More than $100 billion over budget and five years late, Governor Newsom’s high-speed rail project has settled on a new strategy: shortcuts -- including one through the middle of Shafter, Calif. In other news: The secret life of NYC’s David Bahnsen, Newsom tells ABC’s Jonathan Karl he’s a border hawk, we remember the 1947 flight of Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose, and what Ronald Reagan said about tariffs that Ronald Reagan Presidential Library officials can’t remember. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• New York’s Golden Handcuffs: Why the City Has a Special Hold on the Rich
• Trump Is Mad at Canada, but Not for Misquoting Reagan
• Newsom says US faces '5-alarm fire' and warns 'we won't have a country'
• The feds want to know more about the people on food stamps. How Newsom responded
• Newsom Gives Trump’s Vanity Ballroom Brutal New Nickname
• What is Gov. Gavin Newsom's role in the California Capitol Annex project?
• Exxon sues California over new laws requiring corporate climate disclosures
• California’s War on Oil Finally Prompts a Response
• CA state retirement fund lost 71% of $468M put in clean energy, won’t say how
• Why an entire Calif. town is standing up against the high-speed rail
• Idaho official investigating Millbrae police chief over property tax break
• Principal resigns after investigator finds Grindr app used to pursue sex with student

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State Senator Scott Wiener is angling for Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat but a New York Times magazine investigation links Wiener’s 2022 “Safer Streets for All Act” to a boom in the sex-trafficking of children in California. In other news: Newsom matches Trump in the theatrical use of National Guardsmen, the Los Angeles school teacher who called for armed resistance to immigration enforcement, the “Wealth Tax” makes a California comeback, and how I Love Lucy changed television and the world. Bonus: Lance Christensen discusses some 800 bills now turned into law, as Gavin Newsom force-feeds Californians already choking on regulation. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• Can Anyone Rescue the Trafficked Girls of L.A.’s Figueroa Street?
• Newsom Says Trump Is ‘Rigging the Election’ With Federal Poll Monitors
• Inside the Tech CEO Campaign to Stop Trump From Sending Troops to San Francisco
• National Guard troops, deployed by Newsom, arrive at LA Regional Food Bank amid government shutdown
• The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012 The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012
• Los Angeles teacher says ICE agents are 'not the only ones with guns' following shooting of federal agent
• Should billionaires pay more? California unions want voters to decide
• The Force awakens in San Jose 
• Cash payments to unhoused people likely won't end homelessness, but recipients spent wisely, California study says
• Phillips 66, Kinder plan first-ever California-bound fuel pipeline

Bill-O-Rama with Lance Christensen:

• SB 414 (Ashby) – Regulating charter schools to death (cf AB 84, Muratsuchi) – VETOED
• SB 848 (Perez) – Stop passing the trash teachers bill from the Senate Ed Chair – SIGNED
• AB 1454 (Rivas) – Holding school districts accountable for literacy scores now that AB 1454 (Rivas) passed
• AB 1370 (Patterson) – NDA prohibitions for the legislature (Zavala interview) – SIGNED
• SB 237 (Grayson) – Allowing more oil drilling in CA – SIGNED
• AB 1207 (Irwin) – Continuing cap and tax program – SIGNED 
• Is cap and tax slowly dying to accommodate need for massive increase in electrical production to provide for more AI, datacenter capacity? (CalMatter's piece)
• AB 628: A Costly New Mandate For California Landlords – SIGNED 
• AB 1264 that eliminated ultra processed foods for kids, but is still gung-ho on sterilizing and mutilating them (Gov press release) – SIGNED

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He is among the nation’s very worst governors, but Gavin Newsom is among America’s most skillful politicians — and has the inside track on the race for the White House. In other news, bombs bursting in air (at the Marine Corps' anniversary celebration starring JD Vance), the California Faculty Association is ready to fight fascists (but first wants to know if you're a Jew), Nancy Pelosi is still alive (and maybe not a fan of State Senator Scott Wiener), and the Pioneer League's Ballers bring a baseball championship back to Oakland. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• Ballers bring home Oakland’s first baseball title since 1989
• How military’s ‘safe’ plan to fire munitions over Interstate 5 went off the rails with CHP cruiser hit
• National Guard deployed to help food banks amid federal shutdown, Newsom says
• How Did California Spend Billions on Homelessness Only for It to Get Worse? Two New Criminal Cases Offer a Clue
• Gavin Newsom, Pharma Baron
• Pelosi succession intrigue in San Francisco
• Scott Wiener is done waiting on Nancy Pelosi. He’s running in 2026, sources say
• Federal Judge Certifies Class Action for All Parents and Teachers Opposing Gender Secrecy Rules
• School spending surged. Academic achievement? Not so much
• Newsom signs bill to prevent sex abuse in schools
• Faculty union targets Jewish political money
• State Supreme Court declines to hear West Covina’s appeal in ex-fire chief’s wrongful termination case

