GABBARD LEAVES, WHERE’S CONGRESS’S COJONES? Tulsi Gabbard made public what appears to be documents that make a devastating case on behalf of the proposition that Anthony Fauci funded the dangerous research at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology from which a leak resulted in more than 1 million American deaths.

That’s the issue that will grab the most headlines and social media clicks, but the crucial constitutional issue here concerns Congress and whether its Inherent Power is a dead letter.

As I point out today in my latest PJ Media column, there was a time when lying under oath could land you in the Capitol jail. Nobody in today’s Congress appears to have the stomach for a return to those days, even though the Founders didn’t just happen to make Congress “the First Branch.”

AMERICA 250 LECTURE SERIES: The folks at the Museum of the Bible in the nation’s capital are hosting a lecture series of prominent American scholars, including some who are quoted here on Instapundit, addressing the many facets of the “Good Book’s” influence on the founders and leaders of the American Revolution.

“These Truths Are Not Self-Evident” was launched on June 7 with Dr. Thomas S. Kidd speaking on “An Appeal to Arms and to the God of Hosts, Divine Blessing, the Bible, and the American Case for Revolution.” Lecture number 2 was delivered June 12 by Dr. Robert P. George on “The Declaration of Independence and the Imago Dei.”

Three of the most notable upcoming lectures include

Dr. Jane E. Calvert on “‘The Most Republican Book That Was Ever Written’: The Bible in John Dickinson’s Political Philosophy” on August 9. Dr. Daniel Dreisbach on “The Bible’s Influence on the American Founders’ Political Thought and Practices” on August 23. Dr. Catherine A. Brekus on “Founding Mothers: Women, the Bible, and the American Revolution” on September 20.

The Museum of the Bible was made possible by the Green Family of Hobby Lobby fame in Oklahoma City, my hometown of birth. I’ve gotten to know some of the executive types managing the facility in recent months, and at the end of May was among a group of congressional aides taking a VIP tour of the facility. These are great folks who love this country and know their stuff.

If you expect to be in the nation’s capital in coming months, as many Instapunditeers will, you are strongly encouraged to make time to check out this amazing museum. And if you have time and inclination, give me a shout for a cup of coffee and conversation about our beloved nation and its troubled times.

WHAT JUNETEENTH MEANS: The Left tells us incessantly that the presence of slavery in American history proves our system is based on White Racism and that this nation’s unparalleled prosperity from an early date was built “on the backs of slaves.”

But here’s a thought – what if slavery in the South actually retarded the nation’s economic expansion? Rod Martin suggests that the North’s Civil War victory was attributable in great part to the fact freedom produces innovation, productivity and creativity, while the slave-based economy of the South was far behind in development, economically and otherwise.

WE COULD HAVE HAD CELLPHONES 40 YEARS AGO: But the reason we didn’t is found in the federal regulatory monster that even then could be a devastating obstacle to innovation, as Thomas W. Hazlett explains in a guest appearance for the Rod Martin Report.

1976/2026 COMPARED: It was only 50 years ago that we celebrated our nation’s Bicentennial and comparisons of the America then and now as we begin marking our 250th Birthday are disquietingly vivid and disturbing. Being present for both celebrations and having actively participated in the national political process and then covered it as a journalist perhaps affords me an unusual perspective on how different are the Americas of 1976 and 2026, especially in terms of our individual liberties.

THEN HE FELL IN LOVE WITH THE SOUTH: PJ Media’s Chris Queen — a true Southerner whose book “Neon Crosses” is well-worth your reading  if you want an accurate view of Dixie — follows Freddy, the German here with FIFA. Freddy had dinner at Buc’ees at 1 am and fell in love with the joint, and that’s just one of the many discoveries that blow away the warnings he got before coming from the Left about the “dangers” below the Mason-Dixie.

TRUMP EXTENDS TAIWAN’S LIFE 30-40 YEARS: It’s not getting the measure of national media attention it deserves, but President Donald Trump’s massive aid package to Taiwan should have China’s full attention.

