FBI Director Kash Patel ratcheted up his fight with Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen on Tuesday, posting on social media an expensive tab run up by the Democrat senator’s campaign at a swanky bar in Washington, D.C. Patel and Van Hollen clashed during a hearing earlier on Tuesday over claims published in The Atlantic that the FBI chief had a drinking problem. After the hearing, Patel posted a campaign filing from December 12, 2025, showing that Van Hollen’s campaign spent $7,128 during an event at the Lobby Bar in D.C.  “The only person that ran up a $7,000 bar tab in Washington, D.C., at the Lobby Bar was you. The only individual in this room that has been drinking on the taxpayer dime during the day is you,” Patel said during the hearing.  A spokesman for Van Hollen told NBC that “this was a catering charge at a local restaurant where the Senator hosted an after-hours holiday reception as a thank you to the 50+ members of our team, paid for by campaign funds — not taxpayer dollars.” During Tuesday’s hearing, Van Hollen attacked Patel over allegations of drinking on the job.  “Director Patel, these reports about your conduct, including reports of your being so drunk and hungover that your staff had to force entry into your home, are extremely alarming,” Van Hollen said. “So, there have been no occasions when your security detail had difficulty waking or locating you?” Van Hollen asked Patel. “Nope, it’s a total farce. I don’t even know where you get this stuff, but it doesn’t make it credible, because you say so,” Patel fired back.  Patel filed a defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic over its report featuring anonymous sources accusing the FBI director of having a drinking problem. In response to Van Hollen’s accusations, Patel hit back by pointing to a photo posted by El Salavador President Nayib Bukele showing the Democrat senator seated next to accused MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia at a table with what appear to be margaritas. Bukele captioned the photo by saying that Abrego Garica was “sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador.” Credit: Nayib Bukele “Unlike your baseless reports, the only person that was slinging margaritas in El Salvador on the taxpayer dollar with a convicted gang-banging rapist was you,” Patel said.  Both Patel and Van Hollen challenged each other to take sobriety tests during the hearing. 

At the recent Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America gala in Washington, D.C., organization president Marjorie Dannenfelser issued a stark warning: either the pro-life movement will place abortion “on the path to extinction,” or abortion proponents will push until it is legal in all fifty states. She is right. And the most uncomfortable fact in American pro-life politics today proves it. According to the abortion industry’s Guttmacher Institute, more than 1.12 million abortions were performed in 2025 — a 21% increase over 2020, the last full year before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Women are traveling from protective states to permissive ones. Abortionists are mailing abortion pills across state lines, undermining laws meant to protect mothers and children. State after state has enshrined abortion in its constitution by ballot initiative. The legal victory the movement fought 50 years to achieve has not produced the cultural victory we assumed would follow. That is the lesson buried inside Marjorie’s warning, and the pro-life movement cannot afford to miss it. In 1998, Planned Parenthood announced plans to build an abortion facility in my hometown of Bryan/College Station, Texas. We didn’t try to out-shout Planned Parenthood. We decided to out-build them. We organized 60 local churches and thousands of volunteers into a sustained, peaceful witness of prayer and sidewalk counseling outside the facility. But the harder, more decisive work happened where the public didn’t see it. The nearest pregnancy resource center kept hours that didn’t overlap with Planned Parenthood’s, meaning a woman in crisis on a Saturday morning had nowhere else to turn. So we worked with the center to synchronize its hours. Then we helped a second resource center relocate directly across the street from Planned Parenthood, so the moment a woman considered walking in, an alternative was visible from the curb. We fortified supply networks for diapers, formula, medical care, legal help, and practical assistance so that no mother facing an unexpected pregnancy felt abortion was her only option. We didn’t just protest the problem. We built the infrastructure to solve it. The results compounded. Planned Parenthood was removed from local schools and stripped of state taxpayer funding. Abortions at the facility fell year after year (2%, 15%, then 28%, according to Texas state health data) as the new infrastructure took hold. Eventually, that abortion center closed for good. We didn’t win because we won arguments or cared more. Plenty of people elsewhere made good