I’ve written nearly 8,000 columns over the past 16 years and one of the most popular (6th-highest number of views) was a 2011 satirical piece about how California and Texas politicians would deal with a vicious coyote.

If you don’t want to bother reading that column, all you need to know is that it compared California’s hyper-regulatory mindset (as captured by this cartoon and this column) with the laissez-faire approach in Texas.

Well, we now have a real-world version of that joke, at least with regards to California’s peculiar and excessive regulatory zeal.

Here are some excerpts from a truly bizarre report.

In a bureaucratic tangle, Jake Molieri, 27, has been taken to the brink of business ruin. Owner of SnakeOut, Molieri trains dogs to steer clear of native rattlesnakes. However, Molieri is in breach of California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) code because he uses live native rattlers and charges for his services. “They shut me down in the name of regulations so contradictory their own officials can’t even make sense of them, but they’ll never admit it,” Molieri contends. “Logic doesn’t matter to them. Only the regulations matter.” CDFW insists Molieri is an outlaw unless he either conducts training using non-native, albino rattlesnakes or charges no fee. …according to CDFW, he was an ecological outlaw.

Mr. Molieri’s nightmare began a few years ago.

In August 2023, getting dressed and geared up at roughly 7 a.m. for a day of dog training in northern California’s Sacramento County, Molieri heard a knock on the front door. On the stoop stood several armed CDFW officers, backed by a search warrant. …”It was a blur and they searched for a couple of hours. They took my place apart, told me I couldn’t train dogs with rattlesnakes, and then left. …I did everything I could to find out about what permits I needed and why I was apparently being prosecuted. I…heard nothing from CDFW.”

Here’s how his business operates.

Molieri’s training utilizes live rattlesnakes to familiarize dogs with smells, sounds, and physical appearance of snakes, backed with a minimal vibration or static pulse via an electric collar. No harm to dog or snake. Molieri has trained 700-plus dogs, including police K-9 units. …”We teach the dogs basic avoidance and it’s the best equation for everyone with no harm to snakes or dogs.”

So what’s the problem?

Simply stated, California is suffering from over-criminalization.

It is legal to own up to two Northern Pacific rattlesnakes. It is illegal to commercialize Northern Pacific rattlesnakes. Thus, CDFW declared Molieri’s training to be unlawful because he used live, native rattlers and charged for the training. …”That regulation is intended to keep people from catching dozens or hundreds of rattlesnakes and killing them for skin or meat or pets,” Molieri notes. “It’s got nothing to do with using a few snakes to train dogs and children on safety courses that ultimately help protect the snakes.” …“The logic is beyond comprehension,” Molieri says. “No matter what I did, and no matter who I contacted at CDFW, every person had a different answer than the last person. Ask 10 people and get 10 different responses. The regulations are so senseless that CDFW’s own employees either produce different answers or have no answers at all.”

Here’s the icing on the cake.

Molieri actually wound up in jail for seven hours, which certainly indicates he’s being targeted by vindictive bureaucrats.

Almost a year and a half after CDFW obtained a warrant and searched Molieri’s property, he arrived home in November 2024, to find two police officers waiting outside his residence. Bench warrant in hand, they told Molieri he’d missed his appointed court date. Molieri was cuffed, arrested, and taken to Sacramento County Main Jail. “I had never received any notice, period, of a court date in way over a year since the search warrant. I’d heard nothing.” …” It was insane. I told them, ‘Nothing ever came in the mail from USPS telling me about a court date; I never got any phone calls about court; and my attorney was never contacted.’ Didn’t matter what I said. They locked me up like a common criminal over rattlesnake aversion training.” …The result? Facing four misdemeanors for reptile possession “violations,” from 2023, Molieri’s case was dropped. No criminal charges. Period.

Mr. Molieri definitely belongs in my “victims of government” collection.

But this story also captures what is wrong with California. Politicians and bureaucrats seem to have an insatiable desire to do stupid things.

• Such as over-spending
• Such as over-taxing
• Such as over-regulating (and then subsidizing)
• Such as grotesque boondoggles

I’ve noted that California, because of natural advantages, has the ability to endure a larger-than-normal level of statism.

But there is a breaking point and California must be getting close.

I’ll close with a prediction. If voters approve a proposed wealth tax, that will put the final nails in the coffin.