In 1968, Richard Nixon selected as his running mate the Governor of Maryland, Spiro T. Agnew. He was known for being a very tough “Law & order” Governor, who had little love for the civil rights chaos sweeping the nation. He fully expected – because Nixon had said so – to be the most active and involved Vice President in the history of the United States.

In some ways, he was. But for the most part, he did what most Vice Presidents do, got up every morning and asked how was the President? Day, after day.

As the President’s relationship with the press deteriorated, he was sent out as the attack dog for the Administration. In speeches and in press conferences, he became the face of the Nixon Administration’s adversarial relationship with the media, the public and anybody who didn’t think that the President was doing a good job at literally anything.

And then came the day when he was accused of corruption and of accepting a bribe. All his expectations and hopes for continued service to the nation evaporated into mist. President Nixon, already deeply embroiled in his own accusations, sent his representatives to tell Agnew to “go quietly.” On October 10, 1973, he resigned as Vice President. But he would never forgive those who he believed had ruined his career.

In the aftermath the nation got reminder of why a Vice President is a dual sided coin. It is both completely unnecessary and yet, at the same time, a critical piece of the political infrastructure.

The truth is, rabbi Dave doesn’t feel much like having fun today. This should be a joyous day filled with dancing and laughter. Instead, it’s full of death and destruction.

A trip to a local fast food place leads to questions about tips and tipping, while a discussion of getting longer legs leads places you do not want to go.

And like most real men in America these days (and forever), we discuss the glory that is Rome!

It’s been a very tough week. Between some health issues and the loss of a fellow SubVet, it’s been long and stressful.

The Congress this week voted to remove the Speaker. It was an unusual event, one that hasn’t happened – at least in this manner – before. It has caused a great deal of brouhaha, and a great deal of “discussion” between conservatives as to whether or not it was a “smart” moves.

I tend to look at things from a historical perspective and so I wander back through those halls and ask myself what the people who actually invented democracy would have had thought about it all? Something tells me that they wouldn’t have been impressed…

In the early days of the Pacific War, the Japanese empire seized Wake Island from the United States. It was an epic battle, despite the inevitable outcome. An outnumbered and unsupported Marine garrison held out far longer than anyone imagined that they would. Upon seizing the island, the Japanese removed the Marines, but kept ninety-eight civilian workers, who were forced into slave labor to build defensive infrastructure on the island.

In October of 1953, a air attack from the USS Lexington, in which future US President George HW Bush got his first combat experience, convinced the local Japanese commander than an invasion was immanent.

It wasn’t. But he still made a decision that reverberates today…

Before I could get to the show I had planned for today, we received the word that Senator Diane Feinstein has passed away at the age of ninety. Certainly the loss of a family member is painful, so my condolences are with the Feinstein family.

I ended up getting distracted by a couple of errands that had to be done this morning, so I had time to read more than a few articles about the passing of the Senator, when one in particular caught my eye. I know that the Daily Signal is produced by the Heritage foundation, but I find that it tends to drift from my libertarian principles. So I read it because I already know what I think, I want to know what others think.

That said, on the occasion of the passing of a noted Senator, it’s really a shame that what we are getting are AI generated articles that, at best, are kludgy…

Over the past few days, the whole world watched as the Canadian Parliament gave a standing ovation to a known Nazi soldier. Or… at least they should have known that he was a Nazi. You know… and actual real-life Nazi. Not one of their political opponents that was labeled as a Nazi because they want to be insulting and yet seem suave and politically bourgeoisie.

Nope…. an actual Nazi. And an actual standing ovation.

Now, look, we could spend a lot of time detailing how insulting this was to those of us of the Jewish faith, or… we could spend a lot of time discussing the ridiculous way that the Parliament and the Prime Minister have reacted, or technically attempted to react by blaming literally everybody – including Hitler – except themselves for the fiasco.

In the end though, the reason that we study history is to inculcate societal values and traditions that are useful to a culture. Ideas and lessons that help to prevent that society from making a giant ass of itself on worldwide television.

The kind of lessons that we find so rarely in history, and somehow manage to forget or ignore them anyway.

Which is why I can say without any hesitation or concern that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is certainly no Pericles.

Then again, neither is anybody else who thinks that they are a “leader” in today’s world…

This week in 1789, the 1st US Congress approved the first twelve amendments to the Constitution. These twelve amendments were the response to Anti-Federalist position that the Constitution MUST have a Bill of rights, and to that end, these twelve amendments listed the specific rights which were to be placed outside of government interference. further, they would serve to limit the ability of the Government to reduce the representation of the people in their house, and insure that none of the people elected to congress would be able to manipulate the compensation to benefit themselves unduly.

Well… that was what was supposed to happen…

It’s almost here, the holiest day of the year. And the Rabbi isn’t as excited about it as you might think. The good news is that the NFL announced its Super Bowl Halftime show this morning. The bad news is that it will not include Edgar Allen Poe.

The Ukraine War is still going on. And on. And on. And on. And. on. And more money. And more money. And more money.

Marching Bands versus police tasers and New York City is having a problem with infectious disease, including… Ebola????

Governor Newsome vetoed a bill that everybody expected him to sign. The only real question is whether or not he is telling the truth about why he did so?

All that and more this week, on an erev Yom Kippur episode of What the Frock!

In the debates over the ratification of the US Constitution, the Anti-Federalists often resorted to predictions of the worst case of the future. The understood human nature better than the Federalists did, but they lacked the ability to hope that the American people would rise above that nature.

George Washington had strongly supported ratification, but by this day in 1796, he was exhausted. Not just by war, but by the Presidency not being quite what he had hoped or expected it to be. As he said farewell to the nation, he was seeing the Anti-Federalist warnings beginning to come to fruition. He himself would not become one of them, but his warning to the nation would be along so many of the same lines of thinking.

As we take a few moments today to consider the Farewell Address of Washington, we must ask those same questions of ourselves.

For some reason, the 2024 campaign for President is NOT going well for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who may have – in a desperate attempt to out Trump Donald Trump, threatened to invade Mexico. President Biden has enough troubles of his own, and now the newspapers and the CIA are starting to weigh in on his problems in 2024.

It seemingly turns out that “brewed” chicken… isn’t. On the other hand, it’s not killing people. Ideally.

For the last 78,000 years people have hated the karaoke version of one particular song, which even the Neanderthals hated as they watched the harbinger of our doom slowly sweep across the night skies…

All that and more, ideally, this week on What The Frock…