arguments and cared deeply, yet still lost. We won because we built the infrastructure that made choosing life not just morally compelling but practically possible. That is the lesson Washington must learn. The pro-life movement has, rightly, invested enormous energy in legal and political strategy. Stripping roughly half a billion dollars in federal funding from Planned Parenthood was a significant achievement. Leaders like Senator Bill Cassidy and Speaker Mike Johnson have shown that principled, strategic pro-life leadership in Washington is alive. The Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America team’s political work ahead of 2028 is essential. But politics alone will not produce a pro-life America. Neither did overturning Roe. The 21% abortion increase is not a referendum on the Dobbs decision. It is a referendum on the assumption that legal change drives cultural change. It does not. Cultural change drives legal change. And only when cultural change is supported by real infrastructure does the law hold. What the other side taught us over the last 50 years is painful but unmistakable. They didn’t just win court cases. They built the architecture — clinic networks, professional standards, medical curricula, entertainment narratives, corporate policies — that made their vision the path of least resistance for ordinary Americans. The law followed. And when the law eventually moved against them at Dobbs, the cultural architecture they had built held. We can do the same, but for life and grounded in truth. Nearly 3,000 pregnancy resource centers and maternity homes are quietly outperforming Planned Parenthood on the metric that matters: women genuinely served and supported. The recent launch of moms.gov uses Heartbeat International’s Option Line to help women locate their closest life-affirming pregnancy center. The American Association of Pro-Life OB/GYNs is building a credible medical alternative to the establishment that gave us abortion on demand. Live Action and Students for Life are forming a generation to carry this work for decades. The 40 Days for Life movement I started has mobilized more than 1 million volunteers across 60 nations and helped save more than 26,000 lives. The latest science-backed research about life in the womb illuminates the undeniable humanity of unborn children through resources like Charlotte Lozier Institute’s Voyage of Life platform. These are not mere campaigns or protests. These are institutions and infrastructure. And their growth is the real reason the pro-life cause has a future. Marjorie said the abortion fight will be decided by whoever cares more. She is right. But caring is only the precondition. History shows what comes next: take that caring and build with it. That is what it will take to make America the most pro-life country in the world. *** David Bereit founded 40 Days for Life and serves as executive director of the Life Leadership Conference. He has spent three decades studying social movements and cultural change.

Amazon apparently decided Americans should never have to leave the house again. The company is now testing a new delivery service that can reportedly get products to your front door in around 30 minutes. So, the days of realizing you forgot toothpaste, paper towels, coffee creamer, or phone chargers may officially be over. At this point, Amazon isn’t competing with stores anymore. It’s competing with your ability to put on shoes and drive somewhere yourself. The new service, called “Amazon Now,” is beginning to roll out in several major cities across the country, with more locations expected to follow. Customers will be able to order everything from groceries and snacks to electronics and household items through the ultra-fast system. The idea behind it is simple: instead of shipping products from giant warehouses far outside city limits, Amazon is relying on smaller local hubs positioned much closer to neighborhoods and downtown areas. That dramatically cuts delivery times and lets drivers move orders almost immediately after they’re placed. Translation? Your impulse buys may soon arrive before you even regret making them. The rollout is part of Amazon’s growing obsession with speed as the company keeps pouring money into faster shipping, AI-powered logistics systems, and even drone technology designed to bypass traffic altogether. And yes, people are absolutely going to use this for ridiculous things. Forgot hamburger buns right before the cookout starts? Amazon. Need deodorant before a date? Amazon. Realized five minutes before bedtime that the kids are out of toothpaste? Amazon. The company says Prime customers will pay a small added fee for the rapid delivery option, while non-members will pay more. Amazon has spent years training people to expect packages almost instantly. Now it’s pushing even further into a world where “I’ll just order it” becomes faster than making a store run yourself. Honestly, we’re about two steps away from Amazon delivering things before people even realize they need them.

