Free Republic

California’s eco-bureaucrats halted a wildfire prevention project near the Pacific Palisades to protect an endangered shrub. It’s just the latest clash between fire safety and conservation in California that is coming under scrutiny following the devastating outbreak of the Palisades Fire — the most devastating blaze in Los Angeles history, which has consumed the very same area. In 2019, the LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP) began replacing nearly 100-year-old power line poles cutting through Topanga State Park, when the project was halted within days by conservationists outraged that federally endangered Braunton’s milkvetch plants had been trampled during the...

Former President Donald Trump reshaped the Grand Old Party (GOP) in 2024 with new faces at the Republican National Convention. Trump, who tailored the GOP as a working class, America First populist party, will not be joined at the convention by some of the most familiar establishment Republican faces of the past 20 years, a signal of a transformed party under a political figure looking to complete the greatest comeback in American history. Among those establishment members who will not appear at the RNC include: Former President George Bush Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney Outgoing Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) Former Vice...

Former President George W. Bush intends to vote in the 2024 presidential election, but he might write in the name of his brother, Jeb Bush — or his late Scottish terrier, Barney. Though joking, Bush echoed a concern many Americans cite about two of the prospective candidates: their age. “I predict that most Americans think we’re too damn old at the top,” Bush, 77, said. “I’m too old to be president. I know what it takes to be president, and I’m younger than Biden and Trump.” Bush is about four years younger than current President Joe Biden and about one...

Former U.S. President George W. Bush: "The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean, of the Ukraine"

A former top speechwriter for President George W. Bush slammed Donald Trump Jr. this past weekend over a recent speech in which the former first son lamented that conservatives had “ceded ground in every major institution in our country.” In an op-ed published by The Atlantic Sunday, Peter Wehner took issue with Trump Jr.’s Dec. 19 remarks at the America Fest Conference hosted by Turning Point USA. “If we get together, they cannot cancel us all. Okay? They won’t. And this will be contrary to a lot of our beliefs because — I’d love not to have to participate in...

https://www.bushcenter.org/publications/articles/2021/08/afghanistan-relief-and-resources.html

Former President George W. Bush’s public policy organization states that amnesty for illegal aliens is “essential” to securing the United States-Mexico border as illegal immigration continues to soar under President Joe Biden’s administration. In an op-ed for the Dallas Morning News, the George W. Bush Center’s Natalie Gonnella-Platts and Jenny Villatoro write that a massive amnesty for most of the nation’s 11-to-22 million illegal aliens is necessary as part of a broader border security initiative. The op-ed is part of a larger amnesty coalition where Bush has lobbied Republican lawmakers for months to craft an amnesty for illegal aliens with...

No, I hadn't see this news item late last week, about George Bush suddenly not "owing" another president his "silence," in his string of lip-curling insults directed at President Trump. Guess I don't view him as worth watching much. But sure enough, he had plenty of hateful things to say about President Trump for the left-wing media, and he's the smaller for it. Here were his three worst whoppers, as cited by Business Insider: In an interview with the Texas Tribune's Evan Smith, Bush described how watching the January 6 attack "really disturbed" him, both then and now. "I was...

" @laurawbush and I were honored to return to the Capitol today for the swearing-in of @POTUS and @VP . This was the 8th inauguration I’ve had the privilege of attending, and it was an equally beautiful spectacle of democracy.” – President George W. Bush

he George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum opened seven years ago and anchors the southeastern corner of campus at Southern Methodist University, where I teach history. In late November 2016, I took a tour of the facility with five college friends who were visiting from the East Coast. The recent presidential election was much on our minds as we wandered through the building, contemplating various artifacts from Bush’s two terms in office. Although we were hardly fans of his presidency, one of my pals—fearful, like everyone in our group, of a Trump administration—got misty-eyed when reflecting upon Bush’s obvious...

A new super PAC formed by hundreds of former campaign, administration, and political staffers from George W. Bush’s administration will work to get former Vice President Joe Biden elected, saying they are “dismayed and disappointed” by the Trump presidency. The new group, 43 Alumni for Biden, announced their formation on Wednesday, saying their purpose is to “unite and mobilize a community of historically Republican voters who are dismayed and disappointed by the damage done to our nation.”

