With Forbes warning the Gen AI bubble bursting will wipe $40 trillion off global markets, I wrote about the foundational lies the industry tells about the usefulness, durability, accuracy and - yes - intelligence of its products All of which are weapons-grade horseshit medium.com/@patchgaley/...

More of this from media/publishing companies please 👏👏👏

What sets A Cloud in My Hand apart is the way it tries to to create a sense of dialogue between the viewers and Palestinian artists. Last week to see this powerful exhibition in Istanbul: istanbuletcetera.substack.com/p/gaza-bienn...

Punk Builds a Greener Future A worldwide but borderless DIY culture rejects consumerism and embraces reuse — and focuses on mutual aid. https://therevelator.org/punk-builds-greener-future/

Art shows to catch this weekend plus what's coming up on stage in the worlds of ballet, opera, and theater in this week's İstanbul etc. cultural roundup newsletter. Subscribe to get it in your inbox when the news is hot: istanbuletcetera.substack.com/p/whats-on-m...

"Today’s emotion is rage," says Florence while prepping for a drag show. 'Rage' because last week news broke about an anti-LGBTQ draft law that would penalize expressions of queerness. Johanna Sagmeister reports with comments by @yildiztar.bsky.social:

FMA joins other press and freedom of expression organisations in calling on Turkish authorities to remove a reported anti-LGBTQ+ provision from the 11th Judicial Package that would restrict and possibly criminalise media reporting on the community. #pressfreedom

IPI strongly condemns the fatal attack on journalist Hakan Tosun. We demand a thorough and transparent investigation to bring all perpetrators to justice. Read our statement: buff.ly/q7TKzZX

"The biggest threat may not be that government surveillance cameras and license plate readers track and watch us, but how easily we get used to being watched & tracked... By ignoring smaller surveillance-related privacy erosions, the law is teaching us to accept them." www.axios.com/local/seattl...

For Halloween this year I’m going to be a shirt button so I can continue hanging on by a thread

US revokes six foreigners’ visas over social media comments criticizing Charlie Kirk www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

‘After the reading, the poets hold each other’: what happens when Ukraine’s largest literary festival comes under Russian attack

Turkey recap consistently does some of the best English-language reporting on Turkey I've seen. Their weekly news overviews, article digests, in-depth investigative pieces, and podcasts are super useful. Glad to see this Turkish-language initiative with @studyorecap.bsky.social - hayırlı olsun!

1/6 THREAD: Remembering Hakan Tosun We are deeply saddened by the death of Hakan Tosun journalist & documentary filmmaker, found brutally beaten on a roadside in Istanbul. He was missing for days before being discovered with severe injuries. He died in hospital. Read On 🧵⬇️

Yes, if only America was more like general Sisi’s Egypt.

Ceramics that fire the imagination, reasons to go back to the cinema, and much more on the arts and culture agenda in my latest Istanbul etc newsletter. Subscribe to get it in your inbox so you don't miss out: istanbuletcetera.substack.com/p/whats-on-c...

From brutalist bus stops to fashion icons, traditional street photography to alternative processes, there’s a little bit of everything at the 212 Photography Istanbul festival, which runs through 12 October. Read more in my latest newsletter: istanbuletcetera.substack.com/p/212-photog...

There is no single way to resist; only the courage to invent one. 👍

It’s boiling in October because you’re using ChatGPT to write your emails, Janice.

I am once again asking us all to recognize that the Luddites were not anti-technology but anti-exploitation. If they were around today they would have joined you in a call for technology that serves everyone’s, not just the bosses. You *are* a Luddite Bernie, and you should be proud to be one

Freelancers: Here is my carefully crafted pitch on a story I've researched well and am excited to write about 🙏 (Plus I really need a paycheck.) Editors:

Can art can help keep the spirit of protests alive? In my latest article for @hyperallergic.com, I spoke with artist and academic Işıl Eğrikavuk, author of a timely book on how participatory art practices can be used to build connections and foster social dialogue in restrictive political climates.

Sorry to hear the bus stop photos presentation was subpar, but what a list of exhibits! The best thing about art-seeing in Istanbul is the venues, which are often better than the art. @jenhattam.bsky.social is making me want to buy a plane ticket. open.substack.com/pub/istanbul...

""With these defections, the AKP is also trying to give the impression that the party is still popular, since these mayors are leaving the CHP to join it. But the AKP's popularity has been steadily declining since 2015," @sinemadar.bsky.social told AFP" www.rfi.fr/en/internati...

The Taliban’s internet shutdowns are inflicting serious harm on people’s rights and livelihoods throughout Afghanistan. The shutdowns, which began in mid-September 2025, have impeded access to education, commerce, media, and healthcare services.

