All posts tagged: letter

Citing Zelenskyy letter, Trump says Ukraine ‘ready for peace’ with Russia | Russia-Ukraine war News

Citing Zelenskyy letter, Trump says Ukraine ‘ready for peace’ with Russia | Russia-Ukraine war News

Published by Sam

Trump says Zelenskyy also willing to sign a critical minerals deal, days after their blow-up at the Oval Office. United States President Donald Trump has revealed he received a letter from Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying he is ready for talks with Russia and to sign a rare minerals deal. “Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians,” Trump said in an address to Congress on Tuesday night while quoting from the letter. “‘My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts’,” Trump quoted Zelenskyy as writing. “Wouldn’t that be beautiful?” he said. “It’s time to stop this madness. It’s time to halt the killing. It’s time to end this senseless war. If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides.” Trump’s revelation came days after a heated exchange between him and Zelenskyy at the Oval Office saw the US suspend crucial military aid …

Letter to new US Administration

Letter to new US Administration

Published by skeptic

Religious freedom worldwide at 16-year low: New strategy needed Yesterday, I sent U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio a letter. In it I draw attention to the latest Pew Research data showing that the state of religious freedom worldwide is at its lowest point in 16 years and that current strategies for combatting the deterioration of this universal human right are insufficient. The solution is to adopt a new strategy that harnesses a powerful and untapped force with a vested interest in building religious freedom worldwide. That’s business. The good news is that top global businesses are already engaged in building religious freedom for millions of working people by making their workplaces faith friendly at home and abroad. Accordingly, I offered five recommendations including that the next Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom be a senior business leader with a passion for religious freedom for all worldwide. Recommendations to the State Department: 1. Call on companies worldwide to adopt and benchmark faith-and-belief-friendly practices as a way to build religious freedom for billions of working people of all faiths and beliefs. 2. Develop a global coalition of business leaders who …

Benedict Cumberbatch Reads a Letter to a Man Blow-Drying His Balls at the Gym

Benedict Cumberbatch Reads a Letter to a Man Blow-Drying His Balls at the Gym

Published by José

We have fea­tured Bene­dict Cum­ber­batch read­ing let­ters by Kurt Von­negut, Alan Tur­ing, Albert Camus, and Nick Cave, along with pas­sages from Kafka’s Meta­mor­pho­sis and Melville’s Moby Dick. It’s all pret­ty heady stuff. And now it’s time for some­thing com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent. Above, we have Mr. Cum­ber­batch read­ing, with clas­sic British under­state­ment, a com­i­cal let­ter writ­ten by Ross Bee­ley, back in 2011. The read­ing will help you get through anoth­er dystopi­an day. Cum­ber­batch read this let­ter at an event called Let­ters Live, held in Lon­don’s Roy­al Albert Hall, in Decem­ber 2024. Relat­ed Con­tent  Bene­dict Cum­ber­batch Reads Kurt Vonnegut’s Let­ter of Advice to Peo­ple Liv­ing in the Year 2088 Hear Moby Dick Read in Its Entire­ty by Bene­dict Cum­ber­batch, Til­da Swin­ton, John Waters, Stephen Fry & More Bene­dict Cum­ber­batch Reads Nick Cave’s Beau­ti­ful Let­ter About Grief Bene­dict Cum­ber­batch Reads a Let­ter Alan Tur­ing Wrote in “Dis­tress” Before His Con­vic­tion For “Gross Inde­cen­cy” Source link

Truss sends Starmer cease and desist letter over claim she ‘crashed the economy’

Truss sends Starmer cease and desist letter over claim she ‘crashed the economy’

