Sidequests

Tennessee gave Christa Pike two lethal doses, and she survived. The Pentagon planned to livestream a firing squad execution until President Trump called it off. Criminologist Dr. Matthew Robinson of Appalachian State University, author of Death Nation , joins me to explain what these stories reveal about capital punishment in America. He discusses why public opinion rarely shifts for long, how Pik...

In the span of a single human lifetime, humanity went from wondering if flight was possible to breaking the sound barrier. This episode of Sidequests tells the story of that extraordinary leap — and the moment it all came together over the Mojave Desert. But this isn’t just a story about one pilot and one flight. It’s about the compressed, almost unbelievable pace of change that made that moment p...

The USS Abraham Lincoln spent ten months at sea. It left port in peacetime and came home from a war, and port calls were ruled out because every nearby harbor was within range of Iran. Rich Kolko, a former Navy P-3 pilot and retired FBI agent, joins Keith Conrad to separate fact from viral photos. Kolko explains why the deployment's toughness was circumstantial rather than a failure of plannin...

Pope Leo XIV’s lung cancer was found during routine screening. Days after he announced the diagnosis in St. Peter’s Square, surgeons in Rome removed one lobe of his right lung. Dr. Steven Goldberg , Chief Medical Officer of HealthTrackRx and a practicing physician, joins me to walk through what happened in the operating room and why removing the whole lobe isn’t cause for alarm. He also explains t...

Everyone knows how the Great Chicago Fire started. The problem is, that story probably isn't true. On October 8, 1871, a fire tore through Chicago and destroyed one of the fastest-growing cities in America. The official explanation became legend. But the real story — the one historians eventually uncovered — is far more interesting, and far stranger, than the version most people learned. In th...

The United States spent twenty years in Afghanistan and about fifteen days leaving. Documentary filmmaker Michael Pack joins Keith Conrad to discuss his new Wall Street Journal film, The Path to Zero , which traces the decisions that turned a planned withdrawal into the chaos of August 2021. Those decisions include a Doha agreement the Taliban had already broken, military advice that went unheeded...

The United States spent twenty years in Afghanistan and about fifteen days leaving. Documentary filmmaker Michael Pack joins Keith Conrad to discuss his new Wall Street Journal film, The Path to Zero , which traces the decisions that turned a planned withdrawal into the chaos of August 2021. Those decisions include a Doha agreement the Taliban had already broken, military advice that went unheeded...

Just after midnight on September 26, 1983, a Soviet early-warning system reported that nuclear war had begun. One officer had minutes to decide whether to believe it. What he chose — and why — may be the most consequential individual decision of the Cold War. This episode of Sidequests tells the full story of that night: what was actually happening in the world that made the moment so dangerous, w...

Just after midnight on September 26, 1983, a Soviet early-warning system reported that nuclear war had begun. One officer had minutes to decide whether to believe it. What he chose — and why — may be the most consequential individual decision of the Cold War. This episode of Sidequests tells the full story of that night: what was actually happening in the world that made the moment so dangerous, w...

On June 19, 1947, a Pan American flight went down in the Syrian Desert in the middle of the night. Engines failing, fuselage on fire, fifteen people killed on impact — including everyone in the cockpit. Among the survivors was an off-duty 25-year-old pilot named Gene Roddenberry, riding as a passenger. With broken ribs, he pulled people out of the burning wreckage, organized the survivors, improvi...

On June 19, 1947, a Pan American flight went down in the Syrian Desert in the middle of the night. Engines failing, fuselage on fire, fifteen people killed on impact — including everyone in the cockpit. Among the survivors was an off-duty 25-year-old pilot named Gene Roddenberry, riding as a passenger. With broken ribs, he pulled people out of the burning wreckage, organized the survivors, improvi...

On September 17, 1862, the Battle of Antietam produced nearly 23,000 casualties in a single day — the bloodiest in American military history — and ended in a military stalemate. Lee retreated. McClellan didn't pursue. But Lincoln interpreted the Confederate withdrawal as a Union victory and used it to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation five days later, transforming the Civil War from...

On September 17, 1862, the Battle of Antietam produced nearly 23,000 casualties in a single day — the bloodiest in American military history — and ended in a military stalemate. Lee retreated. McClellan didn't pursue. But Lincoln interpreted the Confederate withdrawal as a Union victory and used it to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation five days later, transforming the Civil War from...

