How we got the Internet Wrong ✨JustPeace 🇺🇦 Supplement
Elul (August 2025)
✨JustPeace 🇺🇦 Supplement
🏴 Stop the bombing! Russian Federation troops out! Solidarity with the Ukrainian resistance! 🇫🇷 Arrêtez les bombardements ! Les troupes de la Fédération de Russie dehors ! Solidarité avec la résistance ukrainienne ! 🇺🇦
Lunar Elul (Julian August 2025)1
Hello possums!
Written for the USA, but relevant elsewhere: “It was supposed to connect us to people near and far. Instead, it turned us into tribalist, neurotic homebodies.” →
¶ ¶ Yascha Mounk☼☼☼—How We Got the Internet All Wrong
Fr John Jillions was Rector at Holy Annunciation temple on Park Road in Woolloongabba in Meanjin from 1984 to 1987, and dwelt with his wife Denise and their three sons in Greenslopes, a short walk from the publishing house of JustPeace Ukraine.
We commend his Response to Edith Humphrey - On LGBTQ+ Experience and Orthodox Tradition to anyone interested in these matters or in method in theology →
☼¶ Public Orthodoxy - Orthodox Christian Studies at Fordham¶ ☼☼—A Response to Edith Humphrey - On LGBTQ+ Experience and Orthodox Tradition - by Very Rev. Dr. John Jillions
Our publisher, Fr Martin, is likely to be in Melbourne for the entombment of his late ordinary Peter Mgr Stasiuk (may he rest in peace). He rarely leaves Meanjin these days, and hopes that any old acquiantance between here and Melbourne who wish to renew a conversation will write to him →
Abbe.Martincurt@gmail.com
Cheers dears!
++Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union++
☼☼Reports from the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group and kindred bodies☼☼
08.08.2025 Mother and daughter sentenced to 12 years in Russia’s conveyor belt ‘treason trials’ in occupied Crimea
Russians bomb, pillage, rape and murder Ukrainians, then force their children to study ‘Russian traditional values’
11.08 Ukrainian media forcibly replaced on occupied territory with ‘Russian World’ propaganda
Russian FSB escalate abductions and terror against women in occupied Crimea
12 Russia uses lawless 'terrorism' ruling to pass huge sentences against Ukrainian POWs for defending Mariupol
14.08.2025 Borisov Case a Test of Ukraine’s Commitment to European Human Rights Standards
15.08.2025 WhatsApp and Telegram blocked in Russia's drive for ‘digital sovereignty’ over invaded Ukrainian territory
Russia abducts 18-year-old from occupied Melitopol, sentences her two years later to 18 years for photos of FSB
Free people first! An Open Letter to the President of the United States
18.08.2025 Russian invaders sentence Ukrainian pensioner to 12.5 years after torturing out ‘confession’ to links with 'British spies'
Mustafa Dzhemilev: Any ‘peace deal violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity will prepare the ground for new Russian invasion
19.08.2025 Russian court sentences young Crimean to 15 years for fictitious 'planned terrorist attack’
20.08.2025 Russian court sentences Memorial Head to 6 years for calling persecuted Ukrainian POWs political prisoners
21.08.2025 Russia releases gravely ill Crimean Tatar political prisoner after causing the death of several others
++Greensleeves++
☼Green News, Political Economy, Macro-economics, Femme Vitale, and From the Archives☼
¶ ¶ People & Nature (England)☼☼☼—Fuel poverty and leaky homes: the monitoring system is broken
Heating homes: we need electrification and universal retrofit
Electrify home heating and phase out gas
Retrofit our homes, for social justice and climate action
¶ ¶ Simon Pirani: People & Nature☼☼☼—Climate change is an injustice multiplier. Not an asteroid. A review by Simon Pirani of Climate Injustice by Friederike Otto. In mainstream discourse, global heating "is gutted of content, stripped of its origins in human economic activity and social hierarchies"
+Oikumenikologistik+
¶ ¶ Colin Long: Radical Civility☼☼☼—Lemmy had it right: eat the rich!
