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.
- 59 minutes 44 secondsEpisode 385: Second to Naan
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Show Notes
- David on Mike Rowe’s “The Way I Heard It”
- ‘Truly A Moron’: Elon Musk Puts Key Trump Official On Blast After He Goes After Tesla
- Navarro left a trail of political wreckage in California
- Newsom is trying to loophole California out of Trump's tariff war
- UC Berkeley prof says California has lost 20,000 fast-food jobs since Newsom’s Fast Foot Act
- Proposed California bill would bar fining, arresting homeless people for camping
- Feds to look into potential fraud and corruption in Southern California homeless funds
- In unprecedented payout, L.A. County will settle sex abuse claims for $4 billion
- RealPage sues Berkeley over its ban on algorithmic rent pricing software
- Steph Curry’s plan to build a headquarters in S.F.’s Dogpatch area is dead
- NBA’s Steph Curry joins neighbors in opposing affordable-housing plan for ritzy Atherton
10 April 2025, 8:43 pm - 1 hour 51 minutesEpisode 384: Trump in the Driver’s Seat
Email Us:
dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com
will@calpolicycenter.orgFollow Us:
@DavidBahnsen
@WillSwaim
@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes:
- The complicated legacy of César Chávez
- Trump targets California ban on ‘forced outing’ of students’ gender identity to parents
- Trump ally and rising California GOP star Essayli named top federal prosecutor in L.A.
- California farmers fear tariff trade war losses in billions, uneven bailouts
- Gavin Newsom calls Democratic brand ‘toxic’ on Bill Maher show
- Will this bill be the end of California’s housing vs environment wars?
- Resistance roars back at the border
- SB 573 would raise corporate taxes based on executive compensation
- The Luigi Mangioni [sic] Access to Healthcare Act
- Policies, not greed, driving California’s sky-high gas prices, study finds
Julie Hamill
2 April 2025, 7:52 pm - 1 hour 57 minutesEpisode 383: California Governor Donald Trump!
Email Us:
dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com
will@calpolicycenter.orgFollow Us
@DavidBahnsen
@WillSwaim
@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes
- David: An anniversary to forget and remember
- Here’s how Gavin Newsom’s podcast arrangement works. The details raise questions
- Newsom betrays a promise by failing to fund high school ethnic studies classes | Opinion
- University of California drops “diversity statements”
- With L.A.’s mayor facing a recall threat, her supporters go after billionaires
- Weaponized turds: San Francisco’s strange and terrible victory over the EPA
- Will: OUSD teachers present an affair to remember
- A homegrown Arizona company was about to break ground on a billion-dollar development – then a California union stepped in
Oakland with Tim Gardner:
- Oakland Report
- Oakland's MACRO missed all of its pilot project goals—so the city expanded it
- Is Oakland fundamentally ‘broken’? The mayor’s race hinges on the answer
Major League Baseball Opening Day with Rick Reiff:
26 March 2025, 5:22 pm - 1 hour 38 minutesEpisode 382: California Democrats Discover the Supply Side
Email Us:
dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com
will@calpolicycenter.orgFollow Us:
@DavidBahnsen
@WillSwaim
@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes
- Can Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson Save the Left From Itself?
- An Abundance of Ambiguity
- L.A. city budget shortfall grows to nearly $1 billion, with layoffs ‘nearly inevitable’
- California’s soaring pension debt rears its head
- Teacher of the year among hundreds getting cut from Santa Ana USD
- Steve Bannon blames Gavin Newsom for creating Elon Musk
- Gov. Newsom sends 'bat phones' to CEOs of major California businesses
- California needs $3.4B loan to cover health care costs as state provides insurance to undocumented residents
- California’s war on farmers made eggs even scarcer
- Rent set by algorithm? Berkeley bans landlords from using pricing software
- California’s prep sports governors suddenly find themselves isolated in their battle over trans athletes
- S.F. Pride seeks alternative funding for LGBTQ celebration after major sponsors drop out
City Journal’s Christina Buttons
20 March 2025, 4:37 pm - 1 hour 15 minutesEpisode 381: Gavin Newsom’s Trans Transition
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@DavidBahnsen
@WillSwaim
@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes:
- Gavin Newsom shocks LGBTQ allies with criticism of transgender athletes
- Scoop: LGBTQ+ rights power picks fight with Trump
- ‘Universal’ locker rooms at UC Davis
- Newsom stymies implementation of landmark California plastic law, orders more talks
- Kamala Harris roasted for trying to tie love of Doritos to Big Tech innovation during AI conference
- Why Kamala Harris for governor would bring joy to Republicans
- Tim Walz has some sharp critiques of the Dem 2024 campaign
- Former Rep. Katie Porter announces bid for California governor
- Why would anyone think Chad Bianco is a decent candidate for governor?
