{"title": "The Silent Surge: England’s Pulmonary Embolism Crisis", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHOne of the common Spike protein problems I worry about, whether vaccinated or not, is blood clots.  Virtually all of us have had exposure to the Wuhan Spike protein and if vaccinated, there is even more Spike exposure and risk to blood clots as a“hybrid harm.”Mead, MN., Rose, J, et al., 2025. Compound Impacts of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Convergence of Diverse “Spikeopathies” and Other Hybrid Harms. Medical Research Archives, [online] 13(11).https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v13i11.7087🩸 Venous Thromboembolism Skyrockets During PandemicTheHughes et al. paper inBMJ Openlays out a crisis hiding in plain sight. Between 1998 and 2022, hospitalisations for venous thromboembolic events (VTE) in England rose by62.6%— from 109.5 to 178.1 per 100,000 population. But that headline figure masks the real story: this wasnota broad, gradual rise across all clot types. It was a pulmonary embolism pandemic.Hughes M, Russell MD, Roy R, Mehta D, Norton S, Atzeni F, Galloway JB. Temporal trends in hospitalisations for venous thromboembolic events in England: a population-level analysis. BMJ Open. 2025 Mar 29;15(3):e090301. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-090301. PMID: 40157730; PMCID: PMC11956333.📊 The Data: A Tale of Two ClotsThe paper reveals a striking divergence:Hospitalized DVTs — clots in the legs — actuallydeclined. The authors attribute this to successful community-based management pathways and DOAC anticoagulants. Fair enough.But PEs? Atripling. Lung clots that kill. And the authors’ explanations don’t hold water.🧩 The Authors’ Explanations — and Why They Fall ShortThe paper offers several potential drivers:1. Better detection via CT pulmonary angiograms (CTPAs)CTPA scans roughly doubled between 2012/13 and 2021/22. But here’s the problem: the PE hospitalisation rate rose from40.4 to 122.2— that’s a tripling, not a doubling. And the steepest climb occursafter2019. If this were just “better detection,” you’d expect a steady, proportional rise tracking imaging availability. You don’t get a hockey stick.2. Obesity and ageingThe authors note that risk factors like obesity have increased. But they also found themean age at hospitalisation remained stableacross the entire 24-year period. Ageing demographics aren’t driving this. And obesity doesn’t explain a 202% PE surge while DVTs fall — obesity is a risk factor forboth.3. Service-related changesThey suggest management changes shifted DVT care to outpatient primary care, while PEs stayed in hospital. That explains thedivergencebetween DVT and PE trends but does nothing to explain theabsoluteexplosion in PE numbers.📈 The Hockey Stick: 2020–2022This is where the paper gets interesting — and where the authors’ restraint becomes conspicuous.Look at the PE hospitalisation rate trajectory:1998/99:40.42019/20:104.2 (steady climb over 21 years)2020/21:115.6(+11.4 in one year)2021/22:122.2(+6.6 the next year)And as a proportion of all-cause admissions:2019/20:PE was 0.28% of all hospital admissions2020/21:PE jumped to0.40%— a 43% relative increase in a single year2021/22:Still elevated at 0.35%The authors acknowledge that “PE is a recognised complication of COVID-19” and that the pandemic contributed. But what theydon’tdiscuss — what no BMJ Open paper would dare discuss — is the other mass intervention that began rolling out across England in late 2020 and continued through 2021: thrombogenicSARS-CoV-2 vaccination.💉 The Elephant in the Hospital WardBoth SARS-CoV-2 infectionandthe spike protein-based vaccines are known to induce coagulopathies. The spike protein — whether delivered by the virus or by lipid nanoparticle-encased mRNA — binds to ACE2 receptors abundantly expressed on endothelial cells lining blood vessels. This triggers:Endothelial damageand inflammationPlatelet activationand aggregationMicroclot formationand fibrin amyloid depositionImpaired fibrinolysis— the body’s clot-busting system gets overwhelmedVaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) was the acute, headline-grabbing manifestation. But the chronic, subacute clotting pathology — the kind that lands people in hospital with PEs months after exposure — has been systematically ignored by the same institutions that funded and promoted the vaccines.The 2020/21 spike in PE hospitalisations coincides precisely with both the COVID-19 wavesandthe mass vaccination campaign. Disentangling the two is impossible with aggregate data. But ignoring the vaccine contribution entirely — as this paper does, without a single mention — is either cowardice or complicity.🔬 Why PEs and Not DVTs?This is the puzzle the paper can’t solve. If spike protein pathology were driving clots, why would PEs triple while DVTs decline?The answer may lie inwherethe endothelial damage occurs. The pulmonary vasculature receives the entire cardiac output and has an enormous endothelial surface area rich in ACE2 receptors. Inhaled virus hits the lungs first. Intravenously injected LNPs from vaccines have been shown to distribute systemically, with significant accumulation in the lungs, liver, and spleen. The lungs are ground zero.A DVT forms in the legs and may or may not travel. A PE is often theend resultof a systemic pro-thrombotic state — microclots forming throughout the vasculature, coalescing, and lodging in pulmonary arteries. The 202% PE surge isn’t a detection artifact. It’s a signal.🧪 The Case for Spike Protein DetoxificationIf spike protein — from infection or vaccination — is driving endothelial damage and hypercoagulability, then the solution isn’t just more CTPA scans and DOAC prescriptions. That’s downstream management. What’s needed isupstream clearanceof the pathogenic protein itself.This is whereThe Wellness Company’s Ultimate Spike Detoxformulation becomes essential. The protocol is built around compounds with known mechanisms for:Nattokinase:Proteolytic enzyme that degrades fibrin and dissolve abnormal clot matrices, including the amyloid-like microclots characteristic of spike protein pathologyBromelain:Reduces spike protein binding to ACE2 receptors and exhibits anti-thrombotic propertiesCurcumin:Blocks Spike with potent anti-inflammatory properties that downregulate NF-κB and NLRP3 inflammasome activation triggered by Spike proteinQuercetin:Zinc ionophore that also inhibits platelet aggregation and mast cell degranulationNigella sativa (black seed oil):Demonstrated in multiple studies to protect against spike protein-induced endothelial damage and thrombosisDandelion root:Support hepatic clearance pathways critical for metabolising and eliminating spike protein fragmentsSelenium:Enhances intestinal absorption, needed for heart health.Without active intervention to clear residual spike protein and dissolve established microclots, there isno reason to believe these PE hospitalisation numbers will decline. The spike protein persists in tissues and circulating monocytes long after acute exposure — in some cases, for over a year. The endothelial damage is cumulative. Each reinfection, each booster, adds to the burden.The clinical establishment will continue to treat the downstream consequences with anticoagulants while ignoring the upstream cause. That’s a recipe for permanent elevation of VTE risk across the population.🏁 ConclusionThe Hughes et al. data tell an alarming story that the authors themselves seem unwilling to fully confront. A 202% increase in pulmonary embolism hospitalisations — with a dramatic inflection point coinciding with the spike protein era — demands an honest accounting of all potential causes. Instead, we get hand-waving about CT scanners and obesity.If you want to avoid becoming a data point in the next iteration of this study, the path forward involves more than hoping the trend reverses on its own.Spike protein detoxificationwith proteolytic enzymes and supportive compoundsis not alternative medicine — it’s rational, mechanism-based intervention for a recognised pathological process that the medical establishment created and now refuses to acknowledge.Without it, those PE numbers have nowhere to go but up.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companyhttps://www.twc.health/pages/focal-points📚 ReferencesMead, MN., Rose, J, et al., 2025. Compound Impacts of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Convergence of Diverse “Spikeopathies” and Other Hybrid Harms. Medical Research Archives, [online] 13(11).https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v13i11.7087Hughes M, Russell MD, Roy R, et al. Temporal trends in hospitalisations for venous thromboembolic events in England: a population-level analysis.BMJ Open2025;15:e090301.Arshad N, Isaksen T, Hansen J-B, et al. Time trends in incidence rates of venous thromboembolism in a large cohort recruited from the general population.Eur J Epidemiol2017;32:299–305.Huang W, Goldberg RJ, Anderson FA, et al. Secular trends in occurrence of acute venous thromboembolism: the Worcester VTE study (1985–2009).Am J Med2014;127:829–39.Münster AM, Rasmussen TB, Falstie-Jensen AM, et al. A changing landscape: Temporal trends in incidence and characteristics of patients hospitalized with venous thromboembolism 2006–2015.Thromb Res2019;176:46–53.Miró Ò, Jiménez S, Mebazaa A, et al. Pulmonary embolism in patients with COVID-19: incidence, risk factors, clinical characteristics, and outcome.Eur Heart J2021;42:3127–42.Ahuja N, Bhinder J, Nguyen J, et al. Venous thromboembolism in patients with COVID-19 infection: risk factors, prevention, and management.Semin Vasc Surg2021;34:101–16.Lei Y, Zhang J, Schiavon CR, et al. SARS-CoV-2 spike protein impairs endothelial function via downregulation of ACE2.Circ Res2021;128:1323–26.Grobbelaar LM, Venter C, Vlok M, et al. SARS-CoV-2 spike protein S1 induces fibrin(ogen) resistant to fibrinolysis: implications for microclot formation in COVID-19.Biosci Rep2021;41:BSR20210611.Kurosawa Y, Nirengi S, Homma T, et al. A single-dose of oral nattokinase potentiates thrombolysis and anti-coagulation profiles.Sci Rep2015;5:11601.Baicus C, Purcarea A, von Elm E, et al. Alpha-hemolytic streptococci and nattokinase: degradation of spike protein and fibrin.Mol Biol Rep2022;49:10975–82.", "summary": "A 202% explosion in deadly lung clots — and why Spike protein detoxification is the only path forward", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-silent-surge-englands-pulmonary", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-17", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "MAHA Report Review of John Leake's \"Mind Viruses: America's Irrational Obsessions\"", "content": "The MAHA Report just published a thoughtful and detailed review of my new book (to be published on July 21)Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions.My gratitude to the reviewer, who must have read the book with great attentiveness and understanding. Please click on the image below to read the review, and please share it with your friends. The book is the culmination of an intellectual journey that began thirty years ago, in 1996,. when I wrote my Master’s thesis on Edmund Burke’sReflections on the Revolution in France.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "\"A Poignant Diagnosis of a Divided Nation\"", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/maha-report-review-of-john-leakes", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-17", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Taco Bell Puts America on CODE BROWN", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHThe news cycle has brought up the cyclospora protozoan outbreak for weeks but has not told us why America was so ill-prepared for another infectious disease threat.🦠 The 2026 Cyclospora Outbreak and the Case for TMP-SMX in Every American Medicine CabinetTheWellness Company’s Medical Emergency Kitcontains the precise treatment that could have prevented hundreds of hospitalizations—and the public health establishment remains silent on why Americans weren’t better prepared.📊 The Scale of the DisasterAs of mid-July 2026, the United States is in the grip of the worst cyclosporiasis outbreak in recent memory.  The majority of cases are confirmed by multiplex GI pathogen panels like the BioFire FilmArray Gastrointestinal (GI) Panel which explicitly tests for Cyclospora cayetanensis and has replaced the old stool acid fast stain. The numbers tell the story:Michigan alonereports over5,000 casesand102 hospitalizationsOhio has logged more than1,240 casesIndiana:320+ cases; Kentucky:190+; West Virginia:139Nationwide, the CDC acknowledges1,644 confirmed infectionsacross34 states, with94 hospitalizations—and that’s the official count, which the agency itself admits is a dramatic undercountThe source?Taylor Farmsiceberg lettuce imported from central Mexico, served atTaco Bellrestaurants across the Midwest and beyond. The company has admitted responsibility. The lettuce has been pulled. But for thousands of Americans now enduring explosive, watery diarrhea, crippling abdominal cramps, nausea, and low-grade fever that can persist for a month or longer, the damage is done.Here’s what makes this outbreak particularly galling:the treatment has been known for decades, and it’s sitting right there inThe Wellness Company’s Medical Emergency Kit.💊 TMP-SMX: The Undisputed Treatment of ChoiceLet’s be absolutely clear—this is not a matter of debate or alternative medicine. The CDC and every major infectious disease authority agree:trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX), sold as Bactrim™, Septra™, or Cotrim™, is the treatment of choice for cyclosporiasis.Period.The standard adult regimen is straightforward:TMP 160 mg plus SMX 800 mg (one double-strength tablet), orally, twice daily, for 7–10 days.That’s it. A simple, well-tolerated, generic antibiotic that has been in clinical use for over half a century. For pediatric patients, the weight-based dosing is equally well-established. The drug works by sequentially blocking two steps in the bacterial folate synthesis pathway, and againstCyclospora cayetanensis, it is remarkably effective.The alternatives? They barely deserve the name:Ciprofloxacinis listed as a backup option, but it’s a fluoroquinolone with a black box warning for tendon rupture and permanent nerve damage—hardly a first-line choiceNitazoxanideshows only 71–87% efficacy, meaning roughly one in four to one in three patients won’t clear the infectionObservation and symptomatic treatment alone leaves patients suffering forweeks to over a month, with the characteristic relapsing pattern where symptoms seem to resolve only to return with a vengeanceWithout TMP-SMX, a cyclospora infection is a protracted misery. With TMP-SMX, it’s typically resolved within 7–10 days. The difference isn’t subtle—it’s the difference between a brief, treatable illness and a debilitating, month-long ordeal that can land you in a hospital bed.🏥 The Hospitalizations That Didn’t Need to HappenLet’s do the grim arithmetic.In Michigan,102 peoplehave been hospitalized. Ohio’s hospitals have absorbed an unknown but substantial fraction of its 1,240+ cases. Nationwide, the CDC counts94 hospitalizationsfrom just the Taco Bell-linked cluster alone—and that number is certainly an undercount given the agency’s well-documented lag in reporting.Cyclospora hospitalizations are not typically intensive care situations for otherwise healthy adults. They’re admissions driven by severe dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, and the inability to keep fluids down—the consequences of uncontrolled, weeks-long diarrhea that no one should have to endure in a developed nation with access to effective antibiotics.If every household that encountered this outbreak had TMP-SMX on hand, through a Medical Emergency Kit from The Wellness Company, the hospitalization numbers would be a fraction of what they are. Here’s the logic:Early treatment stops progression.Cyclospora doesn’t kill healthy adults, but it debilitates them. The longer the parasite colonizes the intestinal epithelium, the more severe the dehydration and nutritional depletion become. A course of TMP-SMX started within days of symptom onset nips the entire process in the bud.The diagnostic bottleneck is real.As the CDC itself admits, most US laboratories do not routinely test forCyclospora. Healthcare providers must specifically request it. This means patients often bounce between appointments, urgent care visits, and ER trips for days or weeks before receiving the correct diagnosis—all while the parasite continues unchecked. Having the correct treatment on hand eliminates dependence on a sluggish, overburdened diagnostic infrastructure.No highly effective alternatives exist.For patients with sulfa allergies, the options are grim—observation, off-label alternatives with mediocre efficacy, or desensitization protocols that require specialist allergist involvement. For the vast majority of Americans who can tolerate sulfonamides, TMP-SMX is the only game in town.If even half of the currently hospitalized patients had been able to self-initiate treatment upon recognizing the characteristic symptoms—explosive, watery stools; profound fatigue; low-grade fever; and the telltale waxing-and-waning pattern—we’d be looking at perhaps 20–30 hospitalizations instead of 100+. Every one of those averted admissions represents not just spared suffering, but also tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills that didn’t need to be incurred.🎯 Why The Wellness Company’s Kit MattersTheWellness Company’s Medical Emergency Kitcontains28 tablets of TMP-SMX at 800/160 mg—enough for a full 14-day course for one adult, which is more than the standard 7–10 day regimen. That’s deliberate. In a genuine emergency where follow-up care may be uncertain, having a margin of safety matters.The kit also includes:Azithromycin(generic Z-Pak)—for respiratory infections and traveler’s diarrheaDoxycycline—broad-spectrum coverage including tick-borne diseasesAmoxicillin-Clavulanate—for resistant bacterial infectionsIvermectin—antiparasitic with broad utilityAnd several others, plus a comprehensive guidebook for safe useThe philosophy behind the kit is precisely what the cyclospora outbreak demonstrates:in a crisis, the difference between a minor illness and a medical emergency is often nothing more than having the right medication on hand at the right time.The public health establishment spent years lecturing Americans that they shouldn’t stockpile medications, that self-treatment is dangerous, that only a board-certified physician in a clinical setting should ever dispense an antibiotic. Meanwhile, thousands of Americans are now learning the hard way that when you’re on day 12 of uncontrollable diarrhea and your local urgent care can’t figure out what’s wrong with you, having a Medical Emergency Kit in your medicine cabinet stops being a “controversial” idea and starts looking like basic common sense.🔍 The Deeper FailureThis outbreak exposes something uglier than contaminated lettuce. It exposes a system that has systematically disempowered ordinary people from managing their own health.Consider the timeline:The CDC stopped tracking cyclospora infections (along with seven other foodborne pathogens) onJuly 1, 2025—a full year before this outbreak exploded.  The agency does not treat or help patients with illness.Testing for cyclospora is not routine. Doctors have to think to order it. Most don’t.The FDA’s traceback investigation took weeks to identify Taylor Farms lettuce, during which time Taco Bell continued serving the contaminated product.At no point did any federal agency suggest that Americans might want to have TMP-SMX available in case they became infected.The entire apparatus is oriented toward reactive, centralized control rather than proactive, distributed preparedness. The Wellness Company’s model—putting prescription medications directly into the hands of informed consumers, with educational materials for safe use—represents a direct challenge to that paradigm. And the cyclospora outbreak is the proof of concept.💡 What Should Have HappenedIn a rational world, the response to a cyclospora outbreak of this magnitude would include:Immediate public guidanceon the symptoms of cyclosporiasis and the availability of early, effective treatmentStreamlined access to TMP-SMXthrough emergency medical kits, telemedicine and emergency prescribing protocolsClear messagingthat while most healthy people eventually recover without treatment, there is no reason to endure weeks of debilitating illness when a safe, generic antibiotic existsRecognitionthat medical preparedness at the household level is not paranoia—it’s prudenceInstead, what Americans got was a slow-motion response from agencies that had already deprioritized cyclospora surveillance, coupled with the usual hand-wringing about “appropriate antibiotic use” while hundreds of people filled hospital beds with an entirely treatable parasitic infection.🏁 The Bottom LineThe 2026 cyclospora outbreak has sickened thousands, hospitalized over a hundred, and caused untold misery across 34 states. The lettuce is now off the market, but the outbreak isn’t over—and if history is any guide, next summer will bring another one.Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is the treatment of choice.Every infectious disease specialist in the country knows it. The question is whether you’ll have it when you need it, or whether you’ll be waiting in an ER at 2 AM, dehydrated and miserable, hoping someone eventually figures out what’s wrong with you.The Wellness Company’s Medical Emergency Kitputs the answer in your hands—literally. Twenty-eight tablets of the exact medication that could have prevented the vast majority of those hospitalizations. The kit isn’t a substitute for medical judgment, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the alternative: trusting that the system will catch up before the parasite does.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.SharePlease subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companyhttps://www.twc.health/pages/focal-points", "summary": "Cyclospora enteritis with explosive diarrhea linked to Taco Bell lettuce", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/taco-bell-puts-america-on-code-brown", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-19", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The United States–Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative", "content": "A few readers have asked me what I think of the proposed United States—Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.The initiative is a proposed provision of the proposedUnited States-Israel Framework for Upgraded Technologies, Unified Research, and Enhanced Security (FUTURES) Act— a bipartisan piece of legislation (H.R. 7540 / S. 3855) that is purportedly to expand bilateral defense technology cooperation between the U.S. and Israel.The bill originated in the Senate, sponsored by Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) as a co-sponsor for the FUTURES Act framework.In the House, Reps. Don Davis (D-NC) and Ronny Jackson (R-TX) subsequently integrated the initiative into the National Defense Authorization Act by the House Armed Services Committee under Chairman Mike Rogers, R-AL.Bipartisan support for the bill exists, though it faced modest opposition, including a failed amendment by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) to remove the Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.The initiative aims to expand and institutionalize US-Israel defense cooperation beyond traditional foreign military aid (currently ~$3.8 billion annually). Key elements include:Acceleratedtechnology sharing, jointresearch and development (R&D), andco-productionof weapons systems.Collaboration across emerging domains: AI, autonomous systems, cyberwarfare, biotechnology, quantum, directed energy, and more.“Network integration” and “data fusion” to enhance interoperability.Designation of an executive agent in the Department of Defense to oversee deeper integration of defense industrial bases, including potential joint ventures and licensing.Proponents claim the initiative will formally recognize Israel as a “defense peer,” enhancing mutual capabilities against shared threats, saving US costs through innovation, and shifting from one-way aid to mutual investment.The provision doesNOTcreate a formal command merge, place joint forces under unified command, or establish an irrevocable legal union of the two militaries. Its stated purpose is to deepen institutional and industrial integration through binding statutory authorities in the NDAA.The stated rationale for making this cooperative arrangementa matter of lawinstead of discretionary aid and sharing is that a conventional alliance —such as a treaty-based alliance like NATO — can be adjusted or terminated by executive or legislative action if interests diverge.Deeper integration—via co-production, shared supply chains, data networks, and industrial base ties—createsdependency. Unwinding it would disrupt US jobs, defense production, technological edges, and interoperability, making disengagement costlier and politically harder.Efficiency and innovation: Joint R&D and co-production would purportedly leverage Israeli strengths in certain tech areas, benefiting US forces.Deterrence: Permanent structural ties signal unbreakable commitment, deterring adversaries better than reversible aid.Oversight shift: Moves elements from visible annual aid appropriations (subject to public/political scrutiny) into routine defense acquisition processes with less transparency.Critics such as the Quincy Institute, Responsible Statecraft, Bernie Sanders and Chris Van Hollen contend that the initiative reduces US leverage and independence, risks entanglement in Israeli ambitions and interests, with no easy off-ramps —an apt concern, given how Israel—by Marco Rubio’s admission—started the current war with Iran. Critics of the bill further contend that it erodes US sovereignty and democratic accountability compared to flexible alliances.For my part, reviewing the Futures Act reminded me of an old joke about the American-born Israeli spy, Jonathan Pollard, who provided hundreds of thousands of pages of top-secret and codeword-classified materials to the Israeli Lekem intelligence agency, thereby severely compromising American intelligence operations and assets.When it was revealed that Lekem paid Pollard money for the information, someone in US intelligence joked,“Well, at least they paid for itthis time”—referring to the fact that most of the time, the Israelis were either given US intelligence or stole it with impunity.Pollard arrives in Israel in 2020 after serving 30 years for selling US secrets to IsraelThe proposed FUTURES Act appears to be a Congressional gambit to make sure that Israel continues receiving American military and intelligence goodies, even if the majority of Americans decide it is not in their interest to continue sharing them.The Act was introduced at a time when polling shows that a majority of Americans hold an unfavorable view of Israel, marking a significant shift in public opinion over the past few years. A recentPew Research Center poll revealed that60% of U.S. adults now hold an unfavorable view of Israel, with negative sentiments climbing nearly 20 points since 2022.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Aims to expand and institutionalize US-Israel defense cooperation beyond traditional foreign military aid (currently ~$3.8 billion annually).", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-united-statesisrael-defense-technology", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-19", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Canada’s Toxic Wildfire Smoke Estimated to Have Caused More American Deaths Than 9/11", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHWith toxic smoke from Canada’s 2026 wildfires once again invading the United States, amajor peer-reviewed studypublished inNatureprovides an estimate of the potential death toll from wildfire smoke.Researchers estimated that smoke from Canada’s record-breaking 2023 wildfire season caused an enourmous health burden across multiple continents.They combined global atmospheric models, satellite and ground-based observations, wildfire-emissions inventories, population data, and established exposure–response relationships to estimate how much fine-particle pollution reached populated regions—and how many deaths were attributable to that exposure.The study estimated that smoke from Canada’s 2023 wildfires alone resulted in:4,100 acute deaths in the United States41,900 premature deaths across North America82,100 premature deaths worldwideThe 4,100 U.S. acute deaths were part of an estimated 5,400 short-term deaths across the United States and Canada during severe “Canada smoke days.”The U.S. estimate alone exceeded the 2,977 people killed on 9/11.Wildfire smoke contains particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, microscopic particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream. Exposure can trigger inflammation and oxidative stress, worsen asthma and chronic lung disease, and increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, respiratory failure, and premature death.Now, with another major Canadian wildfire season underway in 2026, millions of Americans are again being exposed to the same dangerous fine-particle pollution.A few days ago, the Air Quality Index (AQI) in my area exceeded 600—far beyond the threshold classified as “hazardous.” I was furious that toxic smoke from another country had, yet again, made the air around my own home unsafe to breathe. Americans should not be forced indoors, exposed to dangerous pollution, or left to absorb the health consequences of repeated cross-border wildfire smoke.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.Subscribe now", "summary": "As smoke from Canada’s 2026 wildfires once again invades the United States, a new study reveals the estimated death toll from the country’s 2023 wildfire season.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/canadas-toxic-wildfire-smoke-estimated", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-19", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Cooling Towers Full of Legionella, Lettuce Full of Cyclospora, and a CDC Full of PowerPoints", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHThis summer has brought one infectious disease threat after another, and disappointedly, our government agencies look flat-footed.🦠 Legionnaires’ Strikes New York: Why Your Medicine Cabinet Is the New Front Line of Public HealthAs cooling towers on the Upper East Side pump Legionella into the summer air, the difference between a treatable infection and a fatal outcome increasingly comes down to one question: do you have the right antibiotics on hand?📊 The Outbreak Unfolding Right NowNew York City is in the grip of a Legionnaires’ disease cluster that has already claimed its first life. As of mid-July 2026, the numbers are stark:67 confirmed casesacross Manhattan’s Upper East Side55 hospitalizations—12 people currently admitted, 43 discharged after treatmentOne confirmed death, with Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin confirming the fatality on Friday76 buildingswith cooling towers testing positive forLegionellabacteria, all ordered to drain, clean, and disinfectAnd this comes just one year after a Harlem cluster sickened 92 people and killed seven. The CDC puts Legionnaires’ mortality at roughly 10%—a number that should terrify anyone over 50, anyone who smokes, anyone with a chronic lung condition, and anyone on immunosuppressive medications. That’s tens of millions of Americans walking around with elevated risk and no idea that the air they breathe could be carrying a gram-negative bacterium with a taste for alveolar macrophages.🔬 What Makes Legionnaires’ So Dangerous—and So TreatableLegionella pneumophilais a gram-negative bacillus that thrives in warm, stagnant water. Cooling towers, hot tubs, shower heads, decorative fountains—anywhere water aerosolizes,Legionellacan hitch a ride straight into your lungs. It is not contagious person-to-person. You cannot get it from drinking contaminated water. The infection occurs exclusively through inhalation of contaminated mist or vapor.Once inside the lungs, the bacteria invade and multiply within alveolar macrophages—the very immune cells meant to destroy them. The resulting pneumonia presents with fever, chills, muscle aches, cough, and often extrapulmonary symptoms including confusion, headache, and diarrhea. Standard empiric antibiotic regimens for community-acquired pneumoniamay not cover Legionella adequatelyif the wrong agents are chosen.This is where the rubber meets the road. A patient walks into an ER with fever, cough, and shortness of breath. It takes hours to be seen and get a chest x-ray.  If that first azithromycin dose is delayed, underdosed, or omitted from the empiric regimen, the patient deteriorates while the lab runs its urine antigen test—a test that, critically, only detectsL. pneumophilaserogroup 1, missing roughly 30–40% of Legionella infections caused by other serogroups and species.The urine antigen test takes hours to days. The culture on buffered charcoal yeast extract agar takes three to five days. PCR is faster but not universally available. By the time the diagnosis is confirmed, a patient on inadequate empiric therapy may already be decompensating.💊 The Treatment Triad: Azithromycin, Doxycycline, and FluoroquinolonesThe CDC, and every infectious disease authority agree on the treatment hierarchy for Legionnaires’ disease:🥇 Inpatient Respiratory FluoroquinolonesLevofloxacinormoxifloxacinare the preferred agents—particularly for hospitalized patients, immunocompromised patients, and severe disease. They achieve excellent intracellular penetration, high bioavailability allowing oral step-down therapy, and bactericidal activity againstLegionella. A typical course runs 7–14 days, extending to 3 weeks for the severely immunocompromised.🥈 Outpatient AzithromycinAzithromycinis highly effective and is the macrolide of choice. It achieves concentrated intracellular levels, has a long half-life allowing once-daily dosing, and for mild-to-moderate disease in immunocompetent patients, a 5–10 day course gets the job done. Clarithromycin and erythromycin are inferior alternatives—less well-tolerated, more drug interactions, and frankly, azithromycin has largely rendered them obsolete for this indication.🥉 Alternative: DoxycyclineFor mild pneumonia in immunocompetent patients who cannot tolerate macrolides or fluoroquinolones,doxycyclineis a reasonable alternative. It achieves adequate intracellular levels and coversLegionella, though it is generally considered second-tier compared to azithromycin and the respiratory fluoroquinolones.🎯 The Wellness Company Medical Emergency Kit: Pre-prescribed Antibiotics, One Box, Zero ExcusesHere is whatThe Wellness Company’s Medical Emergency Kitcontains that directly applies to a Legionnaires’ outbreak:Antibiotic Kit Contents Legionnaires’ RoleAzithromycinGeneric Z-Pak First-line macrolide; 5–10 day course for mild-moderate diseaseDoxycyclineBroad-spectrum tetracycline Alternative for mild pneumonia in immunocompetent patientsCiprofloxacinFluoroquinolone Active againstLegionella(though levofloxacin is preferred; ciprofloxacin still provides fluoroquinolone-class coverage)The kit also includes amoxicillin-clavulanate, cephalexin, and TMP-SMX—not directly indicated for Legionella, but critical for the broader landscape of bacterial infections that someone might face while the healthcare system is overwhelmed with an outbreak.Let’s be blunt about what this means in practical terms. You are a 55-year-old man living on the Upper East Side. You smoke. You wake up with a fever of 102°F, chills, a hacking cough, and muscles that feel like you’ve been beaten with a baseball bat. You’ve just heard on the news that 76 buildings in your neighborhood haveLegionella-positive cooling towers. You call your doctor. The earliest appointment is three days out. You go to urgent care. They swab you for flu and COVID, both negative, and send you home with instructions to rest and hydrate. You get sicker.Without the kit:You wait. The pneumonia worsens. You end up in the ER, hypotensive, hypoxic, and the admitting team starts broad-spectrum antibiotics that may or may not include Legionella coverage. The urine antigen test is ordered but won’t result until tomorrow. You’ve now joined the hospitalization statistics.With the kit:You recognize the symptom constellation—fever, cough, myalgias, known local Legionella outbreak. You start azithromycin immediately. Within 48 hours, your fever breaks. You complete a 7-day course. You never see the inside of a hospital room.This is not hypothetical. This is the difference between a75 kit and a $45,000 hospital admission. This is the difference between recovering in your own bed and being one of the 10% who don’t survive.🏛️ The Absurdity of Our Public Health Spending PrioritiesLet’s talk about what American taxpayers pour into the infectious disease apparatus every single year:NIAID budget (FY 2026): $4.175 billion—down 36.4% from the prior year, but still over four billion dollarsCDC discretionary budget (FY 2026): $4.243 billion, with an additional $5.485 billion requested for FY 2027Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases division alone:roughly $927 million in FY 2027 projectionsNIH infectious disease research:billions more flowing through RPG grants, research centers, and R&D contractsState, tribal, local, and territorial health departments:the CDC funnels the majority of its annual funding to these entitiesAdd it all up and the American taxpayer is funding a multi-billion-dollar infectious disease bureaucracy spanning dozens of agencies, employing tens of thousands of people, occupying sprawling campuses in Atlanta, Bethesda, and Washington, D.C.And yet this summer—summer 2026—what have those billions delivered?Acyclospora outbreaksickened over 5,000 people in Michigan alone, hospitalized more than 100, and spread across 34 states because the CDC had stopped tracking cyclosporiasis a full year earlier and the FDA took weeks to trace contaminated lettuce back to a single lettuce supplier in Mexico.  Public health messaging omitted PCR testing on stook and immediate treatment with TMP-SMX.  Patients suffered for weeks with explosive diarrhea while the multi-billion-dollar surveillance apparatus twiddled its institutional thumbs.Now, aLegionnaires’ clusterhas killed at least one person, hospitalized 55, and forced the disinfection of 76 buildings in one of the wealthiest zip codes in America—and the official public health guidance is essentially “building owners should maintain their cooling towers” and “seek medical attention if you have symptoms.” No proactive distribution of antibiotics. No public awareness campaign about what Legionnaires’ looks like and what to do if you suspect it. No acknowledgment that the diagnostic pipeline for Legionella is slow, incomplete, and leaves patients vulnerable during the critical window when early antibiotics could prevent severe deterioration.Meanwhile,The Wellness Company—a private entity operating entirely outside the government bureaucracy—has put together a Medical Emergency Kit containingazithromycin, doxycycline, and ciprofloxacin, the precise trio of antibiotics that coverLegionella pneumophila, and made it available to any American with the foresight to spend less than the cost of a single urgent care co-pay.The contrast is almost too perfect. Billions in taxpayer funding. Dozens of agencies. Thousands of employees. Endless congressional justifications filled with buzzwords like “data modernization,” “laboratory capacity,” “frontline readiness,” and “biothreat radar.” And when actual pathogens start sickening and killing Americans, the most practical, life-saving intervention available to the average person is aMedical Emergency Kitpurchased from a private company that had the audacity to ask a simple question:what if people could just have the right medications at home?The public health establishment hasn’t just taken a back seat toThe Wellness Companythis summer—it’s been left at the curb while Americans who took responsibility for their own preparedness drove themselves to safety. The cyclospora outbreak and the Legionnaires’ cluster are not anomalies. They are previews of a future where the gap between institutional promise and institutional performance grows wider every year, and where the people who thrive are the ones who stopped waiting for the CDC to save them and started saving themselves.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.SharePlease subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companyhttps://www.twc.health/pages/focal-points", "summary": "Americans thankful for Emergency Medical Kits from The Wellness Company", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/cooling-towers-full-of-legionella", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-20", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Lurching from One Fabricated Crisis to the Next", "content": "As the war in Iran intensifies into another “Forever War” that will kill and maim hundreds of thousands (if not millions) and cost trillions, “We the People” should pause to review all the crises—all the purported threats to national security and public safety—that have racked our Republic since President Johnson used the phony Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964 to escalate the war in Vietnam. The face of “the enemy” is constantly changing, but the “threat” he poses to us is always an iteration of the same melodrama run by the same complex of manipulators and profiteers.I would be extremely grateful if you would like and share this post, and purchase a copy of the book (Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions), which will be published tomorrow (July 21, 2026).Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Video trailer to my new book, \"Mind Viruses,\" shows how each purported threat to national security and public safety has followed the same program run by the same Complex that profits from panic.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/lurching-from-one-fabricated-crisis", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-20", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Actor Eric Dane of Grey's Anatomy Dies of Rapidly Progressive Post-COVID-19 Vaccination Neurologic Syndrome", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHOne of the most tragic deaths in my practice over recent years was a man in his seventies who died from a COVID-19 vaccine-induced ALS-like neurologic syndrome.  He came to mind when I heard about the death of actor Eric Dane—the man millions knew as Dr. Mark Sloan, onGrey’s Anatomy.The Cruel Irony of Dr. McSteamy: Eric Dane, Rapid ALS, and the Silence on VaccinationEric Dane—the man millions knew as Dr. Mark Sloan, “McSteamy” onGrey’s Anatomy—died on February 19, 2026, at just 53 years old. His death certificate reads amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. What it doesn’t say, and what the celebrity obituaries won’t touch, is the timeline that raises questions the medical-media complex would prefer nobody ask.Dane’s case was not the typical slow-burn ALS familiar to pre-pandemic neurology. It was a freight train.Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "ALS-like illness takes a more rapid and fatal course then previously understood", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/actor-eric-dane-of-greys-anatomy", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-21", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Merck’s Lipfendra (Enlicitide): The First Oral PCSK9 Inhibitor Arrives", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHIt has been several years since the introduction of a new oral drug to lower cholesterol.  However, the injectable market has become crowded with more choices for those needing cholesterol-lowering.  Merck’s new drug will almost certainly be disruptive in the marketplace.💊 Merck’s Lipfendra: The First Oral PCSK9 Inhibitor Arrives — Mixed News for Statin HatersThe FDA dropped a bombshell on July 17, 2026, approvingLipfendra (enlicitide)— Merck’s once-daily oral PCSK9 inhibitor. This isn’t just another cholesterol drug. It’s the firstpillcapable of doing what previously required a needle, and it slashes LDL-C by56–59%on top of maximally tolerated statins. For millions of Americans who’ve been waged war on generic statins, this changes the calculus entirely.🔬 Side Effects: Lipfendra vs. Statins — No ContestLet’s be blunt about what statins actually do to people. In ~15% of people, there are well-documented muscle pain, weakness—the problem is that 100% of the general public has these complaints as well.Now look at Lipfendra’s side effect profile from the two pivotal trials across 3,207 patients:In the larger ASCVD trial, adverse reactions weresimilar between Lipfendra and placebo— meaning the drug was essentially indistinguishable from a sugar pill in side effect burden. The HeFH trial showed mild upticks in diarrhea and dizziness, but nothing approaching the metabolic and muscular devastation statins routinely inflict.The fasting requirement — eight hours overnight, take it 30 minutes before breakfast — is annoying, but Merck appears to have dosed at 20 mg to build in a compliance buffer. Compared to waking up every morning feeling like you got hit by a truck on atorvastatin, an empty stomach is a trivial inconvenience.Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "Mixed news for statin-intolerant and health freedom community of statin haters", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/mercks-lipfendra-enlicitide-the-first", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-22", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "NEW STUDY: Aggressive Cancer Patients Had 82% Less Bifidobacterium in Their Gut Compared With Healthy Adults", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHAnew metagenomic studyled by Dr. Sabine Hazan analyzed stool samples from 60 adults, including 25 patients with aggressive cancer, 15 with non-aggressive cancer, and 20 controls without cancer.The cancer cases included breast, lymphoma, colon, ovarian, lung, bladder, thyroid, prostate, and several other malignancies. Dr. Hazan’s team used next-generation sequencing to compare the relative abundance of key bacterial genera across the three groups.The most dramatic finding involvedBifidobacterium, a beneficial group of bacteria associated with immune regulation, intestinal-barrier integrity, and antitumor immune activity.Aggressive cancer patients had an average Bifidobacterium abundance of just1.20%, compared with6.53%in controls (82% less).They also had76% less Collinsella,36% less Faecalibacterium, and88% more Bacteroides, with all four differences reaching statistical significance.This pattern is notable because Bifidobacterium, Faecalibacterium, and Collinsella have been associated with healthier immune function and better responses to certain cancer therapies. Some Bacteroides strains, by contrast, have been linked to tumor-promoting activity.The differences were less pronounced in patients with non-aggressive cancer. Their Bifidobacterium levels were also lower than those of controls, but the result narrowly missed conventional statistical significance.The findings suggest that more aggressive cancer may be associated with a more severely disrupted gut microbiome. The magnitude of the differences—especially the82% lower Bifidobacterium abundance—supports larger prospective studies to determine whether these microbial patterns could eventually help identify aggressive cancer or become targets for microbiome-based cancer interventions.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.Subscribe now", "summary": "Aggressive cancer was associated with a major disruption of beneficial gut bacteria involved in immune regulation and intestinal-barrier function.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/new-study-aggressive-cancer-patients", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-22", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The War is Not Meant to Be Won", "content": "The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous.-George Orwell, 1984Of all the evils to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops every other. War is the patent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies, and debts, and taxes, are the known instruments for bringing the many under the dominion of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds are added to those of subduing the force of the people! No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.-James Madison, Political Observations,1795.WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.”― Smedley Butler,War Is a RacketWe must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.-President Dwight Eisenhower,Farewell Address, 1961This morning I compiled a list of the known US military interventions abroad. I writeknownbecause many acts of US government agency violence are covert and never published.China (1945–1949): U.S. Marines and forces assisted Nationalist authorities in disarming Japanese troops, controlling key infrastructure, and protecting/evacuating Americans amid the Chinese Civil War against Communists.Korea (post-WWII occupation into early conflict): Occupation of the South and responses to insurgency.1950sKorean War (1950–1953): Full-scale U.S.-led UN intervention against North Korean invasion of South Korea; later Chinese intervention. Peak U.S. forces exceeded 300,000; over 36,000 U.S. killed in action.Taiwan Strait crises (1950s, notably 1954–1955 and 1958): Naval deployments (Seventh Fleet) and evacuations to deter People’s Republic of China attacks on Taiwan/Formosa and offshore islands.Lebanon (1958): Marines and troops landed at the request of the Lebanese government to counter internal unrest with external support.1960s–1970s (Vietnam era and related)Vietnam War (advisors from mid-1950s; major escalation 1964–1973; related operations into 1975): Large-scale combat against North Vietnam and Viet Cong in South Vietnam; peak U.S. forces ~543,000. Included extensive bombing of North Vietnam (e.g., Rolling Thunder, Linebacker), the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and secret campaigns.Laos (1960s–1975): Covert and overt support, bombing, and operations against Communist forces (“Secret War”).Cambodia (bombing from late 1960s; ground incursion 1970; Mayaguez incident 1975): Campaigns against Communist sanctuaries; 1970 U.S./South Vietnamese ground operation; 1975 rescue of the SSMayaguezinvolving combat with Khmer Rouge forces.Dominican Republic (1965): Operation Power Pack—thousands of U.S. troops intervened during a revolt amid concerns over Communist influence.Smaller support actions (e.g., airlift/logistics in Congo/Zaire in the 1960s).1980sIran (1980): Operation Eagle Claw—failed special forces attempt to rescue U.S. embassy hostages.Libya (1981 Gulf of Sidra; 1986 Operation El Dorado Canyon): Aerial engagements (Libyan jets shot down) and airstrikes on military/terrorist-related targets in response to attacks and terrorism.Lebanon (1982–1984): Marines as part of a multinational force; naval bombardment of positions during the civil war and after the Beirut barracks bombing.Grenada (1983): Operation Urgent Fury—invasion to oust a Marxist government and protect U.S. citizens.Persian Gulf / Iran (1987–1988): Operations Earnest Will, Praying Mantis, and related actions—naval escort of tankers, combat with Iranian forces/mines/platforms during the Iran-Iraq War.Panama (1989): Operation Just Cause—invasion to remove Manuel Noriega; largest U.S. combat operation since Vietnam up to that point.1990sPersian Gulf War / Iraq (1990–1991): Operation Desert Shield/Storm—massive coalition campaign to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait; followed by no-fly zones and enforcement actions against Iraq through the 1990s (including Operation Desert Fox in 1998).Somalia (1992–1994): U.S.-led intervention (UNITAF/UNOSOM) during civil war; included the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu.Haiti (1994): Operation Uphold Democracy—intervention to restore elected President Aristide.Bosnia (mid-1990s) and Kosovo/Yugoslavia (1999): NATO airstrikes (e.g., Deliberate Force, Allied Force) against Bosnian Serb and Serbian/Yugoslav forces.Afghanistan and Sudan (1998): Operation Infinite Reach—cruise missile strikes on al-Qaeda-related targets after embassy bombings.2000s–2010sAfghanistan (2001–2021): Operation Enduring Freedom and follow-ons—invasion and long war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda after 9/11; included special operations, airstrikes, and ground combat until withdrawal.Iraq (2003–2011): Operation Iraqi Freedom—invasion to topple Saddam Hussein; occupation and counterinsurgency. Later operations against ISIS (from 2014).Counterterrorism operations (ongoing from early 2000s): Drone strikes, special forces raids, and support in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Philippines, and elsewhere against al-Qaeda, affiliates, and later ISIS/al-Shabaab.Libya (2011): Operation Odyssey Dawn / NATO intervention—airstrikes enforcing a no-fly zone and supporting rebels against the Gaddafi regime.Iraq and Syria against ISIS (2014–present, Operation Inherent Resolve): Airstrikes, special operations, and advisory support. Additional strikes against Iranian-backed militias.2020: Drone strike killing Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in Iraq.2020s (selected)Continued operations against ISIS remnants, al-Shabaab, and other groups in Syria, Iraq, Somalia, and elsewhere.Yemen (notably from 2024 onward in response to Houthi attacks on shipping): Airstrikes and related actions against Houthi targets (often coordinated with partners).Iran: February 28, 2026 to present.Can anyone provide a plausible account of how any of these military actions have done anything for the vast majority of American people—that is, people who do NOT receive substantial income from the military-industrial-complex?Note how the astonishingrecord of failureto achieve constructive political outcomes has done NOTHING to dampen Washington’s appetite to continue attacking and killing people abroad.The people who support President Trump’s infernally stupid war against Iran either don’t understand or don’t care about the true interests of “We the People” of the United States of America.I frequently receive emails from friends trying to persuade that I am wrong about this, but they have no plausible explanation for how the Iran war serves “We the People” of the US, nor do they demonstrate much understanding of history or military affairs or the cost of America’s forever wars.Instead of demonstrating understanding, they proffer me crude propaganda talking points. I am confident that none of them would risk their own lives or the lives of their children to subdue Iran.Indeed, were it not for the delusions generated by debt financing and air power, they would see the Iran War for what it is—a preposterously ruinous and criminal enterprise waged by a senescent President who has no coherent strategy, and who is too beholden to his ego and his billionaire cronies to serve the interests of We the People.The last time the American homeland was threatened was in 1814 when British forces occupied and burned much of Washington D.C.. Since then, the enemy hasn’t been at the gates; he’s been in our heads.The greatest threats to national security and public health and safety are not external. They are produced by the plundering racketeers and manipulators on Capitol Hill who profit from fear and division.As I show in Chapter 3 (“War, the Father of All Mind Viruses”) of my new book, the archaic fear that we are being threatened by a mortal enemy is the cause of most of mankind’s self-inflicted disasters.Please order your copy ofMind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions.Reading it will immunize your minds against the evil nonsense that our racketeering ruling class is constantly inflicting on us.To learn more about the book and the topics that it covers, please visit theWEBSITE.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Reflections on America's \"Forever Wars\"", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-war-is-not-meant-to-be-won", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-23", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Sweat With Purpose: Exercise in the Heat to Unlock Your Body's Deepest Detox", "content": "It’s summertime for me in Texas, that means another 100 degree day coming home from work and deciding, should I go for a workout which is typically involves calisthenics, biking, running, finished by swimming but all in the heat?💧 Sweat Equity: Harnessing Summer’s Heat as Nature’s Detox ProtocolThe human body possesses an elegant, built-in detoxification system that modern medicine consistently undervalues: sweating. As temperatures climb each summer, millions retreat into air-conditioned bubbles, slathering on antiperspirants that chemically block one of our most ancient purification mechanisms. This avoidance of a natural physiological process represents a profound misunderstanding of what the body is trying to accomplish when the mercury rises.🔬 The Biochemistry of Therapeutic SweatingSweat is not merely saltwater. Eccrine glands—the body’s primary sweat-producing structures numbering between 2 and 5 million across human skin—excrete a complex cocktail that includesheavy metals, phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and yes mRNA and Spike protein from COVID-19 vaccination years ago. Research has consistently demonstrated that arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury are measurably excreted through sweat, often at concentrations exceeding those found in urine.A 2012 systematic review published in theJournal of Environmental and Public Healthdocumented that induced sweating consistently mobilized stored toxicants from adipose tissue and eliminated them through the skin. This is particularly significant given that many persistent organic pollutants are lipophilic—they sequester in fat tissue where they resist urinary excretion. Sweating provides a route of elimination that bypasses this limitation entirely.The mechanism is straightforward: as core body temperature rises, blood flow to the skin increases dramatically—up to 8 liters per minute during intense heat exposure. This perfusion carries mobilized toxins to sweat glands, where they exit the body. Simultaneously, the heat shock proteins activated by thermal stress initiate cellular repair cascades and autophagy, the body’s intracellular housekeeping process.🌡️ Beyond Detox: The Systemic BenefitsThe benefits extend well beyond toxicant elimination:Cardiovascular conditioning.Passive heating through sauna use—a close analogue to summer heat exposure—demonstrates remarkable effects on cardiovascular health. The Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Study, tracking over 2,300 middle-aged Finnish men across two decades, found that those using saunas 4–7 times weekly experienced a63% reduction in sudden cardiac deathand a50% reduction in cardiovascular mortalitycompared to once-weekly users. The physiological stress of heat exposure mimics moderate cardiovascular exercise, improving endothelial function, reducing arterial stiffness, and lowering blood pressure.Immune system modulation.Hyperthermia triggers a transient increase in circulating white blood cells, natural killer cells, and neutrophils. This simulated fever state activates dormant immune pathways that modern temperature-controlled living leaves chronically understimulated.Mental health and neuroprotection.Heat exposure elevates beta-endorphins and dynorphins. The initial discomfort of heat triggers dynorphin release, which subsequently upregulates endorphin receptors—producing the euphoric “afterglow” familiar to sauna users. More critically, repeated heat exposure increases expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and observational data from the KIHD study suggests a66% reduction in dementia and Alzheimer’s riskamong frequent sauna users.Skin purification.The increased blood flow and pore dilation during sweating mechanically flushes sebaceous glands, reducing bacterial load and improving skin microbiome diversity. This is the body’s own deep-cleaning mechanism—no topical product can replicate it.🧪 The Modern Toxic BurdenThe case for intentional sweating has never been stronger. The average person now carries an unprecedented body burden of synthetic chemicals. NHANES biomonitoring data reveals that virtually every American has detectable levels of phthalates, flame retardants, pesticides, and industrial compounds circulating in their blood and stored in their tissues. The liver and kidneys—magnificent as they are—evolved to handle naturally occurring toxins, not the thousands of novel synthetic compounds introduced since the Industrial Revolution.Glyphosate, the world’s most widely applied herbicide, is now detectable in the urine of the majority of the population. Atrazine, linked to endocrine disruption, contaminates drinking water across the agricultural Midwest. Microplastics have been found in human blood, lung tissue, and placental samples. These compounds were never part of our evolutionary environment, and our primary detoxification pathways are not optimized for their elimination.Sweating provides an auxiliary route—a pressure-release valve for a system under unprecedented chemical siege.💦 Hydration: The Non-Negotiable FoundationNone of the above is possible without adequate hydration. The average adult loses 0.8 to 1.4 liters of water per hour during heavy sweating in hot conditions. This fluid is not merely water—it carries electrolytes, trace minerals, and water-soluble vitamins that must be replaced for continued safe sweating.Dehydration during heat exposure is dangerous and counterproductive. When fluid volume drops, sweating decreases, toxin elimination stalls, and core temperature rises unchecked. The body, in its wisdom, prioritizes temperature regulation over detoxification—but only when fluid reserves permit both.This is where strategic hydration becomes essential. Water alone is insufficient for prolonged sweating; electrolyte replacement is mandatory. Sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium losses during heavy sweating can reach clinically significant levels, and hyponatremia from consuming plain water without electrolyte replacement during extended heat exposure is a well-documented medical emergency.🧊 The Pique Life Deep Hydration Protocol: A 24-Hour SolutionPique Life’s Deep Hydration Protocol bundles two complementary products designed for round-the-clock hydration coverage, and the logic behind this pairing is physiologically sound.The daytime component—BT Fountain Electrolyte Recovery—addresses acute needs.During active sweating in summer heat, rapid sodium and potassium replenishment is paramount. Sodium facilitates fluid retention and prevents the dangerous drop in plasma osmolality that occurs when sweaters drink plain water without salt. Potassium maintains intracellular fluid balance and prevents muscle cramping. Magnesium supports the hundreds of enzymatic reactions involved in energy metabolism during heat stress. A well-formulated electrolyte product taken during and after heat exposure transforms sweating from a potentially dehydrating stress into a controlled therapeutic intervention.The nighttime component—RE Fountain—addresses the repair window.Sleep is when the body conducts its most intensive cellular repair, and hydration status during these hours is frequently overlooked. The 8-hour fasting period of sleep represents a significant dehydration window, particularly after a day of heavy sweating. Pique’s sleep formulation provides sustained, slow-release hydration without the diuretic effect that disrupts sleep architecture. The inclusion of calming botanicals and skin-supporting compounds aligns with the body’s natural circadian repair rhythms. Skin that has been purged through sweating during the day receives continued support through the night.The 24-hour coverage concept is not marketing—it is physiology. Sweating depletes; sleep restores. Addressing only the active sweating window while neglecting the overnight repair window leaves half the equation unsolved. The bundled approach ensures continuity: electrolyte-supported sweating during waking hours, sustained hydration and repair support during sleep.For anyone implementing a regular heat exposure protocol—whether through outdoor summer activity, sauna use, or exercise—this dual-phase hydration strategy represents the difference between stress and adaptation. The body can only benefit from heat exposure to the extent that its fluid and electrolyte reserves permit. Pique’s bundle acknowledges this reality and addresses it comprehensively.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough FoundationFOCAL POINTS has partnered withPiqueto promote your optimal health. To learn more aboutPiqueproducts and get 20% off and free gifts today,https://www.piquelife.com/DRPETER📚 ReferencesSears, M. E., Kerr, K. J., & Bray, R. I. (2012). Arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury in sweat: A systematic review.Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2012, 184745.Genuis, S. J., Birkholz, D., Rodushkin, I., & Beesoon, S. (2011). Blood, urine, and sweat (BUS) study: Monitoring and elimination of bioaccumulated toxic elements.Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 61(2), 344–357.Laukkanen, J. A., Laukkanen, T., & Kunutsor, S. K. (2018). Cardiovascular and other health benefits of sauna bathing: A review of the evidence.Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 93(8), 1111–1121.Laukkanen, T., Kunutsor, S., Kauhanen, J., & Laukkanen, J. A. (2017). Sauna bathing is inversely associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in middle-aged Finnish men.Age and Ageing, 46(2), 245–249.Crinnion, W. J. (2011). Sauna as a valuable clinical tool for cardiovascular, autoimmune, toxicant-induced and other chronic health problems.Alternative Medicine Review, 16(3), 215–225.Hussain, J., & Cohen, M. (2018). Clinical effects of regular dry sauna bathing: A systematic review.Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2018, 1857413.Patrick, R. P., & Johnson, T. L. (2021). Sauna use as a lifestyle practice to extend healthspan.Experimental Gerontology, 154, 111509.Kukkonen-Harjula, K., & Kauppinen, K. (2006). Health effects and risks of sauna bathing.International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 65(3), 195–205.", "summary": "How strategic hydration and summer swelter combine to purge toxins, fortify your heart, and sharpen your mind—without burning out", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/sweat-with-purpose-exercise-in-the", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-23", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "How a $9 Billion Bureaucracy Got Outsmarted by Tainted Lettuce", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHIf you’re wondering about thecurrent U.S. Cyclospora (cyclospora cayetanensis) outbreak, the CDC says the2026 outbreak season began on May 1, 2026. As of July 2026, health officials were still investigating multiple clusters of cases, including a multistate outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce.🥬 Cyclospora Crisis Entering Fourth MonthThe OutbreakDr. Peter McCullough, Chief Scientific Officer of The Wellness Company, sat down with John Fredericks onOutside the Beltwayto discuss the cyclospora outbreak linked to contaminated lettuce supplied to Taco Bell from farms in central Mexico.What happened:The protozoal parasiteCyclospora— a waterborne organism typically found in stagnant ponds and contaminated water sources — made its way onto lettuce at the farm level. The likely mechanism: irrigation or washing with contaminated water that got absorbed into the leaves themselves.Why it spread so fast:Lettuce is a sponge. As McCullough and Fredericks discussed, nobody peels and washes every individual leaf. You pull off the outer layers, run the head under water, and call it done. But cyclospora getsinsidethe vegetable — surface rinsing won’t touch it. Add in supply chain mixing, intermediaries hosing down produce, and the fact that Taco Bell serves the lowest-cost demographic at massive scale, and you’ve got a “Code Brown” wildfire.The illness:Explosive watery diarrhea that can last a month or more. Dehydration. Hospitalization. People missing weeks of work. Not a stomach bug — a serious protozoal infection.The Institutional FailureThe CDC has 12,000 employees and a $9 billion budget. The USDA and FDA are supposed to inspect imported produce. None of them caught this before people got sick. None of them got ahead of it after people got sick either.McCullough’s phrase —“paralysis by analysis”— captures the core problem. These agencies excel at holding meetings and issuing press releases days after the damage is done. What they don’t do is protect Americans in real time.Fredericks noted that when a reporter at a White House press briefing tried to blame DOGE cuts for the outbreak, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pointed out the obvious: 12,000 employees should be able to handle a diarrhea outbreak. The impulse to politicize food safety failures instead of fixing them is exactly why people have lost faith in these institutions.Should America Stop Eating Lettuce?No — but you should stop trusting the system to protect you.McCullough’s point wasn’t that lettuce is inherently dangerous. It’s that you cannot know whether the lettuce on your plate — at a restaurant, from a grocery store, delivered via Instacart — is contaminated. You simply don’t know. The supply chain is opaque. The regulators are reactive. The inspection protocols are inadequate.The practical takeaway:Wash produce thoroughly— but understand that with leafy greens that absorb water, washing has limits.Have treatment on hand.McCullough emphasized that the combination of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim/Septra) shuts this down in about a week instead of a month of misery. Without it, you’re at the mercy of an overburdened healthcare system that’s perpetually behind the curve.Optimize your immune system.A robust immune system can handle a low-dose exposure that floors someone with a junk-food diet. McCullough recommended immune-support supplements (he mentioned The Wellness Company’sNatural Immunitycapsules) and daily nasal/throat spray (Immune Defense) containing xylitol and erythritol to prevent pathogens from colonizing.The larger point:This isn’t really about lettuce. It’s about a public health infrastructure that spends billions preparing for theoretical biothreats while getting pantsed by a protozoan on a salad bar. The solution isn’t to stop eating vegetables — it’s to stop outsourcing your health security to agencies that have repeatedly demonstrated they can’t deliver.The Cyclospora Treatment ProtocolScenario Intervention Active cyclospora infection Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim/Septra), 1 tablet twice daily, typically ~1 week course.  If the patient is sulfa-allergic then a doctor may considernitazoxanideis which FDA-approved for certain other protozoal infections (such asGiardiaandCryptosporidium) at500 mg orally every 12 hours with food for 3 days.Symptom management Imodium (OTC) to slow diarrhea; Pedialyte or electrolyte replacement for dehydration Prevention/immune supportImmune Defensenasal spray + throat spray (2–4 sprays each nostril, 5 sprays throat), daily immune optimization Immune-support supplements, adequate nutrition, avoid junk-food loaded with sugar, starches, and saturated fat.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpointsReferencesTranscript:Outside the Beltwaywith John Fredericks, interview with Dr. Peter McCullough, Chief Scientific Officer of The Wellness Company, July 22, 2026 (attached).The Wellness Company Medical Emergency Kit (Aqua Marine kit):twc.health/Godzilla, promo code Godzilla for 10% off.", "summary": "The cyclospora outbreak proves America’s public health apparatus is useless — and your kitchen counter is now the front line", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/how-a-9-billion-bureaucracy-got-outsmarted", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-24", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Are You Ready for the Coming Energy Shock?", "content": "The United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) was established in response to the 1973–1974 Arab oil embargo, which followed the Yom Kippur War and caused oil prices to quadruple, thereby exposing America’s vulnerability to disruptions of foreign supplies. The image below shows cars lining up to buy gas during the 1973-74 crisis because many gas stations ran out of inventory.Enacted through the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 under President Gerald Ford, the SPR was conceived to mitigate the economic and national-security impacts of severe petroleum supply interruptions caused by geopolitical turmoil or natural disasters.The SPR also fulfills U.S. obligations under the International Energy Agency’s coordinated emergency response system, requiring member countries to maintain strategic stocks equivalent to at least 90 days of net imports.By storing a large, government-controlled inventory of crude oil—authorized at up to 714 million barrels and stored in underground salt caverns along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast—the reserve acts as a buffer supply that can begin entering the market within roughly 13 days of a presidential order.Construction and filling of the four SPR sites began in the late 1970s. Inventory grew steadily through the 1980s and 1990s, with intermittent drawdowns for hurricanes, pipeline disruptions, and limited sales.Levels peaked near727 million barrelsin the late 2000s before declines from congressionally mandated sales and exchanges. A major drawdown occurred in 2022 under the Biden administration in response to the Russia-Ukraine war, reducing stocks significantly; subsequent refill efforts partially restored inventory, leaving roughly415 millionbarrels in mid-February 2026.The military operation against Iran that commenced in late February 2026—widely described as a U.S.-Israeli campaign—triggered the largest coordinated release of strategic stocks in IEA history.In March 2026, IEA members agreed to make 400 million barrels available, with the United States committing 172 million barrels from the SPR, largely structured as loans or exchanges under which companies repay the crude plus a premium.As of the week ending July 17 2026, SPR inventories had fallen to311.4million barrels—the lowest level since March 1983.This is a cumulative drawdown of approximately104 million barrelssince the conflict began, equivalent to roughlyone-quarter of the pre-war stockpileand a reduction of more than 18 percent from early-2026 levels.Weekly draws have frequently exceeded several million barrels, driving the reserve well below its long-term average and raising questions about remaining operational margins, cavern integrity, and the ability to respond to another crisis.In short, the SPR remains a cornerstone of U.S. energy security policy, born of the lessons of 1973 and repeatedly tested by subsequent shocks. The 2026 Iran conflict has subjected it to one of its most sustained and substantial drawdowns, illustrating both its utility as a short-term price and supply stabilizer and the limits of even the world’s largest emergency oil stockpile when geopolitical disruptions prove prolonged.I grew up in Texas and my maternal grandfather worked (on the banking side) in the Texas petroleum industry, the fortunes of which I have carefully followed for years. The psychopathic clowns who are currently running this country are not telling us the truth about the enormous risk to the real economy that is growing with each passing day that the pointless war of choice again Iran continues.Most Americans who are alive today have grown so accustomed to cheap, readily available energy that they take it completely for granted. As soon as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve draws down, thereby removing the buffer, this country will face a marked reduction of available fuel products, with an array of severe negative consequences for the real economy, including outright fuel shortages and significant inflation of food costs.An energy shock will also imperil the gazillions of CAPEX investment in A.I., which absolutely requires cheap and plentiful energy.I hope I am wrong, but I fear that this country (and the entire West) will soon be facing a severe economic and financial crisis.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "US Strategic Petroleum Reserve lowest since March 1983.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/are-you-ready-for-the-coming-energy", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-24", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "STUDY: Magnesium L-Threonate Made Participants’ Brains Perform as if They Were 7.5 Years Younger in Six Weeks", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHA recentrandomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trialfound that magnesium L-threonate significantly improved several measures of cognitive performance in healthy adults experiencing dissatisfied sleep.Researchers randomized 100 adults between the ages of 18 and 45 to receive either magnesium L-threonate or placebo for six weeks. The daily dose contained 2 grams of magnesium L-threonate, providing 145 milligrams of elemental magnesium.Cognitive performance was measured using the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery, alongside tests of working memory, reaction time, fluid intelligence, sleep quality, heart rate, and heart-rate variability.Brains Performed as if They Were 7.5 Years YoungerAfter six weeks, the magnesium group demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in overall cognition compared with placebo.The researchers then compared participants’ cognitive scores with age-based NIH normative data. Because total cognition scores normally decline by approximately 0.3 points per year after early adulthood, the observed treatment advantage corresponded to an estimated7.5-year reduction in cognitive age.This does not mean the supplement literally reversed biological brain aging. Rather, participants performed on cognitive tests at a level expected from people approximately 7.5 years younger.Significant Cognitive ImprovementsCompared with their baseline scores, participants receiving magnesium L-threonate experienced:7.5% improvement in overall cognition5.6% improvement in working memory6.3% improvement in reaction time and hand-eye coordinationOverall cognition increased by 8.4 points in the magnesium group compared with 5.6 points in the placebo group, representing a50% greater improvement. Working-memory gains were more than four times larger than those observed with placebo.The per-protocol analysis produced similarly strong results. Overall cognition increased by 9.08 points, while working-memory scores rose by 7.25 points compared with only 1.10 points in the placebo group.The magnesium group also experienced improved sleep-related daytime impairment, a lower resting heart rate during sleep, and increased heart-rate variability—an indicator associated with improved autonomic balance.However, the supplement did not significantly outperform placebo for fluid intelligence, several other cognitive tasks, or objective sleep duration and sleep-stage measurements recorded by an Oura Ring. This suggests that its clearest benefits were concentrated in overall cognition, working memory, reaction time, and selected physiological measures rather than every outcome tested.Possible MechanismsMagnesium is essential for normal neuronal function and serves as a cofactor in more than 300 enzymatic reactions throughout the body. In the brain, it supports cellular energy production, neurotransmission, synaptic plasticity, and the electrical stability of neurons—all processes required for learning, memory, and healthy cognitive performance. Lower magnesium concentrations have also been observed in people with reduced cognition, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer’s disease.One reason magnesium L-threonate may produce cognitive effects is its ability to raise magnesium concentrations in the brain. The L-threonate component appears to interact with glucose transport pathways, helping transport magnesium into the brain and increasing neuronal magnesium availability.Higher brain magnesium may strengthen synaptic connections, support communication between neurons, and enhance the plasticity required to form and retrieve memories. It may also help regulate NMDA receptors, which play a central role in learning and memory.ConclusionThis randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 100 adults found significant gains across multiple measures of cognitive performance after six weeks of supplementation with 2 grams of magnesium L-threonate daily, providing 145 mg of elemental magnesium. Larger and longer independent trials are needed to confirm how durable these benefits are.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.Subscribe now", "summary": "Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial finds magnesium L-threonate improved overall cognition by 7.5%, working memory by 5.6%, and reaction time/hand-eye coordination by 6.3%.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/study-magnesium-l-threonate-made", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-24", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Why War Propaganda Always Works", "content": "In the 2004 filmTroy, Brad Pitt plays a very pretty and very deadly Achilles. In Homer’s telling of the Trojan war, it started because the Trojan prince Paris stole the wife (Helen) of the Spartan king Menelaus. In reality, the war was probably fought for control of marine traffic entering the only entrance to the Dardanelles—i.e., the Greeks wanted to wrest control of this valuable maritime shipping lane from the Trojans.Nevertheless, the erotic casus belli of the Homeric story strikes me as apt. In the same way that erotic imagery always works in selling products, war propagandaalways worksin persuading people to believe that their nation should participate in war.Especially in the male brain, the arousal to fight seems to originate in the same neural circuitry as sexual arousal, and the closely related desire of young men to prove themselves in the eyes of young women.Shortly after the British government declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914, young women were deployed in British cities to approach young men on the streets and ask them why—by all appearances—they hadn’t yet enlisted.When a German U-Boat torpedoed the Lusitania—which was carrying over 4 million rounds of machine gun ammunition from the U.S. to Britain—the British government created potent propaganda using various imagery of drowned maidens and young mothers clutching their infants as they sank to the bottom of the Atlantic.In the United States, various parties who wanted American participation in the war—especially banking interests—published equally potent propaganda to drum up fear and loathing of Germany.No matter how many U.S. military adventures abroad fail and are later revealed to have been launched under false pretenses, large swaths of the American public can be easily manipulated to support yet another foolhardy and costly adventure. Humans are absolute suckers for war propaganda.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Like erotic imagery, war propaganda activates the brain's most powerful, archaic circuitry.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/why-war-propaganda-always-works-9ff", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-24", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Biden, Trump, and Trauma Bonding", "content": "I am grateful for all of my readers, and I greatly welcome ALL reader comments, including highly critical comments. I donottake critical comments personally, but regard them as an opportunity for introspection and possibly to clarify something or provide additional information to help make my point.Reviewing the comments to my post of earlier today,Are You Ready for the Coming Energy Shock?, I see that many of my readers are unhappy with my characterization of the Trump administration as psychopathic clowns.And so, I would like to clarify something for my readers: I am very strongly opposed to war, and to violence in general, unless it is absolutely necessary for defending my country, my community, or my family.For an entire decade between 2015 and 2025, I was a fierce defender of Donald Trump—often at the cost of social ostracism—BECAUSEhe clearly articulated and promised on dozens of occasions that he would cease the US government’s policy of perpetual warfare abroad.For me to now adopt the attitude “You broke your promise about refraining from mass death, maiming, and destruction, but that’s okay with me, and I still think you’re a swell guy,” would be contemptibly obsequious and display a pitiful lack of self-respect.To explain WHY I have assumed this posture would require a very long column citing a great deal of history, literature, and personal experience visiting veterans suffering from Traumatic Brain Injuries, and I am currently pressed for time.My new book,Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions, contains a chapter on Iran that carefully elucidates that nation’s history, its relations with Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States, drawing on assessments of the Iranian regime written by seasoned intelligence agency analysts, including Israeli intelligence analysts.In response to the unfounded accusation that I am suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, I would like to express my perception that many of my negative commentators are suffering from a trauma bond the with the President of the United States—both the office and the man who is currently occupying it. This bond causes them to tolerate being abused by the POTUS and to believe his lame excuses for breaking his promises.A Google search for “Trauma Bond” yielded the following definition.A trauma bond isa powerful, unhealthy emotional attachment that develops between a victim and their abuser, often characterized by a cycle of intense abuse followed by periods of affection or kindness. Coined by Dr. Patrick Carnes, this bond is rooted in fear, dependency, and intermittent reinforcement, making it incredibly difficult for victims to leave, even when they recognize the toxicity.For four years, we were constantly abused by the madness of the Biden administration and the preposterous insistence that the senile Joe Biden was our true executive. Then Trump managed to get reelected president because he seemed to understand and sympathize with our distress about censorship, the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, and the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine against nuclear-armed Russia. He really offered a helping hand.The bond between the abused (We the People) and the abuser (the U.S. government) was thereby reconstituted.After entering office, he then:Refused to acknowledge that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are toxic.Honored Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla by inviting him to the White HouseDid NOT demand a full investigation of the origin of SARS-CoV-2Did NOT end the U.S. proxy war against Ukraine as he promisedDid NOT demand the full disclosure of the Epstein FilesAttacked Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene for demanding the full release of the Epstein FilesDid NOT demand that Google-YouTube cease running its vigorous shadow-banning program on dissident voicesDid NOT in the slightest tame the voracious beast of runaway federal spendingDid NOT reduce the undue influence of national security stateNow, despite his dozens of promises of no new wars since he announced his candidacy in 2015, he has started a war with Iran—a country four times the size of Iraq with twice the population and a standing army of 610,000 active duty personnel.Like a the proverbial abused wife who can’t break free from her abusive husband, tens of millions of Trump supporters cannot see that he reconstituted their bond with the U.S. federal government, which is now abusing them again.The ONLY way for this country could reclaim its health and vitality is through a widespread movement to reassert LIMITS of federal power, which happens to be the key underlying concept of the U.S. Constitution.Only whenWe the Peopletell the U.S. government—regardless of who is president—that we reject the continuous expansion of its size and power, and especially its abominable wars, will the cycle of abuse end.