¶ ¶ Matt Osborne: Polemology Positions & Osborne Ink☼☼☼—American Ports See Record Traffic
¶ ¶ Noahpinion - Noah Smith☼☼☼—Moderation is good for its own sake
Toward a Shallower Future
America has only one real city
At least five interesting things: Cool research edition (#68)
Did RFK just take away your cancer treatment?
Who will actually profit from the AI boom?
Corporations aren't the reason your rent is too high
¶ ¶ Timothy Garton Ash☼☼☼—EM resilience in the face of US risk
++Wayfarers’ Watch++
☼☼For everyone, but especially for people interested in religion and theology☼☼
¶ ¶ Addison Hodges Hart: The Pragmatic Mystic☼☼☼—✨Revisiting John: krisis and us
Highly recommended video: interview with Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos
✨"I said, you are gods": John 10:30-38, Psalm 82:6, and us
Quick video recommendation: "Churches of Tigray, Ethiopia" (9 minutes)
¶ ¶ Alexander of Albany: Tales☼☼☼—King Alfred: St Neot
☼¶ Church Life Journal - McGrath Institute nd.edu¶ ☼☼—Religious Transmission: A Solution to the Church's Biggest Problem Bullivant and Rota on disaffiliation. Read more »
Severance: The Mystery of a Divided Mind Paweł Rzewuski on identity. Read more »
Theology for the Drastic Changes Coming in Catholic Higher Education Jason King on the future. Read more »
St. Óscar Romero and the Right to Be Accurately Informed About Public Events Will Cohen on communication. Read more »
Miłosz’s To Albert Einstein: The Promethean Torture of Engagement with History Peter Dale Scott on choices. Read more » Czesław Miłosz - 14 August 2004 (aged 93)
Touch of Transcendence: The Invisible Source of Authority in a Secular Age David Walsh on a secular age. Read more »
The Application of Bernard Lonergan's Cognitional Structure in Ethical AI Taylor Black on understanding, judging, and deciding. Read more »
Maybe We Need Fewer Church Professionals? Matt Regner on the future. Read more »
¶ ¶ David Bentley Hart: Leaves in the Wind☼☼☼—✨The Road to Damascus
Rainbows and the Prism of Perspective Reflections on the Resurrection 4
¶ ¶ Fr Thomas Plant☼☼☼—Morello's Option: Counter-enchantment
The profit of providence
¶ ¶ Matthew J Milliner: millinerd ¶ ☼☼—Was Lady Julian Eastern Orthodox?--
☼¶ Public Orthodoxy - Orthodox Christian Studies at Fordham¶ ☼☼—✨A Response to Edith Humphrey - On LGBTQ+ Experience and Orthodox Tradition
Four pastoral principles:
Everyone is welcome
Everyone is expected to pursue an ascetic life, seeking to grow in Christ
Everyone is on their own timeline
Everyone must focus on what they can do, not on what they can’t
✨Nicaea and the Phantom Pains of Orthodoxy
¶ ¶ Regina Doman: The Culture Recovery Journals☼☼☼—The First Thing to Learn in Catholic High School
¶ ¶ Seasons of Community Living - Bruderhof☼☼☼—gossip
☼¶ Spiritual Quest¶ ☼☼—Thomas Aquinas - ✨Existence Itself as Conscious Divine Being
++And furthermore++
¶ ¶ A Phuulish Fellow - Daniel Stride☼☼☼—Review: The Narnia Books, by C.S. Lewis (1950-1956) – Part Three
☼¶ Aeon Weekly¶ ☼☼—Socrates would be pleased by Jay Miller
Witty wotty dashes (Doodles) by James Reath
Why love matters most (Iris Murdoch) by Cathy Mason
✨The incompleteness of ethics Many hope that AI will discover ethical truths. But as Gödel shows, deciding what is right will always be our burden by Elad Uzan
¶ ¶ Branko Milanovic: Global Inequality and More¶ ☼☼—✨Gramsci and Lenin on transcending “parliamentarianism” and on direct democracy
Dr. Morell and the Patient A A review of Normal Ohler’s "Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany"
¶ ¶ Chris Arnade: Walks the World☼☼☼—Twenty seven hours on the Aussie dog
Sydney, the suburban paradise
¶ ¶ Colin Gorrie - Dead Language Society☼☼☼—No, that word doesn’t come from an acronym
Is Beowulf based on true events?
