Checkpoint California

Checkpoint California

by Sean Forbes & Charles McGuinness

News Commentary Politics

Season 1

Start-Up Socialism (and Why Movies Were Better When We Were Young) — Ash Seiter Returns

Ash Seiter — Lone Pine fire captain and vice chair of the California National Party — is back for a second conversation, recorded two days after the President told a cheering crowd in Nebraska that Iran could "take out" Los Angeles and San Diego. Sean, Ash and Charles start with that remark, the silence from California's Republicans and the anti-California feeling behind the cheers, then turn to the governor's race: a Republican who can't beat a generic Democrat, and a Democrat who won't say what he stands for. From there, what the CNP would do instead — a public bank to finance housing and small business, universal basic income as "start-up socialism", universal health care, and breaking up PG&E and Southern California Edison — and what AI will and won't change about work. Sean walks through the party's California DEAL, and the arts get the longest look: a basic income for artists like Ireland's, film and tourism from Sideways to Lone Pine's westerns, and why the studios and labels keep playing it safe — and, in the last stretch, the hosts' firm conclusion that music and movies were better when they were young. In this episode 00:22 — Ash returns 00:57 — "Take out Los Angeles; take out San Diego" 05:54 — A president's words, and the cheering crowd 07:19 — The donor state, and the abortion lawsuit 11:43 — Becerra, Hilton and the generic Democrat 15:31 — Fourth-largest economy, rising poverty, and Prop 40 17:59 — Housing: build, build, build — for whom? 20:41 — A state bank for housing 24:15 — Big tent or progressive platform? 28:29 — A party paralyzed: Massie and Greene 29:40 — Micro-lending and a small-business bank 31:34 — The CNP's soul-searching, and start-up socialism 36:52 — Health care, PG&E and Edison 40:05 — Utilities, broadband and human rights 43:36 — What $275 billion could do; solar and nuclear 45:08 — AI, jobs and a basic income 48:01 — Invest in the trades 50:41 — Robots, Uber and Waymo 53:03 — The California DEAL 55:45 — A basic income for artists 57:50 — Touring grants, Trailer Park Boys and Sideways 1:01:05 — Four hundred films in Lone Pine; arts in schools 1:03:09 — Franchises, Skydance, and the risk-averse studio 1:06:46 — Zappa, the Byrds, and why everything was better when we were young 1:10:04 — L for land reform, and where to find us 1:10:57 — Ash's podcast, Echoes from the Canyons Guest: Ash Seiter — captain and public information officer, Lone Pine Fire Department; vice chair, California National Party. His podcast is Echoes from the Canyons: A Retrospective Music Podcast, about his father Jimmi Seiter's years on the road with the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Facts and sources. We checked what was said in this episode, right and wrong, with links: checkpointcalifornia.com/007

Paid by the Call — Firefighter Ash Seiter on Fire, the Feds and Rural California

Sean and Charles are joined by Ash Seiter — captain and public information officer with the Lone Pine Fire Department in Inyo County, and vice chair of the California National Party — for an episode about who fights California's fires, who pays for it, and what happens when Washington stops showing up. Ash explains why most American fire departments still run on volunteers, paid by the call or not at all, and how California's mutual-aid system sends small rural crews like his across the state. From there: federal land and federal fire policy, DOGE's cuts to the Forest Service and the North Rim fire, crews from Mexico and California's own air force, the State Guard, and seven days on the Palisades Fire — hurricane winds, failing hydrants and fires that rekindle. Closer to home, the fight to keep Lone Pine's hospital open, a "very purple" Inyo County, Los Angeles's hold on the Owens Valley, and the disconnect between rural and coastal California. Ash closes on why he thinks independence is now a matter of survival. In this episode 00:40 — Ash's road to the CNP 03:10 — Fifteen years with Lone Pine Fire 04:20 — America's volunteer fire service 07:09 — Would volunteers rather be paid? 12:15 — Paid by the call 16:24 — Turnover, second jobs, and mutual aid through Cal OES 20:31 — Federal land and federal fires 24:42 — The North Rim, DOGE cuts, and life in fire camp 29:32 — CAL FIRE fills the federal gap; crews from Mexico and Australia 31:50 — California's air force, and the State Guard 34:17 — Seven days on the Palisades Fire: wind, hydrants, rekindles 41:43 — Governor for a day: prevention, aircraft and drones 46:05 — Is Washington the problem? 47:47 — Saving Southern Inyo Hospital 50:45 — One emergency system for all of California 52:47 — "Very purple" Inyo County 56:38 — Mutual aid, Big Sur, and the big earthquake 59:32 — Los Angeles and the Owens Valley 1:01:48 — El Niño, and the rural–coastal divide 1:06:56 — Why independence: "a necessity" 1:09:45 — Where to find Ash, and a food-recall bingo card Guest: Ash Seiter — captain and public information officer, Lone Pine Fire Department; vice chair, California National Party. @ashseiter on Threads and elsewhere. For a full review of the facts and sources quoted in the podcast, visit https://checkpointcalifornia.com/006/

