The Drain

Today we're discussing the story out of San Francisco that's been hitting national headlines and opinion columns for well over a week: Congressional candidate Scott Wiener was chased out of a trans rights march at the tail end of Pride Month over his longtime support of Zionism and his too-little, too-late acknowledgement of the genocide taking place in Gaza. Folks are making a lot of hay about th...

Today Kempa sits down with The Drain's chief Mamdanistan correspondent, Peter Lucas, to discuss the wave of astounding political victories that New York's democratic socialists and their lefty union allies enjoyed over the Democratic establishment in last week's primary elections. The Democratic Socialists of America celebrated a gentleman's sweep of their endorsed candidates last Tuesday , leavin...

**This is a preview of our premium show, The Plug. To listen to the full episode, go to  patreon.com/thedrain .** Hi all!! Sweet Palma here. By the time you read this, I'll be 'pon di island, if you will--I'm taking a brief two-week vacation to Taiwan during the last half of June. Don't fret! I'll be back before the end of the month to talk more California politics with Kempa, and will be using my...

As late votes have been counted throughout California, leftists all over have secured their spots against Democrats in the November runoffs. And MAGA is furious. It's not just the Twitter ghouls, either. Donald Trump lost his shit in a corrugated shed during a feisty Meet the Press interview last week in Wisconsin. And Nick Shirley is traveling the Golden State, harassing people he believes to be...

Listen: Some of our faves have been out there showing frustration with the initial votes in the California elections, referring to our state's voters as "Cattlefornia." But we'd like to push back on that. Here are some big wins for DSA and Working Families Party candidates in the state, as we see it: Mai Vang (CA-7) Connie Chan (CA-11) Aisha Wahab (CA-14) Randy Villegas (CA-22) Angela Gonzalez-Tor...

Today Kempa is joined by Sacramento Bee columnist Robin Epley to discuss the latest polling in the governor's race , which shows Xavier Becerra, Steve Hilton and Tom Steyer in the lead in the final days before the California election ends on Tuesday. We also look into the latest reporting from political guru Paul Mitchell, who has been making the rounds on national media to explain why our liberal...

Hey all, Kempa here. As a welcome to all of our new listeners from the Chapo boost, I wanted to unlock a bizarre little patron-only episode from a little while back. It's local, yes, but it's fucking wild. I promise you'll enjoy: This is a thrilling six-year saga of a California municipal elected official riddled with drama and controversy ( free link ), resulting last week in his pleading guilty...

**This is a preview of our premium show, The Plug. To listen to the full episode, go to  patreon.com/thedrain .** It's a new Plug, folks. We're discussing Kempa's latest trip to weird-California-town, Mojave--an eerie stop-off in the desert west of L.A. that is home to a mysterious air-and-space port--as well as billionaire Stephen Cloobeck's most recent post-Swalwell antics involving threats/tamp...

Today we're speaking with Nevada County Supervisor and progressive candidate for Congress in US District CA-03, Heidi Hall . Heidi is up against conserva-Dem juggernaut Ami Bera for this seat, and it is crucial that he doesn't carpetbag his way into office in 2026. We're discussing the big issues facing the northern California foothills and Sacramento's progressive pockets such as Tahoe Park, and...

**This is a preview of our premium show, The Plug. To listen to the full episode, go to  patreon.com/thedrain .** On the other end of a week's worth of gubernatorial debates and town halls, we're taking a look at all the ways that Xavier Becerra--the presumed frontrunner in the California governor's race--has shot himself in the foot. From his former chief of staff's troubles in court, to his ties...

Last week, journalist/attorney Matt Breunig published a piece about a union president's bizarre decision to engage in union-busting--forcing the California State University Employees Union (SEIU Local 2579) to waste tens of thousands of dollars of labor movement money in a tiff with rightly annoyed attorneys at UAW Local 2350. All because CSUEU President Catherine Hutchinson refuses to respect her...

Today we're discussing the billionaires trying to ruin California politics with their Building a Better California "nonprofit," as well as the cynical neoliberal argument against the one viable gubernatorial candidate who supports the billionaire's tax and Medicare for All. We also get deep into the weeds on Google cofounder Sergey Brin's gut-health MAGA girlfriend , Gerelyn Gilbert-Soto . You may...

