Free Republic

Former President Joe Biden's U.S. Secret Service received a credible threat on President Donald Trump's life 10 days before last July 13's Butler, Pennsylvania rally, but chose to leave the assigned details for Trump and the rally in the dark. "This past weekend, the Government Accountability Office produced [to] me its report on the July 13 assassination attempt," Grassley told the Senate in a floor speech Monday night. "The Government Accountability Office's report starts by stating, 'The U.S. Secret Service failed to implement security measures that could've prevented the assassination attempt on then-former President Donald J. Trump during a July...

Democrats and their hardline leftist constituencies are disempowered, angry, and growing ever more frustrated. Now is no time for conservatives to split into rival camps. The celebrations didn’t last long. President Trump kicked off the festivities at the Iowa State Fair grounds. He was in Iowa to ballyhoo passage of the One, Big Beautiful Bill. The crowd -- as always at Trump rallies -- was enthusiastic. The mammoth measure is the centerpiece of Trump’s second administration. It unlocks the door to a huge boost to the economy and provides a torrent of new monies for tougher border enforcement and mass...

An Iowa law removing gender identity as a protected class from the state’s civil rights code took effect Tuesday, the first action of its kind in the United States. The new rollback of protections is the latest attack on trans people in the US and part of a broader movement across conservative-led states working to restrict LGBTQ rights.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to deliver a “spectacular” yearlong birthday party to mark 250 years of American independence. On Thursday, he will be in the U.S. heartland to kick off the patriotic festivities — and to celebrate the final passage of his sweeping tax cuts and spending package.Trump is expected to tout the major piece of his agenda when he takes the stage Thursday at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, according to the White House. This comes just hours after the House pushed it through in a tight roll call...

President Donald Trump said Thursday that no progress was made in ending the war with Ukraine after he conducted another lengthy call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump spoke to reporters at Joint Base Andrews ahead of a trip to Des Moines, Iowa. -snip- We had a call. It was a pretty long call. We talked about a lot of things including Iran and we also talked about, as you know, the war with Ukraine,' Trump said. 'And I'm not happy about that,' he said. Trump was then asked if he made progress with Putin on a peace deal with...

🎆 Let the Celebrations Begin ... for America's 250th 🎇🔔 Let FREEDOM RING 🔔

On Tuesday Senator Chuck Grassley released new information from declassified documents that reveal the FBI blocked an investigation into the allegations that the Chinese Communist Party manufactured thousands of fake driver’s licenses and shipped them to the US in a scheme to help Joe Biden win the election by fraudulent mail-in votes. The FBI hid the investigation in order to protect dirty FBI Director Chris Wray who had lied to Congress about the election. Senator Chuck Grassley reported this earlier today.

The Satanic Temple (TST) in Iowa filed a complaint June 10 with the Iowa Office of Civil Rights, claiming that it is a religious group and that state officials discriminated against it by denying it permission to host a satanic event in the Iowa Capitol. TST applied to hold a winter celebration in the Capitol in December 2024 in an attempt to educate Iowans about satanism and its beliefs, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, which filed the complaint on behalf of TST. Mortimer Adramelech, a satanic minister of TST Iowa, claimed that he and his group...

Residents living across a huge area spanning three states have been warned of dangerous air pollution levels on Tuesday. Swathes of Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin are all affected by poor air quality, with an area around Minneapolis covered by one of the most severe warnings. Smoke from wildfires, combined with the current weather conditions, have contributed to the pollution. Why It Matters Health officials warn that vulnerable populations — such as children, older adults and individuals with existing respiratory issues — face heightened risks during periods of poor air quality. Even healthy members of the general public may experience health...

A quiet afternoon on a farm turned into a moment of prehistoric discovery. What this teen uncovered could rewrite part of ancient history. What began as a simple search for arrowheads on an Iowa farm turned into an extraordinary encounter with the past. A teenager’s unexpected discovery of a 34,000-year-old mastodon jaw is now capturing the attention of scientists and shedding new light on Ice Age life in North America. Chance Find Reveals Ancient Ice Age Resident The student was simply enjoying a day outdoors when he came across a large bone fragment partially embedded in the ground. Curious, he...

A settlement has been reached after a man in Scott County, Iowa, accused his former employer of firing him for wearing Christian-themed T-shirts to counter its alliance with the LGBTQ agenda. Cosby “Corey” Cunningham sued Eaton Corp. after it endorsed so-called “Pride Month,” which ramps up throughout the month of June, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported Thursday. He sued the global power management company in June 2024 and alleged it had violated his civil rights over the matter. Cunningham, who is a Christian, decided to take action when Eaton initiated a ceremony recognizing “Pride Month” in early June 2023, per...

