National Review's Radio Free California Podcast

A more moderate Gavin Newsom holds his own on Hannity's show, praises Trump, acknowledges California’s failure on homelessness, and proposes an constitutional amendment to regulate guns. Two new California bills would accelerate the race toward transgenderism. California’s pension-fund managers will take more risks to match rising retirement payouts to the state’s government workers. Happy birthday to the Mission San Luis Rey. Unabomber Ted Kaczynski’s California connections. Bonus interview: Fraud expert Larry Benson tells you how to rip off California’s community college system. Music by Metalachi.

Union-backed lawmakers are prepping an amendment to the California constitution that would make it illegal for employers to fire, layoff, or change the hours of any employee. Another new bill would force tech companies to fund failing newspapers. A.B. 5 author Lorena Gonzalez is back, this time to organize goat herders. Two of San Francisco’s largest hotels are dead, victims of city dysfunction. Did the end of the Soviet Union trigger California’s long collapse? Bonus! Will talks with Cato finance analyst Marc Joffe about California’s benighted public-transit districts -- and what their demise means for Americans everywhere. Music by Metalachi.

When they’re not trying to kill fossil fuels or throwing lifelines to teachers’ unions, California state lawmakers are working to ban the dye that makes some Skittles red. David and Will contemplate the path to a Kamala-free 2024 presidential campaign. Governor Newsom erupts over a Florida school librarian’s decision to move California poet Amanda Gorman’s book. State Farm joins the California Exodus -- if only for a moment. Music by Metalachi.

Will talks with government finance veteran Mark Moses about the growing number of California cities stumbling toward collapse. Guest cohost Rick Reiff joins Will to consider a weird week in sports, the legacy of John Wayne (born May 26, 1907), the renaming of Cal State Chico’s Sutter Hall, segregated graduations at UC Berkeley, Gavin Newsom’s misunderstanding of Disney’s business model, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision regarding California pork chops, and California’s continuing war on oil. Music by Metalachi.

State Democrats hoped that hosting a black Tennessee lawmaker would highlight the Republican threat to democracy, but they got a civics lesson from Assembly Republican Minority Leader James Gallagher instead. Gavin Newsom struggles with a soaring budget deficit. Why undocumented immigrants love California (it's not just the weather). The meaning of the murder of tech-exec Bob Lee. Music by Metalachi.

Cornered by his own reparations commission’s trillion-dollar demands, Gavin Newsom says he’d rather talk about anything else. Having failed to teach, Oakland’s striking teachers turn to calls for environmental justice. State officials warn of a coming California recession. Los Angeles’s “mansion tax” isn’t living up to its promises. A UC Berkeley Native-American professor discovered she’s not a Native American. This week in history: The 1880 gunfight at Mussel Slough. Bonus: Will talks with City Journal’s Judge Glock on the rise of California’s indomitable administrative state. Music by Metalachi.

David and Will consider San Jose’s reevaluation of the Conquest of California, Nordstrom’s hasty exit from San Francisco, the collapse of another California bank, the Hollywood writers strike, and Gavin Newsom’s showdown with state lawmakers over shrinking tax revenue. Bonus! Will talks with California Policy Center senior fellow Edward Ring about the emergency shutdown of California salmon fishing. Music by Metalachi.

David treads all over Will’s sprawling runlist for an off-the-top-of-the-noggin conversation about the devolution of California. When they return to script, the pair consider the 1923 IWW strike at the Port of San Pedro, Barbara Lee’s U.S. Senate campaign, Larry Elder’s presidential campaign, Gavin Newsom’s war on fentanyl, and one newspaper’s predictably bad analysis of how to fix San Francisco. Bonus! Cal Policy Center VP of ed policy and government affairs Lance Christensen talks with Will about daily life inside the state Capitol. Music by Metalachi.

Gavin Newsom’s recent campaign tour through the South failed to thrill red-state Democrats, but it has California lawmakers considering a ban on the state’s travel ban. David’s JPMorgan Chase shareholder resolution is good for America. New historical evidence in the case against California reparations. Representative Katie Porter’s Senate bid melts down on “Real Time.” The state’s three largest utilities roll out income-based utility bills. Answers to listener comments on housing, government unions, and John Fante’s “Ask the Dust.” What Music by Metalachi.

Bad news from San Francisco is coming fast, but state senator Scott Wiener and the Los Angeles Times say it’s fake. Representative Ted Lieu (D–Los Angeles) joins the execrable attack on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Gavin Newsom’s spring break takes him to a members-only club in the Bahamas. The Ninth Circuit reopens A.B. 5 with a stinging attack on former assemblymember Lorena González. Dems in the legislature say even hearing a bill on parental rights would be dangerous for children. Workers at the Port of LA take five -- for four days. California is dead last in income growth. Bonus! Celebrating 84 years of John Steinbeck’s 'The Grapes of Wrath.' Music by Metalachi.