The ancient poetic law that explains basically everything [bit]
¶ ¶ Dr Caroline Orr Bueno: Weaponized¶ ☼☼—Silent Coup: How Trump’s Allies Are Gaming Algorithms To Seize Your Feed2
How the Right-Wing Outrage Machine Invents Liberal Fury — and Sells It Back to You
¶ ¶ Drew Hutton: From Drew Hutton☼☼☼—The Identitarian Left and the Progressive Left
☼¶ Engelsberg Ideas¶ ☼☼—✨Tiffany Jenkins reveals how the porn industry destroyed privacy.
¶ ¶ Exogenous, Inc. - EXO: Digital Bomb!☼☼☼—The Future: Distributed, Sacred, and Authoritative
¶ ¶ John Ganz: Unpopular Front☼☼☼—Against Vulgar Positivism
¶ ¶ Jon Haidt &al’: After Babel☼☼☼—Meta's AI is Designed to Prey on Your Kids for Profit
We Are Rushing Into the Same Mistakes With Social Media Let’s press pause on AI chatbots for [childer]
Artificial Intimacy: The Next Giant Social Experiment on Young Minds
☼¶ Lowy Institute: The Interpreter¶ ☼☼—Tok Pisin: Speaking PNG’s main language is more than cultural courtesy Bernard Yegiora 11/8/25 From NRL teams to university exchanges, shared language holds the key to Australia's Pacific relationship success.
¶ ¶ Nick Cohen: Writing from London☼☼☼—The resistible rise of radical right influencers
¶ ¶ Patrick Lawrence: Ringfolk (JRR Tolkien)☼☼☼—"The Two Towers" Read-through: Week 8 Recap
"The Two Towers" Read-through: Week 7 Recap
¶ ¶ Persuasion - Yascha Mounk & al.☼☼☼—Elon Musk and the Decline of Western Civilization
Bringing Human Nature Back In Francis Fukuyama - “Why Liberalism.”
☼¶ Philosophers’ Magazine¶ ☼☼—✨Philosophical Malpractice, by Daniel Kodsi and John Maier Read it here [“Are there any male women?”]
¶ ¶ Plough☼☼☼—John Homan suggests that all educators could take some tips from Maria Montessori.
Peter Mommsen is in The Point magazine this week with an essay that makes the case for Christian pacifism.
Does a Screen Detox Work? A family tries out a screen detox for their children. Find out what happens. By Clare Morell
✨What Lies Beyond Capitalism? A Christian Exploration by David Bentley Hart
¶ ¶ Rupert Sheldrake☼☼☼—✨Cellular Rejuvenation and Potential Immortality – and its Capture by Cancer
¶ ¶ Scriptorium Philosophia - Hilarius Bookbinder☼☼☼—Here’s when I’ll worry about the robot takeover
¶ ¶ Sarah Constantin: Rough Diamonds☼☼☼—✨Making Sense of Consciousness Part 4: States of Consciousness
¶ ¶ The Abbey of Misrule - Paul Kingsnorth☼☼☼—The Machine Sessions
¶ ¶ Vladislav Davidzon: The Fantastical Daybook | 1987c-7☼☼☼—Boris Lurie's Poems and Ice Cream in Auschwitz
¶ ¶ W.D. James: Philosopher's Holler☼☼☼—'Dark Wisdom': Philosophy of Power Audivis
Musical Interlude: Elvis
¶ ¶ Winter Oak☼☼☼—Death and Poetry (The Myth of Philosophy 7)
The “scientific” war on our freedom / Exposing the life-hating criminal conspiracy - by Paul Cudenec
¶ ¶ Yascha Mounk☼☼☼—Christine Rosen on the Harms of the Digital Age
David Enoch on Certainty and Compromise how to defend liberalism.
