The Dave Bowman Show
1,042 episodes - English - Latest episode: 12 days ago - ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsAfter relocating to the PACNORWEST, Dave continues his look at the news, politics, trends, history, religion, sports and even entertainment of the day...
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Episodes
Homeless Rainbow Unicorns
September 13, 2023 17:29 - 22 minutes - 7.57 MBThere are two burrs under my saddle this morning. First.. I’ve had it with YouTube. I’m sorry if you get your version of this show there, but something is going to have to change – as soon as I have the time to figure out how best to do it. Second, the State of Washington has spent more than $143,000,000 in one year to clear out homeless encampments along right of way locations. Sounds like quite the accomplishment, eh?
DDH - Why Go To The Moon?
September 12, 2023 14:09 - 53 minutes - 18.4 MBIt’s one of those “myths” of history, that on September 12, 1962, then President John F. Kennedy stood in Rice Stadium in Houston and announced to a stunned and surprised nation and world that the United States was committing itself to putting a man on the moon – and returning him safely – before the end of the decade. The speech is stirring and it was certainly one of Kennedy’s most noted. What it was not, was any kind of surprise at all. More than a year before, Kennedy had told a wildly ...
WTF - IT'S A TRAP!!!!
September 10, 2023 21:10 - 58 minutes - 20.1 MBThe Good Friar has a throat problem, which is solved by being a “double ender” podcast. You don’t care, but it’s all a part of the magic. Rabbi Dave is in a great deal of pain after a weekend of making field trips for Ben’s benefit. Gravity 5, Dave 0. Does anybody believe Gavin Newsome when he says that he is definitely no running for President in 2024? Oddly enough, Dave does. because really, who would even want to be President in 2025? The real Burning Man festival does not feature any C...
The Unimportant and The Important
September 07, 2023 18:04 - 21 minutes - 7.45 MBI had a bunch of dental work yesterday, so sorry I wasn't here to comment on the whole Bremerton JV football Coach situation. On the other hand, for the first time in my adult life, I made it through the entire procedure (three fillings) with (1) ZERO pain and (2) no panic attack. I was able to eat within a couple of hours, and now I am wondering what I was so worried about? One of the greatest pleasures of what I do is the random people that it brings into my life. It seems as if I have met...
DDH - A Crying Baby
September 05, 2023 10:59 - 35 minutes - 12.1 MBI am a Cold Warrior. I grew up in the heat of it, and for the final decade of it, I was directly involved. It was intense. It was personal, and it left me with a profound sense of accomplishment. But unlike the shelling of Ft. Sumter (1861), or the invasion of Serbia (1914) or the Poland (1939), the actual beginning of the Cold War is a bit more… nebulous. One could argue that the roots of the Cold War was in the politics and stresses of the pre-war years and the inevitable ideological strug...
WTF - Y 17.K
September 04, 2023 00:26 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBIt’s been a strange week. Then again, maybe it was last week that was strange? It’s a Holiday Weekend, so if you’re expected any in depth analysis of anything, you’re in for a disappointment. The boys are highly distracted and the conversation is as confused as the calendar in 1752. Dave has an announcement about his future, while Rod spent yesterday enjoying the pageantry of not watching NCAA Football opening weekend. AI is taking over the sex work industry, but is it good news it that may...
CT - Did You Hear the Question, Senator?
August 31, 2023 16:18 - 27 minutes - 7.88 MBIn the summer of 1787, the idea of term limits for Congress wasn’t seen as a necessity. So what changed between 1787 and 2023? were politicians in the early part of the American Republic somehow more virtuous or “better” than than those of today? Would introducing Term Limits on Congress today make any difference in the way we are governed by people who increasingly are “more experienced?” In point of fact, why do we associate age with the necessary experience for being a member of the polit...
