Episodes

  • Episode 439: Newsom’s House of Card Sharks

    Episode 439: Newsom’s House of Card Sharks
    Apr 8 2026
    Angling for a White House run, Governor Gavin Newsom talks up his plan to bring white men back to the Democratic Party while his wife warns women that Republicans are working to push women “back into the straitjacket of femininity that is only in service of men.” In other news: Newsom will spend $19 million to persuade Americans that California is awesome and Trump endorses gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton. In the history department, Will and David discuss the 1972 state Supreme Court decision that ended the death-penalty convictions of 107 California killers including Sirhan Sirhan, Charles Manson, and one Robert Page Anderson. Music by Metalachi. Email Us:dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.comwill@calpolicycenter.org Follow Us:@DavidBahnsen@WillSwaim@TheRadioFreeCA Show Notes: People v. AndersonUCLA crushes the Other USC to win NCAA women’s basketball national championshipICE Busts Slain Iranian Military Leader’s Niece & Her Daughter Who Called US ‘Great Satan’ In L.A.San Diego warship to recover Artemis II astronauts when they splash down in ocean FridayTrump endorses Steve Hilton in California governor's raceBillionaire candidate for California governor catching heat for past business interests, wealthSexual Harassment Allegations Could Rock Swalwell’s Campaign For GovernorMajor global PR firm Edelman wins $19 million state contract to promote California in a better lightFor Democrats, the Era of the Girl Dad and Male Ally Is OverGovernor Newsom convenes leaders to confront crisis facing boys and menCNN black sheep Scott Jennings gives withering take on Jennifer Newsom: ‘She’s a real problem’Jennifer Siebel Newsom Has Bleak Warning For MAGA Women After Recent FiringsGavin Newsom’s wife pushed weird gender films into California classrooms — while paying herself a fortuneThe great corruption of behested payments in CaliforniaAir district fines Fairfield Budweiser brewery $2.3M over alleged emissions violationsMajor cheese producer closes Fresno-area facility, cuts jobs as it opens Texas siteYamaha moves US headquarters out of California after nearly 50 yearsPublic Storage is the latest company to leave California for TexasPublic Storage to Acquire National Storage Affiliates in $5.6 Billion Stock DealThe Chinese Billionaires Having Dozens of U.S.-Born Babies Via SurrogateCCSF union president violated policies in antisemitic rant, investigation findsLong Beach City College votes to name its Labor Center in honor of Dolores Huerta Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    1 hr and 16 mins
  • Episode 438: Maybe We Call This ‘Jaime Escalante Day’?

    Episode 438: Maybe We Call This ‘Jaime Escalante Day’?
    Apr 1 2026
    Governor Gavin Newsom signed an emergency bill to rename the Cesar Chavez holiday “Farmworkers Day.” Will and David suggest we commemorate instead the East Los Angeles teacher who was the subject of the 1988 movie Stand and Deliver -- and was then driven from teaching by his own union. Representative Eric Swalwell earned a key campaign endorsement from the California Teachers Association -- a kind of Surgeon General’s Warning for voters in the state’s June primary. In other news: Tech’s very bad week in court, and it’s time for San Francisco to defund its corrupt “Defund the Police” campaign. Bonus tracks! Red State reporter Jen Van Laar on LAUSD’s all-in-the-family negotiations with the state’s largest teacher’s union, and former Los Angeles Times religion reporter Bill Lobdell on the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal, televangelists, Cesar Chavez, and California’s public schools. Music by Metalachi. Email Us:dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.comwill@calpolicycenter.org Follow Us:@DavidBahnsen@WillSwaim@TheRadioFreeCA Show Notes Newsom signs law renaming Cesar Chavez Day to Farmworkers DayA Calculated Move : Jaime Escalante Prepares to Leave to Teach in SacramentoUTLA’s responseThe USC professor at the center of the debate debacleA big weekend for Eric SwalwellF.B.I. Said to Dig Up Old Investigative Files on Democratic LawmakerSwalwell campaign in the hot seat after accepting almost $15K from CCP-tied law firm: 'Stop playing footsie'Social media trials usher in Big Tech's latest moment of reckoningTop S.F. official who led Dream Keeper equity program charged with felonies: ‘abuse of power’Holed up: L.A. tries closing off manhole where people live, nearly sealing someone insideLA’s Declining Homelessness Numbers: Real or Illusory?California introduces financial literacy course starting with class of 2030-31'New Era': Landmark Policy to Expand Tribal Stewardship for At Least 7.5 Million Acres in California Jen Van Laar Literal bedfellows among teacher union activists and the district negotiating their pay package Bill Lobdell “Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America and Found Unexpected Peace”Newport Beach in the Rearview Mirror podcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    1 hr and 48 mins
  • Episode 437: The Labor Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight

