Senator Scott Wiener’s bid to raise bridge tolls has inflamed his more radical colleagues -- and reveals Gavin Newsom’s weakness on the budget he claims to master. In other news: Kamala Harris’s latest reputation rehab, LeBron’s experimental public school is an air ball, Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass’s affection for police unions, state lawmakers consider a new tax to support striking workers, and David celebrates the death of the Pac-12. Music by Metalachi.

Episode 291: Toll Troll

A show about the perilous state of the Golden State—and what that means for you, wherever you live. California is the hothouse lab of the Left, the nation-state creating the statist policies, art, and lifestyles of the future – and generating the political dollars to make them a reality in a community near you. Hosts Will Swaim (California Policy Center) and David Bahnsen (The Bahnsen Group, Fox Business News commentator, conservative activist) beam this weekly show internationally, from mostly undisclosed pirate-radio platforms west of the Sierra Nevada.   [Intro music graciously provided by Los Angeles-based Metalachi, the metal/mariachi soundtrack of the near-future. Find them at Metalachi.com.]

News

Politics

Government

The Supreme Court takes a swing and misses on West Coast homelessness in Grants Pass. Kamala celebrates SEIU, likely undermines elder care. The falling fortunes of California’s Tesla and Fisker. Bonus:  hated illegal immigrants. Music by Metalachi.

Episode 328: How California Became ‘The Home of the Homeless’

The meaning of O. J. Simpson’s life and death. Google, USC, and UC Berkeley restore balance to the universe. Biden’s Health & Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra says he’s coming back to California to run for governor. Gavin Newsom finds a new way to make the state’s housing crisis even worse. Bonus! Will talks with California Policy Center’s Edward Ring about the siren call of “clean energy.” Music by Metalachi.

Episode 327: Run, O. J., Run!

Beset by a historic state budget deficit, Governor Gavin Newsom is brushing back reports that he lied about his college baseball career in order to mask his privilege. In other news, California slides to No. 6 among the world’s economies but remains No. 1 for worst unemployment in the nation. The president of Pomona College tells student protesters that their careers at the school are finished. Bonus: Will talks with Lance Christensen about Edward Duplex, California’s first black mayor. Music by Metalachi.

Episode 326: Gavin Newsom Gets Hit by His Own Pitch

Biden’s U.S. acting labor secretary Julie Su will force American taxpayers to pay off Covid losses Su caused while running California’s labor department. Buffy Wicks (D., Oakland) wants California to get into the concert business. Sacramento’s sanctuary for transgender people runs up against progressive policy. David’s modest proposal for managing the increasingly successful squatters movement. Music by Metalachi.

Episode 325: Julie Su Helps Julie Su

California’s unemployment rate is the worst in the nation, but state officials seem determined to do worse. Exploring the authoritarian impulses of “transgressive” art. A brief history of California’s integrated Winter League. Music by Metalachi.

Episode 291: Toll Troll

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