Latest news with #LauraBush
CBS News
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Former President George W. Bush draws inspiration close to his Dallas home in his latest paintings
Former President George W. Bush didn't need to look too far for inspiration for his newest works of art. The 78-year-old has brushed portraits of world leaders and people who immigrated to the U.S. But his newest collection draws on scenes much closer to home: his presidential library in Dallas. An outside view of the George W. Bush Presidential Museum on Thursday, May 15, 2025 where an exhibit featuring paintings by President George W. Bush is on display in Dallas. Jessica Tobias / AP The exhibit opened on Thursday at the George W. Bush Presidential Center on the campus of Southern Methodist University. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush moved to Dallas after he left the White House in 2009, and he took up oil painting a few years later. The 35 new works are an ode not only to life at the center but also to SMU. The exhibit called "A Shining City on the Hilltop" is both a nod to SMU's nickname — The Hilltop — and former President Ronald Reagan's famous use of the phrase "shining city upon a hill" to refer to America, said Teresa Lenling, director of the presidential museum. A visitor looks at an exhibit of paintings by President George W. Bush on display at the George W. Bush Presidential Museum on Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Dallas. Jessica Tobias / AP "This features not just the places around the SMU campus but it really takes a look at the people that are the heart of this campus and the community," said Lenling, adding that Bush composed the paintings from photos taken around the center and campus. One of the paintings comes from the center's opening in 2013, when then-President Barack Obama and all of the still-living former presidents, including Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, posed in front of the new building. Devon Yarbrough, who works at the center, said she was "very surprised" but pleased to spot herself in one of the paintings. She's depicted reading a book on her lunch break while sitting on a bench under a tree in the center's 15-acre park. A visitor looks at an exhibit of paintings by President George W. Bush on display at the George W. Bush Presidential Museum on Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Dallas. Jessica Tobias / AP This is the fifth exhibit of George W. Bush's art to be featured at the center. His first exhibit was a collection of portraits of world leaders, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Dalai Lama. He's also done a collection of paintings of military veterans, which were featured in his book "Portraits of Courage," and painted portraits of people who immigrated to the U.S., which are compiled in his book "Out of Many, One." The exhibit is on display through Oct. 19.
The Independent
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Former President George W. Bush draws inspiration close to his Dallas home in his latest paintings
Former President George W. Bush didn't need to look too far for inspiration for his newest works of art. The 78-year-old has brushed portraits of world leaders and people who immigrated to the U.S. But his newest collection draws on scenes much closer to home: his presidential library in Dallas. The exhibit opened Thursday at the George W. Bush Presidential Center on the campus of Southern Methodist University. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush moved to Dallas after he left the White House in 2009, and he took up oil painting a few years later. The 35 new works are an ode not only to life at the center but also SMU. The exhibit called 'A Shining City on the Hilltop" is both a nod to SMU's nickname — The Hilltop — and former President Ronald Reagan's famous use of the phrase 'shining city upon a hill' to refer to America, said Teresa Lenling, director of the presidential museum. 'This features not just the places around the SMU campus but it really takes a look at the people that are the heart of this campus and the community,' said Lenling, adding that Bush composed the paintings from photos taken around the center and campus. One of the paintings comes from the center's opening in 2013, when then-President Barack Obama and all of the still-living former presidents, including Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, posed in front of the new building. Devon Yarbrough, who works at the center, said she was 'very surprised' but pleased to spot her herself in one of the paintings. She's depicted reading a book on her lunch break while sitting on a bench under tree in the center's 15-acre park. This is the fifth exhibit of George W. Bush's art to be featured at the center. His first exhibit was a collection of portraits of world leaders including including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Dalai Lama. He's also done a collection of paintings of military veterans, which were featured in his book 'Portraits of Courage,' and painted portraits of people who immigrated to the U.S., which are compiled in his book 'Out of Many, One.' The exhibit is on display through Oct. 19.
