`4d22` Ideal Site for Brisbane's Olympic Stadiums
A guest post from Heretico of Primapril [2024d22]
Hello possums!
Substack is unco-operative to my having a guest post, so I’ll tack on Heretico’s brilliant suggestion here, at the beginning of the post which was to have gone out on the 22nd of this month1.
Cheers dears!
The Ideal Site for the Brisbane Olympics
A modest suggestion from Heretico of Primapril
Towns which are prosperous enough to host major sporting gigs like the Commonwealth or the Olympic Games will face a quandary: they will likely have to destroy something so as to accommodate the dormitories and hyper-stadiums and airports and pubs and all the other business that goes with the games.
John Clark & Co. “The Games”. Episode 1: The Press Conference
Duration: 26 minutes 5 seconds
Barrie Cassidy analyses John, Bryan and Gina's performance at their recent press conference.
Since New South Wales had an Olympics in 2000, surely the rest of the Commonwealth should be immune until at least 2050?
But if the Olympic Committee cannot see its way clear to have mercy on us, I have a suggestion by which Brisbane can have all the glory of hosting the Games, but without the anguish, while doing a good turn, perhaps, to a place in need of a bit of capital development.
The Site for the XXXVth modern Olympiad, the Brisbane Games of 2032:
Crimea
It’s obvious once it’s pointed out. Of course, it’s conditional on the russos leaving before 2030, but the ex-RF military grounds in Crimea are ideal for redevelopment for peaceful purposes — for example, the RF military airports could be swiftly redeveloped as first rate passenger terminals. The project would catch the imagination of the world, and Queensland would go down in history as the first host of the 21st-century Olympics to have the glory without the trouble..
But if Crimea is not available:
Kharkiv, Kherson or Toowoomba
If Crimea is not available, then Kherson or Kharkiv might be willing to take on the Games, building wonderful infrastructure (I’m so pleased to get that word in!) in damaged areas. But if Kharkiv & Kherson are still in a war zone in 2030, perhaps Toowoomba could be persuaded to step up?
For a smaller town like Toowoomba there are advantages to hosting the Games: There is largely-vacant land close to the city, so little needs to be destroyed; If carefully planned, the buildings and roads can be useful after the games are over; and, of course, the people of Toowoomba would have the eternal gratitude of the people of Brisbane.
Heretico of Primapril
+... and in the Left corner ...+
☼☼(For everyone, but of special interest to Social Democrats, Bolshevik imperialists, and other lefties)
¶ Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment
☼Denying Russia's Only Strategy for Success
By Nataliya Bugayova, Frederick W. Kagan, with Kateryna Stepanenko March 27, 2024
+Wayfarers’ Watch+
☼☼(For everyone, but especially for people interested in religion and theology)
Against Harmonization in Biblical Interpretation
Tuesday, April 2, 2024 Nathan Mastnjak on rough edges.
