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A listener asks a surprisingly reasonable question: If fentanyl kills thousands of Americans, why isn’t it used for executions? From there, we follow fifty cents through a convenience-store cash register and ask what happens when an overcharge isn’t just taking money from a customer, but from taxpayers and SNAP recipients. Then there’s AI medicine. Can artificial intelligence really provide a “second opinion,” or is its better role helping patients understand what their doctors are telling them and ask better questions? Fentanyl, 7-Eleven, taxpayer money, doctors, algorithms and a little Star Trek. It all makes sense eventually. Plausibly Live with Dave Bowman. #PlausiblyLive #DaveBowman #Fentanyl #DeathPenalty #SNAP #SevenEleven #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Healthcare #TaxpayerMoney

Tennessee tried to execute Christa Gail Pike, administered every dose permitted by its protocol, and failed. Whatever one thinks of Pike’s brutal murder of Colleen Slemmer or of capital punishment itself, the state claimed the ultimate governmental power and demonstrated that it could not exercise that power competently. Dave examines the Eighth Amendment, the staggering cost and inconsistency of the death penalty, and whether Tennessee may constitutionally attempt the execution again. Then the discussion becomes deeply personal. A new VA report records 6,488 veteran suicides in 2024, with most occurring among veterans who had not recently received VA health care. Dave talks candidly about chronic pain, service-connected injuries, anxiety, navigating the VA system and understanding why some veterans begin to believe they cannot continue. This is an episode about government accountability, human suffering and finding a reason to get up tomorrow morning. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988, then press 1 for the Veterans Crisis Line. #PlausiblyLive #DaveBowmanShow #DeathPenalty #EighthAmendment #Veterans #VeteransAffairs #VeteranSuicidePrevention #Constitution #GovernmentAccountability

Sometimes you need a break from everything you're supposed to be angry about. For Dave, one of those escapes has always been Two and a Half Men, or more precisely, the Charlie Sheen years. The first eight seasons worked because Charlie Harper was more than the drunken womanizer the jokes made him out to be. Beneath the booze, women and complete absence of responsibility was a man who repeatedly demonstrated that he actually loved the family he complained endlessly about. That contradiction was the heart of the character and, arguably, the heart of the show. Now Charlie Sheen is getting another shot. The new sitcom Happy Jack reunites Sheen with his father, Martin Sheen, in a story about an aging lifelong screwup confronting perhaps his last opportunity to become the father he should have been. It raises an intriguing question: what happens when the charming, irresponsible guy finally gets old? For Dave, there's something more interesting here than another television reboot or celebrity comeback. Sheen's very public collapse cost him Two and a Half Men and hurt plenty of people around him. He doesn't get a pass for that. But should the worst period of someone's life define that person forever? Maybe Happy Jack will work. Maybe it won't. But with Martin Sheen beside him, veterans of Two and a Half Men behind the scenes, and an old-fashioned multicamera sitcom filmed before a live audience, Dave is rooting for Charlie Sheen's second act. Plus, a look at the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower flight-deck accident, the dangers of carrier aviation, and what happens when the machinery aboard an aging warship fails. #PlausiblyLive #DaveBowmanShow #CharlieSheen #HappyJack #TwoAndAHalfMen #MartinSheen #SecondChances #USSEisenhower #USNavy

We remember the American Revolution through its battlefields: Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, Trenton, Saratoga, and Yorktown. We picture Washington crossing the Delaware, Continental soldiers enduring brutal winters, and British redcoats marching across the colonies. But George Washington was fighting another war at the same time. Smallpox was moving through North America, and the Continental Army was extraordinarily vulnerable. Thousands of men lived together in crowded camps. Recruits arrived from rural communities where exposure to the disease had been limited. One outbreak could incapacitate a regiment without the British firing a shot. Washington understood the danger better than most. He had survived smallpox himself as a young man. At first, his answer was quarantine and strict prohibition of inoculation. Deliberately infecting healthy soldiers with smallpox seemed almost as dangerous as allowing the disease to spread naturally. Then the evidence began to change. The disastrous Canadian campaign demonstrated what smallpox could do to an army. Events in Boston suggested that controlled inoculation might offer another path. Washington now faced an extraordinary military decision: deliberately expose his own soldiers to a deadly disease, knowing that thousands could become sick and contagious at precisely the moment the British might attack. It was a gamble involving medicine, logistics, secrecy, military readiness, and ultimately the survival of the Revolution itself. On Dave Does History, we look beyond the familiar battlefields to Washington’s Other War, and the fight against an enemy that wore neither red nor blue. #DaveDoesHistory #GeorgeWashington #AmericanRevolution #Smallpox #ContinentalArmy #RevolutionaryWar #AmericanHistory #HistoryPodcast

