National Review's Radio Free California Podcast

California Governor Gavin Newsom has emerged with new false claims about the success of his high-speed rail project -- and a creepy legislative proposal to classify as secret any rail-project document that might “harm the interests of the state.” Bonuses! Freshman State Assemblyman David Tangipa tears into the Newsom budget, and Red State editor and investigative reporter Jennifer Van Laar reveals the next chapter in Fresno’s secret Chinese bio lab. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes

• California job market ranks among the weakest of the weak nationwide
• Labor leaders blast Gavin Newsom over AI, demand more regulation
• Jonathan Turley: Grandstanding Newsom will stop at nothing to ride the rails to glory in 2028
• State leaders propose to keep some California high-speed rail information secret
• A top Democrat wants to know if California laws are working. Lawmakers get to pick which ones
• Throw everything at the wall, see what sticks
• Gun-wielding LA protester aims at feds then vanishes under pepper-ball fire
• Federal workers face daily harassment by ruthless agitators in DTLA: ‘War zone every day’
• Coalition rallies to defend Cypress Park day labor center amid disputed Home Depot eviction threat
• New twist in mayor’s race makes election a referendum on L.A.’s future
• Pension costs make tax- and fee-hike frenzy at City Hall the new norm
• Overtime costs were skyrocketing. San Diego police say they have reined it in.
• An ex-Fresno Arts Council employee is under investigation in $1.5 million embezzlement case, city sources say
• A Bay Area downtown faces a reckoning as tides rise
• How bad was California’s ‘Great Flood’ of 1862? It was a torrent of horrors

Assemblyman David Tangipa on the state budget

• Official website

Jen Van Laar on the worst Airbnb in America 

• Illegal Chinese Biolab Used As Airbnb, Made Several Deathly Ill; Defendant Owns Multiple Homes in NV, CA
• Feds Seize 1000 Samples From Illegal CCP Biolab in Las Vegas Owned by Defendant in Reedley Case

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In his forthcoming autobiography, Gavin Newsom beats his critics to the punch with a deep dive into his troubled personality. Bonus track: attorney general candidate Michael Gates. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• Shawn Bell, “Exploring California’s Historic Landmarks”
• Will on NPR’s “Left, Right & Center”
• Who Funds the Groups Harassing ICE Agents in Minnesota? The Left's Premier Foundations and Dark Money Networks Have Given Millions, Records Show.
• The Public-Sector Union Behind L.A.’s Immigration Agitation
• Where do Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton stand on public sector unions?
• 50 people arrested hours after hundreds gathered for another anti-ICE protest in DTLA
• Reid Hoffman: Silicon Valley can’t be neutral any longer
• Native American tribe that owns land under Billie Eilish’s LA mansion has message for virtue-signaling singer
• Ellen DeGeneres shops for new mansion same day she calls for ICE buying boycott
• Hundreds of Sacramento high school students walk out of class to protest ICE
• SB-955 Pupil attendance: excused absences: civic or political events.
• LAUSD teachers union members authorize strike, ratcheting up pressure on contract talks
• San Diego teachers plan first strike in 30 years over issues with staffing and services for special education
• San Francisco school workers are the latest California educators to authorize a strike
• Twin Rivers Unified teachers vote for a strike. Here’s when it could happen
• Neighbors say a machete-wielding man is terrorizing their local park. S.F. has no idea what to do about it
• Gavin Newsom Is Setting His Own Rules
• Gavin Newsom opens the oppo book in his new memoir
• California Republicans oppose mileage-based fee proposal
• Reason Foundation’s 2025 report on US state road conditions
• Epstein files reveal emails between Ghislaine Maxwell, L.A. Olympics boss Casey Wasserman. He expresses regret

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In Minneapolis, Trump walked into a trap designed by California union activists and perfected in their bloody showdown with the Los Angeles Police Department in 1990: Provoke law enforcement into violent behavior, broadcast the images, and win political concessions. In other news: Trump uses his bully pulpit to beat up Newsom on gasoline prices and wildfire relief. The Atlantic concludes Newsom’s record of failed governance won’t work with a national audience. Bonus tracks! Lance Christensen reviews Newsom’s record of failure on K–12 education, and Edward Ring says the U.S. Drought Monitor’s California reports have been wrong for 25 years. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• When police beat janitors -- but janitors won justice
• They'll always have Davos: When Donald Hung Out With Gavin
• Gavin Newsom’s Record Is a Problem (The Atlantic)
• Trump signs executive order for feds to take over LA’s ‘nightmare’ wildfire rebuild in huge boost for victims
• Trump vows to drive down California’s sky-high gas prices to $2.50, blames Dems for tacking on enormous taxes
• Gavin Newsom’s Big Ambulance Scam
• Newsom plans no new journalism funding despite $175-million funding deal with Google
• The California Post heralds a new era for The Golden State — we will fearlessly tell you the stories that really matter
• Kamala Harris’s Presidential Campaign Was Run by a Bunch of Lunatics
• Josh Shapiro Writes That Harris Team Asked if He Had Ever Been an Israeli Agent
• Scott Wiener changes course, calls war in Gaza ‘genocide’ as House race kicks off
• California husband sues McDonald’s after ‘vagrant’ kills his wife in drive-thru
• L.A. homeless services fraud suspect spent millions on luxury lifestyle, authorities charge
• Rick Caruso, a Los Angeles Billionaire, Will Not Run for Office This Year
• California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta opts against running for governor. Again
• Don’t Be Fooled: San Jose’s Matt Mahan is No Moderate
• Tom Steyer gets a spark