The Return of Doctor X
August 30, 2023 05:47 - 17 minutes - 5.12 MBIt’s a well known “Dave Diamond Fact” that I love Humphrey Bogart movies. I own about 30 of them on DVD and/or streaming, and on days when things seem… meh… a Bogey flick is a good way to get my attitude back into the green. So it’s not often that I catch a Bogart flick that I haven’t seen before. But… now and again it happens. Over the weekend I caught “The Return of Doctor X” on TMC, staring Bogey as a dead murderer brought back to life by a mad scientist and is busy being some kind of cro...
DDH - Florida v Trump
August 29, 2023 14:06 - 34 minutes - 12 MBThe 14th amendments Section 3 prohibition against permanently holding office has NEVER been invoked successfully. Even when it was tried the first time, it ended when Congress took action to change it. Then, in 1918, with World War I raging, a man from Wisconsin found himself charged under the 1917 Espionage Act of saying things that the government said were sedition. He was arrested, tried and convicted. And then he won a seat in Congress. Twice. Congress, invoking the 14th Section 3, tol...
WTF - Muggs
August 27, 2023 22:09 - 55 minutes - 18.9 MBThe Donald Trump mug shot has become the hottest selling item in the country. At $47 a pop, people be snapping up the mug of the Donald, including friar Rod-erick. The mug shot has the boys wondering where does all of this end up? With a new vaccine coming (along with its own mandate!) is Dave’s latest insane conspiracy theory really all that out there? Why does Friar Rod-erick look like Donald Trump? Does gender identity effect tipping? What about Motel 6? Why do people bet on practice foot...
New Wine
August 25, 2023 16:38 - 14 minutes - 4.81 MBNo… I did not watch the “debate.” That doesn’t mean that I don’t have an opinion about the results of the debate. On the one hand, I came to a realization that these debates aren’t even meant to be substantive. These are intended to be performance art pieces, where the entirety of the event is intended to impress, entertain and get you to like a candidate based on nothing more than than their telegencic presence. Based on those criteria, clearly Vivek Ramaswamy was the hands down winner. He...
CT - 14.3/45?
August 24, 2023 18:53 - 28 minutes - 9.85 MBA few days ago, rod texted me and asked for my ‘assessment” of an article found in The Atlantic (paywall), “The Constitution Prohibits Trump From Ever Being President Again.” The idea is not new. The article is a rehash of an argument that was made by a couple of experts from the Federalist Society that says that the 14th Amendment Section 3 makes Trump ineligible for office. Constitutional interpretation is always a matter of convenience for whatever those in power want it be. The problem ...
Mask Mandate Redux?
August 23, 2023 17:50 - 19 minutes - 6.78 MBWho’s ready for the Presidential Campaign Debate Season? Whoo-hoo!!!! Seriously, I long ago quit watching them because – and I say this with love – they are pointless. Nothing of any substance has been discussed at a debate since 1960, and it gets worse every cycle. Today we are literally watching them not to learn anything of value, but in the hope that – like NASCAR – there will be a giant implosion on the stage that ends with a Jerry Springer-esque fight. Including the chairs being thrown...
DDH - Debates
August 22, 2023 11:41 - 34 minutes - 11.8 MBWho’s ready for the Presidential Campaign Debate Season? Whoo-hoo!!!! Seriously, I long ago quit watching them because – and I say this with love – they are pointless. Nothing of any substance has been discussed at a debate since 1960, and it gets worse every cycle. Today we are literally watching them not to learn anything of value, but in the hope that – like NASCAR – there will be a giant implosion on the stage that ends with a Jerry Springer-esque fight. Including the chairs being thrown...
WTF: Nope. It's Chuck Testa
August 20, 2023 17:11 - 55 minutes - 19.1 MBAre you ready for another gripping, thought-provoking, and downright hilarious episode of What The Frock? Our favorite dynamic duo, Rabbi Dave and Friar Roderick, are back at the mic, weaving their unique tapestry of wisdom and wit. This week’s episode promises a delectable blend of tech talk, skeptical love affairs, and some political pondering. First on the agenda: the rise of AI in the world of podcasting. How many of your favorite shows are using artificial intelligence for tasks from ed...