What happens when something sounds so absurd that we stop checking whether it’s actually true? On today’s Plausibly Live, a viral headline claims a Columbia professor won an award for a book arguing that white paint is racist. There really is a book called A Dead White: An Argument Against White Paint, but the headline leaves out some rather important details. That opens a larger question about selective outrage, viral memes, and why bad arguments deserve better arguments rather than distorted ones. Then we turn to football. Trevor Lawrence stops at the one-yard line, jokes about helping fantasy owners, and suddenly the conversation isn’t about Jacksonville winning 35–6. It’s about fantasy points, prop bets and who made or lost money. Fantasy football changed the way fans root for players; legalized sports gambling has gone further, putting a financial interest on almost every play. When something strange happens on the field, have we reached the point where our first thought is, “How much money was riding on that?” White paint, viral outrage, slow white quarterbacks, fantasy football, gambling and the increasingly complicated business of simply rooting for your team. Plausibly Live – The Dave Bowman Show #PlausiblyLive #DaveBowmanShow #FantasyFootball #SportsBetting #NFL #TrevorLawrence #FreeSpeech #MediaLiteracy

History does not always survive where we expect to find it. Sometimes it is preserved in a journal or an archive. Sometimes it is buried in the dirt. And sometimes it is sitting right in front of us on a professional basketball jersey. On this edition of Plausibly Live – The Dave Bowman Show, Dave begins with his fascination with the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the sheer scale of what the Corps of Discovery attempted. More than two centuries later, despite the extensive journals Lewis and Clark kept, historians still cannot conclusively identify many of the places where the expedition camped. Enter Dr. Benjamin Rush and his wonderfully named Bilious Pills, better known as “Thunderclappers.” The Corps carried hundreds of the powerful laxatives, which contained mercury chloride. That mercury left behind an unexpected archaeological fingerprint in expedition latrines. Two hundred years later, traces in the soil can help archaeologists determine where the Corps actually camped. And yes, there is a song. From there, the story jumps to Charlotte, North Carolina, and an odd connection between the old World Football League and today's NBA: why were both Charlotte teams called the Hornets? The answer takes us back to September 1780, when Lord Cornwallis occupied Charlotte during the American Revolution. Patriot militia under William Richardson Davie could not defeat Cornwallis in a conventional battle, so they made controlling the town and surrounding countryside miserable for the British. dbs_09252026_thunderclappers-tr… The resistance helped give Charlotte its enduring identity as a “nest of hornets.” Long after Cornwallis was gone, the Hornet remained, eventually finding its way into the city's sports culture. Two stories separated by thousands of miles, connected by one of the things that makes history endlessly fascinating: the past leaves tracks. You just have to know where to look for them. #PlausiblyLive #DaveBowmanShow #LewisAndClark #CorpsOfDiscovery #BenjaminRush #Thunderclappers #AmericanHistory #RevolutionaryWar #CharlotteHornets #LordCornwallis #HistoryPodcast

The United States says it has a weapon in orbit, but has revealed little about what it does. Could the announcement deter an adversary, or could uncertainty make a confrontation in space more dangerous? On this episode of Plausibly Live, I look at the possibilities behind that announcement, from disrupted signals to damaged satellites, and at a question Star Trek fans may recognize: what happens when your instruments show you where a target was instead of where it is? Captain Picard’s famous maneuver offers a surprisingly useful way into the problem. Then it’s back to Earth, where Brooks is selling $150 Mariners sneakers. The tribute to retiring broadcaster Rick Rizzs is a nice touch. After 44 years as a Mariners fan, though, I have some thoughts about what the team is asking us to celebrate. #PlausiblyLive #DaveBowmanShow #SpaceSecurity #StarTrek #PiccardManeuver #SeattleMariners #RickRizzs