✨How We Got the Internet All Wrong
—
¶Genspect, Inspecting Gender, Stella O'Malley &c’ → footnote3
==
+Parish Notices+
+In the Offing+ Meanjin
+Pi Jaws &c.+
Thinking Through Amazon Reliance
Jane Clark Scharl
I know some people like to shop. I’m not one of them. For me, the pull to online shopping was already strong, and then the Covid pandemic hit. Now, I find myself tempted to order everything from coloring books to a new couch on Amazon and get it delivered right to my door. But more and more, I find myself wondering what giving in to that temptation is really costing me. What am I giving up when I hand my money over to Amazon in exchange for fast delivery and a wide range of mediocre goods? And why do I feel a stab of guilt when I hit that “buy now” button, even when the purchase is a responsible one? It’s not just me; I’ve talked with a number of people who admit to feeling anything from sheepish to downright ashamed about their reliance on Amazon.
This isn’t the way buying and selling is supposed to be. What have we lost?
Gospel reflections
Where is your real treasure? Your heart is like a room. Why not escort all the things that are crowding that room out the door? [Lk 12:32-48]
Does Jesus want us to be divided? Jesus recognized that his message asks people to take sides. Which side are you on? [Lk 12:49-53]
¶ ¶ Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Coorparoo (Whitefriars’ Parish)☼☼☼—Enter by the Narrow Door David Hutton on Luke 13:22-30.
+Factoids+
The US department of agriculture is using audio of Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson screaming at each other in a movie to scare wolves away from livestock.
The Tampa Bay Rays have traded a player to the Yankees… mid-way through a game against the Yankees.
Researchers in Australia have discovered that the native cockatoo bird can perform 30 distinct dance-moves (including an impressive headbang).
I was reading about the siege and relief of Mafeking in 1899-1900 during the Second Boer War (in Alwyn Turner’s superb recent Little Englanders: Britain in the Edwardian Era). The British garrison was besieged by a Boer army for 217 days until it was relieved on 17 May 1900, to national rejoicing in Britain, and the indomitable defence made a national hero of the commander, Colonel Robert Baden-Powell of the 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales’s) Dragoon Guards. He would go to be Lieutenant General Lord Baden-Powell OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB, founder of the Boy Scouts Association, co-founder of the Girl Guides and author of the now-innuendo-rich Scouting for Boys (1908). His surname was originally the simple “Powell” (though seemingly pronounced “Pole”), but after the death of his father, the Revd Baden Powell, Savilian Professor of Geometry at the University of Oxford, in 1860, his third wife, Henrietta (née Smyth), used the style “Baden-Powell” for her and her children to honour his memory. It was eventually changed formally by Royal Licence on 30 April 1902. But they were an extraordinary family. / … / Baden-Powell’s son, the 2nd Lord Baden-Powell, grandsons the 3rd and 4th Lord Baden-Powell and great-grandson the 5th Lord Baden-Powell were or have been active in the Scouting Movement, as were his daughters Heather (Mrs John King) and Betty (Mrs Gervas Clay). His great-grandson Gerard Baden-Clay was convicted in 2014 of murdering his wife Allison (née Dickie) in Brisbane on 19 April 2012, and is currently serving a life sentence in Wolston Correctional Centre with no chance of parole until 2027 at the earliest.
Starbucks Korea has had to ban customers from setting up full desktop PCs, printers, and even office cubicle dividers in stores.