- Why is Mayor Karen Bass deleting her text messages?
- Sacramento butcher shop closes after 10 years of quality meats. ‘It’s a sad day’
JULIE HAMILL
- Julie Hamill
- Newsom's 'unfair' remark on girls' sports belies record as governor: 'Absolute bulls---'
- California hit with Title IX compliant for ‘gender identity’ student sleeping quarters
- Defense of Freedom Institute, California Justice Center file federal Civil Rights complaint against California Department of Education and multiple school districts for Title IX violations
13 March 2025, 8:56 pm - 1 hour 31 minutesEpisode 380: Tautologies Masquerading as Sentences
Email Us:
dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com
will@calpolicycenter.orgFollow Us:
@DavidBahnsen
@WillSwaim
@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes:
- Copperopolis incorporated, March 3, 1861
- “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”
- Lateefah Simon rips Trump — and mod Dems
- California's Moneyed Elite Selects 'Abolish the Police' Operative to Serve in Congress
- Who’s afraid of Medicaid reform?
- Return to office: Newsom orders California state workers back four days a week
- Can’t make rent because of the fires? L.A. County considers a six-month lifeline
- Return to office: Newsom orders California state workers back four days a week
- Rivas purges five GOPers from Assembly committee posts in ‘Friday Night Massacre’
- After landslide victory, will Sacramento fund Prop. 36 enforcement? First signs say no.
- California fast-food workers could see another pay increase
- POINT REYES: Niman Ranch challenges Point Reyes Seashore settlement in lawsuit over ranching
- Yolo County program gave cash payments to families. Here’s what worked — and what didn’t
Medi-Cal reform with Marc Joffe:
6 March 2025, 2:34 pm - 1 hour 32 minutesEpisode 379: What’s the Matter with California?
Email Us:
dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com
will@calpolicycenter.orgFollow Us:
@DavidBahnsen
@WillSwaim
@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes:
- The Victor Davis Hanson Show
- Feb 24 1942 The Battle of Los Angeles
- Gavin Newsom is launching his own podcast — and inviting MAGA favorites
- While ‘Trump-Proofing’ California, Gov. Gavin Newsom asks Congress for $40 billion in fire relief funds
- Column: Bass fires the L.A. fire chief, but her own smoldering political crisis is far from over
- Trump attempting ‘end-run’ around California car pollution standards, expert says
- Will Gavin Newsom support Republican bill that bars funding for violent undocumented immigrants?
- San Diego migrant shelter hailed as national model will shut down, with 100-plus layoffs
- California bill restricts self-defense, ends crime-stopping protection, mandates ‘retreat’
- The SEIU’s power grab puts patients at risk
- Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers Shouted Down During Stanford's 'Democracy and Disagreement' Class
- Fremont’s homeless encampment ban divides the community
Mirabelli v Olson:
26 February 2025, 9:36 pm - 1 hour 18 minutesEpisode 378: The Call Is Coming from Inside the Statehouse
Email Us:
dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com
will@calpolicycenter.orgFollow Us:
@DavidBahnsen
@WillSwaim
@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes:
- Roosevelt interns Japanese-Americans (Feb 19, 1942)
- Go for Broke! (1951 film)
- Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, “Farewell to Manzanar”
- JD Vance speech
- Newsom to business owners: Shut up!
