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Gavin Newsom plays politics badly in the face of the state’s financial crisis. State officials threaten Huntington Beach over local voter-ID measure, but are upbeat about the appointment of a noncitizen to over San Francisco elections. Will remembers California’s Chumash Revolt of February 21, 1824. Bonus: Julie Hamill talks with National Right to Work’s Mark Mix about union thuggery. Music by Metalachi.

Vice President Kamala Harris can’t decide whether questions about Joe Biden’s mental health are legitimate or politically driven. In either case, she’s ready to serve as president of the United States. Music by Metalachi.

Gavin Newsom gets tough on crime, Democratic state lawmakers abandon cash payments for reparations, and Newsom’s bid to link utility bills to income is on oxygen with vitals crashing. Bonus: We mark the birth on February 6, 1911 of California’s 33rd governor, Ronald Reagan. Music by Metalachi.

Vladimir Putin has his eyes on former Russian holdings, and that has Will thinking about California’s Fort Ross -- and, of course, John Sutter. Tips for football-ignorant Super Bowl partygoers. Pelosi tells pro-Hamas demonstrators to go back to China -- or maybe Russia. State senator Scott Wiener wants slower cars, and he wants them fast. Government union leaders say no one can make state workers go back to the office. California job-creation is among the worst in the nation. Bonus: California Policy Center’s Lance Christensen discusses a new statewide initiative to require that schools treat “gender dysphoria” as they would any other malady affecting children, by alerting parents. Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Wilson Freeman discusses his lawsuit to block the Biden administration's new A.B. 5-style federal rule. Music by Metalachi.

The Satanic Temple opens a kids' club on the campus of an Orange County elementary school. A secret history of the United Farm Workers. Newsom hits South Carolina to tub-thump for Joe Biden. Los Angeles Times reporters and Cal State faculty strike -- with mixed results. A.B. 5 goes national. Bonus: Will talks with Liberty Justice Center president Jacob Huebert about his group’s legal battle with Attorney General Rob Bonta over parent rights in California schools. Music by Metalachi.

David and Will break down Gavin Newsom’s “Li’l Governor’s Broken-Budget-Fix-it-Kit,” the Biden administration’s adoption of California’s A.B. 5, and new state laws that will undermine California’s already troubled housing market. Bonus! We celebrate the creation in 1887 of the remarkable Chinatown Telephone Exchange. Music by Metalachi.

Despite an historic budget deficit, California now offers free health insurance to its menu of incentives for illegal immigration – and that triggers Republican-on-Republican fighting inside the statehouse. Governor Leland Stanford’s 1862 inaugural address placed California firmly behind Abraham Lincoln. Kamala Harris finds a political future in defending Hamas. Bonus track: Will talks with Reform California’s Carl DeMaio about the trouble with Republicans. Music by Metalachi.

In this special year-in-review episode, guest Rick Reiff joins Will to discuss some of the biggest California stories of 2023. Music by Metalachi.

California’s Civil Rights Department finds no wrongdoing at computer-game maker Activision Blizzard -- but still wins a $54 million settlement. Gavin Newsom warns all state agencies to stop spending ahead of a looming budget crisis. We celebrate two San Francisco anniversaries: the birth in 1916 of horror writer Shirley Jackson and the 20th anniversary of Gavin Newsom’s first ten-year plan to eliminate homelessness. Music by Metalachi.

Fresno officials raise the Palestinian flag -- and this question: Should city officials really intervene on outside issues? Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers is a win for the tax man. Kevin McCarthy steps out of the House and into a flaming bag of poop of his own creation. Biden throws Newsom half a lifeline on California’s disastrous high-speed-rail project. Is that Kamala Harris’s gas stove? Looking back at Thomas Starr King, the golden-throated orator of 1860s California. Music by Metalachi.

Newsom shuts down the public Christmas tree lighting ceremony for fears of anti-Israel protests, faces a $58 billion budget deficit, and (if columnist Joe Mathews is right) may have a road to the White House in 2024. Also: Income-based utility bills are coming, the University of California erupts over calls to confront antisemitism, and Oakland’s teacher union proposes a new reading curriculum it calls “‘I’ is for Intifada.” Music by Metalachi.