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "The Biden administration abused us, then Trump offered us hope for a better future, thereby reconstituting our bond with the federal government. Now the cycle of abuse is repeating.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/biden-trump-and-trauma-bonding-146", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-24", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Lettuce Pray: Dr. McCullough Says Cyclospora Must be Treated with Trimethoprim/Sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX)", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHAmerica has seen food contamination crises in the past, but the Cyclospora outbreak seems to be lingering for months.🥬 The Cyclospora Outbreak and Need for Emergency PreparednessJust the News, No Noise — July 22, 2026Hosts: Amanda Head & John Solomon Guest: Dr. Peter McCullough, Chief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Company.  Dr. McCullough describedCyclosporaas a protozoan parasite that contaminates water trapped between lettuce leaves, particularly iceberg lettuce. Federal agencies initially traced the source to Taylor Farms in central Mexico but have since backed off that single-source claim, suggesting possible cross-contamination in trucks or processing facilities. Thousands of cases and several hundred hospitalizations from dehydration have been reported.The illness causesexplosive, watery diarrhea(more than four stools per day) that can persist for about a month if untreated. McCullough warned that standard stool ova-and-parasite exams miss it, and even the old acid-fast stain was only 50% accurate. While PCR multiplex panels exist, not all clinics have them.TreatmentThe treatment is straightforward:trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole(Bactrim/SEPTRA), one tablet twice daily for about a week. McCullough’s advice: if diarrhea lasts more than a day, assume Cyclospora and start treatment immediately — don’t wait for testing.  If sulfa allergic, then a doctor will need to prescribe an alternative (eg Nitazoxanide).He noted TMP-SMX is included in The Wellness Company’s aqua-blue Emergency Medical Kit, and urged Americans to have it on hand rather than waiting hours in an ER.Critique of the CDCMcCullough took direct aim at the CDC, which employs 12,000 people:“They sit behind computers all day long. They’re not out in the field doing public health.”He argued the agency has developed a “lassitude” and should be tracing nearly every case back to specific food sources — something he says has dragged on far too long.The Daszak RevelationJohn Solomon raised Senator Rand Paul’s disclosure that the FBI blocked Customs and Border Patrol from questioningPeter Daszakwhen he returned from Wuhan in 2021. McCullough stated Daszak was“part of the team with Fauci that created the virus”and that Fauci “gave the orders through the intelligence agencies to leave Daszak, who could have been shuttling viral samples, alone at the border.” He called it a critical revelation exposing the nexus between Fauci, Daszak, and the intelligence community.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.SharePlease subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpointsReferences:Transcript:Just the News, No Noise, Real America’s Voice, July 22, 2026Dr. Peter McCullough, Chief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Company (twc.health)Senate Homeland Security Chairman Rand Paul, disclosure re: FBI/Daszak (July 21, 2026)", "summary": "Explosive diarrhea, a missing CDC, and why your medicine cabinet needs an upgrade — plus, Fauci's pal gets the VIP border treatment", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/lettuce-pray-dr-mccullough-says-cyclospora", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-25", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "\"Our Society is Run By Insane People\"", "content": "A few years ago I saw a recording of an interview that John Lennon gave on June 6, 1968 that has haunted me ever since.Four years before Lennon gave his interview, Stanley Kubrick’sDr. Strangelovewas released in US cinemas. In the following scene, the titular character — who seems to a mishmash of former Nazi rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and game theory guru John von Neumann—explains why he concluded that a computer-automated “Doomsday Machine,” designed to exclude “human meddling” from rational decision-making in the business of waging nuclear warfare, was not such a great idea after all.I have long regarded asDr. Strangeloveas the strangest and most fascinating film ever made. Equally fascinating is the evolution of Kubrick’s thinking as he got into the project.It began with him acquiring the rights to Peter George’s 1958 novelRed Alert—a deadly serious Cold War thriller about the terrifying ease with which a nuclear exchange could be triggered by a single deranged American general and the frantic efforts to recall the bombers before they triggered Mutually Assured Destruction.As Kubrick got into developing the screenplay with George, he found the material’s inherent paradoxes impossible to treat with a serious tone. He later explained that while he was trying to develop the scenes realistically, he repeatedly had to suppress details that were ridiculous or paradoxical to keep the story from becoming absurdly funny. The logic of mutual assured destruction, fail-safe protocols that could be subverted by one paranoid officer, and political and military leaders calmly calculating megadeaths as acceptable trade-offs struck him as so preposterous that it could only be treated in a comedic fashion.What could be more absurd, he suggested, than two superpowers prepared to erase human civilization over accidents and ideological differences that future generations would likely regard as an adolescent ideological pissing contest.The comedy does not dilute the horror, but enhances it by exposing how systems built for rational deterrence can easily be derailed by human fallibility and insane rationalizations that normalize the unthinkable.It seems to me that the people who run our society today are just as insane as they were in the 1960s, perhaps even more so.Since I published the video trailer to my new book,Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions, a few people have told me that the video is too relentlessly over-the-top in its depiction of chaotic insanity—that the viewer’s mind is overwhelmed and cannot process it. And yet, all of the imagery and news clips are real, taken directly from archives.I would be most grateful if my readers would take five minutes to watch the trailer and to let me know in the comments what you think.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "John Lennon's earnest statement in 1968 and Stanley Kubrick's \"Dr. Strangelove\" in 1964", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/our-society-is-run-by-insane-people", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-25", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "We've Become (Un)comfortably Numb", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHWell folks, this is it—the end of five years of volunteer journalism on America Out Loud News,The McCullough ReportandPULSE.It has been a great privilege.  I am thankful to Malcolm Out Loud and all of the wonderful sponsors of the platform including The Wellness Company, XLEAR, and so many more.🌍Every Human Life Mat…Read more", "summary": "Every Human Life Matters — The Final McCullough Report", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/weve-become-uncomfortably-numb", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-26", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING--Dr. Anthony Fauci’s Post-Vaccination Pulmonary Embolism and the Disconnect in Public Health Policy", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHJust a few days before his appearance before the US Senate, Senator Rand Paul dropped this bombshell on Dr Anthony Fauci.The Architect’s Secret: A Case Study in Medical HypocrisyThe story of the COVID-19 pandemic is one defined by a chasm between the public directives issued by the medical establishment and the private realities of its most prominent leaders. Dr. Anthony Fauci, as the long-serving director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), became the primary architect of the global vaccination strategy. Yet, documents recently released by Senator Rand Paul reveal a stark, personal contradiction that exposes the profound dissonance between the official narrative of universal vaccine safety and the private health crises faced by those enforcing it.A Timeline of Public Mandates and Private CrisisOn December 22, 2020, Dr. Fauci stood before the nation at the NIH Clinical Center to receive his first dose of the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine. This performance was not merely a medical procedure; it was a carefully choreographed spectacle designed to manufacture public confidence and serve as a symbol of the supposed “veil of protection” the shots would provide.However, the reality of the situation on the ground was far more complex than the celebratory press releases suggested. By mid-2021, the veneer began to crack. Internal records released by Chairman Rand Paul illuminate a harrowing medical event in June 2021. According to these documents, on June 19, 2021, Dr. Fauci was grappling with the aftermath of an acute “pulmonary infarct”—a direct result of a pulmonary embolism which is a known side effect of mRNA COVID-19 vaccination. The medical consensus documented in these notes from his own inner circle of advisors concluded that the “only definite thing” on his scan was this infarct, necessitating the immediate commencement of anticoagulation therapy with the drug Eliquis.Crucially, this health emergency occurred just months after his primary vaccination series.  Yet Fauci was not transparent with the public. Furthermore, Dr. Fauci would later contract SARS-CoV-2 in June 2022, despite being “fully vaccinated” and twice-boosted, a fact that NIAID was forced to disclose as the reality of the shots’ failure to prevent infection became impossible to ignore.The Irony of the Establishment’s PathThe most damning aspect of this revelation is not merely the medical failure itself, but the behavioral response of the architect of the policy. Even as Dr. Fauci was personally navigating the dangers of vaccine-associated vascular events—evidenced by his own prescription for Eliquis—he continued to utilize the full weight of his office to pressure the American public into accepting the same pharmaceutical interventions.There is a profound, sick irony in a public health leader suffering a life-threatening blood clot following a novel mRNA inoculation, only to return to the podium to demand that millions of others accept the same risk profile. While he navigated his own recovery with the specialized care of top-tier pulmonologists and radiologists, he simultaneously championed policies that forced the populace into a state of medical compliance. He moved to normalize the very health outcomes he was personally managing behind closed doors, effectively putting the public on the same path of potential iatrogenic harm while preaching a doctrine of “extreme confidence” in the safety of these products.The documents released by Senator Paul confirm what many have long suspected: that for the architects of the pandemic response, the risks of the experimental technologies were not hypothetical, but personal. The insistence on universal vaccination, despite the evident risks to vascular health, remains one of the most significant breaches of the public trust in modern medical history.  Fauci either knew or should have known he suffered a potentially fatal side effect of the Moderna vaccine—yet he kept it quiet while encouraging others to suffer the same fate.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.SharePlease subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough FoundationFOCAL POINTS has partnered withAlterAIto defend your medical freedom. Subscribe toAlterAItoday and get a discount on unbiased and accurate AI!ReferencesNIAID Director Fauci Tests Positive for COVID-19, National Institutes of Health, June 15, 2022.Fauci, other top health officials receive Moderna Covid-19 vaccine on camera, NBC News, December 22, 2020.Documents released by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (Chairman Rand Paul), 2026.", "summary": "Examining the Dissonance Between a Concealed Medical Crisis and Federal Public Health Directives--Fauci Knew or Should Have Known Moderna Causes Blood Clots", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-dr-anthony-faucis-post-vaccination", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-26", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Fauci's Diary: A Fascination with Fame", "content": "Senator Rand Paul just released more than a thousand pages of personal diary entries recorded by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, during the period from December 2019 through December 2022.The diary presents an unfiltered private record of the pandemic’s early months and beyond. What emerges is a portrait of a so-called “expert” acutely conscious of his growing celebrity while playing the mendacious game of Washington DC politics and dealing with President Trump, who lacked the confidence to fire the tricky, smart-ass gnome.The most striking theme is Fauci’s preoccupation with his growing fame, with multiple entries recording his adulatory media coverage. In May 2020 he noted a “very flattering” front-page *Washington Post* profile and declared it “not hyperbole to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable person in the world.” He tracked profiles onNightline, editorials in major newspapers, and the production of Fauci-themed merchandise—socks, doughnuts, and a prayer necklace casting him as the “Patron Saint of Public Health.”He proudly records celebrity contacts such as a “great call” with Barbra Streisand in which he advised her on the mRNA vaccine. Also noted are his interactions with Julia Roberts, Steph Curry, and others. The diary concludes in December 2022 with an embrace of Hunter Biden at the Kennedy Center Honors and a note about the online reaction a photograph would provoke.Especially remarkable are the early entries on the virus’s origin. On January 26, 2020, Fauci wrote that epidemiological and genomic data showed the first infection occurred in early December and was unconnected to the Wuhan market: “Now we know the market was not the source, it was the amplifier.”Days later he recorded his infamous conference call with his virology buddies in which only two favored a natural origin while the rest thought “deliberate insertion was possible,” including a discussion of the furin cleavage siteandthe possibility of accidental or intentional laboratory release. These private remarks contradict his public assertions about a natural spillover and dismissal of the lab-leak hypothesis.Other notable passages document his initially amicable relationship with President Trump—who called him “the smartest person in the world” and said “We are counting on you.”Fauci also recorded continued private contact with senior adviser David Morens, whom he later disavowed under oath, and expressed frustration with congressional critics he viewed as intent on “bring[ing] me down.”The diary presents Fauci’s experience of the pandemic as a public-health emergency that catapulted him to international fame among his legions of dimwitted and adoring fans.I find it fun to compare and contrast Fauci’s diaries to those of Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) , whose diaries offer a fascinating and colorful portrait of England in the momentous 1660s that featured the Great Plague, the Great Fire of London, and the Second Anglo-Dutch War.Pepys was a high-ranking naval administrator and Member of Parliament. Between January 1, 1660 and May 31, 1669 he kept a private diary in a personal shorthand system that mixed English tachygraphy with French, Spanish, Latin, and other languages for sensitive passages.His eyewitness account of the Great Plague remains the best in recorded history, because unlike most people of his social class, he continued spending much of his time in London. The plague reached the City by early summer 1665. He sent his wife Elisabeth (and household) to Woolwich for safety in July, and the Navy Office later moved to Greenwich in the late summer. Pepys overnighted in Greenwich but regularly commuted by river back to his London home and other parts of the capital for work and pleasure.He stayed through much of the epidemic’s peak, and continued his official duties and social life. He recorded his observations (including seeing red-crossed doors, empty streets, and burial pits), took the precautions of the time such as chewing tobacco, and noted that he “never lived so merrily” or prospered as much as during that plague year.Early published editions of his diary redacted or obscured its extensive sexual material. Victorian and later editors cut, paraphrased, or left untranslated the passages in which Pepys recorded his frequent extramarital encounters, many of them with servants, subordinates’ wives, and young women in positions of dependence.The most complete modern transcription, the eleven-volume Latham and Matthews edition (1970–1983), restored the full text and supplied translations of the coded sections. What emerges is a man of boundless curiosity, energy, cultural and sexual appetite. He recorded his sexual acts and his subsequent shame, prayers for forgiveness, and his relapse to the same kind of behavior.Whereas Fauci is fascinated by himself, Pepys is fascinated by everything and everyone around him, and his portrait of life in London during the reign of Charles II is extremely entertaining.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Comparing Fauci's diary to that of Samuel Pepys", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/faucis-diary-a-fascination-with-fame", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-27", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Cracking Under Pressure: Why the FDA Let Salmonella Eggs Ship for 7 Months", "content": "Many egg-eating MAHA health freedom activists have run into a roadblock this summer—salmonella gastroenteritis.🥚 The Great Texas Egg Recall of 2026: Salmonella, Industrial Farming, and the Revolving Door🔬 The Outbreak: By the NumbersNearly 100 people across 17 states have been sickened in aSalmonellaoutbreak definitively traced back to shell eggs produced byMidwest Poultry Services L.P., an Indiana-based conglomerate operating farms in Texas. The numbers tell a grim story:98 confirmed casesspanning from coast to coast26 hospitalizations— that’s a hospitalization rate over 26%, far exceeding what you’d expect for routine foodborne illness17 statesaffected: Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and West VirginiaIllness onsetstretching from November 21, 2025, through June 30, 2026 — meaning this outbreak simmered for overseven monthsbefore the recall was finally initiatedThe recall, issued on July 21, 2026, coversmore than 1.5 million shell eggs— both white and brown cage-free varieties — produced between June 6 and July 3, with sell-by dates ranging from July 20 through August 17. The affected cartons bear identifying codesP-1950or0840962with Julian dates between 157 and 184.These eggs hit shelves atKrogerandBrookshire Grocerylocations across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Mississippi — though the FDA acknowledges the distribution could extend well beyond those borders.🏭 Industrial Agriculture: The Root Cause Nobody Wants to DiscussWhat’s notable here isn’t just the outbreak itself — it’s what it reveals about our food safety apparatus.Midwest Poultry Services is exactly the kind of vertically integrated, industrial-scale operation that has come to dominate American egg production. When you concentrate millions of laying hens into densely packed facilities in Texas heat, you create a perfect incubator for pathogens. The company’s own samples — collected at their Texas farms and tested by a third-party lab — came back positive forSalmonella. Whole genome sequencing confirmed the match to the outbreak strain.The company’s own testing found the pathogen. And yet the recall didn’t come until late July, after illnesses had been accumulating for the better part of a year.This is the predictable result of a regulatory system where the FDA relies on voluntary compliance and company self-reporting. The agency doesn’t have the inspectors, the teeth, or frankly the institutional will to police industrial agriculture in real time. By the time traceback investigations identify a source, the contaminated product has already been distributed, sold, and consumed across half the country.And here’s the part that should genuinely anger people:Midwest Poultry Services doesn’t account for all the illnesses in this outbreak.The FDA’s own investigation acknowledges that additional sources remain unidentified. So we’re dealing with a known contaminated producer whose recall doesn’t fully explain the outbreak, while the agency continues to “investigate” — and in the meantime, contaminated eggs from God knows where else continue circulating through the supply chain.🤔 The “Cage-Free” IronyOne of the grim little ironies here is that the recall includes “brown cage free shell eggs” — the premium-priced variety that conscientious consumers pay extra for, believing they’re buying a safer, more ethically produced product.The reality is thatSalmonella enteritidisdoesn’t care about your cage-free certification. The bacterium can colonize a hen’s ovaries and contaminate the egg before the shell even forms. The industrial conditions that facilitate outbreak-scale contamination — massive flocks, centralized processing, nationwide distribution — are present in both conventional and “free-range” operations when they’re scaled to feed millions.What actually matters is biosecurity, sanitation, testing frequency, and the willingness to pull product the moment contamination is detected rather than waiting for epidemiological confirmation months later. On all those fronts, the system failed.💊 Treatment: What Actually Works for Salmonella EnteritisHere’s where the rubber meets the road. WhenSalmonellagets past your stomach acid and sets up shop in your intestinal epithelium, you’re in for a miserable few days — or worse.Thecornerstone of treatment for Salmonella enteritis is supportive hydration.Full stop. The overwhelming majority of cases in healthy adults are self-limited. Your body knows how to clear the infection; what it needs is fluid and electrolyte replacement to compensate for the losses from diarrhea and vomiting. Oral rehydration solutions — the kind with glucose and electrolytes in proper ratios — are ideal. IV fluids if you can’t keep anything down. Anti-motility agents like loperamide are generally avoided because they can prolong the infection and increase the risk of complications.Antibiotics arenotroutinely indicated for uncomplicated Salmonella gastroenteritis. In fact, antibiotics can prolong the carrier state and increase the risk of relapse. The data on this is solid.However, there are two critical exceptions where antibiotic therapy becomes necessary:Patients over 65— this population is at markedly increased risk for bacteremia, endovascular infection, and extra-intestinal seeding of the organism. When Salmonella escapes the gut in an elderly patient, the consequences can be catastrophic.CiprofloxacinorAzithromycinis the treatment of choice here — it achieves high intracellular concentrations, has excellent activity againstSalmonellaspecies, and carries a favorable side effect profile compared to fluoroquinolones.Children— particularly infants and young children, who are at risk for severe dehydration and, in rare cases, disseminated infection. Again,azithromycinis the preferred agent when antibiotics are indicated.For those looking to be prepared, these medications — azithromycin among them — are available in theMedical Emergency Kit (Aqua Blue)fromThe Wellness Company.In an era where supply chains falter and getting a timely prescription isn’t always guaranteed, having a properly stocked emergency medical kit isn’t paranoia — it’s basic preparedness. The same kind of preparedness that used to be common sense before we outsourced every aspect of our health to government agencies that demonstrably fail us on a regular basis, as this outbreak makes painfully clear.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.SharePlease subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpoints", "summary": "Midwest Poultry tested positive, sat on the data, and sickened 98 Americans across 17 states", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/cracking-under-pressure-why-the-fda", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-27", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "International Study Finds 75% of Embalmers Observed White Fibrous Clots in Corpses", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHFormer Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association President Christopher Calvey Jr., former Air Force Major Thomas Haviland, and embalmer Richard Hirschman joined me to discuss the now-widespread reports of anomalous white fibrous clots being recovered from human corpses.Havilandrecently published the resultsof a four-year international survey involving 808 embalmers across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand in a peer-reviewed medical journal.Among those surveyed,75.2% reported observing the unusual white fibrous clots, while respondents estimated that the structures were present in approximately23.4% of embalmed bodies.Reports of the phenomenon increased in 2020 and accelerated sharply beginning in 2021, coinciding with the mass mRNA injection campaigns.During the interview, Hirschman displayed a recent specimen that he estimated would have measured approximately60 inches longif fully extended. He said he continues to observe the unusual structures in roughly half of the bodies he embalms and emphasized that he had never encountered them before 2021.Calvey described similar findings, including artery-sized fibrous structures that can obstruct embalming-fluid distribution and force embalmers to use multiple injection sites. He also reported observing increasingly thick and viscous blood during the embalming process.All three panelists stressed that these structures appear fundamentally different from conventional postmortem blood clots. The discussion also examinedemerging laboratory analysessuggesting that the white fibrous clots contain abnormal, amyloid-like fibrin and are linked to spike protein exposure.Although embalmers are uniquely positioned to observe changes within the vascular system, many funeral professionals remain reluctant to discuss the findings publicly. Hirschman and Calvey described widespread private acknowledgment of the phenomenon among their colleagues, including at professional funeral-director meetings and mortuary schools.We concluded the panel by calling for a congressional hearing led by Senator Ron Johnson and demanding that major institutions—including the FDA, CDC, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, and Stanford—finally do their jobs and investigate this major public health crisis.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.Subscribe now", "summary": "Former Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association President Chris Calvey Jr., former Air Force Major Thomas Haviland, and embalmer Richard Hirschman joined me to discuss.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/international-study-finds-75-of-embalmers", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-27", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Joy of Killing", "content": "There’s a disturbing scene in the 2000 filmGladiatorin which the Emperor Commodus, played by Joaquin Phoenix, experiences a paroxysm of elation akin to sexual arousal at the sight of men grievously wounded and decapitated in the Arena.I was reminded of this scene this morning when I saw newly released footage of Lyndsay Graham expressing elation at the news of bombing and mass destruction and killing.Both spectacles remind me of a thought I’ve been turning over in my head since I was a teenager—namely, that some of the people among us, perhaps many of them, exult in the spectacle of other human beings being killed.The joy of killing seems to be rooted in the archaic desire of some men to dominate and coerce other men and to destroy them if they don’t comply. This would explain why so much of human ingenuity as been dedicated to developing and refining ways to kill other humans.When I was a kid, I had a friend who was obsessed with the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, and one of his favorites was thecarro armato con falci— scythed chariot, sometimes referred to as a man harvester.“Isn’t it cool?” my friend said. “You get a couple of guys mounted on really strong horses and then plough across the battlefield and just chop the other soldiers to pieces.”“Yeah, that’s awesome!” I agreed, not stopping to think how weird we were being.To be sure, most people can only enjoy the spectacle of killing when they are animated with the conviction that those who diedeserveto die.. The psychological drama begins with imagining all the vices and depravity of the enemy, at least as he is portrayed to us by our governments.This drama has enormous cathartic and therapeutical value for people who are—whether they admit it to themselves or not—troubled by their own vices or those that are pervasive in their community. Carl Jung called thisprojection. Closely related to projection isscapegoating, in which the sins of a community are transferred to a purported enemy.After our minds are thus primed, we are treated to the spectacle of the enemy being destroyed. We find it thrilling and cathartic, and we triumph in the feeling that “we are killing the bad guys!”A couple of years ago I listened to an interview with the British author Peter Hitchens in which he talked about World War I and its total catastrophe for the Christian civilization of Europe.Most disturbing was the fact that the purportedly Christian clergy on both sides of the infernal war claimed that Jesus Christ was on their side. In Hitchens’s view, this was a total perversion of Christ’s teachings, and the despair the war ultimately created from millions of dead and disfigured was a massive blow to the Christian faith.At one point in the interview, he made the startling statement that the Great Powers waged war not because conflict resolution was so hard, but because the men running the belligerent countries simply wanted war. Regarding his native Britain and its leaders, he said, “Churchill loved war. He didn’t look for ways to avoid it. He sought it.”One positive thing that can be said about British and European war up until young Winston’s day is that the ruling class that started wars was expected to send their young sons to fight them. My favorite aristocratic warlord in history wasJames Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan. He not only used his influence to push hard for the Crimean War, he served on the front line of it.Notorious for his haughtiness and extravagance, he achieved legendary status for leading the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava, immortalized in Tennyson’s poem.Watching Cardigan charge directly into a Russian battery, the French commander, Pierre Bosquet remarked: “C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas la guerre: c’est de la folie(”It is magnificent, but it is not war: it is madness.”)Prominent members of our warmonger class in Washington could do much to redeem themselves if they would, like Lord Cardigan, serve on the front line. Alas, that was never in the cards for Lyndsay Graham, who was able to obtain ecstatic satisfaction from viewing electronic recordings and reports of bombing and killing.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Newly released footage of Lyndsay Graham reveals his elation at the news of bombing and mass destruction and killing.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-joy-of-killing", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-27", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Mind Viruses: How Fear, Greed, and the War Machine Hijack Your Brain—And How to Reclaim It", "content": "Since I met author John Leake—with whom I have written two books and who is now Vice President of the McCullough Foundation—we have had innumerable conversations about how our U.S. Republic lurches from one “crisis” to the next, and how all these “crises” are rooted in irrational beliefs that spread like a contagion. The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung called these contagions “psychic epidemics.\"In his just published book,Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions, Leake reveals how each psychic epidemic is generated using the same script composed of the following three elements.1) Propagate fear and loathing of a purported threat to national security or public health.2) Present a purported solution whose implementation is characterized as a sacred mission.3) Scapegoat the purported enemies or opponents of this mission.As Leake puts it in the Preface:Recent missions have included reducing greenhouse gas emissions and getting all humanity vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19. Here at the outset, it should be noted that, in each of these missions, the threat is grossly overstated and oversimplified, and the efficacy of the championed solution cannot be measured, tested, or falsified. The rational observer eventually suspects that the point of the sacred mission is to keep it going, because the interested parties would be out of business as soon as the problem is solved.Please watch this long format interview of McCullough Foundation Vice President John Leake aboutMind Viruses:  America’s Irrational Obsessionsand share it with your friends.🧠 Mind Viruses: Fear, Money, and the Contagion of Irrational ThoughtMcCullough Foundation President, Dr. Peter McCulloughopens by framing the COVID-19 pandemic as a textbook mind virus: a fear-driven script in which an exaggerated threat (“respiratory viral monster”) meets a pre-packaged solution (the heralded vaccine) with no allowance for questioning—even by physicians of McCullough’s academic credentials and clinical experience.Leakeunpacks the mechanism that begins with FEAR, which he describes in his book as follows:Fear is a critically important emotion for rapidly detecting and reacting to mortal dangers and avoiding them in the future. Fear keenly sharpens one’s focus on a threat and prepares the body to fight it or flee from it. Within the hostile natural environment in which human evolved, fear kept people alive. Without it, the human species would not have survived. However, as the conditions of modern life have become more secure and complex, fear may greatly impair the ability of individuals and societies to respond to events in a rational manner that serves their best interests.Mind viruses are propagated when central authority raises the alarmabout a boogeyman, terrifies the populace, and offers salvation with a grossly oversimplified but wildly profitable “solution.”💰 The Financial EngineLeake identifies the core driver:institutional profiteering through crisis.Drawing on Thomas Sowell’s insight, he notes that institutions purportedly created tosolveproblems will go out of business if the problems are indeed solved. The military-industrial complex that Eisenhower warned about, the biopharmaceutical complex that profited massively from COVID, the Wall Street bailouts—all follow the same perverse logic: a major crisis is a bonanza for the parties who are positioned to take advantage of it.Peace and health would put an end to the massive transfer of public funds to the purveyors of “countermeasures.”McCullough drives this home: defense contractors, intelligence agencies, and biopharma entities are financially dependent on threats. No threats, no revenue. This creates an incentive to exaggerate, foment, and even fabricate threats. True threats may be mismanaged and allowed to do harm to generate a pretext (or “false flag”) for massive central government actions such as the “War on Terror” and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.🦠 How It SpreadsThe book traces mind viruses across multiple domains, including the following selection mentioned in the interview. See the above table of contents for the full list of mind viruses characterized in the book.War:The “Father of All Mind Viruses”—an archaic fear of invasion exploited by a national security state that is constantly on the offense all over the globe, despite thirty documented American misadventures abroad since the end of World War II.Bioterrorism:The anthrax letters, gain-of-function research, and the PREP Act all follow the script: manufacture a threat, offer a “countermeasure,” use it as an instrument for exerting power and making a fortune.Racism:A “divide and conquer” misdirection trick for drawing scrutiny away from the massive Wall Street fraud and malfeasance, and especially the bailouts— trillions of Treasury and Federal Reserve money—that went to the same bankers who caused the Financial Crisis of 2008.Climate Change:A particularly virulent mind virus for the young, built on unmeasurable, untestable, and unfalsifiable claims, serving as a pretext for transferring hundreds of billions of funds to the purveyors of “alternative energy” and destroying the traditional manufacturing economy of developed nations such as Germany.“Transgender Medicine” for Minors:The most criminally insane and perverse mind virus documented in the book.🛡️ The Antidote: Free SpeechLeake anchors his defense of free speech in John Milton’s 1644 pamphletAreopagitica. As Milton put it, human understanding is imperfect, and any attempt to gain understanding will be error prone. If orthodoxy forbids free speech to prevent error or heresy, there can be no advancement of understanding. The First Amendment exists precisely to protectunpopularspeech—that is, opinions that many people (especially those in power) find threatening.Leake observes that many of those who admired McCullough for his pandemic stance will now likely regard him as a dangerous heretic for opposing the Iran war. They must contend with the question: Why did you vehemently reject the US government’s representations of COVID-19, but wholeheartedly embrace the government’s representations of Iran?Free speech isn’t a matter of protecting opinions with which one agrees, but those that challenge one’s assumptions.The antidote to mind viruses isn’t censorship; it’s the disciplined willingness to listen to points of view that are incongruous with your long-held beliefs, the maturity to have a civil conversation about challenging ideas instead of angrily dismissing them out of hand, and the courage to overcome fear instead of being governed by it.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough FoundationSubscribe nowShare", "summary": "Provocative new book shows how all the \"crises\" of recent years are connected, and how you can immunize your mind against the next mind virus that is unleashed on us.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/mind-viruses-how-fear-greed-and-the-b0d", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-28", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Senator Paul Should Ask Fauci Why Moderna's 2016 Patented Gene Sequence Turned Up in SARS-CoV-2", "content": "Last year I had conversations with Senator Rand Paul and former CDC Director, Robert Redfield in which I asked them if they are aware of the gene sequence that Moderna patented in 2016 that was subsequently found in SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19.Both men stated that they’d heard of this extraordinary finding, but neither expressed much interest in it. I followed up by sending one of Senator Paul’s staff a link to the paper in which this critical finding was presented, but I never heard back from her.With Fauci headed to the Senate tomorrow (July 29, 2026) I am hoping that Senator Paul will ask him about Moderna’s 2016 patent.To review the documentation: On February 21, 2022,Frontiers in Virologypublished a report titledMSH3 Homology and Potential Recombination Link to SARS-CoV-2 Furin Cleavage Site.The Furin Cleavage Site is the component of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that enables the virus to dock onto human lung epithelial cells, thereby initiating the viral replication process. It is the key feature of SARS-CoV-2 that made it infectious to humans. Examining the genetic code of this part of the spike protein, the authors noted that part of the sequence was a perfect match to a genetic sequencepatented in 2016 by Bancel S. et al. in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Among numerous point mutation differences between the SARS-CoV-2 and the bat RaTG13 coronavirus, only the 12-nucleotide furin cleavage site (FCS) exceeds 3 nucleotides. A BLAST search revealed that a 19 nucleotide portion of the SARS-CoV-2 genome encompassing the furin cleavage site is a 100% complementary match to a codon-optimized proprietary sequence that is the reverse complement of the human mutS homolog (MSH3).  (. . .)SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein and MSH3A peculiar feature of the nucleotide sequence encoding the PRRA furin cleavage site in the SARS-CoV-2 S protein is its two consecutive CGG codons. This arginine codon is rare in coronaviruses: relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) of CGG in pangolin CoV is 0, in bat CoV 0.08, in SARS-CoV 0.19, in MERS-CoV 0.25, and in SARS-CoV-2 0.299 (8).A BLAST search for the 12-nucleotide insertion led us to a 100% reverse match in a proprietary sequence (SEQ ID11652, nt 2751-2733) found in the US patent 9,587,003 filed on Feb. 4, 2016 (9)On the question of whether this perfect match could be merely coincidental, the authors noted:Conventional biostatistical analysis indicates that the probability of this sequence randomly being present in a 30,000-nucleotide viral genome is 3.21×10^-11 [or 1 in 3.21 trillion].TheDaily MailreportedtheFrontiers in Virologyreport, which prompted Fox News’s Maria Bartiromoto question Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancelabout his 2016 gene patent (advance the tape to 7:20).His cool brushoff was suggestive of a man unconcerned about media queries. Why should he be? When it comes to the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex, the US mainstream media rarely asks tough questions, andneverpursues serious inquiry.Inquisitive viewers might have wondered: Who is Stéphane Bancel, and why is a French national heading a Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech that was originally funded by aDefense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) grant?Prior to become CEO of Moderna, Bancel was CEO of the French in vitro diagnostics company, bioMérieux, from 2007-2011. The large company, operating in over 160 countries, originated in the Institut Mérieux in Lyon, France, founded by biologist Marcel Mérieux (a colleague of Louis Pasteur).Marcel’s grandson, Alain Mérieux, is the company’s chief proprietor and (according to Bloomberg) worth approximately $8.80 billion. A personal acquaintance of Jacques Chirac (French President from 1995-2007), in 2003 (following the outbreak of the first SARS) Mérieux was instrumental in forming a cooperative agreement between France and China to build a BSL-4 lab annex to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.Bancel was CEO of bioMérieux during the planning and early construction of the lab and the training of its Chinese staff at bioMérieux’s lab in Lyon. In the year 2007, Bancel oversaw the company’s opening of a new division in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As noted in itsannual report:The opening in 2007 of a dedicated theranostics division in Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA), a city with an especially high concentration of biotechnology firms and research centers, puts bioMérieux in a hub for personalized medicine, in direct contact with the most influential players in the field.Four years later, in 2011, Bancel left his plum position at bioMérieux to become CEO of the Cambridge startup Moderna. Back then it seemed like a Quixotic decision. After all, the new company had just one employee and was exclusively focused on developing mRNA therapeutics. As Bancel statedin a December 2020 interview,“When I resigned from my last company, bioMerieux, to start on this journey at Moderna, I told my wife there was only a 5% chance it would work out.”Two years after its founding, Moderna—short for “Modified RNA”—drew interest from DARPA, which awarded it a $25 million grant to develop messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics. Sometime around 2015, Moderna began collaborating with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to develop mRNA vaccines against the SARS and MERS coronaviruses.In the year 2016, Bancel et al. filed for their patent of the genetic sequence for part of the coronavirus spike protein furin cleavage site—the same genetic sequence that was, four years later, found in the furin cleavage site of SARS-CoV-2 that apparently leaked from the BSL-4 lab in Wuhan. This was the same lab whose construction Bancel oversaw and whose personnel his company trained.Bancel’s decision to leave bioMerieux to lead Moderna worked out well. On March 16, 2020—just five days after the WHO declared SARS-CoV-2 to be the causative agent of a worldwide pandemic,NIAID issued a press releasestating it had commenced human trials of its mRNA-1273 vaccine.mRNA-1273 was developed by NIAID scientists and their collaborators at the biotechnology company Moderna, Inc., based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) supported the manufacturing of the vaccine candidate for the Phase 1 clinical trial.Less than a year later—with the United States government relentlessly pushing Moderna’s mRNA and Pfizer/BioNTech’s mRNA vaccines as the ONLY solution to the COVID-19 pandemic,Stephane Bancel became a billionaire.[i]Kristopher M. Curtis, Boyd Yount, Ralph S. Baric. Methods for producing recombinant coronavirus. 2002-04-19, Application US10/474,962 filed by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.https://patents.google.com/patent/US7279327B2/en[ii]Cherry JD, Krogstad P. SARS: the first pandemic of the 21st century. Pediatr Res. 2004 Jul;56(1):1-5. doi: 10.1203/01.PDR.0000129184.87042.FC. Epub 2004 May 19. PMID: 15152053; PMCID: PMC7086556.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7086556/[iii]WHO announces discovery of virus that causes SARS, UN NEWS, 16 April 2003.https://news.un.org/en/story/2003/04/64992AUTHOR’S NOTE: If you enjoyed reading this post, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. For only $5.00 per month, you can really help to support our efforts to investigate and report what is going on in our increasingly strange and confusing world.Subscribe nowShareCourageous Discourse with Dr. Peter McCullough & John Leake is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.", "summary": "Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel, the Wuhan Lab, a critical gene patent, and the U.S. government's curious lack of interest in what appears to be a smoking gun.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/senator-paul-should-ask-fauci-why", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-28", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Brown Squirt Summer: How the Cyclospora Outbreak is Ruining It", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHThe summer of 2026 will be a remembered by Cyclospora victims for spending a lot of unpleasant time on the toilet.🦠 Cyclospora Outbreak: Dr. Peter McCullough onReal America’s Voice LiveThe Basics of the ParasiteDr. Peter McCullough, Chief Scientific Officer of The Wellness Company, joined host Steve Gruber to break down thecyclospora outbreaksweeping the country. McCullough described cyclospora as aprotozoa — essentially a parasite— that thrives in stagnant water like ponds. When contaminated water is used to irrigate crops, the parasite hitches a ride onto produce, particularly lettuce, strawberries, and raspberries.The Tainted Lettuce TrailEarly epidemiology pointed toshredded iceberg lettuceserved at Taco Bell, with investigators tracing the supply back toTaylor Farms in Mexico, a massive operation that ships to over half of U.S. states — supplying Kroger, Walmart, Meijer, and countless restaurants. However, McCullough noted a critical twist: thePCR test used to link the outbreak to Taylor Farms came back as a false positive, meaning investigators are back to relying on epidemiological guesswork. He expressed sympathy for Taylor Farms, saying they got “fingered” on faulty lab work.Symptoms You Don’t WantMcCullough didn’t sugarcoat it: the hallmark isexplosive, watery diarrhea that can last up to a month, accompanied by low-grade fever, abdominal cramping, and serious dehydration risk — especially for seniors and those in congregate living. He revealed a family in his own office is battling it right now.Treatment and PreparednessThe good news? Cyclospora ishighly treatablewithtrimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim/Septra)— one tablet twice daily for seven days. McCullough advised treatingempiricallyrather than waiting for ER testing, since not all facilities carry the PCR assay for cyclospora. His rule of thumb:“Explosive watery diarrhea is cyclospora until proven otherwise.”He also recommended keeping Imodium on hand, staying hydrated, and washing each individual lettuce leaf under running water followed by a salad spinner.The Wellness Company PitchBoth men touted theaquamarine blueEmergency Medical Kitfrom The Wellness Company, which includes trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and a guidebook. Gruber keeps one on his desk and urged viewers to grab the travel kit for summer trips. Promo codeFOCALPOINTS.💩 The Summer of ‘26 LegacyGruber tried valiantly to keep it professional, but let’s be honest — between the phrase “explosive watery diarrhea” being uttered on live television roughly a dozen times and McCullough casually noting his own child suffered through it, the summer of 2026 is shaping up to be less about patriotic fireworks and more about Americans white-knuckling their way to the bathroom, praying they didn’t eat too much of the side salad.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpoints", "summary": "Taco Bell, a False Positive PCR Test, and Mexican Lettuce Turned America's Bathrooms into War Zones — Featuring Dr. Peter McCullough's Guide to Not Shitting Your Pants for a Month", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/brown-squirt-summer-how-the-cyclospora", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-28", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Presiding Over a Nation Gone Mad", "content": "Responsible and prudent rulers avoid saying and doing things that cause fear and loathing to spread in the populace. A tragic feature of the human condition is the strong and persistent tendency of rulers to incite fear to manipulate the people to wage war. The enemy could be framed as any class, ethnic group, religious sect, nation, political party, or even natural phenomena such as “climate change” or an infectious disease pathogen such as SARS-COV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19. Incited and amplified by propaganda, fear may spread through a population, compelling the people to participate in highly irrational and destructive collective actions. Rulers can either take action to dampen fear, or they can fan the flames because they believe that doing so serves their interests.—Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions,by John LeakeSubscribe nowShare", "summary": "With Anthony Fauci headed to the Senate on July 29, a brief review in pictures of the fraud and madness that were unleashed under his watch as the Pandemic Pontifex Maximus (\"I am science.\")", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/presiding-over-a-nation-gone-mad", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-28", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Senator Paul Should Ask Fauci about NIAID's December 2019 mRNA Coronavirus Vaccine Candidate", "content": "A conspicuous feature of the development timeline of the Moderna-NIAID mRNA-1273 Coronavirus vaccine is aMATERIAL TRANSFER AGREEMENT(see pages105-107) from NIAID/Moderna (“Provider”) to Ralph Baric (“Research Recipient”). The Agreement specifies the transfer of “mRNA coronavirus vaccine candidates developed and jointly owned by NIAID and Moderna” to Dr. Baric “to perform challenge studies with the mRNA vaccine.”The Agreement is signed by Ralph Baric onDecember 12, 2019—19 days before theWuhan Municipal Health Commission informed the WHO China Country Officeof “cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China on December 31, 2019, and 55 days before the SARS-CoV-2 genome was published on February 5, 2020.Why did NIAID and Moderna believe that Dr. Baric was equipped to challenge their “mRNA coronavirus vaccine candidates”? Did they provide Dr. Baric with the coronaviruses to be used for his challenge studies, or did he already possess them in his laboratory?This collaboration, which was consummated on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic, proved to be very profitable for NIAID and Moderna.The reader may recall that Ralph Baric had long worked with scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology to developchimeric coronaviruses transmissible to humans, and published papers in 2015 and 2016 in which he declared that he had successfully developed such chimeras. That he was asked to perform the challenge experiments on the NIAID-Modernavaccine is consistent withModerna’s 2016 patented gene sequencethat was subsequently found in SARS-CoV-2.It would be perfectly reasonable for Senator Paul to ask Dr. Fauci to elucidate the genetic code of the December 2019 “mRNA coronavirus vaccine candidates developed and jointly owned by NIAID and Moderna,”as well as the genome of the viral pathogen that Dr. Baric used to challenge the vaccine.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Ralph Baric signed a Material Transfer Agreement with NIAID on Dec. 12, 2019 for challenge experiments. What was its genetic code of the vaccine, and what pathogen did Baric use to challenge it?", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/senator-paul-should-ask-fauci-about", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-29", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Cyclospora Cramping Summer Fun, FDA and Peptides, MAHA Fades", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPlease enjoy this July 28, 2026 on the Cyclospora outbreak, FDA review of peptides, and the fall of MAHA.  Dr Peter McCullough joinsDr Gina Loudon on American Sunrise, Real America’s Voice.Please note Wednesday July 29, 2026 Dr Anthony Fauci is scheduled to testify in the US Senate, and provided he does not cancel which is a real possibility, McCullough Foundation and Focal Points will be bringing you all the coverage an analysis.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpoints", "summary": "Dr Peter McCullough with Dr Gina Loudon on American Sunrise", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/cyclospora-cramping-summer-fun-fda", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-29", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Fauci Inquisition is Distraction from the Documents of Malfeasance and Crime", "content": "Watching today’s Senate hearing, I cannot rid myself of the perception that it is a distraction from documentary evidence of malfeasance, fraud, mass negligent homicide, and murder.Dr. Fauci may indeed plead the 5th, or claim that he has forgotten many details, or claim that he was simply unaware of all the policy deliberations that were going on in the interface between HHS, DoD, Congress, and the White House.However, his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination cannot delete or alter  the existence of NIAID’s work product and the vast academic and bureaucratic paper trail—frequently cited in NIAID documents—that documents all of above.These include the subjects of my last two posts—namely, the documentary evidence that in 2016,Moderna patented a critical gene sequencethat was later found to be a precise match for the sequence of SARS-CoV-2 furin cleavage site, as well as NIAID’s Dec. 12, 2019Material Transfer Agreementfor shipping the NIAID-Moderna mRNA Coronavirus Vaccine candidate to UNC Professor Ralph Baric for performing challenge experiments.Likewise, Ralph Baric’s2015 and 2016 papers—in which he explicitly declares that he has successfully created chimeric SARS coronaviruses that will infect and transmit among humanized mice—are at hand for anyone to read, though I have yet to see a SINGLE mainstream media report on them. In Baric’s own biosecurity clause, he expressly states that his Gain-of-Function experiments on SARS Coronaviruses were approved before the 2014 administrative pause on GoF.Fauci’s leadership role in suppressing safe and effective early treatment modalities is also extensively documented with hundreds of citations in our bookThe Courage to Face COVID-19, as was his corrupt promotion of Remdesivir.If I were Senators Paul and Johnson, I would limit my questions to addressing the available documentary evidence that the mainstream media NEVER reports. If Fauci pleads the 5th regarding his awareness of these documents, it cannot let him or the other senior officers at NIAID off the hook.I sometimes wonder if such Senate hearings are a spectacle for giving the American people the impression that Republicans and Democrats are in the business of sincere and searching debate about major public policy issues.Republicans like Senators Paul and Johnson are admired and cheered by their constituencies, while Democrat Senators like Gary Peters, Maggie Hassan, and Richard Blumenthal are admired and cheered by their constituencies. However, in the critical business of bringing powerful public officials to justice, nothing is ever achieved. The segment of the US population that despises Fauci will take satisfaction in seeing him squirm, while the constituency that adores Fauci will revel in self-righteous outrage that the old man is being made to squirm.The upshot is that the military-industrial-complex, the bio-pharmaceutical complex, and the big Wall Street banks continue to do whatever in hell they want and get away with murder, while ordinary Americans are left to squabble with each other along partisan political lines, failing to see that the problem is NOT Democrats or Republicans, but the entire corrupt apparatus of central, state power.This is one of the main themes of my new book,Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions. If you found this post interesting and informative, please purchase a copy on Amazon.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "As much as we admire Senators Paul and Johnson, I fear today's vaunted Senate hearing is a distraction from NIAID's own documents.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/fauci-inquisition-is-distraction", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-29", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Chris Martenson On the Coming Energy Shock", "content": "Dear Substack Readers,Please listen to and share my conversation with Chris Martenson about the coming energy shock if the Trump administration doesn't soon make a deal with Iran.ABOUT CHRIS: Chris Martenson, PhD (Duke), MBA (Cornell) is an economic researcher and futurist specializing in energy and resource depletion, and co-founder of PeakProsperity.com (along with Adam Taggart). As one of the early econobloggers who forecasted the housing market collapse and stock market correction years in advance, Chris rose to prominence with the launch of his seminal video seminar: The Crash Course which has also been published in book form (Wiley, March 2011) and is a popular, highly regarded distillation of the interconnected forces in the Economy, Energy and the Environment (the \"Three Es\" as Chris calls them) that are shaping the future.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Interview with renowned energy analyst about the economic devastation that awaits us if President Trump does not soon make a deal with Iran to restore peaceful navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/chris-martenson-on-the-coming-energy", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-29", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING--Guilt-Ridden Anthony Fauci Pleads the Fifth Amendment 111 Times", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHI wondered if Dr Anthony Fauci would show up today to face questions from US Senators.  Well he arrived, heavily guarded, shoulders slumped, and in a perpetual scornful, frown.  When he read his opening statement, he was visibly trembling.   His impetulant attorney was escorted out of the room after Senator Rand Paul gave him plenty of opportunity to sit behind his witness and be quiet.  OnWednesday, July 29, 2026, Capitol Police escortedDavid Schertler, the attorney for Dr. Anthony Fauci, out of the Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing after a heated exchange with ChairmanSenator Rand Paul.Then for the next 111 questions Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions.  The phrase \"pleading the Fifth\" specifically references theself-incrimination clause. In daily life, this right is most recognizable throughMiranda warnings, which require police to tell suspects they have the \"right to remain silent.\" Legally, an individual can refuse to answer questions from police, investigators, or congressional committees if their responses could potentially be used to convict them of a crime.Dr Anthony Fauci appeared to be a man who had lost his way.  From a Division Director at the NIH for decades, over the course of time he had become a megalomaniac driven by fame and fortune.  During the greatest infectious disease crisis of his career, instead of humbly serving and putting the survival of Americans first, he was working to collect cash prizes and grab photo shoots for style magazines.SenatorJosh Hawley lambasted Fauciunlike any other doctor who had ever appeared in the US Senate.  His closing remark came at the end of a scathing conclusion where Hawley blasted Fauci for repeatedly invoking his Fifth Amendment rights during the hearing. Leading up to that final line, Hawley told Fauci that he had become a“narcissist and a megalomaniac and a liar,”accused him of lying to the American people and Congress, and referenced newly leaked pandemic journals by telling him he had“disgraced [his] profession.finished his fiery questioning of Dr. Anthony Fauci by saying: [1,2,3]“You’ve done more to harm science than anybody in my lifetime. And I hope you’ll go home and write that in your diary. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”[1]Here is my reaction just a few hours later on America’s Voice with Steve Gruber.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough Foundation", "summary": "US Senate inquiry frames Fauci as a national disgrace", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-guilt-ridden-anthony-fauci", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-29", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING--Pericardial Effusions Skyrocketed During Pandemic", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHAs an echocardiographer, I have noticed an increase in significant pericardial effusions (fluid around the heart) since the pandemic started.  This paper caught my attention.📄 Summary: Salvucci et al. (2026) — Echocardiographic Pericardial InvolvementThis retrospective cohort study analyzed1,431 consecutive patientsundergoing routine outpatient echocardiography at an Italian cardiology clinic from 2018 to 2022, comparing pre-pandemic and pandemic periods.The headline finding is stark:pericardial involvement on echo jumped from22.0%(101/459) pre-pandemic to68.8%(463/673) during pandemic years — a more than threefold increase. Multivariable analysis revealed thatSARS-CoV-2 vaccination was independently associated with roughly doubled oddsof pericardial abnormalities (OR 2.08, 95% CI 1.29–3.35, P = 0.003), comparable to the risk from COVID-19 infection itself (OR 1.99, P = 0.012).Critically, the temporal pattern is revealing: odds ratios relative to 2018 were1.86 in 2020, then exploded to6.95 in 2021and6.73 in 2022— precisely when mass vaccination took full effect across the population. The dose-response analysis confirmed one and two doses each independently raised pericardial involvement risk (OR ~2.1), while the interaction analysis showed vaccination and infection operated through overlapping inflammatory pathways.The study captured not just clinical pericarditis butminimal and residual pericardial alterations— small effusions, thickening, hyperechogenicity, fibrinous strands — exactly the kind of subclinical findings that passive surveillance systems miss. The authors themselves note that nearly 70% echo positivity during pandemic years suggests “many cases are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, escaping passive surveillance.”This is precisely the phenomenonMcCullough, Mead, and Hulscher (2025)characterized in their comprehensive review ofCOVID-19 vaccine-induced subclinical myopericarditis. They described a pathophysiological cascade in which mRNA vaccine-generated spike protein circulates systemically, triggers innate immune activation with CD68+ macrophage infiltration of myocardial and pericardial tissue, and produces low-grade inflammation that falls below the threshold of clinical detection yet is readily apparent on imaging. Their review documented that this subclinical cardiac injury — detectable by echocardiography, cardiac MRI, and elevated troponin — affects a far broader population than the rare cases of fulminant myocarditis captured by VAERS and other passive systems. The Salvucci data, showing nearly 7 in 10 vaccinated patients with echo-detectable pericardial involvement by 2021–2022, provides real-world clinical validation of McCullough’s thesis: what the medical establishment dismissed as “rare and mild” was in fact widespread and simply uninvestigated.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.SharePlease subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough FoundationFOCAL POINTS has partnered withAlterAIto defend your medical freedom. Subscribe toAlterAItoday and get a discount on unbiased and accurate AI!Sources:Salvucci F, Petrella L, Foroni B, et al. (2026) Association of COVID-19 Infection and SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination With Echocardiographic Pericardial Involvement in a Real-World Outpatient Cohort.Cureus18(7): e113147. doi:10.7759/cureus.113147McCullough PA, Mead MN, Hulscher N. (2025) COVID-19 Vaccine-Induced Subclinical Myopericarditis: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Clinical Management.Medical Research Archives, 13(11). doi:10.18103/mra.v13i11.7078", "summary": "Salvucci et al. drop a bombshell: subclinical myopericarditis surged with vaccination rollout, peaking in 2022", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-pericardial-effusions-skyrocketed", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-30", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Banned by YouTube in 2021, We Were Right About Everything", "content": "I just saw the following interview with then YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki in which she boasts aboutbanning a million videos from YouTubethat her company and whatever tyrants it was consorting with decided were “dangerous misinformation.”Though I believe that wrath is a cardinal sin and try to resist it, I found her smug, self-assuredness and annoying vocal fry vexing in the extreme.One of the million videos that YouTube banned was my meticulously researched and beautifully shotin-studio interview with Dr. Peter McCullough in May 2021. A few hours after I published it on my YouTube channel, it was unceremoniously deleted with no warning or explanation.I wonder how many salaried employees at YouTube understand how hard it is to make a living as a freelance investigative author, and to organize a studio interview of this quality with ZERO funding and advertising. I didn’t even include myself in the interview or copyright it.Do YouTube executives understand how many years of investigative scholarship and clinical practice went into producing the video’s content?Note that all of Dr. McCullough’s hard-won credentials listed in the opening frame were subsequently stripped and revoked—all becausehe advocated early treatment for COVID-19 using repurposed FDA-approved drugs.The video reveals that—in my intuitions and research, and in Dr. McCullough’s academic expertise and clinical experience — we wereright about everything. Total vindication.Please watch this video and share it with your friends. Also, please make aDONATIONto the McCullough Foundation. We’ve been grinding very hard for the last five years, and together with the valiant Nic Hulscher, we continue to do the investigative scholarship NOT being done by the HHS. We would be extremely grateful for your support.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Reviewing and republishing my studio interview with Dr. Peter McCullough in May 2021 that was banned by YouTube.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/banned-by-youtube-in-2021-we-were", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-30", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Bill Gates Was Secretly Granted TOP SECRET “Q” Security Clearance by the Department of Energy", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHDuring Anthony Fauci’s recent Senate hearing, Senator Rand Paul exposed a stunning revelation: Bill Gates held a Department of Energy “Q” security clearance from 2014 through 2021.A DOE Q clearance is the equivalent ofTOP SECRETand can establish eligibility to access some of the most sensitive nuclear information held by the United States government.That can include classified material involving nuclear weapons, nuclear materials, atomic-energy programs, intelligence, and national-security information. The clearance does not prove Gates personally reviewed every nuclear secret, but it does mean the federal government determined that he was eligible to receive highly classified nuclear information when authorized.Gates founded and chairsTerraPower, a private nuclear-reactor company developing advanced nuclear technology.However, this was not just any billionaire. Gates has repeatedly promoted population-control policies and has openly discussed reducing the population through vaccines, health programs, and reproductive interventions:Why were America’s nuclear secrets entrusted to a known depopulationist?Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.Subscribe now", "summary": "Why were America’s nuclear secrets entrusted to a known depopulationist?", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/bill-gates-was-secretly-granted-top", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-30", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "President Biden's Preemptive Pardon of Fauci", "content": "President Biden’s preemptive pardon of Anthony Fauci covered the period fromJanuary 1, 2014, through January 19, 2025.NIH grant R01AI110964, titled “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence,” was submitted by Peter Daszak as PI/contact PI of EcoHealth Alliance, with Ralph Baric as a key collaborator on June 5, 2013.The proposal was reviewed for theJanuary 2014Council and awarded with a Notice of Award dated May 27, 2014 (project startJune 1, 2014).The administrative pause on federal funding for certain gain-of-function research began inOctober 2014.Even after the administrative pause went into effect, the funding of “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence” continued. As part of their research funded by this grant, Baric et al. declared in their 2015 paper inNature Medicinetitled “A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence”that they had produced a chimeric coronavirus that would infect human airway cells and produce pathogenesisin vivo.As they wrote in theBiosafety and biosecurityclause of their paper:Generating infectious clones of bat SARS-like CoVs; Lab Safety Plan ID: 20145741; Schedule G ID: 12279). These studies were initiated before the US Government Deliberative Process Research Funding Pause on Selected Gain-of-Function Research Involving Influenza, MERS and SARS Viruses (http://www.phe.gov/s3/dualuse/Documents/gain-of-function.pdf). This paper has been reviewed by the funding agency, the NIH. Continuation of these studies was requested, and this has been approved by the NIHIn other words, the NIH allowed them to continue doing their risky Gain-of-Function research (in collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology) on the dubious grounds that they had submitted their grant proposalbeforethe pause began. This is the equivalent of telling people that they can drive 70 mph through a school zone, provided they lived in the area and drove the roadbeforethe school was erected.The initial 5-year award for Daszak and Baric ran from June 1, 2014, to May 31, 2019. It was renewed in 2019 (with various intermediate projected end dates such as mid-2024, late 2025, or December 2026 appearing in different records).Funding was suspended in April/May 2020 (later treated as a suspension with conditions) and a modified/reinstated version was awarded in April 2023, with the final project end date listed asApril 30, 2024.The documentary evidence is overwhelming that Anthony Fauci:Knew that Daszak, Baric, et al. were conducting GoF research with their colleagues at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (a Chinese biosecurity lab connected with the Chinese military).Knew that Baric et al. were creating SARS coronavirus variants capable of infecting and causing pathogenesis in humans.Knew that the NIH continued to fund (and therefore to endorse) the research of Baric et al. even after the federal pause on GoF in October 2014.Knew that Modernapatented the genetic sequenceof the SARS-CoV-2 furin cleavage site in 2016.Knew that his ownNIAID began collaborating with Moderna in 2016to develop an mRNA vaccine against coronaviruses.NIAID Collaboration with ModernaPrior to the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists at NIAID’s Vaccine Research Center and the biotechnology company Moderna had collaborated for four years on mRNA vaccines for other emerging infectious diseases.Knew (documented inhis private email correspondencewith eminent virologists in February 2020) that the genome SARS-CoV-2 displayed clear features of lab manipulation.Fraudulently concealed that SARS-CoV-2 was produced in a lab by directing the publication ofThe proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2,authored by the same virologists who had just told him in private that the virus appeared to have come from a lab.All the above is clear documentary evidence that Anthony Fauci was a leading conspirator in perpetrating a massive crime against humanity, fraudulently concealing it, suppressing early treatment for it, and promoting the dangerous, experimental mRNA vaccine that NIAID (of which he was the director) developed with Moderna.I call upon the U.S. Justice Department to challenge President Biden’s preposterous “preemptive pardon” and to prosecute Anthony Fauci for his crimes.If “We the People” let this slide, we will have revealed ourselves to be the most contemptible slaves to the corrupt and tyrannical US federal government.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Beginning of pardon period precisely coincides with NIH review of Ralph Baric and Peter Daszak's proposal for NIH grant “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence”", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/president-bidens-preemptive-pardon", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-30", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Why Prosecuting Fauci is Off Limits", "content": "Octavian (later the Emperor Augustus) was offended when Mark Antony cheated on his sister (Octavia the Younger) with Cleopatra. However, he also knew that the embarrassing affair that became the talk of the town in Rome served his ultimate design to get rid of Mark Antony.Had Antony shown real contrition, left Cleopatra, and returned to Rome to patch things up with Octavia, it would have derailed Octavian’s plan to seize unrivaled power.A close study of history teaches us that whenever the populace is treated to the spectacle of a powerful man being pilloried and lampooned, it is almost certainly a distraction from the true, behind-the-scenes exercise or preservation of power.I’m pretty sure that everyone in Washington understands that prosecuting Anthony Fauci—and the officialdiscoveryit would entail—would bethe end of the US governmentbecause the liabilities would be incalculably astronomical.Fauci’s NIAID was the lynchpin of the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex that perpetrated a massive crime against all of humanity.—literally ALL of the earth’s inhabitants. As I noted in my poster yesterday (President Biden’s Preemptive Pardon of Fauci)the following is clearly evident from the enormous paper trail.Knew that Daszak, Baric, et al. were conducting GoF research with their colleagues at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (a Chinese biosecurity lab connected with the Chinese military).Knew that Baric et al. were creating SARS coronavirus variants capable of infecting and causing pathogenesis in humans.Knew that the NIH continued to fund (and therefore to endorse) the research of Baric et al. even after the federal pause on GoF in October 2014.Knew that Modernapatented the genetic sequenceof the SARS-CoV-2 furin cleavage site in 2016.Knew that his ownNIAID began collaborating with Moderna in 2016to develop an mRNA vaccine against coronaviruses.NIAID Collaboration with ModernaPrior to the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists at NIAID’s Vaccine Research Center and the biotechnology company Moderna had collaborated for four years on mRNA vaccines for other emerging infectious diseases.Knew (documented inhis private email correspondencewith eminent virologists in February 2020) that the genome SARS-CoV-2 displayed clear features of lab manipulation.Fraudulently concealed that SARS-CoV-2 was produced in a lab by directing the publication ofThe proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2,authored by the same virologists who had just told him in private that the virus appeared to have come from a lab.In other words, Anthony Fauci was a leading conspirator in perpetrating this crime, fraudulently concealing it, suppressing early treatment for it, and promoting the dangerous, experimental mRNA vaccine that NIAID (of which he was the director) developed with Moderna.The trouble for the sewer known as the US government is that EVERY stinking agency—HHS, DoD, DARPA, BARDA, CIA, FBI—all of themunderstood the obvious reality of what was going on.As for the parcel of imbecilic and venal elected representatives in Congress and the White House—stupidity and cowardice aren’t a persuasive defense.Senators Paul and Johnson are perfect gentlemen, acting in good faith, but I suspect they too know that if this horror show is officially revealed in the discovery phase of a criminal trial against Anthony Fauci, it would be the end of the entire rotten edifice of the US government. The liabilities with respect to all of humanity would be too astronomical. Fauci also understands that he is, in the language of the Sicilian and Neapolitan mafia, “intoccabile”—untouchable.That he is currently being pilloried is an indispensably valuable mechanism for preserving the federal government. It enables We the People to experience a great catharsis. Through this catharsis, our outrage will expend itself and Fauci will go back to being a Distinguished University Professor at Georgetown.Nihil lacrima citius arescit—”Nothing dries faster than a tear,” as the great Roman prosecutor once remarked about the fickle and ever distracted public. Tears are transitory; power such as that which resides in Washington endures.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Discovery and prosecution of the former NIAID director would expose the entire rotten edifice of the US government. The liabilities would be astronomical.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/why-prosecuting-fauci-is-off-limits", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-31", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Explosive Senate Inquiry Paints Anthony Fauci Into a Corner", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPlease review this explosive reel from July 29, 2026 onThe Evening Edit, Fox Business hosted by Liz MacDonald.  I responded candidly that Dr Fauci over time became a national disgrace as the leader of the largest American public health debacle in the modern era.  Trust in public health has been erased.  The medical establishment, left wing of Congress and its media surrogates should be ashamed.While right leaning outlets such as FOX Business, FOX, and NewsMax covered the hearing with key evidence and comments from US Senators, left wing commentators such as Lawrence O’Donnell heaped praise on Fauci asserting he “saved lives.”  Fauci’s diary did not indicate he treated or advised on a single patient.  He was obsessed with his own aura, not Americans sick with SARS-CoV-2, the virus he helped create.  Joe Scarborough dismissed the hearing as “political theatre” while others said America wants to forget the pandemic and move on.  I will let you decide.Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpoints", "summary": "Former NIAID director failed to meet basic biomedical and ethical standards during the COVID-19 crisis.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/explosive-senate-inquiry-paints-anthony", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-31", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Will Increasing Efficiency of AI Computing Render Huge Data Centers Superfluous?", "content": "The first major digital computer used for a large-scale U.S. defense project, theENIAC(funded by the U.S. Army Ordnance Department), occupied1,800 square feet of floor space and weighed 30 tons. A modern iPhone ishundreds of thousands to millions of times more powerfulthan this room-sized machine.As AI computing becomes more efficient, requiring smaller machines, energy, and cooling capacity, will the massive data centers being built today be rendered superfluous?The largest AI data center complexes under development require11 gigawatts (11,000 megawatts)of total power capacity.To understand the scale of 11 gigawatts of power being delivered to a gigantic machine — as distinct from other forms of human activity and labor — consider that a single gigawatt of continuous power running 24/7 is equivalent to the entire electricity consumption of a major metropolitan area like Denver, Colorado (roughly 850,000 to 1 million homes).What exactly is going to be done with all of this machine intelligence, apart from rendering most human intellectual labor obsolete?While AI is becoming marvelously capable at synthesizing enormous amounts of data, analysis, and concepts with lightening speed, it strikes me as odd that it consumes so much more power than the human brain in a state of intense concentration, which uses about 20 watts of power, roughly25% of the body's total energy, or about 400 to 500 calories per day.I used to date a girl who could simultaneously speed through London traffic, smoke a cigarette, drink a Corona, answer her cell phone for a quick chat, put on lipstick, and have an intelligent conversation with me without having to think about any of these tasks and without causing an accident.How much processing power is required to do all of these actions at once, and how much energy would it require if a robot were trained to do all of them at once?I wonder if the AI nerds are studying the human brain in the way that aviation guys (finally) got around to paying close attention to birds’ wings (such as that of the mallard duck) which feature the sort of aerodynamictwistthat was ultimately built into the Boeing 787 wing, thereby greatly increasing its efficiency—that is, reduction of induced drag.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Comparing the DoD's first major digital computer to the iPhone and wondering if similar size and resource efficiency is in the cards for AI computing", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/will-increasing-efficiency-of-ai", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-31", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "RFK's 2021 Book \"The Real Anthony Fauci\" Vindicated, Back on Bestseller List", "content": "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.—Arthur SchopenhauerWhen I read Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2021 bookThe Real Anthony Fauci,I was immediately struck by the thought that writing and publishing it was one of the boldest acts of perceived impiety in publishing history.At the time, Dr. Fauci was regarded by his legions of adoring, dimwitted followers as the Pontifex Maximus of Science and a Savior—an experience that went straight to his head in the way that becoming prom queen might go to the head of a 17-year-old girl—causing him to make preposterous statements such as “I am science,” or in the stately Latin language, “Scientiae incarnatio sum.”The book’s immediate blacklisting among publishing trade journals and book reviews reminded my of the Holy Office of the Inquisition’s, Index of Prohibited Books, which over time included authorsRené Descartes, Nicolaus Copernicus, Immanuel Kant, and Galileo Galilei.In 2021, with the widespread imposition of orthodoxy and censorship that have no place in our constitutional republic, RFK, Jr. and his publisher, Tony Lyons, had the guts to produce and publish a book that would certainly make them very unpopular in the fashionable, bien pensant society of New York and Los Angeles.As I read the book—a vast work of scholarship, meticulously documenting Fauci’s history as a ruthless agent of his pharmaceutical industry cronies—I frequently thought, “Damn this is bold. Bravo.”Yesterday I was very happy to see the following MAHA Report notice that the book is back on the bestseller list. Click on the image below to read the good news and the fascinating history of what the book had to go through to get to where it is today. And if you haven’t yet read it, you will find it all the more fascinating in light of all that has happened since 2021.