Liberty Without Faith Is Dead
August 18, 2023 17:13 - 21 minutes - 7.4 MBJohn Adams once said that “our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.” Like so many of the Framers and Founders, he had a deep level of understanding that seems to have been lost today. So what exactly was John Adams’ meaning? The answer may come from a story related to us from the Midrash, when a famous Rabbi sent two of his disciples to a nearby town to inspect things. When they arrived, the asked the city leaders to show them the Guardians of their city. The Rabbis...
The Greatest Mostly Peaceful Riot in DC EVER!
August 16, 2023 14:12 - 20 minutes - 7.04 MBNow that a man from Florida has been indicted for everything except the Kennedy assassinations and the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping, we are able to get on with our lives and talk about that time in Washington, D.C., when some people were so mad at the government and the perceived injustices that they marched in the streets and rioted. The also had firearms, threatened to use them and they burned a certain politician in effigy – which for those of you under thirty, mean they burned a doll of the ...
DDH - The Last Raid
August 15, 2023 11:14 - 35 minutes - 12.2 MBIn the days following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was confusion and uncertainty in the upper echelons of the Imperial Japanese government. Most of the leadership had deferred the final decision to the Emperor, who told them to “Bear the unbearable.” During the few days of waiting for the Japanese decision, the United States had paused its B-29 led bombing campaign. There rumors were rampant. Time after time the surrender was said to be imminent, but then faded away to...
WTF - You Should Write That Down
August 06, 2023 19:13 - 57 minutes - 19.7 MBThere’s both good news and… better(?) news this morning, depending on your view. The USWNT did not advance at the Women’s World Cup for the first time in a long time. On the other hand, Kim Jong Un scored an impressive 100% electoral victory in his campaign for Dear Leader. You should write that down. The great Plastic Straw ban may or may not have been successful, once again, depending on your point of view and what you actually think that it was trying to accomplish. You should also write ...
You Disagree with Me? THEN YOU ARE A FASCIST!!!!!!
August 04, 2023 16:23 - 14 minutes - 4.06 MBA recent tweet by Rob Reiner… yes… “Meathead”… reminds me that somehow or another, the meaning of words, or at least the understanding of those words, has been surreptitiously modified. This was followed by a Tick Tock user explaining to me that anybody who is NOT mentally ill under a capitalist system, is de facto a fascist. But that’s not the actual definition of the word fascism. Or is it? In my own backyard, the recent controversy over whether high school students who were wearing tee s...
DDH - "Daran Habe Ich Gar Nicht Gedacht"
August 01, 2023 14:01 - 35 minutes - 12 MBBy now you know that either Barbie or Oppenheimer, or possibly both, are the greatest movies ever created in the history film. Already people are talking about follow up films to tell what are known as “origin stories,” but frankly I couldn’t care less about the back-story of Barbie or Ken, or even for that matter Robert Oppenheimer. That said, there would never have been a film on Oppenheimer if two men, joined by other scientists, hadn’t written letters to President Franklin Roosevelt. One...
WTF - Just Say Aye!
July 30, 2023 19:08 - 57 minutes - 19.7 MBThe eternal argument over Term Limits got a… well… boost this week after a couple of geezers in congress that should have retired and/or died years ago managed to bring it to everybody’s attention. Should there be term limits, or at least age limits? Or, perhaps, cognitive test to determine if anybody is actually capable of serving in Congress? The overall mantra continues to be that by “supporting” Ukraine, we are “bleeding the Russians dry. The problem with that theory is now manifest as t...
Pardon Moi?
July 28, 2023 16:39 - 19 minutes - 6.84 MBThere is an old saying in the Civil Service: Never believe anything, until it has been officially denied. As the Biden Family crime story seems to be moving faster and faster every day, one of the things being postulated is that the President could issue a pardon for his son, Hunter. In fact, there are more and more people who are coming to believe that the President may have to issue one. And now that it has been officially denied, the maxim tells us that it is more than likely true. Yes, ...
