Maureen McCormick was a household name in the 1970s. She played Marcia Brady, the eldest daughter of Mike and Carol Brady, on the iconic Brady Bunch. The show ran for five seasons and 117 episodes. Maureen appeared in nearly every episode and reprised her role for several spin-offs, including The Brady Bunch Hour, The Brady Brides, and the unforgettable 1988 TV movie A Very Brady Christmas. It’s been more than 50 years since Maureen starred as Marcia, and she’s still working. Per Parade, 69-year-old Maureen shared details with Forbes about her new role in the off-Broadway play, Pen Pals. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Maureen McCormick (@momccormick7) Maureen McCormick Couldn’t Say “No” To The Role Maureen McCormick stars alongside Sharon Lawrence, who spoke about Pen Pals and their connection to the Michael Griffo play. The show connects the two women’s stories through a lifetime of letters exchanged. “I related to both characters, actually, a lot,” Maureen said. “When my agent sent it to me and I read it, I was just like, ‘Yes, yes, yes.’” The play’s heartbeat, for her, is the way friendship can hold contradictions. “Women’s relationships are so important. No matter how different we believe, we can still find commonality, love, and respect.” Maurren said she’s read the play to her husband, and the story fits her life so well. “It is such a beautifully written play,” she told Forbes, “I think we really need each other to share the good, the bad, and the ugly to feel like we’re not alone.” Maureen McCormick added that she’s kept many pieces of written correspondence. “My daughter has made me so many cards and letters through the years, and I have them framed all over my house,” she said. “We really don’t have much of that nowadays.” Maureen also collects tokens from other loved ones, like her husband, Michael Cummings.. “My husband leaves me notes on the coffee machine or in the funniest places,” she said. “It just makes my day. And I save them all.” Maureen added that there’s something so soothing about seeing a loved one’s handwriting, like a letter from her late mother. “She wrote everything down. To see her handwriting is so comforting to me,” Maureen said. Pen Pals is currently on stage at the DR2 Theatre at 103 E. 15th St. in New York City. This story’s featured image is by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic. The post Maureen McCormick Shares Why She Couldn’t Say No To Major Role appeared first on InspireMore.

(Article by Rohini Subrahmanyam originally published by Knowable Magazine) As the microscopic, tear-shaped Lacrymaria olor  swims around hunting for food, it does something remarkable: In a blink, the tiny protist extends its neck more than 30 times its body length, snatching up unwitting prey. Then, just as quickly, the neck withdraws, returning to its original […] The post Animal Origami: The Physics of Nature’s Folds – and How Technology is Adapting Them appeared first on Good News Network.

President Donald Trump’s work on the world stage is directly and inherently connected to our success at home. One of the major media narratives following the recent set of elections that went quite poorly for Republicans is that Trump and the GOP need to focus more on economic and kitchen table issues than on foreign policy. There is likely some truth to this. Democrats have capitalized on the “affordability” issue to gain some serious political momentum. The government shutdown that Democrats have orchestrated probably didn’t help either. However, it would be a mistake to think that what Trump is doing on foreign policy is disconnected from what’s happening here at home. Trump appears to be playing the long game with his international moves. This may hurt his poll numbers and Republican electoral chances in the short term but will be essential to sustaining a winning majority and strong coalition. A Lesson From Reagan The future of American prosperity, economic and cultural, depends very much on the state of global politics and the U.S. position within it. Trump, in my assessment, is taking a calculated risk much like how Ronald Reagan did at the beginning of his presidency. Reagan understood that following a decade of “stagflation” the United States had to beat the inflation bug long-term or the 1980s would end up a lost economic decade just like the 1970s. So, Reagan did what was deeply unpopular in the short term. He tightened monetary policy and waited out the fever of economic pain, which lasted for years. He took some very serious political lumps by doing so. His popularity steeply declined. Republicans got walloped in the midterms. But the economy came alive after a short recession, creating a long-term boom for the country. In his second term Reagan could credibly say it was “morning again in America.” Trump’s “golden age,” is also dependent on a similar long-term adjustment that can’t happen overnight. Trump can’t just press a button and make things better. But he can strengthen our position in the world. He can help ensure energy prices go down and domestic manufacturing goes up. Reestablishing American Strength Under past administrations, especially that of Joe Biden, the American position in the world was clearly slipping away. Despite Biden’s hollering about “democracy” and American strength, our enemies around the globe were no longer taking us seriously. If that continued, American economic prosperity would crumble. For Trump’s economic “miracle” to happen, and for it to sweep in a wide net of Americans, Trump’s grand strategy must be a success. What the president is trying to do, I believe, is craft one of the most sweeping and challenging pivots in American foreign policy in the history of our country. It’s not going to come without some mistakes and some initially unresolvable challenges. Peace between Russia and Ukraine, the most significant hot war on the planet, remains elusive despite Trump