• 39 minutes 15 seconds
    HAUNTED TAKEOVER: Hidden History | The JFK Assassination

    Something has crept into this feed…For Halloween, Hidden History with Dr. Harini Bhat has slipped through the walls to haunt your feed with an episode just for you.

    On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while riding in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Within days, the government named Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone gunman...but more than sixty years later, most Americans still don't accept that verdict. This episode walks through the physical evidence, the major conspiracy theories, and what the newly released classified files actually reveal.

    Enjoyed your ghostly takeover? Follow Dr. Harini Bhat back to where she came from and follow Hidden History for more episodes: https://pod.link/1895066656

    28 October 2026, 7:01 am
  • 59 minutes 38 seconds
    Elections Integrity (Federal Election Commission)

    It's the same question every election season: can we trust our voting system? To get a straight answer, we talked to someone who spent more than two decades inside the agency that polices money in American politics. We get into what the Federal Election Commission actually does (and what it doesn’t), where the safeguards in our election system come from, and what ordinary voters can do to help protect the process.

    Ellen Weintraub served as an FEC commissioner and four-time chair from 2002 to 2025. Before joining the FEC, she was Of Counsel to the Political Law Group of Perkins Coie and Counsel to the House Ethics Committee, and she holds degrees from Yale College and Harvard Law School. She now serves on the national governing board of Common Cause. Ellen walks us through the history, the legal ups and downs, and her practical advice for the road ahead: make a plan to vote, vote early, and consider becoming a poll worker.

    Head over to our Government That Doesn’t Suck YouTube channel to WATCH this episode: https://www.youtube.com/@GovernmentThatDoesntSuck

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    26 October 2026, 7:01 am
  • 53 minutes 14 seconds
    Government Reform Before DOGE: NPRG and the Hoover Commission

    Every generation of leaders inherits a government that feels too slow, too wasteful, or too tangled in its own rules. From the Hoover Commissions of the 1940s and 50s to Al Gore’s forklift full of regulations in the 1990s, the push to make government more efficient is nothing new, but lasting change is incredibly hard. Some efforts left real, durable reforms behind. Others made a lot of noise and left government worse off. Max Stier, founding president and CEO of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, has studied what makes federal agencies work for over 25 years. He helps us unpack what “efficiency” really means, what separates durable reform from performative reform, and what actually moves the needle.

    Partnership for Public Service: https://ourpublicservice.org/

    Follow Max Stier on X: https://x.com/MaxStier

    Head over to our Government That Doesn’t Suck YouTube channel to WATCH this episode: https://www.youtube.com/@GovernmentThatDoesntSuck

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    12 October 2026, 7:01 am
  • 41 minutes 47 seconds
    National Weather Service (Part II): A Day in the Life of Weatherman John Elliot

    Hurricane season is almost here, and it’s time to ask yourself: Who do you want to be in charge of your weather forecast? For decades, the National Weather Service has provided free, life-saving forecasts to every American. This episode, we sit down with CBS meteorologist John Elliott to explore the science, history, and people behind America's weather forecasting system and the debate over privatizing it.

    Head over to our Government That Doesn’t Suck YouTube channel to WATCH this episode: https://www.youtube.com/@GovernmentThatDoesntSuck

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    28 September 2026, 7:01 am
  • 1 hour 18 minutes
    NASA and the Commercialization of Space

    Following the Challenger and Columbia Space Shuttle disasters, the government had to rethink space exploration. In 2006, NASA launched the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, allocating $500 million to encourage American entrepreneurs to develop cost-effective cargo and crew transport for the ISS. Today, private enterprises like SpaceX, Starlink, Blue Origin, and Rocket Lab are ubiquitous, Yet, none of this progress would be possible without substantial government assistance.

    Head over to our Government That Doesn’t Suck YouTube channel to WATCH this episode: https://www.youtube.com/@GovernmentThatDoesntSuck

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    14 September 2026, 7:01 am
  • 1 hour 3 minutes
    Before the First Amendment: The Trial of John Peter Zenger

    In 1735, a colonial printer named John Peter Zenger spent nine months in jail for printing someone else's criticism of a corrupt governor, and his trial helped plant the seeds of a free press in America decades before the First Amendment existed. This episode, we trace the origins of press freedom, why "fake news" is a much older problem than you'd think, and why the Constitution protects the printer, not the truth — plus a conversation with historian Mitchell Kramer on what Benjamin Franklin really thought about truth and partisanship in the press.

    Head over to our Government That Doesn’t Suck YouTube channel to WATCH this episode: https://www.youtube.com/@GovernmentThatDoesntSuck

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    31 August 2026, 7:01 am
  • 47 minutes 47 seconds
    National Weather Service

    Hurricane season is upon us. Did you know that the weather app on your smartphone and the forecasts from TV meteorologists wouldn’t exist without data from the National Weather Service? Yep. The National Weather Service (NWS), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), provides vital weather, water, and climate data, forecasts, and warnings for the protection of life and property, as well as enhancing the national economy.

    Head over to our Government That Doesn’t Suck YouTube channel to WATCH this episode: https://www.youtube.com/@GovernmentThatDoesntSuck

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    17 August 2026, 7:01 am
  • 57 minutes 48 seconds
    The Spoils System / Pendleton Civil Service Act

    It used to be that federal government jobs were awarded via a "spoils system," where political patronage and loyalty were the primary criteria for hiring and firing government employees. This system led to widespread corruption, incompetence, and inefficiency, as unqualified individuals often held positions due to their political connections rather than their abilities. The assassination of President James A. Garfield in 1881 by a disgruntled office-seeker who felt he was unfairly denied a position highlighted the flaws of the spoils system and fueled public demand for civil service reform.

    Head over to our Government That Doesn’t Suck YouTube channel to WATCH this episode: https://www.youtube.com/@GovernmentThatDoesntSuck

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    3 August 2026, 7:01 am
  • 55 minutes 49 seconds
    Moonshot / NASA Apollo missions

    With its lavishly funded mandate to put a man on the moon, the Apollo mission promised to reinvigorate a country that had lost its way. But a new breed of activists denounced it as a colossal waste of resources needed to solve pressing problems at home. Neil Maher reveals that there were actually unexpected synergies between the space program and the budding environmental, feminist and civil rights movements as photos from space galvanized environmentalists, women challenged the astronauts’ boys club and NASA’s engineers helped tackle inner city housing problems.

    Head over to our Government That Doesn’t Suck YouTube channel to WATCH this episode: https://www.youtube.com/@GovernmentThatDoesntSuck

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    20 July 2026, 7:01 am
  • 46 minutes 48 seconds
    We The Founders (The Constitution)

    About 200 years ago, We the People created a baseline for a Government That Doesn’t Suck. "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. In today’s episode, Greg Jackson and Lindsey Cormack discuss the United States Constitution and why we are all founders.

    Head over to our Government That Doesn’t Suck YouTube channel to WATCH this episode: https://www.youtube.com/@GovernmentThatDoesntSuck

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    6 July 2026, 7:01 am
  • 49 seconds
    Introducing Government That Doesn't Suck

    What problem was government trying to solve? What machinery did it build? And did it work? Every other Monday, Professor Greg Jackson and political scientist Professor Lindsey Cormack dig into the laws, agencies, and policies that actually shape American life. From the interstate highway system to the National Weather Service, they break down how government works, when it succeeds, and when the answer is a little more complicated. Government That Doesn't Suck launches July 2026.

    18 June 2026, 4:40 pm
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