- California court rules against baker in revival of same-sex wedding cake disputes
- We forced the San Diego Housing Commission to repeal its race-based housing assistance program
- Californians are in for a ‘rude shock’ on fire
- Trump envoy Richard Grenell floats California governor bid — if Kamala Harris runs
- This alien-like field of mirrors in the desert was once the future of solar energy. It’s closing after just 11 years
- US Dept. of Education investigates California sports organization over trans athlete ban enforcement
- Petition calling for Denmark to buy California secures more than 230K signatures as Trump eyes Greenland
Free Speech in the California workplace:
20 February 2025, 3:56 pm - 1 hour 27 minutesEpisode 377: California’s Synthetic Outlaws Bring the Chaos
Email Us:
dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com
will@calpolicycenter.orgFollow Us:
@DavidBahnsen
@WillSwaim
@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes:
- Gov. Pat Brown on the decline of the Democratic Party, UCLA, 1967
- ‘Built to burn.’ L.A. let hillside homes multiply without learning from past mistakes
- Gov. Newsom says meeting with Pres. Trump at White House over LA wildfire aid was 'very productive'
- California governor signs 2 ‘Trump-proofing’ bills a day after returning from DC trip
- Newsom signs the bill while acknowledging loophole allowing for money to be spent fighting deportation of undocumented convicted on other crimes
- California wildfire aid will have conditions, US House Speaker Mike Johnson says
- Republicans rip California’s wildfire ‘overregulation’ while Gavin Newsom seeks help for victims
- Honoring the Pronouns of . . . Trans Vegan Anarchist Cult Members?
- LSD, veganism, high-IQ suspects: Probe of six murders takes feds into strange territory
- Suspect and Possible Cult Member Makes Court Appearance In Vallejo Killing as Further Links Revealed to Other Murders
- California plans to continue allowing trans athletes to compete in girls' sports despite Trump executive order
- California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta won’t run for governor in 2026
Julie Hamill, California Justice Center:
- julie@justiceca.com
- California Justice Center: “No federal funds to California public schools”
- California superintendent Tony Thurmond sends note to schools about Title IX protections
- California students still struggling with math and reading skills
- California teachers demand better pay, fully staffed schools as districts battle financial woes
- California AG touts safe haven for LGBTQ+, undocumented students amid Trump executive orders
11 February 2025, 7:40 pm - 1 hour 3 minutesEpisode 376: Trump-Proof . . . Poof!
Email Us:
dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com
will@calpolicycenter.orgFollow Us:
@DavidBahnsen
@WillSwaim
@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes:
- Knute Rockne, All American
- Reagan as George Gipp
- A disinformation deluge on California policies
- The owner of the LA Times takes the red pill
- Thousands rally in downtown Los Angeles, shut down 101 Freeway to protest Trump’s immigration policies
- California Democrats delay vote to ‘Trump-proof’ the state and protect immigrants
- Gavin Newsom heads to D.C. to meet with Trump officials about wildfire disaster aid
- Trump says California's High-Speed Rail project should be investigated
- Inspector General: High-Speed Rail off schedule for Merced-to-Bakersfield route
- Citing LA fire victims, Trump orders more water for Central Valley agriculture and less for fish
- Newsom issues order to ‘maximize’ water capture during storms. Critics say it sounds just like Trump
- California fires don’t justify an energy industry shakedown
- California’s Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy
- Long Beach is considering a major hike in waste collection fees. Expect a higher trash bill
6 February 2025, 10:24 pm - 1 hour 12 minutesEpisode 375: Exxon Strikes Back
Email Us:
dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com
will@calpolicycenter.orgFollow Us:
@DavidBahnsen
@WillSwaim
@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes:
Julie Hamill: @hamill_law
- California Justice Center
- ExxonMobil sues Rob Bonta over defamation campaign
- Rob Bonta gives back more fraught campaign funds
Seneca Scott: @SenecaSpeaks21
4 February 2025, 8:51 pm - More Episodes? Get the App