"The Big Murder Bill" — Nurse Maya Ram on Healthcare and Independence

Sean and Charles are joined by Maya Ram — a registered nurse for 13 years, and the California National Party's Northern California secretary and chapter coordinator — for an episode about what the decline of American healthcare looks like from inside an East Bay safety-net hospital, and why she believes California has to leave to escape it. Maya walks through the rural hospitals at risk of closing after the federal budget bill she calls the "Big Murder Bill", from Lone Pine to Yreka, and Sean tells the story of an Inyo County hospital whose staff cut their own hours to keep it open. From there: what universal healthcare in an independent California should look like and where Canada and the UK fall short, why "a bureaucrat between you and your doctor" already describes private insurance, concierge medicine, AI nurse lines, and the union fight that made California the only state with nurse-to-patient ratios in law. The episode closes on Gavin Newsom, state workers and farmworkers, and on handing the state's unwieldy health bureaucracy down to its regions. In this episode 01:30 — Maya's road in: 13 years of watching U.S. healthcare decline 03:35 — The fourth-largest economy, and what Canada and Germany get for theirs 06:58 — The "Big Murder Bill" and California's rural hospitals at risk 10:03 — Lone Pine: two hospitals, one on the brink 13:29 — Dolly Parton, billionaires, and hoarding 16:40 — Day one of an independent California: which healthcare system? 18:30 — Government bureaucrats or corporate ones? Denials and prior auths 20:36 — How American healthcare became for-profit 24:17 — What the bills would have been without Medicare 26:07 — A health check in Japan, and what it would cost here 28:32 — CalCare, Newsom's veto, and concierge medicine 31:26 — AI in the hospital, and AI nurse lines 41:23 — Nurses' unions and nurse-to-patient ratios 42:30 — State workers, SEIU Local 1000, and Newsom 49:43 — Why California governors don't become president 54:44 — Breaking up the Department of Public Health: a regional California Guest: Maya Ram — registered nurse; Northern California secretary and chapter coordinator, California National Party. Fact sources, errata, and corrections for this episode: https://checkpointcalifornia.com/005/