There’s a humanitarian crisis taking place in Iran. However, it’s not the news currently making international headlines — it’s far worse. Amid internet blackouts, I have the unique opportunity to speak directly with men and women in Iran through my line of work. Through these conversations, I am offered a rare glimpse into the harsh realities facing Iranian citizens, and my heart is burdened by the latest update I received. They tell me stories of Iranian women, behind prison walls, being abused, silenced, and erased. Detained for boldly raising their voice and fighting for freedom against a brutal regime, these women are enduring unthinkable, dehumanizing acts of violence. Reports from activists and former detainees explain that women in detention centers are experiencing extreme sexual abuse and violence, resulting in lasting physical and psychological trauma. Some women have even had their uterus removed or have suffered severe intestinal damage requiring surgeries such as the use of a colostomy bag. The reason behind such abuse? Extreme religious doctrine. According to human rights reports and firsthand testimonies, abuse against Iranian women has been justified by perpetrators using distorted religious reasoning. The most disturbing allegations are claims that these men believe they are considered “blessed” for raping a woman prior to her execution. Global headlines may be focused on airstrikes and political moves, but this disturbing reality happening to women — fellow human beings — remains unseen and unaddressed. This hidden abuse in detention centers reflects a broader societal issue in Iran, where the lives of young girls and women are marked by deep oppression and suffering. In the eyes of the regime, women are disposable, voiceless, unintelligent, worthless, and less than. Women in Iran are suffering from horrific abuse. If we truly care about human rights, we as Americans must condemn this violence. And if we value our own freedoms, we must open our eyes to the threat unfolding before us in our very own nation. These realities of oppression against women all have a common thread: they are accepted and taking place under Sharia-based laws. More importantly, the same radical, dangerous system of thought is infiltrating the West at this very moment, and Americans must take notice. As an Iranian American woman, my heart breaks for what is happening in my home country. What’s even more unsettling is to witness the recent protests in America against the war in Iran, knowing Iran’s own citizens themselves are desperate for change, even if it means war. To stand against the war in Iran is to stand with the Iranian regime. Before taking to the streets or rallying behind a cause or a group, it’s important to understand who and what you are supporting. In Iran, the institution of marriage is steeped in patriarchal traditions that strip women of their freedom. Women must obtain the consent of a male guardian, which is typically their father or another male relative, before they can marry. This requirement not only undermines a woman’s right to choose her partner but also reinforces a troubling hierarchy that places men in control of women’s lives. The legal framework governing marriage in Iran is alarming. The legal age for women to marry is a mere 9 years old. This practice not only robs young girls of their childhood but also subjects them to lifelong consequences, exposing them to forced marriages, early pregnancies, and a lifelong cycle of physical and emotional abuse. Polygamy is another stark reminder of the inequality embedded in Iranian family laws. While men can take up to four wives, women are denied the right to have multiple husbands. This creates an unbalanced dynamic, where women are often left vulnerable and without legal recourse in the face of marital discord. The legal system further compounds these injustices. In divorce proceedings, a woman’s testimony is frequently valued less than that of a man’s, placing her at a significant disadvantage. Women face immense hurdles when seeking divorce, with limited grounds for initiation, while men can unilaterally end a marriage. Custody of children often defaults to fathers after a certain age, further marginalizing women’s roles as caregivers. Travel restrictions add another layer of control over women’s lives. In a society where women must seek their husbands’ permission to travel or obtain a passport, the very notion of independence becomes a distant dream. Similarly, inheritance laws favor men, with daughters inheriting half of what sons do, reinforcing traditional gender roles and perpetuating economic disparities. The societal expectations placed on women are equally stifling. Cultural norms pressure women to prioritize marriage and family over personal aspirations, creating a narrative that limits their potential. Temporary marriages, often viewed as a form of legalized prostitution, further exploit women, trapping them in precarious situations where they may feel compelled to sacrifice their dignity for economic survival. In Iran, women are considered second-class citizens. Across all political, social, and legal systems, women face restrictions in movement, employment, public life, and personal autonomy. These barriers both reflect and reinforce one of the widest gender gaps that we are witnessing in the world today. Finally, “honor killings” are far too common in Iran. Too many Iranian women and girls have been murdered by male family members for allegedly bringing “dishonor” to their families. While technically illegal, loopholes and cultural factors exist that have led to reduced sentencing for those who fulfill the honor killing. As an American, I value the freedoms we enjoy, such as freedom of speech and religion. However, as Islam becomes more popular and grows in influence here in America, I worry that the lines between religion and Sharia Law will become blurred. I understand deeply the great evil that is at the root of Sharia Law, which is the law of radical Islam. The systematic abuse of women in Iran is a direct result of a misguided, cruel, and religiously motivated agenda that seeks to destroy women. If violence against women is normalized in places like Iran under the protection of Sharia Law, couldn’t these same ideologies and practices appear in the West if left unchecked? America must remain diligent, proceed with caution, and raise awareness of a system of thought that could quickly and quietly gain support in our nation. *** Lily Ricci is the director of Partner Relations at Iran Alive Ministries, which uses satellite TV to reach the millions of lost and broken people in Iran and the rest of the Middle East.