    Episode 437: The Labor Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight
    Mar 23 2026

    The union behind the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act says it will generate $110 billion for public health programs, but Hoover Institution researchers calculate that it will actually cost California $25 billion. In the “Why Now Department,” Will and David consider multiple hypotheses about the timing of claims that United Farm Workers founder Cesar Chavez raped young women half a century ago. The legal case against Meta and YouTube asks us to believe that social media companies bear absolute responsibility for addictive use of social media. Will tells the true story of Ah Louis, a California Gold Rush-era immigrant who became the unofficial mayor of San Luis Obispo’s Chinatown. Bonus! Lance Christensen provides a first look at the year’s legislative Race to Absurdity. Music by Metalachi.

    Email Us:
    dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com
    will@calpolicycenter.org

    Follow Us:
    @DavidBahnsen
    @WillSwaim
    @TheRadioFreeCA

    Show Notes:

    • Read the Statement From Dolores Huerta on Cesar Chavez’s Abuse
    • From streets to murals, the erasure of Cesar Chavez is fast underway in California
    • The complicated legacy of César Chávez
    • ‘I will miss them’: Khanna mocks tech billionaires threatening to leave California for wealth tax
    • Kathy Hochul’s Seller’s Remorse
    • The Fiscal Losses from California's Billionaire Tax Act
    • Gavin Newsom’s $114 Million Butterfly Bridge
    • Jury deliberations continue in landmark social media addiction trial against Meta, Google
    • Social media use is tied to well-being, according to the new World Happiness Report

    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    1 hr and 23 mins
  • Episode 436: Killing Cesar Chavez

    Episode 436: Killing Cesar Chavez
    Mar 18 2026

    The once-powerful, still-iconic founder of the United Farm Workers is now getting the old Me-Too makeover with his own union reporting allegations that he was the radical left’s Jeffrey Epstein. Also: Newsom’s hypocrisy on surging gasoline prices, Oscar-winner Jessie Buckley’s defense of family, population-alarmist Paul Ehrlich is dead, L.A. County’s fraud problem, the Silicon Valley's deeply flawed initiative to block the wealth tax, and more! Music by Metalachi.

    Email Us:
    dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com
    will@calpolicycenter.org

    Follow Us:
    @DavidBahnsen
    @WillSwaim
    @TheRadioFreeCA

    Show Notes:

    • Cesar Chavez allegations jolt California’s labor movement
    • Jessie Buckley’s Beautiful Homage to Mothers
    • The End Is Still Near
    • The sleeper initiative that could upend more than the wealth tax
    • We visited “ground zero” for hospice fraud: Los Angeles, California
    • Progressive lawmakers Bernie Sanders, Ro Khanna unveil $4.4T wealth tax targeting billionaires
    • SEIU California Endorses Eric Swalwell for Governor
    • You get an endorsement! You get an endorsement!
    • Sable’s president in shining armor
    • Governor Newsom blasts Trump for raising gasoline prices on Americans with no plan and no accountability

    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Episode 435: Newsom Presidential Campaign Ads You Won’t See