"Revolutionary Cosplay" — Hal Lohr on Why Reform Won't Save California

Sean and Charles are joined by Hal Lohr — a California independence veteran since 2014, founder of the Red Star Report, and a producer on Working Voices at KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles — for an episode about why working within the system keeps failing, and what acting like a nation would actually look like. Hal traces the movement back to its 2014 splintering, explains how yelling at his television turned into organizing, and makes the case that neither major party, nor any third party, has ever made a dent. Along the way he coins a phrase for what the Greens, Peace and Freedom and the DSA are doing instead: revolutionary cosplay. The second half gets practical. Gavin Newsom once said the thing out loud almost by accident: stop sending California's money to Washington. Hal and Sean work through what follows from that — reclaiming the 43–45% of California that the federal government holds, defending coastal waters, building trade missions the way Scotland is quietly doing, selling agriculture into the Pacific Rim, and landing affordable Chinese and Indian EVs at the Port of Long Beach. The precedent they keep coming back to is cannabis: California simply stopped complying, and Washington turned out to have "all the power of a mall security cop." In this episode 00:47 — Hal's road in: the movement since 2014, the Red Star Report, KPFK 01:37 — 2014 and the great splintering: Sovereign California, Yes California, the CNP 03:26 — Dinner-table independence in the 1970s, and three sons of draft age 07:20 — Why not just join the Greens, Peace and Freedom or the DSA? 13:22 — "Revolutionary cosplay" 15:37 — Why an independence advocate is the only rebel in the room 24:03 — Legality, the civil-war argument, and the abusive-spouse analogy 25:49 — Scotland, the SNP, and asking permission to leave 30:13 — No Kings: motion without direction 38:35 — Newsom's accidental answer: keep California's tax money here 39:49 — The Soviet parallel, and what the IRS figures show 45:09 — Reclaiming land, coastal waters, and acting like a nation 48:19 — Agriculture, the Pacific Rim, and electric cars at the port 52:04 — The cannabis precedent: what Washington can actually stop Guest: Hal Lohr — the Red Star Report; Working Voices, Mondays at 5am on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles (and in the archives, for the reasonable among us). We speak for ourselves. Sean Forbes chairs the California National Party and Charles McGuinness is its Secretary for IT, but opinions here are our own and are not official CNP positions. Guests speak for themselves, and appearing here is not an endorsement in either direction. We reject violence without qualification: we seek greater autonomy for California only through elections, ballot measures, legislation, litigation and negotiation. Corrections to corrections@checkpointcalifornia.com. More at votecnp.org.

What happens after?

Independence is the easy part to argue about; this episode is about the morning after — what California would do with the keys, and how much of it could be done right now, without leaving anything. Sean's answer is a tripod: a basic income paid out of a permanent fund on the Alaska model, universal healthcare underneath it, and something on rents, or the landlords simply collect the difference. Charles adds the leg it falls over without — you have to build the housing — and tells the story of bribing his way into a Manhattan apartment, one hundred-dollar bill at a time, back when rent stabilisation was supposed to be protecting him. From there: proportional representation, and why a legislature smaller than Iowa's governs Inyo County as an afterthought; the "California hellhole" neither host recognises after thirty years of looking at it; the water nobody is campaigning on, and the desalination the state is too timid to build; and the utility monopolies, what PG&E pleaded to after the Camp Fire, and whether public power would actually be cheaper. In this episode 00:31 — The day after: the lowest possible bar, and then the real answer 02:50 — UBI from a permanent fund: Alaska, Salton Sea lithium, an AI dividend 07:54 — Why insurance, not ambition, is what keeps people in their jobs 08:36 — The tripod: income, healthcare, and rents that don't eat both 12:00 — None of it works unless you build housing 13:08 — Manhattan, a rental broker, and hundred-dollar bills 14:46 — More voices: proportional representation and the German model 23:22 — "Let's invite Newsom on and let him defend his own record" 25:49 — The hellhole that isn't: San Francisco, then and now 26:43 — A private investigator's Los Angeles: depressing, not dangerous 30:25 — One-party dominance, and why Democrats should fear losing 32:58 — California as a nation-state, with a legislature smaller than Iowa's 36:50 — The one thing that binds all of California: water 37:03 — Inyo County, Chinatown, and the case for local control 44:22 — "We had to destroy democracy to save it" 45:34 — If it's the emergency cord, why is nobody acting like it? 46:42 — The Colorado, Lake Powell, and the desalination nobody will discuss 51:51 — How Israel and the Gulf do it, without wrecking the marine ecosystem 53:33 — A desalination plant that follows the sun 55:08 — In defense of the Democrats: what the federal constraint costs 56:21 — The utility monopolies: PG&E, the Camp Fire, deferred maintenance 01:00:44 — Regulatory capture, and whether public power would be cheaper 01:04:36 — November: the one link in the chain the states don't control 01:09:03 — A federal viceroy for California, and why that stopped being funny 01:11:06 — The podcast version of doomscrolling