securing so many other treaties. Trump’s bull in a China shop approach to trade has reaped big successes, but it’s also angered a few long-term allies. China remains implacable. But the Trump administration does seem to be ultimately putting the U.S. on better footing with friends and foes. U.S. partners in Europe are finally boosting their military spending to handle their own defense. The Middle East is calming down as Iran has been badly chastened, the Israel/Hamas conflict has ended (for now), and the economic ties that bind former foes through the Abraham Accords is strengthening. Many active conflicts, some of which have continued for decades, have ended in negotiated peace. Strategic decoupling from China has been uneven but seems to be well underway. It’s likely that none of this would have happened without Trump’s leadership. Some of the deals that Trump has made with our allies have been harsher than they were in the past, but it’s almost certainly for the purpose of strengthening the American hand and ensuring that the U.S. can reindustrialize and maintain our longstanding position in the world. Securing valuable rare earth minerals may not do much for the economy right now, but it will mean that we won’t be at the mercy of China’s whims in the future. This is about long-term success. On his first day in office, President Trump issued an Executive Order to establish the US as a global leader in rare earths. Now, a South Carolina-based company has developed the first magnet made in America in 25 years.We are loosening the chokehold China has on this critical… pic.twitter.com/Zr788KwA0j— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) November 7, 2025 Our experience during the COVID-19 outbreak should provide a clear example of why we can’t rely on the communist regime going forward. Some of Trump’s international moves directly intersect the line between foreign and domestic policy. With Trump effectively shutting down the border and beginning the difficult process of deporting those who don’t legally belong in this country, he will likely ease some of the burden of housing costs, for instance. And by targeting cartels aided by American foes in Central and South America, he is addressing the “root causes” of a border problem that has bedeviled the country for more than a generation. Quagmires Are Out, Deterrence Through Strength is In Trump’s moves have even broader implications than how they affect the economy, too. He has used swift and decisive force on several occasions during his two non-consecutive terms in office. Trump has ordered a precision strike on an Iranian general who killed Americans, then struck Iran’s nuclear facility years later with the remarkable Operation Midnight Hammer. The U.S. Navy conducted its largest operation since World War II in its battle with Houthi terrorists in Yemen, a conflict that incredibly led to zero U.S. combat deaths. (Two Navy SEALS did drown while attempting to board a vessel carrying weapons to Yemen.) And Trump’s used U.S. military force to clamp down on drug traffickers in the Caribbean while putting pressure on Venezuela’s socialist regime. But none of these demonstrations of force have led to wide-scale, long-term ground combat. Just as importantly, none have ended in the kind of shambolic failure that we saw in Biden’s disastrous and sloppy exit from Afghanistan. Trump, alongside his Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, is rebuilding credible deterrence while avoiding military quagmires that waste valuable resources, sap national morale, and shake the confidence of U.S. service personnel. Nothing will be more catastrophic to American prosperity than a major war with a peer or near-peer adversary. By rebuilding American strength, calming regional conflicts that could suck in larger powers, and relying on serious allies to consider their own defense rather than assuming the U.S. will always swoop in and handle things, Trump is making it less likely that we will be involved in a massive conflict. And by doing so he will give his domestic agenda time to take effect and succeed. A world of “commerce, not chaos,” is what Trump is aiming for to ensure this continues to be another American century. The post Trump’s Economic ‘Miracle’ Depends on His Foreign Policy Reset appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent roasted George Stephanopoulos over the shutdown, citing the host’s own book when he joined ABC News’ “This Week” Sunday morning. When Stephanopoulos asked Bessent if ending the filibuster is the best way to end the government shutdown, Bessent said “no.” “No. You were involved in a lot of these [government shutdowns] in the ’90s, and you basically called the Republicans terrorists,” Bessent said. “And you said it is not the responsible party that keeps the government closed.” Stephanopoulos countered Bessent, saying he “disagree[s] with the history there.” “I got all your quotes here,” Bessent replied. “I read your book, so you got one purchase on Amazon this week. That’s very much what you said.” Bessent said the solution to ending the government shutdown is for “five brave, moderate Democrat senators to cross the aisle.” “Right now it is 52-3. Five Democrats can cross the aisle and reopen the government. That’s the best way to do it,” Bessent stated.  Bessent also reflected on the decreasing poll numbers for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., saying that’s the factor that changed since the spring when Schumer passed a clean continuing resolution. Additionally, Bessent said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., “gave the game away this week.” “He [Murphy] said, ‘Now it’s to our advantage to keep the government closed.’ They have turned the American people into pawns,” Bessent declared. The post Bessent Throws the Book at Stephanopoulos—the ABC Host’s Own Book—in Debate Over Shutdown Hypocrisy appeared first on The Daily Signal.