By making the latest available defensive strike missiles and related launch, mobility and guidance capabilities, Trump is enabling Taiwan to destroy most of a PRC invasion force before it reaches the island. According to Rod Martin, here’s why this matters tremendously:

“It matters. Taiwan is the keystone of the First Island Chain. Lose it, and China breaks into the wider Pacific, threatens Japan and the Philippines, and turns America’s forward defense line into a rescue mission. And it’s worse than that. The CCP desperately covets Taiwan: any war would be prompted by Beijing’s desire to capture that exact piece of real estate. Taiwan is not some random island. The odds of a major war with China that isn’t centered on an invasion of Taiwan are vanishingly small. (Well, unless you’re Russia.)”

More here from Martin.

BUREAUCRATS LOSE ONE: Senate unanimously approves bill banning “Other Transactions Agreements” (OTAs), a pernicious deceive-around that feds have used to hide billions of dollars in spending that should be made public on USASpending.gov. That’s great but, as I explain on Substack this morning, bureaucrats being bureaucrats, they will find another deceive-around this one, too, if the House approves the ban and Trump signs it, which seems likely.

DEMS’ “EPIC FAIL” IN ANTI-ICE CAMPAIGN: They spent multi-millions of dollars on paid protestors, masterfully coordinated talking points with allies in the non-profit/NGO and Mainstream Media communities, and maneuvered every which way but forward for months. And what did they win?

“ICE and Border Patrol will be funded without the changes Democrats were demanding, including requiring judicial warrants to enter homes and prohibiting officers from wearing masks. The package also lacks reforms with bipartisan support, such as requiring officers to wear body cameras.

“Not only is this standoff ending without Democrats achieving the reforms they pressed for, the agencies will be insulated from additional pressure through the appropriations process for three years.”

The preceding quote is from one of the Dems’ key allies, NPR, so reading it must be tough for them. But that’s nothing compared to the analysis of the I & I crew. Do not miss the “cherry on top.”

ZEROING OUT FRAUD WON’T FIX WASHINGTON’S DEBT CRISIS: President Donald Trump and several determined GOP Members of Congress are making huge inroads against the hundreds of billions – if not trillions- of tax dollars lost every year to waste, fraud and corruption in federal spending. And stopping that loss for good must be done as soon as possible, especially with regard to preventing Medicare/Medicaid bankruptcy.

But doing that will not on its own prevent the fiscal calamity that is coming if Congress and the White House don’t get serious about the oncoming insolvency of Medicare if radical changes aren’t soon forthcoming, according to Robert Moffit of the Heritage Foundation.

ROD MARTIN ON THE CHOICE WE ALL MUST MAKE: Rod Martin was among the original creators of X, nee Twitter, and he has been a hugely successful tech entrepreneur ever since. He’s also a tremendously articulate, logical and historically grounded political and spiritual analyst whose Substack column is regularly read by hundreds of thousands of Americans in all walks of life.

This particular essay is on what Rod considers the most important decision every one of us must, sooner or later, make about where we are on “the Jesus question.” Yes, it’s apologetical, but one doesn’t have to be a Christian to appreciate and benefit from what I consider to be one of the finest expressions ever of why Jesus is the central fact of history. Even if you aren’t a believer, allow yourself the pleasure of reading a precisely formulated, superbly expressed presentation.

DATA SHOWS ALIENS USE WELFARE MORE THAN CITIZENS: It shouldn’t have to be demonstrated via usage data, but the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) went ahead and did it, digging into the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS) reports on who uses federal and state social welfare programs. Yes, as I report for The Washington Stand, the data leaves no doubt about who uses such benefits the most.

REALITY BITES WARNOCK: The Georgia Democrat senator told the New York Times a few days ago that the South became Republican when the old racist Democrats failed to stop the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Just Facts Daily marshals key facts and I add some more, based on having been born and raised in one of those “Solid South” states where most voters would “vote for a Yellow Dog if he ran as a Democrat.”

