DoctorSyntax
@doctorsyntax.bsky.social
Alter ego of Peter Ginna. Editor, writer, & occasional blogger on books & publishing. Former editor & publisher at several houses. Author of WHAT EDITORS DO: The Art, Craft, and Business of Book Editing. Website: peterginna.com
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Just saw on KARE 11 that this boy was sent to a detainment facility in Texas and that his family didn't know his whereabouts for almost 24 hours.
This picture making the rounds on reddit, Columbia Heights. I'm not OK.
January 21, 2026 at 10:09 PM
Just saw on KARE 11 that this boy was sent to a detainment facility in Texas and that his family didn't know his whereabouts for almost 24 hours.
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Spraying pepper spray directly into the eyes of a detained person who’s already fully subdued
An observer arrested in Suth Minneapolis. Photo by Richard Tsong-Taatarii/The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 21, 2026 at 9:33 PM
Spraying pepper spray directly into the eyes of a detained person who’s already fully subdued
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Look, I'm going to tell you a secret. If you buy an e-book while it's on sale, you never have to read it. If you have $2 to spare & want to help that particular author, you can just chuck the book into the oubliette of your TBR. Every sale helps. The author will never know, but you gave them a gift.
January 21, 2026 at 8:46 PM
Look, I'm going to tell you a secret. If you buy an e-book while it's on sale, you never have to read it. If you have $2 to spare & want to help that particular author, you can just chuck the book into the oubliette of your TBR. Every sale helps. The author will never know, but you gave them a gift.
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
This video of Willie playing electric guitar with Jimmy Buffet on a song written and made famous by Bob Wills is one of the best videos in existence.
youtu.be/ASy3iGXhq-c?...
youtu.be/ASy3iGXhq-c?...
Stay All Night, Stay a Little Longer - Live 1974
YouTube video by Willie Nelson Collection
youtu.be
January 21, 2026 at 3:34 AM
This video of Willie playing electric guitar with Jimmy Buffet on a song written and made famous by Bob Wills is one of the best videos in existence.
youtu.be/ASy3iGXhq-c?...
youtu.be/ASy3iGXhq-c?...
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Bears repeating: had this happened with Joe Biden, Jake Tapper would have devoted an entire book chapter to it
Trump is now confusing Greenland and Iceland: "They're not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland has already cost us a lot of money."
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 PM
Bears repeating: had this happened with Joe Biden, Jake Tapper would have devoted an entire book chapter to it
Uh
NEWS: The Social Security Administration has referred two DOGE employees for Hatch Act violations after discovering contacts with a political group seeking SSA data to overturn election results. www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
January 20, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Uh
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
I've criticized Obama in this vein, too. But the real question is where the hell are GWB & Mitt Romney (& John Kelly, Jim Mattis, Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, John Boehner, Bob Gates, Hank Paulson, etc). Obama isn't going to convince the 10 people in Congress who can end this now
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
OPINION | Barack Obama might be one of the few people in politics left with his moral authority intact; his silence is deafening.
Barack Obama, Where the F--k Are You?
The former president, his moral authority intact, is missing in action.
trib.al
January 20, 2026 at 6:21 AM
I've criticized Obama in this vein, too. But the real question is where the hell are GWB & Mitt Romney (& John Kelly, Jim Mattis, Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, John Boehner, Bob Gates, Hank Paulson, etc). Obama isn't going to convince the 10 people in Congress who can end this now
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Call your MOC. Do it now.
Congress clinches $1.2T funding deal for DHS, Pentagon, domestic agencies
House and Senate leaders are trying to clear the package before the Jan. 30 shutdown deadline.
www.politico.com
January 20, 2026 at 7:33 PM
Call your MOC. Do it now.
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
I wrote about how concentration camp regimes evolve and why it's not too late to stop this, even though we are deep in it now.
Into the abyss
The correct response to Dachau was not better training for the guards.
degenerateart.beehiiv.com
January 20, 2026 at 3:37 AM
I wrote about how concentration camp regimes evolve and why it's not too late to stop this, even though we are deep in it now.
Maybe the most blistering condemnation to date of Trump DOJ, which is really saying something. Thread:
BREAKING
A federal judge STRIKES the words "United States Attorney" from Lindsey Halligan's signature and warns that he will refer her to disciplinary proceedings if she persists in calling herself one.
Doc buff.ly/JvTKLlD
Background buff.ly/Ay2iB6u
A federal judge STRIKES the words "United States Attorney" from Lindsey Halligan's signature and warns that he will refer her to disciplinary proceedings if she persists in calling herself one.
Doc buff.ly/JvTKLlD
Background buff.ly/Ay2iB6u
January 20, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Maybe the most blistering condemnation to date of Trump DOJ, which is really saying something. Thread:
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
i've modified the Pomodoro method so I work for 5 minutes and then scream into an abyss for 25 minutes, i'm not getting anything done but at least my coworkers refuse to talk to me
January 20, 2026 at 5:50 PM
i've modified the Pomodoro method so I work for 5 minutes and then scream into an abyss for 25 minutes, i'm not getting anything done but at least my coworkers refuse to talk to me
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Blueskis, studies have shown that when folks see or hear about a book more than five times, they are likely to check it out, and buy it.
So in the spirit of creating buzz, here is the gorgeous cover of THE WESTERNERS, which will be published on March 31!
So in the spirit of creating buzz, here is the gorgeous cover of THE WESTERNERS, which will be published on March 31!