Addison Hodges Hart
☼Mysticism and music 9: Stabat Mater in nine versions
☼A reflection in Paschaltide. Hypothesis and paradosis and you
☼A reflection in Paschaltide: Addendum. Two videos
☼☼
☼☼
+Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union+
☼☼ (Mostly material from the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group)
Russia tortures more Ukrainian POWs and sentences them en masse to 27 years for defending Ukraine 21.03.2024
Russia sentences poet Aleksandr Byvshev to 7 years for writing of its war crimes in Ukraine 22.03.2024
9.5-year sentence minus 1 month for affirming that Crimea is Ukraine and Russia an illegal invader 22.03.2024
Russian propaganda TV broadcast deepfake video to blame Ukraine for Moscow terrorist attack 25.03.2024
Crimean Solidarity activist and political prisoner in critical condition in Russian prison hospital 25.03.2024
Ukrainian POW sentenced to life for defending Mariupol in brutal Russian replay of fake occupation court ‘trial’ 26.03.2024
‘The Russians killed people with bestial cruelty’ 26.03.2024
Russia’s fake ‘Donetsk republic’ moves to appropriate Ukrainians’ homes on occupied territory 27.03.2024
Why fight real terrorists when Russia rewards FSB for fabricating political charges? 27.03.2024
Real terrorists free to act while Russian FSB tortures political prisoners for 'good statistics' 27.03.2024
UN records 32 summary executions by Russia of Ukrainian prisoners of war since December 28.03.2024
‘One brother perished, the second was barely saved’ — the story of a resident of Zahaltsi 28.03.2024
No more tolerance to Putin’s regime! 28.03.2024
The youngest victim of Russia’s Bucha atrocities was less than two years old 01.04.2024
Russia charges abducted Ukrainian Orthodox priest with ‘spying’ for Ukraine 03.04.2024
Mariupol man abducted, tortured and sentenced in Russia to 16 years for defending Ukraine in 2016 05.04.2024
‘I told the Russians at the checkpoints that I was going to Azovstal’ 07.04.2024
Ukraine initiates war crimes probe after Russians kill unarmed Ukrainian POWs in Kherson oblast 08.04.2024
☼☼
+The Living Spirit+ / +Start every day with a smile, and get it over with+
☼☼
Divine Humility
Nadya Williams
Mary expresses her joy that God “has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.” Mary’s joy at her God-approved humility echoes the frequent descriptions of Jesus himself as humble – not just humble in our modern English sense but also lowly in a socially despised sort of way. As a motherly virtue, this humility is beautiful and countercultural, especially in the prayer of a young woman who is rejoicing over motherhood in such difficult circumstances. Hers is a humility that embraces motherhood as a divine calling above all others, because she knows that it literally is a divine calling upon her life.
How does a mother who is a writer balance her priorities?
~ Plough
If We Truly Love
John Stott
If we truly love our neighbor, we shall without a doubt share with him or her the good news of Jesus. How can we possibly claim to love our neighbor if we know the gospel but keep it from them?
Equally, however, if we truly love our neighbor we shall not stop with evangelism. Our neighbor is neither a bodiless soul that we should love only their soul, nor a soulless body that we should care for its welfare alone, nor even a body-soul isolated from society. God created the human person, who is my neighbor, as a body-soul-in-community. Therefore, if we love our neighbors as God made them, we must inevitably be concerned for their total welfare, the good of their soul, their body, and their community.
Love has no need to justify itself. We love. We go. We serve.
~ Plough
Concluding ‘Some Thoughts on the Examen of Consciousness’:—
A. Ask God for light.
B. Give thanks. (Be thankful)
C. Review the day. (Consider the period under review)
D. Face your shortcomings. (Do a look in the mirror)
E. Look toward the day to come. (Enjoy the rest of your life)
*
When I have exhausted every avenue of information, or when I have reached my self-imposed deadline for this phase, then I can gather up all the information and go into a sort of spiritual seclusion. That’s when I step away from the experts and friends, from the Internet and the reference book. I move instead into my quiet place of prayer. If it is truly my decision to make and mine alone, then there must be a moment when I close off all but one resource: the God I find in my private prayer.
—Excerpted from God’s Voice Within by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ
The more fundamental and enduring consolation is doing what I am doing, confident that it is what God wants done. God’s will is not some esoteric treasure that only those singled out by the Spirit have the call and ability to seek. It’s not the jewel merchant finding one humongous pearl (see Matt. 13:45). No, God’s will steadily charges everything going on around me and in me all the time. When any of us acts as if we believe that and persevere in doing the next good thing, we live in consolation—a consolation that should fill all of us through the most ordinary of days.
—From Always Discerning by Joseph A. Tetlow, SJ
We might think that we should wait until we have certainty before committing ourselves to a certain person or project or place. We could be waiting for a long time. That certainty will probably never arrive.
When considering a commitment, we need to do our homework. We must get our hands dirty, try out different experiences, and gather data. We need to pay attention to what makes us come alive and how our decisions might affect others. Still, even after serious discernment, we will rarely have certainty. But we must decide anyway.