I Won't Stop Talking Anyway
July 27, 2023 15:35 - 16 minutes - 5.55 MBTeenagers, man… Last night Ben and I took a walk. He has become quite the young man. He is smart, energetic and he has a lot, and I mean a lot, of opinions about the world and how things ought to be. And for really the first time since he became a teenager, he and I had a long conversation about the things that matter so deeply to him and to me. I rmemeber being a thirteen year old opiniionated know-it-all, so certain in my beliefs that nothing was going to change my mind. Maybe that’s the ...
Impeachment porn
July 26, 2023 17:39 - 21 minutes - 7.21 MBAs a general rule, I oppose the impeachment of elected officials (appointed officials are a different matter). The recent conventional thinking is that – in general – it’s a waste of time as neither side has the actual votes to impeach a given President. That did not stop Trump from being twice impeached, but, and I think that this is important, those were political moves that were less about Trump than they were about control of the House and Senate. When debating the Presidency during the ...
DDH - Punching Nazi's In The Face
July 25, 2023 14:39 - 35 minutes - 12.3 MBI am often bemused by so many wannabe tough people proclaiming on social media that they are here to “punch Nazi’s in the face!” More than once I have wondered if they would even recognize a actual Nazi if they were to see one in person? My own experience tells me that they would not, because in today’s world, the attitude is that “Everyone I don’t like is literally Hitler!“ That said, there was a day in 1935 (July 25th) when a group of men decided to… well.. punch Nazi’s in the face. Their...
The Darkages
July 24, 2023 16:38 - 15 minutes - 5.33 MBOver the weekend, Cami was asking me if I was worried about the future of the country. I mean… yes, I am. I also tend to take the Mickey Rivers approach to life, which means that generally speaking, I try not to worry about things over which I have no control. Of course, that is counter-intuitive, as in a government of, buy and for the people, I should have some control so now I am back to wondering what, if anything, I could actually do about things? Part of me thinks that everything is go...
WTF - Prophets of AI
July 23, 2023 21:09 - 55 minutes - 18.9 MBWARNING: Much Use of Adult Language, including AI produced "Best Cuss Words." If language offends you, don't listen to this episode or Jason Aldean songs The Rabbi has had a stressful weekend, and today isn’t getting any better. It’s the kind of stuff that has him saying (deleted). The big question this week is whether or not the understanding the we are gaining of AI effects or changes the way we view prophecy, particularly Biblical prophecy, which doesn’t mean the same thing to different ...
DDH - *That* Guy...
July 18, 2023 14:08 - 34 minutes - 11.8 MBEverybody knows *that* guy. You know.. the one who has to keep asking weird questions or making absurd pronouncements when the meeting is wrapping up and everybody wants to leave. It’s almost like they are utterly oblivious and definitely not reading the room. It terms of the Constitutional convention, *that* guy is named George Mason. And while the Convention has a scheduled eleven day break, starting as soon as the day ends, he wants to bring up a bunch of obtuse points. Right Now…
WTF - Fancy Killer Nipples
July 16, 2023 21:51 - 1 hour - 21.2 MBIs it weird to anybody else that Dylan Mulvaney’s nipples were blurred out in the newspapers pictures of him last week? Or… is it possible that some AI (it’s fancy… first off it’s two letters and it means “artificial intelligence”) came up with the idea of his dress and to blur our the offensive nipples? Other people watching Netflix have said that the whole AI concept “scares” them, to the point that they are unable to sleep. which could be solved by a judicious application of the “What Col...