Lance Christensen and Sheridan Karras on Newsom’s education failures 

• Newsom’s Education Legacy: Rising Costs, Declining Performance
• Insolvency by summer still threatens Sacramento school district, budget chief says
• Sacramento: Charter school renewal denied by Sacramento school district. What comes next?
• Entrance exams to end for Sac City elementary schools after mandate from state

Edward Ring and Marc Joffe on the U.S. Drought Monitor

• Statistical review of the United States Drought Monitor
• California is free of all drought, dryness for first time in 25 years. Inside the remarkable turnaround
• Gavin Newsom on the Drought Monitor’s report

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Governor Newsom traveled to Davos for a verbal death-match with President Trump before an audience of shocked political leaders, business execs, and economists. Back in California, Team Newsom attempts to spin a disastrous homelessness report. Will and David take a moment to celebrate R&B great Johnny Otis, born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes in Vallejo, Calif., in 1921. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes

• Johnny Otis, “Willie and the Hand Jive”
• The Grateful Dead, “Willie and the Hand Jive”
• Newsom tells world leaders their response to Trump is ‘pathetic’
• World leaders in Davos must stand up to Trump. This is their chance
• Newsom accuses White House of blocking speech as US officials sling mud in Davos
• Is Gavin Newsom really turning the corner on homelessness?
• Why the Tech World Thinks the American Dream Is Dying
• Trade spat deepns uncertainty for U.S. tech business

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In his annual State of the State address, Governor Gavin Newsom blamed “private equity firms in Manhattan” for the state’s housing crisis, and then credited the rise in tech stocks with saving the state budget. In other news: Julie Su is now New York City’s problem, State Senator Scott Wiener wants San Francisco to confiscate Pacific Gas & Electric because the city has done so well with the open-air drug trade, and California AG Rob Bonta is on a losing streak in federal court. Bonus! Finance analyst Marc Joffe joins to discuss the political role of Service Employees International Union beyond its 2026 wealth tax. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes

• Newsom overcomes unease, dyslexia to deliver a sterling State of the State address
• Gavin Newsom calls for California to limit home buying by large investors
• New California Rent Laws Going Into Effect in 2026
• AI windfall helps California narrow projected $3-billion budget deficit
• Newsom Vows to Stop Proposed Billionaire Tax in California
• Garry Tan on X
• Mamdani Picks Rafael Espinal to Lead New York’s Film Office
• California Should Stop Forcing Drivers to Subsidize Deforestation
• How would San Francisco take over PG&E assets?
• California Drops Lawsuit Over $4 Billion Federal Cut to High-Speed Rail Project
• Halted: Federal Judge Blocks Enforcement of California’s Newly Enacted Labor Law
• Ninth Circuit strikes down California urban open-carry ban

Marc Joffe on SEIU

• The Union that May Have Broken California
• What to Do with California’s Billionaire Tax Proceeds

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California is in chaos: wildfires, unemployment fraud, a train to nowhere, high energy costs, lousy public education, and a California exodus that includes billionaires and working people piling their personal effects into U-Haul trailers bound for Texas. David and Will discuss why none of that will likely matter in 2028. Bonus! Will travels back nearly 500 years to the rise and fall of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo -- the first European to set foot in California and to be buried there. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• One year after the LA fires, survivors' big question: Where's the accountability?
• Northern California, Bay Area leaders react to strikes on Venezuela, Maduro's capture
• SEIU’s coy X post (facto)
• The Legislative Analyst’s Office analysis of the billionaire wealth tax
• David Sacks opens Austin office as threat of California ‘billionaire tax’ looms
• Solana Co-Founder Calls California’s Proposed 5% Billionaire Tax Measure ‘Dumb’ – Warns Of Capital Flight
• Billionaires make strategic moves out of California ahead of proposed wealth tax
• U-Haul: Florida ranks 2nd for net gain of one-way customers; California last for sixth year in a row
• California State Auditor’s report
• Why Gavin Newsom would crush JD Vance in 2028 
• The Atlantic: The Front-Runner 
• Even more Cal State campuses will automatically admit eligible students under a new state law
• A Math Horror Show at UC San Diego (ep 420)
• San Francisco mayor quietly signs reparations fund that could lead to $5M payments per person
• New California law requires ingredient change for this grocery staple

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California Justice Center attorney Emily Rae explains Judge Roger Benitez’s blistering rebuke of California policies that encourage school officials, including teachers, to lie to parents about students’ changing gender identity. Benitez on Monday said state AG Rob Bonta's defense of those policies has constitutional law “upside down.” The judge also ordered state officials to notify parents and guardians of their constitutional right to be informed -- and of teachers to inform them -- “when the student expresses gender incongruence.” Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• Judge’s Permanent Injunction in Mirabelli v Olson
• Judge’s legal opinion in Mirabelli