—From The Freedom of Missing Out by Michael Rossmann, SJ
Ignatius held the radical notion that God dwells within our desires. Not only are desires not evil, but they are also one of God’s primary instruments of communicating to us. God inflames the heart with holy desires and with attractions toward a life of greater divine praise and service. Unlike many of his religious contemporaries of the sixteenth century, Ignatius did not seek to quash desires but to tap into the deepest desires of the heart, trusting that it is God who has placed them there.
So then, at the very beginning of the process, while disposing myself to the gift of indifference, I try to set my preferences and inclinations aside in favor of desiring nothing more than the will of God. Now, at this phase in the process—while grounded in indifference—I can pick up again the desires of my heart. Doing so now, as an indifferent discerner, I can contemplate my desires without being a servant to them. Without indifference, the desires of my heart will manipulate my discernment, perhaps even without my noticing. But if I am indifferent—if I am ready to serve God in any capacity God wishes—then I can read those desires in the way a meteorologist reads his data-collecting instruments.
=
How then do I tap into these great desires? I dream. I fanaticize about great and beautiful futures. I let God dream in me, and I sit in silent awe and wonder as these holy dreams come to life before the eyes and ears of my soul.
I dream. I start with option A and allow God to show me the marvelous and holy possibilities that could result from that option. I think crazy thoughts and mull over preposterous proposals. I have galactic visions of new worlds of possibilities opening up merely because I say yes to God’s invitation to option A. I then start all over again and dream about option B, then about option C, and so on…
As I allow myself to dream crazy dreams, I then begin to ponder those dreams. As I daydream—or better, praydream—the possibilities of living out my great desires in each option, I try to note the difference in my heart as Ignatius did when comparing his dreams of chivalry with his dreams of religious life. I ask myself, Which of these dreams leave me dry and sad, despite my best efforts to create a dream of great possibility? In which dreams have I found pleasure that lingers, even long after the dream ends?
=
God never promises certainty. Sometimes I’ll have it, but often I won’t. Often I’ll simply have to make my choice, not knowing for sure that it is the better choice but trusting that God knows my heart and will bless me for the attempt to do his will, even if I accidently miss the mark.
—From God’s Voice Within by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ
+Publication Details+
_Just Peace Ukraine_ is published by the Rvrd Martin Arnold
who welcomes comments & suggestions and notification of typos & errors.
For more information about Martin, go to
https://gravatar.com/martinoarnold
+Church, Art, Culture, Ethics, Politics & News+
+From religiously-identified institutions+
☼¶ ☼_Church Life Journal_
St. Gianna Beretta Molla: A Saint for Our Times
Tuesday, March 19, 2024 Abigail Jorgensen on maternal health.
The Final Word: Prolegomena to Eschatology
Thursday, March 14, 2024 Jean-Yves Lacoste on the end.
A Very Short Guide to Understanding the Scope, Purpose, and Doctrinal Weight of Papal Documents
Monday, March 25, 2024 Elizabeth Huddleston on contexts.
Spiritual Worldliness: A Key Forgotten Bergoglioism
Friday, March 22, 2024 Lucas Briola on synodality.
Theron Ware's Damnation and Catholicism, Then and Now
Thursday, March 21, 2024 Amy Welborn on ideals.
Against Harmonization in Biblical Interpretation
Tuesday, April 2, 2024 Nathan Mastnjak on rough edges.
☼¶ ☼_Crux_ (Glendale)
A priest who refused to stay silent still speaks to the world today
☼¶ ☼Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University —_Public Orthodoxy_
☼The True Meaning of Fasting in the Orthodox Church
by Philip Kariatlis
☼In the Image and Likeness of God: Let's Talk about Orthodoxy and Race
by Aram G. Sarkisian
☼Why the Incarnation is Rational: Reflections on the Feast of the Annunciation
by Aristotle Papanikolaou
☼How and Why the Friendship of the Russian and Bulgarian Churches Ended
by Archimandrite Nicanor (Mishcoff)
Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas — Orthodox Scholars Preach
The sermon for the Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas is given by the Very Rev. Dr. John A. Jillions, late of Greenslopes and Woolloongabba. ☼Watch the sermon on the OCSC YouTube channel.
