on Wilson directly. In many ways the "Centinel" would express many of the same ideas as Cato had. But he would add in an idea that while already expressed, outlined what he sees as the greatest threat to the liberty - and the understanding - of the people...

If you ask one hundred Americans, who is the best American citizen of ALL time? I've never done that, but my guess is the overwhelming answer would be George Washington. There is an almost worshipful quality that we take towards him, perhaps with some justification, as we have painted his deification onto the ceiling of our Capitol Dome. We have a corporate memory of him that fits both our need for the hero and our understanding of who we are as a people - perhaps flawed by strong. Here's the question though, do we honestly believe that everybody who lived back then just loved and adored General Washington? Was there not... say... one, perhaps two people who found him odious or even overbearing? James Madison is known to have disliked the Generals "coarse language" at times, but really, is there nothing worse thought of him, at all? The obvious answer is that of course there were those who not only disliked Washington, but worse, didn't trust him. So why have we ignored them and their versions of our history?

Rabbi Dave is morose this morning. Why? Because now that Autumn is upon us, he is realizing that life no longer has any meaning because Evil never rests and will always conquer good. It is relentless and no amount of comfort from Friar Rod will restore his faith in humanity or baseball. The proof of the Rabbi's theory on evil can be found in the city of Stockton, CA. It s here that a Serial Killer has been caught. But it won't be the last one. Friar Rod has an obsession with AI. Now he's thinking about switching political parties. and whatever you do this month - DO NOT GO TO SALEM WITHOUT A PLAN! Speaking of politics, at least one candidate for Congress has an interesting approach to the concept of political ads...

Konstantinos Laios joins Eric and Dave to talk about books and how he grew up in Greece studying World War II and the Battle of Kharkov. His next book, due in time for Christmas, is about the Ohio Class submarine...

There is a line in the film "The Da Vinci Code" which I have always liked: "Can you know a thing and never say it again?" The biggest problem with knowing something is that it automatically means that one cannot be blissfully ignorant of what it means and how it effects ones thinking and actions. when we know something, it compels us to use that knowledge - for good or for bad. But it must be used. I haven't had much to say about the news lately, because the more I study the past, you can thank the Anti-federalists for that - the more the knowledge of what I am seeing and learning causes me to become more and more skeptical of the motivations and actions of the newsmakers around us. In the words of the anti-federalist, Cato, "Beware of those who wish to influence your passions, and to make you dupes to their resentments and little interests..."

My son likes to ask me the question about what I would have thought about today's technology back when I was his age. when I was in the 4th grade, we actually had to do a written assignment where we would try to explain football to a person from a hundred years before. When Ben asked me about the fabulous iPhone 14, I began to realize something. When I was twelve (like him), I would have been insanely jealous of today's tech. It would neither have amazed me or scared me. I would have seen it as the logical extension of things and indeed, as Star Trek coming to life! Which brought me around to another thought: Why is it that we think that the Framers/Founders would have to have our nation explained to them? Isn't it more likely that we do not understand their views and understanding of things? Which is why we are left to wonder what happened in the ensuing centuries. They would have - and did - predict exactly what has happened. The real conversation should be us trying to understand them, not the other way ar