As the battle against the Iranian regime and its Islamic terrorist proxies continues, key congressional testimony highlighted the importance of expanding the Abraham Accords, President Donald Trump’s historic peace agreements with Arab nations. During his opening remarks to the Subcommittee on the Middle East and Africa of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Asher Fredman, visiting fellow in the Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation, argued that the United States can expand the accords by introducing legislation that builds on the proposed framework to bring stability to the Middle East. “Congress should help establish the Abraham Accords Critical-Technology Partnership, and the cultural leadership and alliances will then increasingly shape the global balance of power,” Fredman said. “Such legislation could build on the proposed U.S.-Israel AI Center Act, introduced by then-Sen. Marco Rubio in 2021.” Fredman’s goal is to create stronger alliances among the United States, Israel, and Arab countries that cannot be broken by the Iranian regime’s influence during wartime. Fredman argued that the deal should now “be expanded to include additional Abraham Accord partners” to strengthen regional defense integration. “The United States should establish an Abraham Accords comprehensive security, integration, and prosperity agreement modeled on the agreement between the United States and the Kingdom of Bahrain in September 2023,” he continued. “This can be achieved by adapting existing U.S. scientific, educational, and leadership programs to include dedicated tracks, accords, and initiatives in the Abraham Accords.” Fredman doubled down on the importance of creating a stable alliance among the various countries. “There are more than two dozen countries, Arab Muslim countries, that lack formal relations with Israel,” Fredman stated. “The special envoy should develop detailed roadmaps for multiple potential Abraham Accord countries based on the national priorities, goals, and shared interests of each.” On Wednesday, Trump, posting on Truth Social, suggested that Saudi Arabia should join the Abraham Accords. During the hearing, Fredman added that even if this seems like a challenge, the original Abraham Accords also seemed challenging, and they proved to be a historic success that shaped regional “peace, prosperity, and partnership.” Daniel Shapiro, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel under former President Barack Obama, echoed Fredman’s remarks by championing the historic peace deal Trump struck with the Arab world, adding that it “formalized the first Arab-Israeli relationships in a generation, forged on a basis of mutual security, trust, and economic benefits.” However, the rise of radical Islam, also known as Islamism or militant Islam, has forced the United States to revisit the deal, Shapiro argued. “Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, and the war that followed, have delayed many of the follow-on integration efforts, but they did not extinguish the Abraham Accords themselves, [but] that gives us a solid base to build on,” he said. On Oct. 7, 2023, more than 1,000 Israeli civilians were brutally raped, kidnapped, killed, and tortured by an Iranian-funded militia. Shapiro said while Israel may fear similar attacks in the future, and while the Iran war complicates regional integration, the parties have the opportunity to strengthen ties through participation. Furthermore, Shapiro added that the war in Iran, which has partially decimated the regime’s leadership, military capabilities, and economy, has complicated American leadership in the region, prompting the United States to adopt new legislative solutions to adapt to Iran’s aggression. “The regime in Tehran is considered more radical now, having absorbed our strongest punch and emerged with unprecedented leverage through control of the Strait of Hormuz,” Shapiro continued. Finally, he recommended that Congress appoint and confirm a special envoy for the Abraham Accords as was done in the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.

Florida gubernatorial hopeful Rep. Byron Donalds announced on Friday a plan to remove ultra-processed food, artificial dyes, and harmful additives from Florida school meals and to guarantee every Florida child access to clean, tested water at school and at home. The plan is called Healthy Florida Healthy Families. Florida schools currently follow federal USDA meal standards, but no state law restricts ultra-processed ingredients or artificial dyes, and loopholes still allow processed snacks and vending-machine items on campus. Florida also has no mandatory lead or contaminant-testing law for schools, and testing today is voluntary, with most districts opting out. Healthy Florida Healthy Families would reverse that. Under Donalds’ plan, the state would remove ultra-processed foods and additives from school meals, close loopholes that allow soda and candy on campus, and require every district to post menus and ingredient lists online. The plan would expand Florida’s existing Farm to School program, connecting Florida farmers directly to school cafeterias, with a dedicated appropriation to build the supply chain needed to meet clean-food standards. “When a kid sits down in a cafeteria, parents want to know what’s on that tray. When they fill a cup at the fountain, we want to know what’s in that water,” Donalds told the Daily Signal. “Florida doesn’t have to wait on Washington to catch up. We already grow the food, and we already have the farmers ready to supply it. This isn’t radical, it’s what every parent expects at their own kitchen table, and it’s what Florida is going to deliver to every Florida student.” The plan also would require testing for lead and contaminants in every Florida school, require districts to post results publicly, and mandate remediation wherever unsafe levels are found. It prioritizes free or subsidized testing and remediation for families with young children who rely on private wells and aligns Florida’s testing panel with the EPA’s April 2026 draft Sixth Contaminant Candidate List, which for the first time designates microplastics and pharmaceuticals as priority contaminants alongside PFAS. Healthy Florida Healthy Families pairs Florida’s farm-to-cafeteria supply chain with new testing and transparency requirements so parents can know what their children are eating and drinking every day, at school and at home. Donalds says his plan reflects his commitment to Florida farmers and agricultural producers, putting them at the center of the state’s efforts to build a healthy Florida.

July 24 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will address the White House Correspondents’ Association at a rescheduled dinner on Friday, nearly three months after a shooting at the Washington Hilton hotel interrupted the event. The black-tie gathering of journalists, politicians and administration officials was called off on April 25 after a man tried to force his way through a security checkpoint and fired a shotgun outside the ballroom where Trump and members of his cabinet were taking their seats.  The suspect, Cole Allen, pleaded not guilty in May to charges including attempting to assassinate the president.  The dinner has been moved to the Waldorf Astoria hotel and will take place under heightened security. Secret Service Director Sean Curran told reporters Wednesday that an advance team was implementing a comprehensive security plan at the hotel.  “We do expect bad people to show up,” Curran said. “It’s just a reality of where we are, but we’re treating it no differently than any other site that the president goes to.” Trump has said the shooting in April showed the need for the $400 million ballroom being built at the White House, saying that holding such events there would increase the president’s security. Friday’s dinner will honor Secret Service officer Victor Gonzales, who was shot at a security checkpoint outside the ballroom in April and credited with stopping the attack. He was wearing a protective vest and was the only person injured that night. Washington Hilton staff who assisted guests will also be recognized, the WHCA said. The gala — an annual fixture on Washington’s calendar for more than a century — raises money for journalism scholarships and celebrates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects freedom of speech and the press. Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks, and mentalist Oz Pearlman will provide entertainment. The April incident occurred during Trump’s first presidential appearance at the correspondents’ dinner. He had boycotted the event in his previous years in office.  Trump has frequently clashed with the news media — suing multiple outlets, denouncing unfavorable coverage as “fake news” and criticizing journalists by name. His administration has barred the Associated Press from the White House press pool and restricted some journalists’ access to the Pentagon, among other measures. The White House has defended its measures, saying the administration seeks to protect sensitive information, improve security and increase accountability for what it calls biased media organizations. Even as Trump has escalated his actions against the media, he has provided reporters with more direct access than recent presidents, taking questions during open-ended public appearances and regularly speaking with journalists by phone. Several hundred veteran journalists, along with eight professional journalism organizations, have signed a letter urging the WHCA to use the dinner to condemn what they called Trump’s attacks on the First Amendment.  WHCA President Weijia Jiang said the event “will be a statement that violence has no place in American life and a free press will not be intimidated into silence.”   (Reporting by Helen Coster in New York; Editing by Jesse Mesner-Hage and Cynthia Osterman)

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.