January 18, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Blueskis, studies have shown that when folks see or hear about a book more than five times, they are likely to check it out, and buy it.
So in the spirit of creating buzz, here is the gorgeous cover of THE WESTERNERS, which will be published on March 31!
So in the spirit of creating buzz, here is the gorgeous cover of THE WESTERNERS, which will be published on March 31!
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Donald Trump is a pathetic loser and Dems must say it more often given the stakes our nation faces, argues @danpfeiffer.bsky.social in his latest edition of The Message Box.
open.substack.com/pub/messageb...
open.substack.com/pub/messageb...
Trump Is a Pathetic Loser. Democrats Should Say It More Often
My background is in communications and messaging.
open.substack.com
January 20, 2026 at 1:38 PM
Donald Trump is a pathetic loser and Dems must say it more often given the stakes our nation faces, argues @danpfeiffer.bsky.social in his latest edition of The Message Box.
open.substack.com/pub/messageb...
open.substack.com/pub/messageb...
Another important (and enraging) story reported by Judd Legum’s excellent Popular Information, which I recommend following and subscribing to
1. ICE has STOPPED PAYING for medical treatment for its 73,000 detainees
ICE has not paid its bills to 3rd party providers since OCTOBER and the situation will likely persist for MONTHS, a Popular Information investigation reveals
Meanwhile, critically ill ICE detainees are not receiving care
🧵
ICE has not paid its bills to 3rd party providers since OCTOBER and the situation will likely persist for MONTHS, a Popular Information investigation reveals
Meanwhile, critically ill ICE detainees are not receiving care
🧵
ICE has stopped paying for detainee medical treatment
ICE halted payments in October, and the situation will persist for at least several more months
popular.info
January 20, 2026 at 2:19 PM
Another important (and enraging) story reported by Judd Legum’s excellent Popular Information, which I recommend following and subscribing to
Remember those bygone days when we used to go around patting ourselves on the back because we won the Cold War? Under Donald Trump the United States has, at this late date, not only managed to lose the Cold War but the Civil War at the same time
EU leaders will hold another emergency summit on Thursday to discuss Trump’s Greenland threats, Reuters reports.
January 19, 2026 at 1:10 PM
Remember those bygone days when we used to go around patting ourselves on the back because we won the Cold War? Under Donald Trump the United States has, at this late date, not only managed to lose the Cold War but the Civil War at the same time
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Find a way to be happy
January 19, 2026 at 12:06 PM
Find a way to be happy
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
The great @sulliview.bsky.social on the news media:
“It’s as if a five-alarm fire is consuming a city and the mainstream outlets are saying they might smell something burning — but perhaps it’s just a bonfire on the beach. Some people in a bar think so.”
open.substack.com/pub/margaret...
“It’s as if a five-alarm fire is consuming a city and the mainstream outlets are saying they might smell something burning — but perhaps it’s just a bonfire on the beach. Some people in a bar think so.”
open.substack.com/pub/margaret...
With democracy in free fall, the media must (finally) wake up
Plus: a piece of heartening news amid the barrage of horrors
open.substack.com
January 19, 2026 at 11:27 AM
The great @sulliview.bsky.social on the news media:
“It’s as if a five-alarm fire is consuming a city and the mainstream outlets are saying they might smell something burning — but perhaps it’s just a bonfire on the beach. Some people in a bar think so.”
open.substack.com/pub/margaret...
“It’s as if a five-alarm fire is consuming a city and the mainstream outlets are saying they might smell something burning — but perhaps it’s just a bonfire on the beach. Some people in a bar think so.”
open.substack.com/pub/margaret...
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.
April 18, 2025 at 1:33 AM
After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Very good piece by @mashagessen.bsky.social, the author of Surviving Autocracy, who left Russia in 2013 as the authoritarian hammer really started coming down, and moved to the United States. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/o...
January 19, 2026 at 3:43 AM
Very good piece by @mashagessen.bsky.social, the author of Surviving Autocracy, who left Russia in 2013 as the authoritarian hammer really started coming down, and moved to the United States. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/o...
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
My cousin lives where ICE is going door-to-door looking for "Asians". She no longer feels safe leaving the house.
January 17, 2026 at 5:25 AM
My cousin lives where ICE is going door-to-door looking for "Asians". She no longer feels safe leaving the house.
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Fact check: true
Please, never be shy telling an author you loved their books.
It’s seriously what gets us through.
It’s seriously what gets us through.
January 18, 2026 at 2:39 AM
Fact check: true
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
This made me giggle
neolithic guys get pissed if you tell them their cultures are organized by the type of pots and jewelry they made. "we called ourselves the blood hunters" "we conquered villages far beyond this horizon" sorry bud you're the western linear pottery culture now
January 17, 2026 at 4:02 PM
This made me giggle
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
crazy that the website that I randomly decided to put together at 10AM yesterday has had over 25k unique visitors in 24 hours.
please keep sharing with your networks.
please keep sharing with your networks.
Stand With Minnesota
A directory of places to give to as Minnesota defends itself from ICE occupation
www.standwithminnesota.com
January 15, 2026 at 4:24 PM
crazy that the website that I randomly decided to put together at 10AM yesterday has had over 25k unique visitors in 24 hours.
please keep sharing with your networks.
please keep sharing with your networks.
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
move over hemingway
January 17, 2026 at 4:05 PM
move over hemingway