ON SCOTT PELLEY: Would someone please arrange somehow to re-introduce the former CBS News “60 Minutes” star to his former CBS News colleague Bernard Goldberg. And if that’s not possible for whatever reason, give him a copy of “Bias: A CBS Insider Reveals How the Media Distort the News.” It will be a journey of self-discovery if Pelley reads it. Check it out on The Washington Stand today.

PROMOTED FROM LAST NIGHT

WARNING TO BRAGGING CON ARTISTS: If you are defrauding the U.S. government and bragging about it on social media or instructing others on how to do it like you do, then there are some folks at the Department of Justice and the FBI who will soon be having a word with you. Check it out in my latest news story for The Washington Stand.

CORRECTION: Sen. Ernst is an Army National Guard veteran, not an Air Force veteran. My apologies for not double-checking my mistaken memory.

AN ANTI-WASTE AND FRAUD HERO RECALLED: Few here likely would recognize the name Bill Clinkscales, but if waste, fraud and corruption in federal spending makes you angry, you should know about him. Check out my latest Substack column, in memory of the finest career civil servant I’ve ever known.

AND THE WASTE GOES ON: Four major federal departments had improper payments percentages above 10 percent all four years of the Biden administration, including the IRS within Treasury that saw 72 percent of its payments under one program going to the wrong receiver.

That’s according to the latest Government Accountability Office (GAO) assessment of the extent of improper payments. But, as I report today for The Washington Stand, there are reasons to think real progress is starting to be made.

INVISIBLE COUNTER-REVOLUTION: It may be the least reported “seismic shift” in the global political alignment. Richard Pollock did NOT miss it and he’s got the scoop.

WHAT? BIPARTISANSHIP? Actually yes. Two Republicans and two Democrats in Congress are co-sponsoring legislation closing a loophole that enables law enforcement to ignore the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement if your email content is more than 180 days old.

SO MUCH WISDOM IN THIS COLUMN: No, it’s not one of mine. It’s Substack’s Virgil Walker and his point applies to all of us equally – be careful who or what you make your god.

IS BESSENT KILLING CHINA’S CURRENCY? The backstory of why Scott Bessent was President Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary begins with the fact Bessent’s early career included time in 1992 with the Soros Fund Management team that broke the Bank of England.

The ever-observant Rod Martin sees the huge significance of that otherwise little-noted fact in the context of U.S.-China relations:

“Presidents hire people for a reason. Trump did not put Scott Bessent at Treasury because he needed another Wall Street résumé. Trump hired a man who had helped break a major currency from the inside, who understood the role of confidence, leverage, capital flows, interest rates, debt, and political denial, and who knew that governments do not lose control of currencies because traders are clever. They lose control because reality finally catches up with the lie. Bessent is not incidental to Trump’s China strategy. He is one of its central weapons.”

Click over and just keep scrolling.

ANOTHER WIN FOR INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM: Seattle Public Library hosted the first of what was expected to be a regular series of training sessions at branch facilities, entitled the People’s Hard Reduction Alliance workshops.

One attendee just happened to be independent journo Jonathan Choe, dutifully reported the details of the session, including the fact free Narcan was being made available with easy access by children. End of workshops.

HYPROCRISY AND TRUMP’S 1776 FUND: Jason Foster and Katy Talento shred Democratic outrage and Republican cowardice in the Senate reaction to the Trump fund to reimburse victims of Department of Justice (DOJ) weaponization. Central point is Congress, not Trump, authorized it long ago and with support from both parties. In Washington, D.C., hypocrisy knows no bounds.

HOUSTON, HERE I COME: Heading back to tell folks about HillFaith, as explained on my latest Substack column.

WHEN REALITY BITES: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) might want to reconsider her claim about the Rich not paying their “fair share” of federal taxes,