A call by former President George W. Bush for humanity to jettison partisanship amid the Chinese coronavirus pandemic has drawn a sharp rebuke from President Donald Trump. Bush published a video message on Saturday urging unity and togetherness amid the coronavirus’ outbreak, which received 4.4 million views on Twitter as of Sunday morning. Bush’s plea amounted to a call for people to ignore partisanship to protect the most vulnerable and to assist those who have become unemployed. (snip) The president’s (Trump's) response was straight to the point, outlining Bush’s absence when Trump was being excoriated during his impeachment proceedings. “.@PeteHegseth...

With the UK under strict lockdown rules, people are only allowed to leave their homes under very strict guidelines. Apparently, one clever and crafty individual wasn’t going to let this stop them from going outside. A couple from Stevenage in the UK, Nicholas Murray and Madeline Mai-Davies, shared footage that they say shows one of their neighbors donning a disguise to head out to the store. The video shows the man dressed as a bush and apparently sneaking out to the store before heading back home (and tripping along the way).

The White House on Saturday disparaged the legacies of the only two living Republican presidents to precede Donald Trump, after reports that both men castigated Trump in interviews last year and refused to vote for him. Former president George H.W. Bush mocked then-candidate Trump as a “blowhard” and voted for a Democratic president, while the younger Bush worried aloud that Trump would destroy the idea of a Republican president in all but name, according to “The Last Republicans,” which is scheduled to go on sale later this month. The White House responded after quotes from the book were published on...

President Barack Obama delivered on another foreign policy promise on Friday with plans to pull the last U.S. troops from Iraq. But in a re-election campaign all about the weak U.S. economy, he may not get much credit. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, radical Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi -- these are all dead U.S. opponents that Democrat Obama can claim a measure of credit for getting. Now add to that Obama's announcement on Friday that the eight-year war in Iraq is ending, fulfilling a campaign goal he made in 2008 when he declared the...

Neighbors frequently bicker over shrubbery (seriously), but it is not every day that one neighbor just knocks down the greens-in-question. When a relative stranger complains to Lloyd Blankfein about it, it's downright unusual. It's even more bizarre when the knockee is a significant client of the knocker. That's exactly what happened to Jim Chanos, the president of Kynikos Associates, who voiced his grievances about an incident involving the hedges on his Hamptons property to Goldman's CEO. Luckily, he lived to tell the tale to Bethany McLean. In a big Vanity Fair article, McLean details the incident, which involved Marc Spilker,...

Bush changes mind, may save auto giants Facing the potential bankruptcy of iconic American firms, President Bush on Friday abandoned his longstanding objection to using using the Wall Street bailout fund to help save G.M., Ford and Chrysler. A frustrated Republican congressional official said: "If only they had said this last week, we could have saved ourselves a full week." Ten hours after the Senate rejected a separate lifeline for the automakers, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in a statement it would be "irresponsible" to let the companies crash. So she said Bush will "consider other options," including...

WASHINGTON (CNN) – As President-elect Obama visits the White House, a new national poll suggests that the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the most unpopular president in the six decades since presidential approval ratings were first measured. Seventy-six percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday disapprove of how George W. Bush is handling his job as President. That's an all-time high in CNN polling, or in Gallup polling dating back to World War II. "No other president's disapproval rating has gone higher than 70 percent. Bush has managed to do that three times...

<p>As wildfires raged in Southern California this week, Richard Halsey's embrace of the local shrubland turned prickly.</p> <p>The founding director of the California Chaparral Institute, Mr. Halsey has spent four years defending the existence of chaparral, the term given to the wide varieties of shrubby plants, trees and bushes that dot the region's hilly landscape.</p>

McClatchy Exclusive: Bush Accuses Conservative Critics of Fear-Mongering on Immigration Firing back at conservative critics, President Bush defended his plan to overhaul immigration laws Tuesday and accused its opponents of "trying to rile up people’s emotions" with misinformation. In an exclusive interview with McClatchy Newspapers, Bush expressed his determination to fight for changes that would let millions of illegal immigrants gain legal status. He cast the debate as a struggle over America’s soul and its reputation as a welcoming nation. "I’m deeply concerned about America losing its soul. Immigration has been the lifeblood of a lot of our country’s history,"...