**This is a preview of our premium show, The Plug. To listen to the full episode, go to  patreon.com/thedrain .** This is a thrilling six-year saga of a California municipal elected official riddled with drama and controversy ( free link ), resulting last week in his pleading guilty to federal charges ( free link ) of abuse of undocumented employees in his Viva supermarkets, and to fraudulently re...

Today we're taking a look at the new polls surrounding the California gubernatorial race, now that establishment darling Eric Swalwell's chances have, thankfully, fizzled out. Obviously, the conversation includes Tom Steyer, Chad Bianco, Katie Porter, Steve Hilton, and--for some reason--San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan. But Kempa and Palma go over some new polls showing a surge for current Governor Gavin...

Today we're covering the meteoric fall of U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell, and what it means for the California gubernatorial race, now that its frontrunner is out of the picture. Don't forget to like, rate and subscribe to The Drain on your favorite podcast platforms. Questions? Comments? Pitches? Email us at  thedrainpodcast@gmail.com . We're still hanging about on Twitter: @sweetxpalma and @y...

**This is a preview of our premium show, The Plug. To listen to the full episode, go to  patreon.com/thedrain .** Hey folks! We've both been working a lot this spring, so episodes have been hard to come by, but we're ramping up once again for you all -- expect your usual two per week. Today we're discussing a couple of major things. To begin: Kempa's sweet baby pit bull (and The Drain's official m...

Hasan Piker has somehow dominated liberal and rightwing discourse in recent weeks, to the point that leftists are just making fun of the mainstream for their obsession with the leftist streamer. Today we're discussing Democrats' and conservatives' manic rantings against Piker, and looking at two of California's presidential hopefuls--progressive U.S. Representative Ro Khanna and eely Governor Gavi...

**This is a preview of our premium show, The Plug. To listen to the full episode, go to  patreon.com/thedrain .** For this week's episode, Palma and Kempa are exploring the what and why of one of San Francisco's foremost venture capital projects: Y Combinator. Venture capital has become the scourge of San Francisco culture. And Y Combinator stands at the forefront of that cancer. We take a look at...

Today we're joined by Caledon Myers, founder and Executive Director of the ProRep Coalition , which is fighting to bring proportional representational democracy to California and beyond. You might have read his case for a new form of governance in Cal Matters or the San Jose Mercury News ( free link ). That's because he's been working with experts for years to analyze just why the United States' f...

**This is a preview of our premium show, The Plug. To listen to the full episode, go to  patreon.com/thedrain .** It finally happened. On The Drain's one-year anniversary, we visited the Lake Berryessa Glory Hole. That's right: Kempa and Sweet Palma wrangled up their two favorite guest hosts, Kat and El Güero, to take a trip out to the Monticello Dam's Morning Glory Spillway last weekend. We origi...

Hello friends, Kempa here. I'm publishing a somewhat overdue episode while preparing for the crew's Hole Hajj to the Lake Berryessa Glory Hole (patron-only recording on that forthcoming). It's a good one. For our one-year anniversary, Palma and I are discussing some of our faves, including: President Donald Trump's obsession with California in his marathon-length State of the Union California Demo...

**This is a preview of our premium show, The Plug. To listen to the full episode, go to  patreon.com/thedrain .** Today we're discussing a few bizarre California stories, including: Britney Spears's incredible wherewithal in responding to a suspected drinking and driving incident in southern California. A registered sex offender posting up at a church across from a school ( free link) while he hol...

Hello, Drain-iacs! Max and Kempa are back this week with a real corker of an episode, with someone who we've been a fan of for quite some time – San Francisco's very own Connie Chan! As supervisor for SF's District 1, Connie is one of the progressive voices in the foreground of the local fight against the Tech Right, the Doom-Loopers, the Hacker News set and the Faux-gressives swarming City Hall –...

This was some of the most fun we've had recording in The Drain's 50-week existence. So if you're not a patron yet, subscribe today to listen to the full episode. We begin with a couple of excerpts from Kempa's favorite modern poet: California gubernatorial candidate Eric Swalwell . Does he yearn for another night with star-crossed Fang Fang? Move us to tears with vivid verse on uncontrolled farts?...

We're joined this week by a friend of the show, who we're going to call "Tommy", to discuss the continuing crisis in California's school funding. Tommy is a member of the California Teachers Association, working in our local unified school district, and has firsthand (and quite deep) insight into how Labor is dealing with the effects of the state's chronic school under-funding, while also expectin...