Annals of Authoritarianism, Catch-Up Edition

Going through feeds from a couple of weeks ago, I found these, both from Instapundit:

VIDEO: California Shuts Down Fifty-Year-Old Burger Joint For Having Counters Too Tall….

And, from the Annals of Authoritarianism, Bureaucratic Division:

ANOTHER STATE DEPARTMENT SCANDAL: An American lawyer named Warren Rothman was tortured and nearly killed in China.  State Department officials inadvertently collaborated with Rothman’s would-be killers and didn’t exactly handle that mistake in a confidence-inspiring manner. Joel Brinkley has the story in the San Francisco Chronicle.