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In their annual Year in Review, David and Will consider Gavin Newsom, Donald Trump, TikTok, Sean Penn, Nathan Hochman, the Turtle Island Liberation Front, Karen Bass, Julie Hamill, the Oakland A’s, Nancy Pelosi, the Los Angeles Times, Kamala Harris, Ivanpah Solar, the SEIU, Prop 50, Leonardo DiCaprio, the Beach Boys, Julie Su, One Battle After Another, fire, AB 218, Larry Ellison, homeless people, Lyle Menendez, Bill Essayli, Zizians, ExxonMobil, Patrick Soon-Shiong, Wiener Watch, Brian Wilson, Zohran Mamdani, Lorena Gonzalez, Mayor Amy Bublak, and more. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• Wildfire of the Vanities: California’s Political Model Has Failed
• Trump’s First 100 Days Have Shattered California’s Left-Wing Illusions
• Lawmakers urge $1-billion annual investments to save high-speed rail
• San Diego migrant shelter hailed as national model will shut down, with 100-plus layoffs
• Gavin Newsom warms to Big Oil in climate reversal
• $2B California solar plant to shut down after a decade – for the most frustrating reason (Ivanpah)
• California’s War on Oil Finally Prompts a Response
• The Public-Sector Union Behind L.A.’s Immigration Agitation
• Gavin Newsom holds mirror to Maga by trolling Trump
• California Approves New House Maps in a Major Win for Democrats and Newsom
• Larry Ellison Retakes No.3 Richest Spot From Jeff Bezos As Oracle Shares Rise On TikTok Deal
• Harris' score-settling, elbow-throwing, bridge-burning memoir
• Already thinking about the 2028 election? You’re not alone
• Lyle Menendez denied parole, will remain in prison along with younger brother Erik
• Zohran Mamdani picks failed progressive Biden nominee Julie Su as top ‘economic justice’ aide
• California businesses bear brunt of growing unemployment benefit debt
• The Pol Who Wants to Replace Pelosi Makes Her Look Norma
• Brian Wilson, Pop Auteur and Leader of the Beach Boys, Dies at 82
• L.A. Times owner says he intends to take newspaper public in coming year
• D.A. to investigate claims of fraud in L.A. County’s $4-billion sex abuse settlement
• Gavin Newsom’s Shameless Dodge on the Homeless Crisis
• For L.A.’s mayor, a Palisades recovery marked by missteps, reversals and delays

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In March, Gavin Newsom told the late Charlie Kirk that male athletes competing against females is “deeply unfair.” This week, on Ezra Klein's podcast, he told a very different story. Will and David discuss the great movies and misguided politics of the late Rob Reiner, and the role of Greg Bahnsen in David’s life. The FBI arrests four members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front who hoped to bomb multiple Los Angeles targets on New Year's Eve. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• The moment my life changed forever, December 12, 2025
• Rob Reiner was more than a Hollywood liberal. He was a sophisticated political operator.
• What did California’s novel approach to funding early-childhood programs achieve?
• Cigarette Taxes and Cigarette Smuggling by State, 2023
• Newsom taps former CDC leaders critical of Trump-era health policies for new initiative
• States Plan to Continue Regulating AI, Despite Trump’s Order
• Wells Fargo cuts 100+ Sacramento-area jobs as CEO says AI prompts ‘efficiency’
• Has Gavin Newsom really signed the most pro-trans bills of any governor?
• California orders Tahoe-Truckee schools to join CIF sports over gender laws
• FBI Arrests Four Alleged Members of Pro-Palestinian Terror Cell, Foiling New Year’s Eve Attack
• What is Turtle Island? FBI foils Pro-Palestinian group terror attack planned for NYE in California

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Governor Gavin Newsom spent much of last week in New York City, criticizing Wall Street, Democrats, SEIU, and Trump at a New York Times books conference -- and then went begging for handouts in D.C. with predictable results. Back home in California, things got less normal. Music by Metalachi.

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Show Notes:

• America 250: Presidential Message on the Anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine
• Newsom Warns That Trump Is ‘Trying to Wreck This Country’
• Newsom takes it to Wall Street
• Gavin Newsom fires back after Halle Berry accuses him of ‘devaluing’ women
• Halle Berry’s Respin Health
• Newsom accuses Trump of wildfire aid snub
• The Los Angeles Times Misses the Forest Fire Scandal for the Trees
• To protect underage farmworkers, California expands oversight of field conditions
• SFUSD escapes worst fiscal rating, but looming cuts and a strike threat cloud recovery
• Source: S.F. General staff raised fears about troubled patient in weeks before fatal stabbing
• DPH Security Services Staffing Plan Proposal
• San Francisco sues nation's top food manufacturers over ultraprocessed foods
• With state pushing back, Oakland delays vote on controversial homeless encampment policy
• Students push for LBCC to ditch the Viking mascot, become the Dolphins

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