Published by Sam

Liz Truss has sent a cease and desist letter to Sir Keir Starmer, demanding that he stops claiming that she crashed the economy, it can be revealed. In the letter, a copy of which has been seen by The Telegraph, lawyers acting on behalf of the former prime minister argue that the statement is “false and defamatory”. The lawyers even suggest that the assertions from Sir Keir before the July general election contributed towards Ms Truss being ousted as the MP for South West Norfolk. At the core of the row are the weeks after Ms Truss’s “mini-Budget” in September 2022, when financial markets reacted negatively to major tax cuts funded by borrowing. The letter argues that the financial movements did not amount to an economic crash, since there was no fall in economic output or rise in unemployment – the usual signifiers of such an event. To back up their claim, Ms Truss’s lawyers cite a report from Andrew Lilico, a fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs, a Right-leaning think tank. His report …

Benedict Cumberbatch Reads Kurt Vonnegut’s Letter of Advice to People Living in the Year 2088

Benedict Cumberbatch Reads Kurt Vonnegut’s Letter of Advice to People Living in the Year 2088

Published by José

There was a time when a com­pa­ny like Volk­swa­gen could com­mis­sion var­i­ous lumi­nar­ies to write let­ters to the future, then pub­lish them in Time mag­a­zine as part of an ad cam­paign. In fact, that time was­n’t so very long ago: it was the year 1988, to be pre­cise, when no less an opti­mistic (or opti­misti­cal­ly bleak?) nov­el­ist than Kurt Von­negut was still active. At some point between writ­ing Blue­beard and Hocus Pocus, he com­posed a mis­sive direct­ed toward human­i­ty a cen­tu­ry hence (in 2088), which you can read even in this rel­a­tive­ly ear­ly year of 2024 here. Von­negut begins with quo­ta­tions from Shake­speare and St. John the Divine, explain­ing that “our cen­tu­ry has­n’t been as free with words of wis­dom as some oth­ers, I think, because we were the first to get reli­able infor­ma­tion about the human sit­u­a­tion.” In his time, we knew full well “how many of us there were, how much food we could raise or gath­er, how fast we were repro­duc­ing, what made us sick, what made us die, how much dam­age …

Read J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Letter From Father Christmas” To His Young Children (1925)

Read J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Letter From Father Christmas” To His Young Children (1925)

Published by José

J.R.R. Tolkien is best known for the sweep­ing fan­ta­sy land­scapes of Lord of The Rings and The Hob­bit. Apart from being a cel­e­brat­ed author, the Oxford Uni­ver­si­ty pro­fes­sor of Anglo-Sax­on was also a devot­ed father who dot­ed on his chil­dren. In 1920, a few short years after Tolkien returned from World War I, he began an endear­ing fam­i­ly Christ­mas tra­di­tion that would con­tin­ue for the next 23 years. After the birth of his first­born son, John, Tolkien began to write his four chil­dren let­ters from Father Christ­mas. These North Pole tales chiefly con­cern Father Christ­mas’ strug­gles against the north’s bat-rid­ing gob­lins, as well as the mis­chie­vous hijinks of his helper, North Polar Bear. An adept illus­tra­tor whose orig­i­nal draw­ings accom­pa­nied many of his writ­ings (see his book cov­er designs for Lord of the Rings), Tolkien includ­ed with many of his Christ­mas let­ters a set of charm­ing pic­tures. The many let­ters were even­tu­al­ly col­lect­ed in a beau­ti­ful vol­ume called Let­ters From Father Christ­mas. Thanks to the good work of Let­ters of Note, we bring to you a sam­ple …

An open letter to the Director of the Office of Government Ethics. | Walter M. Shaub Jr.

An open letter to the Director of the Office of Government Ethics. | Walter M. Shaub Jr.

Published by skeptic

Dear Hon. David Huitema (David), Congratulations on being confirmed to serve as director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE). Thank you for accepting a job you will not enjoy. It’s been more than a year since President Biden nominated you. The confirmation process took far too long, and it could not have been pleasant. Back in 2023, not long after President Trump’s appointee, Hon. Emory A. Rounds III, finished his term, Senator Mike Lee of Utah declared that the next OGE director should be chosen after the new president’s inauguration (although he had championed Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination shortly before the 2020 election). Since then, he has tried to block you from serving in that role. This September he even claimed in the Senate that “Mr. Huitema left open the possibility of supporting a partisan policy, a partisan approach, from a nonpartisan position.” If the senator had bothered to read the transcript of your confirmation hearing, he would have known you emphatically rejected partisanship. You can expect the Republicans to make increasingly frequent, …

