Documentary
CONSTITUTION USA, From New York to San Francisco, from Missoula, Montana to Tyler, Texas, Host Peter Sagal visits people across America introducing viewers to some of today’s major constitutional debates : free speech in the digital age, same-sex marriage, voting rights,…
Peter explores the Constitution’s most striking and innovative feature: its resilient brand of federalism. The framers created a strong national government while at the same time preserving much of the power and independence of the states. This delicate balance of power, seemingly hard-wired for disagreement and conflict, has served America well for more than two centuries. But it has also led to tensions throughout American history and still sparks controversy today over medical marijuana, gun control, and Obamacare.
Ask Americans what the Constitution’s most important feature is, and most will say it’s the guarantees of liberty enshrined in the Bill of Rights. In this episode, Peter explores the history of the Bill of Rights, and also takes on several stories ripped from the headlines, involving freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and right to privacy.
The high ideals of the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal,” endowed with “unalienable rights,” didn’t make it into the Constitution in 1787. It took three-quarters of a century, and a bloody civil war, before the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868 made equality a constitutional right, and gave the federal government the power to enforce it. The far-reaching changes created by that amendment established new notions of citizenship, equal protection, due process, and personal liberty and today those notions are being used to fight for same sex marriage, voting rights, affirmative action, and immigration reform.
In this last episode, Peter travels to Iceland where a few years after the country’s economic collapse, leaders decided to create a new constitution, turning to the U.S. Constitution for inspiration. This prompts Peter to consider why our own founding document has been able to last for more than 225 years. He looks at the systems that have kept the Constitution healthy--amendments, judicial interpretation, checks and balances —and also at the political forces that threaten to undermine the framers’ vision: excessive partisanship leading to gridlock, money in politics, and gerrymandering.
Self - Host
In the year of the presidential elections in the US, journalist Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal and director Hans Pool sketch a portrait of the most activist generation since the 1970s: Generation Z. However, the freedom they demand collides with other freedoms, and nowhere does that collision occur as on the surface as in Florida, a state where 'freedom' is rotten in everyone's mouth.
A politically charged mini-series researched and written by Duncan Campbell which saw dramatic Special Branch raids on BBC Scotland. An entire production office was loaded into transit vans and confiscated by the police. + One: 'The Secret Constitution' about secret Cabinet committees that amount to a secret decision making system at the highest levels of power in the United Kingdom. + Two: 'In Time of Crisis' about secret preparations for war that began in 1982 within every NATO country. This programme revealed what Britain would do. + Three: 'A Gap In Our Defences' about bungling defence manufacturers and incompetent military planners who have botched every new radar system that Britain has installed since World War II. + Four: 'We're All Data Now' about the Data Protection Act. + Five: 'Association of Chief Police Officers' and how Government policy and actions are determined in the fields of law and order. + Six: 'Communications' with particular reference to Zircon spy satellites ...
Telling the story of the 2018 poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the quiet city of Salisbury, an incident that sent shockwaves across the globe. Just months later, British mother of three Dawn Sturgess died accidentally after coming into contact with Novichok, the nerve agent used in the original attack. With gripping first-hand testimony, the shocking story of the 2018 poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Salisbury. Featuring unparalleled access to police, doctors, government officials and the military.
Hosted by Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg, A More or Less Perfect Union features perspectives and interviews from constitutional experts of all stripes - liberal, conservative and libertarian - examining the key issues of liberty: freedom of religion and press, slavery and civil rights, the Second Amendment, separation of powers and more. Constitutional experts, citizens and in dramatic recreations, the Framers themselves--weigh in on the unique document, the rule of law, the three branches of government separated to prevent tyranny, and the debate over originalism versus a living Constitution.
Following revelations in 2017 of a secret government program studying UFOs buried deep within the Pentagon, many scientists, academics, and government officials stopped wondering whether UFOs were real and started asking: "what are they?" This journey led them far beyond machines in the sky, taking them down a rabbit hole of alien encounters, near-death experiences, remote viewing, and other seemingly unrelated paranormal phenomena.
The West Wing provides a glimpse into presidential politics in the nation's capital as it tells the stories of the members of a fictional presidential administration. These interesting characters have humor and dedication that touches the heart while the politics that they discuss touch on everyday life.