How Independence Happens

If California leaves, it leaves by negotiation — both hosts say so at the top — so the episode is about what could put California on the other side of that table with something to trade. Sean's starting point is that the Civil War has badly distorted what Americans think secession looks like: the Soviet Union came apart by accord, Czechoslovakia separated peacefully, and Singapore didn't even ask — Malaysia threw it out, then watched it become an economic engine. Four routes follow, each pushed until its weak spot shows: the Singapore exit, by way of the Article V convention campaign; a candidate holding California's 54 electoral votes hostage, as in 1876 and 1968; a federal government that can no longer fund itself; and the Scottish route, where an independence party wins Sacramento and uses ordinary state power the way a striking union works to rule. The news half turns to ICE detention in California, a state-funded lawyer corps as the response nobody is proposing, and the line the show won't cross. In this episode 00:31 — The premise: a negotiated exit, not a revolution 03:13 — The precedents nobody teaches: the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Singapore 07:09 — Recognition beats jurisprudence, and the Court has no army 10:50 — Scenario one: the Singapore kickout, and the Convention of States 14:45 — Thirty-four states to call it, thirty-eight to ratify it 17:54 — Scenario two: holding up the Electoral College, 1876 and 1968 23:19 — Ballot access, media markets, and Charles's twenty-year doubt 24:00 — The Mamdani counterexample, and why Sean says five years 30:17 — Scenario three: a government that can no longer fund itself 32:39 — Graft as a tax, and the guy from Goodfellas 33:55 — Scenario four: the SNP model, the ports, and the war of laws 41:14 — The news: ICE detention, and what the state is actually doing 43:29 — The lawyer corps: making the machinery pay for every case 46:33 — Inspections, the State Guard, and the shark in the water 48:59 — The line: police powers yes, obstruction no 54:43 — November, the Postal Service, and shenanigans mode 56:49 — "Reconstruction" for California, and why Sean stopped laughing 01:03:27 — A French factory owner in 1936 on the menace of paid vacation

The State of the State

The first episode. Sean Forbes, Chair of the California National Party, and Charles McGuinness, the party's Secretary for IT, introduce themselves and the show — and then spend an hour on the question underneath everything else: what is California actually getting out of this arrangement? Sean opens with the image the show keeps coming back to. The Titanic is at the iceberg, California is the lifeboat, and it is time to start rowing. Charles makes the structural version of the same case: there is no longer a single set of national policies that can work for both California and Mississippi, and the federal system is built so that neither side can win the argument outright. From there they work through what being tied to Washington costs — H-1B fees aimed squarely at California's tech economy, a national debt that raises the cost of every dollar of venture capital, and a defense budget that has never passed an audit. The middle of the episode is the philosophical core, and it is not the usual left-right fight. Charles argues for a safety net expensive enough that business can be left genuinely free: universal healthcare, housing, food and an income floor, funded publicly rather than loaded onto employers. It is a pro-startup argument as much as a social one — health insurance is the single biggest reason people won't leave a corporate job for a four-person company. Sean's version is a rule of thumb: community first, business second. Business is a handmaiden to the community, not its master. The last stretch turns to the governor's race. Becerra is up about thirty points and has committed to almost nothing, and Charles makes the point that follows: run on nothing and you arrive with no mandate, which makes you the Assembly's rubber stamp rather than its rival. Gray Davis is the cautionary parallel. Neither candidate, the hosts agree, will lift a finger toward California autonomy — even the modest, entirely legal kind, like the devolved immigration authority Quebec already has. In this episode 00:13 — Who we are, and the Titanic-and-lifeboat framing 03:57 — Why independence: one country, two incompatible ideas of government 05:41 — The system built to be stuck — the 60-vote Senate and the end of landslides 08:13 — "Cold civil war," and why the lines aren't geographic 12:49 — The debt, the dollar, interest rates, and the case for our own currency 15:37 — A Pentagon that has never passed an audit 18:25 — Silicon Valley's deference to Trump, and the Musk arc 21:21 — Genius, hard work, and the 75% that was winning the lottery 22:09 — Community first, business second — and the Ohio city council story 26:13 — The expensive safety net as the thing that sets business free 29:45 — Why health insurance is a tax on entrepreneurship 32:53 — The federalism trap: you can't build universal care without Medicare 37:09 — Before independence: a new state constitution, democracy vouchers, the Montana Plan 43:01 — The governor's race: Becerra by thirty, Hilton going nowhere 46:17 — Run on nothing, govern with nothing — the mandate problem 47:41 — Redistricting, and the door it opens for everyone else 49:41 — The Gray Davis parallel 51:33 — The autonomy neither of them will ask for: Quebec and immigration 55:57 — In which the ballot is improved by Count Binface