What do a fiercely progressive lesbian bar, an angry online mob, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and my wife’s desire for a cat have in common? They all demonstrate what happens when you believe you are in control of the situation. In Greenfield, Massachusetts, the Last Ditch Bar built its identity around inclusion, mutual aid, ideological solidarity, and an exceptionally strict masking policy. When financial reality forced the owners to make Saturday nights mask-optional, years of accommodation purchased them precisely no goodwill. The accusations arrived, the apologies followed, and each concession merely produced another offense. It is an old lesson: if you feed the alligator, it does not become grateful. It learns where the food is. Then we turn to a crisis much closer to home. Cami wants a cat. Seeking guidance, I made the questionable decision to study Cats, the musical in which unemployed felines gather in a junkyard, introduce themselves at considerable length, and compete for the privilege of being launched into the upper atmosphere inside a tire. This raises several important questions. What exactly is a Jellicle Cat? Is the Heaviside Layer cat heaven or an elaborate disposal program? Most importantly, what happens when an actual cat discovers the illuminated buttons on my RØDECaster? Join me for an episode about ideological alligators, domestic negotiations, mysterious feline rituals, and the growing suspicion that the cat has already been selected. I simply have not been told its name. #PlausiblyLive #DaveBowmanShow #DontFeedTheAlligator #CatsTheMusical #CatOwnership #Culture #PoliticalCorrectness #FreeSpeech #Commentary #Podcast

On November 16, 1776, the American Revolution suffered one of its worst disasters. Fort Washington fell, and nearly 3,000 American soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured. That same day, almost 1,800 miles away, the Continental Navy brig Andrew Doria entered the harbor at St. Eustatius and fired thirteen guns. From Fort Oranje, eleven guns answered. The exchange became known as the First Salute, the first official acknowledgment of an American flag aboard an American national vessel by a foreign authority. Behind that symbolic moment stood something even more important. St. Eustatius, known as the Golden Rock, connected the struggling United States to the gunpowder, weapons, clothing, naval supplies, credit, and commercial networks it needed to survive. The First Salute: Eleven Cannon Shots That Changed the American Revolution follows the story from the disaster at Fort Washington to a Caribbean harbor where the rebellion first received the courtesies of a nation. #DaveDoesHistory #TheFirstSalute #AmericanRevolution #RevolutionaryWar #StEustatius #ContinentalNavy #NavalHistory #AmericanHistory

Can a president revoke White House press credentials simply because he believes a news organization is dishonest or unfair? The First Amendment protects the freedom to publish, but it does not guarantee any reporter a seat in the White House briefing room. Once the government creates a credentialing system, however, the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process enters the picture. Using Sherrill v. Knight and later disputes involving Jim Acosta and Brian Karem, Dave examines why even politically biased journalists cannot be stripped of access through arbitrary presidential action. Then the discussion turns to California, where Governor Gavin Newsom has expanded Hollywood tax incentives in an effort to stop film and television production from leaving the state. The problem is not that lower taxes encourage investment and preserve jobs. The problem is that California reserves that relief for a powerful, politically connected industry while smaller businesses remain trapped under the same taxes, regulations, energy costs, and housing pressures that drove Hollywood away. Constitutional protections matter most when they defend people we dislike. Sound economic principles matter most when they are applied to everyone. #PlausiblyLive #DaveBowmanShow #FirstAmendment #FifthAmendment #FreedomOfThePress #DueProcess #DonaldTrump #GavinNewsom #California #Hollywood #CronyCapitalism

A newspaper headline I didn’t write introduced me to Bill Mick in 2006. What began as an awkward invitation onto his radio show became a friendship, a career in broadcasting, and, years later, the history segments we still share. Bill retired today after 25 years in radio. His last day has me thinking about the chances people take on one another, the choices that take us away from the microphone, and the friendships that endure after the show ends. This is my thanks to the man who taught me how to do it. #PlausiblyLive #BillMick #DaveBowmanShow #DaveDoesHistory #TalkRadio

On Constitution Day, Dave asks whether the Senate still works as the Framers intended. The Seventeenth Amendment gave voters the power to elect senators directly, ending a system troubled by deadlocks and corruption. It also removed state legislatures’ direct voice in Congress. What did the nation gain, and what did it give up? The question becomes more urgent when a senator’s ability to serve is in doubt, but the seat remains valuable to a political party. Dave examines the cases of Mitch McConnell and Dianne Feinstein, the case for term limits, and the difficult question of who should decide when an elected official can no longer do the job. Then September 17 takes the story from Augustus and the fall of the Roman Republic to the signing of the Constitution and the bloodiest single day in American history at Antietam. Together, those events offer a reminder of how a republic can be lost, how one can be built, and what Americans have paid to preserve theirs.

