(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To This Post)

Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin' gets done, and where the silk dress is from Hong Kong, and the pearls are from Japan.

The fallout continues in the newly insane state of North Carolina after Wednesday's bag job of a veto override vote in which the Republicans took advantage of a 9/11 memorial ceremony to ram through a vote with most of the Democrats busy Never Forgetting elsewhere. The move has been roundly condemned by the state's press; the Charlotte Observer apparently has taken to writing its editorial commentary with a headsman's ax. Democratic Governor Roy Cooper took some swings himself. The state senate still has to vote on Cooper's veto of the state budget. And we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the casus belli for this whole fight is Cooper's desire to accept FREE MONEY! from the federal government in order expand Medicaid in North Carolina. (Also, being an inhuman monster, Cooper also wants to raise the pay of the state's public school teachers.)

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I'm not entirely sure how long the good folks in NC want to play the role of Nearly Texas in the national competition for bad government—the position's open now that Kansas is making a sort of sense again—but the GOP there is hanging onto the distinction like a leech on an open vein.

We move all the way across the country now to California, where the state's insurance czar has allegedly developed an interesting concept of public service. The public, it seems, is there to serve him. From the Orange County Register:

According to excellent investigative reporting from Politico’s Carla Marinucci and Angela Hart, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has been busted charging taxpayers the rent for his second home — and even had the audacity to categorize it as “railroad fare” on state forms. Politico found that Lara’s monthly reimbursements for “lodging” and “rental” costs ranged from $1,925 to $3,270 between January and June. Additionally, billings classified as “railroad fare” between $570 and $700 per month were listed on the form.

That's creative, I'll give him that.

Lara spokesman Michael Soller told Politico that those claims actually refer to “lodging” but were entered as “railroad fare” because “our accounting department didn’t have a field to enter the lodging reimbursement for this purpose.”

Lara has allegedly developed an interesting concept of public service. MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images Getty Images

Also in California, the state legislature has decided to take a big old poke at the soft underbelly of one of our most piggish institutions, the NCAA. From the Los Angeles Times:

California would allow college athletes to earn money from the use of their names, images and likenesses under a bill passed by the state Legislature on Wednesday and headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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The legislation has garnered national attention, with athletes such as NBA stars LeBron James and Draymond Green praising the potential for California to give college athletes a share of the windfall they help create for their universities and the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. The Senate gave final approval to Senate Bill 206 by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) in a 39-0 vote. The Assembly passed the bill 73-0 on Monday.

The NCAA, as is its historic wont, responded by being ridiculous.

But the NCAA has forcefully pushed back against the bill, saying it has the potential to kill amateur athletics if it becomes law. The NCAA sent Newsom a letter Wednesday calling the legislation “unconstitutional” and “harmful.” “If the bill becomes law and California’s 58 NCAA schools are compelled to allow an unrestricted name, image and likeness scheme, it would erase the critical distinction between college and professional athletics and, because it gives those schools an unfair recruiting advantage, would result in them eventually being unable to compete in NCAA competitions,” the letter said.

Some guy in a blazer in Indianapolis has an inalienable right to profit off of Trevor Lawrence's face. Just as the Founders intended.

The NCAA responded by being ridiculous. Aaron M. Sprecher AP

Meanwhile, in Colorado, in the wake of the most recent spate of mass murder, attention has been drawn to that state's "red flag" law, which is seen as a possible model for a similar national statute. This attention has drawn the attention of the state's considerable population of gun crazees, many of whom wear uniforms. From CNN:

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The state's red flag law won't take effect until next year, but opponents have already filed a lawsuit attempting to overturn it. A number of the state's counties have declared themselves Second Amendment "sanctuaries" in an effort to fight back and some sheriffs, including Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams, have said they would rather go to jail than enforce the law. Reams believes Colorado's red flag law is unconstitutional and is afraid of what will happen when it takes effect. "My biggest fear for the law is violating someone's constitutional rights and the potential for placing my deputies in a situation for an encounter with an armed individual," Reams told CNN.

The reaction to Colorado's red flag law could test the limits of how far gun rights advocates will go to defy gun control laws and may lead to a clash between the sheriffs who object to it and the courts. "It is unprecedented territory," Neville said. "You'll probably see a standoff between the counties, the commissioners who really control the funding ... and the sheriffs too and probably against the courts." Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, who represents the district that includes Aurora, told CNN that the Second Amendment sanctuary movement in Colorado is "absolutely concerning." "Local law enforcement and local leaders have to follow the rules. They have to follow the laws," Crow said, adding "We will expect them to do that."

This should go without saying but it's 2019 and nothing goes without saying any more. Everybody says everything.

And we conclude, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, where Blog Official Varmint Negotiator Friedman of the Plains brings us the tale of other law-enforcement types in that state who seem to regard weed more seriously than the Colorado sheriff regards firearms. From the Tulsa World:

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A woman who at one point had a 12-year prison sentence for selling $31 worth of cannabis is back in jail after police in Oklahoma City arrested her on a bench warrant seeking more than $1,100 in unpaid costs in the nearly decade-old case.

Patricia Spottedcrow was 25 when a Kingfisher County judge sentenced her for a first offense of distribution of a controlled substance — cannabis — to a police informant in December 2009 and January 2010. Spottedcrow had four young children at the time and did not have any criminal convictions when she pleaded guilty without a sentencing recommendation from a prosecutor. The Tulsa World included Spottedcrow’s story in a 2011 project about women in Oklahoma prisons, drawing national scrutiny and grassroots advocacy aimed at securing her release. A different judge modified her sentence to eight years with four years suspended during a 2011 judicial review. She left prison in November 2012 after then-Gov. Mary Fallin agreed with the parole recommendation of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board.

This scam is going on all over the country now, especially in Florida. Remember when "criminal justice reform" was going to be the golden path to bipartisan nirvana? Yeah, that was cool.

This is your democracy, America.

Cherish it.

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