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David and Will consider gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter’s trouble with humans and the prospect of co-parenting your kids with Governor Gavin Newsom. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• How Berkeley Became the First City to Ditch Columbus Day for Indigenous Peoples Day
• Sonoma State president on leave for ‘insubordination’ after supporting anti-Israel boycott, divestment
• A California Campus Brings Anti-Israel Activism to Its Jewish Studies Program
• Violence erupts at UCLA as protests over Israel's war in Gaza escalate across the U.S.
• Confrontation erupts at dinner for law students at UC Berkeley dean’s home
• ‘Get out of my f--king shot’: Katie Porter tears into staffer in newly released video
• Katie Porter targeted ‘softer spoken’ underlings for abuse, was ‘downright mean’, ex-staffer warns voters
• Newsom’s Forced-Density Fix Won’t Solve California’s Housing Crisis
• Newsom signs controversial bill letting relatives care for kids if parents are deported
• Marking World Mental Health Day, Governor Newsom signs AB 727 to make mental health resources more accessible to LGBTQ youth
• California Assembly Looks to Hand Children to Traffickers and Gender Activists
• Governor Newsom signs bill expanding fuel options to cut gas prices
• Oil prices prediction: Brent, U.S. crude crash to lowest since May. Experts predict what to expect
• ‘Slap in the face’: Marc Benioff’s Trump turn stuns San Francisco
• Benioff appears to back off calls to send National Guard to SF, but sparks response from Musk
• Arts Uproars: Open, Shut, Fired, Down for the Count, and Nowhere to Be Found

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California Democrats can now safely begin the work of tearing down Kamala Harris’s memory, beginning with her controversial bill to punish the parents of their truant kids. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• Uber driver accused of intentionally starting fire that destroyed Pacific Palisades
• Gavin Newsom ends Kamala Harris' California anti-truancy law
• Kamala Harris was not a ‘progressive prosecutor’
• Kamala Harris talks Prop 50, Too Short and 2024 election at S.F. book tour stop
• D.L. Hughley Once Spread Misinformation About Kamala Harris—Then Publicly Made Amends
• Kristi Noem Says ICE Will 'Be All Over' Bad Bunny SB LX Halftime Show
• ‘Tonight the rule of law said ‘hell no’’
• CA Gov. Gavin Newsom: ‘We have the ability to do martial law…if necessary’
• California voters were mailed inaccurate guides ahead of November special election
• Majority of Calif. voters back Prop 50 in new poll
• ‘I don’t want this all on camera,’ gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter says in testy interview
• Uber and Lyft drivers can unionize under new law signed by Newsom. How does it work?
• California sues city over surveillance data, warns it can be shared with federal agencies
• California police are illegally sharing license plate data with ICE and Border Patrol
• California privacy agency fines Tractor Supply $1.35 million
• Where Is St. Junípero Serra? Mystery Over Missing Freeway Landmark
• California's largest high school district adopts policy to oppose trans athletes in girls' sports
• Here’s how little Anaheim’s share of Angels ticket revenue was worth this year

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Facing a 40-year decline in reading scores, California lawmakers have concluded that it’s time to ask -- politely -- that the state’s K–12 teachers to return to phonics. Bonus: Marc Joffe talks about the deep meaning of Gavin Newsom’s repeated failure to produce accurate state financials. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• Will on NPR’s Left, Right & Center
• Trump administration being asked to greenlight oil production off Santa Barbara coast
• Gov. Gavin Newsom signs AI regulations, bucking Big Tech
• California Enacts 17 AI Bills in 2024
• Capital Record: AI and the challenges for all free marketeers
• California Learns From Mississippi on Phonics
• California Is Poised to Pass a ‘Science of Reading’ Law After a Long, Tense Debate
• Black students need choice, not illegal gestures like Assembly Bill 7
• Los Angeles greenlights controversial $2.6B convention center
• Another California county is losing its only hospital after feds refuse to step in
• Vons and Albertsons close self-checkout as Long Beach mandates more staffing, new rules
• Amid staffing shortage, Long Beach police will no longer send officers to minor traffic collisions
• Reel Inn restaurant among businesses that were told they can't rebuild after Palisades Fire
• Hayward announces hiring freeze, creates ‘budget war room’ after city drains $31 million in reserves
• Harris’s Memoir Is Another Example of the Democrats’ Problem
• The Mayan in downtown LA announces it's closing after nearly a century