Open Letter to President Donald Trump by Stel Mihut

Open Letter to President Donald Trump by Stel Mihut

Published by skeptic

The Power of Patriotic Vision In an era where political discourse often devolves into partisan rancor, Stel Mihut’s “Open Letter to President Donald Trump” emerges as a passionate call for American renewal. Written with both urgency and hope, this comprehensive analysis of America’s challenges and opportunities reflects deep concern for the nation’s current trajectory while maintaining unwavering optimism about its potential for revival under strong leadership. The Immigrant’s Perspective Mihut brings a unique voice to the political conversation as someone who arrived in America with nothing but dreams and determination. His journey from immigrant to successful aerospace business owner spans over three decades, lending authenticity and weight to his observations about American opportunity and decline. This personal history infuses his political commentary with firsthand understanding of both America’s promise and its current challenges. A Blueprint for National Restoration ‘Open Letter to President Donald Trump’ by Stel Mihut presents a comprehensive vision for American revival that extends far beyond simple political reform. Through thirty-eight carefully crafted chapters, Mihut addresses fundamental aspects of American society, from economic …

‘Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’ sends cease and desist letter to ‘Evangelicals for Harris’ – OpentheWord.org

‘Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’ sends cease and desist letter to ‘Evangelicals for Harris’ – OpentheWord.org

Published by skeptic

Billy Graham with then Democratic President John F. Kennedy at the 1961 National Prayer BreakfastCredit: Abbie Rowe. White House Photographs, Wikipedia, Public Domain We are in the political season, and the Christian Post reports that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) has sent a cease and desist letter to “Evangelicals for Harris” (EFH) Why, you ask? The BGEA has told EFH to stop using video of Billy Graham’s sermons in their ads opposing Donald Trump. The BGEA claims that the usage of this footage by the political action committee is a copyright infringement. EFH responded by stating “limited use of Billy Graham’s speech falls squarely within the fair use protections afforded by Section 107 of the Copyright Act.” Evangelicals for Harris are using brief clips from Billy Graham’s sermons and subtly implying from an Evangelical perspective that Trump is not fit for office. The BGEA said that using Billy Graham’s sermons in such a fashion goes against everything the famed evangelist stood for as he ministered to both Republican and Democratic presidents . “It may …

Watch James Earl Jones Read Kurt Vonnegut’s Letter Urging High-School Students to Create Art & “Make Your Soul Grow”

Watch James Earl Jones Read Kurt Vonnegut’s Letter Urging High-School Students to Create Art & “Make Your Soul Grow”

Published by José

As cul­tur­al fig­ures, the late James Earl Jones and Kurt Von­negut would seem to have had lit­tle in com­mon, but each could eas­i­ly be rec­og­nized by his voice. Jones’ will come to mind as soon as you think of Darth Vad­er, Sim­ba’s father, or “This is CNN.” Von­negut’s dis­tinc­tion was the voice evi­dent on any giv­en page of nov­els like Cat’s Cra­dle, Break­fast of Cham­pi­ons, and of course Slaugh­ter­house-Five — a voice many of us have known since ado­les­cence. They come togeth­er in the Let­ters Live video above with Jones read­ing a Von­negut let­ter to the stu­dents of Ms. Lock­wood’s Eng­lish class at New York’s Xavier High School in 2006. Von­negut was writ­ing in response to five such stu­dents, who’d cho­sen him when assigned to write to their favorite author. We’ve pre­vi­ous­ly fea­tured his let­ter here on Open Cul­ture as read aloud by Sir Ian McK­ellen, but its mes­sage bears repeat­ing by any­one who will speak it, beloved actor or oth­er­wise. “Prac­tice any art, music, singing, danc­ing, act­ing, draw­ing, paint­ing, sculpt­ing, poet­ry, fic­tion, essays, reportage, …