Plausibly Live - The Dave Bowman Show

What is “blue?” Now… before you answer that question, think for a moment about it. Ask yourself, what if there was no “blue?” And if there was no “blue,” what would change for your understanding of how to describe things? Is it possible to destroy words in such a manner to change human thought and understanding?  Or… has it already begun?

As the summer begins to warm the streets of Philadelphia, the temperatures inside the State House begin to rise. While most believe that the convention delegates are “united,” the truth is much, much darker. The “small” States are horrified at the Virginia Plans implications. They see it as nothing less than their compete and utter annihilation. In fact, the ONLY unity among the delegates, is a wi...

For me, history is highly tactile. I connect when my hands can feel and touch the things about which I have studied and learned. A few weeks ago, I was able to place my hands on a sixty-six million year old rock, in which was embedded a Tyrannosaur who had once walked the banks of Hells Creek in what is now Montana. A few days later, almost on a whim, I walked with my son on the field of Gettysbur...

The Virginian’s introduce their plan for a new National Government, which officially shocks the Convention since they believed (officially) that they were there only to revise and amend the Articles of Confederation. The Convention adjourns to the Committee of the Whole – which is the same people, in the same room with the same purpose as the Convention but without General Washington sitting on th...

The Convention finally gets underway. First things first, rules have to be established and agreed upon. Then the business of reforming the Government can get rolling. The first presentations take on the problems the nation confronts, including the biggest danger facing America. The local Newspaper wants a story, and somebody, just who isn’t exactly clear, is giving them one. George Wythe and his r...

To say that General Washington was angry would have been the understatement of the century. He was as close to losing his legendary cool as he had been since the war ended, and with his personal reputation on the line, he circulated the parties and dinners of Philadelphia’s social network. He faced a barrage of questions about the rumors swirling through the City. “Do you mean to destroy the gover...

Why is there  a Page 6 ? Why is  the high speed car chase of Harry and Megan through the streets of Manhattan  a news story? Why do “social media influencers” even exist? Why is our society so obsessed with  having our the fifteen minutes  of fame? We all claim that we want privacy and we are appalled when it is “violated.” But is that really who we are? Why is our society so determined to tell ev...

Over the past few months, in increasing desperate sounding letters, eMails and phone calls, my mortgage company has been begging me to re-fi my house. Or… even if I want to sell my house and maybe even buy a new one? As it turns out, there is a reason for all this unseemly begging. I happen to have a good bit of equity in my house and I also have a locked rate of 2.5%. There is a shortage of house...

Look, I get it. we should all be pissed off. Left, right, center. What we learned this week is that J Edgar Hoover was alive and well in the one institution that we were told that we could trust. Efrem Zimbalist Jr, and Tom Clancy novels not withstanding, we learned that abuse of power infects every alphabet agency and hall of marble buildings across the government. i do not care what party you sa...

One of the things that I have wanted to do for some time is a complete revision of  the Convention Episodes of Constitution Thursday . This summer, except for the three weeks I will be gone, Dave Does History gives me the chance to do just that. For the next few months we will take a weekly look at the things that happened in the Philadelphia in the Summer of 1787. This will not be a word for word...

A recent tweet about the ancient deity Moloch by a conservative Talk Show Host has lit up some folks (get it?). In essence he tweeted that the white liberal women (specifically) “will throw their own children (and yours) into the fires of Molech without the slightest bit of hesitation.” Now… that’s the kind of reference that seems arcane. The truth is that most of the people who read it or heard a...

At 0530 this morning I was reawakened by my Ben, who wanted to know how soon we could go to GameStop. At 0530. Sometimes things are pretty important, even if they don’t seem so to me. And sometimes the underlying motivations aren’t as clear as they seem in the media.

Yesterday on Bill Mick Live we talked about the Astor Place riots and the impact that the love of Shakespeare in America of the 19th Century had on the nation, and the events of May 10, 1849. After the show, I was thinking a bit more about things, and it occurred to me that there might be a related issue today. The  New York times recently ran an article explaining the problems in primary schoolin...

