Courtesy of the WaPo and Paradigm’s Five Bullets newsletter, we have to share this with our readers.

Both for the courage of a mom and a young boy, but because of the exhibition of government stupidity and the perversion of laws that are supposed to “protect” people.

Lemonade Bureaucracy, 2023 EditionIt wouldn’t be summer if we didn’t have a story about heavy-handed lemonade stand law enforcement…

It all got started last summer when then-7-year-old Cameron Johnson asked his mom to take him to Disney World. “I was just like, ‘Hey, let’s get you out here… so you can see that money doesn’t grow on trees,’” recalls Cristal Johnson. Thus was Cam’s Lemonade born. It became an instant hit with Cristal’s proprietary pink lemonade recipe that many customers say is the best they’ve ever had. Now available in 10 flavors, it’s sold in small Birmingham-area grocery stores and will arrive next month at select Piggly Wiggly locations. Along the way, “the Alabama mom said she saw her shy boy come out of his shell, learn how to handle money and turn into a budding entrepreneur,” reports The Washington Post.“ Johnson said she wanted to impart those skills on other kids through a one-day apprenticeship on July 9.“The plan was simple: children between the ages of 6 and 10 would send her a ‘resume’ — a letter explaining what they wanted to be when they grew up — and Johnson would ‘hire’ two of them to act as a ‘smiler’ and a ‘greeter.’ After a two-hour shift helping to sell some freshly made lemonade, Johnson offered to pay each $20.”And then someone who saw the recruiting pitch on social media snitched to the Alabama Department of Labor. Nothing wrong with the lemonade stand, the bureaucrats said. Rather, it’s the fact Cam’s Lemonade has “professional transportation and distribution,” according to a department flack. As a sole proprietor, Ms. Johnson can employ her own child, but no one else’s. More from the Post story: “Johnson said the inspector told her that selling lemonade during the event would mean her business could profit from a child working, even if the children were mainly going to be greeting people and learning about customer service. She agreed to nix it.” But Johnson has a Plan B — an event where lemonade won’t be for sale. “It’ll be like a kid job fair or workshop,” she says. “And I’m going to teach them the same skills that I was going to try to teach them, but I’m not going to profit from selling lemonade.” Props to Johnson for adaptability — but sheesh…

Mrs. Johnson should not have to work around government like this. NO ONE should.

And we should not have to put up with stool-pigeons who are nothing but state-worshipping nannies (Mrs. Grundies or Karens). There is a tremendous difference between 6 and 7 year olds acting as greeters or even servers of lemonade outdoors for a few hours and working in a factory or sweatshop or even a pizza shop. But stupid government bureaucrats and brain-dead Karens do not see a difference, and the politicians (even MORE stupid, if that is possible) cannot write laws that make sense.