National Review's Radio Free California Podcast
National Review
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.
- 56 minutes 26 secondsEpisode 427: Tower of Babble
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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@TheRadioFreeCAShow 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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23 January 2026, 2:24 pm - 1 hour 42 minutesEpisode 426: Newsom’s On-Again, Off-Again Wall Street Romance
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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@TheRadioFreeCAShow 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
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14 January 2026, 2:43 pm - 57 minutes 33 secondsEpisode 425: The White House Is Newsom’s to Lose
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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@TheRadioFreeCAShow 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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8 January 2026, 2:25 pm - 29 minutes 58 secondsEmergency Episode: Federal Judge Schools California on Gender Policy [424]
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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23 December 2025, 10:28 pm - 1 hour 32 minutesEpisode 423: The End of the Year As We Know It
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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@TheRadioFreeCAShow 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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23 December 2025, 4:54 pm - 57 minutes 34 secondsEpisode 422: ‘I See Trans Kids’
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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@TheRadioFreeCAShow 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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17 December 2025, 8:43 pm - 1 hour 3 minutesEpisode 421: Newsom to Dems: ‘Be More Normal’
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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@TheRadioFreeCAShow 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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9 December 2025, 11:29 pm - 53 minutes 45 secondsEpisode 420: The Noise Behind Newsom’s Very Quiet Week
California Governor Gavin Newsom did almost nothing this week. But if you listen carefully, you can hear the state budget crashing and his erstwhile allies beginning to rebel. Bonus! Two hundred and seven years ago this month, a French-born pirate attacked California and broke the back of the Spanish empire. Music by Metalachi.
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@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes:
- Gov. Newsom orders Capitol flags to fly at half-staff after Stockton birthday party shooting
- Gavin Newsom Trolls Donald Trump’s MRI Scan With His Own Medical Memo
- Newsom 2028: Hollywood Donors Start Lining Up Behind Expected White House Bid; “He’s A Fighter, That’s What We Need!”
- Newsom’s 911 debacle is California’s latest failed tech adoption
- Gov. Gavin Newsom reacts to ex-aide’s arrest — ‘real surprise and shock’
- Silicon Valley’s Man in the White House Is Benefiting Himself and His Friends
- America’s AI future lies in the hands of California’s governor
- What does CA’s dreary budget mean for state worker negotiations in 2026?
- Should billionaires pay more? California unions want voters to decide
- California Loses a Taxpayer Per Minute
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3 December 2025, 3:26 pm - 40 minutes 2 secondsEpisode 419: Low-Energy Gavin Newsom
California Policy Center policy genius Edward Ring discusses California’s coming energy crisis -- and why he sees signs of hope. Music by Metalachi.
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@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes:
- The Belem-to-Bakersfield pipeline
- New drilling and more spilling? New oil and gas drilling threatens Central Coast
- Gas lines coming to California
- Oil extraction reduces methane seepage
- Silicon Valley’s growing anti-woke, pro-abundance rebellion
- Edward Ring’s “Abundance California” website
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24 November 2025, 5:43 pm - 1 hour 20 minutesEpisode 418: Totally Consistent Lunatics
Gavin Newsom runs into Brazilian protestors in the Amazon, while back home his former chief of staff faces federal charges that she stole millions. The U.S. DOJ sues California over Prop 50; Harmeet Dhillon promises to investigate Berkeley’s anti-Turning Point USA protest; and why unions love environmentalists. Music by Metalachi.
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@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes:
- Big Ten's $2.4 billion private capital plan paused after Michigan, USC opposition
- Keeping an AI bubble from hurting you
- ‘Buy the Dip’ Investors Save Stocks From a Brutal Week
- Trump Backs Moratorium on State AI Regulation, Placing Him at Odds with GOP Governors
- Gavin Newsom’s bad news day
- Newsom's Former Chief, Described as 'Mob Boss' by Fellow Dem, Failed to Report $1.7 Million in Income
- The Belem-to-Bakersfield pipeline
- Trump administration sues California to invalidate Prop 50 maps ahead of 2026 midterms
- DOJ investigation into Berkeley’s Turning Point protest sends warning to other colleges
- 'Nobody wants to be here': New Central Calif. mega development gets pushback
- Sprinkler shock: Owners of S.F. high-rise condos stunned by $300K mandate
- Sacramento Jesuit High alumni protest school’s ‘final’ decision to include girls
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20 November 2025, 2:38 pm - 56 minutes 12 secondsEpisode 417: Laundering Lunacy
Following his big Prop 50 win last week, Governor Gavin Newsom hit the road, denouncing the Democrats’ deal to end the federal shutdown, accepting the thanks of worshipful Democrats in Houston, and appearing as the highest-ranking American representative at the U.N.’s climate talks in Brazil. In other news, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr and OpenAI’s Sam Altman say they feel bad about making so much money, Santa Barbara County officials stand bravely athwart common sense and yell stop, and a federal judge orders AG Rob Bonta to explain himself on the state’s policies regarding gender fluidity in California schools. On this day in history, we remember the Rickenbackers of California -- the World War I flying ace and his guitar-making cousin. Music by Metalachi.
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@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes:
- Newsom, Eyeing 2028, Tries to Mess With Texas: ‘Don’t Poke the Bear’
- Newsom blasts shutdown deal
- ‘China gets it. America is toast,’ Newsom warns, blasting US climate drift
- Newsom in Brazil Blasts Trump, Praises China
- Sable’s no good, very bad week
- OpenAI's Sam Altman defends Bay Area billionaire when grilled over wealth gap
- OpenAI is asking for the federal government to help power a massive expansion of its data center network
- Judge Orders California Education Officials to Explain Why They Shouldn’t Be Sanctioned
- Sacramento: Charter school renewal denied by Sacramento school district. What comes next?
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