Associated Press
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Former President George W. Bush draws inspiration close to his Dallas home in his latest paintings
DALLAS (AP) — Former President George W. Bush didn't need to look too far for inspiration for his newest works of art. The 78-year-old has brushed portraits of world leaders and people who immigrated to the U.S. But his newest collection draws on scenes much closer to home: his presidential library in Dallas. The exhibit opened Thursday at the George W. Bush Presidential Center on the campus of Southern Methodist University. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush moved to Dallas after he left the White House in 2009, and he took up oil painting a few years later. The 35 new works are an ode not only to life at the center but also SMU. The exhibit called 'A Shining City on the Hilltop' is both a nod to SMU's nickname — The Hilltop — and former President Ronald Reagan's famous use of the phrase 'shining city upon a hill' to refer to America, said Teresa Lenling, director of the presidential museum. 'This features not just the places around the SMU campus but it really takes a look at the people that are the heart of this campus and the community,' said Lenling, adding that Bush composed the paintings from photos taken around the center and campus. One of the paintings comes from the center's opening in 2013, when then-President Barack Obama and all of the still-living former presidents, including Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, posed in front of the new building. Devon Yarbrough, who works at the center, said she was 'very surprised' but pleased to spot her herself in one of the paintings. She's depicted reading a book on her lunch break while sitting on a bench under tree in the center's 15-acre park. This is the fifth exhibit of George W. Bush's art to be featured at the center. His first exhibit was a collection of portraits of world leaders including including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Dalai Lama. He's also done a collection of paintings of military veterans, which were featured in his book 'Portraits of Courage,' and painted portraits of people who immigrated to the U.S., which are compiled in his book 'Out of Many, One.' The exhibit is on display through Oct. 19.
Miami Herald
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Jenna Bush Hager's mother once wrote a handwritten apology for parenting mishap
Jenna Bush Hager is looking back at an apology her mother gave her years ago. In the newest episode of her 'Open Book with Jenna' podcast, the 43-year-old 'Today' host talked to psychologist Aliza Pressman about effective tools to help make the parenting journey more enjoyable. During their conversation, Bush Hager recalled a touching memory about her mother, former First Lady Laura Bush. 'She read an article in the Washington Post about how basically, you know, women look at their daughters as mirrors,' Bush Hager explains on the podcast. 'And sometimes they'll be like, 'Oh, get the hair out of your face,' because it's sort of like them talking to themselves,' she continued. According to Bush Hager, that article was quite the eye-opener for her mother. 'She wrote, like, in her cursive next to the article, like, 'I know that this has been me,' and I'm, you know, 'I'm sorry,'' Bush Hager recalled. Pressman, who released her bestselling book, 'The 5 Principles of Parenting,' in January 2024, said she could relate to what Laura Bush was experiencing at that moment. 'I can speak for myself. I still, no matter how much I know, worry so much about those moments where I'm like, 'Are we repaired? Do I need to say something? What happened here?'' Pressman explained. According to her website, Pressman is the mom of two teens. 'I just think it's so beautiful. And I really lean into that science of repair because I believe it,' she continued. 'And I think it is important for us to know that the door is open forever.' Bush Hager, who shares three children with her husband Henry Hager, agreed that parents 'should be having those conversations — even as adults.' The discussion came two weeks after Bush Hager and her twin sister, Barbara Bush, interviewed their mother — who spoke about the joys of having (and raising) twin daughters. 'We were so thrilled to get two of you at once,' Laura Bush said in the interview, per Today. 'Especially, I thought, because since I was an only child, for you to have each other.' The former First Lady, who has been married to George W. Bush since 1977, described Bush Hager as the 'wildest' of their family-of-four. But despite their unique upbringing — and partly growing up in the White House — Laura Bush said she never expected her daughters to be perfect. She did, however, always know that they would make great mothers. 'It's been really fun to see both of you do it,' Laura Bush said of her two daughters, who have made her a grandmother to five children over the past decade. 'It's wonderful to have grandchildren, I'm thrilled to have grandchildren,' Laura Bush said to her twins. 'For one thing, we can be with them, we can play with them, then we can send them all to y'all!' Bush Hager shares two daughters — Mila, 11, and Poppy, 9 — and son Hal, 5, with her husband. Meanwhile, Barbara Bush shares two children — daughter Cora Georgia, 3, and son Edward Finn, born in August 2024 — with her husband Craig Coyne. In an interview with Us Weekly, published March 29, the two sisters revealed that they 'aspire' to be the kind of parents Laura and George W. Bush were. 'They tried to make the world creative and magical for us. And when you're really little, the world is magical,' Bush Hager said of her childhood. 'So, it's both parents being part of their kids' lives, but it's also parents getting kid energy, putting down their phones and seeing what they see because it's hilarious and it's fun,' she continued.