I find Macklemore’s rhetoric about Israel repellent. I also defend his right to say it. Those convictions can coexist, even when doing so is uncomfortable. After Macklemore used Ed Sheeran’s tour to advocate for Palestinians, venue owners refused to host concerts with him on the bill. His removal raises questions about free speech, private property, and the power of major venues to limit an artist’s reach. The First Amendment protects Macklemore from government punishment for his political views. It does not entitle him to someone else’s stage, nor does it prevent the rest of us from challenging what he says. We also turn to Congress’s latest vote calling for an end to American hostilities with Iran. A resolution may tell voters where members want to stand, but what does it actually change? If Congress wants to direct a war or bring one to an end, it has constitutional responsibilities that demand more than a symbolic vote. Two disputes, one recurring question: Are the people making these declarations prepared to reckon with what their words mean in practice? #PlausiblyLive #DaveBowmanShow #Macklemore #FreeSpeech #FirstAmendment #Israel #Palestine #WarPowers #Congress #Iran

There are moments when diplomacy does not prevent a war. It merely reveals what the war is actually about. On September 11, 1776, three representatives of the Continental Congress crossed under a flag of truce to Staten Island. Benjamin Franklin,John Adams, and Edward Rutledge came to hear what Admiral Lord Richard Howe could offer a people who had declared themselves independent only two months earlier. The setting suggested civility: a fine meal, carefully arranged surroundings, and polite conversation among gentlemen. Beneath it lay an impossible divide. Howe could offer pardons, but only after submission. He could speak with the Americans asprivate gentlemen and British subjects, but could not recognize their Congress or their independence. Adams answered with a line that captured the entire dispute: Howe could regard him in any character he pleased, except that of a British subject. The Staten Island Peace Conference is often treated as a diplomatic footnote because it produced no agreement. Its failure, however, gave the Revolution a new clarity. TheAmericans learned that Britain’s peace commissioners possessed no authority to consider their grievances or negotiate with them as political equals. The choice was no longer between war and a meaningful settlement. It was between submission and the dangerous, uncertain pursuit of sovereignty. In this episode of Dave Does History, we return to the uneasy days after the American defeat on Long Island, when Washington’s army was retreating and independence remainedfar more declaration than reality. Major General John Sullivan carries Howe’s proposal to Philadelphia, Congress debates whether the invitation is an opening or a trap, and three very different Americans make the journey to Staten Island. Their meeting does not stop the fighting. It establishes why thefighting must continue. It also clarifies what Americans now understood victory would demand from them. #DaveDoesHistory #AmericanRevolution #StatenIslandConference #JohnAdams #BenjaminFranklin#EdwardRutledge #JohnSullivan #RichardHowe #ContinentalCongress #DeclarationOfIndependence #RevolutionaryWar #OnThisDayInHistory

Technology is wonderful right up until it begins decidingwho deserves to be watched, tracked, exposed, transported, or accidentally reduced to a screaming cloud of subatomic regret. In San Jose, a woman’s offensive public behavior became thejustification for an extraordinary digital manhunt. Cameras followed her movements, strangers identified her, and the machinery normally associated with finding dangerous criminals was turned loose on someone whose original conductmay have been ugly without necessarily being criminal. The temptation is to dismiss the concern because the target was unsympathetic. That is precisely when the concern matters most. Civil liberties do not require us to admire theperson whose liberties are threatened. The same uneasy relationship with technology appears in arather different setting aboard the refitted USS Enterprise. The transporter accident in Star Trek: The Motion Picture remains one of the darkest moments in the franchise. It is brief, disturbing, and almost entirely disconnected from the central story. Yet it also clears the way for Spock to return, disposes of Commander Sonak before audiences have time to know him, and reminds us that Starfleet’s polished future still contains machines capable of killing people in unimaginably horrible ways. Was the scene dramatically necessary, or was it simplycinematic cruelty dressed in futuristic machinery? Could Sonak have remained aboard without damaging Spock’s place in the story? And why did a film often criticized for moving at the speed of continental drift suddenly become so efficient when it came time to traumatize the audience? From surveillance cameras on modern streets to malfunctioning transporters in the twenty-third century, the central questionremains remarkably consistent: What happens when technological capability outruns judgment? The machines may change, but the human tendency to trust them, misuse them, and excuse their consequences appears to be developing righton schedule. #PlausiblyLive #DaveBowmanShow #StarTrek#TransporterAccident #SurveillanceState #FacialRecognition #CivilLiberties #PrivacyRights #Technology #FreeSpeech