🚨 New project alert! Introducing @studyorecap.bsky.social, a multimedia news platform on all things Turkish politics in Türkçe. The team includes long-time parliamentary reporters Ceren Bayar and Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu + Günsu Durak and Demet Şöhret. Subscribe for daily coverage straight from Ankara:

I can’t believe I’m watching interviews of city mayors talking about how they are coordinating with other mayors to discuss how to protect their residents FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES I know we are “used to it” but it is absolutely insane

"Living through the rise of a dictatorship just means inhabiting a space that is gradually shrinking. There’s no point in resisting, not at first. You just make do with whatever breathing room you still have—until you lose that too." Read Gisela Salim-Peyer: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

"Creativity amid crisis in Istanbul" by @jenhattam.bsky.social. [5/5]

Anyway, learning another language is good for you because you die a thousand deaths of embarrassment and then you come out more humble and even more aware of your various human failings

If this is what they say in public, one wonders what they say behind closed doors.

English translation of a Haaretz article, asking Israelis why they don't see the parallels between starvation in Gaza and the Holocaust: robertreich.substack.com/p/a-betrayal...

"The “Youthall Youth Expectations and Trends Survey” paints a grim picture: while [Turkish] graduates once looked forward to independence, today nearly 77% of young adults live with their parents, unable to afford rent or basic living costs" www.paturkey.com/news/2025/tr...

Creativity amid crisis in Istanbul: Roiled by economic and political turmoil but buoyed by a recast biennial, the Turkish art world is eager to demonstrate its resilience to the world - my new look at Istanbul's art scene for Art Basel: artbasel.com/stories/ista...

The 18th Istanbul Biennial opens to the public on Saturday! Sign up for my newsletter to get a visiting guide in your inbox this week: istanbuletcetera.substack.com

spent too much time thinking about this. realized i live in the pnw and minutes from my house i can get tacos, pad thai, pho, injera, biriyani, felafel... there's a french bakery, and a lot of stuff grows here. n. america gets a bad rap, but it's hella international here. gimme H, we have it all.

Belated congratulations to scientist Bülent Şık @bulentilgaz.bsky.social for being named this year's #HrantDinkAward laureate by the @hrantdinkfnd.bsky.social for work that "tirelessly reminds us that scientific data is inseparable from social responsibility". hrantdink.org/en/internati...

Fifth hearing and further postponement in the trial over allegations of fraud against the 38th ordinary congress of the CHP. The CHP therefore remains in limbo, with a case that will continue to take up much of its time and energy. On the government side, the war of attrition will continue.

From Brooks Brothers suits to to MAGA hats, @dieworkwear.bsky.social on the politics behind changing Republican fashion choices: "Everything is spectacle, and the louder the spectacle, the more authentic the power it claims to represent." www.thenation.com/article/soci...

I visited the Ulucanlar prison museum today. It accommodated quite some names back in the days: Nazım Hikmet, Bülent Ecevit, Deniz Gezmiş, Taner Akçam, Yılmaz Güney, Necip Fazil Kısakürek etc. Too bad, prisons full of politicians, journalists, artists etc. are not history in Turkey

My comments in FT “What the government seems to want to do is not destroy the CHP but to take it over; not to eradicate it, but to neuter it..." Turkey could then become like the joke about the Shah’s Iran “where there is a ‘Yes’ party and a ‘Yes, Sir’ party.” www.ft.com/content/423f...

It’s the weekend! Check out my latest newsletter for Istanbul cultural events to attend today, and to put on your calendar for the coming weeks, from artist talks to sonic explorations to fringe theater: istanbuletcetera.substack.com/p/whats-on-n...

"Türkiye’s slowing down (throttling) of social media and messaging platforms at moments of social or political importance is denying people important information and impeding democratic participation, 15 groups including @hrw.org said in a statement": www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

As if looking for work wasn't difficult and disheartening enough, 81% of recruiters said in a study last year that "their employer posts 'ghost jobs,' or positions that either don’t exist or are already filled", largely to improve the image of their businesses. fortune.com/2024/08/19/r...

1. Azerbaijan hasn't been at war with Albania. Trump confuses Albania with Armenia. But he wants credit, a Nobel Prize, for ending a war in which he can't identify the parties. 2. The Fox hosts are too ignorant or too sycophantic to correct him. 3. Imagine if Biden had said this.

these businesses have openly said they can't run without stealing material. that alone should be reason enough to not support them. instead, VC is hurling money at AI.

Mainstream pundits have instantly sanitized and ignored Charlie Kirk's core political project and its impacts. He has been remembered by the mainstream press as someone they merely disagreed with, a debate me-guy whose words and actions had zero consequences: www.404media.co/charlie-kirk...

Turkish police must investigate and hold those to account who shot freelance reporter Fatoş Erdoğan at least 3 times with rubber bullets after she identified herself as a journalist while covering Monday’s political unrest in Istanbul. x.com/puleragema/s...

📣 I'm moderating a panel this Friday as part of the Mahalla Festival on shaping new narratives & using art and storytelling as forms of resistance. Join us at Postane in Istanbul or on Zoom for "Greening News Deserts: The Innovative Power of Art and Media in Exile" mahalla.inenart.eu/2025/08/28/j...

14th hearing in the retrial of RSF Turkey representative Erol Önderoğlu, Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı and journalist-writer Ahmet Nesin in “Özgür Gündem solidarity” case was held in İstanbul today. The trial was adjourned until 25 December 2025.