@raphus.bsky.social
(And it’s great.)
December 27, 2025 at 9:27 AM
(And it’s great.)
This can be avoided or subverted with a POV character who is unusually worldly. Alex’s past subverts common YA adult themes tropes like love/sex/violence/death, and instead we get a coming-to-grips story about rarer themes like 'responsibility', 'trust', and 'navigating faceless bureaucracy'.
December 27, 2025 at 9:27 AM
This can be avoided or subverted with a POV character who is unusually worldly. Alex’s past subverts common YA adult themes tropes like love/sex/violence/death, and instead we get a coming-to-grips story about rarer themes like 'responsibility', 'trust', and 'navigating faceless bureaucracy'.
A book with a POV character who is a young adult is pulled strongly toward the YA orbit since it is tricky (though not impossible) to disentangle the perspectives of the POV character and the reader, and a young adult character will generally be having their first encounters with adulthood.
December 27, 2025 at 9:27 AM
A book with a POV character who is a young adult is pulled strongly toward the YA orbit since it is tricky (though not impossible) to disentangle the perspectives of the POV character and the reader, and a young adult character will generally be having their first encounters with adulthood.
I’m a big Ninth House fan and I contend it is YA, of a rare flavor (maybe borderline). To be YA is not about the quality of the writing or the adultness of the content, but whether the reader is assumed to already be versed in adult topics and themes or is being introduced to them.
December 27, 2025 at 9:27 AM
I’m a big Ninth House fan and I contend it is YA, of a rare flavor (maybe borderline). To be YA is not about the quality of the writing or the adultness of the content, but whether the reader is assumed to already be versed in adult topics and themes or is being introduced to them.
There’s a fundamental tension with subtlety. YA is a genre where adult topics and themes are encountered from a perspective of novelty. It’s hard to both be subtle and at the same time stress the formative influence of grappling with love & war, death & taxes, justice & mercy, etc.
December 27, 2025 at 7:12 AM
There’s a fundamental tension with subtlety. YA is a genre where adult topics and themes are encountered from a perspective of novelty. It’s hard to both be subtle and at the same time stress the formative influence of grappling with love & war, death & taxes, justice & mercy, etc.
Or perhaps I misunderstand what you mean by “anti-YA”?
December 27, 2025 at 6:42 AM
Or perhaps I misunderstand what you mean by “anti-YA”?
What about The Poppy War makes you feel that it is not YA?
December 27, 2025 at 6:40 AM
What about The Poppy War makes you feel that it is not YA?
Is it cheese? Yes. Does it look remarkably like a land mine? Also yes.
December 25, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Is it cheese? Yes. Does it look remarkably like a land mine? Also yes.
The drying rack? Really?
December 25, 2025 at 6:40 AM
The drying rack? Really?
Not sure that’s true. Flagrant grifts and rent-seeking in the long run will drive down public opinion. The union also has to watch out for the long view and cultivate positive PR. Jumping on every short-term opportunity is probably not in the best interest of the membership.
December 24, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Not sure that’s true. Flagrant grifts and rent-seeking in the long run will drive down public opinion. The union also has to watch out for the long view and cultivate positive PR. Jumping on every short-term opportunity is probably not in the best interest of the membership.
That would seem to imply that Congress has to grant the president powers, but Congress could just pass no laws and give the president nothing to take care to execute.
In the case of ministerial powers, it is the president’s role to execute them, but what difference are you pointing to there?
In the case of ministerial powers, it is the president’s role to execute them, but what difference are you pointing to there?
December 24, 2025 at 6:01 AM
That would seem to imply that Congress has to grant the president powers, but Congress could just pass no laws and give the president nothing to take care to execute.
In the case of ministerial powers, it is the president’s role to execute them, but what difference are you pointing to there?
In the case of ministerial powers, it is the president’s role to execute them, but what difference are you pointing to there?
My reading of the Article II vesting clause is that Congress can’t grant discretionary executive authority to anyone other than the president (or a president-nominated officer), not that they have to hand out any discretionary authority.
December 24, 2025 at 5:41 AM
My reading of the Article II vesting clause is that Congress can’t grant discretionary executive authority to anyone other than the president (or a president-nominated officer), not that they have to hand out any discretionary authority.
Obviously this would be unworkable, but that doesn’t mean Congress couldn’t try.
December 24, 2025 at 5:31 AM
Obviously this would be unworkable, but that doesn’t mean Congress couldn’t try.
I think so, yes. Prosecutorial discretion isn’t a constitutional guarantee. It’s something Congress established by statute in creating the AG and DOJ, so Congress could do otherwise and e.g. periodically legislate lists of prosecutions for the president to perform.
December 24, 2025 at 5:29 AM
I think so, yes. Prosecutorial discretion isn’t a constitutional guarantee. It’s something Congress established by statute in creating the AG and DOJ, so Congress could do otherwise and e.g. periodically legislate lists of prosecutions for the president to perform.
Hmm, I actually think indictment by Congress wouldn’t be attainder (mentioned in a separate comment). By my understanding of the use of the word at the time it specifically pertains to guilt and punishment.
December 24, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Hmm, I actually think indictment by Congress wouldn’t be attainder (mentioned in a separate comment). By my understanding of the use of the word at the time it specifically pertains to guilt and punishment.
And I think Congress could pass a law directing the DOJ to prosecute a particular case and that would not be a bill of attainder.
December 24, 2025 at 5:12 AM
And I think Congress could pass a law directing the DOJ to prosecute a particular case and that would not be a bill of attainder.
The federal murder statute doesn’t empower the president to decide guilt, only to bring prosecution. I believe if Congress passed a law allowing the president to unilaterally declare someone to have committed murder that would obviously be a bill of attainder (and a due process clause violation).
December 24, 2025 at 5:09 AM
The federal murder statute doesn’t empower the president to decide guilt, only to bring prosecution. I believe if Congress passed a law allowing the president to unilaterally declare someone to have committed murder that would obviously be a bill of attainder (and a due process clause violation).
Yes. Even for e.g. which NSF grant requests to fund (or who gets clearance) - Congress *could* direct the executive in every particular, but doesn’t for convenience. So it seems we should look at the outcome of executive application to see if a law was a bill of attainder.
December 24, 2025 at 4:52 AM
Yes. Even for e.g. which NSF grant requests to fund (or who gets clearance) - Congress *could* direct the executive in every particular, but doesn’t for convenience. So it seems we should look at the outcome of executive application to see if a law was a bill of attainder.
Congress is also empowered to make specific determinations, as long as they aren’t bills of attainder. It seems natural they can delegate that power to the executive, so long as they don’t delegate a power to make a decision that would be a bill of attainder if passed directly by Congress.
December 24, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Congress is also empowered to make specific determinations, as long as they aren’t bills of attainder. It seems natural they can delegate that power to the executive, so long as they don’t delegate a power to make a decision that would be a bill of attainder if passed directly by Congress.
That seems natural to me. Congress can’t constructively achieve by granting powers to the executive to exercise at their discretion what it couldn’t achieve by ordering the executive directly.
December 24, 2025 at 4:30 AM
That seems natural to me. Congress can’t constructively achieve by granting powers to the executive to exercise at their discretion what it couldn’t achieve by ordering the executive directly.
Well, if the president was acting under statutory authority, Congress couldn’t have created a statute giving the president such a power in the first place.
December 24, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Well, if the president was acting under statutory authority, Congress couldn’t have created a statute giving the president such a power in the first place.
Opinion henceforth disregarded 😔
December 23, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Opinion henceforth disregarded 😔