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "In 2021, the current HHS Secretary was a voice in the wilderness, and his book was published in the face of censorship, shadow banning, and book review blacklisting", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/rfks-2021-book-the-real-anthony-fauci", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-31", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Lying and Killing: The Government's True Element", "content": "So ist denn alles, was ihr Sünde.Zerstörung, kurz, das Böse nennt,Mein eigentliches Element.So then is everything that you callSin, destruction, in short, evil,My true element.So introduces Mephistopheles to Dr. Faust in Goethe’s play. What I (and many others) have found especially fascinating about the scene is that Mephistopheles doesn’t try to conceal anything. He clearly states the nature of his game.In this respect, Goethe adhered to a long tradition of the devil announcing himself, thereby eliminating the possibility of anyone subsequently claiming that they weren’t warned.I often think about this while contemplating the US government and the legions of deluded fools who believe the lies told by its nominal leaders.Once it became clear that Trump was going to attack Iran, I knew with certainty that “We the People” were being dragged into another forever war in the Middle East that would result in mass destruction and death and achieve no constructive end.I knew it would begin with the promise of a swift and decisive victory, and then drag on interminably with no clear strategy—just more destruction and more boasts about all the things destroyed.As Mephistopheles said, “Sin, destruction, in short, evil, is my true element.”Long ago, the men that run the US government made the deal with the devil that Jesus—as recounted in Matthew, Mark, and Luke—chosenotto make.In exchange for worshipping the devil, the men who run the US government have received “dominion, glory, and the kingdoms of the world.”I am not saying that the devil appeared to President Trump in the Oval Office as Mephistopheles appeared in Faust’s study.The US government’s deal with the devil was apparently made long ago, and it seems that only the devil’s servants are able to remain in the government. Those like Thomas Massie who take a principled stand against the devil are driven out of government in the most absurd way.The outrageous absurdity of Massie’s ouster— as well as how the Epstein files were swept under the rug, and how the Iran war was started with obvious monkeyshines— are the expression of howthe devil plainly introduces himself.A few days ago I received an email from a reader who sincerely told me that the current war against Iran is a rational response to the Ayatollah Khomeini’s statement “death to America” in his 1979 inauguration speech. Never mind that Khomeini died in 1989. I responded by quoting Kim Jong Un’s 2024 New Year’s Day Address in which he threatened to “deal a deadly blow to the US and thoroughly annihilate them.”Should we attack North Korea?Should the US Air Force again bomb every single city in North Korea to rubble and kill 20% of its civilian population, as General Curtis LeMay proclaimed he had done. As he put it in a 1984 interview with the Office of Air Force History:Over a period of three years or so, we killed off — what — 20 percent of the population.By LeMay’s estimate, every city in North Korea was bombed to rubble.Only someone who has been seduced by the devil would kill 20 percent of the population of a country of 10 million people and totally annihilate all its cities.The devil’s work is obvious, out in the open, to be seen by anyone who has eyes to see.Every heap of total BS we’ve been served since 2001 follows the exact same script—namely, scare the hell out of us, promise to protect us, transfer trillions to whatever interests are the beneficiaries of the “crisis,” and pillory anyone (like me) who questions the veracity of the government’s fraudulent representations.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "How the Trump administration started another forever war in the Middle East, and why millions of people can't see the evil of it.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/lying-and-killing-the-governments", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-01", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Coolest Presidential Candidate in History", "content": "The most lamentable feature of our current Age of the Weenie is the almost universal, slavish idolization of the U.S. federal government, and the delusion that either political party is going to save us.The government—no matter which corrupt party is running is—is NOT going to save us. Over 90% of the time, the government CREATES the problems. To put it another way, the government is the problem to the solution.For a long time my favorite American individualist was Henry David Thoreau, and when I was a college student in Boston I often went to the site of his cabin on Walden Pond and meditated on his spirit.As I wrote in my new book,Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions:In the 1840s, many American newspapers supported the Mexican-American War in an aggressive, jingoistic fashion, claiming it was an expression of America’s “Manifest Destiny.” A notable critic of the war—and the propaganda published to justify it—was Henry David Thoreau, who correctly believed that the US government declared war on Mexico due to the influence of a relatively small group of powerful southern men who used the government and military as their instrument to gain new territory for slave states. In his 1849 essay, “Civil Disobedience,” Thoreau argued that when people acquiesce to immoral government actions, they become complicit.Nothing has changed since then. The business of waging war abroad is still directed by a relatively small group of men pursuing their narrow interests, while “We the People” are propagandized into playing along with it and paying for it with our taxes and US debt obligations.Because humor is such a good antidote to the negative feelings of anger and frustration, whenever I am feeling down, I watch the following video of John McAfee announcing his 2020 presidential candidacy from his yacht in an unknown location while fleeing the IRS. This strikes me as the most colorful and entertaining gesture of defiance in American history.John knew he was playing with fire, and a year later he was arrested in Spain on a US/IRS warrant and incarcerated for nine months before he died in his cell. The authorities claim he committed suicide, but I wonder about that, because he (an internet security pioneer) knew a lot about a lot of powerful people.John may have been the last great rebel, and his death in prison in 2021 may be regarded as the true beginning of the Age of the Weenie in which we now live.RIP John David McAfee (18 September 1945 – 23 June 2021).Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "John McAfee's 2020 presidential campaign on his yacht while fleeing the IRS was the most colorful and entertaining gesture of defiance in American history.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-coolest-presidential-candidate", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-31", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING: 25-Year Study of an Entire Country Finds Most Major Hormonal Birth Controls Are Associated With an Increased Risk of Meningioma Brain Tumors", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHAnationwide studyof Denmark’s female population aged 15 to 59, published inJAMA Network Open, examined hormonal contraceptive use from 2000 through 2024. The underlying population included approximately 3 million females, with researchers comparing 1,473 women diagnosed with meningioma against 14,717 matched controls.The study examined contraceptive progestogens, the hormone class used across nearly all major hormonal birth-control methods, including combined pills, progestin-only pills, injections, hormonal IUDs, implants, patches, and vaginal rings.Most hormonal birth controls analyzed in the study were associated with an increased risk of meningioma brain tumors.Specifically, 8 of the 12 formulations with calculable estimates showed statistically significant or borderline-significant elevations, while several additional methods could not be reliably assessed because too few cases occurred.Meningiomas arise from the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Even when noncancerous, they can compress vital brain structures, cause seizures, cognitive decline, vision loss, weakness, and permanent neurological damage, and may require brain surgery.Overall meningioma risk by hormonal contraceptiveThe study’s primary analysis compared each woman’s most recent contraceptive exposure with nonuse and found the following increases in meningioma odds:DEPO-PROVERA INJECTIONS: +355%OR4.55; 95% CI,2.19–9.45PROGESTIN-ONLY DESOGESTREL: +73%OR1.73; 95% CI,1.17–2.56COMBINED DESOGESTREL: +66%OR1.66; 95% CI,1.31–2.10CYPROTERONE: +61%OR1.61; 95% CI,1.00–2.59DROSPIRENONE: +58%OR1.58; 95% CI,1.05–2.37HIGH-DOSE LEVONORGESTREL IUD: +58%OR1.58; 95% CI,1.28–1.94GESTODENE: +44%OR1.44; 95% CI,1.17–1.77LEVONORGESTREL PILL: +40%OR1.40; 95% CI,1.12–1.76These overall estimates were concerning, but the strongest associations appeared among women with ongoing or very recent exposure.Current hormonal birth-control use and meningioma risk“Current use” was defined as ongoing exposure or exposure ending within the previous year. Risk estimates were generally highest in this group.DEPO-PROVERA INJECTIONS: +870%OR9.70; 95% CI,3.85–24.42DROSPIRENONE: +153%OR2.53; 95% CI,1.45–4.42CYPROTERONE: +115%OR2.15; 95% CI,1.05–4.41COMBINED DESOGESTREL: +107%OR2.07; 95% CI,1.41–3.04GESTODENE: +101%OR2.01; 95% CI,1.47–2.74PROGESTIN-ONLY DESOGESTREL: +96%OR1.96; 95% CI,1.26–3.08LEVONORGESTREL PILL: +80%OR1.80; 95% CI,1.33–2.46HIGH-DOSE LEVONORGESTREL IUD: +62%OR1.62; 95% CI,1.29–2.04ConclusionThis was an observational case-control study, so it cannot prove that hormonal contraception directly caused the tumors. However, the investigation had major strengths: nationwide population coverage, detailed long-term prescription records, validated cancer diagnoses, exclusion of women with prior hormone-replacement therapy, and consistent results across multiple sensitivity analyses.The findings indicate that increased meningioma risk may extend beyond Depo-Provera injections to multiple combined birth-control pills, a progestin-only pill, and high-dose levonorgestrel IUDs.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.", "summary": "Nationwide data covering 3 million Danish females link popular birth-control pills, Depo-Provera shots, and high-dose hormonal IUDs to elevated meningioma risk.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-25-year-study-of-an-entire", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-16", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Great Inoculation: How mRNA Vaccines Guarantee Longevity Will Decline", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHAfter this conversation with health futurist and biohacker Dave Asprey, I wondered if humans had been changed, upgraded or downgraded by mass genetic vaccination.🎙️ Summary: Dave Asprey Interviews Dr. Peter McCullough onThe Human UpgradeDave Asprey opens by praising McCullough’s courage during the pandemic, noting how Asprey himself lost 95% of his social media following for speaking out. McCullough observes that most podcasters were absent in 2020 when early treatment was the critical issue — not vaccines, which only arrived December 10th, 2020.🦠 The Pandemic Response Was InvertedMcCullough argues the proper public health message was simple: the virus is mild for most; high-risk individuals need early treatment. Instead, the world got lockdowns, masks, and suppressed therapeutics. He recounts howhydroxychloroquine— a centuries-old, pregnancy-safe drug — was first embraced, then targeted with fraudulent papers claiming cardiac harm. An Australian billionaire, Clive Palmer, bought enough to treat every Australian; authorities seized and destroyed it. Facilities producing it mysteriously burned.Ivermectinfaced an even fiercer war. Safe and effective, with studies showing 50% mortality reduction in hospitalized patients, it was smeared as “horse paste” by a coordinated FDA-PR-late-night-TV campaign. Three doctors sued the FDA and won — forcing the agency to retract its fraudulent materials.💉 mRNA Technology: A Permanent AlterationThe spike protein is the pathogenic element. It folds likeamyloid— rubbery, degradation-resistant, accumulating in tissues. Nattokinase is the only known agent that reliably breaks it down.McCullough reveals:Pseudouridine substitution: Pfizer and Moderna replacedeveryuracil with synthetic pseudouridine, making the mRNA impervious to human RNases. There is no off switch.No pharmacokinetic studies existshowing where it goes, when or if it shuts off. No oncogenicity, teratogenicity, or genotoxicity studies were ever done.A Dallas patient still has circulating Pfizer vaccine and full-length spike protein in his bloodstream3.6 yearspost-injection as published by Hulscher et al in the European Society of Medicine.Swedish research (Alden et al) demonstrated the central amplicon integrates into the genome of human liver cells.McCullough’s team found ~20 base pairs of vaccine DNA in a cancer patient’s genome.New mRNA products — RSV and influenza vaccines — are rolling out with zero scrutiny, potentially producing foreign proteins indefinitely and drivingautoimmunity, thrombosis, and neoplastic activity.🔬 The Origins: Gain-of-Function Published in 2015McCullough traces the WIV-1 virus to published gain-of-function research inNature Medicine(2015), funded by Fauci’s NIAID, with Ralph Baric (UNC), Peter Daszak (EcoHealth Alliance), and Stéphane Bancel (Moderna) all connected. Bancel’s prior company, BioMérieux, built the BSL-4 annex at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The papers literally stated the virus was “poised for human emergence.”🧬 Longevity Impossible Under These ConditionsAsprey, who aims to live past 180 through biohacking, frames the central tragedy:two-thirds of the population carries synthetic mRNA producing amyloid-like spike protein indefinitely. The thermodynamic instability, mitochondrial strain, and cumulative protein accumulation McCullough describes are the antithesis of longevity. Asprey contrasts this with legitimate gene therapies thattime out— noting he’d embrace a well-studied vaccine that extended life. What was rolled out globally was the opposite.🏛️ What Must Be DoneMcCullough’s prescription:Pull all COVID and mRNA vaccinesfrom the market pending proper pharmacokinetic studies.Repeal the 1986 Vaccine Injury Compensation Act— force manufacturers to carry liability.Ban direct-to-consumer vaccine advertising(which currently lists no side effects for vaccines).Ban all medical and vaccine mandates.Launch an exhaustive investigation into the autism epidemic.Appoint an external special counselto investigate pandemic crimes — naming Fauci as a target.🧠 Propaganda Terms and Cognitive SovereigntyMcCullough identifies six propaganda terms:misinformation(Goebbels),disinformation(Stalin),malinformation,anti-science,anti-vaxxer, andconspiracy theorist. McCullough notes “misinformation” entered the National Library of Medicine as a MeSH term in 2020 — rendering science meaningless if observations can be dismissed with a propaganda label.Both men emphasizecognitive sovereignty— being unprogrammable, calm, and refusing manufactured moral hierarchies. McCullough closes by contrasting Trump’s Politburo-style cabinet conformity with Lincoln’s “team of rivals” approach to leadership.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.SharePlease subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough FoundationFOCAL POINTS has partnered withAlterAIto defend your medical freedom. Subscribe toAlterAItoday and get a discount on unbiased and accurate AI!📚 ReferencesMcCullough PA.Courage to Face COVID-19.McCullough PA et al.Vaccines, Mythology, Ideology, and Reality(2025).McCullough PA. Pathophysiological Basis and Rationale for Early Outpatient Treatment of SARS-CoV-2.Am J Med. 2020.Rajter et al. Ivermectin and mortality in COVID-19.CHEST. 2020.Hulscher et al,Persistence of Vaccine mRNA, Plasmid DNA, Spike Protein, and Genomic Dysregulation Over 3.5 Years Post-COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination, Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 14, n. 6, july 2026. ISSN 2375-1924. Available at:https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/7631. Date accessed: 15 july 2026. doi:https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.2026.0351.Alden M, De Marinas Y et al. Intracellular reverse transcription of Pfizer mRNA in human liver cells.Curr Issues Mol Biol. 2022.Baric R et al. SARS-like coronavirus WIV-1 poised for human emergence.Nat Med. 2015.Karagokos T, McCullough PA et al. Thermodynamic instability from synthetic mRNA. 2024.Brogna C et al. Circulating vaccine mRNA persistence. 2023.Tanakawa et al. Nattokinase degradation of spike protein. 2022.Corey P.The War on Ivermectin.Goodwin DK.Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. 2005.", "summary": "Dr. Peter McCullough and Biohacker Dave Asprey on Why Two-Thirds of the Population Just Traded Longevity for a Synthetic S-Protein Factory With No Off Switch", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-great-inoculation-how-mrna-vaccines", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-16", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Predictable Catastrophe: Why Aortic Dissection Should Never Be a Surprise", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHLindsey Graham is dead.The senior senator from South Carolina, a fixture of American politics for decades, died of an aortic dissection — a catastrophe that the medical establishment will describe as sudden, unexpected, and unpreventable. They are wrong on all three counts.In the practice ofDr. Peter McCullough, a board-…Read more", "summary": "Death of Senator Lindsey Graham should be reviewed for antecedent predictors to inform others at risk", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-predictable-catastrophe-why-aortic", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-15", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Beauty of Roman Architecture & the Atrocity of Modernism", "content": "In an essay titled “The New Architecture,” published in theBaltimore Evening Sunin the late 1940s, HL Mencken described modernist architecture as \"harsh masses, hideous outlines, and bald metallic surfaces.” Modernist furniture he described as “ghastly imitations of the electric chair.” He contrasted modernism with the civilized and humane architecture of the 18th century Georgian period. In the US, this is often referred to as the Federal Style because it coincided with the Constitutional Convention.In Boston, the foremost architect of the Federal Style was Charles Bullfinch, who designed many of the most beautiful townhouses on Beacon Hill, as well as the Massachusetts State House.Bullfinch was influenced by the Scottish architect Robert Adam, who visited the Croatian, seaside town of Split in 1757 to study the remains of the Roman Emperor Diocletian’s palace. Commissioned as the emperor’s retirement residence, construction began around 295 AD and was completed by the time of his abdication in 305.During Adam’s Grand Tour in 1757—accompanied by French architect and artist Charles-Louis Clérisseau—he visited Split (then Spalatro) to draw the ruins. His team performed detailed measurements, drawings, and surveys of the palace’s architecture, ornamentation, and spatial organization.The result was Adam’s influential 1764 publication,Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia, a rich folio with engravings that showed the site to a wide European audience.Adam’s visit influenced his designs for Syon House, Kedleston Hall, and the Adelphi development in London, where the palace’s grand gallery and courtyard principles informed his terrace designs and riverfront planning.I thought of Adam’s 1764 book yesterday while strolling along the seaside of the old palace in Split. Note that much of the ancient Roman tower and colonnade are still intact and have been incorporated into the current dwellings.The following image is a reproduction of one of Adam’s drawings of the palace.The palace was the inspiration of his Adelphi Terrace in London.The Massachusetts State House by Charles Bullfinch displays the same influence.The old Roman and Venetian towns along the Dalmatian coast of Croatia—as well as the great cities of Italy, France, and Spain—are all overrun with tourists because everyone is naturally drawn to Roman architecture and city planning. Compare Bullfinch’s State House to the Boston City Hall—a masterpiece of brutalist horror designed by Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles.When I lived in Boston I always felt well when I walked past Bullfinch’s State House. Conversely, whenever I walked past Boston City Hall, I felt a dull sense of dread and impending doom. The architects of this atrocity were prominent members of a generation that waged war on beauty and the sense of wellbeing that the sight of it instills in the viewer.Every year, Boston attracts about 20 million tourists who take delight in visiting the Public Garden and Beacon Hill. No one is delighted to visit the Boston City Hall and its ghastly Government Center wasteland that replaced the charming Scollay Square, featured in the image below.The people responsible for demolishing Scollay Square and erecting Government Center should have been put in the stocks and pelted with rotten eggs and tomatoes.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Roman architecture and city planning produced places where everyone wants to be, unlike modern cities poxed by hideous architecture and cars", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-beauty-of-roman-architecture", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-14", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Alzheimer's Runs in the Family; Smart Move to Start Prevention Measures Now", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHIf you are like me, we worry about cognitive decline over the next several decades by watching what has happened to our parents and grandparents.  Thus far in human history, by age 80, 50% have cognitive decline, age 90—75%, and at 100 years, 85% have lost mental function and a sizable fraction have clinical Alzheimer’s disease.  So I reached out to neurological specialist, Dr Ravi Kumar for a full update.Here’s the summary:🧠 Alzheimer’s Disease: Prevention Over Cure — The McCullough-Kumar InterviewDr. Peter McCullough and Dr. Ravi Kumar — a board-certified neurosurgeon trained at Mayo Clinic and now assistant professor at UNC — delivered one of the most comprehensive public discussions on Alzheimer’s disease to date. With both of McCullough’s parents afflicted, the conversation was personal as well as clinical.The Amyloid Dead EndDr. Kumar dismantled the beta-amyloid hypothesis that has dominated Alzheimer’s research for decades. “We figured out ways to get it out of the brain, but people don’t get better,” he noted. The monoclonal antibodies — lecanemab and donanemab — clear plaques effectively but come with alarming rates of ARIA (brain swelling and hemorrhage), affecting up toone in four patients. Those at highest risk for these side effects? ApoE4 carriers — the very population most vulnerable to Alzheimer’s in the first place.The existing cholinesterase inhibitors (donepezil, rivastigmine, galantamine) and the NMDA antagonist memantine were dismissed as purely symptomatic with trivial improvements in ADASCOG of < 2 points. “They don’t even touch the disease,” Kumar said. “It’s almost like taking a pain med for a cut on your arm.”The Real Drivers: Metabolic Health and LifestyleKumar identifiedinsulin resistanceas the number one modifiable risk factor. The brain consumes 20% of the body’s energy despite being only three pounds. When neurons become insulin-resistant, they enter an energy crisis — housekeeping functions collapse, beta-amyloid accumulates, tau tangles form, and synapses deteriorate.Key protective strategies discussed:Walking outside daily— the human body’s most fundamental movement, shown to improve surgical recovery and overall healthResistance training— muscle mass acts as a glucose sink, maintaining insulin sensitivityOutdoor exposure— sunlight for vitamin D and circadian regulation; the Japanese practice offorest bathingfor mental healthSleep quality— the glymphatic system flushes toxins including beta-amyloid during deep sleep; even one night of sleep deprivation raises brain amyloid by 5%Alcohol avoidance— described bluntly as “a neurotoxin… designed by fungus to hurt animals with nervous systems”Genetics Are Not DestinyThe ApoE4 allele dramatically raises Alzheimer’s risk — from ~5% baseline (E3/E3) to ~65% lifetime risk (E4/E4), with even higher rates in African-Americans who drink alcohol. Yet Kumar pointed to Nigerian populations with high ApoE4 prevalence and near-zero Alzheimer’s rates among those maintaining traditional diets and lifestyles. “You have to take these variants and load them with a certain diet and lifestyle characteristic,” he explained. McCullough, who tested as E2/E3 (the protective variant), noted his parents behave clinically like E4 carriers — underscoring that environment often overrides genetics.New Diagnostics, Old FailuresBlood tests measuringphosphorylated tau-217now achieve 96% specificity for Alzheimer’s detection — outperforming both spinal taps and PET scans. These tests can identify disease before symptoms appear, shifting diagnosis from clinical to biochemical. Yet the treatment landscape remains barren: the ADAS-Cog scale (0–70) shows existing interventions moving scores by only a point or two.Supplements Worth ConsideringVitamin D— deficiency mimics dementia; optimal levels above 30 ng/mLMagnesium L-threonate— crosses the blood-brain barrier; small trials show modest cognitive improvementCoenzyme Q10— critical for mitochondrial energy production; McCullough recommends ~600–800 mg daily, especially for statin usersPolymannose derivatives(aloe-based) — Dr. John Lewis’s research at University of Miami showed 4.5-point ADAS-Cog improvements in nursing home patients over 12 months, outperforming prescription drugsThe Bottom Line“Prevention has to be the focus,” Kumar emphasized. Modifiable risk factors — including regular exercise outside, abstinence from alcohol, hearing loss correction (which alone can reduce dementia risk by 50–60%), smoking cessation, hypertension control, and social connection — “blow any drug out of the water.”FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough FoundationFOCAL POINTS has partnered withPiqueto promote your optimal health. To learn more aboutPiqueproducts and get 20% off and free gifts today,https://www.piquelife.com/DRPETERReferencesMcCullough P, Kumar R. Alzheimer’s Disease: Epidemiology, Detection, Treatment.The McCullough Report / America Out Loud Talk News / Dr. Kumar’s Discovery Podcast. Broadcast date not specified in transcript. Available via McCullough Report and Focal Point Substack.", "summary": "Why waiting for symptoms is a losing strategy — and what to do about it today", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/alzheimers-runs-in-the-family-smart", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-14", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Nano-Curcumin Eliminates Cyclospora Infection in Mice—the Parasite Behind the “Explosive Diarrhea” Outbreak Across 31 States", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHCyclospora infections are surging across the United States.Caused by the microscopic intestinal parasiteCyclospora cayetanensis, the infection can trigger prolonged watery diarrhea, severe abdominal cramping, nausea, fatigue, and weight loss that may persist for weeks without treatment.As of July 9, 2026, the CDC had confirmed843 domestically acquired cases across 31 states, including 86 hospitalizations. Multiple outbreaks remain under investigation, and the contaminated food sources have not yet been identified. Bactrim is an established treatment for cyclosporiasis, but many are wondering if there are natural alternatives.Arecent studyidentified curcumin—the primary bioactive pigment in turmeric—as a potentially powerful natural treatment forCyclosporainfection. In mice, just seven daily doses of nano-curcuminreduced parasite shedding by 97.2%, eliminated detectable parasites, restored damaged intestinal tissue, and prevented relapse after treatment withdrawal.Nano-curcumin is curcumin packaged in extremely small oil-based droplets (30–40 nanometers) designed to improve its delivery and absorption.Researchers experimentally infected mice withCyclosporaand compared three treatments:Nano-curcumin:2 mg/kg once dailyRegular curcumin:2 mg/kg once dailyBactrim/TMP-SMX:5 mg/kg trimethoprim plus 25 mg/kg sulfamethoxazole once dailyEach treatment was administered for onlyseven consecutive days, beginning on day 6 after infection when parasite shedding started. The mice received no additional treatment and were followed through day 30—more than two weeks after the final dose.Nano-curcumin produced the strongest overall results.By the end of treatment, parasite oocyst shedding had fallen by:84.0% with nano-curcumin77.3% with Bactrim73.3% with regular curcuminAt day 30, more than two weeks after treatment ended:Nano-curcumin: 97.2% reductionRegular curcumin: 93.5% reductionBactrim: 79.4% reductionUntreated control: persistent and increasing sheddingAll three treatments significantly reduced Cyclospora shedding compared with the untreated control (P<0.001), although differences among nano-curcumin, regular curcumin, and Bactrim were not statistically significant.The mean stool oocyst count at day 30 was1.07in untreated infected mice, compared with0.22in the Bactrim group,0.07with regular curcumin, and just0.03with nano-curcumin.Nano-Curcumin Prevented RelapseThe most important result was not simply the reduction in parasite shedding.The authors reportedno recurrence after nano-curcumin treatment.Unlike regular curcumin and Bactrim, no rebound in infection was detected after treatment withdrawal. No parasite was found in intestinal tissue by standard histological staining, and the researchers stated that the infection appeared to have beeneliminated.Thus, seven daily doses of nano-curcumin produced a sustained97.2% reduction in parasite shedding, with no detected intestinal parasites or relapse more than two weeks later.Regular Curcumin Was Also Highly EffectiveThe ordinary curcumin group also performed remarkably well.After the same seven-day course, regular curcumin reduced parasite shedding by93.5% at day 30. No parasite was detected in the intestinal tissue by H&E staining at that time point.The main distinction was that low-level stool shedding remained, so the authors did not describe regular curcumin as preventing recurrence as clearly as the nanoemulsion. Still, the findings suggest that curcumin itself has substantial anti-Cyclosporaactivity, while nano-formulation may enhance and prolong its effect.Curcumin Damaged the Parasite and Restored the IntestineScanning electron microscopy revealed extensive structural damage toCyclosporaoocysts following treatment with both forms of curcumin.Untreated oocysts had smooth, regular outer surfaces. Curcumin-treated oocysts became distorted and developed dimples, protrusions, and surface irregularities. Nano-curcumin produced even more dramatic changes, including enlargement or shrinkage, deep furrows, pores, perforations, and rough surface damage.The intestinal findings were equally striking.Untreated infection caused shortened and blunted villi, epithelial erosion, inflammation, and progressive destruction of the absorptive intestinal surface. Both Bactrim and regular curcumin improved the intestinal tissue, but nano-curcumin produced the greatest recovery.Mean intestinal villous length was approximately:126 μm in untreated infected mice156 μm with Bactrim190 μm with regular curcumin233 μm with nano-curcuminIn the nano-curcumin group, the intestinal surface remained intact, inflammation declined markedly, villous length returned toward normal, and no parasites were detected in the tissue.Why the Nanoemulsion May MatterCurcumin has demonstrated antiparasitic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties, but poor water solubility and limited bioavailability have restricted its therapeutic potential.The nanoemulsion used in this study contained particles measuring approximately30–40 nanometers. This formulation may improve curcumin’s solubility, stability, biological activity, and contact time with the intestinal parasite.BecauseCyclosporainfects the small intestine, orally administered curcumin may also remain concentrated near the site of infection. The strong performance of regular curcumin supports the compound’s underlying antiparasitic activity, while the improved results with nano-curcumin suggest that drug delivery may be the key to maximizing that effect.ConclusionBactrim remains the treatment of choice for human cyclosporiasis because it has direct clinical evidence in infected patients.Human clinical trialshave shown that TMP-SMX successfully treats cyclosporiasis and can shorten average parasite shedding from 12.1 days to 4.8 days.Curcumin and nano-curcumin, by contrast, have not yet been tested in human patients with cyclosporiasis. Their evidence for this infection currently comes from this animal study.However, given curcumin’s non-toxic nature even at very high doses and myriad other benefits, I will have it in my arsenal in case of infection.Controlled human trials are now needed to determine whether these striking results can be reproduced in people.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.", "summary": "Just seven daily doses of nano-curcumin cut Cyclospora shedding by 97.2%, eliminated detectable parasites, restored damaged intestinal tissue, and prevented infection relapse.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/nano-curcumin-eliminates-cyclospora", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-13", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "T-Cell Immunity: The Holy Grail of Cancer (and COVID-19) Prevention?", "content": "Author’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles about T-cell immunity and an immunotherapy for enhancing it.The decline of T-cells with age—known asimmunosenescence—is a primary driver of the increased risk of cancer in older adults.As the body ages, the thymus gland shrinks, drastically reducing the production of new T-cells capable of hunting down and destroying emerging tumors.As we learned during the COVID-19 pandemic—and as our corrupt health authorities worked hard to suppress—healthy children were NOT at risk of developing severe COVID-19 because of their large and super active thymus gland. In 2021, I witnessed my five-year old niece contract COVID-19 from her (vaccinated) mother. One day she developed a rash, mild cough, and malaise, and the following day she was fully recovered.Age-related T-cell decline drives cancer development in the following specific ways:Decreased Immunosurveillance:Young, healthy immune systems constantly scan the body and eliminate nascent cancer cells before they can form tumors. As T-cell populations drop, this surveillance system weakens, allowing malignant cells to multiply undetected.Replicative Senescence:The T-cells that remain become “exhausted” or senescent. They lose their ability to divide effectively and fail to mount a strong attack when they encounter tumor antigens.T-cell Receptor Restriction:The diversity of the T-cell repertoire shrinks, meaning the immune system loses the ability to recognize a wide variety of cancer mutations.Immunosuppressive Microenvironment:Instead of killing cancer, many aged immune cells accumulate in the tumor environment and actively secrete proteins that protect the tumor and help it grow.For several years, Professor Angus Dalgleish has been fascinated by the role of T-cells in preventing cancer, and how the increased incidence of cancer with age closely corresponds to T-cell senescence.A few weeks ago, I spent a day with him at his home near London, talking about this fascinating subject. Over lunch, we discussed theThe COVID-19 Vaccine Cancer Catastrophe.One of the most stunning features of this catastrophe is this evidence that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines actuallycauseT-cell exhaustion.On a positive note, Professor Dalgleish told me about a therapeutic approach that struck me as highly plausible. This approach originated decades ago with the observation that pastoral tribes in Africa who maintained the ancient lifestyle of living with their cattle experienced lower rates of tuberculosis than non-pastoral populations. This led to the discovery of the therapeutic benefits ofMycobacterium vaccae— a nonpathogenicspecies of the Mycobacteriaceae family of bacteria that lives in the soil.Like the wordvaccine, the species name derives from the Latin word,vacca(cow), as the firstMycobacteriumstrain was cultured from cow dung in Austria in 1964 byR. Bönickeand E. Juhasz, who worked at the Leibniz Lung Center in Borstel, Germany.The bacterium was subsequently isolated from soil in the Ugandan Lang’o District, where locals claimed that a muddy substance had the power to cure a number of ailments.This led to experiments usingMycobacterium vaccaein conjunction with the BCG vaccine, which resulted in significant improvement of the BCG vaccine’s efficacy against tuberculosis.Research is currently being conducted using killedMycobacterium vaccaeimmunotherapy for allergic asthma,cancer, depression, leprosy, psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema and tuberculosis.Professor Dalgleish is especially interested in how an intradermal, inactivated close relative ofMycobacterium vaccae—a bacterium calledMycobacterium obuense—stimulates the body's innate immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells.Upon hearing about this product, I was instantly reminded of my longstanding intuition thatHomo sapiens —whichemerged around 300,000 years agoand migrated out of Africa—has an innate immune system that evolved within the context of living with animals, especially with cattle.The Lascaux Cave Paintings in Dordogne, France—often called the “Sistine Chapel of Prehistory”—dates back approximately 17,000 years, and prominently features striking images of aurochs, the now extinct ancestor of modern cattle.Cattle are thought to be the origin of a number of pathogens such as measles, tuberculosis, brucellosis, and anthrax. Tuberculosis and measles subsequently became especially pathogenic for populations living in cities. It appears that—as a result of selective evolutionary pressure from living with cattle— T-cell immunity is stimulatedin the presence of cattleand conversely declines among city-dwellers who do not live with cattle.Reflecting on idea causes me to wonder if it may be the true explanation for 18th century anecdotes in Gloucestershire, England that dairymaids did NOT contract smallpox. Edward Jenner assumed it was because they had already contracted cowpox, but now I wonder if they simply had vastly superior T-cell immunity.For more about this fascinating subject, see Professor Dalgleish’s paperInfection, immunoregulation, and cancer,which he coauthored with the British immunologist, Graham A.W. RookAuthor’s Note: If you found this article interesting and informative, please become a paid subscriber to our Focal Points newsletter. For just $5.00 per month, you can support us in our effort to conduct the kind of investigative scholarship and reporting that you will NOT find in mainstream media or even in mainstream academic journals that have been captured by the pharmaceutical industry.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Immunosenescence is a primary driver of the increased risk of cancer in older adults. An inactivated, nonpathogenic bacterium shows promise in stimulating T-cell production.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/t-cell-immunity-the-holy-grail-of", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-13", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "They Died During Sports Competition and Came Back Wired", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHA legacy transvenous implantable cardio-defibrillator (ICD) meant the end of an athletic career just a few years ago.  That paradigm has shifted dramatically with the pandemic and new subcutaneous technology.The Rise of the Subcutaneous ICD in Young Athletes: A Post-Pandemic Shift in Cardiac ProtectionThe sight of an elite athlete crumpling to the turf mid-game, chest unresponsive to a heart that has simply quit, has become one of the defining nightmare images of the pandemic era. And the subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator—the S-ICD—has quietly emerged as the intervention of choice for a generation of young competitors walking off the field with a second chance and a titanium puck nestled against their ribcage.Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "Inside the S-ICD revolution that's letting athletes like Eriksen and Bauer compete through the unthinkable", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/they-died-during-sports-competition", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-13", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Testosterone Replacement Therapy After the TRAVERSE Trial", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHSerum testosterone concentration drops as a function of age in the norman human male.  Low testosterone (hypogonadism) becomes increasingly common with age. Estimates vary depending on the definition used, but studies suggest that approximately 20% of men older than age 45 have low testosterone levels, with prevalence rising steadily in older age groups. Some reviews have estimated testosterone deficiency affects roughly 30% of men between ages 40 and 79, particularly among those with obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and other chronic health conditions. Testosterone levels also naturally decline by about 1% per year beginning in a man’s 30s.[amjmed.com],[nature.com]Summary of the JAMA Medical NewsA July 2026JAMA Medical Newsarticle reviews whether recent evidence—particularly the TRAVERSE trial—supports broader prescribing of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT).BackgroundTestosterone therapy experienced a dramatic rise in popularity during the “low T” boom of the early 2000s. Direct-to-consumer advertising and specialized clinics promoted TRT for symptoms such as fatigue, decreased libido, and reduced vitality. Concerns subsequently emerged that testosterone was being overprescribed, often without appropriate diagnostic confirmation, while questions arose regarding cardiovascular safety.In 2015, the FDA required manufacturers to add warnings regarding possible cardiovascular risks and mandated a large clinical trial to better assess safety.The TRAVERSE TrialThe TRAVERSE study enrolled more than 5,200 men aged 45 to 80 years with symptoms of hypogonadism and either known cardiovascular disease or elevated cardiovascular risk.The primary finding was reassuring: testosterone gel (not injections) therapy didnot increase major adverse cardiovascular eventssuch as heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death compared with placebo.These findings have become a major reason HHS is now recommending updates to testosterone product labeling.Proposed Label ChangesHHS has proposed three major revisions:Removal of language stating that safety and effectiveness have not been established for age-related hypogonadism.Narrowing prostate cancer contraindications primarily to men with metastatic prostate cancer.Updating warnings regarding benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) to reflect evidence that TRT generally does not worsen urinary symptoms in most men when appropriately monitored.Supporters argue these changes better reflect current evidence and may improve access for appropriately selected patients.Ongoing ConcernsDespite the reassuring cardiovascular results, several experts remain cautious.Key concerns include:Increased rates of atrial fibrillation seen in the testosterone group.Higher rates of pulmonary embolism (blood clots).More acute kidney injury events.An unexpected increase in fractures reported in secondary analyses.Limited long-term follow-up (average approximately 33 months).Exclusion of men at elevated prostate cancer risk.Evaluation of only one testosterone formulation (AndroGel), making generalization to injections and other preparations uncertain.Some investigators worry that the study could unintentionally encourage broader testosterone prescribing beyond the population actually studied.Who Should Receive Topical Testosterone?The article emphasizes a broad consensus among experts:TRT shouldnotbe prescribed based on symptoms alone.Diagnosis requires compatible symptomsandconsistently low testosterone levels on repeated laboratory testing.Other causes of low testosterone—including obesity, chronic illness, poor sleep, medication effects, and alcohol use—should be considered.Men receiving TRT require ongoing monitoring of testosterone levels, blood counts, prostate health, and potential adverse effects.Expected BenefitsClinical trials demonstrate benefits from TRT, but generally more modest than many advertisements have suggested.Reported benefits include:Improved sexual desire and sexual activity.Small-to-moderate improvements in mood and energy.Increased lean body mass.Reduced fat mass.Improved metabolic parameters in some men.However, randomized trials have not consistently shown major improvements in overall vitality, cognitive function, or physical performance.ConclusionThe JAMA discussion highlights a growing consensus that testosterone deficiency is a legitimate medical condition that deserves proper diagnosis and treatment when appropriate. The TRAVERSE trial provides important reassurance that carefully monitored testosterone replacement by topical gel or patch, not by injection of synthetic testosterone, appears to be safe in appropriately selected men. At the same time, questions remain regarding long-term safety, prostate cancer risk in certain populations, arrhythmias, blood clots, and other potential adverse effects.Before initiating testosterone therapy, men should undergo a thorough evaluation with repeated testosterone measurements and assessment of symptoms. Because obesity, sedentary lifestyle, poor sleep, chronic illness, and excessive alcohol use can contribute to low testosterone levels, non-pharmaceutical interventions should be implemented whenever possible. These include:Weight loss for overweight or obese individualsRegular resistance and aerobic exerciseOptimization of sleepReduction or cessation of alcohol consumptionManagement of metabolic disease and other underlying medical conditionsLow T men may also choose to discuss evidence-informed nutritional or botanical approaches with their physician. One example isZeus(The Wellness Company), a combination botanical supplement designed to support healthy testosterone levels. However, unlike prescription testosterone therapy, botanical supplements generally have not been studied in large randomized outcome trials such as TRAVERSE, and their effects may vary among individuals. They should be viewed as health and wellness approach taken before a commitment to TRT is contemplated.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.SharePlease subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companyhttps://www.twc.health/pages/focal-pointsReferencesJAMA Medical News.Testosterone Therapy: Does New Evidence Warrant Broader Prescribing?Published online July 10, 2026. doi:10.1001/jama.2026.13149.American Urological Association.Evaluation and Management of Testosterone Deficiency Guideline (2024).[auanet.org]Traish AM, Miner MM, Morgentaler A, Zitzmann M.Testosterone Deficiency.American Journal of Medicine. 2011;124(7):578-587.[amjmed.com]Corsini C, et al.Age-related decline in total testosterone levels among young men: insights from a large single-center observational study.IJIR: Your Sexual Medicine Journal. 2025.[nature.com]Lincoff AM, Bhasin S, Flevaris P, Mitchell LM, Basaria S, Boden WE, Cunningham GR, Granger CB, Khera M, Thompson IM Jr, Wang Q, Wolski K, Davey D, Kalahasti V, Khan N, Miller MG, Snabes MC, Chan A, Dubcenco E, Li X, Yi T, Huang B, Pencina KM, Travison TG, Nissen SE; TRAVERSE Study Investigators. Cardiovascular Safety of Testosterone-Replacement Therapy. N Engl J Med. 2023 Jul 13;389(2):107-117. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2215025. Epub 2023 Jun 16. PMID: 37326322.", "summary": "Neutral safety finding for topical gel--green light for broader therapy?", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/testosterone-replacement-therapy", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-12", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Katie Couric: Vaccine Evangelist, Breast Cancer, and a Brain That Forgot", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHWith all the media hype about COVID-19 vaccination in 2021 and now reports of turbo-cancer, blood clots, and neurological events in the years that follow, many are putting the pieces of the puzzle together even if the victims are oblivious to the the overall picture.🤖 Katie Couric Face of Mainstream Media’s Vaccine CampaignKatie Couric is the face of establishment media’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign—a woman who used her platform to push the shots with the kind of sunny, earnest conviction that made her a household name. Then she got breast cancer. Then, in July 2026, she suffered an episode oftransient global amnesia(TGA) so severe she forgot what year it was, who was president, and hours of her own life. The irony is thick enough to cut with a scalpel.🩺 The TimelineDecember 2020:Veteran journalist Katie Couric received her first COVID-19 vaccine publicly onDecember 18, 2020, during a live broadcast with a nurse from Temple University Hospital. She has consistently utilizedKatie Couric Mediaand her social platforms to advocate for vaccines and demystify public health guidelinesSeptember 2022:Couric announces her breast cancer diagnosis—Stage 1A, hormone receptor-positive, Her2neu-negative. She undergoes a lumpectomy, 15 rounds of radiation, and commits to five years of aromatase inhibitors.July 2026:While at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Couric experiences sudden, terrifying memory loss. She cannot recall the month, thinks it’s 2024, and believes Joe Biden is still president. She’s diagnosed with transient global amnesia—a condition involving temporary but profound disruption of memory formation.Couric framed both events with characteristic media polish—the cancer as a “teachable moment” for mammograms, the TGA as a quirky neurological blip. What she didn’t do was connect any dots.Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "Tragedy of COVID-19 vaccination playing out in public figures as audiences connect the dots", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/katie-couric-vaccine-evangelist-breast", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-11", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "America250 Commitment to Bodily Autonomy", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHThis past America250 celebration was a time to reflect on our freedoms including bodily autonomy.🎙️ Shemane Nugent Interviews Dr. Peter McCullough — America250 Edition🇺🇸 The Core Argument: Bodily Autonomy Is the American WayDr. Peter McCullough framed health freedom as a direct inheritance from the Founding Fathers. His thesis: the Declaration of Independence guaranteesbodily autonomythrough “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” and the First Amendment protects our right totalk about it. COVID, he argues, represented a wholesale shutdown of both.🏥 The Biomedical Deep StateMcCullough didn’t mince words. He described a“biopharmaceutical complex”— a biomedical deep state orientedagainstpatient interests, especially when cheap generics threaten profits. He pointed to:Ivermectin and mebendazole— effective, affordable, and being suppressed as cancer adjuncts because they’re genericmRNA platform expansioninto RSV and influenza without proper preclinical testing — “there’s no emergency,” yet the products got greenlit anywayNugent shared her own experience: banned from TikTok for discussing ivermectin, shadow-banned for asking questions. “I got suppressed for asking questions,” she said.💉 The Coercion ScarsMcCullough recounted a patient who took the shots under threat of losing his job — nowpartially paralyzed in one leg, his life trajectory permanently altered. He noted the cruel irony: those who took the vaccines “don’t want to know” what’s happening to them now. About 19% of Americans passed on the shots. McCullough and his wife were among them: “Boy, we’re so happy we didn’t.”He also dropped this:100% of House Democratstook the vaccine under Biden. Nugent’s reaction: “Jeez, that’s kind of scary.”🪲 Tick Bite Protocol & Travel PreparednessThe conversation pivoted to practical health sovereignty:Tick bites: Remove the tickwith the head, sterile wash, thendoxycycline immediately— can spare a lifetime of Lyme misery. Nugent backed this with her own Lyme Alliance experience from 25 years ago.International travel: Carry a medical emergency kit. Most Americans lack international health insurance. Foreign ERs often demand cash upfront. McCullough’s solution: theWellness Company’s kitsplus 24/7 telemedicine — the vast majority avoid urgent care entirely.⚠️ Midterm WarningOn the fall elections: if Democrats retake Congress, McCullough sees little hope for “intellectual honesty” on vaccine safety or the burden on children. Even under the current administration, he admitted reforms aren’t moving fast enough — the biomedical deep state persists.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companyhttps://www.twc.health/pages/focal-points", "summary": "Why refusing medical coercion isn’t just smart — it’s the most American thing you can do", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/america250-commitment-to-bodily-autonomy", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-10", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "\"He is Everywhere.\" The True Origin of SPECTRE", "content": "On vacation in Altaussee in the Austrian Alps, I have been thinking about the SPECTRE crime syndicate that James Bond contended with, starting in Ian Fleming’s 1961 novelThunderball.Fleming introduced SPECTRE—the Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion—to replace the earlier SMERSH (a real Soviet counter-intelligence organization) because he feared the Cold War might thaw, thereby making state-sponsored villains obsolete.The 2015 Bond filmSPECTREfeatured a key scene shot at the Jagdhaus Seewiese here in Altaussee. I found this satisfying, as I have many fond memories of having lunch at the Jagdhaus.For those who don’t rememberSPECTRE, the film reboots the character of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, whose real name is Franz Oberhauser. Following of the death of Bond’s parents when he was eleven, he was raised by Franz’s father, Hannes, and the two boys grew up together in the Austrian Alps. Upon reaching maturity, Franz embarked on a lifelong path of evil, while Bond joined the Royal Navy and later MI6.After infiltrating a SPECTRE meeting in Rome, Bond realizes that his foster brother is running the crime syndicate.He then tracks down his old opponent Mr. White at the Jagdhaus, who has apparently developed a conscience and attempted to leave SPECTRE to no avail. The long arm of the organization has caught up with him and clandestinely poisoned him with thallium.In the following pivotal scene at the Jagdhaus, Mr. White tells Bond that “he” (meaning Oberhauser and SPECTRE) is everywhere.”Bond promise’s to protect Mr. White’s daughter, Dr. Madeleine Swann — a psychiatrist who works at the Hoffler Clinic (also in the Austrian Alps) in exchange for revealing SPECTRE’s workings.With Swann’s help, Bond discovers that SPECTRE is behind numerous global tragedies and isorchestrating terrorist attacks to legitimize the “Nine Eyes” global surveillance program, which would grant the organization unchecked access to the world’s intelligence.Contemplating the global, lockstep pandemic response that ruthlessly crushed any and all dissidents in every country reminded me of SPECTRE. Last night we had dinner at a restaurant across the lake from the Jagdhaus with Dr.Andreas Sönnichsen—former Professor of General Medicine and Head of the Department ofGeneral and Family Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna.In 2020-2021, ProfessorSönnichsen publicly questioned many elements of the official (global, lockstep) pandemic response, especially the rationale and safety the COVID-19 mass vaccination program. As a result, he was—exactly like Dr. Peter McCullough at his major university medical center in Dallas—fired, sued, and relentlessly persecuted. In the following video, they speak about their eerily similar experience, even though they were in different countries, 5,000 miles apart.The globalist Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex iseverywhere. It has infiltrated every medical university, hospital system, state health authority, and mainstream media corporation. It is an organized crime syndicate that strongly resembles SPECTRE.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "The world is run by a globalist oligarchy that resembles Ian Fleming's crime syndicate, as evidenced by the global, lock-step pandemic response.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/he-is-everywhere-the-true-origin", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-10", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING: Peer-Reviewed Study Finds mRNA, SV40, and Spike Protein Can Persist in Humans for At Least 3.5 Years After COVID-19 \"Vaccination\"", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHFor years, the public was falsely told that COVID-19 mRNA “vaccine” components rapidly degrade within days to weeks. Ournew peer-reviewed studyterminates that assumption.Our study,Persistence of Vaccine mRNA, Plasmid DNA, Spike Protein, and Genomic Dysregulation Over 3.5 Years Post-COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination, was just published inMedical Research Archives, the flagship journal of the European Society of Medicine.The paper describes a 55-year-old man who developed progressive multisystem illness after three Pfizer-BioNTech injections and underwent one of the most extensive post-vaccination evaluations ever reported: >40 emergency department visits, >200 specialty consultations, >100 laboratory investigations, and >100 imaging studies over a 3.7-year period.Key findings included:•Detectable circulating spike protein 1,173 days post-vaccination•Vaccine-derived spike mRNA detected in circulating exosomes 1,284 days post-vaccination•Pfizer vaccine plasmid DNA elements—including spike gene fragments (S1–S3), replication-origin sequences (ori1/ori2), and the SV40 enhancer—detected in skin tissue 1,364 days post-vaccination•Pfizer vaccine plasmid replication-origin DNA sequences (ori1/ori2) detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells 1,284 days post-vaccination•Persistent spike protein deposition in serial skin biopsies obtained at 1,160, 1,249, and 1,364 days post-vaccination•Persistently negative SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibodies across five separate time points spanning 809–1,433 days post-vaccination, effectively ruling out infection.•Multi-omic analyses at 1,277–1,364 days post-vaccination revealed ongoing immune dysregulation, transcriptomic abnormalities, and genomic instabilityThis represents the longest reported in vivo persistence of vaccine-derived mRNA, plasmid DNA fragments, and spike protein following COVID-19 mRNA “vaccination”.Large-scale investigations must be launched immediately to determine how many of the billions of COVID-19 mRNA injection recipients continue to harbor residual vaccine-derived mRNA, plasmid DNA, and spike protein years after injection.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.", "summary": "We report the longest documented persistence of COVID-19 vaccine-derived material to date following YEARS of investigation spanning 200+ specialist evaluations and 200+ advanced lab/imaging tests.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-peer-reviewed-study-finds-51c", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-09", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "American COVID-19 Vaccine Debacle: 31 Million Booster Shots in 2025, Three Layers of Immunity, and Zero Accountability", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHI was terrific to join Chief Patient Officer of The Wellness Company, Dr Drew Pinsky, for this update.🎙️ Dr. Drew Interviews Dr. Peter McCullough: EUA Termination, Vaccine Injury, and Medical Freedom📋 EUA Termination: More Symbolic Than Substantive?Dr. Drew opens by asking for clarification on the EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) termination. McCullough explains the regulatory timeline: the national health emergency ended March 2023 and the public health emergency on May 11, 2023 — yet EUAs persisted. Vaccine companies pivoted from EUAs to fullBiological Licensing Agreements (BLAs), making the EUA termination largely symbolic. The last product to actually receive an EUA wasPemGarda, a monoclonal antibody for pre-exposure prophylaxis in transplant patients, authorized as late as March 2024.McCullough notes that vaccines carrythree layers of liability protection: the PREP Act, EUA regulatory rules, and the 1986 Vaccine Injury Compensation Act. The EUA termination, he argues, doesn’t meaningfully change the liability landscape.💉 Who’s Actually Taking Boosters?The CDC stopped reporting actual booster numbers in 2023, relying instead on robocall surveys (National Immunization Survey). McCullough’s foundation analyzedPfizer and Moderna sales datawith standard wastage calculations and arrived at31 million boosters administered — just 8.9% of the population. His gravest concern: the majority of those 31 million may bechildren, given that 29 states mandate ACIP vaccine schedules for school attendance, starting as early as six months. Meanwhile, his own mother’s senior home in Dallas hasn’t discussed boosters in three to four years — the most vulnerable aren’t getting them while the lowest-risk populations are.🧬 Vaccine Injury: Late-Emerging PatternsMcCullough reports the acute myocarditis and cardiac arrest wave has subsided, but he’s now seeinglate neurologic injuries, venous/arterial damage, Guillain-Barré syndrome, strokes, and unusual coronary disease patterns— including single-artery advanced disease with otherwise clean vessels. He links late clotting events (2024-2025) almost exclusively tounderlying genetic predispositionslike Factor V Leiden and other coagulopathies. This underscores his point: many people tolerate the shots without issue, but those who don’t suffer catastrophic outcomes — and with proper risk stratification (spike antibody levels, genetic screening), these could have been predicted and certainly should be managed now withMcCullough Protocol Base Spike Detoxification.Dr. Drew shares his own harrowing J&J experience: full-body chills, raccoon-eye bruising, and transverse sinus thrombosis, vaccine induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) — a syndrome with a30% mortality rate. The J&J and AstraZeneca adenoviral vector vaccines were particularly thrombogenic.🔬 The Czech Data and VA Study Cherry-PickingThe only country to trackvaccinated vs. unvaccinated all-cause mortalityis analysis by Hulscher et al, and McCullough notes the data “doesn’t look good” for the vaccinated. He and Drew dissect a recent VA study claiming boosters reduced heart attacks — a study McCullough dismantled for cherry-picking (fourth booster only, flu shot comparisons, narrow follow-up windows, PCR-positive gating). The French pulled similar tricks with cancer signals. McCullough warns readers to scrutinize these conclusions carefully.💊 The Wellness Company Emergency KitsMcCullough presents data on TWC’s medical emergency kits:over 70% of owners use them, of those,96%+ derive benefit,82% improvedtheir condition within three days while adverse events were near zero, and the kits successfully prevent ER and urgent care visits.He highlightsZofranas the highest-impact drug for preventing unnecessary hospital visits by controlling intractable nausea. Dr Drew also advocates for broader doxycycline use — for tick bites, STI prophylaxis, and other indications — pushing back against antibiotic resistance concerns by noting thatlivestock antibiotics dwarf human use.🌾 Glyphosate and the Supreme CourtOn the Supreme Court blocking certain Roundup lawsuits, McCullough notes that81% of Americans have glyphosate in their urineper NHANES data citing Ospina:  “Glyphosate weighted detection frequency was81.2%“ in urine samples from a representative U.S. population aged 6 years and older (2,310 participants in NHANES 2013–2014).” He distinguishes between workers with massive occupational exposure (relative lymphoma risk ~1.4) and the general public’s dietary exposure, which he considers likely trivial.  The Donato meta-analysis Dr McCullough cited:  “The meta-relative risk (RR) of NHL for highest category of exposure was 1.49 (95% CI 0.37–2.61; 3 studies).”  Dr. Drew adds a constitutional law perspective: the Court rules on what the law says, not on what’s good or bad.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.SharePlease subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companyhttps://www.twc.health/pages/focal-points📚 ReferencesMcCullough Foundation: mcculloughfnd.orgThe Wellness Company:twc.health/focalpointsMcCullough on X: @P_McCulloughMDBook:Vaccines, Mythology, Ideology, and RealityOspina M, Schütze A, Morales-Agudelo P, et al.Exposure to glyphosate in the United States: Data from the 2013–2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Environment International. 2022;170:107620.Donato F, Pira E, Ciocan C, Boffetta P.Exposure to glyphosate and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma: an updated meta-analysis.La Medicina del Lavoro. 2020;111(1):63–73.N Hulscher, M Bowden, PA McCulloughCalls for Market Removal of COVID-19 Vaccines Intensify as Risks Far Outweigh Theoretical BenefitsSci. Public Health Policy Law 6, 1-17VA COVID booster cardiovascular outcomes study (critiqued by Dr McCullough)", "summary": "EUA Charade, Kids Getting mRNA Shots While Nursing Homes Are Forgotten, Vaccine Mortality Data No One Wants to Discuss, Late-Emerging Vaccine Carnage, and Emergency Medical Kits Liberate", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/american-covid-19-vaccine-debacle", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-09", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "CDC Study Finds 24% of Adults Carry Alpha-Gal Antibodies Linked to Meat Allergies in Hard-Hit States", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHAnewly published CDC studyhas found extraordinarily high rates of alpha-gal antibodies linked to meat allergies among adults living in several hard-hit U.S. states, suggesting that alpha-gal sensitization is far more widespread than previously recognized.Researchers analyzed 3,000 blood samples collected from donors across 10 states between November 2024 and April 2025. Each sample was tested for alpha-gal-specific IgE antibodies, and the CDC used population-weighting methods to estimate state-level prevalence.The results were alarming:• Arkansas: 31.2%• Missouri: 26.0%• Virginia: 22.8%• Kentucky: 22.7%• Tennessee: 21.5%Across these five hardest-hit states, the average prevalence reached 24.0%, meaning nearly one in four adults tested positive for alpha-gal antibodies.While not all antibody-positive individuals have clinically diagnosed Alpha-Gal Syndrome, these findings strongly suggest that millions of Americans have already been biologically affected by alpha-gal exposure.Most concerning is that this explosion in alpha-gal sensitization is occurring alongside arecent peer-reviewed paperarguing that it is “morally obligatory” to use genetically modified ticks to intentionally spread Alpha-Gal Syndrome. Given the enormous public health implications and the scale of sensitization now documented by the CDC, an immediate FBI investigation into all possible bioterrorism-related activities involving alpha-gal dissemination is warranted.Lone-star ticks are widely recognized as a major source of alpha-gal sensitization. However, they should not automatically be assumed to be the only contributor. Another source that deserves serious attention is widespread exposure to bovine gelatin through mass vaccination programs. Vaccines such as MMR and others contain bovine-derived gelatin, and because alpha-gal is a mammalian carbohydrate associated with mammalian-derived products, the possibility that repeated exposure through widely administered vaccines contributes to sensitization can not be ruled out.The CDC’s own data now indicate that alpha-gal sensitization likely affects millions of Americans—far more than previously recognized.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.", "summary": "New data suggest alpha-gal sensitization linked to meat allergies is far more widespread than previously recognized.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/cdc-study-finds-24-of-adults-carry", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-08", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Lost Art of Not Knowing and the Role of Empiricism", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHFor many of Scottish descent around the globe there is something soothing about the burr.  Ellie McKay, host of the On a Mission 2.0 podcast, is Scottish. She was raised in Scotland and currently lives in Doncaster, England.🎙️ Interview Summary: Dr. Peter McCullough onOn A Mission 2.0Host:Ellie McKay (Doncaster, England)Guest:Dr. Peter McCullough, NBPAS board-certified internist and cardiologist, Dallas, TexasDate:June 27, 2026🩺 Introduction and BackgroundMcKay opens by noting McCullough remains her most popular guest across over 400 episodes. McCullough outlines his credentials: training in internal medicine, cardiology, and epidemiology at the University of Michigan, with prior work focused on chronic heart and kidney disease. He’s testified before Congress, the FDA, and the European Medicines Agency.💊 The McCullough Protocol and Early TreatmentMcCullough describes developing his namesake protocol — a home-based early treatment regimen — published in theAmerican Journal of Medicinein August 2020. He argues that waiting until hospitalization was a catastrophic error. By March 2020, after participating in NIH calls where doctors described gruesome hospital outcomes, he recognized the need for day-one intervention. The protocol incorporated generic medications, nasal sprays, gargling, and monoclonal antibodies.  The protocol was not based on “certainty” it relied on clinical judgement and signals of benefit observed in 2020 and acceptable safety of well-understood products. It became the most widely used COVID treatment protocol globally, credited with saving tens of millions of lives.  The protocol became the basis of theContagion Emergency Kit offered by The Wellness Company.He recounts his own father’s case: a nursing home patient with dementia and a pelvic fracture who tested PCR positive for COVID-19 17 times over six months despite recovery. This experience exposed the PCR test duplication problem that inflated case counts.📊 Death Statistics and Data ManipulationMcCullough challenges official COVID death figures. He explains death certificates take approximately six weeks to finalize, yet media death counters updated minute-by-minute — an impossibility he questioned immediately. He asserts that a “COVID death” was simply anyone dyingwitha positive PCR test at any time, notfromCOVID. NCHS data from mid-2023 showed only half of recorded COVID deaths even mentioned pneumonia. When properly adjudicated, he estimates only 10% of reported COVID deaths in the US — roughly 120,000 out of 1.2 million — were truly due to COVID. Italian studies, he notes, suggest as low as 3%. He testified in Congress that approximately 85% of those deaths could have been prevented with early treatment.💉 Vaccine Harms and Institutional Cover-UpMcCullough reports 19,500 deaths officially attributed to COVID vaccines in VAERS, with over 1,000 occurring on the same day as injection. Citing FDA testimony from Dr. David Wiseman, he estimates underreporting at 30-fold, putting total American vaccine deaths around half a million — exceeding COVID deaths themselves.He describes myocarditis as a leading cause of vaccine death, with the first clear fatal case published in theNew England Journal of Medicinein August 2021. Despite this, Biden subsequently instituted mandates. He distinguishes acute myocarditis from subclinical myopericarditis — a subtler condition causing palpitations and dizziness that can culminate in sudden cardiac arrest, which he links to many young public figures’ unexplained deaths.Regarding RFK Jr., McCullough expresses deep disappointment. Despite writing a book about Fauci and previously recognizing vaccine dangers, Kennedy now refuses to acknowledge vaccine deaths while in office. McCullough states Kennedy told him, “I serve at the pleasure of the president, and the president wants them on the market.” McCullough argues that as a non-physician, Kennedy lacks the medical authority to make the call himself, but should have done so anyway.🧬 The Spike Protein and Long COVIDMcCullough explains that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein — a 1,200-amino-acid structure containing an HIV-like glycoprotein insert — persists in the body and cannot be eliminated naturally. Everyone who had COVID received some spike protein; everyone vaccinated received large amounts. His spike protein detoxification protocol uses high-dose nattokinase, bromelain, and curcumin, with treatment continuing until anti-spike antibody levels drop below 1,000 units/mL. McCullough and The Wellness Company developed this protocol to be generalizable and low cost to people around the globe.🔬 Origins, Propaganda, and Ongoing Cover-UpMcCullough traces the term “misinformation” to 16th-century English, its extensive use in Nazi Germany, and its modern deployment as a medical propaganda tool. He identifies six propaganda terms: misinformation, disinformation, malinformation, anti-science, anti-vaxxer, and conspiracy theorist. He describes coordinated global media campaigns — “No one is safe” (2020) and “Crisis of the Unvaccinated” (2021) — disseminated simultaneously worldwide, likely through WHO’s National Focal Points network.On lab origins, he implicates Anthony Fauci, Ralph Baric (UNC Chapel Hill), Peter Daszak (EcoHealth Alliance), and Shi Zhengli (Wuhan). He notes Tulsi Gabbard and her predecessor Avril Haines both refused to release Wuhan documents despite a unanimous congressional vote.  TheCOVID‑19 Origin Act of 2023is a bipartisan U.S. law aimed at increasing transparency about how the COVID‑19 pandemic began. It moved quickly through Congress, passing the Senate on March 1, 2023, and the House on March 10, 2023, with little to no opposition, before being signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 20, 2023. The law directs U.S. intelligence agencies to declassify and release as much information as possible about the origins of COVID‑19, including any potential links to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, while still protecting sensitive national security information.[congress.gov],[nbcnews.com]Finally on her last day of office, Gabbard released the goods on Fauci and his co-conspirators.🛡️ Prevention and ClosingMcCullough recommends twice-daily nasal sprays and 30-second gargles as superior prevention to vaccines, citing dozens of randomized trials.  The next pandemic will almost certainly be handled by the Chief Medical Board at The Wellness Company as no one will be looking to HHS or government agencies to save them.  TWC has the expertise, alacrity, and scale to respond to outbreaks and pandemics that is unmatched in the health and wellness space.He promotes his bookVaccines, Mythology, Ideology, and Reality— a New York Times bestseller — and announces the“Healing Beyond COVID” conference on Guernsey, February 8, 2026.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companyhttps://www.twc.health/pages/focal-pointsReferencesMcCullough PA, Kelly RJ, Ruocco G, Lerma E, Tumlin J, Wheelan KR, Katz N, Lepor NE, Vijay K, Carter H, Singh B, McCullough SP, Bhambi BK, Palazzuoli A, De Ferrari GM, Milligan GP, Safder T, Tecson KM, Wang DD, McKinnon JE, O’Neill WW, Zervos M, Risch HA. Pathophysiological Basis and Rationale for Early Outpatient Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection. Am J Med. 2021 Jan;134(1):16-22. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.07.003. Epub 2020 Aug 7. PMID: 32771461; PMCID: PMC7410805.McCullough, P. (2025).Vaccines, Mythology, Ideology, and Reality.McCullough, P. (2025). Subclinical myopericarditis.European Society of Medicine Medical Archives.Verma AK, Lavine KJ, Lin CY. Myocarditis after Covid-19 mRNA Vaccination. N Engl J Med. 2021 Sep 30;385(14):1332-1334. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc2109975. Epub 2021 Aug 18. PMID: 34407340; PMCID: PMC8385564.Kennedy, R.F. Jr. (2021).The Real Anthony Fauci. Skyhorse Publishing.US Senate Hearing:  Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations--The Corruption of Science and Federal Health Agencies: How Health Officials Downplayed and Hid Myocarditis and Other Adverse Events Associated with the COVID-19 Vaccines.  Chairman Senator Ron Johnson, Ranking Member Senator Richard Blumenthal, witnesses for the majority Dr. Peter A. McCullough, Dr. Jordan Vaughn, Dr. James Thorp, Dr. Joel Wallskog, Aaron Siri, JD, and minority witness Hawaii Governor Dr. Josh Green.  Dirksen Senate Building May 21, 2025.", "summary": "Real science admits uncertainty. Propaganda never does. How we forgot the difference — and what it cost us. Dr McCullough & Ellie McKay On a Mission 2.0", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-lost-art-of-not-knowing-and-the", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-08", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Curated Evening: A Dinner Date Designed for What Comes After", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHEasily a half of men in my office have some degree of erectile dysfunction.  Many are otherwise in the prime of their lives, travelling, and enjoying the rewards of a long arduous career.  At The Wellness Company, we had this man in mind when we designed this product.🍬 TWC Tadalafil Gum: A Chewable Revolution for Spontaneous IntimacyErectile dysfunction isn’t some rare affliction—it’s the elephant in the bedroom for a staggering number of men. By age 40, roughly 40% of men experience some degree of ED. That number climbs to 50% by 50, 60% by 60, and nearly 70% of men in their 70s. Yet the standard pharmaceutical response has remained stubbornly stuck in the past: a tablet you need to plan around, swallowed an hour before anything can happen, killing spontaneity dead in its tracks.TWC’s Tadalafil Gumflips that script entirely.The genius here is the delivery system. Chewing the gum bypasses first-pass liver metabolism, meaning the active ingredients—tadalafil and vardenafil—hit your bloodstream significantly faster than any pill ever could. We’re talking minutes, not hours. A man can actually respond to his partner’s cues in real time. She gives you that look across the dinner table? Pop a piece of gum. By the time the waiter has your check, you’re ready. No awkward clock-watching. No “sorry honey, give me 45 minutes.” Just genuine, natural-feeling responsiveness that preserves the psychological flow of intimacy—which is half the battle with ED anyway.The dual-action formulation is particularly clever. Tadalafil provides the long runway (that famous 36-hour window), while vardenafil delivers a faster onset and, for many men, a subjectively firmer response. Together they cover both dimensions of the problem: preparednessandacute responsiveness.And here’s something nobody talks about:sex at bedtime is a sleep hack. Orgasm triggers a cascade of prolactin, oxytocin, and a parasympathetic nervous system shift that results in the ideal sleep pattern. Men who engage in satisfying nighttime intercourse fall asleep faster, spend more time in deep sleep, and wake up genuinely refreshed. That morning-after clarity and energy? It’s real, it’s biochemical, and it turns a good night into a great next day. Your partner notices. Your coworkers notice. You’re sharper, more present, less irritable.  Your edge is back!TWC’s gum format also eliminates the “pill bottle on the nightstand” stigma. It’s discreet, it’s portable, and frankly it’s a better user experience than choking down a tablet with water right when you’re trying to set a mood.For men who’ve been sidelined by ED—or who simply want to trade pharmaceutical clunkiness for something that matches how real intimacy actually unfolds—this product is a genuine upgrade.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companyhttps://www.twc.health/pages/focal-pointsReferencesThe Wellness Company. (2025).Tadalafil Gum.https://www.twc.health/products/tadalafil-gumDisclaimer: This review is for informational purposes only. Consult your physician before starting any new medication, particularly if you take nitrates or have cardiovascular conditions.", "summary": "When every detail is intentional—including the confidence to follow her lead", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-curated-evening-a-dinner-date", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-07", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Perimenopause Reset", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHThe perimenopausal and menopausal times for women to say the least, are complicated.  So I brought in an expert to give us an update.🩺 Perimenopause and Menopause — A Hormone-Focused SummaryDr. Peter McCullough hostsDr. Jennifer Pfleghaar, a board-certified DO in Emergency Medicine and Integrative Medicine, for a deep dive into the hormonal architecture of perimenopause and menopause. Dr. Pfleghaar, author ofThePerimenopause Reset,practices virtually outside Nashville and brings both clinical rigor and hard-won personal experience — she achieved remission from Hashimoto’s thyroiditis after conventional medicine told her nothing could be done.🔬 The Physiology: What’s Actually HappeningPerimenopauseis the transitional window before full menopause (defined as complete cessation of menstrual cycles for 12 months). During this phase, the hormonal landscape becomes chaotic:Progesteroneundergoes a slow, steady decline. This is the hormone dominant in the luteal phase (second half of the cycle), responsible for calming GABA receptor binding, sleep quality, and mood stabilization.Estradiol (estrogen)does not decline smoothly — it becomeserratic and spiky. Feedback signaling from the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis degrades, producing what Dr. Pfleghaar likens to “static” in the system.The widening gap between declining progesterone and fluctuating estradiol creates a state offunctional estrogen dominance, even when absolute estrogen levels are falling.Dr. Pfleghaar emphasizes that women entering perimenopause with pre-existing metabolic dysfunction — insulin resistance, impaired estrogen clearance via liver/gut pathways — will experience more severe symptoms. She considers the menstrual cycle avital sign: heavy bleeding, severe cramping, and disabling PMS in younger years are warning signals of trouble ahead.💊 The Three-Hormone ApproachProgesterone — First LineProgesterone replacement is typicallythe starting pointin perimenopause. Dr. Pfleghaar strongly prefersoral bioidentical progesterone, taken at night, because first-pass hepatic metabolism converts it into allopregnanolone — a neurosteroid that binds GABA receptors and produces calming, sleep-promoting effects.Timing: Cyclical administration only — taken during the luteal phase (approximately days 15–28 of the cycle), not continuously.Dosing: Typically 100–200 mg compounded extended-release. Younger women may start at 50 mg while root causes are addressed.Exceptions: About 5% of women experience paradoxical agitation or excessive sedation from oral progesterone. For these patients, topical application bypasses the allopregnanolone pathway.Safety note: Oral progesterone doesnotproduce toxic hepatic metabolites, unlike oral estrogen.For women earlier in perimenopause with milder deficiency, Dr. Pfleghaar may trialVitex(chaste tree berry), contained inVenus from TWC, to support endogenous progesterone production before committing to bioidentical replacement.Testosterone — Adrenal-First, Then ReplaceTestosterone in women derives predominantly from theadrenal glands, not the ovaries. Therefore, low testosterone often reflects adrenal depletion from chronic stress or cortisol dysregulation rather than a primary gonadal failure.Workup priority: Optimize adrenal function and stress management first. Labs often show testosterone rebounding once cortisol is controlled — without any exogenous hormone.When to replace: Roughly one-third of perimenopausal women and a higher fraction of postmenopausal women ultimately need supplementation — but only after ruling out stress-driven deficiency.Administration: Topical only. Dr. Pfleghaar starts at0.25 mg topically per day, compounded in a VersaBase cream, applied to inner thigh or arm for 60–90 seconds. She rarely exceeds 0.75 mg.Why not oral: First-pass hepatic metabolism produces toxic metabolites. Oral testosterone is contraindicated.Why not pellets: Dr. Pfleghaar is unequivocally opposed to hormone pellets. They deliver supraphysiologic, uncontrolled doses, cannot be removed, and produce a crash cycle. They are, she notes, typically administered after minimal training at med spas.Monitoring: Serum testing is unreliable with topical administration. Dr. Pfleghaar usessaliva testingto assess tissue-level hormone load and correlates with symptom resolution.She highlights a critical safety point: high-dose testosterone in the absence of adequate estradiol creates cardiovascular risk — a phenomenon observable in the transgender population receiving testosterone with estrogen suppression.Estrogen — Topical, Bioidentical, and Metabolically AwareEstrogen replacement enters the picture primarily inlate perimenopause and postmenopause. Dr. Pfleghaar’s approach is shaped by the estrogen metabolism pathway framework:Pathway OutcomeGoodSafe excretion, no DNA damageBadInflammatory metabolitesUglyGenotoxic metabolites — cancer riskRoute: Topical (transdermal) is preferred. Oral bioidentical estrogen undergoes first-pass hepatic metabolism, stressing the liver and producing the “ugly” metabolites associated with DNA damage and carcinogenesis. Sublingual/troche routes are second-line because some is inevitably swallowed.Monitoring: Serum levels often fail to reflect tissue load with transdermal administration. Saliva testing reveals cases of significant overdosing — Dr. Pfleghaar describes postmenopausal patients with painful, tender breasts from excessive estrogen that serum labs missed entirely.Duration: Indefinite. Women who discontinue lose bone, cardiovascular, and cognitive protection. Dr. Pfleghaar frames this as a lifelong commitment to health preservation, not a temporary intervention.She draws a sharp distinction betweenbioidentical hormones(estradiol, progesterone) andsynthetic hormones(conjugated equine estrogens, progestins). The Women’s Health Initiative’s adverse outcomes — thrombosis, breast cancer, cardiovascular events — reflect the use of synthetics and progestins, which bind receptors but produce opposing physiological effects (e.g., progestins constrict blood vessels where bioidentical progesterone relaxes them).🔑 Core PrinciplesHormone replacement is not one-size-fits-all.Every woman’s “oven” preheats and cooks differently. Treatment must be individualized based on labs, symptoms, and metabolic context.Root cause must precede replacement.Metabolic health, stress, and liver/gut function determine how well a woman tolerates hormonal fluctuations and clears estrogen metabolites.Synthetic is not bioidentical.The distinction is not semantic — it determines cardiovascular, thrombotic, and oncologic risk profiles.Route matters.Topical estradiol and testosterone avoid first-pass hepatic toxicity. Oral progesterone uniquely delivers neurosteroid benefits.Monitoring requires the right tool.Saliva testing captures tissue-level hormone activity that serum testing misses with transdermal preparations.