    Episode 435: Newsom Presidential Campaign Ads You Won’t See
    Mar 12 2026
    California Governor Gavin Newsom says taxpayers will spend $19 million on advertising designed to burnish his record in advance of his White House run. Will and guest Will O’Neill consider recent news stories that won’t make the final cut -- skyrocketing oil prices, gender transitioning in the state’s schools, the stabbing victim who died after his ambulance was stolen, and the governor’s own flirtation with antisemitism. Bonus! Remembering Edward Dickinson Baker, the first Californian to die in the American Civil War. Music by Metalachi. Email Us:dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.comwill@calpolicycenter.org Follow Us:@DavidBahnsen@WillSwaim@TheRadioFreeCA Show Notes: Army Reserve soldier from Sacramento among six killed in Kuwait drone strikeNewsom planning $19-million push to polish California’s national imageIn a Political Campaign, City Officials Can Spend Your Money Against You. They Call it 'Education'He was stabbed while charging his car. He died after his ambulance was stolenNewsom likens Israel to ‘apartheid state,’ questions future military supportNewsom Digs in After SCOTUS Rebuke, Claims Teachers ‘Forced to Be Gender Cops’Amid angry backlash, serial child molester is rearrested the same day he was set to be paroledHere’s how Newsom’s spending binge outstripped revenues, creating California’s chronic deficitMarathon, Chevron, PBF Warn Governor Newsom of Widespread Refinery Shutdowns, Fuel shortages, Economic CollapseCalifornia’s economy faces threats with new energy policy changesNevada governor fires warning shot at Gavin Newsom over oil crisis: ‘Real-world consequences’Fearing GOP upset, top California Democrat urges lagging candidates for governor to drop out of raceCalifornia Unions May Decide Which Republican Advances In The Governor’s Race — And Which One Doesn’tPoll: Hilton’s rise could spare Dems from disaster in California gov’s raceRepublican Rep. Kevin Kiley files to run as independentA budget plot twist in Oakland: From ‘fiscal emergency’ to $17 million in the black Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • Episode 434: Emergency Episode — SCOTUS Affirms California Parent Rights

    Episode 434: Emergency Episode — SCOTUS Affirms California Parent Rights
    Mar 9 2026

    Following a smashing victory in a San Diego federal court, attorney Paul Jonna describes the U.S. Supreme Court’s dramatic intervention to end California’s determination to hide student gender-transition plans from parents. Bonus! California attorney Michael McClellan lays out the conservative case for skepticism about artificial intelligence. Music by Metalachi.

    Email Us:
    dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com
    will@calpolicycenter.org

    Follow Us:
    @DavidBahnsen
    @WillSwaim
    @TheRadioFreeCA

    Paul Jonna on Mirabelli and SCOTUS

    • Paul Jonna, Limandri & Jonna
    • Thomas More Society
    • Court sides with parents in dispute over California policies on transgender students

    Michael McClellan on AI

    • Governor DeSantis Hosts Roundtable on AI Policy at New College of Florida
    • 2028: The Consequences of Abundant Intelligence
    • Gemini Said They Could Only Be Together if He Killed Himself. Soon, He Was Dead.

    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    1 hr and 33 mins
  • Episode 433: Iran Out of Gas in California

