Obsidian Wings

Friday Open Thread

by JanieM

We could make GftNC blissful for longer than a nanosecond by talking about James Joyce and other glories of English literature. Or we could talk about books in general. As in, what's everyone reading these days?

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Or we could talk about politics for a change. A friend sent me the following, which is apparently behind a paywall on TPM, so I don't have a link and couldn't use it if I did. But I'm particularly interested in Michael Cain's take:

It was only a matter of time. A candidate for Governor in Colorado has a proposal: create an in-state electoral college that will systematically over-weight rural votes and thus make it almost impossible for a Republican not to win the governorship as well as other statewide offices. Basically, counties take the place of states and Colorado has a ton of rural counties where very few people live. From what I can tell, he’s not the most likely nominee. But he won the top spot on the primary ballot at the state convention. So he’s not some random gadfly either. In any case, Gov. Jared Polis is popular and seems like a shoe-in for reelection. But this seems like the leading edge of the broader trend.

I would also like Michael Cain's take on the municipal broadband some folks in my town are proposing, but that's going to require some actual research and preparation, so ... not today.

The Dead

by JanieM

Add more if you like.

Buffalo

Roberta Drury, 32
Margus Morrison, 52
Andre Mackneil, 53
Aaron Salter Jr., 55
Geraldine Talley, 62
Celestine Chaney, 65
Heyward Patterson, 67
Katherine Massey, 72
Pearl Young, 77
Ruth Whitfield, 86

Laguna Woods

Dr. John Cheng, 52

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I went for a drive last Saturday and noticed a lot of flags flying at half-staff. The state website informed me that they were lowered in memory of the million-plus Americans who have died of covid-19. Too many to list...but if you would like to remember anyone here (whether they died of covid or something else), feel free.

Death is inevitable, but one could wish that it might be less unpreventable.

Would mandated kidney donations be Constitutional?

by Ugh

Suppose State X passes a law providing "all individuals meeting the living kidney donor criteria* shall donate one of their kidneys to any discovered matching recipient in need and any individual refusing to donate shall be subject to a sentence of no more than Y years in prison."

Such a law would be consistent with similar laws imposing a duty to act or suffer state imposed civil/criminal punishment: (i) conscription in the Army; (ii) registration for the Draft; and (iii) mandatory reporting for, e.g., teachers, school administrators, therapists (see also Butler v. Perry, 240 U.S. 328).  

What, if anything, in the Constitution would bar a State from passing and enforcing that law?  

*Other than being willing, of course