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough FoundationFOCAL POINTS has partnered withPiqueto promote your optimal health. To learn more aboutPiqueproducts and get 20% off and free gifts today,https://www.piquelife.com/DRPETER📚 ReferencePfleghaar, J.The Perimenopause Reset. Available at:AmazonWebsite:https://www.integrativedrmom.com/", "summary": "What Every Woman Needs to Know About Progesterone, Estrogen, and Testosterone Before, During, and After the Change", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-perimenopause-reset", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-06", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Spiked: How the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Turned Millions of Mast Cells and Basophils into Twitchy Histamine Bombs", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHOne of the most common post-pandemic syndromes I encounter in the office is mast-cell activation syndrome (MCAS).The ubiquitous nature of SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and its ability to trigger mast cells is fundamental to understanding how long-COVID and COVID-19 vaccination can make a victim far more sensitive to many different environmental toxins (Lyme, mold, etc).🧬 Spike Protein and Mast Cell Sensitization: The MCAS Connection We’re Finally AcknowledgingZhang S, Xu C-L, Wang J, Xiong X, Wang J-H. Spike proteins of coronaviruses activate mast cells for degranulation via stimulating Src/PI3K/AKT/Ca2+intracellular signaling cascade. J Virol. 2025 May 20;99(5):e0007825. doi: 10.1128/jvi.00078-25. Epub 2025 Apr 30. PMID: 40304504; PMCID: PMC12090780.🔬 The Mechanism: How Spike Protein Hijacks Mast Cells and BasophilsMast cells and basophils are the body’s frontline sentinels — granular leukocytes packed with histamine, tryptase, heparin, and a cocktail of inflammatory mediators. Under normal conditions, they degranulate in response to genuine threats. But the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein — whether from natural infection or the lipid-nanoparticle-delivered products — fundamentally alters this threshold.The spike protein’s S1 subunit binds not only to ACE2 receptors but also toheparan sulfate proteoglycansabundantly expressed on mast cell surfaces. This primes the mast cell through several pathways:Surface-bound spike proteinacts as a persistent antigenic irritant, clustering IgE receptors (FcεRI) even without allergen cross-linking, lowering the activation threshold dramatically.Intracellular spike protein— documented in circulating monocytes and tissue-resident immune cells months after exposure — interacts with mitochondrial membranes and the NLRP3 inflammasome, keeping mast cells in a state of chronic, low-grade activation.The spike protein’s fusion peptide domain directly triggersMRGPRX2, the Mas-related G protein-coupled receptor that mediates pseudo-allergic degranulation independent of IgE. This explains why patients with no prior allergic history suddenly develop multi-system reactivity.The result is a mast cell that’shair-triggered— releasing histamine, prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and cytokines in response to stimuli that previously caused no reaction: temperature changes, foods, fragrances, exercise, emotional stress.🩺 The Clinical PictureMast Cell Activation Syndrome presents with protean symptoms because mast cells reside in virtually every vascularized tissue. Skin flushing and urticaria. GI bloating, diarrhea, and unpredictable food intolerances. Tachycardia, blood pressure instability, presyncope. Brain fog, headache, anxiety that feels “chemical” rather than psychological. Throat tightness without bronchoconstriction. The spike protein’s dual residence — anchored externally AND internalized — means standard antihistamines often fail, blocking downstream receptors while upstream degranulation continues unchecked.💊 The Solution: HistaCalm from The Wellness CompanyTheWellness CompanydevelopedHistaCalmspecifically for this pathophysiology. Rather than simply competing for histamine receptors, HistaCalm takes a multi-target approach to mast cell stabilization:Component MechanismQuercetinInhibits FcεRI-mediated degranulation; stabilizes mast cell membranes; downregulates leukotriene synthesisLuteolinSuppresses MRGPRX2-mediated pseudo-allergic activation; crosses the blood-brain barrier to address neuroinflammationPine Bark ExtractPotent antioxidant (OPCs); reduces histamine release; stabilizes capillary integrity against spike-induced vascular permeabilityButterburNatural leukotriene inhibitor and mast cell stabilizer; well-studied for allergic rhinitis via petasin-mediated suppression of histamine and cysteinyl leukotrienesApigeninFlavonoid that inhibits IgE-mediated degranulation; suppresses CD40 ligand expression on mast cells; anxiolytic properties through GABAergic modulation — directly relevant to the neuropsychiatric component of MCASThe formulation addressesboththe external spike protein anchored to mast cell surfaces (quercetin, luteolin, and apigenin prevent the clustering that triggers degranulation)andthe internalized spike driving chronic inflammasome activation (pine bark extract’s OPCs and butterbur’s anti-leukotriene effects). For the millions navigating post-infection and post-vaccination MCAS, HistaCalm represents a rationally designed intervention targeting the actual mechanism rather than chasing symptoms.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.SharePlease subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companyhttps://www.twc.health/pages/focal-points📚 ReferencesTheoharides TC, et al. Mast cells and inflammation.Biochim Biophys Acta. 2012;1822(1):21-33.Afrin LB, et al. Characterization of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome.Am J Med Sci. 2017;353(3):207-215.McNeil BD, et al. Identification of a mast-cell-specific receptor crucial for pseudo-allergic drug reactions.Nature. 2015;519(7542):237-241.Weng Z, et al. Quercetin is more effective than cromolyn in blocking human mast cell cytokine release.PLoS One. 2012;7(3):e33805.Kritas SK, et al. Luteolin inhibits mast cell-mediated stimulation of activated T cells.Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2013;26(1):13-19.Schapowal A. Butterbur for allergic rhinitis.Phytother Res. 2002;16(5):446-448.Rohdewald P. Pine bark extract in cardiovascular health.Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2002;40(4):158-168.Kang OH, et al. Apigenin inhibits mast cell degranulation.Biol Pharm Bull. 2011;34(5):748-753.HistaCalm — The Wellness Company.https://www.twc.health/products/histacalmZhang S, Xu C-L, Wang J, Xiong X, Wang J-H. Spike proteins of coronaviruses activate mast cells for degranulation via stimulating Src/PI3K/AKT/Ca2+intracellular signaling cascade. J Virol. 2025 May 20;99(5):e0007825. doi: 10.1128/jvi.00078-25. Epub 2025 Apr 30. PMID: 40304504; PMCID: PMC12090780.", "summary": "When your cells won't stop screaming — and why TWC HistaCalm's five-compound stack works when antihistamines fail", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/spiked-how-the-sars-cov-2-spike-protein", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-05", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "\"That Government is Best Which Governs Least\"", "content": "Happy Independence Day! I hope that all of our readers enjoy a fun and relaxing Saturday with friends and family, celebrating the many blessings that “We the People” still enjoy, despite our garbage government in Washington.The second Trump administration has revealed the vanity of placing our hope in a “better” federal government. If “We the People” are going to retain what remains of our liberty, we must focus on ways to reduce the power of the federal government to harm us.Federal power should be regarded as something akin to sewage — it cannot be improved, only contained and prevented from spilling into the healthy political ecosystems of states whose residents are allowed to flourish with minimal government interference in their lives.Prudent adults don’t want a “better” government; we want government to leave us alone and quit stealing our money and giving it to its creepy friends at home and abroad.In other words, the second Trump administration confirms the veracity of Thomas Jefferson’s famous assertion: “That government is best which governs least.”In 1775, the British MP Edmund Burke understood that there was no sense in quarreling with the North American colonies, and that the relationship could be repaired if the Crown and Parliament would go back to leaving the colonies alone.In his March 22, 1775, speech “On Conciliation with the Colonies,” he introduced the term “salutary neglect” to characterize Britain’s earlier policy. He recommended this policy marked by lax enforcement of trade laws and minimal interference. In his view, the colonies were able to achieve remarkable growth and prosperity preciselybecausethey were left alone.Burke pointed out that the colonies had expanded commerce with Britain twelve-fold since 1700, driven by the “spirit of liberty” among their inhabitants rather than by “the constraints of watchful and suspicious government.” The colonies “owe little or nothing to any care of ours,” he argued.As he put it (in his elegant, 18th century style) “through a wise and salutary neglect, a generous nature has been suffered to take her own way to perfection.” At the same time the colonies flourished, they supplied raw materials and markets that enriched the empire. The lesson was clear — leave the colonists alone and they will look after themselves and make a valuable contribution to British prosperity.Facing the Coercive Acts and the drift toward war, Burke urged Parliament to repeal punitive measures, restore the “former unsuspecting confidence,” and return to indulgence instead of coercion.Exceptionally wise man that he was, he advocated preserving what experience had shown to work. He saw no empirical grounds for believing that exerting force on the colonies would yield a constructive outcome.  A policy of coercion would cause the colonists to resent the government in London and form a “jealous” — that is, hyper vigilant—attachment to liberty.Burke’s idea of salutary neglect resembled Thomas Jefferson’s famous proposition that “that government is best which governs least” —a sentiment he expressed in his First Inaugural Address emphasizing a “wise and frugal Government” that leaves people “free to regulate their own pursuits.”Both Burke and Jefferson recognized that state overreach often backfires, while wise restraint fosters productive and creative enterprise. Burke applied this insight to try to avert crisis in 1775; Jefferson offered it as a foundational American creed.And so, while you are burning burgers and “hoisting ice-cold lagers to your laughing tackle” (as an old Zimbabwe friend describes drinking beer) spare a thought for Edmund Burke and Thomas Jefferson. The wisdom they bequeathed to us in their political writings is as applicable as ever.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Not \"better\" government, but less government is the only way forward for the U.S. Republic.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/that-government-is-best-which-governs", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-07-04", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "NewsGuard Confronts Dr McCullough on Fauci's Vaccine Blood Clot", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHThe left-wing media who featured Dr. Anthony Fauci hundreds of times during the pandemic has chosen to defend him as a hero, however, most have ignored his Moderna mRNA vaccine-associated pulmonary infarction resulting from pulmonary embolism a blood clot requiring treatment with Eliquis.  Unsurprisingly, NewsGuard reached out asserting this is not a vaccine side effect.NewsGuard isn’t a news organization — it’s a ratings cartel that brands itself as an arbiter of truth while serving as a propaganda machine for vaccine industry narratives.Founded by Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, the outfit employs “analysts” to slap red or green ratings on websites, with the red label effectively functioning as a digital scarlet letter designed to choke off ad revenue and search visibility for outlets that report any information on vaccine safety.On COVID vaccines, NewsGuard has been relentlessly one-sided. They’ve labeled any reporting about vaccine injuries, VAERS data, myocarditis in young men, or the suppression of early treatment protocols as “misinformation.” Their news pieces read like Pfizer press releases — emphasizing vaccine efficacy while downplaying or outright ignoring the growing body of adverse event data. They’ve actively worked with social media platforms and ad networks to demonetize and shadow-ban independent journalists, doctors, and researchers who raised legitimate safety concerns. The irony is thick: an organization purporting to combat “disinformation” systematically suppresses the very scientific debate that’s supposed to distinguish science from dogma. NewsGuard doesn’t guard news — it guards a false “safe and effective” narrative, and the pharmaceutical industry’s balance sheet is the beneficiary.GREGORYHowever, the article did not mention that multiple large peer-reviewed studies have found no evidence of a link between the Moderna COVID vaccine and pulmonary embolisms:https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M22-0988https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X23006825MCCULLOUGHThese two studies didnotrule out an association of mRNA vaccination with venous thromboembolism.Botton et alused a French Registry used very narrow observation windows:  “The exposure period, defined as the 3 weeks after each of the first, second, and third doses of the vaccines, was subdivided into 3 subperiods of 1 week to obtain relative incidence (RI) estimates for each subperiod. A further subinterval corresponding to the day of vaccination (day 0) was also included. All other observation times were considered as baseline periods.”Blood clots take time to develop in response to the Spike protein produced from long-lasting mRNA as Spike builds in blood and the lining of blood vessels the clots form.  Spike is found inside blood clots.  When a thrombus forms it may take weeks to months before it is large enough to cause symptoms.  In Fauci’s case the blood clot caused chest pain about six months after his shot.  That is consistent with my observations in clinical practice with hundreds of similar cases.Shoaibi et alused Medicare data evaluating 90 days before and after the primary series.  Again this is too short to fully describe the longer term risks of vaccine blood clots.  Among 3.3 million medicare recipients there were 1684 and 2622 blood clots reported after the primary series and the booster, respectively.  Because far fewer patients took boosters and the pre vaccination risk period was also a post primary series risk period, the analysis is completely invalid.  To make matters, worse the likely vaccinated authors cherry picked only 179 cases to review for causality. There are many papers such as this where bias creeps in subtly because authors and editors are fearful of promotingvaccine hesitancy.GREGORYMoreover, the article did not appear to explain how the Moderna COVID vaccine could plausibly cause a serious side effect five months later, as Fauci received his two doses on Dec. 22, 2020, and Jan. 21, 2021, and reported the infarction on July 19, 2021. As Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said in a February 2021 video released by the hospital, “There’s not been a serious [vaccine] side effect in history that hasn’t occurred within six weeks of getting the dose.”MCCULLOUGHDiscredited vaccine promoter Dr Paul Offit is ignoring hundreds of papers on the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.  Blood clots occurring months or even years after COVID-19 vaccination represent one of the most systematically downplayed adverse events of the entire campaign. The spike protein itself—whether delivered via mRNA or adenoviral vector—is the primary pathogenic agent, and evidence has accumulated showing it can persist in tissues and circulation far longer than the \"few days\" narrative initially claimed. A study fromCirculation(2022) documented spike protein detectable in exosomes up to four months post-vaccination, while independent pathologists have identified amyloid-like microclots in blood samples from vaccinated individuals that resist normal fibrinolysis, as described by Pretorius et al. inCardiovascular Diabetology. These microclots, rich in fibrin and inflammatory molecules, essentially create a chronic, smoldering thrombotic state—not the acute, obvious clotting of vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) that made headlines early on, but a subtler, persistent hypercoagulability that can manifest as deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, or ischemic stroke months after the fact. The VAERS database, despite its known underreporting limitations (commonly estimated at 1–10% capture rate), shows thousands of thrombosis-related adverse events logged well beyond the 42-day window that the CDC originally used to define \"post-vaccination\" complications, effectively rendering late-onset events invisible in official safety analyses.The biologic plausibility is straightforward: if Spike protein or its encoding mRNA persists in blood exosomes and endothelial cells for years, the vascular endothelium remains in a state of inflammation and dysfunction, upregulating von Willebrand factor, downregulating ADAMTS13, and promoting fibrin formation and platelet aggregation—a mechanism that doesn't shut off on a convenient regulatory timeline simply because Offit wants to ignore the truth.🔬 Spike Protein PersistenceOgata et al. (2022)—Circulation. “Circulating Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Vaccine Antigen Detected in the Plasma of mRNA-1273 Vaccine Recipients.” Documented spike protein detectable in plasma and exosomes up to several months post-vaccination.Patterson et al. (2021)—Frontiers in Immunology. Found spike protein in CD16+ monocytes up to 15 months post-infection; the same vascular-inflammatory mechanisms apply to vaccine-derived spike, which shares structural and functional properties with the wild-type protein.Röltgen et al. (2022)—Nature. Showed persistent spike antigen in germinal centers and tissues long after vaccination, challenging the rapid-clearance narrative.Brogna et al. (2023)—Proteomics Clinical Applications. “Detection of recombinant Spike protein in the blood of individuals vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2: Possible molecular mechanisms.” This study used mass spectrometry to definitively identify vaccine-derived spike protein in the blood of vaccinated individuals. Key findings:Spike protein detected in blood plasma weeks to months post-vaccinationConfirmed the spike was recombinant (vaccine-derived), not from natural infectionProposed mechanisms for systemic distribution, including reverse transcription of mRNA and subsequent spike expression in unintended tissuesDocumented spike presence in individuals with adverse events including clotting disorders, neurological symptoms, and myocarditisBrogna et al. (2023)—International Journal of Molecular Sciences. “A Possible Mechanism for SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine-Induced Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia: The Interaction Between Spike Protein and Platelet Factor 4.” This companion paper specifically addressed the clotting question, demonstrating that vaccine-derived spike protein binds to platelet factor 4 (PF4), the same mechanism underlying heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, triggering the catastrophic platelet activation cascade seen in VITT. The implication is that any persistent spike in circulation carries ongoing thrombotic risk, not merely an acute short-term phenomenon..Yale School of Medicine / Iwasaki et al. (preprint, 2023)— Led by Akiko Iwasaki’s lab, this study found circulating spike protein in the blood of individuals with post-vaccination symptoms at extended time points. Critically, spike was detectable in some vaccinated individuals who never had a known SARS-CoV-2 infection, confirming that the vaccine alone can produce persistent spike antigenemia. The study linked spike persistence to ongoing symptoms, including neurological and vascular complaints, providing direct evidence against the claim that vaccine-derived spike is rapidly cleared.Hulscher et al (2026)—Med Archives,Pfizer mRNA and Spike protein circulating in blood in a patient with vaccine induced pulmonary embolism 3.5 years after the booster🩸 Microclots and Amyloid FibrinPretorius et al. (2021)—Cardiovascular Diabetology. “Prevalence of readily detected amyloid blood clots in ‘unclotted’ Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and COVID-19 plasma: a preliminary report.” The foundational paper identifying amyloid-like, fibrinolysis-resistant microclots—later extended specifically to post-vaccination samples.Pretorius, Kell, et al. (2022)—Biochemical Journal. “Persistent clotting protein pathology in Long COVID/Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) is accompanied by increased levels of antiplasmin.” Detailed the mechanism by which these clots resist breakdown, directly applicable to post-vaccine pathology.Grobbelaar et al. (2021)—Bioscience Reports. “SARS-CoV-2 spike protein S1 induces fibrin(ogen) resistant to fibrinolysis: implications for microclot formation in COVID-19.” Demonstrated that the spike protein itself—whether from infection or vaccination—directly induces abnormal fibrin structures.🧬 Endothelial Dysfunction & HypercoagulabilityNyström & Hammarström (2022)—Current Issues in Molecular Biology. “Amyloidogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein.” Showed that the spike protein can misfold into amyloid forms, providing a direct mechanism for the amyloid microclots observed clinically.Lei et al. (2021)—Circulation Research. “SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Impairs Endothelial Function via Downregulation of ACE2.” Demonstrated that spike protein alone—without virus—causes endothelial damage, mitochondrial dysfunction, and pro-thrombotic signaling.Bellavite & Donzelli (2021)—International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Comprehensive review of the thrombotic mechanisms of spike protein, including platelet activation, endothelial injury, and complement cascade dysregulation.📊 VAERS and Epidemiological SignalsSkidmore (2023)—Science, Public Health Policy, and the Law. Analysis of VAERS data showing thrombosis and cardiovascular adverse events logged months beyond the 42-day window used in official safety studies, highlighting the surveillance gap for late-onset events.Rose (2021)—Science, Public Health Policy, and the Law. Independent analysis of VAERS data estimating the true adverse event rate at 10–100× reported figures, given the well-established 1–10% passive surveillance capture rate.These papers collectively establish both the biologic mechanism and the epidemiological signal. Accumulating Spike protein from superimposed SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections, in my clinical experience, increases the risk even more. The Spike protein is the thrombogenic agent; its persistence is documented; the resulting microclot and macroclot pathology is mechanistically explained; and the surveillance systems were structured to miss late-onset cases.  BecauseGregoryhad the courage to inquire, he was unblocked.  Now let’s see if he publishes the truth.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough Foundation📚 Complete Reference ListOgata AF, Cheng CA, Desjardins M, et al.Circulating Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Vaccine Antigen Detected in the Plasma of mRNA-1273 Vaccine Recipients.Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2022;74(4):715-718.https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/74/4/715/6279075Patterson BK, Francisco EB, Yogendra R, et al.Persistence of SARS CoV-2 S1 Protein in CD16+ Monocytes in Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) up to 15 Months Post-Infection.Frontiers in Immunology. 2022;12:746021.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.746021Röltgen K, Nielsen SCA, Silva O, et al.Immune imprinting, breadth of variant recognition, and germinal center response in human SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination.Cell. 2022;185(6):1025-1040.e14.https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)00076-9Pretorius E, Venter C, Laubscher GJ, et al.Prevalence of readily detected amyloid blood clots in ‘unclotted’ Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and COVID-19 plasma: a preliminary report.Cardiovascular Diabetology. 2020;19:193.https://cardiab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12933-020-01165-7Pretorius E, Vlok M, Venter C, et al.Persistent clotting protein pathology in Long COVID/Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) is accompanied by increased levels of antiplasmin.Cardiovascular Diabetology. 2021;20:172.https://cardiab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12933-021-01359-7Grobbelaar LM, Venter C, Vlok M, et al.SARS-CoV-2 spike protein S1 induces fibrin(ogen) resistant to fibrinolysis: implications for microclot formation in COVID-19.Bioscience Reports. 2021;41(8):BSR20210611.https://portlandpress.com/bioscirep/article/41/8/BSR20210611/229323Nyström S, Hammarström P.Amyloidogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein.Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2022;144(20):8945-8950.https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.2c03925Lei Y, Zhang J, Schumacher CR, et al.SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Impairs Endothelial Function via Downregulation of ACE2.Circulation Research. 2021;128(9):1323-1326.https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.121.318902Bellavite P.Renin-Angiotensin System, SARS-CoV-2 and Hypotheses about Some Adverse Effects Following Vaccination.International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2021;22(16):8745.https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/16/8745Skidmore M.The Role of VAERS in Monitoring Vaccine Safety.Science, Public Health Policy, and the Law. 2023;4:48-67. https://www.sphl-journal.com/Rose J.Critical Appraisal of VAERS Pharmacovigilance: Is the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) a Functioning Pharmacovigilance System?Science, Public Health Policy, and the Law. 2021;3:100-129.  https://www.sphl-journal.com/Yonker LM, Swank Z, Bartsch YC, et al. (Iwasaki Lab, Yale)Circulating Spike Protein Detected in Post-COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Myocarditis.Circulation. 2023;147(11):867-876.https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.061025Brogna C, Cristoni S, Petrillo M, et al.Detection of recombinant Spike protein in the blood of individuals vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2: Possible molecular mechanisms.Proteomics Clinical Applications. 2023;17(6):e2300048.https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/prca.202300048Brogna C, Cristoni S, Marino G, et al.A Possible Mechanism for SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine-Induced Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia: The Interaction Between Spike Protein and Platelet Factor 4.International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2023;24(4):4057.https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/4/4057Hulscher N, Schmidt V, Mörz M, et al.Persistence of Vaccine mRNA, Plasmid DNA, Spike Protein, and Genomic Dysregulation Over 3.5 Years Post-COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination.Medical Research Archives. 2026;14(1).https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/7631", "summary": "Overwhelming mechanistic and clinical evidence for mRNA COVID-19 vaccine induced venous thromboembolism requiring systemic anticoagulation.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/newsguard-confronts-dr-mccullough", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-01", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "6G Will Expose Entire Populations to Largely Untested Terahertz Radiation, Enable AI Brain Chips, and Allow Through-Wall Surveillance", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHI joinedFinnerty on NEWSMAXto warn that 6G will not simply deliver faster internet—it will dramatically intensify EMF exposure while enabling AI brain chips and advanced surveillance systems.While 5G networks operate across frequencies ranging from approximately0.6 to 48 GHz, 6G networks are expected to extend intoterahertz (THz) frequencies. Under laboratory conditions, THz radiation hasalready been shownin human-derived cells and tissues to induce:DNA damage and DNA-damage signalingGenomic instabilityImpaired neural stem-cell proliferationDisrupted cell-cycle activityAltered gene expressionMitochondrial dysfunctionInflammationApoptosis and cell deathOne studyfound that THz exposure caused DNA damage, impaired proliferation, and apoptosis in human neural stem cells, with stronger effects at higher intensities and longer exposure durations.The effects vary substantially by frequency, intensity, pulse structure, exposure duration, and tissue type. These studies do not yet prove that real-world 6G exposure will cause widespread disease, but they establish serious biological warning signals that demand rigorous long-term human testing before deployment.Unfortunately, the multitrillion-dollar telecommunications industry is unlikely to adequately test chronic 6G exposure in humans before mass deployment—just as5G was rolled out without comprehensive human safety studies:And the concerns extend far beyond health. 6G is being developed to supportAI brain chipsand surveillance systems capable ofdetecting human presence, movement, and activity through walls.6G infrastructure is expected to be operational in many major cities by 2030. Sadly, politicians appear to have little understanding of the potential consequences of blanketing entire populations in largely untested terahertz electromagnetic radiation.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.", "summary": "Nicolas Hulscher joins Rob Finnerty on NEWSMAX to break down the implications of widespread 6G deployment without adequate safety testing.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/6g-will-expose-entire-populations", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-01", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Strange Rise of Men Who Fantasize About Being Women", "content": "To understand just how twisted the American medical mind has become in recent years, check out the 2023 paperGender-Affirming Mastectomy Trends and Surgical Outcomes in Adolescentsby a team at the University of California San Francisco who documented “gender-affirming mastectomies” performed in their medical system.Gender-affirming mastectomies performed from January 1, 2013 - July 31, 2020 in adolescents 12-17 years of age at the time of referral were identified. The incidence of gender-affirming mastectomy was calculated by dividing the number of patients undergoing these procedures by the number of adolescents assigned female at birth ages 12-17 within our system at the beginning of each year and amount of follow-up time within that year. …The incidence of gender-affirming mastectomy increased13-fold(3.7 to 47.7 per 100,000 person-years) during the study period. Of the209patients who underwent surgery, the median age at referral was 16 years (range12-17) and the most common technique was double-incision (85%).What kind of a pervert would put 12-17 year-old girls under general anesthesia and cut off their healthy breasts? How is this even legal?The same twisted medical establishment that pushed the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine promoted this butchery of children. As many readers have told me,Chapter 21: Transgenderis the most disturbing section of my new book,Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions, in which I present a history (going back to ancient Rome) of this especially irrational obsession.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "The same medical complex that pushed the COVID-19 vaccine also promoted grown men masquerading as women and the satanic butchery of children.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-strange-rise-of-men-who-fantasize", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-01", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Stephen A. Smith Says He Was Wrong about the COVID-19 Vaccine", "content": "A friend just send me a report that prominent sports broadcaster, Stephen A. Smith, has stated he was wrong about the COVID-19 vaccine and apologized to Dallas Mavericks basketball player, Kyrie Irving, whom he’d  criticized because Irving (like Novak Djokovic and Aaron Rodgers) refused to get the stupid and dangerous shot.My friend who sent me the report asked me if I could think of any other major public figures who have subsequently apologized for the role they played in a major public policy blunder.I immediately thought about former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, who in a 1995 speech at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library stated that he’d been badly wrong to advocate the Vietnam War.Throughout history, few public figures who have advocated a ruinous policy were later man enough to admit that they were wrong.Even more impressive than McNamara was President John F. Kennedy after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961. The CIA-backed operation by Cuban exiles failed, resulting in deaths, captures, and a major embarrassment for the new administration. At a press conference, Kennedy referred to the old saying that “victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan” and declared, “I’m the responsible officer of the Government.”The most famous mea culpa in English history was King Henry II’s apology for inciting the December 29, 1170 murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury.The king performed a highly public act of penance on July 12, 1174. He dismounted outside Canterbury, walked barefoot through the streets in penitential clothing (a woolen smock or hair-shirt), entered the cathedral crypt, knelt at Becket’s tomb, confessed that his “incautious words” had caused the killing, and submitted to scourging: five strokes from each of the bishops present and three from each of the roughly 80 monks of Christ Church. He then spent the night fasting and praying at the tomb.Henry’s act of penance is perhaps the most remarkable example in all of history of the most powerful man in an entire country volunteering to humble himself in a dramatic way that involved receiving corporal punishment from men of far lesser rank.In our current Age of the Weenie in which we are governed by sadistic psychopaths and perverts, such a spectacular act of genuine humility in one of our high and mighty is inconceivable. Nevertheless, we applaud Stephen A. Smith for his gentlemanly and magnanimous confession and apology.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Along with former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and President Kennedy, Smith is one of three public figures who were man enough to admit they were wrong about a major policy issue.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/stephen-a-smith-says-he-was-wrong", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-01", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Cyclospora in Your Salad, Spike Protein in Your Veins: Welcome to MAGA's Public Health Nightmare", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHIn my orbit, there is no one more pro-MAGA than Las Vegas media mogul, Wayne Allyn Root.🎙️ Interview Summary: Dr. Peter McCullough onWarzone Livewith Wayne Allyn RootCyclospora Outbreak — A Public Health FailureDr. McCullough warned of acyclospora outbreakspreading through America’s food supply — a protozoan parasite linked to contaminated lettuce shipped by Taylor Farms to major grocery chains and fast-food outlets. Thousands are sick, hundreds hospitalized, with explosive watery diarrhea lasting up to a month if untreated.His immediate advice:don’t wait for stool testing. Empirically treat with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim/Septra), which McCullough noted is included in TheWellness Company’s Emergency Medical Kit. For those allergic to sulfa drugs (like Root’s wife Cindy), telemedicine consultation through the kit can secure alternatives like nitazoxanide.The irony wasn’t lost on Root — a longtime carnivore who eats almost zero vegetables — that salad-eaters trying to be healthy are the ones getting “deathly ill,” while his meat-heavy diet kept him clear. McCullough urged cooking food thoroughly and warned of cross-contamination risks in shipping.The Failed COVID Vaccine CampaignThe conversation pivoted to what McCullough called“the failed COVID-19 vaccine campaign.”Root, an unvaccinated SUPER-MAGA Trump supporter, noted the awkwardness of dining with Republican doctor friends who still brag about getting annual COVID and flu shots. McCullough dismissed this as “a religion” — faith-based belief immune to data.Key points made during the segment:Remdesivirwas pushed by HHS under Biden despite WHO and European Critical Care Society recommending against it. Nurses nicknamed it “Run, Death is Near.”Turbo cancersare now the dominant vaccine injury presentation — people diagnosed and dead within weeks.Aortic dissectionkilled Senator Lindsey Graham (age 71). McCullough argued this should never happen with proper monitoring, especially given Graham’s family history. The vaccine likely accelerated what might have taken another decade.Actor Sam Neillannounced he was cancer-free, then dropped dead of a heart attack two weeks later — another suspected vaccine casualty in heavily mandated New Zealand.Flu shots backfire: Multiple trials show recipients aremorelikely to get influenza and common colds. McCullough took them for 40 years as a hospital staffing requirement and was “sick almost every month.” Five years without them — never healthier.Spike Protein & DetoxMcCullough recommended Root get LabCorp’sCOVID Antibody Test($69, order online). If spike antibodies exceed1,000 units/mL, he should take The Wellness Company’sUltimate Spike DetoxorSpike Support(containing nattokinase). McCullough personally takes it and is still seeing late complications in his patients — blood clots in 2026 from shots taken in 2021.Bottom LineA SUPER-MAGA host and a world-renowned physician, both aligned with Trump’s MAHA/HHS reform agenda, openly documenting that even under the new administration, public health failures — contaminated food, a deadly vaccine campaign, brainwashed doctors — remain entrenched. McCullough’s closing wisdom: “Go natural for a better outcome.”Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.SharePlease subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough FoundationFOCAL POINTS has partnered withAlterAIto defend your medical freedom. Subscribe toAlterAItoday and get a discount on unbiased and accurate AI!", "summary": "Super MAGA Wayne Allyn Root with Dr McCullough", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/cyclospora-in-your-salad-spike-protein", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-01", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Secretary Kennedy Adroitly Puts Lying CNN Propagandist Dana Bash in Her Place", "content": "HHS Secretary Kennedy just did a masterful job of putting lying CNN propagandist, Dana Bash in her place during an interview in which she claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine protected children.The interview reminded me of the transcript of the deliberations of the FDA Advisory Committee’s meeting on October 29, 2021 to approve of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine for children. As we related this infamous incident in our book,Vaccines: Mythology, Ideology, and Reality.On October 29, 2021, [the FDA] authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in children five through eleven years of age (revised in June 2022 to include all children six months and older).[i]By then it had become abundantly clear from the CDC’s own data that COVID-19 illness posed virtually zero risk of hospitalization and death to young children. Indeed, I repeatedly observed children, who have a large and very active thymus, completely recover from COVID-19 infection less than forty-eight hours after the onset of symptoms.Likewise, by the beginning of 2021, it had become abundantly clear that COVID-19 illness posed virtually zero risk to young athletes in top cardiovascular condition. Nevertheless, most college and professional leagues forced them to receive the experimental injections to participate in their sports. As a cardiologist, I found it the cruelest of ironies that, while such athletes were at the lowest risk of suffering severe COVID-19 illness, they (especially young males) were the highest risk cohort for suffering vaccine-induced myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle. The first case of fatal, autopsy proven mRNA COVID-19 vaccine myocarditis was reported inTheNew England Journal of Medicine, August 18, 2021.[ii]This should have put a hold on the entire vaccine campaign until vaccine myocarditis was thoroughly investigated.A few days after the FDA announced it had approved the vaccine for children, I received a report on the deliberations of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee about the decision. Attending the meeting was committee member, Dr. Eric Rubin, an adjunct professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard University and editor-in-chief ofThe New England Journal of Medicine. As was revealed in the transcript, Rubin said the following:This is a much tougher one, I think, than we had expected coming into it. The data show that this vaccine works and it’s pretty safe. . . . And yet, we’re worried about a side effect that we can’t measure yet, but it’s probably real. And we see a benefit that isn’t the same as it is in older age groups.[iii]The “side effect” is myocarditis. By then, significant data had emerged that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines presented an elevated risk for young people, especially male adolescents. I was already seeing it in my clinical practice. “A benefit that isn’t the same as it is in older age groups” was Rubin’s mealy-mouthed way of saying that young people have a much lower risk of severe Covid illness. After acknowledging the myocarditis risk, Dr. Rubin made the following statement:So, for me, I think it’s going to revolve around two questions, whether there is going to be a use for this vaccine in this age group, and then how the decision gets made within this age group. It’s a very, sort of, personal choice. If I had a child who was a transplant recipient, I would really want to be able to use a vaccine. And there are certainly kids who probably should be vaccinated. The question of how broadly to use it, though, I think is a substantial one. . . . But I do think that it’s a relatively close call . . . But we’re never going to learn about how safe this vaccine is unless we start giving it. That’s just the way it goes. That’s how we found out about rare complications of other vaccines like the rotavirus vaccine. And I do think we should vote to approve it.[iv]“But we’re never going to learn about how safe this vaccine is unless we start giving it.” What kind of reasoning was this? The statement struck me as reckless bordering on criminally insane, and as I read it, I’d never been so appalled.What could account for this monomaniacal desire foreveryone, regardless of their risk profile, to get the shot? It was as though the public health agencies, medical profession, and public were in the grip of some wild enthusiasm for a new and untested technology. Often, I was struck by the thought that this mania was akin to a new religion.[i]Pfizer and BioNTech Receive First U.S. FDA Emergency Use Authorization of a COVID-19 Vaccine in Children Ages 5 Through 11 Years, Pfizer Company Press Release, October 29, 2021. https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-receive-first-us-fda-emergency-use[ii]Amanda K. Verma, Kory J. Lavine, Chieh-Yu Lin. Myocarditis after Covid-19 mRNA Vaccination. New England Journal of Medicine, P. 1332-1333, V 385 N 14 doi:10.1056/NEJMc2109975.https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2109975[iii]Tom Kertscher. In Context: ‘Never going to learn how safe this vaccine is unless we start giving it,” Politfact, November 1, 2021.https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/nov/01/context-never-going-learn-how-safe-vaccine-unless-/[iv]Ibid.Author’s Note:If you found this post interesting and informative, please like and share it, and please become a paid subscriber to our newsletter.For just $5.00 per month, you can help us to make a living in our ceaseless effort to investigate and report the reality of our world dominated by lying villains.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Cross-referencing Bash's propaganda with Dr. Eric Rubin's remarks during the 2021 FDA Advisory Committee's deliberations to approve the vaccine for children.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/secretary-kennedy-adroitly-puts-lying", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-03", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Salmonella Egg Outbreak, Parasitic Lettuce Crisis, and the Total Failure of Agencies Entrusted with Your Food — and Your Life", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHSalmonella and cyclospora cause two very different dysenteric syndromes.🥚 7-month Salmonella Outbreak, 4 months of Cyclosporiasis — Double Diarrhea Jeopardy📋 The Interview at a GlanceDr. Peter McCullough, cardiologist and Chief Scientific Officer atThe Wellness Company, sat down with Steve Gruber onReal America’s Voiceto break down two parallel foodborne outbreaks — and delivered a blunt lesson most doctors won’t tell you.🦠 Salmonella (from eggs)Source:Midwest Poultry operations in Texas — cage-free brown eggs sold under Kroger and Brookshire Farms brands.Scale:98 confirmed cases, 26 hospitalizations. The outbreak ran forseven monthsbefore federal agencies got it under control.The mechanism:Salmonella isphysically inside the eggs— meaning it’s in the chickens themselves. You can’t wash it off the shell.Who’s at risk:People eating runny eggs — sunny side up, raw eggs in smoothies, undercooked scrambles. Properly cooked scrambled eggs kill it.The key clinical takeaway McCullough emphasized:For otherwise healthy adults:do NOT treat the diarrhea.Let it rip. Fluids and electrolytes only. The pathogen clears fast on its own.Why? Because salmonella gastroenteritis is a self-limiting infection. Antidiarrheals trap the pathogen in your gut and prolong the illness. This is basic medicine that most people never hear because nobody bothers to explain it.Exceptions — when to use antibiotics(Emergency Medical Kit, The Wellness Company):Adults over 65 who are frail → azithromycin or ciprofloxacinChildren → azithromycin🥬 Cyclosporiasis (from lettuce and raw vegetables)McCullough drew a sharp distinction here: cyclospora is adifferent beast entirely. Unlike salmonella’s rapid-fire course, cyclosporiasis is a parasitic infection contracted from contaminated produce — lettuce, raw veggies — and it doesn’t resolve the same way.📣 Different Management for Salmonella Versus CyclosporiasisHe noted both conditions are addressable with what’s in the TWC emergency medical kits, but the clinical approach differs.  Salmonella should be allowed to run its course over 24-48 hours unless the patient is a child or senior > 65 years, then antibiotics (AZM) should be used.  Cyclospora after eating lettuce or raw vegetables should be treated with 7-10 days of the antibiotic TMP-SMX.  Both are in the Emergency Medical Kit.🔥 The Bigger IndictmentThe salmonella outbreak ranseven monthsbefore containment. McCullough didn’t hide his disgust:“This is shocking that our agencies haven’t gotten control over this.”The subtext is clear: the FDA and CDC are broken not by accident but by design. Regulatory capture, revolving-door corruption, and a culture that punishes competence while rewarding media celebrity.🎬 Fauci SidebarThe interview pivoted hard at the end to Fauci pleading the Fifth before the Senate Homeland Security Committee — a stark contrast to his 2022 promise to“answer any questions at any time from any oversight committee.”McCullough’s take: the Biden preemptive pardon must be challenged. Circumstances have changed. The information we have now — on SARS-CoV-2’s origins, the suppression of early treatment, and the harms of the vaccines — couldn’t possibly have been known by whoever signed that pardon. Crimes against humanity, fraudulent concealment, negligent homicide. Let the probe move forward.🧠 What to Actually Do for Gastroenteritis after Eating EggsHave an emergency medical kit on hand Eggs in your fridge Check lot numbers. If recalled, return them. Cook eggs thoroughly.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.SharePlease subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpoints", "summary": "Practical advice for diarrhea in the Summer of 2026", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/salmonella-egg-outbreak-parasitic", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-02", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "\"Why Censorship Never Works\"", "content": "In the early nineties, while visiting my then professor, Roger Scruton, on his farm in Wiltshire, he told me about his adventures in the 1980s, working as a conduit of forbidden literature from the West into Prague, where it was translated and produced asSAMIZDAT—that is, literature created in secret by tiny, underground presses and then distributed by hand from reader to reader.At the time he told about Samizdat, the necessity of such an enterprise struck me as outlandishly bizarre. How, I wondered, could the beautiful, literate, and cultured city of Prague fall into the hands of such tyrannical philistines? Surely, I thought, this could NEVER happen in the United States.Thirty years later, what was unthinkable became a reality. The same sort of tyrannical philistines who ran Czechoslovakia during the Soviet period infested American institutions of academia, government, and yes, even New York City trade publishing.Reviewing Roger’s book,Notes from the Underground, about Prague in the eighties,Daniel Mahoney wrote of the novel’s character, Bob Heilbronn:Heilbronn could only think (much like contemporary mainstream ‘political science’) in superficial terms about democracy versus dictatorship. . . . He failed to see what Havel had taught in his great dissident essays: everyone was complicit in the web of lies at the heart of ideocratic despotism. External coercion was matched by an inner tyranny that suffocated the soul and humankind’s natural moral conscience.Like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Václav Havel understood that tyranny is not only imposed from the top down, it is widely embraced by the majority of people who crave to conform and to signal their ideological virtue. The subject of ideological conformity and the subversion of reality is a major theme in my latest book,Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions, also published by Tony Lyons.The descent of an intellectual culture into vulgar, childish, stultifying conformity has been happening right before our eyes in the United States. This is why theNew York Timesis now largely a waste of wood pulp. This is why so much of New York City trade publishing is apparently more interested in ideological conformity than reality.For those of us who still love true intellectual and literary culture, thank God we have Tony Lyons, the proprietor of Skyhorse Publishing. When no other major New York house would even consider publishing Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s 2021 book,The Real Anthony Fauci, Tony Lyons had the vision and courage to publish it and promote it in the face of it being blacklisted by all trade industry publications and book reviews.The following year, when I wrote my first book with Dr. Peter McCullough—The Courage to Face COVID-19: Preventing Hospitalization and Death While Battling the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex— Tony brought it out in a handsome hardcover with a Forward by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., with whom he has a longstanding friendship. Both men are Classical Liberals, dedicated to defending free speech.Tony just published an essay titled “Why Censorship Never Works” on the occasion of Anthony Fauci’s diaries being published. As Tony notes:Those [Anthony Fauci’s] diaries confirm, point for point, exactly what Bobby Kennedy wrote [in his 2021 book,The Real Anthony Fauci]. This was never a story about honest scientific disagreement. It was about one man using the power of government to enforce orthodoxy and crush dissent. Anybody who didn’t give complete blind faith to the so-called experts got marginalized, vilified, demonized, and censored. Kennedy lived it himself: he pointed out that Covid almost certainly came from the Wuhan lab, and Instagram erased him, millions of followers gone overnight, for so-called misinformation.Please take a few minutes to read the full essay, published on The MAHA Report, by clicking on image below, and please like it and share it with your friends.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "A tribute to Tony Lyons, publisher of SKYHORSE books, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., author of \"The Real Anthony Fauci\"", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/why-censorship-never-works", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-02", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Familial Spasmodic Dysphonia and the Kennedy Family: A Case Study in Genetic Susceptibility and Vaccine-Triggered Neurological Injury", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHThe work of a doctor is to carefully observe.  Always.🧬 Familial Spasmodic DysphoniaI noticed last week on a news segment that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr’s younger sister, Kerry, is developing the same vocal disorder as RFK.  Voices can sound remarkably similar among family members because they share the same biological anatomy, inherited neurological patterns, and behavioral habits. On a physical level, relatives inherit a nearly identical structural \"instrument,\" meaning the size, shape, and thickness of their vocal cords, sinus cavities, and throat shape the acoustic resonance and baseline pitch in the exact same way. This genetic blueprint also dictates the neurological pathways that control speech, which is why familial voice disorders like spasmodic dysphonia can cause matching strained or shaky vocal qualities across multiple family members. Finally, this shared foundation is reinforced by lifelong behavioral mimicry, as children unconsciously imitate the unique cadence, speech rhythms, and accent inflections of their parents and siblings from infancy.📋 Introduction: A Tale of Two Siblings, One Voice DisorderRobert F. Kennedy Jr. (age 72) began experiencing the strained, strangled vocal quality of spasmodic dysphonia in his 40s. His sister Kerry Kennedy (age 66) — a prominent vaccine advocate — developed the same condition in her 50s. Two siblings, same rare neurological disorder, decades apart in onset. The conventional response is to shrug and call it coincidence or “idiopathic.” But that answer, as is so often the case, represents a failure of curiosity rather than a satisfying conclusion.The far more compelling question is:What shared genetic architecture made two Kennedy siblings vulnerable to the same focal dystonia, and what environmental trigger — potentially a repeated one — pushed that vulnerability into clinical expression?Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "A Family's Voice, Stolen Twice: On Heritability, Influenza Vaccines, and the Cost of Not Investigating", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/familial-spasmodic-dysphonia-and", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-03", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "\"The Road Not Taken\"", "content": "Last night at dinner, my mother told me about the daughter of a family friend who suddenly came down what what appears to be a case of optic neuritis, or swelling and inflammation of the optic nerve.In the last few years I have often heard about young people in my extended social circle suffering strange and unexpected illnesses that I’d never heard about anyone in my extended social circle experiencing before 2021.I didn’t mention to my mother thecase studiesof optic neuritis appearing shortly after COVID-19 vaccination, such as those documented in the 2022 studyCOVID-19 Vaccine-Associated Optic Neuropathy: A Systematic Review of 45 Patients.I kept this to myself because I don’t know if the girl in this case received the shot. Even if she did, I presume it’s been a long time, meaning there is no temporal association.The devilish trouble with the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine is that it seems to trigger, aggravate, or accelerate diseases from which humanity was known to suffer before the vaccine was introduced. This is what enables so many patients and doctors to maintain a state of ignorance about COVID-19 vaccine harms.I know several cases of vaccinated people in their fifties being struck by illnesses that are strongly associated with significantly older age. I suspect that—had they not received the shots—they would have eventually been struck by these illnesses, but much later in life. I reckon it is likely that the shotsacceleratedunderlying disease processes that would not have manifested as acute clinical illnesses for another twenty years.This state of affairs reminds me of Robert Frost’s famous poem, “The Road Not Taken,” which every American schoolboy and schoolgirl used to read.Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.The apparent simplicity of the poem is deceptive, and millions of readers have misinterpreted it.The key to the poem is the couplet:Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.We have no way of knowing if the decisions we make in life are for the better, because we have no way of knowing how our lives would have turned out if we’d taken the other path.What should I study, what occupation should I pursue, in what state should I live, what sort of partner should I choose, how many kids should I have? With each choice you make, your way leads on to way, and you can’t undo it, go back and try the other path, and compare the two outcomes.So it is with the COVID-19 mass vaccination campaign. Unless there is a tight temporal association, hundreds of thousands of people who received the shots and who develop strange and unexpected illnesses have no surefire means of  knowing if they would have avoided these illnesses if they had avoided the shots.In 2020-2021, when I observed weirdo monopolists like Bill Gates pushing the new mRNA vaccine—and the bizarre religiosity with which the program was embraced—I got the overwhelming impression that our “scientific-technological elite” (as Eisenhower called it) was suffering from severe hubris.This hubris compelled them to intervene in the complex system of the human body about which they possessed limited understanding. Thus, I feared that all kinds of strange and unexpected ills would likely result from their dangerous experiment on all of humanity.I also got the overwhelming impression that the fanatical pursuit of vaccination for EVERYONE was so that these Luciferian ghouls could eliminate the existence of a large control group of unvaccinated people. They understood that a large control group would make it significantly harder for them to obscure the true result of their experiment.I recently had a conversation with an Alzheimer’s researcher who devotes much of her intellectual labor to studying brain scans that show the progression of brain damage. She submitted an application to her major medical center to perform a study in which she cross-referenced each patient’s brain scans and cognitive test results since 2021 with their COVID-19 vaccine records to see if there is a correlation between receiving the shots and the acceleration of disease progression.Her study proposal was rejected.No way Josewould a major hospital system want to reveal such a correlation. Better to leave humanity NOT knowing if, in the matter of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, they made the wrong choice.Author’s Note: If you found this essay interesting and informative, please become a paid subscriber. For just $5.00 per month, you can help me to pay my steadily increasing cost of living!Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Reflections on Robert Frost's poem and evaluating strange and rare illnesses that appear to be linked to the COVID-19 vaccine.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-road-not-taken", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-03", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Medical Examiner's Wonky Conduct in Tyler Robinson Trial", "content": "Autopsy reports in Utah are not public record, but this shouldn’t prohibit the medical examiner from issuing a statement about the cause and manner of Charlie Kirk’s death and the characteristics of the bullet wound.Instead of a clarifying statement from the medical examiner, we got the following weird statement from Turning Point spokesman Andrew Kolvet on October 21, 2025.“I want to address some of the discussion about the lack of an exit wound with Charlie,” Kolvetwrote in a post on X.“The fact that there wasn’t an exit wound is probably another miracle, and I want people to know,” Kolvet continued, explaining that he had spoken with the surgeon who worked on Charlie in the hospital.“He said the bullet ‘absolutely should have gone through, which is very very normal for a high powered, high velocity round. I’ve seen wounds from this caliber many times and they always just go through everything. This would have taken a moose or two down, an elk, etc,’” he recalled.“But it didn’t go through. Charlie’s body stopped it,” he added.When he mentioned to the doctor that there were “dozens of staff, students, and special guests standing directly behind Charlie” when he was shot, the doctor reportedly replied, “It was an absolute miracle that someone else didn’t get killed.”“His bone was so healthy and the density was so so impressive that he’s like the man of steel,” Kolvet recalls the doctor saying.This is not a credible statement, and it raises a number of concerns.It strikes me as very perplexing that a “surgeon operated on Kirk,” because in the video of the shooting, Charlie reacted with adecorticate posture—that is, an abnormal body posture characterized by flexion of the upper limbs—caused by severe trauma to the central nervous system. This indicates that the bullet either directly struck his cervical spinal cord, or the shock wave of the supersonic bullet passing near his spinal cord traumatized it.A 150-grain, .30-06 bullet’s energy at 150 yards from the muzzle varies by ammunition, but a common hunting cartridge has an estimated value of approximately 3,000 foot-pounds (with the bullet traveling at about 2500 feet per second). In other words, the .30 caliber (.30 inch diameter) metal projectile struck his neck with sufficient kinetic energy to move a 3,000 pound mass a linear distance of one foot.According to the police and prosector, the shot was fired from the roof of the Losee student center, which is about 80 feet above and 426 feet away from Charlie’s position on stage. If this was indeed the case, the bullet struck Charlie in the neck at a downward angle of about 10.65 degrees.In video footage taken less than a second before he was shot, he is sitting upright.The wound then appears on his neck slightly to the right (facing him) of the vertical midline of his throat.If the angle of the shot was indeed 10.65 degrees from front to back, the bullet path would approximately resemble the following drawing.If a the bullet that damaged Charlie’s cervical spinal cord was a .30-06 fired from 150 yards away, it seems very likely that it would have:1). Severed his spinal cord, killing him instantly.2). Passed through his neck.And yet:1). According to Andrew Kolvet, he spoke to a trauma surgeon “who worked on Charlie at the hospital.”2). There was no exit wound.Note that the cervical vertebrae are supported by strong muscles and have high compressive strength, but are far too delicate to stop a .30-06 bullet traveling at 2,500 feet per second.If ALL of the kinetic energy of a 3,000 foot-pound projectile was absorbed by Charlie’s neck—as distinct from the bullet passing through the neck—it would have done spectacular trauma to his neck, as distinct from producing the clean hole visible in the video footage that apparently ruptured his carotid artery and jugular vein.This makes me wonder if the fatal shot was fired from a pistol cartridge with a higher caliber bullet but much lower velocity and kinetic energy. It strikes me as far more likely that the cervical spine and neck muscles could stop a bullet from a handgun cartridge and absorb all its kinetic energy.And so I have been waiting for word from the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner. I figured we would get it at Tyler Robinson’s trial, but the medical examiner in this case continues to act in a wonky way.So far, we have been told that the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner produced an autopsy report on Charlie Kirk that was admitted as evidence (Exhibit 11) in Tyler Robinson’s July 2026 preliminary hearing.However, the medical examiner did NOT testify, and still we have received no public disclosure of wound specifics. The full report remains non-public under Utah law and court restrictions.The Utah State Bureau of Investigation Agent David Hull testified about the medical examiner’s report under rules allowing reliable hearsay at that stage. Hull stated that the report listed the manner of death as homicide and the immediate cause as a gunshot wound of the neck (correcting an initial misstatement of “murder”).Why didn’t the medical examiner testify about his findings?I find this very weird.Defense counsel objected to the admission of this testimony without the examiner present and to publication of its contents; the judge admitted it but barred public display out of respect for the family’s privacy and the sensitive medical information.The authorities have stated that bullet fragments (one jacket fragment and multiple lead fragments) were recovered from Kirk’s body during the autopsy and later examined by the ATF, and that tool mark comparison to the recovered rifle was inconclusive due to damage/deformation.No detailed public testimony from the pathologist has described the precise internal wound track, exact direction of the shot beyond the overall circumstances of a rooftop shot to the neck, or a pinpoint location of every fragment.Secondary accounts (including from security personnel who treated Kirk and hospital staff) have circulated claims of no visible exit wound, fragmentation upon striking cervical vertebrae, and recovery of material in the neck area. However, these are not the official, publicly released ME findings.The complete ME’s report is confidential under Utah statute (limited to authorized parties such as next of kin, law enforcement, and counsel) and was not published in open court. In the preliminary hearing, presentation of the medical evidence wassecond-hand.And so, I await full cross-examination of the medical examiner.The murder of Charlie Kirk is yet another example of state authorities failing to clarify things, which necessarily results in confusion and speculation.I am very familiar with this state of affairs, as I have written two works of true crime (Cold a Long TimeandThe Meaning of Malice) in which I performed the forensic investigations (with the assistance of independent forensic experts) that the medical examiners failed to conduct.In both books, I showed how the acting medical examiners either deliberately concealed the true cause of death, or they overlooked key pieces of evidence that could have solved the crimes.I presented the forensic evidence forCold a Long Timeon my website (Duncan MacPherson’s Death: Forensics) and I made a short documentary film about my forensic investigation forThe Meaning of Malice(see below). Both are case studies of why we should NOT put blind faith in medical examiners, who are not only fallible, but also often subjected to political pressure and financial temptation.As we have seen in our current era of COVID-19 vaccine injuries, almost the entire medical examiner profession has turned a blind eye to deaths caused by the vaccine.Author’s Note: If you found this post interesting, PLEASE like it and share it with your friends, and please become a paid subscriber to the Focal Points. Performing this kind of investigative work requires a lot of time, energy, and money.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "From the outset, the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner has been strangely unhelpful in clarifying the murder of Charlie Kirk.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/medical-examiners-wonky-conduct-in", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-03", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Postscript: The Microphone Under Charlie Kirk's Shirt", "content": "I always read and reflect on reader comments, and though time doesn’t allow me to comment on most of them, I alwaysthinkabout them.I would like to take a few minutes to respond to some of the comments on my post today (The Microphone Under Charlie Kirk’s Shirt).For months I have refrained from commenting on the “microphone theory”— despite my awareness of it — because I have perceived it to be too speculative.The only reason why I commented on it today was because several readers requested that I state my opinion about it.For over twenty years I have studied and written about remarkable violent crimes that have struck me as inadequately explained by the authorities. In all these cases, the authorities made representations about the crimes that struck me as incongruous with the observable elements of the crimes.On the face of it, the murder of Charlie Kirk, and the official explanation of it, strike me as very odd. This has prompted me to ask questions that should—it seems to me—be asked by the accused’s defense attorneys.And so I presented these questions in my post today. IF there are plausible answers to these questions, then let them be answered in court. The whole point of a trial is examine the evidence that the accused is guilty of committing the crime and also to evaluate circumstances and facts that may be exculpating or point to a different culprit. We the People have an interest in maintaining the correct judicial process, even if we believe in the guilt of the accused before the trial is conducted.I’ll conclude by offering an account of how I view public affairs as a citizen of the United States, and as an author who investigates the increasingly strange and disordered public life of this Republic.1). I do NOT blindly trust the men who occupy positions of federal and state authorities to tell us the truth aboutanything. I don’t care what the particular subject matter happens to be, or the political party of the politician or agent who is making the representations.2). If federal and state authorities make representations that square with my knowledge and perception of reality, I won’t waste my time questioning them. However, if they make statements that strike me as implausible, Iwillquestion their assertions.3). Though I believe I am a good citizen and am grateful to be an American, my primary interest isin ascertaining and reporting reality, NOT in maintaining an affiliation or protecting the interests of a political party, region, fraternity, club, or religious congregation.4). I am an individualist and therefore regard all group identities and interest groups with the suspicion that they do reliably act for the common good, but more often in  the interest of their group.5). I prefer to be alone than to conform to the pressures of a group or tribal identity.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Responding to reader comments", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/postscript-the-microphone-under-charlie", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-05", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "RFK: \"Lyme Disease Almost Certainly Came from These [Gain-of Function] Experiments\"", "content": "On July 28, 2026, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a government-wide policy of ending federal funding for dangerous gain-of-function (DGOF) research.A few readers—including a couple of angry readers—have asked me to explain why Kennedy just stated on Fox News that Lyme disease “almost certainty came from these [Gain-of-Function] experiments.”Some readers may recall that, last November, in a conversation on the PBD Podcast, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary stated that “with a high degree of probability,” Lyme disease came from the U.S. biodefense “Lab 257 on Plum Island just outside of Connecticut.”Makary elaborated that the pathogenic agent was developed primarily by the German veterinarian and animal virus specialist, Dr. Erich Traub, who previously conducted biological warfare research for Nazi Germany and was brought to the United States after the war as part of Operation Paperclip to acquire German scientific research while denying it to the Soviets.Dr. Erich TraubAs evidence, Makary cited the published literature on the U.S. bioweapons program to develop insects and arachnids as disease vectors. He specifically mentioned the book,Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons,by Kris Newby.I was already familiar with the theory that the causative agent of Lyme disease—a spiral-shaped bacteria (spirochetes) from the Borrelia genus, primarilyBorrelia burgdorferi—came out of Lab 257 on Plum Island. The bacteria was first isolated and described in 1982 by Wilhelm Burgdorfer, a Swiss-American medical entomologist who worked at NIAID.The first cluster of Lyme disease cases in humans was identified in 1975 in Old Lyme, Connecticut, after two mothers noticed their children's unusual arthritis symptoms.I hadn’t given this theory much thought until I saw the reflexive, widespread, and lockstep proclamations that Dr. Makary’s statement is a “debunked conspiracy theory.”Whenever I hear loud cries that a statement is a “conspiracy theory!” I am inclined to believe that he who is making the statement is on target. He may not know all of the particulars, and he may be wrong about certain details, but he is likely barking up the right tree.Surveying the literature on the internet and doing an AI search yields afeeble“debunking” of this “conspiracy theory”—namely, that afterBorrelia burgdorferiwas isolated in 1982, researchers found evidence that the bacteria had been circulating for thousands of years in animals and humans.This argument is so childish and flimsy that only a hack propagandist would write it.To assert that the bacteria was around long before Dr. Erich Traub served as a consultant at the U.S. biodefense lab on Plum Island in the 1950sin no way debunks the theory.The bacteria readily infects lab monkeys, especially rhesus macaques, which develop symptoms similar to humans, including arthritis, carditis, and neurological issues.It is therefore a perfectly plausible theory that Traub et al. conductedserial passage experimentsofBorrelia burgdorferion rhesus macaques to make it more virulent to primates.This is consistent with the OspC type A genotype ofBorrelia burgdorferibeing linked to more severe inflammation and arthritis in Lyme disease cases. This isthe genotype that is prevalent in the Northeast, starting around Connecticut, characterized by specific, conserved amino acid sequences in its variable loop regions, making it a key marker for pathogenic strains.The entire biodefense industry justifies the billions of dollars it receives from the US government by claiming that nature—or specific human habitations in the world such as China—are constantly producing new bacteria and viruses against which the human organism is defenseless.Infectious diseases posed an enormous problem for human civilization between 1347 and 1900—a period of rapid global exploration, trade, population growth and urbanization accompanied by appalling hygienic conditions and nutrition among the urban poor. However, living standards in the modern, industrialized nations of the West are not comparable to those that prevailed prior to 1900.\\Consider that London—the largest and wealthiest country in the world during the 19th century—didn’t even have a functioning sewer system until the 1880s.Because nature isn’t producing the pathogens that are the justification of the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex and its bloated funding, biodefense/bioweapons lab scientists and vaccine developers have been obliged to create pathogens such asvirulentBorrelia burgdorferi, human transmissible H5N1, and SARS-CoV-2.Author’s Note: If you found this post interesting and informative, please become a paid Subscriber to our newsletter. For just $5.00 per month, you can help us to make a living at the business of researching and reporting the nefarious activities of creepy lab scientists, many of whom will ignore Secretary Kennedy’s prohibition of their research.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Reviewing the evidence that Lyme disease emerged from US biodefense Lab 257 on Plum Island", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/rfk-lyme-disease-almost-certainly", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-04", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Microphone Under Charlie Kirk's T-Shirt", "content": "Several readers of my post yesterday (Medical Examiner’s Wonky Conduct in Tyler Robinson Trial)have asked me what I think of the theory that Charlie Kirk’s fatal neck wound was inflicted by the microphone or some other audio recording device that appears to be fixed to the upper left side (facing Kirk) of Kirk’s chest.I was already familiar with the theory that it wasthis devicethat inflicted Kirk’s fatal neck wound.Upon hearing this theory, I naturally thought of the exploding pagers that were clandestinely deployed on Hezbollah agents on September 17-18, 2024.Benjamin Netanyahu seems to have alluded to these exploding pagers when he gifted President Trump agold-plated pageron February 4, 2025.In this incident, the pager batteries were packed with six grams of military grade high explosive that created a high energy blast, killing or maiming the Hezbollah agents who wore the pagers and anyone else who happened to be around them at the time they exploded.Initially, it seemed to me that, IF Charlie Kirk was equipped with a similar exploding device, it would have produced an explosive blast radiating from the device. IF it were equipped with a lens device to direct the blast, it would—it seemed to me—injure the chest area to which the device was fixed, andnotproduce the wound that appears on Kirk’s neck.Nevertheless, my reader comments yesterday prompted me to examine this theory and my initial assumptions about it.Coincidentally, last night I got a last-minute invitation to join an old friend for dinner who happens to be a collector of all kinds of military grade weapons.“Youshouldtake a closer look at the microphone,” he advised me. “I too think it looks pretty weird.”This morning I asked a professional audio and video technician to look at a video of Charlie Kirk being shot.He made the following observations:1). There appears to be an unusually bulky device fixed to the left side (facing Charlie) of his upper chest.2). It seems odd that this device appears to be fixed — probably taped to his chest —on the left sideand angling up in a diagonal direction instead of being fixed in the middle of his chest in vertical position, with the microphone receiver directly under his mouth.3). Advancing the video frame by frame, the first thing that moves is thet-shirt, which seems to billow upbeforethe wound on the neck appears.To see what the audio-video technician is referring to, watch the video below. Place it in full screen mode and advance the timer frame by frame.CAUTION: The video is very upsetting to watch, soviewer discretionis strongly advised.From working with forensic scientists on my previous books, I have learned to beextremely cautiousin my interpretations of photo, video, and audio recordings. Thus, I want to emphasize that I am NOT drawing any conclusions from watching this video.However, reviewing this video prompts me to formulate the followingtheorythatshouldbe carefully evaluated by Tyler Robinson’s defense attorneys. I will pose the theory in the form of the following questions.Question 1: Is it possible that the purported audio-recording device fixed to Kirk’s upper chest was fashioned into agun-like devicethat could fire a small projectile a few inches with enough velocity to pierce the carotid artery and jugular vein on the right side (facing Kirk) of his neck?Question 2: Can the prosecutorrule outthis possibility? If so, by what means?Question 3: Was the device fixed to Kirk’s chest immediately presented to law enforcement for forensic examination with a documented chain of custody? If so, how exactly was the chain of custody documented?Question 4: Was proper first aid applied in an attempt to staunch the massively bleeding wound on Kirk’s neck?Question 5: How much time elapsed between Kirk sustaining the neck injury and being examined by an independent medical doctor with sufficient training to analyze the wound and form an opinion about what caused it?Question 6: Was Kirk still alive at the time his security team placed him in the backseat of the suburban?Question 7: If so, at what time did Kirk die? Was he dead on arrival at the hospital?Question 8: Who, apart from the Medical Examiner (who did NOT appear at the preliminary hearing) conducted a full examination of the wound? Did a doctor at the hospital document the characteristics of the wound?I ask these questions because they pertain to another (rather diabolical thought) that I had while contemplating this theory — namely, IF the microphone was indeed fashioned into a gun-like device, it wasn’t necessary for this device to kill Kirk, only to induce the spectacle of heavy bleeding from his neck.IF the device failed to kill Kirk, he could have been allowed to bleed out or additionally suffocated in the suburban before it reached the hospital.IF I were orchestrating this crime with a gun-like device fixed to Kirk’s upper chest and pointed at his throat, I would consider diverting attention from the true murder weapon by having a diversionary actor fire a rifle at the same time from the roof of the Losee student center, provided the rooftop wasn’t secured.With the use of radio or hand signals visible through a telescopic sight, the shooter could time the shot to coincide with the microphone-gun firing. The shooter could fire either a blank cartridge or a loaded cartridge at a high elevation so that the bullet would fly over the crowd and land on Utah Lake 1.5 miles to the west.And indeed, upon closer analysis of the audio track, I believe I hear an initial bang that sounds like it is propagated near Kirk, instantly followed by what sounds like a heavy caliber gunshot—not thereportof a supersonic bullet breaking the sound barrier, but the shot itself—fired in the direction of the recording microphone.IF I am hearing what I think I am hearing, it is consistent with a rifle cartridge discharging a fraction of a second later from a position in the open air over a hundred yards away.Because the shooter would play the role of a diversionary actor andnotthe killer, he could be any impressionable fruitcake young man who could be manipulated—as distinct from a trained assassin whose identity would raise red flags if he were caught.In addition to serving as a diversionary actor, the impressionable young man could, if caught, serve as apatsy.If I were Tyler Robinson’s defense attorney, I would consider that something along the following lines happened to my client.—Robinson was somehow persuaded to participate NOT as the killer, but as a diversionary actor who received assurances that he would escape.—Was toldnotto bring his cell phone with him onto the roof because his cell phone position could be subsequently pinpointed if he later fell under suspicion.—Was told to leave his cell phone at a designated place to serve as his alibi for a designated period of time before, during, and after the murder.—His cell phone was used by another actor to send incriminating text messages to his intimate friend after the murder was perpetrated.Again, I am NOTconcludingthat this is what happened. I am merely proposing that defense counsel should consider that Tyler Robinson was in some way manipulated to participate as adiversionary actorand then framed for the actual murder.I present these reflections as a starting point for additional analysis and discussion. Please let me know what you think in the comments, and please like and share this post with your friends.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Examining the theory that the device fixed to Kirk's upper chest was weaponized.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-microphone-under-charlie-kirks", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-04", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Prescription Is Freedom", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPlease enjoy this long-format interview I had withNathan Fitzsimmons,Director of Operations, The Bitcoin Mentor.Nathan is a decade-long advocate for sound money, specializing in Austrian Economics and Libertarian Philosophy. Since 2007, he has been working in medical research, but after falling deep down the Bitcoin rabbit hole in 2020, he’s pivoted to educating others on Bitcoin, the importance of self-custody, and best practices for security. With an academic background in Business, Biology, Philosophy, and Computer Science, he is uniquely equipped to communicate the complexities of the Bitcoin ecosystem to a wide audience.“I save in bitcoin to provide a more abundant future for my family. I educate people about bitcoin to build a more prosperous community. Reach out, let’s chat, so you can do the same.”Bitcoin processes roughly 1–2% of global financial transactions and its market capitalization currently sits at approximately 3–4% of US GDP, but growing at a pace that terrifies central planners.I see the Bitcoin community as a major disruptor, similar to the work done at the McCullough Foundation which has exceeded advancements from the medical establishment during the pandemic years.  Please donate to theMcCullough Foundationto keep our work alive in bringing the world critical insights and medical truth.Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough Foundation", "summary": "Dr. Peter McCullough and Nathan Fitzsimmons on breaking the twin monopolies of medicine and money — and why sovereignty is the only cure.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-prescription-is-freedom", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-04", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "“I Plead the Fifth, They Plead Allegiance” — Democrats Shower Fauci With Praise While He Hides Behind the Fifth", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHMany have said the most shocking revelation from the July 29, 2026 US Senate HSGAC examination of Dr Anthony Fauci was the obvious political theatre by democratic senators who overlooked Fauci’s diary, pardon, and refusal to answer questions and gushed praise on the disgraced bureaucrat.  Dr McCullough gave reaction onJust the News, Real America’s Voicejust hours after the hearing.📋 The SceneAnthony Fauci appeared before the Senate, flanked by heavy security, trembling and visibly shaken — body language that Dr. McCullough described as“guilt with a capital G.”Over the course of the hearing, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times, refusing to answer questions about:The COVID-19 response he orchestratedHis publicly-accessible government diary revealing private beliefs that directly contradicted his public pronouncementsThe preemptive 10-year pardon shielding him from accountabilityThe origins of the pandemic and his role in shaping the narrativeThis is the same man who once declared:“If you question the science, you question me.”Now, when finally questioned under oath, he had nothing to say.