Marc Joffe on BART:

• Marc’s bio
• California’s streak of late financial statements continues 
• BART Audit Flags Overtime Costs, Weak Controls as Agency Spends $96 Million
• BART senior police officer overtime
• SHIFT-Bay Area

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Gavin Newsom appeared with Stephen Colbert to celebrate Jimmy Kimmel’s return to ABC programming, even as the governor works to silence California’s conservative voters in a redistricting initiative that (polling shows) is headed toward a slim victory on November 4 -- and despite Princeton University’s conclusion that the new electoral map earns Newsom an “F.” In other news, Will talks about the surprising origins of ABC’s 1950s deal to fund the construction of Disneyland in exchange for content, including Mickey Mouse Club and Wonderful World of Disney. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• Jimmy Kimmel, Somber but Defiant, Defends Free Speech in Return to ABC
• Man arrested in Sacramento ABC TV station shooting was flagged on X for "violent speech" days earlier
• California 2025 Poll: Majority support Proposition 50 in November special election
• Princeton U: Newsom’s Gerrymander receives “F” grade 
• Kamala Harris Is Out of Time
• ICE won't comply with California’s new mask ban
• “Presto, Someone Walks Away with Your Child”: Critics Slam AB 495’s Threat to Parental Rights
• She wanted to give deported parents a choice. Then California’s Christian right attacked

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Gavin Newsom said all the right things about Charlie Kirk, but returned immediately to form with his claims that Donald Trump has unleashed his “private police force” in a campaign of “racial terror” “targeting California.” Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• Charlie Kirk - RIP
• Charlie Kirk’s Legacy: The Contest of Ideas
• ‘This is Code Red’: Newsom rallies Dems in searing rebuke of Trump
• LA Mayor Karen Bass blocks half-staff tribute for Charlie Kirk, some fire stations push back
• UCLA race and equity official sounded off after Charlie Kirk’s slaying. Now he’s on leave
• Hamas mouthpiece praises Hannah Einbinder’s ‘Free Palestine’ Emmys message — but censors her bare shoulders in video
• Schwarzenegger Urges Voters to Reject California Redistricting Measure
• Why the ‘Governator’ could derail Prop 50
• Harris Says ‘Recklessness’ Drove Dems to Go Along with Biden’s Reelection Bid

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Among the hundreds of bills headed toward Gavin Newsom’s desk, Lance Christensen has a list of 10 to watch. Pacific Legal Foundation’s Caleb Trotter is fighting California laws that endanger public health. Tech leader Michael Fertik describes the journey that led him from Northern California to Texas to France and back again -- and offers a dramatic reading of a poem in praise of America. Music by Metalachi.

Caleb Trotter, Pacific Legal Foundation

• New lawsuit challenges California’s telehealth laws that put patients at risk
• California’s anti-bias training rule for doctors faces long-shot Supreme Court appeal

Michael Fertik, home again

• Michael Ferik bio
• Michael Fertik on Substack
• Henry Van Dyke, “America for Me”

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Legendary California Democrat John Burton is dead but his malignant influence lives on. The U.S. Supreme Court allows federal immigration stops to continue in California. Dems warn that “Abundance” could leave Californians with nothing to complain about. Question: Who likes Jew-basing? Answer: The California Teachers Association! Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• John Burton, political giant who shaped California’s left, dies at 92
• Supreme Court allows federal officers to more freely make immigration stops in LA
• Governor Newsom issues statement on the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold racially motivated immigration arrests in Southern California
• In Immigration Raids Case, Supremes Strike a Blow for Common Sense
• Supreme Court allows Trump administration to resume indiscriminate immigration raids in Los Angeles
• Supreme Court lifts restrictions on LA immigration stops set after agents swept up US citizens
• Supreme Court allows immigration agents to resume ‘roving patrols’ in LA, siding with Trump
• LAPD ends protection of former Vice President Kamala Harris amid criticism over diverting cops, sources say
• Kawhi Leonard inked $28 million endorsement deal to skirt NBA salary cap: Pablo Torre bombshell claim
• Warren G announced as part-owner of new Long Beach baseball team
• Democratic research finds voters prefer populism over ‘Abundance’
• Scoop: Lawmakers float compromise on antisemitism bill

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