Once upon a time, NYC was the leader in American dislike for the British. What you gotta understand is that Great Britain and the US were almost thinking about going to war against each other… again. The whole  “Fifty-four Forty or Fight” thing , among other disputes. This time though, it wasn’t the national governments that stopped it.  Still, it the common opinion in America to dislike all thing...

The US Navy announced this week that it had… appointed?… a “digital ambassador” to help with lagging recruiting. The controversy comes in the fact that this particular digital ambassador was apparently appointed as such because he is a drag queen. furthermore, it seems to be actually aimed at recruiting other drag queens into the Navy. Naturally, the interwebs and the politicians have exploded int...

For what seems to be basically an American drinking festival, Cinco de Mayo has become “a lightening rod for controversy*.” A few years ago in California, white students began wearing American Flag t-shirts to school on the day. Of course, this was met with outrage, because… that’s what high school students have learned is the “proper” response to a perceived insult. When t-shirts aren’t the issue...

The whole concept of forced, or compelled assimilation is one that is repetitive through history. Whether you’re talking about the Jews and the attempts to force them to convert, the Conquistadors forcing their beliefs onto the Mesoamericans, or even the attempts by the US Government to force “civilization” onto the Native American, it’s a constant theme. While the macro versions of these attempts...

Admiral Irosuku Yamamoto, the leader of the Imperial Japanese Navy, was reputed to have once said that he personally would dictate the peace terms to the United States in the Oval Office. As the mastermind behind the the attack on Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto was seen as the evil genius behind the successes of the Japanese Navy up through the end of the Guadalcanal Campaign in early 1943. Now, in a desp...

I'm not sure if my BS detection Meter is working overtime or if things have just become so unbelievable that even the most cock-eyed optimist has trouble swallowing the news being fed to us. Let us consider just a couple of stories being reported this week...

It's been a long few weeks. And we're not even really close to being back to normal yet. That said, I've spent a lot of time listening to others and thinking about things. I have so often said that the Study of Constitutional Principles is very similar to the study of Torah. As we celebrate Passover this past week, there was yet another reminder of this to me. This time in a dry valley...

Today, April 11, is the anniversary of the founding of the US Navy’s Submarine Fleet! for one hundred and twenty-three years, US Navy Submariners have carried on the traditions and training of the worlds finest underwater warriors. When the Battleships were stuck in the mud of Pearl Harbor, the Submarines carried the attack to the Empire of Japan. when Missiles piled up on Cuba, US Submarines made...

I can talk, but it hurts. My good friend, the  MILSURPWRITER , half jokingly suggested that I use a voice box, ala Stephen Hawking. All I could find on short notice was a female voice, but you get the idea… So here is a very brief recounting of something of which I have absolutely no memory. Which, by the by, makes it the best dental appointment I’ve ever had, despite the pain, bleeding and inabil...

Without getting into the details, there was one point in my media career (so far), that a person took it upon themselves to make an attempt to “find me” in the “real world.” That person believed that they could get me to do something for them and control my life and behaviors in a manner that they, in a deranged mind, was who I am. It was nerve-wracking for a few days, and nort something that I wo...

In 44bce, the world was stunned on the Ides of March as a group of Roman Senators mercilessly attacked and murdered the sitting roman Dictator, Julius Cæsar. Over the next two thousand years, the story achieved legendary status in literature, theater and film. We watch as Elizabeth Taylor weeps over his death. Shakespeare brings us Marc Anthony’s rhetorical masterpiece, “Friends! Romans, Country m...

I’ve never shied away from the fact that my mind works… differently. So last week three things happened concurrently. First, some politicians here in Washington State have decided that ONLY “credentialed journalists” will be admitted to their press conferences. At almost the same time, Bill Mick was talking about the fact that he does not have the time to be an investigator for the stories discuss...