🏛️ The Political ChasmThe Republican InterrogatorsSenatorsRand Paul,Ron Johnson,Bernie Moreno, andJosh Hawleycame prepared. Johnson brought roughly six inches of studies demonstrating ivermectin’s efficacy — including the ICON study from Florida showing over 50% reduction in mortality for acute COVID-19. They pressed on:Why hospitals continued administering remdesivir against WHO guidance (the WHO said in November 2020:do not use it)Why patients had to hire attorneys just to force hospitals to administer ivermectinWhy shared decision-making and patient autonomy were discardedHow Fauci manipulated media coverage while undermining the Trump White House Task ForceMcCullough’s assessment:“Our Republican standards for truth really held up strong.”The Democrat Absolution CeremonyThis is where the transcript paints a damning picture — though the document doesn’t provide verbatim quotes from every Democrat senator, McCullough’s reaction is unambiguous:“I was shocked that the Democrats, instead of asking questions and wanting to learn about what happened through the pandemic, what Fauci knew — instead, they just heaped praise on him.”The Democrats treated a man who:Left his diary on government servers for years, revealing he privately believed things he publicly deniedOrchestrated policies that McCullough argues led to deaths from both COVID illness AND the vaccinesSpent the pandemic in self-aggrandizement — applying for cash prizes, celebrating media appearances, expressingzero concernfor actual patientsNever treated a single patient during the entire crisisSenator Andy Kimof New Jersey literally read Teddy Roosevelt’s“Man in the Arena”speech to praise Fauci — the same Fauci who just invoked the Fifth Amendment over a hundred times rather than answer for his pandemic decisions.The “man in the arena” speech is about the person whodares greatly, whostrives valiantly, whospends himself in a worthy cause. Roosevelt wrote it to honor those who step into the fray and risk failure in pursuit of something meaningful.Kim applied it to a bureaucrat who:Refused to answer a single substantive questionHid behind a preemptive pardon from BidenLeft a diary on government servers revealing he privately believed things he publicly deniedNever treated a single COVID patient while amassing media appearances and receiving cash prizes at taxpayers expenseThe irony is almost too perfect. The speech Kim read is aboutshowing up and being accountable— the exact opposite of what Fauci did. It was pure political theater, designed to reframe cowardice as courage and evasion as persecution. Kim wasn’t honoring a man in the arena. He was eulogizing the very concept of accountability that has been applied to Dr McCullough and the small group of brave doctors who stood in the arena, risked their lives, and treated patients early at home to prevent hospitalization and death.🔍 The Diary: A Window Into DuplicityFauci’s diary wasn’t leaked or stolen —he left it on government servers, essentially public, for years. When finally discovered, it revealed:Private musings that contradicted his public statementsKnowledge that the scientists he’d later ask to sign the “natural origins” letter didn’t believe what they were writingAn obsessive focus on media manipulation and personal accolades rather than patient welfareMcCullough’s verdict:“This is despicable.”He contrasted Fauci’s behavior with his own during the pandemic — hundreds of national TV appearances while simultaneously treating patients, developing protocols, and ultimately founding The Wellness Company to provide honest medical guidance.💊 Ivermectin: The Treatment They Knew WorkedSenator Johnson’s stack of studies made the case that’s now undeniable: ivermectin was safe, effective, and deliberately suppressed. Key points:The ICON study demonstrated over 50% mortality reductionPatients were forced to obtain legal representation just to access a FDA-approved medicationEven with court orders, some hospital physicians still refusedThe medical establishment looked to Fauci and placed institutional loyalty above the Hippocratic OathMcCullough notes the public is finally waking up — not just to ivermectin for infectious disease, but to its off-label anti-neoplastic (anti-cancer) properties as well.🧪 The One Real Victory: Gain-of-Function Research TerminatedAmid the Fauci spectacle, the Trump administration formally ended gain-of-function research the night before the hearing. McCullough called it“very important”but stressed it needs to go beyond just government funding —allsuch research must end:“It’s like having mad scientists trying to create nuclear bombs in academic laboratories. We can’t have it.”All experts now agree: if another pandemic emerges, it will come from an academic biolab — just like the Wuhan Institute of Virology.🏥 The Unfinished Business: Hospital AccountabilityMcCullough emphasized that the next frontier is dragging hospital CEOs and chief medical officers before Congress to answer:Why they continued using remdesivir against explicit WHO guidance — and still use it todayWhy patient and family wishes were systematically ignoredWhy shared decision-making was abandoned in favor of coercive protocolsHow they plan to win back public trust after, as McCullough put it,failing miserably through the pandemic🎯 The Bottom LineThe Democrats’ performance at this hearing wasn’t just partisan loyalty — it was a declaration that institutional power, once wielded, is beyond reproach. Fauci could plead the Fifth 111 times, leave his duplicitous diary on a government server, accept a preemptive pardon, and still receive standing ovations from one half of the political class.The message is clear: accountability is for people without the right party affiliation. For everyone else, there’s always the Fifth Amendment — and a room full of Democrats ready to call you a hero for using it.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.SharePlease subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpoints", "summary": "When a Disgraced Bureaucrat Becomes a Martyr for the Party of “Science”", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/i-plead-the-fifth-they-plead-allegiance", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-05", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Why Do Politicians Overreach with War?", "content": "With Ukraine continually striking Russian refineries, I figured it was just a matter of time before Russia responded with hypersonic missiles. Last night, several targets in Kiev were hit and not a single Russian missile was intercepted.This news comes along with reports that theUS is running out of interceptor missilesas President Trump continues to flounder around in his moronic war with Iran.History is full of emperors, kings, and presidents who chose to throw away peace and prosperity with the roll of military dice. The following are just a few of the cases that came to mind over morning coffee.Alexander the Great(reigned 336–323 BC) conquered the Persian Empire with extraordinary speed and tactical brilliance, but continued eastward into India and Central Asia long after the core objective was secured. Supply lines stretched across thousands of miles; his army mutinied at the Hyphasis River; andhis death left an ungovernable empire that fragmented almost immediately among the Diadochi.The pursuit of universal dominion outran administrative capacity and the loyalty of exhausted troops.Trajan(reigned 98–117 AD) pushed Rome’s frontiers to their greatest extent by conquering Dacia and briefly occupying Mesopotamia. The eastern campaigns yielded prestige and treasure but created indefensible salients. Within years of his death,Hadrian abandoned most of the Mesopotamian gains, recognizing that the empire lacked the manpower and resources to hold them against Parthian recovery and internal strain.Charles V(Holy Roman Emperor 1519–1556) inherited vast Habsburg territories and fought almost continuously against France, the Ottomans, German Protestants, and rebellious subjects. The sheer geographic dispersion of his domains—Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Austria, and the Americas—made simultaneous defense impossible.Constant warfare bankrupted the Spanish treasury and left his successor, Philip II, with an overextended and debt-ridden inheritance.Lord George Germain, British Secretary of State for the American Department during the Revolutionary War, directed strategy from London with insufficient grasp of colonial geography, logistics, and political realities. Orders for the 1777 Saratoga campaign were poorly coordinated; Burgoyne’s advance from Canada was left unsupported.The resulting British defeat encouraged French intervention and turned a manageable colonial revolt into a global war Britain ultimately lost.Napoleon(Emperor 1804–1814/15) repeatedly overreached after early victories.The 1812 invasion of Russia ignored distance, climate, and Russian scorched-earth tactics; the Grande Armée disintegrated. Subsequent campaigns in Germany and the Hundred Days further depleted French manpower and invited the Sixth Coalition to finish him. Ambition for continental hegemony exceeded France’s demographic and industrial base.Leopold Berchtold, Austro-Hungarian foreign minister in 1914, responded to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by issuing an intentionally unacceptable ultimatum to Serbia and securing German backing for war.The gamble assumed a short, localized conflict that would restore Habsburg prestige. Instead it triggered the alliance system, producing a multi-front war that destroyed the Dual Monarchy.Adolf Hitler(German Chancellor 1933-1945) decision to invade the Soviet Union in 1941 (Operation Barbarossa), while still fighting Britain and later declaring war on the United States, constitutes the classic modern case of strategic overreach. Ideological goals of Lebensraum and racial conquest ignored logistical realities, winter conditions, and the vast depth of Soviet territory.The resulting two-front war, combined with the earlier failure to neutralize Britain, doomed the Third Reich.Young German prisoners of war captured during retreat from Moscow, 1942Lyndon B. Johnson(US President 1963-1969) escalated US involvement in Vietnam after Gulf of Tonkin incidents of 1964,, thereby rising U.S. troop levels from 23,000 in 1964 to more than 500,000 by 1968. American forces conducted large-scale search-and-destroy operations, intensive aerial bombing of the North (Operation Rolling Thunder), and efforts to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The goal was attrition—to inflict such heavy losses on the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong that Hanoi would abandon its campaign to reunify the country under communist rule.The US did not prevail and hastily abandoned Vietnam in 1975.George W. Bush(US President 2001-2009) decision to invade Iraq in 2003, after the relatively successful Afghanistan campaign, rested on flawed intelligence about weapons of mass destruction and optimistic assumptions about post-invasion stability.The occupation stretched American forces, generated a prolonged insurgency, empowered regional rivals, and consumed resources that might otherwise have focused on the original Afghan theater or homeland security. The long-term strategic costs far exceeded the initial military success.US hastily abandons Afghanistan to Taliban in Aug. 2021 after 20 year occupationDonald Trump(US President, 2017-2021 and 2025 to today) attacked Iran on February 28, 2026 and is now in the 6th month of what was initially proclaimed to be a 4-week war to get rid of  “a nuclear program” that was “obliterated” in 2025.In each case the pattern is similar: the conviction of military dominance encouraged expansion beyond the point where political will, logistics, alliances, or domestic resources could sustain the effort. Overreach squandered advantage and resulted in significant costs and lasting liability.It’s an astonishing thing that so many leaders in history have ignored the disasters of overreach in the past. At an event at the German Bundestag this summer, I fell into a conversation with a military historian about Germany’s current collision course with Russia. I asked him if the current German government is aware of the disasters of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 and Hitler’s invasion of Russia in 1941.“Acutely,” he replied, “just at the German general staff was acutely aware of Napoleon’s disastrous 1812 invasion.”Why do the vainglorious men who ascend to political power persistently believe that they needn’t heed the lessons of history and geography? Why do they embrace the irrational belief that “this time it’s different?”As someone who is very mindful of what history teaches us — especially the primary lesson that coercive power is inherently limited —I find this recurring pattern perplexing in the extreme.Please let me know what you think in the comments.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "History is full of emperors, kings, and presidents who chose to throw away peace and prosperity with the roll of military dice.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/why-do-politicians-overreach-with", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-05", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING: Criminal Referral Requests Sent to All 50 State Attorneys General Seek Prosecutions of Fauci and Top Public-Health Officials", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHIn a sweeping nationwide criminal-accountability campaign, criminal referral requests have been sent to the attorneys general of all 50 states seeking investigations and prosecutions of Anthony Fauci and other top public-health officials for their roles in the “COVID Criminal Enterprise.”The 50-state campaign was launched by Vires Law Group and Florida gubernatorial candidate Rachel Rodriguez through the Federal Accountability Freedom Operation. It represents the culmination of years of victim collection, witness testimony, legal analysis, and evidence gathering tied to COVID-era hospital policies and treatment protocols.The requests cite potential offenses including murder, terrorism, racketeering, manslaughter, human trafficking, elder abuse, false imprisonment, kidnapping, aggravated assault, battery, and reckless conduct. They call on state prosecutors to examine senior public-health officials, hospital administrators, healthcare providers, and institutions accused of participating in policies that caused preventable deaths and serious injuries.The Officials NamedThe individuals identified for investigation include Anthony Fauci, Cliff Lane, David Morens, Francis Collins, Deborah Birx, Rochelle Walensky, Stephen Hahn, Janet Woodcock, Rick Bright, Peter Hotez, Peter Daszak, Ralph Baric, and Christine Grady.Hospital administrators and healthcare providers are also named as potential subjects of investigation for implementing the policies and protocols at the center of the allegations.The central legal argument is that senior officials cannot escape scrutiny simply because many of the disputed policies were carried out by hospitals and medical personnel further down the chain. The requests ask prosecutors to examine who designed the policies, who enforced them, who benefited financially, and who was harmed.A Case Built Around VictimsThe nationwide action is rooted in testimony from families who say their loved ones entered hospitals seeking care and were instead isolated, denied requested treatment, subjected to rigid protocols, and ultimately killed or seriously harmed.The materials collected include identified victims, family statements, witness information, legal briefs, sworn declarations, financial records, and testimony from medical professionals and whistleblowers.One major victim filing includes 75 identified patients and 31 written statements from surviving family members. More than 40 additional victims came forward after the original effort began, expanding the body of evidence and testimony available to investigators.These families describe a recurring pattern: patients separated from loved ones, denied access to advocates, prevented from receiving requested medications, pressured into unwanted interventions, and placed on standardized protocols despite individual medical concerns.What Happened Inside HospitalsThe filings describe a top-down system in which federal health agencies shaped COVID policy, hospital systems enforced it, and physicians and patients lost control over individualized medical decisions.They allege that hospitals received financial incentives connected to COVID diagnoses, admissions, treatments, and institutional compliance. At the same time, patients were denied meaningful informed consent and physicians who challenged the protocols faced retaliation, termination, or threats against their licenses.The materials specifically raise concerns about the use of remdesivir, the suppression of alternative treatments, the isolation of patients from family members, and the denial of requested care.A sworn declaration from a former trauma and critical-care surgeon describes retaliation against dissenting physicians, manipulation of COVID diagnoses and death records, denial of care to unvaccinated patients, suppression of alternative treatments, and intense institutional pressure tied to federal requirements and hospital finances.The Financial Incentive StructureThe requests place major emphasis on the financial system surrounding COVID hospital care.They allege that hospitals and administrators received financial benefits for following standardized COVID protocols while physicians were discouraged from using individualized treatment plans. The legal theory is that these incentives helped create a system in which financial and institutional interests took priority over patient autonomy and survival.The evidence packages include material intended to help prosecutors examine the relationship between government policy, hospital reimbursement, protocol enforcement, and patient outcomes.Why the States MatterThe strategy is centered on state and county prosecution because the deaths, injuries, and alleged unlawful acts occurred within state jurisdictions.State prosecutors have authority over crimes including homicide, manslaughter, abuse, kidnapping, false imprisonment, human trafficking, terrorism, and racketeering. The requests argue that federal titles, former government positions, and federal pardons do not automatically prevent investigation of potential state crimes.Each attorney general is being asked to examine the evidence, identify victims and responsible parties within the state, interview witnesses and surviving family members, and pursue charges wherever the evidence supports criminal liability.A Nationwide Demand for AccountabilityThis is not a symbolic appeal or a generalized demand for answers. It is a coordinated legal campaign involving named individuals, identified victims, sworn testimony, state criminal statutes, and requests for prosecution across the entire country.For years, victims’ families have sought criminal investigations into the policies and protocols that caused the deaths of their loved ones.Their evidence has now been placed before authorities in all 50 states.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.", "summary": "The 50-state legal campaign cites murder, terrorism, racketeering, human trafficking, elder abuse, and other serious offenses tied to COVID-era hospital protocols and financial incentives.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-criminal-referral-requests-c3f", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-05", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "A Nation Perfectly Divided Over Anthony Fauci", "content": "It is not that I despise men. If I did I should have no right, and no reason, to try to govern. I know them to be vain, ignorant, greedy, and timorous, capable of almost anything for the sake of success, or for raising themselves in esteem (even in their own eyes), or simply for avoidance of suffering. I know, for I am like them, at least from time to time, or could have been.  . . .I see an objection to every effort toward ameliorating man’s condition on earth, namely that mankind is perhaps not worthy of such exertion. But I meet the objection easily enough: so long as Caligula’s dream remains impossible of fulfillment, and the entire human race is not reduced to a single head destined for the axe, we shall have to bear with humanity, keeping it within bounds but utilizing it to the utmost; our interest, in the best sense of the term, will be to serve it.—The Memoirs of Hadrian, Marguerite Yourcenar,Out for a walk this evening with one of my oldest friends, he asked (in a gentle and sincere way):“Why did those Republican Senators insist on humiliating Fauci in the Senate? Don’t you think it’s cruel and unbecoming to put a frail old man through a struggle session like that?”“Well,” I said, “In addition to wanting their questions answered for the Senate record, they believe—I suppose—that a Senate hearing with public shaming is the best that can be done in their legislative branch to bring Fauci tosome kindof justice”“Justice for what?” my friend asked. “What laws did he break?”I replied by asking my friend if he was aware of Fauci’s role in the lab creation and the fraudulent concealment of the origin of SARS-CoV-2. He confessed that he’d never heard anything about it, and wanted me to tell him about it.I relate this story not to criticize my old friend, of whom I am extremely fond. I mention the anecdote because I believe that he (who receives most of his information from theNew York Times)is representative of about half the country.While I have been preoccupied with this story since 2020, he’s never evenheard ofmost of it, nor had he heard of RFK, Jr.’s book,The Real Anthony Fauci. TheNew York Timesdid a thorough job of not mentioning it.The situation reminded me of a brief romance I had on the Greek island of Paros in the summer of 1993 with a charming girl from Glasgow, Scotland. She was great fun, always laughing, and always in a good mood, but her Glaswegian accent was so thick that I couldn’t understand half of what she said.Sometimes at dinner she would muse about something. I would nod along, smiling, pretending to understand, but would then be caught out as an imposter when she would suddenly ask, “What do you think?”“Uh, well, I think that I, uh, totally agree with you.”The great Viennese philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein famously pointed out that most arguments are between two people whothinkthey are speaking the same language, but are actually attributing different meaning and significance to the same statements.And so, it seems that to be human is, to a large degree, to be unable to arrive at a mutual understanding of the world with many of one’s fellow men and women. In matters that are important to us, we are often separated from others by a chasm of mutual incomprehension.As Hadrian pointed out, we must strivenotto be irritable and impatient, but to bear with humanity.I knew the Senate hearing would be gratifying for those who believe that Fauci is a villain and infuriating for those who believe he is saint.As I stated in a recent interview with Alex Newman, the existing documentary evidence is sufficient to prosecute Fauci in federal court. The Attorney General should challenge President Biden’s ridiculous preemptive pardon and get on with it.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Half the country saw a proud, dishonest man justly humbled; the other half saw an old and vulnerable man cruelly and distastefully humiliated.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/a-nation-perfectly-divided-over-anthony", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-06", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Will Anthony Fauci's Pardon Hold Strong?", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPlease enjoy this brief panel discussion where I am joined by two legal experts discussing the validity of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s preemptive pardon for potential crimes he committed for ten years.  Amir Beno is a former prosecutor and a constitutional law attorney and Grace Reilly is the host of Restoring America with Grace Reilly Podcast.Of, note on the ethics of Fauci using NIH resources to apply for and receive cash prizes during the pandemic, his wife, Christine Grady should be questioned.  She was the person responsible for breaches in NIH ethics during this time and technically would have either direct or have assigned oversight over her now disgraced husband.Dr Christine Grady was the chief bioethicist at the NIH Clinical Center — meaning she literally ran the ethics department for the nation's premier research hospital. Her husband, Anthony Fauci, was simultaneously raking in cash prizes during the pandemic, some approaching $1 million from foreign foundations. Rand Paul's committee released emails showing NIH staff — taxpayer-funded employees — helping assemble nomination packages and navigating ethics reviews for Fauci's awards. Grady's position created an obvious conflict: the chief bioethicist's spouse was enriching himself (and her) through prizes vetted by the very ethics apparatus she oversees.  She is currently enjoying a cushy job as senior advisor and professor at Georgetown.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident,McCullough Foundation", "summary": "NEWSMAX panel of experts McCullough, Beno, and Reilly weigh in", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/will-anthony-faucis-pardon-hold-strong", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-06", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING--Dr Anthony Fauci Only Third Physician in History Held in Contempt of Congress", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHIt is very rare for physicians to conceal information from Congress.  Most doctors who are called to testify give veracious statements to the best of their ability.  Fauci is only the second doctor to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights before Congress and only the third physician to be held in contempt.🏛️ Invoking the Right to Remain Silent🩺 Dr. Kevin O’Connor — July 2025Biden’s own White House physician. OnJuly 9, 2025, Dr. Kevin O’Connor appeared before the House Oversight Committee under subpoena for their investigation into Biden’s mental fitness during his presidency. He pled the Fifth and refused to answer questions — including whether he ever believed Biden was unfit for office and whether he was ever asked to lie about Biden’s health.His repeated line during the deposition:“I must respectfully decline to answer based on physician-patient privilege and the reliance of my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.”The committee had subpoenaed him after he declined a voluntary interview. His lawyer, David Schertler — who, incidentally,also represents Fauci— said O’Connor had “no choice” but to invoke the Fifth given the committee’s refusal to limit the scope of questioning. The deposition lasted about 20 minutes, with O’Connor sticking to his script the entire time.  There was no contempt vote and no consequences.🏛️ Held in Contempt of Congress⚕️ Dr. Edward Barsky (1947) — Physician by TrainingAnother case, though less direct:Dr. Edward Barsky, a surgeon, was convicted in 1947 under the criminal contempt statute (2 U.S.C. § 192) for refusing to produce subpoenaed documents to the House Un-American Activities Committee. He servedfive months in federal prison. New York then suspended his medical license for six months on the basis of that conviction — a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court (Barsky v. Board of Regents, 347 U.S. 442).The Supreme Court upheld the license suspension. Justice Black dissented, noting that Barsky’s offense involved “no moral turpitude whatever” and that he’d been exercising what he believed were constitutional rights. Sound familiar?🏛️ The Most Direct Precedent: Dr. Miles Jones (1999)In 1999, the House of Representatives heldDr. Miles Jones, a pathologist by training, in contempt of Congress. He ran a company calledOpening Linesthat procured and sold human fetal tissue to researchers. The House Commerce Committee, then chaired by Rep. Tom Bliley, subpoenaed him to testify about whether fetal body parts were being bought and sold in violation of federal law (42 U.S.C. § 289g-2(a), which makes it a felony to knowingly acquire or transfer human fetal tissue for valuable consideration).Undercover video had captured Jones admitting to making up to$40,000 in a single weekbuying and selling fetal tissue, and explicitly stating that “market forces” — not actual costs — determined his prices. He was served a lawful subpoena and simplyrefused to appear. The House adopted a contempt resolution, and the case was referred for prosecution.  What Jones was facing — The statute carried a sentence of no less than one month and no more than one year in prison, plus fines up to $100,000.The Speaker’s certification was delivered to the U.S. Attorney General, but the DOJ did not take up action.🔬 How Fauci’s Case DiffersA few things make Fauci’s situation unusual:The pardon complication.Biden’s preemptive pardon in January 2025 covers federal prosecutions from 2014–2025, but contempt of Congress occurringafterthat date falls outside its scope. Rand Paul explicitly noted this during the hearing. Fauci’s lawyer called the whole thing a “crude political stunt.”Fifth Amendment invocation.Fauci pled the Fifthover 100 timesduring his testimony last week. That’s his constitutional right, but it also means he gave the committee nothing. The committee’s position is straightforward: a witness who’s already received a blanket pardon can’t credibly claim fear of self-incrimination for matters covered by that pardon, yet he refused to answer anyway.Party-line vote.The Homeland Security Committee voted8-7along party lines. Democrats filed five motions to delay the vote, all of which failed on identical party-line splits.The full Senate hurdle.Normally, contempt resolutions go to the full Senate and require 60 votes. Republicans hold 53 seats. Rand Paul bypassed the full Senate vote procedure, calling it a waste of time — but that may create procedural challenges if the DOJ decides to prosecute.📊 The Big PictureContempt of Congress prosecutions are genuinely rare. Before Bannon and Navarro got convicted and jailed in 2024, the last successful contempt convictions were back in the 1980s. Congress has asserted its contempt power since1795, but actual prosecutions leading to jail time are few and far between.Whether the DOJ under the current administration pursues charges against Fauci remains an open question. The committee referral is one thing — actual prosecution is another matter entirely, and historically, the Justice Department has been reluctant to act on congressional contempt referrals, especially in politically charged cases.Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough FoundationFOCAL POINTS has partnered withAlterAIto defend your medical freedom. Subscribe toAlterAItoday and get a discount on unbiased and accurate AI!", "summary": "Implications of Fauci's action far more significant to Americans than his predecessors", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-dr-anthony-fauci-only-third", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-06", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Things Will Change Only When the People Learn to Recognize How Power Actually Works", "content": "For how we live is so far removed from how we ought to live, that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be done, will rather learn to bring about his own ruin than his preservation. —Machiavelli,The PrincePerusing reader comments to my post this morning,Can a State Attorney General Successfully Prosecute Anthony Fauci?,it appears that many readers somehow (by some miracle of misinterpretation) managed to interpret the post as me stating that a State Attorney General should not prosecute Anthony Fauci.The point of the post is not to elucidate whether a state AGshouldprosecute, but the reality that doing so will face enormous hurdles, and that the proper venue for prosecuting him is federal court.The comments reminded me of the above passage fromThe Princein which Machiavelli touched on a key element of his (perfectly accurate) understanding of human nature.We suffer enormously in life from our expectation that people—and especially politicians—be steadfast, faithful, and virtuous in their conduct. A better way to live is accept that people are self-serving, hungry for gain, and avoidant of principled conduct that comes at a personal cost or impediment to the gain they seek. This isn’t cynicism—it’s absolute realism. In my opinion, Machiavelli was not a wicked man, but one of the wisest men who has ever lived.The US government is NOT in the business of serving the interests of We the People. It IS in the business of protecting and advancing the interests of the powerful oligarchs—the great lords of this earth—that it serves and enriches.For a decade I was under the mistaken impression that Donald Trump had arrived a point in his life in which he genuinely wanted to serve and to protect “We the People”—that is, the working and middle classes of this country who are not represented by a lobby or interest group in Washington.Since he was reelected for his second term, he has revealed himself to be—without a doubt—what you might call the “Oligarchian Candidate” or the “Epstein Class Candidate.” The fact that the Democrats challenged him with the raving imbecile Kamala Harris should be regarded as strong circumstantial evidence that they are in on the act.Kamala played a key role in the “race to the bottom” drama that led us to believe that Donald Trump was ouronly hope. Now that he is in office for his second term, we are facing major wars on multiple fronts, a doubling of the federal money sent to the military-industrial complex, accelerating national debt, unqualified support for the Great Lords of Tech who are rolling out AI with reckless abandon, and still no removal of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines from the market.Anthony Fauci’sentire missionduring the pandemic was to serve as the midwife of bringing mRNA technology into use on a global scale. This was theentire pointof Operation Warp Speed in all of its wild extravagance.Until President Trump publicly revises his assessment of Warp Speed and declares that it was the work of an organized crime syndicate (of which Fauci was the public face), there is no way his administration could even consider bringing Fauci to justice.This is the way thingsare, not how theyshould be, and until people recognize this, they will remain confused about how the US government actually works.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "The naive public remains in the dark because it insists on viewing Washington as it should be, and not how it actually is.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/things-will-change-only-when-the", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-06", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "FDA APPROVES MODERNA’S FIRST-EVER mRNA FLU SHOT DESPITE 75.3% ADVERSE REACTION RATE", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHIn a dark day for MAHA, the FDA has approved Moderna’s mFLUSIVA for adults 50 and older, making it the first seasonal mRNA influenza injection authorized in the United States. Adults ages 50–64 received traditional approval, while adults 65 and older received accelerated approval based largely on antibody responses.TheFDA’s own briefing documentreveals that75.3% of senior mRNA-vaccine recipients experienced at least one solicited adverse reaction within seven days, compared with 49.3% of those receiving Fluzone High-Dose.Even more concerning,severe (Grade 3) systemic reactions occurred in 6.7% of mRNA recipients versus 1.7% with the traditional high-dose flu vaccine—nearly four times as frequently.Even worse, the pivotal efficacy trial containedno placebo group. Instead, Moderna compared mFLUSIVA against traditional flu vaccines.A novel mRNA injection produced adverse reactions in three out of four recipients, induced severe systemic reactions nearly four times as often as the traditional high-dose vaccine, lacked a placebo-controlled pivotal efficacy trial, and the FDA approved it anyway.Our regulatory agencies remain CAPTURED.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.", "summary": "According to the FDA briefing document, severe systemic reactions were 4× MORE COMMON with the mRNA flu shot than with the traditional flu shot.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/fda-approves-modernas-first-ever", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-06", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Can a State Attorney General Successfully Prosecute Anthony Fauci?", "content": "I woke up to a lot of texts and emails about Florida AG James Uthmeier’s announcement that he is launching a criminal probe into Anthony Fauci’s conduct. Instinctively, my first thought was that this is another species of the “Circus” component of the proverbial “Bread and Circus” means of distracting the plebs from the abuses of their ruling oligarchy.At the outset of this essay, I would like to reiterate my belief that Anthony Faucishouldbe prosecuted, and that federal court is the proper venue. In my recent interview with Alex Newman, I attempted to present my argument in the rhetorical style of a federal prosecutor’s summation of what I believe are the main elements of the crime. If the reader has not yet watched this interview, he will, I believe, find it compelling.A State Attorneys General has limited authority to prosecute Anthony Fauci for alleged state-law crimes allegedly committed during his tenure as NIAID director. State AG authority is subject to strict requirements of jurisdiction, a valid state offense, evidence, and the absence of Supremacy Clause immunity. This being the case, success in this matter faces substantial practical and legal hurdles.To be sure, Biden’s ridiculous “preemptive presidential pardon” covers only federal offenses and does not bar state prosecutions for distinct violations ofstate law.Under the dual-sovereignty doctrine, the same conduct can theoretically violate both federal and state law, allowing independent state action. Several state attorneys general (notably in Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana, with earlier interest from a broader group of Republican AGs) have publicly announced or joined investigations into possible state charges related to Fauci’s COVID-19 statements, funding decisions, or testimony (including depositions given to states). No charges have been filed as of the available information.State AGs possess standing to enforce their own criminal laws within the state’s territory. They cannot prosecute pure federal crimes such as lying to Congress under federal statutes.Any case requires identification of a specific state criminal statute (for example, perjury in a state deposition or proceeding, fraud, or other offenses under state law), admissible evidence of a violation, and personal jurisdiction over the defendant.Personal jurisdiction requires that the alleged offense occurred in the state or that the defendant has adequate minimum contacts with it.Purely federal policy advice or public statements originating from Washington, D.C., present significant jurisdictional challenges unless tied to concrete state-specific acts or harms that a court would recognize as establishing venue and jurisdiction.Even where a state offense and jurisdiction exist, federal officials enjoy Supremacy Clause immunity for actions that were authorized by federal law and “necessary and proper” to the performance of their official duties.This doctrine, rooted in the Supreme Court’s decision inIn re Neagle(1890) and subsequent case law, prevents states from using criminal prosecution to obstruct legitimate federal functions.Immunity is not absolute or blanket: it does not shield conduct outside the scope of federal duties, actions that violate federal law, or behavior that is unreasonable or egregious.Courts—often federal courts after removal of the case—decide these questions, frequently resolving factual disputes about reasonableness or authorization.Applied to Fauci, prosecution would require showing that particular acts constituted state crimes rather than discretionary federal public-health judgments, scientific communications, or congressional testimony.Allegations centered on disputed scientific advice, funding oversight, or statements about origins, masks, or lockdowns face high evidentiary and legal barriers.Claims of perjury based on “I do not recall” answers are notoriously difficult to sustain. Overcoming Supremacy Clause immunity would demand proof that the challenged conduct fell outside authorized federal responsibilities or was not necessary and proper—an uphill showing for actions taken in an official capacity during a purported national emergency.Procedural realities compound the difficulty: some state AGs lack unilateral charging authority and must coordinate with local prosecutors; any indictment could be removed to federal court; and statutes of limitations, evidentiary rules, and defense challenges would apply.To reiterate, I fear that all the hurly burly about Anthony Fauci in theForum Americanumis a distraction from the salient fact the Trump’s Attorney General isn’t doing it, and from the equally salient fact that Trump still touts the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines as one of the great achievements of his first term.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "I fear that Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier's publicized investigation of Anthony Fauci is a distraction from the fact the Trump's Attorney General isn't doing it.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/can-a-state-attorney-general-successfully", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-06", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING: SENATE COMMITTEE VOTES 8–5 TO HOLD ANTHONY FAUCI IN CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHIn a major victory, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted8–5to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress. The vote followed Fauci’s refusal to answer more than 100 questions while testifying under subpoena, repeatedly invoking the Fifth Amendment despite receiving a sweeping autopen pardon from President Biden.Committee Chairman Rand Paul intends to send the committee’s criminal contempt recommendation and legal brief directly to the Department of Justice. Paul is pursuing this route rather than allowing the case to be buried by a likely filibuster or failed 60-vote battle on the Senate floor. The referral is expected to be reviewed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.If convicted of contempt of Congress, Fauci could face between one month and one year in prison.Contempt of Congress is only one small aspect of Fauci’s illicit activities. He forced deadly mRNA shots on millions through illegal mandates, suppressed life-saving treatments such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, promoted lethal hospital protocols involving remdesivir and ventilators, imposed country-destroying lockdowns that devastated millions, oversaw the destruction of federal records, and funded gain-of-function experiments that contributed to the pandemic… before working to cover it up with the CIA.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.", "summary": "Rand Paul will send the criminal contempt recommendation directly to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-senate-committee-votes-85", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-06", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Unanswered Questions: Chris Johnson, Football, and ALS after COVID-19 Vaccination", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHAugust marked the return of NFL football.  On the very first Thursday night preseason game, former NFL superstar running back Chris Johnson was honored by the male TV announcers getting drenched in buckets of ice water marking a “cold plunge challenge.”  I was shocked to learn he is similar 38 former pre pandemic players and to patients I have examined who have developed rapidly progressiveamyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)after COVID-19 vaccination.The Sudden Decline of an Elite AthleteChris Johnson wasn’t just a running back — he wasCJ2K, the man who shattered the 2,000-yard rushing mark in 2009 and left defenders grasping at air with a blend of speed and acceleration that the NFL had rarely seen. Six straight seasons over 1,000 yards. A 4.24 40-yard dash. The kind of physical specimen that makes you question whether some humans are built from different blueprints entirely.That’s what makes what happened next so jarring.In December 2022, Johnson stood alongside fellow former Titans as a public face of the Tennessee Department of Health’s“Gear Up” campaign, urging communities to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and influenza. It was a straightforward public health partnership — former local heroes lending their credibility to a vaccination push. Johnson, by all appearances, was a healthy man in his late 30s doing what he believed was civic duty.  There is no record of Johnson contracting SARS-CoV-2.Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "A 4.24 forty, a COVID shot, and a body ravaged by neurodegeneration in a few short years", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/unanswered-questions-chris-johnson", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-08", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Those Who Distrust Government on Domestic Policy But Trust it in War", "content": "I’m getting a lot of feedback on my new book,Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions, that strikes me as somewhat paradoxical.Several readers have told me that they were with me 100% in my characterization of how the US government and its mainstream media lackeys incite fear of various domestic bogeymen to manipulate the American people.However, when it comes to my characterization of US government conduct and propaganda in the matter of waging foreign wars, I’m told (in somewhat angry terms) that I have completely lost the reader.I suppose this mental posture can be stated as follows:I do NOT trust the US government and its special interest pals when it comes to big domestic issues, but I DO trust the government’s when it comes to waging war on the Russians and Iranians.To put this idea in elemental terms:I do NOT trust the government when it comes to my domestic interests and concerns, but I DO trust the government when it comes to killing foreigners.This strikes me as a strange and paradoxical mental state. As our Founding Fathers—and especially Madison—repeatedly pointed out, it is precisely in the matter of waging war on foreign powers that “We the People” should be themostcautious, critical, and vigilant in our relationship with our government.On the other hand, as I lay out inChapter 3: War, the Father of Mind Viruses,the archaic human brain is primed with the greatest capacity for fear and loathing of dangerous foreign tribes. Throughout history, politicians have always invoked this fear as a mechanism of manipulating the people and distracting them from their servitude and exploitation by their own ruling elites. As Madison put it at the Constitutional Convention debate on June 29, 1787:Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended.I often think of Goya’s nightmarish paintings depicting the “Disasters of War” in the wake of Napoleon’s invasion of Spain in 1808. I find this one of Spanish men tied up and shot by a French firing squad especially poignant.Goya was in the same deeply troubled state of mind when he painted his horrifying “Saturn Devouring his Son”—a meditation on how power-hungry old men destroy the young.I suppose it is impossible for mankind to resist the siren song of war. Every now and then we get a politician like Ron Paul or his son Rand Paul who lashes himself to the mast of reason, but they are rare.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "\"Leake's new book is great on the bogeymen of COVID-19, racism, transgender, and climate change, but he really loses me when it comes to Ukraine and Iran.\"", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/those-who-distrust-government-on", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-08", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING--Gulf Coast's Flesh-Eating Bacteria Crisis Spirals Out of Control", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHMany followers readFocal Pointsevery day because we not only provide you late breaking news that could impact your life, but we also provide solutions.🦠 Vibrio Vulnificus Outbreak Report — Gulf Coast, August 2026📊 Current SituationA significant uptick inVibrio vulnificusinfections — the so-called “flesh-eating bacteria” — is unfolding across the Gulf Coast, withLouisiana and Floridareporting the most alarming numbers so far in 2026.Louisianahas confirmed9 cases and 5 deathsyear-to-date, with all nine patients requiring hospitalization. Every single case involved wound exposure to seawater, and all patients had underlying health conditions. This represents a dramatic deviation from the state’s 10-year average of roughly 7 cases and 1 fatality per year.Floridahas logged14 cases and 2 deathsacross 10 counties, with Palm Beach and Marion Counties each recording a fatality. Florida’s 2024 numbers — 82 cases and 19 deaths — were heavily driven by Hurricane Helene’s floodwaters pushing brackish water into populated areas, and while 2026 hasn’t yet approached those levels, the season runs through October.Alabamareported its first case in April, andConnecticutconfirmed an infection from out-of-state oysters as early as February — a reminder that contaminated shellfish travel far beyond the Gulf.V. vulnificuswas even detected this spring in coastal waters off Long Island, New York, reflecting a northward creep as ocean temperatures rise.🧫 Pathogen ProfileVibrio vulnificusis a gram-negative bacterium that thrives inwarm, brackish water— the mix of fresh and salt water found in bays, estuaries, and much of the Gulf coastline. It’s not contagious person-to-person, but it doesn’t need to be. Two routes of infection dominate:Wound exposure— An open cut, scrape, surgical wound, or even a new piercing contacts contaminated seawater, for example from sharp shells. The bacteria can triggernecrotizing fasciitis, destroying soft tissue with terrifying speed.Consumption— Raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters, deliver the bacteria directly into the GI tract, where it can rapidly progress to fulminant sepsis.The CFR (case fatality rate) hovers around20% — one in five infected people die, sometimeswithin 24–48 hoursof symptom onset. For those who survive, the cost is often extreme: limb amputation, massive tissue debridement, and prolonged ICU stays. The bacteria doesn’t “eat” flesh in the literal sense — it releases toxins that kill tissue and trigger a runaway inflammatory response — but the clinical effect is indistinguishable from the horror-movie nickname.⚠️ Risk Factors & DemographicsLDH and Florida DOH both emphasize thatunderlying conditions dramatically amplify risk:DiabetesLiver disease(especially cirrhosis or hepatitis)HIV/AIDSor other immunocompromised statesCanceror active chemotherapyThalassemiaand other hemoglobin disordersImmune-suppressing medications(steroids, biologics, transplant drugs)Medications that reduce stomach acid(PPIs, H2 blockers) — less gastric acid means more bacteria survive ingestionHealthy individuals with robust immune systems can still contractVibriobut rarely progress to the fulminant, life-threatening form if treated early at the first sign of infection.🌡️ Environmental DriversTwo factors are expanding the threat:Rising sea surface temperaturesextend the seasonal window (May–October is now the floor, not the ceiling) and push viableVibriohabitat further north. Detection in Long Island waters would have been unthinkable two decades ago.Hurricane floodingcreates massive brackish standing-water zones where bacteria proliferate and human contact increases. Florida’s 2024 post-Helene spike (82 cases) is the template for what happens when storm surge meets warm coastal waters.🧪 Symptoms & Clinical CourseThe hallmark isspeed. A small cut exposed at the beach on Saturday can mean the ICU by Sunday and the morgue by Monday. Time-to-treatment is everything.🛡️ Prevention (Conventional Guidance)Stay out of brackish/salt water with any open wound — cuts, scrapes, surgical incisions, tattoos, piercingsCover unavoidable wounds withwaterproofbandages before water contactWash wounds immediately and thoroughly with soap and clean water after exposureCook shellfish thoroughly — boil shucked oysters ≥3 minutes, fry at 375°F ≥10 minutesWear protective footwear and gloves in coastal waters and when handling shellfishKeep raw seafood and its juices strictly separated from cooked food💊 Treatment & Rational ReadinessStandard hospital treatment for advancedVibrio vulnificusinvolvesaggressive IV antibiotics(typically a combination of a third-generation cephalosporin like ceftazidime plus doxycycline, or a fluoroquinolone),surgical debridementof necrotic tissue, and intensive supportive care — fluids, pressors, and often amputation. The key isearly intervention. Delay kills.Here’s the uncomfortable reality the public health apparatus won’t say plainly: in a genuine emergency — on a remote beach vacation, all-day fishing trip, a hurricane knocks out infrastructure, you’re hours from the nearest functioning ER, or the hospital is overwhelmed — having the right tools on hand can give you at least a headstart on treatment.This is whereThe Wellness Company’s Medical Emergency Kitenters the picture. The kit includesprescription-only medications— among them ciprofloxacin and doxycycline, both have activity againstVibriospecies. It’s not a substitute for ICU-level care in the immunocompromised, and nobody should pretend otherwise, but it represents exactly the kind ofearly-intervention capabilitythat can stabilize a situation while you get to definitive care — or handle it outright if the infection is caught at the first sign of a wound turning angry.The kit ships with a step-by-step guidebook, covers 30+ common illnesses, and is prescribed by a licensed U.S. provider after a brief medical intake.  The cost undercuts a single ER visit by roughly an order of magnitude.  We call itRational Readiness, and the name fits: this isn’t doomsday cosplay, it’s acknowledging that the system buckles under pressure and that personal preparedness fills the gap institutional medicine leaves wide open.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpoints📚 ReferencesLouisiana Department of Health,Vibrio vulnificus Update, August 6, 2026Florida Department of Health,Vibrio Vulnificus Infections— confirmed case and death tables through August 1, 2026CBS News,Flesh-eating bacteria has killed 5 in Louisiana this year, officials say, Faris Tanyos, August 6, 2026Fox Weather,Flesh-eating bacteria tracker 2026: Cases in Florida, Alabama and Connecticut, July 27, 2026Fox News,Beachgoers warned after deadly ‘flesh-eating’ bacteria kills 5 in Southern state, August 7, 2026The Wellness Company,Medical Emergency Kitproduct page and medical kit information pages, accessed August 2026", "summary": "Five dead in Louisiana, two in Florida — and the worst months are still ahead. Here's what they're not telling you about surviving Vibrio.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-gulf-coasts-flesh-eating", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-08", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Rifle in the Photo Alleged to Be the Charlie Kirk Murder Weapon", "content": "As the anniversary of the murder of Charlie Kirk approaches, I have heard a lot of podcasters expressing a bit of confusion about the characteristics of the rifle that was allegedly found in a wooded area near the crime scene and that is the alleged murder weapon.The rifle purportedly found in a wooded area near the campus and photographed is a “sporterized” military Mauser action hunting rifle. Because of the popularity of the bolt action designed by Paul Mauser in 1895 and adopted by the German Imperial Army in 1898, this action has been incorporated into sporting rifles ever since. Shortly after Kirk’s murder, I found one at my local used gun dealer.The German Military Mauser 98 (Gewehr 98) was originally chambered for the 7.92X 57mm Mausercartridge. However, many sporterized versions were built to chamber the .30-06 Springfield cartridge.I have fired both cartridges, including WWII era German army cartridges of the former, which I found to produce a ferocious recoil—so ferocious that I wondered how German infantrymen managed to shoot it more than a few times without suffering shoulder trauma. It’s possible, I suppose, that the propellant becomes hotter with age.According to an informant the gun dealer considers reliable, the photograph of the rifle released to the press was NOT authorized by the FBI, and is NOT a forensic photograph, but a clandestine photo snapped by someone at the scene, hence its poor quality.The photograph of the rifle that is the alleged murder weapon is a “sporterized” Mauser action rifle with the following characteristics.Probably a stainless steel barrel.Apparently a grey synthetic stock, probably made by Bell and Carlson in the 1980s or 1990s. Alternatively, it could be a “sand-coated and painted” wooden stock.“Short Mag” scope. The slightly unusual back mounting—necessitated on this rifle because of the scope’s short length—would NOT necessarily affect the shooting performance, depending on shooter’s style.Barrel probably 22 or 24 inches long.A similar weapon in my local used store has a 24 inch barrel and weighs 9 pounds 4 ounces.The rifle in the photograph is a cheap weapon, probably worth around $400, but certainly capable of shooting accurately.NOT possible to rapidly break down this kind of rifle. Breaking it down requires unscrewing two screws to remove barrel from stock. Disassembling the rifle results in multiple parts coming loose.Does NOT appear that the figure videotaped on the roof and dropping from the roof is carrying this kind of rifle.However, it is possible that the figure on the roof tossed this kind of rifle from the roof onto the ground in a different placebeforehe was captured by the video camera.NOT clear what exactly the figure is toting when he jumps off the roof.Alleged Murder WeaponSame kind of rifleBack disassembly screwForward disassembly screwSubscribe nowShare", "summary": "Identifying the weapon featured in the photograph of a rifle allegedly found in a wooded area near the crime scene.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-rifle-in-the-photo-alleged-to", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-08", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING: Gates Foundation Funds First-Ever Creation of 16 Synthetic Viruses Using AI", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHFor the first time ever, scientists have used artificial intelligence to design complete viral genomes that were physically synthesized and turned into 16 new functional viruses capable of replicating. The work waspublished in Science, one of the world’s most prominent scientific journals. Disturbingly, the study’s senior author, Brian L. Hie, who conceived, designed, and supervised the research disclosed funding from the Gates Foundation.This was not a computer simulation. Researchers generated hundreds of AI-designed viral genomes, physically manufactured the DNA, assembled the genomes, introduced them into susceptibleE. coli, and recovered 16 functional bacteriophages that successfully propagated. The viruses infected bacteria, suppressed bacterial growth, produced progeny, and were grown into working viral stocks. The study represents the first generative design of complete genomes that were synthesized and experimentally shown to function as viable viruses.The scientists used Evo 1 and Evo 2, genomic large language models that operate essentially like LLMs for DNA. Instead of predicting the next word in a sentence, they predict the next nucleotide—A, C, G, or T. In other words, scientists are now using the same basic generative-AI paradigm behind systems such as ChatGPT to write entire viral genetic blueprints. Those digital sequences can then be converted into physical DNA and ultimately into functioning biological entities.The resulting viruses were not simply carbon copies of a known phage. The successful AI-designed genomes contained67 to 392 nucleotide changes relative to their closest known natural relatives, and 13 contained mutations that could not be identified in known natural sequences.These particular viruses were bacteriophages that infect bacteria, not humans, and human-infecting viruses were excluded from the relevant training data. That fact does not make the underlying capability harmless. The dangerous precedent is the demonstration that an AI model can generate a complete viral genome, that genome can be commercially synthesized, and the resulting genetic material can produce a virus capable of replication. The barrier separating digital AI output from an operational biological agent has now been crossed.The Gates Foundation funding attached to the senior scientist behind this project raises major concerns given that they alsofunded permanent quantum-dot microneedle patch “vaccines”that function as biological vaccine passports.Moreover, the Gates Foundationpreviouslygave $9.5 million to UW-Madisonand principal investigator Yoshihiro Kawaoka tomodify H5N1 viruses to preferentially recognize human-type receptorsand transmit efficiently in mammals.Bioterrorists no longer need to imagine a future in which AI can design pathogens from genetic code — the foundational capability has now been revealed in a major scientific journal. AI viral genome design technology should be halted before it falls into the hands of bioterrorists or other criminal actors.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.", "summary": "The barrier separating digital AI output from an operational biological agent has now been crossed.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-gates-foundation-funds-first", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-07", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Blood Test That Finds Cancer Before It Finds You", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHCancer cases are rising and almost all of us know someone with a new and advanced cancer.  This is happening for two reasons:  1) the baby boomers born 1948-1964 are coming of age for cancer diagnoses, 2) the COVID-19 pandemic where both the infection and vaccination may be driving “turbo-cancers.”  How can we get ahead of this?🩸 Multi-Cancer Early Detection: The Blood Test RevolutionCancer screening has been stuck in the Stone Age for decades — poke, prod, irradiate, and hope you catch something before it’s too late. MCED tests change that equation entirely. A single blood draw, analyzing cell-free DNA shed by tumors, can now screen for over 50 cancers simultaneously. Two companies dominate this emerging market:GRAIL(Galleri) andExact Sciences(Cancerguard).Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "As Diagnoses Surge, Multi-Cancer Early Detection Offers Something We Haven't Had in Decades — Hope", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-blood-test-that-finds-cancer", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-07", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Every Panic Has a Profiteer", "content": "Author’s Note: The author of our weeklyMcCullough Foundationnewsletter—an exceptionally talented writer and documentary filmmaker named Brian Olson — surprised me this morning by devoting an entire newsletter to my new book,Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessionsin which he highlighted how the book’s core thesis aligns with our mission at the McCullough Foundation. I found it very gratifying to read his interpretation of the book, which is precisely how I intended it to be interpreted. The only thing I would change (upon further reflection) is his title. I would say that “Every panic has a profiteer”—a bit more precise than “Every panic has an owner.”Every panic has an owner.John Leake’s new book asks a simple question about every crisis of the last twenty-five years: who would be out of business the moment the crisis gets solved?The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed — and hence clamorous to be led to safety — by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. — H. L. Mencken, the book's epigraphIn 1999 the United States was strong, unified and confident. Budget surpluses. A booming market. The biggest scandal in the country was an affair. John Leake’s new book is about what happened next — and it argues that what happened was not a run of bad luck.Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessionsis out now from Skyhorse. Twenty-four chapters, from a murder in Moscow in 1869 to the US proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.What a mind virus actually isLeake gives it a definition precise enough to test, and it is the most useful thing in the book. A mind virus is a psychological operation with three properties: a purported threat to national security or public health and safety is fabricated or grossly exaggerated; the effectiveness of the championed solution cannot be measured, tested or falsified; and the interested parties need to maintain crisis in order to remain in business.The metaphor of an irrational belief being introduced to the populace like a contagion is not his. It is Churchill's, describing how Imperial Germany transported Lenin from Switzerland back into Russia in 1917:in the same way that you might send a phial containing a culture of typhoid or of cholera to be poured into the water supply of a great city — and it worked with amazing accuracy.\"An idea, introduced deliberately, by people who expected to benefit, that went on to kill twenty million.It is no coincidence that mind viruses have emerged with increasing frequency during a period of runaway federal debt, with no constraints on creating and transferring trillions of public money to \"crisis response\" interest groups. Just look at the federal spending on the biggest \"crises\" that have afflicted the US in recent years — the War on Terror, the 2008 Financial Crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the US proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.So it's easy to criticize, but they're really criticizing science because I represent science.\" — Anthony Fauci, CBSFace the Nation, 28 November 2021You know it’s a mind virus — the product of a massive psychological operation — when you’re not allowed to question what we’re being told. If criticism of Anthony Fauci is criticism of science, then no criticism can ever be valid, and none of his statements are testable or falsifiable — that is, the two primary criteria of the scientific method. That is not a slip of the tongue. It is the mechanism, stated out loud, on camera — and four of Leake’s twenty-four chapters are about what government-propagated mind viruses cost We the People.Twenty-four chapters, one coherent thesis.The table of contents is the thesis. Read it in order and the shape is hard to miss:•War, the Father of All Mind Viruses · The Scientific-Technological Elite · Islamic Terror · Bioterrorism · Crisis and Bailout Capitalism•Racism · Russia · The Great Pipeline Opera Ends with a Bang · Climate Change · The Climate-Industrial Complex•The Coronavirus Disease of 2019 · There’s No Business Like Pandemic Business · In COVID-19 Vaccines We Trust•The US Proxy War Against Russia in Ukraine · Transgender · Iran · The Devil and the Great UndoingEach one is the same machine wearing a different face. As the trailer puts it: the face changes, the script never does.Why this lands hereTwo of the twenty-four chapters are about medicine, and they directly align with the Foundation’s work—the COVID-19 vaccine and the diabolical enterprise of transgender “medicine” for minors and men masquerading as women to dominate women’s sports.The book also goes to the heart of the McCullough® Foundation’s mission of safeguarding our constitutional protections from government agencies that invoke the specter of mortal dangers as a pretext for abridging free speech, freedom of association, and bodily autonomy. Dr. McCullough has spent four years on the first of those questions and has the citations to show for it. Leake devoted an entire book to elucidate how these medical mind viruses are connected to every other mind virus characterized in the book.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "John Leake's new book asks a simple question about every crisis of the last twenty-five years: who would be out of business the moment the crisis gets solved?", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/every-panic-has-a-profiteer", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-07", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Charlie Kirk Autopsy Report: Findings Presented at Preliminary Hearing", "content": "The official narrative is that the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner performed an autopsy in the early hours of September 11. The resulting report (a multi-page document admitted as State’s Exhibit 11) was introduced over defense hearsay and confrontation objections under Utah’s preliminary-hearing rules allowing reliable hearsay for medical/autopsy records.It was not published or broadcast in open court due to the sensitive personal medical content and Utah law restricting public release of such reports. Utah State Bureau of Investigation Agent David Hull testified to its core conclusions: the manner of death was homicide and the immediate cause was a gunshot wound of the neck. Bullet fragments (a deformed/damaged jacket fragment and lead fragments) were recovered from the body and later examined by the ATF.Publicly discussed details drawn from the report via the hearing record, related court filings/memoranda, and subsequent references describe a complex penetrating wound track consistent with a .30-caliber (matching .30-06) rifle projectile.The entrance was on the anterior left side of the neck.The projectile (or its fragments) sequentially perforated the left strap (infrahyoid) muscles, the left common carotid artery, and the left internal and external jugular veins.It thenobliteratedthe left side of the C2 through C7 vertebrae and transected the cervical spinal cord, with a significant portion of the cord traumatically absent.The projectile fragmented within the neck; no clean exit wound was identified, consistent with the recovery of retained fragments and eyewitness accounts from security personnel who checked for an exit during transport.Associated injuries reflected both the direct path and secondary effects of a high-velocity rifle round (temporary cavitation, tissue disruption, and hemorrhage tracking).These included multiple disruptions of the thyroid, cricoid, and tracheal cartilages; bilateral apical and posterior intercostal hemorrhages; pulmonary apical hemorrhages/hematomas; hemopericardium (blood in the pericardial sac around the heart); bilateral hemothorax (blood in both pleural cavities); and limited subarachnoid hemorrhage involving the region of the cerebellar vermis and parietal areas of the brain.Secondary hemorrhage into the chest and around the heart, along with airway cartilage damage, compounded the unsurvivable trauma. The absence of a through-and-through exit is unsurprising with a rifle bullet striking dense vertebral bone, leading to fragmentation and energy dissipation within the tissues.According to the police and prosecutor, the shot was fired from the roof of the Losee student center, which is about 80 feet above and 426 feet away from Charlie’s position on stage. If this was indeed the case, the bullet struck Charlie in the neck at a downward angle of about10.65degrees.Very tough to say from eyeballing the neck wound on the video footage, but to me, it appears to be well below his mandible (lower jaw).What strikes me as odd about this finding is that the kinetic energy of the alleged .30-06 bullet—around 2,500 foot pounds at 142 yards—was transferred up his cervical spine, obliterating “the left side of theC2 through C7vertebrae and transected the cervical spinal cord, with a significant portion of the cord traumatically absent, down into his thorax to damage to his heart and lungs, and up into cranium to damage his brain.I have read several autopsy reports describing gunshot wounds, and all have described awound trackof destroyed tissue from the bullet and shockwave. I have seen descriptions of a complex wound path caused by the bullet deflecting off of bone, changing the path direction by several degrees.However, it seems very strange to me that in the case of Charlie Kirk, the bullet wasstoppedby the cervical vertebra it struck,and all its energy was transferred vertically up and down the spineinstead of punching through the vertebra.The density of dense cortical bone is about 1.8 to 2.0 g/cm³, while the density ofLeadis much higher at approximately 11.34 g/cm³, making lead roughly 5.5 to 6 times denser than human bone.I am by no means a rifle nut, but when I was in my teens and twenties, I did a lot of shooting with a .30-06, and I have never seen or heard of a shot to a large animal such as a deer, antelope, or wild pig behaving in this manner.I am also familiar with military medical literature from World War I and II in which  small-arms rifle fire (.30 caliber standard rounds like the US .30-06 or German 7.92×57mm) causing overall fatality rates estimated between 20% and 50%.A prominent injury that comes to mind was that sustained by the German soldier and writer, Ernst Juenger in 1918. He was shot by a British Enfield .303 in the chest and the bullet passed entirely through his right lung.To be sure, Juenger struck many as indestructible. Even past the age of 100., he still smoked Dunhill cigarettes and drank a bottle of champagne with most dinners. He credited his longevity to taking cold baths every day—that is, water out of the cold tap even during the dead of winter. A friend with a family connection invited me to join him in visiting the ancient soldier, writer, and entomologist in 1997, but we weren’t swift enough to get on with it, and Juenger died on February 17, 1998.I wonder how many injuries like Kirk’s—i.e., a .30 caliber gunshot to neck that did not exit, but transferred all energy up and down the spine—were documented by army medics in any of the warring powers.I wonder if anyone knows of a documented case in the forensic literature of a .30 caliber gunshot wound to a human neck that produced the same or similar injury pattern?Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Is there any other documented case in the forensic literature of a .30 caliber gunshot wound to the neck causing a similar injury pattern?", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/charlie-kirk-autopsy-report-findings", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-08", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Death of Wikipedia: How the “Encyclopedia Anyone Can Edit” Became the Encyclopedia No One Should Trust", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHMany in the academic, business, communications fields have dropped use of Wikipedia altogether.🪦 Wikipedia Discredited by a Thousand CutsMost colleges give this advice when looking at Wikipedia:  “You may read Wikipedia but don’t cite Wikipedia when a better original source is available.”Occasionally Wiki editors reach out to me and for a fee, propose they edit my profile.  On the last occasion, I told him I don’t think people believe Wikipedia is valid anymore and it is not frequently quoted.  It’s been discredited.  He never replied.  This yearWiredlamented the fall of Wiki stating its ideals are not believable; this means the content is also not credible.📖 The Promise vs. The RealityWikipedia sold the world a beautiful lie: a democratic repository of human knowledge, crowdsourced and self-correcting, free from the biases of traditional gatekeepers. The reality is something far uglier — a digitalPravdawhere ideological conformity is enforced by a permanent class of activist editors, and where the “neutral point of view” policy functions as a euphemism for whatever narrative the most obsessive and politically aligned moderators choose to protect.The site’s decline into irrelevance isn’t a matter of opinion. It’s observable. It’s measurable in the way people now instinctively append “Wikipedia” to search queries only for quick date-checking or uncontroversial trivia, while instinctively discounting anything politically adjacent. The trust is gone.Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "Bias, defamation, and lack of equipoise has rendered the platform irrelevant.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-death-of-wikipedia-how-the-encyclopedia", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-09", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "When Ruthless People Try to Seize an Institution They Didn't Build: A Case Study", "content": "In 2002, my father, Sam S. Leake, and his friend, John Mullin, hatched the plan to convert the old, abandoned, graffiti-defaced, and dilapidated filter building on White RockThe Filter Building on White Rock Lake(see images before conversion) into a world class rowing club.They raised the money, oversaw the construction, and built the institution, thereby creating a flourishing rowing community in Dallas.A few years later, a group of covetous parents, including a plaintiffs attorney, in my native town of Highland Park, decided THEY wanted the boat house for their rowing program.These people joined forces with Chip Northrup -- an original donor to the project who apparently became unhappy with how the institution developed without his control -- and have been trying to seize control of the institution ever since.On August 6, Dallas sports reporter and broadcaster, Richie Whitt, wrote a devastating portrait of this grasping coterie titled “DALLAS’ ROWING ROW: GOOD PARTNERS VS. BAD PEOPLE.Whitt paints an ugly portrait of self-serving, egoistic, and ruthless people. He has also assembled solid documentary evidence that -- in addition to being shockingly rude--Chip Northrup is loose with the truth about himself and the facts of this saga, including his mischaracterization of my father as a former “Marine Corps drill instructor” (he was a Marine Corps helicopter crew chief).To me, the story is an expression of a larger social and cultural development that I have observed since I graduated from Highland Park High School in 1989 -- namely, our society is conspicuously long on money, self-assertiveness, and striving, but increasingly short on class.Click on the image below to read Whitt’s report.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "A portrait of ruthless people in Dallas who are trying to seize a flourishing community club that my father and his friend built.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/when-ruthless-people-try-to-seize", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-09", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Stephen Kapos's Views on Gaza", "content": "A friend just sent me the following video of Stephen Kapos, a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor and activist based in the UK.Kapos describes the situation in Gaza as a “Holocaust” (or genocide) and notes that some Jewish individuals speak out against Israeli actions there, while criticizing broader support or silence in the Jewish community. Kapos’s statements in the video are consistent his other public statements and interviews.Born in Budapest in 1937, Kapos survived the Holocaust as a child (including time in hiding and the Budapest ghetto under Nazi occupation; much of his family perished). He has been a vocal pro-Palestine activist, regularly appearing in videos, interviews.He draws parallels between his experiences and the suffering in Gaza, calls Israel’s actions a genocide, rejects using the Jewish Holocaust to justify them, and is associated with groups of Holocaust survivors and descendants opposing the war in Gaza.To me, this kind of testimony goes to the heart of our current epistemological crisis—that is, our inability to know what to believe.I am often told that, when it comes to the situation in the Middle East, I am not allowed to consider points of view that stray from official US and Israeli government narratives. This is a very strange state of affairs for me, because the rationale for founding this newsletter with Dr. Peter McCullough was our questioning of official US government narratives about COVID-19.We also noted—to our astonishment—that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government initiated a “Green Badge” policy in which the government made entry to gyms, hotels, pools, and cultural events accessible only to those who carried a certificate of vaccination with a QR code. The program was in effect roughly between February 2021 and March 2022.What do you think about Kapos’s point of view? Do you think he is overstating, exaggerating, or just plain wrong?Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "What are we to make of the Hungarian Holocaust survivor who is characterizing the situation in Gaza as another Holocaust?", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/stephen-kaposs-views-on-gaza", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-09", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Summer Hydration Double-Stack", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHI just finished a long work-out in the Texas summer heat.  Sometimes I think the lonestar state is somehow closer to the sun.  I want to let you know what I do for hydration.🌊 Summer Hydration Should Match Salt and Water LossesSummer training demands a hydration strategy that matches the intensity. You’re not just replacing water — you’re replenishing what the heat strips away. Most people get this wrong by treating all hydration as interchangeable. It’s not.Here’s the two-part system that actually works.💧 Post-Workout: XE FountainYou just finished a session in 95-degree heat. Your electrolytes are depleted, your mitochondria are stressed, and chugging plain water is like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound.XE Fountainis built for this exact window. The rapid-absorption formula hits your system when it’s most receptive — immediately after exertion. Think of it as opening the floodgates while your cells are still screaming for replenishment. It’s not about “drinking more water.” It’s about what that water carries into your cells and how fast it gets there.The key is timing: within 30 minutes of your last set. That’s the metabolic sweet spot where uptake efficiency peaks. Miss it and you’re playing catch-up all day.🌙 Pre-Sleep: BT FountainNighttime hydration is the piece almost everyone neglects — and it’s where the real recovery magic happens.BT Fountainis formulated for the parasympathetic shift. When your nervous system transitions into rest-and-repair mode, the nutrient demands change. This isn’t about rapid absorption anymore — it’s about sustained, slow-release support through the full sleep cycle. Growth hormone pulses during deep sleep depend on proper mineral balance. Cellular repair mechanisms run on hydration status.Taking BT Fountain 30–45 minutes before bed gives your body the substrate it needs to actually rebuild while you sleep, rather than waking up dehydrated and catabolic.🧬 Why the Stack WorksSeparating these two formulas by time of day isn’t marketing — it’s physiology. Your body runs on fundamentally different operating systems during wakefulness and sleep. Morning hydration needs speed and electrolyte replenishment. Nighttime needs sustained mineral support and nervous system calming.Together, theXE + BT stackcovers the full circadian hydration cycle. You train hard, you recover deeper, and you wake up actually ready for the next session instead of dragging yourself out of a deficit.Try the stack for two weeks this summer.The difference between guessing at hydration and dialing it in precisely is the difference between surviving the heat and thriving in it.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.SharePlease subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough FoundationFOCAL POINTS has partnered withPiqueto promote your optimal health. To learn more aboutPiqueproducts and get 20% off and free gifts today,https://www.piquelife.com/DRPETERPique Life— hydration engineered for how your body actually works.", "summary": "Why Your Post-Workout and Pre-Sleep Routines May Need an Overhaul with Pique Life", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-summer-hydration-double-stack", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-09", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING: Trump Signs Executive Order Overhauling America’s Childhood Hypervaccination Schedule", "content": "ByNicolas Hulscher, MPHPresident Trump hassigned a sweeping Executive Orderrestructuring Federal childhood vaccine recommendations and directing agencies to maximize parental choice, reassess vaccine safety, and bring the U.S. schedule more closely in line with practices used by peer developed nations.The new Executive Order establishes three categories of childhood immunization recommendations:Hep B, Flu, COVID, and Rotavirus Removed From Universal RecommendationsUnder the new framework, influenza, COVID-19, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and meningococcal disease are placed under shared clinical decision-making rather than being universally recommended for every child.Hepatitis A and B are also recommended for certain high-risk populations, alongside meningococcal vaccination, dengue vaccination, and RSV monoclonal antibodies.It’s quite unfortunate that lethal COVID-19 mRNA gene-transfer injections remain available to any human being.Vaccines Still Universally RecommendedThe new “Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations” retain universal recommendations covering:MeaslesMumpsRubellaDiphtheriaTetanusPertussisPolioHaemophilus influenzaetype BPneumococcal diseaseHuman papillomavirusVaricellaWhile many of the vaccines that remain universally recommended are still hazardous to human health, this Executive Order represents a major improvement over the previous childhood vaccine framework.Executive Order Calls for Separate MMR ShotsThe Executive Order states that the combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine should eventually be accompanied byseparate single-disease vaccine optionsonce those products become domestically available.It further states that,“to the maximum extent feasible,” childhood immunizations should be administered at separate medical visits.Within 90 days, HHS is directed to develop plans for making single-antigen alternatives available, beginning with measles, mumps, and rubella, while maintaining access to combination vaccines.This is particularly important given thatour recent studyfoundMMR and MMRV vaccines are linked to 2,657% more U.S. deaths than measles infection since 1995.HHS Ordered to Study Alternatives to Aluminum AdjuvantsOne of the provisions directs the HHS Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines to pursue:Alternative adjuvants to aluminum and comparative safety and efficacy studies.This is important because injecting aluminum into small infants has beenlinked to a broad range of health problems:However, solely replacing aluminum will most likelynotmake these vaccines much safer, and autism/chronic disease risks will still be present.Executive Order Strengthens Parental ChoiceThis one is big. The Executive Order declares it Federal policy to support“maximal parental choice over childhood vaccines”consistent with Federal law, personal autonomy, and informed consent.States and territories are encouraged to reconsider vaccine requirements for school attendance in light of the revised Federal recommendations.The Attorney General is also directed to take appropriate action supporting meritorious legal challenges involving parental authority, religious liberty, disability protections, equal protection, and applicable religious or medical vaccine exemptions.A Major Shift in U.S. Vaccine PolicyFor decades, Federal childhood vaccine policy largely moved in one direction:more products, more doses, and broader universal recommendations.This Executive Order begins moving policy in the opposite direction: fewer universal recommendations, more individualized decision-making, greater parental choice, scrutiny of vaccine ingredients, reassessment of timing and sequencing, and stronger emphasis on safety research.However, substantial concerns remain regarding the safety, necessity, cumulative burden, timing, and long-term effects of vaccines that continue to be universally recommended.Whatever additional reforms may still be necessary, this represents a major improvement in U.S. childhood vaccine policy and one of the most consequential Federal vaccine-policy shifts in decades.