Relics of the Old Republic

So all that stuff in the Constitution about not allowing "excessive fines"  can just be ignored now? Apparently this so in the People's Republic of California where you can receive a $1,000 fine for throwing a football or frisbee on the  beach in Los Angeles county and for digging a hole more than 18 inches deep into the beach sand as well. The vast majority of the people in Cali don't deserve the paradise they live in. Truly.

Sign of the times: California’s multi-billion-dollar bullet-train boondoggle was predictable—and predicted.

This blurb I've linked to here is about the proposed high-speed rain line between LA and SF but it could really be about anywhere in the US where the concept is being floated. I have no idea what causes the fixation the elites have with high-speed trains. They're very expensive, high-maintenance, and take forever to build. There are much cheaper alternatives that just get swept aside too. Go figure?

Weblog

Ann Arbor Chronicle writer concerned about redrawing ward boundaries (Dave Askins)
Worrying about ward boundaries in a city with 100% Democratic Party representation? Who cares?

Los Angeles county bothering property owners over piddling zoning law violations (Michael Cavanaugh, Reason)
Even though they live in near total isolation in the high desert areas of eastern LA county. I'm afraid that California is now so far gone that "Second Amendment remedies" are the only thing that is going to save  liberty there.

Milwaukee cops more scared of being called racist than they are of dealing with rampaging teen mobs (Jeff Wagner, WTMJ-AM)
Do you think the media and police would be reacting differently if this had been a group of 40 white people punching and robbing a group of black people?