This week, the Food and Drug Administration reviewed whether certain peptide therapies should be more widely available through compounding pharmacies. Some of the top names in longevity and health—including Brigham Buhler and Gary Brecka—arrived in Washington to weigh in on the latest Make America Healthy Again hot-button issue, raising questions about safety, innovation, and access. The review comes amid growing interest in peptide treatments and concerns that patients seeking these therapies may turn to sources outside traditional medical oversight. This FDA review is about more than peptides. It is an early glimpse into the broader questions and debates that will guide the future of American healthcare. From GLP-1 drugs, like Ozempic and Wegovy, to other peptide therapies aimed at influencing metabolism, inflammation, and tissue repair, scientists are developing new ways to harness the body’s own signaling systems. Peptides are short chains of amino acids that naturally regulate many biological processes, making them especially promising candidates for treating disease by restoring normal physiological function. These therapies may offer genuine hope for improving health. But they also raise a question that the MAHA movement will eventually have to confront: What is medicine’s ultimate purpose? For decades, Americans have been told that the solution to rising health problems is simply more medical intervention. Despite extraordinary advances in technology and enormous increases in health care spending, chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease continue to plague our country. MAHA challenges this approach by asking why Americans are unhealthy in the first place. The movement directs attention toward prevention, nutrition, environmental exposures, and the incentives shaping America’s food and health care systems. This focus is an important correction to a medical system that too often waits until people are sick before acting. But the future of health debates extends beyond nutrition and exercise. It concerns how America approaches technologies that can fundamentally alter how the human body functions. Peptides are only one part of a revolution in new medical technology. Artificial intelligence is transforming medical decision-making and drug development. Gene editing is creating new possibilities for treating genetic disorders while raising questions about the limits of human intervention. Reproductive technologies are altering the way many Americans approach fertility and procreation. These technologies challenge the traditional purpose of medicine to heal illness and open the door to an expansion of the human body’s natural capabilities. Not all technological advancements should induce anxiety or fear. Medical innovation is an essential part of curing disease and saving lives. However, while science may be able to tell us what is possible, it does not tell us what we ought to do or where limits, if any, should be placed on medical technologies. True health is about more than living longer or maximizing human performance. It also requires respect for the dignity of the human body, its natural limits, and the cultivation of virtues such as discipline and moderation. The MAHA movement has already challenged the trend of overmedicalization. Focusing on diet, lifestyle, and environmental conditions, MAHA recognizes that good health depends on respecting the body’s natural functions and holistic mechanisms. The movement now has an opportunity to apply this same insight to the future of medicine by considering the ethical questions raised by emerging technologies. The growing culture of biohacking, health optimization, and the pursuit of radical life extension reflects an understandable desire for greater health and vitality. But it also risks treating the human body as an engineering project, merely clumps of cells waiting to be manipulated and transformed. Medicine should certainly strive to help people live longer, healthier lives, but it must be a means to higher goods, rather than an end itself. Conservatives have long recognized that technology and innovation, while powerful forces for economic growth and national strength, require moral discernment. Biotechnology is no exception. The future of medicine should be guided not only by what is possible, but also by what benefits the human soul. As America enters a new era of biotechnology, policymakers should ensure that emerging technologies are evaluated not only for safety and effectiveness, but also for whether they advance the true goals of medicine: healing disease, restoring health, and promoting genuine human flourishing.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner told a gathering of supporters in Staunton this past weekend that “this is it” for him. It is his last run for the U.S. Senate seat he first won in 2008 after serving as Virginia’s governor. Funny, you don’t have to look hard in the archives to find a famous video from his first campaign where he said that he’d only run twice. (I’ll save you the trouble.) Senator @MarkWarner is running for a 4th termWarner in 1996 VA Senate debate:“I don’t want to be a lifelong politician. If I’m elected to US Senate, I will serve no more than two terms. I think our system is renewed by new ideas and fresh people.”–@MarkWarnerVA https://t.co/ypYDjqZFZl pic.twitter.com/p993HNks5M— NOVA Campaigns (@NoVA_Campaigns) March 16, 2026 Moreover, he said that it was “what you do for part of your life, not all of your life.” Warner is one of the most active social media “content creators” in D.C. He regularly posts rants about President Donald Trump, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin from the passenger seat of his car as he is being driven around. They are meant to look like a thought just struck him, and he had to pick up his smartphone and hit record. Like many people, especially in politics, who think they know how to “do what Trump does,” meaning making dance-hall comments in social media posts and calling out political “opponents,” Virginia’s senior senator frequently comes off aggressive, hostile and petulant. Take this post from his “Shotgun Sessions,” as I call them (from the nickname for the person in the passenger seat of a car), where he accuses the president of insider trading and of running a pay-to-play scam for his buddies to be in on it early: Trump’s attempt to charge folks $100,000/month for an insider trading scheme is beyond brazen corruption. Today, I’m fighting back. pic.twitter.com/5VMQ1YvLoG— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) July 21, 2026 Any evidence? Since this is not a news interview, he is unchallenged. He’s becoming a more animated version of Sen. Harry “Romney’s Taxes” Reid. And he’s one of the better ones. Up until last week, news anchors, just pleased to have someone with such gravitas as the