☼The Fear of Tomorrow in Religious Education in Greece
by Crystallia Latsara
☼Thinking beyond the Parish: The Church as Chapel
by Fr. Richard René
☼¶ ☼_Outreach_ (New York — a lesbigatesque Catholic resource)
☼Can you believe without seeing? Second Sunday of Easter
(Acts 4:32-35; 1 Jn. 5:1-6; Jn. 20:19-31)
James Martin, S.J.
☼¶ ☼Profiles in Catholicism
☼The subtext of the March 15 issue of Profiles in Catholicism is Ireland Issues and Challenges
☼The April 1 issue of Profiles in Catholicism has a special focus on Religious Vocations
☼¶ ☼_Psephizo_
What strange new world are we now living in?
Laurie Clow offers this review of Carl Truman’s new book Strange New World (Crossway Books, Wheaton, Illinois: 2022)
In a time when the normative notion of selfhood is psychological, then to hate the sin is to hate the sinner
☼¶ ☼_Vatican News_, _Sala Stampa_ &c.
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
Pope Francis' monthly prayer intention this April is for "the role of women."
The Pope invited the Church to pray for this intention in this month's The Pope Video, which is entrusted to the entire Catholic Church through the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network. / In The Pope Video for April, the Holy Father insists on the steps today’s society needs to take, and asks Christians to join him in prayer “that the dignity and worth of women be recognized in every culture, and for an end to the discrimination they face in various parts of the world.”
☼☼ Some interesting or worthy items are marked with some combination of the banner with the strange device [εξηλσιορ*ψ]
+Tl;dr — From many sources+
☼¶ ψ_Euromaidan Press_
☼¶ ψThe _Kyiv Independent_ group, including _Ukraine Daily, Belarus Weekly_
[εξηλσιορ*ψ]
The Kyiv Independent presents “Destroy, in Whole or in Part” – a documentary.
Russia’s current aggression against Ukrainians contains a number of signs of genocide, so the Kyiv Independent’s War Crimes Investigations Unit decided to investigate the matter.
In this documentary, investigative reporter Danylo Mokryk explores whether there is genocidal intent in the actions of the Russian military and officials, as well as in Russian state propaganda.
=
According to the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, Ukraine has collected pretrial information on over 128,000 victims of Russia’s war crimes. Our team has been working hard to document these atrocities before evidence is lost – and bring the world the truth of Russia’s brutal war.
☼¶ ψ_Kyiv Post_
☼☼☼☼☼
☼¶ _The Atlantic_
☼¶ The Atlantic Council
☼Putin adds Islamist terror to the list of absurd excuses for Ukraine invasion
By Peter Dickinson
☼Russia’s new air offensive leaves Ukraine facing humanitarian disaster
By Aura Sabadus @ASabadus
[εξηλσιορ*ψ]
Ukraine urgently needs air defenses as Russia decimates power grid By Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti
Putin is weaponizing corruption to weaken Europe from within By Francis Shin @Francis_W_Shin
Ukraine’s Belarusian volunteers create headaches for Putin ally Lukashenka By Alesia Rudnik
☼¶ Axel Springer SE (_Politico, Bild, Die Welt, Fact_)
☼¶ The BBC, ABC, CBC, NZBC &c.
☼¶ Bellingcat
Kinahan Cartel: Wanted Narco Boss Exposes Whereabouts by Posting Google Reviews
☼¶ _The Bulwark_
☼¶ Carnegie (_politica, Russia Eurasia_)
Is Zelensky’s Legitimacy Really At Risk? Ukraine’s decision not to hold presidential elections amid the Russian invasion and martial law has raised sensitive questions about Zelensky’s position.
April 03, 2024 | Konstantin Skorkin
March 28, 2024 | Temur Umarov
Moscow Terror Attack Spotlights Russia-Tajikistan Ties
March 27, 2024 | Mikhail Vinogradov
What Will the Political Fallout Be From the Moscow Terrorist Attack?