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.", "summary": "Executive Order calls for greater parental choice, separate MMR shots, more widely spaced vaccinations, aluminum-adjuvant alternatives, and stronger safety monitoring.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-trump-signs-executive-order-eaf", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-10", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "\"The Vaccine Mafia\": Book by Former Pfizer Toxicologist Exposes the Crime of the Century", "content": "When I first heard about the work of Dr. Helmut Sterz a few years go, I knew he was destined to be one of the most important witnesses of the global organized criminal enterprise of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine program.I was therefore keen to interview him (see above interview from 2024). What he told me then confirmed my initial intuition in April 2020 that the mRNA COVID-19 “vaccine” was afait accompli— a done deal— and that no proper trials and toxicology would be performed.My dark vision came to me on April 6, when I saw Bill Gates tell Trevor Noah on theDaily Showthat“a vaccine is the only thing that will allow us to return to normal.”He also announced that his foundation was going to invest billions in building factories to make COVID-19 vaccines,even before seeing conclusive data on their efficacy. It was critically important, he claimed,to scale up manufacturingduringtesting instead of waiting for trial results.Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, also gave an interview on CNN in which he stated it was imperative to fast-track vaccine development.“We then need to be ready to scale and manufacture that vaccine in literally hundreds of millions and billions of doses because it needs to go global when we have it,”he explained. The labs developing the vaccineshad no choice but to succeed in quickly making safe and effective products.At that point, I knew that the heralded new vaccine was a done deal, afait accompli, and that we would soon get it come hell or high water.Dr.Helmut Sterzperformed toxicology research for major pharmaceutical companies over a career spanning 1974-2009.  From 2001-2009, Dr. Sterz was CEO of Global Research & Development at Pfizer’s lab in Amboise, France, where he was responsible for performing toxicology analysis of the company’s drug portfolio in Europe.Dr. Sterz confirmed my worst suspicions. Those responsible for this undertaking created the Pharma Lab equivalent of a Pandora’s Box that has released a host of sickness and death on mankind.Dr. Sterz has compiled his knowledge and expertise into a fascinating book about this organized crime racket titledThe Vaccine Mafia:Pfizer’s Former Chief Toxicologist Proves How Toxic Substances Were Unlawfully Sold to Us as a Solution for Covid-19that will be published on August 26.The book—which includes aForeword by yours truly—is a treasure trove of documented factual information and analysis. If the book makes it onto the New York Times bestseller list, it will be a direct thumb in the eye of the Vaccine Mafia that committed this global organized crime. Help to make this happen by clicking on the image below to pre-order your copy today.ShareSubscribe now", "summary": "Dr. Helmut Sterz's new book is a shocking exposé of how the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA \"vaccine\" was - with NO proper toxicology analysis - injected into hundreds of millions of people.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-vaccine-mafia-book-by-former", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-10", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "NEW STUDY: 89% of “Avocado Oil” Foods Use Fake or Adulterated Avocado Oil", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHAnewly published studyout of UC Davis has uncovered a stunning problem hiding inside foods marketed as being made with avocado oil:89% of avocado-oil-labeled products tested had chemical profiles inconsistent with authentic avocado oil.They analyzed oils extracted from 74 commercially sold chips, salad dressings, and mayonnaise products labeled as containing avocado or olive oil, using fatty-acid and sterol markers referenced against Codex Alimentarius standards.The results were especially striking for avocado oil. Among avocado-oil-labeled products,93% of chip samples failed authenticity criteria, 100% of salad dressings failed, and 71% of mayonnaise samples failed.In total, just 6 of 54 avocado-oil-labeled samples were classified as compositionally consistent with authentic avocado oil.The product identities below come from theUC Davis-linked product list corresponding to the study’s numbered samples. Each product was represented by two separately purchased lots. For readability, I label lots that were compositionally consistent with authentic avocado oil asREAL AVOCADO OILand lots that were compositionally inconsistent asADULTERATED:Boulder Canyon — Avocado Oil Classic Sea Salt Kettle Style Potato Chips:ADULTERATED— both lotsLesser Evil — Moonions Intergalactic Onion Made with Organic Avocado Oil:1 REAL / 1 ADULTERATEDSimply Tostitos — Sea Salt & Avocado Oil Tortilla Chips:1 REAL / 1 ADULTERATEDSiete — Kettle Cooked Sea Salt Potato Chips Made with Avocado Oil:ADULTERATED— both lotsSiete — Maiz Sea Salt Corn Tortilla Chips Made with Avocado Oil:ADULTERATED— both lotsKettle Brand — Sea Salt with a Hint of Pink Peppercorn Chips Made with Avocado Oil:ADULTERATED— both lotsKettle Brand — Apple Cider Vinegar Chips Made with Avocado Oil:ADULTERATED— both lotsJackson’s — Avocado Oil Sweet Potato Chips:ADULTERATED— both lotsJackson’s — Kettle Cooked Sea Salt Potato Chips Only with Avocado Oil:ADULTERATED— both lotsSprouts — Organic Sea Salt & A Hint of Lime Tortilla Chips Made with Avocado Oil:ADULTERATED— both lotsSprouts — Kettle Style Potato Chips Made with 100% Avocado Oil Sea Salt:ADULTERATED— both lotsSensible Portions — Garden Veggie Straws Made with Avocado Oil Sea Salt:ADULTERATED— both lotsBettergoods — Hatch Chile Tortilla Chips Fried in 100% Avocado Oil:ADULTERATED— both lotsGood Health — Kettle Style Avocado Oil Potato Chips Sea Salt:ADULTERATED— both lotsSprouts — Balsamic Vinaigrette with Avocado Oil:ADULTERATED— both lotsPrimal Kitchen — Avocado Oil & Vinegar Vinaigrette & Marinade:ADULTERATED— both lotsPrimal Kitchen — Italian Dressing & Marinade Made with Avocado Oil:ADULTERATED— both lotsChosen Foods — Lemon Garlic Dressing & Marinade Made with 100% Pure Avocado Oil:ADULTERATED— both lotsChosen Foods — Zesty Italian Dressing & Marinade Made with 100% Pure Avocado Oil:ADULTERATED— both lotsBriannas — Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette Made with 100% Avocado Oil:ADULTERATED— both lotsChosen Foods — Vegan Mayo Made with 100% Pure Avocado Oil:ADULTERATED— both lotsChosen Foods — Classic Mayo Made with 100% Pure Avocado Oil:ADULTERATED— both lotsPrimal Kitchen — Real Mayonnaise Made with Avocado Oil:ADULTERATED— both lotsSir Kensington’s — Avocado Oil Mayonnaise:ADULTERATED— both lotsBetterBody Foods — 100% Avocado Oil Mayo:ADULTERATED— both lotsGrove AvoYeah! — Mayo Sauce Made with Avocado Oil:REAL AVOCADO OIL— both lotsGrove AvoYeah! — Garlic Aioli Sauce Made with Avocado Oil:REAL AVOCADO OIL— both lotsThe study physically extracted the oils from the finished foods and analyzed their fatty-acid and sterol composition using gas chromatography with flame-ionization detection (GC-FID). Many avocado-oil products showed profiles inconsistent with authentic avocado oil, including low palmitic and palmitoleic acids and elevated sterol markers associated with other vegetable oils. The authors said these patterns were consistent withsubstitution or dilution with vegetable oils.One sample was particularly remarkable: its fatty-acid profile contained 52.5% linoleic acid and 6.5% alpha-linolenic acid, while oleic acid was only 24.8%—a pattern investigators said was consistent with soybean oil composition. Many other avocado-oil-labeled samples clustered chemically near comparator products containing canola, corn, soybean, and/or sunflower oils rather than authentic avocado oil.The contrast with olive oil was dramatic.90% of olive-oil chip samples and 100% of the olive-oil salad dressings and mayonnaise samples were classified as consistent with authentic olive oil.The authors noted that olive oil has more established standards and considerably more developed regulatory oversight than avocado oil.Those paying a premium for processed foods prominently marketed as containing avocado oil appear to have been seriously duped.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.", "summary": "The vast majority of chips, salad dressings, and mayonnaise labeled as containing avocado oil showed fatty-acid and sterol profiles inconsistent with authentic avocado oil.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/new-study-89-of-avocado-oil-foods", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-10", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Little Blue Pill’s Red Revolution: Phosphodiesterase-5 Inhibitors as Unexpected Weapons Against Cancer", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHThe clinical indications of most drugs today arrive by serendipity.  That is certainly the case for is the phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitors.Sildenafil(Viagra®, Revatio®)Tadalafil(Cialis®, Adcirca®), generic approved for daily use, 2.5, 5.0 mgVardenafil(Levitra®, Staxyn®)Avanafil(Stendra®) on demandIntroductionWhen sildenafil citrate was synthesized in a Pfizer laboratory in Sandwich, Kent in 1989, the researchers were chasing a hypertension drug. The erections were a side effect. What almost nobody anticipated — and what the pharmaceutical industry has shown remarkably little interest in exploring — is that this class of drugs, the phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitors, might represent one of the more promising repurposing opportunities in oncology.The PDE5 inhibitors — sildenafil (Viagra), tadalafil (Cialis), vardenafil (Levitra), and avanafil (Stendra) — work by blocking the enzyme that degrades cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). Elevated cGMP relaxes vascular smooth muscle, hence the vasodilation and the famous indication. But cGMP signaling also intersects with pathways that govern apoptosis, proliferation, immune surveillance, and drug resistance in malignant cells. These are not marginal effects. The preclinical evidence is substantial.Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "Regular, daily use may be ideal as we face a tidal wave of turbo-cancers", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-little-blue-pills-red-revolution", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-10", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Walensky Aware of Miscarriage Concern, Still Pushed C-19 Vaccine for Pregnant Women", "content": "McCullough Foundation epidemiologist and administer just posted,NEWLY RELEASED FAUCI TEXTS REVEAL HE PRIVATELY WARNED COVID SHOT COULD TRIGGER MISCARRIAGE.On January 25, 2021, he texted then CDC Director Rochelle Walensky the following.Nevertheless,in April 2021, Walensky had a published conversation with Dr. Eric J. Rubin (editor ofTheNew England Journal of Medicine) in which she vehemently advocated COVID-19 vaccination for pregnant women, even though it hadn’t been tested on pregnant women.[i]This was a flagrant violation of the “Golden Rule of pregnancy”—namely, that novel and/or potentially harmful substances are never used when new human life is being formed and nurtured within the womb. At this time, Drs. Peter McCullough and James Thorp were totally shocked by her recommendation, as both doctors had long taken it for granted that we’d already learned this lesson the hard way from the diethylstilbestrol (DES) and thalidomide disasters.After Walensky’s approval, millions of pregnant women who wouldn’t have dared drink a solitary glass of wine lined up to get an experimental genetic shot that had been developed “at warp speed.”Given that Walensky is herself a mother of three children, it strikes me as especially bizarre that she would make this recommendation just two months after hearing Dr. Fauci’s concern about miscarriage risk.[i]Eric J. Rubin, Lindsey R. Baden, Rochelle P. Walensky, and Stephen Morrissey. Audio Interview: Covid-19 Vaccines and Pregnancy — A Conversation with CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, April 21, 2021, N Engl J Med 2021;384: e73, DOI: 10.1056/NEJMe2106836, VOL. 384 NO. 16.https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMe2106836Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Fauci texted the CDC director on 1/25/2021 about cytokine storm and fever after 2nd dose, indicating risk of miscarriage, but Walensky recommended the shot for pregnant women two months lager.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/walensky-aware-of-miscarriage-concern", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-10", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "NEWLY RELEASED FAUCI TEXTS REVEAL HE PRIVATELY WARNED COVID SHOT COULD TRIGGER MISCARRIAGE", "content": "ByNicolas Hulscher, MPHNewly releasedgovernment text messagesreveal that Dr. Anthony Fauci privately raised concerns in January 2021 that the immune response following the second COVID-19 “vaccine” dose could trigger miscarriage during the first trimester of pregnancy.In a text exchange involving then-CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and Vivek Murthy, Fauci noted that fever and the heightened immune response following dose two“theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester.”The messages are part of a soon-to-be released cache containing more than 34,000 texts and 522 voicemails recovered from Fauci’s government-issued phone and released by Senators Ron Johnson and Rand Paul.The revelation takes on added significance in light of arecent peer-reviewed pregnancy safety studyby Dr. James Thorp and colleagues.Using CDC/FDA VAERS data through April 26, 2024, they examined 37 pregnancy and newborn adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination and found thatevery one of the 37 exceeded the CDC/FDA safety signal statistical threshold. These included miscarriage, fetal malformations, chromosomal abnormalities, placental disorders, fetal growth restriction, premature delivery, stillbirth, neonatal asphyxia, and newborn death.Alarmingly, the study reported a COVID-19 vaccinemiscarriage proportional reporting ratio (PRR) of 114 compared with influenza vaccination and 38.4 compared with all other vaccines.In simple terms, official CDC/FDA data showed miscarriage was reported far more disproportionately after COVID-19 vaccination than after other vaccines—creating an unusually large safety signal.While senior federal health officials were privately discussing miscarriage risk in January 2021, they went on to aggressively push COVID-19 mRNA injections during pregnancy. Years later, a peer-reviewed analysis found all 37 pregnancy and newborn adverse events examined breached safety-signal thresholds. That is diabolical.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.Subscribe now", "summary": "Disturbing revelations come as CDC data show safety-signal breaches across all 37 pregnancy/newborn adverse events examined—including miscarriage, stillbirth, fetal malformations, and newborn death.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/newly-released-fauci-texts-reveal", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-10", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "My Feb. 2024 Post about \"On Call\": Dr. Fauci's Memoir", "content": "I went back and reviewed an essay I wrote in Feb. 2024 about Anthony Fauci’s forthcoming memoir,On Call: A Doctor’s Service, which was published by Viking a few months later to rave reviews such as the following:“An eventful autobiography [and] a classic American story…Gripping.”—The Washington Post“One of the most consequential and most prominent [careers] in American medicine in the past fifty years.”—Jerome Groopman,The New YorkerFor many years I have marveled at how most of the New York publishing industry—both books and periodicals—has become so incredibly staid, shallow, and institutional in its service of prevailing orthodoxies, pieties, and political imperatives.The entire event of publishing and reviewing Fauci’s memoir was a matter of cliches and conformity, with zero critical evaluation. It’s as though the publishing industry is staffed by robots.The following is what I wrote on this Substack back inFebruary 2024.Over coffee this morning, I found myself wondering what Dr. Fauci is up to these days. I was already aware that he’d joined the Georgetown School of Medicine faculty as a “distinguished professor” last summer. More recently in the news is the announcement that his memoir—On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service—will be published by Viking on June 18, 2024.The following is the publisher’s description of the book on Amazon:The memoir by the doctor who became a beacon of hope for millions through the COVID pandemic, and whose six-decade career in high-level public service put him in the room with seven presidentsAnthony Fauci is arguably the most famous – and most revered – doctor in the world today. His role guiding America sanely and calmly through Covid (and through the torrents of Trump) earned him the trust of millions during one of the most terrifying periods in modern American history, but this was only the most recent of the global epidemics in which Dr. Fauci played a major role. His crucial role in researching HIV and bringing AIDS into sympathetic public view and his leadership in navigating the Ebola, SARS, West Nile, and anthrax crises, make him truly an American hero.His memoir reaches back to his boyhood in Brooklyn, New York, and carries through decades of caring for critically ill patients, navigating the whirlpools of Washington politics, and behind-the-scenes advising and negotiating with seven presidents on key issues from global AIDS relief to infectious disease  preparedness at home. ON CALL will be an inspiration for readers who admire and are grateful to him and for those who want to emulate him in public service. He is the embodiment of “speaking truth to power,” with dignity and results.It’s notable that Dr. Fauci hasn’t been “on call” as a treating physician since he joined NIAID as a clinical associate in 1968.Downright astonishing is the fact that, within the same country, public perceptions of a man can be so diametrically opposed. It’s probably true that, during the COVID pandemic, Dr. Fauci was “a beacon of hope for millions,” even though he did the following:1). Oversaw grants to the key players who were responsible for creating SARS-CoV-2 in a lab.2). Concealed the true (lab) origin of SARS-CoV-2.3). Undermined President Trump’s advocacy of early treatment modalities such as hydroxychloroquine, and was generally dismissive of early treatment.4). Strongly advocated the widespread use of Remdesivir, in spite of clear data that it causes kidney damage, especially in patients with already compromised kidney function.5). Was a key actor pushing mass vaccination with mRNA gene transfer shots that are neither safe nor effective.Especially bizarre in the book description is the final sentence: “He is the embodiment of “speaking truth to power,” with dignity and results.In fact, Dr. Fauci is the embodiment of overarching, illegitimate power that has no place in a constitutional republic.ShareSubscribe now", "summary": "\"On Call: A Doctor's Service,\" by Anthony Fauci, was published by Viking in 2024 to glowing reviews and became a #1 New York Times bestseller.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/my-feb-2024-post-about-on-call-dr", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-11", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Prosecutor's Distorted Surveillance Footage of \"Tyler Robinson\" in Parking", "content": "This morning a friend sent me news reports of the underground parking garage surveillance footage of a young man that prosecutors claim is Tyler Robinson, arriving at Utah Valley University on the morning Charlie Kirk was shot.Prosectors claims the young man in this footage then left this garage around 11 a.m.,  then returned a short time later wearing pants, a black top and Converse shoes.Here are a few stills from the surveillance footage shown by prosecutors and reproduced in media reporting.Note how the dimensions of the cars have been compressed. So have the dimensions of the young man in the footage. The following is a corrected still (just published by Candace Owens) showing the young man and the cars closer to their true proportions and dimensions.Here is a juxtaposition of the distorted and the corrected images:Here is a juxtaposition of the corrected image of the young man in the surveillance footage with an image known to be that of Tyler Robinson taken in the fall of 2021 and posted on his Facebook page. He was apparently so fond of maroon t-shirts that he felt compelled to wear a maroon t-shirt that matches the one he is wearing in an easily findable social media post.The question that immediately springs to my mind is: Did Tyler Robinson’s upper body fill out and gain muscle between the fall of 2021 and Sept. 2025.?The young man in the parking lot — in the image that is NOT distorted to compress his dimensions — appears considerably broader in the shoulders, with a thicker neck and biceps?Based on the following image provided by the Utah State Courts in Sept. 2025, I would say it is possible he put on some bulk since the autumn of 2021.Nevertheless, the pressing question still stands: Why did prosecutors presentanyheavily distorted image in court?Finally, how cananyonebe positively identified from such poor quality surveillance footage?Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Parking garage surveillance footage presented by prosectors in Tyler Robinson pre-trial hearing was distorted, thereby making the captured subject appear to be thinner. Why?", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/prosecutors-distorted-surveillance", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-11", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Measles Testing Industrial Complex", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHSkin rashes with viral illnesses are common in children and adolescents.  However to ascertain a case of measles in the modern day, a positive PCR test must be returned from the lab.🦠 The Testing Cascade: How Expanded Measles Surveillance Manufactures OutbreaksThe United States is in the midst of what public health authorities describe as a dramatic measles resurgence. As of July 30, 2026,2,371 confirmed caseshave been reported across 45 jurisdictions, with 37 new outbreaks and 94% of cases outbreak-associated. This follows 2,289 cases in 2025 across another 45 jurisdictions. For context, 2024 saw just 285 cases and 16 outbreaks.The official narrative is straightforward: declining vaccination rates are causing measles to return. And there’s some truth to that — outbreaks cluster and measles is genuinely contagious.But there’s a second, largely undiscussed driver:the extraordinary expansion of testing itself.When you dramatically increase the number of tests performed in a low-prevalence population, you generate cases by statistical inevitability. The question isn’t whether testing expansion explainsallof the increase — it doesn’t. The question is how much of the “surge” reflects actual disease transmission versus the predictable mathematics of casting a wider net.  In the Table below it’s important to point out that CDC officers do not call parents or patients to verify vaccination status, so if it is not readily available from state labs or other sources, the agency uses invokes the category “unvaccinated or unknown.”  This practice conceals the number of fully or partially vaccinated cases (1st MMR dose at 15 months and 2nd dose at age 4 before kindergarten).Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "How Quest and Labcorp test availability, volume, false positives have inflated case counts", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-measles-testing-industrial-complex", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-11", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Vaccine Cartel Desperately Clings to New MMR Vaccine–Autism “No Link” Study Riddled With Major Flaws", "content": "ByNicolas Hulscher, MPHA newPediatric Infectious Disease Journalstudyis beingpromotedby the pharma-captured mass media apparatus as a massive 2.56-million-child analysis disproving an MMR–autism association, but major methodological problems undermine the entire paper.They did not use a truly unvaccinated control group, did not clinically adjudicate autism, did not interview parents, did not independently verify vaccine histories, and used a narrow ICD-coded autism definition.No True Unvaccinated Control GroupMost importantly,there was no true unvaccinated control group. The comparison children were only those without a recorded MMR vaccination during the relevant analysis. They were not required to be vaccine-naive and could have received other routine childhood vaccines. The study itself reports that 62.1% of the overall cohort received a PCV booster.Even theirMMR status was not independently verified. Vaccination exposure came from Epic records, including historically documented doses, with no reported state immunization-registry confirmation, parent interview, or outside-record review. That means some children classified as “unvaccinated” in the dataset could theoretically have received MMR outside the participating Epic/Cosmos system without that dose being captured.Autism Was Based on ICD Codes, Not Clinical AdjudicationThe study relied entirely on electronic health records. Autism was defined by an ICD-10 F84.0 encounter code, not by independent clinical adjudication, ADOS testing, chart review, or parent interview. Nearly 9% of autism cases had only a single encounter carrying the diagnosis. Vaccine status was likewise taken from Epic records, with no reported state-registry verification, parent confirmation, or external record review.The Study Did Not Measure the Full Autism SpectrumThe investigators counted onlyICD-10 F84.0 “childhood autism,” a relatively narrow diagnostic code, rather than the broader range of autism-spectrum diagnoses captured under F84..Yet the 3.2% national benchmark they cite reflects that broader autism-spectrum definition. This means their 2.55% autism prevalence isnot directly comparableto the national 3.2% figure and may miss children coded under other autism-spectrum categories. The authors themselves acknowledge this limitation and state that future studies should examine the full F84. spectrum.Serious Methodological InconsistenciesThe supplemental appendix also appears to define maternal diabetes usingO23.*, while O23.* is simultaneously used for genitourinary infections in pregnancy. This needs clarification as either a typographical error or a potential coding error in the actual analysis. Sex is also shown as a confounder in the study’s DAG but is absent from the stated primary adjustment model.Our Comprehensive Autism Paper Exposes the Bigger ProblemThis narrow MMR-only analysis must also be viewed against the much broader evidence base. In our recently published paper,Determinants of Autism Spectrum Disorder, we evaluated 136 studies examining childhood vaccines or vaccine components. Of those, 29 reported neutral findings while107 reported findings interpreted as suggesting a possible association with ASD or other neurodevelopmental disordersacross epidemiologic, clinical, mechanistic, neuropathologic, and case-report evidence.Most importantly, we identified12 studies that actually compared vaccinated children with completely unvaccinated children. These studies consistently found better overall health outcomes in the unvaccinated cohorts, including lower risks of chronic and neuropsychiatric conditions such as autism.That is the fundamental problem with studies like this new MMR paper: they repeatedly test one vaccine against children who received other vaccines, then portray the result as evidence against a broader vaccine–autism relationship. No study has yet evaluated the cumulative safety of the entire pediatric vaccine schedule for neurodevelopmental outcomes through later childhood. Based on the evidence so far, childhood vaccines remain a major risk factor for autism spectrum disorder.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.", "summary": "No truly unvaccinated control group, no clinical autism adjudication, no parent interviews, no independent vaccine-record verification, and a narrow ICD-coded autism definition.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/vaccine-cartel-desperately-clings", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-11", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Fervent Nonsense that Has Infected the WNBA", "content": "Who could have predicted that an arena in which ten women compete with each other for dominance, attention, and popularity would be overshadowed by conspicuous interpersonal drama?Conventional wisdom has it that the constant melodrama in the WNBA began with the rising popularity and cultural prominence of Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark (a white woman) who has recently been on the receiving end of hard fouls by players such as Phoenix Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas — a black woman who recently grabbed Clark’s neck—a dangerous foul for which she received a one-game suspension.Chicago Sky’s DiJonai Carrington and Angel Reese are suspected in some circles of harboring not only envy, but alsoracialresentment and animus against Clark because she is a white girl who frequently outplays black girls .Black players and their supporters counter that they are frequently subjected toracistfan comments, death threats, and online harassment that target players like Thomas (who claims she was threatened after she grabbed Clark by the neck).Investigations into allegedracialremarks by Fever fans toward Angel Reese in 2025 found them unsubstantiated.DiJonai Carrington recently threw a hard and flagrant foul on Fever teammate Sophie Cunningham, grabbing her around the neck and slamming her to the ground as she went for a shot.Following her ejection for this dangerous act of aggression, Carrington posted on social media that her penalty was the result of “WHITE PRIVILEGE.”Coach Sandy Brondello was then suspended for calling Angel Reese a “protected species” (an Australian sports idiom she said was misinterpreted in the U.S. context). Media pundits like Jemele Hill claim that race and sexuality play roles in Clark’s marketability compared to established black players. Clark herself has mostly avoided rising to the bait of racial talk, focusing on play and condemning hate.Transgendereligibility has become another cause for drama, despite few (if any) currently active transgender players significantly affecting competition.Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham has stated that she wants to “protect young girls in a locker room” and that they “shouldn’t have to go against biological men,” describing her stance as “common sense.”She later clarified she does not hate the transgender community. “Inclusion advocates” such as veteran Brianna Turner proclaim that “fear-mongering” targets a tiny minority and that the “real issues” (sexism, racism, and harassment) deserve more attention.The WNBA has issued a statement “embracing diversity and inclusion” while rejecting “hate, abuse, and demonization” of transgender people and insisting the union “will not be used as political pawns.” Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton was suspended after confronting teenage fans supporting Cunningham’s views.Recently former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White fanned the flames of the transgender controversy by declaring for the WNBA draft, claiming they now identify as transgender. Here is the 6’8” White stating his conviction that as one who identifies as a transgender woman, he will be unstoppable in the women’s league.And so we see how the irrational obsessions with “racism” and “transgender” have become a recombinant mind virus that has infected the WNBA.If you would like to learn about the origin and emergence of these mind viruses in the American public forum over the last twenty-five years, check out my new book,Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Irrational obsessions with race and transgender have become a recombinant mind virus driving the league to ever higher summits of absurdity", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-fervent-nonsense-that-has-infected", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-12", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Fauci's Miscarriage of Public Health Led to Actual Fetal Loss in Thousands of Pregnant Women", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPlease watch this very brief interview on primetime television Monday August 10, 2026 as Liz MacDonald host ofThe Evening Edit, Fox Business,breaks the story on Fauci’s text concerns regarding why the COVID-19 vaccines would cause miscarriage.The COVID-19 vaccines, and the entire mRNA platform, had no preclinical safety or teratogenicity testing in lab mammalian models despite the mRNA platform being around for decades.  For that reason, pregnant women and women of childbearing potential were strictly excluded from the 2020-21 trials of Pfizer, Moderna, Janssen, and Novavax.Fauci’s texts reveal that he as well as Dr Rochelle Wilensky and then Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy had concerns over the biological plausibility and the lack of data.  Safety information was accumulating in the CDC VAERS system ringing the early warning alarm that indeed women were losing their babies after COVID-19 vaccination.  These came from reports were the healthcare provider had determined the shots were related.At that time in2021, myself and coauthorsstated publicly that COVID-19 vaccination was contraindicated in pregnancy.  By2023, Thorp et alhad in print, fully-peer reviewed, that compared to the influenza vaccine, which is given in all three trimesters of pregnancy, theCOVID-19 vaccines were associated with > 100-fold increased risk of fetal loss(miscarriage, stillbirth, and premature delivery).A CDC survey of women pregnant during the2021-22 flu seasonfound that60.5%had receivedat least one doseof a COVID-19 vaccine, and54.4%had completed their primary vaccine series.Another CDC analysis found that among84,711 pregnant womenwho were pregnant betweenJanuary and April 2022,73.7%had completed the primary COVID-19 vaccine series before or during pregnancy.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough FoundationFOCAL POINTS has partnered withAlterAIto defend your medical freedom. Subscribe toAlterAItoday and get a discount on unbiased and accurate AI!https://jpands.org/vol28no1/thorp.pdfhttps://www.cdc.gov/fluvaxview/coverage-by-season/pregnant-april-2022.htmlhttps://www.cdc.gov/covidvaxview/publications/covid19-vaccination-high-risk-pregnancy.html", "summary": "Data accumulating from the start of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign showed marked increased risk for miscarriage, stillbirth, and premature delivery", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/faucis-miscarriage-of-public-health", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-12", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING STUDY: Spike Protein Drives Prion-Like Protein Misfolding, Amyloid Formation, and Multi-Organ Damage", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHAnew collaborative paperfrom theMcCullough FoundationandNeo7Biosciencefinds thatboth COVID-19 “vaccine” spike protein and lab-made SARS-CoV-2 spike protein are potent prion-like drivers of proteostatic collapse, pathological cross-seeding, transcriptional instability, and progressive tissue dysfunction across multiple organ systems.The paper, titled“Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein and Prion-Like Domains: Persistent Cross-Seeding of Amyloid-β and Tau, Transcriptional Instability, and Tissue Dysfunction,”was authored by John A. Catanzaro, NMD, PhD, Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH, and Nicolas Hulscher, MPH (myself).Spike contains intrinsic prion-like domains and amyloidogenic regions that favor β-sheet aggregation and can interact with and cross-seed host proteins including amyloid-β and tau.We identify two critical intracellular processes that may amplify these effects. As spike moves through the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), it can induce ER stress and activate the unfolded protein response, promoting incomplete folding, fragmentation, and the release of aggregation-prone protein fragments. At the same time, ribosomal frameshifting and translational infidelity can generate abnormal, truncated, and chimeric polypeptides. Together, we propose that these mechanisms markedly increase the production of fibrous, aggregation-prone proteins capable of amplifying downstream protein misfolding.We also examine how these mechanisms extend beyond the nervous system. Spike-related protein aggregation may contribute to amyloid-β accumulation, tau pathology, neuroinflammation, cardiovascular injury, amyloid microclots, and progressive multi-organ dysfunction. Critically, purified spike protein has been shown experimentally to convert fibrinogen into insoluble, amyloidogenic, fibrinolysis-resistant aggregates, demonstrating that spike alone is sufficient under experimental conditions to drive a circulating host protein into an abnormal amyloidogenic state.We further examine the increasingly reported large white fibrous intravascular casts recovered during embalming.Surveys involving 808 embalmers across five countriesfound that 75.2% reported encountering these unusual structures, with an estimated occurrence in 23.4% of embalmed bodies. Raman spectroscopy of representative specimens identified β-sheet enrichment and other protein characteristics distinct from conventional postmortem thrombi.Another major concern we examine is persistence. Spike or spike-related material has been detected years after vaccination. Ourprior workdocumented vaccine-derived spike protein, residual mRNA, and plasmid DNA elements beyond 3.5 years in a documented case. Prolonged persistence may extend the period during which abnormal intracellular processing, aggregation, and cross-seeding can occur.We have alsopreviously documentedtranscriptomic instability following mRNA vaccination. Multi-omic analyses identified broad disturbances in gene expression involving mitochondrial function, ribosomal activity, cellular stress responses, immune regulation, and oncogenic and tumor-suppressor pathways. In the present paper, we connect these previously observed transcriptional abnormalities with persistent spike, intracellular processing errors, and disrupted proteostasis as part of a broader framework of long-term molecular instability.We also discuss potential countermeasures aimed at directly degrading persistent spike and restoring molecular stability. Nattokinase has beenshown to directly degrade spike proteinin the laboratory, including the receptor-binding domain, in a dose-dependent manner. Serrapeptidase and bromelain provide complementary fibrinolytic and anti-inflammatory activity. In parallel, the aHI-PBIMA® platform is designed to identify dominant molecular instabilities and generate patient-specific ITI-PES peptides aimed at restoring downstream molecular order. Together, these approaches offer mechanistically distinct strategies for removing persistent pathogenic spike and addressing the molecular dysfunction it may leave behind. Further clinical validation is needed.Taken together, our paper presents a mechanistic framework in which persistent spike is not merely an inflammatory antigen, but a prion-like, amyloidogenic protein capable of disrupting cellular protein homeostasis. Through ER stress, translational errors, abnormal protein aggregation, and cross-seeding of host proteins, persistent spike may contribute to progressive pathology involving the brain, cardiovascular system, circulation, and other organs.Those responsible for unleashing synthetic spike protein on the entire global population must be held accountable.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.", "summary": "COVID “vaccine” spike protein and lab-made SARS-CoV-2 spike protein are prion-like drivers of proteostatic collapse, pathological cross-seeding, transcriptional instability, and tissue dysfunction.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-study-spike-protein-drives", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-13", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "450,000 U.S. Soldiers Diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury Since 2001", "content": "Lord Salisbury used to complain to his officials during Jingoistic outbreaks that it was like having \"a huge lunatic asylum at one's back.”—Andrew Roberts,Salisbury, Victorian TitanThe prodigious number of Iran war advocates who commented on my last post,“One Man”: Tucker Carlson’s Mission to Save the Republic,”reminded me of a post that I wrote a while back about Traumatic Brain Injuries.When I was living in Menlo Park, California in the years 2011-2015, I knew an affluent, patriotic man who was a benefactor the VA hospitals in Palo Alto and Menlo Park. He introduced me to a psychiatrist with whom I got to be pals, and on a few occasions I was given permission to accompany him when he visited his patients.By far the most common injury I saw was what neurologists call a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). According to the National Institutes of Health (Occupation and Risk of Traumatic Brain Injury in the Millennium Cohort Study)rom 2000 to 2021, an estimated449,026active-duty U.S. service members experienced a TBI. These injuries were often caused by combat-related incidents, such as explosive blasts, and are considered a “signature injury” of post-9/11 conflicts.The vast majority of these injuries are considered mild, but a “mild” diagnosis is cold comfort for those suffering from the syndrome and their family members, as mild symptoms include:HeadacheDizzinessNausea and vomitingFatigueSensitivity to light or noiseBlurred or double visionBalance problemsCognitive: Confusion or difficulty concentrating, memory loss or problems with recall, Difficulty with attention or problem-solving, and slowed thinking or processing speed.Emotional: Irritability or mood swings, anxiety or depression, difficulty sleeping, and changes in appetite.Other: Ringing in the ears, loss of consciousness (briefly), and seizures (rare).The following 2023 news segment presents a pretty good overview of the epidemic. Note that, as of this posting, it has only received 235 views.Though I haven’t analyzed it, I suspect that the TBI epidemic is related to the epidemic ofsuicideamong U.S. service personnel. According to the 2021 Brown University Cost of War Project, since 2001,30,000active-duty personnel and veterans of post-9/11 conflicts have died by suicide as of June 2021.A remarkable feature of many severe cases of TBI is that they were not caused by a penetrating object such as shrapnel or a gunshot, but by the shockwave generated by a roadside bomb.Most of the patients I visited had been diagnosed with moderate to severe TBI, and were profoundly debilitated. Their young lives—and the lives of their young wives and children—were totally destroyed forever.I was reminded of the shattered young men I visited in August 2021, when the US precipitously pulled out of Afghanistan, leaving it to the Taliban, after a twenty year occupation in which many of the poor fellows had been destroyed.What was the point of their sacrifices?Roadside bombs—and their hundreds of thousands of forgotten victims—remind me of the new Syrian President—Ahmed Al-Sharaa (AKA Muhammad Al-Jawlani). Not so long ago, he was regarded as a top al-Qaeda, “specially designated global terrorist” with a U.S. government ten million bounty on his head.On November 10, 2025—the official 250th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps and the National Forget-Me-Not Day (commemorating the sacrifices returning soldiers have made of body, blood, and limb)—President Trump hosted him for an official state visit at the White House.Al-Sharaa was detained by American troops in 2006 for planting explosives along a road near Mosul in northern Iraq and imprisoned for five years. A former killer and maimer of American soldiers and Marines in Iraq was made into today’s new darling in Syria and got an official White House reception on the 250th anniversary of the US Marine Corps.Are “We the People” really such terrible suckers?Ahmed Al-Sharaa began his career with the the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIL), joining the group in Iraq after the 2003 invasion. For those that don’t remember ISIL: the group was formed in 2004 by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden, and was known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).U.S. Marine Corps veterans remember Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as a key leader in the insurgency that fought the Marines during the first two battles of Fallujah in 2004—which included some of the hottest house to house fighting in U.S. Marine Corps history.Indeed, the fighting got so hot during the first battle in March 2004 that President Bush decided to pause it—prompting the Marines to pull back from the city and give up their initial gains—because it was creating political blowback in the U.S., and “Dubya” was afraid it could hurt his reelection prospects. Two days after he was reelected in November, he sent the Marines back into the Fallujah meat grinder.Following Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s adventures and prison sentence in Iraq, he shifted his attention to Syria. In 2012, he founded the Syrian group, Jabhat al-Nusra, and worked closely with ISIS and al-Qaeda in Syria until purportedly splitting from the former in 2013 and the latter in 2016.Ahmed Al-Sharaa remained on the U.S. Wanted List with a ten million bounty on his head until November 7, 2025—three daysbefore his White House visit. By all appearances, the U.S. government perceives that he has experienced a “damascene moment,” referring to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus.Al-Sharaa’s “damascene moment” apparently occurred when he assisted in overthrowing former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.The U.S. military knows how to wage Blitzkrieg against an underdeveloped foreign nation, but when it comes to occupying the country to produce a favorable political settlement, our skills quickly reach their limits.In the run-up to the Iraq War, key Bush administration policymakers such as Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz claimed that occupying Iraq would be like the successful post-World War II occupations of Germany and Japan, revealing that they knewnothingabout Iraq, Germany, or Japan.I’ll conclude this post by inviting my readers who feel compelled to leave rude comments—withno instructive content—to read other newsletters.If you don’t find my views informative, you will find no shortage of other media channels that agree with you.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Those who enthusiastically support US \"forever wars\" should visit veterans who suffered Traumatic Brain Injuries during the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/450000-us-soldiers-diagnosed-with-1d5", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-13", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Category X: HHS Leaders Injected Pregnant Women with an Untested Gene Therapy — Then Hid the Miscarriages", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHRecent developments orchestrated in the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs chairman Ron Johnson have been effective in changing public opinion, not only about Dr Anthony Fauci, but the entire pandemic response and in particular, the COVID-19 vaccines.  I sat down withDallas podcaster Grant Stinchfieldto answer questions.  As usual Grant was prepared.🎙️ The Bio-Ethical Breach: COVID Vaccines and PregnancyGrant Stinchfield hosted Dr. Peter McCulloughfor a blistering examination of newly revealed text messages between Dr. Anthony Fauci and then-CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, exposing that top public health officials privately acknowledged the COVID vaccines’ potential to cause miscarriages — while publicly insisting they were safe for pregnant women.🔴 The Smoking Gun TextThe centerpiece of the episode is a Fauci-to-Walensky text message where he warned:“This theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the first trimester”— referring to the cytokine storm and fever triggered by the second vaccine dose.Fauci’s private instincts were correct. The mRNA vaccines raised inflammatory cytokines that crossed the placenta, causing placental rejection and fetal loss. Yet as McCullough noted,“he lied to the public”— joined by Walensky, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, andNew England Journal of Medicineeditor Eric Rubin.📊 The Data They BuriedMcCullough and Dr. James Thorpe (an OB-GYN and first author) analyzed CDC’s own VAERS data and published their findings in theJournal of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. Key findings:The COVID vaccines were over 100 times more dangerousto pregnant women than the influenza vaccine, measured by fetal loss ratesThousands of women lost their babies— data the CDC had in real time while Fauci was publicly claiming “no red flags”A controversial 2021NEJMpaper by Shimabukuro initially reported miscarriage rates could reach82%post-vaccination (baseline: ~15%), before a correction walked it back to “we just don’t know”Lin et al found mRNA in cord blood and human placenta🧬 No Preclinical TestingMcCullough emphasized a fundamental breach:these vaccines never passed preclinical mammalian maternal-fetal safety testing or teratogenicity testing.No pregnant rats were studied. No birth defect screening was conducted. This is standard protocol for any drug — skipped entirely.He and Dr. Raphael Stricker (who leads the largest fetal loss clinic in the U.S.) published a 2021 warning inTrial Site Newsstating the vaccines should have been classified asPregnancy Category X — do not use in pregnancy.🎭 The Public DeceptionStinchfield played archived clips of Fauci telling the American public:“Approximately 20,000 pregnant women have been vaccinated withno red flags““There’sno indication whatsoeverof any increase of any adverse issues”The vaccines were “very safe“Meanwhile, the CDC’s own V-safe self-reporting system showed7.7% of recipientsbecame sick enough to require urgent care or hospitalization. Fauci had real-time access to miscarriage reports, maternal hemorrhage data, and fetal death figures — and chose to call unvaccinated Americans the problem.🩺 The Bottom LineAmong very rare pregnant women hospitalized with COVID-19, they had better outcomes than comparable non-pregnant women (Pineles et al.,Annals of Internal Medicine).  “In-hospital death occurred in 0.8% (n= 9) of pregnant patients and 3.5% (n= 340) of nonpregnant patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and viral pneumonia.”Natural immunity was widespread before vaccines arrived. There was never a medical justification for injecting pregnant women with an untested gene-based product — and the architects of that policy knew the risks and concealed them.Pineles BL, Goodman KE, Pineles L, O'Hara LM, Nadimpalli G, Magder LS, Baghdadi JD, Parchem JG, Harris AD. In-Hospital Mortality in a Cohort of Hospitalized Pregnant and Nonpregnant Patients With COVID-19. Ann Intern Med. 2021 Aug;174(8):1186-1188. doi: 10.7326/M21-0974. Epub 2021 May 11. PMID: 33971101; PMCID: PMC8251936.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.📝Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpointsReferences:Fauci-Walensky text messages (Senate investigation, 2026); Thorpe et al.,J Am Physicians Surg, 2023; Shimabukuro et al.,NEJM, 2021; McCullough & Stricker,Trial Site News, 2021; Pinellas et al.,Ann Intern Med, 2021; CDC V-safe data.Pineles BL, Goodman KE, Pineles L, O'Hara LM, Nadimpalli G, Magder LS, Baghdadi JD, Parchem JG, Harris AD. In-Hospital Mortality in a Cohort of Hospitalized Pregnant and Nonpregnant Patients With COVID-19. Ann Intern Med. 2021 Aug;174(8):1186-1188. doi: 10.7326/M21-0974. Epub 2021 May 11. PMID: 33971101; PMCID: PMC8251936.", "summary": "Private texts reveal they knew. Public statements show they lied. Thousands of mothers and babies paid the price.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/category-x-hhs-leaders-injected-pregnant", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-13", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "\"One Man\": Tucker Carlson's Mission to Save the Republic", "content": "Every nation gets the government it deserves.—Joseph de Maistre, August 15, 1811 letterNow we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure.-Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg AddressA republic, if you can keep it.-Benjamin Franklin, to a Philadelphia society lady upon walking out of the Constitutional ConventionHow can a people be persuaded to preserve their republic if they don’t understand the intellectual, moral, and legal foundation on which their republic rests?In 1795, James Madison wrote a letter that encapsulates the most important civics lesson that most Americans never learned.Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and inthe degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.Tucker Carlson is on a mission to save the American Republic from “war, the parent of armies [the military-industrial complex] debts, and taxes.”He agrees with James Madison that “of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded.”Like me, he long ago came to the conclusion that all the ruinous wars the US has fought in the Middle East since 2001 do NOT serve the American people, only special interests and lobbies.In the year 2000, the US national debt was$5.7trillion. Just 26 years later, it’s bumping up on$40trillion, and it’s no secret that the US government is finding it harder and harder to find large buyers of US debt. Currently the government must make interest payments of at least $1.2 trillion annually, with annualized run-rates approaching$1.38 trillion. This translates to roughly$3 billion per dayor over$30,000 every second.We are looking at a huge house of cards, and God only knows what risks are accumulating in it.I frequently receive messages from readers—as well as from people in my extended family and social circle—urging me to be more supportive of Donald Trump’s ongoing proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and his war on Iran.Sadly—given that I find myself increasingly socially isolated—I cannot agree with them, because I cannotunlearnforty years of diligent study of history and political philosophy. IKNOWwhere this ship of state is headed — i.e., straight into an iceberg.As far as I can see, Tucker Carlson is the ONLY man of substantial influence in the Republic who has a clear concept of what needs to be done to save the Republic, and who is consistently speaking out in the public forum to to achieve this mission.He knows as well as I do that every great power in history has fallennotas a result of external enemies and pressures, but because thenation’s leadership and people lost their identity and sense of purpose as a nation.This will certainly happen to the US Constitutional Republic, just as death will eventually come for all of us. The question is how long can this final day of reckoning be postponed. I applaud Tucker Carlson for making such a valiant effort to persuade the American people to understand and to preserve what we inherited from our forefathers.If the great French diplomat and political philosopher, Joseph de Maistre, were alive today, he would probably advise Mr. Carlson that most of the American people deserve war, debt, and taxes because they persist in going along and even defending with their insane government.I believe that Mr. Carlson understands that his effort may well prove to be in vain, but that he will either succeed in making a difference or die trying.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "America's greatest podcaster is trying to save \"We the People\" from the ruinous consequences of war, debt, and taxes.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/one-man-tucker-carlsons-mission-to", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-13", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Negative Tissue Pressure, Elastic Vessels, and the Waves That Moves Your Blood", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHAs a cardiologist, naturally the heart is the center of my medical world view.  Dr Branko Furst came on Focal Points to shatter all of it.🫀 The Heart as a Secondary Pump — Interview SummaryHost:Dr. Peter McCullough, CardiologistGuest:Dr. Branko Furst, Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology, Albany Medical CollegeFurst, B., & González-Alonso, J. (2025). The heart, a secondary organ in the control of blood circulation.Experimental Physiology, 110, 649–665.https://doi.org/10.1113/EP091387🌳 The Central ProvocationDr. Branko Furst, a Slovenian-born anesthesiologist who trained in England before spending decades at Texas Tech and Albany Medical College, sat down with Dr. Peter McCullough to dismantle one of medicine’s most sacred dogmas:the heart is not the primary pump of the circulatory system.Furst spent over twenty years researching this question after encountering the work ofRudolf Steiner, who in 1920 proposed that the heart doesn’t pump blood at all — itimpedesandregulatesblood already in motion. What started as a fringe idea led Furst to challenge the orthodoxy and produce a Springer-published book, multiple peer-reviewed papers, and a paradigm-shifting model of circulation backed by over 800 references.Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "Why the heart is actually a secondary pump, more like a hydraulic ram", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/negative-tissue-pressure-elastic", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-14", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Good News for Statin Intolerant Patients", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHNearly every day I encounter a patient who either cannot tolerate or does not have trust in the safety of prescription cholesterol-lowering drugs, namely statins.  AtThe Wellness Company, we saw the need to fill this void.Cholesterol Support — A Natural Answer to a Statin-Weary World🫀 The Elephant in Every Adult’s ChestCardiovascular disease remains the single largest killer on the planet. It doesn’t discriminate by politics, wealth, or geography—it kills the banker and the bartender with equal enthusiasm. By middle age, a massive slice of the population is walking around with some degree of atherosclerotic burden, whether they know it or not. The question was neverwhetherto address cardiovascular risk; it’show.Here’s the problem nobody in the white coat wants to admit out loud:a huge segment of the adult population cannot tolerate or does not trust statins.Muscle pain, brain fog, fatigue, elevated liver enzymes, and—for some—a genuine fear of the long-term metabolic consequences. The “statin-intolerant” population isn’t a fringe minority; it’s millions of people who got the prescription and quietly threw the bottle in the back of the cabinet.For those people, the options have historically been thin: take the drug and suffer, move on to multiple other medicines, injections, or do nothing and hope.Cholesterol Supportfrom The Wellness Company steps directly into that gap.🌿 The Formula, Laid BareLet’s be clear about what’s actually in Cholesterol Support from TWC, because transparency is the whole point of the brand:Unlike many products, the doses are actually disclosed at meaningful levels—which alone puts this ahead of 90% of the other supplements.Bergamot at 550 mg is the standout. Bergamot (Citrus bergamia) contains a cocktail of polyphenols—most notably brutieridin and melitidin—that act on the same HMG-CoA reductase pathway statins target, but through a gentler, broader mechanism. The artichoke extract complements it by supporting bile acid output and hepatic clearance, which is how the body actually disposes of cholesterol rather than just suppressing its synthesis.And the probiotic? That’s the part most people glance over. The KABP Metabalance blend is where the formula earns its “Support” name—because this isn’t just about a number on a blood panel.🔬 Beyond the Number: Why “Cholesterol Reduction” Is a Red HerringHere’s the conceptual shift that matters, and it’s one the pharmaceutical model has spent decades obscuring:atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk is not just a cholesterol problem. It’s also secondary inflammation, oxidation, and endothelial dysfunction.Natural interventions reduce cardiovascular risk through mechanisms that have nothing to do with crushing LDL into the floor:Endothelial function— Bergamot and artichoke polyphenols improve nitric oxide signaling and vessel flexibility. Plaque doesn’t form in a healthy, compliant artery.Oxidative stress— Oxidized LDL (oxLDL) is the actual atherogenic particle. Polyphenols neutralize the free radicals that convert benign LDL into the oxidized, foam-cell-forming version.Inflammation— Atherosclerosis is fundamentally an inflammatory disease. The probiotic component addresses gut-mediated inflammation and systemic immune tone, which mainstream cardiology has only recently begun to take seriously.Bile acid metabolism— Artichoke’s cynarin and luteolin stimulate bile output, which is the body’sprimarycholesterol elimination route. Statins don’t touch this pathway meaningfully.This is why a natural formula can underperform a statin on raw LDL points and still support risk reductionactual cardiovascular outcomes. The biomarker is a proxy; the physiology is the truth. A 30% LDL drop achieved through oxidative and inflammatory suppression and bile acid modulation is worth a lot to holistic health.⚖️ Who This Is ForThestatin-intolerant/averseadult who wants an evidence-based alternative rather than nothing.Anyone withborderline lipidswho isn’t ready for a lifetime prescription.People who understand thatrisk is multifactorialand desire natural solutions.Those who wanttransparency—real doses, real disclosures on the product.Cholesterol Supportrepresents something the medical establishment has been slow to offer: a multi-ingredient genuine, mechanism-based alternative that treats the cardiovascular system as a system.  This product goes well with other over-the-counter risk-modulators including omega-3 fatty acids (I recommend >2000 mg of EPA+DHA per day), dry aged garlic >1200 mg per day, and nattokinase >10,000 FU per day.  All of these should be approved by the managing doctor and the individual risks including bleeding should be understood for the group.✅ The VerdictA tightly designed, honestly dosed, three-ingredient formula that targets cardiovascular risk at the level of inflammation, oxidation, and bile metabolism—not just LDL suppression. For the statin-averse and statin-intolerant majority who’ve been left without options, this is one of the more credible natural entries on the market and is well positioned for recommendation by functional nurses.  If you are a nurse, check out theFunctional Nurse Academy.📝Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpoints📚 ReferencesMollace V, et al.Hypolipemic and hypoglycaemic activity of bergamot polyphenols: From animal models to human studies.Fitoterapia. 2011.Gliozzi M, et al.Bergamot polyphenolic fraction enhances rosuvastatin-induced effect on LDL-cholesterol, LOX-1 expression and protein kinase B phosphorylation in patients with hyperlipidemia.Int J Cardiol. 2013.Wider B, et al.Artichoke leaf extract for treating hypercholesterolaemia.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013.Bundy R, et al.Artichoke leaf extract reduces symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome but has no effect on plasma cholesterol.(Note: hepatic/bile pathways studied separately in hepatocyte models.)Costabile A, et al.Probiotic modulation of the gut microbiota and serum lipids: a systematic review.(Lactobacillus plantarum strains and lipid metabolism.)Ross R.Atherosclerosis—an inflammatory disease.N Engl J Med. 1999.Note: Product-specific clinical data should be reviewed via The Wellness Company’s published materials. Consult a qualified clinician before discontinuing any prescribed medication.", "summary": "Combinations of natural ingredients provide support and rationale for cardiovascular risk reduction", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/good-news-for-statin-intolerant-patients", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-17", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Trump Buries Hatchet with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, Security of South Korea No Longer U.S. Priority", "content": "On Sunday, President Trump announced on his Truth Social account that he is patching things up with North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un, and is therefore no longer concerned about the security of South Korea — one of the US’s key trading partners.This is a classic example of an overextended empire picking too many fights at once and trying to placate one opponent so that it can shift military resources to putting out a fire in another part of the empire.In 2006, North Korea began successfully testing nuclear weapons. Since then, its dynastic dictator, Kim Jong Un—widely regarded as aggressive and unpredictable—has repeatedly threatened “shocking and unimaginable disaster,” and “total destruction” of the United States if it takes military action against North Korea.In recent years, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has repeatedly issued stark threats against the United States, framing them as responses to perceived hostility, joint military exercises, or the need to expand nuclear capabilities.These statements, typically delivered through the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), emphasize Kim’s readiness to use overwhelming or nuclear force if provoked, though they often condition destruction on U.S. or allied actions rather than announcing unprovoked first strikes.On or around December 31, 2023, Kim met with senior military officers and instructed that if the United States and South Korea opted for military confrontation, North Korean forces must “deal a deadly blow to thoroughly annihilate themby mobilizing all the toughest means and potentialities without moment’s hesitation.”State media reported this language the following day, linking it to the need to sharpen the country’s nuclear “treasured sword” amid what Kim described as unprecedented U.S.-led pressure.In August 2025, amid U.S.–South Korea joint drills, Kim again escalated rhetoric. He described the exercises as an “obvious expression of their will to provoke war” and an indication of hostile intent, whilecalling for the rapid expansion of North Korea’s nuclear armamentto match the security environment. This continued a pattern of using drills as a trigger for warnings of strengthened nuclear readiness directed at Washington and its allies.In early 2026, Kim signaled openness to coexistence with the United States only if Washington accepted North Korea’s irreversible nuclear status and withdrew its “hostile policy,” while simultaneously warning of readiness to respond to any confrontation and emphasizing the ability to inflict decisive damage (with particularly explicit language reserved for South Korea).By mid-August 2026, as the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises approached, North Korean Foreign Ministry statements—aligned with Kim’s overall posture—vowed to frustrate “outsiders’ hostile acts with “the most powerful and overwhelming force,” respond to a “new level of threat with a new level of a deterrent,” and furtherstrengthen nuclear capabilities. These came alongsidemissile tests and accusations that U.S. strategy risked pushing the region toward nuclear confrontation.Despite Kim’s extravagant threats, most military analysts claim that he is a rational actor who understands MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) and therefore maintains nuclear weapons as a means of deterrence rather than suicidal aggression.North Korea’s nuclear program and its aggressive rhetoric naturally bring to mind US relations with Iran. As I note in my new book,Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions.One often hears the assertion that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was a religious fanatic for whom the Cold War doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) does not apply. However, this appears to be more of an assertion than an established fact. Khamenei issue an oral fatwa (religious decree) against the production of nuclear weapons, in October 2003—reiterated in April 2010 and October 2019. He was also known to be strongly dedicated to his wife, six children, in-laws, and seven grandchildren.The Iranian regime has a forty-seven-year track record of pragmatic survival behavior. It has not invaded neighbors, has used proxies and deniability to avoid direct regime-ending confrontations, adapted to sanctions, negotiated the JCPOA (2015) to ease pressure, and reacted to provocations with calibrated responses such as limited direct strikes on Israel after assassinations. In a 2012 60 Minutes interview, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan characterized the regime “very rational” and said it weighs implications carefully (The Spymaster: Meir Dagan on Iran’s threat,” 60 Minutes, CBS News, Sept. 16, 2012).Rarely if ever mentioned in the western media is the possibility that if the Iranian regime indeed wishes to acquire nuclear weapons, it is for the rational purpose of deterring aggression from Israel and the United States, both of which are armed with nuclear weapons.Here it is useful to compare Iran to Pakistan. The latter country is often accused by the United States of sponsoring terrorism and is strongly suspected of having provided a haven for Osama bin Laden for five years in a secure compound in Abbottabad, a military garrison town close to Islamabad. Following India’s acquisition and testing of a nuclear bomb in 1974, Pakistan began developing its own nuclear weapons against strong Israeli opposition. In 1981, the Mossad sent letter bombs to firms in West Germany and Switzerland that were assisting in the effort. Though Pakistan succeeded in acquiring and testing nuclear weapons in 1998, it has never threatened Israel with an atomic bomb attack. The government of Pakistan believes that possessing nuclear weapons is a deterrent against aggression from India and other nations in the region.I recently performed the following Grok query about Iran.What is the evidence that the Iranian regime is an irrational actor that does not recognize, and will not be governed by the Cold War doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)? Has the Iranian regime taken actions that are consistent with suicidal irrationality?Grok responded as follows.There is limited, mostly speculative or rhetorical evidence that the Iranian regime is an “irrational actor” that rejects the Cold War doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), and virtually no concrete evidence of state-level actions that demonstrate suicidal irrationality.MAD relies on the assumption that rational state actors prioritize national/regime survival above all else and will therefore be deterred from actions (especially nuclear first strikes) that guarantee their own destruction. Critics who argue Iran falls outside this framework typically point to its theocratic ideology, while most strategic analysts (including former Israeli intelligence leaders) conclude the opposite: Iran is a rational, if highly ideological and risk-tolerant, actor that understands deterrence and acts to preserve the regime.Claimed Evidence for Irrationality / Non-Adherence to MADProponents (often Israeli officials, U.S. hawks, and some think-tank analyses) cite the following:Religious ideology and eschatology: The regime is Twelver Shia, with a belief in the eventual return of the Hidden Imam (Mahdi). Some hardliners (especially in the IRGC) interpret major chaos or apocalyptic conflict with “infidels” (Israel/U.S.) as hastening this return, potentially making mutual destruction religiously desirable rather than deterrent. Martyrdom (shahadat) is glorified in official ideology, culture, and propaganda. Critics argue this creates a different cost-benefit calculus than secular rational-actor models.Specific statements suggesting asymmetric nuclear thinking:Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (2001): A single nuclear bomb could destroy Israel entirely, while the Muslim world (with many states) would only be damaged—implying Iran might accept heavy losses in a nuclear exchange.Repeated eliminationist rhetoric against Israel (e.g., threats to “destroy” Tel Aviv/Haifa or wipe out the “Zionist regime”) by leaders including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who blended this with Mahdist/apocalyptic themes.Historical willingness to absorb massive casualties: During the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, Iran launched “human wave” attacks (including child soldiers and Basij volunteers into minefields), accepting 500,000–1 million deaths rather than seeking early peace. This is cited as evidence of ideological fanaticism over pragmatic survival.Persistent nuclear pursuit and proxy escalations despite costs: Iran has endured decades of sanctions, sabotage, and strikes while advancing its nuclear program (enrichment to near-weapons grade at times) and arming proxies (Hezbollah, Houthis, Hamas) that conduct attacks risking wider war. Recent 2026 escalations—broad missile/drone strikes and proxy actions across multiple fronts—have been described by Israeli intelligence as “almost suicidal” or “off the rails,” driven by survival desperation rather than cool calculation.Rejection of Western deterrence logic: The regime’s theocratic/ideological nature (vs. Soviet-style pragmatic totalitarianism) is said to make it less sensitive to threats of annihilation. Some argue MAD only works between states that share a survival-first paradigm.These points suggest Iran may not be “governed by” MAD in the same way the U.S. and USSR were—its leaders might calculate that limited nuclear use, proxy chaos, or even regime-ending conflict could serve divine/historical purposes or asymmetric goals.Counter-Evidence: Iran Behaves as a Rational (If Revisionist) ActorThe weight of empirical analysis points the other way:Pragmatic survival behavior over 47 years: Iran has not invaded neighbors (unlike Saddam’s Iraq), has used proxies and deniability to avoid direct regime-ending confrontations, adapted to sanctions, negotiated the JCPOA (2015) to ease pressure, and calibrated responses (e.g., limited direct strikes on Israel after assassinations, followed by de-escalation windows). Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan explicitly called the regime “very rational” and said it weighs implications carefully.Nuclear restraint and deterrence awareness: Khamenei issued (or referenced) a fatwa declaring nuclearweapons(especially use) haram/forbidden, though critics note it is oral, focuses more on use than possession, and could be reversed under the Shia principle of expediency if regime survival demanded it. Iran has stayed at the nuclear threshold rather than rushing to a testable weapon—consistent with seeking deterrencewithoutprovoking preemptive annihilation. It has not transferred nuclear tech to proxies.No suicidal state actions: Proxy terrorism and suicide bombings are asymmetric tools (common in weaker actors), not regime self-immolation. The Iran-Iraq War casualties, while horrific, occurred in a defensive conventional war where both sides suffered massively—standard for ideological conflicts (compare WWII or other total wars). Recent escalations occurred under extreme pressure (strikes on Iranian soil) and reflect wounded-animal survival instincts, not proactive suicide.Brinkmanship, not madness: Iran excels at “gray zone” operations, proxies, and calculated risk to expand influence while avoiding existential retaliation. This is rational deterrence-by-denial and cost-imposition, not rejection of MAD. Kenneth Waltz and others have argued a nuclear Iran would likely stabilize the region via classic balancing, as survival remains the regime’s core imperative.In short, ideology introduceshigher risk toleranceand rhetorical extremism, and statements like Rafsanjani’s highlight an asymmetric view of destruction. But there is no behavioral record of the regime knowingly courting its own assured destruction. MAD’s core logic (survival first) appears to hold; the regime has repeatedly chosen preservation over ideological purity when the stakes were existential.Bottom line: Claims of Iranian suicidal irrationality are more often policy advocacy (for strikes/preemption) than a description of observed reality. Deterrence has constrained Iran for decades and would likely continue to do so—even with nuclear weapons—though the ideological overlay adds uncertainty and demands robust second-strike capabilities and clear red lines from adversaries. The regime is fanatical in rhetoric and ruthless in tactics, but not demonstrably suicidal.As President Kennedy vehemently asserted in his letters to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in April and May 1963, nuclear proliferation is inherently undesirable. It would therefore be far preferable if the US could induce Iran to give up its 60% uranium.The trouble the US now faces is that it supported Iraq’s 1980-88 war against Iran, has itself twice attacked Iran, killed its religious leader and multiple members of his family, and threatened to end Iranian civilization forever.Given these circumstances, it’s hard to image what the US could do to induce Iran to give up its uranium. One could make a strong argument that the most rational decision that Iran could now make is to move forward in developing a nuclear deterrent, following in the footsteps of North Korea, which was largely obliterated by the US Air Force in 1950-53.At the end of his life, Air Force General Curtis LeMay told Air Force historians that 85% of North Korea’s buildings were destroyed and 20% of its civilian population was killed. Nevertheless, the North Korean regime didn’t capitulate. On the contrary, it survived and concluded it had best acquire nuclear weapons to deter further US aggression in the future.As we see from President Trump’s Truth Social post, North Korea’s doctrine of nuclear deterrence has worked very well.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "It's been a few months since Kim has threatened the total annihilation of South Korea, and a few years since he threatened to inflict \"shocking and unimaginable disaster\" on the USA.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/trump-buries-hatchet-with-kim-jong", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-17", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Australia to Conduct Largest Wild-Bird Vaccination Experiment Ever Attempted", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHAustralia ispreparing to round up5,000 wild little penguins, inject each of them twice with an avian-influenza vaccine, implant microchips, and release them back into the wild in what amounts to the largest wild-bird vaccination experiment ever attempted. In total, it will involve roughly 10,000 injections and 5,000 implanted microchips across a free-ranging wild population.The vaccine being supplied for Australia’s protected bird program is aZoetis H5N2 killed-virus vaccine developed for poultry, while the virus now circulating in Australian wildlife isH5N1. The product was developed for chickens, not wild penguins, and Australia has acknowledged that experience using these vaccines in non-poultry species is limited. Yet authorities are now scaling this intervention up to thousands of free-ranging animals.The plan requires capturing the penguins, restraining them, injecting and microchipping them, releasing them, then finding and capturing them again several weeks later for a second dose. This is an unprecedented pharmaceutical intervention in a wild ecosystem.The evolutionary consequences are especially concerning. These vaccines do not necessarily stop infection or viral replication, meaning H5N1 can continue circulating while encountering vaccine-induced immune pressure. Influenza mutates rapidly, and under those conditions variants better able to evade the vaccine response can gain a selective advantage and spread.Continued circulation under vaccine pressure can also accelerate antigenic drift and favor vaccine-resistant strains, while co-infection with different influenza viruses creates opportunities for reassortment and novel variants. In wild penguins, these risks are even less predictable because there is little real-world experience with mass vaccination of free-ranging populations.There is also a notable financial connection behind the supplier. Zoetis has received nearly $30 million in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, including funding involving poultry health, veterinary medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics. The Gates Foundation has also separately funded H5N1 avian-influenza vaccine development.The scale of this should not be normalized. Five thousand wild penguins are being rounded up, double-vaccinated with a poultry-developed H5N2 influenza vaccine, permanently microchipped, and released back into an environment where H5N1 will continue circulating.This is the largest wild-bird vaccination experiment ever attempted. It is a sweeping biological intervention with real evolutionary and ecological risks, and authorities are moving ahead despite limited species-specific evidence and no ability to know in advance what consequences they may be unleashing.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.Subscribe now", "summary": "5,000 wild little penguins will be captured, microchipped, and vaccinated twice with an H5N2 bird-flu vaccine developed for chickens.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/australia-to-conduct-largest-wild", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-17", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Foreign Wars: The Ultimate Divider At Home", "content": "A good friend here in Dallas who was highly supportive of my dissident work during the COVID-19 pandemic disagrees with my criticism of President Trump for starting and continuing the war on Iran.I am not troubled that we disagree about this subject, and I am confident that our friendship will be just fine. However, our disagreement prompted me to ponder theimpassebetween those who oppose foreign wars and those who support them.War—that is, the business of killing people and destroying their property and exposing one’s own people and property to the risk of being killed and destroyed—has long been adivisivesubject among the philosophically inclined.I say for thephilosophically inclined, because it seems that most people are easily swayed by war propaganda to support war. Because only 0.4% of the American population serves in the active duty military, most Americans perceive themselves to be very far (and safe) from the business of waging war. Their minds therefore have free rein to imagine this business however they wish to imagine it.I am confident that most people would instantly reevaluate their advocacy of foreign wars if they and their children were obliged to participate in fighting them. As General William Tecumseh Sherman put it:I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation.The burning of Atlanta, Nov. 1864I regard friends, associates, and readers as being entirely free to support America’s foreign wars. However, by the same token, I declare my individual freedom of conscience—enshrined by the First Amendment and recognized by the Supreme Court as a core principle of the Free Speech Clause—to criticize these wars.I did not arrive at my posture of staunchly opposing foreign wars lightly. My position is the result of decades of studying military history and analyzing the costs and results of America’s foreign wars since 1945.I also believe that the burden of proof for justifying foreign wars is not on those who oppose them, but on those who advocate them.War propaganda grossly oversimplifies the causes of conflict and reduces the adversary to a comic book bad guy, dehumanizing him and totally disregarding the historical events and circumstances that produced his feelings of enmity.I often receive scolding emails from people who know nothing about Iran, its people, or its history apart from things they have heard from American and Israeli propagandists. Many of these people call themselves “conservatives” and have frequently expressed disgust at the decadence and immorality of popular American culture and the dishonesty of the US government, especially during the COVID-19.On the other hand, people like me who oppose the US government’s foreign wars can draw on a long moral and legal tradition on which the US Republic was founded. This tradition regards war as an extreme measure—one to be undertaken only after every reasonable avenue of peaceful conflict resolution has been exhausted.History has shown the war rarely results in desirable outcomes, but usually begets more war. As Jefferson put it, “War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.”This view is rooted in the Western just war tradition, adapted and institutionalized by the American Founders in both the nation’s founding documents and its constitutional design.The just war tradition, going back to Augustine and Aquinas, holds that resorting to arms is morally permissible only under strict conditions. Among the most exacting of these is the criterion of last resort: force may be used solely when all other means of resolving conflict—diplomacy, negotiation, arbitration, economic pressure, or legal appeal—have been attempted in good faith.This moral framework shaped colonial and early republican thought. Puritan writers claimed that the justice of any war must be “notoriously evident,” and Revolutionary leaders framed their cause in just-war terms. The Declaration of Independence follows the logic of last resort: it catalogs a “long train of abuses,” records repeated petitions for redress, and only then concludes that the colonists were compelled “to dissolve the political bands” and take up arms in defense of their rights.I’ve yet to see a single coherent argument—drawing on our moral and legal traditions—that justifies the US against Iran, which began when the nuclear-armed forces of Israel and the US attacked Iran on the grounds that Iran was seeking to develop a nuclear weapon.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Those who oppose foreign wars find themselves at an impasse with those who support them.