vice chair of the oxymoronically named Senate Intelligence Committee on their show, wouldn’t even question him, never mind “fact-check” him like they do Trump. Then, after the president’s prime-time address to the nation where he exposed that 220 million voter registrations had been stolen by the Chinese, Warner went on with CBS News’ Tony Dokoupil and chastened the network, which had carried the address live, for presenting the speech “as news, as opposed to a rehash of falsehoods” and said journalists have a duty to push back on such claims. Dokoupil wasn’t having it and engaged in a shout-down with the senator. The anchor pointed out that CBS had brought Warner on specifically to scrutinize the president’s assertions, had provided fact-checking and analysis throughout, and that Warner was now giving the very context and pushback he was insisting that CBS provide. Lost in the backwash of the skirmish was Warner’s response when asked by Dokoupil if he had “heard anything new” from the president, and Warner said, “no.” Wait. You KNEW that 220 million Americans’ voter records were now in the hands of China? When were you going to mention that to us? Chum was in the water and now anchors no longer seemed to fear the tech billionaire turned lifelong senator. Just three days later, ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl interrupted the senator live on the Sunday morning show “This Week” to correct him on Virginia voter laws. Warner began to say, “In Virginia, we have voter ID and photo ID!” Karl interrupted: “That’s actually not the case. I’m a Virginia voter. You don’t need to show a photo ID in Virginia.” While it is fun to watch the formerly untouchable Virginia senator become the lunch special, I spoke with some of the folks who hope to win the GOP nomination to face Warner in November. I wanted to know their reaction to the senator’s admission that he knew that 220 million Americans’ voter records were now in the hands of China. Kim Farfington told me: “It’s been his track record all along. If you follow me on Facebook, social media, and on my press releases, this is exactly what I’m talking about with Mark Warner not understanding what people really need. They need accountability and they need transparency and he is not supporting Virginians at all.” David Williams told me: “I will provide that accountability. Yeah, and that’s what we need to get the SAVE America Act passed, period, point blank. That’s what our president is trying to do.” I could not catch up with Bert Mizusawa at the event we were all at. He did post this to his Facebook account regarding the president’s revelation: “This is insane! Trump just unclassified a bunch of information suggesting major election fraud over the past few elections. This is exactly why the SAVE America Act MUST be passed.” Sure, it’s fun to see the news anchors pushing back on a Democrat, but as a kid of the Watergate era, I still want to ask, “What did the senator know, and when did he know it?” We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.

The McKinney City Council in Texas is facing criticism after the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously voted to recommend a proposed mosque development for further consideration by the council. The McKinney Islamic Association already has a mosque on Eldorado Parkway, but members say they have outgrown the facility and plan to build a larger center to accommodate their growing congregation.  The proposed site is a 5-acre tract along Virginia Parkway near two residential neighborhoods and a high school. It would include a 37,000-square-foot facility that will include a mosque, educational spaces, a gymnasium, and meeting rooms. It will also be designed to accommodate 3,000 people.  The association submitted its project proposal to the City of McKinney’s Planning and Zoning Commission, which unanimously voted to forward it to the city council for final consideration. Some residents said they were unaware the proposal was under consideration. In 2024, the McKinney Islamic Association proposed a similar project but withdrew it following public opposition. Nearly two years later, the association submitted a revised proposal, prompting renewed criticism from some residents. During the July 21 City Council meeting, multiple residents spoke in opposition to the planned mosque. Several speakers expressed concerns about increased traffic congestion, public safety, and potential impacts on nearby property values. Others objected to the proposal because of concerns about the Islamic faith. “Before this council allows the McKinney Islamic Association to advance into construction, I am here to demand that you perform real due diligence not just on parking and traffic, but on the fundamental nature of what is being built in our community,” Ashley Louden, a U.S. Navy veteran, said. “You currently have imams in our area teaching their community that they are here to overthrow the U.S. government.” Another resident, who declined to identify himself during the meeting, urged the council to reject the proposal due to limited resources and infrastructure, as well as the potential for traffic issues related to religious observances. Other residents criticized what they described as a lack of public notification about the facility. “Transparency matters, and the people most affected should have had a fair chance to learn about it,” one resident said. After public comments concluded, Council Member Patrick Cloutier told attendees the council has limited authority over the proposal. Cloutier said the Islamic association purchased the property years ago and originally sought to build a 45,000-square-foot building, which would have required a zoning change. He said the group later reduced the size of the project to comply with the property’s existing zoning. “It was a couple years ago, after they bought it, that they fully anticipated they could build what they want here,” he said. “What they wanted was a 45,000 square foot building. That required a zoning change. That’s when you get the notice—when a zoning change is asked for.” Cloutier said the council cannot deny the project if it complies with the property’s existing planned development zoning. “They enjoy a 1997 very antiquated, planned development zoning. If they build to that zoning specifically, with no variations, this council and P and Z [Planning and Zoning] has not power to stop them,” Cloutier said. U.S. Rep. Keith Self, who represents McKinney, also weighed in on the proposed Islamic development in a post on X. “McKinney Residents—pay attention! The McKinney Planning and Zoning Commission just UNANIMOUSLY approved plans for a new mosque in your neighborhood,” said Self. “The McKinney City Council is meeting on this issue imminently.” The McKinney City Council is scheduled to consider the proposal during its Aug. 4 meeting.

Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham defended the policy of keeping men out of women’s sports and girls’ locker rooms this week, and the Left and media immediately screamed “Foul!” However, Cunningham characteristically refused to back down and on Wednesday night doubled down. The WNBA star, whose fierce, hysterical 22-second finger-point at Phoenix Mercury guard DeWanna Bonner last month turned her into a cultural phenomenon, insists she’s “not a very political person,” but protecting women’s sports is “common sense.” Yet, such “common sense” has been enough for Cunningham to be derisively labeled “MAGA Barbie.” The ruckus started when Cunningham, deep in a lengthy ESPN profile, declared she wanted to “protect young girls in the locker room” and “young girls in sports who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.” It’s actually not a new position for the sharpshooting forward. In 2022, she shared a tweet from CBS Sports’ Josh Pate about former Penn transgender swimmer Lia Thomas that declared, “Female collegiate athletes deserve so much better than this.” That retweet alone had critics throwing elbows her way. “I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” she told ESPN. Now Cunningham is far more famous, and the spotlight far more intense. The basketball player is getting shredded again on X and in media circles for her latest comments. She’s accused of “actively harming children by demonizing and marginalizing trans children,” and is facing calls for her to be suspended. Qwame Skinner at The Comeback wrote, “Hopefully, it doesn’t take a suspension for Cunningham to realize the damage that she is doing to an extremely small, extremely vulnerable community of people who are trying to live their best lives.” Former women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe took to “The View” Tuesday to perversely claim that keeping men from competing in women’s sports is actually an attack on women. Nay, “an attack on women in society.” However, many have come to Cunningham’s defense, including the White House. “The backlash she is receiving from Democrats and left-wing thinkers across the country is astonishing,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. “They are clearly very out of touch with the American public on this issue.” .@PressSec defends Sophie Cunningham for speaking out against men in women's sports: "Men should not be playing in women's sports…The backlash she is receiving from Democrats and left-wing thinkers across the country is astonishing. They are clearly very out of touch…" pic.twitter.com/Q7SqE7MAnJ— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) July 23, 2026 “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, who’s been at the forefront of the fight to protect women’s sports and spaces, shared Cunningham’s Wednesday night remarks on X, adding three clapping emojis. https://t.co/kNvDyUmchW— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) July 23, 2026 Speaking to reporters before Indiana’s 123-88 win over the Connecticut Sun, Cunningham doubled down in defense of women’s sports. “I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense,” Cunningham said. “And I think I’ll always believe in that. I think it’s really important to protect children, and that’s little girls who are also involved in that category. I stand on what I said.” Cunningham pointed to Title IX, the sex-equality law that prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funding. That 1972 law is credited with the explosion of girls’ and women’s sports in the United States. “That’s why you have Title IX. That’s why you have some of the greats in women’s sports,” Cunningham said. “If Title IX and women’s sports weren’t protected, then you wouldn’t hear about any type of women in sport. And so, I think in the future, it’s just really important to protect.” Cunningham rejected the notion that her comments could be seen as derogatory toward trans athletes, insisting she has “room to love everyone.” “But I’m also there to love biological women, and I think that there are rights that need to be protected,” Cunningham continued. “And, like I said, I’m gonna stand true to that. I’ll never falter in my beliefs in that. But I have never once stated that I hated the trans community.” Further, Cunningham, who plays Doc Holliday to superstar Caitlin Clark’s Wyatt Earp on the Fever, declared of criticism, “I don’t care.” “I know whatever I say, I’m going to get hate and I’m going to get love, and if I’m going to live by the love, I’m gonna die by the hate, and that’s just not who I am. I beat to my own drum.”

The Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that it would enforce civil rights based on equal protection under federal law and no longer “sort people by race.” The HHS Office for Civil Rights announced a final rule updating its regulations to implement Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The department says the new rule aligns department policy strictly with the Civil Rights Act as well as Supreme Court precedent. “HHS will not pressure doctors, hospitals, universities, or state agencies to sort people by race to satisfy a statistic,” said Paula M. Stannard, director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights, in a public statement. “This rule restores common sense and true equality to Title VI enforcement.” “Civil rights laws protect Americans as individuals,” Stannard said. The agency explained it will continue to take enforcement action to combat intentional discrimination in health care based on race, color, and national origin. It will also continue to investigate complaints and conduct compliance reviews as evidence of discrimination. The new rule also conforms with President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14281, titled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy,” issued in April 2025. Among other things, Trump’s order eliminated disparate-impact as grounds for a government agency to target an employer or organization for discrimination. Disparate-impact is a legal doctrine that, in lieu of a complaint or actual evidence of discrimination, a policy deemed to have a negative impact on a specific protected class could be construed as discrimination. The HHS Office for Civil Rights says it will continue to consider statistical disparities, along with other evidence, to evaluate whether intentional discrimination occurred in health care.