How Serious Are Ukrainian Drone Attacks for Russia?
April 05, 2024 | Sergey Vakulenko
If the scale of Ukrainian drone attacks is maintained at the levels of March and Russian air defenses do not improve, Ukraine will be able to keep damaging Russian refineries faster than they can be fixed, slowly but steadily eroding the country’s refining capacity.
☼¶ CEPA, CSIS, CftNI &c.
☼¶ _Daily Kos_
☼¶ Deutsche Welle
☼¶ _Engelsberg Ideas_
Josh Mcloughlin reflects on the forgotten art of mnemonics.
☼¶ The European Council / Council of the European Union
☼¶ _European Council on Foreign Relations Update_
☼¶ _Forbes_
☼¶ _Foreign Affairs_ (The Council on Foreign Relations [US])
[εξηλσιορ*ψ]
☼The Trouble With “the Global South” What the West Gets Wrong About the Rest
☼¶ _The Guardian_
☼¶ Institute for the Study of War
¶ Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment
☼Denying Russia's Only Strategy for Success
By Nataliya Bugayova, Frederick W. Kagan, with Kateryna Stepanenko March 27, 2024
☼The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) released its 38th report on the human rights situation in Ukraine on March 26, confirming several of ISW’s longstanding assessments about Russia’s systematic violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in occupied territories and towards Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs).
¶ Iran, Israel-Hamas Update
¶ China Project
☼¶ Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (Institute for Human Sciences)
☼¶ _The Intercept_
☼¶ _The Interpreter_ (Lowy Institute)
☼¶ LGB
☼Leak of the WPATH files and
NHS England's decision to stop prescribing puberty blockers to young people.
☼¶ Meduza
☼¶ _Moscow Times_
Crimean Tatars Are Forgotten Innocent Victims of Russia’s War
☼¶ News Ltd
☼¶ _New Yorker_
☼¶ _New York Times_
☼¶ _openDemocracy_
☼¶ OVD-Info and the _Dissident Digest_
Welcome to OVD-Info data newsletter!
☼Hello and welcome back to the Digest. …
We are all deeply saddened by the Crocus terror attack. I hope you are keeping your Russian colleagues, friends and family in your thoughts these days. These are challenging times for all of us.
This issue will focus on the aftermath of Crocus and what it means for human rights in Russia, as well as on a few follow ups and a Crimean political prisoner.
As always, feel free to reach out to Dan.storyev@ovdinfo.org with questions or concerns. In solidarity, Dan Storyev
2024 d 04 Today we have a lot of follow ups and a story about regional organising.
☼¶ _Pearls & Irritations_
☼¶ _People & Nature_
☼¶ 'Perun' - YouTube
☼¶ _Project Syndicate_, George Soros &c.
☼The Oligarch, His Ex-Wife, Her Mother, and Rupert Murdoch
by Nina L. Khrushcheva
Rupert Murdoch, America’s premier purveyor of conspiracy theories, is planning his fifth wedding. His bride-to-be, Elena Zhukova, the ex-wife of one Russian oligarch and the former mother-in-law of another, is a choice that suggests a match made in Hollywood.
☼¶ Reuters
☼¶ Riddle Russia
☼¶ RUSI
☼¶ _Der Spiegel_
☼¶ _Sydney Morning Herald_
☼¶ _Tempest_
☼¶ United to Protect Democracy [USA]
☼¶ _Vanity Fair_
☼¶ War Translated
☼¶ _The Washington Post_
☼¶ _Die Zeit_
Good-bye & bless you!
*_* Хай живе вільна Україна *_* "L’Ukraine a toujours aspiré à être libre" - Voltaire *_* Няхай жыве вольная Украіна *_* Larga vida a Ucrania libre *_* Да здравствует свободная Украина *_* Long live free Ukraine *_* 自由乌克兰万岁 *_* Bandera rossonera la trionferà! *_* تحي أوكرانيا حرة *_*
There are unsatisfactory aspects to Substack. If you’re starting a new samvydav, consider beehiiv.com