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/foreign-wars-the-ultimate-divider", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-18", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "How A Pregnant Nurse Knew mRNA Vaccination Was Wrong", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPlease watch this brief segment where I am joined by nurseAdara AllenonNEWSMAXprime time withRob Finnerty.Allen’s story is compelling and she is so grateful in the end she made the right choice.Sadly many pregnant women were not so fortunate in 2020-2021 and were either deceived or forced into potentially dangerous genetic vaccination with Pfizer or Moderna mRNA when similar women just a few months earlier were excluded from randomized trials based on a dangerous mechanism of action and the lack of preclinical safety data.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.📝Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident,McCullough Foundation", "summary": "Adara Allen gave up her job and struggled to keep her baby safe", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/how-a-pregnant-nurse-knew-mrna-vaccination", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-16", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Does the PREP Act Shield Fauci & Walensky from Liability for Concealing Miscarriage Risk?", "content": "The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue declarations that confer broad immunity from tort liability on “covered persons” for claims of loss arising from the design, development, manufacture, distribution, administration, or use of designated medical countermeasures against infectious disease threats.The protection provided by the PREP Act is deliberately broad to enable and encourage rapid response during public health emergencies. This sounds good in theory if the nation is up against an extremely virulent pathogen that poses a grave risk to the entire population.However, in practice against SARS-CoV-2, the liability protection enabled massive fraud and abuse. The primary trouble with the PREP Act is that it does not require the Secretary of Health and Human services provide any objective factual basis for declaring and maintaining a public health emergency. This defect was especially evidence during the Monkeypox scare, when the entire “emergency” was a mere media assertion reminiscent of the 2010 Simpsons episodeHouse Cat Flu.The sole statutory exception to PREP Act immunity iswillful misconductthat proximately causes death or serious physical injury.Willful misconduct is narrowly defined: an act or omission taken intentionally to achieve a wrongful purpose, knowingly without legal or factual justification, andin disregard of a known or obvious risk so great that the harm is highly likely to outweigh any benefit.Plaintiffs must prove all three elements by clear and convincing evidence, first exhaust the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program, and litigate only in a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.Fauci and Walensky’s attorneys will probably argue that they did not—in the spring of 2021—know that the risk of miscarriage outweighed the theoretical benefit of protecting the pregnant mother from COVID-19 illness.In August 2021, Walensky publicly acknowledged that the COVID-19 vaccine does NOT prevent infection and transmission, which meant that any possible protection the vaccine conferred to pregnant mothers was entirely theoretical.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "The 2005 PREP Act laid the foundation for the organized criminal creation of SARS-CoV-2 and the organized criminal pandemic response. Can Fauci and Walensky rely on its liability shield?", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/does-the-prep-act-shield-fauci-and", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-16", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "You're Eating Your Way to Colonic Diverticular Disease", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHMany of you have either first-hand knowledge of colonic diverticulosis (process of developing small outpouchings) or symptomatic diverticulitis (obstruction and infection) manifested by abdominal pain, fever, and colonic bleeding.Diverticulosis, Diverticulitis, and the Fiber Deficit: How Diet Determines DestinyDiverticular disease is among the most common gastrointestinal conditions in the industrialized world, yet it is almost comically misunderstood by the general public. Many people carry the vague impression that it is an inevitable consequence of aging — a sort of plumbing failure that strikes at random. The reality is closer to the opposite: diverticulosis is adisease of what we eat, and it tracks the Western diet with embarrassing precision. A colon fed primarily on refined starch and animal protein develops structural weaknesses; a colon fed on plant fiber remains resilient. What follows is an examination of how a lifelong high-fiber diet protects against diverticular disease, how meat and starch undermine the colon wall, and why processed starchy snack foods are the single worst offender.Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "Condition blamed on older age is actually a predictable outcome of what you have been consuming all these years", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/youre-eating-your-way-to-diverticulosis", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-16", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "First, Do Harm: NIH's Chief Bioethicist Slept Next to the Architect of Mass Vaccination and Let Pregnant Women Pay the Price", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHCan one person, Dr. Anthony Fauci, be held accountable for all COVID-19 atrocities all over the world?  Some say yes, because of his influence, captured in his own diary had global reach and unquestioned power.  Many overseas said they trusted the US in taking the lead on pandemic response.  Others would say Fauci had an extensive supporting cast, and closest to him was his wife, Dr. Christine Grady.Dr Christine Grady, former Director of NIH Bioethics and wife of Dr Anthony Fauci after his US Senate Hearing on July 29, 2026 were he was disgraced and humiliated by US Senators for his corrupt actions.🩺 The Fauci Texts: When Bioethics Died on the Maternity WardSteve Gruber sat down with Dr. Peter McCullough onAmerica’s Voice Liveto unpack the bombshell Fauci text messages — and the conversation zeroed in on a figure whose silence may have been as damning as Fauci’s public lies:Christine Grady, Fauci’s wife and the former head of bioethics at the NIH.📱 The Smoking Gun TextsThe texts reveal Fauci privately acknowledged a theoretical risk thatsecond-dose mRNA shots could trigger miscarriagesthrough fever and inflammatory cytokine responses, particularly in the first trimester. He texted CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy about these concerns. Their response? They admitted they hadno safety datafor pregnant women. Days later, Fauci stood before cameras and declared“no red flags”for pregnant vaccine recipients. Walensky went further, actively recommending the shots at any stage of pregnancy.The result was predictable and tragic. McCullough cited a Thorpe paper showing the COVID vaccines were100 times more likely to cause miscarriagethan the influenza vaccine. An earlierNew England Journal of Medicinepaper from the CDC itself indicated miscarriage rates could be as high as82%— though McCullough noted they never pinned down the true number.🔴 Christine Grady: The Bioethicist Who Said NothingThis is where Grady enters the frame, and her role is devastating in its implications. AsChief of the NIH Department of Bioethics, Grady was literally the nation’s top authority on medical ethics. McCullough spelled out what every first-year bioethics student learns:you never administer an untested product to pregnant women. Period.Not tested in mammalian pregnancy models. Not tested for teratogenicity. The precautionary principle exists precisely to prevent what happened next.Grady, living in the same house as the man orchestrating the largest mass vaccination campaign in history, raised no public objection. No whistleblowing. No quiet resignation. No op-ed. Nothing.With Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal employees, the US government forced unsafe products into pregnant women who were employees at that time.  Even North Korea, China, Russia, and Cuba did not do this to their people.  I wonder if Grady teaches about the ethics of vaccine mandates at Georgetown.Her silence was functionally an endorsement. Fauci and HHS leaders, emboldened by the implicit green light from the nation’s bioethics chief — who happened to be sleeping next to them — pushed forward with vaccinating pregnant women using asynthetic mRNA platform never before deployed in human pregnancy. This was a world first. An unprecedented experiment on gravid women, conducted without informed consent, under the banner of public health.  One wonders if the Ignatian Volunteer Corps and theCatholic Standardwould have showered Grady and Fauci with awards and press release if they knew the miscarriage story now exposed?⚖️ The ReckoningMcCullough called for prosecution on multiple fraud charges andmass negligent homicide, explicitly including the avoidable miscarriages and stillbirths. Three states, including Florida, are pursuing state-level charges outside the reach of Fauci’s federal pardon. McCullough suggested a special independent counsel.Gruber closed with the question that hangs over all of it: how does a man write self-aggrandizing diary entries about being “the most loved person in the world” while women are losing their babies because of policies he championed? McCullough’s answer was blunt — Fauci and HHS havedestroyed trust in medicinefor a generation, and young doctors will carry that burden for decades.Post-script:  Dr Christine Grady’s bioethics failure wasn’t passive. It was the institutional seal of approval that made the unthinkable thinkable: injecting pregnant women with a novel genetic technology no one had tested on pregnant mammals, let alone pregnant humans.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.Share📝Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpoints", "summary": "Christine Grady knew the precautionary principle. She also knew the man ignoring it. Her silence was the institutional rubber stamp.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/first-do-harm-nihs-chief-bioethicist", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-15", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Fauci & Walensky Obviously Guilty of Criminal Negligence", "content": "We live in a strange era in which the criminal conduct of our ruling class is so painfully obvious that it often gives me a headache. It’s as though millions of people cannot see itbecauseit is so painfully obvious because the mind assumes that the criminal conduct of official authorities must be concealed in a sophisticated way.This morning I woke up to a post from my Focal Points co-author, Dr. Peter McCullough, titledFirst, Do Harm: NIH’s Chief Bioethicist Slept Next to the Architect of Mass Vaccination and Let Pregnant Women Pay the Price.While lawyers can argue interminably about jurisdiction (federal or state) and which specific common law or statute apply, the evidentiary standard is obviously met (from text messages) for—at the very least—criminally negligent conduct causing severe harm (to parents) and death (to the miscarried fetus). Criminal negligence involves causing grave harm or death by acting with blameworthy carelessness. The accused does not necessarilymean to gravely harm or kill anyone. Instead, they ignore the obvious and severe danger that a normal, careful person would have noticed and avoided.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Standard of evidence for prosecuting the NIAID & CDC directors for \"criminal negligence\" clearly met.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/fauci-and-walensky-obviously-guilty", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-15", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Moderna, the Rasputin Company", "content": "With former NIAID director Anthony Fauci in the Senate hot seat and his senior advisor David MorensPleadingGuilty to Concealing Records of Coronavirus Gain-of-Function Research Grant,NIAID’s commercial partner in developing the mRNA-1273 “Spikevax” against COVID-19,Moderna Inc., just enjoyed one of the best days in its company history, with its stock spiking 177% in today’s trading.A few weeks ago I posted an essay on this newsletter (Senator Paul Should Ask Fauci Why Moderna’s 2016 Patented Gene Sequence Turned Up in SARS-CoV-2)about what appears to be smoking gun evidence that Moderna and NIAID were part of the cabal that created SARS-CoV-2 or at least a critical part of its genome around the year 2015.Today, Moderna and its partner Merck announced positive interim results from the Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial ofintismeran autogene(also known as V940 or mRNA-4157), a personalized mRNA-based neoantigen therapy.Modernaclaimsthis is the first successful late-stage clinical readout for any mRNA cancer vaccine and the first time an individualized neoantigen therapy has demonstrated a clinically meaningful benefit over standard care in a randomized Phase 3 setting.The therapy targets high-risk melanoma—the deadliest form of skin cancer—specifically in patients with completely resected Stage IIB–IV disease. Melanoma remains a significant public health challenge, with more than 1.5 million people in the United States living with the disease as of 2023.After surgical removal of the primary tumor, many patients still face a substantial risk of recurrence or metastasis.Moderna claimsthatIntismeranis designed to address this residual threat by analyzing mutations unique to each patient’s tumor, encoding those neoantigens into an mRNA sequence, and delivering the personalized vaccine (typically up to nine intramuscular doses) so that the patient’s immune system learns to recognize and attack residual cancer cells.In the trial, the vaccine was given in combination with Merck’s established PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda), the current standard of care in the adjuvant setting.Moderna claimsthat evidence of effectiveness is compelling., touting that its pre-planned interim analysis of the 1,137-patient trial, the combination met its primary endpoint of recurrence-free survival and a key secondary endpoint of distant metastasis-free survival, both with statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements over pembrolizumab alone.Moderna claimsits Phase 3 findings build on earlier Phase 2b data (KEYNOTE-942), which showed sustained benefit at five years of follow-up: a 49% reduction in the risk of recurrence or death and a 59% reduction in the risk of distant metastasis or death compared with pembrolizumab monotherapy.Regarding safety,Moderna claimsPhase 3 results indicated that the safety profile of intismeran plus pembrolizumab was consistent with prior studies of the combination, with no new safety signals observed.Moderna claimsof its Phase 2 data that most treatment-related adverse events were low-grade and transient (fatigue being among the most common), grade ≥3 events related to the mRNA vaccine were limited (approximately 10–11% of patients), and there were no grade 4 or 5 events attributed to intismeran itself. Immune-mediated adverse events occurred at rates similar to pembrolizumab alone.Moderna claimsthese data highlight intismeran autogene as a potential new standard for adjuvant melanoma treatment. The companies are already discussing regulatory submission. If approved, the therapy could become available as early as 2027, “offering thousands of high-risk patients a more personalized and effective means of preventing disease return.”Finally,Moderna claimsthe success also strengthens the broader promise of mRNA technology beyond infectious disease vaccines, opening avenues for similar approaches in other solid tumors.I suppose we shall see how this plays out. AuthorsNicolas Hulscher, MPH, Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH, and John A. Catanzaro, NMD, PhD just published a paper titledReanalysis of FDA Clinical Data for mFLUSIVA (mRNA-1010): Unfavorable Risk-Benefit Profile Supports Market Withdrawalin which they concluded that Moderna’sclaimsabout the safety and efficacy of its mRNA influenza vaccine do not stand up to scrutiny.Considering the abominable safety and efficacy profile of the Moderna-NIAID mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, it is only prudent to regard today’s news of a melanoma vaccine with skepticism.Today’s stunning stock performance was not only the result of market enthusiasm for the announcement, but also of a major short squeeze, as 14% of its free float (roughly 49.8 million to 52.4 million shares were sold short prior to today’s news.A witty friend has anointed Moderna the “Rasputin Stock” which made me laugh, as Rasputin has long struck me as one of the most mysterious charlatans in history. For those who are not familiar with his story, Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (1869–1916) was born a peasant in the Siberian village of Pokrovskoye. For much of his life he was a wandering pilgrim and self-proclaimed holy man. Though never ordained as a monk, he claimed to be a mystic, faith healer, and prophet, blending the occasional appearance of Orthodox piety with magnetic charisma.He made his way to the Romanov court, where Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra’s only son, Tsarevich Alexei, suffered from hemophilia, a life-threatening bleeding disorder for which contemporary medicine offered little help.Beginning around 1906–1908, and most importantly during a near-fatal hemorrhage in 1912, Rasputin was summoned to the boy’s bedside. Through prayer, a calming presence, and possibly hypnotic suggestion—or simply by discouraging doctors from administering blood-thinning treatments such as aspirin—he appeared to ease Alexei’s pain and halt the bleeding. The imperial couple became convinced of his divine gift, granting him extraordinary influence as a spiritual adviser and political confidant.The Tsar’s personal correspondence reveals that he eventually wised up to the fact that Rasputin was an inspired charlatan, but the Tsarina kept her faith in the strange man. In one letter the Tsar wrote to one of his cousins (I don’t remember which one) who advised him to banish Rasputin from court, Nicholas II wrote, “Better one Rasputin than several fits of hysterics per day,” referring to his wife’s constant worry about the sick boy.One of the strangest features of Rasputin was the mysterious effect he had on women, including aristocratic ladies in Saint Petersburg. Though accounts are probably colored by anti-royalist propaganda, it seems that many women really did find him fascinating. They especially enjoyed his combination of conviviality (he was often drunk) and mysticism. The “monk” is said to have had many lovers and also to have spent much of his time in brothels and bathhouses.Prince Felix Yusupov concluded that Rasputin’s influence at court had gone way too far and was causing a national security risk by destroying the reputation of the royal family. Thus, on the night of 29–30 December 1916, Yusupov and some of his friends lured Rasputin to the Moika Palace. According to the widely circulated (and self-serving) account of the assassins, they first fed him cyanide-laced cakes and wine. When the poison produced no effect, Yusupov shot him in the chest. Rasputin collapsed, then revived, attacked his host, and fled into the courtyard, where he was shot again—once in the back and once in the head—beaten with a heavy object, and finally bound and thrown through the ice into the Neva River. Legend claims he was still alive and drowned only after struggling beneath the ice.Forensic examination established three gunshot wounds—one to the left side of the chest, one to the back, and a close-range shot to the forehead that was almost certainly fatal—along with extensive blunt-force trauma to the face and body, a possible knife wound, and other injuries sustained during the attack. Rasputin thus died of gunshot wounds after enduring poisoning attempts that failed, multiple shootings, and a savage beating. The drowning was post-mortem.Like Moderna’s stock, Rasputin became a figure of mythic resilience who died just before the collapse of the Russian Empire.RasputinModerna CEO Stéphane BancelSubscribe nowShare", "summary": "MRNA stock up 177% on news of favorable interim results from the Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial of intismeran autogene.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/moderna-the-rasputin-company", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-20", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Start Before It Becomes Severe: A Gentle Daily Ritual for Comfortable Ease of Movement", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHAs we age, virtually all of us will develop some degree of chronic stiffness and pain in our back, arms, hips, and legs.  That is why we developedPureRelieffromThe Wellness Company.🧭 The Daily-Approach Revolution: Rethinking Chronic Pain in Older AdultsFor millions of older adults, pain isn’t anevent. It’s abaseline condition—a constant hum of stiffness in the knees at sunrise, a dull ache in the lower back after an hour of gardening, fingers that won’t cooperate first thing in the morning. This reality is precisely why the standard “pop a pill when it hurts” model fails so many people.💊 The Problem With PRN Pain ReliefPRN(pro re nata—”as needed”) painkillers likeacetaminophen(Tylenol) andibuprofen(Motrin), and especially prescription opioids, are built around a reactive philosophy:They chase symptomsrather than modulating their underlying drivers.They do nothing to resolve inflammationor support tissue repair—they only mute the downstream signaling.They carry cumulative risk—chronic NSAID use is linked to gastrointestinal bleeding, kidney strain, and elevated cardiovascular risk; chronic Tylenol burdens the liver; opioids bring dependence, tolerance, and the well-documented downward spiral of escalating doses.For someone living withdailystiffness and inflammation, this is a treadmill that runs in place. The pain returns the moment the dose wears off, because thepathology was never addressed.🌱 Pure Pain Relief: A Fundamentally Different CategoryPure Pain Relieffrom The Wellness Company isnota fast-acting analgesic. It belongs to a different category entirely: adaily, foundational protocolthat works upstream of pain, at the level of inflammation, nerve sensitization, and repair.The PhilosophyRather than suppressing a pain signal at the finish line,Pure Pain Reliefaims to:Modulate inflammatory pathwayscontinuously, so the baseline inflammatory load drops over time.Dampen the sensitization of pain pathways(central and peripheral), reducing theamplificationof pain signals.Facilitate tissue repair, giving joints, muscles, and connective tissue the raw materials and signaling environment to actually recover.This is along-term solution, not an immediate one. The honest expectation is weeks of consistent daily use—not minutes—before meaningful shifts in baseline stiffness occur.🔬 Ingredient Breakdown: Why This Formula Is Built for Daily UseEach ingredient here was selected forsustained, low-grade inflammation management, not acute analgesia:🧬 Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) — 400 mgPEA is anendogenous fatty acid amidethat acts as a master modulator of the endocannabinoid system and has substantial research supporting its role inreducing neuroinflammation and chronic pain, particularly neuropathic and inflammatory pain. It works by downregulating overactive mast cells and glial cells—the very machinery thatsensitizespain pathways. This is the workhorse ingredient, and 400 mg daily is squarely within the clinically studied range.🌿 White Willow Bark Extract — 300 mgThe botanical precursor to aspirin (salicin), but delivered as awhole-plant extractthat’s gentler on the stomach and provides a broader spectrum of compounds. It offers mild, sustained anti-inflammatory support without the GI burden of isolated salicylates.🌸 Baikal Skullcap Root Extract — 150 mgA traditional Chinese medicine staple rich inbaicalin and baicalein, flavonoids with documented anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, andneuroprotectiveproperties. It complements PEA by targeting oxidative stress and inflammatory cytokines.🫚 Ginger (T3 Supercritical CO₂ Extract) — 125 mgA highly bioavailable ginger extract standardized forgingerols and shogaols, compounds with well-established anti-inflammatory activity. Supercritical CO₂ extraction preserves the heat-sensitive actives far better than conventional extraction, meaning you get more of the good stuff per milligram. Ginger has shown benefit in osteoarthritis and muscle soreness in clinical trials.🧂 Magnesium Glycinate — 15 mgMagnesium plays a role inmuscle relaxation, nerve function, and hundreds of enzymatic reactions, including those governing inflammation and repair. The glycinate form is highly bioavailable and gentle on the gut (unlike magnesium oxide or citrate, which can cause loose stools). Note: 15 mg is a low dose—this is a complementary supporting role in this formula, and is fine for those of you who take much higher amounts of magnesium each day.The SynergyWhat matters here is not any single ingredient in isolation, but themulti-pathway approach: PEA modulates neuroinflammation, willow bark and ginger hit the COX/prostaglandin axis, skullcap adds antioxidant and neuroprotective depth, and magnesium supports muscular and nervous system function. This is a “surround the problem” strategy rather than a single blunt instrument.⚠️ Honest Expectations: What This Is (and Isn’t)Pure Pain Relief IS:✅ Adaily foundational supplementfor chronic stiffness, inflammation, and age-related aches✅ A tool forgradually reducing relianceon PRN Tylenol, Motrin, and potentially prescription painkillers✅ A long-game investment in tissue repair and pain-pathway desensitization✅ Generally well-tolerated, with gentler GI profile than NSAIDsPure Pain Relief ISN’T:❌ A fast-acting acute pain reliever❌ A replacement for your doctor’s care for acute injury or severe pain❌ An overnight fix—expect4–8 weeksof consistent daily use for noticeable baseline changes🎯 Who Should Consider ItThis product is best suited for the older adult who:Wakes up stiff and takes an hour to “loosen up”Lives with nagging osteoarthritis, old injuries, or general inflammatory achesFinds themselves reaching for Tylenol or Motrinmore days than notWants aproactive, root-causeapproach rather than perpetual symptom-chasing🏁 The Bottom LineThe Wellness Company’sPure Pain Reliefis a thoughtfully formulated,multi-pathway daily protocolfor chronic pain and stiffness—not a band-aid. For older adults tired of the PRN treadmill, it represents a legitimate shift in strategy: treat thecondition, not just thesymptom. For those willing to commit to daily use, the payoff is a meaningful reduction in baseline pain and a breaking of the dependency cycle on as-needed painkillers.  Functional nurses should consider this product in their arsenal of recommendations for patients with chronic pain and stiffness.  To learn more about the field, visitThe Functional Nurse Academy.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.📝Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpoints📚 ReferencesGabrielsson L, Mattsson S, Fowler CJ.Palmitoylethanolamide for the treatment of pain: pharmacokinetics, safety and efficacy.Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2016;82(4):932–942.Keppel Hesselink JM, Hekker TA.Therapeutic utility of palmitoylethanolamide in the treatment of neuropathic pain associated with various pathological conditions: a case series.J Pain Res. 2012;5:437–442.Varrassi G, Paladini A, Marinangeli F, Racz G.Neural modulation by blocks and infusions.Pain Pract. 2006;6(1):34–38.Shara M, Stohs SJ.Efficacy and safety of white willow bark (Salix alba) extracts.Phytother Res. 2015;29(8):1112–1116.Li C, Lin G, Zuo Z.Pharmacological effects and pharmacokinetics properties of Radix Scutellariae and its bioactive flavones.Biopharm Drug Dispos. 2011;32(8):427–445.Altman RD, Marcussen KC.Effects of a ginger extract on knee pain in patients with osteoarthritis.Arthritis Rheum. 2001;44(11):2531–2538.Black CD, Herring MP, Hurley DJ, O’Connor PJ.Ginger (Zingiber officinale) reduces muscle pain caused by eccentric exercise.J Pain. 2010;11(9):894–903.de Baaij JHF, Hoenderop JGJ, Bindels RJM.Magnesium in man: implications for health and disease.Physiol Rev. 2015;95(1):1–46.Product link:Pure Pain Relief — The Wellness Company", "summary": "PureRelief from The Wellness Company fills an unmet need for many", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/start-before-it-becomes-severe-a", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-19", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "“Dangerous Intellectuals” Podcast Makes Its YouTube Debut with Guest John Leake", "content": "Blaine Holt is a great patriot with a marvelously nimble mind, and he has led a very adventurous life. A few days he graciously invited me to join him on his “Dangerous Intellectuals” podcast on which he has interviewed an impressive array of heterodox thinkers. Our conversation was one of the most enjoyable I can remember.I felt a fair measure of trepidation when he told me he was going to post our conversation on YouTube — the first time he has dared to do so — given thecensorship and shadow banning I have experienced on YouTube.Please support his Blaine’s new (and risky) YouTube venture by listening to our conversation and sharing it with your friends.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "In a risky move, USAF Brigadier General (Ret.) Blaine D. Holt takes the hazardous step of publishing his podcast about heterodox thinkers on the YouTube platform.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/dangerous-intellectuals-podcast-makes", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-19", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING: FDA Data Reanalysis Sent to Secretary Kennedy Finds Moderna’s mRNA Flu Shot Approval Should Be Immediately Withdrawn", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHThe approval of mFLUSIVA represents a major escalation in the expansion of nucleoside-modified mRNA technology into routine, repeated vaccination. We concluded that the FDA’s own clinical data demanded an independent risk-benefit accounting before this product becomes entrenched as an annual vaccine.The result is one of the most severe benefit-harm imbalances we have encountered in a licensed vaccine program, and it warrants immediate regulatory reversal.Our new manuscript,“Reanalysis of FDA Clinical Data for mFLUSIVA (mRNA-1010): Unfavorable Risk-Benefit Profile Supports Market Withdrawal,”directly reanalyzes the FDA briefing document and underlying clinical-trial counts used to support approval. Rather than accepting the regulatory presentation at face value, we placed the vaccine’s benefits and harms on thesame absolute scaleand asked the question that should have been made explicit before licensure:what is the human cost required to prevent one serious influenza outcome?The answer is extraordinary. To avertONE influenza hospitalization, approximately5,017 adultshad to receive mFLUSIVA instead of a standard-dose influenza vaccine, at theCOST of:~2 excess unexplained DEATHS~278 disabling Grade 3 systemic reactions~3,798 adverse reactionsCompared with the standard-dose flu vaccine, that amounts to approximately1,454 ADDITIONAL adverse reactions and 233 ADDITIONAL disabling Grade 3 systemic reactions for every hospitalization prevented.The broader safety pattern was just as one-sided.Unexplained deaths were 2.55-fold more frequent, Grade 3 systemic reactions were6.15-fold more frequent, andevery solicited symptom was more frequentin the mFLUSIVA group.Neither pivotal trial included a placebo arm, and no properly adjudicated influenza-mortality endpoint was ever specified, collected, or reported.This is the central regulatory failure our reanalysis exposes:the underlying numbers were available, but the benefit and harm were never presented together on the same absolute denominator.Benefits were presented primarily as relative efficacy, while harms were presented separately as event percentages. That leaves obscured the most important practical question in the entire approval decision:how many people must be exposed, and how many adverse outcomes occur, to prevent one serious influenza event?Our analysis answers that question directly using the FDA’s own numbers. Once the calculation is made, the imbalance is impossible to ignore.The manuscript sets out17 grounds for reversal. The first nine arise directly from FDA’s regulatory record and trial arithmetic. The remaining grounds address the additional hazards of extending nucleoside-modified mRNA technology into annual lifelong administration, including published evidence involving residual DNA contamination, reverse transcription and genomic integration, ribosomal stalling and frameshifting, protein misfolding and proteostatic disruption, broad biodistribution, prolonged persistence, and cumulative biological effects with repeated dosing.We decided that publishing these findings alone was not enough.We are undertaking the task of challenging this approval directly before it becomes another precedent for the unchecked expansion of mRNA products across infectious diseases despite an extreme risk-benefit profile.Accordingly, we formally sent the manuscript and supporting information toSecretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and officials at HHS, FDA, CDC, and NIH, requesting immediate withdrawal of the approval and a halt to distribution before widespread administration begins.Below is the exact letter sent to federal health officials.Letter Sent to Secretary Kennedy and Federal Health OfficialsSubject: URGENT: Immediate Withdrawal of mFLUSIVA (BLA 125869/0) Warranted Based on FDA Clinical Data ReanalysisDear Secretary Kennedy,As physicians and researchers who have reanalyzed the licensure record for this product, we respectfully request that the Department, in coordination with the Food and Drug Administration, initiate proceedings to withdraw the approval of Moderna’s mFLUSIVA (Influenza Vaccine, mRNA; mRNA-1010), BLA 125869/0, approved August 5, 2026, and halt its distribution pending that review.Attached is our manuscript, “Reanalysis of FDA Clinical Data for mFLUSIVA (mRNA-1010): Unfavorable Risk-Benefit Profile Supports Market Withdrawal.” The analysis rests principally on FDA’s own regulatory record and on the clinical-trial counts submitted in support of licensure. The full manuscript is also publicly available on Zenodo at:https://zenodo.org/records/22016811The findings are deeply concerning. In the pivotal efficacy trial, approximately 5,017 adults had to receive mFLUSIVA instead of a standard-dose influenza vaccine to avert a single hospitalization. On that same scale, the switch was associated with approximately 1,454 additional solicited adverse reactions, 233 additional Grade 3 systemic reactions severe enough to prevent normal daily activity, and approximately 2 excess unexplained deaths.Expressed another way, among 5,017 mFLUSIVA recipients, approximately 3,798 would experience a solicited adverse reaction and approximately 278 would experience a Grade 3 systemic reaction, while the demonstrated clinical benefit is one hospitalization averted.The mortality findings are especially difficult to dismiss. Unexplained deaths were 2.55-fold more frequent among mFLUSIVA recipients, and related pooled fatal-event terms were also significantly elevated. Yet no properly adjudicated influenza-mortality endpoint was ever specified, collected, or reported anywhere in the development program, and no autopsy was performed on any mFLUSIVA recipient whose death remained unexplained.The broader safety pattern was similarly one-sided. Every solicited symptom was more frequent in the mFLUSIVA group, and Grade 3 systemic reactions were 6.15-fold more frequent than with the standard-dose comparator. Neither pivotal trial included a placebo arm, meaning absolute vaccine-attributable harm and background event rates were never established.Our manuscript sets out 17 grounds for reversal. The first nine arise directly from FDA’s own regulatory record and trial arithmetic and do not depend on the platform-level literature. The remaining grounds address the additional risks inherent in extending nucleoside-modified mRNA technology to annual lifelong administration.Importantly, the core case for withdrawal does not depend on accepting any platform-level concern. FDA’s own regulatory record and trial arithmetic establish an extraordinarily unfavorable benefit-risk exchange and multiple unresolved deficiencies in the evidence supporting licensure. The platform-level evidence only compounds an approval that is already unsustainable on its own terms.Those additional concerns include published evidence involving residual DNA contamination, reverse transcription and genomic integration, ribosomal stalling and frameshifting, protein misfolding and proteostatic disruption, broad biodistribution, prolonged persistence, and the possibility of cumulative biological effects with repeated dosing.The approval is further weakened by the fact that the highest-risk age group was not shown to have superior clinical benefit against the preferentially recommended comparator before licensure. The required confirmatory study is a noninferiority trial powered under an assumption of 0% true relative vaccine efficacy and can succeed without demonstrating clinical superiority or a meaningful absolute benefit.The central calculations underlying our request derive directly from the FDA briefing document and underlying trial counts. Yet the regulatory presentation never placed benefit and harm on the same absolute scale. Benefits were presented primarily as relative efficacy and harms as event percentages, leaving uncalculated the most decision-relevant question: how much harm is incurred for each severe clinical outcome prevented. Our reanalysis performs that calculation explicitly using FDA’s own numbers.This is therefore not a situation that can be corrected through stronger labeling, routine pharmacovigilance, or promises of future evidence. The evidence required to establish a favorable benefit-risk profile was not demonstrated before approval. Allowing widespread administration to proceed would convert unresolved pre-licensure deficiencies into population-level exposure while the government waits for answers that should have been obtained before licensure.We respectfully request that you direct the appropriate HHS and FDA officials to reexamine this approval, initiate withdrawal proceedings, and halt distribution before widespread administration begins during the 2026-2027 season.If the Department concludes that mFLUSIVA should remain on the market, the American public is owed a clear accounting of how one hospitalization averted per 5,017 vaccinations is to be set against approximately 1,454 additional adverse reactions, 233 additional disabling Grade 3 systemic reactions, and an unresolved excess of deaths of undetermined cause, on the same scale derived from FDA’s own data.Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter of public safety.Respectfully submitted,Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist, McCullough FoundationPeter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough FoundationJohn A. Catanzaro, NMD, PhDChief Executive Officer, Neo7Bioscience, Inc.We hope Secretary Kennedy and federal health officials make the life-saving decision to remove this extremely hazardous product from the market before widespread administration begins. In light of the evidence now before them, allowing mFLUSIVA to remain approved would be a grave mistake. The government has been given the data. It now has the responsibility to act.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.Subscribe now", "summary": "We directly reanalyzed the FDA’s own data used to approve mFLUSIVA and found an extreme risk-benefit profile that is impossible to justify.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-fda-data-reanalysis-sent", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-19", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Djokovic Film Details His 2022 Ordeal in Melbourne at Hands of VAX Sadists", "content": "A new Novak Djokovic documentary titledThe Wolf in Winteris set to be released on Amazon tomorrow.In the pre-release publicity, Djokovic has stated the film reveals the ordeal he suffered at the hands of Australian authorities when he arrived in Melbourne in 2022 to compete in the Australian Open. After receiving a visa and green light to fly all the way to Australia to compete because he had already contracted and recovered from COVID-19, the Australian authorities rescinded his visa upon his arrival because he wasn’t vaccinated. He was then placed in a hotel-detention center and subjected to all manner of arbitrary, chicken-shit tyranny.As I related in my interview with Tucker Carlson (in which I muddled Melbourne with Sydney) this was a deliberate act of sadism to humiliate the champion.After he was finally released and allowed to go home, he was subjected to the most repulsive interview I have ever watched in which a BBC reporter stated thatall he had to do was get the shotand he would be allowed to continue on his path to becoming the Greatest of All Time.Though I didn’t mentionMatthew 4:8–10,in which the devil takes Jesus to a high mountain, shows him the kingdoms of the world, and tries to tempt him, the story is exactly what I was thinking about, and Mr. Carlson had the same thought.The attempt to force the COVID-19 vaccine on all of humanity was the work of a globalist oligarchy that has made the deal with the devil that Jesus turned down.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "“The Wolf in Winter” celebrates the life of a champion who steadfastly ignored the envious, tyrannical twits of the world.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/djokovic-film-details-his-2022-ordeal", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-19", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The FDA Just Greenlit a Nationwide Peptide Advance", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHThe recent FDA panel on peptides has created great enthusiasm in the health freedom and biohacking space, however, without large NIH trials or safety registries, the field will be left without the foundations of clinical evidence.  I touched on this recently with Dr Gina Loudon.🧪 FDA Peptide Deliberations: Importance of Route-of-AdministrationThe FDA’s Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee (PCAC) just held its most consequential peptide meeting in years — July 23–24, 2026 — and voted to recommendBPC-157, KPV, TB-500, and MOTS-cfor the 503A bulks list, with favorable votes on Epitalon (7-4), Semax (8-5), but rejected Emideltide (DSIP) (6-7), following on Day 2. The margins were tight: 8–6 with one abstention across the board, with MOTS-c squeaking through at 7–5–2.But buried in the procedural drama is a question the FDA itself keeps circling without landing on:route of administration.💉 Injectable Is the DefaultEvery single one of these seven peptides under review isprimarily used as an injectablein practice. BPC-157, TB-500, MOTS-c, KPV — these are administered via subcutaneous or intramuscular injection, with some intranasal and oral formulations.The FDA’s own briefing documents, released June 29–30, flagged this explicitly. Their four recurring concerns across all seven substances:Inadequate human safety dataCharacterization and impurity concernsImmunogenicity risk— this one is directly tied to parenteral administrationInsufficient historical 503A compounding-pharmacy useThat third point —immunogenicity— is where route of administration becomes the unspoken center of gravity. Injecting peptides bypasses the gut’s immune-surveillance machinery and delivers foreign amino acid sequences directly into circulation. The FDA’s career staff hammered this: peptide impurities and sequence variations can trigger immune responses when injected that would be neutralized or simply not occur with topical or oral routes.  The most expedient way of clarifying these concerns is for the National Institutes of Health to fund and conduct large prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trials in specific disease categories with adjudicated and objective outcomes.  Intravenous therapies are very amenable to this approach.🔬 The BPC-157 ParadoxBPC-157 is the poster child for this tension. It’s a pentadecapeptide fragment of BPC, a protein found in human gastric juice. Nature designed it to function in thegut. The original preclinical work — and there’s a substantial body of it, mostly out of Croatian labs — focused on oral administration for GI indications like ulcerative colitis and NSAID-induced lesions.Yet the biohacking and wellness communities have almost entirely converged onsubcutaneous injectionas the standard route, even for systemic healing. The “Wolverine stack” — BPC-157 + TB-500 injected together — is practically folk medicine at this point.The FDA’s Russell Wesdyk flagged what he called a “foundational challenge”:the agency cannot actually define what these substances are. Different vendors selling “BPC-157” are providing peptides with variations in sequence, purity, and salt form (free base vs. acetate). When you inject a poorly characterized peptide mixture, the immunogenicity risk isn’t theoretical — it’s a direct function of the route.  All of this could be clarified with product manufacture and provision in a randomized trials.  Compounding pharmacies are not in a position to fund these trials, that’s the role of the NIH.🧬 MOTS-c and the Mitochondrial Injection QuestionMOTS-c is particularly interesting here. It’s a mitochondrial-derived peptide — 16 amino acids encoded in the mitochondrial genome — that regulates metabolic homeostasis. The academic work on it (mostly from the Pinchas Cohen lab at USC) has focused on metabolic disorders and aging.The route-of-administration question for MOTS-c is even sharper than for BPC-157. Mitochondrial peptides aren’t supposed to be floating around in extracellular space at pharmacological concentrations. Injecting them subcutaneously creates a pharmacokinetic profile that bears zero resemblance to their endogenous signaling patterns. The PCAC voted to recommend it anyway, but the 7–5–2 split suggests real discomfort with what amounts to anuncontrolled human experiment via injection.🏭 The Compounding Angle: Why Route Matters for 503AHere’s where the regulatory mechanics intersect with the science. Section 503A compounding is forindividualized patient prescriptionsprepared by licensed pharmacies. The whole framework assumes a physician has weighed risks and benefits for a specific patient.But if these peptides land on the 503A bulks list, the actual landscape will be:Telehealth platforms prescribing injectable peptides at scaleCompounding pharmacies shipping pre-loaded syringes or multi-dose vials nationwideNo requirement for large, prospective clinical trials or adverse event reporting— this is the crucial gap. FDA-approved injectable drugs have mandatory MedWatch reporting. Compounded injectables under 503A do not.ThePartnership for Safe MedicinesandPublic Citizenboth raised this exact point during the meeting, framing bulks-list inclusion as a de facto “uncontrolled human trial without necessary adverse event reporting.” They’re not wrong about the mechanics, even if their motives are gatekeeping.🧪 Oral, Intranasal, Topical: The Routes Considered SafeThe FDA deliberations paid little attention is paid tonon-injectable routes. BPC-157 has oral and buccal bioavailability data from animal models. Semax is used intranasally in Russia with decades of clinical experience. KPV has been studied in topical formulations for wound healing.  The Wellness Company’s REGENERATE combines BPC-157, KPV, and TB-500.The FDA’s framework has evaluated narrowly specified indications (ulcerative colitis for BPC-157, wound healing for KPV), however, large NIH clinical trials are needed for broad applications. The FDA has not said: “This peptide probably has a better safety profile orally — let’s evaluate that route separately.”  At TWC we believe REGENERATE is responsibly presented and administered allowing for topical absorption allowing its impact in the body to help heal tissues, particularly for musculoskeletal problems.🔮 Where This Is HeadedThe PCAC vote is advisory. The FDA’s career staff recommended against every single one of these peptides. Historically, the agency follows staff recommendations about two-thirds of the time — but the current panel was stacked with eight new members, several with peptide industry ties, which is exactly why the votes broke the way they did.RFK Jr. at HHS has publicly endorsed easing restrictions and he oversees both the FDA and the NIH. If there is no trial or registry infrastructure, once these peptides are being compounded and injected at scale by a population that learned about them on podcasts, the first case of injection-site abscess, anaphylaxis, immune-mediated cross-reactivity, or death after infusion is going to test whether the FDA’s enforcement discretion was wise.Large, prospective, double-blind placebo-controlled trials are warranted for the higher risk products to fully understand potential clinical indications and safety of the parenteral products.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpointsFDA Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee (PCAC), Meeting Briefing Documents, June 29–30, 2026. Federal Docket FDA-2025-N-6895.FDA, “Interim Policy on Bulk Drug Substances Used in Compounding Under Section 503A,” revised April 15, 2026.Associated Press, “FDA reviews BPC-157, TB-500 and other peptides favored by RFK Jr.,” July 23, 2026.FDA Law Blog (Hyman, Phelps & McNamara), “PEPTIDE-L WAVE! PCAC Approves Four Bulk Drug Substances for the 503A List,” July 24, 2026.NPR, “FDA panel supports broadening access to peptides popular with wellness influencers,” Will Stone, July 23, 2026.BBC News, “US health panel loosens restrictions for controversial peptides popular online,” July 23, 2026.Bloomberg Law, “FDA Panel to Revisit Biden Peptide Ban as It Weighs Looser Rules,” July 21, 2026.ArentFox Schiff LLP, “50 Shades of Legally Gray: FDA’s Juicy Peptide Cliffhanger,” July 17, 2026.Goodwin Law, “FDA Signals Potentially Evolving Stance Toward Compounding of Certain Peptides,” May 2026.Peptide News Digest, “What the FDA’s Briefing Documents Actually Say About Each of the Seven Peptides Going to PCAC,” June 30, 2026.Clinical Peptide Society, testimony submitted to PCAC, public docket FDA-2025-N-6895.Partnership for Safe Medicines, Public Citizen, and Collaborative for Evidence-Based Medicine, oral testimony before PCAC, July 23, 2026.", "summary": "FDA’s Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee (PCAC) voted without large NIH clinical trials or registries in place.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/injecting-confusion-the-fda-just", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-18", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "NIAID’s David Morens Pleads Guilty to Concealing Records of Coronavirus Gain-of-Function Research Grant", "content": "The U.S. Department of Justice just announced in a press release thatFormer Senior NIAID Official Pleads Guilty to Charges Connected to Concealing Federal Records During COVID-19 Pandemic.David M. Morens served as aSenior Advisor to the Director(specifically in NIAID’s Office of the Director) from 2006 through 2022, and was also a long-time senior advisor to former NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.The charges pertain to the notorious NIH grant titledUnderstanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergencethat funded Peter Daszak, Ralph Baric et al. to perform their gain-of-function research on SARS bat coronaviruses with their colleagueShi Zhengliat the Wuhan Institute of Virology.The gist of the federal criminal charge to which Morens pleaded guilty is, according to the press release:Morens, Co-Conspirator 1, Co-Conspirator 2, and others conspired during the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud the United States after NIH terminated Co-Conspirator 1’s grant. NIH terminated the grant,Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence, based on allegations that COVID-19 emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan, China. NIAID awarded the grant to Company 1 and Co-Conspirator 1, who made a subaward to the WIV.Following the termination, Morens and Co-Conspirator 2 pledged to help Co-Conspirator 1 restore the termination of the bat coronavirus grant and counter the narrative that COVID-19 leaked from a lab. In anticipation that their communications would be requested through FOIA Requests, Morens, Co-Conspirator 1, and Co-Conspirator 2 agreed in writing to intentionally hide their communications from public view by corresponding using Morens’s personal Gmail account, rather than his official NIH email account.The co-conspirators used Morens’s personal Gmail account to exchange non-public NIH information; correspond about their efforts to influence NIH to fund Company 1; exchange edits to drafts of letters addressed to NIH leadership for Company 1 and Co-Conspirator 1; and “back-channel” information to Senior NIAID Official 1. According to court documents, each of these matters fell within Morens’s role as senior advisor and constituted federal records that needed to be created, maintained, and exchanged on government systems.I perceive this criminal charge and guilty plea for conspiracy to defraud the US government as akin to Al Capone being convicted for income tax evasion. The real issue here is not the concealment of public records and communications, but the illegal creation and subsequent illegal concealment of a bio-weapon in a Chinese biosecurity lab that resulted in incalculable death and damage to all of humanity.Though Morens will likely serve time behind bars, his guilty plea and his punishment for this particular act of fraud strike me as a distraction from the elephant in the room.Morens was one of Fauci’s top advisors, and I find it highly conspicuous that he took such a keen personal interest inUnderstanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence,which was reviewed by the NIH in January 2014—the beginning of the period covered by Dr. Fauci’s preemptive pardon, as I documented in my postPresident Biden’s Preemptive Pardon of Fauci.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Like Al Capone going to jail for income tax evasion.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/niaids-david-morens-pleads-guilty", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-18", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING: First-Ever Study Links Vaccines to the Explosion of Alpha-Gal Syndrome", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHAlpha-Gal Syndrome (AGS) is a potentially dangerous meat allergy that can suddenly make people react to beef, pork, lamb, dairy, gelatin, and other products made from mammals. Reactions can range from hives and severe stomach symptoms to life-threatening anaphylaxis, often appearing several hours after eating. And the condition is rising at an extraordinary rate: among adults being tested for alpha-gal antibodies, positive results increased roughly 100-fold between 2013 and 2024. A separate 2026 CDC study found alpha-gal antibodies in 24% of adults across five high-burden states.To investigate what may be driving this surge, we conducted one of the most comprehensive reviews of Alpha-Gal Syndrome to date. Our new 104-reference paper, “Risk Factors, Pathogenesis, and Management of Alpha-Gal Syndrome,” is a major collaboration between researchers from the McCullough Foundation and The Wellness Company. It examines the causes, mechanisms, prevention, and treatment of AGS and raises a major overlooked question: could vaccine-derived alpha-gal be contributing to this explosion?The Vaccine ConnectionFor years, tick bites have largely been assumed to explain Alpha-Gal Syndrome. But that explanation leaves several major questions unanswered. Tens of millions of Americans are bitten by ticks, yet only a minority become sensitized and only a fraction of those individuals develop clinical disease. Even the amount of alpha-gal actually delivered by a feeding tick hasnever been measured.At the same time, more than90% of U.S. children are exposed to alpha-gal-bearing mammalian gelatin through routine vaccination. A child completing the two-dose MMR and varicella schedules receives approximately54 mg of mammalian gelatin by injection before school entry.Eating mammalian products normally trains the gut to tolerate alpha-gal. Injection bypasses that pathway and introduces the material directly into immune compartments capable of promoting sensitization.Two Possible PathwaysOur paper proposes two non-exclusive mechanisms.DIRECT:In susceptible individuals, repeated injection of alpha-gal-bearing mammalian material could directly promote alpha-gal-specific IgE sensitization.PRIME-BOOST:Vaccination could insteadPRIME the immune system, expanding or redirecting the existing alpha-gal-specific immune-memory pool. A later tick bite could thenBOOSTthat response to clinically significant IgE levels.This second model could help explain one of the central mysteries of AGS: why so many people are bitten by ticks, yet only some develop the allergy. Vaccination would not need to replace the tick as a trigger. It could potentially determine who is already immunologically primed when the tick bite occurs.The Japanese EvidenceSome of the most striking human evidence comes from Japan. Children historically received gelatin-containing, aluminum-adjuvanted DTaP vaccines and were subsequently found to develop anti-gelatin IgE and severe allergic reactions to later gelatin-containing vaccines.Among44 children with life-threatening vaccine anaphylaxis, 41 carried anti-gelatin IgE. None of 54 affected children had received gelatin-free DTaP, compared with 29% of 101 unaffected controls. After gelatin was removed from the implicated formulations, reports of anaphylaxis declined markedly.There is another important clue. The induced IgE reacted with gelatin from cows, mice, and kangaroos but largely not fish, a pattern that closely follows the species distribution of alpha-gal. Alpha-gal has also been directly detected in bovine gelatin but not fish gelatin. Our paper therefore considers it probable, although not formally proven, that a substantial portion of this vaccine-induced anti-gelatin IgE was directed against alpha-gal.Animal Experiments Show the Mechanism Is PossibleThe experimental evidence is equally important. In alpha-gal-deficient mice, researchers injected an alpha-gal-bearing protein together with avaccine-grade aluminum adjuvant. The animals developed alpha-gal-specific IgE and anaphylaxis.The experiment identified three key ingredients: theroute of exposure, a protein carrier, and an adjuvant. Whether clinically used vaccine formulations can produce alpha-gal sensitization in humans at real-world exposure levels remains unknown because that experiment has never been performed.The Obvious Human Experiment Has Never Been DoneDespite decades of research into Alpha-Gal Syndrome,no study has prospectively measured alpha-gal-specific antibodies before and after gelatin-containing vaccination.The experiment is remarkably straightforward: measure alpha-gal antibodies before vaccination, repeat the measurements afterward, and determine whether vaccination causes seroconversion or a meaningful rise in antibody levels. Human studies already show that vaccine gelatin can induce IgE sensitization, animal studies show that injected alpha-gal can induce alpha-gal-specific IgE, and gelatin-containing vaccines can trigger immune activation in patients who already have AGS. The missing step is directly connecting these findings in humans.Much More Than a Vaccine PaperAcross104 references, our paper examines the rapidly changing epidemiology of AGS, tick biology, dietary and medical exposures, oral tolerance, genetic susceptibility, immune mechanisms, prevention, pharmaceutical treatments, botanical mast-cell stabilization, and potential approaches to desensitization.We also lay out25 specific, falsifiable experimentsdesigned to resolve the field’s major unanswered questions. These include testing archived Japanese sera for alpha-gal-specific IgE, measuring antibodies before and after vaccination, comparing vaccinated and genuinely vaccine-naive individuals with equivalent tick exposure, directly quantifying alpha-gal in vaccine materials and tick saliva, and conducting controlled trials of promising therapies.One particularly striking treatment signal comes from auricular acupuncture. In the largest reported series,121 of 126 patients (96%) reported remission of AGS symptoms. Among patients with a prior history of diagnosed anaphylaxis and available follow-up, 27 of 29 reported no subsequent symptoms. There were no adverse events.Where This Leaves UsTaken together, the evidence identifiesvaccine-derived alpha-gal as a serious and urgently testable risk factor for Alpha-Gal Syndromethat has been largely overlooked.More than 90% of children receive alpha-gal-bearing mammalian material by injection. Injected alpha-gal can produce IgE sensitization experimentally. Vaccine gelatin has induced de novo IgE sensitization in humans. Gelatin-containing vaccines can trigger reactions in people with established AGS. And the Japanese experience provides a striking historical example of vaccine-associated gelatin sensitization followed by severe allergic reactions.With suspected AGS rising roughly100-fold in a decade, this potential risk factor now demands direct investigation.Alpha-gal antibodies should be measured before and after vaccination, alpha-gal should be quantified directly in vaccine lots and tick saliva, and vaccinated individuals should be compared with genuinely vaccine-naive individuals under equivalent tick exposure.Alpha-Gal Syndrome has been known for 18 YEARS, yet no scientific paper bothered to investigate whether alpha-gal containing vaccines could be contributing until now.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.", "summary": "More than 90% of U.S. children are injected with alpha-gal-bearing mammalian gelatin before school entry, raising the possibility of direct sensitization or immune priming before a later tick bite.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-first-ever-study-links-vaccines", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-20", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "What Were Morens & His Co-Conspirators Doing?", "content": "Both political parties and the media are doing a splendid job of NOT examining what exactly Fauci’s senior NIAID advisor, David Morens, and his co-conspirators Peter Daszak and Gerald Keusch were trying to accomplish.The short answer is DAMAGE CONTROL. The stated rationale, reported in the media, is that Daszak really and truly believed that his ongoing grant gravy train,Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence,was a form of legitimate academic inquiry and should therefore be reinstated after the Trump administration suspended it.This strategy was part of Daszak’s gambit to pretend that the Gain-of-Function work performed in accordance with his grant’s stated research objective had NOT resulted in the production of SARS-CoV-2, even though it obviously had.Keusch is an emeritus Boston University professor, and I suspect he is one of Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel’s cronies. From 2009–2024 Professor Keusch wasAssociate Director of Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory (NEIDL). Boston University is situated directly across the Charles River from Moderna’s office in Cambridge, and both men are top gurus in the Pandemic Preparedness/ Vaccine racket.We are told that Peter Daszak, Gerald Keusch, and David Morens corresponded primarily to coordinate responses to the suspension of EcoHealth Alliance’s NIH grant for bat coronavirus research (which included work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology), to share non-public information about NIH deliberations and FOIA requests,to advise on messaging and strategy regarding COVID-19 origins, and to facilitate back-channel communications aimed at restoring funding and managing political and public scrutiny.The stated rationale for using Morens’s personal Gmail account (rather than his official NIH email) was to evade Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and keep the records beyond the reach of government searches and public disclosure.Morens repeatedly stated that his NIH email was “FOIA’d constantly,” that he preferred Gmail for sensitive matters, and that he would delete material he did not want appearing in the press.He instructed Daszak, Keusch, and others to use only his Gmail, warned against copying government addresses, claimed techniques (learned from NIH FOIA and IT staff) to make emails “disappear,” and described arrangements for relaying information to Fauci via private channels or in person to avoid creating searchable records. Daszak explicitly agreed to switch to Gmail “from now on” after receiving such guidance.Court documents related to Morens’s later guilty plea to conspiracy charges describe an agreement among the parties to hide these exchanges for precisely this reason, as they anticipated FOIA scrutiny ofCOVID origins, the EcoHealth grant, and related NIH activities.As one who is frequently accused of being a “Conspiracy Theorist,” I suspect that this sort of conspiracy probably happens hundreds of times per day in the federal government, which is now little more than a glorified racketeering syndicate.The truly astonishing feature of this conspiracy is that it’s core element— the massive organized crime of creating a bioweapon that was unleashed on mankind and then concealing its origin—sits like a bull elephant in an Afternoon Tea Salon . Morens is taking the heat for mishandling federal records while NO ONE is being prosecuted for the actual crime.Livin’ in America!Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Analyzing what Fauci’s senior advisor was trying to accomplish with Peter Daszak and Gerald Keusch", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/what-were-morens-and-his-co-conspirators", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-20", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "“When Plunder Becomes a Way of Life”", "content": "When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.-Frédéric Bastiat’sThe Law, 1850.I’m getting a few independent media invitations to talk about my recent essay,NIAID’s David Morens Pleads Guilty to Concealing Records of Coronavirus Gain-of-Function Research GrantBecause most people who work in the media are still somewhat stuck in the “Left vs. Right” and “Republican vs. Democrat” concept of public affairs, they struggle to see that the entire US government is now a glorified racketeering syndicate. The “Pandemic Preparedness” and “Biodefense” Industries are perfect racketeering vehicles. Even when the syndicate’s breathtaking crimes—such as creating and concealing the origin of SARS-CoV-2—are exposed, the capos such as Fauci and Bancel get away with it, while a lower ranking bagman such as David Morens takes the rap for a mickey-mouse fraud charge. The real substance of the crime is thereby ignored.The final proof that the US government is a racketeering syndicate is the staggering amount of money the syndicate has borrowed and disbursed to an array of special interests over the last 26 years. Total US debt in 2000 stood at $5.674trillion. Today it crossed the$40trillion mark.To be sure, what enables the syndicate to flourish and plunder is the public remaining ignorant, distracted, and brainwashednotto see what is going on. In order to understand how the syndicate works, it is useful to have a basic grounding in history and civics.On a recent trip to Washington D.C. for a MAHA event, my faithful and talented filmmaker friend, Brian Olson, suggested that I take a crack at communicating why plunder has become a way of life in Washington D.C.Reviewing the final cut today, I realize that at the time I gave the talk, I failed to appreciate just how much Dr. William Thornton’s original design for the US Capitol building was altered after the British burned it in 1814.  The rebuilt edifice was far more Roman imperial in style than Thornton’s original.The British assault on Washington D.C. on August 24, 1814 was the last time our nation’s capital was occupied by foreign soldiers. The arrival of a violent thunderstorm and tornado the following day doused the fires and prompted the British soldiers to withdraw. In July 1864, a detachment of the Confederate army attacked the outskirts of the city but was repulsed.Apart from my error in realizing how much the current Capitol is an alteration of Thornton’s original design, my impromptu talk about our government’s repudiation (or betrayal) of our Founders’ vision is accurate.If you enjoy this video, please signal your approval by liking this post and sharing it with your friends. I would like to make more content about history, philosophy, and art as a relief to reporting the abominable behavior of our trashy ruling class.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "The “Pandemic Preparedness” and “Biodefense” industries are perfect examples of how the US government has become a glorified racketeering syndicate.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/when-plunder-becomes-a-way-of-life", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-21", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "277 Million Reasons to Consider Your Plate Carefully and Be Ready", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHWhen there is an effective solution, many times that is an inflection point for understanding the enormity of the problem.  We found that out with micronized Ivermectin-Mebendazole from The Wellness Company.🦠 The Hidden Burden: Foodborne ParasitesWe tend to think of food poisoning as a bad shrimp cocktail or undercooked chicken — a few miserable hours, maybe a day, then back to normal. TheNewsweekpiece covering a newLancet Global Healthstudy shatters that comfortable assumption. We’re talking about277 million illnesses annuallylinked to potentially foodborne invasive parasites, with roughly171 milliondirectly attributable to what people eat. These aren’t stomach bugs that come and go. These are parasites that set up shop in your organs, your brain, your heart — and stay there.📊 The Scale of the ProblemThe study examined 14 parasitic diseases across two decades (2000–2021), and the numbers are staggering. An estimated4.89 million foodborne DALYs(disability-adjusted life-years) were associated with these infections. The biggest contributors wereTaenia solium— the pork tapeworm that can causeneurocysticercosis, where larval cysts lodge in the brain triggering epilepsy — andClonorchis sinensis, the Chinese liver fluke acquired from raw or undercooked freshwater fish.Professor Lucy Robertson, the study’s lead author, put it bluntly: “Food poisoning is not only bacteria.”Public health messaging has drilled bacterial contamination into everyone’s head —Salmonella,E. coli,Listeria. But parasites? They’re treated like a tropical curiosity, something that happens elsewhere. Yet the Americas carried the highest burden in this study, largely driven byChagas disease, which most people associate with kissing bugs, not their dinner plate. Robertson notes that foodborne Chagas transmission actually producesmore severedisease than the vector-borne route.🔴 The Wakeup Call Nobody Asked ForHere’s what should make public health authorities uncomfortable: the overall burden of parasitic diseases was enormous between 2000 and 2021, andClonorchis sinensisincreased on the trend line. Robertson called it unexpected and said it “should be a wakeup call for relevant authorities.”Testing will identify the serious infections that will require treatment other than IVM-Meb or Bactrim.If you are developing new abdominal symptoms, consider the usual suspects: changes in food production and distribution, more international travel, and — critically — the growing appetite for raw or undercooked foods. Sushi bars, ceviche, rare steak, raw milk.🧬 What Prevention Actually RequiresThe article correctly emphasizes that prevention isn’t simple. You can’t just tell people to cook their food thoroughly and call it a day. Many of these parasites arezoonotic— they cycle between animals, the environment, and humans. That means a “One Health” approach is essential: veterinary surveillance of animal hosts, control of infection in livestock, safe water systems, proper waste disposal, and food-safety infrastructure that actually works.Most doctors in developed countries aren’t trained to think about parasitic infection when a patient walks in with seizures or heart failure. That diagnostic delay means more suffering, more transmission, and worse outcomes.From the list of parasites in this paper Ascaris and Trichinella are treatable with IVM-Meb.  However in the United States their is a more responsive range of organisms:It’s important to remember that the current outbreak this summer in the United states is from Cyclospora a protozoa, where the treatment is TMP-SMX in the Emergency Medical Kit from The Wellness Company.🧠 What the Article Gets Right — and What’s MissingTheNewsweekpiece does a solid job translating the study’s findings into accessible language, and it avoids the trap of sensationalism. Authors are both quoted directly, and the key statistics are presented clearly.What’s missing — and this is a limitation of the format, not necessarily the reporting — is any real scrutiny ofwhyparasitic disease surveillance remains so neglected.  The pharmaceutical industry has little incentive to develop novel antiparasitics when the patients who need them can’t pay premium prices.There’s also the uncomfortable reality that global food supply chains have made these diseases everyone’s problem. That ahi tuna steak in Manhattan could be carrying something that originated in a Southeast Asia. The boundaries that once contained these parasites are gone.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.SharePlease subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpoints📝 ReferencesRobertson, L. J., et al. (2026). “Burden of foodborne invasive parasitic diseases, 2000–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study.”The Lancet Global Health.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214109X26001440Dewan, A. (2026, August). “Millions of Illnesses Linked to Foodborne Parasites, New Study Warns.”Newsweek.https://www.newsweek.com/millions-illnesses-linked-foodborne-parasites-new-study-warns-12332674", "summary": "Foodborne parasites are causing more illness than most people realize — and the problem isn't going away", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/277-million-reasons-to-consider-your", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-20", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Taking On Leviathan: Todd Callender in Conversation with John Leake", "content": "Along with Aaron Siri, Todd Callender is one of the few attorneys in this nation infested with them that took on US government COVID-19 tyranny. I just asked GROK to create an image of him jousting with Leviathan, and I think the result is pretty cool.Please join my livestream conversation with Todd today (August. 21) at 11:00 Central Time by clicking on the image below and joining the call. And please share this post with your friends!Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Join my livestream conversation today at 11:00 CT with the valiant Colorado attorney who challenged the US government’s vaccine mandates for US service personnel.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/taking-on-leviathan-todd-callender", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-21", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING: Two New Studies Raise Alarm Over Potential COVID-19 “Vaccine” Contamination of the Blood Supply", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHA newly published two-part scientific study raises major alarms about an issue that has received remarkably little scrutiny:What happens when blood from COVID-19-vaccinated donors is transfused into another person?Blood banks routinely screen donations for recognized infectious threats. Yet the current blood supply is not routinely screened for vaccine-derived mRNA, spike protein, plasmid DNA, amyloid, fibrin-microclot complexes, or other relevant vaccine-associated constituents.Our newly published two-part series investigates this blind spot from two complementary directions. The two studies were authored by James A. Thorp, MD; Claire Rogers, MSPAS, PA-C; R. Clinton Ohlers, PhD; M. Nathaniel Mead, PhD; Nicolas Hulscher, MPH (myself); Kirstin Cosgrove, CCRA; Sierra Hamm, RN; David Speicher, PhD; and Steven Hatfill, MD, M Med.Part I: Serious Post-Transfusion Complications in Nine Unvaccinated PatientsPotential Implications of COVID-19 Vaccination for Blood Donation: A Retrospective Case Series and Literature Review—Part I of IIPart Ipresents a retrospective, hypothesis-generating case series ofnine individuals who had not received a COVID-19 vaccine and subsequently experienced serious medical events after receiving blood transfusions.Reported complications includedthromboembolic disease, progressive clotting disorders, myocarditis, pericardial disease, disseminated intravascular coagulation, multi-organ system failure, and death.We concluded that these cases, together with the existing literature, raise sufficient concern to warrant direct investigation of whether biologically active vaccine-derived constituents may be present in donated blood:This study suggests that blood donated by COVID-19-vaccinated individuals may contain biologically active vaccine-derived constituents that could cause adverse clinical outcomes. The case reports and cited studies identify questions that warrant further investigation. All the pathogenic components of the COVID-19 vaccine or byproducts from it, have been found in several studies to be circulating in the blood of vaccinated donors. Healthcare providers must honor the ethical principles of patient autonomy and non-maleficence and support patients’ requests for autologous and directed designated donor blood. Screening blood donations for the presence of spike protein, amyloid, fibrin-microclot complexes, vaccine-derived mRNA, and plasmid DNA using quantitative assays and PCR-based methods should be considered for further evaluation by relevant public health and regulatory authorities, including the CDC and FDA.Part II: Extraordinary Blood, Clotting, and Neurological Safety SignalsPotential Implications of COVID-19 Vaccination for Blood Donation: Part II—Analysis of VAERS and Review of the LiteraturePart IIexpands the investigation to the CDC/FDA Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, analyzing reports fromJanuary 1, 1990 through June 26, 2026and comparing COVID-19 vaccines with influenza vaccines, DPT-containing vaccines, and all non-COVID vaccines combined.The analysis identified statistically significant safety signals across every investigated endpoint, including reported rate ratios reaching:Hemorrhage: up to 101-foldHemorrhage in pregnancy: up to 108-foldBlood transfusion: up to 62-foldPost-transfusion complications: up to 30-foldHypercoagulable biomarkers: up to 452-foldThrombotic events: up to 1,221-foldParkinson’s disease: up to 282-foldCreutzfeldt-Jakob disease: up to 1,333-foldPrion disease: 60-foldThese signals are particularly important because they overlap with many of the same clinical patterns observed in Part I, includingthrombosis, hemorrhage, DIC, and multi-organ dysfunction.Part I identifies a series of serious post-transfusion events that demand investigation. Part II identifies striking pharmacovigilance signals involving many of the same biological systems, particularly clotting, hemorrhage, transfusion complications, and multi-organ dysfunction.To preserve global blood-supply integrity, regulatory frameworks should move rapidly to implement direct quantitative spike-protein screening and high-sensitivity digital PCR testing for vaccine-derived genetic material across donor networks, while also investigating whether these constituents remain biologically active after donation, storage, processing, and transfusion.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.Subscribe now", "summary": "We report nine unvaccinated blood transfusion recipients who experienced serious complications including blood clots, heart damage, multi-organ failure, and death.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-two-new-studies-raise-alarm", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-21", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Reducing the Burden of Childhood Vaccines", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPlease enjoy this news clip where I review the topsy topsy-turvy story of Trump and RFK trying to get MAHA vaccine reform and lower the burden of vaccines faced by our children.  In many states, the shots are effectively mandatory to attend school with little chance of exemption.The impetus for trimming the ACIP vaccine schedule comes from theMcCullough Foundation Report:  Determinants of Autism Spectrum Disorder.Until more research is done, the most immediate step to curb the rise of autism is to reduced childhood vaccination, particularly combination products.  Courtesy, John Fredericks, Outside the Beltway.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.Share📝Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough Foundation", "summary": "Most expedient approach to curb the rise in autism spectrum disorder", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/reducing-the-burden-of-childhood", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-21", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Man Who Hid the Pandemic: How Fauci's Senior Advisor Laundered the Origins Story", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHWhen asked on national television about the fate of Dr David Morens, the disheveled former NIAID official, the thought of conspiracy and conspirators came up.  Dr. David Morens was78 years oldat the time of his indictment and guilty plea.  He is scheduled to be sentenced November 12, 2026.His title wasSenior Advisor to the Director of NIAID— specifically, he served as a senior advisor inNIAID’s Office of the Directorfrom2006 through 2022, working directly under Dr. Anthony Fauci for the bulk of that period.  Thus Dr Anthony Fauci is undoubtedly the top co-conspirator.Morens admitted to a conspiracy to defraud the government by hiding records about SARS-CoV-2 origins — and the court filings name two unindicted co-conspirators whose identities are now effectively public.🕵️ The Known Co-ConspiratorsPeter Daszak (Co-Conspirator 1)— President of theEcoHealth Alliance, the New York nonprofit that held the “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence” grant and funneled a subaward directly to theWuhan Institute of Virology.  Daszak’s role was to shuttle the lab protocols from Dr Ralph Baric at UNC Chapel Hill to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.  Daszak's relationship with WIV stretches back to2003–2004, when he and EcoHealth's Jonathan Epstein began collaborating withShi Zhenglion bat coronaviruses. Daszak himself first met Shi around2006. That's two decades of institutional partnership, with18 joint papersbetween them on SARS-related bat coronaviruses.  Daszak acknowledged to Congress: that he still had roughly15,000 samples sitting in freezers in Wuhan, many unanalyzed. That's not the profile of a casual collaborator making a few site visits — that's a deeply embedded operational partner with physical materials stored at the lab.Co-Conspirator 2— Described in filings as a physician, scientist, and professor at an academic institution receiving federal grants. The name hasn’t been unsealed, but the description fits a narrow circle of gain-of-function researchers who collaborated with both EcoHealth and NIAID on bat coronavirus work.  Dr GeraldKeusch is an emeritus Boston University professor, and a top suspect. From 2009–2024 Professor Keusch wasAssociate Director of Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory (NEIDL).🔍 Who Else Belongs on the Suspect ListBeyond Fauci and the two named conspirators, the filings reference anunidentified Senior NIAID Official 1who received “back-channel” information through Morens’s personal Gmail. That official appears to be Fauci himself, but the structure of the scheme implies a broader network:Dr. Ralph Baric— The UNC coronavirus researcher whose gain-of-function chimeric virus work underpinned the EcoHealth-WIV research pipeline. His lab’s methodology is the scientific backbone of the very grant in question.The “FOIA lady”— Morens boasted about being coached on how to hide records, indicating an NIAID records officer or FOIA compliance staffer actively teaching evasion techniques. That person is a co-conspirator in spirit if not yet in name.NIAID grants management officials— Someone had to shepherd the effort to “influence NIH to fund Company #1” from the inside. The indictment mentions edits to letters addressed to NIH leadership, which means sympathetic staff were circulating drafts.💡 The Larger PatternWhat’s telling is that Morens acceptedwine and offers of Michelin-starred mealsin exchange for writing a “scientific commentary advocating natural origins” — published in a prominent medical journal. That’s the quiet mechanism by which the official narrative gets laundered: a favor here, a gift there, and suddenly a “peer-reviewed” article exists to wave away inconvenient questions.The plea confirms the public-health establishment’s real fear was never a virus — it was a paper trail. They were less worried about containing a pathogen than about containing information. When the man who briefed NIAID leadership, who relayed information to the White House and Congress, pleads guilty to hiding records about the pandemic’s origins, the “nothing to see here” era is officially over.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.📝Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough FoundationFOCAL POINTS has partnered withAlterAIto defend your medical freedom. Subscribe toAlterAItoday and get a discount on unbiased and accurate AI!", "summary": "A guilty plea for Dr David Morens exposes the quiet machinery that buried the lab-leak question — and the co-conspirators are still walking free.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-man-who-hid-the-pandemic-how", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-22", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Dr McCullough Lands on the Pompa Podcast", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPlease enjoy this full-length, in-studio broadcast from the Dr Pompa Podcast studio on the pandemic and our modern-day great controversies.Dr. Pompa Podcastis hosted by cellular healing specialist and health speaker Dr. Daniel Pompa. The show focuses on root-cause healing, detoxification, cellular inflammation, fasting, and interviews with health and faith leaders. You can listen to episodes directly on theDr. Daniel Pompa Official Siteor major platforms likeSpotify. [1,2,3,4,5]  With this stance, I confirmed that Pompa wisely declined COVID-19 vaccination.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.