Each week we work through what actually happened in California — the headlines and policy fights, and underneath them the harder questions about governance, federalism, and how much of its own future this state really controls.

It's an ongoing dialogue between two people who work inside California politics, thinking out loud. Serious but accessible, skeptical of easy answers, and interested in how California got here and where it could go next.

It isn't punditry and it isn't outrage radio. If the only thing to say about a story is that it's outrageous, we'd rather talk about something else.