The Hill
05-03-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
‘War feminism' helped doom USAID
The U.S. Agency for International Development is effectively dead. One of its killers — unmentioned in the requiems for the agency — is the idea of 'war feminism.' War feminism stands for the belief that ideas of women's liberation espoused by Western feminists can be imposed on other societies via occupation and development aid. The visible and public failure to deliver women's liberation to Afghanistan delegitimized USAID in the eyes of Americans, who have decided to turn away from the idea of development aid altogether. In 2001, war feminists from both the Republican and Democratic parties vehemently supported the U.S. going to war with Afghanistan on behalf of Afghan women. This included First Lady Laura Bush, who famously announced in a November 2001 radio address that the U.S. would 'liberate' Afghan women. Feminist leaders from the nonprofit Feminist Majority Foundation supported the war, even though Afghan women's groups had come out against it. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and future Secretary of State Hillary Clinton all supported the war-feminist agenda in Afghanistan. In the two decades that followed, USAID programs became the vehicle for this goal. The agency gave out hundreds of millions of dollars for empowerment programs that ranged from running competitions to the airlifting of fabrics and sewing machines. In 2018, the agency launched 'PROMOTE,' one of the largest programs geared toward women's empowerment in the agency's history, which aimed to help 75,000 Afghan women with internships and job training. The program's price tag was $280 million, most of which went to U.S. contractors and failed to reach Afghan women altogether. A 2018 report from the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction noted serious flaws in this expensive program. In certain cases, women who had attended a single workshop were noted as having benefited from the program. In other cases, the metrics for deliverables were lowered such that only 20 women out of the 3,000 job training participants would have had to find a job with the Afghan civil service for the program to be considered successful. The report notes that only 55 women could truly be said to have benefited from the program, a far cry from the 75,000 it was designed to help. For its part, in its formal response, USAID insisted that it had helped 50,000 Afghan women with training and support for skills so that they could do advocacy for women's rights and start their own businesses. Neither USAID nor the Inspector General report made any mention of the fact that the problem may has lay with the Westerners who believed that a one-size-fits-all model of women's liberation could be exported to another country and delivered on the back of the military. The waste of these millions of dollars was obvious to U.S. taxpayers when the Taliban marched back into Kabul in August 2021 at the heels of a hurried U.S. withdrawal and reinstated all the draconian and misogynistic laws that America had promised to eradicate forever. Within months, women whom the U.S. could not liberate in 20 years were forced back to their homes. Girls' schools beyond fifth grade were shuttered and women were not allowed to be outside their homes without an accompanying male guardian. Next door in Pakistan, where tribal areas were being bombed by U.S. Predator drones, war feminists again tried to export their ideas of women's empowerment via USAID. An Office of Management and Budget report from 2013 reviewed the performance of a grant of $40 million dollars made to a small Karachi-based NGO with the goal of 'improving the lives of Pakistani women.' The report stated that the program had 'less than maximum impact' and the program's grants had little lasting effect on the lives of women in Pakistan. Some of the projects undertaken by the grants were just as superfluous as the ones in Afghanistan. One example was a radio program to raise awareness about gender violence — a noble goal in itself, but hardly the most effective allocation of funds in a country that ranks near to last in the global gender gap index. Nor was any consideration given to organizational capacity or the predictable issues that occurred when a small organization with a paltry budget is suddenly granted $40 million. In many cases, funds disbursed by USAID did provide much needed and essential services. But war feminism — and the 'liberation' of Afghan women that it made a goal — delegitimized USAID in the eyes of the public. By the time Kabul fell, it was obvious that ideas of freedom cooked up by feminists in D.C. could not be translated to the Afghan context. The large amounts of unaccounted funds also exposed corruption within the organization and the intransigence of bureaucrats who refused to acknowledge failures or alter the direction of the organization when these failures were repeatedly pointed out. The end of USAID is inextricably connected to the idea that 'women's liberation' — defined by technocratic bureaucrats as women receiving job training or sewing machines — could not cover up the ignominies of warfare. The eagerness of war feminists to export liberation via bombs has left Afghan women more vulnerable and oppressed than ever before. The Trump administration and its supporters have lobbed many criticisms at the nearly defunct organization, but few admit that USAID's failure also shows that moral legitimacy for war cannot be purchased via soft power costumed as women's liberation.
