National Review's Radio Free California Podcast

Handcuffed and released after he blasted into a 2025 DHS press conference in Los Angeles, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla is still fighting ICE... but nobody cares. The L.A. Times makes it through an entire story about flooding without once referencing “climate change.” Bonus Track: Will talks with wealth manager Bill Exeter about La Mesa’s decision to appoint a 20-year-old UCLA undergrad as the city’s treasurer. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• Exceptionally high tides will swamp California, ‘likely to get worse before it gets better’
• California votes. Trump’s Justice Department panics
• Sen. Alex Padilla makes surprise visit to Sacramento ICE facility. What he found
• AI use leads UC Berkeley math professor to see ‘no point’ in grading homework
• It’s Not Your Mom’s League of Women Voters
• Hollister Council fires City Manager Ana Cortez
• The City of Hollister Hasn’t Decided What It’s For
• Fresno County library privatization push effectively dead after fierce opposition 
• San Joaquin County balks at $2 million gift for UOP medical school
• Karen Bass Needs the Voters Who Hate Her Most

Bill Exeter, La Mesa Treasurer’s Race:
La Mesa appoints its youngest officeholder ever, 20-year-old UCLA student, as treasurer

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Will sees similarities between the violence in France and California’s war on common sense; David offers hope. In other news: Gavin Newsom’s conspiracy to ban fracking collides with a state judge in Bakersfield, California takes Tesla to court over workers’ use of the N-word, and a federal investigation discovers that antisemitism begins in Berkeley’s elementary schools. In our bonus track, attorney John Manly says California’s teacher unions have become “the predator protection lobby.” Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• David’s Capital Record: “Hopelessness and Social Unrest”
• New Hampshire Dems question what Newsom has to offer
• ‘Don’t come here to campaign for me’: Hamilton says Kamala Harris should stay in California ahead of midterms
• ‘She totally blew it’: How Kamala Harris wasted a year to make her case
• DOJ Details How It Found 20,000 Likely Noncitizens on CA Voter Rolls, Seeks Emergency Court Order
• California can’t force ICE officers to wear visible ID, appeals court rules
• Kern County judge’s ruling could overturn California’s fracking law 
• California’s Peculiar ‘N-Word’ Case Against Tesla 
• California Elementary Schools Teach ‘Cisheteropatriarchy’ and ‘Decolonization,’ House Probe Finds

Bonus Track with Attorney John Manly:

• Manly Stewart Finaldi
• Parents Against Child Sexual Abuse
• Sex abuse bill fight lands in Assembly races
• Charol Shakeshaft, Organizational Betrayal: How Schools Enable Sexual Misconduct and How to Stop It

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Governor Gavin Newsom spins Trump’s “threat” to allow Iran to nuke California, alarming almost no one. Bonus conversation with attorney Scott Davison about an infamous memo calling for the FBI to investigate parents who showed up to school council meetings during the Covid-19 pandemic. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• A Modest Proposal for the Purification of California History
• Pro-Hamas Scholar Addresses Claremont Students Virtually on Oct. 7
• On October 7th Massacre Anniversary, UC-Berkeley SJP Promotes Speaking Appearances of Professor Who Declared ‘I’m With Hamas’
• Students at LA top college plot ‘depraved’ stunt to mark massacre that shocked the world
• Trump suggests letting Iran ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego at campaign rally
• Kamala Harris, Richard Pan blocked some journalists from covering Sacramento campaign event
• Kamala Harris Calls Trump’s Media Ban ‘Absolutely Abhorrent’
• AB-1803 Employment: sexual harassment training and education: anti-hate speech training.(2025-2026)
• Sex abuse bill fight lands in Assembly races
• California education candidate tells college professors to teach students basic math, rejects SAT requirement

