Actress Olivia Hussey who gained fame in two Franco Zeffirelli productions, Romeo & Juliet and Jesus of Nazareth in which she respectively played Juliet and Jesus's mother Mary.
Carter was probably not as bad a President as he was maligned as. Unfortunately, he was overwhelmed by events, chiefly stagflation, the Soviets behaving badly and, most of all, the Iran Hostage Crisis. Reagan got to take credit for some of the things he did, namely the release of the hostages, the efforts of Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, a Carter appointee, to finally crack the inflation riddle and set the table for the economic boom of the 1980's and some of his efforts to get tough on the Soviets which began the process of communism starving itself to death. What ultimately doomed Carter in 1980 was his one debate with Reagan which came about a week before the election. Prior to then, the race had been neck-and-neck. After that debate, Carter's support collapsed. I often wonder if that debate had happened a month earlier and there were additional debates if that race would have turned out differently.
It's eerie how many parallels there are are to Carter and Biden--both were good, decent people but, fairly or not, became tagged as unacceptably weak leaders and who were largely controlled by events that were out of their control--inflation, a Mid-East crisis and Soviet/Russian muscle flexing. And, very frustratingly, Trump will get to take credit for what Biden laid the foundation for--a growing economy (wages are catching up with inflation) and a world stage on which Iran's ability to cause trouble has been degraded (and the esteem of the Iranian regime may also be degraded a bit with the proud Iranian people) and Russia is stuck in a stalemate--so long as Trump does not screw it all up (no guarantee of that). History will ultimately be kinder to Carter and should be kind to Biden.
I agree he was better than people give him credit for (and with your Biden comparison), but even at the time Carter faced a primary challenge within his own party - imagine! - and also lost enthusiasm (if not ultimately meaningful votes) to John Anderson.
Had the hostages been actually released he surely would have won, which is a whole other story isn't it?
One of the last remaining Washington Senators from my youth. One interesting thing looking at his baseball reference page is that he caught one game in the majors - and it was for 6 innings not just a token late appearance. Never caught at any other level and actually threw out 1 of the 4 guys who tried to steal on him. It was game 2 of a double-header and he was the emergency catcher after both regular catchers injured their throwing hands on foul tips.
Keeping it baseball-related, Craig Calcaterra on Carter
Paywalled, but some screenshots here5
8 days later
I loved Bob Uecker. His self-deprecating humor style always had me laughing. RIP.
Here are some of my favorite quotes:.
"I had a great shoe contract and glove contract with a company who paid me a lot of money never to be seen using their stuff.".
"You know, I was once named Minor League Player of the Year... unfortunately, I had been in the majors for two years at the time."
"How do you catch a knuckleball? You wait until it stops rolling, then go pick it up."
I had the opportunity to meet Bob by being around a few of his family members in Wisconsin. The best thing about him was not his baseball career, announcing, television opportunities and such but his dedication to his family. He was always there for any and all of them. He was a great person who will be missed by many.
When he played for the Phillies, he lived in Manayunk and I understand that he attended church at St. John the Baptist where I now worship.
Film director David Lynch.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/16/david-lynch-dead/9