An internal memo has rocked the leadership at the British Broadcasting Corporation.Last week, another outlet in the United Kingdom revealed that the memo had accused the BBC of deceptively editing footage of President Donald Trump's speech on January 6, 2021.'We fight like hell, and if you don't fight like hell, you're not gonna have a country any more.'The Telegraph reported that Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee, wrote a dossier on the BBC's alleged bias before leaving his position in June.The report accused the BBC of splicing together Trump's comments on Jan. 6 to appear as if they were made in the same breath, even though the remarks were about 54 minutes apart.As Blaze News previously reported, the edit in question appeared on the BBC's one-hour Panorama special, titled "Trump: A Second Chance?"The documentary featured a clip purporting to show Trump saying, "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell."In reality, Trump's actual statement was:"We're gonna walk down, and I'll be there with you. We're gonna walk down. We're gonna walk down, any one you want, but I think right here, we're gonna walk down to the Capitol, and we're gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. And we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them, because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated. Lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard."The edited clip also featured Trump's words from about 54 minutes later, when he was discussing election integrity."Most people would stand there at 9 o'clock in the evening and say, 'I wanna thank you very much,' and they go off to some other life, but I said something's wrong here, something's really wrong, can't have happened, and we fight.""We fight like hell, and if you don't fight like hell, you're not gonna have a country any more," Trump added.Now, BBC Director-General Tim Davie and CEO of BBC News Deborah Turness have both handed in their resignations.RELATED: BBC allegedly deceptively edited Trump’s Jan. 6 speech into riot lie Tim DAvie. Photo by Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images Davie issued a memo to his staff on Saturday and claimed that it was completely his decision to step down."I wanted to let you know that I have decided to leave the BBC after 20 years. This is entirely my decision," Davie wrote, according to the Hollywood Reporter.The director said he had been reflecting on the "very intense personal and professional demands" that come with his role and claimed that "in these increasingly polarized times, the BBC is of unique value and speaks to the very best of us."Without directly mentioning the video editing controversy, Davie called the BBC a "critical ingredient of a healthy society."'As the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the buck stops with me.'Turness, however, was openly self-deprecating in her decision to resign."The ongoing controversy around the Panorama on President Trump has reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC — an institution that I love," she wrote in a memo. "As the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the buck stops with me — and I took the decision to offer my resignation to the Director-General last night."She added that "in public life, leaders" must be "fully accountable, and that is why I am stepping down."Still, Turness said despite the mistakes, any "allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong."RELATED: The UK wants to enforce its censorship laws in the US. The First Amendment begs to differ. CEO of BBC News Deborah Turness, October 13, 2022 in London, England. Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images As the BBC is a government-run institution, the ruling Labour Party chimed in on the controversy."I want to thank Tim Davie for his service to public service broadcasting over many years. He has led the BBC through a period of significant change and helped the organization to grip the challenges it has faced in recent years," said U.K. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.Nandy said the BBC charter, which defines "Object, Mission and Public Purposes" for the organization, will be reviewed to help the BBC "adapt to this new era" and secure its role at the "heart of national life" for the future.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The 2025 collection tells the story of his emergence and maturation as a songwriter and performer, from Minnesota to the Greenwich Village bohemia in the early 1960s. The post Young Bob: Bootleg Series Vol 18—’Through the Open Window 1956-1963′ Delivers Early Dylan appeared first on Best Classic Bands.

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