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Will talks with Hoover Institution economist Ben Jaros and legal scholar Aharon Friedman about likely post-election challenges to Proposition 40, the Billionaire Wealth Tax. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• Hoover Institution’s latest revision reveals more bad news about Prop. 40 
• Friedman, Jaros and Rauh, “The 2026 Billionaire Tax Act and the Constitution: Retroactivity, Residency, and the Limits of California’s Taxing Power”

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In his first and only gubernatorial debate with Xavier Becerra, Republican Steve Hilton brought actual policy to counter Becerra’s incantatory use of the word ‘Trump.’ We look at the unintended — but utterly predictable — consequences of L.A.’s Mansion Tax. Vanity Fair’s deep profile reveals Gavin Newsom’s remarkable shallowness. Companies doing business in California are now required to document their ties to slavery. 

Bonus! Gene Autry was more than just Hollywood’s ‘Singing Cowboy’ — he was a real American hero. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• A Kelvin Wave Is Heading Toward the California Coast, Bringing Trouble
• Bill Hicks on Los Angeles and Arizona Bay
• The Net Present Value of the California Billionaire Tax Act
• The Effects of the Measure ULA (United to House LA) Transfer Tax on Economic Development and Municipal Finances in Los Angeles
• ICE arrests father on college campus in what may be unprecedented action in California
• Hilton blames Democrats. Becerra blames Trump. Little was learned in governor’s race debate
• CNN Transcript Becerra vs Hilton
• Gavin Newsom Is Ready for His Next Act. Will Democrats Ever Give Him a Shot at the White House?
• New California reparations law requires companies to disclose past profits from slavery
   

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California AG Rob Bonta has sued for peace in his fight with Paramount’s David Ellison, making Bari Weiss this week’s biggest winner. David says Republicans are poorly positioned to counter the Democrats’ affection for socialism. Will says California Dems finally have former Union general and abolitionist John C. Fremont right where they want him. Harry and Meghan join the California exodus. 

Bonus: Cal Policy’s Lance Christensen says Gavin Newsom got it right — four times! Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• Oregon QB Dante Moore leaves field on cart, in neck brace after late hit from USC's Desman Stephens
• David's Capital Record: A Choice, Not a Socialist Echo
• Gov. Gavin Newsom touts California climate response as Super El Niño approaches
• Rob Bonta Sued Paramount to Counter Political Influence, Then Fell Victim to It
• City of Sacramento announces top pick for renaming Cesar Chavez Plaza
• Newsom administration proposes removing explorer John C. Frémont’s name from state park, citing his violence against Native Americans
• Prince Harry And Meghan Markle’s Con Was Never Going To Last Forever

Bonus! Lance Christensen: Where Newsom was Right 

• Veto: Gives teachers unions another tool to kill charter schools (AB 84) 
• Veto: Costly pension enhancements (AB 1054)
• Signed: Make inter-district school transfers easier for parents (SB 1082)
• Veto: Costly pension enhancements (AB 1383)

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Guest Jon Fleischman helps Will break down the news of the week, including Gavin Newsom’s remarkably weird interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, his AI alarmism, and his surprise legislative vetoes. Yet another major battery fire has climate activists wondering who to blame when “clean” energy goes awry. The city of Long Beach responds to the Soviet submarine in its harbor. And we remember the Siege of Los Angeles, September 22, 1846. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:
Jon Fleischman, So Does It Matter Substack
Gavin Newsom tells CNN's Jake Tapper he won't run for president if Kamala Harris runs in 2028
Newsom signs bill barring other states from sending National Guard troops to California
Governor Newsom issues executive order to accelerate independent oversight and advance the creation of an AI kill switch
Who Pays When AI Causes Harm? The “Kill Switch” Is Liability
Newsom vetoes bill to loosen work-from-home rules for state workers
Republicans Help SEIU Defy Gavin Newsom’s Return-to-Work Order - WTH?
Newsom vetoes bill closing CEQA manufacturing exemption
Newsom cites pension crisis as he vetoes bill to enhance retirement for police and firefighters
I Was Wrong About Gavin Newsom And AB 1383, The Public Safety Employee Union Sponsored Pension Spiking Bill
LAUSD struggles to decide between refurbishing and retrofitting or closing schools
LAUSD Ignored the Warnings. Now the Bills Are Due.
New fire breaks out at Moss Landing Power Plant in California; shelter-in-place order issued
How do you dispose of an abandoned Russian submarine? Long Beach is on the hook to find out
 