    Episode 433: Iran Out of Gas in California
    Mar 3 2026
    The Iran war exposes California’s fragile oil supply, how the media transformed the death of nine skiers near Donner Pass into a case of “climate change,” and Attorney General Rob Bonta’s very bad week. Bonus! Attorney Andrew Quinio describes Pacific Legal’s lawsuit to block San Francisco reparations payments, and CPC senior fellow Mark Moses considers whether government exists to serve citizens -- or whether citizens exist to serve government. Music by Metalachi. Email Us:dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.comwill@calpolicycenter.org Follow Us:@DavidBahnsen@WillSwaim@TheRadioFreeCA Show Notes: In Gov. Newsom’s California, It Makes Sense to Get Gasoline from the BahamasWhen US Gasoline Has to Leave the Country to Move Within ItAvalanche experts fear conditions that led to deadly Tahoe slide could become ‘new normal’Apple quietly removes environmental metrics from executive payCalifornia bill would make fossil fuel companies help pay for rising insurance costsThe Tangled Web of the Boulder v. Suncor Cert Grant: Pass me some aspirin. Attorney General Rob Bonta might want some, too.Judge Axes Exxon’s Defamation Suit Against EnvironmentalistsThe hypothetical nuclear attack that escalated the Pentagon’s showdown with AnthropicMerrill Kelly rejected Padres’ lucrative contract offer due to California’s ridiculous tax laws‘Like an Uber Share’ but public: South Bay city to bring low-cost, rideshare-style public transit service Bonus track! PLF attorney Andrew Quinio on San Francisco’s reparations program Andrew Quinio bioSan Francisco taxpayers challenge race-based reparations fund in courtSan Francisco mayor quietly signs reparations fund that could lead to $5M payments per personThe Cost Of San Francisco’s Reparations Proposal: Nearly $600,000 Per Household Public finance expert Mark Moses on the proper role of government Mark Moses bioThe Municipal Financial Crisis – A Framework for Understanding and Fixing Government Budgeting (Palgrave Macmillan, January 2022) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    2 hrs and 4 mins
  • Episode 431: Mission to Munich!

    Episode 431: Mission to Munich!
    Feb 17 2026
    In his tour of the Munich Security Conference, Governor Gavin Newsom held himself up as a global leader on policies most European nations abandoned decades ago. David and Will also discuss: the impact of the U.S. EPA’s announcement that it will no longer follow the Obama-era “endangerment finding” on carbon emissions, San Francisco skier Eileen Gu’s decision to represent China in the Olympics, State Senator Scott Wiener’s failure to keep up with climate science, and how Newsom’s Prop. 50 may silence at least one of the brightest conservative voices in the U.S. House of Representatives. Bonus: Lance Christensen breaks down Newsom's attempted takeover of the state Department of Education. Music by Metalachi.Email Us:dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.comwill@calpolicycenter.orgFollow Us:@DavidBahnsen@WillSwaim@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes:The Bahnsen Group Opens News Silicon Valley OfficeWill on NPR: Texas Dems are stuck on identity politics with Senate race at stakeCPC hiring: Director of development We Need to Tax the Rich. Are Unions Going About it the Right Way in California?Nobody wants to step on the gas (tax)Sam Darnold’s insane California tax bill stunningly exceeds Super Bowl winningsCalifornia Jock Tax Calculator Boomer Esiason suggests barring California from Hosting Super BowlVP Vance to lead California anti-fraud task force: reportMunich Security Conference: Governor Newsom reinforces climate partnerships as Donald Trump abandons long-standing American alliesLee Zeldin’s EPA Liberates American IndustryDonald Trump declares the Republican Party the pro-pollution partyWiener Watch! New bill aims to allow California AG to sue oil companies for disaster costsSoCal Edison files lawsuit over Eaton Fire, alleging LA County, other utilities are also to blameJudge clears way for mega lawsuit blaming LA and California for deadly Palisades FireEileen Gu’s Terrible ChoiceKiley says he’s weighing challenge to McClintock. He’s already launched an opening salvo.Lance Christensen: A Strangely Good Few Weeks in EducationState Superintendent Tony Thurmond on the power struggle over public schools | California Politics 360Number of the Week: Teacher strike votes are risingTeachers Unions Get DesperateTeachers email parents demanding they don’t homeschool kids – as San Francisco strike grinds into a third dayUS Secretary of Ed Linda McMahon: Teachers shouldn't have to bankroll unionsUnderstanding SFUSD’s $1.4B budget: How teachers and the district come up with different numbersLAUSD will vote on layoffs amid budget challenges, declining enrollment UTLA planning documents appear to advocate for use of school resources as ‘form of resistance’ against ICEGen Z are arriving to college unable to even read a sentence—professors warn it could lead to a generation of anxious and lonely graduatesUC San Diego Finds One In Eight Freshmen Lack High-School Math SkillsThe tide goes out on youth gender medicine Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    2 hrs and 1 min