An LA thief has stolen $30k worth of Labubus (the collectable furry monster).
A zoo in Denmark is inviting folks to donate their unwanted pets to feed its predators.
And three German postal workers have started biking all the way to Finland to deliver Christmas letters to Santa.
+Laughter, the best Medicine+
+Resources+
The Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine is a reputable source for inquiries about Ukraine.
Rationale for Just Peace Ukraine —
The Russo-Ukrainian War is illegal
Russia’s War to Eliminate Ukraine is immoral
Russia’s War on Ukraine is inexpedient
In brief —
RF forces must leave Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and any other occupied territories.
RF must assist prisoners and the deported, whether children or adults, to return home.
The Kremlin must use its fossil-fuel and other loot to recompense for damages its forces have caused.
If you are thinking today about how to help Ukrainians, here are some possibilities: Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian NGO that supports soldiers on the battlefield and veterans; United 24, the Ukrainian state platform for donations, with many excellent projects); RAZOM, an American NGO, tax-deductible for US citizens, which cooperates with Ukrainian NGOS to support civilians; and BlueCheck Ukraine, which aims for efficient cooperation with Ukrainian groups and is also tax-deductible. [Thanks TDS]
¿TL;DR?
Scores of Substack and samvydav sites and similar sources sifted and selected by the strenuous staff at JustPeace Ukraine.
“O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change what can be changed, and the wisdom to know the one from the other.” — Winnifred Crane Wygal (8 July 1972, aged 87), using work of her teacher Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (1 June 1971, aged 78)
«Why This Matters - When algorithms are hijacked this way, they stop reflecting reality and start reshaping it. The stories topping your feed aren't necessarily what most people care about — they're what was engineered to trigger the algorithm.»
¶ ¶ Beyond Gender - Stella O’Malley☼☼☼—The Man Who Wrote the DSM Gender Diagnoses Breaks His Silence on Why It All Went Wrong
The Plastic Surgeon's Verdict: "Gender Surgery Is Mutilation, Not Medicine"
From Gay Liberation Pioneer to Gender Critical Warrior: Bev Jackson's 50-Year Fight
¶ ¶ Genspect: Inspecting Gender, Stella O'Malley☼☼☼—When Breast Binding Becomes Chicken Soup for the Autistic Soul
¶ ¶ Jennifer Bilek: Jennifer’s Newsletter☼☼—Norway’s Persistent War on Heterosexuality and Biological Family Bonds: To Whose Benefit?
¶ ¶ Julie Bindel: writing and podcasts☼☼☼—My friend Denise Marshall died ten years ago today, and we should all miss her
Can violent, sexually abusive men be successfully 'treated'?
Has the politics of the trans movement damaged academia?
…interview with Sarah Summers
☼¶ LGB (Alliance Australia, Distance &al’)¶ ☼—'Red Sonja' To Make Hollywood See Red This Weekend
The Daily Beast fabricated scientific findings to pathologize "homophobia"
¶ ¶ Mary Harrington: Reactionary Feminist☼☼☼—Safety Versus Inclusion [bit]
The World Modernity Ended
¶ ¶ Paul Tyson: Gender Critical Philosophical Theology¶ ☼☼—Brief and concluding handy-man thoughts on Reality and Fantasy
Whilst quietly working on my posts… a breakthrough!
On the Seeming Success of the latest Progressive Theory of Failure
Gender-Affirming Care is Malpractice
The Vine Review
¶ ¶ Stella O'Malley☼☼☼—Outsider, Archivist, Witness: Reflecting on Benjamin Boyce
The Gender Gap in Subject Choice: Why We Should Respect Difference
¶ ¶ The Radicalist - David Josef Volodzko☼☼☼—… weaponizing love
Mr Justice Nase asks “Does this Monty Python effort qualify as satire?”
→ https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlo7YZW8vPA