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In Gavin Newsom’s California, artificial intelligence is apparently dangerous enough to require an expanding apparatus of government regulation, but, in the hands of the state, trustworthy enough to answer your questions about government itself. In other news, Inglewood bails on its SoFi Stadium debt, Ro Khanna embraces race hustling, and David learns about Star Trek's cultural ties to SoCal’s scientific community. Music by Metalachi.
 

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Show Notes:

• ‘Star Trek’ premieres
• The New Generation of Defense Wizards
• Governor Newsom signs first-in-the-nation AI safeguards to protect Californians, calls on the federal government to do its part
• Government, made easier. Governor Newsom introduces AskCA, a new AI-powered tool for Californians
• Better Future AI
• David Sacks on X: “Pace the frontier”
• California wealth tax proponent threatened labor officials, law firm’s report finds
• Ro Khanna, Race Hustler
• The deal that helped bring SoFi Stadium to Inglewood isn’t legally valid, judge rules
• Huntington Beach Approves Police Raises Amid Budget Deficit Projections

This week’s advertising sponsor: California Center for Nonprofit Law

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California’s state employees swear an oath to protect the United States Constitution — so what’s up with the university professors calling for armed revolution and the liquidation of Democrats? Newsom visits with South Carolina Democrats but can’t outrun his failures back home, including high unemployment and a new audit showing that the tiniest high-speed rail system in the world has run off the tracks. Bonus: If you missed David and Will’s discussion of November’s 14 ballot measures, listen to Will’s conversation here with political analyst Jon Fleischman. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• California Profs Endorse Violence, Forget Constitutional Oath (Listener Steven A.)
• California drivers could pay for Gavin Newsom's personal security when he's out of office (Listener Kathy)
• Gavin Newsom will leave office in January. In South Carolina, he previews what could come next
• Newsom’s Minimum Wage Whitewash (Listener Eric O.)
• California’s ‘groundbreaking’ fast food council lacks a leader, hasn’t met in over a year
• Inspector General slams latest high-speed rail plan
• Judge dismisses Justice Department lawsuit challenging California transgender sports policies

Bonus: California’s 14 Ballot Propositions Explained, With Recommendations! | Jon Fleischman & Will Swaim

This week’s advertising sponsor: California Center for Nonprofit Law

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In 1999, the last time California boosted the benefits it pays government employees – earlier retirements, richer retirements – financial disaster followed quickly. Now, state lawmakers want Newsom to try it again. We fact-check Newsom’s claims on housing starts (terrible) and jobs (worse). Iowa’s AG sues California for blocking the Paramount-Warner merger. Now that he’s successful, Mark Zuckerberg says social media companies must be regulated. David and Will break down the Nick Shirley Act. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:
David Bahnsen’s “Profit from the profit”
Ishi discovered in California 
Meta to Pay Up to $17.1 Billion in Landmark Settlement Over Social Media Addiction Claims
“Hardly any” AI regulations? Becerra should know better
Iowa Attorney General Says She’s Taking California to the Supreme Court Over Paramount-Warner Bros. Lawsuit
Gavin Newsom still doesn’t understand the limits of his power
California set to force big companies to disclose historic links to slavery
Kenneth Schrupp on Newsom’s jobs report
Newsom’s big housing claim is built on bad data
Lawmakers vote to let first responders retire earlier and with more money. Will Newsom sign on?
AB 1383 is a costly pension mistake in the making
AB 2624 signed into law, California rejects hated-filled (sic) misinformation campaign
Will’s work here would likely be illegal under the Act

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