Politically Correct Erectile Dysfunction
July 14, 2023 17:07 - 14 minutes - 4.97 MBRemember when the joke was actually a joke and everybody knew that it was a joke and even if you didn’t like the joke you still understood that it was a joke and so you just let it go? Yeah…that’s not the country we live in anymore. Now if you don’t like the joke, you go on the air and bitch about it until the worlds biggest entertainment corporation gives in to your little temper tantrum and changes a beloved fairy tale to fit your world view. And then one of them show you his nipples…
Death Becomes Us
July 13, 2023 17:36 - 18 minutes - 6.39 MBI freely admit that I am a skeptic when it comes to the news. In fact, before I read any article, I check the “About” section of the articles host site. far more often than you would expect, it becomes very obvious that the site is “questionable.” That aside, a lack of source materials, links, footnotes and so on, always make me suss about a given article or report. Oddly, one of the effects of the news being less trusted by the general public, is that science has suffered a similar fate. I...
Monomaniacal Fervor
July 12, 2023 19:28 - 16 minutes - 5.67 MBEvery now and then, I have one of those… moments when I think to myself, “Is that really what I mean when I say that thing? Many anthropologists and archeologists bemoan the fact that we have little understanding of the Yucatan peoples of the pre Columbus era. But you almost never hear a discussion of WHY we lack that understanding. As it turned out, the Mayans were quite literate and wrote down much of their history and theology in various forms. But… as you know… people with a different g...
DDH - DDH - Delawhere?
July 11, 2023 13:55 - 12.1 MBIn the context of “the United States,” what exactly is a “State?” Today, it seems obvious to us, but remember that in 1776 there were “States” that shared their governor. At least one of the “States” technically wasn’t a State at all, but rather a dubiously area of leased lands, that while it had its own legislative body, it was only because the State that “owned” the land didn’t like the people who lived there and didn’t want them voting in their elections and legislature. In June of 1776, ...
Great-Great-Great and Beyond
July 10, 2023 17:34 - 17 minutes - 5.99 MBIt is an inarguable FACT that none in the United states has owned a slave since 1868. As of today, that was one hundred and fifty-five years ago, or, in other terms, an average of nearly eight generations. In my case, because I am old and my grandparents reproduced young, it was four generations ago. So why is Reuters, a news agency that is decidedly NOT American, running a major article about “so many” American political elites who are “descended from slave owners?” It’s not because they...
WTF - Synthetic Reality, uh, Finds a Way
July 09, 2023 18:26 - 1 hour - 20.8 MBIn an age of synthetic reality, how do we have any idea of what is real or what to believe? It was bad enough in 2016, but now? How many different ways are we being shown and told things that may or may not be truth? If a robot taxicab can be disabled with a traffic cone, and a female crocodile can parthenogenetically reproduce, is it possible for us to know what to accept as real and dismiss that which is unreal?
WTF - Shirley, You Can't Be Serious
July 07, 2023 22:25 - 51 minutes - 17.6 MBRabbi Dave is sick. He’s been sick all week, but has dragged himself out of bed because this is important. He and the Good Friar Rod are here because they are broadcast professionals who deserve a $20Million contract from Spotify and they will actually show up to work, unlike some people we could name (Harry and Meagan). The Titan thing still has Dave freaked out, mostly because we learned this week that it was absolutely (probably) NOT instant and painless for the five people aboard. Keep ...
A More Perfect Union
June 30, 2023 22:23 - 4 minutes - 1.69 MBMy voice is completely and totally gone. Barely a whisper right now… But I am learning to use… AI!!!!!
DDH - Hanging By a Prayer
June 27, 2023 20:00 - 36 minutes - 12.7 MBA few weeks ago, I asked the question, exactly which Framers’ values and principles should we “be getting back to?” As the Convention lurched into the sixth week, and the heat in Philadelphia grew hotter, the delegates were – at least verbally – at each others throats. while the myth of unity still held in the media and even in sermons, the truth was that the convention was literally held together byt he strength of a “single human hair.” Madison thought he had an answer, and Washington fum...