In September 1928, Alexander Fleming returned from vacation to find a contaminated culture plate — a mold had grown on it, and in a ring around the mold, all the bacteria were dead. Most scientists would have thrown it away. Fleming looked more closely, recognized what he was seeing, and named the substance penicillin. This episode of Sidequests covers the discovery, the decade-long stall before a...

In September 1928, Alexander Fleming returned from vacation to find a contaminated culture plate — a mold had grown on it, and in a ring around the mold, all the bacteria were dead. Most scientists would have thrown it away. Fleming looked more closely, recognized what he was seeing, and named the substance penicillin. This episode of Sidequests covers the discovery, the decade-long stall before a...

On October 4, 1582, Catholic Europe went to bed and woke up ten days later. Pope Gregory XIII had ordered the deletion of October 5-14 to correct 1,600 years of accumulated drift in the Julian Calendar — a drift of just 11 minutes per year that had compounded into an 11-day error in the date of the spring equinox. This episode of Sidequests covers the Julian-to-Gregorian calendar shift: the elegan...

On October 4, 1582, Catholic Europe went to bed and woke up ten days later. Pope Gregory XIII had ordered the deletion of October 5-14 to correct 1,600 years of accumulated drift in the Julian Calendar — a drift of just 11 minutes per year that had compounded into an 11-day error in the date of the spring equinox. This episode of Sidequests covers the Julian-to-Gregorian calendar shift: the elegan...

On August 31, 1939, German commandos dressed in Polish uniforms staged a fake attack on a radio station near the Polish border, broadcast a fabricated message in Polish, and left behind a murdered prisoner to serve as evidence. The next morning, Hitler used the incident as justification for invading Poland. Within days, World War II had begun. This episode of Sidequests covers the Gleiwitz Inciden...

On August 31, 1939, German commandos dressed in Polish uniforms staged a fake attack on a radio station near the Polish border, broadcast a fabricated message in Polish, and left behind a murdered prisoner to serve as evidence. The next morning, Hitler used the incident as justification for invading Poland. Within days, World War II had begun. This episode of Sidequests covers the Gleiwitz Inciden...

On August 31, 1869, a 62-year-old Irish woman named Mary Ward was thrown from a steam-powered automobile and killed when the rear wheel ran over her — becoming the first recorded automotive fatality in history. The newspapers barely covered it. No safety investigation followed. Society moved on. This episode of Sidequests marks the anniversary of her death and examines what the lack of reaction re...

On August 31, 1869, a 62-year-old Irish woman named Mary Ward was thrown from a steam-powered automobile and killed when the rear wheel ran over her — becoming the first recorded automotive fatality in history. The newspapers barely covered it. No safety investigation followed. Society moved on. This episode of Sidequests marks the anniversary of her death and examines what the lack of reaction re...

Last week, 30-year Treasury yields hit their highest level since 2007. The Treasury Department tried bond buybacks to calm things down. It worked for about a day. Then yields climbed back up. This episode of Sidequests is the plain-language explainer: what bonds and yields actually are, why investors are getting nervous about lending to a government carrying $40 trillion in debt, why the Treasury'...

Last week, 30-year Treasury yields hit their highest level since 2007. The Treasury Department tried bond buybacks to calm things down. It worked for about a day. Then yields climbed back up. This episode of Sidequests is the plain-language explainer: what bonds and yields actually are, why investors are getting nervous about lending to a government carrying $40 trillion in debt, why the Treasury'...

In the spring of 1944, with D-Day just weeks away, British intelligence noticed something alarming in the Daily Telegraph crossword: the classified code words for the Normandy invasion — Utah, Omaha, Overlord, Neptune, Mulberry — were appearing as answers, one after another, in a civilian newspaper read across Britain. MI5 investigated, interrogated the schoolmaster who created the puzzles, and fo...

In the spring of 1944, with D-Day just weeks away, British intelligence noticed something alarming in the Daily Telegraph crossword: the classified code words for the Normandy invasion — Utah, Omaha, Overlord, Neptune, Mulberry — were appearing as answers, one after another, in a civilian newspaper read across Britain. MI5 investigated, interrogated the schoolmaster who created the puzzles, and fo...