National Review's Radio Free California Podcast

Episode 439: Newsom’s House of Card Sharks

studio@nationalreview.com (Will Swaim, David L. Bahnsen, Emily Rae, Paul Jonna) — Wed, 8 Apr 2026 15:40:44 +0000

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.

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dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com
will@calpolicycenter.org

Show Notes:

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Episode 438: Maybe We Call This ‘Jaime Escalante Day’?

Wed, 1 Apr 2026 15:09:36 +0000

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.com
will@calpolicycenter.org

Show Notes

Jen Van Laar

Literal bedfellows among teacher union activists and the district negotiating their pay package

Bill Lobdell

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

studio@nationalreview.com (Will Swaim, David L. Bahnsen, Lance Christensen) — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 19:28:58 +0000

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

Show Notes:

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Episode 436: Killing Cesar Chavez

studio@nationalreview.com (Will Swaim, David L. Bahnsen) — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 19:35:45 +0000

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

Show Notes:

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Episode 435: Newsom Presidential Campaign Ads You Won’t See

studio@nationalreview.com (Will Swaim, Will O’Neill) — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 13:03:12 +0000

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.com
will@calpolicycenter.org

Show Notes:

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Episode 434: Emergency Episode — SCOTUS Affirms California Parent Rights

studio@nationalreview.com (Will Swaim, Emily Rae, Paul Jonna, Michael McClellan) — Mon, 9 Mar 2026 14:27:26 +0000

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.

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dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com
will@calpolicycenter.org

Paul Jonna on Mirabelli and SCOTUS

Michael McClellan on AI

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Episode 433: Iran Out of Gas in California

Tue, 3 Mar 2026 20:13:45 +0000

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.com
will@calpolicycenter.org

Show Notes:

Bonus track! PLF attorney Andrew Quinio on San Francisco’s reparations program

Public finance expert Mark Moses on the proper role of government

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Episode 432: Education Secretary Linda McMahon KOs Newsom’s Gender-Bending Policy

studio@nationalreview.com (Will Swaim, David L. Bahnsen, Emily Rae, Karen Bass) — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 19:55:38 +0000

In our bonus interview, CPC attorney Emily Rae unpacks the new U.S. Department of Education report showing how state officials use lawsuits, funding, and threats to force school officials to violate federal law regarding parent notification. In other news: Alex Padilla has missed another chance to thank federal officers who didn’t shoot him last June. Representative Lateefah Simon (D., Calif.) hates the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo but won’t leave California. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass threatens to punish property owners who welcome ICE agents. Republican gubernatorial candidates surge, Dems end their panicky convention with no clear endorsement. Music by Metalachi.

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

Show Notes:

Emily Rae, California Justice Center, on U.S. Department of Ed report:

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Episode 431: Mission to Munich!

studio@nationalreview.com (Lance Christensen, David L. Bahnsen, Will Swaim) — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 15:24:11 +0000

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.com
will@calpolicycenter.org

Show Notes:

Lance Christensen: A Strangely Good Few Weeks in Education

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Episode 430: Newsom Goes Soviet-Style

Mon, 9 Feb 2026 20:56:33 +0000

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.

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

Show Notes

Assemblyman David Tangipa on the state budget

Official website

Jen Van Laar on the worst Airbnb in America

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