WTF - My WAP Will Go On
June 25, 2023 18:26 - 57 minutes - 19.9 MBHow do actual fifty-year old white guys who happen to be qualified in submarines deal with the Titan event? with humor, of course, most of it as dark as black coffee And while that may offend some people, the reality is Americans have always dealt with tragedies this way. Even 9/11. A fantastical tale *might* help explain what happened – or didn’t happen – in Russia over the weekend. Honesty is a rare commodity in scientific studies , and Cardi B, yes… the WAP singer… like many other submers...
A Seat On A Rocket Ship
June 23, 2023 14:31 - 19 minutes - 6.85 MBI grew up with Star Trek as my inspiration for… well… pretty much everything. Yesterday I even got into a discussion about the ways that Star Trek has inspired much of my learning. in one of the climatic moments, Captain Kirk explains to the crew that “risk…. is, our, business” (you have to say it like Shatner). That said, when is risk too much? As AI looms and robots become more and more capable, doe it even make sense to risk a human life to take on the unknown frontiers? Or, does it make...
Buffalo Alice Exit 314
June 22, 2023 14:48 - 15 minutes - 5.32 MBNot that long ago, I was driving across North Dakota on I-94. At Mile 314, there is an exit sign that caught my attention. I don’t really know why. It just seemed to me to be the embodiment of being… well… normal. As we watch the circus that is our Congress and political system, maybe it’s time to take that exit?
New Ways of Making the Same Old Mistakes
June 21, 2023 15:04 - 18 minutes - 6.41 MBThe founder of OceanGate is on record as having said that he did not want to hire a bunch of “fifty-year old white guys” because we are “not inspirational.” He was specifically referring to submarine qualified people who know more about submarines than he ever wil. And far more than he ever imagined about how to safely operate underwater. I have said this before and I will say again… the ocean is ALWAYS trying to kill you. And if you are disrespectful, careless, presumptuous, over-confident ...
DDH - Hamilton! (The Part the Musical Left Out)
June 20, 2023 14:14 - 36 minutes - 12.5 MBPerhaps the best known Framer/Founder these days is Alexander Hamilton. But, as the case may be, not for the reasons for which he would have liked to had remembered or had sung about in a Broadway musical. Hamilton had been one of the men who had pushed hard for the Philadelphia Convention. He had also fully expected to be one of its leaders (a story oddly absent from the musical). What he had not expected was to be a third wheel on the New York delegation, constantly thwarted by the duo of ...
The Last Day of Slavery
June 19, 2023 15:01 - 17 minutes - 6.06 MBIf there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. – Abraham Lincoln, August 22nd, 1862 While Lincoln wrote those words in 1862, following them up with his Emancipation Proclamation, the real...
WTF: God Save the Queen
June 18, 2023 15:38 - 59 minutes - 20.4 MBIf you were confused, you’re not the only one. It’s Father’s Day (definitely not a Friday evening) and the Good Friar and the Rabbi are totally confused by the Presidents remarks as well as why it is that billionaire sports team owners need to have taxpayer funded stadiums. Sports are the theme of the day, and it’s a reminder that men like sports, even the mascots, while in Soccer, Mexico and the the US don’t seem to like each other at all… All that this week on a Fathers Day (not a Friday ...
The Summer of 1860
June 15, 2023 18:06 - 37 minutes - 12.7 MBThere came a time when the political system was unable to deal with the pressures brought on it by the political differences which divided the nation. By April of an election year, there were men who had decided that the moderate course which had guided the nation for four score and four years was no longer acceptable to them. In the arena of politics, calculations were made, votes were counted, and positions were staked out. The people of the country were not willing to believe that the ext...
Feeling... Blue???
June 14, 2023 17:12 - 13 minutes - 4.75 MBWhat 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?
DDH - By Compact or Force
June 13, 2023 13:58 - 36 minutes - 12.7 MBAs 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 willingness to allow for a delay in approving the Virginia Plan so as to hear and debate other pla...
Touching History
June 12, 2023 15:25 - 17 minutes - 5.87 MBFor 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 Gettysburg, where the tide of war has changed and where freedom and liberty had been saved. S short dista...