Planned Parenthood North Central States announced it plans to close four clinics in Iowa amid financial challenges. The organization said it will close its clinics in Ames, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City and Urbandale in addition to four of its clinics in Minnesota in the coming year. It will also layoff 66 staff members and offer 37 others reassignments. Planned Parenthood said in a press release that the decision to restructure and close the clinics "comes as patient needs and preferences have changed, the broken aspects of our health care system have intensified, the organization’s Minnesota Title X funds have been...

Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) filed paperwork Monday to run for Iowa governor in 2026, as multiple Republicans continue to weigh the opportunity to replace Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) when her term ends. The Hill’s attempts to reach Feenstra and his campaign team were unsuccessful. Feenstra, who was first elected to the House in 2020, has been openly mulling a gubernatorial bid since Reynolds announced on social media last month that she won’t seek a third full term. “I’ll tell you right now, I’m focused on fulfilling and making sure that we get Trump’s agenda completed,” Feenstra told reporters after an...

DOUGLAS — Faint wagon routes and stories of a battle with bulls at the San Pedro River may be the only traces left of the Mormon Battalion’s trek through Cochise County, but Kevin and Denny Henson are reliving that history as best as they can. In 1846 about 500 Mormon men from Iowa Territory joined what became known as the Mormon Battalion for the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War. The battalion’s primary mission was to build a wagon road to San Diego. On Sunday at the Twin Buttes RV Park near Douglas, Kevin Henson gave a presentation about the...

his is the fascinating tale of a twentysomething suburban Chicago man who won $800,000 in sports bets, which he traveled as far as Iowa to place. When it came time to cash in, the casinos refused. Thomas McPeek, 24, shares a home with his parents. The basement is a shrine to their favorite teams, including the Cubs and the Bears. McPeek read a stack of books to make some educated sports wagers. He placed stacks and stacks of bets last year, complicated wagers on football called parlays, where several events all have to happen for the gambler to win. "It...

The Iowa House passed legislation Monday to legalize the use of psilocybin, the psychoactive compound found in “magic mushrooms,” for psychiatric treatment through a state program. House File 978, passed 84-6, would establish a Psilocybin Production Establishment Licensing Board within the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, operating in a similar fashion to the existing Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board that oversees Iowa’s medical cannabis program. The board would grant licenses for the production and administration of products with psilocybin to people with certain mental health needs in the state. The bill also sets new requirements for who can access...

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) was pressed on the status of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador, during a heated exchange at a town hall he held Tuesday. Grassley discussed numerous topics during the Iowa event, including farmers, tariffs and congressional Republicans’ planned reconciliation bill that would seek to cut spending, extend President Trump’s tax cuts and provide money for border security, among other initiatives. But he participated in a particularly tense back-and-forth when discussing the case of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national. “Are you going to bring that guy back from El Salvador?”...

Opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. rose dramatically after 1999, but also exhibited substantial geographic variation. Job loss due to international trade is positively associated with opioid overdose mortality at the county-level. This association is significantly stronger in areas in which fentanyl is present in the heroin supply. In general, the loss of 1,000 trade-related jobs was associated with a 2.7 percent increase in opioid-related deaths. When fentanyl was present, the same number of job losses was associated with a 11.3 percent increase in such deaths. The positive relationship between trade-related job loss and opioid-related overdose death is well illustrated...

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced a bill with far-left Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), which would almost certainly put Trump’s new tariffs entirely on ice. The legislation’s stated purpose is to ‘reassert’ the legislative branch’s power over tariff policy. “The Trade Review Act of 2025” requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of imposing new tariffs. The president must also present a detailed rationale and analysis of the potential consequences for American businesses and consumers. Moreover, the legislation will require ALL tariffs to be approved by Congress within 60 days, or they will automatically expire.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is suing to defund an entire county after its leading law enforcement authority vowed to "make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt" deportation operations based on ICE detainers, which he called unconstitutional. This comes amid the Trump administration's concerted whole-of-government approach to cracking down on illegal immigration and migrant crime in the United States. Bird, a Republican, argues that the sheriff’s self-proclaimed "longtime" stance of interrupting immigration enforcement operations based on detainers "impeded and discouraged cooperation with federal immigration authorities in violation of Iowa law." A detainer is a formal request by ICE to...