📝Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough Foundation", "summary": "Carpeting with truth bombs", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/dr-mccullough-lands-on-the-pompa", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-23", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "How Badly the New York Times Misleads", "content": "I subscribe to theNew York Timesand read it most days so that I can understand how its misinformed readers view the world. However, somehow I missed the following Opinion piece from last March.The author is a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University, and I have a hard time believing her assertion that she was simply misled about the origin of SARS-CoV-2.Almost certainly, she knew that “conspiracy theorists” like me and countless others had solid grounds for dismissing the fraudulent paperThe proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2by Andersen, Rambaut, et al., which STILL hasn’t been retracted fromNature Medicine.Because Dr. Peter McCullough — who has been right about everything since he published his Opinion pieceThe great gamble of COVID-19 vaccine developmentinThe HillonAug. 17, 2020— was labelled a “dangerous spreader of misinformation” in 2020, most of the bien pensant New York Times reading crowd was conditioned to dismiss out of hand his papers and Senate testimony.Likewise, I have many old friends and even family members who proudly obtain their information from theNew York Timesand would therefore never read our Substack newsletter.Professor Tufekci was not simply misled; she chose to go along with the lie because the truth did not comport with her position and her identity.Two yearsbeforeshe wrote her Opinion piece about being misled—thereby adding yet another element to this great charade— I published a three-part series titledThe Great SARS-CoV-2 Charadein which I painstakingly presented the documentary evidence of this greatest organized crime in history. The activities and publications of the key players that created the illegal bio-weapon and then concealed its origin are documented for all to see. I remain astonished that all of them aren’t already in prison.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "The NYT Opinion piece “We Were Badly Misled About the Event That Changed Our Lives” is a shining example of why America’s “newspaper of record” cannot be trusted.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/how-badly-the-new-york-times-misleads", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-23", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "John Leake on Dr. Drew Today at 5:30 ET", "content": "My apologies for the short notice — I just got thelivestream link.Tune into Dr. Drew’s show today at 5:30 PM ET to listen to your discussion about the Senator Johnson’s Fauci text revelations and my new book,Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Short notice, log onto X livestream if you can", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/john-leake-on-dr-drew-today-at-530", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-24", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The mRNA Gold Rush: Why Moderna's \"Cancer Vaccine\" Hype Will Get Challenged", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHAfter five years of being bashed on unsafe, ineffective, uncontrollable Spike protein-producing (Spikevax, mNEXSPIKE) vaccines, Moderna is solidly back home in the cancer business and their stock performance couldn’t be any better.🧬 The mRNA Cancer Long Game: Moderna’s Pivot from Pandemic to Personalized ChemotherapyThere’s a narrative that’s taken hold in the financial press and biotech cheerleading circles: Moderna, having saved humanity from COVID, is now developing “cancer vaccines” that will do for oncology what Operation Warp Speed did for respiratory viruses.This is marketing, not medicine.What Moderna is actually doing is using synthetic messenger RNA as a delivery mechanism for personalized neoantigens as a part of toxic combination chemotherapy. Calling these “vaccines” is a linguistic sleight of hand designed to borrow the halo from childhood immunization while obscuring the reality of what’s being injected into patients’ bodies week after week.Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "Mega-dose weekly mRNA part of toxic chemotherapy, however with rapid FDA approval, Intismeran poised to saddle patients with massive costs, tumor resistance, and accumulating long term safety concerns", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-mrna-gold-rush-why-modernas-cancer", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-24", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "One of the Greatest Crimes in Medical History", "content": "OnAugust 16, 2026, Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) released the following text exchange between Dr. John Mascola, Director of the Vaccine Research Center at NIAID and Dr. Fauci, and between Fauci and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. Both texts are datedJanuary 25, 2021.Text from Dr. John Mascola to Dr. Anthony Fauci:I am corrected on pregnancy studies. Initial Studies avoid vaccination in first trimester due to possible fever and higher rates of miscarriage in first trimester[.]Text from Dr. Anthony Fauci to Dr. Rochelle Walensky.Since many people have significant cytokines storm and fever after the 2nd dose, this theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the first trimester.Shortly after this private text exchange, Drs. Fauci and Walensky aggressively advocated that ALL pregnant women get the COVID-19 vaccines. Because of their enormous authority in the United States and the West, their advice was, in 2021, eagerly followed by most pregnant women in the developed world.On May 19, 2021, McCullough Foundation Vice President John Leake interviewed Dr Peter McCullough about the hasty and reckless rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine program in early 2021. In this interview, Dr. McCullough expressly warned that our public health authorities and media were violating a long-established axiom of modern medicine—namely, that we NEVER inject pregnant women with a bioactive substance that could cause an adverse reaction in the pregnant woman’s body. NEVER.Four hours after I published the interview on YouTube, the video was removed from the platform without explanation.As you will see in the following McCullough Foundation short film, the willful concealment of the known miscarriage risk—perpetrated by Drs. Anthony Fauci and Rochelle Walensky—is one of the greatest criminal acts in the history of modern medicine.I highlight this particular incident because it contains all the elements necessary for criminal prosecution—that is, clear documentary evidence (text messages on government issued cell phones) of two willful and deliberate acts committed by Drs. Anthony Fauci and Rochelle Walensky.1). Concealing from the public the known and clearly defined risk of miscarriage caused by the COVID-19 vaccine.2). Using their official authority to advise the pregnant women of the United States— and by extension the entire world—to receive the dangerous product.Please watch the following short documentary film and share it with your colleagues and friends.Author’s Note: TheMcCullough Foundationis currently making a series of documentary films about the stunning malfeasance of our public health authorities. With your support, we can fulfill our mission of making sure that our government institutionsnever againcommit such acts of tyranny and abuse against “We the People.”PleaseDONATEtoday to support us in making the highest quality documentaries of our investigative scholarship. With a critical mass of educated citizens, we can turn the tide against government corruption.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "McCullough Foundation short film reveals how Drs. Fauci and Walensky KNEW the miscarriage risk in Jan. 2021 but still exhorted the pregnant women of the US (and the world) to get the dangerous shot.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/one-of-the-greatest-crimes-in-medical", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-24", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "New World Screw Worm, Cyclospora, and Salmonella: Three Concurrent Threats", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHAs our CDC considers to flounder on infectious disease outbreaks, America is looking for practical suggestions on how to protect oneself.  Please listen to this quick segment covering three threats:  New World screw worm, Cyclospora, and Salmonella. Courtesy Stinchfield Tonight.  Solutions are provided in Emergency Medical Kits fromThe Wellness Company.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.📝Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpoints", "summary": "Dr McCullough and Grant Stinchfield discuss practical preparation, prevention, and treatment", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/new-world-screw-worm-cyclospora-and", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-25", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Clearer Exposition of How Drs. Fauci & Walensky Concealed the Miscarriage Risk of COVID-19 Vaccination", "content": "Yesterday, I posted a short documentary film detailing how Drs. Anthony Fauci & Anthony Fauci concealed from pregnant women the miscarriage risk associated with COVID-19 vaccination. Several readers wrote to tell me that the exposition was impaired by the video’s fast pace and small script that was hard to read. Others complained that the spooky sound effects detract from the true horror of this story, which should be allowed to stand on its own.In response to readers’ requests, I spent the better part of today working on the film to make the exposition clearer and less encumbered by distracting effects.I believe the film illuminates one of the greatest crimes in medical history. I therefore beseech my readers to watch this revised version, and to like and share this post with your friends. Many thanks!Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Please watch & share this short film about one of the greatest crimes in medical history.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/clearer-exposition-of-how-drs-fauci", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-26", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Author John Leake Talks with Dr. Drew", "content": "On Monday I had a great conversation with Dr. Drew about my new book,Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions.Please Note: After YouTube deleted my May 19, 2021 interview with Dr. Peter McCullough and assessed me with an Orwellian “Community Guidelines Violation,” I have struggled to build back my Author John Leake YouTube page. The platform remains BY FAR the most powerful for sharing videos, so I would be most grateful if you would like and subscribe to my page and share my videos with your friends. Many thanks!Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "A conversation about the contagious spread of irrational ideas, scapegoating, and the extreme danger of unconstrained central state power.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/author-john-leake-talks-with-dr-drew", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-26", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Can a Nation Be Irrevocably Ruined By Its Leaders?", "content": "Oh Deutschland, bleiche Mutter!Wie haben deine Söhne dich zugerichtetDass du unter den Völkern sitzestEin Gespött oder eine Furcht!Oh Germany, pale mother!How have your sons ill-served youThat you are scorned by all people—A thing of obloquy and terror!Bertolt Brecht, “Deutschland”In William Faulkner’s storyThe Bear,the protagonist, Isaac McCaslin goes on a series of hunting expeditions to kill a bear named Old Ben. However, when he finally gets a chance to take a shot, he chooses to let the splendid animal—that seems to embody what’s left of the disappearing Mississippi wilderness—live. Later he watches in horror as another hunter brutally slays the old creature with a knife.The story seems to be a meditation on how men may be given to greed, lust, and the desire to dominate and kill, thereby losing their souls. Especially disturbing is Isaac’s perception that, from the actions of the men who settled it, including his own family, his homeland of Mississippi has been irredeemably tainted.Bertolt Brecht conveyed a similar idea in his poem “Deutschland” that expresses the idea that the once great nation of Germany—personified by a “pale mother”—will never recover from the dishonor inflicted upon her by the dreadful conduct of her sons.There was a time not that long ago in the United States when our society still valued the concept of agentleman—an idea that traced its lineage back to classical Greece. The Greek stoic philosopher Epictetus remarked that even a relatively minor form of misconduct is enough to ruin a man’s reputation forever. As he put it:A small thing may ruin and destroy all. There is no need of anything large to ruin us; to lose your self-respect, your integrity, your modesty, a single moment of intemperance or carelessness is enough.Increasingly, it seems to me that the people who own and run the United States possess the character traits that Isaac McCaslin perceived to have resulted in a fall from grace. They are conspicuously—even bombastically— greedy, rapacious, bloodthirsty, vulgar and seem to have no regard for the other peoples of the world or for even the younger generations of their own country.Has this coterie of awful people rendered America into “a thing of obloquy and terror”?The same question may be asked of Israel. In retaliation for approximately 4,000 Hamas assassins brutally killing about 828 Israeli civilians and 367 security personnel, Israel’s military has damaged or completely destroyed an estimated 82% of all buildings in Gaza and killed (according to a studyLancet Global Healthstudy) around 75,000 people and injured around 174,000. According to this study, women, children, and older people made up a majority of violent deaths.Just as the atrocious behavior of the German government (and people who played along with it) in the years 1933-1945 did irreparable harm to the reputation of ALL German people—including those not yet born—the reputation of the American and Israeli nations will likely be permanently damaged by the conduct of their current governments.We can try to defend the actions of our dreadful politicians till we are blue in the face, but it won’t change the factual reality that the rest of the world can plainly see, even if we are too willfully blind to see it ourselves.ShareSubscribe now", "summary": "Reflections on how quickly a nation may fall from grace.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/can-a-nation-be-irrevocably-ruined", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-27", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Grand Rounds: Spike Protein Detoxification", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPlease enjoy this long format grand rounds with slides I gave for Dr Ann Marie Fine at theEnvironmental Medication Education Internationalprogram this summer.  This is great for sharing among other health professionals waking up to and grappling with Spikeopathies or diseases caused by the human exposure to and retention of the S-protein in the human body.Estimates are that about 97% of the world’s human population as been exposed to this protein engineered in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.  This is a useful guide you can share with family and friends.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.📝Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough FoundationHulscher N, Procter BC, Wynn C, McCullough PA. Clinical Approach to Post-acute Sequelae After COVID-19 Infection and Vaccination. Cureus. 2023 Nov 21;15(11):e49204. doi: 10.7759/cureus.49204. PMID: 38024037; PMCID: PMC10663976.", "summary": "Update on the core principles of managing long pandemic syndromes caused by Spike protein exposure and retention", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/grand-rounds-spike-protein-detoxification", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-26", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "RFK Jr. Raises Possibility Pennsylvania’s Reported “Measles Deaths” Were Fabricated", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHA major controversy is unfolding in Pennsylvania after Governor Josh Shapiro publicly announced two “measles-associated” deaths in Lancaster County—yet local officials say they cannot find evidence that anyone in the county actually died from measles.RFK Jr. put the discrepancy plainly:“They cannot find ANY measles deaths in Lancaster County.”Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons says he personally contacted the county coroner to investigate the claim.“I spoke at length with the coroner himself… they have ZERO cases of measles death.”Parsons said the coroner was aware of one patient who“died with measles, not of measles.”Whether Pennsylvania is counting that individual as a measles death remains unclear, and Parsons said officials still had essentially no information about the second reported death.Notably, Parsons said virtually no information was released about the two individuals other than that they were unvaccinated. That selective detail immediately placed vaccination status at the center of the story, indicating that the announcement was being used to frighten the public into taking hazardous MMR vaccines.The situation becomes even more troubling because, according to Parsons, deaths from communicable diseases in Lancaster County are required to be reported to the coroner. Yet after speaking directly with the coroner’s office, he was told there werezero cases of measles deathon record.RFK Jr. says the CDC has also attempted to obtain information from Pennsylvania but has been unable to verify what happened. He said Pennsylvania is refusing to cooperate with federal health officials even as the deaths are being widely reported by the media as established fact.RFK Jr. has nowappropriately raisedthe possibility that the announcement was not merely premature, but that the reported deaths“may even have been altogether fabricated.”If Pennsylvania has evidence confirming two deaths caused by measles, it should release enough non-identifying information to substantiate that claim.Where are the measles deaths?Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.Subscribe now", "summary": "Lancaster County’s coroner reports ZERO measles deaths despite Pennsylvania publicly announcing two “measles-associated” deaths.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/rfk-jr-raises-possibility-pennsylvanias", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-26", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Severe Diesel Shortage Coming Soon?", "content": "An odd feature of living in a highly developed, industrialized nation with abundant energy and food is that, most of the time, we have little understanding or even awareness of how it all hums along.Things just workand we don’t concern ourselves with all of the arrangements that make them work.When I was growing up, my grandfather had a small cattle ranch north of Dallas, and during summer recess, I worked a couple of days per week on the place, doing odd jobs. He kept a large diesel tank behind the barn for filling his two tractors, and one day he told me about the importance of diesel for agriculture, construction, and transportation of goods and services.“We put gasoline in our cars, but diesel is the lifeblood for growing, producing and transporting things,” he told me.Named after the German mechanical engineer, Rudolf Diesel (1858–1913) who developed the high efficiency internal combustion engine to replace the extremely inefficient steam engine.In my estimation, Diesel was one of the greatest inventors of all time, and he endured enormous hardship, litigation over patent disputes, and personal injury in his quest to build his engine that ultimately transformed agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and transportation.His death on the eve of World War I strikes me as deeply intriguing. On the evening of September 29, 1913 he boarded the steamer SS Dresden in Antwerp, bound for England for business meetings, including discussion of diesel use in British submarines.He dined, retired to his cabin around 10 p.m., and left instructions to be called at 6:15 a.m. He was never seen alive again. His coat was found neatly folded on deck; his bed was unused. His death was ruled a suicide, but I wonder if the Imperial German government was unhappy about him consulting the British navy about putting diesel engines into their submarines, and therefore sent an agent to make sure he didn’t make it to England.Speaking of diesel and war, I suspect that Americans are about to experience a very rude awakening about the cost of the US government’s senseless wars abroad if these conflicts aren’t resolved soon.Read more", "summary": "With wars in Russia and Middle East throttling diesel supply, the real economy may soon be scrambling for fuel. Is this why CIA Director John Ratcliffe just made a trip to Moscow.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/severe-diesel-shortage-coming-soon", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-26", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "She Believed in It With Her Whole Heart", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHIt was just a few years ago we saw Dolly Parton, age 77 in a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader outfit.  Now she is dead.⚰️ The Quiet Irony of Dolly PartonDolly Parton died Tuesday at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville. She was 80. The estate’s official line — delivered first by a nephew in a recorded video, then repeated by publicist Marcel Pariseau and “Team Dolly” — is that she faced “a brief battle with cancer” and departed surrounded by loved ones. What type of cancer?Not disclosed.Hospitalized four days prior with, per one outlet,kidney and autoimmune issues. And that’s the whole story the public is getting.For a woman worth a reported $600 million, with access to the absolute best medicine money can buy, the opacity is striking.Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "Dolly Parton's hope for the genetic vaccine was as pure as anything she ever sang — and then her immune system turned on her, and a \"brief battle\" took her away", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/she-believed-in-it-with-her-whole", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-26", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING: CDC V-Safe Data Reveals 185,285 People Reported Long-Term Health Problems After COVID-19 “Vaccination”", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHAnew studyanalyzing data from the CDC’s V-safe surveillance system has identified 185,285 people who reported that their health remained worse three months or longer after COVID-19 vaccination and who attributed that deterioration to the vaccine.The findings come from an analysis by MIT researchers Retsef Levi and Nelson Lu of one of the largest active COVID-19 vaccine surveillance datasets ever assembled.V-safe enrolled more than 10 million COVID-19 vaccine recipients and repeatedly contacted participants after vaccination to ask about symptoms, daily functioning, healthcare utilization, and changes in their health. Unlike VAERS, which relies primarily on spontaneous adverse-event reports, V-safe actively prompted enrolled vaccine recipients to provide follow-up information over time, including at 3, 6, and 12 months.Among 9,904,924 V-safe enrollees aged 16 or older included in the analysis,185,285 (1.87%) reported prolonged worsening of their health that they believed was related to COVID-19 vaccination.Women reported the problem at an even higher rate:137,430 of 6,141,800 women, or 2.24%.Nearly Half Reported Disability, Hospitalization, or Severe Adverse EventsAt the qualifying V-safe assessment, conducted at least three months after vaccination, approximately half of those reporting prolonged vaccine-attributed health deterioration also reported at least one major health impact.19.98%–22.70%reported being unable to work or attend school.39.88%–41.70%reported being unable to perform normal daily activities.3.61%–4.05%reported hospitalization.16.74%–20.27%were classified as reporting severe adverse events.Overall,49.52%–50.87%reported at least one of these outcomes.The authors estimate that this corresponds to approximately1% of all V-safe enrolleesreporting both prolonged vaccine-attributed health deterioration and a serious health impact. Extrapolating this estimate nationally could correspond toseveral million people with chronic COVID-19 vaccine injuries.Neurological, Cardiovascular, and Multi-System ProblemsThe most frequently reported symptoms included:Fatigue:27%Headache:23%Joint pain:~15%Dizziness:~13%Shortness of breath:9.8%Muscle pain:7.1%Chest pain:5.5%Palpitations:4.6%Tinnitus:3.7%The prolonged-AE cohort also had higher reporting rates of neurological, musculoskeletal, cardiac, vascular, ear, eye, and reproductive disorders.Cardiac disorders were reported by10.29%of the prolonged-AE cohort compared with0.67%of controls. Reported terms included palpitations, atrial fibrillation, tachycardia, cardiac disorders, and arrhythmias.Cancer and Neoplasm Reports Were ElevatedThe prolonged-AE cohort contained2,708 reports classified under “neoplasms benign, malignant and unspecified,” or 1.46%, compared with 15,474 reports, or 0.16%, in the control cohort—roughly a nine-fold difference in reporting prevalence.Reported terms included:Breast cancer:0.24%Malignant neoplasm:0.15%Lymphoma:0.05%Skin cancer:0.04%ConclusionMore than 185,000 people told the CDC’s own surveillance system that their health remained worse months after vaccination and that they believed the vaccine was responsible, and roughly half reported disability, hospitalization, or severe adverse events. This means that millions of Americans likely suffered the same fate.The CDC failed to do its job and never adequately investigated this enormous chronic health burden. Unfortunately, this new study indicates that America’s chronic disease epidemic will rage for years to come thanks to the mass-mandated genetic injections.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.Subscribe now", "summary": "Nearly half reported disability, hospitalization, or severe adverse events at least three months after COVID-19 vaccination—and the CDC never adequately investigated.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-cdc-v-safe-data-reveals", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-26", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Celebrity Endorsements of Pharma Products", "content": "Celebrity endorsements of various products have long struck me as one of the odder features of being human—that is, a tribal primate that lives in a conspicuously hierarchical social structure. Recently, while walking through an airport, I saw the following advertisement that made me wonder what the grandparents of old wine properties in France think of the American advertising endorsements. I once met an old countess who owned a chateau in the Loire Valley. I got the impression from her manners that she would struggle to come to terms with this association.In 2002, star college and NFL quarterback Ricky Williamsappeared onThe Oprah Winfrey Showto discuss his struggles with social anxiety and chronic shyness, and the great remedy he’d obtained by taking the antidepressant Paxil. He did NOT mention in the interview that he was being paid by GlaxoSmithKline to flog its product. About a year later, Williams stated that Paxil wasn’t so great after all and that marijuana worked better for him.Williams was one of many celebrities who spoke of their struggles with depression. Prozac, the first widely prescribed SSRI antidepressant, became a cultural symbol after its 1987–1988 launch. Elizabeth Wurtzel’s 1994 memoirProzac Nationframed the drug as both personal salvation and generational marker.In the early 1990s a wave of public figures—journalist Mike Wallace, Tipper Gore, novelist William Styron, and others—spoke about depression and treatment, thereby promoting the grossly oversimplified notion that depression is merely a neurotransmitter deficiency that can be easily corrected with a pill.In fact, depression is a complex mental condition that is partly an expression of the mind telling you that you need to make changes in your life, habits, and often the company you keep in order to achieve a more fulfilling life.Actress Carrie Fisher was one of the most consistent voices on treating her depression with a pharmaceutical product. After her death, her ashes were placed in a porcelain vessel representing a giant Prozac capsule.Viagra was another blockbuster drug that received numerous celebrity endorsements.Read more", "summary": "Dolly Parton was one of many celebrities who have promoted products such as the mRNA COVID-19 shots, Prozac, and Viagra.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/celebrity-endorsements-of-pharma", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-26", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Mosquito Self-Defense: Protecting Your Family from the Silent Swarm", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHAs summer winds down most are going to miss the sun and fun but no one will miss mosquito season which can last well into the fall.🦟 The Silent Swarm: Mosquito-Borne Illness in the United StatesThe Unseen ThreatMost Americans think of mosquitoes as a nuisance — an itchy annoyance at summer barbecues, a reason to stay inside at dusk. That complacency is dangerous. The United States is not immune to serious mosquito-borne disease, and the risk is growing year over year as climate patterns shift, travel increases, and public health infrastructure strains under competing priorities.  While solar bug zappers have become popular, the mosquitos seem to avoid these blue lights.🩸 West Nile Virus: The Established InvaderWest Nile virus arrived in New York City in 1999 and has since becomethe leading mosquito-borne disease in the continental United States. It’s endemic now — meaning it’s here to stay, cycling between birds and mosquitoes, with humans as accidental hosts.The clinical picture is stark. About 80% of infected people show no symptoms. That’s the good news. The other 20% develop West Nile fever with headaches, body aches, joint pain, vomiting, and rash. Roughly 1 in 150 developneuroinvasive disease— encephalitis or meningitis that can cause permanent neurological damage, paralysis, or death.The CDC has recorded tens of thousands of cases since 1999, but those numbers dramatically undercount reality because most mild cases are never tested or reported. Neuroinvasive cases are the tip of the iceberg, and even those are substantial — hundreds per year, concentrated in states like California, Texas, Arizona, and the Midwest.🟡 Dengue: The Expanding FrontierDengue was once considered a disease of the developing world. That’s no longer true.Locally acquired dengue transmission is now documented in Florida, Texas, Hawaii, and Arizona.Most cases are travel related.Dengue’s nickname — “breakbone fever” — tells you everything you need to know about what it feels like. Severe muscle and joint pain, high fever, and a characteristic rash. The real danger comes with a second infection from a different serotype, which dramatically increases the risk ofdengue hemorrhagic fever, without treatment, a life-threatening condition where blood vessels leak, platelets crash, and organ failure can follow.Aedes aegyptiandAedes albopictus, the primary vectors, are now established across much of the southern and eastern United States. The mosquitoes have colonized the territory. The virus is following close behind.🩸The Forgotten American ScourgeMalaria was not always a tropical disease — for centuries it was endemic across the American South and as far north as the Great Lakes, withPlasmodium vivaxandPlasmodium falciparumboth circulating widely. The disease shaped settlement patterns, agricultural productivity, and even military campaigns; more Union soldiers died of malaria than Confederate bullets during the Civil War. The CDC was founded in 1946 specifically as the Office of Malaria Control in War Areas, and the agency’s first and most consequential achievement was the systematic elimination of malaria from the United States through aggressive drainage, insecticide application, and surveillance — a feat completed by 1951. Today, roughly 2,000 cases are reported annually, almost all imported, but withAnophelesmosquitoes still present across half the country and climate conditions growing more favorable, locally acquired transmission has already reappeared in Florida and Texas.⚠️ Yellow Fever: The Sleeping GiantYellow fever shaped America more than most textbooks admit — stalling construction of the Panama Canal, ravaging Philadelphia in 1793 and forcing the federal government to flee, decimating New Orleans repeatedly, and ultimately driving the mosquito-control infrastructure that made the modern South habitable.Yellow fever hasn’t established itself in the continental US in the modern era, but the conditions are increasingly favorable. The sameAedes aegyptimosquito that transmits dengue also carries yellow fever. Urban outbreaks in South America and Africa demonstrate what happens when the virus reaches densely populated areas with the right vector — it moves fast and kills efficiently.Yellow fever’s severe form causes jaundice (hence the name), internal bleeding, and multi-organ failure. The case fatality rate without treatment in severe cases can reach 50%. A vaccine exists, but it’s a live attenuated vaccine with its own serious risks, includingyellow fever vaccine-associated viscerotropic disease, which essentially mimics the disease it’s supposed to prevent.  It should be avoided in immunocompromised persons.🦟 Other Players in the SwarmZika virusgrabbed headlines in 2015-2016 for purportedly causing microcephaly in infants born to infected mothers.Aedesmosquitoes capable of transmitting it remain widespread across the southern US, and sporadic cases continue.Chikungunyacauses debilitating joint pain that can persist for months or years. It’s not typically fatal, but the chronic arthritis-like symptoms can destroy quality of life. Outbreaks in the Caribbean and Latin America mean imported cases are constant, and local transmission is a matter of when, not if, in areas with established vector populations.Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE)is rare but terrifying — a 30% fatality rate with inadequate treatment, and many survivors have permanent brain damage. It pops up periodically in the Northeast, Great Lakes, and Gulf Coast states.St. Louis EncephalitisandLa Crosse Encephalitisround out the list of neuroinvasive threats circulating within US borders.🧥 The First Line of Defense: Physical BarriersBefore any discussion of repellents, the single most effective and under-discussed strategy isphysical coverage. Long sleeves and long pants, particularly when treated or worn during peak mosquito activity hours (dusk to dawn), create a barrier no mosquito can penetrate.This isn’t complicated. Skin that isn’t exposed is skin that can’t be bitten. Light-colored, loose-fitting clothing is more effective than dark, tight garments — mosquitoes can bite through spandex but struggle with woven cotton or linen. Tucking pants into socks and shirts into pants eliminates entry points. A wide-brimmed hat protects the neck and ears.The pushback is predictable: “It’s too hot.” But lightweight, breathable fabrics designed for sun protection exist for exactly this reason. Cultures that have lived with mosquito-borne disease for centuries — across Africa, Asia, and Latin America — understood this long before DEET was synthesized in a lab. Physical barriers work. They work every time. They have no side effects, no toxicity concerns, and no need for reapplication.🌿 Botanical Bug Defense: Nature’s Chemistry Done RightThe Wellness Company’sBotanical Bug Defenserepresents a fundamentally different approach to repellency — one that works with natural compounds rather than synthetic neurotoxins.The formulation is built around four key botanical ingredients, each with documented evidence for insect repellency:Cedarwood Oil’sprimary active compounds, cedrol and thujopsene, function as potent insect neurotoxins that disrupt octopamine receptor signaling in arthropods while leaving mammalian systems unaffected. Multiple studies have demonstrated cedarwood's fumigant and contact toxicity against mosquitoes, ticks, and other biting insects, with protection attributed to both repellency and direct mortality.  Cedarwood's multifaceted mode of action — repellent, larvicidal, and adulticidal — makes it a valuable synergistic component in blended formulations where it extends the efficacy window of shorter-duration oils. is the heavyweight of natural repellents.Citronella oilis well-known but often underestimated. The key is concentration and formulation — properly emulsified citronella masks the carbon dioxide, lactic acid, and other human-emitted chemical signals that mosquitoes use to locate targets. It’s not about killing insects; it’s about making you invisible to their sensory apparatus.Peppermintoil earns its place in natural repellent formulations through its high menthol content and complementary volatile compounds — primarily menthone and limonene — which disrupt the olfactory receptors mosquitoes use to locate human targets. Multiple studies have demonstrated peppermint oil's repellency againstAedes,Culex, andAnophelesspecies, with larvicidal activity adding a secondary layer of protection. The oil's rapid evaporation limits standalone duration, but in blended formulations it contributes a sharp initial barrier while cooling the skin and deterring insects through a mechanism distinct from the heavier, longer-lasting botanical oils it's paired with.Lemongrass oilcontains citral and geraniol, compounds shown in laboratory and field studies to repelAedes,Culex, andAnophelesspecies — the three genera responsible for virtually all mosquito-borne disease transmission. Geraniol in particular has demonstrated repellency comparable to DEET in some head-to-head comparisons at similar concentrations.The combination matters. Individual botanicals tend to have shorter protection windows than synthetic alternatives, butsynergistic blending— multiple compounds targeting different olfactory receptors in the mosquito — can extend efficacy beyond what any single ingredient achieves alone.☠️ The Chemical Alternative: What You’re Actually Putting on Your SkinDEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) has been the gold standard of insect repellents since the 1940s. It works. Nobody disputes that. What’s less discussed ishowit works and what the trade-offs are.DEET is not merely a repellent in the conventional sense — it functions as a neurotoxin that disrupts the insect’s olfactory and nervous systems. The mechanism involves inhibition of acetylcholinesterase, the same enzyme targeted by organophosphate pesticides and nerve agents.Severe adverse reactions — including encephalopathy and seizures — have been documented, particularly in children. The EPA’s own incident reports include hundreds of seizure-related adverse events. DEET is readily absorbed through the skin, with studies showing 10-15% systemic absorption within hours of application. It crosses the placenta. It’s detectable in breast milk.Picaridin and IR3535 are often marketed as safer alternatives, but they’re still synthetic molecules with far less long-term safety data than anyone should be comfortable with. The precautionary principle — if you don’t need to expose yourself to a synthetic neuroactive compound, don’t — seems to have been abandoned in the name of convenience.Permethrin, used for treating clothing, is a pyrethroid insecticide that is directly neurotoxic. The argument that it’s safe because it binds tightly to fabric ignores the reality of skin transfer, inhalation during application, and environmental persistence.🛡️ A Sensible Hierarchy of ProtectionThe rational approach to mosquito-borne disease isn’t either/or — it’s layered defense:Physical barriers first— long sleeves, long pants, mosquito nets in high-risk sleeping environmentsEnvironmental control— eliminate standing water where mosquitoes breedTiming— avoid peak biting hours when possibleBotanical repellentson exposed skin — effective protection without systemic neurotoxin exposureSynthetic repellentsreserved for extreme-risk scenarios — deep jungle, known active outbreaks, regions with high malaria or yellow fever transmission where the risk-benefit calculation shiftsFor the vast majority of Americans — backyard barbecues, hiking trips, evening walks — botanical formulations like The Wellness Company’sBotanical Bug Defenserepresent the rational middle ground: effective protection without the documented risks of DEET and its synthetic cousins.🧠 The Bottom LineMosquito-borne illness in the United States is not a theoretical concern. West Nile is endemic. Dengue is establishing local transmission. Zika, chikungunya, and EEE are distant threats. Yellow fever is one introduction event away from urban outbreaks in cities with establishedAedespopulations.The question isn’t whether to protect yourself — it’s how to do it intelligently. Long sleeves cost nothing and work perfectly. Botanical repellents with documented efficacy offer meaningful protection without the neurotoxic baggage of chemical repellents.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.📝Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpoints", "summary": "Practical, non-toxic strategies against West Nile, dengue, and the diseases they don't warn you about", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/mosquito-self-defense-protecting", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-27", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING: FDA Approves New Pfizer and Moderna XFG mRNA COVID Shots Based on Data From Just 8–10 Mice", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHThe FDA hasapproved PfizerandModerna’snew 2026–2027 XFG-adapted mRNA COVID-19 vaccines even though the XFG-specific evidencepublicly presented to regulatorswas preclinical animal data involving just 8–10 mice per group.The reach of these dangerous approvals is sweeping: Pfizer can now be given to every American age 65 and older and to “high-risk” individuals as young as 5, while Moderna extends all the way down to “high-risk” infants just 6 months old.The human safety and immunogenicity studies of the new formulations had not even begun when FDA granted approval.Pfizer’s new COMIRNATY formulation was approved onAugust 27, 2026, while its prospective human study of the 2026–2027 formula is scheduled to beginAugust 31—four days later.Moderna’s new SPIKEVAX formulation was also approved onAugust 27, but its Phase 3b/4 human study of the 2026–2027 SPIKEVAX and MNEXSPIKE formulations is not scheduled to begin untilNovember 16—nearly three months after approval.FDA’s own 2026 vaccine-selection materials distinguish between human data from earlier/current COVID vaccines and animal immunogenicity data for the new candidate vaccines.Pfizer’s FDA presentationshows the XFG candidate was tested in10 mice per group.Moderna’s FDA presentationshows its key XFG experiment used8 mice per group.The approval letters reveal another troubling development: FDA also releasedboth manufacturers from previously required placebo-controlled postmarketing studies, citing operational and feasibility problems. Pfizer’s abandoned study would have investigated circulating spike antigen and post-vaccination symptoms, while Moderna’s would have evaluated safety of variant-containing formulations.Rather than requiring new human data before approval, FDA relied in part on human safety and immunogenicity data from previous COVID-19 vaccine formulations and extrapolated that evidence to the newly updated XFG products, while the XFG-specific evidence itself remained preclinical.This reliance on older-formulation data is especially concerning given themillions of deaths, injuries, and disabilities, along with demonstratedcardiotoxicity,neurotoxicity,carcinogenicity,body-wide biodistribution, andyears-long persistence.This is extremely worrisome and needs to be reversed immediately.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.Subscribe now", "summary": "The new formulations were approved before their human safety and immunogenicity studies even began.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-fda-approves-new-pfizer", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-27", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BILL GATES WARNS OF AI BIOTERRORISM JUST WEEKS AFTER HE FUNDED THE FIRST-EVER CREATION OF 16 SYNTHETIC VIRUSES USING AI", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHBill Gates is now publicly warning that artificial intelligence has become powerful enough to create dangerous viruses and enable bioterrorism.“AIs are now capable of causing bioterrorism risk,” Gates said on CNN, adding that we need to monitor whether people are “creating a dangerous virus.”But just weeks earlier, Gates Foundation-funded researcherspublished a study inSciencedescribing theFIRST-EVER creation of 16 synthetic viruses using AI.The mad scientists used artificial intelligence to design bacteriophages that do not exist in nature. The synthetic viruses were then manufactured, shown to self-replicate inside bacteria, kill their bacterial hosts, and produce new viral particles.The lead author who carried out much of the experimental work was financially supported by the Gates Foundation.So Bill Gates is now warning the world about the very capability his own foundation helped fund into existence:AI systems being used to design functional synthetic viruses.You cannot make this up.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.", "summary": "Bill Gates is now warning the world about the very capability his own foundation helped fund into existence.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/bill-gates-warns-of-ai-bioterrorism", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-27", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Green Ritual: How Matcha Is Powering a Healthier Return to Campus", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHFor millions of young people, August means the return to college campuses and time to settle into academic routines.  There are about 15.3 million undergraduate students and roughly 3.5 million graduate students in the United States.🍂 The Season of ReturnThere’s a particular excitement to late August—the kind that settles over driveways and dormitory steps, over suitcases zipped too full and anxious parents brimming with pride. Kids scatter back to campus. And in the scramble to rebuild a routine from scratch, one thing has quietly become the anchor of the whole endeavor:matcha in place of coffee.It used to be a specialty drink, the province of tea snobs and wellness blogs. Now? Walk any quad during the first week of classes and you’ll see it everywhere—whisked into oat milk, shaken over ice, balanced on the edge of a lecture-hall desk. Matcha has become theritualof the returning student: something to stir, something to hold, something that turns the mechanical act of “getting back into it” into a small daily ceremony.🌿 Why Matcha WonThe appeal isn’t mysterious. Students are waking up earlier, moving faster, and staring at screens longer than any generation before them. They want energy without the jitter, focus without the crash, and a drink thatdoessomething instead of just filling a cup.That’s where the science gets genuinely interesting—and wherePique Life’s Sun Goddess Matchaseparates itself from the crowd.🍵 Sun Goddess Matcha: The BreakdownSun Goddessis100% organic and ceremonial-grade, which matters more than the label lets on. Ceremonial grade means young, shade-grown leaves, stone-ground into a powder so fine it dissolves into something smooth, sweet, and almost creamy—packed with beneficial ingredients.💚 EGCG — Firm & BrightenEGCG, the star polyphenol in green tea, is the headline act here. Beyond its reputation as an antioxidant, EGCGfirms and brightens skin—which, for a student suddenly sleeping less and eating erratically, is exactly the kind of invisible support that shows up in the mirror within a couple weeks.🍬 Catechins — The Craving KillersEGCG belongs to the broader catechin family, and together they helpcurb sugar and hunger cravings. That 3 p.m. vending-machine collapse? The late-night pastry run? Catechins act as a gentle brake on the blood-sugar rollercoaster that drives those impulses.🌱 Chlorophyll — Clarity From WithinThat vivid green isn’t decoration.Chlorophyll, abundant in shade-grown ceremonial matcha, givesSun Goddessits color and supportsskin clarityfrom the inside out. It’s the quiet workhorse of clear, even-toned skin.⚡ Caffeine — Metabolism, Not Just WakefulnessMatcha’s caffeine arrives bound to its plant matrix, releasing slower than coffee’s sharp spike. Beyond the smooth energy, caffeine here supportslipid metabolism—meaning the body’s fat-burning machinery keeps ticking even when the only workout is sprinting between classes.🧘 L-Theanine — The CounterweightThis is matcha’s secret weapon.L-theaninepromotescalm and balanceby guiding the brain toward relaxed alertness—focus without anxiety, presence without the buzz. For a 20-year-old staring down three papers and a group project, that equilibrium is worth more than any energy drink.📦 What You’re Actually GettingDetail SpecGrade100% Organic, CeremonialTotal Weight56g per cartonServings28 per carton.  That’s a month of daily ritual in one carton. And for students whose budgets are already stretched thin by textbooks and takeout, this is perfect as a gift from parents who want to see their kids do the best they can.🎁 Try It YourselfYou can find Pique Life’sSun Goddess Matcharight here:👉Pique Life Sun Goddess MatchaAnd don’t forget to use promo codeDRPETERat checkout.🎒 The Real PointHere’s what I actually think when I watch the matcha mugs multiply each September: this generation, for all its screen-addled chaos, has quietly rediscovered something older than any of them. The idea thathowyou start your day matters. That a whisk and a bowl and two minutes of stirring can be a kind of meditation. That you don’t need to mainline espresso to feel alive.Sun Goddess Matchais a healthy tool—one that brings EGCG, catechins, chlorophyll, caffeine, and L-theanine to the same cup, in a form the body actually recognizes and processes naturally during a busy day on campus.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.📝Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident, McCullough FoundationFOCAL POINTS has partnered withPiqueto promote your optimal health. To learn more about Pique products and get 20% off and free gifts today,https://www.piquelife.com/DRPETER", "summary": "Pique Life’s Sun Goddess Matcha perfect for dorm life and peak academic performance", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-green-ritual-how-matcha-is-powering", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-28", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The Great Misdirection Trick of Partisan Politics", "content": "In the 1995 film,The Usual Suspects, what appears to be a hapless man named Roger “Verbal” Kint memorably paraphrases the French poet Charles Baudelaire with the remark:The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn’t exist.It seems to me that the second greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the American people that they should place their faith and hope in one of the two political parties.For many years I have observed people with strong “Republican” identities and people with strong “Democrat” identities fulminate about the folly of the other party. The former watch Fox; the latter watch CNN; both are equally persuaded by the propaganda they are served.My personal sympathies and biases have always strongly tilted Republican. My paternal grandfather, who knew some of LBJ’s cronies, once told me that LBJ was “the most corrupt man who ever walked the earth.” Conversely, my maternal grandfather knew George H.W. Bush and thought he was a swell guy. In my twenties I also noticed that people who identify themselves as Democrats tend to be far more given tovirtue signaling, which I have long perceived to be a dangerous form of self-deception and self-congratulation.I was therefore, initially, a strong supporter of George W. Bush. My support began to attenuate rapidly after September 1, 2001. I was in Manhattan on that infamous day and was badly traumatized by it. Looking back, I believe my political awakening about the evil of both political parties began then. I now believe that the two major American parties should be understood as belonging to the same monstrous structure—as complementary halves of a single system.Like yin and yang, they are opposed in rhetoric and personnel, but in practice they are as co-dependent as Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald after they became severe alcoholics and started quarreling all the time.Each political party supplies the other with anenemy, arationale for mobilization, and aready explanationwhen outcomes disappoint. Together they form the visible face of a national government whose scope and liabilities have grown under administrations of both labels.This face may be understood as that of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. People who have strong partisan political identities see their party as the kindly and humane Dr. Jekyll and the other as Mr. Hyde, not realizing that they are the same.While the two parties constantly point the finger at each other,spending, regulation, and debthave risen across decades regardless of which coalition held the presidency or Congress.Wars, thenational security state,entitlements, andemergency authoritieshave been advanced, modified, or merely continued by both. Even when differences are real, they they operate inside a shared institutional logic of concentrated benefits, diffuse costs, logrolling, and political reward for delivering visible programs while deferring their fiscal consequences. The result is an entity that becomes steadily larger and more indebted even as the parties trade office.While the monster grows like a cancer, the public is served—through their preferred propaganda organs—with a partisan blame mechanism. Persistent problems—structural deficits, the growth of unfunded liabilities, regulatory accumulation, infrastructure decay—are routinely attributed to the other party’s unique vice, incompetence, or capture.When Democrats hold power, Republicans point to spending and bureaucracy; when Republicans hold power, Democrats point to tax cuts, wars, or corporate favoritism. Each side can produce examples that support its case. The mechanism works because it is psychologically efficient, converting complex outcomes into asimple story of villainy versus virtue. Voters are thereby equipped withan identityanda targetwithout having to examine the incentives that operate on both coalitions once they areinside government.Divide-and-conquerfollows from this arrangement. Energy that could be marshaled into the broader project of rejecting the entire game is instead absorbed by inter-party combat. Polarization is not an accidental byproduct; it is the system’s most essential function.A public sorted into hostile camps is less likely to form a durable coalition around taming the beast. These camps have been rigorously trained to view each other with mutual suspicion and contempt.The parties do not need to conspire for this effect, which naturally emerges from ordinary electoral incentive. Primary electorates reward differentiation; media markets rewardconflict and tribalism, and incumbents of both parties benefit from a government that continues to distribute resources.In my business of trying to communicate in the public forum,tribalismis especially operative. I once played golf with a major Silicon Valley investor who happened to be a fan of this newsletter, and he offered me the following counsel.The key to building a major media channel is to build a tribe and then constantly excite its outrage and flatter its identity. It seems to me that you and McCullough haven’t figured this out, and you have a rare talent for offending all tribes.What can I say? The truth hurts everyone, and every major lesson in life is learned through pain.The point of this essay is not to claim that both parties areidentical, but that their differences are secondary to the theirmutual captureby the military-industrial complex, Wall Street, the bio-pharmaceutical complex, and the intelligence agencies.Partisan political differences coexist with a deeper continuity in the size and indebtedness of the state, while the partisan narrative of exclusive blame helps stabilize that continuity.Yin and yang do not cancel each other; they complete a cycle. In this cycle, the government entity grows, the debt accumulates, and the public is offered a contest over which half of the whole is at fault.As I recently pointed out in a video shot overlooking the Capitol building, the fuel that feeds Leviathan, enabling him to grow to ever large and more terrifying dimensions, consists of an unending train of “crises” and “emergencies.” If you’ve not yet watched the video, you may find it interesting.Subscribe nowShare", "summary": "Republicans and Democrats are the yin and yang of the same monstrous Leviathan that devours the American people.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-great-misdirection-trick-of-partisan", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-28", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Bill Gates Warns of AI Bioterrorism as the Vaccine–Alpha-Gal Link Emerges", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHI joined Rob Finnerty on Newsmax to discuss two major stories: new evidence pointing tovaccines as a possible contributorto the dramatic rise in Alpha-Gal Syndrome, andBill Gates warning about AI-driven bioterrorismjust weeks after Gates-funded research helped produce the first functional viruses designed using artificial intelligence.Ournew comprehensive review of Alpha-Gal Syndrome (AGS)identified vaccination as a risk factor. More than 90% of American children receive vaccines containing bovine-derived gelatin before entering school, resulting in injection of approximately 54 mg of alpha-gal-bearing gelatin through commonly administered childhood vaccines (MMR and chickenpox).The second major topic wasBill Gates’ recent warningthat increasingly powerful AI could create a bioterrorism risk.However, Just weeks earlier, aGates-funded paper published inSciencereported the first-ever creation of 16 functional viruses designed using artificial intelligence. The lead researcher received Gates Foundation funding, and the AI-designed bacteriophages were capable of infecting bacteria, replicating, and producing new viral particles.Bill Gates is warning the world about the very capability his own foundation funded into existence.As I told Rob:“It’s absolutely absurd, and you can’t even make it up.”Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.Subscribe now", "summary": "Nicolas Hulscher joins Rob Finnerty on NEWSMAX to discuss Bill Gates’ contradictory AI bioterrorism warning and new evidence implicating vaccines as a risk factor for Alpha-Gal Syndrome.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/bill-gates-warns-of-ai-bioterrorism-e41", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-28", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "BREAKING: BioNTech mRNA Cancer “Vaccine” Trial TERMINATED Over Alarming Mortality Signal", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHBioNTech hasabruptly terminateda Phase 2 trial of its experimental personalized mRNA cancer “vaccine” after an independent safety board identified an alarmingimbalance in overall survival between the treatment groups.The trial, known asBNT122-01 (NCT04486378), enrolled approximately 327 patients with surgically resected high-risk Stage II or Stage III colorectal cancer who remained positive for circulating tumor DNA. Participants were randomized to receive BioNTech’s individualized mRNA cancer immunotherapy, autogene cevumeran (BNT122/RO7198457), or watchful waiting.Patients in the mRNA arm underwent anaggressive hyper-dosing regimen of up to 15 intravenous infusions over roughly one year—six weekly doses across the first six treatment weeks, two more at two-week intervals over the following month, followed by seven additional doses every six weeks for the remainder of the year.The independent Data Safety Monitoring Board has now reported a“numerical imbalance in overall survival between treatment arms”and concluded that continuing the study was unlikely to change its efficacy outcome. Itrecommended that treatment be stopped and the entire clinical trial terminated. BioNTech surprisingly accepted the recommendation.In lay terms, overall survival measures how long patients remain alive after entering the trial. An imbalance therefore represents a mortality signal between the groups. BioNTech has not yet disclosed the number of deaths in each arm, the mortality rates, hazard ratio, causes of death, or which treatment group experienced poorer survival.Perhaps even more concerning, the trial had alreadycrossed a prespecified futility boundary in October 2025, indicating that the accumulating results were unlikely to demonstrate the intended efficacy. BioNTech nevertheless continued the study.As the vaccine cartel races to push mRNA technology into an ever-expanding list of diseases, this trial marks yet another major failure of the platform—this time in cancer patients, where the stakes could not be higher. It’s time to END the unchecked expansion of mRNA technology and protect innocent civilians from further death and disability.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.Subscribe now", "summary": "The independent Data Safety Monitoring Board flagged an overall-survival imbalance after cancer patients received an aggressive hyper-dosing regimen of up to 15 IV mRNA doses.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-biontech-mrna-cancer-vaccine", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-28", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Four Epochs of Mankind’s Controversial History with Vaccines", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPlease enjoy this long format state presentation given on August 21 at the Advent Mission Institute Camp 365 in Berrien Springs, Michigan.  I reconnected with church leaders who suffered severe professional reprisal for their presentation to congregations of the “crisis of conscience” we all faced with mandated genetic vaccines for COVID-19 in 2021.I present four periods of time in our beautifully written book by first author John Leake—Vaccines:  Mythology, Ideology, and Reality:I.  The Great Prelude:  Smallpox VaccinationII.  Experimentation and DevelopmentIII.  The Modern Vaccination EraIV.  The Bioweapons EraYes, this describes starting in 2004, we entered a whole new phase of biotechnology applied to biowarfare where pathogens of pandemic potential are created in biolabs and vaccines are developed as military countermeasures.  That’s how we all became caught up in history that has certainly taken a dark turn.  Please enjoy the show.Thanks for reading FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™)! This post is public so feel free to share it.Share📝Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHPresident,McCullough Foundation", "summary": "Dr McCullough presents the timeline at Advent Mission Institute 365", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/four-epochs-of-mankinds-controversial", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-29", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "The US Proxy War in Russia is Escalating & Imperiling the World", "content": "In spring of 2008, I was living in Vienna, Austria and carefully followed the reporting on the NATO Bucharest Summit from April 2-4. For readers who don’t remember this momentous occasion: it was during this summit that the NATO issued a declaration stating that Georgia and Ukraine would eventually become NATO members.What most people don’t remember about this summit was that the Bush administration pushed forthe immediate grantingof a Membership Action Plan (MAP) to Ukraine and Georgia. Fortunately, German Chancellor Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy successfully blocked this initiative but nevertheless appeased President Bush by agreeing to the vague promise that both nations \"will become members of NATO.”Russian President Putin, who attended the summit, stated in his address that NATO’s expansion into Ukraine and Georgia was “direct threat to Russian security.” A the time it occurred to me that US policy wonkswelcomedthis unequivocal statement by Putin—on the record at a NATO summit—because with this statement, Putin publicly stated his red line, the crossing of which would force his hand to take military action.Make no mistake: The horrible people who run US foreign policywantedPutin to take military action in Ukraine because they believed it would lead to an Afghan style quagmire for Russia in Ukraine. As I tell this story in my new book,Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions:They apparently reasoned that, with the Ukrainian army equipped with sophisticated US weaponry and targeting assistance, the Russian army would suffer the same kind of humiliating defeat it had suffered in Afghanistan at the hands of the US-armed Mujahideen, who succeeded in getting the Soviet Army to withdrawal from in the country in February 1989. Hillary Clinton explicitly made this comparison in a February 28, 2022, MSNBC interview in which she said:Remember, the Russians invaded Afghanistan back in 1980. It didn’t end well for the Russians . . . but the fact is, that a very motivated, and then funded, and armed insurgency basically drove the Russians out of Afghanistan.Later in the interview, Clinton conceded that arming the Afghan Mujahideen had produced unintended consequences like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The actions of these groups resulted in the US government sending the American military to Afghanistan and occupying the country for twenty years. After getting thousands of American servicemen killed and maimed and spending $2.3 trillion, the US government made its own chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan on August 30, 2021, leaving the countrybackin the hands of the Taliban that was supposed to have been vanquished twenty years earlier.It didn’t seem to bother Clinton that an Afghan-style quagmire in Ukraine would likely kill hundreds of thousands of people and inflict great suffering on the Ukrainian people, just as the Afghan people had suffered during the Soviet Afghan War. Implied in Clinton’s statement was her apparent assumption that the Ukrainian people view the Russian people as enemies. In fact, most Ukrainians and Russians have long had close and affectionate relations, and many have extended family members in both countries. For decades, ordinary Ukrainians have—because of the country’s location, history, and rich natural resources—been caught in the middle of oligarchies in Kiev and Moscow who have much in common but also frequently squabble over natural gas deals. Washington, London, and Brussels have sought to bring Ukraine into the western sphere of influence. Most disturbing to Moscow has been the aggressive foreign policy clique in Washington that has aspired to make Ukraine a forward operating base against Russia in the same way it aspired to make Iraq a forward operating base against Syria and Iran.I have seen ZERO evidence that an Austrian-style neutrality deal would not have worked for Ukraine and averted this senseless war. Here is former NATO Secretary General and US stooge Jens Stoltenberg stating that Russia’s neutrality proposal in the autumn of 2021 was rejected out of hand.As with all of Washington’s wars since 2001, the US proxy war against Russia in Ukraine has been a catastrophic failure, though it has certainly enriched the US military-industrial complex, the oligarchs who run Ukraine, and their US political cronies.Currently I am seeing an increasingly number of indications that this war is escalating, with growing risk of direct clashes between Russian and NATO forces and even Russian strikes on munitions factories in Germany and Great Britain.To be sure, President Putin knows what I already intuited in 2008—namely, the horrible people who run US foreign policy and their German puppet, Chancellor Friedrich Merz—wantRussia to strike western targets so that it will trigger general war in Europe.For some time it has been said that the US foreign policy clique running the proxy war have demonstrated a remarkably cold-blooded willingness “to fight till the lastUkrainianman,” and I know a young Ukrainian man who was recently abducted and sent to front line with minimal training. At the moment, I am not sure if he is still alive.Even more disturbing was the August 24, 2026statementof retired Lieutenant GeneralKeith Kellogg, who previously served as the US Special Envoy for Ukraine, in which he declared that the government in Kiev should expand military conscription to include women.Here it is important to understand that Ukraine’s oligarchs and their children are not fighting the war. As wasreportedin the French newspaperLe Mondein 2023, many oligarchs have left Ukraine and retreated to their villas in the South of France.Especially fascinating and disturbing to me is that most Americans seem to have no idea this is going on. It reminds me of carefree members of the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy in the summer of 1914, who had no idea that the reckless machinations of the Austrian court against the Kingdom of Serbia would, just four years later, result in the total destruction of the Austrian Habsburg state and empire that had existed for over 600 years.Many of my friends in Vienna come from families lost ALL their ancestral property in Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary, and other parts of the empire. Some of their great grandparents retreated to their apartments in Vienna and burned family heirloom furniture in the winter of 1918-1919 to keep warm because their coal supply from Bohemia and Moravia (now the Czech and Slovak Republics) was cut off.Unlike the Russian people—who suffered catastrophic death and suffering in the wake of Napoleon’s 1812 invasion and Hitler’s 1941 invasion—the American people alive today have little to no awareness of the horrors of war.My great grandmother, who died almost forty years ago, once told my mother that no a single day went by that she didn’t feel the pain of losing her only son Bobby, who was killed in combat at the age of eighteen, fighting the Germans near Florence, Italy in 1944.The dreadful old men who run this country seem to have no empathy for a mother’s pain—neither that of the mothers of Ukraine and Russia, nor of the mothers of ordinary Americans. I am increasingly drawn to the conclusion that the US government—in its reckless conduct in both domestic and foreign policy domains—is essentially a satanic entity.This entity—whoever in hell is running it—doesn’t seem to understand that escalation can result in all kinds of unpredictable and undesirable outcomes. Such was theme of the darkly satiric Cold War song “99 Luftballons” by the German band NENA, in which the appearance of 99 hot air balloons on the horizon is mistaken for an attack, thereby triggering an escalation that leads to World War III and the end of the world.The song may have been inspired by the so-called “Battle of Los Angeles” on February 25, 1942, when an errant weather balloon over Los Angeles triggered an air raid alert and blackout. This, in turn, triggered a massive anti-aircraft barrage of approximately 1,400 shells fired into the sky over Los Angeles at perceived enemy aircraft, even though none was clearly detected and identified. Five people died during the incident from stress-related heart attacks and traffic accidents caused by the panic. Later, the Army declared the incident to have been the result of “war nerves and imagination.”Songwriter Carlo Karges wrote “99 Luftballon” in 1982. About a year later, on September 26, 1983, when Soviet Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, stationed near Moscow, prevented a potential nuclear exchange by identifying a satellite warning system of incoming US ICBMs as more likely a system malfunction. Rather than following protocol to report the attack immediately, Petrov made the gut decision to classify the alert as a false alarm. His hunch was later confirmed to be a satellite malfunction that misinterpreted cloud reflections as missiles. For trusting his intuition and making his bold decision to err on the side of caution, Petrov was known as “the man who saved the world.”Petrov was born in 1939 and lived through many of the most dangerous years of the 20th century before dying in 2017. As we head up the escalation ladder with Russia, I hope there are still men like him managing Russia’s nuclear weapons systems.Subscribe nowShareMany Americans seem to think that this sort of thing—on a much wider and more catastrophic scale—couldn’t", "summary": "The reckless gamble with the existence of the American people and the peoples of Western Europe appears to be getting more dangerous by the day.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-us-proxy-war-in-russia-is-escalating", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-29", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Tick Bites, Vaccines, and the Meat Allergy Epidemic", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHMore and more Americans are developing alpha-gal syndrome after a tick bite.  Steve Gruber asked Dr. McCullough on DayBreak about this emerging meat allergy and what is behind the epidemic.🎙️ Dr. Peter McCullough on Alpha-Gal Syndrome — Steve Gruber Show SummaryThe InterviewDr. Peter McCullough, Chief Scientific Officer at The Wellness Company, joined Steve Gruber onReal America’s Voiceto discuss a new study from the McCullough Foundation and Wellness Company team examining risk factors behind the dramatic rise ofalpha-gal syndrome (AGS)— an acquired meat allergy that can produce delayed anaphylaxis, urticaria, and angioedema hours after eating mammalian products.🔬 The Hulscher et al. PaperMcCullough referenced the newly released paper:Nicolas Hulscher, MPH, James A. Thorp, MD, Drew Pinsky, MD, Peter Gillooly, MSc, Harvey Risch, MD, PhD, Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH, & Kelly Victory, MD. (2026).Risk Factors, Pathogenesis, and Management of Alpha-Gal Syndrome.Zenodo.https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22003548The paper advances two non-exclusive hypotheses about how vaccine-derived alpha-gal — present in mammalian gelatin used as a stabilizer — could contribute to AGS:Direct induction: Repeated parenteral exposure to alpha-gal-bearing gelatin with aluminum adjuvant directly drives IgE class switchingPrime-boost: Gelatin-containing vaccines expand the alpha-gal-specific memory B-cell pool, after which a tick bite delivers a potent adjuvant signal that boosts the response to clinically relevant IgE titersMcCullough emphasized that the average tick bite victim is about 35 years old, has taken many childhood vaccines like most Americans, and then gets a tick bite that triggers the allergy. The paper notes that alpha-gal IgE is now detectable in24% of adultsin high-burden states, with suspected cases rising roughly 100-fold over the past decade.💊 Two TWC Products MentionedHistacalm— A botanical combination (quercetin, luteolin, apigenin, pine bark extract, and butterbur) that stabilizes mast cells and basophils from releasing histamine. McCullough described it as calming the allergic response so that meat can be gradually reintroduced — a desensitization approach — allowing patients to “go on with their lives after this tick bite.” The paper details how these five constituents target distinct nodes of the effector cascade: degranulation, Th2 cytokine production, leukotriene synthesis, H1 signaling, and oxidative amplification.Bug Defense— A safe botanical insect repellent. McCullough’s practical advice was straightforward: “No tick bite, no alpha-gal syndrome.” He recommended wearing long sleeves and pants in the woods (particularly applicable to Gruber’s Michigan audience) and using Bug Defense as a preventative. The ticks don’t like it, and prevention remains the single most impactful measure available.🦠 Broader ContextMcCullough and Gruber also touched on:Vaccine hesitancybeing driven by Anthony Fauci’s legacy, not by voices like RFK Jr. or McCullough — with the rate of unvaccinated children rising from ~2.5% several years ago to ~4.2%Gain-of-function researchon ticks and mosquitoes, with McCullough calling for the entire industry to be shut down, noting the line of thinking that Lyme disease may have originated from a research lab in Lyme, ConnecticutTheconflict of interestinherent in government-funded vaccine research, given the government’s co-ownership of the Moderna patentThe need forindependent researchthrough organizations like the McCullough Foundation and Wellness Company, free from the constraints of government RFAs and industry biasFOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.📝Please subscribe toFOCAL POINTSas a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.AlterAImay be used to assist in searches, synthesis, and review.Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHChief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Companywww.twc.health/focalpoints", "summary": "McCullough Foundation & The Wellness Company paper proposes two-pronged pathogenesis of alpha-gal syndrome, while TWC's Bug Defense and Histacalm offer practical solutions for prevention and recovery", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/tick-bites-vaccines-and-the-meat", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-30", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "How the Vaccine Cartel Is Making False Claims about Shingles Vaccination Reducing Heart and Neurodegenerative Disease", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHWhen I took the shingles vaccine several years ago, my arm blew up like a red balloon and I had pain and fever—that is inflammation big-time.  It has been learned that both cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases have deterministic elements of chronic inflammation.  In other words, inflammation is not good for the heart or the brain—and that includes systemic inflammation from vaccines.🧠 The “Shingles Vaccine Miracle:” When Observational Studies Become MarketingTwo new studies published inNature Medicineand theAnnals of Internal Medicineare making headlines with a seductive claim: the recombinant shingles vaccine may slash your risk of heart disease and dementia. TheCorsi-Zuelli paperreports a 9% reduction in cardiovascular events. TheHayes paper, published inAnnals, claims a 25% reduction in dementia risk.  From an epidemiological perspective these are tiny effect sizes.It’s a beautiful story. Get your jab, protect your heart, save your brain. Who wouldn’t want that?The problem is that the story is almost certainly false. And the reasons it’s false reveal everything wrong with how the vaccine establishment manufactures evidence when it needs to move product.Read more", "summary": "Non-randomized, healthy-vaccinee bias, unadjudicated billing codes, effect sizes too tiny to outrun random variation, conflicts of interest buried in fine print — the shoddy science of vaccinology", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/how-the-vaccine-cartel-is-making", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-08-31", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "Chasing SARS-CoV-2 Mutational Strains: Why the Fall Booster Program Is Always a Variant Behind", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHIts fall and another season of wasted government money on unpopular and rarely taken COVID-19 boosters.  The 2026–2027 boosters from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and Novavax/Sanofiall target the XFG variant— and by the time they hit pharmacy shelves this week, the variant landscape has already moved. That’s not a coincidence of timing. It’s the structural reality of chasing a nonseasonal virus that mutates faster than the regulatory approval pipeline can move.  The theoretical vaccine efficacy only lasts a few months.🎯 What the Boosters Actually CoverAll three manufacturers’ 2026–2027 formulations are built around a single antigen target:Pfizer/BioNTech (COMIRNATY® XFG)— mRNA, targetsXFGModerna (Spikevax and mNexspike)— mRNA, targetsXFG, a subvariant of the JN.1 lineageNovavax (Nuvaxovid™, sold via Sanofi)— protein-based, targetsXFGThat’s it. One strain, three products. The FDA selected XFG back inMay 2026based on what was circulating in the spring. The manufacturers’ own press materials claim the shots generate responses against other lineages — XFG.1.1, NB.1.8.1, PQ.17, PQ.2.8.1 — but the antigen itself is XFG, and the “broadening” is theoretical cross-reactivity, not a designed match.Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "The Virus Mutates and Infects Year-Round — But the FDA Is Still Stuck on a Poorly-Conceived Flu-Season Playbook", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/chasing-sars-cov-2-mutational-strains", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-09-01", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "MMR Vaccine-Linked Deaths Outnumber Measles Deaths in 2026", "content": "byNicolas Hulscher, MPHSo far in 2026, there have beenZERO confirmed measles deathsand at leastTHREE MMR vaccine-linked deathsin the United States.Yet Americans hear virtually nothing about deaths occurring after MMR vaccination. Instead, the captured mass media blasted out headlines claiming that two children in Pennsylvania had died from measles—claims that have since fallen apart under scrutiny. Meanwhile, three highly concerning MMR-linked deaths have already appeared in VAERS this year:2026 U.S. MMR VACCINE DEATH REPORTS (VAERS): 31-year-old boy: fatal cardiac arrest just ONE DAY after MMRThefirst caseinvolves a1-year-old boy who suffered fatal cardiac arrest just one day after receiving MMR. The extraordinarily short interval makes the report impossible to simply dismiss as some distant event occurring long after vaccination. Along with MMR, he was also subjected to a battery of four additional vaccines—Varivax, Havrix, Vaxelis, and Prevnar 20—for five vaccines total at the same visit. The child was hyper-vaccinated and died the following day.1-year-old girl: died from disseminated rubella after MMRThesecond caseis even more biologically concerning. A1-year-old girl died from disseminated rubella after receiving MMR. She reportedly had an undiagnosed primary immunodeficiency when she was vaccinated.This matters because MMR does not contain an inert rubella antigen. It contains a live attenuated rubella virus designed to replicate in a controlled manner and generate immunity. In a person with severe immune dysfunction, however, the immune system can fail to adequately contain or eliminate the attenuated virus. Instead of remaining limited, vaccine-strain virus can persist and disseminate into tissues throughout the body leading to multi-organ failure.76-year-old woman: vaccine-strain measles detected during fatal pneumoniaThethird casemay be the most remarkable of all. A76-year-old woman developed measles vaccine-associated pneumonia after receiving MMR, progressed to severe respiratory failure, and died after a 16-day hospitalization.Critically,vaccine-strain measles was detected in her respiratory tract, including pulmonary samples. In other words, this was not simply a patient who happened to test positive for measles after vaccination. Molecular testing identified the vaccine strain itself.The measles component of MMR is also a live attenuated virus. In immunocompromised individuals, the weakened virus can escape normal immune control, continue replicating, and produce serious systemic disease. When that process involves the lungs, it can produce measles pneumonitis or pneumonia, impair oxygen exchange, and progress to respiratory failure.2026 U.S. MEASLES DEATHS: 0Now contrast those three reports withwhat happened in Pennsylvania.Pennsylvania officials announced two “measles-associated deaths,” but theCDC refused to add them to the national measles death count, stating that the available information “does not establish whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths or whether the individuals died from other causes while infected with measles.”The first infant did not die from measles according to the coroner’s assessment of the primary cause of death. The child suffered a ruptured or lacerated spleen with catastrophic internal bleeding. Despite that, the death was publicly promoted as “measles-associated.”The second Pennsylvania case remains even less clear. No case details have been released, no cause of death has been provided, and there has been no confirmation of measles involvement. It may be an entirely fabricated “measles death” pending the release of such information.CONCLUSIONThat leaves an extraordinary contrast in 2026:ZERO confirmed U.S. measles deaths, while at leastTHREE deaths have already been reported following MMR vaccination.One involved fatal cardiac arrest the day after vaccination.One involved fatal disseminated rubella after administration of a live rubella-containing vaccine.And one involved fatal measles vaccine-associated pneumonia with vaccine-strain measles detected in the respiratory tract.VAERS is widely recognized to besubstantially underreported. A federally funded investigation led byLazarus et al.found that fewer than 1% of vaccine adverse events may be reported to national surveillance systems. In other words, there are likely far more 2026 MMR vaccine deaths.These three 2026 reports also arrive against the backdrop of ourrecent nationwide study of MMR/MMRV-associated mortalityin VAERS, where we found hundreds of sudden deaths among infants and toddlers within days of MMR vaccination—2,657% more deaths than measles itself. The fatal presentations included sudden infant death syndrome and unexplained sudden death, cardiac arrest, seizures, respiratory distress, encephalitis, and severe febrile illness.The captured mass media will blast an alleged measles death across the country before the underlying facts are even known. But when a toddler dies one day after MMR, or when vaccine-strain virus itself is implicated in a fatal illness, the silence is deafening.Nicolas Hulscher, MPHEpidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough FoundationSupport our mission:mcculloughfnd.orgPlease consider following both theMcCullough Foundationandmy personal accountonX(formerly Twitter) for further content.FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse™) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.", "summary": "A 1-year-old died from cardiac arrest one day after MMR, another 1-year-old died from disseminated vaccine rubella, and a 76-year-old died from vaccine-associated measles pneumonia.", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/mmr-vaccine-linked-deaths-outnumber", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-09-02", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}
{"title": "EnteroMix: Promise and Peril in Russia’s Personalized Cancer Vaccine", "content": "By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPHThe news was buzzing about a Russian cancer vaccine back in 2024-25.  But the story has gone cold in 2026; I wondered why?🔬 How It WorksEnteroMix is a Russian-developed therapeutic cancer vaccine combining two strategies. The first is anoncolytic viral cocktail— four replication-competent enteroviruses (CVA21, ECHO-7, EV-B75, and a poliovirus–rhinovirus chimera) that selectively infect and lyse tumor cells, releasing antigens and danger signals that “heat” the tumor microenvironment. The second is apersonalized mRNA vaccine— synthesized from the patient’s own tumor RNA — that encodes patient-specific neoantigens, training T-cells to hunt cancer cells bearing those mutational signatures.Subscribe nowRead more", "summary": "A Cautious Examination of the Dual-Platform Immunotherapy", "source_url": "https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/enteromix-promise-and-peril-in-russias", "source_name": "Dr. Peter McCullough", "doc_date": "2026-09-02", "doc_kind": "essay", "tags": ["peter-mccullough", "medical", "essay", "written-work", "2026"]}